... When No One Else is Watching

Happy Birthday, Dear Avery!

It's official, I am now the mother of a one year old. There is a part of me that is terribly sad and at the same time, I am also thrilled. It has been wonderful to see her grow this last year and to see how much she has learned and discovered! She is a bright little girl who loves to laugh and smile, turn the pages on books, watch Elmo on Sesame Street and play with her Daddy. She is quickly turning into my shadow and I don't know of one thing that makes my heart sing more than when I enter the room and she realizes I am there and she beams, it makes me catch my breath every time!

We had a little party last night to celebrate her first year and she had quite a good time! She made out like a fat rat in the gift department and got some really nice presents, including some really cute stuffed animals that made her giggle so much she had the room in histerics! I made a Winnie the Pooh cake which turned out pretty cute and she loved eating her piece of cake! Here are some pictures of the girl's big day!

Winnie the Pooh!

Getting ready to open presents!

Diving into the cake!

Yummy!

Another First

The girl went to see Santa this past weekend and since she loves to be held by anybody she was not even taken aback by Santa's long beard. She actually loved going to see the big, bearded one but was more happy to be surrounded by all the other children. She loves to play with others and watch other little ones run around and play. Whenever she's around other children she absolutely beams and wants to become instant friends. Very sweet. I didn't get any pictures of her with the other kiddies so the picture of her with Santa will have to do. We bought the professional shot as well but I haven't scanned that yet so here is a photo from my camera, don't mind the finger in her mouth, at least it's not in her nose!

Big, Bad Rotavirus!

As I mentioned in my previous post, Avery had to be admitted to the hospital last week because after many questions and tests she was diagnosed with having a severe case of Rotavirus. Many tests and questions were asked because:

1. My daughter is a happy and precocious child even after she has vomited five times in one morning! Don't tell me I'm not raising a cheerful child!
2. All of her symptoms for Rotavirus were completely backwards. Yes, that's right, my child does not do anything as people expect, she will be different and complicated! That's my girl!
3. She doesn't go to daycare and how in the world could she have contracted Rotavirus if she doesn't go to daycare? Obviously, only children who go to daycare get this virus? Who knew?
4. My child didn't have a fever and wasn't showing any signs of stomach pain no matter how many times my doctor held his legs up to his stomach to illustrate what stomach cramping would look like. My child didn't have all symptoms of this virus but she did have the one major symptom down, she projectile vomits like a pro!

Before Avery was admitted to the hospital overnight she was taken for a few x-rays to make sure nothing more serious was wrong. Thank goodness nothing came of those x-rays as I don't handle my child being ill well. Rob then had to sit with the girl while she had an IV inserted into her hand because her mother was a blubbering idiot! The nurse actually asked me if I needed to sit down and the only thing I could get out was, "I'm okay, I'm just freaking!" If I am the patient I have no problem being poked and prodded but seeing my little girl sitting there crying and having needles put into her just about sent me over the edge. Once the IV was inserted I was able to go over and pick her up and comfort her and I will say that she was such a little trooper, she handled the experience much better than her wussy mom!

All of this was going on in the triage area because the doctors didn't think she was going to have to stay overnight. It was expected that she would get some fluids pumped into her and then be able to go home and drink Pedialyte for a few days until she was better. It was looking good until she started vomiting again and they told us they weren't going to release her. I was starting to go out of my mind due to the fact we were still in the triage ward because DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY SICK KIDS THERE ARE IN THE SALT LAKE VALLEY? There aren't enough beds for all of them! Not only that, do you know how many of them CRY NONSTOP? It was so loud I could barely hear myself think. Once we found out we were in there for the long haul I figured she would just have to get moved to her room and wait for the fluids to do their job but no,,, they wanted to poke her with more needles before we moved. She ended up having a glucose check which they poked her finger for and I think she cried more during that than when she had the IV inserted. We found out we have a bleeder, so much so that they had to gauze her finger up and wrap it with some purple tape. The only reason I tell you the details is that the finger that was wrapped up was her middle finger on her right hand. She was literally able to give the finger to all the doctors that even dared to touch her! Isn't that what we all want to do when we are in that position? It made me laugh so much that I actually took a picture of it! I am a horrible mother, I took pictures of my child flipping off the world! It doesn't get much better than that!

By ten o'clock we were finally in our own room and we spent the next 24 hours waiting for her to improve, which she did. Not only did she improve, she charmed all the doctors and nurses while doing so! She really is a beautiful little soul who smiles all the time, even when she is miserable. I'm a lucky mom.

Avery is home now and she is back to her mischevious self. I have never been happier to see her crawl around on the floor and play with her toys and get into everything she isn't supposed to! I can honestly say having a healthy child is the greatest blessing in a parent's life!

And now it's time to show how mean Rob and I really are! As I stated earlier, we took pictures of Avery flipping off the hospital staff and decided to share. I also took a photo of Rob trying to cheer her up and failing miserably! To make up for all of this embarrasment we took her to see Santa on Sunday and I will scan and post those pictures in the next few days when I have a few seconds to spare due to the fact I have to throw a party for the girl's first birthday! (I just cried a little while typing that sentence.)

 

I'm Still Here

I am still here, it has just been an incredibly busy time with Christmas shopping, cleaning, projects to get finished before Christmas, wrapping, shipping and just getting life in order. Oh, and the girl was so sick she had to be hospitalized,,, just a minor problem. She's well now, I will update you all tomorrow. I'm tired!

It's the Little Things

Being ill this last week made me realize that life with a child is much more difficult than life without a child. Better? No. Easier? Yes.

Due to my husband being the bread winner in our household it is a bit impossible for him to just take off work when I am sick so that someone can tend to the girl, if he absolutely had to then he could take off work but just because I look like death warmed over and am going through a box of tissues every ten minutes is not a reason for him to take a sick day himself. With that said, being sick and having a child is rough! Gone are the days of just lying in bed, sneezing, coughing, sniffling and feeling thoroughly sorry for oneself. No, the girl still wanted to be fed and changed and dare I say it, play! So, I fed and changed and played, all while still feeling thoroughly sorry for myself (some things just don't change that easily, people!) When I finally returned to good health I started thinking about all the other things I took for granted when I was without child, and may I say, there are a lot of things that are just plain easier when you don't have a child to look after. Here's a portion of my list.

• Taking a shower - Oh, how lovely it would be to be able to take a long, hot, luxurious shower without two little eyes peering in through the shower door just begging to ask, "are you done yet? I have lots of toys waiting to be played with!" And shaving my legs regularly, that would be lovely! Right now it's about once a week and that's not very ladylike. I've always enjoyed being ladylike because I truly consider myself a bit of a girly girl and having this child has seriously put a dent in the area of anything like exfoliation or pedicures or even the daily shaving of the legs. Thank goodness for the weekends when I can turn to the hubby and say, "your turn to take care of the child, I'm on my way to pamper myself!"
• Going out to run errands - Do you know how easy all of you folks without kids have it? Here's a scenario - you are ready to fix a meal but realize you have no milk, and you need the milk to finish your recipe. You grab your keys, get in the car, drive to the store, choose your milk and drive home. This takes you a few minutes and it was easy. Now let me give you this same scenario if I realize I have no milk. I get my bag, in which I make sure I have a diaper and wipes (just in case), put the coat and shoes on the girl, strap her into her carseat (lots of whining), drive to the store, unstrap the girl from carseat, strap her into grocery cart, get milk, pay for milk, unstrap the girl from grocery cart and strap her into carseat, put back the cart, drive home, unstrap girl from carseat, realize I drove off with milk on top of car and have to repeat process. Get my point? There's no such thing as an easy errand.
• Sleeping In - Oh no, that's just not done in this household, as she has made quite clear, THERE ARE TOYS THAT NEED TO BE PLAYED WITH, WE WILL GET UP AND WE WILL GET UP AT 7AM, EVERYDAY, PERIOD. I'm not bitter, it's just that I'm a night owl and the whole "let's get up early" thing is a little bit difficult for me. An early riser I am not.
• A clean house - Okay, well we can't really say that my house is unclean. Rob and I are both a bit freakish that the house stay clean and the lawn well manicured so all weekly chores are done. It's just incredible how a clean living room can suddenly look like a tornado went through it because the girl decides that she wants to look at every toy she owns before deciding which one deserves to be played with. This process means every toy gets looked at and then thrown over her shoulder, landing wherever it may until she finally sees that the toy she has been looking for is the last one in her play pen or toy box. And if she can't find something to play with then there is always the standby - the kitchen cupboards. Oh the joys she can find in there! And she usually pulls out each one and has a good little playtime with each one. Why do I not stop her? She is happy and not crying or whining and any mother of an almost one year old will tell you that is bliss! I guess an immaculate household will have to be on hold for eighteen years, and when I think about it, it's really not that bad.
• Going to dinner with friends - This isn't so bad if we have a babysitter but we usually still have to be back early so that we don't kill her schedule too much. Also, the fact that I have a little bit of separation anxiety is a bit of a problem as well. I used to be able to go out and have a great time with friends, not worrying about what time we had to be home because it didn't matter. We'd be able to sleep in, get up at noon and make breakfast, and then lounge about for the rest of the day. Yeah, not so much anymore. As I stated before, there is a schedule to be adhered to and we are not breaking from it!

This probably sounds like I am whining, and yeah, I probably am a little. Although, in the long run, I would have my life no other way than how it is now. I ADORE being a mom, I just don't think I realized how HUGE a difference it would make in my life. It's incredible how a task you always thought was easy is now a huge task because you have to allow for the changes brought on by a child. And at the same time, she has made such a huge difference in the way I look at the world in that I want to leave it a bit better than when I came into it and before she came into it. I would just really enjoy being able to fit that long, hot shower in as well!

Here's Avery before she decides what she wants to destroy! So many options, so little time!