Reflections

My baby is 3 years old now. I guess that means she technically is no longer a baby but a toddler. To me, it is almost too much to wrap my mind around. I remember 3 years ago, sitting in my chair at home and getting the call from the doctor’s office stating I needed to go check myself into Labor and Delivery immediately. My previous day’s blood work had come back bad. I remember arguing with my doctor on the phone about going to the hospital. This was certainly not the first time I had to be admitted to Labor and Delivery. I had spent so much time of the third trimester in the hospital that I was just tired of going in and out. I still had 6 weeks of the pregnancy left. Little did I realize at the time just how serious things had become? The evening seems like such a blur of doctors coming in and out of my room and the uncertainty of not only my life, but that of my little baby girl. Needless to say, thanks to lots of prayers and the work of some incredible doctors and hospital staff everything worked out.

Now I sit here in awe, the little bundle of joy is now 3 years old. How could this little being that I gave birth to 3 years ago be this amazing little girl who knows her ABC’s, counts to 15, recognizes her letter and knows her colors! She amazes me with her ability to memorize all of the nursery rhymes and songs that I teach her as well as use her own imagination to create and tell me stories. It saddens me and makes me so happy to see all of these changes in her. Part of me wants to hold onto that dependent little baby who needed me for all of her whims, and part of me is thrilled at all of her accomplishments and wants her to strike out on her own and become an independent young lady. This is such an emotional battle for a mom like me. I guess if I had another child younger than Elyssa these milestones would not be “hitting” me so hard. The realization that these parts are over forever hit me like a lead balloon. Elyssa wants a little brother or sister. She asks for one all of the time. As she gets older and observes people around us she realizes that a lot of her friends have little brothers or sisters. Unfortunately because of infertility and medical conditions, she will not have a brother or sister and it is very difficult to calm her as she protests “but mommy, please! Me want a brother or sister!” Someday she will understand…I hope.

She had an amazing 3rd birthday party. Her Aunt Heidi flew in from Arizona to spend the week with her. She loves her Aunt Heidi so much and boy did it show. For almost the whole week I was told “No mommy, Aunt Heidi do it for me”. I certainly became second fiddle for a week but I did not mind. I loved watching the two of them play together and Elyssa had Aunt Heidi wrapped around her little finger. We had a huge party for her and she was surrounded by all of her friends and family. Thanks to the help of Aunt Lisa, who spent all day Friday helping me get the food and house prepared for the event. The theme this year was Mickey & Minnie and friends. Aunt Tammy did an incredible job on her birthday cake, it was adorable and of course delicious to boot! We set up two bounce houses in our garage since it decided to rain on her birthday and all the kids had a blast in the make-shift Play Zone. The amazing thing is that on the evening of her party it started snowing and we woke up Sunday morning to 6 inches of snow. Of course we all had to go out and enjoy the snow!

Since Aunt Heidi was in town the following week was filled with fun as well. On Monday, we all took a trip to Sam Moon where all 3 girls (Heidi, Elyssa and I) all bought new purses. Isn’t that what girls are suppose to do at Sam Moon? It is the Mecca for woman! On Tuesday, Aunt Heidi, Aunt Lisa, Elyssa and I went to the Dallas Arboretum. It was a beautiful sunny day and the flowers were beautiful. They had a Texas Pioneer Exhibit for Elyssa to enjoy and even a petting zoo! On Wednesday we did some lounging around and some shopping at Wal-Mart. Thursday we had some of my friends over for dinner and we colored Easter Eggs. Since Aunt Heidi has never been able to enjoy egg coloring with Elyssa we decided to do it early. Elyssa loves coloring eggs and by the end of the evening her hands were all green/brown very much like the Shrek’s. In fact we kept telling her she had Shrek hands. Friday Heidi, Lisa and I took Elyssa to the mall to get her picture taken with the Easter Bunny. She was not afraid and even hugged the bunny. The pictures turned out just great. I’m so proud of her, considering last year she would not go near the bunny. On Saturday we had to take Aunt Heidi to the airport, but before we did, we took Elyssa to an Easter Egg Hunt at the church where Aunt Lisa goes. It was Elyssa’s first Easter Egg hunt and she loved it. It was so sweet watching her pick up the eggs. The excitement and smiles on her face made all of it worth it.

On other news fronts, Elyssa is potty trained. As I’ve mentioned before in previous blogs, she has been Number 2 potty trained for almost 8 months. We were having trouble with Number 1, but as of March 1st, 2010 we were diaper free in the Borden house! She still has a few accidents here and there, but we no longer where diapers or pull-ups, it is big girl panties in our house. Ok, let me re-phrase that, she does where special big girl princess panties at night (pull-ups) because I am to afraid to just use panties. She is waking up probably 85% of the time dry but I’m still not brave enough to do panties just yet! She is so proud of her self and we are so proud of her as well. Elyssa has “Potty Power”. For anyone who has ever seen the DVD, you understand what I am talking about. We finally beat the odds and even though she has stage 3 renal reflux we did it. She has her follow up with the urologist the end of May. We can pray for a miracle, that it is healed and if not we will more than likely be planning the surgery. I am just so afraid that this will hamper all of the progress we have made, but I will keep my fingers crossed that it will not.

I have rambled enough in this reflection. I guess I should blog more often, and then I would not get so long winded……nah, maybe not!