Indoor Maze

Last Saturday we brought the girls to the indoor playground near our house.  There's a special play area for toddlers which has a small ball pit, toddler slide, and climbing structure.  Emmy now likes to play in the ball pit.  It's funny how just a few months ago she was not comfortable playing in there.  She has fun in this toddler area, but would much rather follow around the other kids into the "big kid" playground. 
I took her all the way to the top of the big kid maze and swirled down the spiral slide with her.  I was out of breath by the time I got to the top of the maze.  It's a lot of work getting all the way up there...especially with a bad back.  

We only have to show Emmy how to do something one time.  She ended up going all the way to the top of the maze by herself (at least 40 ft in the air) and slid down the spiral slide all on her own.  A lot of the parents who were also waiting for their kids to come down the slide were amazed that Emmy got up there and down all by herself.  I think she was the smallest kid in that area. 

Erin wore herself out by crawling around the floor.  She's scooting around so well and is starting to get up on her knees. 

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree

I think that Erin looks so much like Brad.  I found a picture of Brad when he was about Erin's age and compared the two photos. She takes after him in more than the "looks" category. 

Can you see the resemblance??

MRI Scheduled

I went to see a Neurologist last Friday regarding my lower back pain. After speaking with him, he ABSOLUTELY wants to schedule an MRI to see what's going on. So, I scheduled my MRI for this Friday. I've never had an MRI done before. Not sure how I feel about getting placed through a small tube.

I'm also getting some lab work done at my regular clinic this week to rule out some other possibilities. One, being Lyme's Disease. I'm not worrying about this yet. The doctor asked me if I had been camping or hiking lately. I replied, "Don't hike, don't camp." Although, I was up north last month with Deb & Jerry for a day, but I don't remember being bit by anything. hum.

The doctor has put me on a couple of different pain pills. One is for muscle spasms and the other is just a strong anti-inflammatory. They are helping with the pain.

I'm starting to experience more tingling going down my right leg, all the way to my toes.

I'm also being referred to an Orthopedic Surgeon regarding my knee pain. It hurts when I bend down and when I'm down I can't get back up without assistance.

This getting older business is the pits!

Sitting Up

We have a new sitter in our house. Erin's been getting better at sitting up on her own lately. She sits up and smiles at me and then eventually wobbles a bit and topples over.

If she sees something she wants, she starts to kick her legs and crawls towards it. She's busy moving all over the room.

Hives Update

Erin's hives have pretty much cleared up. I gave her some children's allergy medicine for a few days which seemed to help quite a bit. She still has a few little red marks on her face. They look more like little red scratches...probably from itching so much.
Along with the hives came a nasty diaper rash. I'm definitely thinking this hives outbreak was from a new food that she ate recently. However, I don't know which one. She's tried, carrots, squash, green beans, pears, bananas, and apples. I'm leaning towards the apples because last week we were trying green beans and apples. She's still not the best eater, but tries. She's really messy and usually spits her food at me during every feeding.

Hives

Yesterday Erin awoke with a few little red welts on her scalp and face. She also had a big welt on her ankle. I wasn't quite sure what it was.



The night before, she was a bit irritable and cranky so I gave her some Tylenol as I thought she was teething (there were no red spots on her head or face that night). She was really restless during the night and woke up a few times crying which is unusual for her. She usually sleeps about 12 hours straight each night.



I got both of the girls ready to bring to daycare yesterday and when I got to Dar's, I showed her the welts. She thought that they looked like bug bites but that there were too many to be bug bites. She said she was 90% sure that it was nothing, but there was that 10% chance that it could be something else. I wasn't comfortable having her around the other kids and wanted to bring her into the clinic.



We haven't had any of our windows open because Brad still likes to have the air conditioner on...which will probably be on until November. UGH! I hate when it's freezing in the house. I didn't think the welts could be bug bites.



I brought Erin in for a check up and the doctor said that the spots looked like hives. She checked Erin's whole body and found a couple of spots on her tummy and also her belly button was really red. She asked if Erin had eaten anything lately or been in contact with other sick kids.

I have only given Erin green beans and rice cereal at the last two feedings, so we both knew that wasn't really the case. There are no sick kids at daycare that we know of. The doctor wasn't really sure what it was from. She just said that hives are usually brought on by a virus.



Erin isn't sick, she doesn't have a cold, she isn't running a fever and she is still somewhat happy even with the hives. She's been a little bit more squirmy...she's such a wiggle worm.



I picked up some Zyrtec which was recommended by the doctor to give to Erin once a day for the next week. Hopefully this goes away soon so my poor baby can be her cute self again! :)

Tea Party

It's so much fun having a nice tea party with Emmy on this dreadful rainy day. I really love my imaginary tea. It's so yummy! Every time I finish my cup, Emmy asks me if I want more and I say SURE!! She's started saying the word sure quite a bit lately. It's the cutest thing ever.
She talks all the time and says so many words. She amazes us with something new every day.

Back Specialist

I will be seeing a specialist on Friday afternoon. Hopefully he will do an MRI and find out what's going on with my lower back. My chiropractor is anxious to hear what they find out.
I'm hoping that I can get some answers on my knee pain as well. I'm too young to have all of this joint stiffness.

Back Injury Update

My doctor is referring me onto a specialist regarding my lower back pain. I will be going to see a specialist some time next week.

My doctor will be sending my x-rays along with my chart. He thinks that I may have a disc bulge. He said the specialist will probably do an MRI to determine if there is a disc bulge, etc.
I'm starting to experience little zingers that go from my lower back down my leg, but not past my knee. It's not often, but has happened a couple of times. Occasionally, me knees still give out due to the lower back pain. I have a constant ache and burning feeling in my lower back.

My doctor mentioned that they would probably put me on some Prednisone for the pain.
I will know more next week, but am hoping that this gets resolved soon.

Lower Back Injury

I have been dealing with a bad back for about two and a half weeks now. I am nailing it down to carrying around a 16 lb baby in a car seat and also lugging a stroller up into my truck. After 6 months of this, I think my back has definitely taken a brutal beating.

This lower back pain hit me pretty hard on August 21st, but I thought it would get better overnight. That next day I could barely walk and was hunched over like an elderly person in a nursing home. Walking down a flight of stairs was the worst. I got to the last step...my knees gave out and I let out a scream. I tried putting a heating pad on my lower back and took some Advil, but nothing helped.

I went to the Chiropractor the next afternoon. The doctor asked me some routine questions and noticed that I was having a hard time getting up from a sitting position, etc. He walked me down to a special room where they have a mechanical table. I stood on this upright chiropractic table as he pushed a button and slowly lowered me down. Crazy!!

He said I was too injured to even attempt to do an adjustment on me. He explained that my injury was as bad as someone that he sees that's been in a car accident.

I went into the chiropractor's office every day for over a week. Each day they did some muscle stimulation, an ultrasound, a massage and finally an adjustment after a couple of days. I wasn't getting any relief by Thursday, so the doctor did an x-ray on Friday. I was just told to use my back brace over the weekend and continue to ice my lower back and switch to Aleve. I didn't find out my x-ray results until the following Monday.

When I arrived at the doctor's office after our long weekend, he went through the normal routine and then had another doctor come into the room, explain my x-rays, and give me my diagnosis. I'm so glad to actually have an answer. My condition is called Degenerative Disc Disease.

These doctors were really shocked to see this for someone my age. This usually doesn't appear in women until the 40-50 age range.

Basically, it is not really a disease, but a term used to describe the normal changes in your spinal discs as you age.
It is caused by the loss of fluid in your discs as a result of a car accident, a fall from a low height, or normal motion such as bending over. The loss of fluid reduces the ability of the discs to act as shock absorbers and makes them less flexible. Loss of fluid also makes the disc thinner and narrows the distance between the vertebrae.

Eventually, it will become bone on bone if I do not take action now. I was given a list of exercises to do every day which should help ease the pain. I'm supposed to stop drinking caffeine and was told to drink more milk and water.

I am not seeing much relief yet. I took some stronger medication yesterday, but it didn't relieve any of the pain.

I just wish this would go away. But, it's something that I will have to deal with for the rest of my life.

I think sitting down makes it worse. I just have to make sure to get up and walk around a bit more. My job has me sitting at a desk for a majority part of the day which doesn't help matters at all. I'll just have to take a little walk more often...even if it's just to the copier.

I'm hoping to see some relief soon.

Erin's 6 Month Stats

I brought Erin into the clinic for her six month check up on Friday. She weighs 15 lbs 12 oz and is 25 inches long. She's in the 25-50 percentile for weight, but is a little shorty I guess. She's only in the 10-25 percentile for her length. Her head measures 43.1 cm and is in the 50-75 percentile.

Erin received four shots (two in both legs) and also an oral vaccine as Emmy watched nearby. Erin cried pretty hard for a couple of minutes after receiving the shots. I just hate that they give so many shots at one time. Those needles are so long. I feel like they are going to poke out the other side of her leg.

Her appointment was at 10:15 in the morning. She started feeling the effects of the vaccines around 5:00 pm. She was crying pretty hard with every slight movement and running a fever of 101.4. I tried to comfort her as much as possible and give her a little bit of baby Tylenol. She seemed to calm down around bed time.

I felt so bad for her. She was crying pretty hard which is very unusual for her. I actually had a bit of a moment where I didn't know what to do with her because she NEVER cries. So when she does cry like this, I know she's in a lot of pain.

She was definitely back to her old self by morning.

She has a good grasp when I give her the rattle or teether. She's starting to sit up on her own, but still falls over quite a bit. She loves to babble and loves when we talk to her. She's so easygoing and is a good napper. She takes a morning and an afternoon nap every day. She usually sleeps about 12 hours every night and sleeps straight through to each morning.

Our nightly routine is to give baths around 7:30 - 8:00 and then bedtime around 8:30.

We are really lucky to have two great little girls!

Breezy Point Pictures

Buzz & Woody. Brad standing with Erin next to the stream of the Mississippi.
Headwaters of the Mississippi River.

Breezy Point

Last weekend we went up to Breezy Point with Sarah & Richard. They had a timeshare at the resort and invited us up for the weekend.
We drove up north Friday evening. The resort is located about 2 1/2 hours north of Minneapolis. The road that we were driving on eventually just ends and goes right into the Breezy Point Resort. As you drive through the resort gates and follow the tree-lined road, it is evident what has attracted these guests.
As we were driving into the resort, I immediately pictured the movie "Dirty Dancing" and heard those songs in my head. (Hungry Eyes; Be My Baby; Stay; Hey Baby; She's Like the Wind; I've Had the Time of My Life). It was so cool.

We checked in at the front desk and then made ourselves home into the beautiful townhouse which had an "Up North" type feel inside. The house was nicely situated on Whitebirch's 18th hole. We had an awesome view out the back deck and watched all the golfers come and go during the day.

Brad and Richard went golfing early on Saturday while Sarah and I stayed back at the townhouse with the kids. The guys came back around lunch time.

On Saturday Sarah and I drove into Pequot Lakes to get a few things at the grocery store. As we were driving into town, we decided to do a little shopping. I bought a couple of head bands for Emmy. The shops were really unique.

We got back to the resort and then took the kids to the park for a little bit while Brad and Richard cooked dinner on the grill. Max and Emmy had fun going down the slide. Max had to go potty and decided that he needed to water the big pine tree. :) Nothing like being up north and away from the city.

On Sunday we thought it would be nice to check out the local flea market. We were expecting a big one. But, to our disappointment - we arrived to only find three or four booths. We decided it would be more fun to take pictures on the big blue ox that was nearby.

We traveled back to the townhouse and ate lunch. After lunch we all piled into one car and headed north to Itasca State Park. Lake Itasca is the headwaters to the mighty Mississippi River.
We got to dip our toes into the stream of water. It's hard to believe that this little stream starts its winding journey of 2,552 miles down to the Gulf of Mexico.

It was so pretty up there and I'm glad we made the 90 mile trip. I've never been up there before. I think that's the farthest north I've ever been in MN.

On Monday we took the boat out on Pelican Lake for a bit and then headed back to the townhouse to pack up our things and make our way back to the cities. Sarah and Richard stayed for the rest of the week.

We had such a nice time getting away and hope to go back up there again some time. It's well worth the drive up there.

Emmy's Bad Haircut

It is quite upsetting to ask to have a specific cut, and then notice afterwards, that not only did the cut not turn out as cute as I had pictured in my head, but it looked badly on Emmy as well. My face must have shown pure horror because the woman that was cutting Emmy's hair kept asking me if I was all right. I guess I was so shocked because I knew right away that we wouldn't be able to do her cute pig tails anymore.

I went into the salon with the intentions of just trimming Emmy's hair. We love to do pig tails and french braids. Emmy's hair was getting long enough to put two french braids down the sides of her head. It was so cute on her the other day (before the bad hair cut).

As I was telling the lady that I just wanted to trim it up a bit, there was a little girl about Emmy's age sitting in the chair next to her. She was getting her hair cut into a little bob and it looked so cute. I told the gal that was cutting Emmy's hair that it was cute and that I just love that kind of hair style on kids. She went on and on about how Emmy's hair would be so cute like that. She thought that I was really wanting Emmy's hair just like the little girl in the chair next to her. She talked me into it I guess.

I just hate the fact that it is so short. She actually took a thinning shears to Emmy's bangs!! I have to take a deep breath and calm down. Panicking is not going to make her hair grow back any faster. I told the lady, "I guess it's just hair and it will eventually grow back." She responded, "Oh it's so cute and it will turn into a full bob by Christmas time." Christmas Time, I thought! You have got to be kidding me!

The sides are too short to do anything with. I have resorted to using head bands for now.

She looks like this guy from the movie Apocolypto.

Sir, Yes Sir!

Erin is rolling all over the floor these days. She's also scooting around like a little army soldier. She's definitely a mover and doesn't like to sit still for one second. She does her little army crawl all over the place. She's squirms so much, sometimes she's hard to hold!

Little Chompers

Erin's first tooth appeared on August 26th just after she turned six months old. Her bottom right tooth popped through first. Then, about two days later her second tooth poked through. She's been a drooling machine for such a long time. She doesn't like Baby Orajel. She really wrinkles her face when I rub it on her gums. We have given her baby Tylenol to help ease some pain. So far, she's doing well, but still doesn't want to eat baby food yet.
I've been trying rice cereal, carrots, pears and bananas. Most of the time she gives me a yucky face and then spits it out. Today I tried rice cereal mixed with pears. It went over a little better. I'm sure each day will get better and better.

Boy Meets Boy

Boy met boy. Boy fell in love with boy. Boys lived happily ever after...

My cousin Logan married his partner Justin on Saturday, August 14th in a park overlooking the scenic St. Croix River.

They were legally married in Iowa just a few weeks before this ceremony in front of immediate family.

The reception was held at the historic Lowell Inn just a few blocks away from the park. It was such a nice area.

We had such a great time getting together with my mom's side of the family.

I'm so happy for Logan and Justin and wish them a lifetime of happiness!