The love of a parent

Leighton had a second seizure last night.  Her first seizure was almost a year ago.  I was hoping I would never have to experience that again.  Apparently, only 10 percent of kids that have suffered a febrile seizure ever have another one.  My baby girl has fallen into that tiny percentile.  As a parent, I have never seen anything more terrifying than my baby suffering through a seizure.  The first time it happened, I truly thought she was dying.  You would think that the second time it happened, I would be more calm since I understood what was going on.  I wasn't.  I was actually worse than the first time.  She was turning blue and I have never felt so helpless.  The doctor at St Francis told me that Leighton will outgrow this when she is 6 years old.  If she has seizures past that point, that is when we should worry.  Her nose turned red after she said it.  I guess she realized how stupid it sounded after it came out.  We saw Leighton's pediatrician today and he took it a little more seriously than the ER doctor.  He is scheduling an EEG for next week.  Maybe we will have more answers then.  In the meantime, please pray for my baby girl.  It is much appreciated.  To leave on a lighter note, In the ambulance ride to Tulsa last night, LP kept dozing off.  We would hit a bump and she would abruptly sit up and say, "Oh my dosh, that scare me."  Even when she is not feeling so well, she is still such a ham. 


self portrait

 XOXO
Stacey

Big Sky Country

Chris has been wanting to take me to Montana since we met in 2002.  It finally happened this weekend.  It was just as fantastic-amazing-beautiful-adventure filled as he has described it through the years.  I am so grateful that I finally got to experience it for myself.  I am also grateful for Mike and Erika- who let us crash at their house for 5 days.  Enjoy the pics........

We started our adventure by cross country skiing in the Bridger mountains at Bohart Ranch

We went downhill skiing at Big Sky, however, I fell alot, so I didn't bring my camera.  Therefore, I have no pics of the fun.  Next we went to West Yellowstone, Montana, the "snowmobiling capital of the world."  Check out these pics and you will understand why.  These people get TONS of snow.  It is amazing to me that people actually live in these conditions.

movie, anyone?  Better bring a shovel

"Indoor pool"-It better be

These people aren't going anywhere for a long time

We had a blast snowmobiling.  It was absolutely beautiful.

Love this pic of Mike and Chris

I'll leave you with a pic of Chris' brother.  We found him on the snowmobile trails.



lol



XOXO

Stacey

Wedding cake

In honor of Valentines Day, I am going to tell a story.  It’s about a wedding cake. 

The wounds were just too new until now, so this story has gone untold for way too long.

I have decided that in order to let it go, I have to come clean about my feelings.  So, here goes. 

On April 8, 2006 I married my love.  It was a beautiful day and all was perfect.  Every girl dreams of her wedding day and this was my dream come true. My wedding cake had been decided months before.  My sister in law had used a particular lady to make her cake and this lady was excellent.  She happened to work at Albertsons/Homeland in the bakery, so I had made an appointment to meet with her and had everything decided.  The picture that I showed her was very similar to this one:

I wanted a square layered cake with small polka dots made out of icing on each layer.  Mine would have blue ribbon and yellow tulips.

While getting dressed in the bride’s room at the church, I learned that my cake had arrived.  I wanted my mom to take a picture of it and show it to me before the wedding.  She was hesitant.  I thought, “This is weird, why is mom acting this way.”  She took the picture and this is what was on my cake table: (Get ready)



What the #$%$@!?





Total shock.  Does this picture look like the first one to any of you?  Yeah, I didn't think so either.  Chris kept telling me during wedding planning that something was going to go wrong, but it didn’t matter.  All that mattered was that we loved each other and we were getting married.  I tried to stay positive, but I secretly wanted to ask my mom to run to the store and pick up some cupcakes or something.  This would be better than the monstrosity that was sitting on my cake table.  When they were making this cake, did they think it was cute?  Someone was demented if they thought this cake was cute. 

My mom informed me that she got a call one week before my wedding and the lady that was scheduled to create my cake had abruptly quit her job at Albertson’s/Homeland.  They insured my mom that they would still be able to create my cake.  She was concerned, but didn’t want to tell me about it and stress me out. 

The moral of this story is don’t ever use Albertsons/Homeland to create a memorable cake.  It doesn’t matter if the Cake Boss works there or not. 

I told Chris that the perfect anniversary/Valentine’s/birthday present for me would be a beautiful wedding cake.  I will put on my wedding dress and take pictures with it as if it was my actual wedding day.  I have been telling him this for years and I guess he thinks I’m kidding, because I have yet to receive this gift.  Maybe he is planning this for our 5 year anniversary in April.  I won’t hold my breath.   

XOXO

Stacey 

The moon is broken and other things

I gave Leighton her Valentine's day present this evening.  It was a 5 dollar metal strawberry shortcake purse.  When I gave it to her, you would have thought that I handed her the Hope diamond.  She was sooo excited.  Now she has carried it around the whole house calling it her "Balentine's day."  I wanted to write about this moment because I know there will be a time all too soon when she might not show so much excitement over a 5 dollar gift. 

Chris took her running this afternoon.  It was her first time to actually run around the block with no stroller.  Chris said she did awesome.  I think we have a future marathoner on our hands. 

A mom can dream, right? 

While she was running, she saw the moon and made sure to let her daddy know the moon was broken.  She has said this since she was around 20 months every time the moon is not full.  I love how her little mind works.  I adore her sweet little mind.

and I adore her sense of humor.

XOXO
Stacey

"Do you hear that, it sounds like bellybuttons"

When I picked up LP from daycare today she was intently telling her teacher a story about how her mommy cut her hair last night.  All the other kids were listening to her story as she stood in the center of the circle.  I'll have you know that I have NEVER so much as even thought about cutting her hair.  She didn't even have hair until just recently.

baldy

this will be a good one for her senior slideshow

Now she has hair, but it is in tight ringlets, so there is no need to cut it yet.  I told her teacher that this story was fabricated.  She laughed.  Who knows what she tells her teachers daily.  On the drive home, we heard a horn.  She said, "You hear that mommy?,"  Then she grinned and said, "sounds like bellybuttons."  Her imagination is so funny.  Hopefully, we can tunnel her silliness into something productive in her future.

Here is an old video for your viewing pleasure:

Still makes me laugh every time. 

XOXO Stacey 

"I say we go dog sledding"

So Leighton said to me this afternoon, "Mommy, I say we go dog sledding." 

(She cracks me up how grown-up she tries to talk sometimes)  It's so cute.  I said yes, and she was happy.

Here are some pics from the day:

yes that's a sucker in her mouth.  Some battles are not worth fighting. :)

one cool chic

Needless to say, she loved her first dogsledding experience.

XOXO

Stacey

Yikes!

So, my two year old has officially reached the terrible stage.  Those of you that know her might think that she has been at this stage since birth.  (I certainly do, but I'm remaining positive)  Yesterday, she got in trouble for biting kids at school.  Today she got in trouble for hitting.  As a matter of fact, she is in her room right now because she threw her Disney princess vitamins (The whole jumbo bottle) at my face.  Sometimes, I wonder how she can possibly be filled with so much anger at the age of 2.  However, I also think that I confuse her energy with anger.  This is the child that I am convinced absolutely hated being a baby.  She cried for the first 6 months of her life.  After taking her to the doctor many times and finally a pediatric gastroenterologist, we discovered that NOTHING was wrong.  I was grateful that she was healthy, but was hoping to have a medical answer for her constant unhappiness.  However, I think our answer was found when she became mobile.  It was like she was a different baby.  She hated not being able to move.  Chris and I are both active people, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that our child would be the same way.  So I have an idea. 

During the summers, Chris puts the huskies on the treadmill for hours at a time.  They run off some energy in air conditioned comfort and they are less mischievous.  I am thinking about trying this with LP. 

If energy=mischief, then exhaustion= good LP and happy mommy.

Don't call DHS just yet, I am kidding.  I saw a preview for a Dr. Phil episode this week where a lady was in serious trouble for making her kid drink hot sauce as a punishment.  (Call me crazy, but I think this is kind of brilliant)  My next door neighbor growing up made his kids eat sardines for punishment.  I think this is brilliant too.  I prefer not to hit my child to punish her for hitting others, so I would like to be creative without being arrested.  Hmmmm, I'll think on this. 

In the mean time, to alleviate my stress, I will post a picture of my mom's german chocolate cake.  It makes me happy, so I hope it brings you joy also. 

XOXO
Stacey

Family fun day

So after feeling cooped up in the house while "Snowpocalypse" occurred outside,  (Yes, that is what the news channels are calling it), we decided to go to Chris' parents and play in the snow.  I knew it was time when I went in to LP's room while she was supposed to be napping and found this: 

I said "Leighton Paige, we do NOT color on baby dolls"  She said, "Look at her back mommy"

It was like, "You think that's bad, check out the damage I did on her back."  How do you discipline a kid that makes you laugh all the time?  I left the room with a stern look on my face and laughed so hard.  I already feel sorry for her future teachers. 

Here are some pics from our day of snowpocalyptic fun.

Leighton and her "bwamma"

bundle up Caylen, or as she calls herself--Caylen Macy Thayer Upholstery

Papa Tracy

Now that's alot of snow

Don't judge me, it was cold

After all the action LP just wanted to sit in her Papa's lap and watch Dora:

XOXO
Stacey