A Little Squirrelly

Today I am stranded at home all day . . . there was a flat tire on one of our cars this morning so Ryan had to drive the car I usually have to work instead leaving me & Miss Bethany at home to play all day. I decided since she is growing so fast some of her adorable clothes won't fit much longer - hence the living room photo shoot.

She was very cooperative and took some darling pics as you can see. The middle picture is the best and my personal favorite. For all her grandmas and great-grandmas out there ~ I promise to get you some professional pics of her really soon. I plan to do that next week. If you look closely in the pictures the bottom of her shirt says "little squirrel" next to the squirrel and tree. Too Cute! She in no way has anything to do with this next part. Read On . . .

In case you were wondering (& and I know you are) the phrase "squirrelly" is actually slang for crazy or odd. I thought this was fitting seeing as how Bethany's outfit, especially her pants, has squirrels all over them. It also reminded me of a famous theory my very funny dad has past on through the generations called his "Squirrel Gene Theory". For those of you wondering what this theory may be here is a quick definition:

** When God was creating all the animals, etc. the human gene pool pot and the squirrel gene pool were right next to each other. Somehow a wild squirrel jumped over into the human pot and got mixed in. From that point on throughout all history every family now has some special soul they may consider a little (or a lot) "squirrelly".

Every family has at least one person. You know, the auntie, uncle or 2nd cousin who makes family gathering a hoot! I know that our family has more than enough "squirrells" to go around. I bet my sisters are laughing right now because they know of all the colorful personalities we adore as our kin.


I just think it is funny . . . so when you read this, give some time to think of that beloved family memeber and give them the recoginition they deserve because "squirrels" need love too.

Enjoying the View

In trying to find some more good out of living in Las Vegas, I must admit that the sunsets here are BEAUTIFUL! We were just getting home tonight from running some errands when this was the perfect view from our very own front yard. Right now is actually the best part of the year to me (weather wise). It is mild and sunny almost everyday. The surrounding mountains are all dusted with snow down through the foothills. It really is a nice view to look at as I drive around town each day. Who knew the desert could be so beautiful?

Don't worry, it is not enough to keep me here much longer. I am desperately looking forward to the "beauty" of my Texas home. I can't wait to have my children enjoy the Texas stars, the hill country, the tall pine forest trees and especially the wildflowers in the spring. It won't be long now!

Double Digit Chub Club

In life the only time it's really ok to be fat and gain weight so rapidly is when you are a baby. Bethany went for her 2 month check up this morning and she weighs in at 10 lbs 1 oz !! Oh my goodness . . . she made it to double digits and that is 3 lbs more than last visit in just one months time. On top of that it actually doubles her birth weight from the tiny 5 lbs she once was. Ahhh . . . I think all the chub rolls are cute, don't you? She measures 21 inches now. Grow baby, grow!

She also had to have four shots today. She actually did better than her mommy did. She just cried for the shot part as they were administered . . . I was a wreck in the moments before, during and after. You just never want to see your baby suffer. In all, everything turned out perfectly, we will just be watching her all weekend to see if she has any reactions to her shots. I am so proud she is gaining weight and fitting into her clothes better! What a little darling.

Baby B's Birthday

Bethany is two months old today! I can hardly believe how fast she is growing and changing. As you can see from the picture we are celebrating by taking a lot of naps. She is good at naps and so is her mommy :-) No outings or adventures are planned. We can just stay in our pj's all day ~ well maybe we'll do just a stroll around the park. I think that is a good way to take in the day. Happy Birthday Bethany!

The Results Are In

. . . My tests results that is. About two weeks ago I had all these tests done to figure out what was causing my abdominal pain. Just as I suspected it is gall stones and I am going to have surgery to get my gallbladder removed ~ Lucky Me! The radiologist that read my ultrasound noted that I have "multiple gallstones" in my gallbladder.

Apparently there are recent links to pregnancy and the development of gall stones. Many women develop them while the are pregnant and end up having surgery just after baby is born. There is some big medical explanation for it all . . . I started getting sick and having pains my third trimester of pregnancy but just thought it came with the territory of normal pregnancy - I was wrong.

You can read more about gallstones and pregnancy on this link ~ http://www.babycenter.com/400_does-having-a-baby-cause-gallbladder-problems_506528_1001.bc

I am so NOT looking forward to another surgery so soon after just having surgery. However, I am relieved that the problem can be fixed . . . I am tired of all the pain and sickness that comes with gallstones. It's yucky! This will be the second time in under three months I am having something "removed" from my body. At least the baby was a good payoff!

They are supposed to call me to schedule the day, etc. for surgery sometime today or tomorrow . .. I will keep you posted.

Warn all your pre-pregnant and now pregnant girlfriends that these things happen! I wish I had known!

Rub A Dub Dub

Today I had Ryan home with me to help with Bethany's bath. He played camera man and got some pretty cute shots of Bethany at bathtime. She does pretty well with the whole bath thing right up to the part where I have to wash her hair and rinse her off . . . at that point she begins to scream. You can tell from the pictures that this little gal is finally chubbing up a bit. We are having a blast with all the new parent stuff! Who wouldn't with this cute pie of a baby?!?!

My Official Initiation

I knew this day was coming ~ it was inevitable.

I am sure there will be many more occasions when this happens to me, but this was the "official" first. In the last 12 hours I have been doused with all of Bethany's body fluids multiple times. This is a true and accurate account.

It all started last night around 8:30 pm while I was just holding Bethany in my arms while standing in front of the TV. She threw up all over the carpet and all over my arms. I called for reinforcements and as daddy held her for a few minutes I scrubbed out the mess off the carpet.

Then came the biggies . . . at her 2 am feeding it all fell apart. She had finished eating her bottle and I went to check her diaper and change her. She was just wet so I got her a new diaper and that was that. At exactly the same moment as I was fastening her new, clean diaper she started to make the poop face, you know the one. Great! I should have waited a bit longer but I wanted to get back to bed . . . I thought she was finished, but NO ~ as soon as I began to change her for the second time in 5 minutes she began to poo again - this time all over my hands! Apparently she wasn't quite finished. Yikes! As I was cleaning all that up, Bethany threw up what looked like her entire bottle all over herself and the changing table!! Now I had to change her clothes and get her new jammies and get her another diaper. In the middle of all that cleaning and changing I had managed to clean her up as best I could and I was getting another diaper ( diaper # 3) ready when she peed all over my hands and the other part of the changing table. Somehow she managed to not get any of it into her diaper. Well, at least she didn't need another clean one. At this point I wasn't at all surprised. I mean, why not? I did manage to regain order and put a CLEAN baby back to bed.

On to this mornings feeding at 8:00 am. After the previous night of disastrous baby mess, I really wasn't thinking anything else could happen. I was WRONG! This time I was actually feeding Bethany her bottle and went to burp her. I put her over my shoulder after a few moments because she wouldn't burp. Hmmm, it worked ~ a little too well. I was thinking "A burp! Hooray!" Until I felt a trickle of some warm oozy liquid running down my neck and inside my shirt down into the cleavage of my chest! Ghesssh! Through it all (last night & this morning) Bethany never even cried ~ not one time. She just rolled with the punches.

What an ordeal! Her daddy is getting weekend duty, heehee!

~ Lori

"Chalk" It Up

Today I had to do something that I never want to do again. I had to go into an imaging center and have a 'barium swallow' test procedure thing done. What, you may ask is a barium swallow? Well, let's put it this way . . . it is like taking chalk (any kind will do), smashing it up into powder then mixing it with water. It makes this kind of milky watery substance , and I had to DRINK IT! Yes, I had to drink down this yuck-o stuff because of some abdominal pain I have been having lately. The doctors are trying to rule some things out and this is one of the torturous ways it is accomplished.

When you drink the chalk junk it lights up in your body as you swallow and it will show up on x-rays, etc. It is kinda neat technology, I must admit, but again yuck-o! What will be next? I am so VERY tired of being in the doctor's office for whatever reason. Since Bethany's birth in the last 7 weeks I think I have been in and out of the doctor's office for a number of reasons about 10 times!! I have just changed my new year's resolution to getting healthy ~ as if health weren't already on my list every year, now it is a real priority!

No matter what the cause or results of all that plagues me, I am still very happy and grateful for my fantastic and joyfilled life!

A Few of Her Favorite Things

No, it's not rain drops on roses or whiskers on kittens but this week we've discovered that Bethany has a few favorite things, if 7 week old baby can even have favorites. I believe she does, for now.

She has really started to like her bouncy chair on vibrate mode. She will stay quiet and calm and even fall asleep when she's in it. As you can see from the picture she has also started to love her hands and munches on them often. I like that picture because her finger up against her cheek seems to say "hmmm" ~ She looks very thoughtful, don't you think?

Her other favorite the past few weeks has been her changing table. For some reason she LOVES it and we can get the most out of her while she is just hanging out on the table. She kicks her feet and smiles for a good long while before becoming bored. She has even begun to coo a little and makes her cute baby noises a lot while on her table. I am having so much fun with her!!

Out & About

Yes ~ I am actually going to blog without a photo of my baby attached.

Today Bethany and I went on our very first independent outing (just the two of us) ~ the first of many to be sure! I am learning fast on the job about how moms have to think quick on their feet and improvise in certain situations. We visited Target and the grocery store ~ Bethany did fantastic. She was awake for the most part and seemed to enjoy ridding around the stores & watching mommy put things in the shopping cart. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

I also registered to VOTE today. My friend Julie has inspired me on that front. She has been a big political gal up in Iowa. This was a very big accomplishment for me. It is really sad and disappointing to admit this, but I have never voted ~ Ever! That is all going to change this year. The people running the political booth in front of the grocery store were very nice. They said I was the first republican all day ~ I wasn't surprised at all seeing as how I live in SIN CITY! Are there actually conservative republicans in Las Vegas? Only the ones who've moved here from Texas is my guess.

A Blessed Day

Yesterday was a very special day. Bethany was blessed in church and her daddy gave the most beautiful, spiritual and heartfelt blessing that any father could. She had all her grandparents there to enjoy the day as well as two aunts, a great-uncle and some cousins! It was such an awesome experience. Ryan had to go to church early for meetings so he didn't see Bethany before . . . when he picked her up at church she took his breath away because she was sooooo beautiful & little and perfect in her white dress. It was definitely a day to remember.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This year is going to be a blast! I know this because my life is already so much better because of my beautiful baby girl. I can wait for the year to unfold with all of Bethany's "firsts" & for us to see the newness and excitement on her face as she discovers the world around her. There will be so many smiles and laughs from her and her proud parents!

Happy New Year to all ~ We hope that your year will bring all your heart desires & more!