My birthday weekend started out with a beautiful day that actually felt like spring. It was the first day that the sun was shining bright and our Bradford pear trees finally have white flower buds blossoming! Ryan got back in town early enough for us to get out & enjoy the day.

Our baby girl started walking this weekend! I heard Ryan calling for me while I was in the bathroom doing my makeup. I had a feeling he'd worked with her long enough to give her the courage to take those first steps. She was a late bloomer in the walking department at 14 months & four days, to be exact. She looks just like her daddy, but her personality is so much like mine. I've already started to joke/warn Ryan that she may cry on P.E. days, to which I will understandably give her all the advice to avoid the sweat. One example, wear sparkly inappropriate shoes & blame me! Sorry not sorry, I will be that mom.

From the bottom of our hearts we want to say Thank You for all the kindest messages, phone calls, emails, texts, & comments about our angel baby. The prayers mean the world to us & we cannot even begin to say how much we appreciate them.

As I look back on Magnolia's first Easter I'm reminiscing about the year before when we found out her life had began in a little petri dish. She is our golden egg!

I've been away from the blog lately & it hasn't been without good reason.

Several times I've said to Ryan, "I wonder what it'd feel like to pee on a pregnancy test & see two lines!" Never in my life had I stood over the bathroom vanity with a pregnancy test in my hand & felt that ecstatic feeling when two lines appeared. [We found out we were pregnant with Magnolia by a scheduled blood test.] I've shared before that we have a desire in our hearts to grow our family & that our prayers are always for God's guidance & grace. I'm still breastfeeding Magnolia & after my surgery for endometriosis our doctor told us that IVF was the route we needed to go if we wanted to have a baby. Those are two big factors that would lead one to believe natural conception wasn't going to happen for us. After having Magnolia, despite exclusive breastfeeding, my menstrual cycle returned when she was about six months old. The pain of my cycles was gone! I believe God answered our prayers of healing from the endometriosis. Ryan & I weren't necessarily "trying" to get pregnant, but it was certainly something we very much wanted.