A Quick Stand on the Soap Box

Two nights ago was MTV's Video Music Awards. I love music and I love to see all the performers - so I always like to watch the VMAs. I was absolutely appalled by the guy who hosted the show - every other word was a cuss word they had to beep out. I was appalled when Jack Black came out, asked everyone to hold hands and then proceeded to pray to the devil. I was appalled when one of the commercials for the new season of The Hills came on with "The B**ch is back (no * on the commercial) written in huge glittering letters. If this is what is socially acceptable in today's society, it scares me to think was Elle's future is going to be like. What is now socially acceptable is absolutely too liberal (not in the political sense). It's ok to have cuss words written in glittering letters on a commercial, it's ok to have a host that is so vulgar and openly distasteful that he offends the people that are watching (we're not watching for him - we're watching for the performers!), it's ok that in a moment of comedic relief, Jack Black prayed to the devil. Normally, I wouldn't say anything about this - but I have a daughter now. I have a little one that I do not want growing up in this kind of society. I don't want her to grow up where it's ok to pray to the devil on a television show watched by millions of people, but they have taken prayer out of practically everything else. I don't want her to read a cuss word on a commercial and ask what it is. For those of you that know me, I don't exactly have the cleanest mouth ever but Elle has a way of changing people - she has definitely changed me!

Baby Croakies

What do you do when you have a baby that pulls out her hearing aids no less than 10 times a day to suck on them?

Hearing Aid Croakies!!

Unfortunately, it didn't work because she figured out how to pull the hearing aids out of the sleeves - so this afternoon I found the clip still attached to her shirt with both hearing aids in her mouth...you win some....you lose some

Weekend Review

I am once again sitting here wondering why time has to go by so fast. The past three days have been a blur - probably because mom and I sold our little hearts out at our garage sale. We had so many people come to the neighborhood sale - it was non stop for both Friday and Saturday. We both walked away with a couple hundred dollars in extra spending money and I already have plans for my money! We need bookcases - so IKEA - here I come...and TJ Maxx just started carrying Baby Gund in the print I like so there goes the rest of my money! Thursday, September 19, 2009 - We celebrated Lee's dads birthday with a wonderful dinner at Uncle Jake's house. I think Uncle Jake should open up a restaurant because the meal was fabulous! I can see it now "Uncle Jake's Restaurant" in flashing neon lights! While it was Big Daddy's birthday, I think Miss Elle was the star of the evening (she usually is).

I just recently discovered the wonders of Picasa - so I have been making collages like crazy!

Friday, September 11, 2009 - This was day one of our garage sale. It started at 7:00am - so I had to leave my house by 6:00am to make it to mom and dad's by 6:30am to set everything up. I left Elle in Lee's loving care - to get her dressed and ready for Animal Print Friday and to bring her over to my mom and dads. People started showing up at 6:40am (with their flashlights!) and it was non stop from that point forward. I have no idea what time Lee finally made it over to my parent's house with Elle. He looked so frazzled by the time he finally pulled into the driveway. Evidently, he and Miss Elle has a battle of the wills on Friday morning and Elle won...but not before Lee dressed her in the ultimate Animal Print Friday outfit!

Our little love bug! It might be too small by the time Halloween rolls around - so he decided that it would be prefect for Animal Print Friday. I guess Elle wasn't too thrilled with the idea of wearing such a hot outfit when it is 90 degrees outside - so she threw a fit until Lee changed her. He told me that she didn't like any of the outfits he put on her which is why it took him so long to get to mom and dads. Sure enough, when I walked into her room on Friday night it looked like her closet had thrown up (he wasn't lying about multiple outfit changes)! My mom and I took turns during the day on Friday staying inside with Elle while the other one sold sold sold at the garage sale. My dad came home from work for a few minutes and was able to get a few laughs out of the princess. Just this past week she has started to belly laugh - it is absolutely the cutest thing! I have a super cute video of my dad and Elle playing but I can't get it to load. I will keep working on it and hopefully will get it all together soon to share!

Saturday, September 12, 2009 - I again had to wake up early to get over to mom and dads for the garage sale. Lee was in charge of getting Elle together and over to his mom and dad's house. He had to leave bright and early to make it down to his hunting camp for a meeting so Mark and Vickie had Elle Belle all day long. The garage sale was non stop people until around 2:00pm and after visiting with some of mom and dad's wonderful neighbors, I had to head to ViVi and Big Daddy's house to pick up the princess. After dinner with Mark and Vickie, Elle Belle and I headed home - just us girls. It was so weird to walk into our house and not have the dogs or Lee there to greet me. They were off hunting so it really was a girls night for Elle and me! We got ready for bed at 7:00pm and snuggled in bed for the next few hours. Elle was so funny - laughing up a storm for 3 hours straight. Finally at 10:00pm - she fell asleep.

Sunday, September 13, 2009 - Elle woke up with a smile on her face which makes mornings so much easier! After months of trying to get the 3:00am feed taken out of Elle's normal feeding schedule so I can sleep - I now wake up every morning somewhere between 1 and 3. Wish this automatic wake up would have been going on when I was feeding her at 3:00am (because sometimes I didn't wake up for the 3am feeding!)!! After breakfast, it was picture time! In honor of the opening weekend of Teal Season...here is our little hunter!

(Not So) Shameless Plug

My mom and I have been gearing up for a garage sale and tomorrow starts the big event! From 7:00am - 2:00pm on both Friday and Saturday- we will be selling our little hearts out!! For those of you that live in Houston, come by and BUY!!

Champions Centre Subdivision Community Garage Sale

NW Harris County off of 1960 and Cutten

Champions Centre Neighborhood is between 1960 and Cypresswood on Cutten Road

Look for the signs! I am going to try to get balloons for the mailbox so everyone can come shop till they drop at our sale!

I had to make room for Elle in our house so all of our living room furniture is going, a lot of glassware from the kitchen, clothes, odds and ends and Lee had to make room for his Chevelle so there is no telling what his contributions from the garage are! My mom is queen of holiday decorations and because she has amassed some duplicates - most of her holiday stuff is going to the sale. My dad is an avid outdoorsman (hunting, fishing, golfing) and he too has grown his collection of stuff to include duplicates of things - so all those duplicates are going into the sale too. In fact, this morning I heard him say "I'm getting rid of everything I have more than 1 of so that way I don't have to loan any of my equipment out!" It is supposed to rain tomorrow - but that won't dampen our garage sale spirits! Another (not so) shameless plug - I love Shannon Jex Custom Artwork! Check out her blog for her latest Auntie Shay Creation for Miss Elle!! When Elle was born, Shannon was the artist that created her beautiful crib hanger that we had in the NICU, in the CVICU and on the cardiac recovery floor. Everywhere Elle went, her name plate was sure to go! So, leading into the next surgery, Shannon has once again out done herself and created another original art piece for us to take to the hospital with us. She is such a wonderful artist, and we are so blessed to be a part of her life (and her wonderful family's life)! Shay - we love you!! Can't wait to see the Auntie Shay original in person!!! Her link to her art website is on the side of our blog - everyone definitely needs a Shannon Jex original in their house!!

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - Elle and I spent all day long with doctors. Elle had her follow-up appointment with her opthamologist at 9:30 yesterday morning. We were leaving Texas Children's at 12:45pm - only to drive directly to an appointment with her pediatrician. The opthamology appointment went well. Dr. Steinkuller (isn't that the coolest name?) said we don't have to see him until she is a year old (whoo hooo!). The coloboma (hole) is still in her retina but it still isn't affecting her vision. She wasn't too fond of Dr. Steinkuller or the medical student he had with him. I don't blame her - they were having to hold her eye lid open and look at her eyes - poor baby. Despite the screams during the exam, she was a perfect angel for the rest of the day. I think our pediatrician really loves Elle. When she walked into the room and went to go and exam Elle, she had to put her hand up so she wasn't looking at our sweet princess because she said "Oh Miss Elle, you are just too charming! I can't look at you and do my job!" Elle was talking and laughing at her doctor - I was laughing, the nurse was laughing and our poor pediatrician was trying to listen to Elle's heart beat and couldn't hear it because Elle was talking so much! We walked out of that appointment with a prescription for amoxicillin. We need to clear Elle's runny nose and cough up as soon as possible! Needless to say, after a full day of doctor visits, Elle was out like a light by 7:00pm.

Today the weather here in Houston was horrible. I was packing up Elle to walk out the door so I could go and get a few quality hours in at work when the sky opened up. It was thundering so loud our house was shaking. Due to my last experience in trying to load Elle up in the rain, I unpacked all the bags and set my lap top up so I could work from here instead. While the weather outside was dreary, our house was filled with this little ray of sunshine!

She has officially found her feet, although they have yet to make it to her mouth. For the past few weeks she has been eyeing them and briefly grabbing them - but today she was grabbing them and holding on tight. It was funny to watch her rock from side to side holding her little feet! After a massive display of Elle's projectile techniques, it was outfit change time - which meant more pictures!

Tomorrow we have physical therapy. I am anxious for this appointment each week because I feel it is one of the most important things to get the ball rolling on before surgery. Each day that passes means we are one day closer to surgery. We are 11 days from being admitted and 12 days from surgery. I am in prayer for a majority of every day - asking God to watch over our little baby and protect her before, during and after surgery.

This was all you could see of Elle this evening while she played on her mat. Her little feet were up in the air and so were her little arms trying to grab onto the rings!

HOTTY TODDY

ARE YOU READY?

Elle watching the Rebels beat the Memphis Tigers

It's hard to believe this wonderful Labor Day weekend is almost over! This weekend marked the beginning of one of my most favorite times of the year - COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON! I love college football - more specifically - I love SEC football. Yesterday was the first game for my Ole Miss Rebels and Elle and I were glued to the television for the first 3 quarters. Picking up her meds before the pharmacy closed was more important than watching my Rebels soundly beat the Memphis Tigers. I was screaming and chanting Hotty Toddy's to the television - all the while trying to decide what version of the Ole Miss cheer leading outfit will look best on Elle. Jevean Snead (Ole Miss's quarterback) threw 2 interceptions during the first half and Elle started crying during them. I couldn't tell if she was as upset with Snead as I was or if it was my screaming that caused her tears. Either way, I hope that one day our little princess loves her Rebels as much as we do (not that I will be pushing her to attend the University of Mississippi or anything)! Hotty Toddy is the "battle cry" of the University of Mississippi. It starts off by someone yelling - Are you Ready? The response is "Hell Yeah, Damn Right, Hotty Toddy Gosh Almighty - who the hell are we? Flim Flam Bim Bam - Ole Miss by damn!" I thought long and (and not so) hard about it and Elle won't be saying the real hotty toddy until she is much older. Ole Miss girls - this means the g rated version from now on until I give the ok for her to learn the "real" version!

A different take on Animal Print Friday - her shirt says "Silly Monkey" on it and has a monkey swinging from a tree

This past week leading up to the first Ole Miss game of the season was jam packed. Animal Print Friday was especially long simply due to the fact that Elle had 2 doctor appointments and 1 therapy appointment. We were at the TCH satellite location all day long. I'm beginning to learn everyone's names and duties now that we are there at least twice a week. One of the appointments Elle had on Friday was with her cardiologist. He came into the room and the first thing he told me was that Elle's surgery has been bumped up. It was moved from October 1, 2009 to September 21, 2009. That's only 2 weeks away. At first I was shocked and almost started crying, but then (once I got over my initial reaction) I began to see how much better this will be for her. She still has a runny nose and cough. When we are admitted - they will do all sorts of testing on her to be sure she is ready for surgery. If she still has remnants of this cold, they will push surgery back a few days. Had we waited until October and they had to push her surgery back - it would have been a very bad thing. Her surgeon is going out of town the second week in October so October 1 was the very latest we could have had her surgery done. At least moving her surgery date up to the 21st we will have a few days/weeks to work with in case she still needs to recover from this cold (or anything else that might come up). At home on Friday evening, I had a mini meltdown. Not about the surgery itself - more about the fact that Elle has a closet full of 3-6 month clothes that are kind of summery and she hasn't even worn them yet. I decided that from now until surgery - she will wear every outfit she has in the closet that will even remotely fit her! Fashion rules are going out the window from now until September 21 (and even though it will be after Labor Day) - she will be decked out in every summer outfit she has! Lee almost gasped when I told him my plan. Even though we live in Houston, I am still a stickler for certain "rules." No linen after Labor Day, winter white instead of bright summer white for pants and skirts, I put up most of my open toed sandals and switch to closed toe loafers and flats (flip flops are in a league of their own and can stay out year round here). It's even time to break out my fall bag and put up my purse I have used for the past few months. Even Lee abides by my silly rules and won't wear his linen slacks after Labor Day. I wonder if Elle is going to be as silly about some things as I am?!

One of her outfits that is a wee bit too large - but I just had to have her wear it! She kept sucking on her bows all day - it beat having to hold the pacifier though!

Other than her runny nose and cough - Elle has been doing great. She is getting better at holding up her head and tolerates tummy time for longer and longer everyday. She still isn't using her arms to push herself up - so that is one of the things her physical therapist works on with her. Lately, Elle has been putting her hand over her heart a lot. I wonder if she knows it doesn't work right and is going to be fixed?

From now until September 21 we are spending as much time with our little girl as possible. We are back in quarantine until after surgery so we are limited on where we can go and who Elle can see. I will be so happy when Elle is well enough for us to enjoy all of our friends and family together so they too can love all over her instead of just looking at pictures!

One Month from Today

Lee got the phone call from Elle's surgeon's nurse today. Surgery has been scheduled for October 1, 2009. The next few weeks will be crucial leading up to surgery. It's time to start praying specifically! Elle still has a runny nose and slight cough. Please pray that she heals completely before the end of September so we can go ahead with surgery. Pray for God's perfect timing in her little life. Pray that she gets stronger and bigger in the next few weeks. Pray for her continued growth. Pray that she gets better at holding her head up (it will aid her in recovery after surgery if she can sit up). Pray for our strength and peace in the next few weeks as we prepare for her open heart surgery. Pray for Elle's surgeon and his team - for their continued health and well being leading up to surgery. Oh Lord, I just ask that you put a hedge around us and protect us and guide us!