30 weeks old and her first illness....

You wouldn't know it from this smile, but Baby girl has been soooo very sick this past weekend when she actually turned 30 weeks old.  So these pictures were taken a couple days late after she was kind of getting back to her normal self, but man Mommy has never seen her baby that sick.

 She went to bed Saturday evening as usual around 6:30pm, and then awoke at 9pm crying hysterically and BURNING up with fever.  Took her temp and it was 101.3. So we rocked and cried most of the night, neither Sweetness or I got any sleep whatsoever and Chloe didn't either.

 So after being on the phone all night with the on call nurse- she got us an appointment with the after-hours clinic.  I had no idea one even existed.  But I am so happy to know that our pediatrician's office has teamed up with 4 other offices of peds doctors, and they take turns running an after hours emergency care for babies and toddlers on Sat and Sun from 9-1pm.

 You must have special permission to have one of these coveted appointments on the weekend, but hey you only have to pay your co-pay, no ER fees!!  Anyway, the doctor we saw was okay- not all that friendly, and my baby was so sick- by this time her temp had risen to 103.1 even after 3 doses of acetaminophen!!!

 So after the exam, we were told that Chloe had a n ear infection in her Right ear and she had the hand/foot and mouth virus that was going around everywhere right now.  The what??? Huh???

Well after some research I remembered learning about his virus in Micro, it is called the Coxsackie virus, and it makes babies 3 and under VERY sick, usually by causing a rash or ulcer type sores on the hands, feet and in the mouth.

 But Chloe only had them in her mouth and all down her throat, nothing on her hands and feet.  So in this case it is called Herpangina.  Well that made her so ill she did not want anything by mouth and she was getting dehydrated.  So we took her home, gave her her dose of amoxicillin for her ear infections, and gave her a cool bath to bring down the fever, a dose of ibuprofen and then we all three took a nap.  We were all so exhausted it was comical.

 After Chloe woke up from her nap, we headed over to my mom's for my Nana's 86th Birthday party.  I ll post about that next post.  Chloe continued to get worse over there, and her fever was creeping higher and she refused to eat and now was vomiting as well.  The nurse on call said to go to the ER and get fluids for her.

 So off we went to children's hospital's ER, and there they gave her fluids, and she cried and cried and it was so pitiful.  he doctor said they had already had 13 admissions that weekend because of this virus spreading around. Also my two cousins, one in Michigan and one in North Carolina, said that their kids have just gotten over this virus in the last several weeks, so it must be all over the country!

 So we finally were sprung from the ER, and were home to sleep, and boy did baby girl sleep.  She FINALLY slept, after being up for almost 20 hours straight.  She slept until 9 am on Monday morning.  I stayed home all day with her as she was still contagious and I could not let our babysitter come watch her and then take it home to her 8 week old granddaughter who lives with her.  I was being super careful.

And then yesterday, grandma stayed at my house and took care of her.  Today Bonnie is back babysitting her as usual, and by all accounts she is doing very well, and had recovered and is all smiles again!!

I know all kids get sick, but man it hurts your heart when it's your baby.  She has never been sick since she was born, but boy she broke us newbie parents in good this past weekend!!!!  ;)

Chloe's first babysitter....and Mommy & Daddy's first night out!

This past Saturday evening, Sweetness and I left baby Chloe with her first babysitter that was not grandma.  We had tickets to the Virginia Arts Festival International Tattoo 2012.  We never go to shows or concerts, but  this is an amazing show with over 500 participants of the different branches of the military from many different countries showing off their amazing skills and talents as they celebrate the arts and America.

I was desperate for a sitter because the one we had lined up had to cancel so our sweet friends Rose and roger offered to watch our little angel. 

 Rose and Roger were the people that actually set me and Sweetness up on our first date. They still live in the apartment complex we lived in when Sweetness and I met.  Those of you who don't know our story, we met at the apartment complex we both lived in, and we both knew Rose and Roger and they were fielding our questions about one another until we finally had the nerve to talk to each other ourselves.

Neways, as soon as we got there, Chloe took right to Rose and as you can see was just chilling in her lap before we left and just as happy as she can be.

 She did wonderful while there the whole evening.  She went to sleep about 7:30pm and was still sleeping when we got there at 10:30 pm to get her.  They just loved having her there and they are such wonderful friends- they will certainly be watching her again!!!  And here is good ole Bear their "baby".  He is the best dog ever- and more spoiled than Chloe!!! He thinks he is a Chihuahua, but he weighs like 150 lbs!!!  But man what a sweetheart- he was checking Chloe out big time when we were there- having to sniff everything- then he kind of acted very protective of her- he slept right under the bed where she was sleeping all evening Rose said!!  thanks again guys!!!  We appreciate you loving her so much!!

 Now onto the show...... What an amazing display of patriotism and talent!!!  And I just kept thinking what a logistical nightmare!!  Trying to get all these people to be on their mark and go to the right spot and play the right note every time.....ugh  glad it wasn't my job, I just got to sit and watch!!!

Please pardon the quality of these pictures, they were all taken from my cell phone camera and emailed to myself so they are not clear, but some of this stuff was so amazing that I just had to capture it!!! Above is the first number where all the countries bands and singers were together.  Below is the lovely dancers from many countries dancing together- this was phenomenal!!!

Near the middle of the 2 hour show, the Julianna Bicycle team from Holland came out and boy did they wow us!  Some of these tricks were do dangerous and all the while they were pedaling and on bikes!!!  I couldnt catch everything they did, but it was ahhhmazing!!!!!

These are different heights of unicycles above, and each person got on their unicycle with help and the pedaled out to meet the line and grabbed hands.  I could not believe my eyes when the last person was pedaling on a unicycle that was at least y 25 feet tall!!!

Amazing group if 150 Irish Dancers.  This group of girls ranges in age from 2 years old to 21 years old.  They all had tons of curls piled on their head, that must be a characteristic part of an irishdancer's look.

And below is the finale where the over 200 bagpipers were playing Amazing Grace!  Man was it an amazing thing to hear live!!!  So so wonderful!!

And when we got there, we were seated in the VIP section in the FRONT row!!!  We had amazing tickets- and when we bought them a couple months ago we had no idea that we bought these amazing seats, and the clerk didn't tell us either- but we were so excited to sit in the front row, and the picture below illustrates to you how close we actually were to the players.  Just awesome.

I highly recommend this show if anything like it comes to your area, or those here in Hampton Roads, go see it next year when it comes again!!!  So worth every penny!!!

Sometimes.....Change is a good thing

Change.......not something most of us welcome or enjoy particularly, especially when you are perfectly happy in the place you find yourself.  However change sometimes pushes you to experience things you wouldn't otherwise experience and meet people you might not otherwise have met.

Case in point is Chloe's sitter situation.  I have mentioned Ms. Sam several times on this blog.  She has been Chloe's one and only sitter since she was six weeks old.  We adore her and her family and have really come to have a nice friendship.  When she dropped (and I do mean dropped- without any inkling) that she had made the decision to close her in-home daycare to return to school to pursue her dream of being a nurse, I was devastated.  Sweetness and I have never felt so much peace and confidence in where our child was and who she was with all day.  Although I totally get and understand why she made her decision, I still hated in my heart.  Selfishly I didn't want to make this change.

But it was coming whether I liked it or not, and the dreaded last day arrived this.past Friday, April 27th.....

I got her two children gift cards (bc I had no idea what to get them) and they were soooo thrilled!!!

Here they are showing off their cards.....Dakota's was to Best Buy and Gracie's was to Justice.  I also gave Sam and  her hubby a gift card to the Outback   :)  I found myself tearing up when trying to write Ms. Sam a card. There was so much I wanted to say, but mostly a big thank you for loving my girl, and help her progress well in her learning curve.

They have 2 really sweet dogs.  This is Miss Lexi, the old soul that loved no the kids all day and was such a sweetheart.

And then there is this little fella.....Mr.Chino the terror  LOL!!

So we hugged and said "See you soon", not "Goodbye", because we will still each other- Ms. Sam wants to see her little Chloe growing up!!!

So fast forward a weekend and that  takes us to yesterday, when change has brought us a wonderful person we might never have met had it not been for this change in daycare providers. 

Meet Bonnie.  She is Chloe's new sitter and we could not be more thrilled.  She is so sweet and she loves my girl.  She has decided to watch Chloe at our house, so we dot even have to get her all dressed and out the door so early anymore----SO NICE!!!!

Chloe has taken to her right away and I am so happy about that.  Bonnie is a wonderful christian that will read all the bible books to her and teach her about Jesus during the week.  So today is day 2 and it just feels like this is a wonderful fit.  So this change that I fought so hard- I am embracing!!!

Another bonus about Ms. Bonnie is that she loves dogs!!!  So happy about that so she isn't afraid of my fur babies.  They just want a little loving on too and she is happy to give it to them.

Well that is all for this post.  But I really am so happy about this change in our lives.  Its turned out to be better than we thought.  I have so much peace of mind while at work and I have gained a new friend and a wonderful caregiver for my most precious angel.

Welcome to the family Bonnie!!!

You are here to stay!!!  :)

29 weeks old and and we found our feet!!!

Wow.... when I say I have a beautiful gift from the Lord, I am not kidding!!!  I know I am partial being her mom and all, but when I first looked upon this series of pictures that were taken yesterday before heading out the door for church- I literally stood still in my tracks.  These are probably my new favorite pics of my angel- but I just cannot get over the amazing child I have been so blessed to raise and love on this Earth.

Our angel is now 29 weeks old, approximately 6 1/2 months, and she has gained a whole pound!!  She now weighs 16 lbs, she was just leveled out at 15 lbs for about 4 weeks which is unusual for a growing wittle one like her.

Her personality has really started to change and come into her own the past 2 weeks a lot!!  She changes some each day and I can not believe how much she is picking up and absorbing so quickly!!

She is in a size 3 shoe now, I bought her some precious baby Keds with the little rubber across the toe, but they were the "mary jane" style with velcro--easy on, easy off- and her little piggies wouldn't even go in!!  So we are now in a size 3 shoe, still in a size 2 diaper.  She is long and slender  :)

She can no longer sit in her swing, she is just too big!!!  She can actually reach up and pull off the little stuffed bears swirling around her head, so I put the kibosh on that one.  So we traded the swing for the bum.bo chair, and the EXERSAUCER!!!

I scored a sweet deal on this top of the line exersaucer off Craigsl.ist!!  I kept looking until I found the one I liked on there that A- wasn't over $30 and B- wasn't nasty dirty and C- had all it's parts with it.  So this nice lady had saved all the little attachments in a big space saver bag so none were lost and it totally collapses down flat with a carry handle.

This is not a really good picture actually, but I finally snapped one of her in this thing the other night so you could see what I am talking about for those of you who may not know what an exersaucer is.  The big drawback (and only one in my opinion) is that this sucker takes about 27 AAA batteries!!!!  Each little part takes like 4 batteries to sing and light up- so we will see how long all these new ones we put in last with her making them all sing over and over and..... but hey it makes my girl happy- so what's some batteries???

So another funny thing she just picked up on this past week was SHE HAS FOUND HER FEET!!!  I love to see babies eating their toes and of course she is happy to oblige her momma!  Ha!  I caught her while I was sitting behind her in the above picture, so I snapped it.  I was afraid if she saw me she would stop doing it, but then I walked around front of her and she didn't stop when she saw me, and was quite pleased and tickled with herself as you can see in the shots below.

So that is about it with her new activities this week.

Meanwhile, we have had contractors in and out of our house all this past week and this week it will continue as they are rebuilding our Master Bathroom.  I mentioned it last week we had a leak in an interior wall pipe between our 2 bathrooms, and when we hired ServP.ro to come take off the one section of wall so we could have new drywall hung after a plumber fixed the pipe, they found mold!!!  eeeek!  So then it turned into an entire demolition of all the walls down to the studs!!  So it is all getting redone and remodeled while we were at it- and sucking up our entire tax return $$ Ugh! So I am taking pictures in a few stages and I will do a whole post of the rebuild once it is all completed which should be by this weekend!! It is going to look fabulous darling!

We had some other fun stuff this past weekend, but I am going to do a separate post on that and also about Chloe's last day at her daycare with Ms. Sam, where she has been since she was 6 wks old.  And today our new nanny started that watches Chloe here in our home---- and it went great today!!!  So I will blog about that next- so stay tuned!!!  Peace out!!!

The NoseFrida

I know you are probably asking yourself what is the "NoseFrida" ??  Well it is a contraption that has literally saved my sanity a many night now, and I wanted to share it with all the other mommies of babies out there, the way someone shared it with me (and I am sooooo thankful)!!!

Chloe had her first cold or maybe not a true full-blown cold, but she came down with a very congested head cold and VERY stuffy nose..... I commented on my private faceb.ook group of IVF Mommies that she was having such a hard time breathing and more importantly she couldn't even suck her bottle to eat because of the congestion and it was becoming a vicious cycle.  Well several of them commented  and told me to go get the NoseFrida, better known as the snotsucker!!!  LOL

 It came soooo highly recommended, I searched on where to find it, and they are sold of course in several baby boutiques in the area, (of which I am never off work during their banker's hours),  or you can get it online at good ole am.azon.com.  Luckily, I somehow qualified for free overnight shipping and it arrived just in time!!!

So what is this NoseFrida you ask???  Well it is a device in which you place the end of the blue collecting tube piece slightly in the baby's nostril and you put the red end in your mouth and you suck on it like a straw!!!  :)  Hence the term the snot sucker!!

 Right about now you are probably thinking, that is so disgusting and you must be really desperate to do something like that..... well I kind of was.  My baby was crying and she couldn't eat and, you'll do anything you can to help them.  The beauty of this device is that you can get a sustained suction which is nearly impossible with the bulb syringes they give you at the hospital (BTW, all babies loathe the bulb syringes).  Shockingly, Chloe doesn't even cry when I use the NoseFrida, and it really really works.  I was shocked at the amount of snot that was in the bottom of the collecting tube after one small suck on the "straw"!!!

The best part is it is completely sanitary.  As seen in the picture below, there is a filter at the top, totally preventing anything from flying up into your mouth. The box even came with 3 replacement filters!!!

I hope all you mommies can get one and use it if you need to help your baby breathe easier should they catch a cold or become a  little snuffaloffagus......lol

Please comment and let me know if any of you have one and what you think or if you get one and what you think!!!  I love all the cool baby gadgets out there now  :)

28 weeks old and a new babysitter!!!

28 weeks and counting..... Baby girl is ticking the weeks off faster and faster.  I want her to slow down so I can snuggle just a little more.  She is really blossoming into her own personality and showing her likes and dislikes so much more these days!!!  One thing that proves that point to me is the fact that she is determined not to smile for me when we do picture time each morning after getting dressed.  She holds her little lips in this pursed position just determined not to smile, and then finally when she can't stand it anymore, she burst out in laughter!!!  It really is sooooo cute!!!

I LOOOVE this smirk/smile she has started doing!!!

Just about to burst out in a smile!!!

She has such a beautiful face, and perfect porcelain skin!

Other than baby girl growing up way too fast, tomorrow is our very last day with our amazing sitter Sam.  Our hearts are so broken we have to change, and this momma does not like change AT ALL.  But i know this is a good time in her life to make a career change- she has taken such wonderful care of my angel and I will forever be most grateful!!!  I snapped these pictures yesterday when I picked up Chloe at her house.

 Sam is on the right of course and on the left is her 7 year old named Gracie who is like a little second mother to Chloe.  She loves to get her car seat for me when I get there each day, and put Chloe's shoes on etc.

I just can't believe its all going to be so different come Monday.  But the new arrangement we are going to will have it's own good points.  We have decided after many interviews and much prayer, to have one of our dear friend's mother watch our angel.  She just recently moved here from Michigan to be closer to my friends' as they have just had a new baby themselves, her first grand baby.

She loves children and needs a job and I met her at church several weeks ago and she really took a liking to Chloe.  They heard we were looking for a new sitter at the time and she called and asked if she could do it for us.  So we have worked it out I think, she is going to actually watch Chloe at OUR HOUSE since she does not have her own place as of yet!!!  That is going to be so wonderful!!!  Chloe can sleep as late as she wants and take her naps and such in her own bed.  So the Lord has provided and we must adjust, but sometimes change is hard!!! 

I would say the biggest plus is that I will have peace of mind.  I totally trust Sam and do not worry one minute about her while I'm at work, and that was what I was looking for in trying to find a new sitter.  I know I can trust her to love Chloe as her own grand baby and you can't really put a price on that!!!

And on top of all that, we had an interior pipe leak in the walls between our 2 bathrooms, and we have had to totally demo our master bathroom down to the studs and it is now being remodeled.  I am taking pictures as it progresses, so I will do a blog post on it when it is finished, so you can all see the finished product.  It's going to be fabulous, we are installing a brand new tiled walk-in shower instead of a new bathtub--- Yeah baby!!!!

Ya'll have a great evening and I'll be back soon!!!