5th degree virus?

Yesterday, I noticed a horrible rash on Blakely's arms and stomach while we were walking outside at Jordan Creek with Holls and Kypton. Of course, a thousands things ran through my mind of what the rash was... After an extremely long night of no sleep and Miss B tossing and turning plus screaming, I noticed the rash spread to her entire body, yes even her lower abdomen area. :(  

Upon waiting an hour at the doctor's, we were informed that she has a 5th degree virus and the rash is actually a good thing?? Who would have thought? and who knew there was something out there called a 5th degree virus? Needless to say, this whole ordeal of worrying, wondering, and yes, even a few tears from both B and myself (surprise, surprise ;)) reminded me that Blakely is a blessing/gift from the Lord and ultimately she is His and He has everything in control. :) She is doing just fine, she's actually sleeping as we speak, and I am so very thankful!

It's kind of weird not to have pics to share with everyone, but it doesn't mean things are any less crazy around here!  Blakely is practically standing all by herself; we're just waiting for the moment she takes her first steps! Her first birthday is next Friday and I am so very excited to celebrate with her! I'm also really excited to see what God has planned for our family in the year to come!

I just received all of the requirements for my two internships I am completing in the Fall and I must be honest, it's going to be ALOT. I'm starting to think it will only take a miracle from God for it to all go the way it's suppose to! I also received the syllabi for my summer courses and while I'm being honest, I think it's going to take another miracle for me to complete them in addition to moving to a new house and all of the weddings we have this summer. In all seriousness though, I wouldn't have things be any different! :)

I hope everyone's enjoying the gorgeous weather and having a wonderful week!

And it begins... :)

Blakely experienced her first taste of Ross's Easter Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Egg and....she loved it! :)

That's right...I just ate chocolate, mom!

And...I love it!!

I love my daddy too!

B's new room...don't mind the clothes everywhere ;)

Presty's room transformed! My family has been so kind and great for doing all of this!

Again, don't mind the clothes...living out of laundry baskets right now ;)

And as for the pics I promised of all the newness in the Owens home. Please forgive the blurriness and poor quality of the pics...they were taken with our video camera. ;)


Last week, we received some bittersweet news that one of our family friends had passed away. He was around the same age as my dad, and has a wife and three children. Even though I felt sadness for his family here, his wife posted a really sweet and profound post on facebook and it basically said, she did not lose her husband, she knows exactly where he is and that's in heaven with Jesus. :)

The time we have spent with the family has helped put my life in perspective and motivated me to really try to make the best of the time I have with those I come in contact because only God knows what the next minute, hour, day, etc will bring. :)

Move #1 Complete :)

Who would have thought the room covered in N*SYNC (mostly Justin Timberlake) posters, pics of middle and high school memories, American Girl dolls, and so much more that I so dearly loved as a child/adolescent/teenager/college girl would be transformed into the room my daughter will be spending the next two months??  (I would have pictures of this but of course, our camera is still in the desk drawer that is packed in the back of our storage unit. :) )

And to add to the story...the room my brothers spent the majority of their childhood in would be our new location for the next two months?? Crazy and somewhat creepy for me to think about it ;) In any event, we are sooo thankful for being here and for all that our families have done for us!!

We decided to move in to my parents' house a week earlier than planned, which meant one crazy weekend of packing and moving things into storage for Ross's parents, Ross, B, and I. (I don't suggest anyone, including ourselves, to ever do it! ;) ) However, it has been a blast being back in my parents' house. Blakely has enjoyed the extra time with her Nini, Grand daddy, and uncles. I am pretty sure Blakely has said, "woof woof" and "yeah yeah" a hundred times a day from her uncles asking her to! :)

Blakely's first Easter was great! We spent the weekend with both sides of the family, which included seeing all of the cousins on the Rethmeier side, and yes, even our new cousin/nephew Sage was there! :) Blakely experienced her first Easter egg hunt at Frama and Papa's house, dying of Easter eggs at her Nini and Grand daddy's, and Good Friday and Easter Services at HOPE even though we spent the majority of the time in the family room. ;)

Similar to Christmas, this Easter had a new meaning for this first time mom. During one of the services, Pastor Mike showed the scene from the Passion where Mother Mary longed to protect her son from the beatings Jesus received while carrying his cross. I have to be honest, I cried (surprise, surprise :) ) but I also realized how thankful I am for Christ and for the blessings in my life! 

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend and I will hopefully have some pics of all the "newness" soon!

MUCH LOVE!!

We're Moving! :)

That's right! We're super excited to be moving to a new house. Actually, it's not all that new to us since it was Uncle Nick and Aunt Kelsey's house before they moved to Indiana. It's kind of a crazy story how this all worked out... 

The Rethmeier side of the family has had an awesome last month or two! God has answered so many prayers. Number one, Nick and Kelsey are moving back to Iowa, Pella to be exact. (We're really happy about this! :)) Number two, after quite a few discussions, Ross's parents have decided to purchase our house and to turn it into a rental property. Frama Gayle looked on craigslist one day and found a family who was seeking to rent a house in our location and who would have thought, after they looked at it, they want to rent the house! They're actually moving in April 1st!! So we will be moving into my parents' house until June 1st when we will be allowed to move into our new house! The third prayer God has answered. :) 

When Nick and Kelsey first told us they were moving to Indiana, something inside me said we should buy their house here. My best friend told me the same thing when she found out they were moving...I guess we think alike at times and we should listen to her more often! ;) 

Of course, at the time we thought we were meant to find a place closer to Ross's work, but after house searching in that area, finding nothing we were really 100% about and Ross's parents buying our home, we finally decided to buy Nick and Kelsey's house! :)  I'm not sure if this all makes sense, which is okay, because either way God has provided so many blessings! :) 

We will have to upload pictures of the new house once we are able to be in the house. (There are renters in their until June 1st.) It will be a crazy next few months with a new cousin coming soon, Blakely's 1st birthday party, finishing up classes, starting 3 more classes, moving in with my family, and moving out of my family's house into our new house, but we can't wait!! :)

Sorry, I just want to watch the DVDs in this box! (I love her so much!)

Stop packing for a snack? Yes, please!

I can get them myself, thank you. :)

Ouch! Just it my head on the box...ugh, can't wait to be in our new house without all of these boxes in my way!

Mom, let me read the book!

Are you listening??

K, here goes..."Blue Hat, Green Hat, oops!!"

Lovin Life :)

We have been so blessed with more gorgeous weather! We have enjoyed going for walks with Shaddy and Ells, in hopes the walk would help our new baby cousin/niece or nephew arrive sooner ;), playing outside and at the park with Nini and Grand daddy, hangin out with Griffin and Kypton for a grill out and going to the zoo for the first time with Jess and Carmen, even though our trip was interrupted by a thunderstorm. I guess we need rain every once in a while. ;)  I have to admit I was a little nervous about how Blakely might react to the animals at the zoo, but for the short time we were there, she seemed to love them! Especially the super cute red pandas! :)

On one of the nicer days last week, Ross and I tried putting super cute flip flops Blakely got from her cousins, Aubrey and Neely, on her but of course, she hated them! However, we were able to get a few cute pics of her in them while smiling. :)   

One of B's new favorite games is flinging herself on our bed into a pile of pillows! (Sorry for the blurry pics, but I thought they were too cute not to post. :))

Hope everyone's doing well and enjoying this week! LOVES!!

Givin' the wink ;)

Mom, give me your sunglasses!!

Stylin' :)

My turn to take pics :)

I think I'm done...too tired from laughing and flinging myself back!

Ready to go to the zoo!!

Baby Shower and beautiful weather :)

This past weekend, the Rethmeier/Livingston women threw Kelsey and Baby Shaye a shower, and it was a blast!  So thankful and blessed it went well and we were able to spend time with friends and family.

The only picture with Daddy while wearing the headband. :) 

I guess she is more like her mother than we thought....no headbands!!

B got ahold of the camera :)

Uncle Nick and Aunt Kel's niece, Ava...so cute!

Got the camera again :)

One of my good friends from church told me that her and her husband use to give their son, when we was younger, their junk mail to play with. So of course, I though this would be a great way to entertain Blakes. :)  

Ew...I will take one of these and one of those... ;)

oh and one of these!

Yesterday, B and I were able to hang out with, Aunt Kare, Shaddy and Ells. We went for a walk because the weather was just right. Today, I think the temperature got to over 75 degrees and we got to go for another awesome walk with Aunt Holls and Kypton. I could really get use to this kind of weather in Iowa! :)

Mom, I love the weather, but the sun is too bright. :)

10 months :)

Miss B turned 10 months on Sunday (still blows my mind :) ) and it's crazy how much she has changed! :) She has always been a stationary "mover and groover"...now she's just a mover and a groover! I received a call before class last week from Karie (her and Kel were watching Blakes while I prepared for a presentation at school) saying Blakely was "crawling" at her house. Crawling is in quotes because Blakely seems to have invented her own way of moving and it only includes moving her arms and one leg while pulling the other leg along wherever she wants to go. :)

Her new favorite place to hang out at our house is the bathroom. The other day she was watching me dry my hair and when I handed her, her brush she started brushing her hair. Then when I handed her one of my hair clips she tried to put it in her hair...super cute. :) Today, after we played outside (yes, outside! :) ), I thought it would be fun for B to play with jewelry. :)

After playing with jewelry, we decided to do just a little cleaning before nap time and when I sat her down to dust our bedroom, this is what happend.... ;)

I think this was her way of apologizing for making a mess...offering to help dust. ;)

OH, you don't need my help, okay then I'm just going to chew on this then. :)