For two people who have just about every aspect of their lives planned out on a spreadsheet, it's apparent that we never consulted the stars upon deciding when to bear our "fruits." The other day I got one of those forwarded emails going around describing zodiac signs. Usually I laugh these things off, but Hayley's description was pretty accurate.
GEMINI - The Chatterbox (May 21 - June 20) Smart and witty. Outgoing, very chatty. Lively, energetic. Adaptable But needs to express themselves. Argumentative and outspoken. Like change. Versatile. Busy, sometimes nervous and tense. Gossips. May seem superficial or inconsistent. Beautiful physically and mentally.
Which led me to peek at what we expect Frog Prince's zodiac sign to be.
ARIES - The Daredevil (Mar 21 - April 19)
Energetic. Adventurous and spontaneous. Confident and enthusiastic. Fun. Loves a challenge. EXTREMELY impatient. Sometimes selfish. Short fuse. (Easily angered.) Lively, passionate, and sharp wit. Outgoing. Lose interest quickly - easily bored. Egotistical. Courageous and assertive.
I.Am.In.TROUBLE!!!!
We finished up another round of Hayley's swim lessons on Friday. We did figure out that part of Hayley's protests in the water have a lot to do with the temperature. This is one little girl who DOES NOT like to be cold. The pool temperature for lessons is kept at 88 degrees, but we've had several rather cool mornings here that have been in the sixties. We went to a few noon time lessons to see if temperatures close to 80 degrees made a difference in Hayley's attitude and she was a completely different student. Who can blame her distaste for the cold weather though? It's not like she has ANY meat on her little bones and neither Brian nor I passed on any genetic adaptation to cold weather. We're planning on continuing with just a weekly swim lesson for the rest of the summer. Hopefully we'll be able to keep Hayley in the pool quite a bit this summer and she'll get this whole swim/float thing mastered.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Happy Easter!
Hayley has had a busy Easter weekend We had a family dinner on Saturday evening and Hayley certainly enjoyed having so many people to entertain. We attended church service Sunday morning and Hayley got to show off her Easter dress. Apparently it was well received which was a problem for Hayley. She looked so cute in her dress that one little boy in the church nursery decided to hug her a little bit harder than she liked. She was in tears when we picked her up but Daddy reassured Hayley that getting upset because a boy hugged her is exactly what she is supposed to do! We returned home for an Easter egg hunt. Hayley surprised us an was actually really interested in hunting for the eggs. She'd find one, and then look up at us and ask "more?" She did a VERY good job of finding all the "hidden" eggs!
Pictures of our day:
Here's some video of Hayley playing with the puzzle the bunny man brought her!
Pictures of our day:
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Here's some video of Hayley playing with the puzzle the bunny man brought her!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
I'm getting a little nervous
Paranoid may be the better term to use. As I prepare for my second go round, I'm more nervous about labor and delivery then I ever was while pregnant with Hayley. With Hayley, I didn't know what to expect and in a way that was a good thing. With Frog Prince, I have an idea of what to expect and that is where the problem lies.My labor with Hayley was really fairly "easy" (as easy as labor and delivery can be, right girls?) On the day of Hayley's birth, I woke up at 4:30am with some mild stomach pains that I really didn't think could be labor. I'd never had Braxton Hicks contractions so I thought that perhaps maybe that was what was going on. However, I was exactly 40 weeks pregnant and ready to reclaim my body and so I did all those things that I heard were supposed to get labor going. I walked Chloe, I pulled weeds, I cleaned up around the house. Still, no pattern to my contractions. By 11am I had 1 or 2 fairly painful contractions and I told Brian that perhaps we should just go down to the hospital to be on the safe side. When we got to the hospital at 11:30am I was 4 cm dilated. By 1:40pm I was fully dilated and we were waiting for my epidural to take effect so I could start pushing. Hayley was born at 2:01pm.
Obviously, I had a quick labor. Which was wonderful. But, that is also the source of my current concern. I keep hearing that second labors are usually much shorter than first labors and quite frankly I'm not the least bit interested in redeeming my 15 minutes of fame by having a newspaper article written about the woman who birthed her baby at home with the help of her toddler and trusty Shih Tzu. I'm into the au natural thing and even considered a natural birth (for about a day) but really, I
On the flip side, I could be one of those anomalies where my second labor is longer and more drawn out then my first. Oh wait, that doesn't sound appealing either!!! Add that to the anxiety that is wreaking havoc on my Type A personality over the fact that I don't know exactly when this baby will come and I'm a paranoid ball of nerves. You can see I'm in quite the conundrum. If I don't blog for awhile, it's because I've gotten all too stressed out about this and have decided to setup a tent to live in the hospital parking lot.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Change of Heart
So after a miraculous and speedy recovery from the flu, Hayley returned to swim lessons on Monday. I'm thinking she must have really felt badly over the weekend because there is no other explanation for the sudden change in her attitude towards swim lessons. For the past two weeks, Hayley has been fit to be tied during each lesson. She's not uncomfortable and it's not that she's scared of the water. It's that SHE isn't getting to do what SHE wants to do... and so she screams. But on Monday, Hayley squealed with delight the entire time she was in the water.
Yes, I am talking about Hayley Roberts. Her excitement over swimming has continued throughout the week and she is now dragging me out of the house in the morning. So maybe it's an appreciation for the little things in life like feeling well enough to go to a simple swim lesson. Or, perhaps she just came to the realization that she looks so darn good in a swimsuit that she'd better learn to swim so she can wear a swimsuit more often. Either way I'll take it.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
DEFCON 1
Alert Homeland Security. Our perimeter has been breached. Hayley has become the not so proud recipient of influenza. We had a normal day on Thursday with the routine afternoon nap. But when she woke up at her usual time she was burning up with a 103 degree fever. After a bit of Tylenol and a cool bath, her temp came back down and we had a relatively normal dinner. I thought perhaps she's just battling a virus and off to bed she went like usual. Until about 9pm when we heard her coughing and ran to her room to find her and her bed covered in... why didn't anybody tell me that kids throw up??!!! (Oh goodie, looks like I've earned the coveted vomit badge to add to my Mommy Vest.) Brian assumed the role of combat medic and I took over as combat surgeon. We made the decision to MEDEVAC Hayley to the tub. Hayley refused to let go of Pooh who was severely injured in the blast. Froggy was in bad shape as well, but apparently Hayley doesn't follow that "no man left behind" motto. Once we cleaned up Hayley's battle wounds we were better able to assess her condition and see the full extent of her injuries. Once 
again, her fever was back up to 104 and we were seriously considering MEDEVACing Hayley to the ER. I have to admit, we've known there would be war, but we probably haven't trained properly and certainly had never experienced this type of warfare before. Dare I say we were a bit unprepared and may have PANICKED??!! We opted for our next line of defense, the on-call Pediatrician who gave us some advice on getting Hayley's fever down and telling us when an ER visit would truly be appropriate. It took about 2 hours, but we finally lowered her temp to the point that she was comfortable and able to get some rest. She battled the fever all night as we monitored our patient with frequent temperature checks and Tylenol doses. Friday morning I packed Hayley up and we headed down to the Dr. for a nasal swab that confirmed that Hayley had indeed contracted the flu.
We know a few people who have battled this strain of flu this year and from what the Dr. told us to expect, we really were expecting a very unpleasant week. So far though, Hayley has shocked us as her fever has been absent since last night, she shows no other symptoms besides maybe the hint of a runny nose, and has been running around the house all day long like nothing ever happened. I've been spending the past two days armed with Lysol trying to decontaminate the house and praying that Brian's and my immune system can fight off the threat. I've even contemplated bathing in Emergen-C, because quite frankly, being 34 weeks pregnant with the flu is not something that I have any desire to experience. So I'm going to call this battle a draw. Obviously I lost the battle because somehow Hayley ended up with the flu. But, because of her strong immune system, which I'm choosing to believe that good nutrition and sleep played a part in, she successfully fought off the foreign invader.
And yes, I keep score of these battles. I HATE being sick and therefore I HATE germs. It's a personal mission of mine to keep my family and myself healthy so a germ invasion resulting in illness is like a personal failure to me. Now that we have one walking petri dish and another on the way, I'm going to have to step up my germ warfare readiness even further. I thereby declare that this household will remain at DEFCON 3 for the foreseeable future.
Oh, and because I know you're probably concerned, thanks to my "expert" surgical/laundromat skills, both Pooh and Froggy were awarded a Purple Heart for their brave sacrifice. They have made a full recovery and have returned to Sergeant Hayley's platoon.
again, her fever was back up to 104 and we were seriously considering MEDEVACing Hayley to the ER. I have to admit, we've known there would be war, but we probably haven't trained properly and certainly had never experienced this type of warfare before. Dare I say we were a bit unprepared and may have PANICKED??!! We opted for our next line of defense, the on-call Pediatrician who gave us some advice on getting Hayley's fever down and telling us when an ER visit would truly be appropriate. It took about 2 hours, but we finally lowered her temp to the point that she was comfortable and able to get some rest. She battled the fever all night as we monitored our patient with frequent temperature checks and Tylenol doses. Friday morning I packed Hayley up and we headed down to the Dr. for a nasal swab that confirmed that Hayley had indeed contracted the flu.We know a few people who have battled this strain of flu this year and from what the Dr. told us to expect, we really were expecting a very unpleasant week. So far though, Hayley has shocked us as her fever has been absent since last night, she shows no other symptoms besides maybe the hint of a runny nose, and has been running around the house all day long like nothing ever happened. I've been spending the past two days armed with Lysol trying to decontaminate the house and praying that Brian's and my immune system can fight off the threat. I've even contemplated bathing in Emergen-C, because quite frankly, being 34 weeks pregnant with the flu is not something that I have any desire to experience. So I'm going to call this battle a draw. Obviously I lost the battle because somehow Hayley ended up with the flu. But, because of her strong immune system, which I'm choosing to believe that good nutrition and sleep played a part in, she successfully fought off the foreign invader.
And yes, I keep score of these battles. I HATE being sick and therefore I HATE germs. It's a personal mission of mine to keep my family and myself healthy so a germ invasion resulting in illness is like a personal failure to me. Now that we have one walking petri dish and another on the way, I'm going to have to step up my germ warfare readiness even further. I thereby declare that this household will remain at DEFCON 3 for the foreseeable future.
Oh, and because I know you're probably concerned, thanks to my "expert" surgical/laundromat skills, both Pooh and Froggy were awarded a Purple Heart for their brave sacrifice. They have made a full recovery and have returned to Sergeant Hayley's platoon.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Weekend Recovery
After a busy weekend we are slowly recovering and getting back into the swing (or swim) of things. Hayley spent Friday night at Nana and Papa's so Mommy and Daddy could participate in the community garage sale and unload the several boxes of "treasures" that we have been carting around since our college days. Brian and I had made a pact that whatever didn't sell would be donated and so we priced accordingly. We had a successful day and I'm greatly relieved to have rid ourselves of this excess baggage. Now we have room in the garage for all the new "rides" we seem to be quickly accumulating. Between the wagon, multiple strollers, and miscellaneous kid gear I'm beginning to think we should have built a four car garage.
On Sunday we decided to take a family trip out to Lido Key and let Hayley have some beach time. We live just minutes from the Gulf and don't take advantage of the beach nearly as often as we should as this is the first time Hayley has been to the beach since she could walk. It took us awhile to get across the bridge as the Sarasota Marathon was underway. I thought about the irony... last year at this time I had made it my goal to train for this year's half marathon. Looks like now I'll have an additional training partner to get my buns in gear for next year.
Unbeknownst to us, Hayley knew it was race day. I'm not quite sure why Brian and I thought that Hayley would be happy to just sit and play in the sand. Why on earth would ANYBODY (particularly Hayley) sit and relax on the beach when there are seagulls to chase, people to talk to, and lots of places to explore. Hayley ran for forty five minutes straight and only stopped because we couldn't take anymore beach bootcamp so we packed up and called it a morning. Due to the fact that Hayley can now outrun my waddle, I got to be on camera duty and Brian was the lucky recipient of Hayley's intense cardio workout.
Yesterday we resumed the ISR swim lessons that Hayley began last summer. She has retained a lot of the skills she learned last summer which is great, but let's just say that we've still got some challenges ahead of us. More on this to come.
On Sunday we decided to take a family trip out to Lido Key and let Hayley have some beach time. We live just minutes from the Gulf and don't take advantage of the beach nearly as often as we should as this is the first time Hayley has been to the beach since she could walk. It took us awhile to get across the bridge as the Sarasota Marathon was underway. I thought about the irony... last year at this time I had made it my goal to train for this year's half marathon. Looks like now I'll have an additional training partner to get my buns in gear for next year.
Unbeknownst to us, Hayley knew it was race day. I'm not quite sure why Brian and I thought that Hayley would be happy to just sit and play in the sand. Why on earth would ANYBODY (particularly Hayley) sit and relax on the beach when there are seagulls to chase, people to talk to, and lots of places to explore. Hayley ran for forty five minutes straight and only stopped because we couldn't take anymore beach bootcamp so we packed up and called it a morning. Due to the fact that Hayley can now outrun my waddle, I got to be on camera duty and Brian was the lucky recipient of Hayley's intense cardio workout.
Yesterday we resumed the ISR swim lessons that Hayley began last summer. She has retained a lot of the skills she learned last summer which is great, but let's just say that we've still got some challenges ahead of us. More on this to come.
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