And you think your in-laws are weird...

Many of you have seen my father-in-law. Some of you have not. For those of you who have not, brace yourselves. He would be the one on the left. If you've seen the show "Miami Ink" on TLC then you would know the one on right is Chris Garver. Never seen the show but apparently he's in it and Gary met him last weekend. Anyway, that's right, folks, my father-in-law has about 60% of his body tattooed and over 100 piercings in his face. I think there are more but I lost count after 100. I think he did too. And his newest thing, which we didn't even know he was doing, is that paint brush-looking stick thing in his nose. He had talked about this but had never done it so I figured it wasn't going to happen. I should have known better! I showed this picture to Owen and told him it was Paw-Paw and he said, "Ha ha. Paw-Paw. Ha ha. Funny." He just kept laughing every time he looked at it. It was too cute! So now this is his Funny Paw-Paw. We love you, Funny Paw-Paw!

Sisters

I remember when I was younger and my Auntie Gaye would call our house some nights as late as 11pm. It would be at least the 5th time that she and my mom had talked during that day and I would say, "Seriously! Have you guys not gotten it said in the last 4 times you talked today?!?!" I never understood how two people who lived so close to each other and saw each other constantly could have so much to say to each other in one day. Now I know--because they're sisters. God did not bless me biologically with a sister. My theory is that my mom and dad realized they couldn't risk another child after being blessed with such a perfect one in me. That's it, isn't it, Mom? haha. Anyway, I digress. God did, however, bless me with the next best thing--my cousin, Beth. We have always felt like sisters because we were raised so closely together. When I got married, she was the person I wanted standing next to me as my maid of honor and vice versa. And when I had Owen, she was the first person I thought of to be his Godmother. She's also the person I call when I need advice, when I need to vent, when I'm happy, when I'm sad....the list goes on. She's my sister--in every sense of the word.

Her husband Ryan called me a couple of nights ago to tell me that Beth was "grounded" from the phone. I laughed and said, "Why?" He replied, "Well, we have 700 shared minutes between us and not only did Beth use all 700 minutes herself, she went on to use 700 more." Knowing where most of the 700+ minutes went, I didn't bother to ask. :) He went on to tell us both that we didn't need to talk for the entire year because we had said it all in the first month. I thought back to my mom and Auntie Gaye and just wanted to tell him, "Ryan, it's sisters. You just have to have one to know." I'm glad I have one, and I'm glad I know. And even if I have to wait past 9pm to call her when her minutes are free, I'll make the sacrifice. Thank God for sisters!

The Mini-Monet

Owen has really started to enjoy coloring. I had tried to get him interested in it a couple of months ago but he didn't want to have much to do with it. Then Grandma Lynn bought him an Elmo doll with crayons for the bathtub for Christmas and now he loves it! He colors all over the bathtub every time he's in there. One night he was coloring and took the crayon away, looked at it and said, "Ernie!" Cody and I just died laughing. We're not sure if he thinks he was drawing Ernie or what but it was so adorable! Here are a few pictures of the artist that I took last night. (A note to the O'Brien ladies--the flowers in the pics are the ones you sent me 2 weeks ago! They're still alive! And so pretty!)

He had to study the box. Every time I got a new color out of it and gave it to him he'd say, "Wow!" with a whisper.

Notice the smile--you can tell that he is saying, "Cheese!" for the camera, which he started doing after we took 300 pictures at Christmas and kept telling everyone to say cheese.

Who knows, maybe someday we'll all be looking at an Owen Muhs Original in a museum somewhere?! Ok, at least there will always be one on my fridge. :)

Gooooo Bears!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, the Muhs household is brimming with excitement after the big Bears win today. Ok, Cody is beside himself and Owen and I are just along for the ride. After hours of searching for tickets on ebay, Cody actually scored a set and he and a friend from work were at Soldier Field to witness the big event. He called me numerous times throughout the game--many of them were just to yell at me about how exciting it was. When it was all over he called again, sounding like he had bronchitis, and said, "This was the 3rd best day of my life!!! I love you more than you could ever know!!!" Although I know that was many a beer and sheer elation talking, I guess I should at least be happy that he has his priorities in tact. :) He went on to say that he rushed the field and stood 10 feet away from Brian Urlacher. Really, I don't know what's so exciting about that, as for the last 3 weeks I have sat about 5 feet away from Urlacher, in my own living room! Yes, folks, this is what I came home to find on my living room wall when I got back from all my Christmas travels.

The second picture shows part of the entertainment center next to Mr. Urlacher, just to give you an idea of the size of this thing. It is, indeed, life size. Luckily for me, he's pretty easy on the eyes so I can deal with it for now. Once the Super Bowl is over, he will be going back to the basement where he belongs. A big thank you, by the way, to Cody's dad for purchasing this for him last year for Christmas. I really can't thank him enough. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to the day the basement is finished so he will have a permanent wall to stick to and there will be no threats of him running through our living room wall anymore.
I checked ebay tonight and Super Bowl tickets are already going for about $7,000 a pair, give or take a few thousand. So I think it's safe to say that Cody will be watching the game from a friend's house somewhere in Iowa...at least I hope that's the case.

ILL-INI

Well, I haven't been keeping up too much with the Fighting Illini this season as I've had other things on my mind lately and we don't always get the games on TV way out here in Iowa. But I think I've heard a few things that they aren't quite as good this year as they've been in the past couple of years. So I thought I better gear up my little Illini guy and get some cheering in for them. So here are a few pictures of him in his Illini jersey, courtesy of Cody's college friend Eddie. How can they not have a winning streak with a fan this cute cheering for them?! Go Illini go!!!

Everything I Know I Learned From Oprah

Cody says that I should write a book with this title because I am always spouting off things I learned on the Oprah Show. Hey, you can find out all about Julia Roberts' twins, get Jen and Vince's marriage rumors cleared up, hear whether Barack Obama will run for president, and see what shape your poop should be all from one show! Now that's a TV show I can get on board with! Well, today is no different than any other day in that I learned a little wisdom from my gal Oprah that seemed so fitting for me in the past few days and I'd like to pass it on. I was watching an episode yesterday that I recorded on my fancy new DVR that Cody got me for Christmas (really, people, this is truly how TV was meant to be watched) and people were asking her questions. Someone asked her what the greatest advice she'd ever received from Maya Angelou was. She said that Maya once told her that in the middle of a crisis she should stop and say thank you because no matter how bad it was at that moment, there was no doubt going to be something better on the other side of it to be thankful for. I started crying (I know, a little cliche but what the hell, I was moved) and had one of those moments that people go on the Oprah show and talk about. You know, someone goes on saying that they were laying on the couch one day feeling horrible and then something she said was like she was speaking to them and their whole outlook changed...I always thought, "Oh, that didn't really happen that way." Well, yesterday it did happen to me. I was on the couch feeling horrible and I heard what she said and I cried and stopped to pray and I thanked God. Because even though I felt horrible at that moment, I knew that things could only go up from there. This isn't to say that I still haven't felt bad since then but at least I now I have in my head that eventually there will be some good on the other side of all this bad. And that's something to look forward to. Thanks, Oprah!

Okay, and now on to some pictures, which I know many of you have been waiting for. In honor of the big Bears win yesterday I decided to post some Bears pictures. The first one is of my two boys in their Bears jerseys. This was over New Year's while we were at Cody's mom's house.

And then we went to a New Year's Eve party and you'll never guess who showed up....That's right, legendary Bears coach Mike Ditka!
Okay, so it's really just Billy O'Brien who shaved his beard specifically for this reason and then dressed up like Ditka. But you gotta admit he "bears" a striking resemblence. haha. Go Bears!!!!!

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

Cody and I would like to send out a big thank you to everyone who has called, emailed, posted on here, sent us a card, sent flowers, or cookies. The outpouring of love and support we have received during this difficult time is so much more than we would have ever expected and it has helped us so much. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family who care about us so much. Hearing your stories or just knowing that you care has made all of this a little easier on us and we are so thankful for that.

I am on the mend after the procedure yesterday. Everything went well. I felt some pain yesterday and mostly stayed in bed all day. I am feeling better today and am able to be up and move around a little more. I still have a little pain but the doctor says I should be back to normal by Monday. I can't pick my baby boy up which is just killing me so I can't wait til Monday for that!

I had to go in on Thursday before the procedure to have a pre-op thing done. When I saw the doctor then he told me he had a reason for why this happened. On Monday when I was there, before we found out we had lost the baby they took my blood for a 16-week check that they do. It checks for abnormalities. They went ahead and did the test even though the baby was gone in hopes that we might find some answers. As it turns out, the baby had something called Trisomy 18. We still don't understand it 100% but we know that it is a genetic abnormality that doesn't allow the baby to form and grow the way it should. He said that babies with this never survive a pregnancy. He also said that had we not lost the baby, he would have advised us to end the pregnancy. We were glad that it happened naturally and that we were not faced with that decision. It also gave us a sense of closure because we know there is absolutely nothing we could have done about it. Although we knew it was nothing we did or didn't do, that thought is always in the back of your head and something you always wonder about if you don't have an answer. So we are glad that we now have one. This is not something that Cody or I carries genetically or that we should be concerned about happening to another baby. It is something that can happen to anyone and isn't likely to happen to us again.

We will always hold our baby in our hearts, but each day is getting a little easier for us. Thank you again for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Sad News

I think it is safe to say that this is the hardest post I've ever had to do but it is something that we would like everyone to know. On Monday, I went to the doctor for my 16 week appointment and discovered that the baby didn't have a heartbeat. I was sent to Radiology to confirm it and the woman who did the ultrasound there said that the baby was only measuring at about 15 weeks, which means we lost it sometime in the last seven days. Obviously, this has been devastating to our entire family, be we are coping as best as we can. I hate that some of you are hearing it first-hand through the internet but it has just been too hard for us to make "that" call over and over again. On Friday, I will have a procedure done called a D&E to remove it. It is an outpatient surgery and I should only be there for a couple of hours. The doctor says it shouldn't be too physically painful. I am thankful that I will be put out during the whole thing and won't know what's going on. The doctor says he may know more about why this happened after Friday. My mom is on her way here today to help us take care of Owen during all of this, which will be so appreciated. Even though I'm a mom myself, it's times like these that make me want my own mama to be with me.

As I said before, we are handling it all as best as we know how. We are trying to tell ourselves that God took our angel before it's time for a reason. We are thankful that we have one healthy baby, who is making it all a little easier on us. It's hard to stay sad all the time when a cute little face crawls up next to you in bed, lays his head down beside you on the pillow and says with a smile, "Hi, Pooh!" We continue to pray everyday that he will one day get to be the wonderful big brother we know he can be. We will keep you updated on how everything goes and hopefully in time we'll be able to bring you much happier stories and pictures of the Muhs clan on here.