17 weeks

And I've "popped." I'm now starting to look a little less like I've gained some weight, and a little more like I'm actually pregnant. Every muscle in my abdomen hates me at the moment, and sneezing is the worst. I feel like I completely rip out the muscle along my hips every time I do. Babycenter says Stealth Ninja Baby is about the size of a turnip, and I totally believe it. There are times I feel like someone has shoved a rock or something in my belly.

Symptoms are still pretty boring - slightly queasy all the time, crazy dreams, want to sleep a lot, have a cold. Other than that, we're just cruising on, waiting for the ultrasound on Tuesday. Can't wait to see if we're going to have a boy, or add another sparkly princess to the mix!

Book 2/24 - Angelfall by Susan Ee

2) Angelfall by Susan Ee

I have to say, I really really liked it. It's classified as YA Fiction, and it was a really easy read. I tend to like things that deal with the supernatural - angels, demons, etc - so an entire book based on angels coming down to earth was great. I loved the relationship that Penryn and the Angel had, and wasn't sure whether to love or hate the mom. The only part that really got to me were the ones with her little sister. Paige is 7 (the same age as Cadence), and some of the parts with her just broke my heart, because I kept thinking of Cadence. Overall, the book was excellent.

This is the first in a series, and #2 hasn't been published yet, but I will definitely be getting it when it is. This one was only 99¢ on the Kindle, and well worth it.

I gave this one 4 books.

Book 1/24 - The Hunger Games

I've decided to try the book challenge again, and am hoping for 24 books this year. That's only 2 a month, and I'm going to go from Christmas 2011 to Christmas 2012. I'm hoping I can actually do it this year, since last year was a sensational flop!

1) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I had read enough online about this book before actually reading it, that I knew pretty much what would happen. And I must say, I'm glad I did. I would have been a complete mess if I hadn't, and probably would have cried through a lot of it. Between the ages of the main characters, the total disregard of most of the adults, and the crummy (to put it lightly) conditions they had to live in day to day, it definitely pulled at the heartstrings (especially since I'm a pregnant, overly hormonal mom.) It was really good (even if depressing), and I'm eager to read the next two since I haven't read anything online about them yet. I now want to see the movie as well, and am curious as to how much a like they will be. I don't know that I'd rank it up there with my most favorite books ever, but it was definitely a great read.

I have two others I've started, and a at least three more still to start. Next on the list are 11/22/63 by Stephen King (in book form) and Angelfall (on the Kindle app.) The Stephen King one is HUGE (about 850 pages), but I'm already halfway finished. It's awesome, and I think I'm going to be very sad when I'm through with it.

Over all, 4 Books

This is still bizarre to me

I know this is my third time to go through a pregnancy long enough to endure symptoms, but they are still crazy to me. And come February, I will have been either pregnant or nursing for 2 years straight, so that's throwing things off even more. I'm beginning to forget what MY normal is, instead of pregnancy/nursing normal!

The most bizarre to me is the food. It still seems so weird to me that one day something can be perfectly fine, my favorite food ever, then the very next day, just the thought of said food makes me want to make a beeline for the bathroom. That on some days, smells and tastes and textures don't faze me at all, but on others, the act of getting to close to something, or even the idea of putting it in my mouth and actually EATING it, makes me want to gag (and I do, on occasion.) I'm also full of snot (thank you, awesome Mississippi weather!),  and that's definitely not helping with the gagging problem. Thankfully, though, the "puking every time I change a diaper" seems to have slacked up some. It's not gone completely, but is getting better.

So far I haven't had any weird cravings this time. With Cadence it was mac and cheese, chocolate milk and grilled cheese sandwiches. I went through a brief bbq phase, but it was mainly cheese and milk. I think I was needing more calcium. With Amelia it was watermelon. OMG, I ate so much of it that summer, and was going through one to two a week for awhile there. It was like someone laced it with crack! I also had a brief "peach milkshake from Chick-fil-a" craving that ended with me crying in the drive-thru because they had stopped selling them. Not my finest pregnancy moment. This time the closest I've come to a craving is salad. I liked them before, but it's like every salad tastes even better now. It hasn't been an all consuming craving like with the others, but it's the only thing that's come close.

As of tomorrow I'll be 17 weeks, and so far things are pretty boring. I'm between sizes in clothes - can't wear a lot of my regular jeans because they feel too tight, but the maternity jeans I have are still slightly too big. My stomach isn't *quite* big enough yet to keep them up, and in most of my clothes you can't tell I'm pregnant. I look like I've put on a few pounds, but that's about it. I still haven't really felt movement - a few flutters here and there, but nothing like with the other two. "Ninja baby" really seems to fit this one, because there are lots of times that I forget that I'm even pregnant. I hope it starts moving a little more soon, though, because the girls both moved a ton. I'm going to be a nervous wreck if I'm not getting punched all the time! Heartburn hasn't started yet (even though I'm sure it will within the next few weeks), I'm still slightly queasy a lot of the time, and I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the hormonal headaches don't make an appearance any time soon. I go Tuesday for my 18 week appointment, and we will do an ultrasound then. Cadence is going with me, and we hope to be able to tell what the sex is. I can't wait!

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! It was fun, but way too short, and I got spoiled getting to take a nap almost every day I was off. When 2pm hit today, I was really wishing for a place to sleep. Cadence loved that she got a basketball goal, and ended up with tons of art stuff, pretty jewelry, sparkly headbands, and new clothes for Emily. Amelia got some new bath toys, a little people castle (which she adores) and jeep, a stroller for her dolls and lots of other random toys that she seems very excited about. Overall, I think they were both very happy with their loot, and have another Christmas with my dad and stepmom this weekend.

I racked up as well. From my mom I got a ton of purple baking supplies, a purple northface jacket with a mixer charm attached, new books, lots of pretty jewelry and Les Miserables on dvd. My sisters got me some awesome boots and a cool sticker for the back of my laptop. Cadence got me a purple brownie maker, and Mike got me some new running shoes, an awesome laptop bag, and Stephen King’s new book 11/22/63. For him, my mom and I went in together and got him tickets to go see Stan Lee in New Orleans at the end of January. He is so excited, and we should officially be buying the tickets at the end of this week!

We also cemented that Amelia has a milk intolerance. We are currently having to stay away from any dairy - no milk, cheese, yogurt, or anything that has those in them. That was loads of fun at Christmas when it meant no lemon icebox pie, rotel dip, poppyseed chicken or mac and cheese. I feel so bad that there are so many good foods she can’t have, but the vomiting, diarrhea, gas pain and stomach cramps just aren’t worth it. We’ve been told to take her off all milk for now, and that hopefully as she gets older we’ll be able to reintroduce it.

Now to what I know you all want to see: Pictures! There are a ton, but it was a very good Christmas! I hope everyone has a wonderful 2012!

My mixer from my mom :)

Awesome laptop bag!

BATH TOYS!!!!

Slowly adjusting

It's been a few days, so now we're slowly starting to adjust to the idea of not only am I pregnant, but we're going to have another little one 19 months younger than Amelia, we need to figure out a car situation, and something's gonna hafta give as far as rooms are concerned! We've had quite a few practical discussions over the weekend, and think we at least have a plan in place for most of it.

I've also discovered that there were a lot of little things, but no major, glaring red flags. If I had stopped long enough to put the pieces together, I'm sure I would have figured it out much sooner than 14 weeks, but hey, who has time for anything with a 7 year old and 1 year old at Christmas?? I'm still not showing, which is so bizarre to me since it was getting obvious by this point with Amelia, and beyond obvious with Cadence, and still have on regular clothes. I went back and looked, and I've gained a little more weight than I had at this point with A, but not much. I'm also slightly queasy all the time. I thought it was the stomach bug from hell that we've been cursed with, but seems it was something else! But if this means no headaches like the last two times, I'll deal with the queasiness!

So much change in such a short amount of time. I can't think about it too much, though, or it becomes a little overwhelming!

Here comes Santa Claus!

Cadence loved him (no surprise there!), but Amelia wasn't so sure what to think of that crazy man I was handing her off to. She didn't cry, but I love the look she's giving me!

Well that's not what I expected

I went in for my yearly check up yesterday, and found out that not only am I pregnant, I'm 14 weeks pregnant!

A pregnancy test was done as part of the normal procedure, and the nurse came back telling me that I was, indeed, knocked up. I didn't believe her, she insisted, then felt of my stomach and said since she really couldn't feel my uterus, I probably wasn't that far along. She said she'd do my physical first, then we'd do a vaginal ultrasound to see if we could find a heartbeat and see how far along I was. Well, when she did the ultrasound, this is what we saw:



Not a blob, not a little butterbean baby, a real live actual baby! With fingers and toes and everything! The nurse and I both just stared at the screen, and I think she was as shocked as I was. My official due date is June 8, and I go back on Dec 20 (about a week and a half) for my first actual OB appoint.

Wow. Another baby!

Just to clear things up...

I am a graphic designer

• All of the handouts, billboard, flyers, product packaging, magazines, banners, and newspapers you see? Me, or someone like me, had a very important role in that getting produced.
• My job is more that just "making things pretty."
• I have 4+ years of higher education, and two degrees. I didn't just wake up one day and decide I wanted to do this. I actually did go to school for it and had to take classes to learn how to do my job correctly.
• I AM a professional. So when you see something I've created for you and comment "That looks so professional!!" it's insulting. Very insulting.
• On that note, when you tell me that I need to just run to a chain store and buy pre-printed and pre-designed papers to use instead of doing what you've hired me to do, that's also very insulting.
• If you want something designed, and change your mind 45 million times, and I keep having to redo it for you, don't get mad at me when we're stressing about making the deadline or have passed the intended deadline. I can't snap my fingers and make the work be completed. It actually does take a little time.
• I have close to $1500 worth of programs on my computer that were made to do graphic design work. These are wonderful programs, but are expensive and took years for me to learn to use.
  
• I don't use Microsoft Word, Excel or Powerpoint unless it's for a simple letter, spreadsheet or powerpoint presentation. And most of the time, I have an Adobe program that will do any of those tasks faster and more accurately. So PLEASE don't come ask me to design something for you in Powerpoint or Word. I will laugh at you.
• And on that note, if you bring me something you designed yourself in Word, chances are I'm going to have to redo it in the programs I use to make it print correctly. It's nothing personal if I do, I just want to make sure it "looks professional."
• I mainly deal with designing print pieces. I don't know much about websites (even though there are lots of us that do), and please don't ask me to do any marketing or copy editing. I CAN, but I can't promise it will be great.

In short, I am a professional, I DID have to go to school to do this, and it's more than pushing a few keys on the computer. I love what I do, and I think I'm pretty dang good at it. But the people that act like my job is completely unimportant really really bug me. Please, just have a little respect. You hired me for a reason. Let me do what I do best.

A birthday party - in pictures...

Birthdaypalooza 2011! 
(and don't laugh at their cakes. I know it's not my best, but I was running fever and sick, and it's a miracle they even HAD individual cakes at that point!!) 

Birthdaypalooza

Wow. Over a month since I last posted! This last month has been insane, but I'm back - at least briefly! The last two weeks have been the biggest party extravaganza ever at our house, and it started on Oct. 28 with Amelia turning one. ONE!!! How in the world is that possible? Her birthday was on a Friday, and it was also the Friday before Halloween. We sent cupcakes to the babysitter's for the Halloween party and a special one for MillieBug, then had cake at the house that night and gave her a few little presents.
 
 

Monday night was Halloween, and I took a very pretty peacock and a very active ladybug around the neighborhood. Amelia figured out by house two what they were putting in that bucket, and after that, she was all for this trick-or-treating thing! We spent the majority of the trip with her sucking on a dum dum sucker, and she had a blast handing out candy to people that came by the house that night. Cadence went around with us, then went to a neighborhood that was close with a friend of hers. We have more candy than we'll ever be able to eat, but I think both girls had a blast.




On Wednesday (November 2) it was Cadence's 7th birthday! It's so hard for me to believe that it's been 7 years already. She got her first American Girl doll for her birthday, and we let her open it that morning before school. She knew she was getting a present, so she was awake at 12:30 am, 2:30 am, and 3:00 am asking if it was time to open her present yet, and at that point I told her that if she asked again, she wasn't opening it until after school. At 5:30 when Mike got up, he said she was in the living room watching cartoons, so we're not sure how much she actually slept. She adored her gift, and has named her doll Emily. Emily has gone to school with her every day so far, has been dressed for bed then redressed for school each day, and is by her side 24/7. Cadence took cupcakes to school and to the sitter's with her that day, but that night we all ended up going to bed early after our birthday dinner of chicken nuggets and mac and cheese. :)



This past Saturday was "the Big Day" - they had their birthday party. We had it at a local park, and it was Mardi Gras/Princess and the Frog themed. We had masks, beads and crowns for everyone, Tiana cups with beads, coins and mardi gras rubber ducks in them, and pretty cupcakes that were in purple, green and yellow flower papers. We also had a king cake shipped in, and I made red beans and rice and gumbo. We had a really good turn out, and the girls got more stuff than we could ever possibly play with. Amelia has loved having all the new interactive toys, and is especially loving the ones that give her the opportunity to either push buttons or take things in and out. Cadence was thrilled with pretty much everything, and received tons of books, craft stuff, and of course, jewelry and play makeup. (see next post for pictures. There are a lot! :) )

Overall it was fun, but I'm SO glad it's all over! Well, until Christmas! :)

____________________________
Things I'm thankful for:
1) My awesome family. Without them, the party could have never happened.
2) Birthdays
3) Happy girls
4) Cake!
5) It's after Saturday, which means it's all over!!

Just a quick rundown

I think Kahla had a post like this titled "Friday Night Leftovers" or something similar, and I think that would be fitting. Lots of things going on, but nothing that seems big enough to deserve it's own post. So here they are:

Cadence:

• She's doing SO well in school, and I found out today that the placement test for the reading class she's in was at a 3rd grade level. And the AR books they are sending home with her and 3rd grade! I'm so very very proud of her!
• I'm ordering her birthday present next week - an American Girl doll. She thinks it's going to be for Christmas, but will hopefully be so excited when she gets it early.
• She has started Girl Scouts, and has Upward Basketball evaluations next Tuesday. Things are about to get so busy.
• She's been invited to her first sleepover. We haven't set a date, yet, but it's with a girl that is in her class this year, and also in Girl Scouts. Her mom seems nice, and they live close. This should be interesting...

Amelia:

• She's walking EVERY WHERE!! She's now walking more than crawling, and I just can't believe it.
• She's also starting to sing to us. No real words in her songs, but you can definitely tell it's a tune. It's so very cute.
• She's 11 months old now. How did that happen? She can't be that old yet!

Mike:

• He's going Saturday to pick up another Jeep. This one is a 1969 CJ6. That doesn't run. And is in the middle of a restoration. And is 2 hours away. Yay.
• Thankfully, though, the Cherokee (that he traded the Wrangler in for) is paid off. So at the moment, we don't have any car payments, and his job covers our bills. Not much else. But the bills are covered.
• Still likes his job ok, but I don't think he'd be upset if he got transferred to a different department.

Me:

• My job is driving me insane.  People are stupid. It's just... crazy. 
• I have a few freelance things going on, so hoping those will continue for awhile and pan out. They are a nice, welcome break from the craziness at work.
• Sarah and I did our first mud run last weekend, and finished in under 48 minutes - that's times good enough for Disney! We have another 5K (sans obstacles) next Saturday in Brookhaven. It's for breast cancer research, and we're calling ourselves The Boobsie Twins. I can't wait!
• I'm planning a birthday party. It's going to be huge, but I hope the girls (Cadence especially) have fun. It will be Nov 5, and will be a Mardi Gras/Princess and the Frog party. I think I'm more excited than Cadence is!

Let's see how long it lasts...

When Mike and I got married, I tried to be the perfect housewife. I cooked and cleaned and pretty much tried to wait on him and take care of him. That was a mistake. It didn't take long before I was the *only* one cooking and cleaning, plus working and/or going to school. Before kids it was ok, but then we had Cadence. Suddenly I was still doing all the cooking and cleaning, plus taking care of a baby. Now, don't get me wrong. If I asked, Mike was more than happy to help out. It's just that sometimes, explaining to him what I needed done, then showing him how to do it, actually took longer than if I had done it myself. So that's usually what I did.

Fast forward a few more years, and now we have two kiddos. And I'm still doing the major bulk of the cooking, cleaning and childcare around here. Again, if I ask, he'll gladly help. But I have to ask. And when I ask constantly, I feel like I'm nagging. And I don't want to become *that* wife. But I can't do this anymore. I feel like I'm treading water and not making any progress. And honestly, we both work full time jobs and there's no reason that I should be doing it all alone.

So, in response, I made a chore chart. Yes, a bona fide chore chart. It has a list of all the things that need to be done daily, and I told Mike that he needed to pick 3 nights to cook and I would sort from there. He picked Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, so on those days he's supposed to make dinner, wash/put up a load of clothes and straighten the bathrooms. I'll straighten the living room and dining room, vacuum, and clean up after dinner. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the schedule swaps. I'll admit that I hate cleaning and am fine with minor clutter, so neither of us have completed all the chores on the list the last two days (I didn't vacuum tonight, and didn't get both bathrooms finished yesterday.) But it was SO nice to be able to work on some freelance stuff or take care of the girls tonight instead of worrying about dinner. So very very nice.

I'm not sure how long it will be before I'm back to doing it all, but I'm going to enjoy it while I can. Hopefully it will continue.

_____________________________
Things I'm thankful for:
1) A husband that will help (even if it takes prodding)
2) A daughter that looks forward to some of her chores
3) A somewhat clean house
4) Not having to worry about dinner every night
5) A family that loves me

So alike, yet so different

So, my sister got some very exciting news this past week. She made Senate at Southern, and she's also now a Delta Gamma girl.

Now, the Senate thing is totally like me. I was student body president, cheerleading captain, senior class treasurer, member of every (mainly academic) club on campus in high school. I didn't do a ton in college, but it was mainly because I was engaged and about to get married. But I can totally see myself having done something like senate.

However, Delta Gamma is completely foreign to me. I'm not social, until I really get to know someone. I'm much much happier sitting at home in front of the tv, or reading a book, or on the computer that I am around other people, especially large groups of girls. Girls that are way prettier. And more popular. And had way more friends and boyfriends. See? I'm 31, and the thought of being in the same 100 yard radius of *those* girls from high school and college makes me sweaty and nervous and makes me want to go hide with a good book.

Cecily, though? It's unbelievable. I looked through her facebook wall, and there were SO many people posting pictures of her and congratulating her and telling her how awesome it was that she was now in DG.  As I'm looking through it, I was amazed and in awe. I don't even have that many friends, much less that many that would take pictures of me (and not me in a group - just me!) and post and comment. It was just unbelievable. And I see my daughter being the same way.

I'm so proud of the awesome and amazing woman she's becoming, and can't wait to see what she does as she gets older. And it gives me hope. Hope that Cadence will, one day, be just as awesome and amazing. Hope that even though I don't understand her at all most of the time (kinda like Momma and Cecily), it doesn't mean that she's not listening and learning, and making my teaching uniquely hers. Hope that her future is going to be amazing. And I honestly can't wait.

I love you, Cecily, and am so proud of you.

______________________________

Things I'm thankful for:

1) Both of my sisters

2) My awesome, outgoing daughter

3) That Cecily is having the time of her life

4) That we can be so different, yet still love each other so much

5) My family

More good news!!

This morning we got a letter from the librarian at Cadence's school. It said that since she is an "exceptionally above grade-level reader" she gets to take part in the advanced reading group at school. She started today, and will be going to the library to do her reading work every day. I'm so proud of her, and spent the day bragging to everyone I saw!

____________________
Things I'm thankful for:
1) the love of reading has passed on to Cadence
2) a school that helps nurture that love
3) books. The ones she loves now, and the new ones coming soon
4) family that's as proud of her as I am
5) My girls.

Tutu Mania!

So, Cadence informed me over the weekend that she wants to be a peacock for Halloween. Really? A peacock?? Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a peacock costume that isn't A) for a baby, B) for a hooker or C) outrageously expensive? I had been wanting to find something where the two of them would match (I was thinking Rainbow Brite and a Sprite or maybe both be princesses), but Cadence wouldn't let the peacock idea drop. I spent all day Saturday searching online, and finally found a lady that could make tutu dresses for the girls for Halloween and tutus for them for their birthday party, and not charge me an arm and a leg. Cadence is getting a tutu dress with green, blue and purple and the pretty peacock mask we saw at Cracker Barrel (which is what started all of this), and Amelia will be getting a red tutu dress with black spots, and some cutesie ladybug wings and antennas. For their birthday, they are both getting purple, green and yellow tutus for their Mardi Gras party. I'm so excited for them to come in, and can't wait to see Amelia in that cutesie dress!

We also have the party planned! One of the local parks is renovating at the moment, and it's going to be absolutely amazing when it's finished. They are planning to have it open the first week in October, and we have the party planned for the first week in November, so it should give them plenty of time to actually get up and running. I called today, and we are now on the list to have the party from 2-4pm on Saturday, November 5. I'm so excited, and when I told Cadence, she informed me that I was "the Best. Mommy. EVER!!!!!" I'm glad she's happy!

I don't have plans for Amelia's gift for her birthday, but we have Cadence's picked out. She has been asking repeatedly for an American Girl doll, and we're finally going to give in. She loves Julie, but really wants the new My American Girl one that has short brown hair and brown eyes. That will be her birthday gift, but we'll get her other "stuff" (she's asking for Julie stuff) for Christmas. She's going to love it! For Amelia, it will probably be things like paper bags and boxes. She'll be one. She'll love it!

__________________________
Things I'm thankful for:
1) My two girly girls
2) Fall. I adore fall.
3) The craziness of this season.
4) Cooler weather
5) Football season and holidays

Shopping and Progress Reports

I did some shopping today, and have a very nice start on Christmas and Birthdays. The majority is from the Missions Garage Sale that the church holds every year. I work in a very nice, upscale area of town, and there is always some crazy nice stuff. This year I came away with:
For Cadence-

• Books! So. Many. Books! I ended up with 6 for her. They are Junie B. Jones and her Big Fat Mouth, 99 1/2 School Jokes, Riddles & Nonsense, Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses, The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes, The Secret Fairy in Fairyland (it even comes with holographic stickers!) and Number the Stars (one of my most all time favorite books.)
• This awesome book that's like a scrapbook and journal in one called I *heart* Being Me! It has pockets to put mementos in, and space to write things about you. It's so awesome.
• And, Operation. I will probably hate the buzzer before too much longer, but I know she'll be thrilled!

For Amelia -

• Fisher Price Brilliant Basics Stroll-Along Walker - She's getting pretty good at walking, but I think she'll like having this to push her Marie Baby around in.
• Fisher Price Little Superstar Stacker - Yeah, she might be almost past the age, but it's a stacker! And it lights up! And it was $1!!
• Fisher Price Amazing Animals Spinning Zoo - It's just too cute. And plays music. And has animals with wheels as feet!! How could I pass it up??
• Snap Lock Beads - she's almost a year old! She has to have snap lock beads!

For me -

• Two Michael Crichton books - State of Fear and Prey
• The prettiest teal pyrex baking dish. I LOVE this dish. The color is beautiful, and I'm pretty sure it was someone's grandmother's. I love, love, love it.
• Some ribbon headbands (those are mostly for Sarah, though.)

For Mike -

• I found the most awesome LSU camping chair, and it was marked $2. I made the mistake of not opening it, and it was broken. :( I'm not sure if I can fix it or not, and I half-jokingly commented that I'm sure all the Ole Miss fans at work did something to it! ;)

The best part? All of it was only $22.50!! This is why I love the Missions Garage Sale every year! I also bought a few other things for Christmas/Birthday. Amelia got a see-n-say junior, and Cadence got a Girl Scout charm, some Daisy Girl Scout socks, and a princess glitter fashion set (her daddy will kill me for that!)

We also got progress reports today, and Cadence had all 100's! Not even 90-somethings - all 100's! I'm so extremely proud of her, and she's doing so so well in school!

Long time no see! (continued...)

....

I just got some really awful news. My grandfather in TX just passed away. He was admitted to the hospital yesterday, but I don't know that any of us thought it was as bad as it was. By today he was doing worse, but the news would be bad, then good, then bad again. The last text I got was that they were starting dialysis, then that he coded. It was definitely a shock, and not the texts I was expecting to get.

The girls and I will be leaving in the morning, heading to TX, and Sarah will go with us. Mike more than likely won't be able to come because of short notice and work, but I'm glad I won't be making the trip alone. I'm very glad to get to see family, but not excited about the circumstances.

Wow. I'm just shocked at the moment. Within the last year I've gone from having 3 grandfathers to none. Wow.

Long time no see!

I know it's been awhile, but hopefully I can keep up with this more. So. Many. Changes. the past week or so! This will be long and bloggy, but since it's my blog...

So, first major change is that we are no longer the proud owners of a Jeep Wrangler. Instead, we are now the proud owners of a PAID OFF Jeep Cherokee. Notice those two bolded words? Yep, that's right. We don't have a car payment anymore! Mike had the Wrangler appraised at CarMax, and they said at wholesale they would give him almost $3,000 more than what we owed. He took all the aftermarket stuff off, sold it back to them, then used the money to buy a Cherokee from a guy at work. It's a 93, so almost as old as Cecily, but he was a mechanic and took great care of it. It has some minor problems (dry rotted gaskets, starter cylinoid is out, headliner is falling), but even fixing all of those puts us WELL below what we still owed on the Wrangler. So, no more Wrangler (for now!)

Other awesome change is that I now have a new MacBook Pro! It was bought for me by H2O Marine Accessories, and I will be working my little bahooty off to pay for it, but OMG do I love it! I also have all of the programs I need for work, so I can do stuff from home or on the road now. And since I can carry it around the house and it's actually fast, I'm hoping I can keep up with this more, too. I adore this computer. Really really really love it.

School wise, Cadence is doing excellent. Reading about 70 words per minute at every test, has made 100 on each spelling test so far, and 97 is the lowest grade she's made on a math test. And the best, most exciting news? She's been on green EVERY SINGLE DAY! And she's been in school for over a MONTH!!! I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of her!!! She's also taken a liking to American Girl books, especially Julie (from 1974.) We've read a few of the books, and she keeps saying "Momma, these are clothes you used to wear when you were little!!" Um, no, honey. Those are clothes MamMaw wore. I'm glad she's found a book series she likes, though.

.....

Surgery and first day of school

Friday was a big day for us - Amelia got tubes and Cadence started First Grade. I had to be at the hospital with Amelia at 6am, so Mike ended up taking Cadence to school her first day. I have to download the pictures from his camera, but he said she got up great, didn't give him any problems getting dressed, and she says she had a great first day. She likes her teacher, and will actually have to work this year - more homework and spelling tests every week (starting Thursday!!) I'm curious to see how the year goes with her actually having to study some, and hope the rest of the year is as good as the first few days have been!

Amelia did wonderfully on Friday, and did really well with not getting to eat after midnight. She woke about 2am and was fussy, and couldn't quite understand why I wouldn't nurse her. But when I woke her again at 5:15, she was fine. We got her checked in, and about 6:30-6:45 they took us back to a room and had me put a baby hospital gown on her. I met with her ENT, Dr. Clay, and the anesthesiologist, then the nurse came to take her back about 7:30. Mike showed up shortly there after, and as he was walking in, Dr. Clay was coming out to tell me she did great. The entire procedure took less than 10 minutes. They warned me that she might be angry after waking up, but she was more upset about not getting to eat than anything else! She fussed some until I fed her, then after that she was fine. They released us, and she came home that afternoon and slept for 4.5 hours.

Last night was the first night that her sleeping has improved -10:30pm-7am with a brief wake up about 3 because she lost her nookie - but she's become a chatterbox since Friday. She's now talking nonstop, and is SO much happier. I'm so so so glad we did it!