Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure

Oh, girl, you certainaly keep me (and quite a few others in our lives) entertained on a daily (heck, sometimes on a minute to minute basis) basis. I picked you up from school today, and we came home to "play." You wanted to read some books, so you gave me the Strawberry Shortcake Sleepover book to read to you, and you picked out the Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure book to read to me. You opened the book and ran your fingers underneath the words like you were reading it and said, "Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure now available on DVD and Blu-Ray." It took me a few seconds for it to really register what you said, but once it clicked, I got quite a kick out of it. I then had to call Mammi, Daddy, and Sessa to share the entertainment with them. You are too cute!
Daddy is out of town with work tonight (Monday) through Wednesday night, so it was just me and you at bedtime. We did the normal brushing of the teeth, changing of the diaper (which I'm hoping is soon done with as I'm hoping you will be potty trained if you want to go to the Disney Castle, take dance class, go to Aunt Megan's Sunday School class, etc.), read a book, and layed on the monkey. We were laying beside each other, and you said, "Go ahead Mommy." I was clueless as to what you were talking about, and you repeated yourself three times before taking my left arm and wrapping it around you, as you snuggled up close against me. It was so cute, and so sweet, and so amazing. When I tried to move at all, you would respond with, "Go ahead Mommy" as if that means for me to snuggle with you.

I Love You!

As I'm sitting here on this rainy Tuesday afternoon, watching you dance to the Tinkerbell movie music, I just wanted to express how much I absolutely, 100% love you, Shelbi Mae Gaffney Wert, with every single ounce of myself. You are my heart, my soul, my world, and I would be lost without you. You are so precious, Princess, and I don't think you will ever truely know how much you mean to me!

1st Trip to a Movie Theatre!

I know that a lot of people would look at that title, and think that I'm crazy for even THINKING about taking a two and a half year old to a movie theatre, but I thought we would give it a whirl. Last night I was googling Strawberry Shortcake to see if they had anything new and exciting in her neck of the woods, and I saw that the Strawberry Shortcake move "The Sky's the Limit" which just so happens to be one of Shelbi's absolute favorites was playing at the Flagship Theatre in Mechanicsburg. I thought it would be a neat idea since she likes Strawberry Shortcake so much, to see how she would do in a theatre setting. When I got her up, I asked her if she wanted to go to the movies, and of course she was all gung-ho. So, I got her dressed, and Scott, Shelbi and I headed on our way. She was in a great mood, and when she saw the movie poster for "her" movie, she was beside herself. I was able to capture a picture of her in front of the sign, and it is pretty darn cute if I say so myself. I was also pleasantly surprised when we went into the theatre. Shelbi was free to get in, and Scott and I were only two dollars a piece. You can't beat that. We did end up getting a soda, some popcorn, and some "ice lemons" which is what it sounds like Shelbi is saying when she asks for M&M's. LOL We were not really sure how she would react to the movie due to the fact that it is so large and rather loud, but she really liked it. We were also the only three people in the entire theatre! Shelbi sad in my lap for about the first half of the movie, and then she walked around a tiny bit and came back and sat with me and Scott. All in all, it was pretty neat, and I think that's a neat idea that the theatre does that. Apparently, every Sunday at 10:40 they show a children's movie. I do believe that they change it every month, as when I looked online Strawberry Shortcake is playing again next Sunday. Shelbi was not, however, happy to leave the movie. She didn't quite grasp the concept that it only played once and we were not in charge of it.

Barney Egg and Sniff-Sniff!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been wanting to get on here and update for quite a while now, but the time just seems to zip by! We had the hustle and bustle of Christmas (and Nick being home for Christmas), the lovely removal of my right ovary due to a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, the celebration of the arrival of 2011, a fascinating sickness that managed to merry-go-round itself to our household, hitting most of us a few times, my exciting 32nd birthday, and, well, we cannot forget trying to keep up with Ms. Mae. She is quite a ball of fire who keeps me on my toes (and extremely entertained).
The main attractions for her at Christmas were her state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line play kitchen from Santa Claus, and the super-duper trampoline from Mammi and Pop. When the fuzziness of being up at 7:30am wore off, and she realized that there was a room full of goodies, she went to town with her kitchen. She liked it so much, that she did not even want to open the majority of her other gifts, and they were put on the back burner until the two days following Christmas.


Over the past few months, Scott introduced Shelbi to the wonderful world of Barney. (Since I'm typing on a computer, I'm sure you cannot sense my SARCASM when I said "wonderful world of Barney.") Anyway, "Barney's Great Adventure" (aka Barney Egg as Shelbi calls it) has been a HUGE hit in our house with Shelbi. So much, in fact, that Netflix, which is accessible from ANY computer, our Wii, and even my iPhone) has become my best friend. For some reason, she is madly in love with that movie, and she has tortured all of us (now to include Mammi as well) with the "Barney Egg" story. She has also taken a liking to Strawberry Shortcake. The first time she was introduced to her, it was in the form of a McDonald's Happy Meal toy that was scented (like a strawberry). Ever since then, she associates everything Strawberry Shortcake with that scent, and refers to her, her movies, her stickers, etc., as "sniff, sniff." "Sniff, sniff" involves the wrinkling of her nose, the pursing of her lips, and two short blows out of her nostrils. Anyway, it is very entertaining! Last week she received a Strawberry Shortcake sticker book, and she has demanded to sleep with it every night since! (I am on the lookout for a Strawberry Shortcake doll to hopefully replace the book!).

In other news, she was so adorable the other night. She accidentally got her finger pinched in the freezer door, and was extremely distraught (until the mention of a band-aid). Upon the procedure of kissing the boo-boo about 87 times, and applying the band-aid, she was all better. A few minutes later, rather out of the blue, she walked up to me, pointed her band-aid covered finger at me and said, "Thank you Mommy. Boo-boo all better!"

Boy How Time Flies!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can hardly believe that my once 5 pound 4.7 ounce peanut is now 25 pounds and 34 inches long! Where has the time gone? I'm no longer the mother of a "baby," but I'm the mother of a "toddler" who is Ms. Independent (when she wants to be LOL)! I love every single minute of motherhood, and by far, Shelbi Mae Gaffney Wert is the highlight of my life. She has become such a loving and affectionate little princess, and I do mean princess. She likes to color and paint and play in the sand and get into all kinds of fun stuff, until she realizes that she got paint or sand or dirt or anything on her hands. Then it turns ito "oh, no!" as she's either trying to wipe her hands on ME or showing me her hands to assist with the disposal of the paint, dirt, etc. I was never the "princess" type, so I'm not quite sure what to expect and/or how to handle it. I guess we will both figure it out as we go. LOL
She still loves her Sesame Street (Elmo and Ernie appear to be her favorite), but she is now into Ariel and Flounder from "The Little Mermaid" as well. I just absolutely love it when she comes over to me and says "Ariel," as that is the cutiest thing EVER. She just recently started talking (saying things OTHER THAN Mom, Dad, NO, yes, doggie-doggie-doggie, etc.), and she is really starting to pick up the language. It's adorable to watch her transform from a baby into a mini-human. LOL There are days/nights when I simply stare at her in awe and amazement, and I hope she never looses sight of how much I love her.

This is from my other blog which was accidently started.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Well, THAT was fun...
There's definitely some sarcasm in that! LOL Too bad Mammi just barely missed out on the excitement. She was nice enough to stop by when she was out and about (which she really shouldn't be doing because she has a BROKEN FOOT) to drop off my taxes. She came in and hung out with her "Bi" for a few minutes, and then headed to her next destination. Shortly after that, Shelbi was playing contently in her Exersauser. She started to cry pretty hard pretty quickly, so I picked her up, and caught a whiff of some, um, poop. The not pooping for a couple days is just lovely when it finally decided to come to the surface. I went to change her diaper, and she was a horrible mess. I stripped her down, and headed upstairs to the bathroom for a tubby only to find that the fuse had blown in the bathroom, and there was no light, and there are no windows in that bathroom. I put her in her PNP and headed to the basement to flip the fuse. Upon my return, Shelbi decided that she wanted to pee as well. Bath went nice, she's all nice and clean, and now she's fidgeting in her swing...fighting sleep...and I'm hoping to get some more cleaning done around the house and listen to the LMN movie that I have on that has Christopher Meloni in it (even though I do NOT like his character) and/or General Hospital.

Cute, Fun Times

Today (well, technically, it was yesterday, but on my schedule, it is still part of today since I have not been to sleep yet) was another fun day. I had off of work Thursday night, and Shelbi was up bright and early Friday morning at 7:45am. I know that's not really bright and early for a lot of you, but for me and for my little peanut, it is. Anyway, we got up and got dressed and headed to the Adventure Zone park in Mechanicsburg. We met Laryssa and handsome Holden there for our playdate. Wow! That was a very nice park. Very new and very nice. Shelbi seemed to really enjoy herself, and can I say that Holden had me cracking up quite a bit during our 2 hours there. At one point, the munchkins were following each other around, and as Holden was climbing up the steps of the one section of the playground, he turned around to Shelbi and said, "come on honey." Laryssa and I both got quite a kick out of that. After our time at the playground, we headed over to meet Pap for a quick lunch and then visited with Aunt Cathy, Christine, and Branden for a few hours before heading home for nap time. This evening we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few items, and boy was little Miss Shelbi entertaining. We got one of the carts with the car for her to "drive" in the front, and half way through the store, she decided that she wanted to get out and PUSH THE CART. She then proceeded to gently pick up three packages of Nutter Butters (she actually tried for four but couldn't handle all of them at once), and attempted to put them all into the cart. When we were finally able to pull her away from them, she walked up the aisle touching each bag of chips and pretzels. Fifteen minutes later, we managed to make our way to the front of the store. There, we found a bin of discounted books, and low and behold, there was an Abby Cadabby book (that Scott found...I know...I cannot believe that I missed that), and Shelbi jumped right on that. She was carrying that around, and I instructed her that I had to pay for it first (as sometimes she gets rather distraught and upset when she is holding/playing with something that needs to be purchased), and she marched right up to the one register, stood on her tippy toes, and placed the book on the belt. It was very cute and very grown up. Sniff, sniff. While I was loading the groceries onto the belt, we convinced her to hang out in the cart for a few minutes, and on our way out the door, she decided that she wanted to use the watermellon as a chair. Which, again, was very, very cute! I so love being her Mommy!

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!

Mother's Day and First Sickness (Outside of the Hospital)

Well, let me start this off by saying that I had the most wonderful first Mother's Day that I ever could have wished for! I got up Mother's Day morning to the most beautiful baby girl in the whole wide world, smiling away in her crib, talking to her stuffed animals. (Okay, she was probably talking to her ceiling fan, but you get the point!) We came downstairs and she had a breakfast of blueberry pear (I think) mixed with some new cereal (Daddy was still upstairs at this point). She ate an entire Stage 2 container of that, and then proceeded to nurse quite a bit. In the mist of her eating her breakfast, Scott gave her a couple of little bites of his Lemon Merange yogurt to try. She was fine through all of that, and she was hanging out with her Dad and Aunt Karen while I finished getting ready for church. I waltzed back into the Family Room and sat down on the couch with Scott and Shelbi. All of a sudden, he said "Shelbi, are you okay?" and right after those words escaped his mouth, she violently threw up. Now, Shelbi does throw up quite a bit, but this was MAJOR. She threw up once, then again, and the second time it was projectile AND came out her nose as well. She threw up one final time, and I ran out to the kitchen to get some paper towels while Karen was doing her best to hold what she could in her cupped hands. Scott kept telling Shelbi that she was okay, and that helped her from getting upset and freaking out. I started to "panic think," and for a brief second that I was going to be spending my first Mother's Day in the ER. After she got all of that out of her system, she was back to her old self again...wiggling around and smiling like the cute little ham that she is. I had a onesie made for Mammi for Mother's Day, and luckily, Shelbi had a sweater on on top of the onesie, or it would have been too soaked to wear to church. She had completely soaked the sweater, her onesie for Mammi was wet quite a bit on the top half, and the onesie underneath that one was also soaked. I ran upstairs to find her another onesie for under the cute Mammi one, Scott put the Mammi one in the dryer and then ran upstairs and dried it with the hair dryer, and Aunt Karen got her changed. We were playing a fun and exciting game of Beat the Clock, as I was making an attempt to stop to see Non before church. We hustled and bustled, but we were able to get it done.
Non was very happy with her picture frame gifts. Shelbi got her a framed copy of the picture of the two of them, and I got her a picture frame with two pictures from Shelbi's 3 months photo shoot and 2 pictures from her 6 month photo shoot. After a brief stay at Pap's house (and some unwanted harassment from Pap Sr.), we headed out the door and on our way to church.

The service at church was very nice and it focused on mothers and women in general. Mammi made it a point to say that the Anthem that the choir was singing was supposed to be a good one. I was expecting and waiting for a nice upbeat song, or for them to break out in a dance. To my surprise, it was a slow, contemporary song, with a slide show showing on the wall behind the choir. The slides consisted of what looked like a theatre reinaction of some biblical times with Mary and Jesus. At the end of the song, there was a slide that had none other than ME AND SHELBI! I couldn't believe my eyes! It was a slide of 2 older generation mother's, an older mother-daughter duo, and the picture of me holding Shelbi at the March for Babies! It was so neat and brought tears to my eyes. It turns out that Chuck had emailed my Mom about it, and she sent him the picture. When Shelbi gets fussy at church, I have a tendency to just get up and leave the sanctuary, and that's why she was telling me the story about the anthem...she didn't want me to miss it. Following a nice march up the isle at church to receive a cute pin, we headed out to the parking lot in the normal fashion...me carrying the diaper bag, and Aunt Megan carrying Shelbi.
Oh, here I go jumping around. When Shelbi and I first got into church, I asked Mammi to take off Shelbi's sweater, and she saw the onesie. She really liked it, and said that it made her happy. The front of the onesie said "I <3>

We told my Mom that we had reservations for lunch at the Italian Oven, so we headed on our merry little ways. Throughout the car ride to the mall, Megan, Dad, and I played some nice phone games, trying to make sure that we had everything in order, as Tim and Dad were meeting us there to surprise Mom. We arrived at the mall a little early, so we convinced Mom to do a lap around the mall first, while we waited for our table that was already ready (we didn't want to go in and have them seat us in the table for 6 plus Shelbi when she thought there was only 4 plus Shelbi). Upon our arrival back to the Italian Oven, Mom finally spotted Tim patiently (well, as patient as he could be) waiting outside of the restaurant. She got a very big smile on her face, and said "Ohhhhh! My Baby!" She was very happy to have all of her children and her hubby there to celebrate Mother's Day (even though she kept saying nonsense statements such as "Who talked you into coming home from school?" and "You should be home relaxing for your first Mother's Day!" and "You shouldn't have come all this way home!"). Shelbi got her Mammi a try picture frame with 5 pictures from her 6 month shoot, and Megan, Tim, and I got her the Wii Fit, as she is very difficult to buy for.

Sorry that this got so long, but I wanted to make sure that I had every little detail, as I know as time goes on, the exactness of the memories seem to fade. Before leaving in the morning, Shelbi presented me with a beautiful charm bracelet from Kay Jewelers with a beautiful silver heart charm. It's going to be engraved with her name, and as the years fly by, I will add more charms to the bracelet. I also received the Boyd's Best Dressed series giraffe, a card, and a very cute picture frame for a picture of the two of us. The most surprising and most cherished gift I received was a card. A simple card, from my mother to me, meant and will always mean the world to me. Thanks so very much for the picture frame as well, but the card was the best Mom! I love you, and so does your "Bi!"

Seeing Non and Meeting Pap

Today was a busy but fun day. I woke up this morning to a very smiley beautiful girl chatting away to her stuffed animals that are at the top of her crib. We had a lot planned for the day, so we headed downstairs for the daily routine of diaper change, breakfast, and nursing. After all of the hustle and bustle of the morning, we headed out to meet Steph and Josie at the mall to do a little bit of shopping. We then headed to Shippensburg to pick up our pictures, after stopping off at the Carlisle Kohl's and snatching up some awesome deals on clothes for the girls. Most of the items that I got are for her for next year, but I could not pass up on the 80% discounted prices on Carter's! During our trip to Kohl's, my Little Miss Drama Queen decided that she did NOT want to be in her stroller. She started to cry, so I got her out for a bit. She was then as happy as, um, I don't really like the "happy as a clam" saying because do we REALLY know that clams are happy creatures. Okay, I'll take that back. I just looked up online why and how the saying came into use, and the derivation is more likely to have come from the full phrase of "as happy as a clam at high water." Clams must be dug for during low tide, so I guess the clam is pretty happy during high tide. Anyway, I digress...She was quite happy, looking all around, trying to pull on my necklace, trying to pull on the clothes that we were looking at, as long as I held her. (Note to self, start taking the carrier with you in the car, and then you can put her in that when she want to be held.) I tried to put her down a couple of times, but she just started to cry, and I prefer to not have strangers stare at me and my unhappy child, so I picked her back up for a bit. A little while later, she became restless and decided she was hungry, so with the help from wonderful Aunt Steph, I nursed her (discretely) while walking around the toy department of Kohl's. Shelbi was then gracious enough to allow me to put her back in her stroller, but only if I acted like a goober. She was smiling and content if I was singing, or moving my head around like an, um, I don't even know anything to compare it to. Following my bought with whip flash, I remembered the SHHHHH technique. For some unknown but must appreciated reason, she enjoys the SHHHHH sound and it soothes her, so we, as parents, do what we have to do. After our running around of the morning and afternoon was completed, we headed over to 929 Susan Circle to see Non and Pap, as they arrived home from Florida yesterday. Non had seen Shelbi once while she was in the NICU, but that was it and Pap had not seen her in person, as they headed down to Florida in the beginning of October. Non rushed out to the Xterra (well, as much rushing as an 80ish-year-old legally blind woman can rush) to meet us. Shelbi got extremely excited when she saw Non and started squealing like she does when she gets excited. We went in the house, and Non asked to hold her for a bit, and she was playing and talking and laughing with her. Shelbi wasn't quite sure what to think of Pap, but, well, none of us really do. She was quite the little ham for Non, Pap, Aunt Donna, Sara, Camilla, Zac, and Caleb. She very much enjoyed being the center of attention and having everyone make such a fuss over her. The kids really liked seeing her as well, and eventually Pap (my Dad) came home from work and basked in the glory of his grand-daughter for a bit as well. Even though the weather was icky and rainy, it was a very nice, enjoyable day, spent mostly with friends and family. I will close for now, as she is napping in her car seat on the counter, and I'm going to try to grab a bite to eat before getting her up and ready for bed.

March of Dimes

Well, it's been a while since my last post. Time just seems to fly by anymore, and I find myself running out of time in the day to get everything done that I want to get done as Shelbi gets bigger and bigger and more and more active. I just put her to bed about 5 minutes ago, and she is either already asleep, or she is entertaining herself by watching the ceiling fan and listening to her heartbeat dog. She goes to bed very easily most nights, and I know that we are very lucky for that. Hopefully, for Steph's benefit and sanity, Josie will get on the easy-to-go-to-bed-and-sleep-through-the-night train. The last two nights, she has had Steph up about every hour, and I'm sure that is extremely difficult.

Anyway, yesterday was the March of Dimes March for Babies. It was rainy and a little chilly, but it was a good time. Our awesome team consisted of Shelbi, me, Daddy, Mammi, Aunt Megan, Aunt Steph, Josie, Nana Jan, and Aunt Karen. We also hooked up with Amy from our iVillage board. She lives in York, and she had her daughter, Brooke, 4 1/2 early. We took the shorter route due to the rain (and worries about Mammi's foot), but it was a nice outing. Our team, Shelbi Strollers, raised over $1,700.00! Following the walk, they had a nice Subway lunch ready for us, along with activities for the kids and goody cups to go. When we were waiting for the walk to begin, Shannon, one of Shelbi's NICU nurses, came over and said hello, and got to see Shelbi looking GREAT!

Shelbi has been practicing sitting on her own, and she's doing pretty well. Before too long, she will have it down pat. She's also trying all kinds of different baby foods. She still has cereal with apple juice for breakfast, and then she nurses as well. Then, for dinner, she has some sort of fruit (normally, due to the fact that she does NOT like the veggies) mixed with a little bit of cereal. We got her a doorway jumper a couple of weeks ago, but she's not too sure if she likes it or not. We'll see what happens.

Well, I know that there is a lot more that I want to write, but of course I cannot remember at the current moment, so I will close for now.

Blessed

First of all, I just want to start off by saying that I am so incredibly blessed to have such an amazing daughter. My life is so much more meaningful now that she is in it. There are so many times that I just stare at her and I am still in such awe of her. Sometimes it feels so surreal, and I think, "am I really a mother? Is this beautiful being in front of me, the one that depends on me for most everything right now, the one who's laugh can break even the worst of moments, the one who I would do anything and everything for really my daughter? She is the most precious thing (not that she is a "thing," but I cannot seem to find another word at this moment), and again, I am so blessed. She has brought me so much joy, and I know that there is so much more to come. I know that there will be bad and bumpy times along the way, but that's okay. She has brought me to a place with my Mother where I never thought I would be. She makes her "Mammi" smile and be silly at times, and she has brought out a side of her that I haven't ever seen before, and I love it. She is wonderful, and Shelbi and I are both so blessed to have her in our lives. I know that she is going to be a "Mammi's girl!" Also, if it wasn't for Shelbi, I never would have met Steph and Josie, and they are so special to me and Shelbi. I have never had such a good friend as I do in Steph. We haven't even known each other for a full year yet, but I feel as though we have known each other for ever. She is a true friend, and am so blessed to have her in our lives. I can honestly say that I have a true friend who is not in the friendship for herself or around only when she wants something or when it's convenient, which has been the case with some others along the way. I know that when I need a friend, she is there, and the same goes for her.

Shelbi slept until about 8:30 this morning. I went into her room to get her up when I heard her moving all around and saw that her eyes were open, as she is very content and happy in the morning. I was greeted with her beautiful smile and her excitement kicking. Most mornings when I pick her up, she lays her head on my shoulder for a few seconds to cuddle, and I love that so very much. We came downstairs, did the diaper change thing, and headed to the kitchen for her yummy breakfast consisting of rice cereal made with apple juice. She really seemed to like that. She chowed down on that while I snuck in a bite of my peaches and cream oatmeal when I was able to. She nursed for a while afterwords, and drifted back off to sleep for a few moments until I took her off of my breast. We headed upstairs and she hung out in her activity chair while I got dressed and ready to go. We play a game of hide and seek while I'm getting dressed and brushing my teeth and darting in and out of the closet and the bathroom. She jumps and then gets excited and laughs when I pop out of the room and say peek-a-boo. She also LOVES the ceiling fan, so she's able to entertain herself for a minute or two so I can get turbo dressed (that's dressed EXTREMELY quickly). We then took our time getting her ready, as she likes to play while we do so. We play "Where's Shelbi" when we put her shirt on, and "put your left arm in, put your right arm in" and so on and so forth. We headed to Michael's, as they are having a good sale on scrapbooking supplies, and, well, since I'm addicted to scrapbooking, I had to go. We met our BFF's there, and Steph was a little stressed, but I had a good time. We ended up running to the mall to enjoy a yummy lunch of boardwalk fries and Subway subs. Shelbi and I didn't really feel like heading home just yet after our trip to the mall, so we stopped and hung out with Mammi for a bit. She just went to bed around 9:00pm, and she did so without a peep. She's such a good baby, and again, I am so blessed to have her. She hung out with Dad a bit this evening while I made some chili, and let me just say it was rather, um, interesting. I did not have any tomato sauce, so I used tomato puree (which, by the way, is absolutely, 100% disgusting by itself). I also did not have any chili seasoning mix, so I created my own. I used chili powder (and a lot of it), garlic salt, some chopped onions, oregano, salt, pepper, Red Robbin seasoning, flour, and, last but NOT least, RICE CEREAL. Yes, I'm serious. I put Gerber rice cereal in our chili. Don't ask me why because I'm not really sure, but it worked and it was good!

"I have been blessed

And I feel like I've found my way

I thank God for all I've been given

At the end of every day

I have been blessed

With so much more than I deserve

To be here with the ones that love me

To love them so much it hurts

I have been blessed"

6 Month Wellness Visit

Today was Shelbi's 6 month wellness visit at the pediatrician. Wow! It's extremely hard to believe that she is almost six and a half month old. I know that time has always gone pretty quickly, but it has tripled in speed since she came home from the hospital. Anyway, I digress. Shelbi had a nice, full belly on our ride to Camp Hill to Dr. Shrift's office. She had a nice breakfast consisting of some rice cereal with sweet potatoes followed by approximately 20 minutes of boob juice. I have found that it's a lot easier if she is wearing a one piece outfit when we have trips to the doctor. They are a lot quicker and easier to get on and off, as she needs to be stripped down to only her diaper for her check ups. She had on a cute Carter's footless outfit with a cute collar and ruffles on it that Mammi had gotten for her. It's pink with little strawberries all over it, and she looks so adorable in it (well, she looks so adorable in just about everything...I know...I'm bias)! Mammi met us at the doctor's office, and we actually both got there at the same exact time. She was 12 pounds 13 ounces, and she really seemed to enjoy sitting in the scale seat. She looked so cute in it too. Her head circumference was 40 inches and 3 cm, and she was 25 1/2 inches long. Dr. Shrift goes by her actual age and NOT her adjusted age (which I prefer by the way), as some of the other doctor's would still have her on the adjusted age curve. She is only in the 3rd to 5th percentile with her weight, but she is in the 65th percentile with her length. She's going to be a tall one! Gee, I wonder where she gets that from? The land of the giants on the Branyan/Flannery side. He was not concerned with her weight, and he actually said that we could stop with putting the Neosure formula in with her bottles. Yay for $15 extra dollars a month and no yucky formula for her! The only thing that I did not agree with was that Dr. Shrift thinks that I should nurse Shelbi first thing in the morning, and then wait until later in the morning/afternoon to feed her cereal, but I'm sticking to the routine that we are on. She eats the cereal (normally with a fruit or vegetable) and then she still nurses. If she didn't nurse at all in the morning, I would try it his way, but I think she is doing just fine the way things are. She now does not have to go back until she is 9 months, and she is done with some of the vaccinations. It seems as though she is getting worse with each set of shots, but I don't blame her, as I'm NOT a fan of needles at all either. She was as happy as an ant at a crumb fest when he first came in. Probably because her Mammi and I are a little silly AND she was only wearing a diaper. She likes to be naked. Dr. Shrift took her to give her a once over, and she was smiling and bouncy. He put her feet up on the table and she bounced around a bit, and he asked her if she was dancing, and she let out a nice, long, loud scream. She was extremely ticked off. I don't know if she was scared or cold or what, but it was actually kind of entertaining. I know it's not nice to get enjoyment out of Shelbi's sadness, but she's just so animated and dramatic already, that I have to laugh. I'm sure it won't be as amusing when she's a bit older, but I'll take advantage of it while I can. He finished checking her out and gave her back to me, and she seemed to simmer down a bit. Then, came the fun part (I know that sarcasm can't be sensed in a blog, but that was sarcasm). The nurse or medical assistant or whatever her title is, came in with the three shots and the oral vaccination. She drank the oral vaccination like a pro! The nurse said she thinks that may be the fastest anyone ever took it before. That's rather amusing because the last time she had it, she cried and kept turning her head and acted like it was horrible. Then the lady got her ready for the shots, and I covered her eyes. I don't want her to see me and associate me with the pain and discomfort, and boy was she discomforted. She let out a nice hurt cry while the lady gave her two shots in one leg and one in the other. Then, she rubbed the spots for a minute, put the band aids on, and finally I could pick her up. She continued to cry for a bit, but it was more of a mad cry. That was the excitement for the day. I did stop at CVS on the way to lunch with Mammi and Aunt Megan so that I could pick up some hydrocortizone. Dr. Shrift said to use that 3 times a day on the rashes on her face, and hopefully that will clear it up (at least for a while, as it will probably keep coming back). Hopefully, this "baby" eczema will NOT transform itself into the adult eczema that Aunt Megan and Mammi suffer from. Aunt Megan and I walked around the mall for a few minutes, and I found a cute pink, summer outfit (with a giraffe on it) for Shelbi as well. We headed home shortly after that, and Shelbi was fussy and clingy off and on all night. She went to bed around 8:30 with no problems whatsoever, as she was exhausted. Hopefully she will be feeling better tomorrow!

Happy Easter

Today was Shelbi's very first Easter, and it was a lovely day! She woke up so happy this morning, and the Easter Bunny had made a stop here at 2 Goldcrest Place. When we came downstairs, she saw her Easter presents (consisting on some super-cute outfits and some giraffe stuffed animals) and actually played with her one "learning" giraffe. She then ate a scrumdiliumptious breakfast consisting of cereal mixed with prunes and breast milk. Daddy fed her while I jumped in the shower to get ready for church. Daddy also got her dressed in her beautiful dress all by himself! Shelbi and I headed to church, and we got to see Mammi, Uncle Tim, Uncle Nelson, and Aunt Megan. Mammi had a really, REALLY nice book for her (the second in the series), and a couple of other goodies. Shelbi also got to see some of her buddies. Erin, Corry Stone's daughter who was born 2 days before Shelbi, was there, and Shelbi really seems to like to look at other babies. Corry said at one point that there's no denying that she's my daughter...she looks just like me! I LOVE it when people say that to me. I'm sure that she will not like it if it continues, but it makes me feel good. Angie Miller's aunt and cousin were there too with her new baby, and her aunt told her that Shelbi was my daughter, and she responded that she knew that because she looked just like me. Someone else said that she looked like me too, but I cannot remember who. After church, we headed home, and we had a nice afternoon lunch/dinner with Daddy, Pap, Karen, and Karen's mom and dad. Pap got me and Shelbi a gift to share. It was a Cadbury bunny that makes noise, and it has a Cadbury egg in it's mouth. That was for me, while the animal was for her. He also got her a gift card, which we are going to use towards a walker for her. I know that some "professionals" do not like walkers as they say that it keeps the babies from walking longer, but I think that she will really like it AND it's a car! LOL Other than that, we just hung out around the house, had some DQ for dessert and watched Daddy and Ted play Mariocart, which was pretty entertaining. We did get to talk to Nick too, and Savannah actually went and picked him up and made Easter dinner for the two of them and two of her friends. I was really happy that he didn't have to be by himself on Easter. He had gotten a tattoo last week (the Marine bulldog), and he said that he is ready to get another one. I asked him what he was going to get, as he was keeping it a secret, but he told me that he is getting some kind of tree or flower or something, and on the branches is going to be his Mom's name and his Dad's name. Shhhh....it's a secret, but I think that is a really neat idea. We'll see if and when he actually gets it. Tomorrow is Shelbi's 6 month pediatric appointment, so we have another lovely round of shots! Hopefully she will do well and it will go quickly for her, as I HATE seeing her get so upset!