Oh, that's why she hasn't posted in a while...

So, November has been eventful, and not in a good way. Don't get me wrong, Ryan and I are doing very well and we feel more and more blessed every day to have our health and our families, however we have had quite a couple of weeks surrounded by others' losses.

Ryan's best friend Jeff's mom was diagnosed with esophageal cancer back in May and lost her battle on Saturday, November 7th. It was heartwrenching. The memorial was held the following Sunday, November 15th at her church in Boulder.

Then, my oldest friend Sara was expecting her 2nd child in April and went in for her 20 week ultrasound on Monday the 9th only to learn the baby had died in utero sometime in the last few days :( So she had to be induced that Friday to deliver the baby girl who ended up being diagnosed with Turner's Disease (only 1 sex chromosome). Sure, a blessing in disguise, but those kinds of blessings are very difficult to take!

And since these things always come in 3s, we also found out that weekend that one of Ryan's flag football teammates was arrested for manslaughter... he stabbed his girlfriend to death and then tried to take his own life, unsuccessfully. After being released from Denver Memorial Hospital he was taken into custody and is on suicide watch in the prison system.

So it's been quite a month, November. I won't say it's been all bad, just a few really upsetting things, but all in all it has made us even more thankful for what we have and appreciative for our health and our blessings. We have much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.

~love and gratitude~
alliwilli

Oh, and more will be posted to our family blog in a few minutes as well for updates on Belly-Dweller and the Nursery :)

Costuming the Belly

Last weekend was Halloween and I knew what I wanted to be for a while, so I was excited to put together my costume and have it come together so nicely! I had decided I wanted to be a gypsy fortune teller and let my belly be my crystal ball... so fun! So I went to Goodwill and got a tanktop and skirt and then at a halloween super store got some non-toxic face paint (white and silver) and some bangles and hoop earrings and with a little time and some scissors, I had myself a costume! I even managed to do rags in my own hair... I think the last time I had rags done was when I was 12 and my mom did it for me. Trickier to do it yourself than with help, but still the same curly-hair effect!

Anyways, after all that work, here's how I turned out:


And yes, that's a non-alcoholic beer... it was a fake wheat-beer, even... mmm... my favorite. Not quite the same as the real thing, but hey, it was good enough to have 2!

(I've updated my family blog again with baby updates and what-not... if you're interested :))
Later gators!
TGIF!!!