Truly a Parent

As I write this the Colts are playing, and winning. This is my favorite weekend event - watching the game on our big screen in the Colts lower level of our house. Emer just woke up from a nap, I can hear her and Daddy talking about how Mommy is watching the game and asking if she wants to join me. This is such a nice change from last night.

Let's start with what a fun day Emer and I had yesterday! It's Christmas-time so we went to a local farm to check out the Christmas on the Farm presentation. They had reindeer, Santa was there!, Emer made crafts, enjoyed some pumpkin bread cupcakes, cheese made at the farm, and hot chocolate made with milk from the cows. Then we rode on the sleigh hay ride! So much fun!

After her nap she played around a little while I did a little work organizing some PartyLite stuff. We finished the evening by heading out to take care of Farley and the horses then enjoying dinner at Noodles. She was the perfect little dinner mate at dinner - got her own booster seat, used a spoon to eat her mac n cheese, and showed generally good table manners. It was a wonderful evening! Then 1:00am hit. I had gone to bed early because I have a terrible cold and I don't want a sinus infection to come out of it! So at 1:00 I hear crying. I wait a minute to figure out if I really hear it. I do...I go into her room and Emer is crying and saying, "Ow!". She is holding her stomach. I'm thinking it must be all the cheese she ate today! So I tell her to relax and that if she lays flat and pulls her knees up it might help. It seems to because I'm eventually able to get her back to bed and asleep. For a little bit...
Then I hear crying again around 2:00. Steve is awake now so I grumble to him, "It's your turn". I hear him calling for me and things too mean to write down go through my mind. The next thing I know he's yelling, "She's throwing up everywhere!" and even more evil things run through my mind (because I've always said that I can't clean up vomit as it makes me sick, and he's always said he'll take care of it). I get out of bed and what I find is total TMI so use your imagination!
I spring into action and the next thing I know Emer has clean jammies on, the washing machine is running, and we're laying in bed with a trash can beside us trying to get a little sleep. I'm still not sure how I managed to do all of that without getting sick myself.

We were up a few more times in the night but did manage to get some sleep from about 5-9ish. This was one of those times when you truly have to balance: move quick, but appear calm, gruffly clean, but lovingly cuddle. It's different to taking care of a spouse or a friend. There was something unconscious about my reaction. The entire experience was driven by such a strong love for a tender being like Tiny Wonder. When someone you are responsible for is sick it's hard to relax until it's all over. I know there are things I can do to help her (talk, cuddle, keep her warm and safe) but I can't cure her. And I can't stop the hurt. All I can really do is love her and let that lead my actions.

It's at times like this that you know you are Truly a Parent.

Bring on the Holidays!

I feel like it's been so long since I blogged on here that I have a million and one things to tell you about. So, where to start...where to start...

Hahaha! I never got started on this blog! Instead I wrote the next blog. So go read it then check back again soon for some pics of the recent holidays that we've missed...

They will be posted soon, I promise!

A Response to Potty Training

Potty Training Day has come and gone! If you read the previous blog (well, it's actually the next blog if you read them in order from the top of the screen down...) you will see a comment from Leftygirl saying she thinks I'm overthinking. This blog today is a tribute to her genius!
You will also notice that I said I was going to potty train the week after August 15th. Well, that week went like this:
Avoided!
OK, OK, so we pushed it back a month and began Potty Training on Sept. 15th. Here's how it all went down:
Sept. 14th evening - We told Emer that tomorrow was a special, exciting day! She was going to learn to use the potty like a big girl! She giggled. And, if I remember correctly, went to bed just fine.
Sept. 14th - 8:00am - We sat down to breakfast, as usual. I figured I'd get us through the morning food routine then begin the training process. So after breakfast we brought the potty into the kitchen (per my book's recommendation) and I reminded her what Mommy does on the potty and how she sits Elmo on the potty at times. I then let her choose her panties and traded the diaper for panties. I asked her to sit on the potty. She refused at first, but finally did sit for about 30 seconds.
Later morning - We were trying to sit on the potty every 15 minutes. I was using Goldfish (she would get one when she sat on the potty) for bribery. She didn't go once all morning. I was ready with stickers, apple juice, and cookies! But there was no opportunity to reinforce anything!
11:00ish - Emer seemed to have gotten bored with the whole potty training thing and was now refusing to sit on the potty. She also FINALLY peed, all over the top of the potty and the floor! She started crying and throwing a fit. I tried to get her to step off the potty and sit on it but this made it worse. Pure, 100% temper tantrum.
Noonish - She finally calmed down enough to let me clean up the mess. We decided to have some lunch. I asked if she wanted a diaper back on for lunch and she did. So had a nap right after lunch...
1:45 - We traded diaper for panties and started once again on the potty. I asked if she wanted the potty in the bathroom and together we moved it there. This helped her sit on it, but she again would not sit for more than 30 seconds. One time she got up, walked into the kitchen, and peed. She didn't realize she was doing it, though, until her foot moved into it (she was peeing on bah). She threw another fit, but refused to sit on the potty and try to finish. It went on like this...all afternoon...until...
5:30 - She peepeed on the potty!! However, this experience solidified my suspicions that she wasn't ready for this. I got excited when I heard it and shared my excitement. She was smiling and clapping, then stood up and went to close the lid. She saw the pee in her potty and said, "Oh yeah!" like she was surprised there was something in there! She had no idea what she had just done! But we celebrated with ice cream b/c I NEEDED some, ha! I don't believe she ever made a connection between the ice cream and using the potty.
6:00 - She sat on the potty, went a tiny bit and said she was done. We then went outside to walk in the yard and she proceeded to finish peeing in her panties. Or so I thought. I took her in to change her and she peed all over the floor! She slipped on it and got terribly upset all over again...
Later than evening - My mom called to check on how things had been going. She finally understood why I thought Emer wasn't ready to learn to use the potty. We all agreed to put it away and bring it out in a month so. I was never so happy to have someone tell me to quit something!
I have had sleepless nights; I have taken care of a sick baby; I have dealt with a 2 year old who won't go to bed or sleep through the night; I have cleaned up food thrown from the high chair. But nothing, and I mean NOTHING, has been as stressful and awful an experience as Sept. 15th, 2010. Everyone kept teasing me by saying Emer was going to be graduating high school and asking me to potty train her. Now I don't care how old she is. I am not sure i can try this again in a month. Maybe Christmas break. Or maybe (since she and Hayden copy everything), after Hayden is potty trained! Just don't look for an update anytime soon :)

Potty Training Update

Since I like to be a woman of my word I decided I should update this blog, as I said I would. But, the update is not a celebration of using the potty but rather an explanation for why there is no potty celebration. :)

It's my fault! I have been purposely putting off the potty training. I have been reading the book, "Toilet Trained in Less than a Day" and it's great! But first it talked about spending about an hour with a doll that wets to show Emer how to put the baby on the potty and watch it pee pee. Then she would be responsible for dumping the pee pee into the big potty. So I decided that since this is such a big part of this process I would have to wait until I get a doll that wets. Day One - Avoided!

I still have not found a doll that wets, mainly b/c I haven't been looking! I need to do that, I know. But I did move the potty into our bathroom and have been showing Emer what we do on the potty by talking about it and using Elmo to demonstrate. She loves to sit on the potty (both her little one and our big one!) but she hasn't wet in it yet. She just says, "pee pee?" and this means she wants to play on the potty. I'm a little worried that the longer we play like this with no pee pee in the potty the harder it's going to be to get her to sit on it and go! Day Two - Playing Around!

I decided I would go ahead and potty train her this Sunday and Monday, even without the doll that wets. But now my grandma just moved from a 2 bedroom apartment to a 1 bedroom and my dad wants me to come take a look at some of the furniture to see if I want it. Since the whole potty training thing should be done in a full day I have to commit to be home ALL day. I'd like 2 days to do this b/c I'm thinking Day One will be for Training and Day Two for Reinforcing. Well with Sunday now occupied with leaving to check out furniture, that doesn't leave me 2 days in a row. Day Three - Over-committed!

I am now considering whether or not I want to do this Wed. and Thur. I would be home the entire time until I go to work Thur. evening. That's nearly 2 whole days. We could make sure she uses the potty before we leave for the Y on Thur. then use it as soon as we come home. It might work...I'll let you know! Day Four - Coming up!

Big Things are Coming!

August 1st - Emer used a regular cup, without spilling anything, by herself, for the first time today. I know my mom has helped her use a small regular cup, but I have never been able to get her to drink from a cup without dumping it on herself. So this was a very exciting development! She was so proud of herself!

August 2nd - I went back to work for another year of counseling the primary students in Greencastle. I'm excited for school to start, but as I was driving home one day I started thinking about Emer. I wonder what kind of student she will be like...I wonder if she'll make friends easily...I wonder if she'll like reading or math better...I wonder what she'll look like. She's changing slowly, but you can see it when you look closely. (Of course she's still nearly impossible to capture via photograph!)

She's only 2 but I was having trouble remembering what I used to do with my time before she was born. This is usually a romantic thought many people have when they are thinking about a new boyfriend or girlfriend. I never understood it. What did people mean they couldn't remember life before that person? How ridiculous! We make our own lives and don't need someone else to make our lives for us. Geesh. But it's different with a kid. My tiny wonder has given me someone to be with all the time. I can teach her things, show her the world, play in the little world of our backyard, and watch her run around like a crazy person. It's so much more fun than I ever thought! And I know she's not perfect. She has her (my) temper. When she doesn't get enough sleep she gets CRABBY! And who knows what she'll decide to eat when we sit down to a meal. (Hmmm, that also sounds a lot like me...)

Random side thought - do you think my love for Emer makes me a narcissist???

August 4th - I was able to put a french braid in Em's hair for the first time! It stayed in all day as well, I was so excited :)

August 8th - Let the potty training begin! I will update this blog next week with our progress. But for now, please wish us luck!!

Birthday Thank You's

My, my how the time flies! I hope that when Emer is old enough to do her own Thank You cards she is more timely than I am! But right now, I'm all there is to take care of the Thank You's for her. So here we go!

On the 4th of July my Tiny Wonder turned TWO!

We had a lot of fun throughout the whole day starting with our presents and ending at an Indians game. Well wait, I guess the festivities started the day before when Emer got a card in the mail from Karesa and family. It included frog stickers, which she Loved!

She had also gotten a package a while back but we saved it for her birthday. She loves her duck pillow from Cousins Sadie and Lucy (and family)!

Cousins have good taste in gifts because Hayden and family got her the Wonder Pets Schoolhouse which she hasn't stopped playing with!

(She's also gone back to asking to watch the Wonder Pets more often than I would like...it's only TV, right? LOL!)

After opening our gifts (see below) she played for a while then took a nap as usual. It was kind of a nice surprise that we were able to keep her on her usual schedule, especially since we had been traveling home from the Outer Banks the entire previous day. She enjoyed the beach, though wouldn't get in the water. It was very cold so Idon't blame her! She did love playing in the sand...

Which was good for me to see, considering the big gift we got her for her birthday! Here she is playing with our neighbor's granddaughter the day after her birthday:

They enjoyed some sprinkler and sandbox action! The girls are too cute together :)

Grandparents can also pick some great gifts. At this point on Emer's birthday I was feeling like a 2 year old's birthday is more fun for the mom than the kid : )

These are from Gigee and Poppy

The Bubbles are from Grandma

Sand box toys from Gigee, Poppy, and Grandma

Concluding Em's birthday we went to the Indians game and enjoyed a Rose Hulman cookout, a losing game, and baseball hats for the kids. Emer and Hayden are definitely the cutest babies at Victory Field! Don't you agree? :)

It was a late night, finishing up with fireworks from Em's bedroom window. She enjoyed the day and the night. The 4th of July is one special day in the O-C household!

New York 2010 and Many Other Things!

I am so embarrassed - we've been back from NYC for over a month and I haven't posted anything about our trip. A big part of this is because I was posting pics from the city on facebook. Now I know not everyone is on facebook, or is a friend of mine on facebook, so this really shouldn't be an excuse. The big excuse is that I've been lazy! And I figured people would see the pics on facebook, ha! So, to make up for it, here is a quick slide show of our trip, followed by a funny video I thought you might like.

SlideShow:

Video:

Since the NYC trip, I've been busy finishing up another school year, taking Emer to Marvin's for the first time, starting a running program, and hitting the pool!

* The school year ended with a bang! About a month and a half before the end of school my principal (who was one of the best people to work for!) announced her retirement. It was a HUGE shock to everyone! So as the year wound down she and I went to work setting up things for next year, but it was bittersweet knowing that a new principal would be stepping in. Next year will see more change; such is life :)

* Emer LOVES musicals and Marvin's! Our second graders put on a musical called "Go Fish". It was about a shark who wanted to fit in but everyone was afraid of him and didn't want him around. All the kids were dressed like different fish and the songs were so cute. The musical held Emer's attention for the entire program! She even sat through a cute slide show and graduation for the kids. Following the program we went to Marvin's for dinner.

She ate over half a toasted cheese!!!

Watching her enjoying hanging out with a couple of my students and chowing down on Marvin's was like a flash forward of her life. I would love to see her go to DePauw someday. I'm not going to push it on her, but since I work in Greencastle I'm sure she'll see plenty of the campus over the years and this was just a taste of the fun to come.

* Ah running. You see, I've always been a workout

junkie but over the last couple of years things have been changing at the YMCA. I no longer do

kickboxing (sometimes I get over to KTA where I used to go, but it's rare) and I've had some challenges in new classes from teaching a choreographed class to teaching a kids' class. Lately I keep hearing about the Couch to 5K and the Biggest Loser competitors are now doing marathons. So I figured, why not start a running class at the Y that focuses on running and strength training?! In order to do this I've had to stay a week or so ahead of the class. It's been about 3.5 weeks and I'm enjoying the new challenge! I take Emer along and she provides lots of encouragement:

As well as reminds us to drink our water:

The class has set a goal to run an event in August - August 14th to be exact. We're all signing up for the 3 mile run and I plan on running the entire thing! Woo hoo!

* And finally, the pool. GeeGee and Poppy bought a baby pool for Ems and Hayden and we all tried it out over Memorial Day weekend. Of course they loved it and it was hilarious to watch them play in the freezing cold water. (And, of course, I have no pics of them in the pool! But here's one of the kids running from the pool to the swing. Don't ya just love 'em?!)

A few weeks ago Emer and her friend Ella met up at the indoor pool and had a blast playing around. Both were totally into swimming by themselves until they couldn't touch (it's a zero entry pool). They used the kickboards and shared toys. What fun!

Then I took Emer to the big pool at the Y last week. She kept going back and forth between the pool and the splash pad just playing and swimming and playing and swimming. The little chic has fantastic tan lines already, in spite of the SPF 45 and 50 I've been putting on her!

Thank you, Daddy, once again for sharing your wonderful skin with our Tiny Wonder :)

It's going to be a good summer, I can tell. I will try to keep this blog updated more often! Things will be busy (QUASH this weekend, then vacation to Outer Banks, then Emer turns 2, then PartyLite conference, then the Race for Education run, then a friend's wedding, then school again...) but I'll do my best to keep up with the pics and writing. As always, thanks for checking in and enjoy the sun!

Mother's Day Take Three (my 3rd Mother's Day as a Mom)

Does anyone watch the TV show "The Middle"? I love this show! From the first episode I thought the mom on the show WAS my mom. I mean, she's busy all the time, takes care of everyone but herself, wears herself thin without anyone noticing until it's too late, etc., etc. And then they had the Mother's Day episode. Did you see it? Were you nodding in agreement? Did you sit back and think, "they are right! Father's Day is great because of Mom!". I made my husband watch and the message he got from it was, "well now you see that it's not me, it's men!" UGH! That wasn't the reason I wanted him to watch! Then I told my mom she had to watch (she DVR's it) and she called as soon as she was done watching. Mom agreed with me that it was the perfect depiction of being a mom on Mother's Day.
Ah, being a Mom. It's kind of the coolest thing in the world. Changes have occurred with me that I could have never imagined. I am actually proud to be becoming my mom. We all know this is an inevitable part of becoming an adult, but it's not until you are a parent that you realize how much you have become like your mother (or father, I suppose, for those dads out there!). I think Mom does a fantastic job of raising us (yes, my brother and I both still call on her for things, so she is still raising us!) and to think that I'm a lot like her is something to be proud of.
Another big change is in my emotions. This is kind of embarassing, but since I hope to share this blog with Emer someday I will write it out as a lesson from which she can learn. I used to be this super emotionally strong person. Nothing could make me cry. Now, I cry watching TV! I cry when there's a story line about someone who loses a child or when someone is reunited with a child they haven't seen in a while. I'm fully aware that most shows are not real but I empathize with the story line. Everything from Army Wives to Survivor (you know, the family episodes where they get calls from their family members) makes me tear up and it's kind of pathetic. I used to blame the post-partum hormones but I'm WAY past that now. Now I have to look at it like this: as a parent I can now imagine what it must be like to lose Emer. I don't know that I would want to go on if anything happened to her.
Being a parent is the most miraculous thing in the world. Everyone says that, and it is corny. But it's also true. The feeling I get when I look back at 'old' pictures of her is a feeling of pride, love, and joy. I can't believe how much she's changed in less than 2 years. I can't believe that I created her. I can't believe that I'm responsible for this beautiful, super-cute, attitude-filled toddler. It's not something I can describe any better than I've tried to do here.

* You know those t-shirts with random sayings on them? Is there one that says, "My kid rocks"? Because if there is, I want it! *

Paparazzi!

You know those articles online that show the stars' kids doing regular things like shopping, eating, etc? Well over the last couple of months we haven't had any big milestones or exciting findings to report, but it seems that the paparazzi has been watching little Emer! Here's a slideshow of the things she's been caught on camera doing:

(As an aside, we went to New York City last weekend and I'll be posting a blog about this, including video, in the next day or two.)

Nothing new...

I was talking to the hubby today and we were lamenting the sunshine we had yesterday. It occurred to me that I hadn't written an updated blog lately and I probably should do that. But then I realized that not much had changed to write about!
* It's still freezing, rainy, yucky outside (Emer has learned to say "yucky")
* The weather has us in more bad moods than happy lately (sunshine, please?!)
* The school year is plugging away...
* And we're planning another trip to NYC! (I figured I'd better get one more trip in before Emer turns 2 and we have to pay for her flight as well as mine!)

* One new thing - here's some new words Emer has learned lately: "Thank you", "Daddy" (not really new but spoken very clearly), "Poppy" (also not so new but very clear), and Scotty. Yes, Uncle Scotty, she can say your name better than she says "Mommy". Arg!

And that's the update :)

Translator, please?!

Everyone keeps asking me, "How is Emer? Is she talking up a storm yet?"
And I say, "She's doing great! She is quite a talker, but not so much in English..."




Can someone translate this for me please?!?!

Demitri 1997-2009

I said I was going to write a blog with pics from Christmas sometime during the second week of my holidays. However, the holidays came to a crashing halt during that time and I haven't really felt like writing much. I can't begin to describe how lonely I feel now, which to non-pet people sounds ridiculous. But I don't care what those people think, I only care about how much I miss Demitri.

Here's the brief run-down of his last week of life:

Christmas Eve - He wouldn't leave the bathroom mat unless I moved him. He did eat and was still using his litter box.
Christmas - He was better! He didn't move around and chase his toys that he got like he used to, but he was his old self anyway. He got his first shot of insulin.
December 26th - He ate and was acting normal again! We thought the insulin surely had helped him get back to normal. In the evening he tried to jump onto the chair and missed. He fell on his back. He tried to jump onto the counter and missed. Just landed on his feet.
December 27th - He was very slow again. He barely ate a thing. By evening he hadn't even eaten one full meal. We did give him his evening insulin b/c he ended up eating a little chicken and some yogurt. He jumped in the bath with Emer but didn't react, just stood there. I slept downstairs with him because I was afraid he would get hurt if he tried to jump into bed with us. This was the worst night's sleep I've had in a long time b/c at one point he jumped off the couch only to find that he couldn't stand on his back legs.
December 28th - He couldn't stand, he looked like he was swimming when he tried to move. He wouldn't eat a thing. I called my brother early and left a message. I called the emergency clinic where Scotty works. I got ready to take him in but decided not to b/c we already had set up to take him to a vet for blood work that morning. The vet at the emergency clinic was very nice and talked to me for about half an hour. Scotty called as I was getting ready to take D to the vet. He said he would have advised me to wait for the vet anyway.
-> The long and short of it is that I took him in and his blood work showed glucose levels of 700, kidney stones, gall stones, he was very dehydrated, his bowels were completely full, his heart was in arrythmia. He didn't care that he was at the vet's, he didn't even growl at all. They kept him on very aggressive fluids which helped a little. But when they backed off the fluids he got worse again. This was one of the worst days of my life. I had to go back to the vet's and make a decision to lose Demitri. I know we stopped his pain and gave him strength again. But I wish I could hold him on my lap and I'd give anything to clean up a massive pee on the floor again. It crushes me to think I'll never see Emer hug him again. I'll never have to watch out for the food left on the counter. And the other night I turned to where he used to relax on the couch to ask if he was coming to bed with me. I'd forgotten he wasn't there. It's lonely. And it sucks...