On Saturday we celebrated our Sweet Magnolia's first birthday. Doesn't it seem like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital? On the morning of her birthday, the moment she opened her eyes, I started to sing her Happy Birthday. She was quite familiar with the song, as we'd been singing it to her for the past few weeks leading up to her birthday. All of her friends in music class had sang it to her as well, and it was obvious she enjoyed to be in the spotlight, as her smile grew & eyes twinkled when she realized they were singing all for her! One of our local news stations does a first birthday shout-out to all the babies & we submitted her photo to play across our TV on Saturday. As we drank our coffee & prepared for her party, it was quite the treat to see her on the news!

Hello to you, my dear! Today I'm bringing you TEN baby-beautiful nurseries. I find myself dreaming up our baby's nursery often as we embark on this journey to Baby Smith. I'm really looking forward to the day that we can transform our office into a nursery for our little tot, so until then I'm going to feel inspired by all the bright and airy ones I'm bringing you today. 

And about our IVF cycle and our journey to Baby Smith...we are still in the praying and "waiting" stage and hoping to have news for you soon. I read somewhere that couples going through infertility treatments have a parenting starting line that starts sooner than others. Oh boy is that the truth. The love, worry, faith, prayers, and patience starts much sooner. Honestly, I wouldn't change it for anything though. This journey has only made us stronger and more faithful. As always, we greatly appreciate all of your thoughts and every single prayer. 

Did you know that Nordstrom has an entire section of chic sunglasses under $25? I've always been a lover of new shades, and normally I splurge on the pricey ones. I saw these on the Nordstrom website and ordered them without any idea how'd they fit. Sure enough they fit perfect and they are fun. I can't say they'll last forever because I can definitely tell they are lighter weight and not super great quality, but they are cute, cheap, and fun. The bonus is, I don't have to be paranoid about them getting damaged at the pool and I can get a few different styles to mix up my look this summer! I shared some of my favorites at the end of this post. Go snag a pair! 

This is the pair I'm wearing here. 






Thanks for stopping by my blog. I'm hoping to have an update about our journey to Baby Smith soon. We are still waiting and waiting, and trusting in God's timing. 

Yours truly xo 
Wen

As we are in the season of waiting for our baby and doing IVF, I am using my free time to do things like this. Dream up his or her nursery. We currently have two all white bedrooms upstairs that I don't want to decorate until it's time to make our baby's room. I went wild pinning last night on my BABY Pinterest board. One good thing about this time is that we are going to be very prepared once we become parents! I am pretty much in LOVE with this nursery by Sarah Sherman Samuel. She selected a light and whimsical palette for her baby boy, with a lot of natural materials in their raw state, like the bamboo mirrors, unfinished wood crib, and the natural reed baskets, and then she added color with the vintage peach rug, toys, and painted dresser. The wallpaper is custom from one of her own patterns. I have about 100 nurseries that make my heart skip a beat, so I'll surely be stealing ideas from all of them, but this one is pretty high on my favorite list. She did a wonderful job on baby Archer's room. Head on over to her blog to find more details about his room. 

Our infertility struggle is always on my mind. I've been very open about our story and journey to Baby Smith on social media and my blog. I feel very comfortable talking about it, but some people don't. The fact is that one in eight couples struggle with infertility and many of them never open up and share their story. They keep their pain to themselves. This week is National Infertility Awareness Week (NIAW). RESOLVE, The National Infertility Awareness Association founded this movement in 1989 to raise awareness about the disease of infertility and encourage the public to understand reproductive health. 

The theme this year is START ASKING. 

#startasking

• Employers for insurance coverage. 
• Your lawmakers and legislators to support issues important to the infertility community. 
• Friends and family to support you. 
• The media to cover infertility and the real challenges we face. 
• Your network to make a donation to the cause. 
• Your RE, clinics, OBGYN or adoption agency to support RESOLVE. 
• Your partner to get involved. 
• Those who have resolved their infertility to stay involved. 
• OBGYN or healthcare provider to talk about YOUR reproductive health. 
• For affordable care for treatment of a disease. 
• Legal access to all family building options nationwide.
• About men's reproductive health. 

There is so much more information about how you can help and get involved on the RESOLVE.org website here. 

The biggest question I would ask is about health insurance coverage for infertility. I do not understand why it's treated like an elective coverage. It's a disease NOT a boob job! 

We are fortunate enough to have a large portion of our first IVF cycle covered by insurance, but as of today we've still spent over $6000 in medical expenses. Our coverage has a lifetime limit, meaning we will run out very soon. The drugs alone, for just the stimulation portion of our IVF cycle, retailed for close to $5000! 

If all the health insurance decision makers were told their children would not exist without reproductive interventions, i.e. surgery, medications, procedures, IUIs, lab work, sonograms, IVF, etc, I'm pretty sure the health insurance coverages would change. They'd soon realize that it's a disease and that having a family is pretty important, kind of like having a healthy heart! 

RESOLVE social media links:
Twitter here
Facebook here
Instagram @resolveorg here

As always, thank you for following along on our journey to Baby Smith. It means so very much to us. 

xo
Wen 

I read this today, by Susie Larson, it brought me so much peace as my thoughts throughout the days often wander off to the IVF treatments and our journey to baby Smith. I just wanted to share it here. 

Allow beauty to shatter you regularly. 
The loveliest people are the ones who have been burnt and broken and torn at the seams, yet still send their open hearts into the world to mend with love again, and again, and again. 
You must allow yourself to feel your life while you're in it. 
- Victoria Erickson

Random lovelies:
30 Awesome DIY Projects - For EVERY level here
My powder room smells like this
One of my new favorite songs that Ry introduced me to here 
A floral strappy maxi dress for less than $25 that I plan to add to my summer wardrobe

Happy first day of April to you! Enjoy it with your all.

Love xo
Wen

Good morning loves! 

I want to share a little update about our journey to baby Smith and our IVF progress. The time from egg retrieval to now tested my faith and strength in ways I've never experienced before, and quite honestly I wasn't prepared for this part of the journey. I guess I can't say I'm really prepared for any of it, but I try to do my research and understand what is coming, but for some reason this was a step I had missed. I waited by the phone every single day to hear from our embryologist so she could give us an update on our embabies. It was tough, but it taught me so much about letting go, trusting God, and realizing that I have absolutely zero control over what happens in those Petri dishes. Ryan reminded me that worrying would not change the outcome, and I'm going to admit that worry and self doubt came to my mind at least a thousand times. I spent a lot of time in prayer! I literally had to tell myself "I am strong, I am brave, I will be mother" over and over again. It was a battle. It was a battle to keep the fearful thoughts at bay. My hands would start to shake when she called with updates. Take the passion and desire to be a mother, add in a crazy amount of hormones, the fact that I'm a work in progress when it comes to letting go, and imagine the intensity of waiting! My sisters and mom were waiting for updates every day, half the time they were calling for updates before I had them and I would get excited thinking it was the embryologist calling and then the phone would say "Hay Hay" - I love that girl with my whole heart- but in those moments I wanted to see my doctor's name on the phone. It meant a lot to me knowing that they were experiencing the "wait" right along with us. I'm so very thankful for them! With Ryan's love and support, and my mom and sisters' faithful enthusiasm, I survived this week and learned some major lessons. I was telling my sister, after her sweet texts that always touched me deeply to tears, that I just fill so raw. I feel like I've been ripped open and all my emotions are just flowing out like a river. There is no doubt that God's plan includes lessons along the way to parenthood. In many of my prayers I ask that I see clearly what I am to learn. I know that I will be different person after all of this, we aren't even half way finished, and I can tell I'm already changing.