Thank you for visiting my blog! If you are visiting because you have experienced a pregnancy or infant loss, let me say that I am so very sorry. I started this blog shortly after our Baby Grady was stillborn on November 12, 2008. Please visit the sidebar below called "Labels" to find the topic in which you are interested, or just read as your heart desires.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Tidbits from T

***I started writing this Monday and am just getting back to it. I would just delete it, but it has good family info in it that I want to document, and I certainly don't feel like starting over!

~Happy Monday everyone! I'm not sure I'm ready for this week, but it's here and I must embrace it!

~Jessica has her very first track meet this afternoon. She is very excited, and Gib and I are excited for her. I'm not sure if I have this right, but I think she is running the 4x400 and 3200 meter. We went after church yesterday to get her some spikes. I had never heard of them until now. I hope she is able to run in them because she hasn't practiced in them at all.

***Update: turns out she didn't need the spikes afterall!

Unfortunately, they are making up a meet from last week, so we will be at the track from 4-7pm. I'm not so sure Matthew will hold out that long, and it's much cooler today. I plan to stay as long as I can. She has another meet on Thursday and Saturday, both away. I'm not ready for all this traveling!

***Update: Jessica's meet went well. She completed her events and we were very proud of her for trying her best. Matthew, Emma Grace and I only stayed until about 5:45pm. It started to get cold when the sun went down, and Matthew was very tired (even though he slept on my chest in the Baby Bjorn most of the time). Jessica will not be traveling and participating in the track meet tomorrow because of limited entries and it being exam week. I am honestly happy to have her home. :)

She has also decided to try out for cheerleading. Oh me. We will support her in whatever she wants to do, but cheerleading is a very expensive activity and has become very dangerous. She did take a few years of gymnastics and cheered for a short time when she was 5 and 7, but other than that, she has no experience. I'm proud of her drive and desire to try new things. She says she is going to try out for volleyball in the fall.

~I'm not digging the lack of communication of middle school. I don't like to rely on my child to give me messages and details. I often have questions for which she has no answers. I never thought I would say this, but I miss the papers/memos that came home in the previous years.

~I took Emma Grace to get her eyes checked last week. I called on Tuesday and they happened to have a cancellation for Wednesday morning at 8:45. The pediatric ophthalmologist that we see is at Emory, over an hour from our house. It was rush hour, and without the HOV lane, we would have been seriously late! I ended up keeping her home the whole day because we didn't leave the appointment until after 11am.

Her eyes are great. She has 20/20 vision and everything else they checked for was fine. I voiced my concern about a brain tumor in disguised language so Emma Grace wouldn't hear me use those words. The eye doctor said that typically if there was a tumor in that area, the optic nerve would be enlarged/swollen, and hers was fine. That put me at ease a little. She has her well-check next week, so I will talk to her pediatrician about our next step then.

That girl's room is in some serious disarray. SERIOUS. She will straighten it, but she has so much stuff that it still looks messy. Unfortunately, we are going to have to have a day where we take everything out of the room, purge and sort, then try to put it back in order. She loves to hang onto the smallest things, and she knows where everything came from. She pulled out a random stuffed octopus last night that I had never seen before (well, apparently I had but forgot). She said she got it from "Mrs. Lori's treasure box at preschool". She was 3! Goodness me.

She has decided she wants a Hello Kitty birthday party this year. I'm planning to keep it simple and not too big. I've found a few cute games they can play. The goal is for her to have fun.

~Matthew has, what I believe to be, eczema on his face. They are tiny, round, red bumps in a cluster. I think he got too hot in his car seat yesterday and now he has a rash on his back and neck. I called the doctor to see what they recommend for eczema, but when the nurse called me back, I was in the middle of texting someone and pressed the mute button and she couldn't hear me. Then she hung up. I'm hoping she calls me back!

***Update, she never called back. I had to call her. She told me to use Eucerin or Lubriderm on his eczema. If anyone has any natural remedies, I would love to hear them. One patch is kind of close to his mouth.

Other than his rash, he is doing well. Gib has found that he absolutely loves to watch racing on television. I went grocery shopping yesterday for the week, so I was gone a while. I came home to find him STILL in his exercauser. Gib said he had had a great time watching the race on TV, in surround sound, of course. Whatever makes everyone happy I guess...

His surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, April 5th. That was the week I was hoping for because Gib and the girls will be on spring break. I don't know an exact time, but it will be an afternoon surgery.

Uggh.

Poor baby.

He can have clear liquids up to 4 hours before the procedure, but he is going to be HUNGRY! The good news is that it will be done at an outpatient surgery center much closer to our home; right next door to where he goes for his physical therapy, in fact. I'm anxious to get it over with!

He goes to the cardiologist next Friday, the 18th, to see if the hole in his heart has closed. I'm so glad that surgery won't be needed even if it hasn't, but I sure would like to just close that chapter completely.

~Gib continues to be super busy with school and work. We, unfortunately, don't see him much. And when we do, he's usually sleeping or has his nose in a computer. I keep telling myself this is just a season...this too shall pass. I think he tells himself the same thing.

~I had a great lunch on Saturday with a friend of mine from nursing school, and then I went to Walmart to exchange some things. It was nice just to be out by myself. I always feel so selfish for craving alone time, but I do, and I know it's good for me.

~I started reading the book "one thousand gifts" by Ann Voskamp. I'm only on chapter 2, but WHOA. It's the perfect book for me right now. I can relate to so much of what she writes and her words are definitely speaking to my heart.

~I had my yearly check up with Dr. Joe a couple of weeks ago. I had another full circle moment while there. He takes a picture of mom and baby at their 6 week check-up and has them hanging all over the halls and in the exam rooms of his office. I remember after Grady died how badly I wanted mine and Grady's picture on the wall. And I remember seeing a lady's picture whom I had seen at my last regular appointment with Grady and was very sad that his story hadn't turned out as well.

I looked for mine and Matthew's picture. I found it. And it brought great joy to my heart.

But, at the same time, I longed to have two pictures on Dr. Joe's wall.

I'm SO, SO, SO thankful for the one I have though!

We went to lunch afterward (Mexican, YUM!) and as always, it was fun. I got to hear all about his new adventures with raising chickens and building portable chicken tractors. I seriously don't know how he has time to be in practice by himself and do all these other things. I felt bad because I didn't get to talk to his staff very much. Dr. Joe talked my ear off! :) It felt like old times. I sure do miss seeing that crew regularly!

~Menu planning has gotten very boring for me. I feel like we eat the same things over and over, but I'm operating on quick, easy and affordable right now. Thankfully, my family doesn't complain or they might go hungry!

~I'm about over pumping milk. Seriously. I don't know what it is lately, but I'm really starting to hate it. I'm trying to hold off until he's a year old. But it's getting harder. I'm down to only four times a day which isn't too bad. It's definitely doable. I just gotta hang in there! I don't know why I put so much pressure on myself.

~I've started making daily lists. I try to keep it at 5 or 6 things so it's manageable for me. For some reason this helps me get things done. It's crazy, but there is definite satisfaction in crossing something off a list.

~Well, time to decide if I will be lazy or productive today. It's such a gloomy, rainy day here which immediately puts me into lazy mode. I don't have a list today...maybe that's my problem!

Love,
Tonya

4 comments:

  1. Tonya,
    Get on that list girl:) Kidding, this is coming from someone who has been sitting in a bed for the last 9+ weeks:) I certainly can't talk:) Tonya, I loved hearing about the kids. Jessica will be a busy girl that is forsure:) You are such great parents to her:) Thanks for praying!
    Sara

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  2. LOVE 1000 gifts. you will love it. :)

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  3. I just read an article that colliodial (sp) oatmeal is a natural remedy for eczema. I also got this for Lauren's dry patches on her face around christmastime:

    http://www.diapers.com/product/productdetail.aspx?productid=6044

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  4. I love hearing about your family. Miss y'all!

    Man, I love a list too. It makes me feel good when I get to cross things off. ; )

    And stop with the pressure aleady! You're doing a great job! Seriously...
    easier said than done, I know. But you are doing a fantastic job.

    love you,
    ebe

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