Let the babies dance...

Amy-the-great-and-powerful-tutu-maker is offering a discount on her traditional and ballerina chicy styled tutu's if you're interested in donating a Tutu for Tuesday. You can have the tutu shipped to you, if you'd like to include a note or something and forward it on yourself to the organization. Or, I'm sure Amy will fabulously make this tutu and send straight on for you.

Here is the address for sending the Tutu's:

Tuesday's Tutu's
P.O. Box 518
Watkins, CO 80134

Check out the link for Amy's site with more information on how to get a fabulous tutu made in Tuesday's honor! Chicy Creations: Tutus for Tuesday

Fun fall thursday

It was unseasonable warm today - I was itching to get out of work so I could come home and play outside in all the leaves, er I mean, lack thereof. Hopefully this year, we can work on ripping a few trees out, as 2 of them are dead and the other is knocking on heaven's door. Our very overgrown front yard is going to have to wait until next year mostly due to the fact that we can't replant anything until next year and because we don't have a lot of time. I guess we would force ourselves to do it, but winter is coming, so we'll just wait until spring. It's a hot mess, though. .

So we finally decided to put up some outside Halloween decorations. In fact, it was actually Jason's idea. What? It's only a week before Halloween you say? Hmm. Ok yes, we've procrastinated and yes, the decorations have been sitting in our hallway collecting dust and making my type A go insane. That is neither here nor there. No, it IS here and there because it's been on our minds, doesn't that count for something? We've been meaning to get to it, but just been really really busy. Ok, no more excuses, point is we finally got it up. And the best part about it was we didn't have enough outdoor extension cords so we couldn't even light it all up. Wait, I take that back, the best part was being outside! We've been couped up for a while and Marley has been sick off and on, so we were trying not to take her out if we didn't have to, especially since the whole dang world seems to have the swine. She loves it. I love watching her look at everything with the most concentrated look and sometimes I forget she is seeing things for the very first time. Sure, she's felt the wind before, but she opens her mouth and giggles. I can only imagine it tickles and it makes her laugh, and I love every minute. I wish I could freeze this age - so full of wonder....

We came outside and to our surprise had a street, a parking garage, a boat dock and stop signs all over our sidewalks and driveway. I even stood in the lake and according to Justin, drowned in minutes.

Watching the neighbors ride their bikes. They yelled "Marrrrley" as they scooted past

There are so many decisions in life...which way to go?

In the end, we choose the path less traveled (thanks to the neighbor kids for helping lead the way and chalking it out for us)

Tutu's for Tuesday

So I've been reading this blog and haven't been able to get this family off my mind. Most everyone knows of the tutu photoshoot Marley had with her friends Fiona and Gabriella. They had so much fun together. Ok who am I kidding, they cried the entire time. They hated it. But, we did get some cute pictures out of it. Anyways, I found on Jessica's blog about Tutu's for Tuesday. I got in touch with the woman who did the girls' tutu's and she agreed to make some for this great cause. I purchased 5, along with 5 beanie caps to keep those cute little bald heads warm. Amy, the fab tutu maker, is even donating a few herself. It feels so amazing to be helping those kids out, in any way possible. I can't even imagine those babies dancing and twirling to their heart's content. I only hope it brings them joy and peace, and maybe even a memory to last a lifetime for their families.

If you are interested in donating a tutu, please let me know, as I'll be sending them when they are ready. You can contact Amy, the fab tutu maker, as well at her website. She is so generous to do this, so again, if you're interested, send her a message or let me know!

Roller coaster

Yesterday was an odd day for me. I was happy in the morning, sad in the afternoon, and extremely grateful by the end of the evening. It's all thanks to Tuesday. I came across her family's blog and it instantly sucked me in. You see, Tuesday just recently lost her fight with cancer earlier this year. She was a 2 year old child with a twin sister and 2 other siblings. I'm all too familiar with the cancer world, but not pediatric cancer. It's unfair her family is panged with this and left to pick up the pieces of losing a child. Their pain belongs to them, only them. There's are no words to offer, just good thoughts and prayers to send. My heart hurts for them....

I hate that their horrible story made me so grateful for my living, healthy child. I hate that it made my time feel more precious and how many extra kisses I gave. I hate that pediactric cancer takes thousands of lives and leaves gaping holes in the hearts that may never ever feel whole again. I hate that I feel helpless, I hate that my tiny contributions aren't enough, I hate cancer....

Despite the emotional day, I felt compelled to take advantage of the warm weather and go for a walk with my family. I love that word. I love my family. I love my life. I am grateful, especially for my living, healthy child. Sweet Tuesday, I am grateful for you.

Where has the time gone?

I'm sitting here at work, wondering how it's possible that my baby is turning 1? It seems like yesterday we found out I was pregnant, cried tears of absolute fear, and eventually the fear turned into complete happiness. It's not a secret that Marley wasn't planned, but she ended up being the best thing to happen to Jason and I. There's no doubt that she would have come along further down the road, but I guess someone had other plans for us. February was a very busy month for us - bachelorette parties, weddings, birthdays - we were out a lot. When my making my appointment with the doctor to confirm the pregnancy, the nurse on the phone asked if I knew the "special day". She laughed when I told her we had a lot of special days in February and couldn't pinpoint the exact day. It wasn't until later that I figured out Marley was conceived around the time of my dad's anniversary of his death. They always say with death, there is usually a life. With my grandpa, it was my aunt who found out she was expecting. But with my dad, nothing happened immediately so I chalked that whole theory up to a myth. Five years later, I guess death was accompanied by life, even if it was years later. Even more, I never thought anything of Marley being born on a 13th. It never occurred to me that that was a special number to my dad, his number. Everyone in the hospital was extremely superstitious and said we needed to be careful, but we just shook it off, knowing the 13th would always be special and sacred, for it was always going to be our baby girl's birthday. I digress, but the point of my rant is I can't believe a year has almost passed. Marley was not an easy baby - she was colicky, a horrible sleeper, and incredibly sensitive to most formulas. Now, however, she is silly, loving, funny, and wonderful. We have our moments, her and I, but it's in those moments I see her personality coming out and realize how much alike we are. It saddens me to see her growing up and so quickly - she still depends on us so much, but more and more, I see her branching out on her own, exploring the world. I constantly wonder if we're doing a good job and hoping she turns out to be respectful and the kind of kid that people talk about when she's not around. I hope she has a crazy imagination and never stops wondering. I hope she plays nice and shares and isn't the brat you silently say to yourself "I wish someone would shut that kid up". I hope she has my random sense of humor and my ability to laugh at myself, but has Jason's practicality and ability to focus. I have so many hope and dreams for her and when it comes down to it, I hope she just has the confidence to be herself.

Sticky fingers

For the past several days, when we get Marley from her crib after her naps, we find her crib covered in books. We had no idea how all these books were getting in there. I immediately come to the conclusion she now knows how to scale her crib and hop out to get stuff, walks down stairs and gets them from her playroom. This is a completely insane hypothetical. She has a stack of books on a little table next to her crib. We didn't know if she was reaching over her crib (it's on the lowest setting so that made me even more nervous - she's a dare devil and I can just imagine her falling on the floor) or how she was getting them in. I walked in her room yesterday and to my surprise, she did not hear me coming in like she normally does. So I stay really quiet and let her go about her business of snatching the books. That sneaky little baby reaches her hands through the slots on the side of her crib, and feeds the book up, switching hands as the book nears the top of the crib (think itsy bitsy spider hand motions)!! She giggles, puts the book down, and goes for the next one. She rarely cries in her crib anymore because she sits and reads books. I cannot believe how smart she is - it makes me a little scared of how adventurous she will be later in life. I don't know WHO she takes after....

I'm going to catch her doing it one day and I'll post a video/picture on here, but we're waiting for Geek Squad to fix it right now....