This week's rambling

It's been a week since my last blog update. Well I've really got no exciting stories to tell these days. Abbie is continuing to grow everyday. She is slobbering like crazy and loves to put her hands in her mouth. She is doing a lot more babbling. I'm still trying to catch it on film. She is also becoming a fan of bath time finally!! It only took three months of blood curdling screams but we are past that now. She will cry a bit when her skin first touches the water but then she gets used to it. We haven't gotten to the point where she LOVES taking a bath by giggling and splashing water. But I don't have to wear earmuffs anymore so that in itself is an improvement. I'm looking forward to the day that she can sit up in the tub and I can put toys in there for her to play and make mohawks with her soaped up hair.

Update on losing my pregnancy weight. Don't hate but I am now 8 lbs away from getting to my pre-pregnancy weight. I really wish the weather would start warming up. I'm so tired of winter as I'm sure the rest of the United States is feeling. I want warmer temperatures so I can break out the stroller and take Abbie for walks. The two walks we have had this year only have lasted 15 minutes because the wind proved to be too chilly. Spring is only four weeks away, I can make it right?

I am also still trying to kick this cold I acquired from Abbie 2 WEEKS AGO!! Seriously?!? I'm feeling a lot better than I was but I still have a sniffle and cough. Have you ever seen the Mucinex commercial with all of the green mucus hanging out in some one's chest. Well I feel like I'm that chest. Maybe I should stock up on some Mucinex so I can kick them out. Right now I'm not taking any meds because I have been warned that decongestants can make a woman's breastmilk dry up. But Mucinex isn't a decongestant so I should be fine.

Charlie & I did some shopping at Home Depot last week. We got a postcard in the mail saying that if we made a $299 or more purchase on our Home Depot card that we would get 12 mos no interest no payments. Well we spent a little more than the $299 that was required. We bought 2 ceiling fans for Abbie's room & our office b/c the one in the office was loud and I wanted a pretty white one for Abbie's room. We moved the one from Abbie's room into the guest room since it only had a light fixture. One of our frequent guests (my Mom) said that there wasn't enough air circulation in that room. And we would like to make sure our guests stay happy so they continue to visit. We also bought lumber so Charlie could build Abbie a dresser. It is something I have been requesting since we had the nursery completed back when I was 25 weeks pregnant. Well now almost 40 weeks later, the materials have been purchased. We also found a design we like on Nebraska Furniture Mart's website. And after looking at the price of this finished dresser, it's about the same price as the materials we bought. But Abbie will know that his dresser was build for her by her daddy. Who can put a price tag on that? I asked him if he could have it done in 4 weeks when my mom comes to visit. But I think that is pushing it so I will be happy if he has a good start on it and you can actually tell it's a dresser. Anyway, here is the design of the dresser we like.

This weekend I am going to go to the Just Between Friends sale that they hold twice a year in Tulsa. It's a big consignment sale of baby & maternity clothes. I went last summer and got a lot of cute winter outfits for Abbie for a decent price. Well now with summer hopefully arriving in a few months, it's time to buy her some summer outfits. I can't wait to play dress up.

I wish I had a new picture of Abbie to upload for this blog but I don't. I did upload her latest monthly growth pic over to the right of this blog that was taken last Tuesday on her 3 month birthday. She is getting so big and is developing such a personality.

I almost died last night...

So I had a pretty scary night last night. Charlie was working on his car and it was pretty cold out so he came in and was freezing. Well I suggested that we turn on the fireplace. We have one of those gas log fireplaces that is operated by a remote. The remote works like a thermostat where you set the temp you want and it will run until it reaches that temp and then it will shut off until the temps drops again to which it will turn back on. We watched American Idol while wrapped up in blankets in our toasty living room. So around 10 pm, I put Abbie down while Charlie turns off the fireplace and closes the flue (is that how you spell that?). So we head to bed and just as I am dozing off to sleep I am awakened by the smell of gas. Charlie gets up to go check on it and 5 min later comes back to tell me that the fireplace came back on. Mind you, he has already closed the flue & doors to the fireplace so the gas has no where to go except to fill the house. I immediately go and check on Abbie and bring her back to bed with me while Charlie begins to open windows (it was probably in the lower 30's outside when we went to bed). Thankfully we had an attic fan that allowed fresh air from outdoors to circulate throughout the house. About 10 minutes of doing that, the smell was almost gone and now our house was cold. Charlie told me I could put Abbie back in her room (she was sound asleep through all of this) but I was still paranoid over the gas smell and told him I would feel better if she slept with us so I could hear her breathing.

It was such a scary experience. What would have happened if we fell asleep and didn't smell the gas? And Charlie said when he went to go check on the smell that there was a slight haze in the living room. Would our house have started on fire? Would we have died of carbon monoxide poisoning? Although we do have a carbon monoxide detector in the living room. Too many "What Ifs" if you ask me. I'm just happy that I was able to detect it before falling asleep b/c Charlie can't smell a thing right now with his stuffed up nose.

Oh, and that smoke detector that was in the kitchen, but since painting the kitchen 1 1/2 yrs ago, has been sitting on the hope chest? Well it's going back up tonight. And I don't think I will be running the fireplace anymore. Charlie swears that he turned it off with the remote. I was pretty worried going to sleep last night. I felt so relieved when I & the rest of the family woke up alive this morning.

Beautiful Weekend (inside & out)

Saturday was a beautiful day. It was in the mid 50's so I thought it was time to dust off the tennis shoes and head out for a walk with my daughter. We drove over to this walking trail that goes around a school on the other side of town. I know I could have walked in my neighborhood but they don't believe in sidewalks down here in the south and I didn't want Abbie & I to get run over.

Well the weather proved to be a little more chilly that we would have liked. We made it around the track once (1 mile) and decided it would be best to pack up and head home. Abbie loved the walk though. I can't wait until Spring comes and we can make this a daily occurrence.

Valentine's Day was good. It was Charlie & I's 13th Valentine's Day together. We took Abbie over to a friend's house and headed to a matinee. We went to see Valentine's Day (how appropriate). It was alright. I was expecting something better considering all of the famous actors/actresses that starred in the movie. Julie had a wonderful time watching Abbie as did her kids. She said whenever I need a sitter, she is there!!

We came home after the movie to eat Carnitas http://thenoshery.com/2010/01/20/carnitas/ that had been cooking in the crock-pot all day. They were pretty good. I think next time I will just shred the meat in the juices in the crock-pot instead of transferring them to a pan to fry. Charlie thought it made them too dry. He did say that it reminded him of the tacos that he eats at Danny's in Norfolk which was my intention.

And of course I loved up on my newest little Valentine all weekend like always. Who couldn't love someone as cute as her?!?

My Chatterbox

Abbie was chatting up a storm tonight while laying in her crib. She loves to just lay there and babble while watching her mobile.

My Lil Valentine

Today Abbie is celebrating her first Valentine's Day. She doesn't have a Valentine this year but I'm sure once she gets older, she will have the boys falling at her feet!!

Bathtime with Abbie

See what I have to go through on the nights when Abbie gets a bath? PURE TORTURE for herself and me!!

What goes around...comes around

From my last blog you know that Abbie has been fighting a nasty cold. Well I finally said enough was enough and made her a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning. Her nose is always congested and her cough is bad. She doesn't have much for an appetite. She drinks 2 oz of her 4 oz bottle and then just plays with it, sticking her tongue out and rejecting it. It takes a good hour to get her to finish it. Then when we try to burp her, she will have a coughing fit and end up throwing up. This morning I had her laying on my legs while I was eating my oatmeal and without any warning (no cough or anything), she just threw up. Almost made me lose my appetite. Charlie thinks her sinuses were draining down the back of her throat and that is what caused it. That is when I decided it was time to call the doctor. They said that since she has had this cough for 4-5 days that it would probably be wise to take her in. They also told me to put a cool mist vaporizer in her room. So I guess I'm going to take this warm mist one back b/c it doesn't seem to be doing any good. There isn't much of a mist coming out.

And with all of Abbie's sneezing and coughing, I have caught her cold. It's kind of hard to tell your 2 mo old daughter to cover her mouth. So now I'm the one coughing right along with Abbie and my throat feels like it's on fire. And having a cold as a mom sucks ten times worse. Before I became a mother, I would take whatever I could to make it go away, drink plenty of fluids and sleep as much as I could. I can't do that now b/c a) I am nursing so my meds are limited & b) I have a daughter that requires my attention so I can't just crawl under the covers and sleep until morning. I put a call into my doctor to see what I can take since I'm nursing. I have a list of meds I could take when I was pregnant but I'm not sure there is more I can take now. So until they call me back...I guess I will keep sucking on Halls cough drops like they are candy and continue to hack up my lungs.

The plus side to having this cold...a sexy, raspy cold voice. Although I don't think it will do me any good in the bedroom once Charlie hears me barking like a dog. :)