Missing:
1 large nondescript cardboard box.
Color: Brown
Contents: Christmas presents being sent to family members in Utah
Last Seen:In Anchorage being accepted by the U.S.P.S.
Location: Airport Post Office
Delivery Confirmation: Yes
Date Mailed: December 19th
Expected Delivery Date (per postal service): December 23
Days Missing: 14
If found please deliver directly to the address that has been CLEARLY typed up and taped SECURELY to the top of package. If delivered by a U.S.P.S. employee....... demand an explanation!!! (Not like they'll have one anyway but someone should be expected to apologize.)
Apparently even if you pay for Priority 2-3 Day Service the postal service won't even go looking for your package until it has been missing for 30 days. That's really sad if our family doesn't get their Christmas presents until the end of January.
Almost like last year when it really was my fault for procrastinating and getting the box mailed late. I thought I was doing better this time by giving it a week to get there... Maybe next year I'll shoot for mailing it a month in advance.
Here's the sad part for you- I can't post all the seriously awesome presents we made on my blog until this box shows up! Otherwise it wouldn't remain a surprise for the recipients!
Showing posts with label Journaling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Journaling. Show all posts
Monday, January 3, 2011
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
EmmaLee Update:
So, I guess it's been a while since I checked in and updated you on EmmaLee's status.
Obviously, she just turned 6. (See Ladybug Party post) And she's in Kindergarten this year, and loving it... i think. She likes the learning, and the reading and writing... but making friends, not so much. I'm sure she's got a few nice kids that she plays with. But I don't hear about them. She only tells me about the mean ones. It's really hard hearing her tales of the comments kids make and their actions towards her. She's been hit. But I guess some 5 and 6 year old's still do that anyways right? And that particular time I don't believe it had anything to do with her being different. Sometimes she says no one would play with her at recess. Is my kid that outcast that everyone runs away from at recess? I remember that kid from when I was in school... it's sad, I really hope she's not. She has such a sweet and fun personality, why would any kid not play with her because she's red? So what. She's red. Get over it already. But that's hard for kids i guess. They just want to fit in and be accepted. Sometimes I feel like saying "Poor baby, how can I protect you from this?" I feel so powerless when it comes to these situations. The younger kids are quicker to accept her and move on, but the older kids that she sees in the halls, on the bus, etc. They speak before thinking. They're ignorant, and don't care to learn why she's red, it's easier to make fun. Ah, the insecurities of children. When you're pointing at someone else, no one looks at you. Well this post wasn't meant to be all about school and the gripes I have about other kids...
Her hearing has come a long way since this post. She has had only normal hearing screens since then. And her glasses have really helped... Helped so much that she decided her eyes were fixed and didn't have to wear them anymore. :-) Of course me being the mom, I still made her wear them. Until... she had an eye exam at school, given by the school nurse, and failed the test wearing her glasses! What the ? "Okay, you don't have to wear them anymore." Funny thing is, the glasses actually helped her look....normal? Somewhat. The frames covered her (non-existent) eyebrows. And drew attention away from her lack of eyelashes. Weird how a little hair on your face makes a difference. Her eyelashes have grown out a few times and we always make it a big deal, about how beautiful they are and how pretty she looks. Hmmm, I wonder how that reaction might be affecting her when they fall off....
We haven't had a major infection since this post. But we have had quite a few "almost" infections. It's like when I see that trigger happen, I feel this intense full-body panic. Fight-or-Flight adrenaline type of nerves and anxiety. Right away we usually see signs that it's getting worse, so we do everything we can, praying it doesn't come back. Luckily, they have all gotten better after an exhaustive overuse of ointment. But it's still scary. I don't even want to think of going down that road again. I can't stand to see her hurt like that last time. Unfortunately, one of the (many) triggers we discovered was urine. EmmaLee requires more sleep than most children her age because of her disorder. Her body tries to heal and repair itself during sleep, although it's pointless since her skin doesn't "heal". Sometimes it seems as if she grows a whole new layer of skin during these sleeping hours. Anyways, she has been night-time potty trained for a long time, but every once in a while she'll have too much to drink at dinner, or sneak a cup of water at bedtime (which we don't allow) and wake up in the morning soaked in urine. She just sleeps too heavily to wake up in the night. So the urine just sits on her skin all night and BAM, as soon as she wakes up she's in pain from it. Infection type of pain. We actually have a classification for "infection pain" since it's such a specific type of hurt. We haven't experienced anything that hurts her more than that. So it's back to Pull-Ups at night-time. But, even when she wets in those we still see a reaction. I feel like the water police at bedtime, hovering over her making sure she doesn't try to suck water off her toothbrush for a drink! It's sad. And mean. But I gotta do it.
During the night all that skin repairing underneath causes the top to get really dry. Which is why her bath must come first in the mornings. Before food or playing. Mostly because when she awakes she is extremely uncomfortable and dry. The skin on her face becomes so dry and tight that it cracks if she talks or smiles, and opening her mouth to eat is out of the question. Well you can imagine that poses a small problem concerning breakfast and having time to eat before going to school since the bath takes over an hour. So, she drinks her breakfast. Through a straw. Nothing gross, not like pureed food or anything, haha! Just Pediasure in a can, we still call it her "formula". She gets up to 4 formula cans a day if she wants. She drinks two in the bath, has one at school, and the other is optional once she gets home from school, but we usually just eat a snack when she gets home.
So the other day EmmaLee tells me right before we are about to walk out the door to get on the bus that she's hungry. Well there's no time by that point to do anything about it so I said "Sorry, but you're gonna have to wait until snack time at school". She whined again that she was hungry and decided she could just ask her teacher at school for some peanut butter crackers. I told her "No EmmaLee, you need to wait until everyone has snack. It's not fair if you get to eat an extra snack and no one else gets to." So she gets to school, and what does she do. She asks her teacher anyway.
Then I got a call from her teacher. Apparently EmmaLee has been "hungry" several times in the mornings and "Is she eating breakfast at home?". "Yes, she drinks two cans of Pediasure for breakfast while she's in the bath and occasionally eats some peaches or pears, but there's not really time for anything else because her bath takes so long." The teacher suggests that maybe we need to wake up even earlier to make time for breakfast because she might be going through a growth spurt right now and needs more than the formula. Hmmm, I think it's more likely that she just wants to eat a snack but who knows. Drinking two cans of formula fills her up and sometimes she can't finish the second one because her tummy hurts from drinking so much so fast. But it is liquid and maybe it doesn't leave her full for very long and it's not like I'm going to deny her food. The teacher was very nice on the phone, but I really felt like I got scolded. Like I was an inexperienced mother who needed to be told that children need to eat. I'm sure it wasn't meant that way, but I totally started bawling when we hung up. I'm pretty emotional sometimes. I know I'm not a perfect mom, but I hate feeling like I'm a bad mom.
I bought some Eggo Waffles and now she's eating breakfast everyday, and although I was giving her food before, i guess eating fruit in the bath a couple days a week wasn't enough since she obviously didn't consider it her breakfast. Now we sit at the table to eat, sometimes all decked out in her snow gear so when the bus pulls up she'll be ready. There's not always time to finish, but at least I tried. Waking up earlier really isn't an option for us. She needs that sleep... and let's face it, I can't drag my butt out of bed any earlier. I hope she's not still trying to get a snack when she gets to school....
Other than that, she a super happy little girl. She misses her brother while she's at school all day, which of course means there's total pandemonium in my house when she gets home and the two of them reunite. They start rough-housing and jumping off the furniture....crazy kids! Lol! She gets to go on a field trip with her class tomorrow. She's really excited for that. That's pretty much it.
Wow! She's growing up so fast!
Obviously, she just turned 6. (See Ladybug Party post) And she's in Kindergarten this year, and loving it... i think. She likes the learning, and the reading and writing... but making friends, not so much. I'm sure she's got a few nice kids that she plays with. But I don't hear about them. She only tells me about the mean ones. It's really hard hearing her tales of the comments kids make and their actions towards her. She's been hit. But I guess some 5 and 6 year old's still do that anyways right? And that particular time I don't believe it had anything to do with her being different. Sometimes she says no one would play with her at recess. Is my kid that outcast that everyone runs away from at recess? I remember that kid from when I was in school... it's sad, I really hope she's not. She has such a sweet and fun personality, why would any kid not play with her because she's red? So what. She's red. Get over it already. But that's hard for kids i guess. They just want to fit in and be accepted. Sometimes I feel like saying "Poor baby, how can I protect you from this?" I feel so powerless when it comes to these situations. The younger kids are quicker to accept her and move on, but the older kids that she sees in the halls, on the bus, etc. They speak before thinking. They're ignorant, and don't care to learn why she's red, it's easier to make fun. Ah, the insecurities of children. When you're pointing at someone else, no one looks at you. Well this post wasn't meant to be all about school and the gripes I have about other kids...
Her hearing has come a long way since this post. She has had only normal hearing screens since then. And her glasses have really helped... Helped so much that she decided her eyes were fixed and didn't have to wear them anymore. :-) Of course me being the mom, I still made her wear them. Until... she had an eye exam at school, given by the school nurse, and failed the test wearing her glasses! What the ? "Okay, you don't have to wear them anymore." Funny thing is, the glasses actually helped her look....normal? Somewhat. The frames covered her (non-existent) eyebrows. And drew attention away from her lack of eyelashes. Weird how a little hair on your face makes a difference. Her eyelashes have grown out a few times and we always make it a big deal, about how beautiful they are and how pretty she looks. Hmmm, I wonder how that reaction might be affecting her when they fall off....
We haven't had a major infection since this post. But we have had quite a few "almost" infections. It's like when I see that trigger happen, I feel this intense full-body panic. Fight-or-Flight adrenaline type of nerves and anxiety. Right away we usually see signs that it's getting worse, so we do everything we can, praying it doesn't come back. Luckily, they have all gotten better after an exhaustive overuse of ointment. But it's still scary. I don't even want to think of going down that road again. I can't stand to see her hurt like that last time. Unfortunately, one of the (many) triggers we discovered was urine. EmmaLee requires more sleep than most children her age because of her disorder. Her body tries to heal and repair itself during sleep, although it's pointless since her skin doesn't "heal". Sometimes it seems as if she grows a whole new layer of skin during these sleeping hours. Anyways, she has been night-time potty trained for a long time, but every once in a while she'll have too much to drink at dinner, or sneak a cup of water at bedtime (which we don't allow) and wake up in the morning soaked in urine. She just sleeps too heavily to wake up in the night. So the urine just sits on her skin all night and BAM, as soon as she wakes up she's in pain from it. Infection type of pain. We actually have a classification for "infection pain" since it's such a specific type of hurt. We haven't experienced anything that hurts her more than that. So it's back to Pull-Ups at night-time. But, even when she wets in those we still see a reaction. I feel like the water police at bedtime, hovering over her making sure she doesn't try to suck water off her toothbrush for a drink! It's sad. And mean. But I gotta do it.
During the night all that skin repairing underneath causes the top to get really dry. Which is why her bath must come first in the mornings. Before food or playing. Mostly because when she awakes she is extremely uncomfortable and dry. The skin on her face becomes so dry and tight that it cracks if she talks or smiles, and opening her mouth to eat is out of the question. Well you can imagine that poses a small problem concerning breakfast and having time to eat before going to school since the bath takes over an hour. So, she drinks her breakfast. Through a straw. Nothing gross, not like pureed food or anything, haha! Just Pediasure in a can, we still call it her "formula". She gets up to 4 formula cans a day if she wants. She drinks two in the bath, has one at school, and the other is optional once she gets home from school, but we usually just eat a snack when she gets home.
So the other day EmmaLee tells me right before we are about to walk out the door to get on the bus that she's hungry. Well there's no time by that point to do anything about it so I said "Sorry, but you're gonna have to wait until snack time at school". She whined again that she was hungry and decided she could just ask her teacher at school for some peanut butter crackers. I told her "No EmmaLee, you need to wait until everyone has snack. It's not fair if you get to eat an extra snack and no one else gets to." So she gets to school, and what does she do. She asks her teacher anyway.
Then I got a call from her teacher. Apparently EmmaLee has been "hungry" several times in the mornings and "Is she eating breakfast at home?". "Yes, she drinks two cans of Pediasure for breakfast while she's in the bath and occasionally eats some peaches or pears, but there's not really time for anything else because her bath takes so long." The teacher suggests that maybe we need to wake up even earlier to make time for breakfast because she might be going through a growth spurt right now and needs more than the formula. Hmmm, I think it's more likely that she just wants to eat a snack but who knows. Drinking two cans of formula fills her up and sometimes she can't finish the second one because her tummy hurts from drinking so much so fast. But it is liquid and maybe it doesn't leave her full for very long and it's not like I'm going to deny her food. The teacher was very nice on the phone, but I really felt like I got scolded. Like I was an inexperienced mother who needed to be told that children need to eat. I'm sure it wasn't meant that way, but I totally started bawling when we hung up. I'm pretty emotional sometimes. I know I'm not a perfect mom, but I hate feeling like I'm a bad mom.
I bought some Eggo Waffles and now she's eating breakfast everyday, and although I was giving her food before, i guess eating fruit in the bath a couple days a week wasn't enough since she obviously didn't consider it her breakfast. Now we sit at the table to eat, sometimes all decked out in her snow gear so when the bus pulls up she'll be ready. There's not always time to finish, but at least I tried. Waking up earlier really isn't an option for us. She needs that sleep... and let's face it, I can't drag my butt out of bed any earlier. I hope she's not still trying to get a snack when she gets to school....
Other than that, she a super happy little girl. She misses her brother while she's at school all day, which of course means there's total pandemonium in my house when she gets home and the two of them reunite. They start rough-housing and jumping off the furniture....crazy kids! Lol! She gets to go on a field trip with her class tomorrow. She's really excited for that. That's pretty much it.
Wow! She's growing up so fast!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
LadyBug Birthday Party
Let me start by saying, even though I put a lot of time and effort into this party I still didn't get even half of the things I wanted done for it in time........ I ended up scrapping a bunch of ideas, one of which was the adorable Happy Birthday banner than was halfway finished. Sad. :-( I guess I really need to work on my time management skills if I want to make this into a business...... Anyway, here we go............
When I decided to do a Ladybug theme I had a brilliant idea to make the invitation into a Ladybug......... apparently I am not the only person to have this idea since there are about 15 other ladybug invites I found online. I scraplifted some ideas from different ones that I liked, then threw in some of my own ideas, and ended up with this.
I wanted the invitation to be square, not ladybug shaped, but just sticking the ladybug onto paper didn't appeal to me, so I added a cute punched border. The wings are hinged with brads to open and close. They are embossed with a raised swirl design and I made the black dots with black embossing powder on cardstock cut into circles so they are really shiny and plastic-y. I don't think that's a word....lol!
I found the clever wording somewhere and thought it was adorable so I just customized it to fit our party. If you click on the picture it will take you to the pic where you can see it larger.
Had to have googly eyes of course, and I added the beaded antennae strung onto wire so they are moveable. The invites were just so fun and interactive that several of the little girls loved playing with it!
This is just too cute not to share, my friend wrote this to me......
"Sophie and I will be at the party for sure. She can't wait. She was showing Claire (1 month old baby) the invitation telling her that she gets to go to a party and Claire was following the invitation with her eyes. I guess she likes the black and red and white. Anyways, now whenever Claire cries, Sophie runs to get the invitation to make her stop crying. It's pretty cute!"
So Sweet! Moving on.........
*WARNING!* Like all my other party posts, this one has over 30 pictures....heehee.
I made little tutus, wings, and headband antennae for all the children to wear. It was soooo cute!
Once again, I didn't have a photographer.... so this picture was taken after most the kids had already arrived. When you walk into the house, I had the tutus lined up on the edge of a table with the wings and headbands lined up on top. I made 12 sets of wings, 8 tutus (for only the girls), and 15 headbands. As the kids arrived I dressed them all up by the door and they went off to run around with the other ladybugs. If anyone is interested, here's the links for instructions to make the tutus and wings.
Wings, Tutus, Ribbon, Cutting Tulle
I only had one game for them planned, it worked out since they were going to have dinner there wasn't a lot of time for games. We had two Elefun games going at the same time. The Elephant blows a puff of air and some little butterfly thingy's fly out of this long plastic trunk. Then the kids run around catching them in their nets. It was chaotic, but fun.
Of course you also have to pick them up and put them back in the elephant to keep the game going lol!
There was also a bunch of toys around the kids played with.
At the beginning of the party this part of the ceiling was COVERED in ballons. But, the kids were having a great time trying to get them down, so it looked like this by the time I got a picture of it.
For dinner we made Spaghetti and Meatballs with Garlic Bread for everyone, kids and parents too! I figured at least if they got messy it wouldn't show on their red and black clothes! Lol! :-) I put some black spots (made with vinyl) on the glass pitcher that had red Kool-Aid in it and on all the children's cups.
By the way, my husband cooked the dinner! He was such a big help doing that for me!!
There wasn't a lot of candy or treats, since most of the kids were under 3 and I figured with dinner and cake and ice cream we didn't need a lot of sweets. So there was cake, cupcakes, and cookies. That's it.
I tried my hand at making a ladybug shaped cake. Not too bad I think... Nothing glamorous or anything, but turned out cute.
Ethan was so sweet helping EmmaLee blow out the candles and clapping for her! Then chowing down on some cake!
EmmaLee got cold in her short sleeve shirt so we borrowed a sweater (which kills me that it doesn't match) while she was opening some presents. Plus it was sad that it covered up the shirt I made for her in all these photos.
Oh yeah, I made her a "6" shirt. I used a scrap of the shiny red fabric I used for the wing elastics and table cover. I just printed out a 6 from my computer (reversed) and glued it to the back of some fusible heat and bond. Then ironed the heat and bond to the back of the red fabric. Cut out the number, peeled off the backing of the heat and bond, then ironed it onto the shirt. I wanted to sew around the number so it didn't start to peel off while she wore it but since the shirt was cotton I was afraid it would stretch weird in my sewing machine. I just ironed some interfacing to the inside of the shirt before sewing and it worked perfectly!
I asked my artistic friend Carolyn (black and pink baby shower) to make a cardboard mushroom for me to use as a prop and portrait background. She did an amazing job!
I had Tyson attach some boards to it so it would stand up on its own, but I made sure to crop the boards out of most the photos. The grassy background is a roll of paper I bought at Michaels. Who knew they had stuff like that there!!?
You can see the roll of paper in the photo below.
And, lastly here are some of the cute portraits I got. I'm no photographer.... so if you know of someone who will do it for me for a future event (cheap), I would love to hear! But... I can't afford $50 for someone to take pictures for 30 minutes.... That's like paying $100/ hour! It seems that's the going rate right now for an amateur photographer. Which is a killer deal for family portraits, or baby photos, or whatever.... but a little over my current party budget. :-( Maybe once I get an actual paying gig........ Did I just say "gig"?!!! HaHa!
Sadly, I didn't have time to make my signature "matching shirt", which is something I want to do so I will coordinate with my party's theme. So I'm in red and black.
Thanks for looking! Hope you liked my party! Pass along my info if you know someone who wants help throwing a party!! I really need some clients! Lol!
Linking Up Here:
When I decided to do a Ladybug theme I had a brilliant idea to make the invitation into a Ladybug......... apparently I am not the only person to have this idea since there are about 15 other ladybug invites I found online. I scraplifted some ideas from different ones that I liked, then threw in some of my own ideas, and ended up with this.
***Edited to add: These LadyBug Invitations
are now for sale in my ETSY shop!!***
I wanted the invitation to be square, not ladybug shaped, but just sticking the ladybug onto paper didn't appeal to me, so I added a cute punched border. The wings are hinged with brads to open and close. They are embossed with a raised swirl design and I made the black dots with black embossing powder on cardstock cut into circles so they are really shiny and plastic-y. I don't think that's a word....lol!
I found the clever wording somewhere and thought it was adorable so I just customized it to fit our party. If you click on the picture it will take you to the pic where you can see it larger.
Had to have googly eyes of course, and I added the beaded antennae strung onto wire so they are moveable. The invites were just so fun and interactive that several of the little girls loved playing with it!
This is just too cute not to share, my friend wrote this to me......
"Sophie and I will be at the party for sure. She can't wait. She was showing Claire (1 month old baby) the invitation telling her that she gets to go to a party and Claire was following the invitation with her eyes. I guess she likes the black and red and white. Anyways, now whenever Claire cries, Sophie runs to get the invitation to make her stop crying. It's pretty cute!"
So Sweet! Moving on.........
*WARNING!* Like all my other party posts, this one has over 30 pictures....heehee.
I made little tutus, wings, and headband antennae for all the children to wear. It was soooo cute!
Once again, I didn't have a photographer.... so this picture was taken after most the kids had already arrived. When you walk into the house, I had the tutus lined up on the edge of a table with the wings and headbands lined up on top. I made 12 sets of wings, 8 tutus (for only the girls), and 15 headbands. As the kids arrived I dressed them all up by the door and they went off to run around with the other ladybugs. If anyone is interested, here's the links for instructions to make the tutus and wings.
Wings, Tutus, Ribbon, Cutting Tulle
I only had one game for them planned, it worked out since they were going to have dinner there wasn't a lot of time for games. We had two Elefun games going at the same time. The Elephant blows a puff of air and some little butterfly thingy's fly out of this long plastic trunk. Then the kids run around catching them in their nets. It was chaotic, but fun.
Of course you also have to pick them up and put them back in the elephant to keep the game going lol!
There was also a bunch of toys around the kids played with.
At the beginning of the party this part of the ceiling was COVERED in ballons. But, the kids were having a great time trying to get them down, so it looked like this by the time I got a picture of it.
For dinner we made Spaghetti and Meatballs with Garlic Bread for everyone, kids and parents too! I figured at least if they got messy it wouldn't show on their red and black clothes! Lol! :-) I put some black spots (made with vinyl) on the glass pitcher that had red Kool-Aid in it and on all the children's cups.
By the way, my husband cooked the dinner! He was such a big help doing that for me!!
There wasn't a lot of candy or treats, since most of the kids were under 3 and I figured with dinner and cake and ice cream we didn't need a lot of sweets. So there was cake, cupcakes, and cookies. That's it.
I tried my hand at making a ladybug shaped cake. Not too bad I think... Nothing glamorous or anything, but turned out cute.
Ethan was so sweet helping EmmaLee blow out the candles and clapping for her! Then chowing down on some cake!
EmmaLee got cold in her short sleeve shirt so we borrowed a sweater (which kills me that it doesn't match) while she was opening some presents. Plus it was sad that it covered up the shirt I made for her in all these photos.
Oh yeah, I made her a "6" shirt. I used a scrap of the shiny red fabric I used for the wing elastics and table cover. I just printed out a 6 from my computer (reversed) and glued it to the back of some fusible heat and bond. Then ironed the heat and bond to the back of the red fabric. Cut out the number, peeled off the backing of the heat and bond, then ironed it onto the shirt. I wanted to sew around the number so it didn't start to peel off while she wore it but since the shirt was cotton I was afraid it would stretch weird in my sewing machine. I just ironed some interfacing to the inside of the shirt before sewing and it worked perfectly!
I asked my artistic friend Carolyn (black and pink baby shower) to make a cardboard mushroom for me to use as a prop and portrait background. She did an amazing job!
I had Tyson attach some boards to it so it would stand up on its own, but I made sure to crop the boards out of most the photos. The grassy background is a roll of paper I bought at Michaels. Who knew they had stuff like that there!!?
You can see the roll of paper in the photo below.
And, lastly here are some of the cute portraits I got. I'm no photographer.... so if you know of someone who will do it for me for a future event (cheap), I would love to hear! But... I can't afford $50 for someone to take pictures for 30 minutes.... That's like paying $100/ hour! It seems that's the going rate right now for an amateur photographer. Which is a killer deal for family portraits, or baby photos, or whatever.... but a little over my current party budget. :-( Maybe once I get an actual paying gig........ Did I just say "gig"?!!! HaHa!
Sadly, I didn't have time to make my signature "matching shirt", which is something I want to do so I will coordinate with my party's theme. So I'm in red and black.
Thanks for looking! Hope you liked my party! Pass along my info if you know someone who wants help throwing a party!! I really need some clients! Lol!
Linking Up Here:
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Laundry Mountain
So I've been kinda busy these past couple days and haven't had time to blog. Plus it takes more time to blog about something than it does to actually do the thing. Well anyways, you can expect a few more days of silence... because this is what I have waiting for me.
We call this our "LAUNDRY MOUNTAIN"!! It's about 9 loads of clean laundry piled on the couch waiting for me to fold it.
Well it can just fold itself for all I care!
Anyone wanna come over and fold it for me???? PLEEEEEEASE!
We call this our "LAUNDRY MOUNTAIN"!! It's about 9 loads of clean laundry piled on the couch waiting for me to fold it.
Well it can just fold itself for all I care!
Anyone wanna come over and fold it for me???? PLEEEEEEASE!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Staphylococcus Aureus - Staph infection
Our first run-in with a skin infection, which is supposed to be very common for individuals with Netherton's Syndrome, was last November. The skin culture showed two different types of Staph on her skin and it was obvious that something was not right. She was in agonizing pain, wouldn't let anyone touch her, hug her, pick her up, even pulling down her pants to use the potty was too painful. The infection started on her legs, at least that's where I first noticed the discoloration and bumpy appearance, but soon began showing up on her torso, back, and arms.
The last time it was most likely contracted from a dog with a staph infected wound we had been around. I say most likely because it is VERY rare for a human to be infected from canine staph. A google search, which believe me isn't always accurate, gives many reasons why humans don't contract staph from dogs. The first and most important one is that humans have a skin barrier. Your skin keeps harmful bacteria out of your body, and since staph is not airborne it doesn't get in through your nose or mouth. The rare occasions are when humans have an open wound around the infected animal. EmmaLee doesn't have this skin barrier. She is that rare exception when staph becomes contagious from dogs through her open skin. Now, I'm not a doctor...or even an expert on infections and types of bacteria...but I know more about my daughter than any professional ever will. I don't claim to be smarter than them, just more intuitive to my child's needs... "a mother's intuition" sums it up. Granted, there is no proof nor evidence that the last infection came from that dog,... but I just feel it. It makes sense. The only logical source for the infection. Coincidence? No. Maybe in these circumstances it is normal human behavior to find something to blame for someone's pain and suffering,...that's fine. I'll admit I just need to make something responsible for causing this trauma in our lives. If I have nothing to explain this, how will I ever know when or how it might occur again?
It has. Saturday night EmmaLee was in so much pain that I took her to the E.R. I think it was quite easy to diagnose this time since we now knew what a skin infection looks like, feels like (to her) and it's course of action. It started hurting several days before. I knew something was happening, and her skin was different than normal (for her). I feel so bad because I am the type of mom who says, "quit crying", "just get up and walk" (even when it hurts), and "okay, if you won't let me help, do it yourself". Yes, bad mom. I just know that the second I feel for her, really understand that she is in unbearable pain, I can't hold it all together anymore. I've felt like a wreck these past few days, puffy eyes and always on the verge of tears. I can't stand to see my baby hurting like this. We were changing her clothes to go to the hospital and she said something that just broke my heart. She says through sobs "I can't believe this is happening to me. I can't handle this." Yes I know... me either. Just writing about it makes me cry again.
Anyways, we got her on some antibiotics which seem to be working already. She still hurts, but she's not crying. She's tough. I hope I am helping her become a strong individual, but it sure feels wrong sometimes. I don't let her feel bad for herself, or make excuses why she needs special preference. Don't misunderstand, I love my daughter more than anything, but I don't want her to become someone who feels like they were cheated in life and can never be happy or have a normal life. I want her to understand her uniqueness and then get over it, not dwell on her differences and wish for better things. Acceptance, that's what it is. I want her to accept it, and move on. I'm sad to admit, but it took me a long time to accept our situation. Trust me, dwelling on why things happened this way won't change anything. Wishing for things to be different, leads to disappointment and anger. I love her and I have to be strong for her, even though it's hard for me.
Sorry for my random train of thought, I just needed to get it all out. I'm sure she'll be better in a few more days and back to her usual silly self again.
Oh, and she now wears glasses. At first I was apprehensive about the whole thing. I mean, doesn't she have enough to deal with without adding this? But I want her to have good vision, and now that she's been wearing them for a couple of weeks I can't imagine her not having them. She's just so darn cute. Anyways, it seems like glasses are becoming so commonplace nowadays that it hasn't been an issue even once. I remember when I was in school, yeah I say that like I'm old :-), and kids were just plain cruel to kids in glasses. I guess we will see what the school year brings, but for now hopefully we can get past this infection and just enjoy our beautiful Alaskan summer... except for that darn rain! Lol.
The last time it was most likely contracted from a dog with a staph infected wound we had been around. I say most likely because it is VERY rare for a human to be infected from canine staph. A google search, which believe me isn't always accurate, gives many reasons why humans don't contract staph from dogs. The first and most important one is that humans have a skin barrier. Your skin keeps harmful bacteria out of your body, and since staph is not airborne it doesn't get in through your nose or mouth. The rare occasions are when humans have an open wound around the infected animal. EmmaLee doesn't have this skin barrier. She is that rare exception when staph becomes contagious from dogs through her open skin. Now, I'm not a doctor...or even an expert on infections and types of bacteria...but I know more about my daughter than any professional ever will. I don't claim to be smarter than them, just more intuitive to my child's needs... "a mother's intuition" sums it up. Granted, there is no proof nor evidence that the last infection came from that dog,... but I just feel it. It makes sense. The only logical source for the infection. Coincidence? No. Maybe in these circumstances it is normal human behavior to find something to blame for someone's pain and suffering,...that's fine. I'll admit I just need to make something responsible for causing this trauma in our lives. If I have nothing to explain this, how will I ever know when or how it might occur again?
It has. Saturday night EmmaLee was in so much pain that I took her to the E.R. I think it was quite easy to diagnose this time since we now knew what a skin infection looks like, feels like (to her) and it's course of action. It started hurting several days before. I knew something was happening, and her skin was different than normal (for her). I feel so bad because I am the type of mom who says, "quit crying", "just get up and walk" (even when it hurts), and "okay, if you won't let me help, do it yourself". Yes, bad mom. I just know that the second I feel for her, really understand that she is in unbearable pain, I can't hold it all together anymore. I've felt like a wreck these past few days, puffy eyes and always on the verge of tears. I can't stand to see my baby hurting like this. We were changing her clothes to go to the hospital and she said something that just broke my heart. She says through sobs "I can't believe this is happening to me. I can't handle this." Yes I know... me either. Just writing about it makes me cry again.
Anyways, we got her on some antibiotics which seem to be working already. She still hurts, but she's not crying. She's tough. I hope I am helping her become a strong individual, but it sure feels wrong sometimes. I don't let her feel bad for herself, or make excuses why she needs special preference. Don't misunderstand, I love my daughter more than anything, but I don't want her to become someone who feels like they were cheated in life and can never be happy or have a normal life. I want her to understand her uniqueness and then get over it, not dwell on her differences and wish for better things. Acceptance, that's what it is. I want her to accept it, and move on. I'm sad to admit, but it took me a long time to accept our situation. Trust me, dwelling on why things happened this way won't change anything. Wishing for things to be different, leads to disappointment and anger. I love her and I have to be strong for her, even though it's hard for me.
Sorry for my random train of thought, I just needed to get it all out. I'm sure she'll be better in a few more days and back to her usual silly self again.
Oh, and she now wears glasses. At first I was apprehensive about the whole thing. I mean, doesn't she have enough to deal with without adding this? But I want her to have good vision, and now that she's been wearing them for a couple of weeks I can't imagine her not having them. She's just so darn cute. Anyways, it seems like glasses are becoming so commonplace nowadays that it hasn't been an issue even once. I remember when I was in school, yeah I say that like I'm old :-), and kids were just plain cruel to kids in glasses. I guess we will see what the school year brings, but for now hopefully we can get past this infection and just enjoy our beautiful Alaskan summer... except for that darn rain! Lol.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Hooray for Naked Day!
Today was Naked Day at our house...
Although I did joke that I was getting kinda cold, it was actually only Ethan who ran around Naked all day. When my husband called during the day and commented that I sounded unusually happy, I told him it was Naked Day- which means we all run around naked... and of course he told me to take lots of pictures... Dirty Man! :-)
Well, we have been trying to POTTY TRAIN Ethan For...um....EVER! On Monday my friend Carolyn suggested that we try a Naked Day, and it TOTALLY WORKED!! Sweet Success! All day we only had 1 accident. Which is amazing for Ethan considering all the days we have tried "Potty Training In A Day" which basically means he wears only underwear all day and I sit him on the seat like every 30 minutes. On those days we have Nothing BUT accidents. In fact on those days he usually doesn't even use the potty ONCE, just the couch, floor, kitchen chairs... you got it.
Well today there was ONE accident, the first one, and then... NO MORE!!!! Can you tell how excited I am about this?? I did hit a point during all this that was too funny not to giggle out loud about when he started running into the bathroom to go, Seriously, every 45 seconds after finishing the hand-washing, putting a sticker on the chart routine. Think maybe he just really wanted those stickers?? Which, mind you, he only got if there was some actual byproducts in the potty. Wow, now I'm getting a little too detailed I think.
Well, I did as my husband instructed and took a few pictures... don't worry I tried to clean them up as much as I could...
Although I will say this, even though he's only 3 there were several occasions that my daughter and I felt kinda awkward... I mean it's a BOY... running around NAKED. Eeeeewwwww!! :-)
Although I did joke that I was getting kinda cold, it was actually only Ethan who ran around Naked all day. When my husband called during the day and commented that I sounded unusually happy, I told him it was Naked Day- which means we all run around naked... and of course he told me to take lots of pictures... Dirty Man! :-)
Well, we have been trying to POTTY TRAIN Ethan For...um....EVER! On Monday my friend Carolyn suggested that we try a Naked Day, and it TOTALLY WORKED!! Sweet Success! All day we only had 1 accident. Which is amazing for Ethan considering all the days we have tried "Potty Training In A Day" which basically means he wears only underwear all day and I sit him on the seat like every 30 minutes. On those days we have Nothing BUT accidents. In fact on those days he usually doesn't even use the potty ONCE, just the couch, floor, kitchen chairs... you got it.
Well today there was ONE accident, the first one, and then... NO MORE!!!! Can you tell how excited I am about this?? I did hit a point during all this that was too funny not to giggle out loud about when he started running into the bathroom to go, Seriously, every 45 seconds after finishing the hand-washing, putting a sticker on the chart routine. Think maybe he just really wanted those stickers?? Which, mind you, he only got if there was some actual byproducts in the potty. Wow, now I'm getting a little too detailed I think.
Well, I did as my husband instructed and took a few pictures... don't worry I tried to clean them up as much as I could...
Although I will say this, even though he's only 3 there were several occasions that my daughter and I felt kinda awkward... I mean it's a BOY... running around NAKED. Eeeeewwwww!! :-)
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Why do I even have a blog?
So...the point of this blogging thing is to share what's going on in our life with our family and friends, but what's the point of blogging if it takes up the actual time you should be spending with your family? We have just been really busy lately, there is so much going on that I have grossly neglected my blog. I appologize and will try to get on track...starting with some pictures of EmmaLee getting on the bus on the first day back to school (again.)
This is her third year in Preschool at the Elementary in the Special Education Program. Her birthday is coming up in November so she'll be 5 for the majority of the school year. I'm glad that she will have this extra time to catch up before kindergarten although she will be one of the oldest in her class throughout school. I was always the absolute youngest one in my class. My mom pushed me ahead to 1st grade after my 3 years in preschool and I skipped the whole kindergarten fun. I was the last one to turn 16 and go on dates, and last to drive or get my permit. Blah Blah Blah... anyways, here's the pics.
This is her third year in Preschool at the Elementary in the Special Education Program. Her birthday is coming up in November so she'll be 5 for the majority of the school year. I'm glad that she will have this extra time to catch up before kindergarten although she will be one of the oldest in her class throughout school. I was always the absolute youngest one in my class. My mom pushed me ahead to 1st grade after my 3 years in preschool and I skipped the whole kindergarten fun. I was the last one to turn 16 and go on dates, and last to drive or get my permit. Blah Blah Blah... anyways, here's the pics.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Ethan's New Haircut
I guess it's not so bad after all. He looks pretty cute with spikey hair!! I really did love the shaggy look though.
*Thanks for the pictures Kim!!*
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Like Father, like son
On the left is a picture of my husband Tyson when he was about 2-3 years old. It's so cute how identical his baby pictures look to my son Ethan!!
And the right is Ethan now. Well not exactly now, because we just got his shaggy hair cut yesterday and I have to say that I hate it! The lady did not do a very good job. We tried spiking it though and that didn't look too bad. I will be having my hair stylist and bff, Carolyn, fix it when we get home!!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Wedding Card and a few more pics
The wedding colors were pink and lime green, so I made a tri-fold card to coordinate and coincidentally it goes right along with Day 67- Think Pink challenge over at 365Cards!!
And now some more wedding pictures...
My sister Nicole and her (very serious) boyfriend, Chad.
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