What the....

I just saw a scary commercial for this on Noggin. I can't even explain how many different ways this scares me!

The day it all started

So today is J and my 12 year anniversary. Wow...sounds weird just saying that. We have been together since we were juniors in high school! We definitely have had our good and bad times, but I can honestly say it has made out relationship stronger. I'm lucky that I found my soulmate at 16 and I'm even luckier that as we have gotten older our relationship has matured right along with us. Lots of hugs and kisses to J tonight! :)

In other news, C, M, and I headed to a children's performance this morning in my neverending quest to find cheap things to occupy us. We had a good time, but it was definitely HOT. Not sure I would recommend going to an outdoor performance on a day like today, but luckily it was completely shaded so that helped some. The other upside was the girls napped like angels this afternoon!

We are busy getting ready for this weekend. Saturday we are heading to a birthday party in Richmond. C is thrilled to spend some time with her man. Sunday, C is starting swim lessons again. She took them as an infant but the instructor wasn't all that great and her constant ear infections kept us away. We're doing a parent/child class for 8 weeks with the hope I can enroll her in a child only class this fall. I'll definitely post some pictures of her underwater adventures.

These boots were made for walking...

So big news in our house..... M is walking!! She took 2 steps on Sunday, followed by 8 yesterday...and she's just going from there. I'm so excited and scared at the same time it's not even funny! My back is loving that I won't need to carry her as much soon, that's for sure! Not sure how I'm going to handle both girls running around, but we'll manage.

On top of this, I got a call from C's ballet teacher yesterday that Miss C may be in a local newspaper this week!! Apparently a reporter was there on Friday during the dress rehearsal and snapped a few pics of her. They have asked my permission for one of them to appear, but we won't know for sure until it comes out on Friday. I can't wait to see!!

Exciting week in our house so far!!!

Dancing Queen

Yesterday was C's big dance recital. It was called Flowers & Fairies and Miss C. was a Buttercup. She did ballet and tap in it beautifully. We had one minor breakdown causing her teacher to call me backstage (along with 2 other moms) because she wanted me to put on her tap shoes. After I arrived, lollipops were passed out, and a promise of a Barbie if she kept smiling, the show went on. Here are some pictures of her grooving her thing... This first one was prior to the start of her show...

Here are some ballet moves...

The whole thing was adorable. Even M loved the music and seeing big sis dancing. And yes, she got her Barbie afterwards. I know, bad mommy...LOL.

Now dance is over for the summer and I'm stuck wondering what the heck we are going to do with our time! C will start swim classes this Sunday, but other than that, we will have to find some things to do. We'll be heading to NJ a bunch of times, and I'm sure we will go down the shore, but that's about it. It's going to be a looooonnnnngggg summer!!

1 year and counting...

Today is a rough day in so many ways. First, in the normal mom way it's rough because both kids were up alternating hours all night. C was up with a nightmare, I think, and M was running a fever (again!). I swear they sit down before bedtime and map out which hour they are going to be up so I can get precisely to the point where I'm deep asleep in bliss and then *MOMMMMMYYYYY!!!* can be heard. I'm not sure there is enough caffeine in NoVA to keep me going today, but we will try. Going to take a shower and maybe try some new soap and see if that helps. (Oh yes...that is real...)

Secondly, this is a crazy busy day for us. Here's our schedule...

9:45 am -- Take my sister to work.

10:30 am -- Get M down for nap.

10: 30 -12 pm -- Clean like a mad woman in preparation for inlaws arrival.

12- 1 pm -- Get the kids fed and down for naps.

2:30 pm -- Babysitter arrives.

3:00 pm -- Meet J at title company to sign mortgage docs. (We're refinancing)

4:30 pm -- Get C ready and over to her dance recital dress rehearsal.

5 - 7:00 pm -- C's dress rehearsal.

In all of this what is not included is me taking a shower, getting laundry done, possibly taking M to the dr (if her fever returns), and my inlaws arriving. Not to mention what the heck we will do for dinner?!?

Finally, and this is the part I've been really dreading, today is the one year anniversary on my grandmother passing away. This time last year I was getting the kids packed up in the car to make my way to NJ, two weeks post c-section, to help with the arrangements. Here I thought I would do little things, but instead I took on buying the flowers, putting together pictures, and writing the euology?!? What was I thinking?? I have to say that by far this was the hardest thing I have ever done. My grandmother was like my mom so dealing with her death was intense. What made it worse was that I didn't make it up to say goodbye, and she never met M. I'm not sure I will ever get over that. So, today is definitely a day I would love to stay in bed and sleep through, but that's just not possible. Instead, I'll cut the crap as my grandmother used to say and plow through.

Here's a picture of us together. It's from my baby shower with C before the cancer started.

Grandma...I miss you more than words can say. I think of you all the time and know you are looking down on all of us. I love you.

--K

The Rules...

Tonight before putting C to bed, she was playing with her princess hopscotch. As she was putting it together, she quite seriously told me about the "rules". They were as follows...

1. You always have to be nice to me.
2. You always have to give me hugs and kisses.
3. You always have to make me lunch.
4. You always have to make my dinner and eat yours.
5. You always have to play nice things with me.

This whole interaction was quite amusing to me. I found it very hard to keep a straight face through the conversation. As you can guess, I've been enforcing some rules of my own these days. Seems like C is deciding hers are better...

Straight from the mouth of C...

C has quite a personality. I thought I would share a few conversations we had recently...

#1 -- Her new bed...

C...Mommy, I love my bed. When you grow smaller you can sleep with me.

Me...Thanks honey, but grown ups don't grow smaller, they keep getting bigger just like you get bigger.

C... Ok...but your legs can get smaller and then you will fit. :)
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#2 -- While eating her dinner last night

C... My taco stuff is all coming out!

J...It's ok, I'll help you put it back together.

C... Thanks Daddy. It's too hard for little kids to do this. That's why you go to work.

J & Me...(muffling laughter)
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#3 -- Neverending Questions (usually around bedtime)

C...Mommy, why do we have bottoms?

Me...So we have a place to sit.

C...But then why do we need chairs?

Me...So we have a comfortable place to sit.

C...But some bottoms have pillows on them so they would be comfy.

Me...(LOL) What do you mean?

C...Some bottoms are smushy like a pillow.

Me... (Really laughing now) Yes honey, I guess they are.

C....So then why do we need chairs??

I'm definitely at the million question stage with her. It's fun and annoying that's for sure. I'll share more memorable ones as they occur...

--K

Cake meet M...

Here are some pictures of M and her birthday cake. She ate the whole piece!!



Here she is showing off her bite...







Just wanted to share. I'll write a more noteworthy post later.
--K

M's Big Day!

Yesterday was M's first birthday! So, I thought I would relive it with a picture of her and how she was born...

I started having severe back pain and contractions at 11 pm on Thursday night. I tried everything to make it go away: drank water, walked, took a bath, etc. The only relief I felt was in the bath but about a half hour after I got out, it just got worse. I started timing my contractions, and they would get to be about 6 minutes apart, and then would space out to 10 minutes. I figured I would wait as long as I could, then call the dr.

By noon on Friday, I was miserable. I was still having back pain, and decided to call my doctor. I called them at 1:30 pm, and they told me to head to L&D. I got there around 3 pm. They immediately hooked me up to a monitor and said I wasn't contracting. My doctor then came to see me, and she turned off the monitor and put her hands on my belly. She then said, Oh yea...you are contracting! DUH!!! She then moved the monitor, and there they were...every 2-3 minutes. She asked me how long it was going on, and I told her since the night before. She left me for an hour, then came back to check me...and guess what. NO change!! I was still just 1cm, and my cervix was posterior. She told me her guess was the baby was too big for my pelvis, especially based on the back pain. After talking it over with her and J, we decided to go in for a c-section. They made a few quick calls, and I was scheduled for 6:30 pm that night.

The c-section went well. I have to say, I was nervous since I got so sick last time and felt so much pain...but this time was perfect. No vomiting, no pain. They did a great job at responding to me. At 7:17 pm, M screamed her way into the world. :) She was so stuck in me, it took two people pushing on my uterus to get her out!! The dr was relieved that I went for the c-section especially when they weighed her. M was 8lbs. 2ozs. and 19 inches long. This was at 38 weeks!!!

I love you M and can't believe how big you are!! I can't wait to see how much you grow and change over the next year.

-- K

Illness & other issues...

God, what a horrible few days we have been having! Both kids were sick with high fevers so of course, that means none of us have gotten a decent night's sleep. I've been running on empty for about 2 weeks now as one of the girls was up every night with something... I long for a nice nap or decent night's sleep. Here's hoping it's coming soon!!

Aside from the sickness in my house, I've finally ventured back to the doctor for myself. You see, I hurt my neck and back a while back and just went to get the CT scan results. Turns out I have 4 bulging discs in my neck and another teamed with arthritis in my lower back. What does this mean ladies and gentlemen? Well, I'm going to be going for some serious (read steriod epidural!!) injections into my neck and back, as well as some physical therapy for the next few months. Fun, right?!? On top of that my doctor gently reminded me that I need to try and lose a few pounds. As if it were that easy...oh wow, *poof* there goes 10 right now! Seriously though, I have been trying but my life doesn't help. I used to not eat at all when I was upset and now I have the opposite issue. Sugar, particularly contained in chocolate is my best friend. It's always there to give me a nice warm feeling when I'm feeling crappy and all it asks in return is that I keep eating it!! It's been working for me a little too long and I realize it. I also know I can't diet on my own, so I'm going to drag my flabby butt down to Weight Watchers next week and see what they can do for me (Hi, my name is Kelly and I'm a fat beast!)...

Finally, it's M's birthday this Saturday. It's hard to believe my little baby (ok at 22 lbs, she's not that little!!) is going to be 1. What's even more incredible to me is that she's also my last baby. She's growing up way too fast for me to deal with that. I need to get a fix on that baby smell one more time before she turns into a stinky toddler...lol! For about half a second when I see a small infant, particularly boys, I dream about having another. And then reality hits and makes me realize how much more insane my life would be if we had 3 kids...especially close in age!! So I'm done with kids, at least for now...

Ok, off to get some things done around here.
-K