June 29, 2009

I know I should be happy about this….

But I must confess I am not. Let me start at the beginning. Elyssa is 2 years 3 months old and for the last 27 months she has slept in my room in her crib beside my bed. That is where I wanted her, where I could keep an eye on her and be there in a second if she woke up in the middle of the night and needed me. I have always wanted her to know Mommy is always there and will always be there for her. We tried letting her sleep in her crib in her nursery one night after converting it into a toddler bed but that was very, very, short lived. Well, I started looking at all of the cute “toddler” beds that they have for kids and she would see them as well as I was looking at them online. She would get so excited and say “mommy, me bed?” and look at me with her beautiful blue eyes. So I set on a mission to find her the perfect bed. Although they make a really nice “castle bed” I just felt it was too big and to much. I even at one point considered a Thomas the Tank Toddler bed that was shaped like a train, but I just got to much flack from everyone including Eddie that is was not a good “little girl bed”. So finally this past weekend we found an adorable “cottage” bed made by Little Tykes. I showed it to Elyssa and she proclaimed to me that it was a “house bed”. Ahhhhhhh, to see the world through the eyes of a child. Anyway, we went on Saturday morning and picked up her new bed and to make a long story short, she loves it. She played, and played, and played in her bed and would pretend she was sleeping and look at me and say “night-night mommy”. It was so cute yet so sad to me in a sense. My little girl was telling me she wanted to sleep in her new house bed but mommy wanted her to sleep in her crib in her room. I know it is selfish but that night when I was rocking her to sleep, I was so tempted to put her in her crib beside my bed but in my heart I new the right thing to do was to allow her to spread her wings and sleep in her new big girl “house bed”. So instead of making the turn at the top of stairs to put her in my room, I went straight ahead to her room and laid my sleeping princess in her bed for the first time. I had to stand there beside her bed for a few moments and make sure she was ok and not going to roll out onto the floor. I kept hoping she would jerk and wake up and know it was not her crib and want to come to bed with mommy, but no luck. I know was a selfish way of thinking, but somedays I just don’t want her to grow up. She slept through the night that night. A part of me wanted her to wake up. The part of me that could not sleep that night, as I lay staring over at the crib knowing she was not in there. All I could hear was the sound of the baby monitor as it waited to tell me she was stirring. I heard her wake up in the morning and she was playing in her bed. About 5 minutes go by before I heard her yelling “mom, mom, Mommy”. I got out of bed to find her at the baby gate across her door all smiles, I walked to her and she said “mom, mom, house, night night” and ran to her bed and climbed back in. Although it broke my heart that night not to have her in my room, it was so sweet to see the happiness on her face as she showed me where all her Pooh Bears had slept the night before. She now asks to go night-night and loves playing in her room. I know we did the right thing…even if it was so heartbreaking for mommy!

In other areas, on Sunday Eddie was carrying her down the stairs in the morning, playing around as he was doing so, and missed 4 stairs! All I heard was the screaming and crying of my baby and Eddie screaming for me to come quickly. He thought he had “protected” her and I had hoped he was right but within 15 minutes we knew that was not the case. After calming Elyssa down, I set her down and as she tried to walk on her left foot, cried out in pain and would not, and could not stand up. I did not over react; I figured we would give her a while to get over this. Maybe it would go away in a couple house with ice on it to “make it feel better”, but 4 hours later, she would still not walk on it and would cry out in pain when trying to walk on it. We finally decided to take her to Care Now and have it looked at. I was so afraid it was broken, but after an hour visit with Care Now dr’s, it was determined it was just a really bad sprain. She could not walk on it at all yesterday and we had to “carry me mommy” all day. Today she was not walking on it for most of the day, but later this after noon, because I think she was just so tired of not being able to move or do anything, she learned to limp on one foot or do a crawl around the house on her knee’s dragging it behind her. Very pathetic looking but she made it work. I really think she will be walking on it tomorrow, she is a pretty tough girl and with a daddy like hers she has to be!

Well it is late and I better get some sleep or at least try to, I’m still having trouble sleeping without her in my room….sad, I know, but true….

2009 June ~ Father's Day

Happy Daddy’s Day!

Ok, so we all know it was father’s day but poor Elyssa just could not get “father” out correctly, so in order to accommodate her we changed it to “Happy Daddy’s Day”. I spent most of the morning with Elyssa Sunday morning practicing “Happy Daddy’s Day”. Eddie was out side working on the pool and watering our new trees so we had some alone time to get these 3 words down. She was so cute, I asked her “What are you going to say to daddy when you see him” and she would say “Happy Daddy’s Day”. We did this over and over again. She had it down perfectly even her own added “Surprise” at the end. So we came downstairs and got Daddy’s father’s day gift out of the closet where we had hid it and I called him in from outside. The whole time prepping Elyssa in the background and she was saying over and over again “Happy Daddy’s day!” Well Eddie walks in the door, she is holding her “bag” for daddy and the big moment was there and ……..you guessed it NOTHING. She would not say it at all, I kept telling her to say it, coaxing her to say it, she just stood there with the bag saying “daddy, surprise”…hmmmm, ok, so close but no cigar! We tried, really we tried to get it right. She really was saying it but when the big moment came, she froze like a deer in the headlights. O’well, maybe next year right? I can say that she did indeed say it for daddy after the fact and several times that day, just not at the big moment! She got Daddy a #1 Dad shirt and matching #1 Dad cap and some Dallas Cowboys decals for the car. Daddy had to wear the shirt that day and to the airport since he was flying out on Father’s day as well to Omaha, NE. Fro dinner Daddy took us all out to Texas Roadhouse. He picked that place because it is Elyssa favorite restaurant. She loves the dinner rolls, sweet potatoes and of course the rice. Mommy and daddy love the place because it is so loud in there that no one hears screaming kids throwing tantrums and since we are in the terrible two’s we are always prepared for some kind of fit! I got Eddie his father’s day gift early so he already had it before Father’s Day. He got a new Garmin GPS system, it is an upgrade to his old one (I got the old one), and he got a new semi-pro digital camera he had been wanting. I think he did pretty well for Father’s Day!

On Saturday before Father’s Day we took Elyssa to a beach on Lake Lavon. She has been bugging mommy to “go to beach play sand and watie mommy”. She has read some of her books where the people go to the beach and play in the sand and water and she wanted to go as well. I guess it is not good enough that she has a pool in the backyard and her own sandbox; she wanted to go to the beach. We took Aunt Tonia and her dog Princess with us to the beach and Elyssa had an incredible time. She had so much fun and is such a little dare devil in the water. She wanted to go out deeper and deeper. Of course mommy was watching daddy with her and kept getting scared that he would drop her or something…isn’t that just like a paranoid mom??? Yeah, that’s me…. We can’t wait to take her back again. Watching her little face light up and hearing her little giggles were worth every single minute…

June 2, 2009

I’m not so proud… …of my daughters new favorite word! I guess it was just time before it happened so I should not be very surprised but geez, I thought it would have been my husbands mess up and not mine! I really, really do my best to be careful, and thought I had done an incredible job of cleaning up my language, at least around Elyssa. But one day not to long ago, I was in the kitchen and I dropped something all over the floor. I was having a rough day anyway and when it happened I said that magical word “Sh*t”. The moment it slipped from my lips I looked up and Elyssa was standing right there look at me and the mess! She very calmly exclaimed to me “Mess mum, mum, sh*t”. Well apparently for a 2 year old, you only have to screw up once and you pay for it the rest of your life, because since that one not so innocent day, my little girl has started using her new favorite word. The ironic part is that from the ONE incident she has learned the correct grammatical emphasis to use it in as well. Now every time she is carrying her blocks and they fall, or when she is dealing out cards and they all fall on the floor or is she is drinking from her big girl cup and she accidently spill, or drops something she proudly proclaims “Sh*t mum, mum mess!” She is also very good at pointing out when either mommy or daddy make a mess as well and will use her new favorite words at the right time for US! Now although I accept complete responsibility for this mishap, just how long will she keep this up??? I do not acknowledge when she says it as something bad, because if I make a big deal out of it she repeats it over and over and over again. So I figure if I don’t give her an audience maybe the word will disappear, but so far, no luck. Eddie on the other hand thinks it is funny and nearly laughed his head off when she repeated not only “sh*t” one day, but also “bull sh*t” for him. Again, I am not innocent, I can roll out a whole slew of colorful metaphors when angered but I have tried very successfully NOT to do it in front of my daughter, and now because of one, yes, I said one incident where I let my guard down, she is now using a swear word.

Now, in a positive note, I am very proud of some of her new words! She used to call her drinks a “Geeze’. I have no idea where she got the word or how she came up with it but when ever she wanted a drink she would say “Geeezzzeee” and we knew what she waned. We would ask if she wanted Juice / Milk and she would say “yeah’ when we picked the right one. Each time giving her the sippy cup and repeating what it was, milk/ juice. Well suddenly out of the blue, on evening while I was sitting in my chair watching TV, she came to me and said “mommy, Mulk”. I looked at her a bit confused and asked her what she said and she repeated “Mommy, mulk, mommy drink mulk”. I was so proud of her!! I of course got up and got her the “mulk” (not quite milk, but we will take mulk). She then proceeded to call Juice, by the name Juice, water by the name “wat-ee” and said drink when she wanted a drink! It was literally overnight and her whole vocabulary changed. Now, as sad as this sounds, I almost miss the word “Geeze” for her drinks. It was always so cute when she would stand adamantly in front of you repeating “Geeze, mommy, geeze”. She is changing so fast and picking up new things everyday. I think her vocabulary doubles every day and if she does not know a word for something it does not stop her, she just makes up a word for it and leave it up to me and daddy to figure it out!

It really is true that kids grow up to fast…right now, I’m looking for the rewind button!

May 29, 2009

I celebrated my 38th Birthday on the 15th of this month. Yup, 38th birthday…wow, does that sound as old as I think it sounds? Honestly I can say I don’t feel that old, I just feel like me, and quite honestly I think the alternative to having birthdays does not appeal to me either. Death, or another year older….I choose another year older! Bring it on I say, give me your best shot, I’m up for the challenge!! I’m the mom of a baby girl who is testing her limits in what is most commonly referred to as the “Terrible Two’s”!! If I can survive the Terrible Two’s I can most certainly survive being another year older. A lot of people make such a fuss about getting older, they refuse to tell people their ages, they joke about being 29 and holding, me, not so much. I really could careless, age is simply a number, and is no direct reflection on the person. So the number of years assigned to me may be 38, but I in no way feel “old”. I think that is all that really matter.

Since my birthday fell on a Friday, Eddie, of course was not in town. He was in DC and flew in that night. He did send me a dozen and half red roses for my b-day that came on Friday so I can’t make him feel too bad. When they came Elyssa saw them and started yelling “surprise mommy, surprise!” It is almost as though she new they were coming and had some hand in the whole thing. She is just so darn cute these days. Friday evening before we went and picked up daddy at the airport, we went out to eat with some friends. My friend Lisa’s b-day is May 18th and we celebrate our b-days together every year. Anyway, Aunt Lisa, Elyssa, Aunt Tonia and I went out to eat with friends of our (Rob, Andrea, and Elyssa’s little friends Olivia and Alexa) to the Twisted Root. After eating we went back to Aunt Lisa’s so that we could all visit for awhile. We picked Daddy up at the airport that evening and he had a really cute card for me also for my b-day. All and all it was a great day.

Saturday we went with Aunt Lisa to the Richardson Flower Festival. It was actually a raining miserable day, but by the time we got there the rain had quit. We had a pretty good evening and Elyssa did pretty good. We spent a lot of time inside at the concerts inside the theater. Well we stayed inside until Elyssa decided to start singing louder than the actual artists, oh and throwing her balloons into the seats in front of us disturbing the people in their seats. Hey, she did last about an hour and for a 2 year old that was pretty good!

On Monday I made dinner for Lisa for her birthday and had her and Aunt Tonia over to eat. Eddie was in town so he got to celebrate with us as well. I bought a cake and had them put mine and Lisa’s name on it for our b-days. Hey, you are never too old for cake and ice cream right? Elyssa insisted on singing the “Happy” song and blowing out our candles and since the only candles I had were Elyssa’s number “2” candles, Lisa and I turned 2 again this year!! Oh and Elyssa had a blast blowing out the candles.

On Wednesday after my birthday, we all went to Southern Junction for Steaks. We being, Aunt Tonia, Aunt Lisa, Eddie, Elyssa and myself, all piled in the van and had a fun evening at our favorite Country music venue. We all had a blast, helping Eddie cook the steaks and letting Elyssa dance with daddy when the band started playing. She was so cute in her pink cowboy hat! Of course Eddie and I got to take a few “spins” around the dance floor as well. Gosh, it has been forever since we’ve done that. Needless to say I was pretty rusty!

So all in all I had a wonderful b-day or should I say b-day week!

May 11, 2009

Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and pick you up and take you to the park to play. Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put that puzzle of yours together. Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the computer off, and sitwith you in the backyard and blow bubbles. Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck and I will buy you one if he comes by. Just for this afternoon, I won't worry about what you are going to be when you grow up, or second guess every decision I have made where you are concerned.
Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I won't stand over you trying to fix them. Just for this afternoon, I will take us to McDonald's and buy us both a Happy Meal so you can have both toys. Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a story about how you were born and how much I love you Just for this evening, I will let you splash in the tub and not get angry. Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on the porch and count all the stars. Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for hours, and miss my favorite TV shows. Just for this evening when I run my finger through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given. I will think about the mothers and fathers who are searching for their missing children, the mothers and fathers who are visiting their children's graves instead of their bedrooms, and mothers and fathers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer senselessly, and screaming inside that they can't handle it anymore.
And when I kiss you good night I will hold you a little tighter, a little longer.. It is then, that I will thank God for you, and ask Him for nothing, except one more day............
*****Wish I could take credit for writing this, but it was an email forward I got that really enjoyed****

May 9, 2009

Mother’s Day came early for me this year! On Friday I took Elyssa to her Mother’s Day Out play day and to my surprise all the moms were invited to stay for a special Mother’s Day “breakfast” of Muffins, fruit and juice! It was so cute, we got to sit with our little ones and enjoy some snacks with them. They had special coloring sheets the kids did for mom waiting at their seats for each mom. Made me feel so special and so proud to be Elyssa’s mom! Well little did I know there was even more to come. When I picked Elyssa up from school, they had another sheet for me that was laminated with her handprint on it and an adorable “mother’s day” poem attached and as I was leaving they gave me a big package all wrapped up in purple paper. I got in the car and looked inside and it was a ceramic filled pie pan with Elyssa footprint in it and her name and the year traced in it as well!! It was so cute, they had her put pretty little glass type stones in it to decorate it. It actually brought a tear to my eye. I know it is actually my third Mother’s Day and I probably should not get so emotional about little things like this, but it was just so darn cute and made me so proud to be Elyssa Mom!!

Eddie actually out did himself as well this year. He was out of town last week and will be gone again this week (will actually be leaving tomorrow on Mother’s Day). When I got home from picking up my little princess , a dozen red roses and a box of chocolates were delivered with a special little note attached telling what a wonderful mom he thought I was. So all in all, although Mother’s day is not till tomorrow, I have already had an incredible Mother’s Day!

April 20, 2009

Well I have finally got a lot of the pictures updated from our busy couple months! It all started with Elyssa b-day and then ran right into the Easter holiday. As you can tell from the pictures and the videos, Elyssa LOVED decorating eggs for Easter. Aunt Tonia and JT helped us color eggs this year. In the end we gave her one egg to do with what she pleased and she put it in every color we had and pretty much turned it black. It was so cracked by the time she finished dropping it into all the colors we took a picture of it and had to throw it away. It certainly was not edible!
For Easter we went to visit Nana and Pop in Lufkin, TX. Since the house is not big enough for all of us to stay at one time (Eddie’s 2 sisters and their family were there as well), we stayed at the Hampton Inn Saturday night. When we got to our room it only had a shower (was a handicap accessible room) and there is no way little princess will take a shower and allow the raindrops to fall on her head in the shower so we had to switch rooms. There were no other rooms available so they upgraded our room to a suite. It was a really nice room with a living room, kitchen, bedroom and bath! It was the perfect room for our morning Easter egg hunt! It does help that Eddie has diamond status with Hilton Hotels, so whenever there is a problem they do their best to satisfy him. He will only stay in Hilton hotels or Embassy Suites when he travels so the free nights/ stays really to rack up! In the morning Elyssa woke up to find her Easter basket on the coffee table and was soo excited that the Easter bunny had come. I had to coax her through the egg hunt. All she wanted to do was find the egg, open it and eat the “canies” (candies in Elyssa words). She only eats M&M’s so that is what all the eggs were filled with. The Easter bunny only brought her lollipops in her basket since she will take a few licks off of “pops". Her basket was over flowing with toys and such that the Easter Bunny brought her for Easter. I think she really did enjoy the morning. She even took her little egg hunt basket down to breakfast with us so she could show everyone downstairs some of her treats. She got gummy bears from the hotel desk clerk and a Bible from one of the other guests staying at the hotel. It was a very sweet morning!! After leaving the hotel, we rushed over to church where Pop was preaching and made it just in time for the start of the service. All the rest of the family sat up front, we of course had no idea how Elyssa was going to be for the service so we sat all the way in the back, just safer that way! After church we all went back to Nana and Pops and visited for awhile and then headed back to Dallas!
Eddie has been around a bit lately. He was home all last week, and only travels Thursday and Friday this week. Of course then his schedule picks up again on Sunday and who knows when his next break will be. He has another upcoming trip to Washington DC and Elyssa and I are going to try to go with him. The weather is getting so nice that a trip north will be great. Elyssa and I can do some site seeing while daddy is at work!
Elyssa is doing great! She is learning new words everyday and I don’t know where she is getting some of it. The other day she came up to me pointing to her neck saying “neck mom-mom”. Now I don’t ever remember telling her neck before, we just stick to the basics, mouth, teeth, cheeks, face, eyes, tongue..you know.. but she came up with neck on her own! She loves trains and says “choo-choo” every time we see one. When we are driving down the road she points out all the trailer trucks and say “big truck mom-mom, big truck” and tells me they have “big wheels”. She has even started talking on the phone some! She would usually just sit there and listen to the other person but she will talk now to people, especially daddy. When Eddie was away on his last trip she heard his voice and squealed into the phone “daddy, hi daddy!” It truly is the cutest thing in the world to watch as her world opens up more to her. She knows 2 colors now, pink and green, knows her name starts with the letter “E”, and can hold up 2 fingers when asked how old she is! I’m sure there is so much more I am forgetting to put on here but those are some of the things I can think of. There is just so much she is learning.
She is doing wonderfully with her potty training! We got her another new potty and this one is a fr nd she LOVES it!! She has it in the living room and will sit on it forever..lol. She even tells me know when she has to pee, of course sometimes it is a bit late but she is trying soooo hard. In fact I have not changed a “poopy” diaper in 3 days, she has done her poopy on the potty every time! She even told me at Fry’s yesterday that she had to pee-pee and held it till I got her to the potty and she went for the fist time on the big potty. Of course then we went to the Olive Garden to eat afterward and she said she had to pee, I took her and the darn thing had an auto flush that would not stop flushing, and it scared the “bajeezers” our of her!!! She would not go and of course went in her diaper on the way home. Not sure how to get past the auto flush modes on the potties!! At night it is hard, she is waking up in the middle of the night yelling “mom-mom pee-pee potty” but each time it is to late. She is usually dry in the morning (after being up and me changing her at about 4am) and goes right on the potty! I’m so proud of my little girl.
Ok enough about the potty talk. Aunt Tonia is on her way over and is going to make us dinner tonight! Aunt Tonia is just too good to Elyssa. For Easter she got Elyssa a big wagon filled with Sand box toys. Elyssa loves the wagon and pulls all of her stuff all over my living room with it.
Hope everyone had a great Easter!

April 8, 2009

Well once again, just as with Santa Clause, our little girl is terrified of the Easter Bunny. So daddy and I got smart for Easter. We decided to have her picture taken with a live Bunny!! She absolutely loved the bunny and the woman who did the pictures was just great. She was so patient with Elyssa and got some really incredible shots. In fact she took 113 pictures and I have 103 favorites!! I know, I know, that is a lot, but she did such a good job how could I just pick 1 ??

April 2, 2009

I just cannot believe my little girl is 2 years old. Two years ago, I was sitting here typing and telling the world of her arrival and now she is 2 years old. Yes, they do grow up to fast. We had an absolutely wonderful and incredible birthday party for her on the 21st of March. The theme was “Wonder Pets”, so Linny, Tuck, and Ming-Ming helped her celebrate her big day. The cake was absolutely adorable. It was the Wonder Pets flyboat with all three of them sitting on top of it. Aunt Tammy did a wonderful job! Elyssa spent the day surrounded by all the people who love her and care for her and I can say she loved every single second of it! I have to confess that mom loved it as well. It is just so much fun to sit back and watch your child’s eyes fill with excitement as the piñata was broke and the candy and toys fell from the sky, the look of anticipation in her eyes when she saw the cake and the candle that was lit just for her to blow out, and the look of enjoyment as she ripped open all of her presents and played with all the paper and boxes (oh and the toys as well!). Mommy and Daddy got her a new “play kitchen” for her birthday that is now sitting in mommy’s kitchen so Elyssa can cook while mommy is cooking. She has so much food and pots and pans to play with and it is all usually spread across the kitchen, into the living room, and the playroom as well! She will tell me all the time that her kitchen is her “house”…”mom, mom baby house” and run over to it. She calls herself either “baby” or “me” all the time. I try to explain to her that her name is Elyssa and showing her pictures and she will say “Yeah mom, mom me” and point to the picture. I guess eventually someday she will understand.

Aunt Heidi stayed for the week after her birthday and we spent the week doing all kinds of fun things with our little princess. She was glued to Aunt Heidi that week, in fact for 4 days after Aunt Heidi left she would wake up in the morning asking for “Hi-yee” and look around downstairs for “Hi-yee”. I really think she misses her!! That week we took her to parks to play, to Grapevine Mills Mall where she got to ride her first carousal (she was not to thrilled with it), and the big trip was to the Fort Worth Zoo! While at Grapevine Mills Mall we wanted to take her to the Rainforest Café to eat dinner because of how neat and exciting it is. Every 8 minutes while you are eating they put on a “rainforest display” and the whole restaurant is decorated like a rainforest with birds and monkey in the trees, and an incredible display of elephants. They simulate lighting, thunder, rain and the birds, monkey, and elephants all move. It really is a great experience. Well we got seated right in front of the elephant display (as many know, elephants are my favorite) and lets just say Elyssa was NOT impressed. In fact she was so scared she buried her little face in my neck and would not look at anything. We tried for a few minutes to show her there was nothing to be afraid of but it was no use. We ended up having to leave the restaurant and ate at Chili’s and she was just fine. The zoo was a bit of a different experience. She really did enjoy seeing the animals and getting to run around and play on some of the displays. I almost think it was too big for her, she was really tired by the time we left. I think as she gets older she is going to enjoy these kinds of events a lot more. I have ton’s of pictures to post from all the fun we had at the parks, zoo and of her birthday and now that things have settled down around here I hope to get some of them posted!

On a side note, Elyssa had her 2 year check up yesterday. We were excited that there were no shots on that visit and we found out she is growing just wonderfully. She weighs 31 ½ lbs (in the 90%) her length is 35 ½ inches (90-95%), and her BMI 17.6 (75-85%). Her next check-up is not till she is 3 and no more shots till she is 4!

March 20, 2009

Today is Elyssa's Birthday! Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday my sweatheart Elyssa! Happy Birthday to you!
Mommy and Daddy love you so much!!! You have been such a blessing in our lives...Hope you enjoy your special day!

March 16, 2009

Note from me: I thought I had posted this to the public but realized it was only in draft form..sooo here it is now.
We had a very unexpected, yet expected death in the family last week. Daddy Jay, Eddie’s 94 year old grandfather died. I say unexpected, yet expected because although he was older he was doing well from what we had heard. So, last week we traveled to Balmorhea, TX which is out in West TX about 8 hours from Dallas for the funeral. I was very concerned about how Elyssa would do at the funeral viewing and at the church and I had just cause to be concerned. We did not predict the weather very well and thought it would be a lot cooler than it was. We went to the viewing on Wednesday and I had Elyssa in a long sleeve dress. Well little miss was miserable and very warm and while I was in one room and she was in another room with Daddy, she decided to take off her clothes and was running around in her tights and diaper at the funeral home!! Although everyone thought it was cute and was laughing at her, I was appalled! I tried to put her dress back on her to which she responded with a beautiful “tantrum”. I had a pair of sweats / and a t-shirt in my diaper bag that I carry as “back up clothes” and managed to get them on her without much trouble. So instead of the beautiful velvet dress that I had for her to wear that day, she was running around in no shoes, UT Sweat pants and a t-shirt!! Then to add icing to the cake, daddy took her outside with him to visit with his Uncle Wes and allowed Elyssa to run all over in her bare feet playing with the puppy dogs outside! I went out to find them about 20 later and she was filthy!! I could not believe her at all, but I guess what should I have expected from an almost 2 year old right? Well luckily it was time for the afternoon break and we headed back to our hotel for the break and 6-7 people came back to our hotel with us and had some dinner. What did we have? Bar-b-que of course, remember I did say this was west TX! Elyssa took a much needed nap while we all sat around and ate. When she got up, it was time to go back to the funeral home, so I just changed her into a comfy pant set I had for her and called it done. I was not fighting with her to get “dressed up” again! After the evening viewing we went to Walmart where I bought her a comfy , cute spring sun dress to wear to the church service so she would be happier and more comfortable. The church service was not to bad. Nana and Pop sat behind us and she played , climb over the pews during a lot of it, but at least she did not cause a scene. She did ok at the graveside also, except she did not understand why she could not be out running around during everything and why she had to sit on mommy’s lap. It is so hard explaining these kinds of things to her, kept telling her “shhhhhh” and putting my finger over my lips…she just did it back to me in response to me doing it to her. We drove home on Thursday after the funeral and I thought it was going to be an uneventful trip, but about 3 hours from Dallas Elyssa decided to puke all over the back seat and her car seat. I have to say this is probably one of the grossest things that can happen. Why you ask? Because although I cleaned up as much as I could, I changed the baby clothes, and wrapped all the dirty stuff in 2 plastic bags, the SMELL does not go away and you are trapped in the car with the smell of puke for hours….yup, that is how this trip ended up. No, she is not sick, it is all part of her reflux problem and drinking to much milk. Fun huh?

Well she has stopped eating altogether again. It has been a downward spiral for about 3 weeks and now she has stopped. Her new trick now, if you try to give her a bite of one of her “preferred foods” , she will gag herself till she pukes!! I have decided that my daughter will be bulimic before she is 4!!! I have no idea how she learns this behavior or why she is doing it. I wish I had answers. I have talked to her therapists and they have decided that it is best if we put her on the waiting list for the inpatient program at the hospital. I hate that it has come to this but Elyssa will not eat food and we have to do something for her to fix this. I think the waiting list is about 4-6 months so we are in the waiting game now. She is still going to therapy and feeding frenzy till a spot is available. I just hope it does not take that long. This is just really, really very frustrating for me.

March 4, 2009

On Feb 23, 2009 we lost a very special member of our family. Daddy Jay Oates died at the age of 94. This is in memory of him...

A Cowboys Last Request..
Let me tell you folks Who have gathered here today That I'm a proud and thankful cowboy Who has just passed away
I know it's hard But, please don't cry Fer I'm now ridin' Gods trails High up in the sky
The hoss I'm ridin' now Don't spook, buck or kick Fer God stables perfect horses And now I have my pick
Lord, please forgive me of all my sins Fer I haven't been perfect But I know that he who believes in You Forever wins!
I have lived a good life A cowboys dream come true Thank You Lord, Fer I'm now ready to ride into eternity Me, my horse, and You.

Feb 15, 2009

Can I believe it has been 4 years already??? Nope, not at all, it seems just like yesterday that we were planning our wedding and frantically getting the place ready for all of our company. My mom and dad came in from PA for the wedding and were staying with us. Anyway, that was 4 years ago on the 12th of Feb. Amazing I say, just amazing to look at us now, everything has changed and nothing is the same! I mean, I sit here and look around me and the biggest change to hit me is the beautiful little girl who is lying on her Dora couch watching Toy Story right now. It is so amazing to me still sometimes that I am a mom to this beautiful little girl. Anyway, that was one of the big events this past week, the other one was Valentine’s Day of course. Eddie was actually home for both our Anniversary and Valentines Day for a change! I remember 2 years ago; he had to fly out on our Anniversary, now that was no fun at all. We did not get to go out this year for Valentines Day. Well, let me rephrase that, we did not get to go out alone for Valentines Day, Elyssa got to come and share it with us. Our babysitter, Aunt Tonia (NaNa), came down with the flu so she was not able to watch Elyssa for us. So we decided we would just take her with us. In fact the above picture is of her and Daddy at the restaurant we ate at. It was a little Thai place in Garland that we absolutely love. We tried to go to Olive Garden, but geez, there was a wait out the door and that is just no fun with an almost 2 year old in tow. So we ran over to the Thai place, there was no wait and we went right in and sat right down. Now that is service I tell you! They even cater to kids. Elyssa loves their fried rice, and they bring her out the bowl of rice and her own pink plastic kid’s plate and a big pink plastic fork and spoon. The first time we went there and they did that, they won me over! I mean most places will bring you out an extra glass plate for a kid which is not practical, not this place; they are on the ball and kid ready! So we had a nice dinner, ran to Wal-Mart to pick up some binders for a class Daddy is teaching next week in D.C. and then to Circuit City to see if we could find any good “going out of business” sales. We found a few things, but nothing really exciting. A lot of the stuff was really picked over.

For our Anniversary we went to Lufkin, TX to visit Nana and Pop (Eddies parents). We had not been to see them in a while and since Eddie travels so much, we have to jump on opportunities when they “knock”. It is about a 4 hour drive from Dallas so we just went down on Thursday and came home on Friday. We had a nice visit, Elyssa was all dressed in her UT (University of Texas) cheerleader outfit for the drive down and then that evening I changed her into her UT sweat suit. She is just so darn cute in those outfits. Nana and Pop enjoyed visiting with Elyssa, they are just so amazed at how big she is getting. I’m amazed myself, considering the kid does not eat…!!!

Well Elyssa has discovered a new talent that she has. She likes to walk backwards!!! We were at Eddie’s office today (yes, he has an office to go to here in Dallas, but he is never here to go to it..lol) and she was going up and down the halls backwards and singing. She loves going to daddy’s office. She runs all over the place (it is huge office, almost the entire 2nd story of the building). I think she tires herself out while she is there just running from hallway to hallway yelling for “Daaaaadddyyyyy”. He does not help matter when he is chasing her around as well. It is really comical to watch the two of them. But anyway, today she learned to walk backwards and I have to say she does it really, really well. Maybe she has been doing it for a while and this was the first time I noticed, I don’t know, but to me, it is new!

Well, princess has fallen asleep, so I better get her to bed… a mom’s work is never, ever done…

Feb 2, 2009

How about them Steelers????? Yup, that was quite a game Sunday night. I have to say I was unable to watch the last 33 seconds of the game. They were so close to loosing up till that last second I just could not take it. I think I scared Elyssa a few times, I was yelling and screaming at the TV, she has never seen mommy like that. She would run up to me, jump in my arms and start patting my back. I kept telling her that we were watching football; she just kept saying “ball, ball, mommy ball?”t a I am so happy that they won!! I wish Eddie could have been here to watch the game with us. He was stuck at the airport. He flew out to DC this week. When he got to the airport he found out his flight was cancelled and he was pushed back to an 8:30pm flight. So he got to see most of the game sitting in a bar at the airport but we did not get to see it together. Such is life I guess. I loved the new Clydesdale Budweiser Commercials. You know half the fun of the Super bowl is watching the commercials.

Poor Elyssa, she has been inundated with sports these days. Last Wednesday we got free courtside tickets to see the Dallas Mavericks play the Warriors at American Airlines Center. Eddie was in town last week so it was the perfect week to go. My friend Lisa got tickets from the Dr she works for and she could not use them herself so she gave them to us. So the 3 of us went and we took Tonia and JT with us as well. There were 4 tickets and Elyssa does not need a ticket until she is 2. She had a blast!! I thought all the noise and confusion would upset her but not at all, she did great and had a great time. I have to say she has got to experience a lot of different things in her short life so far. I just hope that we can continue to expose her to lots of different things.

Well the birthday planning has begun. I cannot believe she is going to be 2 years old next month!! My baby isn’t a baby anymore. We are planning a Wonder Pets themed party. Of course it is going to be here at the house, she is still pretty young to have big parties at bounce houses and such, she just would not get as much out of it. So we will have everyone here and celebrate the big # 2 for our little Princess. Can’t wait, I’m sure it will be a blast!

Jan 28, 2009

Before I was a Mom, I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby. I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous. I never thought about immunizations. Before I was a Mom, I had never been puked on. Pooped on. Chewed on. Peed on. I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts. I slept all night. Before I was a Mom, I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests. Or give shots. I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep. Before I was a Mom, I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put her down. I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt. I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much. I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mom. Before I was a Mom, I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body. I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child. I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy. Before I was a Mom, I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay. I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom. I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

Jan 22, 2009

Elyssa certainly had a busy couple weeks. We have been dealing with some more medical issues with her. For the last several weeks she has been waking up in the middle of the night “puking”. Yes, I know not a pretty subject and allow me to say not so nice to clean up at 2 or 3 am either! I finally took her into the Pediatrician and she had no idea what was causing it. Elyssa was not sick in any other way, no fever, no congestion, just throwing up almost every night all over herself, me and her bed. Our pediatrician called her GI dr who advised us to give her the Prevacid 2 times a day instead of once. We were to do it in the AM before her breakfast and in the PM before her last meal. We started that and it worked great. The GI dr also wanted to see her and check her out as well. So last week I took her into the GI dr. She told us that the Prevacid will not be approved by our insurance for twice a day so she wanted us to start Zantac in the evenings instead of the Prevacid. Well 2 days into the Zantac and she was puking all over the place again every night!! I have to say, I am so sick of cleaning puke off myself, her, her crib and the floor!! So I called the GI dr again and she told me we are going to have to go back to the Prevacid twice a day and they are going to have to fight with our insurance to try to get it approved for twice a day. Now, I have already decided if the insurance company refuses to pay for it, we will be paying for it out of pocket. I will not have my daughter puking every night because her reflux is so bad. It is just amazing that an insurance company would give you trouble over something that is needed to keep you well?? O’well, I remember all the problems we had when she had her Doc Band, this is just one more fight we will have to fight. Time to get my boxing gloves out again.
This week Elyssa had one of her little friends over to visit. I posted a picture of the 2 of them having a tea party. She and Olivia got along pretty good. We did have some problems with Elyssa and her new favorite word “mine”; it is a slow process teaching her to share. We have decided that we need to get the girls together more often. Elyssa has not really been around someone her own age and Olivia is a month younger than Elyssa. It was really sweet watching them, of course I did see a bit of jealousy in Elyssa as well. Olivia’s mom has a new 7 week old baby and I was holding her. Elyssa came up to me whining “mom, mom baby back” and she would motion for me to put the baby back in her carrier!! She was really getting upset. I can say, holding that little baby really made me want another little one. I miss that baby phase so much.
Today was a beautiful day outside and after we left her therapy session this morning I decided we were going to a park that afternoon. We went home and Elyssa took a nap and then we went out to Pirate Cove Park. I debated taking my camera with me, but I decided instead of taking a bunch of pictures I wanted to spend the time playing, running, jumping and swinging with my baby (or should I say toddler..naah, I like baby better). We had such a nice time. I think we were there for almost an hour before she started asking for a drink and I did not have it with me. It was in the car since I wanted to play with her on all the climbing stuff, I left all of our bags in the car. So she took my hand and we walked together back to the car. I had such a nice afternoon playing with her.
Have I told you about the sweetest sound? Well these days that is Elyssa when she is watching either Wonder Pets, Little Bear or Oswald and she starts to “giggle and laugh” at all the funny parts in the cartoon. Yes, she completely understands what is going on in the cartoon and laughs at all of the funny parts. I will be in the kitchen washing sippy cups or something and hear this little giggle erupt from the living room floor. It really is the sweetest little sound these days. She is getting so smart and learning so fast and she is in her “big girl helper stage”. She helps me put the stuff from our grocery cart on the belt at the checkout counter. She helps me carry in bags from the car (and will even tell me “heavy mom mom”). She helps me put the stuff away from the bags we brought in from the car. She even helps me unload the dishwasher and the dryer when I’m doing laundry. Now, I can say, there are times I really don’t want her help, but there is just no way to tell her you don’t want her help, she is very persistent!
Well I think that is a pretty good update on what has been going on in our household in the last couple weeks. Oh and if you happen to be living under a rock these days and have not heard yet “PITTSBURGH’S GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL”!!!!! Here we go….

Dec 31, 2008

Wow, another year almost gone. When I sit here and reflect on the past year, I am amazed at everything that has happened. Elyssa celebrated her first birthday, learned to walk, is talking up a storm and now sleeping in her own big girl bed. So many accomplishments for such a little girl I can only imagine what the New Year will bring for her. I know that potty training is top on mommy’s list. She is doing really well at it when I keep one her. She actually started using the potty regularly on August 17th but I did not pressure her at all. She is still a bit young and not even 2 yet. She will go if I put her on the potty and EVERY morning she has to go potty and “pee-pee and poopy” in the potty. If you don’t let her go she throws a holy fit. I am just not in any hurry to strap myself to the potty training ritual. I really do think it is more about training mommy and daddy than it is about training Elyssa. I have to say diapers are just so much easier..Yeah, messier but much easier…I know, I know excuses, excuses. I know she has to be potty trained before she is 2. Her urologist told me he wanted her potty trained by the time she was 2 because it would help with her Stage 2 renal reflux. She has to go through all of that testing again in March. I have to say I am not looking forward to that again this year. That was simply just a horrible experience for her and for me as well.
Tonight we are not doing much at all. Since I am still pretty miserable with my cold, we are just having some friends over for a low key evening. I am of course making sauerkraut, hot dogs and sausage since that is a tradition but nothing to exciting. I even warned the guests that I just may not make it till midnight, just depends on how I feel. I hate being sick.. really, really hate it. Today we went and made a huge donation at Good Will. Like many others, trying to take advantage of another tax deduction this year. I hate tax season, Eddie spends hours working on the taxes trying to make it so that we don’t owe anything. I remember a time in my life when I actually got tax refunds, but it really is true, the more you make the more they take!! Boy do they take, and take and take and now that we are stuck with a democratic president for the next 4 years I’m sure they will be taking even more…!!
Well hope everyone has a Happy New Year and most importantly be safe!

Dec 28, 2008

Yes, I said big girl bed! Elyssa, who has been sleeping in a crib beside my bed since she was born, has slept 2 nights now in her big girl bed in her own room. Yes, the nursery that has been used for nothing but getting her dressed and letting her play in was actually used as a “bedroom” the last 2 nights. On Christmas Eve Eddie and his dad covered her crib she never used into a toddler bed and I have to say it is quite adorable. I am going to have to get pictures of it and post them; she is just so darn cute sleeping in there all by herself. She can get in all by herself with the help of a step stole and get out the same way. Eddie put up a bedrail along the open side so she will not fall out at night and so far so good. Of course I think mom has more issues with this new sleeping arrangement than Elyssa does. Of course I still use that term “sleep” loosely since she is still up sometimes 3 times a night but she is doing it in her own room now. I on the other hand have further to walk to check on her when I wake up in the middle of the night and want to make sure she is still ok. Yes, you read that right, go ahead read it again, yes, I still check on her to make sure she is ok. I have a horrible time sleeping these days and I think it is because she has me up all night long still. When she gives me 3-4 hours straight I can’t sleep now. But anyway she is “non” sleeping in her own room just fine. No problem with the transition, in fact I think she likes her big girl bed more than her crib beside my bed. When Eddie starts traveling again (after the holidays) I am not sure I will leave her in her room. It is just too scary to me being home alone with her and having her in her own room. Some people thought she would sleep better in her own room…”Ha, Ha” I say to those folks. My baby still does not sleep through the night and sleeps no better than she did in my room. O’well I guess it was worth a shot but no success yet. I don’t think it will get any better till she starts eating and is not hungry in the middle of the night, but that is a whole other story.
Christmas was a HUGE success! Elyssa had a wonderful Christmas and her Aunt Tonia and JT came over to watch her open her presents. It was so much fun this year, she loved opening the gifts and hearing her say “wow-wow”! She got so many new and wonderful things for Christmas, just too many to tell. She got new babies, a musical tea set, new Wonder Pets toys, books, a new Dora couch, a new shopping cart and a bunch of Mr. Potato heads just to name a few things. I think we will have to just move out of the house and let the toys take over; it just may be easier that way. We all had lunch at Eddie’s sister’s house and that evening Aunt Tonia made us all a Christmas dinner. We really did have a great day and of course we have tons of pictures and videos! I just need to get on the ball and get them all posted.
I of course have caught a cold for the New Year. I woke up today with a sore throat and no voice and feeing like a Mac Truck hit me. My luck I must say. We were suppose to take a trip to Balmorhea, TX to visit with Daddy Jay this week , but with me sick I am sure we are not going. I can bet that Elyssa will be coming down with this soon…happy, happy, joy, joy!

Dec 24, 2008

Well here I sit, watching my little princess get all excited about “Ho, Ho” coming tonight to bring her presents. She sees all the presents wrapped under the tree and runs over and picks them up. Of course I have to explain to her that she cannot open her presents till tonight. We are having Christmas Eve here at our house. Eddie’s Dad and step-mom came into town yesterday and stayed last night with us. This evening his sister Tammy and her family are coming over and we are all enjoying a Pre- Christmas “Mexican Fiesta”!! We will also exchange gifts tonight so Elyssa will get to open some presents which will really, really excite her. Last week she got to open her present from Aunt Lisa and she really got into tearing the paper off, so I think this year she is going to have a blast Christmas morning! I just can’t wait to watch her and see how excited she gets. She really understands what is going on this year. When we are driving around town and she sees Christmas lights she says “mom, mom…HO, HO!!” Everything is HO, HO. The lights, the tree, Santa Claus…everything associated with Christmas!
Well, I am going to enjoy the day with family as I hope everyone does today! Merry Christmas to all and to all a wonderful Good Night!

Dec 14, 2008

Sleepless in Dallas…
Ok, so I stole the title from the movie Sleepless in Seattle, but geez, I definitely fit the description. Elyssa will not sleep through the night. Because Elyssa has not sleeping through the night, I in turn am not sleeping through the night. Well let’s be more specific here, Elyssa is almost 21 months old, yes, almost 2 and has never, ever, ever consistently slept through the night. Ok, so on occasion once in a blue moon she has surprised me and slept through the night, but that is very, very rare and I mean rare. In fact I cannot at this time remember the last night she slept through the night. Now, what this means to me, is that I HAVE NOT HAD A FULL NIGHTS REST IN 21 MONTHS!!! I really, really would appreciate a good night’s rest. I mean I remember when I was pregnant, so long ago now, but anyway, I remember when my dr prescribed Ambien for me because I was having trouble sleeping. I used to sleep so soundly on those evenings. I remember what is like to sleep; I just don’t get to do it anymore. Even on those rare, and again I mean rare, occasions that she does sleep through the night, I on my own, wake up to check on her because I think there is something wrong that she has not gotten up. I know it sounds ridiculous but I think it is just being a mom. Not only does she not want to sleep through the night, she has started the “I don’t want to go night, night mama” phase. So as I type, tonight at 9:20pm, my beautiful daughter is climbing all over me “ruffing” like a dog, watching “Little Bear” on demand. I cannot for the life of me get her to lie down. I tried to put her to bed and she wiggles, squirms and cries. I know, lots of mom’s are into the “let them cry it out” theory, me, no way. I never want my daughter to think I am not there for her, so no crying it out in this family. So I will remain “sleepless in Dallas” till this phase passes.
I think we have officially hit the terrible 2’s and we have not even celebrated our second b-day yet. She has definitely started the tantrums and the my way or no way antics. I can honestly say there are days I want to rip my hair out. Again, I know this is a phase she is going through and this too shall pass, but man, it sure can wear a person out. I have started with Time Out, redirecting, and explaining to her that some things she does is just not acceptable, but when was the last time you tried rationalizing with an almost 2 year old. She certainly is an independent person and at such a young age. A friend of mine told me the other day “Wait till she is 13”, yeah, geez, I can’t wait (said with a great deal of sarcasms)!
This weekend we took her to a Breakfast with Santa at Aunt Tonia’s church. They had cookie decoration, crafts, a bounce house and ball tosses. There was also coffee, juice, donuts and etc, but of course Elyssa would not eat a thing or drink anything. Of course my little girl would not go near Santa, just cried and said “no, no, no” so again no pictures with Santa but she had a blast none the less. She loves the bounce house and of course balls are her favorite toy these days. Aunt Tonia and JT played the bells also while we were there. It really was a great morning and daddy was there so that made even better. It really is so hard with him travelling so much these days. Today when we dropped him off at the airport Elyssa was awake and she waved “bye-bye” to him and blew him kisses, it was actually kind of sad. I really think she understands that he is leaving these days. Of course when he gets home this week, he will be home for a few weeks and for that we are very, very thankful!

Dec 9, 2008

Well we made it home from PA on Dec 2nd! Since then I have been trying to get back into the swing of things around here. It is always a hassle getting things organized again after a trip. While we were in PA we went to State College PA for Thanksgiving with my cousin Lisa. We had a great time; she made me homemade Gobs (if you have never had one you don’t know what you are missing), homemade peanut butter fudge and homemade no-bake cookies. I was utterly in Heaven. I of course think I gained 5lbs over night if that is possible at all!! We did do some shopping on Black Friday but not the early morning shopping frenzy this year. This was the first year we did not go early morning black Friday shopping. We did do too much shopping none the less, we ended up having to pack an extra suitcase for the return flight and we sent a huge box of stuff home. Yeah, a bit too much shopping I’d say!
We put up the Christmas tree this week and did the decorating outside. Of course this year is an even more scaled down version of decorating than last year. It is just so hard with Eddie traveling and Elyssa getting into everything to put up all of our stuff that we usually do. I figure in about 3 or 4 more years we can put up the 3 trees again, but for now it is just 1 tree. Eddie is in Washington DC this week and next week. He will be home for Christmas and New Years though; we are pretty excited about that. I have pretty much finished all of the Christmas shopping for Elyssa. She is having a “Wonder Pet’s” Christmas. She loves that show and I bought her almost all of the figures that are out for it. She is going to be so excited. We are going to be home for Christmas, no plans at all right now. Maybe spending the day with Eddie’s sister, but no plans have been made as of yet. I think I am always the last one to find out anyway..!
Ok, I have to get going, the girls (Aunt Tonia & Aunt Red) are coming over for dinner tonight. I have cheese soup to make, better get cooking….

Nov 24, 2008

Well the Eagle has landed….we are in PA visiting with my family. Elyssa did not do to bad on the airplane. Well, either she did better or I am just getting used to her behavior may be more like it. We had 3 drops on the way up here because we flew Southwest Airlines and they of course do not have a direct flight to Pittsburgh. We left Dallas, went to Little Rock, then to Chicago where we changed planes and came into Pittsburgh. We had a whole row to ourselves except from Chicago to Pittsburgh. In fact on that flight they had over booked the flight! I want to know how the heck do you overbook a flight??? I mean you know how many seats are on the plane you only sell that many seats right?? Am I the only one who understands this concept? O’well, it really does not matter, Eddie has “A” status with Southwest because he flies so much that we are always the first ones on the plane. Makes the process a lot easier and smoother for us. We were happy to get here; the evening we got here we took Elyssa and Mikey to Burger King to play in the play area. They had a blast. On Sunday we took Elyssa outside to play in what was left of the snow. It is so cold that we did not stay outside very long but she did get to walk in it and touch it! We actually went to Kmart and bought her a snow suit yesterday so she can go outside and play this rest of the week. The fun has just begun!!

Nov 19, 2008

Well times are a changing I tell you! Little princess is growing up and at the same time “growing” into her own little personality as well. She has mastered the word “NO” and uses it at her own will at the least appropriate time. Oh and let us not forget that she learned the word “Mine”. I have tried “not” to teach her that word because well, I knew once she learned it; EVERYTHING would be “MINE”. What is hers is “mine” and what is mine is hers. Yeah, funny how that works isn’t it?
Last night was an interesting evening, a first if I may add. My friend Lisa and I have a weekly date where we go out to eat and visit and catch up on each other lives. Up until last night we would meet at a sit down restaurant and have dinner and either goes back to one of each other houses or shop afterwards. We have been doing this for what seems like forever, I think it keeps the both of us sane! Well last week when we got together, Elyssa, my little Princess, was what can only described as a demon child. At the restaurant she threw a fit, would not play with her toys, would not color, there was nothing I could do to satisfy her. I was so upset that I could not concentrate on my own meal or what the table conversation was! Well I made an announcement at the end of our meal that I was not taking Elyssa out to another restaurant (with out Eddie) again. I had had enough and it just was not fun anymore. Well Lisa tried to assure me that Elyssa was not bothering her and this was just a Phase she was going through and next time could be just sooo different. All things that maybe true, but I decided that it just was not going to happen again. Well my wonderful friend Lisa, stressed that we may not get to go out again, decided this week we would go to eat at McDonalds, BK , or Chick-fil-a where they had a play place. That way Elyssa could run around and play while we sat down, ate and talked!! I have to say it was genuinely a wonderful and sweet offer and guess what???? It worked!!! We had dinner at McDonalds (no not my favorite but desperate times call for desperate actions) and Elyssa ran all over and I did not have to worry about her for a second. We actually had a great time and joined in on some of her play. We got some really great pictures of Aunt Lisa and Elyssa in the tubes as well as Mommy and Elyssa playing. Afterwards we ran to Target and I think we pushed our luck. She was actually tired and the trip was not much fun, but at least we got to sit, talk, and actually eat a decent meal…well ok, a fast food meal…lol.
Children change our lives is so many ways, and as a new mom I am learning that she is not going adjust to me, I have to learn to adjust to her. We are both learning each other every single day and it one challenge I am actually enjoying every minute of!

Nov 17, 2008

So the whole family has been sick and let me say it is no fun for mom! Especially when mom is as sick as the rest of them. Eddie had last week off and to be honest we were quite glad he did, except he brought some kind of creepy crud back with him and well after coming down with it himself on Tuesday, gave it to the baby by Thursday night. Elyssa was up all night Thursday night with a temp of 103. I knew if it got to 105 we were in trouble and had to get to the hospital, but I just kept giving her Tylenol and Motrin and it kept her fever down a bit. I spent Friday morning in the dr's office with her making sure she did not have strep throat , the flu or a UTI. All the test came back negative so after telling me the obvious, she had a sore throat and it was all viral (nothing they will do about it except give her Tylenol and Motrin), they sent us home to try to make her comfortable. Well by Sunday she was up and acting like herself but on Saturday "mom" came down with all of it....I tell you when it rains it pours. Eddie is of course feeling a bit better and is out of town again and I am here alone, sick taking care of a baby...yaaaahhhh for me! I am just hoping that it is gone by Friday because we are all getting on a plane Saturday morning to head home again to visit with Grandma and Pappy for Thanksgiving! We will be gone from the 22nd till Dec 2nd. We were going to board the dogs like we usually do, but Aunt Tonia and Uncle Brother JT are going to move into our place while we are gone so the dogs can stay home while we are gone. I guess you can say they are dog sitting or house sitting is more like it. I can't believe I will be home for a holiday. I have not been home for Thanksgiving in over 8 years and have not been home for Christmas for probably over 10 years...yup, it has been a long, long time. We are actually going to visit my cousin Lisa in State College, PA for Thanksgiving. She invited all of us up for Thanksgiving dinner, of course my mom is cooking..lol, she is just hosting..!! I can't wait, it has been so long since I've had a home cooked holiday meal!

On a side note, Elyssa has stopped eating again. Not that she was eating a lot before but she would at least eat some "snacky food" and a bit of corn and mac/cheese once in while. Now nothing at all except her milk with carnation instant breakfast and her V8 fusion. I think the sore throat is what caused it, but now she refuses to swallow any food at all. If I manage to get it past her lips she spits it out at me...yeah, fun... I know. She is still in therapy 3 times a week so at tomorrow appointment I get to tell them we have taken 3 steps backwards after this past week. I am so tired of all of this, I just wish she would eat like a normal kid. Is that really to much to ask? Why did I have to have the kid with oral facial hypersensitivities...and food aversions??? Come on...o'well... we will just keep working on it. I was excited last week she was up to 24 lbs but after this week, I'm sure she will loose a couple pounds and we will be back where we started...I will keep my fingers crossed that she doesn't, miracles do happen you know

Nov 10, 2008

I wish I could take credit for writing this but it was actually a forward I got in my email....but none the less it certainly says it all..

Subject: The Death of White Guilt




Look at my fellow conservatives! There they go, glumly shuffling along, depressed by the election aftermath. Not me. I'm virtually euphoric. Don't get me wrong. I'm not thrilled with America 's flirtation with neo socialism. But there's a massive silver lining in those magical clouds that lofted Barak Obama to the Presidency. For today, without a shred of intellectually legitimate opposition, I can loudly proclaim to America : The Era of White Guilt is over. This seemingly impossible event occurred because the vast majority of white Americans didn't give a fluff about skin color, and enthusiastically pulled the voting lever for a black man. Not just any black man. A very liberal black man who spent his early career race-hustling banks, praying in a racist church for 20 years, and actively worked with America-hating domestic terrorists. Wow! Some resume! Yet they made Barak Obama their leader. Therefore, as of Nov 4th, 2008, white guilt is dead. For over a century, the millstone of white guilt hung around our necks, retribution for slave-owning predecessors. In the 60s, American liberals began yanking that millstone while sticking a fork in the eye of black Americans, exacerbating the racial divide to extort a socialist solution. But if a black man can become President, exactly what significant barrier is left? The election of Barak Obama absolutely destroys the entire validation of liberal white guilt. The dragon is hereby slain. So today, I'm feeling a little "uppity," if you will. From this day forward, my tolerance level for having my skin color hustled is now exactly ZERO. And it's time to clean house. No more Reverend Wright's "God Damn America ," Al Sharpton's Church of Perpetual Victimization , or Jesse Jackson's rainbow racism. Cornell West? You're a fraud. Go home. All those "black studies" programs that taught kids to hate whitey? You must now thank Whitey. And I want that on the final. Congressional Black Caucus? Irrelevant. Maxine Waters? Shut> up. ACORN?
Outlawed. Black Panthers? Go home and pet your kitty. Black separatists? Find another nation that offers etter dreams. Go ahead. I'm waiting. Gangsta rappers? Start praising America . Begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. And please.no more ebonics. Speak English, and who knows where you might end up? Oh, yeah.pull up your pants. Your underwear is showing. You look stupid. To those Eurosnots who forged entire careers hating America. I'm still waiting for the first black French President. And let me offer an equal opportunity whupping. I've always despised lazy white people. Now, I can talk smack about lazy black people. You're poor because you quit school, did drugs, had three kids with three different fathers, and refuse to work. So when you plop your Colt 45-swilling, Oprah watchin' butt on the couch and complain "Da Man is keepin' me down," allow me to inform you: Da Man is now black. You have no excuses. No more quotas. No more handouts. No more stealing my money because someone's great-great-great-great grandparents suffered actual pain and misery at the hands of people I have no relation to, and personally revile. It's time to toss that massive, obsolete race-hustle machine upon the heap of the other stupid 60s ideas. Drag it over there, by wife swapping, next to dope-smoking. Plenty of room right between free love and cop-killing. Careful.don't trip on streaking. There ya go, don't be gentle. Just dump it. Wash your hands. It's filthy. In fact, Obama's ascension created a gargantuan irony. How can you sell class envy and American unfairness when you and your black wife went to Ivy League schools, got high-paying jobs, became millionaires, bought a mansion, and got elected President? How unfair is that??? Now, Like a delicious O'Henry tale, Obama's spread-the-wealth campaign rendered itself moot by it's own victory! America is officially a meritocracy. Obama's election has validated American conservatism!
So, listen carefully.Wham!!! That's the sound of my foot kicking the door shut on the era of white guilt. The rites have been muttered, the carcass lowered, dirt shoveled, and tombstone erected. White guilt is dead and buried. However, despite my glee, there's apparently one small, rabid bastion of American racism remaining. Black Americans voted 96% for Barak Obama. Hmmm. In a color-blind world, shouldn't that be 50-50? Tonight, every black person should ask forgiveness for their apparent racism and prejudice towards white people. Maybe it's time to start spreading the guilt around.

Nov 5, 2008

Ok, so last night I had my first panic attack over something Elyssa did. I was getting her ready for her bath and had her in her room. We have a baby gate across her door so she cannot get out and fall down the stairs so she was safe. I was in the bathroom running her water and I heard her door close. No big deal, she closes her door all the time. It is her own little game. Well little did I know, but she learned how to turn the lock on her door and locked the door. When I tried to get in and realized it was locked I did not immediately panic because I knew there was a key above our bedroom door or the closet door. So I ran and got a chair to stand on and looked for the key. The problem was THE KEY WAS NOT THERE!! Yeah, that was when I started to panic. I know, I know you are asking why does her door have a lock on it anyway right? Well Eddie and I put locks on all the doors upstairs a long time ago, way before baby and to honest up till this happened I had never, ever thought about it. So as my heart beat started racing and realizing I had no idea how I was going to get in the door. I did what any good mom would do…I called Aunt Tonia. Yeah, well she was in a movie and said she would be right over…in the interim I called our neighbor Carole who said “oh no problem, I’ll be right over”. Thank God, she ran over in a less than 30 seconds and was at the top of the stairs, gift card in hand. Yes, I said gift card…lol, she used it to jimmy the door jam. Yup, pretty smart woman! Elyssa was in her room standing at her bed playing her stuffed animals and clean diapers! She had no idea she had put herself in a pickle of a situation at all. I on the other hand just wanted to cry, I never in my life felt so helpless. Later that evening when I was on the phone talking to Eddie he said “why didn’t you just use a clothes hanger to open it?” To be honest, I have no idea why I did not think of that solution except for the fact that I was just panicked and could not think straight. All I could think about was that I was unable to get to my baby..lol. Good thing to know that I do not react well in a high pressure situation regarding my daughter all I could do was, yes, panic! So that made me realize yet again, Elyssa will not be sleeping in her own room for a long time. I have such a fear of the house catching on fire and NOT being able to get to her. I know ridiculous but it is my “issue” so let me deal with it…lol! I mean come on... our bedroom is the size of a small apartment anyway; it is not like she is taking up all our space. In fact when I met Eddie I remember telling him that his master bathroom and closet was the size of my apartment…I could have just lived in there...lol! So, like I said my baby is staying my room for just a bit longer.
Today Elyssa went to mother’s day out. They were doing school pictures today. I was so excited about it. Come on, she is 19 months old and already getting school pictures done. I do hope they turned out good. The ladies in charge of her class said she did well and the lady in charge of the program said she had to put on a show for Elyssa in order to get her to smile! We will see how they turned out. I had an appointment with my Endocrinologist today. I started on the Insulin Pump about 3 weeks ago and they were checking on how things were going. I have to say I was o against the insulin pump for so long but now I am soooo glad I decided to start. It is just so practical and of course I got the coolest, neatest most advanced one I could get. It is the One Touch Ping and is just awesome. No more injections 4 times a day I just change my infusion site every 3 days and that is all. It is just amazing. I totally recommend it to any Type I Diabetics out there.
Well Elyssa is getting fussy; better go take care of my little princess…

Nov 1, 2008

Happy Halloween! Well this year was the first year I think Elyssa may have understood a bit about the Halloween season. I know I had mentioned I bought her 3 costumes…yes, I said 3, geez; some people just think I’m crazy. No, I just could not pick 1 cute one! Anyway, I had my heart set on her wearing her Old Navy Ladybug costume because I thought it was the cutest of all three, (ladybug, bumble bee and pink poodle) but Elyssa LOVED her “arf, arf” costume. So the pink poodle won her vote and she loved wearing it. She carried it around the house all day on Thursday and when it was time to put it on she “backed” up into it when I held it up. She was just sooo cute. We went to the downtown festival that was Thursday night. Since daddy was out of town (of course) Aunt Red and Aunt Tonia went with us to enjoy the fun. She did have a great time even though it was so crowed! She carried her little pumpkin around to get candy and was just the cutest little puppy you’ve ever seen. We did not do anything on Halloween night. She went to a make-up day at her Mother’s day out program on Friday and mommy went to the dentist to have a crown done ( fun, fun). We were going to go trick or treating with Aunt Red and her niece but Elyssa was so tired and mommy did not feel real great after her dental appointment. We also had to go pick Daddy up at the airport last night. I dressed her up in her Halloween PJ’s and we went into the baggage claim area of DFW and waited for daddy. She of course got lots of attention looking just too cute for words.

Oct 27, 2008

Wow, did we have an adventurous week! Last week Eddie decided he wanted Elyssa and me to go to Washington DC with him on his business trip. He is actually going to be in the DC area off and on for the next 13 weeks. So this of course meant another plane trip for little Princess Right? Well recently her GI dr put her on Periactin a drug given to people with anorexia to enhance their appetites. She hopes it will help increase Elyssa’s appetite and she will start eating… (We will see). Anyway back to my story, this medication is given to her at night because it makes her sleepy. Well being the smart woman that I am, and that our flight was at 8am I decided to skip her evening dose of the medication and give it to her in the morning. Boy was that a smart move!! She slept the whole way to Dulles International Airport! She woke up just as we were beginning to land and did wonderfully. The flight attendants just loved her and the one carried her off the plane for me so I could help carry off the luggage. Elyssa loved her and did not want to leave! Oh, what a wonderful flight we had, we honestly could not have asked for anything better. But things did get better! I used to live in the DC area and make the trip to Pittsburgh to see my family quite frequently. It is about a 4 ½ hour trip but quite manageable. So we decided to fly in on a Saturday, drive to Pittsburgh and Elyssa and I stayed with Grandma and Pappy till Wednesday of the following week. It was such a surprise of a trip and Elyssa go to visit with her grandma and pappy again. She even got to spend some time with her cousin Mikey who she had never , ever met. We had a wonderful visit and it was great seeing all the leaves changing again. You just don’t realize how much you miss of the seasons here in TX. We have 2 seasons…Very Hot… and Cool. Elyssa had a blast playing in the leaves and playing outside with grandma and pappy. On Monday night we even had the opportunity to visit with some of mommy’s friends Jenn & Lynnette. We went out to dinner and went back to their place where Elyssa had a wonderful time playing with the puppy and their kitty! On Wednesday grandma and pappy drove us to meet Daddy in Breezwood and we went back to DC with him. It was really nice being in the DC area again. I can honestly say it was quite a culture shock when I started driving around the area again. I am soooo glad we have are Garmin GPS!! I would not have survived without it. We got lots of pictures of the area, but of course it was cold and a bit rainy so we did not take Elyssa out a lot. I did not want her getting sick or anything. We got back into town on Saturday night and poor daddy had to fly back to DC Sunday evening! The trip back went pretty good also, I did not give her the meds this time since it was the middle of the afternoon. I decided to take my chances and she did just fine. She made friends with the people in the seats behind us and the flight attendants just loved her. Of course they did right? Who wouldn’t?? We can’t wait to go back again and daddy is already planning another trip for us!

Sept 29, 2008

Wow, I am sitting here in my living room and it is completely silent. Now that does not happen much at all anymore. The TV is not on, cartoons are not playing, no little pitter patter of little feet, no musical or vibrating toy sounding in the distance…just silence. Well, ok, there is the “hmmmm” of the oscillating fan in the background but we wont count that. Elyssa is at MDO (mothers day out) today. I can honestly say I do look forward to these days, my few hours of just this “silence”. I can remember a time before the baby, you know “BB” when all my time was just that “my time”, but now it is all Elyssa’s time. I certainly don’t mind it at all, that cute adorable little fact looking up at me all toothy smiles. The hanging onto my short bottoms and tugging me to where she wants me to go all the time. Her grabbing of my hands so she can walk on my feet around the house. If she were not just so darn cute!!! Eddie is actually home this week. He was supposed to be in Missouri but the trip was cancelled last minute so he is home. Of course he is not home this very second, he is at the dr’s. He really hurt his shoulder last weekend and has been in some horrible pain this week while in California. Since he was off this week he decided to go and have it checked out. So that left me here at the house sitting in silence! I did get a lot of work done thought, you know the wifely duties, sweeping, vacuuming and the sort but now that is all done and I am free to do with my time what I please. Elyssa does not get out of MDO till 2:15.

We have a busy week planned this week. Tomorrow she has therapy in the morning and an appointment with her GI dr in the afternoon. Wednesday she has her group “Feeding Frenzy” in the morning and we are going to the fair in the afternoon/ evening. I cannot wait to take her to see the animals. She has not ever been up close and personal with any animals such as ducks, pigs, cows, or horses so this should be so much fun seeing her reaction. On Thursday she has Therapy again in the morning and on Friday we are going to the “Big Orange Pumpkin Patch”! I can’t wait to get some cute pictures of her at the Pumpkin patch. They also have a petting farm, hay rides and all kinds of kids play areas. She will have a blast. We went last year but she was so young she did not get the full enjoyment out of it.

I have to tell a story of something cute Elyssa did the other night. We were sitting here watching TV and eating Pringles. She would go from me to Eddie to get a chip. We gladly gave them to her since she never wants to eat and if she wanted chips to eat it by goodness we were going to give her chips! Well she was going behind the glider rocker ottoman and what we thought was eating her chips. Unbeknownst to us, we found out the next day, that Eddie’s shoes were behind the glider ottoman as well. Our little dear princess who we thought was eating her Pringles was actually breaking them up and putting them in Daddy’s Shoes!!! Eddie put on her shoes to a crunching sound. Elyssa was there and so proud of her self, started smiling and giggling. I almost think she knew that what she did was funny or it could have been Eddie and I cracking up over the whole escapade! Well chalk one up for Elyssa, what will she do next?

Well I guess I better go enjoy what is left of “my time” it is so very short and so sweet while it lasts!

Sept 28, 2008

Yeah, not a pleasant topic but one I had to deal with this week with little princess. I being the “bad mom” that I am let her prescription for Prevacid run out. So I took it to the pharmacy to get it filled and it needed dr’s authorization to get it filled. Of course this was not an easy process, as most things never are; she ended up going for 2 days without it. I have always been skeptical about whether or not it actually worked for her gastric reflux, but after 2 days without it I have NO reservations about the cost of the $45 copay every month! I was putting her to bed on Wednesday night, same routine as always, she takes a milk Sippy cup and usually falls asleep in my arms, and I put her in her crib right? Well, this blessed evening, I put her down in her bed, got as far as the bedroom door and heard her choking, ran back to the crib to find her sitting up, projectile puking all over the place! She finally stopped and I picked her puke covered self up and took her to the bathroom stood her beside the tub only to have her puke all over the tub and the floor. YUP, fun night for me. Eddie was out of town, of course, and I had to manage to clean it all up and her all by my self. Needless to say, it was no fun. But what I did realize is that she does need the Prevacid, and cannot for any reason go with out it. Soooooo, mom will never, ever let that one run out again…lol.

The next day she had her 18 month check-up appointment. I of course begged for the prescription and got it and found out that she is at 22lbs and holding. Yeah, 18 months old and only 22 lbs. As we all know that is a whole other story, her “eating” therapy is progressing but she seems to be at a stand still. Last Thursday she went on an eating strike and I cannot seem to get her to eat anything right now. This too, I hope will pass. She has an appt with her GI doctor on Tuesday. I guess we will see if there is anything else that may be causing her to not want to eat. I of course wish I had her problem for about a month…lol, could stand to loose a few pounds..lol.

We are preparing for the big Halloween season and of course Fall is upon us.. Last weekend was Oktoberfest in Addison. We had a great time. We went with Aunt Lisa, Aunt Tonia and Aunt Red and of course Daddy was in town as well. They had `the Dashound races so Elyssa loved seeing all the little dogs. I am not sure what she is going to be for Halloween, I have a few ideas but cannot decide on one. What’s a mom to do? What ever it is she is going to be just so darn adorable! Oh, and of course this is also football season. Go Cowboys and Go Steelers!! How about a Cowboys/ Steelers Super bowl this year?? I like the sounds of it.

She is just changing so much, and talking up a storm! Not always sure what she is saying but I think she learns a new word every day. Her newest word is “keys” (she loves playing with keys) and “bub-bubs” (for bubbles-she cant say the whole word). She is very good at letting you know what she wants by pointing or babbling it to you. It wont be long before she is chattering up a storm! She definitely understands more than she can say. I can give her exact instruction and she follows them completely. Just too darn cute!! She can dance, jump, plays with Play doh and build towers with her blocks now, gosh I just cannot believe how much she is changing and becoming a little girl vs. a little baby. I have to cherish every moment, these days will not last forever you know…

Sept 20, 2008

Yes, our little princess got her first haircut yesterday. Her bangs were so long you could not see her eyes. So we took her to this really great hair place just for kids where they take her picture, frame it and give you locks of her hair. It was so cute! She did pretty good while she was there, just wined a bit and cried one tear the whole time. It was almost sad watching her, my little girl is growning up so much! She is not a baby anymore...

Sept 12, 2008

Well lesson learned and well another trip up and coming. I guess we all have to do it sometime, it is unenviable. At some point every parent wants to take their precious little baby or toddler on an airplane. Elyssa has been on a plane before, in fact several times at that! What is different this time, why was this trip the trip to top all trips you ask??? She can walk now…yup, those little legs now know how to get up and going and all she wants to do is run and climb everything, including me. On the plane it was no different. I can honestly say I dreaded the plane trip weeks before we left. We wanted to go see Aunt Heidi and Uncle Ken, we owed them a visit and it had been since Elyssa’s first b-day since Aunt Heidi had seen her. So with all of our free flights we booked that magical trip. We took the DVD player with us so Elyssa could watch Wonder Pet’s or Baby Einstein’s or even Blues Clues or Barney if she wanted. Whatever it would take to keep our princess happy on the plane….yeah, right. What a farce, who said that a 17 month old would actually pay attention to a 7 inch screen that was streaming video of her favorite shows??? Not my child, oh not my little princess!!! From the minute / second we got on the plane we were in trouble. She would not for any reason what so ever, sit still, or sit down in a seat. Since she is under 2 she flies free, but she has to sit on our lap, right? Well neither one of us could make her understand that. Just try reasoning with a 17 month old baby.. I dare you! Our child was “that child”; you know the one, that one that all the passengers, whisper about, and look at you and shake their heads…yup, that was Elyssa. She made a name for herself on that flight and it was not a good one. The really bad part is we had a layover in El Paso on the way to Phoenix which made the trip even longer. By the time we got to Phoenix I was ready to cry..lol. I got off the plane looked at Eddie and told him I wanted to rent a car and drive home. He just kept saying Benadryl; we are going to use Benadryl on the way home. Apparently Benadryl is supposed to put your precious child to sleep as well as take care of any allergies or sinus issues they may have. So I agreed, what did I have to loose, except maybe my sanity. So on the trip back we stopped at Walgreens picked up the Benadryl and headed to the airport. Well let me bet the first to refute the Benadryl claim!! They are FALSE I tell you, FALSE!! The trip back was the same hell that the trip going was, if not worse. I can’t believe that the child on the airplane was my child. I feel like she was possessed on the plane and I feel bad for all of the passengers who were stuck sitting anywhere near us…!!! I have no idea what we will do to prepare for our next trip in a couple months. I am certainly dreading every waking moment of it and it will be an even longer flight because we are going home to visit Grandma and Pappy in Pittsburgh, soooooo I think I need to take some Valium before we leave…lol.

Our visit with Aunt Heidi and Uncle Ken was great! Elyssa just loved the dogs, there were two, a German Shepard named Jesse and a Pitt Bull named Lexi, she had a blast palying with them! We got to go swimming in Aunt Heidi’s incredible pool. Uncle Ken took us to the Air Force Base and we got to see all the Jets and neat stuff. Aunt Heidi took us to one of the state parks where we took some incredible pictures and Uncle Ken even got all his toys out and took Elyssa on her first Quad ride. We really had a great time. The weather was great, the temp was between 107-109 the whole time we were there, but we are used to the heat. Texas has it’s own heat to deal with so after you hit 100 it is all relative. It was sad when we had to leave, I think Aunt Heidi did not want Princess Elyssa to leave, and had I known how bad the flight home was going to be , I just might have left her with her…lol, just kidding, just kidding….I could not live without my little girl (monster) even for a day!

Aug 9, 2008

So as many of you already know we have issues with Elyssa and her eating habits. I guess it would be more fair to say “lack of eating habits” right? Well on July 2nd we went to Baylor Dallas Our Children’s House to have an infant feeding evaluation. It was a 3 hour evaluation by an Occupational Therapist, Speech Therapist, Dietician and such. Anyway the final result was that she has oral/ facial hypersensitivities. What does this mean? She does not like the textures or feel of the food in her mouth. Yup, my luck, only my child right? Anyway the recommendations were for her to start therapy to train her to like different foods and start eating a normal pediatric diet. Like I did not know she did not eat a normal pediatric diet?? Geez, the kid eats nothing!!! Yesterday she ate 6 Gerber Yogurt bites, 8 cheerios, 1 bite of mac/cheese, a couple bites of a breadstick, and a couple Mini Ritz Crackers the ENTIRE DAY! I chase her around the house with food all day long trying to get her to eat but she just has no interest at all. She does drink Milk (about 18-21oz a day) and some V8 Fusion (I wont give her just juice, at least with V8 fusion she is getting some nutrients.) but that is about it. I have probably wasted enough food to feed a small city trying to get Elyssa to eat anything.

After the infant feeding evaluation they wanted us to follow up with a Pediatric Gastroenterologist. So we went and of course they wanted to do an endoscopy to rule out reflux as an issue. If she had reflux all the therapy in the world would not work if we were not treating the medical problem. Sooo, we scheduled the endoscopy, of course another procedure we had to take her to the hospital for, it was an out patient procedure done at the Pediatric Day Surgery Center. I just have to say that it does not matter how many times you have to do things like this with your kids, it does not get any easier!! I just hate, hate, hate, taking her into the operating room, laying her on the table and watching them put her under…!! Her little body just becomes so lifeless. I guess I should be glad they let me go in till she goes under but it just breaks my heart. I always leave the room with tears in my eyes. She did not do well after the procedure; she was very, very upset and cried and cried and cried. They had her hooked up the “heart/blood pressure monitor” on her foot and she just hated it. She finally calmed down and drank some of her juice and they let us finally go home. We did find out a couple days later after the biopsy results came back that our little princess does in deed have reflux. So the GI dr put her on Prevacid and we have been taking that everyday now. I wish I could say it was a miracle drug and she started eating a lot more and is doing great now, but uhhhh NO. She still does not eat much but she has started her Therapy. In fact we started last week, she goes on Tuesdays / Thursdays. The whole process is going to be an up hill battle. She does seem to like her therapist Miss Lisa so that is a good thing! So that is what we have been dealing with in our lives. I have to say that when you have kids it is always something now isn’t it?

I do have to say that I am sooo tired of hearing people say “She will grow out of this” or “Don’t worry she will eat when she wants to” or my favorite “Take her milk and juice off of her, she will eat then!” IT MAKES ME SOOO MAD TO HEAR PEOPLE SAY THIS! First of all, she is 16 months old and won’t eat, she would not eat much when she was 4 moths old, she would not drink more than 4 oz at a time up till she was a year old and still wont drink much more than 5oz at a time. She is not going to grow out of this. NO, she has a problem she will not eat when she to, and hello idiots, why would I take her milk and juice off of her when that is the ONLY calorie intake she has!! I have talked to all the specialists, dr’s and therapists who have degrees and work in this field and let me tell you what. NONE of them have suggested she will just grow out of it, will eat when she is ready or TAKE HER LIQUIDS OFF HER! Don’t be offended here but I’m going to take the advice of the “specialists” who are trained in these types of situation over your old fashioned unwarranted advice. I am serious; I am so tired of people and their comments. It just amazes me that so many other “people” think they are an expert at “my baby”. Yeah, let’s get one thing right here, Eddie and I are the parents; we will make the decisions on hoiw this situation is handled!

Sorry, got off on a tangent there, but you have to understand how much flack I have been getting over all of this. Well gotta go, little princess is stirring from her nap and she is calling for “mom, mom, mom” ~ that’s my summons!

Aug 2, 2008

Boy did Elyssa have a wonderful day on Thursday! We took her to the Dallas World Aquarium and she loved it. Her day started with breakfast at McDonalds, where she got to play in the “play area” while mom and dad ate. Anyone who knows Elyssa knows she does not eat so we put her in a highchair and tried to get her to eat some breakfast and she of course threw a fit, threw her food on the floor and just made a mess, so since it was her day we gave in and let her play. Daddy even got in the tubes with her and went down the slide a few times. She was just so darn cute! She had a blast playing but we packed her up and put her in her car seat and headed downtown to the aquarium. It was a bit of a drive so she got a nap along the way which was good for us. Anyway when we got there we put her in her stroller to walk in but as soon as we got off the elevator and at the top of the “rain forest area” we let her out and put on her “leash” so she could wander around free (or so she thought she was..lol). Well as soon as we walked in the area she started getting so excited was pointing at everything and saying “Wow, Wow, Wow”! I have to say it was the sweetest thing to see her eyes light up with every new exhibit that she saw. It is a pretty large facility with 3 different levels and even an outside penguin area. I know she really liked the penguins she would not stop babbling while she was looking at them. They are African penguins so they can withstand extreme heat. We had no idea there was such a thing, who would have thought “African Penguins” that could withstand the heat in TX?? She also loved the Stingray exhibit; I have a video of her watching the Sting Rays and the turtles. There was a tiger on display as well and she just got so excited when she saw it. By the time we got to the end of the Aquarium facility, she was soo tired and getting a bit cranky but all in all she did great and I think she had a wonderful time. We got her in the car and she was asleep before we left the parking lot, it was so funny, she was trying to keep her eyes open but she finally gave in and slept the whole way home. That evening we all got in the swimming pool together. It was actually pretty late when we decided to, in fact it was probably around 8pm. We should have been getting Elyssa ready for bed but decided instead to take her swimming. It is so rarely that we get to spend the whole day as a family having fun that we did not want it to end and I don’t think Elyssa minded at all. She got to spend the day with her Daddy and we all know how much she LOVES her Daddy…