A Memory

Yesterday I met my girlfriend, Jennifer, and her 14-year-old daughter for lunch. We had a great time talking about the "olden days." Jennifer and I have been friends since 3rd grade and we have a ton of great memories...one, in particular, bonded us for life.

In 1995, Jennifer, another high school friend of ours, and myself lived in an apartment here in Helena. We all had jobs and were responsible, but we also really had a good time going out (yes, we spent lots of time drinking and living it up!) One evening in October we were hanging out watching TV when Jennifer very abruptly left the room....right in the middle of a conversation. I'm not sure why, but I seemed to be noticing every little detail from that moment on. The rest of the evening she kept disappearing into her room and changing her clothes. I thought it was wierd, but I didn't ask her why. The next morning I got up at my usual time to get ready for work. When I walked out of my room I noticed all of the lights were on in our apartment and, again, kind of felt like something was strange. Little did I know.

I walked into the livingroom and Jennifer was laying on the couch. I think I said something like "What are you doing?" She said "Christy, I don't know how to tell you this, but I'm pregnant and in labor. Would you please take me to the hospital?" I put my hand on my forehead and asked if I could get dressed and do something with my hair. She said yes, but told me to hurry. We woke up our roommate, who was as dumbfounded as I was, and we headed to the hospital. On the way, I thought to ask how far apart her contractions were and she said a few minutes. Yikes!

Once we got to the hospital, we established that Jennifer had not told a single soul about her pregnancy and had not received any prenatal care. Knowing what I know now, I am amazed nothing went wrong! Anyway, once Jennifer was settled into a room, I offered to call her parents. Luckily I have known these people most of my life....but it was still hard to tell them they were about to become grandparents....immediately. Thankfully, Jennifer's dad answered the phone. I just kind of blurted out "We're at the hospital with Jennifer and she's having a baby!" It took him a bit to say anything, but then he said they would be right there. It only took them a few minutes to arrive and we could her Jennifer's mom all the way down the hall. The poor woman was close to hysterics....not that I blamed her. After that, things seem to move very quickly. Little Miss Samantha was born shortly after 11:00 that morning...a perfectly healthy baby girl. I'll never forget that moment....it was life-changing for all of us.

I learned alot of things that day - especially, what it means to be a friend through thick and thin, the wonder of childbirth and motherhood, and how God's blessings come in many forms. At first, Jennifer considered giving Sami up for adoption, but I think it only took her a few hours to decide this was her daughter....forever. It took some time, but Jennifer shared the news with Sami's dad and they forged ahead with their relationship. Today, Jennifer and Blaine have been together for 14+ years and have given Sami a little sister and a little brother.

Whenever it seems that I just don't understand God's will, I think of Jennifer and Sami....and I know He has an amazing plan for all of us....we just have to believe.

Crazy Week

I just realized that I have not posted ANYTHING for almost an entire week! I have several excuses...er...reasons, that is. First, I have been a little bit addicted to Farmville on Facebook lately. I spent over an hour on Monday night....when I should have been working on a Not Me! Monday! post.....completely redoing my farm. I normally don't bother with anything even remotely videogame-ish, but Farmville has me hooked. I hope it passes.

My second reason for not posting much this week is that I have been trying to spend more time exercising....which makes me wonder how many calories I spend while standing in front of my computer. Anywho, I recently bought Valerie Bertinelli's workout video - it's great! I must've been more out of shape than I realized because I have been doing this workout for 2 1/2 weeks and I'm still sore. It's getting easier, though.

Finally, I haven't had a lot of time to post because I've been putting in some extra hours at work. I love my job so I don't really mind being at work....but I'm thinking a tropical vacation sounds good right about now!

Now I'm off to put Mr. Jacksen to bed...and make lunches...and workout. Sigh.....

Clubs

I guess the big thing amongst the first graders of Jim Darcy School these days is creating clubs. Never one to miss out on a trend, Megan created her own club....The Praying and Games Club. She was telling us about the latest happenings within her club over dinner tonight. Apparently, she was a little upset with a couple club members because they weren't taking her club seriously - they were more interested in the games part of the club and not really into praying. For Megan's sake, I hope these kids get their act together (said with just a little sarcasm). It sounds like she's losing members daily.

I'll just shut my mouth now...

So, this morning I was kind of on Kellan's case to hurry up and brush his teeth. He was struggling with this little task, though, because our cat (Buffy the Mouse Slayer) was in the bathtub. I could, and probably will someday, devote an entire post to complaining about our extraordinarily annoying and obese cat. Because this cat is so....ahem...overweight, she makes a lot of noise when she jumps in and out of the tub, but she really likes hanging out there. Isn't that wierd?! ANYWHO, for some reason, Kellan was just beside himself about the cat being in the bathtub and wanted me to get her out immediately. I was trying to inhale my yogurt before I had to go wake up Mr. Crabby, otherwise known as Jacksen. (He is NOT a morning person!) I was trying to tell Kellan that it really didn't matter if the cat was in the tub and that I didn't really want to skip my breakfast to deal with the issue. He got so mad and frusterated that he finally blurted out "Shut your mouth, MOM!" I was mortified and told him he just forfeited his bedtime snack....which he is now eating because I forgot he wasn't supposed to get one. Sigh.....

Kellan's Birthday

Mr. Kellan turned 5 today! He had a fun day at daycare and his daddy took him shopping for Sketcher Illuminator shoes this afternoon! Tonight we celebrated with pizza and cake and ice cream....and more presents, of course!

Kellan's Story

When Megan was 1 1/2, we decided we were ready for our second, and what we assumed would be our last, baby. We got pregnant after only two months on Clomid, which was so easy compared to our first time around. Unfortunatly, that pregnancy ended in a miscarriage on the day of my first prenatal appointment. We were sad about that, but previous experience taught us that it was God's will and we just needed to trust in His plan. SO....just one more month on Clomid gave us Kellan! We didn't find out for certain Kellan was a boy until he was born, but all along I just felt like I was going to have a little boy. (I don't know if I mentioned this with Megan and Jacksen's stories, but we didn't find out the gender of any of our babies prior to their births.) My pregnancy was very easy and Kellan was born on the very day of my scheduled C-section. His birth was very calm....the calm before the storm. For some reason, I had a very hard time adjusting to two children. I felt guilty that all of my time couldn't be devoted to Megan anymore and nursing was really rough. Kellan preferred bottles and pretty much quit nursing on his own when he was five months old. In many ways, Kellan was our easiest baby and it didn't take long for me to realize that I didn't take anything away from Megan. Rather, I gave her a great gift in her little brother. Kellan was a dream child until he turned three. He slept when he was supposed to sleep, ate whatever we gave him, and played well with his sister. From the moment he turned three until about 3-4 months ago, we had our hands full. He decided bugging his sister and brother and making up his own rules was much more fun than anything his parents had in mind. However, right about the time we thought we couldn't take another day, he turned back into our sweet little Kellan....and not a moment too soon. Jacksen is now three and he seems to be following in his brother's footsteps...Heaven help us!

The Weekend

It was a great weekend for the McCauley kids....

Marc, Megan and Kellan went night skiing Friday evening. They met up with the Lindgrens and the Burgers and had a great time with their kids.

Megan is playing on a YMCA basketball team and Marc is coaching. She played Saturday morning - there are some pretty amazing players on her team. Unfortunately, she's about as enthusiastic about basketball as she is about soccer.....well, it's good exercise anyway!




Today was Kellan's last day of being 4....that's what he informed me when he got up this morning! We had a birthday party for him at the local bowling alley this afternoon - he was delighted!

Tomorrow we are having Grandpa and Grandma McCauley over for Kellan's birthday dinner and a little more present opening. It's hard to believe our middlest is already 5....seems like just yesterday I was having a major panic attack about adding our second kiddo to our family....more about that day tomorrow....