Tuesday her coughing seemed to be getting worse. Then Tuesday night she fell and busted her head open… resulting in an ambulance ride and a night at the hospital. The reason we called the ambulance- other than the massive bleeding- was because she started falling asleep right away. I actually sat on my front porch to make sure the ambulance could find us. It’s funny the things you do when you panic. I had the sense to change my shirt and grab my phone and charger on the way out the door too. The police and firetruck showed up first because the ambulance came from another district. She started calming down right away because she was excited about all the sirens and lights. Silly girl. We rode with the lights on but not the siren because they didn’t want to scare her. She had to sit on my lap on the stretcher- the other option was them strapping her down alone which was just not going to happen.

They were able to use glue instead of stitches or staples on her injury. I was glad because it is supposed to scar less. The worst part was holding her down to get it washed out- it took the doctor, two nurses, and Jonathon and me to do it. Then after we were released she started throwing up so we had to spend the night at the hospital. Several drugs, an IV, and a ct-scan later, we were released. Her results were all normal and we were told to keep her head dry for a few days, limit her activity, and don’t let her bump anything. That was Wednesday morning so my mom picked her up and let Jonathon and I sleep and get stuff done around the house.

By the way if anyone knows how to get blood out of your carpet, please let me know. Of course it’s right at the top of our stairs near the entryway. I have gotten it to fade but not a whole lot. I have been looking for something also to pad our doorway with. She needs some kind of fall protection or corner guards. The spot where she hit her head was in the doorway to our kitchen. It’s one of those cut out doorways that doesn’t have a door frame in it- basically drywall with metal in the corners or something. Probably the hardest place she could possibly have hit her head of course. So we need to fix that. The things that you don’t think of babyproofing until your child gets hurt…

Wednesday she seemed to be recovering from the head injury but she started coughing until she threw up. Back to the pediatrician on Thursday morning about the coughing (again) and to get her head checked. Her ped ran a test and had us do a chest x ray. The conclusion is that she most likely has cough-variant asthma which would explain why she coughs all night long for weeks at a time. We are borrowing a nebulizer for two weeks and if that stops the coughing then we will talk about a preventative treatment plan and visit a specialist. They think it is allergy-induced because it’s much much worse in spring and fall, and seems to come along with a runny nose. Yesterday we did her breathing treatments every four hours, once during the night, and today we have spaced them back to every six hours. She has only coughed a handful of times (even in the night) since starting them. So I think this is working!

As much as I hate for my child to have asthma- it could be SO much worse. I know someone whose three year old just got diagnosed with CF, and I kept thinking of all the crazy things that could be causing the coughing. I am thankful to have an answer and that it is getting better now.

The first few treatments, she hated it. Now she will hold the mask herself if I let her sit in front of the tv while we do it. That’s a small price to pay to avoid two of us holding her down for the entire treatment!

Didn’t Sarah look beautiful in her wedding dress? She is in super great shape because she has been training to do a marathon with her new hubby. She hasn’t done anything like weight loss pills, just lots of exercise and healthy eating. I should look to her for some motivation…. ha ha…

This is my favorite one from the whole day-

Bouquet toss… Single Ladies started playing and Bailey ran out on the dance floor. She lined right up with the other girls and really tried to get the bouquet. That’s my girl!

My little Dancing Queen… she stayed on the dance floor all. night. long. until we dragged her off around 10:15! The photographer took a lot of pictures of her too. Her socks were so nasty from that floor.

Anyway I have been tired lately and busy trying to get ready for the cruise. I hope to get some pictures uploaded soon from a wedding last weekend.

She took out each item to examine them. The first thing she wanted to try was the Kids Mixed Berry Milk Chocolate cereal bar. She generally loves anything in bar form loved this one. It has a layer of chocolate along the bottom but also has fruit and 6 grams of whole grains and no high fructose corn syrup. Something different than the same breakfast bar she eats every single day. There was also a fruit cup and she willingly ate all the diced peaches and pears. She refused to touch the cherries. She is convinced she doesn’t like cherries but she won’t try them.

The big test was the ravioli. She typically WILL NOT eat pasta, except for spaghetti chopped into itty bitty bites. Well she begged me to open the ravioli and she loved it! I could not have been happier. It was in one of those bowls that you can heat in the microwave so it was super easy. She kept asking for more. I finally cut her off after about half the container, and saved the rest for dinner. She didn’t get to try the juice for a few days. I really limit how much juice she gets- only about two ounces a day, with almost two ounces of water added.

I was so happy that we tried this food. It is such a relief to find new things that Bailey will eat- especially things that are actually healthy AND easy to prepare. It seems like that is a hard combination to find. If we had a Safeway nearby these would probably become staples at our house!

Riding the tram with Kenzie

Here is Bailey in front of a fence. This is significant because she loves to CLIMB these fences and has fallen into the chicken pen and the guinea pig pen multiple times because she leans over too far.

We went on the carousel after Bailey talked me into it. She has a really hard time with motion (like carousels, swings etc) because of her vestibular dysfunction. I knew she would hate it but I didn’t want to tell her no because I don’t want to limit what she thinks she’s capable of… if that makes sense… so we went on the carousel. For about a week afterwards all she would tell me was “I go up and down on the carousel. I too scary carousel!” Broke my heart. Here she is just a second before the panic set in, though:

I hate that she can’t do what her friends do. She wants to. She is so brave and such a happy little girl but I just don’t want anything to hold her back. It’s like when she runs and crashes into things on purpose… people stare and I just want to say LOOK HOW GOOD SHE IS! DON’T STARE AT HER!! She is perfect to me. And when she tells me “I too wiggly, Mommy” it always makes me smile.

But back to our day at Grant’s Farm before I get myself upset.

Emily and Ella, and Jen and Wyatt were also there with us but I didn’t get any pictures of them. I am bad about forgetting to get my camera out once I get busy!

Later that day, I put Bailey’s hair into what we call “a big girl ponytail” for the first time. (a.k.a. one ponytail in the back instead of pigtails. Not my favorite because she looks too grown up!)

One thing that happened to confirm that, was that she hit our car (in their driveway) leaving a huge scrape and a dent and didn’t tell us. Just left to go shopping… she figured she could let us know later. Right, because that’s the normal choice. The good thing- kind of- was that it was the dealer car we had borrowed because they still have our van while they wait for a part to come in to fix a seatbelt strap. So at least we can just give the car back to them and give them the IL’s insurance info and we won’t be without one of our cars while it’s being repaired.

We did have a few cute Bailey moments, of course. At one point she said, “Daddy, my so hungry!” He asked her if she would like a cracker, and she said, “No thank you Daddy, my belly’s fullded! I need fruit snacks!”

She also had so much fun playing with her aunts and uncles and cousins. Have I mentioned that the rest of Jonathon’s family is completely normal? It’s just his parents that are so weird. I’m not sure how that happened. There was a lot of family in town because they had come in for his dad’s birthday, and also because quite a few of them live within an hour or two of his parents. It makes me wish that my side of the family was bigger- I would have loved growing up with a big family like that!

Bailey with her grandparents

Ready for Grandpa D’s party

With cousins Grace and Isaac

And my hubby! I never post any pics of just him and he is the best guy in the world.

“Brell-ella” =umbrella

“I too scary for fireworks” and “I too scary carousel” when she has been scared of fireworks (last night at a barbecue) and of the carousel at Grant’s Farm.

“Hmmm, let’s see… Ummm, maybe…” and taps her chin while she thinks. She must have seen this on one of her shows or something because it is SO exaggerated.

“Kenzie is my beshel friend!” I think it’s a combination of best and special

When I ask her if she wants to pee on the potty, she says “No Mommy, my too little!”

She still says she is the Big MISTER instead of big sister. No one really knows what she is trying to say but it makes me laugh every time.

She got a new doll and she named him Charlie. I don’t know where she came up with that name. She also named a stuffed animal Curly. Her two little dolls at Grammy’s are Susie and Amy. When she is done playing with Charlie she tends to drop him on his head.

“Let’s read it all together” when she wants to read with me.

In her bedtime prayer she is at that stage where she tries to list EVERYTHING she’s thankful for. It usually starts out “Thank you for Nana, and Papa, and Tiny, and Nana…” she always says Nana twice! Then she usually says thank you for her lunch (random) and “My game. My ANIMAL game.” Good thing she specifies so that God knows exactly which game she is thankful for… The other night she also said thank you for the letter Q. She told me once that Q is her favorite letter- too funny. Sometimes Jonathon and I are laughing so hard while she prays and we just try to keep it quiet so she can’t see us cracking up as we duck our heads below the edge of her bed.

“No change my diaper, mom.” Heard quite regularly.

“I love you, Mommy.” and “You so pretty, Mommy.” Those just melt my heart. I love this girl.

I am feeling better most of the time and have my energy back unless I try to do too much. I have been craving juice and popsicles and just liquids in general. I have not wanted ice cream AT ALL which is weird for me. I also don’t want chocolate unless it’s in a cake. I started taking my prenatal vitamins again (I had switched to Flintstones complete while I felt sick) and I think they are going down better now. I feel a little icky once in a while if I get hungry- but other than that, I am okay.

My cruise is about a month away. I still can’t believe that I won (okay, earned) a trip with Avon! Speaking of Avon, there are some great sales going on right now for fall. You can visit my website and use the code FSWER for free shipping! Anyway- the cruise… I got my travel itinerary as far as what we will be doing once I get to Miami, and on the ship, and I am just waiting to hear back from the travel agency for my flight information. Avon really takes care of everything down to all the transportation, meals, tips, etc. I am looking forward to a week of relaxation!

I guess the other big news is that we got our “big” ultrasound scheduled. It will be on October 12th (yes, that’s Columbus day) so hopefully we will find out the gender that day! I am looking forward to that but it just seems so far away with all I have to do between now and then. I’ll leave you with just a few pictures of my Muffin.

Anyway- I have all these pictures that I want to share. I’ll start with some from a zoo trip a few weeks ago with Daddy. We bought a zoo membership that day so now we get “free” train rides, children’s zoo visits, etc. There is one random pic of her at home… The next ones are from another day when we went to Grant’s Farm with Daddy. Then the last two are from my Dad’s birthday in July.

Oh, and yesterday- she got in trouble and afterwards she walked over to where I was sitting on the couch, pressed her face up against my face, and said “You SOOOO pretty, Mommy!” They learn to scam people at a young age. How can you be mad after that?

So the point of this story. Last night she was looking at her Fisher Price desk. She said, “S-C-H-O-O-L D-E-S-K spells Bailey!” She knows her letter sounds so we might have to start working on sounding out words. Otherwise she will just always think that everything spells Bailey!

She is spelling things everywhere she goes. She will name the letters anywhere she can find them. Oh, I really hope she loves to read when she gets older.

I promised myself (and Bailey) that when she finished we could start gymnastics. We went to her first class last week and she loved it. She is doing flips around the bars and walking on the balance beam (with the teacher’s help, of course). My girl is fearless and if I don’t keep up with her she’ll just try it without me or without her teacher. Yesterday she started trying to do summersaults off the edge of the couch. We also had to pack up her high chair because she was pulling it over to the couch and jumping off the couch, trying to grab the back of the chair and swing. She makes me nervous.

A friend and I were talking yesterday about our daughters’ personalities. Hers is more hesitant and cautious. Mine plunges headfirst into just about anything. I hope that serves her well in life but that she doesn’t get hurt too much along the way.

And because I haven’t shared any pictures in a while…

And playing dress-up with Mommy’s glasses and the Silly Hat-

Hello out there!

-She knows all her colors now including gray, black, white, and salmon LOL
-She can count to 14 and also count items- but she sometimes says “One, two, six” still and we have to help her out!
-She loves to have her toenails painted “just like mommy” and to basically do anything that mommy is doing
-She can tell you that her name is “Beelay Sophia _____”
-If you ask her how old she is, she says “Two olds!” instead of two years old
-She enjoys building with lincoln logs (so boring) and still loves Little People
-She knows the alphabet song and can also identify all 26 letters by sight. When we are out she will see a letter and tell me what it is. She will also name several words that start with that letter. She seems to enjoy letters and sounds. Maybe she’ll be a reader like Mommy??
-She can identify about half the numbers by sight. She always clarifies by saying “Number six” or “Number two” or whatever.
-She knows animals like antelope and rhinoceros and can pronounce them too! Her favorite places are the zoo and Grant’s Farm.
-Her eating continues to get better and she no longer cries at the OT’s office. Praise God!
-She pretends to read her books and has memorized the words to some of them. She can tell you the titles of most her favorites.
-It shocks me how fast she learns the words to songs. She can hear them once or twice and then she sings them!

She sings this song from Barney- “Oh Mr. Sun, sun, Mr. golden sun… hiding behind the tree.” Only she says “Oh Mister Sun, sun, oh goad sun. Hidee be hiner-ree!” Here she is hiding behind a tree at Grammy’s house.

My mother in law sent us a ridiculous amount of coupons in the mail. Bailey sat at the kitchen table today and “sorted” them all out into stacks. She told me she was working. I guess she sees us sitting with a bunch of papers and thinks that’s what we do!

She also keeps saying “How ya doin, HUH?” We are trying to get her to drop the HUH.

Other commonly used Bailey-isms:

Oh thank you, Mommy!
Oh thank you, Daddy!
No, please!
Watch Beelay do it, kay?
Get Beelay out now! (In the carseat, when I am unbuckling her)
Idea! (then I will ask her what her idea is, she usually says “Good idea!”)
I sleeping. I snack. I comin too! I drink. Everything is “I”
Oh, Sure! (in a high pitched voice) or Sure, Daddy!
In the swimming pool: I slim the water!
Fish time! (she wants to go look at the aquarium)

And just some cuteness from dinner at Five Guys Burgers and Fries a few nights ago

Posing for pictures before we left- my little model-

The LONG car ride… We went with my friend Jen and her kids Adelle and Wyatt. I was glad we at least had company since we had to wait like a half hour in traffic around the zoo. Besides, Bailey is obsessed with Adelle (Ah-daw) and Wyatt.

Looking at the gators

Here she is on the train- doesn’t she look thrilled? I think she was getting tired!

But then when I asked her to smile she got really cheesy!

We may or may not try again next year. Thank goodness tonight when they were going off outside, she thought they were drums. Silly kid.