Well, we just got back from a short trip! We went down to Birmingham and stayed with Ryan and Leah. Mike's parents went, too. Partly it was just a visit because it's a holiday weekend trip and partly it was so I could be measured for my bridesmaid dress. Yeah. That part was a bust because yesterday it snowed a quarter of an inch and that shut down the entire city of Birmingham. ::eyeroll:: Fortunately, the store we tried to go to is not the only store that carries that line. Someone told Lindsay that that was the case--I think the store in Birmingham is the only one around that carries the full line but there are 3 places here that have at least some of the dresses so I'm going to make some calls. Isn't it a pretty dress? I'm actually looking forward to wearing it. And, for anyone interested, it's going to be the fiesta/pink color.

Although Mike and I had a bzillion things to get done this weekend and that ridiculous store closing over some barely wet streets messed up the main reason we drove 4 hours, we had a good time. Tyler and Autumn got to see snow for the first time together. I got a "flawless performance" singing Move Along (All American Rejects) for Rock Band. And, we got to have some Panera and Taco Casa. Mmmmmm.


Friday, the second in command boss cat of the neighborhood came to visit. His name is Moon and Molly hates him. They stared at each other for a while.


Saturday, Autumn got to wear her bear outfit. It is soooo soft that I wish I had one! She looks like she's got some kind of horrible bjj move on that giraffe.


What...is this crazy stuff? Why are these weird people so happy about it?


Pat, pat, pat.


I wish we had gone out earlier when there was more on the ground and it was still falling. In mild defense of the people who were freaking out about the .25 inch of snow, it was going to melt and then refreeze which actually does really suck. It didn't freeze early enough in the day to cause any problems. Here's Tyler wondering why he's being forced out of his warm, warm house.


Autumn was totally not fazed by the cold but poor Tyler thought he was dying. :P


We have one of Mike, Autumn, and me, but it is on Mike's dad's camera. So is the one of Leah, Ryan, and Tyler. :(


This is completely random but it's Mike's dad. He actually pretty much hates animals but, of course, they love him.


I don't know why, but Ryan's cat on the cable box tickles me to death. She just hung out there while we were making all kinds of rock band noises!


And that's all for now! I'm gonna go catch up with the 8,437 blogs and lj posts I need to read. :P

By the way, I'm thinking about getting highlights and I am definitely getting a trim/restyle of my bangs as well as getting rid of the longest layer, the ends are a little too thinned out for my taste. Leaving the length, though, so you fans of long hair, don't panic. My mom wants me to go back to the platinum streak(s). I kind of want a bright red streak(s) but...high maintenance. I also thought about getting the tips done in red, platinum...something. Comments? Suggestions? good hair websites?

We had a busy day. Mostly shopping for grocery, gifts, and clothes! Fun! Mike's mom asked me if I had a suit because The Limited was having a sale. I don't so today she got me my very first real suit! It's a skirt and jacket and actually looks really good. I need to have the sleeves hemmed a bit and the skirt shortened but as soon as I do, I'll have to post a pic. I look like a grownup in it! :P She also got me a red version of this shirt. I'd never heard of the brand/designer but apparently "the L's" (Lindsay, Lauren, and Leah--and Mike's mom is a Lainey so I'm the odd S out) all wear it. It's very soft and comfy so it looks like something I'll wear a lot. Mike's mom totally spoils us all. Between her taking care of my clothes and my mom taking care of my hair (highlights next week!), I'll be back to my old self shortly!

Miss Autumn had a terrible hair day. lol. After multiple brushings and an application of the Chi oil, it was a lost cause so she rocked the skull cap today:









Couple of days ago. She sleeps crazy. Usually spread eagled or something similar:




Liz (gah! More L's!) got a baby Yorkie! I am soooo getting one someday. It was a rescue because the mom wasn't taking care of it so Elizabeth is bottle feeding him.

Eulogy for a Swing

Dear friends and family, we are gathered here today in celebration of the life of the Starlight Baby Swing.

The Swing came into our lives in mid-April of last year in preparation for the coming baby Autumn and left us officially on January 12, 2007 at the age of approximately nine months, almost 8 months to the day of Autumn's birth. The Swing served us well, enduring stoically when Autumn hated it; entertaining without cease when she loved it; tolerating patiently when Autumn would pull on the mobile, trying desperately to put that teddy bear in her mouth.

While this is the end of an era, friends, this is not the end. We say goodbye to the days when Autumn would lay back, cradled in the warmth and comfort of the papasan seat. This is our sadness and our joy...the baby monkey grows up, never to be a newborn again. But this is not the end of the Starlight Baby Swing. We will see it again despite its passage from the living room to the attic. It will have another life, entertaining and comforting another baby...perhaps here but perhaps elsewhere.

Please join us in a word of prayer as we say, "see you again, Starlight Baby Swing."

I could totally be productive right now but I am not. It's been a good, productive morning so far and Autumn is asleep so I think I'm going to be a bum and drink my yummy chai that I made from scratch and do nothing. Including NOT doing my photo post. I'm still not over that. T_T

I'm not looking forward to teaching today. A. it is depressing and b. Wednesdays are usually crazy kid days and slow adult days. We'll see. There's a new person (teen) in the adult class that I may have to injure if we are around that long. So far I have just fuzzy eyeballed him because I can't figure out if he's an ass or if he's socially awkward. I won't destroy him until I decide which one it is. I know one thing, today we will be working on techniques that are ideal if you are shorter than your partner. Monday it was tall people crap that I have to modify or kick knees out in order to do. Bwahahahahaha! ::evil grin::

So. Autumn is 7 3/4 months and I used a conditioning/detangling product in her hair this morning. It was insane. On Parenthackers they had all these comments under a post about tangles in kids' hair and how they make their kids keep their hair short. Yes. They have obviously never encountered Autumn Hair. If anything touches it, it panics and clumps together for safety. Or something.

This is Epic Bedhead. -ers, try to top this.

what timing...

Wow, almost exactly 12 hours after my last post, we are home from the ER. She was admitted fairly quickly and, apparently, right before a rush. Autumn was extremely dehydrated by the time we got the iv into her and it appears that she managed to develop bronchitis pretty much overnight.

IT WAS SO SAD.

Autumn's skin was papery, her little drool rash was fire red, and it took them THREE TRIES to find a vein for taking blood and for inserting the IV. They tapped around her feet first...nothing. Found a vein in her right elbow but, after inserting the needle, lost it. Same thing in her right wrist. They didn't want to do the left hand because she prefers sucking that thumb but they were able to get the needle in. Her blood was flowing so slowly that they literally had to drip her blood from the thing that they insert to start the IV into tiny vials.

Anyway, 11 hours condensed into a short story, here are the reasons we were there so long:
1. After an hour of IV fluids, her heart rate and fever were still up and no wet diaper (she had not had one in about 24 hours by this point).
2. After another hour of fluids, no wet diaper and her fever spiked from 100-101 to over 103. Heart rate still up.
3. More fluids, a slightly wet diaper, motrin AND tylenol later, still a high heart rate so they wanted her to nurse to see if that would lower it.
4. More fluids, no fever, lowered heart rate, and a nursing session later, we got to go home.

I think that's how it went, at least. It is all running together. But, Autumn is improved. She's squishably soft again and her temp is under control. And, I have some pedialyte and a syringe to use if necessary so we can avoid this in the future. Please continue to keep her in your prayers because she's still not eating much and she's very hoarse and phlegmy. I am supposed to make an appointment for Friday so I will be able to get an update on how she's doing.

And, a special thank you to Mike's parents who came out and spent some A LOT of time with us, brought us food, and got us the motrin and pedialyte we needed. My mom would have come but I told her at five o'clock that we'd be leaving soon and it wouldn't be worth the drive. ::eyeroll::

Sigh. I am ready to have my happy monkey back.

Hey, guys, please be sure to say a prayer for me and Miss Autumn. We are headed to the children's hospital ER because she's really dehydrated. Wah! My first ER trip as a mommy!

Sicky baby day 3. Vomiting, fever, coughs and whimpers oh my! I am going to call the doctor in the morning if she still has a fever. I can't really tell, too, if her ear-pulling is just what she does from time to time or it her ear is hurting.

Tomorrow aikido starts up again and boot camp on Thursday. I'm probably going to just do the adult class because of Autumn. I might have skipped out altogether but can't since we are going to do Frank's 3rd kyu demo. It's not so much over-protective mom stuff as I just hate to ask people to carry a sick, whimpering baby for 4 hours and she refuses to eat from a bottle or sippy cup so I need to hang around and feed her so she doesn't dehydrate what with all the blarging she's been doing. Ah, well. Seven and a half months and this is our first sick experience other than the Night o' Barfing. Can't get much better than that.

I did an yesterday so it's time to Christmas photo dump yay! By the way, I've locked some of my old photo posts, mainly because I don't want a bzillion Autumn pics floating around.

Please forgive my uninspired captions. My head is hurting a bit.



Christmas Eve at Outback. We went to the Christmas Eve service at Mike's parents church. It's funny, we haven't been to a traditional church in ages and, I have to say, it was very...quiet. LOL. Oh, and Autumn doesn't actually take a pacifier. She just chews it and then sucks her thumb for comfort.


Happy mama and baby pre-sicky.


Haha. Baby robe! This is actually the day after Christmas as evidenced by the edge of what is a bounteous pile of gifts.

Christmas!

Good morning, Miss Molly, you're looking quite brown today!


We put her in the hat and bib Michelle sent. They are so cute that she wore them for 3 days. And, Autumn is much more interested in the tree than her gift.


Mike opening his stocking. I got him a couple of books in the Dragonriders of Pern series.


Autumn's first gift!


A build a bear with her heartbeat in it! I had a sound thingie that Liz got me and I made the recording at the last ultrasound before she was induced.


But she's much more interested in the crinkly noises that the bag of hershey kisses makes. I get Mike a new bag of kisses every year. this year: cordial cherry creme kisses.


My Mike haul. He really gets the best stuff for me.


We took her over to Mike's parents' in her Christmas jammies.


Santa baby!


Playing my new game and waiting on Ryan and Leah to arrive.


They make it in...Autumn and Tyler observing one another.


Christmas morning at Mike's parents' post camera on fire.


Um, this one appears to be the day after Christmas when we opened sibling gifts. As evidenced by 1. the new outfit and 2. the baby chair that my mom got her. I just noticed as I was previewing. lol.


The best hat Evar.


Brad, Tyler, and the rapidly growing Pile. Yes, it needs a capital letter. :P




Back at my house for dinner. This is my china! Like my purple charger? Sooo cool. Mike's mom found them for me. This is out of order, I realized on the preview. :) Valerie set out the silverware backwards. :P I didn't say anything.




My mom crocheted this--so STINKING CUTE. She looks like a Jedi.






Madeleine and Autumn the day after Christmas--Autumn looks soooooo much like my baby pictures here.

And that's it!