Boom Boom

This 4th of July was Skyler’s first real Independence Day celebration. Last year she was so young, we left her with grandparents and went on our friends’ boat in Jeff City. This year we had a long relaxing weekend at home (besides all the laundry, housecleaning, and packing for our vacation next week). To celebrate the 4th, Ronnie’s best friend invited us over to their house in Lee’s Summit to bbq and watch fireworks. They have two little girls; Adrianna is a few months old than Skyler, and Olivia, who is a few years older.

Their grandparents had brought the girls some fun fireworks to set off in their driveway, and I was interested to see what Skyler would do. For the most part, she was uninterested in watching them. But as soon as there was any large crackling, she’d startle and come running for Ronnie or me. We tried to make sure she knew it was for fun and not something to be scared of, so each loud boom we’d clap our hands and say “boom boom” and she’d imitate us. She wasn’t completely sure about the whole situation, but I’m also pretty sure she wasn’t ruined for fireworks in the future.

Our evening was cut a bit short; her eyes were all glassy and goopy with a cold, so we left right before the big neighborhood fireworks show was going to start. I tried to put her to bed, but our own neighborhood fireworks show was so loud, she was scared, so I stayed in her room and rocked her till i could hear the booms of the finale. Minutes later, she was passed out in my arms. I thought now this, this is the perfect way to end day.

Adrianna, Skyler, and Olivia, playing in the driveway before fireworks

Adrianna showing off her glow bracelet

Olivia posing for the camera

Skyler and me - we've got to work on her "cheesin'" skills. Nonexistent.

Conversations

Skyler has become quite the little blabbermouth, and I think her voice is the most adorable sound ever.

She’s always woken up in the morning singing or babbling in her crib, almost since the day she found her voice as a baby. But now a lot of it actually makes sense. She might be politely asking for me or Daddy, or repeating the newest word that she’s learned. I’ve heard her in there naming the objects in her room: “yight” (light), “fan,” “doh” (door), and “rockie” (rocker). Other times I hear her in there naming off her daycare friends names: “Thinny” (Sydney), “Wywee” (Riley – this little boy is almost a year old and she is obsessed with him. Robbing the cradle already!), and “Finny” (Finley). I’m actually surprised she does so well with Sydney & Finley since they sound so similar – but she knows the difference!

Her favorite thing to play lately is to put things “nigh night.” She’ll take Pink Bear (or me, or Ronnie, or Bruno), spread out a blanket on the ground and say “lay down now.” If it’s Ronnie or me, she’ll actually push on our shoulders or head toward the ground to force us to lay down. Then she takes however many other blankets she can find and cover her subject up. I think the most adorable is when Bruno is already laying there and she puts the blanket on him and says “nigh night.” He just lays there.

She’s also got an independent streak developing. First let me preface with the fact that she does not like to wear clothes. As soon as we get home from anywhere, she’s pulling on her shirt & pants saying “Off? Off?” So she runs around in her diaper most of the time. I’m sure our neighbors think it’s so classy when she’s standing at the front door looking out with no clothes on. But when it’s time to get dressed, we have a very regular conversation that goes a little something like this:

Me: Let’s get dressed!
Skyler: No.
Me: Yes.
Skyler: Nooo.
Me: Yessss.
Skyler: Noooooo!

Right now it’s fun to argue with her, and we’re both usually giggling while we argue over this – it’s like our little game every morning before leaving. But one of these days, I know it’s going to end up a battle, and neither of us will be smiling about it!

Finally, we’re starting to see clues that potty training is on the horizon. I honestly have no problem with diapers at this point, so I’m not trying anything with her until she’s ripe and ready. I haven’t the slightest inkling how to go about it when we get to the point, and frankly it scares the bejeebus out of me and stresses me out just thinking about it. So right now, we just talk about it. When Ronnie or me goes to the bathroom, often times we leave the door open so she can wander in and observe and we’ll tell her what we’re doing. When I change her diaper I tell her if she peepee’d or poopoo’d, and also let her hold a wipe. She’s now telling me if she poopoo’d (but not peepee’d), though she’s still doesn’t care if the dirty diaper gets changed – she’d rather continue about whatever business she was involved in. She’s also starting to take the wipe I hand her and try wiping herself. I guess that’s good progress, though her technique has much to be desired. She just enjoys wiping things clean in general, so if I’m not quick enough, she’ll wipe her bottom and then immediately wipe her face with the same wipe. Yikes!

So we’ve got lots of talking and learning going on. It’s so fun and exciting – I love to hear whatever new words she has, and it’s so cool being able to communicate more and more. But, it’s also my baby getting to be such a big girl. Ah, bittersweet!

Back to Reality, almost

Yesterday I had to turn in my Chevy Traverse since the 8 week test drive promotion was over. I was slightly relieved to not have the extra responsibility of blogging about it so I could better keep up with this blog, but I was more dreading going back to driving the Jetta. Today, getting Skyler in and out of it was such a hastle – I didn’t even know how to do it without bumping one or both of our heads on the door frame! But hopefully soon we’ll be making our purchase, once we decide what we want and the logistics of making it happen. I can’t wait!

Last weekend Ronnie and I went camping and canoeing with friends, down at the Elk River and had a blast. It was one of our favorite floats we’ve taken; we had fancy canoes, a great camping location, and the river was the clearest and most refreshing water we’ve floated in. We spent more time in the water than anything, and didn’t even get out of the water to go back to camp till sundown! Usually we’re hot and tired and ready to be back on the last mile or two of the float.

Skyler stayed with her Grandma while we were gone. It’s getting harder to leave her these days. She knows exactly when we’re gone and speaks so clearly to whoever she’s with “Where my Mommy? Where my Daddy?” My mother-in-law said she said it over and over this weekend, with a lot less playtime and a lot more missing us. We have our Vegas trip coming up in about a week, which will be 4 nights away, and I feel bad leaving her again so soon! I know once we are there and enjoying ourselves it will be fine, but just knowing that she’s missing us too makes it a lot harder this time.

And finally, I’m beginning to wonder if the events that happened recently described in this post were just a bad dream, because just a few days after that happened, our daughter was back to normal and no one would have ever known! She’s been running, playing, climbing, wrestling – doing all the normal things she did before that one would expect to hurt with a fractured collar bone. She only took Motrin for 3 days after it happened, and then we decided to give it as needed and it was never needed again! It is so bizarre how quickly she healed – it must’ve been the tiniest little crack in her bone that is all better now. We’ve just been so shocked at how things went, but it made the last couple weeks much easier than we expected!

Less Narcissism, More Cause

I’m so excited to finally have another purpose for this blog, other than talking about myself and my family! Sure, it’s a great outlet for me to express myself and a way to keep friends and family up to date, but sometimes it does feel self-centered, especially if I’m pimpin’ it.

Recently WordPress announced a partnership with SocialVibe, a website that partners big name sponsors with well-known charities. Now there’s a super simple widget I can & have added to my sidebar. I selected Children’s Miracle Network as my charity and Powerbar as my sponsor. Everytime any of my blog visitors clicks the banner and watches and rates one of the sponsor’s info videos, the sponsor donates money to Children’s. I watched one of Powerbar’s videos and it was actually rather informative, and they’re short, too!

It’s such an easy way to get money donated to a good cause! Obviously I chose Children’s Miracle Network because they help fund children’s hospitals, and after Skyler’s experience, I’ll gladly help send money to help other children get and stay healthy!

So, to all my visitors, PLEASE, take a few moments to click the banner in the right column and watch/rate the sponsor’s video. Your participation will help raise money for a great cause!

GUILTY.

I’m married to a personal trainer. I, myself, try to live a healthy lifestyle, at least during the week, by finding the time to exercise on my lunch hour and trying to stick to eating protein and veggies. Being health conscious is a top priority for my husband and I.

When Skyler was starting to transition from the bottle to solid foods, I attempted to make a lot of her baby food. I pureed & froze green beans, squash, and sweet potatoes mostly. I attempted chicken and ground beef, but I could never get the consistency right unless I added a jar of gravy, which to me, kind of defeated the purpose. So I bought the jarred baby food meats.

I will admit that I got very lazy at times and bought jarred veggies too – especially the blends of veggies that had DHA added – it seemed to have more calories and nutrition than what I was making at home, and back then, I was so concerned about getting her to gain weight since she had lost so much in the hospital, I actually chose some of the most calorie-dense foods for her. She was always a good eater – never too picky about any of the pureed foods she ate. It took her a bit when we started table foods as she wasn’t into things with texture. But eventually, she’d eat just about anything I gave her.

Fast forward to the last few months. It’s just her and me in the evenings at dinnertime since Ronnie doesn’t get home till late. The rides home from daycare have been generally stressful (despite us test driving the awesome Chevy Traverse). She’s tired, hot, whiny and hungry, and by the time we get home, she’s crying for dinner. Everything healthy takes a bit of preparation, and by that point in the evening, my patience is nowhere to be found. When she screams “hot doooooggg” I make a hot dog. When she screams “cheeeeeeeese” I get out cheese. When she yells “coooookie,” I give her five cookies. And most of the time, she doesn’t eat whatever she was wailing for in the first place! Sometimes, her dinnertime eating just ends up next to nothing, and I wonder how she’s even growing?

Her nutrition at home has gone straight out the window. We basically just try to survive at home. At least her daycare says she eats really well there!

No More!

I am in no hurry to have another child. Nothing about pregnancy excites me, even though I had an easy one with Skyler. And Ronnie works such long hours, that I can’t imagine looking after two kids every morning and evening, especially in the current phase Skyler is in.

And then there are nights like last night and days like today, that I’m pretty sure that I have no desire to have another child. Ever.

Last night I picked Skyler up from daycare, where she cried when we left, as usual, screaming the most dramatically broken-hearted “byyyyye-byyyyyyyye” after her teacher and the other kids, who she asks for by name on the hour when we’re at home. She loves going there, and hates when I make her leave. Our evenings have begun oh-so-pleasantly like this for quite some time now.

But when we got home and I picked her up out of her carseat (she had fallen asleep), she stiffened and cried out in pain. I was caught off guard but thought – diaper rash, maybe? But the evening got worse – she didn’t want to walk around or do anything but lay on me or Ronnie, and screamed in pain anytime we picked her up under her arms. I felt around all her joints, pressing and bending them, but nothing seemed out of place or caused her to react. We finally re-treated some moderate diaper rash and she calmed down and went to bed easily.

Though she slept very soundly last night and woke up in smiles, she winced in pain again when trying to stand up in her crib, and screamed when I picked her up out of it.

So enough was enough – we headed to Children’s Mercy ER. This was just too weird. After a long morning of poking and prodding and even one resident that had the nerve to say “I don’t know if we’ll ever get to the bottom of this,” they finally did some X-Rays and found she had a fractured collar bone! They said it happens with little kids a lot and could just have been from that fall in the backyard. She now has a sling that’s entirely too big for her and doesn’t really hold anything secure, and is on Motrin to manage the pain.

We got home and she was running around the house, playing and using both arms as usual. I just don’t get it? Last night she wouldn’t even walk.

So while it was nothing serious, I just don’t know if I can take more of sick/injured kids and trips to Childrens Mercy. I think I wore out my welcome there last year, and I just can hardly handle going back! Today I could hear the familiar tone of heart/blood pressure monitors’ warning beeps in a room down the hall, and it brought me weird chills of memory. I just hate this kind of stress!

So while I can’t predict that Skyler’s future will be sickness/injury-free from here on out (not likely for any child), I can predict that right now, I can’t imagine choosing to have another bundle of joy to add to this crazy life. I know with the hard times come so many more happy times, but right now, I really think our happy times with Skyler are enough! This mama can’t handle any more stress!

Skyler using her injured left arm in the sling. I don't get it.

Again, using the injured arm to scratch her butt. A lot of good the sling is...

I <3 Summer!

Summer has always been my favorite season – I can go sock-free in flip flops, enjoy the feeling of sunshine, and there’s just so much more to do! I’m an on-the-go kind of person who loves to have plans, so by the time Winter is over, my summer calendar is usually filled to the brim and busting through the seams!

But it keeps me so busy. I feel that’s all I’ve written about is how busy we are lately! Anyway, I finally got the Rockfest video montage done. I really wanted to use a song from one of the band’s playing, but they are all a little heavier rock sound than would be universally enjoyable for this video, so I played it safe with some Def Leppard. Enjoy! (You can also see it at Mommy Madness KC and vote for me – you can vote as many times as you want, so please do!)

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All in One

Since I can barely keep up, I’m going to just throw a bunch of stuff together in this post! And while I am still working on the video from Rockfest last week, I’ve got lots of new photos to post. Here goes –

Mulberries! When we bought this house a little over 3 years ago, my mom thought we might have a mulberry tree. But we never saw any fruit, until two weeks ago! And then we noticed it everywhere, and have counted three mulberry trees. We had one when I was growing up and I used to love to go out there and eat the purple berries, but I also got in trouble for soiling many a pair of shoes running around in the mulberry-stained grass. Skyler loves the mulberries too and each evening we try to go out there and snack on a few fresh ones!

Yesterday we headed across town to Lee’s Summit and had pool time with friends and then a bbq. We had a fantastic time, even though most of the kids were worn out by the time it was over. Here are a few pics (lots more in the Flickr photostream in the right column) –

Finally, my friend Maria was brave enough to ask me to try my hand at shooting some maternity photos for her second pregnancy while she was in town yesterday. It was not only fun, but I think it was successful! Here are a few of my favorites – she posted more on her blog.

And, I’m still driving the Traverse! Early this week I should be trading in the LS for the fancy schmancy LTZ, so look for some new stuff from me over at Mommy Madness KC!

Behind

I cannot keep up these days! We are so busy and I’ve got two blogs to post to and it’s just a bit much for my limited “free” time! So, this is short and sweet – I’m working on a video of our fun time at Rockfest on Saturday, and then by the time that’s done it will probably be the weekend, in which case we have more fun plans (think Memorial Day picnic with even more friends and their adorable kids this time!) and likely lots of pictures to take which means even more things to post once thats all overwith and I’m sure I’ll be that much more behind. But at least I’m having fun! Breathe.

Gettin' ready to head out to Rockfest

Workin’ for a Livin’

I’ve mentioned before how much I love my job. It’s not exactly what I pictured myself doing 7 years into the professional workforce, but it’s not too far off either. I knew I’d be in marketing, but I didn’t realize I’d be into geeky marketing, otherwise known as Internet Marketing. And I wouldn’t have expected to enjoy it so much!

I’m currently a Senior Site Manager at PlattForm Advertising, a local but national agency. We specialize in lead generation for mostly educational institutions. I manage the growth and maintenance of two websites. Beauty Schools Directory and Beauty School. Both sites serve to help future beauty professionals find a beauty/cosmetology school to help them get their license, and the schools pay us to help potential students find them. Though we purchased both of these sites in the past two years, they are like children to me, I guess you could say. Anyway, if I wasn’t in the job I am, I likely wouldn’t have this blog. Dealing with websites is not just my job, but it’s an enjoyable hobby for me.

As so it seems for my coworkers as well! There is a lot of talent on our team of site managers, designers, and developers. A lot of them can’t seem to leave work at work, and like me, have their own websites they run on their free time.

Shana, my boss, is one of the most crafty people I know, and has taken her love for crafts and her technical computer skills, and knitted them together to form this craft website. She posts original patterns and how-to’s, and photos of her work. I would also like to point out the pattern and photo of the quilt she made for Skyler, which we love and use it all the time!

Then there are the developers’ websites – these guys all have very different things going on. Donovan has a personal blog, a combination of thoughts on life but also with various links to some of his development projects as well. One of his latest projects is a Find a Pit Bull, which has lots of potential for him! Patrick’s blog is a mashup of “thoughts, rants, and influential creations” ranging from posts from politics and economics to technology, and lots in between. Then Mike, for as quiet and genuinely nice guy he is, he has a political blog where he let’s people know how he feels!

This is only a handful of all the “extracurricular” websites that come from the many cool people I work with. So many of us just can’t quite leave our work at work, but at least we love what we do!