Cut off...

from the interwebz. :( The puppy chewed my lap top charger and I'm down to less than half battery left! I promptly ordered a new one and hopefully it's here quickly.

In other news puppy may be finding a new home. I don't have the time she needs, I'm gone over 14 hours a night when I work. I was under the impression that she would be let out while I was at work, but apparently that isn't the case. I know potty training takes time but I'm totally grossed out by the fact that she pees on the floor and Avery plays there. Oh EM GEE I have the willies right now thinking about it. ::shiver::

Mommy got a new toy!

What should be waiting on my door step on Monday when I woke up from my nap?!

If you guessed a Canon Rebel XS you would be correct!

Thank you thank you thank you to my mom, I've been complaining about the state of my crummy point and shoot...oh since the birth of the babe. It came with a kit lens which I'm working on figuring out. All the things I've read say that the kit lens is a piece. I've been browsing other equipment and reading reviews. I have my eye on a 50mm lens. I'm also in luuuurve with this camera bag.

Avery has been a not so willing subject. She wasn't a fan of the point and shoot, she FOR SURE isn't a fan of the DSLR. She's warming up to the idea that mom is a crazy maniac and is getting better.

The first day involved a lot of playing and pressing buttons. This thing is like learning a new language. I took 97 photos. I deleted about 90. lol. There were a couple ok ones.


I think it's going to take me awhile to figure this thing out.

I've had to get most of my pics lately when she's trapped in the high chair so she can't come rushing up to me to be picked up. Bwwwwaaaaaahhhahahahaha.


Drooly Julie. We tried clementines for the first time. She LOVED them and had another one again for dinner. She keeps pointing at them on the counter whenever we're in the kitchen.


Don't worry bananas, she hasn't forgotten about her love for you. We did the same at dinner. She ate, mom played.


Note the clementines...again.

Avery got a new toy this week too. Yesterday we went and picked up a new to us Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Kitchen.


You can see part of it in the background here. She was more curious about mom's new toy this morning.


I'm a sucker for those big brown eyes.


She has the cutest smile, no? The smiles didn't last for long. It was soon followed by:


and


which of course escalated to a full on fit complete with smacking which landed her in time out. She was being so cute at the end that I was tempted to take a picture. Of course she was already being enough of a show boat during time out that I didn't want to encourage it.

Hopefully this will mean the blog becomes more photo heavy.

The plague 2.0

Poor monkey butt is sick...again. This time: gastroenteritis, a stomach bug. She's had crazy diarrhea for almost 4 days, vomited a couple times, and has a crazy fever. She's been 103 most of the day. Motrin will bring her fever down for a time, but Tylenol isn't touching it. She's been so incredibly miserable that it breaks my heart. I held her from 1:30am to 9pm tonight. She just moaned and wimpered most of the day. We got home from urgent care at about 8pm and I got her to eat a biscuit and mashed potatoes, drank some pedialyte, and now she's asleep in bed.

The puppy is adjusting ok. I think I've settled on Macy. House training is going better than I thought it would 2 1/2 days into it. She is starting to get the treat after the potty thing. We got some of those puppy pad things because she doesn't seem to get peeing outside yet. She hits the pad more often that not and will go outside to poop most of the time. Not to shabby. Crate training isn't so much fun. She cried FOREVER last night. As soon as she quieted down, Avery was up. Excellent. Now I remember why I don't miss the puppy stage.

That deep cleaning I wanted to get done...oh what Sunday? Never happened. It's going to have to wait until next weekend. I have to work Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Why does that seem like so much? That which doesn't kill us right?

Now I'm in search of a snack since I haven't eaten all day because I've been holding a toddler.

Wish list Wednesday

What's on your wish list?

I would LOVE one of these:


and this view from my window:

But let us be a bit more realistic shall we?

I've been lusting after an iPod touch. I want one SO BAD! I'd love to have one this spring when it's warm enough for Avery and I to get back outside for walks. She enjoys music too so it would really help when out in public in a pinch.

To satisfy my inner nerd a big stack of new books would be lovely.


Maybe one of these too...I know, I know I'm pushing it

It took me forever to decide on a name

for my daughter. I had list after list. I wrote them all out first middle and last. I poured over them. It was the only thing on my mind for months. MONTHS! After I settled on one I continued to doubt my decision. I went back and forth. Filling out the birth certificate was stressful. I remember freaking out and crying after I turned it in. But she didn't LOOK like an Avery! She looked like something else. Looking back, I'm glad she has the name she has. She looks exactly like an Avery Grace.

I'm again faced with the stressful decision of choosing a name. No, I'm not expecting another. Good Lord help me if that were the case. Oh, and alert the media. But, we did get an addition to the household.

She's 7 weeks old. We just picked her up last night. I have a short list and I'm leaning towards one but I just can't commit!

::le sigh::

Motivated I am not

I have the laundry ALMOST done. I picked up the living room. I cooked a meal and cleaned up after it.

I'm spent.

I had big plans for today. This house was getting whipped into shape. I'm talking closets cleaned and ceiling fans dusted.

Didn't happen. I blame it on the nap I took this morning and a serious lack of caffeine.

My options are to either hit the ground running tomorrow morning or put it off since I work tomorrow night.

But for now, I'm going to bed...

What do you think?

How's the new look?

Is it good enough to go public? Are you out there? echo echo echo

Not so brief synopsis

Last Thursday Avery and I boarded a plane and headed off to sunny Phoenix, Arizona!

The trip there was miserable. Punch me in the face miserable. Avery had an ear infection and I was deathly ill with the plague (tonsillitis - after a vacation trip to urgent care, yes I still have my tonsils shut it). She wouldn't sleep and was incredibly restless on the 4 hour flight. Case in point: psycho baby Avery on her first plane ride.

Ugh. The mere thought of that trip makes me tired all over again.

Things drastically improved once we both got some antibiotics in us and we loved the rest of our trip. We stopped on the way to Tucson and did a tiny bit of hiking.

We spent a lot of time in the car out running all over Arizona and the babies were so good for all of it. On Tuesday we left the kids with Megans parents and headed to:

VEGAS BABY! The 6 hour car trip was fun with friends and we even stopped at the Hoover Dam.

We spent one night in Vegas and drove back to Phoenix. I missed Avery like crazy and couldn't wait to get back to her. That was officially the longest I had ever been away from her. We had a great time in Vegas and it was nice to have some adult time. Thursday we boarded the plane to come back home. Luckily this one went much smoother. She slept, she ate, she played. Her ears seemed to bother her more on this trip but it was a success.

Happy baby, happy mom. ::exhale::

We sat next to this fluffy older black woman on the plane. She told me Avery kept staring at her because she thought she was her grandma. I just smiled an laughed. I wasn't about to tell that poor lady my life story. She was reading the Bible, I couldn't do it to her. She was probably staring at you because you had iPod earbuds in and she wanted to grab them but sure we'll go with your answer. When the plane landed I wrapped Avery up on my back. Much like this:

& proceeded to collect our things. The lady said "That's how the Africans do it. I didn't know you knew how to do that." I'm hip in many circles ya'll.

I digress...

Back to the real world and the mountain of laundry I'm trying to hide from. Worked last night (I bring you this post on 5 hours of sleep, that's dedication) and tonight.

And now I'm going to go peek out the windows. I think the neighbors are moving...

We've been on vacation ya'll

and I will update tomorrow. Cross my heart & hope to die...WITH pics!

We had a blast.

Just because you're a doctor doesn't mean you are smarter than everyone

Avery had her 1 year well baby visit on Saturday. (Yep she's almost 13 months)

Apparently you can't get a diaper rash while teething. Dr. Sears says otherwise. It MUST be because I'm applying too many creams to her bottom. Nevermind the fact that I cloth diaper and don't even use creams unless she has a rash and is then switched to disposables for the cream until it clears up. It's also highly related to the baby wipes. Again, I use washclothes and water with the cloth diapers. But what do I know.

13 months is far to early to be ready to potty train or even entertain the idea. Children need to show three signs to be ready. 1. Be interested when I go to the bathroom (check) 2. Do something specific like put their hands together or hide in the corner when they are pooping (check-hides) and 3. Demand to be changed immediately following poop (check). Hmm. Seems like she qualifies based on your infinite knowledge guidelines. Because you can TRAIN a child to do anything but then you might as well have a dog. (True story. He said that.) I'm not going to push her but I will be buying her a potty chair to see what happens. Take that Dr. Smarty-pants.

I got major side-eye and told "I thought you'd know better being a nurse at Childrens" when I declined the H1N1 vaccine and the regular flu vaccine. Research shows that the only way to stop an epidemic is to vaccinate the children. While I agree I'm also not comfortable giving my child a vaccine that is brand new. I've read the research about the H1N1 vaccine and I've weighed the risks. Avery is not around the general population very often. In church she stays with me and doesn't go to the nursery, she doesn't go to daycare, when we go to the store I either wear her or wipe down the cart with bleach wipes, and is too young to be in activities.

On to the good news. Avery was 23lbs 11oz which is still the 75th percentile for her age. Babies should triple their birth weight by 1 year. She was 7lbs even at birth, she's good. I can't remember her exact height, I have it written down, but it was greater than the 95th percentile for her age. I knew it. I knew she was going to be a giant. No wonder we skipped right over the 12 month pants and are now in 18-24 months. She says around 15 words (he didn't believe me) and can walk like a pro (I had to show him).

Turns out I was correct in that she is a genius and a hoss.

It's a work in progress

I'm attempting the blog overhaul...ok. The header isn't right and it won't let me change the background color at the moment. I can't think of a new name for the bloggity blog.

SUGGESTIONS WELCOME! I know you're lurking out there snickering to yourself. Help a sista out with a name.

Right now I'm irritated and going to take a nap.

In the spirit of resolutions I give thee: Another post.

Yay for resolutions!

Aye yi yi.

Lets see. Since NYE I've worked worked worked. Perhaps I've done more than that but I can hardly remember in my semi comatose state exhaustion. I'm trying to get all my hours in before I head to Arizona on Thursday.

My sister headed back to Hawaii on NYE and I miss her already. I hope we get to see her again before she deploys. I hope her bags didn't get lost on the way home.

My grandparents came for a visit. It was nice seeing them and they just gobbled Avery and my nephew Nathan up. I haven't seen Grandma since she was in the ICU after falling. A healthy visit sure was a nice change.

I was able to get out and relax for awhile last night. Thanks to my parents for babysitting on their "night off". I had a great time but alas...back to the real world. Working the next two nights. It's really not that hard because I do enjoy my job. I would appreciate a few more days off in a row but the exchange is that I get to see my best friend and her family in a few days.

Today was the first time in church that I haven't had to sit in the lobby with Avery for nearly the entire sermon. What a lovely change. We only had to step out for a bit right at the end. There was a guest preacher that spoke at the end from Pakistan. His message was moving. He is in this country currently because there is a price of 100,000 rupee for his head. Simply for telling people about Jesus Christ dying for us. What a blessing that I can live in a country and go to church without being worried about persecution.

In other exciting news: I painted my bathroom floor dark brown. Yep, you read that right. I was standing there last night getting ready to go out and saw the bottle of dark brown nail polish. I thought I would just paint my toes real quick before heading out. But why would one do that? Instead I dropped threw it on the floor and smeared it around a little. Lovely. Thank goodness I haven't redone the bathroom yet.

I'm feeling uninspired at the moment in regards to this post. It's lacking...my bad. As you can see I'm learning a bit to help improve my blog emerge from the dark ages. Why hello there 2010 how lovely to meet you.