First Impressions

While at Toys 'R' Us today looking at bumbo chairs we saw some impression kits and I just had to get them. I feel horrible because my C-section recovery was miserable and I was really disabled for the first 3 weeks. I tried walking around to heal faster but I was still limited in what I could do and between nursing non-stop, taking care of baby and going back to work I didn't have very much time to do anything like ink prints, impression molds or even much of his scrapbook. Recently he has started to have an amazing sleep schedule with actual naps during the day making these things possible so I'm determined to get them done/started soon. As a Mom you learn that some things are better late than never, so we bought two of the impression kits today and set up shop in the kitchen.

"Whatchya doing dad?"

"Wow"

Round 1 of 2

The finished product.

It took both of us to do the hand impression so unfortunately there are no pictures. Even though it took a few tries for each impression I am very pleased with how they turned out. I can't wait until they are dry and I can hang them up. Next mission: scrapbooks!!

Sitting Pretty

Kevin has loved sitting up in our laps lately, and also standing up on our laps. We bought him a bumbo this weekend and he absolutely loves it!! He is so adorable and I can't believe in just 3 days he will be 4 months old. My baby is getting so big!!

(I love his smile in this one but it turned out a little blurry giving him a black eye look)

Thursday 5

I think this is the greatest idea!! All you have to do is think of 5 things that have made you feel the following emotions this week!

Main Entry: joy·ous
Pronunciation: \ˈjȯi-əs\

Function: adjective

: experiencing, causing, or showing joy

Main Entry: ju·bi·lant

Pronunciation: \ˈjü-bə-lənt\

Function: adjective

: filled with or expressing great joy or triumph

Main Entry: ex·u·ber·ant
Pronunciation: \-b(ə-)rənt\

Function: adjective

2 a : joyously unrestrained and enthusiastic

Main Entry: thank·ful
Pronunciation: \ˈthaŋk-fəl\
Function: adjective

1 : conscious of benefit received

Main Entry: mer·ry
Pronunciation: \ˈmer-ē, ˈme-rē\
Function: adjective

2 : full of gaiety or high spirits


Here are mine:

1)Celebrating 3 amazing years that I have been married to my wonderful husband.

2)Having my beautiful baby boy sleeping through the night, and waking up at the same time I need to. He sleeps from about 7:30 pm to 6:00 am.

3)Having an amazing job that I love and being able to work 40+ hours without missing any of my son's precious moments because I'm blessed to be able to take him to work with me.

4)I'm thankful my Mom-A is staying stable and that her MRI came back with some pretty good news, she has some bruising but the Dr's are very optimistic that she will make a full recovery.

5)I'm happy to have the amazing family that I do!!!

There it is my Thursday 5!! What are yours?? Check out Mrs. Gambizzles blog post here and see what so many other people are thankful for this week.

3 Years Ago

July 27th, 2007

"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you." -Winnie the Pooh

Happy Anniversary to my best friend, an amazing husband and the wonderful Father of my sweet precious baby boy! Three years ago we promised a togetherness that would last "forever". We said "I Do" to an agreement to stay together no matter what was thrown at us, and considering all we had already been through we both knew we could make it through anything. I am so happy being your bride and I look forward to so many more years to come. Thank you for making me the happiest wife in this world. You are amazing.

You swept me off my feet the first day I saw you.

You took my breath away with your first sweet kiss.

You have made me smile non-stop since we started dating.

I just can't get enough!! I love you so much!!

The rest of our trip to D.C

Ken's Boss' house...A.K.A The White House

D.C was so much fun I can't wait to go back there and see everything else it has to offer. After the Smithsonian we walked to The White House. Word of advice if you are planning on going to D.C parking is horrible so be prepared to walk...a lot!! The day we spent actually in the city walking around to the monuments and other historical landmarks we walked over 3 miles. Whew... it was exhausting not to mention super hot. Another piece of advice go in either the Spring of Fall when it is not as hot or humid. We had fun regardless and it was such an amazing adventure.

I love it when super nice people see us trying to take a picture and offer to do it for us. I also love returning the favor. I hope theirs turned out as great as ours did.

Washington monument

The National Zoo:

The National Zoo is amazing! They have such great exhibits. Our favorite? The Giant Pandas.

Yep that's a real panda behind us eating bamboo.

Sooo cute!!!

Side Trip to Alexandria, Remember the Who?:
On our way home I wanted to show Ken the house my dad lived in when he was little in Alexandria. I also wanted to show him something I discovered last year while I was there with my Dad. I am a HUGE movie buff and Remember the Titans is one of my favorite movies. Football, a sensitive topic that makes me cry and a young Ryan Gosling. Oh yeah all the makings of a great movie. Well look what we found...

The actual T.C Williams football field.

Oh yeah still home of the Titans!!
I'm such a nerd but I love it.

Our trip was amazing and I'm looking forward to our next family trip. The next destination? Philadelphia in the Fall... hopefully.

Our trip to D.C Part 1: The Smithsonian

For our Anniversary this year we wanted to go some where fun, busy and inexpensive. Washington D.C is only about 3 1/2 hours away and with my younger sister's employee discount we were able to book a 3 night stay at a Marriott for just over $100!! Everything in D.C (mostly everything) is free. We stopped there last year on our way home from a camping trip to Gettysburg, and we were able to see the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and Arlington National Cemetery. We wanted to see so much more but were limited on time. This time we saw some of the other things we didn't get to last year!!

We went to The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and spent 4 hours there. I don't even think we saw everything there was to see though.

Exhibits:

(dumb, dumb, want gum gum)

Animals:

They had both stuffed animals and skeletal animals. It was amazing the variety that they had. Ken and I both thought the skeleton exhibit was so cool. They had so many skeletons of so many different animals from frogs to whales.

Some of the skeletons, including an ant eater, and armadillo.

Part of the stuffed animal exhibit, they had so many different animals this one was really neat though. It looked like he was pouncing from a nook in the ceiling.

Insect Zoo:

They had a real Madagascar hissing cockroach out for people to hold. I figured I am the mommy of a little boy so I will eventually have to hold bugs even if I don't want to. So I said YES!! I want Kevin to think he has a cool mommy!! (Even if it creeped me out)

Ken did NOT want to hold it, but I think I made him feel like he had to since I was brave and did it lol!!

Our own little bug watching mommy and daddy being brave.

Gems and Precious Stones:

I love this necklace... So Pretty!!

I HOPE I get this necklace for Christmas lol I'm a dork!! This of course is the gorgeous Hope diamond and it was very big and very beautiful.

Butterfly Garden:

This was by far one of our favorite exhibits. It was amazing!! The butterflies just flew around you and they were so beautiful.

Kevin and I in the butterfly garden. See the little butterfly on the leaf? On a side note, he loves the snuggly!!!

Ken took amazing pictures of the butterflies!!

I have never had a butterfly land on me before it was so cool!! (see my shoulder)

Ken thought it was really cool too.

The Smithsonian was so amazing. There is so much interesting stuff there, I can't wait to go back when Kevin is a little older. I also want to go back and go through more of the museums. I swear you could live in D.C for a year and not see everything there is to see. The best part of the museums... they are free!!

Ready to go??

O.k little man we are ready for our trip. We have all of our bags packed (see here) and we are ready to go... are you?




Yep... I think he is ready!! Well now we just need to make sure Daddy and the car are ready. Well... not so much.



Yep about 5 minutes after we hit the highway we were flagged down by a nice fellow highway driver (thank you stranger whoever you are) to alert us we had a flat. It must have just barely happened because neither one of us felt it and the tires were all completely fine before we left the house. After a quick tire swap though we were back out on the road and headed for our trip to D.C.

Did we move?

Nope just packed for a 3 day trip to Washington D.C. This is what it looks like to take a little family of 3 on just a small vacation.

Ingredients for a successful trip:

• 1 pack 'n' play
• 1 suitcase for mommy and daddy to share
  
• 1 duffel bag for baby, which includes diapers, bottles, and clothes.
• 1 travel play yard so baby can have tummy time and play time
• a bottle warmer (which we never used lol)
• a bag to hold our electronics; laptop, camera, video camera
• and a cooler for drinks and snacks...(museum food is expensive)
  

Play Time

Usually after our attempt at a late afternoon nap we get on the floor and play. There is no T.V, no music no other noises, just me and my little man playing, and laughing on the floor together.

He loves his new toys we bought, especially since they get to go in his mouth.

And look who came home early to play with us!!!

Mother

Dictionary.com defines a Mother as the following: 1) a term of address for a female parent or a woman having or regarded as having the status, function, or authority of a female parent. 2)

a woman exercising control, influence, or authority like that of a mother: to be a mother to someone. 3) the qualities characteristic of a mother, as maternal affection. 4) something or someone that gives rise to or exercises protecting care over something else.

Alese Tveisme-Fischer has been all of these things and more which is why I label her my Mom. Ever since she came into my life 7 years ago when she was engaged to my dad, she has accepted me as her daughter. Even when she and my Dad broke up she has kept in touch with my sister's and I. I always tell her that I think God brought her to us for my sister's and I not the relationship with my Dad. While I was staying with her in May we went to a neighborhood BBQ and all of her neighbors knew me as her daughter, that's how SHE chose to introduce me. She has pictures of us (Ken, Kevin and myself and my sister's and nephew) hanging in her home and at her office. She introduced me to her co-workers as her daughter. She has been there for advice, opinions, support and so much more. She is an amazing Mom. Yesterday my sister and I were told by friends of Alese that since we are not family we need to let them update us (I have only called twice since the accident so if I came across pushy I am sorry for that). Essentially we were told to back off or at least that's the way we interpreted it. My sister and I were and still are very hurt.

The other day I talked to her husband letting her know that I am planning on coming up in September to help her. I'm hopeful that she will be out of the hospital by then and needing more at home held which I will be more than happy to give. Ken and I do not have the finances to make a trip right now where it is at last minute. I wish we did however our savings would barely cover a one way ticket for one of us. I also told him however that if things got worse someone could contact the Red Cross who would get a message to my husband, he would then be put on Emergency Leave and we could go to Navy Marine Corps Relief Society and be granted Emergency Travel Funds. Well, I was informed by a friend of my mom's that they do not feel comfortable doing that since she is not my real Mom...well according to the definition of Mom she is.

On a positive note she is doing well. She completed all of her surgeries yesterday. Today they have been focused on weaning her off the pain meds and sedation meds in order to get her to wake up. She has fluttered her eyes occasionally and Dave mentioned to my sister who went to the hospital today that they opened briefly. I have not been updated today by anyone other than my sister. The Dr's are worried about her cognitive and neurological abilities. The next couple of days are going to be focused on waking her up. Please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers. I love you Mom. Get well soon.

Prayers needed.

At about 8:30 p.m I received a call from my Mom A's husband Dave letting me know he was in the hospital, my mom had been involved in a motorcycle accident. They were doing one of their usual weekend rides something they made a habit since she got her bike for Mother's day. He was in front and all of a sudden in his rear view mirror he saw her windshield hit the pavement. She was life flighted to South West Washington Medical Center. She is currently in the I.C.U in an induced coma. She has multiple fractures, internal injuries, internal bleeding and a slight brain hemorrhage. The Dr's are saying it looks about 50/50. They had the chaplain come in and talk to Dave. Things don't look good. I keep thinking that any minute I'm going to receive a phone call. My heart keeps sinking every time my phone rings. My sisters are now at the hospital and are keeping me updated. I am thinking about taking a flight out tomorrow. Please keep us in your prayers. I will keep you updated. My mom is the most amazing woman, and I can't imagine a life without her. I have not always had the best relationship with my biological mom and this woman came into my life, and has always accepted me as her daughter, she has been an amazing Mom-A. She came to see my son born, she came to my wedding, she threw my baby shower. I need her. I need to keep thinking positively. It's so hard when I'm not there, not knowing how she is doing, not knowing whether or not she's o.k. The next 12 hours are the most critical. No flights are going out right now, so in the morning I may or may not be going to Washington. Please send prayers and thoughts for Alese Tveisme-Fischer. My mom.

Friends?!

SO here it is a year later after our move across country to Virginia and the only friend I have made is my boss. Sad?! Don't get me wrong I love her, but we aren't exactly have drinks and dinner friends... which is really what I'm wanting lately. I miss my girls, my besties, and my sisters. I have never had a ton of friends, with 4 sisters and 3 awesome Besties i've never felt the need and it has usually taken me a while to open up to people and become friends. I usually make them pretty well in school and work situations after I have opened up a little. The great thing about that is when I do make really good, soul mate friends I keep them. My two best friends (ya know the girls, the ones who you call crying after a stressful day, the first to know your pregnant, the one's who make the effort to see you while you are in town, your maids of honor), well my two girls have been my girls since elementary school. One since we believe kindergarten but we can't quite remember. The other is from 3rd grade. I miss these girls. Even through moves back and forth we have remained friends. We may not talk every day but we are there when we need each other. When I lived in Washington and went to Legacy I made quite a few friends. Unfortunately even though those friendships meant something to me I have only one bestie that remaines. I'm still friendly acquaintances with some of them which I love and treasure I just feel thirsty for more. It just seems so much easier to make friends when you have school or work. So my question to all other bloggers and military spouses out there... how, when you are not forced to see them on a daily basis due to work or school do you just go out there and meet people and become friends. My closest friend lives 2000 miles away. Not exactly the most convenient for girls night out. I'm sorry for the pity party readers but I'm thirsty for some girl time and I need some advice. I feel a little pathetic asking but how do you meet/make friends? When there is work, and baby, and hubby and mommy/wife duties where do you go? I wish there was an Eharmony for older women who are looking for just friendships.

Team Emmett

My little family of 3 went and saw the newest installment of twilight today and it brought me to a conclusion. I am neither team Edward or team Jacob. I am team Emmett!! Now I'm not a huge twilight fan, I didn't watch the 1st twilight until it was at redbox and I haven't read the books (yet). I like the series though, I think they could have found some better actors than Rob and Kristen (sorry serious twihards but it's my blog and that's my opinion) to play in the movie. I really don't even think Robert Pattinson is that cute... not really at all. But guess who I do think is pretty hot... THIS GUY!!! So I guess I'm team Emmett, and if he doesn't have a team yet I'd like to start one.

Independence Day Celebrations

Sleeping peacefully while at the BBQ

My boss invited us to her neighborhood BBQ yesterday and we had a blast. Her neighborhood is the type I want to settle down and eventually live in. There is only one entrance/exit and the neighborhood goes in a circle. There are houses in the middle and the sides. Everyone knows each other and participates in the holiday celebrations. Two separate neighbors take a piece of their connecting fence down to bring the two big backyards together. Each backyard has a pool so there were a lot of kids playing in the pools. They had a huge bbq smoker that they put a huge pig on, plus there was a ton of grilled food. Not to mention each neighbor brought a different dish so needless to say there was an enormous amount of food there, and it was all delicious. Plus there was a neighbor who had an ice cream maker and made home made vanilla and strawberry ice cream. Someone also brought their snow cone machine. It was such an awesome time!!

Looking very festive in our American themed attire

With daddy!!

After the BBQ we watched J ( J refers to the little boy I watch. I want to respect his and his mom's privacy so we will go by initial only) for about 2 hours so his mom could get some work done. We drove down to the ocean front to get a peek of the festivities and WOW it was so busy down there. It took us 20 min to drive 2 blocks... it was crazy. After we dropped J back off at home we caught the beginning of one of the local firework shows. A bunch of people including us pulled over to watch the show. It was really awesome being able to enjoy the show, beat traffic and not have to pay for parking or to get in!! The view was not bad either.


All in all it was an awesome day!! I love living in this country and being an American. I know that freedom is not free and I am so thankful on this day and every other day for the men and women who have risked their lives to fight for us to remain the independent nation that we are. If any of my readers have served or know of someone who has I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate your sacrifice!!! I hope everyone had a safe and fun filled INDEPENDENCE day!!

I poo in Blue

The coolest he will look pooping his pants!! SO happy today!!
(Pics taken with phone)

After having such a rough day yesterday I needed a pick me up. So after hunting them down we finally found some Huggies Limited Edition Jean diapers. I have been debating on whether or not to get them for quite some time and I just couldn't resist any longer. They are as adorable as they look in the commercial. They start out at size 3's and Kevin is in size 2's but those are a little snug so I was hoping they might fit! And they do!! YAY!! Plus they are only selling them until the end of this month so if we wanted them we better get them while we can (Target is already sold out). How cute does he look?

Is that not the cutest butt ever?

Sick Baby

In the hospital crib bed, a lot happier than when we first brought him in.
(Pics were taken with my phone so they are little blurry)

Thursday morning Kevin was a little fussy, I played it off as him not getting enough sleep and off to work we went. He seemed to be getting a little bit better but was spitting up more and more with each feeding. We came home and things progressively got worse from there. The fussiness came back and he was throwing up. Not only was he throwing up but he was having really bad diarrhea. He usually has one dirty diaper a day sometimes he will have two but never more than that. Well in about 4 hours he had 6. Since he was throwing up everything he was eating and was having frequent poopy diapers, we called the on call Dr. Kevin didn't have a fever but the Dr. was still worried about him getting dehydrated so we took him in to the ER. It didn't take very long for us to get a room and for him to be looked at. They brought us some pedialyte and took his temp and it was 101.4 rectally. Rectal runs 1 degree higher so it was actually 100.4 still a mild fever. We fed him and he didn't keep it down. They told us to try small amounts spaced apart, it didn't work. Even giving it to him by the teaspoon full would come back up. They wanted to run some lab work on him so they had to catheterize him to get a urine sample, they also needed to get some blood. I remember being a little girl and every time I would be sick or in pain, getting shots or being poked with a needle my mom would tell me that if she could do it for me she would. I never quite believed her until my baby was getting poked and prodded. I wanted nothing more than to be the one on that hospital gurney getting blood drawn, getting poked, and being in pain. The nurse told us that some parents leave the room and I just couldn't do it. He needed to know I was there for him and that it was going to be o.k. The nurse did have to tell me to buck up and try not to cry so much because Kevin was probably feeling my sadness and anxiety. I immediately turned into Iron man, and tried to stay strong for him. After they got the necessary blood and urine they started an IV and I was able to pick him up and cuddle him. He fell asleep after a few minutes. I held him for about 2 hours and then we woke him and tried to feed him just a little bit. He kept it down YAY!! We tried again 30 min later and that too was successful. Things were looking good. The Dr. came in and told us since he was doing better we could probably go home. Then he came back and told us the labs came back, his kidney results looked concerning and his ammonia levels were double what they were supposed to be. The kidney results probably were due to him being dehydrated it was the ammonia levels they were concerned about. He told us he was having some Dr's from Pediatrics come down to talk to us. They came down and went over the same thing the previous Dr. did and told us they wanted to observe him. He was getting admitted. We got up to Pediatrics and in a room at about 5:30 a.m. They tried to get a more accurate reading of his ammonia levels by getting an arterial sample out of his wrist. It didn't work, they couldn't get enough because the veins are very small and he wouldn't stop moving. They had us go back to the room to try to sleep and they would try again later. At about 10 a.m they came and got him and took more blood. He had been doing well this whole time, and had not thrown up again. After they sent the sample in we just waited. And waited. At about 3 p.m they came back. Everything looked fine. He was diagnosed with having a viral infection along with flu like symptoms. At 4:30 p.m we were told we could go home. It certainly was not a fun experience and was actually really scary. I'm so thankful and happy to report he is doing much better. He has been such a happy boy today and all 3 of us were able to catch up on some sleep. He hasn't thrown up any more and he has been such a happy boy!!

Wanting to be his playful, happy self.

So happy to have his IV out, to be in daddy's arms and to be going home finally!!!