2nd Birthday/Christmas Pictures

Eek!

My baby girl is gonna be two in three weeks!!!! Time has gone by so fast!

Trick or Treat!

Unfortunately, we did not get to go Trick or Treating this year. Brianna is sick and has been running a fever since Thursday morning. She has no other symptoms but is running a fever doesn't have much of an appetite and is fussier than normal. We decided to dress her up anyway and since she didn't get to show off her ballerina costume, I thought I would share some pictures of her in it(Thanks, Tina for the tu-tu!). Isn't she cute!

Three years ago...

my life took a change of direction I had never intended. We were a year into the adoption process and had a meeting scheduled to meet a potential birth mother. We had an Encounter Service the Friday before this meeting and we went to pray about the meeting and for the young mother. In the middle of the prayer Pastor Aaron started praying in a different direction and was being very intense. We did not know what was happening but we could tell something big was happening. On that Monday, we started heading up to Indy to meet the birth mother. We were anxious but trying to enjoy the trip. We happened to notice the compass in our dash said we were heading South which was obviously not the case. We pulled off the road and try to reset it. It worked and we continued on our way. A few minutes down the road though and it said South again. We figured something must be wrong with it and we would have to get it looked at when we got home. We were about 30 minutes south of Indy and our adoption agency called and said the birth mother did not want to meet that day. We were obviously upset. We turned around and headed home. By the way, after we turned around the compass still said we were heading South.
In November, we meet Pastor Aaron and Stacey for lunch. I was having a hard time dealing with the fact that after being active with the adoption agency for over year (they normally place with in a year). Also, November is not a very good month for me...I lost my Grandma, and an uncle, both of which I was very close to during this month. Our first baby died during November (it was not confirmed until December) and we found out our second baby had died in November. During the meeting, Pastor Aaron said he had something to tell us. He said that night when he was praying with God told him that we were going to have a child of our own! He said he didn't know what we were supposed to do about the adoption or if we would have any more miscarriages but that God intended for us to have a baby of our own. We prayed about it and felt that that was what God wanted us to do.
A few weeks later, we get a call about a potential placement. And a few days after that, they call us about another and better placement. It appeared that we were going to be getting a baby very soon! We started preparing for the arrival of our little boy. The day we were supposed to head to Indy to prepare for the baby's birth our agency called and said that the birth mother had changed her mind...we were not going to be getting a baby. We were devastated. I hurt as much as any of our miscarriages. After praying awhile about the adoption, we decided that God did not attend for us to adopt.
In March, we discovered that we were pregnant! We were obviously excited and nervous. The pregnancy was not easy for us. I enjoyed it immensely but we were always afraid. But God got us through and blessed us with a beautiful and perfectly healthy baby girl.
I am writing this because I often forget the little ways God was with us during our journey. I am often dumbfounded about the situation with the compass...He didn't want us to adopt and he was trying to tell us to turn around and head South, or home. I wish we would have been observant enough to pick up on it, but we were not. But I do think the next time my compass seems to be on the fritz, I will head the direction it is saying...God might be giving me directions!

Random Summer Pics

Here are the pictures I promised you a little while ago! I got caught up working on Brianna's scrapbook so now that it is up to date so I figured I better post some pics for everyone! Most are of Brianna enjoying summer or with one of her new milestones (sleeping in a big girl bed and potty training) but I had to slip in a few of my new van. Hey, I wouldn't be driving a van if I didn't have a little one, would I? Enjoy the pics!

Summer Happenings

I realized it has been awhile since I last posted, so I will try to give you an update on what has been happening in our family this summer.
First, for those of you who might not of read the last few posts, we had a miscarriage in early July. I ended up having to have a D&C which I had a much harder recovering from than normal. My doctor says it is because my body has been through so much. I hope things go better this month, because I ended up having severe cramps. I normally have bad to moderate cramping, but these were so bad that after taking three Pamprin (two at first, then one more two hours later) and half a Loratab (4.5 hrs after original dose of Pamprin) I still woke up through out the night in pain. Other than that, we are doing fairly well dealing with the loss. There are obviously times that are more difficult than others and we deal with those as the happen but for the most part life is back to normal.
At the same time of the miscarriage, Brianna decided she was ready to start potty training! Talk about bad timing for Mom & Dad! Sometimes she wants to sit on the potty, sometimes she doesn't. She normally goes potty in big potty about once a week. She is also pretty good at telling us right after she goes. So it is just a matter of getting her to recognize the urge before she actually goes. We are not pushing it. I realize she is still young but we are definitely encouraging her!
We also took off the front of her crib last week. She has showed no signs of trying to climb out of it but she was just too big to lift over the front anymore, at least for me who is a little on the short side. She is doing well! Sleeping through the night still and not getting up and getting into things or getting us! She hasn't even fallen out of bed yet, even though one night I re-positioned her because it looked like she might! She is growing up so quickly!
We bought a new van a few weeks ago! I love it! I know, most of you are thinking, "Didn't they just buy their van?" and the answer is yes. We had our Grand Caravan for about 18 months. We just did not like it. I will admit, that we are spoiled! Our car has tons of options on it. When we bought it we were not necessarily looking for a car with that many options, but it came with them. Our van had very few and it was just really hard to adjust, and trust me, I tried! So, we decided to see what we could do. We found a really good deal on a Toyota Sienna that was a year older, but had comparable miles and had everything we were looking for besides a DVD player and that wasn't a big deal. We really like it and it is nice not driving a Dodge for a change!
I joined the Praise Team at church a few weeks ago also! I was in choir in High School and loved it. I don't think that I am a very good/strong singer but it is something that brings me immense pleasure and that I find peace in, so it must be a gift that God has blessed me with. It is very odd for me though, because I don't like drawing attention to myself, I just like to blend in, and obviously, it is hard to do that while singing in a band (at least that is the way it feels to me).
Bobby & I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary in June. I can't believe we have already been married that long! It really doesn't seem like it! We went to Nashville and stayed at the Opryland Hotel for the night! It was a lot of fun, but difficult to be away from Brianna for the first time! I am not saying that I did not enjoy myself though! It was a nice break! We had a delicious dinner, went to the Opry, and took a boat ride, then it was time to come home! We could not wait to get back to Brianna and I was counting the minutes until we made it home the whole trip back!
We enjoyed our trip so much that we decided last weekend to go for the day and check out Opry Mills! We did not get a chance to visit it while we were on our trip and we needed to go to some outlet stores to get Brianna's fall/winter wardrobe so we decided to head there instead of Edinburgh. We decided that we like it better than Edinburgh since it is all indoors and it also has a Bass Pro shop which makes Bobby happy (hey, if he drives us all the there he should have at least one store he can enjoy!). So since it is about the same distance as Edinburgh we will probably start going there.
That is about all that has happened this summer since we took our vacation this spring. I will try to blog more often and get some pictures up soon!

Happenings

The last few weeks have been...well, difficult? I ended up having complications from the surgery so I had to go back to the doctor the Tuesday afterwards for an ultrasound to see what was going on. The doctor was not sure what was happening; either an infection (although the ultrasound did not show any signs of one) or my body was just reacting adversely due to the number of times I have had a D&C.
Emotionally/Spiritually, I have had a hard time also. I feel like I have taken this loss harder than I have taken one in a long time, including the last two I had before having Brianna. Maybe because it has been so long since I have had to go through this. Things were really bad the week after the surgery. I just didn't care. I functioned...barely. I was depressed and just figured that it was because I was grieving and my body was adjusting to no longer being pregnant. It took a few days to realize that I was just making excuses. After I made that realization and starting talking about the miscarriage that helped.
I still have a long way to come to get back to where I was before. I realized that I starting putting up walls in my heart when we had the first ultrasound that showed the baby was not growing right. I am still trying to knock those walls down...it has not been easy. I feel God let me down. My brain knows that He has a reason for all of this, my heart just wants my baby back. I am fighting daily to restore my relationship with God, but it is a struggle.
We have decided to take a break from trying to have another baby. Two miscarriages in less than 4 months is a little much. We want to make sure we/I am healed physically/mentally/spiritually before we consider it again. We also want to make sure that we want to risk another loss. We have been blessed with Brianna, and as much as I would love to have another baby, I cannot see putting ourselves and Brianna through this anymore.
Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers. Knowing that you have been praying for me when I couldn't brings such a sense of comfort. Please continue praying for my complete healing and an even stronger relationship with our Father.

Surgery

The surgery went well but I am still pretty wiped out. I actually slept most of the day yesterday, so I guess they gave me some pretty good drugs. The surgery itself only took 10 to 15 minutes. Actually, I don't remember ever feeling this worn out after a D&C, but my last one was 6 years ago, and unfortunately that means I am a bit older. The pros of having a D&C when you have a missed "abortion" (again, I don't know why they label a miscarriage an abortion, but they do)is that you don't have do deal with the severe cramps/contraction that you would if you waited it out and the bleeding is also significantly less. The cons are that is is more invasive. Besides from being worn out, I don't feel too bad except for my killer sore throat from having a breathing tube inserted for the surgery. Thanks for all the prayers, please keep them coming...I am having a lot of questions right now and dealing with a lot of confusion.

Another Angel

Just wanted to let everyone know that we lost the baby. It passed away a few weeks ago, probably shortly after my original ultrasound. The baby measured about the same as it did last time and did not have a heartbeat. Since my body does not normally miscarry naturally, I will have a D&C Friday morning. Thanks for all the prayers and please keep them coming.

Today's Test Results

I just heard from the doctor's office. My hormone levels are continuing to increase! I don't have to go back for more blood work. I have another ultrasound and appt on Tuesday, July 7th. Please continue to keep us in prayer and pray that we see a very healthy baby next week! Thanks for all of you thoughts and prayers...we really appreciate it!

Update

I just heard from the doctor's office. They said my HCG levels have increased just not quite as much as he had hoped so they are going to repeat the test again on Monday. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Thanks!

Brianna's Day Out

Monday while we were at the doctor, Brianna went over to Tina & Kasey's house to play with Owen (the older boys were at summer camp). Go to Tina's blog to see how much fun the two had.

Prayers Needed

A few weeks ago, we found out we were pregnant again. It was a surprise because after the last miscarriage we wanted to wait a little bit before trying to get pregnant. We went to the doctor today to have an ultrasound. It did not go very well. The baby had a heartbeat but measured about 5 days smaller than we thought it should be. Our OB did not say much but is doing a quantitative HCG test today and Friday. He said he will call us with the results after the second test. He also is going to do another ultrasound in two weeks. We really don't know what is going on but it doesn't look really good. It is very reminiscent of our first miscarriage. I am having a really hard time right now because I just want to know one way or the other. It is awful being pregnant and not be able to be excited and plan...you feel as if your life is on hold. Please pray for us and our baby. We need a miracle and we know God is capable of one but right now it is really hard to have hope in it.

Animal Noises

We have been working with Brianna on her animal noises lately. She has known that a doggy goes "oof, oof" for awhile now. She also knows that a cow goes "moo." Sometimes she will even tell us that a duck goes "ack, ack." So we have been working on what sound a cat makes. I have been trying to get her to say "meow," while Bobby has been trying to get her to say what our cat actually says..."hiss." Well, much to Bobby's delight last night when we asked her what sound a cat makes she says "ssss." Maybe we need a friendlier cat?

18 Month Appt.

Today I took Brianna to her 18 month check-up and we were lucky enough to have Nana join us since she is still off work. The result was that she is perfectly healthy! She weighs 23 lbs 2 oz (29th percentile) and is 31 inches long(26th percentile)! He also said that she is verbally advanced although she didn't say anything while he was in the room...he just took my word for it. She has been asking questions lately like "Where Mommy/Daddy/shoe/etc go?" She points to toilet paper and says "nose" then says "please" when I try to get her to say tissue. The doctor said that her ears are clear so I guess her grumpiness is due to teeth (she has been gnawing on her hands lately). After lunch, we went shopping and then to lunch with Brie's aunts & cousins on the Howard side. Now she is taking a much deserved nap. We had a really good day.

Lazy Mornings

On the weekends when we don't have anything to do bright and early we will bring Brianna into bed with us when she wakes up. I love being able to cuddle with her in the morning instead of being up and rushing around trying to get ready for the day. It just makes for a more relaxed day. Anyway, on Saturday after I brought her into our room went she was crawling around and found my belly. She then proceeded to blow several raspberries on my it...loud wet ones that caused all of us to laugh! By the time I got her distracted enough to be able to pull down my shirt my stomach was wet with baby drool! And then so was my shirt! This morning, I went and got her, brought her into bed with us and began the wonderful cuddling! After a few minutes, she crawled over to Bobby and put her hand out to him and said "Hot!" then blew on him. She did it again. She thought Bobby's chest was hot. It was so cute! Then it was back to the raspberries. I love lazy mornings!

18 months

Oh my goodness! How the past year and a half has flown by! I can't believe she is already 18 months old. It just seems like yesterday that we brought her home, sat the baby carrier with a sleeping baby on the coffee table and just stared at her thinking, "What do we do now?" She is so much fun and very trying and I love her dearly. Her 18 month check up is on Friday so I will let everyone know how that goes.
Please enjoy her 18 portraits. I think they are some of the best yet. She was very cooperative and smiley!

The Cost of a Spill

Well, after a week of allergy treatments Brianna still had a yucky runny nose and a crackly cough so I had to take her back to the doctor. He said she had a sinus infection and fluid behind her ears although they were not actually infected yet. So we went to the pharmacy to get her some Augmentin. This morning while mixing up the medicine to administer her second dose I proceeded to spill HALF of it! Ughh!!!! So I called the pharmacy who directed me to call the pediatrician's office and told me that the insurance would most likely not pay for another prescription of Augmentin. I called the doctor's and told them what the pharmacy said and the nurse said they would call something in. I told her that cost did not matter to me, I just wanted Brianna to be healthy. So Bobby went to pick up the prescription and text me the cost: $73.59!!! Oh my goodness! I was shocked because the receipt on yesterday's prescription said the insurance paid $25 and we paid $10. The pharmacy said that our insurance office was closed and that we should call them tomorrow so they could try to get an over-ride. A very expensive lesson learned!
Edited to add: The pharmacy got a hold of our insurance and we were able to get an over-ride for the prescription so we only ended up paying $13.00! Yeah!!

Cafeteria Christian?

This term was used to indirectly describe me and probably most of you yesterday on Facebook. Before I give you the description of what a "cafeteria christian" is, let me tell you what was going on. A girl who I went to high school with (who is Jewish by the way) made a comment regarding Miss California's statement regarding marriage. I felt the need to say something so I decided to pull the scripture from Leviticus regarding homosexuality. I then went on to say that I was proud of her for standing up for her beliefs and that more Christians should. Here is the comment that followed from one of her friends:

"I get a laugh out of cafeteria Christians who pick and choose which Old Testament restrictions they choose to follow. The same book mandates not wearing cloth of mixed origin. Oh, and what about the dietary restrictions? I'm sure all these folks keep kosher."

I had planned on keeping my mouth shut, but after the original person responded with a "Well said" I decided that I needed to make one more comment. I went on to say that I believe that Jesus gave us a new covenant, one by which I try to live and stated that even in the New Testament marriage is defined by being between a man and a woman. I then apologized in case I offended anyone, then said that I was simply stating my personal and biblical beliefs and not trying to persecute anyone for theirs. The "cafeteria" lady then went on to say that maybe Christians should work on making divorce more difficult instead of attacking same-sex marriage.

Am I a "cafeteria Christian"? I don't think so. If I am then I should be really skinny because there are a lot of things I pass over because I know they are not good for me spiritually. I have been convicted about certain TV shows and I sure do miss them sometimes! Especially when someone I know is talking about what just happened on this or that episode.

I have not decided if I am going to respond to the latest comment or not...Bobby said he might. I just don't like to debate, although I should have known that would happen. I do agree with her in that divorce should be more difficult but like Bobby pointed out as long as God is not part of the marriage covenant, it will not be sacred.

What really makes this funny, is that while picking up on our devotional yesterday it was about sanctity of marriage. I know that there are no such things as a coincidences so I guess God wanted us to take a week plus break from our devotional that we had just started so that on the day I was being persecuted for my beliefs I would also be reaffirmed. I will sign this off with my status for today on Facebook:

"Penny Woodburn Howard thinks that if you feel the need to persecute me because of my Christian beliefs...BRING IT ON!!! You are only exercising and strengthening my faith...so thank you!"

Easter pic

I have been meaning to post this pic for awhile she is actually saying "Cheese!"
I know I am partial, but I think she is absolutely adorable!

Happenings

Wow! It has been over two weeks since I last posted! There has been so much going on! Let's start with our doctor's appointments. Since the first of the month we have seen a doctor a total of 6 times with only one being a preventative exam and that was just a dental appointment. I had a trip to the emergency room for the miscarriage, then I have had problems sleeping (due to hormonal fluctuations according to the doctor), Bobby has had an eye infection then a major sinus infection that took a CT scan to detect and Brianna has a middle ear infection in both ears. We have spent an excessive amount on co-pays this month and we still have not received a bill from the hospital yet!
Other than that, we are doing really well. Again, I am really thankful for the way things happened. I truly believe that God is working in our lives through this tragedy. I find it interesting that the Devil feels that since he did not succeed in tearing us apart through the miscarriage that he has been attacking us with illnesses instead. I don't feel as if the two are even on the same level but I guess he feels that he might be able to wear us down with this method. He might be able to but so far we are holding up.
In my last post I was talking about all the miscarriages that have occurred in April. Our third pregnancy ended in a natural miscarriage on April 1, 2002. Our fifth pregnancy, a little girl we named Hannah, ended on April 8, 2003 not the 28th as I posted earlier. And of course our last pregnancy ended on April 4th. I am not writing about this to re-hash things but because I was wrong on my dates for Hannah. We had so much going on when we found out we were pregnant with her...she was actually a surprise. We were in the process of building our house and living with Bobby's parents and I was caring for my grandpa who was dying at the time and we knew that with our history we did not need to be pregnant with all that was going on.
We are still on the mend, but doing very well...just sick, tired and busy!

On my Mind

Things have been going better. I am surprised by how well we are doing actually. I know that it is because we have God in our lives and that He gave us Brianna. I will wake up in the morning kinda down and when she wakes up and I see her smile I cheer up. I know there are still going to be bad days but for the most part we are doing pretty well. Today was one of those bad days. I don't know if it was because of the dreary weather, because I did not sleep well or if it was just one of those days but I have been in a funk all day long.
One thing that has been on my mind is the "coincidences" between this pregnancy and Brianna's. We found out we were pregnant with Brianna and this baby two years apart. The due dates were one day apart; Brianna was due November 30th and this baby December 1st. We had also just got back from out of town when we found out we were pregnant both times.
April is not a good month for us to be pregnant. On April 1st it had been 7 years since our third loss. We lost our fifth baby at the end of April (the 28th?) almost six years ago. I know I shouldn't think like that, but half of our miscarriages have occurred during April. The others happened in December 2000, November 2001 and September 2002.
Our first doctor's appointment would have been next Friday. Maybe my thoughts have something to do with that. We have been praying for answers as to why this happened but we know that we may never know. We are so thankful that the miscarriage happened the way it did and also that Brianna is too little to know what is going on. I have been making sure to enjoy even the smallest things that Brianna does and to appreciate even her bad days. Today was a challenge because every time I put her in her car seat she fought me but instead of getting aggravated I just worked with her. I guess I am getting a little more laid back. Maybe part of the answer is that we forgot what a blessing she is. Anybody who has had a toddler knows how trying they can be. I know that in the chaos and frustration in dealing with her budding personality I forgot how long we waited for her. I have definitely developed a more deeply grounded appreciation for her.

Snack Time

The other day for snack I made Brianna peanut butter crackers. Here is what she did to them:

I guess she is going to be the kind of girl that will eat the creme filling out of her Oreos first too!

All the toys in the world...

and she chooses to play with a snow cone maker and a stick from the smoothy maker.

Daddy/Uncle Bobby

I forgot to post this picture the other day. On our last day of vacation, Bobby sat down and Matthew or Cameron wanted him to read a book. The next thing we know the other one wanted up on his lap...and then of course it was Brianna's turn. Bobby is such a softy!

Reflections

This has been a rough week. Some days have been worse than others. The last few days have been pretty good. I would have to say Wednesday would have to be the toughest of the week. I guess it was because it was the first day I had really been around other people (w/o being spaced out on pain meds) since the miscarriage. It is so hard to function normally when you are so very sad. It was all I could do to get through HOP practice.
Anyways, sad would be the word I would have to use to describe how I feel...very, very sad. Before when we would have a loss, I would feel betrayed by my body. I don't really feel that way this time. I don't know what caused this miscarriage...it may have been my chromosome abnormality or something else. We have never miscarried this early. But it doesn't really matter to me what the medical reason may be. I know that God had his reasons and I truly believe that it is for our best interest.
I know things are going to get better...it is just going to take time. We still want to have another baby...I would really like Brianna to have a sibling. However, if that is not in God's plans for our lives that is okay too. We decided that awhile ago. Brianna is such a blessing...we weren't even supposed to have her. If she is all we are allowed to have we could not be happier...and she will be extremely spoiled!

More Pics from Hilton Head!

Here are more pics from our trip to Hilton Head. We went on a cruise to Savannah and The Sandbox, an interactive children's museum. We also hung out around the resort a lot. Enjoy the pics!

Sunshine in the Darkness

Sometimes, even during your darkest days, there will be a little bit of sunshine. Mine is Brianna. On Saturday, when I knew that I wasn't just spotting but very likely miscarrying I was laying down and started sobbing. Brianna was laying on the bed with me and I was stroking her cheek and rubbing her little feet and thinking that I would most likely never do that with this little one. She comes up to me and hugs me, you can see the look of concern on her face (I guess even at this age she realizes that Mommy does not cry much), she pats my arm and snuggles with me. Here is the funniest thing of all...she takes my hand and grabs my pointer finger and puts it in her mouth and starts rubbing her gums! I don't know if she was thinking that this makes me feel better or if it was more like "Here Mommy, I know you like to do this so I will let you." Anytime I normally put my finger in her mouth she fights me. It was so sweet! Have you ever been sobbing and laughing at the same time?
She is making a huge difference in dealing with this loss. Even the pregnancy was easier to deal with because I knew that all my hopes and dreams did not rest on it. It still hurts...a lot. I think it's just really started to sink in today since I am not drugged out on pain pills. I left church early yesterday because I just wanted to be with her (and I was so spaced out I couldn't pay attention and Pastor Aaron was being particularly loud [sorry Aaron]).
Thanks everyone for all of your prayers, please keep them coming because I know it is going to be a rough few weeks.

Walking through the Darkness

Last Sunday at church, we had a guest speaker, Dr. James Davis. He is really good and had an awesome message. At the end, he asked for all those who wanted to learn to walk through the darkness to raise their hands. Although this is a scary thing to do, Bobby & I both raised our hands. It was particularly scary because we had just found out we were pregnant the day before. This was our seventh pregnancy. We were really excited but told just a few people so they could be praying for us. After we called and set up the doctor's appointments we told our parents and a few others that we are close to. For the first time, I was really excited about being pregnant. I wasn't even this excited about our first pregnancy because I had a ruptured cyst and the doctor was concerned about it.
Unfortunately, we lost the baby yesterday. I was very difficult to have to go through that again. But I know that God is faithful. Why do you ask? Because I asked God that is something was wrong with this baby and I was going to miscarry that it would happen before our scheduled doctor's appointment and that it would happen naturally. And that is what happened.
Why did he not answer our other prayers regarding this baby, I do not know. I do know however that God always has our best interests in mind. I hope and pray that we do have another baby, although I know I am extremely blessed to have Brianna.
Please keep us in prayer over the next few weeks. We greatly appreciate it.

Trying to recover...

from vacation! I cannot believe how draining vacation can be! We have been home since Friday evening and I am still drained! We had a lot of fun! Some highlights included Brianna and our youngest nephew, Cameron, refusing to take a bath the first night! They both screamed...you would of thought we were trying to drown them...not bathe them! I was really hoping to get a pic of the three of them in the tub together but that was just not meant to be! We had our sister-in-law so paranoid that she might be pregnant that she went and bought a pregnancy test...she wasn't. It was fun picking on her though! On the way down, we ran into three traffic jams...one of them over an hour long! We ended up detouring so I don't know how long we would have been stuck there! After breakfast, I noticed our rear driver's side tire was flat...not just a little but completely! The rim was on the ground! Luckily, where we stopped there was a co-op that did tire repair about 5 minutes down the road! They did a good job and were cheap! Of course we had to hit the outlet mall! We did pretty good. We bought all of Brianna's dressy clothes and a few extras and spent only about $100! Then Nana went and bought a few outfits for each of the kiddos! They are all ready for spring & summer and Brianna even has a couple of things for fall!
Unfortunately, it was too cool to really hang out at the beach but we did go for about an hour one morning! It was fun, but cool and windy! We spent a lot of time at CVS and Walgreen's while there. Brianna was having a lot of problems with allergies so we had to buy Benadryl and Claritin. Then poor Cameron was having diarrhea from antibiotics he was on for a sinus infection so we had to get Pedialyte and then cream for the yeast infection he got also. Poor things! All things considered, all three of the kids behaved pretty well...but they all had their moments!
I still have pictures to post from the trip but I was having internet problems while we were there and just have not felt up to it since we got back! Please give me some time and I hope to have them up...there are some really cute ones!

Harbour Town, Hilton Head Island, SC

First Taste of Preschool

On Tuesday mornings Brianna & I have been going to a women's bible study at church. She does pretty good for the most part. She does get fussy towards the end but she is only 15 months old and I bet it is hard to be good for a hour and a half at that age! This Tuesday, Tina, our dear friend and Brianna's God-mother, who teaches preschool at our church, decided to come and get her. She got to experience preschool for a little over an hour. Tina brought her back with her first school craft. Here is a picture of it.

Needless to say I was proud and sad at the same time. I didn't expect her to "go to school" for a few more years! This is definitely a piece of art that I will have to keep!

First Black Eye

Last Tuesday, I put Brianna down for her nap after we got back from Evansville. She was asleep until I laid her down. As soon as I did, she woke up! After trying to get her to go back to sleep I laid her down hoping she would go to sleep on her own. Well she fussed for a little bit then started talking so I just left her alone. After a little bit, I heard a loud THUMP and then screams. I went in and saw that her right eye was red and sure enough it ended up bruising!

Spring Fever!

You can have your cake...

...and eat it too! That is if you are a baby! This is from Valentine's Day and I thought it was too cute to not share.

Caged!

Please, do not call child services! I promise she crawled in there on her own! This has been her favorite place the last few days. Sometimes the dog is even in there with her!

15 month check-up

I cannot believe that my baby girl that I waited so long for is already 15 months old! She is completely weaned and we are talking about potty training! Everyone told me to enjoy these early years because they would go by quickly and now I completely understand what they meant! I was soooo tired when Brianna was a newborn and frustrated because all she wanted to do was nurse that I didn't really enjoy it. Sure, there were moments I would enjoy, like cuddling up with her to take a nap, but I did not really enjoy the whole experience. I wish I had those days back! Okay, realistically, I do appreciate my darling 15 month old, she does have different endearing things she does now, but I really wish I had taken everyone seriously when they told me to enjoy those early days...especially since she is such a blessing and I can only hope and pray that I will experience such a blessing again.
On Thursday, Brianna had her check-up. She now weighs 22 lbs 3 oz (25th to 50th%) and 30 1/4 inches long (50th%). Her doctor said she is doing well and we can expect her to be picking up on a lot more things.

Random Thoughts & Musings

Yesterday as I was doing my daily bible reading I realized that if I lived in Old Testament times I would have spent most of my life in isolation or running around yelling "Unclean!" with a shaved head. Yes, I am in the very riveting book of Leviticus! Most of you know that I have a bad case of acne. I even take an oral antibiotic and a topical antibiotic and I still have regular outbreaks, but I will admit they are not as bad as they used to be. Just another reason to be thankful that Jesus came with a new set of laws to follow.
Another thing that comes to mind is my "angel" of a daughter. Do all toddlers come programed on how to drive their Mommy crazy? I told Bobby this evening as I was getting ready to go to the Abba Clinic to help that I might not come back...and at the time I think I was serious!
Today during my Bible Study on Esther, the teacher, Beth Moore, talked about having to schedule time for a meltdown. With the way things are going I think I may need to schedule one very soon!
On a more serious and joyful note, Brianna is now officially 15 months old. She has her check-up on Thursday so I will update her blog then.
Can anyone tell how scattered brain I have become lately!

Learning to Talk

Brianna has a good list of words she can say. She started talking before her first birthday by saying "dog" or "oof". I have come to the conclusion that we will probably always have a dog since she seems to love Lady so much. Her favorite thing to do now is to tell Lady to "sit" although it often sounds like she is saying something else that a young lady should never say! She won my heart the other day by saying "shoes," I have a girly girl on my hands (at least for now)! Hopefully she will like shopping and doing other girly things as well! She likes to say "hiie" to everyone. It is so cute how she draws it out and emphasizes the "e." "Dad-dee" is her favorite person (besides maybe Owen). The other day he was outside and walked past the window and she called out to him. I guess she sees me so much that she doesn't think she needs to know my name. We walk downstairs in the morning and she is already saying "kiddy-cat." Again, I think we are stuck with indoor animals for quite awhile.
The only things she seems not to say is more, drink, up and other words along those lines. My sister-in-law seems to think I should start making her ask for her drink and such. I don't know. When I try this she screams and cries. She ends up so upset that it takes her quite awhile to calm down. I know she needs to learn, but at what age do you make them ask you for things? I don't want a spoiled baby that grunts and points for everything, but if she is not at the age where she should be asking for things then I don't want to push it. I tried looking this up online and in some books but found nothing that really said anything about this topic. She goes to the doctor for her 15 month check-up in a few weeks so I guess I will ask him.

Feeling Better

It seems that Brianna is better. It has almost been 48 hours since she last showed any signs of being sick. Her last bout of diarrhea was late in the morning on Monday. She is still a little clingy and Mommy is getting stir crazy! I have not been out of the house since Sunday and since it is soooo cold today I don't plan on going anywhere but church. I need a break! I will have to get out in the next few days because we are almost out of diapers! I hope to resume a normal schedule real soon!

Still Sick

Well, after over 24 hours of being symptom free and a big sigh of relief from Mom & Dad, Brianna started showing symptoms of being sick again. Her last bout of diarrhea was Saturday afternoon and we had already decided to stay home from church just to be safe. Sunday morning she had an almost normal dirty diaper and we were getting excited. Since she seemed to be doing better we went to have lunch with Bobby's family for Ben's birthday (our brother-in-law). We kept the kiddos apart just to be safe. After lunch since she seemed to be doing so well and it had been over 24 hours since she showed any symptoms of being sick we went back to Michelle & Ben's house for ice cream cake & presents figuring it should be okay for the kids to play together (I discussed this with their Mom first). Everything went well and we came home about 5 o'clock. Shortly after we got home we heard a loud and wet fart from Brianna. Sure enough, the diarrhea was back! This morning she vomited again for the first time since Wednesday morning. She has also had three more bouts of diarrhea. She has done okay since late this morning.
I called the doctor to see if he needed to see her since she is still sick and he said that everything I told them sounded like the stomach virus that is going around right now. He also said that this virus lasts awhile. Please pray that this virus finally runs it course and she starts feeling better soon.

Frustration....

Thankfully, our power came back on yesterday afternoon and by the time we came home from doing laundry at my in-laws it was nice and warm throughout the house. And when we checked the mail we found $80 worth of reimbursement checks from our insurance from payments made above our deductible...yea!!!
Unfortunately all the good times ended this morning when we decided to go have lunch and get out of the house for a little bit. I happened to notice a dark spot in our ceiling. It turns out we have some sort of leak. Bobby is cutting the wall behind our shower as we speak. It is disturbing to hear your drywall being torn apart. We are hoping we don't have to turn our water off completely.
On the other hand, we thought Brianna was feeling better. After discovering our leak appeared to have worsened while we were gone I went to change Brianna's diaper and discovered she still has diarrhea! So I ended up changing all of her clothes. A little bit later (like 10 minutes or so) she walks up to me and I could tell she had another diarrhea episode and this time it came completely out of the diaper and onto the floor! So it looks highly unlikely that we will be going to church tomorrow...I already told my lead teacher that I will not be there. It also means that we are probably going to miss our brother-in-law's birthday as well.
Bobby just told me that it is the drain in the bathtub that is leaking. A few weeks ago our shower caddy broke and ended up slamming into the drain. I guess it just took a little bit for it to actually leak. The good news is that we should probably be able to fix it ourselves. The bad news is that now we have a big hole in our bedroom wall.
Here is hoping that Brianna get better, that we can fix the tub drain and the wall and that we don't get the bad weather they are predicting for next week! Oh, and that our power stays on!

Winter Storm: Day 4

...and day three without power. Our power went out at about 2 am Wednesday morning. We are very fortunate in that Bobby got a generator for Christmas. I am able to blog because of this generator. So Wednesday morning Bobby went to town and got a couple of heaters for us. Right now, I am in bed enjoying the only warm room in our house..it is currently 67 degrees. If you walk out of our room to say, use the bathroom it is quite a shock. The rest of the house is about 50 degrees. We went to my parents house to take showers yesterday. They don't have power either but they have a natural gas water heater. It was very nice to feel clean!
Brianna seems to be feeling okay. She has not vomited since Wednesday morning but has had diarrhea. Today, we are going to go to Bobby's parents house (they have power) and do some laundry since she is almost out of clothes.
I am really hoping that our power gets restored VERY soon!

Little Sickie

Well, Bobby & I wake up this morning and found out he was not going to work today. So he crawled back in bed and we enjoyed some quiet time while Brianna, who normally wakes up at the time as us, was sleeping unusually late. I thought that she must of played really hard at Tina & Kasey's yesterday. She woke up a little after seven and I went to get her...I thought she smelled a little funny. I noticed later that her blankie was damp...a little too damp for just drool. I went into her room and saw that at some point last night, she threw-up. Before you wonder why I didn't notice it earlier it was still kinda dark in her room and I did not have my glasses on. She seemed fine so we thought maybe she just ate something that didn't agree with her. Well, that theory last until about 2 o'clock when she preceeded to vomit twice in the hour. She ate dinner and seems to be doing better now so we will just wait and see!

Ear-ache or Teething?

Well, Brianna has a cold...again. I thought it had gone away, and maybe it had and this is a new one. She has been fussy and had a runny nose. Today she woke up from her nap fussy, which is quite unusual for her. After a few minutes she started screaming...for twenty minutes. Thinking she might have a ear infection (since this is her main normal symptom) I called the doctor and scheduled an after hours appt. We go to the doctor and her ears are fine...but she did have a new tooth! Granted I cannot find this tooth but the doctor said it was there. Oh well, better safe than sorry! Doctor's visit: $20. Peace of Mind: Priceless!

A Sign of the Times

This used to be our office. Complete with a large desk where everything was neatly organized and in one place. I could sit and pay our bills and balance the check book without ever having to move.

Now it is Brianna's playroom. It is amazing how much room little kids toys take up. Since her bedroom is not very big we cannot store most of her toys in it. Plus since it is upstairs she is not in it very much except to sleep. We realized around her birthday that we were going to have to do something to accomodate all of her toys and this was the easiest/cheapest solution. We bought a bookcase and a laptop for our new "office" which is now located in our living room. It works out pretty well.
The picture below is Brianna's, oh, I mean Bobby's, beanbag chair. It used to have a manly brown upholestry cover on it. I made it for him last year for Christmas. Well, when it got moved into the playroom I decided it needed to be more colorful so I bought some more fabric and made a new cover for it. I think it turned out pretty good.

Don't worry Bobby, your cover is under the new one and I promise that one day you will get it back...although you will probably always have to share!
It's funny how having a child changes things!

Getting back into the Swing of things...

Well, the Holiday season has come and gone and now it is time to get back to a normal routine. Bobby normally backs up the rest of his vacation from the end of the year so this year he was off for two weeks! It was really nice having him home and I know he really enjoyed all the time with Brianna. I really enjoyed having all that time without being the soul person responsible for Brianna! With that in mind it has been kinda weird this week with it being just the two of us. I kinda enjoy having her all to myself again but I miss Bobby being home all the time. What was really nice is that while Bobby was home Brianna cut 4 new teeth, for a grand total of six teeth! So I did not have to endure her fussiness all by myself!!!
Bobby & I are doing the 10 day Daniel fast with our church. He is doing a much better job at it than I am. He did 2 days water only to start off with. I went straight to the fruit & veggies part...if I don't eat I get super shaky...I guess it is low blood sugar or something but I have always been that way. We started a little early so we could eat with our family on my Brother-in-law's birthday Sunday so today is day 7 for us. He has stuck to his guns and has only eaten what is on the Daniel fast. I however, ended up eating a cheeseburger on Tuesday. I was just so weak and shaky on Tuesday that I had NO energy to do ANYTHING...including take care of Brianna. After eating I do feel much better and as soon as I finished I was back to normal Daniel fast foods. I feel bad for not making it the full 10 days but since I am a meat & potatoes kind of girl and a carb-aholic I am pretty proud of myself for making it that far. I am hoping to make it to lunch on Sunday before ending my fast.
What is funny though is that for those of you who know me pretty well know that I do not really care for cheese. I have gotten better about it eating on many things that I normally would not such as an occasional cheeseburger. But I am actually wanting cheese! I would love to be able to have some cheese to put on a pizza! Oh well, just a few more days and I can have all the cheese, meat and bread I can stand!