Finally!

David is finally home for the summer. What a relief! I was seriously running on empty before his last day, to say the very least.


We went to the beach last week, and it was fun, even though it rained for two days straight. Maybe I'll blog about that in a few separate posts so I can spread them out. I've been hurting for topics lately.

Or maybe it's just all the craziness that's gone on since spring break. David had all these photography commitments (school dances, a wedding, a bridal portrait, not to mention co-chairing the prom), and I had Audrey A LOT by myself. It was really starting to get to me. I was getting depressed and more and more anxious, so the end of the school year couldn't come soon enough.

David was finished with school at the end of May, but it's been busy even since then. I had all these doctor's appointments that week, and then we left for the beach on Saturday. And if you've been on vacation with a toddler (is she still considered a toddler? I don't know), it's not usually a vacation. I mean, you have all the responsibilities of home, except you're living in a place that's not your own.

That's not to say we didn't have a great time, but it's not like trips before Audrey, when David and I could sit on the beach all day and read (me) or listen to music (David).

But we wouldn't trade our little bug for anything, of course. She absolutely loved the beach, just like she has since she was 6 months old.



This is the fourth time she's been, and we're set to go again later this summer. It feels wonderful to see her enjoying herself so much.

Great day:)

I wasn't looking forward to this day, since David is shooting a wedding. It seems like he's been doing a lot of extra work lately, such as managing the prom at his school, taking pictures at a middle school dance, etc. In the midst of all this, I've been feeling pretty awful. I had a stomach virus that took a couple of weeks to completely go away. I've been weak, so I thought today would be hard, taking care of Audrey all day by myself. Surprisingly, it's been a good, laid-back day. I hate to admit it, but I didn't even take her out of her pajamas today, and she slept in them tonight. Oh well. I'm not even sure what we did....just hung out, and she is such a goofball and a little angel all wrapped up in one. Exhibit A: She does this kind of goofy stuff on a daily basis. She's hilarious. Exhibit B: The sweet angel, who's become a lot more angelic since we started getting her to bed earlier. Yes, she definitely has her toddler moments, but she can charm you at the drop of a hat. She's started saying "I love you" a lot, to both me and David. It's such a wonderful thing to hear. And tonight, I had the privilege of putting her to bed. David usually does that, since he gets so little time with her during the day. They have two books they read before bed: On the Night You Were Born and It's Time to Sleep, My Love. At this point, Audrey can quote large portions of each book, so we're basically reading it together. I know them well, too, so we were just looking at each other tonight and smiling as we recited. They're beautiful books. David's always called her (and me) "my love", and the second book just reinforces that. So she'll refer to other people as "my love". I think her Papa Rick was a little taken aback when she said, "What are you doing, my love?" And recently, when David took her to the grocery store, she'd tell him what she wanted in the same way, such as, "Grapes, my love?" So I've been struck once again by the wonder of Audrey, and I wanted to write this post for the days that aren't so great. To remind me that she loves me, no matter how she's behaving.

Withdrawal

Ugh. I'm definitely suffering withdrawal symptoms since David had to go back to work this week. I know, I know...I'm just lucky that he had a week off. But Audrey got used to it, and so did I. She just loves having her daddy home, as you can see.



It's just so nice not having a schedule. And Audrey feels a lot more secure when he's home. When it's just the two of us, she's constantly asking, "What's that?" when she hears a noise. Seriously, if she just hears one of our neighbors slamming the car door, she gets scared. I don't know what that's about, but she's been scared of loud noises since she was a baby.

Easter was fun. The girls took turns hiding eggs a couple of times for Audrey. Then they helped her find them. When I say "helped", I mean they pointed out exactly where they were and sometimes even gave them to her! So cute. We got some good pics at Easter, but I have to get them from David's camera, so I'll post those later.

So anyway, we're back to the old grind...David only seeing Audrey for a couple of hours each night, which I know he hates. I know that's something that all working parents hate. Sigh.

This and that

I haven't posted in a while, not since Audrey had that health scare. I've been spending every second paying attention to her, since I'm so thankful that she's okay. I just keep thinking to myself, She could have had cancer, and we could be going to chemotherapy treatments right now. That certainly puts the little inconveniences and problems of the day in perspective.

We found Audrey's Easter dress at Target. It was such a great price, and it's even more beautiful in person. Now we have to find shoes, which I'm definitely not looking forward to.

In the past, we've gotten her one pair of shoes from Stride Rite each season that she basically wears every day. She also has a cheaper pair that she sometimes wears to church. Last spring, we found a beautiful pair of sandals at Stride Rite, and even though I cringed at the price, I knew they would last and go with everything. And they did.

It's different now, though. She's playing outside a lot more, and having just one pair of white sandals is not going to cut it. We don't know what to do. She has very sensitive little feet, but we can hardly buy two or three pairs of shoes at Stride Rite. We'll also need some that she can wear in the water at the beach and the pool this summer.

At least David's spring break is next week, so we'll be able to look around. I can't wait for him to be off!

By the way, I just had to share this picture of Audrey. Recently, she woke up from a nap with her shirt like this:



I have no idea how that happened.

Grateful (continued)

So, I left off where Audrey was supposed to go to the Children's Hospital to get blood taken, mainly to rule out autoimmune disorders. The night before we were supposed to take her, David gathered every thermometer in the house so we could check her temp. Her pedi advised that we take it orally, under her arm, and rectally (ugh).

Every thermometer we checked came up with similar numbers...in the 96 and 97 degree range. At that point, we were very confused and frustrated. Audrey had been through hell at the pedi's that day. They actually catheterized her to see if she had a UTI.

I decided enough was enough, and that one of us needed to go buy a new thermometer. We had already put new batteries in the temporal one, and it was registering the same high temps as before. So DH trekked out to CVS and bought another one. My reasoning was that the old ones, and who knows how old they really are, could be unreliable because of old batteries or what not. And I wanted results I could count on.

David came home with the new one, and we tried to take it orally. That didn't work out so well. Then we went for under the arm. And guess what? It was in the 96 and 97 range. I can't even describe the relief that swept over me at that moment, yet...the anger about the hell we'd all been through nearly overwhelmed me. David even commented that he'd like to take that temporal thermometer out to the shooting range.

This stupid thermometer is the reason my little girl was subjected to all kinds of unpleasantness at the pedi's office. As if she didn't already hate going there in the first place. And she was also very close to being subjected to all kinds of blood work at the Children's Hospital. We decided to postpone going there the next day, in light of her low temp, and just monitor the situation over the weekend.

I am going to call that company, and heads are gonna roll. I am PISSED. And so happy and grateful at the same time. It's a weird combo, believe me.

Oh, and did I mention that Audrey came down with a cold the day before this craziness, and that I was also diagnosed with a sinus infection at the same time? Oh yeah. This winter has truly sucked when it comes to being sick.

Can't take much more of this (but so grateful at the same time)

As you know, David, Audrey, and I have taken turns being sick since the first week of November. Last week, Audrey's illness took on a serious tone, to say the least. I'll go ahead and say that she's perfectly fine (except for a vicious cold), but we didn't know that then.

Audrey and I have been fighting a bacterial/viral infection for several weeks now. It's cost us several hundred dollars in homeopathic remedies. Why not take Audrey to the doctor? Because I don't want her taking antibiotics that are unnecessary. That's why I have to take such strong meds when I get sick, because I took too many antibiotics as a child.

I decided last Thursday that Audrey needed to go to the doctor. She'd had a fever since the first day of February (at least), and I was getting concerned. David took her, since I was sick in bed. I was awakened by a call from David, saying they were on their way home from the doctor's office. I asked what was wrong with Audrey, and he said, "We'll talk about it when we get home."

Yeah, I don't think so. Then he said, "Well, they've definitely ruled out cancer; the doctor wanted you to know that." Excuse me? CANCER? He then told me that we needed to take Audrey to the Children's Hospital the next day for blood work. Our doctor wanted to see if she had a long-running virus or an autoimmune disorder. Again, what the...?

To make a long story short, I completely freaked out. I called my mother in tears to explain what was going on, hoping to pull myself together by the time David and Audrey got home.

Dr. W asked if our thermometer could be the problem. We have one that measures temporally (one that you swipe across the child's forehead). We had wondered that before, when she had an ear infection recently, so we took the thermometer to the doctor. We tested it against theirs, and ours was spot on.

I can't write anymore right now because I am truly exhausted and very angry, but at least you know she's okay. More on this the next post.

Valentines

We had fun making valentines for the grandparents this year. We decided to keep it simple, just to cut out hearts and put stickers all over them. David cut out the hearts, and we just peeled the backs off the stickers and let Audrey place them wherever she wanted.





Yeah, I definitely live in my robe. Whatever. I'm been sick forever now.

Anyway, we also made one for David on the sly while he was at work. It was so much fun and so simple. Audrey loved it, and so did the grandparents, needless to say.

David and I agreed that we'd keep Valentine's Day simple this year, no gifts, just cards. And that we'd go see a movie soon or go out to eat. Well, David didn't abide by that rule, as you can see.



He had already given me a single rose on Sunday, which I was perfectly happy with (you can see it to the left of the other flowers in the last pic). He also sent me dark chocolates, which is basically the only sugar I can have, one piece a day (or sometimes two:) So basically, I feel guilty about not getting him anything, but I'm not going to let that keep me from enjoying my gifts!

We bought Audrey three books, and I've read them about a million times since we gave them to her on Sunday. She particularly likes Itsy Bitsy Spider, which contains not only the song, but also an explanation of why Itsy Bitsy is trying to climb the water spout in the first place. It's a great book.

Happy belated Valentine's Day!