Sunday Summary

We had a good weekend - busy but relaxing - but as always - too quick.

Friday started out pretty normal. I picked up Cadence from daycare, we came home & played Go Fish, Dora Chutes & Ladders & read about a dozen books!
Dennis brought dinner home when he got off work (I know, I'm a bad mom - it was a LATE dinner!).


Saturday, I went in to work for a few hours. It wasn't much fun, but the extra hours will help for all my upcoming dr. appts.
I had an appt to get my hair cut & colored & Andrea came over w/her cute little dog Beans to watch Cadence.

I dropped Dennis off at Jeremy's while I got my hair done. I waited a bit b/c she was working on a perm when I got there. The smell of the 2 people getting perms was making me sick to my stomach. I got my hair cut & had to leave w/o getting any color done :(
I picked up Dennis & headed home.

All went well at home, Cadence had fun w/Beans & Andrea. Poor Beans was never put down...and Cadence talked Andrea's ear off. Poor Andrea!
Here is Cadence w/Beans:


After awhile, Dennis & I decided neither felt like cooking & we headed out to Bob Evans. Apparently the one across from Northtowne has been closed -what a suprise...
So we headed over to Monroe St. & went to that Bob Evans.


Dinner was yummy & filling - we filled up on bread before dinner (that's what happens when you skip lunch!) and brought home lots of leftovers.

We played more Go Fish & decided to visit Lisa for a bit. We headed over there & the kids ran around & played.

I took some pics of Hennesy- she's very loving & sweet - but I don't think she likes the camera - b/c here - she looks like she wants to attack me...

About 10 mins til 9, we headed out - had to get home in time for Harper's Island! :)

After Harper's, we headed to bed. Nothing was on & I was tired from getting up early for work.

This morning I was able to sleep in til almost 9...well Cadence started interrupting my sleep around 7:30. At 9 she was laying next to me telling me stories & I was tickling her when Dennis came in & said "Pancakes or Waffles?" mmmm...breakfast!

Cadence & I headed out & had yummy pancakes.

I felt really lazy, so I didn't do much of anything. I FINALLY showered at 2 - wow! Around 3 Liz stopped by & offered to color my hair since I couldn't stand the smell yesterday - wow I love pregnancy special treatment! :)

At about 5:30 we headed out to the new gym. We stayed there for about an hour & after we stopped at Melo-creme & got ice cream...mmmm....

Cadence is finishing her bath & then we're off to bed! Here are a few random pics from this weekend...

The princess...

Daddy & the Princess

Mommy & the Princess

Here she is being mad at Dennis for some reason or another...
til tomorrow...

Back to Work!!

Tonite is Dennis' first day back to work since he was originally taken off on 4/8! He's gonna be tired tonite.
Cadence & I are pretty much just relaxing. I had big plans to work on spring cleaning my room, but haven't started as of yet & with only an hour before bath time, I'm not seeing it happen...

Here's a cute picture of Taevion & Lisa's best friend's new baby Jo'siah.
Is he not friggin adorable..I mean they both are, but look at that yummy little baby. It makes it seem like these next 12 wks are going to be FOREVER!

Nothing else exciting to report. An auto rating test at work tomorrow - yuck. Hoping I do well - only one more after this one.

Looking forward to this weekend. Again, a weekend of nothing to do - but I'm liking it. I've been feeling the exhaustion the last week or so & last week it just made me physically sick. I enjoyed this past weekend of napping & relaxing!

Til tomorrow....

3 days is not enough

I was quite happy on Fri when we were allowed to leave @ 3:00 to start enjoying our 3day weekend.

I went home & cleaned up a little & then waited for Madison to come over. Sarah & Jeremy were going to see a movie when she got off work & Dominic was at Aunt Sandy's, so it was a perfect time for Cadence to have a play date.
Sarah texted me to see if we just wanted Madison to stay the nite & after making sure Dennis' cousin wouldn't care if there was an extra kid running around at her shower in the am, we said sure.
Madison was excited…til bedtime. Then she cried a little that she wanted Sarah, but of course it was almost 11 at the point, so I just told her we'd be having fun on Sat & she'd be fine.
She fell asleep quickly & we were left to fight w/Cadence. After a 1/2 hr, she was finally out too.

The next morning around 7, Dennis headed over to his moms to help his brother do yard work. We joined them there a little before 9. I was running late - I just didn't feel very well Sat morn.
His mom's allergies were acting up, so she was running behind too. After waiting for Dennis to finish up & then shower, it was pointless to even head over, so we skipped his cousins house (would have been nice to sleep in rather than wake the girls for nothing..) & hit up the Memorial Day Parade downtown.
It was really nice…here are some pics of the parade..

Cadence did NOT like the fire truck horn!

This girl actually stopped & posed while Dennis was taking pics..

Here's Madison & Cadence having fun..(poor Cadence, she's so short!)


After the parade, we took Madison home & headed home ourselves. I was really exhausted, actually had been pretty tired all week & laid down to take a nap. It ended up being an almost 4 hour nap!! I felt so good when I woke up.
Even though it was after 5 when I finally crawled out of bed, I had no problems getting back in there @ 10:30!

Yesterday we did absolutely nothing. I did get the rest of her closet & bedroom cleaned. The front room, laundry room, kitchen & pantry have also been 'spring cleaned'. All that's left is the living room, closet, basement & my bedroom. It's still a lot, but considering what I did have on my plate - this is nothing!

I plan to finish the living room, closet & bedroom throughout the week, during the evening. Next weekend, we have no plans, so I told Dennis that we're going to get that done.
He rolled his eyes…

Today we went to Dennis' mom's for a cookout. Surprisingly, it was a little too chilly outside for me.
So I enjoyed my dinner (turkey dogs, spagetti salad & deviled eggs) in the house, while reading sTORI Telling. Don't laugh - read it. She's quite funny & brutally honest. I LOVE it! Thanks Trixie for the recommendation!

Cadence joined me in the house not much later b/c the breeze was knocking over her plate. She watched Phineas & Ferb & ate most of her food.


After I finished my dinner, I enjoyed a yummy piece of chocolate chip dough cheesecake. Mmmm…

Here is Dennis Mom, her friend Mary, her sister Liz & Liz's daughter-in-law, Gail..

We came home shortly after & I read more library books to Cadence & we played go fish.
Now that it's close to 9, we're going to start getting ready for bed.

Until tomorrow...

Spiritual

In previous posts I've talked about growing up Catholic & not learning a lot. I've also talked about Dennis & how he went to Catholic school his whole life, so he knows a lot about the religion.
When we found out we were pregnant with Cadence, we were thankful & believed that God would get us through the pregnancy stronger than ever, despite my medical problems & with the result of a beautiful daughter.

When she was about 5 wks old, we had her baptized. It was a beautiful ceremony & we took the whole process very seriously. I may have been very lax, but this was a serious commitment & finding Godparents was a big responsibility.
We were honored to have my Aunt Vicki & Uncle Jay accept our request & they are Cadence's Godparents.

Aunt Vicki is also my Godmother - which funny enough - Cadence was talking to me last week & she kept talking about my 2 moms. I said, I don't have 2 moms. She said, yes you do. She was getting very annoyed w/me & my obvious stupidity (it happens often) & finally said, duh, mom - nana & Aunt Bicki (she always had problems w/her V's & so this stuck - kind of like Aunt Sisa).
Anyway, when we started going to Cedar Creek, it was easy for me to follow their beliefs. They made sense. We had Cadence dedicated (they do not do baptisms for children, they feel baptism is something you choose when you allow Jesus into your life - obviously kids/babies are too young for that decision making process) & it felt good.

With this pregnancy, from the beginning we have agreed that while we cherish the teachings of CC, we will be getting this bundle of joy baptized. Of everything that was taught (& forgotten) to me about Catholicism, baptism is the one thing I completely understand & the one sacrament I feel called to complete for my children.

That being said, we again took finding the Godparents for her very seriously. From the start we discussed one person for the Godmother & discussed at length the Godfather.

We are happy to announce that Baby (m)SD (hehe) will be baptized on 9/20 (Gramma is even extending her stay so that she can attend!!) at Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral & her Godmother will be Kari (probably one of the kindest women you will ever meet - what better role model?!) & her Godfather will be Jeremy (a wonderful friend of Dennis' who we both adore!).

We are so excited & cannot wait to celebrate this with our family & friends!

"I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8

First Day of School…sort of…

Cadence started back to school today at her new daycare, CDC. It was really a debate as to when to start her back. I wasn't going to send her back b/c Dennis is off & she can stay home & enjoy being the only child at home - since that will be ending in 94 days.

The only reason to send her now was b/c the adminstrator pointed out that w/summer coming up, the spots could fill up & there wouldn't be room for Cadence once Dennis is released to work & school starts up.

Armed w/that, we pushed her into school/daycare earlier than we'd thought. She was very anxious this am while we were getting her ready…once there, she was impressed by the huge sail boat in the play room. It's 1/2 inside the building & 1/2 outside..

Here she is on the "dock" that leads up to the boat (please ignore her hair - I didn't do it b/c I was running late & it's still a little damp from her bath).

After checking out the boat for a minute, we headed into her new classroom. We met her am teacher Ms. Maria. She was very nice & had a very warm smile. Cadence didn't care, she just stood there quietly.

There was only one little girl in the room & Cadence wouldn't talk to her. I knew she'd be happy once they started playing, but I felt bad b/c she's always so shy at first.

I left & was giving her lots of kisses when she said, "That's enough kisses mom". FINE!
I called around 10:30 to check on her & Ms. Maria said she was having a blast & riding bikes. I was happy that she warmed up so quickly.

Dennis took her blanket up to her @ 12:15 & she ran over hugged & kissed him & said, ok, I'm eating, bye.

When I picked her up, she showed me around the inside playground…
She climbed the rock wall (sorry about the quality - it's w/my phone)

Went down the slide (sorry no pics)...
And played in the ball pit.

On our way home she told me she loved it but wanted to swim. I told her that they don't have swimming at this school, so she was a little bummed. But overall, I think she loved it - so it will be ok.

Dennis & I both noticed the difference in her attitude when we talked about school this evening. She was smiling & bragging. She NEVER did that w/the Y & she was good w/Toledo Hosp, but this is different - she really seems to love it.

Goodbye weekend, how I will miss you…

Cadence woke me up this morning & it was hard to sleep through it. She was in my face telling me she loved me. She laid next to me & I tried to fall back to sleep, but couldn't. She ended up leaving & I was out. Around 10 I woke up & sat up to get out of bed & was startled b/c Cadence was laying at my feet. I thought she left the room.

She laughed & said, I was laying here watching tv, silly goose.

We got up & joined Dennis in the living room. Debated on breakfast & finally decided on eggs.

Dennis took Cadence to the store to get some laundry soap & turkey burger & I stayed home to 'spring clean'. Oh what was I thinking. What turned into just getting a few things cleaned - has made my house a disaster area - almost unfit to live in - ha!

I just have piles of stuff everywhere b/c I moved from one place to the next w/o finishing b/c I had to get another place done in order to finish the one I was working on. What was I thinking?!
Apparently, I wasn't!

::sigh::

In my defense, I got the whole bathroom cleaned. Cleaned out the closet (which is rather large) threw away a whole garbage can full of stuff from it, cleaned out the medicine cabinet & then scrubbed down the bathroom!

Nice…but you can't enter through my bathroom & unless you actually have to go, you would never know it was clean :(

When Dennis & Cadence got home, Dennis quickly left to help Lisa move a fridge & bed to her house.

Cadence & I watched Halloweentown (for the 100th time) & waited for him to get back. He showed up around 4:30 - just in time for us to head out to make dinner w/her friends from daycare.

It was packed when we got there - that is one busy place! The food was good & Cadence had a blast. Here she is w/one of her 'teachers'.

She wouldn't hold still long enough for me to get one w/her other teacher.

When we got home, we relaxed. Cadence played games & I read a book. Since Cadence starts back to school tomorrow, I told her we had to go to bed early. I started trying this around 9:15.

It's not 10:20 & well, it's turned into a joke.

It's going to be a LONG day tomorrow & a rough morning!

Good nite!

I blinked & it was gone!

Thinking it wouldn't be long before the girls were asleep last nite & Dennis could go to sleep, I was out w/no guilt.
When he came to bed @ midnite & woke me up to let me know that it was midnite, I still didn't feel guilty but couldn't believe they had that much energy!
Dennis said Madison fell asleep around 11:25. But Cadence held out. He said probably at 11:45 she was finally asleep. MONSTERS! :)

Around 4 am, I heard a loud boom. I thought, crap, I bet Cadence rolled out of bed. I didn't hear any crying, so I thought, well maybe it's the cats…
Nope, a few mins later, Cadence came into my room still 1/2 asleep, sobbing that she fell out of bed. She sobbed the story as she climbed into bed next to me & was still talking even though her eyes were closed. As soon as her head hit the pillow, I heard no more.

At 7, I heard Madison kind of scream out. I thought..she really can't be up this early! I waited & didn't hear anything else. I sighed & rolled over. At 7:24 Madison knocked on my door to inform me that the kittens were jumping on her. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID KITTENS! AHH!!
I got up & locked them in the laundry room, had her lay back down, covered her up & turned on cartoons. I crawled back into bed to go to sleep. It didn't work & I laid there til about 8:30. I finally gave up & got up & showered.

After breakfast, I bathed the girls & got them dressed. They played for an hour or so while I cleaned up & watched a little tv.

We headed out the door & went straight to Sonic for some lunch. The girls enjoyed their burgers & fries & for eating all their lunch, got some yummy ice cream.

After we ate, we headed off to the library for Claire's Day celebration.

We started off in the library, returning our books & checking out more.

When we headed out, the rain was gone & the sun was peaking through the clouds.
We went into the activity tent & the girls made lots of cute things…

Floral arrangements
Water paintings

Book marks
And finally Pinwheels

We were there for about an hour. After we finished, we headed over to my moms to pick up Cadence's summer clothes.
While we went through our stuff to find them, the girls played school & read books to one & other.
After we found the clothes & loaded them up, we took Madison home & headed home ourselves.

We had leftovers for dinner & now that's it's 9:30 we're crawling into bed

Fun Friday!

So, it started off w/Dennis meeting me at work Fri to drop off Cadence. He went to pick up Taevion & I headed home to change & to change Cadence. The plan was to drop Tae off at his other daycare, but Dennis said he was so cuddly & happy to see him, that we could just take him w/us & he'd take care of him..okay.

He came back to our place, we piled into the van & headed off to get Madison.
She was ready to go as soon as I walked up to the door, so we headed to gymnastics to meet Lynn, Alayna & Ally.

When we got there, I realized I had forgotten my camera :(
Dennis volunteered to run home & get it, if I'd keep Tae. So I agreed.

Lynn & I chatted while all the girls played. Mostly they just jumped on the floor trampoline & played on the wedges. But they had fun. Dennis got back & I got a few shots.

I was certain the girls would be EXHAUSTED from a 2 hr physical play & that falling asleep would be quick & painless.

I really wanted to go out to dinner after, but I was just physically drained. I hadn't really been home since leaving @ 7:30 that morning & it was 8:15 & I was beat. I said, let's just get pizza & go home.

We picked up some Pizza Hut (gotta love the family discount!) & headed home. The girls ate & watched Sprout. It's now about 9:15, my eyes were burning & I am having an extremely hard time staying awake.

We're letting the dogs out, opening the couch bed, making it up, changing the girls & laying them down. Dennis agreed to stay up w/them while I went to sleep. I LOVE HIM! :)

Baby Babbling & Thankful Thursday

Baby Babblings

I tried this a few weeks ago & I've decided I don't have enough changes right now to do them weekly - so I'm going to do them once a month til about 32 wks & then switch to bi-weekly & when things start getting really exciting - weekly!

How far along? 26 wks

Total weight gain/loss: +5 lbs

Maternity clothes? nope but bra is tight (does this fall under too much info?)

Stretch marks? Ha - sure, I'll blame them on this pregnancy (this ? will be deleted next month b/c the answer is obvious!)

Sleep: still have some energy so staying up later - but tossing & turning a lot more

Best moment this week: sleeping in on Sunday

Movement: yes - lots of movement - loving it!

Food cravings: onion bagels - it just started yesterday - but i'm in love...

Gender: GIRL!!!!

Labor Signs: no - too early - so lets keep it that way - but i have had a few braxton hicks - ouch!

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: less heartburn!!!

What I am looking forward to: my next u/s (6/3)- I love watching the baby!

Weekly Wisdom: napping isn't as bad as I've always thought - 2x's this week & I actually felt better when I woke up - not worse, which is unusual for me!

Milestones: Talking about baby names

THANKFUL THURSDAY:

I'm thankful that I have such an amazing friend in Selena & that we get to spend some time together for a yummy cookout at her house on Sat.

I'm thankful that Cadence is close w/Madison - I need her to have relationships w/my Dad's family - I want her to know him someway & his family is the best way - plus I hope that she & Madison can have the relationship that Sarah & I have - we can pretty much tell each other anything - I know after a really bad day - she's the one I want in my corner!

I'm thankful that Cadence starts back to school on Monday - she misses it & I feel bad when she's been home all day for 2 wks - although mostly she played outside & went to the library so it wasn't too awful

I'm thankful that tomorrow is Friday! :)

I'm thankful that I have such wonderful friends & family

I'm thankful that Sunday we'll be spending a few hours w/friends from Cadence's daycare - she's thrilled!

And finally -

I'm thankful that it's time for bed...b/c I'm feeling it!

Wordful Wednesday

I have an interesting story to share from last nite…at the time I was completely panicked & was so freaked out, I was giving myself an upset stomach…
Today, I feel a little better…

I went to bed around 9:30, falling asleep almost instantly. Cadence was still awake, but Dennis was in bed too, so she just laid there watching his hockey game w/him.
Whenever the bar is open she sleeps in our room b/c the people from the bar are ridiculously loud & obnoxious & it ALWAYS wakes her up (& she's a HEAVY sleeper!) & she cries which wakes us up & I can't fall back to sleep & she continues to cry while she's sleeping & it's just a mess - so it's easier to have her in my room on those nites.
Last nite, was one of those nites - the bar was open.

I was sleeping well & I was woke up by the sound of pop, pop, pop, pop…(it was about 2:45)
Immediately I realize it's gun shots & I'm like OMG!

But I could tell that it was in the front, so I wasn't concerned. I thought, I hope they didn't shoot my car - thank God Cadence is in my room…

Probably 45 seconds maybe a minute later, I hear pop, pop, pop…from behind our house in btwn the 2 apts…so close to my window (that's right above my head & I was so scared to stand up or look out the window) that I thought, they're shooting each other outside my windows!

I wake up Dennis & I tell him there were just gunshots & he's like, no it's probably someone banging on the door next door .

I said, NOOOOOOOOOOO it was gunshots, go look out the front window & make sure there isn't anyone on the sidewalk hurt BUT don't open the door!

He grunts & walks out to the living room & comes flying back in the room & is like holy sh*t, there's police everywhere

It was not too early/too late in the day to say I TOLD YOU!!!!

So what does he do? He goes outside & talks to the people at the bar to see what happened.
He comes in & says, don't worry it wasn't that close, it was an echo.

Hmmm..no, it wasn't. You can doubt a lot of things about me, my eyesight, my memory - but don't ever doubt my hearing!

I said, I'm telling you, the other gunshots may have been an echo, but those ones were not.
He said, what other gunshots?!
I said the 1st ones that happened maybe a minute before those ones.

What? There were more? Why didn't you tell me?
I said b/c they were out front & I didn't think it mattered - I figured hopefully our cars weren't hit & then I thought, thank God Cadence is in bed w/us & then before I could think of anything else, I heard those ones from the back

So of course, he thinks I'm nuts but he goes outside to tell the police that there were gunshots seconds before the ones in the back to which they reply - we know, they were shot from right here (the front yard in btwn the bar & the fence).

Dennis comes in like, you were right…
So tell me something I don't know. That's why, I don't care what the police say - that was not an echo I heard. There was a clear difference from what the first one & the 2nd one sounded like & it was clear the 2nd one was close.

I could not fall back to sleep - I was a nervous wreck. When I look back, I can't even believe that I was so non-chalant about the ones in the front yard - I mean, really? But I didn't care. However, when they were that close to us - that's when it's not ok.

The bar is taped off in the back where the 2 guys were shot. The shooter hasn't been caught as of yet..who I am kidding, I doubt he will be.

I'm sure the bar will be open & in full swing tonite. I just wish our lease was up. I'm so happy this is just a temporary place - that in 6 mos we can move. I just kept thinking, I can't have my daughter's here - this is ridiculous!

Anyway - here are some pictures from the last few days...