If anyone doesn't know my story- I actually was childless for the first 11 years of marriage and despaired of having any kids after losing two in the beginning of pregnancy. Halfway through a Master's and substitute teaching High School Elisabeth surprised me! I spent the next 3 months in bed on my doctor's advice- we we're taking no chances. I really expected her to be the only one! Then when she was 8 months old someone gave me a baby gift intended to keep track of her growing years but was actually for a pregnant mom. I looked down and gasped, and I realized I was REALLY late and yes, I was pregnant!
Jonathan was a very special surprise and raising two toddlers at the same time was actually fairly easy after Elisabeth was born and she put everyone on a very precise time schedule! Difficulties and diapers mean little when you've lost babies and suddenly are blessed with two! Everyday for two years they would take a 3 hour nap (Mom playtime). And they loved to play together. It was a special "Winnie-the-Pooh" time. I remember the livingroom cluttered from toys from end to end, and happy kids.
My Maggie was a late in life surprise. I had forged on past 40 and kept on trying to have a child. About 6 years later after my first two I had just come safely down off of climbing Pikes Peak with two friends. One had got injured coming down, and we had to support her going down through the dark, on switchbacks with dropoffs on one side. Her fiance was a Missionary with experience in the Himalayan mountains who led us off by holding our hands. I remember vividly singing loudly to ward off mountain lions and the big black bear at the end of the trail the fiancee had to go around to get the car. The next day I found out I was pregnant at 42! Truly unexpected, but very welcome event!
So from childless to three, and no one ever has any clue what i went through before in my 20's and early 30's! From surgery to miscarriages to letting go and lots of prayer. But being a Mom will be to me always a special blessing and what I say was the time when the color in my world was turned on like the movie- "Pleasantville".
Prom
Oxford
Europe
Middlebury- Senior Presentation
Maggie
Jon & Emily
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