So instead of waiting until the planned day of April 5th to arrive, after my college class Saturday, April 2, Cadence decided to make a surprise arrival! To say the least it was a shock and evening of fast-pace decisions. Everything started at 5:30 and she was here by 8:50 and life has changed since then. Robbie can now say he has had the "rush to the hospital" moment with his pregnant wife. Cadence Jean got her name on a whim because we had each choosen different names but after seeing her went back to this name. Jean is from her great grandmother's name. Kelsey stayed the night with some great friends and had a great time watching her new movie Tangled. She has handled things great so far. Her G-ma and G-pa took her for a few days to spoil her rotten and now she is back and attempting to get into routine. Her first day back to school was today and she was not so happy to stay at school. We'll see if she ends the day on a "green monkey" color day!

Well, I just finished Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Before reading this story, I was hesitatant to read it and figured I had to read it for a class. Now that I have finished the book, I have decided that most young women in high school should take the time to read this book. There are a few difficult parts to read but overall girls can learn to overcome hard situations through the use of art.

Life is ever changing it seems. Just when you think things are going to settle, another curve ball comes flying at you. Robbie finished Police Academy just in time to jet off to Park Law Enforcement Academy. We have another week and a half left until he comes home for good. I am the kind of person who feels it is better to complete all possible tasks now in order to not find myself extremely overwhelmed later. When our home was struck by lightning last year it made me realize no matter how simple of a life you try to lead, things can always change in an instant. So who thought it would be a fabulous idea to start new jobs that required Robbie to be in academies so much and me to start a new career in schools. Throw in the fact that I have graduate classes and state exam as well as all kinds of new aspects in life! Oh and by the way, add in continued potty training sessions and completing taxes! Life is full of surprises and constant change.

In the midst of change, I have stumbled upon a few helpful things that I am hoping will create a little sense of calm. Most people who know me know that as hard as I may try, I am not the housewife of the century who lives for cleaning. I recently found Motivated Moms which is a website that for $7 gives a daily "chores" to clean around the house. I know it sounds SOOO intriguing but stick with me. In addition to chores, it lists things that I often forget like reading a book and taking some me time. I may not like to clean like my sister in laws do BUT I LOVE checking things off of a checklist. This site lets you print check lists which is great...we'll see if it works for me...fingers crossed.

On to Kelsey news, she has joined what we call "Jump" class...known to all of you as toddler gymnastics. She loves it and can do a forward roll on her own now! This week she became sick for the first time in months with a fever. I think it was just a way to force mommy to stay home with her. The day we stayed home together was a free play day in her mind with absolutely no sickness or fever! Oh the joys of parenthood...I wonder who first coined that phrase.

Stay tuned for the next few updates.

So the past few weeks have been constant change for sure. Will we get the house or not...when will we move...Will Robbie survive police academy or not....What is the skin problem of Kelsey's...what will life throw at us next to handle? Well it looks like we will close on the house this week. Robbie is almost done with academy (went through being pepper sprayed this past week)...graduates on Dec. 17th. Kelsey has eczema really bad but we are working through it. If anyone has genius ideas to make it go away let us know! She also a month ago transferred to being potty trained but has accidents from time to time.

Her new thing is to give kisses. She has always blown kisses and pushed her mouth to people for kisses but sometime this past week someone taught her that in order to kiss, you have to make a "pop" noise. Now at any point in time (including the middle of the night) she will find anyone and "POP" you've been kissed. She also now "ohhhs" and "ahhhs" when we go Christmas light hunting. And her favorite Christmas song is now "Deck the Halls" she hears the first few lines and her face lights up. She then starts to prepare....wait for it....wait for it...."LA-LA-LA-LA-LA" over and over and over again. It is the one song she can sing really well since she doesn't talk much yet. Got to love Christmas!

So I have come to realize that everyday I learn a new piece of Kelsey's personality. Today, I realized that she has been around her Aunt Ann way too much. While in her crib for nap/quiet time, I walk by her door and see her wiping and cleaning every bar of her crib. Ok, I can understand if it happened just once for a few minutes but oh no...this was the second time I have seen her do it and she spends at least 15 minutes cleaning! She had to make sure every bar of her bed was cleaned with her blanket.

Kelsey loves to dance. She also loves cartoon intro songs...we really like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse intro and the Carebear intro. When she hears the beginning of the songs, she jumps up and starts bouncing like a rabbit and shaking her head. Of course, that is after she determines what TV or cd player has the song on. She can listen and dance to intro songs over and over....and over and over....get the picture??

So what do these two pieces of her personality have with each other? This morning while having a snack, a commercial came on for Stanley Steamers carpet cleaner. She just about threw down her yogurt and began to dance around wit hall her might! Yes, that is my child...the dancer to cleaning music!

So we were Texas Zoo bound today. About halfway to Victoria, I realize that in my frantic state of trying to leave the house I did not pack correctly for a day at the zoo. I only had 1 drink for Kelsey and 1 for myself. I only had 1 snack trap for us to share...now having gone to the San Antonio zoo on many occasions I realized I was in for spending a fortune on refreshments inside the zoo since I did not pack well enough. Oh well. Kelsey and I were doing good to be going to the zoo. I threatened many times earlier today that the zoo trip would be cancelled unless she behaved....unfortunately it took the third threat for me to figure out that she is too young to understand and just laughed.

So on to the zoo...unprepared...I pay my entry fee (Kelsey gets in free still! ) and proceed to the map to figure out which course to go! After looking at the map for 5 seconds I realize the zoo was maybe 1-2 acres SMALL! Now how did that happen here in Texas??? I mean, the TEXAS zoo is that SMALLEST zoo I have ever been to! Needless to say we were done in 1 1/2 hours and had walked the zoo twice!

Now why you ask do I write this post? Because if you have ever been to a zoo with Robbie, you know his favorite animal is ALWAYS the otters...sea otters....fresh water otters...all otters... We walk up to the otter exhibit and Kelsey gets nose to nose with a swimming otter. The otter picks his head up out of the water and shakes it vigorously and Kelsey steps back and shakes shakes shakes her head too! It was so funny. There this otter is and my daughter just staring eye to eye and then shake shake shake then back to staring! It happened over and over until the ladies came to clean the tank and Kelsey saw it as a way to dart into the door to get closer to the otter. Luckily I caught her just in time and there was no fiasco! But by that time the otter was gone and Kelsey was more interested in the monkeys. I guess it really is the little things in life, right?

Every morning I wake up and wonder what new thing Kelsey will learn today. ..somedays she learns a new sign like the sign for bath-time or pacifier...others she learns a "trick" like how to climb up on the coffee table and jump. It got me thinking about how wonderful it would be to wake up everyday expecting to learn some amazing! She gets this huge, joyful smile when she does something new and laughs like crazy. Wouldn't it be nice to become overjoyed when you learn something new? Even the small things? I am currently in 2 courses for education and learn new things everyday but don't find myself wanting to jump up and shout. I guess it is one of the great things about being a child.