What a year!

i'm posting this on Tuesday, June 2, 2010. One year ago yesterday, D was born. And one year ago tomorrow, she came to live with us. It's crazy to think it's been a whole year. It's also crazy to think that we didn't know she existed for 2 days.

In honor of her birthday, Alan and i redid her room. Here are some pictures:

So that's how we've been spending the last few weekends. i'm THRILLED with how it turned out; it's even nicer than the photos show.

Tuesday we picked up the paperwork from the doctor and dropped it off today, so we're hoping to hear something very soon about the adoption assistance so we can get the adoption going FINALLY.

i'm sure i'll have more to say tomorrow :).

Meeting

Well, D's brother T's mom didn't make it to the meeting. i, in my geniosity, didn't bring my cell phone, and she got lost. i feel so bad that she drove around so long!



But it turned out okay, i think. There were 2 people from the central office present, and they gave us a chance to explain what medical issues D has. It all ended up boiling down to whether or not D has any conditions classified as "moderate" or "severe"; if so, they'll grant her full active adoption assistance. We've been told verbally that her laryngomalacia would be considered possibly moderate and her reflux was moderate to severe. Unfortunately none of this is in writing at this point, so we now have to go about getting her physicians to fill out forms stating if each condition is "mild", "moderate", or "severe". i think that's doable, and we have 2 weeks to do so.



Thanks for your thoughts and prayers! There IS an end in sight!

Nervous

Tomorrow is the day we have to meet with the state about adoption assistance. i am very, very nervous. And i found out tonight that someone with decision-making powers may not even be there in person, but rather by phone. (This was the whole reason for the meeting and thus we are not pleased, but hopefully they WILL be there and we can take care of this.)

D has been sick lately. She seemed to be a little warm Tuesday evening so i gave her some Motrin before bed. i thought it was teething, and she was only a little warm so i didn't even take her temp. Wednesday about 10 minutes after i should have left work (i had to stay a few minutes late), daycare called and said she's been very fussy and clingy all day, and they decided she was warm and her temp was 102.7! Poor kiddo. So i dosed her with generic (thanks, recall) Tylenol and she fell asleep suddenly before i could even feed her. She woke up at 1 am FREEZING, but otherwise slept great. (As she has been doing lately still, hooray!!!). So Alan stayed home with her during the day because i'm out of vacation time, and i left a little early (more on that in a minute) and he still has to go to work tonight from 6-10 pm. Poor guy! Tomorrow i will have to wake up around 4 or 4:30 am to run my morning reports so i can get them mostly done before D wakes up (it's IMPOSSIBLE to do while caring for her) and let Alan sleep in just a little bit if possible, since he'll have to work 1/2 day again tomorrow and care for D. (She can't go back to daycare until the fever goes away. Pedi thinks it's a virus, so we're not too worried, and there are no other symptoms. At least it's not her ears.)

What else has been going on? Well, last week our water heater went out, so we went ahead and installed a new tankless water heater. We figured it would add value to the house and we could enjoy it. Unfortunately, Tuesday our air conditioner started not working right; refrigerant leak. Ugh! To top it off, when the gas company came to relight our pilot light after the plumbers found a gas leak that the gas company fixed but in doing so they made our pilot go out... horrible run-on sentence, sorry. Anyway, after all of that, the gas company red-tagged our furnace and we'll have to repair or replace it before winter. And we pretty much have to replace our A/C because they no longer make coils to fit it.

i guess we're highly motivated to win tomorrow because without assistance we definitely can't afford to put D in a really good daycare! (i've got my eye on a certain Montessori preschool in town, but it would be about $400/month more than an alternative, most of it due up front, yikes!). Mostly i just want to get through it and be able to hold my head up high that i did my very best for my little girl. She deserves not only the state benefit but a mommy and daddy who will stick up for her even when it scares them to death and makes their tummy get all tied up in knots for a week straight.

Times like these

i REALLY wish i could show you video of D. First off, she's walking so much now. She still falls a lot, but she doesn't always fall. She's taken 14 steps at once that i have seen, stopping after a few steps and starting up. She's even bent over to pick something up and then stood again and walked some more without falling!

And now she has figured out how to get onto the sofa from the floor. We sometimes turn up the sofa cushions to discourage the dogs from getting on the sofas. So D figured out how to get on the main sofa part where a cushion is turned up, then get onto the cushion. Aaargh! i learned from an internet forum to implement a "bottom or knees" rule; she can climb as long as she keeps her bottom or her knees on the furniture and not stand up. Yeah, sure! That's going over soooooooo well so far!

Times like these i REALLY wish i could show you video! She's so hilarious!

i'm kind of a crappy blogger i guess

i haven't blogged in a while. Not that this is shocking to me; i definitely run hot and cold.

i haven't had a whole lot to update. We're supposed to have a meeting next week (exact date/time TBD) to deal with the whole adoption assistance thing. After that we can file our petition, so that date is also TBD. So nothing big to announce there.

Things are still going well with the reflux stuff right now. We haven't even increased her Zantac in a while and i think she's gained a pound (usually her trigger). We're trying to increase her finger foods, and i'm trying to come up with ideas of meals i can make just for the two of us (vegetarian suggestions are VERY welcome!). Tonight we had Buitoni ravioli, and she had 2 BIG raviolis, and also about half a mini-bagel with cream cheese. That's a lot for her!

My mother's day and birthday were both fun. i even got a Kindle for my birthday, so i've been doing a lot of reading. Nashville is getting back to normal after the flooding, but there are still a TON of people who are homeless. We're still conserving water, but we're able to do some laundry and things, which is so helpful!

Happy Mother's Day!

Okay, so i didn't go back to read last year's blog post, but i don't think it was a particularly peppy one. If i recall correctly, the last 4 mother's days have been pretty rough, between losing my mom and infertility struggles and all. But today, today makes it all worth it!

First of all, i was able to "sleep in". Just 7:45, but still, when i normally wake around 5:45, this is a good thing! Then Alan and D gave me my MD gift. Alan asked what i wanted for MD, and i said maybe something family related, something we could enjoy together. i had D unwrap it for me (to practice for her party lol), and inside the box was a YMCA T-shirt! (Actually 2, one for each of us). We are now proud members of the YMCA. Hooray!

We went to lunch at Satco (same place as the last 2-3 MD's, if i recall through my tear-stained memories), and then we took D swimming at the Y in their indoor pool. It was phenomenal! She really had a blast, especially once she started warming up. And of course i'm insanely in love with water, what with growing up across from a pool when i was little and all the hot baths i take, so i had a blast, too. And Alan (who never had swim lessons and hasn't been swimming much in his life at all), well, he tolerated it for our sake :).

i am hopeful that i'll be able to take a nice hot bath and maybe drink a cold chocolate chip frappucino from Starbucks later on. i've done a really good job conserving water (Nashville is in a water crisis right now), and spent most of the day yesterday doing a week's worth of laundry at my dad's house and hauling a couple of gallons home, and washed the baby's bottles at work 3 days this week, forgoing baths and showers, etc etc, so i think i have earned it.

Quite a weekend

We live in Nashville. Thankfully our home has not flooded. Whew! But let me tell you, the damage in this city is astounding, breathtaking, unbelievable in general. i've never seen anything like it! i know there are cities that flood every year when the Mississippi waters rise, but this isn't one of them. They're saying this may be a 1,000 year flood!

So needless to say, we didn't get out and about much this weekend. In fact, we played all weekend inside, and D practiced her walking. She's doing more and more of it spontaneously. i'm hopeful now that she'll be a good "official" walker by her birthday. Such a dollface she is!

We ran into yet another problem with Walgreens this weekend. i think we're done with them. We called in her Rx for Prevacid on Friday, the two days in advance we're allowed to call (insurance won't fill until then), and asked it to be ready Saturday morning. When Alan ventured out in the flash floods Saturday afternoon, it wasn't ready. Gee, thanks for calling, guys. Not only that, but they were considerate enough to suggest that he DRIVE AROUND to 24 hour Walgreens around the city to see if they had it. At sunset. Lovely.

So, D didn't have Prevacid all day on Sunday. She ate as normal, but i could start to hear the laryngomalacia a bit in the evening. She didn't sleep well at all, waking several times and crying, but putting herself back to sleep all but the time at 5 am. i know between her and the pain i've been feeling at night lately (tell me it's not endo again!), i think i slept in 20 minute increments out of every hour or so. i could really use a good night's sleep!

Miraculously, D ate normally today, at least so far. She still has her bedtime bottle to go, but it's usually one of the easiest to feed as long as she doesn't conk out in the middle. Perhaps this is a good sign that we can start weaning her off of Prevacid (perhaps back to 1/2 dose, or even 1/2 dose one day and full dose the next, etc) after her first birthday. i'll cross my fingers, but not hold my breath.