If It's Not One Thing...

Okay, so with me and Papa working- if something else is going on, it is darn near impossible to get every day things done. FOr instance, on Friday- Papa's Uncle Tim- will be retiring from the Marines. It's a big to-do because he is a 2-star General and they are having a thing at MCRD. All of Papa's family is down here and in addition to working AM and PM hours, we are spending time with the family. One of the many advantages of this is that we don't have to make dinner too many nights. HA! I will post pictures when I borrow the picture downloader thingy from my brother.

When MP was first born we thought she looked like the baby squid in Men in Black. Here is a comparison.

Loafey Update: aside from the fact that my crazy doo has stretched out skin (from her swollen head) under her chin- she looks like a mini Mastiff now, she is 100% back to the same way she was. With the exception of freedom my dad gave her- we figure now, what could POSSIBLY hurt her?

Also, I will see you guys on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Solids

I have vowed, that since I NEVER get to see anyone, that I will keep up with my blog, hence the 4 in the morning thing. These are MP's first rice cereal meal. MP has turned four months and being as advanced as she is, we decided to try her slowly eating with a spoon at three. It's possibly one of the most fun things I have done with her. She gets it all over the place and there is something satisfying about feeding a toothless baby with a small, rubber tipped spoon. As of yesterday, she completed her first rice cereal and sweet potato meal. Rice cereal wasn't cutting it for her, so I add a small dollop of 1st foods- this week it's sweet potato. Another reason why we like it is because it's two less formula meals a day- and that will stretch our budget a bit more.

Update & The Week...

So sorry I didn't get back to anybody during our weekend at the Magical Kingdom! I left my phone everywhere. As you know it was Papa's 30th birthday. With our money crunch as of late- he didn't think we would be able to do ANYTHING for his birthday- much less spend the weekend in Disneyland. Well, with the help of friends with passes, a little saving by me, and good ole Auntie Emily in Anaheim- we managed to have a fun- little money spent- weekend. MP, in her usual fashion had a blast except on Monday before we went to work, she was looking at us expectantly as if to say, "Well? What are we doing today?"
It was nice because Papa and I are going to both be working so much starting the next few weeks on weekends and during the week we aren't going to see much of each other as a family. But I am hopeful our money crunch will pass and we can begin to see each other more in the near future.

Now I am really scared...

The dog is now eating. I finally saw her on Friday and almost died seeing how GIGANTIC her head is. The swelling has come down and she is now barking.

The Dog Who Lived

Okay, so I have had the shittiest week I have ever had in a long time. Rather than whine about my woes, I thought I would give you a few uplifting moments from my terrible week. I heard once that God only gives you what you can handle. I found myself praying all week for miracles and I got them... so our lives are on to better things now. First of all, I just want to say -I love my brother. That's all I have to say about that. He is one of the people that helped us out this week. Another is about a little family I met in the X-Ray waiting room at Scripps Hospital. MP just got her jabs from Dr. De Freitas who found something "funny" about her hips. She pointed out to me that one was possibly bigger than the other and that we should check for Hip Displacia. Well, being a new mom- I freaked out. I internally freaked out because the Doc was a little concerned and she didn't say anything like, "Oh it's probably nothing..." or "nothing to worry about" what she actually said was, "Go get the X-Rays and we can move from there, whether it's with double diapering, a brace or an orthopedic surgeon." WHAT????????? All the other stuff I was freaking out about was nothing compared to thinking my little girl was going to go through something physically traumatic. I told Papa at work and he looked it up on the internet and found this:


and you know, as parents you fear the worst possible scenario... here is little MP at the dinner table- with a small crutch- at Christmas Dinner, and we have the little 1 pound turkey and everyone has three peas at the dinner table, and she raises her little goblt, "God Bless Us, Everyone..." But you get the picture. Anyway, in my worry and woe, she was asleep in the stroller and I am talking to Papa on the phone, and being worried and tense... a 12 year old girl sitting next to has a broken foot. She is intently and obviously listening to my conversation and starts STAGE whispering loudly to her father, "HEY... THAT BABY HAS HIP DYSPLACIA...HIP DYSPLACIA! Like MP had just won the Golden Ticket. I was slightly annoyed, and the girl asked me, "Your baby has Hip Dysplacia?" I told her, no, not quite yet- we were CHECKING for Hip Dysplacia... and luckily she got called in for her X-Ray. Her father, who had an aplogetic look on his face, totally bald and wearing white pants and a white linen shirt (not kidding at all) sat next to me. Normally, when a room is half empty and a complete stranger sits in your "magazine chair" you get a little irked. But not with this guy. He had a somewhat casual and calming demeanor about him. "We couldn't help but overhear that you are worried about daughter's Hip Dysplacia." I nodded. "My daughter had it- in the worst way and she turned out toally fine. He went on about double diapering, how it wasn't painful, how if it was detected early it was almost correctable in a few months and MP wouldn't know the difference... and how we should be more worried about her dating. By the time this man had finished talking to me, I was at ease and the world seemed brighter. His daughter came out with thaty silly Luna Lovegood smile and I knew it was going to be alright. Funny thing is, right before I talked to that man, I was praying in my head that I needed a sign that everything was going to be okay. And a minute or two later, that sign came. I didn't realize it until I told Papa about it later. Hmmmmm. I love that stuff. Well it turns out, there is nothing wrong with MP. She just has a goofy butt. Hey, who doesn't?

The other thing that happened, happened today. After a pile of stress in the week besides the illnesses, besides MP's fevers after innoculations, besides the toll of being a new mom with an infant and two part-time jobs, besides other stuff... Loafey (my half-deer/half-dog) feral animal, was bitten by a rattlesnake AGAIN. Now those of you who don't know the history of Loafey- let me give you an overview of the things she has eaten:
A drum key, a bottle of opened white-out, a box of thumb tacks, nails, rocks, mice, various bugs and butterflies, a habanero pepper, a lipstick, a chapstick and only the big man upstairs knows what else. Well, a few years ago - Loafey got bitten by a baby rattlesnake in the process of saving my dad who didn't hear the rattlesnake next to him. She got woozy, fell down- and an hour later my brother and dad took her to the animal ER. Well, they said that after an hour- there isn't much you can do for a dog that skinny and small- by the time Loafey got home- she was running around and jumping like nothing ever happened to her. At first, we were like- okay-okay- maybe the snake didn't bite her that hard and there wasn't that much venom. Well, fast-forward to a few days ago- when my dad finds Loafey once again bitten but this time, it's bad. Her head is so swollen you can't recognize her face. The snake bite is under her eye- she stops eating. She only gets up to ghet water, and by nightfall- there is blood coming out of her eyes and nose. My dad tries to make her comfortable- I cry my eyes out and he says he doesn't want me to see her. My dad is sad. There is blood in her dog dish. All they can do is wait. This morning, my mom had looked up on the internet that giving a dog bendryl will help ease any discomfort for her- after all she is about 13 years old. So, if she is still alive- he puts it out on her dish. He approaches her still, lifeless body and thinks it's time. A tail wags. Her head isn't as swollen- you can recgnize it's Loafey. She looks up. She laps up the benadryl. She runs over to the ice plants. She is moving around. And, as of about noon today- Loafey is almost back to herself again. What the heck?? Discuss.

Bear with me... and the Deathly Hallows SPOILERS

Hey everyone! MP got her 4 month shots today and I dunno about you, but shots always tucker me out. Add a bunch of financial burdens all coming at us at once, Papa's Birthday surprise (the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel this week) and a little scare we had about mini peaves and hip displacia... I have had a pretty trying day.

Let me start off by the beginning of this month when I went to the emergency room, "for NO reason." I got up at an unusual 3am to feed the baby and I fell down from being so dizzy. I couldn't shake the dizzy off and my blood pressure was really high. It felt like I drank a bottle of tequila and had just gone partying with Tom Dehl again. But, no such luck... at about 430 am, Papa, MP and I went to Grammy and Poppy's house where we dropped off MP, then went to Scripps Memorial where they stuck an IV in me, gave me a Cat Scan and proceeded to tell me that the reason I didn't feel good was because I was dizzy. By that time, I was nauseated as well. So I have vertigo. Oh, Papa had the flu when he took me to the ER too. A few days later, MP got the cough, it went away and then I got it full blown for a couple days. Oooh, I started Geppetto's again as well. So, bear with me until I get it all in order. We are also busy at work now getting ready for the buggers in September and Geppetto's summer stuff is happening in full blast.

I dunno about you, but being this busy- with a baby, having two part-time jobs with one car, and also being sick is not making me a happy camper these days. Ugh, off with this Muggle World!

Accio fifty-thousand dollars!
Accio second car!

DON'T READ PAST THIS LINE IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED DEATHLY HALLOWS- SPOLIER WARNING!

So anyway, the Deathly Hallows...

Loved it. I don't think I have ever been attached to so many characters and people in a world that doesn't really exist. First of all, JK Rowling didn't disappoint with her close to the series. After the first couple chapters and Hedwig gets it, I knew she meant business. It answered all my questions and it made a great book. I was also surprised at how she told Snape's story- I never would have guessed that he just plainly loved Lily.

Crying Points:
When Snape tells Dumbledore he always has loved Harry.
Dobby's funeral.
When Harry goes to face Voldemort and Sirius, Lily and James are there.
Dudley's bumbling love for Harry.

Scariest part:
Realizing something was wrong at the Lovegoods.
The woods with Harry and Ron and Hermione.

Coolest Gadget: Hermione's Bag

HOWEVER...
I have a complain to make. The book was too short. If Order of the Pheonix was about 200 pages longer why couldn't we add more to Deathly Hallows? I wish there was more funerals at the end so we could bury our dead. I wish there was more Weasely stuff after Fred and I wish I knew what happened with Teddy Tonks. I wish I knew how Lupin and Tonks were killed. I wish there was about 100 more pages after the Battle at Hogwarts. I wish McGonagal was in it more. I wish there was time for the rowling to finish up her characters- at least the main ones and maybe do less with Fleur and Charlie, but it's the sacrifice you make with the world building.