jessica

the next lars

my baby girl, rockin' out to metallica...  makin' her daddy proud as can be.

here's the little trooper now.

  

aller-geeze

let me set the scene.  i am rusing around late last week trying to get us all out the door. the j-man has baseball and i am barking orders (find your cleats! where's your glove?) and trying to him a sandwich made and the baby ready...  i give monkey girl a few bites of the sandwich because i know she is coming up on wanting a snack and we don't have much time.  we get loaded, strapped, buckled into the car with all of our accessories and off we go.

it's about a six minute drive to the ball field. we pull into the parking lot and i make sure j-man has all of his stuff and send him off ahead of us.  then i look at monkey girl as i start to unbuckle her.  hmm. she must have rubbing her eye, i think as i glance at her face. then i see more red.  blotches. everywhere.  the eye that was red is also swelling. she has what appear to be hives all over her face. as my anxiety about the poor girl's face mounts, it hits me. maybe it was something she ate?  what did she eat?

scanning my brain, i think of the last thing i fed her. bread with peanut butter. maybe that's what it is?! ***

i strap her back in, fly home, calling hubs on the way and saying "there is something wrong here. i think we might need to take her in"...

we stop back to the ball field and let the coach know that we are going to urgent care and one of us will be back by the end of practice to pick up the little slugger.

at urgent care, the doc says "yep that's probably what it is. get her some benadryl and make an appt... and watch her breathing. if she has ANY respiratory issues bring her in immediately."  monkey girl is a little fussy and appears uncomfortable.  it took about two hours for everything to return to normal. poor baby!

*** i am going to insert a bit of  defensiveness here, because i've heard it a lot already from people. before you go all "bad mommy" o nme... please don't say "i thought you were supposed to wait until they are two or three to give them peanut butter".... i have talked to her pediatrician and he says that as long as there are no similar allergies in the famiy, we're good to go after a year. in fact, before all the peanut allergy stuff was so prevalent, j-man had peanut butter at a year, also upon doctor clearance. there is no confirmation anywhere  that giving peanuts or peanut butter to children before any age can cause allergies.  even the doc (not our regular doc) we saw said that we could not have avoided it if this is what it was.  either you are or you aren't.

we have an appointment tomorrow morning to see what's up. it's just with her regular doc, who will likely have to give us a referral to an allergist. they can draw blood at the clinic but that's about it. ugh.

so, against all odds, please pray for us, cross your fingers, send good thoughts that it's a fluke. something else. because the allergy thing, that would be just not good.

the conquerer

one year old: monkey girl

i didn't want any more time to go by before i documented some one-year milestones.  man did that go fast. i mean blink of an eye.  here are some things that i want to make note of. some are repeats from last month. i'm forgetful so i repeat myself.

• you point at your nose (where's baby's nose?) and your eyes and your ears. sometimes you miss your nose and the jabbing finger falls to your cheek, but it is so adorable. you also have to show us where our noses are, too.
• perhaps the funniest and most "obvious" thing that you are doing right now is saying "hiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee" in a happy singsong voice. sometimes it's "heeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyy!".  totally adorable.
• on demand, you give kisses (sometimes with a "mwah!" sound), hugs, and lay down and go "nigh-nigh"... you say "kiss", "ugg", and "nigh-nigh" too!
• you are forever a monkey. the climber we bought for you is already in use. absolutely unassisted, you climb up the one side and turn around and slide down the slide on your tummy. it is the cutest thing ever. you are cautious and deliberate and coordinated.
• when you are on the bed, you turn around, put your legs down first and slide down backwards on your belly til your feet hit the floor. i don't know how you learned this, you just started doing it.
• you haven't had any major accidents like falling down stairs. in fact you are not interested in the stairs. recently you approached the stairs and turned around similar to going down the slide and the bed.
• you do seem to acquire scratch after bump on your face and head... thankfully minor.
• daddy has been working with you on holding up fingers. one, two three. you have "one" down! 
• you say lots of words. in addition to mama, dada, james, jersey, you repeat the very last word of every sentence we say. no joke.  you are a word and sound mimic. you quack, roar, bark, you at least try to mimic everything.
• still babbling. long, steady streams of babble. it's as if you are talking to someone visible only to you. you're not letting them get a word in edgewise, either.
• your favorite sounds are drums, clapping, music beat. when anybody is playing rock band, you go beserk and are so excited, squealing, patting your belly, clapping your hands in front of you and above your head. if someone closes a door, you click your tongue.
• you are getting more bold on your steps. you walk around things, walk alongside your big tonka truck as if you were holding its hand, and will take 2-3 steps toward us and then decide that crawling is still better. but it is coming, as we can tell that you are doing the taking steps thing more often without thinking. i'm not going to encourage walking. just not.
  
• your teeth number juuuust about eight. we're having a heck of a time with this newest one.
• you are still a good sleeper. except for the teeth when they come in. you generally go to bed around 8 and sleep until 7:30.
• you take two naps a day. they're 1 1/2 to  2 hours long.
• everyone that comes near you gets studied. you seem to be analyzing them. sometimes you give people a complex.
• the vacuum cleaner is not your friend. it's the noise it makes. it's puzzling because you love noises that are loud and sudden.
• you're turning into more of a snuggler. it's so awesome. i'll take it while i can.
• you will not anything from a jar. if i get lazy and try to give you one of the few leftover jars of 3rd foods, you absolutely refuse. you're growing up too fast!!  you are becoming a bit of a picky eater, but definitely a big eater. i would say i wonder where you put it but your belly is big and round and it's obvious. maybe this is why you're not bothering to walk yet. you know it could be futile with all of that weight in front of you.
• you are a huge fan of daddy's facial hair. you'll poke, pull, pet his face for ages.
• you love to sing. i think you have mommy's singing voice. so sorry.
• you still have your bottle. i don't care. you're my baby. you do rock the sippy cup at meals though.
• your brother hates to hear you cry. if you're in your crib and fussing he will go in and get you. it's handy sometimes.
• we turned your carseat around. you are enjoying the view immensely.
• you felt your first grass on all fours the other day when we at baseball practice. you did NOT like it, but after patting it for a while, you thought nothing of it and motored all over the place.
• you blow on your food. every bite these days. another mimic thing.
• you won't eat things that have a mushy texture - i.e. bananas.  i don't blame you on that one and i am still trying, but you look at me like "you eat it then!"
• you're extremely patient with clothing changes. diaper changes, however, are still wrestling matches.
• you love sunglasses. you want to take mommy's off, look at them briefly and return them to my face. the last part surprises me.
• drawers and cupboards are suddenly treasure troves.
• you're still lovin' to give five... and five more.. and five more....
• you can throw a ball! and with some accuracy. j-man and daddy are the encouragers here.

it seems that every day when i look at your face it looks less "baby". i'm trying to hold on to every moment that i can. i know you won't be our baby much longer. love you monkey girl!

wordless wednesday 04.30

i'm calling it

i know i have been MIA, that's been pointed out a couple times...

i could consume my whole day... no, my whole WEEK with this cake. there are soooo many possibilities, like art on canvas! so i have to try not to overdo it. you would not believe the cleanup i have to do. in addition to getting my HOUSE cleaned up in general for the party.

six and a half hours later (too bad i'm not being paid by the hour. or at all)... here is monkey girl's first birthday cake.

the only things not edible are the green ribbon with white polka dots and the curling ribbon. i did make some edible curling ribbon (see near the bottom of the cake on the plate in the first pic) but i just do NOT HAVE THE PATIENCE. and i would have had to start this on monday.

fun friday

happy birthday to my dad....  you rock.  and to his twin, my uncle richard.

and sharin' peas with grandma.

sneak peek

i'm not going to share all of the images until next week, but in honor of  monkey girl's first birthday next week i baked a cake and did a cake smash photoshoot. it was such great fun. right up until the cleanup.  here's a taste...

don't you just want to lick those toes??

happy tax day!  may all of your refunds be fat and may you spend them on wonderful indulgences. like cake.

dishwasher monkey

alternate post name:  troublemaker.  happy friday!