Siblings

I'm the oldest out of seven of us; Me, Scotty, Leslie, Tom, Emily, Stephen and Phillip. Their is a ten year gap between the oldest and youngest. We were all born in Northern Indiana and the twins(Stephen and Phillip) were the only one's born in a hospital. My mom had a midwife for everyone else. I would say that the first 13 years of my life were the simplest. We lived in a lot of different houses, but the most memorable one was on a pig farm. We had a lot of land, which allowed us to be creative when playing. I can vividly remember the time I hated being the oldest(around my middle school years) so I attempted to spend a lot of time with friends. I really started to appreciate my role as a big sister towards the end of High School and when I moved on to college. We are very unique in our own ways. Neither one of us are alike, and after you get to know us you can guess what characteristics we took from our parents. I love my brothers and sisters very much and no matter where we are in our lives we will always have eachother. The other cool thing about my life is that I have two sets of parents as well as two step-brothers; Avery and Andrew. My parents divorced when I was 15 years old. My dad met Nina and then my mom met Tim and they all got married in 2001. It's different being the oldest of so many kids because what I experienced growing up is very different then what my twin brothers experienced.

THANK YOU!!!!!

Over the last couple of months, Brian and I have been showered with lots of gifts. We had a fantastic time celebrating with friends and family. I wanted to say Thank You to all of you! I can't wait to show her off :)

Best Friend and Lover

Meet my husband, Brian, also known as "B" or B-Pod." We met through a mutual friend when I was 18 years old. We've been together since then. We are completely different and often laugh at how we can answer a question two very different ways. The one thing that we agree on is how much we love each other and will always be there for each other no matter what. He has allowed me to be an independent thinker and decision maker. He has taken care of me since I was 18 years old; protected me, loved me, and challenged me. When we were both attending college at UW-Stevens Point we decided to take austronomy together. I've always been challenged academically and of course school came easy to him. I needed to get a good grade on my final exam so he quizzed me to death which got me the grade I needed. He first told me he loved me while in Aruba after six months of dating. I would say my favorite memory is our wedding. It was such a day of celebration and sharing that with lots of family and friends. Our challenging moments are few and far inbetween, but I think that's because we compromise and don't put a lot of pressure on having to come up with the perfect answer. A marriage is a growing relationship that is always being challenged by elements around you. As long as you have faith and trust each other things will work out. You may be reading this and question if I'm for real and may say, "just wait until you have a baby." We'll, bring it on!

Infertility Pains

I found out I was pregnant around Thanksgiving 2007. I woke up early in the morning to take a pregnancy test, which finally came out positive. This was after two years of trying including several months of fertility assistance. The first person I told was Brian, obviously, but then it was my mom. I was then forced to immediately tell my grandma or my mom would spoil the excitement for me. I honestly feel that I got pregnant after lots of prayer and booking a ticket to Australia to visit my brother, Scotty, that I missed dearly. I have been blessed with the best pregnancy ever! My first trimester was a breeze. I was able to fly across the world during this time and had never gotten sick. The only think I couldn't eat was pizza. I almost forgot I was pregnant, but was quickly reminded when I took a dive into the ocean and my stomach stretched out more than it should've. I never did that again. My second trimester was the hardest because I had some major growing and stretching pains. Now I'm in the third trimester and I'm awaiting the excitement of meeting our first child to be, Hailey Hammerling! I know you can never be prepared for parenthood, but at this point, Brian and I are ready for it. This is one of my favorite pictures with my sisters. They are very excited to meet her as well. The coolest feeling in the world is all the support that I've had while trying to get pregnant in addition to everyone's anticipation for her debut.