Trip up north/sick baby/PWR

We had a great time visiting everyone "up north." (Saying that it is North is wrong for many of the people living in the USA, but if you live in the Rio Grande Valley, everything is north, as is North Texas, where we went.) We saw Grandma and Papa (my parents) and my sister and her husband. Allyssa got to play with my sis's niece, Hannah. David went to Lubbock for a Tech game with my Dad. Grandma, Cristy, and I played with Allyssa while they were gone. Allyssa loved tromping around outside and playing with the dogs. She loves dogs. Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa's (David's parents). We wore Allyssa out with a trip to the zoo. The next morning she threw up her eggs. Who knows why? My dad says it was the change in climate. Who knows? We thought that she was okay and it was just because I put her on a rocking horse an hour after she ate. Maybe she's not good with rocking horses, right? So we went to the Arboretum. We pulled her around in a wagon, so she didn't have walk. She LOVES the wagon. That night we went out for Mexican food at David's favorite place to go (and mine, too), Abuelo's. Allyssa ate really well. That night around 12:30, she threw up. We called our doctor, who is really a CPNP, but whatever. She is pregnant, too so I felt bad waking her, but she was the one on call that night. She said that she figured it was something Allyssa was eating, so it was okay to travel home. She was very tired the next day (we were planning on leaving that day). She slept a lot of the trip. She didn't eat much, but she did eat lunch, which she threw up all over me in a gas station in Corpus. I feel bad for the attendant who had to clean up with bits of mac and cheese. Poor guy. We both got a change of clothes, and got back on the road. David thought that a trip to our Night Clinic was our best option, so we passed our home and headed farther south. We made it to the NC before anyone else, which is good because it is first come first serve. Allyssa had a finger prick and strep test. Then they checked her ears for an infection. Bingo. Infection in the ears. She also has some drainage that is going to her tummy making her vomit. She threw up two more times before bed. This morning, no vomit. Yay! She isn't eating or drinking enough. We have lots of beverage options for her, but she's not interested. We let her wag around her sippy cup, but she's not drinking much. She ate breakfast okay and took a nap right away. Then David got home from a meeting just as she was waking up. He watched her while I ran to the store to get some fruit, milk, and bread. Allyssa eats fruit well, so we hoped it would help. Then, I was off to the doctor for my apt. David wanted to come, but we couldn't leave Allyssa with anyone with her feeling so bad even though she's not contagious, the doctor said so. My doctor had to do an emergency C-section, so I had to wait to see the other doctor. She's great. She helped deliver Allyssa and stopped in to check on me when she was in the hospital while I was staying there after Allyssa's birth. Then, off to the pharmacy to pick up the prescription I couldn't get last night for Allyssa. When I got home Allyssa was already down for her nap.
Tomorrow, I'm supposed to leave for PWR (Pastor's Wives Retreat). It is in La Grange. That's a ways north, too. I'm looking forward to going, but feel bad because Allyssa's sick. David still wants me to go. We'll see tomorrow if she's feeling better.

Big News

We finally got to tell our families, so we are ready to tell you. We are expecting. We are due on April 3. I am really nervous about this pregnancy because the last one wasn't the best in the world. I'm hopin to make it to the middle of March, which would be wonderful. This pregnancy is already different than my first. For one, my stress level is lower. I have no major life changes this go around, well excpet baby number 2 coming. I feel pretty good. I'm tired, but not too tired. We did have a scary couple of weeks back around week 6 or 7 or was it 8??? We thought that I'd lost the baby, but the baby is fine. Besides trying to deal with the obvious, one really hard thing during that time was that I was not allowed to pick up Allyssa. She was such a trooper and learned to walk well. I just kept telling her, "I'm sorry sweetie, I can't pick you up right now, you'll have to walk." She'd seem to understand and do just that. What a big girl! I wasn't officially told that I can pick her up now, but my bad symptoms are gone, so I do pick her up some, but not as much as I did before. We are almost 12 weeks along now. I am already showing, which bothered me for a little while. I didn't show with Lyssa until I was 5 months pregnant. At 6 weeks, I could already see the difference. I guess my body knew what to do. (And yes, we do want our children this close together. This was not an accident, and we are very excited!)

Allyssa's Room

We moved 13 days prior to Allyssa's birth, so setting up a room for her wasn't something that we could do. We finally got to get some paint up, and, well I'll let you be the judge! We'll have more pictures after we get stuff up on the walls and everything.

It was a cool 65 in the morning yesterday, so...

She's over a year old, so it is time to put her to work!

Goofy Girl!

I had been hiding this toy for a day when Allyssa was tired of her toys. When she got it, she was a little too young for it and hurt herself with it, so I put it up for a while. It is a centipede that sings. She LOVES it. And she sits on it!

More from Sept. 11

September 11th photos

Best Day EVER!

That's how I'm feeling about the last couple of days. The weather is...amazing...to say the least. Can you believe that it is one in the afternoon and only 88 degrees?!! Did I die and go to heaven or what!? I've been trying to spend as much time as I can with Allyssa outside. That's where the sad part comes in. Seems like the mosquitos love Allyssa. On her left calf I counted 13 bites while she was playing in Aiti's bed outside this morning. 13!!! Dumb bugs. They eat her up! This morning David gave her Band-Aid Brand bug bite ointment stuff, and that didn't work, so he put hydrocortizone cream on her; that didn't work. So he gave her Benadryl liquid. That was before 8 this morning. He let me sleep in for about 45 minutes this morning, so when I got up and ready for the day, I noticed that she was scratching. I got the sample that the doctor gave me of some prescription bug bite stuff out and put in on her. Then, I told David that I did it. He told me that he'd already put the other stuff on her and given her Benadryl. Guess she was doctored up. But it wasn't helping. I got her down for a nap and then gave her a snack. After that we were off to Wal-mart to get some Aveno bath stuff. She was doing okay when we got home, so we played outside a while. Then she started scratching, so we were off to get her in the bath. After the bath I put her in some soft pants so she couldn't get to the bug bites as easily and to keep the carpet from rubbing on them. She's done okay since then. We haven't put more ointment on her, but before her afternoon nap we did give her Benadryl in hopes that she'd sleep for a couple of hours. I hope to get some pictures up before she wakes, but we'll see. I've got to plan supper for tonight and for Saturday next week when I'll be at PWR and David will be taking care of Allyssa alone for 2 whole days!! That's the first time I'll be away without her for any length of time, so...well, more on that another time.

For Cristy, Congrats!!!

A while back I attempted to post lots of pictures of things that I used with Allyssa (I never finished posting stuff, sorry), but I never said the reason why I decided to do that. My sister is having her first in February! She found out yesterday if it is a boy or a girl, but you'll have to read Jay's great comic strip to find out!
I just read this post and laughed. Here ya go, Cristy!
Taken from Fried Okra
Ya'll know I would NEVER, but still, it's fun to daydream on occasion.

1 - Tape Mama's eyelids open.

2 - Tape Baby's eyelids shut.

3 - Tape pacifier in Baby's mouth. If Baby must have pacifier to sleep, why won't Baby stop shootin' it outta mouth like a cheap plastic "cork" out of a bottle of cold duck?

4 - Tape blanket onto Baby, who requires no less than straight-jacket-tight swaddle for sleepage but can wrestle arms loose in 2.9 seconds flat and immediately go into hysterics because "MAMAAAAAAAAAAAA! HEWP! MY ARMS! DEY ARE MOVING AND I CANNOT MAKE DEM STOP!"

5 - Tape other household child(ren)'s mouth(s) shut when Baby finally falls into twitchy, nervous-looking sleep that probably won't last longer than it takes Mama to get down to the kitchen and hastily grab a spoon and a tub of Nutella.

6 - Tape other household child(ren) to wall to guarantee child(ren)'s continued quietude and safety as Baby miraculously sleeps through Mama's frenzied Nutellafest and Mama sets sights on first shower in three days.

7- Tape over doorbell. Stupid doorbell! No shower for Mama this time. Splattered Nutella stuck in Mama's hair will have to wait until the weekend.

8 - Tape waist and legholes of Baby's diaper. Mama's desperate, but even in desperation doesn't want THAT kind of shower.

9 - Tape over & Lights part of Sound & Lights baby monitors. & Lights often confused for Hellish Angry Red Lightening in parents' sleep-dazed heads at 2:30 AM. Scary nightmares!

10 - Tape mailbox shut. Hospital bills from Baby's birth making Mama and Daddy cry harder and sleep less than Baby.

I don't think I remember a nicer day

It was down right cold this morning (65 degrees). I made Allyssa put on pants and a jacket to go outside. Now, I can't wait for her to wake up so that we can go play! It is 88 degrees!!! Did you hear that??!!! I don't remember 88 degrees since February but I also remember that it was very windy in the spring. Not so today. It is beautiful! Thank you cold front!

Brand Aversion

Allyssa either has a brand aversion or doesn't like canned carrots anymore. The ones I first bought for her were Hill Country Fair brand from HEB and they were low sodium. The next ones I bought were Great Value brand and not low sodium. Of course, I don't want to try them, so I don't know if one brand is better than the other. I was just too tired to peel and boil fresh carrots.

Nap time blues

IS she giving up her morning nap or not? The first two days that i decided no more morning nap went great. She was sleepy for her afternoon nap and slept well. Then she actually went to bed on time because she didn't sleep too late in the afternoon because her afternoon nap was bumped up a little because of no morning nap. Then Sunday came. Sundays are the worst days of the week.
This is how they go:
Allyssa wakes up. She eats breakfast. She plays with Mommy. Daddy wakes up. She plays while Mommy and Daddy get ready for church. Daddy goes to church. Mommy pulls out the guitar and goes through a couple of songs while Allyssa dances. We pack stuff for the potlucks that have happend the last two weeks and thank goodness are over for a while. We pack stuff for Sunday School. We pack a snack for Allyssa and the kids in her Sunday School class. Allyssa gets dressed for church. Allyssa walks across the street while Mommy pushes the stroller full of stuff for the Sunday School Opening, her booster seat for the potluck, the food for the potluck, and stuff for Sunday School while carrying a guitar across the street. We finally stumble into the Annex where the potluck takes place and Mommy can unload the stroller. Allyssa gets set loose because Mommy has no more hands. Mommy gets ready for the Sunday School Opening, gathers Allyssa and goes into the Sanctuary to play guitar for the kids. Allyssa dances with Daddy. Then we head to Sunday School where Allyssa enjoys the lesson and then plays with Mack and Ashton. Then we're off to church. By this time, Allyssa is exhausted. She cries during the entire service, but Mommy has trouble getting out of the pew because Mommy is on the inside of the pew and someone else is sitting on the outside. Mommy finally gets Allyssa outside, but that doesn't fix things. She keeps crying. She's so tired. Finally church is over and we eat and she goes to nap.

After all that, Monday I hoped would be easier, but no. She didn't take a morning nap. She was exhausted. I realised that she wanted one, but it was too late to give her one. She took a nap after lunch at 12:15. It only lasted 45 minutes because she was woken by a loud noise. She would sleep after that, so she was up and cranky until bedtime. This morning, she threw such a fit at about 9 that I just put her to sleep. I hope that she will sleep tonight because that is the problem, she won't go to bed at night because she isn't sleepy yet because nap time was just a little while ago because she wouldn't fall asleep for her nap because her other nap had her rested. Today I get to figure this out on my own because David is gone all day. He is usually home for lunch and puts her down for her afternoon nap, but he won't be home until supper today.

Growing Girl

15 month check up and shots today. She's 29.75 inches and 21 pounds 10 ounces.

I read this recent article in at Parenting and laughed. I might not get Mom-of-the-Year. I give Allyssa the crusts on purpose. I want the insides. When we have toast at supper, she eats my crusts and LOVES is! And why wouldn't she? That's all she's ever tasted! :) Poor baby. Today we ate some peach cobbler. The peaches came from our tree and were a bit tart. Okay a lot tart. I wanted the cobbler bread and I had given her grapes and bananas which are two of her favorites. So I gave her the tart peach part instead of the yummy bread part. She promptly stuck her tounge out like "GET THIS OFF ME!!" I got to eat all the cobbler and she thought she was the winner because she got grapes!!

Cold Cooked Carrots

When my big sister was little bitty, she snuck cold canned peas out of the refrigerator. Personally, on hearing this story, I thought she was nuts. But hey, if that's what a baby wants to snitch, so be it! Now, it is my daughter who is snitching. For some odd reason she likes canned carrots. She likes them so much she snitches them out of the 'frige. Due to the invention of Ziploc containers, she can't get them all by herself, so she carries the container around the house until she finds me and can give it to me to open for her. Silly girl!

Long awaited photos

These pictures are from the past couple of weeks. Allyssa playing outside and in the mud and with Daddy's birthday cake all over herself!

Words!

Every day Allyssa says more and more words. She now says many of her body parts and knows where they are, she knows words about eating and babies and toys and animals. She makes lots of sounds for animals, too. I totally understand her many times, but other people aren't quite cued in always! :)

MOPS

Today was the first day of MOPS for the school year. MOPS is Mothers of Preschoolers. That doesn't mean 3 and 4 year olds like I thought. It means kids not in school yet. I went to one meeting last year and a couple of play groups this summer. I'm excited about it starting up again. Allyssa cried when the lady took her from me and led her into the classroom. I said goodbye just as she was being taken to her room. She cried, but the lady assured me that she'd be playing and happy soon. I decided to let it go and let her go. Sure enough 2 hours later when I got back Allyssa did not even notice when I came in. When I told her hi and she actually looked at me, she wasn't excited to see me or even interested that I was there. After a minute she did want to show me her baby doll (not really hers, but she was playing with it). She cried when we left because we had to leave the baby doll behind. But we got to take pictures with balloons and then take the balloons home for Daddy's birthday!!! She didn't have a nap this morning, so she fell asleep on the ride home (also, we lost her potted plant because I put it on the roof of the car and forgot to take it off, she planted it herself and I'm sad that I lost it). She showed Daddy the balloons and her picture of Boz when we got home. He really enjoyed hearing how she knew Boz's name and surprised her caregivers at MOPS by saying "BOZ!" when they brought her coloring page out. It was a good morning! We topped it off with birthday cake after lunch! Peppermint Poke Cake. Yum!

Hotter than Hot

It is hot here. The past 4 days have been over 100. Yesterday and today were both up to 105. It is hot. I let Aiti in today, and Allyssa loves it! She follows Aiti around and pets her and says "Ai-ti. Ai. Ai."

Allyssa's Attachment

Allyssa is now attached to her blanket and pacifier that she sleeps with. During the past week, this has occured. Now, when she wakes up, she no longer cries for us to come get her. Instead, she plays with her blanket. When she wakes up from her naps, she doesn't want to get out of bed because she knows that the pacifier and blanket get left in the crib. She cuddles for a while in bed while I talk to her. Then she gets ready for a snack and decides that it is okay to get out of the crib.

BOO!!

Allyssa and I played a big game of "Boo!" before her afternoon nap today. She had so much fun. "Boo!" is a game in which Mommy hides behind a wall or a piece of furniture and pops out and says, "Boo!" Allyssa laughs at first and then comes to get me. She laughs so hard that she falls down on the way to find me. Then, she decides that a certain hiding place is the best, so she takes me there and can't figure out why the game isn't as much fun since she's in her favorite hiding place. The problem? I'm in her favorite hiding place too, and can't pop out and say "Boo!"