Daddy Loves Me

Emma day 6 trying to get over her cold/double ear infections. We no longer have a fever but she woke with blood in her right ear again. She continues to take all medications well except for the ear drops. She slept better and longer last night, only woke three times.

She is having her morning snack while watching Micky Mouse Club House. She really enjoys this show and has started to interact with it by answering questions, pointing to things, and dancing to the music.

Even though she is sick you would be unable to tell it, for she is really happy most of the time. She is experiencing some pain with her ears so we are giving her something to help with that. Due to her ears hurting so bad she is not spending as long in the bath right now. My water baby is not to happy with that at all.

As you can tell with this adorable outfit that she has on that her Daddy believed this was a must buy item when we were shopping for Christmas a couple of weeks ago. Emma is a Daddy's Girl and Ray could not be any more proud or full of love for his Sweet Pea.

Brandie's Grad School Update

I am about to finish my 11th out of 12 classes for my masters program through Lamar University. I am getting a Masters Degree in Teacher Leadership and hope to use that degree in the near future. I would even like to go on and look into teaching at the college level one day soon. I am very proud of myself for maintaining an A average while working full time, being a new Mom since I started the program while recovering from delivering Emma, going through everything I have in the last 18 months, and now looking at having my second child in May.

I have been able to give 100% effort to my child, husband, home, and professional responsibilities all while meeting the challenges of a fast-paced and sometimes tedious Master's program. I will complete class 11 out of 12 this week and complete the entire program in January with a graduation date set for May that I will not attend due to our next baby's birth around the time I would graduate.

I could not have been as successful in this program without the super support of my loving husband Ray! He has really been there for me as I have met and overcome obstacles while completing my course work. I look forward to not having to worry about meeting these deadlines, midterms, finals, and project due dates in February. I do look forward to a bit less stress, more free time for family, and some much needed rest and relaxation before our second child comes in May.

17 Weeks

We had our checkup for the baby on Thursday, December 16th. We got to hear the heartbeat, discuss our future visit and ultrasound as well as some other topics to make sure we were all on the same wave length for what to expect, when to expect things, and how to go about getting some other issues taken care of. The baby is healthy, strong, and beautiful. The nurse commented that I have finally gained weight at this appointment. With this pregnancy I have shown a lot quicker, but really have not gained any weight until now. Up until this month I had actually lost weight.

I am over four months pregnant now. Officially I hit the 17 week marker on Tuesday, December 14th and the baby measured 18 weeks on Thursday, December 16th. My official due date would be May 25, 2011 but I will require a c-section and it is scheduled for mid May. The exact date will not be shared at this point in case it changes for any reason.

The baby's weight is a bit over 5 oz at this time and is about the size of a turnip. The baby's length is a bit over 5 inches. I can feel the baby move all of the time. We still use our Doppler here at the house to hear the heartbeat. Emma loves to help with this and even wants to do it on her own. We still do not know the gender, we both want to know, but are not in any rush.

I have been feeling good overall. Just more sensitive to smells this time. I am starting to sleep better at night and love taking naps with Emma during the day. My cravings so far have been salads, Italian food, or a sweet from time to time.

Ray and I feel extremely blessed to be expecting this little miracle and we both continue to grow as parents as we experience all the joys and frustrations of parenting our Sweet Pea Emma. We were just talking yesterday that our new baby will have a higher percentage of having the same type of seizures as Emma, but we are confident in our abilities as parents and in God Grace that all will be wonderful. We look forward to the next chapter in our lives with two beautiful, healthy, and active children.

Reggie

For those wondering, yes we still have Reggie. Although we are not happy with his current behavior. Reggie has been acting out lately, doing some things that he knows better than to do. To retrain him and correct his behavior we have purchased a shock collar to expedite the process of getting him under control. If this does not work we will be getting him "fixed" to see if that is the real issue. Since we have had the collar on we have seen a swift change in behavior and him acting out. We hope to have him 100% back to the trained and obedient dog he can be by the time the new baby arrives. The remote that comes with this device has a button for a specific noise that only he can hear and it serves as a warning to him. We use this the most and he seems to getting the idea that he needs to straighten up.

Emma 17 Months

Emma has been growing so fast, but at last we think she might be slowing down a bit. She is holding steady at 30lbs. She still loves to take her naps, especially if she can take them in our bed. The picture you see here is her resting after having another round of ear drops for her double ear infections. This is the first time she has had any issues with her ears in over 10 months since we had her tubes put in.

Emma loves to play! She runs around the house and yard. Plays with her dog and all of her toys. She enjoys going "out" as she likes to say and even tells us "shoes" and "outside" when she really wants to go. She will bring us our shoes to get us to hurry up so we can go play. She likes to play fetch with Reggie inside or out. Anything round or light weight she thinks is meant to be tossed like a ball. She is really good with going down steps, holding your hand, and still is one of the friendliest and outgoing children that we know.

Emma is still a very easy-going, happy little girl : ) We were truly blessed with having such a wonderful little girl to call our own. She has developed a bit of sass and independence like any child does and we enjoy seeing her try to do things on her own. As she gets taller she is now able to reach things on top of the desk, counters, bathroom sinks, and can turn the knob on all the doors. She is wearing a 3T with a little room to grow and her foot size is between a 5 and 5 1/2 depending on the type of shoe you buy. She really does not want to wear headbands and bows all of the time and I refuse to be the Mom that forces her to do something she finds uncomfortable just because it makes her look extra cute in a particular outfit. She will play dress up from time to time and wear one long enough for some extra shots for the camera.

Emma loves to take pictures for the camera, laugh, and watch her favorite show Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She is dancing all around the house. She will dance in the car when Ray plays music or I have music on when taking her to and from day care. She plays with her musical instruments and dances to the noise she makes. Emma still loves to take a bath and we believe she gets extra messy at meal times just to get to play in the tub. She now prefers to take a bath in our master bathroom with the super big tub instead of her own. She washes her own hair, body, brushes her own teeth, and combs her hair. She is also at the point where she tries to dress herself, picks out her own clothing, and tries to put her own socks and shoes on.

Emma is till enjoying her new day care. She will be moving up into the bigger kids class in January. We are all looking forward to that. She tries to go into that room daily, so her teachers have been letting her visit and get used to the room and some of her new classmates. Emma is also getting used to the potty that we bought her. The first step is she likes sitting on it and over this Christmas break we will try using it on a regular basis. She is already letting us know when she needs to be changed most of the time and even helps with taking the diaper off. Emma has been picking up new words all of the time! There are so many I could write a miniature novel, but this post is already long enough.

We will continue to post as often as possible about our Sweet Pea and all of her progress. We will be turning this website into a book soon for her to have as a memento. Please continue to check up on us, leave comments, or come by for visits ; )

Winter Cold = Double Ear Infections

Emma has been sick since Tuesday when day care called me at work to let me know she was running a fever. Thankful Ray was only on call Wednesday, so he took her to UPA where she was diagnosed with a cold. We were hopeful it would run its course quickly so she could be back at day care for her Christmas party, but that was not meant to be. We could not get her fever to go away or stay down without the aid of medication. So again, Ray was on call and stayed home with Emma on Thursday. By the end of the night she was feeling like her old self, but again that was not to last. We noticed some discharge from her right ear and later that night around 11:45 pm her fever spiked at 103.9 and that was scary. Emma has the possibility to trigger her seizures when her body temp gets too high, so this led to changing her, pushing fluids, medication, and getting her as cool as quickly as possible. Emma was with me all night and Ray returned to work
Friday and I stayed home with her. Friday resulted in a return trip to UPA where she was diagnosed with double ear infections. Blood was coming out of her right ear, she had chest congestion, and was placed on four medications. We then scheduled her an appointment that same day with her ENT. This appointment turned out with the doctor performing a procedure where Emma had to be held down while they inserted an instrument to suction out both ears. Emma did not take this to kindly at all, but it really seemed to help and allow her ear drops to reach their destination to do their job.

Today she seems to be doing really well despite all of the issues in the last four days. Her temp is in the 99.5 range and she is taking all medications well except her ear drops. She is even getting a bit of her appetite back.

We continue to be thankful for having such a wonderful little girl that we can call ours and that we are parents of such a bright spirit and ask that God continue to watch over her and guide her through her life's journey with love, laughter, and kindness.

Beauty and the Beast

We took Emma to see Beauty and the Beast on Sunday. She was excited and dressed up in her Belle outfit with her Belle doll all ready to go. She had a great time with Daddy in the lounge area before crashing for her nap. As you might have read on Facebook, she lasted for the first 15 minutes, and I lasted until intermission. The people around me smelled like smoke and it gave me a headache so we all left. I did think the costumes were beautiful and the actors were outstanding, but there were a bunch of adult undertones that I believe were unsuitable for a younger audience. The next show I attend with Emma will be when she is older, but I loved the memory we made together as a family.

Santa's Wonderland 2010

Ray and I have been going to Santa's Wonderland since 1995. It has changed over the years. It has gotten bigger, more expensive, and we noticed this year that many of the Aggie Christmas decorations are gone. This was a bit sad for us since we are such Aggies. We took Emma this year for the 1st time and did the hay ride through the lights. We had a wonderful time with our Sweet Pea, but feel that it was better driving through the lights in our own truck. Next year if we go we intend to take the truck, save some money, and see what others changes they make.

December Birthdays

Craig Chesser
Jason Peeples
Melissa Rabinowitz

Happy Birthday to you and may you be surrounded by friends, family, and have a ton of fun!

What a Week

This past week has been crazy! Starting with getting back into town on Sunday, November 28 from traveling to Beaumont, Baytown, and Houston. We hit traffic for about 30 minutes before coming to the College Station exit for Hwy 6. Never came across so many college kids who could not take an exit without riding the rear of the car in front of them, then slamming on the brakes! Being exposed to all kinds of weather and environments led to another sinus infection. This is my second sinus infection in less than 2 months.

Monday I had a headache that continued from Sunday. I just thought it was due to the lack of good rest as a result of traveling and maybe needing to drink some more fluids.

Tuesday I went on a field trip with students from my school and loved it, but it did not love me back. By this time my head felt like it was going to erupt. I took Tylenol and Sudafed hoping it would take care of it, but nothing was working. I was waking as soon as the Tylenol wore off at odd hours in the morning and rest was a dream instead of a reality.

Wednesday it was so horrible all I wanted to do was crawl into a ball and hide in the dark. I had also developed a cough, congestion, and nasty stuff coming out of my nose constantly. So, deciding I could not take it any more, I called my OB and my ENT. My OB instructed me to take some Excedrin Migraine medication and go back on bed rest until the headache went away. They also instructed if it got worse and did not go away that I would need to go to the ER. Needless to say, after my stint with bed rest in October I did not want to repeat this at all! Thankfully I work with some wonderful people and I was able to talk with Sarah and Lindsay, who helped to calm me and reassure me that everything would be okay and that I did not need to worry about work.

Thursday I called back in to my OB we discussed the possibility of a sinus infection and getting me into the ENT. At my appointment with the ENT he confirmed what I suspected, which was another sinus infection : ( He then proceeded to have a conference call with my OB to determine what medications to place me on, because the last sinus infection turned into RSV. So after the appointment I returned home where I waited for Ray to return from his appointment to discover our sink on both sides was full of water and had started leaking in the cabinet below so bad that Ray had to empty it out, lay down multiple towels, and call a plumber to fix the problem.

Friday I was able to go back to work with a head that felt better for the first time in five days! It is amazing how antibiotics really help : ) All went well and I was able to get some much needed work done on my lesson plans and spend some decent quality time with Emma.

Saturday was an adventure all on its own, with me trying to juggle house work, grad school work, errands, and taking care of Emma. All was going well until I answered the door at 10:30. Emma was standing next to me and Reggie ran right under her legs to get to the people outside the door, and Emma fell and hit her head really hard on the brick step leading into the front door. I was so scared; the spot automatically swelled and turned purple and I thought it might burst if you touched it. So I called her Daddy at work had him rush home and call the doctor two different times to determine what needed to happen to take care of the situation. We were informed to keep an eye on her and monitor her every 2 hours to make sure she was not showing signs of needing further medical attention. All is well now, and she is enjoying herself by watching her favorite shows, playing with her toys, and beating up her dog : )

I pray that I am blessed with a smoother week to come and a calm start to the holiday season celebrations.