Happy 1st Birthday Addie...

I can't believe it but my precious little baby is now a year old. This milestone has been an emotional one for me mainly because I can't believe just how quickly this past year has flown by. Up until February 14th she still seemed like this little baby to me but then I went and had Cadence and she is so tiny compared to Addison. It's a constant reminder to me that Addison is no longer my little baby...she's my big girl. She's a big girl with an even bigger attitude. This child keeps us on our toes and she has a mean streak a mile long. As hard as we try to remain composed when dishing out her punishments we can't help but laugh because she is so overly dramatic it's hilarious. Daniel would be the first to tell you she takes after her Mother in the drama department...lol. Here are some notes about what she's up to...

• She has spent entirely too much time with the family dogs. Addie likes to lick everything and enjoys eating food off her tray like a dog.


• She is starting to enjoy TV, if there is music on the TV she will dance to it.


• She is not shy by any means. When I was in the hospital having Cadence, nurses would walk in and Addison would go straight to them with her hands in the air wanting picked up.


• She will eat just about anything but she's like a bird. Sometimes trying to get her to eat isn't worth the fight.


• She stills gets up once or twice a night. I pray that this doesn't last much longer. Even though she stills gets up during the night we can usually put her to bed between 8 and 9 and she can sleep until 9 or 10 the next morning. Of course these past few days she's been getting up around 7:30/8 so we'll see if this is a new phase.


• She says a few words like Mommy and Daddy. On rare occasions she can say Addie and Sissy. I have heard her say cake once and my Mom now has her saying kitty kitty. Even though she is still mumbling it's actually starting to sound like she's trying to say something. I could listen to her talk all day long.


• She is wearing 12-18 month clothing and it's leaning more towards the 18 months more and more everyday. Sister has some chubby feet and she is currently in a size 4 shoe, althought today we put her in a size 5. A month ago she was 20 pounds, not sure what she weighs now but compared to her sister it's a lot. She's also wearing a size 4 diaper which further enhances her behind which my family has affectionately nicknamed the Kim Kardashian butt.


• She has her top two teeth as well as her bottom two teeth and just this week a tooth next to the bottom teeth has started to poke through. With these new teeth she's learned the concept of biting. Girlfriends already gotten a swat or two for biting Mommy.

In honor of Addison's first birthday we had two parties. The first get together was on her actual birthday which was the 17th. It was very low key seeing as I had just gotten out of the hospital with Cadence so it was just us, my Mom, and my brother Steve. We got her her own little cake and she thoroughly enjoyed it. It was good practice for party #2.

We held her second party this past Saturday at my step-dad and his girlfriends house and I think it's safe to say she had an absolute blast. She had lots of kids to play with and had balloons to play with. We know now that if we ever want to entertain her for long periods of time all we have to do is get her a balloon. She was still pulling those balloons along with her today.

The theme in her nursery is farm animals so I decided that was the theme we would use for her party. I had her invites professionally done which I would share with you except for the fact they have my telephone number and the address of my step-dads house and I don't know how to blur it out so for safety reasons I won't be posting it. It was super cute though with a little farm scene, her picture, and lots of pink and green. Her cake and the balloons matched perfectly!

By birthday round two she was a professional at destroying cakes. This pictures cracks me up. Needed a beverage break at half time.

She did pretty good with presents. She didn't concern herself much with actually opening them so I did most of the work but as I would unwrap she would play with the item. She got lots of clothes and very few toys which surprised me but she needed the clothes so Mommy's happy. Her Papaw gave her money so we'll get her a few toys with it. Just this afternoon we purchased a pink tree swing for her with it and she loved swinging so I think she's happy with her loot.

Overall I think she had a great first birthday celebrated with lots of family and friends. She continues to be the light of my life and I think God every single day that he gave me this precious little girl. There are times when she tries my nerves so bad I just have to cry but just minutes later she's walking up to me and resting her head on my shoulder as if she's apologizing. I like to think I am pretty good with words and writing my feelings down on paper but with this little girl I am wordless. There are no words or nothing that I could write that would properly express what I feel for her and what she has brought to my life. Her Daddy and I have had a pretty tough year starting with my job loss. We have lost our home, given up one of our vehicles, and gone without many of things in order for me to stay at home with her and her sister and I am all right with those decisions because spending my every waking moment with these two little girls is worth all of the money in the world. We moved in with my Mom in order to start putting money away in savings and to get ourselves out of debt so that in a year or so we can move out and start fresh without having to worry about where next months rent is going to come from and whether or not we'll be able to afford groceries. We're doing this all for our daughters because at the end of the day they are our light at the end of the tunnel and they make us feel like the richest people in the world.

Happy Birthday Addison Grace, I love you to the moon and back and I look forward to watching you grow into a beautiful young woman!

Well, one kids in bed and the other is currently being held by her Daddy which means Mommy finally has a free minute or two to tell you a little about Cadence's birth story. It's been almost a week and I still can't believe that she is here or that she came so quickly.

As you already know we went in Sunday night to begin the induction process and little did I know how different this induction was going to be compared to Addison's induction. I got my first dose of gel around 9 or so Sunday night and not much happened. I was dilated to a 2 and had been for the past two weeks or so. Shortly before getting my second dose of gel around one Monday morning contractions started. At first we thought it was the gel since it can cause irritability and contractions that don't last long but it wasn't long before I realized this was the real deal. They were coming every two minutes and were extremely uncomfortable. Even though this was my second pregnancy and delivery things were much different than what I experienced with Addison. With Addison my induction was a two day event and when contractions finally started they were in my lower back because Addison was sunny side up. By the time hard contractions started I had already received my epidural and my water wasn't broken until afterward.

With Cadence my contractions started almost immediately and they weren't pleasant. I don't think it helped that I hadn't slept Saturday night and obviously I wasn't going to be sleeping much Sunday night. I was given an ambien pill to help sleep and since my contractions were getting bad I requested my first round of nubain (sp?). The combination of the two knocked me out and I did manage to sleep for a few hours. Even though I was out cold my contractions did continue. They started my pitocin at six Monday morning and broke my water shortly after. If I remember correctly I was only dilated at a three at that point in the game. It wasn't long after this took place that things started moving very quickly. By 8:30 or so I was dilated to a four and my nurse had talked me into receiving my epidural. I was very hesitant to go ahead and get it because I thought for sure I would be stuck laying in the bed for the rest of the day since I wasn't dilating very quickly. I think my fear was it was going to be another two day induction experience and lord knows I didn't want to be confined to my bed that long. The nurse must have insisted while I was experiencing a contraction because I went ahead and decided now was the time. I got my epidural around 8:45 Monday morning and I am glad it's over and done with. It took two tries before they finally got it to work and I was less than impressed with my nurse. I had a mini breakdown before they started the second attempt and wished so badly they would have allowed Daniel in with me. Instead of holding me to keep me from moving like the nurse was supposed to do she kept walking away from me and doing stuff with the computer which meant I would move as hard as I tried not to. I blame her for the anesthesiologist having to do it twice. Anyway, at that time I was at a four and thought I would finally get some time to rest before I finally delivered...boy was I wrong. Next thing I know I was experiencing pain in my "lady region" like I had never experienced in my life. I was holding my cousin Heathers hand like it was the end of the world...lol. I actually became that woman I said I would never be. The one that you can hear screaming down at the end of the hallway. I wasn't screaming but I was definitely doing some moaning and groaning and Daniel said he could hear me in the hallway...I'm not proud of that but man was I hurting. They quickly called for the anesthesiologist to head back down to make sure nothing was wrong with my epidural and he topped me off with some more drugs. The pain finally went away after about ten minutes or so. They discovered that the pain was because Cadence had dropped and had dropped rapidly. I had gone from a four to a nine in about an hour and she was already crowning. I don't remember much with details at that point because everything happened so quickly but I do remember them rushing the residents in because my Doctor wasn't available. The two residents who assisted had me do two practice pushes and next thing I remember everyone was suiting up, the bed was being taken apart and nurses were flooding in. Since they try their hardest to wait for the actual Doctors to deliver they had me hold off on pushing...they did the same thing to me with Addison. I told them this time I didn't care if the Doctor was there or not and they told me it was important to her, seriously, whose in labor here and they think it's important to the Doctor...screw that. Turns out they didn't have a choice though because next thing I know the resident is saying "we gotta go" and next thing I know I have a baby laying on my belly. Turns out I didn't really need to push, my contractions were pushing her out without my assistance and when the resident looked down her head was pretty much out...lol. Delivering Cadence was so much easier than Addison. My pelvic bone caused problems with Addison and she would start to come out and then I would stop pushing and she would go back in. I much prefer having the baby come out on their own...lmao.

I think we were all in a little bit of shock regarding how quickly I delivered. Half the family, including my Mom who had Addison, missed the delivery because everyone was expecting it to be similar to what Addison's was like. I told Daniel today I am almost afraid to get pregnant again because we may not even make it to the hospital for that delivery. It's amazing that I am now the mother of two children. It's still sinking in that I get to say "girls" now. I am truly blessed...extremely tired, but very blessed.

I am still trying to learn how to be a Mother of two young children. Typically whenever I would use the restroom or do something in the kitchen or bedroom I would take Addison with me because I never know what she is going to get into. Just yesterday we were in the living room when Cadence decided she was going to drench both herself and me in puke. I had a brief moment of panic when I realized I was unable to take Addison back to the bedroom with me to change my clothes and get Cadence cleaned up. I finally decided to brave it and leave her out in the living room to fend for herself...you'll be happy to know she survived without incident. My Mom is helping out with laundry since the laundry room is in the basement and I haven't had a shower in three days but I'm adjusting. I know it will get easier as time progresses so right now I am just enjoying the ride.

She's here...

Cadence Leah Blankenship has arrived. She made her grand entrance at 10:31 a.m. on Valentines Day. This delivery was completely different from my delivery with Addison, in fact I am still in shock. Details will be forth coming as soon as we're sprung from the hospital. Keeping our fingers crossed that we will be released later this afternoon but she has developed jaundice and we all know how that went last year with Addison so who knows how long we will be here.

Just as stubborn as the last one!

Well, here we are and I am still pregnant. I really thought this pregnancy would be different since my body was progressing unlike with Addison's birth. I guess this just means I have another stubborn little girl on my hands. After a quick trip to the hospital last weekend for false labor I thought for sure that we would have had her by this weekend but nope. My Doctors have taken pity on my miserable self and the fact that I really don't want the girls to share the same birth date so we are headed in Sunday night for an induction. If all goes as planned I will have my little Valentines Day baby, how sweet!

On another note...my baby, the one that started this all last year, is going to be a year old this coming Thursday. I would really like to know where this past year has gone because I just can't swallow the fact that it's been an entire year that Addison has been in our life. I was telling Daniel just last night as he was wrestling on the floor with her that this time last year we didn't have her to play with and she was the one we were patiently awaiting.

With a new baby and the first of two birthday parties this week I think we're going to be a little bit busy don't you?

We're getting close!

Unlike her older sister, this little girl isn't beating around the bush trying to enter this world. Even though my due date isn't for another three weeks, Cadence should be here by next weekend whether she likes it or not. I think if she could have Addison would have stayed in my belly. When they finally induced me with her I was at my due date and my body was making almost no progress. With this little one my body is raring to go. As of yesterday I am 2 cm. dialated and 60% thinned out. That fact this is happening three weeks out is amazing compared to nothing happening at all with Addison.

I am hoping she comes very soon on her own but thanks to more gall bladder issues, the Doctors will induce after my appointment next Thursday if she isn't here yet. I was made to promise that I would keep my legs crossed when it came to more babies until my gall bladder is finally taken care of...lol.

A part of me is excited we have come to the end of this journey. I am miserable beyond belief. I wasn't chasing after an eleven month old during my last pregnancy! I am also excited to finally meet this little girl. The other part of me though is scared out of my mind. I am so worried about how I am going to juggle raising a one year old with a newborn. I am so afraid that I won't be able to give either one of the girls the attention that they both deserve and require. I know I won't get to sit around all day holding my precious newborn like I did with Addison because let's face it, Addison is still 100% dependent on me and there won't be time to snuggle with Cadence all day long. That leaves me with guilt for Cadence for not getting as much one on one time with me as her sister did and then I have guilt because during those moments that I am able, Addison will be lacking. What's a mother of two babies going to do?? I know this is one big learning experience for me and after a short while the girls and I will get into a lovely groove and all of these worries and guilty moments will be a thing of the past but until then I can't help but panic a little.

Here's hoping that my next post includes a picture of a lovely little girl who we will all have just met! Keep us all in your thoughts in prayers.