This Mother's Day was my first actual "Mother's Day". Last year I was almost 5 months pregnant and feeling very maternal, but this year really took the cake.
I woke up and relaxed in bed while Ed took care of Tenley and they made me breakfast. On the menu: wheat pancakes topped with bananas and whipped cream with turkey sausage, too. I died and went to breakfast heaven!!
The hubs bought me this sweet wooden frame:
(Thanks, Ed!! It fits perfectly between our room and T's nursery, too.)
I also got nice cards in the mail. My favorite card (besides T's) was sent from my Mom; which was signed by entire family:
(Thanks everyone! It totally made me smile!)
Since it was such a beautiful day, we took Tenley to the park...
and we had some fun on the splash pad!
My first official Mother's Day was so much fun... it was perfect!
How could it not be perfect when I got to stare at this cutie all day though?!
(I just love her to pieces...)
When you find out your going to become a Mom you really have no idea what you're going to experience. Even when I thought I had everything prepared - I wasn't. Some days I still don't have it together. You just never know what to expect!
I must say, being a Mother has been the best gift God has ever given me. I have always heard that, "there is nothing like a Mother-Daughter bond" and I am so beyond blessed to get to experience that bond with my little T-bird.
I only say finally because for some reason it seems as if we've been talking about when they'd get engaged and when they'd get married forever. So everyone was so excited for the day to be here!
Tenley came to the hotel with me to get ready and hung out with the girls...
She laid on the comfy bed:
Admired the gorgeous bride writing a letter to her soon-to-be hubby:
And she even got her hair done:
After she got her hair done Daddy came to pick her up so I could finish getting ready.
While we were getting ready, Kasie gave us all awesome gifts inside these great handmade keepsake boxes:
I have such great and funny memories with Kasie and this box was just so special! She's pretty much the best gift-giver.
(Thanks so much, Kase!)
After we finished getting ready we headed to Bear's Best and I must say Kasie looked absolutely stunning!! Everything about her was flawless.
Just look at this pic of her (and this is before she even had on her dress and she still looked stunning) and her gorgeous Maid of Honor, Bethany:
(Sexy Ladies!!)
Then it was time for the ceremony:
Mr. & Mrs. Unertl:
A toast to the lovely couple:
The wedding party:
Then it was time for the ceremony:
T really liked the music and had fun dancing with Aunt Tammy:
Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling good after the ceremony; which totally bummed me out. I think I was a little dehydrated and hadn't ate much throughout the day; which led to a migraine and the rest was history. I tried my best to keep it together and was able to make it to the cake cutting then had to leave.
TOTAL BUMMER!!
Even though I had to leave early, I was beyond honored to be apart of the Unertl wedding. It was perfect! Their was so much love in the room. Kasie and Jeremy have such awesome families and such amazing friends. We're so happy for them and wish them nothing but health and happiness in the future!!
Eddie and I have been talking about going to Ohio for quite some time now. We didn't want to wait too long because we wanted everyone to see Tenley while she was still a baby so we planned on going home for the 4th of July.
Unfortunately, God had other plans in store for us. Eddie's Grandpa Ditata passed away on April 29th and we were just heart broken that we didn't get that one last visit in with him before he passed. We were even more heart broken that Tenley didn't get to meet her great Grandpa Ditata that we love so dearly. This is the last picture we took with Grandpa Ditata from our last visit to Ohio for Tenley's baby shower. Although T technically didn't meet him in person she did get to meet him while she was in my belly. Grandpa Ditata prayed for her daily so I know she will definitely have another guardian angel looking down on her throughout her life. We love you Grandpa Ditata and know you are so happy with Grandma Helen now!! <3
After we heard the news, the days worth of packing immediately began and when I say days, I mean DAYS! It took me all of Sunday and Monday morning before our flight to finish packing. Our traveling hadn't even begun and we were already exhausted. Francesca picked us up for the airport and calmed my nerves and assured me that Tenley would be good, but I still felt like I wanted to throw up.
(Thanks, Fran!)
Tenley fell asleep when we got through security:
Then, was wide awake for the 4 hour plane ride and only napped for 18 minutes:
Best part about the plane ride was when we first took off the fasten seat belts sign was on because it was a little bumpy... I just finished feeding Tenley and she farted. Then, I smelled something wicked and came to realize that she was pooping her pants. So I pulled down her pants to make sure it was atleast staying in the diaper. Why would it?! It was oozing out, of course. Miss Inappropriate Timing... So Ed says, "Can't I just get out of my seat even with the fasten seat belt thing on? Don't they know I've got a ticking time bomb in here?!" I know, right!! You can't say 'bomb' on a plane and this fool says 'ticking time bomb'. Thank God we weren't 'Bridesmaid' style and got seated next to the Air Marshall. Oh Ed...
It is exhausting trying to keep a baby entertained on a plane, especially when they are only 6 months old and have a 2 minute attention span. Besides us being tired, the flight was great and she did really well. The flight attendants loved her and the people sitting around us even gave her compliments so the flight there was as Borat says a, "Great success!"
I totally though she'd be cranky by the time we got to my moms after the 4 hour flight and over an hour drive, but she was a total ham and loved meeting everyone:
The next day we had Grandpa Ditata's calling hours. Tenley came with us and was so good. Baby girl even learned to wave and waved at the first person who came in.
After calling hours, we went to my in-laws house and T played with Daddy's high school football helmet:
(GO CARDS!!!!)
Wednesday was Grandpa's funeral and since the priest knew Grandpa so well he blessed Tenley quickly in the back of the church. When he met her he said, "Gee, she sure doesn't miss a meal!" I instantly fell in love with him. Tenley fell asleep in my arms and got one more blessing by the priest when I went up for communion. Grandpa's mass was so sad and pretty at the same time. After mass we went to the cemetery and since Grandpa was in the U.S. Army he had a riffle salute before his burial. Grandpa received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star in World War II - he was a war hero. After the salute, we went to lunch with the entire family.
Tenley played peek-a-boo with Grandma and Gi-Gi at lunch:
Then we went to my Mom's to hang out with my fam for the rest of the day:
(4 Generations)
Tenley had been saying or screaming "DADA" for four days, but would stop every time I tried to film her, but I was finally able to catch her while we were chit-chatting:
I also caught her waving while she was playing with Grandpa D:
Now that the funeral was over with we were able to relax with the fam...
T hung out with Aunt Rie and Uncle Tj:
Then we finally got to see my niecey and nephew. I thought they were going to be all excited about meeting their baby cousin, but you know how little Miss Jayla is... all about Uncle Eddie. We pulled up to their house and she was waiting on the porch, jumping up and down, yelling "Uncle Eddie!" Shooooot... It was as if T and I didn't exist!!
Lil' munchkin loves her Uncle Eddie:
Tenley loved playing with Jayla! Jayla shared her toys and entertained her. Jayla was pretending to punch herself and Tenley thought it was hilarious:
While the girls played James Christopher made this for me:
(Such a happy Auntie!!)
Then, Gram took the kids for a walk and Jayla let T borrow a hat:
Even Grandpa Jim came to join the fun:
We had so much fun with the kiddos!! We're totally going to miss doing this...
The next morning Tenley hung out with her Great Aunt Jan...
...and she got a present!!
(Thanks for the bear Great Aunt Jan!!)
Later that day, we headed to Grandma Rita's for her famous stuffed cabbage and the whole fam came to meet Tenley!
(Thanks for dinner, Gi Gi!!)
That night, Tenley hung out with some more of her cousins and was fascinated with my Mom's bell:
We had to leave Saturday afternoon to catch our flight back to Vegas so everyone came to Ed's parents house to say goodbye to us...
Tenley had fun with her cousins:
The kids loved my camera and kept having me take pictures of them and Christopher even took some of these himself:
Then we took some photos with the fam to remember our trip:
(4 Generations)
Cousins kissing T goodbye...
(After I took these pics the kids wanted to see them and then they said "that's sick!!" HAHA! Silly kids...)
As if those pics aren't the sweetest thing you've ever seen let me leave you with the sweetest thing you'll ever watch. Christopher told me he wanted me to film him singing Tenley a lullaby so I could, "play it for Tenley whenever she cries. Ok, Auntie Kelli?!" He grabbed my sweet niecey, got her on que and this is what they sang:
(I cut him off just as he was saying "I think your cute!")
How adorable are they?! They sing this in church every week so they sang Tenley a gospel song. I love them to pieces!! Tenley just loved spending time with them and her eyes lit up whenever they were around.
Unfortunately our last day in Ohio came way too soon... we didn't even get to see everyone we wanted to. My brother, Mike, was in Myrtle Beach, some of our cousins were away at college and some of our friends were out of town or had sick kids. It's hard to see everyone when your trip is so unplanned, but we made the best of it and saw as much of our family as possible. Although the reason for our visit was a sad one, the trip was good. I really miss seeing our families everyday and getting to watch them interact with Tenley.
