2 months to go

Well, it's been a month since I've put anything new up here.  March has flown by.  We have been busy every weekend and the weeks are just as busy.  We have had a lot of Masonic stuff going on, 2 birthdays, and life in general.

The girls are doing great. 

Izzy is starting to identify more letters by the day.  She can say her ABCs but knowing what they are when they are in print is a different story.  They work on writing their names everyday in preschool and she is getting pretty good at it.  She sometimes writes her letters in reverse, meaning she will start from the far right of the letter and move to the left.  They aren't backward, just unconventional.  She can spell "mom" and "dad" and she wrote mom on the chalk board at church yesterday.  We got a letter from the preschool that they will be doing evaluations with the kids during the first week of April.  I hope she does well.  I worry about her because she is the youngest in the class.  It's a 3-4 year old class, but most of the kids will turn 4 before the year is out.  Izzy won't turn 4 until the next school year is about to start.  If she can't grasp the concept of what they are trying to get her to do (count to a certain number, name the letters in front of her) she will just quit.  But, I try to approach everything as a learning situation.  So, she has been helping find the numbers on the microwave when I use it and I have her tell me the letters she recognizes when we read books.  I know she will be fine, she just has to feel like working with the teachers on the day of the evaluations!

Maggie is now 10 months old.  She is finally crawling forward.  She would go in reverse or just pivot around until she got where she wanted to be.  She's not going super fast, but she can do it.  Her favorite thing to do is go straight for the DVDs and either push them all in or pull them all out.  I've given up on keeping them in a neat line and pulled to the front.  It's just not worth it!  She has two bottom teeth and at least one of her top teeth have broken through.  She has slept a little better the past 2 nights, but last week was rough.  These teeth are causing her a great deal of pain and she just has a hard time eating and sleeping because of it.  She is down to just 3 (or 4) bottles a day and in a few months we will take her off formula (YEA!) and start taking away her bottles all together, if she hasn't done that on her own by then.  She would rather feed herself then to have you feed her with a spoon.  She loves mac & cheese, either the baby food version or the real stuff.  She loves green beans, hates peas.  The other night we fed her beef ravioli that Izzy wouldn't eat.  She loved it!  She wouldn't let me leave her in the nursery at church yesterday, so I took her into service with me.  She actually did pretty good, charming all of the people behind us, but then she was a mama's girl all day and didn't want me to put her down.  I love those moments, but she is a HEAVY girl!

I mentioned 2 birthdays.  Mine was last Monday and Carin's is tomorrow.  I am now 22 and Carin is 24.  We are growing so fast :)  As a result of these birthdays, I have had 2 straight weekends that involved "adult time" and went to dinner and a concert one weekend and then went out to dinner and a bar this past weekend.  I had my dinner with the Hunters on the 14th and Carin and I did our joint birthday dinner at Mom & Dad's this weekend, complete with decorations that Izzy picked out.  Everyone got party hats...

Next up, CARIN'S BIRTHDAY TOMORROW and our wedding anniversary on Saturday.  But, please don't forget CARIN'S BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW.

9 months and 6 teeth and wet beds

Oh hi.  We've been a bit busy and I haven't posted an update about Maggie turning 9 months old. 

The weather here has been crazy.  Depending on your feelings about snow, you would either love or hate the month of February here in Columbus.  Last week was a shortened week due to President's day, but then I was off again on Tuesday due to the massive amounts of snow we had on the ground.  As a result Maggie's doctor appointment got cancelled and moved to Thursday and I was out of work for another half day.  It's amazing I still have a job.  Since we moved our office, I have been late every day (except for today) or off to the doctor with a child. Here's hoping March looks a little better.

So, Maggie is now 9 months old, as of the 12th.  Where has the time gone?  We switched doctors and I feel so much better about that decision.  Our old doctor was a very nice guy, but he missed an ear infection.  How does that happen?  The new doctor is excellent and said Maggie is great.  She is 24 pounds and 29 inches.  I've been worried about the flat spot on her head since she was about 3 months old.  The old doctor, my cousin Traci, and the new doctor have all told me not to worry about it.  Since they are all in the medical profession, I will stop worrying about it.  We started giving Maggie some table food.  She loves shredded cheese and bread.  We diced up some carrots for her over the weekend and she seemed to like that too.  She now has her 2 bottom teeth and her doctor informed me that she has 4 top teeth coming in.  This is bothering her a lot.  She is not sleeping well at all.  And in turn, neither are we.  But, we will get through this.  She is trying very hard to crawl, and I would bet that it happens pretty soon.  My daydream of her and Izzy wearing the same clothes is over.  Maggie is wearing 18 month clothes.  She is a big girl!

Izzy has been out of school for most of this month.  She is not happy about this!  We thought for sure she would be going back last Thursday as the school district was only on a 2 hour delay, but then they closed.  When I broke the news to her she cried.  She misses her boys, I suppose.  She will go back tomorrow and have a delayed Valentine's party.  She had been sleeping in pull-ups since we started potty training.  She had been waking up dry.  So, we thought it was time for her to start sleeping in her regular underwear, her "big girl unders."  She did so good for a full week.  And then, I bragged.  And she wet the bed that same night.  She was very upset by it so I didn't yell at her.  We got her cleaned up and I let her sleep with us.  And then she did it the next night.  And then she went back to pull-ups.  I"m not sure, but I think maybe she just wanted an excuse to sleep with us.  So, after a week of pull-ups, I put her back in her big girl unders last night.  I even went back an hour after she went to bed to make her go again.  She had already done that on her own.  Shd didn't flush, because she didn't want to wake her baby sister, so I did see the proof that she went again.  On my second trip up to get a crying Maggie, Izzy was awake, and wet.  At 12:10am, I sent her down to sleep with us while I got Maggie back to sleep.  So, it's back to pull-ups for her.  She will get the hang of it, I know she will.  I think she is still adjusting to Maggie. 

But she is doing so good with everything else.  She loves her sister but still needs her one-on-one time.  She has a wonderful imagination and is helpful around the house when she wants to be. She is starting to identify more letters and numbers, which is GERAT!

I can't believe we will be having a birthday party for Maggie soon.  And then, we can go to the beach!  And then have a birthday party for Izzy.  Time goes by so much faster when there are kids involved.

Score Card

Incase you are keeping score....


Hospital Visits - Izzy - 0, Maggie - 2
Prescriptions - Izzy - 0, Maggie - 4 (2 for her eyes, twice on antibiotics)

One of the joys of having two children would have to be the fact that they can pass a cold around for weeks. Once we think they are over it, it comes back. Izzy complained that she wasn't feeling well on 1/26. She had a pretty bad cough along with some excellent gunk in her lungs. She would cough and cough and eventually hork up something that would cause her to think she was going to throw up. She learned to spit it out and eventually got better. Sorta. That cough shows up every now and then, but it's not too bad. No fevers, no actual puking, just a chest congestion cough.

Then Maggie decided to take the reins when we thought the cold was exiting our home. She started coughing on 1/29. The days have all run together, but I think she may have thrown up all over one of us that night. Then on Saturday, she coughed so much she threw up at least 8oz of milk and some chest gunk all over me. Twice. Repeat on Sunday. She would get so worked up crying and not be able to calm herself down she would just throw up. We changed a lot of clothes that weekend.

She didn't have a fever, just coughing and pretty much refusing to eat. Tuesday I decided I would take her to the doctor Wednesday afternoon, just to have her listened to. Tuesday night she had a fever, so I changed the plan and took her in Wednesday morning. I figured I would run her in there as early as possible then head in to work. I was just going for piece of mind that it would eventually clear up.

After the doctor listened to her lungs a few times and checked her ears and mouth, he said he could hear congestion but nothing too bad. After he timed her breathing he said she was breathing a little fast so he had the nurse take her pulse ox. The best reading they could get was 92 (out of 100) and we did 3 breathing treatments. When her last reading was 89, he decided we couldn't go home and I needed to take her to Children's hospital for a chest x-ray and possibly more breathing treatments.

They checked her oxygen levels again at the hospital and they were 97, no more breathing treatments needed. The doctor's office was using the type of monitor you would clip to the finger, but her fingers are too small to get an accurate reading. She did perfect through her x-rays which showed a possible spot of pneumonia. No big deal, just keep an eye on it. But, here is the kicker. The nurse practitioner that looked her over found an ear infection. An ear infection! Pretty common in little ones. Pretty common to the fact that her pediatrician should have found that during his exam. That explains a lot as to why she wasn't sleeping well, why she kept batting at her ear, why she wasn't eating. We were sent home with an Rx for antibiotics and wouldn't you know it, she is feeling so much better. She was so tired by the end of the day, she fell asleep in her high chair.

This morning, I found the girls a new pediatrician. He should have caught an ear infection. He should have caught her eye infection at 5 days old. She has a slightly flat head that I'm (a little overly) concerned about and now I worry that we have waited too long, on his advice, to correct it.

On top of all of this, she has finally broken through with her 2 bottom teeth. I'd love to show you a picture, but she is too busy feeling it with her tongue.

Rock & Roll all night

If Maggie could have a song lyric to describe the last few weeks of her life, it would be “I want to rock and roll all night and party everyday.” It is true that she has a crazy tongue, along the lines of Gene Simmons, but that is where the similarities should end.


This sweet, 8 month old, daughter of mine use to be a great sleeper at night. I tried very hard to always put her down when she was sleeping. I started putting her in her crib at 6 weeks. That first night she slept a full 4 hours and it felt like heaven. Before we knew it, she was sleeping until 7am when we had to wake her. Occasionally she would wake up. But it was nothing a quick diaper change didn’t fix. The past few weeks she has been waking up around 2:30am after only a few hours (4-5) in her crib. We don’t run to her immediately. Sometimes she is just rolling over or crying in her sleep. Most of the time, she is up and can’t get back to sleep. So, we go to her. We change her diaper. We walk with her. We sway with her. We rock her. She falls asleep. We lay her down and she wakes back up. And then we repeat it all over again. And eventually we feed her, because nothing else has been working. Oddly enough, she slept the best when she was sick for 2 days.

I’ve tried cereal in her last bottle of the day. I’ve tried feeding her solid food closer to bed time. We keep the same routine with her almost every night. It is so frustrating that she now won’t sleep at night. I dread night time now. I know when she wakes up it is over for one of us. No more sleeping for the parent that gets the call. Last night, my sweet Moo Bear, woke up at 12:30am. At 2:10am, after trying all other avenues, including “crying it out,” I took her down stairs. I gave her a bottle, she didn’t fall asleep. We watched General Hospital and The Biggest Loser from last week, still awake. FINALLY at 4am she fell asleep and I put her in our bed. I was too tired to try putting her in her crib and having to start all over again.

I get frustrated with her. I want to be angry because she is keeping me up. But then I think of the parents that will never hold their children again, or babies that don’t have someone to comfort them in the middle of the night. I read too much. I start to worry that maybe there is something going on with her that we don’t know about. Maybe there is something seriously wrong with her that we haven’t discovered yet. And then I remember that she is a baby that won’t take a pacifier, that hasn’t learned to sooth herself, that sometimes has a hurt belly because she hasn’t pooped in days, maybe she is hungry or needs a diaper change.

Maggie is 8 months old today. And I love her. I just wish she would sleep better. She can live out her rock-n-roll life style once she is in college.

Holiday recap

HAPPY NEW YEAR!




The Christmas and New Year festivities are behind us and now it is time to get back into the routine of our daily lives. I say boo to that! So, let’s relive the past 2 weeks briefly…

Christmas Eve got off to a rocky start with Maggie’s all-nighter, but the day did get better. I had to work part of the day and then headed to my mom and dad’s to spend some time with them since we were having dinner at Luke’s mom and dad’s that evening. In the past we have hit up both places and it is hard to do and we are always rushed, so this year we made some changes and I think it worked out well. I took a short nap in the chair with Maggie and I think we were both refreshed after that. Luke met us there and we hung out for a little while. Izzy was of course excited because Uncle Terry was there to meet us in the morning. He’s always worried that the girls won’t remember him since he lives far away, but Izzy always remembers Uncle Terry and misses him greatly when he has to go back home.

We spent Christmas Eve night with the Hunter’s. The kids each opened one toy and got their Christmas pj’s. Izzy got a Snow White doll and Maggie got some nesting bird houses. Both were perfect! It was a fun night for everyone and the kids were on Santa Watch all night. We headed home around 8 or 9 and it took no time for Izzy to fall asleep. I’ve actually considered telling her it’s Christmas Eve every day so she will go to sleep easier, but we would be poor because she would also expect gifts the next morning!

Christmas morning came and Santa had made a very special visit to our house, leaving stockings full of goodies and gifts under the tree. Izzy didn’t care much for the boxes that contained clothes, but she will appreciate them when she starts back to school this week. I think Maggie liked her first Christmas. She didn’t quite have the hang of opening her gifts, but you could see the excitement in her eyes. I found it hard to shop for Maggie. I had to find toys that we didn’t already own but were the right age range for her. I could have bought tons of stuff for Izzy, but I had to try to keep it even between them and not go broke in the process.

After we were done at our house we headed up to the Hunter side and did it all again. Izzy and Maggie cleaned up… coming home with a new toy box (which is now full!), 2 play-doh sets, a new Disney Princess play center for Mags, and lots of other cool things. Luke & I, we got new (and much needed) silverware. I know it is Christmas, not a wedding shower, but that is what we asked for. Now we have more than 5 forks and everything matches! We had planned on only staying for a few hours, but stayed until almost 2 in the afternoon. A nap for Izzy was out of the question by this point.

We headed to the Baker side around 2:30. Luke dropped us off and went home to unload the loot from Grammy and Grand Davey and grab a few things for the rest of the day. Izzy started getting a bad case of the gimmies and started asking for more presents. I had to remind her that it wasn’t all about the presents, but she is 3 after all. I helped mom get dinner on its way, Luke returned, and away we went with more gift opening. Izzy was a mad woman, trying to open everything under the tree. I saw shades of Terry, when he use to rip into gifts without checking the tag and then be the proud recipient of a nice girly item. I had to tell her to slow down, take a deep breath, and read the tag. The hit toys from Grandma and Papaw were Izzy’s vanity and Maggie’s ball popper. Luke & I received another set of silverware, and will be keeping it, as well as many other gifts. We stayed and played “Apples to Apples” until both of our children were having complete breakdowns and we packed it in for the night.

New Year’s Eve was uneventful. In light of Luke’s recent broken rib (please, never take out the trash, in dress shoes, after it has snowed ) he was drugged up on pain killers and I was drinking pre-made margaritas while we played Super Mario Bros for the Wii. We watched the ball drop, played some more Wii and went to bed. Party central!

Uncle Brad turned 30 on Sunday. Unfortunately both of their children were sick, so his big birthday trip was cancelled. I sure hope Laney and Big Will are feeling better. Sick children are no fun.

This has gone on long enough. I hope your Christmas and New Year’s celebrations were delightful. We have a lot to look forward to in 2010.

P.S. Maggie still doesn’t have any teeth. Not sure what the Christmas Eve-eve thing was all about.

All I want for Christmas is ...

Maggie has determined that Christmas is the right time to get a tooth.  Or at least I hope that is what is going on with her.  Monday and Tuesday she woke up at 2:00am and eventually went back to sleep around 3 or 3:30.  Last night she went to bed at 8:30 and was in her crib by 9:00.  I know better than to be thankful that both children are in bed by 9.  That almost always means something will happen. For example, the first time this happened, Maggie came down with her 1st cold and was up most of the night.  The next time it happened (this past Monday night) Izzy threw up all over herself and needed a bath at 4 AM.  This time, Maggie slept from 8:30 PM to 11:30 PM and that was it.  DONE!  We went to bed at 11:30, discussed plans for Christmas Eve and just as we closed our eyes, Maggie called.  And it wasn't to say "I love you."  I got up, for certain that she would go back to sleep fairly quickly.  The next 1.5 hours go like this... rock to sleep, lay down in crib, cry, pick up, repeat.  Finally at 1:00 AM, I warmed her up a bottle.  She took most of it, I rocked her to sleep, laid her down, she cried.  Rinse and repeat the rock, lay, cry, dance.  At 2:00 AM I finally went down stairs.  I didn't want to risk waking Izzy and had some General Hospital I could catch up on.  Then I started to worry because she had drank the last bottle and there was none thawed out and what would happen if she didn't fall asleep soon and need some more to eat. 

I got 4 bags of milk out of the freezer, put them in the sink, and started to run cold water.  I went back to the living room, walking with her, trying to convince her to shut her eyes.  The dishwasher was running and it sounded like it was leaking.  So, I went to the kitchen to see what the noise was.  Notice earlier, I started the water.  But, I didn't turn it off.  I was trying to make a swimming pool in our kitchen.  OMG!  Water everywhere.  All over the counter, running down the cabinet, on to the floor, almost to the fridge.  There was NO WAY I was going to be able to clean this up and hold Maggie at the same time.  And, since she was crying every time I put her down, I now needed an extra set of hands.  I had to wake Luke up.  By this point it is 2:30 AM.  I got the mess cleaned up, but by this time, I was also a mess and had to take care of some business that I have been trying to shut down since Monday. 

At 3:00ish AM I went to bed.  I did not fall asleep.  I could still hear Maggie crying.  At 4:00 AM I got back out of bed.  I gave her some pain reliever and she finally fell asleep around 5:15, or so.  I drifted off with her and got back up around 5:45 to shower since I had to come into work.  Yes, that is 30 minutes of sleep.  After I showered I looked in her mouth and I do believe there is finally a tooth on the top.  I gave her some ora-gel and she slept in her pack-n-play until it was time to leave around 7:15.

We are all beyond tired now.  Except Izzy.  She got some solid sleep, somehow.

This is not how I wanted to start our Christmas celebration, but I am still thankful for my beautiful children and my husband and all the other stuff that just happens to come along with them.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Ho Ho Holidays

The annual lodge Christmas Party was on Friday. Izzy had been anticipating her visit with Santa, but told us she did not want to sit on his lap and she would just stand on the stairs. She was the second kid on his lap. She ran to him and, as you can see from the picture, she sat on his lap! She told him she wanted her Cinderella Glass slippers and he told her that may be dangerous if they were to break. She then broke the news to Santa that they weren’t real glass slippers, they were just pretend.

We sat Maggie with Santa as well and she tried to figure him out, but her “stranger danger” is starting to set in and she started crying.

We tried later to get a family picture with Santa, but he reached up to touch her hand and she started crying again. Family Picture with Santa = Fail!

Luke and I enlisted some quality time from Grammy and Grand Davey on Saturday and dropped the girls off so we could START our Christmas shopping. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. We did pretty well, but we still have to finish up. That means this Saturday will be spent trying to find gifts along with the rest of the last minute shoppers out there.

Sunday we finally put up our Christmas tree. Maggie likes to stare at it and if you get too close she will try to touch it. Izzy helped put up the ornaments, but I had to move most of them because they were either all on the same branch or too low. We can only decorate the top 2/3 of the tree so the dogs won’t be tempted to eat it. Here’s hoping the tree and the dogs survive until Christmas.

Maggie turned 7 months old on Saturday. As a reward, we introduced her to the world of teething biscuits. She knew immediately what to do with it. Unfortunately, she drops them on the floor before she gets too far into them. We also bought her some banana flavored rice puffs but she didn’t like that they stuck to her tongue and would just spit them out. She has been protesting solid food for a few weeks. It’s a miracle if you can get her to take 3 bites of something. At first I thought maybe she was getting a tooth, but there are no teeth in there. Perhaps it’s just a phase? Maybe she’s tired of hearing people talk about how chubby she is?

Before we get to Christmas, and before I end this update, I must point out that Jim’s birthday is Friday. I won't tell you exactly how old he will be, but it’s more than 34 and less than 36. Happy Birthday Uncle Jimmy!

P.S.  Here's a picture of all of us at the Christmas party, too bad I'm blocking Maggie.