Panda!

Everybody knows that I am probably the biggest animal lover on this planet. Its kind of weird because nobody in my immediate family is like that. Sure my mom loves cats (fat mean ones especially) but I love all animals. I don't care if it is ugly, pretty, small, huge anything I just love them. Before I got pregnant I was going to school to be a vet. I wanted to do an internship in England because the vets over there are domestic vets as well as farm vets. I thought it would be so awesome to work on a dog one day and then assist a cow give birth the next. I also started working at a vets office to make sure I could handle the job. I was in love, I woke up every day excited to go to work. I never did the same thing, each day I new dog/cat would come in with a different problem. I lived with my mom and dad and had a yellow lab named Nolan Ryan (yes...I named him after the greatest pitcher in the world) and a grey cat named Tiki. I was with animals ALL THE TIME!

After I found out I was pregnant, I moved into Jakes apartment where animals were not allowed. Jake even had to get rid of his pit bull (i know AWFUL breed but she really was amazing) Zoey. Animals are like an anti-depressant for me. They have this amazing sense to know when your not ok. When your sad, they do everything in their power to make you feel better and when your happy they are happy. Its amazing how sensitive they are to their masters. When I heard "No pets allowed" I was ok because I had work and work was right by my parents house so I could still see my dog every day.

Farther along in my pregnancy Jake and I decided it would be best if I didn't go back to work after I had Kenzie. We both agreed day care was not an option for her (have you heard all the horror stories) plus its is extremely expensive to put a 6 week old in day care. When I hit 8 months pregnant my energy was gone! I told my boss I needed to leave and he understood so I finished up the month of May and that was it. It was so sad to go because I loved my job and I was really going to miss all the animals.

After about two weeks of being at home I needed an animal. Jake and I had moved into a new apartment complex that allowed animals so I started begging him to let me get a kitten. At first it was a very firm NO. Kittens are crazy when they are little, the scale walls and couches and your body plus their claws are very sharp. I kept at it though every day begging for an animal. I promised to clip its nail til it was old enough to get declawed. Finally he said yes so I went to the humane society to get my kitten. I found this little tiger stripped female that I fell in love with. I told the lady I wanted her and she said she is not big enough to take yet you have to wait a few days. So they took my information and put her "on hold". Well days turned into a week and I was itching for my kitten. I called everyday to see if she was ready but everyday it was a new excuse. So my dear friend Carrie was upset to see me so sad so she told me to go on craigslist to find a free kitten. Now in my experience, craigslist is not the best place to get a pet. Nine times out of ten they have some kind of nasty sickness that ends up costing a lot of money to clear up. I told her I would keep waiting on Pepper (that was going to be her name) Well Pepper was never ready so I went for it...I went on Craiglist and found this little ball of fluff with bright blue eyes. I went to look at her and fell in love.

I took Panda home brought her to the vet the next day and found out all she had was fleas and ear mites. Very easy and inexpensive to treat (plus I knew the vet very well so I'm sure that helped.) Panda is the most amazing animal ever. Never once has she bit the baby or scratched her. She comes when you call and she follows me around like a puppy. She purrs as soon as your touch her and she loves loves loves to be held. I am so lucky to have her. Whenever I am upset she lets me burry my face into her fur and cry for as long as I need. She sleeps with me every night. I always tell people I have two babies except one was born with fur and walks on four legs.

This one is for you Carrie

So on Sunday Kenzie was taking a nap with her Daddy so I decided to have a little bit of me time. I was hanging out with my mom, helping her make a texas sheet cake when all the sudden Carrie calls me. I answer the phone and she proceeds to tell me that she is trying really hard to NOT do her homework and would like it if I stopped being a slacker and updated my blog. So since I am your maid of honor at your wedding I will update it just for you!

I was really dreading the holiday season because my 5 month old hates the car and we seriously had 50 million houses to go too. I'm not complaining about my large family (Jake says I always complain that his family is not as "perfect" as mine! HAHA thats funny) who all love Jake Kenzie and I a lot. I have Kenzie on a very strict schedule, she eats every three hours starting at 8 am until 8 pm and then she sleeps all through the night. She also takes a nap from 11-2 or 2-5. Now by having to go to so many houses you can see where that would get messed up. In the case where that schedule does get messed up my little princess becomes very very angry and stays awake letting me know how angry she is all night long. After expressing my concern to my dear Bubby (Boyfriend/Hubby) he agreed that we needed to come up with a plan of attack and that it was ok to hurt some feelings so our princess could get the sleep that she needed. We decided that since my Aunt Sharon and Uncle Ed were coming from North Carolina and had never seen Kenzie that most of our time would be spent at my families house. Also my sister Nichole who lives in New Jersey was coming down and she had only seen Kezzy once and my dad who had been out of town for 10 weeks would be home for the holiday as well. We also decided that a lot of Jakes family on his dads side had never seen the baby so we would go to their Thanksgiving as well. So we needed to tell his mom that we would not be going to her house for thanksgiving. When Jake told her she said she understood but was still sad about it. We ended up going over a few days before to celebrate a little early.

Thanksgiving day was a lot of fun. My sister had bought Kenzie a HUGE bag full of clothes and the cutest elephant toy so I was very excited. There is nothing more fun than dressing up your daughter and I'm not gonna lie...my baby ALWAYS looks cute! It was so much fun to visit with everybody. Kenzie fell in love with Ed. I think it was because he has a New Yorkers accent and she thought it was funny but she was laughing none stop with him.

Ed, Sharon and Kenzie

Jake and I got to eat TWO thanksgiving dinners and spend a lot of time with our family. I could not have asked for a better thanksgiving. Kenzie also got her nap and slept the whole night so I was very happy about that as well.

On December 1st Kenzie kept waking up in the middle of the night screaming. It was so scary because the first time she did it, it was the this horrible high pitched scream that woke Jake and I both up. (Jake always sleeps through the moniter) We both went running into her room and she when she looked at us it was like she looked right through us kind of. Normally if we walk out of her sight and she starts to cry all we have to do is just let her see us but this time it was different. We both tried for a while to calm her down but it took thirty minutes. You all might think this is normal but Kenzie has been sleeping through the night since she was two and half months old. Anyways she kept waking up every three hours really upset never as bad as the first time but still really upset. The next morning I called my mom and was complaining saying that she was held WAY WAY WAY too much over thanksgiving so now she was screaming every time you put her down. About half way through the day when she would not stop crying I called the doctor and asked if she could be checked out. So we went and I found out she had a double ear infection and a bad cold. I felt horrible. I had been complaining when she was really sick. I was told to give her meds three times a day for ten days. After a couple of days she was doing really well but then I got really sick. So this past week was awful for us. Lucky for Jake he was at work most of the time so he wasn't around enough to catch anything. He did surprise me with coldstone to make me feel better though.

I don't really think anything else has really happened. Kenzie has starting eating baby food. Its cute to watch her expression when we give her a new flavor.

Squash

Kenzie loves her new bouncy seat!

O.C.D

When I was about eight months pregnant I hit this phase where nothing was ever clean enough. I would clean our apartment like three times a day. Everybody told me I was going through the "nesting stage" and I would soon get over it after the baby arrived. Well its now almost five months since she has arrived and I am still "nesting" except now it worse because I can actually use chemicals to clean. I chemical clean oh about twice a week, vaccum at least three times a week and do laundry every day. If there is a dirty dish in the sink I feel unsettled until it is rinsed and put in the dish washer. I can't sleep if there is a load of dry laundry in the dryer I have to fold it and put it away. I have always been a clean person never to this extent but I have always been clean. Now I feel as if I am a FREAK!!! I have always made fun of the thought of being OCD I just didn't understand but now I do. The good side of this is my house is ALWAYS clean.

Halloween

I love Halloween!!! Last year I had just found out I was preggo so Jake and I stayed in all night and watched movies....this year I had a four month old to take trick or treating!

Jake and I carved our pumpkin one night while watching TV. It was so fun cause I put the baby to bed while he was in a meeting so when he got home it was just he and I. That NEVER happens anymore. Don't get me wrong we love being parents but we miss our alone time. So we acted like ten year olds and carved pumpkins. It was pretty awesome. We made our pumpkin this little monster guy!!

Our next Halloween adventure was the annual church Trunk or Treat. We went with my mother and little brother. Kenzie was dressed up as a cute little bunny. Jake and I had a lot of fun talking to people and looking at all the weird costumes. I LOVE candy so I was a little sad that Kenzie was too young to actually get any. Everybody would have known the candy was for me if I took her to get some. Oh well, Jake got me Coldstone on the way home. Its sad to say but the Coldstone employees know me by name. The last three months of my pregnancy I went there like every day. Thats when I gained 45 friggin pounds!!!

On Halloween Jake and I decided we would dress Kenz up and bring her to his parents houses his grandparents house and my parents house so they could all see her dressed up. It would have been a good plan if she had taken her nap that day but of course she didn't. As soon as we put her costume on she freaked out. Once the car started to move she calmed down a little and by the time we got to memaws house she was passed out. Of course we had to wake her up to take her out and from that point on she screamed and cried. It didn't help that under her costume was a long sleeved shirt and a pair of sweat pants so she really hot. By the time we got to the third house sweat was dripping off her little face. All and all we still had a good time. I'm excited for next year when she will really be into it.

ROLLING OVER

So I know I'm probably being that "new mom" but Kenzie is rolling over like crazy. She rolled over the first time on her 3 month birthday but now three weeks later she is rolling over all the time. She rolls from her back to her belly back to her back. I think she does it a lot because Jake and I get on the floor with her and give her lots of attention. At some point last night she rolled from her back to her stomach so when she woke up this morning she was scared. Jake and I were getting ready and all the sudden she started screaming. It was so cute we both ran into her room to find her on her stomach really confused.



Jake is so cute with her. He does this stupid baby voice when he is talking to her. I hate it because when you talk to a baby in a baby voice it confuses them and sets them up for a speech problem. I try to tell him to stop and he always says "Babe, this is the only way I can talk to her...I can't use my regular voice it just won't come out." He is such a great daddy...i'm so lucky.



My Dad got me this sweet job with his company. I am going to work from home so I don't have to get a nanny and I can still go to school full time. I'm so excited because I'm being paid a lot to just watch a computer screen and make a few phone calls. I'm also excited because Jake won't have to work so much and he can be at home more.

So I think thats all for now!

How Our Family Came To Be!

So as most people know, after I graduated high school I decided I was not going to follow my family to Georgia but I was going back to Eden, North Carolina where all my friends were. I find it so funny now because seriously who wants to ever move back to Eden once they get out? So while I was out there I made a few bad decisions and my Dad decided it was time for me to come to Georgia. I was in Georgia for a few months but decided I needed to be in Utah so I could be with friends and go to school. My parents agreed that Utah would be a great change of pace for me so off I went.


I moved into an apartment with all the UVU golf players (Yeah never liked golf but I loved all my roommies) and got a boyfriend within a month. Life was good in Utah for a while broke up with the boy, got back together with the boy, fell in love with the boy, fought a lot with the boy, we both tried hard to make it work, moved back to Georgia to give the boy and I space, still fought a lot, ended it with the boy and tried to forget the whole Utah experience except for my golf loving roomie named Whitney my assistant manager turned roomie Jessie my crazy BFF Kristal and my even crazier BFF Hilly!


So there I was back in good ol' souther town of Cumming, Georgia trying to get over the "boy" while working at a Vets office. (I LOVE any and all animals) I soon became friends with Nicole and she decided that it was in my best interest to get out of my house, put on a nice outfit and just have fun. So off I went to the local applebees when Jake walks in the doors! He sits down next to Nicole's husband Chris and starts talking. After a few minutes I tell Nicole that guy is really hott so she tells her husband and it all happened from there. I gave him my number and less than 24 hours later he calls and from that day on we have been attached at the hip.

Kenzie came along a little later. She was quite the surprise. After we found out Jake and I decided it was time for me to move in with him. My pregnancy was a good one. I was only sick for about three weeks I was always tired and my back killed the whole time. I'm sure it killed because my body was not used to caring around the extra 50 pounds I gained but hey I enjoyed being able to eat all the chocolate and coke I wanted. Kenz was due on June 20 and Dr. Lambert told me she was going to be 2 weeks early so I called Carrie (Kenz is named after her) and made her come down because she had to be here for it. One week went by nothing two weeks went by and still nothing. So on the 19 when my child was still just chilling Carrie and I decided it was time for me to get a kitten so we went on Craigs List found the cutest one and seriously drove to Egypt to get her.

On June 24 I was induced and at 2:09pm McKenzie Lynn Corley was born. I felt no pain (USE THE DRUGS!!!) and I can not describe the love you feel when you hold your baby for the first time. She was 7 lbs 4 oz and 21 inches long. Her legs are super long just like mine, perfect to be my little ballet dancer.

I get asked all the time if Jake and I are getting married soon and the answer is I don't know. Things right now are wonderful, we have the best little family of three (four if you count the cat) and we are all so happy. Yes down the road we will but like I tell my Mom all the time I have always dreamed of a summer wedding and last summer I looked like a beached whale and I was not about to get a maternity wedding dress.

So now I have you all caught up on my life, the next posts will be more exciting!!