Bad girl....Good girl

I am definintly having my share of arguments around this house lately. This was the mess I walked into this afternoon. All her hair bands pulled out from the bottom shelf.

I asked her nicely to pick it up and she said, "NO!" So we had an hour long battle of time out and a few spankings. Arianna is just so stubburn. I feel like I need to start nipping this issue in the butt before she gets older. Well after some tears, from both of us, Daddy comes home and asks her 3 times and she picks them all up for him. AGH!!!

I have been having one bad week myself so I decided to splurge out on some Taco Bell. Robert decided to order Arianna a bean and cheese burrito. I thought he was crazy but sure enough.....

She loved it!

I'm still in shock cause she ate 3/4 of this burrito, half a bowl of pintos and cheese and some cinna twists!!! I know this won't happen all the time but I am so excited I had to blog about it.

I better get back to work but I just had to share our day with you all.

PB&J

I'm not sure about this.... Okay...I like it!

I am SO excited right now! Arianna has liked eating jelly plain for a few weeks. Then today she pointed to both jelly and peanut butter. Peanut butter being something she has never really liked. So I made a PB&J to see if she would eat it....well she is! Oh and this is a child who hates to eat bread so I'm totally shocked right now.

I'm amazed she is actually eating this since I just gave her a pediatric nutrition drink with like 325 calories.

I just had to come on here and share with ya'll.

She eats!!!!

I just got home and Robert told me Arianna ate a quarter of a biscuit!!!! I can't believe it...this girl is not only eating more but eating bread?!?!? Seriously, why didn't I take that paci away a LONG time ago?!?! This morning she ate Cream of Wheat and she never eats breakfast. I hope this continues.

21 Party!

We were so excited to hear our church was celebrating some birthdays and anniversaries at church last night so we decided to go and let Arianna eat some cake to celebrate her big 2-1 (notice we skipped the 2-0!) I was totally bummed because as soon as we got to church I overheard someone ask the pastor how she was feeling....then heard something about coughing and flu and I was ready to leave. We decided to try and stay through praise and worship but as soon as the pastor started talking she announced she was dealing with a respiratory illness, then the gentleman who was sitting by her keep blowing his nose, and the lady in front of us is the pastors in-laws and she started coughing so we packed up and left. Besides there was tons of people there because of the birthday and anniversary party and ALL the kids were in the sanctuary which meant they would end up in the cry room and we can't have that. So....we decided to take Arianna to Sonic and have an ice cream!!!

Enjoying her yummy vanilla ice cream

This is exactly how I gained all my weight!

I forgot to tell you all that because of this wonderful weight gain Arianna is FINALLY on the charts at the 5th percentile for weight! She is at the 10-25 percentile for her height. As you can tell I am extremely excited about this. She looks so healthy and finally filling out. No rolls or anything but she fills out her size 3 diapers alot better.

With all this exciting news about her weight gain she has slowed way down on her eating because she is getting more teeth. I can't wait till all these teeth are out. I have been really good about taking the paci away from her during the day even though she signs for it all the time. I try to only give it to her during naps and in the car but since her teeth have been bothering her I let her keep it today while we went to the grocery store. I have to say that was the first time she stayed in the cart the entire time. Normally by the time we get to the check out she is crying to get out. I am planning on getting really strick with the paci rules when she turns 2 but in the meantime I'll let her have it if it helps.

Party time!

We actually got out of the house today and enjoyed a nice BBQ at my sisters. Today is my brother-in-laws birthday so it was nice to spend some time with the family. Arianna was such a nut today just running around the house. There was a few moments today that I felt overwhelmed with joy as I watched Arianna play.

I know I sounded kind of down in my last post but I'm feeling much better. I think today is just what I needed. I even made a point yesterday to just sit and watch a movie while Arianna took her afternoon nap. Sometimes I think I get so caught up in life I forget to just relax.

I was able to get some pictures today and wanted to share them with you all. I have to tell you before you watch this little montage that Arianna and her uncle Dougie have not spent alot of time together, so I was really blessed when I saw them together today.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Won't be getting rid of the O2 quite yet

So the eating still is back to what I would like it to be but she is at least eating a little bit. This morning I checked her pulse ox when eating – cause she was not eating well and hardly willing to put food in her mouth – and she was running in the low 90’s. I decided to give her a little O2 and immediately she calmed down and stayed in her chair for 10 more minutes and ate a bit more. It seems to me that she gets irritable and does not want to eat when her sats drop below 94. It’s almost impossible to get her sats when she is playing so I just took her off the O2 and continued our day. We went to see Aunt Lissa, which was nice to get out of the house for awhile. She seemed fine, ate a little bit of macaroni and cheese while we were out, then on the way home she refused to drink her milk. She cried herself to sleep in the car (this is still SO hard for me to see, but I can not give in every time and stop the care like I used to) and when I got home I checked her sats while sleeping and they were at her usual 91. After 30 minutes I heard her alarms going off and she dropped to 87 but came back up to 90 after a minute. The weirdest thing I’ve noticed is when she lays on her right side her sats are lower than when she is on her back and when she is on the right side they get even better. I’m no doctor but I’m curious why this is. I was beginning to second guess myself about having these tests done but to be honest I really want to know what is going on and finally put my mind to rest.

I did speak with the pediatric nurse at our primary clinic and she is going to bat for us with the insurance company to get us approved for on more synagis shot. Thank God! The fact that she is going to be having tests done in the hospital is enough reason to make her want Arianna to have these shots. She is supposed to call me next week and let me know what the insurance company decides. I’m so happy…not like I want my daughter to have shots but its for the best.

Well…let’s see…that’s pretty much it I think. I’ve been staying pretty busy with the support group stuff. I’m meeting with UMC’s NICU manager on Monday and will provide them with material about the group to have available for families in the NICU. I’m still working on the other wards. I remember how scary of an experience it was to have just given birth to my daughter who had several heart defects and not know what the future would hold. I want to make sure these families have the resources available to them when they need it the most. I really wish there was something in place for us when Arianna was born. I have built such wonderful relationships with all you heart moms in cyperspace and want to offer the same kind of support to the local heart families.

Weekend Update

I just love watching her eat! She has come so far with her eating!

And yes...that is a cannula you see on her face.

Starting on Friday Arianna started acting a little different. Nothing drastic or anything, but just wasn’t eating much and seemed very irritable. Last night I decided to check her sats and she was running at 94, which is a little lower than what she was the week before. I decided to monitor her when she went to bed and sure enough she was dropping to 90 and even a dip into the 80’s so we put the oxygen back on. Then this morning I took her off the O2 and she was staying at 94 so I decided to keep it off. I started feeding her breakfast and she immediately started dropping so back came the O2. It seemed immediately after eating her sats would rise and stay steady so I took the O2 back off. It’s amazing the significant difference in her eating from the 2 days before. She seems to be playing fine so we’re only doing the oxygen when sleeping and eating to give her the extra help. This was exactly what the pulmonologist said to do if we noticed her acting different during the day. Regarding the pulmo, I still don’t have a date for the tests but I’m thinking I might hear something tomorrow.

We will be heading to the lab first thing in the morning then off for her hearing test. I’ll let you know of we have the clapping monkeys Krista! You kind of have me a little scared now…LOL!