Happy Birthday my little darlin

What a great day Nece had! Some (okay all) of mom's birthday excitement IS going to rub off on my girls! It's so much fun to have your special day and I want to make sure both girls know that!

Our day started about 7 days ago (one day after mine) with a birthday countdown! We had to stop mid-week because Nece got ticked that it wasn't her birthday YET. Yesterday I sent Marc and Nece to the grocery to grab some pink frosting for her birthday cupcakes that she was taking to Sue's. What did they come home with...

• pink frosting



• princess sprinkles



• princess candles



• a '3' candle



• happy birthday cupcake liners

After getting home from camping, we made our princess cupcakes... and before bed we picked out our birthday outfit! Thanks Grandma Moger- this is the one she chose, and loved it!

No problem getting Nece up this morning (it's normally a struggle). She popped right up when I walked in her room and said "Good Morning birthday girl".

Off to Sue's for the day, while Mom ran around getting everything ready for this evening. 4PM rolled around, and I picked the girls up... Happy as a clam with her new Barbie and princess coloring set from Sue. Thanks Sue.

Then it was time for the birthday girl to choose her dinner. She proudly announced "I want to go out."

Okay, Nece... where do you want to go?

McDonalds. (yum, thank goodness for the Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad). Chicken Nuggets, french fries, chocolate milk, a happy toy and ranch/ketchup for dipping.

After dinner we came home and stalled about 20 minutes before going to the garage for the 'big reveal'. We've asked Nece for weeks what kind of cake she wants... Dora. Okay- Dora theme it is this year.

• Dora Cake



• Dora napkins



• Dora plates



• Dora balloon bouquet



• Dora wrapping paper

LOVE and overwhelm on her face as she took it all in. 6:30 arrives and our neighbors start arriving for the birthday party! Dairy Queen cake and we said no presents, but we opened presents.

Thanks to:

• Marjene- Dora bubbles and Color Wonder Kit
• Don and Alvina- Memory, Princess color set for the car and Dora puzzle
• Auntie Mona, Mya, and Emmie- Doctor Kit
• Mom, Dad and Kara- 5 Little Monkey's Puzzle, Handy Manny Puzzle and a cottage for the backyard
• Brian and Rene- came for the party and abided by our wishes, no presents and we LOVED having them celebrate with us
• Auntie Molly- a hand-made tutu and her first leotard
• Grandma, Grandpa M & Jon- A Nemo book/CD and Princess book/CD
• Erica, Casey, Tanner & Sam- Princess Tupperware and a shirt with a 'K' embroiderred on it
• Grandma and Grandpa B- money for the savings/college account
• Aunt Cindy and Uncle Marc- a cute outfit
• Great Aunt Julie- a couple outfits, a book and money
• Great Grandma M- money

A fabulous day she had, and one she may or may not remember... but she'll have this blog and all the pictures that we taken! Happy third birthday my little Nece! We LOVE you!

Life changing...

3 years ago today, my (our) life changed forever...

Due date had arrived and passed, another day passed, a third day passed and on the fourth day around 1:45AM... was something really starting to happen? Yep I think so... laying in front of the TV timing contractions it seemed to be pretty consistent and was pretty sure this was the real thing. By the time Marc got up at 5:00, I told him I think that today is the day.

Really? Do you think this is the real thing?

I do. You should call Jason and tell him you aren't gonna be at work.

I bit more time passed. 6AM, we called the doctor. Contractions are a couple minutes apart consistently. He told us to wait for another 30 minutes and call back.

7AM we were in the car for what was a very LONG drive to the hospital. You see the hospital is a good 25-30 minutes away... now lets add in rush hour, a mom in extreme pain every 3 minutes and a very nervous daddy.

Got to the hospital and checked in. By this time, the pain was ridiculous and there was no break between contractions... they were coming on top of eachother. I vaguely remember the doctor checking me and telling me that I was only a couple centimeters... I then remember him telling me that we were gonna break my water. At this point, I had a contraction, was grabbing the top of the hospital bed and in such pain that I literally kicked his hand away and told him NO WAY are you doing that to me right now.

Fast forward a couple LONG painful hours (I don't remember much.) But the one thing I do remember before the epidural arrived was Marc trying to do something with a switch on my hospital bed and the radio started to blare. All I could say was turn that f'ing thing off. He scrambled and couldn't figure out how. It probably didn't help that I was NOT a happy camper at this point so he finally pulled the plug. Thank God that terrible noise was over. Oops... in pulling the plug we (he) set the alarm off at the nurses station.

Finally, the epidural had arrived. Ahhh... the instantaneous relief. I can't believe I had to wait so long, but it was pure heaven when it did arrive. Once the epi was in... I was able to nap, watch TV, hold a coherent conversation with my husband and wait anxiously for the next step in this process that we'd never been through before.

After the doctors knew the epidural had taken effect, they broke my water. No problems this time... do whatever you need to. At this point, they figured out a couple things, I had minimal fluid left and the baby had pooped in me already. Because of these two things, they calmly explained to us there were going to be a couple extra NICU nurses in the room at delivery and it may be a little chaotic.

2:05 the nurse came in and woke me out of a dead sleep to check me (dad was sleeping too). It's time to call the doctor.

Are you serious? Okay. (and the tears started flowing. Why? I don't know, I suppose the hormones and being petrified of what was about to happen).

2:25 doctor arrived. As she put her scrubs on, I did a couple 'practice' pushes. Not having a clue what I was doing, the nurse just told me to push like I had to poop. Okay... that's fine, but I cannot feel a thing with the epidural. At this time, the doctor also explained to us that when the baby comes out, they are going to 'plug her' so she isn't able to breathe right away. They wanted to make sure the babies poop didn't end up in the lungs.

After a couple pushes, and now realizing the cord was wrapped around the neck, and knowing the baby had pooped... the doctor pulled the vacuum out. She didn't want that baby in any more distress than it needed to be in.

2:45PM life had changed forever.

What is it?

It's a girl!!! Kailee Denise was born into this world a whopping 5lbs 13 oz and I think there were three immediate reactions when seeing her, oh my gosh its a girl AND she's SO tiny AND is everything with her okay?!

13 hour labor from first contraction (that I felt) until the time she arrived. 20 minutes of pushing, the doctors preparing for the worst, but everything was perfect. Mom, dad, doctor and nurses were all in the room as Nece had arrived...

Why did I write this post? Well... to capture the birth day of Nece. I don't think I've ever written it down because you believe the details will stay with you forever. They don't and I found myself going back multiple times adding to this post as I remembered different things I had forgotten about that day. If another year had passed, more details would have been forgotten, unintentially.

Hiatus

By the look of things... I've been on hiatus for close to two weeks now. Not a great way to keep people interested in what we have to say. So, for those of you that still like to follow... thanks. Pass the word along that I'm back, though it may be sporadic for the next couple weeks until things slow down a bit after Cindy's wedding.

What are a couple funny things that I wanted to write about?!?! Well, Nece met a robot- sort of. We were in Walmart one day last week- Nece was walking and Franny was riding. A lady stopped and asked how old Franny was. This was a lady that had one of those microphones because her vocal cords were shot. I don't know what they are called, but regardless... kind of robotic.

I answered, 10 months.

Nece looked at me and asked 'mom, is that how she talks?'

I said, Yes, Nece... that helps her talk

The lady was very patient, and she also piped in "This helps me talk"

Nece seemed good with this explanation and off we went. Fast forward a couple minutes.

Mom, I want to see the robot again.

What?

I want to see the robot lady again.

Oh Nece, she isn't a robot, she just needs a microphone to help her speak.

Oh, okay.

And about five minutes later, we saw the nice robot lady again, and I just prayed Nece didn't announce 'there's the robot'.

She didn't. A good teaching moment for mom, Nece and how to think on my feet quickly to address what is appropriate and what isn't.

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Marc wanted his haircut one Sunday night after a LONG weekend. Now that I think about it, it was Father's Day, so he played the card of 'it's still my day, you have to.'

Okay. Girls are bathed, but not in bed yet. And oh how interested they were. We finally gave in and let Nece help cut dad's hair.

But, why do you want/need to know about this?

As I was going to get the camera to take this picture- all I heard was "No Nece, not on your hair, only daddy's.'

Whew!!! That could have been a close one- Nece with a partially shaved head less than one month before Cindy's wedding. Disaster averted.

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This past weekend, mom and dad went on a much-deserved (if I do say so myself) long weekend to Countryfest. Four days of camping, drinking and concerts... a good time was had by all! We always look forward to the annual trip and can't wait til the next year. The girls started out at home with Grandma M, but they ended up at grandma's for the remainder of the weekend. From what I understand, Reggie didn't do too well with the rain, so they packed up and headed 2 hours south where the sun was shining! I'm sure a good time was had by all the kids enjoyed playing with their cousins.

Looking forward... there may very well be an announcement coming from our household (NO, we're are NOT having another baby). Will keep you in limbo until details are finalized this weekend. Couple more weekends of traveling, and by the end of July, we should be able to enjoy our summer weekends relaxing!

Thanks for following, and will try to update more regularly. Just know, it's a crazy busy time for us right now!

More for me...

So, Nece has had this saying for months and months, and most of you have heard it... but I want to make sure I capture it on my blog. Remember, that was the reason I started this, to have a journal of things that I never write in the baby book and to make sure they aren't forgotten.

Apparantly, this is how the body parts are referred to at Sue's. I can imagine as a daycare provider wondering how you will answer those types of questions while trying to make sure no parents are disrespected.

So... here it is:
Boys have rattles, girls have butts.

Have a good laugh- we sure did the first time we heard this come out of her mouth! But we love it!

How's that for an answer?

Nece, it's time to put your jams on. Which ones do you want to wear?

Butterfly ones.

Okay.

First we have to put my pullup on, then my pants and then the shirt. Now how's that for an answer?

I have to admit, I just started laughing as I realized that was me through and through.

They say mimicking is the best form of flattery! I'll remember that the next time she lets a swear word fly! Just kidding...

Have a great weekend! Dad and the girls are headed for a weekend with grandma and grandpa, while Mom heads off for a women's weekend!

Lots in the last couple weeks!

So, blogging isn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. No... it's not hard to create the blog posts... that part is simple. The hard part is finding/making the time to create the posts. But, I don't think I'm gonna give up quite yet... I think there are a few of you out there that actually read my masterpieces (hardly, but whatever), right?

So tonight, I actually took time to download and tag a TON of pictures (like 300 or something from the past 6 weeks, but Cindy's shower was included in that so, it was probably about 125 or so). Now, I know, you are gonna ask... when can we see them. That would be another task on the to-do list. I still need to get them into dotphoto... Priorities... blog update or pictures? You tell me... I don't know.

The last couple weeks... busy, like usual. After Memorial Weekend we were looking forward to a couple weeks without having to travel anywhere... did that happen. Nope, but more on that in a minute.

After Memorial Weekend we finally planted our garden. Now, we've been talking about possibly doing a garden, but making the time to get it done is a different story. Marc decided that he wanted pumpkins (last fall, he informed me of this... that's when my wheels started turning). So, his little pumpkin patch has now turned into:

• pumpkins
• corn
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• carrots
• onions
• cucumbers
• beans
• tomatoes
• peppers
• cantaloupe
• and probably something that I'm missing

Nece had a blast helping her dad plant the seeds while Franny enjoyed eating dirt and hanging out in her stroller. Nece understands there are seeds in the garden and likes to check on them... It's going to be a fun summer watching all our produce grow and being able to pick it (let's hope at least).

Last weekend, we received a call that Marc's grandma had passed away. She was 95 and very sick with Alzheimers for a long time. As sad as it is to see anybody that you love and care about pass away... we do believe this was a blessing, as the disease completely took her away from everybody and she wasn't the same lady that he and his siblings remembered growing up. Because of this, we got some unexpected family time with all the siblings and cousins. Here's a picture of all of us, and a couple of Nece with her cousins.

And we're back home again for what was a rainy and cold weekend. Saturday, we spent our day running errands (nothing fun and exciting), but Sunday we went to Grand Old Day. This is an annual festival in St Paul. Marc and I have been going for years, though, it's a bit different with kids. Prior kids, the cocktails started around 11A for a fun-filled day of drinks, sun and bands. Post kids... we get to Grand Ave by 9:45 or so, and enjoy the parade and home by noonish. Just to prove how crummy it was today... here's a couple pics that were taken. (Yes, the pics above with the cousins were taken 5 days ago... happy June in the MN).

So, that should bring you up to speed on the last couple weeks. And, while I'm at it I'm trying to think of any funny little snip-its...

• Every day when driving by the local elementary school, Nece announces "there's my skew-el" and that she's going to ride the bus with Mya, Emmie and Ju-we (Julie, that's you)
• Franny still has NOT popped that top tooth through... hopefully soon. Though I did notice she went through a mini growth spurt this week, as I've had to pull the 6-9 mo clothes out. I can't ever complain my girls didn't get good use out of clothes
• The girls had a new babysitter one day, and from what I understand... they had a ball. I knew I had nothing to worry about when I told them I had to go to work, Nece looked at me and non-chalantly said "Bye Mom". Never even batted an eye! Thanks Kim... they look forward to having you back

Off for now! Enjoy a great week!!!

Camping

Camping over Memorial Day weekend is a tradition at our house... it's the start of the summer, the first camping trip of the season and gets everybody excited for the next couple months. With that said, lets remember that Franny wasn't born until Aug last summer, so our camping season got cut short, and we didn't get out much because I was 7, 8 and 9 months pregnant. And Franny isn't the best sleeper, so I had NO idea what to expect of this weekend. Nece on the other hand was just turning/turned two, and she did camp last summer, but how much do kids really remember?

A crazy Friday morning while the girls were at Sue's, we scurried around and got everything ready, from grocery shopping, making 'pass' dishes, getting coolers down and washed, cleaning the truck, getting everybody (don't forget the dogs come too) packed for all four seasons. After close to six hours of running around, off we were to get the girls and begin the weekend with our friends up in Webster!

And how does it begin? Picture this... Marc's truck. Marc driving, Hazel in the middle, me in the passenger seat. Back seat consists of both girls and Reggie, while the entire back was packed with anything and everything you could think of. Yes, it was a sight to behold, and I decided this was the post to figure out pictures for you. Here's what we looked like:










After the 1 1/2 hour drive, we arrived in Webster and ready for a great weekend. The dogs knew EXACTLY where we were and off into the woods they went for essentially 3 straight days. Kailee was excited wondering where 'ederbody' was and Kara didn't have a clue what she was in for.

Friday night brought our friends Amy, Jesse, Avery and their dog Bailey (Reggie's girlfriend). Keith and Nance and their friend Jeff were over on the golf course when we arrived, but it gave us some time to unpack the truck and get situated. Amy and KC hung out for awhile, but were definitely getting geared up for a busy weekend at http://www.foxrungolf.net/.

On Sunday, we had the honor of meeting Mandy and Jonathan's new baby, Sophie... oh she is so sweet, and going to be a great addition next year. Carrie, Todd and their friends Joanie and Mark also came up. It was great to see them before they golfed and after they went to dinner at the casino in Danbury. I think I remember Carrie mentioning she was the only one that donated money to the casino... not too bad, 75% success rate!

Every day we had absolutely picture perfect weather and every evening was perfect for sleeping in the camper. Marc spent lots of time on the golf course Saturday, while I stayed back and enjoyed the kids, relaxing and shooting the shit with our friends that weren't on the golf course.

So, I mentioned sleeping... I can only imagine you guys are all wondering how that went and where we slept. Well lets picture this. We have a pop-up (I don't know the size), but I do know it's essentially like short full size beds on each side, and the table turns into a bed. On one side of the camper is mom and Nece sleeping together with the pack-n-play set up for Franny. On the table bed is Reggie and Hazel and on the other side of the camper is Marc. Yes, tight, once again, but doable. Do I have pictures, ahhh, no. There is NO way that I was going to pull my camera out and risk the flash waking the girls up.

Knowing that Franny is a craptastic sleeper at best, I was very nervous. Should I have been... nope I guess not. She slept like a CHAMP. I think essentially 24 hours of fresh air might have something to do with the fabulous naps and sleeping through the entire night. And Nece, she slept fantastically as well. On Friday night, I woke up to rain. And the rain, work Nece up. She grabbed my lips to get my attention and once I told her it was raining, she turned over and went back to sleep. FANTASTIC! And let me just say, raining outside when sleeping in the camper, absolutely delightful. It's such a peaceful and relaxing sound, I love it (just so it doesn't turn severe).

Highlights:

• Marc spending time on the golf course
• Marc, Jesse, Keith, Jeff and Nece taking the dogs to the lake for a swim. And from my understanding Nece getting in the 'dog lake' and splashing around. And not just getting in the dog lake, but getting in the dog lake naked. Yes, you read correctly, she stripped down
• On the way back, Nece got into burning weed and exposed her legs, no worries she's fine and was by the time her nap was over. Nothing Benedryl cream and Tylenol can't take care of
• Sunday night, Nece played bartender to everybody at the Fox Hole (the bar in the clubhouse at Fox Run GC). We stayed after to help Amy and KC a bit, and have a few drinks after a very BUSY weekend for them. Nece, Quaid (Amy and KC's son) and Franny got to play, and at one point, Nece went behind the bar and asked everybody do you want a beer or water (the 'water' was every hard liquor bottle). A cute sight... and I think Marc and I better start mentally preparing for what's to come many years from now!
• Great food, great conversation, great beer, great times with our friends and perfect weather

A great start to what is expected to be a perfect summer with lots of time spent camping and with our friends. Did Nece enjoy camping... this is how I will sum it up: every morning and every night before bed she tells me she wants to go to Sue's then go camping. Try explaining to an almost 3 year old, that we can't go every day.

Now, all we need to do is get serious about getting a bigger camper and life will be even better. And last but not least, a shout-out to Keith and Nance. Thank you for inviting us to spend so many weekends with your family. We truly do appreciate you treating us as your own and look forward to many more weekends to come.