Happy Birthday to Me!

                                                
I have to say, that while I was no way looking forward to 29, it really was one of the best birthdays I have had in a long time.

Back when we were dating, Michael took me out to the Fort Worth Stock show for my birthday. It always runs during that time. We had so much fun and I have been wanting to go back ever since. So we planned it for my birthday! My sweet husband gave up his weekly ritual of his Saturday morning bike ride just to take us! 

It was a drive, but well worth it! I love being out there. To me, it's even better than the fair. Everything from parking to entrance is cheaper and it's way less crowded! Seeing the excitement on Michael jr's face was enough to make me cry!

They have a lot to do, but not so much that you can't cover good ground in a few hours. We were able to let Mikey ride a pony and ride his first carnival ride. I took him in the petting zoo. Not going to lie, I think I enjoy this as much, if not more, than him. We watched the sheep dogs compete for the fastest time in herding cattle! We even had a few bites of funnel cake for a treat. 

 

The best part of my birthday was coming home! We got home from Fort Worth around lunchtime and I walked into a sparking and spotless home!!! Michael had arranged for a maid to come and my parents were here waiting to let them in! I have never had a professional clean my house before, I have always done it. It was such a treat! I felt so relaxed and in top of things. It was an awesome surprise!

We polished off the day with dinner at Buca de Beppo with my parents. Italian is my favorite so it made me really happy!

Ice Storm 2009

     Well we started off our evening pretty good yesterday. Michael came home from work. We all snuggled up on the couch in front of the fire and watched a little Max & Ruby with the Deuce. Daddy went upstairs to ride the spin bike and I got Deuce fed, bathed,, & to bed. Michael had just finished riding and were were all set to start our Tuesday night Biggest Loser ritual. FLICK! 8pm and the power goes off!  Not only does the power go off, but it is dark and oh about 17 degrees outside!  So my resourceful husband locates the flashlights, busts out some 70s vintage butane candles, and eats his now cold dinner by candlelight without 1 complaint! (I was just about to stick his plate in the microwave when the power went off)  Lucky for us, we have a gas stove & fireplace so we crank up the fire and turn on every burner!  So, then my brilliant hubby says, let's just watch a movie on the ipod touch. So we snuggled up on the couch, earphones on, and propped the 4 inch screen on an end table in front of us. It really was fun to "rough it" so to speak and get to spend some time being so close! Finally, right about 10 as we were headed to bed, the power came back on!

Clearly, I knew school for Mikey would be cancelled. I was bummed at first b/c I really do enjoy my time away from him and I know he has such a great time at school. I also knew that with the frozen roads, we would be housebound for at least the morning until after naptime. The thought of no early morning workout drove me crazy!

        My sweet pea slept til about 8 his normal time. And I made his breakfast and we watched Sesame Street, just like normal. At 9, I was like, "Okay still 4 more hrs til naptime. What now?" So he asked me if he could paint. "What a great idea", I thought. Lucky for Mikey, since Mommy was a teacher in her former life, I had a fabulous stash of goodies for him to get crafty with. So I busted out the pink paper, red & white paint, glitter and foam hearts so that he could make valentine collages. We both had SOOOOO much fun. 

After our little craft time, we did some cleaning and laundry. This kid really loves to help with laundry. He loves to put the dirties in and then put the wet stuff in the dryer. Then he will look up at me and ask, "Michael such a good boy?" Oh, it makes me melt!  We cleaned the toilets which he thought was funny. We even cleaned the bathroom floor with a toothbrush which he thought was even funnier. When, we were just about ready for lunch and nap, I look over and he has emptied out Michael's cycling bag and has managed to put on daddy's cloves. He was sooo proud of himself that I just had to take his picture!

He is finally napping soundly and I am counting the minutes til he wakes up and we can finally get out of the house!

I'm a Slacker...

I know, I know, I know....

I have been WAY slacking in the blogging department. I realized it today when I got on to post my monthly belly shot that I haven't posted anything since the last one. I guess we just haven't anything terribly blog worthy in the Caney house lately. January is such a blur to me, and always is for some reason. I think all the hype of Christmas just puts me in perma-chill mode for the month of January. Who knows. Oh well, I am going to try and be better!

So here is the 3 rd belly shot. If you're wondering why the week increments are so random; we found out the 25 of the month (Michael's birthday) and that's when we took the first pic. We have been trying to take our pic on the 25th every month to help us remember. 

I am right about 14 1/2 weeks now. I am finally feeling better. That 2nd trimester perkiness is starting to kick in! Sadly, I have had this yucky bronchitis type thing going on for about a week or so that only seems to kick in at night when I am trying to sleep. :(

The baby seems to be fine. I have my 3rd dr. visit next week. I could have sworn I have felt movement a few times, but hubby Michael keeps telling me he thinks it's just gas. "It's like an inch long" he says. 

The good news is that it's only about another month or so until we find out the sex!! I am so excited. I was telling Michael yesterday that this like 12-18 week span is so weird b/c I definitely look pregnant, and I for sure feel pregnant, and I am pretty much in the clear that the baby is going to make it, BUT I  just have this overwhelming urge to start getting things ready and I can't because I have no idea if we are going to welcoming blue again or pink! 

2 1/2 down, 6 1/2 to go

Michael and I pledged this time around that we would take a monthly belly shot to capture the growth of Baby #2. We always forgot with Michael, jr so we are trying to stick to it this time!

So I am officially 10 weeks today. I have been a lot more yucky feeling with this pregnancy than I was with Deuce. Everybody says that means it's a girl, but it could also be that I didn't already have a 2 yr old to chase around last time! As much as I love Christmas, I am relieved that the holidays are over and I can actually take some time and relax when Mikey is napping so that I feel human by the time daddy gets home from work. I am dog tired by the time 2pm rolls around and am so thankful that on most days, Michael jr takes a really good nap so I can sneak in a little one as well. 

I haven't been craving anything too crazy yet. Really carbs, carbs, and more carbs. Potatoes, bread, pasta, cereal- you name it. I have had to force myself to eat protein, YUCK! So my diet is pretty much opposite of what it was before. It's so funny. With the great shape I was in and as finely tuned as I had my diet, I had been telling myself for months, "Becca, now when you get pregnant, you are going to stick with it no matter how you feel".  That worked for about a week!  Christmas with all the junk food that goes with that didn't help either. I think your body truly does tell you what it needs. My body obviously needs to carb load so I can get all that much needed folic acid. I have also been drinking orange juice like you wouldn't believe. I guess I am needing the calcium and Vitamin C. 

So we will see. Maybe once I get over this first trimester and my hormones settle down, I can go back to the way I would normally eat. The good news though, is that no matter how I feel, I still get up and go do my exercise in the morning. I can't have as much coffee as before, so this helps get me going. I was a lazy bum last time and didn't work out at all the first 3 months!

So we go back to the dr. next week and I will update then with anything exciting!

Christmas- Caney Style

Wow! I really love Christmas. Ever since I was little I just love that feeling of magic and wonder and all that comes with the season. I love the food, the family, the gifts, and the really the sense of togetherness that it all brings. 

We normally spend Christmas Eve with Michael's family. They all gathered at Sean's house this year so that is where we went. Michael jr had a great time seeing his Mimi, his great Nanny, his great PawPaw and his Uncle Sean. We stuffed our faces and opened gifts until we had to get Michael jr home to bed. 

When we got back to our house, my family was here waiting on us. They always spend the night on Christmas Eve so they can wake up and do Christmas morning with us. This year we had my mom & dad, my aunt Diane & Uncle Lloyd from Alabama, and my brother Allen and his girlfriend Becky. So it was a full house! Our tradition every year is to pile up on the couch and watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I think I only made it through to the part where Cousin Eddie shows up and I was passed out in front of the fireplace. 

On Christmas morning, we had a very special visitor! SANTA!!!!!! My dad bought a Santa suit and got all dressed up to present Mikey with his gifts. He had been a little fearful of Santa earlier in the season, but in the 3 days leading up to Christmas, that was all he wanted to talk about. On Christmas Eve he even asked me 3 times if we could go to the mall to see Santa and ask for a bike. Well, we did not have time to visit Santa again, but we did place a phone call! Mikey asked Santa for a bike and a cake! So Christmas morning, my dad excused himself to use the restroom and 5 minutes later, Santa appeared with a bike and a bag full of gifts! He even had a cake for little Mikey! It was so great to see my dad like this!

So Mikey opened his gifts from Santa and we all opened the rest of our gifts. We spent the day in our PJs and had a fabulous traditional Christmas lunch prepared by myself and my mom and Aunt Diane. 

What a wonderful holiday!

This is my dad opening the yearly calendar gift. Last year I started making everybody these calendars on Shutterfly that are full of Mikey's pictures. It is definitely the favorite gift!

 Out of all the toys and bikes and stuff he got, this $14.99 Wiggles car is his most prized possession!

Tag from Courtney

I was tagged in the picture game by my friend Courtney. 

First of all, I have to take this opportunity to give a shout out to Courtney! We were best friends way back in 5th grade in Alabama! Thank the Lord for MySpace because we reunited a couple years ago and still manage to keep up!

The object of this tag is to:

1. Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures.

2. Select the 4th picture in the folder. 

3. Explain the picture. 

4. Tag 4 people to do the same. 

This pic was taken in the summer of 2005. We had been married less than 2 months and we had just gotten Lilly! I had always wanted a Corgi pup and Michael drove me all the way out to Collinsville to find her. She was the spunky one of the litter so we knew she was the one we wanted. I think we had her for about 2 days here. She was the cutest puppy!!!

I don't know if 4 people even read my blog for me to tag SO if you read my blog- then you're tagged!

Cookie Exchange

This was my 2nd year to host a Cookie Exchange party for my friends in my Mom's group.  Each guest was asked to bring at least 6 dozen cookies. We all put them out on platters, sampled a few, then divided them up so that everyone went home with a nice assortment.  While I am a self proclaimed baking queen, I did have some tough competition!

I made some homemade hot cider and some other yummy appetizers!

We did a gift exchange as well and hot some good laughs! Its nice to take a break from the holiday hustle and hang out with some girls.