Randomness

I like the seven random facts format I used Saturday...that may be my new standard type of entry. It's easy, doesn't require a huge time commitment and you can really cover a lot of ground. And who knows, it might turn into 10 random things from time to time.

1. Still sick, but feel better. My voice is still (disappointingly) not Demi Moore level of sexy. Jody is sick, but not super bad. Riley has a gross cough.

2. Work kicked my tail end today. I stayed until after 6, thanks to Jody being able to pick up Riley. Tomorrow will be a rough day, but I'll get through it.

3. Had Fuji's for lunch today. We don't go very often, but it seemed like a good idea today. It was cold and wet out.

4. Speaking of cold and wet, it actually snowed some today. Big, huge, puffy white snow. But only for about 5 minutes.

5. I'm ready to get back to C25K. I just need my lungs to clear up. I'm pretty sure I would cough up a lung at this point.

6. Riley pooped in the tub tonight. Of course, Jody had just walked out the door to go to Academy (more fishing trip preparation, as I type, he's in the living room watching YouTube videos on how to use his new high powered fish finder) Anyway, yes, she pooped in the tub and was quite upset about it. I hate that she gets all upset, but on the other hand, at least she's aware of what's going on. Seems like from a potty training standpoint, that has to be a step in the right direction.

7. Wine is good. Even the cheap stuff.

8. (See, I knew I couldn't keep it to 7) Riley's picture in some super cute bloomers my friend Kirsten made was featured on one of her fellow etsy team member's pages. Kirsten has some adorable stuff, check out her store here.

7 Random Things

1. I'm still sick. Better than I was, but not well yet either. I do have a voice, it's just scratchy and kind of fades in and out. Bring on the sexy voice! Jody is a little under the weather, too. Riley has a gross cough, but it seems likes that could be that she's getting sick or it could just mean that she's a toddler.

2. Mom, Ashley, Riley, and I went to Perini's for lunch today. We all really had hamburgers in mind. Well, we got out there and decided we needed steaks. So yes, we had a $100+ lunch. But man, it was good. And it is a gorgeous day.


3. I kept my friend Trish's daughter last night. Sarah Posey is 2 months younger than Riley and they are BFFs for sure. They had a really good time. Sarah got tired and went to sleep on the couch about 8:30. Riley, who takes after me apparently, decided she did not need to go to sleep and spent a good 10 minutes torturing Sarah by tickling her, smooching her, poking her, and at last resort, literally climbing on top of her and using her as a pillow. Poor little Sarah never wiggled, she was so tired.

4. Jody is going on his annual fishing trip Thursday. I don't want to sound, uh, well, excited, but I kind of am...he and I always do better if we get a few days apart. I'm sure the next few days will be a flurry of activity, with him acting like a giddy school girl at the idea of going to Amistad for a few days with the guys ;)

5. I am leaving Riley overnight for the first time next weekend. It's kind of crazy to think that for 20+ MONTHS, I have been there to put her to bed every night or to comfort her if she wakes in the night. I have to leave on March 7 for a training in Dallas. It's just one night, not a big deal. I'm ok with it, actually looking forward to getting out of town - figure I can get in a little shopping and eat a good meal somewhere up there. The only trick will be I need to leave before Jody gets back from fishing, so we'll just have to do a little planning. Planning is fine with me, but J prefers to fly by the seat of his pants.

6. Riley is now obsessed with purses - or "pahr" as she calls them. Today, she decided she needed my mom's little Coach bag. To drag through the dirt and mud at Perini's. Good thing they are durable.
7. Is it wrong that I think Zac Efron is super duper cute?

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Riley finally got to experience her first real snow on Tuesday.

I happened to get sick on Monday and was home on Tuesday. If it hadn't been for the snow, I probably would have sent Riley to Becky's for the day so I could get some rest. But with the roads kind of iffy, I kept her home with me.

Ugh.

Last night, I had all these plans to write a really witty blog about several mundane things that were going on lately. Oh how I wish I could have written that blog, but alas, it was not meant to be.

About the time I was winding Riley down for bed, she started crying, holding her tummy and saying "poo poo poo poo". She was so pitiful. I wasn't sure what was wrong, but it didn't seem normal at all. But then again, I'm not sure life is normal with a toddler.

Anway, she tooted a couple of times and was all grins and giggles afterward. I put her to bed, no problem. About 5 minutes later, she starts crying and saying "mumma mumma" desperately. Not normal at all. So I go in her room, pick her up and she vomits all over me, projectile style, twice.

She had also thrown up in her bed. Poor baby. And poor mumma. I smelled. She was miserable. And Jody thought he had it rough, having to even witness any of this. Men.

Anyway, I got him to run her a bath and clean her up, while I set to cleaning up myself, the floor, her bed, her bear, and her blanket. And then he got sick.

What a fun night we had. She seemed to feel better after her bath. Until she threw up again. At least this time it was on Jody. As bad as I felt for her, I was happy she threw up on him. I giggled several times while I was cleaning her up again. This time, she let me rock her and was alseep in a matter of minutes. What a night.

Apparently, it was a bug, even though Jody desperately wanted to blame Pizza Hut. Four of the six babies Becky kept this week threw up either last night or today. Pretty sure we can't blame Pizza Hut for all that.

Maybe this weekend I'll get around to my witty posting. I doubt it, but you never know.

My New Favorite Picture....

I think this might be my new favorite picture of Riley....

Hewwo?

So today Riley has said/done two things that are new....

We went to my mom's for Valentine's Day / my mom's birthday.

Riley LOVES to play in her Gigi's room and immediately latched on to Gigi's iPod. I'm sure Gigi was quite thrilled ;)

Riley also was very interested in her shirt AND her bellybutton as always.

Then Riley puts Gigi's iPod to her ear. This is nothing new...the child has been "using" a cell phone for ages. I actually have a picture of her doing downdog WITH her cell phone in her hand. And yes, it was a real cell phone - just not an active cell phone :)

Anyway, back to the story...she put the iPod phone to her ear and says "Hewwo?"

I thought I was going to die from the cuteness factor. Her standard "conversation" on her cell phone consists of "Hi!" or "Go!", but never "Hewwo?"

Just more proof my baby is growing up!

Then, a little while later, Riley walks over to Lala (her aunt, my sister) and just slaps the devil out of her and then comes over to me for a hug...I squatted down to her level and said "Riley, it's not nice to hit, you need to go give Lala a hug and a kiss and tell her you're sorry."

So she walks over to Ashley and gives her a hug and a kiss and says "Sowwy." Another heartmelting moment. Granted it started with her slapping my sister, but still, at least she wasn't slapping me. :) Anway, that is the first time I've heard her say sorry. I'm sure we'll have many more sorry's and hewwo's to come, but those were just the first I had heard of them :)

Who Loves You????

This was going to be our Valentine's Day card:



And I absolutely LOVED it...it had a back, too. The template came from a great resource for photography: I Love Photography. I got the picture situated, made a back to the card, since I like the double sided press printed cards, uploaded to WHCC...and these weren't made with the crop/bleed edge...so my card would have been cut off. Anway, I thought these were super cute...and did I mention, the template was free on ILP's Share a Square? Yep, tons of free templates.

Really????

I know other blogs do Wordless Wednesdays or Not-Me-Mondays.

I'm thinking maybe I need to start Full of It Fridays.

I know this isn't a Friday, but the name works.

So, without further ado, I give you Octomom, supposedly surgery free.



Really???? Come on lady. I mean, Kate only had 6 at once and she had a tummy tuck, on air no less. Or maybe not on air, but the topic was televised. Anyway, I am so ready for this woman to go away.

19 Months....

It’s so hard to believe my itty bitty baby (if you can call a 9 pounder itty bitty) has grown in the rambunctious toddler that she has…what can I say about 19 months – she’s an absolute blast when she isn’t being a toddler terrorist. I think that pretty well sums it up. When she is good, she is so sweet and fun – but when she is bad, she is very, very bad.

• She talks all the time. Most of the time, I can understand her…sometimes, I just fake it. Or say “can you show me?” Most of the time that keeps her happy. I have friends that ask me how many words she uses…I don’t even know how to answer that – she repeats all sorts of stuff. Except what you really want her to repeat. I’ve been trying for I Love You or Love You for ages. Well, she finally said it – to the dog.
• She loves to do “ring ring” (translation: Ring Around the Rosey). No one is allowed to sit it out, 100% participation is required. And she is ALWAYS the last one to fall down. She has to make sure everyone really falls down before she, too, will fall down.
• She loves her babies - none of them of the human variety. She has a bunny baby, a bear baby, a monkey baby, a Who baby, and a bear dressed like a bunny baby. And she loves them all.
  
• She has highjacked my Mega Zabba. She has her own smaller version, but apparently she prefers mine to sleep with...and does so every night.
• Speaking of sleep, Riley is a good sleeper - she hits the hay about 8 every night and sleeps until we wake her in the morning. I can't remember the last time one of us had to get up in the night with her. No more rocking either. I weaned her around the middle of December and along with weaning went the rocking. Bedtime had gotten to be a struggle - she would fight me for two hours. We started just laying her down and it's worked like a charm.
  
• She loves her some macaroni and cheese. That's my go to meal for nights she isn't digging food.
  
• She tried fish sticks for the first time Tuesday night. She is a fan.
• She loves her jacket from Old Navy. Like to the point she doesn't ever want to take it off. Becky said yesterday, she literally wore it all day long - even during her nap.
  
• She does down dog on command.
• Elmo rules the dvd player in her room, but the Chipmunks are a close second.
  
• She loves to dance. Single Ladies will almost always get a reaction...she will even spank the booty....
• She loves to lead people around by the hand.
• I bribe her into getting dressed by telling her we'll go outside.
• She is all about going outside - or 'side 'side as she calls it. The biggest issue is once she's outside, it's pretty tough to get her back in.
  
• She takes one nap a day, for about 3 hours most of the time. Heaven help if you miss her nap, she gets a little mean.
  

S.H.I.T.

SO HAPPY IT'S THURSDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rocka Rocka Bye Baby.....

So Monday night, I'm getting Riley's bath ready and Jody is in the kitchen with her. When I go to get her, she's disappeared and Jody said she had gone my direction, so he thought she was with me. Turns out she was in her room, with her little Who snuggle pod baby, rocking the baby in giant recliner in her room...I watched from the door for a few minutes and then went in there...and she had found a "blanket" for her baby - a wash cloth. She was so stinkin' cute...I asked her if she was rocking her baby and her reply was "rocka rocka rocka."

She also "walka walka walkas" into Becky's house every morning....

I love this kid.

She Is So My Kid....

Yeah, Um....

I am a sucky blogger.

It's only been since August 2009 since I posted. And it was was more of a vent.

In all fairness, I DID start a post back in September about vacationing with a 14 month old and whether or not it really qualifies as a vacation when you have a 14 month old with you. But alas, it is sitting in post purgatory. MAYBE I will finish it someday. Maybe I won't.

Anyway, this is my obligatory "here I go, I'm going to post more" post. I really have no excuse. I mean, you can even post by e-mail. I could, like, do that at work. Or not. Since I never have.

Anyway, this is post #100. Maybe it's a turning point. I do know I was rereading some of my posts tonight and I'm glad they are there. I need to remember that...and try post at least monthly...that would definitely be better than my semi-annual posts of late.

Daily Update

Her rash is better! No pics tonight, but it's definitely better.

Let's see what else. My grandfather had his surgery today and it went as expected. He will be in the hospital for about 2 weeks.

I had a boring software demo at work today. The girl repping the software dresses like she is going to the bar. I have no problem with her clothing, but if you are going to a bank, I would probably wear a suit. Or at least something my boobs weren't falling out of. But that's just me :) Hey, it probably generally helps her....

Random picture of the day that I can scrounge up off Jody's laptop:
I took this from Sara's porch with a not very good camera to be honest. But it sure turned out good.

Broken Hearts

I have some blog buttons to the left...one is for a baby named Stellan (Stellan has an amazing story) and the other is for a baby named Veiyah that has HLHS. I read both of their blogs frequently and keep them in my thoughts and prayers often through out the day.

You see, my sweet sister-in-law and brother-in-law had a little boy named Reed that had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. He passed away from complications shortly before his 4th birthday, so I guess I know how badly these babies and families need the prayers and support. They have a hard road in front of them.

So please, keep these families in your prayers.

Of Rashes and Such....

Poor Riley. She's over the ear infections...but yesterday when I picked her up from Becky's, her "eczema" has spread to her neck and was really red and angry looking. I did our nightly routine of a bath and greasing the baby with Vaseline (not the most fun game I've ever played)...and I put her to bed, thinking it would look better in the morning.

It didn't. It was worse and had spread to the other side of her neck, her back, her tummy. And it looked different.
I took her back to Dr. Strong, who thinks Amoxicillin is probably to blame. He doesn't mean that she is necessarily allergic (she could be), but he thinks she is possibly allergic to the dye or the flavoring. He also suggested we switch to soy formula for her bottles she takes at Memaw Becky's house.

By the end of the day, her rash looked like this:

You can see the patch of real eczema on the lower right hand area of the picture...this new rash definitely isn't eczema. Poor baby. The good thing is it doesn't really seem to bother her for the most part...it isn't itching or anything that I can tell. Dr. Strong did say I give her some Benadryl, but I haven't yet.

So....

Riley is feeling much better now! I guess around 4:00 on Tuesday, she perked up and started feeling better.

Now me, on the other hand, I started having a little bit of a stingy throat. By 2 am, my throat was full on raw, painful, and swollen and I was running a 102 degree temperature.

Mom picked Riley up and took her to Becky's for me and I took myself to the doctor, where they tested me for strep. Yep. I have strep throat. YUCK.

Turns out my mother-in-law also has strep throat. So, I'm wondering if Riley didn't in fact have strep and passed it on to us.

I am starting to feel better on day #2 of strep throat, after a penicillin shot and lots of Advil and Tylenol. My temp is now 99-100 versus 100-1o2. So that's an improvement.

I'm working on a post for Riley's 9 month birthday. Even though she didn't have a very fun 9 month birthday, I thought in the spirit of renewed blogging, I would do a good post about her 9 months so far.

Marley and Me is kind of distracting me at the moment though. I know it's going to make me cry even though I read the book and know what's coming....

Poor Baby

Riley had her 9 month birthday today and all she got was a lousy double ear infection. Poor baby. She is so miserable.

Riley's 9 month "well" baby check up just happened to be this morning, which was good timing, since she is sick.

Her weight was 20 lbs 8 oz and her length was about 29" (she threw a hissy fit when we laid her down to be measured). I had noticed when I got her out of the car, she had some drainage in one of her ears, so I kind of had an idea of what was coming at that point.

Riley was very good with Dr. Strong, he is very kind with her and she was ok with him, better than even her 6 month appointment. He checked her ears first and said both were infected. He showed me the ear diagram and how it all happens. We talked about her rash, which he feels is eczema, probably caused by dry skin, but I don't know. She has never had dry skin, she has the softest, best feeling skin ever. But I'll do as he says so that if it doesn't get better, or it gets worse, I can say I followed his protocol. But VASELINE as lotion? GROSS! Anyway, this is what her rash looks like:

Hopefully it will start clearing up again, one way or another.

Anyway, after her appointment, I dropped her prescription off at United and met my mother-in-law at my house since she offered to watch Riley so I could go in to work. I think they slept all day. Riley was so tired, I guess it's hard to sleep when you have infections in both ears :(

March 29, 2009

Riley is sick today. Not a happy baby. She woke up at 2 am and would sleep a little, cry a lot, and nurse just a little. Around 7 this morning, I decided maybe a bath would help her relax...when I took her pj's off, I saw that her rash had returned. Poor kid.

I guess I should back up...Thursday a week ago, I noticed she had a rash on her back...she seemed fine other than this rash. On Friday, I called the pediatrician's office and visited with his nurse Crystal. She said if she felt fine, just to use some hydrocortisone cream twice a day and if it wasn't better by Monday, to call for an appointment.

On Saturday, it looked better.

On Sunday, it looked even better. But she woke up with a 102.5 temperature. After I gave her Motrin, she was back to her normal happy self.

Monday I kept her home from her sitter's house, as I suspected she had a virus. The rash continued to look better, and she had no fever, she was in a great mood.

Fast forward to Friday, the 27th...she has a snotty nose and a junky cough. Riley doesn't seem to feel great, but ok.

Saturday (yesterday), she is in a really good mood, just a runny nose and occasional cough.

Now her rash is back and it's on her tummy. You can tell she feels really bad today. My mom came over to relieve me - I was at the end of my rope. Poor Riley has slept all day for the most part. Now if I could only get some sleep - it's just not that easy anymore.

Bad, Bad Mommy!

Wow, I am a really bad blogger. You would think with the birth of my daughter, I would blog more. Didn't seem to work out that way. Hmph.