7 Years!

September 29, 2001, Webster Groves Presbyterian Church at 5pm, that is when I became Mrs. Cory Montgomery.....Wow I can't believe that it has already been 7 years since that day. Cory and I first met the summer after our senior year in high school, summer of 95, we were introduced by our friends Lara & Jim. Things didn't really go anywhere with Lara & Jim but as you all know it worked out for Cory and I. Like most people Cory and I started off as friends and dated on and off through the first two years of college, it wasn't until I came home to attend school that Cory and I became serious, SO I guess you can say that we have been together since 1997. When you have been with someone for over 11 years there isn't much you don't know about each other if anything. I am so lucky to have him not only as my husband but my best friend as well. I decided to play the song that you are listening to right now because it really describes exactly how I feel about Cory and our marriage. The second song that you will hear if you listen long enough is the song that we danced to at our reception aka our wedding song!
We celebrated on Saturday night by going out to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was so nice to be able to concentrate on only each other and have a real dinner conversation. We had fun remembering fun moments we have had together over the past 7years and just enjoyed each others company and laughing together. After dinner we thought about going to a movie but there really isn't anything of interest out right now so we just took our time and walked around the mall. We were both so full from dinner that we thought we would probably feel better if we tried to walk some of it off if nothing else just moved so the food would not feel so heavy in our stomachs. It was nice to be able to walk through the mall holding hands, it felt just like it did 11 years ago when our journey together first started.
Thank you honey for all the wonderful memories we have made I can't wait to make many many more with you and our girls as we journey through our lives together as husband and wife.

I am Appreciated

After a long and tiring week Cory came home from work today with a nice surprise for me. He brought me beautiful flowers some wildflowers and some pink roses, now for those of you who don't know Cory does not give flowers very often if ever. Well I take that back when we were dating and he was trying to win me over/impress me I got flowers almost every time that we saw each other. Now however is a completely different story, his reasoning is why spend money on flowers when they are just going to die in a few weeks anyway. Anyway this was his way of showing me that he does appreciate me and love me very much and he knows that when he is gone on a business trip all week it is definitely hard on mommy!!

Whew!

That is the only word that comes to mind right now as I am completely exhausted. This week has been one of those weeks that you think will never end, on Monday it felt like it should be at least Wednesday and then Tuesday felt like it should be Thursday and so on. I imagine that this week has been long because Cory has been out of town since Monday in Colorado. The week started off as your average week until Tuesday afternoon when Paige came down with a fever. I left for work right as she was waking up from her nap and she looked a little out of sorts but I just chalked it up to me leaving so she was upset and the fact that she had just woken up from her nap. When I got home from work a little after 6pm I picked her up to give her a kiss and hug and realized that she felt really warm so we went upstairs and started to get ready for bed and I took her temperature, turned out it was 102. So I gave her Tylenol at 6:30pm then again at 10:30pm before I went to bed and then when Claire woke up having to go potty at 2:30am I went in and gave Paige one more dose of Tylenol to keep her as comfortable as I could throughout the night. Wednesday morning she woke up with the fever and by 1 in the afternoon it was up 102.6. I gave her some more Tylenol and she took a well needed 3 hour nap. From the time she woke up until bedtime she was really fussy and just wanted to be held. During all this I kept thinking to myself what does she have she hasn't gotten sick, her appetite was pretty much normal all she had was this horrible fever. ANYWAY to make a long story short I finally got smart and gave her Motrin before bed because that lasts 8 hours unlike Tylenol well everything was okay until the Motrin wore off around 2am. I was up with her at 11:30pm, 4am, 5am and 6am my poor baby, by 5am she finally felt cool so I am sure the fever had finally broke but she was just so upset she definitely didn't feel right. SO the reason for my WHEW is that Cory will be home in a few hours and if someone needs to get up with Paige tonight it will be all daddy, however, I think that tonight everything will be back to normal as she has been fever free (with the help of Motrin) all day unlike yesterday where with even the Tylenol that darn fever wouldn't break. SO daddy is going to get home just in time for everything/everyone to be back to normal..........

Weekend of Singing & Drinking

This past weekend our neighbors had their annual Karaoke Party. They usually do it the early part of summer but this year they ended up doing it in September and we actually celebrated Kathaleen's 40th birthday at the same time. It was a lot of fun as usual and some of us even got into the spirit and did as the invitation said and wore a Toga. I will have to admit that once we got to the party and I saw the only other people in a Toga were the host and hostess my Toga quickly came off, Cory on the other hand was a good sport and kept his on for most of the evening. Here are some pictures and videos for you all to enjoy from the fun evening. Just a little F.Y.I. once you get to the videos you probably will want to pause the music I have playing on my playlist so you can hear everyone singing. Also, be sure to click on the buttons that say "click me" or if they say "click here to zoom". Hope you all have fun looking at the pics!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Oprah

I have always been an Oprah fan and have always wanted to go to Chicago and see one of her shows, however, not this season. I don't know how many of you are Oprah followers I didn't use to be until we got TIVO and now I have it in as a season pass so it records everyday and then I can watch the first few minutes to see if it is about something of interest to me. The new season started last week and I have not been impressed with her topic areas at all. The show on Monday was about child molesters and freaks who tape children being molested or raped and then sell it on the Internet for other freaks to watch. Oprah started off her show by saying what you are about to see if very disturbing but please don't turn away or change the channel. Okay well I am sorry there is no mother in her right mind that could possible sit there and watch that episode without a horrible sick feeling in her stomach not to metion complete terror for her own child/children. I am sorry Oprah but I could not stomach that one and hit stop and delete as fast as my fingers could go...Now don't get me wrong I know that she is just trying to make us all aware of what could happen to our children and how we need to be on alert at all times but that is just not a topic that I could handle.
Then late last week she had a show on about "Why Husbands Cheat", now I wanted to actually watch that episode, what wife won't but for some reason my TIVO deleted it before I got a chance to watch it. However, yesterday she did a follow up show on that topic due to the fact that she received such a high amount of phone calls and emails about the subject. I watched that one with Cory sitting right next to me reading his book and could feel myself getting more and more angry as the episode went on. Oprah had a man on the show (can't remember his name now) that has written a book on this topic and what kind of warning signs to watch for in your own husband. Basically what it came down to was not that men cheat on their wives because they are not sexually fulfilled but because (GET THIS) the wife doesn't stroke their ego enough/build up their self esteem enough so they go to another women who will. Now my poor husband who is sitting right here with me is hearing me as I yell at the t.v. saying you have got to be kidding me with this. Do men have no idea how long and tiring our days are? Do they not understand that we not only take care of ourselves but the CHILDREN all day along as well as picking up the house, running errands and getting dinner ready and that we have absolutely NO time to ourselves. When they get home from work do they not stop to think wow my wife is probably just as tired if not MORE tired than I am from her BUSY day with the kids! No according to this moran on Oprah he was saying that they are exhausted from working all day and when they get home from work they want us to take care of them and tell them how much we appreciate them and everything they do for our family. Now again don't get me wrong, I agree that we do have to show our husbands that we appreciate them and love them but do they not have to do the same for us??? Again according to this MORAN on Oprah he said that our husbands will show us appreciation and how much they are thankful for us once WE show them FIRST!!
I am sorry I will get off my soap box now but I was so fired up after watching that last night that I couldn't fall asleep. Any man who cheats on his wife and apparently it is between 93-95% of men who cheat because he doesn't get enough attention needs to get a life. How old are you, you are not mommy's little boy anymore grow up and be a man.

Bring on Fall..........

I am so ready for Fall to arrive after all it is my favorite time of year! I love the cooler weather and being able to break out the fall wardrobe, along with all the beautiful colors that the leaves change to and just the plain smell of it. I think another reason that Fall is my favorite season (with Spring a very close second)is the holidays are just around the corner and I love the holidays because it is time you get to spend with your family. Of course the first holiday being..... Halloween and this year is going to be SO much fun! Claire is old enough now to get excited about all the decorations and Trick or Treating! Up until this year the only holiday that we really decorated the house for was Christmas but not this year, bring on the Halloween decorations. I have been spending a lot of time at Target (one of my weaknesses, who doesn't LOVE Target), Walmart and K-Mart to find just the right decorations. Not only do I want to decorate the inside of the house but the outside as well. Cory is less than pleased with all the decorations and doesn't think that we need any of them (of course, typical male), however, when he sees Claire's face light up as she shows him what we bought that day I think deep down he knows how fun it all is. Like I told him I just have to buy it once and then we can use it for all the years to come. His response, "Just more crap to store in the basement", love you too honey!!
Anyway, for outside I have my pretty Fall wreath that I have had for probably 4 years now, it is actually starting to fall apart I got it from Pier One a few years back maybe I should look for a new one, ah I can wait one more year don't want to give the hubby a stroke! We have our fun Halloween flag and then this year I have a big pumpkin that is already carved and will light up to off set our smaller pumpkins that can go on either side until they are carved up to join in on the actually night of trick or treating. I bought two cute stakes that say Happy Halloween and Trick or Treat with pumpkins, black cats and ghosts on them to stick in our flower beds and then lastly I got orange lights for our bushes. We do white for Christmas and Cory absolutely LOVES putting them out (Ha, NOT) so I am sure he will be just as excited for the orange ones.
As you can probably tell I am so excited for the holidays to begin, having kids just make it fun all over again. Not only do I get to be excited with them or for them but seeing the excitement on their faces as they experience life and everything it has to offer is priceless.

While the kids are away the parents will play!!

On Saturday Cory and I went out to dinner with some of our neighbors, we decided on B. Donovan's as none of us had been there before and it has a nice covered patio where we could eat outside. It was so nice to be able to sit and have adult conversation without having to sensor ourselves or spell things so the kids won't know what we are talking about. We got to B. Donovan's a little before 6pm and didn't leave until almost 9pm. It was nice to be able to have an appetizer and a pitcher of beer (okay maybe 2), unlike usual where we get soda and our main dish so we can get in and out as quick as possible. It was a good thing that we didn't have any kids with us last night, our appetizer took at least 30 minutes to come out (chicken nachos too I mean come on how hard is that to prepare) and then our dinner took probably another 30, but since we didn't have the kids and had no place to go it all worked out fine. At least for those of us who weren't in need of food because we weren't starting to feel the affect of the alcohol (Carol)...And for those of us who weren't so thirsty (the waiter took forever to get our waters) that we had to keep sucking down our Vodka Collins even though our head was spinning (Kelli).......
Ahhhh good times, good times I love our neighbors. Thanks for such a fun evening guys can't wait to do it again in October.

Carol, Julie & Kelli

Mike & Carol- Look at those faces, they knew what the other was going to do without speaking a word. Marriage isn't it great!

Cory & Mike

All of us getting ready to return to the kids!

Never a dull moment

Well I was going to blog about yesterday and how it all went but after what just happened in our household about 45 minutes ago is just too good not to share! First, for those of you that I haven't talked to yesterday went GREAT! Claire had an awesome first day at school, her favorite parts were music where the teachers had bubbles and the kids got to pop them with their feet and then going outside where she played on the twisty slide. We got home the girls both took naps but were up before I left for work so the transition to our sitter went very smoothly (well Paige cried but only for a few minutes and that is to be expected) and my first night at SNAP (Special Non-Public Access Program, sorry Becke forgot not everyone is familiar with Special School District terms)went well too. I have 6th, 7th and 8th graders this year which is great, last year I had 2nd-5th no thank you still too immature for me especially since I am use to high school so middle schoolers (is that a word)are a good middle ground.



NOW about today, the girls and I were having a great day playing around the house, dressing up in their Halloween costumes (to make sure they still fit) and playing outside. We all had a nice lunch together and today was turning out to be a beautiful day as how could it not be with weather like this, 70's in the beginning of September just makes me feel good and getting me ready for the holidays to begin. Anyways, let's get back on topic here, before we went outside I asked Claire is she needed to go to the bathroom and she said that she was fine and if she needed to go she would just come inside and use the potty. I said fine seeing as how we are just going to be playing outside in the driveway. Well I saw her grabbing herself a couple of times and both times I told her to go ahead and go inside and go potty she kept insisting that she was fine. Finally, after the third grab I insisted that she head inside she she agreed and told me and Paige that she would be right back. She was gone for just about the right amount of time when I heard her coming back outside and crying. I quickly jumped up and ran to meet her at the door and asked her what was wrong (assuming that she had hit her head or fallen etc.) she just looked down and I noticed that she had an accident and didn't quite make it to the bathroom. Claire has been potty trained for over a year now and I do not do well with accidents especially when I told her several time to go the the bathroom. I grab Paige and Claire to get upstairs and change which she does, sobbing the whole way because she knows how disappointed I am in her and I think she is also disappointed in herself. I grabbed some tissues to wipe all the tears and snot and proceed to help her change etc. She is still crying through all of this so I asked Paige to go get me some more tissues, so Paige looks at me and says "tissue" (she is too cute when she says it to) and off she goes to the bathroom and is back in no time handing me the tissues and saying "here". I thank Paige and am trying to calm Claire down and talk with her about what happened when all the sudden I see Paige walk out of the bathroom.................








I guess I should just be happy that she didn't unroll the whole roll of toliet paper after all she was just trying to help, right??

A Week of Firsts

Well we are going to have a busy household this week as we are starting a new school year for both Claire and myself. Tomorrow will be Claire's first official day at school, my first day back with my SNAP kids and our first time with our new sitter Leah (without me being home).....I am a little nervous how the girls are going to do with Leah, when she came over a few weeks ago to meet everyone and hear the routine the girls really liked her, but Claire will have had school all day (Tues is her long day 9-1pm) and will probably take a nap, so when she wakes up I will be gone. Also, I have noticed that Paige really watches to see how Claire handles situations and if she is calm and happy then so is Paige, however, if Claire is upset and crying about something then Paige usually starts in too. I have been talking to Claire today about starting school tomorrow and she is SO excited, she has already told me what she wants to bring for lunch, twice!! I plan on talking to her about Leah coming and me probably being gone when she wakes up from her nap at least 2-3 more times before tomorrow afternoon, she usually does really well in situations that she is prepared for, she isn't much for surprises...I will let you all know how tomorrow unfolds, wish me luck!

Wait a minute I don't have a newborn anymore.

Man last night was a tough night for us at the Montgomery household. It was like we had a newborn baby all over again as Claire, yes Claire not Paige had me/us up 3 times last night. I am completely exhausted today as my body is no longer use to getting up every 2-3 hours to feed/comfort a crying baby. Let me just walk you through my night.
2:15am- Claire is calling for me saying she has to go potty. I get up take her to the bathroom where she decides that she is awake and is wanting to have a conversation with me, hello child do you not realize that it is 2am??
2:18am- back in bed now WIDE awake tossing and turning trying to get back to sleep. I don't know why this happens to me but once I am up for any reason during the night it is really hard for me to go back to sleep, I think it is a combination of my minding starting to think about what all happen that day and how my day will go tomorrow. And I KNOW it is because my husband is lying next to be snoring away like a chainsaw completely unaware that I have just been up with one of the kids and that I can't sleep now because of his obnoxious snoring.
3:45am- I am just about to fall back to sleep and as I am drifting off I hear Claire crying in her room. I think that maybe I am just hearing things and listen one more time before I hit Cory and wake his snoring a$$ up to go and have a turn. So I listen and yes, it is crying that I hear so I give Cory a shove and tell him that I have already been up with Claire once about an hour and a half ago and I was just about to finally fall asleep so it is his turn. At first he just lays there thinking that I don't know what I am talking about and I know by now he is waiting for confirmation that someone is for sure crying. Frustrated I tell him that I am right and that Claire is crying and for him to get out of bed!! By this point I am wide awake again and hear everything that is going on in Claire's room. I tell myself to just block it out and to try to fall asleep before Cory gets back into bed and is snoring again.
4:18am- I am still awake and YES, the snoring is back into play!! Finally I fall to sleep not sure of what time it was but I think around 4:40ish....
7:20am- I hear someone talking away in her room having a conversation with who knows who and quickly hit Cory as by this time I have absolutely had it with being woken up now 3 times and him not hearing any of the times (probably because he can't hear over his own snoring).... I don't care that Claire is awake persay (sp?) I am just afraid that she is going to wake up Paige with her babbling.

Someone please tell me why moms are the only ones that hear anything that goes on in the house in the middle of the night? Why do the guys get to just lay there sleeping/dreaming/snoring away while we are on duty once again. Do they not understand that we are on duty all day long and are just as tired if not more tired than them? Cory tells me all the time that he is sorry and that he can't help it he just goes to sleep and it isn't his fault that I can't just go to sleep. Thanks honey, thanks a lot I think the reason that I can't sleep is because I know that he won't hear anything so I have to and he can sleep because he knows that I am still on duty! Okay I am now done venting, thank you all for letting me and listening.

Good Friends

Labor Day weekend was a lot of fun for me considering my best friend Nicole came in town from Mississippi with her two little ones. Nicole and I have been friends since our Junior Year (correct me if I am wrong on this Nicole) in high school. She is one of those friends that you know will be there for you no matter what and you always have a blast with even if it is just sitting around having breakfast. It totally sticks that she lives so far away and that we don't get to see each other more often, but whenever she is in town we try our hardest to make the best of it. We got together on Saturday night with some of our other friends and their kiddos and tried to catch up with everyone, but as you moms out there know it is hard to have a real conversation when there are children in the mix. SO we decided to go to breakfast just the two of us on Sunday. I left the girls with Cory and she left her two with her mom and we met at IHOP for some true catching up and then we even went shopping! Now as most of you already know I have been dieting for a little over a year now and am still watching what I eat trying to get off a few more pounds. Since I try to stay away from the greasy/fattening foods when I do eat them my stomach isn't use to it anymore and it doesn't really care for it. You all probably can get an idea of where I am going with this. As Nicole and I were shopping all the sudden my stomach just starts rumbling and I immediately look to see where the closest bathroom is, lucky for me it is just down the aisle. I kept on talking to Nicole and helping her look for some cute pants for her little one and then all the sudden there was no more holding off, so I looked at Nicole and said I will be back I have to go to the bathroom. I think at first she probably didn't think anything of it but after I was gone for awhile I am sure she figured it out. When I got back to her I said "sorry, my stomach is upset" and all she did was laugh and say "what is going on". I thought I would be good to go but within another 10 minutes or so I felt the rumbling coming on and set off to the bathroom once again. Nicole didn't even ask I just said " I'll be back" and left. Now you know when you can be that open with someone about a topic such as this that you have a true friendship! After all the things that Nicole and I have seen each other do and through this was nothing. Thanks for just laughing along with me Nicole and for going with the flow. Here are some pics of the kids from Saturday night!
Luke & Claire- he is only 10 months older than her but look at the height difference!

Cory making Kate laugh, she is a few days shy of 9 months.

Paige riding on the Octopus.

Kate again!