Pictures | Well-Read Reviews
You are here: Home / Archives for General / Pictures

My Three Year Old Comes to the Rescue

July 19, 2011 By 9 Comments

Outfit from: MyBabyClothesBoutique.com

I am changing Katelyn’s diaper and as she likes to flip over on the changing table, I have to hold her down as I attempt to diaper her one handed.  As I am doing this, Kate is nibbling on my knuckle. Only light nibbles and then one big — CRUNCH. I scream out in pain. (When did she get jaws of steel?)

“Mommy!! You okay? I am coming!” I hear my 3 year old, Carli, from the other room. “What’s wrong? You okay?” she asks me, now standing next to me. It was a quick run down the hall for such a short little girl.

“I am okay.” I tell her, my knuckle throbbing, and Katelyn looking as if she’s going to burst into tears at any second. “Katie bit Mommy. Can you tell your sister that it is not nice to bite?”

“Don’t bite, Mommy!” she says and I can’t tell if she’s telling me not to bite or telling Sissy not to bite me, specifically.

“Thanks, Carli.” I reply as I finish putting Katelyn’s shorts back on.

“It’s okay, Mommy. Carli is here and I am not leaving you.” she tells me. Her compassion, way beyond her years, is surprising. I don’t know why I am so surprised because she is such a caring and loving little girl. But to hear her echo my own words that I have said to her so many times in her own time of pain and need, makes me feel rather good. Often I feel like I am failing as a parent, but it is moments like these when I realize that I am doing pretty damn good.

Filed Under: Babies, Parenting, Pictures Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Happy 3rd Birthday to Carli!

June 12, 2011 By 2 Comments

I can not believe my baby girl is 3 already — 3. It felt like just yesterday when I had her and now she’s 3. She might as well be 13 because in my eyes she is growing entirely too fast for comfort.

 

About half an hour before her entrance into the world.

On June 12th, 2008 I was not expecting to have my baby. All I thought that morning at 8:30am was that I got to see my baby — via ultrasound. It was standard, you know. I was 37 weeks, 4 days and it was just a routine check. Unfortunately they discovered that Carli was breech. When the ultrasound technician told me this, I automatically started crying. I knew that they would start talking about a possible c-section since she was still breech at 37 weeks. I had no idea at that time yet, that the c-section they would want to perform would be an early as that evening.

I was not entirely well informed of childbirth. I knew I wanted my natural experience and I knew that doctors usually pushed for unnecessary c-sections but yet, I still didn’t know what a legitimate concern would be. Had they said that she was just breech I probably would have said ‘No’ to the c-section but they threw the death card at me when they told me that on top of her being breech, my fluids were incredibly low. I was told that had she turned, she risked a major cord accident. Now, had I known what I know now — I would have asked to be monitored at the hospital first, get hooked up to IV fluids on top of drinking a ton of water and then being rechecked a few hours later. At this time I had no idea about fluids being refilled (but this knowledge would eventually come in handing with the following pregnancy when my low fluids returned). Re-hydrating yourself, by the way, will bring up your fluids so don’t let a doctor tell you otherwise.

But anyhow — I agreed to have my c-section that day. I was scheduled for 8pm and was told to not eat anything after 12pm. I couldn’t eat anyway as I’ve never had a major surgery before in my life and I was scared shitless. By the time 8pm rolled around and I was still in the waiting room I was not only anxious to get it over with but I was beyond hungry; the kind of hungry where you want to bite everyone’s face off if they should even MENTION food. It was torture waiting but I was lucky that my family was there, Forrest was there, and my best friends were all there (minus a few who were there in spirit as they lived too far away.)

Carli was born at 10:28pm and weighed a whopping 5lbs,4oz and was 18″ long. Tiny, but healthy. I was very blessed.

Fresh out of the oven.

Carli was the easiest baby two parents could ever hope for. Really — the easiest. She was very quiet, laid back, and never complained. She slept through the night at 9weeks (from 8pm-5am). She was content being in your presence and didn’t have an ounce of fuss in her tiny little body. Then, one day I woke up and she had gone from just born to one years old.

Just two days shy of her first birthday!

Carli was an easy baby-toddler. After all, she took her time with whatever she did. She was never interested in crawling all that much and hesitant to walk. Finally around 17 months, she took off (and at Gamestop, of all places!)

At the time I was impatient for her to start walking but now I feel very fortunate that my child was not mobile for so long as she hasn’t stopped since! During this time she had a nasty habit of putting spoons and forks and fingers in her hair, winding them so what formed was a huge dreadlock. I had to take scissors to her hair a few times. Yes, it was that bad.

Attempting to fix her butchered hair.

We had breakfast at the White Wolf Cafe on her birthday. She had her brand new Matilda Jane outfit on, which we promptly striped her down so she could eat her chocolate chip pancakes without me worrying about the inevitable stains.

Now her second year was very eventful. Just a month later she would become a big sister to Katelyn who was born on July 13th 2010. From the start, Carli was a wonderful big sister. She still is just amazing with her and Katelyn just adores her big sister. How could you not?

Now, she is 3.

I love you, Carli. You are an amazingly funny, generous, spirited, beautiful little girl and I look forward to watching you continue to grow up!

 

Love,
The Luckiest Mommy in the World

Filed Under: General, Parenting, Pictures Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

2010: A Year in Pictures

December 30, 2010 By 4 Comments

As the year draws to an end, I think of all the wonderful memories that have become of it. It was a tiring but wonderful year. Below, I have a year in pictures. Every month with a picture that represents it.

January 2010

In January we visited Green Meadows Farm with Carli — something we thought she may enjoy. It was a chilly day out but she got to ride around in a wagon, which she enjoyed. She saw a boy her age there (who was pretty cute, if I remember correctly) and said, “hi” and then went to kiss him! It’s then we realized .. we really need to watch out for her! She is a flirt to the extreme (or just very friendly..)

February 2010

Is she not a ham, or what? Shortly after this she got very sick for the first time in her life. She woke up one morning not herself and then started throwing up repeatedly. She got her first UTI! It was from a new bubble bath we had just got to make bath time more fun. Needless to say, we never touched the stuff after that. She was quick to bounce back and was wonderful after she started taking medicine. Forrest was the most EXCEPTIONAL Dad during this time, too. I have an extreme OCD fear with vomit.. and Forrest ended up taking care of her during the worst of the illness (and got puked on about 5 times). He deserved a Dad of the Year award for that one.

March 2010

Carli developed a love for swings. Considering she was still too young to do a lot of what you see on the playground, the swings were about it at this time. She loved it and was content just swinging there for an hour if you’d let her!

April 2010

A girly girl at her finest, she loved rings and bracelets and most of all — Elmo.

May 2010

Here is Carli and my bestfriend Blair’s 4 year old daughter, Emmy. Carli just adores Emmy (who she calls “Ernie”). Emmy is very patient with her and they have a lot of fun. I think they get along so well because they are both pretty outgoing little girls. Blair was down to visit at this time, securing a place for her family to move into. They were moving down from Tallahassee. I was very excited to have my best friend close!

June 2010

Carli is now 2 years old, finally! Here she is again with Emmy. They reminded me of two pre-teens here, giggling and squealing and acting like .. well.. obnoxious. But it was cute anyway.. I just have to start preparing myself for a loud teenager in the future.

July 2010

Katelyn, my second daughter is born. I should have known she’d be a handful from the start when the first thing she does as they are pulling her out of my belly via c-section was pee all over me. *grin* Katelyn was 5lbs, 10oz and 18″ long. She was born at 10:09am at 37weeks, 2 days on July 13th 2010. She was a few days younger than Carli when Carli was born, but she was a whole 6 oz bigger! I decide with this baby that I am going to try my hardest and exclusively breastfeed. (And I do..)

August 2010

Katelyn develops a really nasty case of infant acne. It made taking pictures difficult because it was just so horrible. I’d look at pictures and just feel so bad for her! We ended up switching to DOVE SENSITIVE soap when we bathed ourselves just in case it was something on our skin. She cleared up within a week or so of us switching — but then again, it could have just been a coincidence.

September 2010

We drove up to Atlanta, GA for my friend Laura’s wedding. While we were there I was able to meet a wonderful friend, Joan and her son for the first time. We had met on a pregnancy birth board while we were pregnant with these two. We had been corresponding for about 3 years at this point so it was nice to finally meet each other in person!

October 2010

I admit it. I lived vicariously through my daughter. I found out later that it’s the same costume that Sarah Michelle Gellar’s daughter, Charlotte, wore that year — too. :) Carli was a very good Dorothy. Some day she’ll see the movie. I am saving the movie for when she’s 3. I think she’ll enjoy it — or at least, I hope as much as I did (and still do!)

November 2010

Carli has taken a huge interest in music lately, especially guitars. She must MUST take after her father (who is an amazing guitarist, himself!)

December 2010

Carli and Katelyn adore each other in the most precious way possible. The way Carli protects Katelyn and mothers her — just amazes me. The way Katelyn looks up at Carli and smiles like she’s the happiest sister in the world just makes my heart melt. I love watching these two, together. They make me both very happy.

—

And with that, our year has drawn to a close. What will 2011 bring?

Filed Under: General, Parenting, Pictures Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Happy Holidays from Us to You :)

December 27, 2010 By 2 Comments

Did you have a nice holiday? Our family had a wonderful time together. For the first time — ever, we had Christmas morning somewhere other than my parent’s house. We had it at MY house. My parents took Carli Christmas Eve and brought her back Christmas morning at 8:30am. While Carli was too busy, I definitely enjoyed having all my family over! I even made some homemade raisin bread — which unfortunately, no one ate. (But at least they raved about my French bread the night before!)

Here are some pictures from our holiday together. It was Katelyn’s first Christmas! Big sister Carli made off like a bandit with so many goodies!







I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your loved ones!

Filed Under: General, Parenting, Pictures Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wordless Wednesday: A Mama’s View

October 27, 2010 By 9 Comments

Click HERE to participate in Wordless Wednesdays.

Filed Under: General, Memes, Parenting, Pictures, Wordless Wednesday Tagged With: , ,

It’s *SO* hot out but she’s worth it.

August 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Most days it’s over 100 degrees in this lovely state of Florida. On top of the high temperature, Florida is known for it’s very uncomfortable humidity. Even on days of 80′s, humidity index can be so high, you are sweating bullets on your way from your door to your car (a simple 20 feet away.) Though even as hot as it is, it doesn’t stop a two year old from wanting to go out and enjoy the sunshine.

Weeeeeeee!!

So I have been taking the girls to the park a few times a week. If Carli doesn’t get out of the house (I don’t blame her) she tends to get stir crazy. So we head out to this shaded park in my area. It’s quite beautiful, actually. Big full trees that offer a lot of shade. It has a dog park (in which I’ve never actually seen any dogs there), a big walking trail, and of course — a place for kids to play.

I met up with some other Moms from a local meet up group. One Mom in particular had two little boys who (it took me a few minutes to realize) but were the same two little mean boys that yelled in Carli’s face a few months ago and just about ripped my heart out seeing her get yelled at (over nothing).

I realized this as we were swinging in the swing, the older boy next to her, Carli was laughing and laughing and he says to her, “It’s not funny.” The way he said it was very cold, as if she did not have permission to laugh. Instead of saying anything, I laughed with my daughter. We smiled and giggled and carried on.

At that very moment..

I was snapping pictures of Carli coming through the tube when the same boy said “STUPID!” (calling my little girl STUPID!) I could NOT believe it. She hadn’t done a SINGLE thing. I said to him, “You do not have to be mean to her. She has done nothing to you.” He didn’t apologize but it was like a switch went off.

He stopped. He stopped acting mean towards her and saying mean things. He instead played with her. PLAYED with her! They genuinely seemed to be having a good time later on and it was hard to believe that this same boy (who was being so sweet and caring with her now, even holding her hand) could be so gosh darn awful to her before. (Poor Carli, already dealing with boy’s mind games — eh?) Just kidding. :)

Her laughter is infectious.

The thing I really admire about my daughter is she gets over things so quickly. She forgives so easily and she is so empathic to other people’s feelings. Yesterday when I was crying over something — she kept saying, “Mommy? You okay? You okay?” She just cares so much and it’s so heart-aching to me when I see anyone give her less than anything that she deserves.

Very determined, she goes for what she wants and doesn’t let anyone bring her down.  It’s like she feels its her  mission to make others laugh so they feel good and that in itself makes her feel good. She accepts everyone as they are  and holds no judgement. If a boy wants to play with trains and make monkey noises, she’s right there with her choo choo’s and monkey dances. It doesn’t matter what anyone wants to do — as long as they are laughing she’s for it.

On another note — I love watching older kids play with Carli. There is a patient gentleness about it. Where is it that we learn to get so impatient with others who do not know any better? When is it that we don’t stop to help someone in need; in need of a friend or help up? It’s sad that it’s human instinct to care for others and then we stop doing it.

I was watching this little girl play with my daughter and it was just amazing. The way she dealt with my two year old.. it makes me wonder why I can’t deal with my two year old the same exact way.

They played together for a good half an hour, following each other every where. Then suddenly I look up, and she is gone. It was like she was a little angel befriending my daughter and not only giving me a break, but giving Carli 30 minutes of laughter and a fun time. I’ll never forget the throaty sound of my daughter laughing hysterically as she went down the slide with her new friend.

I hope (for Carli’s sake) we should see them again someday!

Filed Under: General, Parenting, Pictures Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Life with Two (is better than one.)

August 23, 2010 By 1 Comment

Life with two is — dare I say it — WONDERFUL. However I am exhausted all the time in the emotional efforts I take daily to get to know two little girls in their own distinct personalities and cater to them. I want them to feel loved and appreciated and equally acknowledged. It’s hard.

Carli loves to hold "Kay-yee" aka her "Sissy".

Carli is a fabulous big sister. She is outgoing, full of pride, and very affectionate.  Very quick to let you know when “Kay-ee cry!” and is easily persuaded into helping me calm her little sister down when I cannot immediately get to her (i.e. driving in the car). In the back seat I can hear Carli saying in her little two year old voice, “It’s okay, Katie. No cry!” and I am sure she’d give her kisses if their car seats were close enough to each other.

It’s great having Carli be eager to help, but also can be difficult as she doesn’t always understand herself when I cannot attend to HER straight away. Instead she gives me a dramatic-hands-on-each-side-of-her-face stance and says, “I going cry!” and she lets out a few provoked tears and then states, “OOoh my EYES!” Such a drama queen,that Carli Veronica is!

On her best behavior.

We went to breakfast with her “Pepaw” yesterday morning at the Cracker Barrel and Carli sat there attentively and colored with her crayons on the children’s menu and she barely gave a peep. Usually I am taking the crayons away from her after she decides to take a big bite out of them. This time, however, I told her that the crayons were not to be bit and eaten. She listened. She was very good.

As we were leaving an older woman stopped me and said, “I just wanted to let you know that your two girls are SO well behaved.” and no, I don’t hear that often. Cute, adorable — a comment about her outfit — sure. But at two the comments about how “good” your daughter is becomes less and less and replaced more with “She’s so outgoing!” (Which is nice talk for “Whoa, Nelly!”) I just have to keep telling people, “Well.. she’s two.” Most people nodd in understanding and I hope that is true, that they understand and remember what it’s like to have a two year old.

Carli isn’t bad — not at all. She is just very active and outgoing and hates to be tied down. She grows very upset and sensitive if she feels stifled. She has a “go-to” attitude and will do what it takes to get what she wants, which in reality, will be a great quality for when she is older but is a bit hard to manage when they don’t quite understand the gravity of their behavior.

She loves playing with others. She loves to laugh and screech and run around and be merry. She only grows upset if she spies injustice (others playing and she’s locked up in a chair, or unable to play due to her own limitations). It’s like seeing a bird fly and thinking, “Why can’t I??!” Carli is extremely passionate in everything she does and I love that about her.

Good morning, Sunshine!

Then there is Little Sister, Katelyn. She has a gentle quiet personality. More sensitive than her sister, she is very aware of someone being upset and this makes her extremely upset. Not as easy-going as her sister was at this age and she has been more difficult to get to know. Just when I thought I had it figured out for a few weeks ago, it wasn’t it. I think my issue was that I kept comparing her to Carli and expecting them to like things the same way or do things the same way.

Katelyn is totally different.

Katelyn doesn’t like the attention; not like Carli who absolutely craves attention and will easily befriend others. Katelyn would rather be held close out of the limelight, but being under the wing of someone who can protect her. She has the “Hold me close but don’t look at me too long!” personality. It’s almost as if she wonders if she is being scrutinized or judged or criticized in some sort of way.

The sleeping situation has been something that has required a lot of patience on my part because I just couldn’t figure out what she wanted. At first it didn’t appear that she liked her rocking bassinet. I traded it with a standard flat bassinet my parents had at their house in efforts to see if that made a difference. It didn’t really.

I tried swaddling her in a receiving blanket but I could never get a secure hold. So she made her way out of that. She was still too small for the size small swaddling blanket (with the velcro) so she seemed (for a week or two) to hate those, too! I couldn’t get her to sleep for more than an hour or two at a time and always had a hard time getting her back to sleep in the middle of the night. The ONLY way it seemed she (and I) got any sleep was if she lay closely next to me. Although I think co-sleeping is great (for other families), it’s not something I want our family to do.

Things are getting better though. She is now over 7lbs and fits securely in her swaddling blanket and she’ll last for a few hours in that before her first nightly feeding. For example, last night she slept from 8:30pm-12:30 (4 hours!) before her midnight feeding. I also place her on her side as some babies do not do well with laying on their back because they get that feeling of falling and it startles them.

The swaddling blanket is man's best invention.

I have found that as long as Katelyn is swaddled in her swing, that will give me a good minimum of 20 minutes to go to the bathroom, eat some breakfast, check my email, or do SOMETHING other than nurse and hold her! When we figured this out a few days ago, it was an “ah-hah!” moment of pure joy!

The only thing I don’t like about this Fisher Price Nature’s Touch Swing (which has been passed down by a friend) is that it doesn’t have the essential vibration feature on it. What kind of company comes out with such an awesome dual option swinging, a mobile up top that swirls and plays music — and yet, the forget to put a vibration feature on the seat? (Someone clue in Fisher Price, please?)

One of the cutest faces you ever will see!

Filed Under: General, Parenting, Pictures Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Little Girl is Born

July 24, 2010 By 8 Comments

Katelyn Rain (7/13/10) 5lbs, 10oz and 18" long.

There is a perfectly good excuse for my absence the past two weeks — I have been recovering from giving birth to my second little girl, Katelyn. The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions, both good and bad. No matter the emotion, though, having two wonderful daughters has been such a blessing and I couldn’t consider myself any luckier.

Monday, July 12th, I went to my high risk appointment at 11am. The first thing they wanted to do was an NST (non-stress test). This test involves reclining in a chair with a heart monitor and fetal kick monitor and monitoring me for about an hour. Every time Katelyn moves, I am instructed to hit a button. Well — Katelyn really didn’t move. I figured she was napping as she always does during these NST tests.

Meeting "Memaw" for the first time.

The first thing they decided to do was buzz her, which I hate because it startles the baby which doesn’t exactly feel good. However when they buzzed her, instead of her heart rate going up, it had a dramatic decel. We weren’t exactly sure why until we got to the ultrasound portion of my visit. It was discovered (besides being breech with dwindling fluids) that she had the cord wrapped around her neck. I was instructed to go to the hospital for further monitoring until delivery.

Forrest and I went home to pack (and Carli went with her Memaw) and a few hours later we show up to the hospital. The hospital had no idea we were even coming as our doctor (my regular OB) had no instructed us of our coming. Nice. Our regular OB was going out of town and was doing what he could to delay her delivery. I didn’t like that. I was dealing with a little girl I couldn’t see or touch inside me with a cord around her neck. It didn’t exactly sit well in my realm of emotions. After monitoring me in L&D for about an hour, the nurse said my doctor wanted to send me home until Wednesday. I absolutely freaked out, sobbing. First they tell me that delivery can’t wait because I have a cord wrapped around her neck and then they tell me, “Well she APPEARS stable now.. so go home and wait until delivery.” I did NOT feel comfortable going home and not having her monitored for a few DAYS. Anything could happen and I would never have known. Plus by this time, I had been STARVING for 5 out of the 8 recommended hours before a c-section because I was told NOT to eat and now they were saying, “We’re not going to deliver tonight.” It was just emotionally off the wall, “Are you KIDDING ME?!”

They ended up agreeing to keep me at the hospital until Wednesday and have me monitored the entire time. They moved me to Mother & Child (where people go after giving birth) because it would be a “longer” stay. I was hooked up to the monitor, which was not comfortable as I could only lay on my back. Any time I moved slightly, the heart monitor would move and she would go off the monitor. What irritated me most is the monitor would be beeping about not having a heart beat for five minutes and no one would come. It wasn’t until I was sobbing and Forrest had to go fetch them to find it again. Even though they “see this all the time” didn’t make me any more comfortable with it. What if she HADN’T had moved. What if it WASN’T me? What IF it had been an actual emergency. That was crucial time they had spent diddle daddling around “waiting” to see if Katelyn would move back to the monitor.

Forrest, in love with his new daughter.

After expressing my upset feelings on their lack of speed in seeing if she was okay, they were prompt to show up every time she moved off monitor within a minute or two.

Sleeping was an impossible task and I would break out in tears randomly because I was so unbelievably uncomfortable and felt so alone as Forrest was fast asleep and I couldn’t. I had too much to worry about and it was too late at night to text my friends. Finally around 2am a nurse came in to tell me my doctor had decided to come home early and would be delivering Katelyn at noon. I was relieved. I couldn’t wait to get it over with and couldn’t wait to meet Katelyn. I wanted her to be safe outside my body as I felt I was only endangering her within.

Around 8am the following morning they told me they were shooting for 9:30-10. There really wasn’t enough time after that to get used to the idea. Panic started to set in and before I know it, I was walking into the OR. It wasn’t nearly as cold here as it had been at Winnie Palmer, where I was shaking uncontrollably.

It took the anesthesiologist about half an hour to put in my spinal — which by far was probably the most painful part of the entire surgery. I felt dull painful aches in my spine as my bones split apart. It was hard knowing that with each pain I felt, it was only attempt as they kept having difficulties. Something about my spinal anatomy and as the previous anesthesiologist at Winnie Palmer when I delivered Carli also had a hard time.. I figured they were right.  After a LOT of painful tears, they finally got the spinal working and my legs quickly started falling asleep.

About a week old. Picture taken by Aunt Blair.

The feeling went all the way to my chest and it felt as if I was about to suffocate, not that I did — but it still began to freak me out and I kept saying, “I don’t feel right. I don’t feel right. Is this normal?” They assured me that it was but all I could think about was that I really wanted Forrest there and they hadn’t let him in yet. They actually did not even let him in until they had made the first cut.

Unlike the first c-section, I felt them inside of me. I felt them moving organs, pressing on my rib cage and moving Katelyn around inside. At 10:09am, she graced the world (peeing all over me)– and yes, the cord WAS around her neck. They quickly showed her to me, not that I really had a moment to grasp who I saw withhin seconds, and then they moved her to the side warmer where they checked her out and checked her vitals. I watched Forrest as he stood over her.. touching her and I was jealous. It was a good 15 minutes before I got to hold her.

After they rolled me off the OR table to my bed, they placed Katelyn in my arms and wheeled us to recovery. I was very happy that I got to have her in recovery and attempt to breastfeed right away (although Katelyn, at the time, was too exhausted to attempt it.) For the next 12 hours, she never left the arms of someone (whether it was me, or Forrest, or friends and family).

We stayed in the hospital until the following Friday. Recovery was much easier this time (pain wise) however come Sunday my incision started splitting open and it just made me feel icky to even think of an open wound in my pelvis. We went to the hospital (yes with newborn baby in tow, as I am breastfeeding) and got it taped up. Staples were removed on Tuesday and I was re-taped. It doesn’t hurt so much any more, but it’s still not closed all the way. I worry about infection constantly so have been keeping it dry and applying hydrogen peroxide to it daily.

Monday we received some possibly devastating news in regards to Katelyn having a slightly elevated marker for C4 (Scad Deficiency) in her newborn screening test. It was very slight, over by just .02 points. I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday crying over the possibility of Katelyn being sick but have done a lot of research (on newborn screening tests) and have since spoken to someone in charge of newborn screening within the Florida Department of Health and have been reassured that she is most likely fine.

Markers are set deliberately low in the efforts to catch every sick child, rather than missing one. In doing so, they have a lot of false positives and flag a lot of healthy babies — but it also helps them save lives. Unfortunately for parents of healthy babies, it is a very emotional ordeal to go through so early on in the bonding process of getting to know your newborn. There were moments when I did not want to hold her out of fear of growing even more attached and then there were many more moments that I just couldn’t let go of her.

We took Katelyn back to the hospital Monday evening for a retest and are awaiting to hear the positive news from her pediatrician. It’s been a LONG week.

On a positive note, we have been having a successful time breastfeeding. Katelyn went down to 5lbs, 2oz when we left the hospital and was re-weighed yesterday at the lactation consultant’s office and was weighing in at 5lbs, 11oz. She has passed her birth weight of 5lbs, 10oz! That is amazing! It was only on Monday when weighed at her pedi’s office that she was 5lbs, 5.5 oz! Now that she’s 5lbs, 11oz — I don’t doubt that breastfeeding is working wonderfully for us.

Anyway — I just wanted to express why I have been absent for the past two weeks. Recovering from a c-section isn’t a fast process (not for the majority) and have been taking it easy — spending a lot of time in bed (which is no where near my computer).

If you have any free moment, please send out any thoughts and prayers Katelyn’s way that she passes her rescreen with flying colors and is as healthy as healthy can be!

Filed Under: General, Parenting, Pictures Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Carli’s 2 Year Old Pictures

June 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Here are a few pictures of my sweet baby girl. On June 12th, 2008 at 10:28pm – I had the tiniest baby I could ever imagine (18″ and 5lbs, 4oz). She was a little squirt (and still is). I couldn’t ask for a sweeter, more outgoing, more friendly, little girl. We were truly blessed with Miss Carli Veronica.

Her birth was rather easy (as it was via c-section) although very emotionally hard to deal with. I wanted an all natural birth (and definitely nothing along the major abdominal surgery line) but little girl was breech with low fluids. Waiting until she turned risked a major cord accident — which may have prevented me from ever kissing this beautiful face of hers.

I hated the c-section, but it was worth it to have this little girl and to be able to watch her grow into the most amazing little kid I have ever known. Although we are quickly entering into the “terrible twos” stage, it’s also the “terrific twos” as every day she is doing something that just amazes me — whether it is something she does, or says (and has never said before), or just the way she grins at me while saying, “Mommy!”

I still cannot believe she has been in my life for two years. TWO YEARS! I can remember just yesterday bringing her home from the hospital. She was so unbelievably tiny that she was in preemie clothes for a few weeks. She was then in newborn clothes for at least a month. I look back at the size of some of the outfits that once engulfed her and am just amazed that she was ever that small. She has definitely caught up!

Happy Birthday, “Nugget” (what we called her in her first year of life) and “Booboo” (what we call her now).

Filed Under: General, Parenting, Pictures Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Summer in the Florida Sun (a 2 year old’s dream!)

June 3, 2010 By 1 Comment

For the longest time the playground intimidated my little hesitant toddler. Stairs? What are stairs? We don’t have stairs! But as you know, playgrounds are full of them! For the longest time, Carli treated the playground as if we were slowly torturing her. How DARE we push her to try new things! Gah!

Luckily, after a few times of seeing other kids her age on the playground, she suddenly realized what all this playground fuss was about and joined the kids with utter blissful 2 year old abandon!

We’re very happy that Carli has decided she likes stairs. She LIKES the playground and more often than not, I am scared out of my mind watching her, thinking she’s going to walk off an unsecured edge. She’s becoming fearless!

I think we have gone to about 3-4 different parks in the past two weeks. I am not a fan of the parks that have the equipment out on the blazing hot Florida sun without sun shade. They are kids, you know? They need some shelter from the heat while being active. Not only to help keep them cool and safe from sun stroke/heatstroke — but to help protect them SOMEWHAT from getting sunburned. (Carli wears SPF 60!)

We have also been going to a few Mommy meetups. One meetup, on Tuesday, was at this one woman’s house (in her back yard). She had a kiddy pool, sand/water table, playground, sandbox, trampoline, bounce house — as well as a lot of ride on toys. Carli was having a BLAST!

One of the Mommy’s there was straight from Italy so it was nice talking about where she came from. We had talked about my dual-citizenship and all the hoops I have to jump through to get my Italian passport (but it’ll be worth it!) (But that’s a totally different subject.)

Even though we’re in Florida and it’s so darn hot — I am taking Carli out as much as possible before her wee little newborn sister makes her appearance in less than 9 weeks.  I am not sure how much “going out” I’ll be doing for a few weeks, following. (But — who knows? Maybe I can handle two kids just fine?) I did, after all, teach 18 (5) year olds. But then again, they follow directions. This 2 year old of mine has selective hearing.

On top of taking Carli places and spending oodles of amount of quality time together, I have also been nesting like crazy. Just yesterday I threw out 10+ bags of stuff. Unfortunately I broke Carli’s wicker bassinet while so that went out to the trash this morning. Luckily we have the new Fisher-Price Newborn Rock and Sleep Bassinet (I think that is what it’s called?) It’s smaller and can travel with us! I also threw out Carli’s high-chair as the cover has been washed so many times, the entire highchair was falling apart. No way in heck it’d survive another child. We’ve decided to get another high chair that is wood based so it can be wiped down much easier. It’s a PITA when the kid eats something messy in the GRACO chairs and you have to wash the base. PITA!!

We are borrowing a swing from a friend of ours — thankfully. The last thing we need to purchase is Katelyn’s carseat and I think we’ll be ready for this baby to come! Yay!

Filed Under: General, Parenting, Pictures Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: I am so in LOVE! <3

April 21, 2010 By 7 Comments

Click HERE to participate in Wordless Wednesdays.

Here are some fresh pictures of Katelyn, taken as of today. I don’t believe I can possibly be MORE in love with someone I’ve never met!



Filed Under: General, Parenting, Pictures, Wordless Wednesday Tagged With: , , , ,

Wordless Wednesday: Future Thespian?

April 7, 2010 By 2 Comments


To participate in this meme, visit: http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/.

If you’ve participated in Wordless Wednesday, and have commented on my entry – make sure to add your WW post to Mr. Linky below! :) (Users must comment and make sure to check participant in order to leave their link on Mr. Linky. It’s only fair).

Filed Under: General, Parenting, Pictures, Wordless Wednesday Tagged With: , ,

Wordless Wednesday: Sleepy Sack #Meme

March 10, 2010 By 6 Comments

To participate in this meme, visit: http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/.

I am knitting this for the baby on the way. It is a sleep sack made of 100% wool yarn which goes over a cloth diaper. Not perfect, but – I am pretty new at this.

If you’ve participated in Wordless Wednesday, and have commented on my entry – make sure to add your WW post to Mr. Linky below! :) (Users must comment and make sure to check participant in order to leave their link on Mr. Linky. It’s only fair).

Filed Under: General, Memes, Parenting, Pictures, Wordless Wednesday Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

We’re having a little…

February 19, 2010 By 5 Comments

// GIRL!

Those who are on my facebook are already well-aware of the fact (as well as the pregnancy message boards I frequent). But for my blog readers who DON’T know.. there you have it.

In late July 2010 we shall be expecting little Katelyn Rain!

I liked this photo because you can see her cute little button nose (maybe she won’t be all nose when she is born, like her sister was – hehe). You can also see her legs pulled to her stomach and her feet in the air. The entire time we had the ultrasound, her hands were usually in front of her face as if she were sunbathing in my uterus.

SEE! Proof.. she is a little girl! :) I am so happy that my high-risk doctor knew it was a girl really early. Very few seemed to believe that he knew what he was talking about.. but I am glad that not only was I able to keep faith that what he told me was in fact true – but now I feel confidant in him as a doctor. It’s always nice to know your doctor knows what he is talking about!

We’re really really excited about having another little girl. I couldn’t ask for anything more! I have my ideal family — a husband who loves me, and two little daughters!

Filed Under: General, Parenting, Pictures Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wordless Wednesday: Winter in Florida #Meme

February 10, 2010 By 13 Comments

To participate in this meme, visit: http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/.

Yes, this was taken this past week. We live in FLORIDA. What do you expect? :)

If you’ve participated in Wordless Wednesday, and have commented on my entry – make sure to add your WW post to Mr. Linky below! :)

Filed Under: General, Memes, Pictures, Wordless Wednesday Tagged With: , ,

Showing off Bug’s Cloth Diaper Stash!

February 8, 2010 By 6 Comments

Have been working hard on pulling this stash together. I want it to be completed (XS &  Newborn all the way to Large) by the time this kiddo arrives in late July.

So far I have quite a few Cloth Couture’s, a few Dillon & Claires, and some WAHM diapers. I have more WAHM diapers coming from some lovely ladies over on the Diaper Sewing Divas board that I frequent daily.

Granted I am not officially sure what I am having (I find out officially on February 17th if Bug is allowing for this) so I am trying to make them as gender neutral as possible. (Well.. for the most part.)

To be honest, I have no idea how many diapers I have in my stash. I know I have quite a few on their way (maybe close to 10 smalls from various people) but I will make sure to count it when I get there. ;) (Finished, that is!)

Here are some pictures of the stash in the making! This first picture is of preemie diapers & newborn diapers. (a few small Trimsies that are virtually newborn size).

The second drawer is stuffed full of Cloth Couture prefolds and EZDiapers as well as some WAHM diapers i.e. the Tie Dye one!) The solid diapers in the middle are daddy-approved AIO (all-in-ones) that require no pinning or stuffing. Just put on and voila!

Here are the smalls – 1 WAHM bears flannel fattycake, some Cloth Couture Rainy Days Step 1 diapers (size NB/S), and some small Cloth Couture prefolds!

This is just the beginning, mind you as I have a bunch of smalls coming in from various friends and companies. :) Here are some of the Cloth Couture small embroidered trimsies I have and LOVE:

Kind of cute, huh? I haven’t snapped up all of them, as I am awaiting a snap order but I have snapped up a few and I can NOT wait until I have my little baby to put them in! They are also AIO (All-in-ones) so involve no difficult prep work to use them!

I am so excited to be using cloth from the start, this time around – as I did not get to start with Carli until she was about 6 months old! :( Newborn fluff is the CUTEST!

Filed Under: General, Parenting, Pictures Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts