This Bitter-Sweet Life

Confession

2010-09-24T13:07:00.003-05:00

I fell in love with Tumblr. :( Why? Because it's just so very easy to update from my phone.

I am going to be making a conscious effort to return here though.

I know JC would be impressed. :)

Also, in time, I'm going to try and move a few things over from Tumblr to here.

beautiful disaster

2010-06-09T21:00:00.001-05:00

Only my child…

Morgan was trying to check out the flower bed in front of the house while I loaded things into the car this morning. Apparently she leaned a little too far because she fell completely into the flower bed. Yup, yucky wet dirt all over her clothes I had just wrestled her into. But, while she stumbled up to get out of the flower bed she smiled up at me, telling me “I fiiiine Mommy”. So cute. I smiled at her and said “Good, angel. Do you need new clothes?” and before I could get out the whole response she’d stumbled getting out of the flower bed and went to stable herself on the edge of her swimming pool. Yeah, over the edge she went. She stood up in the pool… dirty and wet… and said “Woops. I fiiiine Mommy. I wet!”. HAHA!

LOVE her and her clumsiness. :)

tragedy strikes elmo

2010-02-18T21:11:00.005-06:00

This morning something tragic happened.

The bulb on our TV completely died without warning.. during ELMO! It was tragic. Seriously, TRAGIC. Morgan screamed and cried like I'd beat her. She was so pitiful and was convinced that I could fix it. I know that she was because between shrieks and sniffles she whined "fiss it". It didn't take very long for me to decide that we weren't going to last long like this. JC suggested that we go run a couple of errands and maybe go to WalMart. Sure that meant we were going to be gone during lunch time but at this point I was ready to try anything. She wasn't pleased with getting into the car but once we got going she was fine. :)

We had fun at WalMart browsing the store... killing time. :) Morgan got a couple of new hats for the spring since she still hates any form of barrette or bow I'm just going with this hat thing. She grabbed them off of the hook and put it on in the store with the tag still on. HaHa. It looked too cute on her to say no. I'm weak like that. :)

See? Super cute! :)

She napped whenever we got home and thankfully the time she was awake without TV was spent eating, bathing or playing in her room and she didn't notice again. Whew.

I am so incredibly thankful that JC had already ordered a replacement bulb months ago for just this reason because apparently when the bulb in the TV goes out it doesn't give a warning.. it's just like a light fixture in the house.. one minute it works and the next you're in the dark. JC was able to install it whenever he got home tonight. He is our HERO!! :)

Tomorrow morning, whenever I hit that little red button on the remote and it comes on, it will not go unappreciated! I will never again take TV for granted. Oh, how we love Sesame Street.. and super cute little girls in pink hats with bows! :)

disbelief

2010-02-12T21:30:00.004-06:00

Yes, we had more snow today.

Not the kind of snow we had whenever I was a kid either where you had to stand out on the playground with your tongue hanging out for 2 minutes waiting for ONE flake to hit it.

Not the kind of snow that isn't really snow but ICE like we normally get here. You know the kind where you create a "snow ball" with it but it's really like throwing a block of ice at someone and will shatter a car's rear-view mirror. Ahem.

But.. today it was wonderful powdery goodness! I still can't stop looking at the pictures. It's insane and it was absolutely beautiful. I refer to it in the past tense because although it was breathtaking this morning it's pretty yuck out there now. Oh well, it's something us Louisianians won't soon forget! Plus, I have tons of photos to remind us. :)

What a difference a night can make, huh?

I had fallen asleep in Morgan's room after she came and woke us up at 5am so at about 7am JC came into Morgan's room and told us to come and look at the snow. It was amazing! I think I said "WOW!" a gazillion times. Morgan stood in front of the window pointing and yelling "SOW" and "NOOO".. she's trying so hard to learn to say snow. JC still had to go to work today though and that really bummed me out but before he left he ran outside and grabbed some snow for Morgan to touch! :)

Yes, the picture is blurry but in my defense I was probably shaking from excitement!

We spent the morning just hanging out inside in our PJ's, looking out the window and waiting for the temperatures to rise some.

But at 10am I saw a clump of snow fall off of the powerline in front of the house and decided we better hurry up and enjoy it while it lasted. I bundled her up in as many layers as I could squeeze her into and we braved it. I thought it was so cold but she seemed mesmerized and completely oblivious to the cold.

She just kept walking up and down the driveway looking at the ground once I convinced her to get off of the carport. I'm sure it had to be overwhelming to her. I was overwhelmed!

But after a couple of trips down the driveway she decided that she really liked it! I took a lot of pictures of her but it was hard since I didn't have gloves for myself and snow kept falling on my camera. I kept having to try to shield the camera and wipe it off!

She's so beautiful!

She even got brave after a while and wanted to touch it!

Unfortunately, soon after this photo was taken she also decided she wanted to sit in the water on the driveway and play in the snow. Even though we definitely wanted Morgan to see and experience snow we did not want a child sick with pneumonia or a blistered face. So, I halted the picture taking and carried my tantrum'ing child inside as she screamed "SOOOOW Mommy" to strip her of her wet clothes. Yes, I'm mean... but we aren't going to the ER with pneumonia and I already had to coat her down with Aquaphor tonight. Luckily when she woke up from her nap her dry face was so much better already and I think we won't have any blisters. I'm so thankful that her eczema seems to improve more and more as she gets older!

I gave her juice and graham crackers once we were inside and in warm, dry clothes and all was forgiven. :) Sweet girl!

What a beautiful day! I couldn't help but feel sorry for our dog Dakota though.. and the little birds that I'm sure thought they had gone far enough South for the Winter.

Of course, we thought it really sucked that JC had to work in this mess! Ick. We're so glad that he made it home safely, late, but safely and that's what matters the most!

But, now that we've seen snow, touched snow and taken a gazillion photos of snow I'm ready for Spring. Come on Spring!!!

he is so many things...

2010-01-23T22:00:00.005-06:00

but a plumber, he is not. :)

JC woke up this morning on a mission. A mission to tackle our Master Bathroom plumbing issue from the outside. Several months ago in a hope to change out the spout in our bathtub the old pipe simply broke off. Ick. Since we've been sharing the Guest Bathroom with Morgan. Yes. Lots of fun. Especially given the fact that Morgan is a toddler dedicated to potty training (at least most days). It's been on the back burner since we assumed the only way to this pipe was to remove the entire tub, since the tub & surround are one solid piece, but JC was given a wonderful suggestion. We could simply removed the vinyl siding from the outside of the house and reach the pipe from there. Hooray! No extensive remodel. A quick trip to Home Depot and we'd be all fixed up! I was ecstatic at the mere thought and JC was focused and confident.

Well it didn't exactly go as planned. There were three trips to Home Depot, assistance from our wonderful neighbor, lots of colorful words and JC standing in the dark, heavy rain, knee deep in water... even some sawing. When I looked up to see JC walk into the house with the saw I literally thought he'd been pushed over the edge and was now just going to saw the bathtub in half. Seriously. I wouldn't have blamed him if he had at that point. However, he only needed it to adjust the hole that was already there for one of the fixtures. In the end, finally, we had perfectly working, brand new Nickel finished fixtures. JC was finally able to turn back on the water at around 7:30 pm. Oh. Did I mention that during this ordeal we'd had to turn off the water? Oh yeah. No water. All day.

Morgan occupied herself by helping me with laundry.

By "helping" I mean using the Dryer door as her Baby's changing table. :)

(prior to having the water turned off, of course)

Late into the evening she decided it was enjoyable to yell at JC through the now hole ridden wall in the shower while he stood in knee-deep water on the outside. She thought this was hysterical and was totally entertained. I'm not so sure JC was doing nearly as much smiling on the other side of that wall, in the rain, standing in water and fighting with pipes that just wouldn't seal. I'm actually almost certain that there were absolutely no smiles until he turned the water back on for the last time to find no leaks!

It was quite an experience.

We learned a lot of things... the biggest being to always expect the unexpected. A lesson that we were already aware of and were unfortunately reminded was that any home project requires at least three trips to get supplies.

JC learned that he is not a plumber and never intends to pursue being a plumber... but he is capable of fixing a shower if absolutely necessary! He's appreciated so much by the two ladies in this house and we are sure that he is our hero and he can do anything... even plumbing work in the rain! :)

Now, the cleanup begins.

rain, rain, go away

2010-01-20T21:25:00.003-06:00

Today was such a gloomy day.

No pictures today because we just hung around in our PJs and there just wasn't anything extraordinary. Looking back now though I kind of regret that I didn't get a single one.

Morgan was pretty lazy today. She woke up a little over an hour earlier than she normally does and it made for a lazy day. She played some but mostly she just sat around watching her Elmo DVD's. Poor thing. She just couldn't get going this morning and in the evening we had some really bad weather and she was pretty scared of the thunder and lightning flashes. Every time it would thunder she'd grab on to me like something was going to get her and whine "Mooooommmy". I couldn't even peel her off to take a bath. Oh well, it wasn't worth a battle or any tears shed. It's hailing pretty bad right now and there is a Tornado watch / warning for our area. I just hope Morgan is able to sleep through it.

I began the Jillian Micheal's: 30 Day Shred DVD today. Oh My God. She totally kicked my butt. At one point, a little over half way through, the XBox had trouble reading the DVD for almost a full minute and I was so thankful. Ahhh, it was a miracle! I literally thought I'd die and that was the beginner level! I have a feeling it's going to take me more than a week to work up to Level 2. I am determined to stick with this though. I refuse to cry when it gets to be time for swimsuits and cute tops! Morgan is 20mths old now and I can't blame it on "the baby weight" anymore. I'm owning it now and I'm doing something about it.

we escaped

2010-01-19T21:15:00.002-06:00

We finally got out of the house and it was a bit of an adventure but what outing with Morgan isn't? My Mom had a Dr's appointment in town today so we went to meet her for lunch afterward.

I knew it was going to be interesting when I put Morgan in the carseat only to realize I'd gotten a bottle of water but no straw-cup. I ran back in the house, in the rain, to grab it off of the counter (JC calls to see how the days going during this and I quickly let him know I'll call him back.) and run back to the car to hand it to a screaming Morgan. She's busy screaming across the yard for Dakota to "SIT!" and Dakota isn't the least bit interested in sitting for her or anyone else. So, as I listen to shrieks of "SIT" in one ear and incessant barking in the other I reach across Morgan to grab her cell phone for her to play with and realize my knee is suddenly wet. Seriously?! After some investigation I realize that the bottle of water in her diaper bag is leaking everywhere. I begin to sling everything out of the diaper bag and onto the front seat. Whew, the only thing that perished was ONE diaper. I consider this a win. I ran BACK into the house and grabbed another bottle of water and we were finally on the road. Whew. I call JC back to tell him all about my drama and at the stop sign realize the trunk isn't closed all the way so I jump out of the car and close it, in the rain. Once we're on the highway I realize I've forgotten the bag of clothes I'd gotten together for Mom inside the house beside the door. I didn't go back...

We had a great lunch at Applebee's. Me and Mom had a nice time visiting and talking over different ideas. No bad news at her Dr's appointment and she has a referral for Physical Therapy which could turn out to be a major positive. I'm excited about that. Morgan had a wonderful time entertaining us and all of the waitresses. She's such a social little girl!

Afterward we came home and after a quick nap and a trip to the store for milk Morgan insisted that she continue her loud shrieking demands for Dakota to sit in our yard. HaHa. It wasn't much more effective close-up. Except Dakota did finally sit and Morgan proclaimed "NOW!" and clapped for her doing such a good job. Honestly, I think Dakota was just tired from all the barking and jumping around though. :) The photos from today are pretty horrible quality but all I had was my iPhone.

Notice the barrette in her hair? She is finally starting to warm up to the idea of having a barrette in her hair to keep her bangs out of her eyes. I figured when they reached that awkward stage of growing out where they were getting in her eyes she'd become more fond of them. :)

It was a pretty uneventful evening. Just more of the norm. Morgan insisted she had to potty at bedtime once she was tucked in and we ended up sitting in the bathroom for 35 minutes. Ugh. BUT tonight she did go potty finally so at least it wasn't wasted and was a successful trip. We're getting there!

Now, I get to clean the kitchen and wait for JC to get home! Whew.

monsters in the attic

2010-01-18T21:29:00.004-06:00

Well, we don't actually have monsters in our attic... but Morgan thinks that we do. Actually, she's pretty positive that they're up there and they're planning to bang their way through the ceiling to get her. Poor angel.

Yesterday JC's friend Tim came over to help with getting electricity hooked up to JC's new workshop. It was so nice of him to come over to help since he works a whole lot and JC is pretty psyched to have a shop with electricity. So, when it came time for JC to climb into our attic to pull some wires there wasn't a lot of thought given to the fact that Morgan was napping... and the fuse box is in her closet. Yes, JC sounded like 20 people in the attic fighting to get out crawling across the house in the attic and when Morgan heard it she let out the most horrible sound. She absolutely freaked out and wouldn't settle down for anything... which I'm sure is due to the fact JC was still up there crawling around while I told her everything was "ok". Poor thing. I put her shoes on and took her to the carport to watch JC climb down in hopes that she would have the realization of "Oh, it's just my silly Daddy". Well, from the way she's acted the past two nights I don't think she's bought it yet. She lays there in the dark holding onto me for dear life staring at the ceiling. She's convinced... there are monsters in the attic. Sigh. Last night JC was able to cuddle with her on the couch for several minutes and then lay her in bed but tonight he wasn't here so she insisted I let her hold my hand until she drifted off into dream land. Hopefully a dream land full of things she loves... like a land of Blues Clues with lots of juice to drink out of straw cups where she has a pet Moose, HaHa... definitely no attic monsters.

This morning I woke to a strange sound. It was the door of our guest bathroom opening. JC was in our master bathroom and Morgan was asleep, or at least I thought she was. I leaped out of the bed to look down the hallway and see her standing in the living room looking around like "where is everyone?" while I looked at her like "How in the world did you get out here??". How did she escape? Well, she laid her Sock Monkey on the floor for a little boost and she opened her door. Yes, it's a great big new world now, she thinks. I was a mixture of "proud Mommy" and "Oh crap!" but it was going to happen eventually and we're ready for it. Her door knob was already turned around because I was tired of her locking me out of her room and having to break into it so tonight we'll just lock the door. :) We'll also be getting the little plastic things to go over the other door knobs. Little stinker. I have to admit... I am pretty proud of her though and me and JC were pretty excited and tried to get her to do it again so we could watch this morning. She's so darn smart! We love it. :)

My Mom has a Dr.'s appointment in town tomorrow so we'll be meeting her for lunch. So excited to see her since we haven't seen her since Christmas. I hope her appointment goes well. Good news would be great! I also hope that Morgan is in a great mood and happy to see her MiMi for lunch after her appointment. :)

She's beginning to even out.

2009-12-08T17:00:00.000-06:00

That's what Morgan's Pediatrician said today. :)

Morgan had a fashionably late 18mth check-up today with her Pediatrician. At least we made it to her appointment on time. We were walking to her Pediatrician's waiting area as the Nurse called our name... just in time.

I hadn't ever met this Nurse before and although she was polite I don't think I hid my disappointment very well that our usual nurse wasn't there. I actually look forward to seeing her and she makes everything so much more relaxed and easy with Morgan. This nurse, even though she was friendly, did not radiate calmness or relaxation for either of us. We first got her weighed and measured. 28lbs and 32.5 inches. Such a long way from 7lbs and 19inches. It took SIX attempts to measure Morgan's head and she asked that I hold her down for her to do it. I am afraid that I didn't hide the look of "are you crazy lady" on my face because she immediately asked for me to hold just her hands down. Which, anyone who knows my child would know that was a recipe for disaster but I humored the demanding little woman and naturally it didn't help her in the least. Morgan became more agitated and was now outright angry at her and tried to headbutt her once. Finally out of pity for Morgan I picked her up and asked "You want to wear the neat headband?" and naturally she said "Uh-huh" and I gently wrapped it around her head, 18 inches.Finally done. You would think that this would have been a learning experience for the lady, but it wasn't. She then asked for me to hold Morgan's head against my chest so she could check her temperature in her ear. I told her that I would not restrain her just to have her temp taken and I asked Morgan if I could clean her ear and she got all excited and of course tilted her head in anticipation. So easy. I'm assuming since Morgan's Pediatrician is also an Internal Medicine Dr. that maybe this lady wasn't familiar with Pediatric patients. Morgan's Pediatrician and both of the other nurses in that office will be quick to tell anyone that Morgan is extremely smart but stubborn and has a temper out of this world. The one thing that absolutely infuriates her is being restrained and we all do anything we can to not have to go there with her. It gets ugly. At least that's all this particular nurse had to do today. If Morgan had needed shots or lab I would've asked for a different nurse. No way.

So we waited for Dr. S to get to us and it seems that this time of the visit becomes more and more difficult with each visit. She's so active.. and curious.. and strong willed.. and there is so much stuff in those little rooms. Whoever decided that BioHazard stickers should be brightly colored is on my hit list. Seriously, as soon as she wears me down and wiggles her way to the floor that's the first thing she goes for, the trash! That brightly colored sticker in a room full of white and gray just lures her right in. So, I spend what feels like an eternity (which was only about 10 minutes tops) trying to keep Morgan from opening drawers, digging in the trash (with that pretty sticker), unplugging things and beating on the door shouting "HEY!". She finally noticed the tissue box and begins to point at her nose and blow snot all over the place trying to convince me she needs a tissue. I already know where this is going but I finally give in and let her grab one which immediately leads to her gesturing and shouting "away" at me because now she has a reason to go to the trash. At this point she's worn me down and I give in and let her pull countless tissues out of the box to only walk across the room and toss them into the trash (that I held her at a safe distance above so that she didn't use it as an excuse to DIG in the trash) again and again. Oh well, my sanity is a lot more valuable than their box of tissue. :)

Dr. S said that Morgan is doing wonderful. She's now in the 75 percentile with her height AND weight. She said "Morgan has finally evened out and her height has caught up with her weight". We thought she seemed to be getting taller and thinner. She got a wonderful report on everything today. Her ears were great and Dr. S was impressed with all of those teeth she's been working so hard on lately. She said it's great that Morgan has such an interest in Potty Training and to just let her take the lead. She says that we shouldn't push her until we hit 2yrs old. We're in complete agreement. Right now there are some days that she will go ALL day with using the potty and then other days she never asks and when I ask her I get a very quick "No, No, NO!" So, we'll just keep giving her the option and see how it develops. We're still extremely proud of her!!! :) She also said that Morgan is extremely smart and that she can put herself to sleep just fine and that we're just waiting on me to decide that I'm tired of the nightly battle. Yes, Morgan has me figured out. I'm being played by a 19mth old. So, we're going to be working on that a lot now. :)

An example of the sheer determination and the fact she's too smart. As me and Dr. S talked I let Morgan play with my iPhone out of desperation. I knew that she could unlock it (which this alone astonishes me) but I had no idea that she knew how to rearrange my applications! I had to search for my Phone button so that I could call JC after the appointment. It's still a wreck and I'm not 100% sure nothing was deleted. Little heifer. :)

After her great appointment we went to Sonic so that I could get a Sweet Tea to celebrate while Morgan was napping away. :) It seemed like a win for both of us. The weather was so cold, windy and rainy that JC had pity on us and said he'd go grocery shopping after work so we didn't have to get out in the weather. Yay, no WalMart in the cold rain for us today! Thanks honey. :)

The early nap in the car did wreak havoc on her schedule though and I did have to demand a late afternoon nap though because she wasn't even happy being around herself. :) While she was napping I ran out to the mailbox and was ecstatic that her Christmas Stocking was finally here! I ran inside and put it straight up on the mantle. I love it and I'm so excited to put little things in there for her and let her finally touch it and open it on Christmas morning. I'm so excited. Right now her toys are stacked up on my side of the bed just waiting for me to get to wrapping them. I'm really behind this year. Ugh. You'd think I'd have everything done since I'm a stay at home Mom now but I'm no where close to being caught up with anything. Oh well, life gets easier each day and we form more and more of a routine and I know there will come a day that I can just relax during nap time without leaving things undone (like updating this blog).. one day.

some days...

2009-08-13T22:00:00.000-05:00

you just wish you'd stayed in bed.

Morgan had one of those days today. One of those days where I, as a parent, wish I could've traded places with her today. Today... on her fourth day at her new Day Care... she was bitten on the arm twice by another little girl in her class. Oh, it looks so sad. It thankfully did not break the skin but it is beginning to bruise. Oh, I just hate it. I wish desperately that I could put her in a big bubble. I, of course, was very emotional about the situation. I will admit that at first I was angry whenever I saw the marks on her arm and watched her pitifully rub it in the car. But once I gained control of my emotions and looked at it from the perspective of the other child's parents I became a bit more understanding. I mean, no parent wants their child to be a biter or to hurt another child. Why was I so angry? I don't know... I assume it's a normal first reaction. Me and JC discussed the situation ( him being the level-headed one in this relationship ) and came to the conclusion that we would just monitor the situation and if it became a regular occurence we would schedule a conference with the Director. But for now we're just going to hope for the best. He made a valid point that things like this are going to happen and there isn't anything we can do about it... I mean... one day she'll go to Kindergarten and some little snotty nosed boy is going to think she's cute and to show his affection I'm sure he'll pull her hair or push her down. There will be hurt feelings... scraped knees... and that's life. All we can do is be sure that she knows that at the end of the day she gets to come home to parents that adore her and will always be in her corner.

Until I became a parent I never truly comprehended the concept of the following quote...

"The decision to have a child is to know your heart will forever walk around outside your body." by Katherine Hadley

Now I get it and it is one of my most favorite quotes of all time now.

I gave her some Motrin before bed because it was beginning to bruise and she was obviously fretful about it. I'm hoping that she sleeps well and wakes up ready to start a brand new day with a smile on her sweet face.

Oh, I just wish I could protect her from everything.

a new beginning

2009-08-10T22:00:00.004-05:00

It was Morgan's very first day at her new Day Care.

She's a bit sad.

I'm a lot sad.

JC thinks I'm a Drama Queen. :)

This morning when I left her at Day Care she truly looked at me like I was crazy... just completely off my rocker. I guess that's to be expected since she's gone to her old Day Care nearly every day of her life for over a year now. It made me sad to see her so out of sorts. Poor angel. I wish she was old enough to understand what was taking place. :( She did cry when I was leaving, which isn't something I'm used to, but as I walked down the hall to leave I heard a beautiful sound... silence. She stopped. :) Oh, I don't know if I'd been able to walk out those doors if she hadn't. She's such a wonderful child... so much stronger than her Mommy in a lot of ways...

I attempted to call the Day Care around 3pm to check on how her day was going but the lady that answered the phone wasn't able to hear me on the phone. When I got there to pick her up she was sitting in Ms. Loraine's lap in the rocking chair and did not look happy. She wasn't crying but she wasn't happy... at all. Poor angel. Ms. Loraine said "she was a bit fussy" whenever I asked how her day was and then quickly added that "she's adjusting". Ahhh... I wish she didn't have to adjust. :( She did take a nap today though. Oh how I am missing my reports each day. It's driving me a bit nutty not knowing how long she napped and what she ate and drank today. But... I'll adjust... just like Morgan. :)

I sincerely hope that I've made the right decision. I'm crossing my fingers now...

it's so hard to say good-bye

2009-08-07T20:30:00.001-05:00

it truly is.

Today was Morgan's last day at her Day Care. Yes, it's that time. We start her new Day Care on Monday. These last 2 weeks have really flown by and I hadn't anticipated how sad it would be to walk out of there knowing Morgan wouldn't be going back there again. Not so much for me... but for her. I mean, she's spent more time at that place with them in these last 12mths than she's been at home with me. At least she wasn't sad. Ignorance is bliss. All of her teachers got lots of hugs from her this last week and especially today. They even had a little party for her! :) It was so sweet. They had Pajama Day and had lots of snacks all day. Her friend Julia (well, her mom Karla actually) got Morgan a Fisher-Price Purse like the one Julia has that Morgan was so infatuated with earlier in the week. That was so sweet! Julia has been one of her BFF's for a long time now... well... her whole life basically! Mrs. Amanda and Mrs. Leah were pretty sad too and I had to scold Mrs. Leah not to cry when we were getting ready to leave. Those 2 have taken care of Morgan since she was only 6mths old... that's 9mths. So, it was hard to leave them. They got Morgan the cutest little book and wrote her little notes on the inside. So sweet and I hope she keeps it always. :) I did give all of her favorite teachers and Karla my information though and I hope that they all do keep in touch. It'd be nice for Morgan to still have them in her life.

So, that was that. It sure is hard being a parent. Trying to make the best decisions for your family as a whole and your child personally. I know she really loves them and that place truly does feel like home to her... but just because she's grown attached doesn't mean it's the best place for her. I don't think.

Karla went during lunch time and took photos of all of them and hopefully I'll get copies of the pictures soon... once I do I'll edit them back into this post. :) Those will be wonderful to have as a reminder of her time there!

So, here we go (fingers crossed) hoping that Morgan handles this bit change ok.

It's so hard to say good-bye...

roll 'em up, roll 'em up

2009-07-24T21:49:00.002-05:00

throw 'em in the paaaaaaaaan.

Yes, "Patty Cake" was a big hit in our house this evening. "If You're Happy and You Know It" is still our favorite but it's taking a back seat tonight. :) She held onto my thumbs and made me do the hand gestures while she sat in my lap. She's silly. If I tried to sing something different she shook her head No at me and yelled. I think we sang "Patty Cake" about 30 times before she decided to move on... and I was grateful!

She's been doing really good since her shots. So far there has been absolutely no signs of Chicken Pox and I'm so thankful for that! Whew. She does have a knot and redness on one thigh but it doesn't seem to be anything abnormal. It doesn't seem to bother her unless something bumps it and then she just winces. She's a tough little girl. :)

This evening she demanded to have a "Na-nana" during Dinner and since they're about to ruin I gave in. I thought I'd make things easier for her and cut it into bite size slices... except it didn't work out like I'd planned. That little booger refused to eat it that way. She took about 4 bites and the refused to take anymore and violently fought to get to where the other bananas were. She demanded a new "Na-nana" and this time I cut it in half and let her bite off of it like she normally does... this was acceptable. HaHa. I think it's safe to say that she likes things done a certain way. :)

I'm so glad that today is Friday! Ahh. It's been a long week but we made it. :)

immunizations make us sad

2009-07-22T20:02:00.003-05:00

Very sad.

Today wasn't pleasant but it had to be done. I had procrastinated long enough. Morgan was in perfect health and the location of the van for the Shots For Tots was close to home... so it couldn't get any more convenient. So, I left work and picked up Morgan at 3:30pm and we headed to their location. Last time there was virtually no wait and the ladies were excellent with Morgan so I wasn't stressing about anything other than how Morgan would feel afterward. Well, I should've been very stressed about the whole experience. First I get to the parking lot to see other people standing outside the van but I'm still remembering our previous experience and think it will move quickly. It's 4pm at this point but it still feels like 110 degrees outside and as I walk up I hear the 1st couple in line complaining that at this point they'd been waiting for almost 2 hours because their computer connection was slow. What?!? That's not a good sign but at this point... I've taken off of work... gone to daycare and woke Morgan up from her nap... drove out to this little town and I don't see giving up as an option here. So, I get in line with 4 people ahead of me, the 2 directly in front of me holding 1yr old boys. I'm thinking that when these ladies see us out here with all of these little ones they're going to speed up or offer us to sit in the van with the A/C. I was wrong once again today. We stood for what seemed like forever and chatted about being first time Moms to 1 year olds. It was nice conversation but the heat was unreal and a mobile child is hard to contain in a parking lot. The longer we waited the worse it got. The kids got restless and wanted to roam around... then a lady pulled up in a van with a HUGE Great Dane and the kids went nutts wanting to pet the horse of a dog. After that ordeal Morgan got angry that the dog wouldn't "Mere'" and threw her cup of water on the pavement... nice huh? What's even better is it cracked the bottom of the cup. So, now I stand trying to hold onto a hot 24lb little girl who is fighting me to get down and run after this ginormous dog while holding onto shot records, car keys, cell phone and now holding a cup upside down to keep the water from leaking out... in a parking lot in like 100 degree weather. I was ready to DIE. Finally after standing out there for 1 hour and 15 minutes they called us into the van. I'm so deliriously happy to be in AC. Except now I need to fill out paperwork and have a conversation about the shots we're getting today and which are mandatory etc. and the whole while Morgan is fighting me with all her might to run around the van and visit with one of the little boys from earlier. So, I manage to complete my check-off sheet and now we wait for the computer to update to print out our information. I find out she's getting five shots today. Ahhh. This freaks me out but it has to be done. Now we wait... again. I find Morgan trying to make friends. Morgan wanting to be friends with the little boy is a good thing right? Wrong. It's more stress because he isn't used to being around kids his age and Morgan is... so she isn't "babying" him and she hurts his feelings when she pushes his hand off of the chair she's sitting in. Ahhh. They call the little boy back and we go to sit in the little room to wait to be called after him. At this point Morgan has had enough. She's hot... tired... hungry... bored... and just done with all of the waiting. Nothing I can do is making her happy and she's fighting me because she's wanting to just run wild. Ahhh. I felt like screaming in that little room. Finally they called us and I'm relieved to see the RN from last time because she was great with Morgan. She tells me that the Chicken Pox vaccine is a Live Virus and I try to tell her we don't want it then. Well, it isn't an option for Daycare or Schools... it's required. Ahhh. So, she got 2 shots in each thigh and one in her arm. She SCREAMED and it was so sad. I hated holding her there while they did it. :( The nurse loved Morgan and gave her a stuffed animal and a snack dispenser. Haha. Morgan was actually distracted by the dispenser and was ok once I got her in the car and moving. I gave her some Motrin and she passed out on the way home.

This is what a little girl gets for 5 shots... a stuffed teddy bear that was made by some little ladies at the local Nursing Home and a little snack dispenser. ( I'll try to get pictures of these items to show you just what the bear looks like. ) I think she got ripped off. HaHa.

What an experience!?!

I'm just so glad that it's over with now. Morgan desperately needed a bath but it just wasn't happening tonight. I'll scrub her down in the morning. I'm hoping she sleeps okay tonight. Poor angel. This Shots For Tots thing might be free and "convenient" but they shouldn't go to small towns if they're Wireless Network doesn't run correctly out there. I'll be going to the locations in town from now on if it isn't possible to get an appt. with her Pediatrician.

The silver lining today? It's done! :)

Tomorrow is a new day and I am so hopeful that Morgan sleeps good tonight and feels okay in the morning. Oh, I don't want her to get the Chicken Pox!

where does the time go...

2009-07-20T15:50:00.015-05:00

That is what I ask myself each evening as I get ready for bed. Where did the day go? Since my laptop has crashed I've just gotten farther and farther behind on this blog and it makes me sad. I really must do better!

So, I guess I should start with everything new with the princess. :)

She loves to fake sneeze.
Her new favorite food is bananas. She's recently started calling them "Noni" and we're working on that. :)
She said "I love you" for the first time to JC in the kitchen last week. It was by far the absolutely sweetest thing we've ever heard!
Tries to call animals [Stan's cats] by clapping her hands and yelling "Mere'" with her hand gesture. We think it's adorable however it frightens the cats and they want nothing to do with her. Poor thing would freak if they actually got close to her anyway.
She still loves to roll/throw a ball back-and-forth.
She lifts her shirt and slaps her belly. Thanks Uncle Adam. :)
She loves to talk on her play cell phone complete with a "HI" at the start.. followed by gibberish, laughter, hand gestures and hilarious facial expressions.. and then says "Bye Bye" and hangs it up. It's so cute and I wish I could understand everything in-between but we can only make out words here and there that she throws in. It's obvious that she knows exactly what she's talking about though. :)
She is strong enough now to open and close the microwave and she insists on doing it herself every time I heat up her food or a cup of milk.
Her favorite TV shows are Family Guy and Blues Clues.
She still seems to oddly be drawn to the color Orange.
She still only has 8 teeth in the front but now she has 1 molar on each side, top and bottom that have come through halfway. Her daddy says she's getting ready for steak! :)

She's done a lot of things for the first time, that she's loved, in the last month. She surprises me all the time with her fearless attitude towards life. I hope she's always so carefree!

Me & JC tried to put her in the blow-up pool in the backyard at Nonni's house and she just wasn't very interested in it and even though we were right there with her she really just wanted out. We were both kind of disappointed because we really wanted her to like the water and she just wasn't interested in it at all. So, later that day while the guys were playing golf us girls went to the pool at the clubhouse and Morgan was in love! She even played in a floatie that had been left there and seemed so happy floating around... kicking... slapping at the water... laughing... drinking pool water. Silly girl. After a while she began to look tired so I got out with her and sat in the shade while she drank a cup of milk... and passed out. She had a wonderful time though. We're so thrilled that she does indeed love the water and just wasn't impressed by the little pool. :)

On last Saturday we went to Jumpin' Jupiter for Austin's 5th birthday party and she had a wonderful time. The large room is set up with about 7 inflatable jumping things and slides. It was really nice and Morgan wasn't the slightest bit scared. I slid down with her the first time and her eyes got wide but she liked it. Then the next time I let her go (it was a smaller slide) and she slid all the way to the bottom where she landed against the inflated wall and platform squealing with delight. She loved it and we took her up time and time again. By the end of our time there she would try to find a way to climb up on her own (which of course wasn't possible) and we'd take her up to the top. As soon as we got to the top she'd start trying to scoot over to the edge so she could hurry and slide down again. It was so cute!!! :) I think her other cousin, Emma, is going to have her birthday party there next month and I'm sure Morgan will be even more excited then now that she knows how fun it is.

We've also had to buy her a lot more new clothes in the last week. Some of her 18mth clothes don't fit anymore! It's so sad. Now we're searching for brands that have a 24mth before the 2T because it seems to fit better. Oh, our sweet baby girl can't be in something that ends in "T" and not "mth" can she? She's growing up so fast...

she changes a little more every day

2009-06-16T16:36:00.010-05:00

It seems like Morgan turned a year old... and decided she can do anything!

She's always babbling these days and it's so cute and hilarious and we're just loving every bit of it (even when it's 2am and she just wants to tell me "Hi".. a lot)... but she's also learning lots of words and how to use them. Here is what she has learned so far:
MaMa - which is especially used when she's tired or upset about something, of course.
DaDa
Hi - she says this A LOT and when she's in trouble she'll smile real big at us and say "Hiiii" so sweet. I think it's an attempt to distract us from the fact she'd just been misbehaving. She will also hold her hand up to her ear as if holding a phone and say "HI!" with her head tilted. TOO CUTE!
Hey
Ball - she says this one quite often since her favorite toys are any type of ball.
'Mere - which is her version of "Come here" with hand gesture to go with it and she'll do it to objects like her ball, blanket and other things if she wants someone to get it for her. HaHa.
Bye-Bye
Mine
Tanks - that's "Morgan speak" for Thanks. HaHa. At least she's trying to be polite. I've even heard her actually say "Thank You" on a couple of occasions very plainly but she doesn't make a habit of it.
Banket - more "Morgan speak". This is her trying to say "Blanket" which is a hard word and we're working on perfecting this one since it's said A LOT around our house.
Bottle - even though she doesn't drink out of a bottle anymore and now it's a cup.
Bite

There are other words we've heard her say on occasion but it's not a regular basis so I don't know if those "count" or not. Those words would be: no, bad, please and here. It's so fun to hear her say new things and then get excited about them when she realizes you understand her. Not to mention I'm sure that I'm forgetting some... Mommy Brain.

She has developed the cutest little personality too! She's always making us laugh with her cheesy grins followed by "Hiiiii" when she peaks around a corner. Loves to dance to music from her toys and country music on the radio (she gets that from her Daddy). She's also became very fond of Adam's singing and guitar playing. She's totally infatuated and she'll sit and listen for a while and then dance and clap. She's his biggest fan! =D

She has became very attatched to her fuzzy pink blanket too and she grabs it up whenever we go to get her out of her bed to make sure we don't leave it behind, she'll carry it around with her when she's tired or she thinks we're going somewhere and she'll lay it out on the floor and fall onto it when she wants a nap. It's so cute but it makes it hard to find the opportunity to wash it (which it needs on a regular basis).

She likes to give kisses now and lean in to receive them. She'll be playing sometimes and all of a sudden take off running at us and fall into us for a hug. We love it! She's gotten so affectionate lately and we're really enjoying it since there isn't a lot of cuddle time because she's so busy! Sometimes when she's eating she'll even stop all of a sudden and want a hug and to sit in your lap for a minute. =)

She's mastered walking (as well as a clumsy 13mth old can) and is off to "speed waddling" now. =) She likes to walk and hold onto our finger and take us wherever she wants to go.

She's even been testing her climbing abilities lately. Yes, she will now climb into her rocking chair to stand up and reach for the door knob or to vigorously rock the chair almost catapulting herself. Ah, we're going to have our hands full. I would like to add though that said rocking chair is now living happily in the closet until this passes. She's also tried to climb her toys. (sing-a-long stage, fisher price kitchen sink, ride-on toy, fisher price activity table) You know, all of the toys that weren't designed to safely support a 13mth old monkey! Oddly, she hasn't ever tried to climb onto the furniture though. I'm sure she'll become interested with that next. I probably just jinxed myself.

There is never a dull moment... and we're loving every minute of it. :)

a weekend of recovery... sort of

2009-05-31T22:00:00.004-05:00

This weekend was supposed to be a weekend of recovery from the Mudbug Madness Festival... and all of the madness it brings this family. But... it didn't really end up being all that relaxing.

Saturday we went to eat Lunch at Applebee's with Stan and Morgan had a great time. She hadn't ever been there and she looked very pleased with the dessert menu she played with most of the time we were there. Then we ran errands... the guys got haircuts and bought video games. I am in love with the person who thought up putting a children's boutique next to the Game Stop in our mall. Brilliant. =D We didn't find anything there but after video games were purchased we headed to Beyond Pink & Blue and bought Morgan a new pair of shoes! It was so exciting and Morgan loves her new shoes. How did I possibly find shoes that this child loves? They squeak! She was jumping around and playing around in the store when she tried them on... she's in love and so am I. =D JC & Stan looked a bit frightened when we walked in at all of the girlieness in the little store but they were really good sports! Stan even found a hat that turns into a purse! I do not understand the purpose of that... and since I couldn't think of any rationalization for it we did not make that purchase. Still a wonderful trip and we'll be going back to that store... a lot.

Sunday has been just as tiring as yesterday. We went to have lunch at Mrs. Sherry & Mr. Mark's house with Clint, Danielle and the boys. After eating the men went to play golf while us and the kids went to swim. I almost didn't take Morgan because earlier in the day she hadn't been impressed with the kiddie pool we'd blown up for her and she needed a nap.. but I gave in. I'm so glad I did because she really had a great time. She kicked her little legs and hung out in a floatie. She was very impressed with the big pool! Then I sat down in the shade with her and she drank a bottle and passed out. Seriously... like arms thrown back and snoring passed out. Ha! Poor angel. Austin and Tyson had a great time and played and played while Morgan was napping. When she woke up we all went back to the house and hung out until the guys came back in. Then it was off to help friends put up a green house and she played with their little girl. She's adorable and looks just like the little girl in the movie Madeline. So cute. We finally left there to head home way passed Morgan's bedtime (8:15pm) and when she finally got home we gave her a quick bath and she was off to bed. She crashed!

So... as you can tell our weekend of relaxation and recovery was pretty busy and there wasn't much relaxing squeazed in there at all. But Morgan had a great time and I think she's going to sleep very good tonight and probably not be pleased with me whenever I wake her up in the morning... since I'm sure she won't want to wake up on her own. Ha!

Now, it's time for us to head off to bed too. Ah, I wish tomorrow wasn't Monday!

mudbug madness

2009-05-23T20:27:00.005-05:00

Today was a wonderful cloudy day.

What makes a cloudy day wonderful? Fun times with some of the people you love the most! Mom and Joshua came up yesterday afternoon to spend some time with Me and Morgan (yes, especially Morgan). Morgan woke up this morning in an absolutely wonderful mood after sleeping 11 hours. She was toddling around squealing and smiling. It was so cute and I'm so glad she was so happy to spend time with her MiMi and Josh. After we got dressed (and Morgan took one of her marathon naps) we headed into town to do a little Mudbuggin'.

Josh had a lot of fun, I think. He got to do the bungee jump thingie and he was ecstatic and kept shouting that he felt like James Bond. It was such a great moment.

Morgan did some visiting with her daddy since she's missed him the last few days with all the hours he's been putting in at the festival. We both miss him terribly and are looking forward to next weekend when we get him back to ourselves. JC came to pick us up in the parking lot on the golf cart and Morgan was ecstatic. She smiled and squealed and shouted "Weee" the whole way! I wish there had been a way to get a picture of that... but we'll all have settle for our mental pictures. I'm sure it won't soon be forgotten.

She was perfectly content sitting in JC's lap eating my fries and dancing to the live band.

She also socialized with all of her Mudbuggin' family and friends. Ms. Nancy was so right when she said "All she needs is a t-shirt and a badge!" because she seemed right at home dancing backstage to the band. =D I think it's in her blood!!! HaHa.

It was a wonderful day and I'm so glad that Mom and Josh came up to spend it with me. I hated for them to leave this evening but I know how it is to want to sleep in your own bed.. and I'd still have hated to see them leave tomorrow. It's always so nice to spend some one on one time with them when it's not a holiday or social event. I think Morgan liked it better one on one with them too. =D She got to where she would follow Mom and Josh around the house and didn't act like she really wanted them going anywhere either. She loves them bunches.

a bumpy weekend

2009-05-11T09:58:00.007-05:00

Yes. It was very bumpy for little Morgan. Poor girl was a wobbling accident this weekend.

Friday night she went to bed at her normal time but she still woke up at 4 a.m. for some reason. Probably because she gets used to whenever JC leaves for work I walk into her room and cover her back up with her blankie... and on the weekends I do not. I guess I'm going to be setting an alarm for 3 a.m. and sleep walking in to cover her up and going back to bed. Not such a bad idea... since then she'll sleep to about 7 a.m. probably and I'll still be getting much more sleep that way. I look forward to the day that she can grab and cover herself with her blankie. Right now her efforts only lead to her laying on top of it.

Once I realized that we were up for the day I decided to get some things done.. like loading the dishwasher and doing some laundry. Well, while I hurriedly finished throwing the last couple of items into the dishwasher Morgan decided to chew on the lid of an empty gallon jug of water. I paused, thinking it wasn't her brightest choice of toys... but decided it wouldn't hurt anything for just one second while I put the detergent in the dishwasher and it'd keep her occupied while I did such. Well, in that one second she managed to gnaw on the lid... then stand up with it and try to wobble over to show it to me and fall on it. Her falling was no surprise... the blood flowing from the tip of her nose was a huge surprise though. Apparently, she landed just right on the jug to hit her nose on the chewed up lid and cut her little nose. Ahh. How do these things happen? I don't think I could do that on purpose. It looks so pitiful and I feel just awful about it. However, she's already over it. Haha.

Later in the day we went to watch Austin play T-Ball and those kids were so cute out there. Austin has become a great little T-Ball player. He played another great game and it was really enjoyable except it was pretty hot outside. Morgan seemed to enjoy it for the most part. She had fun watching everyone play and then she had a realization. Dirt is edible... sort of. Yes, it became a constant battle to keep her from sitting herself down on the concrete and trying to feast on the dirt the kids shoes had tracked up. Then it went down hill for our precious angel. I was sitting in one of the soccer mom chairs (I don't know the proper name for these, sorry) with the bag draped behind it. Perfectly normal thing to be doing at a T-Ball game... and perfectly safe too... I thought. I was wrong. Morgan was wobbling around my chair and went to catch herself from falling and she grabbed the bag instead of the chair and it of course did not hold her up and she hit her forehead on the chair leg. It left a big bruise and she was so sad. Our little wobbly girl is just a danger to herself. It wasn't bad enough that she has this gash on her nose but now she has the cut and a knot on her forehead. She is a pitiful sight!

We're crossing our fingers that she learns to walk better quickly or we may have to buy her a helmet! HaHa. The scary thing is they make those things and apparently people buy them. (if you're one of those people I apologize in advance)

the sweetest moments

2009-05-08T20:47:00.004-05:00

When I sit and think of Morgan [which is often] it's the little things that make me smile...

I never think about if she can walk yet. I think about how she waddles around like a little pregnant lady and sticks her booty out behind her to keep her balance whenever she stops to stand.

I don't stop to think about how many hours she slept the night before. I do always think about how sweet she is when she lays her head on my shoulder and begins to hum and make her sweet sounds to put herself to sleep.

I never think about how many times she bites me [yes, me and only me]. I do always think about how many times she gave me sweet little slobbery open-mouthed kisses!

I don't think about her trying to grab my cell phone or the remote control when she catches me not looking. I do always think about the moments that she grabs me and gives me a big hug out of nowhere.

I don't think about all the days that she yells at me from her carseat. I do hope to always remember listening to her sing herself to sleep and times like today when a song came on the radio and every time the singer sang "Kiss me through the phone" she would blow kisses. Those sweet little open-mouthed back-handed kisses! =D

I don't think about any of the times she's been sick and throwing up. I do think about how when she was sick she'd always pull me close to her b/c she felt comforted. [melts my heart]

I don't think about her being tired and cranky in the car. I do think about JC sitting in the backseat with her while I sang "If you're happy and you know it" over and over and over again.

I don't think about all of the book corners she's chewed up. I do think about her picking up a book to waddle it over to me or JC to cuddle up in our laps and read with her.

I don't think about her pouring water all over herself and the floor. I do think about how cute she looked trying to drink out of JC's bottle of water.

I don't think about the number of times I've had to go and open her bedroom door after she's closed herself in there or the fact that she knows how to do it. I do think about the most adorable smile on her face when she peeks from the side of the door when it's opened.

I don't think about how long we sat in traffic or why each day. I do think about the time that I spend laughing and playing with Morgan or watching her cute little facial expressions while she naps in the rear-view mirror.

This is what I realized today... that I keep writing about things that aren't even all that important to me. At least not the most important... not the things that get me through each day. I'm going to try and write less about the specifics and day-to-day routines and more about the things that make my heart melt. =D

If you're reading this and there's a moment that you think about sweet Morgan and you'd like to always remember it feel free to leave it in a comment here. =D

becoming an expert

2009-04-25T16:56:00.005-05:00

Yes, she's mastering this walking stuff. She's not just walking from me to JC or one toy to the next anymore. She has also mastered getting into a standing position without the assistance of anyone/anything. If she gets wobbly and falls down she just gets right back up again. We're so very proud of her. It's so cute! It's more of a waddle and when she pauses she sticks her booty out behind her to try and balance herself. I can't believe how quickly she's learning all of these things. I thought it would take much longer for her to master standing up on her own but she's doing it so well... so quickly. Such a smart and strong little girl!

She'll be running through the house before we know it. =D

She was a very tired little girl this morning...

She was a good sport and sat in her new chair to drink her bottle. It's actually her Birthday gift from me and JC but she's testing it out. =D

what a tiring day

2009-04-21T18:38:00.007-05:00

Our precious girl had a very busy day today! So busy that she's asleep in her bed right now... yes, I know it's only 6:30pm and that's even early for her. She actually fell asleep at 5:30pm whenever I put her in the carseat at DayCare.

Why is she so tuckered out? Well she spent all day practicing up on her walking! Yup, she's becoming quite a little intermediate now. =) She is starting to master long distances (Play Mat to Swing) and she's working on turns (these look like she's pivoting on one leg.. she stays on her right leg and throws the left one around until she's facing where she needs to go, HaHa) and she's recently started trying to push herself off the floor into a standing position. I'm very proud of this new standing without assistance thing. She's been working hard at it lately. She's so interested in working on this skill that she decided that she did not need a nap this afternoon. She had one nap today for 45 minutes and that put her waking up at 11:15am. So, that was a short nap a very long time ago. I have my fingers crossed that she wakes up soon because she desperately needs a bath.

Uh Oh, she's waking up. To be continued....

Morgan finally went back to sleep at a little after 8:30pm. She wasn't in a very good mood whenever she woke up. Just really tired but in good spirits. Poor angel has a very bad cough too and I think that's the only reason she woke up in the first place. This weather is insane! It's Winter one day and Summer the next. It's no surprise that she's a bit congested... the entire state probably is right now. I hope she feels herself again very soon!

Oh... we found out that she LOVES Spaghetti.

three steps

2009-04-05T21:05:00.005-05:00

Yes... three steps! She took three steps on her own today! It was so great! J.C. was holding her hands as she walked to Adam and he let go of her hands and she kept going. =) We knew she could do it. We still haven't been able to get her to do it again though... but I'm sure it won't be long now. You can already tell she's thinking about it everytime she lets go of something but she always ends up crawling instead. Silly girl. She'll be walking everywhere before we know it. We're so excited! Oh, and Adam is thinking he's pretty special now since she took off walking from JC to him. =) She loves all of her "uncles". I'm hoping that we'll be able to capture it on video soon! We're working on it... but she only does it whenever she "wants" to and so far we haven't been able to convince her to repeat it. HaHa. Little stinker.

I'm not at all excited about tomorrow being Monday. I'd much rather me and JC be at home practicing walking with Morgan, of course. But... we have to work to pay for her toy and clothes addiction. Ahem, yes... it's her addiction not ours! =) At least it's a short week though and next weekend will be Morgan's first Easter. She's excited... she told us. HaHa. Ok... that's a lie. =)

******************************

(Edited to add Video)

These videos were taken on April 11th. She's still wobbly but she's getting better every day. Yay for Morgan! =) We're so proud of her!!

things are looking up

2009-04-02T08:41:00.008-05:00

It seems like the moment I'm about to come unraveled everything starts to come together again. Whew. =)

First off... here is a picture of our poor little pitiful girl. This is from about the time she got that virus and she just looks so pitiful to me here. I'm sorry there haven't been many pictures lately but it just seems that in every picture there is a runny nose or her eyes look red and she just looks kind of tired. She looks oh so very cute though. =)

I hope to be posting a lot more pics of her again though b/c hopefully after yesterday's appointment she'll be feeling lots better soon. =) It went extremely well and I feel so much more positive about all of it.

First, we did have more nose bleeds on yesterday morning and she was looking extremely pitiful walking into see Dr. S yesterday! The first thing Dr. S did was help me get her face all cleaned up and then she looked at me and said "Oh, I'm so glad you brought her in b/c she just does not look like herself! Something is wrong here."

There was blood work and we stuck her finger this time and it went a lot better than her heel has been going. She protested but it wasn't anywhere near the usual ordeal. We only had to prick her finger once. The blood work showed that her Platelet levels were perfect and her White Cells were only a little elevated. So, the drainage was beginning to turn into an Upper Respiratory Infection, most likely. Dr. S prescribed her 10 days of antibiotics so we could stop it before it ever really began. =) I wish we could catch everything that early.

Dr. S checked her nose once we got her all cleaned up and there were no signs of anything wrong. So, it must be just bleeding due to her allergies. We're going to be giving her the normal allergy meds she's been taking plus Zyrtec now. She said not to expect a huge change over night but within a week we should be able to tell a big difference. Yes! Wonderful news! This is what I've been wanting to hear. Dr. S agreed that for her allergies to be this bad in late March before Spring has really hit we needed to get more aggressive with her treatment now. When she goes back for her 1yr check up in May we'll evaluate her dosage and discuss where to go from here. I'm hoping this gives her some relief!

Her Stats Today Were:
20lbs 8oz 29 inches

She went back to daycare afterwards and she took a really long nap at lunch time. She was exhausted from such a busy morning at the Dr's office. Poor thing.

Tonight it was crazy the amount of meds she's having to take at bedtime. Three different things! Oh well, the antibiotic is just for a few days and hopefuly this is going to make a big difference. She went to sleep a lot easier tonight and I hope that's a sign that things are going to get easier at bedtime too. =) Whew.

tired

2009-03-31T12:44:00.020-05:00

Yes... just tired.

I know this is primarily a blog about Morgan... and this is a lot about Morgan... but a ~~little~~ lot about me just venting. So, if you don't care to witness my vent just come back tomorrow. =) I just need to get it all out...

I'm tired. Just... TIRED.

(I'm even tired of saying that I'm tired)

I'm tired of our precious little girl being sick all of the time more than anything else.

I'm tired of being, what feels like, permanent members of the "snotty nose club".

I'm tired of chronic diaper rashes when we didn't have a single one for months and months of her life. Now it seems like it never goes away.

I'm tired of dreading nap time and bedtime because my sweet and cuddly precious baby girl bursts into a hysterical tantrum when I try to rock her to sleep. This results into what can be an hour of me trying numerous things to console her and help her slip off into dream land. I've simply let her go and lay on the floor (since she's flailing about and pushing me away anyways) and placed her in bed to try and put herself to sleep (thinking maybe she just doesn't want me) and none of those worked either.

I'm tired of Daycare telling me how wonderful she's gotten at putting herself to sleep for them there... while it gets increasingly worse for us at home.

I'm tired of being told Morgan's allergy medicine is all that they'll prescribe for her due to her size when I know plenty of other children that are on other various types of medicine and doing extremely well because of it.

I'm tired of calling the Pediatrician's office to only leave a message and wait... and wait... and wait for a call back from them. Whenever I call my Dr's office I want to speak to a person that knows something other than how to pull her chart... period... I don't want to leave a message and it just annoys me to have to. (although I do understand why... I just don't like it when they only return calls at two times during the day!!!)

I'm tired of the fact that when I do finally speak to someone at that office they tell me things that I already know and never have a solution or alternative to what we're already doing (that happens to not be working). It's always the same thing "Well Dr. S said..." I wish she'd just call me herself or hire nurses that are educated enough to answer any additional questions I might have!

I'm tired of feeling like all I do is complain. If I'm not complaining about something else it's that I'm tired. Which, you guessed it. I'm tired of feeling.

I'm tired of updating this blog because it depresses me to type out all of the things she's doing and accomplishing b/c it just makes me realize that she's becoming more of a Toddler and less of a Baby each day. (but I realize I'll want to remember this all one day... even the part about being tired) =)

I'm tired of every day that I take off from work is due to Morgan being sick. I want to take off a day of work to do something I want to do and Morgan to not be sick anymore!

I'm... just... tired. Period.

Sorry if something I say offends anyone. I'm sorry. It's nothing personal and I love you all.

I guess that I just needed to vent. Maybe this will help?

I know... it will get better and this will pass. Knowing me I'll be fine tomorrow. Maybe it's because tomorrow is April Fools Day. Oh how I loathe that day...

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As I was typing that last sentence Dr. S herself called me back. No nurses with messages this time! She says that she's concerned with the fact Morgan's nose bleeds started after the Virus she just had and that with that virus she began having the bluish feet and hands with her fever. She wants us at her office at 8:30am to do blood work and ck her Platelet count etc. to make sure it's allergy related and be on the safe side. If it is allergy related she mentioned to me that she'd like to explore other allergy medications possibly.

WOW! I can't believe that before I could even finish typing this a lot of my "issues" were fixed! Amazing. Maybe I should start venting more often? HaHa. Oh, thank God, we might actually be able to get Morgan well for a change! That would be so nice.

Oh God, please let this be the answer to all of our prayers and all of this be "normal" and "allergy related". I can't imagine what I'd do if it was something seriously wrong.

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Of course, everyone remember to keep Stellan & his family in your thoughts and prayers. Nothing we're going through can begin to compare with what they're dealing with in their lives right now.

Not Me! Monday - Stellan Style

2009-03-30T12:53:00.008-05:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday. This blog carnival was started by MckMama as a "therapy" session for others to admit to all of the things that they have ~~not~~ been doing during the past week "for the purpose of confessing our shortcomings and imperfections to each other since, after all, we are all only human!" (MckMama's words). I stumbled onto her blog months ago and usually everyone would head over to her blog to join in all the fun. But this week is different. MckMama's youngest son is very sick with a very serious heart condition and needs lots of prayers. He's truly a precious little miracle and has such an amazing Mama. I would like to encourage anyone reading this to go over to her blog and read Stellan's story. This week's Not Me! Monday is being hosted by Natalie since MckMama is busy with Stellan and her other small children. The reason I felt compelled to participate for the first time this time is because this week it's being done for Stellan & MckMama to let them know how much we're all thinking of them and hopefully lift MckMama's spirits. So... here it goes.

I did not pray more in this past week than I have in my entire life for a precious boy I've never touched and his Mom that I've never met because that would mean that I don't have nearly enough faith on my own and it took a sweet little boy's story to make me feel the need to pray. That would be a bit sad and could not possibly be true.

I did not laugh out loud when I saw the picture of Small Fry wearing her goggles indoors and have to explain myself to my co-workers. My co-workers do not worry about my sanity.

I do not hit refresh on MckMama's blog so much that I have began to worry that I will be labeled a "Blogger Stalker". I would never be that involved with another person's life. Her blog is not the first thing that I check each morning.

I have not shed a single tear looking at the photos of precious Stellan in the hospital. It does not make my heart ache in a way I never thought possible to see that sweet boy's face.

I did not question my relationship with a person who didn't show interest in Stellan's story. Their lack of interest/compassion did not make me decide they weren't the type of person I wanted to call my friend.

I did not send out a request for everyone I know on Facebook to join his group and I did not make a mental note of those that took the time to read his story and join... and those that did not.

I do not give Morgan more hugs and kisses since reading Stellan's story and thank God each day... numerous times a day... that she's healthy and I'm her Mom. It did not take someone else's story for me to realize how blessed I am.

I most certainly have not lost sleep and had much stress trying to think up a creative way to display Stellan's name. That would be ridiculous and so un-like me.

I do not give my husband and others updates on Stellan if they ask for them or not. I would not ever feel the need to discuss someone I've never met in great lengths with everyone I speak with.

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I am so thankful that God somehow had me stumble upon MckMama's blog several months ago and I was so drawn into her family's story and her outlook on life that I stuck around and began to ck the blog each day. Then... the unthinkable happened when Stellan got sick again... now I ck her blog so much one would probably label me a stalker. I can't help but be consumed with adoration and love for this family. I think MckMama is a truly amazing Mom, Wife and Woman and I long to be half of the person that she is with my family.

Oh, God, please heal Stellan.

always changing

2009-03-26T20:08:00.003-05:00

Morgan decided to sleep through the night last night and I even had to wake her up this morning. =) Could I be getting my perfect little sleeper back? Ah, that would be so wonderful.

Tonight I rocked her in the chair instead of cuddling on the couch the way we've been doing for months now. Apparently... change works. She was relaxed and talked to me until her little eyes slammed closed. Whew. I'll sit with her anywhere she wants to if it keeps her from screaming and thrashing around like she's been doing. Some of the ladies at Daycare suggested that I start just putting her to bed awake and letting her put herself to sleep. I told them she'd scream and they patted me and told me she would be just fine. Ah! I realize they're telling me this b/c she does put herself to sleep at Daycare perfectly fine. So, we know that she can do it... she just won't do it for me. I might give it a try this weekend but if she gets really upset I don't think I can deal with it. At this rate I may still be rocking her to sleep when she's 12 yrs old. HaHa. But... I'm ok with that. =)

This evening me and Morgan were playing and she was throwing herself backwards while I pulled her back up (she loves this game thanks to Stan.. haha) and I discovered something. I went and inspected a little further and it was without a doubt two more teeth poking through on the top! The teeth on either side of her two front teeth have broken through the skin now. Yay. That's what is wrong with our little angel! She's been working on two teeth. I'd be cranky too. They aren't all the way out yet but they've broken the skin now and I'm sure that's the worst part of it. Whew.

She had a great day yesterday but today was a bit ruff. She has a diaper rash. Yup, we cure one ailment and something else happens. Hrmmm... could we have gotten a Lemon? =) Just kidding. She's precious and we're working hard to get rid of it and move on to happier times. She's still a good bit congested too and I've started her back on her allergy medicine and hopefully it will knock it out and we won't have to go back to the Dr.'s office. They know us there really well now.

Morgan is starting to stand on her own more and more each day. She's getting so brave and we're very proud of her. She'll be walking before we know it. =) I'm not ready to be the parent of a "Toddler"... I want her to be a "Baby" for for-ev-er!!! So sad... but exciting.

Me & JC are still pretty congested but we're mending too. Hopefully we'll all be well again soon. I plan to wash everything in this house in hopes that once we get rid of this mess we don't pass it around again. So not fun.

no more sleep

2009-03-24T21:04:00.009-05:00

at least whenever I think that she needs to be asleep. She'll rub her eyes and give every cue that she's sleepy and I've even tried a little before & after her normal bedtime and she still fights me with every fiber of her being. I don't get it. Maybe it's because of all of the Motrin / Tylenol she's been getting lately? Maybe it's because she's hitting another milestone (she's standing more and more each day and I don't think walking is far off)? I'm not sure... but I really wish she could tell me what she needs or what is wrong b/c I just don't have a clue anymore and I hate to see / hear her so unhappy (not to mention I'm exhausted).

Well last night she went to sleep without a single complaint. I was so impressed and shocked... just absolutely ecstatic. I had no idea what lie ahead though. We went to bed at about 10pm and at 1am Morgan decided I'd slept enough. At first I thought she was just doing her normal squirming and talking in her sleep but she quickly became annoyed and started saying "MaMa MaMa" and I could tell she was standing at this point. So... I drug myself out of the bed expecting to pick up a sick little girl with a fever, a nose bleed or dirty diaper. I was sure to be so insistent she must have an ailment. To my surprise... there wasn't anything wrong with her at all (at least from what I could tell). So, I figured she might just need to cuddle a minute since she'll do that from time to time & we're both back to bed within 20 minutes so I don't mind it much... plus she does it like once every month or so... so it isn't a habit. However, this wasn't one of those nights either. She was so sleepy but she fought me with everything she had to not go to sleep. She screamed, stiffened herself, threw herself about, pushed, and pulled to get away from me. But, when I'd give up and let her sit up away from me or put her down on the floor she'd claw at me to stay against me and cry hysterically if I put her down. I have no earthly idea what her deal was. We did this from 1am until 4am. At this point we were both absolutely exhausted and the only way she would stop screaming was if I held her upright while standing and I just didn't have the strength left to do that. At 4am I tried the only thing left to do... the thing that we swore we wouldn't do for fear of her making it a habit... I made a bottle. At that moment I would've given her anything she wanted. She drank her bottle and it did seem to help calm her somewhat... but she still put up a good fight for another 15 / 20 minutes. Then... at 4:30am... she fell into a deep sleep. I'm not sure where my wonderful little sleeper has gone but I am hoping that she makes it back very soon.

I spent today trying to keep my eyes peeled open. It was horrible. Ick. JC woke up this morning with a fever but he still drug himself to work. Poor thing. I believe he'll stay home tomorrow. I really hope he's over this crud quickly though. I've forgotten what it's like to have everyone in our house well at the same time. I'm really looking forward to it though.

On a positive note... Morgan had a wonderful day at Daycare today! =) She was glad to be back and playing with her friends. Everyone missed her and she missed them too. I'm so glad. I still missed her like crazy though. She had Spring Pictures today and I had no idea. So, she wasn't really dressed for it but they said she was so cute and the lady fell in love with her and took tons of pictures of her. lol Ah, I guess we'll be getting some of these from the sound of it. I'm just glad they're using someone different this time. The previous lady wasn't easy to deal with at all.

Well, we're off to bed. I need sleep! Ahh. I hope Morgan thinks she needs sleep tonight too.

still fighting

2009-03-23T20:17:00.004-05:00

and I think she's finally starting to win against this stuff. Her congestion got a lot better throughout the day today. She even went to bed easy tonight instead of the war we've been having.

Yesterday morning she woke up without any fever and we were all very excited that maybe it all was behind us finally. She was still congested but there not being any signs of fever was still a major improvement. So JC went ahead to his parent's house and I got Morgan layed down for a nap so that I could get dressed. When she woke up I gave her a bath, got her dressed in her Orange top and Khaki cargo skirt and we headed out the door ourselves. She was still in a good mood... a little sleepy headed but in a great mood.

It was a good morning and she visited with everyone. She went to anyone that wanted to hold her and spent a lot of time in her Nanny's lap. They both really enjoyed that and even went for a walk in the garden. =) I'm so glad she got to spend so much time with her since it's not often enough that they get to see each other. It got time to eat and we all went inside. I fixed my plate and help Morgan while JC fixed his. I thought she felt a bit warm but she'd been outside with her Nanny so I figured she'd gotten a little heated in the sun. When JC got her to eat though she still felt a bit warm and he decided to ck her temp. The thermometer confirmed it with 102.1 that the fever was back. =( She ate just a bit more of her Daddy's food & I gave her some Motrin. She finally just didn't seem interested in eating and she looked really tired and pitiful. I got her, blankie and her teddy bear and she sat and cuddled with me in the chair while everyone finished eating. Her little eyes would slam shut and someone would walk by and she'd jerk herself awake... so afraid she'd miss something. JC came and got her from me with her blankie and sat down on the couch with her. Within 10min she was dead asleep and she for over 2hrs and didn't wake up until everyone was gone. Poor angel. Once she woke up I took her home and JC went to get us a new dryer. He got us a new Maytag and it's so wonderful to have a new dryer. He did great. He got it all installed and everything whenever he got home. Unfortunately, I cked my temperature whenever we got home and I had 100.7 myself. Uh Oh. I knew I didn't feel right but I thought maybe I was just tired. Bleh. I guess Morgan wanted to share with me. =( JC was out of sorts from the Zyrtec he'd taken that afternoon too. We were all just a pathetic bunch.

The rest of the evening was just Morgan getting ready for bed and Stan came by for a little bit. He watched some TV with us for a while and then he went home & we went off to bed ourselves. I decided to take some more Tylenol and think positive that we'd all feel better the next day.

I called the Dr's office today and they said that her fever continuing like this is normal and that my fever is most likely a touch of what she has. Ick. The nurse told me to keep giving her the medicine and Dr. Smith believed the fact she went so long fever free that she was on the mend and this is normal. If she doesn't maintain being fever free within the next 48hrs she would like for me to call her. By this evening I began believing that she's better now and I'm hoping she can make it through Daycare tomorrow. We're going to give it a try.

She is still pretty sensitive though and I do hate taking her. It's always hard for me to take her back when we've been at home together for a few days. Especially when she's still a bit whiney. I desperately hope that she has a good day tomorrow. I really need to get back to work and we're just going to have to give it a try though and see how things go. Hopefully she'll feel fine and be happy to go and play with her friends and Mrs. Amanda & Ms. Leah. =)

a ruff morning

2009-03-21T21:33:00.004-05:00

Morgan woke up several times during the night but always went right back to sleep in less than a minute. She seemed to just be pretty restless. Poor angel. I sympathize b/c I know I'm fussy and it's hard for me to sleep when I'm all congested. So, this morning when she decided she was up for the morning at 7:40am I hurried and fixed her bottle and went to get her from her bed... and she was the most pitiful sight. Apparently during the night her nose had bled some from all the congestion she's been having. She had a little bit of bloody snot coming from one side of her little nose and all of this dried blood on her nose and cheek. So sad! Me & JC got a warm washcloth and cleaned her face all up and then JC helped me clean out her nose with the aspirator. She put up a lot of protest but you could tell she could breathe much better whenever we were done. I had thought it'd just started when she woke up but there was little blood spots in 3 corners of her bed. I felt bad that I hadn't know her nose was bleeding during the night! But... in all actuality there wasn't any way to know. It really didn't hurt anything and I can't run into her room every time she makes a sound. (although a lot of times I fight myself from running in there too quick & she goes back to sleep 99% of the time within the minute) She felt a bit warm so we gave her some Motrin & she drank her bottle. She played for a little bit and then went off to take over a 2 hour nap. She was a very tired little girl.

Whenever she woke up we went to WalMart to pick up a few things and she got a little green/white sun dress. It's cottony and soft... it will be perfect for lazy summer days. =) We also ran into Mrs. Cathy and she just fell in love with Morgan. =) Of course, she's quite lovable. Pops came by this afternoon also when he heard I'd ran into Mrs. Cathy. It was good to see them both and they seem to be doing very well. Pops also took the old Stove & Microwave and it was nice to get that out of our hands. Now we don't have to worry with what to do with it and hopefully someone will get a little more use out of them.

Later in the evening we went to my In-Laws house so that we could visit and JC could start cooking for the lunch on Sunday. JC & Mr. Mark got everything that they could and got a pretty good jump on tomorrow. =) Morgan entertained herself while we got things ready by making laps around the kitchen in her walker. There weren't a single set of toes or an ankle in the house that was safe. Haha. Before we left Morgan sampled the Potato Salad and got angry when we wouldn't let her have more. She definitely approved! Morgan gave her Noni lots of hugs while we were there and I think the both of them cannot wait for her wrist to get better so they can cuddle. Hopefully Mrs. Sherry will get better fast and be back to doing all of the things that she loves and enjoys... like holding all of her grand-babies.

All & all it was a good day. Morgan seems to be on the mend and I hope that she enjoys herself tomorrow visiting with family. The worst part right now is the congestion.

Whew, We made it to Friday.

2009-03-20T21:34:00.003-05:00

I'm so glad we've gotten through the week.

Last night after I typed up the blog she woke up screaming and we had a very very hard time getting her into bed. I think it was after 11pm before she went back to bed. She was so upset. It was really sad and I'm sure her throat just hurts. Every time she has a coughing fit she gets very upset and she just can't calm back down and get back to sleep. Me and JC cuddled her and rubbed her back until she finally settled down. I thought she'd sleep late but she was awake at 7am but I think it was only b/c she was coughing b/c she still acted pretty tired.

Today was long and Morgan's congestion is just awful. Poor angel. Luckily there are no blisters (unless there is something in her mouth that I can't see) and we seem to have dodged that. Now I'm just really concerned about all of the congestion and her cough. I guess if that doesn't clear up soon we'll be back at the Dr. to see what to do about that. She's been congested for so long that we can't help but to worry about pneumonia. =( I couldn't believe that she doesn't have an ear infection. Whew. That was good news.

She played a bit more today and was a little more interested in eating but still didn't eat anywhere close to her norm. Whenever she first woke up she was so congested that I couldn't get her to drink her bottle at all. She'd shake her head No every time I'd try to offer it to her for an hour or so. I finally convinced her to drink 4oz of Pedialyte out of her bottle. Whew. That was around 10am. I was beginning to really worry about it. A little bit later she had a fit for a Yogurt Melt & ate it fine so I fixed her some Apple Vanilla & she ate almost 1/2 of it and I was very impressed. She also drank a lot more Pedialyte. Afterward she took a good nap... and so did I. The rest of the day was full of trying to keep a sick little girl happy. Poor thing was just a little sensitive. We made it through though and I kept her awake after her 2nd nap tonight for the most part. She did take a 15min nap on the floor in the living room though. Haha. She woke up after a few minutes and took off crawling and went to playing like she'd only rested her head for a second. Too cute. It was hard to keep her awake and not mad at the world until 7pm. Then I put her in PJ's and we had our G'nite bottle and off to bed she went. She didn't fight tonight but she did wake back up about an hour later coughing. I rocked her and she went right back to sleep. I hope she sleeps good tonight. Poor angel.

Hopefully this will all be over soon. She'll be back to her normal silly self. =)

Will we all ever be well?

2009-03-19T21:33:00.005-05:00

We thought that everyone was improving... keyword is thought.

It all started early yesterday morning, I guess. I'd already posted that she was not in the mood for St. Patrick's Day pics and wasn't quite herself. I figured she was just tired. She woke up at 3am & felt pretty warm and her cheeks were rosy but I thought she may have just gotten overheated so I let her get a drink of juice and put her back to bed with her blanket beside her instead of over her. Well, when she woke up she felt fine. So we got ready for work/daycare as usual but when I went to get her out of the car she was very tired. She didn't want to really wake up whenever I got her to daycare and she didn't want to go to any of her teachers. I figured she was tired from her night waking. Well... that was all wrong.

At 11am daycare called to tell me that Morgan's fever was 102.7 and she was feeling really bad. I flew to daycare and called the Dr's office on the way. At daycare they told me that her fingernail beds had turned dark purple and her hands/arms got purplish and they warmed her up and it improved. They said it was pretty scary... I felt the same. She was really out of it and she kept letting her tongue hang out and panting. It was really sad. I finally got her an appt and got her to the Dr's office. While at the Dr's office she drank a little water out of her bottle but still kept panting. Her Dr noticed her tongue sticking out and that it was a bit reddened at the tip. So, we cked her palms and bottoms of her feet for any signs of a rash b/c she mentioned that they see cases of Hand, Foot & Mouth. I'd never heard of it and she didn't have any other signs of anything wrong with her... no rashes. So, we had to do bloodwork. Morgan was not happy with me or the nurse at all... to put it mildly. Blankie made it better though. (her attatchment to that pink blanket is growing daily... it's pretty sweet) While we waited for the labwork Morgan fell asleep on me and I sat and wached her tongue get redder as I rocked her. So, when Dr. Smith came back she said her lab suggested it was definitely something viral. I told her to look again at her tongue and she winced when she saw it. So then I opened one of her hands and in the crease of her left hand close to where her thumb and pointer finger meet there were about 4/5 small bumps. They had appeared over about 15/20 minutes. It was then confirmed... Hand, Foot & Mouth. Ahhh.

I didn't anticipate that. Me & JC were thinking Ear Infection or something we're used to... at the worst Walking Pneumonia b/c of her congestion. Nope... it had to be something we knew nothing about. JC quickly began Googling and learned a lot. There isn't a "cure" and we have to just let it run it's course. We rotate Tylenol & Motrin to keep her fever down and to manage the pain b/c her Dr. said the blisters can be painful. =( So sad. She told me to prepare that it would get worse before it got better and if we needed to be seen to feel free to just come into the office and she would see her right then. That was comforting.

Now... we've made it through Day 2 of this and it's not really "worse" like I'd anticipated. So far there aren't any visible blisters or additional signs of rashes. Just a few bumps in the creases of her hands and I believe their is something going on in her mouth that we can't see. We put a mix of Mylanta & Benadryl on her tongue and roof of her mouth to help manage that. I was expecting something like the Google Images though and so far it's not that bad. I hope we're getting a mild case and she won't have to suffer too much. She slept through the night last night and when JC went to peek at her before leaving for work she had her blanket wadded up underneath her with her booty in the air. The sight alone was comical... but then every time she breathed her butt twitched. It was the funniest and cutest little thing I've ever seen! I'm so glad JC peeked and convinced me to go see b/c it was priceless. I finally got her to take a few bites of Sweet Potatoes at dinner tonight while sitting in my lap & she drank some of her Pedialyte. I was proud of her. She was extremely difficult to get to bed tonight... but once she fell asleep she was out and hopefully she'll get a good night's sleep and she'll feel even better tomorrow.

Well at least we dodged the measles and things aren't looking like it's going to be a bad case of HFM. Have to look at the silver lining.

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Morgan's Weight & Height from today's Appointment

Height: 27.5 inches
Weight: 20lbs. 4oz.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T21:06:00.006-05:00

Today was Morgan's first St. Patrick's Day!

She was so cute today in her little khaki shorts and green top but she would not allow me to take her picture. She refused to stay still/in frame and fussed every time I tried to sit her down. She just was not feeling very photogenic. I'll try another day this week to get a cute pic with her in her outfit... and we can all just pretend it was taken on March 17th! Shhh. =)

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This morning Morgan did not want to wake up and I had to pick her up out of her bed half asleep after much coaxing to get her to stir around. Then when we went to wake up JC she tried to lay down with him and go back to sleep. It was oh so very sweet and I really wish that I hadn't had to go to work b/c I'd loved to have left her there to cuddle with her Daddy!

This a.m. I found out from Morgan's teacher that the handout on the measles case was concerning one of the kids in her class. Yes, that kind of freaked me out a bit more. (If that was possible b/c I'd already cked her for a rash like 20 times since receiving the note) Oh, but it gets worse. I believe it was the little boy in the bed next to hers! Ahhhh. Yes, I'm sure my expression was priceless when I came to this conclusion! Poor angel has definitely been exposed and we're just hoping she didn't get too close to him. They disinfected the entire room and washed all of the toys in the dishwasher on high heat. So, everyone has done all that they can... and now we just wait and see. One positive is that particular boy doesn't take a pacifier... so we can be sure that she wasn't stealing his and swapping germs! Haha. Our little pacifier thief. Also this particular type of the measles isn't supposed to be "too bad" and normally doesn't last long. That's good news.

Her teacher txted me today to let me know that Morgan was being especially silly today and had her and the other teacher laughing uncontrollably. Our silly girl. She shook her head No and squealed at me when I got there to pick her up. She's really into this teasing thing lately and she really enjoys shaking her head... a lot. When we finished dinner she crawled around the house with me crawling behind her trying to catch her... ever so often she'd pause to shake her head and then she'd squeal and take off again. It cracked her up laughing just as much as it did me.

She got to see her Daddy this evening and she was very happy & excited about that! Both of them were! =) I'm so glad they got to see each other before bedtime.

Well that's it for today. Nite!

We're still recovering.

2009-03-16T20:37:00.004-05:00

This crazy weather has everyone all sickly. Bleh.

Morgan is still sniffly and has a bit of a cough. It has improved though thankfully and I hope she's on the road to recovery. Poor sniffly girl. It doesn't help that it's in the 40's in the mornings and the mid 70's in the afternoons. Her allergies are going crazy.

We had a crawfish boil this weekend and Morgan went to visit with her Noni since I didn't think diaper changes would be pleasant with us eating crawfish and Noni needed some Morgan time before her Dr's appt on Friday. Morgan had a great time playing with her Noni, Grandpa and Ty. Yes, they were brave and kept Morgan and Ty on Saturday night. Whew. Morgan was, of course, a little pacifier theif and they had to keep Ty's hid. Haha. Poor thing becomes interested in them all of a sudden now at 10mths old. Silly girl. She missed her window. But... one day he's going to be bigger than her! Their relationship and age difference reminds me so much of me and Kevin's as kids. I was stealing his bottles though. =)

We went shopping on Sunday and Morgan got lots of great clothes. Morgan let us take her shopping in her new pink stroller. =) We went to eat at Applebee's with Stan, Lindsay & Kyle and she enjoyed sampling JC's chicken and rice. Then we went with Stan to Old Navy and got Morgan some shorts, a skirt, PJ's and a top with my 30% off coupon. YAY for coupons! It was a little sad to pick out 12-18mth clothes. The 6-12mth clothes fit her now and I didn't want to waste money on clothes that fit now for summer. Yes, I've became that Mom. The one that buys her child's clothes with room to grow. Haha. Ahh... how life makes us eat our words. =) Then we headed to the Boardwalk and shopped at Carter's and they were having a great sale! She got a few more tops and JC picked her out some adorable PJ's. Even 1 pair with rubbery feet! So very cute! We didn't make it to Gap Outlet b/c Morgan was demanding a nap... but we got her some really cute things. I hope to find her some cute shoes next weekend. We didn't make it there this weekend. =( A little girl can only take so much shopping in a day.

In other good news. JC was a very dedicated shopper and went shopping for a new stove & microwave after me and Morgan headed home and he finally made it home (after going to 4 different stores) with a wonderful stove & microwave. I'm so very proud. Yay! =)

Well that was it for the weekend. =) That was plenty.

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There was a letter in Morgan's diaper bag this afternoon. It seems that there has been a confirmed case of Roseola Measles at her daycare and they urge all of us to keep an eye on the kids and be aware of any rashes. Ahhh. Everyone cross your fingers, say a prayer, wish on a star... whatever you do... that our sweet girl remains rash free!!!!

Nite.

A Quiet Day @ Home

2009-03-10T21:03:00.007-05:00

Yes... quiet in the sense that I can't talk. I started getting sick on Friday at work and it's just progressed into what now consists of me sounding horrible and almost inaudible & my chest hurts. Ick. Doesn't sound very positive. So, needless to say there wasn't much noise coming from me today. When I did try to speak Morgan gave me some crazy looks. Haha. She's probably thinking "You look like my Momma but what is that noise coming out of your mouth??".

Yes, I realize today is Tuesday and I know that I'm giving the impression that me and Morgan spent today at home. We were stuck in the house today b/c she is also not feeling herself. Daycare let me know when I arrived yesterday that she'd had a ruff day. 1) I had to sign another "Incident Report" because while emptying the toy box she decided she needed that one last toy and apparently got top heavy and fell head first into the toy box. Yup, all they could see were Morgan's little legs flailing about from the top of the toy box while she shrieked. She's fine... just a very small bruise on her forehead. Yes, now that you know she's fine it is okay to laugh a little. =) I did. I'm sorry but the mental picture of nothing but those chubby little legs flailing about out of the toy box just makes me giggle a little. Poor angel. 2) She was very fussy yesterday and would cry anytime she wasn't being held and had developed a fever of 100.2 and wouldn't be allowed back at Daycare for 24hrs. Ahhh. I'm positive her crud is just allergies and the low grade fever is probably just due to teething.

I suspected she might not be feeling well yesterday morning b/c it was nearly impossible to get her to wake upat 6:45am to get ready for Daycare. She would whine every time I fooled with her b/c she REALLY wanted to sleep the day away. =( Here are some pics I took of her sleeping / ignoring my rubbing of her back, turning on her lamp and talking to her. She even fell asleep while I got her a diaper. Haha. I should have known.

But it was nice to cuddle the day away today since neither of us were feeling very spunky.

Well, she did have bouts of energy where she had me running behind her for one reason or another. I think she enjoyed hearing me strain to tell her No since she repeatedly did things she knew were going to get her in trouble and laughed hysterically when I tried to fuss at her. Little stinker. =)

For the most part she just wanted to cuddle though and that was nice. We just wish Daddy could have played hookie with us. =)

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I'm sure some are wondering if there is going to be an update about the Remodel? =)

WE ARE DONE WITH THE FLOORS! YAY! =)

OH... we are so deliriously happy with the result and Morgan has been speed crawling all over the place. She definitely approves the wonderful change. Ah, I feel like we've won the lottery. I have the most awesomest Husband in the world to spend money on floors instead of paint for his motorcycle. =) So selfless and so ubelievably appreciated & adored by his girls!! =) Now if his girls would get well and the weekend would get here so he can finally rest. He SO deserves it.

Wow! 10mths old already!

2009-03-02T20:32:00.013-06:00

I can't believe it's been 10mths since our sweet little angel was born!

Time has literally just flown by. I've heard parents say it all through my life about how quickly kids grow up... but I never expected it to feel like it was going this fast. Whew.

She's had a busy weekend watching everyone work on the flooring in the kitchen & dining room. She also got to have a sleep over at her Noni & Grandpa's house and I think she thoroughly enjoyed escaping the chaos for a while. =)

She's getting smarter and braver every day. =)

Here's an update.

She's cruising really well and she'll even reach out to other things and walk between them. As long as she's touching something while she's walking. =)
She gotten really good at climbing and she now does it on everything. =)
She understands that if she gets onto something beside the couch/table it makes her taller and her reach farther so she can get to things.
She can look at something on the coffee table and tell that she can't reach it from one side but can from the other... so she'll walk around to where she can reach it.
She understands that just b/c you can't see something doesn't mean it's gone and she'll lift up things looking for it. She lifts up the mat on the floor at Daycare every morning to make sure there aren't any toys hiding under there. =)
She'll try to climb into her walker when she's hungry but that's the only time she wants in it these days... it's too confining, I guess.
She's decided that she prefers to have what we're eating and every time she sees someone take a bite she opens her little mouth like a bird.
We still have 4 teeth... 2 on the top and 2 on the bottom. Still drooling like crazy though. We're beginning to think she'll be teething for forever.
She growls/roars at everyone and laughs at herself when she does it.
She likes to feed herself and can handle finger foods very well but although she puts up a fight for the spoon she isn't very coordinated with it once she has it. She just chews on it.
If she hears anyone say "Yay" or anything that resembles "Patty Cake" she immediately goes to clapping and starts smiling from ear to ear.
Her neck has became very ticklish all of a sudden and she giggles anytime I even act like I'm going to tickle her there.
She has learned where the ball goes in her Fisher Price Play Table and she will pick it up off the floor and put it in there over and over again.
She shakes her head "No" at everything... if she really really means no she shakes her head so hard her whole body twists with it. Haha.

Ahhh... she's such a very smart girl. =)

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Remodeling 101

We survived our weekend remodel. Of course, it has filtered into our work week but we still got a whole lot done thanks to some amazing friends who helped us out a lot.

Friday night sweet Morgan stayed with her Noni & Grandpa so we could get some painting done. I met J.C. at Lowes for one last look at the carpet & we finalized and paid for it to be installed. I put the 2nd coat of paint on the walls and J.C. took care of the base boards and a 2nd coat on the front door. It looks so much better! =)

Saturday we got started relatively early and cleaned everything out of the kitchen/dining room so that when help arrived everything would be out of the way. Well, once Adam arrived they soon realized we needed something else from Home Depot. (Trip 1) They got back to work and I started cleaning up & went to get ready to run to WalMart and get a few things. Well, once I got out of the shower they'd realized we were going to run out of Mortar. (Trip 2) The rest of the day went fairly smooth, we had a wonderful dinner and Morgan was in bed by like 7pm. =) She was worn out from all of her visiting at Noni & Grandpa's and then with Stan, Adam & Christie. Although... she did wake up at 4am. =(

Sunday morning we picked up Stan and headed to Home Depot (Trip 3) to get a threshold for the side door and some materials to tile Stan's wash room. Morgan got to ride in the buggy again and she was thrilled! =) The rest of the day wasn't so wonderful, for they guys. (Trip 4) I went back to Home Depot and got more grout since once returning and examining things we decided we wouldn't have enough. Then they spent the rest of the day grouting the tile. They worked so hard and did an amazing job! I'm just so thrilled that we're about to have all of the flooring done! I have an amazing husband and he has some of the very best friends. =)

So... what did I learn this weekend?

Anytime you do a home remodeling project you should plan to make at least 2 trips back to the store (ie. Home Depot, Lowes etc.) to get something you forgot or ran out of. I'm just glad that project is coming to a close... and I'm sure JC and the guys are even happier!!!! =)

Yay.. It's Friday Eve!

2009-02-26T22:35:00.005-06:00

I'm so glad that the weekend is almost here. Whew. It's been a long week.

Morgan didn't sleep very well at all during the beginning of the week. She was waking up around 2 or 3 a.m. and just wanting me to cuddle her back to sleep. I gave Dr. Smith's suggestions a "try" but they failed miserably and once again... we cuddled on the couch and she quickly went back to sleep. I worried this was a mistake and perhaps I was creating a monster. I began to worry that she did have me figured out. But then... she slept! I guess she just missed me a little. =) My mom (MiMi) asked me what I did differently when I shared the good news with her and I told her the truth... nothing. She just decided that she didn't want to wake up anymore. Thank goodness! I'm so thankful that she has once again decided on her own to sleep through the night b/c her Mommy is pretty weak in that area. =)

I also have to add that she's doing wonderful with us taking away that 9am bottle. She's not doing it exactly as we intended her to. She is taking her bottles every 4hrs instead of every 3hrs... but it averages out to the same number so it's a start. =) She did wonderful without it at home over the weekend but she didn't see any bottles during that time either. It's harder on her at daycare when other kids are getting their bottles. So, despite she didn't follow the original plan she's doing wonderful at the fact she's now 1 bottle less each day. Such a big girl!

Well I'm so glad that tomorrow is finally Friday and I'm so excited about the weekend. We're putting down our ceramic tile and going to set up the install for the carpet. I feel like it's Christmas. Haha. I guess I should since we've been in the process of this remodel for almost 3yrs now... ick... I can't believe it's really been that long! Well, off to bed and we will hopefully sleep all the way through the night... again. =)

Busy - Busy - Busy

2009-02-23T16:17:00.014-06:00

Busy is the story of our life lately and I'm really slacking on this blog lately. =(

My wonderful dear husband text messaged me this afternoon with a simple "It's been 21 days". I tried and tried to think of what he was referring to... looking at the calendar several times and checking my reminders. I couldn't for the life of me think of what he was trying to tell me... so I texted him back to ask. Of course, it was him informing me that he was talking about this blog. OOPS! *hangs head in shame* I will do better.

Morgan had a bit of a nasty cold for a few days that kept lingering and had me beginning to worry but she kicked it and is all well again. She's a tuff cookie. =)

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Morgan had a Dr's appt. on Friday (Feb. 20th) for her 9mth ck-up

Height: 27inches Weight: 20lbs 3oz

Dr. Smith and Nurse Josie were so happy to see their sweet Morgan. Everyone had to come into her room and see how big she'd grown. They were all a little sad to see her getting so big. It was so strange for her to SIT on the scale this time. She sat there all big and held onto the sides just looking at us and smiling. I wish I'd had my camera! It was one of those moments. =( I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it hit 20lbs! She's getting chunky again. Dr. Smith says it's normal at this age though and it will fall off once she starts walking... which we all agree shouldn't be much longer!! YAY Morgan.

She's doing wonderfully on all of her milestones. Her Dr. wanted to be sure that she was pulling up now and was very impressed when I told her she's cruising and trying to stand on her own now. She, of course, wasn't suprised though since Morgan has always been strong and exceling at her milestones. She suggested we get her fitted soon for her 1st pair of "walking shoes". =)
She recommended really soft soled shoes & to try Toy Fair. She cked her ears and they were fine, so that's not the cause for the night wakings. Dr. Smith once again bragged on her perfectly shaped head. Haha. She definetly has her Daddy's perfect little head!!!! She always says that God didn't give Morgan lots of hair b/c he wanted to make sure everyone saw how perfect her head really was!! =) I am pleased to say that her hair is growing now though! YAY!

I talked with her about Morgan's night wakings lately. She confirmed that it's most likely more teeth! AHHH! More teeth?! Yes, her gums are swollen on both sides of the 2 she already has on top. Poor little angel is having a ruff time with these, I guess. Dr. Smith suggests me trying to get her to fall back asleep in her room. **so far this is not working out for us** She thinks Morgan may have me "figured out". Haha. We'll see. I might just be being played by a 9.5mth old! Dr. Smith also believes she shouldn't get her late nap in the car anymore. At her age she really doesn't need more than her 2 naps in the day. But... how do you keep a baby awake in the car? Haha. We'll see.

We discussed the amount of bottles Morgan is getting still. She's up to 3 meals with solids per day with 1 snack time... but she's still getting a 5.5oz bottle every 3 hours. Ick. She's pretty impossible to get to take more ounces per bottle. Refuses. So, we're taking away one of her bottles completely and adding 1oz to the others. Hopefully this encourages her to take more for her bottles. We are all in agreement this is best since she's going to be 1yr old soon. We all think this will make it easier for her later... I hope we're right. **She's handling it pretty well so far. A little fussing & then she goes for a nap instead**

Morgan's Weekday Schedule (Revised)
6 - 6:30am = Bottle + 1oz
8 - 8:15am = Bkfst / 1 jar Stage 3
~~9am = Bottle~~
Nap Time
11 - 11:30am = Lunch / 1 jar Stage 3
12 - 12:30pm = Bottle + 1oz
Nap Time
3:30pm = Bottle + 1oz
6pm = Dinner / 1 jar Stage 3
6:30 - 7pm = Bath
7:30pm = Bottle + 1oz / Rocking
BEDTIME

I think it was a good appt. and I'm glad she went and we got a lot of great advice. We were also recommended to use Avon Sunscreen & Bug Repellent. It's hypoallergenic and shouldn't give her an outbreak with her Eczema. She also reminded me not to forget sunscreen on her head. HAHA! I would have forgot... of course. **I'm putting it here to remind me** Dr. Smith bragged on her skin! She said she looked wonderful... and that me & J.C. were doing a wonderful job & she'd come a long way. YAY FOR US! =)

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After her Dr's appt. me and Morgan ventured off to look at Ceramic Tile at Home Depot. I was so brave and fought back all of my "Ewww. Germs." thoughts. Yes, I had forgotten her stroller and I put her in the buggy! Can you believe it? I did drape a blanket on the front bar though. But still... I did it! HaHa. She totally loved it too. I've never seen her so excited and happy in the store before. I'm sure it's the first of many rides in the buggy. Oh, and of course I took pics of her with my cell phone b/c I couldn't not capture such a historic moment in her little life. Haha. Once I figure out how to transfer them I'll post them, for sure. =)

She's getting better and better at walking behind her push-behind-walker and she's started using it to get from one side of the living room to the other if she can reach it from where she's standing and playing. HaHa. We're excited (and a bit afraid) she'll be walking very shortly. Which is why we spent this past weekend working diligently on the house. Me & J.C. were quite a little tag team with Morgan and housework this weekend. We managed to get the utility room cleaned out and the carport cleaned off and everything put away in the utility room/in an organized location. J.C. even did surgery on the Weed-Eater and fixed it and weedeated a bit. We got everything out of the house that didn't belong in there and put into the utility room and all of the linoleum pulled up and thrown into boxes onto the trailer to be hauled off (along with lots of other stuff we found we didn't have a need for). We did all of these things while Morgan watched in awe and napped. Haha. She was totally fascinated by the site of her Daddy ripping up linoleum... so much that once he stopped to take a phone call she needed a nap. =) J.C. also went and picked up our ceramic tile that Me & sweet Morgan went and picked out together at Home Depot on Friday. =) We're all ready for our new floors! YAY!

Well, hopefully Morgan's sleep gets back to normal soon. I miss my little angel who sleeps all through the night like a big girl. =( She's been waking up at least once a night for the past week or so. It's seemed like an eternity. I'm sure it's just a phase and we'll get pass it. =) I'll just keep trying to look at it positive that at least I get to cuddle with her every night and she misses me. Haha. There is always a silver lining!!! =)

Hopefully I can get back on track with these things again and not have to type a novel for each post. =)

Morgan is very busy...

2009-02-10T21:05:00.005-06:00

...getting into everything! =)

This weekend I spent all day Saturday chasing Morgan into the kitchen and bringing her back into the living room. She has gotten so FAST at crawling. Finally, JC set up a barricade with her Leap Frog table and her walker. She didn't get upset with it like I thought she would. She actually just pulled up on them and peered over... and then went on with playing. It will now be a regular thing! I'm so lucky to have JC b/c I'm positive that he saved me from well over 100 trips into the kitchen... per day. =) Thanks honey!

She has started doing a lot of things lately...
- shaking her head "No" when she doesn't want/like something (02.07)
- trying to stand on her own and she's getting better at it daily (last week)
- ate her 1st graham cracker at Day Care and loved it (02.09)
- had her 1st Yogurt Melts and she adores those things (02.08)
- No more Infant Car Seat & she's loving it (02.09)

* * * Valentine's Pictures Coming Soon* * *

When it rains...

2009-02-03T22:11:00.003-06:00

it pours! Ahhh. What a week!

Lets see...

Morgan woke up with a horrible diaper rash on Wednesday. It was SO sad and I think it's the Stage 3 Spaghetti she tried the night before. OoOps. We'll hold off on red sauce for a while. Good news is it's almost completely cleared up now!! YAY!!
On Friday night Morgan decided she's tired of sleeping through the night. She thinks that she'd like Mommy to wake up and cuddle her a little. How sweet of her... but... Mommy is a bit tired now. =( She woke up 3 times Friday night.
On Saturday night Mrs. Sherry got a "BooBoo" and we're hoping she feels better VERY soon! Morgan still got to visit though and she loved her time with her Noni. They both needed cuddles.
On Sunday we went in search for the perfect hat for Morgan. Once again... no luck.
We confirmed during our shopping trip that one of the Coils is going bad in the car and the Check Engine light flashes now instead of just staying on. Something tells me that's serious. Ah, it's going to have to just wait till the weekend.
Sunday night we had a horrible storm with lots of wind causing the power to go out in the ENTIRE town. Morgan, of course, was up from midnight until 4:30am laying on me and whining. She was NOT happy with the lack of electricity at all. It's official that she's spoiled and wanted heat, nite-lite, humidifier and sound machine. Once she finally went to bed and stayed there at 4:30am I couldn't sleep b/c it was SO quiet in the house and it bothered me my monitor didn't work. So, I didn't sleep still.
Monday when my alarm went off at 5am I whined and JC said I didn't have to go to work... so guess what... I didn't. It was still quite an eventful day though in itself. Morgan napped some but not nearly as much as I thought she would.
Monday night she woke up EIGHT times but she sang her little self back to sleep. Such a sweet girl. I, of course, still lied awake listening to her sing... but at least I got to lay in my warm bed with JC and not get up. She does love her Mommy and Daddy! =)

There were some great things too though...

Morgan tested out her walk-behind-thingie on Saturday and she did EXCELLENT! Me and her Daddy were so very proud of her. She was holding on going from Me to JC and when it started moving we both winced but those little legs took off and she was across the room in seconds! She was moving! Yes, we're scared! lol
Morgan says "Hey DaDa" and "Hey DaDeeee" now and she has started saying "MaMa" more again but still not nearly as much as DaDa. Little stinker. =)
Morgan blew kisses this morning! Ok... so she didn't do the "kiss" part but she did the hand motion. Yay for Morgan learning something new!
I also have to brag that she did WONDERFUL for our shopping trip on Sunday and we are very proud of her. She was an angel.
Me & JC got to watch the UFC fight and visit with Adam and that was nice and we really enjoyed the time together (even if I did fall asleep on the couch). =)

OK. It is waaaaaay passed my bedtime. I'll update more when it's not so late and I'll post pics/videos as soon as I can get them uploaded. =)

It's only TUESDAY?!

2009-01-27T21:51:00.004-06:00

Ok... so today definitely feels more like Thursday to me. Bleh. I don't know where the weekend goes but I'd like to demand a "do-over".

Today started off with me & JC taking Morgan to Daycare. It was so darn cute seeing how excited and happy she was that we were both taking her there. Whenever the both of us opened up the back car doors she started looking frantically from side to side, squealing and flailing about. Ahh. She loves her Mommy & Daddy... and we feel it. =) We both gave her hugs and kisses and then off she went to spend the day playing with her friends. She was good and went right off to play. Such a big girl!

Oh, while waiting for her teacher to get her we noticed one of Morgan's friends walking behind a push-behind walking type toy. Yeah... that made no sense! Hopefully someone "gets it" b/c I'm too lazy to find one to link to. =) Anyways, I've been protesting using this particular toy that her most wonderful Noni gave her for Christmas b/c I didn't think she was ready and she might fall and hurt herself. [Yes, if I was in charge she'd live in a bubble!] Well, Mrs. Sherry asked me if she'd been playing with this toy on Sunday and I embarassingly replied that she had not. JC hadn't pushed it either... he knew I was scared to try it. BUT now that Aubrey is doing it he insists that Morgan can too... actually he said "AH! SEE! If she can do it I know Morgan can. I bet Morgan can do it even better!" Of course I protested saying she might fall or something and it will hurt! Well... apparently that's part of "learning" and I'm being out voted. =( Yes, the poor angel is lucky there are other people in her life that aren't afraid to let her "learn" b/c I'm a big ole' chicken. Isn't half the battle admitting you have a problem? HaHa. I think when it comes time for her to learn how to ride a bike I'll take a vacation... =)

Speaking of being a chicken... we're finally letting her try Stage 3 foods and she's getting the hang of it but I still worry about all of these crazy combinations of food and "pieces" in them. Ah! Tonight we had Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce & Meat. At first I wasn't sure if she was going to like it but it grew on her and she ate a fair amount of it before she started spitting out all of the noodle pieces. Haha. So, then I let her have some Applesauce for "dessert". She'll get the hang of it and hopefully she'll be eating "real" food before she's out of diapers. =)

Hrmm... now that I mention diapers I guess I'll go ahead and share with anyone that may not already be aware that our goal is to have a big-girl-panty-wearing-2yr old. Why not? I think she can do it! I have faith in our smart little girl. It's not set in stone... but it's our "goal" to get there by then or close to it. Goals are good! The plan is to start putting her on the potty after she eats and at bathtime and getting her used to it . Once she's walking [which most likely won't be much longer] we'll encourage her to go in there and sit for herself. We'll see how this goes... I'll keep ya'll posted. =) After the horrific diaper we had with our first Spaghetti experience tonight I look forward to no more diapers!!! Haha. It was just awful... it required stain remover and a BATH. Need I say more?

Well, I was tired and failed to mention on yesterday's post that little Morgan is now clapping!!! YAY!! =) I say "Yay" because that's what you're supposed to squeal whenever she claps. When she claps she expects someone to either say "Yay Morgan" or start singing Patty Cake. So cute! I never imagined that seeing 2 chubby little hands clap together with a BIG smile showing off 2 and a HALF little white teeth would be so amazingly cute. I swear everytime she does it we get the hugest smiles on our faces and just squeal right along with her. You'd think we'd won the lottery in our house when she starts performing. =) So adored.

That cuddly little bear Morgan has became so fond of won points at Daycare today b/c she layed down on her bed on top of her fuzzy blanket with her other fuzzy blanket on top of her... cuddled up to her bear and went right off to sleep! Yes, on her own! I'm so proud of her and so happy she's found something that soothes her. Now... when does she start doing this for me? =) Nah, I don't mind... I realize that I'm an "enabler" and I like sitting with her all cuddled up in her fuzzy blanket while she holds her bear. It's so hard to even put her down sometimes once she falls asleep. She's just so sweet and cuddly. =( I swear, if it wasn't for JC we would get NO sleep b/c she'd have been sleeping with us months ago. Haha. He's the voice of reason in this house and I love and thank him for it! Due to his help we have a wonderful little sleeper who just needs a little cuddling to fall asleep and until she's ready to do it on her own I'm just fine with it. =) I'll miss those cuddles one day... so I'm going to stock up now while I can!!! So what if she turns into a brat... she'll be our cuddly little brat! =)

Ok, now off to bed. Hopefully we won't turn into little ice cubes tonight with "Winter Blast 2009" coming in. =) You can tell we live in Louisiana when the news media name our wintry storms. I hope it really isn't as bad as they think it could be tonight. Morgan is all snuggly in her bed in her warm PJ's that her Pawpaw and MawMaw Aleene got her for Christmas snuggled up in her fuzzy blanket with her bear. Hrmm... another clue we live in Louisiana when the child has two pairs of "warm PJ's". =)

A few changes have been made...

2009-01-26T21:15:00.003-06:00

and they're quite impressive! =)

We are now sitting on our Booty!! YAY!! She still doesn't stay in this position for long periods of time b/c she's a VERY busy little girl. Who would have thought she'd be crawling, pulling up and cruising before she "steady" at sitting? But... at least we know she's VERY capable and just doesn't see a "need" for it. =)

We're not sleeping on our tummy ALL the time anymore and her "Bunny" has been retired and she now cuddles with her stuffed bear in the bunny costume. Haha. I think her Lovie just wasn't cuddly enough anymore. Oh, and she MUST have a fluffy blanket. She's becoming very opinionated about bedtime/naptime.

Oh, and in case you didn't notice in the photo of her sitting... she has became very fond of bottle tops. Yes, I let her chew on them. If it makes her happy... it makes me happy. =) You would think she has no toys...

She also has started getting very brave and letting go of things when she's standing for a moment... and the moments keep getting longer and longer. She let go once this weekend to clap a few times and grabbed back on after about 5/6 claps when she got wobbly and realized "No Hands". She's going to be standing and walking before we know it. Wish us luck!!!

One of her 3 teeth that started coming in last week has broken the skin and she has the 2 others on the brink. I think the worst is over though b/c she's a lot more like her normal self. Whew. She even took LONG naps this weekend and we had to wake her up after one 2hr nap on Sunday so we could go eat. Most of her naps were about 2hrs long. She was catching up! Plus, she woke up around 5:30pm but after a bottle went right back to sleep until around 8 or 8:30. YAY! Our good little sleeper has returned. *sigh* I hope I didn't just jinx it by typing that...

QUIRKS! =)

2009-01-22T16:52:00.005-06:00

I saw this on another blog and thought it'd be fun...

Why not? It could be fun...

The idea is to list 6 of your quirks.

My six Quirks...

1. I will not touch handrails on stairs etc. and I hate opening doors b/c it grosses me out to think of all the other people who have touched them. ICK.

2. Similar to #1... until a couple of years ago I would not drink a canned drink without a straw. SO GROSS! I can't fathom why they're sold in such a way. Typing this makes me want to go buy more straws... =)

3. I can't stand to listen to commercials on the radio and I normally turn the channel as soon as a song finishes... and I can at times turn it mid-song if I think there might be something better somewhere else. It leads to LOTS of channel surfing and a very annoyed husband. =) I really need an IPOD... an IPOD touch even... ;)

4. I am one of the most indecisive people on the planet. I get really overwhelmed and stressed out if I have too many options. Even shopping is stressful for me... Ahhh...

5. I do NOT like to get in a hurry... for anything.

6. I am completely and totally obsessed with eating crushed Ice. *sigh* I don't smoke and I very rarely drink... ICE is my crutch.

Morgan's six Quirks... (Lately)

1. It's absolutely necessary to stick out her tongue when she's concentrating.

2. She prefers to squat than to sit and if she must sit she tucks her feet underneath her.

3. When she's sleepy she lays against her Mommy, tucks her arm against her side and starts to hum herself to sleep.

4. She enjoys acrobatic acts, singing, babbling, giggling and scratching/patting her mattress while she's SOUND asleep. (Thank goodness this child LIKES sleeping in her OWN room in her OWN bed... it only took 1 night in December sharing the room with her with NO sleep for me and JC to realize how lucky we are she doesn't co-sleep)

5. She has a firm belief that whenever Mommy says "NO Morgan" she really means she's playing and she should continue doing it and laugh hysterically at any sign frustration... but when Daddy says "NO Morgan" he means for her to be a perfect angel and stop everything and look as cute as possible... (So it begins...)

6. Nose kisses are the very best thing in the world... to be received... and GIVEN (with an OPENED mouth of course) and they make her smile and giggle once she releases her death grip on your hair to release you from the wet nose kiss she's attacking you with. (JC is her most favorite victim)

I think I more enjoyed listing Morgan's quirks. My quirks are more like issues! =)

I tag anyone who wants to participate. =) Why not?

Stomach Virus = EVIL

2009-01-21T13:06:00.002-06:00

We are all finally back to normal... sorta. =)

Poor little angel threw up in the car on Friday evening after I picked her up from Daycare but I assumed it was perhaps that she ate too many "Puffs" at Daycare... or something equally insignificant. She acted her normal cheery and playful self so I didn't worry long about it. Saturday she was a little crabby but she'd gotten a new food for breakfast so we thought that perhaps it hadn't sat well with her. Other than a few gassy/fussy moments she seemed just fine. Saturday night at 10:30pm me and JC both woke up vomiting. It was horrible and we were both convinced we had food poisoning or something. We were up ALL night sick and cold chills/achy and at 6am we called JC's parents to please watch Morgan for a couple hours while we slept and gotten a little better. By noon we received a phone call saying that Morgan was vomiting also. We chose to take her to Quick Care and of course it was a stomach virus and all that we could do was keep her hydrated until it ran it's course. So, we assumed that's what we ALL had. JC's parents were just as sick within 24hrs. Apparently, it's a very contagious little bug. ICK! Such a generous child to share it with all of us. =) We have now all fully recovered though... finally. During this though while we were following the B.R.A.T. diet by Dr's orders we discovered a food that she doesn't like at all!!! Bananas! It was so funny... she spit it out but still let me give her 3 more bites that she also spit out before she did this awful face and gagging. I then decided it wasn't going to "grow on her". HaHa. Poor thing was a very good little girl and continued to open up for Mommy to give her more even though she'd spit it out until I gave it up after the gagging and went back to the Applesauce. =)

NOW we're working on tooth #3!!! YAY! Poor little angel though has had a few days of issues with it though but last night she was finally getting back to herself. =) Sweet girl! She finally slept through the night last night after 2 nights of LOTS of wake ups. I've finally got my good little sleeper back. YAY! She's spoiled me the last few mths. Oh... That top little tooth is so cute peaking out of there too! I can't believe she's going to be up to 3 teeth soon. Wow! I'm pretty sure the one next to it will soon follow too like the bottom ones did. I hope it's not as bothersome for her. =( We'll have Mommaw pray about it... we all know she has a "direct line". =)

Oh, Morgan is finally getting good at sitting!!! YAY!!! I thought she was always going to be teetering and unstable. She does still perfer to sit on her feet though. HaHa. Silly girl. I think she does that so she can quickly become mobile. =)

Well, hopefully I can get in the habit of posting here now that life is back to normal (as normal as it gets, at least).

I've been a slacker...

2009-01-08T20:48:00.005-06:00

Ok... so the new year has just begun and I'm already off to a poor start. =( I will get better at this... sooner or later it will become a habit... or obsession (haha) and I'll do it regularly.

This year is off too a busy start!!

On January 2nd Morgan got a new baby cousin, Tyson. He's healthy at 7lbs 1oz & 21in long and him and Danielle are doing wonderful. Morgan was so impressed with him at the Hospital when we went to visit. She got to look at him and every time he moved or made a noise she'd squeal and get all excited. She really wanted to touch him but she doesn't really understand "gentle" so I didn't let that happen. I know that I wouldn't have let an 8mth old pull and "pat" on her on her 2nd day in the world. So, Morgan will just have to wait for Tyson to get big enough to defend himself. =) I'm sure they'll become GREAT friends. We stayed for a little while and held Tyson and let Danielle & Clint play with Morgan too. Then we decided to leave them to rest and get Morgan and her squealing and babbling self out of the Hospital before we got kicked out. I can't wait to go and visit them once they're at home and everything is more relaxed. Hopefully this weekend.

We spent the weekend cleaning and baby-proofing. Ahhh. Her room is all taken care of now but the rest of the house is still a work in progress... but we'll get there... she's going to make us. =) She gets more and more curious every day. Plus, she has this crawling thing down to a science and she's pulling up on EVERYTHING wether it looks stable or not. She definitely has no fear.

We put her bath seat in the bath this weekend and it was a HUGE hit! She loved being able to splash all around and really sit up. She squealed and played for a LONG time enjoying ALL that water. =) Such a happy girl!!

It's just a very busy week! Morgan had her first real diaper rash... ahhh... it was horrible. That is finally gone now. Poor baby was such a good sport about it. She made me and 3 of the Daycare workers cry it was so pitiful. =( Oh, I guess we did good to go 8mths before we got anything more than a little pink place twice. I hope it doesn't happen again... and so does Morgan. =)

Other than that it's just been work, work, work... ahhh... those 2 short weeks at work are killing me now. I think I'll be playing catch up until the next Holiday. Plus those short weeks and all the time Morgan had at home with me and Noni she has her schedule all messed up. I've been having to wake her up at 6:45am to rush and get her ready to go and she isn't napping on the way so she's fussy by her 9am naptime at Daycare... and she really wants to have dinner at 5:30pm but that's not happening b/c we're on the way home then. So, she starts screaming around 5:30pm and I have to drive with one hand and rub her forehead with the other and that soothes her until we get home 25min later except then she's so hungry and frustrated she only wants a bottle. Ahhh. It will get better and she'll get back into her routine.

I'll have to post pictures of Bath Time and Morgan & Ty when I can get the time at home to update. I can't believe I waited anxiously for Morgan to become mobile... now I'm adjusting to the fact that when you put her on the floor in the living room to go to the refrigerator you should NOT be surprised when she's pulling up on your leg seconds later at the fridge. She's quick! =)

A Brand New Year!! =)

2009-01-01T19:43:00.002-06:00

I'm so excited that it's a brand new year. I have lots of "New Years' Resolutions" and I wonder how long I can hold onto them. =) I usually make several so hopefully I can keep at least ONE of them. Maybe... Hopefully... Possibly... Right?

1. Keep up with this blog! =)
2. Organize / Baby Proof the House and KEEP it that way.
3. Keep up with the Housework - including dusting/vaccuming for Morgan's allergies.

(I'm crossing my fingers J.C. is going to help with #2 and #3)

Last night I really didn't feel like going anywhere and almost just stayed laying on the couch with Morgan. BUT... she woke up from her nap at 6pm and I was feeding her Dinner when "Noni" called to say they were almost home and would love to keep her. I think JC could tell I was hesitant and he said that we didn't HAVE to go but if I got out of the house I'd probably be glad that I did. Well, I figured he was right so I threw some things together for her and loaded us up in the car. I felt HORRIBLE for putting her in the carseat b/c of course she screamed b/c it was late/dark and she always gets upset in the evenings if I try to take her anywhere. I went ahead and let her have her bottle in the car though and she was a happy camper then and had just finished it when I pulled into the driveway. I still felt horrible for doing something I knew would upset her... but she was so happy once we got there. As soon as I opened the car door and she saw "Grandpa" she was smiling and squealing. JC met me there and it was great to be able to get some pictures that we missed on Christmas since the tree was still up. =) I'm thankful Mrs. Sherry hadn't had time to take it down b/c they came out really well. I'll try to add them on here once I can get a copy of them.

Me & JC went to MaryAnne & Kevin's house to hang out and watch the Football Game and play Scene It (Me & Mary suck but we both love it... lol). It was just our small group... Me, JC, Kevin, MaryAnne, Stan and Josh. We really missed Adam and Christie and wish they could've came out too but understood that they were tired (even though I did give Adam a bit of a hard time =)). I took a nap on the couch for a couple of hours (since Morgan had me up at 4am) but I was awake at Midnight... so yay for me participating in New Years! It was really great to get out and hang out with friends. It'd been a while since we'd gone out without Morgan and although I missed her terribly I am SO glad we were able to hang out with everyone!!!! I hope to get to see them again VERY soon. It'd been way too long. =) We finally left there and went home at around 2:30am. Once we got home we crashed and didn't wake up until 9:30am. Ahhh... it was so nice not to wake up before daylight. She's been such an early bird lately (early being 5am).

Our New Years day was spent just hanging out with Morgan. Stan did come over to watch the Football Game with us that evening and he started a "wonderful" new game with Morgan. lol He was letting her fall backwards and picking her back up from the floor with her hands. She thought this was the best ever and will now at random moments throw herself backwards while you're holding her wanting to play. lol Silly girl. You have to be constantly on alert b/c she thinks of it without warning. Stan may be summoned to our house for this game b/c it's quite tiring and she's addicted. =) We got her the Jumperoo to satisfy her jumping craze but I don't think there is a toy/contraption built to do this... so it looks like I'm going to get great arms. Thanks Stan! Thanks Morgan! =)

I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL New Years and I'm so excited about 2009!!!

Life is Almost Normal Again

2008-12-30T21:04:00.004-06:00

This morning started earlier than usual... but it was expected since Morgan went DIRECTLY to bed when we got home last night. I took her out of her car seat (where she'd been sleeping) and she just cuddled with me while she just stared at me for almost 20 minutes. She didn't babble, laugh or anything other than an occasional smirk. I just talked softly to her and after that few minutes she went off to sleep. I put her in her bed thinking she'd be up soon for dinner but she never woke up. She slept all through the night. Poor angel was still recovering from Christmas, I think.

Tonight she was such a delight. Although she fussed half of the way home until I drove one handed while she held my other one... once we got home she was so happy. We played with lots of toys until she started laying her head down on my leg. I absolutely adore this sweet girl and it is so bitter-sweet to watch her playing with all of her new toys and being her silly self. I wish she could be a baby forever and I even miss her being smaller... but then I'm excited each day to see what she learns next.

Ahhhh... what a sweet smile she has...

I wonder if she will always stick out her tongue when she's concentrating? TOO CUTE! =)

Oh and will my busy little girl ever slow down enough to learn how to sit on her little booty instead of her feet? HaHa. I can't believe she can crawl, pull up on things and walk around furniture but doesn't sit normally? Silly girl is just too busy. JC swears she can but doesn't want to or see any reason to. =) He's probably right.

First Christmas - Continued

2008-12-30T16:23:00.003-06:00

Morgan is so special that she had TWO 1st Christmas. =)

December 27th
We woke up at our normal time with Morgan at around 5:30am. (Yes, this is normal lately. I miss 6:30/7am a lot.) Anyways, we are heading out of the driveway at 7:30am to go to "MiMi's" house! Yay, I'm impressed! It was what I wanted to shoot for but I didn't know if it'd work out. We had to stop at the Stop sign and jump out to do one more ck of inventory. Don't want to forget anything! Yep, we had everything. (Not really though... I realize once we're there that I forgot Morgan's pictures with Santa... oops)

Morgan was a wonderful little girl on our trip... for the most part. =) We passed the turn for Daycare about 2 miles and she started babbling and acting annoyed. I'm sure it was her way of saying "Where the heck are you taking me?". HaHa. She quickly went to sleep though and slept until 8:55am which we expected since "Bottle Time" is 9am. We planned perfectly and were stopping right then in Natchitoches to get something to drink. I made her a bottle and once she finished she wasn't entirely pleased with this "Road Trip" any longer. She yelled a couple of times... obviously not hurt or upset... just annoyed and displeased. She kept hitting the buttons on her "Pink phone" and JC joked that she was calling Noni to tell her she'd been kidnapped. =) When her aggravation began to turn into anger I began to sing... yes, I sang songs... hard to believe and I pitty poor JC b/c Lord knows I can't sing. But... I was desperate to keep our little angel happy. I sang "If you're happy and you know it" repeatedly only using the "clap your hands" and "snap your fingers" versions b/c they were the only ones that came close to making her happy... then I sang the "Bringing Home a Baby Bumble-Bee" song... "Knees and Toes"... anything that I could think of. JC felt the need to record this on my cell phone... since he found it very entertaining. I'll show her my desperation as a Mom to make my baby happy when she's 16yo and swears I don't love her. =) JC got in the backseat with her in Colfax when we got closer and did the "clapping" and "snapping" for her back there. Although she never smiled she didn't fuss as long as we were entertaining her. Little stinker. =)

Mom (MiMi) and Joshua met us on the porch when we got there and were THRILLED to see her. She, of course, reached for Josh as soon as we stepped onto the porch. That little girl sure loves her Uncle Josh. She got lots of cuddles from "MiMi" and then Mammaw got there and was so thrilled to see her. She grabbed her up and loved on her right away. =) She had missed her terribly and they both ate up all the cuddles. She sat in Mammaw's lap most of the time we were there and watched Josh play with a remote control car with Aunt Ruby & JC. She was so fascinated by the "car chase" taking place in the living room floor. She got lots of great gifts (Drum, Star crib toy, Learning Puppy, Baby doll, Bedtime CD's, new Lovie and more cute clothes etc.) She got VERY tired and again REFUSED to take a nap. She's so difficult to get to take a nap anywhere away from home. We left there about 3pm to go to Dad's (Papaw).

Once again she passed out when we got in the car and slept the whole way there. She looked so sweet and cuddly with her blanket. We left her there with the car door open to nap once we got there but the wind blew the door shut and woke her up. Poor angel. She had a great time though and really became attached to her Papaw quickly. She crawled all over the living room visiting with everyone and playing with the toys they got for her. She got a Spinning Toy and more cute clothes. =) She is going to be a very well dressed little girl. Once they left she drank a bottle and passed out. Poor little girl had a BUSY day.

We let her sleep in her Pack-N-Play in the room we were sleeping in. We learned that night we're thankful she loves her bed in her own room b/c she is the NOISIEST sleeper. I can't imagine if she slept with us. AHHH. She was all over the place moving around and flipping and flopping, making funny sounds, laughing, babbling, squealing and scratching the mattress and netting on the side of the pack-n-play ( this is VERY loud). We kept jumping up and going to look at her to find her FAST asleep. lol She was making the cutest little faces too. Such a busy little girl... even in her sleep. =) She slept until 6am and woke up in a wonderful, well rested, mood. We were thankful that she got sleep.

December 28th
We were on the road headed home by 8am. Unfortunately we had to miss a wonderful breakfast to get on the road and not mess up Morgan's schedule too bad. She slept the whole way until Natchitoches again... drank her bottle... and this time she passed out again and didn't wake up until we were about 1 mile from home. Our PERFECT little angel did great on her 1st Road Trip. We are so proud. EXCEPT once out of the vehicle she's been very difficult to be around. I'm not really sure that she likes being around herself at this point. =/

She stayed up until her normal bedtime of 7:30pm and then crashed. Me and JC spent the evening trying to get the house in some sort of order. Ahhh. Toys R Us exploded in my Living Room... I'm sure of it.

Our Eventful First Christmas with Morgan

2008-12-29T19:51:00.006-06:00

December 24th / Christmas Eve
I wked only half of a day and Morgan stayed with Noni and had a fun day of playing with dancing/singing snowmen. =) She adored the one the taller one that sang and twirled his hat. I must admit he's my favorite too. I picked her up around Noon and we spent the rest of the evening doing laundry and lots of fun house chores... well... I did those things and Morgan watched and "jumped" like she usually does. JC worked all day so he didn't get home until late and we were sad that he wasn't here to play and cuddle.

Once JC got home gifts were wrapped for the following morning and he fixed me a glass of Egg Nog to relax. Christmas stresses me out... but... oh... LIFE stresses me out. lol I did get all of the gifts wrapped except the Bath Seat for Morgan b/c my paper wasn't wide enough... and once everything was wrapped I realized I'd used the "pretty and shiny" paper from last year that is FOIL and will inevitably be impossible for sweet Morgan to tear into. =( Bad Mommy...

December 25th/CHRISTMAS
We're up with the chickens... lol... our normal 6am. JC and I decided last night we'd get to "Noni's" at 9am so I don't try to get into a big hurry to get dressed. BUT... JC gets up at about 7am and is ready to go. lol He got into the Christmas spirit... literally over night. It's amazing the power that little girl has on her Daddy. =)

So, once I shower and throw some things together we head over to "Noni's" house to help get things ready for Christmas evening when everyone will arrive. Me and Morgan helped Noni wrap some presents. =) I wish we'd taken a picture. =( We were in such a rush to get things wrapped and JC & "Grandpa" were cooking away. It was so cute though... she sat in my lap and chewed on a bow while she watched me tape bows to packages. Such a sweet little helper. She'd watch and chew a little bit on her bow until we were done.

She took a WONDERFUL morning nap but her afternoon nap was interrupted after on 10 minutes by a very excited and rambunctious Austin and puppy Cooper. Poor sweet girl was NOT ready to wake up but she was a good sport about it, for the most part. Since she was so tired she really did not seem all that interested in the opening of presents. She sat in my lap and just kind of watched in a daze. Poor thing. The one thing she did LOVE was a cute little pink cell phone from "Santa" in her stocking. ;) She chewed on that little phone and pressed the buttons ALL night long. She really thought she was doing something and I'm certain in her mind she had "won the battle for Mommy's pink Razor". =) There was so much chaos with EVERYONE opening gifts and I was stacked high with Morgan, me and JC's gifts. She sat in my lap during all of the opening except for when JC took her to drink a bottle. Whenever JC finished up the cooking he put Morgan's "Sing Along Stage" together and she helped with that. =) We did get pictures taken of that. SO SWEET! She even stopped to give Daddy a kiss on his nose during the process. She was so appreciative.

She got a lot of great gifts! Other than the most awesomest Pink Cell Phone from "Santa" she got a 1st Christmas Dollie, Reindeer, Sing Along Stage, Learning Kitchen, Peek-A-Boo Shape Sorter, Classical Star Stacker, VTech Book, Spinning Zoo, Walk behind toy, a very cozy 1st Christmas blanket and lots of cute clothes. Plus I'm almost positive that I'm forgetting some things... there was just SO much stuff.

She didn't really get to play with any toys or anything b/c everyone was passing her around and she was SO tired and overwhelmed by all the people and activity. JC tried to get her to take a nap and she just REFUSED. Just too much going on. She did sample some of "Grandpa's" sweet potatoes he was eating for dinner and she like it a WHOLE lot and got upset that he didn't share anymore with her!! Mean Mommy and Daddy said NO b/c there is LOTS of sugar in that Sweet Potato Casserole.

After everyone ate dinner everyone went over to Danielle & Clint's to watch Austin open his gifts from Santa & Clint's family there. We didn't go b/c Morgan NEEDED to go home and sleep. She was asleep the moment she got into the car and woke up when we got home to change into PJ's (she didn't enjoy this at all) and drink a bottle. Then she passed out. Mrs. Sherry (Noni) & Mr. Mark (Grandpa) brought all the gifts to our house for us after they finished at Austin's house. It was very nice of them to do that b/c we couldn't fit half of the gifts into our car. HaHa.

December 26th
R - E - C - O - V - E - R - Y

Morgan's Learning New Things

2008-11-10T12:11:00.004-06:00

Now that Morgan is more independent I thought it would be a good time to start a blog that I can hopefully keep up with. =)

It's hard to believe that our little baby isn't so little anymore. She just turned 6 mths. on the 2nd of this month and she's growing so fast. She's up to 15lbs 10oz now and she's wearing her 3-6mths clothes. I can't believe she's the little 7lb angel we brought home, what seems like, just yesterday.

I'm so excited about all of the new things she's learning. She's such a happy girl and figuring out these new things makes her so excited. Over the weekend she went from her "Inch Worm" motion across the floor or just throwing herself forward and collapsing to actually more of a crawl! She's using her arms and hands and doing the right motions but it's not very coordinated. HaHa. Her knees are just going as fast as she can get them to move and her arms are just randomly moving. It's very cute watching her clumsily go across the living room... doing kind of a "low crawl" and falling every couple of moves forward. =) She tends to want to only move one arm and hold the other hand out in front of her to try and grab things. So silly. She'll get the hang of it before I know it though and be all over the house. Ahh.. I'm going to have my hands full. We already had to move where we plug in the laptops b/c apparently cords look like great teething toys and she has a strange fascination with her baby wipes' box.

She's been saying the "Ma" sound repeatedly every time she wants to be picked up or gets upset so it's sounded like "MaMaMaMaMa" and I convinced myself to not get excited. This weekend though she finally started to use it correctly. SO CUTE! I'm so proud her first word was "MaMa". =) Our sweet little girl is so smart! Now we have to work on "DaaDee" so her Daddy doesn't get sad b/c we know she adores him. =)

Oh... so bitter-sweet. Our little girl is growing up so fast...