Walk To Remember

Today was the first time our family attended the St. Francis Walk To Remember walk for Pregnancy and Infant Loss.  We got lost on the way, but ended up finding it just before everything started.  We gathered at the hospital with all the other families who were there to honor their lost babies.  Seeing the amount of people there was a pleasent surprise.  We took a short walk to a nearby park for a special ceremony.  Along the walk we saw our sign for Baby Jason, I was so excited to see this!  When we settled in at the park we listened to a poem "A Walk To Remember" which brought tears to Matt and my eyes.  A short while into the program they played "Precious Child" which is a song we chose to play at Jason's memorial service.  The lyrics to this song are just so touching and so personal to us we were both in tears again.  We sat and listened as they read the names of all the babies, very touching and loved hearing them read Jason Nicholas Montgomery to honor our little angel!  They then released 3 doves to symbolize the past, present, and future of our lives in honoring our little ones.  Beautiful to watch, and Claire enjoyed seeing them fly up to heaven.  They then played a song and we released some special balloons.  We released balloons for Jason, as well as our 2 angel babies from before Claire.  We also had a special balloon to honor Baby Mason since our dear friends were unable to attend.  Claire had been talking all day about how excited Baby Jason was going to be in heaven because she was going to give him some balloons.  Her pure understanding of everything always amazes me.  She is such a miracle child, and not a day goes by that I do not stop to thank God for blessing us with our precious little girl!  After the ceremony we were able to pick out 3 potted mums as gifts for our babies.  We then had lunch at the park before heading back home.  It was a rollercoaster of emotions, but such a wonderful experience!  Baby Jason and our angel babies are in our hearts and on our minds all the time.  We are so lucky to have such supportive family and close friends who care so much about us.  It means so much to us that you continue to keep us in your prayers and Jason in your hearts!

Camping and Hiking

Before Matt started back at work we took Claire to Turkey Run State Park to hike and camp.  The weather looked questionable, but we decided to give it a try.  It was raining when we left but by the time we got there it was nice and sunny!  We found a campsite, and loaded up to go for our first hike.  Despite going with a toddler and cassie our dog we chose one of the most rugged trails b/c I knew it had some water that they love!  It was so much fun!  We then went and cooked hotdogs on the grill, then went for a bike ride at the campground.  We took Claire to the park to play then got rained on while riding back to our camp.  We were laughing the whole way we were getting poured on :)  After the rain Claire cooked marshmellows on the fire for the first time.  After smores we watched a little Dora and then had our "sleepover" as Claire kept saying.  After a successful nights sleep we packed up and went to the trails one more time.  Another fun hike, but the last 1/2 mile Claire was wiped out and needed Daddy to carry her.  Great trip full of great memories!!!

Mary turns 30, Key West, and moving

Turning 30 was definitely has it's ups and downs but I was so happy to be able to spend the day with my family and wonderful friends the MacOwans.  We decided to also make one last adventure out of living in Flordia and drove down to Key West.  A 5 hour drive, but something well worth doing once in your life!  Then we left for Indiana.....a straight 21 hour drive.  whew!

Christine is such a thoughtful friend.  She got me birthday doughnuts, flowers, & party hats.  How sweet!

Time to move back to Indiana

Claire got her water baby for our trip home, she was so excited!!!

September Begins......

September came as did our decision to move back to Indiana.  We are so happy we were able to try out a new location even though it isn't going to be the best place for our family to stay.  We are making the absolute most of the rest of our time here in sunny Florida.  Super excited for our wonderful friends the MacOwan's and Mike Evans to be coming to visit!

Claire and Daddy playing at the pool

Daddy teaching Claire to play putt-putt for the first time :)

Mommy and Claire at putt-putt

 Claire sinking her putt :)

Matt & Lincoln with Matt & Claire :)

Claire showing Lincoln how to play in the sand at the beach. 

Christine & Lincoln with Mary & Claire at the beach

August 21-28

This week we have definitely made the most of living in Florida!  We went to the beach or pool every day!  The hurricane missed us, we only got some wind.  Claire was excited to see the big waves it made in the Gulf.  We moved Claire's nap back an hour this week as well since she never seems tired and was really fighting going to sleep.  It's worked like a charm!  She cracks me up everytime you lay her down b/c without missing a beat she always says, "bye, bye, see you later, happy birthday, happy valentines day"  :)  She's so comical!

Claire and Daddy racing to the ocean

Claire riding the waves made from the wind of the hurricane.

She kept squealing everytime a wave crashed by :)

Baby penguin (check), sippy (check), a good book (check), my hollywood shades (check) all ready for a ride in Daddy's Grand National to a car show in Fort Myers :)

She loves to help mommy peel the corn on the cob :)

We found one of Claire's old pacifiers today and she thought it was hilarious to use it for a bit.  She dropped it and we told her it was covered in Cassie hair and was gross so we had to throw it away. 

So we took our eyes off Claire for about 30 seconds and look where we found her! 

She is still such a little monkey!

Claire's first time using scissors.  She did great and was so proud of herself!

Looking Beautiful all ready for church :)