Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Funny Kid...

Maddy just keeps me laughing. I guess she has to learn this stuff somewhere... I just don't know where... ::WINK WINK::

Here's a video of Maddy "burping" her babydoll:





After I took this video, the little ham wouldn't stop cheesing for the camera, so I took a couple of pictures... Here's the best one:



I put Maddy to bed. Everything went normal. I laid her down just like I always do. When I went in to check on her before I came to bed, and THIS is what I found:


Between the time I put Maddy to bed, and I came to bed, I washed her sippy cup, which I do every night... It's part of our routine. As soon as I turned the water off, I heard something scratching on the window. Of course, my heart kind of skipped a beat because that's not usually a good sign. No worries, though... This little guy decided to hang out on the window and watch me do dishes (please pay no attention to how NASTY my screens are)...


Speaking of cleaning (or the obvious lack-there-of)... I am meeting with the Realtor tomorrow to get the ball rolling on getting the house on the market. My plan is for her to come over tomorrow and just tell me what needs to be done. Don't worry, Mom and Dad, I'll keep the list until you're here. I wouldn't want you to miss out on any service hour opportunities!! ;) No, really, though, my mom and I have already made a list, so I'm hoping we've already noticed all the "big" stuff...

Ok, well, I guess that's about it for tonight. I'll talk to everyone soon!

Love you guys!!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Allow Me To Introduce Myself...

Hi! My name is, well, yet to be determined. Mom and Dad say they know what my name will be if I'm a boy, but if I'm a girl, they still have some "discussing" to do. HaHaHa. I'm not big enough yet to reveal my gender, and, quite frankly, I like having a little secret between me and God!! He's a nice guy!! He's really taken good care of me so far!! :) My mom wanted to share my first "photos" with everyone, but she's not been feeling well. My big sister Maddy caught a cold from some of the kids she plays with then shared it with our mom. Wasn't that nice of her? I hear she's a good sharer!!! Mom can't stop coughing and isn't sleeping well because of it. I heard her telling Maddy earlier that since Maddy's feeling so much better, she was going to take the humidifier tonight. She says that'll make it easier for us to sleep. I hope she's right. She deserves a good night's sleep. Speaking of, she took some Benedryl not too long ago, so I have a feeling we'll doze off soon. Enough about Mommy, though... It sounds like SHE'S writing this, doesn't it?? :)

Mommy and I had our first doctor's appointment this past week. The doctor checked us out and said everything looks GREAT!! She said my heartbeat sounds great, and I should make my grand entrance into the world sometime around October 27. Mommy said that Maddy's birthday is October 8. I sure hope she gets to celebrate her birthday before I get there!! Wouldn't that be a bummer way to introduce myself to her. HaHaHa. But, wait, isn't that what younger siblings are supposed to do? To make life "totally unfair"??? :) I could get used to this!! :) With my due date being October 27, that means I'm almost 10 weeks old already!!! Time flies when you're growing so much!!

I feel kind of bad because I was making Mommy sick to her stomach all day everyday for a little while. I decided to cut her some slack since she has a lot going on right now. I have just been making her a little tired now. She thanked me and told me that was MUCH easier to handle!! Now, if I could only get Maddy to stop bouncing on Mommy's belly... :( Oh well... I'm sure that's not the last sibling rough-housing I'll endure in my lifetime.

I guess that's about it. I'll post the pictures the doctor took of me on Wednesday. I'm still a little tiny bean, so there isn't much to see, but Mommy thinks I'm ADORABLE already!! The black part of the picture is my home (Mommy's womb) and the grey part is me!! The very last picture shows my heartbeat... STRONG!!! ENJOY!!






Love you guys!! Can't wait to meet you all!! :)

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Please & Thank You

Tonight, I made myself a loaded baked potato and a salad for dinner. Maddy saw the shredded cheese for my potato and wanted some. I wanted to share the manners that this little girl has...




That's right, she said please at the very beginning of the video, more towards the middle of the video and thank you right before I gave her the plate!! She occasionally does it without prompting, but no matter what, if I remind her, she says it!!

I was worried about how much cheese she was eating. I didn't know if that would give her a belly ache later, but then I saw this:



Yep... Most of it seems to have ended up in her lap. I think we'll miss any potential belly aches this time!! :)

Finally, my biggest helper in the house helped clean up all the spilled cheese:



Please note the tongue. HaHaHa.

I hope everyone's week is coming to a nice close. Ours is. We went to the park this afternoon (second day in a row). We both have a little pink on our cheeks, but I'm happy to report that Maddy had SPF 50 sunscreen on today, so the pink may just be a little remnants of yesterday's fun in the sun!! I guess that's it for tonight!

Have a GREAT weekend!

Love you guys!! :)

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Another Photography Lesson

Hey everyone! After taking a little break from my photography lessons (for various reasons), we resumed this past week! It was so great to get back to it! This week's lesson was taking portraits in the studio. A friend of Olivia's (my instructor) came over and we took some maternity portraits for her. Since I didn't ask her permission, I won't be posting any of those photos on here, but I will say that I was AMAZED at the difference that the lights Olivia has made with the quality of the portraits!! I see a Christmas gift in my future... Oh wait, what's that you say? Mother's day is right around the corner?? Good point! I'm glad you mentioned that! (Bryan, are you reading this?) My homework this week is to choose a couple of people and borrow Olivia's studio to take some portraits. I've chosen my friend Diana's new baby girl Lilly and, of course, the princess herself, Maddy. I took a little poll on Facebook for ideas for Maddy's portraits and have made my decision. Once I take them and discuss them with Olivia, I'll post them on here. (I like for my homework to be a surprise when I show the photos to Olivia, and she reads my blog. Hi Olivia!)

Here are some of my photos from my last lesson's homework:











I hope you enjoyed these pictures! I can't wait to share more with you soon!

Have a great weekend!

Love you guys! :)

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Excuse

Here is my excuse for not blogging lately:


This is a picture of my dear sweet daughter sitting in the exam chair in her PJ's in the Emergency Room on Sunday night (complete with hospital bracelet around her ankle). :(

Here goes the long version of the story:

Sunday marked 3 weeks since this saga began. Maddy was very out of sorts, grumpy and not sleeping well, so we took her to the doctor. They checked her out and said that they couldn't find anything wrong with her. They said that the cough she had was probably just a little cold that would need to run it's course. Later that week, on Thursday, we took her back because everything seemed worse. When we went that day, they said she had an ear infection, gave us a prescription for a 5-day oral antibiotic and sent us on our way. Two weeks later (this past Thursday) I took her in again. The cough and congestion were much worse. It was all I could do to get her to sleep more than about 5 or 6 hours per night (she normally sleeps 10), and she was more cranky than I EVER remember her being. The doctor checked her ears and said that she had a double ear infection. Her prescribed Augmentin which is the strongest oral antibiotic they can give her (read: TERRIBLE diaper rash and for lack of a better term, diarrhea). Poor kid is MISERABLE at this point. So, that was Thursday. Saturday, she started with a little bit of a fever... 101 or 102 (somewhere around there). Sunday, we opted to stay home from church and rest. Sunday evening Maddy started babbling like crazy. Mind you, she knows quite a few words, so to hear her babbling on about nothing is not quite normal. We didn't think much of it, though, and let her play. A few minutes later, she came over to where I was sitting and started whining. I picked her up and she was BURNING UP. While we were sitting there, she got very lethargic. She was just limp in my arms (no eyes rolling back or anything SUPER scary... just obviously NOT feeling well). We took her temperature and it was 103.7. We decided that maybe a bath and some Motrin was in order. After her bath, she was 103.9. I felt like I had "waited long enough," so we got her dressed in her PJ's, put our shoes on, packed a few snacks and some water (no need for preggo Mommy to become a patient, too from passing out), and headed to the ER. We were in and out in less than 3 hours. I was thoroughly impressed with that part. I was NOT impressed, however, with the way they took her temperature. They used the same temporal thermometer her doctor's office uses, but did not do it the way they do at the doctor's office. When they told me her temperature, they said it was 99.6. This momma ain't buying that!! When we saw the doctor, he checked her out and looked in her throat... (Enter the DUH moment... I realized at this point that through all these doctor's visits NO ONE had looked at her throat!!!!) The doctor said, "No wonder she won't eat anything!! Her tonsils have huge puss pockets on them!!!" Enter the diagnosis of Tonsilitis. The doctor gave her a shot of Rocephin which is an injectible antibiotic (antibiotic number 3 now). He suggested that we follow up with her doctor the next morning. So, I called and took her in. Of course, her doctor is out of the office this week, but we saw a fantastic nurse practitioner (Dr. Wiley ALWAYS leaves us in good hands when he's away), and she agreed with the diagnosis. She let us know that Rocephin is a series of 3 shots usually, so she had the nurse give Maddy shot number 2 on Monday. We went back yesterday morning for the 3rd, and final (thank God), shot. I am ELATED to report that Maddy is doing GREAT today!! While she was getting the shots, we stopped with the Augmentin, but resumed that today. That being said, her 10-day antibiotics will last 12 days, but who cares?!?!?!

I had forgotten what a happy kid she normally is. She played most of the day all on her own!! She ran around, played with her toys, showed me all her picture books and told me what most of the pictures were. She's doing GREAT!!! We have a follow-up appointment with her normal doctor on March 25 just to make sure that all the fluid is gone and the ear infection is totally clear. With the exception of this ear infection, the others have all cleared completely before a new one appeared. Therefore, we've never discussed having tubes put in her ears.

I guess that's about all that I have to report about The Princess for right now. I just couldn't be happier that she's feeling so much better today!

As for baby #2, I wouldn't want to leave him/her out. We're doing pretty well. The nausea is still lingering, but I have started to have some short periods of "normalcy", so that's a HUGE PLUS!! My appetite has grown exponentially. I'm pretty worn out, but I take all of these things as good signs. As lots of wise folks before me have said, "This, too, shall pass"!! Our first doctor's appointment is March 24, and I'm very excited! I am expecting a little peek on an ultrasound at that appointment, which should be lots of fun!! I'll be sure to post pictures if we get any!

I'll do my best to keep blogging, but as was mentioned before, I've been pretty tired lately. My goal is to sleep when Maddy sleeps (at least until this part of the pregnancy is over), so I'm breaking that rule already... BUT, I'm having a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, so I think that's ok. LoL.

I hope everyone's having a great week! After taking a few weeks off from my photography lessons for various reasons, we're resuming tomorrow!! Woo Hoo!!

Talk to everyone soon (I hope!)!!

Love you guys!! :)

Friday, March 5, 2010

Poor Baby...

Poor Maddy has been battling an ear infection and a cold for about 3 weeks now. After tiring of wiping her nose and noticing that she was beginning to sleep less and less, I decided to take her to the doctor yesterday. The doctor diagnosed her with a double ear infection. Poor kid just can't catch a break. She's had 2 doses of the 10-day antibiotic, and seems to be perking up a little. She's far from 100%, but feeling better is GREAT! We were up very early this morning, and once she woke up, she played hard. While we were eating lunch, though, she hit a wall... Check her out:







Poor thing just couldn't keep her eyes open...







Have no fear, once this video was taken, I let her lay down for a nap. She's been sleeping ever since. Here's hoping for a good, long nap!! Poor kid!

Love you guys!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Packages

Maddy and I had a couple of packages to take to the post office today. One of them is for someone very special, so I let her decorate the outside of the box...







After decorating the box, she helped me fill it (please forgive us being in our PJ's)...



Finally, we took a couple of pictures together...



Hope everyone's having a good week. My mom is here visiting, and it's been VERY nice!! I wish she never had to go home!

Love you guys!! :)