Welcome to Schwakeland

It's official. I'm am a Schwake. Not that I wasn't really before, but now my name has been officially, before a judge, paid for with good cash, changed from Michelle Teresa Guillemette to Michelle Teresa Schwake. I stood in front of the judge this morning, with Scott and my sister-in-law Marie there as my witnesses, to swear that I wasn't changing my name to get out of any bad debt, run from the law or to defraud anything or anyone. Thankfully, he bought it. : )

I see that I haven't updated my blog since March 6th so I will work backwards from this morning on my update. Tuesday night, the 10th, the Guillemettes got together to celebrate my mom, Terry's, 62nd birthday. We went to Lion's Tap for their yummy burgers. Although I guess my mom should fire me as her top (only) daughter because I didn't find out beforehand whether or not they had wine (they didn't). Mom, although technically not a whino, really likes her wine, especially with dinner, preferably boxed. So she had to make do with some pop. I'll have to be sure to check into that little detail next time. Anyway, we had a good time catching up and chowing. Mom is looking forward to her retirement at the end of May. So we were talking about trips we're going to take this summer and finding a way to get her and dad to move up to the cities.

This weekend we traveled down to Waterloo, IA to spend time with Scott's folks, Ken and Cheryl. We spent most of Saturday at a farm just outside of town that had pony rides, baby farm animals, hayrides, an easter egg hunt, and warm cinnamon buns and carmeled apples. The girls had a great time with all the animals and finding the eggs. They were a little leary of the easter bunny but pretty much took him/her in stride. Cate is on a little of the fearful side. I'm hoping its just a stage because I don't want her to always be afraid of things. She wasn't too keen on petting the animals, didn't like the tire swing in the loft of the barn and didn't want to ride the pony (but she did get on it for a little bit). Clare was gung-ho on everything.

Later that day, when the girls (and grandpa) were napping, Scott, Cheryl and I went to look as sewing machines. Yes the excitement never ends for the Schwakes. I had told Scott that I might be interested in a new machine since so many of the clothes that kids wear - espcially the summer ones - would be really cheap and easy to make. And if I had a machine that could do some fancy stitching, I could make them really cute. Well we did find a place that sold them and at a discount too. From the look of the guy selling them, you'd think the store had a side business of selling weed - who knows, maybe they did! The machine's nowadays have little computers in them, thread the needle for you and probably could wipe your butt too! Its crazy. And they aren't cheap. But I have a feeling that Scott will get one for me for my birthday and mother's day. Mostly because then he doesn't have to sprain his brain thinking of what to get me. That evening, grandma and grandpa watched the girls while Scott and I went to an underwhelming and overpriced steak place.

Sunday was Easter with church, a delicious ham dinner and another (more fun) Easter egg hunt for the girls as well as Easter baskets for the both of them. Now we can't get them to stop begging for jelly beans - I guess I'll just have to eat them all...and the chocolate bunnies too.


The week before we went down to Waterloo, Scott went on an ice fishing trip up north with his friend Brad and a bunch of other guys. He needs his times to thump his chest, kill something and scratch. I think he had a great time but he did get lonely for his girls. He was gone a total of 6 days and he called home every other day.

Two weeks before he went fishing we did a bit of puppysitting. We watched John and Val McCain's new 12 week old American Water Spaniel, Kona. She was super cute but very much a puppy. Attley definitely put her in her place a couple of times but toward the end of the week, he was becoming a softy and letting her share his spot on the couch. She was a loveable, sweet puppy, but she definitely reminded me how much work a puppy can be. We won't be getting a new one anytime soon.

Well, I think that pretty much catches us up on what we, the Schwakes, have been up to. Everyone has been doing really well. Cate's been figuring out some sleep issues. She woke up almost every night Scott was gone and came to sleep with me in my bed. After he got back I started taking her back to her bed to sleep, laying with her for a little bit. Thankfully, she's finally getting the hang of getting herself back to sleep quickly (except for last night). Clare is starting to talk up a storm. She can do small 2-word sentences and can understand so much more. She is definitely one who likes to get a laugh. She'll do almost anything to keep us laughing. Attley is on a new "diet" dog food and we're seeing really good results. He's lost almost 5 lbs since he's been on it. Which actually is a little too much too fast. So we need to up his food a bit to slow down his weight loss. But I really think its helping his foot to feel better. He's back to running upstairs to join us for bedtime and has more spunk overall. Scott is starting to work more hours in preparation for the busy summer. Hopefully he won't have to work any all-nighters.

And I am just hangin' in there. I've been thinking a lot about babies and getting pregnant, mostly because we started trying for Schwake number 3 last month. It didn't happen this time which is fine. I am getting older...I turn 39 next week. So it may not happen at all. And that will be fine too. I am absolutely in love with my two little girls so I will never ever feel cheated or that I missed something if we're not able to have another. And this weekend I'm going with my friend, Paige, to the Westwood Women's retreat which will be a nice little getaway. And then next week, it's my birthday week which is always a fun time for me because I usually get to spend time with all of my wide variety of friends and family.

That's all for this month's post. Schwake out!