Traumatized

Yesterday was a very traumatic day for me. While attempting to clip Pepper's fingernails, somehow, I am not exactly sure what happened, but I clipped off the tip of her index finger on her right hand. She immediately started to cry. She cried for about 5 minutes. It bled for about, well it seemed like all day. I wrapped it in tissue after I put some neosporin on it and covered it with a sock. If you can't see it - it isn't there right? My first thought was I wanted to take her to the ER. I realize that would have been crazy but I felt like I broke her and I wanted someone to fix her and give her back. My second thought was I no longer wanted to be a mom because it is too hard and scary. I don't have much choice though now do I? Hurting your baby is just a horrible feeling. I know she won't remember it, the finger tip will grow back, but I still can't move past it yet and it has been over 24 hours. When I was trying to fall asleep last night all I could think about was her bloody fingertip. I have issues with blood :o( But at least I didn't panic, I hugged her and took care of her finger as best I could. I didn't break down until way later!

A few hours later Summer managed to smash two of her fingers in the refrigerator drawer while getting a piece of cheese. I heard her cry, that awful horrible hurt cry, and dropped Pepper on the bed and ran in to her. I told Summer that I had to go to mommy jail because I wasn't a good mom, I hurt Pepper and let her get hurt. I told her she would have to get a new mommy, a better one, and she told me she wanted one that didn't make her pick up her toys. I told her they didn't have any mommies like that. Later she told me not to go that she wanted to me stay :o) Gotta love kids.

Random photos of mostly Pepper, I keep saying I need to take more of Summer but she is never in the mood or her hair is not brushed. We all went and got haircuts today, well all except Pepper. Summer and I really needed it, those ends were not doing us any favors.

Pepper's eyes are starting to change, not sure what color they will be yet, Kris says they are going to be hazel like Summer's, I bet they will be brown like his. I don't remember when Summer's actually changed or how long they took but I hope it is soon.

Baby Books

Kris, Summer, Pepper - 2 months old.

Because my husband and I are first born children, our mothers mostly filled out our baby books :o) and my how things have changed! Look how different we feed children now as compared to back then. I know my mom said I was on whole milk by 3 months. These details came from Kris's baby book:

First drink from a cup: 4 months

Baby is given fruit juice: 1 month

Baby is given vegetables: 7 weeks

Baby is given cereal: 1 month

Baby is given solid food: 2 months

Here are a few things Kris did, I was doing (in parentheses), and Summer did at the end.

Turned over: 5 months (4 1/2 months) -- Summer was 3.5 months

Sat up alone: 6 months (5 1/2 months) -- Summer was 7 months, 3 weeks

Creeping: 7 months (6 1/2 months) -- Summer was 7 months, 3 weeks

Stands alone: 9 months (6 months) -- Summer was 10 months

Walks: 12 months (10 1/2 months) -- Summer was 11.5 months

Weight 2 years: 27 pounds (don't have my info) -- Summer was 31.5 pounds

Weight 4 years: 38 pounds (40 pounds) -- Summer was 41.5 pounds

First tooth 7 3/4 months (3 1/2 months) -- Summer was 5 months

Don't you love being able to compare? Ok maybe its just me!

and this is Kris

I almost called him Pepper/Summer - because his baby pictures look a lot like theirs. Or they look a lot like him, whatever.

2 1/2 months

3 months

2 months

newborn

When I was a little girl

When I was a little girl the quality of film, well it just wasn't the same, of course. I must thank my mother for at least taking photos and keeping them, and writing the date on the back of most of them!

My quest to find a photo that shows me as a baby/little girl - that resembles either of my daughters. Kris said he can see Pepper, I can't see either. He said its because they are chunky and I was thin. I am pretty sure the aliens thing might have happened. You can see for yourself, me in the late 70's, early 80's.

Kindergarden (5 years)

guessing around 2 or 3

1978 (1-2)

April 1980 (4 years old)

guessing 4-5

3 years, 8 months (guess)

not sure about this one

2 years, 8 months, 1978, Austin, Texas

August 1981, 5 years

June 1979, 3 years

1978, Carnival, Lawton - Fort Sill

1979, 3, Woodward Texas

December 1981, 5 years

Scanning is not fun :o) I am so glad the technology for photography has changed to what it is today. Now to get my husband's baby pictures so I can see again how much both girls are his.

I can't believe ...

Random Observations ...

I can't believe I haven't slept all night in ... well a really long time.

I can't believe how well a diaper genie works.

I can't believe how long this cough is lasting.

I can't believe how good Pepper looks in yellow!

I can't believe it was so warm last week, and got cold again this week :o(

I can't believe how much attitude a 4 year old has.

I can't believe how many tangles a 4 year old can get in her hair.

I can't believe how loud a new baby can be.

I can't believe how much humidity a humidifier causes in a room when the door is shut.

I can't believe how much dirt my cat can find, and manage to bring into my house.

I can't believe how many new dinners I have unsuccessfully tried, cooking sure looks easy.

I can't believe how crazy I am, which makes me completely normal!

We went back

Back to the doctors office the next day for Pepper, mostly because I never got that breathing treatment machine and I had changed doctors ... so I had to see the new doctor but also because Pepper was doing worse. Her coughing was driving us both insane, she was coughing so much she was having trouble falling asleep. The new doctor, the pediatrician doctor, pretty much said the same thing, there is nothing we can do but help her get comfortable, blah blah blah, suction her nose, use the humidifier, etc. We did get a little asthma breathing treatment thing but I really don't think it helped much. The good thing - I got some new pictures!

During that 24 hour period between appointments Pepper had lost 2.5 ounces. And of course the next day, the day after the second doctor appointment, she was so much better! I knew she was better because her appetite came back with a vengeance. She is still coughing some today but it isn't very often, very random. Summer also seems to be on the mend, and me too! Kris ended up getting sick too, but even he seems to be on the up and up.

Down with the Sickness

Get up, come on get down with the sickness...

I like that song but I don't like having sickness in my home, in my daughters, and in myself. Today I decided to take the girls to the doctor to see who was the sickest, I mean to make sure they only have a viral infection that can't be treated anyway, I mean to make sure they were ok. Summer symptoms include loss of appetite, fever, congestion, coughing, crabbiness. Pepper has the loss of appetite, congestion, and coughing. Here is how the day went.

9:00 Left the house and headed to the hospital

9:30 Checked in for Summer's 9:40 appointment

10:15 Finally saw the doctor. Summer weighs 43.something pounds. The doctor said her throat was red so she swabbed it and wanted a urine sample to rule out a UTI.

10:30 Checked in for Pepper's 10:30 appointment

10:31 Took Summer to the bathroom

11:20 Finally saw the doctor for Pepper. The doctor and nurse tried to measure her oxygen levels and since they didn't know how to do it on such small fingers and toes they got an 88. Just to be safe the doctor wanted a chest x-ray and a breathing treatment. OH and my little chunk weighed in at 14 pounds, 15 ounces. At first the nurse said 19 pounds, she read it wrong, good thing we rechecked!

12:00 Headed to the lab to drop off Summer's throat swab (to rule out strep) and have Summer pee in a cup, which was a success!

12:10 Went down to the basement to the chow hall and remembered they only take cash.

12:15 Back upstairs, grabbed food from the small shop instead, ate it outside on a bench.

12:30 Took Pepper to the radiology department for her chest xray. Realized I couldn't be in the room because I am not 100% sure I am not pregnant. I am only 99.5% sure ... but the tech held her and she did just fine, the whole procedure only took 5 minutes.

12:45 Back to the waiting area for Pepper's breathing treatment.

1:15 Finally taken to a room where she would have the breathing treatment.

1:30 Someone finally came to start the damn breathing treatment, a treatment that takes 20-30 minutes!

2:00 Treatment over, back to the doctor office to try again to get an oxygen reading.

2:30 Oxygen reading successful, numbers are normal, off to the pharmacy to get a prescription for the breathing treatment medication.

3:00 Prescription filled, off to the tricare office to change Pepper's provider to be the same as Summer's so I don't have to make 2 stupid appointments in 2 stupid clinics next time. Luckily it took 5 minutes to change.

3:30 Back home.

All in all I found out that Summer does not have strep, nor does she have a UTI (she had a small rash near her private area), Pepper is not taking breathing treatments tonight because the doctor never called about getting the machine, the nebulizer? and I don't have the results from her chest xray back saying she has pneumonia so I am assuming it was fine or hopefully someone would have called. Technically I wasted 6.5 hours to find out both my girls are still sick, but at least we got out of the house right? Yah no.

Here is Pepper waiting to see the doctor, sitting happily and patiently in her car seat.

Here is Summer, asleep, as Pepper and I wait for the breathing treatment. Summer woke up right after we finished the breathing treatment crying and coughing like crazy while the nurse was in the room trying to get another oxygen read on Pepper. Summer really doesn't like to wake up, or she doesn't wake up very well, whatever, it was annoying but she is sick so I didn't beat her like a ... wait I don't beat her anyway!

Did I mention my annoying cough, and runny nose? No, it isn't important anyway. I have realized a few things. Having a child in November is a bad idea. Before I didn't like the idea because of it being so close to the holidays, but the chances of getting sick is so high this time of year. Bad idea, have your child over the spring or summer. It is also a bad idea to have two kids, because chances are one child will cause the other to get sick, and no one wants to deal with one sick kid, much less two at the same time

In retrospect ... I should have taken more pictures today. Pepper's first doctor visit and all I got was that! That's not going to make a very interested baby book photo now is it? Let's blame the head cold on that little slip and hope it doesn't happen again. /wink

Trampoline Hair

Who doesn't love trampoline hair? I know I do, and I guess Summer does, she hasn't really said ... and of course who doesn't love a lot of bright colors? Ya we already know about that one. I took Summer outside today for some motion, colorful, bright, messy, hairy photos. I love the trampoline :o) what a great investment.

Isn't she just precious? All grown up now /sniff.

Look at her!

For the fun of it I took my macro lens, the 90mm, and took a few pictures of Chubbs this morning, err, I mean Pepper. She was in a really good mood - she had just had her bottle and wanted to pose, or so I like to think. She is growing up so fast, she has started grabbing toys, holding them in her hand, and putting them up to her mouth! She is also starting to roll over. Ok not really, but we have been practicing rolling over! She is doing awesome at tummy time, really getting her head up there! Of course I probably shouldn't do tummy time right after we have a bottle, lesson learned!

Oh I can't stop taking photos of this pretty little thing - she just makes it too easy!

Valentine's Photos

Yesterday I got a jump start on my Valentine's photos - and I must say I am happy, happy, happy, happy, happy! Both girls were in a very photogenic mood :o) so that made it so much easier on us all! In fact while trying to get the feet photos my husband so graciously helped me out and it was hilarious, I almost gave up on the feet/heart photo because I was laughing so hard I couldn't hold the camera straight. It was funny seeing my husband and littlest under a black sheet, what can I say, the things I do to get a cute photo! Here are a few, probably too many, photos from the day. I made the girls shirts and all the hair bows!

I love Valentine's Day! Mardi Gras is next, then St. Patrick's Day ... the fun photo shoots never end!