Catch Up 101

Driving in her walker-car and flirting with the boys...her daddy!

Hhhhmmm....I have so much to say and don't know where to even start...I hate that! First off, Andrew is home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can I get a HELL YES!????? For those of you who didn't know, he has been away at SOS for the past month and a half. It sucked. I hated every single day of it. Especially because Salem got so sick and I truly needed him to reassure me that she was going to be okay. That is the reason why my Mama came out to visit. I just couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't get out of the house because she had such a terrible rash, that her whole body would swell just by putting her in her car seat to drive her to go get more diapers, medicine, etc. Seeing your baby so sick like that, changing diaper upon diaper, watching her vomit over and over....I had had it. So, I called my Mom and said that Salem wanted to see her Yaya, and she was here from Tucson the next AM. Thanks again Mom for all your help with Baby and flying out here like that ....I miss you!

Back to Andrew being home. It is THE BEST feeling in the world! Just knowing that he is in the other room right now sleeping, sends goosebumps up and down my body. He lifts me up and makes all my days brighter! He surprised me by coming home a day early. That is a story itself:
So, the other night, I had put Salem to sleep, and decided that I was going to paint and pull an all nighter to get some things done before he made it in. I had JUST started painting, when the phone rang. Salem woke up screaming from the noise and yes, it was Andrew telling me that he was at the FRONT DOOR. I had paint all over me (I know I had just started, but I am messy), I hadn't showered from the gym yet, I had hairy armpits, the sheets for the bed were in the dryer, and on and on. What a "Welcome Home" that was for him. I gave him a quick kiss, told him to get the baby, and I went back to painting the first coat...I didn't want it to streak.

Salem is AMAZING, as usual. She is cutting her two front teeth now and they don't seem to bother her a bit. She doesn't want to eat as much table foods, but that's normal. She looks at Andrew and says Daddy, Dada, Hi Daddy, etc. She will also do the same for Lilly. Me:nothing. She's only screamed Mama a hand full of times and it was only when she was super sick and needed me to change her diarrhea in the middle of the night. Figures.

Now, I am preparing for my Dad and Step mom who are coming to visit for a few days from Colorado. It will be the first time they have met Andrew and Salem....crazy, huh? I'm super excited for them to get here and can't wait to have them as guests in my home. Do you know what I'm saying? I've gone to visit them a few times over the years, but they have never came to stay with me. In their eyes, I'm probably still that 18 year old kid that ran around wild in their home. I'm looking forward to them seeing me in my home, with my family, and happier than I have ever been in my life!

Loving her string cheese!

:) Hi Yaya, Bye Yaya :(

Yaya leaving at the airport this morning

I think I would have LOST MY MARBLES--or the ones that I have left, if any, last week if it weren't for my mom coming into town to save the day. Salem wouldn't not stop shitting her pants or vomiting and I just couldn't take it any more. I was so worried about her and the doctors kept telling me (every single day because she was pretty much there all the days of the week last week), that she was "fine." My baby WAS NOT FINE. She had lost 4 pounds; that is 20% of her weight. I would literally change her diaper every 5 minutes because she had diarrhea that bad. I went through 100 diapers in 3 days...just ask my mom, "Yaya." She even extended her stay for a day because Salem seemed to be getting better; then bam, she was up all night Sunday screaming, throwing up, pooping over, and over, and over again.

So, all is getting better here, for the time being. Now, we're just trying to catch up on some much needed rest. We were able to get a few hours in of some much needed UV rays. Like I said before, Salem seemed all better Sunday during the day, so we put her in her bikini and took her outside in her "pool." I think I'll have to invest in a larger one because she is already growing out of this one. The poor thing can't spread her legs out all the way in it. Go figure!
"Mommy, this is fun!"
"Did you know I was cute yet?"
Blowing bubbles--something she learned at her swimming lessons!
A big smile for her daddy!

ALVINNNNNNNN!!

I took these pictures of Salem a few weeks back when she was having a little snack. Doesn't it remind you of Alvin and the Chipmunks? What ever happened to those guys anyways? I grew up watching that show. Does anyone else get sad when they reminisce about their childhood(s)? I just feel like I'm getting old, so damn fast. I think having children just makes you realize how fast time truly does fly because they are ever changing.

I want to know every one's favorite childhood memory. Mine would have to be going on ski trips with my family and not having a worry in the world. I miss having the innocence of a child.

Shitty Day..Literally.

Brace yourselves. If you don't like to read about fecal issues, read no more. What I'm about to tell you, is like a story that you would only see happen on tv; but no, it REALLY happened to me yesterday. Ready.......?

So, on Sundays, Salem and I drive our happy asses at least 30 minutes to the base gym because the YMCA isn't open on Sundays here.....people go to church, or something like that.
I am pulling into the gym parking lot and I feel this sudden urge to fart(we've all been there, right?). So, I do so, and next thing I know, I realize that I have just shit my pants..literally. No joke, shartted (sp?) in my moe-foe pants. I think to myself, "Oh shit (ha-ha), we have to drive all the freakin' way back home because I just shit myself. " I call my mom as this is happening to me and her reply is: "Noel, you are really to young to be doing that. That usually happens to old people; you're only 24." Even when I'm 80, if I make it to 80, I hope to god that I can still make it to the damn toilet and wipe my own ass for heavens sake.

Get ready. I'm JUST about to the front gate and remember people, this is church time, at Randolph AFB(which is a MASSIVE base), when I get pulled over by the Military Cops to get a random car inspection done. I should have known this was going to happen to me when I made fun of the Mormon family standing outside of their van, in the rain, with their family of 30, when I drove onto base just minutes before.

So, they asked me to get out of the car, which probably stank of ass, open all the doors, hood, trunk, etc., and to get my sleeping baby out. You should have seen me doing the backwards shuffle to avoid these people. I was so afraid that I had a "poopy stain" on my booty, and that the military dog was going to come up and sniff my ass, or bite through my tiny gym shorts to get what was in there. You guys, I should have known it was going to be a day after all of that.

As hard headed as I am, I came home, showered, and drove my clean little self ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE BASE. And that's not the end of it......

After we returned from all of that, I noticed that Salem was running a very high temp. and was having fecal issues herself. I drove her to the ER (40 minute drive), waited 6 hours, didn't get seen, had to drive all the way home because HELLO JACKASSES, I ran out of formula and bottles because I didn't think I was going to be there all damn night. Anyways, came home, got more food for Salem, cleaned her up because she had thrown up all over herself, drove back, waited another 6 hours, finally got seen, and was home by 4 AM this morning. Oh, and all I got out of ALL OF THAT was a bottle of Tylenol; but that's a WHOLE NOTHER STORY.

Hope your weekend wasn't as shitty as mine!!
(I typed it all in pink and brown, to make it at least look a little cute!)

Quilt from YaYa

This is Salem baby on her beautiful quilt that "YaYa Midge" made for her (Salem can say YaYa, so we decided that she can call my Mom that instead of Nana....I like the way it sounds--a little younger!). Anyways, last year, when I flew out to Tucson for my baby shower, I picked out all the fabrics for Salem's baby quilt, and this is what my Mom came up with! I just love it and think she did such an amazing job. I am not crafty in the quilting department what- so- ever; I wouldn't even know where to begin. On the top, it says "Our Sweet Girl"(that's what Andrew calls her), and the bottom reads Salem Marie. I have been PROMISING YaYa pictures of her on it for weeks, maybe months, and finally got around to it today. I just want to wrap her up in it and NEVER let her go. She is getting so big, so fast...poor me (sigh).

Downward Facing Dog

Looking more and more like daddy!

I guess the yoga book and lessons are paying off. I can say downward facing dog and this is what she does. It is so funny, because sometimes, SOMETIMES, she will come back up to stretch her back out. I don't think she understands REALLY what she is doing; but she enjoys mimicking what I say/do. Today, she wouldn't have ANY of it. Yesterday, she did it ALL day long; to include rolling over in the bath tub to do it after I told my mom ( I was on the phone with her at that time), that she does "downward facing dog." It was so funny to watch her drop what she was playing with in the tub, roll over in the water, and do such a thing. I wish I would have had a shot of that!