Allow me to introduce you...

Since I have been better for awhile now and since you're probably really tired of seeing that I have been better for awhile I thought I would take a moment to introduce you to someone pretty special.

World...meet Blankenship baby #2

Baby #2...meet the world.

We can't wait to actually meet you in seven more months!

Bad Blogger...

I'm well aware of the fact I haven't been very good with this whole blogging thing lately but I didn't realize that I hadn't posted a single thing about food since June. I swear if there was a jail for bad bloggers I would have a cell all to myself. The good news is next week is my last week of work and I fully intend to spend more time in the kitchen once I say good-bye to my 7:30 to 4:30 or wait is it 8:00 to 5:00, oh who am I kidding, since being told I was being let go it's become my "I'll get there when I get there and leave once my team lead has had enough time to get out of the parking lot" job! The things I plan on whipping up once I have more free time.

Anyway, no recipes just yet just thought I would stop by really quick and let you know there will be one this weekend. I have no clue just yet what it will be but since I haven't posted anything since June it's about time don't you think?

I'm all better!

Just thought you would like to know, I have fully recovered from my emotional breakdown earlier in the week. I have not felt that kind of despair in a long time. It should have been one of those stay at home in bed kind of days! I have moved on to my happy place now and I pray that it's here to stay...I sure don't want to have another melt down.

Since I haven't posted any pictures of my peanut lately here are a few for your viewing pleasure. Is she not the most adorable thing you have ever seen? My heart just melts whenever I look at her. Lord help me if this new baby is just as awesome as Addison...my heart will be beating out of my chest with all of the emotion I will have for them. Oh wait, how can this baby not be just as awesome...I will love them both the same no matter what their personalities are.

She has the most beautiful blue eyes ever! She's giving her Mommy a run for her money!

Daddy getting her to smile!

So big...And only because I can only imagine what she must be thinking...

You're having a bad day if that expression doesn't make you laugh out loud.

Pregnancy hormones take 1...

I don't know what is about today but at 12:42 p.m. I am seriously on the verge of a mini meltdown and we're only half way through the day. I know it's a combination of being pregnant, losing my job, not being with Addison, and realizing that we're moving but for crying out loud. I am sitting here blowing my nose and wiping away my tears with a freakin' Chipotle napkin that I had leftover from lunch today.

I am making myself sick wanting to be with Addison. We're so close to being together full time but yet we are so far away I am a complete emotional mess. Not to mention the raging morning sickness that I was suffering with this morning that I would much rather deal with in the comfort of my own home rather than at my place of employment in a public restroom. A week ago I was ok with not being at Addison's side day in a day out. I think it's because we didn't know any better and we knew me coming into work everyday was a way of life and that we just had to cope with it. But NOW...now that we know it isn't going to be our way of life it's heart wrenching to keep leaving her every morning. I wake up at 6:35 every morning, I change her diaper, feed her a bottle all while laying in our bed with her gently rubbing my face and talking sweet nothings into my ear. It takes every ounce of strength in my body to make myself get up and out of the bed to finish getting ready for work and not continue laying there with her in my arms. It pains me beyond words to call home nine hundred times a day and hear her in the background...to hear my husband say she is trying so hard to crawl but she just can't seem to master it...to hear her frustration in the background from the inability to move around like she wants so badly to do. My strength in coping is wavering as I lost count of how many times I contemplated sneaking out of here and wondering if my team lead would even notice.

I need my baby and I need her badly. I want to go home and tell her she will crawl in due time and I want to go home and praise her for every inch further she is able to move on her own. I want to go home and snack on her little toes and her chubby cheeks. I want to go home and wrestle with her during diaper changes and grin when I see the cute little baby butt that I now see every time we change a diaper because she wants to roll over instead. I want to go to the Doctor and get my nausea medication and I want to hear that this baby growing within me is a healthy viable baby just like they did last July when I was pregnant with Addison. I want to see this baby on the big screen and see it's little heart beat wildly in it's chest. I want to know if we're having a son or another gorgeous daughter. I want to feel this baby move all about in my tummy and I want it to be February already so that I can hold him or her in my arms. And then I realize I am not ready for it to be February yet because I don't want Addison to be a year old , I still want her to be my little baby who still needs me for everything. And I want someone to tell me everything is going to be ok, that everything happens for a reason, and that when one door closes another one opens, and that there is light at the end of the tunnel, etc, etc., etc. And dammit I want someone to tell me to man up and quit your crying. For someone to tell me to perk up and get off of this path of negativity for crying out loud, and that if I don't knock it off I will turn into my own little episode of the "Young and the Restless" where we will all be confused and miserable because we can't keep track of who is divorced from whom, and who remarried who, and whose dead and whose not and why one day they have a two year old kid and now the kid has morphed into a 22 year old adult overnight and that just wouldn't be good...not good at all.

And at 1:21 I feel a little bit better now that I have gotten that off of my chest and soaked every last napkin I had left with my waterworks. And one things for sure...boy am I glad that I have Monday off for the 4th...I need that extra day and in case you were wondering...that will leave me with 37 days of being away from my baby buttercup. Lord have mercy on everyone reading my blog between now and then!

Hi, it's me Katie...

Yes folks I have been in another one of my cooking funks. There have been some major things going on at our house and while I am still cooking, it's all stuff you have seen on here before. I have tried a new dish or two but I have been extremely disappointed by them all and refuse to put them on the blog. When I say disappoint I mean throw away the leftovers before Daniel has to suffer as well kind of disappointment, they were that bad.

Anyway, you might be wondering what major events I could be talking about so here I go. First of all, deep breath, I am pregnant. Yes, Katie is knocked up again and would you believe this baby is due around the same time next year as Addison was born this year. Addison will be a year old on February 17th 2011 and this new baby is scheduled to arrive February 20th 2011. Now before you start wondering, yes this baby was planned, very much so in fact. Are we crazy for having two babies so close together? Maybe, but you know what? We are excited and can't wait to meet this little guy or gal.

The second major event is that I lost my job last week. I was laid off from the company that I have been with since I graduated from high school and I have until August 20th until I am completely done. I think I am more upset with the fact I have to trudge into that place for another two months while leaving my precious little girl at home than I am at actually being let go. It was time and we knew it was coming. I no longer enjoyed going into work and doing the same stuff day in and day out and when I had Addison and actually had a reason to want to stay at home those feelings got even worse. I hate my job and I am glad to be saying goodbye.

The third major event stems from the previous two. We're moving! The idea of having to box up our house makes me sick to my tummy. Moving was something that we have talked about at great lengths about for the past several months. We are tired of being house poor and never being able to take vacations or have a savings account and money to spend on clothes and misc. items. It was one of those decisions though that we couldn't make on our own. You know the kind where you know the answer to the question but you just aren't ready to say it out loud yet because you aren't positive that it's the right answer. Well we found out we were pregnant so we decided to hold off until the baby was born but now that my income is going to be slashed in half come November when my severance runs out, we knew it was finally time. We both had said that the answer would be made for us when it was time and sure enough we got our answer. In a perfect world we would like to be out of our house at the end of July so that we can get it on the market. There is just no way we can have open houses and showings with four dogs and a baby...I REFUSE! But then I start thinking off all of the packing and moving and I wouldn't be surprised if the end of July comes and goes and we still aren't fully out of the house. Thankfully for us my Mom is allowing us to come home, babies and dogs in tow. I will be the first to tell you I am not looking forward to moving back home with my Mother. What adult who has been out on their own since they were nineteen actually wants to move back home? Not me I will tell you that much, but financially this is our best option. Gone will be our enormous mortgage payment and the hundreds of dollars we spend each month on utilities. Instead we will be helping her financially all the while actually saving money and putting it aside for when it's time to buy another house. Not only does this mean we won't be scraping the bottom of the barrel to make ends meet but that I will get to be a stay at home Mom for awhile. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to be able to spend my days raising our two children. Or the fact I won't be sitting at a desk job nine months pregnant and miserable. The plans I have for Addison and myself...ah I can't wait! The fact Daniel will get to start driving his truck again...well my Mom's truck, bush hogging the fields with the John Deere tractor, fishing and canoeing whenever he wants, and having ten plus acres to do whatever he wants with such as plant the big garden next year that he has already started planning, makes this move a little easier for him. Oh yeah, Mom, Daniel is planning on planting a garden next spring, thought you might want to know about that. He would also like to help mow and bush hog...I will let you two hash that out as the city girl will be inside in the nice 72 degree house. I have put in my days of sweating twenty pounds off mucking stalls while being eaten alive by flies and then freezing my tail feathers off in the winter making sure the hoses are drained so they won't be frozen when it's time to water the horses again. Nope, this city slicker will be inside taking care of the babies and cooking dinner.

My posts will more than likely be very sporadic over the next month or so but rest assured I will be back...I always come back...lol. I promise that once August 20th comes and goes I will start sharing a bit more with everyone since I will have more time to dedicate to being in the kitchen. I think my Mom is more excited about not having to cook anymore than she is about anything else. I flourished in the kitchen after I left home so she hasn't really gotten to reap the benefits of my cooking. Growing up the thought of being in the kitchen never crossed my mind. Seriously I have two brothers who even at the age of 22 still do not like ground beef...in anything, cheese of any kind, onions, and are adamant that they must have ketchup to use on just about everything. They put ketchup on turkey folks so who can blame me for not wanting to go there while growing up...lol.

Anyway wish us luck, we're going to need it over the course of the next few months!

Shocking news just keeps pooring in!

Well if it isn't one thing it's always another, especially in our house. Not only do I have a four month old daughter with another baby on the way but now I am out of work. After more years that I care to think about I was given my pink slip yesterday from the mortgage company that I work for. A part of me is sad, frustrated, and down right angry. But then there is the other part that is glad. Glad because my dream has come true. I get to be a stay at home Mom for awhile and with another little one on the way it couldn't come at a better time.

My last day of work is August 20th and I can't wait. I am going to be a part of the club that can do activities during the day with my children! We are going to be selling our house which is a bummer but we knew it was time even without losing my job. We're going to be moving in with my Mom and paying off all of our debts, selling Daniel's junk pile of a car (take my word for it, Chrysler 300's are not that special...I hate that car), and saving lots of money. In a few years we hope to have enough money saved up that we can buy an empty lot and start building our dream home. I also plan on going back to school once the new baby gets here.

I guess the saying is true, "When one door closes, another one opens!"

Can you tell I am pregnant again? Check out my misspelling up there in the title. Seriously, pooring...come on Katie! LOL

One word...SHOCKED!

I know I have mentioned it time and time again but for those of you just tuning in, it took Daniel and I several years to conceive Addison. We had actually come to the point where my health, which was horrible last year, took priority over having a child and we set parenthood on the back burner. We made the ultimate decision for me to get better and that once that occurred we would begin the long process of determining why we were having infertility issues. Imagine our surprise that days after we had come to that decision we wound up pregnant with Addison. It's amazing how life sometimes turns out.

We found out we were expecting Addison on June 13th 2009 and by June 15th I had already seen the Doctor. I was considered high risk due to my health and it even went as far as having surgeons on stand by in case I needed immediate surgery to remove my gall bladder. Never would I have guessed that my pregnancy would have been so uncomplicated and easy, I was prepared for a battle.

Now many of you are going to say I had lost my mind but honestly, the day we brought Addison home from the hospital I was ready to do it all over again with baby number two. My pregnancy was normal, my labor and delivery was normal...knock on wood, so I didn't have any horror stories or memories that would prevent me from being ready again. Daniel at that point was my only obstacle. He and his younger brother are 10 1/2 months apart and he was adamant that we would not be repeating that so we discussed when it would be right to start trying again. We tossed out a few numbers and had pretty much decided between six and twelve months. We knew we wanted the kids to be close together but spaced far enough that life would be half way civilized for us. Of course when you want to wait a few months before you start trying for another one you actually have to do something to prevent it from happening sooner. We did not do that and it's not my fault. Because of my Crohns disease I cannot take birth control. I found that out the hard way let me tell you! I did have the option of having shots or something implanted but after years of infertility taking something to prevent children is a very scary thought and it's one I shot down very quickly. Now this of course meant that somebody else was responsible for preventing a child and as most typical men are, he was not thrilled with the thought. Then you add in the detail of Daniel being just as obsessed with Addison as I am and you have a problem. If I told him once I told him a million times that if I got pregnant again so soon it was his fault and if he ever uttered the words that we was upset or that he wished we would have waited I would have killed him. That threat obviously didn't bother him and then finally when I asked him if he was OK with it he actually said to me that he was having so much fun with Addison that he didn't care if it happened so soon.

Well it happened and it happened very soon, sooner than I anticipated actually. Who would have thought that after years of trying for Addison that baby two would happen without really trying and three months after having Addison. I think that was a big part of our desire to go ahead and try again. The fear was still in the back of my mind that if we didn't take advantage of my "after pregnancy" fertility that we would risk it taking years again for another one and it scared me. We found out we were pregnant on June 16th 2010 and if my calculations or correct we are due on February 20th 2011. It's almost as if I am repeating last year day for day. I would just like to add, we will not be repeating this next year...just an FYI!

So far I haven't been as sick as I was with Addison and in all honesty...I still don't think it has officially sunk in that I am pregnant. I keep looking at the pregnancy test thinking that one of these times I will look and one of the pink lines will be missing and then won't I be the fool for announcing it to the world. We tried really, really hard to wait for the big announcement this time but yet again we just couldn't do it.

I am well aware of the fact that we are still in the beginning stages and we are not out of the clear yet so anything could happen but our being parents yet again is a big deal for us and one that we want to announce from the roof tops. I pray I won't have to make a sad announcement but I will if I have to and it will be a little easier than the announcement I read over the weekend. Baby Cohen, who I mentioned in an earlier post that was born with a broken heart, lost his fight late last week. Losing a child, even if it is still growing within you, is a terrible thing to experience. It is one that I hope I will never have to live through. I cannot fathom what this young couple is going through. Faced with their own infertility issues they managed to overcome it only to be told that their unborn child was sick and would need surgery immediately after birth. He died with them only having held him for a few short minutes right after his birth. In the few days he spent here on Earth he endured surgery after surgery. It makes me angry and sad that they couldn't experience what Daniel and I experienced and that Cohen couldn't be healthy and perfect like our Addison is.

Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers that they may find the peace and the comfort that will allow them to continue on.

Love your children today as if it were your last. Hold them in your arms and take in their sweet scents. Count their fingers and their toes and apply soft kisses to their chubby little cheeks. Savor their cries and their temperamental outbursts and comfort them in your lap. Allow their sweet smiles and soft giggles to melt your heart. Enjoy being just as wet as they are after bath time and appreciate diaper changes, spit ups, and food thrown all over your kitchen floor. It's those moments that you take for granted and those moment that Cohen parents would give anything to experience.