Sick...

Why is it that when you are sick... the world keeps moving, the baby doesn't stop moving, the dinner still gets made, the life that you are living exists as normal and your husband hardly even recognizes that you are not feeling well at all; however... when he is sick.... EVERYTHING CHANGES! He talks funny, says "I don't know if you noticed, but I am in bad shape!" and on an on... I literally could go on forever! I mean... I was so sick last week and he actually had the nerve to say..."I didn't know you were even sick!" It is so frustrating! Anyway... just had to vent!

By for now!
Candace

Anxiety... frustrations, and annoyances.

Sometimes... there are days where this is the only place I can really vent. My husband is wonderful, but honestly he does not understand why I get so upset sometimes. He thinks I am being stupid, I am pretty sure, so I just don't talk to him about things that are bothering me. I really can't talk about it here either, but just the fact that I am saying anything sometimes helps.

So... today, I am just going to address my anxieties... I have 2 weddings coming up over the next two weekends. One... should be fine, it is my cousin's wedding, and I am taking the pictures, which is my comfort zone. The second wedding however... is not really in my comfort zone AT ALL! Do you remember the girl that decided to fire me from taking her wedding pictures a few months ago... well, we decided to go ahead and video tape her wedding. I am having anxiety about that, because honestly, I am not a videographer! I am a photographer... my mom is the video person. I am really wishing that I had not accepted this job. The reason is because the day after that wedding is Grace's birthday party! Yes... I am nuts!

Anyway... Pray for me! I am going to stop whining now! :)

My new walking buddies!

Here are some pics from the last two days... I have had my kids with me, and walking has never been more fun!

Here is Day 1...

And here is Day 2!

My oldest and youngest...

I just love this pic! Gracie has this innate love for my old cat Rainy. I have had Rainy since she was about a year old. She is a very sweet cat but has some health problems, and is not always the nicest of my cats. She has a tendency to be a little mean to my younger cousins, and Carly(my niece) but somehow, she knows that she has to be nice to Grace. It is very funny... although, I have to watch them close, Grace likes to pat Rainy and sometimes she doesn't know her own strength. It is very sweet... we are teaching Gracie, GENTLE! :)

I'm a little slow... but I am catching on! :O)

So, I have been trying to figure out for a while how in the world to upload more than just 5 pictures at a time. For anyone that knows me, knows that I can't just take a few pics, or share 5 at a time. So... I finally figured out the collage thing, and took a tip from my Blogging friend Marshan(thanks for being so creative!), and figured it out. Yes... I might have gone a little overboard, but we had a great time at Kings Island last night and I have to share! :)

Here we are just a few minutes after getting to Kings Island.

I just love these pics... Grace was having fun looking out at the fountain....
Ok... yes, here is another pole dancing episode... my daughter is a little funny! LOL!
Here is Daddy playing "This little Piggy" with Gracie.
Gracie with her mammaw and pappaw Crawford. She didn't like that big white gorilla at all!!!

Oh yeah... and pappaw won her that pink monkey in the lower pic! Here we are at the end of the night... we actually stayed for the fireworks! It was a really fun night! :)

Countdown is on...

So, my baby is going to be 1 year old soon! I can't believe that a year has gone by... it is so crazy to believe! I am honestly not sure where this year has gone! So many things have happened, yet, I feel like it was just yesterday that precious little girl entered my life, but then again I don't remember what it was like before she was here. The days are sweeter, more hectic, and I don't remember the last time I was literally bored! Every moment is more fun, more of everything. I just honestly do not know how to explain it. Life is precious! Here are some pics from the past year... just a year in review sort of! Enjoy... I know I have! .


I will keep adding over the next two weeks..

More of my speckled baby!

So... It has been about a day or so since we have found any new spots on Gracie, but she is still technically contagious(I guess) since not all of the spots have scabbed over yet. She has been in pretty good spirits though, considering that she is probably really itchy. I am so thankful that this has happened now, rather than much later, but I still can't believe that she has got them. Here are some new pics of Gracie... The first ones are from Tuesday evening when we were giving her a bath. The other ones are from today... she is getting to the point where she is actually smiling now when she sees the camera... my daughter is a ham! LOL! So, here is more from the speckled baby! :)

My little speckled baby!

Well, it is definitely chicken pox... I just can't believe that she has chicken pox! She is just pitiful... she has a ton of little "pox" all over her little belly and back... and more on her face than I was expecting. Oh well... she is doing well otherwise. The Benedryl is helping her rest, which is good, so she is in pretty good spirits. She is a very good baby, and I thank God for her every day!


Here are some pics I took of her while she was napping just a little while ago...


Well... till next time! Have a great day!~

Unexpected Visitor...

So, this morning we had our day all planned out... We were going to get up early, go to Sam's, pick up a few things, run to Walmart, pick up the pictures for Michelle's shower, an then come home and get ready for the Shower. Grace and I were going to ride over to Norwood with Grandma McClain, and have a great day visiting with the cousins and Aunt Sue. Well, just as Doug started to undress Grace to get ready for the day, I took her and cuddled her for a moment and then sat her down on my bed to play for a minute. That is when I saw it... she had a little blister looking bump on her belly. Then... a few minutes later... she had 3 more, then a few minutes after that... she had even more. At first... thought it might have just been a bug bite. Unfortunately, it wasn't a bug bit... more like a chicken bite! Yep.... she has the pox. WE called the nurse and she said that it sure sounded like it, but to just watch it, and if they started to bust, then scab over, it was definitely chicken pox. So... plans changed. I still went shopping and Grace stayed home with her daddy. After that, we went to the shower without her. Poor little thing... by the time that I got home, she had a ton of them all over her! I will try to post some pics of her later... In the meantime, please pray for Gracie, and Gracie's momma! :)

Some beautiful kids!

This week has been quite the adventure for me. A couple of days this week I have had 4 to 5 extra kids in addition to my one. My aunt Cathy has 5 kids and so yesterday I volunteered to take them to see the new movie Hancock. It is an awesome movie, and we had a blast! Of course... afterwards, I got my payment... I made them let me take their pics for a gift to their mom! Ha ha ha!!! I am so evil! Try getting 2 14 year olds, a 12 year old, a 9 and 1/2 year old and a 7 and a 1/2 year old to sit still long enough to take their pics! It was an adventure! Here is the outcome...

A new favorite...Space Bags!!

So, I figured that today was as good a day as any to finally put away Grace's old clothes. I had decided a few weeks ago that I would try out those things you see on tv...

ya know, those Space Bag things that you suck all the air out of with a vacuum cleaner. I was skeptical that they would work well, but I figured that I would give them a try since Grace had so many clothes, and I wanted to keep them nice and clean in hopes of someday having another baby to be able to use them. So... I started organizing her clothes, and let me tell you, there were a lot of clothes!!! We had 3 large diaper boxes, and a huge Rubbermaid container, and 2 laundry baskets full, as well as stuff that was still hanging in her closet that I just hadn't gotten around to cleaning out. I wish I had taken a picture of everything to start, but here are some stuff that are currently still waiting to be packaged....

And these are 4 bags that are already packed, full of sleepers, onesies, and miscelaneous outfits in sizes 0-3 months, and 3-6 months.

That doesn't even include the dresses. Phew... not too much more to do... but I have to say... I LOVE THE SPACE BAGS! They work great, especially if you are short on storage space like we are.

My favorite pic... up til now anyway!!!!

I believe that this is probably one of my very favorite pics that I have taken of Gracie to this point. I plan on getting this blown up to a larger size and putting it in a frame to hang in Grace's room, but until then, I just have to share it again. It just shows the love that little girl has for her daddy, and that makes me love them both more than I could ever imagine! What a blessing to have this little one in our lives!

Where have these 11 months go?

OK, so I think my last post about Grace's age was back when she turned 9 months old. Seriously... where have these 2 months gone? I mean... she went from 9 to 11 months like- that! I am seriously amazed! Grace is constantly amazing me, learning new things, saying new things(which I can't really understand, but I am sure that she does!), and going where I doubt that she could go... but always ends up there anyway... hence the picture of her in Honey's cage! LOL!
Honestly, I am shocked that in just one month, my little baby will be 1 year old!

I am looking back over the blog when Grace turned 9 months old. I am trying to think of everything that she is doing, and honestly... I am drawing a blank. So, I will just start with the obvious that I can think of.... Gracie is:

Crawling EVERYWHERE!

She is finally warming up to people besides me, Doug, my parents and Doug's parents. She was going through a small spell of crying when some people held her.... she is working her way out of that. I know they all go through it, but it was hard for me to see her cry on my 12 year old cousin Abby, when all that I want is for her to be buddies with her. Finally... she is! YEAH!

She tells Honey to be a good girl...(ok, not really, but doesn't this look like she is bossing her around?)
She is standing up to anything that she pull herself up to... as well as standing without holding on to anything, of course, until she realizes that she is not holding on, then she goes down on her bum! LOL!

She talks on the phone... even when no one is on the other line! This started about 2 weeks ago... well, actually I have been working on this, but it was really cute when it happened. So, for a while now, whenever either Doug or my mom is on the phone I would hold the phone up to Grace's ear and she would usually just sit there, and not say anything, but she would smile. Well... not too long ago, we were at Doug's mom and dad's and our niece Tori gave Grace the toy phone and she was actually putting it up to her ear(well... it was in the vacinity of her ear) and she was making this loud squawking noise that sounded like hello. It was so cute!

So... I am sure that I will think of more later, but for now... that is all that I can come up with!

For now, here are some pics that I snapped of my little doll baby tonight... on her 11 month birthday!

Have a great evening... love ya'll!