Simmons Scoop

We have not fallen off the face of the Earth!

2009-08-08T23:06:00.002-05:00

We are back from our Midwest Summer Tour! Yes, I know it has been a while since I have posted anything and you all are dying for some pictures. Well, you are in luck. My dear friend, Robin, sent me my camera charger, it is now charged and the pictures are uploaded. However, it is late and I will post the pictures later this week. Ok, I can do one teaser.

Holy Batman, Claire is 6 months!

2009-05-15T13:32:00.010-05:00

Wow! I can't believe our baby is 6 months; it seems, literally, like she should only be 3 months old.

Anyway, here are some interesting facts about our little baby girl:

1. She can roll over from tummy to back and back to tummy. She has been rolling over from tummy to back since she was 3 months old, but just last week started rolling over back to tummy. Now, we have to watch out because she uses this new talent to move all over the floor. Olivia rolled over, but she never used it to move around, she was pretty stationary.

2. She absolutely hates, I mean abhors, her exersaucer, bumbo seat, jumperoo, car seat, and stroller. She prefers to be held or on the ground. So, this has been difficult to get things done, working on building her core stomach muscles, and going places. We do not get out much because she screams almost the Whole. Entire. Time. We are in the car or walking in the stroller.

3. She no longer sleeps through the night. Back in April, I think it was late April, I took her into the doctor because she was running a high fever and did so for 6 days. When I took her in they said everything sounded and looked fine. I think the fever was teething related. Anyway, during the time she had the fever, she was up every 3 hours or so feeding, and she just hasn't left that mode. We are working on the cry it out method, and as much as Jonathon hates it, it has to be done. She has to teach herself to go back to sleep on her own and not depend on us, more specifically me, to do so.

4. She is a chatty-cathy. This girl loves to squeal and scream. It is so funny to hear because Olivia has been relatively quiet, up until now with her ear piercing screams of joy/excitement, and Jonathon and I just crack up at her.

5. We have started rice cereal and I have introduced 3 solid foods to her. She likes the rice cereal, but would rather nurse. The solid foods, she could care less about. She really will not open her mouth to eat and I have to make her smile, or, more often than not, I use Olivia, so I can shovel the food in her mouth. In this aspect, she is like her big sister. Olivia hated baby food and preferred table food.

6. She has started to take the pacifier a little more. She really only takes it when she wants to suck or go to sleep, which is fine with me because that means she isn't using me, which is what she would rather do.

7. She has lost quite a bit of hair since she was born. I mean, don't get me wrong, she still has hair, but it has thinned out a lot on the top, but it is still crazy monkey hair and I love it. I love putting bows in her hair and I hope she will be like Olivia and ask for bows in her hair when she older rather than pull them out.

8. She is a big time Momma's girl, which I love, but Jonathon is slowly trying to pull her to the dark side and make her a Daddy's girl. Which, in my opinion, isn't really fair since he already has Olivia. I guess that is my jealous side coming out.

9. We are working on getting on a better schedule, but when 7:30 p.m. rolls around, Claire wants her bath, wants to eat and be in bed by 8:00 p.m., which is nice because it is still early enough for Jonathon and I to go out and grab something to eat together, go to a movie, or go to a basketball game (yup, that's right, Jonathon and I were able to go to the Mavs vs. Nuggets game Monday night, and it was awesome! We had 4th row floor seats and we had a great time. I even caught a t-shirt that was thrown in the crowd.).

10. She has yet to be really sick, which is great. I mean, she did run the constant high fever for six days last month, but that has been it. When Olivia was this age, she had already had a cold, sinus infection and several ear infections. It has been nice having a happy, healthy baby.

Now, time for what you really came for, pictures. I have been really awful about taking pictures of her. Every time I go to use my camera, the stinkin' battery is dead. I have been using my phone to take a lot of pictures and once I figure out how to upload them from the phone to here, I will post more.

My dream floorplan

2009-05-08T09:19:00.004-05:00

Go to this site and check out this layout! Jonathon and I are so in love with this floor plan and hopefully someday, we can have it (just different colors, it's a little too cool for my taste; I like warmer/darker colors).
http://angelicagracedesigns.com/blog/2009/05/show-us-your-home-kitchen-tour.html#links

Enjoy!

PS-Sorry, I do not know how to Hyperlink to the site directly. Just copy and paste the website and it will take you there.

Pictures!

2009-04-28T22:02:00.049-05:00

These pictures were taken by Our 365 Photography. They are awesome! This is the same company who did Olivia's one month and one year photos. I love how this company works. They have the photographer come to your house and they set up the backdrops and the lights, and you can use your own toys and do the photo session right in your own home. The only downside to this company is the cost of their packages, but after speaking with a friend of mine, apparently they are pretty competitively priced.
As you will notice, Claire was as happy as a clam the whole time while Olivia was a booger and only smiled for a couple of the pictures. In her defense, I had to wake her up from her nap so she wasn't too happy. However, both girls are absolutely beautiful and the pictures turned out wonderful.
(We do have the rights to publish and print these photos, so if you would like a copy, just copy the picture to your computer and print it out)

Out of the mouth of kids...

2009-04-24T09:44:00.002-05:00

So last night, after Claire went to bed, Jonathon, Olivia and I were snuggling on our bed. She kept trying to get up and play, but I kept pushing her down because I wanted to snuggle with her. After a few minutes of this, she got really frustrated with me and started crying. Then, she looked at Jonathon and said, "It's pissing me off!" I had her repeat it several times because I couldn't believe it, but then we just started cracking up. Once she heard us laughing, she started giggling, too. Hopefully, this is just a one time incident and she will not say it anymore. We sooooo have to watch what we say, even more than we already do.

Sisterly Love, right?

2009-04-16T22:03:00.009-05:00

You can't see it, but Olivia was giggling the whole time Claire tried to eat her arm :)

I guess Claire figured out how to tickle Olivia. The younger sibling tormenting the older one has already started. Oh boy, I am so not ready for this!

Ok, this is my absolute favorite picture! I just love how they are both looking at each other and look, their hands are almost in the exact same spot! Now this I can handle!

Everyone keeps telling me that the girls look so much alike, but I just don't see it. Am I crazy?! Maybe it is because I see them every day and their little personalities are so different. Side note: Claire's hair is looking a little blond along her forehead. And, she has lost a ton of hair and is starting to sport a receding hair line.

She was playing shy...silly girl! Doesn't she have the sweetest smile? She is cute and she knows it. She tries to use her cuteness to get out of being in trouble.

We bought her a keyboard that looks like a baby grand piano, but does she play with it? No! She plays with this $5 piano. Grrr! In her defense, the keyboard is down stairs and she does play with it; in fact, she really likes it. One time when she and I were flying from Indiana back to Dallas, the lady we sat next to on the plane kept commenting about how long and dainty Olivia's fingers were and that she would make an excellent pianist...I think it is just funny because she does like to play.

I just love this face and hair!

Olivia's 1st Dentist Appointment

2009-04-14T11:50:00.010-05:00

This morning, we took Olivia to her first Dentist appointment. She was awesome! She was a little nervous at first, but once the Hygienist showed her all of the tools and told her what they did, she did fantastic! They were able to brush her teeth, do a fluoride treatment, take x-rays, and the dentist was able to count all of her teeth (she has a total of 20). She has all of her teeth and the dentist said he was amazed they were able to do so much.

In some of the pictures you will notice she is wearing sunglasses, they give those to the kids to wear while they are working because the sun shines right in their eyes when they are in the chair. Olivia did so well that we almost walked right out of the office with hers on :)

We go back in 6 months!

Easter Pictures

2009-04-13T08:53:00.012-05:00

We had a great Easter and hope you all did as well. Over the past two weekends, we went to a total of 5 Easter Egg Hunts. Needless to say, Olivia is now a pro. She had such a blast and keeps asking to do it again.
Unfortunately, in all of the hustle and bustle of yesterday, I forgot to get a family photo and a photo of the girls together, but I did get some of them in their adorable Easter dresses Grandma Measy bought them. I will dress them up again later today and take group photos.
Claire has started teething hardcore, so Tylenol has become our best friend. She handles it pretty well until around bed time and then she is pretty cranky. She has officially become a finger sucker, which I hate, but at least we do not have to break her from a pacifier.
The pictures with the boys were taken yesterday at a family event. Drew is 2 months younger than Olivia and they get along great. When I told Olivia we were going to Drew's house for Easter last Monday, she was so excited and asked every day to go. The other little boy is T-Daniel, Jonathon's Step-Brother.

Pictures, as promised

2009-04-07T14:11:00.032-05:00

What the heck...

2009-04-06T13:47:00.002-05:00

While in the middle of uploading pictures, it stopped working. Sorry, I will try to get more pictures up later this evening.

Sorry for the delay...

2009-04-06T13:29:00.005-05:00

Well, Claire turned 4 months on March 15th and had her 4 month checkup on the 23rd. I cannot believe it has taken me this long to update her stats. Bad mommy!

Weight: 11 Pounds/0.8 Ounces (5th Percentile)
Height: 24 Inches (25-50th Percentile)
Head: 40 Centimeters (25-50th Percentile)

So, she is doing great as far as Height and Head Circumference, but we are struggling with weight...great, here we go again. The doctor isn't concerned since we battled weight gain with Olivia as well. However, she is growing and thriving and that is what is important. I don't know if I have mentioned this or not, but she has been pooping sporadically since the middle of March, and I think she has only pooed a handful of times since then. I took her in once and they gave her a Suppository, but the Pediatrician seems to think her body is just absorbing everything and isn't too concerned. However, we are going on Day 15 without a poo and if there isn't one by tonight, I will take her in tomorrow.

Claire has also started teething, so we have had to break out the bibs. She is a drooling machine and we have already had to give her a couple of doses of Tylenol, too. She absolutely refuses to take a pacifier, so we are experiencing a whole other level of teething that we didn't with Olivia. While she isn't too cranky, she is a little more cranky than Olivia was.

We have had a pretty busy month, as I am getting out more and more with the girls during the day. Last week, we went to lunch and shopping, the Children's Museum, Kindermusik, and 3 Easter Egg Hunts. Olivia had a blast at the Egg Hunts, but she isn't aggressive in hunting for the eggs so she didn't get very many, but she really only wanted the candy anyway.

Here are some pictures from our adventures. I have a love/hate relationship with my new camera. I love how slender and portable this new camera is, but man, the battery is always exhausted and I haven't taken nearly as many pictures of Claire as I did with Olivia. Stupid thing! Anyway, here they are:

I just have to share this...

2009-03-23T13:02:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, while driving home from lunch, there was a car in front of us and he was driving super slow. When I saw that he had his left blinker on, I said, "It's about time, Honda Fit!" Olivia heard this and said, "Momma sorry" (translation, Momma apologize to the car for being mean). So I said, "Sorry for yelling at you Mr. Honda Fit" and she immediately followed up with, "No, call me Olivia!" It was totally random and caught Jonathon and I off guard and we just started laughing. Oh the things she is starting to say.

Can you believe this?

2009-03-16T14:28:00.002-05:00

Claire has been rolling over from tummy to back for a week now. What, you say? Yeah, me, too. She only does it in her crib and screams bloody murder when she does because she doesn't understand what she is doing. But, she is doing it nonetheless.

And, on top of that, she is also 4 months old. Wow! Time is flying by.

I don't know if I have mentioned this or not, but most of you know, Olivia is now potty trained, well, at least during the day and nap time. And when I say potty trained, I mean #1 and #2 on the potty :) We are working on night time, but since she loves to drink water during the night, I am not pushing it just yet. She is so cute! She goes to the bathroom and when she is finished, she comes running out of the bathroom with her pants and panties around her ankles and yells, "Pee-pee all by self (myself), Momma". It is so cute how excited she gets, which is nice, and she gets even more excited because we are excited for her. I took a picture of her first poop in the potty, but I won't show you all since I am probably the only one who thinks it is cute.

Anyway, we had a great weekend. My mom, sister, and a friend of my mom's came down this weekend and it was great to hang out with them. We bought the girls their Easter dresses, swam, ate and played on the Wii, which was hilarious to watch my mom, although she would say the same of me. As soon as I get a chance to upload pictures, Claire is crying as I type this, I will post them.

Guess who is gaining weight?

2009-03-02T13:35:00.015-06:00

Our little Claire Bear (that's her nickname and if you ask Olivia what her sissy's name is, she will say, "Claire Bear"...so cute).
I had to take her to the doctor for a yeast infection and I didn't know if they were going to weigh or her or not, but to my surprise, they did. She currently weighs, 11 pounds/4 ounces. We do not go in for her 4 month appointment until the middle of March so I am hoping she gains a little more. However, she is happy, healthy and thriving.
She is such a good baby. The only time you hear her cry is if she is hungry, tired, gassy, and getting in her car seat. Boy, does she hate the car seat. But, once we get her in the car and get going, she calms down and sometimes even goes to sleep. However, if you put her in the car and she is crying and you do a bunch of stops and starts in a row, she will cry. That, is not very fun.
Claire has started cooing like crazy and it is so wonderful to hear her talk. Olivia never was a big coo-er so this is nice to hear. She is also on the verge of doing a big belly laugh, I know it will happen soon. She loves it when you give her kisses or raspberries on her neck; she coos and does a little giggle.
Claire is just like her big sister when it comes to the doctor. She screams and cries the whole entire time, except for she is louder than Olivia was.
Speaking of Claire, I have to go. She is waking up from her nap and she is HUNGRY!
Here are some recent pictures of the girls. We also tried to take a family photo, but Olivia wasn't having it, so we did it anyway to use the pictures as blackmail later. :)

I love my girls!

2009-02-27T11:29:00.003-06:00

Can you see how much Claire adores her big sister? My favorite part of the day is watching my two girls "play" together; it is so beautiful!

The girls are growing like weeds!

2009-02-25T14:42:00.011-06:00

Olivia is now in size 2T and they fit her in length, but not in the waist. She has to have adjustable waist pants (what did our parents do for us?) put on the tightest setting, or her pants fall down. Where did my baby go? She is growing way too fast but I am loving it, too. She is able to communicate what she wants/needs and is really fun to be around; not that she wasn't before, but she is a little person who can do things.
Claire is changing every day. She is getting more on a schedule and since my last post, has been going down between 8-9 p.m. every night and sleeping until between 4 &6 a.m. and going back down for 2 or 3 more hours. I am loving it. She is up for about three hours and then takes a nap, so she is down for 3 naps a day. It still makes going out difficult, but we have a few times and it is getting easier. I just hate taking her out in this crazy Texas weather. I mean, it is late February and we are already experiencing 80 degree days and having to open our windows. I really want to have a nice Spring.
Well, here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks. I have been trying to upload videos on here but for some reason, they never do. Anyone have any suggestions?
(By the way, Claire has had a couple of blow outs, but today she had the biggest one ever! Photos will show the damage; I didn't even try to salvage the clothes.)

Oh, it was nasty, but we got the onesie off and put her in the bath immediately. She smelled lovely afterwards and stopped being so fussy. Poor baby.

It was every where!

Poor bouncy seat!

She is getting better about letting Jonathon hold her.

She is starting to like her activity mat more. She can stay there for about 15 minutes before getting cranky.

She is starting to sit in her Bumbo seat more and more. She has a really strong neck, believe me, I know, but for some reason, she gets all floppy when she gets in it. We are working on it, though.

Olivia loves to run and hide under her bed. Her favorite thing to do is hide when she hears daddy opening the front door and have him scare her.

Olivia wanted to play doctor, but I was feeding Claire, so Mr. Black, our cat, became her patient. He did really well and tolerated her poking and prodding him.

Shut up! Claire is three months old!

2009-02-11T10:11:00.015-06:00

My oh my, where has the time gone? I can't believe my baby is 3 months old. In honor of her 3rd Month Birthday, here are some facts about our little cutie:

1. She is a big Momma's girl. She doesn't really like anyone else holding her except for me. She is getting better about letting Jonathon hold her.

2. She absolutely adores her big sister, Olivia. Whenever Olivia is around, Claire watches her and interacts with her.

3. She is feisty! If she doesn't like something, she has no problem letting you know.

4. She absolutely hates bath time. She screams and cries the WHOLE.ENTIRE.TIME. Any suggestions on how to make it less traumatic for her?

5. Sleeping at night is completely unpredictable. Sometimes she will go down at 9 or 10 p.m. If she goes down at 9 p.m., she is up at 3:30 a.m. wanting to eat and goes back to sleep until 6:30 a.m.. If she goes down at 10 p.m., she gets up at 5:00 a.m. wanting to eat and goes back down until 8 or 9 a.m. Obviously, I prefer 10:00 p.m., but it's up to her.

6. She is a talker. She loves to coo all the time.

7. She refuses to take a pacifier or a bottle. She hates both of these so much, she makes herself gag if you try to give her one.

8. She moved up from size 1 diapers to size 2 a couple of weeks ago.

9. She is starting to wear 3-6 month clothing.

10. We moved her to her crib in her room two weeks ago. She transitioned really well, but I haven't. I wake up at least once a night, in a fog, looking all around my bed for her. I guess I am dreaming that I am feeding her, but I can't find her. It scares me but then I really wake up and remember she is in her bed. Then, I will go in her room and check on her. Crazy, I know.

We do not go back to the doctor until March 15th for her 4 month appointment. I am pretty sure she is around 12 pounds, but I have been wrong before. If I get a chance, I will take her up to the Lactation Consultants' office at the hospital and get her weighed, but I don't know when I will do this.

Now, to what you all have been waiting for, pictures:

Is it wrong that I took her picture while she was in trouble and bawling? We are still trying to find the right discipline method to use and we recently started making her stand in the corner. I don't know if we will keep this one or not; we will give it a couple of more tries.

Sisterly Love

2009-02-04T16:55:00.007-06:00

Absolutely Precious!

2009-01-19T14:46:00.004-06:00

My Sister-In-Law, Alison, took this picture while she was babysitting for us last Saturday. She received CS4 for Christmas and added the text and other little touches. Isn't Claire absolutely precious?

2 Month Stats:

Weight: 9 Pounds,12 Ounces (I liked the other doctor's scale better)--25th Percentile
Length: 22 Inches (She has grown 4 inches in two months)--25-50th Percentile
Head Circumference: 37.5 Centimeters--10-25th Percentile

Murmur, Shmurmur!

2009-01-14T15:45:00.002-06:00

Today, Jonathon and I took Claire to her Pediatric Heart Specialist and I am happy to report that Claire's heart murmur is gone. The doctor did not hear the murmur and the Ultrasound performed showed it had decreased considerably since she was born. The doctor also said he does not anticipate having to see her again unless our Pediatrician finds something out of the ordinary at her Well Checkups.
While at the doctor's office, they also weighed her and she is currently 10 Pounds 2 Ounces...so yay for gaining weight. So, if you are keeping track, she has gained four pounds (that is an average of 2 pounds a month).
As many of you will remember when Olivia was Claire's age, I fretted and worried about her weight for her entire first year, but I am happy to report I am not worried about Claire's weight. I have learned that as long as both girls are gaining weight, happy and healthy, that is all that really matters (plus, Claire has about three rolls on each of her thighs and they are the cutest things ever). I suppose I will never have my extremely chunky, chubby baby, but I will take happy, healthy babies any day. Don't get me wrong, my babies are absolutely beautiful, but they take after their Daddy when he was a baby, long and skinny, which is fine.
Stay tuned for Claire's 2 Month Well Checkup this Friday for the official stats.

Claire is 2 months!

2009-01-11T19:09:00.016-06:00

Claire is now 2 months...wow! Where has the time gone? I feel like an awful mom because we haven't taken nearly as many pictures of Claire as we did of Olivia, but we are working on it.
This week is very busy for us. Tomorrow morning we have a birthday party for Olivia's good friend, Evan. On Wednesday we take Claire to a Pediatric Heart Specialist. I am not sure if I have elaborated on this or not, but she was born with a heart murmur and we are going to see if she has grown out of it or not, so please keep her in your prayers. On Friday, we go to her Pediatrician for her 2 month checkup.
I have found the papers from the girls' previous appointments and here are the comparisons:

Olivia:

Birth: 7 Pounds 2 Ounces (born at 35 Weeks and 6 Days)
Height: 18 Inches

1 month: 9 Pounds 0.2 Ounces
Height: 20 1/2 Inches
Head Circumference: 35 Centimeters

Claire:

Birth: 6 Pounds 5 Ounces (born at 36 Weeks and 3 Days)
Height: 18 Inches

1 Month: 8 Pounds 3.8 Ounces
Height: 20 3/4 Inches
Head Circumference: 35 1/2 Centimeters

I will keep looking for Olivia's 2 month stats and will update with Claire's on Friday. Jonathon and I think she will outweigh Olivia, as she is getting longer and bigger faster than Olivia did.

For now, enjoy some recent pictures.

Here she is helping me cook. She was a little fussy, so I sat the bouncy seat on the counter and she helped me cook dinner; she loved it.

Here she is really happy. I think she was more surprised about the flash going off.

Photo Shoot with Aunt Alison (although Mommy did dress her). If you know me, you know my girls always have bows in their hair. I love the way they look in them; they are so stinkin' cute!

She has started smiling!

It is really cute!

Olivia loves being an older sister! She showers Claire with kisses every day!

Sorry for the bluriness, but Olivia put on her head phones and started playing on the computer, just like Daddy.

Here she is using the mouse to navigate around on the computer. She is such a smart cookie, and too smart for her own good.

Claire and Momma. She is really turning into a Momma's girl, which is fine with me since Olivia has been a Daddy's girl since the day she was born.

More Pictures from Christmas

2009-01-02T09:21:00.003-06:00

I stole these from my Brother-In-Law, Jeremy, but pictures are pictures.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-26T10:59:00.011-06:00

We had a great Christmas and hope you all did, too. Enjoy the photos. There is a collection here: some are from when I took the girls to the mall to watch puppet shows, playing at Uncle Sean and Aunt Natalie's with Cousin Drew, and Christmas morning.

Claire is 1 month!

2008-12-18T09:17:00.007-06:00

And weighs 8 pounds 3 ounces!

Claire's Weight

2008-12-02T11:37:00.002-06:00

When Claire was born, she weighed 6 pounds 5 ounces. When we left the hospital, she was 6 pounds 2.5 ounces and two days later she was 6 pounds 1.7 ounces. When I took her to the doctor last Monday, she was 6 pounds 6 ounces. Yesterday when I took her to the Lactation Consultant she weighs 7 pounds 0.7 ounces! She gained a whole 10 ounces in 7 days! The Lactation Consultant was thrilled and surprised and I was just ecstatic. Hopefully, Claire will not be like her big sister and have a problem gaining weight (don't we wish we had that problem, ladies?). Although, I have to say, Olivia takes after her daddy, who was always skinny and tall as a kid and didn't break 100 pounds until he was a freshman in high school.
As for me, my appointment went great. I have 5 more pounds to lose until I am at my pre-pregnancy weight, but I want to be at my pre-pregnancy weight with Olivia so I have a couple of more pounds to lose. Right now, I am not trying to lose weight since I have to feed Claire and need all the nutrients and calories I can get right now. My incision looks great and my weight restrictions have been lifted; I just have to use common sense. I go back in 4 weeks and hopefully all of my restrictions will be lifted.
As promised, I will try to upload pictures tonight. Last night, I fell asleep and Jonathon was too busy with work to show me how to download pictures anyway.

Doing much better

2008-12-01T10:54:00.003-06:00

Hi all! I just wanted to let everyone know that I am doing a lot better since my last post.
Claire has started nursing more regularly, which has been a huge help, and I am having to pump less and less, which is also a huge help. I am still not enjoying nursing, but it is getting easier and hopefully, as she gets older, she will get faster. Right now, it takes about 45 minutes to feed her. The first 15 minutes are filled with her latching on, getting off, passing gas, and then repeating. After all the gas is passed, she finally nurses for 15 minutes on each side. However, those first 15 minutes are trying because I want her to eat but she can't because her tummy hurts.
By the way, I want you all to know my mom totally rocks. She came down her for three days last week and totally decluttered and cleaned my house from top to bottom. It took her three whole days, but she got it done, including all of my laundry. So, with all the cleaning and laundry out of the way for a couple of days, I am feeling really good. It took Jonathon 10 minutes to put all of the trash out on trash day and a whole truck load was donated to CCA. Wow! I knew I had a bunch of stuff, but I didn't know I had that much. Anyway, it feels good to start new and fresh.
Last Monday I took Claire in for her two week appointment, although she was only one week old. Her Jaundice is going down and she doesn't look as Mexican/Asian as she did when we first brought her home. She also gained her birth weight back plus an ounce and grew an 1 3/4". Today, I go for my two week checkup and afterwards, I am going to take her up to the Lactation Consultant and get her weight checked. I know she has gained some weight and she is starting to chunk up, especially in her face. Her sweet cheeks are getting even chubbier and sweeter.
Olivia is doing fantastic. She is going to spend all this week at her sitter's house and then each week, I am going to gradually keep her home more and more until she is home full time with me and Claire. Since it is getting cold outside and people are starting to get sick, I think it is best for her to keep going to the sitter's so she can get some social interaction with kids her own age because right now, I am not taking Claire anywhere, unless I absolutely have to.
Olivia loves to pet and talk to "Baby Claire", as we affectionately call her. She also loves being our helper. Whatever we are doing, she has to do it too. Yesterday, I was vacuuming the living room and she went and got her vacuum and did it, too. She is so cute!
I would love to end this post with pictures, but unfortunately, we got a new camera and I have not taken the time to learn how to download the pictures from the camera to the computer. So, when Jonathon gets home tonight, I will have him post new pictures.
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and thank you for all of your encouraging words and prayers; they really have helped.

Honesty

2008-11-23T10:54:00.004-06:00

Well, Claire has been here for a week and it has been a week full of roller coaster emotions for me. Most of you know, I have been having a hard time adjusting to having two kids. While I am so glad that Claire is here, I can't help but think that I am crazy for having another kid. I keep thinking to myself, "What were you thinking? You can't do this; it's too hard." And don't get me wrong, this is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, and I love Claire, but these are just my thoughts.
I think the hardest part of this transition for me is the fact that Claire was three weeks early and we weren't even the slightest bit prepared. We are playing catch up now, but she isn't supposed to be here for another two weeks and we thought we had all of this time. Also, the breastfeeding has been an issue too. Since she was early she has no idea how to suck, breathe and eat at the same time, since that is what they learn the last couple of weeks in the womb. We finally have gotten her to latch on and that is going great, but after I feed her, then I have to feed her a 2 ounce bottle, and then pump. I am supposed to do this until day 14, and while it has gotten easier, I am still exhausted and angry that I have to do it.
Most of you know that I have also started Zoloft for Postpartum Depression, and while it has helped some, it hasn't helped all of the way. I am still having one melt down a day, and it usually hits about late morning/early afternoon. Jonathon has been so wonderful listening to me and just letting me cry on his shoulder. He has been such a rock for me and I am scared about what is going to happen when he goes back to work tomorrow. I have his sister coming over tomorrow and Tuesday to stay with Olivia and I and then my mom gets here Tuesday afternoon and staying until Friday. While I appreciate their help, they are no Jonathon. Going through what I am going through emotionally, makes me appreciate my husband so much. I never knew how much I loved him until the past few days. He is my rock and my protector and I couldn't imagine my life without him.
Olivia has been an awesome big sister so far. She loves to say hi to Claire and point out her body parts. She loves to help out, even if it means just taking something to the trash or when she sees me cry asking if I am ok. She is so sweet. She has been spending a lot of time with her Aunt Alison and talks about her all day every day. They have been going to the aquarium, ice cream shop, the mall, etc. It has been wonderful to have Alison take her off our hands for a few hours, or come over and play with Olivia while Jonathon and I just try to relax.
Our plan for Olivia is to send her to the baby sitter's every day for a while so she can play with her friends and have fun, instead of sitting here in the house with a mom who is crying her eyes out and a baby. As soon as I feel like I can handle a little more, then we will gradually start having her spend more time at home. I think I will still have her go over there one or two days a week so she gets some socialization with kids her own age.
I know I have already asked many of you with two kids or more how you made the transition, but I would still like to hear from others. I appreciate all of the phone calls and conversations I have had with everyone the past couple of weeks; you have no idea how much they have helped me. Please keep sending encouraging words and prayers for me and the family.

Pictures

2008-11-22T13:14:00.008-06:00

She's here, she's here!

2008-11-18T14:51:00.004-06:00

Yes, you read correctly, Claire Evelyn is here. She made her debut three weeks early but she is doing great and we are both home as of this afternoon.
Friday morning I woke up and went to the bathroom. I noticed something a little unusual and decided I would call my doctor about it when his office opened up. I proceeded to get Olivia out of bed and her breakfast ready. After I sat down, I noticed my stomach was feeling "crampy". I thought maybe it was Braxton Hicks contractions, since I had been having those for a couple of weeks, but became more concerned when they started hurting a little more and coming a little sooner. Finally, the time rolled around and I called my doctor's office and left a message. His nurse called me back about an hour later and I was timing my contractions at this point; they were four minutes apart and lasting 15-20 seconds. She told me to come in for a Sonogram and that my doctor wanted to check me. I immediately called Jonathon and told him to get up to my doctor's office and what was going on. Unfortunately, he had carpooled in to work with his boss that day and didn't have a car, so he called his mom, she picked him up and they both came. It ended up being a blessing in disguise that he didn't drive because Jonathon's mom was able to watch Olivia while I was in with my doctor.
I was in the room when Jonathon came. A few minutes later my doctor came in and examined me. He said I was 1/2 centimeter dilated and nothing else. He told me since I was having contractions, he wanted me to go up to Labor and Delivery and hook me up to the monitors to see what was going on. So, the four of us treked up to Labor and Delivery. We had Jonathon's mom take Olivia to lunch and while they were gone, I was still having contractions, but they were coming irregularly. They gave me some Tributerline to see if that would stop the contractions, but it didn't. My doctor came in and checked me again and said that I had closed. At this point he said I was not in labor and sent me home, but with instructions to come back if things changed. Boy did they.
We came home and I was able to take a nap. When I woke up, I felt fine. I was still having contractions, but nothing had changed since before. We went and ran a few errands and came home. By this point, it was after 9 and my contractions were feeling more intense. I had Jonathon time them, and they were coming every 10-13 minutes and lasting 45 seconds. We then tried to go to sleep, but I couldn't. So, I got up and took a warm bath and thought that might help. Nope. I got back in bed and surfed on the Internet while timing my contractions. They were getting 5-7 minutes apart and lasting 45 seconds. Jonathon was getting so mad at me and said he was going to go sleep down stairs if I couldn't keep quiet. At that point, I exploded at him and told him he was an insensitive jerk and then doubled over in pain. He said for me to get ready, he was taking me to the hospital. I called the on call doctor and told him what we were doing. Jonathon called his sister and she came over and stayed with Olivia. And off we went.
We got up to Labor and Delivery and, I hate to say this, I had a bad nurse. She had great bedside manners, but she was not a good nurse. She tried to get the IV into my hand, since they had used a really good vein earlier in the day, and she didn't insert it right so all of the IV Fluids and medicine they gave me through that IV went straight into my forearm and it was swollen. She couldn't get enough blood out of the IV spot so she had to go to my right arm and left a bruise on it. After I was hooked up to all of the monitors, she kept tripping over the cords.
Finally, about 4 a.m. I got my first dose of pain medicine for the contractions. She told me they would make me loopy, and boy did they ever. A few minutes later, I was giggling and I guess the way I was laying, Claire was sitting on my bladder, because I peed everywhere. But, I was so loopy and out of it, nobody believed me (not to divulge too much, but I also had a pad on and it soaked up all the pee). I was able to get some sleep and woke up about 7 a.m.
The contractions were still coming and I asked my new nurse for some more pain medicine. She gave it to me again, and I remember talking to Jonathon, laughing and then I was out. The on call doctor came in about 8:30 a.m., checked me out and said my cervix was completely thinned and that I was dilated to 3-4 centimeters. He told me he was going to call my doctor and see if he would come in and perform the C-Section. So, they started prepping me.
I walked into the OR and they inserted my Spinal/Epidural medicine. When I was laying on the table, that is when they noticed my IV was put in incorrectly. They were pushing all around it and on it and it hurt so bad, it made me cry. So, they inserted a new one into my other hand. Jonathon came in after they did that and saw me crying and started to worry. I told him what had happened and he calmed down.
Finally, my doctor came in and stood over me and grinned. He said, "You just couldn't wait, could you?", and I said, "No, not me, she couldn't wait" and he laughed.
They got under way and before Jonathon and I knew it, they were popping her out of my belly. Jonathon was able to get some great pictures. We have a photo of the three of us, but I didn't know the nurse was taking pictures so my head is turned looking at the baby, but it works.
Claire Evelyn made her debut on Saturday, November 15, 2008 at 10:09 a.m. She weighed 6 pounds 5 ounces and is 18 inches long. She has a full head of crazy monkey black hair. It is so cute, it spikes up everywhere and even looks like a mohawk down the middle.
Well, sorry, but I gotta run and tend to the little one. Jonathon is out running errands and as soon as he has a minute tonight, I will have him post pictures.
Just wanted to let you all know that we are all doing well. If you call and I don't answer my phone, please do not take it personally. At the moment, I really do not feel like talking on the phone and I will call you back here in the next couple of days as we get situated and get a routine established.
Oh, and yes, Olivia loves her little sister and is adjusting very well. She is going to be a great big sister to Claire and she is just awesome. We love her to pieces, as well as Claire.

Picture Post

2008-11-02T20:16:00.032-06:00

Hey all! We are back from our trip, but I am too tired to write a post, so I am posting pictures. Let's face it, that is really why you all come here, right? :)

Where has the time gone?

2008-10-12T20:25:00.013-05:00

I realize it has been a while since my last post and even longer for a post with pictures; I apologize and hope you all can forgive me.

I still can't believe it is October, and the middle of October at that. We have done so much since my last post. Let's see, what all has happened. I have had my Pink Eye flair up three more times since the end of September. I am thinking I may have an allergy to the type of mascara I am using, so I haven't been using it. This is seems to be working, so I need to try another brand soon to rule out it out.

What else? Oh, Jonathon's birthday was last Tuesday. He had the opportunity to watch the Mavericks pre-season game on the floor, but passed it up to spend his birthday at home. Isn't he sweet? He left work early that day and picked Olivia up from Mrs. Mary's house, came home, and they baked his cake together. I know, I know, I am a horrible wife and had my husband bake his own cake. I feel terrible about it but the previous night, I was not feeling well and went to bed super early and didn't have time. Plus, he really enjoyed making it with Olivia and she had a blast, too.

We have already been to the pumpkin patch this year. Olivia loves pumpkins and calls them, "punkins" and even knows they are orange in color, and will tell you after she points out the pumpkins. She had a blast at the patch but did not want to leave the pumpkin bounce house. She could have spent all day there, and probably would have, if it hadn't been 91 degrees outside. Jonathon and I were extremely hot and ready to go after an hour and a half. The best part about this pumpkin patch is everything is completely free, except for drinks and food. They have great back drops for photo opportunities, but it helps when your child likes to stand still and you don't have an ancient digital camera, evidence is at the end of the post.

This past weekend was Drew's 2nd birthday party. Drew is Jonathon's cousin and Olivia's second cousin. Olivia is 11 weeks older than Drew and Claire will be 8 weeks older than Drew's little brother. Drew had a Halloween Costume Party and the kids had a blast. Olivia was originally supposed to go as a monkey but absolutely refused, I mean refused, to wear the costume. She freaked out when we even pulled the costume out, so we had to go another route. I figured we had to get a costume that was as close to normal clothing as possible. When I went looking for another costume, I went with the intention to find a cheerleader costume because I thought she would like the pom-poms, but fortunately, I came across a Dorothy, from the Wizard of Oz movie, costume and decided to go with it. It came with the dress and bows for her hair, and I had to buy a basket and the red shoes. I stumbled across the shoes at Target and they are great! They had a basket at the costume shop for $15 but I went to Joann's, bought the basket and the red gingham print fabric to go inside of it for $2.69...much better deal. She wasn't thrilled at first with putting the costume on, but once I did her hair, put her shoes on, and gave her the basket to carry, she was a happy camper. She is absolutely adorable and received lots of compliments.

I took 31 1/2 week pictures earlier this evening, but I hated the way I looked in them, so I will be doing retakes tomorrow night and posting. For the most part, the pregnancy is going great. I am still battling heart burn so I can't wait for that to go away. My iron is a little low so I have to take an iron supplement every other day, but I take it when I remember. I am still not sleeping well at night. The first few hours are great, bu then I wake up hot, toss and turn, and do this until it is time to get up. I have tried Tylenol PM but that doesn't help either. I guess this is my body's way of preparing for no sleep with Claire arrives. Which, is in 7 1/2 weeks...this pregnancy is going by wicked fast; I can't believe it.

We are in the process of transitioning Olivia from her crib to a big girl bed. I have ordered her bedding and it should be here any day. As soon as it is here, we will get her room painted, furniture in it, and have her moved in by the beginning of November. She is ready to move, but I think I am holding off as long as possible because it means my baby isn't a baby any more; she is a big girl.

We are taking our last trip as a family of 3 at the end of October. We are driving up to Indiana for a week and a half. Don't worry, I have already gotten the ok from doctor to go. We are breaking up the trip up so I won't be too uncomfortable and Jonathon won't be too worn out. We are going to Jonesboro first to see Silas, Lauren and Ty for a day. Then, we are heading to Illinois to see Jonathon's great grandma for a day. Then, we are off to Anderson for a full week. We are planning on seeing a lot of family, relaxing, taking it easy, and Jonathon wants to cook while we are there, too. On the way back, we are stopping in Searcy to visit Jonathon's aunt and then coming home.

So, we have already done a lot and we have so much more planned. I hope I can keep up and we are able to do everything we have planned. For some of you, I will be seeing you real soon, 12 days I believe. Below are the pictures I promised and be on the look out later this week for 32 week shots; I hope I like them enough to post :)

I can't believe it.

2008-09-29T09:12:00.002-05:00

I woke up this morning with double pink eye; can you believe that? Isn't pink eye something you get when you are a kid? I have no idea how I even got pink eye.

Yesterday, I was going to take 29 week photos, but since the pink eye started in my left eye yesterday, I didn't want to take pictures with an ugly eye. So, I will take pictures once my eyes start looking better. I am going to the doctor later today so I am hoping they can give me some antibiotics that start working immediately.

Now that I have reached the beginning of the third trimester, I start going to my doctor every two weeks. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going. When I was pregnant with Olivia, I only made it to one of the every two week appointments before I was put on hospital bed rest. The last appointment I had at the doctor's office with Olivia was not pleasant. It was an Ultrasound to check on the position of my Placenta and while they were checking, Olivia's head was in the way and they could not get her to move. By the end of the appointment, I had one Tech pushing up on my belly and another Tech performing the Ultrasound, and not on my belly if you know what I mean (I sure hope you do because I don't want to explain it). I am just excited to make it to this point and continue to pray for a complication-free pregnancy. I can't believe Claire will be here in just 9 short weeks. AAAAHHH!

So, check back later this week for updated photos. Hopefully my eyes will start looking better soon so I can take them.

We have a name!

2008-09-09T20:12:00.003-05:00

Yes, you read right. After much discussion, Jonathon and I have finally decided on a name for our baby girl. Drum roll please..........................
Claire Evelyn will make her debut December 4th, 2008.
We both really like the name Claire but every middle name we came up with sounded better as the first name and Claire as the middle. Evelyn is the name of Olivia and Claire's great-great grandmother on Jonathon's side and we wanted to honor her. She is an incredible lady. She lives in Illinois, is 96 and still drives herself to where she needs to go. She lives by herself and keeps up with her daily chores and still writes us handwritten letters for our birthdays. She really truly is an awesome lady and we couldn't think of a better way to honor her than naming our little girl after her.
So, there you have it. We are very excited to meet Little Claire (as a nickname, we will probably call her Claire Bear--how original, huh?)and can't wait to welcome her to our family.

25 Weeks and counting

2008-09-01T21:28:00.008-05:00

I know, I know, I promised 24 week belly shots last week, but I forgot to take them...my bad. Anyway, I have taken 25 week shots, but now I am 26 weeks pregnant (I started this post Sunday and finished today) so this should give you a good idea of how huge I am. My doctor says everything looks great, but I feel like a beached whale, and I still have three months to go.

I hope all of you had a great Labor Day Weekend. We didn't do too much around here. Saturday, we ran a bunch of errands and had some friends over. The boys took the kids to the local fish store while us pregnant ladies went and got pedicures. It was so much fun to go with a friend and talk and laugh (we both giggled when they started scrubbing our feet). This is only my third pedicure, but I totally love them and plan on going more often, especially as I get bigger and can't bend over to paint my own toe nails. Plus, I want to have pretty toes on the operating table come December 4th.

Sunday, we just hung around the house since Jonathon and Olivia both had runny noses and light congestion. After being cooped up in the house for what seemed like an eternity, we went to the mall and browsed. Since it was getting close to Olivia's bed time, we decided to take her to the play land and wear herself out. We came home, had dinner, gave her a bath and she went to bed and was out like a light. Ever since we got rid of the pacifier, she has been staying up in her bed for up to two hours after we put her down. During the two hour span, she is playing and talking and eventually falls asleep.

Today, both of them still had runny noses and congestion, although Jonathon added a head ache and sore throat, so we stayed home until dinner. Today at Chic-Fil-A if you wore any NFL team shirt, you got a 3-piece chicken strip box for free. So, all three of us piled on the Colts shirts and headed up there. When we first arrived, nobody else was wearing anything NFL related and I was nervous that I had heard the ad wrong, but when we got up to the counter and saw the ad, I knew we were all good. Eventually, others showed up sporting shirts, jerseys and hats, but most of them wore Cowboys stuff. I did see a guy wearing a Bears jersey, though.

Now, both Jonathon and Olivia are on Allergy and Cold medicine, so I am hoping it helps. I just hope I don't get it.

Let's see, anything else happen...oh, Olivia had her 2 year checkup on Friday. She weighs 23 pounds 9 ounces, and has moved from the 5th to 10th percentile for her weight :) She is 34 3/4" tall, which puts her in the 75th percentile for height. Does anybody else see a career in modeling or is it just me? :) The doctor said everything looks and sounds great and Olivia is right on track.

Recently, Olivia has shown signs of toilet training so we went out Friday night and bought her a potty. It is so cute and girly; I will have to take a picture of it and post. It is hot pink, lime green and white and she picked it out, with my help of course. We also bought our first pack of Pull Ups and big girl panties, too. I bought a book about potty training this evening and bought her a book to read about the potty while she is only on the potty. So far she understands the process, except for using the potty.

If you look on the sidebar, you will notice I have taken down the baby's name ticker. I did this because Jonathon and I (more me than Jonathon, he is trying to keep his hormonal wife happy) have decided we are going to rename baby girl. I was blog stalking earlier this week and came across three or four blogs and they all had little girls named Emma. Then, when we were at the play ground last week, there was a little girl named Emma there and I thought to myself, "When she gets in school I don't want her to have to be called Emma S.", so we are changing her name. I have voted for Claire McKenzie and Jonathon likes Abigail Grace. So what do you think? You will not hurt my feelings if you like Jonathon's name better than mine. I like both names, but of course, I like mine better than his :)

So, please leave comments about the names. We both really like Emma Claire, but you remember when we were all in school how many Sarah's, Melissa's, and Jennifer's there were and we had to call them Sarah P. or Melissa D. or Jennifer T. I just couldn't do that to my daughter. I mean, when she goes to school, she could very well have another classmate with her name, but the odds of that happening are smaller with another name than Emma.

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

I'm an Aunt!

2008-08-22T10:21:00.002-05:00

No, Leigh did not have a baby...she is way too young.

I guess I should say I am a psuedo-Aunt. My friend, Robin, who's link to her blog is listed under my friends, had her baby boy around 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time today! She ended up having to have a C-Section because the baby was breached. He weighed in at a whopping 8 pounds 9.5 ounces, the biggest one so far. She said he has his own nose, but he definitely has Gavin's lips :)

She was really tired when we were talking on the phone so we didn't talk for too long. I don't want to reveal his name because I know some people who read my blog also read hers and I want her to share that, but I will say, it is a cute name. I will also let her share the birth story, but know it was an unplanned C-Section, as most are, right?

Congratulations James and Robin; I can't wait to meet Baby Boy this October :)

Emma Update

2008-08-22T08:30:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I had my 24-week appointment with an Ultrasound. If you remember, four weeks ago, when we found out the sex of the baby, she was like a little Mexican Jumping Bean and they were not able to get a good look at her face, so this was a continuation of that Ultrasound. I am happy to report, so far so good. She was very cooperative this appointment, I think she was sleeping, and the Tech was able to look at everything without much prodding. Her heartbeat is 160, which it has been around that number the whole pregnancy, and she weighs 1 pound 11 ounces. I'm not sure if she is bigger than she is supposed to be, but I do know she has gained a whole pound in 4 weeks :) We were able to get a couple of 3-D images, but due to lack of a scanner, I cannot get show them to you. It was funny to look at her because she was laying with one leg up by her face the whole entire time; I think we have a future gymnast on our hands. While talking to my doctor, I mentioned that I have been having a lot of heartburn (the other day I took 6 Tums throughout the day to try and relieve the pain) and he told me to start taking Pepcid AC and if I didn't see an improvement, we would have to go another way. So, I am hoping the Pepcid works because heartburn sucks :(

I don't know how many of you watch the TV Show, "Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood" but I watch it every week. Anyway, a couple of episodes ago, Tori gave birth to their baby girl via C-Section. As a gift, her husband, Dean, gave her a Designer Hospital Gown and I have wanted one since I saw that episode. I immediately found the company that Dean used, and others too, and showed it to Jonathon. We talked, and he said I could get a couple for when I am in the hospital recovering from my C-Section on December 4th. So, anyway, I asked my doctor yesterday if he thought that would be ok, and he asked me if I watched Tori and Dean's show and I said, "Yes", and then asked him, "Do you?" and he said, "Oh yeah!" Jonathon and I started laughing because when he said he closed his eyes and had this look on his face like, "of course, doesn't everybody". My doctor said when he schedules my C-Section he will ask the Charge Nurse if it would be ok, but he didn't see a problem with it. Then he said he was going to go home and tell his wife :).

After my appointment, Jonathon and I got lunch together and enjoyed spending some alone time before he had to go to work. My Sister-In-Law, Alison, was very kind and volunteered to take Olivia to the Fort Worth Zoo yesterday so I could have a day to myself. I was giddy, but didn't know what to do. My appointment was at 9:45 and by the time we finished, got lunch and came back home, it was 11:30. So, after Jonathon left, I watched a couple of shows I had recorded, and then went and ran some errands. I went to the bank, Kohls-to get Jonathon some new jeans, and then went to get a manicure. When I walked in the door, they asked me what I would like and told them and then the lady took one look at my toe nails and said, "Do you want a pedicure too?" I said, "Oh, why not." It was great. This was only my second pedicure ever and like fourth manicure and it was great. I got a pedicure that was specifically for tired, achy, swollen feet and it was great. They put a peppermint scrub on my lower legs and it felt so good. The peppermint felt incredible. It felt like I had a constant cooling sensation on my lower legs the rest of the afternoon.

Last night, Alison watched Olivia for Jonathon and I so we could have a date night. We went to the local movie theater to watch Cirque Du Soleil show Delirium on the big screen. While it wasn't my favorite Cirque show, it was good. This particular show featured a lot more singing and less acrobats than I like. Afterwards, we went and got dinner and were home before 10.

Jonathon and I have a busy weekend planned: tonight he is working on both cars, changing the Transmission fluid in the Expedition and changing the oil in both cars. Tomorrow, I am going to attend a breastfeeding class in the morning and then go and do my Fantasy Football Draft tomorrow afternoon for my pool at work. Then, we are having some friends over for dinner, which will be great. Tamra is pregnant too and due mid-September so it will be great to talk about pregnancy related stuff :) Sunday, we have church and then another Fantasy Football Draft in the early afternoon. I am on a mission to find a football shaped cupcake pan this afternoon. We will also be taking 24-week belly shots, so be on the look out for those sometime this weekend.

Pictures of Olivia's 2nd Birthday Party!

2008-08-18T21:15:00.014-05:00

Here are the pictures I promised. Sorry I am late in posting them, but I finally got all of the photos from both of our photographers and of course, one of them has a really awesome camera and the files are too large for Blogger to post, so I had to "settle".
The party was awesome! It lasted for a little over an hour and a half and everyone had a blast. We had it at the local pool and it is an awesome pool because it is geared toward the toddler crowd, which was awesome because that was our whole guest list, practically :) As each guest arrived, I handed them a party favor, which was a bucket with their name on it, filled with toys that they could play with at the pool. Each child got the same toys in their bucket so there would be no fighting.
After about an hour of playing, we sang, "Happy Birthday" to Olivia and everyone got a cupcake. The weather on this particular day was scorching, 107 degrees to be exact, and the cake started melting immediately after I pulled it out of the pool's refrigerator. Needless to say, each kid was covered in colored frosting, but they loved it.
We decided to open the gifts at home and record on our video camera. Once Jonathon has a minute to look at our video camera software, I will try to post the video, but no promises. I can tell you that all the gifts that had tissue paper were her favorite. She took every single sheet of tissue paper and spread it out across our living room floor like they were blankets. It was really cute to watch her do this, but frustrating too, since it took longer to open presents and clean up.
I would have posted pictures with her friends, but I did not have their parents permission at the time I posted this and I didn't want anyone to feel I violated their privacy.
So enjoy!
(Apparently, Blogger didn't place the pictures where I thought they would go, so for the slide pictures, start at the bottom and work your way up...sorry about that)

What do you think about our name?

2008-08-08T15:35:00.003-05:00

I was just reading Yahoo! news and saw that Senator John Edwards is admitting to an extramarital affair. That really has nothing to do with this blog, but in the article it mentioned the names of his children. Guess what the name of one of his daughters is? BINGO!! Emma Claire. What do we do? Do we go forward with naming our daughter Emma Claire even though there is another one out there or do we try to find another name? I really like our name, and I know Emma is a common name, which was one of my fears when we came up with the name, but now I don't know. A big part of me wants to name her something else because I want her to have an original name, but I really do like our name.
What do you think we should do? I need some input.

Wall-E

2008-07-29T20:15:00.002-05:00

Jonathon and I were feeling brave and adventurous Sunday afternoon and took Olivia to the movie theater for the first time. We took her to see Wall-E and she loved it. She behaved better than I expected, but we left with about 10 minutes to go because she had enough. Actually, if there weren't two people sitting in front of us, we would have stayed and let her stomp on the floor and walk, but it didn't work out. I think her favorite part was eating the popcorn, which was also a first, and drinking Mommy and Daddy's "juice", which is Coke (don't worry, she only had a couple of sips and only after she drank all of her milk). Jonathon and I love how she says Wall-E...it is the cutest thing I think I have ever heard (well, except for when she says Momma and Daddy, nothing beats those two words).

We are all doing well. Jonathon is no longer working 24/7, literally he has worked every day (including Saturdays and Sundays) for the past month. This is the first weekend since the 4th of July that he will be home the whole weekend. I am so excited because that means my yard will get mowed. Now, don't get me wrong, it is flippin' hot here in Texas and my grass is pretty much dead, but somehow the weeds are green and growing like crazy, despite the lack of rain.

This weekend is Olivia's Pool Party. I have everything except for the cake, a slight oversight on my part. No, actually, as long as I give my local bakery 48 hours notice, they can have it ready in time, which means I have to place the order by Thursday.

The pregnancy is going great still. Emma is a kicker. She especially loves to start when I am starting to wind down for the evening and trying to relax. The kicks have been getting harder and harder and sometimes she will kick me hard and it takes me by surprise and makes me jump. I have been experiencing Round Ligament Pains in my belly. Here is what I found from emedicinehealth.com:

Round ligament pain refers to a type of pelvic pain caused by stretching of the round ligaments. This occurs more commonly on the right side of the pelvis.

* Your uterus is normally the size of a pear. Thick ligaments, one of which is called the round ligament, hold your uterus in suspension within your abdomen. As the uterus grows in size and weight, these ligaments become very long and thin, stressing and tensing like rubber bands.

* The ligaments pull and tug on nearby nerve fibers and sensitive structures, causing pain. The severity of pain can worry you. Although round ligament pain is uncomfortable, it is also very normal.

o A ligament spasm, an involuntary contraction or cramp, usually triggers a sharp pain. These spasms are found more frequently on the right side than the left because of the normal tendency of the uterus to turn to the right.

o You might awaken at night with pain after having suddenly rolled over in your sleep.

o The pain may also be brought on by exercise.

Fortunately, this doesn't happen frequently, but at least 2-3 times a week. Sometimes, especially when it catches me off guard, it takes my breath away. I had one at work yesterday and the guys in my office started freaking out and thought I was going into labor. I work with some great guys, but trust me, if I go into labor at work, they are the last 3 guys in Dallas I would want to help me out. Like I said, they are great, but if it were to happen, they would be like the 3 Stooges and I don't want to take that chance (don't worry, I have already told them this so it isn't like I am saying stuff behind their backs, and they agree).

Check for a post this weekend with pictures from Olivia's pool party; it will be a blast and wish all of you out-of-towners could be here :(

Happy 2nd Birthday, Olivia!

2008-07-24T13:59:00.006-05:00

Can you believe it? Our baby is 2 years old today! Where has the time gone? It is just flying by way too quickly.
As for the actual day, which is today, we aren't planning on doing too much. We just got back from gymnastics, she can do a forward roll all by herself, and the pool, she loves to go down the water slide. Now, she is taking a much needed nap. Tonight, we will probably just keep it low key and take her out for ice cream. Next Saturday, August 2nd, we are having her birthday party with friends and family. We rented a Partybrella at the local pool and will have finger foods, cake, present opening and of course, lots of swimming.

It's a ...

2008-07-21T20:06:00.004-05:00

Today, as most of you know, I had my 20-week Ultrasound and Checkup. The Ultrasound took a little longer than expected, due to baby being very active and not cooperating for pictures. However, everything looks great and I do not have Placenta Previa! Whoo-hoo! This was my major concern; this is what I had with Olivia and caused me to deliver early. Everything looked and sounded great, although at my next appointment I have to go in for another Ultrasound and try to look at baby's face. The Technician was able to look at baby's lips, but nothing else. They want to be able to say they looked at everything and time was slipping away so we opted to look at the face next time. I am telling you, this baby was like a Mexican Jumping Bean...it was everywhere!

I have finally started to feel baby move and kick, and Jonathon has too. Olivia was a mover and shaker during the day where as this baby is a night owl. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. I need a good sleeper!

Well, I wish I could post pictures from our Ultrasound, but we do not have a scanner. So, if you would like to find out the sex of the baby just scroll down and look at our homemade pictures.

Emma Claire Simmons should make her debut on December 4, 2008. Currently she weighs 12 ounces and her heart beat is 160 Beats Per Minute. Like I said earlier, the Technician said everything looks awesome, and that is what is most important to us. My doctor said that since everything looks great, I should have a pretty smooth pregnancy.

I have finally started gaining weight, but I will not mention numbers. My blood pressure is really good, actually, a little low in my opinion. I am experiencing a lot of heart burn lately and the Tums are sitting on my night table next to the bed, since it seems to hit me right before going to sleep. Other than the heart burn, I am doing really well and enjoying this pregnancy. I have to say my favorite thing so far about being pregnant is watching Olivia rub my belly, say, "baby", and then kiss my belly. I also get tickled when she goes up to Jonathon's belly, rubs it and says, "baby"...too cute. She even rubs her own belly and says, "baby". We tell her that only Mommy has a baby in her belly, but I don't think she quite grasps that concept yet.

So, we just ask that you all pray for this pregnancy to be smooth sailing and complication-free. We also ask that you pray for Emma to be strong and healthy on delivery day and pray for Olivia to handle the transition from Only Child to Big Sister smoothly.

We are very excited to add Emma Claire to our family and can't wait to meet her!

Photos galore from this weekend

2008-07-08T20:00:00.019-05:00

We hope you all had a good 4th of July weekend; we did. For my birthday present, Jonathon painted my master bedroom and bathroom all weekend, and as soon as we have everything back in order, I will take pictures. We went to a parade on Friday and Jonathon was in charge of pictures since I sat on the curb with Olivia. He managed to get a picture of everything else but Olivia. She did wonderfully. The kids threw out all kinds of candy and she loved picking them up. She was very friendly and gave a sucker to a little boy who was sitting in his stroller sucking on his sucker. He was so pleased with Olivia's gesture, he gave her his half-eaten sucker as a token of his gratitude, and she accepted it graciously; too cute! Of course, we immediately took it out of her hands and gave it back to the little boy, but we all got a little chuckle. We went and watched fireworks and I was a little worried about how she would react to them, but she loved them. After every one would explode, she would wave her arm and say bye to each one.
I had plans to take Olivia swimming over the weekend to get her out of the house while Jonathon was painting and to do something fun outside, because everyone knows, it is too hot to play outside in Texas if you are not playing in water, but she got Swimmer's Ear Tuesday night so we couldn't go. I was bummed, but relieved at the same time.
We pretty much just hung around the house the rest of the weekend and it was nice.
I found out today that my doctor had to reschedule my 20 week checkup and Sonogram since he will be out of town the day I scheduled mine. So, instead of finding out the sex of the baby on the 24th, it is now the 21st...no complaints here.
The pictures are from Thursday night's gym class. She has such a blast and enjoys every second she is there. She is really starting to break out of her shell and growing up, sniff...sniff. Beforehand, she had a shake from Sonic. Boy, does that girl love her Sonic milkshakes; she loves anything sweet, chocolate or ice cream related. I also threw in a picture of her playing with her American flag scarf before the fireworks.

16 Week Belly Shots

2008-06-26T20:36:00.006-05:00

So, today we are officially 16 weeks pregnant. We were really horrible with Olivia and only took a few belly photos, but I was supposed to have maternity photos professionally taken at 36 weeks, but as most of you know, I never made it. So, we decided with this pregnancy, we are going to do the belly shots. Even though we do not have that many belly shots with Olivia, she does have a lot of Ultrasound Photos, so that should make up for the lack of photos, right?

And, without further ado, here are the belly shots:

On a side note, Olivia and I attended a free gymnastics class at The Little Gym today and she had such a blast, I signed her up. Jonathon is going to go with us every Thursday morning, so he can be the one to help assist her and I can take the photos. Today, he was unable to do so because he was extremely busy at work, but he will be there next week. As many of you know, Olivia is rather shy and takes a while to warm up to people and to activities, but today, she was the ring leader. When the instructor would show us a move she wanted us to help the kids with, she used Olivia as her example and she loved it. The great thing about The Little Gym is that even though we are signed up for the 10 a.m. Thursday Beast Class, we can really go any time, and all of the scheduled Beast classes work within my work schedule...awesome! So, next Thursday Jonathon will be with us and I will be able to take some pictures, so look for those next week.

PS--I know my belly is really white compared to the rest of my body and after seeing these photos, I will be correcting that soon :)

I know you've missed me!

2008-06-22T21:11:00.011-05:00

I know, I know, it has been a while since my last post; I apologize and hopefully it will not happen again, but no guarantees.
Let's see, what has been going on. Jonathon has been working a ton, and by a ton, I mean going in early, staying late, working from home at night and on the weekends. I can't wait for the company to move and be finished. He has been such a Rock Star while working for his new company and he loves it, so I guess that is pretty cool in and of itself.
Olivia and I have been enjoying the warm weather lately. A couple of weeks ago we bought her a $5 pool and she loves it. We have also had the opportunity to go to a couple of our friends' houses who have pools, and she loves swimming. She doesn't quite understand she isn't big enough to swim by herself, but she still has a great time.
I have started planning her second birthday party, can you believe she will be two in just a month, and we are having the party at the local pool. I decided that our house isn't big enough to host all of our family and friends inside, and I do not want to deal with several two year olds fighting over toys (did that recently and Olivia didn't handle it very well), and figured there is nothing better to do on a hot summer day than go to the pool and have cake, too. So, we have already booked the Partybrella now I have to make the invitations, order the cake, get some finger foods and drinks, and make the party favors. So much to do, so little time.
What else? Oh, Jonathon and I have agreed on a girls name, finally. We find out at the end of July what we are having, and we are so excited. I have heard we are having both sexes, and usually I can figure out what other people are having, but I cannot figure this one out. I have a feeling, but I am not going to say it out loud, for the fear that I have terrible mother's instinct, but we will be happy with either a boy or girl; we just want a happy and healthy baby.
Everything is going much better on the pregnancy front. I am finally starting to feel good. For those of you who do not know, I have been struggling with staying healthy so far with this pregnancy. When I first found out I was pregnant, I had Strep Throat, then I hit my knee in Florida and a condition called Erythema Nodosum flared up (I hit a balloon pocket in my knee just right and because I had Strep Throat, those two factors caused this thing to flare up...I still have a small case of it left, but it is much better. My knee and lower left leg had these huge, goose egg, painful bruises all over them and it took weeks for them to go away and it was swollen, red, and heat radiated from them. Fun? I think not.) Then, at the beginning of June, a Cold hit our house. I got it first, then Jonathon and then Olivia. Of course I was the first to get hit and the last to get better. Since I am pregnant, I am too scared to take anything, so I just suffered through. I did go to the doctor though because my throat hurt so bad I thought I had Strep Throat again, but alas, I failed the test. She said my throat was just irritated and raw from the sinus drainage. So, now that I am over my Cold, I feel fabulous. I have started eating a lot more, which is good because since I found out I was pregnant, I have lost about 15 pounds.
What else? Oh, this Thursday, Olivia and I are going to a free trial gymnastics class at The Little Gym. Lately, she has been putting her head on the floor and it looks like she is going to do a somersault, but she doesn't kick her feet off the ground. She has also been hopping around the house like she is a frog so we thought it was time to get her into a gymnastics class. I hope she really likes it. We think she will after a couple of sessions, so we will see.
I have a doctor's appointment this Thursday. It is just a routine checkup. At the last appointment, we were able to hear the heart beat through the Ultrasound machine, so I hope he puts the doppler on my belly and we are able to hear it. I wasn't able to see my doctor at my last appointment because he had to fly out to Denver the morning of my appointment to run in a marathon.
Jonathon took some pictures of his garden earlier this afternoon and while downloading the pictures, we found some we had forgotten about. They are from our trip to the Dallas Zoo and swimming.

Names, names, names

2008-06-05T15:34:00.003-05:00

So, now that we are thirteen weeks pregnant, and seven weeks away from finding out the sex of the baby, we are really starting to think about baby names. We have already agreed on a boy name, which if the baby is a boy, I will reveal, but we cannot, I mean CANNOT agree on a girl name. Jonathon hates every name I come up with and I hate every name he comes up with. I really appreciate him thinking about names and helping out, but I wish he would come up with one we both love, and vice versa.
With this said, I am challenging you, blogger friends, to help us come up with a girl name. Some guidelines:

1. We do not like trendy names
2. But, we do not like too traditional names
3. We would like to keep the spelling normal, nothing too funky
4. We appreciate any and all suggestions, but please do not be hurt if we do not choose your name

So, bring on the names, friends. I am very excited to see what you all come up with :)

PS--I got a call from my nurse and she said everything came back normal from the Down Syndrome testing...yay!

12 Week Checkup

2008-05-30T15:28:00.002-05:00

Ok, so the ticker at the top of my page says we are 13 weeks pregnant, that is incorrect. I have it set to my Delivery Date, not my Due Date (Delivery Date, 12/04...Due Date 12/10). I really think their tickers are the cutest and that is why I chose it. Sorry for the confusion, but I wanted to set the record straight.
I really wish that we had a Scanner so I could scan in my pictures from my second Ultrasound, but we don't. However, it went great. The baby actually looks like a baby. It is amazing how much the baby has changed in four weeks. When we first saw it, it looked like a big ball of mush and now it looks like a baby! The baby behaved very well for the Technician and she was able to get some good neck measurements within the first five minutes. After that, the baby woke up and was kicking and dancing all over the place. It was so weird to be able to see the baby kick and move but not be able to feel it. I think the baby is going to be shy like it's big sister; he/she kept putting their hands over their eyes and playing peek-a-boo with us...too cute! We also heard the heart beat...162 beats per minute (same as last time).
As for me, well, I have lost 10 pounds since I found out, which is normal. If I remember right, I lost about that much with Olivia and didn't really start gaining until around 16-20 weeks. Even though I have lost some weight, I am starting to show. I have a soft, squishy little pouch and I am in the in-between stage right now with clothes. My clothes are getting too tight but maternity clothes are still too big.
I am having trouble staying asleep at night. Going to sleep is no problem, but after about 4 or 5 hours, I am up, tossing and turning the rest of the night and feel pretty crummy the next morning and day. When I stay home with Olivia and on the weekends, I am able to take naps, which help, but I would just rather sleep through the night.
I don't really have any food aversions, but I can't eat as much as I used to. I have noticed though that I am always hungry every couple of hours and I eat until I am full, so I guess the baby is taking everything.
Olivia is doing great. She is going to make a fabulous big sister. She really loves to play with her babies and feed them their bottles and love on them.
She also really enjoys books. Her favorite right now is: "What Color is Your Underwear?" and loves to say the color purple. There is a page in the book that says: "What color is your underwear, Tommy Turtle?...Purple, purple, purple, purple." Every time you ask her to say purple, she says it four times, just like in the book...so cute! She is talking more, but really only says what I ask her to repeat; which I guess is a step in the right direction.
We are working on colors right now. She really likes to read about them, but if I point to something and ask her what color it is, she looks at me with a blank expression on her face until I tell her what it is and she repeats it. We have also been working on counting to five. We have been working on saying the number and showing the number with our fingers. Three seems to be the hardest one to say and show, which it really is. And, when I say five, she wants to give me a five instead of show me five.
She now says Mommy and Daddy, although I really prefer Mama. But, whenever she wants something, no matter who is around, they are mama. She can also say: "I love you; where are you; thank you; all gone--this also means all done; stop; shhh (she even puts her finger to her mouth when she says it); apple (although, she says app and then spits -le); baby; woof-woof; cat; meow; red; blue; yellow; one; hot; milk (says it and signs it)...and lots of other words, I just can't think of all of them right now.
She still takes two naps a day, and for a while, I was trying to cut out the morning nap, but since I have been so tired lately, it has really come in handy. She also sleeps about 10-11 hours at night, too. She has always been a good sleeper and I hope the next one is, too.
Let's see, what else is going on. Oh, tomorrow is mine and Jonathon's 5-year wedding anniversary. I have to work in the morning, boo, but afterwards, we are heading up to Whitesboro for a party at a ranch. Jonathon's boss and his family are hosting a family-style ranch party tomorrow afternoon and we are going to have a blast. They are going to have bounce houses, sprinklers and hay rides for the kiddos, and fishing and skeet shooting for the guys. Jonathon is so excited! He hasn't fished or shot skeets in a long time. At night, they are going to start a huge bonfire and cook hamburgers, hot dogs and smores :)
Oh, and my Grandpa is officially home as of Monday. I don't really know too much else, but it is great that he is home and able to walk with a cane instead of a walker. Thank you for all of your prayers.

Update on Grandpa!

2008-05-22T15:19:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the delay in posting, but better late than never, right?
Anyway, my Grandpa was released from the hospital on Monday and they took him to a Rehabilitation Center not too far from my grandparent's house. The doctor told him he will be there for one week, visit his doctor, and could be release to go back home.
While in the hospital, tests revealed he has extra fluid on his spine and brain. They were able to relieve some of the fluid on his spine and he is doing so much better. He is able to walk around and has color back in his face (my dad said he was pretty pale). They also believe he is a good candidate to have a shunt placed in his brain to drain the excess fluid off of his brain. They do not know when and if they will be able to do the surgery, so once I know, you will know.
But, for now, he is doing and feeling so much better, which is great news. My grandma emailed me earlier today and said the Rehabilitation Center let her take him out to lunch and get his hair cut today. He was pretty tired after that, so she took him back, but that is such great improvement from last week.
So, I would like to say thank you to all of you for your prayers, thoughts and encouraging words; my family and I really appreciate it.
Last Thursday, my friend, Robin, came down for a four day girls weekend, and we had a blast. Thursday was our Spa Day. We went to the ZaSpa at the Hotel ZaZa in Uptown Dallas, and were spoiled. I have never been pampered or doted upon, and it was wonderful. I told Jonathon before this second baby is born, I would like to do it again. We started off with massages and facials. I have never had a massage before, but I am totally hooked now. The facial was wonderful and my skin felt so soft and rejuvenated. Then, we had lunch provided from the Dragonfly Restaurant. We shared Crab Cakes, Turkey Club Sandwich, a Fresh Fruit Plate, and French Fries. In my opinion, the fries were the best part. Even cold, they were more delicious than McDonald's fries hot. Then, we were off for our Manicures and Pedicures. The Zero Gravity chair was so awesome and I totally felt like a feather. I am sure when I am further along, and a lot bigger, it will feel even more incredible. It is supposed to make you feel like you aren't carrying a bunch of weight in your tummy.
Friday, our friend, Kristen, "The Unsinkable", came over and we ate lunch at Fogo De Chao. Fogo De Chao is a Brazilian Churrascaria. They have an amazing salad bar and then when you are ready for them to serve you meat, you flip over your card from red to green, and Gauchos will bombard you with about 10-15 different types of meats, chicken and pork. When you want to take a break, flip your card to red and they will stop. We absolutely stuffed ourselves, but of course, we had room for dessert. They have amazing desserts; we each got something different. Once we were finished with our meal, we dropped Kristen off and Robin and I went to Waco to visit her in-laws. We had such a great trip there and back.
Saturday, we did the girl thing, and went to the local mall and shopped, and shopped, and shopped some more. We both ended up getting tons of new maternity clothes and had a great time. Afterwards, we came home for a quick rest, and then it was off to Medieval Times. Medieval Times is a restaurant/entertainment center. While eating, we watched "The Knights of the Realm" compete in different sporting events. Even though our Knight didn't win, we still had a great time. Jonathon and I even had our 5 year Anniversary announced during the tournament...Lord Jonathon and Lady Brandy Simmons.
Sunday, we went to church and afterwards to Dickey's for some great BBQ. We go to Dickey's every Sunday after church because kids eat free, and we really enjoy it. Afterwards, Robin had to leave. I was sad to see her go, but I knew she had a great time and she was ready to go home and see her family.
I wish I had pictures to post, but silly me, even though I had my camera on me the whole entire time, I didn't take one single stinkin' picture! Can you believe that? Oh well, at least Robin and I have memories together.

Please, say a prayer!

2008-05-12T21:47:00.004-05:00

Today, I received a phone call that I knew would one day come, but have always dreaded since I moved away from Indiana. Earlier this evening, my Dad called to tell me that Grandpa has been admitted to the hospital. They do not know what is necessarily wrong with him, but they are keeping him for a few days so they can run tests. Let me back up and give you the prequel.
In 2003, my Grandpa was diagnosed with diabetes. After his diagnosis, he lost a lot of weight, but was riding a stationary bike and was up to a couple of miles a day. Unfortunately, within the past couple of years, he has not been doing so well. As of lately, within the past couple of months, he has been falling down. Fortunately, my grandma has always been able to call somebody and they would come and help get him up. A couple of weeks ago, his doctor told my Grandma that my Grandpa has had a couple of mini-strokes, one of which we already knew about, which could be causing him to fall down. He has been going to Physical Therapy, but today was the straw that broke the camel's back.
I spoke with my Grandma earlier this evening and she said he fell down again this morning, but this time, he had no idea where he was, and still doesn't. His doctor told her that it could be either Dementia or Alzheimer's. He also recommended for her to put him in a nursing home when he is discharged from the hospital because he is too much for her to take care of all by herself.
So, at this point, we really don't know what is going on, and probably won't know for a few days. However, I am asking that you all pray for my Grandpa and his health; pray for my Grandma to make the right decisions and to do the best she can for him; and pray for my family and for us to have strength for the both of them to help them through this difficult time/transition.
As I learn more, I will post, but it might be a few days.

Here is a picture of my Grandpa with me and three of his great grandchildren this past Thanksgiving.

Here is a picture from Thanksgiving 2006--four generations!

Ok, so my math is a little off...

2008-05-01T17:59:00.006-05:00

Jonathon and I had our first appointment today. It went really well. We started off with an Ultrasound and we are glad to report there is only one heartbeat. Both the Tech and our doctor said everything looks great so far. The Tech was able to get a heartbeat, 162 beats. She told me not to read too much into the high heartbeat because she has seen plenty of babies turn out to be boys with high heartbeats.

Anyway, we had a great talk/visit with my doctor. I was able to ask him all the questions I could think of and he took the time to answer each and every single one and didn't rush us. He really is a great doctor.

So, you are probably wondering why I titled the post the way I did. Well, the online calendars I have been using say my due date is around December 14/15th, but when the Ultrasound Tech measured the baby, I am actually measuring 5 days sooner, so that puts my due date December 10th. So, we talked with the doctor and since he doesn't like to do VBAC's, I am going to have a scheduled C-Section and the date is, drum roll please ...................December 4th!
Jonathon and I are very excited and can't wait to meet our new little bundle of joy in just 7 months.

We do have pictures from the Ultrasound, but since we do not have a scanner, I will have to wait until Monday to scan them in and post; I have one at my desk at work. We do have another Ultrasound scheduled in four weeks at our next appointment. Apparently they now test for Spina Bifida and Down Syndrome differently than when I had Olivia. Instead of drawing blood at 16 weeks and testing for both, they now do an Ultrasound at 12 weeks so they can measure the back of the baby's head and do blood work and then send those measurements and blood to the labs. They also do blood work at 16 weeks, too. So, yay, I get to have blood drawn three times in a row (today, my next appointment and the appointment afterwards). But, this is all worth it.

We are going to find out the sex of the baby. I have to know in order to plan and to bond with the baby. We do have a boy name picked out, but we are having a hard time picking a girl name. Once we have the names picked out, we will call the baby Little Boy Name or Little Girl Name, until we find out. We did that with Olivia. We would call her Little Connor or Little Olivia. Jonathon would say, "What does Little Connor or Little Olivia want to eat?" and other things; it really is cute. I guess for us, it is a way for us to feel closer to the baby.

Everything is going really well with the pregnancy so far and we are almost finished with the first trimester. Wow! Time flies by so fast. I still haven't had any morning sickness or severe nausea, like I had with Olivia, and no headaches, which is great because those were killer. I have an increased appetite and can't seem to get enough food, which is odd because since I found out I was pregnant, I have lost about 5 pounds...weird. When I was pregnant with Olivia, I was asleep every night about 7:00 p.m., and even though I have noticed I am a little bit more tired than usual, I still go to bed at my normal time, which is great! So keep those prayers coming for a complication free pregnancy; they are working.

Olivia and I are going to the zoo tomorrow so I will have new pictures to post of her tomorrow. She has changed so much since last night. I was looking at her when we got back from our appointment, and she no longer resembles a baby, she looks like a big girl. Oh goodness!

Speech Therapy?

2008-04-24T11:49:00.001-05:00

I am happy to report that yesterday Jonathon and I had Olivia tested by an Early Intervention program for Speech Therapy, and she was denied. This is perfect! This means that she is a perfectly normal 21-month-old little girl; which as a first time mom, who frets about every little thing, I needed to hear this.
While at this meeting, they gave Olivia a puzzle to do--it had big knobs and it was colors and shapes--and she put it back together very easily. She did struggle with the orange rectangle, and she even did her straining voice, which they thought was very cute and funny, but with a little persistence from me, she was able to do it. So, now that I know she enjoyed putting the puzzle together, I need to go and get her some.
Also, at this meeting, the ladies were very impressed with how much sign language she uses and how fast she picks it up. They told me to continue to use the sign language, with the word, which I already do, and hopefully she will start saying it, too. All in all, with the sign language and regular vocabulary, she says about 25 words, which is normal for her age, or so they say.
As of recently, she has expressed and interest in dressing and undressing herself, mainly with her shoes. As I am typing right now, she is trying to put her flip flop on. When we are dressing her in the mornings, after we put her shirt over her head, she likes to pull it down over her belly. Also, when we are putting her pants on her, we ask for either her left or right leg and most of the time, she gets them right, which is impressive because I know she doesn't really know which one is which.
For a couple of months now, Olivia has been into pretend play. She has some of her baby blankets, which I let her play with because she now has lots of baby dolls, and she loves to spread out the blanket and wrap her babies up and carry them around the house. She also really loves her kitchen. I always set out a bowl of snacks--Cheerios, Cheez-Its, Grapes, Goldfish, whatever--and she likes to take her bowl of snacks and empty it out on to one of her plates and carry it around without spilling them. If she spills, she is immediately on the floor picking them up and saying, "Uh-Oh", and then of course I help her clean them up, too.
So all in all, Olivia is perfectly normal, and I am happy she is considered ineligible for the Early Intervention/Speech Therapy program.

Well, what can I say?

2008-04-18T20:20:00.000-05:00

I think the pictures say it all. I tried several times to get a good shot, but it doesn't really come through until the last picture.

And this is how she really feels about a new baby :) No, I'm kidding. Olivia will be a terrific big sister.

Ok, if you can't read what the shirt says, it says: "December 2008, I will be a big sister!" I really wanted to wait for a couple of more weeks to spread the news, but I just couldn't hold it in any longer.
So, there you have it, our big news. Jonathon and I, plus a few others, have known for about three weeks. I haven't had an appointment with my doctor yet, that isn't scheduled until May 1st. At that appointment, I will have an Ultrasound and then talk with the doctor. So, I don't know my official due date, but the online calendars I have been using say the date is December 14/15, 2008. No official word yet, but I am thinking since I had a previous C-Section, I will have to have another, unless my doctor believes in VBAC's, which I am not sure I even want to attempt. Anyway, if I have to have another C-Section, I think the earliest he will schedule the surgery is two weeks from due date but no later than a week. So, that could put the baby arriving between December 1-8, and it can't be the 1st because that is Jonathon's brother, Jeremy, birthday.
We actually found out we were pregnant on April 1, April Fool's Day. The first test I took, I couldn't tell if the second line was actually on the test or not, but I figured since there was a faint second line it was positive. But at Jonathon's request, the next day I went to the store and picked up the kind that say, "pregnant or not pregnant" to clear up any confusion. Within a minute it came back as "pregnant".
Yes we are very very excited. Am I excited about the due date? Yes and no. I always said I didn't want any of my children's birthdays to compete with the holidays, but I guess God thought differently. It just means this year that I will not be able to travel to see my family, they will have to come to me, which isn't so bad :)
So far, I have not felt nauseas and have not had any morning sickness. I have already noticed an increase in my appetite, however. Just within the past couple of days, about 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I have noticed I am a little more tired and feel run down, but other than that, I feel really good.
Just a couple of things to ask all of you friends and family to pray for. Please pray for a healthy and complication-free pregnancy. This past November, we had a miscarriage and while pregnant with Olivia, I was diagnosed with Placenta Previa and had a couple of scary bleeding episodes. Due to the Previa, Olivia was born a month early. Even though my chance of having Previa again is about 5%, please pray that we will not have to go through it again. Especially pray for no miscarriage. This was the reason I didn't want to share the news since we had one at 7 weeks, but this pregnancy so far is much different than that one. Jonathon and I were bummed that we lost the baby, but we knew it was a blessing in disguise and knew that God was taking care and looking out for us. Also, please pray for a healthy baby. Even though Olivia was born a month early, we were VERY fortunate she was born healthy and did not have to spend any time in the NICU and we were able to all come home together after 4 days. And lastly, pray for Olivia to handle the transition from being an only child to a big sister smoothly. She gets very jealous if I hold another baby or if Jonathon and I hug in front of her.
So, with all of this new news, check back often as we will keep you all updated with posts and pictures.

Aaaah, Vacation...

2008-04-15T20:23:00.001-05:00

So, we are officially back from Florida. We are all unpacked and most of the laundry is done. We had a great time while we were there and can't wait to do it again next year.
While in Florida, Jonathon and I got sunburned, me more than him. We are both peeling and itching/scratching our bodies like crazy.
Olivia loved Florida. Her favorite part was the pool and she finally warmed up to the ocean, at least long enough to take a walk on the beach and chase the birds.
Here are some of the pictures we took. The ones towards the end are at the Florida Aquarium. We were supposed to leave Tampa on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. but our flight was canceled due to the MD-80 inspections and we ended up leaving Tampa at 7:30 p.m. Now, keep in mind, we had to check out of the condo at 10:00 a.m. so we had to think of things to do for 9 hours. Even though the tour didn't last as long as we would have liked, we still had a great time.

Olivia really enjoyed walking on the beach and having the water rush over her feet. Although her favorite thing to do was chase the birds on the beach.

Not only did my immediate family go to Florida together, my extended family from Michigan stayed in Lakeland. We were able to get together a couple of times and it was so great to see all of them.

After dinner, we were all in the lobby taking family pictures. If you notice, we are looking the opposite direction from our camera, that is because I think there were a total of 5 different cameras and we didn't know which ones to look at.

Our little family!

Olivia loved swimming in the pool. We had to keep an eye on her at all times because she would have run and jumped in the pool on her own if we had let her.

Jumping with Daddy.

Coming up after going under the water. We didn't think she would like going under, but she loved it; she was so cute and laughed the whole time.

This is too cute!

We took my sister, Leigh, and her friend, Kelsey, snorkeling.

While snorkeling, Kelsey found this shell under water and had Jonathon retrieve it for her. When he brought it up to the surface, we discovered it had a real, live crab inside.

The island where we snorkeled. It was absolutely beautiful and breathtaking.

Another shot of the island.

You cannot go to Florida and not get a family picture on the beach when the sun is setting, that is like sinning. No, I'm kidding. It took all I had to get Jonathon to dress up and take this picture, but it turned out amazing.

I love this photo because it looks like she is actually touching the lobster.

She liked touching the coral.

We were at the Starfish/Coral touch exhibit and you can touch the creatures, but you are supposed to do it very lightly. Well, Olivia was having a hard time touching the creatures because they were all at the bottom of the exhibit and the water was ice cold. However, this Starfish was on the side of the exhibit close to the top and she took advantage of the opportunity. Before we knew what she was doing, she had grabbed one of the Starfish's legs and hoisted him up into the air. Jonathon immediately helped her put it back in the water, all the while we were both cracking up, but I don't think the aquarium employee was too happy.

She liked the Shark exhibit. We were able to watch a couple of divers swim with the Sharks, and one of the divers was an aquarium employee and talked to us while she was under water. It was really interesting and informative.

Spring is officially here...

2008-04-03T11:41:00.001-05:00

Sunday, Jonathon and I took Olivia to the park and she had a blast. We played hard core for about an hour and then left because we were all hot and hungry. While we were at the park, Olivia fell down on the sidewalk and got her first boo-boo. She handled it like a trooper and only cried for two minutes and then was off playing again.
Here are the pictures, enjoy!

I love Whip Cream!

2008-03-28T21:21:00.001-05:00

Tonight, Jonathon made homemade whip cream and we had that with strawberries for our dessert tonight. Olivia loves whip cream. She was just sticking the same strawberry in the bowl of whip cream and licking it off and then I showed her how to use her finger. She would switch between using the finger and the strawberry, but she had a great time and got whip cream everywhere. I have wiped down the couch, but I have a feeling it will be sticky in the morning, so I will have to do it again.

Enjoy!

Easter Egg-stravaganza!

2008-03-27T19:52:00.000-05:00

Happy Belated Easter. Sorry for the delay in posting, but I have been sick with Strep Throat since Saturday night and today was my return to the world.
Olivia's Easter Egg-stravaganza began Saturday morning. We went to Coppell, the next city over, and attended our first Easter Egg Hunt. However, there were more parents there than kids and when they finished the count down and the kids ran out, the parents were picking up the plastic filled eggs and the kids were grabbing the candy. Needless to say, Olivia didn't get one single egg, and neither did her friend Jack, but she did get about six pieces of candy. Lesson learned: teach Olivia how to throw out the elbow and only go for plastic! No, I am kidding. She had a great time afterwards chewing on her sucker, running around and having her Daddy chase her.
Saturday night was filled with Jonathon and I trying to cram in way too much at the last minute. I almost finished dying eggs when I started to feel bad. After Jonathon finished baking his cake and got the fresh whip cream and chocolate mousse ready for the next day and I finished all of the eggs, we went to bed. I went to bed with a fever and didn't break it until Monday morning around 3 am.
Sunday morning, Jonathon got up with Olivia, since I had the fever and didn't know if I was contagious, and they finished his cake, got ready and went to church for Easter service. I was really bummed to miss the service because we have started attending a new church that we both really enjoy and I really wanted to hear what the Preacher had to say; Jonathon said it was really good.
Afterwards, while I was sleeping, they came home and finished up cooking the side dish they had to take to Aunt Natalie's, Uncle Sean's and Cousin Drew's house for Easter Get-Together. I found a recipe for mini baked potatoes and Jonathon said they were a hit, so I will post it sometime soon. Anyway, they ate, hunted eggs and had a great time.
Jonathon took one picture of Olivia in her Easter dress; I didn't even get to see her in it. For the hunt, he did change her clothes so she would be more comfortable and warm, since it decided to be chilly that day. She had such a blast looking for the eggs and wanted no help in carrying her very heavy basket. Jonathon said she threw a fit when he tried to help her.
So, here are the pictures and I promise, I will try to dress her up this weekend and take some of her in her Easter dress.

PS--I really wanted to take her to see the Easter Bunny this year, but I didn't know how she would react. I didn't want to scare her so bad that it scars her for life. She really liked him from afar and would wave to him, but we never did get up close. She was absolutely petrified of Santa and hated it when he gave me a hug. I guess we will try next year.
So without further ado...

Shoes, a Girl's Best Friend!

2008-03-10T22:29:00.000-05:00

Lately, Olivia has been playing with our shoes and even putting them on. I don't let her in my shoes too often because most of my shoes have heels and I don't want her to fall down and twist her little, itty-bitty ankles.
She really enjoys shoes, but really loves tennis shoes because of the strings. She loves to pull and tug on them, even if they are still on your feet :)
Enjoy the pictures. Oh, don't mind her hair. I know, I know, you just want to reach through your computer monitor and push it out of her eyes, but we are letting her bangs grow out. I don't think she will do very well getting her hair cut so I am not giving her bangs. And, on top of that, her bangs are long enough to pull back, but Daddy had her that afternoon and he doesn't know how to pull her hair up, and refuses to learn :( She also has some baby bangs coming in so her hair always looks cute when I do it :)

So, without further ado, what you came to see...

What a week, and it is only Tuesday...

2008-03-04T20:27:00.000-06:00

By the title of this blog, you can tell we have had a lot go on so far in a few days. Let's start with Sunday:
Olivia slept in, finally! She is an early bird, and likes to wake up between 6:30-7:30 a.m.; well, this morning, she woke up at 8:15 a.m. She still takes two naps a day and Jonathon put her down for her morning nap while I snoozed a little longer. About 20 minutes later, we both hear her on the monitor coughing and then she made a choking noise. Immediately, we both run into her room to discover she has thrown up. Jonathon pulled her out of her crib and took her to the bathroom for an immediate bath. I pulled off her bedding and rinsed it off in the other bathroom. Then, I used Clorox wipes and sanitized her mattress pad and her crib. If it was the flu, I wanted to stop it in it's tracks. The rest of the day was spent with a little girl who didn't want to do too much other than cuddle with her Momma and Daddy. By early evening, she started running a low grade fever, but she was still drinking lots of fluids but didn't eat too much.
On Monday morning, Olivia and I woke up at 8:30 a.m.; wow! I had already called in to work Sunday night to let them know I wouldn't be in on Monday. Olivia wasn't throwing up but she still wasn't feeling good. The vomiting was finished with, but it moved to diarrhea. She had quite a few nasty diapers and one really bad one after Jonathon got home. This one was so bad, his gag reflux almost kicked in. It went everywhere, her jeans, her onesie, her socks, our comforter, and I was stuck cleaning it all up. (Oh, I forgot the kicker to the story, our washer decided to go out Sunday night! Great! Just when I need it to clean poo clothes, blankets, and socks! Jeesh!) On top of all the pooing, it started to snow. It was so bizarre. We have been experiencing 70 plus degrees days for almost two weeks and out of nowhere, it snowed. At around 10:30 p.m., our power went out, and as soon as Jonathon and I lit all of our candles, the power came back on...figures!
This morning, Jonathon went in to work a little late due to the snow, but it was all melted by 1:00 p.m. and you would never know we had about a 1/4" of snow. CRAZY! It would have been so nice in Indiana for it to snow and then be completely melted the next day. Anyway, Olivia is doing better, she is eating and is more active, and the diarrhea has slowed down.
So, I have to go back to work tomorrow and to make up for the two days I have already missed, I am going to work Thursday, Friday and Saturday, too. Jonathon is going to Oklahoma this weekend for a Work-Manly Retreat. He leaves early Saturday morning and will come back early Sunday afternoon. It is just the guys in his department and they are going to go rock climbing and camping :) For Olivia and I, it will be a girl's weekend and we will probably go to Stonebriar Mall Saturday afternoon, eat lunch, shop, and go play at the play land. I love Momma and Olivia time; we have a great time.

Our New York Photos

2008-02-23T20:19:00.001-06:00

Here are some of our photos from New York. We had a great time and I can't wait to go back again and see more of what I missed.

This photo was so hard to get. There were tons of people gathered around this bull and everyone wanted to take a picture with it, except for Jonathon and I, we just wanted the bull. As soon as someone was done taking a picture, someone else would jump in and it literally took us 15-20 minutes just to get this one picture. The other people were crazy. Several people were hanging on it's horns, others were kissing it, and two girls climbed up on it and had their picture taken. The bull is significant because they say if you want to have good luck in finances, you are supposed to rub the bull's man parts. Jonathon and I didn't do that because the thought of doing that was just gross, degrading and embarrassing.

View from the other side...so neat!

This is at Ellis Island. The flag was so cool because from far away, all you saw was the flag. Once you got closer, parts of it changed, as shown in the picture, to reveal faces. It was so neat!

Picture of Jonathon and I on the observation deck of the Statue and looking out on to Manhattan's beautiful skyline. FYI--This was just one of the many beautiful views of Manhattan's skyline.

Jonathon was being a perv and tried to look up her dress. No, I am kidding! We thought it was neat a perspective.

This was taken from the observation deck on the Statue. Jonathon and I thought it was cool how we could see her shadow over the water.

In either 1986 or 1988, I can't remember, the U.S. Government gave New York City money to fix the Statue. There was something wrong with her foot and this is a replica of the mold they used to correct it.

This is a replica of the Statue's torch and it greets you when you walk into the museum located in the base of the Statue. We took a 15 minute ranger guided tour to learn about the history of the Statue.

This is a picture of the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day. It was lit in white, pink and red just for the holiday...so cute!

Here we are enjoying our Frozen Hot Chocolate and our Sundae from Serenidpity!

This is a picture of us waiting for the curtain at Mary Poppins!

This is a view from our seats of the stage. This was the screen that they used to show the outside of the house...amazing!

This is a picture of the inside of the theater where we saw Mary Poppins. It has such beautiful architecture and it makes you feel like you are in a garden or vineyard. It was absolutely gorgeous and breath taking!

The Stats Are In...

2008-02-23T11:29:00.000-06:00

Earlier this week, Olivia had her 18-month well check-up. Here are her stats:

Height: 31 3/4" (25-50%)
Weight: 20 Pounds 8 Ounces (5%)
Head: 46 Centimeters (25%)

I know you are probably thinking she is in the low percentile for pretty much everything, and she is, but she is perfectly normal and she is going up on her chart. Olivia has always been in the 25th percentile for every thing and around 9 months, she paid a visit to the 5th percentile for her weight and has liked visiting it so much, she has decided to make it permanent. Anyway, she is perfectly normal and thriving.
Our doctor was pleased with everything but the speech. Olivia says 8 words and signs 7-8 words. Our pediatrician wants us to set a goal of one new word every two weeks. As my friend Robin knows, I have been fretting about this, and everything else, for quite some time. How do you make a child speak who doesn't want to? Jonathon and I are constantly talking to her and telling her what things are and asking her to repeat it back, and she just looks at us like we are silly. She can put two words together, like: thank you and all gone.
Sorry, I am at work and it is time to go...I will finish this blog later :)
Ok, I am back. Sorry about that; I thought I had more time than I actually did.
Anyway, my point is, Olivia is doing great and growing and learning by leaps and bounds. Even though the growth chart does not show her physically growing, she really is. She is eating me out of a house and home; I guess she has inherited the fast metabolism from Jonathon's side of the family. Jonathon used to be skinny before he had cancer, but he is working on it. His mom always tells me how when he was a kid, she would buy him jeans in his size plus slim and they would practically fall off of his waist. So, with that said, she just takes after her Daddy.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

2008-02-18T21:21:00.001-06:00

Sorry, I have had that song stuck in my head ever since Thursday night when Jonathon and I saw Mary Poppins on Broadway! That's right, you read correctly. We went and saw Mary Poppins on Broadway. What an awesome show! The actors, singing, set, props, dancing, technology was so great! I could go on and on about the play, but it is better when you see it live; my words will not do the show justice.
Anyway, our Valentine's Day Weekend Getaway was great. However, we did miss Olivia terribly and I was excited to come home on Sunday and see her. Even though I got in late, 11:00 p.m. to be exact, she woke up when I went in to check on her and I was able to get a hug. I wanted to take her to bed with me but knew if I did that, neither one of us would get a good night's sleep. Oh, back to my trip...
Thursday night Jonathon totally surprised me and planned our whole evening. He found a really great restaurant called 44 and 10, Hell's Kitchen, basically it's address (it's located on 44th Street and 10th Avenue and was quite a walk from 50th and Park, where we stayed). Despite it's name, it was wonderful. We enjoyed every bit of food and drink. I actually found a wine I can drink, Moscato D'Asti. It is a dessert wine that is white and bubbly, and tastes like you are drinking really good white grape juice. After dinner, it was off to Broadway. Like I said before, the show was terrific. Afterwards, it was a mile trek back to our hotel where we both fell into bed because we were so exhausted.
On Friday, it was so nice to have the day to myself. I slept in and didn't get out of bed until noon; yep, that's right, noon. I got up, got ready, left the hotel at 1 p.m. and set off to Serendipity Cafe for lunch. I have to admit, eating at a restaurant by yourself is not an easy task. You have no one to bounce food ideas off of and no one to talk to when it takes your food 30 minutes to arrive. So, needless to say, even though the food was great, the company was not. By this time, it was close to 4 when I finished eating and window shopping and went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Jonathon picked me up and we went to Grand Central Station to try our luck at the Subway System. The first train that came was so crowded, we couldn't get on. We finally were able to hop on to the second train, barely, and made it down to Union Square to eat dinner. Union Square is neat because it is geared more towards the college age crowd since NYU is down there. After dinner, we decided to go back to Serendipity for dessert. We finally made it down there and enjoyed our Frozen Hot Chocolate and Can't Say No Sundae.
Saturday, Jonathon had to do some work in the morning so I got ready while he was gone. We braved the Subways again and headed down to Battery Park to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. If you ever get a chance to go to NYC, make sure you make it a point to go see the Statue of Liberty, totally worth it. However, make sure to go in the Spring, Summer or Fall, as going on a ferry in the Winter is just too darn cold. Despite freezing, we had a great time. For dinner we found a little hole in the wall restaurant and dined.
Sunday, we went and had brunch at a place called Alice's Tea Cup, and it is based on Alice In Wonderland, and is totally fabulous. Since Jonathon has been traveling, he makes it a point to try and find new restaurants and different types of restaurants while he is in the city, and this is one we will go back to over and over again. It is such a cute little cafe and has a wonderful selection of food and tea. Even though I am not a big hot tea lover, Sweet Tea or bust for me, I still enjoyed a cup, per our server's recommendation. Oh, I can still taste the sweetness of my delectable French Toast and the ripeness of my Strawberries. My Chocolate Chip and Coconut Scone was out of this world, especially with cream and raspberry jam.
Unfortunately, I cannot post any pictures of our trip because Jonathon still has the camera with him, as he is there until this Friday. As soon as he gets home, I promise I will upload them for all of you to enjoy.
Even though it was nice to have a Jonathon-and-Brandy-Weekend, we missed the snot out of our little girl and have decided we will not leave her for more than one night ever again.

New York, New York, again!

2008-02-05T21:11:00.000-06:00

Yep, you read right, we are going to New York again. Jonathon will go first and will be up there for 12 days, February 10-22. I will then join him February 14-17 for a little Valentine's Day getaway weekend. Olivia will not be going this time, but will be in great hands while we are gone. She will be spending the weekend with Nana, Jonathon's Mom, Auntie Andrea and Auntie Alison, Jonathon's sisters.
We have been racking our brains trying to figure out what we are going to do while we are there and so far have decided:

1. We are going out to eat for dinner Thursday night to celebrate Valentine's Day. We do not normally celebrate this holiday so I am really excited this year!

2. Friday night we are going to go and see a play on Broadway. We are trying to go and see Wicked, but if that doesn't work out, it is between Hairspray and Phantom of the Opera.

3. Saturday we are going to go and do all of the touristy things. We are going to try really hard to take the ferry out to Ellis Island and go see the Statue of Liberty. I really would like to go see the 9/11 memorial, the Empire State Building, Greenwich Village, and all of the other NYC tourist sites. I would really like to take a tour, but I don't know if that will work out or not.

4. We will most definitely be going to the Serendipity Cafe. We tried to go the last time we were there, but since most of the shops and restaurants in New York are multi-level and narrow, they do not allow strollers inside. Of course, they do not offer a place for you to put your strollers, so we did not dine there. I did, however, come up with my business venture if we should ever move to NYC: stroller valet. It would work just like car valet, except we would keep the strollers in a heated area during the winter so they stay nice and toasty for those cute little bums. Now, don't be stealin' my idea :)

5. I think since I am flying out Sunday afternoon, we are going to just take it easy Sunday. I think we will order room service for breakfast and just hang out and enjoy each other's company.

If you have been to New York City and have some great tips or suggestions, we would greatly appreciate any advice for places to see, eat, etc.
Oh, I do have a list of things to do before I leave and on that list includes making homemade Valentines for Olivia to take to Mrs. Mary's house on Valentine's Day. I have all of the stuff to do it, I just have to take the time to do it, ugh! I think I will do a little bit each day so it doesn't get too overwhelming, as all of my projects tend to do.
I will post pictures as soon as we return.

Afraid of the Doctor

2008-02-02T20:48:00.000-06:00

Olivia has been afraid of the doctor since around 9 months and I cannot figure out why. I guess it is because she doesn't see Dr. Herrera that often, but still, why is she afraid?
She cries when we put her on the scale to get her weight; she cries when they take her temperature, she cries when the doctor listens to her breathe; she just cries the whole time.
I am wondering if any of you have suggestions to make this an easier trip. We go to the doctor again on the 19th for her 18-month appointment...I know, I know, she will be almost 19 months at that point, but I honestly forgot to book her appointment the last time we were there and that is the earliest I could get her in. I have heard to go out and buy a Fisher Price/Playskool medical kit and use it at home and tell her what it does so that when she goes to the doctor, she will know what they are doing, but I don't know if that is a little much. I have also heard to take a baby doll with you and have the doctor examine the baby doll and then the kid, but I am not sure she will like that either. I am open to any ideas or suggestions to make it easier for not only me, but for her as well.
This whole post started because I had to take her to the doctor on Thursday for a severe diaper rash/yeast infection. We have been battling this for about 2 weeks; we would get it cleared up, but it kept coming back. Anyway, she cried the entire time and I would really like to make this such an easier event for both of us, but especially for her, so I am open to any suggestions.

I don't normally do this...

2008-01-28T22:41:00.000-06:00

I saw this post on my friend Robin's site and it says I have to post one on my blog, so here I go. You may already know some of the answers to the questions, but if you don't, I hope you learn something new and interesting about me.

Ridiculously long survey...but informative!

1. Do you wear a name tag at work?
No, but I should. In our office we have a Brandy (me), Randy, Sandi and we just hired a new girl named Brandy, too.

2. What kind of car do you drive?
Well, technically, at the moment, I drive three. On Thursday, we got a new car. Well, it isn't really new but it is new to us. We got a 1993 Infiniti J30 and I love it. It only has 107,000 miles, white leather interior, moon roof, power everything and a kick-butt sound system. However, prior to the Infiniti, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays I would drive a 1995 Monte Carlo that I received as a gift from my loving mom. We were in desperate need of a second car since Jonathon started his job in downtown Dallas. Before that, we carpooled together for over a year! On Thursdays, Fridays and the weekend, I drive a Soccer Mom Gold Expedition; I do not work on those days and stay home with Olivia. We got this right after Olivia was born because we had one car at the time, and with her car seat in the Jetta, Jonathon could not sit and drive the car comfortably.

3. What do you order when you go to Taco Bell?
Depends on what kind of mood I am in. I usually order the Nachos Bell Grande, no beans...yuck! Sometimes, I will just order two Soft Taco Supremes, hold the tomatoes. I swear, every time I order anything with tomatoes on it from Taco Bell, they taste like they just came out of the freezer. And sometimes, I will order the Mexican Pizza, again hold the beans.

4. Have you ever had a garage sale?
Well, technically, I didn't hold the garage sale, Jonathon did. He wanted to do it and I didn't, so he did it all by himself. I was there to offer encouragement and support, and even lended a helping hand, even though I was 7 months pregnant and it was the end of June here in Dallas.

5. What color is your iPod?
I have a silver iPod Shuffle. I bought it right before they came out with the colored ones, or I so would have bought a pink one.

6. What kind of dog do you have?
I don't have a dog and never have. I do have two domestic short hair cats named Foxy and Mr. Black. Foxy is a Tabby with white patches and Mr. Black is obviously an all black cat, however, he is missing his tail. We have no idea what happened to his tail; it was like that when we adopted him. For those of you who have met Mr. Black, he is like a dog and you can vouch. If you haven't, ask me and I can tell you how.

7. What's for dinner tonight?
I made Chili with Peanut Butter Sandwiches and Cheez Its and it was oh so good! I got home from work at 6:00 p.m. and Jonathon and Olivia didn't get home until 6:30 p.m. so I had to do something quick and easy because she was starving as soon as she walked in the door.

8. What is the last alcoholic beverage you had?
It was New Year's Eve and I had a Mojito Wine Cooler and a Slow Hard Screw. Tim, our old neighbor, got a book on how to make your own mixed drinks and that was one of them. He wanted us to sample some of his cocktail mixin' skills and I have to say, it was pretty tasty!

9. Stupidest thing you ever did with your cell phone?
Labor Day Weekend 2005, Jonathon and I went canoing with his sister and her boyfriend, at the time, in Arkansas. I had the brilliant idea of bringing my phone with me just in case anyone needed to get in touch with us--I was having satellite installed here at the house and my mother-in-law stayed here and I knew there would be problems. Well, half way through the canoing trip, Jonathon and I were going down mini-rapids and we ended up tipping over and everything fell out of the canoe. I lost a flip-flop, food, and my cell phone. Fortunately, we were able to find every thing but my one flip flop. Needless to say, my phone didn't work for a couple of days and then all of a sudden it started working.

10. Last time you were sick?
January 3, 2008. I had Bronchitis and a double ear infection. I have never heard of adults my age getting ear infections, how embarrassing!

11. How long is your hair?
Just past my shoulders.

12. Are you happy right now?
I am happy, but I am stressed, too. We have had a lot go on in the past couple of months and I am ready/need a vacation. Florida is just around the corner, baby!

13. What did you say last?
"Jonathon, do you want me to check Ebay to see if there are any Deep Sea Fishing Trips cheaper than the price you found?"

14. Who came over last?
Both of my sister-in-laws Saturday night. We had one over for dinner, we cooked a roast with carrots and potatoes, and the other came to pick her up since her car wasn't working. I had no idea that the one was coming to pick up the other or we would have had her over, too.

16. Have your brothers or sisters ever told you that you were adopted?
No, and I don't think I ever told my little sister that either.

17. What is your favorite key chain on your keys?
I don't have key chains any more. Ever since 2004, when I finally got a car with power locks and had a key fob, I haven't had one.

18. What was the last movie you watched at home?
Hairspray on Saturday night. Such a great movie! I still had "You Can't Stop the Beat" in my head today at work.

19. What is in your pocket?
Nothing. I am wearing pajama pants and they do not have a pocket.

20. Who introduced you to your crush?
My friend, Erin, introduced Jonathon and I at Harding in the cafeteria, although he doesn't remember it. To be quite honest, I really didn't like Jonathon the first time I met him; I thought he was a jerk. However, the time after that, when we went to Little Rock with a group of friends, is when he remembers meeting me.

21. Where do you hurt?
Nowhere, at the moment.

22. Has someone ever made you a Build-A-Bear?
No, but we made Olivia one while we were in New York City. And the time before that I took Leigh to the Texas Teddy Bear Factory back in 2004. It was her first time to Texas and I wanted her to have an authentic Texas Teddy Bear.

23. What DVD is in your DVD player?
Several. There is "The Little Mermaid", "Finding Nemo", "Hairspray", and a Leap Frog learning CD that we cannot get to work.

24. What's something fun you did today?
I was able to give Olivia hugs and kisses today when I left for work. Usually I leave before she is up so this was a treat.

25. Who was the principal of your high school?
Mr. Brown

26. Has your house ever been TPd?
Yes, but just once. I was in the 8th grade at Caledonia Middle School in Dutton, Michigan and I had a friend stay the night on a Friday night. Well, her boyfriend and his friend thought it would be funny to TP my house. That night Sean, my Step-dad, fell asleep on the couch with the TV on and while they were TPing my house, they got spooked by the shadows coming from the TV and left. Needless to say, there wasn't much to clean up, but my friend and I were nominated to clean it up.

27. What do you think of when you hear the word 'meow'?
Olivia. She is so funny. Every time she sees one of the cats, she says, "Cat!", and then immediately proceeds to say, "Meow!"

28. What are you listening to right now?
Jonathon snore. Yes, I am on the laptop, in my bed, typing away, doing this survey, while my husband snoozes right next to me.

29. Drinkin'?
Nothing at the moment; but I think I will go down stairs after I finish this and get some water.

30. What is your favorite aisle at Wal-Mart?
Oh, definitely the baby aisles. I love to go and see what they have and see what is on sale.

31. When is your birthday?
June 27, 1981. This also happens to be Captain Kangaroo's Birthday--don't know if you remember him from the '80s--and Helen Keller's Birthday, too. Also, another interesting fact, I was born at 6:27 p.m. on 6/27. Kind of cool, huh?

32. What's the area code for your cell phone?
Mmmm, should I say it? Nah, I don't think so. If you have my number, you already know it. If you don't, then you should ask me for my number so you have it.

33. Where did you buy the shirt you're wearing now?
It is a hand-me-down from my mom. It is a bright pink Old Navy t-shirt and I love it because it is old and oh so soft to wear to bed. Actually, this shirt still fit me when I was 20 weeks pregnant, so when we found out Olivia was a girl, I wore this shirt to work. I also got a bunch of pink balloons and one mylar balloon that said: "It's a Girl!" to let my co-workers know. Jonathon just got the mylar one and tied it to his chair at work to let his co-workers know.

34. Is there anything hanging from your rear view mirror?
Not at the moment. But, as soon as Jonathon has a free moment, he is going to install a second rear view mirror to the bottom so I can have that one focusing on Olivia and my main one focus on the road. Right now, the main one is on Olivia and it makes driving a little difficult.

35. How many states in the US have you been to?
Hold on a second while I count.....24!

37. What are you going to do after this?
Go to bed. I have to get up in 6 1/2 hours for work.

38. Who was the last person you went shopping with?
Let's see, I shopped online Sunday night and that was just me. However, the time before that was Thursday night with Jonathon and Olivia when we got the car.

40. What about your favorite dessert?
Oh, I have a new favorite dessert. The other day, Jonathon went to Tom Thumb, a local grocery store here in DFW, and he bought Ben 'n Jerry's Creme Brulee. Oh my word! It is so awesome! If you get a chance, go and try it, it is so delicious!

41. What is something you need to go shopping for?
Well, I do need to get all of us some new clothes for Florida. Other than that, nothing really.

42. Do you have the same name as one of your relatives?
My middle name is my Great Grandmother's name on my Mom's side.

43. What kind of car do your siblings drive?
Leigh-Leigh is too young to drive; although I think she is able to get her permit since she just turned 15 in December.

44. Do you like pickles?
Yes, I absolutely love them. However, I only like Dill pickles. Just today, a co-worker received a pickle with his lunch he ordered and he said I could have it, but only after I asked if he was going to eat it :P Olivia loves pickles, too.

45. What about olives?
I do not like green olives and I can tolerate black olives. I will not go out of my to eat them, but if they are on a pizza or on some Mexican food, I will eat them.

47. What is your favorite kind of juice?
Hawaiian Punch has a line of juices and I pretty much like all of them except for the Mango one.

48. Do you have any tan lines?
I used to. I am hoping to get some when I go to Florida in April.

49. What hospital were you born in?
Saint John's in Anderson, Indiana.

50. Do you remember the name of your kindergarten teacher?
I think her name was Ms. Penny and she was at Smith's Kiddy Kare off of Scatterfield Road in Anderson, Indiana. It is still there to this day and I drive by it at least once every time I go home.

I tag, all of the lurkers, and please leave a comment if you do it on your page.

BTW--I have no idea what happened to 15, 36, 39 and 46.

Inchbug

2008-01-27T20:16:00.001-06:00

You are probably wondering why I titled the post the way I did. Well, I wanted to share with you my new favorite product. Actually, I have had them for about a year now, and have given them as gifts.
These are rubber, reusable name labels that you can put on anything and they are made by a company called Inchbug. They are so awesome! I love using these on Olivia's sippy cups, especially when she goes to the sitter's house or we go to a play date and every kid has the same sippy cup.
They come in four different colors and you can put anything you want on them. I have three different sets of four. One set says: "Olivia Simmons"; the other two sets say: "Olivia's Cup".
The best thing about the labels are you can special order labels that have two lines and you can put if your child has a food/drink allergy, a phone number in case it gets lost, or whatever you want.
You do have two options when it comes to purchasing the labels. You can purchase a pre-made set. The pre-made set comes in a package of three, says just the child's first name, and comes in either green or blue--you choose. However, I think for a dollar or two more, you can totally personalize the labels, which I like to do. You can choose from four colors, pick whatever you want to say on it, and you get four!
Go and visit their website, www.inchbug.com, and check out what they have to offer. I hope you like these labels as much as I do.

Guitar Hero III, Baby!

2008-01-27T20:00:00.000-06:00

Here is a photo and video of Olivia playing "Paint It Black" by the Rolling Stones on Guitar Hero III for Wii! She saw her Daddy doing it so she just had to do it, too! Enjoy!

"You Can't Stop the Beat..."

2008-01-26T22:24:00.000-06:00

I know, I know, I am so far behind movie premieres and I just now watched Hairspray tonight. I have to say, I absolutely love this movie. I am such a sucker for musical films, though. I love, love, love The Sound of Music, Grease, Chicago, any of the Disney movies, and now Hairspray!
I would have to say, Edna, Tracy's mom, played by John Travolta, is my absolute favorite character. He did such a wonderful job playing her. I loved her accent and personality!
Jonathon watched the movie on the plane ride from London to Dallas, so I asked him if it didn't have anything bad in it so Olivia could watch it, which it doesn't, and she was dancing and laughing the whole entire time the movie was on. I swear, anytime there is music on, that girl gets the dance fever and starts stomping her feet like in Flashdance, twirling and movin' her hips! I swear, I have no idea where she gets it from because as you all know, Jonathon and I were not blessed with the dancing gene.
Speaking of dancing, I went the YMCA last Tuesday night to take a Salsa dancing class and left early because I am that bad. I was having fun, but I was getting so frustrated because as soon as I had the move down, we were moving on to another step and it just repeated itself. Needless to say, I needed to be in the pre-beginner class, which I don't think even exists.
If you haven't already seen Hairspray, I highly recommend it. It is such a good feelin', energetic, funny movie.

PS--The song that is playing on the NYC Slide Show is from Hairspray. I had no idea that the song was even on there until yesterday and I enjoyed it so much, I left it on there...you know, to honor NYC.

New York, New York!

2008-01-22T22:17:00.001-06:00

As most of you know, we went to New York City the week before Christmas. I have been meaning to post pictures ever since we returned, but I have just been too lazy to do it. Well, for those of you who have been patiently waiting, here you go.

Just a little brag...

2008-01-18T13:08:00.001-06:00

I just wanted to take a moment and dote about my beautiful daughter. She will be 18 months on the 24th and does new things each and every day. She has now gotten to the point that instead of walking she now does a little trot, and when she is uber-excited, she runs. Now, she isn't the most graceful, but she picks herself right back up and keeps going.
She knows 6 words: Momma, Dada, thank you, cat, meow, and go. She can also sign 7 words: please, thank you, milk, more, baby, hot and bye-bye. Also, if you ask her a question, she shakes her head yes or no.
She can blow kisses and knows where her belly, nose, ears, eyes and mouth are and can find them on her baby doll and Momma and Dada, too. She really likes to find our bellies and will take any opportunity she can to lift our shirts up and point. Now, I do not mind it so much when we are at home, but when she does it, she laughs, too. I am not sure if she is laughing because she thinks it is funny that she found our belly or if she is laughing because of what our bellies look like.
She is also practicing to become a little momma herself. For Christmas, Santa brought her a new kitchen with dishes and a vacuum and other cleaning supplies. She loves to cook dinner for her babies, sweep the floors, vacuum the carpet and wipe down her kitchen counters.
However, our little daughter is also a diva. If she doesn't get her way, she automatically throws herself on the floor, and throws a temper tantrum. This started not too long after she turned 1 and hasn't stopped. She will never ask for help and absolutely hates it when you try to show her how to do something the right way. For instance, yesterday, I gave her a bowl of oatmeal and a spoon so she can feed herself. Well, she was using the spoon backwards and I took the spoon from her hand and showed her how to do it correctly. She didn't like that too much because she started crying immediately. So, I gave her back the spoon and let her do it herself. Now, she did end up eating the whole bowl of oatmeal, but it took her a whole hour to do so.
I know all parents like to think that their child is some sort of genius and special, and all babies are special, but I just wanted to take a moment and brag about her--I don't think you could ever brag enough about your kids. Olivia might be a little bit behind in the talking area, but she sure makes up for it in personality. If you don't believe me, come over and play with her sometime and you will see what I am talking about.

First Post

2008-01-15T21:55:00.000-06:00

Well folks, I have decided to enter us into the world of blogging. I have a couple of friends who do this on a regular basis and thought I would try this out and see how it goes. I figure since most of our friends and family are near and far, this would be the best way to keep everyone informed of what is going on with us, but more importantly, with Olivia.
Recently, we have been busy with traveling and being sick. This crazy Texas weather does not help. The saying goes, "If you don't like the weather in Texas, wait 5 minutes and it will change". Boy, they aren't lying. I swear in one day it can go from 65 degrees and sunny to 45 degrees, cold and windy...no wonder we stay sick. I am recovering from Bronchitis, which I got the week of New Years, and it feels like I am getting it again, or at least a cold, lets hope for the latter.
Olivia has a nasty cough and it only seems to bother her at night, when she is sleeping. On top of the nasty cough, she is teething. Now normally teething isn't an issue with our Sweet Cheeks--her nickname given to her by Daddy and now adopted by Momma, too--she teeths like a champ. Just a couple of months ago, she cut all 4 of her molars at the same time and you would never have known it, but these incisors/fangs are kicking her little tushie. Normally when she teeths, she drools quite a bit and only needs her pacifier to soothe her, but her sleep has never been effected. However, with these fangs, not the case. Sunday night she woke up every 3 hours crying because they were hurting. Of all nights for this to happen, since I had to work the next day. Needless to say I went in her room each and every time, picked her up, hugged her, and then put her back to bed. At first I was a little disgruntled, not only because I had to get up at 5:45 a.m. to be at work by 7:00 a.m., but because I had a hard time falling asleep and know it was well past midnight before I did. But, after each time I went in to comfort her, I felt great because it made me feel good to know that all she needed from me was a hug to make her feel better.
As for Jonathon, he is doing great. He has been doing some traveling for his job recently and up until today, there was a possibility of him going to Hong Kong and Tokyo at the end of January until February 15th. Unfortunately, he was the back up plan and they didn't need him. He was bummed but at the same time relieved. The longest he has been away from us was back in November when he went to London for 10 days, and it nearly broke his heart when he came back and Olivia didn't want him to hold her as soon as he walked out of the terminal.
I will try to post something on this blog at least once a week, but please do not hold me to it. But please visit often and leave messages. I promise as soon as I become more savvy with this site, I will post pictures.
Ciao!