oops!

Sorry. I told you the wrong place to go. If you're looking for the blog I told you to go read, go back and click "read mommy's journal about me". Sorry!

twinkle, twinkle

So Amy had a makeup lesson tonight. I fixed a yummy supper of pasta for Bethany and myself. While the meal was winding down, Bethany started to sing. This is something that she has been doing more and more lately. Usually is merely a line or two that she repeats over and over. She has in the last week or two gotten the jist of the first four lines from "Rock-a-bye Baby."

But tonight she laid this on me: Twinkle, Twinkle.

Given my professional training, I expect I will have to defend the authenticity of this recording. There are no edits. What you hear has not been pieced together. The only thing I did was apply some noise reduction and increase the volume.

When she sang it the first time I grabbed my laptop to record her with the built in mic. Fortunately she complied with my request for an encore. What is impressive is that the entire form of the song is there. She's still working on the words (and the pitches), but to have the complete structure of the song learned is amazing!

So I will look into getting her into some music classes next fall. She'll be the youngest Freshman by a long shot.

Soup!

Okay, this is my last post today so if this is the first time you've been here today, scroll down because I've posted a few.

Anyways, most of you know that Bethany is not a great vegetable eater. I always put them on her plate but she NEVER eats them. We can't even hide them in mashed potatoes. She finds them. I guess it's another way she's like a parrot. You know how birds put a whole seed in their mouth and chew through the shell down to the seed and they spit out everything but the seed? That's Bethany only substitute vegetables for shells and potatoes for the seeds. Well, today she woke up with a little cold and I thought a sandwich and soup would be nice for lunch. Now, she has eaten some Broccoli cheese soup before. I think she just likes the idea of soup. Well I had a can of Vegetable soup in the pantry. I cooked it up (because I was going to eat it anyway) and filled a small bowl for Bethany (mostly veggies, little liquid). She LOVED it!!! She ate another bowlful. This soup had potatoes, carrots, green beans, peas, corn, and celery in it. I couldn't believe it. Please pray that this was not a one-time thing. I'm going to stock up on more soup (the lower-sodium versions, though)!

Teeth!

Well, all four molars are in. We never knew they were coming because Bethany never lets us look in her mouth. But last week, there they all were. She had been walking around with her hand in her mouth and there was a lot of drool so we pretty much knew it was coming, we just never saw them!

blabber mouth

Bethany talks pretty much non-stop these days. And she picks up on everything. The other night at dinner, we pointed out a squirrel in the backyard. (waving)"Hi, squirrel! How're you?" But she didn't stop there. Nope. She proceeded to pick up one of her noodles, hold it out and say, "want some? sgetti?" Excuse me? When did she learn that? The other day I heard her say, "Jojo talk". And then she made these high pitched babbles that I could only assume was Jojo talking. I guess she gets that from us talking like the characters.

Nathan was in Minneapolis a couple of weeks ago and one night when he called I asked Bethany if she knew where Daddy was. I told her, "Say Min-ne-a-po-lis". "Min-ne-a-po-wis". ???????? I was just kidding! Nathan heard her and said, "Oh my gosh!" So then when he got home we got her to say DeLand, Orlando, Tallahassee, Honolulu, Waikiki...I think that was it. She's like a parrot. She'll repeat anything.

Bethany also knows all of her colors. Today at the doctor there was one of those bead toys in the exam room. This one had four different "tracks" - cars, planes, rockets and hot air balloons. She did each one, "Red car, blue car, yellow car, green car." "Blue airplane, yellow airplane, purple airplane." She picked up the colors so fast. One day, everything was green. The next day, she knew them all. I don't understand the human brain!

She's pretty amazing. We find ourselves mouths wide open everyday at the things she can do.

no big update

I've decided that since I'm so very far behind in my posts that instead of doing a huge update, I'll just post little stories. This, of course, is my intention for this blog - to ALWAYS do little stories. Oh well. Enjoy these.

sickness

Okay, so Nathan and I have been sick most of this week. I came down with it Saturday night and Nathan did on Monday night. It's been pretty bad around here. Bethany seems to have fully recovered, though. She's as active as ever. Yesterday driving Nathan to work she was jabbering in the back and I said, "You know, I almost forgot how talkative and active she really is". She's just been out of it. Anyway, so Nathan and I are finally starting to recover. The plus side of being sick and not being able to eat until yesterday is that I lost 3.2 pounds this week. My total is an even 30. I can't believe it. I'll probably go back up a little next week, but let me bask in my 30 pounds right now. I am down 3 sizes. The size I am currently wearing, I have not worn since my freshman year of college - eek - 10 years ago. Funny thing is, I weighed about 20 pounds less in that size before. Makes me wonder if sizing has changed, or if my weight is just distributed differently now. :) Now, according to that chart that shows your "ideal" weight according to your height and age, I could still lose 15 pounds! I can't imagine being another 15 pounds lighter. I'm pretty happy where I am right now but I'll keep working toward that goal. It would be interesting to see myself at that weight. Now that we're all getting better, Bethany and I can start bike riding again. I took her one day a few weeks ago, but that was before she got sick. So, hopefully, being able to go for a ride will help the rest of the weight come off a little bit faster. I just have to commit to doing it everyday - make it part of our routine.

So, yeah me! Hopefully I won't put much back on for next week. Cross your fingers for me!

update, finally!

Okay, still no pictures though, but I'll get them, don't worry.

So, after Christmas we had our floors put in. Bethany and I took off to spend three days with my brother and sister-in-law in Clearwater. They just moved there. Their house is really nice and we had fun hanging out with them and the kids. Bethany and Hope were great. But that's another blog...

Our floors look fantastic. We put 18" tiles in the kitchen/dining room. They make the kitchen look even bigger. In the family room/hallway we have laminate. A really nice dark color that actually has some light and reddish shades in it. In the three bedrooms we replaced the carpeting. We would have liked to have done laminate in the bedrooms as well, but financially it just wasn't doable right now. And we just wanted the old carpeting OUT so we went with carpet in the bedrooms. It's a light beigy color that will work with whatever colors we decide to paint.

Last weekend my mom came up and we started working on curtains. Many of you know that I have been so disappointed in the curtain selection out there and what they cost. So my mother, being good with a needle and thread, agreed to help me make my own. We started with the kitchen and dining. Nathan actually found the fabric for the kitchen. It was in the bargain section at Joann. We bought all they had (about 3 1/2 yards) for about $4. My mom and I found the dining room fabric at another Joann that I really liked and was happy that it was on sale for $9/yard. I needed 5 yards. Okay, $45 still sounds steep to me, but it's cheaper than what I could buy curtains for. So when the chick rang it up it was $18!!! For all 5 yards! How lucky am I???? So we got the kitchen curtains done (SO cute!) and we prepped the dining room curtains. I can't WAIT to finish them.

On Saturday we bought our new stove. It was delivered on Sunday. If you can't have a gas range, at least get a flat top range. It looks soooooo good in there. We had our black micro already and now with the black range it looks really nice. Our next purchase in there will be a black fridge, but not for a while.

Well, I think that's it for now. On our next long weekend we will probably paint the family room and get all the trim repainted. That's the only thing in the kitchen. The paint and the floor looks so nice, except we haven't repainted and replaced the baseboards and trim around the door to the garage and the pantry! Once that's done it will look even better.

Okay, wrists hurting now. Must stop typing.

the day after

Well, today was better. Except that it started so early. Bethany fussed a few times early this morning but got up for good about 6 am (I know, to a lot of moms out there, this is normal - however, Bethany usually wakes between 7:30 and 8:00 so it was early for us). She had some milk and almost a whole cup of yogurt with Daddy then came and laid with me in bed. I'm not sure if either of us slept, but we were there for a while resting anyway. After Nathan left, Bethany watched Little Einsteins and JoJo and finished her milk.

I had a few errands that I had to do, so we did them this morning as quickly as possible. On our way home (about 10:30) I stopped to fill my tires. The back passenger side on was REALLY low. It wasn't even registering on the gauge. Anyway, when I got back in the car, Bethany was asleep. When we got home, I took off her shoes and put her down. Instead of completely closing the door, I left it open a crack so I could easily check on her. She finally woke at 3:00. I had started getting worried and even called my mom to ask her advice around 2:00. But I decided that she got up early, probably from hunger (she only ate applesauce last night) and being sick doesn't help. She could probably use the sleep. She was pretty mellow for about 30 minutes after getting up. She just wanted to hang on me or sit in my lap. Finally she said, "Down, pease?" and I asked if she wanted some Cheerios. "Cheeos? Gape, too?" "Okay, we can have grapes, too." So she snacked on grapes, Cheerios and milk for about 20 minutes. Then she wanted to go in the swing. We spent a good 20-30 minutes on the swing. She was kind of in and out of activeness (is that a word?) this afternoon. She'd be pretty active for about 15 minutes, and then need 15 minutes of cuddles. No problem here!

So for dinner she had about 1/2 cup milk, hot dog (Turkey Kielbasa) one green bean (hey, that's improvement!) and about 1/2 cup applesauce. Then she got bathed and jammies on by about 7:15. Nathan started to put her to bed and I said, "You don't have to put her down yet". About 30 seconds later, Bethany was leaning on Nathan and saying, "Nap, pease? Nap, pease?" Okay, I guess she's ready for bed! She didn't waste anytime giving me a hug and kiss and she was right back to Nathan to go to bed. Poor thing.

I guess it's good, though. She seems to be better today. Not quite so pale and unsteady. I hope she sleeps well tonight and is even better tomorrow. I'm so sad we had to miss story time at the library on Monday. She had such a good time last week. I can't wait for next Monday.

poor bethany

Sorry I never posted about her appointment yesterday. Things got kindof crazy around here. The doctor said the rash was probably NOT Roseola, because Roseola never itches. So that means it's either just part of the cold virus, or she's allergic to the amoxicillin. She told us to continue the Benedryl for her itching and swelling and oatmeal baths and stuff. Once the rash is completely gone (and she even said about 2 weeks from now) try giving her 1/4 teaspoon of the amoxicillin. Just that small amount because if she's allergic to it, she'll react to any amount of it. Ok, so we go home. She eats a good lunch, has a good nap and is generally doing well the rest of the day. Fast forward to this afternoon.

We were out at Target buying a gift for a friend's wedding shower and when we get home I'm cutting up some fruit for Bethany for lunch. As I'm slicing the strawberry I hear her cough. The cough sounds like when a grown up is trying to get up some phlegm. I turn around to look at her and she just starts spewing everywhere! She threw up in 3 different places in the kitchen. She just stood there holding her baby doll under one arm and Ears under the other arm as she continued to throw up. Once she was completely done she just started saying, "Mama, mama, mama!" I scooped her up and took her into the bathroom to clean her up. She was so freaked out. It was everywhere. Down her shirt, pants, socks and all over her shoes. I cleaned them up best I could, I think they'll be okay. I called the ped office (at 12:25) and everyone was out to lunch. The receptionist advised me not to feed her or give her milk and probably the best thing would be to put her down for her nap. Well, I let her watch an episode of JoJo while I cleaned up the mess (and cried my eyes out). She was fine after it happened, but I wasn't. I couldn't understand what was wrong with my little girl. Why isn't she getting better? Why does something keep happening after I talk to/see the doctor? I talked to my mom and she said how she went through the same thing with me. I had a lot of ear infections when I was little. She told me how she would take me to the doctor, give me the full round of antibiotics and a week later, I was back in the doctor's office. Turns out, my mom left work early today, so she came up to hang with me.

I had put Bethany down about 12:50 and she fell asleep pretty quick. Just after 1:00 the NP called me back and told me once she was up to give her 1 Tablespoon of water, wait 30 min then give her 2. If that stayed down, then continue with 2 Tablespoons every 30 min. Well, after she got up I didn't really measure it out or time it. I just asked her every 30 min or so if she would take a sip from her cup. Then she ate some cheerios and a graham cracker. For dinner she had applesauce. She had her bath and went to bed around 8. We should be able to go back to regular eating tomorrow morning. Thanks, Mom, for coming up and just being with me this afternoon. I think I would have been a nervous wreck otherwise.

So, keep praying for Bethany. Obviously, she's not quite done being sick yet. Pray for me, too, that I can be a strong mom and be there for her when she's sick and scared.

now what?

Well, just as Bethany was feeling quite a bit better, she woke up Saturday morning with little pink bumps everywhere. After her nap, they were much more red and splotchy. Nathan's mom said that when Dayna (his sister) was little, she also had a febrile seizure and a rash afterward, Roseola. So I looked up some info on it and it seems that may be what it is. I called the ped and he said since she has been on the Amoxicillin for a week to go ahead and stop it. Once the rash is gone, give her 1 or 2 more doses to see if it happens again and that would mean she's allergic to penicillin. Later that night in the bath she said, "itchy", so we knew it was bothering her more.

This morning she was bright red. It had really moved up to her face, even her ears. Her cheeks are just one big patch of red. Her inner thighs are also really bad, causing her to walk funny. Her face (especially her cheeks and lips) are puffy and she just acts like she's uncomfortable. So I called the ped again today and he said it would be okay to give her some benadryl to help the itchy and swelling. Of course, now she's like a zombie. He also said to bring her in tomorrow anyways so he could take a look at her. Great. I get to drop another $20 copay. That's 3 times in 3 weeks. Plus the emergency room copay of $75. Can I get a break? Doctor's need one of those cards like Moe's or Subway. "After 12 visits, your 13th is free!"

This poor child. I hope we can get all of this figured out so she can get back to normal.

feeling better!

Well, Bethany is doing much better. We had a follow up yesterday with her doctor and he said everything looks fine. Even her throat looks good. But we need to give her the full course of antibiotics anyway. She still is acting pretty picky about food, but today she ate a whole bowl of grapes and strawberries plus a stick of cheese and a full cup of milk.

Yesterday was library day. She was the most active out of any time we have gone. We do the "Happy Song" at the beginning of story time each week. We practice that a lot at home. Currently her favorite verse is "turn around". Usually, even though she'll do all of the moves at home, when we go to the library she would rather just watch everybody else. Well yesterday she did EVERYTHING!!!! She clapped her hands, stomped her feet, patted her head, jumped for joy (well, more like jerked), turned around, and shouted "hooray!". She also was very responsive during the stories. What a change.

Thank you everyone for your prayers. Our little girl sure has been through a lot in her life. We appreciate everything you've done for her.

scary day

First let me start by saying that Bethany is now okay.

Yesterday Bethany was acting a little strange - hand in her mouth all morning, felt a little warm, being a picky eater. We chalked it up to teething and possibly a growth spurt (we both thought she looked taller). So we gave her some tylenol for it. She slept restlessly all night and this morning had a rather large BM. So then we thought, maybe her tummy just didn't feel good. And maybe she was holding it in all night (she's been going on the potty). After going potty she really perked up. Which made us think it was a tummy ache.

When Bethany got up from her nap this afternoon still feeling pretty warm I took her temperature and it was 102.3 degrees. I immediately called the pediatrician thinking I didn't want this to go through the weekend. I took her to Nathan who took her to the doctor (I went to teach). Now here's Nathan for the next events...

I took over the reigns of the car and drove off to the pediatrician's office. On the way, we had typical father-daughter car ride banter. Checked in about 5 minutes late for the appointment (hey, we're Woleks). I proceeded to sit on the "well child side" of the waiting room because I didn't notice the sign. After a minute, I realized my mistake and guided B over to the "sick child side".

Time goes by and she seems fine. Hot, but fine. She was pointing out animals on the wall and naming them. "Zee-ba...Pan-da...Lie...E-phant." We read some books. Folks tell me they are impessed by her speech ability. At this point there is another couple on our side with 3 kids. They hear others talking about what our kids have and start to look concerned. Apparently, they got the signs wrong too (I felt really bad for them since the woman was carrying 3 month old). B played with another girl and her big brother. She really opened to them, until the girl started beating on her brother for taking away a toy. That got her a little freaked and she hurried back to Dada.

At this point I am actually thinking to myself, this is great. I will have neat adventures to tell Amy about. Usually it's her telling me what B did while they were out. I did not know what was coming.

We are called back after waiting for 45 minutes. B waves "bye-bye" to everybody. The nurse shows us into a room and take her temp again. She tries to put this thing on her head, but B is not having it. Nurse tries to put it on B's hand, but she ain't buying it. Switch strategies: 101.5 degrees under the arm with a less new-fangled device. She tells me to take her shirt off and the doctor will be in shortly.

Well she has a onesie on. This means I have to completely undress her to get the top off. Just when I finish, she asks to get down. I oblige and she proceeds to start marching (this is very big right now). She marchs around the room in her diaper and points out the animals on the wall for a few minutes. I finally decide this is no way for my daughter to be acting when her doc arrives and put her pants back on (hey, a little dignity) and sit her back on the table.

Doctor Bell comes in and immediately she is suspicious. She is polite, gives him a high 5, but the second he busts out the stethascope the crying starts. "DA-DA!!" Checks her breathing, ears, throat. Asks all those doctor questions and the redness in her throat coupled with the fever leads to a diagnosis of a throat infection. Perscription: antibiotics. Tells me we did the right thing getting her in before the weekend, watch the fever, take the medicine.

On the way out he asks where to call in the perscription. I tell him Walgreens and he suggests that I not go directly there because they take a while. I look at my watch and it is now almost 5pm. I think fine, I'll head back to my office and we can wait for Mama to finish teaching at 5:30pm, go get the medicine, maybe dinner out and then to home.

Get to my office and chat with my colleague Matt in the parking lot for a bit. B is fine, acts shy around him (nothing new), and walks around picking up rocks, pointing at the orange safety cone, etc. We head inside when it starts to sprinkle and Matt says he needs to hurry off (he drives a Vespa, so weather is not good for riding).

Inside, I set her up with her markers and crayons. I try to get her to drink some water, but she won't (she'e been doing this all day). So I figure I'll give her a snack and maybe that will force the issue. Yogurt-covered raisens, yum. She chomps on a few and then asks about the electric piano. I turn it on for her and proceeds to plunk on the keys. She was dividing her attention between these three things (markers/raisens/piano) and so I decide it is now safe to resume the work I had been doing before heading to the doctor.

I remember she was behind me standing at the piano. I heard an odd moan. "uhnn." I turned around to see her slowly fall to the floor. She didn't look like she hit anything and it was almost like her play fall when we sing Ring around the Rosey. Except afterward she wasn't moving/laughing/anything. Eyes wide open, staring into space.

"Bethany?" Nothing. "Bethany are you alright?" Still no response.

Everything from this point seemed like forever. I bent onto the floor at picked her up, repeating her name over and over. Eyes open, blank look. Checked her mouth, not choking. Listened and heard her breathing. Her neck felt stiff. Slowly she moved to look up at the flourescent light in my office. I turned her eyes to meet mine. I stared right into her eyes and there wasn't any recognition. She would slowly turn...no scratch that. Her head would slowly turn away. At this point, I could feel there was no Bethany responding to me.

We repeated this several times (head turn, turn back, head turn...) and all the while I am talking louder and louder. "Bethany you have to talk to me. Bethany. Hey you. Talk to me. Where's Dada? Peekaboo. Bethany. Bethany you have to talk to me..."

I don't know how long it was, but I thought to myself that she was gone. Someone had just flipped a switch and my bright, sweet, wonderful, precious girl was gone. That thought, that moment lasted forever and I hope I never have to go back there.

I left that thought finally and I called Amy at 5:16p. I was beside myself on the phone and was essentially calling to ask Amy if she thought I should call 911 or go to the hospital myself. More than anything I was scared to strap her in the back seat in this state and drive when I was a wreck and not be able to hold her, watch her, comfort her. I barely got a description out ("she's not talking...she collapsed and now she's catatonic") and Amy said go to the emergency room now. I didn't wait to ellaborate because I took that as my answer.

On the way out to the car, I continued to try to talk her out of it. "How about ABCs? Can you say them? ABCDEFGHI? No? What about counting? Can you count for Dada? 1. 2. 3." Something in this ritual that we have shared many times pulled her out. As I rushed to the car I heard a very laboured, "2....3....."

"That's right. Then what." She started moving again. She acted as if I had just gotten her up in the middle of the night and it was no where near time to get up. As she started to repond more and more, she seemed to become aware that something very strange had just happened. During the car ride to the hospital, I tried kept her talking. This was difficult because of the mixture of fear and grogginess that had overtaken her.

Getting out of the car, I tried to act like all was normal for her sake. She clung to me so hard. Talked to the nurse and she could probably hear in my voice that she had better not send me to the waiting area. I filled out one sheet of paper and she walked us into an examing room. I explained it all to her: How we went from doctor's office to catatonic in the span of an hour and even though she may seem better now this is not normal for her. She was scared and nervous and tired. She was not too concerned as the nurse prodded her in a manner very similar to Dr. Bell. Temp taken rectally: 104.4. This is after the incident, so I would have to assumed it had already peaked by then.

Amy arrived. They got some Motrin in her. I filled out the paperwork and she was admitted. Within a hour she was old self. Bubbly, talkative, playful, muching on snacks, impressing the nurses. The doctor diagnosed it as febrile siezure. Although scary for the parent, it is virtually harmless for the child. (Did he say "scary"?! Try frightening, terrifying, traumatic!!!) It is caused by an intensely rising fever. I'd say 3 degrees in less than an hour qualifies.

More meds and tests and samples. She started getting sleepy and since her temp had come down, the doctor sent us on our way and we out of there by 7:20pm. We have our routine to follow over the next 24 hours, and have to observe her closely. We had to get her meds and a late dinner, but after all this she was very tired and in bed by 9pm.

I have to go back to my office tomorrow. Everything is in disarray there and I don't remember if I turned out the light. B and I will go together, probably more to help me get past the memory than her. We'll pick up the pieces and move on.

I also can't help but draw comparisons to the day she was born. The day they shuttled her into the NICU and explained that she had fluid in her lungs. She held my finger, she looked in my eyes and I told her, "You have to breathe, baby girl."

Today I lost it more than I did that day. Then I was calm, today was panic. Then I knew she would make it, today not so sure. But I held her close and let her know I was there and tried to bring her back to me.

She's my bright, sweet, wonderful, precious girl and I don't know what I would do without her.

tag of fours

Okay, I know, house update is coming. But I haven't even taken recent pictures yet, so for now, something fun. My friend Katie tagged me.

Four jobs you have had in your life:
1. 1999-2005: Band Director. Loved it. Will most likely go back once I'm done having kids.
2. 1996-current: Working for my inlaws.
3. 1996-1998: Student musician during Christmas season at Magic Kingdom.
4. One summer in HS I worked in a gift shop at Sea World.

Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. The Princess Bride
2. The Wedding Singer
3. Sleepless in Seattle
4. tie: Ocean’s 11 or Usual Suspects

Four places you have lived:
1. Orlando, FL
2. Chicago (Evanston), IL
3. Honolulu, HI
4. DeLand, FL

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Gilmore Girls
2. LOST
3. Any Law & Order
4. Airline

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Washington, D.C.
2. Linville, N.C.
3. Denver / Colorado Springs, CO
4. Honolulu, HI (since the move there and back drained our bank account, we've decided to consider a 10-month vacation) :)

Four websites I visit daily:
1. drudgereport.com
2. everyone's blogs
3. many SAI sites
4. amazon.com

Four of my favorite foods:
1. pizza
2. filet mignon (medium WELL)
3. peanut butter and chocolate together on anything (I second this, Katie)
4. my mom's pot roast

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. in bed
2. in the tub (again, I second Katie, but only if it's a jacuzzi tub)
3. the beach if it was warmer
4. in bed

I don't know anybody to tag! Feel free to leave your fours in my comments, though.

The Christmas post...finally

Okay, I just have to sit down and do this.

Well, for starters, poor Bethany had a cold at Christmas. She was all stuffy and had a runny nose. But she was still tons of fun!

Christmas Eve, Santa left a fun Christmas-y ball and little stuffed reindeer in her crib. Nathan and I woke about an hour before she did. I think we were more excited about Christmas than she was! But, of course, she was only 17 months old. When Bethany finally woke up we heard, with this pathetic, stuffy-nosed, hoarse voice, "oh boy, ball!" and, "oh boy, reindeer!". We went and got her up and she was clearly excited about the reindeer, she just couldn't express herself!

She got up and unwrapped the rest of the presents that Santa left, a couple of puzzles, a coloring tablet, and a snowman cup. Then it was time for Mommy and Daddy's present. I helped her pull away the wrapping paper and there it was...a Wagon!!!! She wanted to get in it right away. And, of course, Daddy took her for a ride.

After we all got dressed (and stopped for cold medicine) we were off to Nahna and Papa's house. We slowly unwrapped presents there so it wasn't a complete maylay (sp?) with ALL of the kids there unwrapping at the same time. All of them got a little spotlight as they opened presents. Later, Nathan took Bethany and Hope for a ride in the new wagon (do you think we would have gotten away with leaving it at home?) and we had lunch. Yum, lunch was SOOOOO good. Before we left for Grandma and Grandpa's house, Bethany let Uncle Michael HOLD HER!!! I was so excited! You see, ever since Hope's 2nd birthday party (in August), Bethany has been completely freaked out by my brother. So this was a huge step!

Next we headed to Nathan's parents for round 3. More good food (I must have gained 5 pounds that day) and on to the presents. Bethany by this time was a pro at unwrapping gifts. She even started helping other people unwrap their gifts! Before we started opening, Bethany went up to one bag, bent over and said, "toys?" She's no dummy! She knew what was going to happen again!

Christmas was a great day. Bethany was so into the presents and unwrapping stuff. It was so much fun to watch her experience that. Next year she'll be a little more into Santa, I think. This year she knew "Santa", but not really what it was about. This year she also got very into snowmen. It was sad the day after I took the "Frosty the Snowman" book back to the library. She just stared at the bookshelf saying, "Frosty Book?".

Well, you've probably seen the Christmas pics on the website, but if not, here are a few of my favorites. Click on the first one to see all of the Christmas Day pictures.

copycat

I know it's been awhile. Bear with me. I promise I will do a big Christmas and house update VERY SOON. But for now, I wanted to give you a couple of small updates.

Remember that really annoying game we played in middle school where we would copy EVERYTHING someone said? That's pretty much our life right now with Bethany. We'll be talking in the car (or I'll have Sean or something on the radio) and she will repeat practically every other word that is said. It's gotten to the point where we'll say something just to see if she can repeat it (don't worry, nothing bad!). And full words don't always come out. For instance, I said "delicious" one day and she said "licious". We were in the doctor's office Tuesday and I said, "Can you say 'HI, Doctor Bell?'" and she said, "Hi...doctor...bell".

Yesterday, after her nap, we were hanging out in her room and she said, "mama, carry you" (that's what she says when she wants YOU to carry HER), so I picked her up and she gave me a big hug. We sat down in the rocker and I rocked her and sang to her. Every time I finished a song she said, "next?". After a few minutes she got down and ran out toward the kitchen. She stopped, turned around and came right back and stood just outside her bedroom door, looked at me and said, "O'mon, mama", with the arm gesture and everything. It was so cute, she'd never done that before on her own. We've told her to say "come on" to different people and she'll repeat it, but never on her own like that. It was so cute! So I chase her and she laughed.

So at the doctor for her 18 month checkup she weighed in at a whopping 21 pounds and 2.5 oz! (I was being sarcastic if you couldn't tell) And she is 32.5 inches tall. But Dr. Bell said she's just fine. We scheduled a renal ultrasound for her for Monday. Just to make sure that her kidney has become normal.

Most of you know that Bethany is not very into meat or veggies. Yesterday I made Potato Broccoli Chesse soup for lunch and she ate it! I was so happy. And last night she ate a whole hot dog. I had to peel the skin off of it, though. Otherwise, she spits out half the hot dog trying to eat around it. And she loves to eat "orangens" from our tree. Nathan picks them, Bethany puts them in her wagon, and they bring them inside and cut them up. It's so cute.

So the Christmas update is coming soon, I PROMISE!

time flies

I can't believe I haven't posted in this long. I don't know where the time goes.

Well, we're gearing up for Christmas here. Bethany loves the tree. She loves to let us know what everything on the tree is. And now she has started saying "whassat?" or "whosat?" (what's that, or who's that) when she doesn't know something or someone. When I turn the lights on in the evening she says,"Lights!". Nathan's grandmother gave us some of her animated Christmas things. Her favorite is the Santa that sings "Jingle Bells". She says, "Santa! Push it! Button!", then moves her arms up and down and her hips side to side. She also likes the reindeer from Nathan's mom that sings "Jingle Bell Rock". "Reindeer! Push it!"

This morning when I was making her breakfast I caught Bethany at the back window. She would gather up the curtain and hold it up to her face and say, "Bessyah! Wharyou?" Then pull the curtain down and say, "Boo!" and giggle. She's hysterical.

She loves giving hugs and kisses and asks for them often. Of course, you can't resist that sweet little face when she asks. She also kisses like every one of her stuffed animals or dolls. And she loves to rock them in her cradle and sing, "Rock, rock baby" (her version of "Rock a-bye baby").

Bethany still loves books and can "read" half of every one of them. I leave words out and she fills them in. I think her favorite book right now is "Frosty the Snowman". She also loves "Snuggle Puppy" by Sandra Boynton. I checked that out from the library but might put it on her wish list. It's cute.

Still no more teeth. She has her fingers in her mouth ALL the time, but nothing!

Well we started kindof potty training. I don't think I'm up for the rigid potty training yet. She has started wearing pull-ups during the day (which she LOVES) and I'll ask her every once in a while if she needs to go. She's gone a few times. But I think mostly right now she's "asking" to go right after she's gone in her pull-up. That's okay, though. She's recognizing that. We'll get there slowly but surely. She went today for Nathan so I'm glad that she will for someone other than me.

I just can't wait for Christmas. She is going to be so much more fun this year. Last year we had to stop opening presents for her to take a nap! She was so cranky the whole time! Plus, of course, we were all by ourselves. This year, everyone will get to see her open her gifts. I can't wait!

leaks and things

So as if the tree thing weren't bad enough, a few days later we discovered we had a leak in our bathroom. How did we discover this? Well, the first clue was the water squirting out from underneath the kitchen floor (there was laminate flooring in the kitchen). The first plumber we had out told us there was no pipe leak. Well, when the problem was getting worse, Nathan's dad came out and found it (we also ripped up the floor). We called a different plumber to fix it.

After the insurance adjuster came out, we took down the rest of the wall around the shower (on the kitchen side) to let it air out. This week, we've been replacing the drywall and finishing the removal of the wallpaper on that side. Due to all of this, we've decided to go ahead and replace all of the floors in the house. Even though we will be in debt up to our necks, it will be worth it, I think. We are about to add a ton of value to our house, anyway. Merry Christmas to us.

Our Thanksgiving was so great. We had a really good time at my aunt's. It was good to see everyone. For a lot of them it had been since Bethany was born that we've been together. And, we got to come home with peanut butter pie! :) My mom decided to have Thanksgiving on the following Saturday. That was nice, too. It was calmer. And, when my mom couldn't find her flour, we were able to get some!

Friday we put up the tree. It looks really nice. I love having it in our front window. It looks so cozy.

I can't believe that after Thanksgiving I actually lost weight. Ok, it was .2 pound. But I didn't gain! I'm down 25 pounds and almost 3 dress sizes.

Ok, so here are some updated house pics starting with our lovely floor. Click on it to see the rest:

"Jesus!"

Bethany LOVES to say, "JESUS!!" The other morning, she even put her hands above her head and said, "Yeah! Jesus!!" So precious.

Bethany had an AWESOME Thanksgiving. We drove to Michael and Lisa's first to hang out. Bethany got her first hair cut (Thanks, Aunt Bevee!) which looks soooooooo cute and she and Hope played so great together. When we were about 45 minutes away Bethany was saying "Hope!" non-stop. She was still a little petrified of Michael, but she's still pretty leery of men in general. We tried to get Bethany to say "Bevee" while we were there, but wouldn't. Of course about 5 minutes down the road after we left, she must have said it 50 times! Her timing is horrible.

We then went to my Aunt Sandi's (my mom's sister) for linner. Just about everyone was there. My grandma and grandpa, my uncle Tim, aunt Kristy and their daughter, Alexis, my uncle Curtis, aunt Erinn and their daughter, Jennifer and her boyfriend, Mario, my aunt Sandi and uncle Jim and my cousin, Crystal and her husband, Wes and my other cousin John and his wife, Nancy and daughter, Alex. I think that's everyone. :) Bethany had a blast playing with Alexis and Alex and my cousin Jennifer. She was also pretty good with Wes. She was on the swing in the backyard most of the time. And falling out of it didn't even stop her. She wanted right back on. Of course, she crashed in the car about 10 minutes after we left. She did so awesome.

So, Friday we put up the Christmas tree. Bethany helped. She helped me put up all of the ornaments and I held her up to put the angel on the top. She loves looking at the colored balls because she can see her reflection in them and says, "Bessyah!" (that's how she says her name). She also likes the deer and the soldier (which, when she says it, sounds a lot like "shoulder") and the heart, and the mouse, and every angel on the tree. I have a Minnie Mouse ornament and she's playing a flute. So Bethany learned to say "flute". When she looked at an angel ornament playing a trumpet she said, "Angel! Flute!". I told her that was a trumpet and she said, "Trumpet!". I can't believe how she copies.

At my mom's house on Saturday, she was playing with a nativity set on the fireplace and picked up the baby Jesus and walked him all over the house. "Jesus! Jesus!!"

Wow, this is long. She's just been doing so much lately. She is just crazy about books. She'll bring one to you and say, "Readit!" Then when you're done, "Done! Next!", and hop down to get another one. She can practically read certain books to you. Some of the "unimportant" words are left out, but she understands.

Oh, by the way, Uncle Ricky, when we got home Sunday night she kept walking around the house saying, "High Five! Ricky!"

She truly amazes me.

Yeah, Jesus!

a tree falls in deland

So, remember Hurricane Wilma? Remember how we didn't get much damage? Well, after the whole storm had past, our neighbors rotted tree about took off the corner of our house! Luckily, it missed. All we lost was the tree their tree landed on, our microwave, our dishwasher, the pump for our bed (Select Comfort), the baby monitor, and the alarm clock. I think that's it. When the tree fell, it pulled the neutral out of the house causing 240V to go through the house. That explained all the popping we heard before the tree landed. Lucky for us, Nathan's dad and Lonny were able to come up and fix everything for us. It's good to know people.

Well, we planned on slowly replacing the appliances in the kitchen anyway so we went ahead and got a microwave to go over the range (thank you, Gram). It looks really nice. We got a donated dishwasher that Nathan's dad had, and are using a pump for a blow up mattress to keep our bed inflated (we are NOT paying $200-400 to replace our pump!). On Sunday, Nathan's parents came over to help install the stuff and help me start removing the wallpaper in the kitchen. Ed was also going to replace an element in our water heater except he couldn't get to it past the 6 inches of sediment in the bottom! Drain your water heaters, people! So, what else could we do? Buy a new one, of course! Geez. Why do these things always happen at one time?

So we've decided to save up and replace the stove next. I think we're going to get a glasstop with convection oven. Our kitchen is going to look soooooo cool. So, click the picture below to see EVERYTHING.