Thankfulness

Yesterday, I could not find the words to express my feelings towards my Baptism. Today, I am given the words. Today I get Baptized. More about that shortly.

Today as you know is Veterans Day and I want to thank all of those that willingly serve our country so that we have the freedoms that we do. Today is also the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. These seemingly distinct events have more to do with each other than I ever could have imagined. This morning a friend of ours who serves in the armed forces was at Church and had brought 3 of his fellow soldiers with him. As the pastor asked them to stand to be recognized as those who serve our country and fight for our freedoms, I was overcome by gratitude to them, but also to God that we live in country where I can sit in a Church and worship the way I want to worship. That I do not have to worry about persecution for my beliefs as so many around the world do. I am thankful that so many men and women have fought and continue to fight for the freedoms that we have in this country and I am so thankful that God chose for me to live in this country.

The service this morning was very powerful starting when the Pastor asked all the veterans to stand. The Pastor then discussed the persecution of Christians throughout the world. It's amazing that 70% of the world's Christians do not live in countries where they are free to practice their religion freely. 70%. We here in America take it for granted that we can go to Church when and where we want and we don't have to worry about being killed for doing so. One study said that 164,000 Christians were killed for their faith in one year. That comes out to 400 people per day. Wow! We were shown a video re-enactment of the story of a woman named "Sarah" from China who was beaten and tortured and imprisoned for 6 years for having been the editor of an underground Christian newspaper. Ironically, in her years in prison, she made Christmas lights to be sent to the US. The story was horrific and I sat there so thankful that I live where I can Baptized. Where I have that freedom. Where those that hate Christians can freely speak against them. Where anyone can speak their mind and not be persucted in such horrific ways. I was humbled by this. I was anxious and nervous about this evening as I knew this was the first time that my real family and my Church family would meet. I was nervous because I knew that the things that not only I would be saying in my testimony, but the testimonies of others, would be hard for my family to hear. I was also overwhelmed by the power of the evening. This was a big step for me, an outward sign of my inward belief, but I also understood on some level that hearing the testimonies tonight could have some very powerful effects on those who do not believe in Christ. I know that God uses events such as Baptism's like this to change lives and I can only hope that my testimony has touched the life of someone that was there tonight.

That may not have done how I felt today justice at all, but I can tell you that I am blessed today.

It is amazing to me that the name Jesus Christ can cause such hatred. If He isn't real, if He doesn't mean anything, if He is not the Son of God, then why do so many people hate Him? Why are people willing to kill those that believe in Him. It is also amazing to me that people will die for Him. The Pastor told the true story of a group of people who had gathered for a Bible study. The police busted in and threw a Bible on the ground and said that everyone must spit on the Bible or they would be shot to death. Many people spit on the Bible as they ran out of the Church. One person knelt down and picked up the Bible wiping the spit from the cover and said, "Forgive those that have spit on God's Word". The last sound he heard was the gunshot that killed him. I wonder if I were put in a similar situation, could I do the same thing. Would I have the courage to stand up for my faith. To stand up for my Savior.

Photography

Here are some of my favorite shots from recent times. Sorry, I don't have much to post, I'm pooped. We cleaned all day and I still have stuff to do.
Enjoy.

The Little Why's of Life

Why, after over 10 years with my lovely watch, did I have to go and lose it? I miss you watch, my wrist is lonely.

Why do I always keep the heel of the bread in the bag, even though I never use it. It just gets in the way of the "good" bread.

Why does my child when I give her a coloring book, make a mark on every single page instead of coloring on one page.

Why do I procrastinate? No really, why? Nevermind, I'll ask you later.

Why is it that the only reason I can remember a colleague's phone number is because it has the same last four digits as a high school boyfriend? But I can't remember my own telephone number from high school.

Why does everything happen at once? Why do multiple days keep attacking me at once and why does that far off date get here so fast?

Why are assumptions such a difficult thing to master and get rid of and why are we so disappointed when those assumptions are not met, even when we know they are assumptions and not reality?

Why aren't there more hours in a day? Would we waste those too on worthless things?

What Why's are you pondering today?

Blame it on the pregnancy or something

I missed a meeting this morning. With my boss. On a good day this is a bad thing. But due to my work at home status and the fact that my house is between my boss' house and the office, once a week, she stops by my house in the morning and we have a weekly meeting. I know, I know, I am truly blessed and have no reason to complain about anything ever.

Last week we canceled this particular meeting because I am in the middle of a huge project. The annual project which really continues to earn me my paycheck. Yes, I do other things throughout the year, but this particular project is the reason for my job title. Yada, yada. So this week I assumed (we all know all about that word) that we were not meeting again. la tee da.

So... where was I. Yes, I didn't sleep well last night, finally falling asleep on the couch about 6:00 after being up 4 or 5 times, only to be awoken 45 minutes later by the sound of a waterfall. I tried to ignore it. It sounded like the washing machine or dish washer. Couldn't be it. I finally figured out it through sleep stupor and process of illimination, the sprinklers. What I could not figure out what was it was so darn loud.

I finally got up to see what the noise was all about. I had left the window in the kitchen/dining area open and there happens to be a sprinkler head right there. Fabulous. I didn't bother checking for damage, I just closed the window and went back to bed.

All that to say, my darling hubby got up with the Boo Bear and fed her breakfast and I crawled out of bed at about 8:30. Poor me, I know. I threw on some gouchos, a long sleeve t-shirt, brushed my teeth (thankfully) and threw my hair in a poinytail. 15 minutes later right after hubby walked out the door, I was standing at the kitchen sink throwing up when I looked up to see my boss in the driveway.

I froze momentarily and then did the frantic, do I have time to put pants on/makeup/real clothes/shoes/anything!!!!! Nope, answer the door. On another tangent, because I cannot tell a story without them, the front foyer is never used for anything but toys, because we don't use the front door and it's the only place in the living room area for the toys. When the door bell rang, I began the foot sweep of trying to clear enough room to even get the door open at all.

I apologized profusely for my appearance, for the lack of unpreparation, for being a total loser and for assuming something I shouldn't have. She was very gracious, thank the Lord, and said no problem, we could talk about everything on the phone.

I feel like a dunce. I am a dunce. It's amazing they pay me at all.

Full Emmersion: Bigger than Words

There is something huge happening in my life this week. Very big to me. So big, even, it's bigger than I can really put into words.


I have tried to write about this all week and haven't been able to. Tomorrow I get Baptized. I am excited and happy for this day to finally be here. I am also nervous and anxious. My Dad and Stepmom will be there, my aunt will be there and a handful of friends. I cannot even begin to put into words the feelings I am having regarding tomorrow, but I hope after tomorrow to be able to tell you more.

World's most boring post... Ever

I got nothing. Nothing at all really.

Today consisted of:

• work
• child meltdown #1
• flu shot
• ouch
• child meltdown #2
• work
• work
• work
• work
• fold clothes
• work
• work
• dinner at Nana's
• child meltdown #3
• blog
• nighty night

Spinning

It's one of those days. I am trying to only focus on one day at a time, but I am failing miserably. I have a work deadline looming next Friday and I am faaareeaking out a little bit about getting it all done. On top of that, I am trying to stay on top of the house work and take care of my family all while continuing to do all the other little things that just pop up like doctor's appointments, etc.

I know that tomorrow will be a different day, but today, I feel like I am running full speed and not getting anywhere at all.

Pithy Post Title

I gots nothing. Nothing at all. So have some mundane randomness.

I was pre-registering at the hospital website for this baby to be born (no time soon please!) and just love it when I get to the questions about what I am going to be coming in for. For some reason the question, "Diagnosis?" seems silly to me in this particular instance. Um, pregnant?

There is a possibility that hubby and I might be getting to go on a real live, adult only vacation in the next month. I might just keel over and die if it happens. After the vacation of course. ;-)

Did I mention that my daughter can pick out her letters from A to E? I know, smart huh? Or maybe not, but I was pretty impressed. Her little voice is so cute, saying each letter. Technically she doesn't say E so much as when you point to E, she says, "Elmo."

And that's all for today folks!

The Faces of Motherhood

I do realize that I have been cheating the last couple of days. Just some mere quick words or photos to meet my obligation. I will try to do better. Promises, promises...

**********************************

Yesterday I met my parents half way between our two houses to exchange Boo Bear for a night of dates with my husband and quiet for me today. Not really so much for that as my parents begged to keep her for a night. Hubby and I got to spend a wonderful evening out together. We went to eat at a new Italian restaurant that was quite good. Service was mediocre, but the food and my good mood made up for that. Then, so as not to waste the time without child, we took a trip to Sam's to get diapers. But we took the time to stroll leisurely through the isles, holding hands and looking at things that are on our "Yeah, Right" Wish list. Things like 57" flat screen TV's and laptops. Okay, so the laptop is something we might actually get some day, but I don't see us ever buying a TV like that. We just don't watch enough TV to even warrant that kind of spend, and we have two perfectly good TV's as it is. We're simple people, with simple wants generally.

One thing I noticed when we got home was the silence. With child(ren) in the house, there is never true quiet. There is always an underlying current, a buzz of noise, and expectant feeling. Even when they are sleeping, we as parents are always poised to jump at a moments notice. No matter how long at a time they sleep, it is never truly quiet. I felt out of place, like something was missing (she was), listening to the quiet.

Today getting ready for Church and on the drive to Church I noticed it even more. No jabbering from the back seat. No one for me to talk to you. No turning around to see her expectant face, waiting for me to tell her what something is or acknowledge her when she says, "Cuck" (Truck) or "Caaaahhhs" (Cars) or my favorite, "pahl-puss" (school bus). No looking at her bouncing head and smiling face when Toby Mac's Burn for You comes on the radio. On the way home after eating a quiet, peaceful breakfast with my husband, I drove home in silence to a quiet house. As always when I have time without my daughter, I have trouble deciding what to do first. Do I clean, do I run errands, do I relax? What to do, what to do?

So, what did I do? I cleaned the kitchen, swept and mopped the disgusting floors and I am now chilling. Ahhh...

Your turn: What do you do when the kids are gone?

What's all the Buzz About

Token Halloween shot, 4 days late. She has three different costumes. Here are two. The Texas Cheerleader outfit really isn't a costume so much as a way of life. Hook Em!

Go Horns!
Buzzzzzzzz!

What was that I said about posting all month?

Yeah, that! It's only November 1st and already I have writer's block... We went to church last night so I don't even have any cute token Halloween pictures to post. That would have been easy. So, I guess I will just have share these other cute shots of Boo Bear and I did finally take a tummy shot. Here you go, my first post of NaBloPoMo. Exciting, huh?

My little cutie!

Her latest "trick," surprised face.

And the token belly shot, 20 weeks. Hello Bellybean.
Sorry it's fuzzy, the counter just wouldn't hold still.

The Joys of Parenthood

These days I find myself spewing words that I never thought I would say for any reason before I had children.

Things like these gems have flown from my mouth recently.

"Get your hands out of your pants." Said as she has her hand down the back of her diaper. Don't go there!

"Would you like for me to wrap up teddy in the blanket?" Said when she plopped a huge teddy bear and a blanket in my lap and walked away.

"Quit licking the grocery cart."

"Get off the floor!!!" Said as she wipes her entire body across the floor (which of course is not clean!) She does this everywhere, the grocery store, someone else's house, outside.

Oh the joys.

We had a little bit of a scare last night. As I was getting gas on my way to my Grandmother-in-laws' for dinner, my MIL noticed that Boo Bear's top right two teeth looked odd. I climbed in the car to get a better peek. Sure enough, the gum looked like it was swollen and was covering almost completely her top middle tooth and the one to the right of that. I tried scraping at it gently thinking it might just be food or something. Nothing came off. I was a little worried, but said I would wait until I had a chance to brush her teeth. We got to dinner and I caught a glimpse of her teeth again and it really had me worried.

I'm going through all her recent tumbles trying to remember if she hit her mouth. I can't remember one in which this happened. I am going through the scenerios of dead teeth and all that that might mean. I am trying to not freak out and not think of the fact that we have no dental insurance, that we are still paying off a large amount of ER bills (2 visits) and trying to just trust that it is all in God's hands and that nothing is the end of the world when it comes to teeth.

I was doing pretty good until hubby got there and he took a look and was horrified. We looked up at the roof of her mouth and that was gray too. It was really scary looking, yet we could not figure out how in the world she could have hit her mouth that hard and had us not notice. I was having a serious case of Mommy Guilt. "Do I brush her teeth enough? Should I brush them more? Do I give her too much juice? How could I not notice if she killed her teeth?"

We ate dinner after praying that God would somehow heal her teeth. After hubby was laying on the floor playing with Boo Bear. All of a sudden he points at Boo Bear and yells, "It's all gone!" We are all looking at him like he is crazy. "What's gone?" I ask. "Her teeth are fixed." Sure enough!! We looked again and her teeth were fine. I guess it was food after all. I had given her grapes as a snack before dinner at our house and somehow a skin had managed to seriously attach itself to her teeth and the roof of her mouth in such a way that it looked like her two top right teeth were dead. Talk about answered prayer!!! Praise God that it was nothing serious! We had a good laugh over it for sure.

What's in a name?

I'm a slacker. Consider this yesterday's post.

We are slowly beginning the process of trying to find a suitable girl's name for this baby, if it turns out to be a girl. And that is where you come in. You being my two or three avid readers. Feel free to take a poll among your family and friends. We would like something that is not mainstream. I don't want her to have 3 other hers in all her classes. Unique yet not too weird. Needs to go with our last name which I am not going to share with you all so you will just have to use your imagination and hope that it works.



What girl's names do you like?

The one in which I over commit myself yet again

Heard that story before? Since I am so consistent with posting and all, I thought (this could be questioned), what better thing to do than to sign up for NaBloPoMo? I am nothing if not an overachiever and under deliverer. Hee hee.

My hope is that this little motivation might encourage me to actually post. This poor second child already is getting a bad dose of the second child syndrome and I would like to chronicle at least a little bit of his/her journey. There has not been a single belly shot taken. Not one. Oh, and there is belly to behold. More to be held than I would like.

I do have one of these shots though. Enjoy.

He/She looks like the Daddy, as usual. If you took a picture of him with an x-ray machine I suppose. And he/she is quite the mover and shaker. It took the tech an hour to take measurements because he/she would not be still at all. Next to labor, the big ultrasound is the worst part of pregnancy for me. For those of you that have been through it, well you know the drill. For those that haven't, they make you drink 32 oz of water an hour (give or take an hour - whenever they get around to you) and then don't let you "relieve" yourself until after the ultrasound. I really didn't think I was going to make it through this experience and other "guests" waiting in the hall thought I was going into labor right then. I was, with 32 oz of water.

All that to say, all looks good, baby is still on the go and I am starting to feel the Bellybean move around. Life moves along at a steady clip and one day runs into the next, but life is good.

So, what's new with you?

Pimping myself for a new Blog Template

Because I am just that desparate. Ever since the designer not to be named removed my photobucket images from existence and my Where The Wild Things Are template died a slow death, I have been wanting a new design. I have admired her work for awhile and happened to be there today and saw this.

So, here's my entry. Hope this qualifies for posting the logo and and hopefully giving her some business. Give a fellow Mom some bidness!

The Epitome of Faith

I cannot begin to fathom what this family has gone through in the last couple of weeks, months, etc. But I can tell you that their faith through it all has been so encouraging to me. Before you click that link, beware, there will be tears. It is a very sad story, but a very uplifting one as well.

I cannot do the story justice, but the short version is that their second daughter had Trisomy 18 (you can click on a link on their blog to get more information on this) and originally they were told she would probably not make it to birth. Not only did she make it to birth, she lived 8 days, which is rare as they usually only give children with Trisomy 18 a couple of hours after birth.

If you can make it through, I would encourage you to read through the posts of the last month or so. The faith this couple has in the Lord has opened my eyes to what true, unabiding faith truly is. Incredible -- truly awe inspiring to me.

Am I who I want to be...

Listening to the radio in the car yesterday, there was a promo commercial for a concert coming up featuring Switchfoot. They played a snippet of the song This Is Your Life and it really got me thinking. The portion they played says, "This is your life, are you who you want to be?" Am I who I want to be? The short answer is no, no I am not. What's funny about that, is that for the first time in my life, that doesn't make me uncomfortable. For the first time that answer doesn't make me depressed and question who I am, but gives me hope, something to look forward to. I would like to think that I am better today than I was yesterday, but that is not always the case. Some days, I am the same as yesterday.

On a day to day basis, I do the best I can at being a Mother, a Wife, an employee, a friend, a daughter, a Christian. But multi-tasking is a blessing and a curse and if I really look closely, each of these personas only get about a 10% effort in a day in order to make up the total percentage of who I have to be each day. I want to be a better everything/everyone and I want to strive to reach that goal each and every day. But sometimes we get lost in the minutinae of the day and forget the bigger picture. In my attempt to try and finish a project for work, I ignore my daughter's pleas to go outside. In my attempt to rest at the end of the day, I don't cook dinner for my family like I should. In my attempt to find myself, I ignore my duties as a daughter or as a friend. In my selfishness, I choose to sleep instead of spend time with the Lord. And at the end of each day, I pray that tomorrow I can do better. Sometimes this may mean cutting something out, because somedays it just isn't possible to do it all. But really, at the end of the day, what you got done, is what you got done and is the world really going to end because there are dishes in the sink? The things that must get done have ways of rising to the top of our priority list, but sometimes our priorities are out of whack. Sometimes we needed to be reminded of the bigger picture.

Through out my life I have had many trials and I didn't always handle them well when I was in the midst of them, but my viewpoint on trials has changed recently. You see, if you think about it, we learn the most and grow the most when we go through trials. When living in the status quo, we don't learn big lessons, we don't grow our characters, we remain simply in the status quo. The status quo is comfortable, but if we live in it always, we aren't really living are we? If life is great, and everything is going along at an even pace, with no bumps in the road, we don't strive to be better, we don't strive to learn or grow. Think about when you fail at something. Do you analyze what went wrong? Do you learn from your mistakes? Do you change your actions in order to get different reactions in similar situations? The answers to all these questions, I hope, is yes. We analyze what went wrong when we fail. We learn, we grow. But, when we succeed, we generally as a rule, don't analyze what we did to figure out why we succeeded. We are too busy basking in the glory of our success. But did we really learn anything other than success feels good? Maybe on a occasion, but generally, we move on to the next big thing. So why is it so hard to look forward to trials, to want trials in order to learn and grow? Why is it so hard to try and see the bigger picture when we are in a trial? Why is it so hard to stop in the midst of a trial and ask ourselves, "What could God be trying to teach me? How is He trying to grow me?"

Since becoming a Christian, I am constantly wondering what God has in store for me. Knowing that God is my strength in times of trial, I am not so scared of what's to come. I wonder what trials He has in store for me, in order to help me grow and learn and become more like Christ.

James 1:2-3 "2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."

This is your life. Are YOU who you want to be?

Raising a Shoe Maven

Boo Bear is obsessed with shoes. First thing in the morning generally, she wants her shoes on, right that minute. Part of her obsession is that she associates shoes with outside and she loves outside. But I don't think that explains why she constantly picks other peoples shoes up, even in the doctor's office waiting room if they will let her take them off their feet, which, ewwww. If my shoes are laying around, which they always are, because I hate wearing shoes unless absolutely necessary, she is constantly bringing them to me, throwing them down and giving me the "put them on" look.

Just now I looked down and was so proud to see she got one shoe on the right foot and in the right direction all by herself. Then I realized she had the other shoe on completely backwards. How it was staying on her foot, I have no idea. Now she has both on the right feet. The straps aren't on, but she is working on that. Now if I can get her to go pee pee in the potty, we might be ready for The Bellybean when he/she arrives.

Freezer's full

I've always been able to tell how healthy I am eating by how full the freezer is and how empty the fruit bowl is or vice versa. This pregnancy is doing a number on my eating habits. Not to say I am the most healthy eater in the world. That would be a lie. I like fried food more than anything else in the world. Well, maybe not the world. But if it's fried, I like, excluding weird bugs and such.

My poor husband has got to be about sick of asking what's for dinner and hearing, "whatever you can find." I have mastered the art of the YOYOTM dinner. That's short for, Your Own Your Own. Right now I am sick of eating. I am starving all the time, yet nothing sounds good, nothing looks good, nothing tastes good, nothing sits good. And yet, I am forced to eat constantly. I am sick of eating or dealing with food. I do better if I don't have to be the one to fix the food. Seeing as I have to fix food for another human being at least 6 times a day, that makes fixing a meal at the end of the day almost impossible. Boo Bear likes that to eat that child. But not always what I fix her the first time, or the second for that matter. So by the time hubby gets home at 8 or so, he's on his own usually.

I have been trying to buy already made casseroles or stuffed chicken or something from the meat market or the freezer isle, but even when I cook that stuff, I sit down to eat and end up pushing it away. Needless to say, we have been throwing away way more food than we should and I feel so guilty every time I fill the trash can with completely edible food. Hubby forgets to take stuff for lunch and I'm lucky if I can eat something once much less twice.

Lately I have been buying more junk food than I can remember buying since college or at least since I was a single person who always ate on the go. We don't normally have snack type food in our house. Hubby constantly complains that there is nothing to snack on, at least nothing worth snacking on. Lately the pantry has seen the likes of chips, and not just one kind, but up to three or four different kinds. And things like pudding. I didn't even grow up eating pudding. And the fridge has seen things like ranch dip in a jar and cookie dough and the like. I know, crazzzzyyy, but for us it is.

Funny thing is, I crave fruit the most, but find it hard to get good fruit in all the different types. for example, today I tried to buy fruit. Lots of it. I tried to find pineapple because I had some in a fruit salad this week and now I WANT MORE! No dice. Slim pickin's. I tried to buy grapes. I could only find the purple, with seed variety. No dice with a toddler and me for that matter. I tried to buy peaches. They looked awful. I bought oranges last week and they were nasty. I bought some pears, which having already sampled are hard as rocks, some bananas, but the girl has a hold on all those and one grapefuit, because it looked good at the time. I limited myself to one because who knows if 1) it will be any good and 2) if I will want one tomorrow.

A sampling of the other things I bought today: (Poor hubby) I have * the things we do not normally eat in this house.

• Lean Pockets*
• cookie dough* (on occassion I will buy this. Hubby eats it generally in about two sittings)
• Lime Tortilla Chips
• Cheetos
• 2 packs of bagels* (This is the one thing I have been able to consistently eat lately. Must because I love cream cheese.)
• Chicken Salad* (this is another one of those things I have all of a sudden gotten a taste/craving for; that and the thought of lunch meat makes me want to hurl, but you run out of things to feed a toddler for lunch when you don't have any leftovers)
• Yogurt
• Milk
• eggs (I am having trouble getting protein so I have taken to hard boiled eggs)
• Chewy granola bars*
• Refried Beans*
• Steak Quesadilla Rolls*
• Egg Rolls*

Sound like nutrition central to me, don't you agree?

Amazingly at my check up last week, I haven't gained a pound. Now don't shoot me... I wish I could eat. I so long for food to taste good, look good, smell good. Anything. But, alas, I get up each morning and force myself to eat something, anything. And then wait to see if I will cough it up. It's a joy really. There is nothing quite like puking your guts out while your 20 months old "pats" you on the back. And by "pats" I mean, trying to pound out what I ate yesterday.

She's a doll really. I'll use that as a segway. The girl will be 20 months this Saturday. My how the time flies when you are... chasing a toddler. She runs everywhere, in that stinted sort of way that makes you cringe thinking they are going to bite the dust at any moment. She never stops unless she is watching "Melmo" or this, which she will watch over and over and over and over, until my ears start to bleed and I wake up in the morning singing these songs.

(right now she is in her crib babbling, "miinnne" over and over. As far as I know, she doesn't know that word. We don't use it in this house, but I imagine some of those children in the church toddler room know it and love it.)

She loves bubbles and eating and playing on the couch. She loves "outsiiiiie" more than life itself and unfortunately for her, being outside makes mommy sick. See we live in the armpit of HOT, south Texas where it may only be 86 degrees (my foot), but with 97% humidity, it always feels like your face is going to fall off. In my current condition, any additional reason for me to be uncomfortable is something I try to avoid. But the girl, she wants to be "outsiiiiiiieeee" right now. She has started to be able to open doors in the last day or two and can now open the door to the laundry room which leads to the back door which is the door we use 99% of the time. She can't unlock and open that one (yet!!!!!), but it gets her close enough to the door to drive me crazy with the "outsiiiiiiiiieeeeeee."

Tangent.... I'm not a girly girl by any stretch of the imagination, but I hate being outside, unless it is a)spring or b)fall, both of which make up about a whopping 3 whole weeks here in south Texas. So needless to say, I hate being outside. It's hot, it's sticky, there are bugs out there and spiders and snakes and such. We have wasps and bees all over the place and I don't like things that bite or sting. Aside from the obvious that bites and stings hurt and such, I am also allergic to the entire world. I swell up like hives at the slightest bite by an ant or a mosquito and in case you haven't heard, mosquitos like it down here in Texas. Might have something to do with all that darn water in the air. I've been stung once in my life by a yellow jacket and my ankle swelled up 3 times it's normal size, so needless to say, I try to avoid this situation. Then we have spiders and to me a spider is a spider, I'm not getting close enough to figure out if you can kill me or not. I'm also allergic to mold, grass, pollen, trees, the air, anything that moves, etc. So galavanting through the grass as Boo Bear loves to do, is not as pleasant for me as it is for her.

End tangent.

I try to suffer a little each day to take the girl outside. Somedays that means a trip to the mail box and across the street to see the neighbors dog. Other days it includes a walk to the end of the block and back. Some days she really gets a treat and we spend a whole hour out there. But the real treat is when daddy is home. She associated daddy with outside because he always takes her outside. When daddy is home, the minute she sees him, she wants her "shoooooooooooouse" and then she runs for the door. It doesn't matter is he just got her out of her crib in the morning, she will point to her shoes and demand that she get them on. That girl is a shoe maven. She loves them shoes. She even wants me to wear shoes all the time, although I suspect it has more to do with going outside than it does her really wanting me to wear shoes. She will pick up my shoes and find me and plop them down in front of me with a look on her face that clearly says, "Shoes. Put them on. Now." She does try to cram them on my feet for me, but now has learned it's easier to just give me the look. I've tried explaining to her that Mommy hates wearing shoes about as much as she hates going outside, but she ain't buying it.

Well this turned into a longer post than I meant for it to, but hey, at least I updated and told you something besides, blah, blah, blah, or maybe this is just more blah, blah, blah. Well, blah, so there.

A doozy of a whoozy

Why is it that every 3-4 months blogrolling decides to work the way it says it does and actually list your blogs in the most updated order? Just curious.

Since my last post, life has gotten even more exciting. Can you believe it? On Wednesday, shortly after I hit publish on that glorious post, Boo Bear woke up from her nap with a fever of 103.7. Fabulous. Thanks be to God that hubby was able to come home from work early so that I could go to church for Word of Life. Boo Bear has been running anywhere from 99 to 103.7 since then and on Friday we finally broke down and went to the doc. There ensued much screaming, crying and whimpering. A blood test and urine bag, oh the joys, and 3 hours later, we have a diagnosis. Viral. I hate that word, viral. It seems to me, (I am by no means a doctor), that viral is the term for, "random illness that makes your life miserable." Until yesterday, Boo Bear showed no symptoms at all other than the fever, so that was good. The Virus did entail rearranging my work schedule on Saturday, the one day out of the entire year I was supposed to go into the office from 8-5. Hubby stayed home in the morning and I came home at noon to take over.

Did I fail to mention, I woke up Friday with a cold. Bonus for me.

Boo Bear woke up from her nap yesterday with her now typical fever as well as a puffy chin and cheeks. Small cause for concern, but nothing major. The doc mentioned she looked a little swollen on Friday. That didn't stop me from Googling "puffy face in toddler" which came up with Mumps. Small freak out. Then I noticed a rash around her ears. Googled that. Mumps, measles, rubella. Much larger freak out. Called my sister, who promptly told me to stop Googling stuff and step away from the computer. I did finally call the doctor's after hours number, which ended with us going to the ER once again. Why, why, why do children only get sick on the weekends? I despise the ER, as I'm sure most people do. Boo Bear always manafests some weird symptoms at precisely 5:01 PM on a Friday or something, almost ensuring us a trip to the ER. Most likely because of liability issues they always tell us to go, but since I am a first time Mom, I tend to lean towards the "better safe than sorry" and "what if it is something horrible and I don't take her" side of things.

So 3.5 hours later, sure enough, just viral, similar to Roseola, should start breaking fever now that rash is spreading across her face and all over her torso. She did however manager to get an ear infection between the time we went to the doc on Friday and Saturday night at 11:30. then it took us almost half the time in the ER to just get the prescription written and filled. When I walked up to the counter at the 24 hour pharmacy, the guy told me 30 minutes. 30 minutes!!! It's midnight on a Saturday night, you've got to be kidding me! So we went and did what any normal people would do, we went and got a Frosty and french fries. We got home around 12:30 or so and Boo Bear and I crashed. Hubby stayed up because he is weird like that. Really he just needs time to wind down.

Today we both feel like crap and are trying to balance each other out. We have watched the same silly baby song video 3 times and I've had about all I can stand. 2.5 hours until bedtime and counting!!!!

Hope your weekend is going better than mine! Tell me something fabulous, great, or a juicy secret. I'm grasping at straws here!