It's a Fluer De Lis

Claire, is 21 months now and that 2 year mark is quickly approaching.  We are ever so slightly moving into the terrible twos but so far they aren't SO terrible.  As typical for "new" Mom's I'm falling in love with this beautiful creature more every day.

She is so smart and amazes me continually every single day.

I am wearing an old New Orleans Hornets Tshirt and she point to it and says "Mommie, what is that?" and I say a hornet and she says "NO, it's a fleur de lis."  Seriously?  How did she remember that b/c I've only said it once or twice.

She's just amazing.

I LOVE HER.

It's the first Christmas where she knows what is going on and "Santa gets to come to my house." I'm equally as excited as she is.

I hope to start a few traditions with her at Christmas time, praying, putting out the Nativity Scene, lighting the advent candle and getting small amounts of things...and of course giving.

She'll get something she needs, something she wants, something she can read and something she can wear...I like that idea.  Nothing more is needed.

Goodbye Pedro

Saturday morning at 9:45, Carey, Pedro and I drove to Kleinpeter Vet Hospital.   I held his head, put his tongue (or tried) back into his little mouth and closed his eyes and said goodbye to my "first born" my "love dog" my "Pedro Buddy." I hope someone that looks like me and loves him like I do will be there to greet him and keep him company in heaven. I pray that this is the right thing for him and he will no longer suffer the anxiety he felt every time I left the house. Now only I will suffer the anxiety when I leave the house and can't say "goodbye buddy, have a good day, I love you and I'll be right back." Every single morning I'd tell him I'm going to work and I'll be right back. I love you Pedro, I hope you know how much. Goodbye Pedro Buddy.

Little things remind me of him, his Tiger is on the mantle, his doggie steps are still in front of our bed. I asked Carey not to move them yet b/c I'm not ready.  When I'm not thinking of him I feel like I'm neglecting him.  I try to think of when I was with him and did I let him know that I loved him enough.  Did he need me to be near him all of the time.  

Was I the best Mom I could be to him? I know we can always do better at things, but we have to trust that we did what we could while we had the chance.  We can't, I can't beat myself up over it. I know I made the right decision to put him down. He is happy now and he's not suffering, this way, I can never leave him, he can see me everyday.  

I LOVE YOU BUDDY...PEDRO BUDDY.  

Claire has asked a few times, "where's dedo?"  I told her he went to heaven with Jesus and she repeats it, it's so sweet.  I'm not sure when and or if I'll be ready for another dog. We just don't spend enough time at home to pay attention to him/her.

I literally feel an aching/pain in my heart for my sweet dog.  I just wish that I could rub my feet on his face one last time. Or let him lick my face cream off my face at night.  It's the only time he really licked me.  Friday night, he let me snuggle with him at the end of the bed all night.  He's never let me do that.  I think he knew what was coming, I think he was at peace, I pray and hope he is.  

I asked St. Francis, the patron Saint of animals, to be with him and take care of him.  I know he's enjoying the company of St. Francis and I hope Paw Paw Harvey is there to play with him as well. in fact I know He is.

Being an expert

The only thing that I've been doing consistently for 33 of my 36 years on this earth is be a friend. I'd say that makes me an expert.  Wouldn't you?  Wouldn't you trust someone who has been doing something for 36 years to be an expert in the area or good at it?  Anyone who knows me knows I have "a lot" of friends.  I pride myself on networking, communication and being friendly.  Ok, flirting...whatever.  It is rare that I go somewhere and I don't know someone. It's me, it's who I am and I hope it's one of the reasons that people like me.   My husband does roll his eyes when it's time to leave a party or event and I want to go around the room and tell EVERYONE that I know goodbye.  It is not unusual for me to strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to me on a New York subway (ask Chad and Andrea Kling about that one).

I have one friend who always asks for my opinion or for help putting her thoughts and opinions into words or white letters for her.  I've been known to do that for a lot of people, come to think of it. Today I had the honor and privilege of writing a recommendation paragraph for a friend pursuing the opportunity to further her education and ultimately advance her career.  I have a lot of friends, I build relationships with and although different in lengths, I build each one with sincerity and a true interest and desire to know the person.  I don't burn bridges and I've become the type of person who is not afraid to admit wrong or call on an "old friend" when I need a favor or a contact or just information. I removed the names to protect the innocent but this is what I wrote:
               FRIEND has always excelled academically as long as I've known her. I've always been sort of jealous, in fact, that she retains so much so quickly and consistently.  She is thorough and direct in both her studies and her communication, sometimes  maybe a little too direct.  She has always been the companion who, although emotionally tied to me, could speak objectively and thoughtfully when providing advice or clinical guidance.  FRIEND is always able to give the appropriate responses without "sugar coating" the information, some people can't handle that, while others encourage it.  That being said, she has an ingenious way or presenting data/information both clinical and informal that is comforting and easy to understand.   She is a leader and a passionately ambitious nurse.  Many times in life a friend exists that is a gem in a certain field but because you know that friend better than you know yourself you would never allow them to "practice" their work/profession on you or with you.  I've worked on the human resources side of healthcare for 8 years of my 10 years in HR.  Knowing what key competencies are necessary for a clinician both in a hospital and home health setting and knowing a family member is in need of skilled nursing care, I would without a doubt feel complete comfort in knowing that FRIEND would be there to follow through on a plan of care and administer the treatments/medications necessary for rehabilitation and recovery.  She has wanted to advance her career for a while now and I'm proud to be able to witness her advance her career and see her challenged as an adult and a professional.

I hope that she gets what she deserves.  This friends deserves it, whatever she wants is IT!

On a side note:  the new job is great and I'm glad I made the transition.  I'm ready to get settled into the job...always something new going on and always something fun around the corner.

Everything is "yellow"

I absolutely love this age.  I remember when Aidan was little everything was "blue" and now I'm seeing it with my baby girl....only this time everything is "yellow" or lello as she calls it.

She was a bit moody today, I believe she's getting an early start on the terrible twos and threes.  She was a bit whiny but seems to be in the category of children who cry when you take away ANYTHING.  If you give her anything to soothe her or start something to distract her form something else, she will immediately start screaming as if you beat her.  :(  It's not fun.

She's still for the most part the most precious and angelic child I've ever seen.  I just love her so much.

It was Carey's second Father's Day today and he got to spend some time with his little girl, but she and I did ride out to the hometown to see "Papere."  It was a nice day.

Peace be with you...

I've had a lot of different things going through my mind lately.  Some concerning, some worrisome and others just very random.  We have a lovely lady at work named Debbie who sends out what she calls the "Word of the Day" 

Here was yesterdays:

“Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble,…whatever things are of good report,…meditate on these things….  And the God of peace will be with you.”   Philippians 4:8-9

Meditating on the good things of life means that your mind is dominated by…good ideas, concepts, and insights.  What does this mean to us in a practical sense?  When we choose to think about those things that inspire us, encourage us, teach us, and build us up emotionally, we find that we want to follow God’s will and we will desire to remain faithful to Him.  When we choose to think about the majesty and glory of God, we rely upon Him with increasing faith and trust.

It doesn't matter when she send it out it always has relevance in what is going on in my daily life.  I felt like this one was just a reminder that I should not worry about things that are not in my control.  I must, I know now and I admit it out right, that I need to be reminded of God's power and love and that if our thoughts and actions ultimately glorify God and we are using our gifts to the best of our abilities then things will be ok and there will be Peace within us.  Being able to live peacefully feeds into all aspects of our lives.  

I hope I can teach Claire about God's love and power the way my Mom taught me.  Hopefully she will come to know and love the scripture and realize that even though this book is a collections of writings and stories from thousands of year it still holds very true and can be very useful to our lives and our happiness. 

I am, I do, I have, I think, I dream - so on and so forth

I am an imperfect human being.  I am a hypocrite.

I do organize my closet by color and "doodle on my work folders. I do dance and make people laugh at work.

I have talked about other people behind their backs (you really haven't?) I do curse "like a sailor" when I'm in the car and upset with people.  I have a sarcastic sense of humor.

I think about the future and I pray a lot.  I think my daughter is the most beautiful child ever created.  (I dare someone to tell me different, ha ha).

I dream a lot of things.  I dream daily.  I dream just like I think everyone else should.

I reactivated my Facebook tonight to post some recent pics I had taken of Claire, Carey and I.  I'm bragging.  Of course I am.  It's human nature to want to "show-off" and share your family, the blessing that I have in my wonderful husband and my daughter.  Everyone asks me all the time about Claire and so I posted pics for them.

I am not getting back on. I have enjoyed not being on facebook and didn't miss the drama that it caused. I didn't miss it because I don't really care what is going on with the 500 plus "friends" I have.  I managed before facebook and I'll manage going forward.


Good Night.

I'm lazy- did I mention that?  to a certain extent, I am a lazy person.

Poche Family Photos - for the 1st time ever

The pics are in.  We hired Tate Tullier and Sarah Tullier from Tate Tullier Photography to takes a pictures and I couldn't be happier with the pictures, he did an amazing job.  I Love love love them.

Here are a few. 

Me, Claire Celine aka Peanut and Carey Poche

These are were also Claire's 1 year photos.  I wish I could have someone takes pictures of everything she does/says and just the happenings of her daily life.  I think she's cutting a new tooth because she was unusually whiney this evening.  I've pretty much forgotten about it and am thinking only of waking up that angel in the morning.  I love how she hides under a pillow or her arm when you turn the light on to wake her up...and when she finally looks at you, she's smiling and giggling that baby giggle.  I love her so much.  I think I'll spend the rest of my life trying to explain to Claire how much "so" actual is.

These are days, we Remember

A few days ago, my mom called me.  It was late afternoon and I was at work.  It was one of two things and since she had texted us a few days earlier to say that she was retiring, I was more sure it was something "not good" than I was that it was exciting, ground breaking news.

Dad has to go on dialysis. :(  Well that's not good.  I cried.  I cried at work.  That is one thing I'm not ashamed to do, cry at work I mean.  Then I got pissed, "it's not his fault" Mom said. "Yes it is," I replied.  "It is his fault, for not taking care of himself all of those years I asked him to."  Every since high school (almost 20 years now) I've asked him to stop smoking, to eat better, to exercise...all things that had he started 20 years ago, may have had some effect on how his health is today.

Every time Mom calls at a strange time I get nervous.  His health is fair and I'm honestly more concerned that Dad dies before Maw Maw does and then Mom will have to send Maw Maw into a nursing home. :(  That saddens me oh so much.  I want Mom to be able to enjoy her retirement and now she'll spend 3 - 4 days a week, 3 -4 hours a day perhaps taking care of daddy and the rest, taking care of her mother-in-law.  I would do that same for mine so I understand very much her wanting to take care of Maw Maw as much as and as best she can for as long as she can.  It just hurts me that she can't enjoy her life and be a little selfish with her time...time for herself.  That's the kind of woman she is and wife.  I hope I can be that good to Carey 35 years from now.

Dad will have a follow up appointment in a couple of months to determine the level/type of treatment he will need.  He's scared I think.  He's called twice over the last week and I haven't been able to talk to him very much.  I should call to check on him more often...I need to be better about that because I'll want to remember these stories/times we've shared when he's gone. We just don't know how long we have.

If we don't have plans on Sunday or Saturday evening, I may ask Carey to ride with me to Donaldsonville to see and spend time with Daddy...I'll see if Aidan and Alec want to come too - we can bring water baloons.  :)  They all (Claire, Aidan and Alec) love them.

My dad is the best...uniquely special...i.e. the best.  ;)

'til tomorrow.

Faith is

the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."  Hebrews 11:1

Nicole and I had a long conversation about this today.  It's not secret I have some "leads" on new job opportunities and I am pursuing those.  What is not known is the level of my interest in each and how serious I am in a change.  Hell, even I don't that.  ;) I've been praying a lot about it and lately I've been receiving and noticing many verses related to the Holy Spirit.  I don't think it's a coincidence at all.  I have faith that if I am meant to be in a different place (job) the right job will come my way, much the same way my current job found me.  I'm doing my part by "seeing" what these jobs are about and I'm trusting God will send the Holy Spirit to help me discern what I need to do. It's never a decision I've taken lightly.  I really enjoy my job and the people I work with are the best ever (nothing against my previous co-workers) I've just grown very attached to the people I've been around the last three years. I am a people person, so would you really expect anything different?

I had a crazy day.  I slept MUCH later than usual as we went out last night and Claire was at her Nana's house.  I skipped mass this morning with the intention to go this evening at 6pm.  I learned upon pulling up to the church that due to the church fair the 6pm service had been cancelled.  :(   I drove to MBS (my church parish) and was going to go to the adoration chapel for an hour only to find no one there and it locked.  I do not have the code to get in so I couldn't go. :(  I decided to sit on the benches and enjoy the nice weather and the breeze and say the Rosary, it was a lovely time to be alone with the Lord and in prayer and go through the Glorious mysteries.  I'm ashamed that i haven't said one in a long time and it was long overdue.

I enjoyed spending some (although not much) time with Carey and Claire today.  Love them both.  I did the important things - prayed, loved my baby girl and loved my husband.  Good day.  Loved a little on my sweet dog too.

I did manage to do two things over the last week that definitely put a point into my mother of the year scorecard:  almost let my daughter run into the street (because I wasn't paying attention to her) and forgot to put sunscreen on her before we spend the day outside.  Yes I haven't run so fast in a while as I did when I jumped up to grab her before she got to the sidewalk, so granted she wasn't actually THAT close to the street but my heart did race and sink to my toes as I watched her get closer to the road that she should EVER be.   YIKES.  I know she likes running towards the road down our own driveway which is much longer than her Parain's and Auntie Ms but still.  I have got to learn to pay more attention to her and then I just need in general to have sunscreen ready and available.  Louisiana sun is HOT and scorching.

It's late, time for bed.
PS -We leave for New York City in 20 days.....YIKES!!!!!!!!!!  I've got to lose several pounds so I can fit into this particular dress that I bought and couldn't return.  It's got sequins at the bottom so it's not like I just just bust up in a club with it on, it's for a special occasion like this trip.  I can do it.  I know I can.

My "Not-to-Do" List

I read about two sentences of a blog tonight and it said something about a "not-to-do" list.  I thought what a great concept.  Although I'm dressed to get on the treadmill because I NEED to get on the treadmill and lose 10lbs in 3 weeks, I am not because I've been watching the entire season of Scandal with Carey.  So check item #1 one off my "not-to-do" list.
      1. run on the treadmill
      2. have an evening snack
      3. work

I'll keep the list short, it's already 10:15 pm.  It's time to snuggle with my husband.  The one that after 5 years and almost 5 months, is still the love of my life.  He should be we've got forever to go and that's an awfully long time.

I have a sinus infection/cold or some crud that is kicking my butt.  I guess I'll listen to my husband and take the medicine he so lovingly stopped at CVS to get for me.  Hopefully it'll help me sleep, in fact I know it will.

I read quite a few blogs and I think, I'm creative, I'm funny (sometimes) why can't I think of some of this stuff...guess I'm not as funny as I think I am.

So my bog is titled a day in the life of Gwen...what happened today?

Carey left for work and I finished getting ready/dressed for work and then went to wake Claire up, like her father, she loves to sleep.  She wakes up, like her mother (Thank God), happy and with a smile on her face.  It's the best face you've ever seen, cutest thing in the world and although all Mom's say that (I know my Mom did ;) ), gosh darn it she is.  She laughed and tries to hide under her arm and crawl to the other side of the bed so I won't grab her.  It's funny.   I get her dressed, but a bow in her hair (No bow, no Go right?) and we head to the kitchen to finish making my coffee (Carey has turned on the Keurig, yes we're spoiled), Claire so sweetly leans a bit to her left and looks into the living room and says "Daddy?"  as if to say where are you daddy?  SHA BA BAE.  It was so cute.

I dropped her off at "school" which we love and she cried a little, but got sidetracked quickly (like her mother) and went on to playing with the toys.  I went on to work, 10 minutes late as usual (but I also stay late too) and went about my day.  Had breaking news that the COO's last day was in fact today, which I found out about 30 minutes prior to the mass email being sent out to the company...interesting and shortly after that a few ex-Amed employees texted me and vice versa with questions and confirmation that they already knew about it.  WOW, word does travel fast.  I don't enjoy seeing anyone lose their jobs but at the same time I believe we all have to remember why it is we go to work and do what we do.  I think he made some poor decisions and I think he also made some good ones.  I'm anxious to see/hear the details of the most recent change in our company.  May be like the JFK assassination...you never know and I'm sure there are a number of conspiracy theories going around about what is going on.  Lauren (Aicklen) was off today and I called her upon finding out and she says "Why does everything happen when I'm not there."  Poor darlin.  She's my bff at work.  I'm not sure she knows that another friend of hers put in her two weeks notice and is leaving.  It hasn't been announced yet but b/c we're in HR we sometimes and often times find out things long before most people do.  I'll update you tomorrow on what that is once I ask said person...she'll admit or open up then.

On another note I have several leads on job opportunities, all of which could be great for my HR career and possibly financially beneficial.  I'm not sure about what direction any of them are taking me but I do know I need to pray about them and I also need to chat with my boss about them.  I know she'll support me and that is both a blessing and a curse.  Everything happens for a reason.  It's just that everything is also happening so quickly at Amedisys.  Layoffs, closures, Bill leaves, KKR gets a seat on our Board of Directors, more people get canned, people are leaving left and right and now Patrick is gone.  We have no CEO or COO.  We need some HELP.

Amedisys helps so many families everyday, we do good work.  God will not let this company go down.  We, with Ronnie's help, will build it back up.  It'll just take some time.  I'm just not sure how much time we have.

Now, it's bed time.  Good Night.

If walls could talk...

they would probably say the reason my 13 month old is spoiled is because I am.  Spoiled, blessed, lucky...whatever adjective you used to describe the life that has so much or too much.  Claire is passed out right now.  I've laid her down on the couch beside me, taken off her socks and cut her toe nails and polished them.  She screams bloody murder when you touch her hands, feet, ears, eyes...anything.  She doesn't like you to touch her, except she gives sweet kisses and hugs.  I haven't put her to bed yet because I just want to look at her and love her.

I spent about 45 minutes today at Paula Manship YMCA ballpark with her walking up and down four steps (about 1ft 1/2 apart from each other).  We would walk up and then turn around and walk down. Repeat, repeat, and repeat.  One day I'll beg her to do that with me.  One day I hope she'll do the same with me, when I'm old that is.

 
Mother of the year here forgot to load on up with sunscreen...I'll remember next time. The best part of going to Alec's game today was watching his team lose by 1 run at the very end and see him walk/run off the field with a smile so big you would think he won the World Series.  He is just so happy and feels so lucky to be playing at all he doesn't care about winning and losing.  WOW, to have that attitude at age 9 when you are just starting to learn what a true competitive spirit is.  Claire was walking around babbling and "talking" to people - just like her mother does.  Michele mentioned today that Alec is a lot like me.   Love that kid.  He's got a precious little personality.  Hope he stays that sweet.  Wish I could/had the time to see he and Aidan more often.  Aidan is going to be taller than me very soon, yes it's not that difficult but it is happening.  Hell, Claire will be too, she is growing so fast.  I know that gets said a lot, just as much as "are you ready for #2?"

Are you ever ready? Probably not, didn't think I was ready for number one.  In fact I was more shocked and scared than Carey was.  He is not here.  He hasn't even seen Claire today.  He saw her long enough to kiss her before he left for work and when he got home he saw her long enough to say Hi and he went to Chad's.  Frustrating yes, I want nothing more than to spend every waking moment with Claire but if Carey was there too that would be the best moments of my life.  The two people I love most in the world and to have them together....A-MAZING.

On a side note, my email has been acting up and I spent like 30 minutes on the phone with a Cox representative who said everything was ok on there side and said it was a Mac issue.  Well I didn't go to the Apple store today b/c my email had started working again.  Carey's email is working just fine so it can't be a Mac issue, well it could be but we don't think it is.  I guess I need to try to go there tomorrow after the 14 birthday parties and the Easter Egg hunt we have tomorrow.  :)

Guess I need to put her to bed.  Love that kid.  Can't wait to see Carey - even though we were kind of grumpy when he left or before he left.

Where does the time go?

I have been on a Facebook hiatus since November 2013 (5 months) and it has been interesting. I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by.  It's fun to say "i'm not on Facebook" it's like saying "i don't have a cell phone" which I do, but it gets the crazy look.  I'm on dailymile, I log my coke rewards, I'm on LinkedIn, Pinterest, this blog, I have two email addresses, I Skype and FaceTime, I have a work laptop, a iPad mini, a regular iPad, a new Mac,  a lenovo - do I really need more tech in my life?  oh and we have an old Kindle.  I say old but it's probably only a few years old and now considered "old."

For Lent I used to give up Facebook and soft drinks.  This year that wasn't an option, I did give up soft drinks and I can't wait to have a fountain coke...:)  I gave up playing games on the phone/iPad and it's been a wonderful opportunity to spend time with Claire who, for only being one, is the smartest little bundle of joy I've ever had the opportunity to teach and educate and LOVE.  She's such a blessing to us.

A healthy girl that one.  I missed her falling asleep tonight...how sad.  I went to tan, b/c this white body of mine needs a little help/prep before bathing suit season really gets started.  I hate that I miss anything with her b/c you never know what she'll do or when she'll start something new.  She's a little comedian and just so entertaining.

I wish I could go back.  I wish I could go back to when she was just a tiny baby, completely dependent on me.  She's so independent now, wanting to do everything we do and do it on her own.  I regret not staying home a few more weeks even without pay, to just "spend" with her.  I'll never get that time back and it actually makes me very sad.  Which is why when she falls asleep in my arms now, I don't rush to put her down for the night.  I just want to hold her and squeeze her.  I want to squeeze her guts out, I always say.  Here she is at her first birthday party.  Little ham she is.

I wish I was a cannibal, b/c I want to eat my child.  But doesn't everyone? Is that unusual?  I ask my mom all the time if all Mom's think that their child/children is/are the most beautiful EVER.  She says yes, all mom's says that about their children...just not as much as I do.

...and that is the point when I tell my mother that, I just can't help it, b/c she is.  She is beautiful.  The funny thing about it is that she looks just like her daddy.  The other love of my life.   Crazy thing about love, it doesn't ever go away, it just keeps multiplying and in the cases of Carey and Claire - I'm so full of LOVE that I can't even contain myself.  There is nothing that could change that and I love that I love two people equally and differently at the same time.

What an amazing God we have that he created that emotion and allows us to love like that.

Gabe and Katie Crawford, along with the kitties, Mia and Libby, came over on March 23rd to spend the day and evening.  It was very exciting to see them and have them meet Claire.  I wish we lived closer together.  Libby enjoyed playing with the "girl" toys that we had.

While Mia enjoyed giving me a make over.  

 Katie was more excited to meet Claire than anyone...she messaged me a few days later saying that she missed her.

Here we just decided to put the largest bow we could find in Claire's hair...she's a cutie even like this. 

Claire is turning 13 months in two days, she's running around and has been since 10 1/2 months and she is finally saying Momma, like a normal child.  I have to admit it's nice to not be called "Daddy."  :)

Here she is giving Aunt Kim (Price) a kiss during her baby shower brunch we held at our house this weekend...or making the stink face as we like to call it.  She's a little stinker. 

...and I was running

You know you're old when you quote forrest gump.  I want my size 2 pre-pregnancy body back and I tell you, running does the trick.  My cousin Nicole talked me into running the Louisiana Marathon 5K and I've already registered for the Amedisys Mardi Gras Mambo 10K, so we'll see how that goes.  I have got to train b/c I haven't run that far in years...yes-I said years and that is more than one.  It's amazing how quickly I went from "oops, I'm pregnant" to "I have a 10 month old."  YIKES.  I'm hoping that I can talk Nicole into her first 1/2 marathon and do one in Philedelphia in September.  I heard it's a great course, super flat...can't wait.  I've never been to Philly.  Maybe, Carey will come too and we can make it a birthday trip!

Hopefully I can get Claire into running when she is old enough.  As of now she doesn't even want to walk so we'll see how well she feeds off my running energy.  That is if I can really pick up more energy and find some extra time so I can get my run on.  It seems that doing Jazzercise and running in the morning before work, works best for my/Carey/Claire's schedule, but if I hit the snooze button at 4:45a.m. - then it's not happening ay all.  If I don't get to work "out", "in" the morning, the end result is no work out at all because I want to devote my evening to Claire, as she is doing so many news things, I just don't want miss anything.

I have been telling her No when she tries to open the cabinet doors and she doesn't like that at all.  She even told me No the other day in return. I left the room and laughed.  She's too much (wonder where she gets that from).

Girls (Cousins) night tonight...little Tripoli at Aunt Annette's.  Excited to spend more time with Nicole.  YAY to my besty being in town.

Claire has taken a few steps and that is exciting and she is even starting to say Mama...which is nice.  We screamed back and forth to one another the other day, she'd yell "Da-Da" and I'd yell Mama right back at her until she YELLED in full strength "Ma-Ma."  It was hilarious.

-Gwen

I just do....

I love my husband.  He's not here yet(he played music tonight) but he's on his way and I can't wait to see him.  I love him.  I just do!

I miss him too!!!!

I'm selfish with his time. I want him all to myself.