Thanksgiving Visit

Well, it's settled!  Grandpa Jerry and Trina are coming to Michigan for Thanksgiving!

M will get to celebrate her first birthday with both grandpas and her sister!!!

This should make for some great photo opportunities.  <3>

9 Months...Better Late Than Never!

I realize these are really late.  We didn't have the most forgiving month for a picture shoot between travel, sick M and sick parents.  So, we finally got around to it.  And...here they are:

 Waving "Hi!"

 Best Buds!

Cruisin' around with her walker:

Grandpa's Phone

I had to go thru the pictures on my dad's phone the other day for work and I found this:

All Things Medical...

M had her appointment with the eye specialist yesterday.  All good news.  She does indeed have pseudoesotropia, but it's not a big deal and she will grow out of it.  Her eyes are perfectly aligned and she has great vision.  The doctor also said that we should contact Gerber to find out if she can be a Gerber Baby because she's the cutest baby he's ever seen.  LOL.

As for the breathing...it does not appear to be getting any better.  Today is day 8 on the pulmicort and her breathing is still hard and fast.  She's doing about 50-60 breaths per minute on average and many times she seems to be demonstrating retractions.  I called the pediatrician today, and asked if I could leave a message to talk to my doctor.  But, after hearing everything I had to say, the nurse wants M brought back in.  I have a feeling we're going to end up at a pulmonologist.

I will keep everyone updated.


Also, if you haven't seen the newest Pure Michigan commercial yet, you totally should because it's awesome!

Fall Fest!

This past weekend was Fall Festival in downtown Plymouth.  I haven't actually gone to the festival itself in several years and was really surprised at how different it was this year!  We took M all around and played some of the games.  Grandma won M a giant stuffed teddy bear in the water gun game.

Grandpa almost won her an even bigger toy by shooting the star out, but he left a teeny tiny little bit of the star.  She won a stuffed piggy and monkey by herself:

Afterward, we all went over to my parents house to hang out.  M had quite a lot of fun with Mr. Potato Head:

Sunday was ROTARY CHICKEN DINNER DAY!!!  This is the 25th year we've done it!  I love this tradition soooo much.  But, it makes me a little sad every year because it makes me miss my Grandma Winslow, since we used to pick up the chicken dinners and head over to my grandparents' house to enjoy it with them.

In other news, M has been having some breathing issues.  It's been going on for several months and she's started losing weight.  So, the pediatrician put her on a round of antibiotics to see if that would clear it up.  Instead, it gave her thrush...so add another med to try and clear that up.  Also, after 7 days on the antibiotic she still wasn't 100%, so she's on 2 breathing treatments (albuterol & pulmicort) two times a day.  We're 6 days into the breathing treatments and we're supposed to see a difference in 7-10.  While she doesn't sound so junky in her chest and I haven't been hearing her cough...she still is breathing fast and hard.  So, we may be in for another ped appointment after the 10 days to see if she's made enough improvement or not.  I don't know if my expectations are too high, or if there's another issue that will require a visit to a Pulmonologist. 

Chicago Trip!

Sorry I've taken so long to update this blog.  We've been pretty busy 'round these parts!

Over Labor Day weekend, we drove out to Chicago to see Jenny, Louis & Blake!  J had to work on Friday, so I made plans to meet with some women I've become close to on the internet.  Yeah, I know that sounds weird, but I've bet some truly wonderful women since getting pregnant with M!

Friday, we met up with Victoria & Piper and Steve, Jenni & Nate!  Jenni was so nice to host our get together and even fed us all lunch!  They have a beautiful condo in Chicago (totally jealous).  I hope to be able to see them often when I am in town.  Without further adeau, here are some of the pics:

 The girls!

 Playing together!

 Peek-a-boo!

 They had some serious biznas to discuss.

 Nate has an awesome set of car keys that M loved!

 Aww!  I think someone has a crush! <3 br="br">

 Nate wanted M's ear.  So, he tried to rip it off.

 Victoria, Piper, M & me!

 Nate, Jenni, M & me!

 MISO! 

Friday it ended up taking us 3 hours to get back to Cary from the city (geez!!!).  We headed straight over to see Jenny, Louis & Blake.

Saturday we hung around the house, went to the park to swing, saw some duckies & fish, had some yummy lunch & dinner and let the kiddos play.  Check out Jenny's pics of the day here. Sunday, Jenny so wonderfully put together a little party so I could see people from college and their families!  It was SOOO much fun!  Here are some shots from the BBQ at Dan & Barb's house!

 Baby Caravan!

 Aunt Jenny & M!

 Blake LOVES his grandpa...

 ...and got quite jealous when he was picking up M!

 Blake, Dan & M

 Oh geeze!

 M, me, Blake, Jenny, Raegan & Katie!

 Jenny, Katie, Mary & me.

And the best picture of the whole trip you ask?

Future blackmail!!!

Also...I hope to be able to take one of these every year!

September 2011 & September 2012!

Getting Big!!!

M turned 36 weeks on August 1st (I know, I know, I'm behind).  Officially outside the belly for 2 weeks longer than she was inside!

Here's how she's changed:

I can't believe how big she's getting.  And yes, "big" is a relative term considering she's about the size of a 4 month old.  But, looking at how far she's come, she's HUGE!