Inspiring Story

Last night I was watching Kare 11 news and there was very heart-wrenching but inspiring story. It was about a mother of 2 very young children who was battling cancer. Long story short, she discovered she had breast cancer while she was pregnant with her second child. The cancer grew and she knew her chances of survival were slim.
Because she knew she would miss so many important days with her children she started writing letters and even video taping messages to each of her children for them to read/watch on their special occasions (her daughter's first day of school, first date, wedding day, birth of their children, etc). She literally thought of everything and wanted her children to feel like she was with them through it all even though she physically wasn't there.
What inspired me was that this woman was so determined to live the life she had left and had such a positive attitude even given the terrible circumstances. She knew her time was limited and was going to make the most of it. I was absolutely bawling through the entire story.
She died this past weekend....

Here's how its changed me:
Lately I have been very stressed out about a multitude of things, work, negative people in my life and missing my time with Kate....after watching this story I'm going to truly try to change how I look at life and live my life.

I'm not going to let work stress me out as it is simply a job and shouldn't take hold of every aspect of my life which it seems to be doing lately. I'm going to leave work at work and not think about it when I'm home.

I'm also going to remove all the negative people from my life...the people that wear you out mentally. If all they do is bring drama to my life, I don't need them. I have plenty of wonderful people in my life so I will surround myself with the good ones:)

Lastly, I'm going to make my time with Kate (even though it may be less time than I want) the best that it can be and help her experience all the great things life has to offer. And I'm going to stop worrying and start living my life to its fullest as well. No sense in worrying about things I cannot change.

Long and sappy post I know, but there are so many people who are taken from their loved ones so early in life and I just want to make sure I take advantage of all that life has to offer and be as happy as I possibly can because you never know when your time might come. I have my health, a fabulous husband/family and friends and best of all....my wonderful peanut Kate.
So cliche and said so many times before but I'm determined to start living by it and not just thinking it!
So much to be thankful for and looking forward to a new outlook in 2009:)

Here is the story if anyone wants to watch it. Grab a kleenex.
http://www.kare11.com/news/investigative/extras/extra_article.aspx?storyid=533900&catid=26

Christmases continued

We spent Christmas Eve in St. James with Jay's mom's side. Here are some of the photos from the evening....

Great-Grandma Gerry and Kate

Family Photo

Why are you making me sit like this???

Cutie Patootie

I just love spending time with my favorite gal....getting ready at the hotel

Kate's first swimming experience....she hated it.
The water was a little chilly for her. Such a sad little girl.

Great grandma Gerry and Grandpa Bert with the great grandchildren
Kate, Max and Lily

Kate's 1st Christmas

We've had a wonderful week celebrating christmas (all 4 of them with 2 left). I'll have to speak on behalf of Kate and say she had a great time being held and adored by so many people and received some wonderful gifts. I have a million pictures so I'll try to narrow it down to give you a quick view of our festivities.

I might actually have to make multiple posts....here's christmases #1 and 2:

Christmas #1 with the Nessler Family

The adorable coat from Uncle Scott

Cousin Max, Grandma Vicki, Kate and Grandpa Jeff

Max's first 'dangerous' gift from Uncle Jay

Family Photo

Kate loves to read...reading with Grandma Vicki

New toy from Uncle Andy and Aunt Chrissy

Tuckered out from Christmas #1


....Christmas #2 with Grandma and Grandpa Waletich

3 Generations

Toy from Auntie Em and Uncle Chris

Obama onesie from Auntie Em and Uncle Chris:)

Mom and Kate (nice face Kate)

Auntie Em and Kate flying

My new do...

I was getting quite sick of my hair....the ends were bad, it wouldn't style and most days I was just putting it in a ponytail....so I decided to do something drastic and I chopped it all off! It is the shortest I've ever had it (since the bowl cut in 4th grade for those of you that remember).

I really like it and Jay thinks I'm a brand new person. I do feel more perky and just more polished.

So here it is.....

Toys for Tots

Jay and I both think that it is important to teach your children to give back and so we decided to start a tradition of doing toys for tots (or some other charity) each Christmas with Kate and our future children (all future 8 of them...j/k). Once Kate is older we thought it would be great if she could go to the store and pick out a toy for a less fortunate child but for now, we've helped her out and donated a toy in her name. Although she did make the trip to Target with us so she was partially involved.

Here are a couple of pictures of Kate and the toy she 'chose' to donate.

The giraffe is eating me!!!

Check out our matching crazy hair...ha!

Kitchen remodel...sort of (and return of the jorts)

A few weeks ago we (I) decided we needed to do something about our kitchen. It was very outdated looking and the dark wood on the cabinets was making it feel rather small. We painted all the cabinets white and got new hardware. Also, my parents bought us a dishwasher for an early Christmas present. Its so nice to not have to hand wash everything, especially with all the bottles now. Here are a couple before and after pictures. Note, we are not completely done yet (although it has been almost 2 months) but you get the idea....

Old out-dated wood.....and what a mess my counters are

More outdated wood

They're baaaccckkk....daddy in his modified jorts 

(long underwear on due to the chilly painting conditions in the garage)

and kate watching the action in her bumbo

Our new dish washer

The newly painted cabinets

3 months old

Kate turned 3 months old last Wednesday! She has changed so much. Her personality is really starting to show as well. She loves to talk, smile and her latest and greatest find....sucking on her hands.
She is getting strong and when she lays on her back she often strains her neck trying to sit up. She's even sat by herself a couple of times but only for like 3 seconds.

We're still trying to get her used to the crib. She hasn't really been a fan of it this far but we're trying to ease her into it.

Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks:

Kate loves bathtime! (far cry from a couple months ago when she hated it!)

Crazy hair and a belly

Kate and her thanksgiving dress

Kate and dad and the Christmas tree

Ready for the spa...Kate in one of her robes and slippers

I just realized that this whole 'working' thing is definitely cutting into my picture taking and I need to get better about it from here on out....

Ish

I'm so sorry I have been a bad blogger. I feel like my life is in shambles. I'm back to work, missing kate, feeling guilty that I only have a few hours with her before she goes to bed, my house is a mess, I'm exhausted and now I have a cold, an infection in my eye and a rash on my ears...yes my ears.

We're starting to adjust slowly...and I'm sure things will get better. They already got a little better last night when Jay and Chris surprised Emily and I with Britney Spears tickets...woo hoo! Yes, dear old brit brit has had some rough times lately but she appears to be on the up and up and her new cd is great. She's back to her old look and it should be a great show.
So Em and I are super excited and were quite surprised the boys did this for us. Such sweathearts.

Other than that, just trying to get ready for christmas. Should be a lot of fun this year.

Ok now I'll do a post on kate and post some pictures.

Back to work

Well I am officially back to work. Yesterday was hard but I made it through. I thought I was going to cry many times but managed to hold the tears back.

I've switched my hours to 7-4 to allow me to spend more time with Kate in the afternoons and to save on day care expenses. Kate goes to Golden Heart 4 days a week from 9-4 and then spends Tuesdays with my mom.

So back to yesterday....getting up and out the door on time was hard. Especially since Kate decided to not sleep through the night for like the first time in weeks the night before I had to go back. But I made it to work by 7 and spent most of the day sorting through emails.

Jay brought Kate to Golden Heart around 9 and called me right away to assure me that she was doing good. She was sleeping so of course she was doing good:) Plus he reassured me that 'kate is good at meeting new people' ha....i just had to chuckle at the thought of kate walking into the infant 1 room shaking hands and saying 'nice to meet you, i'm kate'.

I went over on my lunch break and she was sleeping in the swing...I got her out and rocked her and she eventually woke up and we rocked some more. When I left to go back to work is when I finally cried. Leaving her was definitely hard and I'm glad Jay is the one to do it every day.

When I went to pick her up at 4 she was pretty much the only baby not crying and there she sat...just chilling in the swing.

So I think she'll do fine, actually I know she will and it will get easier for me as time goes on. Work is going fine except that I am dead tired as I have got less than 5 hours of sleep each night.

I'll post some pics of kate soon...she is getting so chunky and strong:)