Weekly Email

My grandma can do a weekly email to all of us, but I can't seem to update our blog once a month. I attribute that to not having 5 minutes to compose my thoughts uninterrupted. However, today I am home ALL BY MYSELF. I know it is WEIRD. The best/worst part is I am really not able to do any of my task. I do have trouble leaving the laundry on the floor. I guess I could call Leah up the street to get to work, but I am sure she has her own laundry. And then I would be acting too much like her own bossy mother. Well onto the important people updates.




My mother says I have put too much pressure on Maci, because she is worried she is not good enough for Santa to leave her a present. I really don't put an emphasis on Santa. I do, however, put an emphasis on being good. She is generally too good to be true, so Santa will be visiting her. I assure her of that nightly. I love seeing her get so excited. Another great thing about her she is the only 3 year old I know that keeps a secret. She helped me wrap all the presents (pre-surgery) and her dad is constantly trying to find out what she bought him. She keeps telling him "dad it is a secret you will just have to wait." He tries all kinds of things to get her to tell, but no way she is giving it up.



And then there is Hannah. Derek and Hannah have been spending every minute together this weekend. I was all drugged up so he was sleeping, feeding, and caring constantly for her. So much so that last night she was only content to rock with him in the chair. I will have to work on that when I can rock again! She is growing out her of sleepers a couple months early. I can't not believe how long she is getting. I also saved all those clothes of Maci that might be too small now. Oh well a girl needs new clothes right?

I hear that I should be up skiing (according to my cousin) by tomorrow. So will be back to work and no longer updating the blog. So see you next month.

Allergy Doctor

Maci was weighed and measured today. She is 30 pounds and 3 ft 1 inches. She had grown almost an inch and 1/2 since May. Still hold steady on her weight hanging around 30 pound mark. We didn't learn much else at the allergist.

Then she got to go grocery shopping. She hadn't been out since Halloween. She was so excited. Also tried strawberry milk for the first time. She said it is alright.

Hannah thought it was too much time in the car she was protesting by the time we got home. BUT is happy now playing in her saucer. She just needed to stretch out!

Secrets

Lesson to be learned: 3 year olds do NOT keep secrets.

Maci has been associating letters to words. For example, C is for cookie or H is for Hannah. Another thing Maci loves to do is type on my computer. I usually let her do this for a few minutes and then she moves on to something new. Tonight she was pointing out letters on the keyboard associating the letters to words. She gets to F turns around and whispers to me. "F is for fart, but that is a secret." Apparently at Jeanne's house we were learning about F and words associated to it. Jeanne had jokingly told her it was a secret.

She cracks me up!

Hannah bo banna

9/13/09 - Owen's Birthday Party


Somewhere in between


October 12, 2009 - Columbus Day!

Sisters

Dancer!

Maci started dance class last Tuesday. She has to stay there all by herself - no parents allowed. She has been twice and had a fabulous time. Her grandmother is against the whole thing because of flu season. Maci might have to take a break for a couple months. I hate that she has to live in a bubble all the time!

Hannah goes to the doctor.

Hannah went to visit the doctor 9/29/09. She weighs 12 pounds 2 ounces. I already forgot how long she was...see I need to do this more often.

Hannah is really taking an interst in food. She is smacking her lips everytime someone is eating. It will not be long and I think she will be ready to eat some cereal. I am looking forward to that because it is my hopes she will then sleep longer at night. It maybe wishful thinking!

Wedding

I didn't post anything after the wedding. Uncle Dan & Aunt Cassandra got married this month. Maci will not be a professional flower girl. She was super for the pictures. She can pose for the camera like the best of them AND never gets tired of taking pictures (unlike her Grandma Calista who skipped out before they could even get her picture!). The people intimidated her and she didn't want to go down the aisle. She cried and I had to go fetch her from the back. After the wedding we had the reception and dance, Maci LOVED the dance. She closed the show down and would have stayed for more!

(The real photographer photos will have to be touched up to remove the bruises and scratches on her face!) I can't believe how rough and tough she gets.

Madeline Kidsits

I started to say Madeline babysits, but Maci is far from a baby. Last night I had a visitation to attend, so Madeline came up to watch Maci for the first time all by herself. She did a great job - well of course she did. Maci is a pretty easy kid to sit as long as you have the time to play all her games. Then mom and I brought home pizza and soda. They had a picnic in the living room.

My favorite lesson to Maci from Madeline. Maci was talking about keeping secrets and Madeline told her you tell your mom everything. You should never keep a secret from her. I thought it was excellent advise!

Today Hannah played in her saucer for the first time. She is getting really good at holding her head up. She gets bored with it pretty quickly, but she get bored with everything quickly!

Well she is getting bored now and is starting to protest.

Hungry Marvin

When I am hungry lots of times I will say "I am starvin Marvin" to Maci. Well last night she told me "I am hungry Marvin, I need something to eat!" I tried to explain it, but it never seems to work for me.

Hannah is 3 months today!

Hannah is 3 months old today. Maci think it is neat that she is 3 just like her. The 3 month mark is when the colic magically turns off. We will see. She had been getting better, but reverted the last few nights. She is constantly trying to sit up. She kind of looks like me attempting to do the "full" sit up. ONLY she is much cuter at it. She did roll over the other day from her tummy to her back. She is not a big fan of tummy time, but really just wiggles till she gets where she wants to be.

Maci continues to be a great big sister. She is getting into the food channel. The other morning she wanted her dad to bring her kitchen into the living room so she could cook with the lady on TV. I can't wait for her to cook for real!

We have been discussing Halloween costumes. Maci changes her mind every other day. This week so far she thinks she wants to be Clyde (mom & dad's dog). I am for it. There is a costume at Old Navy and we can get it. Then aunt Lisa would do her spots. I might need to have some creative help in changing the name tag. Hannah is going to be a princess fairy. Of course she will be cute in anything she wears.

Maci is really excited for her Uncle Dan's wedding. I found her new shoes to match her dress so she has been wearing them around the house. She is going to be a great flower girl.

Night Night

Maci is working on going to bed all by herself. She has been successful 3 out of the last 4 nights. If she goes to bed by herself, she usually sleeps longer in her own bed by herself. She doesn't come sleep with me until after Derek goes to work. Tonight I was tucking her in and reading her a book. I always tell her night night don't let the bed bugs bite. Tonight she said it to me first "night night don't let the bed bite the bugs!"

Welcome Hannah & Maci can't see

Hannah Ellen was born 5/28/09 8 pounds 3 ounces and 20 1/2 inches. She started out sleeping for the first 2 weeks of life. Then she progressed to have a bit of colic. She has been driving us crazy for the last couple weeks. BUT she smiled at me a real smile yesterday for the first time. She has really cute fat cheeks & dimples! It makes the long crying spells worth it. The last couple days she has been doing a little better.

Maci went to the eye doctor last week. She can't see far away. She has a follow up appointment to numb her eye and get a real reading. I'm going to be shopping for the 2 for 1 special for laser surgery for us both.

We have been spending the days doing what we want. Well Maci went to Jeanne's on Monday. She got a bad report at the end of the day because she threw a fit when she didn't get her way all day. I blame it on the lack of sleep and unroutine schedule. So we are napping this week at normal time. So far I think she is still spoiled.

Maci started taking a couple private swim lessons this last couple weeks. She loves it. Then Cali, Jeremy, Leah, Madeline & Stella took her to the "beach" and to play in the lake. She came home full of sand and tired. It must have been a success. Hannah and I stayed home. Hannah gets heat rash really easy so she has to be pampered.

We are planning another fun afternoon with Cali & Jeremy, but the big sister is sleeping like crazy. She has been asleep for over 2 hours.

So we are gearing up to be 3! She says she is excited for her baby sister to get here, however, not before her birthday. We told her she would have her birthday and then baby sister would be here. Well for a while I didn't think that was going to happen, but now who knows!

Just a few notes to myself mostly so I don't forget (that is actually why I started the blog!):

Maci loves to wear dresses. She did not get that from me. It is all her Aunt Chris. Also, she loves to do her nails. And scarily pink seems to be a favorite color. She does not get any of those traits from me.

Her imagination is going like crazy all the time. She reenacts all kinds of princess stories. She blames bad things on beast.

If something is torn up she blames it on the wicked step-sisters. My favorite is when Grandma Jane brought dress up dresses from our "work-out" friend at the hospital. The Tinkerbell dress strap broke after a couple minutes of having it on - she comes running around the corner distressed shouting "the wicked step-sisters tore up my dress!" We all were laughing - which by the way she didn't find funny. Thank goodness Grandma Calista was able to whip it back into shape! Only Grandma Calista has Tinkerbell thread color apparently!

She LOVES popcorn and a movie time. Since she has had to be an inside kid most of the year, she has been exposed to lots of movies. Her Aunt Chris also has a Disney movie obsession and gave most of her VHS collection to Maci. So she has plenty to choose from. We did have a tragic moment when we moved her VCR quit. Again Grandma Calista came to her rescue with a VCR she wasn't using. In it's first life I think it mostly recorded basketball, but I think technology phased it out! Good for Maci.

I love how she tries to get phrases right, but they are so not. For example, "Dad how you like that?" She is asking how do you think she looks.

She is drinking juice FINALLY. The last time she was sick I bought some juice boxes trying to sell any kind of liquid on her. Now she will drink all kinds of juice. I still don't know what her deal was with juice, but she really did not like it.

AND FRUIT we finally have adapted to most fruit. She has always liked grapes and apples. We have gradually progressed to strawberries. I think it was Aunt Mary's strawberry jam (I mean seriously who wouldn't like it). Tonight Aunt Amy brought her some strawberries she ate them! We couldn't get her to touch them last year. So now I have committed to make her some jam, since we ate it all on pancakes (aka pampakes to her).

That reminds me that her vocabulary mostly is scarily accurate and clear. It makes it really hard to pretend what she said is not what she said. She spent the day with her Grandpa Brad and Grandma Jane this weekend. We went on the yard tour and were on the front porch checking out the flowers plain as day she said "those damn flies." I was thinking surely she didn't just say that... And then grandma said well I believe she did. So I was giving her that is a bad word speech and she said papa told me that it was not a bad word. She spends most of the time telling him not to say that word so I am assuming he was tired of not being able to talk. He claims she won't let him say anything without reprimanding him. So we can't say shut-up, hiney, butt, or hell - but damn is fair game. I forgot to take up that matter with him before I left.

She still prefers to sleep with someone. She has no problems going to sleep on her own at daycare, but at home she thinks we need to snuggle! She will tell you she is spoiled. So now we start her in her own bed and depending on the night she comes into our room. It might be 3 hours or it might be 6. If we had more energy, I am sure the correct thing to do would be take her back to her own bed. I opt for my own selfish reasons to let her get in bed and go back to sleep. I know sleep is overrated.

I am sure this should have been a post itself including pictures, but I still haven't found my camera cord. She had her FIRST haircut 2 weeks ago. I have to admit I don't like it as well. We had never cut it so it was all different layers and really long. Now it is all shaped and mid back length. Of course I think she is still cute, but I think I was attached to the long hair. I was just preparing for summer.

Every time she sees a cat in a book, on TV, or in real life. Her comment "I am allergic to cats and mold" It cracks me up.

This is a sporadic unorganized post but as I said it is mostly for myself to remember all her quirks at almost 3!

Oh I almost forgot my favorite reason for having her. She keeps her dad in check. She doesn't let him wear his shoes in the house, makes him pick up his socks, and has him wrapped around her little finger. He is such a sucker for her. They are best buddies if you ask her. (boys are buddies - girls are best friends)

Big Day

As we all know Maci spends most of her winter time exposed to very few public places. She doesn't get to do much. So now that we are letting her out she tries to talk me into going anywhere every day. So yesterday was a HUGE day for her. I had a doctor appointment late afternoon in Columbia. Derek normally comes home and gets her, however, he has a job in St. Louis he had to visit. So he couldn't make it back to get her in time. Maci got to go to the doctor with me. Another concept she had lots of questions about. Normally she is the one going to the doctor. She asked 4 billion questions.

After the doctor visit, we went to the library. I have been bribing or what I think most parents call the award system her with a trip to the library. She had to be good at home and at Jeanne's all week and she could go to the library. Originally I was thinking the library in Macon for a preschooler reading night. However, we went to the Columbia library. She had a fabulous time! I think I might have messed up though, because now she is going to want to go to that library every time. The Columbia library has all kinds of puzzle, doll houses, special kid chairs, & a kitchen. She had a hard time leaving all that stuff to pick out a couple books to take home. AND then to pick out a couple books was difficult, because there were SO many to choose from. I think they need a wall display of books at the kids level and rotate the books in that display. Then the kids wouldn't have SO many to choose from on the shelves. She kept gravitating to the books at her level on the end of the isles that were on display. And for some reason they were all cat books. She would then comment I'm allergic to cats I don't want to read that book. I kept cracking up. I tried to explain she wasn't allergic to cats in the books, but it was a lost cause!

After the library mind you she didn't want to leave and we had been there for almost 2 hours, we met her dad for supper. Derek has been wanting to take her to the Japanese hibachi grill place. He thought she would love all the activity and they serve her favorites in food - shrimp, noodles, rice and vegetables. She did really good - I thought she might get intimidated by all the attention she was getting from the chef. She did not like the BIG huge fire in the beginning, but all the cooking was great entertainment. Her dad told her the big fire was like when mommy cooked a comment that made her laugh (I however didn't find it as funny). She ate with chopsticks (or bread sticks she kept calling them) and did really good with them. Derek and I were impressed. I think I was impressed that she never gave up using them. Of course they fixed them up to stay together for her. She ate all her noodles, shrimp, & vegetables with her chopsticks. The rice was a bit hard for her to get, but seriously it is hard for anyone.

After all that I was worn OUT! So we headed home she wanted to go shopping, but I was NOT doing it. I told her all the shopping I was going to do last night would be online, and I was even too tired for that!

Been a long time...

I noticed it has been a long time since we posted. Maci had a great Easter today. She got lots of stuff. The Easter Bunny did bring her flashcards that she has played with all afternoon. She likes to have me quiz her and then her quiz me. The flashcards cover all kinds of things I didn't think she would know yet, but I guess she picks up on more than I realize. I thought the ones that would trick her would be the beginning sounds - which one in the picture starts with the same sound. Or the which one in the picture is different. I thought she would struggle with those things, but I struggle more than she does! I sometimes try to make it harder than it is...

Needless to say she got LOTS of candy. And Uncle Dan always comes through with the toys that parents would never buy....silly string who buys that for an almost 3 year old? She also has about every bubble toy they make and then some. So I hope a couple of these days we have off will be nice outside. The Easter Bunny left a basketball for her and she can't wait to play with it. We told her if the weather was not nice we would let her play with it in the garage, but she doesn't think that will be the same.

She still really likes to write in notebooks (or checkbook as she calls it). She has been writing in her little books the Easter Bunny brought all day. I can't believe how long that can entertain her.

We did take Grandma Calista with us to have lunch for Daniel's birthday. Obviously Grandma is feeling better and was able to wear her shoes for more than 20 minutes. The last time I had been to visit she had put her shoes on for the first time and had them on for 20 minutes, but today she had them on for a couple hours! After lunch Maci made Grandma Jane take her downstairs to watch a movie. Then we headed home - Maci fell asleep about the end of the gravel road. She took a big nap today.

I want that...

So today Maci was watching icarly and a commercial for polly pockets came on:
Maci: "I want that, I am going to buy it"
Me: "really how are you going to do that?"
Maci: "I am going to drive your car to the store and buy it. You can go with me and ride in the back."
Me: "where are you going to get the money to buy it?"
Maci: "Papa gave me some money"

She has an answer for everything doesn't she.

No More Bath Time Fights!

When we started the bath time it was always a fight to get her out of the tub. The water would be freezing and she would still want to play. And really we don't have many bath toys, so you would think if you were cold you would get out. Now we don't have to fight with her anymore. Her dad and her negotiated the end of bath time. Now when her fingers are wrinkly it is time to get out. When she sees her fingers are wrinkly she gets out.

Rationalization and evidence seem to get her to agree with us.

Baby Sister

Tonight Maci was discussing her baby sister. She started with "when my baby sister gets here she is going to dance with me" So I told her "your sister won't be able to dance for a while." She says "that's right I can hear her say goo goo ga ga right now." She then proceeded to tell me she was going to help her sister up when she fell out of my tummy. Interesting...

YIPPEE!

Last night Maci decided that she was going to bed by herself. She wanted me to come tuck her in and turn on her lamp, but then she was going to sleep alone. She has been sleeping in her own bed, but usually one of us has to lay down with her until she falls asleep. AND she really likes her dad to do this job, because he falls asleep too! She went to bed on her own at 8 p.m. I told her I would be in the living room if she needed me. It took her about 15 minutes to be out - I know I couldn't not keep checking on her. I just couldn't believe that she was going to do it all by herself. She woke up about 9 p.m. for a second (I think I might have over blanketed her because she was all sweaty), and then right back asleep. She didn't get up until 6:30 a.m. However, she proceeded to get in my bed while I was getting ready and fell back asleep.

Irritated

Why do all stores assume that people are not tall? I am feeling the strain of my pants and I can't find pants that are long enough. AND might I add I am cheap. I don't want to pay Gap prices. However, I will keep looking. I did find a nice tummy band. It look like everyone needs one of them. It is a big elastic band that allows you to wear your pants for longer with no need to button them. I know several people that could use that say on Thanksgiving!

First Time Through the Drive Thru...

...at the bank. Of course we have been through the drive thru at various fast food chains, but today was her first trip through the bank. For various reasons she hasn't been with me most days I go to the bank. Mostly I don't go to the bank very often. We have direct deposit and online banking so really I never do actually hold on to my money. Today I forgot to drop the school deposit before I picked her up, so we had to run it through. She had to ask why are there banks? Why do they keep your money? Do they pay your bills? How does the microphone work? (Of course the teller increased the confusion on this questions. The teller was talking away to me, but forgot to turn on the microphone. So Maci could not understand what was going on - I kept saying I can't hear you. The lady keeps talking. You get the picture) Who goes to the bank? Where does the money go? The questions did not stop until we went past the school and she saw a school bus. "Mommy mommy it is a school bus!!!"

When I get bigger...

Maci lately has been saying when I get bigger I get to...

There is wide variety of things, such as,
...I am going to play basketball.
...I am going to get a skateboard.
...my dad is going to take me deer hunting.

So today on the way to Jeanne's we passed the library and the skate park. Every day she ask about Grandma's hospital, the library, the municipal building, and for some odd reason the Mason building. I think it is all the brick buildings on the way to daycare. When we passed the skate park she stated "when I get bigger I am going to bring my skateboard to the skate park."

So I wonder what age she thinks is bigger?

70 degrees & water main break = LUCKY!

It quite possibly will be the last day we could spend outside for a while. AND it so happened the fiber optics people cut the main water line in Atlanta. It is the only time that I couldn't drink or pee and was excited. So school was let out early, I did my Valentine's Day shopping for Maci, and headed to get her from daycare. We came home put away the shopping stuff (although it was hard to leave the new Valentine cards at home), and headed to the park. We have the same it is not just your park conversation going down the hill to the park. I don't think she believes me because the 3 times we have been to the park there is only us there. Or we might have one straggler stop in and head out. Maci is probably trying to figure out why I tell her she has to share the park when obviously there is no one there. Maci did discover she can access all the areas of the jungle gym with the slides. She even climbed up to the lookout tower several times. Although she was pretending it was a shower and the telescope was the shower head. She would climb up there pretend to wash her hair and sing at the top of her lungs. Maybe it is a good thing we are the only ones at the park.

Tonight we are going to work on our Valentine's Day cards. We have the cookie snacks cooking. Who knew Valentine's Day was such a big deal at daycare?

Tomorrow night her friend Cara (PAT) comes to visit. She is excited to see her. I think we might be doing a testing visit. So we will see what we are falling short at doing so I can obsess about it. Last time the only thing we had to work on was lacing beads. AND the bad parent I am - I didn't find the lacing beads. So I guess we will fail that again...

First day at the Park

We had our first day at "Maci's Park" - I spent 1/2 the walk on the way telling her it was not just her park. It was a little breezy so we didn't get to stay as long as she would have liked, but we managed to play on all the equipment. Her favorite is the big slide. I was a little nervous for her on the steps, so I would help her up the steps. Then before I could get to the other end she was giggling up a storm -saying "I beat you I beat you!" (I will post photos after I find the camera cord).

Also, this weekend her dad brought home her bike from the other house. She rode that in the driveway Saturday evening. She is getting so good at the peddling. She had been too short to peddle both sides. She hasn't mastered peddling back up the incline on the driveway.

Hopefully tonight it will be nice enough for her to get a few outside minutes. It might rain though...

Friday, 60 degrees, 1/2 day of school = Happiness!

Last night we went by to see Grandma Dunham. Maci is feeling good and Grandma didn't have a contagious illness, so we took the opportunity to visit. Maci doesn't get to do much visiting in the winter. Maci's grandma Jane keeps me paranoid that we are going to catch something. I get weekly reports - did you know there are 35 cases of influenza in Columbia? It is only a matter of time till it is in our area. I don't think it helps that I work at a school either. The parents call in for the sick kids and the nurse has to report to the health department the different illnesses we have here. So, I give the parents the 3rd degree. I know they are thinking my kid is sick why is she asking so many questions. I think they think I am judging their parenting skills. I am not - I just want to know for the nurse and my own paranoid self. Anyway moving on...

I had told Maci we were going to visit Grandma Calista. She responded "she has lots of good books there." And if you have been by Grandma Calista's she does have lots of good books for the old and the young. She enjoyed playing with all the toys and Uncle Paul. They did argue for a bit about who could have which truck, but I think they worked it out. Aunt Amy was looking a bit tired. I told her some nights we struggle to make it to a normal bedtime. I tried to convince Maci the other night we should take our bath early and go to bed. It was 6:30 p.m. It didn't work. I thought it would be perfectly appropriate if Aunt Amy went to bed at 6:30 why not?

Maci is really enjoying the new room. She has spent hours in there playing independently. She cooks, cleans, and plays baby dolls. After a long quiet time, I realize wow she is still in there playing. Do I go look or do I just enjoy the peace? If I go look, she will come out. If I don't, she could be painting her room. What is a parent to do?

Uncle Buck Sally Grover

She has extended the baby name. I don't know how her mind comes up with these things!

So how does 1/2 a gallon of puke come out of a 2 year old? Seriously her stomach can not have that much in it. Last night I know at least that much came out of her, because I filled up 1/2 of an ice cream bucket with pancake puke. She just begged and begged me to fix her pancakes all day. I finally gave in for her about 7 p.m. In the middle of Monk we were doing our breathing treatment, and she filled her mask with puke. And then the bucket and my shirt. I am sure everyone would have loved to see how I got us to the shower without dropping it onto the carpet. I wished I would have covered a path to the bathroom, but I didn't.

I think she is finally understanding her tummy hurts different than hungry now. Yesterday she kept saying I NEED TO TAKE A SHOWER. Every time she threw up we threw her in the shower to clean it off. So I think she is figuring it out.

I have been starving her today and only feeding her saltines and pedialyte. She keeps telling me she needs cheese. I can't eat anything or she wants it and starts crying. So I am on her same diet. She did get a pedialyte freezer pop. I was hoping she would feel like it was something substantial. Guess not because she wanted cheese after it.

She is surprising active everyday, but every night we puke. So I don't know if she is better or not. Of course she is still on steroids so maybe those are keeping her active. We will see. Meanwhile I am staying away from others to keep our germs at home.

Sally Grover

Maci has named her sister. She thinks we should call her Sally Grover. At first it was just Grover, but then she decided she needed a second name.

Warning: Don't read while eating!

Yesterday I was called to get Maci early from daycare. She was projectile vomiting. Jeanne continued to tell me that Maci didn't eat much the whole day. I thought she said that Maci hadn't eaten anything all day, but I am sure she had peas, hamburger, and seaweed for lunch. She kept complaining her tummy hurts and she needed to eat something. I don't think she knew the difference between hungry and upset. I am not use to dealing with puking sick kid, I only know snotty asthma kid. (And I don't claim to be too good at that one)

I had board meeting so I left her with her dad. When I returned late they were both asleep on the couch. He said she was really clingy, but drank lots of special juice (pedialite) and water. She seems much better today - still clingy. It makes it challenging to get anything done!

I am tired of titling my post sick or sick again or going to the doctor or doctor visit. BUT we were off the steriods for a week and now the monster is coming back out. I knew with all the activity with the family we would be getting some kind of illness. The visitation was a great time for her (or as she thinks the night of the family picture and I got to wear a pretty dress), but that many people equals lots of germs. So we are back on steriods, but the night went better than expected last night. Her cough has mostly subsided and the runny nose is gone. We are just left with the asthma. She does still have a bird voice, but it is getting better.

Also, we finally told her she was going to be a big sister. She doesn't understand the concept at all. She thinks the her sister is at the hospital and we are waiting to pick her up. She says she is excited, we will see once she has to share the spotlight.

Doctor Visit

So we made the trip. Maci had a good day. We saw the other doctor that alternates with Dr. Noyes. He said we were doing good. He suggested adding an additional steriod inhaler to her when she is getting sick. It is the same one she is getting daily, but it would increase the dose. I am discouraged, because we are really just going to have to continue on this path. He mentioned a new drug out for FDA approval that is going to be available for 4 year olds. She would benefit from it. So I guess a couple more years of ups and downs for us. If only the sickness progressed the same each time, it would make our lives easier. Instead it is a big guessing game. I sometime wonder how well we are guessing.

On a happy note Barnes & Noble is right around the corner from the doctor so we usually go get a book after the appointment. (remember she is all pumped up on steriods) She is running from book to book going MOM LOOK AT THIS ONE AND THIS ONE AND THIS ONE. We read a few and then proceeded to the DVD's because they were on sale. She got a few DVD's for her car ride home. Another Seasame Street alphabet movie that had Cookie Monster on the front. It was a MUST have. And Eloise at the Plaza with Julie Andrews. We watched it last night. She liked them both. She insisted on Cookie Monster this morning on the way to daycare.

We will see how the day back with others goes ... I left her instructions no cheek pinching or being mean. The steriods really make her aggressive. She was so excited to see the first other kid arrive. I think she was tired of us adults!

On the web again!

Today the internet was installed at home. We are back in touch with the world. Maci's babysitter was joking the other day that if the economy was to get too bad she was cutting out food before she would cancel the internet.

Maci has been spending the week with a different person each day. Monday she went to daycare but was starting to get sick. Tuesday Aunt Amy was available to come over and stay with Maci. Derek was hoping that in one day Aunt Amy would teach Maci to play twinkle twinkle little star on her keyboard. So far she hasn't been able to play it for us! Later that night Grandma Jane came over and was saying something to Maci and she told her she was just like Aunt Amy! Grandma Jane thought that was funny stuff. Wednesday her cousin Amanda volunteered to stay with her. I think it was a good day. She seemed very happy and hugged her goodbye. I was afraid she might not be familiar enough, but of course I should have known Amanda would be a great entertainer! Amanda reported they read lots of books, and Maci read books to her too.

Maci is on the oral steroids, but her mood has been pretty good considering. Today is the start of the reducing of it. We go to the pulmonologist tomorrow. I am thinking it will be good to see him in the middle of one of our episodes. Every other time he sees her she is doing good. He will get to witness her in action.

This is our first week that we were supposed to be back in the swing of work, but the illness is making it extra tiring! Good thing her Grandma Jane comes and hangs out with her at night. Last night Derek and I thought we could just disappear and she would be perfectly content with her Grandma Jane. As soon as Grandma got here she wanted her to come to her room and get in bed together. BUT I know why she likes her so much better. Grandma Jane does everything Maci wants to do AND her mother will not get up in the middle of the night and rock her in the rocking chair. I am so mean.