I normally don't do this, but...

I'm going to get a little political. There's an anti-Obama facebook group that's going around lately that you might have seen. It's based off of this saying:

Dear Lord, in the past year you have taken away my favorite actor, Patrick Swayze, my favorite actress, Farrah Fawcett, my favorite musician, Michael Jackson, my favorite salesman, Billie Mays, and my favorite athlete, Chris Henry. I just wanted to let you know..... my favorite president is Barack Obama. Amen.

Bad, right? Well, there is an opposing group asking for this group to be removed because this statement is racist and unAmerican. People are up in arms because someone is "threatening" the president.

Some one with the best intent,
Went and killed the president,
Because he had the influence,
To massacre 10,000 men,
Wake me up from this great dream I can't believe my eyes

So someone killing the president is a good dream? Still pretty bad. Some of you will recognize these lyrics as coming from a Vayden song from two years ago. By deductive reasoning, I would guess this was about Bush. There were plenty of songs from that time period that were anti-Bush.

I'm not going to get into Obama/Bush bashing here. I am not going to say which party I choose to affiliate with. That wasn't the point of my post. My point is that no matter who we put in the oval office, there's going to be people that don't like it. Are jokes and songs about that person's death in bad taste and overall inappropriate? Yes. But it happens. It happened with Bush Sr. It happened with Clinton. It happened with Bush Jr and it'll happen with Obama. Heck, it even happens with people that don't make it to the White House. Did you know that the same prayer was said for Governor Christie (Republican) from NJ?

What happened to respect?

Memory Book

My twin cousins were really young when my grandmom passed away. My aunt, whose own mother had passed several years before, wanted her daughters to know who their grandmom was, so she put together some memory books. They were basically picture books that they would look at every night and share memories they had of her. My aunt was determined that they would remember mommom. It worked. Nine years later, they can still vividly recall special moments they shared.

I plan on doing something like this for my mother in law. Cadie never got to actually meet her, but I still think it's important for her and my husband and I to have something to share the memories with. My mother in law was so excited to become a first-time grandma and she loved this little girl oh so much. I will make sure Cadie knows that.

Sleep-deprived thought

So, as I was feeding Cadie her bottle just now, it occurred to me that she isn't like other babies I've had the pleasure of feeding. Most babies I've fed lay there contently. Eat, burp, eat. Cadie thrashes around constantly. Eat, flail about, knock bottle from mommy's hand, spazz out even more, scream as mommy adjusts her to pick up bottle, eats, flails, knocks, spazzes, screams, repeat. It's a viscous cycle.

All, I can say is that I am glad that we decided to formula feed. Seeing how violent she is when she eats makes the ta tas feel like they really dodged a bullet. You're welcome, ta tas.
Oh, and here's a picture of the pretty girl. The hubby and I had date night on Saturday and my father in law watched her for us. In celebration of us leaving her for a few hours for the first time, I dressed her up all cute and stuff. Enjoy!

Embroidery

My inlaws gave me a sewing/embroidery machine for my birthday last year and I've had so much fun embroidering everything in my house. So I got a little creative and opened up an etsy shop. Check it out here! I have custom bibs on there right now, but will soon be listing some onesies, bags, some tutus and a few other accesories!

Rough Day

I knew this day would come eventually. A friend of mine found out she was pregnant a few weeks after I did. I know some people would be jealous and "omg she's stealing my thunder!", but it wasn't like that at all. She and her husband are wonderful people who deserve this and I felt nothing but happiness for them.

As our pregnancies went along, we would compare and contrast the experiences we were going through. We talked names, the types of births we dreamed of, registries, you name it, we discussed it. I think we became a little closer after going through this wonderful experience together.

So what do I feel today when I hear she's gone into labor? Well, it's a mixture of emotions, really. First off, I'm so, so, so happy for them to meet their son. I'm excited because our children will be 6 weeks apart- perfect for future play dates! And I'm also a little sad.

I feel like in some way I was jipped. Not only was I cheated out of fully mourning my mother in law's passing, but cheated out of fully celebrating my daughter. I look back on it now and realize that I didn't spend a whole lot of time with her the first few days. Tom was down with his mother and my mom and grandpop could only do so much. That left me, highly medicated to my own devices. I remember being so doped up and tired that I kept falling asleep while feeding Cadie. So instead, nurses down in the nursery had to feed her. I feel guilty to this day.

I went into this with little expectations. I know women who get so caught up in the whole no med, vaginal birth, breastfeeding thing. When something goes wrong, they blame themselves. I wasn't going to do that. I wanted the meds. If I needed a c-section (which I did), than I was fine with it. I wasn't breastfeeding (that's another post for another day). I just wanted my daughter in my arms, healthy as can be.

And yet, I still look back at Cadie's birth with some disappointment. Not with Cadie, of course. I could not have asked for a better daughter. I'm disappointed with the circumstances that surround her birth. If I could do it over again, I would in a heart-beat. This time with my mother in law pacing in the waiting room, my father in law cracking jokes, and my husband holding my hand as we walk down to the nursery to compare all the other babies to our beautiful Cadie.

My friend's delivery reminded me of what my own delivery should have been like. I'll admit, I cried a little. Tears of regret, sorrow, and yes tears of happiness for my friend.

6 week pics

Cadie is 6 weeks old today! Here are a few pics from our "photo shoot" =)

Guardian Angels

I used to be really skeptical about whether angels existed or not. Believing that a lost loved one somehow sprouted wings and watched over us from the clouds just seemed too outrageous to me. I remember when my great aunt died when I was 6 and I would go around trying to see her face looking over the edge of a cloud. I never saw her.

That all changed the night of my senior prom. You see, big events and I don't get along very well. For every good moment in my life, there's a bad one that immediately follows. I woke up the next morning to the news that my grandmom, who helped raise me, had passed away in her sleep. I was absolutely devastated.

The week before prom, she took me out jewelry shopping. I picked out a necklace and earrings and was ready to go, but she had set her eyes on this $3 bracelet. She finally talked me into getting it, despite the fact that I am not a bracelet person.

Halfway through prom, I noticed that the bracelet had disappeared. My husband (don't worry- he wasn't my husband at the time) and I spent the rest of the night checking bathrooms, scouring the dance floor, and asking people if they'd seen it. It's ridiculous the amount of time we spent looking for that $3 bracelet, but we went home empty handed, or empty wristed.

The next morning, I called him to tell him the news of my grandma's passing. That's weird, he said. He went to return the tux he rented and noticed that there was a pocket on the inside of the jacket that he hadn't noticed before. It was sewn shut, but he could feel something inside. So he got some scissors and cut it open to reveal my broken bracelet.

I know there could be a million ways that bracelet could have ended up in his jacket, but I like to believe that it was my grandmom's way of telling me she was ok and that she is looking down on me. I don't have to look for her face peering over a cloud- she gave me something physical.

And now Cadie has her own guardian angel. I know my mother-in-law is up there brushing wings with my grandmom.

Silence

That's what we're listening to right now. It's the most beautiful sound in the world we call babies. Cadie's had a rough day. We ate lunch with grandpa at Applebees and she was so well behaved. She just sat in her seat and cooed while we ate.

Then we came home and that's when the fussiness started. You could be sitting with her almost asleep and she would just cry out. I'm thinking she's gassy, so I gave her some gripe water which usually solves that issue. No such luck. Her swing's batteries were dead so we had to hand swing her which didn't last long.

Finally, mommy went to WalMart to buy some new batteries. Ok, batteries and nail polish to prettify herself, but whose counting, right? Well, that did the trick. The bug is fast asleep swinging away. Sometimes I wish they made an adult sized one.

And here's a pic of Cadie doing tummy time. We're slowly starting to like this!

Smiles!

I just wanted to shout it from on top of a mountain! … but I didn’t have a mountain. I had a blog and a camera. Look. I report the news. That’s what I do, and today’s top story, in my world, read something like this: The bug is smiling!



That's a quote from Anchorman, by the way =)

Also, I made a tutu for Cadie. We immediately had to try it on and snap some pics.

Hi!

Who turned out the lights?

So Tom's school threw us a post baby shower. My father in law drove me and Cadie over to the school. It was a good time and we got even more Cadie stuff (girl is so spoiled already).

Well, we're driving home and all of a sudden Cadie starts screaming bloody murder in the backseat. She's never screamed like that, so it got Mommy very scared. I told my father in law to just pull over in the next parking lot and I'd get in the backseat with her. It was a little past her feeding time, so I could try and soothe her until we got home.

So I get back there and instantly burst out laughing at my daughter. She has managed to pull her headband and bow down so it was completely covering her eyes. She's desperately trying to grab ahold of the bow, all the while giving her lungs a good exercise. As soon as I righted the wrong, she was quiet the entire trip home.

I've only heard her scream once more since then. And this time I was lucky enough to have my camera handy. I guess she didn't learn her lesson.

Put me in coach, I'm ready to play

Can you tell what team we root for?

One Month Old

I cannot believe that our little Cadie bug turned 1 month old yesterday. I'm trying to blame my denial on the percocets. It's not working so well.

We had a pretty peaceful day. Spent a little time with Grandpa, took a bath, and then took loads of pictures. I embroidered her onesie and it came out so cute, I'm going to make her some more. I might even consider selling a few. I don't know yet.

Cadie's getting a new bathroom!

We got a super duper deal on a 3 bedroom, 2 bath townhouse. It was ok enough to live in, but needs a little bit of work. For example, the spare bathroom is atrocious. The previous owner painted it this pinkish-purple color and then picked out a matching pink/purple/white faux marble laminate floor. Then, they put this fugly red and gold border up because, you know, it goes so well with pink/purple walls.

Besides being unpleasant to look at, the bathroom has some other issues. The tan tub/shower unit is broken. The faucet jiggles and is being held in the wall by several obvious chaulking attempts. Our neighbor's floor cracked in his, which gives you an idea of the quality.

The only time that bathroom is ever used if we have visitors, which is rare, so we've been living with it. Well, before we found out what we were having, Tom mentioned that if we were to have a boy, he'd consider redoing that bathroom. He didn't want his son to have to use a pink bathroom. I told him if we had a girl, I wouldn't want her to have to use an ugly bathroom, even if it was pink.

We went back and forth on this, whether we'd redo it or not. Well, I'm happy to say that Cadie will not have to use a fugly pink bathroom.

Here's my plan:

Valspar Carolina Inn Aqua
Allen + Roth Vanity and Mirror

Price Pfister Brushed Nickel Bathroom FaucetPortfolio 3-Light Brushed Nickel Vanity Fixture


I am also trying to decide on some sort of tan tile or a slate tile.
The shower curtain will be a floor to ceiling white waffle curtain.
We'll have slate blue and white towels.

Inspiration:

from: www.thisyounghouse.com

So Relieved!

The doctor called last night with Cadie's test results. They came back negative for cystic fibrosis! She's perfectly healthy! Relieved doesn't even begin to describe what we feel. Finally, something's gone right!

We have a busy couple of days coming up. We're spending Easter at Grandpa's, heading down to Vanderbilt to see the transplant team and go over the autopsy, and then doing some major shopping at the army base. So I leave you with these- a few pics from the other night and Cadie's Easter Bunny pic. Enjoy and have a fabulous holiday!

Getting clean!

Cadie had her first real bath tonight. It was so much better than I expected it to be. I expected pee and poo flying, baby screaming, Mommy pulling her hair out, and Daddy capturing the whole thing on camera. She did great though! She actually seemed to enjoy the warm water and getting clean. Hopefully it'll be this peaceful every time. I leave you with some pics, of course!