Thursday, June 30, 2011

A Day in The Life

I've seen several other bloggers do this.  Basically, you take pictures of your ENTIRE day, and then write a post about this.  I know - it doesn't really seem like the most interesting thing in the world.  That's why I'm going to go ahead and tell you up front, this post is mainly for me.  I'm sure that one day when I have other kids, am older, etc., I'll wonder "what did I DO when I was 27, LL was 2, and we had all summer together?!".  I actually wish that I had done this the previous two summers.  I mean, what did I do all summer when LL was just 4 months old??  It sure wasn't a lot of blogging!  So I'm starting now.  Better late than never, right?  My hopes are to do this about once a month, just to have something to look back on later!  So if that sounds boring to you, you can just check back tomorrow for a more "regular" post.  If you do decide to try and stick this post out, it will be loooong.  You've been warned.  :) 

I'm posting this on Thursday, but this is actually our day from Tuesday, July 28, 2011.
LL - almost 2.5 years old

We all got up and going about 6:30.  While Matt and I got ready, LL hung out in our bed and ate some Cheerios.  Since it's a swim week, she has to eat SUPER early.  She can't have any food at all for 2 hours before swim, and her swim time is 9:00.  This presents a problem for us because she is like me - she is NOT hungry when she first gets up.  It usually takes her between 1-2 hours after waking up to really want breakfast.  So it seems like this is a horrible way to feed her breakfast, but she really only eats about half of a small cup of Cheerios.  Why make a nice breakfast if she isn't hungry to eat it?

After I got ready it was time to get her ready to go!  We have to leave home about 8:15 to make it to swim on time, so we don't have a lot of time in the morning.  I usually don't take her in her swim diaper because I'm worried that she'll go to the bathroom in it before we get there.  I usually just leave her in the top of her bathing suit and a diaper (or just reg clothes) and get her completely ready when we get there.  She is SO into coloring right now.  She is pretty much coloring all day at this point.  She'll color sometimes to up to 45 minutes which is a really long time for her!

Crazy Lola running around while I'm trying to get everything ready.

Then we headed to swim.  LL is completely obsessed with sponges right now.  In this picture, she's holding the sponges that we use to wash the cars.  Gross.  But she is so completely obsessed and insists on carrying them in the car.  Every day.  You can also see in her right hand that she has a make-up sponge.  She calls it "my makeup!"  She's obsessed with it, too.

LL's swim lesson starts at 9:00 and lasts for 10 minutes.  We are the first appointment of the day.  I thought I would like this, but I think next year that we'll ask for a little bit of a later one.  The few times that we were a little late and she saw someone go before her, she did much better.  So that's something I need to remember for next year.  Also, technically, this is the 6th week of swim.  It's supposed to be only 5 weeks, but we had to come one more for three reasons: 1 - a make up day for memorial day 2 - a make up day for her being sick one day, and 3 - teething completely threw her off and she needed two extra days to get her back on track.  Today SHOULD have been her last day, but she'll go for the rest of the week just to make sure she's doing good.

Swimming to the ledge like a big girl!  Can you see her little hands reaching for it?  So cute!

Starfishing her little heart out!

Swim has been SUCH a struggle for us this past week and she did sooo good today, that we stopped to get her some Chik-Fil-A for breakfast (remember the Cherrio non-breakfast?).  She was asking for it a ton.  It's so cute - she calls it Fish-A-Lay. 

We headed to Grammy's for an impromptu surprise visit and to eat our breakfast.  We ended up staying through lunch because LL was having a good time.  She's learning how to cut with scissors, so she played with her cut outs....

....danced with Grammy....

....and helped cook lunch!

She helped Grammy make sloppy joes and she did a great job.  They were really yummy!

You gotta hold your mouth right when you cook!  Do you see her and Grammy's matching aprons?  That was a Christmas present she gave to Grammy this past Christmas.

Isn't that little apron adorable??

Lunch time!

After lunch we headed home for nap time.  LL was exhausted and took a wonderful nap!  She slept from 1 - 4.  Not bad at all!

While she napped, I did a little blogging.  I spent most of the time cleaning, though.  I have really had the urge to get this house crazy clean lately, so I'm doing as much as I can while this urge lasts. 

Our office has ALWAYS been our catch-all place.  On top of that, I started to really organize the stuff to take out of here when I found out I was pregnant (because the office will be the nursery).  Then when all of the stuff started happening with the miscarriage, it just never got finished.  So, I'm embarrassed to show you, but this is what the office looked like before...

And this is after I got done!  I worked super hard! 

LL woke up at 4:00 and had her snack and movie time. 

While she snacked, I did some laundry...

...unloaded the dishwasher...

...and scrubbed my kitchen crazy clean.


LL decided to help me cook dinner!  We were having breakfast for dinner (my fav) and she did such a good job helping!

But she was totally not down for the breakfast idea.  What did she want?  Noodles.  This is what she asks for ALLLL the time.  What I've started doing when she wants this is making her chicken soup (the really hearty, chunky kind - Campbell's is usually what I get), and then just not giving her the broth.  She LOVES it, and I don't feel super horrible about giving it to her because it's pretty healthy.  It's also very quick and I use the about once a week for a quick lunch for her when she's bored of other stuff.  Then I just put what she doesn't eat in tupper ware and let her have it again when she asks.  It's a win-win situation!

Right before we ate, we discovered a problem: ants.  It's been so dry and dusty here, ants are trying to get in to find water.  It's a pretty common problem and one that we also had last summer.  The only thing that makes is worse this time?  This year they're getting in through our pantry.  They started coming in through our phone jack - we fixed it.  Then they started coming in through our window sill - they fixed it.  Now?  The pantry?  Remember that beautifully clean kitchen from earlier.  Yeah.  Not anymore.

We had to do through EVERYTHING to see if the ants were just ON it, or if they were actually IN it.  Not cool.  We kept most stuff out of the pantry, and I tried to put it as neatly as possible on the counter.

The Hubs got the vacuum and sucked the little boogers out. 

After the ant drama, we played for a little while, colored, etc.  After bath, it was my night to read to LL.  Also, another appearance from crazy Lola.



After LL went to bed, I had to do some homework for my gifted endorsement class.  I almost through with the first of four classes and I just want this whole thing to be over with already!  Bleh!  Doesn't this look exciting??  And, yes, I was writing with one of LL's crayola pens.

After my homework, the Hubs and I ate some fresh baked cookies that he made while I was homeworking, watched some TV, folded some laundry, and headed to bed! 
Photobucket

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

What I'm Loving Wednesday

It's that time of the week again!  I'm linking up with Jame @ This Kind of Love if you want to play along.

I'm loving that my sister will be here this weekend!  I've been missing her, her hubs, and my precious nephew SO MUCH lately.  I can't wait to spend some time with them!

I'm loving that I'm getting my hair cut today.  Not "THE" cut; not the locks of love cut.  Just a sprucing up.  But I'm looking forward to it, none the less.

I'm loving that LL graduates from her swim lessons tomorrow!  Even though we've had to go an extra week due to some minor set backs, she's been doing AMAZING this week.  She wasn't fazed at all today by having her winter gear on in the pool; girl just star-fished her little heart out anyway. 

I'm loving that my house is SO CLEAN right now!  I don't know what's gotten into me, but I have been a cleaning freak lately.  I mean, even our catch-all office is clean.  And that rarely happens.

I'm loving that tomorrow is my "day off".  The Hubs made me promise that one day every weeks I would let LL go hang with the g-parents so that I could have a day to relax, run errands, get stuff done around the house, etc. - and tomorrow is my day!  LL is going tomorrow after swim and I'll pick her up Friday morning (my "day off" usually isn't an overnight thing - but they asked this week).

I'm loving that our ant problem will be solved soon.  These little boogers have been finding THE CRAZIEST places to get in.  No joke.  Our phone jack, cracks in the window frame, IN BETWEEN our cabinets.  I'm SICK of them.  Mr. professional-ant-killer will hopefully be here tomorrow!

I'm loving that I'm almost done with my first (of four) gifted endorsement classes.  I think I have only 4 more assignments?  I'm ready to get all of this junk over with!

I'm loving that LL and I have had the best day so far!  Swim lessons, an hour at the park, lunch at chik-fil-a, and now nap time!

I'm loving this sexy man.  Be jealous.



Photobucket

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Comfort

My friend Emily has been having a rough go at it lately.  Not personally, but it seems like everywhere she looks, a lot of her friends are going through REALLY hard things.  Including me and my miscarriage.  I looked up some verses to comfort her (and maybe some of her other friends, too) today.  And then I thought maybe some of you might need some comfort. 

Here are some words of peace for you today!

Psalm 18:2
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

 
-How awesome is that?! Look at all of those synonyms for who the Lord is to us (as Christians) - rock, fortress, deliverer, God, shield, horn, stronghold. Look at how STRONG all of those words are. Even when we are weak, broken, downtrodden, our God is still STRONG!


Psalm 27:4-5
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.

-I LOVE this one. This verse doesn't say that nothing bad will never (or SHOULD NEVER) happen to us - it DOES say that we can seek shelter in the Lord when that day comes for us. That we can seek Him in HIS temple and he will hide us and lift us up. THAT IS AMAZING.


Psalm 34:18
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.


-So often it is easy to feel "alone" when you are going through a hard time. This verse tells us otherwise -that the Lord is near is and will restore us again!

I don't know where you are today.  If you're on top of a mountain and everything in your life is great.  If you're in the middle of a valley and the climb up seems impossible.  Or even if you're somewhere in between.  I also have no idea if you're a Christian or not.  But I hope that this encourages you, lifts you up, and gives you a little bit of light today.  We will all have our "day of sadness".  There's nothing we can do to stop it.  It's how you handle it and who you lean on that makes all of the difference in the world.

Photobucket

Monday, June 27, 2011

LL: What You're Up To

I stopped doing monthly posts for LL awhile back.  They were really stressful to me, so I really didn't mind dropping them, but I also feel like they helped me keep up with a lot of the "little stuff" that she does.  I thought it would be fun to do a post about cute stuff that LL is doing right now.

-She is talking up a STORM!  Her vocabulary surprises me every single day and she knows WAAAYYYY more words than I could ever try to keep up with. 

-She says the funniest stuff!  I had no idea that a child this young could be funny, but she totally is.  And it's not a "we're just laughing at her" kind of funny.  It's a "she's doing things to actually make us laugh."  Three funny things that she's currently saying
   1- "Wake up!  We've got a BIG problem!"
   2- "Hold on, guys!  Listen to me!  I got an idea!"
   3- "Hold on!  I'll save you - I promise!"
I have NO idea where she go this.  She's learned it completely on her own!

-She sleeps in her big girl bed and has been since shortly after her 2nd birthday.  She does great with it!  She goes to bed about 7:30ish and wakes up between 6 and 6:30 (usually).

-She is currently getting her two year molars and I HATE this process.  It makes all of us miserable.

-She wears a size 7 shoe and 2T clothing.  She is so tall that even the 2T stuff looks pretty short on her, but the 3T is way to wide for her.  So short clothing is what it is.  It's a good thing that it's summer!

-She still isn't potty trained yet.  Operation "PottyWise" is scheduled to start July 11.  We'll be busy all of that week doing nothing but learning to use the potty.  Pray for us!  We are TOTALLY going to need it.

-She is just SO SWEET.  She's loving to give kisses right now.  She's also started saying "I love you" completely on her own without you saying it first.  It's the best.

-She's really turning into a girly little girl!  She loves having her toe nails painted, picking out accessories to her outfits, and getting her hair done.  I love it!  She's also started "mothering" her baby dolls and loves to push them around in their stroller.  It is so cute!

-She's doing great with room time.  She does 20 minutes twice a day, and sometimes asks for more. 

-She's using a sippy cup, but we've slowly starting giving her small quantities of liquid in a regular cup when she's seated at a table.  So far she's doing really great with it!

-She takes one nap a day at about 1:00 and sleeps for at least 2 hours. 

-And, for old times' sake, her eyes are still blue.  :)


Photobucket

Friday, June 24, 2011

LL's Strawberry

I'm sure you've noticed from LL's pictures that she has a strawberry.  I've done a post on it before, but not since she was about 4 months old.  I figured it was about time for an update!

Let's start from the basics: a "strawberry" is just a nickname.  The real name is a capillary hemangioma.  Basically, it's a collection of blood vessels located on the top layer of the skin.  They are called "strawberries" because of their bright red color.  Although, some that form on deeper layers of the skin can be blue or colorless. 

Here are some interesting facts that I've found:
-They occur in about 10% of all births.  We know several children that have them (4 off the top of my head).
-83% of all capillary hemangiomas are found on the head or neck area.
-They occur 5 times more often in females than males.
-White infants and premature infants are more likely to get them.
-Most babies are not born with them (LL wasn't) and they appear 1-4 weeks after birth.
-They usually stop growing at 6-9 months of age.
-Most doctors will not do anything about them unless they are blocking a child's airway or hindering their vision.
-Some will disappear by 2 years of age.  60% will disappear by 5 years of age.  90-95% of them will disappear by 9 years of age.

Now on to LL's story.  At birth, she had no visible birthmark except for a stork bite at the back of her neck, but it was very small.  The picture below is one of the only ones that we have of her without her strawberry!
                                               Birth - February 2009

About a week after she was born, we noticed something on her right shoulder, near her collarbone.  It was red, but not raised, and looked more like a bruise.  We thought that we might have just pinched her in the car seat on accident.  When it didn't go away, we did a little research and pretty much figured out what it was.  In the picture below, it is kind of hard to see it, but if you look closely, it's there.

February 2009 - 3 Weeks

When we went to the doctor for her one month check-up, they confirmed that it was indeed a strawberry hemangomia.  They said that there was really nothing that we could do; it would grow and then eventually go away on it's own.

March 2009 - 1 month old

This is the point in time where it really started growing.  This is also when it started "raising up" off of her skin.

April 2009 - 2 months old

In the next picture, you can really tell how red it really is.  It had a very bright quality to it.  At first, I was kind of upset about it.  But very quickly in, I realized that things could be a WHOLE LOT worse.  I mean, it wasn't cancer.  It wasn't anything that effected her health.  And, praise God, it wasn't on her face.  When I was pregnant, I was always terrified that she would have something on her face.  I was really worried about one of those port-wine stains.  I have a very large birthmark on my back, and I've always hated it.  It is something that I've never wanted for my children.  With this, I very quickly got over all of those fears.

May 2009 - 3 months old

June 2009 - 4 months old

See how very red it is?

At about 8 months old, it really had stopped growing.  This is also the point where it stopped being quite so red, and started to get a "silver" quality to it.  You can really see that in the next picture.  Also, at this point it is very raised off of her skin.

October 2009 - 8 months old.

At this point, it is most definitely done growing.  It still has the same "silvery" quality to it.

February 2010 - 1 year old

May 2010 - 15 months old

After her one year appointment, we had to change pediatricians.  For her 18 month appointment
(August), we saw our new pediatrician.  She did something that our previous pedi didn't do - she measured it!  At 18 months, it was measuring 3 1/2 cm.  The next picture was taken the day it was measured.

August 2010 - 18 months old

At our 2 year well baby check, our pediatrician measured it again.  After just 6 months, it measured 3 cm!  That means that it shrunk 1/2 cm.  That's not a bad measurement.  It's hard to tell in pictures, but I can really tell in person.  You can actually see the size that it used to be and how much it has shrunk. 

March 2011 - 2 years old (25 months)

We don't have another appointment until she's 3 years old.  I'm sure I could attempt to measure it myself, but I've never tried.  We're really to the point where I don't even notice it anymore.  I don't think our close friends or family do anymore, either.  We don't ever have any problems out of it.  She knows that it's there.  We catch her playing with it sometimes and have to remind her to leave it alone - it could bleed a lot if she were to break the skin on it.  It is cute, though, because if you ask her where her strawberry is, she'll reach up and touch it.  Overall, we really don't make a big deal about it.  Sometimes kids will tell us that she's bleeding or ask us what it is.  I don't mind that at all.  I'd rather them ask then just stare and be rude.  I do get pretty upset when kids act weird around her because of it.  Or if they act like something is wrong with her.  That doesn't really happen that often though.  It did happen a few months ago, and you can read about how if felt about it in this post.

June 2011 - 28 months (present time)

This is just a part of who my little girl is!  I do think that it will be strange when it's not there anymore.  I wonder if I'll really even notice, though?  Only time will tell!


Photobucket