Megan's Birthday

We always have a special day planned for Megan's birthday, but sadly this year both her and mommy are sick puppies. So we had to stay home.

The day begun with taking annual 8:46AM photos, and some outside time since the weather was nice. Her poor face looks so red and flushed.

Ice had to join in the fun.

When we got come from outside, daddy came home and we had cake!! She also wanted to get back in her PJ's.

Blowing out candle and making wish number 1000001

Girl loves her cake

She got an MP3 player for her birthday and she LOVES it! Instant hit.

She can listen to music and ride a bike.... not so much she fell right after the picture was taken. Some lessons in life must be learned the hard way.

But, she still loves music


Our day included a meal chosen by Megan, which was pizza. Her running to the store with mommy to get milk, not fun when you so stuffed up you could scream.

A ton of calls wishing her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

A web-cam conversation (that for some odd reason included display of feet) with Babcia and Dziadzia (my mom and dad).

Its now 11:57PM and a little birdy keeps running out of her room, because she "remembered" she must do something. I have a feeling someone wants to take full advantage of the 24 hours of her special day.

Three minutes to go......

Megan is 4!!

Our tradition is to take a picture at 8:46AM on the day of her birth. These years pictures arent great because poor Megan is sick.



And also:

Four years ago, today.

I was at the hospitals birth center, getting ready for my c-section that was scheduled early in the morning.

I was so happy, excited and nervous at the same time. I could not sleep. And neither could Mike. He went home at midnight only to return at 2AM and tell me he could not sleep.

I am sure he will never forget the little sofa bed and how he though he broke it. Ahh, memories.

To be a child again...

When you have a ton of fun in the pool and running around in your yard, this is part of life....

Megan got her ears pierced!

The day after her party we went to Wal-Mart to get a Jackson doll to go with her Hannah doll she got from Aunt Lisa and Uncle Joe (she loves this doll, thank you guys).

They did not have a Jackson. But we walked by the earrings and it begun again, "please can I do it?" "I want them sooo much". Even after being told it would hurt she insisted so, we did it.

She did great, no tears until the end. And the only reason she cried is because she moved her head and the gun got stuck for a second or two.

Now she LOVES them. No whining about cleaning or sleeping in them. She is super happy.

She picked the birthstone for December, not hers but she loves that green color.

Megan's 4th B-Day Party

It was really an awesome day, the weather was perfect and everyone we invited showed up. Aside from Mike's brother, his wife and their daughter. But that was expected. They never show up for events that arent all about them.

I'm not 100% how to do this because 99% of the pictures I took include other people or their kids in them, and I am not sure if they would be happy with their pictures posted online. So unless I get permission pictures will be limited.


The Cake....

Megan blowing out her candle! A 4!!

The pinata .... (that was forgotten until the end of the party, thankfully we still had 3 kids left!)



Gifts! Megan had few helpers, however they were just too darn slow so she took over. It was so cute, she modeled each outfit.

It was really a blast and we had so much fun! She talked about her party for days! Even her favorite puppy from next door, Shiloh came over to give her a doggies kiss.

Talk about selfish!!

The other day it got very hot in the kitchen, we could not figure out why it was so hot. The AC was going full blast.

And that's when we discovered our selfish little piglet.... I mean dog.

Yes he is laying down on top of the vent!!! LOL

I'm so sick!!

I must update this blog, because we had a lot of fun events happen. But, the other day I came down with a cold. I had zero sleep in 2 nights, and I am hurting all over. My throat is killing me!!

Worst of all Megan is sick also.

Tomorrow is her birthday, and I hope we are both feeling good enough to enjoy the day.

Heart to Heart

Mike and I had a heart to heart last night. I'm not sure if I want get into the details of it but, it wasn't easy.

The bottom line is that while I know he loves me, his jokes that were funny when we didnt have any kids arent appropriate and feel insulting now that we have a child. I dont want her to think saying those things to her mother are ok. I am not sure if he understood, he said he did and that he will stop. We will see.

He on the other hand said that he doesnt feel I am loving to him as I used to be. I told him how can I be? When you make those jokes, you dont chip away at my self-esteem, that you cant change, but it does effect how I want to interact with you.

Who wants to cuddle next to a man that just made a joke about you that was not nice?

I think he has a hard time understanding why it was ok before and I laughed but, now I get upset. I guess motherhood changes you. If a my future son-in-law would say those kinds of things about my daughter he would find my shoe wedged in his booty. And he would not have my respect. Same rule should apply to my husband.

Kids and Computers.

It's important to me that my daughter has computer skills and that she knows what to do with one. She will be 4 in a few days and she is doing really well using the computer.


Her introduction to computers came with the Fisher-Price Easy-Link Internet Launch Pad.

This believe it or not is really a great product. My daughter got it for Christmas, she was 3 1/2 and had it mastered within days. And loves playing on it.

Now I got her the Petz 5 game that includes Dogs and Cats. Again another hit, she loves this game and plays it really well. I like this game also, not only does it teach her computer skills (where to click, drag, and lots of other mouse use), it also teaches her that she MUST take care of her pets, feed them bathe them, play with them and show them love.

I even pulled out all my old computer games to see what she might like, we have Zoo Tycoon she cant play it yet but enjoys playing with me and building zoo with lots of animals, the Zoo Tycoon comes with Marine Life and Dinosaurs.

I have Sims Theme park and Roller coaster Tycoon just dont know which one to install. I think she will enjoy them also.

A blogger mistake!!

Oy Vei!!

How do you know you are new to blogging, and you have no idea what you are doing?

When you set color of text as you type your entries. You learn that if you ever want to change said color, or change your blog background, you will need to edit all posts by hand. Instead of being able to change it with just one click in customize section.

And to put icing on the cake, when you do finally make a choice to change all of it, you are stupid enough to edit the HTML settings of all your entries, instead of just hitting the "remove formatting" tool.

Why do people think its OK to open YOUR mail.

You ask if you can use their address, and they say no big deal. After all they have used yours before. And all you need it for is some coupons.

All of the sudden all the mail you get is opened, like they just had to read what it said. Guess they feel they are above the federal law, no surprise really.

And the next step is, when you get coupons in mail they feel you are just getting too much and you have an obligation to share them, so they do it for you. One of you, one for "the special ones".

But, even that's not good enough. After a while, they make the executive decision that you dont need those coupons after all and they should go to "the special ones" because they deserve them more.

This all could be prevented in the person minded their own business and didnt open mail that did not belong to them. If I knew the rule was "my mailbox, my mail, my decision what I do with it" I would have never used the address. Not because I care about some stupid coupon but because of the principal behind it.

Megan wants her ears pierced.

Oh boy. She is almost 4 and she begun to talk about it... none stop, for about a month now.

We cant walk by the jewelry counter without her asking if its time to get her ears pierced. I really didnt think she would want them this fast, I dont wear earrings often, so I am not sure where she gets this.

I dont mind having it done, I'm not opposed to it at all but, my child at times has been a drama queen. I do worry that we will have them done, and time to sleep comes and she will freak out wanting them out. Not understanding that you cant go back and put them back in.

So what do we do? I kind of hoped she will change her mind, no go.

I got my first ticket!!

Ok granted I have not been driving for long. And I didnt even get it, it was Mikes fault.
What is my ticket for??? PARKING IN MY OWN DRIVE WAY!!!

Even though we have parked the same way for 7 years now, I guess somehow it has became illegal and no one told us.

The car on the bottom of the driveway was blocking the sidewalk a bit. So now in our town, you cant park in your own darn driveway.

Maybe this will finally motivate Mike to clean out the garage. We can always hope and pray.

When parents lose control.

We took Megan outside to play in her little pool, of course what child can have fun just sitting like a lump in her pool? Not ours. Ours wants us to play, and run.

Somehow, our playtime turned into a splash war between Mike and I. And our poor innocent child was caught in the middle of hostile water splashing LOL. All of the sudden we hear "You guys stop, stop now". We look up, both of us completely soaked. Our child standing in the middle soaked just as bad, she looks at us, shakes her head and says "That wasn't very nice".

However, within a minute she nods her head and says "Ok, ok not bad.... lets do it again". LOL

May I just say, being totally soaked while running around in 90 plus degree weather feels awesome!!!

Lets finish this sentence....

When parents lose control and have fun so do their kids. Lose control once in a while when having fun, your kids will be thankful.

How come?

Memories of things that happen years ago still have the power to devastate you?
To totally crush your insides and make you want to run away?

To in a split second bring you back to that day, that moment and you feel as if the wound on your soul just happened?

And the recovery from that memory will hurt just as bad as the event itself did.

Forgive but not Forget

Can you forgive just about anything? I would like to believe I am good at forgiveness, sometimes it might take me a while. But, eventually I get there.

However, there are events in your life that shape your life, shape who you are and how you see others. While you might forgive, you wont forget and that changes how you view those people and your life with them.

This to others, might seem like you are dwelling on the subject and haven't forgiven them. But, you have. Its just that the change already took place and you arent capable of the same kind of feelings as you had before.

I want to buy a PSP

I'm not sure why, no I dont really need one. But, I want one.

I can play games on it (which granted I never do but whatever), and from what my bro says I can even play some of the classic Nintendo games I love (or used to love when I was a teen).

I can put my pictures on it, music etc.

I always get into these must have gadgets and than I never use them, just ask my PDA not sure where it even is.

So why I am wanting a PSP?

To bad Megan is not old enough to justify the purchase as something for her. lol

The story of Emma Grace.

Today a friend of mine posted the story of baby Emma Grace, and it had me bawling like a baby. I though I would share it with all of you also.

"MIAMI — When she was just 2 1/2 weeks old, Emma
Grace lay on an operating table, scrawny arms and legs spread out, tiny body
dwarfed by the giant room full of steel and high-tech gadgetry. Her chest was
raised so a surgeon could get to her faulty heart. No feet were pacing outside
on her account, no eyes darting for updates.
Before she learned how to smile
or hold a gaze, Emma was given up twice — by her 23-year-old birth mother, a
drug-user, smoker and drinker who knew she could never care for the baby, and by
a 48-year-old adoptive mother who backed out when she learned of Emma's heart
condition and of her own pregnancy by in-vitro fertilization. Now the baby was
having an enormously risky procedure to give her the pulmonary artery she was
missing. She looks so sweet, thought Dr. Redmond Burke as he prepared to
operate.
"Someone has to adopt this baby," he said.
Emma Grace was born
two weeks early on Monday, March 24 at 6:18 p.m., at Baptist Hospital of Miami.
She weighed 4 pounds, 7 ounces, and spanned all of 16 1/4 inches. As the
delivery staff put a stethoscope to her chest, like they do all newborns, they
heard a murmur. A scan of her heart showed a possible defect. Emma was
transferred to the care of specialists at Miami Children's Hospital, where they
confirmed she needed heart surgery. They also found out she has DiGeorge
syndrome, a genetic disorder whose symptoms include a weak immune system.

As doctors waited for Emma to gain weight before putting her through an
operation, the couple who planned to adopt her flew in from California. They
spoke to doctors about the baby's health. Nurses noticed the woman was visibly
upset and was reluctant to hold the child. Then, two days before the surgery,
Burke walked by Emma's room and saw the adoptive mother weeping at the bedside.
"I can't adopt this baby," she told the surgeon. "She's got too many medical
problems, I'll never be able to take care of her."
But she also felt guilty
about leaving Emma alone.
"Don't worry," Burke assured her. "We'll touch her
every day and make sure she's all right."
"We'll take care of Emma."
Word of the orphan baby had spread quickly among Miami Children's nursing
staff.
"This was the first baby where there just wasn't anybody calling. It
just really got to us," veteran cardiac nurse Carol Ann Hoehn said. "We thought:
'You know what, we'll fill in the gap here."'
Teddy bears starting turning
up in the newborn's bed. Bright pink bows began adorning her head. Nurses made a
point to pop into her room and hold her. Hoehn sent out a text message: We're
having a baby shower for Emma. Are you in? The replies came back: Yes. Yes. Yes.
"We wanted Emma to always know that she was always wanted, she was always
loved and worthy to be loved," Hoehn said.
The night before her surgery,
Emma was under the care of nurse Jennifer Peterson, who was instantly smitten.
She snapped Emma's first glamor shots, capturing her yawning and napping. She
dressed her in a pale pink hat with tiny flowers that another nurse bought, so
the pictures didn't look like they were taken in a hospital. Peterson spent
hours that night cradling and rocking the baby.
"Honestly you don't know
what happens during surgery or afterward," Peterson said. She remembers
thinking: "I don't want her last memory of people not to be nice ones."
The
next morning, cardiac surgery nurse Daniel Monroe — oblivious to the orphan's
tale — went into Emma's room. Moments later, he called out to a co-worker:
"Listen, I need you to find me the parents because I'm in a hurry to go to the
OR." I'm sorry, the co-worker answered. There are no parents. When Monroe heard
that, his reaction was instantaneous. He looked at the bassinet and whispered:
"We could adopt you."
For years, he and his wife Elizabeth tried to have
children. They spent $35,000 on in-vitro fertilization to conceive their son
Paul — an especially hefty sum for a then-operating room technician and high
school home economics teacher. But Elizabeth Monroe always wanted a daughter and
it was painful to give up that dream. She felt uncomfortable with the idea of
adoption, wondering: How do you pick the child?
"Children are gifts from
God," said Elizabeth, a devout Christian. "You don't pick them out of a magazine
or out of an album... How am I qualified to say that's the perfect child for
me?"
On her last birthday, Elizabeth had a "hissy fit" with her maker.
"God, I want you to give me my baby girl," she insisted. "Drop her from the
sky, just give me a little girl."
Three months later, when Daniel called
from work to tell her about the orphan baby, Elizabeth was certain her prayers
had been answered.
"No doubt about it," Elizabeth said. "It was the baby
being dropped from the sky."
First Dr. Burke had to fix her heart. The rare
defect, truncus arteriosus, is usually fatal if left untreated, and requires a
lifetime of follow-up even if it is repaired surgically. Over six hours that
Friday in April, Burke rebuilt Emma's walnut-sized heart, using stitches thinner
than a human hair to attach a donor artery and patch over a hole.
After he
was done, Emma's heart was so swollen, the surgical team couldn't re-close her
chest. The pressure inside her heart was so high, she couldn't be taken off a
bypass machine.
"Most places in the world, she dies," Burke said.
Instead, she was wheeled over to a catheterization lab so tiny metal stents
could be used to widen arteries so small that blood couldn't get through. The
four-hour procedure did its job: The swelling subsided.
Emma was left on the
bypass machine overnight. The next day, she was taken off it and sewn back up.
She'll need another, bigger artery put in by the time she starts elementary
school, but, for now, this one is doing the trick. During her last month at the
hospital, Emma was visited by Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who
swung through during his health care tour. Burke explained to McCain what
extraordinary measures can be taken to save children like Emma. Such
interventions cost the hospital an enormous amount — at least $1 million in
Emma's case — but even so, Burke told McCain, patients in need are never turned
away. While the men spoke, McCain's wife Cindy looked intently at the infant, IV
lines coming out of her as she nestled in Elizabeth Monroe's arms.
The
Monroes had called the birth mother's attorney the day after her surgery and
made their desire to adopt known. They sent a letter, explaining their
backgrounds and professions. After an agonizingly silent Sunday, the couple
heard from the attorney a day later: The birth mother had approved the adoption.
The Monroes know it isn't going to be easy. They were reminded of that soon
after Emma's surgery, when she bled into her brain. It's a common problem for
premature babies because their vessels haven't had time to fully develop and can
rupture easily. So Emma got another piece of hardware: a shunt to relieve the
pressure in her brain.
It remains to be seen how the bleed will affect her
mental development. Experts believe that with early intervention, Emma has the
chance at a normal life. Some hospital staffers wondered if the Monroes would
reconsider the adoption after the latest ailment. But the couple is steadfast.
"We are 100 percent, totally committed to this child," Daniel Monroe said,
"regardless of what comes at us."
"I truly believe that God has put her in
our path because we can make a huge difference in her life," said Elizabeth, who
plans to take at least a year off from work to focus on the baby.
"There's
going to be a lot of moments, hard moments, we know that," she said the day Emma
was finally leaving hospital in late May. Elizabeth, having spent the night
there, was running on two hours of
sleep. "God will never
give us more than we can handle." Elizabeth has repeatedly reminded herself of
that refrain in the weeks since Emma has been home. On a recent Tuesday, she
shuttled the baby to her morning physical therapy appointment, grabbed lunch for
5-year-old Paul, then took Emma to a gastroenterologist. The doctor prescribed
medicine that seems to be helping Emma keep down her milk. As they sat in a
black leather recliner in the corner of the Monroes' living room, Elizabeth
soothed the fussy infant: Esta bien, mi vida. It's all right, my love.
Paul
bounced around nearby, missing some of the attention that used to be solely his.
But he's a proud and affectionate older brother, running to grab her pink
blankie and calming her by yanking the tail of a stuffed elephant, causing it to
play "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star."
"God has purpose in so much of this,
even the fact that we had Paul," Elizabeth said, "because most kids that have an
older sibling are always trying to catch up. She needs that incentive." A
neurologist told the Monroes a day earlier that Emma also needs constant
stimulation — something an energetic brother is happy to provide, too.
Elizabeth's friends are planning a "Welcome Home" party for Emma. At first,
Elizabeth felt it was silly to have another baby shower-like gathering, but
changed her mind after pondering all the baby had been through in her first few
months.
"She had a very rough start," Elizabeth said as she cuddled the
sleeping infant. "I want her to be so showered with love that she doesn't think
twice that somebody gave her up and somebody said: No, not for me.
"She just
deserves extra love."

Our trip to Kings Island in pictures.

It was a nasty raining day, we woke up watched some TV and Mike said "why not run out to KI?" Decision was made, we left late and not as prepared as usually but had a blast.

Weather down there AMAZING. Megan however got car-sick as soon as we arrived so first thing was a lunch. That is after we walked the 200 miles from where we could finally find parking to the park entrance.

After lunch was her favorite ride Backyardigans’ Swing-Along. She loves this ride.

She got right into the swing of things and wanted to ride the Blue’s Skido.

Funny I always get one of those "in the air can only see the top of the head" shots.

She wanted to ride the Little Bill’s Giggle Coaster, but mommy though she was too short. She isnt so next time she will.

After that her request was to go on La Adventura de Azul with mommy. We did it!

Daddy though she would hate it, but she wanted to ride the Swiper’s Sweeper, she LOVED it! Laughed the whole time.

While we were riding this ride we noticed the Dora show was on, so we went to watch it. Megan adores this show and watches it each time we go to KI.

The fun didn't end there, she wanted mommy to ride the Lazytown Sportacopters with her, we did. It was a blast. No picture, we left the camera with daddy.

Megan wanted to ride the zebra on the Nick-O-Round and she did.

Isn't she a doll?

It was time for the Nick Jr. Drivers. Uh, dont ask, I have no idea who girl in red is.

Daddy really didn't want this to happen, but Megan and mommy did! So she went on the Jimmy Neutron’s Atom Smashers. And this by far was her favorite.

And now a time came to scare the living daylights out of mommy. She wanted to go through SpongeBob’s Bikini Bottom Bash, and knew I had her swimsuit. Daddy went to buy some stuff at the Nick store and mommy let her go on her own. Megan did not come out. I ran around the thing 2 or 3 times and did not see her at all. Panic set in, fear set in. I just about lost it and finally came around the last time, I was about to notify park security of a missing child, and she came out and was talking to the park employee. While I was scared I did not want to ruin her day so we let her run through this thing 6 or 7 times. She loved it, and it refreshed our tired, hot child.

She told us Patric was frozen.

After fun in the water, we went for a ride on the Kings Island Railroad. Again no pictures, but apparently we did see a wizard (uh). Daddy got us lost on the way to the Grand Carousel, we walked and walked and walked some more but we found it!

And while Megan was read to go back and ride the Go Diego Go trucks and The Wild Thornberrys™ River Adventure, we had to get out of there. After all we still had that 200 mile hike to our car. But we still have 3 sets of tickets so we will be back.

On the way home we ran into a huge storm cell that stayed with us for over 30 miles. Megan was asleep, thankfully. It was horrible, I am shocked that Mike was able to drive in it, and words really can not describe it. I was petrified. But we made it come safe.