WHAT MY KID TAUGHT ME ABOUT THANKSGIVING

This past Tuesday, Chloe woke up with a bit of a runny nose. This didn't really concern me because just like her mom, we think she has allergies. I called the doc and she said to give her some Claritin befor bed. Our day went on as normal but around 6pm I noticed she looked like she really didn't feel to hot. I gave her a bath (because that is probably her favorite thing in the world) and tried to give her some dinner. She just kind of layed around. Finally, we decided to give her the Claritin and put her to bed. She really fought us when trying to put her down but finally gave up around 10 (and so did I).
About 11, through the monitor, I hear Chloe begin SCREAMING! Both Miker and I run in and find her just crying and shaking. He picks her up but she is just hysterical. I take her and decide her and I will sleep in the guest room. Well, as the night goes on (she's not sleeping fyi) I notice that she is breathing really hard and she begins to cough. Now when say cough it's like the most horrible sound ever. The doctor describes it as a "goose honk". She rolls over and lays on top of me and falls asleep. Now at this point her breathing is very labored and I can tell she has a fever. When she wakes up Wednesday morning I immediately call the doctor and when I discribe her symptoms they tell us to bring her over right away.

At the doctor's office they check her oxygen level, take her temp (which was 103.6 YIKES) and listen to her chest. It was awful. They gave her a breathing treatment which was torture and 2 steroid shots. Apparently she had cought a virus whch was causing her wind pipe to swell making it hard to breath. With this particular virus, it also causes "bronchitis like" symptoms. Just bad, bad, bad! Thye said she was contagious and we should keep her energy level down if possible.

We had planned on heading to my Aunt's house the next day for a Thanksgiving feast. Well, of course, I had to call and cancel. I was super bummed because I had been dreaming of swimming in mashed potatoes and stuffing and ham and....you get the point.

So, for the rest of the holiday weekend we were pretty much held up in the house with a really unhappy toddler. As for me, well, I was beginnig to feel increasingly more jelous of everyone elses Thanksgiving. I heard stories of turkey and pie and kids running around and funny relativess and AHHHHHHHH!!!

Then Saturday morning I was up around 6am with Chloe (after being up about once and hour the night before). She was lying on the floor watching a movie and I was folding laundry. Out of nowhere she turns and looks at me and in her little horse voice she says "cheeeeeese". I look at her and say "what?" She again says "cheeeeeeese" and points to the table. I look over at the table and notice my camera. I ask her "do you want me to take your picture?' She just smiled, never lifting her head from the floor, and says again - "cheeeeeeeese". I snapped a few shots and then she went back to watching her movie.




At that point i realized how silly I had been. What is Thanksgiving really? Why was I so bummed about not being able to go stuff my face and watch football. I think a lot of us have really forgotten what Thanksgiving is all about. We shouldn't specifically save our thanks for the last Thursday of November but count our blessings EVERYDAY. I am so thankful that we got Chloe to the doctor when we did and that she was able to avoid the emergency room. I am also thankful that MIker was around all weekend to help out and give Chloe the extra attention she needed. I am just all around thankful.




SO, really, who needs turkey when you've got cheeeeeeese?




PS Chloe seems to be feeling much better today. YAY!

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY

I was recently inspired by a blog that my pal Kendra posted. She introduced me to this excercise a while back but I just didn't take the time to complete it. This time I was determined. So, what you do is list 100 things that make you happy. I found this very theraputc and fun. Here is my list in no particular order.

1. making "to do" lists
2. taking pics of chloe
3. getting tagged on the leg by monko
4. splenda
5. miker getting home early from work
6. my mornings to sleep in
7. my wedding dress
8. sushi
9. crazy thunderstorms
10. a good hard workout
11. diet dr. pepper
12. weekends with no plans
13. fitting into pre pregnancy clothes
14. chloe in footed pjs
15. the memory of my grandma and grandpa at my wedding
16. spongebob
17. reading other people's blogs
18. outdoor concerts
19. a clean house
20. date nights
21. sending thank you cards
22. a charged cell phone
23. make-up
24. miker's curly hair
25. playing american idol on the wii
26. halloween costumes
27. scary movie day with edi and kendra
28. inside jokes
29. pangea organic pyrenees lavender body lotion
30. house hunting
31. making dinner while sipping wine
32. listening to mamaw gossip
33. watching my dad play with chloe
34. lake lanier
35. going on walks with emily and elizabeth
36. showtunes
37. hard wood floors
38. chloe's face
39. polar bears
40. riding the train to hollywood and highland with miker
41. hot bubble baths
42. project runway
43. voting
44. saturday outdoor lunches
45. the spurs
46. being on time
47. key lime pie
48. catching up with people on facebook
49. cute and comfy shoes
50. playing top 5



51. my marc jacob's perfume
52. npr
53. mimi's cards
54. being tan
55. miker's bbq
56. baby concert t-shirts
57. gerber daisies
58. texas summer nights
59. queso
60. my ipod
61. open minded people
62. a good massage
63. cute pics of miker and chloe together
64. steam rooms
65. a big warm scarf
66. napolean dynamite
67. fairies
68. christmas decorations
69. queen
70. when chloe naps
71. a good sale
72. bad tv
73. sticker books
74. having a full tank of gas
75. mr. gatti's pizza
76. green tea
77. the old people that workout at my gym
78. cute jeans
79. facials
80. "for no reason" gifts
81. ordering appetizers
82. flying first class
83. my engagement ring
84. long voice mails from my mom
85. when miker does the dishes
86. funky coasters
87. korean karaoke
88. playing the guitar badly
89. when kids call me "chloe's mommy"
90. a hu la la
91. my fuzzy green robe
92. watching mom and mamaw wii bowl
93. too much coffee
94. being a pisces
95. the outlet mall
96. the muppets take manhattan
97. santa barbara
98. uncle rob's gnome paintings
99. touchmaster
100. my dvr



So, there it is. Wow...I sure am happy. Happy Monday, folks.

ODE TO MY CHLOE

Chloe, you are 19 months old and Mom can not believe it. You're growing SO fast and are so much fun to be around. Here are the top 5 cool things you do to make Mom and Dad smile. (in no particular order)



1. You finally have a new favorite song. "Make it Mine" by Jason Mraz, makes you smile and clap and we could watch you jam all day long. Cutest thing ever!!




2. You can open doors. While this is a bit annoying for Mom, I am so proud of you and just thankful that they sale little gadgets to go on the door knob so you can still be contained.



3. Okay, I may have mentioned this is an earlier post but, you, hands down, are the BEST at animal impressions. I've never met anyone who could do a better piggy.



4. Lately you've been walking around the house saying "I go, come on". You say this over and over and over and....It never gets old because well, for some reason you make it work.



5. You can count to 3. Well, if I say 1, you say 2, then we both say 3!! (it usually comes out sounding more like free but you know what's up)

Well, this is just a few things from a long list of cool things you do. I just needed to cut it down to 5 because I really need to get some laundry done. Mom and Dad love you like crazy and are so happy you're our roommate!!



I've posted some recent pics along with some that were taken this time last year. I can't believe what a difference a year makes. Love you baby girl.

BIRTHDAY,BLANCO AND BBQ

WOW!! What an amazing weekend we had. First, Friday was Miker's birthday. The two of us went to a great little restaurant called Asian Mint and enjoyed a yummy feast including tons of sushi, awesome chicken spring rolls and a nice bottle of wine. My Aunt Tammy kept Chloe over night so we were able to relax and get a good night's sleep which was important because we were planning on heading to a family reunion in Blanco the next morning.







Saturday morning we picked up Chloe and came back home to finish packing. Well, this took a bit longer than expected. We finally got on the road around noon. Traffic ended up being pretty bad so we arrived much later than we had planned. When we got to Blanco we went over to Miker's Grandparents house. We visited with the family including Mimi (Miker's mom) who had flown in from Georgia.









After that we headed to the adorable little house that we had rented to stay in along with our cousins Eli and Emily and their daughter Elizabeth. Chloe and Elizabeth had so much fun together. They put on their matching monkey pjs and ran around laughing and playing until almost 10pm!! We finally got the girls to bed and shortly after we all hit the sack too.







Sunday was a great day. We went to church and afterwards we had a catered bbq at our rental house. We also had a photographer there snapping candid shots of everyone as well as a few posed family pics. I have to say a special thank you to Emily for organizing the whole thing. It was really great. That evening we actually got the girls to bed at a reasonable hour and so we were able to hang out with Eli, Emily and Mimi. It was so nice catching up with everyone. We only see Eli and Em about once a year so we have lots to talk about. They are both such awesome people and we always enjoy seeing them.







I have posted tons of pics of everyone. My favorites are the ones of Elizabeth and Chloe. Those two girls are going to be such great friends as they grow up. They are very lucky to have eachother.

ELECTION 2008

Yesterday was a very emotional day for me. I think it was for the whole country. After months and months of grueling campaigns, election day was finale here. I loaded up Chloe's stroller, completely expecting to have to stand in a long line for hours and hours but was pleasantly surprised when I pulled into The Thomas Elementary School parking lot and only saw a few people. I grabbed Chloe, got her strapped in and headed towards the door. As I got closer, my heart started pounding and my eyes welded up with tears. I just couldn't believe how much my life had changed in the last four years. I just felt so proud to share this voting experience with my daughter.




Yes...my DAUGHTER...that sounded so crazy in my head. I know this sounds dramatic but look who you're talking to. I don't care who you supported in this election I think we can all agree that it was historic and so exciting. I'm just so thankful to live in a country where people from all walks of life can live the American dream.

JUST A BUNCH OF HALLOWEEN PICS!!

Halloween was super fun for us. Chloe dressed as Snow White. We went over to my Aunt Tammy's house and let Chloe run up and down the street. She had a blast.

















Later in the night she helped hand out candy to all the ninjas, firefighters and zombies. We left Tammy's at about 7:45 and within 5 minutes Chloe was out like a light. So much excitement. Enjoy the pics.