Camping

C went on her first camping trip this weekend. She seemed to like it. She loves being outside because there is so much to look at.Uncle Wade was in town so he came with us.

He was the very first one to ride M's new bike (other than the test driving M&D did when they bought it). We will have lots of fun with it this summer.

C just enjoying the outdoors and the fire. The weather was absolutely beautiful. We couldn't have asked for a better weekend. The nights were still a little chilly, but the days were warm and mostly sunny. All of us got a little sunburned on our cheeks and noses--even with all the sunscreen M put on us.

I ate lots of watermelon and crackers. Notice my funny hats...I was helping M carry the bowls over to the fire.

Here I am sporting my sunglasses.

The last morning we were there was the most beautiful...no wind, sunny and warm. We didn't even start a fire, just enjoyed breakfast in the sun. 3 hours later the wind started, the clouds moved in and just as we were leaving at noon the snow started falling. Crazy Colorado weather!!!

Almost all my cousins were able to camp with me. Even G came out....she said it was better than looking at 4 walls at home in her bedroom! She did well, although she got tired easily and one morning was somewhat dizzy from her medicine.

Don't I just have the most amazing family?? I think so. We have lots of fun together.

Five months

Carrie is 5 months old.
I have a lot of fun playing with her. This weekend I tried playing hide and seek with her. I let her hide and I counted....I covered her with a blanket and stood up to count to 5. M & D thought it was very funny. I think C thought she was playing peek-a-boo.
She loves to sit up so that she can see everything that is going on. She still hasn't rolled over...she's just not interested in being on her stomach!!! We've introduced rice, oatmeal and peas to her.

She definitely has started noticing toys and will grab for her rings & books when you put them in front of her. While we were camping this weekend she noticed the design on her pj's and was trying to reach for it.

Just wanted to let you know that the look at the end just cracks me up every time!!! Kind of a "Help me I'm falling and can't get up" look!

Allergies.....

Since M went back to work I have been having some minor health issues. It started off as a persistent cough in the mornings and whenever I was really active. At first M&D just thought it was a little cold, but after coughing for 3 weeks and coughing so hard I threw up twice, M finally took me to the doctor. The first time we went they treated me for a sinus infection. That didn't seem to work, so when C had her 4 month appointment in mid April, M asked the doctor what else to try. He suggested it might be allergies, so try Benadryl. That didn't work either...I was still coughing at night and in the morning and after a week of sleepless nights we went back in a third time...this time the doctor examined me and when he got to my nose he knew it was an allergic reaction so he prescribed a nasal spray. That seemed to help some. But then a week ago, I got a cold on top of my allergies and really felt bad. I went to bed Saturday night with 101 fever, but woke up Sunday morning with a normal temperature. However, all I wanted to do was lay around and moan, so D stayed home from church with me. After I woke up from nap I had another 101 fever. Once M gave me pain medicine I started feeling better, so I got up to start playing. That's when the wheezing started. M thought it was because I was actually moving around, so she waited until Monday morning to take me to the doctor. The doctor was very concerned that it might be pneumonia, so she sent me for a chest x-ray.
Luckily it wasn't pneumonia, but I did have inflammation in my airways. Basically I was having a asthmatic episode.

So the doctor prescribed a nebulizer for me to try and clear up my airways. I had to wear this mask for 20 minutes, 3 times a day for one week. The only side effect was the it made me super hyper--more than I already am. I was bouncing off the walls most evenings! This treatment seemed to be the solution, since I haven't coughed for 2 days now.

However, M has a feeling this isn't over yet. Last year she suspected I had allergies, but it only lasted a few days not 3 months. But the news has said that this was the worst allergy season in many years, so I guess it makes sense that it hit me so hard. The next step (according to 2 doctors--since my main doctor is leaving and another is taking over his practice) is to see an allergist/asthma specialist to try to narrow down exactly what I am allergic to. M suspects it is pine pollen (since that is what she is allergic to) and this all started when I started going to the Y school every day. Lots of pine trees, wind and dust up in the mountains!!
Anyhow I am feeling much better these last couple days. Hopefully the allergy season is over for me...maybe I am just a spring hay fever victim, not summer and fall also!

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, D and I sang in church, while M played the piano for us. This was my first time singing with people actually watching me. I love to sing and sing a lot in public, but not when all eyes are on me. As you can see, I started off really strong and then got a little shy once I realized everyone was listening to me. When I got to the back of the church, I told M, "more" and tried to run back up to the front. I guess I will probably sing in church again sometime soon.
Even though I was shy and somewhat quiet M thought I did a really good job.

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day.

Tattoo

I received a tattoo last week. G had to shave her head and to help me cope she put a butterfly tattoo on her head. I am the only grandchild that didn't see her the first time it was shaved--I did pretty well although I was a little intrigued because she looked different to me. I decided that I wanted one also. So G helped me put a butterfly on my arm. I was excited to show it off to everyone. Monday morning at school I showed it to all my teachers.It didn't last very long though. Tonight it is almost all gone. But it was fun while it lasted.

Eating ceral

I got to move to the "big girl" chair this week. The reason was because C had to start using my high chair. She was starting to get upset just in her bouncer. She likes to sit up and see what is going on. So M let her sit in it for supper in order to get used to it before trying to feed her.

Tonight was the first time M fed C rice cereal. Here she is getting all ready for rice cereal.

She loved it.

E-I-E-I-O

M thinks it is very cute that I have confused my McDonald's. Old McDonald might have had the farm, but the place I get my chicken nuggets from I call E-I-E-I-O. Here I am telling M about our lunch at McDonalds.

(if you look very closely at the beginning and end of the video, you can see my chalk person I was working on that night).

Brag time

I am letting M take over my blog today so that she can have some brag time!

Yesterday was my first ever Parent/Teacher Conference. I wasn't nervous at all, but it just hit me what a big event that is. B has only been in preschool 2 months, but already I can tell how grown up she is getting. She looks forward to going to the Y school every morning, so I know how much she is enjoying it. Every morning I leave her at the easel painting. She has started to draw faces and people. This was the first ever picture she drew at home (even before she started doing them at school), that I actually SAW what she was drawing--even if the people do look more like octopus than people. Her teacher at Y school is very impressed with her and says she is ahead of her age. She's gotten even better at the people since this drawing (done at the end of March). I've been trying to upload a video of her drawing with chalk, but I think I made it too long because I've been having trouble with it. Anyhow, now for sure there are only 2 legs (still extending directly from the head!!) and arms. Sometimes she draws the eyes as the letter i. Very distinctly a line and a dot!! Which brings us to this next picture of her tracing her name. She has recognized her letters for a while, but now she is starting to learn their shapes and sounds. She still has trouble saying the whole alphabet by herself but she will repeat it after us. The other area B really excels at is puzzles! The teachers brought out a brand-new 25 piece puzzle on Thursday and B mastered it that day. Some of the puzzles she does at school, the teachers say the older 3 year olds have trouble doing. She has always loved her puzzles. I guess I didn't realize just how ahead of her time she was!!
The other thing she really enjoys is music circle. That one didn't surprise me at all, since her P and uncles are such good singers. B has always liked her music. I remember when we went to a Southern Gospel concert while I was pregnant with her. She had kicked a few times before that, but that first half she was really dancing in the womb. Her D found that his only way to calm her down at as a baby was to play some music for her.
So I just wanted to brag up my daughter a little bit. I've always been a little partial to her!!!