Melina's 2-month well-child check

I took Melina in for her 2-month well check. She's 9 lbs even (52%) and 21 inches long (66%). I'm so proud of how well she's growing. Of course, she got her first round of immunizations which she wasn't too happy about. She started to really smile at us over the past couple of days and she started to coo yesterday. She is such a precious little baby, we are so very blessed!

Tracie likes Selena Gomez

Tracie loves to sing and dance to this song every time they preview it on tv. I got Deidra singing to Justin Bieber and now Tracie likes Selena Gomez. Well, at least they're music lovers in this house. Nothing wrong with that, I guess.

And my period has arrived already...

Baby just turned 2 months old yesterday and today my period came back. YUCK! I was hoping that it would have held off a bit longer. But, oh well. Welcome back monthly cycles. ;-) A friend of mine said "your body is ready to make another baby." My response is "we'll see what happens. lol" We'd love to have one more baby if possible...so we'll see what God has in store for our family. :-) I'm curious as to if my cycles will go back to how regular they were when I got pregnant with Melina or if they'll be sporadic like they were for a long time.

2 months old and first smiles

I cannot believe that Melina is 2 months old today! She is finally starting to feel a little bit better from her ear infection as well. I hate seeing her in so much pain and crying because she's hungry, but yet not wanting to swallow because it hurts. We actually had to syringe feed her a little bit this morning because she was fussy and rooting but wouldn't take the bottle. We got a little bit in her tummy that way, before she started to spit it out that way too. My poor little sweetheart!

Yet, tonight, she sat on my lap and I was talking to her and she just started giving me these big gummy grins. She made Mommy so happy! I'm so glad too that she is finally starting to feel a bit better.

Melina has her first ear infection

After a day and a half of screaming and not wanting to eat and being majorly fussy, I told Andy that I thought we needed to bring her back to the doctor. They fit her in and I explained that she's been really fussy which isn't like her, she's still congested and coughing, and she's screaming when we're trying to feed her and not wanting to swallow. I had had a little bit of a sore throat and runny nose, so I wasn't sure if her throat was sore too. The doctor said it sounded more like an ear infection going on. Sure enough, he checked her ears and the left one was red. He put her on some antibiotics and some ear numbing drops and told me to give her tylenol (well, the off-brand) for pain every 4-6 hours. My poor little sweetheart, I hate seeing her like this.

Accidents, accidents, accidents...

I really don't know what to do about Josiah and all this accident stuff. I really think it's turning into a control issue with him or something. He was fully potty trained for a long time, I went into the hospital and he started wetting his pants on my brother who was watching him. Never made a big deal out of it, just changed his clothes. I came home with Melina and it continued. We expected some sort of regression, again, we never made a big deal out it...changed him, did the laundry, no big deal. Well, the baby is 8 weeks old now and he's still doing it and what is really bothering me is that he knows that he has to go, he'll go into the downstairs bathroom (just a potty and a sink), proceed to stand right in front of the toilet and sing or talk or try to play with the toilet plunger and he comes out of the bathroom a few minutes later and the pee is all down the front of his clothes and yet he won't tell you until you happen to notice that he's wet. I changed him this morning and went upstairs to go get him some clean underwear to find that he didn't have any clean ones. Today is his laundry day, so I went and popped his clothes into the washer and told him that he'd have to wear a pull-up until I could get him some clean underwear...Tracie's the only one that still wears a pull-up at night, so of course it's a girl one and he had a fit about that which resulted in him fighting me to put it on and then he proceeded to throw a 45 minute tantrum afterwards (in his room). I just am at my wit's end with knowing how to handle it. I'm going to bring it up at his psychiatrist's appt this afternoon, but I'm really starting to think it's a control issue with him, but I need him to start using the potty regularly again before school starts in the fall. UGH! I make sure to praise him when he uses the potty big time...Tracie regressed too, but she hasn't hand an accident in a few weeks now. Like I said, we expected it with the new baby, but I would have thought that he would have been past this by now.

I love to watch Melina grow...

She came home from the hospital without any eyelashes. They've been starting to grow in this month. I've loved to watch them come in and now she has some long eyelashes. I love to watch her and take her in. She is such a sweet little baby. I love to hear her little noises. She coos a teeny tiny bit, but more often than not she just thinks about talking to us and you see this look of determination come across her face and then she lets out a big coo/sigh and then she goes back to taking in what you're saying to her. So funny! I think the most favorite sound that she makes though is something she's done ever since she was born. She makes this little nah-uh sound that we've always laughed about. We laugh and say she's practicing saying "no" already. So, we ask her questions and she answers us with her little "nah-uh." And we giggle. I just think it's adorable. She is trying so hard to focus too and that makes her go cross-eyed sometimes. It always makes me laugh. She still gets the hiccups most of the time after she eats too. And she still continues to love to be held and talked to and she doesn't like to stay still for long. If the car comes to a stop and she's awake, she'll start to cry. If the grocery cart comes to a stop for long, she's going to cry. Something tells me that she's going to be a mover once she learns to get mobile and she's already starting to scoot herself during tummy time. She gets herself all turned around on that tummy. She's really holding her head up really well too. My strong little sweetheart!

My little sweetheart is sick...

Melina started out yesterday with a bunch of sneezing and coughing. She woke up this morning and her cough was much worse. She's been coughing so hard and for so long, that she throws up whatever she manages to eat. I called the doctor and they weren't able to see her until 3 pm. I brought her in and explained everything and he told me to use saline drops in her nose before she eats and when we hear the congestion. He thought that may help a little bit. Otherwise, I was just given a list of things to watch her for and if she develops a fever of 100.1 or her respirations get too fast or she's struggling to breath he needs to know right away. We also have to watch her for dehydration. I'm just glad that for now she's ok. She hasn't been around anybody that has been sick that I am aware of, but the littles are always trying to help and they get their hands all over her pacifier and bottles and maybe one of them was carrying something and passed it on to her. Who knows. I just feel horrible for her.

RIP Eeyore

Andy went downstairs to make Melina a bottle around 5 this morning and saw a cat laying in front of the stairs. He really didn't think much of it...just thought it was a weird spot for one of them to lay. He got up later for work and came downstairs again around 6:30 and the cat was still laying there. Little Eeyore didn't really move much and he noticed she was breathing really hard. He came up to tell me that he thought something was wrong with the cat and I came downstairs with Melina. Eeyore just laid there. When I sat down to pet her and talk to her she didn't move, but tried to wag her tail...just little motions. I knew something was wrong. Andy is swamped at work right now, but Melina is sick and I knew I couldn't try to take all the kids and the sick kitty into the vet. So, he said he'd take the cat to the vet. We loved on Eeyore for awhile and when Melina cried, E got up and tried to walk, but she didn't go but a few steps and she just laid down again. I felt so horrible and we had not a clue of what was wrong. The vet across from our house opens at 7:30, but it isn't our regular vet. I gave Eeyore one last pet and a kiss on the head and I had Andy try to take her in there, but they were too swamped to try and see her. So, he waited until 8 and took her to our regular vet and they fit them in. The examination found that she was full of fluid and had contracted the FIV virus when she was a kitten and it must have laid dormant all this time. She would have turned 8 on the 4th of July. Anyway, the vet said there really wasn't much he could do for her and he felt it was best to put her to sleep as she was really sick. So, Andy was with her as they put her to sleep. He called me around 8:30 and Melina was screaming so he said he'd call me back. I thought that was an awful quick vet visit and I asked if everything was ok. Andy said "no, we had to put her down" and he started sobbing. Deidra woke up after that and I had to tell her what happened and I started to cry. This was our first pet that we've ever had this happen to and it wasn't easy. Andy got home a few minutes later and we explained to everyone what had happened. The littles really didn't understand, but Deidra was pretty quiet and then went up to her room. I took the littles to Mother's Day Out and while I was gone, Deidra and Andy buried Eeyore in the backyard. When I got home, he was putting a little cross (made out of rocks) over where she was buried. This all came on so suddenly...yesterday she was resting on our bed and playing with the other kitties. We're going to miss you, Eeyore. RIP! We love you!

6-week check up after having Melina

I was actually 7 weeks post-partum but we had company all last week so oh well...lol. Blood pressure is still elevated at 160/100 and my blood sugars have been a little whacky, although I was relieved that he still didn't think that I needed to be back on the insulin so that is good. Gotta make a follow-up with an internal medicine doctor to keep track of it. I plan on keeping up with trying to lose weight and hope that will help too.

Baby sling...

I just ordered a baby sling, a mei tai, off of ebay so that I can wear Melina. She's a cuddler just like Deidra was (and still is), so it willbe nice to have 2 hands free when I need to run after the other kids. I thought the fabric was pretty cute for a girl too.

I think Deidra has her first crush...

She is planning her 10th birthday party and wants to take a bunch of her friends in a limo to go see Justin Bieber in concert. I asked her if she was paying for it too...she says everyone can just pay for their own ticket. yup, sure...I told her she better get to saving then...lol

A visit from Racheal

Racheal flew in late Wednesday night and stayed with us until Sunday morning. It was SO good to see her again. We had a lot of time to chat and she was a huge help with the kids and all too. It was so nice to have someone that didn't mind all the kids and was used to running their own circus as well. Thursday, we toured Waxahachie and then drove out to Cedar Hill and spent some time at Uptown Village. After Andy got home, we ate dinner and then went up to Applebee's for some drinks and dessert. Friday while the littles were in Mother's Day Out, I took her down to the square (with Melina and Deidra) and we shopped the Square and had lunch at The Dove's Nest. Friday night, we went to watch the start of Josiah, Emily, and Tracie's first t-ball game and then we had to leave to take Deidra to her volleyball game. Jimmie met us up there to watch her play. Deidra is doing awesome at serving now and got in about 18 points for her team. I was SO proud of her. She's come a long way since playing last summer. We came home and put the kids to bed and stayed up late talking. Saturday, we went up to North Park mall for some girl time...decided that's a way too upscale mall for us to buy things there, but it was fun walking around and laughing together. We came home and she watched the kids so that Andy and I could get out by ourselves for awhile. Andy and I went to Outback for dinner and then for a walk in the park...then we got a phone call saying that Deidra had locked her bedroom door but left the key inside so we had to make a trip to Wal-mart for something to pick the lock with. Crisis was averted thankfully. Sunday, we had to get everybody ready to take her to the airport...I was sad to see her go. However, I know Tony and her girls missed her as well. I'm going to try to plan something for hte fall so that I can go up there and spend some time with her. We're going to see about making this a yearly thing. It was really good to see her and spend time with her. I miss her already!

A visit from Andy's Mom

Andy's Mom came in on Saturday and stayed with us until Tuesday afternoon. She came bearing presents for all the kids to share and got some cute little pink outfits for Melina. She couldn't wait to meet Melina. We had a good low-key visit. We grilled hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill and we went to the YMCA and went swimming a couple of times and Melina had her first time in the pool. She didn't mind it at all and slept through most of it. So sweet! I was more worried about her being out in the heat and the sun, but she really didn't mind it and it wasn't like we spent a ton of time out there with her being so little. The kids all enjoyed her visit and Deidra was happy to have Grandma Hoffman camping out in her room.

Last day of school...

I now officially have a kindergartner and a 4th grader. Wow! I am so proud of you Emily and Deidra. Emily really has made leaps and bounds this year and has come SO far! Deidra did really awesome on her TAKS test and while she was upset that she missed getting an award for A/B honor roll all year, I told her she did awesome. She only got 1 C this year...all the rest of her grades were As and Bs.