Juliana

Harper has a best friend. Her name is Juliana (or Ju Ju). This morning when I got Harper out of bed, she started crying (she's not a morning person just like her momma...). I said, "Do you want to go see Ju Ju?" She immediately stopped crying and said, "Ju Ju?"

Ju's mom and I work together, and they will be gone all summer. I'm pretty bummed about it, but I know they will be back in two short months (sigh). Harper goes to their house every Thursday from 12-3 while I go to meetings, so I wanted to do something for them before they left town for the summer.

We headed downtown and to campus for a fun photo shoot.

My FAVE!

So pretty.

LOVE them.

Such a goofball.

She was getting pretty bored.

I'm going to miss y'all so much!

Crawfish Boil!

Harper slept in this morning until 11, which was awesome! Later on in the afternoon we went to a crawfish boil and had tons of fun! (Thanks, Jill!)

Harper wasn't so sure about the crazy boys in the bouncer.

She WAS sure about that slip n slip, though. She just stood there and played with the water for a good while.

I got to see some of my WONDERFUL friends who I haven't seen in a really long time!

Erin, Jennifer, Me, and Harper

Of course, Harper made new friends with everyone there. She did end up with a huge bruise on her forehead after falling out of a chair, but overall, we had a great time!

Lazy Saturday

Today was a very relaxing Saturday! Harper slept in until about 10:30 (which is pretty unlike her), and we cuddled in bed and watched cartoons until lunch! She hadn't thrown up since about 11:30 the night before so I thought we were in the clear. She ate some bread sticks for lunch and ended up throwing it all up. I gave her some phenergen, and she slept for about 4 hours. Poor baby! She was acting fine when she woke up and played for a while. She only had pretzels and Pedialyte for dinner then went to bed again at 7:30.

She discovered the dry erase board on the fridge.

She LOVES writing with sidewalk chalk outside.

It has been SO hot here already! I'm not looking forward to 3 more months of this heat! Tomorrow we are hoping to make it to church and have a crawfish boil to go to in the afternoon! I get to see a couple of friends I haven't seen in a LONG time! SO excited!

Drive-In and Vomit...not a perfect combination.

It seems to me like someone in our house is ALWAYS sick. I worked a promotion for work out at the drive-in tonight. Michael texted me multiple times to tell me Harper had vomited. Every. Where. He then called me around 8:00, implying I needed to leave work right at that moment to come home and help him. What is it with men and their inability to clean up vomit without tossing their own cookies? I got home close to 11:00 to find my kid STILL awake. I secretly wanted to come home to that so I could cuddle her, but don't tell anybody. She threw up again while I was carrying her to her bed, but we made it to the bathroom just in time for most of it to end up in the toilet. I pray it was just something she ate and not another stomach bug. This little girl has had TOO many bugs in her 19 months of life! When is her immune system built up enough to fight most of these off?!

Michael sent me this picture while I was at work of Harper while he was trying to clean up all of the vomit. She was walking around holding her diaper she took off herself. Such a nut!

Just one more thing to add

After my blog post last night, I woke up to emails, texts, and FB messages of encouragement and support. You don't know how much that means to me. My pain level was especially high when I woke up, so I built up the courage to call my doctor back. I spoke to the nurse and asked me if the doctor mentioned anything else besides fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis in the voice mail. Crap. I said he hadn't then she proceeded to tell me my lab results also showed a very high level of uric acid which is an indication of gout.

I never really knew what gout was. It just sounded gross to me. So when she said this, I was completely horrified. Obviously, after reading about it, it was less horrifying and started to make some sense. Michael went by my doctor's office and picked up some samples of medication to try and see if it helps. He also included a list of purine-rich foods to avoid. I'm pretty sure I will be okay with avoiding liver, brain, and sardines...to name a few. I will, however, have a hard time cutting out cokes.

She is the reason I'm having such a hard time with all of this. She deserves so much more than I can give her physically right now. I just pray this medicine starts to work!

Going potty this morning. I guess it was too early to go alone without the paci and blankey.

I need some advice...

I have debated on whether or not to share this, but I really could use the support of my friends out there! As some of you know, I have had back problems since my junior year in high school. When I was 17, I had an MRI which revealed 3 herniated disks. Since then, I have had multiple injections to try and ease the pain. I had very few days with high levels of pain which I am very thankful for.

Fast forward to 2011...The "good" days are very few and far between. I saw a chiropractor to get adjusted, but that was way too much pain to endure and seemed to make it worse. I saw several doctors and was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis last week. I have been trying to process the news, but it's been hard. I know this may seem like it isn't a big deal compared to cancer, but it hurts. It hurts REALLY bad. I can't really explain how it feels to have chronic back and hip pain. It's horrible. I can't walk straight. I can barely put my shoes on. I can't be the mom I should be for Harper. I can't get on the floor and play with her. Some days I can't even pick her up without cringing in pain.

It may seem like I am exaggerating, and I really really wish I was. I don't know where to go from here. I haven't even called the doctor back since he left me a voice mail with the diagnoses. It shouldn't be that hard to call him back, but honestly, I'm scared of what he is going to say. With that said, I need your prayers. A miracle would be nice, but I can settle for some pain management. :)

Have any of you or someone you know gone through this or anything similar? I would love your input and what worked and didn't work for you. I want to be the mom and wife I should be. It's hard to be that person emotionally when I just hurt so dang bad!

Playing Catch-Up

Last Friday, Michael took Harper for her first dentist appointment. I had to work, so Michael flew solo on this one. He said she did great and acted like such a big girl!

I also went to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned. She entertained the staff and stole their hearts. It happens.
Harper had her 6 month follow-up with the ENT to check her tubes she got in December. He said they look great, and her hearing is SO much better. She was being such a nut!

We bought a few deals off of Living Social for the drive-in, and they expire at the end of the month so we used our last one to watch Bridesmaids. So. Freakin. Funny! We LOVE the drive-in! She played on the playground while we waited for the movie to start.

Daddy was tormenting her with his remote controlled helicopter.
Every month 2 different babies are showcased on bulletin boards outside of the nursery at church. Harper and I went up to there on Wednesday night to decorate. My friend Kendy came to help which was greatly appreciated! I thought it turned out pretty cute.
We went by to see GG (my friend Gerianne) at her office today. When I said before that my kid likes to strip, I wasn't kidding.
What? This isn't normal?

Harper's personality is really starting to show its true colors. She's so stubborn but SO much fun. She cracks me up!

Julie's Getting Married!

There is a group of girls from college who I would consider my BEST friends. Julie is one of those friends who has been by my side no matter what. I met her for the first time at a GATA rush our sophomore year at ACU. I can't believe that was almost 10 years ago! In three short weeks, Julie will be marrying her one and only. I am so thankful we have an excuse to see each other again!

This past weekend we all met in Abilene (in addition to Julie's sister, Johnna) for a bachelorette party. We stayed in a sweet pool house (thanks Betsy!!) and just enjoyed each other's company. No matter how long we go between reunions, we can always pick up right where we left off. Most of us are married now, and three of us have kids. So any excuse for a break, I'm in (sorry, babe)!

Julie and I left Lubbock Friday night and stayed with her Grandmom. We met up with everyone on Saturday for a little shower before we headed to dinner.

We had quite a few outtakes....(L to R: Jen, Kendall, Me, Julie, Rachel)




Julie with her sister Johnna
We didn't want to embarrass Julie with flashing buttons, so we went with bracelets instead.
Thank you girls SO much for a wonderful weekend! I can't wait until our next reunion in three weeks for Julie's wedding!

Mother's Day 2011

We skipped church this morning because of Harper's nasty rash (not contagious, just looks gross), and we all slept in this morning. It was wonderful! After making Michael feel horrible about not getting me anything, he had Harper make me a card. Granted, I did tell him I would be mad if he spent money on me, but seriously....use your imagination...or Google!

It was pretty cute.

We headed over to Michael's dad's house for a late lunch to celebrate Alexa's 12th birthday and Mother's Day. We picked up a little pool on the way since the high was close to 100 today.

She loved it!

It took a few attempts at a mother/daughter picture tonight. Maybe I shouldn't have waited until the make-up was off, and the pajamas were on.

She kept trying to escape.

Finally, I REAL smile! (check out those molars)

I am so incredibly thankful for Harper and for God allowing me to be her mother. She is the sweetest, funniest, and most beautiful baby girl I could have ever asked for.

What. A. Week!

We have had quite a week over at our house! It all started Monday. I worked Monday morning 8-12, went home for lunch and nap time, and then back to work at 3. I knew Harper was acting more tired than usual, but I really didn't think anything of it. We walked into work, I put her down, and she threw up. A lot. She cried the whole time I was cleaning her up which isn't like her at all. She is usually a pretty calm kid. She felt a little warm but nothing to really worry about. I took her temperature, and sure enough, she was running a fever. I don't remember what it read at that point. We headed home, and she fell asleep before we even made it out of the parking lot and then almost 4 more hours once we got home. I definitely knew something was up! I took her into the doctor Tuesday afternoon because her fever was sitting at 103.8 and not budging with Tylenol.

The doctor was worried it may be a UTI, so they cathed her (horrible!) for a urine sample and sent us home with a prescription for Phenergen and instructions to force the Pedialyte. We started alternating Tylenol and Motrin on top of that once we got home, but as soon as the meds wore off, the high fever was back.

Fast forward to Wednesday evening (I thought we were on the up hill because her fever broke that afternoon)...I picked up a shift Wednesday from 6-9 and went grocery shopping after. When I got home, Michael said she had eaten fine and kept it down. I went in to check on her and noticed her drinched in sweat. I took her temperature, and it read 106 on the dot. Surely that wasn't correct. I scanned again....105.8...and again...106.1. Holy crap (sorry Mom). I checked again with an ear thermometer and also with a digital one under the arm. They were all the same. Crap.

I called my sister to see if her husband (pedi doc) was awake. He wasn't, but she said we should take her in. If nothing else, it would ease our minds. I started crying and decided to call the nurse before we rushed off to the hospital. She was a complete (not so nice word). First, she tried to make me feel incredibly dumb by saying she couldn't possibly have that high of a fever because she doesn't believe the temporal scanners are accurate. After I told her that I had already taken it with TWO different ones in addition to the first, she had me do it AGAIN while I was on the phone with her. I took it under her arm, and the nurse kept saying..."well, what is it?" It was over 104 at this point and still going up. Her recommendation was a cool bath. Did I mention she was a moron? Yes, I realize the cool bath was a good idea, but she had no interest in helping my emotional state!

Since Michael had taken Tylenol PM before I even got home from the grocery store, I decided to wait it out through the night. She (and I) had a pretty rough night of being miserable, so I took her back to the doctor Thursday morning. They did some blood work and sent us home. The nurse called a little later and said her white blood cell count was low but more than likely just indicated a virus. She slept for most of the day.

She started to act like herself again of Friday. Her temperature was around 100, and she finally had an interest in eating and playing. I HAD to get out of the house, so we ran a few errands. That evening, we noticed a rash on her torso and neck. Today it's SO much worse. It's a lot worse on her neck and torso but moved up to her face and behind her ears (which has seemed to bother her the most). Tonight I lathered her up with calamine lotion and put her to bed.

After reading about roseola (thank you, Facebook friends!), I'm about 99.9% sure that's what she had.

I'm really sad we won't make it to church in the morning for Mother's Day, but at least I get to spend the day with the two people who made me a mom! I think I am more exhausted than I was when she was a newborn!

Smiling but looking pretty puffy and pitiful

Taking a moment to read while her fever was at a lower point

There was a lot of this.

Poor baby covered in calamine lotion

After this last picture, I put her hair down and combed it back. She looked a little like David Bowie. Just imagine the slicked-back hair and paint streaks on the cheekbones. Awesome.

...I don't feel like proofreading. Deal with it.

18 Month Stats

Harper turned 18 months on April 28th and had her well check the next day. She only had to have 1 shot this time. She cried REALLY hard but was all better after the nurse gave her a sucker.

Here are some things about my 18 month old:

• 20.0 lbs (3rd percentile)
• 31.5 inches long (50th percentile)
• She started walking at 16 months but has figured out she can RUN!
• LOVES Elmo's World and Curious Buddies
• Says "mama," "dada," "puppa" (puppy), "baby," "Bap" (Max), "bye-bye," "ready set gooooo" (you can only understand the "gooooo" part if you don't really know what she's saying), and tries to repeat almost anything we say.
• Signs "more," "please," "all done", "dog", and "eat"
• Anytime we start to walk out the door of the house to go outside, she says "bye-bye, puppy." It's pretty cute.
• She's so smart and will usually follow through if you ask her to do something (get your shoes, get your juice, go night night, sit down, don't lick the outlets...you know, normal things).
• She sleeps really well during nap time and at night. She usually takes a 2-3 hour nap (sometimes 1 short morning nap and 1 long afternoon nap) and sleeps 7pm-7:30am (longer if I don't have to wake her up to get ready)
• LOVES hot dogs, green beans, peas, carrots, yogurt, cheese, vienna sausages (sick!), rice, and bread
• Loves "Pat-A-Cake," "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," "Old McDonald," and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider
• Just this morning she woke up with a dry diaper so I sat her on the potty, and she went! She still doesn't really associate the bodily functions with the toilet, but it's a start!

She's so lovable and is a definitely a mommy's girl....until daddy is around. We love you so much Harper Reese!

Pleated T-Shirt Dress

This weekend, I whipped up an easy, breezy dress for Harper. I used this tutorial, and it was SO easy to follow and make. Overall, it probably took a couple of hours to make, but it definitely could have taken less time if I had tried. The most time consuming part I ran into was adjusting the size of the pleats to the width of the t-shirt. It took me a good 10 tries to get it right! Even then, they were still a little off. This will most definitely not be the only one of these I make!

Front of the dress. I added a detachable fabric flower on the waist.

This was the night before she wore it to church. It looked much better with her hair brushed. :)

I love it because in the fall/winter, I could just add some leggings or even a pair of jeans. This is my favorite creation so far!