About Us

Brendon and I met in July of 2005.  I had recently graduated from UW-Madison with a degree in Elementary Education, and Brendon had earned his graduate degree from the UW-Madison School of Business.  Brendon was working at St. Mary's Hospital in the Public Relations and Marketing Department.  I was applying for teaching jobs and working two part-time jobs.  We met on Match.com, which I used to be fairly embarrassed to admit.  At the time, it wasn't as common as it is now for people to meet on dating websites.  When people would ask how we met, Brendon would tell them the real story, and I usually just said it was a blind date.  A blind date that he was 20 minutes late for...

After e-mailing a few times, we discovered that we grew up a few miles from one an other.  Our paths never crossed because of our age difference of 5 years, and Brendon went to public school while I went to private.  But after realizing we knew some of the same people, and had the same pediatrician and dentist growing up, we decided to meet.  Our first date was funny, disastrous, and memorable.  I lived about two blocks from St. Mary's, so we decided to meet at my apartment after Brendon was done working for the day.  I sat in my living room and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  As the minutes ticked by, I decided that whether or not he showed up, this was going to be my last Match.com date.  I truly despised the blind dates and had yet to go on one I enjoyed, so I decided I was done.  Eventually Brendon arrived.  Since his car was at St. Mary's, we decided that I would drive.  At which point I realized that I had a car seat in my car because I often drove then-1-year-old James around town.  I felt so ridiculous - we didn't know each other very well, and I didn't want him to think I was itching to have kids soon.  Luckily, after explanation, Brendon and I laughed about the car seat, and drove to The Great Dane, where we laughed some more as I not only bumped the wall in the parking garage when I parked my car, but then went on to drop a tomato from my sandwich onto my white shirt.  Not the smoothest of first dates, but I must have done something right because we soon went out on a second date.  And a third.  And pretty soon I couldn't remember how I spent my time before we met.

July 14, 2006 - a year after we met

In August of 2006, Brendon proposed to me at Olbrich Gardens.  A year and two weeks later, we were married in the same garden.

August 17, 2007

Two years later, Cole was born on November 25, 2009.  I had dreamed of being a mom my entire life, and I felt like my dreams started coming true when I met Brendon.  Despite Cole's birth not going how I had planned, it was still one of the two happiest days of my life.  The weeks that followed were life changing.  Adjusting to being a stay-at-home mom wasn't easy, but having the chance to snuggle my baby boy all day long made it all worth it.

December 11, 2009. 2 weeks old.

Two and a half years later, we were prepared to welcome our second child into the world.  At 39 weeks and 6 days gestation, we learned that our daughter no longer had a heartbeat.  The next day, on September 9, 2012, I delivered Molly Christine silently into the world.

September 9, 2012

Molly's life and death constantly shape the way Brendon and I see the world.  We are different parents now, more grateful for each moment with Cole.  Losing Molly was devastating, but we learn from her every day.  She will never be forgotten and will always be a very important part of our family.

We are currently expecting our third child, due in October of this year.  This pregnancy is full of hope, hesitation, fear, and anxiety.  When we found out this baby is a girl, it brought out all sorts of confusing emotions.  Time will tell what is next for our family, and we hope to soon be able to share photos of Cole with one of his little sisters in his arms.