We're Alive.

UPDATE: I now have strep throat too. And decided to go ahead and run the race this morning. Let's just say I thought I was going to die...



Wow, just realized I haven't updated in like 2 or so weeks. Oops. But I have a good excuse- we've been sick for the past 3 weeks!! The week before last Perri got her first ear infection which was rough, then last week I had a sinus infection and bronchitis, then this week Perri ended up with pink eye AND strep and I've been pretty nauseated myself. FUN TIMES.

The ear infection was really the worst of them all and she scared me to death on the way to the dr. She woke up that morning and was completely out of control crying and nothing would console her so I called the dr and he could work us in in like an hour. Well, she wouldn't quit crying so I thought maybe driving around would calm her down. As soon as we got in the car and pulled out of the driveway, I looked in the rear view mirror and her eyes rolled back in her head and her head flung forward and she was out. This completely freaked me out and I thought she had passed out by how her eyes rolled back so I am yelling at her and grabbing her feet to try and wake her. She kindof opened her eyes and then her head went forward again. I had to stop the car and shake her and keep pinching her feet to get her awake. Scared me to death!! Needless to say, we headed to the dr early and as soon as he looked in her ear, yep, an ear infection, and bad!! We're lucky that she made it over a year without an ear infection and I hope we don't deal with those again, it was bad!

Then last week I totally lost my voice. I surprised Craig with my parents coming down to watch Perri and let us have a nice Valentine's out but I was sick so we just hung around town and spent 2 hours at Barnes and Noble drinking coffee and reading magazines then went to a great Mexican restaurant where I had to do a lot of pointing on the menu to the waitress and Craig helping out when she didn't understand. I finally went to the dr. and sure enough, sinus infection and bronchitis.

This past week Perri pretty much stopped eating and then starting drooling out of control amounts so we figured it was just teething. But then Monday night she started getting all kinds of green gunk in her eyes and sure enough, woke up Tuesday with a huge swollen eye and more gunk all over her. So to the doctor we went. While checking her over he looked at her throat, said it looked red and swabbed it to check and it came back positive! Poor baby. And she'd lost weight from not eating so we're working on getting that back to normal! Thankfully, she responds very quickly to antibiotics and after just one dose she was much better and this morning she woke up in full swing and has her appetite back!

Here's a picture of the poor girl riding around the cart at Target waiting for her medicine. Usually her bunny is only for her bed but since she felt so crummy I let her bring it to the dr. and Target with her and she just laid in the cart clutching her bunny and sucking her thumb the whole time. (Don't worry, bunny has since been washed!)




So there's our past 3 weeks in a nutshell. Oh, and did you notice Perri got a haircut? Yes, we finally decided it was time to cut the mullet. Seriously, it was looking pretty bad and knew it was time. At first, the lady started just trimming up the mullet but a trimmed mullet is still a mullet so we told her to just take it all off. Yes, she now has a little boy's hair cut but hopefully it will grow out even this time. For reference, here is a before and after shot:


Yes I see the giant booger in her nose, but focus more on the out of control hair and curly mullet.


Short, but much better!

Panties on your head...

Panties on your head....





Panties on your head...


You're looking too cute...





With those panties on your head.

This is how Perri and I have felt this month.


And this.


And this.


And I'm sure Craig has too. But I wouldn't really know since we've hardly talked or seen each other this month. No, nothing is wrong!! This just comes with the territory in Craig's job. He is a financial analyst with ConocoPhillips here in Houston and Januarys for him are horrible due to year-end stuff. He's been working most nights until 1 or 1:30 in the morning and still going in the next morning around 6:30. The worst night was I think Tuesday or Wednesday of this week (not for sure because it's begun to all run together) and he didn't get home until nearly 3! So needless to say we haven't seen much of each other and he even went a full week without seeing Perri.

I truly think Perri is about sick of me and we are getting to the point where we both about want to strangle one another :) It's just been a rough month with no break at all and doing it alone and no help around the house. Not to mention the animals have been extra annoying (anyone want a cat and dog?) and Emma even peed on the carpet this morning??? She didn't even do that as a puppy. Seriously, I think they are conspiring against me.

Perri is at a super fun age, don't get me wrong, but the throwing fits and objecting against everything I say is getting OLD. She will throw herself on the floor and thrash around and has even been hitting. The fits get ignored but the hitting I have worked to nip in the bud because that is a big NO!

Thankfully, though, this month is almost over and hopefully life will go back to normal soon. I told Craig he and Perri will soon be having a "Daddy and Perri Day/Weekend" haha. Sorry for the complaining but needed to vent because seriously, I'm at my wits end.

Proud of my girl!!

Guess who has gone poo poo in the potty the past three days? Yes, that would be Perri!!! What the heck you think? Yeah, I know. She's only 14 months old, but the girl isn't exactly discreet when she needs to go, and I would really like her to be fully trained by 2. My friend Jennifer told me her niece was potty trained at 18 months so this gives me hope!!

So, Saturday when she started making her face, I thought, I'll just sit her on the toilet and see what she does. Well, it didn't scare her at all and she was mainly interested in unrolling all the toilet paper. After removing the toilet paper so she couldn't unroll it all, I let her hold one piece and then said, "Perri, can you go poo poo on the potty?" She then, as if on cue, did her thing. OH MY GOODNESS!!! I went crazy!! And yelled at Craig to grab the camera haha.

She looked at us like we were fools and this was nothing new, but she got an animal cracker for it. Then again yesterday, same thing. So today we went to Target and got a little seat that fits on the big toilet so she can sit herself on there and not feel like she's going to fall in. So then after lunch, once again. I am loving just wiping her little booty and not dealing with the smashed poop on her and the dirty diaper!!


Halfway smiling at the camera, not sure why we are so excited.


Her first poo poo on the potty!!

14 Months!

Guess who turned 14 months yesterday? This little girl!

Perri, what have you been up to lately?

•Walking everywhere and have quickly picked up the pace! Started at around 13 months. You are VERY happy walking and will just walk circles around our downstairs, laughing and clapping.

•Still in size 3 diapers

•Wear 6-12 month clothes

•Wear size 3 shoes (these are a bit large on her but for walking shoes, we've had to just get them a bit big)

•Have 6 teeth! 4 up and 2 down and it seems that you're working on more on top. The drooling is getting out of control!

•LOVE to read and constantly bring me books and then put your arms up so I'll sit you in my lap to read.

•Obsessed with drinking water. Sign "water" to me all the time. The ladies at the gym just learned what that meant and said you sign it all the time in there and they had no clue what you were doing! haha

• Sign the words water, dog, cat, fish, eat, drink, water, milk, please, thank you, more, all through, bath

•Love to share your food and milk.

•Still sleep from 7:30pm to 8:30 or 9 AM. On mornings we go to the gym or church we have to wake you up early at 8:30. Other days I go wake you around 9 or so.

•Nap 3 1/2 hours in the afternoon (Yes, the girl is a SLEEPER)

•Completely act out in public and will squeal and do this weird, embarrassing noise that sounds like gasping and sucking in your breath, when people make eye contact with you. This is followed by waving and "HIIIII" until they give you attention. Which in turn is more of the weird noise and throwing yourself around in the cart and lots of arm waving up and down and being goofy. This draws lots of attention to us, daily.

•Have the goofiest personality and will often throw yourself in the floor and become silent until I look at you. At that point you begin cracking up and throwing yourself around. Then you will get up, run off, and then repeat. You LOVE attention and definitely do things to get people to laugh at you.

•Find it funny to throw things off your high chair or out of the cart and then look down and gasp "UH!!" (her "uh oh") and look at me like "How on earth did that happen?" Then start laughing. This gets really old.

•Have FINALLY started snuggling and hugging us. We have said since you were born how you weren't a snuggler or loved on us and have always pushed us away when we try to hold you tight or snuggle. These past few days you've begun to hug us tight and nuzzle your little head up under our chins. You have no idea how much we love this!

• An over all, happy, hilarious little girl who never ceases to crack me up and bring a huge smile to my face

I could go on and on about what Perri is up to and how much joy she brings us but that would be a forever long post!!

And to end, here is a picture of Perri at 7 months in Tahoe for my brother and sister-in-law's wedding!

Perri's Piggy Tails

I realize I haven't blogged in quite some time and haven't posted Christmas pics, and may at some point, but wanted to do a quick post on pics of Perri's first pig tails!! She doesn't have a lot of hair to work with, but what she does have, is in the back. Yes, my daughter is rockin' quite the mullet. But I thought I'd try to pull it into little pig tails and while it looks kindof funny because of the lack of hair in the front, it makes her look more like a little girl and makes me sad!!





I realize in the pics from the back her head looks red? I edited the pics and tried to take that away but couldn't figure it out. And rest assured, in person it was not!! There was no baby harmed in the making of the piggy tails!!

P.S. Still on the search for shoes! UGH. We finally found some that we thought would work and ordered them and while they fit right now, if she grows at all, they won't last. I don't like to buy cheapy shoes that aren't comfy for her so they aren't the cheapest things and we don't want to have to buy new ones every month. So anyhow, we have to return them and hope the next size works better!

We need your help!!

We are having a dilemma. A shoe dilemma that is. Perri is at a very in between time right now in shoe sizes and it doesn't help that her feet are TINY. She's also walking and I have always loved her Pedipeds and she's been in the 0-6 month size of those but they are getting too small, and her pair of 6-12 month size are still huge!! My mom bought her some Squeaker shoes in hopes that she could somehow wear a size 3 in them but they are about double the size of her little foot and they seem to all start at size 3.

So, my question is, does anyone know of some good shoes for walking that start in a size 2 or that the 3's run extra small? The girl needs shoes, badly, but right now it seems its either walking around with her big toe jammed at the end of shoes or walking in clunkers that are twice the size of her foot!!

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help us out!