New Profession?

Maybe I should rethink my current profession of choice. No, I don't mean the stay at home mom job, I'm talking about the EMT class I took, passed, but haven't finished my state certifications for yet.

My day has been great. Kyra has been a doll, as usual. And then it just went kaput in the blink of an eye.

I was busy making dinner, a wonderful taco delight, and Kyra was at the table helping me tear the lettuce. The Babies kept walking in and out of my Nanny's room, to which I thought they were bothering her. I shooed them out several times before I actually walked in to ask if they were bothering her. I look to the bed, no Nanny. I look towards the bathroom, door is open, no Nanny. Look back in the bedroom, find her slumped over her bed side table with her head, face down, buried in a box. Ya, lovely.

Respirations? Check. Pulse? Check. Obvious signs of blood or serious injury? None to be seen. Pick her up? Um, not happening. Call for back up. On the way. Call 911. Done.

Back up arrives few minutes later, pull her up and lay her out on the floor. Eww, gross, if she stops breathing I don't know if I can giver her mouth to mouth, she's got juices coming from her mouth.

Still breathing? Check. Still a pulse? Check. Air way clear? Best as I can get it. Wait for medics to arrive and do their thing.

I don't know how she's doing right now, but she's pulled through many times before, and I have high hopes for this time too. What really concerns me is that I doubted giving her life saving breaths because her face was (for a lack of a more mature term) icky.

Seriously, you can't really be a true EMT and look at a patient while thinking, "eww. I can't touch that, that's gross!" Now I understand why we wear gloves and put a face mask over their mouths.

True heroes of the story, The Babies, who wouldn't stay out of her room, forcing my attention in that direction.

Please, Make Her Go To Sleep

It is well after 9 at night and Kyra is still wide awake and insistent on playing.

At my house, her bed time is 7. At the latest she's up (although in bed) until 8. Since we've arrived here, she's not even attempting to go to bed, much less go to sleep at 7. Or 8. Or apparently not even 9.

I understand it is a new place for her, and there are all kinds of new things. To top it all off, no one even starts to get home until after 6. Thus, everyone walking in though the door creates more noise, which makes for a very difficult time trying to set the mood for "night night time". And our bedroom is one thin wall away from all the noise and foot traffic.

Good times. That's what we're having, good times.

Advice? Anyone? How do I get a toddler adjusted to a new place, but still keep her under the same set of rules?

Fried Okra and Pity Parties

My child eats and thoroughly enjoys fried okra. Eww.

Okay, so my pity party for myself is now over. Still without a tear. But I'm done feeling sorry for myself, not like it's going to help anything anyhow. I guess writing it for the whole world to see was venting enough for me. Today I'm happy and chipper, and I hear Heather has a park near her house. Think Kyra and I will be paying her a visit tomorrow!

A Good Cry

Have you ever just needed a good cry? I mean a good cry. As in tears gushing, loud wailing, and alternating punching and clutching a pillow kind of good cry?

I need one. I've thought about crying, have nearly broke down and started crying, but yet, not a tear has fallen. Not one. I cried as I dropped Jeremy off at the pier, but that was the last time. And even then it was silent tears.

I haven't had a moment to myself, to sit and be sad about my husband leaving. And I need one. I need my own 30 minute pity party all by myself. And for whatever reason, I'll let you guys read about me wanting to cry, but you're not allowed to watch me do it.

My mission for you all today... Make me feel better and tell me about something wonderful or funny that has happened to you lately, because I need a few good laughs if I can't have my one good cry.

"Home"

We've arrived. In the south. In the bible belt, where you'll find a church every couple hundred feet. We've arrived in the land of fried green tomatoes, sweet tea, and 90 degree heat in March.

I'm back "home", the place where I can't help but giggle and poke fun at my slow paced surroundings. *dum dee-dum dadum dee-dum* Where the world seems to have taken a step back from the rest of life, the rest of reality. At any given point you'll see a rifle rack in a back window of a truck, a rebel flag waving proudly, dogs running free, and children playing barefoot in the yard with no parents in sight.

And still, I'm back "home", with the slow pace of life I can't get ever seem to find while stuck in New England.

Jeremy left on deployment Friday. For 6 months. Kyra will be 2 when he comes home.

To speed things up, I chose to drive home. Because sometimes it's the slow pace of life that will make Jeremy's coming back seem that much faster.

Nooo.

Kyra's new favorite word is "Noooo."

She is just absolutely adorable when saying it too! Soft, long and drawn out. Lips pushed out like she's going to kiss something. I can't help but laugh every time she says it.

She looks at the computer and starts pressing buttons all while saying "noooo."

We shopping for clothes, she's trying to pull a tag off, "noooo."

She runs circles around the dining room table, carrying something she's not supposed to have repeating "noo, noo, noo, noo."

She quite obviously understands what the word means, but blatantly flaunts it in front of us. This is to be expected I guess, Jer and I certainly don't help by giggling away every time she says it.

My 7

I was assigned a new meme by Erica, and this one was hard. Here was my task: List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what they are. They must be songs you are presently enjoying. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

Think this would be easy right? Well, being that Kyra and I don't watch TV but listen to the radio most of the day, there are quite a number of song's I'm thoroughly enjoying lately. But I had to whittle my list of 300,000 down to 7. I picked my seven based on which ones I had the best explanations for. I thought it'd be a bit boring to list a bunch of titles and artists with my reasoning being, "I don't know why I like it, I just do."

With out further ado, I present My 7:

Kellie Pickler- Red High Heels -Every time I hear this song I think about how Jeremy told my friend Joelle that only whores wear red high heels, all while Joelle is wearing, you guessed it, red high heels. Jer and I went on a ghostly tour in Charleston, South Carolina, and the guide informed us that there's a very old (1800's?) law written in the books that whores/hookers/prostitutes (whatever you want to call them) must wear this specific color shoes to decipher them from the "Ladies" of the town.

Rob Thomas- Street Corner Symphony -I'm all about happy upbeat sounding songs, and this one is always good when I'm in a bad mood and want to snap out of it.

Dixie Chicks- Not Ready To Make Nice -More power to these ladies who fully have the right to be ashamed of coming from the same state of our doof of a president. Really, I'm certain Texas produces more productive and less destructive citizens then the Bush clan.

Carrie Underwood- Before He Cheats -Because it's all about the revenge. I may be to much of a chicken to ever take revenge myself, but you can bet that if you've ever pissed me off, my imagination has come up with something purely evil to get back at you with.

Justin Timberlake- What Goes Around Comes Around -Gotta love karma. Besides that, it has a cool new sound.

Christina Aguilera- Candyman -Its a remake, and usually I'm not fond of remakes, but every time I hear it I just have to swoop Kyra up and start dancing around with her. Makes for some silly and fun Mommy-Kyra time, and a bit of much needed exercise. The song isn't even that long and I'm still huffing it by the end.

Pink- U & Ur Hand -I don't think there's ever been a song that she's come out with that I don't like. And this one is fabulous in my book. Upbeat, fun to dance to (as I'm playing it now and Kyra is so jamming down!), and well, I just love it.

Now, who to tag? I'll go with Lindsey, CJ, TED's Wife (even though she's taking a "break" from blogging, maybe this will entice her to hurry up and come back), Sarah (because I don't know why I'm curious to know, but I am), and a few of you daring readers who are out there but never comment. Yes, you. Now go, off with your mission and report back to me when you're done.

Fatty McGee

Yes, that's me, Fatty McGee. Why, you ask? Because three days ago I bought a box of Swiss Rolls. And I've ate them. All. Much like the Peeps.

Maybe if I'd start to let Kyra eat junk food she's start putting on the pounds.

I'm such a hypocrite. I'll eat gobs of junk food but won't give Kyra even a bite. (give me some credit, I rarely eat it in front of Kyra) A lot of my reasoning is that I'm trying to raise her to eat healthier then Jeremy and I do, and then there is the fact that most of my junk is chocolate, which contains milk. However, its mostly because I'm greedy and don't want to share, not even with Jer. I blame it on my mother for having three children. It was a fend for yourself situation, and no, we were never that great at sharing.

Too bad for Kyra. She really is missing out on some tasty goodness.

Gray's Anatomy, Disappointed

I am so disappointed in you GA. What is the sense in plotting everyone against each other? Both the interns and the attendings? Its getting to be a bit much.

What kind of woman have you turned Callie into? I used to like her, but now, really, I'm so over it.

Izzy and George sleeping together? They've never been romantic with each other, not even in passing.

Meredith making nice with her father's family, this is about the only thing I liked about last night's episode.

Oh, and then you didn't show a preview for next week. Does this mean you guys are starting to run thin with ideas? With all these breaks and last night's show combined, I'd believe you're stretching yourselves thin already.

Disappointed. That's what I am, disappointed.

What's That Blue? You Found A Clue?

I, all by my lonesome, unsuccessfully fought Kyra's 103 degree temperature all of last night. I called the on call physician who told me that she is far from frying her brain (I tend to think differently, she was making me sweat just to touch her scorching hot little body) and to call in the morning to make an appointment.

And call I did, as Kyra had me up again at 6 this morning. Poor little Kyra has been poked, prodded and tortured today.

First they striped her naked, weighed her and took her temperature. She's lost more weight, coming in at 20lbs 6oz, still running a 103 fever.

Second they ran through the usual gauntlet of questions, whittling the diagnosis down to needing two necessary procedures. Kyra needed to give a urine sample via catheter as well as donate some blood.

The catheter took two tries. The first, they couldn't seem to find the right spot to produce the goods. On the second try they had just found the right spot and Kyra does it.... she urinates. All. Over. Them. It was hysterical! One of the nurses was smart and catch a good stream, enough for a sample. I was on the other end of her, whispering in her ear what a great job she did.

After that, we were sent to get get blood samples taken. Kyra could really have cared less about that. They pricked her finger. She calmly looked on, letting them do their thing and even danced to the music playing in the background while they milked her finger for more blood.

She was a champ. She did a lot better then I would have done.

They say the clues point to a UTI, but the tests wont come back for 2 days. We were sent home with antibiotics, and if she doesn't start improving by tomorrow evening we'll be back for more tests on Saturday.

I hope it all works, for the sake my much needed sleep, for the sake of Kyra's poor little body, and for the sake of Project Fat, which has been moving in the opposite direction than it's intended.

And It Just Keeps Getting Better

Let me start by painting you a picture. Kyra is asleep in her bed. Jeremy is asleep in our bed. I am down stairs, cruising the internet and listening to the TV.

Kyra starts fussing. No sounds from our bed room.

Kyra fusses a little louder. Still, no sound that Jer is aware of this.

Kyra fusses, grunts, coughs, and cries some more.

Now, let me back track for a moment. Kyra has been running a fever since last night. It was 101 last night, but has been under control for all of today thanks to Tylenol and Ibuprofen. Kyra's next dose was supposed to be about 8. She went to bed at 7, so by 8 she was fast asleep and you know what they say, never wake a sleeping baby.

I go to get the Ibuprofen because that lasts for up to 8 hours, and maybe we can have a peaceful night's sleep.

Pitter patter footsteps coming from up stairs. Sounds of Kyra fussing is loud enough to clearly hear over the TV down stairs.

Here I come to save the day! with Ibuprofen in hand. Where do I find Kyra? Standing next to our bed, crying, 2 feet from Jeremy, who has YET to wake up to help her!

Me:UM, HELLO? JEREMY!!
Jer:Uh? Huh? What?
Me: Do you not hear her crying RIGHT NEXT TO YOU?!
Jer:*silence* rolls over, goes back to sleep.

How in the hell does he sleep with his own child crying to him from 2 feet away? Really? I hear her every gasp, cough, and roll over all night long!

10 seconds ago, quite literally, I hear a loud thump followed by Kyra screaming. I run upstairs, swoop up my screaming baby, shush her, and put her back in bed. Jeremy. Is. Still. Sleeping!

Project Fat- Day 1

Even with all my coaxing, begging and eating her food to make her jealous, she won't budge. I think she is rebelling and going on a hunger strike instead. This is going to be harder then I thought...

Breakfast
2 bites of waffle
Snack
5 Blueberries
Lunch
1/2 hot dog

Snack

1/4 rice cake, 1 bite of Jello, and 2 small carrots chewed up and spit out

Dinner
3 pieces of egg noodles out of the entire plate of noodles, broccoli drizzled with olive oil

My Challenge to You

Just to clarify some things, I'm not worried that Kyra is withering away and on the brink of starvation. Its just kinda scary when a doctor tells you your kid is under weight and they want her back for an unscheduled checkup.

In my overworked imagination I'm wondering, "what it is that I'm doing wrong? Am I too strict on what I limit her foods to? Should I be making her sit at the table and eat every bite on her plate?"

So, here is where you guys and your wonderful advice come in handy. I have listed here an idea of what Kyra will eat, will not eat, and what we choose not to feed her. If you pay attention, she seems to have put her self on a fat free/low fat diet. This is where my problem lies. What can you guys think of or come up with to put some "healthy fats" into her diet. (the pediatrician kept stressing the "healthy fats" to me, thus why we're still not going to make daily runs to McDonald's for chicken nuggets and french fries)

Likes- most any fruit or vegetable I've ever given her, rice cakes, jello, chicken, fish sticks, canned fruit, crayons, shards of paper (yes Lindsey, you were one the right track), soy milk, water, limited amounts of fruit juice, pastas, pork chops, rice, potatoes (occasionally), pancakes, ham, hot dogs, lunch meat (when she's in the mood for it), turkey, cheerios

Dislikes- hamburger, steak, most any other form of meat, eggs, soy cheese, dried fruits, Vienna sausages (she used to like them, now she refuses them)

What we don't/can't give her- milk, candy, french fries, most fried foods (the occasional fast food chicken nugget is one of the few exceptions), cheese, yogurt, any food prepared with cheese or milk (and good gosh that's nearly everything Jer and I used to eat!), junk food

Now, tell me any experiences or advice you have. Ask your Mama, your Granny, your next door neighbor, Google. There has got to be something staring me right in the face that I haven't tried yet, because at this very moment she's eating a thing of blueberries. Healthy, good for the brain, and a whole lot of 0 when it comes to fat grams.

Off you go, tell me what you come up with.

18 Months

Kyra is 18 months today. *sniff sniff*

First of all, who told her she was allowed to grow up? Seriously, it wasn't me people. I have told her since the day she was born to take as long as she'd like to grow up. Much to my dismay, she has her own strong will and hard head and refuses to listen to me.

She could stand strait legged and hold her own weight by 4 weeks. She rolled over at 3 months. Although she didn't crawl until she was 7 months, she did decide two days later to start cruising the furniture. And then at 9 months, she takes off walking.

She has motor skills out the wazoo. I can not seem to slow her advancements down. Not that I want her to stop learning and advancing, just quit doing it with such quickness and ease.

Now, as much as she is learning, she still hasn't grown a whole lot. She is still 32 inches and in the 50th percentile for height, but she's lost 2 ounces in weight. Really, 2 ounces! She went from 21lbs 11oz here to 21lbs 9oz today. As far weight goes, she's in the 10th percentile. MOST 12 MONTH OLD BABIES HAVE MORE MEAT ON THEIR BONES THEN SHE DOES! And just so you can get a mental picture of how scrawny she is, you can clearly see and count three ribs.

I was quite convinced there was something wrong with her. She must have a tapeworm or something to explain this. Nope. Instead, it's because of two reasons. 1)she's allergic to dairy, thus gets very little of the fat intake most children her age receive and 2)she is the pickiest eater to ever grace this earth. And when she does eat, it's only in small portions. Her in between meal snacks are usually the same equivalence to her meals. (that is unless she goes through a quick 6 week growth spurt and eats me out of house and home then abruptly stops eating again)

We were sent home with the mission to fatten her up. We are to find ways to get her to eat larger portions for meals. We are to find ways to put "healthy fats" into her diet, such as putting olive oil on her pastas and veggies, finding ways that she'll eat eggs (who knew eggs were fatty?). And in 3 months we are to have another "well baby" check up to see if she has put on the pounds. The whole 3 month check is kinda scary for me. Makes me think this whole skinny thing is serious. They usually don't do another one for 6 months, when she turns 2.

Gracious, she's going to be 2 in six months. A big, fat, whopping 2. Now I see where people tend to forget the crappiness of pregnancy and would do it all over again to have another little baby. I want my little baby back. Just for a minute. Just to cuddle and coo over a few more times.

Razul?

Razul is Kyra's baby babble version of Rachel, her BFF.

Today Kyra has been obsessed with Rachel, from the time she woke up this morning until we put her to bed.

Jeremy: Kyra, we gotta go to church.
Kyra: Razul? (trying with all her might to get the front door open)
Me: Yes, Rachel will be at church too. Come on. Out the garage door.
Kyra: Razul? (picking up her pace to the other door)
Jeremy: Yes, the garage door will lead you to Rachel.

The front door obsession with Rachel continued after we got back from church until we put her down for her nap.

After Kyra's nap this afternoon we find a stain on Kyra's bed sheets. (she's had the runs all day, use your imagination to figure out what the stain is from)

Me: Kyra, who stained up your bed?
Kyra: Razul.
Me: Jer, check her PJ's to see if she leaked last night.
Jeremy: Nope, nothing.
Me: Well, there's nothing in her pants that she's wearing right now, and that's what she took her nap in. *looking back to Kyra* How did this get on your sheet?
Kyra: Razul.

Wonderful, she's already telling lies on her best friend, who's no where around the scene of the crime. I thought the lies were still a bit farther in our future...

We get ready to go out to dinner, as my fridge is looking gloomy and baron.

Me: Kyra, ready to go bye-bye?
Kyra: Razul?
Me: No, honey, we're not going to see Rachel, we're going to dinner.
Kyra: Razul? *moving closer to my face, for emphasis I can only assume* Razul?!

Girls Night Out

I'm excited I am headed to Georgia very soon, as Jeremy is going on deployment and I have a summer filled with traveling. I'll be staying at my mother's house so that as I do my traveling she can watch The Babies for me. This way I can avoid having to pay a costly boarding fee.

When CJ heard that I'm coming "home" she had a brilliant idea... Some how a couple of my high school girl friends and myself have scuttled together a very vague plan to all get together for a "girls night out" thing. I. Am. Thrilled!

I haven't seen CJ since my sister's wedding in October. Heather has been absent since she graduated from high school. And Lindsey, well, I remember passing Lindsey in the halls, but I never did "know" her. Wish I had though, seems like an awesome chic!

Ahh.... what fun it will be.

I have never had a girls night out. I've always been more into hanging out with the boys because girls are too bitchy and catty. But these girls, these girls are different. No bitching, except about our own lives, no cattiness, for we are mature (I think) and have nothing to be catty about.

Day 4-Lack of Sleep

That's right, day 4 people. And yesterday, I even told him that it would be nice if he would get up with her in the middle of the night once in a while. Boy was I just waisting precious oxygen.

She cried at 4. I got up, shushed her back to sleep. She cried at 6. I put her back to bed while my loving husband rolled over to get more comfortable.

His alarm goes off at 6:15. Must have been nice to get those few more minutes of extra sleep.

To top it off, I bet it was a nice 30 minute shower he took while I listened to her scream in my ear as I begged her to lay down with me.

**As my sister pointed out to me yesterday, I sounded pitiful and pathetic complaining about having to get out of bed before 7 in the morning. My point to the story was that I have had to get up before 7 after having already been up all night. Now, someone feel bad? Aside from Heather, who, from her comment, has been in my shoes and knows how I'm feeling.

Sleep? Anyone?

I have been up with Kyra for 3 nights now.

For 3 nights Kyra has decided to scream, cry, or kiss me to wake me up before the sun is up.

It has been 3 mornings I have had to get up before 7 am.

2 of these mornings Jeremy had to go to work.

Jeremy has a cold, he went to bed at 6:30 last night. He doesn't have to go to work until noon today. Can you guess who is up with Kyra at 6 am because she thinks it's playtime?

Hugs and Kisses

Kyra has figured out this hugging and kissing thing. She loves to climb on me, wrap her arms around my neck and give me a good squeeze. She also loves to plant long sloppy kisses on my mouth. And not just any old kiss, but the kind where she likes to create suction on my lips to make the "muah" sound. It goes from being heart melting sweet, to kinda creepy.

All in all, she's learning affection. She's learning how to make one more tight wrap around my little finger. Damn her and her cuteness.

Proud

Wanna know where I've been the past few days? Thursday Jer and I cleaned house. Friday our company arrived, Jer's Uncle and Aunt-n-Uncle.

Wanna know why we had company? Kyra, Jeremy and myself were all baptised into the Catholic church. Jer and I were also confirmed and took our First Communion.

Leave it to Kyra to be the comic relief for the service. She decided in the middle of the whole thing to take her shoe off, then promptly demand it to be put back on.

While I grew up in the church, Jer was a convert of sorts. And Kyra, well, now Kyra doesn't have to go through attending a church she can't take full part of like I did growing up.

I'm proud. I'm proud of my faith. I'm proud of my family. And Sunday, I went from being mortified of standing up in front of the whole church, to completely satisfied as I took my First Communion. Whether you believe in the same things as I do or not, I hope you guys are proud of me too. Proud of me for accomplishing something I've been putting off for several years now.