Brody is almost a year old and I’ve been reflecting back on life before Brody.  I wouldn’t change a thing, but it’s still nice to write out feelings and thoughts and get them off your chest.

Here’s what infertility has taught me:

1. Unfortunately, life does not care about self pre-determined time-lines.
2. How to self-sacrifice as a mom before even getting pregnant.
3. Timing is NOT everything.
4. Contrary to popular belief, vacations do not magically cure infertility.
5. The day that you get a negative pregnancy test will be the exact day where you learn that no less than 3 of your friends are pregnant.
6. A listening ear always feels better than a know-it-all tongue.
7. To stand up for myself in the face of ‘thoughtless feel betterisms’.
8. Not to take my body for granted.
9. To lean on my husband.
10. That God may not make things better the way I expect, but he can give me peace in even the roughest seas.
11. There is much more to me than my role as a mother.
12. Sometimes one can do everything right and STILL lose.
13. That failing at something teaches wiser lessons than winning.
14. That I am stronger than I expected.
15. To tolerate pain, both physically and emotionally.

I am not glad for infertility - mostly.  It has been a very painful part of my adulthood, nearly spanning a decade.  It made me feel misunderstood, left-out, jealous, angry, and so empty.  But it has also shaped who I am.  Brody came to me at a different time than I had wished, but he came.  I am so grateful for him.

I am not sure who I would be without infertility.  It is sewn into my fabric even now that I am no longer actively trying to conceive.   I’m at peace with it in a way I could not be before, but still - I am not glad for it.

I found several fun things to give out at Brody’s party to all of the kids attending (cheap, fun stuff).  One of the last things I thought about were little pumpkins with the kids names on them.  I thought it would be a cute addition to their “goody bags”.  Something they could display for the month ahead and it still be in season.  And of course, they’re just the right size for the kids.

I found these cute little pumpkins at Trader Joe’s.  So cheap!  I got the names (vinyl decals) on Etsy (again cheap).  I applied the names last night to the pumpkins and thought they turned out great.  It’s so fun to get personalized things and to be able to do something so cheap is even better.  Here’s a pic of the pumpkins:

1. I am the youngest of 2 girls.
2. I have loved Jesus as long as I can remember (thanks Mom and Dad for instilling this in me).
3. I’ve been married for 13 years and love my husband more today than ever before.
4. I am the face of pregnancy after infertility (8 long years of waiting for my precious son).
5. I’m addicted to Starbucks (Black and White Mocha, please and add an apple fritter on the side).
6. My favorite hobbies are blogging and crafting anything I can get my hands on.
7. I hate to exercise, but do it at least four times a week.
8. I love anything with sugar in it and if there’s chocolate on it, that’s even better.
9. Fall is my favorite season.
10. I live in sweat pants and hoodies during the colder months, sweat capris and t-shirts in the warmer months.
11. I love my church (Hope Community Church).
12. I love lists, schedules, having something to do.
13. I love office supplies (mechanical pencils and decorative paper are my favorite).
14. I’m a people person.
15. I love to cook and bake.
16. I hate to travel long distance (hate the packing, the rush everywhere, living out of a suitcase, airports, etc…).
17. I have a “to-do” list a mile long.
18. I subscribe to 4 magazines and love them all (get so excited when one comes in the mail…like I won the lottery).
19. I’ve never played the lottery, not even a scratch off ticket.
20. I love personal mail (snail mail).
21. I would be lost without my daily planner.
22. I shop consignment (for my son and heading out this next week to start shopping for me).
23. I have now lost over 40 pounds on the THF diet.
24. I don’t mind changing diapers.
25. I hate emptying the dishwasher and taking out the trash, not to mention everything else that has to do with cleaning the house, yet I have OCD and my house always needs to be picked up.  LOL!

I stumbled upon an amazing post today about getting to know your neighbors or others you come in contact with frequently. Click HERE to read the post (I guarantee it will be worth your while).

On another note, but still in the same vicinity….
The leader of our small group met a lady in our church who had broken her ankle.  She had a cast on (6 pins, a plate, and some staples and who knows what else) and was in a wheelchair.  She has a two-year-old, a police officer husband who has taken time off of work without pay to stay home and help care for his family, AND is 9-months pregnant (just had the baby this past week).  Our small group created a Care Calendar and has signed up to take meals to this family.  Jason and I had the pleasure to meet this family last night.

This family is amazing!  So appreciative, fun people, and giving.  Their 2-year-old daughter was all about sharing her toys with Brody.  She would run off to grab a toy, hand it to him, play for a short bit, then run off and do it all over again.  The perfect baby sitter.

I can’t imagine what these people are going through right now.  Life has to be tough and when life gets tough, ugliness can sometimes pop out in your marriage if you’re not careful.

I say all of this to suggest that you look within your community.  I want to encourage you to search for those in need and find a way to help them out. What a wonderful world we would live in if we all strived for this.

With Brody’s first birthday approaching in less than a month (so hard to believe), I’ve been doing a lot of research online for various ideas.

I, at first, had planned to not do anything special (just get a smash cake and enjoy watching Brody ourselves with my parents, who will be in town to celebrate with us), but after talking to some other friends, everyone seems to be going the birthday party route and I don’t want Brody to be left out of the fun (plus, secretly, I love planning this sort of thing).

So…it was easy to come up with a theme….sports, but more importantly, soccer (this way I can use the next few years and go through the various sports, if I want to, until he can come up with his own ideas). Ok, so back to the soccer theme. I found a cute shirt on Etsy (see above photo…a sneak peak from his photo shoot a couple of weekends ago). I am making Brody’s birthday invitations (um…can you guess…soccer themed) and wanted to get pictures of him in his birthday shirt (which has a “1″ on the back). The photo displayed above is one that I’m not using.

I found soccer themed plates and such at the local party store (haven’t purchased these yet). I have called in our cake order. We’re using a local Mom from one of my Mommy Groups. I hear she makes a mean cake. I can’t wait to try it. I told her soccer themed and she came up with some awesome ideas. I can’t wait to see it all. We’ll do a chocolate cake, some side cupcakes (vanilla) and then a smash cake for Brody. I’ll show pictures of his party when that time comes.

I found some fun “goody bag” ideas to hand out to the kids (so no one will go home empty handed). I think I’m even going to get small pumpkins and put the kids names on them to take home (overdoing it???). This party thing is my sort of thing. I love planning and putting together a good party. I do stress (a lot) come the day, but it’s so much fun to create things or come up with ideas.

Ok, so I’ve gotten really off track. The whole reason for this post was to mention a cool website that I found. The coolest kid birthday party themes are mentioned with loads of pictures and how-to’s. It will definitely be a go-to site for me in the years to come. It’s called, “The Birthday Blog – creative party ideas for kids“.  Enjoy!