Christmas 2013

We spent another year at The Zemans. Chaos, kids, laughing, good food, drinks & friendship.

Making Memories

Halloween and Christmas have taken on a sense of meaning for me. I've never really loved Halloween- it is the holiday that I have to get through to get to Christmas. However this year it was totally different. Syd and Charlie had so much fun. The laughing, running, little hands knocking on doors. It made me so happy and I had the realization that I am now seeing these Holidays through the eyes of a child, and quite frankly, there isn't anything better.

While Syd definitely doesn't have a full appreciation of Christmas, she is very into Santa Claus ( in theory- but she'd  prefer if you didn't put her on his lap!). We went to Hudson Gardens this past weekend and I told Bri it should be our tradition every year- the weekend before Xmas to go there.

It was cold & snowy. It was beautiful. Syd ran like a maniac, we chased her drinking our hot cocoa & cider.  I smiled the whole time.

2013 Christmas Card

Two Years Old!

I am neglectfully didn't post about Syd's 2nd birthday. After a big blow out on her 1st birthday, I learned that these parties are really for no one other than the parents. With that in mind, we decided to skip the big "to-do", but as the day got closer I started to feel a little guilty. So I decided to have a breakfast birthday party for her nearest and dearest!

She absolutely loves balloons so Brian went to get 20 balloons to decorate but got home to decide he really needed 40..so back he went. What a good Daddy.  She was so confused, and than excited, when she woke up the next morning to find balloons everywhere!

Syd is an amazing child. She is so smart and a natural leader at school (as we are told). She is hilarious, opinionated and head strong. I know these are all qualities that will serve her well (as they do me) but wow, they are challenging traits to parent.  I pray every night that we are making the right choices for her and parenting her in a firm but loving way. 

Syd adores "Car Car" ( aka Charlie Cecchini) and talks about him multiple times a day. She loves to FaceTime with Ama, Coop & Jack. She calls Deacon, "Deac" and Ruxin "other dog"....poor dog. She loves to cuddle and watch "Baka" (aka Bubble Guppies).  Her vocabulary grows every day and she shocks us with what she learns at school. 

We are so very lucky this little girl belongs to us. She is everything that is right in my life. 

I love you, Punky!

More about that surprise...

Back before I was a Mom and back before my Dad got sick and this blog seemed "silly" to me, I posted a lot about our struggles to become parents. Entry after entry were about it. It gives me hives to even think about it.

Since having Syd we decided we wouldn't "not try" to have kids but we wouldn't be trying an additional fertility treatments. And being told that having kids without medical intervention would be next to impossible it shot down any real dreams I had of "what if....".

Earlier this summer we spent most weekends in Castle Rock- looks at neighborhoods, looking at different builders. We made a lot of decisions on having only 1 child, only 1 daycare bill. We started to dream about our dream house. It looked like things would happen.

And than, as I do from time to time, I satisfy my pregnancy test obsession. I was heading out on a business trip and as I was grabbing things under the sink I saw a lonely test calling to me. I took it and as I turned to leave I saw it turn positive before the control line was done. I stopped dead in my tracks.  I panicked, I teared up, I laughed out loud. I physically trembled.

I was a lunatic running around the house trying to get ready and finish packing so I could find an extra 15 min to drive to Brian's work. I will never forget the look of confusion, pure confusion, on his face.  All I could do was laugh and than kick him out of the car because I had a plane to catch.

Here we are 21 weeks later and we still look at one another and say, " Really?".

All of our pregnancies have been girls- so naturally we assumed this would be too. We didn't consider the alternative. Our jaws were on the ground when they said "You are having a son!". WHAT???
But it only makes sense...that this be different from any other pregnancy...this is how it was supposed to be.

Baby Boy- who may never get a name because we only have girl names picked out- will be here in March.

I don't know what I did in this life to deserve to be the Mommy to two Miracle Babies.

Summer recap….and the shock of our lives

The blog has been neglected. I might try to catch you up on the awesome things we did this summer, like this. Our 2nd annual trip to Beer Fest in Keystone. The kids had so much fun and Syd could have lived on the water slide

 We also took a family trip up to Grandpa's meadow. It was amazing to be there again with Syd!

And than girl basically turned into a teenager over night with her insistence on shoes, bags and coats.

And than, some remodeling

And than, somewhere in the middle of all of this we got the surprise of our lives…

God is good.

Father's Day 2013

We went to Frisco for Father's Day weekend and had such a great time as a little family.  Syd really enjoyed the pond and rocks. 

We snuggled in Grandpa's chair. What I would give for him to have been there with her.

We kept up with our annual tradition to attend the Frisco BBQ Festival. In trying to keep in Syd's good graces (ie, before nap time) we went early. Nothing like a little Coors Light and Margs at 10:30 in the morning!

 Daddy and his girl...

Mother's Day 2013

Mother's Day used to be a sad (very sad) reminder of why I didn't have. Now it is a day I celebrate with a heart that could pound out of my chest with the love I have for my girl.

I spent all day yesterday silently thanking God for my little miracle and for my own Mom, who is the best example of what a Mom should be.

I adored this picture. I still can't believe she is mine. I am so glad she is so loved by all the women in this picture.

Granny

 In early March we all flew to San Pedro, CA to say our goodbyes to Granny (thank you Lisa for watching our Punk for 5 days)! We stayed at a hotel in the Cabrillo Marina area and spent each evening on their terrace enjoying wine, family and beautiful weather.

 We took a yacht out to the coordinates where Unkie was laid to rest. There were 35 of us on that boat and it was pretty cool to look around and see all of these people that only exist because of Granny. In the words of my Mom,

We are your Legacy,
We brought you home...
to the city you love, to the water you love & to the man you love.

Granny wasn't the most conventional Granny, but she was there when I needed her most. She helped us out when our bank accounts had been drained by fertility treatments. We are parents because of her help. We couldn't have done it without her. There are no words.

Punkalicious

Punk is growing like a week- almost 17 months old. She is the light of our lives and noone has ever made me laugh like she does. She is saying a few words, signing a few words and gives the best open mouth kisses ever!

She gives the dogs "love,love" and pats them when they pass by. She teases them by playing with their leashes and they always think they are going for a walk! She runs, climbs and laughs all the time. She loves her baby dolls and being read to.

She LOVES to Facetime with Grandma, Auntie Nik and the boys. She will stomp her feet if they don't answer.

She is very headstrong (wonder where she gets that)- if we tell her no, she does it one more time....or 100 more times. She tells us "no" all the time and gets so, so, so mad if she can't do what she wants.

She is everything that is good in our world.

Happy New Year

Our family self portrait before a 6pm dinner at John Holly's with the Condons..you know, Senior Citizen Special style with the two babies. It was a great dinner...until we hit 7pm and SJ wanted to go to sleep and life in general made her mad.

We were on our way home by 7:35....but I don't think any of us really cared. Good dinner, good friends and home early before all of the crazies are out on the road. We made it to 10pm where upon we celebrated along with the East Coast and than went to sleep!

2012 was a good year- it wasn't perfect, but are they ever? We had a HUGE life decision that is literally changing our lives as we speak. A decision that makes me so happy and proud of us for taking the steps to better ourselves and the life of our darling daughter. There is going to be a whole lot less of the BDews when we ring in 2014!

2012 was a huge year of firsts for SJ. She is nothing short of amazing and I honestly cannot believe she is mine. She is so funny and it seems like everyday has something new to show us. She is starting to talk and there is nothing more precious than hearing "Mama" as she reaches for me. She just makes everything right in my world.

We lost Bobbie &Sadie in 2012 but gained sweet  Ruxin who we adopted in October. I still miss those girls of mine and still find myself randomly looking for them during the day.

We lost Granny this year as well. It was sad but her poor body, mind and soul were ready to go. She left behind a beautiful legacy in SJ and I am forever thankful for all she did to make my dreams of becoming a Mother come true. We will head to Catalina in March '13 to spread her ashes so she can finally be with Unkie again.

Brian was signed by Donna Baldwin Talent Agency and is loving hisVoiceover work and is now taking some acting classes as well.  I hope 2013 will bring even more jobs...how awesome is it to get paid for doing what you love?

 I was lucky enough to be offered the opportunity to work from home full time this year and that has been an amazing change for me. I love it. Work has been so stressful but having a good boss and working from home outweighs just about everything else.

We took an awesome trip to Puerto Vallarta this past summer and had a great time. We were visited by Brian's family for SJ's 1st Birthday too.

We are blessed and looking forward to improving ourselves and our family in 2013!