Halloween Blues (Or Blacks and Oranges)

Well Halloween was fun until about 12:00 in the afternoon when E spiked a fever.   I think she may have been breaking a molar but I am not sure. I felt a new molar ripping it's awful jagged self through the poor pink tissue of my baby's gums, but she also wouldn't let me touch her neck one day ( sinus infection?) and poked and dug at her ear another day ( ear infection and sinus infection?   I have had both before and did the same thing.) Anyway she finally stopped having fevers today.   She would only drink milk most of today, but she hasn't been eating and drinking like she normally has fit a few days.   So I think she  is starting to feel better.  But she had to stay home on Halloween.  I guys it is ok because she doesn't really care about trick or treating yet anyway,  but I was excited for her costume.   I made the tail, crown, sceptre,  shoes (more like altered), and bikini top flee both girls.   Z picked the colors and it was fun making the costumes.  I had it planned out too.  I bought color spray for their hair and everything.  But life is like that I guess. Anyway Z and I had fun trick or treating.  She went for about an hour, much longer than I thought since it was cold.  Anyway it was a fun season and I have another "Nightmare Before Christmas" fan who sings with me. Also I suggest making a Pandora station for "Monster Mash". That era of holiday songs is fun and we spent many hours listening and dancing to "Monster Swim" and other greats of the 1970's (ish?).
Well hope Halloween was happy for ya'll.

Almost There

Ok here  is a mini post about my weight lost.  But here I am at my almost normal self. I was always 150 pounds. Through high school,  getting married,  and I even managed to not get above 155 pounds during nursing school.   Well I am back!  So much closer to my goal weight of 137 pounds.   Anyway, toot goes my own horn.

Another back post:Warning Postpartum Belly

So jus thinking I never followed up with mu weight loss story.  So basically I got down to 145 from 153ish.   Yada yada yada, I basically fell into old habits and gained weight back and then weighed about 160.  Then I got pregnant and got up to 199.  So first picture is at 145 (at 5'9"). The next is three weeks postpartum.  I will follow up with a post and picture later but I am currently about 156.   Balancing eating can be so hard, but I want another baby and I had so many complications because of my size with E, that I will be skinny before I get pregnant again.

Shy Little Owl

Well my baby has glasses.  I know this update is so so so SO late, but I guess that is life. Her glasses are just a layer between the environment and her one good eye.  As of her last appointment, the Doctor who specializes in ONH believes she sees only light.  I kinda thought thought the same thing, but guess time will really tell. But can I just tell you how fun it has been to try to keep glasses on a baby that won't keep bows, headbands,  or hair clips?  It us just fabulous.   At first when she got them, she would just throw them on the floor.  That was in August. Now, she just pushes them on her forehead or she hands them to me.  But I can usually get a good solid hour of her leaving them on.  She us too cute with them on but she looks so sad and shy with them.  She hides her face when she sees herself in the mirror and doesn't smile as much.  Which makes me so sad because she is so cute, both in her face and with her personality.  So it makes me feel bad that I have to make her wear them when she hates them.   But when you have a house full of antlers it is probably a good idea to protect her little eye. Heck I should protect myself.  I have stubbed my toe on our antler table more times then the rooster crows (and our rooster is a noisy SOB). But we will get through this challenge,  it is really hard because  of all the "side effects" of this disease.   So many hormones could be affected and consequently so could things such as growth,  fertility,  and brain function. There are several good websites if anyone is interested.  I will link them. But I just love this silly little girl no matter what. ONH site 1 2

Wow Sorry I am so Bad at Updates

Well make baby turned one...... in May.  Oops sorry.  Work, where I normally blog, has been crazy!  Anyway so my little Eis 1 .  She is small, especially compared to Z, but she is healthy and meeting all her growth requirements.   I bet she will be small and scrappy becuase she already has to overcome basically being blind in one eye, so she is a fighter. She is wearing size 12-18 month clothes, size 2 shoes, and size 3 diapers.   She is a whopping 15th percentile for weight at 17 pounds 6 ounces and 20th percentile for height at 28 1/4 inches.  She is "crawling" as in mostly army crawling,  starting to pull herself up on things, oh and she has 3 teeth, her two bottom fron teeth and her left canine.  Hopefully she will get her top front teeth soon but I love her little jack-o-lantern smile. I call it her giggle tooth ( instead of a snaggle tooth, because it is pretty cute especially when she scrunches up her nose and smiles a big toothy grin.) She loves to eat anything and everything.   She loves all  types of fruit, any kind of meat, and milk. She eats so much I am at a loss for words as to how she is so little.  She will eat a whole banana and 4 ounces of milk and and still be hungry. She is chubby but definitely not what you would think.  I wish I had her metabolism.  She has started loving looking at books, like Z did as a baby and as she still does to thos day.  She has a favorite blankie,  loves playing with Z,  loves our dog Duncan,  loves to cuddle and smile, and loves to throw everything.  Toys in her crib, not for long.  Food on her tray that is not what she wants at that moment,  gone ( oh she has taken to stuffing those pieces  between her legs where the tray covers the chair.  So funny to watch her put it there).  She loves giving kisses and clapping her hands.  She says little words like "momma" and "dad" and "blankie".  She makes a sounds kind of like s throaty "dun-un" for our doggie.  She also loves to point at everything.   She loves water and milk and loves being outside.  She is a good sleeper and so fun to jave around.   I just can't believe she is 1. We went camping for her birthday and had parties with both sides of our families.   It was a fun weekend and she picked up unwrapping gifts well, just didn't seem to get the concept of blowing out candles.   Oh well.  Here's to more adventures.

4,4,4!

Well my baby,  who is not such a baby anyone   :(, turned 4 a week ago.   She is growing so much I can't believe it.   She is starting preschool next fall and I don't like it.  Where'd my little Z go?   At the doctors she was 90th percentile for height and 75th percentile for weight.  She loves bring outdoors and playing with her little sister, dinosaurs,  and reading.  She is doing dance and tumbling and she seems to like tumbling more.  On dance days she has tumbling first and then dance and she always says " I danced and then I didn't  dance. "But at least she tried it and got some interaction with kids her age.  We have started soccer and so far two games into it she has kicked the ball once and been more excited about the playground nearby.   So we will see how it plays out for my blue- eyed stinker.  

Confessions from Wendover

Well I have to say that I have a confession.......  I am in love with country music!  Scared ya huh?   Just kidding.  But no since the last few months of my pregnancy with E I was craving country music.  ( for those of you that don't know I crave certain music with pregnancy.   Z it was classical music,  E it was movie scores and country music.)  Anyway I have been listening to it since.   Many people who knew me know that I used to hate country music.   I never listened to it ever.   But since my E pregnancy I just don't really care too much for anything else.   I kinda think it is because I really found my style and my real self.   ( I can remember telling my mom when I was little I wanted to marry a farmer. That's kinda like a cowboy right? ) Plus the way I am now is the happiest and most comfortable I have ever been. Plus my husband has been maturing with me,  so it is nice because we are on the same page.   But anyway back to the real meat of this post.  So anyway Jon has been listening to Aaron Lewis for years ( we have been listening to him with Stained since high school but for the last few years he has been doing country music) and the last time he was in Wendover we wanted to go but we couldn't.   Well this tour came around and we were able to go.  But not only go to this amazing concert but we got to meet him!   Hot bam! It was amazing!   Like life changing!   He is so inspiring and listening to his music just soothes your soul.  His music is just so heart-felt.  Anyway,  it was amazing meeting him. But he has kinda "ruined" new country music for me.   He sings more of an old school country and so that is all I have been able to listen to is the old school music.  But anyway I just tally feel like we have been maturing and growing into ourselves and then we find someone who has been going on that same journey so it literally has been life changing meeting that man.  Confession over

February Doctors Visit (Oops)

Well my little E had a doctor's appointment at the end of February.   She is my littlest (so far) at 20th percentile for weight at 18.8 pounds and 15th percentile for height at 26.6 inches.   She is wearing size 2 shoes,  size 3 diapers and 12 month old clothes.   She looks good and healthy with chubby legs and arms and she has a good hearty appetite eating almost 2 large containers if purees.   She is super happy,  loves her sister, can say moma and does so especially when she wants to nurse or wants me to pick her up (  yay for moma to be the first word :) ).  She has kinda said "discards" and makes a "Ewewe" sound when she sees her sister.   She has started pulling the funniest faces and loves looking in the mirror.   She has a favorite blanket and puppy, still no teeth ( but they are close).  She isn't crawling yet but it's getting places by rolling and wiggling, most of the time she is not where we leave her for very long.  She finally has the pincher grasps down and and loves eating cereal (just like her dad and sister who would eat cereal for every meal if they were allowed). 
Z went on some adventures,  some fun, some not so much.  We went to wheeler farm the other day and she loved all the animals and the tractors, as well as the playground.   She also went to the dentist but guess what?  My little sugar bug had 2 cavities.  The checkup went fine but after 2 different dentists, including a pediatric dentist,  she only has 1 filed.  We are trying to avoid having to sedate her for one dumb cavity so we are trying a special toothpaste.  Wish us luck,  for my child is a child who has very specific tastes in toothpaste,  gum, and cheese,  and hates mint which is the flavor of this medicine.  

Patches and MRIs

Ok so E had her MRI on the 31st.  We had to wait until Monday for results because of the holiday. But she did well with the sedation.   She hated getting an IV ( who doesn't) and hatred having a nasal cannula put in.   She hated it so much it woke her up from the sedated state she was in and  she wouldn't go back to sleep until she had more medicine.   She recovered well and drank some pedialyte from a bottle, which was a surprise because she, like Z was,  is very particular about her bottles.
So we waited through the weekend and after talking to the staff and having her read the results straight to me( it pays to be a nurse :) ), the results say  that her right eye was confirmed to be underdeveloped at the optic nerve ( Optic Nerve Hypoplasia or ONH) but the rest if her brain and left eye are normal.  We are so relieved!   My precious baby will never have full eyesight in her right eye but all her other mental capacities are present.   What a way to start the new year.   I guess it is a blessing that she has had it since the beginning her life because this will be all that she has known.   If she had full sight and then lost part of her sight,  I think it would be harder for her.   But shout out to all those whose thoughts,  prayers,  and fasts were with E.   Thank you.   We are super blessed to have you all in our lives.   Thanks again and may God bless you all for your kindness and love toward E.