2010 March for Babies

Yesterday, we participated in our second annual March of Dimes March for Babies. We had such a fabulous group of people in our family team, and I love them all so much. Our team consisted of Shelbi, Shelbi's Mammi, her Aunt Megan, Aunt Karen, Aunt Steph, her Mommy and Daddy, her BFF Josie, her Nana Jan, and Nana Jan's fiance George. Our group, Shelbi Strollers, welcomed George with opened arms, and the rest of the clan was the wonderful clan from last year. It was a 5 mile walk around and through Harrisburg. Last year, it was extremely rainy and cold, and this year was much better. Mammi ran ahead of the group to burn off some energy. Aunt Steph, Nana Jan, and Josie too a small short cut in their atempt to keep up with Josie, and Daddy, Aunt Megan, Aunt Karen, Shelbi, and I all fought it out for the entire 5 miles. It definitely was not as outlined and together as it was last year, but it was still a wonderful day. They provided us with some yummy soft pretzels and some bubbles before the walk, and we had Papa Johns pizza, Olive Garden salad, and Hooters wings following the walk. Our little crazy girl was running all over the place before the walk, and her little feet got away from her at one point, and she fell, obtaining her first set of skinned knees. Today, my day has been filled with "kissing booboos." I certainaly do not like the fact that she had her first knee injury, but she is so darn cute when she wants me to kiss them. Our little peanut is napping soundly now, so I am going to wrap this up for now, and attempt to get some stuff done around the house. Enjoy the picture of our Stunning Shelbi Strollers team!

Before I Forget or Time Gets Away From Me

Here we go again with a long time lapse in between posts. It just seems as though time flies and gets away from me so quickly. (Gee, I can't imagine why with working full time, attempting to sleep once in a while, and chasing a 19 month old [yes, Mom, I said 19 month old, even though I swore I would never use months after she was a year] all over the place, but it has.) Anyway, I digress. We hit a big milestone on April 15. I had to work, and Scott and Karen were out of town visiting with Scotty in Mississippi, and Shelbi had her first overnight at Mammi's. She was SO adorable when I got her out of her carseat at Mammi's and gave her her "overnight bag" which was a miniature giraffe luggage bag on wheels. She came walking around the back of the Xterra toting her bag behind her looking like she was all proud of herself. Mammi cracked up and ran inside to grab her camera and Pop and Uncle Tim. It was definitely one of the cutiest things! I did hang out with her for a little bit, as we endulged in some Wendy's chicken nuggets, and then she was off to play with all of the goodies at Mammi's house (i.e. Uncle Tim's cell phone, Pop's calculator, Mammi's earacers from the 50's, etc.), and she didn't even notice me leave. I headed home and took a little snooze before heading off to work for the night. Mammi was nice enough to keep her in the morning as well for a bit, so I got to go home and enjoy some solid shut-eye. I headed back over to my Mom's in the early afternoon, and when I started up Hopi Drive, I spotted my Mom and Shelbi walking down the street. They were only a house away from Mammi's house, but I rolled down the window and said hello to my little peanut. She got so super excited when she realized that it was me, and she was so cute! I told her that I was going to go park the car, and she started to get upset as I drove up the street. They started to walk back up towards the house, and as I exited the Xterra and headed in their direction, Shelbi's little legs started going a mile a minute, and she "ran" up the sidewalk with her arms wide open and gave me the biggest and best hug ever. She rested her head on my shoulder for a good two minutes (which is a super long time for her to even stay still), and that was the most awesome hug and snuggle ever! That is one memory that I do not think that I will ever forget, but I wanted to jot it down here just in case.
I have to get back to work, so tata for now!

Boy Does Time Fly!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, it has been a long, LONG time since I last posted, and SO much has changed. Shelbi did not start walking until the very end of January, but boy can she go now. And go she does...go, go, go...all day and all night until we all but force her to take a nap or go to bed. She LOVES to walk and march and stomp across the entry way floor, as she can make lots of noise doing so.
Along with walking comes the all too lovely injuries, and today was a doozy. We were playing with the stacking blocks that Mammi and Pop had gotten Shelbi for her birthday. At first we were stacking them on the floor and she was enjoying knocking them over, and then she decided she wanted to stack them on the coffee table. Well, sometimes she forgets that she's only 30 inches tall, and she was trying to stand on her tippy toes to put another block on the top when WHOOSH she wiped out. She has never started crying that quickly from a fall, so I knew that she was hurt. I knew that she had hit her face, but I was not sure where exactly. I held her and she cried and cried and cried and cried for a good 40 minutes. Then, she laid on the couch with me and we watched another exciting episode of "Yo Gabba Gabba" which was all about cars and looking both ways and not crossing the street and "don't stop, don't give up." Upon examination of my little peanut, I took notice to her FAT LIP. I checked to make sure that she hadn't busted her teeth out or anything, but she must have bitten the inside of her lip really good because it is very dark blue, almost black. After her crying fit, she seemed to be fine for the remainder of the day, but it was a sad hour or so in our house. She wasn't, however, real fond of going to bed this evening. Typically, I rock her and sing to her for a few, and then she either falls asleep, or I put her in her crib still awake. This evening, she was still awake and she stayed that way for 2 hours. I eventually went back upstairs, as I felt bad that she was still up, and we rocked and sang a bit longer, but then she wanted to identify my nose and eyes and mouth, followed by her nose and mouth. I then made the mistake of taking her downstairs in the hopes that maybe she just wanted to say goodnight to her Dad one more time, but nope, she wanted to play. I then, of course, had to be the bad guy because I made her go back up and go to bed. She eventually fell back to sleep, but it was still a while.
Other than that, she loves Elmo, Flipz crackers, and her Elmo couch. I love waiting to see what each and every day has in store for us, and I will definitely have to keep up with this blog more.

P.S. As I was driving home the other morning, I heard a song that I just love. At the time, I did not know who it was.
"I don't need no one to tell me about heaven
I look at my daughter and I believe." The song is by Live, and the lyrics are SO true.

1 Year Home

Well, I had originally meant to type this the Sunday night, but, as it seems to happen a lot lately, time got away from me. Anyway, 1 year ago on Sunday, October 25, 2009, we brought our little Shelbi Mae Gaffney Wert home from the hospital. I do not think that I will ever forget how nervous and anxious and happy and scared and amazed I was. It was definitely an adjustment, but a wonderful one. No more going to the hospital two and three times a day. No more waiting in the waiting room while the nurses and doctors took longer than the alotted time for rounds and shift changes. No more 24 hour monitors. No more machine beeps and anxiety of machines beeping and keeping her in the NICU longer. No more constant IV, C-Pap, isolette, wires, tubes, etc. What a joyous day that was!

Fast forward 365 days. Shelbi is now a playing, crawling, laughing, fake coughing, smiling, entertaining little princess. We just got the proofs back from her one year photo shoot, and I cannot believe how much she has changed since her 3 month shoot. She is still super adorable, and the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my whole life, but she has grown so much.

Last Tuesday, she had her 1 year appointment, and, well, that was a rough one. She came in at a wopping 15 pounds 9 ounces (less than 3rd percentile) and was 28 inches long (15th percentile). She had a different doctor (well, nurse practionisher to be exact), and she said that we need to give her more calories and get her weight up. Um, hello! Have you seen my daughter eat? She eats and eats and eats and eats. She is just tiny and has a high metabolism. I'm trying not to stress about that too much, but it's difficult to not think about. I'm not sure of the dimentions, but her head is in the 90th percentile. THEN came the fun stuff. The nurse was asking me about a zillion questions about stuff, and one of them was "has she come in contact with anyone who has been in Africa." I initially answered no, as that was the answer to all of the other questions, but then I had to go back and change that, as she was in contact with Scotty, and he was in Africa for 6 plus months. Due to the fact that she had been in close contact with him, she had to be subjected to a TB test. I held her for that, and I must say that she did rather well. She watched the Medical Assistant insert the needle and empty the fluid into her arm, and she didn't as much as flinch. Once the needle was removed, she let out a bit of a cry, but it only lasted for a brief moment. Heck, she handled that better than I did! Next, they had to perform a finger prick on her left ring finger, due to the fact that she (as well as the rest of the women on the Branyan side of the family) has low iron. She didn't seem bothered by this torture either, but she was not real thrilled with the band aid that followed. While we were waiting for the Medical Assistant (and the student) to return, she proceeded to attempt to get the band aid off, first by pulling with her right hand, and then by putting the band aid in her mouth. Following their return, we were informed that the iron count came back extremely low, and they had to do another one on her middle finger. Again, she took it like a champ, but did not appreciate the band aid. The results of that one came back better, so we were on to the shots. She had to get FOUR shots, and let me tell you, that was difficult. The STUDENT gave them to her (and I do have to admit that she did a really good job), and she was so, SO upset. She did her right side first (one in the arm muscle and one in the leg muscle) and I have never heard her bawl like she did that day. I felt so incredibly bad for her, as I knew that there was nothing that I could do. She had her arms up for me to pick her up, and after she got the second shot, I did pick her up for a few seconds to try and ease her pain as best as I could. The student did the other side, and then she just cuddled with me for a few minutes before getting dressed and heading back out into the world. My heart broke for her, as I know she was so helpless and unsure of what was going on. We do have to go back in another 5 weeks for a weight check and her second flu shot, but that shouldn't be near as bad.

Other than that, she was stricken with a fever Thursday through Saturday, but she seems to be pretty much back to her old self.

Busy Week

Well, I finally had a minute or two, and I wanted to update quickly before I forgot. This has been a pretty busy week with work, Karen's surgery on her arm, running around with Steph and Josie, Read With Me at the library, trying to figure out outfits for Shelbi's 1 year pictures, and babysitting Josie. On Tuesday, my wonderful, exceptionally helpful mother (aka "Mammi") came over to the house to hang out with Shelbi (and the dogs). I guess instructions were not properly given, as Mammi did NOT EAT ANYTHING ALL DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! She was there from 8:30am until 6:00ish, and "did not want to root around in our cabinets." Anyway, while they were hanging out, Shelbi was eating some mini goldfish crackers. My mom had them in her hand, and Shelbi was taking them from her and eating them. At one point, she took one from my Mom, put it on the floor, got on all fours, and attempted to eat the goldfish cracker off of the floor with her mouth. I promise you that she is NOT being raised by wild animals, but I'm sure that was very, VERY humerous to see, and I'm sorry that I missed it.

Friday morning Shelbi and I got up early and headed over to the Julian residence, as Steph had to work, and I stayed with the girls. I had a very good (and busy) time with them, as they were quite entertaining and all over the place.

Well, that's it for now, I just didn't want to forget to jot down the fun stuff that I can think of for the moment.

It's Been A While...

So I thought that I would finally get my fingers back on here and update this blog. Well, it's official...Shelbi is officially one year old. This past year has flown by. I cannot believe that a year ago today, she was in the Harrisburg hospital NICU fighting to get her heart under control. Thank you so much to everyone out that who hoped and prayed and thought about her and our family during those very trying times.

Oh a much happier note, I believe that Shelbi had quite a nice birthday. Saturday was her big bash, and I am so happy that everyone could attend. It was so nice to see everyone, and have them share in the excitement. She got to see her Mammi and Pop (who were nice enough to pick up the chicken tray from the wacko's at Chick Fil-A and the balloons) and Pap, her Aunt Megan and Uncle Nelson (who were so very kind to come early and help Shelbi's crazy mother! LOL), her Aunt Karen, Aunt Steph, Uncle Erik, Josie, her Aunt Dana, Aunt Patty, cousin Jennifer, Aunt Deb, Uncle Tom, cousins Tomi and Hunter, Aunt Donna, Dori, Non, Miseon (who traveled quite a distance), and of course her mom and dad. She enjoyed being the center of attention, showing off her fake cough, opening presents, playing with wrapping paper, and, of course, trying out her cake. I will say that she made out like a bandit with her nice and thoughtful gifts. I'm not sure who will have more fun with them...Shelbi or me! LOL I figure that I need to enjoy being her playmate for now, as I know that it will not last for very long, as I will have to be the "bad guy."

Today, we had a very nice day consisting of visiting Zoo America with Aunt Steph and Josie. We got to see all kinds of creatures, and once we finished that expedition, we headed to a nice lunch at Hoss's, where little Ms. Shelbi endulged in a cheeseburger slider, french fries, applesauce, Cheerios, mini goldfish crackers, and, of course, some of Mommy's ice cream. We then headed on our merry way to Build A Bear, where Shelbi and Josie each made their very first "Build-An-Animal." Shelbi opted for the heart bear (Mae Beary), and she picked a very cute birthday shirt for her to sport, along with some jeans and a pair of pink and white Skecher sneaks. Josie decided to go with the monkey, Maya, and she chose a very cute "girly" outfit. After all of our birthday fun, we stopped by Mammi's house, so she could see the birthday girl, and so I could catch a couple of minutes of zzzzzzzzzzz's (thanks so much Mammi). To finish off the night, we took good ole Pap out to the dinner of his choice (Red Lobster) for his birthday celebration, where both he and Shelbi were serinaded with the traditional "Happy Birthday" from the Red Lobster staff and some whipped cream with a candle.

Little Ms. Drama Queen has decided that she does not want to take naps during the day anymore. Instead, she has decided to scream for an hour and a half to two hours, and prevent her sleep deprived mother from getting a nap. We are trying to work through it, and hopefully it will resolve itself in the VERY near future.

Shelbi is not walking on her own yet, but she is a crawling champ, and she loves to pull herself up, walk around tables, chairs, anything that she can get around, and we are trying to break her of her love of wires. She's learning more and more everyday, and she is growing and changing in ways I never imagined. I cannot wait to see what each day holds.

Well, I guess that's it for now. I tried to sum it up in a nutshell, but it ended up being an entire Oak tree. I will try to keep this updated and keep everyone abreast to what is going on with my Little Peanut! Oh, and one more thing...tooth number 2 is popping through!

Mangos Were a Hit!

This evening Shelbi got to try some mangos, and there were a huge hit. She made her typical yuck/I-don't-know-about-that/what-in-the-world-is-in-my-mouth drama look that she gives when she tastes something. After she decided that she liked them, she REALLY liked them. Heck, I couldn't feed her fast enough! LOL She ate an entire Stage 2 container of mangos, and then she had about 3/4 of a Stage 2 container of fruit medley. After dinner, she was quite an energenic and happy baby, and we hung out for a while before bed. Daddy took her up to put her to bed, but she was not having it. She cried (not her I'm-tired-and-falling-asleep cry) for a few minutes, so it was Mommy to the rescue. It was actually really very nice, as I picked her up and sat in the rocking chair, and she put her head on my right shoulder and was asleep in about 2 minutes. That really made my day, as she doesn't really do that all to often.
This morning I had an 11:15am appointment with Dr. Readence for another PAP (yes, I know, what an exciting day). I took Shelbi with me, and she was pretty good. She got a little bit restless when I was waiting for the doctor to come in, so I got her out for a few minutes, until he arrived. After Doctor Readence came in for me, I put her back in her carseat, and she just stared at him with this look that I cannot even describe. She did not even move except to watch him walk around the room. It was nice that he remembered us and asked how she was doing and if she was still on her heart medications. I kept asking her if she was having a flashback...LOL. She really seemed intrigued or terrified or something of him. After the drive through PAP exam, we headed to Karen's office and went to the yummy Pizza Grille for lunch. I had my 1/2 sicilian salad and I actually got a small spinish and artichoke pizza on wheat, as I'm in dire need of exercise and eating better.
Well, my head is POUNDING (probably because I did not have any caffine today, as I'm trying to drink water, water, water), so I'm going to close for now. I will say this before ending, however, Shelbi is changing so much every single day. She becomes more active, more entertained, more entertaining, and her personality is growing and growing and growing. She is sitting up like a fool, and doens't want to lay down much anymore. I love you beautiful and smart peanut!