Tagged

I was tagged to participate in this fun "MeMe" by Amanda with 2 Fun Sons.

I will admit my ignorance to having no idea was a Meme was so here is a simplified version of what Wikipedia has to say: The term may refer to the content that spreads from user to user, the idea behind the content, or the phenomenon of its spread.

The directions are as follows: Open a document or photo folder and choose the fifth folder and then the fifth photo in that folder. Next, post the photo with a description about it and then tag 5 friends to do the same.

This is what I found...

This is one of our ultrasound pictures from when I was pregnant with Meredith. How ironic that this is the picture that was my 5-5-5 since we are due with #2.

Now I tag:

Chris at Adapt and Overcome
Suzanna at Sweet Caroline
Erin at The Pope Family
Emily at Team Wylie
Cecilia at For the Long Haul

Wordless Wednesday

Walking Videos

Guess What?...

Meredith took steps on her own today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She has taken steps before, but only when prodded, so this is a really big deal. And even better, she did with and without her braces.

We are so proud of her. I will try to get some video of her tonight or tomorrow to post.

Benign Cognitive Hypotonia

That is the medical terminology for Meredith's condition. Basically she has low muscle tone, but it is improving with her physical therapy. He thinks she with walk within a month and if she isn't walking in 2-3 months we are supposed to bring her back. One of the things he told us was that before kids can walk they have to learn to fall and she does have that ability. He demonstrated by thrusting her forward and she put her arms out to catch herself. I had never heard this before but if makes complete sense. He said that in a year or so no one would be able to tell the difference in her and other children, but she won't ever be a ballerina (that is ok with us).

So for now Meredith is fine. We will keep her in physical therapy and hopefully in a month we will be regretting the day we said we wish she would walk because she will be running around everywhere. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

NOVENA TO STOP FOCA

I got this in an email and I wanted to post it. Bill and I are participating and I encourage all who are against abortion to do so....

If you are apposed to abortion then there is bad news on the horizon. For those of you who do not know, the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is set to be signed if congress passes it on January 21-22 of 2009. The FOCA is the next sick chapter in the book of abortion.

If made a law then all limitations on abortion will be lifted which will result in the following:
1) All hospitals, including Catholic hospitals will be required to perform abortions upon request. If this happens Bishops vow to close down all Catholic hospitals, more then 30% of all hospitals in the United States.
2) Partial birth abortions would be legal and have no limitations.
3) All U.S. tax payers would be funding abortions.
4) Parental notification will no longer be required.
5) The number of abortions will increase by a minimum of 100,000 annually.

Perhaps most importantly the government will now have control in the issue of abortion. This could result in a future amendment that would force women by law to have abortions in certain situations (rape, down syndrome babies, etc) and could even regulate how many children women are allowed to have. Needless to say this information is disturbing, but sadly true. As Catholics, as Christians, as anyone who is against the needless killing of innocent children, we must stand as one. We must stop this horrific act before it becomes a law.

The Plan : To say a novena ( 9 days of prayer ) along with fasting starting on January 11th. The prayer of choice will be the rosary with intentions to stop the FOCA. The hope is that this will branch and blossom as to become a global effort with maximum impact. We have very little time so we all must act fast.

Just do three things:
1) Pass this letter to 5 or more people
2) Do it in three days or less
3) Start the novena on January 11th and pray for nine consecutive days. (please also fast for at least two days during the novena)

Remember that with God all things are possible and the power of prayer is undeniable. If you are against the senseless killing of defenseless children then the time is now to do something about it!

"Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you." - St. Augustine

Rough Week

So I am having a rough week. It started out with being stressed that I couldn't be at work when needed because I had to take my car to be fixed.

Monday morning was the first day back after two weeks off, and what do I have to kick the week off with?! A new classroom/teacher for Meredith and SOAR (new student orientation). Oh, wait, and Toyota couldn't see me on Saturday so I had to drop off my car to fix the god awful rattling that it was still making. If you know me, then you know I was stressing about needing to be in all these places at the right times. Luckily Meredith was fine in her new classroom that day, so that went smoothly. I got to Toyota on time, but realized on the way there that the rental car place for them doesn't open until 8am (not 7:30am like the shop) and was freaking because SOAR was at 8:30am. Again, luckily the girl was there early and I was able to arrive at work at 8:10. Not bad.

I was told the car should be ready at midday. At 3pm, I found out it would be the next day. Normally, no big deal, except I had to drive all the way back there so I could get my carseat so I could pick up Meredith. Keep in mind the shop is 15 minutes in the opposite direction from home.

I noticed that night the Meredith had a mark on her back, but I didn't think much of it because kids get marks all the time and sometimes Meredith doesn't cry when something happens to her, so the teachers may not have known.

On Tuesday she cried when I dropped her, which she has NEVER EVER done before, not even on the first day at daycare ever! I thought maybe she was just tired, and her little boyfriend Aiden came to comfort her (he has been "helping" her adjust to the new room). So I pick the car up after 2 full workdays for what was supposed to be a half day repair, go get Meredith, to discover she got bit. Upset, but you know it happens, until I realize that that was what the mark from Monday night was too! Why do the little ones always get picked on?! And then my tooth chipped for no apparent reason that night.

Ok, so yesterday morning I drop her off and she starts crying again! I just kept it together to get me out the door and into the car and I lost it. Tears were flowing and I left Bill an incoherent message about what happened and talked to my mom about it. It hurt my heart so much seeing her do that. All my thoughts were about moving her up the next room, what if there really is something wrong with her (Neurologist appointment on Monday, by the way), am I a terrible mother, yadda, yadda. I just wanted to stay home with her so bad.

And then to today, I have to work until 9:20 tonight because I will be teaching a class on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next 8 weeks, so I only go to see Meredith this morning. And of course she cried again! I am just trying to stay upbeat for her.

The thing that comforts me is that I can watch her on the Internet and she looks like she is adjusting well. She sits at the table to eat, she is taking naps on the little mats on the floor, and I see her playing. Not bad for the little kid that doesn't walk in a room of 8 other walking kids.

I hope this too shall pass.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

So I have been a SAHM for the past two weeks. Well not really, but I have been off and discovered that I can't get anything done. I am sure I would be more schedule if I were a SAHM than I did the last two weeks.

I haven't found anytime to blag since last week so here is what we did for Christmas and New Year. We always spend Christmas at home so enjoyed a laid back day. We had my dad's side over as well as Bill's side for Christmas just not on the same day. I am not sure if I would want to do this again because I felt like I was constantly cleaning, so maybe an Open House next year would be better. We'll see. Of course Meredith was spoiled rotten and she hasn't even played with everything she got. This is what she saw first thing when she came into the living room...
Way to go Santa! She loved the Ball pit, especially when Mommy and Daddy get in there with her.

We spent this past week fighting illnesses. Meredith was on steriods the week of Christmas but she never seemed to get back to 90%, much less 100%. We were supposed to go to our friends house for New Years Eve, but we canceled because I wasn't feeling well. So we stayed at home, watched football (Bill doesn't want to talk about it), I feel asleep on the couch (par for the course) and Bill woke me up for a kiss at midnight. Our neighbors were going crazy with fireworks and yesterday morning we discovered they even burnt some of their yeard, idiots. This is why you do fireworks on the pavement.

Anyway, today I took Meredith back to the doctor to find that she has not only her first ear infection, but a double ear infection. She even had pustules on her tonsils (uh oh, she may turn out like her mom after all). So we are home again with meds and we will not be going to Albany to see Bill's dad. Bill even doesn't feel well now, and of course I am now fine. I guess I should be thankful that we are all not sick at once.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I can't wait to see what is in store for us this year. Here are a few more pictures from Christmas.