Crazy Katie

Katie has needed a haircut for a while now. Her hair grows very fast, so I decided that I would just let her bangs grow out instead of getting then cut all of the time. The only problem with that is the fact that Katie refuses to keep any sort of hair clip or ponytail holder in her hair for any length of time.

This morning, since I had an hour to kill while waiting for my prescription to be filled, I decided to bite the bullet and get Katie's hair cut. Here's a lovely "before" picture.


Here's a picture that I took of her this afternoon before we left to take Katie to the doctor.


And just a little while ago, Katie decided to highlight her face.


And one more picture for your viewing pleasure. Katie decided to put on a pair of Sarah's socks and shoes a few days ago.


You may have noticed that Katie is only wearing clothes in one of those pictures. She has decided that wearing clothes is beneath her. Actually, the only reason that Katie has clothes on in the "after" picture is because we were about to leave for the pediatrician. Katie has her first ear infection, by the way.

Another Week Sick

Here we are. It's been another week since I've posted anything, and I'm still sick. I think I may have had the flu last week, but I'm not 100% sure about that since since not everyone in my house got it. Whatever it was, though, it has left me with a lingering nasty cough.

So, I went back to the doctor this morning to get checked out. I saw my asthma doctor today, since my problems seem to be located in my lungs. First, they checked my lung function, and it was pretty low. Amazingly, though, my oxygen levels in my blood weren't that bad. They weren't great, but they could have been worse. After a breathing treatment, my lung function improved slightly, but it still wasn't good. Now, I get to get pumped up on steroids for the next ten days.

Backtracking a little bit now, I saw my OB last Monday morning for my regular monthly check-up. Because of my illness, I had lost two pounds at that point. But we listened to the baby's heartbeat on the Doppler, and it was nice and strong.

Then, I asked my OB about my test results. I figured that everything was okay since they hadn't already told me that there was a problem. However, after looking through my chart, I was told that the measurements from my ultrasound for my nuchal translucency test were "a little high." My doc said that he wasn't going to worry about it now, though, that they were going to wait until after they get the results from my second round of blood tests before they make any conclusions. I will be having my blood drawn for the second round of tests in two more weeks, so I have at least that long to keep worrying about this stuff.

I also got a phone call last week from my OB's office to let me know when my Level 2 ultrasound at the hospital was scheduled for. I will be having that done on April 6th, and I will be one day less than 18 weeks pregnant then, which means we should have confirmation on the sex of the baby then. Less than one more month to wait for that. I'm pretty excited about it.

In other news, I've been having a very difficult time with Sarah recently. One of the things that has been causing me (and Phil) a lot of headaches has been the fact that Sarah has been going around telling lies about me and our family. It's made for some very stressful times in my house, and I'm at my wit's end about what to do about it. I sent her to stay with her bio-dad last night to see if he could make any headway with her. I'm hoping that she'll come home from school today with a better attitude, but I know that it's not likely that she'll change her attitude overnight. Please pray for us.

Sickness

I realize that it has been a while since I have posted anything new. I also went to the doctor yesterday and should probably update you all on how that went, too. But, I am just WAY to sick right now to blog about anything, so you're just going to have to wait a little while longer. Sorry.

Ultrasound #2

Wow! What a difference a couple of weeks makes, huh? My little blob has turned into a baby! Okay, sure, she was a baby before, too, but you can really tell now.

So, obviously, I had another ultrasound this afternoon. This ultrasound was for my nuchal translucency test that looks for signs of chromosomal abnormalities like Downs Syndrome.

I made sure the ultrasound tech knew to look for that subchorionic bleed she found last time, and she said that she couldn't find any bleeds this time. She said that she could clearly see where it was last time, but that everything is cleared up now. That's great news for Phil, if you know what I mean.

We also got to hear the baby's heartbeat this time instead of just seeing it. The heart rate was a good 168 bpm, so we're still thinking she's a girl. Fingers crossed!

Illness Update

They're all sick now. All of my girls are sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching - basically they are walking advertisements for Ny-Quil. Emily never returned to school this week, and Sarah decided to stay home today, too. I took them to my mother's house near Ocala so Phil and I could get a break and a little bit of rest ourselves this weekend. Hopefully, they'll all be feeling better when we get them back on Sunday.

Dedication

Now that I am finally starting to feel better, it seems that all of my girls have come down with their own illnesses. For Katie, it's just a cold. I took Sarah to the doctor last Thursday, but even though she's been on antibiotics since then, she seems to be getting worse.

Then there's Emily. Emily started throwing up sometime Sunday evening, and it continued all day and night on Monday. And even though she was still feeling pretty miserable, she went to school yesterday anyway. Why would my child who felt so sick choose to go to school when I told her she didn't have to? Soccer.

You see, the middle school soccer teams around here have to have a minimum number of sixth graders on their teams or they can't play. Emily's team has the exact minimum number of sixth graders. Since Emily didn't want to be the cause of her team having to forfeit the game due to a lack of sixth graders, she forced herself to go to school so that she could play in the game last night. That's dedication!

By the way, she's home with me and Katie today. She really needs to rest for a while.

Back to Life

My computer has been on life support for a few weeks now. That made life pretty difficult for me since I have come to rely on this particular piece of technology. But, she is back to normal now, and I am, for the time being, happy.

During my computer's down time, I was without my beloved MSN, which really screwed my daily life up. First of all, I didn't have access to my calendar that I have come to rely on so much. It's the only way that I can keep all of my girls' and my schedules coordinated.

I was also without my favorites. Which meant that I was unable to visit some of my daily blog reads. For some reason, there are some blogs that I visit that aren't listed on my blog roll and I'm also not following them. I should probably try to take care of that situation some time soon.

Anyhow, I got caught up on all of my blog reading today. I may not have left comments on all of them, though, since I was trying to cram a few weeks worth of reading into a couple of hours. I'm sorry if I neglected to leave you a comment during my catch-up reading.

So, there are a couple of things that I got from other blogs that I am going to share with my readers because I said I would. The first comes from Queenie Jeanie. It's a Purse Meme. Here are the rules:

1. Post a picture of whatever bag you are carrying as of late. No, you cannot go up to your closet and pull out that cute little purse you used back before you had kids. I want to know what you carried today or the last time you left the house. No cheating!

2. I want to know how much it costs =). And this is not to judge. It is for entertainment purposes only. So, spill it. And, if there is a story to go along with how you obtained it, I'd love to hear it.

3. Tag some chicks. And link back to this post so people know why the heck you're showing everyone your bag.

Since my camera needs new batteries, I'm using a stock photo of my bag.


This is my Vera Bradley "Betsey" bag in "Java Blue." It retails for $63. This bag used to belong to my mother. She said that my stepfather didn't like it and asked me to put it on eBay for her. I told her that she should just give it to me instead, and so she did. (I also own this same bag in the "Mod Floral Pink" pattern.)

As for what's in my bag, well, surprisingly little, actually. I've only been carrying this bag for a couple of days, and the bulk of my "purse stuff" is still in my other bag. The current contents of this bag are as follows: cell phone, car keys, one check book (there are still two in the regular bag), business cards, one planner (yep, there's a second one still in my other bag), albuterol inhaler, hand sanitizer, one pen (I usually have several), my sunglasses, two Mary Kay compacts (one with eye shadow, blush, and a lipstick, and one with powder and a lipstick), my Vera Bradley wallet (that matches my other bag), two Mary Kay Look Books, and a half-empty container of Tic-Tacs.

This next item comes from Tattooed Minivan Mom. What kind of dog am I? Apparently, I'm a Pyrenean Shepherd. Go here to find out what kind of dog you are.

Nothing But Phelgm

So, I'm still sick. I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever get over this nasty sinus cold. I'm just glad that I don't have morning sickness on top of all of this.

Last Wednesday night was Emily's first school soccer game, and I had to miss it because I was so sick. It was also the coldest night of the year, so it was really a good thing that I didn't go out. Emily's team ended up winning the game 3-0, though I really feel that the other team should have had to forfeit the game since they showed up a half-hour late.

In other news, Katie is completely and totally potty-trained now. We've been putting her in pull-ups at night, but she has woken up completely dry every day for more than a week now, and has even gotten up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom on a couple of occasions. She is so proud of herself, and we are proud of her, too.

As for Sarah, there's not a whole lot of exciting news there. She's just working hard at school and getting great grades. She's been really enjoying her science class lately, as they have been working on lots of fun projects. A couple of weeks ago, she and a friend had to design and build a self-propelled car for class. Over this past weekend, Sarah had to build a container that would keep an egg from breaking after being dropped from the second story of the school. They dropped their eggs today, and Sarah's egg did not break.

That's pretty much all that's been going on in my household. I'll be going back to the OB office next Friday for my next ultrasound, which is part of my nuchal translucency testing. I can't wait to see my baby again!

Oh, and I dyed my hair today. No, I don't have any photos to show you what it looks like, but it is definitely more red than my last attempt.

Baby Pic

So, here's the long awaited ultrasound pic.


Isn't she cute? Yes, we're calling the baby a "she," and until someone tells us otherwise, that's what we're going with.

Ultrasound

I had my second OB visit this morning. Because I have been having some mild spotting, the doctor decided to do an ultrasound to check everything out. So, I got to see my baby this morning. The baby is right on schedule as far as size and development goes, so my due date will not be changed at this point. The ultrasound did show that I do have a small subchorionic bleed, so my doctor put me on pelvic rest and wants me to take it easy for a while. We're hoping that it will be reabsorbed into the placenta by the time I have my next ultrasound on the 20th of this month.

I did get a pic of the baby from the ultrasound, but until Phil gets all of my programs back on my computer, I can't scan it to upload it. I will make sure to post it as soon as I can.