Congratulations, Mom!

My Mom received her new used kidney 1 year ago today. It was supposed to be the day I delivered Addy, but God had another schedule in mind. It's been quite a bumpy road for Mom over the last year trying to "fine tune" everything with that kidney. Many hospital stays is one thing we are hoping for less of in 2009. Mom has been quite the trooper over the past year, and for that Mom, I congratulate you for enduring everything you have had to endure. I am so thankful to the family who was willing to save the lives of others by donating their loved ones' organs.

This week seemed to go so slow. We started the week going to the doctor for Addy's 1-year check up. All is well for the most part. Addy has gotten pretty smart and she started crying the second she hit the paper on the exam table…and this was just to measure her. I knew I was in trouble!

Her stats are:

Weight: 23.3 lbs (83%) and very shocked!
Height: 31.7” (99%) and not surprised at all
Head: 18.8” (97-98%) and not at all surprised
BMI: 16.2 to 16.3

He was very pleased with her being long and lean! She received 3 shots (Hep A, Chickenpox, and MMR). Of course, since she was on the paper, she started crying before they even had the needles out. Poor baby, it breaks my heart every time.

He asked if I had any concerns about her development, so naturally I have to bring up her speech development. I told him how she will only say "Mama". He said at this age they are typically saying Mama, Dada, and 1 other word. So, in order to nip any possible problems in the bud, he wants her to go to the ENT to have a thorough hearing screening and we will receive a call from a private speech therapist (Our Children’s House at Grapevine) in the next couple of days to have a speech evaluation. How they do this with 1-year olds I have no idea. But you know, we didn’t catch Ashleigh’s problem until way too late so I am all for getting her evaluated for whatever as soon as possible. If it can prevent long-term speech therapy like Ash is having to endure, so be it. Do I think she has a problem? No. But I’m not a doctor, and I want to be sure. I think she is just lazy and will figure it all out soon enough. But we’ll see and time will tell. Ash was bigger at this age, so Addy just isn’t growing as fast right now even though she was bigger at birth. But really, Addy just doesn’t have a large appetite, so maybe that has something to do with it.

I took some pregnancy photos of Jessica this past Sunday. It's her 3rd and last pregnancy and she wanted some photos to help represent her life as a pregnant woman. Not to mention I begged her to let me do it, LOL! You can see a small representation of those photos by clicking here. That will take you to her blog and look for the one titled "Belly Shots", it's currently the most up to date post. We had a lot of fun doing it and coming up with different ideas and poses. All in all, I am pleased with how they came out. I'm going to ask my friend, Deena, if I can do the same for her. But her and her husband, Kevin, may want to do some themselves. I don't think I had mentioned on my blog, but Deena is pregnant with her 2nd child. She had her 1st OB appointment today and she is 10 1/2 weeks along and her due date is the exact due date that mine was with Ashleigh...August 12th, which is also Anna's (my step Mom) birthday. So that's all pretty cool. I'm very excited for them and Jack is going to make a GREAT big brother. Deena is wanting another boy because it is what she knows, but I am REALLY hoping for a girl for her. I know it's cliche', but what we all really want is for Baby Henry to be healthy.

Work has been extremely busy this week, I have been racing against deadlines all week. I have another deadline on Tuesday which will probably force me to work this weekend at some point AND on Monday, which is supposed to be a Holiday for me. We do what we've gotta do! Brian has been very busy too, which is good. This cold weather has really been making the phone ring and Brian hasn't been getting home until 8:00-9:00 at night. We'll take it while we can, but he misses the kids and vice versa. He should be able to spend some time with them this weekend.

Peyton is spending the night tonight. Ally brought me lunch today (thanks Ally!!) and I volunteered to keep PeyPey. Seriously, I haven't let anyone spend the night since Addy has been born. Mainly because when PeyPey spends the night, the Girls are EXTREMELY giggly when they should be sleeping...like HOURS of giggling. For 1) that wakes Addy up since they share a wall, 2) they don't get any sleep, and 3) since they don't any sleep, we don't get any sleep. Since it's been a whole year I've been feeling a bit guilty and thus invited her. The good news is I laid them down at 8:45 and they were asleep by 9:15. Believe me, Peyton tried to keep Ash up, but that girl is whooped by Friday and ready to sleep! The Girls love spending time together and they just don't get to NEAR as much anymore since Ash is in school. Seriously, like weeks will go by without them seeing each other. Now, I know RC is going to say something about Sydney not being invited too, but Ash and Syd see each other ALL the time. Plus, since Ash and PeyPey are closer in age, they get along better for extended periods of time. RC knows that Syd and Ash fight like it's going out of style, and part of it might be because they see each other so much. Poor PeyPey hardly ever gets to play with her cousins. Oh, and plus Syd had basketball practice tonight pretty late.

I have a date with some of my friends to scrapbook next weekend at Alma's house. I can't wait. We've been planning this one for quite some time but it's always tricky finding a day when we're all available. I NEED this get away. I haven't gotten much time away from the kids lately and I could really use a break. 24/7 with Addy starts to wear on you after a while when you're chasing her all over the place...all day long! I Love her to death, of course, but we all need a break every now and again. So I'll take my 6-7 hours and savor every minute! It's not a long break, but a break nonetheless.

Not much else going on this weekend. I do hope to sleep a bit. I've been very tired this week and not wanting to get up at my usual 6:15 to get myself ready before the rest of the family needs to be up. A few times this week I haven't gotten up until Ash needs to get up and start getting ready at about 6:55. Which means I don't get my shower until Addy's nap at about 10:00. Hopefully I can break the cycle this coming week. We shall see.

Okay, I'm tired...heading to bed! Sleep Tight!