A Little History...

I figured before I started the actual "blogging" of this blog, I should give some history on our little family...don't worry, I'll "try" to make it short...(ha ha) :)

Shawn and I met at Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon, in late 1997. In October of 1998, Shawn presented me with the most awesome, amazing marriage proposal, and of course I said YES!

On March 13, 1999, we were married,

took off for our honeymoon in Arizona,

and immediately after returning from our honeymoon, Shawn got a call from a pastor down in Phoenix, offering him a job as a youth pastor. We flew down for the interview process in May. He got the job, and we moved to Phoenix, Arizona, in July, 1999.


We spent 2 years down in Phoenix at a church called Horizon Presbyterian Church.
Shawn was the youth pastor there, and I was the worship leader.
I also worked as a secretary at Mountain Park Community Church, which was just a mile down the road from Horizon Presbyterian.


In February of 2000, we had our first pregnancy and miscarriage.
It was the start of a long and very painful journey that would eventually lead us to our most awesome blessing, Charlie.

In July of 2001, we moved back home to Oregon. Over the next few years, we lost 3 more pregnancies to miscarriage. On Thursday, November 18, 2004, we were all set to attend the Harvest Banquet for Warner Pacific College, where I worked in the Admissions Office. But, I was having such bad abdominal pains that we ended up in the emergency room that evening, instead of at the Harvest Banquet! They sent us home with medication for the pain and nausea I was experiencing. Two days later, on November 20 (Shawn's birthday), I had emergency surgery for an ectopic pregnancy that was nearly missed, ruptured my left ovary completely, and almost killed me. In the weeks that followed, we were completely devastated and ready to give up hope of ever having a precious little baby of our own...

...BUT...only 3 months after the ectopic pregnancy, in February of 2005, we were shocked to find out that we were pregnant AGAIN! Needless to say, we were worried, and, to be honest, not real hopeful that this pregnancy would work out, either. Those first few weeks were pretty much consumed with blood tests, ultrasounds, doctor visits, lots of worry, and, oh yeah, puking. Lots and LOTS of puking was going on!!! But, as the days turned into months and I was still pregnant, we S L O W L Y began to allow ourselves to think it actually might work out this time.

On May 23, 2005, we found out we were expecting a BOY! We were very excited - Shawn was beside himself - he knew it was a boy all along! :) And we knew right away that we would be naming him "Charles" after my dad, Shawn's dad, and Shawn's grandfather. And "Michael", after Shawn's brother, our brother-in-law, and one of Shawn's best buddies. So, Charlie is named after SIX very-much-loved people! This ultrasound pic was taken the same day we found out he was a boy:

One of the coolest things was that Shawn's sister, Christine, found out she was pregnant, too, right about the same time. At this time, my sister, Melissa, and my other sister-in-law, Maryann, were both pregnant, as well. And we were all 4 having BOYS! We never did get a shot of all 4 bellies, but here's one of Christine and me, our due dates were just 3 weeks apart:


Some more pregnancy pics:

One of Charlie's showers:

This next one was taken on the day we were admitted to the hospital to start inducing...all I can say is, "woah, mama!":

I was admitted to the hospital to be induced on Thursday, October 27, 2005. The induction went on for three INCREDIBLY LONG, PAINFUL days of contractions and failed epidurals and they finally had to just go in and cut our chubby boy out on Sunday, October 30, at 3:25 am.

And there he was, 10 pounds, 8 ounces of pink, screaming, fat, but incredibly adorable baby!

Needless to say, we love him to pieces!

From birth on, Charlie has grown and grown and GROWN! Today, at 20 months old, over 36 pounds, and wearing a size 4T, he still has yet to drop under the 95th percentile for both height and weight! He is so far off the charts that all our doctor can tell us is that he is "Over the 99th percentile, that is for sure".

1 month old, 14 pounds:

2 months old, 18 pounds:


3 months old, 22 pounds:

4 months old:

5 months old: 6 months old, 26 pounds:

7 months old:



8 months old:

9 months old:

TO BE CONTINUED...