{just another blog}

Justice.

It began when our IL House of Reps. did the right thing.

It ended with our IL State Senate doing the right thing.

With a vote of 59 to 0...I say good riddance Blagojevich.

Perhaps you will get a cell next to George Ryan.

Just a suggestion though, do something about the hair.

REALLY!

I think I am a nerd.

When most people think about vacations....they might think of Disney, or the beach.

When I think of vacation....I want this.....

 

Or this...

I want to see the U.S. I want to fill my mind with history. I want to see the differnt landscapes across the U.S.

I am a nerd.

I have accepted this fact and I am OK with it.

This nerdy girl is excited.....we are planning another trip to DC and this time we are hitting museums!!!!!

I think I am turning into the dog lady.

Since this is what happens when I try to get pics of my family

 

They duck and hide and make faces, or flat out refuse.

 The only person in our house that I can catch doing cute thing is Chloe.

 
She is so cute just sitting there but watch out....she has her eye on something...

 
She has found her favorite toy....watch out Mr. Duck...Chloe is vicious.

 
Nothing keeps her away from Mr. Duck...she has an iron jaw!

 
When she is tired, this is how she sits on our laps. Like the little baby she is.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH someone needs to save me from myself. I am taking pictures of my DOG and calling her my baby!!!!!!

Also since our basement is a paneled wonderland, I made the pics black and white because the color was sooooo bad!

Remember when...

We were little and we gathered around to read books?

My kids gather around their laptops.

16 years ago today.

 
At this time 16 years ago I gave birth to an 8 lbs.,  20" long baby boy.

When he came out we both cried. I was 18 and I was scared to death, and I would imagine he wondered what the hell was going on too. Doesn't he look scared to death?

Anyway...

I had 9 months to prepare for him, but when you are eighteen...9 months isn't nearly long enough.
  
7 months pregnant.

How was I going to take care of this little guy? How would I know if something was wrong with him? What if he got sick? What if I couldn't breastfeed him? What if he figured out I didn't know what the hell I was doing and he wanted to trade me in for a different Mom.

 
4 weeks old and still wondering when his real Mom was going to pick him up.


 
Hey Dad I am hungry do you have the boobs?

I remember vividly when the picture above was taken. We were supposed to have family pictures taken but since I was having a bad hair day (hey I was still a teen, and was self conscious of the baby fat I had and appearance meant a lot) only Kasey and Tom ended up in the pictures. When we went to order the pictures we bought everything they printed because we couldn't bear the thought of them throwing away pictures of our baby.

I didn't know much about taking care of a baby but the only thing I did know was that I loved him more thanI had ever loved anything. More than I could ever imagine...more than my own life. We gave him everything we could and what we lacked in money (boy did we lack in money) and material possessions....this boy had more love than any child I had ever known. He was a HUGE momma's boy as a baby (probably because he was exclusively breastfed) and I loved it.

 
Kasey at 4 months old. Look how happy he is...I must have been doing something right!

I wanted Kasey to have the best start. So, at eighteen I breastfed my son. Turns out we were pretty good at it because he nursed for 2 years. Didn't plan it that way....but we were a team and where I went, he came along. As a teen mother I found it hard to be proud of our baby and our choice to live together. People think it is something to be ashamed of. But I WAS SO PROUD OF HIM! I was proud that he was a fat chunky baby, I was proud of my choice to nurse him, I was proud of how adorable he was, I was proud that he was so happy, I was proud of the job Tom and I were doing. We were doing it against the odds. Kasey and I were joined at the hip. Literally....because he loved being held and I loved holding him. That is probably why he didn't walk until he was 14 months old.

I have always said that he is best thing that has ever happened to me.

On your 16th birthday Kasey I want you to know that I still love you more than anything in this world and I always will. We are so proud of the young man you are today and the man that you want to become. You are smart, funny, kind, caring and mostly responsible kid....not to mention that you are THE cutest 16 year old! 

Because this is such a milestone birthday it is only proper for me to post more of your baby photo's :)

 

        

I don't have any 16 year old pics to print but he promised me that he would let me do a full shoot with him....it is his gift to me for being his mom :)

She is accurate.

Hannah had to write a report on Pocahantas. 
Want to know what the first sentence said?

"Pocahantas is not alive any more."