Hold the applause

Avelyn is SEVEN months old!

(Well, she was on November 18th. Now she's older.)

Also, I'm back! Have you missed me? Silly me, what a question. Of course you missed me!

My internet has been down for 8 whole days. I’ve had mixed feelings about it. On the downside I didn’t know what to do with myself. I couldn’t obsessively check my email(s) or post to the blog or stalk other blogs. On the upside, I didn’t obsessively check my email(s) or post to the blog or stalk other blogs. Not that I spend much time doing this during the day since I try to smother Avelyn with attention and love but still, it was kind of nice not feeling the responsibility that the internet demands. I should have been writing a journal each day, chronicling the up and down craziness around here. The last week went a little something like this:

"OMG! What happened to the internet!”
“OMG! Avelyn is sooooooooo cute today!”
“Wow, I haven't checked email in days."
"Um, I really really really really really need the internet."
“OMG! Avelyn has a 104.4 temperature!”

Yeah, that was rough. She had her second flu shot on Monday, the 17th. She was a little fussy the next day, but nothing out of the ordinary since she had the shot and has two teeth just begging to break the surface. When I got home Wednesday she was just waking up from her nap so I paid the sitter and ran to pick her up and squeeze her. (It had been 8-1/2 whole hours since I’d seen her last). When I picked her up she felt really hot and her cheeks were bright red. They felt like fire. Her temp was 102.6 when I took it so I called the doctor. By the time they could see us it was 6:30 and her temp was 104.4. I was freaking out.

What kind of a mother was I? What kind of a [almost] professional nurse was I??? My kid was melting from the inside out and I was just sitting around thinking, “Um, duh, uh, she’s really hot” (okay, it wasn’t that bad). They gave her some Motrin, I covered her in cool cloths and they sent us home. She looked great other than the fever and we figured she probably picked up a virus during her visit on Monday. Damn sick children getting my well child infected with their dirty virus. Luckily she was back down to 98.3 by 7am the next morning. After my pediatric clinical at Texas Children’s this semester I had an awful night imagining having to take her there and be on the other side. It’s hard enough being a nurse to sick kids, I don’t think I’d handle being the parent of the sick kid watching everything happen around me.

Speaking of clinical, I had my last (make up) day on Sunday. It was neither here nor there. Let’s just say I saw some interesting things, read about some awful things people do to their own kids, got a terrible review from a bitchy nurse and went to bed at 9:30. And I only stayed up til 9:30 because Kevin wanted to watch some stuff on Tivo. Sigh. At least it’s over. Just four more weeks and I’m done for the year. Please pray that I pass this semester. We can’t afford for me to fail and have to stay in Houston for another year.

Hmm, what’s next? Oh yeah! Remember way back in time when I told you to wait for the cuteness? Here it is. Avelyn and her baby-boy-friend Cooper hammed it up for us. It rained the day before so we couldn't go outside but I plan on making her wear this costume until she busts the seams so maybe one day we'll get them rolling around in the wild. Shannon, would it be unreasonable to fear a future lawsuit from our children?

Well Avelyn finally met my sister Saturday. We went to a wedding of a girl my sister has been friends with for about 15 some odd years. The bride looked beautiful and Avelyn did really well considering she is 7 months old. We sat at the back and took her out a few times when she felt the need to include herself in the vows. She is so wary around other people, especially those she hasn’t met before so we waited a while before Stephanie tried to hold her. When she finally did Avelyn didn’t shed one tear. My sister and I look enough alike that I guess it wasn’t a shock meeting her.

Well, I'm sure there are loads more stories I am leaving out but since I'm a mom (which = no memory) and I'm not smart enough to write down ideas when I think of them, I'm out. I'll leave you with a few photos from today of my beautiful baby princess.