Family and Fun! Part 3 of 3

Sunday did not end with the Children's Museum, it was really just a beginning! After leaving the museum, we piled back into the car, like so many clowns, and headed for Jamie's house. Everyone was exhausted, and it seemed the perfect time for a household nap to re-energize before dinner.

Several hours later, after yawns and stretches, everyone was awake once again and talk of plans took place. We had yet to eat dinner and Jaelyn had energy to burn before we stuck her in the car for the 2 hour car ride home, the solution? Chuck E. Cheese! Jamie, detective that she is, scoped out some coupons online and after making sure everything was packed and in the car we were off!

We arrived and Jaelyn's eyes were as big as owls! The lights and sounds and masses of hoarding people made her eyes light up like a Christmas tree. We found a booth, ordered our food and tokens and were off to let Jaelyn play games and ride rides. She could barely contain herself! Her two favorite things were riding a horse for a racing game and dropping tokens in the slots of about any game or ride you can imagine! At some point, it was discussed that the adults seemed to be having more fun than Jaelyn, not that she wasn't having fun, but perhaps Dave and Busters may have been a better choice!

After devouring the delicious vittles and drowning it in carbonated goodness we were off to play yet more games and ride yet more rides. In the end, the adults (with Jaelyn's help of course!) scored her 700 tickets to redeem in prizes. By this time, my poor daughter was obviously over stimulated and looked like a happy zombie, ready for bed. Daddy picked out her prizes, a Chuck E. Cheese hat, which she now insists on wearing around the house ALL day and a balloon. Not bad.

We left Chuck E. Cheese and headed for home, Jaelyn did not fall asleep on the way home, but she didn't scream her head off either, so it was more or less a win. We had a wonderful weekend with my sister and I can't wait until next summer when we do it all over again!

Jaelyn riding the horse race game, it doesn't show in this picture, but she really loved it!

Jaelyn concentrating very hard on steering her safari jeep!

Family Fun at Chuck E. Cheese!

Family and Fun! Part 2 of 3

The sounds of trucks driving by and a hawk squawking in the sky greeted my morning sensitive ears Sunday morning. Having been a rough night with Jaelyn falling out of bed and Jeremy up with a migraine, I was in no mood for said hawk, but determined to have a good last day, I put a smile on my face, finished with my morning sickness, and greeted Jamie good morning. Sitting on the porch with the floor to ceiling windows, viewing on her spacious yard was just the start to the morning I needed. Another gourmet breakfast was heartily devoured by all, stomach full, activities lulled for just a bit, conversation slowed and we all enjoyed the peace and quiet.

It wasn't long before more lunches were packed, directions map-quested, and everyone piled into the car. We were off to explore the wonders of the Minnesota Children's Museum! Crammed into close quarters, we chatted gaily, anticipation high, at least for myself that is! In what seemed like no time at all we were entering the parking ramp and off to the sky walk. Admissions paid, we re-grouped and found our way to the first level of fun.

Jaelyn had so much fun in the balance room! The adults did too! Jaelyn enjoyed walking on the "beams" and stepping on the stepping "stones", The adults enjoyed competing to see who could balance the longest on an impossible disk. Excited to see what else awaited, we moved on and found ourselves in a toddler sized village complete with bus, market, restaurant, Post Office and much more. Jaelyn would have driven the bus all day, but it was other children's turn! Jamie and Alexis tried on community workers costumes, go figure, Jamie was the cop! We soon found ourselves wandering to yet another room, this one a toddler size water world! Could Jaelyn have been any happier? Dropping ping pong balls down pipes with flowing water, filling containers with water from another source and even a bubble solution table kept Jaelyn busy for what seemed like hours. After a short visit to a Wizard of Oz themed room we found the 4 and under room and decided to let Jaelyn run. There were ramps, stairs, slides, bridges and things to touch, see, hear and even costumes! It was a great room to end our day in. We had so much fun watching Jaelyn run, climb, explore, learn and play, but we were ready to be home!

Jaelyn LOVED testing her skills on balancing beams and stepping "stones"

She spent the most time at this table, dropping ping pong balls into the pipes and watching them float out.

Jaelyn climbing the rope ladder, dressed as a raccoon!

Family and Fun! Part 1 of 3

It was well past Jaelyn's bedtime when we finally got home last night around 9 p.m., but she was WIDE awake! Wound up, instead of exhausted, from the fun over the weekend.

We left in the dark of Friday night with the moonlight as our guide, the Twin Cities our destination, to see my sister and sister-in-law. Our headlights pierced the night as we pulled into my sister's driveway, all the lights were off, but there was Alexis, waiting to lead us to a warm bed for the night. Over mouth watering pancakes on Saturday morning, my husband and I got to play catch-up with my sister Jamie and her life-partner Alexis, while Jaelyn played on the floor. After breakfast was devoured and dishes were cleaned we packed some lunches and we were off! Our adventure...the Mn. Zoo! Amongst the many calls and smells of animals from near and far around the globe, we laughed and chatted and enjoyed the company of one another. Jaelyn especially like the petting zoo, where she got to feed some goats from her hand. Among the bleating of greedy, hoofed beasts scrambling for every last morsel, my daughters giggles were like music to my ears. Nothing makes a mother so happy, as to hear her child laugh in merriment. Lunch was eaten, animals of the sea, sky and earth were spotted, and information was absorbed. All too soon, it was time to turn our tails to home, well, my sisters home that is.

The aquarium enthralled Jaelyn to no end, watching fish, sharks and even a dolphin, she could have stayed there all day!


Jaelyn pretending to be a bear!


Several dollars worth of goat-feed went into this little ones belly!


Last but not least, a family of farmers...for a day!

Millions of Pictures

As we're getting ready for a weekend of ultimate fun; choosing outfits, packing the diaper bag, making sure there's enough gas in the car, and putting fresh batteries in the camera, I found myself wondering why I feel the need to document my daughter's every move.

I must have at least 2,000 pictures of her on this very computer, and those are just the "keepers". I delete my camera at LEAST once a month, and hardly ever get around to printing the pictures, much less scrap booking them or even sticking them in the sleeves of a photo album. And after you have these millions of pictures, how often do you really look at them? As a self-proclaimed dweller, I actually go through photo albums a lot, but nobody else looks at my pictures!

Why then? Why take all these pictures to sit uselessly on our computers? To gather dust on a shelf sitting in an album? To smile blindly at the world in frames adorning our walls that no one actually stops to look at? Is it the new ease of digital cameras? Take as many pictures as you want, it only costs you for the few you print? Is it part of the American way of owning and having and proving oneself? "See how much I love my family, I have shelves of albums full of pictures of them!" Or for me, is it because there are so few pictures of myself growing up, that I want my daughter to be able to see what she was like at each stage of her life? Perhaps it's to prove to our kids that we DID do things with them, we DID take them places and have fun with them. To prove that they didn't have a horrible childhood, deprived on sunlight and joy.

For whatever reason I take SOOO many pictures (which means I'm only in about 20 photos WITH my daughter), sometimes I find myself resentful of watching my daughter grow up through a camera lens. Perhaps it's time to put the camera aside, get down and dirty with my daughter instead of taking pictures of her getting down and dirty, and cherish the memory in my mind's eye, physical evidence be damned. I'm sure I will take more than my fair share of pictures on our outings, but I will try to limit my cameras use, and take the moment instead, to simply enjoy the moment. Not every moment has to be a Kodak moment.

Celebrations!

What a weekend we had! Fourth of July was interesting to say the least! We lit off some fireworks at Jeremy's parent's house, Jaelyn was terrified until near the end when she started clapping and yelling "Yaaay!", too bad the festivities were done by that point! On the fourth itself we had planned on doing some small fireworks and sparklers with Jaelyn, but she fell asleep much too early, and so did I! Then on Monday we shot off even more fireworks at my parent's house with my sisters and my niece and nephews there, good times were had by all.



It was my first weekend, and my first holiday on this new ultra low-fat diet, and I survived! I have only take two of my pills to manage pain, and today, I feel so much better, there isn't even any pain! So of course, on sets the morning sickness when I'm trying to get back onto my feet! Joy.



I have finally come out of shock mode about this pregnancy, I'm excited, I'm scared and so so happy! I feel like it's going to be a boy, but I felt that way with Jaelyn too...perhaps I shouldn't trust my instincts! Oh well, boy or girl will steal my heart away, so it really doesn't matter. I am still nervous about what is to come with this pregnancy and gall stones; will I be able to stick to the diet? Or will I have some sort of craving or moment of weakness, fall off my diet and have more attacks? Will I have attacks even if I follow the diet to a "T"? Will I be able to gain enough weight for this pregnancy? (A common concern for pregnancy while on this diet) Will I have to have a surgery while I'm pregnant? If so, will my baby be okay? What will recovery be like? Or will I have to have the surgery right after I have a newborn and a toddler to take care of? Will I be able to keep breastfeeding my daughter? Or will she wean herself earlier than I had hoped? sigh



I know I can't read the future, and I know everything will work out in the end, but sometimes it's just plain old stressful and it's nice to let a little of that stress out here; there's no judgement, no expectations, no unwanted comments from the peanut gallery at home. Ahhh...blog world, how I do enjoy thee!

Sometimes, life is scary...

Sometimes, life is scary and there is nothing you can do but hold on for the ride and pray you come out the other side unscathed. I'm going through one of those moments right now. Last night I went to the Emergency Room with abdominal pains that rivaled labor pains, turns out for good reason too. I have gall stones, this, in and of itself, is not so scary. Gall stones can pass, your gall bladder can be removed, but not if your pregnant. Imagine my surprise when the doctor tells the required pregnancy test, via blood, turned up positive!

I don't know which was harder, to be miserable while so happy, or happy while in so much pain. I smiled through the pain, my husband smiled and all was as good as could be in that moment. But it wouldn't last long. I was put on pregnancy safe pain meds and soon enough I was comfortable, an ultra-sound technician came in to see if she could spot any gall stones that might be causing an obstruction, thankfully there are none. Then my doctor wanted to talk about our "options". My gall bladder needs to be removed, but if a surgery is performed, there's a great chance for a miscarriage, not exactly what I wanted to hear. After spending the night in the hospital hopped up on drugs and saline solution, and talking to the surgeon in the morning, surgery will be put off, but with consequences.

Not only am I put on an anti-vomiting drug, and a pain killer, I also have an ulcer reducing medication as a precaution, none of these are ideal for baby of course, but they come with less risk than a surgery. I also am on a very restricted low-fat, low-cholesterol diet, which means I have to immediately wean my daughter from breastfeeding, or risk malnourishing the growing baby. The hope is that I can make it through the entire pregnancy, deliver and THEN have my gall bladder removed, but reality is, it'll be nice to make it past the first trimester before it needs to be done.

I never thought this is how I would find out I was pregnant, I never thought I would be SO concerned for the life of my unborn child. These are the things that happen to other people, not to me; I'm the woman who has the perfect pregnancy and perfect child, but reality is, I am that other woman whom I have so feared I would be. I will follow this crazy diet, and try to put up with as much pain as possible before resorting to drugs, I will pray for my health and for my unborn baby, and no matter what happens, I will survive.

Sometimes life is scary, but we can't run away from it; sometimes we have to grab life and hold on, hoping all the while that our fears are unfounded.