Flu Season

The flu has struck, and thank goodness it has only knocked me out of commission. I have been confined to my bed since Sunday night when this whole thing started. It first started with a soar throat then slowly escalated to a runny stuffy nose and sinus congestion and my ears are plugged up.Thank goodness my Mom and sister are here to help take care of Audrey. I still have to be a mommy but I am trying to stay away from her as much as possible so she does not get sick as well. Luckily last week she got her flu shot, it was just in the nick of time. I have been on a diet of medicine, juice and tea for the last 2 days.Audrey has not shown any signs of the flu and I hope it stays that way. On a good note I heard from my sister Amber today. She is planning a visit out here to Washington sometime in November. She lives in Montana so its hard these days to see each other. I cant wait to see her and for Audrey to meet her Aunt Amber. Its crazy how big Audrey has grown since she was born and it makes me sad that so much of my family lives far away and does not get the chance to see her, hence why I started this blog. Now that I am feeling a little bit better I will be able to get back on top of posting little Audreys everyday adventures. The next few days are going to be fun. We are getting new furniture and going to the pumpkin patch on Saturday as well as getting her monkey costume!! Pictures are soon to follow!

Lazy Sunday

Today was a day of relaxation for the most part, which in our case means we didn't get ANYTHING done. Well, that's not true, I changed all the linens in Audrey's crib and turned over some laundry between the washer and dryer. Tomorrow holds a list of must dos starting with folding the laundry that now sits in baskets on my bedroom floor ;). On a good note, I have found the recipes needed to make the home made baby food, now all that is missing are the jars to hold the food in. I am pretty certain I can pick some up and the local cash and carry or at Super walmart. The process will take all day since I will be making both peaches and applesauce but rewarding at the end. I suggested to Nathan that we could probably sell it at farmers markets or online if it Audrey really likes it! I think it would be a fun venture to take on but we shall see, I just hope I don't burn it, sounds impossible but I have a funny way of messing up even the easiest of tasks. Speaking of food, Audrey was acting weird today, her appetite I mean. She didn't eat very much which leads me to believe that she is either having another growth spurt or just pooped from the last weeks events. I need to sit down with the pediatrician and ask to change her formula to soy in hopes that it helps her constipation. She seemed to respond well to it when we tried this past week. Hopefully tomorrow she will eat more and be less fussy. We all slept a lot today but it was much needed, I have a feeling sleep will be missing from this months agenda with all the doctor appointments and worrying. I am excited for the next week. A lot of fun things are going to take place. We are getting a few new furniture pieces for the bedroom, most importantly a new dresser from my favorite store IKEA and most likely a few new rugs. I am also going to try and hang up a few more things on the wall and finish up the room. I have been trying to come up with a motif and have been collecting everything having to involve Paris or France itself now it all just needs to come together. Also this coming weekend we are taking Audrey to the Pumpkin Patch Farm for some fall fun! Off to bed now!

Farmers Market and Apple Crisp

Today was a perfect Saturday! Our little family picked up the professional photo's of Audrey this morning, photo to the left is one of the photos! Then we went to Puyallup to the Farmers Market and picked up some peaches, apples and mini cantaloupe! I spent $8 which is amazing. I am planning to make baby food with the peaches and apples which is going to save money and be better for Audrey!When we got home I mowed the front yard and swept the walkway, now the front of the house looks much better, only 5 more weeks until I can plant the Crocus bulbs. I then made an amazing apple crisp. It was my first time and came out a little different then expected, not enough crisp on top to cover all the apples but it still tastes amazing! Recipe for the crisp is below! Now my house smells like warm apples and cinnamon! I love it!
3 pounds tart apples
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup rolled oats
4 tablespoons cold butter (1/2 stick
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preparation:

Peel, core and chop the apples; toss in a bowl with lemon juice. In a separate bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg; add to the apples and toss to combine.

In another bowl combine flour, sugar and oats. Cut butter into 8 small pieces, and cut butter into flour with a pastry blender or two forks until mixture is crumbly. Stir in the chopped nuts.

Butter a 9-inch square baking dish. Spread apple mixture i

n bottom of baking dish then sprinkle with flour mixture. Bake at 375° for 30 to 45 minutes, or until apples are tender and topping is lightly browned.

Serve warm or at room temperature, with vanilla ic

e cream or a little heavy

cream, if desired.

.

Pumpkin Patches!

Its almost Pumpkin Patch time and I am so exited since this will Audreys first halloween! Nathan and I are going to take Audrey to Remlinger Farms up north next weekend to pick a little pumpkin and some other berries that are in season!! Its an old fashioned Farm with a train ride and a little roller coaster that she is a little to young to enjoy but I will be taking many photos that she can enjoy later!!While we are on the topic of pumpkins, here is the photo of Audreys halloween costume!


She is going to be really cute! We are going to make her a little banana to carry around too! She is too young to go trick or treating but we are taking her to a get together a few days before to compensate and she can help me hand out candy. YUM! I think I want to make home made taffy for Halloween, I have been trying new dishes and new things since I am a stay at home Mom and its really fun! I also saw Tori Spelling making her baby food and I am going to steal the idea! It is healthier and better for my baby!I am going to be picking up some fruit tomorrow at the Farmers Market tomorrow and try it out for the first time this weekend! If you have any recipes for home made babyfood I would be happy to try it out!! Have a great weekend!!

PooP ;)

So before I update everyone on Audrey I wanted to share the most amazing home cleaning gadget. It is a vacuum bag that has a fabreeze scent strip so that when you vacuum it deodorizes and cleans the air at the same time. My house smells amazing plus I have been burning french vanilla and pumpkin candles which remind me of the holiday and that makes me smile. Now on to my little angel. Audrey has been doing better since we left the ER the other night. We have been slowly cleaning out her colon which means, yes people brace yourself, a lot of POOP! ;) We have started her on soy formula and taken her off bananas, apples and carrots which only constipate her more. She is now on a diet of multigrain rice cereal, prune juice, soy formula and peaches and prune baby food.
And it seems to be working. She has filled 4 diapers since we left which is good news.On the same note...she had her first bite of Sweet Potatoes and by her facial expression it was successful! Next hurdle is peas and pears, we are keeping our fingers crossed! Over the next month Audrey will have numerous doctor appointments regarding her Craniosynostosis and her upcoming surgery. I was doing research yesterday and it looks like she will have a scar which she can show off in kindergarten.I am still hoping the CT Scan will show that surgery is not needed but I am bracing myself for the worst. Her hospital stay will be about 4-5 days and then recovery will follow. I cant wait to get it over with and get back to watching her grow without all these hurdles. She is the bravest little girl and I love her even more for it. Being a MOM is scary but having a baby like Audrey makes it easy and worth every minute. Also on another note I have decided on her Halloween custom after much debate between a MONKEY or a PUMPKIN and the winner is...MONKEY equipped with a banana! We are taking her to the Jack O Lantern Jamboree a few days before to enjoy some goolish treats and a costume contest which I hope she wins, it will make for a great story in her babybook.

A Night in the ER

Last night we had a little scare. It all happened when my friend Barbara came over to say hi to Audrey and I after work. She went to change her onsie and noticed one of Audreys arms was hurting her. Audrey let out this very sad cry which was her "im in a lot of pain cry". Assuming it was her legs from the day before, she got 3 shots, I gave her some infant Motrin. After about 2 hours of crying Audrey finally calmed down enough that we thought everything was okay, but it wasn't. I was holding Audrey on the couch and she let out the same cry. My Mom, very worried at this point, took her into the room moved her legs, noticed they were fine, then moved to her arms which when she got to her left arm she let out a very VERY large "im in pain cry". My Mom told me that we were taking her the ER to get looked at. We rushed over to Mary Bridge Children s Hospital and was checked in immediately. After about an hour wait the doctor finally came in to examine her. From his preliminary exam he could not feel an fracture to her arm but noticed that her cry was not normal. He ordered shoulder and abdominal x rays, blood work, urine work and an IV for her so we can could give her pain medicine. After about 5 hours of watching my daughter be pretty much tortured the doctor came in and gave us the news. Poor Audrey has an excessive amount of POOP in her colon which is causing an extreme amount of pain. I don't mean to laugh because she is in so much pain but leave it up my daughter to have a lot of poop in her. They gave her a suppository and sent us home at about 3am. She still has yet to POOP. I hope things start to turn around for her. I feel like she cant get a break. To say the least it was an adventurous night!

Road Trip

Audrey and I went to Silverdale today to visit my cousin Jennifer from Montana who is stationed here with her husband. The drive was okay, 90 degrees and not a cloud in the sky, minus the part where we took the wrong exit a few wrong turns and had to stop and ask for directions. When we finally arrived I couldn't wait to get out of the car and visit. Audrey is going through her stage of Stranger Danger which the doctor says is normal and very good, so of course she cried when Jenny picked her up. She warmed up not much longer after we got there but was overall fussy the whole visit. It is funny to me how everyone comments on how much hair she has. I guess it is normal to me since I see her everyday. I was born with little to no hair so I consider Audrey lucky to have any at all. Plus it matches her personality, she is very feisty and has a lot of character to her actions. She makes me laugh all the time and I love it when she smiles at me. We ended up having to leave early because Audrey refused to take a nap in her car seat which is funny to me also, SHE LOVES HER CAR SEAT. We are finally back home and about to enjoy some dinner.

Possible Surgery

I wanted to start a blog because I worry that I will not catch all the memories I create with my daughter Audrey. She has so many family that are not lucky enough to be near her to watch her grow and I knew this would be a great way to keep them updated on my little angel. I am an avid follower of a my friends blog and decided to steal the idea! Today was a particularly scary day for our little family. Audrey's 4 month check up was today! I was expecting the usual, weight and height check, she is now 10 lbs 11 oz and 23 inches long,and maybe a few immunizations, but when the doctor checked her head he found a problem. Infants until the time they are 12 months old have a soft spot on the top of their head which allow their brain to grow and develop, Dr. Wells problem was that Audrey's was closed, this defect is called

Craniosynostosis

He sat me down and explained that he would be referring me to a craniofacial specialist at Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital. When I called to make the appointment they informed me that I would be sitting down the specialist and the neurosurgeon to go over how the surgery would be performed.They would look at the CT scan and then schedule the surgery for when she was 9 months. I cried automatically and couldn't help but think about my little girl. The appointment is for 2 weeks from this Wenesday and I only hope the CT shows that her soft spot is open enough that surgery does not need to happen but I am terrified that is not going to happen. I ask you to keep Audrey in your thoughts as we wait for the final word.