Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Party Pooper

We went down to Mom and Dad's Friday morning early, early, early and had a great visit...Nana made Steak & Gravy (John and I's favorite) and then proceeded to bake 96 cupcakes (THANK GOD Mom has TONS of counter space in the new house)
It took Charlee FOREVER to get to sleep that night though. Her teeth were hurting (four molars and bottom two canines are starting to poke through and her poor mouth is KILLING her) and the fact that she wasn't in her own bed with her family of stuffed animals was just really ticking off the princess. She finally fell asleep at about 1130 and then slept until 730 the next morning.
She got up and only ate a few bites of oatmeal and two or three drinks of her milk. Since none of you are here every morning for breakfast....this girl usually eats a whole jar of Stage 3 Gerber oatmeal with apples and bananas...plus a sippy of milk, and sometimes another of juice. I was concerned, but thought it was just because of the excitement in the house and since she was still so tired.
We got all the stuff ready for the party, made a quick trip to Power's to buy tape to hang stuff and a bag of ice....then stopped on the way back to hang signs and balloons on the road signs going back to Mom and Dad's house. Had some lunch, finished decorating, sat up all the cupcakes, and Mom finished cleaning house.

People started arriving, we stacked up all the presents and then ate some dinner...grilled hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and Nana's homeade baked beans.
Charlee was EXHAUSTED by now, so we opened presents really quick and then she went down for a nap. She got a couple outfits and a bunch of toys. Pap gave her $20 and Mimi &Papaw sent her a Wal-Mart gift card.

That night John went to the movies, Katie went out with her friends and Dad had to work, so it was me, Mom and Nana...we worked a puzzle and snacked around on party leftovers
Charlee started running a fever and I tried giving her Tylenol, but it wouldn't bring down the fever. The only thing she ate all day was the oatmeal and three bites of a hotdog...and two sippies of juice. The next morning she was still running the fever but she did eat a little bit.
Ran the fever all day, got up over 102 and I started freaking out. It finally did break right before she went to bed.
Monday she finally quit the fever but still wouldn't eat, so I called her doctor. He said he thought it could be H1N1 because of some of the other symptoms she was having, and needed to be seen immediately...when I asked to set up an appointment though, he said they were full til at least Thursday...gee thanks!!!
So off to the ER we went....when they weighed her, it scared me to death. She had lost 4 pounds and 2 ounces since her check=up last Wednesday.
after sitting there for 12 hours, and having to file and refile her paperwork because people can't READ....they spelled her name wrong TWICE and then had her down as a male!!!! GRRRRR.....they finally told us it was an "undescriptive virus"...a.k.a....they don't know what it is....so they sent us home with no meds or anything...just to wait it out.
Now she's got a horrible cough. She's eating pretty good, but she's choking on a lot of stuff...even the stage 1 foods...so if it's not better tomorrow, I guess I'll call back the pediatrician and sit up an appointment for Thursday.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Birthday Baby

So, yesterday was another big step in the life of Charlee Jean Stewart. At 4:19pm she turned ONE YEAR OLD!

It's so hard to believe that a year ago, I was sitting in a hospital room holding this teeny tiny baby in my arms...trying to figure out what it meant to be a mommy. All I knew at the time was that she was perfect and my heart was so full of love for her...I didn't think I could love anyone more!

Now it's a year later, and we have been through HELL with this child. So crazy to think she was only sick one time while we were in the hospital and acted fine even the first few days we were home. Then on came the puking. EVERYTHING that went in her tiny tummy would come right back up. We called the doctor, she said it could be jaundice......then wanted to run tests on her because she actually weighed less at three weeks old than she did at birth. (I'm thinking...Gee...if you puke up everything you put down your mouth, you're not going to GAIN anything!!!) Sure enough things were wrong...so off we went for a week at Kosair's Children's Hospital. They gave her some meds and sent us home...and she was better for all of about a week..then the throwing up started AGAIN, worse than before...we went to the doctor multiple times and she wouldn't do ANYTHING, even though Charlee still wasn't gaining any weight. To put it this way..she weighed 5lbs 11oz...she only weighed 6lbs 4oz at her two month check up. In January it got to the point that she was vomiting blood. So off we went to Kosair's again, without even caring what the pediatrician said. Obviously blood in vomit=bad! Especially in a baby!
Another week in Kosair's...our last day there, we were visited by a partner of our pediatrician who told us that Charlee would be doing MUCH better if we were giving her the medicine for her condition.
Ummm.....hello?!?!?! What condition?!??!?!?! No one ever told us ANYTHING. Turns out Charlee had reflux...and it was in her charts since the first time she got so sick..and she was supposed to be on medicine for it, but someone forgot the most important part...TO TELL US!!!!
After going home, we were supposed to have a check-up in a week, and we changed pediatricians.
The new doctor put her on medicines and changed her over to Nutramigen formula and she started doing so much better....she became immune to the medicines pretty quickly, so we ended up using FOUR different ones, and just a few days after we changed to the fourth one, she started throwing up her Nutramigen....gave her a bottle of plain formula and she kept it down fine....and the same with cow's milk. So....she just outgrew it :)
We were told she had problems with her head and neck...referred to a physical therapist for it and the therapist pretty much told us the NP was crazy and Charlee had nothing wrong with her. Said the only place she was lacking at was in skills interacting with people other then John and myself.
So now, every few weekends, we get together with BJ, Jessica and Lexi for a playdate. The four of us adults all have a blast and the girls love each other too...so Charlee has a friend..and someone a few months older to start to learn things from :)

She's starting to try to walk on her own now. She's cruising around holding things REALLY well, and now she can stand for about two minutes by herself, but she's still scared to let go of things..so we're working with her on it.
Things can only get better from here, and we love her more every day...she is our little miracle baby and it's hard to believe how she's growing :)

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Where does time go?

Wow!! I can't believe it. In five days Charlee will be a year old. It seems like only a few weeks ago that I brought that tiny 5lb 11oz baby home....and now, today, she's a 21lb 6oz chunker who is into EVERYTHING! I know Mom always told me that time speeds up once you have a child, but I never believed it could go this quick.
She's starting to feed herself really well, and walking like a little pro, as long as she has something to hold onto!!! She says "mama", "dada", "nana", "bye", "bahbah", "hi" and "gaga" for my mom. She's starting to make up her own little words for things, but so far those are the only REAL words she is saying so far.
We've got a HUGE party planned at my parents' house next weekend...there are about 50 people coming...and I can't believe we've got so many. I was figuring we MIGHT have about 25-30 people that would ACTUALLY come, because well, Mom and Dad's place is out in the middle of absolutely nothing. Of course, just because they SAY they're coming doesn't mean they will.
One of dad's friends raises miniature ponies and donkies and he's loaning us a pony, so we're having pony rides for the kids that will be there. Thank God I was able to buy a camcorder a few weeks ago on Ebay! As much as Charlee likes animals, I can't wait to see her reaction to the pony...she sure got a kick out of the cows that their neighbors have :)
We're grilling burgers and hot dogs, having chips and soda...and then I'm making white cupcakes with fudge icing and chocolate cupcakes with pink icing and alternating them around a silver sheet to make them look like polka dots...can't wait to post lots of pictures

Hazlenut Brownies from Two Peas and Their Pod

Hazelnut Cinnamon Brownies

Recipe from Sugar Plum

(Printable Recipe)


1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (I used mini-chips), plus additional for sprinkling on top
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup Nutella
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon hazelnut extract
1/4 cup finely hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line an 8x8-inch square baking dish with foil; grease foil.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking powder and salt; whisk until combined.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; remove pan from heat and stir in chocolate until melted. Beat together melted chocolate and granulated sugar, in a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on high speed, for about 2 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to medium and beat in Nutella, eggs, vanilla, and hazelnut extract. Beat until smooth and well combined.
Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined; scrape batter into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle batter with chocolate chips and hazelnuts.

Bake for 23-25 minutes, or until set. Cool completely before lifting foil out of pan and slicing into bars.

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About Me

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SAHM to a beautiful, wonderful, miracle princess named Charlee Jean. Married to my high school sweetheart for over 6 years now, and expecting another miracle baby in October 2011