4 months old!

Here is Evie for her four month old pic. She really is getting big! I can't believe how soon she'll be sitting up and crawling around!

Quickie

The blog has been on hold for a bit due to two reasons:

1. I lost my camera! My beautiful little camera that I loved so much is MIA. Hopefully I can find it hiding someplace in the house. If not, I will have to start lugging around the big monster camera again.

2. We've finally bitten the bullet and decided to sell our condo. More on that later.

To keep y'all going here is a convo between Ian and myself this morning:

Ian: *sneezes*

Hanna: Bless you!

Ian: *sniffles*

Ian: *sniffles*

Ian: *sniffles*

Hanna: Do you need a tissue?

Ian: Nah, I just keep licking it off.

Hanna: EWWWWWWW *runs to get the tissues*

Kids. So cute.

Evie's doctor appointment

We finally had Evelyn's doctor appointment today and of course one more thing went wrong. When we got there at 8:30 we discovered that the computer system was being glitchy and had spontaneously cancelled her appointment.

ARG!

Luckily for my sanity and the safety of everyone around me they paged the doctor and she was willing to see us. YES!!!!! Something goes right!

She gave me a light cortisone scrip for Evie's cheeks. If it is not cleared up in a week or two I am going to request a dermatologist consult. I am a little nervous about putting steroid cream on a baby, but I guess there is no way they could just wave a magic wand and make it better. Even if we half hope that they will.

She also had her 4 month check up and SHOTS poor baby.

Ian was VERY nervous about the shots. I think he asked me 'is Evie going to get a shot now' about 15 times while we waited for the doctor. When they gave her the shot he hid under the doctor's desk.

Evie did great for her shots -- she even made the nurse cry. After the first outraged scream she settled into squeaky little whimpers, trembling pouty lips, and big tears rolling down from her huge blue eyes as she accusingly watched the nurse. I can't wait to see the first time she turns that act on her Papa. He's toast.

Her new stats are:

• 24 1/4 inches (50th percentile)


• 13 pounds (38th percentile)


• 16 inch head circumference (68 percentile)

So despite the fact that she looks like a very chubby little baby, she's not actually that big. Either that or there are a lot of really fat babies out there these days, which sadly might be true. Her brother was one of them. But it was wonderful, adorable fat of course!

Her head is also quite normal, but on the large size (which we knew). Ian's head was literally off the chart and the doctor consulted me about getting him a helmet if it kept growing the way it did. I should have brought in some of the family pictures mom has -- she would have seen it was just genetics!

So basically we found out what we already knew -- there is probably nothing we can do about the rash, and she is a smaller, more delicate version of Ian.

He could make the nurses cry too.

Looking forward to April

I am trying not to look forward to things in the future, because that will mean Evie is getting older and I want to enjoy my baby for as long as possible. However, it is hard not to be excited about all the cool books coming out in April.

If you like paranormal romance/urban fantasy you will LOVE April:

1. Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs ( March 30)


2. Beyond the Darkness by Alexandra Ivy (April 01)


3. Lion’s Heat by Lora Leigh (April 06)


4. Demonkeepers by Jess Anderson (April 06)


5. Burning Lamp by JAK (April 20)


6. Lover Mine by JR Ward (April 27)


7. Wild Fire by Christine Feehan (April 27)


8. Savor the Moment by Nora Roberts (April 27)


9. Stealing Kathryn, Jacquelyn Frank (April 27)

All of these authors are on my must have list. It is hard to pick a favorite. Actually, it's just about impossible. Of the bunch that come out on the 27th Lover Mine might rise to the top since we've been waiting to read John Matthew's story since the second book of the series. Can't. Wait.

The security guard at my work -- Pete -- also lent me the first book in Jim Butcher's Dresden files series. It was AWESOME! I am definitely buying the whole series once the taxes are paid and we have fun money again.

Did I mention I can't wait?

Good night

No more freaky dreams last night. Ian told me we were going to have good dreams -- we just had to use our imagination. I am not sure if it worked, I don't remember having any dreams at all. But maybe it was because I was all tired out. I will try and use my imagination and have good dreams tonight.

Evie was also exhausted -- back at day care AND I gave her a bath. She slept all night, pretty much. I went to bed around 10:30 and then Ian woke me up at around 4:30. I put him back to bed, did the pump thing, and then Evie woke up STARVING since she had been asleep for nearly 7 hours. My alarm clock went off while I was feeding her.

I was pleased to notice that JD didn't have any luck getting it to turn off the first time either.

He hates that thing.

I am doomed to wake up at 4:30 every morning it seems. But at least I got nearly 6 hours of continuous, dreamless sleep. Not bad when you have a three month old. Not bad at all!

Thursday we have Evelyn's 4 month checkup. I'll post her new stats up when we get back. Plus the doctor will (finally) look at her rash and probably tell me I just need to give it time. Pat told me to ask for a dermatologist consult so that is what I will do.

I am not sure what I will do if it is the cats fault. We may have to make the bedroom a cat free zone and move all her stuff int here (swing, bouncy chair, and everything else of hers that the cats love to sleep on. The rash isn't bad enough that we would consider getting rid of them and she doesn't have any respiratory problems.

But I am getting ahead of myself and worrying without a cause. Let's see what the doctor says.

Bad night

I will preface this post by saying that in no way would anyone mentioned in this dream act the way I've described. In fact, they would react completely opposite to the way they did in the dream. (I love you Mom, Papa and Mims!) But that is why this is a bad dream, and not reality.

Last night was one of those weird dream nights that I think all parents have on a regular basis. I went to bed at a reasonable hour (10pm) and was punished for it by parental karma.

1am Ian woke me up by climbing into bed with me and I cuddled him for a little while before making him go pee and tucking him back into his bed.

I went back to sleep and dreamt that I was chasing a two year old Ian around a pool. I couldn’t catch up to him, and a part of my mind said “well if he falls in he will learn a valuable lesson and not go near the pool again” ...upon which he immediately fell in.

I KNEW I could jump in and pull him out before he got more than a mouthful of water but for some reason the water was too buoyant – I couldn’t get down far enough (of course he sank like a stone). I finally grabbed onto his hair and pulled him up. If you remember two year old Ian, his hair was very wispy and fine and it was very hard to keep a hold of him.

He wasn’t breathing so I started to do CPR. My mom and my sister were sitting on lounge chairs by the pool and frowning disapprovingly at me as they continued their conversation. I suppose they thought I was learning a valuable lesson.

Despite doing CPR for several breaths the water wasn’t coming out. My Papa, who was an EMT, was floating in the pool, talking on a cell phone. I asked him for help. He frowned at me and said “I have a line on some work” and I immediately felt a wave of guilt and started to cry. Seeing me crying he came over and started CPR.

At this point of the dream I heard a noise in real life and immediately woke up. My mind said it was a thump and I tried to remember if I had strapped Evie into her swing or not. I went out in the living room to make sure she wasn’t slumped on the floor unconscious and realized the sound had been the whisper of her blanket falling to the floor. Apparently it was enough to bring me to hyper awareness.

She was awake and looking around – she hadn’t even started to make noises yet. I nursed her and put her to sleep in her crib in our room. (And I had strapped her in thank goodness!) Then I went and used the pump a little so she would have enough milk for another bottle the next day at daycare. After that I tucked Ian back in. He had done one of his total reversals and was on top of the covers with his head at the foot of the bed. Then I went back to bed. It was 4:30am.

I stayed awake listening to Evie and JD breathe until 5:30am when the alarm went off. I turned off the alarm and lay there for a little while until it went off again.

I hate that thing.

This time I switched all the switches and I think it actually turned off. I got up and took a shower and comforted myself with a kindle book while I ate breakfast.

As dreams go it was a doozy. It managed to combine several of my childhood hangups with my worst fears as a parent. Plus the guilt of secretly wanting the child to get hurt in order to learn a lesson... and having it actually happen.

Since I tend to pick up on dreams right where I left off there was no way I was going back to sleep after that one. I remember one night I got eaten by a werewolf three times because I kept falling back to sleep after waking up in terror. Not happening this time. No. Way.

However, the weirdest part was when we were driving to work. Ian told me he dreamed about me and that we were in the water. I asked what we were doing in the water and he said he fell in. I asked what I did when he fell in and he said I didn't do anything because he went way down and it was dark. And that I was way up and he was way down.

Spooky.

And yes, I always remember my dreams in detail. Apparently so does Ian, poor kid.

February 2010 Snapfish photos

Here are the pictures from February!

Click here to view photos