Hump Day...

Ok.... I typed that title and then I had to double check that today is actually Wednesday. I'm running on about 5 hours of real sleep over the past two nights and I'm a little less than together this morning. But since I've been so good about blogging lately I didn't want to let today pass without a post.

First, I was reading some of my old posts last night and hello.... I was so much more creative with my writing back in the day (the day before I was wrangling three kids all day long and trying to find a minute here or there to post). So... I've been inspired to add a little more creativity and thought into my words. We'll see!

Next item... tomorrow is my darling Laila's second birthday. Two. I can't believe it. I will post her birthday post tomorrow or Friday... depending on how things go around here. But be looking for some cuteness in pictures by Friday.... one thing this baby girl definitely has going for her is her cuteness.

I'm having a bit of a week, if you know what I mean. Apparently a two-year birthday means that the child gets the attitude of a teenager. It seems my favorite phrase this week is "stop crying and whining." If I've said it once, I've said it a million times. Add to that a crazy schedule for Jared (translation: I'm home alone with the girls more than normal). And if that weren't enough, Mika Lynn is sick for the first time and is not sleeping well. That means this Momma isn't sleeping well, or at all. I actually looked in the mirror a little while ago and almost didn't recognize myself. Beauty sleep is a real thing people. Just saying.

I spent most of Tuesday doing this.

And this. Poor baby.

Finally, guess who is sitting up all on her own....

We are still working on it, of course, but she's getting the balance thing down really quickly! She won't roll over, but she's sitting up! Silly, silly girl.

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Tests, Operation, and a Surprise....

Here is the background. Thursday afternoon I noticed Baby Girl was warm. Temp 101ish. Motrin and bed. I was up in the middle of the night to give her more medicine as her temperature was still up. This has been ongoing since Thursday afternoon. The tylenol and motrin get rid of the fever but it comes right back as soon as the meds wear off. Then Sunday night I noticed her lips turning purple and her arms and legs were too. They were cold to the touch even though she still had a fever. We got her warmed up and gave her some more meds and put her to bed. Needless to say, Momma didn't sleep well (and hasn't slept well since Thursday night). So Monday morning I called the pediatrician and made an appointment. Thinking this would be no big deal, just a quick look over and make sure there wasn't anything wrong, I took Big Sis with me. Oh how wrong I was....

The doc wanted to do a blood draw. She then decided we needed a chest x-ray and possibly we would be doing a urine test. So the three of us sat in the waiting area for blood and x-ray. Blood draw came.... Baby cried. Big Sis didn't know what to do, so she just patted Little Sis on the back and curiously watched.

Then came x-ray. Since I'm pregnant I couldn't go help. So they took her away, which caused Big Sis to cry (she's pretty protective of her sister). After a few minutes we heard the unmistakable cry coming from the x-ray room. Baby Girl was NOT HAPPY! A few minutes later they brought a sobbing baby girl back to me. We went back to the exam room to wait for our results.

Chest x-ray was good. No problems there. Blood count was not perfect. Her white blood cell count was elevated and it caused the doc to think it may be a bacterial infection rather than a virus so she wanted to do a urine test. Now.... if you have never had a urine test run on your baby you may not know what happens. Sadly, this isn't my first experience with a baby urine test. They can't pee on command so how do you get the pee pee out? By catheter.... so sad. But Little Sis survived (not quietly.... she screamed A LOT). Urine came back fine so the doctor decided to call it a virus for now. Keep treating it the same and hopefully it will go away. If the fever is still present Wednesday or Thursday.... bring her back in. Got it!

Thankfully, we woke up this morning with NO FEVER!!!! Praise the Lord! Back to normal!! And in case you were wondering, Big Sis was awesome the entire time we were at the doctor's office. She was such a help to me and I am SO PROUD of her!

Now.... we are in day 2 of "Operation: Get Big Sis Ready for Mother's Day Out". I realize some moms may think I'm crazy, but I am very concerned with how she does with MDO. She has never gone to MDO or DayCare or stayed with anyone who wasn't family. I think this is great... that we've made it 2+ years and have been fortunate enough to keep her with us most of the time. However, this is presenting me with a problem as MDO gets closer. One problem - naptime. We've always had a scheduled naptime (flexible, but I try to keep to a schedule). However, I've always said as long as she plays quietly in her room during naptime then it doesn't bother me if she doesn't sleep. There is no playing at MDO during naptime... she needs to know how to lay down and rest.

Well, lately this has become a problem so Mission #1: Naptime = lay quietly in your bed. Yesterday's nap was not a success but today has been a different story!!! YAY!

We also have a lot of things to do to prepare for her to be away from us one day a week (I know how crazy this sounds, but it is an adjustment for all of us and I prefer to be overly prepared for EVERYTHING). Hopefully we can get naptime under control so we can focus on discipline and all the other things that I have to have figured out before next month.

And finally.... I got a surprise on my doorstep yesterday.... are you ready for this??????

Oh yeah baby.... that's my giveaway package that I won at Natalie's Blog!!!! She sure does know how to host a giveaway! This made my day. Check out all the great things in the package (and there are still more things to come).

The girls both LOVED the Sophie the Giraffe.... They thought she was so cute and her squeak is precious! And Big Sis has had a blast with the See What I See game! She has played with it constantly since I gave it to her. So great!

The husband and I have argued about whether or not the swaddle blanket and the sweater and booties are gender neutral since I showed him everything I got. I have a feeling this will be an ongoing discussion if we have a baby boy :) I guess we will find out in about a month!!!!

Ok... I think this is enough for one day! I don't want to overload the readers. :) I have a lot going on, so hopefully I'll have some good posts for you all this week.

Sick, sick, sick....

So I realize I haven't posted in about a week. I've been so sick with some sort of cold thing that has just zapped all of my energy. It started last week on Tuesday night and has been up and down since then. I've had it all... the fever, the sore throat, the headaches... you name it! So needless to say, I haven't been feeling well lately. I'm still not feeling normal.

Then last week some things happened that required my husband to be at work a little more. That left Momma home with 2 wild children and a nasty cold and a pregnancy.... so I was more than happy when my dad said he was coming to town Thursday and we could come back home with him. And that is exactly what we did.

We had a relaxing weekend on the lake with Pappy. I, of course, didn't take any pictures because it was all I could do to keep up with both of my girls and my husband all weekend. The girls love the lake... we did a lot of swimming and a lot of snacking. My Crazy 2-year-old will tell you, when you ask her what she does on Pappy's boat, "swim in the water and eat chips and drink capri suns".

Pappy fed us powdered donuts for breakfast (which was a big hit with the girls!) and cooked some of our favorite meals and took us to some of our favorite restaurants. It would take a couple of weeks to go to all of our favorite restaurants in Mountain Home and for Pappy to cook all of our favorite foods, but we had a nice sampling this weekend.

Saturday we were discussing lunch options and I said I would like to go eat at my favorite BBQ place. The hubby decided he wanted to vote for his favorite burger place (which I also love). I won, of course, but I was so glad that my sweet husband has some favorite places of his own in my hometown.... He's almost a local! :)

We got back pretty late last night so today the girls and I are just relaxing and catching up on laundry and a few other things around here. I realize that this post is beyond boring.... I'm just too drained to be cute or creative or intelligent. :) Maybe next time.