Needed: A Christmas Miracle

The last few days have been incredibly difficult.

And I know that I shouldn't even complain.  I know that what I'm going through is nothing like what parents are facing in Connecticut. 

BUT this is my blog.  I need a place to vent.  I shouldn't even be venting b/c I'm basically running on fumes at this point and I should be sleeping.  But it's hard to sleep when your 5 month old amazing daughter has been in the hospital, on an intensively monitored floor, and not progressing for over 48 hours.

It all started last week.  Gloria started vomiting REALLY heard when eating.  And when I say hard, I mean it got everything SOAKED and it was PROJECTILE.  The first time it happened I freaked.  I wanted to immediately take her to the ER.  But this happens sometimes with babies and then sure enough, she got better on Tuesday.  We still don't know if that was just a cold that went away because she was back to normal and perfect Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. 

On Saturday she turned for the worse.  She severely vomitted again and then developed a high fever, cough, etc.  By Sunday we were concerned.  She was vomiting every single thing we gave her (even when feeding her one ounce an hour) and hadn't made a wet diaper due to dehydration.  Evan and I decided to head to the ER.  The second we got there, she threw up all over him and we knew we had made the right decision to bring her.

The second the doctor heard the symptoms he immediately looked concerned. 

Then the doctor came in and said "ok, her RSV is positive."

I could feel the tears in my eyes already.

That was Sunday.  This is Tuesday.  Gloria hasn't gotten better.  I could write all the details out, and need to because I am so incredibly in need of a place to vent, but I should sleep.

But long story short, on Tuesday, not only have things not gotten better, they've gotten worse.  She has a feeding tube now (worst experience ever hearing them have to do it twice while I cried in a pillow).  Evan has been AMAZING, as usual.  He took off of work on Monday (WELL not so much took off ... told them he was not coming in) and helped so much.  He worked today, but much shorter hours (well, 8 hours but that's significantly less for a resident). 

At this rate we don't have plans for anything.  We've cancelled any Christmas plans and our new wish?

I want my baby home for Christmas.  I want her in my arms.  I want my husband, my daughters, and I in the same room (something that we can't do in the hospital).  I want it.  So badly.  SO SO badly. 

We need our own little Christmas miracle.

The Last Day

Today is the LAST day I'll be taking Christmas orders in my etsy shop! :) And I'm sorry I don't write much now, but that shop is my life and I want to make sure everyone's SO pleased with their orders.

Take advantage and do some last minute shopping.  If you have someone on your list that you just don't know what to get, just write me an email at

prettyprintsshop@gmail.com

and I'll give you some ideas!  If not, go to the shop and you could do all your shopping in one quick minute!  I have something for everyone! :) 

Have a great Sunday!

Did I Really Just Write a Post About Pigeons?

(written two nights ago and I forgot to hit publish.  doesn't surprise me considering)

It's late.  Midnight.  I can't sleep.  Evan is at the hospital (sigh, story of life) and that means I'm wide-eyed wanting my man to hold me so I can fall asleep.

So in this delirious state I thought, "I should write a blog post!"  But what should I write about?

The first thing that came to mind.

Pigeons.

Yep. You read right.

That's what happens when you've been working 70 hours a week on your new business.  (and truth be told, 70 might be an UNDER estimation)

But here's the thing.  I think I've found the best children's books ever.  Have you guys seen the Pigeon series?  They are HILARIOUS.  I love the humor, I love the vocabulary, I love the message (it's ok to be sassy, but ultimately nice and have a good laugh).  They're just all around fabulous.

We own "the Duckling gets a cookie" and Liliana has asked for it every single night for the last 2 weeks since we bought it.  Some nights I tell her no, just because I don't want to ruin the book for myself! haha.  So ... we read it every other night instead. :)  That's expert parental balancing there for you.

We're getting others for Christmas from family members and Santa found her two of them in Spanish!  Here are some that I DESPARATELY want Liliana to read and giggle to:

SO in this delirious state I discovered something ... an epiphany of sorts.

Guess who is having a pigeon themed birthday party?

NAILED IT!

And I'm going to have to design it all myself from scratch b/c there is LITERALLY NOTHING on etsy.  But that's ok.  My gal's worth it.

Here's a sample of one for a good laugh:

Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late

I don't know much else for now ... except for the fact that she's going to have a big cookie her cake in honor of "the duckling gets a cookie."  And that's good enough for now.

Sweet dreams (pigeon ones).

Happy 5 months my G girl! :)

Gloria love:

Yesterday you turned 5 months old!  I can't believe that!  It truly feels like you were born just yesterday.  You are SUCH an easy baby that the time flies by because we never have feelings of frustration!

This month you started doing two things: around 4 1/2 months, I sat you down as a joke and ... POOF you were sitting!  SO now you're sitting for extended periods of time and LOVE it.  Your sister wasn't sitting this early so we're in love with this because you can play more now!  You are rolling from your tummy to your back, but not often.  The problem is you love being on your tummy!  You don't mind it one bit so getting you to actually roll takes work.  Usually we have Liliana entice you to something that would force you to roll over and then you do it.  Otherwise, you just smile and laugh on that belly with your head and belly held high.  You are SO close to turning from back to belly but haven't quite done it yet.  I would think within the next couple days you will.  I wouldn't be surprised if you have done it already, but I haven't witnessed it so as far as I'm concerned it hasn't happened. :)

One BIG thing that you're doing as well is holding your bottle.  Your sister started doing this at the EXACT same age.  SPOOKY.  The DAY Liliana turned 5 months she fed herself an entire bottle and you did the EXACT same thing yesterday (the day you turned 5 months).  You guys are so similar it's spooky! haha.

You continue to be a BIG tall girl.  You're wearing 6-9 month clothing and we already bought you size 3 diapers but are finishing out our size 2 ones (can't wait b/c you keep leaking out of them but the cheapo in us makes us keep using them until we run out).

Your sleep is BEYOND awesome.  You go to bed around 8 pm and wake up around 8 am.  If you do wake up earlier, or we put you down later it goes something like this: go to sleep at 9, wake up at 7 for a bottle, back asleep by 7:15 and wake up ... at 10:30 or 11!!!! YES!!! We are SO lucky!!!  You and your sister are amazing sleepers.  Your Dad and I get to sleep as if we're teenagers. ;)

While all these developments are fun, the main thing I want to relay to you is your personality.  You continue to be SO easy.  You NEVER cry.  When I say never, I mean NEVER.  You wake up not by crying.  Sometimes we just go in to your room to see you've been awake.  I mean obviously, you can have tears but they're just SO rare.  Last weekend when we were putting you to sleep we realized you hadn't shed one single tear all weekend.  And it's not like we hold you all the time.  In fact, sometimes we feel bad at how little we do!  You just LOVE your exersaucer and will bounce around giggling in it for over an hour at a time!

You truly are a wonderful blessing.  Your Daddy and I are so enamored with you and love just kissing you, reading books to you, seeing you play with your toys, seeing you grow.

Happy 5 months my G girl.

Mommy

(I still need to take your 5 month photos but we take those with Daddy and it's dark by the time he gets home so we might have to do it over the weekend. I wanted to write this though!)