Cough Cough

Ugh. I'm tired. I spent over an hour in the middle of the night with a coughing four year old. No fun. It seems to only bother here at bedtime and it is a dry cough. Last night she coughed so much that she spit up some. She spent most of the night in my bed since Matt is out of town, and let me tell you, she is a cover hog.

Any suggestions on remedies? We going to try honey and a cool mist humidifier tonight. If you have some other advice, leave me a comment! (please!)

Oh, and here are some pictures of the girls playing, just for fun (because pictures always make a post better...)

obsessed

I am driving my husband crazy. Like, seriously, nuts. Why, you ask? Because we just booked a trip to DISNEY!!!!

Don' t those images just get you excited?

So, as far as driving Matt crazy, it is because I won't stop talking and thinking about it. We have been talking about taking Abby because she is the perfect age, but so far it has been all talk. However, we just got our tax refund, so it's on! We originally thought we'd just go for a long weekend, have family take care of Lily, and just hit the Magic Kingdom. In the end, though, we are taking the whole family, plus a family friend to help with Lily. Our friend will have just graduated from college the weekend before we leave, so she doesn't have a job yet that she would have to take vacation days from. We anticipate there being days that Lily needs a nap or whatever, that J would take her back to the hotel, while Matt, Abby, and I continue on. We're hoping it will be the best of both worlds.

Because we are now a group of 3 adults and 2 children, we have different needs as far as lodging. After hours of clicking around trying different things on the Disney website, I got a great deal for a 2 bedroom villa on the resort grounds. We are super excited because it will give us a kitchen and living area space. Perfect for a family. I even found a grocer that we can get to deliver so that we don't have to pay a fortune for every meal.

We already have 2 character meals booked and I think I know which parks we're hitting which days. We are going in mid-May, so I'm hoping it will be warm enough to swim, but not blistering hot. We shall see.

Can we wait until mid-May?!?!

Books and Dresses and TV, Oh my!

I had a hard time narrowing down what to blog about today, so I'm just going to blog about it all...

First on the list, my new Mom's Group book. We just started a new book and it was one that I recommended, knowing nothing about it (very dangerous). A long time ago, I saw something on it and wrote down the title. It turns out to be a great book for our group. It's called Real Moms, Real Jesus: Meet the Friend who Understands.

Unfortunately, I missed last week's group for an appointment and didn't realize that we were doing 2 chapters at a time, so instead of reading chapters 3-4 for yesterday, I read chapter 2. Nice. I'm a little behind. After this, we're reading The Invisible Woman, which also looks really good. I'll let you know...

~

Today, the girls and I finally went Easter dress shopping. I get so torn on this because I don't want to buy dresses that only get worn to church. I want it to be pretty and spring-y, but also something that can be worn all summer. I had a 20% off coupon for Gymboree, so we went there. I rarely shop there because they are expensive compared to The Children's Place and Old Navy, but SOOOOO cute. They have a daisy line right now that we loved. Here is what we got:

I'm going to hem the leggings that go under Abby's dress to capri length. For her, we already have a white sweater to put over it and I stopped by Old Navy and found some bright yellow jelly-style shoes that are super cute, so she is done! This is a record. Inevitably, every year, I am at Target on Easter Weekend trying to find white tights and shoes to go with the cute dress that I bought. Not this year! For Lily, I just have to find a white sweater in all the hand-me-downs to put over her dress. Cute, eh? Also, Abby got a headband that has a huge daisy on it to wear in her hair. She is pumped because it is her "first" headband. According to her, her favorite flowers are DAISIES, tulips, and roses; so she is very excited.

~

My last thing is TV... specifically, American Idol. Do you watch it? We've been watching it. Matt loves the early audition shows. We both love Simon (most of the time). That said, there were some funny lines this week that I had to share:

From Simon: "It's like you wanted one scoop of ice cream and you got eleven." What?

From Twitter: "Andrew Garcia sounds so angry. Shouldn't 'Heard It Through the Grapevine " be more sorrowful than 'bitch I will cut you?'" OMG! Too funny.

~

Well, that's all I've got for right now, but thing of the spectrum I covered here... from Real Jesus to daisy dresses to Bitch I will cut you. I should get points for that, right?

I was playing around with a new-to-me (free) site that lets you layer pictures. Here is a link if you are interested: FotoFlexer. I watched a video tutorial on how to do it on Shabby Blogs, which is also where I got that cool frame image. What do you think of my creation?

Noses

Why, oh why, does Lily keep sticking her finger up Abby's nose and then putting it up her own. And, why does Abby let her do it?

Kids are gross.

Fairy Abby

Sunny Days

Not counting today (which is rainy and cold), we have recently had some great weather. Last Thursday we spend some time outside as a family and enjoyed the warm sunshine. I had just been to Buy Buy Baby (which I like better than Babies R Us, but there aren't as many of them) earlier that afternoon and bought Lily one of those snack cups with the slits in the top for little hands. She LOVES it. Best purchase I've made in a while.

So, Lily and I chilled on a blanket on the driveway (the grass is still drying out from all that snow). She played and snacked.

Matt and Abby kicked around a soccer ball. There was also some running and bike riding.

(Doesn't she look all sporty?)

I, meanwhile, read a book and relaxed. It was heaven.

An Upgrade

So, I have decided to keep the blog as Wishing Clouds. I didn't give some of you any time to vote, but decided anyway.

Do you like the new look? I can't believe I'm still up messing around with it. Matt is out of town and the girls are asleep, so the time passes without me really realizing it. I'll pay tomorrow.

I have been using lots of freebies off of Shabby Blogs. I have even learned some things off their Blog, including how to add Pages! Pretty cool, huh? If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out the top of my blog, under the header where it has links called "About Me". "Favorite Things", "Music", etc. I am not done with them, and who knows whether anyone will ever click on them, but they feel kinda fancy to me. So I added them. It was easy. Now, deciding what to write and name them is a different story. That makes me feel dorky. I'll add to, and update them, as I have time, but I really have to get to bed soon.

Hope you like the new blog design- I needed a change!

Thrifty and Fashionable?

One of Abby's pair of jeans has finally worn through on one of the knees and is on its way on the other. Rather than give up on them, we decided to play with patches. Today we headed to JoAnns after preschool and did quite a bit of looking in the patch aisle. Rather than just getting one for the hole, we decided to go all out and make them funky. We had some disagreements about which patches to get. I really liked the daisy patch, she didn't. She liked these weird gold stars, I didn't. But seriously, isn't the daisy patch the cutest one? (Her favorite is the castle.)

Seriously, What do you think?

Okay, so I'm posting a poll on the sidebar. Tell me what do you think... For real, because I haven't decided yet...

Moving

I think I'm moving my blog. I'm kinda over the title "Wishing Clouds" and I think it probably doesn't make sense to anyone. (It was something cute that Abby said a long time ago) I researched and the address Carrie Birdie is available and I think that is a little more personal of a title (in a good way). I've been playing around with the possible new site, so it is up and running.

What do you think? Should I keep Wishing Clouds or move to Carrie Birdie?

Driving Crazy

This should be titled, "Driving Your Big Sister Crazy."

The Eclipse Trailer

I can't wait!!

We visited the pediatrician...

After 10 days of Lily being sick, we made it to the doctor's yesterday. Don't think I'm a terrible mother, because I DID call last Friday because of her fever and they said to not worry too much and to keep an eye on it. So, I did. Yesterday morning, 10 days after she first seemed sick, she woke up with a fever of 101.8. I called.

I saw the one of the nurse practitioners, who are awesome. Before she even examined Lily, she told me that she had just called me that morning (I was at Mom's Group) and the allergy test results were in! She is perfectly normal. No allergies. None. -and they tested for a bunch: cat dander, cockroach (gross), cod fish, dog dander, egg white, house dust mites, milk, mold, peanut, soybean, and wheat. What a blessing, right? The only bummer is that it doesn't solve the tummy problems. We talked a bunch and decided to keep her on soy milk for right now and try a prescription that is supposed to help with tummy pain. It is gentle enough that they use it for tiny babies, I guess. We are probably going to try to transition her back to milk in a couple weeks.

As for the fever, she has a whopper of an ear infection. I feel like a terrible mother, but she never messed with her ear. I asked how bad it was and the nurse practitioner said it wasn't a 10, but it was a good 6 or 7. Poor baby. She is now on that lovely bubble gum pink Amoxicillin. Yum. We're hoping for smoother nights soon. Last night wasn't any better but it usually takes 2 or 3 days before antibiotics really kick in.

So, sadly, no new pictures to jazz up this blog post, but what do you think of my new header? Pretty cute with the polaroid frames, I thought. Thank you, Picnik!

Sizes

So I got productive today and cleaned out all of Abby's old clothes which had been piled in her closet. (Yay Me!) I found a bunch of clothes hidden in a bag that I didn't know were there. Bonus, they were close to Lily's size. You want to hear something weird?

You see this picture? Abby's 2 and a half, I believe. Notice the pants she is wearing?

Yup, those are ready and washed for Lily to wear and will probably fit perfectly.

Lily is 13 months.

Weird.

P.S. Feel sorry for me because I bet I don't have too long before hand-me-downs are a thing of the past. Oh, our poor bank account.

Hat Day

The weather here is gorgeous right now. It is sunny and 58 degrees (!), which compared to all the snow and cold we've had very recently, feels like paradise. I really should live somewhere sunnier, because I love it and am a much happier person when it is sunny. Seriously, noticeably different.

The last week or so, we've been going on lots of walks around our neighborhood. The only problem is that the sun gets in poor Lily's eyes for at least half the walk and makes her cry. With Abby, I had gobs of hats for that purpose, so we tried to find them today before our walk. First stop? Abby's dress up drawer, which provided lots of fun. ...and bingo! we found a winner. I'm still looking for a little baseball cap that I know is somewhere in this house, but it is probably buried in a garbage bag of Abby's outgrown clothes. Sigh. I really need to sort through those. Lily isn't too sure about the hats, but during the walk, she left it on, so no crying. Whew!

Mommy!

Scene: SuperTarget, picking up some groceries. Weather here is finally warming up, high 40's, maybe 50.

Abby: Mommy! (mouth gaping open)

Me: What?

Abby: That girl!

Me: Abby, that isn't polite. But, what about her?

Abby: She is wearing shorts and it is winter! (seriously appalled)

Me: Yes, she is. (choking back laughter) Keep walking.

*******

Okay, so seriously, the (maybe 15 YO) girl was wearing the shortest jean shorts ever and she had crazy long legs. And, honestly, she looked ridiculous. It cracked me up that what bothered Abby is that she was out of season in attire. Leave it to a four year old.

Okay, so reading this back to myself, I sound horribly mean. I'm really not, I promise.

Testing

Here's a partial update to my last post:

So, I ended up calling the doctor and speaking with one of the nurse practitioners. She was great and suggested ruling out a milk allergy. That includes taking milk out of her diet and replacing it with soy milk, and doing a blood test that will tell us if she is allergic to milk (and a bunch of other things). I ran to the store that afternoon and bought some Silk Soy Milk, which she downed with no problem. Already (after about 3 days on it), we feel like her tummy problems are noticeably better.

I also took her for a blood draw at the hospital on Friday. We got all our paperwork taken care of, and were called back for the blood draw. All we did was sit down and Lily started screaming. The two girls checked out her arms and had a very hard time finding a vein that they thought they could hit. They referred us up to peds (Remember, Lily still screaming). So, up to peds we go. They checked out her arms and feet for good veins (still screaming). No luck. They actually did try on one arm, but couldn't get it. They asked me if I minded if they tried a vein in her head. After asking a couple questions, I told them to go for it. The veins were WAY better there, and they said that it probably hurts less. They had to swaddle her in a blanket to help keep her still, but she cried and screamed the WHOLE time. -and, by the time we were done, I had some tears too.

I found this link on milk allergies in children, if you're interested.

Now, we're waiting for results. We should find out this week, but it may be late this week. I'll keep you posted!

So tired, new desperation

I can barely keep my eyes open.

Why? Lily. And at the same time, I feel sorry for her. I have reached my breaking point. I called the pediatrician.

This poor, beautiful baby has a serious gas problem, and not the funny kind. The wakes-up-crying-every-night kind. This is not a new problem. But she is now 13 months and still not sleeping through the night. On an average night, she wakes at 4:00ish in the morning from
the gas that has built up in her tummy since she fell asleep. This is not the kind of gas that bicycling her legs helps. And, seriously, if one more person brings that up, I. Will. Hit. Them.

So, I hit my breaking point and called the doctor this morning. I'm waiting for a call back from the nurse practitioner. I just feel like maybe there is something I'm missing. An "easy" solution.

So, say a prayer, and I'm off to watch a movie in bed with the girls, during which I hope to catch some z's with Lil.

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday

It has been a very long 2 days. I have a monster sinus infection, Matt is out of town, and Lily is out-of-sorts. I'm not sure exactly what is wrong with her, and to be honest I haven't investigated too much because I haven't felt well. It is either a cold (probable), teething (possible), or gas (probable). As you can tell, I think it could be a combo of all of those. Peachy. I love not sleeping at night. It really makes my day.

On a different note, Lily has figured out how to open cabinets. She seems to pick the ones that I don't really want her in. You know, cleaning products, glass dishes... I finally resorted to blocking the opening between the couches with a kitchen chair (pure desperation, really).

Abby was in a very good mood at breakfast because she got to have... powdered doughnuts! Notice the white powder all around her mouth. I bought some for her yesterday as a treat because she was so good while waiting at my doctor's appointment. I took her with me to the 8:30 appointment so that I could drop her at preschool after. Little did I know that I wouldn't get out of there until 10:00. She was a champ.

As far as my sinus infection goes, I'm doing "okay". I am so drugged up right now, I can't feel my face. I have a high dose antibiotic since my sinus infections are chronic, a pain pill because it was so bad that the left side of my face was puffy and my lymph node was huge, and Advil Cold and Sinus. She said to keep using the Neti Pot, so I am. I will say the combo of me being sick and Lily being out of it really sucks, but we're staying in for a lazy today so I'm hopeful that will help our moods.

... and seriously, how cute are the girls in their matching jammies?