Category: Life

2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 1 husband – life isn’t perfect, but it is what we make it

11 Months

Published by dee on February 18, 2009

Dear Evie,

Today you are eleven months old. As I make plans for your first birthday next month, I still can’t believe that so much time has passed. You are turning into a toddler before my eyes and all I want to do is make you slow down. As I celebrate each new accomplishment, I mourn the babyhood that you are leaving behind.

Each day it seems that you pop out a new word. I don’t always understand what you are saying, but you are saying a lot. You tell everyone “hi” with your sweet little voice either in greeting or sometimes just to get our attention. You call the dogs “bubba” and “bop bop”, our nicknames for them. I think you are also trying to say “brother” and you attempt to repeat much of what we say to you as well. The best part though, is when you sing with me. I love when you bust out with the “yayayayayaya” in the car as we drive home in the evenings.

You’re getting more mobile, even though you don’t seem to have much desire to walk yet (you crawl faster than I can walk anyway). You stand up and walk along the furniture quite a lot, and have even been seen letting go from time to time. I caught you standing in your crib one day with hands up in the air not touching a single thing. However, as soon as we try to stand you up to walk, your legs collapse as if they’re made out of jello. I know you’ll do it when you’re ready, but for some reason I’m just anxious to see those first few steps.

You’ve also been really starting to notice people around you more. You are starting to enjoy playing with (or at least next to) others. When your brother is around you always want to be right next to him and usually want whatever toy he happens to have in his hand at the time. That doesn’t always go over so well, but he is starting to get used to it and is learning to be a little more patient with you.

You also are figuring out cause/effect. For instance, when you push the buttons on the TV and turn it off you get a very big reaction. You think it is the funniest thing in the world, but daddy sure doesn’t. Even Zach has learned to tell you “No-No!” when you get near those fun little buttons. Today he picked you up and moved you away from the TV when you were about to go for a second round. You loved it when your brother lifted you up and you had a huge grin on your face.

A few weeks ago you got very sick. It all started with a cold. Then you got a stomach virus and the cold turned into a bad double ear infection. Amazingly it was your first ear infection ever. We spent days cuddling on the couch together while your body tried to heal itself. Even though I hated it that you were so miserable I couldn’t help but enjoy the cuddles. You are such a snuggler and it really comes out when you don’t feel well.

Next to your snuggles, I think the sweetest thing you do is when you give kisses. You either smack your lips together like you are blowing kisses or you just dive (open-mouthed) toward my face and plant one on me. I wish I could say I was the only one on the receiving end of that special token of love but you are quite generous with your slobbery kisses (just ask your brother!).

Baby girl, I don’t think I could ever tell you just how much you bring to my life. The love, the joy, the laughter that is now part of my every day life is so far beyond what I ever thought was possible. Watching you and your brother together makes my heart melt into a big puddle. No matter what the day brings my way, knowing that I get to come home and be with this family that your dad and I have created makes it all worth it.

Love always,
Mama

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So Worth It

Published by dee on February 16, 2009

Tonight I sat down to do one of my least favorite tasks – paying bills. It didn’t used to be so bad. I sat down, sorted through the bills, paid what was due, and that was that. These days I have to juggle numbers and figure out what I can pay and what I have to push back until payday. The money just never stretches far enough. By the time we pay day care and buy groceries there just isn’t enough left over to pay everything else. The whole thing just depresses me.

Then I look at the beautiful faces of my kids and the depression all washes away. No matter what, the struggle is worth it. Everything I do is for them and they pay me back with smiles, laughs, hugs, kisses, and unconditional love. That’s worth more than all the money in the world.

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Won't You Be My Valentine?

Published by dee on February 13, 2009

hearts As of last night we entered into a new realm in this parenting gig. The one in which my children want to exchange Valentine’s. We have done Valentine’s in previous years, but this was the first time that Zach actually wanted to do Valentine’s. It is the first year that it has meant anything to him.

I’ll have you know that I was prepared. There was a left over box of Disney character Valentine’s from last year that we forgot to use sitting in the file cabinet. I even went all out and bought a box of heart-shaped gummy fruit snacks for him to pass out to his friends. I thought for sure that was enough. I mean really, what do you expect from a 3-year-old? I thought we were doing good.

Then I picked the kids up from day care yesterday. Zach ran to the door to show me the Valentine he had received from one of the other kids (he handed them out early since he doesn’t attend on Fridays). Then he showed me Evie’s. This kid had handed out hand made Cars Valentine’s. Each card had a perfectly crafted Cars character on it with amazing details cut and pasted. I’m sure his crafty mom had a part in this but suddenly our store bought flimsy little cards seemed incredibly inferior.

I’m not the only one that noticed the inferiority of our cards. When I pulled them out to help Zach sign his name to the cards, he wasn’t happy. “But I want to make the cards, Mama!” Normally I’m all for getting crafty, but the 30 minutes I had set aside to prepare Valentine’s cards did not allow for making cards. I finally convinced him to settle for what we had but he was still a bit disappointed. I did at least get out some ribbon, hole punched the card and bag of fruit snacks, and tied them together with a ribbon. He found that to be acceptable and at the end was still excited to hand his cards out.

Whew!

Next year I think we need to start a bit earlier.

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Down In A Hole

Published by dee on February 12, 2009

I’m finally starting to emerge from the hole I’ve been in the last couple of weeks and apparently I missed half of February already. Funny how that can happen. It started with my kids getting sick. Then just when I thought they were well, they got sick again, and again. I spent the majority of two weeks at home taking care of sick kids. I think I worked a total of two full days over the course of two weeks. Everyone is finally well, or at least on the way there (with the help of antibiotics) now but I’m still desperately scrambling to catch up. My house is a disaster, I’m way behind at work, and my mind is pretty much just a scattered mess.

The highlight of it all was that we had such beautiful weather last weekend. My in-laws were in town for a visit so we took the kids to the park to have a picnic lunch and enjoy the sunshine for a bit. They definitely needed it after being cooped up in the house for nearly two weeks. Zach enjoyed playing with some other kids he met at the park while Evie got a chance to swing and have a little snuggle time with Papa.

On Tuesday I celebrated my 31st birthday. I spent most of the day rather bummed out because birthdays just aren’t that exciting for me anymore. I’m already a hundred times more excited for Evie’s birthday next month than I was for my own. My mom did surprise me by sending me flowers which cheered me up a bit. She also got me a light stand to add to my photography equipment. And, since I’ve recently become a bit yarn-obsessed again, I bought myself some yarn and new knitting needles (it was really my gift from Hubby and the kids, but he had no idea what to get so I got to shop for it). Then I came home and made myself a new hat (which I haven’t taken pictures of yet).

I think that pretty much sums up the last few weeks. I don’t know whether it is just the time of year or if the two weeks of sick kids and subsequent catching up has just taken its toll on me, but I’ve been feeling very uninspired, especially when it comes to writing. I’ve been spending a lot of time knitting and crocheting and haven’t been online as much as usual. I’m ready for Spring to get here as it always seems to give me a boost, both mentally and physically. In the meantime, I guess I’ll just have to keep chuggin’ along.

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A Weekend At Home

Published by dee on January 26, 2009

This weekend my family did something that I can’t recall doing in a very long time – we stayed home. I honestly cannot remember the last time that we stayed home for an entire weekend and now that we’ve done it I hope to make it a priority a little more often. We did leave for about an hour to go to church on Sunday and Hubby had to go to work for a couple hours, but that was it. No errands, no restaurants, nothing. We spent time as a family at home.

During our weekend at home, we cooked every meal (if you count making PBJ’s as cooking!). This is quite an accomplishment as we generally eat out (or order in) at least twice on the weekends. Friday night we usually go out for a nice family meal, then end up grabbing fast food as we’re running errands or on our way somewhere on Saturday or Sunday. Even when my mom tried to tempt me with Mexican food and margarita’s I held onto my reserve. Not only did we eat every meal at home, but I also made cupcakes (requested by Zach) and brownies (requested by Hubby) from scratch. This was in part due to the new budget I’m trying to get us on and in part due to my goal of cleaning out the pantry. It is amazing how much food I have horded in there!

On Saturday I spent some time cleaning and organizing the kitchen, putting laundry away, and just general tidying up so that I had the evening free. I spent lots of time loving on my kids and I gave my blog a fresh new look for the second time in as many days. I hated the first version but so far still like this one. (If you’re in a feed reader you might want to click over and take a look!)

As I mentioned above, on Sunday we went to church. We’re currently on the search for a new church (we still haven’t really found one since my dad moved away in June) so we decided to try out a small church in our neighborhood. I’m still a little on the fence about the church we went to. I didn’t just love it, but I didn’t hate it either. I think we need to go a few more times before I can decide. Zach, on the other hand, was asking if we could come back again before we were even out of the building, so there’s that.

Zach really enjoyed playing with the other kids at church, which brings up a question. Do you keep your kids with you during the church service or send them to a nursery/children’s church? I have struggled with this ever since Zach was a baby. I prefer to have my kids in church with me. They make a little noise, but I think that if you want them to learn how to behave in church, they have to be in church. When we first arrived at the church on Sunday we were told there was a nursery available. I thanked the lady and told her that I prefer to keep the kids with me. Then part way through the service the children came up (from the nursery) to assist with a “noisy offering”. The same lady came by and asked Zach to join them which he did happily. Then when it was all over she asked him if he would like to go back downstairs with them. Of course he said “Yes!” so she told me that he was going with them.

I didn’t really mind him going, but I was a little unhappy that the lady totally disregarded the fact that I wanted him to stay in church. I certainly didn’t want to cause a scene by saying he coulnd’t go so I let him go with her and the other kids. If he was acting up or being noisy I would have taken him down there myself, but he was being very well-behaved. I wanted him to stay in church where he might learn something rather than go downstairs where he could run around and play with cars and blocks. I don’t really think that making the child sit still for one hour out of the entire weekend is really that torturous.

Whew, I got off on a bit of a tangent there!

Anyway, after church we headed back home and spent the rest of the day relaxing. I finally got Evie’s Tinkerbell Fleece Tie Blanket finished (that was supposed to be a Christmas gift!) and made her a couple more hair bows, though the electricity went out for a while forcing me to stop that project before I was finished. While the electricity was out, Hubby got called to work and the kids and I spent some time reading books together. Once we had power again we watched some movies and I worked a bit on knitting the “never ending scarf” that I still owe my mom from her last birthday.

I got a little off track, but the whole point of this entry was that we had a really great weekend together at home with very little distraction from the outside world. I wish I could say that we didn’t spend any money, but I did order Evie a few clearanced clothing items online because she’s suddenly outgrowing all of her 12 month sized clothes. It was really nice to slow down for a change and just enjoy being together.

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Allergies and Skin Sensitivity – A 10-month Journey With No Answers

Published by dee on January 15, 2009

I think it took nearly two months for my daughter’s newborn rashy skin to go away. I asked the doctor about it a couple of times but wasn’t overly concerned. I know that babies don’t always come out with that perfectly flawless soft baby skin that we all associate with newborns.

I changed from using all the nicely scented baby soaps and lotions to the unscented ones. After her doctor recommended using Aveeno products, I discovered that something about the oatmeal was making her break out. I had used two different oatmeal based lotions on her, one scented (Johnson’s vanilla oatmeal) and one unscented (Aveeno) and both increased the rashiness. We switched to Johnson’s Head-to-Toe baby wash (hypoallergenic and dye free) and Johnson’s Aloe baby lotion and things seemed to improve for a while. She was exclusively breastfeeding at the time and I tried to watch what I was eating pretty carefully but never found any correlations between my food and her rashes.

We started introducing solid foods to her at around five months. I was a little wary of this because of the oatmeal reaction, but she seemed to do just fine. I even fed her oatmeal cereal and it didn’t seem to bother her at all. She was still getting rashes occasionally, but I felt like it was pretty well under control. The other factor was that during floor time she was starting to move off of her blankets and onto the carpet where she was exposed to more potential allergens so determining the exact cause of any rash she had was nearly impossible.

In August we took a last-minute trip to Texas to visit family. While I tried my hardest to pack absolutely everything we could possibly need for the trip, I did forget one thing – towels for Evie. I thought ahead for everything else that might possibly touch her skin or mouth, but didn’t think to bring towels for bath time. While we were there, we also spent quite a bit of time in the pool. The day we left, she started breaking out and ended up with a horrible rash. It was the worst I had seen it (so far) and it drove me crazy trying to figure out what had caused it. Heat seemed to aggravate it even more and you can’t exactly escape heat in August.

At her next check-up, I discussed it with her doctor again and she said that it most likely was Eczema, or Atopic Dermatitis. She simply has very sensitive skin and any little thing can make the Eczema flare up. We talked a little bit about how to treat it when she had a break out and that was that. This wasn’t surprising as I have very sensitive skin myself (and have had bouts with Eczema). The poor girl was just going to have to live with it.

One day early in September, Evie’s day care provider called to tell me that she was breaking out around her neck and that it was worse than she had seen it before. It was nearly time for me to leave anyway, so I just told her I’d take a look at it when I picked her up. When I got there, she was bright red from her chin down her neck. It looked more like an allergic reaction to something than a skin sensitivity rash so I was a little concerned. It was better by the next morning but I took some photos to show the doctor the next time we were in.

A couple months after that incident, Evie decided that she was ready to start feeding herself. She was doing great with baby foods so I started giving her some soft chunky foods that she could pick up and feed herself. One of the first foods I gave her was bananas. They were soft enough that she could easily smash them with her gums and she loved them. One day while she was eating some banana I noticed a red rash starting around her mouth. By the time she finished eating it was all the way around her mouth and down her neck. When I was cleaning her up, I lifted her arm and found a piece of banana under it. Where the banana had touched there was a red spot with a welt in the middle of it. After she was cleaned up from her meal, the rash mostly went away. The next day I gave her banana again just to be sure that was the cause. Same reaction. Then we tried baby food with bananas in it. She turned red anywhere that the baby food touched her face.

At her 9-month check-up the doctor recommended we see an Allergist to have some testing done. While waiting for that appointment she had another food reaction to macaroni and cheese. I could not wait to get the testing done and finally get some answers as to what might be triggering her rashes.

When we finally saw the Allergist, it was recommended that we change all soaps, shampoos, lotions, etc., bathe her daily (we were doing every other day), and cover her within three minutes of her bath with a moisturizer (Aquaphor or Vanicream). This was supposed to help with the sensitive skin. They did a blood draw to test for allergies and suggested that we might need to put her on a daily allergy medication.

It took a week to get the test results. When the nurse finally called me she said that the Atopic Dermatitis test was negative. Since the rash hadn’t cleared up in over a week, the Dr. recommended putting her on a daily dose of Zyrtec and continuing with the bathing/moisturizing recommendations. She said nothing about the food allergies or whether those had come up negative or not but she did say to feed her a regular diet and not withhold any food other than peanuts and shellfish. when I asked for more clarification, she said she would have to check with the doctor and get back to me.

Fortunately, the Doctor himself called me the next morning to clarify things a bit. He said that Evie tested clean on everything. In fact, he said that she had one of the cleanest tests he has ever seen. She showed no allergy to bananas, milk, or oats which were my three biggest concerns. She showed no reaction to anything. He did say that she could be having a reaction to acids in her foods that could cause the redness around her mouth but that wasn’t necessarily an allergy. Supposedly, the Zyrtec should help reduce that as well as the mild rashes she gets on her tummy and hands.

So, for now, that’s where we’re at. I have answers, but I still don’t feel like I have any answers. I still don’t know what is causing her skin to constantly break out. I’m still afraid to feed her any new foods because they may turn her face all red. I still hate to let her crawl on the floor because I know that she’ll be rashy wherever she contacts it with her skin.

We started the Zyrtec two days ago and have been continuing the recommended bathing routine. I haven’t seen any improvement at all yet, but I know it may take some time. I really hope that it makes a difference because right now I’m really frustrated with the whole thing.

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