Stephanie's ramblings

Its been much too long

2011-02-23T17:20:00.000-08:00

So I realized today that I have not posted on this blog since I started working at 911. It is AWESOME. But I guess I don't have as much time for blogging and such. I am a full time working mommy. Natalie has grown so much since my last post. Speaking of which, the little monkey needs juice...... Ha ha that was fun while it lasted!

Good bye blog for now!

Episodic Ataxia Type 2 test results

2010-01-27T19:27:00.000-08:00

So we finally got the results back from Natalie's blood test. Its only been since September :) The test came up negative for the mutation. BUT her Dr did some research and he found out that 50% of people with this mutation have the same result. It doesn't show up in the test. He still feels like this is what she has. So I guess she has this super rare disorder that less then 150,000 people in the United states have. Then you cut that in half and she is in that percent of people who it doesn't show up in their genetic tests. Pretty rare indeed.

When her Dr first called and said the test came up negative, I was really discouraged. I felt like 'Here we are again with all these symptoms and no answers' But I really feel confident in the doctors decision to keep this diagnosis. I dont want Natalie to have ANYTHING but if she is going to have something wrong with her I want to have a name for it. Something I can hold on to. It makes it more tangible in my mind, that I can put a label on it. I guess I'm just so tired of being frustrated from all these years of Ben having this problem and nobody knowing whats wrong with him. I don't want Natalie to have to suffer the way he has.

So we can only go up from here :)
In other news, Natalie has an ear infection. Poor kid cant catch a break. She never cried or acted like she was sick. She just started getting these really high fevers in her sleep. I wasnt even going to take her to the Dr, But I did anyway just to be on the safe side. She has been acting so happy and healthy. My mom said I did the same thing when I was little. One day I woke up and had ooze coming out of my ear. My eardrum had burst and she never knew anything was wrong with me because I never cried. Natalie and I are tough cookies :)

Natalie is really on a up swing with her speech. She actually said her own name today for the first time ever!! She said 'Natty coat' referring to her coat. She has been talking up a storm lately. Its like a little light bulb went off in her head and she has finally gotten over a hump of not being able to learn new things.

She watches Go Diego Go all the time and we have this one DVD running in her room. She watches it whenever Ben and I are studying or in the shower. She has almost gotten all the words memorized! She copies what they say on the TV! She doesn't understand everything that she is saying but she is mimicking which is HUGE!

Since she has started daycare she has really opened up! I'm so proud of her. Everybody tells me how beautiful she is and how sweet natured she is. We get compliments everywhere on her behavior and demeanor. She really is an angel. I am really thankful Heavenly Father sent her to us. I don't know what I have done in this life to deserve such a wonderful daughter, but I am truly blessed.

Lazy Eye

2009-12-03T09:27:00.000-08:00

So yesterday Natalie had her 6 month check up with her eye Dr. The only reason we ever took her to the eye Dr in the first place was because she had such a hard time walking with out falling off edges. We thought she had a depth perception problem. The Dr gave her glasses 6 months ago and Natalie wore them, but then she wouldent keep them on. The Dr told us it wasn't a strong prescription and if we felt like she didn't need them then she didn't have to wear them.

Well yesterday when we went in for our check-up I told the Dr everything was fine with her vision as far as I could tell and she wasn't wearing her glasses and she was doing well. The Dr started looking at her eyes and she told us that Natalie has a lazy eye, she needs to wear her glasses and we have to put eye drops in her good eye everyday so she is forced to use her bad eye to strengthen it. If it doesn't get better in three months then she may need surgery.

So not what I was expecting for our check-up at all. I am really not looking forward to holding her down every morning and putting stingy eye drops in her eye.

She has an appointment to see her neurologist on the 10th. Hopefully her test results come back before we see him. It would be nice to finally know if she has Episodic Ataxia Type 2.

Natalie is doing much better with her speech. The other day we were driving in the car and she called my name from the back seat to say 'Hove you' which means 'Love you'. I almost cried. Then while we were in the Dr office Ben was joking around with Nat, he asked her if she could say opthamologist, and then Natalie proceeded to say 'Optamommy'.....We both just stared at each other in shock.

You can see in the pic below how her left eye is crossed. The pic was taken the past summer. My mother in law AND my mom both said they thought she had a cross eye then.

Deleted

2009-11-03T22:27:00.000-08:00

I decided to delete my previous post. I was (and still am) really excited about it but Ive decided to keep it all to myself! ha ha

So I will be posting a new blog here soon about Natalie and other life updates. Yay :)

Peas

2009-08-10T14:16:00.000-07:00

My kid must be the only kid in the universe that when given a bowl a beef stew proceeds to pick out all the peas and string beans first. She loves her veggies!

Episodic Ataxia Type 2

2009-07-20T11:55:00.000-07:00

I know I have not posted in a very long time. Its horrible. But I guess Ive been too busy with life to blog about life.

In recent news: Natalie went in for a check up with Dr Benko who is her neurologist. He watched new video of her seizures and he came up with a new 'working diagnosis' of Episodic Ataxia Type 2. From the research I have done this is a pretty rare disorder less then 150,000 people in the united states suffer from this. It is actually a gene mutation that occurs in the cerebellum. It is a neurological disorder and the likelihood of a parent passing it on to the child is 50%. The 'attacks' can be brought on by stress, fatigue, caffeine, and alcohol. So this explains why Natalie has seizures at the end of the day, she is tired. She also had chocolate or caffeine before an attack. So no more chocolate or caffeine for her. Poor baby. These attacks can last anywhere between 20 mins to several days.

The good news is that when she has one of these attacks it is not causing any brain damage. She also no longer has the label of having epilepsy. So hopefully she wont have as many restrictions on her as Ben has had. She has also been taken off Keppra completely and she is doing very well and learning new things everyday. Dr Benko did want to put her on another medication. We tried it for a few days but the side effects were horrible. I had to make a decision as her mother to take her off it. The benefits just didn't out weigh the risks.

So now that she is off that medication she is all back to normal now. We may try it again in the future but she is just to little right now. The Dr did say that there is a genetic test we can get done to know for 100% assuredly that she has Episodic Ataxia type 2. I am planning on getting that done very soon.

Her speech therapist is still working with her to say new words so far I think the newest words are 'Juice' miey (for missy) weetie (for sweetie) min (for cinnamon) she says cheese, and mommy, daddy, na na, bop bop (for pop pop) goggy (for uncle tommy) meow (for cat) neh neh (for horse) NO ( for just about everything) uh huh (for any question we ask her) Oh man, Oh no!

And I swear her first sentence is 'oh no mommy!' That is 3 freaking words people!

She loves to carry her purse to and from the car. She grabs her purse and says 'Bye bye' and walks towards the front door. She loves cats and she always wants us to draw cats on her magnadoodle. She loves to RIDE! I take her horseback riding about once or twice a week and she LOVES it. She gets really upset if I ride without her. She also has a mini tantrum when its time to get off the horse. So I try to distract her by feeding the horses treats. She loves doing that too. We usually just walk around the arena but I decided we would try and trot and Natalie had a blast! She was giggling the whole time. She loves to hold the reins so I usually have to steer with my legs to keep the horse going the right way. I look down and ask her "Do you got your reins Nat?" Then she grabs them up. She gets jealous when we go watch Tommy do Team Penning and she can't ride. She pouts the whole time. I think I have a little cowgirl on my hands.

Na NA and Pop Pop spoil her rotten. She has got them wrapped around her finger. Pop pop has started coming in the kitchen door when he gets home to avoid Natalie so he can at least get in the door and change his clothes before she demands to be held so she can squeeze his ear.

Ben starts school Aug 31st. Its very scary and exciting at the same time. Pray for him. He needs it.

And what about little ole me? Well not much. Natalie keeps me busy with Speech therapy, Physical therapy, constant Dr appointments, and documenting all her seizures and medication intake. Then we have fun stuff we do like painting and playing with her toys.

I'm getting back into horses since Mom and Tommy have 3 horses now. I borrowed a English saddle from my old teacher. I really hate western saddles. So thats my hobby that keeps me sane. Everybody needs a hobby :)

Natalie at the Hands on Museum in Gettysburg. She was a pioneer girl! Ya'all come in for dinner now!

Natalie liked doing laundry civil war style. She likes doing laundry 21st century style too!

Such a Good Day

2009-03-11T15:29:00.001-07:00

So today was the first good day in a long time.

First things first. Natalie woke up this morning and was in a really happy mood. Her diaper was also dry. We have been practicing using her potty chair and this morning was the first time she went pee in her potty! She was really surprised when the potty sang a song to her after she went tinkle. She jumped up and closed the potty lid. I was so happy/excited and I gave her a little piece of toilet paper to put in the potty cuz that is her favorite part.

Then Ben had a job interview today! The first one in a long time. So we will see how that works out.

I took to a church thing this afternoon and Natalie and I were waited out in the hall for him. While we were waiting Natalie kept pointing to the artwork on the wall of Jesus. Then there was a picture book with a bunch of LDS artwork in it and Natalie kept flipping the pages and when she came to the picture of Jesus, she said Jesus. SHE SAID JESUS! I was so excited! She is so smart.

Then we went and visited Nana at work and she was being cute for everybody in the office. After we left the office Rebekah took us out for ice cream and Natalie got her own vanilla cone and sat on the bench and ate it all by herself like a big girl.

When we came home it was still nice outside so Natalie, Daddy, and I all played together in the back yard. She kept sliding down the slide squealing with delight. Then she pointed to the trampoline and after we put her up there she was bending her knees trying to jump saying 'Jump Jump'

So this blog is really all about how great our day was today. I really want to be able to remember all these special moments in her life, cuz its just going by way too fast!

America

2009-03-05T07:52:00.000-08:00

The other night my parents and I took the babies to an Equine Theater show. It was really neat and Evan couldn't take his eyes off it. He was uncharacteristically still and focused. Natalie loved listening to the music and she was pointing to the horses. The only part she didn't like was the jousting. I think it scared her a little.

Before the show started they had a woman come out and sing the National Anthem. Of course I'm like "Oooo no" I ALWAYS cry when I hear the National Anthem. So at least it was dark in the arena and everyone stood up, but I couldn't because I had Natalie on my lap. So I was pretty covered.

I can remember when I first moved to Germany they had the summer Olympics in Greece, and OF COURSE the would play the National Anthem all the time. So I would be all alone in my apartment in the middle of the day in a puddle of tears. Before I moved to Germany I never really got emotional about the National Anthem. But being so far away, missing my family and all the comforts we enjoy here really brought it out in me.

If you have never lived outside this country for an extended period of time I would recommend you do it before you die. I think it should be a requirement that all young people live outside the states for a period of time. I think that more people would appreciate what they have so much more and stop whining.

I was up really late last night unable to sleep because I was worrying about how hard things are for us right now. It was the first time in a long time that I got down on my knees and prayed all alone in the dark. I really hope the economic situation in the country gets better rather then worse really really soon.

Even though things are super tough right now I'm always repeating over and over in my head 'Things could be so much worse, we are so blessed' it has become my mantra. I know that my heavenly Father won't give me anything I can't handle, and I am so thankful for being born here in the United States of America.

Natalie Updates

2009-02-09T15:37:00.001-08:00

So my sweet little girl is growing up! *sniff sniff*

I keep telling her she has to stay little but she doesn't listen to me!

Anyway here are some pics of her at cousin Joy's 1st birthday. On this particular day she was in such a happy mood. We have been decreasing her medication little by little and it seems to really be bringing out her personality. She seems more alert and active. Usually when we are in a room full of people she is really shy and clingy. But at Joy's birthday party she was so friendly and happy. On the way home Ben and I were like 'Whoa we've never seen her like that with strangers'. Rachel told me later on the phone that she was shocked Natalie let Melissa pick her up since Natalie doesn't really know Melissa at all, and Natalie was happy about it and smiling.

Its unfortunate that Natalie needs to be medicated because of her epilepsy. But I know she needs it to keep her seizure free. I just wish it didn't make her groggy and grumpy. Such is life :(

Such a happy girl! She looks so grown up!

This is what she does when she is posing for the camera. She thinks it makes her look cute for pictures

More photo shoot squints

Can you give me a chip please?

I can't believe she is 19 months old! Time goes by so fast when they are little.

P.O.W

2009-01-20T19:37:00.000-08:00

So today Ben and I went to the Veterans hospital in Lebanon PA for an MRI. We are like the youngest people in the hospital. There are always a bunch of old guys hanging around swapping war stories wearing their hats with VA pins all over them.

We were a little early so we were waiting outside for the MRI office to open. I was sitting on a bench swinging my feet back and forth cuz I couldn't reach the ground and Ben was standing next to the office door. This older man in a wheelchair comes wheeling by us. He pulls right up next to me and says to me "Can I see your hand?"

I could barely understand him, I thought maybe he had a mental disorder. I smiled and gave him my hand palm up. He took my hand and turned it over and pulled up the sleeve of my jacket and kissed my hand! He is still holding my hand when he says to me "I was a P.O.W do you know what that is?"

I said "Really? Its a Prisoner of War isn't it?" I was really amazed that I actually was meeting someone who was taken prisoner in a war. I was like whoa.

Then he says to me "No its a 'Pervert on Wheels'

I started laughing it was so hilarious. Then he says "It also stands for 'Prisoner of Wife'

Then he wheels off down the hall.

Ben and I looked at each other and we were just cracking up. That had to be the funniest thing that has happened to me in a while. I must have been the youngest looking lady he has seen in a long time :)

ER doctors know next to nothing

2009-01-19T22:49:00.000-08:00

Soooooo. I think that pretty much sums it up

Natalie has been very sick for the past 2 weeks or so. She was vomiting all over the place. She would just sit on the couch and be miserable. Its been awful.

THEN. Her gums started bleeding. I thought it was because she was getting some new teeth and I didn't think anything of it. So I stopped brushing her teeth for a few days until her gums got back to normal.

Then she woke up from her nap and had blood all down the front of her shirt dripping onto her pants! I called the DR and he said that was not normal. I got a flashlight and took a look up in there and come to find out she has no NEW teeth. Its the old ones that are bleeding. All you have to do is lightly touch her gums and they start to bleed like you've never seen before.

So the on call DR told me to take her to the ER.

*sigh*

This kid has been to the ER 4 times in her year and a half on this earth. She KNOWS what that is all about. So I take her in and we wait....and we wait...and we wait some more. Then the ER doc asks me if I brush her teeth. OF COURSE I BRUSH HER TEETH!!! DO YOU THINK I WOULD BRING MY KID TO THE ER FOR GINGIVITIS?????

I explained to him that I had stopped since they started bleeding so MUCH... Much being the keyword here. So of course he takes blood to see if she has some rare blood disease.

So all anybody has to do is WALK into Natalie's room and LOOK like a DR and Natalie goes crazy. So when the nurses come to take her blood she is already flipped out because they are just THERE. Then I have to hold her down on the table while she screams and hyperventilates. I laid next to her on the bed to she could hold my ear and run my hair through her fingers. That is the only thing that comforts her. I look in her eyes and tell her she is such a tough girl and she is so brave. The nurses said she was a good girl and she didn't squirm at all for them. Poor baby.

I keep telling the stupid ER DR I think she has an infection or abscess . He asks me 'Do you take her to the dentist?"

SHE IS 1 1/2 YEARS OLD!!!! NO I DON'T TAKE HER TO THE DENTIST!!

He is like 'Hrmmm yea usually we don't take kids to the dentist until they are three"

*bonks self in head*

"Oooookay... So can I get some antibiotics JUST IN CASE its an infection in her gums?"

"Hrmm yea I will go ahead and do that" "Her blood work came back normal she doesn't have any blood disorders. "You should check in with your pediatrician later this week"

*smacks head against wall*

So by now its 1 am. Natalie is thoroughly traumatized yet again and we have the bubble gum flavored antibiotics in hand. Ive been accused of being a neglectful parent, and all is right with the world.

Curious Toddler = No New Blogs

2009-01-06T14:21:00.000-08:00

So I know, I know. Its been months since I updated this blog. It must be very disappointing to all my adoring fans when they click on my link saved in their favorites and then.......nothing new from Stephanie. *frown*

Well I must say that I have quite a silly little monkey running around the house who takes up most of my time these days. She has gotten so good at running that I have a hard time keeping up with her before she gets a hold of something sharp or dangerous. Sometimes I turn around and scream "Where the heck did you get those scissors?!?"

I might add that the scissors were pink. So Natalie automatically thinks they are hers. It is understood in our household that anything pink is HERS! It is also known that anything with a handle on it is HER purse.

Anyways My new years resolutions are as follows:

1. Keep a better blog
2. Keep a better personal journal
3. Print out old blogs and put them in a binder
4. Take better care of my body
5. Get my home/life better organized
6. Get pictures printed out from digital cameras
7. Pay off as much debt as possible

So no crazy weight loss/ working out resolutions for me. They are dumb. I hate it when people say they wanna loose weight for a resolution. Blah

So hopefully in the very near future I will have a new blog about my sweet girl, with lots of pictures!!

So much has happened in the past few weeks. I haven't blogged about any of it and I am so upset with myself. But I am going to do better!!

Movin and Groovin

2008-10-16T04:45:00.000-07:00

So the move is in full swing. Ive been stressed to the ultimate max. I think my hair might actually be falling out.......interesting

On the upside, I am so happy to be around 'my people'. Whenever Ben and I live on our own far away from family, we just wouldn't do much socially. Isn't that awful? It was a pretty boring life. We always moved so often that it was difficult to make a lot of friends. Plus other people around us moved so frequently that by the end of the year that we lived in GA we were the only 'original' family on our street. Everybody who lived there when we moved in had moved out by the time we left. We did make a lot of good friends in Germany, but I can't figure out why we didn't make as many good friends in GA. Its WEIRD.

Anywayz.

So now its the other extreme. EVERYDAY its something new, a new place to go, a new thing to do, family members to hang out with, go to dinner with.... I FREAKING love it!

We are still doing the Job search thing. Which is exhausting, but I hope it will all work out in the end. I'm living on faith right now. I just gotta keep telling myself its all going to work out somehow.

In other Natalie news,
She has improved her walking skills so much in just a few days! She is walking like a pro and I am so proud of her. She is such a tough girl! Whenever she falls down or hits or head on something she doesn't cry! She will flop over and bang her head on the floor and everybody in the room holds their breath to see if she is going to scream, and she just looks up at everybody and keeps on truckin. But whenever she does get hurt bad enough to cry, I pick her up and tell her she is such a tough and strong girl. She usually just stops crying and goes about her business.

I love her so much

My Daughter Walks!

2008-09-28T14:19:00.001-07:00

Its a miracle! Natalie is finally walking. It only took her until she was almost 15 months old but better late then never. It seems like one day she just woke up and started walking. Now she walks everywhere. I was so worried something was wrong with her because she hadn't walked yet. But yet again I learned that all kids do their own thing in their own time.

She went to the Dr to get her last set of shots and she was so upset with us! She was clinging to her Magenta puppy dog the whole time. Natalie is also a little anxious about the change in our routine lately. We have been doing a lot of moving preparation and she is all out of sorts.

The movers come tomorrow! I wonder how Natalie will react. I can't wait until we move! I'm so excited!

News

2008-09-20T09:15:00.000-07:00

So its finally going to happen. Ben is getting out of the Air Force and we are going to have a 'normal' life again. We will be moving in with my parents in PA while Ben is searching for a good job. Its very scary to start over again with no money, but I am so thankful we have family that is willing to help us out in our time of need. Thank goodness my parents have a 4,000 square foot house :)

I have been agonizing over this for almost a year now. I have been a nervous wreck for so long. I have been worried how we are going to pay our bills with no income, or how we are going to afford health care for Ben and Natalie who both have major health issues. All of their prescriptions are VERY expensive.

But now that it is all finally happening I am just so relieved and at peace with it all. I don't really know how it is all going to work out but I trust that God has a plan for us and everything will be okay.

I am so excited to be moving close to our family again. I am so happy Natalie will be able to grow up with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all around her, just like I did when I was growing up. Ive really missed my family these past 5 years. We have missed so many Christmases, birthdays, thanksgivings, all kinds of things. You don't realize how important your family is to you until you don't have them in your life anymore.

The next few weeks are going to be crazy..... but its all worth it.

9/11/01

2008-09-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

I remember where I was when I found out what happened in on 9/11. I was 16 years old at the time. I had gotten home from Seminary class (seems like another life ago) and I was homeschooled at the time so I went back to sleep. I had just started dating Ben about 9 months earlier and I was having a weird dream that Ben and I were on a plane. I remember the plane had blue colored seats and it was dark. We must have been flying at night. In my dream I told Ben I was scared of plane crashes.

For some reason my dads job at the time meant that he had to drive back past our house at this particular time of the day. My mom and I were snoozing in bed and he runs in the room and says

"Have you heard whats happened? Ive been listening to the radio in my truck."

He turns on the TV and they have been replaying the first explosion. I honestly thought it was a movie. Coming out of my sleepy haze I am thinking he has turned on a movie.....but this TV has no DVD player.

Then all of a sudden the second plane hits. All of us in the room jump. My dad was like

"This is NO accident! This is on purpose."

We all kept watching the screen as the TV reporters slowly started to realize this was an attack and not an accident.

While we were watching it live, they were showing footage of the buildings burning. One of the camera men for the news was zoomed in on the people hanging out the windows for fresh air.

Then one jumped.

The camera mans feed was cut and the news went to another camera mans view point.

Everyone was in absolute shock. That is the only word I can use to describe it. Just shock. Could this really be happening? Why would they attack those buildings??

Everyone knows what happened after that. The pentagon, United 93 the passengers who fought back.

This seriously brings goose bumps to my body just thinking about it. NOTHING and NOBODY has been the same since that day.

I pray for all those family's of loved ones who didn't come home that day. I can't even begin to imagine the pain of that kind of loss, and I honestly I hope I never have to.

The men and women of the NYFD who risked their lives to GO INTO those buildings to save complete strangers lives deserve so much of our gratitude. Everyone realized this and I can remember such an out pouring of support for the NYFD. The firemen always just humbly said

"They were just doing their job."

In the aftermath of it all, the thing that struck me the most was how everyone rallied together in a spirit of patriotism. If anything good came out of this horrible act of terrorism, it would be the common sense of patriotism.

I know that MY personal love for this country grew more that day, and the days following then I ever thought it could. I remember when I moved overseas to Germany, it just so happened that the Summer Olympics were on then. Whenever they would play the United States National Anthem, I would literally cry and cry. I missed my country so much.

I have flown A LOT since 9/11. EVERY single time I get on a plane I think about the passengers of United 93.

Could I be that brave? I hope so.

Bad blogger

2008-09-11T08:50:00.001-07:00

I KNOW! I KNOW! I have been a terrible blogger recently. But I have SO MUCH to blog about. I have felt a little overwhelmed now that I have a toddler I have to run after.

So lets get to it. I want to go over all the new cute things Natalie is doing. She is growing so fast!! It seems like yesterday she was just starting to learn how to smile.

New cute things Natalie is doing/learning.

She is making "kissy" noises

She is also making a hole lot of lip smacking noises

Grandmom was here for a few weeks and she taught Natalie how to play "So big"

Grandmom also taught her how to touch noses, eyes, mouths, and ears

Mommy taught her where to find her belly button (and everyone elses)

Natalie goes to the end of the arm rest on the couch or the recliner and squats down low and hides and then pops up to PEEK at us, she thinks this is hilarious

She is learning how to color with crayons on her little table

She also has these little "Temper Fits" she mostly has these when I tell her she can't put crayons in her mouth, she gets so annoyed with me :)

Whenever either of us say "Natalie don't do that" or "No Natalie" she bursts into tears and she breaks out hearts. She is so sensitive. I only have to LOOK at her like I'm mad and she falls to pieces.

Once my mom let Ben and I go on a date and she watched Nat for us. She gave Nat a bath and apparently Nat was angrily "chattering" at mom, because she didn't want to take a bath! When Nat woke up the next morning she saw me and started "angrily chattering" at ME! She was upset I was gone so long :)

Nat has learned how to say I did it, Mom!!!, Mommy!!, Da Da, Naa, bab, and a whole lot of other chatter.

Natalie loves to DANCE! Anytime and kind of music starts playing she starts to bob her head back and forth and shake her butt.

She also give us "love squints" she looks at us and then squints her eyes.... she is a character

She plays with the buttons on the TV to get our attention, but then she gets extremely scared of the "white noise" and she tries to get as far away as possible

She loves playing "telephone" everything becomes a phone to her. She also plays with the cordless phone and has figured out which button changes the ringer volume. Whenever she touches that button on purpose she throws the phone away from her because it scares her. But she does it on purpose!

She loves for us to build up blocks so she can knock them over. She has just started to stack a few blocks all by herself

We were working with her trying to get her to wave bye bye, she did it once when grand mom left for the airport and we haven't been able to get her to do it since

She LOVES to eat string beans and carrots, they are definitely her favorite foods.

She HAS to be the one to turn of the light switch whenever we leave any room

She is finally getting over her shyness. But now she goes up to complete strangers and wants to look at their belly button. I have been totally embarrassed

She is also very "sassy" Some how she has picked up the ability to give very dirty looks ( I can't imagine WHO she learned this from) But she has given us quite I few dirty looks

She absolutely LOVES cantaloupe and watermelon.

She went to the DR for a check-up and the Dr said that she is going to be super short (sorry Natalie)

She lets us know she needs something by STARING at us. If she has a poopy diaper she stops everything and stares at us until we figure out what she needs. She also does this if she wants a drink of juice

She is pretty much weaned off the bottle and on to the sippy cup. She only has one bottle at bedtime.

She is also feeding herself with a spoon and a fork. Its still a work in progress but she is very very good with a fork.

She is more into reading her books or playing with her toys then watching TV anymore.

We were watching "Wipe out" on TV last night and when the people were trying to walk across the "big red balls" after they fell Natalie was cracking up. She is so hilarious and she definitely has her parents sense of humor

Mommy and Natalie tried to paint what little toenails we have :)

I think Natalie looks so grown up in this picture. Like she is ready to go off to kindergarten

Natalie and her Daddy splashing in the pool.

I used to HATE it when people would post pictures of their kids covered in food. But now that its MY kid I don't mind it so much :) hypocrite?......Maybe

Today was the first time Natalie and I went to the library for story time for her age group. She wanted to play with the kids SO BAD. She wasn't much interested in doing any of the activities. She just wanted to get to those kids!

I am so happy that I get to spend these days home with her to watch her grown and learn new things everyday. It really changes a person when they become a parent. The world is an entirely different place then you thought it was.

Night at the Roxbury

2008-08-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

Natalie LOVES to dance. Whenever any kind of music starts playing she immediately begins to get her groove on. When she "dances" it looks exactly like they guys from Night at the Roxbury. She just bobs her head back and forth and shakes her butt a little bit. Cracks me up every time.

When I was looking for this video she was sitting in her highchair and as soon as the music started playing she started "dancing"

Feb 09 2008 - VID00014_1

2008-08-15T19:53:00.001-07:00

video

Natalie Epilepsy Update!!!

2008-06-20T18:29:00.001-07:00

So my mom came down to GA to help me with the drive up for the babies 1st birthday! Natalie is finally warming up to her. Natalie is such a mommy's girl.

So while mom was here she got to go with us to Natalie's updated EEG test.

Natalie sounded like a wild animal when they were hooking her up to the test. She HATES it when people she dosent know touch her. I think she is traumatised by all the procedures she has had done in her short life.

Well we were able to get the results the same day. The Dr told us that her EEG was COMPLTELY NORMAL!!! She no longer has abnormalities at the back of her brain.

Its a miracle! The Dr said that the medication is doing its job.

Her last seizure was on May 1st. So if she goes seizure free for 18 months starting May 1st she can be taken off her meds.

I am so grateful, thankful, relieved, humbled, and excited that she is getting better!

It really is a miracle.

Harry Potter Book 7 "Deathly Hallows"

2008-06-17T10:55:00.000-07:00

Harry Potter Book 7 'Deathly Hallows'

rating: 5 of 5 stars

I finally finished Harry Potter book 7 "Deathly Hallows" (I was reading a few other books in between)

This book was a lot darker then the others so I wouldn't recommend it for younger readers. This book brought me to tears on more then one occasion. Book 7 had heroism, bravery, sacrifice, friendship, quick wit, and love.

What a beautiful end to a wonderful series I'm sure I will read again and again.

I Know That My Redeemer Lives

2008-06-13T13:40:00.001-07:00

Fat Free Chocolate Cake???

2008-06-11T20:23:00.000-07:00

Yes its true!!! I have poured over the ENTIRE internet to bring to you this awesome LOW-CALORIE cake recipe!

Yes that is a TINY peice missing in that corner. I had to taste it!

How is this possible you ask? I will tell you, all you need is the following:

Pillsbury® Moist Supreme® Reduced Sugar Cake. I used Devil's Food..YUM

Fat-Free/Sugar Free Instant Pudding. For the "icing". I used Chocolate Fudge...Ooooo

2 Cups of cold Skim Milk for the pudding.

And now for the Secret ingrediant:

12 oz (1 can) of your favorite diet soda. If you are making a yellow cake use a clear soda. If you are making a chocolate cake you can use a dark soda. In my case I used 12 oz of Coke ZERO.

So this is the scoop on this cake:

Combine the cake mix and the soda together. NOTHING ELSE! Bake for whatever time the box says to, for whatever size pan you use.

Mix the pudding with the milk and after the cake has cooled pour the pudding over the top and BLAMO!

LOW CALORIE CHOCOLATE CAKE!! Only 170 calories per slice. That's including the icing people!

Its sooo moist and yummy. You would never know it was low fat.

Bottle Review

2008-05-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

When I was pregnant I had planned on breastfeeding my daughter. Between her having jaundice and other obstacles it didn't work out for us. I soon realized that in my stock of baby items I didn't have many bottles at the ready. So began my quest for the perfect bottle. So I present to you who may be interested:

A Year of Bottles in Review

Bottle Number 5 on the list: Soothie Slim Neck

I give it 2 stars

I bought a 3 pack of these bottles because I LOVED the regular soothie bottles so much and I needed some larger bottles for a plane trip I was going on. BIG MISTAKE.

I should have thoroughly tested these bottles before I went on a major trip with them. These bottles leak terribly. I had put premixed formula in these bottles and put them in my diaper bag. When I went to get the first one it was sticky all over the sides and I couldn't figure out where the leak was. It was a major mess and a major hassle.

The neck of the bottle is supposed to make it easier to grip, but in reality it makes it much harder. When the child gets old enough to grip their own bottle it is also very difficult for them as well.

The nipple on this bottle collapses after the baby has sucked on it for a period of time without releasing to give air into the bottle. I call this the "soda bottle effect"

Ill quickly explain the "soda bottle effect". The "soda bottle effect" is equivalent too an adult drinking from a 20 oz bottle of soda with their lips around the opening making a perfect seal, no air is allowed in or out and after a few huge gulps the plastic bottle begins to collapse on itself and the flow of soda is slowed.

There is probably a scientific term for that...but Ive been out of school a while now and I cant think of what it is....maybe its a vacuum seal? I dunno.. But YOU know what I am talking about.

The whole point is to prevent SBE so that baby does not get colic. BELIVE me you will pay any amount of money to prevent your kid from getting colic. Its hellish.

I digress. Now that we have SBE explained and out of the way I will continue.

The cap to the Soothe Slim neck is equally disappointing. It is very hard to take on and off especially when you only have one hand. You can also clearly see in the above picture how the cap is crappy. It dosent seal the top of the nipple...ughhh

Since this bottle has such a small neck it is also difficult to clean. The standard size bottle brush is too large to fit past the slim neck.

This bottle got 2 stars because it has few parts, as opposed to other bottles on this list. It also is not that expensive.

Bottle Number 4 on the list: Playtex VentAire WIDE

I give it 3 stars

In the picture shown we have 3 WIDE bottles and 3 STANDARD bottles. I have only used the WIDE bottles.

This bottles has a lot of pros and cons.

I like how it is angled so you don't have to tilt baby's head back to get the last bit of milk out of the bottle. I like the cute colors. The nipple design is very much like the breast and very comforting to a newborn. The nipple is also very sturdy. BUT I think this nipple is TOO sturdy. It isn't very soft.

The cap is also very secure and easy to attach.

I do not like how many stinking parts it has! When it is 2 am and you have a screaming infant this bottle can become your worst nightmare. It has 5 pieces people!!!!

You have the bottom cap, the vent, the bottle itself, the top ring, and finally the nipple.

The whole point of the vent is to prevent "SBE". It lets air release through the vent to keep down on the bubbles that get into baby's tummy. In theory this is an ingenious idea. But it isn't always practical.

I have set the bottle next to my night stand with just water inside (to keep it ready for nighttime feedings so I don't have to put ALL 5 PEICES TOGETHER in the middle of the night) when I woke up in the morning the nightstand would have a small water ring. The "vent" does let water out eventually.

One time I had accidentally left a VentAire bottle in the diaper bag and forgot it had formula still in it. We didn't go back out for a few days and when I discovered the old bottle it was moldy (eww). The vent had mildew stuck in the little holes. So it had to be thrown out. Playtex does sell vent replacements.

The price on this bottle is not outrageous.

Number 3 on the list: Gerber Premium bottle

I give it 3 stars

These bottles are better for an older child because when the SBE happens the nipple completely collapses. Not such a big deal for an older child, but could be a hassle for an infant. This is a straight to the point no bells and whistles bottle.

It has 3 parts: the bottle, the ring, the nipple. That's all there is folks.

I like how the bottle is shaped like a triangle, it makes it easy for baby to grip. The cap on this one is also very secure. I have NEVER had one single leak from this bottle.

This bottle is very inexpensive.

Number 2 on the list is: The Soothie bottle!

I give it 4 stars!

I love this bottle. The nipple design is sturdy and very easy to stick right into baby's tiny mouth. It only has 3 parts!

One of the best things about this bottle is the cap. It fits very snug on the top AND bottom of the bottle. So when you are sitting on the couch and you don't want to loose the cap in a couch crack it fits right on the bottom of the bottle.

I have never had a problem with the SBE on these bottles. They are super easy to clean. The wide design makes it easy for baby to grip. Natalie first held this bottle on her own when she was only 3 months old.

I wish I had the formula caps that fit on the bottom. That would have been so convenient.

And now for the cadillac of all bottles #1 on the list!!!!!

The Avent bottle system!!!!

These are the grandaddy super bottles! They get the max in stars 5 STARS!

This bottle only has 3 parts, which makes for very easy assembly. The cap is also very easy to attach and never leaks.

This bottle accomplishes the same effect the Playtex VentAire attempts to do, WITH LESS PARTS.

Direct from the website:

The only bottle clinically shown to reduce colic
The only anti-colic bottle that is easy to assemble and use
The only reusable bottle that shares the same naturally shaped nipple with a disposable nurser, so you can interchange both systems easily
The only bottle that integrates with an entire feeding system to give you flexible choices from birth and beyond

When it gets down to it, its really all about the nipple. The nipples on Avent bottles are super soft yet sturdy at the same time. What can I say? They are perfect.

The people at Phillips (the same people who make TVs) figured out how to make the best bottle.

I do have a few tiny things I dont like:

Sometimes if you dont thread the cap on correctly it will leak all over and you have to stop and fix it.

This bottle is very expensive. A pack of 3, 9 oz bottles costs about $15. But hey, its worth it and the company knows it.

This bottle is the only bottle system I have seen that sells nipples in 4 different stages.

0 months, 1 months, 3 months, 6 months.

I think this part is a scam. Natalie is 1 years old and she still uses 1 month nipples. We tried to bump up to 3 months and she was gagging it was so fast. The only way anyone could know this is by trial and error. Its an expensive trial and error because replacement nipples are over 4$ for just 2 nipples.

A small sidebar here. I loved the Avent bottles so much that I continued on to buy Avent sippy cups. They are no good. LEAKS everywhere. I prefer Playtex sippy cups.... Maybe Ill blog about sippy cups next.

So there you go people. You have the knowledge and the buying power. I hope this info gets to someone who needs it.

Mangos with Sticky Rice

2008-05-17T15:38:00.000-07:00

Ben and I are always on the lookout for new Thai restaurants to try out. We just found this great little place in our town called the "Thai Pepper".

I was impressed with the food. It was really great. Since Ben liked it I knew it must be good because he is the Thai food expert.

I have been to many Thai restaurants since Ive been married to Ben but this was the first one that had "Mango with Sticky Rice" on the dessert menu. Usually you see fried bananas and things like that but this was different so I tried it.

IT WAS DELICIOUS!!! It had warm coconut milk poured over the whole dish. Yum yum yum. I vaguely remember Bens mom cooking us mangos with brown sticky rice (which I loved) So I am super excited we have a place in town that makes it!!!

I also got online to learn how to make it myself! But I doubt Ill ever find the time :(

Serves 2-4
1 cup Thai Sweet Rice (also called "sticky rice", available at Asian markets and grocery stores)
1 3/4 cups water
1 ripe mango, cut into bite-size pieces (look for mangos that are fragrant and easily bruised), or 1 pkg frozen mango
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. brown sugar (for a natural sweetener substitute maple syrup)
1 can good-quality coconut milk
1/4 tsp. + pinch of salt
2 tsp. coconut flavoring
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. cornstarch or arrowroot powder dissolved in 2 Tbsp. water

Soak the sweet rice in 1 cup water for 20 minutes, or up to 1 hour.

When done soaking, add 3/4 cup (more) water plus 1/4 can coconut milk, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. coconut flavoring, and 1 Tbsp. brown sugar. Stir this into the rice, lifting any rice grains that have stuck to the bottom of the pot.
Gradually bring to a gentle boil, then partially cover with a lid (leaving some room for steam to escape). Turn the heat down to medium-low (2.5 to 3 on the dial).
Allow to cook for 10-20 minutes, or until the water has been absorbed by the rice. Remove the pot from the heat, place the lid on tight, and leave to "steam" cook for 5-10 minutes. The heat within the rice pot will finish cooking the rice.
Make sauce and serve the dessert right away, or store the rice (covered) in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it.
To make the sauce, warm the rest of the can of coconut milk together with 1/4 cup sugar, a pinch of salt, 1 tsp. coconut flavoring and 1 tsp. vanilla flavoring over medium heat (5 minutes).
Add cornstarch or arrowroot powder (dissolved in the water) to the sauce and stir to thicken it slightly. As it thickens, turn down heat to low. When thickened, remove from heat (this should only take a couple of minutes). Tip: Try not to over-cook the sauce, or you will lose that wonderful coconut flavor.
Before serving, taste-test the sauce for sweetness, adding more sugar if desired. If too sweet for your taste, add a little more coconut milk.

Pet Peeves

2008-05-11T21:51:00.001-07:00

I have a few pet peeves. Things that just absolutely drive me up a wall.

1. I hate it when you are in the grocery store and you get behind someone who is in the same rhythm as you are. You end up following and bumping into this person the whole time you are in the store. I HATE waiting behind someone while they are in front of the thing I need to grab.

2. I hate picky eaters!!!!!! To all my freinds, family, and husband this dosent mean I don't love you any less this just means that I hate the way you eat! My husband wont eat anything mushy! My sister wont eat anything spicy! Ive got a cousin who used to order a cheeseburger with everything on it but then would take all the lettuce and tomato off it when she got it (you know who you are) she said she just liked the taste it left behind but didn't want to actually eat it. I used to know a guy who would go to taco bell and get a taco with no lettuce on it! Ben cant eat french fries without ketchup! He will refuse to eat them!!!!!! Ahhhh!!!

I wont eat onions on my burger (unless they are cooked onions) and I wont eat fishy tasting fish. BUT other then that I will eat just about anything.

3. People who are intolerant/racist against other peoples religion/beliefs. I have blogged about this before and I really don't want to go into it right now but I try to "Live and Let Live"

4. When my husband takes off his clothes or boots wherever he wants in the house and leaves them there for me to trip over. Many a fight has started that way.

6. I cant stand it when people don't take their cart back to the correct place at the store. How lazy are you that you can't walk to extra 10 feet to put the cart back?

7. I hate people who park their HUGE car half hanging into a second parking space. Grrrrr

I'm sure I will think of some more soon and add to this post.

Red Baby

2008-05-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

It seems that Natalie figured out how to crawl overnight. We had the missionaries over to watch a movie and the whole time we are trying to pay attention Natalie is CRAWLING. Ben and I kept looking at each other silently asking each other.

"Did you see her do that?!"

So now I will be sitting on the computer and I will start to hear her little hands slapping the tile floor as she gets closer and closer. I guess its time for baby gates and child locks.

Which reminds me that she was fooling around with an electrical socket this morning.....crazy kid

We were in Atlanta this past weekend and everyone we met kept saying Natalie was "fat" or a "chunk" and my own personal favorite "healthy"

She is only 21 pounds people! I think the problem is she is short. She is still only 27 inches long and has been so since she was 7 months. Ive cursed my baby to be short and chunky like me. Poor thing.

As you may or may not have noticed Natalie loves to drag around her "red baby doll" grandma Marian got her. Well today in church a little 16 month old girl 'stole' Nat's red baby. I wasn't worried about it I was sure we would get it back but Natalie was not pleased. She is attached to that baby and was grumpy someone else was playing with it..... she has sharing issues.

Natalie's vocabulary:

Shoot

Dang

Da da

Daddy!

Doogie Doogie

Ba ba

Ooo we ooo

Hey Bub

Hey Daddy

and my own personal favorite is: Te te te te

That is what she says when she wants me. I try and say 'ma ma' or 'mommy' with her all the time but all I get is "Mmmm"

She also mumbles things she hears. Its like she is trying to repeat things it just comes out sounding like she is mumbling

We were at my good friend Danni's house the past few days and we had a really great time catching up with her and her girls. Natalie actually let Danni hold her for about 4 minutes. Ben and I didnt know what to do with each other for 4 whole minutes. Nat is very clingy when we are in new environments. She wont even let me put her down on the floor in new places. She is also very observant of everyone and everything......she studies everyone and everything. But when we got home she was back to chilling by herself on her mat, ignoring me.

I have no new pictures of her right now. I need to go get some old ones developed.

Why do I blog about all this baby stuff? Because I am terrible at writing in a baby book. I plan on printing all this stuff out and making her a scrapbook.

Missy Before and After

2008-04-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

While we were gone Missy got a new doo.

Missy Before..... Such a hot pup

Missy After...a cool pup

She got a "Lion" cut. They keep the face hair and the tail hair. She is soooo happy. I think we will do this every summer.

Texas Trip

2008-04-30T14:21:00.000-07:00

We had a great trip to Texas. Bens family hasn't all been together since Christmas. So it was nice to visit with everybody. Unfortunately Natalie started to get sick the day we flew to Texas. She had a high fever and was being really crabby the whole time. She refused to eat or drink barely anything, but grandma did discover that she likes avocado!

We did end up in the E.R. because her fever wouldn't go down and that was the closest place that would take our insurance while we were traveling. The last time she was in a hospital she was 3 months old. It is majorly different now. She is much stronger then she used to be. They had to hold her down when they were taking her blood and urine. Usually she says da da da all the time. But while they were holding her down she was screaming DADDY! DADDY! Ben said it was breaking his heart.

After it was all said and done they said she just had a virus and it would work itself out in a few days. Poor baby. That was really the first time she has ever been sick. Of course it had to be during a trip :)

The Dr did tell us to give her benadryl before we got on the flight so her ears and sinuses wouldn't be bothered while changing altitude. Marian told us we should give her some to see how she re-acts to it before our trip. She said that some kids get sleepy from it and it makes other kids hyper.

We should have listened.

I just figured it made everybody sleepy because it makes Ben and I sleepy. Apparently it makes Natalie super hyper. This was the first flight EVER that she refused to sleep on. She was kicking her legs and squealing the WHOLE time. Thank goodness Ben was with me for this trip. She is also boycotting the stroller. So by the end of this trip my arms were about to fall off. Thank God she loves sitting on Ben's shoulders, holding on to his ears.

Natalie was excited to be home in her house. I think she missed her mat. Which runs along side our entertainment center. We've never had a problem in the past with her trying to get into those cabinet doors. But overnight it seems she has gotten an extreme interest in those doors. I had her on the mat and I went into the hallway when I came back around the corner she had the door open, pulling out the DVDs. She looked up at me like "Look what I found!" "Did you know these were in here?"

Yesterday she pulled on the glass door enough for the magnet to come undone and she fell backward. She didn't hit her head because she caught herself with her arms. Pretty smart.

Sometimes she does a face plant:

But she never gives up. I'm so proud of her

Girly Girl

2008-04-18T09:18:00.000-07:00

Somehow I gave birth to a 'Girly girl'

She talks all the time. da da da..baa baa.Oooo we ooo

She gets extremely excited whenever I talk on the phone. She LOVES talking on the phone to her grandma.

I got out an old Barbie Doll of mine yesterday and I thought she was going to hyperventilate she got so excited. She loves playing with the Barbies hair.

She loves twirling her own hair around her finger. She also likes playing with MY hair

She loves looking in the mirror at herself.

She always hams it up for the camera

When she cries its really high pitched and squealy....so girly.

I love my girly girl. I think we might have a problem trying not to spoil her.

Scoot!

2008-04-11T05:17:00.000-07:00

So we just got home from our visit up in PA. Natalie and I had such a good time visiting with everyone! I am not quite sure what was going on with our flights too and from. But both had HORRIBLE turbulence. The last flight was so bad that the flight attendants wernt allowed to get up from THIER seats. The first flight to BWI the landing was so terrible that I got very sick, and Natalie got so sick she threw up. She was still a little queasy the next day because she puked again. Ewww

Natalie is such a good traveler. I couldn't imagine doing all of this traveling by myself with any other kid. God definitely blessed us there.

I came back home to GA then I took a nap and when I woke up I was still a little groggy and I asked Ben "Where is Evan?" He is like "Back home with his mom"
I was worried about him, because I knew Ben was holding Natalie, who is holding Evan??? I miss him for sure. I also got to meet my niece Joy for the first time! She is adorable, she has such a cute little cry and beautiful eyes. She is only 2 1/2 months! I held her and she is so light compared to Natalie. It was tripping me out to see how big Natalie has gotten in just 9 months!

Ben was reminding me that it wont be long before Natalie is 1 year old! Time flies so fast when you have a little one.

Ben is happy we are home and Natalie really missed him. But now we miss Evan! Natalie is now trying to 'cruise' on the furniture like Evan does. She learns so much from him when we visit. She isn't crawling yet but she is scooting across the rug. No longer are the days when I can put her down and she will be in the same place when I come back. But this new skill brings a lot of bumps and bruises especially to the head area. So I am in search of a foam mat for the tile floor so she can scoot around in the living room without the risk of hitting her head really hard on the tile floor.

Natalie is now wearing 12 month clothes! I cant believe she is that big. When I was in PA the YWCA was having a Nearly New sale and I got a ton of 12 month summer clothes for Natalie. If I had bought all those clothes new I would have probably spent a few thousand dollars. Kids just grow out of their clothes so fast that there isn't much point in spending a ton of money on new clothes. Plus I love getting stuff cheap...yay

Aww! Don't they look related?

Teeth?!!?

2008-03-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, I think I deserve a vacation.
Today is March 27 and since February 14th Natalie has gotten SIX teeth. She has been a trooper through it all but NOT ONE PERSON in this house is getting a full nights sleep.

Natalie is becoming extremely 'wiggly' she is just all over the place when I am trying to hold her in my lap. We also are pretty sure she was a bat in a past life. She HAS to look at everything upside down. She looks at everything right side up then upside down. Over and over again.

She loves it when Ben swings her around upside down. He does all these acrobatic flips with her that make my heart skip a beat. I wouldn't let him do it if she didn't enjoy it so much. He puts her on his shoulders and runs around the yard with her and she couldn't be happier.

I think we might have a dare devil on our hands.

She gets in position for crawling but she still hasn't figured it out yet. I dont think she much cares. But cousin Evan (who is 9 hours older) is WALKING! I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes. That boy is a mover and a shaker.
But Natalie is very much like her Daddy. "Ill get to it when I feel like it, dont rush me"

Poor Natalie

2008-03-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

I am the worst mom ever. Last night I was giving Natalie a bath and she was playing with her tub letters, I went to lay her back to wash her hair and I didn’t realize that at the last second before I leaned her back she grabbed the bath cup. It was filled with water, so when she leaned back all the water from the cup went in her face. She was coughing and choking, she couldn’t see because she had water in her eyes. She grabbed hold of my t-shirt with her arms out like "save me save me!"

Then Ben comes running in cuz he can hear her coughing and choking. He worries.

Yesterday Nat and I were sitting on the couch together watching TV. I turned Blues Clues off and I started watching COPS. She was looking at the TV then all of a sudden she puts her arms up like she wants a hug cuz she is scared. I guess the sirens scared her. So I guess now she is very aware of everything and I have to wait for her to go to bed before I can watch any of my shows.

But I do love this new thing where she puts her arms out for a hug. She is so darn cute.

Stress

2008-03-12T07:40:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I found out that when I am stressed out my eye lid muscle twitches.

Now the kind of stress I am talking about isnt like, Oh crap Ive got so much stuff to do today and not enough time to do it.

The kind of stress that makes my eye lid twitch is life altering, earth shattering, worse case scenario junk.

Such is life

Jessie tagged me!

2008-03-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

A.The rules of this game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the question about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags people and posts their names, and then leaves a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog to get the directions.

Questions:10 yrs ago:
I was 13 years old. I had just started homeschooling and my family's mail order business. My cousin was murdered this year and my Aunt had a stillborn baby. It was a tough year.

5 Things on my list of things to do today:

1. Clean this messy house
2. Pick up Natalie's prescription
3. Do epilepsy research
4. Buy my plane ticket
5. Make copies of medical records

Things I would do if I suddenly was a Billionaire:

I would not tell anyone first off. Then I would set up trust funds for Natalie and my nephew. I would invest a lot of it. I would buy some real estate. I would pay all my bills and my family's bills. I would give to charities. Then I would buy Natalie a farm full of fainting goats. :)

3 of my bad habits

I am a extreme procrastinator
I worry way too much
I dont exercise enough

Places I have lived

Westminster MD
Fairfield PA
Spangdahlem Germany
Speicher Germany
Warner Robins Ga

Jobs I have had:

Our family's Mail Order Business
Courier for Jackson Hewitt
Waitress at Ruby Tuesdays
Worked at Noah's Ark Pet shop
Secretary Jackson Hewitt
Lunch Lady in Germany
Cashier for AAFES
Now I am a Stay at home mom and I sell Tastefully Simple on the side

Things most people don't know about me:

I am not a girly girl
I love watching COPS
I didn't go to the dentist for like 7 years
I have fear of being in a major car accident
If a room in my house gets too dirty I can't go in that room. <---Ive got issues

I tag YOU! Yes YOU! If you have read this then you MUST post it on your blog! I will find out if you dont!

Aquarium

2008-03-09T21:47:00.001-07:00

So we ended up driving back to Atlanta yesterday to go to the Aquarium. It actually was a pretty good trip. No accidents no traffic. But it did end up being the coldest day of the year I have ever experienced in Georgia. We actually saw snow flurries. That was a first.

Natalie LOVED looking at the fish. Ben had her on his shoulders a majority of the time and she was having a blast. She was really into it and I am really happy we went back.

I do wish we had gone on a week day because the place was mobbed. It was so bad that we had to wait in line to see just about every tank. I think I like the Baltimore Aquarium a lot better. Baltimore has a dolphin show and a whole rain forest exhibit. Atlanta was OK but definitely not as good as Baltimore.

Atlanta did have a great exhibit on Beluga Whales which was awesome. They also had really beautiful jelly fish. Every time we saw different fish I would point out to Natalie which fish were in "Finding Nemo" I know she is small but I think she understands. She is so cute.

I feel so sorry for my poor baby. She has 3 or 4 teeth coming in. On top of the 2 she already has. Its gotta be agony

My Jeans strike again!

2008-03-03T11:22:00.000-08:00

So Natalie has been having itchy eyes for the past week or so and then today she starting sneezing. Ben has been sick the past 3 days so we decided to go off to the Dr -AGAIN-

It seems that my genes have given Natalie seasonal allergies. Wonderful.

Since it is blooming down here I guess she is miserable. So the Dr prescribed Zyrtec for her. I feel so bad to be giving Natalie so much medicine all the time! She is on Keppra for her epilepsy, Motrin for her teething, Orajel for her teething, and now Zyrtec for allergies. Poor baby!

I know I spelled genes wrong in the tittle of this blog -don't comment me about my spelling!- But when I was a kid whenever I heard people saying stuff like "Its just in my genes" I always thought they meant their pants. Even to this day whenever someone says that I think about jeans... Ive got issues

In other news I almost killed my whole family yesterday.

Ben has been working 12 hour days for the past 6 days in a row. So we decided to spend the whole day together as a family since we haven't really seen much of each other lately. We decided to take Natalie to the aquarium in Atlanta. Ben and I thought she would enjoy looking at the fish since she is really getting interested in the world around her. Atlanta is about a 2 hour drive from here and about 20 minutes from the aquarium there was a major accident on the highway. So we sat in bumper to bumper traffic for like a half hour. Then we decided to have the GPS take us on a back road to the aquarium instead to sit in traffic all day. So we get off at the next exit and head off on some back roads.

It ends up that it took us an hour out of the way and we were too late to get into the aquarium before it closed. That stinkin GPS also took us through the ghetto. Its not the first time that GPS has taken us thought some pretty bad areas. We actually drove by the State Penitentiary.... lovely

So we ended up turning around and just going home. People always wonder why I hate traveling. Its because stupid crap like this ALWAYS happens to us.

So back to the killing part. We were on like a 8 lane highway trying to get back on 75 when Ben starts screaming at me that we have to get over or we are going to miss our ramp. So I am trying to cross over 3 lanes of traffic when out of nowhere I am about to side swipe a Mercedes SUV. I was screaming I was so scared. But thanks to my EXCELLENT driving skillz we are all alive and well. I did however have a few tears because I was so scared. But we are all home, alive, and not too eager to drive back to Atlanta anytime soon.

The positive

2008-02-26T14:18:00.000-08:00

Today Natalie was laying on her tummy on the floor and she wasn't screaming! She was also pulling her legs under her body and trying to scoot her face across the floor. Its definitely a 'scoot' in the right direction.

She is ready for Easter!

Valentines day!

2008-02-15T04:39:00.000-08:00

I got the best gift I have ever received for Valentines day. NATALIES BOTTOM TOOTH POKED THROUGH!!! That is true love. When your child finally gets her tooth so you can start to get some sleep at night. What is a better Valentines day gift?

True Love = First Tooth

I am so proud of her! I know she has been in a lot of pain. But she is a trooper. Even though I know she is miserable she still is a sweetheart and she barely cries. She is in the living room now watching Blues Clues.

She has been babbling and saying a lot of DA DA. Which just makes Ben go crazy. He loves it. She says it all the time. She also says BA BA. Over and over again. But no MA MA. Oh well I guess I am boring. Whenever she is saying BA BA, I ask her what sound a sheep makes. It cracks me up every time!

She talks in such a girly voice its sooooo cute! She has this little electronic book that says stuff when you touch different things. It says "Your a little star!" She had it on the back seat of the car the other day and I was driving when she says "LIL STAAAA" I almost wrecked my car I was so excited! I know she doesn't know what she is saying but it is really neat that she is repeating things.

Getting teeth and talking.... I hope she dosent grow up too fast!

Ben had Lillies delivered to the house today for Valentines day. The box says they are going to bloom more over the next few days. He is so sweet to get me stuff like that, even though I have been very crabby lately.......which is whole other post.

Flowers Day 1. They are supposed to bloom more everyday

Flowers on day 2! Getting pretty!

Feb 15th update

Ben let me go to sleep at 8pm and he took care of Natalie last night by getting her in bed. He is so sweet to give me the gift of a full nights rest. How did I get so lucky?

Glasses....misc

2008-02-08T20:04:00.000-08:00

So I have noticed in the past few weeks that my eyesight is getting a little bad. So I went and got an eye exam today and the Dr said I need a little bit of a prescription. So I picked out some glasses and they should be ready sometime next week. Plus its another thing Natalie can pull off of me. I am going to be a dork. I have always had perfect vision and it really aggravates me that I cant see so well anymore! Its just because I had my 23rd birthday...its all my birthdays fault.

The other day I saw the Dr that delivered Natalie at Target. I don't know why but for some reason it totally freaked me out to see him someplace besides the Dr office or the hospital. I didn't talk to him, but we walked outside at the same time and I saw him get into his car which was A RED CORVETTE. I was cracking up that my Dr was driving a red sports car......its such a cliche

Missy is really not doing well. The plate in her leg has been bothering her really bad. She is only five years old and she is limping around really bad and crying every time she gets up. She wont get on the bed or the couch anymore. She wont play either. Its really sad. But luckily we have our tax return money coming and we can pay for her surgery. It was $850 to get the plate. I assume its going to be about the same to get it taken out. Poor Missy Prissy

I hate my stinkin watch

2008-02-05T21:13:00.000-08:00

My stupid watch has this button on it that if you press it the time changes to like an hour ahead of time.

So apparently I have this thing where I look at my watch constantly. It makes me feel better for some strange reason. So the time was all messed up and I started getting Natalie ready for bed like a whole hour early. When I realized my watch was all jacked up, I had already given her a bath and gotten her all ready for bed and it was like 8pm. I thought it was 9pm.

I got so mad that I threw my watch across the room and now I refuse to wear it. I am going to buy a watch that isn't digital so it cant get screwed up. I always thought I was the kind of mom who doesnt go by any kind of set schedule. But apparently I'm not.

Why am I such a freaking weirdo?

Ive got obsessive compulsive watch disorder. OCWD

In other news, I bought the Across the Universe DVD because my dad is like the biggest Beatles fan, subsequently so am I. Anyways I loved it.

Natalie loved watching it too. She couldn't take her eyes off it. I was turning her around in my lap and she was twisting her head around so she could keep watching it.

She is going to be a Beatle fanatic too.. Ben is going to be out numbered now.

Survery

2008-01-30T18:58:00.001-08:00

*Sixty-Nine Odd Questions*
Are your parents married or divorced?:	Married
Are you a vegetarian?:	No! but meat sometimes makes me sick
Do you believe in Heaven?:	Yes
Have you ever come close to dying?:	I was in a pretty bad accident once
What jewelry do you wear 24/7?:	My wedding band, a necklace with my birthstone Ben bought me
Are you eating?:	not at the moment
Do you eat the stems of broccoli:	YES
Do you wear makeup?:	Very rarely
Would you ever have plastic surgery?:	Nope, I am the way I should be. But I could lose a few pounds who couldn't?
What do you wear to bed?:	underwear, t-shirt. Sometimes PJs
Have you ever done anything illegal?:	Speeding.
Can you roll your tounge?:	roll, flip upside down in both directions, make a 3 leaf clover, make a smiley face, make it do the wave, and lick my nose
Do You have a boyfriend or girlfriend?:	Married
Do you believe in Abortions?:	Not unless the mother is in danger, or the child is a product of rape/incest. I believe in adoption
What is your Hair color?:	Dark Brown
Future child's name, boy and girl?:	If I have a boy his name will be Noah, if I have another girl, I'm not sure
Do you smoke?:	No
If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be?:	Home
Do you sleep with stuffed animals?:	I have a stuffed pig by my bed
If you won the lottery, what would you do first?:	Never tell anyone! Then I would take care of all my family's bills. I would set up a trust for Natalie. Give to charities, and I would invest the rest and live off the interest
Gold or silver?:	Silver
Hamburger or hot dog?:	Hamburger
If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?:	Chicken
City, beach or country?:	Country
What was the last thing you touched?:	My hair
Where did you eat last?:	Sonny's BBQ
When's the last time you cried?:	A few days ago
Do you read blogs?:	Yup
Would you ever go out dressed like the opposite sex?:	Nope
Ever been involved with the police?:	Ive been pulled over a few times
what's your favorite shampoo/conditioner and soap?:	Nioxin
Do you talk in your sleep?:	Sometimes I wake myself up because I am talking
Ocean or pool?:	pool
What's your favorite song at the moment:	let it be
have you ever had a cavity?:	I do have cavities, but I only found out about it when I was pregnant and they couldn't do anything...so its on the list of things to do
Window seat or aisle seats?:	WINDOW!!!!!
Ever met anyone famous?:	I can't remember
Do you feel that you've had a truly successful life?:	I'm only in the middle of it right now
Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it?:	TWIRL!! People who cut spaghetti are weird
What is your fav. sport to play?:	None
Basketball or football?:	Eww
when was the last time you went to the bathroom?:	like a few hours ago
Do you drive a stick?:	Yes! Everybody should know how
Cake or ice cream?:	ice cream
Are you self-conscious?:	sometimes
Do you like any of your close friends?:	uggg,,,why would they be freinds if I didn't like them
Have you ever given money to a bum?:	I never have cash! But I have wanted too
Have you been in love?:	currently
Where do you wish you were?:	Right where I am
On myspace why is the 1st person on ur top 8 there?:	Because he is my husband
Have you ever ridden in an ambulance?:	Many times
Can you tango?:	No
Last gift you received?:	Swiffer mop from Ben for my birthday. I told him thats what I wanted!!
What occasion did you recieve your gift?:	Birthday
Last thing you spent lots of money on?:	Groceries
Where do you live?:	Warner Robins GA
Last wedding attended.:	HA HA HA MINE!
Favorite restaurant?:	Its a restaurant in Germany I dont know the name. It was in Binsfeld
What is your favorite kind of car?:	TOYOTA!!
Most hated food(s):	I will eat just about anything. But I hate clam chowder
Most loved food(s)?:	Pasta, salads....FRESH food..anything fresh
Can you sing?:	Good enough for my own personal enjoyment
Person on your mind?:	Natalie
What's your least fav. chores?:	LAUNDRY IS NEVER DONE, NEITHER ARE DISHES
Favorite drink?:	Cherry Coke zero
Currently have a Crush?:	No
How long was your longest drive in a car?:	2 days I was pregnant and I had to get out and walk every 2 hours
Why do you do Myspace surveys?:	Cuz
Do you know who Nick Tyo is?:	Nope
Take this survey \| Find more surveys Bzoink - The Original Survey Site

President Hinckley

2008-01-28T15:08:00.000-08:00

President Gordon B Hinckley passed away Sunday night at the age of 97.

He was the prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints since 1995. So for as long as I can remember he has been the prophet.

He was a sweet man and I really enjoyed listening to him talk at conference. I always liked it when he gave a talk because he was always smiling and he usually was making a joke about something.

My seminary teacher taught us a lesson once about being able to recognize different voices. When a song comes on the radio and you are familiar with the artist you can recall their name. She wanted us to be able to recognize the voice of the prophet just by hearing his voice, so that we would always be able to know and be familiar with his voice in a world where many other influences are coming at us everyday. That if we could pick one voice out of them all to listen too it should be his.

Sitting here now I can recall how is voice sounded raspy but still clear and with a certain conviction to his words. I had the privilege of sitting behind him in the choir when he came to visit D.C. I was about 10 feet away from him and I really wanted to meet him but he had a lot of security.

This was a man who carried a heavy load of being the head of a rapidly growing religion. He had hinted in the past few conferences that he may not be around for much longer. When I saw the news that he had died it felt like a physical blow, I never thought he could die. But I take comfort in knowing he is again united with his wife and family in the Celestial Kingdom.

We will meet again Gordy.

New Beginnings!

2008-01-28T15:03:00.000-08:00

First and most importantly I would like to announce that I am an Aunt again! My sister in-law Rachel and her husband Nick just welcomed their first baby girl named Joy.

I think she is beautiful and she looks like both her parents. I can't wait until I get to see and hold her!

In my last blog I was a little vague about our current situation. But to give the short version Ben may be getting medically discharged from the military in the next few months. This has been very unexpected but I have had a little over a week to digest it and I am actually really OK with the whole situation. I think that everything happens for a reason.

So I am trying to look at this as a new beginning. I think this will be very good for us in many ways. There is a large part of me that is not sad that we are getting out of the military, another part of me that is scared to death. But I know that our little family have been through harder things then this and it can only make us stronger.

If I have learned anything from this experience it is that it is important now more then ever to continue my education. After we get settled in a new place I plan to go back to school to become a LPN. Or to follow my all time dream of becoming a 911 operator...I am not quite sure how to go about that. But I realized that if Ben was paralyzed tomorrow what would I do? How would I take care of Natalie and him? I do think that being a stay at home mom is the most important thing I could ever do. So this will definitely be a juggling act. But I would do anything to take care of her.

I mean look at that face? How could you not want to take care of her and give her everything and anything she wants/needs?

Ive got lemons, now where is my lemonade?

2008-01-24T19:20:00.000-08:00

Well all I want to do right now is whine and complain a whole lot. But that really wont solve anything or make anything better. So I guess I wont.

It seems that life has thrown us a pretty large curve ball. I really don't even want to talk about it because if I say it out loud or type it up then it might become more real then I would like to deal with right now.

Honestly we are in the best position we could be in given the circumstances. But its just a huge stinky mess.

I am just really thankful that I have my sweet baby, now more then ever. Mostly because how can you wake up angry at the world when you have this little 7 month old baby smiling at you all day? If I didn't have her right now I would probably be a puddle of tears on the floor. But as a mom I do not have the luxury of sitting around depressed and angry all day. She also has motivated me to try and get a good game plan together for the next few months so we can get through this difficult time as a family.

She is more important than anything and I intend to make sure she is well taken care of regardless of this basket of lemons we have received.

He he he don't you love my secret coding? You have no idea what this post is about but I bet you are dieing to know..........Mwhaaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaa

I am a big dork.

Something new

2008-01-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

So today I was flipping through the channels and I came across Oprah. Today she had that guy Dr Oz on. I usually don't watch when he is on because I think he is loony. But he was talking about how the back of the brain is the part that controls vision.

I found that interesting because when Natalie has her seizures it is mostly in her eyes and head. When we were in the hospital and she got the EEG test done, the Dr said that the back of her brain was the part that was showing up abnormal.

Which I find out today on Oprah, is the part that controls the eyes. So that was like a big fat DOH. I felt like a total idiot for not knowing that.... Thanks Oprah :)

She has not had a seizure since Dec. 3rd which is really great. She used to have them every 2 weeks. So I am very happy she is doing so well now.

In other news, Natalie is getting very good at rolling over all by herself. She also is not so scared to stay on her tummy on the floor. She is also getting very good at raising herself up with her arms and looking around.

Natalie is also very interested in what I eat. She always watches my hand go from the plate to my mouth, back and forth. So tonight I gave her a pizza crust to gum on. Whenever she has a biscuit or a crust she likes to hold it in both her hands then look at it, then put it in her mouth. Then she will pull it back out and look at it again, and then put it back in her mouth.

She is such a girl, whenever she gets sad or scared all I have to do is hold her hand in mine and she is comforted. I remember when she was tiny and I would give her a bath, she would be so scared and be crying, but all I had to do was hold her hands and she would stop crying.

Do I talk about my kid too much? Maybe its because I am in love with her. She is the best thing to ever happen to me and I love her so much.

I also have a new primary class at church. I now have eight 4 year olds. EIGHT!!!! I felt like a mother duck counting heads in the hallway at church. I only lost one once! I have no idea where she went but she reappeared shortly after. They are actually very well behaved. I was pleasantly surprised. They were better then some older kids I have taught in the past. They all are adorable and they were so excited to get their very own CTR rings on Sunday. I think this is going to be very fun. They are at such a cute age.

Christmas

2008-01-05T21:25:00.001-08:00

So this was a really hectic year for Christmas.

It started with Natalie and I flying to PA before Christmas. Then Ben drove up in the van with the doggie. He stayed for about a week. We were very fortunate to be able to see all our family for Christmas for the first time in 3 years. Ben's parents flew up from Texas so we were able to go to church with them at their old ward and then we got to spend Christmas eve with Ben's whole family in MD. It was great to see everybody in the same place even though we are all spread all over the country now.

Bens sister is soooo pregnant with her little girl and I am so excited that Natalie is going to have a girl cousin so close to her age! When I was growing up I was close with a lot of my cousins and I am looking forward to Natalie having the same.

Then we spent Christmas day with my family in PA. It was Evan and Natalie's first Christmas and they were so cute playing with all their wrapping paper. Natalie got a toy cell phone and and a lot of books to read (since she is finally into that now) Aunt Rebekah makes sure Natalie's wardrobe is the best in town. She got her two cute dresses. As soon as she gets me the pics off her camera Ill post them up.

Then later that week Ben flew home to GA to go back to work. We missed him for New Years. Then I got deathly ill (which I always do on the holidays) and that kinda threw all my plans to visit people in the toilet.

My dad drove with Natalie, me, and the pup back down to GA yesterday and we are glad to be home. Natalie is such a good traveler. She stayed in her car seat and was a happy baby all the way to Atlanta. Then she started to get cranky. But I can't blame her I was cranky after 12 hours too! She is such a sweet angel baby.

Natalie has been blowing raspberries like crazy these days. Its her new favorite thing. I think she is getting ready for a tooth because she has been extra drooly lately. She is such a girly girl. All her little whimpers are sooooo girly. She also loves reading books with her daddy before bed. She was also very excited to get home to GA to her saucer!!! She was kicking like crazy when she saw it.

Natalie has not had a seizure since December 3rd after they upped her dose of medication. I am really happy because she seems to be really happy. She smiles all the time and is generally always in a good mood. She is just starting to eat solid foods. Its not her favorite thing to do....were still practicing....

We had a great Christmas and we really are going to miss all our family back home. I know Natalie loves being around everybody and getting lots of attention. But I am also ready to get back into our routine. Back to selling Tastefully Simple ya'll!!!!

Ramblings on Religion

2007-12-06T19:07:00.000-08:00

So what is up with people doggin on my religion these days?

Is it because Christmas is coming up?

Is it because Mitt Romney is running for president?

Whatever the reason is...nock it off.

Its not just my religion either. I cant tolerate it when ANYONE talks crap about ANYONES religion of choice. It is my number one pet peeve.

This is the best country in the world and one of the best things about it is freedom of religion. Now don't come back at me with the freedom of speech lecture. I already know. You dont need to inform me. I am aware you can say anything about any other persons religion you want. Just because you can, doesnt make it the right thing to do.

My religion is a very important part of my life. It is very near and dear to my heart. If you don't believe in it (or anything else) more power to you. I don't really care. But don't project your negative views about my religion of choice around me. I don't want to hear it. People should respect one another enough to not discriminate or try and "disprove" my religion to my face. Grow up.

If you aren't hurting anyone (or any animal) worship as you please. Others should respect that basic right that everyone in America is entitled too.

People that have decided to live their lives as Atheists or agnostics, do as you please I respect that. But don't try and put yourself above me because you think I am silly for believing in SOMETHING. How I live my life and how I worship dose not effect you in anyway.

I just hate it when someone tries to tell me I am ridiculous for believing in a book that they don't believe is real. I just DO. I don't have to explain myself to anyone, unless you are genuinely interested and want more info.

I am not quite sure what single event inspired this blog. I guess its just a combination of a lot of things that have been going on lately.

To sum it up.

live and let live:
believing that other people should be allowed to live their lives in the way that they want to.

live and let live:
to accept other people as they are, although they may have a different way of life.

New blog!

2007-12-04T12:42:00.000-08:00

So this is my new blog spot. I was (and still am) using myspace. But I like this setup better. So I guess I am just playing with it for right now. MORE TO COME!!!!