Planning, Preparing and Packing!

The blog title says it all! We are getting ready to leave for our vacation tomorrow. We are taking a cruise to Bermuda. We are so excited because neither one of us have been on a cruise. It looks like from the picture that I am packing AnnaKate but she is staying home. I was a "big talker" about leaving her when we planned this trip. But now I am getting a little nervous. I am not worried about how she will be cared for (fabulous grandparents) but about how I will be. I know I am going to miss her so much. I hope I am able to enjoy my free time and refresh for the upcoming school year.

Today I am going to finish packing. It is quite an undertaking to pack for 8 days for me and also pack for AnnaKate. (Remember the over weight suitase!)Just in case, we have updated our wills and written temporary guardianship and medical consent for the grandparents. I have gone to Barnes & Noble to get the book The Thirteenth Tale (recommended by Monogram Momma. I am so excited about actually reading a book that is not about child rearing or feeding!

So, I will not be blogging for a while. I promise to have some great pictures and stories to tell when I return!

Let Your Friends Do the Blogging

You need to check out two of my friend's blogs.

Lori blogged about Melissa's wedding that we attended on Saturday. It was beautiful! Check out the pictures and see if you can find me!

Cassie blogged about a play date that we had today. The kids had a great time...and the adults did too. There is a precious video of AnnaKate pushing Taylor in the wagon.

What fun things have your friends blogged about lately?

ZZZZZZZ.......Sleep Study

Well, I am glad that I did not Google sleep studies before we went last night. It was something else!!

We arrived at the hospital at around 7:45pm. It took the very sweet tech about 1 and a half hours to hook AnnaKate up. AnnaKate was not helping very much---I think she ripped one wire off 6 times. She was so mad that we were holding her down and gluing stuff all over her. I would hate to have that job! Just as soon as she would get everything in place AnnaKate would pull one thing off. We had to end up taping socks to her hands. (As you can imagine this did not go over well with Miss Priss!) They had to put a silly cap on her head to keep all of the wires in place. I never would have imagined so many wires and so much tape. AnnaKate finally submitted to the torture at about 9:30pm...which was about 2 and half hours after her bedtime. My bed was right beside AnnaKate's. I envisioned that we would just go to sleep and they would monitor her... WRONG. They were in and out all night, AnnaKate would wake up and thrash about and pull wires off and did I mention that I was in a bed that mechanically repositioned every time you moved. It was a very interesting night! At about 5:00am, the tech gave me the choice of redoing some wires or going home. I was out of there as fast as I could! All and all I think I got about 2 hours of sleep. It was not my first choice of procedures to do again but AnnaKate is probably not permanently scarred and we will soon have data to make our decision about the tonsils. I am glad that it is over. I think if we have to do another one maybe I will let Billy go!!

Old Friends!

I had the pleasure of being let in on a friendship today between AnnaKate and Archie. You can read about it in Archie's Room. If you have never followed the link on the right side of my page to Archie's Blog, Archie's Room, you are certainly missing out. Anne is a gifted writer and all of her blogs are either entertaining or moving. Check it out!

Doctors, Doctors, Doctors...Oh My!

This week has been filled with doctors visits. AnnaKate got her 3rd set of tubes on Tuesday and did great. I always worry about anesthesia due to the concerns with RTS and anesthesia. Hopefully these tubes will last a year. Today we went to the opthamologist. This kind of had me a little nervous. We went last summer and mostly got a clean bill of health...a little tosis (droopy eye lid) and nystagmis. I was prepared for some other issues to pop up due to RTS but actually everything had improved and we don't have to go back for a year!! Yippee! On Sunday night AnnaKate will go for a sleep study. Hopefully this will give us some data to work with to make a decision about removing her tonsils. If she is not having any sleep issues then we will feel comfortable waiting until she is older. I am still waiting to hear what the current protocol is regarding correcting AnnaKate's thumbs. Some say to fix them now others say to what until she stops growing. They are completely functional the way they are and a big surgery scares me! :)

We are also embarking on a new plan for AnnaKate's eating. I have been saying for months that we are having some issues. I could not figure out if they were regular 2 year old feeding issues or issues related to RTS. AnnaKate is our only child so I don't have any idea what a 2 year old should be like. I think we are seeing a combination of RTS textural issues, 2 year old stubborn issues and a just plain picky eater. We have a great speech therapist (I am not just saying that because she reads this blog...she really is great!) who is going to help us develop a plan. I also ordered Cheri's food chaining book. I am really excited about learning more about this and think that it is so cool that she is Alex's therapist. So if anyone has any suggestions, please send them my way. I am up for trying anything..almost!!

Lazy Days of Summer---HIJACKED

Whenever I think of summer, I think of totally fabulous lazy days! I wonder why I think of this?? I don't think I have had one of those summers since I was 10 and I watched way to many episodes of "The Love Boat". I really thought that this summer was going to be that summer. I was going to sew for AnnaKate, clean out closets, catch up on scrapbooking and visit the Pickens Flea Market each Wednesday. I was also going to have lazy time in the backyard with AnnaKate in the baby pool, go out to lunch, have playdates with AnnaKate's friends and even read a good book. Hmmm....none of these things have happened. I feel that my "lazy" summer has been hijacked!! But I guess, I am the only one to blame. I way overfill my calendar and create things to do when I find a void...and you know what-I like it that way! So I guess I need to rethink my view of summer and pack away the ideas of having too much time on my hands. Crazy hectic days filled with errands, trips to visit fabulous friends, vacations with family, craft projects left unfinished and closets way too overfilled-now that's summer!

What will you not do this summer?

Fourth of July in the Mountains

We had a great Fourth of July weekend in the mountains. We joined my parents and grandparents for a delightful weekend. AnnaKate and my grandfather just adore each other. She can be in the grumpiest mood and he can make her laugh. They loved playing together. We also enjoyed the Lake Lure fireworks and taking some long walks.
Family time on the porch.


Billy took AnnaKate for a short hike. She looks like she is really excited!!



I guess the hike really wore her out!!!


Enjoying some daddy-daughter time in the hammock.


"Kinney", AK's great grandfather, and AnnaKate stacking up the stacking bugs. This is AnnaKate's new favorite thing to do.


We went for a walk and mom watched AnnaKate. She rocked her like this for about 10 minutes and then she was out. She sleeps so much better up there than at home. I wonder why? She took a few hour naps each day--much different than her 45 minute nap at home.



Of course, taking some time to read.


Tisket, a tasket, AnnaKate in a basket!!

Bookworm

As I have mentioned before, AnnaKate loves books! She devours them (literally in some cases)! She sits in her room and pulls them off the shelf and looks through as many as she can. She started about 6 months ago making this whining sound when she reads. She is a slightly whiny child so I did not think much about it. :) But after while I realized that she knows you are supposed to "talk" when you look at books. It is hard to catch her reading because every time I turn the camera on she stops. I caught her today reading my Chez Ami catalog...a girl after my own heart!! The squeal in the middle must have been where she saw a cute outfit that she wanted! HA



We are off to the mountains for the Fourth of July. I hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend!