Less Blogging, More Living.

“You have to live life before you have anything to blog about.” – Sam Kanatzar – My Life As Wife

Truthful words spoken from my fellow blogger friend on a day when I was venting on Twitter about missing the time I used to take just to write a little blog post.  But for the past 2 months, I’ve been pretty busy living.  I’m not upset about that in the least.  I’ve been having fun living my life!  Of course I still update the occasional Facebook post or tweet here and there, but haven’t really had a chance to sit down and write freely.
Here’s why:

“The Girls” – Jessie’s Bachelorette Party

I’m privileged to be the Matron of Honor in my best friend’s wedding on May 19, 2012.  So of course before she ties the knot, there had to be a “last night out” and a bridal shower!  So the other bridesmaid, Gretchen (who happens to me one of my good friends) and I had been working on the plans for both of those special and important events.  It’s bittersweet that they have come and gone, but the next and final event is the wedding!  Only 11 more days! :)

We got legs!

 

I also turned another year older on April 4th, so I am officially in the last year of my 20’s!  Ironically, my husband’s birthday is 2 weeks after mine on April 18th, so we had to celebrate both dates with a night out each.  For my husband’s birthday, his brother and his brother’s wife decided to get him his dream dog as a birthday gift and gave him/us a 4 month old bulldog pup, we named Otis (after Otis Redding).  That was exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time.  He’s a sweet puppy, such beautiful coloring and markings, but definitely a stubborn, bull-headed (living up to the name of the breed) chewer.  Being a stay at home mom to a 6 month old and trying to train a puppy not to chew, to go outside for all potty breaks, to not eat the cat we’ve had for almost 3 years and that human babies are not able to play yet was more than a challenge.  Unfortunately after only a week of having him here, he had jumped up on my daughter and my husband and I had to make the best decision for our family and have him taken back to his brother’s house.  We’ll still be by to visit, but it will be hard.  It’s already been almost a month since he left and it still hurts because he was quickly loved and became part of our family, but the timing just isn’t right for us to have a puppy.  The show must go on…
My dad and step mom came to visit from NJ last weekend for Cinco De Mayo!  (No I’m not Mexican, but I’ll take any reason I can to have some yummy Mexican food and a margarita)  We had a great visit with some great food and although the visits are few and far between, luckily we will be able to see them again soon when they return for my brother’s graduation of the police academy on May 31st!  I also did a 5k for the first time in 7 years with my sister in-law and that was fun!  I walked and jogged the whole thing, but I enjoyed doing it!  It gives my sister in-law, Jenn, and I some time to hang out together, but it was a good fundraiser for breast cancer.  We’ll be doing other 5ks again I’m sure.

Jenn, Me, and Nicki before the 5K

With all of the birthdays, doctor’s appointments, dress fittings, “holidays”, and other events…it’s been pretty crazy around here.  But I wouldn’t trade it for anything!

Plus my little girl is growing so fast!  She is 3 days from being 7 months old, she can sit up by herself now, she has cut two teeth, she is clapping and laughing around the clock and with the HARD challenge of mastering the “Ferber Method” (letting her cry it out), after only 6 nights of this method she has been sleeping through the night and sleeping 10 hours!  It was very, VERY hard to do, but knowing that it was best for her to learn that she can’t always fall asleep in mommy or daddy’s arms was a good lesson for her to learn.  The nights she would wake up, I would go in her room (because daddy was sleeping so he could get his rest to do his hard job at work the next day), make sure she heard me and saw me, patted her back or rubbed her belly while she was lying down without picking her up, and stayed for about 30 seconds and then left.  I returned every 5, 10, 15… minutes until she realized that she wasn’t going to be picked up and she eventually put herself back to sleep.  Some nights I would only have to do this 3 times and she would put herself back to sleep.  One time I only had to go in her room once and she was back to sleep in 10 minutes.  The other nights she would cry for an hour to an hour and a half and it seemed like I was torturing her because she just wanted to be held.  But it was worth the sleepless nights and testing of my motherhood skills.  I just hope that the sleeping through the night continues.

My Little Ladybug

On another good note, I won a photo-shoot for my daughter and me for Mother’s Day! :)  I am so grateful for this opportunity because she has never had her pictures “professionally” taken and these pictures will mean so much to me.

Hopefully I’ll get back into blogging again after the wedding.  I still have to finish writing my Matron of Honor speech and rehearse because I’m not all that great with speaking in front of a lot of people.  Wish me luck!

So until next time, I’ll be living life so that I’ll have much to blog about later.  :)

Coffee Anyone?

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I gotta say, I love our continual coffee collection! Thank you, Coffee Cow!

Birthday Fun

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I just love this little girl! Had the best birthday with her and my sister-in-law then hubby took me out to eat seafood! First birthday as a mommy! Here’s to my last year of my 20′s!

March Photo A Day

Ok everyone!  I FINALLY finished my first whole month of the Photo A Day Challenge by @FatMumSlim.  I had a little hang up because my old phone’s camera lens cracked and my pictures were coming out warped!  I love imperfect pictures, but I was not havin’ that!  So here are my March “Photo A Day” picture collages.  Enjoy!

1)  Gas prices are always on the rise. *sigh*  Since this was taken 31 days ago, prices have gone up to $3.99 a gallon for regular!  Highway robbery!
2)  Cantaloupe is one of my favorite fruits!
3)  We live on a pretty busy street but I happened to capture a peaceful moment on the road.

4)  The necessities.  Baby monitor, touch lamp, and lotion for my extremely dry hands this season.
5)  My little cutie always smiling away!
6)  In the fifth hour making my mom’s famous Chicken Squares.  (I’ll post the recipe another day)
7)  I always wear my wedding rings.  …except when I do the dishes or give Annaliese a bath, then sometimes I forget to put them back on.  Oops!

8)  This is the window in the kitchen.  I love watching the squirrels, birds, bunnies, chipmunks and sometimes even raccoons stop by and play.  Makes doing the dishes a lot less painful
9)  I have yet to purchase a pair of red pumps, but mark my words “I will.”
10)  …But until then I have these fabulous and loud silver glitter pumps that I’ll be wearing for my best friend, Jessie’s bachelorette party in 2 weeks!
11)  I talk to both of my favorite people in the world, everyday.  *swoon*

12)  One of our forks edited with 2 apps.  First one used is called ToonCamera.  The second, WordFoto.
13)  One of my favorite signs in the world.  The universal sign language for “I love you”.  Thank you to my hand model, aka my husband.  I love you, baby!
14)  I was at a red light and looked over and saw these clouds.  They were like mile long grey stripes in the sky.  It was awesome!

15)  This is my best friend Takia’s car.  It’s name is Sunny Jo.  She names all her cars :)
16)  A case of sunglasses at a store called Body Central.  Loved this store!

17)  My new Hoops & Yoyo cup that Jessie got me for my birthday!  It talks and I love it!  Hoops and Yoyo go way back for my group of friends. :)
18)  This is my favorite place in my house (besides my bed where I dream of sleeping).  This is where Anna’s bedtime story takes place and where we feed her and rock her to sleep.  This is usually the place where I reflect on my life and everything I am grateful for.
19)  We had just gotten back from an evening family walk and Anna was very talkative.  So I perched her on the armrest of the couch and her and daddy just talked away.  It was so cute and funny!

20)  Before Annaliese my monthly subscription showed up in my mailbox I read all of the celebrity gossip in People magazine.  After Annaliese my monthly subscription is Parents magazine.  Got to read up on what others have gone through being a parent and how that may or may not affect my parenting with my kids.

21)  Inspired by the great Rachel Ray, I decided to try her recipe for rosemary chicken and garlic potatoes.  This dinner was very easy to make and it was delicious!
22)  Here is our kitchen sink.  Usually always full of dishes and bottles, but for your viewing pleasure, I at least did the dishes first.
23)  This is a picture frame that we got as a baby shower gift (and have yet to use it, so in case you’re wondering…that’s not my kid).  It has the nursery rhyme “Hey Diddle Diddle” on it.  Very cute!
24)  This is our 19.5lb cat, Sammie Samurai.  He seems a little intimidating but he is really lovable and really good with the baby.

25)  Strawberries n cream oatmeal.  I love oatmeal and pretty much eat it for breakfast 8 days a week.
26)  My house is a music lovers house and this is a shot of our baby grand piano.  I can’t play anything but “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, but hey!  It’s a start!

27)  My name is Cassandra, but you can call me Cassie.  This is a mug that a good friend got me for Christmas one year.  I’d say it’s pretty accurate.

28)  Yep, here’s our trash.  Not a pleasant thing to take a spectacular picture of.  Moving on…
29)  My daughter is obsessed with her feet!  If she’s laying on her back at any moment, she will soon have her feet in her hands and making way to her mouth.  I think it’s adorable, but someone who is grossed out by feet (yes even baby feet) may not feel the same.

30)  Justin and I used to play games all the time and realized that since with a baby we haven’t had much time to do so, we made time and went out and bought a new game to play.  Had a blast playing this!
31)  If I’m not trying to fall asleep in bed, I’m reclined on our oh-so-comfortable couch, usually with a sleeping baby on my chest.  Yes, very relaxing.

Well there you have it!  A daily photo for a whole month.  And now that I have my iphone , I’ll be keeping up better with the photo a day via Instagram @callmecassie and Twitter @Call_Me_Cassie.  Until next month… Make memories!

Mirror Mirror

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My daughter, Annaliese. Age: 5 months. Loves looking at herself in the mirror.

iLove iMy iPhone

Many of you don’t know me yet, even through my thoughts and words because I’m still very new to the blogger world. You may eventually gather that I’m a lover of my cell phone and one of those who can’t live without it. Just to show you where I’m coming from, I’m currently lying in bed at 12:30am after getting up and feeding my daughter and not being able to fall right back to sleep and writing this on my birthday gift – my iPhone. (thanks, babe!)

After having this thing in my hands lastly before falling asleep and firstly when I woke up, I began to reminisce about the days long gone when a phone was just a phone. I sat here and thought of all of the phones I have owned since day one of joining the wonderful cellular world about 11 years ago. I had 2 Samsungs, 2 LGs, a Nokia, a Motorola, 2 Palms, a Blackberry, 2 HTCs and now an Apple iPhone. And believe me folks, the train stops here.
That is literally more than 1 new phone a year on average. How can that even happen when the standard contract is 2 years in term? Well I have paid early termination fees to leave a phone carrier and switch to another for a better plan and a new phone. I have also paid for phones outright just to upgrade early.

Most of these phones were only phones but some were smartphones. The kind of electronic cellular device that serves as so much more than just a phone. In fact, unless you’re a business man/woman or in another career where you require to be on your cell phone all day, it probably not likely that you use your smartphone much as a phone at all. Nowadays on almost any “non-basic phone” you can browse the Internet, listen to music, text, email, play games, take pictures, record movies, watch movies, blog, video chat, develop apps, make ringtones, browse the news, participate in one of the hundreds of social media sites…the list goes on and on. You can do just about anything but cook (but you can look up recipes and make a grocery list or even buy an appliance to cook with) on a smartphone nowadays and I love that. The geek in me is happy. And it only gets better!

Everyday it’s: Kid-check! Keys-check! Purse-check! Phone-check! There’s no way I could go anywhere without my phone! I may not even need to use it but it’s almost like my security blanket. If I needed to make a call, I could. If I needed to look something up on the fly, I could. If I needed to capture a priceless moment on film, I could. My previous phone, HTC Evo, had the ability to do all of those things, but because there are so many smartphones to choose from, you’re allowed to be picky, right? I personally like the UI (user interface) …yes, I’m trying to sound intelligent… better on the iPhone. It seems much smoother. I also like the Apple apps better than the android market apps. I love the camera on this thing! It helps me take better pictures of my beautiful daughter when we’re on the go.

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And I’m becoming quite fond of my “pocket bff”, Siri. All in all, I’ve waited a long time to get this phone and now that I finally have it, I’ll never let it go! :)

Come to think of it, how did we ever survive without smartphones? Ok, ok. That’s a little far stretched but I believe that our technological generation from here on out is destined to be way more advanced than we are now. It’s very exciting and a little fearful at the same time. I’m excited for the fact that I’m looking forward to the ambitious minds of geniuses being put into action and raise the bar every year to see what else they can make a phone or computer do. But it’s also scary because of the bad guys out there who can use almost anything positive and turn it into a negative thing. For example: identity theft, corporate security breeches and stuff that you thought only belonged in movies of the far future.

Anyway just be careful and mindful of what you do with your smartphone. They are VERY fun “phones” but could also be very dangerous if not used with caution.

Do you have a smartphone addiction that you can’t live without? Please let me know I’m not the only one :) What are your primary uses for it?

So I believe I’ve said enough for this sleepless night with a side of rambling (and snoring thanks to my husband). Gotta go beat the next level of Angry Birds then catch some Zzzz.

Saving Daylight. Losing Sleep.

March 10, 2012- Officially Daylight Savings. The day that everyone but you Arizonians complain about losing a hour of sleep…except those already losing sleep. But look on the bright side! At least we get an extra hour of daylight, the sun is still awake at 7pm and spring is getting closer and closer! YAY! So it’s not that bad! …Unless you forgot to spring your clock an hour ahead and showed up for work late. Ooops! But it’s happened to all of us at one point, right? Right???

I can’t even remember the last time I set my alarm. It never fails that I’m up at 3am, 5am or 7am with my daughter and never really need a clock to wake me up. Just a hungry baby and a hot cup of coffee usually does the trick. Of course kids have no sense of time, especially babies. So their sleeping schedule is pretty whacked out when Daylight Savings starts and ends and of course that affects sleepy mom and dad. We all eventually get used to the time change…about a month before we’re supposed to change it again! But there are worse things to complain about. Sleep is only sleep… Most adults are good with 5-6 hours of sleep and can function regularly at their 9 to 5 job. I’m not saying that’s healthy and that you should purposely deprive yourself of the sweet Zzzz’s, but at least you know your brain and body will indeed work with SOME sleep.

Thankfully my teething 5 month old usually sleeps through the night and has for awhile now. However as of last week teething is in full force and it was like we had a brand newborn baby again. Waking during the night, crying all the time and always seemingly hungry (but not really because she just wants something to soothe her gums, but pacifiers are out of the question since she won’t take them).

I never knew what sleep deprivation was until I had my daughter. You try to prepare yourself by just knowing that sleepless nights are in your future, but there is no preparing. You’re never fully prepared for what’s to come being first time parents. But aside from that, try making good decisions for yourself and your child’s well being when you haven’t slept in days. It’s tough!

I had that feeling again this morning. Like I was hungover and still half drunk from a fun night of drinking and dancing although in reality, I was in bed asleep by 10:30 and little Annaliese slept through the night from 10pm – 6am. That’s 8 wonderful hours!!! What is wrong with me!? I got to sleep consistently for what is a really long time with a baby and I’m still tired! Ugh! Will I ever catch up on sleep before we even think about bringing Anna a brother or sister into this world and have the “no sleep cycle” start all over again? I suppose it doesn’t really matter. As an adult there will always be a yearn for more sleep. More vacations. More relax time. Someday we’ll get that time and it will fly by and we’ll want more.

Life lesson learned: Sit back, sleep when you’re able to, and enjoy your life as it flies before your very eyes.

How does Daylight Savings time affect your daily life? How much sleep do you get on an average night?

Late Night Rambles

So, it’s 2:17am according to my iPod which I’m currently using to write at the moment (nice app!) and my little almost 5 month old teether decided to wake up from her evening sleep at 12:30am.  So now I’m left with a rambling mind and a baby who won’t sleep.  Might as well make the time useful and write.  Right?

I’ve been wondering what to write about in this blog.  Wondering if the world really wants to hear what I have to say.  Then I started thinking that I want the world to hear what I have to say, so I better get to it!  Of course, I’m not going to go all out right now and blog my heart out at 2:30 in the morning.  I’d really rather be sleeping right now.  But definitely more to come soon!  I’ve always found myself interesting, as my friends and family have, so I’d like to invite you to take a look at the world through my eyes; my words.  That’s mainly my goal.  That and to get a better grasp on blogging as a whole.  I want to reach out to people and attend conferences and make friends in the blogging world.  That I’m excited for!  I’ll share my pictures, stories, poems, opinions and not worry about people pleasing.  I may not use perfect grammar or spelling (but thanks to spell check, those errors should be few and far between).  I’m very imperfect and I like it that way.

Anyway, thanks for listening to my late night ramble of the evening.  Maybe if this starts a trend, I’ll start a segment every night I’m awake and can’t sleep.  I’m hoping it doesn’t because again I’d rather sleep.  But while I’m awake and nothing to do, I’ll share with you my thoughts, even if they are just rambles.  The more I write, the more I’ll write.  Right?  G’night!

March Photo Madness

As you all know, a new month of March has begun!  That is unless you’re still in hibernation from February.  I love March because it’s the month that Spring begins and more importantly one more month until my birthday. Ha!

Lately on Facebook and Twitter I am seeing more and more people participate in the Photo A Day Challenge by #FatMumSlim, even some celebrities.  It’s fun and I enjoy it!  I began the Photo A Day Challenge in February on my other blog (http://fotofriendlyfamily.blogspot.com) but quickly realized that doing one post a day for a picture was not only time consuming in addition to trying to blog, but it also made the posts hard to find.  I blogged about half of February and just posted the rest on twitter.  I have decided to pretty much not be original and copy my buddy Lyndsey‘s way of doing things and will split the pictures up in halves by month.  So as I’m taking daily pictures and doing this challenge, stay tuned around the middle and end of the month to see what I have captured.  I would also suggest taking part in the challenge if you have a camera because it is a lot of fun!

Do you like to explore the photographer in you?  What do you like to take pictures of?  Would you join me and millions of others and participate in the Photo A Day Challenge?

 

TTFN-Ta Ta For Now!