Puss Ann Guest GIVEAWAY!!!!

Puss Ann Guest GIVEAWAY!!!!

Valentine's Day

So I know I'm a little late with this post, but better late than never right?

Jarom, Addie, and I went to Macaroni Grill the Friday night before Valentine's Day and had a fantastic meal, then Saturday we cooked steaks, candied carrots, and baked potatoes. For dessert we made our own Monster croc apples and chocolate covered strawberries. It was so good! Jarom surprised me with gorgeous diamond earrings and Addie got a book and some cute "big girl" silverware.

We got the idea for the apples from the Chocolate Crocodile in Bridge Street. Since I was already making some chocolate covered strawberries, I figured I'd tackle this as well. They turned out so good, but since I prefer milk chocolate over white, next time this is how I'd do it....

This is what you need:

1 tray of Milk chocolate (for dipping)- you can find a bakers milk chocolate that comes in a great microwavable tray

1 tray of White chocolate (for dipping)

chopped pecans

Caramel- I used one of those caramel kits where the caramel is rolled out and you just stretch over the apples

4 apples- I used granny smith because I like the tartness vs. sweet of the chocolate

Melt white chocolate, dip apples until they are completely covered, let harden. Wrap in caramel, (I'm going to use 2 of the caramel pieces rolled out per apple next time), bake for 5 minutes at 200F, let sit until cool. Then melt milk chocolate, dip apples and immediately sprinkle with chopped pecans. Once cooled and hardened, cut into slices. You could substitute chopped M&Ms, Reece's pieces, or other candy for pecans.

Side note: You really need 2 people to do this because the chocolate hardens in the tray so quickly.

There will be some leftover chocolate, so we dipped pretzels, but you have to do it fast before the chocolate hardens because it doesn't melt right when you try to reheat it.

Enjoy!

Anthropolification Boyer Cream Cardi GIVEAWAY!!!! GIVEAWAY!!!!

Anthropolification Boyer Cream Cardi GIVEAWAY!!!! GIVEAWAY!!!!

Blushing Buttercream Pettiskirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

Blushing Buttercream Pettiskirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

Brrr!

I really don't like the cold. I am a spring, fall, heck... even summer kind of gal. In my desperate attempt to enjoy the season, I almost froze my daughters hands off. By the time we got back to our street, Addie was in melt down mode and when I took off her little mittens at home, her hands were red and ice cold. I long for warmer days and hopefully they will come soon! (Yes, in the above picture, Addie does have a hoodie then a hat on... I was trying to keep her warm, besides, she looks cute in anything!)

Poop in the Tub... HELP!!!

Addie is a tub pooper. She does it at least 3 times a week. I have tried everything!!! I pull her out, sit her on the toilet until she screams bloody murder, I have changed the time of her bath to accommodate her ritual poop time, I have changed her from the sink to the bathtub, I have scolded her, I've ignored the obvious no no and just cleaned it up, I wait until she's pooped before I put her in, I've done EVERYTHING!

So I turn to the Internet for help. And there is NOTHING that I haven't tried. Please tell me someone else has had this problem? What did you DO?

The only consolation I have was that while searching the web, I came across this video. I don't know if it was just hilarious to me because of my situation, but I laughed so hard, I had tears streaming down my face.

PoopVideo

Nudie boodie

Addie loves to run around in the buff. I guess it would be miserable to wear diapers all day. Anywho... here are some cutie boodie pictures.

I liked this one in color too...

Down the street...

Down the street from my house about a block is this great church/old home. It has a ton of mature trees and a huge field. Addie has been so sick, so when she first started to feel a little better we decided to get out in the warm weather some since we have stayed cooped up trying to keep our germs to ourselves. We had lots of fun, but Addie fell in the grass when she was walking too fast, and skint both of her knees up. She now has scabbed knees... I'm sure it is the first of MANY!

I couldn't decide if I liked this picture best in b&w or color...

Addie has never been around stairs to climb them, so I was surprised when she made it all the way to the top by herself!

I can't wait until it warms up again, I think it will be a great place for kite flying!

I'm Sorry!

I'm sorry....

Brunos: For stealing that pack of Juicy Fruit gum when I was in kindergarten. But Jay B. won a pack of gum in Spanish class that day and I really wanted to win, so it was only fair that I got some too! Unfortunately, my conscious got the best of me and for YEARS after, every time I'd find a quarter or dollar lying on the ground in that store, I'd give it to the cash register lady. You'd be surprised how much money is on the ground right under the register... I think I payed for that dumb pack of gum about 287 times.

Mom: for making you redo my pony tail 195,000 times until ALL of the lumps were out. You just had all of those bumps on the top that I thought were HORRIBLE and I was so much better at it at the ripe old age of 5!

Miranda: For hiding your mini troll doll behind my closet door and telling you that you had lost it. I really liked the troll and didn't have one. Eventually mom found it anyways and gave it back to you, much to my dismay.

Wolf (my childhood dog): For digging up hundreds of worms and putting them all over you then taking you in the house and showing mom that you had "worms"...

Katie: for running outside when I was mad at you, rubbing dirt on and scratching my arm up and then telling mom you did it to me. She knew better anyways.

Self: for inflicting pain on self trying to get Katie in trouble.

Scott: for putting that green trash can on your head and making you sing "oh Christmas tree", but you did it over and over, and it was just too funny.

Self: for wearing bobby socks over my tights to church for that year. Oh how ugly it was, but ALL the other girls did it!

Mom: for pitching fits until you let me wear the stupid socks over my tights. How mortified you must have been that your daughter looked like a hobo.

Mimmie: for faking sick all of those days just so you'd come get me from middle school when I knew Mom was substituting. But you made it too much fun, taking me to Boaz shopping or making me fried chicken and ice cream...

Gerrard (kid I went to school with): for my terrible uncoordinated attempt to kick you in the shin. I ended up kicking your trumpet that you had on the ground and broke the finger loop thing off of it. I still feel bad about it. But you had made fun of me for being on the dance team/flags, so I had to get you back.

Katie: For my attempt to hit the ball you were pitching but ended up hitting you in the eye with the bat... but you were standing too close to me and I am terribly uncoordinated and VERY bad at sports. Miraculously, you escaped a black eye, which was good, because the Easter bunny was coming that night and I was genuinely afraid I wouldn't get a basket!

Jarom: for ridding your giant glass goblet of your first band sticker, but I had a vision of how it would work in my home decor, and the sticker just didn't fit. I didn't know at the time it was the FIRST and ONLY sticker you had... However, the goblet now looks great with the pretty glass stones in it!

Addie: for the embarrassment that I'm sure you'll endure from me over the years. Heaven knows, if karma is real, I've got tons coming to me from the things I said to Mom in front of people... ah... the innocence of youth.

Mom: for being such a brat over my clothes... you'd try to surprise me with a new outfit and I'd pitch a big fit that I didn't like it, and now I feel about 2 inches tall. I dread the day when Addie no longer thinks that the clothes I choose for her are cute.

Whew, that feels better. If you haven't done this post yet, you should try it!

A lot better!

Addie had to sleep upright until her wheezing stopped. You can imagine how well that worked....
Addie and I had a very bad evening and night Monday. She kept making that awful sound every time she'd breathe that sounded like her windpipe was almost shut and she coughed nonstop. Her fever though went away on its own, and I gave her a dose of steroids before we went to bed. She was so tired, but every time she'd fall asleep she wake up coughing and crying within two minutes or so. This went on nonstop until about 3 AM and then it slowed down to where she'd get about 20 minutes of sleep before she'd start coughing. That's the way it went the rest of the night.

Tuesday was pretty bad too, with a coughing fit Tuesday night that lasted close to an hour. The good news is, her fever is still gone today and the strider gasping sound is gone. Her voice came back, but some little devil child replaced my sweet daughter yesterday! Addie has been a perfect child thus far in my opinion, and even when she has been sick, she's able to muster a smile and some sweetness. I've never seen tantrums to the extent that she threw yesterday. She kicked, bawled, threw herself down, bit, whined, flailed and was completely out of control. I know the steroids the doctor prescribed her to help open her up had to have made her crazy, and she was seriously sleep deprived. After a HORRIBLE day, last night right before bed, I decided not to give her the final dose of steroids since all wheezing was gone and it had turned her into a monster, and the remaining medicine wore off and my sweet baby started to return.

She was needy last night, but this morning she seems to feel better and a little more caught up on sleep. She has a fountain of snot and the cough is persisting, but no tantrums so far, whew! Hopefully she'll continue to improve throughout the day. I've gotten a mild cold which I'm sure is the works of Addie crawling up in my face to cough. Got to love how babies like to share! Based on the incubation period of RSV, Addie caught it at church Wednesday night. For the first time, I let all of my girls hold Addie, because we were baking and I was trying to put and pull hot cookie sheets out of the oven, and it was obviously a mistake. The ONE time I let my guard down, it bit me in the behind.

So that catches me up on Addie... and speaking of behinds.... I found some cutie nudie bootie pictures of Addie from before she got sick that I'll try to post later, I must say my child has a freaking adorable bummy!

Pay it Forward

This is how it works..... The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. BUT, in order for you to leave a comment on my blog, you have to post this on your blog first. (That means that sometime during this year you will send a gift to 3 people as well.) Get it? So, the first 3 people to comment on this post will be the lucky ones!

RSV.

So we went to the doctor (and I'm so glad we did as Addie could barely breathe by the time we got there) and they suctioned out her snot to test it. While we waited on the results, the doctor came in and immediately said it was croup based on the "strider" sound she was making. They gave her a steroid shot and had us wait in the lobby for 15 minutes to make sure Addie didn't get worse before I left, then had me come back an hour later to check her again. The doctor said we could admit her or take her home and hold her upright all night with a humidifier and then to take her straight to the hospital to be admitted if she got any worse, so I chose the home option. I took her home and shortly after, the doctor called me and told me she tested positive for RSV and was telling me all about it and what I needed to do when my stupid phone died with no warning!

So that is where we are at, the steroids have made Addie feel a little better, and the awful strider sound has lessened a little, so now I wait for the wheezing to start around Thursday. I'm praying that this all passes quickly and that her wheezing is something that doesn't last. Her fever doesn't seem as bad now as it did earlier, but she has lost her voice and is so pitiful. Poor little baby.

Ick sick.

I was just thinking as I read about how everyone has been so sick lately "Addie has been healthy for several weeks now, maybe we've escaped this one!" WRONG! Despite my avoidance of everyone who even mentions the word sick, Addie has caught some crud.

Yesterday she started having a congested cough while she was asleep and by the time I got her up to get ready for church, she had a fever. Tylenol doesn't work very well for Addie so I always give her a dose and a half and it seems to help. So I did that, and a few hours later she seemed fine, but after her nap that afternoon, things just went downhill. She started coughing more, her fever spiked, she became lethargic, and she was wheezing. I gave her a full dropper of Motrin, and within an hour or so, she seemed a little better and ate some grapes and pineapple. But less than four hours after her Motrin, her fever was at 103.5F and I started to panic. It was now 1 AM, so we called Jarom's mom (so sorry!) and she told us to alternate Tylenol and Motrin every two hours. Addie was waking up every few minutes anyways with her coughing, but I set my alarm just in case for every two hours to keep her fever down. It has brought it down to 99.8F but won't quite break. She is miserable. I can tell her throat hurts and she is having so much trouble just to breathe normally. The first available at her pediatrician's office is at 2:30 this afternoon, so hopefully they can give her a shot or some serious medicine to knock this thing out.

I almost had Addie weaned, it had been 3 or 4 days since she had nursed at all, but this has knocked that out for sure as she wants to nurse for comfort. We'll have to start all over again once she's better. She is so pitiful when she is awake because she just lays on my chest and wimpers and coughs and cries. The funny thing is, she wants to be outside, and if I put her down to walk, she goes straight to the back door and starts crying and won't calm down until I walk around outside with her. She is definitely like me and not her dad with that, so I can't wait until she feels good enough to play outside more.

Lets hope the doctor can help her and that its not just something she'll have to tough out!

Seven seven seven

The idea is to go to your 7th photo file, pull the 7th photo, then tag 7 others.

Here is my 7th picture: Addie found our halloween candy bowl and thought it was hilarious to talk and walk with it on her face.

Here's another picture from the same folder that I thought was cute too. She had just thrown the bowl down and thought that was funny too.

So now I tag Mom, Sandy, Clarissa, Trudy, Cari, Becky, & Stefanie.

Eat Child!

Part of her strawberries from breakfast ended up on her nose...Addie is still cutting those same 4 stinking teeth... 2 have broken through and the other 2 are still trying. The pain from it makes Addie a very picky eater, so I have done everything trying to get her to eat. One thing she loves is fresh fruit and veggies. I have tried to trick her with canned stuff and she just pushes it away. So I have bought strawberries, clementines, cherries, carrots, bananas, etc, just trying to get her to eat. The doctor has me giving her an old allergy medicine that has the side effect of making you hungry to try to get her to eat more and I am noticing some improvement.

I gave Addie a clementine then went to cleaning the kitchen, I turned around and she had grabbed another one out of the bowl on the table, peeled it, and was busy eating it... I thought "oh I must have left the peel on the table and that's the same one", but looked in the trash and sure enough, there was the peel to the one I had gotten her and she had managed to peel one herself.This child is such a little stinker! After going to the doctor and spending well over $100 on the Dr visit and prescription, just because she isn't eating, I stopped by and got pizza and fruits on the way home and she ate almost a whole slice of pizza and a whole banana. ARGH! Since then she still picks at her food, and only chows down on her favorite things... picky little booger!
She's gotten much faster with her walking and now asks constantly "where daddy?" "where bob?" "where doggy?". She loves to dance and does the silliest things.

This is her newest silly face Daddy must have shown herYesterday during RS we sang a weird song for the practice hymn. Addie apparently didn't like it and she covered both of her ears. Apparently that wasn't enough so she then stuck a finger in each ear. I sit on the front row, so my mom and aunt (who are in the RS presidency and fit opposite of me) started laughing, and by the time the song was over, half of the women there had noticed Addie's silliness and were also laughing.

What am I going to do with my little Addie?