The Bludworth Family

Stomach Bug

2011-11-24T21:31:00.003-06:00

The dreaded stomach bug.

I would rather the girls and I get the flu, cold, pneumonia or something like that than the stomach bug. Unfortunately this is Campbell's second bout of the stomach bug. Both the girls had them a few months ago and it lasted 7 days with each girl. It was awful. Nonstop vomiting and diarrhea. I threw out so many sheets, towels, blankets, and clothes because they were all ruined or I just got tired of rewashing them several times a day.

This bug that Campbell has now has really, really hit her hard. We are on day 8 of the bug, and it is starting to ease up a little. She has not thrown up today, but has had it from the other end several times today. It started on Thursday of last week and it wasn't too bad in the beginning. In fact, I thought it was getting better by the following Monday. But Monday night, things really went downhill. I have never seen a 1-year old throw up so much and have that much diarrhea. She did not eat Sunday-Tuesday morning and when she did eat Tuesday, she immediately lost it. It got to the point where she couldn't even keep gatorade down. I took her back to the pediatrician Wednesday morning (I took her last Friday just to see if they could do anything, which they could not), and after a thorough assessment by the pediatrician, she stated she was pretty concerned about Campbell. Campbell was pretty dehydrated and it was taking a toll on her body. Her heartrate was really high, she was very lethargic, her blood flow was a little sluggish, her eyes were sunken, she was very pale, and she was just pitiful. Her mouth was somewhat moist but her lips were chapped. The pediatrician told me that I had until 5 pm that day (it was 11 am) to get her to keep 1 ounce of fluid down, 5 goldfish, and have two wet diapers. If she did not do that, she would have to be admitted to Children's Hospital for IV fluids.

We went back home and after her nap (she was so exhausted from our trip to the drs), I worked with her to keep fluids and goldfish down, and begged her to tinkle. Not sure when I have ever cheered so loud when my kid tinkled. She was able to keep gatorade and 8 goldfish down and had one wet diaper. I was supposed to call the pediatrician if Campbell didn't have two wet diapers, but I decided against it because she was perking up already so much from being able to keep gatorade down. Today she is doing better about keeping fluids and food down, so hopefully we will be done with it soon. I have been making sure Peyton does not share ANYTHING with Campbell during this bug because I don't think I can take another round of this nasty bug. Campbell is starting to act like herself again and that just makes my heart feel so much better. Poor baby has been through a lot this past 8 days!

I HATE STOMACH BUGS!

How am I going to survive?

2011-11-09T17:19:00.002-06:00

Days like today reaffirm (?) the fact that I do want to be a working mom. I love my kids dearly and will do anything for them, but man, sometimes they kill me! I love, love, love being a mom and honestly, I don't know what I did with my time before I had them. Well, I did manage to get sleep every now and then back in the day. Nowadays, not so much. I have finally accepted the fact that I most likely will not sleep again for years.

But, back to my day. Campbell had school today so that made things a little less hectic from 9-1. Peyton was fairly good during those hours while home with me. But as soon as Campbell got home from school, all hell broke loose.

I attempted to get Campbell down for a nap, then I walked back into my room. Peyton walked into the room a few minutes later and her face was covered in pink. I half-laughed, thinking that she got into the markers again and it would come off easily. Then I noticed a strong odor. A smell that you encounter when you walk into a nail salon. Yep, the girl broke into my hidden stash of nail polish and decided to paint her face with the brightest color ever. These bottles of nail polish aren't for me, but for Peyton. I have to keep them hidden because she wants to paint her nails every hour of every day. I would like to avoid having nail polish in the house, but if you ever come across us in a store after Peyton sees the display of nail polish, you will understand that I do not have a choice. The girl will have a HUGE dramatic meltdown if I don't purchase a thing of nail polish. So anyways, after discovering that Peyton painted her face, I spent 30 minutes washing it off. I gave her yet another stern lecture, telling her to STAY OUT OF THE NAIL POLISH OR ELSE. Ever heard of that working on a 3-year old? It doesn't.

A little while later, Peyton walked into my room BUCK NAKED. I yelled and asked where her clothes were. Apparently she had a little accident involving number 2. I said ok, and said we will clean it up then she can get in the shower. I didn't want to yell at her because all toddlers have accidents. I walked out to the living room and discovered that when she was trying to clean it up before telling me, she had spread it to every surface possible. Come on! Her room, her bathroom, the living room, and dining room had traces of poop everywhere. After spending another 30-45 minutes cleaning, mopping, cleaning, and mopping, I gave Peyton yet ANOTHER stern lecture. I am pretty sure it went in one ear and out the other. About this time, Campbell woke up from her mini nap and let me know that she had managed to take her diaper off and decorate herself and her crib with number 2 as well. GEEEEZ. So spent more time cleaning that up. Threw the girls and myself into the shower.

During our shower, Peyton decided to pour shampoo into Campbell's eyes in attempt to help me clean her. Of course she didn't use the Johnson tear free shampoo, she used my expensive shampoo that HURTS. I gave up with the shower, got them dried an dressed, then sat them on the ottoman in my room while I got dressed. I warned them both to NOT MOVE ONE INCH until daddy gets home. A few minutes later, while I was getting dressed in my closet, Campbell screamed bloody murder. I ran over to where she was and discovered that Peyton had pushed her off the bed and on the way down Campbell slammed her face and head on the bedside table. She now has a gash on her nose, a swollen nose, and a huge bruise above her right eye. REALLY??

I give up. It's 5:55 pm and I am fairly certain I will be handing the kids over to Brad and going to bed in about 30 minutes.

Where does the time go?

2011-10-16T15:13:00.002-05:00

I love reading blogs and usually visit several different blogs several times a day. Some days, it's how I keep my sanity. Before Campbell was born, I used to update my blogs (I have two, one for the family and one for me and my close friends where I can vent without being judged, hah) on a regular basis. But nowadays, I am awful at updating. By the time nighttime comes around, I am just too tired to update. I am going to try harder though, so that way I can just update a little bit every night or every other night instead of having to do very long updates once a month. We shall see.

Campbell is now 13 months old! Craziness. She is walking and has been since she was 10 months old. She is into everything and loves playing/fighting with her sister. She will eat anything and everything, including inedible stuff. She is still on formula because she cannot tolerate milk. When I did try milk, she proceeded to outdo the girl from the exorcist and coated my car with vomit. I'm still cleaning that up a month later. I will be trying lactose-free milk as soon as I can muster up the courage to do so. I might have to do fat-free or reduced fat milk because the girl has some meat on her bones. I mean, she is a porker. She hit the 24 pound mark this week. Thankfully she is on the taller side. She is wearing 18-24 month sized clothes, and some of those are snug on her. You would think I feed her hot dogs and cheetos all day (I don't). She is very bowlegged and I will be looking for a pediatric orthopedic this upcoming week. I was hoping she would grow out of it, but she is getting more bowlegged as time goes on. So between her chunkiness and bowlegged-ness, she is quite a sight to watch when she waddles down the street.
Campbell is FINALLY sleeping through the night on a regular basis. Only took a year for her to do that. Peyton started sleeping through the night at 6-8 weeks old, so we had a hard time when Campbell refused to do the same. I think she is finally over her reflux, which is nice. No more tossing stained clothes out. Campbell goes to Mother's Morning Out at our church two days a week and I think she is doing well with it. Sadly I've only been able to drop her off myself once so far due to work. Let's see, what else. She has 8 teeth and I think molars might be coming in soon? Campbell was talking a lot a few months ago, but all of a sudden completely stopped. She went from saying several words and being able to point things out and calling them by name. But now she will not talk at all. She will babble occasionally, but it's nothing like it used to be. The pediatrician is in the process of setting up a hearing appointment soon and we will go from there.

Peyton is doing well. However, she is teaching me that the terrible twos are NOTHING compared to the troublesome threes. She cries and whines everyday and throws temper tantrums on a regular basis. No matter how hard I try to get her to stop and start acting like a big girl, nothing works. She can be extremely difficult nowadays, especially with bedtime; she wants to sleep on the ottoman in our room every night. I cannot wait until she grows out of this phase. I miss my sweet girl!
Peyton recently had a hearing, speech, and developmental assessment at school. She failed her speech and developmental exams and will need to be reassessed again in the near future. If she performs poorly again, she will need speech therapy and developmental (?) therapy. I knew her speech was off and the way she talks is kinda funky. But I was surprised by her developmental exam. Peyton went from young 2s class to 3K this year; everyone else in her young 2s class went to the older 2s class, she didn't. I think by that, she missed learning some skills and is therefore a little behind than the rest of her 3ks classmates. So I am not too concerned about it but we will see how the reassessment goes.

Ok, that is a little update. I will really try to update on a regular basis!

Holy. Smokes.

2011-09-16T19:18:00.002-05:00

The MINUTE Peyton turned three, she turned into this drama queen who thinks whining and crying should be done every second of the day. We have had more meltdowns and tantrums during the past three weeks than the entire year she was two. Seriously, the terrible twos was a vacation compared to the troublesome threes.

Bedtime has become a huge nightmare. She screams and protests for an hour, maybe even two some nights, and refuses to go to bed at her bedtime. So with her finally falling asleep around 10 pm every night and waking up several times during the night, and coming into our room around 6 am, she is seriously sleep deprived. This sleep deprivation is playing a huge role in the numerous meltdowns. I have exhausted every breath explaining to her how important sleep is, but she often blows me off, and I swear she has even said "whatever" once or twice. Bedtime is torture around here nowadays.

We also have had heated discussions about what she wants, can, and cannot wear to school. She usually has a great sense of fashion, but sometimes her outfits are just not appropriate. Like the time she wanted to wear an Auburn sweatshirt with hot pink tights, no shorts, skirt, or pants - just tights and a sweatshirt. That is just wrong on so many levels, with the Auburn sweatshirt being the most offensive part of the outfit. ROLL TIDE! But, I have learned that I just need to pick my battles, and if she wants to wear a hot pink shirt with purple shorts and green shoes, then so be it. At least I won't lose her in the crowd.

Sharing is another issue. According to Peyton, Campbell has to share every single toy she has, but Peyton doesn't have to share anything at all. I have seen screaming fits and meltdowns that are so dramatic, it's comical. If Campbell has a book and won't let Peyton take it away from her, it's the end of the world for Peyton. Like seriously y'all. Nothing else matters - food, water, shelter, air - NOTHING is more important than that very book Campbell has in her hands. Oh the horror!

I am really hoping Peyton will chill out soon. If not, I will have to start going to the salon to get my hair colored. Gray hairs will be sprouting VERY soon if she doesn't take a chill pill!!!

Peyton - PLEASE! Give your momma a break. I promise, you will be ok if you don't get your way every second of the day. I promise.

I'm not ready...

2011-08-14T20:00:00.002-05:00

I'm not ready for Peyton to turn 3. Maybe I'm so sleep deprived and can't remember, but I think the terrible twos wasn't so bad. Don't get me wrong, Peyton is a handful, to put it mildly. She has an endless supply of energy that wears us thin most days. People, after spending a short amount of time with Peyton, often comment on her hyperactivity. She's a busy girl. And in my mind, she has won several Oscars for Most Dramatic Meltdown and Drama Queen. The kid knows how to use her lungs. In fact, she is teaching Campbell quite nicely how to efficiently use her lung capacity when she wants something NOW. Thanks kiddo.

But, she's getting older! I often find myself in awe when she says or does something that an older kid would do. I am just not ready for it. I have enjoyed the past year with her so much, I am afraid to see what the new year is going to bring us. Is she going to start being too cool for her mommy and daddy? Sometimes she calls me Mom or, gasp, Katie! Don't stop saying mommy yet please! I am so not ready to be Mom. What if she doesn't want to snuggle with me anymore because she needs to divert all her attention on selecting an outfit for the day? Oh the horror.

I will have to admit that it is pretty neat seeing her develop into her own person. Her fashion style is impressive (on most days), and her vocabulary is expanding by the minute. Speaking of, this afternoon when she was frustrated about not being able to open her lunchbox, she muttered "oh damnit." YIKES. Definitely have to watch Every. Word. I. Say. Her new favorite phrase is, "Oh, that's so cool!" It cracks me up everytime she says it. Could she BE any cuter?

One of her favorite things to do nowadays is sing. And I may be a little biased, but she is awesome at it! She learns the words to a song much faster than me, and she loves to sing at the top of her lungs. One of her favorite groups is Sugarland. Like I said, they kid's got style. She snaps, she swings her booty (or head if she's in the carseat), and she belts it out. I absolutely love it.

Dear Peyton, please don't grow up too fast for me. I just cannot handle it! You are my firstborn and have a special place in my heart. Love you sweetie!

Anyone up for some shoplifting?

2011-08-06T22:31:00.002-05:00

This past Friday, I took the girls with me to a cute store at the summit called Swoozies to pick out invitations for Campbell and Peyton's birthday parties. First of all, taking your grumpy two-year old to a nice store is not a good idea. Peyton touched everything and picked up only the things that were breakable. The poor sales lady was sweating with worry. After 30 minutes of deciding on the right invitation for both girls, picking out the cutest font and wording, we were done. We looked around the store for a minute and found some cute lunchboxes for the girls, then finally went to check out. The sales lady and I were having small talk while I was paying, and the girls were quiet for once. Side note - quiet = someone is up to no good. We walked out, loaded up into the car as quickly as possible since it was 98 degrees, and off we went. Just as I pulled out of the parking lot, Peyton says:

Mommy, look at my ring. Oh, it is just so pretty.

My mind was quickly replaying every step in the store, and instantly my stomach started getting queasy.

Um, Peyton, we didn't get a ring.

No, mommy, look!

I finally mustered up the couraged and slowly turned my head back so that I could see what had. Yep, a really cute ring was sitting on her tiny finger. (Side note - the kid's got style.)

I was horrified, yet found myself laughing. Only Peyton.

I wasn't able to return the ring that day, then I am working all weekend, so Monday we will make a return trip to the store so Peyton and I can apologize (profusely) and pay for the lovely ring. I can't take it away from her, that's just too mean. She is only two afterall. Plus I might be borrowing that ring a few times. She really did pick a cute ring!

Hopefully there won't be a WANTED sign posted on the store window with a picture of Peyton on it...

She's walking!

2011-07-27T20:07:00.002-05:00

Campbell is walking!

She's been taking a few steps at a time for the past month or so, but as of this week she is taking several steps at a time. And she's only 10 months old! Well, she will be 11 months on Sunday, but I'm still writing it down as walking at 10 months. What a genius!

I am long overdue on uploading pictures and I will do so soon. I am amazed at how some moms blog every night or every other night. By the time bedtime arrives for the kids, I am begging to get in bed myself. Two kids under the age of three really keep you busy. And I am sure it's going to get even crazier now that both can walk. Yikes!

Other accomplishments Campbell has achieved/things about her:
Two more teeth are coming in (her top front) for a grand total of 4.
She is clapping, dancing, and waving bye bye.
She can say mama, bye bye, milk and other words that I cannot think of right now (I'm such a bad mom!).
She no longer uses the bath seat in the bathtub; she now sits in the tub like her big sister, which isn't always the best thing since the floor is a slippery little sucker.
She likes "talking" on the cell phones, knows to hold it up to her ear.
She LOVES climbing up on things.
She figured out how to climb on and off our bed, but is unsuccessful quite a bit (the bruises say it all).
She has the best belly laugh!
When she does talk, her voice is always so hoarse - probably from her screaming nonstop the first few months, thanks to colic.
She will eat ANYTHING you give her or she snatches away from her sister.
She loves blueberries, puffs, toddler cheetos, sweet potatoes; ok she loves all food.
She uses the sippy cup so well; still drinking formula and water, no juices yet although I'm sure she would love to.
She wears 12-18 months clothes. The kid has some meat on her bones.

Overall, she is a happy, healthy little girl who loves playing with her big sister!

I cannot believe that in a month, Campbell will be 1 and Peyton will be 3. Crazy!!

Wait, are they twins?

2011-06-04T11:50:00.002-05:00

No, the girls are not twins, obviously, since they are 2 years apart - two years and 4 days if you really want to know. Try to ask me their birthdays and it takes me a minute before I say them correctly (August 27th, 2008 and August 31st, 2010). But, going back to the whole point of this post, Campbell has recently developed two traits that are IDENTICAL to Peyton and it makes me wonder.

The first trait is the infamous crawl. Anywhere we went, people would stop and watch Peyton crawl. She never once crawled like a normal infant. Instead, she would always tuck her left leg under her torso and use the right leg and her hands to crawl. You see this exact same thing with gorillas to give you a better image. In fact, one person even named her crawl as the 'gorilla crawl.' Although it was very awkward and amusing to watch, Peyton knew what she was doing. The girl was a speed demon. Her poor left leg was always covered in scratches, but she was very efficient and had no trouble going anywhere she wanted. I often found myself running after her she was that fast.

We were all waiting to see how Campbell would crawl and at first, she crawled like a normal infant. But then one day out of the blue, Campbell started tucking her left leg under and now she is a speed demon. I think she started doing it so she could keep up with Peyton and her nieces. I was content have a normal crawler that wasn't able to get around too fast, but I will admit, it is pretty neat and fun watching Campbell crawling an awkward crawl her big sister used to do.

The second trait that Campbell has developed is not a good or cute trait. In fact, it is a very smelly and bad one. Peyton became well known for her ability to rip her clothes and diapers off during nap time, no matter how many layers of clothes and how many layers of diapers, and use that newfound freedom to poop in the bed and then use that poop to decorate herself and the crib. I did everything in the books to get her to stop doing this. I seeked advice from all parents I knew and even dedicated my facebook status to the "help me stop Peyton from decorating with poop" cause, asking everyone for advice on how to get her to stop doing this. It was a daily struggle that lasted months. Finally, I was able to successfully address the issue by putting footed PJs on backwards on Peyton, thus making the zipper out of her reach as it was now on her back. It took awhile to learn how to put footed PJs on backwards, but man, it solved the problem and all was well.

Until one day, I walked into the nursery to get Campbell up for her nap and I was met with overwhelming smell and sensation that it was happening again. Yep, Campbell was standing there with a huge grin on her face and buck naked. She had taken her clothes and diapers off, pooped, then decorated her crib with her new art material. I screamed and screamed and screamed. HOW COULD SHE KNOW HOW TO DO THIS??? Why do BOTH my girls insist on doing this?? What is the deal??

Campbell has demonstrated her new skill twice now, and the second time it was so bad that I spent 30 minutes scrubbing her down with a TOOTHBRUSH and soap because she managed to get the stuff everywhere. Campbell screamed the whole time, so maybe when she thinks about doing it again, she will remember the scrub down and decide not to decorate. But, knowing my girls, Campbell will continue to do it. Time to get the footed PJs out from storage.

Thankful

2011-05-23T14:08:00.003-05:00

Two weekends ago on May 14th, my parents hosted a huge graduation party at their house for my brother and his friends since all graduation ceremonies in Tuscaloosa were cancelled due to the tornadoes. Several of his roommates, his girlfriend and her family, several high school friends and their families arrived to party in style. Dreamland BBQ was served and every type of alcohol was provided. Good conversations flowed in between good company. All the baby girls were cute as could be and behaved so well. The weather was perfect, allowing us to sit on the porch and enjoy ourselves. Mom's BFF and interior designer added perfect touches to the house and it looked beautiful. It was a perfect night and gave us the opportunity to celebrate Taylor's graduation the Ritchie way. At the party, I would occasionally look over at my brother and become overwhelmed with pride (and annoyance - Dean's List, really Taylor? Smartass.) that he survived college. And that he survived a massive tornado that took so many lives. I still can't get through one day without panicking, thinking about what could have been if the tornado had taken a slightly different path. Everyday, the image of the huge F4 tornado slowly (in reality, it was too fast for adequate warning) creeping across Tuscaloosa, taking lives with every second it lasted on the ground flashes before my eyes. I truly, truly thought I was watching my brother die as I sat on the couch, watching the live feed on tv, quietly sobbing my heart out. Those few moments are something I never want to experience again. My brother and his girlfriend emerged from his apartment physically unscathed, but filled with emotional scars. They have been so brave during the past few weeks and I constantly find myself in awe of how well they are handling things.

The graduation party had a special meaning to my family and me as we sat there and celebrated another milestone achieved, and celebrated this delicate thing called life.

So proud of you Taylor.

She's a storyteller

2011-05-09T19:54:00.002-05:00

Peyton's new thing is telling stories. And it is hilarious to see and hear.

When Brad or I come home from work, she will launch into stories of what happened that day. My favorite part is that she will reenact the story with different voices, face expressions, and hand gestures. She will imitate who said what, even including when the dogs howled at the tornado sirens - I died laughing at her howling. Often she throws in words and noises that we cannot decipher, but they make us laugh so hard. I am going to try to get a video soon, it is just too funny.

But with this new thing, I have learned that I really, really have to watch what I am saying. Nothing goes unrepeated nowadays. Peyton really got into this story she told Brad, and repeated every single word I said. Including adult words that accidently slipped out of my mouth. Whoops.

Also, with this new storytelling feat, it can be really embarrassing. Like when she told her teachers that "mommy pooped on the potty like a big girl, good job mommy!" Thanks a lot Peyton. Sure glad we shared that with everyone. I have a feeling that everyone is going to know everything about us soon. Ah, the joys of having a toddler.

Eight Months Old!

2011-05-01T23:19:00.003-05:00

Today Campbell turned 8 months old. Meaning, in four months, I will have a three year old and a one year old. How crazy is that? Where has the time gone? I know how the time HASN'T been spent...

Campbell is quite mobile nowadays. She is crawling and even has these speed crawling bursts where she is able to cross the room within seconds. She pulls herself up on anything and everything, including objects that are not stationary. Meaning, she has a lot of bruises on her poor head. She has stood up without support for very brief moments, so I am wondering if she is going to be an early walker. When I hold her hands and try to get her to walk across the room, she is no where near being stable on her feet, so I think it might be a little longer before she is actually walking. But that is ok with me. I am not ready for both girls to be that mobile!

Campbell loves baby food when she is not sick. Loves her veggies, especially green beans and peas, in addition to squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes. She has started to eat the baby stage cheese puffs, and has fallen in love with those. She also likes yogurt melts, ice cream, and whipped cream. My pediatrician would die if she knew Campbell was eating some of the foods she does. But, when you have a big sister like Peyton, you are going to be offered anything. Including foods that Peyton doesn't want to eat for dinner. How convenient for Peyton...

Campbell is a happy baby, laid back and likes to watch what is going on around her. She definitely has her moments where she wants to be held and will not be happy until she is held. She knows how to cry on cue, demanding the nearest person to pick her up at that very moment.

Poor Campbell has spent most of her first eight months sick, but she is such a trooper, even when she has those high fevers. Peyton was occasionally sick during her first year, and only had a fever maybe 2 or 3 times. Campbell, on the other hand, sports 103 fevers like it's a fashion trend. But, she tolerates them well and even lets us (mom and dad) love on her for those brief moments she sits still.

She has two teeth, but doesn't look like any more are coming in soon. She still does not sleep through the night, but is getting better about it. The reflux is still miserable, especially during times where she has nasal/chest congestion, but it's slowly improving.

She really is a fabulous kid, just a little high maintenance and busy. Peyton adores her and does so well with her. We are loving life as a family of four, although we could use more sleep around here!

Maybe if we tried...

2011-04-29T14:53:00.003-05:00

Maybe if we tried to be sick all the time, we will actually be healthy? There has to be something I am doing wrong because the kids and I are sick all. the. time.

Both girls had nasty eye/sinus drainage last week and despite being on antibiotics, both their nastiness moved into their lungs and took a toll on their little bodies. Campbell is on antibiotics and eye drops, and Peyton is on two strong antibiotics and eye drops as well. Brad has been sick with the girls but I had successfully managed to escape the germs. Until Wednesday. Woke up and knew it was my turn with the gunk. Today I have felt worse than I have in a very, very long time.

Last night was a very long night. The girls took turns waking up with fevers and forceful coughs that caused them to throw up. And as soon as I was able to lay my head on the pillow for a few brief moments, I would wake up to Brad coughing so hard it shook the bed. (Yet, he slept through it. Really, folks, really?). This morning at 8:15, I got on the phone with the pediatrician and made an appointment. Thankfully, we were able to get an appointment for 10:30. I was planning on taking a long shower during that time to ease my chest discomfortant and let the girls play while I did that. But nope. It took us two hours to get ready because as soon as I would get Campbell cleaned up from vomit, Peyton would be covered in green gunk, and so it went on. Back and forth, back and forth. I added three new loads of laundry to the ever growing pile.

Finally, I was able to throw the girls in the car and off we went. Of course today would be the day we had to spend forever in the waiting room. We have been very lucky with extremely short wait times, until today. Finally it was our turn. Both girls had temps over 100, and both were very irritable. We went over the entirel list of symptoms (which took a good 10 minutes) and the doctor was concerned about their coughs and decided to check their oxygen saturations. Peyton was 87 and Campbell was 91%. Nothing dangerous, but too low for comfort. At this point, the doctor discussed the possibility of admitting both girls to the hospital since, 1) they have been sick for awhile now despite being on strong antibiotics, and 2) due to the fact that there is a large outbreak of severe bronchiolitis going around. She already had to send two other patients to the hospital that morning. Breathing treatments were ordered for both girls and wow, they were so good with those. Peyton had a little meltdown at one point, but I think it was because everything hurts and she really just doesn't feel well. Afterwards, both girls' oxygen levels went up to 94 and the doctor said no hospital at this point. But if they do not improve, or if they get worse, over the weekend, off to Children's Hospital we go.

So we are home with the diagnoses of bad cases of bronchiolitis for both girls and we are doing the inhaler every 4 hours for two days in addition to the antibiotics. Eye drops have been stopped thankfully. Do you know how hard it is to put eye drops in a two year old's eyes? Not an easy feat, let me tell ya. I am begging both girls to take a nap to rest their bodies and to let me rest as well. But of course, they are wired from the inhaler and running laps around the house. I think a nap is going to be out of the question. I did ask if I could give Peyton some Dimetapp for her cold and cough, and unfortunately was told no, not until she is four years old - something I knew, but hey, a mom can hope for a good night of sleep, right?

TIME FOR US TO GET and STAY HEALTHY!

Sharing is Caring

2011-04-23T10:55:00.003-05:00

Today, BOTH girls woke up with swollen eyes, nasty green drainage, and low grade fevers. Peyton has really embraced the "Sharing is Caring" philosophy. Unfortunately, she only applies it to germs. Thankfully the pediatrician (who I have on speed dial) told us we could come by the office this morning and pick up some eye drops. She is awesome! Those drops are over 20o dollars, and she is giving them to us for free. I'm sure we have already paid for them with how many sick visits we make a year.

Brad totally won some major points today. Our anniversary is tomorrow (sadly, I have to work), but this morning I received a gorgeous necklace, a pretty ring, and some beautiful flowers! Earlier last week, he also surprised me with a trip to Boston in June to see a concert (I don't know who yet, still a surprise). We are going to make a long weekend out of it, and we get to spend an entire day sleeping!!! 24 hours of nothing to do but sleep and lounge in bed. BEST PRESENT EVER! I feel awful, I did not get him anything. I was going to wait till Boston to give him his anniversary presents. So I have some catching up to do and find some awesome gifts for him. Maybe a nap?

So this weekend we are going to spend some time getting the girls healthy again. Sadly, we are missing a birthday party today that we have been looking forward to for some time. But I know my kids will gladly share their germs with everyone and that would be a nightmare. I have to work tomorrow and miss Campbell's first Easter, but I know the girls will have a lot of fun with their daddy. I think we are going to do a last minute Easter Egg hunt for Peyton later this afternoon, depending on how everyone is feeling.

Happy Easter!

Go away germs!

2011-04-21T19:48:00.002-05:00

Poor Campbell has struggled with lactose intolerance, reflux, and having a big sister who loves to share her germs she brings home from Mother's Day Out. For the past month and half, Campbell has had a cold and cough. Coughing plus reflux = a lot of spit ups, discomfort, and changing clothes/sheets. Campbell does eat solids which help with the reflux, but she is still miserable a lot of the time. I am thinking about going ahead and starting the zantac to help with the reflux, something I have been trying to avoid but it may be time to do it. No one in this house is getting any sleep at night and that just makes our immune systems even weaker. Brad and both the girls are just getting over fever viruses (amazingly I was able to avoid it) and no one slept a wink during that time. I am just getting so frustrated with the fact that Campbell is sick all the time and that she has not outgrown the reflux yet. I can count on one hand the number of times she has slept through the night and she is almost 8 months old. We really did get spoiled with Peyton - she was a fabulous sleeper starting at 6-8 weeks.

As of today, Peyton started having some nasty green/yellow eye drainage so I will be making another call to the pediatrician tomorrow. Seems like no one can get a break around here!

Sorry for the venting, just had to get it out.

Who needs sleep?

2011-03-29T22:03:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago, not long after Brad and I had finally put Campbell down and got into bed ourselves, I woke up at 3:45 am to Brad jumping out of bed and running down the hallway leading to Peyton's room. I quickly followed him to find out what was going on and when I got to her room, Peyton was sitting up and screaming, "daddy, help me, they are biting me!" She was crying, screaming, and clawing at her legs. When I reached down to grab her and stop her from scratching herself, I then realized she was burning up. Turns out she had a 104 fever and was hallucinating, thinking that bees were stinging her. Seeing your two-year daughter hallucinate like that is truly disturbing, and I hope I never have to experience that again. Brad and I were able to give her some Tylenol, change her into lighter clothes, and then bring her back into bed with us so we could watch her and make sure her fever went down. Ever since that night, Peyton has slept horribly!! In her crib, she refused to lay down and go to sleep so she would actually fall asleep standing up, leaning against the railing. She absolutely had to have a night light or some sort of light on, something so unusual for her since she has always wanted the room dark at bedtime. She now has even claimed that it is scary being in the room by herself. She was so traumatized from the hallucination that she became scared of being in her own room. The girl is afraid of nothing. Well, except for feathers. That's right, my tough girly tomboy is afraid of the softest thing on the planet. Anyways. So, in an attempt to her to like bedtime again (and to finally move Campbell into the crib), we moved Peyton into her big girl room with her big girl bed. I should have known that my extremely busy, hyperactive toddler would realize that she is no longer confined to her bed and is able to get up as many times as her little heart desires. She literally gets up every hour, sometimes two or three times an hour. She has not been asleep before 11 pm for the past week and half since we moved her into her big girl room. The lack of sleep is starting to catch up on everyone. We are all grumpy, irritable, and snapping at each other. I have tried closing the door (she opens it with no problems even though the doorknob is from 1930), I have threatened her with spankings, I have given her spankings, I have lectured her on the importance of sleep, I have begged her, and I have cried to her. I even put a gate up in front of her door. What does she do? She simply removes it from the door frame, carefully lays it on the floor, and walks right by it. THE KID IS UNSTOPPABLE! Today, shortly after I arrived at work, someone asked me if I had been able to get any sleep lately and I just lost it. Talk about awkward! In between tears, I admitted that no, I haven't gotten any sleep for quite some time now. Campbell still does not sleep through the night, and now with Peyton getting up several times a night, sleep is nonexistent in this house. I have never wanted something so badly for Christmas, and it's not even April yet. I secretly fantasize about checking into a hotel room for a night (or two), and sleeping for hours and hours. Isn't that ridiculous? So here's to hoping. Hoping that Peyton will realize that sleep IS important and stay in her bed during the night. Hoping that Campbell will realize that she's almost seven months old and it's totally time to start sleeping through the night. Hoping that Brad and I will finally get some sleep. Wish us luck. We need it.

Poor Campbell

2011-03-21T12:21:00.002-05:00

I just realized that I have hardly written any posts about Campbell. Poor thing, it's hard being the baby of the family.

Campbell is now six months old (!!), will be seven months on March 31st. I cannot believe how fast it has gone by. She went in for a sick appointment in the beginning of this month and weighed 17 pounds and 6 ounces, a few ounces heavier than Peyton was at this age; however, Campbell is a lot longer than Peyton was. In fact, I think Campbell will be as tall as Peyton soon!

Peyton started sleeping through the night consistently at about two months old. Brad and I now realize how lucky we were with that. Campbell has had colic since two months and still has it some nights. For awhile, Campbell was screaming and crying from 5 pm to 11 pm every night. It was very hard for awhile for everyone. But it does seem to be getting better and we are so thankful for that! Campbell still does not sleep through the night, but it is getting better. Now that we have finally moved her into the crib in the nursery, she only gets up once or twice a night. Brad and I have some serious sleep deprivation since Campbell gets up a few times a night, and Peyton (who just moved into her big girl bed) also gets up several times a night to come snuggle with us. So, our main goal for now is to get some sleep soon!

Campbell absolutely loves eating green beans and peas with oatmeal. I haven't tried any other food yet because I want to keep her on vegetables for now. Peyton became rather fond of bananas and sweet potatoes and wouldn't eat anything else. So for now, it's just the veggies and oatmeal.

Campbell has been sitting up for about a month now and is THISCLOSE to crawling. She can go from laying down to sitting, and sitting to laying down. She has become a champ at rolling over and rolls over so quickly it's scary. And as of two days ago, she has two teeth!! After months (yes, months) of teething, her bottom two teeth finally came in. Unfortunately they came in at the same time, so we are stocking up on Motrin and Tylenol, but overall, she is handling it pretty well.

So that is a brief update on Campbell. Overall she is adorable but a handful. Peyton loves, loves, loves having a baby sister and does so well with her. We are surviving and love being a family of four!

Is it on straight?

2011-02-18T17:09:00.003-06:00

I'm so sorry...

2011-01-31T10:34:00.002-06:00

Peyton has this new thing where if she runs into you or accidently hits you with something, she says "I'm so sorry" in this dramatic southern belle voice. I often fall over laughing when I hear and see this because it is just too cute.

Well last night, all four of us were on the bed. I was holding Campbell and Brad was trying to hold Peyton, but she was bouncing around like mad. We often joke that she has a stash of mountain dew hidden somewhere in the house because the kid is WILD. Anyways, so Peyton was bouncing around trying to body slam anything in her path. She successfully threw herself against the headboard and went flying backwards and landed on top of her baby doll. She immediately hopped up and with THE most dramatic voice said, "I'm so sorry baby, I didn't mean it" and gave her baby doll a hug. Then she threw the baby doll across the room. And by the time the doll bounced off the wall and onto the floor, Peyton was already back to her body slamming already having forgotten the poor doll.

At least she tries to apologize?

Getting so big!

2011-01-25T13:33:00.002-06:00

Campbell will be five months old in just a few days and Peyton is talking more and really starting to act like a big girl. They are just growing up too fast for me. Peyton has started to be a little jealous nowadays of her baby sister. She wants to be held more, wants to snuggle with mommy and daddy more (no complaints there!), and wants us to take pictures of her every night. Just too cute. But for the most part, Peyton loves being a big sister and loves entertaining Campbell.

Earlier this month we had a snow/ice storm and we were so fortunate to not lose any power, have lots of junk food on hand, and be able to stay home and enjoy the show (both Brad and I were able to avoid work). This was the second time it has snowed for Campbell, the first being on Christmas day. The girl has seen more snow during her first four months than most Alabama folks see in their lifetime!

Here are some pictures of the girls from this month:

Ready for a new year...

2010-12-31T14:32:00.003-06:00

We all have been sick with stomach bugs, colds, and coughs since Decemeber 15th. And wow, we are ready to be healthy again.

Peyton was the first to get the stomach bug and poor thing fought it for six days. Of course we don't get the stomach bug that lasts 24-48 hours, we get the one that last for a week. She was a trooper during her bout, but unfortunately she passed the bug to her little sister. Hey, sharing is caring. I guess? So as Campbell started her round with the stomach bug (six days for her as well), Peyton then caught the nasty cold/cough bug. She really must have gotten into the whole sharing thing because she then passed that bug onto all of us as well. Poor Campbell spiked a fever yesterday and really was not feeling well. During her second visit to the doctors (she went the week before for the stomach bug), we discovered she has lost a pound and she the dreaded "fever virus." I hate that diagnosis because it really is the doctor saying we don't know what it is and there's nothing we can do about it. But oh well. Campbell is feeling a little better today and we are all recovering at home today and tonight as we ring in the new year. Brad and I are exhausted from fighting the colds and coughs ourselves and dealing with two grumpy and sick little ones. Whew!

One of my new years resolutions is to have a healthier family! I will post more later about the baptism, Christmas, Zoolight Safari, and so on. But that will have to do for now.

Teaching momma a lesson...

2010-12-03T08:47:00.003-06:00

The previous post describes our very long morning at the doctors and CVS. For some reason, I thought the day would be calm after we got home and I put Peyton down for her nap. Hah, what a joke.

Peyton was up after her nap and doing her usual business of touching everything in the house and making a mess in every room. Since she is so busy I have to remind her to eat and this afternoon I was bribing her to eat a banana. I was in the kitchen looking at my schedule so I could go ahead and set up a day to get my MRI done (migraines) when Peyton came into the kitchen and pointed to her tongue. I thought she was complaining about me making her eat a banana and gave her some water. Then she asked for a napkin to wipe off her mouth. I thought this was a little unusual but Peyton does tend to be dramatic so I brushed that nagging feeling aside. She went back into my bedroom to watch a movie and I went back to my schedule. A few minutes later, that bad feeling came back so I went into the bedroom to check things out. Then I went into my bathroom and saw that she had brushed her teeth and got her toothpaste all over the sink. I cleaned that up and then decided to hide the toothpaste (which is toddler friendly and ok if they swallow it) in my closet so she wouldn't get into it again. Then that's when I discovered what had happened.

I walk in and there is an opened bottle of Unisom on the floor with 5 pills scattered around it. I immediately picked them up and counted them and noticed there were several missing. I also found an empty gel cap that she had squeezed the medicine out of and then spit the cap out. So I knew she had taken at least one pill. I ran over to her, assessed her and she was acting normal. Then I got on the phone with poison control (they are so nice) and they told me to immediately take her to the emergency room since Unisom is a sleeping pill and the dosage was pretty high. My mom came over and picked Campbell up and then Peyton and I rushed to the hospital. Thank goodness we only live miles away from the hospital because if the drive was any longer, I think I would have started to run cars off the road to get them out of my way. I wonder if I could buy some lights and sirens to put on my car, because surely this won't be the last time I find myself rushing to the ER with Peyton. It didn't help that it was 5 in the afternoon and traffic was horrible. During those few minutes, my mind was racing with all of these horrible thoughts and I broke down. Peyton was getting a little quiet so I made her sing some songs.

We got there and after filling out paperwork, we were taken right back. I was so glad we didn't have to wait, but the nurse side of me realized the doctors in the triage ranked our situation as pretty urgent. That scared me. They took us back into the room, laid her down on the stretcher, and hooked her up to a monitor to check heart rate and oxygen levels and they looked great. Several doctors and nurses assessed her and decided to give Peyton charcoal so it could absorb the medicine in the belly before it dissolved.

This was probably the worst moment of my life as a mother. I see some tragic things at work unfortunately since I work with sick and premature babies. But having to hold down my daughter while they forced 4 20cc syringes of charcoal down her throat was the hardest thing I have had to do. Poor Peyton didn't understand what was going on and didn't want to take the medicine, but with some persuasion they were able to successful administer a lot. I had to ask them to stop for a minute to give her a break and because it was just killing me seeing this. At that point, they decided that it was enough charcoal for now and now it was time to play the waiting game.

Peyton became pretty agitated and her face was BRIGHT red as if someone had taken a red marker and colored on her face. But other than that, she did great and responded well to the charcoal. Even the doctors were amazed at how active she was considering she took a sleeping medicine (that just shows you how busy she always is!!). We had to sit there for four hours so they could observe for any adverse reactions to the unisom and finally at 9 we got to go home! Peyton really did so well and I am so proud of her. Playing the waiting game really lets your mind think some awful dark thoughts about what could have happened and I broke down in tears several times. When Peyton saw my tears, she asked if I had a boo boo and needed a kiss. I love that kid so much.

I should have known that putting my medicines on the top shelf in my closet was not going to be safe from Peyton. She can climb anything and everything. I never imagined that she would be able to climb that high and open a childproof (hah) bottle. But I learned my lesson and will most likely have nightmares for a long time about this. It was a very scary experience and I am so thankful everything turned out ok. But sometimes I look at Peyton and tell her that she has to give me a break one day. She keeps us on our toes 24 hours a day!!

So today I will be working on Peyton-proofing the house.

I can't even think of a good title for this one...

2010-12-02T13:11:00.003-06:00

Holy. Smokes. I think I just earned the biggest gift ever from Santa Claus. We are talking at least a year of free massages at the nicest spa in Birmingham kind of big gift. It is no longer a question whether or not Peyton will be the death of me; it is now a fact. She is going to kill me.

After suffering from a massive migraine for the past eleven days, I finally decided to pack up the kids and head to the nearest doc-in-a-box. Side note - do you know what DOESN'T help a migraine? A toddler suffering from the terrible twos and a colicky three month old. Just a little FYI. I should have known to give up on the doctors when we pulled into the parking lot and there was one spot left. Determined to get some relief, we went inside, signed in, and sat in the corner farthest away from everyone else. Things started out great and Peyton was behaving so well. Even after 25 minutes of waiting, she was being good and Campbell was sleeping peacefully in her carseat. Finally they called my name and we went back into the tiny nurses station where they take your vital signs. At this point, Peyton decided she wasn't getting enough attention so she screamed. Loud. When she was satisfied that all eyes were on her, she proceeded to dump out her entire bowl of fruit loops onto the floor. Mortified, I started apologizing profusely to the nurse while simultaneously asking where the nearest vacuum cleaner was. The sweet nurse told me not to worry about it and said let's just go ahead and go into the room. 15 minutes later, the doctor finally comes in, we talk, he checks me out, blah, blah, blah.... he decides to give me a bunch of medicines and a shot. I was worried about how Peyton would handle seeing this, but amazingly she was good and repeatedly told the nurse that the needle was sharp and to be careful. Finally we leave and I quietly say my blessings, thankful that Peyton behaved fairly well and that the building was still standing.

Off to CVS we went to get my medicines filled. By this time, it had been a long morning and Peyton was losing her patience. I was hoping the pharmacist would notice that I had a migraine, a hungry baby, and a toddler who was getting irritable and would speed up the filling process. Nope. I swear she decided to take her sweet time so she could sit back and enjoy the show that was about to transpire.

In an attempt to entertain Peyton while waiting, we walked around the store naming all the objects we could. I'm pretty sure Peyton rolled her eyes at my lame game and thought I was an idiot for pretending to not know what a toothbrush was. She was quickly losing interest as we turned into the next aisle.

Then all hell broke loose.

Before I could realize what was happening, Peyton screamed, stuck her right arm out, and took off running. She knocked over EVERY. SINGLE. ITEM. ON. THE. SHELF. Down the entire aisle. It happened in slow motion and all I could do was sit there and laugh in disbelief. Instantly, my kid became that kid, the monster kid that moms secretly talk about during gossip sessions.

After finally convincing myself it was in fact not a nightmare, I began the slow process of picking up every item and restocking them. By this time, Campbell was screaming for a bottle and Peyton was casually perusing the next aisle, unattended, as if nothing had just happened. 20 minutes later after all items are back in their place, I grab Peyton and Campbell and walk over to the pharmacy counter asking if my medicines were ready. The pharmacist crossed her arms, told me no, and waited for the next act of Peyton's Show.

Peyton got out of my grip, hopped (literally) over to the candy aisle and demanded a chocolate bar that was the size of her head. I looked at her and said "hell no, you are not getting any sugar." That went over well. She then body slammed herself onto the floor while screaming and flailing her arms and legs. Campbell took this as a cue and started screaming bloody murder herself. I calmly picked up Campbell's carseat, left Peyton screaming in the candy aisle, walked back over to the pharmacy, asked for my medicines, paid, and walked out. I waited by the door as Peyton ran out after realizing that I had left without her, packed up both kids into the car, and sped out of the parking lot.

Minutes later, I walked into the house before even getting the keys out of the door, changed Peyton's diaper and threw her (not literally) into her bed and told her she better sleep for at least three hours. I haven't heard a peep out of her so far.

Happy Halloween 2010!

2010-11-01T23:26:00.004-05:00

I didn't invite you...

2010-10-26T11:22:00.004-05:00

The other day I was going about my usual business of cleaning the house for the billionth time of the day when I noticed something unusual. A bag of chips sitting on my counter had a hole in it that looked as if it was made with teeth. Tiny teeth. Not like Peyton's teeth when she tries to get into her fourth bag of Cheetos in one day even though I tell her NO. But instead, tiny teeth that kind of resembled mice teeth. In my head alarms were ringing and screaming saying THIS ISN'T GOOD! But surely I wouldn't have mice in my house. No way. All I do is clean. Yes I have a husband, two kids, and two dogs but I do keep my house fairly clean. I texted Brad and told him to pick up some mouse traps on the way home from work, but reassured him (and myself) that we didn't need them and instead I am just being paranoid. That was Thursday.

Saturday morning at 5:45 Campbell decides it's time to eat. I stumbled into the kitchen half asleep, made a bottle in the dark because it's entirely too early to turn on the lights, and as I am about to head back into the bedroom something catches my eye. I look into the kitchen sink and think my mind is playing a game on me because SURELY that isn't a furry little thing sitting there watching me. After a good 15 seconds of standing utterly still and debating on whether or not I should turn on the light, I finally reach over and hit the switch. Lo and behold, there is a MOUSE sitting there so still in my sink looking straight at me. I was too scared to scream bloody murder like my mind was wanting me to, so there we sat and played chicken for at least a minute, seeing who would make the first move. Finally, I manage to call out Brad's name and told him to get in here this instant. He walks in, looks at me and cannot figure out what the hell is going on and why I am frozen with a look of horror on my face. My mouth wasn't working again so I could only point to the monster that was sitting there, daring me to make the first move. After he became aware of what I was staring at, I hauled ass into the bedroom and took refuge for most of the day, letting Brad deal with our unwanted guests.

Not how I wanted to start my weekend.

Saturday afternoon I realized that more than one critter had decided to move in. My husband definitely thinks I am such a girl now after hearing me scream nonstop in the highest pitch ever whenever something moved. Or when I saw a shadow. Or when I thought I found mouse droppings but really it was a piece of lint. In fact, I'm sure we need to get his hearing checked now. I am not going to lie, I was totally that girl that screamed and scrambled onto the nearest table after seeing a tiny mouse. P.S - climbing onto a table is a hard thing to do when having a newborn and a two-year old in your hands. Just FYI.

Brad played whack-a-mole for the majority of the weekend and five little mice have gone to mice heaven so far. We did see one more but that little sucker escaped and hopefully he is realizing that it is time to pack up and move onto greener pastures. Like the back yard. Like now please.

So little mice, I didn't invite you. You have overstayed your welcome. Well, technically you were never welcomed but we won't go there. Find another place to call home! Or else you may become paralyzed by some horrifying, ear piercing, girly screams.

What I see/hear

2010-10-15T13:13:00.002-05:00

(I am "borrowing" this concept from another blog, hope this is ok.... She writes a fabulous blog and every now and then see writes this posts titled "What I hear..." where she describes cute things her daughters have done and said. I love the idea and think it's a great way to tell stories of the kids without making it into a long story (I do have a tendency to ramble sometimes).)

As we were leaving the gym today, I told Peyton it was time to go to the car wash. She said "no car wash" repeatedly and was not happy about the idea at all. She even turned on the waterworks. I tried to make it sound like it was going to be so fun to give the car a bath and we could sing songs while we did it. Nothing was working. Finally I told her that I wanted the car to be pretty like Peyton. She instantly became quiet and thought about the idea. I asked her "Peyton, are you pretty?" She broke out in a huge grin and said "yes, I'm pretty."

---------

The girls and I were sitting on the bed eating lunch (bottle for Campbell) and watching a movie. All of a sudden, Peyton reached over and grabbed my phone and said "think I call daddy" and proceeded to chat it up on the phone. I finally called him for her so that she could have a real conversation and they spent 5 minutes on the phone talking about Ice Age II. Peyton does adore her daddy!

---------

The other day Peyton, Campbell, and I were sitting outside enjoying (or trying to at least) the beautiful weather. Peyton was in a "terrible twos" kind of mood since she did not take a good nap after school and every single thing was causing a major meltdown. It got so bad to the point where I was thisclose to spanking her and putting in her bed for the night (it was only 4 pm). Then, it became hilarious. Peyton finally calmed down for a second and I thought we were in the clear when all of a sudden she saw a leaf fall from a tree. The girl broke out into tears, screamed and cried, and threw herself on the ground. Apparently that particular leaf needed permission before it could fall off the tree. I think the tree is now too scared to let anymore leaves fall off.

---------

The girls and I were in the car headed home after running some errands. Poor Campbell was screaming her head off because it was time to eat. In attempt to get her quiet, I begged Peyton to sing Campbell a song. Peyton instantly started singing the ABCs in a cute high pitch voice accompanied with some head swaying and Campbell fell right back to sleep. I so wish I had gotten a video of it! Peyton looks so adorable when she sings!

---------

When Campbell is fussy, I often ask her why she is crying as if I am really going to get a response from her. One day in the car, Campbell started crying and I was unable to console her. All of a sudden I hear Peyton ask, "Campbell, why you cry? Why? No cry!"

Ok those are the only ones I can remember right now. Hope you enjoyed the mini-stories!

WARNING --- TMI alert

2010-10-11T17:44:00.003-05:00

Ok folks, this post involves a story that includes details of bowel habits. Do not read if you are easily disgusted or have a weak stomach. Or just don't feel like reading about someone else's day in the bathroom. I am so embarrassed to tell this story, but it's one that I will share with Peyton in a few years.

As a mother of two little ones, I have discovered that everything happens at the same time. The girls coordinate everything to occur simultaneously with such precision that it scares me. This wouldn't bother me as much since I know they are little and have many needs. But the thing is, they coordinate these needs at the most inopportune time for me. They both have massive poopy diapers that require immediate changing at the exact same time. They both want to be fed at the exact same time. They both want to be held at the exact same time. They both want to talk to me about their day at the same time. Except for naps of course. No, no, no. Not naps. No way would they think about taking naps at the same time.

You get the point. Sometimes having two under two is just not convenient for me.

Well, the other day something happened that just further proved my point. Campbell was sleeping peacefully, Peyton was playing by herself in the playroom, and I was laying down for a split second (a rare moment in this house). All of a sudden my stomach started rumbling. That questionable meal I had consumed earlier was no longer questionable. It became a fact that I so should not have eaten it. For a few minutes, I was sitting there wondering if my stomach would be able to fight off the meal or if I was going to be stuck in the bathroom for awhile. Of course at that very moment that my stomach decided that it was time to go the bathroom, Campbell woke up screaming, demanding to be fed. I quickly dashed into the kitchen, made a bottle so fast that it went down in the books as THE quickest bottle ever made, ran back into my bedroom, changed Campbell's diaper since she had decided to have a major poopy at that very minute, yelled out to Peyton to watch her movie for a little while, and I went into the bathroom with Campbell. (YOU MAY WANT TO STOP READING HERE IF YOU AREN'T ALREADY SO GROSSED OUT). So there I was, multitasking while sitting on the toilet - feeding Campbell and giving my stomach a break - when Peyton decides to join in the awesome party in mommy's bathroom. My stomach was in some serious knots, I was in some serious pain and not in a good mood, Campbell was eating and spitting up at the same time, and Peyton had a huge wad of toilet paper in her hands and was asking me repeatedly "Momma, I wipe? Momma, I wipe??" as she tried to reach around me and wipe my you-know-what. She was trying to be such a big helper, trying to help her mommy wipe her peaches ("peaches" are used instead of "butt" around here). I couldn't quite explain in nice terms that honey, this is NOT a good time to be a big helper. I finally shooed her off with a promise of a popsicle later, Campbell finally settled down and finished her bottle in peace, and my stomach finally was rid of all nasty food that I will never eat again.

That, folks, is how my life with two is like nowadays.

My sweet Peyton

2010-09-20T15:43:00.003-05:00

Dear Peyton,

You are two years old. I cannot believe how fast time has flown by. I still remember the first few weeks after your daddy and I brought you home from the hospital. You certainly made us question our parenting skills. You hardly let us sleep at all those first six weeks and introduced yourself loud and clear to the neighborhood with all your screaming during the late hours of the night. Then one night, you decided it was time to give us a break. You deemed us worthy and started to sleep through the night and have done so since then (with a few exceptions, but no complaints here!). You have always been a fabulous sleeper and we appreciate that so much.

You loved to eat the first year of life; bananas were your favorite food hands down. Allen onced teased us, saying we needed a crane to get you out of your carseat. I was often told that you certainly were a healthy baby, which I found out later was a nice way of saying "man, your baby is chubby!" But I didn't mind; your rolls were adorable and your cheeks were cute enough to eat. Nowadays you are slimming down and losing your baby fat, which I will admit I am somewhat sad to see go. You are just growing up too fast for me! Your diet nowadays mainly consists of foods that would make your pediatrician have a stroke, but we won't tell her. My former fabulous eater has turned into the pickiest eater ever. You seriously could win award for your pickiness if there was such a thing. I know Mimi is just loving it since I was a picky eater myself (supposedly I would only eat hot dogs till I was eight years old). We can often persuade you to eat watermelon, grapes, and apples with peanut butter. You immediately rule out any veggies so I don't even bother cooking any for you at this point. You aren't wild about meat except for hotdogs and chicken nuggets. You LOVE cheetos and m&ms. You used to hate sweets and any foods that were really cold. Now, cupcakes and ice cream are some of your favorite foods. Meal times are a huge struggle with you, but we will work on that.

You have always been a happy and energetic little girl. You love to explore your surroundings and love to give your mommy and daddy gray hairs with your adventurous (aka daredevil) side. People are amazed at how much energy you have. You do not sit still. Ever. Even in your sleep. But since you got some movies for your second birthday, I have managed to get you to sit on the couch for a total of 5 minutes - an amazing feat. You love the movie Tarzan and often imitate what Tarzan says (makes me giggle every time). When we go on walks around the neighborhood, you check every tree to make sure there are no monkeys in there.

You are a tough girl and certainly can hold your own. Your poor little legs are always covered in bruises, but you proudly show them off to anyone that will listen. You ask for kisses when you get a boo boo and say "that didn't hurt" when you knock your head or bump into something. You are a tomboy who loves to go shopping and wear dresses. Recently, you absolutely love being told that you look pretty and often break out into a huge smile when someone tells you they like what you are wearing. You are vocal about what clothes you want or don't want to wear that day. I believe you have even taught your daddy a little about fashion (a huge thanks to you sweetie).

I was worried about your speech for awhile since some of the words you say are slightly off, but now you are talking up a storm. You tell us stories with your wild imagination and I love every second of them even if I can only make out a word or two. You are putting sentences together and learning how to express what you want. You understand what I am saying when I ask you to do something. You can identify all the main colors and animals and what sounds they make. You have such a curious mind and love to ask us to name every single object for you. You are so smart and love to learn new things. You love to tell me and daddy what to do, often shouting commands at us such as "get that ball daddy!" I look forward to all your stories and can't wait till we can start gossiping together.

You have surprised both me and daddy at how well you have adjusted to having a little sister. You adore her and make sure she is ok. When Campbell cries, you immediately let me know that she is crying and then go over to her and help her calm down. You know how to give Campbell a pacifier very gently and often help me burp her during feeding times. You cover Campbell up with a blanket when you think she is cold but you are always sure to leave her face uncovered. You are so kind and sweet with her, it just amazes us both. You have not been jealous at all, not even one time. You are the perfect older sister and Campbell is so lucky to have you.

Peyton, you are the world to me and daddy. You certainly can be a handful and have made me pull my hair out many, many times (this is why I started this blog, so I could prove to you what you did when you were little). You are incredibly fiesty and stubborn. But you are perfect. Your smile and laughter immediately make the world a better place. You make me and daddy laugh so hard with your silliness. You make our hearts melt with your kisses and hugs. And you make us appreciate life having you and Campbell in it.

Happy second birthday sweetheart! Let's pray that the terrible twos are too terrible for us all!

I love you my chunky monkey.

Two weeks down

2010-09-17T15:39:00.002-05:00

So far Brad and I have made it two weeks with two daughters! Having two in diapers is not the most fun, but thankfully I am used to changing diapers all day long thanks to work. But it would be nice if the girls didn't try to gang up on us by giving us massive poopy diapers at the exact same time. But I guess it's just a little taste of what it is going to be like when they are both teenagers. Brad has been a huge help, especially with taking care of Peyton so I can focus on Campbell. He has also been helping out with night time feeds which is awesome. The girls and I are pretty lucky to have a guy like him in our lives.

Campbell has been a fabulous baby so far. She sleeps for the majority of the day and night, although I think she likes being up at night more so than day. She is a great eater and does well with breastfeeding (thankfully). It is funny to see how much more laid back Brad and I are with the second baby; we are stressing out about way less this time around.

Peyton has been a wonderful big sister. She loves having baby Campbell around, loves to hold her, and help me change her diaper. She was overwhelmed with her big birthday weekend and then me and Brad being gone all week at the hospital during Campbell's arrival and was starting to act out. But as soon as we all came home from the hospital and we got her back on a schedule, she has been behaving so well! Hardly any tantrums (which is a miracle) and has been so sweet and loving. Definitely helps me and Brad out with having a newborn in the house. Also, Mother's Morning Out has started up again, so she goes to "school" twice a week from 9-1. This helps me out tremendously!

Things are going well so far! Biggest complaint is lack of sleep, but it could be a lot worse. Peyton did not sleep at all for the first 6 weeks, so that is a huge switch with Campbell since she loves sleeping. Hopefully things will continue like this and Campbell will take it easy on us!

Peyton is TWO!

2010-09-12T20:09:00.005-05:00

(Sorry, I am seriously behind on my posts)

Peyton celebrated her second birthday on August 27th! It is amazing how fast time flies! The night of her birthday, we went over to Mimi and Allen's (my parents) house for a birthday dinner, cake and ice cream, and to open presents of course. Peyton got some fabulous presents and thoroughly enjoyed her birthday cake. The next day, we invited all of our neighbors over for a cookout and to let all the kids swim and do the slip 'n slide. Peyton wasn't too thrilled about sharing her pools with the other kids, but finally warmed up eventually. The terrible twos are in full effect and with her, her socialization skills have completely evaporated. She takes a long time to warm up to people, so we are definitely going to work on that during the next few months. But anyways, we all had a fabulous time and we were so excited that everyone was able to come out and celebrate Peyton's birthday with us!

Peyton had her two year check-up the next week and the pediatrician said she is perfect! She weighs 27 pounds (50th %) and is 34.5 inches tall (50th %). Like I mentioned before, our main goals for the next few months are to improve our socialization skills and work on potty training. Peyton absolutely LOVES to talk and her vocabulary is increasing by the day and her speech is improving as well. So we are thoroughly impressed with our big girl!

Here are some pictures from her birthday weekend:

Campbell Alden Bludworth

2010-09-12T12:05:00.002-05:00

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of baby Campbell Alden Bludworth! She arrived on August 31st at 1:37 pm, weighing 7 pounds and 6 ounces - two ounces bigger than big sister Peyton! She is a sweetie who loves to snuggle! Peyton has been an excellent big sister so far and just adores her little sister. We are home and adjusting to life with two baby girls!

Water baby

2010-08-19T15:30:00.003-05:00

Our little girl loves the water!

Playing in the pool with Noah.

Sitting pretty!

She has no fear...

"What?"

Gorgeous!

How?

2010-08-12T22:55:00.003-05:00

Nap and bed times are dealt with by putting two diapers on Peyton - one on the regular way and another one on top in the reverse direction so that Peyton can't reach the straps and take the diaper off. Duct tape may or may not be used depending on my mood. Then, we put the footed pjs on backwards so that Peyton cannot unzip herself (the zipper is originally on the front side, so we put it on backwards thus making the zipper on her back and unreachable). When all of this is in place, I can sleep peacefully knowing that I will not be awakened by the horrible stench of poop being everywhere.

This afternoon when it was time for a nap, I had the two diapers in place (one on the regular way, one on the reverse way) and threw on a pair of her sleeping pants and put her down. Hour and half later, I go back to her room. The pants are off (which I figured would happen), but the diapers are still intact (meaning she couldn't unfasten them). I get excited that her diapers are still on and think I won't have to deal with any messy cleaning. However, Peyton was standing on one side of the crib and said "eww that's gross" and what was she pointing to? Poop. Laying on the other side of the crib. Somehow Peyton had managed to get poop out of her diaper and decorate one side of the crib. Diapers still on. Poop not in diapers. I just don't get it! She is bound and determined to get that poop out some how some way. And then decorate with it.

We survived!

2010-08-04T14:32:00.002-05:00

Peyton has finished her first school session!

My sister dropped Peyton off at school on Monday since I had to work and said that Peyton did fabulous with the whole drop off process. Of course she's great for her favorite aunt. I asked my mom (she's a retired preschool teacher who has lots of experience with children) why Peyton was so horrible when I drop her off, and she explained to me that it was most likely due to the fact that Peyton knows she can stir a response out of me by throwing such a tantrum. So I was bound and determined to end the summer school session on a good note and have a successful drop off. Side note - it's amazing what your priorities and goals are when you have kids. When I woke Peyton up, I made sure I was cheerful and excited so she would be the same. However, she immediately let me know this wasn't going to happen by crying and whining and refusing to get dressed. 10 minutes later, I was able to negotiate with her on an outfit, which by the way ended up being the first outfit I had originally picked out, but I guess she needed to see several more options just to make sure. We packed her lunch and bookbag and headed out the door. We sang and ate fruit loops. We arrived and said hi to everyone and everything. She walked into her classroom with a smile and I almost cried out in relief. Then came the screaming and body slamming (at least she threw herself onto the floor this time and not another adult or kid). I apologized to the teachers and left. I swore I could still hear her as I got into my car. But oh well. There was no slapping this morning. At least while I was present. And that is a huge improvement that I happily embrace.

Of course she was all smiles when I picked her up and her teachers said she had a great day. I ended up giving them each a 25$ American Express gift card which may have been a little much, but I figured with the amount of work Peyton put them through, it was certainly well deserved. I would have given them each a nice bottle of wine, but I assumed that would be slightly inappropriate at a church-affiliated school.

So all in all, Peyton made it through her first Mother's Morning Out school session! I haven't received any notices or letters kindly suggesting that we look at other schools, so I assume we will start school again on September 8th. I am so proud of my little graduate!

Oh the drama

2010-07-28T14:15:00.003-05:00

You are probably wondering to yourself "why on Earth is Katie posting a picture of this walkway?" Well folks, I am posting it to give you an idea of how much of a drama queen Peyton can be nowadays. It now takes us a good five minutes to go down this exceedingly plain walkway to the car. Five minutes to take twenty three steps (yes, I counted them). There are no pretty flowers, no bright colors jumping out to grab your attention, no toys laying around. Nothing but cement and grass. And leaves. And bugs. Peyton has developed a huge fear of leaves, bugs, dirt, basically any speck of something on the ground. Don't get me started on feathers. Look up "screams like a girl" in the dictionary and there you will find a picture with an audio clip of Peyton screaming after she sees a feather.

This morning we were running a few minutes late for her school, and I was trying to rush her down this walkway so we could get in the car and go. She had to dodge every tiny drop of dirt, every leaf, every dead bug, every stick, every thing. She wines and whimpers and points out each tiny thing and panics if it is bigger than a quarter. My tough, tomboy of a girl has turned into the biggest whimp ever. Lord have mercy if I try to pick her up and carry her because that is just the biggest sin according to Peyton. So this morning I spent five minutes resisting the urge to pick Peyton up and carry her to the car and instead reassured her with every step she took that the world was not going to end because there is a dead leaf in her path. Could she be more dramatic?? Sadly, I know the answer to this question is "yes" and will soon learn how dramatic an almost-two-year old can be. For now, she has shown me enough drama to get by the next few years. At least it is entertaining (for the most part).

What a tease

2010-07-21T13:49:00.004-05:00

I have mentioned in previous posts that Peyton knows how to throw a tantrum. I've thought for awhile that she entered the terrible twos phase at 18 months since her tantrums are increasingly dramatic (like Oscar worthy dramatic), and actually at one point told myself that it just couldn't get worse. What a naive new mother I was thinking such a foolish thing. I practically asked for it.

Well, the terrible twos are officially here and it looks like it going to be one heck of a year (praying it only lasts a year...). Those tantrums she threw 6 months ago were just tiny little hints of what was to come. She was just teasing me and testing me. Unfortunately the fact that baby number two is due in a few weeks only adds to the burden of having such a feisty toddler. Nowdays even deciding what outfit she is going to wear for the day brings on a huge fight. I've never understood how kids so young could care so much about what they do and don't wear. I still to this day do not understand, but I have since learned that I must respect Peyton's wishes or all hell breaks loose. I am probably not doing the right thing by offering her options after options on what she can wear, but if it's all I can do to avoid her screaming bloody murder and throwing herself down on the floor, then that's what I am going to do. Sometimes I am truly thankful that I can turn my hearings aids off because the kid can scream.

Another obstacle we are encountering is the whole drop-off process at Mother's Morning Out. Peyton does fabulous in the morning when she first wakes up and in the car ride over to school, but as soon as it's time for her walk into the classroom and for me to say bye for a few hours, she changes into a monster and launches into a full blown tantrum. I know preschool teachers are accustomed to all types of breakdowns, but I seriously think my daughter's trantrums make them rethink their career choices. Peyton screams so loud that I can hear her in the parking lot. Um, this is not a good thing considering I am hearing impaired. She is so loud I swear I can feel the building shake. Her teachers always tell me that she calms down about 5 minutes after I leave and acts as if all is well with the world. I sometimes wonder if they sedate her after I leave. I'm kidding. Kinda.

At this age, kids are really into showing their independence and want to do everything by themselves. Every. Thing. Leaving the house is just ridiculous nowadays since she wants to climb into the car by herself (maybe I should have kept my sedan instead of getting a SUV that is way high off the ground), climb into the seat by herself, and buckle the seatbelts by herself. What used to be a 1-minute process is now a 15-minute torture session that leaves me in a coat of sweat and head full of curse words. Really Peyton? Do we have to do this when it is 97 degrees outside and the car is boiling hot? I think she is paying me back for the impending arrival of her little sister. She is definitely too smart for her age.

One last thing. Peyton L-O-V-E-S the word "no." She has been fond of this word in the past, but now it is her BFF. Every question I ask, she responds with a "no" even if she really means yes. At night, I will ask her if she is ready for a bath. She promptly responds with a "no." Then I tell her, yes it is time for a bath and she responds with a dramatic "noo, whyyy?" like I am asking her to do the most ridiculous thing ever. And during those rare moments when I remember to not ask her a question in a yes-or-no form, she is still able to get a 'no' in somehow. She wins no matter what I do or how I do it.

Yes, the terrible twos are here and I am ready to go on a year-long vacation.

She did what?

2010-07-07T13:55:00.002-05:00

Peyton has always been a busy bee, even in her sleep. It is utterly exhausting just watching her play. A few days ago, I had arranged for our babysitter to come watch Peyton for a few hours while I ran errands to get the house ready for baby number 2. I felt guilty leaving her behind because I had barely seen her the past few days due to work, drs appts, etc. But then I thought about our previous shopping expeditions and immediately the guilt was gone.

I was so excited to see Peyton after finishing all my errands and got busy playing with her. I guess she decided it was payback time for being gone so long, and she went on a rampage to see how much she could do in the least amount of time. She woke up from her nap (she was initially asleep when I first got home), and decided to decorate her crib with poop. I said to myself "no worries, I will clean it up and get over it." After wiping down the crib and changing the sheets, I threw Peyton into the tub to clean her off. Then she pooped in the tub. I let out a few screams, but again said to myself "no worries." After wiping all the toys and tubs with clorox (not an easy feat to do with a massive belly), I took Peyton to her room to get her dressed. I put her on the changing table, turned around to grab her diaper and outfit, and by the time I turned back, she had pooped on the table. I did say a few words to Peyton about pooping everywhere but in her diaper, but still I told myself "no worries, at least it isn't diarrhea." She looked at my with innocent eyes and told me it was time to get dressed.

Okay.

After cleaning up the THIRD poop incident, we went to my bedroom and settled down to watch a movie. She had a sippy cup full of milk and decided that she no longer needed a top on the cup. Well, that last about 1/10th of a second. A few unmentionable words later, I was now adding my comforter to the growing pile of laundry. While getting that cleaned up, Peyton ran off to the playroom and I thought nothing of the silence that ensued. Five minutes later, I checked on Peyton and what was she doing? Drawing on the walls with crayons. After a few minutes of silently staring at Peyton's artwork, I recollected myself, grabbed those spiffy Mr. Clean scrub brushes and began the cleaning process. While doing that, Peyton decided her artwork was just too good to not decorate her face as well. So she grabbed the yellow marker and began the decorate her lips, cheeks, nose, forehead, chin, ears, arms, and hands. And did all of this in a matter of seconds while I had my back turned to her as I cleaned the wall. The kid is good. Imagine my horror as I turned around and saw my beautiful child covered in yellow marker. By this time, I had no energy to even yell. I sighed, and began yet another cleaning process.

It was during these few minutes that I experienced a brief moment of peace because I had Peyton in my hands thus making her incapable of destroying anything else. Sure that she couldn't do anymore damage, I set her free and started the second load of laundry. As I closed the washing machine, I heard the awful words, "uh ooohhh." Frantic, I ran into my bedroom and there stood Peyton with my beloved Kindle in her hands. She had managed to crack the side of it and knew she was in serious trouble. Of course, she did her puppy eyes and I could only manage a squeak of horror instead of a furious rant. She quickly ran out of the room while I cuddled my Kindle, silently begging for it to work just a little bit longer. Again, I hear the dreaded words, "uh ooohhh." I looked up to the ceiling and said "are you kidding me?" I walked out of the bedroom, and there was Peyton in the kitchen, covered in juice. Again she had decided she was a big girl and didn't need a top on her sippy cup. She managed to spill gallons (yes, I am being dramatic) of V8 Fusion juice all over herself and the floor. I could only look at her, and she knew just by that look that it was time for her to run out of the room. Back to my bedroom she went and a few seconds later I hear a crash. My shoulders dropped and my heart sank. I walked back to my bedroom and there was Peyton, standing on TOP of my nightstand with a lamp laying on the floor. Apparently, it was her turn to be on top of the nightstand and the lamp had no other choice but be thrown to the floor.

I. LOST. IT. To put it nicely. Thankfully Peyton decided that I had enough of this payback, and quietly sat on my bed and asked for a movie. I turned on the movie, told her not to move an inch or else, and walked back to the kitchen to clean the juice. Amazingly she didn't move an inch until her daddy came home thirty minutes later. Of course she was just an ANGEL for him. What a daddy's girl.

She managed to do all of this within 4.5 hours. I could feel the gray hairs growing on my head afterwards.

Peyton's first day of School (MMO)!

2010-06-14T20:54:00.003-05:00

Cutest little girl ever!

Oh, the drama

2010-06-13T22:23:00.003-05:00

Well Peyton has definitely inherited the drama queen gene that may or may not run in her moma's side of the family. The girl is good. Oscar-worthy good.

You tell her "no" and you better grab the popcorn, seat yourself on the nearest chair, and prepare yourself for quite a show. First, she gives you the evil one-eyed look. Then, she looks around and knocks over any object within a foot radius (this applies to plants twice her size and 100-pound dogs). Finally, comes the dramatic body slam onto the floor accompanied with a cry so loud that it will make any new mom or non-mom search frantically for some candy, ice cream, ANYTHING to appease the poor child. Me? Nope. I sit back and pretend to file my nails. Brad? Well, he's getting used to it but occasionally I do see panic cross his eyes very briefly with his hands itching to find the nearest toy to soothe her. The dogs? They know to take cover as soon as the word "no" is said or else they will be on the receiving end of a hard core body slam. I do feel bad for my hardwood floors though. They are definitely getting some dents here and there. Thankfully Peyton's head is pretty sturdy. She's only managed to give herself one bruise during her meltdowns.

She did feel the need to give one of her most dramatic meltdowns at Walgreens the other day (the number 1 meltdown that will never be beaten occurred at the Wal-Mart in Alex City, AL - I am still traumatized by it, ask my mom). I am still contemplating on sending a Hallmark card apologizing to all employees and customers for exposing them to Peyton's bloody murder screaming that lasted for 5 minutes. I truly do not think she even stopped crying to take a breath. One good side effect of having a dramatic body slamming toddler breaking down in the middle of a pharmacy? Your prescription will be moved to the first of the line to be filled, no matter how many people are waiting and how long they have been waiting. I'm pretty sure other customers encouraged the pharmacist to hurry my order along. I had to go back a few days later with yet another prescription and unfortunately had to bring Peyton along with me. I am telling you, they had that prescription filled in seconds. They know not to mess with my kid.

Peyton starts her first day of Mother's Morning Out tomorrow. I am so excited for her and ridiculously nervous. I worry about Peyton biting, pushing, head butting, slapping, and body slamming other kids. I swear, you would think we are raising our child to be the next woman WWF wrestler. I hope she has a great time and learns how to socialize with other kids since she doesn't see many her age. We shall see how it goes and I will keep you guys updated!

Who did it?

2010-05-12T17:45:00.006-05:00

This past weekend I was able to head to the lake house (thank you Brad, mom, and Clare for babysitting) with some of my closest friends to celebrate Keely's impending nupitals. All was well when I left. Three days later I arrived home and found out that Peyton had learned a new word.

The word "No."

I almost prefer her to give me the dramatic one-eyed look accompanied by a violent head shake than tell me no. I knew what she meant when she shook her head like that. It was the one thing that we perfected as far as communication goes. Why did she have to learn the word no? Why? Now every other word out of her mouth is 'no.' It goes something like this:

Me: Ok Peyton, nap time.
Peyton: No.
Me: Yes, Peyton. You are exhausted.
Peyton: No.
Me: Peyton...
Peyton: No, no, no, no (followed by evil one-eyed look)

Or like this:

Me: Let's change your clothes sweetheart. You are just filthy.
Peyton: Oh, no way. No.
Me: Honey, please.
Peyton: Nope (then trotts off satisfied with having the last word, just like her daddy).

Somedays it's like this:

Me: Hey Peyton....
Peyton: No, no, no, no.
Me: Pey-
Peyton: No.
Me: But P-
Peyton: No!
Me: (jaw dropping in defeat)

I almost don't even bother asking her or telling her anything nowadays because I know I am going to be greeted with a big fat no. I do give her points for being adorable when she says it. But still. I could have gone without that word in her vocabulary. I was ok with this sweet angel not saying "no" to me.

Sweet tooth

2010-05-04T23:35:00.004-05:00

When I was little, I was all about desserts, especially ones involving chocolate. In high school and college, the sweet tooth was substituted with salty foods. Have you seen me around cheese dip? You might want to order two bowls if you are eating with me. And that's not even when I am pregnant. When I was pregnant with Peyton, the sweet tooth in me was reborn and I had to have at least one piece of candy every day. After Peyton arrived, I no longer wanted sweets. Well, with this pregnancy Brad knew we were having another girl before we could even see her lady parts on the ultrasound because once again I was often found perusing the candy aisle at the store. And asking for random candy selections like the sweet and sour skittles. Delish.

Peyton has got to be THE pickiest eater I have ever met. She has never been a fan of candy or ice cream. At her first birthday party, she stepped on her cake instead of eating it as if to prove her point that she simply did not like sweet foods. I was ok with this because it gave me the reason to get rid of all candy in the house. But as soon as I got pregnant with her little sister, all of a sudden Peyton is all about sugar. I even carry some around with me to bribe her to not have a famous temper tantrum in public. The other day when we were leaving the gym, the day care was handing out cupcakes to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the gym's grand opening. Side note - who the heck hands out cupcakes at a gym filled with moms who are slaving away on the eliptical machines and aerobic classes? That is just mean. Anyways, I grabbed one for me, I mean Peyton, and let her taste some. Holy smokes she shoved that thing in her mouth so fast and was begging for more before I could even begin to look for leftover crumbs that she might have left behind for me. So, off to the grocery store we went to get cupcake mix and icing. Needless to say they have been a huge hit at the house although I couldn't tell you who has had the most. I believe it is a three-way tie between Peyton, me, and the baby. Yes, the baby counts as an individual.

Tonight when I got home from work, Peyton was sitting at her table munching on a cupcake that daddy let her have right before bedtime (actually not a bad idea, I think she crashed from the sugar rush - she hasn't made a peep). She saw me walk in and must have felt threatened because she turned her back on me and again shoved the rest of the cupcake in her mouth before I could even take one more step towards her. I guess that is a sign that I need to work on my sharing and not steal all of Peyton's goodies.

A letter of begging

2010-04-28T17:21:00.002-05:00

Dear Peyton,

I love you with all of my heart, but right now we have a major issue: you have decided that naptime is no longer acceptable. I know you are too young to understand what is best for you, but please, listen to your mommy. I promise I know what I am talking about. This may be the only time I am certain that I am right when it comes to raising you. Naptime is a necessity, for both you and me. Perhaps because I am carrying your little sister in my belly, I have become particularly attached to naptime. If you want to have a nice, peaceful little sister that naps well and doesn't scream all day, it is time to train her now. Let mommy and little sister get their naptime! And we cannot do that until you decide that your crib is not a playground but instead a place for quiet time and naps. Please child, don't take away my sanity quite yet! I NEED SLEEP. And so do you. I have even forgiven you for the dramatic tantrums that you tend to have in public. Either that or I have become immune to the embarrassment of you throwing yourself on the ground, screaming and crying as other people look on with horrified expressions on their faces. I am the redhead, not you. Drama is my specialty, not yours. Lord knows daddy can't deal with two drama queens. But I have put all that aside. I didn't even throw a fit when you decided two naps a day was definitely out of the question. But no naps? Absolutely not, child. You are going to do it. Because I said so.

Love,
Your tired yet hopeful momma

A crappy afternoon indeed

2010-04-21T22:47:00.002-05:00

Brad and I went to my OB appointment this morning where I got another ultrasound that confirmed that we are definitely having a girl! We left Peyton behind with a fabulous babysitter and when I returned two hours later, Peyton was sound asleep. I thanked the babysitter and decided to go lay down and close my eyes for a few minutes during this rare moment of peace and quiet. About an hour later, I woke up and saw that Peyton was awake too, playing in her crib. I wasn't ready to throw myself out of bed yet and Peyton was content playing so I stayed in bed for a few more minutes. I heard Peyton squealing, laughing, and having a great time. I should have known then that she was up to no good. Finally a few minutes later, I decided to get up and get Peyton out of the crib so we could get ready to head over to my mom's to help babysit my nieces. I walked down the hallway and was suddenly overcome with an unpleasant smell. I thought to myself, "Peyton has a poopy diaper, poor thing, and I left her in there." I walked into the room and was immediately concerned. The smell was horrendous. Peyton was naked. Her hair was sticking straight up like Cameron Diaz in 'Something about Mary.' And she was suddenly a few shades darker as if she had been napping in the tanning bed.

She was covered in poop.

That's right. She took off her clothes, took off her diaper, pooped in the bed, and decided to decorate the crib for me. Oh, and to use it as body art as well. Let's just say Peyton is a fabulous artist. I was so horrified I screamed. Poor Peyton was so startled and started boo hooing. I picked her up unable to hug her since she was coated in poop, ran to my bathroom, and threw her in the bath tub. She absolutely loves bath time, so she began squealing in delight completely unaware and without a care in the world that the water was now turning brown as well.

After using several bottles of shampoo and soap, Peyton finally emerged from the tub with her original skin color. I gave her a lecture about what diapers are for and pointed out other ways she can show her love for me, but I have a strong suspicion that it went in one ear and out the other. Completely oblivious to my exhaustion and anger about having to wash poop out of places it's not supposed to be, Peyton decided to inform me it was movie time. She parked her naked self on my ottoman and looked at me expectedly as if saying "Come on lady, I don't have all day. Start my movie." Completely flabergasted, I yanked a diaper out and shoved it on her while simultaneously contemplating pulling out the duct tape as well, then turned on her movie as I went to clean up her art project.

30 minutes later and satisfied that her room reeked of bleach and all the sheets and blankets were now in the washing machine that was set to the sanitary cycle, I grabbed her and off to Mimi's we went. What a crappy afternoon indeed!

Easter!

2010-04-14T22:29:00.006-05:00

We celebrated Easter by heading over to my parents house where the Easter Bunny (aka Mimi) was so generous and left dozens of eggs with special treats inside for Evans and Peyton! Evans was a pro at finding eggs and even shared some with Peyton who was more concerned about the chocolate inside the eggs. That Easter dress I stressed out about for weeks trying to find? That gorgeous pink dress lasted all of 15 minutes before it was covered with chocolate gooeyness. Oh well, it was worth it.

Completely oblivious to all the eggs behind her.

Giving Evans a not-s0-friendly not-sharing-my-candy look.

Beware of headbutting

2010-04-06T21:51:00.003-05:00

For those few people who make the short list of being special enough to hold Peyton (she has high standards), they are now at risk of Peyton's newest token of affection - being headbutted. You read that right. No, it wasn't a typo. Peyton likes to headbutt you smack dab in the forehead, sometimes on the cheek on those rare days her aim is slightly off. She likes to throw you off and lean in for a kiss, then WHAM! You are the proud owner of a new bruise with a side of migraine. Not sure where she learned this charming behavior, but I know she's too young to have seen Zidane's famous headbutt (2006 World Cup for those who are clueless). Perhaps she is watching YouTube when I am not looking?

Another fabulous behavior Peyton is showering me with is the eye roll. The kid has officially mastered the dreaded eye roll. At 19 months old. Do you understand how bad this is? She is nowhere close to being a teenager. Heck, she's nowhere close to being a preteen and she is already giving me a 'tude in the most annoying way possible. How, how, HOW is she learning this??? I would immediately point my finger at any (maybe all) of Peyton's Sewanee "Aunts" but only Lauren has met her and she is just too sweet to do this to me. Right? The other night after a rather long day of Peyton letting me know every minute that I was doing something wrong, I asked her for a kiss before I put her to bed. She actually rolled her eyes. She was nice enough to slightly lean in so I could give her a kiss, but not before letting me know she wasn't the biggest fan of my loving. I've said it before, but I truly think my mom is laughing herself to sleep at night seeing how much trouble Peyton is giving me and Evans with Clare. Clare and I weren't the best teenagers growing up and mom would tell us "Just you wait until you have kids!" Well, the day where she says "I told you so" has arrived and came with a massive bang that will keep my ears ringing for years, possibly decades. But no matter how loud the bang, I will still be able to hear mom mutter those words accompanied with an evil laugh.

Fetch anyone?

2010-03-25T22:48:00.003-05:00

Today was a rather long day since Peyton woke up in a foul mood and didn't hesitate to let me know every second of every minute of every hour. We did manage to make it to Chik-fil-a with Clare, Evans, and Brooks for a lunch/playdate. Peyton did fairly well and we escaped with no major breakdowns. Clare convinced me to run a quick shopping errand to The Pants Store (if you haven't checked this store out, you need to do so asap) after lunch, and unfortunately Peyton did have a breakdown there. But, it was after she did a faceplant and came back up for air with a huge egg on her forehead so it was to be expected. Back home we went and I put Peyton straight down for a nap. So didn't happen. I was exhausted at this point. I grumbled some adult words to myself, got her up, and back to playtime it was. I fought a losing battle trying to get her to eat some dinner, but she is positively the pickiest eater ever - something I know my mom is laughing to herself about since I wasn't the best eater growing up. Payback is a certain 5-letter word. Soon it was getting close to bedtime and she was still wired. I even let her play in the bathtub for a long time, but then I was grossed out with how wrinkled her feet and fingers became and immediately plucked her from the tub. Still wired. Finally after getting her dried off and dressed for bed, I sat on the couch and just watched her play. I was pooped out. Then, she came across the soccer ball. She hurriedly picked it up and threw it in my lap, excitedly waiting to see what I would do. A light bulb went off in my head. I said to Peyton in an overly dramatic voice, "hey, let's play fetch!" I tested my idea out by throwing the ball across the room and sure enough, Peyton was game. She ran after the ball, scooped it up, came back, and threw it in my lap eagerly waiting for the next throw. We did this for 20 minutes until Peyton was sportin' flushed cheeks. I was so proud of myself. I gave her some milk and asked if she was ready for bed. She didn't protest; instead, she actually led the way to her bedroom. I was certain she was going to be out in a few minutes. I kissed her goodnight, and laid her down.

An hour later and she is still playing in her bed. Guess we need to try longer distances next time. Oh well, I tried.

My baby's got a fever

2010-03-24T14:15:00.002-05:00

Poor Peyton has her first real fever. Unfortunately we have been trying to find a decent thermometer for the past 18 months and have never been able to accurately check her temp when we thought she was feverish. I finally "accidently" brought home one from work and finally gave up with trying to get a temp from her armpit; instead I apologized profusely to Peyton and got a temp from a certain area that belongs in the diaper. Poor thing was so surprised and looked at me like "WHAT are you doing lady?" 100.2 - her first documented fever. Granted it's not much of a fever, but for someone who has never really had a fever, it counts. She has been pitiful all day. She did help me with unloading the dishwater but broke down into a dramatic tantrum when she couldn't get the door open to one of the cabinets. Poor thing isn't feel too hot.

So here we go with Tylenol and rechecking the temp in an hour. If it's the same or higher, time to call the pediatrician. I've got her settled on our bed with some water and popcorn, watching The Princess and the Frog.

Apparently Peyton is well-trained

2010-03-20T21:48:00.003-05:00

Tonight I came home from work and was sitting on the couch watching Peyton play before it was her bedtime. Brad decided to use some leftover hot dog from Peyton's dinner to practice some commands with the dogs. As Brad told the dogs to sit, Peyton immediately sat down and repeated the command, adding the letter H in her version of the word (I still giggle every time, so sad). Brad told the dogs to lay down, and again Peyton followed the command and laid down immediately. This went on for a few minutes back and forth between sitting and laying down and my smart little girl got every command right every time and she was very well darned pleased with herself. I couldn't tell who was wagging their booty from excitement the most, Peyton or Ranger. I'm not sure if she ever realized Brad was trying to practice with the dogs, but hey, Peyton likes hot dogs - just like her momma.

So, apparently Peyton is well-trained.

After the mini training session, it was bedtime. Peyton recently has developed this oh-so-fun habit of screaming bloody murder till she turns blue in the face to announce her presence in the world in case you already didn't know. Well tonight as Brad was changing her and putting her PJs on, she decided it was once again time to remind the folks that a little girl named Peyton lived in Homewood, Alabama. She saw me about to say something to interrupt her screaming and then before I could even get a word out, she put her finger to her mouth and told me to "Shhhhhh." She thought it was so hilarious she did it again. Screaming bloody murder, followed by a very serious "Shhhhhh." She alternated between these two until her poor lungs cried "mercy!" Of course by then Brad and I were bent over in giggles, and once again, Peyton beamed with pride. My sweet angel could not be any cuter.

The Terrible Twos

2010-03-07T20:08:00.003-06:00

That's right folks. Peyton has hit the terrible twos at 18 months old. At first I thought/hoping she was sick, but it's looking more like just a terrible phase of major grumpiness. There are very rare and very brief moments where she is a happy camper, but almost anything and everything upsets her and she launches into a full-blown temper tantrum. She gets so angry and frustrated if she can't do something by herself, or if a toy is laying the wrong way on the floor. It has gotten so bad at points, I just lay her on the floor and walk out of the room. That often surprises her and calms her down to a degree. But almost nothing is working to help her get over this stage. Her grumpiness has rendered people speechless, stunned by the dramatic flailing of arms and legs, her evil eyes, and her screaming. Who the heck are you and what have you done to my precious blue eyed blonde hair child??

I am really hoping this phase will end soon. I am exhausted between work, insomia, and not throwing up and often find myself with little patience. Thankfully Brad is around and helps with Peyton. She definitely is still a daddy's girl and I am pretty sure she always will be. Until it's time to start dating and Brad scares off all the boys with his gun.

Other than that, Peyton does love her new table that she is able to sit down at and color and eat. She loves the independence of feeding herself with her fork, so she has been more open to trying new foods and it has been going well. I desperately need to take her to the pediatrician this week for her 18 month check-up since I totally forgot about her 15 month check up. She has not been to the doctors in 8 months!

2010-02-20T22:43:00.004-06:00

So, what do you think this means?

Snow day!

2010-02-20T22:32:00.004-06:00

It snowed several inches on Friday, February 12th. Peyton hasn't been the biggest fan of the snow previously but today she was thrilled! She would have spent all day outside if I would let her. She loved walking around in it, digging her hands in it (yes hands, she wouldn't wear gloves), and tasted it several times. We walked around the block a few times and she could not have been any happier. She loves being outside, especially now when it is snowing! Here are some of the pics from that day:

Our Sweet Boy Murphy

2010-02-05T23:36:00.002-06:00

We had to put our sweet boy Murphy to sleep yesterday. He would have been 16 in April - a truly amazing feat considering how lazy and stubborn he was, and how much he loved chocolate.
Murphy has always been my dog and after leaving for college, my mom took over and gave him all the love he could ever ask for. Though he stayed at my parents house for the remainder of his years, I always felt a special bond when I walked in and saw him. It was as if he knew I was his human and he was my dog. That special bond never once was broken. He let Peyton love on him, snuggle with him, and give him lots of kisses. He knew Peyton was my daughter and she was allowed in on those special moments. Here's a picture of Peyton with Murphy the day before he passed away. He's my sweet boy.

So big!

2010-02-04T11:08:00.003-06:00

Peyton is just getting bigger by the day. She is talking a lot more, though most of it is in some foreign language similar to Japanese, and does the occasional sign for "more" and "water." Her speech is a little off but I am surprised (and so relieved) that I am able to understand most of what she says. When I was younger and used to babysit for 2-4 year olds, I would often have a hard time understanding what the kids were saying. Reading the lips of toddlers is no easy task, let me tell you. I was very worried I would struggle with Peyton when she started talking. But I guess, like it is with all parents, you know your kids well and understand what they are saying. She does love talking and is very enthusiatic about repeating words so I am excited about working on this with her!

She is still a full-blooded daddy's girl. The kid lights up when she sees her daddy, and the same goes for Brad. We both wanted all boys, but I think we are perfectly ok with having more girls. Brad sure does love his little girl and will do anything and everything in his power to make sure she is happy and well taken care of.

Peyton does tend to get frustrated easily and does not hesitate to let you know. The word "No" is not a very well liked word in this household. I have started a mini version of time out and I think Peyton understands it to a degree. I let her cry it out for a second, then we talk about it, and then we start playing with something else. She is incredibly smart and I can't wait to see how she does at Mother's Morning Out, which she gets to start in June (thanks to Mimi for getting us in!!!!). I also think playing with kids her age will help her out a lot. She does get to play with Evans almost on a daily basis which is great.

Other than that, Peyton is doing so well and growing so fast. I am looking forward to her 18-month check up to see how much she weighs and how tall she is!

16 months old!

2010-01-02T21:20:00.004-06:00

Peyton turned 16 months old on the 27th of December. I just cannot believe time has flown by so quickly.

Feeding Habits:
After having such a hearty appetite early on, the child has become one seriously fickle eater. We try to get three meals down a day but often one or two actually happen. Peyton loves fruit, especially dried plums and berries. She also loves mac n' cheese, goldfish, nutter butter minis, fruit loops, and cookies. I do try to load her up on the fruit to counteract all the unhealthy foods she has come to love. She is not big on meat at all and often does the whole dramatic gagging-and-spitting-the-food-out scene when I do try to sneak in a bite of chicken. However, that being said, she does occasionally decide that a chicken nugget from Chik-fil-a is acceptable (in addition to those delicious waffle fries) and will eat an entire one! Such a momma's girl. I have limited her drinks to water, milk, V8 fruit and veggie drinks, and an occasional sip or two of sprite. I am trying to avoid juices and have done well so far. Peyton is so good about drinking water and I truly appreciate her for that. She has been drinking out of the sippie cup for quite some time now and still does well with that. A few months ago she picked up on drinking out of a straw and that is by far one of her most favorite activities. I learned pretty quickly that having a stash of straws in the house is a complete must as the girl will have a full-on meltdown if she does not have a straw with her drink. What a big girl! I will sadly admit that she is still fond of the bottle (my fault) which I have limited her to three a day. We are still in the process of weaning from the bottle - which she usually takes around nap time and bed time - but since she does so well with the sippie cup and drinking out of the straw, I am not worried.

Health:
I have been truly amazed at how healthy Peyton has been considering how bad the flu season has been and the germs I encounter at work. She does have the occasional cold but doesn't really complain much. Brad and I often do go overboard when she has a cold and load up on motrin and vapor rub, squirt saline spray up the nose accompanied by use of the dreaded and much hated suction bulb, and get the humidifier going at all times. But hey, she doesn't stay sick for long so we are obviously doing something right, right? She is such a trooper when she is sick and doesn't give any of us too much of a hard time. She is growing perfectly and has gotten a bit taller. (I don't have her height and weight yet...). I don't believe she has gained too much weight recently which is not a problem at all considering how "healthy" aka chubby she has been since day one. She does outweigh most kids her age and I often worry she will accidently body slam some of the younger kids at the gym's daycare. But hey, no injuries reported so far. At least to my knowledge...

Sleeping Habits:
I often find myself bragging about Peyton's sleeping habits. The kid sleeps great. She usually goes down around 8 pm and wakes up around 9 am. During the weekend she does let her parents have a special treat and sometimes sleeps till 10 am! A-maz-ing. She does occasionally cry out in the middle of the night. I have had to hold her a few times which I do not mind at all. It's the only time she will snuggle with me. Nap time is where we get a little iffy. Sometimes she will nap great - two three-hour naps a day - and sometimes, like today, no nap at all. It is partly my fault due to crazy schedules when I am home. I try to get a lot done during my days off and end up dragging Peyton all over town. She is such a trooper, especially with the installation of DVD players in both my and Brad's car, and tolerates me taking her everywhere.

Milestones:
Peyton does great with stairs now, and actually turns around before climbing down. Fewer grey hairs have appeared, whew. She loves imitating stunt people on t.v. with moves such as jumping off the bed, jumping off the couch, doing somersaults, and running around crazy often stumbling into objects and flying backwards. We have actually limited the bruises and cuts but she is so proud to show off her boo-boo when she does have one. She is talking up a storm nowadays but often she is the only one who knows what she is talking about. She has added several words to her vocabulary including: no, hush (to the dogs), dog, more, ball, baby, and more (which of course I cannot remember at this moment). She helps me get her dressed and undressed and lets me know when I am taking too long. She loves singing with anyone and I think she has the best voice I have ever heard. I will have to add on to this section when I remember more (definitely a good thing I have created this blog for her to read when she gets older since I already can't remember details).

Overall:
Peyton loves running, dancing, laughing, and playing peek-a-boo. She loves watching movies and telling you how she feels. She loves snuggling with her blankets and will let you know in a heartbeat that it is completely unacceptable to wash them while she is awake. Her favorite word is "No" and does not hesitate to use it. Her new word of the month is "Hot" and says it as she touches everything, including the cold grapes she's having for dinner. She has the hippest wardrobe and often makes her mommy wonder if it comes in her size. She absolutely adores her Mimi and plays hard with her cousin Evans. She loves giving hugs and kisses. She loves saying "Bye!!!" in her southern twang of an accent to anyone that will listen. She loves waving to anyone what will look. In other words, she is the happiest, healthiest, and most perfect child on earth and we are truly blessed!

Stranger Anxiety

2009-12-10T23:41:00.002-06:00

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!

2009-12-06T00:04:00.002-06:00

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!

Monsters, Inc.

2009-11-08T22:56:00.001-06:00

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!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T23:23:00.002-05:00

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....

What a big girl!

2009-08-13T21:08:00.002-05:00

2009-08-08T11:19:00.002-05:00

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.

4th of July

2009-07-07T15:04:00.004-05:00

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.

2009-06-25T22:05:00.002-05:00

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!

9 month check up

2009-06-04T14:47:00.002-05:00

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!

9 months old already?!?!

2009-05-26T22:57:00.003-05:00

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!

Rainy yet Fun Weekend at the Lake!

2009-05-24T22:14:00.002-05:00

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!

My Little Chunky Monkey!

2009-05-19T16:26:00.003-05:00

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!

Inside voice, please

2009-05-18T16:03:00.001-05:00

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.

Random Pictures!

2009-05-15T14:50:00.004-05:00

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!

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T22:00:00.002-05:00

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!

Pictures

2009-05-01T09:26:00.004-05:00

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!

Brief recap of yesterday

2009-04-30T16:07:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-04-17T12:57:00.002-05:00

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.

2009-04-10T23:30:00.001-05:00

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.

2009-02-16T12:04:00.004-06:00

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!

Can't sleep so I am updating

2009-01-05T01:44:00.001-06:00

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!

What a great Christmas holiday!

2008-12-29T17:17:00.003-06:00

We had the best Christmas holiday ever! Brad, Peyton, and I went down to DeFuniak Springs, Florida the weekend before Christmas to visit Brad's parents and his brother and his family. We did an early Christmas Saturday night and everyone opened presents. Peyton got some adorable toys and lots of baby einstein videos. I am definitely looking forward to using those to help entertain her since she has a rather short attention span! Mama C and Grand Jack (Brad's parents) were super excited about seeing Peyton and had a great time with her. Peyton loved playing with her grandparents and her cousins Hayden and Alaina. I think Alaina is ready for Peyton to start crawling and walking around so she can have a playmate!

I had to work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (Christmas eve) nights, but I was able to spend Christmas morning and day with Brad and Peyton. We all went over to my parents house for the day and opened presents and drank mimosas with them and my brother. My sister and her little girl Evans came from Oxford, MS later that day and we had a fabulous Christmas dinner. Fried turkey is truly heavenly (although probably not the healthiest)! My parents gave Peyton fantastic toys including an octopus that squeeks when you squeeze his legs and this huge dinosaur that you can put the baby in and it is filled with balls (I can't describe it well - it is a minature form of those playpens that you see at McDonalds or Chickfila, with those balls and you can jump in....) Anyways, Santa sure was good to Peyton! Brad gave my mom and me the best gifts ever. He gave each of us a picture frame that has several small frames within the large one, so that you can put several pictures like a collage. He put the most perfect pictures of Peyton for me and for my mom he included pictures of the dogs, her parents, Peyton, and my sister and I. My mom and I both burst into tears when we opened them. Truly perfect gift.
Brad also got me an incredible video camera which is going to be fantastic to use as Peyton grows older. This was also the first time Brad and I actually spent the entire Christmas day together. Usually he travels out of town for the day to see his family and I spend the day with mine. This time we were able to enjoy the holiday together and with a little one too! It truly was one of my favorite Christmases ever, despite it being 65ish degrees outside.

Anyways, that is a brief update for now. I will post pictures soon. Peyton turned 4 months old on the 27th! She has her 4 month check up on January 6th and I am curious to see how much my little chunky money weighs! I know that two weeks ago when she had to go in for a check up since I had a contagious form a pneumonia (I had exposed her to it before realizing that I had it, but she was healthy and still has not gotten sick, thanks to her daddy's immune system!) that she weighed 14 pounds!!! She doubled her birth weight in under four months! Babies aren't really supposed to do that until 6 months. But oh well, she loves to eat and she is healthy!

Quite inconsistent...

2008-12-17T00:37:00.004-06:00

I am not doing the best job with keeping this blog updated, my apologies.

Peyton is doing absolutely fantastic. She will be four months on December 27th, I just cannot believe it! She has been sleeping through the night consistently since she was 8 weeks old. We are truly blessed to have such a good sleeper! She is still growing at a rapid rate and now weighs 14 pounds meaning she has just about doubled her birth weight, something she is supposed to do closer to 6 months of age. What can I say, she loves to eat! She has her official four month check up in January and will be receiving her secound round of vaccinations (although I am a bit nervous now due to poor Frances' reaction to the shots). Brad and I think Peyton is starting to teeth a little bit. She is rubbing her jaws together and trying to put anything and everything in her mouth. We are seriously dreading teething but I am going to stock up on Tylenol, Motrin, and those refrigerated teething toys (although she is not a fan of them at the moment).

Two weeks ago we purchased an exersaucer and a swing that goes in the doorway. The exersaucer is the baby einstein model and she seems to enjoy it to some degree. I am honestly a little surprise on how little came with the model (there are hooks on the crossbars to hang your own toys though), but she likes the spinning frog and the music. She is still a little small for the swing and we are a bit reluctant to put her in it before we put padding in the doorway since she can easily swing into it and bump her head quite nicely. We have some serious baby-proofing to do around the house in the very near future. Peyton hasn't rolled over quite yet and that is my fault - I don't put her on her belly enough. When I do put Peyton on her belly on the playmat, a very short amount of time passes before she starts screaming. We need to enjoy the bit of free time we have before she starts crawling and we won't be able to take our eyes off of her but for extremely short periods of time. However, I think Ranger will definitely help out with this. He is absolutely dying for Peyton to start crawling and walking so she can play with him. Ranger has some australian shepherd in him, so he will be good at herding her around the house.

Let's see, what else. Peyton is doing extremely well on the similac sensitive for gasiness and fussiness (lactose free), although she does require Mylicon for some feeds. We just started using the Playtex nurser bottles with the drop-ins and they are a blessing! I highly recommend them, especially for babies who have colic and gasiness. And the clean up is much quicker since you throw away the drop-ins after the feeds. So nice!

I have been paying close attention to Peyton's hearing skills by shaking toys behind each ear and seeing if she turns toward the noise. It was at six months of age when my parents realized I had hearing loss and I have been wearing hearing aids since I was 8 months old. We aren't sure if I was born with a hearing loss or if it occurred after birth. I spoke with the pediatrician about Peyton's hearing and my experience with hearing loss and she instantly decided that we should schedule a hearing test for Peyton when she is six months old. I was very impressed and relieved by the pediatrician's quick response regarding this issue. I think Peyton will not have a problem with hearing loss, but it is always better to be on the safe side.

Alright, I think I rambled quite a bit. I will try harder to update this blog more often but working full time and taking care of a little one definitely keeps Brad and me busy!

Whoops

2008-11-06T14:28:00.003-06:00

I had written a long entry the other day but it never posted on the website. So I will try to rewrite it as best as I can.

I went back to work last week. Last week and this week I am doing day shift, and then starting next week I am working night shift. Brad and I are so blessed that we have family that lives right down the road to help us with taking care of Peyton. Right now, I drop Peyton off at my parents' house before I go to work and Brad picks her up on his way home from work. When I go to nights, things will get tricky but it actually should work out very nicely. Brad will take care of her while I am at work and I will take care of her while he is at work. Thankfully I only work three days a week, that definitely helps so much. Work is going well. It was quite a shock the first day. Since I work in an intensive care unit, alarms are always going off, nurses and doctors are always running around, and something always needs to be done. I work in the neonatal ICU and the majority of the babies are premature and tiny. It was such a switch coming home to Peyton, who now weighs a very healthy 12 pounds, after work where I am taking care of babies who weigh 2 to 3 pounds. It also makes me very appreciative that Brad and I have such a healthy little girl.

Peyton is doing great. She is 10 weeks old, or two and half months. I can't believe how fast time has passed. As I mentioned before, she weighs 12 pounds now and is 23 inches long (both in 75th percentile). She went in for her two month check-up on Tuesday and the pediatrician says she looks great. Peyton also got four shots, two in each leg! The nurse that gave her the shots was so quick and gentle. Peyton only cried once and the nurse said that that was probably the least she has seen a baby cry after so many shots. Peyton is a tough girl! She is cooing and 'talking' so much nowadays. She loves playing with her daddy. Brad has made it where Peyton doesn't even cry during diaper changes; she is too busy playing to complain about having her diaper changed. Definitely makes diaper changes much more pleasant, except for the big poopy ones!

Ranger and Jackson are still doing great with Peyton. Ranger desperately wants to play with her but understands that she is still too young. When she starts crawling, he is going to have so much fun with her! Jackson pretty much hangs back most of the time. He comes over to sniff her from time to time. Other than that, he waits patiently (sometimes not so patiently) for playtime with Brad. The dogs definitely don't get as much attention as they are used to, but they are handling it well.

Ok, she is crying. It's time to eat. I will post more later!

2008-10-16T16:49:00.002-05:00

On Tuesday night, Peyton slept from 11:30 p.m to 8:30 a.m.!!! Absolutely incredible, especially for a seven week old baby. I was skeptical that it would happen again last night and I was right. She only slept from midnight to 4 a.m. - not good at all. I have been trying to get Brad to practice feeding her and putting her down at night because I go back to work in a week and half and I will be doing night shift, thus meaning Brad will be taking care of Peyton on his own at nights (only three nights a week though). I think he is having a difficult time with it and gets frustrated easily. However, he needs to keep practicing so they both will be able to sleep through the night.

Peyton and I went for a walk in her spiffy stroller this afternoon. There are two things she really likes: walks and baths. Today the weather was perfect and she was awake for most of the walk, looking around at the surroundings. I am sure she can't see much past the stroller, but she is cute when she looks like she is observing what's going on around her. I have also become extremely protective of Peyton. I don't like to walk on the sidewalks since they are incredibly bumpy and I'm afraid I am going to give Peyton her first concussion. So, I end up walking on the street, but only because the streets in our neighborhood or where I walk are extremely wide so there is plenty of room for cars to pass. Yet, some cars still come very close to us and at high speeds. That really just makes me mad. I think I might start taking a carton of eggs with me on our walks and hurl eggs at those cars who come too close to us while they are speeding. Maybe that will get the point across. What do you think?

Well she just ate and she is in her swing now looking around the room and following the dogs with her eyes as they walk around. Since she is content, I guess I will go clean up the house. It is amazing how much I have to clean on a daily basis. I wish Brad would help clean up more often. Maybe one day. We shall see.

Ok, talk later!

Visit with Mama C and Gran Jack

2008-10-14T16:17:00.004-05:00

Brad's parents, Jack and Carolyn, came up to visit this past weekend. This was the first time they have seen Peyton since she was born, and they were amazed at how big she has gotten! As soon as they walked in the front door, they immediately dropped everything and picked Peyton up to play. Peyton was an angel and practiced her smiling all weekend; she smiled whenever Mama C spoke to her and when Gran Jack made his funny noises. Jack and Carolyn gave Brad and me a much needed break, and we were able to get out of the house and run some errands. It truly is amazing how hard it is to get ready with a newborn. It takes me at least two hours to get her and myself ready and out of the house to run errands. I have to make sure she is fed, has a clean diaper, has a clean outfit on, and make sure the diaper bag is filled with emergency items - extra bottles, diapers, wipes, outfits, burp clothes, pacifiers, and so on. Peyton seems to know when I am about to take a shower. She picks that exact moment as I am about to step into the shower to start screaming and crying, wanting to be held. You never realize or appreciate the luxury of having time to take a shower before kids. I definitely learned the hard way. Anyways, it was great to see Jack and Carolyn and I think they had a blast visiting with their granddaughter.

Peyton is still growing. I think babies have growth spurts at 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months. Well, it seems as if Peyton has had a growth spurt since she left the hospital. I can almost promise you she now weighs 11 pounds, most likely close to 12 pounds. She definitely is a porker!!! Brad and I are hoping she will grow up to be a soccer player like us, but we may have to settle for the first female linebacker ever (Roll Tide!) (apologies to Brad's family). A good friend of mine, also a fellow moma, has reassured me that Peyton will slim down once she is mobile, which I have a feeling won't be too long from now. She can hold her head up on her own for long periods of time and has been able to do so for several weeks now. She is incredibly strong and incredibly feisty/wiggly. She goes back to the doctors on November 4th for her two month visit and to get more vaccinations. She is getting a total of four shots!!! Definitely will be giving her Tylenol beforehand, poor thing.

I have attached more recent pictures of Peyton. I still haven't downloaded the ones from this past weekend but I will do that soon. Hope you enjoy them!

Holding the bottle all by herself!

Sweet as an angel when sleeping...

Introduction!

2008-10-08T16:56:00.002-05:00

I finally have found time to start a much needed blog that revolves around our precious daughter, Peyton! I hope friends and family will be able to view this blog and be continuously updated on our evolving lives as parents. Most likely there will be entries that make you wonder if we still have some sanity within us, but hopefully those will be limited!

Just a brief introduction to our family. Brad and I met during the summer of 2004 as we played on the same indoor soccer team. Although we had games every week, our conversations were limited. Then out of the blue, Brad invited me out to have a drink to celebrate my 24th birthday after one of our late night games. That night, after a year of barely talking, we spent 5 hours conversing about anything and everything. We both knew then that we had found something incredibly special. We have been together ever since! During our years together, we have rescued two wonderful dogs, Ranger and Jackson. Ranger, who will be three years old in November, is an Australian shepherd mix who loves to snuggle and visit with humans! Jackson, a German shepherd/lab mix, is our massive guardian of the house. He just turned two years old and weighs 100 pounds! We plan to rescue several more dogs in the near future and encourage anyone and everyone to do so as well. It truly is a rewarding experience.

Brad and I recently bought a fabulous house in Homewood, Alabama and hurried to get the house, especially the nursery, ready in time for Peyton's arrival. She finally made her dramatic entry into this world (after 26 hours of labor, she very stubbornly refused to come out and caused her mom to have a c-section!) on August 27th at 6:43 p.m. She weighed 7 lbs and 4 oz and had a headful of red hair! She was proud and determined to let the world know that she had a set of perfectly healthy lungs; she cried for hours and hours and I started to wonder if I had made a huge mistake.

Peyton is six weeks old today and weighs a very healthy 10 pounds! She jumped from 25% to 75% in weight in a matter of four weeks; she definitely loves to eat!! For a few weeks, Peyton and I struggled with her feedings. She would cry for hours after each feeding and have bellyaches. The doctor confirmed what I had already suspected - Peyton is lactose intolerant. We finally found a formula that she tolerates very well (Similac Sensitive (for gasiness and fussiness, lactose-free)). I am going to try to reintroduce breast milk back into her diet in a few weeks since she is older and hopefully will tolerate it better. We shall see how that goes.

Ok, that is enough for now!