Sad News....

We are so sad to say that we had a miscarriage over the weekend. Even at just 7 weeks pregnant, it's amazing how much you love your tiny baby already, and are devastated to learn of anything wrong. It has been a very emotional time of loss coming at the same weekend of the anniversary of Joel's brother Zach's death. We know that God's timing is perfect, but it's sure hard to understand sometimes! Losing our baby has sure made me realize what a miracle Camden is. His precious smile definitely brought tears as we came home from the doctor with bad news yesterday. He is such a source of joy for us and I am SOOO blessed and thankful to be his mommy. Thank you Lord, for the miracle of life you've already blessed us with.

Yesterday also marked 13 years of "togetherness" for Joel and me. How crazy is that??!?!?! I can't believe that 1/2 of my life I've spent loving the same boy. Joel, you have exceeded every expectation I had of a husband. You have been an incredible Christian leader of our home and continue to challenge me to trust in God's direction for our lives. We've shared our happiest days and saddest days and I can't imagine walking through life with anyone else. I can't wait to see what the next 13 years holds!

We will continue to hold tight to the truth that God has a plan for our family, and trust that He will work things out for the good, even if it means hurting a little right now. Thanks so much for the prayers and kind words we've already received from lots of you! We have the BEST family and friends. I am confident that life will return to normal very soon and we'll have more pictures to post of our busy little guy!

Orange Bats and Green Beans

Camden's favorite toy lately is his bright orange bat. It always has a home in one of his hands, NO MATTER WHAT! Cam is a pro at crawling with it, playing with other toys with bat in hand, and beating everything in sight. I thought Joel was going to have a heart attack when our sweet boy starting banging on the TV. Check out our little slugger....

We have a very independant baby on our hands....we're sure his first phrase will be "I can do it myself". I'm still holding out for "you look beautiful today, mommy". Camden never wants help with anything. His most recent meltdowns have resulted from us trying to help feed him something. We have laughed so much at how he very deliberately spits out what you just fed him, only to put it back in his mouth himself. He is a great eater....so we just let him get messy! :)

What, you never save green beans on your forehead for later?

We hope everyone has a great rest of the week...enjoy the beautiful weather!

Here we go again....

NOVAK, Party of four please! :)

That's right...Camden's going to be a big brother! We were very excited to learn last week that we'll be expecting another sweet addition to the Novak family sometime early Dec./late Nov.! That will make our 2 little ones just shy of 18 mo. apart....AHAHGHGHAH! We'll be busy, but we're telling ourselves it'll work somehow! :) Those of you who have been there, or know better...please don't tell us the truth. Ha! Joel and I feel so blessed to be pregnant again...God is so good to our famiy! My prayer for the next 8 months is that we will treasure each day with Camden as he will soon have to share our focus and attention. We're so lucky to have the help of great family and friends to support us through this new adventure! Stay tuned for new baby/belly (hopefully not for AWHILE!) updates, as well as what Mr. Camden is up to!

Until then, check out these belly pictures from almost 1 year ago....I forget how big it actually gets, and I CAN'T BELIEVE we're doing it again!!!! This was Joel's graduation last year....just about ready to POP!

Here are a couple pictures of Camden telling his Meme and Papa the good news! I'm embarrassed to say that we definitely had puff paint at home to make this very trendy "Big Brother" t-shirt. I'm pretty sure they were Joel's. :)

Camden meets cousin Lily!

I'll keep the talk short this time, as we have tons of pictures to share from our fun weekend up north to see baby Lily and her mommy and daddy! Camden was a great boy and had so much fun giving Lily open mouth kisses (what a fun story that will be later!!). We continue to be amazed at Brytni and Jason's hospitality and go with the flow attitude just days after bringing home a newborn....amazing! Ok...enjoy!

How did I get stuck with the big one?

It was so sweet to watch Joel and Bryt together with their babies!

You want me to paint your toenails? Ok baby Lily. :)

Loving on Meme and Papa Novak

Camden and his good buddy Bailey

We also wanted to share some videos we took over the weekend of our kid's infectious laugh. Hope they make you smile like they do for us! :) Have a great week!