Increased Privacy?

I just googled myself with Lily's name and my blog was the first option. I thought I was being so sneaky by not using my "real" name, but it's there. I changed the email address associated with the blog thinking that might help, but nope. Is there anything I can do to get more privacy other than going password protected? I really don't want to do that, but I don't like the idea of my dentist or someone I went to high school with or someone I go to church with stumbling upon this blog. I like to feel free to express how I feel without feeling like people in my "real" life are peeking in.
Do I have to just get over it or PW protect? Sometimes the Internet is icky. :)

Weekend Fun

Giving cousin Isaiah a big smooch:)

Rockin' out!

First golf cart ride (It's parked; I promise!)

First trip to the county fair! Yee Haw! :)

SOOO sleepy!

We had such a big weekend! We visited my family up north. Lily loves going up and seeing her cousin. It really makes her seem like such a toddler and not a baby to see her playing with him. We took her swimming at my mom's and to the tiny county fair in town. She totally loved the cows and a very nice man even let her pet one. I was a bit nervous, but she is so in love with cows right now; I couldn't say no! :) She was in bed and asleep tonight at 6:30!!! She was just so sleepy from all the festivities. She's got quite the full social calendar, you know :)

We're still on hive patrol. It's really scary. They keep popping up occasionally, but never as bad as they were the first time. We still have no idea what triggers them. She's in her regular surroundings when they come on. No new foods, no new soaps or detergents. It's very strange. Am I being paranoid if I call and check in with the doctor tomorrow? Tell me the truth:)

NO STINKIN' WAY

I swear on all that I have that what I'm about to say is true. Every bit of it.

Lily took her first two steps today. (HOORAY!!) Right in front of the physical therapist. Do you see what I'm telling you? Are you kidding me? She is doing everything in her power to make a fool out of me. :) We about died; what in the world are the chances? Here's what to learn from this: the second you start to worry about your child, call the doctor. It'll cure them immediately. :) And you know, she hasn't tried to walk even once more since then. What a stinker!

She ran her through a huge battery of tests, and it was seriously the most fun ego-stroke we have ever had! :) She is in the 98th percentile as far as social and verbal skills go AND...there is not ONE thing wrong with her legs. The therapist said she's as far away from qualifying for assistance as you can get:) I felt SO happy to hear it; I knew there was nothing wrong with her, but to hear a specialist say it AND have her tell us how bright out daughter is, I don't know if I've ever felt such pride. :)

So that was our morning. And remember how I was going on about how much Lily was sleeping? Well, today there was no nap. At all. Which makes for a bit of a grumpy girl and an even grumpier mommy. At about 3, I noticed a funny rash on her face. By the time my husband had gotten upstairs to see it, it had spread to her arms. I immediately called the doctor and they scheduled us an emergency appointment. So, we rushed into the doctor. We live on five minutes away and by the time we got there, her face was bright red with white raised bumps, her arms and legs were covered with the same rash. I have never been so terrified in my life. Turns out, it was just hives. HIVES? She didn't eat anything different today than she usually eats, we didn't go out anywhere, she sure doesn't have stress in her life. The doctor said sometimes they never know was causes them. We gave her some baby Benadryl and now she's totally fine. No trace of any hive at all. And now she's soundly to bed early (6:55), and I'm taking my first breath of the day. I'm telling you what, I am exhausted. I can't believe all of this has happened in less than 12 hours. :) You can bet I'll be in to look at her multiple times during the night. She's about to give me my own case of hives!

Seriously with the teething

It's a nightmare!! I feel like it's all I blog about, but it's insane! She's now getting all four of her first molars at the same TIME. Her top two have poked through, but the gums are still all puffy and read. The bottoms are just these huge swollen lumps. My poor girl!! She's still in really good spirits, but she's sleeping like crazy. Last night, she was asleep at 7:00 and didn't wake up this morning until 10. I was so excited when I woke up at 8 and she was still sleeping. Still excited to have a cup of coffee while it was still hot. But, then as the clock kept ticking, I got nervous that she wasn't making any noise. So, at 10, I opened her door and wouldn't you know that woke her up. She was perfectly fine; just sleepy! Then, she napped from 1:30-4:30!! And she's back asleep now at 7:30. I'm not complaining, mind you, I cleaned the entire house today and started a new book! :) And now she's asleep in plenty of time for Mommy to watch The Bachelorette. :) But, I do feel sad for her and her little gums!

The PT is coming again tomorrow to make the final assessment about whether or not Lily qualifies for the First Steps program. I'm betting unless they find something seriously wrong with her muscles, she won't qualify. She has to be behind in at least one other area to qualify, and there's no way she is. This girl talks up a storm! She is starting to have conversations, and it's the coolest thing. When I leave the room and come back she says, "Where'd you go?" (more like "where go", but still!) and puts her hands up in a questioning pose:) I tried this afternoon to get her to walk holding my hands and she said, "NO WAY" and plopped herself down. NO WAY. Are you kidding me? That's my sassy girl. :)

My favorite thing about blogging

This is going to be one of "those" super sentimental and touchy feely posts, but I can't help it. Do you know what my absolute favorite thing about being part of this blog community is? It's not being able to vent, although that's fantastic and it's not even having the incredible support of fellow infertiles. I feel like it is the absolute biggest honor to be able to watch families being created. We all have a hard road to get there and no matter how our families come to be, it's so amazing to get to journey through it together and then see these beautiful children added to our group whether through adoption or treatments. (or all of you who got pregnant because you FINALLY relaxed. I'm rolling my eyes with sarcasm, just so you know) It may sound crazy, but I have such a special place in my heart for all the babies of all my Internet pals. And I consider it quite a privilege to get to read about their milestones and the funny things they do and getting to see them grow up right in front of my eyes - it's really fantastic, and I wouldn't trade it.

I have the urge to just list every one of our miracle babies right here, but I know my husband would kill me because he is making dinner tonight (NO JOKE!), and honestly, that's just not something I'm willing to be late for:) So, please give your babies an extra love from me and know I'll be doing the same from you to my silly Lily, and thank you so much for letting me witness the creation of your family or the journey you're still taking to get to your baby. It's truly incredible.

First PT appt

It was a total joke.  I really am starting to wish I had gone with my gut and been firm that Lily is fine and she'll walk when she wants to.  Really, this service is for children with severe disabilities and I hate feeling like I'm wasting their time.  The social worker asked us tons of question like, "Can she sit by herself?" while watching her crawl and pull up and walk along the couch.  I know it's part of her job, but come on! :)  I think we're going to go ahead and have the physical therapist come out and look at her legs, but I know there's nothing wrong.  And today (because she wants to make her mommy look like a total nut case who panics about nothing), Lily took a step.  It wasn't walking by any means, but she put a foot out and put her weight on it.  She then collapsed and put a piece of lint from the floor into her mouth.  I'm so proud. :)

Worth how many words?

Priceless!  This girl is turning into the biggest ham ever.  She "cheeses" for the camera and flirts ridiculously with anyone who wants to take her picture.  The last one is her bending down to "hide" from me.  She shoots up and says "BOO."  It's so funny.  And the one with her under the TV tray...she just decided she wanted to hang out there for awhile.  She sat under there for awhile and decided to put her feet up.  She looks like I've bothered her by taking a picture:)  And the first two...those are just Lily in all of her sweetness.  She loves to swing and she loves to smile.  AND I was right about her bigger teeth coming in!  Her first molars are starting up.  And her gums are SOOO swollen.  Poor girl!  We're staying on top of the Motrin:)

No news on the walking front; we have our first consult with the PT tomorrow.  However, since her appt. Friday, she's now showing interest in walking and will do so holding just one of my hands, which is a vast improvement from not showing any interest at all last week.  Like I said, I know it's just that she's going to do it in HER time.   And like any good woman, she's taking her sweet time! :)

15 month check up - this is why parenting is so hard

We had Lily's 15 month check up today. She is 25 lbs (same weight since 9 months! :) and she is far ahead of the cognitive norms. We had to laugh when the dr asked us if she says more than 5 words:) She's a chatter box!

However, she still isn't walking. And he wasn't concerned about that until he checked her legs. He said her not walking worries him now because she's lacking muscle tone in her legs. It's not that she's not strong because she can stand and she cruises around our furniture. But, he recommended that we contact our local first steps office to have a therapist see her. I'm not going to lie, even typing that here, I feel teary again. I am sure it's nothing and I know so many parents go through so much worse with their children, but this is my baby. And it hurts my heart that there's something wrong with her beautiful legs. I need to keep it in perspective and feel good that we can get her check out and have some therapy to get her moving. And our doctor said it could also just be that she's not interested, but he just doesn't want her to miss a "developmental window." If you ask me, I'm still sure that it's just that she's not interested. She does what she wants when she wants to - from day one. She had zero interest in solid foods until she decided she wanted them and she crawled very late because she was too busy reading her books and doing more learning-centered activities. But I know it won't hurt to have a little physical therapy. I made sure with the center that this isn't something that would follow her through school because they told me they have to create a "file" for her. As a former teacher, I know all to well that once kids are labeled with any sort of disability, it's very tough to break out of that, unfortunately.

I'm going to finish with the other high note; she didn't cry even a little through her TB test! What a big girl:) Okay, so she howled like a crazy woman during the other two shots, but she braved that TB test like a champ! :) Thanks in advance for reading. I always know I can come here and vent and get my feelings out and feel supported by you guys.

**Update:  I've been researching babies with poor leg muscle tone like crazy and it seems to be really common.  In fact, the more I research, Lily isn't even a late walker yet - not until 18 months do they deem them late.  So, I'm thinking this is hopefully nothing at all and that the PT will just tell us she'll do it when she's darn well ready! :)

Part-Time Jobs and Technorati ??s

My husband works as an adjunct professor, which means he makes all of his money in the fall and spring.  So here we are in early summer, and I'm thinking, "What happened to all of our income?"  :)  It's not that extreme, really, but with both of us home so much,  I'm really kind of wanting to pursue some sort of part time work.  In a perfect world, it would be something I could do from home (hello get rich quick schemes:) and that would use my degree/talents, which is a Masters in English.  I'm at a total loss, though.  Do any of you work from home or have outside part time jobs? Do you enjoy getting out and making some money or do you feel pulled from home?  I love being an at home parent, but with Lily getting older and with my husband home so much, I feel like I have some time to do something extra.  Any input is much appreciated. 

ALSO, does anyone use technorati?  Someone told me to list the blog on it, but I dont' "get" it at all. :)  I'm so bad!  Is it to drive more traffic to the blog?  Again, help a girl out. :)

What a wierdo post! :)

Go Get a Frosty!

We're going to be out of town this weekend visiting family, so unless something earth shattering happens that I cannot contain myself about, this'll be my last post until Monday:) But I had to remind you to go to Wendy's this weekend and get a Frosty!! They're super yummy PLUS the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is amazing and this weekend, they donate 50 cents from every Frosty purchase to the Foundation. It's a wonderful and yummy cause, so spread the word! Happy Father's Day to all the daddies and someday daddies out there! :)