New Years 2011, a year in review

Looking back over the past 12 months, it would seem we had an extremely busy year. Its true, but it didn't seem so hectic while it was happening. So, to recap, here are some highlights from the King-Lackey family for 2011.

May:
Roxy turns 2. I took leave from work, anticipating I would have about a month to settle down and prepare for the arrival of Cadence. Well, a month turned into 10 days and then we had our little girl! She has been such a blessing to us, and we couldn't ask for a kid better suited to us. She's perfect. I missed celebrating mother's day by one day!

June:
Chris's birthday. Chris's first fathers day. Cadence meets Tim, Meme and some of my family for the first time.

July:
Emma turns 5. Our old place, while alright, became too small real quick once Cadence came home. 2 adults, 4 dogs, a cat and a baby were too many bodies for an average sized 2 bedroom apartment. So we looked online for a new place. I found this adorable old cottage style house not too far from where we were already living. After a lot of nagging and promise making, we got news that the house was ours. It is perfect for us, enough room to grow and a huge yard for the dogs (and maybe one day, a tree house).

August:
Oscar turns 6.Chris hires an employee. We learn quickly what a good employee would look like and he then drops his employee and hires a new one, Alan. Alan has been with CRL for awhile and he is working out awesomely. We also had our first set of family pictures taken. And we host a house warming BBQ that went really well.

October:
Cadence's first Thanksgiving. Jane retires. Cadence has her first Halloween dressed as a puppy/lamb/bunny (ambiguous costume). Emma got very, very sick. We were almost one dog down but she pulled through and is still with us, happy and healthy. I am forever thankful to have her here.

November:
My birthday. Completing Christmas shopping. I went back to work for one night, and survived to write about it.

December:
Paul turns 6. A bunch of holiday parties. Decorating the house for Christmas, wrapping presents and taking Cadence out to play in the snow. Cadence's first Christmas at home. Chris pops the question. And then tonight, her first new year celebration.

What does 2012 hold in store for us? Well, no one can predict the future, but what I'd like to see is an addition to our family (no, not a dog). I'll be going back to work. Cadence will start daycare. Her first birthday in May. Spending time at the cottage, spending time with friends and family.

So where ever you are, who ever you are with, and whatever you may be doing,hopefully you all have a pleasant and joyous new year's eve and a prosperous 2012. Enjoy the pic of our new year's baby haha.

King-Lackey Christmas 2011

Phew! The end of the Christmas holiday season is finally upon us. This year has been more hectic than most because everyone wants to see the baby! Its so odd to say baby, she's so big and near on crawling.

We've been to 5 parties so far this holiday season. Here is a break down of each party.


Party #1:
Chris and I hosted a dinner party at our house on the 11th. It was a more relaxed get together with Nancy and her kids coming over for a sit down dinner and gifts. Nancy was very generous with her gift giving, and they seemed to enjoy the gifts that we were giving as well. All in all it was a very nice night.



Party #2:
We went over to the Smaridge-Green family gathering on the 17th. This was a more informal get together with Jane's side of the family. I always enjoy seeing these people, they are so loud and boisterous its such a good time. We had good food, good company and good conversation. The highlight of the night for me was these rosemary shortbread cookies someone had set out. No one else was eating them so I ate them all. Mmmm, savoury cookies.



Party #3:
On the 18th we headed to Brockville to spend time with the Lackey family. This was the first time a lot of Bob's family had met the baby so for the bigger part of the night I didn't see Cadence at all. There was some difficulty getting her to take a nap, she was fighting sleep so hard! And then of course cranky because she was so tired. There were so many kids at this party, both older and younger, it was like being at my family party almost. We both really enjoyed ourselves and enjoyed spending time chatting with various people. The small set back here is that there are so many people that Chris wasn't able to chat with as many people as he had hoped.



Party #4:
In my family, we celebrate la reveillon which falls on the evening of the 24th. My whole family gets together in my memere's teeny tiny living room and we chat, eat snacks (sometimes) and eventually open presents. Its nice to catch up with some people I don't get to see as often. It was the first time a lot of my family have had the chance to meet Cadence as well, although I do post a few pictures of her online its just not the same. I really enjoyed seeing my memere and getting lots of pictures of her with the baby. And all the yummy food (mine especially :P)!



Party #5:
This was a split party, with the morning taking place at our home and then going over early afternoon to Bob and Jane's to open gifts and have lunch. Cadence got spoiled by both Chris and I, and his parents. We are drowning in toys and books! I am so thankful though, these are things Cadence will grow to use and will help in her development. It was a nice quiet day, for which I am very thankful.



Now we are all home, Chris has taken some vacation time and we are just relaxing, enjoying our presents and spending time with the monkey.

Last but not least of all though: the surprise present Chris got for me.



So if you hadn't heard the news yet, we are engaged! FINALLY haha. But thats another tale for another time. Happy holidays everyone!

Happy 88th birthday Meme!

Today is my memere's 88th birthday. She was born on Christmas day, and her parents named her Noella (very fitting). I love my memere more than anything (other than Cadence, of course).

A lot of people don't know this but my memere helped to raise me. My dad was always working strange hours so my memere stepped up and had my brother and I over all the time. She'd wake us up in the morning by singing and having the loudest alarm clock ever. Every Friday night she'd order Connie's pizza and we'd put our sleeping bags on the floor and watch "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego" and other shows until 20/20 came on.

But most of all it was all the time she spent taking care of me, listening to me, teaching me and generally just being a kind and loving woman. And I think anyone who has met her would probably say the same.

So happy birthday Memere! I know you can't see this, but I hope I've made it clear to you how I feel about you.

Happy birthday!

Today is my brother Tim's 25th birthday! Happy birthday Timmy!

Here we are, with both Chris and I on the wrong side of 27. My birthday was pretty blah, which is to be expected for a Monday birthday. I went to work the Saturday night before which was way easier than I had anticipated. But Sunday I was a wreck sleeping all day, so Monday was spent playing catch up with chores and doing some running around. I also squeezed in a lunch date with Bob and Jane, I was trying to surprise Bob when he came out of work but he was already outside when we got there. Oh well!

I received some nice cards, calls and gifts from various people, which was all so appreciated. I hear from a lot of mom friends that once you have a baby, you cease to be of any importance and all focus switches over to the baby. By no means am I an attention seeking person but its nice that people continue to recognize me as a person and not just "the mom". I hope this stays true (for Chris as well).

Speaking of Chris, I have to take a minute to extol the virtue of this man. Not only is he the rock that keeps my dreamer side grounded, but he is also my kickstand that keeps me from falling over from being dead tired. He builds me up, helps me out, and comforts me when all else fails. He has really come through for me in the last couple of weeks while I've struggled with an ever frustrating bout of insomnia, colds, and migraines. He works 10-12 hour days and then puts on his "dad pants" when he gets home. I'd be lost without him.

Cadence is doing a phenomenal job of being awesome. Not only can she roll front to back and then back to front, in the last few days she's taken to sitting on her own for minutes at a time. If there is a toy she wants to play with and no on one distracts her, she will sit and play for up to 20 minutes at a time. This is awesome because we just had to switch her into the next size up for car seat which of course doesn't fit in her stroller! So now that she can sit on her own we can put her in a grocery cart. And high chairs! Its like a whole new world!

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but we got a new SLR camera? Well Chris installed Adobe Light Room on my computer and I've been editing pics here and there. So here are some new pics of the family.

If anyone wants to know something about how we are doing, or the dogs, or plans for the holidays just leave me a comment and ask away!

We are soon upon my favourite time of the year: my birthday. Hehe ok thats only half true, I also love Christmas! Snow, hot coco, all the twinkling lights. Its such a magical time of the year full of love and family. I certainly can't wait until the years first real snow. Cadence will have such a good time! And to see the wonder in her eyes when she touches it, tries to eat it and just discovers it will be so fun to see.

We have been so busy at the house, redecorating and getting ready for the holidays. We re-arranged our living room so there is more space to move around. We finally got our new dresser so our room doesn't look like a frat boy lives in it. I picked up some wall art that was super discounted that just ties it all together. Not that it was ugly before, but I feel so much happier in our cozy little home.

Our decorating is nearly done. I've hung our stockings, put together all the 'under the tree' decorations, and we're just waiting for the tree before we can hang lights etc but otherwise we are all done. Even the presents are wrapped! The dogs are always in and out of the presents, I think they like the texture of the padded snow.

This past weekend we celebrated my birthday. I'm going to be working next Saturday night to cover for the office Christmas party so we won't have the chance to celebrate then. Cadence went over to Nana and Papa's for the night while Chris and I went shopping and then out for dinner. It was quite an expensive day but I'm pleased with the results of our shopping. We bought a Nikon SLR so we can get some great pics of Cadence as she grows up. Chris is learning the ins and outs of the camera while I'm just taking random pics of whatever I see laying around the house. So far so good!

Cadence has started solids for real as of yesterday. Since she turned 4 months I've been giving her cereal on and off whenever I thought maybe she'd like to try it. She was supposed to start solids when she turned 6 months (Nov. 10th) but we haven't seen our family doctor and I wasn't sure what kind of schedule to put her on. I read somewhere to feed her some solids an hour after she has a bottle. That seems crazy to me! I'd be stuck home all day just feeding a baby! So what I've done is I give her fruit in the morning before her morning bottle, then a vegetable before her evening bottle and lastly some cereal with her bedtime bottle. Not in the bottle, in a bowl and spooned into her mouth. Results? She is a fantastic eater! And obviously has a preference for the sweeter fruits. She doesn't make much mess either until she's had enough and then she will just spit the food out. But for 2 days she is doing great!

We've been struggling with what I like to think of as the 6 month sleep recession. She was waking up anywhere from 1am-3:30am, not screaming or anything just suddenly awake and playing in her crib. Now if you've met our kiddo, you would know that part of her playing includes shrieking. Shrill shrieking. So while she wasn't freaking out, Chris and I have been taking turns resettling her because her giggling and shrieks are loud enough to distort the monitor and we can hear her in our room. I hear it gets much worse as teething kicks in but I am hopeful that she will have maybe one fussy night a week and then be golden the other days. A girl can dream, right? Tomorrow is a big fun day! 6 month doctor visit which means ouchie boo boo shots. Poor kid. But we act like its not a big deal and she takes them like a champ. I should probably hit the hay now, even though its early, I may not see much sleep again in the next few days. Good night everyone!

21 days and counting

We are entering our "busy season" here at the house. Just after Halloween I start Christmas shopping and I *hope* Chris is going to look for a nice birthday present. He did save Emma's life though so if there's no money in the budget I am 100% ok with that. And then right after my birthday it's Christmas! I've already finished shopping for a whole bunch of people, Cadence included. I went with Jane to a giant warehouse toy show last week and bought some really neat toys and books for her. I bought what she might like but really what does a baby get for Christmas?

Chris has been busy busy with work, doing all kinds of stuff and pricing new jobs. He also finished building our headboard, and it looks fantastic! It's hard for me because it means less down time but Jane was kind enough to take Cadence for a day last week and Chris let me have some relax time yesterday.

The time change had no real impact on our house other than Chris going to bed really late! Cadence was a champ and stuck with her schedule. She is still on track this morning so let's hope it stays this way!

I had something really fantastic happen this weekend. For those of you who don't know, my grandmother was the one (primarily) who raised me. My mom took off when I was 4 and my dad worked all the time so she stepped in and took care of my brother and me. She taught me how to see, make coleslaw, and all kinds of weird random stuff. She always used to sing to us too, and I just recently caught on that I've been doing this with Cadence also. Anyways! My Memere sews all the time, if you have a problem you get Memere to fix it. We used to spend hours and hours together in her sewing room just looking at all her lace and zippers and buttons. Her sewing room was more interesting to me then any toy you could give me.

Now skip to the present: my very close friend/2nd mom Nancy was given a sewing table that used to belong to a close family friend. Nancy doesn't know how to sew but she held on to the table for sentimental purposes. While I was talking to her this weekend I mentioned how I've been looking for a table to use for crafts/sewing etc and she offered me the one she had been given. I am so thrilled to have this table, it is jam-packed with anything I could ever want to sew with. I was emotional looking through the table because I could appreciate the previous owners organization of the drawers (or lack thereof). It really reminded me of my Memere's sewing space.

Now, on top of baking being a hobby, I've opened an online shop and will be making fabric items (baby toys, dog toys, aprons, rugs, gift items, etc) and selling them online! Chris is 100% supportive and I'm really excited to get started. And! In regards to my baking, a girl I know from high school has asked me to cater her sweets table! Things are looking up!

Post Halloween wrap up

Its been a busy, busy last couple of weeks. Both Chris and I cycled through being sick and I'm pretty sure the baby was both sick and teething for awhile as well. Needless to say, there was not a lot of sleep to be had in this house for anybody.

Other than the initial illness, things are looking on the up and up at our place. Chris has been working hard to improve the look of the house by replacing the face plates and switch plates all over the house. Now we have brand new white plugs and switches over most of the house. We've also decided to try to spruce up our bedroom. Up until recently it looked really boring and bland. We have matching furniture and a new light up. A head board and some art and we're done! Easy!

Chris has been working at his parents place for the last couple of weeks which has been nice for him but also had small benefits for me. With Cadence being so sick and cranky I was able to send her to work with Chris and Jane was kind enough to watch her for the day while I caught up on sleep and rested my poor sick body.

We had another scare with Emma a few days ago. She started just vomiting all over the house and right away my imagination went to what we would do this time. Luckily she is all better now so crisis averted and we are snuggling the crap out of her.

Last night we took Cadence out for her first Halloween. We dressed her up as a puppy (of course) and I threw together a last minute costume. We got to trick or treat at 4 different houses before I was too tired so then we went and handed out candy. She didn't like having her costume put on at first but she seemed to mellow out after a bit. I would say the night was a success!

Delayed long weekend update!

It's been pretty hectic here with the baby teething and Emma being sick, plus Chris working like a dog, all the repairs going on at our place and the long weekend that just passed. I feel like a zombie, my house is disgusting, I'm behind on laundry but on the bright side we are all still breathing and that in itself is a miracle.

For anyone who is curious, Emma is doing very well. She is taking antibiotics every day and seems to be back at 100%. We are still keeping a close eye on her though, the slightest inclination that she is sick again and we are out the door! The other dogs are doing pretty good too, although Paul threw up today. Very random, he doesn't do that often but we aren't concerned.

Chris has been working himself into the ground in the last week or so. Small things at past jobs are popping up and he is running around like an idiot going to work in Orleans and then going into Hintonburg area to patch some drywall. He's been home late almost every day this week. This week coming should be better though because he is just finishing the one job then heading to work on his parent's basement. Its a bummer though, overall, when he gets home its dinner, shower, bed. He is so tired at the end of the day there is just nothing left for me or the baby. He has to work as hard as he is though because Emma's vet bill was pretty high, and now we are left playing catch up. I am seriously considering going back to work right now.

On top of him being either gone all the time or too exhausted to move, my insomnia is getting worse. I am going to bed later and later at night and Cadence is going some kind of sleep regression where now she won't go back to sleep in the morning. So I'm falling asleep around 2am, and then waking up at 7am. She does take a nap in the afternoon if we go swimming, but I hardly have the energy to take her as often as I need to be able to nap. Its cyclical and driving me crazy. I'd like to point out here that this is not a case of "see I told you having a baby was hard". Cadence is in excellent health and an amazingly easy to care for baby. Its my body/mind that are betraying me and its making me crazy.

The furnace guys came last week and installed our new furnace. One of the guys took it upon himself to fill up an empty pop bottle with water from our water dispenser, tell me how he'd like to kill and BBQ my annoying dogs, and then smoke cigarettes in front of my house and leave the litter on the lawn. I'm guessing so the dogs can choke on the butts. I am not sure how to proceed with this information; should I call and complain about what happened or just leave it. Lots to think about.

This past weekend was Cadence's first Thanksgiving. We had a nice dinner at Bob and Jane's on Saturday evening. The Lackey/Smaridge/Pantalone family were all there to break bread so to speak. Then on Sunday night we had Nancy and Kevin over for dinner at our place. It was a family filled weekend, with lots for us to be grateful for. Let me share with you now.

- We are grateful for a roof over our heads, food in our bellies and clothes on our backs. The house may not be the best, the food might not be as plentiful and the clothes might be outdated but they are there and they work and thats what matters.
- Cadence is in excellent health. She is growing more and more every day, she is so calm and easy to care for (for now). We are both truly blessed to have such a wonderful baby girl.
- I am grateful for Chris and everything he has done to provide for our family. He works hard to make sure the roof, food, clothes and medical needs of our family are partially met (I help meet those needs too, just saying I am grateful for Chris's contributions). He is also a great support emotionally, always willing to hear me out and then offering any advice he can think of.
- We are both thankful for the wonderful people who are in our lives everyday, both friends and family, who support us as we navigate being parents and our growth as a couple.
- We are thankful for our little fur babies too. As much as they drive us crazy, the little faces, snuggling and kisses are so worth it.

Lastly, if it hasn't been announced yet, over the long weekend we asked Ryan and Hannah if they would be Cadence's godparents and they said yes! So, once I get my act together to figure out how this whole baptism thing works we will have a ceremony and they will act as godparents. Thanks guys!

Now I'm off to bed. We've got another long week of stuff coming up that I should try to be well rested for. Good night!

My little lovelies

We've had to deal with some very unpleasant and scary news recently; Emma became very sick very fast. We were placed in a position of what we should do: whatever it takes to help Emma make it, or put her down because surely the care would be very expensive. Well, for a lot of reasons, we went with the treatment. It was very expensive, and we will go without for a long while, but it was completely worth it.

We've also come under fire from some people who think that spending any money on a sick animal is a useless investment and that we should have put Emma regardless. Emma had a bowel infection, she did not have cancer or require risky surgery. It was a no brainer. People don't seem to understand the connection we share with our "original" children, so I thought I would take the time to explain how they fit with our lives.

We'll start with Oscar as he is the oldest. Oscar has been with me since November of 2005, I bought him with the last of my student loans money in my first semester of college. Right off the bat we connected. We used to play hide and seek. I would run and hide behind a door or beside the bed, call his name and usually he could find me. When I would cry he would jump in my lap and try to lick away my tears. We've lived in 7 different homes and with a lot of different people but he is always my little soldier. Yes, he pees in the house. Yes, he growls at smalls noises in the house. But he stands by me and is always there when I need a little snuggle.

Paul is the next oldest. Chris adopted him from a family in Hull who had no time to care for him anymore. Paul is EVERYONE's favourite; he is so snuggly and soft, its like almost impossible to resist his charm. Before I got pregnant, Paul used to sleep in our bed. He would snuggly under the covers and keep us warm in the colder months. He is always so happy to see us when we get home, and always has kisses for us. His love shows in big ways.

Then we have Roxy. Roxy was found in a similar way to Paul; she was being given away by a family who had no time for her. At first it was hard to bond with her. She was very slow to warm up to me, she warmed to Chris almost right away. Before the baby came they used to spend the mornings cuddled up on the couch. She gives us both lots of kisses, Chris on the head and myself on the toes. She grumbles when she wants water, to go to bed, to go pee or just a good butt scratch. She is so dumb, but that is a huge part of her charm.

Lastly, we have little Emma bean. Emma has only been with us for a year. Initially we did try to re-home her, as we weren't prepared to have a 4th dog with the impending baby. But both homes sent her back, and at that point we had gotten attached. Emma is notorious for barking at the slightest noise, whining to come into the bed with us at night, and not respecting our personal space on the couch. She will chew on your nose or chin if you let her, but her breath is terrible so you don't really want her to chew on you. She will play fetch all the live long day. She has a little sweater that she likes to wear, we assume its like a security blanket to her. When she sleeps, she snores. She snorts and kicks her blankets around to get comfy.

I know these things seem trivial to a lot of people but to us they are emotionally entrenching and endearing traits. I am not doing these guys justice, they are so entwined in our lives, so much a part of our identities, that even the thought of losing one of them makes my heart hurt.

Busy couple of days!

I've figured out how to post from my phone which will make things so much easier. I have more access to my phone than I do to my laptop, and most of my photos come from my phone.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this but we had family photos taken two weeks ago. We went with the in-laws to the experimental farm in Ottawa. I haven't seen any of the shots yet but it was a beautiful location and the photographer had a good eye. I think they went really well.

We've been struggling recently with heating the house. Awhile ago we had a cold snap and the house was freezing! We've sealed off the widows and we have some portable heaters placed around the house to warm the rooms we find ourselves in but soon that won't be enough. Our furnace doesn't work and the fire place needs to be cleaned and repaired before we can use it. The furnace people are taking forever with their appointments and I'm losing patience.

Lastly, the dogs had fleas. We busted our asses cleaning the house and then drying everything. That was on Saturday. Our bedroom pillows still aren't dried and it's bumming me out.

That's all I have to say right now. I feel like I'm repeating myself for some reason hopefully this isn't a repeat post!

Busy week. Just a quick recap:
- Cadence found her feet last week. She plays with them when she has no diaper on so I can't really take and post a picture because she is naked.
- We took a nice long walk on Sunday and got to see some inookshuks down by the river.
- Cadence and I went apple picking yesterday. There is apple sauce being made in the crock pot as we speak, and I will be making apple puree for when we start solids soon.
- Today is her 4 month shots. Daddy will be taking her because I will be sleeping.
- I have really bad insomnia I'm hoping its not late onset PPD or whatever.
- Family pictures on Friday with Chris, baby and the in-laws :)
- A nice relaxing weekend coming up hopefully.

The end :)

Cottage and a busy weekend!

Hey everyone!

Hope you all had a fun and relaxing weekend. I have a few things to update you all on so lets just get right to it, shall we?

Last weekend Chris and I went to his family cottage in Perth, Ontario for the long weekend. Boy was it ever nice! I think the cottage is my favorite place to just hang out and relax. We had lots of plans and the weather was against us but we made out pretty good! Friday night we took Cadence to her first ever drive-in movie experience. Ok, so she wasn't super excited but Chris and I had a lot of fun, and Cadence behaved pretty well so it was a nice evening all in all. Saturday early afternoon we went to the Perth Fair. Again, not really for Cadence but she seemed to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the fair. I learned something very important that day: no farm animals have soft hair no matter how soft they might look. This made me sad because I always thought pigs, ponies and llamas would be soft. Cows are softer than any of those animals. Who knew? Sunday was spent relaxing in the house as it was quite rainy out. And then we came home nice and early Monday afternoon. Cadence and I both seemed to have picked up a bug and were pretty grouchy on Monday so it was nice to get home and relax some more.

Chris was pretty busy at work this week too. Even though it was short, he still managed to strip and re-shingle an entire roof and valley all by himself. Due to some mounting issues he has been forced to let his employee, Victoria, go. So he is back to a business of one, but already on the look out for the next C.R.L Construction employee! So if you happen to know someone with carpentry experience, let me know and maybe we could work something out!

This weekend was hectic but overall not too bad. Yesterday we sent Cadence to spend the day with Chris's parents Bob and Jane while we stayed home and got some house work done. I worked my buns off to get the house clean and Chris worked hard to get our house somewhat ready for the cooler upcoming weather. So now instead of spending most of our time in the sun room we will be located in the living room. I swear this house is perfect for every season. Sunny back area for summer time, and nice cozy seating area around the fire for winter. I cannot wait, I have marshmallows already set up with pokey sticks so we can roast some marshmallows once the fire is lit.

Today Jane and I attended the Baby Boom show in Ottawa, essentially a merchant sponsored show in which different baby gear merchants or services in the area presented their items. A lot of the upscale stores had coupons for discounts, and we got some pretty cute things for Cadence for fall including two pairs of baby leg warmers (one pink/brown and one candy corn coloured), a neat knitted hat and two lovely English/French story books from this awesome company called Barefoot Books (click the name to be directed to their online store). They have some really beautifully written and illustrated books in their store, and they are Canadian so check them out!

Now Chris and I are getting the lil one ready for a bath and bedtime, and we will try to get some mommy/daddy time in. Enjoy some pics, I know its been awhile since any were posted. Goodnight!