Day 1 ~ Introduce, recent pic, 15 interesting facts

Here we go ~ with Day 1 of the 30 Days of Blogging

I am Danielle, partner to Kelly, who is by far my better half! And Mom to 4 wonderful kids - Jarrod ~13, Jaykob ~ 10, Gryfinn ~ 4 and Caelyn ~2. And lets not forget the furbabies - dog Oliver, and cats PJ and Carly. Kelly and I have been together since Nov 23, 2002. We each brought a kid to the relationship, I brought Jarrod and she brought Jayk. Even though I was not there when Jayk was born, or his first 2 years of life, he is my son. He may not call me Mom, but I love him like a Mom loves their child. I put him and his needs before my own, I love him with all of my heart and soul, and I would give my life for him, just the same as I would our other 3. Shortly after Kel and I got together, we started talking about having more kids. Soon, she had moved to nights, and I stayed on days. We started trying to get pregnant at an RE's office in February of 2004, got pregnant on our 4th try, and miscarried. Tried one more time, and then took a break. We found a new cryobank in 2005 that would deliver to our house so we could do our own inseminations at home, selected a donor, and got pregnant on our first try at home! Shortly after Gryfinn was born, we made the decision that we wanted another child, so we bought more of our donor. Started trying in July of 07. Got pregnant on our 3rd try at home, and lil Miss Caelyn arrived in June 2008. Since then, Kel had to move to days, and even though money wise it has been a struggle, I am SO glad that she had to move. I love having her with me in the evenings, and having 7 days a week together as a family, and not just 2!

15 facts (in no particular order) ~ this may be difficult, and they may not all be 'interesting' :o)

1. I am the youngest of all of my siblings


2. My Mom and Dad were 19 years apart in age


3. My oldest sister is one year younger than my Mom


4. I have a niece who is older than I am


5. I have a sister who won the lottery several years ago - as in millions


6. I don't actually speak to that sister - only send Christmas cards, and that only started a couple of years ago


7. I work from home, and I absolutely love it. But what I would love love love to be is a stay at home Mom.


8. I used to belong to a clogging group - and we would do 'shows' at different fairs/festivals and such


9. When I was a little girl, I always knew I wanted a big family - my Mom had 5 kids, and I loved having so many siblings!


10. I am going to marry the woman of my dreams June 23 2012


11. We still haven't told our parents of our plans to get married next year. When you are this excited about something, the thought of telling someone who might possibly say something negative, well, then, you just kinda don't wanna tell 'em. My Mom has had a million things going on, and we haven't had time to actually sit down and talk. And maybe that is a bit of an excuse... maybe I am a bit worried of how she will react also. She has come a long way - she loves my family so very much... but I think deep down, I still worry. It would be a huge blow to our relationship, our friendship, as mother and daughter, if her reaction wasn't favorable.


12. I want to have another baby - and not because I feel that our family is not complete, because I really do feel that we are complete. But I have this feeling inside of me that says I want another baby, that there is another baby out there that belongs to our family - that will make our family just that much more complete


13. Saying that I want another baby makes me feel guilty, cause I know there are those out there that are still trying for their first child, and here I am with 4 and I want another ~ but I can't help this feeling that I have, this strong feeling that I have.... but I still feel guilty


14. I have lost 27 pounds since we started this healthier living thing in January (last couple of weeks weren't as good - period one week and then vacation another.. no weight gain, though, just at a stand still!)


15. Now that I have said these words 'I want to have another baby' ~ I think about it all the time. We aren't trying, we aren't really thinking about trying, we have just talked about my wanting another baby, we have just talked about the cost of getting pregnant, but me just saying those words.... it's like I think about it all the time. I am obsessed.

Well - I did better at that than I thought.... I won't tell you that I have been working on this all day - granted, I had to stop and go pick Jayk up from school, and then stop and take Jarrod to his baseball game, but I did it!! Coming up with 15 things wasn't easy, but it also wasn't super hard.

Oh, and I forgot to add the pic!! This one was taken just a couple of weeks ago!

Kelly and Danielle