Springtime/Easter Photo Shoot =)

I know I'm a little early for Easter pics, but I wanted to make sure I got our Easter cards out on time this year.  I have a great and talented friend who is starting up her photography business and she is absolutely wonderful!  Take a look at these pics of my sweet angel...

You can also view my friend's website at www.capturingsweetmemories.blogspot.com

15 month check-up

Whenever I take Eden in for her routine check-ups I feel like I'm going to a job interview or something.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE her pediatrician...it's just that she is very "milestone" oriented and asks me tons of questions on new things Eden is doing or not doing based on her age.  I know this is a good thing that her doctor is so thorough, but it makes me nervous.  I feel like I have to prep for her appts ahead of time and have all the "right" answers.  I know this is ridiculous and she is just trying to make sure Eden is developing as she should.  But all babies are different and develop at their own pace.  I hate feeling like I have a checklist of things she should/shouldn't be doing.

Fortunately, she says that Eden is developing wonderfully and is exactly where she should be for her age.  I of course think she is "advanced" for her age.  hahaha  (but what parent doesn't)  :)  I am really amazed at how much she knows and understands at only 15 months!  She pretty much understands everything I ask her to do, as far as simple commands.  For instance, "go get XX", "bring XX here", "give mama hugs/kisses", etc.  She knows what most of her things are called and will quickly bring them to me if I ask.  She can pick out about 10 different pictures of things I ask, like baby, flower, angel, car, etc.  She was given a very cool birthday gift I call her "learning apple".  It has all sorts of pictures and sounds on it for her to learn with and this is one of her favorite toys.  She still loves books and will bring several to me to read to her.  If I'm on the floor with her, she plops herself down in my lap with a book as if to say "It's story time mama"!  Another cool thing she can do is point to everything on her face (eyes, nose, ears, etc) when you ask where they are. 

As far as verbally, she says a few things you can really understand like Mama, Dada, doggie, thank you.  She is trying to say a lot more, but it's not quite understandable just yet.  I guess the important thing is, is that she is trying.  Her pediatrician says that by 18 months her vocabulary should double!  Wow!  I'm excited to see what these next words are gonna be.  She also suggested teaching her some simple sign language terms as they will learn twice as many of these as they do verbalizing.  We will see how that goes these next few months.

Other than that, she is the joy of my life!  Spunky as ever, but so loving and playful.  :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

My New Venture

This is something I've been wanting to get going for a very long time!  Thanks to a loving and supportive husband, here goes...

www.jamiecakes-az.blogspot.com

Wordless Wednesday

Monkey Love

I think it’s absolutely adorable when a child has a favorite toy or stuffed animal and carries it around with them everywhere.  It’s like having their very first BFF.  We’ve been wondering which one of Eden’s vast number of toys would be the lucky “chosen one”.  (and she has A LOT to choose from)  She has so many baby dolls and stuffed animals that she could probably open up her own toy store.  Just off the top of my head I know she has a stuffed elephant, giraffe, lion, and even a polar bear!  She probably has as many animals as Noah had on his ark!  LOL

Well, at her 1^st birthday party the long search was over.  We pulled out of a very large gift bag with her new BFF (Bobby) and it was love at first site!  As soon as she laid eyes on him, she threw her little arms around him and hugged him tight, as if it was a long lost friend.  Now what kind of animal is Bobby you ask?  A MONKEY!  But he’s not just any ole monkey.  He’s a huge stuffed monkey with an abnormally large bobble head dressed in a purple jogging suit!  Gotta love it!  How did we come up with the name Bobby?  Well he already came with a name, printed on his behind!  Just like those teenage girls you see wearing sweatpants with logos on their backside, yup that’s Bobby!

So now where Eden goes, Bobby BETTER go too or she will let me know about it!  When I get her up in the morning, I better pick up Bobby too.  I learned this quickly when I got her out of the crib one morning and she threw a fit and kept pointing to her crib.  I knew she couldn’t possibly want to go back to sleep but I didn’t know for the life of me what she wanted.  So we walked over to her crib and as we leaned in she reached her little arm just far enough to grab Bobby by the ear and pull him to safety in her arms.  And the look she gave me, like how dare I forget him.  Whew!  I’ve never forgotten Bobby after that!  J

I shouldn’t be surprised that our little darling chose Bobby as her BFF.  It goes with her personality perfectly!  We even call her our little monkey.  J  Nope, no baby dolls and tea parties for our little girl.  She’s our… swing from the trees, yell at the top of her lungs, banana eating little “monkey”! 

And we wouldn’t have it any other way!

This too shall pass...

I've been telling myself that all week long just to get through each day.  This past week has been the week from H**L!!!  My poor little baby has been really sick since early Tuesday morning with high fever (101.3), diarrhea, no appetite and pure fussiness!  I took her to urgent care Wednesday and was told she had an ear infection.  They gave her antibiotics and sent us on our way.  Her fever subsided but then Friday she broke out with a rash over her entire body.  I immediately took her back to urgent care and was told she had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics, so they prescribed a different one.  They also said it might not be an ear infection after all but something viral.  Ok, that doesn't tell me a whole lot!  But the thing that concerned me most was the loss of appetite.  Let me tell you, Eden is a great eater (3 meals a day, a couple snacks and a couple bottles).  So when she goes from that to refusing EVERYTHING, I am worried!  The only thing she would take is milk in a bottle, which I supplemented with a little rice cereal to give her some kind of sustenance.  But I was worried about dehydration and what the heck could be causing this.  So this morning I took her to her regular doctor (thank goodness they have Saturday hours).  He confirmed that the rash is most likely viral and will go away in a few days.  It probably wasn't an allergic reaction to the antibiotics, but we will have to watch that just in case.  He also didn't see any signs of an ear infection, which makes me so mad that they misdiagnosed her at urgent care.  She took a 2 hour power nap this afternoon and actually ate dinner for the first time all week.  So hopefully we are on the end of the craziness.  I'm hoping for a good night sleep and a happy baby in the morning.  :) 

Happy New Year!

This year our family starts a new, exciting, and scary chapter in our lives.  My dear husband accepted a great job opportunity with a large aerospace company.  This position will open up many opportunities for him and will afford our family with the financial security we have dreamed of.  What's the catch?  Well, the job requires him to work in Afghanistan for 1 year!  Yes...Afghanistan...1 year.  This was not a decision we took lightly by any means but we are confident in the decision we made.  He gets a 1 month vacation about half way through which breaks up that long year.  We already miss him so so much and can't wait to have him home in a few months.  I am so proud of him and the sacrifice that he his making for our family.  I am truly a blessed wife. 

The transition at home has been a little rough.  Basically, I'm a "single mom" for the next year.  Let me tell you, I have a new found respect for single moms!  I thought it was a lot of work when my husband was here, but missing that extra pair of hands sure has made it a lot harder.  It took a couple weeks to get into a new routine and we are doing fine now.  It's still exhausting and I'm so done by the end of the night that I'm in bed right after Eden.  (Hence the lack of posts this past month.)  =)  I just tell myself to suck it up and be grateful that I have a comfy bed to sleep in because my sweet husband's living conditions are not so grand!

As far as Eden and her Daddy...thank goodness for technology!  We set up our S.kype accounts and she sees Daddy every night on the computer.  I was worried that she wouldn't understand or be afraid that Daddy was on the computer, but she loves it.  She smiles and waves at him as soon as we get on.  Even if I'm just checking my emails, she runs over and says "DaDa?"  We also recorded some videos of him telling her good morning and good night and singing some of her favorite songs.  She loves to watch them over and over.  There's also some great recordable storybooks that he recorded in his own voice before he left.  She listens to it every night.  We wanted to make sure that even though he is so far away that he will not be forgotten by her.

So wish us all luck in 2012 and please send a prayer out for Danny's safe and quick return home.  :)