Are you sure?

A few months ago I was approached by a friend, asking if I would be interested in providing an in-home childcare for her son.  YES!  There was no hesitation with my answer. 

When we began discussing the logistics of how it would work, Brian asked me "Are you sure you can handle this?"  Yeah, it'll be great!

When sharing this upcoming experience with my neighbor, she asked "Are you sure you want to do that?  When will you sew?"  Yeah! I'll sew at naptime, it'll all work out.

My thought process during this time was, Jude (the boy I'm watching) is the same age as Aubrey, she will be able to socialize with someone her age.  I will be able to bring in some extra money, lets face it- Liam's bills don't pay themselves.  And of course I was really excited to do all this without going back to teaching.

So here I am 4 weeks into our new routine.  THIS IS GREAT!!!

I am very much as excited today as I was the day I said YES.  We have had some ups and downs.  Aubrey has struggled to adjust to sharing attention, but its okay.  This will be good for her.  Jude is an absolute joy to have around.  He is ALWAYS smiling.  These two will learn to love each other!

Being Thankful During Difficult Times

Our journey with this blog began over Thanksgiving 4 years ago, so I thought this week would be a great time to try again.

Every November people begin making lists of everything they are thankful for.  It occupies your Facebook newsfeed, it inspires self-awareness and discovery. 

I have had some many great, life-changing events happen in the month of November. 
November 13, 2004- Met Brian
November 26, 2004- First Date with Brian
November 24, 2005- Met Brian's family during Thanksgiving dinner
November 20, 2007- Closed on our first house
November 22, 2012- Found out we were being blessed with an Aubrey (Thanksgiving Day)

Even with all the great things that have happened to us in November, it is still a month I struggle through.  The one date that takes the most significance in my life is November 19, 2010; the day we heard "your child has cancer".  The year Liam spent his first Thanksgiving in the hospital. 

So through all this I work to tell myself- I am thankful for my home.  I am thankful for my family.  I am thankful for all the experiences this life has offered me.

WE'RE BACK!

So after a much needed break from the pressures of keeping up with this blog WE'RE BACK!
I can't say it was an easy decision either.  I went back and forth "Would anybody still be reading it?" I decided I didn't care!

Then when I heard 5 on Friday was coming back from break and I love writing in lists, I had my own deadline to get back online.  So here is my 5 on Friday to introduce (or reintroduce) us.

1.  The New Blog

Sorry family and friends, you will have to save a new blog address.  A virus or something took ahold of a post.  A very personal and life changing post.  The post I shared Liam's diagnosis, the post that started this whole blog.  And in an irrational, unexplainable way I was hurt.  But by changing the address, the spam comments have stopped!

So take note.  The design is still a work in progress, please bear with me.

And onto the family introductions

2.  Brian



Brian is the sane one in this family.  Just keep him away from golf carts.  Brian is a runner, training for his 5th marathon.  He loves all sports, there is not a season where sports don't grace our television.  A Super-Dad, always up for a game of crush with Liam. 

3. Dawn

I am the voice here.  I chase Liam and Aubrey around everyday, counting down the minutes til Daddy gets home.  During naptimes I keep myself busy creating, crafting and sewing at my home business LCF Threadz.  I have a love/hate relationship with running.  Training for my 4th marathon and hating every minute of it, I just can't quit this addiction!   

4. Liam

Liam is our superhero.  inquisitive.  entertaining.  Loves monster trucks, garbage trucks and rock n roll..  Liam is a big ham, with plenty of experience having his picture taken.  And he loves a good selfie. 

 

An excellent big brother

5. Aubrey

Aubrey is Aubrey :)  I call her difficult from conception.  She loves food, climbing and shoes.  Until recently she was our toothless wonder, only sporting 4 teeth currently (1 on top, 3 on bottom)

Welcome to our wild crazy family. 

 



Date Night

Brian and I don't go out that often and most of the time I am okay with that.  We really do enjoy and take advantage of the times we do get to go out.  The other weekend our friends had their annual Christmas party.  Really genius if you ask me, having a party after the holidays means they don't have to compete with any other parties.

This gave me a great excuse to get out of my sweat pants for the night.  Brian wasn't too thrilled about taking pictures of us, but it is a goal of mine to get more pictures of myself with my children.

 

Now that Aubrey is crawling, most of the time if we are just hanging out around the house, she is jut in onesies.  We have wood floors and it is still too difficult for her to crawl without slipping on the floors with pants on.  And when her little gets get cold, we just slip a pair of Liam Legs on her.

Liam, however, gets to choose his own clothes and in the process is a lot like me choosing comfort over fashion and often ends up in sweats.

Celebrate Date Night with us.  Get $1 off your Liam Legs in the month of February by using coupon code datenight

2014: New Year New You

As a public school teacher I have often encountered parents dressed inappropriately for bringing their children to school.  I always told myself, because conversations with yourself are the best, I would not take my children to school in my pajamas. 

This was very difficult with Liam starting school right after I had just had a baby.  Although I have never went in my pajamas, I am not sure my yoga pants and sweats are that much better. 

It might seem small, but one of my goals for this year is to get dressed.  Staying at home, it has been far too easy to spend the day in workout clothes or sweats.  But there is something about putting on clothes, maybe a little bit of makeup, that makes one feel human.

 

And, really, it doesn't take that much effort.  Most days my children are better dressed than I am, which probably won't change, but at least I can look like I belong with them!

 

Thank you Katie at For Lauren and Lauren for motivating me to get dressed.

 

2013: A Year End Review

Its been real 2013 but its time for you to go!  My word for 2013 was purpose.  I set out to find some purpose in my life.  I am still working on that.  I love my family, I am getting my health and body back after having a baby.  I still have more purpose to work on in the New Year.

We started January off with the big announcement we were adding to our family.  I wasn't exactly enjoying pregnancy at this point (did I enjoy it at all this time?) definitely wasn't fun feeling hungover when I couldn't even taste the delicious beverages!  It had been a journey for us to get to this point, we were beyond excited.

But what goes up must come down and January had the worst ending when we had to say goodbye to my dad.  He may have been my step-dad who I tried to get rid of at everyturn when he first came into the picture, but the man kinda grew on you.  He was so great to our family and we miss him everyday.  It gives me so much joy to hear Liam talk about him, but I know those memories will fad for him and Aubrey will never know him.

 

February was spent daydreaming about our new baby.  Will Liam have a brother or a sister?  How can we decorate the nursery?  We took Liam to the doctor with us when we had the ultrasound.  I was a bit nervous, he really wanted a sister, how would he handle the news if he learns Baby Fudge is a boy?  Luckily we didn't need to find out, Liam was ecstatic to be getting a baby sister!

We also had a fun snow day. It doesn't happen often around these parts, but it was an experience for Liam.

 

I love March.  Liam's birthday, warmer weather.

 

This year we planned Liam's birthday party at the park.  We had a pirate party... unfortunately it snowed.  We still went but it was cold and Liam was not interested in playing.  But I think his friends had fun... like I said snow is unusual here, I can't believe it happened twice in one year, so its an experience.

 

Of course the next week it was 79 degrees outside.

 

Baby Fudge got a name.  I continued to grow, as did she.  

We celebrated Easter.

And Liam got his hearing aides.  Oy! Those things are EXPENSIVE!  Not just for the devices but his ears grow so quickly we are continuously in getting new ear molds made.  And the darn devices have "broke" several times, luckily it hasn't been our fault so we haven't paid to have them fixed.

I was apparently really busy growing a baby in April, because I didn't write much.  Sorry!

 

May was spent at doctors appointments and celebrating Liam being 2 years cancer free!  His doctor called this year one of the biggest milestones for him, 2 years cancer free!  Its amazing how much he has been through in his short life.

 

We continued to celebrate Liam being cancer free with Cancer Survivor Day.  Just look at how much he has grown! 

 

Brian was also celebrated for Father's Day.  I cannot put into words what a great father he really is.  Liam has so much fun with him.  They are constantly wrestling and running circles in the house.  Each morning when Liam wakes up he is disappointed to hear Daddy went to work.

Liam started swim lessons this month.  It was a rough start, but he has came SO FAR!

And I got some sewing done.  I LOVE making these carseat covers, they are so convenient, I never take Aubrey's off her seat.



Difficult from the day she was conceived, Aubrey made her appearance 3 weeks early and light on the pounds. 

But as we were busy celebrating, our dear friends were receiving life changing news.  Keep fighting John Ryan!

 





 

As we adjusted to life as a family of 4 I found myself very reflecting and emotional.  Crying over Liam's hair. but in my defense it is unruly!  and it was so adorable before we cut it!  I have been refusing to cut it again in an effort for the length to weigh it down... Lets just say Brian hasn't enjoyed this idea.

 

I also started "running" in August.  I did not start off with anything impressive to me and had to keep telling myself 'you just had a baby', but it was time for me to get out of the house and work on ME.  This was not easy to do with 2 children, still isn't!

I spent September spreading Awareness.  Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. 

Liam

John Ryan

Drew

Nolan

 

And I had some fun sewing for the upcoming holidays.

 



 In October we did a lot of traveling (a lot for having a 3 month old).  First we went to MI, Brian and I went to a football game and the kids got in a lot of family time!  Then we were off to Atlanta for Brian's sister's engagement party.

 

The best season of all made its appearance in November.  And Liam got to spend plenty of time outside with his father.  They just love doing lawn work together :)



 Then the end of the year finally arrived.  We spent so much time getting ready for the holidays.

  Liam learned the true meaning of Christmas in preschool.  It was so cute listening to him tell the story of Mary and Joseph.  Unfortunately a stomach bug also passed through our house.  And ended with an eventful trip to Michigan for ICEmas.

c a
The icestorm caused a lot of problems for people, leaving some without power for 7 days!  Luckily we were only without power at woman's house for about 2.5 days.