Thank you for taking a moment to stop by and share in my journey. This journey started in February of 2009 and I am hoping to stay strong. Every time you leave a comment it truly encourages me to stay healthy. Thank you to everyone who has ever left a comment and to everyone who will leave a comment in the future. You would be surprised how easily you can encourage someone with just a few words. If you would like to see a little bit of where I was, please check out my first post on Day 1. I have been encouraged by so many other healthy bloggers out there as well. This journey will last me a life time because it truly has to be a lifestyle commitment. I also hope that you can be encouraged by my small triumphs. Thank you all for your support!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

My Son Is A Blessing

So, I have been spending a lot of time sharing about my new baby girl. Whether it is on Facebook, email, blogging, or people visiting, she has certainly been quite the center of attention. She is quite the beautiful blessing to me but I certainly can't dismiss my son, who is also a blessing. My son, Tyler, is quite an interesting character. While, many times he makes me want to just SCREAM, he is also a tremendous blessing to me and my family. While, we often butt heads, he is an amazing kid with a good heart. This is my son, Tyler:

This our very first family picture. Tyler was 8 1/2 years old in this picture.



This is Tyler's very first concert. Where did I take him, you ask? To see the Barlow Girls! :-)


This is Tyler at Halloween a couple of years ago.


This is Tyler and I running on the beach in San Diego. This was his first time to the beach.


This is Tyler just before he had surgery for a hernia... definitely was not all smiles afterward.


Christmas of 2008


The family at a wedding in San Diego in the summer of 2009.

So, these are just a few of the pics I have of my son. And, hopefully, soon we will be celebrating some good news in regards to him as well. We are ONLY steps away from finalizing the adoption with him. The only thing that we are waiting for is the birth records from the hospital where Tyler was born. But since he is already ten years old, the hospital has to go offsite where ever they are stored and get the records. And, in addition, the hospital is in Arizona. So, I'm sure that we are not at the top of their priority list. But I sure do wish they would hurry up because they are the last step before we can make everything official. So, hopefully, within the next month everything will be OFFICIAL!! And then we are going to have a PARTY!! Woo hoo!!

So, I hope everyone's week is going well. And I did want to make a shout to my beautiful friend Bobbi because yesterday was her birthday! She is a beautiful person inside and out! I know that she is a blessing in some way to pretty much everyone she meets. :-) I was going to post a picture of Bobbi and I but for some reason the "Upload Photo" button is not working right now. Perhaps I will be able to add it later. But for now I want to post this or I probably never will.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOBBI!!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Newborn Photo Shoot

Man!! I am such a slacker on my blog!! I said I was going to post these pictures on Monday and now it's almost another Monday. One day I shall get the hang of this. Well, here are just a few of the pictures that were taken at the complimentary photo shoot of Tariana, compliments of Jessica Hekman!! She was so kind and did a great job cause Tariana was SO fussy. Thanks so much Jess!!


















I hope that you all enjoyed the pics! I was really blessed by Jessica doing these for us. I never really thought I would be in to this stuff so much but once I got the pictures back I was just SO excited!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

It's A GIRL!!!

I know that this post is LONG over due... but I had my baby 2 weeks ago (and 2 days)!!!!! I had a beautiful baby girl!! Her name is Tariana Lynn Heppenstall.
She was born on March 26, 2010 at 8:21pm. She weighed in at 9 pounds and 10 ounces!! That's right, she's heavy! :-) And she reaches 20 1/2 inches long. That sounds big but amazingly everyone has been telling me that she doesn't look like a 9 pound baby. I guess that's a good thing cause I never saw a 9 pound newborn before so I wouldn't really know. :-) Baby Tariana is doing well now but we had some worries to begin with. We didn't tell anyone, but about 3 weeks before she was born, we found that she only has one kidney. So, we had to really keep a close eye on her to make sure that she was peeing enough so that we would know that the other kidney is working fine. Apparently many people out there only have one kidney and we were told not to worry. And she has been just fine, kidney is working great!! Yay!! :-) The other small scare was that Tariana was breathing kind of rapidly and on the day that we were supposed to be discharged, Tariana was admitted to the NICU to run some tests and do observations. She was there for that night and two more days.... ugh. That was SO not fun!!! But we were able to bring her home and she doing just great!! For those of you that were aware of these situations, I thank you all for your prayers and support!! So, since we have been home, it has been pretty tiring. I have NO baby experience so it has been quite an adjustment. I absolutely LOVE my baby girl and I am very thankful that she has been a pretty easy baby so far. Her fussiness that she has had so far has been frustrating for me but I know that it is very minor compared to some others I have heard about. So, thank you Tariana for taking it easy on Mommy!!! But since Tariana has been born, we have been showered with the blessings of loved ones. Thank you to everyone has come to see us!!

So, right now I have written that much and I'm already tired. So, right now I will leave you all with some pictures of Tariana from her first week home :-). My, how she has changed since Day 1!! Also, I would love some input on some good, quick 'n' easy recipes for a family of three to make things a little easier.






In addition, tomorrow I am going to try to post some other pictures that were taken of Tariana on Thursday. A wonderful lady offered to do Newborn photos for us at no charge. She was so nice and Tariana was so fussy. And I love how the pictures turned out!!

I hope everyone has a great start to their week tomorrow!!