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Thursday, December 10, 2009

Stranger Anxiety

Peyton has always been a people lover having never met a stranger. I was hoping she would by-pass the stranger anxiety stage but recently it has hit full force. This afternoon we made a quick run to the grocery store and she did great until we made it to the check out counter. The lady at the register could not have been any sweeter, asking Peyton how she was and what Santa was going to bring her for Christmas. Peyton made very unfriendly faces at her and looked the other way. After paying and loading up the groceries I asked Peyton if she could say bye-bye and she suddenly became the sweetest girl ever - smiled, waved, and blew kisses to everyone that looked her way. If she has such mood swings already at this age, I am in for some serious trouble when she hits the teenager years.

Brad and I had a soccer game tonight and so we had one of Peyton's favorite babysitters, Wanda, come watch her. Wanda has been sick with pneumonia and hasn't been able to come by for two weels. Peyton must have forgotten about her because when Wanda came, Peyton was not friendly at all. When it came time for me to leave, Peyton threw the biggest fit ever - screaming, crying with the biggest tears I have ever seen, hugging me and wouldn't let go. It broke my heart! Wanda told me that Peyton did eventually warm up and they had a great night together. Still, I feel so bad! Hopefully she will get over this phase soon!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Sorry for a lack of pictures, it really stinks not having a camera!

Peyton and Brad went to Florida for Thanksgiving since I had to work both Thanksgiving day and the day after. From what I understand she was on her best behavior and loved seeing all of her extended family. She even waved bye-bye for everyone! She has always been very sociable, never having met a stranger. Until recently. Nowadays, she has become very shy and requires a little bit of time to warm up. So it was great hearing that she did so well meeting people for the first time. When she came back from Florida, she even acted like she had missed me! This is a total switch considering how much she is a daddy's girl. The girl loves her daddy.

Today we went to a birthday party down the street and Peyton did well. She was very shy in the beginning but slowly warmed up to all the party goers. Sharing is not her best feature and that trait definitely shined today, but she is getting better. She played hard with all the little ones and took a three hour nap afterwards. She was pooped!

Tonight Brad and I had some friends over for football and dinner. Once again she was shy but eventually warmed up. At one point she was playing peek-a-boo with my friend and then the unthinkable happened. She said 'mommy.' As I mentioned before, Peyton has always been a daddy's girl and has been saying 'daddy' for quite some time. I love the fact that she is so close to her daddy, but I was becoming quite envious of how she refused to call me mommy. While she was playing peek-a-boo, she hollered 'mommy' and looked around as if she was making sure I was still there. It is amazing how one word will make such an impact. When she kept repeating the word, it took everything to not break down and cry. The word sounds so beautifully to my ears! My little girl is getting so big!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Monsters, Inc.

Is it too early to decorate for Christmas? I am just dying to get decorations up. I don't have anything fancy but I did notice today two good spots to put up wreaths on the front of my house. So sad how I get so excited about that. Definitely a sign of getting older.

Peyton is giving me gray hairs on a daily basis. Today her adventures included propping a part of the gate that we use to lock up the dogs against her red wagon and climbing up the gate into the wagon and vice versa. I finally had to move the wagon onto the grass so she wouldn't keep hitting her head on the sidewalk as she climbed out of the wagon. She has been practicing going down steps and I will brag a little about the fact that she is and has done pretty darn well with learning how to sit down then scoot down the step. That said, she has taken a few tumbles down entire flights at my parent's house. Thank goodness the only steps we have are to the basement (basement door now has two bolts on it) and steps from our front porch to the sidewalk. Today she miscalculated how close her feet were to the edge of the step and took a tumble down. Now, I have always been a klutz. As you guys know, I have the weirdest luck too. Deer crossing anyone? As I watch Peyton grow, I am close to coming to the conclusion that Peyton may just have inherited my luck. Remember the rare hemorrhagic eye virus? I mean, really? Really? I digress. So Peyton fell down the front steps today but she was able to break her fall by landing into the flower pot that I have on the bottom step, then tumble down the the ground. Thankfully she emerged with only a small scrape on her arm. She got up, I dusted planting soil off of her face, and she walked down the sidewalk, looked back at the steps with her eyes raised obviously wondering what the heck just happened, and then continued on to the wagon. The child has no fear.

Also, Peyton has now discovered the awesomeness of movies. She has never been a fan of the TV which has been ok with us. Every now and then she would watch the Einstein dvds for brief periods of time which was great for me when I needed to clean. Well all of a sudden about a month ago she is just the biggest fan of the movie, Monsters Inc. I actually bought this movie for myself a few years ago. So crazy to think that my own daughter would come to watch it. Craziness. So now the game room is 100% Peyton's room. We have it set up with a large flat screen tv, dvd player, two couches, and a makeshift coffee table thinking we would use it for rainy days and Brad's xbox. How silly we were to think we would have an big kid room in the house. It actually is perfect for Peyton. We moved her special chair to the room, put the pillows on the floor to help her climb off the couch (when I say climb, I mean fall), scattered her toys and blankets around, and boy she is set for life. She loves that room and runs in there several times a day to watch her Monsters movie. She even does the "scary feet" moment in the movie. So adorable. Also a great break for us while we try to eat and such. Good times!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!

I am so bad at this! Since I lost my camera (and because of Peyton's meltdown), I was not able to get many pictures but here are a few....



























Saturday, August 8, 2009

Brad and I received some sad news this past Thursday that I had suffered a miscarriage and needed surgery on Friday to help the process along. The surgery went well and the staff at St. Vincent's hospital could not have been any more kind and helpful; they were truly amazing during a difficult time. The chaplain came to see us after the procedure and said a few prayers and provided us with information about grief and how to embrace it and accept it. I am so appreciative that she came by; the visit truly helped me. We look forward to having our next baby at that hospital, and hopefully it won't be too long from now.

Brad has been incredibly supportive during this time which I definitely need. As a mother, I definitely went through the whole list of 'what-ifs' and searched for mistakes I may have made that could have caused this to happen. Brad has constantly reassured and comforted me. Although he readily admits he may not be the most sympathetic person, he definitely has come through for me and I could not appreciate it more.

So we are doing ok and resting at the house. Peyton is with my parents for the weekend so that will give us some alone time that is much needed right now. I do get choked up every now and then when I think that I will never be able to hold this baby in my arms but I understand that there was a reason why this happened. And Brad is always there to give me a hug when I start to cry. So, thanks to our faith and our strength, we will be ok and we are dealing with it as well as we can.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

4th of July

Peyton and I headed down to the lake house on Wednesday to celebrate the 4th. Brad had to work Thursday and joined us late Thursday night. We had a total of 15 people (and four dogs) at the house for the weekend - super crowded but super fun! My paternal grandparents were able to make the drive from Concord, N.C. along with my uncle Marshal (dad's bro), aunt Anna, and cousin Wainwright. We haven't seen them since December of last year so they were very excited to see how much Peyton has grown since then. Peyton absolutely adored all the attention throughout the weekend and hit another milestone for everyone to see! She took one step all by herself!!! Granted, it was a very wobbley step and she most likely didn't intend to take it on her own, but hey, it counts in our books. I just cannot believe she is almost walking. Crazy!
On the night of the 4th, 10 of us piled into the boat and went over to the amphitheater (located next to the lake where they often have concerts during the summer) to watch the fireworks. For some reason (we blamed the economy) the fireworks weren't as good as usual but it was still fun to watch. Peyton wasn't even the slightest bit fazed by them which surprised us all. While anchored, the boat was rocking at a perfect pace and Peyton eventually fell asleep on my chest. I love it when she does that and it sure is a rare event for it to happen.
I now completely understand why parents blame their children on giving them gray hairs. Peyton ventured off to the stairs many a times this weekend and just loved climbing up them. However, it's when she is at the top that gray hairs sprouted from my head. She would peak over the landing at the top of the stairs and decide that she wanted to climb back down. I tried to teach her how to do it the right way but that's similar to teaching a dog not to bark - just ain't gonna happen (well with my dogs at least). She would attempt to scoot down like a toddler would and this is not good for a infant who still doesn't understand the concept of center of gravity. The inevitable happened and Peyton tumbled forward and did a flip in the air after bouncing off the step. Thankfully I was only two steps away and caught her in mid air. Good Lord child. Give your mom a heart attack why don't you? We both cried for a second and then I burst into uncontrollable laughter for whatever reason as the rest of the family rushed to the steps to see if Peyton was ok. Oh boy, parenthood.
























Thursday, June 25, 2009

Loving the baby pool!





Peyton's beautiful blue eyes!






Peyton "helping" me clean up.




Sorry I haven't updated in a a few weeks. We have been super busy with work and taking care of sweet Peyton. She is still doing great! We are working on eating solid foods and while she has progressed, we still have a ways to go. I am just amazed at how she completely lost her interest in baby food after she got sick. She is eating carrots, bananas, applesauce, and peas every now and then. She only finishes an entire container a few times a week, but it's progress. She does love her bottles though, boy! I think she has lost a little bit of weight, which is not too worrisome since she is incredibly active. She still looks like a chunky monkey!










She loves the baby pool we got her a few weeks ago; she is definitely a water baby. I am thinking it won't be long before her daddy teaches her how to surf! I believe she is not too far away from walking. She still gets a little nervous when I try to walk her with just one hand instead of having both of my hands in her hands. When I take one of my hands away, she immediately plops herself down. I wish she was always that careful! However, she has no fear looking over the side of the bed, ugh, and loves to rough house with the dogs (don't forget that in addition to our two very large dogs, my parents have three large dogs so she is constantly surrounded by huge puppies!). I already plucked one gray hair out the other day!










She is still sleeping pretty great. Usually goes down around 8 - 830 then wakes up about 8, so 12 hours which is awesome to us! Last Saturday she slept until 10 am!!! Amazing. Every now and then she does wake up in the middle of the night or she wants to stay up late with her mom and dad, but we cannot complain; we have been so blessed with her sleeping through the night since 6-8 weeks old.










On June 14th, my grandfather passed away. He had been suffering from Alzheimers for the past 7 years and it was incredibly difficult to watch him suffer from the disease. Although we are all devasated by his passing, I find myself relieved because I know he is in a much better place and is his happy self again. Grandpa was an incredibly independent man and it was so hard to watch him become so dependent on everyone and everything. He was a navy pilot for 20 years, even flying his own plane after his retirement. I always felt that he and I were extremely close and cherished every moment we had together. I am also so incredibly happy that I got to introduce him to Peyton last October. Peyton and I are flying down to Florida in July and I was hoping Grandpa would still be around then by unfortunately during his last few weeks, his health declined rapidly. Yet, I have some pictures of him with Peyton and I am truly blessed that I will be able to share them with Peyton as she grows up.










Ok, this is a rather poorly written entry but I am exhausted and should be getting to bed soon! I will update more later this week!


























Thursday, June 4, 2009

9 month check up

Peyton had her nine month check up on Wednesday and it went pretty well. She weighs 19 lbs and 13 oz (down to 60th percentile from 75th) and she is 27 inches long (30th percentile). So in other words, she is short and stocky! The did a fingerprick to check her hematocrit and calcium levels, and those are both good. I wasn't aware of this procedure, but they also took pictures of Peyton's eyes with a special camera to see if her eyes are developing normally; those results will take several weeks and I was told that if we didn't hear anything then everything is perfect. Pretty neat.

Developmentally Peyton is right on target. I discussed the whole eating finger foods then turning blue because she chokes so easily thing with the pediatrician and she was somewhat concerned since Peyton has also been less interested in eating stage two foods since she got really sick in the beginning of May. She said that Peyton may actually have reflux and that could also explain why she dropped from 75th to 60th percentile in weight. Obviously, Peyton is getting enough nutrition, especially since I have been offering more bottles with her decrease in foods so the pediatrician is not too worried. She laid out a plan regarding Peyton's diet and what it should be like at 12 months, and we will be working on that for now. Other than that, everything looks great!

Oh, I did forget to write an entry on Peyton's hearing test - she passed with flying colors except for two tests with her left ear (three tests were done on each ear, so a total of 6 tests in all). The audiologist believes it is because Peyton still has fluid behind the eardrum in her left ear from when she got really sick with the sinus and eye infections. So Peyton will have another hearing test done in 3-5 months just to make sure. We are fairly certain that Peyton's hearing is perfect, but as the pediatrician reminded me, we don't know what caused my hearing loss so we will have to watch Peyton's closesly.

Other than that, Peyton is doing fantastic and growing perfectly!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

9 months old already?!?!

Our sweet baby Peyton will be nine months old at 6:43 pm Wednesday night. It is crazy how fast the time has passed us by!

Sweet Peyton at 9 months old (stole this from Mary Noller):

Feeds:
Peyton is eating stage two foods with bananas and carrots being her favorite foods. Recently she has decided that green beans are no longer acceptable and refuses to eat them! Peyton also has stomach issues when she eats peaches and pears, so we are staying away from those. I still haven't tried meats either (oops). She still drinks several 6 ounce bottles of formula a day, too many most likely. She loves drinking out of her sippy cup, which only contains water. Haven't introduced Peyton to juices yet and I am not sure when I will. I just don't want her wanting to drink juice only. Finger foods have not been compatible with Peyton yet and I will be speaking with the pediatrician at her nine month check up about this.

Sleeping Habits:
Well one thing is for sure - she sleeps GREAT at the lake house, 12-14 hours a night with two good naps during the day. I am considering relocating to the lake house because of this :)
Usually Peyton goes down between 8:30 - 9:30 pm and sleeps till about 7 am, but occasionally she does stay up late and wake up early. But overall, Peyton is a great sleeper! She does not nap well at our house compared to my parents', but I believe this may be a result of our dogs who are crazy and love to bark at anything and everything and run around the house. Needless to say, poor Peyton has been woken up by her big 'brothers' several times. Also, Peyton still likes to fall asleep with her blanket touching her head or covering her eyes. A quirk shared by her moma!

Milestones:
Peyton is a speed demon when it comes to crawling and she has even developed a technique that drastically improves her crawling speed. She is a smart little girl alright. She crawls anywhere and everywhere and now is climbing up certain objects such as her chair (mini chair made for toddlers). She hasn't quite understood the whole concept of falling off high objects equals pain and bruises, and I believe little ones don't realize this until they are much older. Oh well, I am impressed with the fact that she is already trying to climb! Brad and I thought she would be walking by nine months, but I don't think she is quite ready yet. She can stand on her own for short periods of time and spends the majority of the day standing with the aid of props. I really need to baby proof the house before she walks!

Health:
She hasn't had her nine month check up yet, so I do not know her weight or height; will update when I get this information.
She has had a few colds now, one episode of stomach virus that lasted 8 days (so fun to clean up), one ear infection, one sinus infection, one ringworm infection (has lasted 6 months, UGH!), and one bout of hemorrhagic virus of the eyes. Other than that (which is far plently enough), she is exceptionally healthy! Especially since I am around lots of infectious diseases at work; thank goodness I haven't brought anything home to her! Her hearing seems to be normal, almost above normal actually. She hears anything and everything and startles easily with loud or unexpected noises. This is sometimes funny to watch because when startled, she flings whatever object that is in her hands across the room. So adorable!

So, to sum it up: Peyton is PERFECT!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Rainy yet Fun Weekend at the Lake!

I was fortunate enough to get cancelled from work on Thursday so Peyton and I packed up our things, loaded the car, and headed to the lake house where my parents, sister, neice, brother, his girlfriend, some of of my brother's friends, and my parents' four dogs - Murphy, Gunner, Luke, and Boone - were waiting for us. Brad had to work Friday, but joined us Friday afternoon after he was able to take a half day (yay!). I was so looking forward to sitting out on the dock, chatting with everyone, introducing Peyton to the lake water, and sipping on afternoon cocktails.

It rained the ENTIRE time we were there, with the exception of an hour on Friday afternoon. Ugh!

But still, we were able to all have a great time hanging out and relaxing. Peyton is really, really using her voice when she feels like no one is paying her enough attention. I swear, while sitting on the porch (which is covered thank goodness so we weren't stuck inside the entire time), Peyton would holler and her voice carried so far with the water's help. But she is too adorable to scold! She really is trying to talk, and will have conversations with you. I can't wait till she really talks! I am so curious to see what she thinks and talks about. It won't be much longer!

The adults minus my parents stayed up late every night playing drinking games and let's just say us older folks (me, Clare, and Brad) could not keep up with the college kids. Anyways, it was a great time and I was sad that Brad, Peyton, and I had to leave today since I have to work tomorrow. That's one thing I hate about working in a hospital - we are never closed!

Ok, side note. Peyton has been either early or right on track as far as acheiving her milestones. In fact, she has actually been early for all of them except rolling over (which is my fault since I never put her on her belly). But we are really, really struggling with finger foods/solids. She is eating stage 2 foods perfectly, but when Brad and I try to give her crackers, cheese puffs, even cut up bananas, Peyton ends up choking and throwing up. She now has had two major choking episodes that have scared the hell out of us. Thank goodness I work with babies because I am required to be certified in infant CPR and choking rescue and we do training seminars yearly. I have always had a big fear about babies choking. When I would babysit, I would always break out in a sweat if I had to feed the infant/toddler. Anyways, I am concerned with the fact that Peyton cannot eat any solids, even mashed up bananas! I have tried several different snacks (all approved for her age), and she has choked every time! I now will not allow anyone feed her any solids unless I am present because I've had to use choking rescue on her twice. Peyton has her 9 month appointment soon so I am planning on discussing this with the pediatrician.

Alrighty, I have rambled. Time for sleep!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

My Little Chunky Monkey!

I swear, you would think all I do is feed this sweet child! These are even after a week of not eating as much as she usually does!



















Monday, May 18, 2009

Inside voice, please

Peyton definitely has discovered her voice. She now hollers for any and every reason possible, and then some. And she has developed this thing called 'talking back' which I am so not happy about. It goes something like this:

Peyton: (hollering)

Me: Peyton, can you please use your inside voice?

Peyton: muh ya

Me: Are you talking back to me?

Peyton: ahh yoo

Me: That isn't very nice Peyton.

Peyton: muuuu yah yeh

Me: You are going to make me have grey hair soon aren't you?

Peyton: (smiles and giggles)

Me: I knew it.

I am not ready for this sassy side of Peyton. I can't really complain though because she has been such a model baby and we have had no problems with her at all, but I am just not ready for all of this hollering and talking back thing. I guess it is a way of preparing me for the terrible twos and the teenage years. Ahhhhhh.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Random Pictures!

Peyton riding the horsey with my dad's help!

The happiest baby in the world!



Loving her bath time



Me smooching on my sweet baby girl!

Sweet baby
Loves to eat!
Loving the horsey!







Sunday, May 10, 2009

Happy Mother's Day!

My first Mother's Day was fantastic! I woke up at 10 am (yay for sleeping in!) to Peyton and Brad bringing me GORGEOUS flowers and breakfast in bed. I gave them lots of hugs and kisses for the sweet gestures, that was so nice of them to do that for me. Then we all ate breakfast, watched tv for awhile, and decided to take a nap. I slept from 12-2:30! I haven't slept this much in forever! Totally loved it. And it was storming outside too, which made snuggling in bed even better.

Tonight Brad, Peyton, and I went over to my parents' house to enjoy a nice Mother's Day dinner with my parents, sister Clare and her daughter Evans, and my brother Taylor who is home from UA. I love when we are all able to get together and hang out. Evans is so great with Peyton and Peyton loves playing with her cousin! Dinner was fantastic and we all sat around and caught up on Taylor's love life, which seems to be the topic of discussion any time he is home. I am sure he loves that, but oh well. Tough love.

Oh, I forgot to tell you all what else Brad got me for Mother's Day! I got two pair of beautiful earrings (one pair made by a local artist that I love), a funky bracelet (love funky jewelry), and a brand new computer! I definitely needed a new computer and he picked out a perfect one for me. It's even pink! This whole having a daughter thing has brought out the girlie side of me; who knew it even existed! I even have a pair of pink gym shorts now. Holy cow, Katie is wearing pink.

But anyways, Brad did GREAT for Mother's Day. All day he pulled me aside and wished me a happy mother's day and told me that I am a great mom. I really appreciated that because I have often questioned if I am a good mom. I have had trouble connecting with Peyton. I think it is because of the job I have and working with the premature and sick babies and knowing that they can pass at any time and I have to distance myself. I have gotten attached to several babies at work and then watched them pass away; it truly breaks my heart every time. But I will admit, it seems like the past few weeks I really have connected with her and I feel like we truly have bonded now. I am so relieved by this and I TRULY absolutely love being a mom. I cannot wait to have more. Hopefully it won't be too much longer before Peyton has a little sister or brother!

Happy Mother's Day!

Friday, May 1, 2009

Pictures

This is the best her eyes have looked in the past 48 hours. HUGE improvement, yay medicines!


The hemorrhagic virus that makes her eyes bleed, poor baby!


I am so impressed with how much better she looks.


And she is feeling better too, yay!








Thursday, April 30, 2009

Brief recap of yesterday

Peyton has been sick with a cold the past few days. Wednesday morning, she woke up happy and content. I attempted to feed her baby food and she refused to eat. I wasn't overly concerned with this since she hasn't been eating well with her cold, who does? I gave her a bottle and then off to the gym we went. I dropped her off at the child care and told them to come get me if she was fussy. Worked out for an hour and half and went to go get Peyton. Two of the staff members were huddled around Peyton and they told me that she really wasn't feeling well. I thanked them and put Peyton in her pumpkin seat so we could head home and I could evaluate her and try to make her feel better. While putting her in the car, I got a close up of Peyton's face and she had massive amounts of drainage coming from her eyes and her eyes were a little bit swollen. Again, wasn't overly concerned about this; thought maybe it could be from allergies and I would clean her eyes with a warm wash cloth when got home. We got home and it was VERY obvious Peyton did not feel well. Peyton is incredibly active and cannot sit still more than 30 seconds, even in her sleep. When we got home, she laid down on my chest for FOUR hours barely moving. She has never been a cuddler (which drives me nuts, I want her to cuddle with her moma!), but yesterday she laid down and just wouldn't let go and did not want to move. She occasionally cried out with this weak, absolutely pathetic cry; it broke my heart. Around noon, I asked Brad to call the pediatrician to get an appointment for Peyton. She got an appointment at 4:15. My mom met us at the pediatrician and took one look at Peyton and broke down. Peyton, who is ALWAYS happy and cheery, was very lethargic, had copious amount of drainage, and her eyes were now almost swollen shut. We went back to the room and the pediatrician took one look at her and said 'wow'. After she evaluated Peyton, she concluded that Peyton had a sinus infection, a cold, and a slight chest cold and prescribed her with oral and eye antibiotics. I was satisfied and stopped by the pharmacy on the way home to pick up her meds.

We got home around 5:30, right when Brad did. The poor man nearly broke down in tears as soon as he saw Peyton; she just looked miserable. We spent the night taking care of her and tried to make her as comfortable as possible. The swelling was getting worse and so was the drainage. Around 8:30 last night, I tried to put in her eye drops. When I attempted to open her now swollen shut eyes, bloody drainage came out. Instantly Brad and I were scared. I called the pediatrician on-call and she said go straight to the ER. At this point, I got nervous. So we packed her things up, made a few bottles, and headed to The Children's Hospital ER. Of course because of the swine flu scare, the ER was overflowing with kids. We took the last two seats in the waiting room and this is a very large waiting room. I was sure we would be there for at least 4 hours before being seen by the doctors. Surprisingly, about 10 minutes of turning in her paperwork, we were called back. That's right folks, we were in the children's ER waiting room for 25 minutes. Holy Cow. We definitely got some mean looks from other parents while walking back. Well when they took one look at Peyton, they immediately said sorry and felt bad for my sweet baby Peyton.

We saw several doctors who were all very impressed with Peyton's swelling and said it was the worst they had ever seen. When they were able to pry her eyes open, I was able to get a look. Her eyes are completely bloody - the white part of the eyes were red and the inside of her lids were bloody and draining blood. Poor Peyton! So Peyton got a shot of antibiotics, a dose of Benadryl (which I did not know babies could receive at 8 months), and new oral antibiotics. While we were there, the attending (top medical doctor) called over to the Eye Foundation, at MIDNIGHT I might add, to talk to an eye specialist about Peyton's symptoms. We ended up getting an appointment at the eye foundation Thursday morning (today). After that, they discharged us with instructions and after four hours of seeing doctors and running tests, we were on our way home at 2 am.
Peyton had an appointment with a Dr. Hein, who I found out to be our eye specialist in the NICU who comes to check out all of our premature babies for ROP (retinopathy of prematurity). He examined Peyton, did some tests, checked with his partners, and decided that Peyton has both a viral and bacterial infection of her eyes and sinuses. The virus happens to be hemorrhagic which is why Peyton's eyes are bleeding (think of Dustin Hoffman's moving "Outbreak" depicting the Ebola virus outbreak in the U.S.).
So, today Peyton's eyes are looking better. She can actually open them which is good, but it is kind of scary to look at since they are bloody. But she is definitely feeling better. She is playing with her toys and ate some food today. So now, we finish all of her medicines, take her back to the eye specialist Tuesday, and pray that she feels better soon! But I will admit, I was incredibly impressed and so proud of how strong and good Peyton was throughout this whole ordeal. Way to go sweetie!

What a day!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Alrighty, I have a few minutes to myself. Score! (from 'Friends' show... anyone?)

Lauren Havard is in town for a conference and gets to visit with her 'neice' Peyton! Now it's time for the rest of Peyton's Sewanee Aunts to come visit! It is so nice seeing Lauren. It is crazy how much I miss my Sewanee friends, but hopefully a lot of us will be able to get together soon in June to celebrate Hannah's entry into marriage-hood. I am counting on some serious partying and gossiping and catching up people!

Peyton is doing well. Gone are the days that I can put her down and do some chores around the house. She has finally mastered crawling (with her gimp leg style) and she is moving around FAST. I put her down, turn my back for a second, and then look back and she is across the room. Speed demon, good lord. But I am proud of her figuring out the crawling mechanism and becoming such a big girl! She still is a VERY happy baby. Loves to play with anyone and everyone. She does get shy sometimes when she meets new people but then instantly warms up to strangers and wants to play! Too cute. Now, I acknowledge she is the perfect baby and Brad and I have been blessed, but Peyton is learning how to get what she wants when she wants. She is learning that when she cries she gets our attention immediately and Brad and I hurry and do anything and everything to make her happy again. I am starting to learn her 'fake' cry and filter it out from the rest of her cries - sleepy cry, fussy cry, hungry cry, bashed-her-head-into-something cry, and her boredom cry. But thankfully, Peyton is easily entertained and she loves hanging out with people. When I drop her off at the child care at the gym, she gets so excited about watching the big kids running around and playing. She starts to squeal sometimes, it's adorable.

ANYWAYS, I believe it is time for her Sewanee aunts to come pay a visit and meet their neice!
Okie dokie, she is awake.

OH, quick funny story. Earlier this afternoon, I decided to go for a walk with Peyton since I didn't go work out this morning. So here I am walking around, pushing Peyton in her stroller when I decide that it is too sunny and Peyton is going to get fried (again). So I reached down to pull her blanket over her (she was asleep at this point) and guess what? Blanket is gone. Somehow Peyton kicked off the blanket and it fell off without me even knowing. So I had to go back and retrace my steps to find my blanket. I finally found it. In front of a construction zone and lots of men working. They laughed when I picked up the blanket and ran off.

Friday, April 10, 2009

On Saturday there was an Easter egg hunt followed by hours of entertainment at the park next to my house. I invited Clare and Evans to go with me and Peyton to see how it was. They arrived late and poor Evans only got 6 eggs (my awesome neighbors had their two sons donate some eggs to Evans, so sweet!). After the hunt, Evans went around and rode the carousel, jumped in the huge moonwalk, and rode on the mini roller coaster. Clare and I attempted to get a picture of the girls with the Easter bunny which turned out to be disasterous. I will try to see if I can post the pic, but it was not a pretty sight. It turned out to be a gorgeous day, in the mid 70s with lots of sun. Well both Evans and Peyton ended up getting sunburned. Poor Peyton got her first sunburn at 7 months old. Her arms and face got fried. Whoops. I tried to take pics of the sunburn this morning but little miss Peyton decided she wasn't going to sit still long enough for mommy to take a picture. Peyton may be the happiest baby, but boy she does not sit still. I swear, she will be on adderal and ritalin before she hits 1st grade.
Since she is so fiesty and loses interest in toys quickly, I decided to go to babies r us to find something she can play with and pull herself up on. I found this awesome toy and she loves it. I will have to post pictures because I cannot in any way describe the thing to you. But she loves it, especially when the monkey giggles. She did some major belly laughing today and I absolutely love that sound.
Friday afternoon while at work I got a call from Brad saying that he was about to leave work and go pick up Peyton. The babysitter had called him and said that Peyton was inconsolable and really pulling at her ears. Then I immediately thought that an ear infection could explain why she was waking up every two hours at night. So he headed over to the pediatrician with Peyton to get her checked out. Turns out she does not have an ear infection but she is seriously teething. Also she has an infection of her skin on her head (she has ring worm and has had it for awhile - it's not a worm, but a fungal infection. It's embarrassing to tell people this because of the misconceptions associated with the term Ringworm). So she now will be on antifungal again, but this time for 8 weeks. If it doesn't clear up by then, they are going to do blood work and see if it is something else. I have been putting cortaid on her scalp every night and she has already been on a course of antifungal. I have scrubbed everything she comes in contact with to get rid of the source. I still have no clue where she got it from and while she still has it. Anyways, she has two bottom teeth and usually the two top ones come next, but it seems that two more lower ones are coming in. Weird. So we are loading her up with Motrin and providing lots of teething toys. Hopefully the teeth will come in quickly and we can get past it. She weighed 18 pounds at that visit, goodness! But actually she had only gained a few ounces since her last visit which surprised me since she has always gained weight quickly. I'm thinking she might have lost a little bit of weight since she hasn't been eating as much due to teething. But she is still super healthy and a happy baby.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Brad (left) when he was a toddler, what a cutie!




I am finally on day shift at the hospital! So now I work from 7:30 am to 8:00 pm three days a week, which is so nice since I get to come home and eat dinner with Brad and tuck Peyton in bed for the night. I absolutely love my new schedule! Also, working three days a week is awesome because now I truly have 4 days off instead of using those off days to catch up on sleep like I had to when working night shift. Perfect!

Peyton is just doing so incredibly well. My entire family - mom, dad, sister, neice - in addition to me, Brad, and Peyton were all very sick two weeks ago with some kind of viral infection. We were all miserable, and Brad, Peyton, and I still have colds. Poor Peyton has two new teeth and with a nasty cold, she is just miserable sometimes! But she is a trooper, especially when I have to suction out her nose to get all the goop out. Poor thing! However, Brad and I are so proud of her for having two teeth and she's not even 6 months yet!

Peyton's six month appointment is on February 27th, which so happens to be her six-month birthday. I am extremely curious to see how much she weighs now; I believe she weighed 15 pounds at her 4 month appointment (I will have to go look it up in her baby book). I am nervous about the six month immunizations since hearing about poor Frances having febrile seizures after she got her shots. Scary, scary. Some of the babies at work have had severe reactions to their immunizations but I believe this is because they are still very small and getting all those shots at once can really overload their bodies. So now, if it is time for a baby to receive his/her two or four month immunizations, we give two one day, and give the other two a few days later. Anyways, I always worry about Peyton getting her immunizations but so far she has handled them quite well, especially with the help of baby Tylenol.

So far Peyton's achievements are: sitting up by herself for long periods of time (and not in the tripod position anymore), grasping toys and objects well with both hands and transferring objects from one hand to the other, learning how to manipulate toys to make sounds, going from laying down to sitting up all by herself, having two teeth, and jumping for 30 minutes to an hour in her exersaucer. She loves her exersaucer! Peyton is also obsessed with her baby Einstein videos. In fact, she gets grumpy when she isn't able to watch at least one or two shows a day. Good lord, the girl is addicted. Peyton has rolled over a few times, but not for me! She has done it for my mom, my sister, and Brad. I am so upset that I haven't seen her do it yet. And trust me, I have tried to get her to do it for me but Peyton seriously does not like being on her stomach for more than 30 seconds. She much rather be sitting up and looking around. I am worried that she is developmentally behind on the rolling over thing, but seeing her sit up by herself for very long periods of time reassures me that she is absolutely perfect!

Peyton may be the spitting image of her daddy, but she does demonstrate one trait that is all me: she has to have a blanket covering her face when she sleeps. Growing up, I always had to have my blanket touching my face. In fact, sadly, to this very day I still sleep with my blanket. One day I will pass it down to Peyton but I am not quite ready to do that. Instead, my grandmother has made Peyton a beautiful blanket (like she did for me) she sleeps with that. I love seeing her pull her blanket over her face when she is falling asleep. It is just too cute!

Peyton sleeping with blankets over her face (actually, with my blanket since all of hers were in the wash). And yes, she covered her face by herself.


All bundled up for a walk!


The sweetest little girl ever!





Loving the carrots!

Monday, January 5, 2009

Can't sleep so I am updating

I worked Friday and Saturday nights so today (Sunday) my schedule is all messed up. I actually like working nights at the hospital but I don't like how it affects life outside of work. Hopefully I will be able to start working days in June, but we will see. I think I am around 15th on the waiting list. They just moved several people to day shift, so my turn is getting closer (hopefully). Work is going well. I love working with the babies. A lot of people don't understand how I can work with such small and sick babies but it is one of those specialties in nursing that nurses really have a huge impact and the lives of the babies truly depend on us. It is thrilling and extremely challenging. Yes there are some really hard days and truly sad cases but knowing that I am making a difference in these babies and parents' lives make up for all the pain and anguish. I love it!

Peyton is doing FABULOUS! I hope everyone got their Christmas cards. It literally took me and my mom 4 hours to get decent pictures of Peyton and Peyton and Evans. I sent the one of Peyton and Evans to all my family members and sent the one of Peyton to all my friends and Brad's family. I definitely learned a lesson for next year - Get started earlier on Christmas cards!!! Man, that was a mad dash to get those ready in time. Anyways, Peyton is now 4 months old as of December 27th, I cannot believe it. Although she was in the 25th percentile in weight when she was born, she definitely is on the heavier side nowadays. I am sure you guys were able to notice her lovely chubby cheeks on the Christmas cards. I can't complain though, she is a fantastic eater and sleeps through the night. Brad and I truly have been blessed with how good of a baby Peyton is. Great eater, great sleeper, and hardly ever spits up unless I am bouncing her around too much, hah. Her first tooth is just barely starting to come in so that is exciting but at the same time, I am somewhat dreading it because it is painful for the little ones. So I am loading up with baby Tylenol and Motrin and will administer those without hesitation when it starts to hurt for her. She really loves to chew on people's fingers and cover them with drool. I know all moms say this, but she truly is the cutest little girl I have ever seen! She is perfect. Peyton has her 4 month check-up on Tuesday and she will be getting another round of vacinnations so that's not going to be fun. But I am super curious to see how much she weighs now. Definitely over 14 pounds. She doubled her birth weight in less than 4 months - something they aren't really supposed to do until 6 months. OOPS! Oh well, can't complain.

Let's see what else. Mom and dad got two more puppies recently, both yellow labs. It was really, really hard on everyone when Avery died so suddenly, especially for my mom since Avery was by her side every single day. He was so loyal and protective of my mom and by far the sweetest dog one could ever hope for. When Avery died, mom wanted a new puppy almost immediately, not to replace Avery but because she just could not bear the pain of losing him. I am praying that one of these puppies will be like Avery and become very attached to mom. So now my parents have 4 dogs, crazy. Murphy is doing well but definitely slowing down and have a hard time getting around. He will be 15 (!!!) this April, amazing considering how lazy and overweight he has been all his life. I think with the new puppies and Avery dying, he is determined to stick around for longer.

Alrighty, think that is a good enough update for now. Talk soon!