Tuesday Scare

Paige takes a nap everyday at 10am. Some days she only sleeps for an hour, most days two. Today, she didn't want to sleep at all. I put her in her crib, and walked away from a very wide-eyed baby, and thought, "This can't be a good sign."

Half an hour later, she was still awake. Eric and both went up there once to re-cover her and put the pacifier in, but it didn't work. She managed to even turn on her mobile, and turn it off again. I pretty much resigned myself to having to bring her with me to pick up Emily at 11:15. Miraculously, at about 10:50am, no sounds from the monitor. When I went in to check on her before I left, she was on the opposite side of her crib, on her tummy, with the pacifier in her mouth....how did she get it in there? A mystery - but cool, she was sleeping. I covered her, and left to go get Emily.

Well, the Gods must have been shining down on me, because had I of brought her with me, it would have been not good. Before I got to the corner of 23 Mile Road and Romeo Plank I saw a mess of police cars, ambulances and fire trucks. When I got closer to the intersection, I saw that they were blocking off 23 Mile Road, and the center of the activity was at Emily's school. Immediately I went into panic mode.

Before I go on, I would like to say that EVERYONE is FINE. Okay? Don't you panic too!!

Not being able to make a right onto 23 Mile Road, I continued through the intersection, and turned into the Catholic church parking lot to call home. While I was plugging in the phone, a man approached my car. He was from a funeral home and wanted me to move my car. I explained that I was trying to pick up my kid from school, pointing to all the hysteria to the east, and couldn't, and I needed to make a quick call. He didn't care, and wanted me to move my car NOW. The nerve of some people. I pulled out of the parking lot, called Eric so that he could call the school and see if they could tell him what was going on. When I was leaving the parking lot, I saw two Mommies from Emily's school in another parking lot talking to some of the firefighters that were helping block the road. I went over there to see if could find anything out. At the same time Eric was calling the school - no answer.

One of the Mommies - I can't remember her name - started walking towards the school with another Mommy carrying an 18 month old baby. By the way, it was snowing pretty heavily at this point, and of course, I am not wearing boots of any kind, have no hat, hood or scarf....great. When I saw them coming back with no kids, I got out to ask them what was up. It turns out this the only parent that I don't like. She has always been so rude to me, and I don't know why. She told me that the kids were being taken to the local fire station and that because she has a van, she was going to help. I tried to ask her why, and she was so weird with me. Then she said that because I have a van too, that I could take some kids as well....hmmmm...that sounds weird. She did finally tell me that there was a gas leak. So was acting so annoyed with me - "Hello, I am a parent too...." Lovely woman. So, I took off for the fire station.

As it turns out, no kids were even at the school. They were already at the fire station. So, what the heck was she even talking about?? And, um, yeah - the school would let someone just take a bunch of kids in their van without consent of any kind. Don't think so lady.

I drove through the intersection again, and turned towards the school - I was stopped three times by police. And, they ALL informed that the kids were at the fire station. So, there I went. Incidentally - the parent that was walking with "rude chick" got to the fire station at the same time as I did, and she had no idea what was going on. Apparently "rude chick" was rude to her too.

What all of us parents wanted to know, was how did all of our kids even get here - well, ask the kids right? Emily told me that she got there in a fire truck. I guess they have one especially for this situation, that holds a bunch of people. She said all the kids in her school went on the same truck - with one teacher, Ms. Forrester. The rest of the staff drove in their cars. Emily was not even a little bit scared or freaked. She just thought this was business as usual. Cool as a cucumber.

And, just so you know, I had to restrain myself from asking "rude chick" how many kids she ended up bringing. She got to the fire station about five minutes after I did. I did give her a seriously dirty look. Mean, I know. That'll scare her huh?

All of this is because they have been working on 23 mile road for the past year, and have set up camp right in front of Emily's school. It has been a real inconvenience picking her up and dropping her off. And, they are not the least bit concerned about the fact that there is a school not 20 feet from where they are working. I have almost been hit by a dump truck at least twice. So, it's no surprise to me that they hit the main gas line for that area. Emily said that they could all smell it inside her school. Great.

Anyway, she's good, and they think it'll be fixed by today, so maybe school tomorrow. What an adventure. Sorry so long, but I had to get it all out. Have a SAFE Tuesday!!

It's Monday!!

Yea!! Yippie!! Woohoo. Mondays are awesome. You know, it's not like I get to sleep in all weekend and have to wake up at the crack of dawn on Monday morning. In fact, I didn't even get to sleep in a little bit this weekend. Saturday, Eric and Emily went to a train show in Novi, and had to leave at 9am. So, I had to be up and ready for the day before Eric left with her. Plus, I had to get her ready to go. Then, yesterday, Eric went to work at a train show - he left the house at 6:45am, which means that he was up at 5:30am. Guess who also woke up at the same time? That's right, Paige. I tried in vain to get her to go back to sleep - didn't work. Emily came into my room when Eric left because she heard the garage door - now I had two kids in my bed before 7am. No sleeping in for me.

Watched the incredibly boring Academy Awards last night. Is it me, or does that show get more boring every year? And I don't mean to be cruel, but did Daniel Day Lewis' wife check the mirror before she left for the evening? That was the ugliest dress I think I have ever seen. The only highlight of the show was Jon Stewart - I loved that he let that chick who won for best song come back out and give her speech. That was great.



So, I didn't get a chance to do a re-shoot with Paige and the dog. I think I will just have to deal with what I have. Is it that big of a deal? I did take some sister pictures - but that didn't really work either. Paige would not look at the camera because she was much more interested in looking at the toys on the floor. So, I gave Emily so books to share with her sister. She of course still wasn't interested in the camera - but the reading together pictures are just as cute. Look at that look of surprise on Paige's face. She's reading "Hello Bee, Hello Me".



See - I told you she gets it from her sister!!


Okay - so here's the thing...I am getting dinner ready, and I hear Emily go into the bathroom. She's in there for awhile, so I go and check on her and this is what I find. Looking at a train catalog on the potty. I wasn't sure if I wanted to publish this one on the blog, but there are no parts showing, so I guess it's alright. Sorry if I offend anyone - but it was too funny to resist. Swear, it's not a posed picture. She's really intently looking at her Daddy's train catalog.

Seven Months Old

Today Paige turns another month old - to bring the grand total up to seven. I cannot believe it. Has it already been seven months? Some days I feel like that - and others I feel like.."Geez, she's only seven months old..."

At seven months Paige has four bottles a day, eats a stage 2 fruit for breakfast - with oatmeal, and a stage two vegetable for dinner - with rice. She eats Cheerios or Gerber fruit puffs in her highchair while we eat our dinner. She is attempting to crawl forwards, and is proficient at backwards crawling. She love playing with her toys - really into banging things together these days. She loves it when you sing to her. She is VERY smiley. She is very attached to her Mama these days. I cannot leave the room without hearing her cry, and she no longer goes to anyone that she is not very familiar with. She still takes two naps a day and sleeps at least 10 hours straight at night....sometimes more if we are lucky. She is still okay with her pacifier, but most nights will go to sleep without it. There is something magical and soothing about her burp cloths, she loves to rub them on her face when she is tired. Her new and exciting trick is babbling. She just started the other day. The babbling is laced with little shrieks here and there - which is GREAT when she is doing this at 5:30am. She is still fitting in her 9 month size clothes, but not for long. Oh, and she LOVES her big sister. LOVES her. And, the feeling is mutual.

This month was a difficult photo shoot. Paige no longer really fits easily in her doggie. If she had a real sense on balance she could sit in his lap - but that wasn't happening. So I could only take shots of her sitting in front of him - and I forgot to change the setting on the camera before I took the pictures so none of those shots turned out. I will have to do a re-shoot. In any case, here are some of the okay shots. She was very willing to smile, just not willing to sit still.


Mid-yawn - just love that one.

One of the shots in front of the dog - good one of Paige, but you can't really see the dog.....

I love this because it looks like she is clapping - she isn't really, but it's darn cute.

By the way - outfit compliments of my sister Amanda. It comes from her store, Baby Cottons. It is incredibly soft.

No doubt learned this one from Emily.


So this is me after I changed the setting on the camera trying once again to take her picture in front of the dog - she had other plans......

This is where she ended up. Backwards crawling.

Okay - you win, you're cute.

All Clear

Just wanted to let you all know that I am healing just fine and can go about resuming my normal daily activities. Isn't that such a relief? And how do I know that you ask....well, I spent the better part of my afternoon at my surgeon's office for my follow-up appointment. Over an hour in the waiting room. Twenty minutes in the exam room. Thank goodness I had my DS with me to keep me occupied. I even got a Platinum medal on the memory portion of Big Brain Academy. All of that just to hear the doctor ask me a total of five questions about my recovery, look at my incisions for about two seconds and that's it. But, I should not focus on that right? I am good, and I guess that's all that matters.

Other exciting developments this week....Emily got pencil poked in the right hand by a lovely child in her class. Her teacher told me that Emily did all that she could to keep this boy from not poking her in the hand, but apparently that wasn't good enough. Luckily, he didn't break the skin. Emily cried for about three seconds, and then went back to her work. She did tell me that the boy (I won't name names) did lose his pencil and paper, spent the rest of the morning in a chair in the corner, and got a note sent home. She seemed pretty satisfied with that. I guess I am too. I told Emily that he was just looking for attention - is that bad? We had a nice long discussion about good versus bad choices, and she seems to know the difference. Childhood.

My Grandpa John is on the mend after having a pacemaker inserted into his chest. The surgery was yesterday morning, and he may be going home as soon as later today. He is doing just great, not surprising - and let's pray that he stays out of the hospital for a good while.

It seems as if the cold that has been around here for awhile, is now gone. I am doing everything I can to keep the flu away. They had a report on the news the other day on how it has sent so many to the hospital, and I would like to really avoid that.

Anyway, some pictures....


Emily is really into Paige's books - especially "The Runaway Bunny". She wants me to read it to her everyday. Don't know why.


It took me about ten tries to even get them in the same frame. You can really see the love Max has for Paige in his eyes - about as much as he loves Emily.

Just love that girl. Below is a photo that I photoshoped. I have no idea how to really use that program, but I am learning courtesy of the Pioneer Woman blog. I just read a few days ago that she is going to launch a new photoshop blog - all about how to edit photos in cool and exciting ways. I am so looking forward to that.

Have a great weekend everyone!! Oh and thank you Ann Marie for Paige's cute outfit. I was afraid that she would outgrow it before we actually got some warmer weather - so I put a long sleeve onesie on underneath the pink shirt. She looks so CUTE.

Tuesday Cuteness

Last night, while I was getting the girls ready for bed, we were treated to an encore presentation of "The Emily Show". Apparently, it is only available in our house right now, but check your local listings - it could be in your area soon. What is it about, you ask? Well, it stars five-year old sensation Emily Jean, and is basically about her adventures at home. Oh, and it encompasses many channels - for which you need a special remote to change the channel. Last night, on channel two, was the "Emily gets her PJ's On" show. Then immediately following that on channel three was the "Emily brushes her teeth show" - Paige loved that one. The last show we watched was on channel four - "The Emily bounces and jumps" show. That one got little Miss Paige hysterical laughing. She is too funny. The things that she thinks up, and then acts out sometimes just boggle my mind. She wanted me to do the "Mommy gives Paige her Benedryl" show, but I wasn't able to hold Paige, give her the medicine and narrate a show at the same time - well, I was, but apparently I wasn't quite TV ready enough for Emily....I had a lot of criticism. That girl has some pretty high standards.

It was one of those times that I wish I had a camera in my pocket to take a picture of the whole thing, but unfortunately, the camera was downstairs in the kitchen. And I wasn't about to go and get it - I would miss the whole show!!

So here's some cute pictures of Paige from this morning - thank you Keri for the cute outfit. It matches her new shoes perfectly!!

Lazy Sundays

Oh I wish. I remember a much simplier time when Sundays were just a day to sit back and relax and get ready for the upcoming week. However, they were also a bit boring. Fast forward a few years, and a couple kids, and now Sundays are anything but relaxing.

I started out my morning by being woken up at 6:30am by little Miss Paige. She may sleep though the night - sometimes - but she gets up EARLY. Eric got her up, changed her diaper, suctioned out her much stuffy nose - much blood curdling screams ensued - and brought her into our bed at 7am. She was quickly followed by her big sister. Sleeping in - I think not. At 7:30am, I went downstairs to feed the baby, and was greeted by a waggy tail dog, who looks like he would like to go out. So, I let him out, and he went down the sidewalk and out of my view. Dang dog. I would have gone down the steps after him, but the steps were covered with ice, and I was not about to fall on my butt....or so I thought. I quickly ran to the garage, opened the door, screamed the dogs name - no dog. I went into the garage to see if I could see him - nope. I took ONE little tiny step onto the driveway to see if I could get a better view and BAM - took a nose dive onto the icy driveway. Keep in mind, I have bare feet, pj's on, and oh, the baby in my arms. In case you are wondering, she was fine...my elbow broke my fall, and prevented the baby from falling too - my now bruised elbow. Oh, and also, bare feet offer no traction, so I am now trapped and praying (it IS Sunday) that none of my neighbors go to the early service at church. I was slipping and not able to get up - Eric was in the shower, and my Mom was still sleeping.....what do I do? I decide that I will just grab on to the small Arborvitae tree and hope that the snow on the ground beside it was not as slippery as the ice - it wasn't...but it was COLD. I was able to get up and get inside quickly. Oh, and where is Max you ask? Waiting for me at the front door.......gotta love it.

So, I went to Target, much later on, did a load of Paige's clothes, made lunch, watched a little bit of the Daytona 500, cleaned out Paige's closet, and all the other typical stuff I do on a Sunday. Oh, and did I mention that I am supposed to be taking it easy.....yeah right.

Would I trade any of it for my old boring Sundays? Not a chance. Take a look at these faces....would you?

Have a great week!!

CandyBall

It was a lovely Valentine's Day. Eric got me my Russel Stovers chocolate - yum. I made him a yellow cake with homemade chocolate buttercream frosting. Emily got some M&M's from Mommy and Daddy, and a sticker book and jellybelly's from Grandma. It was a sugary sweet day.

I decided that with all the yucky cold germs we have around here - the sheets from all beds needed to be washed. Because of this, Emily's duvet cover and other miscellaneous stuff were in a huge pile on her floor. Perfect for a cannonball. Except that, according to Emily, it's not a Cannonball, it's a CandyBall. I don't know why, but when she says stuff that is gramatically incorrect, I usually don't correct her. It's just too cute - and it will all be gone before I know it. I'll blink and tomorrow she'll be 35. Will she still be calling it a CandyBall?

Poor Paige now has the cold - full blown. Eric had to make a 2am trip to the drug store to get her some much needed Benedryl the other night so that she, as well as her very tired parents, could sleep. Now he has the cold as well......am I next? Let's hope not. Way to kick me when I am down, right?

Snowdrawing

I am so sick of this whole gall bladder thing. I am feeling much better now that it's out - no longer a ticking time bomb, but now I have other pain. The incision that the doctor made to take it out is right on the center of my chest, so pretty much any movement of any kind is pretty painful. Gee, I am having so much fun. Hopefully, in a week or so I will be much better.

In other news, we have had quite a bit of snowfall this past week. We got about 2 more inches last night. It's my favorite kind of snow too - the pretty, sparkly kind. It has been a beautiful sunny day today, so it's especially sparkly. Looks like it will be sticking around a while too - the temperature is not really going above freezing for at least a few days.

I thought it would be fun to draw a heart - in honor of Valentine's Day - in the snow. Emily thought that it looked like fun, so she got her own wooden spoon and joined in. A new medium. Poor Emily has a cold this week, but luckily she is off of school for the mid-winter break, so she can rest up. I think Paige is getting it too - she has a runny nose as well, and is sneezing quite a bit. Never a dull moment around here.

Well, I had better get back to my "resting".

(In case you are wondering where Emily's hat is....we were only outside for about 5 minutes, and in the sun it was pretty warm - no wind. And, I forgot to put it on her. Mother of the Year.)

Allison is OK

Allison had her gall bladder surgery today. Everything went perfectly with no complications and the procedure was completed in about 45 minutes. She was back home resting by 3:00PM. I wanted to post of a picture of her resting in bed but Allison thought that was not a good idea. Unfortunately, the hospital kept her gall bladder and she was not allowed to bring it home with her for show and tell. I bet I could have gotten a couple of hundred bucks for it on ebay.

Friday Cuteness

Little Miss Paige was in such a good mood when I finished feeding her at noontime, I thought it would be good to snap a few pictures. See her teefers? Thank you Tracy, Ian and Katie for the beautiful flowers - that was so nice and sweet!!

Can I just say one other totally non-cute realted thing? Of course I can, it's MY blog. Just got back from the LOVELY Kroger grocery store ( I loathe that place). I went there to buy some low fat/low cholesterol ice cream stuff - I can't have anything with a lot of fat because of my gall stone situation. Now I know why Michganders are so fat - there's no LOW FAT anything. I did manage to get some Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches, but that's it. No Fat Free frozen yogurt, no fat free ice cream, no wieght watchers desserts...WTH? That's so annoying. BTW - the skinny cow is awesome. Is it wrong to eat the whole package?? Just kidding.........

Okay - now have a great weekend everyone!

Snow Frolic

Emily and Eric finally got to play in the snow last night. It was starting to get dark, hence the light starved pictures. Enily had a ball building her Queen's Castle - don't ask me, I have no idea.....

By the way, thank you all for your kind words and prayers about my little gall bladder incident. I am going to need them very much on Monday.

No big plans for the weekend, just doing laundry, cleaning and other stuff like that. I am supposed to take it easy after my surgery, so I have a lot to get done beforehand. Have a great weekend everyone!!

Some things are hard to explain

It was interesting trying to Explain Allison's ailment to Emily, who is 5 and doesn't spend too much time reading anatomy textbooks. She asked me what was wrong with her mommy Wednesday morning when I woke her up for school and told her that Allison was not here but in the hospital instead. So I tried to explain as best as I could...
"Well", I began, "Mommy has a bit of a problem with her insides. Do you know what's inside you here in your upper body?" Emily suggested that there are probably some bones in there somewhere. I said, "Yes, but there are lots of other organs in there also."
"Like my keyboard?"
"No, there are parts that are called organs that all do different things in the body and they are all connected by pipes. Mommy has a problem with a part called the gall bladder."
"What's wrong with it?", Emily asked.
"It's got a bunch of stones in it."
"Stones!?"
"Yes. Did you ever notice that sometimes when we're outside mommy will bend over, pick up a pebble, and eat it?"
"Whatever, Daddy."
"I'm just kidding, they're not actually rocks."
"Then how do they get there, Daddy?"
"Well sometimes your body makes them. They just look like rocks but they are made out of stuff that is like hard cheese."
"Hard cheese?"
"Yes, like Parmigiano Reggiano."
"Oh."

Adventures in Gall Stones

I have had so much fun over the past few days I don't know what to do with myself. For those of you who don't know, I have spent the last day an a half at Troy Beaumont hospital. (For those of you who do know, you can skip this part and move on to the next part...although I don't know what that is yet, since I have not yet written it) Why was I in the hospital, you ask? Well....it all started Tuesday afternoon. I got home from a lovely Target outing - I went for a bottle brush, and the movie "SnowBuddies" for Emily, and came home with over $100 worth of stuff, and no bottle brush. I was making Paige's bottles when I started to have this pain. I thought it was from not going to the bathroom for a while, so I finished the bottles, and went. Didn't help. Then I thought it may be indigestion, so I drank a diet Coke and had some Tums. Lots of burping ensued, but still not better. In fact, it was getting worse. I thought I was having a heart attack, but Eric said I would have other symptoms and other pains, and I wasn't having any of that. After about 5 hours of this excruciating pain, I came to the realization that it must be my gallbladder. Eric did some quick internet research on it, and by golly, I was right. So at 10:30pm, in the middle of a snowstorm, we set off for the hospital.

I was in the ER for the rest of the night. Eric left at 4am to go and get some sleep. They were taking forever with my ultrasound results - but they did give me some lovely medication for pain. I was unfortunate enough to get to listen to a real live "code" in the ER - and the man that they were working on died at 6:14am. It was awful - I was praying for him the whole time, although he was pretty much gone when he arrived. Shortly after that, they moved me to another area. The hospital was packed and there were no rooms to be had. At 8:00 am, I was informed that I would be having a ERAC procedure at 10am. This is where they put a scope down your throat and look at your gall bladder from the outside. They do this so that they can remove any stone that have ventured outside the bladder, and also open up the pathway between the gall bladder and the digestive system so that it can drain out a little better - preventing further attacks until the gall bladder can be removed. It was a pretty painless procedure - I was out for the whole thing. My throat hurt a little afterwards, but only for about 30 minutes. Not too bad. At about 3:30pm, I was moved into a regular room - a private one with a view of the blizzard that was happening outside. They still didn't have a time booked for my gall bladder removal, and it wasn't looking like it was going to happen that day...or even the next. But, in any case, I was on a no drink, no food diet just in case. Later in the evening, they decided that surgery wasn't going to happen that night, so I was given juice and broth for dinner. It was the best thing I have ever eaten.

So, are you wondering why I am already home? Well, they are so packed, they sent me home this afternoon, and my gall baldder removal - I am sure that there is some fancy name for it, but I don't know what it is - is scheduled for Monday at 11am. I am on a restricted diet of low fat, low cholesteral, so as not to anger the gall stones and send me back to the ER. It's not fun, but neither is that pain, or the ER, so I will take it.

My Mom and Eric did a great job of taking care of the girls while I was gone. I missed them terribly. Emily came with her Daddy to pick me up today - a very nice surprise. I gave them both about 1,000 hugs and kisses so far today, and I think I will give them both at least two times that before they go to bed. It stinks being sick, and it doubly stinks being sick in the hospital. Fortunately, I did have great doctors and nurses taking care of me. Even met a nurse tech from Coral Springs, Florida!! Small world.

So, I am home now, with hopefully no pain. Back to the grind. Here's a couple photos from the past two days. I would have some of the snow, but I haven't had time yet today. Will do that later today, and post them tomorrow. Have a GREAT Thursday!! Oh, and sory abut eany typoes - spellchecjk is not wroking....... :)

Emily with her beloved movie - I bought it for her as babysitting compensation. She has watched it about 20 times already.

Paige and Grandma yesterday while I was in the hospital.

Whiplash Weekend

It's Monday evening, and I have NO idea where my weekend went. Of course, it doesn't help that I spent twelve hours on Saturday in a school/church gymnasium scrapbooking. The fastest twelve hours of my life. I brought so much stuff to do, and got about and eighth of it done. What the heck? I serioulsly thought there was the possiblility that I would be bored...toyed with the idea of bringing my DS. Boy was I wrong. I did get my Christmas album started - well, it's complete up to this past Christmas, so that's good. And, I got five layouts done. If I get a minute tomorrow, I will post them here.

Sunday was just a lazy day. I made touchdown taco dip in honor of the Superbowl. I also made in honor of the Superbowl, BBQ pork tenderloin, cheesy potatoes and green beans. What does that have to do with football? Football....pigskin....pork....get it? Marinated it in onions, garlic, lime and EVOO. It was YUMMY. I will be making that again.

Also, for the first time in a long time, I actually watched the Superbowl. And was a little upset to not see history made. I really don't follow pro sports - but I would have liked to see someone have a perfect season. Oh well - I am 0-16 in picking the winning Superbowl team. Sorry Patriots that I wanted you to win...it's all my fault.

Pictures from yesterday and today:

There's nothing like a good bubble beard to make you smile.......

Yeah, got this on Friday. Have to go the day after my birthday. That SUCKS.

Emily loves her keyboard. She was singing for Paige so that she wouldn't cry while I was making her bottles this afternoon. I have been enlisting Emily to "babysit" Paige a lot lately. She loves doing it. Please don't call HRS - I am always in the same room, or the vicinity (the same house), and it's only for a short time - about an hour or two....just kidding. Paige just adores her sister - she can always make her smile. It's so cool to watch.

Have a GREAT week!!

Snowy - but no Snow Day

Ah - how I love the sound of snowthrowers in the morning. We were supposed to get this HUGE winter storm last night, and into today - but I think it's nto really that big of a deal. I guess some people did because every school in the surrounding counties has been closed - as have most of the private schools around here. Of course, when I woke up this morning, turned on the TV to see if Emily's school had been cancelled - I found out that it hadn't. Oh well. Have to get up and get ready for the day.......

Thought I would share some pictures of my other child - Max. Don't see him on this Blog too frequently - guess he's not feeling the love. He does love the snow. Sometimes it's hard to get him to come back in.

I am off to a twleve hour scrap-a-thon at St. Peter's tomorrow (10am to 10pm). It's gonna take me forever to get everything ready.

Happy Birthday to my Dad tomorrow - as well as my late Grandma and Grandpa Bob. February 2nd is a popular birthday. Happy Groundhogs Day!!