Arrggghhh Mateys!

Argghh mateys! So mom held a fun "Pirate Party" this weekend to celebrate the new Pirates of the Carribean movie. Of course we didn't end up watching much of the movie, only bits and pieces because we were too busy eating, doing a treasure hunt and watching the Mavs game! LOL

We had a pirate themed menu, including cannon balls (meatballs), pirate ship pizzas and even some cupcakes, which Will woofed down and asked for a second!
Here's our swashbuckling crew enjoying their dinner! We had a great treasure hunt, one for the adults and the kiddos. We split into two teams for the adults and had to search for clues all over the house that mom hid. What you might not know is how competitive we can get. There was some slight pushing and shoving, but in the end, I was on the losing team, but we got a great consolation prize!
William also made fun baby Brynley got in on the action with her own pirate hook and ready her a book.

The kids had a hunt too and had to work together as a team to find the clues. They did a great job and were rewarded with some treasure, including some old coins from my Grandpa's old coin collection he left my dad when he passed away. Those coins will definitely be put away and treasured!

Wednesday Williamisms

"I don't want to take a nap while I hear the iren (siren)." during the tornado warning

"Pooh bear needs some stickers for being my helper." (playing school with his stuffed animals)

"Mommy, you come wipe my butt." (well, you get the picture here.......)

"Mommy, I took Darth Vader's eyes out so he can't watch tv."

A Gift Not Taken for Granted

Mother's day is a special holiday to me. I love it. But it wasn't always that way. Mother's day used to be a horrible holiday for me. I would spend it in tears, wondering, wishing and praying for the day I could be a mother. But for sometime, it wasn't meant to be.

Mother's day is a time I remember that not everyone gets to be a mom. I count my blessings everyday that we were able to have our precious William even after almost 2 years of trying and a year of fertility treatments.
These are the lovely drugs that I so hated then, but appreciate now. Months and months of clomid, an oral pill that is known to provide a lovely horrible 'clomid headache' side effect. Then I moved on to have minor surgery to remove endometriosis. Then more tests, needle sticks, countless hours missed at work., painful side effects, both physicial and emotional. The well-meaning words of friends and family...
"Just relax, it will happen for you."
"Take a vacation, then you will get pregnant."
"My friend adopted then immediately got pregnant, you should try that too."
"I just know you will be a mom one day."

As kind as they thought they were being, these words only stung more and just annoyed me. I mean, how could they promise me I would be a mom- they couldn't possibly know my fate. And a vacation? Please. All I would think about it wanting to get pregnant. Not stress? Are you kidding- when all you want is a baby, it is impossible to NOT think about it. Now I can laugh at some of these well-meaning words. And I advise you, if you know someone struggling with infertility, don't say these things. The best thing you can do is listen, hug them and tell them you are hoping, praying and wishing for it to work out. Keep it simple.

Then came the IUI's- intrauterine insemination, or better known as artificial insemination. Four cycles (four months) of that, two with oral drugs, two with shots. Then came the next step, the LAST resort for us to have a biological child of our own...in-vitro fertilization. Almost a two month process, it involves minor surgeries, tons of drugs, shots and of course. the money. The finanical, physical and emotional stress simply can't be put into words for anyone that hasn't personally gone through it.

But it worked. All the pain, misery, worry, stress and bruising were worth it. Our first cycle of IVF worked. We were one of the lucky ones, it worked the first time. There are those that go through this painful process two, three, seven times always getting the dreaded negative pregnancy test. My heart aches for them, because I wasn't sure I would ever see that positive. I count my blessings everyday that I did and I pray for those that haven't.

For those of you that haven't given infertility a second thought, do. Take a second to think of friends, family or strangers that have a hole in their heart because they can't have children of their own. And take a second to be thankful for yours. Even during those awful temper tantraums in the middle of the grocery store, when you are ready to pull your hair out, be thankful. Someone else out there would give the world to be in your shoes.


Finally, I had a belly to show off and enjoy, even with all the morning sickness, it was so worth it!The day I had waited for, dreamed of, for so long. Little William Reed Peters, 8.6, 21 inches. My gift, NOT taken for granted.

And one of those moments I cherish- just he and I, cuddled together, thankful to have each other.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the moms, moms-t0-be, want-to-be-moms, and those that are like mothers to us!

Red Slide, Green Slide, Blue Slide!

William loves slides, especially the big ones at bounce house type places. He will just climb up over and over again. Last weekend we went to a birthday party and William got to go wild! His favorite, Oscar the Grouch! You know anything with trash cans is a hit with William!

Quality time with Daddy in the bounce house!

My Knight in Shining Armor

We headed out to Scarborough Faire this past Saturday. Will had a great time last year at this local Renaissance Festival. Alan said we should dress William up and we just happened to have a little tunic and cloth knight's helmet from our friend (passed down to us). We paired it with some boot covers and belt/knife from his Peter Pan costume and a large fake sword he has and suddenly, he was a knight!

It was pretty hot out that day, so we had to stop for some Italian ice. Poor guy was so hot, but refused to take off his hat. He loved that thing, sweat and all.

William a daredevil, so we had to ride all the rides, which of course were all "human-powered" and made of wood, but still pretty thrilling considering. We rode a spinning ride that he loved.

Then off to the Pirate ship. Yo Ho! I would hate to be the guy pushing that thing all day long!

Somehow William ended up in the stockade! Bad William.

Posing with another knight by the life-size chess match.

On the way out, someone stopped to fight with him. William was pretty good with his sword.

Wednesday Williamisms

"Mommy, I have to brush my teeth or else they will fall over."

"My ice cream broke the tv!"

"Mommy, I dabbed it, but didn't blow it up!"

"Look at that water mountain." (fountain)

After he woke up at 3am to go potty, half asleep, "Mommy, why did Michael call?". Michael is his cousin. Not sure why he thought Michael (4yo) was calling at 3am. LOL

On the Hunt

William was on the hunt for Easter Eggs! But first, we had to color some. He wasn't as interested in coloring as hunting and eating! Saturday, our neighborhood held an egg hunt. I helped hide the eggs up and down our entire street. The older kids on one side, the younger on the other. Of course, we had to fuel up with some donuts first. William ate 1.5 donuts! Talk about a piggy!

Then it was time to hunt. Some of these kids held nothing back, they were off to the races, running and grabbing. William took his time. I helped him and he ended up with about 25 eggs. At least that was better than the neighbor kid that preferred to find them, look at them and leave them. He didn't want them and if you tried to put one in his basket, he freaked out, lol.

Then it was time for the Easter bunny to visit. William was so good this year, he got two baskets! One was mainly Dora themed, since he loves Dora. I know, it's not Disney, but I'll make an exception. The other basket was mainly Disney and included a new movie featuring old school Disney cartoons, which William loves. He got lots of great stuff he can use to entertain himself on the long drive we have coming up to the Smokey Mountains.

He enjoyed eating one of his treats, a cookie for breakfast!

Then it was time to head to Mama and Papa's house for an egg hunt and lunch with the entire family. William had fun hunting eggs with his cousins, although he seemed more interested in following his cousin Michael around than anything else.

Then my mom broke out the confetti eggs. This was a tradition for us growing up. We got together with some other families and made the eggs ourselves and then had a big picnic at the park and went crazy having an egg fight! William wasn't quite sure what to do. He was perfectly content just crumbling the eggs in his lap while the rest of us were cracking them on each other's heads.

Good Friday GattiTown!

So last Friday we decided to meet the entire family up at GattiTown in Frisco. It was a first visit for all of us and we had a ball.......bowling balls that is!

My parents, sisters and their kiddos all met us for a quick pizza dinner. We enjoyed the movie room playing of course, a Disney movie, Tangled!

My niece Ally and I enjoying Tangled and goofing off!

Then it was time to play some games. Will really loved bowling, although he tends to throw the ball instead of rolling, so we had to make sure everyone was staying clear! We tried out all the games and won the kids some prizes which they loved. Will's favorite part was the pirate ship ride. This kid loves anything that goes fast or high, so he wanted to ride it again and again. A great time was had by all and William now asks almost daily to go back to GattiTown!