Just Another Photo Dump

I have lost control of keeping up with the blog this late winter/early spring season.  So, forgive the random picture posts recently, but I'll never get myself caught up if I don't have a post like this.

 

We had many afternoons like these especially since we've had a chilly, rainy spring:

My three loves the day we had some family photos taken at our friend's farm.

Madeline's school raises money for St. Jude through a Trike-a-Thon.  Madeline was very excited to participate in this event on her NEW bicycle.  She had outgrown her 10" bicycle, so we went ahead and got her a larger bike.  (I'm calling it an early birthday gift.)

 

There she goes.

 

Her smile says it all!

 

Madeline and Eric went to the store to choose a bicycle on Saturday.  Eric put it together that evening, and on Sunday morning, before church in our pajamas, we went out for a test ride.  It was a funny little adventure.

 

Of course, the wee one cannot be left out of the morning ride.

 

Madeline is so proud that her Bitty Baby, Stella, can go for a ride too in the carrier.  

 

We didn't realize how much Madeline had outgrown her small bike.  We'll be pulling the smaller one back out for little sister before we know it.

 

My almost kindergartner!

 

Amelia was obsessed with those bunny ears for quite a few days.  She wore them all the time.

 

We finally pulled out some spring clothes, and the girls were so excited to wear their new outfits from Grandma and Grandpa.  They purchased these on their trip to Canada.

 

Amelia's class made Easter bonnets, and she was also quite excited to wear this around whenever she could.  This child is seriously into accessories, specifically head wear.

 

The evenings have been perfect for the fire pit.  Madeline has really enjoyed having s'mores on Saturday nights!

 

Should we be concerned that our 2 year old is double fisting already?

 

Madeline and Daddy were running some errands, and they had a pit stop to the ice cream shop along the way!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, 2012

I am just sad.  My SD card failed me some way, somehow.  After the leading up to Christmas pictures, I ran out of space on my normal camera card.  I switched to a "back-up" card for the remainder of the holiday season.  Recently, I went to review all my pictures for printing and posting purposes and got nothing.  NADA.  UGH.  Christmas Eve, Christmas morning, and the day after Christmas celebrating with all of my brothers and sisters-in-law - GONE or never saved in the first place.  Boo.  Major BOO HISS.  Not sure what happened.

I am sad.  BUT, I'm here.  My darling husband is here.  My children are here.  We are all healthy.  Our extended family is here and healthy.  We have a home.  My husband has a job.  We are warm in this wintry mix.  Perspective.  It's okay.  I'm distressed about missing pictures, but in the grand scheme of things, it's ohhh-kay.

But for now I'm a little sad that I lost my sweet girls' Christmas pictures...they LOVED Christmas morning this year.  I captured our Christmas morning so well.  Our girls ate breakfast as usual, as in they had to go to school leave the house at 8:30 AM usual.  They didn't barge into the living room tearing into gifts as we expected.  It's almost like they forgot Santa dropped off a few things.  They wanted to eat breakfast "like normal".  So we did.  It made Eric and I smile that on Christmas morning, our children were more excited to have breakfast with my parents and us before ripping into the loot.  We know that will change as they get older, so we cherished it this year, AND we took pictures to document the sweetness.

Gifts were nothing Earth shattering, but in our world Barbies, books, nail polish, Hungry Hungry Hippos, a doctor's kit, a salon kit, a Melissa and Doug wire shopping cart  filled with food, coloring books, and Barbie DVDs made our world more perfect.  :) 

This is sadly the only picture I have of our Christmas (Santa):  When Eric was travelling, I did some wrapping.  I then laid out the gifts in our loft and snapped a phone pic to text Eric to show him that our children had Santa awaiting - Amelia on the left, Madeline on the right, and the shared gift in the middle.

 

Merry Christmas Eve, Merry Christmas, and Many Blessings in 2013 from our family to yours.



Ouch!

I managed to make it four years of motherhood without any major injuries, but over Thanksgiving weekend, Amelia took that one off my "Mom Bucket List". 

 

Unfortunately, it was my poor judgment and total brain lapse that Miss Amelia looked like this:

 

However, bless her heart, it didn't phase her in the least bit.

 

The story:  We went out for lunch, and we were seated in a booth.  Eric and Madeline were one side, and Amelia and I were on the other side.  Amelia was happily perched on her booster seat on the outside seat.  Why in the world Eric and I didn't think anything of me scooting in first is beyond me.  Mama brain lapse #1.  Eric and Madeline left the table for a few minutes, and I was looking over the menu.  Out of the corner of my eye, I see Amelia start to topple over, so I grabbed the booster seat, not her (Mama brain lapse #2), and she lost her balance and tumbled onto the floor.  Her orbital bone broke her fall.  She was hysterical, and I was a complete mess.  No broken bones, no stitches, just a BIG, FAT SHINER.

 

Unfortunately, the shiner got much worse before it got better.  Kids heal so quickly, and once it started to show signs of healing, it was completely gone.

 

I included this picture on my Happy New Year card to explain why the Stewart family was so tardy in the Christmas card delivery. 

 

Amelia was a little trooper.  Her shiner never seemed to phase her, and she healed beautifully.  I'm sure this won't be her last injury of this sort.  However, this Mama doesn't exactly remain calm in times of major wounds, so I hope we're good for awhile. 

Woo Hoo!

Guess who has been released from the orthopedic doc? Guess who can wear these orthopedic doc approved shoes to the GYM!?? Guess who has been given medical permission to run? ME! ME!!!

And guess where this stinky 'ol boot can go? Somewhere besides my foot that is for sure! I saw Dr. B for the last time today, I hope. He said, "Your x-ray looks awesome!" Music to my ears. So in true Anne fashion, I had my big bag of running/gym shoes from junky to brand new, and I dumped them on the exam table asking which pair(s) would be suitable for my new bones. He so kindly checked them all out for me, telling me why each was not going to work yet, and chose the New Balance mules for their stiff bottoms. BUT, I was given the freedom to do whatever I wanted at the gym while being smart about it! Hallelujah! He even said I was allowed to go for a brisk walk AND run a 12 minute mile if I wanted. All I wanted to be able to do was ride the elliptical. Woo hoo!! I'm back with a cautious vengeance. I'm focusing on the elliptical and my weight routine, and just maybe, perhaps trying to wear my high heels again! :) Just kidding! When I asked him about heels, he rolled his eyes, told me to be happy with my New Balance sneaks, and not worry about heels until much later this year!

Ahhh, one happy Gold's Gym Mama!

Still Ugly and Still Broken

Yep, I'm still in the boot 90% of the time, BUT I'm on the mend, I think! Dr. B was not super pleased with my most recent X-rays. The 3rd metatarsal is healing well. The 4th metatarsal that is broken closer to the toe joint is not healing as well. I'm sure having a 3 year old and and a 14 month old is not conducive to to a broken foot. But it looks better...
I'm able to work out more to my liking --- stationary bike hill programs and non-weight-bearing-weights-on-my-foot-type of weights. It's definitely not great, but it's not awful. I'm dealing with it and trying to take it day by day as I KNOW I need to let my foot heal, so I can be my normal crazy workout girl again.

I am still allowed to wear a shoe, but with the girls, my workouts, our day-to-day activities, and errands, I have gone back to wearing the boot most of the time. It's safer, easier, and stabilizes the bones better.

Bummer, two months of healing and at least one more to go. Hopefully, by April I'll be pain free, mostly mended, and able to toss the stinky boot out the back door! :)

Four Weeks

This is my broken foot at four weeks! I know, GROSS! It needs some serious TLC, but no pedicures in my near future. My toes are still black and blue and really wanky looking. Yucky!! I don't have pretty feet anyway, and a broken foot definitely hasn't helped my foot aesthetically.

I went back to my orthopedic doc this week, and he had an X-ray done. As it turns out, I broke two metatarsals --- the middle one and the fourth one. No wonder I saw stars! Apparently, the swelling and such was so terrible that it wasn't clear on the first x-ray. A little bone lesson took place at this appointment: Bone has several stages of healing. I am in the stage of healing where the hard cartilage part (think: kids' bones) is repairing. By 6 weeks, the bones will start pulling calcium into the process to starting forming new bone. Basically, no "real" healing is visible on the x-ray until 6-8 weeks. Awesome.

The good news is that I've been good about wearing my boot and not walking barefoot, so everything looks as it should. The other piece of good news is that I've been given the thumbs up for the stationary bike at the gym. I patiently listened to the Doctor and all his doctor talk, but my first real question was, "OK, Doc, so what can I do cardio wise at the gym?! It's been FOUR weeks?!" Yes, he rolled his eyes, and yes, my husband was there reminding him to choose his words wisely with gym talk. I think Eric's exact words were something along the lines of, "Be careful what you say to her. She tends to take what you say to the utmost extreme." So, yes, cycle class here I come!!

I was also given clearance to wear a shoe, BUT it has to have a stiff sole & not much binding over the broken area. To quote my doctor, "Barefoot is the WORST.SHOE.EVER!" Ladies, this criteria is not conducive to a cute, stylish shoe AT.ALL. So, heels, wedges, boots, flats, a flip flop, and even my running shoes are a BIG NO-NO, but my Chacos (pictured) are a winner. Too bad it's winter time, but I wear these sandals around the house. The boot is hard on my ankle and my lower back because it has my alignment all out of whack (my left foot is higher than my right, and it keeps my ankle super still and stiff). I am really nervous about being out in public and dealing with the girls, so I wear my boot to the gym and while we are out and about. Around the house, I am able to walk on it barefooted on a very limited basis (like in the shower), and most of the time, I wear my Chacos. The more bending in the broken area = longer healing time was the gist of the shoe conversation. Cleaning day requires my boot. :)

I go back in a month, and hopefully, that will be it with this broken foot issue. While it's certainly not ideal, it's much better a month into it. My anxiousness has been relieved as far as taking care of my girls and going about my day-to-day routines. Now, I'm just anxious to get back into the gym like I want. Then all will be right with the world in Anne's world.

Ever have one of THOSE days?

You know the kind of day that I'm talking about --- it seems every decision you make backfires on you, nobody in your life seems to be happy about anything, too many, "I want...", very few thank you's, and overall very frustrating kind of day when you plop into bed at night praying that tomorrow will be better because by golly, tomorrow is a new day, and it's got to be better! I think I would sum up our 2011 year as one of THOSE days times 365! That last statement might be a slight exaggeration, but 2011 was a rocky one for us. As for me, it was a humbling year on so many levels.

We started our life as a family of four, and I would not trade our little family for anything in this world! I love my husband and my two girls down to my very core. Madeline has come along so far emotionally, socially, physically, and mentally. She's a very sensitive, empathic child. She can sense when I'm not having a good day and will try to make me smile. It pretty much always works! :) Madeline is a protective older sister, and she doesn't want Amelia to cry, get hurt, or be scolded. Sometimes she's too overprotective not allowing Amelia to fend for herself. Her outrageous temper tantrums come only every so often now, and she's learning to check her emotions. I had some very humbling moments in the afternoons pouring over my John Roesmond articles and books trying to figure out ways to conquer these tantrums in an age appropriate manner. Over the course of the year, she's become more rational, so she can calm herself down before things spiral out of her control. Madeline has blossomed socially making friends at school and in the neighborhood, learning to share without being prompted to do so, learning to not follow others' poor behavior choices, and communicating with adults in a mannerly way. Madeline is certainly not the most athletic child, but she's attempting to ride her tricycle and a bike with training wheels with much more confidence. She can climb the rockwall on our swingset in a flash, and her physical skills like hopping, running, jumping, etc. are much less clumsy. She loves her ballet class, and she's learned a ton! I am so looking forward to her recital to see what she has learned. Every now and again, I'll catch her dancing around obviously doing her ballet motions. Super cuteness. Madeline is a smart little girl. She loves to learn, and her neverending questions can be maddening, but she wants to learn about the world around her. Her little memory is a steel trap. The girl retains information like crazy. Books and coloring are still her most favorite past times.

And, sweet Amelia, she's finally coming into her own after 12 very long months. Her verbal skills are really starting to take off, and while she doesn't seem to have a huge interest in walking on her own, she's on the move keeping up with Madeline as best she can. She's eating up a storm, and she wants whatever we are eating. Amelia has figured out how to snap her fingers, and she will snap in the direction of the food item that she wants. While it's not the most mannerly thing to do, it's giving us some level of communication, so we're going with it for now. Eventually, we'll enforce the use of words once her verbal skills are better. Amelia humbled me as a Mom. I thought I had the whole Mom thing under control --- balancing my gym time, household chores, errands, and playtime. Madeline and I got into our routine just trucking right along, and when Amelia arrived, she slipped right into our lives like she'd always been here with us. Sure, I was exhausted, but that's to be expected with the newborn phase. And, then the fussy, gassy, uncomfortable, something's not quite right Amelia showed up. Just like that. I was taken down a notch. Suddenly, I was with an unhappy baby all the time, and our happy days were few and far between. I allowed this to go on for months making trips to the doctor, trusting his advice against my own gut feelings. Afterall, Madeline was nothing like this as a baby. What did I know? However, I knew something wasn't right in my gut. I finally put my Bullheaded Mom face on, sought out advice from friends, and switched doctors after 9 very long months! Amelia's health improved and so did her disposition, but it didn't last for long. Teething. Again, more unhappy days than happy days. Unfortunately, Amelia is not the "go with the flow" second child I just knew I was going to have. She's far from it, and it's been hard for me to handle every situation with grace and a smile. As I said, it's been a humbling experience thinking I had it all just right, and then one of THOSE days keeps going on day after day after day. There were many days when I felt like throwing my hands up in the air, and shouting, "I'm moving to Australia!" just like Alexander in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst.

Unfortunately for a large portion of 2011, Eric was traveling like crazy for days on end week after week, and it was rough running the show by myself especially during those summer months when Amelia's health & disposition were at their worst, and Madeline's terrible three's flared up. Again, a humbling experience for me...my husband did come home after a few days or even a week, and I could vent or cry or go to the grocery by myself. But, during these rough patches, I often thought about single Moms or wives with deployed husbands and wondered how in the world they did it. At least I got some reprieve. Luckily, Eric's job finally started to slow down and his travel schedule has become less hectic. Having him around in the evenings, has certainly made for happier dynamics around here! This year, he was able to find a better balance between working hard, family, friends, gym time, and hunting.

Together, we were able to go on some trips and have some date nights for some us time. Of course, we did a lot of work to the house making it "us", and we have enjoyed our improvements together. Our entertaining probably reached an all time high this summer and fall when we hosted several parties, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and some cookouts in between. Hence the reason all of our birthday celebrations were kept super low key this year. I could only handle so much entertaining with all the other things going on in our little world.

As for me, my excitement was my Disney marathon that didn't happen, and again, another humbling experience. All that training, time, & effort was for not. First, figuring out my training schedule amidst Eric's & the girls' schedules was tricky, and then I had an ankle tendon issue during the "meat" of my training which required me to cut back my miles for a two week time frame. Finally, my broken foot sealed the deal --- No marathon. Canceled trip to Disney because my foot couldn't handle the parks. Boo hiss.

Surely, all of these trials and tribulations of 2011 happened for a reason. I'm a firm believer in that. I may not ever realize all the reasons we had these experiences, but I know deep in my heart that the Big Man Upstairs puts events in your life for a reason. I've realized a lot about myself. I have a few things to iron out that could make me a kinder wife, a more patient mother, a more attentive friend, and a less perfectionist Anne in 2012. Here's to 2012 with less health issues, less temper tantrums, less travels for Daddy, a less frazzled Mama, and less of THOSE I'm moving to Australia kind of days!

Treacherous

These steps:

Plus These Shoes:
Equals = A Broken Foot
ONE WEEK before my Disney, 2012 Marathon!

Big Sigh and Gigantic Sad Face for this Mama! Stupid me decided to dash up our stairs in my heels and landed myself a broken fourth metatarsal bone.

Very ouchy! Now I see why cartoons always show stars when the characters fall down. I literally saw stars when I fell, and I immediately knew something serious was wrong with my foot. When the doctor was pressing on the swollen, bruised area, I almost fainted & barfed. For a girl who has never broken a bone in her life, this has been quite an experience.

For a Mommy of two little ones, this is quite inconvenient.

For the stay-at-home Mom who cleans, launders our clothes, & does all the errands, this is stressful.

For the work-out fanatic Anne, this is frustrating that I'll be out of the gym for at least 6 weeks, maybe longer.

For the Anne who can usually handle whatever life throws at her, this causes a great deal of anxiety.

But, the silver lining in all of this is that I don't need foot surgery, and I wasn't carrying one of my children.

Definitely NOT the way I wanted to end my holiday season and begin 2012!

Just Some Mama Thoughts & Keepin' it Real

Wow, it's hard to believe that August is here. Many of my teacher friends start back on the 11th, & their students start on the 18th. Madeline's preschool starts September 1. If I am keepin' it real on this blog, I have to say, "Thank you, God, for getting me through this summer!" I think I've prayed to God for patience no less than 5 times per day everyday of the week. It's been a doozy of a summer, and I for one am glad to turn the page on my good 'ol fashioned paper calendar to August. August brings intense heat & humidity here, but it also brings me to thoughts of cooler weather to come, preschool starting, fixed schedules & routines Monday through Friday, college football on the weekends, and some serious Mama-Disney-marathon-training-time which in turn equals relaxed, happy Mama!

Summer around here is usually relaxed --- hanging out on the back porch in the evenings, a few beach trips here and there, trips to the neighborhood pool, some lake time, evening bike rides on the pink tricycle, evenings on the swingset, later naptimes & bedtimes, sleeping in a little bit, lots of gym time for both Eric and I, and some playdates scattered between all that.

Not so much. Instead, this summer was far from relaxing! It was full of doctor's appointments for Amelia's ongoing battle with reflux & ear infections, many afternoons stuck inside because it's way too hot to go to the pool with a sick wee one, many afternoons watching too much TV because Mommy needs to get housework done in between a fussy baby & a whiny almost three year old, many sharp words coming out of my mouth, many testing the boundaries from my almost three year old, many hours of the wee one fussing/crying out of discomfort, many deep breaths during naptime, many evenings spent praying tomorrow would be a better day, many evenings on the phone with Daddy because Daddy's travel schedule is nutso, and too many middle of the night wake-ups for this Mama and Amelia.

This summer has certainly been quite a learning time for me, and my perfectionist, type A personality certainly does not go well with a feeling of not doing a good job at my job. I know there were times I handled tense situations with grace and kindness, and unfortunately, I had many moments when there was too much yelling that accomplished very little except hurt feelings. I made too many little stops at the grocery store with both kids in tow instead of thinking through the grocery shopping and my couponing. I'm sure I turned down playdates, dates with friends, and other fun activities because I didn't want to drag Amelia with us knowing that she is not feeling well, and that's just not fair. Talk about feeling torn --- choose Amelia's misery to allow Madeline a little fun or having Madeline miss something fun because Amelia would be miserable strapped in the bucket seat or stroller! Then there were times when hiring a babysitter was simply too exhausting to think about because it's just easier to deal with Amelia's temperament, ailments, and meds myself. Many days I was in survival mode, and I wasn't always present enjoying the moment with my girls when they were happy & healthy. One thing is for sure: I complained too much to my hard working husband. Love his heart for listening ever so patiently to my "woe-is-me"!

But, again, if I am keepin' it real, then I would be unappreciative & ungrateful if I didn't mention my long weekend away with only my husband to Hilton Head leaving a sick wee one & testy almost three year old with Grandma and Grandpa. I cannot forget to mention my wonderful girls' weekend with my near and dear friend, Steph, to Costa Rica while my husband kept the sick wee one and testy tot while he worked from home. Bless his heart. Those two long weekends alone gave me the rejuvenation I needed to get through all those other stressful moments, I am sure. Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't mention our wonderful family filled weekend when we celebrated Amelia's baptism on our 7th wedding anniversary & Father's Day. Again, a little ray of sunshine in our rough summer.

So, I, for one, am ready for a new season with a healthy wee one (fingers crossed), a happy three year old who gets to go to school five days per week (for a week now, she's been asking, "I get to go to school today!?"), a Daddy's work schedule that allows for less overnight travels, and a Mommy who starts her marathon training releasing those feel good endorphins!

And, if I am really keepin' it real, then I should remind myself that this stay-at-home-Mama-gig is what I signed up for no matter how frustrating and stressful the days are. Truth be told, I am really a blessed woman with two beautiful little girls and an amazing husband! Perhaps, in addition to my prayers for patience, I should also thank God for my sweet little family!

To the Dentist We Go

I failed to report our little mishap the Friday of Fourth of July weekend in my most recent post, so now that I have a couple of pictures and the full story, I'm all set. Please bear with me as I give lots of detail to the "set up" of this story.

Since our Fourth of July trip was a little impromptu, I had quite a few errands to run on Friday morning before I went to the gym. Of course, one of them was to my beloved Target. Madeline LOVES Target, I might add, and even more so, she loves riding in the big part of the cart at Target. She considers this a treat since I never seem to need all the space for our items, so she can spread out with a couple of books & maybe even a snack. As we are leaving Target, Madeline was standing up (Bad Mommy, I KNOW!), but she was holding onto the side of the cart, and I had a hold of her as well. Not to mention, we were moving at a snail's pace, so I figured, "What the heck! It will be fine. It's bright and early, we're parked practically in the entrance of the store." Unfortunately, I didn't see the metal strip along the sidewalk which caught the cart and caused Madeline to go forward and knock her mouth onto the side of the cart. Whoops. Bloody busted lip, some crying, some consoling, and some juice ~ all seemed to be well. I continued my marathon morning of errands and the gym. Madeline seemed just fine -- no whining, bleeding stopped, and drinking & snacking didn't seemed to be affected. All continued to be fine through lunch -- still no whining, no blood, lunch was eaten, and nap time had begun.

Meanwhile, I'm sharing the story with my husband who is in the dental industry, and of course, he's asking me many more technical questions that I'm not prepared to answer. No, I didn't see how she hit the cart, no I didn't wiggle the tooth to see if it was loose, and no I didn't see blood around the gumline of the tooth. But, I didn't look that hard because Madeline stopped crying, the bleeding stopped, and she didn't seem to be in pain. She went back to being happy Madeline. I took all of those things at face value. About 45 minutes into nap, Madeline's sore gum set in & the crying started. Oh dear, now, this previously not very worried Mommy has thoughts of a missing front tooth, gum tissue damage, infection, and many trips to the dentist. Eric goes in to get Madeline from her bed and takes a peek at the affected area. Madeline goes ballistic. Obviously, something hurts, and something is wrong. The tooth isn't loose, but it does have blood around the gumline which apparently is a bad sign ~ who knew. Okay, it's now 3:30 PM on a holiday weekend. Aside from the fact that my child is hurt and I'm worried about her, it's now late on a Friday before a holiday weekend, and who are we going to call?

Thank goodness, Eric knows people! He immediately goes to his phone, makes a call to one of the oral surgeons he works with (on the doctor's personal cell, I might add), discusses Madeline's "case" using many dental lingo words like "number 8" & "lingual", and the next thing I know we have an appointment with his wife, Dr. Lisa, who happens to be a pediatric dentist. We were given a few over the phone instructions (no sippy cups, no paci), Tylenol for pain, and a few things to watch for until the appointment. We were fine to go ahead with our Fourth plans.

Yesterday we had our appointment with the very sweet and wonderful Dr. Lisa. Madeline did really well considering the circumstances. She was not a fan of the X-ray nor was she a fan of Dr. Lisa poking around to get a good look at the gum area and tooth. However, peace of mind for me is worth a few minutes of crying and kicking. Madeline did indeed chip her tooth ~hardly noticeable, the gum area is healing nicely, and the X-ray showed no signs of infection, looseness, or permanent damage. WHEW! Dr. Lisa was able to CSI piece together what she thinks happened regarding the cart vs. Madeline's tooth based upon the gum's appearance. Finally, Dr. Lisa told me that she sees this kind of thing all the time, and many moms react the same as I did. No crying or obviously missing teeth = all good. So, she made me feel better too.

Before: "Wait Mom! Let me make sure my purse has all the necessities before we go inside!" And, yes, that purse did go inside with us, toy cell phone and all.

Madeline strutted out of the office with a pinwheel from the treasure box and a smile on her face. What could be a better way to follow up a dental appointment? A haircut, of course! So, off to get pampered by Ms. Jenn in the stylist chair. Of course, the lollipop at the end helps too ~ don't tell Dr. Lisa! :)

After: Pinwheels are super fun!
A great day all in all.

'Whoops' Update:

Madeline promptly woke up one hour after this horrible nap experience in a seemingly great mood ready to read books, color, and love on her Mama. Apparently, she holds no grudges over my unwillingness to play "Operation Rescue Bunny Lovey". She also appears to be unharmed from her fall.

However, as I picked her up out of the crib, she informed me, "Mama! I fall!" as she was pointing to the floor where she landed. Yes, sweetie, you sure did. Let's try not to make this a daily thing.

Whoops!!!

It's never good when I title a blog "whoops"! So here goes....Madeline's nap time today has been trying to say the least. It's my fault. My guess is that I let her get overtired, and she was refusing to go down for a nap today. When I say refusing, please translate this to mean Madeline full blown screaming at the top of her lungs, jumping up and down on her mattress, yelling "Mommy!", and flailing herself into the crib rails. Serious temper tantrum.

I followed our normal routine, put her in the bed, and left the room. I figured she'd use her last bit of energy in this tantrum, and her little body would just fall asleep. Not the case today. After 10 minutes, I went to peek into her room, and I saw the bunny lovey on the floor. I think to myself, "OK, here's the problem. Surely after I give her the bunny back, she'll lay down, and go to sleep." Wishful thinking! The whole process started all over again. I let her work it out, and peek back in about 15 minutes. Bunny on the floor AGAIN. Okay, this Mommy started to feel her blood pressure rising. Return the bunny to screaming child vowing to myself that I'm not going back. If she loses it again, too bad. This is ridiculous, and I'm not playing the bunny on the floor game nor am I starting bunny lovey rescue at nap time. More screaming, "Mommy!" Seriously, child, this has got to stop. I give her a few more minutes and peek back into the room. Bunny on the floor for the THIRD TIME! I stick to my guns. I'm not giving her bunny back. Tough lesson to learn, but this is not fun for anyone. Surely, she's going to conk out...she's been at this for 45 minutes now. I remain hidden while peeking into her room, and I noticed her leaning waaayy over the railing at the waist. Okay, now she's trying to reach for the bunny on the floor. Not good. I think to myself, "I'm not going in to get the bunny, but now I'm getting ready to witness my child plunge herself out of the crib. Awesome." She backs down off the railing. Phew. Surely, she's out of steam. I turn to walk out, and THUNK! I race in to find Madeline on the floor, screaming, holding the bunny, and fire mad. Great.

Just go ahead and give me my Mom of the Year plaque. Now, I'm worried about her (I tend to be a little bit of a hypochondriac with all my medical "What ifs"), beating myself up for being so stubborn and not getting her bunny for the third time, checking in on her every 5 or so minutes, and blogging about it to vent. Madeline conked right out after I picked her up to check her out for broken anything and console this angry, overtired child who now seems to be peacefully sleeping with her bunny. Yikes. Thank goodness Daddy's not out of town tonight.

A BIG, SCARY Animal Has Gotten into Our House!!!!

Yesterday, Madeline and I got home from the gym & ate lunch as usual, and she took an afternoon nap. I'm sure I allowed the back door to slip open at some point in the day, but I'm sure that I just re-shut it tightly without thinking a thing about it.

Fast forward to the evening about 6:30 PM --- Eric gets home from his day (which was a horrible Monday complete with a flat tire and all), and I had just bathed Madeline. We were going to sit and visit for a bit before Madeline went to bed. We kept hearing this unusual noise, and it was in the house very close to where we were sitting! The noise was similar to what a cricket would make but much louder. Therefore, I equated loudness and size of the beast to go hand in hand --- louder = bigger. The noise was starting to freak us out a bit as it seemed to continue, so I exclaimed that SOMETHING had gotten into our house when I let the back door open. Of course, my wild imagination led me to believe that this wild something was going to eat us alive, so I panicked. My usually calm husband got the flashlight and determined that the wild beast was under our chair and a half in the living room. He then armed himself with his flip flop and hornet/wasp spray. (Seriously?!) Eric uses that foamy hornet/wasp spray to kill anything that could possibly run from him! Madeline and I proceed to perch ourselves on the kitchen table...I was ready to hit the deck and cover Madeline with my entire body! Eric was armed and dangerous with his flip flop and spray ready to kill or at the very least stunt the beast until...
We figured out that the large, wild, angry, beast was Madeline's toy key chain that seemed to have a short in it. The keys were making the chirping noise all on their own. (I washed all of Madeline's toys on Sunday afternoon, so I must've gotten water into this little toy and caused a short.)

Needless to say, we felt pretty silly about the whole episode, but it gave us a good laugh. I hope you are laughing too, and this isn't one of those "You had to be there." moments.

Note to Self: Do not leave the room to answer the doorbell while refilling the baby wipes!

This is what I found when I returned to finish what I started before the doorbell rang! (On a side note, Madeline was sitting at the playmat behind her when I walked out. She doesn't crawl yet, but she is determined to get to what she wants!)

This next batch of wipes should be interesting to use since I made no effort to stack them back up properly!

Who needs toys when you have wipes and mail to play with?
I laughed out loud when I saw this scene when I returned to the room. It did not even cross my mind that she would get into the wipes...first time Mommy! I'm sure one day I will not be laughing when Madeline gets into something more dangerous or more difficult to clean up. But, this one struck my funny bone.

First Trip to the Zoo

Madeline had her first trip to Riverbanks Zoo on Saturday. She loved it. It was our first little family outing geared for kids. We loved it! The monkeys and elephants were by far Madeline's favorite because they were the animals that moved and made the most noise. For me, personally, the giraffes were my favorite. We went after Madeline's morning nap, and we planned to eat lunch there leaving just after lunch to get Madeline home for her afternoon nap. We laughed as we were exiting the zoo, and all we heard were crying children. We could only assume these crying children were ready for naps. However, we left with a content baby, but she was certainly on the verge of having a total meltdown because she was ready for a nap too.

Remember Madeline's first dinner with total table food (the night before this zoo trip)? Well, this photo was taken just before she REFUSED to eat the easy-to-travel-with-jars-of-baby-food that I brought along to feed her lunch. Oops! Luckily, Madeline's daddy decided to eat a cheeseburger for lunch, so he shared his plain bun with her. Nothing like some good 'ol enriched flour for lunch, but hey, it satisfied her hungry tummy.
All in all, we had a WONDERFUL day on our first little family outing! Eric and I can't wait to do more things like this in the upcoming summer weekends to entertain the three of us!

AARRGGHH!!

Our camera is broken (we think)! The pictures are way too light, so we think something is broken with the shutter. So my vision of our first family Easter photo on a beautiful summery day did not happen. BOO HISS!

But, we did go over to my parents house for Easter dinner, and we did get a couple of photos of Madeline in her Easter dress. Once I am able to get my mom's camera & upload the photos, I will post them. I suppose in the grand scheme of things, a camera on the fritz isn't the absolute worst thing that could happen to us. As a matter of fact, Eric and I were watching The Today Show the other morning, and it mentioned that 25% of Americans are taking on second jobs to support themselves and their families. We are surviving on one income quite comfortably and well, so we feel completely blessed. We are a very thankful and lucky family this Easter season.

So, minus a cute family photo and a day late, Happy Easter to all!

Smile!


We went for our first family photo shoot today. Wow, what a nightmare!!

To start the day off, Madeline woke up at 6 AM as usual and had slept through the whole night with no cry-outs!! She ate her breakfast bottle as usual and "talked" to us for a little bit. Off to a good start, BUT normally around 7:15 or 7:30 the fussy monster takes over, and she's ready for a nap. She typically naps until about 9:00 or 10:00 and is ready to eat again. So, I strategically made our appointment for 11:00 AM thinking she'll have just eaten and be in a great mood. Like I said this is NORMALLY what happens. Not today!! Miss Priss decided she was wide awake after her first breakfast and NEVER took a nap. When I say she never does this, I mean that. You could set your watch by her. She was all smiles, cooing, babbling, etc. all morning long, and the more I fretted about her not taking her morning nap, the more wound up she became. We regrouped and decided to feed her a hearty bottle at 9:00 AM thinking she'll eat her bottle, and then she'll take a short power nap before our picture appointment. Silly us...that's way to logical and easy. Nope she promptly fell fast asleep without eating much of her bottle. Great, so now she'll be tired AND hungry by 11:00 AM. Well, her sleeping lasted all of 30 minutes. We tried to shovel in the rest of her bottle and get ready to leave all at the same time. Those of you that know me well probably can envision the mood I am in at this point...I was nearing tears and about lose my mind. (Probably the only reason I didn't was that I was having a good hair day, so at least something was working in my favor!) Afterall this was our very first family photo taken by a real photographer, and it was not what I had planned out. Shouldn't I know by now that when kids/babies are involved, stuff like this happens?? I did teach 10 year olds for 10 years, but I digress... So we manage to get out the door and to our appointment relatively on time. (Not to mention, I HATE being late for appointments, and we were late.) Meanwhile, my relaxed, levelheaded husband is probably about to kill me at this point because I am just in a tizzy. (Hindsight, why was I in such a tizzy?? I couldn't control what was happening, so I needed to let it go.) So we get there and begin the family photos. Madeline amazingly was cooperative. BUT, then it was time for the solo shots of Madeline, and this first time Mommy decided it would be a great idea to do a wardrobe change with an already volatile 3 month old. UMMM, not such a great idea, and I immediately regretted my grandiose plan of having a couple of different outfits planned for this photography session. So, we subject Madeline to several more clicks of the camera, and it took lots, I mean LOTS, of prompting to get half smiles out of her. And, to top it off, I wasn't happy with what she was wearing for the solo shots, but I decided that I'd keep that to myself since I was already testing exactly how patient Eric (and the photographer for that matter) really is at this point. So finally the photographer decided he had enough shots to make it work. Off we go to feed our tired, hungry, and cranky baby who falls fast asleep on the way home.

A couple of hours later after we regrouped, had lunch, and Madeline took a slight nap, we went back this afternoon to view our shots and choose our pictures. We allowed ourselves an hour and a half before Madeline's next feeding. Who knew the indecision that would come over us? Yikes...again we push the envelope and are still at the photographer at 3:45 clearly missing the 3 PM bottle. We get out of there unscathed with a relatively happy baby and an armful of great photos!


So Eric mentioned he wanted to go hunting Friday afternoon, and on the way home, I said to him, "With all I put you through today, perhaps a hunting excursion is exactly what you deserve and NEED!" He just smiled and said, "Thanks babe!"


How do people do this more than once a year? I'm not sure I can go through this again until Madeline hits the one year mark. I'll just have to do better with my own picture taking to document the remaining months of Madeline's first year. But in the end, our nightmare wasn't really a nightmare because we do have some great photos of our family of three and Madeline.

OOPS!!!

So yesterday when I got Madeline up for her 6 AM feeding, I noticed her little cheeks were bright pink, and her neck was bright red. I thought that was interesting, but I didn't think much of it and went about my merry way. Well, when I undressed her to change her diaper and put her daytime clothes on, she was covered in red blotches!!! There were blotches on her chest, belly, legs, arms, and even between her little fingers and toes. (I wish I would've take a photo, but I was too busy being a hypochondriac to think about a photo opportunity!) Of course, I immediately began thinking about my day on Thursday--what did I eat, where did we go, what did we do, anything out of the ordinary. Nope, nothing that I could think of, so then I my mind immediately thought about the gym kids care. What could she have caught from one of the other children? You can imagine the things I thought of and getting on WebMd didn't help matters or ease my mind at all. I had prepared myself to find out that Madeline had some awful skin sickness that would require a steroid lotion of some sort. Too bad my RATIONAL husband was out of town with work. So of course I called the doctor's office and made an appointment for later that morning. So I'm trying to go about my normal morning routine, but my mind is racing with what could be wrong with my little girl. Well, then it hit me--not even thinking I tossed in some of Madeline's clothes with our load of laundry on Thursday afternoon. The contaminated jammies that I removed from her Friday morning were a part of that laundry load. So, now feeling a little stupid and very over-reactionary (is that even a word?), I removed her clothes and inspected her body again. Well, she was considerably less blotchy, so deciding that the laundry detergent and fabric softener were the culprits for the awful skin disease that I decided she'd contracted. OOPS!

Off to the doctor I went with a very un-blotchy baby in tow. However, Dr. Kapp was extremely nice and politely explained that the red blotches (the few that were left on her body) were clearly a topical type irritation and be aware of lotions, detergents, fabric softeners, etc. when it comes to Madeline's delicate skin.

On our way out the door to the doctor's office.
Madeline being a good patient on the doctor's examining table. Notice there are no bright red blotches on her skin!

Note to self--Madeline's skin doesn't appreciate Tide and Bounce. Continue the use of Dreft and don't try to save time by tossing in her clothes with our clothes!