Toys, who needs them?

Why, oh why, did I spend hundreds of dollars on nice, educational, colorful toys when my daughter much prefers this:


Yeah, that's a door stopper. This was the find of the day today! She spent 1/2 an hour fidgeting with the stupid thing, which is a world record for the little busy-body. She would flick it and it would make this buzzing noise, which was very interesting. So she did it again and again and again and again and again...well, you get my point. Thanks to the .25 cent piece, my ears have a permanent ring in them :)

So I'm watching her entertain herself with the stopper when she does what we call the "piddle shake"...I begin to take off her pants and then realize that the I need a diaper. So I walk over to the very next room and grab a diaper. I come back and her little wiggle-worm self has crawled (yes, crawled-that's tomorrow's post) over to Mommy's scrapbook container.


The middle drawer had been empty and I had just happened to put a few of her toys in there a couple days ago. I know she wasn't after the toys...she took them out, set them on the ground and then proceeded to open the top drawer where she discovered...


stickers! And pens, glue sticks, markers, ribbon, etc...This is much more fun than toys designed for babies with fat chubby fingers and toothless, tenger gums! I suppose the sticky substance on the back of the stickers and the fact that she can "decorate" the bookshelf with them is pretty darn appealing!


This is just one container full of talking, singing, chirping, laughing toys that glitter, dance and roll. But this bin, as well as the rest of the toys that have been stashed away in the playroom, don't even compare to fun she has with household objects (remote control) and Mommy's things (receipts, anyone?) So, for grammy's, grandma's, aunts and uncles, this Christmas, save your money and get the child a stinkin' box, will ya??? Oh, and toys need not be present in the box :)

Daily dose of fun

So in the past month, I've managed to be at home maybe 15 days, maybe. The remaining days I was laying in the hospital bed, waiting for Dr. Dumbass to fix me. So, as you can imagine, alot of things simply didn't happen on the home-front. Dishes, trash, vacuuming, etc...I think the dogs were awfully lucky to be fed every day by my forgetful husband...even if their water had been engulfed by a swarm of nasty, stinky puke-green Algae. But hey, they survived on toilet water and apparently much preferred this because these days the water bowl sits untouched while the water level in the toilet bowl dwindles down daily. I don't mind their toilet bowl guzzling-just don't come licking me thereafter. And same goes for licking their hiney's and then wanting affection... butt breath is last on my list of favorite aromas.

Anyways, in addition to the dirty dishes piling up, the mounds of dog hair accumulating on the carpet, the bed sheets that didn't get washed in weeks (yeah, eww!), there was the laundry situation. Mind you, Justin continued to work while I was in the hospital and my mom watched Miss Fancy Pants. Justin would come to the hospital every night until visiting hours were over at 8 pm. 8 pm...not super late, right?? I'm thinkin' that he's probably done a few chores since I've been gone...but apparently, stinky filthy houses don't bother him and laundry piling up to a ridiculous height bothers him even less:



Yes, that's a whole months worth of laundry. When I got home the last time and began to clean this wreck of a house, Justin informed me that he had been wearing the same socks for 6 days!!! Why? Because the rest of them were dirty!?! Now, our washer is a standard washer...it's in plain English with the dial already set on "wash". Obviously that was deemed too difficult because my goofball hubby decided that rotten, crusty socks were easier to put on than having to throw them in the wash and turn the dial.

On another note, I decided that I wanted to be somewhat presentable today and decided to forgo the "Mommy look" and actually allow my hair to be worn straight instead of the ever-attractive bun. I even managed to escape the house with my whole shirt in one color...that, my friends, is something to brag about because between the yellowing formula spots, drool from my constantly teething infant and the more-than-occasional-dog hair, I couldn't leave the house without my shirt looking like it had been dragged through a landfill. So I'm feelin' good about myself; shaved the legs, put on a little make up, blow dried the hair, and proceeded to curl it....until my forehead suddenly got angry and attacked the curling iron leaving this beautiful glaring burn:



Beautiful, eh???

Another mouth to feed :)

Meet Tessa, the coolest cat ever:

Justin inherited her when we married because I had adopted her a few years ago when I lived in Virginia. Wanna know how cool she is? She comes when she's called, she tries to snatch your french fries if she smells the potato-y aroma, and besides that, she gets along with the dogs and just likes to hang out with us. Oh yeah, and another plus is that she allows an endlessly-crawling infant to maul her with her toothless gums and pull on her ears. Yeah, she's that cool!

But poor Tessa Messa has been friend-less for a while now so when we went to PetsMart a few days ago and saw her:

Justin and I couldn't resist. Her name is Cuddles (yeah, it's dumb but she came with the name and we're too lazy too think of another creative one) and she was surrendered to a rescue because her owner had to move and couldn't take her. She's an 8 year old girl, which broke my heart because she should be spoiled and pampered in her old age (like Robbie was). Anyways, we took this girl home and within minutes of showing her the food and litter box in the garage, she managed to squeeze her 17 lb. body through Tessa's tiny cat door and proceeded to flaunt herself in front of the dogs, begging them to come near her. Yeah, she's one tough cookie and Tessa caught wind of that after attempting to sniff her butt. That apparently wasn't something Cuddles was used to so she hollered, hissed and batted Tessa around until Tessa sauntered away.

I'm not quite sure this whole idea of getting Cuddles to be Tessa's "friend" is gonna work out but hey, what's another cat what you already have 4 other mouths to feed ;)

Saturday trip to Oak Glen!

After battling with this stupid stone for quite some time now, the Hubster and I hitched up our ride and headed South...well, to Oak Glen :) Bet you thought we headed somewhere fancy, huh?

Okay, so it wasn't the Four Seasons or anything, but we had a really nice time. We brought Annie Banani's stroller, her bursting-at-the-seams Bjorn, and the Princess herself. We bundled her up in her stroller and checked out all of the local-yokel shops in the area. The weather was cold, which should have hindered the trip but with all of this hot weather we have been experiencing, we were looking forward to freezing our arse's off...and that we did!

I wish I had taken a few pictures of the whole pie to show you all but they had the most fantastic French Apple Pies. And apparently everyone and their mama's agreed because we had to wait in line for about 20 minutes to get our iced little hands on one of them. But alas, the delish pie was ours and we ended the day shortly thereafter because we were overwhelmed by the scent of warm apple pie (and mounds of sugar and cinnamon, which Justin insists is the only reason to eat a slice). So this pie has been devoured by my husband but if you use your imagination, you can see what a beautiful pie it started out as:

Anyways, we had a fantastic time. I don't think my jeans did though, because I managed to inhale a Bavarian Cream Empanada, warm delicious Cider and a slice of Apple Pie that day (with Ice cream!), but hey, by the time I'm skinny, fat will be in...well,at least that's what I tell myself ;)

Here's my Miss Fancy Pants and I:

The Princess and her daddy:

The Brown fam:

Updated Kidney News

It's hard to imagine that I have been dealing with this freaking Kidney stone and all of it's complications for a month now...wait, no it isn't! I've felt every single jab of pain, every single stone pass through a hole it's not supposed to, and I've been drugged beyond belief...but I am here Kidney stone FREE!!!

I'll just recap what happened during the past week... Last Monday morning, 3 days after I had the Lithotripsy that was supposed to enable passing the stones, I woke up in extreme pain yet again. It was the same kind of pain I've had in the past-very sharp, stabbing pains that shot down "there", which told me that the stone was stuck again. After taking a very hot bath and drinking more fluids than one can imagine, I called my Urologist on his "emergency" line. Two calls and an hour later later, I couldn't take the pain any longer so Justin, myself and Annie headed to the ER. The sad part is that I walked through the doors, and the triage nurse knew who I was. An IV catheter was started immediately along with a Heavenly narcotic, called Dilottid (sp?). After another CT scan and Ultrasound (that makes 5 each...yeah, I glow green now), it was discovered that the Kidney stone that was supposedly broken up from the previous surgery, was not broken up at all...in fact, it was measured at 7 mm, 2 mm more than the last time!

So, for the forth time, I was admitted to the hospital. As I am laying in the hospital bed, I get the urge to pee. I waddle over to the potty and discover that I can't pee...at all! Sure enough, the stone had blocked the flow of urine. I freak out, call the nurse, who also freaks out and within minutes, a Foley Catheter was inserted "down there"...yeah, can you say OUCH?!?!?

A few hours later, my ever-quick-to-respond-Urologist calls and begins chastising Justin and I for going to this particular hospital, saying that we should have gone to the one that has better equipment to treat Kidney stones. WTH?? I mean, first off, I went to the hospital that YOU treated me at the past 3 times and second, how in the world were we supposed to know to go to the other hospital? Ugh! At this point, Justin became very angry; not only have I been dealing with the 'effin painful stone for over a month now because Dr. Dumbass can't get his act together, he's gonna start blaming us??? Justin tells him that we no longer want him as my Urologist and that we will be seeing Dr. Duke. He was audibly angry and informed us that he would not sign the document for our insurance starting that he authorized the switch. What he didn't know was that we had a PPO and we could switch Dr.'s at any point :)

A few hours later and many doses of the wonderful narcotics, my new Urologist came in and spoke to the Hubster and I. He agreed that 1 month was faaaaar too long to be dealing with this, so he scheduled surgery for that night...that very night! Well, 12 hours later, I was prepared for my third and final surgery. This time, Dr. Duke did an internal exam and did an internal Lithotripsy, using a laser to break up the stone. This was different that the previous surgery because the old Urologist just blasted the stone externally, *hoping* that he got it. This time however, Dr, Duke assured us that the stone was broken up into little pieces because he watched the stone break as he was physically lasering it. Yay!!

I ended up staying in the hospital 2 days following the surgery. The urinary catheter was put back in, as well as a stint, which was put in during the surgery to allow the stones to pass. The stint hurt like a SOB but it was all worth it when I discovered huge chunks of stone being passed. In fact, I was so freakin' excited that I called Justin in to look at my jewels in the toilet :)

It's now Saturday and the catheter and stint have been removed. I feel like I've been hit by a bus though...every single inch of my belly aches and my Kidney starts this spasm thing when I attempt to do much more than pick up the remote control. But overall, I am doing well. The stones have all pretty much passed and besides the aching, I am feeling much better than before.

The stones were sent off to be analyzed but Dr. Duke told us based on the appearance and the fact they weren't visible on Xray, he was pretty sure they were Uric Acid stones. These stones are less common (only about 15% of stones are this type) but they are more preventable. I have another consult with him in a few weeks to discuss the results and preventative measures, but diet-wise, I have given up Coke completely for the past month now and I am feeling really positive about the change. Oh, and Justin has done the same...he saw how much pain I was in and decided to change his Soda habits before he ended up like I did.

Okay, this post is seriously long so I'm gonna end it here. Now go drink some water and give your Kidneys a break!

Poor Justin

How much bad luck can one person have? I can assure my husband has had it all! Tonight was race night and once again, his car broke. This is the 10th time that something has happened to car, preventing from finishing the race. In fact, he's finished twice this year. Between the radiator, axle's, tires, starter and other car crap, he has nothing but bad luck. Well tonight, as usual, someone lost control of their car and plowed right into him, breaking the axle and leaving his tire hanging. And because he had minimal time to fix everything before the main event started, he had to sit it out, once again, and watch as his competitors have a blast.

I'm not one who believes in curses, witches, ghosts and goblins, but I am seriously thinking that Justin's car is cursed. I mean, something happens to that freakin' car every single time he races! And if you know Justin, you know he's very mechanical and works on his car a lot to make it perfect. He's good at fixing and adjusting things on the stupid race car, which is why I feel for him.

So he came up into the stands after the accident and I could tell how upset he was. He sat down and said "I just wanna finish a race. I don't even care about winning anymore". Ugh! Man, if there was anything I could do to take away his sadness and frustration, I would in a heartbeat. So I suggested that maybe we get him another car and sell the hunk of junk. But apparently, buying another car that doesn't have problems costs about $4000.00. And because of my recent medical bills, we simply can't afford another one right now. So, if you happen to feel generous and would like to donate money to a good cause, I'd be happy to give you our address ;)

So, to cheer Justin up a bit, I came home before the races ended, made this sign and hung it on the door before he came in:

My hope is that it brightened his day...at least a little.

On a side note, Miss Annie wore her cute little hat today:

It was so cold this morning and besides, I had to buy the hat because she needed one! Oh, and every girl needs matching boots, right???

Hmmm, perhaps I should lay off buying all things pink and girly so that my sweet husband can get a new race car....Nahhhhhhh :)

Ahhhhhh, naps (or lack thereof)

Apparently, naps are no longer necessary in the eyes of my Fancy Pants. She definitely is strong willed and will fight and resist you if you try to do anything that she thinks will make her sleepy. Rock her? Sure, as long as it's not dark in the room. Sing to her? Fine, as long as they're fun, boisterous songs and not ones that lull you off to sleep. Snuggle her with her blankie? Again, that's okay as long as the blanket isn't constricting 'cause that means nap time is near. And God Forbid you lay her down in the crib! Scream Fest 2007!

If she happens to fall asleep these days, you best hold her for that nap. Yes, your arms will be pleading mercy and shoulders begging for a break, but you put this child down and she's up and raring to go again in 3 minutes. And as you can imagine, an infant with no naps alllllll day long makes for one very cranky baby at the end of the night. Ahhhhh, but that's when daddy get home....ha!

So, I have been trying really, really hard to get Annie on some sort of a nap schedule. I try to watch her cues and the moment she yawns or begins to rub her eyes, I start the nap routine. Bottle, rocking chair, snuggling with blankie, singing the "nap time" song, etc... She is a smart cookie though, and catches on when you begin this process. Yesterday, she was sound asleep in my arms for about 5 minutes. I very slowly walked over to her crib and held my breath as I layed her down. Wooooo hoooo it worked! Or so I thought...because minutes later, I came in and she was doing this:




Yes, there are a few toys in her crib. But each dog, sheep, talking bear and her favorite Spinning alphabet-reciting-turn-your-child-into-a-genius-before-she-even-starts-crawling Spider were all turned off and laying in a huge pile in the very corner of her crib. Once again, my desperately curious little girl decided that playtime is 100% more enjoyable than catching a few zzzzz's.

But, see that sweet little smile?? How in the world can you force a nap to such a sweet baby who loves to explore and learn? Not me, and apparently she caught wind of that because it's day two of this sleep seeking extravaganza and the score is Annie=2, Mommy=0.

Think she'll be a handful????? :)

Sweet words

I started this blog a couple months ago with the hopes that our friends and family would be able to check it out and find out the latest news with our family. And I am happy to say that the plan worked! In addition to our moms, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends who visit it, Justin's Grandma Lee frequents it and often writes to me regarding info she's seen. Among other things, she wrote :"Hey Shelly, when I read your blog, it is so amazing. It makes me so happy to know you guys are so in love. It is really quite rare today. I wish I would have been fortunate enough to have a family like yours." Wow! What a compliment!

And her words ring true. Sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve such an amazing husband. I see and hear friends of mine bicker and argue and fight over the silliest crap and it reminds me of the days when that's all the Ex and I did...talk about draining. But with Justin, there's just a sense of peace....I don't worry about the little things anymore. I am just happy to "be", which is a feeling quite foreign to me until we met.

I am in love. I love our life; our marriage, our beautiful baby girl, our families, our home, our hobbies, etc...I have said it before and I'll say it again...I am so fortunate. Life is good.

Here's a picture of me and the Lovah waaaay back when, just because I'm feeling rather mushy tonight:

Life is good!

I'm feeling really good today...happy that this pain is subsiding a little bit and just generally happy and content today. And because life is good and my daughter is so stinkin' cute, I thought I'd share a few pics of her:

She's such a girl...she already likes the phone!

Me and my favorite Fancy Pants:

She kisses now:

Monday

So it's been a few days since I've blogged and alot has happened. Nope, it's not what you think...I didn't pass this effin' stone yet :(

Some background: Remember when I had the Lithotripsy (shock wave "surgery") last Thursday night? Well, we found out that my Urologist had trouble locating the stone while I was anesthetized, so they gave me some dye through my IV catheter. After finding it's "general area", they blasted the whole kidney, because they could not just place the shock wave on the stone itself. I was sent home to pass the broken up stone and all should be well....riiiiight.

Well, Friday night I ended up back in the ER again because I was in excruciating pain, yet again. After a ton of tests (more CT scans and abdominal ultrasounds), the ER Dr. told us that the Lithotripsy procedure was unsuccessful because the stone was the exact same size and was stuck in the Ureter!! I could have told them that...the pain was SO intense that I was given a Morphine drip which in all honesty, only dulled the pain.

But what's even more concerning is that the CT scan and Ultrasound and found two things: First off, I have a large hematoma capsulated around the left kidney. This is because they blasted the whole stinkin' thing and I have a large visible bruise around that area. And because it's bleeding, I am anemic...hence the fatigue and general crappy feeling I've got goin' on. And if that's not bad enough, the Ultrasound found two more kidney stones on the RIGHT side that are larger than this one on the left! Apparently the CT scan didn't catch them because they were in a spot only visible when the Ultrasound "wand" thingy traveled over it.

I am home again with double the pain meds but honest to God, if it weren't for my sweet little Annie and awesome, devoted husband, I couldn't take it....I'm not quite sure how much longer I can tolerate this. The ER Dr. said this stone should have passed Friday night but here I sit on Monday with the stone still lodged.

Justin and I have two appointments tomorrow regarding this mess; a consultation with another Urologist in the morning and then another appointment with my original Urologist in the afternoon. We are going to DEMAND that they do something...I simply cannot take anymore. I think actual Surgery is the only other option and while I want this matter to be over and done with, I have to admit that this surgery scares me the most. I mean, this would be the third time I've been under general anesthesia in 2 weeks and I think that's plenty.

One last thing; We received a copy from our Insurance of what our bill was for the hospital stay and without the last trip to the ER room, my bill totalled $52, 000.00!!! Thank God we have insurance is all Justin could sputter out!

That's all for tonight...I'm off to drown myself in Darvocet's and Cipro 's. I'll update when I can. Please, continue to keep myself and family in your thoughts and prayers.

No Longer "Stoned"...

So, surgery is over and I'm at home recuperating....rather, I'm up and awake from the pain so I'm blogging 'cause this somehow relaxes me. Surgery was at 4 pm and after 3 hours at the hospital, I was released. The stone was blasted into a million little pieces and I am happy to report that I no longer have an abscessed kidney, Sepsis or Renal Failure! Hooray! I was told to go home, take it easy and eat in a few hours...yeah, that would be fine and dandy but I wasn't allowed to eat anything since 5 am, so I was beyond starved! And being the rebel that I am (or rather the piggy that I am!), we ate Outback shortly afterwards :)

Speaking of eating though, after spending 9 days in the hospital a couple weeks ago, I was mortified when I got home and weighed myself. Ugh is all I gotta say! I couldn't understand the weight gain though, because I was soooo freakin' nauseous that I literally didn't eat a single thing for 5 days. And the fact the hospitals serve meals that resemble dog food didn't help either. Finally, I was put on a liquid diet of Jello and Popsicles, which I was happily able to hold down. Anyways, I re-weighed myself today and I am thrilled to report that not only did I lose that "water weight" I'd gained (from the 900,000 liters they pumped me full of!), I am at an ALL TIME low! Now, it's still about 20 heavier than where I wanna be but it's awesome to pull up my pants without having to unbutton or zip them! I'll continue to lose but I'm sticking with the "slow and steady" mantra so that I don't get discouraged and quit after not losing the remaining pounds in a matter of days (yes, I'm that impatient!)

I have so much to blog about...Annie has grown leaps and bounds and I am dying to share her accomplishments with all of you! Today will be a busy day, as we are going to Uncle Brad and Aunt Judith's because I have been told they are having Annie withdrawals and need their "fix". So I will hand the busybody over to the adoring family to be lavished in affection while I get some much needed rest.

So, I'm doing great and just wanted to update my friends so that if you call today and I'm not answering, it's that I'm gone and NOT avoiding you all. Love ya girls!

Very annoyed

It's 2:30 pm and I should be waking up from anesthesia right now. But noooooooo! The stupid freakin hospital called this morning and I was told there was a "mechanical issue with the Lithotripsy machine" and that they would call me back.

They called back and told me that rather than a technical issue, it was actually that the hospital didn't "book" the machine for today so I can either get in Thursday, Friday or Monday. Fine. I'll take tomorrow. Then I hear "Oh wait...your Dr. doesn't do surgery tomorrow. He can see you Friday then." Are you freaking kidding me??? I have been waiting for well over a week to have this surgery and even though the machine that will take away this excruciating pain will be there tomorrow, I have to wait 'til Friday so it's convenient for the Doctor????"

The receptionist said "well, ma'am, I don't think you realize how difficult my job is...I have to call 6 other patients and give them this bad news." To which I replied "Your right...you have it hard. I am in misery, with a blocked, abscessed kidney and Sepsis waiting to ravage my body again and you have to call a few patients. Wanna trade?" The receptionist was pretty pissed off and me and we argued for a bit until I told her "Listen, call your supervisor, call another Dr., hospital, whatever...I can't wait until Friday. I've already waited a whole freakin week. It MUST be done tomorrow."

An hour later, Mrs. Rude Receptionist calls back and tells me that I have the surgery scheduled for tomorrow at 4 pm. It's not today, of course, but better than Friday...or Monday for that matter!

So, tomorrow 4 pm Pacific time, please keep my broken, nasty kidney (and myself!) in your prayers.

Shell :)

Today is the day!

It's 7:35 am right now and I slept surprisingly well last night...considering that today is surgery day. But sometime around 5 am, Miss Fancy Pants decided it was time to play so thankfully my mom got up and joined her while Justin and I slept in....err, he slept in while I began to worry. I've never been one to get freaked out over surgeries, medical procedures, needles, etc...In fact, I like that stuff! Even when I was a kid, I was fascinated with the human body and the way it works...I remember trying to draw my own blood one day at a veterinary hospital I worked at because I was anxious to learn how to draw blood....yes, even if it was my own! I know, I'm a freak.

So this worrying that I've been doing the past couple days or so is just foreign to me. I know everything will be okay. And although I'm going under general anesthesia, I am confident that I will do just fine, as have millions of other patients that have undergone this procedure. I guess it's just that I have a daughter that I can't fathom not being here for. I thought about her every.single.second I was in the hospital and began begging to go home, despite the pain and symptoms that were still present. Sure, my mom and Aunt Judith were sweet enough to bring her for visits once I got outta the ICU, but being there, holding her, cuddling her, feeding her...it just wasn't the same. I have said it before and I'll say it again, I love Annie so much that when I think about how much this little girl means to us, it physically makes me ill. And I mentioned it to a few mommy friends last night (the loving so much it makes you sick thang) and I was unanimously told that all mommies feel this way. Whew...I was beginning to think I was even more of a freak ;)

So Justin and I went to the Urologist yesterday to make sure everything was set for today and my temp, blood pressure and vitals are normal!!! In addition, I have been very consistent on taking my medications so I have had minimal pain since the first day I got home and wanted to lop off the lower part of my body. I have completely given up Coke and have been drinking water like it's going outta style (thanks Laura!) And although I am kinda nervous, I am actually excited about the surgery today because I know it's the last step before I get back to normal!

Okay, but one little rant: While at the hospital today giving blood for my pre-op, the nurse asks how I am and I tell her I'm worried because it''s called "shock wave" therapy and the name freaks me out. She has the cajones to say "oh, don't worry about the name- I heard that it feels like you've been hit by a Mac truck"....What the Hell??? Who says this to someone who is already paranoid? Thanks Nurse Hatchet, that makes me feel 100% better.

Anyways, my spirits are high and I am ready to be back to normal. As much as I appreciate my mom's help, I want my little family back to normal again. Us three waking up together, sweet Naners smiles when she sees us, Banana breakfasts, mommy and me groups, walks around the neighborhood, making dinner and setting down to eat it as a famalia, etc...I just wanna be back to normal!!

Anyways, the Lithotripsy surgery is at 12 pm today. Please keep me and my broken, dilapidated kidney in your thoughts and prayers :)

Oh, and here's a few pictures of the World's cutest Naners taking a bath (please look past the red-bump-on-the-head-attempting-to-crawl-catastrophe):

Update

I haven't been able to blog in quite a while because I have been very sick. Here's an update:

I was hospitalized about 11 day ago after I was admitted for severe side pain. After ct scans, pyelograms, dye x-rays, mri's, you name it, it was discovered that I have an abscessed left kidney. The reason it got abscessed was because there is a 5mm stone that is lodged there. In addition to the stone, I developed Sepsis, which had me literally on death's door (temp spiked to 103 and blood pressure dropped to 69/45 at one point). And to make matters worse, I was told I'm in the beginning stages of renal failure until the Sepsis, abscess and stone are gone. They anesthetized me on Friday to place a stint to relive the pressure but the stone was so large that they were unable to.

I am on some VERY VERY heavy pain meds and antibiotics, which unfortunately only dull the pain. I go in on Wed. to have surgery to blast the stone up into little pieces (Lithotripsy). Until then, I am taking it day by day.

Annie is doing great. Justin, my mom and Aunt Judith/Uncle Brad have all taken off work so that they can give her the care I would have. I honestly don't know what we would have done without the support of our extended family. Words will never be enough to thank them for taking weeks off to care for our daughter when I was hospitalized and Justin was in the hospital with me.

I will update more later...until then, please keep me and my kidney in your prayers.

More on the half birthday girl:

As if yesterday's blog about Miss Fancy Pants' half a year birfday wasn't enough, I'm 'bout to add to it....if you're a mommy, you'll relate; if not, you might wanna grab a Coke and some popcorn folks, 'cause it'll be a doozy I think.

So in case you missed yesterday's post or even the mention of it seconds earlier, our baby is 6 months old now! Six months ago, at 7:15 pm, after what seemed like a bazillion contractions, 10 attempts (yes ten!) at inserting the epidural, multiple liters of fluid pumped through my exhausted veins, 24+ hours of labor, and 2.5 hours of straight, horrendously painful pushing, Miss Lauren Anne was born! I can still see the image of her being held up seconds after she was born and feeling an overwhelming sense of love, pride and peace (okay, and relief that she was finally out!) . And now I look at her and she is doing six month old things like sitting, babbling, screeching, attempting to crawl, screeching, eating baby food, pulling mom's hair and dad's glasses, and screeching some more...

Yep, believe it or not, she is happily screeching here:


And yet despite constantly "testing out her voice" and the fact that her slobbery little fingers always manage to find their way to my hair, I am already missing this stage. I know they will soon be replaced with talking and walking and doing all things toddler-related.

Annie is very close to sitting completely unsupported:


She can sit by herself for about 3 minutes, and then she topples over. There is no mention of "da-da" yet but the incessant babbling and screeching makes me think that those words are coming very soon. She loves to play in her exersaucer and jumperoo and finds great joy in pulling on the cat's tail and attempting to eat the dog's ears. Heck, even scooting her little pint- sized body around the carpet is a thrill for her because it means that she is mobile, which apparently, is very important when you have so many things to explore. We read alot and Miss Banani has developed a love for books that make noise. Justin and I bought her a talking Strawberry Shortcake book a few days ago and she giggles and smiles whenever she hits the music buttons. And when the buttons no longer excite her, there are always delicious fingers to chew on :0)

But one of my most favorite things about my girl is that when she smiles, she smiles! I mean, she wrinkles up her cute little nose, squints her little eyes, and shows every.single.inch of her toothless little gums:

Six months have passed. All I can hope is that the next six will be just as rewarding and fulfilling as the past months have been... But knowing Miss Annie, they will be!

Busy busy busy!

It's been almost a week since I've posted anything. Whew!! We have been crazy busy with tons of plans, activities and day-to-day junk. With that said, forgive me if this is a looooong post because as you all know, the "chronicles of Annie" must be told :)

Today is our Fancy Pants 6 month birthday!! It's so hard to believe that she's only been here for the past 6 months...it seems I've known her forever and I simply can't remember what life was like before Annie... or rather, I don't wanna remember what life was like sans Annie. She brings so much joy, happiness and love to our lives. Everything is so exciting and new for her and I just love being a part of her growing up.

So "us girls" as Justin calls us, joined two new groups this past week. One is a Mom's Club (which is a different mom's club than the one I already attend-the other is for new moms' "hosted" at the hospital I delivered at) and the other class is "Tiny Turtles". My mom's club is a BLAST- there are women of all ages, races and backgrounds and we do fun things; like last week we did a Lunch Bunch get-together at Mimi's, a Mom's Night Out evening (no details here!), and "Coffee Talk", where we all met at a local coffee house. I got a delish strawberry smoothie because coffee makes me wanna barf and gossiped and chatted the morning away. Annie could really care less about attending but I love to because I interact with mom's like me and allow my mind to recoup from singing "the Wheels on the Bus" song a million times a day. Tiny Turtles, however, is fun for Naners because the focus is on her. We sing silly songs, do ridiculous dances (yeah, you get over the embarrassment quickly when you realize that your child thinks you're the funniest person on Earth and everyone else is doing the same stoooopid moves!), blow bubbles, etc...the point is that we are encouraging our infants to interact with their world through sound, touch, sight, etc... And Annie happens to be the only girl baby in her class so she has lots of boys to flirt with ;)

In addition to the Mom's Club meetings, which happen about three days a week, the Tiny Turtles class which meets on Tuesdays, and my Mothers & Others group which meets on Wednesday's, Annie Banani have a jam packed schedule. Although, I hafta admit that we still have plenty of time to hone our crawling skills, snuggle and cuddle, play in the exersaucer, etc... Oh yeah, and on Fridays we go "garage sale-ing", which is fun for me as I get to scope out the deals and Annie gets "oooohed and awwwed" over by the people waiting for me to buy their stuff.

Anyways, after last night's super long and tiring dirt track race, which I'll talk about tomorrow, we hung out as a family today and just enjoyed Annie on her 1/2 a year birfday! We made some burgers for dinner (here is Chef Boyardee himself):

took goofy pics of each other (okay, keep in mind this is your truly with ZERO makeup on and hair not brushed..and yes, I made it black and white so not to horrify you all):

hung out in the Bjorn:


startled the poor trying-to-sleep girl in her swing:


and of course, took lots and lots of Annie pics throughout the day:

Honestly, is that smile and those beautiful blue eyes not to die for??? The outfit was courtesy of Aunt Judy and Uncle Brad, who I found out insisted that she needed this dress and a few new toys and a pink cuddly blankie because she doesn't have any girly toys at their house (Gasp! How will she ever manage???)

But then, after her photo shoot apparently got too boring, she attempted to eat the cat and wound up doing this:

Ha!! Okay, I've got lots and lots of other pics but my poor husband is sitting on the sofa waiting for me so I gotta run! More tomorrow, in between the crazy stay-at-home mommy schedule we keep :0)

Smushy face

I'm not quite sure when Annie developed this but every time she smiles, she gets SO excited! So her smiles end up like this:

Can I just say how much I love the way she smushes up her face and wrinkles up her nose?? I mean, she gets so happy sometimes that when she smiles, her eyes nearly close!

Who knows? Maybe she'll forever smile this way...I kinda hope so. And can you imagine when her first toofers come in?? That, along with the smushed-up-wrinkly-nose-face, will possibly be the most adorable thing anyone has ever seen. But the next two pictures are a close second ;)

Okay, I'm done bragging and showing off my cute lil' girl. I promise to think of something more profound for tomorrows post. Hehe :)

Thrusday

After having a pretty busy day yesterday, Naners, her daddy and I spent most of the evening relaxing and just hanging out together. We made a little dinner, went to Coldstone and got the usual, went through the car wash and then came home. Miss Annie Banani enjoyed her swing a little bit, which is quickly becoming the end of an era because she is learning how to propel herself outta the swing. Fabulous. And that's while she's still strapped in!

I have found though that giving her something to play with, like her teddy bear, keeps her nimble fingers busy and her mind off of the propelling task at hand. And as evidenced in this picture, she loves all things cuddly and soft. She is such a sweet little smiling girl.


While I gave the baby a bath and got her ready for bed, Justin went outside and worked on the POS (read: race car!) for a little while. Within 15 minutes, he came in looking like this:

How that man can get that filthy in minutes amazes me! It's a good thing he married a woman who *tolerates* the smell of all things boy...grease, brake fluid, farting, burping, exhaust fumes, etc... I think my nose has become immune to all of the toxic fumes he bring in (or lets out for that matter!)

And the final news of the day is that the whole "Lumpus" clan (they were called Hoodlums, which turned into Lumps...hence, "Lumpus"...I know, crazy!) is back together! Sammie, Casey, Quentin and Ellie are all here at my house. As difficult as it is with 3 large dogs (and a very busy little Boston), I LOVE having them all here. The wrestling, boxing, playing, and tug-of-waring is so nice to have again. My mom is in the hospital having surgery today and she will be recovering for a few weeks so I get to have 2 of my dogs back home with me while she convalesces. Yay! Sure, the dog hair is a little outta control and the vacuum is begging for mercy, but I love having the whole group back together...at least for a little while :)

Naners and I go to my Moms Club get together tomorrow morning at a local restaurant. It should be a alot of fun and I am really looking forward to it! But with a pile of laundry stacking up and nothing presentable to wear outta the house, I have to stop blogging right now. Otherwise, I'll end up attending in my Birfday suit and that, post baby, isn't so pleasant!