Frozen baby update

This is a fun letter to get in the mail. I still shake my head and think 'what a weird concept'! Luckily our out of pocket costs have been really low so far in comparison to other families. (Thanks be to GOD for providing my job with amazing benefits.) But this is like a $175 increase from the price we were quoted during our retrieval process! We will happily pay it just because you can't put a price on family but the first thing I said to Justin when he asked "didn't they tell us it was going to be $300 a year?" was "it doesn't matter; people are so desperate to have a family that they will pay whatever it takes."

Sweet Cousins

Marshall is so lucky to have a bajillion loving cousins. Check this sweet scene out. They are feeling him kick!!!

Today was a good day

Today, my sister and sister-in-law went to buybuybaby with me to ensure I had the right stuff on my registry. I'm so grateful for Jennifer & Holly. They helped so much by sharing their mommy insight and having fun with all the baby stuff. They even stayed after I had to leave for work to finish scanning stuff in. In hindsight I wonder if it truly was a good idea to let my prankster sister hold the gun... Plaster belly cast, anyone?

Anyway, after that fun adventure I worked a looooooong day and then came home to a bunch of gifts from my coworker Megan! She totally hooked Marshall up!

Definitely feeling loved. Today was a good day.

Mommy

I was just thinking about how many times a day I say "mommy" now. Just "mommy". Either out loud or in my head. Every time I'm sad. If an image of that last week pops into my mind. If
I think of something she said to me or did for me at one point and wish I would have told her how much it meant to me. If I think of something stupid I did at one point and I want to apologize. Just "mommy" is all that comes out. Funny thing is, I don't actually recall a time in my life where I called my mom "mommy"- even when I was little. I really only started calling her that when she got sick. "My poor mommy." or "My pretty mommy." Wonder where that came from? And now all I think about is how I'm going to be a mommy...

I promise I'll get some good news posts going soon....

Load of crap

Well... Hmmm... Ummm... How do I start this? This is my first blog post since Mom passed away. And in my last blog post she was getting all prettied up in honor of her grandkids' dance recital. We were planning what we were going to do when she got out of the hospital- talking about going shopping for dresses and planning a beach trip. Talking about how she was sad she was going to miss the recital but we would have a special viewing party whenever the recital video was complete. We were also talking about how she was going to feel better by the time the baby was born so she could come stay with me for a while & teach me how to do this mom thing. This is all still so unreal and hard to wrap my mind around. No words will do this justice but I feel the need to keep the blog going. It just really sucks that I will write my blog posts and then I won't receive messages like the ones below. Man this sucks! What a load of crap. This has been the tag line amongst the family ever since Mom passed. It's just the only way to describe it. We think it's funny because the most proper Cossette is the one to coined the phrase... so it makes us giggle. Sweet sweet Holly (she got the Cossette name by marriage - man we're lucky). Even her kids have caught on... Our pastor gave a sermon on sustaining grace and saving grace just 2 Sundays ago (how fitting- I bawled the entire time), and Holly was asking the girls a few days later if they understood the difference in the two types of grace. Holly was reminding them that saving grace is God's way of providing a way for us to Heaven, and sustaining grace is how God helps us get through... "things that are like a load of crap?" --one of the girls piped in. Yes, girlies, that's exactly what sustaining grace helps us through. "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." (Psalm 34:18 NIV).

Yes, Justin is like my Dad. Solid as a rock & silly at the same time. Thanks for teaching me how to recognize a good man, Mom. :)

My feelings would get hurt if I thought Mom wasn't reading - but I was also on hormones and my feelings would get hurt by a lot of things... I guess mom knew that and wanted to make sure I knew she was reading.

She was pretty excited. "Yiipeeeeeeee!!!!!"

I have to read this over and over again. Yes, GOD KNOWS BEST. Mom's gone to Heaven. For a reason. For HIS reason. And I have to find comfort in that. Maybe one day I'll understand that reason but for now I have to trust & have faith.

And sometimes it makes me feel just a little bit better just to say THIS IS SUCH A LOAD OF CRAP!

Makeup Artist

Whew! Busy weekend for my avocado (that's the size right now) and me! And a ton of other mommies too! My nieces' dance recital was this weekend and I get the honor of doing their makeup each year. It's so much fun especially because it gives me a chance to get super close to their sweet faces! Unfortunately the warden wouldn't let Mom outta jail to go but she wanted to "look cool like the girls" so I gave her a recital-esque makeover as well.

I'm so proud of the girls and how hard they work! They are really great dancers. One really special part was the daddy-daughter dance Jason got to do with Emily. Precious! Gave me a chance to daydream about what life with kids will be like and of course blubber a little over the thought. :-)

Hairy Baby

If the old wives tale about heartburn & lots of hair is true, I'm going to have a monkey. This child will be covered in hair. Luckily my genius mother told me about this gum she chewed when she was pregnant. I got it from Amazon today and have had one piece and I'm in love. This will be my lifesaver..,