Back to school, back to school...

...to prove to Dad that I'm not a fool. I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight. Ohhhh, back to school. Back to school. Back to school...

For the first time in 8 days, Brenna went back to school today. She was very happy to see her friends. These pics were as we were getting in the car after her first day back.

Me: "Brenna, did they miss you?"

Her reaction to my question:

I think it meant, "Hell, yeah, they missed me. I'm the life of the infant room! Those babies just lay around pooping and peeing in their diapers without me around."

P.S. Mom/Dad, that quote in the beginning is from an Adam Sandler movie, Billy Madison. I'm not on crack.

Sick Baby

Help! I'm sick, and they are drugging me through this crazy machine...

Brenna was so sick the past couple of days, but she's feeling better and probably even headed back to daycare tomorrow.

Last week she had a mild cough. Nothing alarming. But, then on Sunday night, Jamie and I both could have cried. We never heard our poor baby so sick. She coughed so much I worried that she wouldn't be able to catch her next breath. She was up all night coughing and crying, and when she did take short little naps out of pure exhaustion, they were all while laying in my arms. Any time I tried to lay her back in her crib, she screamed.

Monday morning Brenna and I were both coughing and physically drained. I called myself out of work, and Jamie called Brenna out of daycare. I took her to the doctor at 3:00 after speaking with a nurse about her symptoms. He said there was a definite wheeze in her lungs, and he diagnosed her with RSV (http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/lung/rsv.html). He said he was glad I brought her in and didn't just brush off the cough (which I considered because there is not much to do anymore since all the infant cold and cough medicines were pulled from the market recently).

He told us that RSV is only contagious in the beginning, and the cough might linger, but she should feel healthy again soon.

I was told to put Brenna on a nebulizer and give her albuterol, and I had to bring her back the following day for her regular 6-month-appt. (without immunizations because she was too sick) and to check her lungs again.

Brenna hated the nebulizer, and it was hard to give to her, but she fell sound asleep on Monday night and slept straight through for 12 hours. I thought she was getting better.

Jamie stayed home from work with her on Tuesday, and she was cranky all day but not coughing as much. Jamie and I both took her back to the doctor (it was his first doctor visit with us), and the doctor said that her lungs sounded good, which was great news and meant the albuterol was working.

Her six-month stats were:

Length: 28" in the 95th + percentile
At six months, I was 24" and her giant father was 30"

Weight: 16 lbs. 15 oz. in the 75th percentile
At six months, I was 16 lbs. 1 oz. and my porker husband was 22 lbs.

Head: I forget, but 25th-50th percentile

Brenna has consistently had a small head for her body.

Because it was her six-month-appt., the nurse asked if Brenna could sit supported and roll along with many other questions on her list, and I said yes to all of them. I had to defend myself when I explained how we actually put her on her belly to sleep (Brenna would flip that way within 2 seconds anyway), but I felt the nurse wasn't buying it.

When she left to get the doctor, Jamie said to me, "Why didn't you tell her she can sit unsupported and has been rolling forever!" (Tummy to back for 5 months/back to tummy for 2.5 months). I told him that they weren't impressed by that, they just wanted to make sure she was doing the minimal developmental milestones a six-month-old should be doing.

Brenna must have overheard him because then she decided to show off for them even though she wasn't feeling her best.

The nurse put her chart on the table, and Brenna flipped over immediately. Her eyes became like Beethoven the dog from the movies when he knew food was nearby. She wanted that chart and she wanted it then, and she went from one end of the table to the other in a blink of an eye to get it. The nurse was like, "Whoa!!!! Someone can move! Looks like she is going to be walking early." Brenna then physically fought with the doctor who was trying to check out her eyes and ears, and I had to hold her down to get it done. The doctor commented that she knew what she wanted.

We were given a prescription for more albuterol and flouride (which is not in our water), and we were told it was up to us when we wanted to send her back to daycare. She had been out for over a week, and we needed to work, so we considered sending her back today.

After the appointment, I was talking to my mom on the phone when she heard Brenna coughing through the phone and through her monitor. She said there was no way Brenna could go to daycare yet, and she immediately decided to take off herself to take care of her today. Which worked out great because Brenna was up all night long again on Tuesday night (I slept for 3 hours total). Thanks for helping us, Gram!!

Brenna had a good day, and she seems much better tonight. We are continuing with the nebulizer for another week, but she has not coughed once tonight since going to bed!

Like my nebulizer? It's mine. You can't have it.

Yuck.

I seriously hate this thing. I even like food more!

Mom, I took it for the full five minutes. I'm done now, right?

I'm not even sick.
I'm so strong, I'm going to stand in my pack-n-play to show you!

Thanks for the early Christmas present/pity gift, Mom and Dad!
It tastes like lead.

Hi, Giraffe. I'm Brenna.
We will be seeing lots of each other in the months to come.
Actually, I hope you won't be seeing as much of me and they dress me next time we play.

I'm headed off to bed to pray for a night of sleep and no more coughing - from her room anyway. I've probably coughed 100 times while writing this post. But, I would take it from her in a second, and so would Jamie. It was very hard to watch our baby be sick for the first time, and this is just the beginning!

Eagles game

How are the horrible Eagles beating the "best-team-ever-put-together-in-football" New England Patriots? It's 28-24 in the fourth quarter.

A.J. Feeley is the Eagles' quarterback tonight as Donovan McNabb is hurt. This happens every season. A.J. Feeley and Jeff Garcia have carried the Eagles through the playoffs in years past and Donovan ruins it all. This year, it seems the season is already shot, but how in the world are they beating the Patriots right now? Wow.

The real purpose of this post is to remember that A.J. Feeley drove me home from a bar five years ago when I lived in Philadelphia. My friends left me in a bar as I was talking to him (they were trying to "help" me), and he offered to drive me home. I was too much of a wimp to say anything to him except for thank you as I was getting out of the car. Well, to be honest, I had had so many cocktails that he probably wanted to kick me out of the car by the time we got there, but it was definitely one of those fun nights I like to remember.

It's a good thing I was a wimp/drunk, because if he had taken my number or (gasp!) come in my apartment, he probably would have fallen madly in love with me and I'd be on the sidelines of the Eagles game blowing him kisses right now. Which is where Tom Brady would see me and steal me away from A.J. after deciding that Giselle has nothing on me.

Yes, that is what would have happened.

On another note, Jamie is snoring on the couch right now. But, he's better than any professional football player. He did, afterall, win fantasy football today :)

The rest of Thanksgiving weekend

It was a great weekend.

On Friday, we left my in-laws mid-morning (after picking our Secret Santa names) to drive home. Later on in the afternoon, we went to my mom's cousin's house for an annual family party. We are lucky that this particular cousin lives about a mile away from my house :)

My immediate family

After the party, Jamie and I went home and put Brenna to bed. A couple of hours later, our friends Jackie, Mike, Mark and Andrea came over. It was so much fun to see them. Jackie and Mike live around the corner, so I see them all the time, but I rarely get to see Mark and his wife. I was really good friends with Mark growing up, and he moved to Brooklyn when we graduated from college. (He is now an important editor and Andrea is a lawyer, so I don't think they are moving back here any time soon.) But, I love seeing them when they are in town!

Saturday was a relaxing day. I packed away all of Brenna's 3-6 month clothes and tried to figure out what 0-3 and 3-6 month stuff I could put aside for Kara's baby boy who will be born in less than two months! With all the pink and flowers, I have to say, there wasn't much.

Saturday evening we attended a very special party - my cousin Jimmy's Homecoming (from Iraq) Party at my aunt and uncle's house. It was a ton of fun, and we went from 7:15 until almost 11... and Brenna stayed up the entire time. We probably ruined her schedule for weeks to come, but it was worth it. Here are some pictures from Jimmy's party:

I heard it was even more fun after we left. There were probably 70-80 guests, and those that stayed late night actually began dancing in the basement (my cousins have a game room set up in their basement with a jukebox). Jimmy and his girlfriend Katie danced to My Boyfriend's Back, which my mom said was really cute. My parents didn't get home until after 2 in the morning.

Today we woke up early (despite Brenna's late bedtime) and we went to a Baptism for our friend's baby boy, Joseph. It was the first time we saw the seven-week-old, and he was too cute.

A bunch of my high school friends

Tonight, after the Christening party, Brenna decided to do something new. She ate food! Maybe it was the spirit of Thanksgiving, maybe it was the fact that she's a big six-month-old now, but whatever it was, Brenna decided that sweet potatoes are not all that bad. She didn't love them, but she decided that if she held the spoon with me, she'd tolerate them...

I didn't say it was pretty. It was a HUGE step though, and I don't care if she has to eat sweet potatoes until she can cook sweet pototoes herself, she actually swallowed solid food without screaming her head off. It was amazing.

Finally, it was so nice to spend four full days with Brenna, and I'm sad that it's back to our normal schedule tomorrow. Especially since Brenna and I both have a cough, and her cough is really bad at night, so she just clings to us and needs to be held for much longer before she's down for good. It's hard to think about being apart tomorrow. I can't wait until Christmas Break now!

Recap of my first Thanksgiving

by Brenna

On my first Thanksgiving, Mommy dressed me in my Thanksgiving dress, and Daddy drove us 2 hours to his Mommy and Daddy's house. Grandma and Pop were happy to see me.

I got to spend lots of bonding time with Lilly, the dog that should have been my dog. Lilly was Mommy and Daddy's dog up until 3 weeks before I was born. I wish she was my dog, I loved touching her soft fur and letting her lick my face. Isn't she cute?

Lilly

At first I tried to get away from her.

But then we said hello to each other.

I wanted to bring her home with us, but unfortunately my Daddy is not really a "dog person" like Mommy is. Poor Lilly did lots of bad things (like rip the entire back off the couch, chew the sides of the stairs up, and pee-pee all over the house) that caused Daddy to really fly off the handle. Lilly was a rescue puppy from Hurricane Katrina, and when Mommy and Daddy adopted her 2 years ago, she was never quite right in the head. She would pee-pee whenever someone talked to her or came into the house. Mommy spent most of her free time cleaning up after Lilly between the carpet cleanings and the endless shedding hair, but she loved her anyway. Daddy, however, disliked Lilly so much that he wanted to send her to the dog pound.

Luckily, Grandma and Pop saved the day, and they said that Lilly could come live with them so that she didn't have to go to the dog pound (and so Mommy and Daddy didn't have to get divorced). Grandma and Pop already had a big puppy named Rylee, a beautiful Golden Retriever. I liked spending time with her, too. She was jealous of me though because I got so much attention from everyone. Imagine if Mommy had named me Riley, her original choice in names for me. I bet Rylee would be really jealous of me, then!

Rylee and Me

I played with people, too! Here are some more pictures of my first Thanksgiving:

With my great grandparents

With Brendan, Sean and Alexa

With Aunt Courtney

Pulling Kayla's hair

Saying goodnight to my new friend

Kisses for me

I liked Thanksgiving so much, and I was very difficult to get to sleep. I woke up crying at 2:00 a.m. The pack-n-play in the same room as Mommy and Daddy is just not the same luxury I'm used to. But, Mommy and Daddy rocked me and sang to me and told me that they loved me.

When I finally went to sleep for good, I decided that I am very thankful for my family.

Happy Thanksgiving!

As we get ready to head out to spend Thanksgiving with 26 or more of my in-laws, I have never had so much to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving Eve

Jamie had off from work today, so Brenna stayed home with him.

We realized this was the first full day the two have spent together without me... ever. How sad is that? I've been alone with her a million days, and yet they have never spent a day without me!

This morning Jamie and I both got up with Brenna for her morning bottle (at 5 something - earlier than normal), and then we all went back to sleep. At 7:00, I woke up and got in the shower with no interruptions. I did my hair and dressed without anyone to worry about but me. It was surreal. My first thought was, "Today is like old times!"

But then I remembered that today is Thanksgiving Eve, the biggest "going out night" of the year. Which got me remembering/comparing....

Thanksgiving Eve, 10 years ago
My friends and I were sophomores in college home on our first break of the year. After a drunken night out, I dumped my purse over in my friend's car and left behind my keys and other contents. When I realized this at my parents' front door, my designated driver friend had already driven off and I was too afraid to ring the bell and wake my parents up. So, my best friend, Kelly, and I slept in my car in the driveway. My laundry, which I had not yet taken out of the car, acted as our blankets and provided us minimal warmth for the 30 degree night. My mom found us when she went to get the paper in the morning.

Thanksgiving Eve, 5 years ago
I was a 23-year-old "young professional" working in the city. This is the time I will always consider the prime "having fun" time of my life. (I met Jamie 7 months later, so it was a great year!) That night, I met more than 20 friends in Conshy, and we took a school bus into the city. I brought along and introduced my college friend/roommate Dannielle, to my high school friend, Sean. Dannielle and Sean got married last September! But that night five years ago, they flirted like crazy. It was their beginning... Sean called me the next day to tell me how much he liked her, so I didn't tell him that she was dating 3 different guys at the time. Obviously, he won :).

Thanksgiving Eve, Tonight
I am sitting here...alone. Jamie is DJ'ing. Brenna is sleeping. Around 10:00 p.m., Brenna woke up crying through the monitor. I went up to her room and held her as she fell back asleep. When I went to lay her back down, she began crying again. I said, "Okay, Brenna, I'll rock you a little longer." Her eyes flew open, she looked at me and smiled a huge smile and put her head on my shoulder, gripped my shirt/hugged me, and fell back asleep. I realized she's getting manipulative - she just wanted me to hold her, she knew exactly what she was doing. She's getting really funny.

I have to say, today really wasn't like old times at all, but this was my greatest Thanksgiving Eve so far.

Little School Girl

Brenna had class pictures at daycare yesterday, so she wore her school girl dress from Karen and Richie! She was tired, but she looked so cute in it.

Laundry

Who knew doing the laundry could be so much fun?

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

You know how a lot of people complain that Christmas starts way too early these days? Well, I do agree with them when it comes to the commercialization behind it, but I am 100% in support of Christmas starting early. I personally wish Christmas was all year long.

I just get such a great feeling at this time of year, which shouldn't begin for at least another week, but I don't care! And, this year I have a baby, so I have license to feel like a kid again myself.

We live close to one of the best malls in the country, and today we went there to meet Jamie's brother Ryan at the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. (Our neighbors gave us a $50 giftcard for letting thier dog out recently. Remind me never to ask them to keep an eye on Brenna for a minute... I'll owe them a Four Seasons gift certificate for the precedent they have now set!)

Well, in typical fashion, the Cheesecake Factory had an hour wait, so we decided instead to go to my favorite place, California Pizza Kitchen. It was Brenna's first trip to a restaurant other than Mack-n-Manco's Pizza at the Jersey shore when she was only one-month-old. She just slept at the shore, but this time she happily sat with us and took in the sights.

After lunch, we shopped. Actually, we really just talked about things we'd rather buy at Target, played with gadgets in Brookstone, aimlessly roamed the too-expensive baby stores, and visited the Bloomingdale bathrooms for a half hour to change Brenna's diaper, get her situated in the baby carrier, and talk to the strangers that talk to us now because we have a baby and they have 35-year-old babies, so we have something in common :) (I'm kidding, I actually enjoy meeting these strangers, but the whole concept of talking to me now that I have a baby is so new, I'm still not used to it!)

And then it happened. As we were contemplating leaving, we saw the big man himself - Santa Claus.

We were on our way out, but I begged Jamie to please let us visit Santa first. Because it is so early in the season, there was no line. It was perfect.

When Brenna sat on Santa's lap, she just looked up at him. She was fascinated! She wasn't scared at all. I guess when you are almost six months, every day is a new adventure, so there is nothing alarming about a large, jolly fat man dressed in red with a white beard.

She had such an innocent curiousity, though, that shoppers actually stopped in front of the Santa display to point at Brenna and Santa. The line that was slowly forming to get their pictures behind us was full of smiling, laughing people that thought this baby meeting Santa for the first time was adorable.

Santa told Brenna that she just had the bluest eyes and that her Mommy and Daddy loved her very much. I think he was having trouble thinking of things to say to a baby that could not talk back on his second day on the job. But, regardless, he was a great Santa!

What a racket the mall has going, though. They don't allow you to photograph the cute event yourself, and the "packages" for the crappy pictures they take are insane, but we bought the cheapest one they had (which wasn't cheap for what it was) and scanned it in....ugly border and all:

And then we took some ourselves, in front of the tree, before we left:




It was a great day. And, as of this weekend, Christmas Season has officially begun in our house!

Long week's end

It was an exhausting week. The weather got cold, a lot had to be done at work leading into the Thanksgiving holiday next week, and Jamie and I didn't get quite enough sleep each night (not Brenna's fault, we just were too busy). I'm so glad it's Friday!

So, to celebrate the weekend, I dressed Brenna in her first pair of Christmas pajamas (of at least 7), so that we can begin getting our wear out of them! :) Brenna looked cute, but her little baby blues were so tired she couldn't even muster a smile!

Goodnight!