Embrace the Camera: 11/22/2012

This week I am embracing the camera with my little comic. She is such a joy to have, even though she has only slept about four hours in the last few days. I keep telling myself I will miss the all-nighters. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be thankful for so I hope you all embrace your crazy families like I am going to and realize they are the reason YOU are so awesome. Thank you everyone in my life for the continuous support, love and memories. Here is to another crazy Thanksgiving which I am sure will create more memories. Hopefully none of these will be behind bars.

Like, never...

At least shes not in the fetal position on her bed clutching a letter jacket that smells like cheap cologne. Oh yes, I am looking forward to those teen years!

Comment Me...

I need topics..I can pretty much write about anything so I challenge you to comment me with a topic you would like me to cover. I may be serious, sarcastic or downright judgmental.

Let the fun begin.

InstaFriday

So just when my husband thought my obsession with technology and social networking could NOT get any worse....I went ahead and joined Instagram.

If you would like to follow me on instagram, I am sure I will fill your feed with useless pictures of mostly....my children. Here it is just in case: @mcgannster207

So here are some pics from my first week on iNstAgRAm:

The new "Queen" of the chair.

Kayleigh and Piper playing with my little ponies. A new obsession for Kayleigh. Thanks Nici....

I'm not ready for this one to grow up

Sleeping at Aunt Debbies...at least one of us got some rest.

Kayleigh made a Santa Clause ornament after storytime!

I don't dress her anymore...PLEASE take not of that

Ready to walk?

My goofy buckethead!

Watching Mickey Mouse together...PLEASE TAKE NOTE I NO LONGER DRESS MY TWO YEAR OLD! She picks out her own clothes now. Fun times!

 And of course a pic of my little 9 month old:

You can stop growing up now.

To be thankful

Someone is always going to have a bigger house or nicer car than you and you will never win the race if you are constantly comparing yourself materialistically to others.

So here are some "things" that are not things at all that I am very thankful for:

1. I am thankful for my wonderful husband.

2. I have two beautiful healthy girls. I know I wanted all boys but I couldn't imagine my life without disney princesses, dressing up, coloring, barbies, dollhouses, dresses, jewelry, makeup.

3. I am thankful for my mom. I know we had a rough time while I was a teenager and young adult but now our relationship has blossomed. I love how involved she is with my babies and she is an inspiration to everyone wanting to better themselves. She goes to a gym 5+ days a week and looks like she is about 40. Also, she doesn't smoke anymore after indulging in the habit for 40+ years. You can do it too!

4. I am thankful for great in-laws. I am sorry but I won the lotto with this one. My MIL is more of a big sister than a typical MIL. My FIL is so caring and protective over my girls and it is great to see a tough harley man dance to any princess song that Kayleigh wants to dance to. WINNING!

5. I am thankful for family. I grew up with no biological grandparents so I wanted kids young so they could know their grandparents. Move over grandparents, my kids have GREAT GRANDPARENTS. How awesome is that? My kids are so lucky when it comes to family because both Dan and I have plenty. So I am SO thankful for all the aunts, uncles, godparents, cousins and grandparents that shower my kids with love and also shower Dan and I with reassurance that we are good parents because sometimes, that is all you need to hear.

6. I am thankful for all the new friends I have made and all their kids who keep mine busy.

7. I am thankful for my new passion of photography. I am nowhere near making it a career but it is a great hobby. Also, lightroom, the editing program, keeps me in the whole "tech world."

8. I am thankful for being able to stay home. Sure, we have made sacrifices but my baby is about to be three and I have not missed work at all. It goes to fast. I can always get that job back with that paycheck but I will never get these moments with my babies back.

9. Because I stay home, I have a lot of time to travel and I am thankful that I am able to experience new places with my husband and kids.

10. I am thankful that sometimes things get tough. We have had our share of roadblocks BELIEVE ME. I mean roadblock isn't even the word it's more like a bridge collapsing with us on it. We survived and we will be fine. The trials of life make us stronger and I love my little family more now because I know we can get through anything. Also, when things get tough it makes you think that saying about "When God closes a door he always opens a window" is very incorrect. It should go something like this: "When God closes a door, he opens the curtains and you see how f'ed up it is inside and you are glad you got out of that place." Thanks God for having our backs.

Kaitlyn & Kenny

So a few of my cousins were gracious enough to let me experiment with taking photos and editing said photos of them this past weekend. I LOVE taking pictures but I can never judge editing time since I rarely edit my own photos. This gave me the perfect opportunity.

Below are some of my favorite pictures I snapped of my cousin and her boyfriend a few days ago. They are just madly in love with one another and I LOVE that my little lens captured some sweet moments between the two of them. It really was a pleasure taking pictures of this photogenic couple. Editing was a snap since, well look at them! They are just perfect.

There is nothing cuter....

Than this...

<3

Follow me....everything is alright

I won't be the one to tuck you in at night but I could be the one that fills a moment of your time every so often. So won't you give me a confidence boost and follow my blog? I know there are more people reading than following because of my stats, so why not follow?

I mean I am sure if you are a close friend or a family member you have noticed that I am posting pictures of the kids not on facebook. Mom, don't you think you should be following me? 

Also, while you are at it, why not share my blog? It's pretty interesting sometimes and aren't my kids just adorable? I hope you become a follower. After you become a follower I hope you remember what your kindergarten teacher told you and share my blog with others. I have a lot of interesting things to say but I need followers to give me the motivation to write!

If you know me, you know I never stop talking. If you don't know me, I'm Megan and this is my life. My crazy, unorganized, child centered life. I love it and I hope to make you smile and laugh and sometimes not want to read my blog because sometimes I can be disturbing, mean and sarcastic.

Follow...

Dance Party!

Enjoy your weekend everyone and don't forget to let loose and boogie on down.

“Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.”

 

 

Embrace the Camera: 11/8/2012

I wrote this post Tuesday so I don't know the outcome of the election. I did my part. I voted.

This election hit home for me this year. There were a lot of important choices to be made. From healthcare, to equal pay, to education, to educational woes like loans...just to name a few. Having kiddos changes your views...on pretty much everything. So I'm not giving away who I voted for.

However....

I feel I voted for the person who could relate to being in over your head with student loans. 

I feel I voted for the person who would want my girls to make just as much money as someone elses sons are for doing the same job. Let's face it, Kayleigh is a pretty smart cookie and deserves just as much money in her paycheck and also in her pension. Yeah that was a joke, she probably will never know what a pension is. 

I feel I voted for someone who could relate to a hard working family just trying to "live the dream" and hoping that their need for medical care doesn't cause them to move into their parents basement. That almost happened to us when Dan lost his medical clearance and couldn't control. This is how it went:

If you were like me and had an awesome job with amazing healthcare, then you probably have no reason to think this is even a problem. Right? Wrong. When I was pregnant with my first child, my husband moved to Cleveland to be an Air Traffic Controller. I stayed back in Buffalo because I was seven months pregnant and didn't want to change doctors, insurance and I liked getting paid. My insurance was pretty awesome so my husband picked some rinky dink plan from his job since we had awesome Synacor insurance. It was basically a high deductible plan but who cared because everything was covered by my job. Then I quit my job to move to Cleveland with my husband and we lost the awesome insurance but that was ok because neither of us really ever got sick and the doctors office was great about slashing our bill from $300 a visit to $80 for Kayleighs well visits. She went practically every month at first so yeah, it sucked, but when January rolled around we would just get better insurance. Good Plan. The God laughed.

July. The month my husband was pulled off the floor in training to be an ATC because of an "eye problem." You can't control without corrected 20/20 and right now my husband didn't have it. To get his job back he needed that problem fixed, and fast. Lets start at the optometrist, or rather the several that he went to see who ran every test they could think of and x-rayed Dan multiple times. They referred him to a neurosurgeon in fear of a brain tumor behind his optic nerve. Multiple tests and x-rays led to No tumor. Next diagnosis: Multiple Sclerosis. WHAT? That led to several more specialists in the Cleveland Clinic along with MRI's, and a lumbar puncture also known as a spinal tap. NO MS. NO conclusion. I'm sure you are reading this and I am sure you are thinking THANK GOD. Dan is the healthiest man around there is nothing wrong just a crappy eye. We were so happy he didn't have all those horrible things the doctors were telling us he had.

Then they came. The bills. Mountains of bills one after another. All of which were either not covered by insurance or we didn't reach the deductible yet so we had to pay out of pocket. I swear the deductible was higher than the cost of an average house. The bills came to around fifteen thousand dollars. My husband is the healthiest man, but we are now going to die of starvation or exposure from living in a box. I called and no worries, they have a payment plan. It was about nine hundred dollars a month. That's reasonable right? After weeks of worrying and trying to figure out what the **** we were going to do, I learned about the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. We were eligible because Dan wasn't making a ton of money since he was still training. So we got lucky and our bills were covered. EVERYTHING was covered. Some people aren't that lucky and I also don't know if we will ever be in that position again seeing as insurance companies are slashing benefits daily. So this is pretty high on the list. Healthcare HAS to be reformed. I feel I voted for someone who knows this and hopes to remedy some of these issues plaguing Americans. After all, both the incumbent and nominee have the same exact healthcare plan right? Why is this even an argument?

I feel I made the right decision and hope I can look back twenty years from now and think, my kids have that opportunity because I helped make sure it happened. 

I am so proud of these girls already. Although, Riley could let me get a little more sleep. I wouldn't look like a tired zombie with a few more hours. Oh well.

OK, it wasn't THAT bad...

So I am sure you read my first post about potty training..oh you didn't? Check it out here. Too bad I went to the doctor last week to get my thyroid levels checked and since he thought knew that I was pregnant, demanded a pregnancy test. Well folks, hold on to your seats because I am NOT pregnant. Nope, so all that drama was just me. Damn.

So looking back, yes potty training was hard but my calculations seem to suggest Kayleigh was potty trained within the first week. She only had maybe three accidents from that first week until now. She also has only peed in her pull up at night once since the beginning. So if my previous blog post scared you I am sorry. It was stressful and hard but it is over and my baby is one step closer to being a young lady.

Hang in there friends. It gets easier. Then you move onto the next challenge.

Exercise your right

to vote. My two year old voted yesterday at the library. They are having an election between Clifford and Curious George and she chose Clifford. Whoever wins gets a display at the library. Come on, if a two year old can do it, so can you.

VOTE.

I know, you are so tired of hearing everyone talking about the upcoming election. Those relentless ads put you to sleep sometimes. VOTE. They will go away if you VOTE.

Nobody can see who you voted for. It is confidential, so don't worry. Just VOTE.

{Embrace the camera} 11/1/2012

Today I am embracing something that I will never personally understand or be able to enjoy but I can watch and live vicariously through these two. I embracing the bond of SISTERS.

I love watching these two play together. They play "chase" a lot where Riley chases Kayleigh around and they giggle. This can go on for an hour sometimes. They also wrestle...or Kayleigh is trying to pick up Riley who I am pretty sure weighs more than her. Recently, they have started playing "hide the ball" game. Riley loves playing with Kayleigh and is fascinated by anything she does.

Don't get me wrong. There are still plenty of not so nice sisterly moments, but I would like to focus on the ones that melt my heart. I never had a sister but if I had one, I would want the relationship these two have. I hope they are great buddies for years to come and have some time in their busy chase schedule for a snuggle or two with mom and dad.