Decorations

Here are a few pictures of our holiday decorations...our tree, our tree at night and our new stockings.

It took a lot of Friday and most of today to get the tree up - between assembling the tree (yes, we have a fake tree), finding the ornaments, unwrapping the ornaments, finding lights that work, stringing the lights and putting up the ornaments - carefully selecting the place for each ornament, making sure to not ignore the back of the tree that no one sees - it is a long process.

Our tree is very special to us. It is decorated with ornaments given to us by friends and family or that we bought on many of our wonderful vacations we have taken. We have ornaments celebrating our first Christmas together, our first Christmas in our home, ornaments from the colleges we went to, ornaments that symbolize the long-standing and special friendship I have with Cindy, Kary and Trish, as well as ornaments from vacation spots such as Hawaii, Jamaica, Walt Disney World, Las Vegas and the Outer Banks.

We hadn't put up a tree in 5 years - not since the first Christmas we lived in our townhouse (2003), which is also the same December we got our dog, Kona. Since then we realized a tree and a dog aren't a good combination. But this year with Rachel we wanted to make sure it was special and that we had a tree for her. As for next year, who knows, but we really wanted to have the tree up this year.

Enjoy the pictures and I hope your trees can have as much meaning to you as ours does to us.

Thanksgiving night in the emergency room

Thanksgiving is a time for food, family, giving thanks -- but in our house on Thanksgiving Day, we made a trip to the local ER.

Before I get too much further, everything and everyone is fine. I injured my toe and needed some serious medical care. Yes, I was in the kitchen - yes, I was cooking. Maybe that should be my first clue not to do that again.

As a back story, I have had a problem with my right big toe nail for a few years. I had lost it twice before for various reasons, but it's always grown back. The last time it grew back I think I had a fungus or something that grew in with it, so it was never totally attached to my toe. You could tap on it and it was hollow-sounding. But it seemed to be fine and attached in all the right places so it wasn't loose. However, I knew there would be one day that I would hit it the wrong way and it would be time number three of losing the nail.

Well, today was the day. David and I were in the kitchen finishing up cooking Thanksgiving dinner. The turkey was done, and we realized the other food hadn't really been started. So he and I were frantic in the kitchen. I was peeling potatoes, he was making green bean casserole, both of us attending to Rachel in between. We were back and forth between the refridgerator, stove, oven and counters.

Unfortunately, one of my trips to the island and trash can ended in my toe nail almost coming off. I had limited space to move in and went to push the trash can opener with my foot. I ended up catching my toe under the cabinet and pushing the nail up. (I know this is gross - sorry!)

The nail was perpendicular to my foot, the toe was bleeding, but the nail was still attached at the base near the cuticle. I went to the bathroom to see if I could do anything about it - maybe pull it out, cut it at the base - anything. But that didn't work. I am not a great patient, so I was feeling faint. David looked at it and realized he couldn't do anything about it either.

So off we went to the hospital - after we ate dinner in case you were wondering. We had to bundle Rachel up and cart all three of us to the ER. We got there about 540PM...no one was really there when I got there, but everyone seemed to come in after me. I was seen relatively quickly - it was the waiting for the doctor and nurses in between that took a long time, as well as waiting for various medicines to kick in.

The doctor wanted to Xray the toe to make sure it wasn't broken since I had jammed it into the cabinet. Then she gave me Percocet for the pain and Ativan to calm me down - did I mention I'm not a great patient? Then she needed to numb the toe so she could work her magic. Unfortunately, she was not able to remove the nail completely because if she did a new nail would not grow back. So she and another doctor wrangled with my nail to get it back into place. Also unfortunate, the numbing medicine on the toe was not working very well, so it was very painful on the nail bed. I was really in a lot of pain and it seemed to take forever for them to finish. They bandaged up my toe after cleaning it out.

I made it through. We left around 910PM. They prescribed me more Percocet as well as an antibiotic to prevent infection. There is a 24-hour CVS near the hospital, so we drove over there to get the prescriptions filled; however, there was a one hour wait. So David drove me and Rachel home and then left again to get the medicine for me. Which is why I am still up writing this entry. I need to follow up with my family physician so I'll call in the morning and make an appointment for Monday. In the meantime I need to avoid getting the toe wet and keep it elevated as much as possible.

So that was out excitement for Thanksgiving. Good thing we didn't have a houseful of company - well, maybe that would have been better - then the food would have been cooked on time and I might not have been in the kitchen to hurt myself. There's always next year!

A cough

Rachel has had a cough for a few days. And over the weekend she slept a lot and didn't really eat that much. So I figured I should take her to the doctor to find out what's going on.

I called this morning, not sure if I could get an appointment since it's the day before Thanksgiving. We weren't able to see Dr. Williams, but could get in with one of the nurse practitioners. Sounds good - as long as we could be seen before the holiday.

Rachel got weighed first - 13 pounds, 6 1/2 ounces. WOW! Up 11 ounces in two weeks.

Then we met Miss Judy. She asked a lot of questions, examined Rachel's ears, nose, listened to her chest, took her temperature. She wanted to do a test for RSV, so she had the nurse come in and try to get some "stuff" out of Rachel's nsoe to test.

We had to wait about 15 minutes for the results, but good news - no RSV and no fever. So we were told to just use saline spray and decongestant spray by Little Noses, along with using the bulb syringe to suck out the mucus. The cough was probably caused by post-nasal drip since her sinuses were so congested. And if she's not better by Saturday, they recommended coming back in.

We'll see how it goes.

Giving thanks

One year ago today, David and I found out we were pregnant. We wouldn't find out for a while if it was a girl or boy, but at that point, it didn't matter. Just that we were pregnant was the best news ever.

Our journey to parenthood began in April 2003, 6 months after we were married. And culminated in us giving birth to Rachel Charlotte on July 3, 2008.

It was a long journey with many disappointments and a lot of emotions along the way. There were many times that we thought being parents would never happen - except being parents to our dog, Kona.

We are so happy Rachel is here. She is worth every second we had to wait. She is a beautiful and happy baby who brings us so much joy. We have so much love for her - it's hard to imagine how much you can love such a little person you hardly even know. But we love her more and more every day and feel so lucky. There are a lot of people who helped us in many ways along the way, so thank you to you as well for being there with us and for us.

As for Baby Number 2 - who knows? We'll see what happens!

Follow up

David and I had Rachel's 4-month check up last Friday. We asked a lot of questions as always, but later we realized we never discussed anything with the doctor about feeding - do we introduce baby food, how much should she be eating, does she need rice cereal in every feeding.

So I called the doctor back on Monday with our list of additional questions. She did call me back later that day, but I wasn't able to get the call.

I didn't hear back from her after that for a few days, so I called her today to follow up. She is great and always loves our questions. I think she likes that David and I come always come to our appointments prepared with questions and take a big interest in the growth and health of our daughter.

Right now she is eating 4 ounces every feeding and eats about 6 times per day. I have increased her morning feeding and her last feeding to 5 ounces since she is sleeping through the night and added rice cereal to half of her bottles. The doctor said she now should be eating up to 37 ounces per day! WOW! I have read some things that indicate at 4 months she should only be at about 32 ounces per day.

We also can start feeding her rice cereal on a SPOON, supplemented with formula!

And by her 6-month check-up in January she should weigh about 14 pounds.

So we will try the spoons and increasing how much she eats. We'll see what happens. Just another step in the process of Rachel growing.

A visit to the doctor

Today was Rachel's 4-month check-up. It was a success!

She had 5 vaccinations and was weighed and measured. One vaccination is in a medicine dropper, so no shot for that one. Three others are combined and then the last is separate. So it was two shots and a by-mouth vaccination. Rachel did great, just like her two-month shots. She sucked down the liquid and didn't even flinch for the first shot. The medicine in the second shot stings when it goes in, so she cried for probably 30 seconds and then was completely fine.

The doctor is very happy with her progress. Her head circumference is now 15 1/4 inches - up from 13 3/4 two months ago. Her length is 24 1/2 inches - up from 20 7/8 inches at her two-month check-up. And she now weighs 12 pounds, 11 ounces - up from 7 pounds 12 ounces at her two-month check-up. She is in the 50th percentile for length, but still only in the 10th percentile for weight.

She was surprised at her length. The nurse measured her first and said she should be about 24 inches long at 4 months old. When the doctor saw she was over 24 inches, she measured her again. She thought she would be about 23 1/2 inches. Maybe we will have a tall, lanky, blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty on our hands!

The nurse and doctor also asked other questions about her development and did some small tests to see how she was progressing - and as always, a glowing report!

Next stop - her 6-month check-up on January 13, 2009.

What happened?

Gas prices got crazy around here!

Just since yesterday this is what happened...

I picked Rachel up around 6PM and gas was $2.14 per gallon. This morning at 730AM it was $2.04 and then at 815AM it was $2.01!

Tonight I picked Rachel up at 6PM and it was $1.99 - WOW! $.15 in 24 hours!

Plus our gas station is part of our grocery store and if you use your Club card you get an extra $.03 off. They are also running a promotion that as you spend money on groceries you get additional cents off gas, up to the cost of an actual gallon of gas! Who knew gas could really be free someday?!

Another month gone by

Today, at this exact moment, 4 months ago, Rachel was born.

It's hard to believe it's been 4 months. But it's so exciting to see how far she's come. She still seems so little and like a little ball, but she has grown so much.

She has such a big smile that comes so freely, she has a great laugh that comes out sometimes for no reason, she can sit up almost all on her own, she can pull herself up into a crunch position in her bouncy seat, she can lift her back and neck up during tummy time and she grabs and holds on to bibs, blankets, burp cloths, shirts.

We look forward to many more months and years of love, laughter, happiness and growth.

Happy Birthday!

First Halloween

October 31st was Rachel's first Halloween. She was just under 4 months old that day. David and I debated if we should take her out trick-or-treating, but decided against it. Next year --

We did dress her up in her costume for day care that day, and had her in it at night when we were answering the door for trick-or-treaters at our house. It was a costume we borrowed from my friend Kary who has two girls. She was a little flower.

At day care she also created her first piece of art work. They fingerpainted on paper pumpkin cutouts. It's now hanging on our refridgerator. Such proud parents!