What's Up Wednesday

This is currently my favorite link-up. Its such a nice easy way to catch up on what you've been doing and what everyone else has been up too. It honestly reminds me of how much we've actually been doing sometimes. Yep, we get to busy to realize just how crazy things get.

What we're eating this week...
Danny is Whole30'ing really well. Me? Not so much. A company rep wanted to take us out to lunch Monday and that same night I met a girlfriend I hadn't seen since March for dinner. I did pretty well with that until Shelby mentioned ice cream. And since I didn't have my kid with me, meaning I didn't have to share, I jumped all over that. Yesterday I did really well for being on the road, aside from the breakfast burrito I ordered from McD's with my salad for dinner, just because it was the first time I got to experience all day breakfast at McDonalds.

What I'm reminiscing about...
Not much really. This week I've been thinking a lot about our birthdays. Mine was in August and Danny's is tomorrow. I've gotten him some pretty good gifts in the past (concert tickets, xbox), but I think this year is one of my best. I can't wait to give it to him tomorrow. I cannot believe we're 26 and that this the 8th birthday we've spent together.

What I'm loving...
The fact that fall weather is here. Today there is a high of 70 degrees. Looooove it. Oh, and another thing. I am loving that I can do laundry and not hear it now! The hubs got the washer and dryer moved to the mudroom. The mudroom isn't done, but my bathroom is just a bathroom and I almost forget I'm doing laundry now because I can't hear it!

What we've been up too....
Last weekend we went camping and this weekend we're going camping again. This time its just Danny and me. We're leaving Tuck and Diesel with my mother-in-law and heading south to Brown County, IN. It is GORGEOUS this time of year and I plan to drink equal amounts of wine and water. There is a winery that I love down there and I'm planning on coming home with at least 4 bottles. 

What I'm dreading...
Work is about to get really busy again. Where I'm from was pretty much one gigantic lake the month of June. Flooded corn and soybean fields = shitty crops = lots of claims = lots of phone calls and work.

What I'm working on...
Um, Tucker's baby book still isn't done. And he is very much not a baby anymore.

What I'm excited about...
A weekend away with the hubs. We've had a lot going on lately so a weekend just the two of us is just what we need. I'm also excited to get this mudroom finished minus cabinets because those are expensive and money does not grow on trees.

What I'm watching/reading...
My tv time has been almost non-existent lately. My 20 year old self would be very disappointed in the fact that I didn't watch the Grey's Anatomy premiere until Monday night. Grey's premiere night used to practically be an event. Its hard being an adult. I actually read a couple magazines yesterday. I need to do that more. You know, since I paid for a subscription and all.

What I'm listening too....
I'm loving Carrie Underwood's new song Smoke Break. I totally get the needing a Smoke Break even if I don't smoke, and probably never will. Life gets tough and you just need to escape for a minute or two. Plus, I want to be Carrie when I grow up.

What I'm wearing....
Jeans that are not really work appropriate with a cute shirt. My hair is dirty and in a pony tail. Its hair appointment day!

What I'm doing this weekend...
Camping and drinking wine. I'm excited about the winery in case you couldn't tell!

What I'm looking forward to next month...
Danny and I are running a 5K on the 10th and fire truck rides are at the end of the month. Believe it or not, that's all that's on the calendar so far. So, I'm looking forward to having my life back.

What else is new...
Potty training is upon us. I washed the big boy underwear the other night and during one of our weekends at home in October I may just bite the bullet and try the 3 day method. I'm not looking forward too it, but he's gone in his potty a few times and is starting to get it.

What is my favorite Halloween tradition...
The only tradition we've really had is that we've always done a couples costume, which will hopefully continue into a family costume. One year we went as Crown Royal (purple shirt, gold label that I made with glittery gold paper) and Diet Coke (I just cut a box up for Danny's). The Halloween I was pregnant I went as a housewife and Danny was a milk man to go with the "he belongs to the milkman" joke. Last year Tucker was a monkey, Danny was a banana and I was a zoo keeper. It was cute.

Danny is responsible for coming up with the costumes so we'll see what he comes up with. He'll probably give me about 3 days notice and I'll be scrambling to put it together.

Alright, that's what is going on here. Nothing too exciting, but not boring either!

Weekend Recap

The weather was beautiful this weekend. It was an absolute perfect weekend to be spent camping with friends!

We took off Friday after Danny and I both got home from work. We like to leave around 2 or 3 normally, but Danny had a work commitment and didn't get home until 4:30. But I had the camper and truck loaded up and ready to go! We grabbed the dog and Tucker and hit the road. Friday night we made french bread pizzas on the grill and had a Dole salad kit for dinner. First night dinners are easy. After we ate dinner and Tuck got his pj's on, we hung out with Danny's BFF's family then Tuck was ready for bed. He has been known to take 2 hours to bed while camping (a far cry from our first outing), so the 30 minute bedtime that Danny endured was awesome. After a few more drinks and some chatting with friends, we all went to bed.

Saturday I made pancakes for everyone while Danny's BFF made bacon over the fire. After breakfast, and a shower for me, we all headed to the James Dean Festival... which was pretty much all the way back home. It is a HUGE festival that takes up almost the entire town of Fairmount, IN where James Dean was from. People that are from there and live elsewhere now come home for this every year. It's a big deal. We just went to eat and get the last bit of kettle corn for the year.

After we got back, Danny and I took Tucker and our friends' kids to the "beach" at the campground. This little outing made this campground our favorite. We can't wait to go back next year when the weather is warm and spend the day at the beach. Tucker loved playing in the water. He liked the beach more than he liked the playground!

A note about this next picture. June in Indiana was rough. It rained and rained and then rained some more. When we got back from Alaska, we came home to flooded corn fields and a mess at work. The nearby reservoirs were flooded. Big time. The beach we were at this past weekend was completely under water and the only thing visible on the camp store was the roof. The same goes for the other campground that we got too. Completely under water. While the campgrounds are open, and the damage is still being repaired on the store, you can still see what happened in the trees. Most trees around the water are dead half way up. You can kind of see it in my other pictures too. 

Dinner on the second night was shishkabobs, campfire potatoes and buffalo chicken dip. The older kids helped assemble the kabobs while Tucker just grabbed whatever he felt like munching on out of the veggie bowl. After dinner and Tuck was put to bed (by Danny again, SCORE!) I enjoyed a "juice box" by the fire and a smore. 

It was such a fun weekend. Camping is definitely a Summers Family favorite. A lot of work goes into it, but its so worth it.

Where I've Been

It's no secret that June and July were super busy for us. The first and biggest event was the cruise through Alaska that had us gone for 12 days. The very next weekend I had a 2-day bachelorette party. The next weekend was the 4th of July. The next weekend was the wedding. The next weekend was spent getting ready for the 4H fair. After that, things were supposed to get easier. Life was supposed to slow down and be less hectic. And it started too. We went camping the last weekend of July,  just the 3 of us, plus Diesel. We lounged as a family, went swimming at my moms, played on the playground, made smores and just spent time together.

And the entire weekend I kept doing stupid things and felt sick. Danny and I knew what was coming and sure enough it did. That following Monday, I had positive pregnancy test. A completely unplanned pregnancy test that was welcomed with open arms.

A week went by and the sickness kept coming in waves. We decided to tell our parents the next weekend due to Danny's mom getting asked to watch another child. We told our parents, then celebrated our anniversary the same night. That weekend I experienced some bleeding. Nothing major and nothing more than what I experienced with my first pregnancy. When it didn't let up, I decided to call the doctor and to see what was going on.

She ordered blood work to get done on Monday, results would be in Tuesday and then I'd go in for an ultrasound Thursday. Results indicated my progesterone was low, so she called in a prescription for that and we would know more Thursday. We had an ultrasound Thursday morning, the day after our 4th wedding anniversary, and got the news I just had a feeling we would get. The nurse asked if I felt pregnant still and my honest answer was no. I didn't feel sick anymore and my boobs quit hurting. I was still making silly mistakes, but that was because I was worried. She told us she would be open and honest about what she saw during the ultrasound. Which was something, but it wasn't a baby.

The doctor explained to us that what needed to happen didn't look like it was going to happen. She was about 99% sure I was going to have a miscarriage and explained our options, but wanted to wait another week to be sure. So, for another week, I just acted like I was pregnant. We told our parents the news and that there probably wasn't going to be another baby, but I still did everything a pregnant woman should do to have a healthy pregnancy. I took my vitamins, I didn't drink coffee and I took evening walks. I even felt sick like a pregnant woman should and the bleeding stopped. I was in the middle of a sick mind game. Thursday and Friday, and even some of Saturday, was spent lost in a Desperate Housewives marathon to distract myself.

We went back the next Thursday. No progress was made and the surgery was scheduled for following Monday. I didn't want to go through the miscarriage naturally. It could have taken days, or weeks. I had already waited a week and that was hard enough. I don't do well with waiting. Again, another Thursday and Friday spent lost in a Desperate Housewives marathon.

The surgery was physically easy. Before was tough mentally and emotionally, but thanks to the drugs I was okay after. But it was a pretty shitty start to a birthday week.

I am finally to the point where I feel like I can get back into the swing of things. I just didn't feel like doing anything more than what I had too. Our house got dirty, meals were a lot of take out, laundry piled up and taking care of Tucker was about the most I ever did. Work was a joke, which is to be expected when you only work 2.5 days a week 3 weeks in a row.

But, things are getting better. I still think about what life would be like if I were still pregnant. I expect March to be a difficult month since that is when the baby would have been born.

So, that is where I have been. I wasn't sure I was going to share this on the blog, but not sharing it felt like I was acting like it didn't happen. And I didn't want to do that. It happened. And it happens to a lot of people and you just don't know that it happens. You feel like you're alone and you shouldn't. Once you share your story, you soon learn that you know more women that you think that have had a miscarriage. At least that's how it happened for me.

Weekend Recap - My Mom's Birthday!

Erin tries to start blogging, take 4.

I've decided that enough is enough when it comes to not writing and documenting my life. A lot has happened, and is going to continue to happen, that I want to remember.  I've slipped out of some of my better habits and have lost a little bit of me along the way. I'm planning on getting into that a little bit more later this week. Yes, I'm planning on blogging more than just once this week, or month even. It's time.

What better way to get back into it than with a good old fashioned weekend recap!

Today is my mom's 50th birthday! The weekend was all about her! Seriously, from Thursday night until yesterday afternoon, my time was almost exclusively dedicated to making sure her day was celebrated. My brother and I threw her a surprise party! Friday after work, I started cooking and didn't really stop until about 12am. The menu for the party consisted of ham sliders (108 of them), the easiest pasta salad ever (4 large bowls), cheese dip, meatballs, fruit & veggie tray, and cake. Plus beer and apple-ritas. I made all of the pasta salad and assembled the sliders Friday night as well as put her actual gift together.

Saturday was spent running around from about 9:30-3. Tuck and I went to pick up the fruit and veggie trays, then delivered sliders to my brother's house for his girlfriend to bake and cheese dip ingredients for them to throw into the crock pot. Danny's mom also baked some sliders for me (bless that woman). We also borrowed some coolers from family members and a friend. After that, it was time to pick up the cake, get the beer, and buy cupcakes because I was too cheap to have the cake baker make cupcakes too. I had a splitting headache that had migraine potential. This was after I had already had 2 cups of coffee that morning. Nothing a little diet Mountain Dew and some Excedrin can't fix!

I beat feet home, decorated, baked my sliders, then got ready. As I had one layer of hair left to curl and about 20 minute left before Danny's mom would be there to help me finish setting up, which was also 10 minutes before we needed to leave to meet my mom at my brothers,  Danny yells, "there is a white Buick in the drive." Grandma. Always, always, always so super early. Got her situated, finished getting ready, then got everything sort of set up. We left to meet my mom at the time we were supposed to meet her. Drew wasn't even back from delivering their food and ice to my house yet! Thankfully, we're all usually late so she suspected nothing.

We get to my brother's and I "realize" I left Tucker's diaper bag at home. This excuse was planned for months. We take the long way back to our house so she doesn't see the signs pointing her friends in the direction of the party. We pull up to our drive and my mom is in shock yelling, "what did you guys do?!" It was so great. She had high school friends(one drove from 4 hours away), new and old work friends (who live an hour away), Drew and I's friends. Everyone was standing in the driveway waiting to greet her.

 

A friend of mine snapped a few pictures of my little stud. Love those baby blues!

After eating, drinking and socializing for about 5 hours, everyone headed home. We were inside and in bed by 11:30. Seriously, this was an ideal party!

Sunday morning, we got to sleep in a bit since Tucker pretty much demanded to go home with Danny's mom. My mom and I ate leftover cake and ham sliders for breakfast and drank coffee while she enjoyed her last gift. Drew and I asked her friends and family to write her letters. Some were from people who came to the party, her CREW girls, others were from old high school friends that she hasn't seen or talked to in a while. And Drew, Megan and I. Danny wrote one but hasn't been able to print it.

We spent the rest of the day walking around a local festival, continuing to eat extremely bad. When we got home we were all exhausted, but Danny, Tucker and I went to the high school to walk(Tuck and me) and run (Danny). Next was dinner (more ham sliders and pasta salad) then bath and bed for the little man. I wasn't too far behind him either.

It was a great weekend and my mom deserved every minute of hard work. Even if I am still exhausted!

Happy birthday, Mom! I love you!