It’s Pea’s birthday! She officially turned 3 years old at 17:17. It has been a rough 3 years.

Comin’ straight off of a 2 week road trip to Florida, instead of writing about how glorious the past 3 years with Pea has been, I’d like to share a bunch of . . . → Click Here To Read The Full Blog Post: Sh*t My Pea Says (The Birthday Edition)]]>

It’s Pea’s birthday! She officially turned 3 years old at 17:17. It has been a rough 3 years.

Comin’ straight off of a 2 week road trip to Florida, instead of writing about how glorious the past 3 years with Pea has been, I’d like to share a bunch of Cadence-isms with you. Spending 2 1/2 days in the car to FL and 2 days back to CO… we’ve heard a lot of them.

• Me: “I’m gonna call Jesus and tell him to take away 2 of your birthdays because you’re acting like a baby.”
  Her: “NO ACT LIKE A BABY! NO CALL JESUS!“
• Daddy, do you take off your underwear when you go pee?
• Mommy, are we big girls or little girls?
• Daddy, Junior- are you boys or girls?
• Me: “Sit down, please”
  Her: “I’m too busy Mommy”
  Me: “What?! Who says that?”
  Her: “Me”
• Mommy, we don’t say bad words. We say kind words.
• Mommy! COVER YOUR MOUTH!
• Her: “Mommy, I can’t see your car.”
  Me: “What do you mean? My car is right here.”
  Her: “No, your car is very dirty.”
  Me: “I know, we drove in the snow.”
  Her: “WELL, you need a new car.”
• Mommy- are you happy or sad?
• Mommy, can we go to Florida?
• Her: Mommy, can we please buy that?
  Me: Sure, do you have money?
  Her: Yes.
  Me: Oh really? Where is it?
  Her: There is money in your wallet.
• We don’t say what. We say yes.
• We listen to our Mommy and Daddy.
• Mommy, where do horses live? Who’s that man? What are those horses doing in that truck? Where the man taking them?
• That baby is not being a good listener to her Mommy and Daddy.
• Her: What’s a restaurant? (Us: A place where you go to eat.)
  Her: What’s a eat? (Us: It’s what you do when you’re hungry.)
  Her: What’s a hungry? (Us: It’s when you need to get some food in your belly.)
  Her: What’s a belly… (Us: ……)Three years… and so many more to go.

  Can’t wait.

  Happy Birthday, Pea. We love you.

  

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I’m not even sure where to begin this letter really.

Can I start off by saying that you are fuckin’ amazing?

Because you are.

And just in case no one ever tells you that, I’m telling you.

Many people don’t really appreciate you as much as they should.

I hope that . . . → Click Here To Read The Full Blog Post: Open Letter to One of My Best Friends on Her Birthday]]> So.

I’m not even sure where to begin this letter really.

Can I start off by saying that you are fuckin’ amazing?

Because you are.

And just in case no one ever tells you that, I’m telling you.

Many people don’t really appreciate you as much as they should.

I hope that I’m not one of those people.

Because I love you.

Love.

Like… if there were such a thing as soul mates, you may actually be mine.

We weren’t even supposed to be friends, really. And if it weren’t for me not having anywhere to live senior year of college and absolutely scrambling for roommates, I’m not sure if I even would have met you.

Thanks for taking me in by the way. I will love you forever for that because I don’t know where I would’ve lived senior year and that would’ve sucked. I’ve told you this before, but when I told people who I’d be living with senior year I got a myriad of responses that pretty much mirrored the following:

“She’s cool.

She’s cool.

Oh her? …..
(Speaking of you)

Yeah….

She’s… different.

You two may not get along.”

And I thought: Awesome! This is gonna be a fuckin’ great Senior Year!

But oh how wrong they were about you. (I find that many people aren’t good judges of character at times anyway, myself included)

You. Get me.

Like really get me. Who else can I call when my depression is kicking my ass and I just need to cry without hearing “it will get better” or some bizarre deadly silence which reeks of pity.

You.

You do not tell me stupid shit in an effort to try and make me feel better (because you know that with depression sometimes, there is no feeling better) and in fact sometimes you tell me that the day just may be a shitty one and I can have a do over tomorrow.  And you listen to me cry and we share stories about how being depressed totally sucks. We talk about what meds I’m on (if I’m on any) and you share your experiences with anti-depressants with me and we concede that depression totally sucks and maybe being off meds can be better than being on meds (or not…).

You taught me about dance parties. And not the “oh my God that dude is so cute, let me pull out my best dance moves so he doesn’t think I’m a total loser and maybe he’ll even try to come dance with me” kind of dancing but the “there really is no method to this madness and I am just moving my body to the beat and hopefully I don’t make myself dizzy from being so insanely crazy” kind of dancing.

Those dance parties?

Can really turn a day around for me. I think… Should I admit this? I think I may have lost some of my actual rhythm because I have so many dance parties. When I remove the seriousness from dancing, my troubles just all seem to seep out of my toes.

Speaking of music. You know how much I thoroughly enjoy playing music disturbingly loud? Like I may need a hearing aid before I turn 40 loud? I love that you love that too. I love that when getting in your car, I always knew there would be three things- singing, loud music and windows down.

This may totally be TMI, but you are so amazing for accepting me as I am. Sometimes, I have flatulence issues and instead of making me feel embarrassed about it- you simply opened your 3 drawer storage in your room and offered me anti-gas pills. Seriously? You had me at hello.

You really know how to step up. Wherever, whenever.

Remember that time that about 8 zillion things needed to be done for my wedding/bachelorette party/reception how you stepped in? Especially right before the reception when shit hit the fan and tempers were flaring amongst relatives for no damn good reason? Yeah. You were Queen of crisis management. Thanks for that.

Remember that time that I was unemployed for damn near 2 years? How you just wanted to make sure that I, personally had what I needed- just for me? Not for bills, not for the baby, just for me?

You didn’t have to do that.

At all.

And that? To this day. Means so much to me and I carry what you sent me around in my wallet as a reminder of how amazing you are. I can repay you monetarily, but you will never truly understand what that meant to me.

Period.

You give great advice. The tough advice. The smart advice. The “that’s what I needed to hear at this moment” advice. The “I already knew the answer to that question, but I needed to hear it from someone else” advice. I’m not even sure if I give good advice ever. I hope I do, otherwise I’m just talkin’ outta my ass.

I think that every friend serves a purpose in my life. I have a friend that’s great for this and a friend that’s great for that and another friend great for that. I keep my true friend circle small and close and I’m so glad that you’re in it. You’re like family girl.

This letter is just a “Happy Birthday, I’m so glad you were born” letter.

Enjoy your day.

You deserve it.

And don’t take anyone’s shit today- you know, because it’s your birthday.

Just tell ‘em Fuck you, I’m Awesome… oh, and it’s my birthday.

And if you ever need a left arm, or a kidney, or plasma- whatever. Call me.

You know why? Because I am truly convinced that you would do the same for me.

I love you!

- Dawana

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One year ago today, you completely changed my life. You came bursting into this world (literally, only 2 pushes) after almost 17 hours of very painful labor. I guess you wanted to be felt and heard because neither of the two epidurals that I received worked and I felt every . . . → Click Here To Read The Full Blog Post: A Love Letter]]> Dear Cadence,

One year ago today, you completely changed my life. You came bursting into this world (literally, only 2 pushes) after almost 17 hours of very painful labor. I guess you wanted to be felt and heard because neither of the two epidurals that I received worked and I felt every bit of pain.

You were Daddy’s little princess right from the start.

You did not make the transition to parents for us very easy. From the day you were born you cried. And cried. And cried.

At one point in the hospital, the nurses came in to take you thinking they would give me a much needed break from all of your crying. Well, within five minutes they brought you right back because you would not stop crying and were just too loud to be in the nursery.

Your Dad and I could not understand why God had blessed us with a child who only wanted to fuss all of the time. But we pressed on as best as we could. And as you got older and began to come into your own, Mommy was able to stay home with you. It was so great to be there and watch as your little personality came out.

You were so curious and wanted to explore the world from very early on.

You wanted to know what everything was.

And you wanted to know WHO everyone was.

We figured out that you learned VERY quickly and that may or may not be a good thing… we weren’t quite sure.

You wanted to get moving right away, you had no time to waste!

And you wanted to do everything yourself- you didn’t need any help!

Oh and you were sure to let us know when things were not going your way…

Everything seemed to happen so fast after that. You learned to sit up on your own.

Then all of a sudden you were pulling up to stand.

And one day, you just took off…

Once you started walking, it was all downhill from there…

You needed to touch everything, see everything

and just get in. to. everything.

God help me the day you learn how to say ‘No.’ Your Dad and I can hardly keep up with you now. We have to use two baby gates to keep you confined to one area of the house.

But you have brought so. much. Joy to our lives. You light up every room that you are in and bring joy to everyone that you are around.

I love how silly you are. You think you are the funniest person on Earth… I guess that is a good thing because if you don’t think you’re funny, who else will- right? You love to dance and clap your hands and Oh Boy do you love Elmo!

Your smile is infectious!

You are our little helper. (Though most of the time you are not actually helping… that’s okay)

And even when you get into mischief…

We can’t stay mad at you for long.

You, my dear are going to grow up to do something great. You are so energetic, strong-willed, cautious when necessary, pensive, imaginative… A Momma could brag forever.

You are an absolute gift from God.

Daddy and I love you SO much and can’t even remember what our lives were like without you in it.

If I could give you one piece of advice baby girl, it would be: Go.

Go explore.

Go and do great things.

See the world.

Change the world.

Love others, even when you may not want to.

Help others, because kindness always comes back to you.

Love with all of your heart, though it may get broken.

Know that you are a Queen and should be treated as such by any man who has captured your heart.

Know when to walk away if he isn’t giving you all that you deserve and more.

And God help the man who thinks that he can mistreat you or try to put his hands on you. No woman deserves that and you have a Daddy, Uncles, Godfathers and people who will…. I won’t even go there. But pick up the phone and call.

Live each day. Don’t dwell on the past or worry about the future. Live. Your life. Now.

Daddy and I will always be here for you. And even if we are not, you have a huge family who loves you very much and will be there when you need them. Guaranteed.

Most importantly: Trust in the Lord, thy God, with all of your heart. (Do you hear me?) He will never steer you wrong. And even if the path gets rocky and you don’t quite understand how a God that loves you could make you walk down that road- keep walking. God is there. He has a plan for you, though it may not be very clear to you. Taking that beaten path will make you stronger and help you to grow into a dynamic woman. Without your faith, you have nothing.

You are our little princess. We love you today, tomorrow and forever.

With all of my heart,

Happy First Birthday

Your Proud Momma

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