And So It Begins

I bought Clara a shirt yesterday that was on clearance at Target. I got a 2T thinking she'll be able to wear it this winter and maybe into next summer. I just looked at the tag and it shows the height range as 33-33.5 inches.

Uhhhh, we're 34.25 right now. I think I really do have a mini me on my hands. Granted, it is a shirt and so the height isn't as important, but still. And the weight is 26.5-28 lbs. whereas were only around 24. I'm retiring a bunch of her 18 month one piece summer outfits because they're too short, but her 18 month bottoms are still falling off of her.

Her baggy bottoms have in fact become a danger to her well-being. Chris took her to breakfast on Saturday in her blue jean shorts. He was finishing paying when he turned around just as she bit it and her cup when flying across the floor. When he went to pick her up, he noticed the cause of the accident. Her shorts had fallen to her ankles, tripping her. Poor girl, she just laid there on the floor, helpless, with her diapered bum on full display for the other patrons.

I'm about to know the complete frustration my mom must've had trying to buy me clothes all those years. And I see now why I had high waters most of the time. At least nowadays she can get away with wearing capris most of the time; much better than high waters if I must say so myself.

ATTACK!

I was taking a picture in my front yard this evening of this.......





when Mama bird swooped from behind and attacked my bum! Freaked me out! Chris had a good laugh. He just about wet himself. As did I; I'm just really glad no neighbors were within earshot to hear my scream and witness my little dance. Birds are scary. Especially mama birds.


I need opinions on my playroom project. I'm cutting frames out of wood for the alphabet cards and I plan on hanging them along the top of all four playroom walls. I just can't decide how to paint them. I like the polka dots in reverse colors from the walls, but Chris thinks it's too much with the walls. They will be hanging about 7 feet from the polka dots on the walls so I don't think it will look too busy.


He likes the stained one, and I thought I would, but after finishing it, I'm not quite as fond of it. What do you guys think? Do you like either of these or something totally different? A solid color maybe, or bigger polka dots, or fewer polka dots? (That's weird how the spots I touched up on the wall show up in the picture; you can't see them in person.)


Actually, in this picture, the stained one doesn't look so bad. Anyway, any opinions?

Stop Complaining!

Easier said than done.

I help in the K-6 Sunday school class at church. All of the kids are together in one class for the summer. The lesson yesterday was all about how powerful our words are. We were all given little rubber bracelets and we all promised to try to not complain and argue for 21 days. Every time we catch ourselves complaining or arguing, we move the bracelet to the other wrist. If you have to move your bracelet, then you start counting the days over.

Chris thinks I'm silly for doing this and hates the trendy bracelet thing, but I think it'll be good for me. To be honest, I've never liked the gimmicky trendy bracelet thing either, but if we ask the kids to do it, then it shouldn't be beneath me to do it either.

I really don't argue at all, so that's not the tough one. I am seeing that I tend to complain quite often, but it doesn't even register that I'm complaining. Now that I'm thinking before I speak, I can already see an improvement in my attitude. I'm pretty lazy, and usually have a plethora of excuses for not doing something, but yesterday, I ventured outside and mowed and edged the front yard, even though I had a headache. Last night, I just about drove to Wal-Mart at 3:00am for some medicine for Chris, which I would normally whine about first. (I found one last dose here, so I got out of that one.) And today I didn't complain about the rain, I just went and ran some errands that I'd normally put off until it stopped raining.

So, I'm a fan. I haven't had to switch my bracelet in almost 24 hours! Of course, I won't have as much to blog about since I tend to complain a lot in my posts, but I'll live. I guess I'll just have to post more about my genius baby. Sorry.

In this past week or so, she's had an explosion of words. She says chalk, chair, potty (bobby), diaper (bopper), water (wawa), bread (bwa), frog (bwah), applesauce and Becky finally got her to say "PEASE" for please instead of the previous, completely uninteligible sound she made. She also just put together two words on her own for the first time. She says "Hi Deedee" (Dingle). She says it over and over and over to her. The funny thing is, she can't say "Hi Max" or "Hi Zoe." A few of the words she's said for awhile are now sounding like the real thing. She used to say "bee" for bird, but now it comes out as "burr". And book used to be "beak", but sounds more like book now.

She's trying really hard to jump, but can't seem to get more than one foot off the ground at once. I'm gonna get flack for this next one, but so far it's really not been much harder than training the dogs when it comes to teaching her rules. It's all about consistency. Just like the dogs, the rules that we're kind of wishy washy on, she hasn't gotten down, but the ones that we put our foot down on, every single time, she's learned no problem. She's not allowed to take her drink out of the kitchen, so she leaves her cup on a kitchen chair before leaving the kitchen. And she does it without prompting now!

This next picture is in response to the picture of Clara's friend "Bubbles" that her mother posted on her blog. In the spirit of making fun of our children, I'm putting up this picture that a friend made for us of.... hmmm, we'll call her Clartopher. Isn't she sweet?

Now where do I get a bracelet to remind me to be nice?

Fun With Stickers

Clara's going to hate me for this one

Yay, I Got a Comment!

I was wondering why no one was commenting on my last post. I assumed no one wanted to hurt my feelings and so they just fumed to themselves. I knew I could count on a NICU nurse to speak up. I was going to just write another comment and it started gettig long, so I decided to put it in a new post.

I'm really not opposed to hospitals as much as I am opposed to trying to hurry up the whole birth process. Here's a link to an article discussing the rise in c-sections in the U.S. http://childbirthconnection.org/pdfs/rising_cesarean_rate.pdf It's now over 30%. I realize that is due, in part, to older women giving birth and a huge increase in multiple births due to fertility treatments (stay tuned for my post on this topic). But, there's still a large portion that happens because of unnescessary interventions. It's a slippery slope when a doctor decides to induce. One thing leads to another.

I had zero health problems and Clara wasn't in distress, but my doctor still sent me over to the hospital to have her 2 weeks before my due date. I couldn't even feel my contractions yet. He didn't discuss my options or ask me if I wanted to wait to go into labor on my own even though there was no reason I couldn't go home and wait for it to happen. I'm sure he assumes that all women just want to be sent over. This just leads me to believe that kind of stuff happens to a lot of women and I think it's completely insane.

If my contractions hadn't started on their own once he broke my water, I would've had to be put on pitocin. If I still didn't progress in a certain amount of time and if Clara had gone into distress because of it all....... operation room, here I come. That's what I have a problem with.

As for the homebirth, it's actually very unlikely I would do it. I haven't done any reading up on it, so I don't know mortality rates or anything; it's just crossed my mind once or twice. If I did, it would be with a midwife and with an ambulance parked out front. And it would only be if there were no problems with my pregnancy.

While I'm on the topic, here's another reason for my dislike of hospitals. When we got to the hospital around 12:30, they were in the process of cleaning a birthing suite, so they put me in a semi-private room to get things started. They got me in my gown, hooked me up to the monitor, then sent me over to the suite when it was ready. I was in there for about half an hour total. Ok, I labor in the suite and have Clara at 7:30. Around 11:00 they tell me they need to move me back to a semi-private room in case someone else comes in in labor. (It was a full moon, so there were lots of babies born the same day). And this was while Chris had gone to get me something to eat. I was like, "can I wait til my husband gets back?" They're like, "no, we'll bring all of your stuff over for you". So Chris gets back and he's like, "WHERE'S MY WIFE AND BABY?"

Anyway, no one did come in needing the room and when we got the bill, we were charged for the semi-private room we spent all of 30 minutes in, the birthing suite and 2 nights in the semi-private room. I find it hard to believe they weren't just out to make an extra buck by shuffling me around. I understand that if a room was used, they have to clean it and stuff, but I wasn't in labor when I came in, so why couldn't I have just sat in the waiting room for half an hour. Also, we were told in our birthing class that there were 5 birthing suites on a first come first serve basis, so if they were full when you got there, you got stuck in a semi-private. So, why did I have to move?

Not only that, but there was really no breastfeeding support at the Huntsville hospital. The nurses offered no support but were all too happy to tell me if she didn't eat more they would have to give her formula. (And that was me having to decifer what they were saying; I'm only assuming it was English they were speaking.) Yeah, that's the way to support a new mom; scare her into thinking she's starving her baby so she gives up on breastfeeding.

Ohhhhhh, and my doctor was checking me when I feel a Wooooosh and see that I'm swimming in amniotic fluid. Hellllloooo, ya mind telling me before you do that? Yeah, I didn't see him get the instrument to break my water and he didn't tell me he was going to. Oh, Chris was not happy about that one.

I know, I complain a lot about Clara's birth, but it was actually very close to picture perfect. About 5 hours of "real" labor before I was holding her in my arms. I didn't mind the Huntsville hospital at all. The nurses were very nice and I really liked my doctor. I just felt completely out of control of the whole situation even though I thought I knew how I would handle things before going in. I know more now and hopefully won't be quite the pushover next time.

I am glad that there are dedicated nurses like Becky to take care of my seriously ill newborn if I'm ever in that situation, which I pray I never am. Thanks for the comment, Becky! Sorry for the rant, I just get started talking and can't stop myself. I know the majority of that had nothing to do with your comment. I really need to write down Clara's birth story before I forget everything. I've been meaning to, just haven't gotten around to it.

You Wanna Know What I Think?

I'm going to start writing posts offering my take on different topics, for whatever it's worth. Now, I'm normally not a very opinionated individual. Mind you, I do have opinions on a variety of subjects, I just don't normally voice them to the masses. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm a fairly quiet, introverted person and I don't like to be the center of attention. So, this will be my version of telling the world what I think. After I run out of things to talk about, I'll have to go read something to get more ideas, so that's good too!

Also, I believe that having something to write about other than my child's poop will do me good. I never used to make spelling or grammar mistakes and I never, ever confused words like they're, there, and their. Or hear and here. Or to and too. That's always been one of my pet peeves and now I'm doing it! The horror! (Case in point: I just had to correct the word grammar. I had written grammer.) Since I started writing this blog, I see how my noggin has suffered from birthing a child and then staying at home all day with said child.

First topic - Childbirth

I don't know exactly why I decided that I wanted to have a natural childbirth. I think, in part, it was because of the journey I took to get to that delivery room. We tried for many years to get pregnant. Most times I dealt with it pretty well, but I definitely hit some low points along the way. It's pretty tough to have a monthly reminder (for seven years in a row) that something must be wrong with you. Even when we weren't "trying", it was still hard.

When I finally started to entertain the idea of adoption, the thing that I was most sad about wasn't that I would be raising a child that wasn't biologically mine. The hard part for me was coming to tems with never being able to experience pregnancy and birth. It's such a rite of passage for a woman and I know it sounds silly, but I always wanted to have a big fat belly. I've always loved pregnant women; they make me smile.

Our prayers were finally answered in March of 05 when we found out, much to our disbelief, that I was pregnant! I was given this unexpected gift and I just felt this need to experience everything, the good and the bad, and to do it naturally, letting my body take the lead.

I feel like birth is a beautiful, natural occurance that shouldn't be feared, not some medical procedure that has to be rushed into only to cause more complications. I do not understand why so many women want inductions. I mean, I know by the end, you just want that baby out, but if your baby's not ready, he's not ready. In most cases, he'll come when he's ready. I'm all for inductions if you go way past your due date, but I've heard of doctors scheduling inductions way before a woman is due for convenience I suppose. What is up with that?

I never wanted an induction. Mine actually turned out to be an augmentation, meaning it was kind of helped along. I didn't even want that though. My doctor sent me over to the hospital after my 38 week appointment because I was 4 cm and 90% effaced. I wasn't technically in labor and I probably wouldn't have made it more than a couple of days before I had her on my own, but I still really get upset that he sent me over. I didn't know what was going on; I had been having braxton hicks since 20 weeks, so I just assumed I wasn't feeling the contractions when in fact, I hadn't started real labor. I ended up not needing pitocin and she was pretty much ready to come, but it still ticks me off that my doctor didn't just let things happen on their own.

When I got to the hospital, I was already at a 4, so the nurses automatically ask me if I want my epidural. What? I'm not in any pain whatsoever. Why would I want an epidural when I have no idea what a "real" contraction even feels like? They would come in every few minutes for the next 5 hours asking me if I was ready for the epidural or something in my IV to relax me. I explained that I wanted to go as long as possible without anything and really hoped to do it naturally. Did this stop them? Noooooo. I finally gave in to get them to shut up and allowed the nurse to give me a quarter dose of stadol. (I didn't want any more because I didn't want to be loopy).

The stadol did in fact make me feel a little drunk and allowed me to relax for a short while, but didn't take the pain away. I did give birth without an epidural, but the doctor did a pudental block (a local by both sides of her head) right before she crowned, mostly for stitches if I needed them. I was proud of myself for doing it without the epidural, but feel a little sad that I had the stadol. I'm not as sad about the pudental block. That was the pain that I was most not looking forward to. I just feel like they forced me into something that I really didn't want and they knew I didn't want when I was at my weakest. I wish they could've cheered me on instead.

For that reason, for our next child (God willing), I am seriously entertaining the idea of a birthing center using a midwife. I actually would even consider a home birth, but I don't think Chris is up for that. He's too worried about the mattress and carpet; he witnessed the mess that ensued when Clara sprung forth from my loins.

Birthing centers have a comfortable, home-like feel to them. There's not a bunch of machines and fetal monitors and whatnot. You can walk around and eat and sit in the bathtub. You can even have the baby in the tub if you want. You can labor in any position that you feel comfortable in. Those attending the birth are there to make you comfortable and to support your decision for a natural birth all the while reinforcing that you can do it. You can have a few people present or you can have your whole family there for the birth. It's all about following your instints as a mother, not following hospital protocol. We couldn't even videotape or take pictures of Clara's birth because the hospital was too worried about being sued. I would love to have the ability to relive those moments, because it's all a blur to me. I was a little sidetracked.

I am of the opinion that doctors are great for a pregnancy with problems and they're great if an emergency arises during birth, but not all that necessary the rest of the time. I mean, seriously, my doctor came in and out a few times to check on me and then got there just in time to catch her, but I have a feeling Chris could've done the catching if necessary. Now, please don't think that I am judging you if you had an epidural or a c-section or an induction, because I'm not. I could've easily ended up with an induction had my labor not started on its own, that could've stalled and required a c-section, but I was very lucky. I'm glad that all of these things are available in case they're truly necessary. I'm simply saying that I believe the overuse of such things is a big problem in our country, one that's perpetuated by hospitals that have successfully made a big business out of birth.

So, please don't be mean to me if you leave a comment on my blog :)

When's the Best Time......

to mow a lawn, in the summer, in Houston?

a. 8:30 am
b. 12:00 pm
c. 3:00 pm
d. 8:00 pm

Wrong!

It was a trick question; THERE IS NO BEST TIME TO MOW A LAWN, IN THE SUMMER, IN HOUSTON!

So, I got up this morning and decided to surprise Chris by mowing the backyard. He's been trying to get over a cold for about a week now and tires really easily, so the backyard has been put on the back burner. I have this thing about wading through grass up past my ankles, unable to see hidden presents from the dogs or anthills, or anything else that may be lurking in the grass, so we haven't been playing outside for a week or so.

I figure, 8:30 in the morning, backyard is still shaded, how bad could it be? Oh my gosh; I just about died! Mowing is a pretty tough job for me to begin with because of my size. It's pretty difficult for me to push the mower uphill through thick grass. Add to that the fact that the mower kept dying because of the height of the grass and humidity of about 200% and you have a recipe for disaster.

I came inside after it died for the 3rd time and collapsed on the couch, dripping with sweat. I thought I was going to throw up and it took a good 15 minutes for me to cool down and slow my breathing. I've got to get in shape. That was just ridiculous.

18 months!

Clara had her 18 month checkup today. Here are the stats:

24 lbs. 1 oz (44th percentile)
34 1/4" (99th percentile)

Still tall and skinny like her mommy. If it holds true that you can double their height at 18 months to gauge their adult height, she'll be exactly my height! I'll have a twin! Well, hopefully she won't be quite as thin. I'd like her to have a little meat on her bones, but I have a feeling she's also inherited my metabolism; you wouldn't believe how much food this girl can put down. So, I think she's destined to be a skinny minny.

She's doing great. She had to get 2 shots, but was soooo brave. She held still the whole time, didn't cry for the first one and cried just a little for the second. I was able to show her her cool owies with band-aids and that shut her up real quick. She left the office with her first ever lollipop. She's a fan.

Oh, and while we were in the office and I was trying to keep her entertained, I got out her crayons and asked her to pick out different colors. She got red, blue and purple right! I was so excited but thought maybe it was a fluke, but she did it again. I love it when she learns something new. I have no idea why it's so awesome, but it is.

Daddy's Day Weekend

We just finished watching Deja Vu starring Denzel Washington. It was a really good action/sci fi movie with no bad language or nudity or anything. Denzel is my man right now. Netflix does this thing where it gives you a list of movies you might enjoy based on something you pick to watch. It'll bring up other movies with the same stars, same director, or just a similar movie. I put in one movie awhile back that starred Denzel and kept picking more and more movies he was in based on Netflix's recommendations. I think this was like the fifth movie in a row we've watched with Mr. Washington. He's a stud.

Anyway, about this weekend. We had a nice lazy Saturday yesterday. It was either overcast or raining all weekend, so the weather was nice when it wasn't wet. I set Clara in the driveway and let her go to town with a 1/4 of a watermelon.





We blew up her pool to rinse her off and just set it right next to the driveway and let her play for awhile. We sat in camping chairs in the driveway. Then it started raining and we moved our chairs right inside the garage and let her keep playing. She played until it became a downpour.

Saturday evening we headed over to Glenn and Becky's for Nachos and Margaritas. I made these t-shirts for the girls that said "I get my good looks from my Daddy". The girls LOVED their shirts. We put them on them while the guys were outside and they ran around for 10 minutes singing "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" just laughing, banging on the door and trying to look at their t-shirts. It was pretty cute. Then we headed outside so the guys could see their awesome shirts.

This morning, Clara had a few surprises up her sleeve for Daddy. I bought a sailor's dress for her last month and went and took pictures of her in it. I took some of the pictures of her and some neat pictures of Chris' sailboat that a friend took a few months ago and turned them into sepia. I put them in a pretty frame that Chris' parents got him for Father's Day and surprised him with it. It really turned out nice.

She also got him a new hat to wear on his boat, some Dots (one of his fave candies), and I made another t-shirt for her that says "Daddy's future sailing buddy". She also made him a poster with fingerpaints (I helped). I gotta say, she did good.

The poster may require a bit of explanation. You see, allowing an 18 month old to make something herself would have just looked like some piece of modern art or something, so I decided aid her in making a picture of a sailboat. Not that I did much better. Her handprint is the sun, her footprint the sail (I know, it's silly but I refer you to my previous post lamenting my utter lack of artistic and creative ability) and her thumbprints are the fish. Note the level of detail. From the lifevests, to Chris with his knee bent while Clara looks lovingly up to him. And then there's the fish jumping out of the water and the crab who didn't want to be mistaken for a sea spider. Awesome picture if I must say so myself.

Clara wore her dress to church this morning and I couldn't tell you how many times I heard, "oh how cute, or precious, or sweet, or look at the little sailor." I've come to the conclusion that every little girl should have a sailor's dress; it doesn't get much cuter than that. We headed over to Kobe, a japanese restaurant, for lunch with Glenn, Becky, Leah and Lisa only to get there and be told that they only had the dinner menu for Father's Day. Forget that; we're too cheap. So we went to Johnny Rockets instead.

And finally, here are some of the pictures I took of the little sailor a couple of weeks ago. I love how they turned out. I wanted to post them sooner, but didn't want Chris to see.

I guess that just about does it. Or as Clara would say, "Ahhhh Done".

I'm Too Nice

It's not like this is a news flash for most of you; just thought I'd share a cute story from yesterday. The way I see it, there's no reason you shouldn't be nice in all situations. And is being slightly put out for even seemingly insignificant reasons that big of a deal, really? Had Chris bore witness to this, he would have surely reacted differently.

Yesterday, Clara and I went to our Wednesday movie, Flicka. We got in line behind a group of kids that had to count out change for their popcorn, and then didn't have enough money, etc, etc. So by the time we got into the theater, it was packed. The movie was just about to start and I saw a few empty seats on the very back row, my row of choice. I ask the woman sitting there with her kids if these seats were taken. She informed me that someone had been sitting there, but they had left and she didn't know if they were coming back.

Hmmm, surely they're not coming back if they didn't leave someone to save them, I think to myself. I decide to risk it. So, I set down my bag, balance my popcorn on the seat, put the booster seat on the seat for Clara, sit her in the booster seat which promptly squishes her closed in the seat. Then I wrangle with it for a second until she's secure, turn around and my popcorn falls on the floor under my seat. Oh wait, it landed upright, Sweet! Ok, grab the popcorn, unfold a napkin and place it in Clara's lap for her popcorn, get her sippy cup out of the bag and into her cupholder, and I think we're set.

Then, two little boys, probably 6 and 8, walk up and in loud voices, inform me that I'm sitting in their seats. I tell them that no one was here, so I didn't know that they were their seats. They said they had gone to the bathroom. People are turning around because they're being so loud, so I just get up so as not to cause a scene. I start loading up my stuff, but must not have been quick enough, because the little one was standing in front of Clara telling her, "this is my seat; you need to get up." She just looks at him and keeps stuffing her face with popcorn. Daddy would've been proud.

I tell the boys they need be patient, that it would take me a minute to get all of our stuff. As I'm finally getting up, the older one says, "my mom told us not to leave our seats, so if she finds out, we would get a spanking." I tell them that maybe they need to listen to their mom next time.

So, here I am, in the dark, carrying Clara, her bag, her blanket, a bag of popcorn and a booster seat. An angel in the next row over heard everything and said there were two empty seats next to her. She was very nice. She held the seat down for me so I could get the booster in and Clara situated and she held my popcorn. When Clara couldn't find her cupholder during the movie, the lady would help her get it back in.

She had a couple of older kids, so she was thoroughly enjoying watching Clara watch the movie. Horses would come on the screen and she would point and say "horse" (I'm assuming that's what she meant anyway) and she would neigh and move around like she was riding her stick horse. During songs, she would start bopping her head, moving around and clapping. She put on a show of her own and the lady was loving it. She kept getting her daughter's attention so she would look over at Clara and she leaned over to me and said how much she missed having little ones. It was fun. I didn't mind at all that I was asked to leave my seat by an eight year old. It allowed me to sit next to an angel. I planned on talking to her some after the movie, but Clara didn't quite make it though and we left probably 5 minutes before it was over. I made sure to lean over and whisper a big thanks for everything before we left.

See, I love it when people go out of their way to be polite and courteous. It just doesn't happen very often and I really appreciate it when I'm on the receiving end. I'm positive the two boys appreciated my kindness, if only because I saved their little behinds. Literally.

Let's All Go To The Movies

Clara went to see her first movie today. Technically, it's her 2nd, but I don't think that Cars back in July counts since she couldn't really enjoy the whole movie experience. We met up with Lisa and Clara almost made it through the whole thing. We were sooooo close. The theater has a summer movie pass that gives you 10 movies, one a week, for $5.00. And, Clara is young enough that I didn't have to buy one for her. Today was Everyone's Hero and they'll be playing Flicka, Flushed Away, Ice Age 2, Over the Hedge and others. Not bad for $.50 each. I figured this would be a good way to teach her how to sit through one. We've wanted to take her with us before, but really didn't want to waste the money if she wouldn't sit still.

The secret, unfortunately, was popcorn. I know it's a choking hazard and all, but I really didn't want her filling up on goldfish or something. At least popcorn is light. She was content watching the screen, shoveling popcorn into her mouth through the whole movie. She didn't get fussy until her popcorn was gone. I took her frog "Alfonso" and her blanket to see if maybe, perhaps, just this once, she'd go to sleep somewhere other than her bed. Nope. She goes right to sleep at naptime and bedtime, but will NOT tolerate you trying to get her to sit still any other time, unless you're feeding her; she'll sit still for food.

Tomorrow is story time at the library again. We'll see if she does as well this time. I enrolled her in the summer reading program (yes, she's that smart). Actually, it counts to be read to. We just keep track of what we read and after a certain number of books, she gets a certificate from the State of Texas and gets to choose a book for herself to take home. I love free stuff! Oh that reminds me, tomorrow at Sonic they're having free root beer float night from 8pm to midnight. I don't think there's any small print even. Imagine that. I'm there!

I think I'm gonna try potty training again. I bought some disposable ones for sleeping and leaving the house since I'm not too keen on cleaning up messes in the beginning. I think I'll wait a few more days still though. I believe the quesadillas and the cup of ice cream on Sunday did a number on her. She's lactose intolerant, so she drinks soymilk, but she can handle some dairy. I usually just give her one serving of dairy a day so as not to disturb the beast that resides in her lower g.i. Whoooo, you do NOT want to be within 50 feet of a diaper change when she's had too much dairy.

She hasn't had a problem since December when we first figured out the problem and took measures to fix it. I was beginning to wonder if it was really as bad as I remembered it. I mean, poop is poop, right? Oh, no; all poop is not created equal. I've been gagging these past couple of days. The problem is, once everything is out of whack in there, it really takes a while to get things calmed down. I have to completely cut out the dairy and give her probiotics to help her heal. Poor girl, I know she doesn't feel good. She tricks me into thinking I've got another diaper change to endure a dozen times a day with her gassiness.

So what was the point of that poop rant? Oh yeah, not quite ready for the potty training thing.

I Am So Awesome

Look what I did last night.



I painted the walls in her playroom a long time ago but couldn't decide what kind of accent I wanted on them. I didn't like how the yellow turned out, but I didn't know how to fix it without repainting a different color that would probably yield the same result. (I have an extremely difficult time choosing paint colors. They never end up looking how I expected them to look.) I decided to try polka dots that are three shades lighter and I love how it turned out, well the part I've done at least. It looks better in person. Eventually I'd like to do a chair rail in this room also.

I love doing this kind of stuff; I wish I could do it for a living. Although I'm not sure who'd hire me. I have zero creativity and even less artistic ability.


We went to Market Street tonight for, you guessed it, ICE CREAM. Clara enjoyed her first, very own, I-don't-have-to-share-with-anyone, cup of ice cream. With sprinkles of course. I don't have to tell you she loved it and polished off the whole thing by herself. After enjoying the creamy treat, she rinsed off in the fountain.


After consulting with Nurse Lisa, she and I have made a diagnosis for the hives that Clara got the other day. What was confusing me about them was that she got them while she was eating, so I assumed it was something that she ate. That was Friday at lunch. Right before lunch, she and Leah had been playing outside and I had noticed her foot looked a little red, but it just looked like a bug bite and it didn't seem to be bothering her, so I didn't think much of it.


Friday evening, Lisa noticed her foot, and at that point, it was still red, the whole top of it was pretty swollen and she felt a small bump between her toes. Sure enough, the next morning the bump had the little white head on it like she got when she got stung by fire ants a couple of weeks ago. Today, her foot looked purplish and was still a little swollen, and it started itching. It was pretty sad seeing her try to scratch it with a crayon at lunch this afternoon. She wasn't getting much relief, so, being the idiot I am, I scratched it a little, and it got little welts all around it. Nurse Lisa informed me that scratching it was releasing more toxin. Oops. Good thing we have Nurse Lisa around.


Anyway....... I Googled fire ant allergy (of course), and a reaction can occur in a different place from the sting (like the face), and half an hour or so after being stung (like while eating lunch, which really makes diagnosing said reaction very difficult). I'm almost certain that it is a fire ant allergy, because she got several stings on her hand for the first time a few weeks ago. Her hand was a little swollen and the stings got little white heads and took quite a while to heal, but she didn't have the hives. I do know that your body has to get a certain amount of an allergen before it has a reaction, so it would make sense that the second or subsequent times she was stung would be more severe. We'll see what the doc says at her 18 month check up here in a couple of weeks. I guess we need to get some of the yard ant killer.

It's Been Awhile

We had a nice, rainy Memorial Day weekend here. Chris' parents got here Friday afternoon and we rarely left the house all weekend because of the weather. Grandma and Granddad had a good time playing with Clara though, so that's all that matters.

We even managed to get a little free babysitting out of 'em. They graciously allowed Chris and I to go see Pirates of the Caribbean Sunday afternoon with Glenn and Becky. That was fun. We hadn't been to a movie together since Cars back in July. I was very irritated with the amount of advertising they do now before the movie starts. Like I really want to see a half hour of back to back commercials. We got home later than expected and Clara had been fed and put to bed by the time we got home. Sweet! This whole babysitting thing is a novel idea.

We got out on Monday and went to the mall to ride the carousel and walk around a bit. We grabbed some lunch and were back home for a nap. Then we went to Micah and Lisa's for some hamburgers on the grill. We couldn't not grill something on Memorial Day just because the weather wouldn't cooperate. It'd be unamerican. Is that supposed to be capitalized? Hmmm.

We said our goodbyes Monday night because Dan and Linda were leaving early the next morning. Clara decided she wanted to see them off after all, so she awoke at 6:30. She had been a sweetheart all weekend for Grandma and Granddad, but as soon as they walked out and Daddy left for work, she turned into the little whiney, clingy creature that I'm usually the only one that sees. And then, right after she ate breakfast, she threw it all up. It was a lovely morning.

Thursday we went to storytime at the library. She was the youngest one there and she sat the whole time and watched the librarian read the stories. She participated in the hand and body movements during the singing and the few times she did stand up, I just whispered to sit down and she did immediately. I was very impressed with her behavior. I didn't get any pics of her at story time, but here she is right before we left the house. She loves getting in the dog crates. We need to keep her out, but I hate to keep them closed because the dogs like to get in them during the day. What they don't like is when Clara gets in with them.

Friday we had Leah over for a playdate. She and Leah played in the inflatable pool and the sand and water table. They had watermelon and played with sidewalk chalk. I, of course, took no pictures of all the fun. I did get a picture of her face after eating lunch. I looked over and she was rubbing her eyes; her face was all red and she had hives. I have no idea what caused it because she was eating stuff she eats all the time. She did have a few potato chips which she normally doesn't get, but I wouldn't think they'd do that.

And last but not least, here are a series of sidewalk chalk pics I took yesterday evening.