One Year Old

Here are some more birthday pics. She was so cute today. Her little hoodie had cupcakes all over it!! Of course, what good is this thing if I can't climb on top of it?!
This is a pretty usual picture around here. She's always carrying her blankie in her mouth.
The cake- I never said I was good at it! I do think I did a pretty good job though. It worked. The one on Saturday will be vanilla frosting...but this is what I had, so she got chocolate today.

I shouldn't have put sprinkles on it- it seemed to throw her off...
First touch...still ok with it.Not a fan of this sticky crap all over my fingers.
She probably only took a bite or two and then started throwing it. She really doesn't like stuff that sticks to her fingers. I had to wipe them off after awhile. She did try to stick her face in it once, but she couldn't get it there. It was pretty cute. We also got our tree tonight. Maybe that'll end up being a tradition for M's bday.She thought the lights were pretty cool.She is so big. I love her so much. She can truly be a pain in the rear at times- especially when she is intentionally doing something she knows she shouldn't, but all kids do that, right? I love to hear her talk. I can't wait until I can understand it all!! It's hard to believe we'll have two of these little miracles in a few months. It seems like she just came here yesterday, but she's already so big. It's such a short time that they're small it's so sad. She's getting really giggly. She'll laugh at herself or at certain things a lot now and it's so cute! She's just so fun to be around. Eating is getting better too- perhaps because I've decided I don't really care if she eats or not. I put a thing or two on her tray and if she wants it, whatever. Maybe she was sensing my stress about it.
I have to work tomorrow and then the big party is Saturday. I've been trying to get things cleaned up around here for it. Hopefully no one will think too poorly of me and my housekeeping skills. Until then...

Happy Birthday- almost...

Well today is the day...almost. It will be at 11:06 and the worst night of my life was finally over. I asked B if he wanted to stay up all night last night to reminisce, but he said he'd rather not remember it. It started Nov 28 at 8am and ended Nov 29 at 11:06...let's not talk about it further. Today has been uneventful so far. She got to open her present from B and I- she likes it pretty well. It's actually for kids a little older- so she'll grow into it. Here are some birthday morning pics.

Right now I'm trying to get fussybutt to take a nap, but she's resisting. While she "sleeps" I'm agonizing over her cake. I wanted to make it rather than buy her one, but I didn't have pans that little, so I'm using corning ware. Getting the temp and time right is hard!! My first attempt the cake was too done on the outside but not on the inside- really fine for us, but not how I wanted it for her. So I suppose I'll eat it today. Second try is in the oven! I'm going to end up with a million cakes. Tonight will be the trial run for her party! We'll see if she likes it.

Today will be filled with errands- we have to go pick up some pictures at wal-greens, get some more curtains for our bedroom (stupid me only bought enough for one of the windows), get the rest of the groceries for the party, clean the rest of the house...and entertain M. Whew- we'll see if it all actually happens.

More pics to come later on today hopefully.

The week

Still not eating...here she is picking the pears out of all the other food on her tray. Today she ate banana and rice chex for breakfast, goldfish and cheerios for snacks, chicken, cheese, 1/2 jar of baby food spaghetti for lunch, activia yogurt for snack, and pears for dinner. Great. She does seem to feel pretty much fine now except for her right lower molar that's just about through. That'll make 11 teeth. We have to be done sometime soon, right? So here's the paint job- I should have taken them during the day time as it looks different in my opinion, but you get the idea. No more puky yellow... The kitchen is a really dark blue. The living and dining room is this brown color. It looks GREAT! We are quite pleased. It finally feels like our house!
Here's just one so you get an idea of the colors together. M has this cute little pink outfit with a dress that goes over it from Reese. It's amazing how things look so unappealing on a hanger and SO CUTE on!! I didn't get a pic with the dress though...
She was pretty grouchy this evening after her nap...this seems to be a theme around here. Her nap is great but she wakes up and cries and cries, no matter what!! She's also started doing things purposefully wrong. She loves to peel the UV film off the windows and she knows she's not supposed to- she looks right at you! We think it's attention seeking but she does it even when you're in the midst of playing with her. We've started time outs with her- but she doesn't really care. She usually just sits there and claps and laughs, but it gets her mind off whatever she was doing wrong...She thinks she needs to climb everything.

Getting better...

Yeah, I forgot the camera today...I know I know you're saying WHAT? YOU? Yes, me... Sorry. She is starting to feel better though, thank GOD! She was a mess yesterday at Pepper's- how God brought Pepper to me I will never know, but I never ever take for granted how lucky we are to have her. I did have to work but got to leave around 5pm to come home and be with her. Today no fevers and doing much better it seems. We went to my dad's side of the family today because on the other side I have a cousin who would have been really put out if I had brought M knowing she'd been sick. She acted great all day and did a good job of showing off her skills! She actually acted pretty shy for quite awhile! It's pretty cute. Hopefully this is all ending. Two more days of antibiotics and all better, right? We'll see. We are working on painting downstairs too- kitchen is done. I'll be posting pics as soon as things get put back together!

Yeah, sick again...

So M has been sick for about 3 weeks now. It started out as RSV I thought with a lot of congestion in her nose. There were a few nights I had to get her Benadryl so she could sleep and a night or two I had to just go in and hold her upright. Well that lasted about a week. Then a cough was added to the illness...the runny nose never really ending. Then last week she got a rash that only really lasted about 2 days. So this week the saga continues. Basically she acts ok, just pretty fussy most of the time, runny nose, and not eating well. Well about 9 am this morning she started the scream walk...just walking around in circles screaming for no apparent reason. I have become used to this in the last few weeks. I took her upstairs and tried to lay her down as she kept rubbing her eyes but she would just scream unless I held her. I was rocking her and she was saying nigh nigh in this pitiful voice. Finally I gave her benadryl and ibuprofen, put orajel on her gums, got her to sleep and called the Dr. Enough is enough. So we got an antibiotic. Hopefully this will work. By the time we got home from the dr her temp was 101.6. GREAT! FEVER has NEVER been a part of this yet. In addition, the one thing that has always annoyed me about the dr is that they take her temp with an EAR thermometer- Basically useless. So it says she has a temp of 97 when I know she's burning up. Whatever. Tonight her temp was back up to 102.8. Great. Hopefully she'll sleep ok. Good thing Pepper never cares if she's sick because I signed up to work extra tomorrow. Sheesh. I wish I had a healthy kid. I suppose things could be worse. I'm tired.

Enlighten me, PLEASE!

I'd really like to know how I created a child who won't eat. It appears she has got some of her father's traits. Asside from cheese, fruit, eggo french toast sticks, chicken, and....well...that's all I can think of right now, she will NOT eat. She only drinks milk. As a baby she would eat ANYTHING. There are times I get so completely frustrated with her that I can hardly stand it. Even starving her doesn't work, she just sits and screams. I'm not really sure what to do about it. It's endlessly frustrating to continue fixing her things to eat that I know will end up on the floor or in the trash, but do I just quit offering her things other than cheese and fruit? Probably not. Will this ever go away?? Sometimes if I just force something into her mouth she'll remember that she really does like it, but not very often. Usually she'll just spit it back out. The most frustrating thing is that at the baby sitter's house she'll eat EVERYTHING. AH! I HATE IT! I'm actually to the point of dreading meal time with her because I know I'm going to end up livid by the time it's over. The problem is she's so damn cute. How do you be mad at her? I'm afraid to switch her to whole milk because then I know she'll get almost zero vitamins. Oh someone help me.

It's in the Genes

This one is completely for my sister who says the love of television must be in the genes...M watches Baby Einstein like it's the only thing in the world. If I had more time I would have caught her talking to it saying "Da" which is Daddy and Mama. She also says Quack every time the duck comes on. Don't watch unless you're really bored...

Tupperware mess

Well since I got yelled at for not putting any new pictures up- here you go. We just haven't done anything picture worthy this week. This mess is a daily occurrence at our house. She drags it all over the kitchen and living room and then every night we pick it up. It's pretty fun as you can imagine. M's doing well- she's working on her 10th tooth- that part hasn't been very fun. Her entire face has been kinda swollen. I'm also starting to feel a little swelling on her bottom molars too. Whoopee! Not much else happening. Her birthday is in only 2 weeks! Guess I better makes some invites! Everyone keeps trying to get me to cut her scraggly hair...I WILL WIN!

Baby Boy Smith

Ok I know, how much more generic can you get with a name?? Baby Boy Smith?! Well- of course he doesn't have a name yet, so quit asking! He'll probably be named just like M was- 2 hrs after birth! That's what you get with two indecisive parents. No name...sad for him.
Please excuse the after shower shiny face. I thought you might want to see a little picture of baby boy Smith at 24 weeks...16 to go! It's flying by this time. I would say he's a little more active than M was, or else I just don't obsess over it quite so much- probably a little of both. He's getting big- already kicking up toward my ribs! Everyone keeps saying how small I was- I don't really think I'm any smaller than with M, just maybe not so much padding!
We're going to Branson this weekend with Grandma while dad is hunting (yes hunting). We'll catch up Monday!

Playing outside

After our walk this afternoon M and I played outside. She has several toys that she loves to just push back and forth across the driveway. It's so much more fun to be outside with her now that she isn't trying to eat the rocks and woodchips. That was quite annoying.
Ok- you MUST admit that's the cutest smile you've ever seen...
I'm gonna go now mama!! (yes that is the street she's walking in)Ok, I'm coming back...darn.

Bath time and such.

So here's the other video of yesterday- M had gotten into the wagon and was trying to figure out how to get out. Today she's quite practiced at it!

She was having a good time as always tonight in the bath. She was really fussy downstairs and she walked into the kitchen, looked at me and pulled the back of her hair and said..."nigh nigh??" and then made a beeline for the stairs and started pulling on the babygate. SO CUTE! Her little voice is hoarse from her sinus issue and it was so incredibly sweet.
We had a good day today. I took the Critical Care RN certification exam this morning and PASSED IT! Thank God. I feel like a huge weight has been taken off me and I can finally relax, so we ran errands and got a milkshake today! We also took a walk and it was crazy windy. M won't stand the shade blocking the wind or her hood, so I think she's going to have to start staying at home when it's too cold. :(

She's learning so fast!!!

Daddy fed her spaghetti the other night. She doesn't like picking up the small noodles as well as other things, but she did pretty well- I think her shirt is ruined (men never think of the important things like pulling up sleeves!) but that's ok I suppose.Tonight she said "night night" along with saying mama, done, quack, clap (which sounds exactly like quack) and various other things. I think I've said that before.... Her latest thing is learning to crawl in and out of this little wagon. She has really been wanting to get inside things lately. At Pepper's she got in this plastic thing that was so tight she couldn't move, but she was content to play in there for a few mins before she realized she was stuck. So she spent all day crawling in and out of this. Grandma Lana was here and would pull her around some. She thinks it's pretty cool. She also likes to read the cook books. I have them on a cute little shelf in the kitchen- well I think they're moving because they're now all over the place and being ripped apart each day!On another child's note...the little man is moving around so much! I saw him kick from the outside the other day for the first time. It seems I am having a lot more fun being pregnant and enjoying it this time which is nice. I have been eating like crazy this weekend so I better get back on track tomorrow! B still hasn't felt or seen him move- he's a lot like M in that when you try to feel it he stops. Oh well...
Well today you'll get the short video, and then if you're lucky, the long one tomorrow! She is learning things right and left. It is amazing!! She has finally learned to clap and she thinks it's hilarious!! I've been trying to get her to do it for at least a month so when she does we get really excited and make a big deal about it. It's pretty funny.