Monday, June 30, 2008

Bittersweet Day

Today started off great! Emily was able to spend time with her adorable friend Kaylee again! Kaylee is only 11 days younger than Emily and I am lovin' the fact that we have a friend that can TOTALLY relate to being a first time mom raising a child the same age we are! I am also really lovin' the fact they can play together and socialize! :)

So today we went to Tilden Park in Berkeley to feed the ducks. It was a fun time! We had some lunch and then gave the ducks some lunch too! It was SUCH a different experience than the last time! This time there were no pigeons or seagulls dive-bombing us! Erik and I forgot our camera and although Val had hers, it was out of batteries! Lucky for us Val had her nifty ingenious blackberry (after getting elementary school ratings I will probably use my thesaurus more! Oh who am I kidding!) So here are some shots from today:











After feeding the ducks we went to ride the merry-go-round but unfortunately it was under construction. Boo. So then we thought we'd at least go over to the pony rides and check those out. They were closed. Boo again. But we did stop, get out, change diapers and feed! It was pretty windy and we were getting a kick out of Emily's hair blowing in the wind! :)







All that duck feeding made for some sleepy girls! They napped as Val and I ran into a store to spend money on some baby stuff (gotta love baby legs and fuzzi buns!).



They woke just a bit later and had some great conversation on the ride home! We were all laughing! It was very entertaining! :)



Once we got home I was able to head out with my sister-in-law Amy to see Sex and the City. We both cried throughout the movie! It was a GREAT movie but an emotional one! Erik thought we were insane when I told him we cried through it...but I think you have to be a SATC groupie to understand!

Now the not so good news which is what makes the day bittersweet...

I found out my Auntie Carmen has cancer. My heart just aches for her and her children. I had a feeling that is what she had since she lost 20 pounds pretty quickly and had to have some lymph nodes removed. It breaks my heart. She is SUCH a sweet woman and I admire her so much! We don't know the details of how bad it is or what is going on since she just found out the bad news today. She'll have a million and a half more doctor's appointments this week so we will get more info in the days to come. I hate cancer. I REALLY REALLY hate it. It has taken away family and friends from me and if there was a word stronger than 'hate' to use for it, I would. I am pretty sad but know there isn't anything any of us can do but pray.

I also just checked my grandma's results for her blood test (they just NOW put them online at 1030 and her blood was drawn at 7am!). Looks like another transfusion is in her near future. She was down to 8.6. Tomorrow looks like a long day for her, and my mom at the hospital.

But with all that, I am praying really hard for them both and trying to stay positive. That is all you can do.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Yay me! :)

So I found this on my friend's blog and it is a Blog Readability Test. It reads your blog for "big" words and then rates it. So I put my blog in it to see where I stand (although I am thinking the "friend" my friend talked about in her blog already told me)...and this is what it says...

blog readability test

Movie Reviews



I ROCK! But not only do I rock...my friend does too! :)

Now...just for saying my blog is elementary, I am going to leave you all with some nice big words...and the meanings behind them...

Big Words are colossal superfluous colloquys.

Big Words were indubidly proliferated per Sir Thomasical Gergantiunation II. Unequivocally there was unambiguous astronomical day when Gergantiunation excogitated the conglomerate erudition of paraphernalia. Notwithstanding he was insensate Gergantiunation conceived in envisageing deductive that diacritic conceivably permitted sonorousness perspicacious by commissioning morphemes that bagatelle posterior kumtux. A dexterous consummatent and stupid were consanguineous!

Sunday Seven...

Okay I stole this from another blog but thought it was a great idea! :) I figured this way I can see who reads my blog and it will give all of you a chance to be a part of it too! :) So please take the time to answer the questions below so I can get to know you better as well! :) To answer the questions below you have to click on the "___ replies...click here to add yours" link at the bottom of this post! :) I hope you can indulge me! :)

1. What is your first name?

2. Where are you writing from (city/State not "living room/office" LOL!)?

3. What do you do for a living?

4. Do you have any children? If so, how old?

5. How is your weekend going? Do anything exciting?

6. Any plans for the 4th of July?

7. What is one of your favorite memories?

Saturday, June 28, 2008

*\o/* Who's That Baby In That Tee Pee? It's Emily! It's Emily! *\o/*

Okay - so the title of this blog is from Saturday Night Live. If you have never watched the Will Ferrell skit as a Spartan cheerleader then it won't mean much to you! LOL!

At any rate...today was a nice day! It started off with me actually getting out of the house ON TIME! That is a very rare feat these days! I ended up meeting my mom and cousin for breakfast and had a nice visit. Emily behaved so wonderfully at the restaurant which I love!

After eating and saying goodbye to my cousin, my mom, Emily and I went to visit my grandma. She looked pretty good today! She is now on oxygen 24/7 which she absolutely hates but she looked ten fifty times better than the last time I saw her! She will have her blood drawn Monday morning and will more than likely need another transfusion. I know this is hard on her and she told my mom the other day she wanted to give up. I think it was because she wasn't feeling well. I hope that is the reason she said that. It was kinda sad to hear that. She was happy for our visit today and just loved watching Emily crawl around and talk up a storm!

After visiting with my grandma, my mom and I went to look at garage sales. I love "super puffy heart" (as Val says) garage sales. I don't know why - I just do! I found a baby gate to keep Emily out of the kitchen and a tee pee! It's kinda funny to see a tee pee set up in her play room. I can't wait to see what her father thinks when he gets off shift tomorrow! Emily likes her tee pee...for the most part. She loves feeling the fabric and playing peek-a-boo. I think once she gets older she'll love it more!

Here are some pretty-boring-pictures-but-not-to-mommy of her playing with her tee pee...

Hmmm...what is this thing?


Think I'll go inside to get a better look...


YAY for my tee pee!


Peek-a-boo!


Okay...all done!


The other new thing our precious munchkin is doing is standing in her crib. She figured it out tonight. I am not sure if this is a good thing or just one more thing to keep me on my toes. Probably both. It's kinda cute though! She was a little fussy going down again tonight. I still don't get how she could go down in her crib, be completely out, and then all of a sudden sit up and play with her aquarium two minutes later. I am hoping it's a phase! She is teething something fierce right now and it appears she's probably going to get an upper tooth! It doesn't look like it will be one of her front teeth but the one just to the right of those! I hope it comes through soon!




Well it's late, I still need to call Erik back and I am tired! So I am off for the night! Hope you are enjoying your weekend!! :)

Friday, June 27, 2008

Our Chunk-Gagging Sleeping Beauty

What happened to my great little sleeper?? Emily use to be able to go down for naps right away, without much fuss. She use to also go to sleep for the night really easy without much fussing either.

The past week or so has been H E L L. We have "that" baby that doesn't like to sleep now. Well, she'll sleep, but not without a fight. We can rock her and she can fall asleep in our arms. We can gently put her down in her crib and she is fast asleep. We can walk out of the room so quietly, take a minute to relax and then you hear it...

gurgle gurgle gurgle...

She's turned on her aquarium.

How does that even happen?

Last night it took an hour and twenty minutes before she finally fell asleep. I watched it on the monitor as she was sitting up and then fell over. She was out.

Tonight she was out, even snoring before the gurgle of the aquarium could be heard through the monitor. Maybe we need to take that thing out? She loves it SO much and now that she can crawl and get around, she can play with it however much she wants.

I wonder if it's normal for kids once they become mobile to fight sleep like she is? I can only hope and pray this gets easier...but I wonder if I am only fooling myself?

The other strange phenomenon this 2 foot beauty has is that she won't eat anything chunky. We have been trying to get her to have some finger foods but she doesn't want anything to do with it. We started with puffed rice as a friend of ours recommended it. We put it on her tongue (which I can tell you it really doesn't have a flavor to it) and she started gagging. She didn't swallow, but just started gagging with it on her tongue. Odd. We tried mixing it in her food and she gagged as well. She just doesn't like chunks.

So I thought well maybe it's just because the puffed rice really doesn't have a taste to it. So tonight I cut up some bananas and was SO CERTAIN she'd do wonderfully with it because she loves bananas. Nope. The gagging started. She did manage to get three VERY VERY tiny bits down, but other than that, she was having NONE of it. I even ate some to show her it was okay to eat, but she could care less. Oh the love of a mother! I HATE bananas...but I ate it just for my sweetheart!

Something about chunks makes her gag. I wonder how we'll get around this? She eventually needs to be on solids. I know with her digestive issues that we are severely limited on what we can give her, but fruits and/or veggies would be an easy shoe-in you'd think. I am REALLY hoping she isn't as picky as I am when it comes to food!!!

Photo Friday!

Just sharing some pictures from the past few days (minus the day we went to SF as that is in the last blog!)

ENJOY! :)

Feeding the ducks...


At the zoo...there are beautiful tigers behind that fence


My ALL TIME favorite animal! :) This was a baby giraffe! I wanted to take it home!


I even love giraffe's that stick their tongues out! :)


Erik and Emily at the elephant exhibit


My amazing husband and Emily's amazing father...


What Emily liked the most at the zoo...her own shadow! LOL!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

My Near Death Experience

Some of you may (or may not) know that I have an extreme fear of heights. I also have a fear of bridges (not as bad as the height fear). I also have a fear of many other things but that's an entirely different post!

So on Wednesday Erik, the munchkin and I decided to go to SF for the day. Erik suggested walking the Golden Gate Bridge and as much as I was reluctant - I told him yes, okay, sure, we can do that. Why in the world I said that is beyond me. I think deep down I figured I'd be able to weasel/manipulate/whatever my way out of doing it. I secretly hoped we'd find something else more fun to do that would take up too much time and we wouldn't make it to the bridge. I kept reminding him he also had a union meeting that night in hopes it would cause us to miss this great idea of his!

So as we ventured into the city we took the exit right before the bridge to explore. As we are winding our way up this VERY VERY narrow and VERY VERY high road, my anxiety was rising. If I am freaking out in the car on this road, there is NO WAY I could walk that bridge. I was literally sweating and in tears as we were on this road that I was so certain it was about to lead to our deaths. But...we made it and once we got to a place that wasn't so narrow and hanging off the edge of a cliff we took our time to explore. (The funny thing is I have been up here before and was never scared! It's a shame how bad my phobia has increased over the years!).

So we investigated an old military battery that we came upon. It was EXTREMELY windy and cold but it was fun! There were some very scary moments for me as once again...my height phobia set in but I made it through. I was wearing Emily so that helped me a lot and Erik was there to lend a hand when I was beyond freaked out.

See how windy it was! Check out the hair!




View straight down from where we were standing...see why I was scared!






So then it was time for us to leave. We drove around some and I kept reminding Erik of his union meeting and then...we made it. To my death sentence...The Golden Gate Bridge. I am freaking out because I know once I am on that thing, it will be hard to turn back. It's 1.7 miles long and 220 feet above water. Yes...I researched it before we left.

So we start out. Erik bought himself a Snickers Bar and me some M&Ms for our journey across this monstrosity. At the entrance to the bridge there is a phone that has a sign telling you there is still hope and to call for counseling or crisis help. I thought about picking that phone up...after all it was still telling me there was hope! So we started. I was popping M&M after M&M to help ease my fear. I was literally in tears as we started. I felt foolish but my fear is that great. The sidewalk is pretty wide so that was going for me. I didn't dare stand on the side near the water...I'd rather be hit by a car than plummet to my death thank you. I just kept looking down at the sidewalk and popping M&M after M&M to keep me focused. Crap. There wasn't enough in the bag to get me across the 1.7 mile span. So then I started praying the rosary. I was doing good until I realized what I was saying..."Hail Mary blah blah blah "pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death...". WHAT! Is this the hour of my death? Okay...that isn't going to help me get any further. So then I kept looking at the people walking towards us and I was telling myself people walk this every single day and no one dies. I remember looking at two men walking toward me who were just talking and walking like it was no big deal. I don't know how it wasn't - didn't they see what was to their left (my right)! WATER! A FALL! DEATH! Whatever. If they can walk this, I can walk this. Thoughts crept in about the earthquake where part of the Bay Bridge fell down but okay...just keep going. You can do this. Look at the sidewalk. Erik kept trying to talk to me and I honestly don't have a clue to what he was saying because one...it was windy and noisy...and two...I was concentrating! I do remember him asking me to check Emily to see if she was fussing and as I looked in the stroller I caught a glimpse of the water and got dizzy. I just focused on Emily, told him she was fine and get moving.

So as we neared the center of the bridge Erik told me to stop. This was the very center and look how far I made it. I didn't dare look back. He said he had to take my picture. He told me to stand up against the railing. IS HE INSANE???????? No thanks. I moved close to it...a little closer than I was comfortable with...but nevertheless he took my picture. I didn't look out into the water, only in the pictures can I see it. But nevertheless...I made it part way and so did my family! :)





So we kept on truckin' and before I knew it...we made it over! It was a mix of emotions for me once we hit the other side. I was so proud of myself. I did it and I didn't die! But...I still had to go back! I got a little teary eyed as we finished up and I think that was just from a flooding of emotions. The fear, the anxiety, the adrenaline, the whole thing. I don't think Erik saw me cry but I was proud of myself.

So we stopped, fed the bean, peed, and just took in the sights before we made our almost 2 mile hike back.







We stopped right at the beginning of the bridge for one last picture and then made our trek back. It wasn't as bad this time. I even found myself looking VERY briefly once or twice (and in briefly I mean 2 seconds worth). Towards the end we were singing to Emily and I was actually relaxed and enjoying it!




Believe it or not...I think I may be able to do it again! :)

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Quack Quack

Yesterday Erik, Emily and I went and ran a bunch of errands buying baby proofing supplies, gifts for other children, and what have you. It was a great day! We ended up over at the college feeding the ducks! :) Emily LOVEDDDDDDDD it! She squealed and laughed at all the birds! It was truly precious! :)

Definitely something we will have to do again! We took a lot of video of it but unfortunately haven't hooked the new camera up to the computer so I can't share it just yet! It will be coming soon! :)

At any rate, here are some pictures of Emily in her outfit mommy picked out! I just love this outfit! :)







I am working from home today! There is not enough to keep me busy at the office and I find it easier to save gas by working at home when I can! With gas at $4.55+ a gallon - I think being home is the way to go for right now! It's SLOWWWWWWWW season for me which truly sucks so I have to save money when I can right now!

At any rate...I need to get back to work - but enjoy the pictures and hopefully I'll have video to share in a day or two!

Have a great day! :)

Monday, June 23, 2008

Bruises, Blisters, Baby Proofing

So yesterday was a long but nice day. Emily and I went out to Antioch to visit my mom and grandma. My poor grandma didn't look good at all. She was VERY pale and so weak. I guess that's what happens when you lose blood. She really didn't look good at all and I wish she could go in to get her blood checked! :( She is now on oxygen, which she hates.

After breakfast my mom took my grandma home and Emily and I hung out at my mom's house. Emily just LOVES Mali (my mom's dog). Mali likes Emily but now that she crawls...I am not so sure! LOL! Poor Mali is such a good dog - she just let's Emily love all over her. By love I mean poke, pull, hit, whatever. Mali is pretty good and when she gets tired of it she gets up on the couch.

So Emily is all about trying to pull herself up on coffee tables. She also likes to try and eat them. So sure enough, she is at Grandma Reen's, trying to pull herself up and eat the coffee table and boom...she got hurt. Poor thing only cried for about 30 seconds. I thought she hurt her mouth...but no...it was her eye. :( I was so sure she'd have a black eye but it went away and she's fine today! Here are some pictures. You can't see it too well because the sun was shining on her when I took it but you get the point. It's on her left side, our right side when looking at it. But like I said, she woke up and there is no bruise! YAY! *\o/* <~~cheerleader





So after that happened I was "walking" with Emily. She can now "walk" around with us holding her hands. As I am doing this I look down and her poor toes have what appear to be blisters on them! :( I was shocked. So I pick her up to look and sure enough...she has blisters. It looked like one on every toe but it's just her two big toes. I now know to keep socks on her while she is being a crawling maniac. When I got home I cleaned her feet and put some neosporin on them and one appears much smaller today and the other one looks better too! YAY for healing skin! *\o/*

So today we will head to Babies R Us to get baby proofing stuff. It's much needed now. We haven't decided if we'll just put away the coffee table for now or what we'll do. I guess we'll figure it out once we get to the store!

There is a still a huge wildland fire burning in Napa. It's burned 4000 acres thus far and as of this post is 35% contained. The smoke is thick here today. It smells like a campfire! My nose is burning and so is my throat a bit. I guess that's because I slept with the window open all night! Erik is NOT at the fire. It's kinda strange how Napa City didn't send ANY engines out to something so close! It's considered a county fire so that is why. But with 4000 acres...you'd think they would need help! Oh well! He's safe and that's all I care about! :)



The above picture was taken by Erik in the engine.

Well the munchkin is down for a nap and I need to get in the shower! Hope you all have a nice day!

Friday, June 20, 2008

Photo Friday

I have been so bad lately taking pictures - so I don't have any new ones except these ones...

Helping daddy with laundry...





And this one of her being silly. It's currently my favorite picture! Gotta love the drool! :)



And since today marks 5 years of Erik and I being together...I thought I'd throw in some pictures of us pre-marriage that I like! :)