I'm BACK!!

Well, after a little sabbatical, I'm back to blogging. The illness has finally left our house and things are back to normal. This past weekend, we had snow and ice again. My brother's girlfriend came to stay with us and we had his birthday party (a week late). We got iced in on Saturday and it was glorious. I love being stuck at home. We made monkey bread for breakfast and watched movies most of the afternoon. Sunday we went to church, then out to eat, then back to my house where we watched more movies and made apple pie. All in all, a fun weekend.

Today Mike and I had a meeting at the school about Olivia. She is in the gifted program and we occasionally have to meet to chart her progress. We started her to kindergarten a year early and now she's tested gifted, so she's doing mostly 2nd grade work. Her poor teachers, they have this little ball of energy with the maturity of a barely five year old and the intellect of an eight year old. They are doing a great job, however. She's reading and doing math on a 2nd grade level, so we have no complaints.

This spring, Olivia is going to start Dixie Youth Softball. She is terribly clumsy, so we are hoping an organized sport will help with the eye hand coordination. We'll see...

Snow!

Today it is snowing. To you Yankees in the Northern part of these great United States, this may not be that big of a deal, but in West Tennessee, it's huge! It is SO BEAUTIFUL. It's completely hilarious though, because our town has essentially shut down. I mean, there's not any ice on the raods or anything. The grocery shelves are picked clean and the streets are about empty. My dear baby brother is turning 24 today, so we are taking him out to dinner tonight. A little snow won't stop us, we are adventurers! His girlfriend (aka The One) just flew in from Florida and they are on their way back from the airport. I can't wait to see her. I really like her, we hit it off as friends long before they started dating. She fits in as "our kind of people". Anyway, I'll let you guys know how the dinner goes. I'm having a hard time coming to terms with baby brother being in a serious relationship. To think he could be married soon freaks me out. But I love The One and couldn't have picked a better sister-in-law, so YAY.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Better Days

The dark cloud of sickness is passing
Hallelujah, we are finally getting better. Olivia went back to school today and Mike is feeling more like himself. My brother's birthday is tomorrow. His girlfriend, Bethany (aka The One) is flying in from Florida and we are going out to dinner with them tomorrow night. She was supposed to stay at our house, but the sickness has made houseguests a little impractical. She has family here so she will stay with them.

I hope children's services doesn't read this...
My house is a wreck. There is laundry all over the living room (it's clean, at least), the guest bathroom is in a state of demolition (a pre-flu project), and I'm playing on the computer. I really should do something, but I'm still a little wiped out. I did assemble a cowgirl outfit tonight. Olivia's class is having Cowboy/Cowgirl Day at school tomorrow, so we had to throw a little something together. It's really cute, I got her one of those little straw cowboy hats that are all the rage, a pink bandana, a denim shirt, a tan corduroy skirt (or maybe jeans, depending on how cold it is in the morn), and boots. Not bad for a last minute job.

Valentine's Day, it's a family affair
My sweet husband and I have decided to go on a family date for Valentine's Day. We are taking Olivia to see the new Curious George movie. She's really into Valentine's Day this year and all of our babysitters are family that already have other plans, so we thought we'd just include her. She's so cute, she has always referred to our family as our "three family". She used to do it when she was trying to distinguish between extended and immediate family, but it was so cute that it stuck. Anyway, I'm really kind of excited about it. I am not a hopeless romantic. My husband and I are very fortunate to have a lot of great family around. They are usually happy to babysit anytime we want to go out to dinner or on a short trip. Therefore, I'm not exactly jonesing for a pricey dinner alone with my husband just because is feb. 14. I would rather have a fun dinner with my husband on June 9 or Sept 7 or just some random time because we want to, not because Hallmark says we should. Anyway, it should be a fun night.

Since it's my blog, I'll brag if I want to
Well, I'm terrible about bragging about Olivia to anyone within earshot in real life. At first I thought I would avoid this in my blog, but then I thought, it's my blog, I can do what I want. So, here's a few short facts about sweet baby to get everyone up to speed.

Name: Olivia Ivy, Olivia because we like the name, Ivy after my maternal great grandmother who was my favorite person on earth for 22 years. She died when Olivia was about 2 months old. For 2 sweet months, we had 5 generations of women on that side of the family.
DOB: 10/16/00 (two weeks late)
Weight/Height at birth: 8 lbs 13 1/2 oz, 21 inches
Weight/Height Current: 49 lbs/4'2" (aka tall and skinny)
First "official" word: Da Da at 6 months, actually she has been saying Ollie Ollie O for a month but we thought she was just babbling. Turns out, she was saying Olivia. Just so my feelings wouldn't be hurt, she said Mama the next day.
First steps: 8 months (way too early to suit me)
First sentence: I feel sick (during the ear infection days) at 14 months (did I mention she's a talker)
Siblings: None, we started trying to have baby #2 about 2 1/2 years ago that's when we found out we were secondary infertile, meaning having baby #1 was no problem, baby #2 is a big problem. We taken some steps with fertility drugs, etc, with no luck. I've turned it over to God (which I should have done all along) and I'm believing we will have another one soon. We are also looking into adoption. Mike is a little "old" (not really, but his age is becoming a little bit of a hinderance), so we've hit a few snags.

Speaking of Mike, I'll give you a little background about us.

Mike and I started dating in 1996. I was 18, he was 32. This was scandalous to say the least. Let me just say, he was not a "younger woman" kind of man. In fact, I'm the only younger woman he had ever dated. But, we had some mutual friends, and had become friends. Anyway, I just fell hard for him and asked him out. He reluctantly said yes (I was 18 after all, but I was cute). The rest is history. We finally got married 3 1/2 years later. Olivia was born during that first year, we figured "why wait, we've dated FOREVER". He is my best friend, and (sadly) no one ever notices our age difference anymore. I think I must be aging poorly...

Anyway, now everyone knows a little about my "three family". I guess I should go fold some laundry...

When it rains, it pours!

Well, if a child with a broken heart wasn't enough, I am sick too. Not only that, but Mike just got back from the doctor and he has pnemonia. I am so tired. My parents kept Olivia last night, but I couldn't sleep partly due to congestion and partly due to Mike's fever. He would get cold and put on lots of covers, then get hot and kick them all off. Needless to say, I should have gone to the guest room but I was too tired to get up. I'll be back to upbeat blogging soon...

Mother's Intuition is ALWAYS right!

I wonder how long it takes to trust your instincts when it comes to motherhood? When we left the ER the other night, I was not satisfied with the prognosis. It's not that I wanted Livi to have a broken arm, I just felt the doctor was wrong. Well, last night she was up in the night complaining about her arm and I thought "This is it, she is going back to the doctor". So this morning, our sweet pediatrician squeezed us in. She couldn't find anything on the x-rays, but she knows Olivia well enough to know something was wrong, so she sent us straight to an orthopedist. Well, it took him about 60 seconds to recognize that she had a broken wrist. It just a hairline fracture and it's behind some cartilidge, so they couldn't make it out on the x-ray. Well, she is in a pitiful little pink cast up to her elbow and in much better spirits. There is nothing worse than when your child is in pain. I'm so glad that mystery is solved! She's already got three signatures on her cast and is feeling much better. Without the cast, ever little movement made her wrist move and she was pitiful. I slept about 3 hours last night, and that's just because she finally drifted to sleep from sheer exhaustion. It will be an early night for us tonight!!

The Saga Continues...

Poor little Livi, her arm is really sore. Though the ER doctor said it wasn't necessary, I went and got her a sling today. It seemed like she couldn't remember to hold it still (duh, she's 5) so the sling immobilized it and really seems to help with the pain. I think we are going to see her regular pediatrician tomorrow.

My other baby (my husband) has the flu. At first I thought he was exagerrating, as he is wont to do. However, I took his temperature tonight and it was 102.4, so I guess he's not faking. Poor little thing. I went to Wal-mart after 9 p.m. to get Theraflu and orange juice. I am so tired. This day is wearing me out :)

I am currently watching the re-run of the Late Show where Oprah was the guest. Too funny. I can't believe Oprah has been on for 20 years. I remember when that came on. I really feel age creeping up on me here lately. I am going to be 30 in two years. Not that 30 is old or anything, but what happened to 20? Seriously, I just feel like I turned around and 8 years are gone.

If I haven't mentioned this earlier, I work for my parents. They own two Interior Design Showcase stores, Nerren's Floor to Ceiling. Technically I manage the business. Since my parents are there everyday and they own the place, I manage nothing. Thank goodness for mom & dad, though. Thanks to them, I've been able to bring Olivia to work with me everyday until she started school. Now, I get off work everyday in time to pick her up from school and go home and pretend I am a stay at home mom for the rest of the day. I could not ask for more.

Anyway, I'm just rambling. Thanks for the comments! I aim to please and it's so nice to "meet" similar people. God Bless!!

The joys of working with the public
Today I got an e-mail from a customer that has been having a fit because some tile they wanted was backordered. Well, I basically moved heaven and earth to get the tile here and they have CHANGED THEIR MINDS!! I cannot believe it. I am so frustrated! On the upside, it's the same tile I am planning on putting in my bathrooms, so I'll just use it for that. I had not planned on buying it for a couple of months, so I will have to juggle the budget.

Mama's getting angry
I realize that my frustrating day may be affecting my maternal judgement just a skosh, but Olivia is wearing me out. She's been on "yellow light" at school for several days now, so I told her that she would be in time out after school today if it happened again. Well, of course it did. So when we got home, I put her in time out. And God bless, I was so happy for that few minutes of solitude. When time out was over, she informs me that her ear hurts. Now, about 2 1/2 years ago, we had tubes put in her ears because she had 18 ear infections in one year! I did everything right, she was breastfed, we got all the immunizations, everything. However, she is one of the lucky ones who is predisposed to ear infections. Well, we haven't had one since then, so I'm praying that it's just a little headache or something. Whatever it is, it looks like we are going to miss church over it. She's whiney and a little warm, so...

4 hours later...
Okay, as I was writing the above post, there was a giant CRASH in the living room. When I got in there, sweet Olivia was screaming bloody murder and holding her left arm. She kept screaming that she broke her arm. Well, after a marathon getting ready session, we headed to the local ER. I have NEVER been so scared in my life. She didn't have a visible break, but she couldn't move her wrist. Well, after many heartwrenching minutes and tests, we do not have a break. Just a bad sprain/strain. Thank God! I truly believe He healed her, when we left this house I would have bet that it was broken, but I called my pastor's wife and the church started praying. The rest is history. She is resting fitfully now, I anticipate an eventful night.

Motherhood is the strangest hood...
If someone told me six years ago that I would endure the most excruciating pain in the world just to bring another person into the world, that I would gladly take any ailment or pain they had so that they could be comfortable, that I wouldn't think twice before giving up my life for this person, I would have doubted it. Since then I have endured 26 hours of labor, an emergency C-section, "fabulous" post partum depression, and hundreds of sleepless hours and I would do it all over again in a minute. She is the most awesome little person and I thank God everyday for her (but she's got to stop this yellow light stuff at school).

Anyway, I am drained, I'm going to try to catch some shut-eye while I can.