Wordless Wednesday

Amys baby shower!

This past saturday was one of my greatest friends Amy's baby shower. What would a baby shower be without games... of course EJ and I won the game guess the smashed candy bar in the baby diaper. Although I almost puked at the site (yes I am a nurse and deal with much more disgusting things) I don't know why the look of the chocolate in the diaper made me extremely nauseated lol. It was hilarious to watch EJ put it up to her nose and smell it though! The cake was awesome, Lucy's cakes are legendary in San Antonio. We did miss Meg and Tiff, when we all get together there is always trouble! Evey is excited to see aunt Tiffie when she comes to visit for Thanksgiving! I have a feeling miss Kaitlyn will make an early appearance! I can't wait to meet miss Kaitlyn.

Amy (+Kaitlyn) and I at the baby shower

9 days late.... oops

My little princess, she was snow white for halloween. She HAD to have this dress. I was thinking tinkerbell but she disagreed and would not have anything but the snow white dress. The funny thing is that she's never even seen snow white! lol. We went to my brothers neighborhood, I got to go in late to work that night so I could go trick or treating with her.

First day of dance class!

My little angel is getting so big! She started dance class today, she is taking ballet/tap. Evey had a blast and she did so well! Of course every parent thinks that their child is the cutest and best dancer out there and well.... I'm just like every other parent! The adults have to wait outside and watch from the window so we don't distract the kids. Evey LOVES her tap shoes, she wants to wear them all the time.

My little ballerina

Waiting to go into her first dance class!

I can't believe she's 3!

Sick and tired

I'm tired.... last night of a 120hr payperiod. I've got 1 day off and then back for 3 more night shifts. I miss my little girl, I work so much I only get to see her a few hrs a day. Although I see her everyday I'm scared one day she'll hate me for not being there when she was little. I want to work less but thats just not realistic right now, I feel like I'm missing out on the fun times, in a couple years she will be in school. I hate that my ex gets to enjoy her growing up while I work so fucking much. I deserve to be with her too, I deserve to see her wake up in the mornings, not just be able to put her to sleep when I don't work. The more I think about the situation the more I realize its bullshit. He's going to have to accept the circumstances and thats that... he wants to get lawyers involved.... bring it on.

My brother

My brother Elliot brought my niece and nephew over to visit yesterday! Evelyn got to play with her cousins and my brother showed me some video of their recent trip to CA. They only stayed an hour or so since I had to go to work but it was nice to visit and catch up. I need to go visit my other brother before school starts, he's a teacher and coaches football so he will be very busy to say the least.

Missing out

Evelyn is getting SO big! She will be 3 at the end of September and she is a solid 37 lbs! I feel like I'm missing out, I work so much. If I'm not working or sleeping I'm with her and I cherish every second I spend with her. I work way too much but its necessary right now. I look forward to the day I can be a stay at home mom, I'd even be happy working once a week. If it is meant to be it will happen, but in the mean time its still hard. I have a scrap book I started making for her when she was born and it only has 2 pages done, I love doing stuff like that but I seriously don't have the time. Despite the divorce I still see her every day(with the exception of 2 days since may, one I was out of town the other I had a medical procedure done) but it just doesn't seem like enough, I feel like I'm missing out on the fun n loving time in her life. I need to win the lottery... but that would require actually purchasing a ticket

Its been a while

Both Evey and Lucy are getting big!
Evey in her Sunday dress


Evey had a blast popping fireworks on the 4th!

My cutie!

These are the most recent pictures of Evey! She's getting so big, she will be 3 in a few months. She talks SO much. She seems to be less of a toddler and more of a little kid.... I don't want her to grow up!

Evey

It seems like she has grown so much in the past couple of months and I'm working so much I blink and she's older. She can now sing her ABC's and she sounds like a little adult when she speaks now. There is still a lot of rambling but she communicates a lot better now. Potty training is coming along slowly. She's more receptive to it but not 100% on board yet, thats fine with me it will happen when it happens. We have been out to the lake and she had a blast on the boat. I will post pictures when I get a chance. Keeping it short for now, don't have much time to write.

Little Progress

A little progress is better than no progress when it comes to potty training. I feel bad because I don't have enough time off of work to be consistent. We did it one day and went through 5 or 6 pairs of big girl underwear and a few carpet clean ups but toward the end of the day she was getting better. The next day was hectic and I just didn't have the time to follow through so for now she's back in diapers :-( At the end of may I have 3 days off in a row... maybe I will try then.

Looking for glasses

A while back Evey broke my glasses and I haven't replaced em. I'm starting to need them bc I wear my contacts WAY too much. Cost..about 300 bucks uggghhh, maybe next month. neways... I was trying on different pairs and she picks up these thick 80's yellow frames and hands them to me and says momum put yellow on.... so I humor her and flash back to the 80's.

Cutting out naps/potty training

EV has never had a good sleep pattern. She's stayed up late and never really slept through the night. We had tried cutting out naps before but around 7p she would fall asleep and wake up at 10p and stay up till 1am... not so thrilled about that. So recently we tried again and for about a week now she has been napless and her bed time is 9:30-10pm. To most parents that may seem late but for my angel thats EARLY. I am thrilled, finally some time to relax at night before going to bed. Its difficult to keep her up in the evening though! Last night we were eating in front of the tv and I gave her a bite, I ate a few bites as it normally takes her twice as long to chew... I turned around to give her another bite and she was laying down fast asleep! She was not happy when we woke her up but in no time she was bouncing off the walls. She gets cranky in the afternoon without a nap but its worth the SLEEP! As for potty training its still a no go... she still flat out refuses. Bribing isn't even working on this child!

Quack Quack

I've been working a lot, I work nights so before Evelyn goes to bed I normally call and talk to her and tell her goodnight. Evey went to the lake with my family so I could sleep. I get home and sleep oaky but I usually wake up a few times because...well theres a 2yr old running around the house lol. No big deal, neways I'm talking to her on the phone and normally its the same conversation... she says hi, she's prompted to say stuff like I love you n night night. Lately she's been more interactive and spontaneous in the things that she says. She'll say momum (i guess thats a combo of mommy and mom lol I love it) I need to talk to you! hehe she cracks me up. She's learning to put sentences together but sometimes she still uses fillers and says specific words. Well she was telling me all about the lake.... Momum grandpa's boat. dah dah dah dah water dah dah QUACK QUACK QUACK! fun... dah dah. They had fed the ducks and she remembered that... I couldn't stop laughing she sounded SO CUTE! I'm glad they went when they had the chance the weather has been cold and raining since. Thats Texas weather for you! No complaints though we definately need the rain!

Spending the evening with Aimers!

Last night we went to Amy's to play Wii. We had a blast! I was less than thrilled with my wii fit age of 40 !!!!!! I thought I was in pretty good shape haha. It was the first time I tried wii fit and the games r pretty fun... maybe a mothers day present? The best part of the night was watching Paul do the hula hoop hehe. I took pictures of Amy but I'll spare her ;-) Evey even got in on the action, she was so cute immitating us!

Rodeo part 2

She's smiling so big bc we were bribing her with a lolipop if she smiled :-D

She got on a couple carnival rides and loved em'... she's going to be a daredevil!

She got her the cutest belt at one of the vendors booths, she was so proud of her new belt!

(and yes that is her lolipop in her mouth haha)

Mommy I've got balls!

I swear kids say the funniest stuff! Evey walked in from the store and she's got a balloon and those small semi-ball things with snap on lids that little toys come in, you know the ones that are at the exit of most stores to lure ur kids in and take your money haha... Well I say hi baby! u got a balloon! n she says mommy I've got balls! LMAO...

Please pray for Megs mom

Meghan one of our good friends mom is having a brain tumor removed today. Her breast cancer came back and metastasized. The other day she was acting weird and her dad took her to the ER and when they scanned her they found the tumor. She was very confused and has memory loss among other things. We see patients like her mom all the time, its devistating when someones personality completely changes and the person you knew is no longer that person.



I pray her mom makes a full recovery, times like these I wish I didn't have the knowledge I have. I'm preparing for the worst but praying for the best. I love Meghan dearly and hope everything turns out okay.

Daniels wedding

This past saturday our good friend and old boss Daniel got married. We had a blast to say the least, it was more like a reunion. It was so good to see our friends. We had friends fly in from Alaska n Kansas n I'm sure many other places. It was an awesome night of partying and hanging out with great friends.

Right to left Amanda, me, Amy(from Another Chapter blog), Amy R n Meghan.

We are taking this picture n the groom walks by and says now thats trouble! We may be trouble but you better believe he was in the next picture with us lol... Great times, Great memories.

Rodeo Day 1

Here are a few rodeo pictures! We will be going back a couple more times so I will post more pictures later. She loves animals, she's not scared of anything!



She went right up to that huge Lama and gave it a hug!

Here is the tractor picture to compare the to the Picture tag pic below! 2 yrs later! Makes me sad she's growing up, I want her to stay mini-sized forever!

Prayer time

Lately we have been praying before we eat and teaching Evelyn a very basic prayer. She puts her hands together and repeats what we say. Very basic... God is good, God is great, thank you for this food to eat...Amen. Today went something like this...us: Evey: God is good God is great, CAN WE HAVE WATERMELON? AMEN! hehe She loves watermelon and would probably eat it all the time everyday. Neways we finished our prayer and yes she got her watermelon!

Think back Thursday

I think I just randomly assign titles to fit what I want to talk about that day..haha neways. I've been reading ppls blogs and I love to read about birth stories and I realized I've never written about mine and when I'm reading others I remember glimpses of things and want to write it down before I forget.... so here it goes I'll try to keep it PG13.

I worked nights full time at UH STICU up until the day I delivered. My due date was September 30th. I remember feeling oh so huge waddling around the unit, I distinctly remember talking to Carrie n she thought I was going to have the baby soon! Lisa n Tracy had bought me a few things to include a huge box of diapers, so after work (7am) Lisa walked me out to my car to put the box in my trunk and she left. Later that day she heard I had the baby and was terrified she has left me in the parking lot in Labor! haha I drove home to our apartment and every morning when I got home from work I would eat a HUGE bowl of cereal, shower and go to sleep. I wasn't feeling well and was exhausted from being 9months prego and working nights and not sleeping more than a couple of hours bc there was was a baby sitting on my bladder making it the size of a lemon. So I decided to skip the cereal n just shower. David was just waking up as I got outta the shower so I laid down in bed with him. As soon as I laid down and got comfortable I felt something shift. It was a strange feeling and of course this being my 1st baby I had no clue what was going on. So I told him I think the baby dropped (as in dropped into the birth canal)? So he says stand up and let me look at you.
As soon as I stood up I knew EXACTLY what happened... My water broke. So I looked at him and said Oh Shit my water just broke! He looked at me and said...Well get off the carpet! His response was classic and if I hadn't been 9 months pregnant going into labor I would have clobbered him lol. Typical man response, I'm about to have a BABY and he's worried about our carpet deposit. Get off the carpet...pphhhh. I laugh about it now but at the time I was a little preoccupied. So he downs breakfast while I get my stuff together. I'm trying to find comfy clothes that still fit and I'm searching the apartment for some type of pad bc I'm actively leaking amniotic fluid (nice, I know) and all I can find are those REALLY THIN ones. We leave to the hospital. So I'm wearing athletic shorts and it feels like I have pissed all over myself walking up cardiac hill ( that what we call the hill from the employee lot to the D elevators at work) (I delivered at the same hospital I worked at). So we get up to L&D and I tell them my water broke and they look at me like ya right. So they got a sample and weighed me and took my vitals. Of course it was amniotic fluid I don't think I would continuously pee on myself for an hour. I was admitted into triage and checked, I was 3cm dilated. I called up to my unit letting them know I was in labor and would not be at work tonight...or the next or the next lol (little did I know I'd be out for 10 1/2 months!) I finally got a room and they hooked me up to all the monitors and started my IV. They put me on a low dose of pitocin bc I was not progressing. I had thought I can do this, I might not need an epidural (HA). So we are working through the contractions and all of a sudden HOLY SHIT! I felt the worst pain I have ever felt 10/10. I looked back and unbenounced to me the nurse (they had switched bc my original nurse was delivering another baby) had turned my Pit from 2 to 6... hello a little warning as in ur contractions might get a little stronger would have been nice! So of course we had them call anesthesia to place an epidural... that was probably the longest 25 minutes of my life. So Mike our CRNA walks in takes one look at my back and tells me, did anyone ever tell you tattoos were bad? WTF he said he can't put an epidural in bc of the risk of chemical menengitis. I'm a freakin nurse and I had NEVER heard of this. So he says lemme look and he stretched my skin over to place the needle through an un-inked place. The whole time I'm panicking thinking how the HELL am I gonna do this without an epidural? I'd like to take this time out to say props to all the mothers out there that had their babies naturally without drugs. The only way I can describe it is that its like a stretching pain like someone is taking your abdominal muscles and tearing them apart. Imagine the worst poop cramps you've ever had and multiply that times ten. So Mike placed my epidural and I got to rest for a couple hrs, I tried to get sleep but of course there are visitors and the excitement of having a BABY. Well Evey's heart rate was decelling so they slapped a non-rebreather (O2 mask) on me and let me rest. My Ob/Gyn was making his rounds on his day off to check on someone at the hospital and heard I was here so he stopped in to check on me. He was wearing a Hawaain shirt, shorts and flip flops. I absolutely LOVE my Ob/Gyn... he is the best doctor ever. So he checks me and says well are you ready to push? HUH??? push? what? really? SHIT! I'm about to have a baby! He says ur ready to go! So they set everything up and with the epidural it was hard to tell I was having contractions so per the monitor they told me when to push. 30 minutes of pushing and out comes Evelyn. She was born on September 30th 2006 around 4:30pm. She was 6lbs 9oz... small by todays standards but both David and I were small babies. She was sooo cute. I don't think I've ever felt joy and fear and immenence all at once like I did when I saw her. I remember my mom making a comment about how she was going to be giving because she was born with her hands open (my moms like that). They placed her on my chest and cleaned her up. I remember she was nice and pink, I think her APGAR score was like a 9??? Although I can't remember for the life of me if she cried or not? She probably did. So they assessed her while I got stitched up, one of the nurses I worked with use to be an L&D nurse who knew Dr. Funk and she was so funny telling me when I deliver I should tell him to put in an extra stitch for my husband haha. So I attempted to nurse Evelyn before they took her away, they say it helps with bonding and introducing the baby to nursing. I asked them not to give her glucose water if at all possible. Then they had to take her away for her 1st bath and assessment in the nursery. David followed her to the nursery to keep an eye on her and be her official body guard haha That was the only part of my birth story I didn't like, she was gone for almost 2 hrs and when they finally brought her to me she was crying :-( While she was gone they pulled out my catheter and wanted me to try to pee before transferring me to my post partum room. So I stand up to walk to the bathroom and nearly faint. I had lost a lot of blood since after all I had just given BIRTH. Come to find out later my Hematocrit was like 23 or something low around that number. Loved the private post partum rooms, I think I would hate having to share a room and not have David stay with me. Thank goodness we lived close, David would drive home and make me food bc I was not about to eat the hospital food! I remember him bringing me steak and potatoes and my friends walking in commenting on how great it smelled! lol... We kept her with us round the clock since I was breast feeding except when she HAD to go back to the nursery to be assessed during morning rounds. We were discharged the morning of the 2nd.
Random thoughts:
-I remember all of my friends/family and co-workers coming to see her.
-I remember her sleeping in her papasan swing bc we hadn't gotten her mattress for her crib yet, we got it her 2nd day home but she ended up sleeping in that swing for 3 months!
-When my milk came in HOLY COW (haha no pun intended) I was like hey I could get use to these! Even though they hurt like hell. unfortunately they didn't last lol
- Evey's first pediatrician appointment went really well, Dr. Coleman was impressed she had actually gained weight as most babies lose weight the first couple of weeks.
-She had cradle cap and also clogged tear ducts so her poor eyes were always gummy and I was scared to death when they said worse case scenario they will have to put a wire in her duct to clear it out :-O
-She had colic and would cry for hours on end and I felt helpless.
- I remember taking her at 2 weeks old to our churches pumpkin patch to take pictures and our camera batteries died so I waited inside the church while David went to get more and an elderly lady came up and talked to me for a while. She was so excited I had named her Evelyn bc her sisters name was Evelyn and it wasn't that common these days, as she put it lol. She was very sweet.
- I remember how she latched on wrong and well...ouch.
- I remember having to run to the hospital while she was sleeping to add her to the insurance and almost bawling bc I was leaving her.
- She was never a fan of her carseat, most babies like the car..not my Evey!
- I remember bringing her home thinking what the heck do I do with her? This is actually MY baby... wow.
- She was spoiled and had to nurse to fall asleep.
-The first time I put her in her crib to sleep without nursing she cried for an hour and a half. I think she was around 9 months old. Eventually she got better but moving into a new house and such she still falls asleep on the couch and then we take her to her bed. The first time that took an hour and a half I walked in and she was asleep on her knees in the corner of her crib holding onto the crib with her face pressed up against the bars. I felt so bad but it was kinda funny like she was saying I'm not giving in, I wont lay down!

So everyone says breastfeeding is best... to that I completely agree, however Evey decided she was not going to drink from a bottle. I had NEVER heard of this before. I looked it up online and apparently its common. She wouldn't drink formula/ mixtures/ pumped breast milk nothin from a bottle. Well 3 months came and I was suppose to go back to work. I tried everything they suggested online, talked to lactation consultant, had other people try to feed her. The works, my little girl did not start drinking from a bottle till she was 7 1/2 months old. So of course I was out of work staying home. I went back to work at 10 1/2 months and weaned her slowly and by a year we were through nursing. There was a point I thought I'd be breast feeding her till she was 5!

I look back now and wish I would have treasured that time a little more. I didn't appreciate staying at home as much as I should have and miss it terribly, especially now that shes at a fun age and she knows I'm gone at work. I love my Evey to pieces and think she is the smartest and most beautiful baby in the world! (hey what parent doesn't)

Ssssssppt

This morning Evey walks in the room and I can feel her standing next to my head n I hear ssspptt (not pppsssst)....sssssppt....sssspt mamma wake up... then I open my eyes n she says Oh hi mamma. I couldn't help but giggle to myself. So I pulled her into bed hoping she would sleep a little longer... of course that didn't happen haha. She said mamma watch cartoons? ok EV lets go watch cartoons.... till next time.

Five Favorites for Friday!

So since I'm a day late for Things I love Thursday I will do Five Favorites for Friday!


My five favorite things this Friday are...

1. Cheese!

2. Eggplant(yes I said eggplant)

3. The snooze button(It takes me 1/2 an hr to get outta bed)

4. When Evey says "Not so fast mamma!"

5. Wii sports

Finally took em down

I heard on the news someones house almost burned down because they're tree caught fire and I thought to myself they still have their tree up? Its mid January... oh wait, we still have all our Christmas stuff up too hahaha. So everything is packed away and now I have to finish decorating our house because it looks really bare now. Time to clean out the garage and utility room, I don't know why I keep the boxes stuff comes in...

Where's your nose?

So you know that game where you grab a kids nose and pull and your thumb is there "nose"? Evey is 2 people.... I did that and said got ur nose! Evey whats that? (motioning to my thumb) and without missing a beat says ...UR THUMB! LMAO....

Busy week ahead!

So I work a bunch this week, 52 hrs if I don't get called in tues night if I do that will be 64 hrs. We are also going to the shooting range wed (this is texas ppl lol) Planning on going to see seven pounds with will smith, I heard its really good. Well I'm off to have lunch with my sister in law, she works at the same place as my HC n we've been trying to coordinate schedules for like 6 months! till next time...