Adventures of Mama G

Love is all you need?

2011-12-12T16:26:00.001-06:00

I have a confession to make and it might upset some of you.. but for some of you parents, you might understand completely where I am coming from. I'll let you be the judge.
Let me preface this by saying, I really do love my children more than words can say. I would do anything for them. Some days though.. this sentiment goes right out the window. Makayla is 5 1/2 and Jackson is almost 2, however these are not particularly fun ages. Makayla is in a defiant stage and likes to challenge almost every word that comes out of our mouths. She so desperately wants to be in charge of everything that she often just does things without asking and of course ends up in trouble. One example is that she wakes up before my alarm and instead of coming to my room like I've told her to do a million times, she will go into the kitchen and start eating whatever she can get her hands on. Now, if I could get her to make her own breakfast, this wouldn't be a problem, but she likes to go for the "off-limits" stuff. I like the kids to have milk in the morning, but she will go and get herself a big glass of juice, which again, she knows I don't like. When I ask her why she did it instead of asking me, she says, "Because I wanted it". UGH! It's like her personal mantra right now!! This doesn't just apply to food, it often applies to clothes, getting out too many toys, playing too rough with her brother etc. Here is where my confession comes in.. I always love Makayla, but sometimes I do not like her. Luckily, this feeling doesn't last long, just when I am super frustrated.

Jackson is another story. He isn't defiant, but he's in a whiny stage. When he doesn't get his way, he whines. How can something so cute make a noise that obnoxious?! He loves to explore, which i don't mind, but when he gets into something I don't want him to and I redirect him, he just starts throwing a fit. He will stomp his feet or fall to the ground and starts whining and crying. Lucky for us, he doesn't do this that often, but when he does, it is definitely nerve-racking!

Have you experience these moments with your children? Let me know one thing your child does that just makes you crazy!

A work in progress....

2011-11-08T16:06:00.002-06:00

Hello friends! I have some exciting news.. well, exciting for me I guess.. you probably will just snicker. I am working on something and for me, it's a pretty big deal. For all you that know me personally, you know that I am a huge coddler (sp?). Because we waited 4 years to have my son, our daughter was our sole pride and joy for those 4 years and it would be somewhat of an understatement to say that child was spoiled. Now we didn't just give her everything she ever wanted, but since she was the only grandchild and our only child, she was, let's say, "well loved". Ha! I really didn't become aware until recently how much of a coddler I was. I always thought I was the disciplinarian! (Which I really can be, when the situation calls for it) But now that my daughter is 5 and understands manipulation tactics, she has been working hard on Mommy and I am now realizing how much I used to give in to her. Unfortunately for Makayla, she has been hearing "No" a lot more now.
Here is an example of what happened recently...

So we have a formal living/dining room that we basically turned into a playroom for Makayla. Since she had so many toys that were little and what were considered choking hazards, we made her keep her toys in there since Jackson's "area" was in our den. Well a couple of weeks ago, she apparently had some sort of episode and decided to be a human tornado and dumped all her toys from the toy box all over the floor in BOTH rooms. It seriously looked like some toy hoarder lived here. Well in the past, I would have gone in there and cleaned it up for her, but this time I refused. It was just too big of a mess and she needed to learn a lesson. So we told her that she could not have ANY of her friends over until she cleaned those rooms. Well, needless to say, it took a couple of weeks, but today she finally went in there and started cleaning. Now, I know what you are going to say. Why didn't you make her do it the day she dumped it all out. Well, honestly, she wouldn't have learned anything new. She knows she has to clean up, but if she did it right away, she wouldn't have learned that Mommy and Daddy meant business. She has been begging to have some of her friends come over, but we keep telling her no, not until those rooms are clean. She has now learned that Mommy and Daddy, but especially Mommy, are not just going to give in any more.
So today, without me saying anything at all, she announced she was going to clean the rooms up and that I would be SO proud of her. Well, she was right. I am one proud Momma right now. She has been in there for a little over an hour, cleaning and organizing! I even gave her a bag and told her she could decide herself which toys she wanted to donate and which ones to keep. Every once in a while, she takes a little break, but then diligently goes back and works some more.
It probably won't get finished today and more than likely I will have to go in there and help a little. (Yes, it was that bad), but I am so proud of her that she is learning to do things herself! Yeah for progress on both our parts!!

What happens when you blink

2011-10-07T21:37:00.000-05:00

Since's it has been several months, there has been a lot that has happened! First off, we went on our annual Beach Trip with the family! We went down to Galveston and stayed in a BEAUTIFUL beach house that belongs to a family friend. It was a much needed vacation and we had a great time!

Right after we got home, it was time for Makayla to start Kindergarten! This was met with much excitement, anxiety (mostly on my part) and a little sadness. Makayla was very excited to start back and see her friends, but Mommy was taking this new transition a little harder. I can't believe she is in Kindergarten already! It seems just like yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital!

So far though, she has loved it and loves all the new things she is learning! It is already early Oct. and she is starting to read all by herself!!! We are so proud of her!!

Jackson is also growing bigger by the minute! He is always on the go and has endless energy! It's exhausting! Lol! He is learning new words and loves to play with his big sister!

Now we are getting geared up for Halloween! Makayla is going to be a fairy with a dress that glows in the dark! She is very excited about this! We still aren't set on Jackson's costume so I will keep you updated!

I've become a "real" parent now!

2011-07-20T14:13:00.000-05:00

For all you late twenty and early to mid thirty year olds, do you remember back in the day when a sign of how cool you were was just how big your CD carrier was? Although I love music, I was never much of a CD person. I just loved listening to all the different radio stations and it really wasn't until I got into college that I started to slowly expand my CD collection. This was only due to the fact that I had a boyfriend (now my husband) who was constantly burning me CD's of all the songs we liked. Even now, if you rummage through all my CD's, I probably still have less than 50. But you must be wondering what in the world this has to do with parenthood? Well, I did something today that was a first. I completely unloaded my CD carrier, carefully picked a handful of CD's I still actually like, then loaded it back up with.... wait for it.... KID'S DVD's! Now that we have a DVD player in the car, it is a great luxury and Makayla is constantly wanting me to play movies. I didn't want them to always be plugged into a tv, so I only kept maybe 3 DVD's in the car. Well, we have gone through those DVD's over and over again and Mommy really can't handle hearing, "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly, I don't know why she swallowed a fly, perhaps she'll die...", one more time! So just to have an arsenal of choices, I have loaded up my carrier with tons of DVD's. Never in a million years when I bought that carrier did I ever think I would be using it as a parenting tool...
I did, however, buy a smaller, more compact CD case and the handful of CD's I still listen to will fit nicely in there. I just feel like I have come to a turning point, even though I have been a mother for well over 5 years now. The things I once treasured as a single adult have slowly been ignored or turned into useful parenting tools. Another example is my CD/DVD burner on my computer. I was so excited to get this with dreams of making all these crazy cool things, but now I mostly use it to burn children's CD's! Lol! I don't mind at all, but it's just funny how much your perspectives change when you become a parent.

So I need to bid farewell to the following:

Paula Abdul- Spellbound circa 1991
the Cranberries- No Need to Argue circa 1994
Matthew Sweet- 100% fun circa 1995
Counting Crows- Recovering the Satellites circa1996
Real McCoy- Another Night circa 1995
Spice Girls- Spice circa 1996
Tribute to the Notorious B.I.G.- circa 1997
Soundtrack to Romeo + Juliet- circa 1996
Adam Sandler- they're all gonna laugh at you circa 1993
matchbox 20- yourself or someone like you circa 1996
Alanis Morissette- jagged little pill circa 1995

(these are not all of them, but the ones I literally laughed out load when I saw them)

We had a good run and had some good times, but I'm just not that into you anymore...

Summer Craziness!!

2011-07-17T00:26:00.002-05:00

Well, we just finished up our week at VBS! What a great time we all had! Makayla absolutely LOVES VBS and I hope that stays with her for a long time. Jackson is still a little young, but getting out of the house and going to a room with lots of new toys is still lots of fun to a 16 mon. old!!

Just a couple of new developments for you all...
Makayla lost both of her top front teeth and she already had the two teeth next to her bottom teeth gone for a while now, so she has a super cute smile! Our perfect little jack-o-lantern! She also just started a Gymnastics class and is loving that as well! She came home and promptly showed off her new skills of doing a cartwheel and doing a bridge! Yeah!

Jackson is doing well and growing so big! I finally caved this past week and took him for his first big boy haircut!! He had the most beautiful curls, but his hair was just getting crazy out of control and now he looks like a little boy instead of a baby. Sniff... He also has 12 teeth!! Seriously, he looks so much older than he is with that mouth full of teeth! And boy does he have the appetite to go with them too!! He must be going through a growth spurt because he is constantly hungry! It doesn't matter if we have just fed him lunch or dinner, if he sees one of us with food, he comes right over and starts whining for some!! Lol! I foresee his teenage years of eating us out of house and home!

I also started working again! Yeah! I work at my church in the Nursery! I LOVE it! It is a flexible schedule that is wonderful and I can take the kids with me whenever I want! We also just purchased our first car, a mini-van for me! A Honda Odysessy that I just LOVE!!! It has so much room and the kids love it as well!!

Other than that, I am just busy keeping the kids entertained for the summer! I hope you all are doing well! Talk to you soon!

This and That

2011-06-29T00:18:00.000-05:00

Good grief! It's been a while and I'm sure you are getting tired of hearing me apologize about my absences! I swear I have a good reason!! Since Makayla has been out of school, life at the Graf House has been CRAZY! Trying to keep a 5 yr. old and a 15 month old AT THE SAME TIME has been a very tough challenge. She is an outdoors girls and wants to be out there all the time, no matter how hot. It's like she is immune to the weather. We've had NO rain (except for a day or 2) and it has been well into the upper 90's and low 100's, but does Makayla care? No! Well of course I can't take Jackson out there in weather like that for very long.. so it's been interesting trying to think of things they will both enjoy.

I am slowly but surely getting our schedule under control and finding some time for myself. I have several things I want to post about, so if you can bear with me and have faith, I will return with some fun stories!

Thanks everyone!! Hope you are having a good summer so far!!

Yes, I would like the child with a side of surgery...

2011-04-04T15:22:00.000-05:00

Well.. I bet you all just thought I vanished from the face of the earth now didn't ya? Sorry about that.. these last few months have been crazy.. but isn't that what I always say?! Lol! Makayla's birthday was in early Feb. and we had so much going on.. then just 3 very short weeks later, it was time for Jackson's birthday. Wait, let me rephrase, Jackson's FIRST birthday!!!! My big boy is now 1 yrs. old!! We had a wonderful party at our house with some close family and friends and it was so much fun to see Jackson get that cake all over his face! I can now say, the boy LOVES his cake! Ha!

But I bet you are wondering.. so what's with the surgery talk? Well, back in 2006, I had to have an emergency c-section to welcome my sweet little girl into the world. A mere 4 weeks later, I had to have emergency surgery again to have my gall bladder removed. That was tons of fun let me tell ya. But I got through it and knew that when the time came to have another baby, I would most likely have another c-section. So I made my peace with that and prepared myself. What I was NOT prepared for however, was that a year later, my c-section scar (internal) would decide to rip open again and leave me with a hernia. This is also known as an incisional hernia. About a week after Jackson's birthday, I noticed a little lump underneath my skin, but honestly didn't think much of it at the time. But a week later that little lump decided to expand to the size of a softball. I was officially freaked out! I went to the Dr. who explained what it was, but informed me that surgery was needed ASAP! Eek! So 4 days later, I was on the operating table, getting yet another abdominal surgery. If you are keeping count, that makes 4 surgeries in just 5 years.
The surgeon said afterwards that once he got inside, the hernia was a lot bigger than he thought.. he used the word "massive", which did nothing to settle my anxiety. But I did fine and spent the night in the hospital and went home the next day. That was 2 weeks ago.
These last 2 weeks have been excruciating, not only from the pain, but also for the fact that I could not pick up Jackson AT ALL. Not from the crib, nothing! So my mom and MIL had to help me out, which I am SOOO thankful for!! But I recently went back for my post-op and the Dr. cleared me to pick up Jackson again and that was one of the best feelings ever! Very slowly the pain has let up and I am finally not in pain or feeling achy almost every minute. Every once in a while, I get a sore feeling, but it doesn't last long thank goodness! I think I am finally over the hurdle! I am thankful to have the hernia fixed, but I will be even more glad if I don't have to see the inside of another operating room again!!!

My Beautiful Kiddos!

2011-01-25T22:19:00.000-06:00

Hey friends!

Sorry it's been a while, we are just settling back into our daily routine from Christmas break. Right after the New Year, we had the chance to have professional pictures taken of the kids, and I jumped on it! I have been wanting to do this for a while, but wanted to wait until Jackson could really sit up on his own as I didn't want just pictures of him only on his back. I am in LOVE with this pictures and they are just too good to keep to myself! So please enjoy our beautiful pictures, courtesy of Micleah Cherry Photography!

Texas Sky!

2011-01-09T23:03:00.000-06:00

Here is my Texas Sky picture from Friday!

Just beautiful!

New Baby!

2010-12-19T23:44:00.000-06:00

Bet I got you to do a double take on that one huh?? No, we are NOT having a baby.. but since Jackson got his tubes last week, it's like we have a whole new baby! He was one happy kid before, but now.. whoa! He's like 10 times as happy! He is just hilarious! It is crazy that a small plastic tube can make such a big difference! He is crawling around like crazy and pulling up on EVERYTHING! He would love to try and walk, but is still too wobbly for that. We are excited that he is no longer in pain and will be healthy for Christmas! Yeah!

Me, on the other hand, not so much. I have gotten ANOTHER bad sinus infection and my right ear is very messed up and not draining the fluid that has been in there for weeks now. My Dr. has me on some more heavy duty antibiotics and a steroid nose spray, so hopefully that will take care of the problem. I am very tired of these sinus/ear infections. We are praying that 2011 is a medical drama-free year for us!

Since it's so close to Christmas, I probably won't post again until after Sat. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Oops!

2010-12-14T16:00:00.000-06:00

I guess I should have remember to link back to my friend's site who is doing the whole Texas Sky Edition! Doh! Kirsten, I am so sorry!

http://www.stillhatepickles.com/

Texas Sky ~ First Edition!

2010-12-12T21:15:00.000-06:00

My friend and neighbor and fellow blogger is doing a great series on our beautiful Texas sky and all she has to offer. She has been taking 1 or more pictures every day and posting it on her blog. She has asked that us bloggers try and take some pics as well and then link back to her blog! Yeah!! So, without further ado.. here is my first post and some recent pictures I've taken in the last couple of weeks of our beautiful, ever-changing Texas sky.

Set for Tube City~Dec. 14th!

2010-12-07T13:17:00.003-06:00

Hey friends,

Some of you have heard that Jackson has been having a lot of ear infections lately. 4 to be exact, since Sept and he’s been on 4 rounds of antibiotics and nothing has helped. My Ped. recommend that he get tubes, so we met with our ENT today. They had to do some tests to check him out and here is what they found:

~His eardrums are not moving at all (apparently they are supposed to move)

~He has some minor hearing loss in both ears (from all the fluid in there from his current infection)

~The fluid in his ear is very cloudy/yellow and it’s pretty nasty in there

So the Dr. said tubes are definitely necessary and we need to do it as soon as possible. The surgery will last about 15 min. and they have to put Jackson under general anesthesia. We will then be in the post-op room for a couple of hours and then we will get to go home. He will have the tubes in for a year, and we will go in every 4-5 months for the Dr. to check on them. They usually take out the adenoids when they put in tubes, but he said Jackson was too small for him to do that now. As Jackson grows and gets bigger, so will his ears and the tubes may possible fall out in about a year, which is fine. However, there is a small chance that even with tubes, he may continue to have ear infections. If he keeps getting them, then he will have to have an additional set of tubes put in next year and then at that time, they will take out his adenoids. But if he doesn’t have any more infections, then that’s fine and the Dr. will just keep checking on him.

Sigh. So it’s just a lot to take in, but I know this will help him and he will start to feel better almost immediately. The surgery has been schedule for next Tues., Dec. 14^th at 6:30am. (We have to get there at 5:30am!! Yikes!!) A few weeks after the surgery, we will go back to the Dr. and they will retest his hearing and they said his hearing should be back to normal.

Please keep my little guy in your prayers and us too, as this is very nerve-racking. I just worry so much about my children and as parents we want nothing more than for them to be healthy and happy! Thank you all for the support, love and prayers! We are very hopeful that 2011 will be a year of less Dr. visits and no more medical drama!

Sick and Sicker..

2010-11-21T20:23:00.000-06:00

There is a virus that lives in our house. It's like a family member now.. always around and we can't get rid of it! Count to date:

Number of Ear Infections: 3 for Jackson/1 for me

Stomach bug: 3- Phil, Makayla and I

Sinus junk: 4- We've all had it

And this is just since September people! Seriously! We've cleaned the house and disinfected, but we keep getting sick! It's so annoying! I have a bad sinus infection right now and I have to be on heavy antibiotics for a full 14 days! That's half a month!! And poor Jackson, our Pediatrician says if he gets another ear infection after this round of meds, he will definitely have to get tubes! :-( I am so ready for us to be well, and well at the same time!!!

There are just no words...

2010-10-12T23:03:00.000-05:00

Sorry if I have been MIA... this has been one of the hardest weeks I've had in a while. But that is nothing compared to what my best friend Traci and her family has had to deal with.
Let me start from the beginning. 5 years ago, Traci's mom passed away leaving Traci, her sister and their dad to grieve such a terrible loss. I've known their family since I was 4 and it was just so devastating to lose such a wonderful person. To save more grief and keep things private for the family's sake, I will not divulge the whole story. Their dad took the loss very hard, as she was the absolute love of his life. I have very rarely seen a couple that still acted like newlyweds whenever I saw them together. They set such a great example of how couples, I think wants to be like.
Again, for privacy reasons, I will not go into how everything came to be, but Traci's dad passed away last week as well. I don't even know how to begin to describe what this week has been like. It has been just awful. How do you comfort someone who has lost both parents? I have tried my best to do anything I could to help them, be there for them etc. but I just end up feeling so helpless. I just want to take away their pain and hurt and make things all better, but I can't. My only hope is that in time God will heal their pain and sorrow.
Please keep them in your prayers as no one should have to endure what that family has had to go through.

To market we will go!

2010-09-26T23:52:00.000-05:00

Hello friends! Just a quick update to my last post.. I ended up going to the Dr. and getting diagnosed with Bronchitis and an ear infection! Yuck! But I got on some good meds and I'm feeling much better, but the cough is lingering...boo.

On a better note though, I have some exciting news!! Since starting my own business and starting to really promote it, I have been thinking of ways to get my name out there. I know my old school does an annual Holiday Market in the fall and I decided to call and find out how I can be a vendor. Lucky for me, they had 1 spot left inside the main building, so I signed up right away! Whohoo!! I quickly realized that I would be a small duck in a big pond being that this is my first market to attend. Most of the others, I'm sure have done this many times before. I began thinking of all the things I've seen at the various markets I've attended and how professional the booths looked. So I found a really cute and very cheap, fabric desktop business card holder and ordered that. It should arrive in the next week or so. I also realized I needed some sort of banner to put on my tablecloth covering my table. I ended up making a cute one on Vistaprint and it was so inexpensive! It should also arrive in the next week!! Yeah! So I am progressively getting everything ready to go!

Also, I have expanded my ideas on my picture blocks. I have decided that I will do some college-themed blocks as well as sorority-themed ones! I already have someone who wants a sorority one for her daughter! What is so great about this product is the endless possibilities! I can do just about any theme! If you couldn't tell already, I am just so excited about all this! I love being crafty and of course getting paid for that is a bonus too! :-)

I will post some pictures of all my various pieces that I will be displaying at the market once I get them all finished.. just consider it your sneak peek!

Ugh.

2010-09-21T15:32:00.000-05:00

For the last 3 weeks, our house has been under attack. Under germ warfare if you will. Makayla has had a very bad cough, then I caught the cough. Then Jackson started having a runny nose and sounded so bad. He was running just a slight fever, but then 2 days later, his fever shot up to 103 in the middle of the day. We called our Ped. who advised that we take him to a local Pediatric Urgent Care Center. Yikes! The Dr. said he had a double ear infection!! My poor baby! So he is on some good meds right now and is slowly on the mend. Unfortunately for me though, I have been getting worse. I have had a severe headache for about 3 days now and my cough has gotten a lot worse. In addition to starting to lose my voice, my ears are starting to hurt and now I am starting to run a fever! UGH! I am so tired of feeling like crud!! I had taken some expired Amoxicillin this morning to try and nip this in the bud.. and it did make me feel better for most of this morning, but I guess it's time to go see my Dr. Again, ugh. Sorry to be so cranky and complain, but I HATE getting sick. I know it could be a lot worse, but I hate feeling so run down, but barely ok enough to get up and do the things I have to do, i.e.- take care of my kids, get myself ready, etc.

Well, if by tomorrow I am still feeling like this, I guess I will surrender and go see the Dr.

Somewhere I never thought I'd be...

2010-08-28T17:17:00.003-05:00

As many of you know, I was diagnosed with Chronic ITP, shortly after our son was born. Luckily though, the condition is not so serious that I have to be on medicine and I do not have to have my spleen removed. (A common treatment in the more severe cases.) I have to go to my Hematologist every 6 months or so to get my platelet levels checked to make sure the condition isn't getting any worse. Just last week, I had an appointment and what occurred next was something Phil and I never thought we would have to be thinking about.

Before I get into what exactly that is, I just want to make it absolutely clear that I love my children with all my heart. I would do ANYTHING for them, they are my absolute heart and soul and the sole purpose I was put on this earth.

With that being said, Phil and I had discussed the issue of being done with having children or in several years, possibly trying for another one. If we never had another child, we most certainly would be perfectly content. We just didn't want to completely rule out the possibility.

In talking to my Hematologist about this, he has advised that Phil and I don't have another baby. He says it will really affect my health since my platelets are low to begin with, and during pregnancy your platelets significantly drop anyway. He said I would have to either get on steroids or have bi-monthly IVIG treatments starting at about 5 months of pregnancy, which are $15,000 each!! Yikes! So basically he said we need to take very serious precautions about getting pregnant. I am on birth control, but every birth control is only 99% effective and honestly I have had friends who got pregnant while on birth control.

Phil and I first talked about me getting a hysterectomy, but decided that was just too drastic. We then decided that Phil getting a vasectomy would be a better choice. But because I don't want to completely rule out the possibility of a future pregnancy, we may get his "swimmers" frozen first. Even though we probably won't decide to have another baby, I just hate the thought of the door being slammed shut.

I never in a million years ever thought we would be at this point in our life. Researching Urologists and places that freeze sperm.

At the corner of Crazy and Psychotic!

2010-08-16T23:31:00.001-05:00

I just had the most bizarre interaction with my neighbor tonight. Let me take you back to the beginning. Shortly after Phil and I moved in, our neighbors to the right of us moved and a single guy moved in. My dad helped this guy, since my dad knew his dad. This guy is very nice, but was hardly ever home, which really didn't bother us. But then about a year ago, we started noticing this guy with a big truck that would come and park in the driveway and would stay all night, then leave the next morning. So we figured out that our single friend got himself a roommate. No big deal. The guy never introduced himself or anything, even if we were outside when he came home, just a nod of the head every once in a while. Fast forward to today. I went outside to get our trashcans and he pulls up, gets out and immediately comes over to where I am. He introduces himself (I will call him John for privacy purposes) and says he has his 2 kids (ages 4 & 9) visiting him for 2 weeks. So without him actually telling me, I gather he is divorced. He asks if his 4 yr. old can use our swing, I tell him yes although it is really a baby swing, but he was more than welcome to try it. We say our goodbyes and go into our houses.
Here's where the real craziness kicks in.....

So after Makayla's nap, I told her we could go outside and play in the sprinkler. She ate dinner and we headed out about 7:30. She had been playing for only 20 min. or so, when a black car pulls into my neighbors driveway and a woman gets out. Of course my daughter who knows NO strangers, calls out to her, "Hey look, I'm playing in the sprinkler!" So the woman comes over and introduces herself as Mary. (Name changed for reason stated above.) At the time she came over, I happened to be talking to my mom on the phone, so the lady just starts talking to Makayla. Next thing I know, the lady puts down her purse, puts her arms around Makayla and they go running through the sprinkler together. I quickly hang up with my mom and the lady then tells me, "Well you know John's kids are here visiting, let me go get them!!!" And she runs off towards the neighbors house. At this point, I am thinking, Ok.. this is getting kinda weird. So she brings out the little girl (age 9) and Makayla and her start talking and playing in the driveway. Mary comes over to me, but no sooner had she sat down that John brings out the little boy (age 4). He tells me that the boy had just woken from a nap. Then out of no where, this is the conversation that Mary and John had RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!

Mary: Well.. should we do this?
John: Sure.
Mary: Hi (insert little boy's name), I'm Mary. Nice to meet you!!
(Little boy doesn't respond)
John: Well he's hungry, so I need to take him in to eat.
Mary: How about I take him in?? Saying to the boy, Come on honey, let's go in. (She holds her arms out to him, but he just hides his face into his dad's shoulder)
John: He's just tired and hungry, let me take him in.
Mary: Well, see, you're not giving me a chance.

John at this point just turns around and takes the boy inside. Mary sits next to me and this was our conversation.

Mary: See.. that's just different parenting right there.
Me: (Just nods my head)
Mary: Yeah I got me an 18 and 13 yr. old and see John still lets his kids sleep in the bed with him. So when he told me his kids were coming to visit, I told him I guess I wouldn't see him until they were gone. When he asked me why, I said, how is there gonna be enough room for us and the kids in your bed?
Me: Oh. (At this point, I make the assumption they are bf/gf even though they never introduced themselves this way.)

At this point, John comes back out and says that they need to go in and eat, and I tell Makayla we need to go in as well. She comes over and I make a dress out of her beach towel and she walked back to John, Mary and the little girl and wants them to look at her dress. Mary then scoops her up in her arms and carries her back to me. (I was gathering our stuff up) Then Mary says, Nice to meet you and then gives me this gigantic hug!!! AHHH! Seriously, I thought I was on Candid Camera and someone was gonna jump out with a camera any second and scream, "Gotcha!!!" So I politely say goodbye and as we are walking up our driveway, Mary turns and says, "Hey, what time do your kids get up? I'm just wondering!" Knowing where this was going I said, "Well about 6:30-7:00" She says, "Oh wow, that's way too early for me!" So we say goodbye again and we walked inside.

Yeah, I'll give you a minute to process that and play it all out in your head.
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..
...
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Do I have a sign on my forehead that says, Welcome freaks?! They must have been on drugs right? Or drunk?? Who in the heck introduces their gf to their son for the FIRST time in front of their neighbor, whom them just met themselves for the first time that day???? WHO!??!

Also, why do I need to know who sleeps in what beds, etc?!

I seriously feel like I am in the Twilight Zone!! After telling my mom the story, she pointed out something. She said, "Well you know why she wanted to know what time you get up right? I bet you anything that John has to work, so Mary is gonna be staying with the kids! She is going to want to hang out with you constantly for the next 2 weeks!" Oh heck no!! I got enough drama of my own than to take on some crazy neighbors!!

Ok, I feel better that I have gotten that all out. Now it's your turn!! Leave a comment and tell me some bizarre, outrageous story that has happened to you!

Countdown to School!

2010-08-15T21:27:00.001-05:00

Hi all! Well I'm sure most of you are aware that school is just around the corner! (Next week for some of you!) Makayla's school however, doesn't start until Sept. 7th! Which is a blessing and a curse at the same time. Let me explain...
It's been great having all this time to spend with Makayla, but at the same time, with a small baby in the house, it's hard some days to give her all the attention she needs/wants. Some days, Jackson is wonderful and content swinging or playing in his jungle gym, but other days he wants to be held constantly and that's when it gets hard to juggle having 2 kids. I know at school she will have so much fun playing with other children and getting to do projects etc. and will get the attention she so desires. So while I am enjoying my time with her, I am definitely ready for school to start as well!

Other than that, I am still trying to cope with the hurt I feel from getting let go from my job. I still have connections at the school and was told recently that they have hired 2 brand new, FULL TIME aides. This is after they gave me the BS excuse that they didn't have it in the budget to keep any aides. Of course, these 2 new people have their degrees and teaching certificates, and it blows me away that being that educated, they would take an aide job for probably very little pay. What also hurts is the fact that they just weren't honest with me. If they wanted someone with a teaching certificate, then at least tell me that! Even though I don't have one, at least I have no one else to blame but myself for that! They could have just as easily said they needed people with a little more experience and a cert. for the position and honestly I would have respected that. I have absolutely NO respect for people who lie about something to try and spare my feelings, especially when you know I have friends there and will hear the truth eventually!

It also makes me sad that I went to this school when I was young and it seems to just be going down the drain. They have way too much turn-over with the Head of School position so they can't ever get a good solid foundation because every couple of years they have someone new who has a different way they want to run things. I really hope that they can get someone in there who wants to stay for the long haul and really wants what is best for the kids and teachers alike.

Ok, enough of that or else I will start to cry. I am determined to try and see what God has in store for me and what he is trying to tell me. Hello God, it's me, Sharon. I'm listening......

Oops!

2010-08-06T21:13:00.004-05:00

So I just checked this blog and realized that I had not written anything on here for over a month! Yikes!! Sorry friends!! Life this summer has been crazy!! Summer school, swim lessons, VBS and then there was the constant rain that kept us indoors for the better part of July!

Summer however, is slowly coming to a close. Makayla has just about 3 weeks left before school starts, and I for one, am really excited! Ha! I love her to death, but this summer has been brutal! With a new brother in the house, it's been very hard to entertain her or give her one on one attention and she has definitely been feeling it. Makayla loves school and they will be able to keep her busy much more than I can at this point. Next summer will be better when Jackson will be 16 months old and we will probably be able to get out and do more things.

As for now, I promise to update more frequently than I have been! Thanks for being patient!!

What happens when you piggy back your 50lb. 4 yr. old ....

2010-06-22T23:07:00.003-05:00

Yeah, so this sucks.

4 weeks ago I was rough-housing with Makayla. She was on my back and I was running around the house and I managed to twist my ankle. I didn't hear anything pop, so I knew it wasn't broken, but it was sore and immediately started swelling. I figured that would last maybe a week and would go away, but nope. 4 weeks later and it is still extremely swollen and still tender to the touch. I finally decided enough was enough and went to see the Dr. today. They took a bunch of x-rays and Dr. determined that it is a very bad sprain and there are some damaged ligaments on the top of my foot. He said we HAVE to get the swelling under control or else the tissue in my foot will get damaged, and then I will be in real trouble. So he said I needed a soft cast, which entails some binding inside that will help the swelling redistribute back up my leg. I am supposed to wear this for a week and then cut it off myself. Then I will go back in 2 weeks and he will check on it again. I can't get this thing wet and I basically have to treat it like a hard cast. Boooo. At least it wasn't broken and I can keep my record of no broken bones! Whohoo!

You Capture: Water!

2010-06-18T20:32:00.004-05:00

It's that time of week again folks! The You Capture challenge this week was Water. Makayla has been in her little pool non-stop for the last week, so I decided this was the perfect opportunity to take some fun shots! Here is what I got:

My 3 month old son... just because he's cute!

I loved the way the pool looked with all the different colors

My beautiful daughter, Makayla

Spitting water

Splashing water, her favorite thing to do

My Summer List of Fun!

2010-06-08T15:11:00.007-05:00

Since I now have 2 kids and will desperately need some entertainment for Makayla, I have included some events that we will be participating in this summer! Very fun activities for under $10!! You can't beat that! Hope you enjoy, and hope this helps some of you other Mommies out there! And if you know of something I haven't included, please leave a comment and I will add it to my list! Thanks!

Summer Fun!

Monday: Kid Krazy days at Kemah Boardwalk - $1.99 Kidmeals at all restaurants (Starts in July)

Pump It Up ~ 9:30 to 11:30am ~ $6 for pop in play

Tuesday: AMC Movie Camp- 10am~$1 admission - June 15-August 10^th

Edwards Marq*E Free Movies ~ 10am (doors open at 9am)

History Museum- Free admission after 2pm

Wednesday: Play dates with Neighbors

Edwards Marq*E Free Movies ~ 10am (doors open at 9am)

Thursday: Free Admission @ Children’s Museum~5-8pm

Pump It Up ~ 9:30 to 11:30am ~ $6 for pop in play

Friday: Mommy & Me Skate(DARR) ~ 10am-12pm ~ $5

Pump It Up ~ 9:30 to 11:30am ~ $6 for pop in play

Fireworks at Kemah Boardwalk ~ 9:30pm

Saturday: George Observatory ~ 5-10pm ~ $5 admission pp- Kids 12 & under are FREE!

SMG: M~Th @ 11am ~ $1-child/$2-adult (Starts June 7^th)

Monkey Joes: M~Th $8.99/ F~Su $10.99 (Opens at 10am)

Tennis Lessons: Mon. ~ Thurs. - July 5-29^th/ 8:15-9:00 or 4:15-5:00

300 Bowling: Sun~Fri. ~ 11am-4pm Free for kids/ $9 for adults

***UPDATE: Just learned about a place called the Fish Gallery (near 59/Kirby) that does a story time every Thurs. at 3:30. Snacks are included and after the story, the kids can pet starfish, turtles, etc.! How cool is that?! And it's all FREE!! ***

You Capture: Fun!

2010-06-07T15:35:00.003-05:00

Hey friends,

I stumbled on this from a friend's blog and thought I would join in the fun! Each week the author of this blog: http://www.ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com/category/you-capture asks you to take a picture of whatever the category is that week. You post this pic to your blog and link it to her site and you are all set! Hope you will join me in this!

This weeks category: Fun! Here is my daughter at her school's Field Day. She was having LOTS of fun!! Ha!

Picture taken on Auto/No flash, though I am branching out with the Manual setting..

God is Good!!

2010-06-04T21:16:00.002-05:00

We've been so busy that this if my first chance to update you all on Jackson and Makayla's Dr.'s appointments from this past week. First up was Makayla, we took her down to TCH to get a bone age done on her hand. (Basically an x-ray). Phil had a condition when he was younger and we wanted to make sure that Makayla didn't have it as well. Luckily, the x-ray came out great and she doesn't have it! Whohoo!!!

Next up was Jackson. We arrived and after a few min. they call us back to weigh and measure him, then they do the blood work. This usually involves a heel stick and they collect a relatively small sample of blood. But the last 2 times they've stuck him, he will immediately start clotting and they usually have to stick him again to get enough blood. :-( I hate this, but I know it has to be done, but it still makes me sad that he has to be in pain. This time took the cake though. They stuck one heel and sure enough, they had barely gotten a few drops when he started clotting. They tried all kinds of tricks, but nothing would work. So they stuck the other heel and again, after a few drops, it started clotting as well. Luckily Jackson was pretty much sleeping through this. So then they decide to stick his hand. Ugh. I am starting to get frustrated here, as I know it's not the nurses fault, but come on! When they stuck his hand, apparently the vein just wouldn't cooperate and they couldn't get any blood! Grrrr!! So they called in another nurse and they had to go for the big guns. I had to hold Jackson down (this is making me tear up even as I think about it now, 2 days later) while he screamed bloody murder and they went for one of the veins in his arm. After 10-15 min. of poking around with her finger to get the exact spot, they stuck him again. So this makes his total now 4 sticks in an hour's time. But thank goodness they got a good vein and got the blood! My poor baby! But he went right to sleep the minute they were done. He's such a trooper!

So we went back out to the waiting room and it wasn't long before they called us back to a room to wait for the Dr. I am starting to get very nervous at this point. When we had his counts done 2 weeks ago, they had jumped up to 92,000! So I was trying not to get overly excited, but I was very optimistic! Finally the Dr. came in and we made some small talk, then he dropped the bomb. Jackson's platelet level was 263,000!!!! He said that Jackson is cured!! We no longer have to see him and NO MORE STICKS!! I couldn't believe it! I think I had to ask him like 3 times to repeat it! I almost started to cry! This is all over!

I now have 2 completely healthy children! I could not be happier! God is truly in control! I again want to thank everyone for their continued support and prayers through this ordeal!

Blogs!

2010-06-04T14:36:00.003-05:00

Hello friends,

My friend Kirsten is having a giveaway contest on her blog: http://www.stillhatepickles.com ! Go check it out! Also, read her stuff, she is one insightful and funny gal! Enjoy!!

Can we say, ANXIETY?

2010-06-01T23:23:00.002-05:00

So tomorrow is a really big day for us in the Graf household. Jackson is getting his platelet levels checked and this is a big deal because his Dr. had previously mentioned that most babies grow out of the ITP by 3 months. Well guess what? He is 3 months today! So I am extremely nervous about this visit. To make matters worse (and better, I'll explain why) we are taking Makayla with us to get a bone age x-ray done on her hand. Her daddy had a condition when he was little and we need to make sure that she doesn't have it as well. You might be asking yourself, Why in the world would you schedule 2 dramatic events for one day? Well I'll tell you, because the building we have Jackson's appointments (Hematology/Cancer Dept) is in the Clinical Care Center at Texas Childrens. Take a guess where the X-ray dept is... that's right, in the Clinical Care Center! I figured since I have to be there for Jackson, might as well get her test over at the same time as well. I would have done this on 2 separate days, but with gas what it is, and considering that Tx. Children's isn't just a stones throw away, I figured this would save us at least some money somewhere. And really it will, considering that we usually valet when we go down there, since it would be a hassle with the stroller etc.

So anyway, just say a little prayer for us tomorrow! I hope I don't have a major anxiety attack before it's all over!!

And the drama continues...

2010-05-22T21:03:00.003-05:00

So Jackson has had this perpetual rash for the last 6-8 weeks, so I finally took him to a Ped. Allergist to find out what was going on. They tested him for cats, dustmites, soy milk, cows milk, and eggs, but they were all negative! So the Dr. thinks it's something topical. So he told us to change his shampoo, body wash, and lotion. He also said we should see a difference by Tues.! Whoop! Here is Jackson during the testing! Poor baby! But he was a trooper and only cried for a second.

A New Top Ten

2010-05-13T09:26:00.009-05:00

This is relatively related to my last post about my new wrap! I have come across things as a parent that are absolute MUST HAVES, so I decided a new Top Ten List was in order. So here are my Top Ten Must Haves for every parent:

1. A wrap of course! How can you argue with being able to have your baby close to you, but able to use your hands?!

2. A Fridge-To-Go. This is a great little invention where it is a cooler to take your formula with you, but it has the ice packs sewn into the cooler itself, so you don't have to worry about remembering to throw one in there. You just stick the whole thing in your freezer for a few hours and then bam! You're ready to go! And it stays cold for over 12 hours!! I love mine!!

3. Dr. Brown bottles and formula mixer. I love these bottles! They have really helped Jackson with having less gas due to the bottles eliminating the air in the formula! We recently got the formula mixer, which is a small pitcher, but it makes like 40 oz.! Of course, we don't make that much at a time, but it's nice to know that we could if we wanted to!

4. Video Monitors. Ok, these things are awesome! We didn't have one with Makayla, but did get one this time around with Jackson. It is so great! I love being able to watch him in there and see what he is doing!

5. Pacifier clip. This has saved us on more than one occasion! We have one clipped to his car seat, so I have one on hand at all times. Jackson LOVES his paci, so I need to have one available at a moments notice!

6. Diaper Genie. If you are dealing with disposable diapers, this is definitely the way to go. I love mine because you just stick the diaper in the pail which is already lined with a bag. When it gets full (and that takes a while), then you just tie the bag off in a knot and toss it in the trash. Then you tie the end in a knot and you're ready to go again!

7. Footed PJ's. We have recently discovered that if Jackson is cold, he wakes up and he cries. But if we try to just put a blanket on him, he will just kick that off. With the footed pj's, when he kicks off the blanket, he at least is still covered and won't get cold! Love these things!

8. Bottle Warmer. We had one with Makayla and are using it again with Jackson. This is especially helpful at night when the newborns don't want to wait too long on a bottle to heat in warm water. You just put water in the basin, pop the bottle in, press a button and in about 1 min. you have a nice warm bottle! It will also heat baby food too! Nice!!

9. Swaddlers. Again, we used this for about the first 2 months of Jackson's life. He loved being swaddled! Keeps them feeling warm and cuddled, love it!

10. Circo Blanket from Target. These things are amazing! It is a fleece blanket and it is the most soft blanket I have ever felt! They come in different colors and patterns and after I received one from a friend, I had to immediately go buy another one as a back-up!

So this is my list, I know some of you might disagree, but these are the things I can't live without! If any of you happen to go get any of these and it makes your life easier, then I couldn't ask for anything more!

I love my wrap! And I'm not talking the Vanilla Ice variety...

2010-05-11T15:22:00.003-05:00

There is a lot you learn the second time around when you're a parent. For instance, the bumbo phenomenon. I don't think it was even around when I had Makayla and if it was... no one talked about it. But it seemed like the second I got pregnant with Jackson, every new Mom was telling me the bumbo is a MUST HAVE!! Being that Jackson is still pretty young and can't quite hold his head up for long periods of time yet, we have yet to see if this thing is all it's cracked up to be.

The second product I heard about was the wrap from my neighbor. She had her first child about 2 years after I had Makayla and again, I had not heard anything about wraps. She swears by it, so I vowed that this time around I would try it out.
I have a very talented friend that makes them in all different colors and with different fabric panels, so I picked one out and crossed my fingers. Today she brought it over and I tried it out. WOW! This thing exceeded all my expectations. It is so light weight, easy to use and Jackson loves it too! The minute we put him in it, he fell right asleep! Then I proceeded to do things around the house, all hands-free! I can tell right now, this thing is gonna change my life!

Please go check out my very talented friend Rebecca's website!
http://www.gigglejungle.com/

She makes lots of other fun and creative items and I promise, you won't be disappointed!

Old Before His Time

2010-04-28T13:32:00.009-05:00

So Jackson is about to officially turn 2 months old, but with everything we have been through medically, it feels like 6 months has passed. Because of this, I honestly tend to forget that Jackson is really only 8 weeks old and still just a little guy. (Well, not by the looks of him! Ha!) He seemed to have had a few growth spurts in a row and before we knew it, we were feeding him 5 oz. at every feeding. To our credit, he took it just fine and never refused it, but he started getting really gassy and spitting up a lot. So we changed his formula to the Organic version of the same brand, but still no change. So we changed it again to the Hypoallergenic type. I made the executive decision that no matter what, we would keep him on this for no less than a week straight, just to get his tummy settled on one thing. So far, he has been a lot less gassy and the spitting up has gotten a little better.

The other thing Phil and I noticed is that right at 5pm every night, Jackson would want to eat every 2 hours! Seriously, it is crazy! We change him, give him gas drops, swaddle him, give him his paci, but nothing seems to settle him down unless we feed him again! At about 10ish, he seems to settle down for the night and sleeps usually until 4am. (Not bad in my opinion!)

Yesterday, I noticed he started tugging on his ears a little, so I took him in this morning to the Pediatrician just to take a look. (With everything else that has been going on, I didn't want to take any chances!) Luckily, his ears were clear and throat looked fine too! Whew! But the Dr. said that his fussiness in the evenings is probably due to being colic. She said he really shouldn't be eating every 2 hours, so tonight Phil and I try to remedy this situation. Well, that went over like a ton of bricks let me tell ya. He screamed from 6-8pm almost non-stop and guess what? The ONLY thing that seemed to soothe him.... EATING!!! The boy is hungry I'm telling ya! Well he finally settled down around 9:45 and has been sleeping soundly every since. (It is now 11:30)

I guess we just got so caught up with everything that honestly, it is hard to believe that he is still so little! But he is making big strides, he is smiling all the time now! He has even started talking! And by talking, I mean he coos and verbally responds to us! It is SO awesome! He has the most precious little smile too and it just melts my heart every time I see that big gummy grin. Just see for yourself! Seriously... how can I resist that face?!? So stinking adorable!!! He just cracks us up all the time! Love my little (big) guy!!

Dance of the Fluctuating Platelets

2010-04-21T19:19:00.002-05:00

Hello all,

Here is the latest info: Jackson's levels were at 50,000. (Normal is between 150,000-450,000) Dr. was not too concerned and said that this was typical for levels to rise and fall. He said it typically takes about 6 months for babies to grow out of this condition. I was really disappointed because I had gotten my hopes up since last time his levels were higher than they've ever been. Oh well. So we will continue to go every other week until his levels get to the normal range. Sigh.

By the way, does the word fluctuating look weird to anyone else or is it just me??

Out of the woods...almost!

2010-04-13T23:57:00.001-05:00

So last week we had our checkup with the Dr. and guess what? Jackson's levels were higher than they've ever been! Whohoo! So basically when we go back next week and they are even better, it means he is growing out of this condition! We are cautiously optimistic, so keep praying!

2010-04-13T23:42:00.004-05:00

Ok wow. I just figured out that I can now update my blog through my phone by text message. I may have mentioned this before, but I am officially in love with my phone. I may need an intervention... or just start working for Sprint!! Haha!

Reality Show Bound??

2010-03-31T17:41:00.002-05:00

I seriously think we should call TLC and have them start a reality show on our family. I am not trying to sound conceited, far from it, but we have so much drama that I seriously just want to start getting paid for it at least!!
So I had prepared myself that we had about 2 weeks before we head back to Tx. Children's and get what may be more bad news and was enjoying my time with my family, that was, until today.
For the last 2 days, Jackson has had these periods of fussiness which has just made me exhausted and then Monday, Makayla started getting sick. She started running a low grade fever which we were maintaining with meds, but then on Tues. afternoon, she started developing this rash on her face. By Wednesday morning, her face was swollen and the rash covered about 90% of her face! I immediately scheduled an appointment with the Dr. and she informed us that it was poison ivy!!!! UGH!! So we have her on some heavy duty steroids for the next 3 days and trying to keep her from itching! My poor girl!!
Apparently the poison ivy is growing from my neighbor's yard through our fence. Makayla plays back there all the time, so I don't know why she would break out now with it. Just another thing for us to deal with this week...

And the drama continues....

2010-03-27T21:30:00.004-05:00

Well friends, I had hoped that my next post would be great news of Jackson's road to recovery. Unfortunately that is not the case. Here is what has happened in the last couple of weeks.
After we got discharged from the NICU, we had a follow-up appointment scheduled at the Critical Care Center for a week later. So we go, and they drew blood and tested his platelet level, which was 54,000. I was a little worried since it had gone done since our hospital stay, but the Dr. said that was to be expected and he wasn't too worried about it. He also said that we would need to come in every couple of weeks for the next several months to keep checking his levels until they get back up to a normal range. Other than his numbers being low, Jackson looks great. He has been eating and growing and showing no other symptoms, which the Dr. was very encouraged by.
The Dr. was however, still worried about my levels as well. He wants me to get tested every few weeks as well until my numbers get normal as well. He thinks I probably have chronic ITP, so that's just lovely.

So this past Wednesday was our next visit and I had high hopes that Jackson's levels were going back up, only to have those hopes dashed. His levels were 15,000! I burst into tears and the poor nurse just stared at me. She quickly put us in a room and went to go get the Dr. When he got there, he quickly reassured me that even though the numbers were low, Jackson was in no immediate danger. When your platelet level gets that low, you are in danger of internal bleeding, but because Jackson is so little and not a toddler, where they can fall down a lot or bump into things, he does not pose that much of a risk. The Dr. did want him to get another IVIG treatment though, to boost his levels back up. So we had to go over to the Infusion room, where all the other kids get their chemo treatments and they started his IV.

During this visit also, Phil and I got blood drawn so we could be tested for another genetic marker called NAIT, which is a more severe version of ITP. If Jackson has this, it would be a life long thing, which he would have to take medicine for.

So while Jackson is getting his treatment, they inform us that because it is on a timed release machine, it was going to take a very long time. Since the Infusion center closes at 6:30, and he would still be getting the treatment, they would transfer us to the ER's Short Stay area and get us a room. Basically this area is for patients who stay in the ER for less than 24 hours. That was a little unsettling. Once we got over there, the nurse told us that Jackson was the youngest patient there and the youngest she's ever seen getting an IVIG treatment. We finally got done at about 8:30pm. Our appointment that morning was at 10:30, so we were at Tx. Children's for 10 hours!! We were exhausted!
Our next appointment is in 2 weeks, so at least I have a little break for now. We are still requesting your continued prayers and support as we are still not out of the woods yet. The Dr. is really hoping that he will grow out of this in the next several months, which most of the time happens. But until his numbers get normal, we are looking at many more trips to Tx. Childrens.

First Week of Life Drama!

2010-03-11T21:43:00.006-06:00

Ok people, I have just now gotten to a point where I can actually sit down and write this. We had some drama just a mere 3 days after Jackson was born.
Jackson was obviously born on Monday, he then had his circumcision done the following Wednesday. One of the Dr.'s in my Pediatricians office came by to look at Jackson on Thursday and mentioned to me that his circumcision looked a little bloodier than normal. He seemed very concerned, but told me to just keep an eye on it and let them know if it looked any different. Being that I had Makayla first and never seen that kind of thing with a boy, I didn't exactly know what it was supposed to look like anyway. Oh well. So we get discharged on Thursday afternoon, but before they would let me go, they said they needed a platelet count on me. So the nurse came back and said it had to be 90,000 for me to go home and that I was at 88,000. She called my OB, and she said that was an acceptable level and they let me go. (*this is important later...)

So we go home and everything was fine, but Jackson's privates were still bleeding a lot. They had told me to put a piece of gauze with Vaseline on it around the area after every diaper change. But the blood would soak through the back of the gauze. So Phil and I were concerned and called my Pediatrician on Friday afternoon. He said to come in Saturday morning and they would take a look. So we go the next morning and my Dr. was out, but one of the other Dr.'s took a look and said it looked really bad. She then sent us STRAIGHT to the Tx. Children's ER.

Of course at this point, I am a complete wreck, crying hysterically. We get to Tx. Children's and the ER docs said it did look bad, and they took some blood for some initial work up. When they came back, they said Jackson's platelet level was at 16,000 which is EXTREMELY low. (Normal is 150,000) They said we needed to be admitted immediately to the Level 3 NICU and he would definitely need a platelet transfusion to get his levels up. *This is when I remembered my issue with my low platelet count at the hospital at the time of discharge. I told the ER doc and he said that was very important and it sent up some red flags about some possible connections and what could be going on.

So we go up to the NICU, and they started the transfusion. They then took blood every few hours to check his platelet count. At the first draw, his platelet count had gone up to 83,000. So they were encouraged by that. But at the second draw, it went way back down to the 30,000 range. In a way, this was good, because it pointed toward a more definite diagnosis. So because his platelet count went back down, they then gave him an IV drug of Immunoglobulin which tells your body to stop eating up it's own platelets. At the next blood draw, his levels had gone up to 40,000 range, which indicated that it was working and his body was starting to make more platelets.

They waited until this morning to draw more blood because apparently it takes a while for your body to make more and his levels this morning were at 76,000!!! The Hematologist (blood Dr.) was VERY excited and encouraged and said he was on his way to recovery!! The condition he is now diagnosed with is called ITP- Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura. When he was in utero, my body didn't like his platelets and since we share a little blood, my antibodies started attacking his platelets. So when he came out, some of my antibodies were still in his blood and continued to attack. The immunoglobulin they gave him told his body to stop attacking. This also accounted for my low platelet count and they believe I may have chronic ITP.

So he was doing very well and they drew another blood sample Tuesday morning at 6am and the results were great! The platelets were still in the 70,000's and the Hematologist cleared us for discharge! Yeah!! We got to go home and it felt great!

But what is very scary is that I asked what would have happened if we never did see the Pediatrician and left this alone, the Hematologist said he would have started to bleed internally and by the time his blood started to come out of his nose, ears etc. it would have been too late and he would have bled out and died!!!!!! SCARY!!!

We have a follow-up appointment next week with the Hematologist to do another platelet count on Jackson and figure out what's going on with me. I was able to go get a anti-body anti-platelet test at my OB's this past Monday, so we should know the results when we go to this next appointment.

So the immediate danger is over and Jackson should not have any problems in the future, thank goodness! We thank everyone who prayed for us, we definitely felt that his fast healing was due to that!

Here are some pics from his stay in the NICU... not exactly how I pictured his first week of life.

Jackson Philip has arrived!!!

2010-03-02T23:00:00.005-06:00

Well hello everyone! Thanks for being patient as we got through these 2 days of craziness!! I know you want all the details and pics, so without further ado....

Jackson Philip was born on Mar. 1, 2010
at 1:26pm
8 lbs. 12 oz. & 20.25 in.

Jackson and Mommy!

Daddy and Jackson!

Makayla was so excited to see Jackson!!

Giving baby brother a kiss!!

Holding Jackson like a Big Sister pro!!

She was just in awe of him!

Mimi and Jackson!

Grand Bubba and Jackson

Here's Aunt Jen!

And Aunt Angie!!

Jackson and Mommy are doing great! He's been eating like a pro and Mommy is slowly but surely recovering! We should be discharged on Thursday! Whohoo! Thanks for all your prayers!

End of Days....

2010-02-26T23:24:00.004-06:00

Ok, We have 2 more days until we finally get to meet Mr. Jackson Philip! And the wait is just killing us!! The days seem to be dragging by now and the anxiety is almost too much to bear. I don't know if I mentioned this, but my neighbor 2 doors down is also pregnant and she was due on Feb. 21st. Needless to say, we are both SO OVER being pregnant. She has her own blog and her most recent post could not have been more appropriate for us both! So, here is a link to that post, enjoy!!

http://www.stillhatepickles.com/2010/02/you-know-its-time-to-have-baby-when.html

Well, this will probably be my last post until the baby arrives, unless you want to just hear more complaining about how uncomfortable I am. Yeah, I didn't think so! Haha! I will post the details and pics of Jackson when he makes his debut on Monday! Hope you all have a good weekend!

My big 4 yr. old!

2010-02-11T21:50:00.003-06:00

Well here they are! Pics from Makayla's birthday extravaganza! We went to Glazed Over to paint pottery with the girls from her class, and they all had a blast! We can't wait to pick up her ice cream bowl this weekend! Enjoy!

Makayla!

Her Princess cake, it also had cupcakes surrounding it

Painting her ice cream bowl

Just one of the many gifts she got!

Princess dishes! Are you sensing a theme here??

The beginning of the end....

2010-02-03T21:40:00.002-06:00

Well I have officially 3 1/2 weeks left until we meet our special little guy! We are all getting so excited and it just can't get here fast enough! I had a Dr.'s appointment this past Monday and the Dr. checked him and said everything is looking good! My blood pressure is cooperating nicely, so that's a relief!! Jackson is head down and my fluid levels still look great as well! Oh, and I finally figured out just what freaks me out about labor. I feel like in my last post, I wasn't articulating exactly what I was feeling. It's not the actual labor that freaks me out, it's the start of labor. The fact that one day you are just going about your business feeling just fine, then BAM! Your body is in pain and your just taken aback by this sudden change with what your body is doing. I think the drastic change would be so freaky! To me, it's almost like a car wreck. You are driving along, minding your own business when all of a sudden someone side swipes you! You never see it coming and suddenly your world has been turned upside down. That is what truly scares me. I know that even if I do go into labor, that the hospital is less than 10 min. away and I would be fine. Oh well, it looks like I won't have to deal with that hopefully since I am SOOO close to the end anyway!
Another exciting event is that my best friend who is also pregnant and due Feb. 21, was just told today by her Dr. that she would in fact, be meeting her baby girl this Friday instead!!! Everything is fine, the baby is big at 8.75 lbs. but her fluid was getting a little borderline low, so they felt they just needed to get her out a little early. We are all SO excited for them as they are first time parents and I just can't wait to meet their sweet baby girl!! It just all seems so real now since everyone is slowly but surely having their babies and everything is coming to a close in a sense!
I have another Dr.'s appointment on Monday, seeing as I am going every week now, so I will definitely let you know how everything goes! Oh, and I almost forgot! My own sweet baby girl will be turning 4 yrs. old on Monday!!! Can you believe it?!?! We will be celebrating her birthday this weekend with her school friends and our family, so I will post some pics later in the weekend!

What really scares me..

2010-01-11T21:34:00.003-06:00

Well hello there! So we got some interesting news at the Dr. today.... Jackson apparently weighs 5 lbs. 9 oz.!! Yikes! He's OVER the 97th % for weight! Wow! My Dr. said she predicts that he will be between 8-9 lbs. at birth, so that's not horrible. Considering Makayla was 8 lbs. 4 oz. at least I will know what I'm in for! Haha! Well, now we know where all that weight I wasn't gaining was going! He looked great on the ultrasound and we got to see him for a long time, which was nice! We got some great pics of his cute little face which I will post later. After my appointment, Phil and I went over to Labor & Delivery and took a quick look around. Since they have a new building, I wanted to make sure I knew where to go and where to direct friends and family. So I am pretty exhausted after a very long day! On top of that, Makayla is apparently sick again. She woke up a few nights ago coughing, then crying and complained that her throat was hurting a little, but the next day she would act as if nothing was wrong. But today while my mom was watching her... she didn't want to eat and then had several bouts of diarrhea throughout the day, but she does not have fever! Nevertheless, she will stay home tomorrow and we will keep an eye on her and see how she does.

Now that I have that out of the way, I feel I need to express some of the things that scare me a little with this pregnancy. As most of you know, I never had the experience of labor with Makayla. I developed pre-eclampsia near the end of my pregnancy and they had to deliver Makayla via emergency C-section 2 1/2 weeks early. As of now, I have many friends that are having their second children as well, and almost every one of them has gone into labor early. One of my friends had her baby a full MONTH early!! Baby was fine and perfectly healthy at 7 lbs. but this really started to weigh on my mind. I am not particularly scared of labor itself, it's the unknown. I am really like a new mother in the sense that I still have no idea of what labor will feel like. Now you might be wondering why this is bothering me since I am scheduled to have another C-section, but again I refer back to my friends who went into labor early. I guess I am just worried that I may not know what's going on. I know that labor can sometimes take hours, but I am also aware that some labor doesn't last long and people can have their babies in just an hour! What I worry about is if for some reason my body decides to go into labor, I won't know how to handle it I guess. I know this sounds silly, but for someone who has never experienced it, it can be a pretty scary thought. I did ask my Dr. about it today and basically she said this. If I go into labor before 35 weeks, they can and will stop the labor with meds. If I go into labor after 35 weeks, they will not stop the labor and will immediately take me in for a C-section. However, if I go into labor and it progress very quickly and say I am 8cm, they will let me go ahead and have the baby naturally. (With drugs of course... I'm a wimp people!) But if labor starts and it is slow, then C-section time. So at least I know my options and I do feel better about that. I know that there is a very small chance that I would go into labor and it progressed that quickly, but I'm glad to know what to expect from my Dr.
Ok, well I have layed out my fears and feel better getting it all out, no matter how silly it sounds. I mean, can you really reason with a pregnant lady anyway?! Lol!! I will keep you updated on my progress! Oh, and I may have forgotten to tell you, but I do NOT have gestational diabetes! Another answered prayer!! Whohoo!!

8 Months and counting.....

2010-01-04T20:51:00.003-06:00

I figured I had better write some more posts since my pregnancy is slowly but surely coming to an end and then you might not hear from me for a while! I am 8 months pregnant and it just seems so surreal. I don't know how to explain it and I know you will think I have lost my mind when I say this, but these last 8 months have gone by both fast and slow. In one sense I can't believe it's been 8 months, but then in another I can't believe I have 2 more months to go. Just write that off as crazy pregnant lady syndrome!
Several weeks ago, I had my gestational diabetes test, but ended up failing it! Booo! They said my levels were pretty high, so I had to go on a special diet for 3 days and then go back for a 3 hour test, which I did today. This really didn't surprise me too much, as this happened with Makayla as well. But I did pass the 3 hour test with her, so I am crossing my fingers I will have the same luck this time around! I will get the results back in just a couple of days, so here's hoping. I also go back in a week for another ultrasound and we will get to weigh Jackson and see just how big he's gotten! I am very interested in this because my last few weigh ins at the Dr. have been very puzzling. In October I had gained 2 lbs and in November I had gained 2 more. But in December, I had lost 5 lbs.! Dr. was not worried and said this was normal since I do have a little extra weight, it's nothing to be concerned about! Hey, I'm not complaining as long as it's not harming the baby!!
Other than that, school starts back tomorrow and I am somewhat excited. Don't get me wrong, I have very much enjoyed the time off, but I do tend to get cabin fever and I'll be happy to get back into a schedule again. I think Makayla will enjoy being back with her friends too since Mommy is not too much fun nowadays. I am getting bigger and bigger and it gets harder to move around and I definitely can't run around with her, so the poor thing has had to rely on Daddy when he comes home from work. But she is excited about going back to school, so that's good.
Jackson is moving around a lot too. It excites me just as much as it did when I was pregnant with Makayla. It is so fun to just watch my belly move around and just tonight he got hiccups! I know his movements will start to slow down the bigger I get, so I am trying to cherish these moments as much as I can.
Well, I think that's all for now. I will post more after my appointment next week and share all the exciting details! Hopefully we will get a good ultrasound pic and I can post that too! Have a great week!

A first for us all....

2009-12-28T15:47:00.002-06:00

Well this week certainly has been interesting! A week ago, Makayla developed a slight cough, but was still in good spirits and had no fever. We made it through Christmas and she did great other than being tired from 2 days of no nap! We started to recuperate on Saturday, but then Makayla started taking a turn for the worse. She developed a high fever (102.8!) and was very lethargic. We made it through Saturday night, but on Sunday morning, she started throwing up. So we stopped giving her food and just let her drink water, but soon she couldn't even keep down the water. I called the Dr. and followed several suggestions he gave me, but Makayla soon started throwing up bile. I called the Dr. back and he at first wanted us to go straight to the Tx. Children's ER. Then he said he wanted us to try one more thing and he prescribed her some Zophran. Sure enough, the meds worked and she has not thrown up since! Thank goodness!! It's Monday and she is now tolerating liquids and crackers. I even gave her a banana and she is doing well! But it was definitely dicey there for about 12 hours!
Makayla is hardly ever sick and it's usually the runny nose, congestion stuff. She has never been this sick before and it was really really scary. I just felt SO helpless and all I could do was hold her and try to comfort her but I just wanted to make it all go away. It was especially emotional since I am pregnant so my hormones are on overload. When the Dr. first told us to go the ER I just burst into tears and luckily he understood because he knows too that Makayla is hardly ever sick. I got it together and he was so sweet and told me not to worry that she would be ok. But I think we've made it through the worst part and now we are just on recovery mode. I am especially glad that this at least happened on our break! We don't have to be back at school until next Tuesday so we've got a little more than a week for her to completely get better! Here's hoping 2010 is a good year of little illnesses!!

The Downside of Pregnancy

2009-12-08T17:58:00.002-06:00

Well, I was lucky the first time I was pregnant that I didn't have people make comments about how I looked. However, I have a few friends (names protected for the innocent!) that have unfortunately been the brunt of some peoples lack of common sense gene. One friend recalled a woman asking her how far along she was and when she replied 7 1/2 months, the lady's jaw dropped and she actually told my friend to her face that she looked like she was about to pop any second!! As if that wasn't bad enough, the lady then asked what the gender was and when told a "little girl" she said, Oh honey, she isn't going to be little!! My friend had to walk away before inflicting bodily harm...
Why do people feel it's ok to just say things like this to pregnant women?? Seriously?! Another friend of a friend was told by her co-worker that pregnant women tend to get ugly towards the end and that she would tell this girl when that happened..... Yeah, I'll pause for you to think about that for a second. This pregnancy however is apparently non-exist because just today I had 3 people act shocked when I started talking about Jackson kicking me. They all said, "Oh, we had no idea you were pregnant!" Are you kidding me? What do you think this huge bump is exactly, a tumor?!?! So I am getting the opposite end of the spectrum here.. oh well.
I just don't understand what exactly these people are trying to accomplish by telling a pregnant person that they look "huge". Would you want someone telling you that? It's not like we are super comfortable with our bodies anyway, so let's just add insult to injury there. Oh, and another favorite is when asked if having twins and when the answer is no, they ask "Are you sure?" No, I was just taking a stab in the dark there.... my medically trained DR. has no idea what he/she is doing. I mean come on!!
So word to all those out there who know a pregnant person, please be kind. It's always a good thought to use the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So another words, THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK and think if you wanted to hear that said to you!! If not, then shut it!! Thanks, I really am only trying to spare your life people...

Headaches and Hunger...

2009-12-05T21:15:00.004-06:00

Well for the last several weeks, I have started to get frequent headaches. Sometimes they are dull, not that bothersome ones, but others are sharp and just really annoying. They would come at random times and I never knew what was causing them exactly, so I would just take some Tylenol and hope they would go away fast. But then I started getting them as frequent as 3-4 times a week. I had a Dr.'s appointment and told her about this, but she said it was probably the weather. But earlier this week, I was asleep in my nice warm bed when a really bad headache struck in the middle of the night! I couldn't believe it! I mean, I was asleep, relaxed and it's the middle of the night! I took medicine, but it lasted well into the next morning. Then tonight, I had eaten a small meal early (around 5:30) and 3 hours later, I started to feel hungry again. Then a headache started coming on again. Now I am wondering, could low blood sugar be the problem?? I have another Dr.'s appointment in a couple of weeks and that's when I will have my gestational diabetes test. It will be interesting to see if I have it, but I will definitely be asking my Dr. about this new development. Again, this pregnancy has proven to be a complete 180 from my pregnancy with Makayla. It's like Jackson is trying to say, "HEY, I'm gonna be different in every way possible!!!" Little stinker!
Well, that's it for now.. guess I'm off to eat a small snack and see if that helps with the headache!

Top 10 Things I Am Thankful For....

2009-11-22T19:41:00.002-06:00

Ok, there has been a trend on Facebook where for the week before Thanksgiving, people write what they are thankful for everyday. So I decided to just make a Top 10 list right here since the next week is gonna be crazy! Not in order of importance, here goes:

1. My family
2. My friends
3. My job and work friends
4. God and his son Jesus
5. My health- I've had ups and downs, but it's nothing compared to others
6. My car
7. My cats- crazy as they are, they are so sweet and love to cuddle
8. Electronics- yeah I think everyone knows how much I love my computer and cell phone...
9. Great cooks- I am not one, so I am very thankful for those who know how to cook out there!
10. Comedy- cause laughter is truly the best medicine

There are many more things I am thankful for, but didn't want to write a novel! I hope you all have a truly wonderful Thanksgiving!

And you would be??

2009-11-13T21:11:00.005-06:00

I don't know if I still have any followers and if I do, I would be shocked! I am so sorry for my absence, but as many of you know, life with a preschooler is anything but dull! The last month has been crazy! So many things at school to get ready for and then there was Halloween, which I swear Makayla thinks is the greatest day EVER. She is STILL talking about it and saying,"Well I'm gonna be Snow White tomorrow for Halloween." Even though we have told her otherwise, there is no convincing her. She did go as Belle this year and was the prettiest princess we've ever seen! We went over to my parents neighborhood, (also known as the "good candy" area), and went down just a couple of streets. Being pregnant, I really wasn't up for walking for hours on end and we didn't want that much candy in our house as well! Makayla has also decided that lollipops are her favorite candy, which is funny since we never give her candy! She really has only had M&M's and Reese's, so I'm glad she picked something other than chocolate as her favorite! Hahaha!
Other than that, we have been good. Jackson has been kicking like CRAZY! Just last week, Phil got to feel him for the first time. It was so exciting and just amazing at the same time. It's one thing to test positive and know in your heart that there is a baby in you, but it is another to actually feel them move! It's hard to explain, but it just makes everything more real. That baby IS a person inside you. It is just mind-blowing to know that in a few short months, we will have another person in our home. We will have children, not just a child. No more family of three, no more having just "girly" toys. It really hit home when Phil and I were driving and saw a father throwing a football with his son, well as you can imagine, the pregnancy hormones went into overdrive and I just starting crying! I said to Phil, "Oh, that will be you and Jackson one day!" Yeah, I did get the crazy look from Phil, but he has been through this with me before so he wasn't surprised at least.
Besides the occasional emotional meltdown, the pregnancy has been good for the last month or two! I haven't been sick or had any cravings thank goodness. I have had some "growing pains" as the Dr's call them where my sides or tummy will feel sore and achy, but it hasn't been too bad. Jackson is however, pressing on a nerve in my back that is causing me a lot of numbness and pain in my right upper thigh. Some days it feels like a million needles being jabbed in that area and will even wake me from a deep sleep. I may go see a Chiropractor soon to hopefully readjust things and make it a little more bearable. I don't know how much it will help though since Jackson is apparently practicing to be a gymnast in my belly. I feel him move ALL THE TIME! Every hour I feel some sort of movement, some may be more subtle, but other times for a good 30 minutes straight, he will kick and punch and Lord knows what else in there! It feels like he's doing forward rolls sometimes!! Haha! Then suddenly it will stop and I guess he wears himself out and sleeps, but I know that he will start up again soon, so it's kinda funny. He already has this little personality and shows me what he doesn't like and that is when I lay on my right side. Every night, I usually lay down on that side and almost immediately he starts kicking me and letting me know that he does NOT like that position. When I roll over, he stops the kicking usually and just chills. Little stinker! Not even born and already causing trouble! Lol!!
I have my next Dr.'s appointment the day before Thanksgiving and I am anxious to see how much he's grown. At my last appointment, I had only gained 2lbs and that was after not gaining anything for 2 months! I certainly feel huge and really I am not even showing too much. I mean, you can definitely see a bump, but right now I can't imagine getting bigger and I know I am not any where near what I am gonna be!! Yikes! Oh well, all for the sake of the baby right?!
Well, I feel like I have written a novel! I hope this makes up for my desertion! I promise to be better and you know I will be writing and posting tons of pics once Jackson makes his debut! Thanks for hanging in there with me!

And the gender is....

2009-10-10T20:42:00.001-05:00

Well.... IT'S A BOY!!!! Yeah!!! We are so excited!! His name will be Jackson Philip Graf! Makayla is VERY excited, even though she has been saying she wants a baby sister... she started running around in circles yelling, "It's a boy, it's a boy, it's a boy!!!" So adorable!! She keeps talking about him too and using his name, it is just so sweet! We are just very blessed to feel like our family is complete! Thank you for all your well wished and prayers!

Dr.'s Appt. Update!

2009-09-13T22:09:00.002-05:00

So this past Thurs. I had a prenatal appointment and I brought Makayla with me. We were both excited to get to hear the baby's heartbeat! So we left school early (the Dr.'s office is literally 3 min. from my school) and got the the office and checked in. We were 15 min. early, but they called me back pretty much right away! So Makayla and I are sitting in the room and time starts to pass, and I am desperately trying to entertain a 3 yr. old with no toys at hand! We drew some pictures and practiced her letter "B" words, but after about 35 min. she started to get VERY restless! She finally sat in my lap with her head on my shoulder and I knew she was getting tired of waiting, but after a full 45 min. of waiting, the Dr. finally came in! She had on her scrubs so I figured she had an emergency delivery earlier in the day that probably caused her whole schedule to get off, but no explanation was given for the delay. Oh well. But she started talking to Makayla and asked her to be her "Assistant" and put some gloves on her and told her to tell me what to do. So Makayla had me lay on the table and put my head on the pillow! Haha! It was so cute! Then she had her stand next to the table and they got the Doppler out to hear the heartbeat. After a minute or two they couldn't find anything and I started to panic, but the Dr. told me their machine had been acting up and it was broken. She said they would have to do an ultrasound, so I would get a free pic that day! Whohoo! So they started to ultrasound and when Makayla saw that baby on the screen, her little eyes just lit up and she said, "Wow Mommy, look at it moving!!!" It just melted my heart to see her so excited about it! The Dr. seemed rushed and the picture we got was not very clear at all, so that was a bummer! But our next appointment will be Oct. 9th and we will then learn the baby's gender!! SO EXCITED!!! So everything is looking good and the baby is growing stronger and bigger every day! We have been looking up baby names and think we may have it narrowed down... that was a BIG accomplishment! Just a week ago we had absolutely no names in mind what so ever!
So that's what has been going on in our little world this week! Hope you all had a great weekend!

And on a happier note

2009-08-23T22:27:00.003-05:00

Hello friends! Well, school started last week (Wed.), which was also my 30th birthday! What a crazy day! Our class is great, a little smaller this year, but hey, that's fine by me! Makayla also started school and she loves her class! That's all she could talk about for the last several days, so that is exciting! I realize my last post may have left you wondering about my mental state and I am happy to report that I am doing better. We had my first Dr.'s appointment a couple weeks ago and got our first ultrasound. We have a cute little bean so far! As of right now, I am starting my 12th week, so my first trimester is almost over! The nausea still comes and goes, but luckily seems to only come at night. It still sucks, but at least I am not overcome by it. We will found out the gender in mid-October, so we are just counting down the weeks! My official due date is Mar. 9th, but my Dr. wants to do another C-section since I had pre-eclampsia the last time and she really doesn't want me to go into labor. This did depress me when I heard this as I really wanted to try for a VBAC this time around. I have never gotten to experience any type of labor, no water breaking, no contractions, nothing and I really wanted to at least have one contraction in my life time, but I guess it's not in the cards. Of course I want to have a healthy baby and would not want to do anything to endanger him/her, but it is still hard to accept. Because of all that, she will do the C-section 7-10 days before my due date which puts us at early Mar. for having this baby! I would love March 1, but Phil wants Mar. 2nd since that is Texas Independence Day. (History majors, what can I tell ya?!) So I guess we'll just have to wait and see! Since I haven't posted many pics, I will leave you with some that are just too cute for words! Enjoy!!

Baby Graf #2! What a cutie!

Makayla in her uniform!

Makayla in her Chapel day uniform! So adorable!

It ain't easy being queasy...

2009-08-09T23:16:00.002-05:00

Ok, I will warn you now. This post might be a little depressing and a little dark. So this pregnancy has proved to be the absolute opposite of when I was pregnant with Makayla. I mean, total 180 here people. That pregnancy was the ultimate perfect pregnancy that every mother dreams of. I had no nausea, no pain, no weird symptoms, nothing! Except for the birth, which I detailed out in a previous post, you could not have asked for a better pregnancy. I prayed that the next time I got pregnant, lightning would strike twice and I would have another great pregnancy. Alas, I was not so lucky. I have been nauseous, sick, and just utterly feeling horrible. If it's not one thing, it's another and every day something doesn't feel good in my body. I know I sound whiny, and I apologize, but this just sucks! Eating is a chore because every time I eat, I feel like throwing up afterwards, no matter what it is. I've tried eating bland stuff, and even salt free things, but nothing seems to be helping. Now I do have days where I feel better, but not discomfort free. It is slowly consuming me and making it very hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I know in my heart that this will end when the baby comes, but what seems like a relatively short time feels like an eternity. I know when school starts, time will go by faster since I will be very busy, but it's still hard to feel the joy.
The hardest part is that I rarely even think of the baby growing inside me. Yes, I know how bad that sounds and trust me, it hurts me to no end. It's not because I don't want to think of the baby, it's just hard to when my body is constantly causing me stress and it consumes my thoughts. We are excited to have this baby, I just wish my body would cooperate a little bit. I know I can't expect to feel 100% better, but it would be nice to not think about the discomfort every waking minute. I think it's also hard because I haven't yet been to the OB. I have my first appointment in just 2 weeks and I am really excited about it. I think hearing that heart beat and seeing the baby on the ultrasound might give me some renewed hope and strength. Until then, I am left to just pray and do what I can to relieve my discomfort. My school meetings start this week and I can only hope it will provide a distraction and let me concentrate on this precious baby growing inside me.

Surprise!

2009-07-20T12:04:00.003-05:00

Dear Family & Friends,

I do not have a face to see,
Or put inside a frame.
I do not have soft cheeks to kiss.
I don't yet have a name.

Not yet can you hold my tiny hands,
Nor whisper in my ear.
It's still too soon to sing a song,
Or cuddle me so near.

But all that will change come this March;
When they say I am due.
I am the newest Graf baby;
And I can't wait until I meet you!

All I ask between now and then
Is your love for me to grow.
I promise I'll be worth the wait;
Just think of all the joy we'll know!

So as you're waiting patiently,
Please pray lots of prayers for me.
I cannot wait to be a part
Of this wonderful family!

Well friends, we are obviously thrilled to announce that we are pregnant! I have not yet been to the Dr. since I am a little over 5 weeks now and they usually don't see you until you are at least 8 weeks. Makayla is VERY excited about being a big sister and keeps kissing my belly! She is always asking about the baby, it's so cute! The only bad thing is that I am extremely nauseous. I was never like this with Makayla, so this is a new experience. I have eaten toast and starches, but that doesn't seem to help. I may have to call the Dr. for some meds because I can't seem to get this under control. I don't even feel like eating most of the time, but I have to for the baby, so it's just a constant battle. Other than that, things are going pretty well! We are even more excited about this because 2 of our neighbors are pregnant as well as my best friend!! So I finally get to be pregnant with someone for a change! Haha! Alright, well I just wanted to share our good news! Hope you all have a great week!

Hello (Taps on screen), you there?

2009-07-01T23:49:00.002-05:00

Howdy, my name is Sharon. You may remember me from some snarky posts way back when, but I am finally back! Seriously. No, really, I am. So right after school ended, I taught a summer school class for 3 weeks in June. It was fun and all, but I was definitely ready for my official summer to begin! Now I have NO obligations and complete freedom for the next 6-7 weeks! Whohoo!

We have officially booked our San Antonio trip as well! We are so excited! You may remember me telling you how much Makayla is into sea animals right now, so this is gonna be so awesome for her! As a little preview, we took her this past weekend to the Downtown Aquarium, and man did she have a good time! We actually got to pet stingrays! STINGRAYS PEOPLE!! It was so awesome!! They are so soft! I couldn't believe it!! We also got to see tigers, sharks, sawfish, an octopus, and lots of other animals! By the time we left, poor Makayla was exhausted.
I even bought a new camera for our trip. My other digital was starting to get really slow when taking pics, even if I had an empty memory card and my pics are also getting blurry! So I bought a newer version of my old one and it is nice! I will definitely post some pics when we get back!

So we are 2 days away from July 4th! I love this holiday! We are getting together with all our friends to grill some good food, swim and watch some fireworks! What are you all doing for the 4th?

Out of the mouths of babes...

2009-06-08T19:05:00.002-05:00

I have learned that as my daughter gets older, her speech and understanding also get more advanced, but not only that, she gets funnier and funnier as the weeks pass. Makayla has always been a ham of sorts and loves to make us laugh. Up until recently, she would mostly resort to funny noises or faces to accomplish this goal, but this week she has taken it to a whole new level. Here are some things we have heard come out of her mouth just this week alone:

"Look Mommy, I snort when I laugh!" (Starts laughing then stops to purposely snort, then resumes laughing.)

Before I tell you the next one, I do have to explain the back story. We have a mocking bird that lives in our backyard. They are notoriously territorial and our neighbor lets her cat run free about 90% of the time. So anytime that cat is out, that bird just goes nuts and squawks and dive bombs that cat until it leaves the area. All this occurs unfortunately outside Makayla's window since her bedroom is in the back of our house. So early yesterday morning, as Phil and I are laying in bed, we hear over the monitor-
"HUSH YOU BIRDS! YOU'RE MAKING TOO MUCH NOISE AND I AM TRYING TO SLEEP!!"
I think Phil and I laughed no less than 15 min. straight....

"Jumping jellyfish, look at all these sea animals."

"Oh fish paste."

"Mommy, I need to talk to you. Outside."

"Look Mommy, the sun is going to sleep and the moon is waking up!"

So yeah, that is what is going on in our house right now! Ha! We love the fact that we just never know what might come out of her mouth!
Hope you all are enjoying the beginning of summer!

I'm Baaacckk!!

2009-05-30T22:16:00.002-05:00

Well hi there! (waving) How are you doing? You remember me right? RIGHT?! (Sigh) Oh good.. I have officially returned my friends! This month has been a roller coaster of events that have literally kept me busy ALL THE TIME! But school is over and we got through my brother's wedding and now I am FREE! I have the whole summer to relax and enjoy my precious little girl and family! That is a great feeling! Since I know you inquiring minds want to know just what kept me from you this last month, here goes:

My brother and his now wife (Hi Chris and Jen!!) got married on May 2 down in Galveston! It was a beautiful wedding and lots of fun too! We spent the whole weekend down there and a good time was had by all! We got to take Makayla to the Aquarium for the first time and I swear, I thought she would have a heart attack. Did I mention that she is REALLY into sea animals right now?? She got to see sharks (her favorite thing of the moment) and sting rays and just lots of other sea life.

Mother's Day was also this month so there was lots of spending time with Moms and Memaws.

2 weeks before school ended, my computer decided to rebel against me. Let me explain...every year my end of the year gift is to make every parent a DVD of all the pictures I have taken throughout the year and I set it to cute music. This year however, the program I use decided to not cooperate which caused the following:
- Went out and bought a new external DVD/CD burning device
- Had to install a new movie making software on my computer
- Successfully burned a CD, but computer refused to burn it on a DVD
- Had to go out and buy a new DVD player for the house because I broke ours in frustration
- Tried to play the successfully burned CD on new DVD player only to have it say
"Disc Error"
- Had a meltdown due to the stress
- Went to neighbor's house and the CD did play on her DVD player! REJOICE!
- Finally burned the rest of the CD's and gave them to the parents! Whohoo!!

Went to a wedding the weekend after my brother's for a coworker of mine. It was beautiful and again, a good time was had by all!

1 week before my brother got married, we had a really nasty torrential rainstorm here in Houston and lots of homes got flooded. Ours did not, but my parents whole first floor was under water. It was a mess. After we got through the wedding and they had someone come out and take a look, they decided to basically gut the house and renovate it! It is going to look completely different! So for the last week, we have been helping them move everything out into a rent house. (Which has a pool! YES!!) Yesterday they started demolition... crazy.

School ended and it was an emotional event. We had a really great group of kiddos this year and some will not be returning to the school next year, so it was very hard to say goodbye.

So that has pretty much been my month! I have missed you all dear readers! Now I want to know what your summer plans are this year!

Happy Mother's Day!!

2009-05-10T09:48:00.004-05:00

Happy Mother's Day everyone! Especially to my momma, who has always been my friend, disciplinarian, chef, driver, my biggest fan and supporter. I love you Mom!

Give a little.. take a lot

2009-04-17T21:50:00.006-05:00

Ok, I am about to scream. I went to my Dr. this morning and I am just SO frustrated. Basically what has happened is that since he takes blood EVERY month to check my thyroid levels, my insurance only pays a small part of the blood work bill and I have to pay the rest. Well in Jan. I went to my Dr. and they informed me that I had some HUGE balance due. Yeah, $1100 worth! It was from all the blood work from Aug. 08 to Dec. 08 and they just decided to tell me about it! UGH! So I have been on a payment plan with them paying off a little each month. Well, I go in this morning because of course, my Dr. wanted me to fast last night and he was going to be doing some blood work this morning. I get in there and the receptionist is like, oh, you know you have a big balance right? I was like, yeah, I am paying that off each month. She says, No, something else just came through and it's like $900!!! I was like, what?!?! She says the billing lady wants to talk to you. Double UGH. So I go talk to Sandy (billing lady) and she is like- well because you are already on a payment plan for the other balance, I can't add this new amount to that. So I asked what my options are and she says, well I can't allow you to see the Dr. again until this $900 is paid off!!!! I was about to explode right there. So basically I told her that I taught summer school and it pays pretty well and that I could pay it off in June, but not before then. So she says, well, I will let you see the Dr. today, but then you can't come back until you pay that off. UUUGGGHHHHH. So I paid a little on the balance today and then I told the Dr. everything that was going on. I told him exactly what Sandy had told me and he was like, "But if your levels still aren't straight, you really need to come back and see me." And I was like, well Sandy won't allow me to. And the Dr. responds with, Well, I would hate if you had to start seeing another Dr. WHAT? So now they are just gonna drop me after all this??? I am so MAD!! Basically we left it that he will let me know what all my blood work reveals next week and we will go from there. If the levels seem ok, then he will just wait until June to see me again. Can I just tell you how much I hate all this insurance CRAP?!?!?!?! So freaking ridiculous!!

All I am trying to do is get myself healthy, but of course the politics of it all gets in the way. What in the world is the point of health insurance if when you use it, they make it so expensive that people can't even go to the Dr. to fix themselves?! Ok, I will stop now. If you need me, I'll be drowning my sorrows....

I dub thee... "Baby Week!"

2009-04-10T20:54:00.002-05:00

So I mentioned that 2 of my best friends are pregnant, well I should say, were pregnant! On Wednesday, my friend Kelly and her husband Adam welcomed their son Drew into the world! It was a fairly easy delivery and they got to take home their sweet baby today! Well, then yesterday, my friend Sara checked into the hospital to be induced as well!! They were the couple who chose not the know the sex of the baby. Well we get a text message from Ron (the daddy) telling us the baby was born and he would be out shortly to make the announcement...well 30 min. later he FINALLY came out! It's a GIRL!!! We were all so excited! They named her Leslie! She is a doll!
I am just so happy and excited for both my friends and their wonderful new additions to their families! Babies are just such a blessing and I am so happy to share this wonderful experience of parenthood with friends that I pretty much grew up with!

Congrats again to Kelly, Adam and Baby Drew and to Sara, Ron and Baby Leslie! You guys are going to be great parents and I can't wait to start sharing "stories" with you all! Love you guys!!

Putting it all out there...

2009-03-29T23:42:00.002-05:00

Hi again friends!
I am happy to report that I am pretty much 95% better! Whohoo! I still have the tiniest bit of congestion, but other than that I am great! I am still in awe that an antibiotic can take you from feeling like you're on your death bed to feeling re-born in just a mere 48 hours!

But enough about that, I am on to a more serious topic. I probably should be waiting to write this, but because it is so fresh on my mind, it is hard to resist. Some things happened this weekend that have me questioning my friendability. Yeah, that's right, I just made up my own word. If you know anything about me, you know that I love my friends dearly. I would do anything for them and they know that. I found out a couple of things this weekend from some friends that made me realize our relationship might not be as close as I thought. Now I realize that when you have a blog, people probably tend to think you will just write about any and everything. Not true, in fact. I tend to share more about myself than anything else and if I do happen to mention a friend, I make sure they are absolutely ok with it first, or I just use fake names to protect the innocent, etc. And I would never share a secret that someone didn't want told. Apparently though, I was not to be trusted this time, and it hurt. Especially when I found out, I was the last to know by several months. Yeah, that knife just dug a little deeper in there. I am certainly not trying to make anyone feel guilty or upset by writing this, I just needed to vent. And though this seems as if I might be sharing something, you in fact, really have no idea what I am talking about. Which proves the point that I don't share secrets. I am also not looking for a pity party, this is just life and I needed to get that off my chest.

I hope you all have a great week.

Mama G

Not the brightest crayon in the box....

2009-03-27T19:42:00.004-05:00

What?! 2 posts in one day?! That's right folks! This is what illness will do to you. You sit at home resting and after you realize how boring day-time tv is and the fact that I still can't breath all that well so napping is out... I thought, hey, I will entice my readers to another post! I just love you all that much!

Let me preface this by saying, I was never the brightest crayon in the box. Seriously. I liked school, but only for the fact that I got to go see my friends everyday and socialize! Although I was not blessed with "book" smarts, I do have common sense. Going against the latter here, I am putting myself out there and humoring you, my dear readers with some moments that were not my best.

-One time my mom, Phil and I were walking by a pond and this duck was just going berserk on another duck! I thought he was attacking the poor thing! I drew attention to this by saying, "Look at that duck attacking the other one! That is so mean!" All of a sudden I hear my mom and Phil busting out laughing. I asked what was so funny about that... that's when they had to give me the "birds and bees" talk about the ducks.

-Since Phil is such a history buff, he took me to go see "The Patriot". Again.. since I have never been one for a good memory or interest in history, during the middle of the movie, I leaned over and asked Phil, "Which war is this?" After he told me the American Revolution, I thought for a minute then asked, "So did we win?" I just wanted to make sure.

-After seeing many of those Payless commercials for their infamous BOGO sales, I could never figure out what they were talking about. Phil finally explained it was "Buy One Get One". To my credit, Phil never knew what it was either until he googled it, THEN told me about it. So yeah.

-One time my girlfriends and I went on a trip. When we got into the room we figured we needed to ask the Concierge about something. I went over, picked up the phone and pressed O. Nothing. I hung up, then picked it back up again and listened.. nothing! I started getting a little testy and I was like, "What in the world is wrong with this phone?!?!" My friend then realized it was not plugged in. Oops. My friends didn't stop laughing for a good 10 minutes.

-I honestly used to think those "Oh Sh*t" handles in the car were called "Ocean" handles. Come on... that's an honest mistake right?!

-After a trip to one of those Paint Your Own Pottery places, I went back to pick up my piece. I didn't want to have a lot of things in my hands, so I left my purse in the car and just had my keys and my cell. As I was walking into the place, I called my friend to see if she wanted me to pick her piece up as well. She said no and we just started chatting. Well I grab my pottery and my keys and had this feeling I was forgetting something since I walked in already carrying 2 things. Then as I am still talking with my friend, the conversation went something like this: "Oh man, hold on a sec. I put my phone down somewhere and now I can't find it." I literally starting looking for it and then my friend just starts laughing. I am like, what? She says, "Honey, what are you talking to me on??" I felt like an idiot and several people in the pottery place gave me that, Oh bless your little heart look. I haven't returned since.

-And most recently, I went to a party where I was the official photographer of sorts. My brother handed me his camera as well so I was juggling mine and his at the same time. During a group shot, I was struggling with both the cameras when all of a sudden my camera screen went black. I couldn't figure what had happened! The camera still worked just fine and even took pictures! I could still preview them, but when I went to "Camera" mode, nothing. Even in my Video mode, the screen would come back! I was so upset!! I had pretty much resigned to the fact that I would need a new camera when several days later I took it out and was inspecting it again and pressed the Display button. Guess what? The screen came back on. No camera malfunction, just a user one.

I think I'll stop now to save myself from anymore further embarrassment. But hey, we are all human and all have our moments, I just seem to have a few more than others....

Infection Update-Day 5

2009-03-27T15:58:00.006-05:00

Well friends, I am still sick. 3 days after going to my local MinuteClinic at CVS and having a male nurse practioner tell me it was nothing more than a "little sinus infection", I still felt horrible. I could not keep my fever under control, (think 101-103) and that was WITH Tylenol and Motrin!! I followed this guy's exact orders of, "take Zyrtex-D, Mucinex, use nasal spray and sleep under a humidifier" and still nothing! I knew the fever was indicating a more serious problem so Thurs. morning I hauled myself out of bed and went to my ENT.
He was shocked by what this other guy had told me and couldn't believe he didn't prescribe anything to me. He said I had a MAJOR infection and that he was going to immediately give me a steroid shot, (in my patootie-OUCH) and clear out my sinuses and get me on a high dose on antibiotics. He seemed very concerned. So I asked him what antibiotic and he said Augmentin, and I replied that I had been on that before many years ago. He then said, "probably not like this. I am giving you 1000mg pills. You are to take 2 pills every 12 hours. And you are to eat a piece of chocolate before you take the pills. Every time." Ok, so let me get this straight, I am gonna be on 4000mg of meds, but I get to eat chocolate everyday?? Ok, I am now officially IN LOVE with my ENT! Haha! (Sorry Phil!) He said the chocolate was to prevent upset tummy issues, which let me tell you, he is brilliant! I was really nervous about taking such a high dose, but sure enough, no tummy problems! I am slowly on my way to recovery. I still have a little bit of fever, but I can now blow my nose for the first time in 5 days! Whohoo! My jaw is no longer my worst enemy. It hurt so bad that I literally wanted to tear off my lower jaw from the pain. My throat is still raw, but I have learned of the wonders of Chloraseptic spray! I usually never get that sick, so never had the need to buy this stuff, but oh. my. goodness! It actually numbs your throat so you don't feel a thing! MIRACLE! I still have a little trouble sleeping at night because when I lay down, my nose tends to close up again making it harder to breathe. When I sit up, my nose usually starts running, so I have had to try and angle myself or go camp out in our recliner.
My poor mother is still berating me for 1.)going to the MinuteClinic in the first place and 2.) not going to the ENT immediately after the other guy didn't give me a prescription. I have to explain myself here though. Ever since I was little, I never got sick. Hardly ever. I had chicken pox when I was five and that was ONLY because my brother got them and my mom didn't want me to get them later on, so she made my brother and I rub our arms together so I could go ahead and get them and be done with it. Nice huh. So even that wasn't my fault. Other than that, I would be a very occasional infection, think once every couple of years! I just never got sick. Even well into my adulthood, I never got sick. I would get a little sniffle now and then and the occasional mild cold but that was it. Back in 2000 I did get the flu from some idiot on a plane and came back home and was basically in a coma for a week. Seriously, I don't even remember what happened all that week. But that's been about it.
Now for some reason, since Sept. 2008 when Hurricane Ike reared its ugly head, I have been sick constantly. Every month, my nose would be congested, but I would not run fever. So I just figured it was allergies that the hurricane had kicked up. I am not used to being sick here people. It is a strange and annoying little occurrence that I would much rather do without. So because of this, I am not one to run to the Dr. the minute I get a little runny nose. I do not like to look like a baby, like I can't handle it. It's not in my nature. Yes, I am stubborn or couldn't you tell. I just figure I can tough my way through it with my nice OTC drugs and see what happens. I'll give you another for instance:

When I was 7 1/2 months pregnant, I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like an elephant was sitting on my chest. Because I am a "full figured" gal, I immediately thought I was having a heart attack. I tried walking around my house for a few min. but knew this was serious. I woke up my husband and told him we needed to go the ER. I was terrified for my unborn daughter. As it turned out, the ER docs said it had nothing to do with my heart. Because our daughter was sitting so high up, (like right under my chest) it was causing severe acid reflux. They gave me some muscle relaxer to relax my esophagus and I immediately felt better. So after that, I never thought another thing about it. Well, exactly one week after having my emergency C-section, this pain returned, but it was different this time. I was standing in my kitchen feeling perfectly normal when all of a sudden I started to feel a little dizzy. Then I broke out in a cold sweat. Then I started to feel nauseous and then the pain came. Oh the pain. I knew this was NOT acid reflux. Then I would start to throw up. After several hours of this, it would just go away and that would be it. I was dumbfounded. What in the world was happening to me? This proceeded to happen 3 more times on a weekely basis. I finally went to my trusty internet and typed in all my symptoms and couldn't believe what I found. It was gall stones! A classic case! It said that this was very typical especially after child birth because a woman who is producing hormomes for 2 is now left with all that in their body after the baby is born. Sometimes your body doesn't know what to do with all of it and your gall bladder calcifies it. Lovely, I know. One Friday night, I started having the attack and by Saturday night, it had not gone away. I read about some home remedies and decided to do this. (I told you I was stubborn.) I tried everything it said, even resorting to eating bread with olive oil straight. By Monday afternoon, I was in so much pain, I couldn't even hold my baby. I finally gave up. My friend was over visiting and helping me out and I told her I needed to go to the ER. We went by my parents, dropped off my daughter and my husband met us at the hospital. After several hours of VERY uncomfortable waiting, they finally took me back, did an ultrasound of my gall bladder and even the technician was astounded. She said I had so many gall stones she couldn't believe I had waited this long to come in. I was immediately scheduled for surgery first thing the next morning. So almost 4 weeks to the day I had an emergency C-section, I had emergency surgery to get my gall bladder out. That is the most time I have ever spent in a hospital in my life! And trust me, that was enough for me! After that surgery, I have never felt better! Who knew a little 'ol gall bladder could cause so much pain and suffering??

So as you can see, I am not one that goes to the Dr. very often if I can avoid it. It's not that I don't like them, I do! I just want to make sure it is something that doesn't require some simple solution first. Take for example this infection. Now I know there was absolutely nothing I could do but take antibiotics to get rid of this stuff. I am fine with that, antibiotics work wonders. But when my husband went to go pick up my astounding, fabulous, wonder drug, he almost had a heart attack himself when they told him just how much it was gonna cost. Come on, take a guess I DARE YOU. I figured anywhere between $30-50 bucks right. Nope. $75? Nope. $100?? Not even close. $140 people! Yes, you read that right, $140 bucks for 10 days worth of 1 medication. Maybe this is why I don't go to the Dr. more often.. they just want to prescribe you meds that end up costing you an arm and a leg. I told Phil he should offer the pharmacist my kidney in exchange for the meds...neither of them were amused.

Mama G isn't here right now...please leave a message!

2009-03-24T18:08:00.003-05:00

Hi..I'm sure you were expecting Mama G, well I hate to tell you but her head has been taken over by me, Mr. Sinus Infection. Oh, you know me, I have been buddies with Mama G for quite some time now! We usually get together several times a month! I was quietly observing her over Spring Break last week and decided that her first day back to school would be a great time to visit! I didn't want to ruin her good time last week! I will be staying for a few days and she should return later this week. So for now, you can just leave a message and I will try to get it to her. Thanks for stopping by!

Sincerely,
Mr. Sinus Infection
(Aka- a big pain in the patootie for Mama G)

Over the hump..

2009-03-20T22:55:00.006-05:00

Wow, that sounded a little dirty! I am really talking about the battle of the big girl bed! But I am happy to report, it is a battle no more! Whohoo! Pretty much since Tuesday night, we have had no problems! Of course, several of those days were no nap days.. so we did cheat a little... but hey, what ever works right?! She has been so great about this, I am just so excited! We certainly got off to a rocky start, but we're finally on solid ground! Now if we can get this potty thing under control, we'd be all set! She has been doing great on that aspect as well though.

**FYI- POTTY TALK TO FOLLOW**
She pees in the potty just fine... we just can't seem to get the #2 to cooperate. This has been frustrating for me because she used to go like clockwork. So for most of the week, I have had her completely pant less and she just goes when she needs to. I kept thinking, the minute she feels the poop, she would run and sit down. But her schedule has gotten messed up and now she poops at completely random times. Twice this week, she didn't go at all! I just thought without the pants, it would be easier, and it certainly has been with the pee part. Oh well, we will just keep trying! I just can't put her in her big girl underwear yet, because it would be an absolute mess. Oh well.. practice makes perfect right?

Well, on to a more fun topic! (I can hear a big collective sigh of relief...!)
So on Wednesday, I decided to take Makayla to the Rodeo! Tickets were cheap and it was a gorgeous day, and poor Makayla was getting cabin fever from staying in for several days trying to potty train. We had a blast! Makayla LOVED seeing all the animals! I will include some pictures for your visual enjoyment!

At the petting zoo! She was talking to the goat!

At the petting zoo! She finally got up the nerve to pet him!

She loved watching those piglets with their momma!

She thought the deer was "so beautiful"!

She was very intrigued by the hogs too!

Her FIRST Pony Ride!! Yeah! She was waving at Mommy!

She just loved seeing everything!

And this was the end result! Makayla passed out about 5 min. into the car ride home!

Let the fun times roll!

2009-03-16T16:09:00.002-05:00

So last night we set up Makayla's big girl bed and got her some Princess sheets and made it so irresistible, that I even wanted to sleep there! Apparently to Makayla, it was the bed of Satan. We put her down and for 2 hours it was non-stop getting up to put her back into bed or telling her to stop playing, etc. She did eventually go to sleep, but it was WAY past her bedtime. Then this morning, I wake up to her standing next to my bed, which was cute and she climbed up and we had some cuddle time. She then informed me that she had pooped, so we went to her room to get her changed. I noticed that one of her bears was in the bathroom and when I walked in there, she had apparently gotten into some of my eye cream and squirted it all over the place. (Big sigh) I asked her why she did that and got the typical, "I don't know."
Well, after playing around the house and eating lunch, it was time for a nap. I was really looking forward to this! (Did you catch my sarcasm, cuz I was laying it on pretty thick...) For yet another 2 hours, it was a battle of getting her back in bed, stop playing with everything in her room, etc. I'm not gonna lie, there were some spankings involved. Finally she went to sleep. Seriously?! Does this happen with all kids? This is so frustrating! I thought she would be excited about getting into a big girl bed! Is it the freedom that is so tempting? The ability to get up and actually be able to get out of bed?? I need some suggestions friends! Please send over some of your best tips on how to get a toddler to stay in their bed! And don't worry, I have already put one of those door cover things on the door so she can't get out! And we also don't have any toys in there, just some books. I need some advice before I lose my mind! Thank goodness it's Spring Break!

Mama said there'd be days like this...

2009-03-07T17:10:00.002-06:00

So yesterday was interesting. Have you ever had one of those days where you just wanna cry for no reason? I am pretty much asking the ladies here, because according to my husband, they don't have those kind of days. Anyway, I was having one of those days and it really annoyed me because I am typically not a crier, never have been. Now don't get me wrong, I am not devoid of feeling... a good romantic can get me going, or something sad, etc. But other than that, I don't usually just cry at the drop of a hat. Now when I got pregnant, all those hormones kicked in and my poor husband had to deal with a crying, blubbery mess for 9 months. I would cry at ANYTHING! I once saw one of those Johnson and Johnson commercials with a cute little baby taking a bath in the sink and on the bottom of the screen they put the words, "A baby changes everything." That was it, I was crying and boohooing for the next 30 min. And for the first 2 years of Makayla's life, I would cry a little more often, but this last year I finally feel like I was going back to my "old" self. But yesterday was just weird, I was teary all day and finally had a breakdown after school in my car and just cried the whole way home! I called Phil and he was like, what in the world is wrong with you?? (And just for the record, no I am not pregnant... so that wasn't it.) But you know, after that good cry, I was better. It felt good to just cry and get it all out. *Wait! I just had an epiphany! Maybe because I don't cry all the time, my body built up all these tears and decided it was time for a release! Ha! Who knows, but alas, I am fine now!

Some more Top 10 Fun!

2009-02-17T20:29:00.002-06:00

Makayla has done some pretty cute things lately that I thought deserved another Top 10 List! Enjoy!

1. It could be a horrible day where she acts crazy and runs around and never listens, but after bath time when it's time to settle down for bed, she will get all quiet and snuggle right up to me and we cuddle together. This is absolutely the BEST feeling ever.

2. The way she just makes up random phrases. This week it has been, "Mommy, are you ready to rock?!" Ha! Love it!

3. When she gets excited about dressing up in a pretty outfit.

4. The way she dances..it's awesome.

5. When she sees that I have a "boo-boo", she loves to kiss it and try and make it all better.

6. The fact that she loves to be in the kitchen and helps me cook.

7. She is an outdoor girl. She loves to be outside, playing with sticks. I did too as a child.

8. Our youngest cat has finally warmed up to her, and she loves this! They now cuddle together and he sometimes seeks her out for a nice rub down the back!

9. When I come home the days she is not at school, she usually runs to me and gives me the biggest hug!

10. When she gets excited over the least little thing, like bubbles. It's adorable.

Happy 3rd Birthday Makayla!

2009-02-08T15:33:00.008-06:00

On this day 3 years ago, my OB was telling me at this exact moment that my blood pressure was too high, but the baby was doing ok. She felt though, it was time to get the baby out before my bp went up anymore and put the baby in stress. I was totally floored. My due date was still more than 2 weeks away, I had left everything at home. This was supposed to be just a routine Dr.'s visit and it turned into my baby's birthday. They asked me to go straight to Labor and Delivery and check in. I immediately called Phil and told him to go straight home, get the bags, the car seat, all the cameras and rush to the hospital. Luckily my mom was with me on the particular visit, so she kept me calm. Otherwise, I would have totally lost it. As soon as Phil got to the hospital, we started calling everyone on our phone tree list! They still had a lot of things to do to get me prepped for the emergency C-section, and most of my friends were able to make it to the hospital before Makayla was born. At around 5:15, they wheeled me into the delivery room and gave me my epidural. They got everything ready and at 5:52 pm, our beautiful, precious angel came into this world. She was 8 lbs. 4 oz. and 20.25 inches long. She had jet black hair and was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

One day old..

She was 7 months old here, we are visiting the Pumpkin Patch 2006

I love this picture, she was not quite 2 yet

Christmas 2007 She was 1 here.

At 6 weeks old, Makayla started sleeping through the night, and started getting some teeth at 6 months. 2 weeks before her 1st birthday, she started to walk! After that, there was no stopping this girl! She is fearless! At 2, the stubborn streak kicked in. (BTW, I have NO idea where she gets that from..) She is a perfect mix of all-girl and tomboy rolled into one! One day, she is all about the Princesses and the next, it is all about cars and trucks and climbing everywhere like a monkey! She loves forts, animals, dressing up and eating at Chick-fil-a! We have loved every single second we've had with her and look forward to enjoying many many more birthdays and precious moments together.

Makayla's 2nd birthday! She got a trike!

Feb. 8th, 2009 Her 3rd Birthday!

We love you Makayla and thank God every single day for giving you to us and letting us be your parents.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Birthday Parties and Toddlers...

2009-02-07T08:25:00.002-06:00

So today is the day. The day I decided to invite 13 toddlers to run around a gym and act like crazy people... all for my daughter's expense! I hope she knows how much I love her...

Yep, although today is not technically her birthday, we are having the big party today! Whohoo! (The big day is actually tomorrow.) So in just a couple of hours, I will be surrounded by 2 and 3 yr. olds and people dressed like clowns! (We voted for circus themed party, minus the clown make-up.)

Wish me luck that we all survive today! I will post pictures later after we've recovered!

Memories...

2009-01-30T22:49:00.004-06:00

**WARNING**

This post is gonna be a little sappy on my part. When you read why, you'll understand. Just deal with it.

My baby, no, my toddler is getting ready to turn 3! THREE people. I am freaking out. My child is growing up way too fast!! Here is why I am so frazzled by this:

-When my husband and I moved into this house, Makayla was 4 months old!!!
-Makayla started walking, talking, going to school while in this house.
-It's only been three years! Where did the time go?
-Makayla will be in the grade level I teach this next school year! Ahhh!

Now let me give you some visual perspective....

Makayla only 1 day old!! She was already smiling!!

She was one cool cat....

And happy, did I mention that??

4 Generations at Makayla's 1st Birthday Party

This was at her 2 yr. Birthday party!! She finally got some hair!!!

Fall 2008, she is 2 in this pic!

Makayla over Christmas 2008! What a cutie pie!

So this is the year of me losing my mind! Makayla turning 3, and I am turning the big 3-0 as well!! 2009 is shaping up to be one heck of a year!!

Mama G

Rest in Peace Sweet Angel

2009-01-25T12:23:00.004-06:00

I am not sure if I ever mentioned them in this blog, but we have some good friends named the Olsen's. They are the sweetest family with 2 adorable girls. Mark and Tammy (parents) are probably about 10-15 years older than Phil and I, and Phil and Mark used to work together at Phil's current job. Mark took a better job out in Phoenix back in 2005. During that time also, Tammy was pregnant with their 3rd child, a girl they named Briannah. Well, Tammy's due date was right around the time Hurricane Rita came blowing through, so while they were evacuating, Tammy went into labor. Briannah was a beautiful little baby. Tammy and the girls finally made their way to Phoenix and they were all doing great. But several months later, in December, Tammy noticed Briannah was not hitting the typical baby milestones and was not gaining much weight. They took her in for some tests and found that she had an inoperable brain tumor that wrapped itself around her optic nerve. The news was devastating, but they vowed to help her any way they could. They heard about the controversial Burzynski clinic here in Houston and made an appointment. (This was after several other failed attempts of treatment.) The clinic offered some hope, but not a cure and started her on some powerful medications and treatment. For the next year and a half, Briannah made huge progress! The tumor started shrinking, she was gaining weight, she was starting to talk, she could finally sit up by herself, and lots of other things! We were all so hopeful that she would have some wonderful quality of life and be able to live with this tumor. One of the side effects though, was the medicine affected the sodium levels in her body and she didn't retain enough, but they were fixing that through medication. She was also having seizures, but was not having as many since being on the new medicines.
However, 3-4 nights ago, Tammy noticed Briannah was very lethargic and not her typical self. She immediately called 911 and an ambulance came to take her to the hospital. She died twice in the ambulance, but they resuscitated her back both times. When they go to the hospital though, she was not breathing on her own, so they immediately put her on life support. They found that now her body had way too much sodium and apparently that is much much worse than not having enough. Her kidneys started to fail and the situation was not looking good. However, on Friday Briannah started to breath on her own and she seemed to start improving just a little, but by Saturday morning, she got worse again. They tried to put her on dialysis, but couldn't get the tubes into her little body. Mark and Tammy made a gut-retching decision. They took her off life support. They didn't want her to suffer anymore. Our precious little Briannah went to be with the Lord at 6:30 pm, January 24th. Our thoughts and prayers are with our dear friends as they go through this terrible time.

If you would like to read their journey or send condolences, you can visit their website here:
http://www.easysite.com/babybriannah

Please pray for our sweet friends as they deal with this tragedy.
Mama G

Things I have learned being a home owner....

2009-01-16T22:43:00.003-06:00

So June will mark our 3 yr. anniversary of living in our first home! Our house was built in '69, so we knew there would be some maintenance issues we would have to deal with, but there were some other things that really surprised us! Here are just a few:

Older homes probably need new paint jobs every 3 years. When we first moved in, there was not one crack...now there is at least 1 or more in the majority of the rooms!
Just because you replace your AC doesn't guarantee a lower electric bill! The house itself is not energy efficient, so that definitely hurts the wallet! Ouch!
Some Homeowners Associations just suck.... end of story.
Having to deal with wild animals...we have seen possums, rats, armadillos and raccoons all in our yard/garage.
Having some good friends move away :-(
Making some new friends! :-)

So all in all it has been a pretty good experience! It will be nice when we eventually move into a bigger house though! When we get pregnant again, we really feel like we will need a lot more space, so we will definitely get a 2 story house! I'm sure that will bring on a whole new set of surprises!

Here's my question to you all: What things did you encounter as a new home owner?

Don't forget to follow!

2009-01-10T15:08:00.006-06:00

Hey friends,
Just wanted to send out a quick reminder that I have put up a place here to the right where you can follow this blog! Just click it and it will put you up on my board. This will also help generate some advertising for your own blog! When someone clicks your picture, it will show them what blogs you have!! Hey, you can't beat free advertising right?! Ok, so I hope you all will help me with this! Thanks!!

Mama G

Toothpaste...really?

2009-01-09T17:51:00.002-06:00

So, some interesting things have been happening around here. We've made some New Year's Resolutions and I am happy to report that we have made good on at least one of them! One of Phil and I's big resolutions was to clean up our house and garage, and I don't mean just a regular ol' cleaning job. I am talking about a complete overhaul of the house. I think I have mentioned before that we do not have a functioning attic for storage. There is no room since all the ac insulation takes up all the space up there, so we have no place to put our boxes except our closets. This is a MAJOR problem. This is compounded by the fact that since we do have our own home, both of our parents decided to give us all our childhood stuff to keep. Ugh.

Well, we rearranged our guest room and den and completely clean out our garage! Whohoo!! We are not done with all the rooms, but we have made a really good start! I am really proud of the work we've done so far!

Makayla had some resolutions too and apparently one of them was to eat more toothpaste in the year 2009. You heard me, eat toothpaste. We have caught her several times in the bathroom squeezing the life out of her Little Bear toothpaste and just going to town. Last night when we dropped her off at my in-laws she promptly went into their bedroom while we were talking with them. After a minute, I asked where she was. We went looking and found her hiding in their closet behind their mini trampoline with my MIL's toothpaste in her mouth eating it. It was all over her face too! What is this about?! What in the world possesses her to eat this stuff?? I mean, I guess I can't complain too much.. at least it is keeping her breath fresh! I have a friend who's sister used to eat dirt!! Seriously!! She would just take a handful and just shove it in her mouth!! At least Makayla doesn't do that!!

So that's the lastest at our house! Fun times! So tell me kind readers, what were some of your resolutions for the New Year??

Merry Christmas To All!

2008-12-25T11:04:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas Family and Friends!
We have had a wonderful Christmas so far! Last night we went to my parents and opened most of our gifts there! That is also where we got our Wii!!!! WHOHOOO!!! So excited!! Seriously, BEST. PRESENT. EVER!!!!! I know I am a little behind on the times in getting this toy, but hey, better late than never right?! Makayla has definitely picked her favorite gift so far as well...she got a really awesome tent from my parents, which she loves! But, she also got a Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) costume from my brother and his fiancee and she has LIVED in this dress for the past 18 hours!
Anyway, just wanted to send out a little update before we head out for more Christmas celebrations! We are going over to my parents for lunch, then out to the in-laws to open our gifts with them! So, it will be a very busy day!

Have a wonderful Christmas!
Mama G

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2008-12-14T16:37:00.006-06:00

Hello all! Well, it's officially Christmas Time here at the Graf's! We have put up the lights, the tree and some decorations. We also decided it was Christmas card time as well. This always entails a lot of fussing, tantrums, forced smiling, yelling and threatening. Doesn't that just reek of Christmas spirit?! Well, it started off ok.... a few pics turned out very well as you can see below. Another exciting event this past week was that it snowed in Houston! Yeah, I know.. I almost thought it was the end of the world! We have been experiencing this lovely pattern of hot one day/freezing cold the next! It's been great... my head really appreciated it when it decided to get a massive sinus infection that kept me out of school one day. It has unfortunately affected my class as well. At least 2-3 kids have been out sick, so I have been constantly surrounded by all these lovely germs.
Anyway, back to the snow....so it snowed for a day and this caused mass hysteria in Houston. Seriously, if any of you knew anyone in Houston and they had a Facebook account, I can almost guarantee that every single one of their updates on that day mentioned the snow. This also caused Makayla to run around our yard like a crazy person saying, "I'm dancing in the snow!" I included a video below for your amusement! And of course, I couldn't resist putting the snow pics on here! Enjoy!
**UPDATE**- The video of Makayla running around wouldn't upload for some reason, so I'll try again later, sorry!!

This is the official pic....! We got a winner!

Second runner up...looked too generic....

It's snowing! Can you see that one teenie tiny little flake to the right of her??

Here it is at night with our beautiful lit up house!

It accumulated a little on Phil's truck....

More snow!!!

Daddy and Makayla out in the snow!

Why I hate health insurance companies....

2008-12-02T22:35:00.002-06:00

Well, for the last 2 days I have been feeling pretty gross. Yesterday I lost my voice so that made dealing with the kiddos lots of fun! Last night though, I just couldn't sleep and when I woke up this morning, I felt really awful. I called into work and decided to try and find a Dr. to go see. I had not yet picked out a Primary care Dr. so I went to Unicare's website and started researching. They gave me a list and I started calling all the doctors closest to me. Well, the first 3 I called were either completely booked or were leaving early, but I got lucky on the 4th one. They said they could work me in, so I was elated! I went and of course the Dr. told me I had a really bad sinus infection. He wrote me out a Rx for a Z pack and some Singulair. So I went to my local Kroger's at 4:30 (right after my appt.) and tried to fill my Rx. The pharmacist said they were kinda backed up and said it would take about 2 hours. I really didn't have the energy to argue or protest, so I said fine and went home to rest. After 2 hours, Phil went up there to get something else from the store and after waiting another 15 min. they told him it still wasn't ready. Seriously? They said it would be another 30 min. So we did our normal bedtime ritual with Makayla and put her down and by that time it was 8:30, so 4 hours from when I originally dropped off the Rx. I go up there and they said... you guessed it... IT STILL WASN'T READY!! I was like, um.. excuse me.. what seems to be the problem.. these are 2 well known drugs, not something weird.. this shouldn't be a problem. Well of course one of the ladies wasn't working the computer right.. so they had to call their Asst. Manager in to come help them. The Asst. Manager started yelling at the ladies who was screwing up on the computer... but hey... they should know what they are doing so I kinda didn't feel bad for her! Well, they come over to me and say they have filled the Z pack, but my insurance company has rejected the Singulair. I am telling you, I almost lost it. I asked them why and if they had called them, they said that this was normal that there is a list of meds that Unicare wouldn't fill. UGH! I asked them what I was supposed to do and they said that I would need to call my Dr. and ask him to write another Rx for something comparable to the Singulair. I then told them that this would have been nice to know earlier in the day since now I would have to wait until tomorrow to even call my Dr.!! What the hell?! Man I was so mad! But isn't this just typical...
I started my Z pack and will hopefully sleep better tonight, and will pray my Dr. will write another Rx tomorrow. I think I will then take the Rx to CVS and hope for better service...

A Season of Change...

2008-11-22T21:01:00.002-06:00

So there has been a lot going on and with all this change I feel I need to get some things off my chest. The first and foremost important change is that the principal of our school has decided not to come back for the next school year. This is not unusual in the fact that teachers/staff/directors/principals come and go, but this particular change is going to bring about some things to be concerned about. When I started working at my school 3 years ago, Makayla was not going to school yet, since she was just 6 months old. By my second year, Phil and I felt that it was time for her to start going. I had heard rumors that teachers would get a discount on their child's tuition so I went to the principal to talk to her about it. Sure enough, I was right, but at that particular time, (since I am an aide) I was only eligible for a mere 20% discount. Well since Makayla wasn't going that much, that was ok. But this year, Makayla was in a different class and so I felt that the 20% was cutting it. (Lead teachers got a 50% discount.) So I again went to the principal and she really worked with me on getting me a 40% discount! That was huge! That really helped us out! Well, with her leaving, I am just worried about the next principal, will they keep that policy? We have heard that they can't just take it away, but as each year passes, the discount might be less and less. Well, as Makayla gets older, the tuition increases. We have also been informed that tuition will be going up a LOT next year. This is also a concern. Since I am an aide, I don't make that much, but enough to cover about half her tuition that we pay now...what if the tuition goes up to where my whole paycheck has to go for her tuition? Will it be worth it for me to keep working? Should we try and find a public school? These are all very real possibilities. I am really trying to just put this in God's hands and I will follow what I think he wants us to do.

The other thing that is scaring me is that I have been bitten. Bitten hard. Bitten by what you ask? Well, I will tell you.... the baby bug. Yep, that's right. Ever since Makayla was born I could not even fathom the idea of having another child. We knew we wanted more than one, but really couldn't imagine what that would be like. She has just been so wonderful and we have been perfectly content with her, but for some reason lately I have been having all these emotions and feelings about babies. Every time I see or hold a baby or even see a pregnant woman, I just feel this twinge in the pit of my stomach. I miss the feeling of being pregnant. I miss seeing the first smile, hearing the first laugh, getting that first hug etc. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE MAKAYLA with all my heart, but she too is feeling these effects. She has been asking Phil and I for a "baby sister" for many months now. I think she just wants someone to play with.. ha! Which I totally don't blame her for.. I mean how much fun can playing with your parents all the time really be? But is she really ready for this life altering change? Are we? I have been told a million times that even though you feel like you couldn't possibly love another child, you can. I really can't imagine loving another child as much as I love Makayla, but I guess I will just have to wait and see. We have talked about trying for next summer to get pregnant.. so that leaves us with only 7 months to cherish our time alone with our precious little girl. I really don't want this to come out wrong, because we really do want to have another baby, but for some reason I almost feel like this 7 month time frame is a death sentence in a way. Just for the fact that Makayla's whole way of life will be different. We will have to divide our attention as she won't be the center of ours anymore. She will have to share her toys and wait on Mommy when I have to take care of the baby. Will she still feel loved by us when things like this occur? I guess the only thing I can do is just pray and spend as much time with her as I can. Just to make me feel better, I need all you mommas with more than 1 child to give me some good advice and stories. Let me know how you got through it and I will be eternally grateful!

With a heavy heart,
Mama G

Another first for The Princess!

2008-11-18T21:52:00.003-06:00

So a couple of weeks ago, I decided that it was time for Makayla to experience her first movie in a theater. Madagascar was opening that weekend, so we set out to go on that Saturday afternoon. We went to eat some lunch first and then headed to the theater! She was in awe! It was so cute to see her big ol' eyes just taking everything in. She called the screen, "A really big tv!" Haha!! Well, as a result, all she talks about is the animals that "went to Africa" and she also walk around singing, "I like to move it, move it!!" So stinkin adorable!! So here are some pictures from our movie experience! Enjoy!!

In front of the theater!

She was checking out the poster for another movie!

Movie is about to start!!

Afterward she got to ride on a helicopter in the mall!

Something other than poop

2008-11-13T22:09:00.003-06:00

Ok, I realize that my last post probably didn't appeal to many people... sorry about that. I just really had to get that out there because keeping that all bottled inside was driving me nuts! So, on to better things here folks!
I am happy to report that as of last week we have had poop free incidents! Yeah! Last weekend, Phil went out of town leaving Makayla and I to have a Mommy & Makayla Weekend of Fun!! I decided that since she is almost 3 (sniff, sniff) that it was time to introduce her to the world of film. And no, not the dirty kind you sickos. I knew that Madagascar was opening so we went and saw it on Saturday. It was so cute to see her experience that! She was just so amazed at the "really big tv" as we called it! Ha! She did so great too! She sat there the whole time and never got up! I was very proud of her!
This past Monday we decided to go get her annual Christmas portraits done at the Picture People in the mall. We did this last year and were VERY happy with the results. (Just come take a look at our house.... tons of the framed pics line almost every wall in our den!) Well, not too surprising, these lastest pictures turned out GREAT!!! They are so beautiful! I will post some up soon...

Well, I am gonna wrap this up, but will leave you with an entertaining story from school today:
We were taking our class to P.E. and I usually stand at the back of the line to make sure the kiddos aren't trying to escape! Ha! I kid, I kid! Anyway, one little girl says, "Mrs. Graf you know what?" I ask her what and she says, "Um.. my mom died last night, but then came back to life. (Slight pause) Soooo, she's all better now."

The NOT so fun events in October...

2008-11-08T10:33:00.003-06:00

It couldn't be all good and well could it?? Well, I waited a week to write this because honestly, it took me a week to fully recover from it all. It all began last Saturday, the day after Halloween. Makayla had a wonderful time trick or treating, so we assumed her weekend would be a good one. We were wrong. We woke up Sat. morning, ate breakfast and played for a while. It came time to eat lunch and go down for a nap. She was still in a good mood and didn't put up a fight to take a nap, which is always nice. Well, I put her down around 12:30. Phil had been out with some guy friends and came home about 1:30. Makayla was STILL up making noise, so I told him he'd better go in there and see what the deal was. The next thing I hear is, "What did you do?!?!" I run in there and once again, see one of the worse things ever. She apparently had a poopy diaper and instead of telling me, she took it off and painted her crib, sheets, blankets, bears, and walls with it. It was absolutely disgusting. She of course got disciplined and we spent the next 2-3 hours cleaning up everything. We were furious. We put her to bed early that night and thought that the discipline took care of everything. We were once again, wrong. The next day, Sun. it happened AGAIN. We had put her down for a nap, and after like an hour of making non-stop noise, Phil went in there and she had painted with her poop again. We were so shocked, we honestly didn't know what to do. Did the discipline from the day before not register?? So we once again, punished her and had a very long talk about it. Then we spent the next couple of hours cleaning.

Now fast forward to Tues. (Which is her school day.) We woke up, had a GREAT morning. No fights over clothes or what to eat, it was wonderful! She was being her old, sweet self again. I dropped her at her classroom and then went to my class. A mere 2 hours later, the director came to see me. She said that Makayla had pooped in her pants (no big deal right) but while she was in the bathroom waiting for the teacher to change her, (The teacher was finished cleaning up another child) she apparently got bored and shoved both hands down her diaper and then smeared it all over her clothes again. Then when the teacher turned around, Makayla accidentally got some on the teacher!!!! I WAS MORTIFIED!! You know that teacher is getting a BIG Christmas gift from us!! Anyway, I just wanted to cry! I couldn't believe she would do that at school!! Home is one thing, at least no one else has to be subjected to it, but at school?!?! So they cleaned her up and I went down there and had another talk with her. But there is some good news.... we have not had another poop incident since Tues.! Thank goodness!
So I am in need of some advice here people! I called my pediatrician, who assured me that this can happen at this age and it's not out of the normal, but for crying out loud, how do I STOP it from happening?? If any of you have had a similar experience, please give us a shout out in the comments! I really need to know I am not the only one going through this!!

Fun Events in October!

2008-11-01T12:43:00.002-05:00

So October was a very busy, fun-filled month! I decided to make a short slide show to encompass all the fun things we did! Enjoy!!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

It's all the toddler's fault...

2008-10-21T22:34:00.002-05:00

Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! The story I am about to tell is not going to portray me in a good light... just to warn you. I KNOW some of you have felt the same way and that is the only thing that is helping me through this. Here's what happened:
Today was Grandparent's and Special Friends Day at school. Makayla did not take a nap yesterday so I was somewhat worried about that...So I woke her up this morning and she was in an ok mood. I started to change her and put this very cute little outfit on her! I had washed it last night, so I was excited about her wearing it. She liked it too, but when I put her brown sandals on her, the fight began. She did NOT want to wear those sandals. I told her in a nice way that she didn't have a choice. Well that did not sit well with her so she started pouting and fussing. She threw herself on the floor on her tummy and wouldn't get up. I told her that I was going to the kitchen to eat and that if she didn't want to be hungry, she has better follow me. Well she didn't like that either, but knew I wasn't kidding. So she started crawling on her tummy into the kitchen. I let her do that because honestly, I didn't want to fight with her more than I had to, I was already running late. So she was still on her tummy and I told her it was time to get up and eat some breakfast. She stood up and the whole front of her dress and leggings were wet. I asked her if she spilt something on her and she said, "No, I went pee-pee." My heart stopped. I went over and took a quick smell and sure enough, pee-pee. I guess in the time she spent on her tummy, she peed a lot and it just came out the front of the diaper. I was livid. I told her that she completely ruined her outfit and that I was very disappointed that she layed down and got her dress all dirty. I took her back to her room and got her into something else. (Which wasn't nearly as cute... damnit) So after I got her re-dressed, we walked back into the kitchen to eat our breakfast. She refused to eat. My blood pressure started rising. I told her I was not kidding, that if she didn't eat this, I was not making anything else for her and she would be hungry. She took 2 little bites and said she was finished. I said fine, and threw it in the fridge and ushered her out the door. She seemed a little confused as to why I didn't give her something else to eat, but I was so mad at this point, I didn't care. We got to school and luckily she didn't pitch another fit, or else I think I would have lost my mind.
Why?? Why do kids have this sixth sense that when you are running late that they need to be as slow and uncooperative as possible??? This drives me insane!!! Here's the truth though, if you are a "late" person before you have kids, well then you're screwed because kids just make you even later to things. It seems my whole life, I am always running late. I hate this, but can't seem to fix it. I always think ahead about how much time I will need, but something always seems to come up and sure enough.. I am 15-20 min. late.... again. When I became pregnant with Makayla, this freak occurance happened the whole time where I was on time, if not early to everywhere I went. My friends didn't know what to think!! But wouldn't you know that the minute I had that child, I slipped back into my old habits.
Anyway, I hope you all know that I do love my child more than life itself and I would do ANYTHING for her. But there are days like today where I just want to strangle that child!! (Not literally here people, so please save your energy in calling CPS). She just knows exactly how to push my buttons. My one pet peeve with kids are when they are defiant. UGH! This just aggravates the hell out of me!! I am the adult and when I say to do something, then you had damn well better do it!!! It's like she doesn't take me seriously or something! I hate having to discipline, but what else am I supposed to do, let her get away with it? Um no, cause then we'll have one of those lovely spoiled brat kids running around. So, I guess I will just try and endure this time of toddlerville and hopefully with lots of prayer, we'll all survive it together!!

A trip to the Principal's office.....

2008-10-15T20:08:00.003-05:00

So, Makayla has not had a good school week so far. First off, we are all still sick. Not enough to stay home, but just enough to feel like utter crap and be in a bad mood. When Makayla doesn't feel good, she ALWAYS acts out a little. So on Monday, we didn't have school so Phil and I took Makayla to Dewberry Farm. It is a cute little farm that has an awesome corn maze, a fort, swings, pumpkin patch, hay rides... the list could go on and on! The place doesn't open until 10, so we made sure to leave early because we wanted to be there right when it opened. We ended up getting there at about 10:20 and I think the whole freaking city of Houston decided to go too! We had to stand in line for 45 min. just to buy tickets and get in!!!!! But once we got in there, everything was great! Makayla had a blast! We ended up leaving around 2 because we needed to get Makayla home for a nap. We stopped briefly at my in-laws house and then got home around 3:30. We promptly put Makayla down for a nap and the child proceeded to sleep for 3 1/3 hours!!! So she woke up when she is normally going to bed! So we kept her up for a couple of hours and luckily we had no problem putting her back to bed.
This leads into the next day (Tues.) when she goes to school. I had to wake her up because of course she didn't quite get enough sleep, but she is in a good mood. So I take her to school and she seems fine. A little while later though, the Director of the Daycare center brings her down to me. This has never happened before. The Director, who is basically the equivalent of the Principal for that area, says that Makayla refused to do anything her teacher asked her to, and didn't listen and then went and hid under a table. So she leaves Makayla with me and she and I had a nice little talk. Anyway, the teacher said after that, they didn't have any more problems! But man alive, 2 1/2 and already going to the principal! Should I be worried for the future??

Mama G who??

2008-10-05T23:10:00.003-05:00

Yes, I'm here...no seriously. I'm right here...I know, I know... I have been away for a while. It's been a little crazy around here since the hurricane hit. We have had tons of branch debris just sitting in front of our house...which really sucks. We have slowly gotten back into our routine, so it is very weird to look outside and still see remnants of the destruction. But luckily today, a nice big 18 wheeler came through the neighborhood and picked up everything! What a relief!

On a completely different note, one of the kids in our class had his last day on Friday. He went to be at another school that was better suited for their family, and it was just really sad. We had this little guy's older brother 2 yrs. ago, and we just loved their family. We will miss them so much! It is really hard when the kiddos leave at the end of the year too, because you know some of them won't be coming back. That is really the one downside of being a teacher... you just get so close with these kids and their families for 9 months, and then they are either gone, or on to another classroom. Luckily though, a good amount of parents keep their kids at our school, so we do get to see them again. This one just really hit me hard because we did have 2 of the kids and we really liked the family.

On yet another note.... I haven't been feeling too well lately. The stuff that this hurricane kicked up in the air has done a number on my allergies. Then a lovely stomach bug has been making the rounds at our school and of course I have caught a little of it. The only good thing is that I am not catching nearly as much as I had the first 2 yrs. at school. Man alive, when you immerse yourself in all the kiddie germs, it is horrible! You catch every little sniffle and runny nose... but after a while, you finally build up some immunity to it! Thank goodness!!
Well I have a Dr.'s appointment on Wed. to check my thyroid levels again. I really don't think the medicine is working... I think I need a higher dosage, so hopefully that will get straightened out then. Anyway, that's about it over here! Hope you all have a great week!

Babies, babies and more babies...

2008-09-21T16:55:00.003-05:00

Ok, I might have added one too many babies...! So 2 of my best friends are pregnant!! Yeah!! They are also BOTH due in April, within weeks of each other! So exciting!! I can't even begin to explain how ecstatic I am about this!! There are several reasons why I am so excited, so here they are:
When I got pregnant many many moons ago (back in 2005/2006), none of my friends had kids. Not a single one. So my pregnancy was a pretty lonely one. I had no one to compare notes with or ask questions or anything. Luckily my pregnancy was a very easy one and I never got sick or had any complications. This did not however take away that very lonely feeling. Being pregnant is just an amazing experience and I could not wait until my friends could experience it too. It is truly a magical, wonderful thing to grow a baby inside you and just feel that connection. Ok, I know I am getting sappy, but it is awesome. I felt very sorry for my husband that he could not feel what I was feeling in my body. Another reason I am excited is just the fact that a baby truly does change everything. Your whole life revolves around that baby. Your feelings and well being come last.. now this might not sound too appealing for some of you, but it is totally worth it for the following reasons:

First smile
First laugh
First roll over
First crawl
First steps
First words
First day of school
Your child telling you they love you

I have personally experienced each of these events, and even now I tear up at the mere thoughts of them. There is absolutely no better feeling that having your child look at you and telling you that they love you. Oh. my. gosh. And believe me, you might think there are things that are better, but trust me, there isn't.

So knowing that my friends are about to embark on such events just makes my heart ache for them! (In a good way!) Ok ok, I know I need to stop now or the water works will really start flowing!

**To Kelly and Sara,
I truly love you both and I am so deleriously happy for you and can't wait to meet your little bundles of joy!!**

Mama G

We are alive and ok!

2008-09-17T00:22:00.002-05:00

Hi friends,
Just wanted to let ya'll know that we did survive the hurricane and we are doing alright! We had no damage to the house or yard... just several branches come off our Magnolia tree. We lost power in the middle of the storm, and it only came back yesterday. We bunked in with my parents who only live about a mile away, and who coincidentally never lost power but had WAY more damage to their neighborhood! Go figure! My school is closed until Mon. which sucks for the fact that since I am hourly, I don't get paid when I am not there. So, that's kind of a bummer, but it has been nice to have a little break.

Well, it's getting late and I need to get some sleep! Hope you all are doing great, and I will talk to you soon!

Dr.'s Appt. and Hurricanes...

2008-09-10T22:20:00.002-05:00

Will this madness ever end? For the last week, the news has inundated us with Hurricane Ike updates, letting us all know that we are pretty much screwed. Houston is going to be on the "dirty side" of the storm, so this weekend will prove to be very entertaining! The hubby went out tonight and got some supplies, just a few things in case we lose power. We didn't go overboard because these things have been known to change course at the last min. Several years ago when Rita was a big threat, we rushed out and got all this stuff and even taped up all our windows and guess what?? It lightly drizzled for the better part of a day. So be on notice Mr. Weather... we are not falling for your tricks again.. you have cried wolf too many times!

On another note, I finally went back to the Dr. after many, many tests and he finally figured out that I have hypothyroidism. Meaning an under active thyroid. He threw some sample meds at me and said to come back in 4 weeks. They will take some more blood and figure out if this medicine is not enough or too much... so that will be fun. I almost hoping that it is too much....maybe it will jump start my thyroid! That would be awesome!
I had an lovely experience in the waiting room though before my appoint and thought I would regal my dear readers with a story! So I get to the office about 15 min. early hoping that maybe the Dr. would be running somewhat on time... cough, cough... yeah right. So there are 2 other people in there waiting, a man and a woman. After signing in and sitting down, I notice that the woman is on her cell phone, which is no crime right? But it soon became apparent that she was, "Obnoxious loud phone talker person with no boundaries." Don't you love those types? So all of a sudden I hear her start talking about some crap about how the person she is talking to needs to come to some event at a church, that I later assessed to be a Baptism. Yes folks, she was that open with her conversation. Apparently though, the person was protesting about going to a church and so this lady starts tearing into him about how could he not come, what is he thinking, and how is knows nothing of this church.... SERIOUSLY?!?! Really... this is what you want all the waiting room people to hear? Then, when the nurse calls her name to go in the back, she says to the person on the phone, "Oh hey, they just called my name, but don't hang up ok." I am not even kidding, she actually said that. So my imagination starts reeling of how the lady is still griping to her friend while this poor nurse is asking her to step on the scale, and then tries to take her temp. and blood pressure....all while this idiot is chatting away. I don't know.. I just don't get people sometimes...personally when I go to the Dr. I want to get in and out as fast as possible. It was probably this lady that caused my Dr. to be 30 min. late....she probably wanted her friend to stay on the phone and hear everything the Dr. had to say to her.

Anyway, I will give you all updates in these next couple of days on what this hurricane will do to my weekend. I had planned on doing nothing but resting... now I have to start worring about my family's well being... geesh...stupid hurricane.

Infections, pulled muscles and allergies... OH MY!

2008-08-26T20:57:00.004-05:00

Howdy friends! Boy has it been a week! School started a week ago and life has been busy!! Our class this year is great! Much better this time around! The kids are just as cute as ever, but my only complaint is that the school put 19.. yes 19, 3 yrs. old in our class this year. It is so chaotic in our class that we are having trouble just staying on track with our schedule. Oh well, we will get by!
So yesterday poor Makayla's allergies went hay wire! Her nose is running constantly and she is sneezing her head off! Poor thing! I have been giving her some medicine and she is being such a trooper! When I got home yesterday, I needed to edge the lawn because it was long overdue! We had bought a new weed eater and I was anxious to use it. I go out there and realize pretty quickly that this particular one is a little shorter than our old one. As a result I had to kinda bend over a little more which was not the most comfortable position in the world. So after I get through, my back was a little sore... but I brushed it off. This morning however, I woke up in horrendous pain! I am guessing that I have pulled something...yeah.. great. On top of that, my right ear closed up again a couple of days ago. I put some drops in and it opened up for 2 days, but this morning it had closed up again. The last time this happened... which was only 3 months ago mind you, the Dr. said I had a pretty bad infection. The only good thing about it was that I don't have any pain with the infection! Thank goodness!! So, I have started taking some left over meds from the last infection and hoping my ear will open back up SOON!!
BTW, if anyone medically minded out there reads this... if I start getting more and more ear infections, will I have to get tubes? Do they even give 29 yr. olds ear tubes?!?!

Happy Birthday To Me!

2008-08-21T22:39:00.003-05:00

So my birthday was this past Tues. (19th) and I went to dinner with my family. We had a great time and took some great pictures! Enjoy!

Makayla and Mommy

Family Photo

Makayla being her goofy self!

Beach Fun!

2008-08-11T13:38:00.006-05:00

Well friends, we're back from the beach! We went down to Galveston and spent 4 wonderful days at a beautiful resort! This was also The Princess's first time to the beach, and she LOVED it! We had lots of adventures, i.e.: sea turtle tour, seeing her first crab and jellyfish, spending time in an infinity pool, watching the sun set and many more things! I figure I will let the pictures speak for themselves.....

First steps in the ocean

Jellyfish

Dead crab, but still cool to look at

Me and hubby

Posing...

Beautiful sunset outside the Beach Club

Running into the ocean

Another beautiful sunset view from our balcony

Makayla with the Sea Turtles

Family Portrait in the Infinity Pool

Just a hat rack today folks!

2008-07-26T13:06:00.005-05:00

This is going to be a short post.. but oh the hilarity that will ensue! I don't think I told you that after school ended, I taught summer school for 3 weeks. It is a "gifted and talented" program that these kids come to and we get to make up classes for them to take. For instance, I got to teach the kids American Sign Language. (And before you ask.. yes, I do know sign language.) Ok, so back to the story, the kids get to pick out the classes they WANT to take.. that becomes important later.
So school starts and for the first time, I had boys in my class. Yeah, that was interesting. The girls seem to pick it up and most of the boys did ok, some had a little trouble. But I try to make the class really fun and we play games and work on puzzles etc. I mean, if they aren't gonna have fun, then what's the point right? So at the end of the program, the kids are required to fill out a form that asks them questions like: Did you like all your classes? Which classes did you take that you didn't particularly like? You see where it is going....
So one of the girls in my class, (who did quite well mind you) fills out the form and when asked what class she didn't like, here is her response:

"I did not like my American Sign Language class. All we did was do stuff with our hands the whole class."

........I'll give you a minute to fully digest that statement.......

So folks, just to let you know... not ALL kids who are in the "gifted and talented" programs are just that. Some are genuinely really smart and use their brains, and then there are some who just use it as a hat rack.

Sick and Sicker...

2008-07-24T00:04:00.003-05:00

So Makayla and I are sick right, although she has it a little worse than me. On top of that, I might just qualify for the Worst Mommy of the Year Award. Yesterday Makayla had a Dr. 's appointment to get her last Hep. shot and we had to get some forms filled out for school. So in the morning, we went outside and she wanted to swing, I get her up in the swing when something starts buzzing around us. I thought it was just a bug, so I swat it away, big mistake. Next thing I know, it freaking stings me on the hand and then I see Makayla holding her leg and saying, "Mommy, owie." I promptly remove her from the swing and we rush inside so I can inspect her. She ended up getting stung on her leg, poor thing. I still can't tell you what the hell it was. I know it wasn't a wasp or bee... it was smaller and thinner... my husband thinks it was a mud dobber, but oh well. So I put some bendryl on it and we headed to the Dr. I had them check out her bite, but they said she wasn't having a reaction thank goodness. Then it came time for her shot... I felt so horrible making her get that after everything else. But they gave her a lollipop afterwards and she uttered the cutest thing ever.

Mommy: "Makayla, how's that lollipop? Do you feel better?"
Makayla: "Mmmm...it's delicious!"
Mommy: (Laughing too hard to respond)

Where did she learn that word? I have never heard her say it before, but it was pretty darn funny nonetheless. Well we get home and her poor nose is just a faucet and I can't seem to stop it, but I pumped her full of drugs and I think she is a little better today.

Me, on the other hand, not so much. I am at that point where you feel like crap, but don't have a temp. or anything. But you feel just well enough to still function. Yeah, that's a great place to be. I hate that! My body needs to make up it's freaking mind, either be sick or not.. On the other hand, I do have to give it props because I rarely get sick, so thank you dear body for not emitting nasty unmentionable things from thine self and keeping me functioning for my child's sake. We do appreciate it. Now if you could find the time to maybe discard some fat or cellulite, that would be just AWESOME! Love ya!

The one where I tell you about the "C" word...

2008-07-08T00:30:00.004-05:00

Hello all! I hope you had a good holiday weekend! Mine was good! Hubby and I took The Princess to see her first fireworks show on Friday and man, was it worth it!!! She kept saying, "Mommy, Daddy, LOOK!!! Whoa.. a big one!!! Look, look!!!" It was so precious!

Well, I am going to dive into a deeply personal subject that I have yet to talk about until now. I feel I can share this with you all since it is a subject that many of you have probably have dealt with in one way or another. In January of 2007, my mom was having some abdominal pains and figured it was her appendix. She dealt with the pain for a week or two, but then it just became unbearable. We took her to the ER one evening and the docs did a CAT scan and sure enough it was her appendix. It had a small hole in it, but had appeared to seal itself over so she was in the clear until the morning. They scheduled her for a routine appendectomy. The next morning arrived and they wheeled her into surgery. The Dr. assured us that it would be very routine and that she would be out of surgery in 45 min. Well, an hour came and went and I wasn't too worried. Then and hour and a half went by, and I started to get nervous. All of a sudden, the Dr. comes out and he doesn't look real happy. I start bombarding him with 20 questions, but he stops me and says, "I have some news." You know that's never good. He explained that when he opened her up, her appendix which is normally the size of your pinky, was the size of a grapefruit. She had a mass inside her appendix and this very experienced Dr. had never seen anything like that before. He immediately took a small slice off and sent it to pathology and they confirmed it as Cancer. He said it looked bad since it was so big and since her appendix had a small hole it in, some of the cancer cells had leaked into her abdomen. He said he would try and get everything out and I shooed him off to go fix my mother ASAP. After another hour or so, he came out and said he had gotten everything he could see out, but that Mom would probably have to do some chemo just to make sure.
After 6 weeks of recovery, we take her to an oncologist and it turned out to be Stage 2 Appendiceal Cancer. We get her started on chemo and luckily it is the kind where she won't lose her hair or make her very sick. So she takes it for six months, but after a while, she starts getting more and more weak. They do a PET scan and found no signs of cancer in her body, so they decide she can stop the chemo. They will keep doing PET scans every 6 months or so to just keep an eye on her. So this past January, she had another scan and sure enough, she is still cancer free. That marked her as being in 1 year remission! YES!!! So, several weeks ago, she had her bi-yearly scan, and sure enough, she is STILL cancer free! I can't describe how ecstatic I am. We are just so thrilled that she has had such a positive outcome! I know that unfortunately, some do not fare as well, which is what scared the hell out of me. I can honestly say, I don't know what I would do without my mom. She is like a best friend to me.. corny, I know but true. However, this has not always been the case. I did have my obnoxious teen years where she and I NEVER got along and I swore to never be anything like my mom. But as I got older and saw that hey, she wasn't so bad after all! Then I had a child of my own, a daughter no less and everything changed. How in the world did she put up with me?? Now Makayla is a pretty good child, but has her moments and I saw just how important being a mom and having your mom by your side really is.
Ok, I now this was kinda of a downer post, but I just thought I would get all this out there now, in case I referenced my mom/cancer in future posts.

Happy Birthday America!!!

2008-07-04T10:35:00.003-05:00

Happy 4th of July everyone!!! I hope you all have a really awesome day and stay safe and don't light yourself on fire with the fireworks! Ha!