While Eis was sleeping...

Things I made this week while Eis was sleeping! I got a lot done, getting ready for upcoming Lark & Lola events. More to come on that topic though...

I made - yes, made - these cake plates!

A pretty plate and a candlestick, plus some epoxy, and voila!


A new paper garland. More of these to come, hopefully!


A pretty pillow!


And finally, I was feeling my kitchen needed a bit of an update...


So I sewed a sink skirt and some new cafe style curtains.



{ Sigh... making new things makes me feel so good. }

Flu Update

So far so good, it would seem, regarding our experience with the flu.

Eisley had a bit of a rough night yesterday - her fever spiking to 103.8 in the evening. I administered some Motrin and gave her a lukewarm bath to try and bring it down - about to call the doctor if it didn't budge. Thankfully it did, and she was at 99.5 within 15 minutes. We kept it under 101 the rest of the night, but when it was time to give her more Motrin in the middle of the night, she responded by projectile vomiting all over our bed. Poor thing! Her whole dinner came spewing out her nose and mouth at 50 mph. She was on her back, and if she hadn't been it would have hit the wall 5 feet away, I'm sure. It scared the crap out of me, so I called the doctor. She was also developing a nasty cough. This was at 1am.

Doctor said if she did it again, to take her to the ER (not as much for emergency reasons, but because that was the only place we could go at 1am) to have her checked for pneumonia. Thankfully, she didn't, and ate well again after that.

Justin got up at 7am this morning to get ready for work. I said, "No way, Jose! You need to stay home!" And when the doctor called later that morning to check on us, he concurred with me, Justin needed to stay home and out of public. We concurred, the physician and I.

I am fine. Just tired. Either the Tamiflu is doing it's job or I just haven't contracted the flu at all. I assume the former. That stuff is so pricey, it'd *better* do it's job! {Insert threatening shaking of fist.}

Hopefully this will be behind us in a day or two. We have tickets to The Phantom of the Opera on Saturday {Christmas gift from Peter and Angela} so we're so thankful it will be gone by then. Doctor said it would be at least.

Thanks for any prayers on our behalf. Eisley seems to be weathering the storm well, she's even been smiley and playful a little bit today. But mostly just sleeping.

{ My Sickos }

Justin got sick last night, kept us up half the night with his coughing, and complained of achiness, fever, and chills. Then Eisley got a fever in the night. We controlled it with some baby Tylenol, but this morning when she woke it was high again - 102.6 under the arm.

So I called the doctor, who wanted to see her. Then I called Justin, I was afraid they had the flu (thanks to my internet research) and wanted him to come to the doctor with us to help diagnose Eisley and to see if he did indeed have the flu.

"I don't want to go to the doctor, honey!" Justin said.

"But I think you should! I think you have the flu and since you and Eisley probably have the same thing, it might help diagnose her." I argued. It took a couple more nagging calls and texts to get him to agree. He asked his boss to leave work and met me at the doctor's office.

First, Eisley was seen - not by our usual doctor but a partner of hers, and we've always liked him. Since Eisley was still eating and peeing well he wasn't too concerned after looking her over. He said his guess was some virus that was giving her a fever and fatigue.

"So you don't think it's the flu?" I asked.

"No, she doesn't seem sick enough to have the flu." And he offered to give us antibiotics in case of an ear infection but gave his opinion that it was probably just a little virus.

Next he agreed to look at Justin, who was still coughing up a storm. Again, I said I was worried he had the flu...

"Oh he doesn't have the flu. He'd be looking a lot worse if he had the flu." The doctor said.

Still, I wasn't convinced. See, I've always said, "Justin has the immune system of a god!" Because the guy never gets sick. And when he does, it hits everyone around him ten times worse.

After a quick look over Justin, the doc asked what the initial symptoms were. I told him that last night Justin complained about being sensitive to the touch. That did make the doctor agree to do a flu swab, and I'm so glad he agreed to because....

Justin tested positive for influenza A. Great.

"I knew it!" I said.

So, obviously, next he wanted to test Eisley.

Eisley tested positive for influenza A.

Then the doctor looked at me and asked how I was feeling.

"Fine, so far. But now I'm nervous..." I said. "I've never had the flu before and I don't want it."

And so now Justin and I are both on Tamiflu (at $5 a pill - sheesh!). For Justin, to help shorten the life of his influenza and make the symptoms less severe. For me, to help prevent it altogether or at least make it not hit me hard if I do already have it.

Unfortunately, Eisley is too small to take anything for it other than your everyday pain killers to lower her fever. We're going to have to watch her very closely to make sure she doesn't develop pneumonia, which can be very dangerous. Prayers are requested.

Thankfully, the doctor was impressed with how well the two of them are handling the flu and thinks Eisley should get over it just fine. I hope so.

As I write this Justin is in bed upstairs. Eisley is asleep in her pack 'n' play nearby me and I'm monitoring her closely. I'm starting to feel a bit achy, but who knows.

I've never had the flu before, but here my 6 month old and my husband now have it. Yay.

And we thought the cold we all had last week were un-fun.

Oh, and can I just take a quick second to boast about how awesome we females are for our killer intuitions?

In Perspective

Tonite on the IM I was chatting with my mom, and we were both blog surfing. As I sat on my bed, rocking Eisley to sleep in my arms, I chatted and surfed with one hand.

Then we came upon this blog, about sweet precious little Cora. Little Cora wasn't even a year old when she was diagnosed with cancer. This was a little over a month ago. Unfortunately, she didn't survive. Her parents are strong Christians, however, and I'm thankful to know that sweet little Cora is with our Savior right now.

I tend to feel things very deeply, and I was reading back on the blog - going through the last month of posts - I started imagining myself in their shoes. I do this to myself, its torture. I started to feel the emptiness, even though I was just imagining the pain and the heartache I felt is a fraction compared to theirs, it became unbearable. When I saw the pictures of their baby Cora in the hospital hooked up to all those tubes and wires, my heart broke. I thought about how much I hated seeing Eis get her vaccinations last week, having to watch her go through chemo would just kill me inside.

Justin walked in on me rocking Eisley, using the computer one-handed, with tears streaking down my face. I was holding back sobs. I fought the urge to rock Eisley all night and whisper to her how much I loved her.

I'd had a somewhat blah day. Not really bad, just one of those days where several inconveniences were causing me to feel sorry for myself and annoyed with my loved ones. Being sleep deprived, frustrations with my web design software, Justin throwing dirty laundry on the floor a foot away from the hamper and about 5 loads worth of clean laundry to fold while caring for a sick and fussy baby.

But really, it wasn't a bad day at all. I got to rock my baby girl to sleep. And now here I go again, my eyes filling up once again. Some mommies had empty arms tonight.

Now excuse me while I cry myself to sleep...

{ Eisley's First Cold }

Poor Eisley has a cold :-( which is not cool. I hate seeing her sick and miserable, although I will admit to just one upside... her naps are more frequent and longer in duration. For the most part, she's still her cheerful self, just very sniffly and congested.

On Valentine's Day, Eisley and I decided a photo shoot was in order. I wanted some 6 month pictures of her and V-Day seemed like a good occasion. Justin had to work, unfortunately, so it was just the two of us. We headed off to Portrait Innovations, and I was very happy with the experience. Eisley is, however, an "easy shot" because the kiddo smiles so much.

We went to Sears for her Christmas pictures and I was not so happy with them, Portrait Innovations gives you so much more for your money and took a lot more time getting good shots. Here are the pictures I chose, out of the 50+ they took - the hardest decisions of my life practically to pick my favorites...
{ You probably already saw this first one in a previous post... }





And just for fun, I'm including a slideshow of *ALL* the pictures they took, this is more for the grandmas and daddy. It's over 4 mins and has lots of pictures...


Eisley's Valentine's Photo Shoot

{ Eisley says... }

Happy Valentine's Day!

Tuesday there was a knock at the door, it was another Jehovah's Witness. They've really been hitting my neighborhood a lot lately.

Wednesday there was a knock at the door, it was Eisley's {paternal} grandma to drop off a Valentine's outfit. For Eisley, not me.

Thursday there was a knock at the door and when I went and opened, there was a box waiting for me with my {early} Valentine's inside.

They're beautiful, thanks honey!

{ Eisley at 6 Months! }

Eisley is 6 months old now! These means we can start her on solids, according to her Dr. Heble. So far she's had bananas and carrots, and loved them both. She eats like a pro. The doctor said she looks great, and growth is right on track, she still hovers around the 25th percentile in all areas.

It's really hard to believe she's already halfway to her first year. I didn't feel like she's changed much, until a couple days ago when I looked at her newborn pictures. I was shocked to see how far she has come.
Here are her 6 month stats:

Height: 26 inches
Weight: 13 lbs 14 oz
Hair: about 3 inches long on top and just coming in on the sides and back
New Tricks: sitting in a shopping cart like a big girl, holding herself up on "all fours" when put on her tummy, pulled herself to a standing position a couple times, sits up without support 50% of the time, and screeches like an owl with her recently discovered loud voice
Favorite Activity: peek-a-boo
Favorite Food: banana baby food, as of last night, which gets gobbled up quite quickly. Her diapers are now more colorful...
Recently Mastered Skill: getting pacifier from resting state on surface to her mouth in the correct sucking position without any help from mom or dad
Most Heard Statement From Strangers: "She's so expressive!"

We are...

Oh.
So.
Happy.

{ Angela's Baby Shower }

---> {Click here for drink cooler tutorial!} <---

The diaper wreath I made, on Angela's front door.

Just thought I'd post some pictures from Angela's baby shower, which was a couple weeks ago. It was a good time!

When Angela found out she was pregnant I told her I'd *love* to throw the baby shower, I love planning parties and it was a great way to get my "ya-ya's" out. Now I'm working on Eisley's 1st birthday....

Guests playing games.

A onesie garland I made.

A decorated drink cooler. ;-)

The diaper cake.

Guests filling their plates.

The party favors stacked up near the door and ready to go.

The favors were a "Bath in a Box", included a handmade chocolate sugar scrub, rose scented tea light, Hershey kisses, and a rubber duckie.

Peter and Justin, sharing a joke before the shower.

The "spread".

The cake. It said, "The Big Day is Drawing Near, Mara Jade is Almost Here!"

By the time all the guests arrived, you couldn't see any table there.

Peter and the boys enjoyed a poker game in their cigar lounge in the basement.

Complete with "It's a Girl" cigars.

Mother-to-Be and her lovely mother.

A keepsake photo album for Mara.

Angela and Peter's lovely mom.

Angela with her mother and three sisters.

Angela and me.

And yes, even Eisley was there to celebrate.

{ Motherhood: The Cool and the Un-Cool }

Cool: Daily flattery on your "beautiful/happy/lovely baby" from strangers everywhere you go and more chivalry from men who rush to open the door for me when they see I'm carrying a car seat. (One guy even carried my Pappa Murphy's pizza to my car for me - don't worry, his wife and kids were with him so I figured he wasn't an axe murder).

Un-Cool: Lactating through three layers of clothing when you're out in public, especially considering I stopped breastfeeding a MONTH AGO! What's even more cruel is not realizing it until you get home.