My Very First Mother's Day

Well one of the most anticipated days of the year for me, happened yesterday.... My Very First Mother's Day as a mom!  And I must say it was everything I had hoped it would be and more.

First off Baby girl turned 31 weeks old yesterday, She is just growing like a weed.

She is a total tease with the camera these days.  She always acts so bashful and puts her little hand up in her mouth when she smiles, but she is not bashful at all, then she just lets out a loud giggle in delight!!!

We took these shots as we were on our way out the door headed to church.  We decided to make the long 45 minute drive to our home church in Hampton to worship with all our "family" of church members.  When we get in there it just feels right.  So we decided that we are going to bite the bullet and just make the drive to our home church each week.  We feel like this is the church where the Lord wants us, and that is reason enough for us.
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And of ourse my sweet Momma joined us for church and then we all came back to our house and took "Mother's Day" pictures, which you will see below.  Chloe was so happy all day and man she was smiling for the pictures.....

Mommy and Chloe

Daddy and Chloe

Then my Mom starting playing with Chloe and trying to get all her kisses..... she just loved it and squealed with delight!!

Then we finally got a nice family portrait of the 3 of us outside under the shade tree.  I think this is the best one we have every taken of the 3 of us!!!\-

Then what I had been waiting so long for.... it was time to give my amazing Mom her Mother's Day present.  I had had it for awhile, but I was trying to be patient and wait until Mother's Day to give it to her.  So I was ready of course with e camera, and sweetness was filming it!!

So firstly she reads the card....while we stare at her; then she opened up the inside if the card- and she saw them!!!  There were 2 inner circle tickets to see Yanni LIVE on 6-5-12!!!

Here she is crying, although you can't tell from this picture, she was really really surprised and it was so nice to see her so happy!

There is no doubting that smile or this kind of happiness!!!!  Yeah!!!  Goal was accomplished~~ to make my Mom feel loved and feel soooo special.  She is truly the best Mother any one could 've ever had.  She is and has been my best friend for 36 years and has sacrificed everything so that I could have the latest and greatest when I was a child.  I can never thank her enough for everything she has given and taught me, but the best way I know how is to raise Chloe in the nuture and admonition of the Lord.

It was a really fabulous day with tons of love and laughter to go around.  After opening presents, Sweetness fired up the grill and we grilled out chicken and ate out on the patio.

Thank you Mom, Sweetness and my Chloe Bug for making my first real mother's day a day I will never forget!!!

Chloe's trip to the eye doctor!!!!

Baby Girl went to the Pediatric Opthamologist last week for the first time.  She went not because I thought she had any eyesight issues but because she has been diagnosed with NF-1 and these patients often get optic nerve gliomas.  He saw NO evidence of disease !!!!  That is a huge praise report!!!

 So we have a great baseline picture of her eyes, and we just check her once a year and pray she stays as perfect as she is right now!!!

  So we are keeping up with all the things we need to to get a good baseline of all her systems, should God forbid she begin to show manifestations of her disease at any point.

But we are praising the Lord that she is healthy and happy and we can live with that any day!!!

This is finals day for me and my students are all stressed.  I remember finals week when I was in college and it was not fun- but the best part of it was taking those greuling tests and then going back to the dorm and feeling like I had really accomplished (and learned) something.  That was the best feeling to me.  So I am about to head home now from work and get my baby girl and go do some shopping and realize that I really did accomplish something this semester- I taught to the best of my ability and I gave it my all each and every day in front of my students......and that's all I can do!!!

And then snuggle with Sweetness a bit tonight and then wake up and get ready to do it all again!!!  Should be a wonderful weekend----Its my first Mother's Day as a mommy----I  can't hardly wait!!!  Finally I get to celebrate it and not have it break my heart and Praise the Lord for my baby girl!!

Next post......my Nana's 86th BDay party last Sunday!

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!!!