Life

I'm writing the blog before the title - not something I normally do. I'm not sure what to title this. Maybe it will come to me. Oh, I have it - life.

Life has been interesting, heartbreaking, exhausting, mind numbing & a blessing all in one this week. We have not shouted from the mountain tops because we wanted to have everything checked out before we did.

Reese is officially a Breath Holder. This means she get upset and holds her breath until she passes out. She's never started breathing on her own; we've had to breath for her until she comes back. She's done it twice this week. Twice this week I've had my world shattered and my heart broken. Twice this week I've brought her back through the grace of God. Countless times I've tried to bargain with God so that He ensures she never does this again. And if by chance she does, it's only when I'm around to handle it. Heaven forbid someone without any knowledge tries to help and ends up hurting her, or describing her symptoms wrong so she is treated in the wrong way in the ER. This is the scariest thing I've ever been through. Our Doc assures us it is breath holding and that she is not harming herself in any way. We asked lots of questions and Doc was patient in answering each one. We feel better; if you can feel better knowing your child will get upset, hold her breath and pass out...again.

I'm back - I know you didn't really know I was gone. As I was writing this post last night, Pie decided to make some strange noises. As we raced up to check on her we quickly realized what those noises were...she has her first stomach bug. She threw up four times in an hour. That meant 4 bed changes, 4 pj changes, several loads of laundry and a long night. She's slowly recovering today and we're taking it very easy. She's not been cleared for solid food yet but we're working on loading her up with Pedialyte. The girl has been through it this week!

I'm keeping this short because after a long night I had an early morning meeting with a bride. I've got to catch up on some work. Please keep Reese in your prayers - pray for a speedy recovery and no more holding her breath! Here are a few pictures from yesterday before the sickness set in.

A Little Bit of Sass...

It has been another busy week in our household. Juddy was traveling the second half of the week and came home very, very late last night. Actually it was more like the wee hours of the morning.

We have been spring cleaning like busy bees. It's been great and I love cleaning out the closets every year. I mean where does all the STUFF come from? I can tell you where it goes - Goodwill.

I'm officially entering the land of "I really have no idea what to do with my child". I have no idea what I should be teaching her, how I should be disciplining her (more on that in a minute), how much I should be feeding her and the list goes on.

Back to the disciplining - I know she's only 15 months but our girl definitely has her fair share of sass and a slight temper. I know I can't do anything over the top but firm words and 60 seconds in time out seems reasonable to me. What do you do when you tell your child "no you can't go outside right now - it's 30 degrees and raining" and she sets her jaw, stares you in the eye & then whacks you in the face? Anyone? My response is to speak very firmly, move swiftly to her chair, put it in a corner and place her in "time out". This usually entails 30 seconds of crying, 30 seconds of laughing and then she gets up on her own. Not be outdone by my child, I promptly put her back in the chair and tell her "you can get up when I say you can get up". I give it another 15 seconds, tell her to get up, explain it's not nice to hit mommy, please say you're sorry, now let's have a squeeze (a hug in Reese language). It always ends well. Is this okay? Will she learn it's not nice to hit people just because you didn't get your way?

Another one - last night while out at dinner, I was picking up the food she sprinkled all over the table and putting it back in her bowl. She looked me dead in the eye, put up her pointer finger and said "stttttop". What?! Did she really just tell me to stop? We don't even use that gesture or word here so she must have gotten it from preschool. Last one, I went to put her to bed last night and instead of drifting off to la la land as usual, she decided to be a motor mouth to stay up as long as she possibly could. As I'm gently swaying back and forth, I quietly say "shhh". She pulls herself up and says "shhh". Oh boy are we in for it! My mom always said I was the perfect child. How can this be paybacks?!

Any and all suggestions are welcome. At least it's not anything really horrible...yet. I usually have to try very hard not to crack up in front of her. She is hysterical and a joy! Thanks for letting me vent!

Enjoy the day - it's sunny and beautiful here. Church was awesome today - everything from the music to the message. Reese is napping and Papa is home. Life is good!

An "S" from Mom M!

Woop woop! I got an "S" in the mail today. My Nana Thomas started the tradition of the "S" (a surprise) and it has been carried on in our family ever since.

Mom Mary and I got to catch up on all the latest happenings last week. When talk turned to my birthday, she asked me what kind of cake Juddy got me. Here is the side note, she knows that my MOST FAVORITE cake in the whole wide world is her chocolate sour cream cake with chocolate chips & gooey chocolate frosting. Was she secretly taunting me because she knows he'd never attempt to make that sacred cake?! Not only that, she knows I don't have the recipe to even attempt it myself! Ha ha ha!

I told her he left the baked goods up to Tracy who made me out of this world pink peppermint cream cheese brownies (remember my love of peppermint?!)!! She said they sounded delicious and I assured her they were.

Well, today the mailman left a package on my door. Guess what it was, an "S"!! And I'm sure by now you can guess what that "S" was...a homemade chocolate sour cream cake with chocolate chips with gooey chocolate frosting and sprinkles!!! There was a box of candles and a note with explicit instructions. Since no one was here to follow the instructions and I'm not one to break the rules, I followed my orders. I unwrapped the cake, light the candles and sang Happy Birthday to Me very quietly (Reese is napping). I took a picture, blew out the candles and I'm now happily enjoying my 2nd piece of cake. Can anyone say sugar rush?!

Thanks Mom for the most wonderful "S"! I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

Happy Heart Day!

Wishing you lots of love today!

Another Year Older...And None the Wiser!

At this point in life I feel as if I should be getting wiser along with older. I don't think it's happened yet! Ha ha!

Yesterday was my birthday. It was a beautiful day. I think God let the sunshine just for me (it's been VERY cold here and this FL girl needs some heat!). We started with church, followed by brunch at Boca Bay with the Dickey's, a nice nap & dinner with some of our very best friends Richie & Tracy.

The day was almost perfect. I say almost because our 3rd Amigo, Lou, was missing. She and I share a birthday and it just wasn't the same without her. She was on the move to TN and I hope this is the only year we will ever be apart on our day again.

Reese has had a couple of very fun and silly days. She spent Saturday with the Paparazzi while I got out and did a few things on my own. It was really nice but I couldn't wait to give her a squeeze when I walked in the door. Paparazzi took her to the park in our hood. As she made her way down the slide a few times, he was really impressed with how well she could do it on her own. Then it happened. The Arnold in her broke loose! As she made her way up the stairs, Paparazzi got ready to watch her scoot then slide. Well, Reese had another idea. She walked right to the top of the slide, laid down on her belly and shot down the slide at warp speed! Luckily Papa was at the bottom ready to catch her. From that point on she only went down the slide belly first. Ladies & gentleman, we have a dare devil on our hands.

Her vocabulary is really beginning to take shape. After a few days at school words have become so clear. And then yesterday she said something. I thought that something sounded like something else so I let it go. Then she said it again today and I knew I had heard correctly. Reese looked at me & with a voice full of excitement said "Mommm eee". The sweetest sound ever! Of course now she's calling herself, the dogs, her food "Mommm eee". She has also said "baby" after I said it only three times. It's time to choose my words carefully as little ears are listening and mouths are repeating!

First Day of Preschool

Yeah! Today is a really big day - it's Reese's 1st day of preschool. She will be in "school" 3 days a week for 3 hours. I'm so thankful we have found a wonderful place for her to meet other kids and be in a Christian environment. I'm also very thankful for the time I will have to focus on work as business is booking steadily.

Mrs. Angie said Reese did really well. She only had one meltdown and that is to be expected. She was pooped when I brought her home so she scarfed down lunch and went right down for a nap. Here are some pictures from our big day!

C'mon guys - I'm ready to go play with the kids!

Making friends already