Big Changes

So it's been a little over a year since my last post and well over a year since I've said anything about the family. So much has happened in such a short period of time so I'll just get right to it.

When I wrote the last update, Ava's first birthday was the next day. We had her birthday party at my father-in-law's house. It was a great birthday party for a great little girl. The party was all princess themed and we got her a beautiful little pink and white tiered cake that had her own personal little cupcake on top. That was her first time having cake and she didn't seem to like it too much. Special appearances were made by Luke (who flew in for her party) and Dan. It was a great day.

Shortly after her birthday, we stayed in Brigantine with the usual crowd for the Borgata events. Our bachelor/bachelorette parties were scheduled for September 18th so Rod and Ken accompanied Trevor to his which was in Philly. It kind of sucked for me because I had to drive home from AC to get ready for the night and then go back down to AC for the party, go back home that night and head back to AC the next day. Overall, it was a great time. Trevor went to dinner and then went to some bar afterwards where he decided to give the young bathroom attendant $300 over the course of the night. The next day, we went to the Eagles/Saints game with Dan and Kerri. Trevor spent most of the game staring at his feet while we all were sweating to death because it was super hot that day and we were in the sun the entire time.

When we got home from AC, we needed to get all of the last minute things in order for our big day. October 9th was our rehearsal dinner which we had at a small little Italian restaurant near The Westin where we got married. Afterwards, we hung out at the hotel bar for a little bit before we needed to go to bed. AG felt it was necessary to wear one of his new suits when we were just hanging out which is where the nickname "The Senator" came from. He got really drunk but refused to go to his room and instead just kept showing everyone his suit. I finally went to bed because the next day was going to be long.

Of course, I could not sleep at all. I slept for maybe an hour that night because I was so incredibly anxious for the wedding - it was like being a kid waiting for Christmas morning. It was finally time to get up and start getting ready. Slowly, the bridesmaids arrived. A friend of Trevor's and her mom were doing the hair and makeup for everyone at the hotel so we were all together in two joining rooms just one floor up from Trevor and his groomsmen. At one point, I went to the front desk for something that I can't remember now and as I was standing there I looked to my right to see Trevor walking up. OOPS. Oh well, I wasn't ready yet so no biggie. My dad brought all of us some food while were getting ready and eventually the photographer arrived. She was able to get pictures with Trevor and his guys before the wedding but us girls ran out of time for that because guests started arriving. I stayed in the room with my parents and one of my two matron's of honor until we got the phone call that it was time to come down. My father walked me into the room with 180 guests and all I could do was take deep breaths to stop myself from becoming overly emotional. I immediately locked eyes with Trevor as soon as the doors opened and never looked away. We were married by my Aunt Cindy (who was a mayor at the time) on October 10, 2009 in an absolutely perfect wedding. Ava was our flower girl and our nephew Cole was the ring bearer. We also had 2 matron's of honor and 2 best men as well as 6 bridesmaids and 2 junior bridesmaids and 8 groomsmen. It was a huge wedding party but it worked out. Then we had cocktail hour which Trevor and I never saw because we spent the entire time with the bridal party and family taking pictures. The bridal party were able to spend some time in the cocktail hour and from what I've heard, there was no shortage of food and it was incredible. A little over an hour later, it was time to introduce the bridal party in to the reception. Everyone came up with their own creative way to walk in - most of which we didn't really get to see until we got the video since we were the last to come in. Once we were introduced, it was time for our first dance which we surprised everyone. There were only three people besides us who knew what our song was and that we took dance lessons (my mom, Dan, and Luke). So we had a whole dance routine to do to the song which was Dig by Incubus. We missed an entire part of it but no one could tell so in the end it turned out great. I just recently found a list of the food for the wedding so here it is:

Cocktail Hour

• Chicken Satay with spicy sauce
• Potato Latkes
• Parmesan Crusted Artichoke
• Kobe Sliders
• Spanikopita
• Mixed Bruschetta
• Mini Crab Cakes
• Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

We also had two stations during cocktail hour - Pasta and a Stir Fry/Wok station.

Dinner

• Appetizer - Tri-colored cheese tortellini (this was so delicious - I could have eaten it all night)
• Salad - Tomato Mozzarella with Pesto dressing
• Entree - Prime Rib, Stuffed Chicken Breast, or Salmon Filet with a Lemon Lime sauce

For dessert we had wedding cake obviously which had three tiers. The bottom tier was chocolate chip cake with chocolate frosting, the second was vanilla or marble (I can't remember) cake with mocha frosting, and the top was lemon cake with raspberry frosting. It was delicious. We also had a Viennese table with a ton of desserts and a huge cordial station. Unfortunately, the Viennese table wasn't announced in the reception so a lot of people had idea it was there.

We danced the night away and when it was over, we took the party to the hotel bar. Trevor bought quite of few bottles of our favorite champagne. The bar wouldn't supply us with glasses so Trevor took the bottles into the lobby and passed them around and made people chug them. He somehow managed to convince my Dad to chug the bottle as well. We didn't get to sleep until probably about 4 am and woke up to a delicious breakfast buffet with everyone. Trevor stayed in the room for a while because he had a little bit too much to drink. Eventually he came down but just long enough to eat and he was back in the room in no time. Overall, it was an amazing day that went by way too fast.

A week or two later, we took a quick trip to LA and San Diego for our "mini-moon." Ava stayed with Trevor's dad and stepmom. We had a great time relaxing in one of our favorite places to be (San Diego).

In December 2009, we stayed in Brigantine for Harrah's WSOPC. It was Mark, AG, Rod, Jesse, Casey, Mike, Trevor, myself, and Ava. Although we met Mark before, this trip is when Ava fell in love. To this day, she gets super excited to see Mark. We were there for about two weeks around Christmas time so we got a Christmas tree for the house and I decorated the whole place inside and out. I figured if we were going to be spending a decent portion of December there, I might as well decorate. We had a holiday party with lots of food and it was good time. Before our stay ended, we learned some news that would change our lives again. About mid December, we found out we were expecting for the second time. Our new baby was due August 20, 2010.

In January 2010, we made our first trip to New Orleans to go to a Saints playoff game. It had been a life long dream of Trevor's to watch a game at the Superdome. It was just a weekend trip so we were able to leave Ava at home with her grandparents. We ate at some delicious restaurants that I thoroughly enjoyed despite feeling horribly sick. It was fun to see a new city but I'd like to go back again to really get to see the sites.

The next big change in our lives came in April. We had been looking for a house for a while with no luck. There were houses we fell in love with and went for but crazy scenarios prevented us from getting the house. In the end, it was for the better since we found a brand new house, in the perfect area of the town we wanted to live in, with the exact number of bedrooms and bathrooms we wanted for a great price. We settled on April 23, 2010 and moved in the very same day. It was so nice to get out of a one bedroom apartment and into a four bedroom house with tons of space. The clutter in the apartment was starting to make me insane. There was no room for anything in that place - it was awful. Now, we have a two car garage, huge basement, and lots of living space for the kids to play and for us to entertain.

One thing we didn't take into consideration when choosing the house was that it backs up to a main road. The thought of it being a problem never crossed my mind until two weeks to the day we moved in. Trevor and I were standing in the living room talking when I heard tires losing control. I turned my head to look out of the windows and BOOM - a car crashed into the telephone pole right in front of my eyes. It was the eeriest thing I've ever experienced because everything instantly went silent. Immediately, we called 911. The dispatcher asked if anyone was still in the vehicle (which split completely in half width wise) so Trevor had to go out to the car and look inside. He said it was really creepy because the radio was still playing and the windshield wipers were broken in half but moving side to side. The male driver was thrown into the street and a young female passenger was thrown across our yard. Both were alive when the ambulance took them away but we have no idea what happened after that. The wreck stayed in our yard for hours afterwards while police investigated. Our neighbor was talking with the driver before the ambulance came and she was fairly certain he was drunk. A driver behind him said he was driving at least 85 mph (the speed limit is 40). He had to come around a curve before he slammed into the pole. The pole and a road sign that he sheared off had to be replaced. For weeks, Trevor found car parts and random things he had in his car all over our yard. There was a heavy duty car jack that was just passed the house on one side. Had the jack been over about five feet or less, it would have come through the windows we were standing in front of. That night, I didn't sleep very well. Since then, knock wood, we haven't had any other accidents in our backyard and I hope it stays that way.

During the summer, we went to Vegas for the WSOP and stayed with Jay, Ken, Andy, Dan, Kerri, Zach, and Luke. After a little less than a week of being there, my mom flew to stay for the rest of the trip to help me with Ava since I was about 7.5 months pregnant. I'm so glad she was able to make the trip out because she was a huge help for both Trevor and me. It allowed us both to be able to get some sleep since Trevor had to wake up for tournaments and it was a huge help on the days when Trevor was playing. It's so much different to have a toddler running around your own house as opposed to someone else's house. Our house is baby proofed but the Vegas house obviously wasn't. Overall, Ava is really good about staying out of things but I still feel like I have to chase her all over to make sure she stays out of every last thing in the house. As always, the guys were great with her and she has such a good time with them. The trip was Ava's second flight and second trip to Vegas.

In July, Trevor headed back to Vegas for the Main Event and I stayed home with Ava. It wasn't easy to chase the almost 2 year old around while 8.5 months pregnant but we made it through and it was only for a couple of days before Daddy was back to join us.

As my due date approached, I was incredibly ready to have her. I was so tired of being pregnant. My doctor allowed me to be induced so on August 18, 2010 at 1:38 in the afternoon, our second daughter, Cameron Reese, was born. She was 7 lbs 19.5 in with a full head of black hair and she was pure perfection. Ava showed up a short while later with Trevor's Dad and she was really good about meeting her new baby sister. She held her and loved her and it was really sweet to watch. I was having a hard time dealing with the impending birth because I felt like I was short changing Ava. I felt like Ava had less than two years to be the baby and I was pushing this new little baby into her life. It was hard to try to work out in my head that I was really giving Ava a life long friend and adding more love to our family. As soon as I saw them together, I no longer felt badly about it. Now, Ava and Cameron are totally in love. No one makes Cameron laugh harder than Ava and Ava does nothing but hug and kiss Cameron all day. She is always worried about where she is or what she's doing. She loves to help me and Trevor out with things for Cameron and rarely shows any jealousy. I feel as though they have now and always with have an incredible bond and now it all makes sense.

Two weeks and one day after Cameron was born, Ava turned two. I can't believe she's already two years old. It really is incredible how quickly times goes by. We had her party two weeks later for two reasons. One, it gave me time to bounce back a bit from having Cameron and two, it lined up with the Borgata Poker Open so the guys were able to make it to the party and meet Cameron. The party turned out great and Ava got lots of new toys. Cameron made her debut and it was a great day.

Next came Halloween, Cameron's first - Ava's third. Ava was Minnie Mouse and Cameron was a little black cat. We took our first trip to Sesame Place for their Halloween special that was going on with my dad, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and niece. It ended up being a super hot day that none of us were expecting. We all had a good time and I'm sure we'll go again next year.

My mom had planned pretty much since the day we moved in to have Thanksgiving at our house. It ended up being a modest dinner party of THIRTY! Somehow, my mom packed everyone into the kitchen to eat and it worked out pretty well. It was the first time the entire family had been together in years and it really made my mom and aunts happy which in turn made me happy.

After that, we decided to take a last minute vacation so two days after Thanksgiving we left for a two week long road trip. We bought a time share together when we were engaged so we used that to stay in Myrtle Beach, SC, Daytona Beach, FL, and Nashville, TN. We made several attempts to see Christmas lights and trees because Ava was really into it this year. It didn't work out so well until Tennessee though. While in Daytona Beach, Jay and Ken drove up to have dinner and play at the dog track later on. That night, Ava fell in love for the second time, this time with Ken. Now she refers to him as "my boyfriend Ken." Once we made it to Nashville, we visited the Opryland Hotel which was completely decorated for Christmas. It is an incredibly beautiful and HUGE hotel and the Christmas decor was amazing. Ava finally got the see the lights and she loved it. Cameron was obviously too little to care. Both girls sat on Santa's lap to get their picture taken and afterwards, Ava rode the little train. We had some delicious meals including breakfast at The Pancake Pantry and dinner at Caney Fork River Valley Grille. We each had pancakes for breakfast - I got sugar and spice pancakes, Trevor got the Grill Cook's Medley with a side of buttermilk pancakes and Ava got a waffle. Everything was delicious, but the buttermilk pancakes were the best I've ever had - hands down. I would recommend anyone who goes to Nashville to visit the Opryland Hotel, especially during Christmas time, and to have breakfast at the Pancake Pantry - you won't be disappointed.

We came home just in time to get our house decorated for our first Christmas here. It was an especially exciting Christmas for me because it was the first year Ava was understanding what was going on and excited about it and it was Cameron's first Christmas. Our annual Christmas Eve family party was at our house and it was a success. Christmas morning didn't disappoint when Ava came downstairs and saw all of her presents from Santa under the tree. She made sure to check the cookies and milk to make sure Santa had some. We had a lot of fun all day with family.

For New Year's, we went to my former place of employment PJ's to celebrate with friends. It was fun, but we decided that we would stay home and relax pretty much every year from now on. It's absurdly expensive to go out on NYE and a huge hassle to try and find a ride home and such so we'll just spend with it our girls.

This brings everyone up to date on the major life events and things we've done since I last posted. I know I have two more things to talk about to truly bring it up to date (the Borgata tournament and West Palm Beach) but they will be their own separate blogs. Sorry this is the longest blog ever but I had a lot to catch up on.

Nonsense

I'm 26 years old and I grew up in a time with incredible advancements made and barriers broken. From vaccines to artificial hearts, the medical world never stops growing. Technological advances happen so fast , it's almost impossible to keep up and the world has had great achievements like the fall of the Berlin Wall to most recently, our first Black President. We also deal with terrible tragedies and unspeakable crimes on a daily basis. The world is completely out of control, yet for some reason still today, a gay couple is not allowed to be married. It is amazing to me with all of the terrorist activity and the unfortunate everyday murders that need to be addressed with vigilance, that the government really has time to reject a gay couple from being married.

I myself am not gay but I have no issue with two men or two woman who want to commit to each other. I do have a family member who is a lesbian and she is no different than any other member of my family. Americans pride themselves on being free and equal rights so what is so different about this? Why is it that a gay couple cannot marry? It ruins the sanctity of marriage. To this I say a giant, screaming BS. What ruins the sanctity of marriage is the morons who decide they are bored and run away to a chapel in Vegas when they're drunk and get married and have to have it annulled 24 hours later. The people who ruin the sanctity of marriage are the people who marry for money or those who marry for citizenship. Or those who marry and then start banging everything in site behind their spouses back. What about all of those marriages? No one is complaining about stuff like that or making it illegal for people to get annulments or divorces. It was estimated that 40% of all marriages ended in divorce in 2008. How is this upholding the sanctity of marriage? It's a joke, a complete joke. If two people love each other, they should be allowed to have the same rights as any other couple, given they are both of sound mind and know what is going on. Putting all variables aside, mainly gender, think about how you would feel if the person you loved and wanted to spend your life with was dying in a hospital bed. Most people would want nothing more than to be able to spend their last moments with the person they love. Now think how you would feel if you were told you had ZERO rights to be with that person or make any kind of decision for them. You had NO rights to the person you LOVE. Does that seem fair?

Everyone has their own belief system and they vary all over the world. So who is the government to impose their religious and other beliefs on anyone else? What if the government was taken over by gay people and told you that you weren't allowed to marry the opposite gender? Two men getting married affects no one and nothing. It doesn't affect the life of a person who is against being gay and if it does, the person has no life in the first place. People don't choose who to love. A man does not wake up one morning and says you know what, I'm going to fall in love with another man today and vice versa for woman. It can't be helped. So why can't we just leave people alone to live their own lives where they aren't interfering in anyone else's lives? Life is way to short to be told who can and cannot marry in life. (and if anyone wants to start an argument of children marrying adults, get real...I'm talking about 2 consenting adults here) It is not fair that someone has to live a miserable life fighting for their rights because people in the government are so religious that they feel it's necessary to impose their belief system on everyone in the US.

I could go on about this for days and I probably will continue but for now, I need to go to bed because I have a flight to catch in the morning to New Orleans with Trevor. We're going to the Saints game on Saturday. We dropped Ava off at my mom's house tonight to stay until Sunday when we get home and I miss her like crazy. I can't wait to be back and pick her up. I need sleep now. I'll have new blogs up again soon. Goodnight.

Surprises and Road Trips

I'll be honest...right now I can't remember what I did since the last time I updated. I'm sure it will slowly come back to me as I write this but here's what I remember...

Wednesday, we went to Trevor's sister's house to visit her with Ava and his other sister Emilee. After that we ran to the bakery to order Ava's birthday cake. I can't wait to see it and will post pictures after the party. It's going to be so adorable. We dropped Emilee off and headed home. Ava's birthday pictures were scheduled for either Friday or Thursday if Friday was going to rain (the pictures are being taken outside). The photographer said we would go for Friday because it looked good so I checked the weather and saw it was going to rain all day Friday. I didn't want to bother him again so I just let it go and he of course ended up rescheduling. So Thursday night I headed to the mall with Katie to shop for a new dress for my surprise shower. Trevor shakes his head at me and asks how I can shop for a surprise. Basically my plan was to get a dress and anytime I had to go anywhere, even just to my Mom's, I was going to wear the dress. There's a back story to this...

Last August, on a Sunday morning, I woke up and headed to my Grandmom's for breakfast like my family does every Sunday. When I got there, no one was there but that wasn't that unusual so I didn't think much of it. I knew we had to get home to get changed for a lunch date we had with Trevor's family so off we went. While stopped at a light, some lady rear ended us. At this point, I was about 8.5 months pregnant so I was pretty sure we were going to miss lunch because I thought the cops would make me go to the hospital. They didn't so Trevor let his family know we would be a little late to lunch. We ran home, got changed really quick and ran out of the door. For anyone who knows me, they know I don't typically leave home without my makeup done, hair done, and contacts in. This particular day, I didn't have enough time to get everything done so I just did the bare minimum and didn't take time to really pick out my clothes. So we show up at the restaurant and I walk in the door and the entire room (it's a very small restaurant) screamed SURPRISE in my face...it was my baby shower. I had absolutely no idea that it was going to be my shower...the thought never even crossed my mind. With that, I told myself I wouldn't let that happen anymore and for my bridal shower I would try to be prepared.

Now typically, it's hard to surprise me. I ask a lot of questions and I really try to let things be a surprise, but a lot of times, I just start to piece things together until I figure them out. So this Saturday, I knew I had to wake up early and pack because we were going to Cooperstown, NY to meet up with Trevor's Dad who was there for Trevor's stepbrother's baseball tournament. Trevor told me that I needed to dress nicely because we were stopping for dinner before we got to the hotel with his Dad and that the restaurant has a dress code. He even showed me the website for the restaurant when I asked something about it. So I thought nothing of it, packed, and got dressed. He asked me if I was going to wear a dress but I said no because Cooperstown had highs in the 60's and my dresses were all strapless so I knew I would be cold. He tried. We ran to Target to grab a couple things and he said we needed to stop at my brother's house to get something for his Dad. Still, I didn't think much of anything. On the way to my brother's, Trevor started getting giggly which isn't completely out of the ordinary but given I've been harassing him about the shower, I started asking him questions. When it comes to Trevor, he's tricked me so bad in the past that I really don't know what to believe so I know he could be acting or he could be serious. Just in case, I got my makeup out since I hadn't put everything on yet, and quickly finished it up. As we were about to turn onto my brother's street I noticed a silver Lexus that looked like my cousin's and wasn't usually parked there and then the very next car was my Aunt's Outlander which I knew for sure since my cousin's name is on the window. We turned onto the street and I saw cars everywhere and couldn't believe it...he tricked me again! In the driveway, I saw all of my bridesmaid's standing there waving and yelling and acting like lunatics and all I could think was I can't believe he did it again and I better not have packed for nothing (some may remember I really hate packing). Apparently, we were in fact NOT going away that day but he had me pack to throw me off. So I didn't wear my dress to the shower but I was dressed nicely and my hair and makeup were done and the contacts were in so overall, it was a success. I got a lot of things from my registry and lots of gift cards. We had lots of laughs and fun but just as quickly as the shower started it was over. My bridesmaids did a great job putting the whole thing together and I can't thank them enough. We took the gifts to my Mom's house and then went back to my brother's to hang out with my sister-in-law. Busy busy day.

Sunday morning we actually left for Cooperstown and stopped in Paramus along the way to have lunch with Daddy Dan at the Grand Lux Cafe and then we were off to finish the trip. When we arrived, we met up with Trevor's Dad and had dinner at the Yum Yum Shack. It was recommended by tskillz but just looking at it, I didn't know what to expect. It turned out to be an absolutely delicious dinner. We went to Trevor's stepbrother Vincent's game for a bit and then we needed to get Miss Ava back to the hotel. Speaking of the hotel, when we checked in we found out we somehow got upgraded to a two room suite...fabulous! Monday, we were set to go to the Baseball Hall of Fame but I was feeling pretty crappy so Trevor and his Dad took Ava and I stayed home and slept. I was there when I was little, and I know a lot has changed since then, but I really didn't think I'd be able to walk around for hours. When they got back, we headed out to lunch and then to another one of Vincent's games. Around 9, we headed to dinner at some steakhouse and had another pretty good dinner. Today, Trevor and his Dad went golfing and Ava and I stayed home. We didn't get up until they were done golfing (they left early and played a 9 hole course) so when they got back we headed out to the Ommegang Brewery. The tour was pretty cool and then we tasted the beer and some of their mustards and beer cheeses which were all delicious (and I think beer is gross). Trevor and his Dad bought some souvenirs and then we headed over to the Fly Creek Cider Mill. We each had a pot roast sandwich, a slice of pie, and a cup of hard cider. Everything was super delicious except we all agreed the hard cider wasn't that good. After a stop in their store, we headed home and Ava and I took a nap while Trevor and his Dad went to Vincent's game. Tonight we had dinner at a pizza place in town and then came home.

We're headed home tomorrow where we have a busy couple of days ahead of us. We need to get an early start tomorrow because Ava's first birthday pictures are scheduled for tomorrow at 6 pm. It's supposed to be a beautiful day with no rain so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Thursday, I need to run around and get things for Ava's party and Friday we need to pick up tables and chairs and set everything up. Thursday is also Ava's first birthday and I can't believe how this first year has flown by. I can't believe she's still not that little tiny newborn I held just minutes after she was born. In pretty exciting news, Ava took 3 steps in a row tonight so she's yet again a little closer to actually walking. It seems that any day now, she's really going to take off. :) I need to get to bed now. Goodnight!

Busy Busy Busy

With the Ava's first birthday and the wedding both rapidly approaching, I've been super busy trying to get things done. That said, I obviously have not been posting new blogs very often but I'm doing my best. It seems that I never have time to stop and take a breath these days so I can't even remember what I've done lately. I have been making notes in my phone's calendar when Ava does something significant so I can mark it on her 1st Year's calendar. So Tuesday, Ava added to her collection of tricks. She's been walking all over the place since she was 9 months old, but only with the help of the couch, tables, or anything else she can grab on. She's also been standing on her own for a while...

but Tuesday, she finally took a step on her own! She's slowly but surely finding her balance and I'm sure within no time she'll be running all over the place. I was really hoping she would walk before her first birthday but that's ok...we'll aim for the wedding now :). Even though she doesn't walk she still manages to get all over the place and into everything. She especially loves to crawl under Trevor's desk when he's playing and behind the vaccum cleaner into the one of the smallest possible places in the apartment. She does however have a new favorite place to play. She has a few baskets from gifts I received for her so I keep her toys in them. Lately, she has been emptying one of the baskets and sitting in it with her aquarium toy. This has happened everyday since last week. Trevor put her in her crib yesterday (8/24) with a different basket of toys and found her a few minutes later inside of that basket.

She cracks us up everyday. So Friday, we had an engagement party to go to about an hour away in Pennsylvania for one of Trevor's childhood friends.

My Mom took Ava for the night but we still left the party fairly early, around 10:30. Trevor and I both had our first drinks in a while because the doctor said I could stop taking that horrible medicine (Cymbalta) since it was clearly making every symptom worse. Saturday morning, Trevor left bright and early to go to New York with his Dad. He bought him tickets to the Phillies/Mets game at the new Mets Stadium so they got an early start and went golfing with Daddy Dan. I got up later and headed over to my Mom's to pick up Ava and ended up hanging out there with my Mom, Stepdad, and stepsister until it was time to go to my Aunt Theresa's house for a BBQ. The weather was terrible - it was ridiculously hot and humid and about to storm constantly. Eventually it did and we all headed inside. Ava, her great Uncle John, and cousin Cole listened to music and watched Cole dance.

Then it was time to go home so we said goodbye to everyone and off we went. Trevor got home around 1 am and it was time for bed. Sunday, I had plans to go to lunch with my friend Nicole. She wanted to take me out for my birthday and we were finally able to get out. We ate at a place called the Corner Bistro in a small town close by. Lunch was pretty good with great company. When I went home, I got Ava's stuff together and the two of us headed out to Babies R Us to get some things for her and then off to my Mom's to pick up some stuff we left the day before. Then, we headed to PF Changs to meet up with the two Katie's for dinner. Again, our meal was delicious and we had great company. I took food home to Trevor because he was home playing all day.

Monday, Trevor let me sleep all day because I was so exhausted. I didn't get myself out of bed until 3 pm :( and then we had to get ready, take Ava to my Aunt's house, and head to Trevor's sister Trinna's house to visit her. At 7, we had a happy hour to attend for Trevor's stepbrother's baseball team. We hung out there until 9 and then headed back to my Aunt's house to pick up Ava. I headed out to the diner with my Aunt and cousin but Trevor wanted to play and Ava's sleep schedule is all screwed up so Lindsey (my cousin) went home with Trevor until we got home. I had to get up early today to greet my sister-in-law and neice because my sister-in-law needed a sitter. I'm pretty sure Ava was not happy with a baby being in the house or she was just mad that I wouldn't let her play with poor little Bella. She's 3 months old and Ava just wants to grab her like she's a doll.

Eventually, we dropped Bella back off with her Mommy and we headed out to run some errands. Trevor won an Outback gift certificate at a golf outing recently so we used that for dinner tonight. We came home and relaxed for the rest of the night and we're heading to bed now. Goodnight!

Annoyed

Picking up where I left off...Sunday Trevor played tournaments all day so eventually I headed over to my Mom's with Ava to look at old pictures. I'm making a slide show of me and Trevor from birth until now for the wedding so I'm trying to gather pictures from our parents. I sat there for hours looking through pictures and all of my memories from school that my Mom held on to. My favorite was a journal I had to write in each day in second grade. My spelling and stories were hilarious...I was hysterically laughing by myself in the nursery my Mom has at her house (she lives in a 4 bedroom house with her boyfriend so she turned one of the empty rooms into a nursey for Ava, my nephew Cole, and neice Bella). It was fun taking a trip down memory lane. When I finally made it through the pictures and picked out the ones I wanted, Ava and I headed to Trevor's Mom's house to help her with her new laptop. We stayed for a bit and she gave me old pictures of Trevor to take home and look through and then we were on our way home. Ava has decided recently that she wants no parts of sleeping when she's at home. Her bedtime is 9 but she won't go to sleep now until 11:30 unless she's staying overnight at one of her grandparents houses. She sleeps 12 hours straight for them (like she used to for us) but at home she wakes up at the butt crack of dawn. But then I look at her little face and I think she can do no wrong :).

Monday, we met up with Trevor's sister Trinna for lunch at Chili's. Then we headed to Target to get some things for Ava and then we were off to Trevor's Dad's because his car was still there. Ava and Trevor stayed there and hung out for a bit while I went to PJ's - the bar I used to work at - to meet up with the 2 Katie's for dinner. I had a salad and it was delicious. I said my goodbyes and headed home. Yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment and then afterwards Trevor's Mom stopped by for a bit. We hung out at home all day. Today, Trevor had plans to go golfing in Brigantine with my uncle and cousin so he left the house early and Ava and I hung out all day. I got a lot of cleaning and laundry done and when he got home we got ready, dropped Ava off at Trevor's Dad's and headed to the Phillies game. We finally sat through a game and won. Cliff Lee was pitching and it was a great game...4 homeruns...fabulous.

So why am I annoyed? As we were coming home, there was a car next to us on the bridge that continuously put its brakes on and was almost coming into our lane. We were watching and I noticed it was a girl driving...shocking. As we drove passed her, I looked over and saw that she had her visor down, mirror open, and was holding the visor inspecting herself while driving...in the dark - not like she could see anything anyway. Why do people (mostly females) insist on checking themselves out while driving like it's no big deal? It irks me to no end when I see people driving like complete tools. And where are the cops when this stuff happens? They're busy pulling over the person doing 28 in a 25. PULL OVER THE IDIOTS THAT ARE SWERVING BECAUSE THEY AREN'T PAYING ATTENTION! I also love when some guy driving his Mercedes or better yet his beat down '80 sports car pulls right up onto my bumper when there's cars all around and nowhere for me to go...that's one of my favorites...and when they start flashing their lights like they own the road and I need to get out of the way. I don't drive like a grandmother but I don't drive 300 mph either. If I had a beater and didn't have a baby in the backseat I would really love to slam on my breaks for morons like that. Another person was driving all over on the way home and as we passed him I saw he was on his cell phone. Is it that hard to wait or put the thing on speaker phone and put it on your lap? I'm sure it was an emergency about what his friends were wearing to the club and how they had their hair spiked that night. Ugh...drives me up a wall...

I'm done ranting for now...but stayed tuned for lots more in the future!

Time Flies

So I've been incredibly busy lately and haven't had time to do an update but here I am finally. I've been working on the invitations for our upcoming wedding and had to get them completed and in the mail by the end of the week (which I did) but only after staying up until 4 am for a week straight. A couple of years ago, that would be normal for me but with an 11 month old running around, it's not the best idea. I can't believe how quickly time is passing...I feel like we were just getting engaged and now we're less than 2 months away from the big day (10/10). I'm really blown away at how fast time moves these days. When Trevor and I started dating, time started flying and now that we have Ava, each day seems to be over in a blink of an eye. It's pretty scary if you stop and think about life and what it has in store for us and how quickly it can be taken away. But that's something I probably shouldn't get into because it will most likely send me into a frenzy...one day I'll talk about it but today is not that day.

With this in mind, last Tuesday, August 11th, marked 2 years since Trevor and I got engaged...2 years! I'll never forget that day...it was my college graduation party. Trevor had it all planned out. We were living in Brigantine at the time and he left early on Friday to head to our hometowns. He said he had to meet up with his sister to help her out with some financial aid stuff but really he was heading to my Dad's work to ask him permission to marry me. Obviously, he said yes of course. We went out that night with some friends and later that night...totally joking and truly oblivious to what was going to happen the next day...I told Trevor that he better not be proposing the next day (oops sorry!) but again I was really totally joking. The only reason I even brought it up was because he knew that I always wanted to be proposed to in front of my family and friends and my graduation party was the perfect time and place. In reality though, I didn't think it was possible for him to have bought a ring since we're always together. The next day at the party, he seemed to be acting totally normal to me (he says he was a total nut all day) and at one point during the party my Dad asked for everyone's attention. He gave a little speech about how proud he was of me for graduating from Drexel and the typical Dad speech (my Dad absolutely does not like talking in front of large groups) and then he called me over to him for a hug. After that, he asked if anyone else had anything they wanted to say and Trevor came up to me out of nowhere (really he was standing to my right but I didn't see him) and said "Jody I think you're the most amazing person in the world and I want to spend the rest of my life with you" and then he got down on one knee and said "Will you marry me?" I was totally shocked but I clearly said yes. After all was said and done, I felt terrible about the night before :( but we laughed about it. It's been a long but great ride leading us up to our wedding day and I absolutely cannot wait for it to be here.

I spent the morning today with my Mom and Ava working on things for the wedding. There's not much left to do which is great but definitely still have some loose ends to tie up. I'm looking forward to everything being finished and relaxing until October 10th. After that, Ava and I headed to the shore to meet up with Trevor and family because they played in a golf outing today. There was so much food when I got there - it was crazy. I ate and we hung out for a bit but it was time to head home. Here I am now...falling asleep as I write. I planned for this blog to be ridiculously long and have the entire story of Trevor and I but I'm just too tired to make any sense so here's what you get...a long blog with lots of run on sentences and my jumbled thoughts on a Saturday night...enjoy...I'll write the next one when I've slept :)

Celebrations

There were a ton of birthday's in July and August brought yet more birthdays to celebrate. August 5th was my nephew Cole's 4th birthday and the 6th was Trevor's best friends sister's. Friday we went out to dinner at Aqua, a Malaysian and Thai restaurant. I try to avoid this restaurant as much as possible because I have a nut allergy and Thai food uses peanuts in a lot of their dishes but Trevor's friends love it there. Everyone was going out afterwards but I was feeling pretty terrible so we decided to just head home. My Mom had Ava for the night so I figured I would go right to bed when we got home but that of course did not happen. I spent the next couple hours working on the wedding invitations some more until I finally went to bed at 2 am.

The next morning, I had to get up early to pick up Ava because my Mom told me several hundred times that she had a lot to do on Saturday. Of course, Ava went to bed right on time at 9 pm for my Mom (lately, this rarely happens at home). When I got home, I had major cleaning to do. I may have mentioned it before but we live in a one bedroom apartment until January when we're buying a house. Living in a one bedroom with a baby is not an easy thing to do - there's stuff everywhere with hardly any room to put anything away. The apartment always looks super cluttered and it makes me insane.

Another unfortunate side of apartment living is workers having to come in and out at the complex's convenience. Our apartment was scheduled on Saturday to have all of the electrical switches and outlets replaced. I assumed it was 1 guy doing the job so I figured I would have time to clean up the last little bit in the bedroom before he made it in there. When the doorbell rang, I opened the door to find 4 guys standing on the other side and they came in and swarmed the friggin place...awesome. When all was said and done, Ava's changing table and our bed were in the middle of the floor and there was the plastic coating to wires all over. Anyone who has babies will know the they love to put anything they can get their hands on in their mouths. Ava has reached this stage and I constantly find her sitting on the floor chewing on something. So far the plastic wire coating hasn't made it into her mouth (that I've seen) but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

Anyway - Trevor and I have partial season tickets to the Phillies and we had a game Saturday night. I decided to stay home because I had a lot to do and also because I knew the game would run past Ava's bedtime and we didn't have a babysitter so I told Trevor to take someone else to the game with him. The plan was to get to work as soon as Ava passed out and all was going well until 20 minutes after I put her in her crib...she woke up. Needless to say I got absolutely nothing done except some laundry because Ava refused to go back to sleep until Trevor got home around 11:30 and even then she kept waking up...not fun especially since we had to get up early Sunday morning to go to church. Now, neither one of us are religious and do not attend church but this was a special occasion. Our niece was baptised today so we obviously needed to be there. The baptism was fairly quick and then afterwards, we went to my brother and sister-in-laws house for the Baptism/Birthday party. My niece Bella and nephew Cole are brother and sister so they just had a combined party to make it easy. The rain came but it went by pretty quickly and the sun came out but it was horribly humid. For most of the day, Ava hung out with my Mom because she would cry if anyone else, including me and Trevor, took her away. Trevor's stay at the party was short lived because he had to get home to play a tournament so he said his goodbyes and off he went. I hung around for a while and then a bad storm came rolling in when I was about to leave so I had to stay way longer than expected. The birthday party had ended by that time and only a few people remained - so it of course was time for the adult party to begin so they all played beer pong. Miss Ava was a super tired little baby because she didn't sleep well last night and didn't take a nap at all so we got ready and said our goodbyes and off we went. She passed right out when we got home but has just woken up as I'm typing this...sigh. This weekend went by fast with nothing too exciting to report but it was fun. I must go rock the child back to sleep now.