Is There Anything Better...

than watching dad mow the grass?

I think this face says it all!

Clinton - Three Months

I know it has been quite a while, but I had to share with everyone how absolutely adorable my baby boy is!  He is cooing away, getting fatter by the minute, and smiling nonstop! 

Now, if I could just stop him from waking in the middle of the night for a bottle, it would be wonderful!  Any tips?

Introducing...

Clinton Washington

Our little Clinton was born on 11-11-11, weighed 8lbs 3oz, and was 21 inches long.  I cannot begin to tell you how lucky we are!  He is just such a good baby.  Even lets mommy sleep a whole 4 hours before his next feeding at night!  Wooo Hoo!

His birth is another story.  I was dilated at a 2.5 a few days before his arrival and ready to meet the little guy.  I woke on 11-10-11 at 11:50 pm with contractions.  At 2:30 am on 11-11-11, my contractions were 4 minutes apart and starting to get stronger.  When we arrived at the hospital, I was a 4 1/2.  The nurses kept saying he was sitting pretty high and will probably lower by the time I am a 10.  The contractions were strong and it helped so much with me standing or swaying.  Laying down made them worse...much worse!  At about 5 am, I was given my epidural and was at a 6.  After a small nap and watching reruns of, In Living Color (anyone remember Wanda?) on You Tube, my OBGYN came in to check on me.  It was about noon.  I was at a 9 and starting to feel the urge to push, which was not comfortable at all.  I actually found that more painful than the contractions.  My doctor explained that I needed to wait at least an hour to see if my cervix was fully ready and to see if the baby had dropped at all.  He was a negative 2 at this point.  They gave me a little more pain meds to help me from pushing.  An hour went and past.  Clinton only dropped to a negative one.  At 2:20 pm, my cervix was ready and I was at a 10, but the little guy still hadn't dropped.  I had also developed a fever, which concerned the doctor that the baby may have an infection as well.  My doctor suggested that I try pushing, just to see if it would work at all.  Her main concern was I would exhaust myself and she was starting to lean towards a C section.  I was determined, let me tell ya!  After a half hour of pushing, Clinton finally came into the world.

He was taken away from me quickly so he could be given an IV in case he was sick.  Clint went with him to make sure everything was ok.  Once I arrived to my room, Clinton came in shortly after, healthy and well.  Phew!

We are so happy to finally be parents!

Kitty is Good Luck!

You know how they say when a black cat crosses your path, it's bad luck?  Well, this cat is anything but that!  Kitty is the sweetest of them all.  (You can read Kitty's rescue story here)  Everyday, Kitty thanks us for taking her into our home with lots of snuggles and purring.  She even nudged the cable guy the other day while he was working! 

Since she has been apart of our family, Clint and I have developed a soft spot for black cats.  Halloween, Kitty is honored very well in our home.  She even sports a Halloween bandanna the month of October...maybe not by her choice.  Naturally when we are out and about in the stores and see anything black cat related, we tend to want to buy it, but we don't want to make our other furry babies jealous with everything Kitty.

This year, it has been extremely tempting...

West Elm

Pottery Barn Kids

Pottery Barn Kids

Etsy

Etsy

Crate and Barrel

Crate and Barrel

See what I mean??? 

Any other black cat lovers out there??

Nursery Progress: Before the Shower

Hooray!  This weekend is our baby shower!!  We are super excited to see all the generous gifts Baby V. will receive and to celebrate with friends and family. 

Clint and I have been super busy trying to get the nursery in order before the shower.  Since we live in a smaller home, it can get cluttered very quickly, so we had to organize the best we could before the new stuff was introduced to the room.  I thought i would share with you the progress.

First off, I have to explain how lucky we have been with the thrifty finds and gifts!  My cousin was sweet enough to give us the crib they used!  We had to store the swing and toddler car seat in the crib because our lovely kitties seem to think they are beds for them.

And those pictures above the crib...

They are actually birth announcements my grandma made when I was born.  She used felt to cut out the objects and glued them to paper.  On the back of each is the announcement of my birth.

The rocker we decided to go with was a Craigslist find for $25.00.  (You can see the makeover of the rocker here)  It is actually super comfy and we did a test run by holding our kitty Dora in it.  She fell asleep...YAH it worked!  I know...we are sick people.

We found the shelves at Target.  The city painting I scored at a garage sale for $0.25 and to get that sucker custom framed was $88.00!  I say, it looks mighty fine on the shelf frame less.

The shelves we used as book shelves are from Ikea.  They are actually the Ribba picture ledges.

As you can see, the room is small.  It is so difficult to photograph without a wide angle lens.  Also, it was a tad difficult to fit all the furniture we needed.  We decided to make this awesome vintage dresser into the changing table to cut back on space.  The dress was another Craigslist find for $30.00. 

It's all starting to come together!  There is still lots to be done, but it is nice to finally see it taking shape.  What do you think?

Keep Smiling...

Last Thursday, the day we finally got our power back from the storm, we got the phone call.  My grandpa had passed away. 

He was one of those grandpa's everyone wished they had.  He was always smiling, laughing, and gentle as ever.  He was a huge animal lover.  He would tell us stories of growing up in Oil City, PA, with his pet chicken, which was later served as dinner. 

He grew up poor and without parents in his teen years.  At 18, he enlisted in the army and served in Italy till 1945.  He came home in January 1946 and married my grandmother, who he had met by writing love letters to during the war.  He loved his family, his wife, and his 1988 Chrysler LeBaron.

Summer time was always my favorite time to spend at my grandparents. He would sit on the front porch of their Detroit home and tell us the name of every person that lived in each home on his block. As the people moved out of the neighborhood, my grandparents started to see a change in culture. Where it was once an all Polish neighborhood, turned into many different cultures such as Arabic, Mexican, and African American. Of course, being very old fashion, my grandparents did not take kindly to this. About 4-5 years ago, my grandparents got new neighbors, who were Arabic. My grandpa had fallen in his backyard and could not get up. My grandmother was inside and did not know. The man (who was Arabic) next door saw my grandpa and rushed over, carrying him into my grandparents home. After that, my grandma would buy their children gifts and speak so highly of them. It's funny how perception changed...for the better.

He was not your typical person with dementia.  He would repeat things constantly, or tell you stories about three times over in one sitting, but he was always so happy to see you! 

I could go on and on with the stories...

After my grandma passed in 2008, we worried he may be lost without her.  We moved him into an assisted living, where the staff instantly fell in love with the man we knew.  He would trick the cute, young women staff members into helping him with things, such as unplugging his TV and asking them to help him fix it. 

Now, he is back with my grandma, where I am sure he is driving her nuts with telling her how cute she is or how much he loves her.  That man was not shy when it came to showing his emotions towards us or her.  Yes, I am very sad I lost him, but am so lucky I got to spend 31 wonderful years with him.

I have to hear your best grandpa stories now...

When it Rains it Pours

Literally. 

Last weekend, August 20th to be exact, I planned to show off to the blog world our very cute Woodward Dream Cruise BBQ.  For those that do not know.  Woodward Dream Cruise is a 16 mile cruise event where old/new classic cars cruise Woodward Ave in Michigan.  Basically it turns into a traffic jam for 12 hours.  Since I live so close to the event, we have a BBQ every year with a few friends and watch the cars drive by.  Ok, I people watched more.  This year, the theme should have been, "I survived Dream Cruise 2011."

The day started off normal.  I made cute cupcakes with cookies that looked like wheels, and made super cute car themed decorations.  I had planned to photograph the whole thing to show everyone.  Well, things didn't go as planned.

As I set up the BBQ and Clint grilled, we noticed the clouds rolling in.  While our guests played ladder ball, the thunder started and they quickly moved to come inside our home.  Out of no where, a sheet of rain flew in!  We all ran in laughing and soaked.  As I grabbed towels, instantly, the power went out and the wind picked up.  I then heard someone say, "Oh my god!  Did you see your car??"  I ran to the window to see our car covered under a tree.  The tree then blew over to our neighbors car, where it landed.

Luckily, it is drivable and this was all that was damaged.

I then heard someone yell, "Look at your back yard!"  I ran to the back bedroom window to see this...

and this...

and this...

This explained why the power went out.  We could not even begin to express the shock.  All of this happened in a matter of seconds and was over before you knew.  They called this a straight line storm.  65 mph winds caused all of this.

It is now day three without power.  We had to throw away almost everything in our fridge and freezer, and still can't fully access our backyard due to downed power lines.  Try explaining this to two doggies that love roaming their yard.  We also have to shell out a big deductible for our home owners insurance.  Not only did trees fall in the backyard, but they fell on the fence, and branches dented our siding and gutters that flew against our home...

Our neighborhood looked like a war zone, filled with tree branches in the roads and power lines on the sidewalks.  Most of the storm damage has been cleared, by now.

One thing I want to point out about power outages.  They surely do bring people together.  We are so blessed to have wonderfully helpful neighbors and each other.  We are so lucky no one was hurt in all of this and thank our lucky stars the trees missed our homes!  Things could have been a lot worse...I don't even want to think how!