So You Think You Can Dance

I am huge fan of So You Think you Can Dance, and the season 4 has just started. Unfortunately I missed the first episode but Dave forwarded this to me today. I am sorry I missed it but this is awesome! Check it out.


I think he Can Dance - Watch more free videos

Boo-Boo Kitty

Monday we went to one of our neighbors for dinner (Michelle and Bryan) and while we were there Isabelle fell down and hurt herself. Mrs. Michelle has a thing at her house called Boo-Boo Kitty it is a cold pack in the shape of a kitty that she let Isabelle use when she fell. So today Isabelle fell down and the first thing she screamed is, "I want Boo-Boo Kitty" and she would not let that up. She cried and whined forever about that Kitty. Her Boo-Boo was fine but she insisted on that dang cold pack, so now my new mission in life is to find Boo-Boo Kitty. Of course I have no car so I was not able to run out and get one.

Oh well, looks like we will be taking the car tomorrow morning. Isabelle doesn't have Boo-Boo Kitty on the brain at this very moment, but I know that she will fall down and wonder why her mom still hasn't gotten her one.

Where are you Boo-Boo Kitty!!



If this jealously thing starts this early in life, I cannot imagine what we will be conned into buying as Isabelle gets older. First Boo-Boo Kitty, next thing you know she will want a Ferrari. Where do you draw the line?

Motorcycle Shirt

Isabelle, as stated in my previous blogs, loves Motorcycles! She has a motorcycle shirt that Pops (my dad) got her while we were on our cruise. Once when Isabelle visited Pops he took her to the Harley Davidson store to find another motorcycle shirt but could not find any that actually had a motorcycle on them (they all only had writing on them). Well, Pops finally found her another shirt, although a little big she is very excited.

Her old shirt has so many stains on it but she will not give it up. Once you put on one of the famous "motorcycle shirts" it takes an act of congress (or bribery) to get it off.

Pool Party

We went to Papaw and Mamaw's house yesterday and had so much fun. Isabelle wore her new turtle outfit from Gymboree and she looked like a little diva. She had the shirt, shoes, hair bows, sunglasses and the swimsuit to match. My daughter the diva, she looked adorable.






Isabelle swam in the pool, swang on the swings, slid down the slide, joined in on a hula hoop competition, sac race, and foot race.



Looks like Isabelle was winning the foot race to me.

Mom-Mom from Way Up High

Isabelle has a million grandparents, and it is becoming harder for her to know who exactly I am talking about. Dave's parents go by Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop, but and Dave's grandmother goes by Mom-Mom Wink. Now we have two Mom-Mom Winks so we turned Dave's grandmother into "Mom-Mom from way up high", because she is from Baltimore, MD. It seems very confusing but it makes things a little easier for Isabelle.

So all week I would ask Isabelle,
M- What do you want to do today Isabelle?
I- Mom-Mom up High

M- Mommy is on the phone
I- Mom-Mom up high
M-No not on the phone with Mom-Mom up high

I-Mommy look at pictures of Mom-Mom up high

It was clear to me that really wanted to see Mom-Mom up high, at least all of the clues were leading in that direction. So Sunday we met Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop for lunch then went out to see Mom-Mom up High. Isabelle had so much fun. She loves to eat MMUH's candy, she rocked with her for a little while, played on her bed, and a little game of "Where's Isabelle".

Isabelle loves playing with her MMUH! They really had a great time together.

To the Park We Go

Three day weekends are the best, that does not change even when you don't have a "job". Isabelle and I were so excited to have Daddy home for three whole days. We have had a great weekend already, and still have one more day to go.

Our weekend started with Daddy making pancakes while Isabelle and I watched. Isabelle loves, loves, loves her pancakes. Like mother like daughter, my favorite restraunt is IHOP; I know that many of you will think I am crazy but I don't care. IHOP is awesome! So when you ask Isabelle what she wants to do today, or what she wants for dinner she will reply with, "pancakes"!! That's my girl.

After pancakes we decided to go to the park as a family, we even included the mutt ball (also known as Tootsie). I think of all us Tootsie was the most excited about the park, she does not get out much. We played on the swings for a while, fed the ducks, and took a little walk. One thing I have learned about ducks on this adventure is bread is not as appealing to them when it it being chunked at them by a toddler. Weird! Needless to say Mommy was the one drawing the ducks in with gentle tosses of tiny pieces of bread, while Miss Isabelle was scaring them away with her not so gently hurling of food. When you add Tootsie into the mix (who just wants to eat the ducks) you could be assured that our family was not drawing in ducks in droves.

Look I am in ANOTHER picture, that is two pictures in a two week time frame.

After the park we came home and took a "nap". I say "nap" because all of the sudden Isabelle is to big for naps, why I don't know? What I do know is that this better be a phase because Mommy is not ready for Isabelle to give up naps. She has not taken a nap in 3 days now, she will just sit in her room talk, sing a little, read her favorite book (PB Bear Goes Night Night).. Whatever it takes to stay awake is what she will do, go to sleep little girl!!

Anyhow, after the "nap" Daddy and Isabelle decided that it would be a good idea to go to the motorcycle store. Isabelle (and Daddy) love motorcycles, but no we are not going to be getting one. Isabelle's favorite part is touching them and sitting on them. We took a picture of the one that Dave is convinced we will be getting Isabelle when she is 5, yeah right! (Don't tell Dave I said that, I am just going on with this charade until the time comes. As you learn when you become a mom you must pick your battles!)

Our final adventure for the day was the sprinkler that we bought Isabelle. I cannot believe how hard it is to find a sprinkler now a days so we had to settle for a wiggly hose. Isabelle was a little afraid at first but after Mommy and Daddy ran through it a couple of times she began to warm up a little. Toward the end of the day she would actually drink out of the hose, it was really cute. Despite her best efforts she could not get Tootsie to join her.

Our Outings This Week

Isabelle and I spent all week in the house this week with the price of gas drastically increasing lately. Although we are stuck here at the house we still manage to have a lot of fun. Isabelle and I walked down to the pool for the first time this year. Every time we drive by the pool Isabelle makes the comment that she wants to go swimming, finally last weekend the pool opened. As Isabelle would say, "lucky day". We have the neatest little kiddy pool at the community pool, although it was a little chilly Isabelle had a blast.




Here are some pictures from the park. Isabelle had so much fun posing with flowers.



As soon as you point the camera at Isabelle she says, "cheese" with a huge goofy grin. Then when you ask her to smile she closes her eyes and smiles. She is not a good poser you have to catch her naturally...LOL


"Cheese" "Smile"

Bad thing about a new camera is I am taking WAY to many pictures, but they are so darn cute.

The Cue Things She Says

After lunch this afternoon I gave Isabelle some cantaloupe and I start putting away the dishes. Then I hear Isabelle singing:

"Rock a by Cantaloupe , in the tree top.."

The cantaloupe is cut into little wedges so I guess she deiced to rock it to sleep. What an imagination.

____________________________________________________

Yesterday's conversation with Isabelle:
Mommy- "Isabelle I think we should surprise Daddy and mow the lawn, what do you think?
Isabelle- "YEAH" (Pure excitement)
M- "Are you going to help Mommy?"
I- "Noooooo"
M-"Why not"
I- "Scccaaarreeedd"

So Isabelle is scared of the lawn mower, and despite how many times I tell her that the lawn mower is just noisy that it will not hurt you she doesn't believe me. It was cute, but hard to get the cuteness to come off in a blog post. I guess my Dad was right all those years, "it is not what you said, it is the way you said it". (The way I said it was apparently always very sarcastic and got me in trouble). Needless to say I had to mow the lawn by myself, and it was not as big of a suprise as I thought it would be because I could not figure out how to get the darn thing started. I eventually had to call Dave, tell him what I was up to so that he could tell me how to start the lawnmower. By the way, for those of you in the lawn mower market do not spend the money for the turn key start, it does not work!

New Camera

I am going to say this publicly once and only once so be sure to soak it all in right now. "Sometimes I am wrong and my husband is right", ewww I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. LOL

Last year we decided that we needed a new digital camera because our other one was just awful. At the time Dave wanted to get an SLR camera, but I told him that he never took pictures (only I do) and that really we needed a camera that was comfortable to me. The SLR cameras were more expensive and a lot bigger than what I wanted to carry. Well, I am regretting getting that point and shoot now. Now that Isabelle moves so much all I get are pictures of the back of her head, and on the rare occasion that I do get a picture of her face it is super blurry.

So we finally broke down and bought and SLR on Saturday and it is AMAZING at the difference in pictures. Check this out:



Oh yeah, so on the way home from Circuit City Dave is so excited about this new camera. He tells me that he is going to take twice the amount of pictures that he took with the point in shoot. "Wow, really that many... You are going to take 4 whole pictures??" Believe it or not Dave has taken a bunch of pictures already, it might be premature to say this but I think I may start being IN some of the pictures that we take. This camera is truly amazing! When Dave takes pictures that is a miracle.

Sunday's Adventure

Make a Smilebox photobook

Holy Cow!! Unbelievable

You have got to check out the Unhealthiest Drink in America, I cannot believe this:

The Unhealthiest Drink in America
Baskin Robbin’s Large Heath Bar Shake (32 oz)
2,310 calories
266 g sugar
108 g fat (64 g saturated)

Let's look at America's Worst Drink in numbers:

73: The number of ingredients that go into this milkshake.
66: The number of teaspoons of sugar this drink contains.
11: The number of Heath Bars you would have to eat to equal the number of calories found in one Baskin Robbins Large Heath Bar Shake.
8-12: The average number of minutes it takes to consume this drink.
240: The number of minutes you’d need to spend on a treadmill burning it off, running at a moderate pace.

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/5027/americas-unhealthiest-drinks-exposed/

What a week

Well it has been a week to remember for me and my family, as I am sure most of you know. There are a few random things that I left out of my blog this week that I want to share with you.

**Profanity alert, sorry wont's happen again (hopefully)** First, as you know Isabelle went to the hospital this week and it was truly a nightmare for me. Not only is my sweet baby sick, now she is going to the hospital and I am having withdrawals from Effexor. The main action I dread of taking Isabelle to the hospital is having to hear her scream while she is getting her IV. The dreaded time finally comes and the pediatric nurse lays everything out on the table to get ready for the IV, before we have to lay Isabelle down (smart thinking). All we need now is the head nurse (Connie, who later become Connie the Heartless Bitch to me) to come in and aid in the IV. Connie finally gets there and then Dave, Stacy (pedi nurse), Connie (Heartless Bitch Nurse), and myself all hold down Isabelle. ... Wait, before I tell you what happens let me give you a little history lesson. When Isabelle was about 2-3 months old we had to have an upper GI done on her. As you know an infant is not going to lay still for you on the table so what they did was tie Isabelle's hands over her head with a pillowcase, as well as tie her feet down. Ever since this day Isabelle REFUSES to lay down at the doctors office. She will do anything else you want, look her ears, stand on the scale, take her temp, even stick out her tongue, but WILL NOT lay on the table for any reason at all.... Ok so back to the story and Connie the HB (Heartless Bitch for short). So here is Isabelle laying on the table screaming because we are making her lay down and HB is taking her sweet precious time, as if she is deaf and cannot hear the blood curdling screams coming out of Isabelle's mouth, as well as blind because she cannot see how upset she is. All of a sudden a phone starts ringing, now just image yourself in HB's position- little girl on the table who has been throwing up all day, scared to death, screaming, bawling, held down by 4 people, dehydrated and wasting her last bit of bodily fluid on tears.... Would you answer the phone??? Connie the HB did!!! What?? At this point I am almost in tears because I am having to hold Isabelle down, she is in the hospital, still no Effexor for me (and Lord knows I need it now) and she answers the phone. Next thing you know, "Are you kidding me?" flies out of my mouth, then she proceeds to talk to the person saying things like, "how are you doing", "oh that great", blah, blah, blah.... Finally, I guess she gets that I am little frustrated, and maybe she finally noticed Isabelle was upset and tells the person on the other line, "can I call you back in a few seconds?". Words flying out of mouth again, "That would be a great idea!!". It took all that I had in me not to reach over that crib, snatch the phone out of her hand and beat the living sh*t out of her with it. What is this world coming to? I can guarantee you that McKinney Medical Center is going to hear from me. What a crappy hospital, if this is their "head nurse" I cannot believe what kind of standards that they have as far as patient care is concerned.

Another horrible thing happened this week, and you are all going to make fun of me but I do not care! Montel had his show finale, I cannot believe that the Montel show is gone forever =( Now I don't want you to think that I am some big talk show junkie, I actually cannot stand most of them but Montel is different. He is such a good person, really supports our troops, does great things for a lot people, and has a great heart. Montel, why are you leaving?? I am going to have to Google this later, but I am very upset about it.

Random Subject #3- How is it that the cost of living is going up (and I mean fast), but everyones pay remains the same?? I mean seriously folks we spent $81 dollars filling up with gas yesterday, OMG-anyone want to buy our truck?? Then the price of groceries, water, and everything for that matter goes up. Now, Dave calls and says that our health coverage is going way up. If being a Stay at Home Mom is the right thing to do, then why in the heck is it so complicated to make ends meat? Exxon can we please get a break, why don't you take some of your billions of dollars in profit and be generous for just a little while. I know that they are responsible ultimately for the price of gas going up which has an effect on EVERYTHING.

The Grocery Game- For anyone who is also having a big budget crunch, try www.TheGroceryGame.com this website is amazing. Basically, it is a service that you has you clip coupons and each week it tells you where the deals are and what coupons to buy. The idea it to build yourself a stock pile of things so that you spend less and less at the store. It really works! Dave and I a few weeks ago, bought breakfast, lunch and dinner for a week, food to have a party for about 20 people all for $95 (not to mention we added to our stock pile). We went to Kroger and had $125 in groceries, once they used all of our coupons and Kroger card we were down to $60. The rest we bought at Tom Thumb will still a significant savings. You should all really try it out, it is a lot of work but saves tons of money in the long run. If you visit the website you get a free trial (I believe 6 weeks), but be sure to use my email address as your referral erica.wink@gmail.com .

Our adventure to the mall this week had so many cute little stories:

• We are at the mall shopping for a new outfit for one of her bears at Build a Bear. I started picking up some outfits and showing her when she yelled, "no, no, no, Mommy. Look, don't touch"- Good news is that she actually does listen to me sometimes, bad news is she hears me but is not practicing my orders
• Still at the mall, we stop at Starbucks to get Mommy some coffee and I got a coffee cake for us to share. I am pushing her through the mall I asked her how her cake was and she said, " deeeeelicious, lucky, lucky, lucky day"- Where does she get this stuff.
• She does the cutest thing while she is shopping, she picks up the outfits, brings them to me and says, "Cute Mommy".
  
• Then we go to the dressing room and so that I can try on some clothes, every time I would try something on she would say, "that's cute Mommy", "I like that". Then she has to look under the stalls to see people. The worse part is while she is looking she says, "naked people, where are you?"- As you can image that is always a little embarrassing.

Isabelle is truly a joy, her and Dave our the loves of my life. How in the world is another baby going to stand up to these two?? When I get preggo, that baby is going to have some big shoes to fill.

Here is a video of Isabelle at the hospital after she was finally starting to feel a little better. She is so sweet!

My baby in the Hospital

What a day my poor baby has had! Last night Dave was at an HOA meeting and Isabelle and I were home having a relaxing night when all of the sudden Isabelle started throwing up. She did not even express that she was feeling bad, just started throwing up out of no where. All night long she threw up and we finally took her to the doctor this morning. They gave her a Fenagrin suppository and that did absolutely nothing. Poor baby could not keep anything down, she ate a sucker at the doctor (the only thing she had to eat all day long) and it up within 10 minutes. We were giving her Tsp at a time of water and that to was coming right up, the girl couldn't even keep her own spit down. Finally after no wet diapers ALL DAY, we called back the doctor, took her in and they recommended that she go to the hospital.

Once your stomach gets completed dehydrated (which hers was) there is no way possible for it to keep anything down, therefore you must have an IV. Not to mention when we took her in at 9:30 this morning she was 21.7 lbs and by 2:30 she was down to 20.6 lbs. The IV was a nightmare and it took all that I had not to just break down and cry with her. I feel so sorry for the baby.

But here we sit now, she is a sleep, and swollen with all of the fluids that they have been pumping through the IV. She had 4oz. of apple juice and 3oz. of jello, and I do not think I could be more pleased. If she keeps up the good work she should be home tomorrow morning, so please keep us in your prayers.

I forgot my camera (as you can image there was a lot on my mind), but I did manage to get a few pictures with my web cam. Can you see her little arm cast for her IV?? Poor baby.

Effexor Withdrawls

If anyone ever tells you that they are on Effexor, thinking about taking it, or doctors recommend it tell them DON'T DO IT! I started taking this drug a little over a year ago because I could not stop grinding my teeth, and I was always very stressed out. If my doctor would have told me what the side effects are then I would have NEVER taken the drug. I would highly recommend before taking any drugs that you google the side effects.

I have been trying to get off of these dang pills for well over a month now, slowly lowering my dose every two weeks. Now I am off of the pills and having HORRIBLE symptoms. One of the worst is the brain shivers, yes I said brain shivers!! It is like there is some guy in your head hooking up jumper cables to your brain. I am incredibly emotional (I bawled over needing new flip flops today). My emotions are to the extreme with no rational medium. I am nauseas, tired, sweating hot, and then freezing cold.

Go to google if you are interested and google Effexor Withdrawals and see what it comes up... This my friends is a nasty, nasty, nasty, drug. I want to apologize for anything that I might say/do for the next few weeks; trust me it is the drugs and not me.