Thankful TH-Friday...

I had all good intentions of getting this up yesterday, but I was sick as a dog and am just now feeling like I can at least halfway function!

Today I'm so Thankful for a man that has been such an inspiration for so many people for a lot of years.

I totally stole this picture from his facebook profile :)

Mike Gowdy is a friend of a friend... someone I saw at birthday parties, or cookouts, or first communions.  We always got along well, had a good time, and laughed a lot.  Since the developement of facebook, we've talked a lot more... gotta love social networking :)

Well a few days ago, Mike came up with a plan to head to Joplin to help the tornado victims there.  What an amazing idea... only to be executed by Mike Gowdy!  I always knew he was a nice guy, but what a selfless act for him to drop everything and head down to help people he's never even met.

We were all so excited that we wanted to help, so our studio raised $400 to send with him.  Along with our contribution, other friends of Mike's gave him supplies, money, and prayers and his plan is to go to Joplin and simply help whoever he can.

So today I am thankful for you Mike Gowdy, for you are living the golden rule, Treat others as you wish to be treated.  I am thankful there are still people in the world that have a heart of gold and you give me hope that my children will live a better life because of people like you.

Have a blessed weekend!

Motivational Monday's are back...

Okay, I'm going to try to get back into my blogging routine...

Motivational Monday:

To understand your parents' love you must raise children yourself.
Chinese Proverbs

I'm not so sure that this could be more true.  Today is my parent's 30th anniversary... that is amazing in this world anymore and I am so grateful that they stuck through the thick and thin to get to this point.  I do think it's true that children do what they see, and I attribute my successful marriage completely to my parents (and my husbands parents who have been married almost 31 years!).  My mom tells me all the time that the only thing her and Dad faught about was money and us kids (and the lack of having money because of us kids...)  I'm certainly not going to tell you that my parent's marriage was without problems.  They faught, and yelled, and said things they both probably regret to this day, but at the end of it all, they always loved each other and our family enough to pull it back together and move forward... together. 

Happy anniversary to the best couple I know :)

Thankful Thursday

In preparation for recital and graduation, I'm celebrating some of my favorite young women. 

The seniors at ATB this year have been amazing.  Alyssa, Lauren, Dani, and Jori (not pictured here) have been shining examples of leadership, talent, graciousness, and love.  The fact that we're gearing up for their senior recital SICKENS me (and frankly makes me feel a little bit old...) and enlightens me all at the same time.  I can't remember a class of seniors with as much drive to do great things as this class of 2011.

The idea of losing these girls makes me so sad, but the years that I've gotten them have been amazing... it is probably time I share them with the world. 

So today I celebrate you ladies.  I adore each of you as if you were my own children, and wish you all of the success, love, and health you so deserve.  This is also your fair warning that if you don't come and visit often you're in trouble :)

Here's to a wonderful recital and a magical graduation for you all :)

Celebrating Sam

How is it possible that my world could be flipped upside down in a matter of minutes and now, 5 years later, I can't remember a single thing about what my life was like before Sam Michael?  Motherhood is a crazy thing, but I sure do love it.  So today, on Sam's 5th birthday, I'm celebrating his entrance into the world... all 3 days of it!

Thursday, May 11th, 2006, I got a phone call from my doctor's office telling me to head to the hospital because they wanted to begin my induction.  I got to the hospital shortly before noon and began the process of IV's, gowns, monitors, millions of questions (to which Rob answered inappropriately... who's surprised?!), and finally they began Pitocin.  I was ready... I had my videos on, I was waiting for pain, and sending texts to all of my friends to let them know it was finally time.  And then I kept waiting, and waiting and waiting.  When I arrived at the hospital I was "almost a fingertip" dialated.  For anyone that doesn't know what that means the translation would be this "There's not a snowballs chance in hell that baby is coming out anytime soon, but we want you to have some hope".  So with the Pitocin it's supposed to speed that process up.  24 hours into the induction I had some pretty regular contractions and I was feeling a little more uncomfortable so I was pretty sure this medicine had worked and I had to be pretty close to having a baby... she came to check me around lunch on Friday and said "We're almost at a 2!" like it was the best news she'd ever delivered... and I wanted to punch her in the face.  Again, if you're new at this labor thing, this translation would be something like this "good work, at this rate you may have a baby by next Thursday!".  So the doctors decided on Friday afternoon to shut the medication off to give my body a chance to calm down a bit (and so I could eat something!) and we'd discuss options around dinner.  The doctor arrived to discuss options and said "I think we should send you home and maybe try again in a few days" to which I promptly replied "I'm not leaving this hospital without this baby out of me"  I believe at this point I was also a little frustrated and said something about cutting him out myself if they sent me home... whatever I said worked, because they just quietly started my Pitocin again and left my room quickly.  That night, while I was trying to sleep (even though Rob was singing "Rent" at the top of his lungs and bouncing on the birthing ball) I could definitely tell the meds were finally working.  They checked me around 4am and announced I was finally at a 4 (translation... not quite halfway, but getting there) and I could finally get some drugs.  As I waited for the epidural, I felt a little weird... I knew I needed to go to the bathroom so I heaved myself out of bed (heaved is for sure the appropriate word for this as I recall) and was MORTIFIED to find I had peed the bed.  The nurse cracked up at me and happily announced it wasn't pee, my water had broken.  As I was walking to the bathroom, she reminded me that after your water breaks things tend to get a little more painfull and all of a sudden it was like that *itch cursed me: I was in so much pain I couldn't even move.  From there all I remember is screaming at anyone who came in the room until they found me my anesthesiologist.  By noon I was ready to push (translation here: you think you're done at this point.  it's kind of a mean trick people play on you, because all you ever hear is you need to get to 10cm, and then you have a baby... they leave out this next part can take an eternity)  So I began pushing at noon... a vacuum, some swearing, and 3 hours and 16 minutes later we finally had our Sam :)  So for all of you non-mom's out there reading this, I didn't mean to scare you out of having kids...  

I'd do it all again in a heartbeat knowing what a blessing this child has been to us.  He's truly the light of our lives and it's impossible to believe that today we are celebrating him "being one ENTIRE hand"!

Happy birthday my angel!

thankful thursday...

First and foremost I'm sorry for my ridiculous lapse in blogging this month.  Today I'm thankful I've made it this far :)

Today's thankful Thursday is all about...

Aunt Kat even lets the kids do her hair sometimes... pretty huh?!

Aunt KAT!

Kat was one of my first students I remember teaching.  I was like 12 years old and someone decided I was responsible enough to student teach... not sure how that happened, but I'm glad it did.  Kat was a wonderful kid, full of energy, excitement and talent.  She was an amazing student and I loved working with her any chance I could.  Our relationship (like a lot of dance relationships) grew into a sisterhood of sorts.  Kat didn't have any siblings, so I stepped into the role of big sister, and she fit nicely as my little one.  When she needed a solo, I choreographed it, when I needed help moving into my dorm, she helped me, when she got in trouble and needed someone to cover for her, I covered, and when I needed a little sister to remind me to have some fun, she was there for me.  Let's be serious though, when you're sisters life isn't always roses and sunshine either... we've definitely had our arguments, but have always came out stronger on the other side.

Kat was a candle lighter in my wedding (that was always our joke back then... "don't burn the church down Kat!"), we spent hours on my couch with her hands on my tummy waiting for Sam to kick, and she was one of the first ones up at the hospital when both kids were born.  Over time, she became a teacher at the studio, and our friendship kept growing.  My kids adore her and they've always known her as Aunt Kat.  They ask almost every day if it's "aunt Kat day" so that they can play and do ridiculous videos and pictures with her.  I've watched her go through some incredibly difficult times, and I've also gotten to see her sore.  She's an essential part of my family and we love her as if she was our own :)  So today we celebrate Thankful Thursday because we have an Aunt Kat :)

Happy Thursday everyone!