The Edwards Entries

Happy Valentines Day!

2012-02-14T13:39:00.000-08:00

Nothing much has been going on in the Edward's house hold. Ive been pretty busy with photography and editing. But pretty much everything else is routine. My ear has been ok. I think if I can keep things the way they are I'll be ok. That's what I usually tell people when they ask how that's going. I've also been pretty busy on my sowing machine. Ive been quite proficient with it lately, I will post a few things I have made in a future post. But I told Brian and my mom that if I got a Monogramming machine for my birthday (hint hint) I will be sowing and monogramming everything in sight! More about that in a future post.

Today is Valentines day and Maddie had her Valentines party at preschool. This year both 3's classes had a combined party in the teen-center. All together I think there are 30 3's. That is such a huge graduating class! (for a church preschool). The kids iced a sugar cookies and of course Maddie had me cut her cookie up because she didn't want to get icing on her fingers.

New Blog/Website

2012-01-30T13:28:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to announce the new photo-blog/website for my photography business. I have been very blessed that my little business is growing steadily over the past few months. Since I haven't been working outside of the home, I have been really been able to kick in into high gear. I have bought some new equipment that I have been DYING to have and my goal will to be LLC within the next year. It is a tough market out there for photographers, but I think I have been doing well for myself, and I have been very happy with the work I have been giving. At least my Art degree is helping me out a little! I hope everyone is able to take a look at it, because honestly, I have been working on it for over a WEEK! all day long! Poor Maddie probably feels neglected! I pretty much taught myself how to use I know how to use Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, but Adobe Illustrator, is something different all together, used mainly for graphic designers, but I am so proud to have taught myself how to do a few tricks to make my website look more legit. So, PLEASE take a look, even if its just to look at the hard work I put into it! Ha!

I am proud of this little endeavor and I hope I can keep it running until I decided I don't want to do it anymore.

www.taraedwardsphoto.squarespace.com

or click the link to the left that says Tara Edwards Photography.

Ashlee's engagement photos

2012-01-15T17:30:00.001-08:00

This has been a busy weekend for me as far as photography goes. Friday night Brian and I drove to Keller to shoot a wedding, which a sneak peak will be available in a few days on my photo blog. Then, Saturday, Ashlee and her new fiance, Michael drove up for me to take their engagement photos. We went to my favorite spots to take the photos. I just absolutely love how the light shines through the trees and you get that awesome bokeh in the back ground. Just see for yourself. To see more, go to my photo blog: www.taraedwardsphotography@gmail.com

Things Maddie Says

2012-01-03T22:27:00.000-08:00

Maddie has been saying the funniest things lately and I just wanted to document them.

One of her babies has been "sick". She has actually been sick for months now. Every night Maddie tucks her baby in her baby's bed and gives her some "medicine". Its really cute how shes been acting like the little mommy. The other day Brian texted me what she told him about her baby. "Nenem (baby in Portuguese) is athroat. Her arms hurt and he tummy and legs are sore." Poor Nenem.

She also told me one day when we were at Target that she wanted princes band aids because they match her princess toothpaste.

She has also been really funny about giving me choices the way we give her choices. We give her choices from what color straw she wants in her juice, to choices to correct bad behavior, but lately she has been asking me questions with choices like: "How long is Aunt Ashlee going to be here? 1 minute or 5 minutes?

I know there are more funny little things she has been saying, but of course I cant think of them right now, but I will be making a new post of those every time she says something. Things like that are worth remembering!

On another note, last Saturday I took Maddie to a friend's birthday party. The theme was a Princess and Knight party (mostly princesses). The girls were SO cute and you could tell they really enjoyed being a princess for the day. The boys were typical boys. Its funny how you can tell the major differences between boys and girls at such young ages.

She's ready to go! She even had on matching shoes that the heals lit up.

December 2011

2012-01-02T12:55:00.000-08:00

I have not done a good job in blogging this month. After Brian's birthday, we celebrated our anniversary. Since we had already celebrated in style last month, we just went out to dinner and a movie. We saw Sherlock Holmes and it was just as fantastic as the first one.

The weekend before Christmas we took Maddie to go see Santa. In the years past, we took Maddie to Fairview to see him. We love that Santa, and there was absolutely no wait, so we thought we would go there again this year. Well, first, he wasn't in the same spot he was in the past years and second, we got there and the wait was 2.5hrs long! We later found out we could have signed up on-line and waited at home. Note to self for next year. Maddie was so excited to see him that we didn't want to leave and come back another day. Luckily for us, we haven't had lunch yet, so we got lunch and walked around the mall until it was our turn. When it got closer to our turn, we waited in line for a little bit, and I thought she would get real shy and not want to go up to him by herself. But boy, was I wrong. When it was her turn, she all but sprinted to him and jumped up on his lap. The whole thing was so cute! She kept looking up at him like he was a dream. She was so mesmerized by him! It was precious!

A few days after that, cookies were made, Fondue was eaten, presents were opened and good times have been had by all.

It is hard to annoy a 3-year-old, but my dad has mastered the skill.

This year we drove to Arlington on Friday to exchange presents with my extended family.

On Christmas eve we (I) made Fondue. We did a cheese, a meet in Coq-Ou-Vin sauce and a chocolate. It was SO good! My mom made a chocolate Rum cake for my grandpa's birthday, then we opened presents. Christmas morning, Maddie saw what Santa left for her, then in the afternoon we exchanged presents with Brian's family and we went to Ruth's Chris for diner. I have never been out to eat on Christmas Day, but it was fun and delicious!

Maddie did not partake in the Fondue. She had a respectable ham&cheese sandwich. On wheat.

Corey and Ashlee fought for the same piece of meat.

My Grandpa's birthday is Christmas Day, but we celebrated the night before because not everyone would be around Christmas Day.

We had a lot of fun this holiday! We wish for a healthy and prosperous New Year to everyone!

Brian's Birthday and Preschool Christmas Party

2011-12-15T13:35:00.000-08:00

Brian celebrated his birthday on December 5th. Big 28! First we went to lunch with his parents and sister, then later on, we had Pizza and birthday cake for dinner.

A couple of Sunday's ago, Brian and I left Maddie with his parents and we went out shopping for Maddie's Christmas presents. We hit up Toys R Us and went WAY over budget, but we got some real cute toys for her. She has entered a new toy phase, so earlier in the week I picked up all the toys that were broken or missing pieces and threw them away. Then, I gathered up all the toys that she has out-grown and put them away. (All during the night while she was asleep of course. I don't think she has noticed anything is missing)

While we were at Toys R Us, Brian stumbled upon a train set that he would have loved to have. He has actually talked about wanting a remote control train set, and here, he found one. A Christmas one to be exact. We both looked at it and thought how cute it would look around the Christmas tree. We looked at each other, then back at the train for a few minutes, wondering if we should just buy it. And buy it we did. I didn't really hesitate because he just had a birthday, and he had just found out that he passed his CPA exams. Its official. Brian is now a CPA! It has been something he has been working on forever! We are both very glad he is done!

After Maddie had her bath, we surprised her with the train and she helped Brian put it together.

Lastly, today was the last day of preschool for this semester and we finished it off well with a class Christmas party. They had a craft, book exchange and they got to ice sugar cookies.

Maddie and her friend Rylie

Rylie was inspecting Maddie's art work.

Book Exchange
Spreading icing on sugar cookies.
Obviously pleased with her work!
Merry Christmas!

Tree Lighting

2011-12-10T10:01:00.000-08:00

(Maddie after I picked her up from preschool one day)

Wow, have I been busy these past couple of weeks! And the thing is, I can't really pin point why exactly Ive been so busy, all I know is that I have not have time to sit to blog, watch my shows, or do anything relaxing. I feel like I've done nothing but run around these past few days. I think it's that I have had a hard time getting back into the groove after the Thanksgiving holidays, Brian got sick on his birthday, my best friend had a baby...just so much going on this time of year!

First, here are some pictures my parents took of Maddie decorating the Christmas tree. Brian and I had left on our early anniversary get away the night we were decorating, so it was up to my parents to document the event.

Last weekend Brian, Maddie and I went down town Plano to watch their tree lighting ceremony. Brian's dad plays in the Plano Community Orchestra and they were all set up playing under the gazebo. The whole thing was really nice. The weather was great and the lights were fun. Maddie, on the other hand, was not playing along.

Brian and Maddie in front of the tree. And Let me just sat that ALL NIGHT LONG when she took a picture with him, this is what we got:

But a picture taken with me, this is what I get:
Thanks.

Here we are waiting for the tree to light up.

She was exhausted. And it wasn't even 7:00 pm yet.

I was trying really hard to capture her expression as she gasped in excitement the moment the tree lit up. And this is what we ended up with. Her emotions were a little anti-climactic.

The Plano Orchestra was playing in the gazebo behind Brian and Maddie.

On our way back to the car we stopped at this bridge were Brian proposed to me 7yrs ago. I think it was our first time back since then.

And, this is the cake I made for Brian for his birthday. I had just added the filling, but the Chocolate Gnash Kahlua icing was hardening, so I couldn't add it yet. But, let me just say, that it was delicious!

A birthday post will come up shortly.

Early Anniversay gift

2011-11-29T09:50:00.001-08:00

Brian and I got to celebrate our 6 year anniversary a little early this year. Our actual anniversary is December 17, but we got to go do something special last weekend.

It all started on Saturday around 4:00 pm. Some of our family was still at our house from the Thanksgiving holiday. We were all in the front living room putting up the Christmas tree when there wound up being some sort of mess and confusion about an already-paid-for-unclaimed-hotel-room at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas. So after the confusion had been settled, my parents decided to pay the owner of the said hotel room and give it to Brian and I as an early anniversary gift!

Brian and I have also started a tradition a couple of years ago to go to The Melting Pot in Addison for our anniversary dinner. So, we decided, since we were going to be spending the night in Dallas, lets just make it an official anniversary date and go to dinner as well. And that we did. Had I known we were going out to a nice dinner and an even nicer hotel for the evening, I would have washed my hair when I got up that morning, I would have bought a new dress and I would NOT have eaten so much for lunch.
By this time it was about 4:45. I made a quick reservation for 6:15 for dinner. We only had about an hour to change clothes, pack our bags, say our good-byes (Maddie doesn't like to say good bye, it takes forever to leave the house) and drive to Addison which takes about 20-30 min.

We had a GREAT time! Dinner was FABULOUS as always and the Hotel reminded me of the Titanic since its a historical hotel. I didn't get any pictures of dinner since I didn't want to take my ginormous camera inside with me but I got plenty inside the hotel.

This was our view outside. It was neat how the stop lights had a large ornament hanging from the middle. The ornament changed colors also.

A plate with chocolate covered strawberries and other chocolate treats greeted us as we walked in the room.

Yes, the sweet well-wishes were made in white chocolate as well!

I LOVED this bed and the mirror above it. Its SO early 19 hundreds.

I also loved the rotary phone and the mirrored table.

They had the hotel decorated for Christmas. It was beautiful!

This was one of the lobbies. In the back, stands an ornately wood-carved Grand Piano. Beautiful!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-25T20:13:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. We hosted it here at the house and most of the family came and we had WAY to much food and desert like always. I am not entirely crazy about thanksgiving food, mainly because Christmas food is WAY better. And that is mainly because I like Ham better than Turkey.
Brian, Ashlee and Michael started the day off right running the Turkey Trot in Dallas. I was going to go, but I chickened out. On Wednesday night when we were going to bed, I looked at Brian and told him I wasn't upset I wasn't going with them. They were about to do two things I HATE the most: Waking up early and running.

Like I said earlier, we stayed in Murphy for Thanksgiving, but what set this Thanksgiving apart from the rest was this:

That is my sister and her new Fiance, Michael.

We all gathered up around the living room for my dad to say a prayer. Everyone (except me, brian, my mom and dad because we all knew about the surprise) faced my dad expecting him to start talking, but he didn't. Michael started to talk. He said how much he loved our family etc... then he turned around to face Ashlee, got down on one knee and proposed. Everyone was SO surprised and Brian was finally able to sigh in relief that he didn't have to keep a secret anymore.

After that, my dad said the actual prayer and we engorged ourselves. Just kidding.
Congratulations to Ashlee and Michael!

I'm pretty sure Maddie thinks she has mastered the art of scraping food around her plate to make it look like she ate most of it.

Kaia, My cousin's daughter. So, Maddie's 3rd cousin?

Christmas Pictures

2011-11-20T16:27:00.000-08:00

Today Brian, Maddie and I went out for a quick Christmas-time photo shoot. I have TONS of pictures of Maddie that I have done and that are framed through out the house, but I am sad to say, I think the only good picture of the three of us is the picture that was taken for the church bulletin a couple of years ago and I am not crazy about it either. Studio portraits are not my style, and since I take pictures, I have a hard time wanting to pay someone to do the exact same thing that I can do.

But, today, after church, Brian, Maddie and I went out to take a few pictures of us for Christmas. I took all the pictures that I am NOT in, but for the one's that I AM in, I asked my mom to take over. I set the settings and I explained the vision of what I wanted. She did a great job. She has a naturally artistic eye, (I guess that's were I get it from) and I have talked to her a little bit about photography over the years, so she was excited to do it. Here is what we came up with:

Arboretum

2011-11-13T12:44:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday Maddie and I got invited to spend the afternoon at the Arboretum with some friends and we had a great time walking around and looking at the different flowers and plants and exhibitions they had set up. This time they had a Cinderella theme with her carriage and different fun facts about the history of the fairy tail. It was all really cute and Maddie was able to get into it since she has seen the movie a couple of times. Thank you Jamie for letting us tag along with you and Brylee!

Whats down there?

High Five!
Maddie wanted to climb that tree.

Halloween

2011-10-31T20:40:00.000-07:00

This holiday was really fun for the Edwards' bunch. Maddie has literally been asking me "is it Halloween yet?" multiple times a day for about 3 weeks. I was SO ready for Halloween to get here so I can finally say "YES!!" and "Stop asking me that question!" For a while, Maddie has been telling me many different things she would like to be for Halloween, but I got an idea from Pottery Barn Kids that I tweaked and made myself. And I think it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself. This year she went as a strawberry.
I was just telling Brian tonight that I was glad Maddie had several opportunities to wear her costume. She looked SO cute, and I worked on it for a while, so I wanted the time I spent on it to be worth it. Or even if I had spent a lot of money on it, like the previous years, if she can wear something more then once, the better.
This year Maddie started Halloween off right with a costume parade at preschool. I was one of the many mom volunteers who passed out candy as the kids walked by. They were all SO cute!

Chapel after the parade

Later in the afternoon, the kids had a Halloween party.

They got to make caramel apples. Maddie didn't care for hers. Probably only because she wanted cake. Because to her, thats what you have at parties. But I enjoyed the apple.

After that, on Sunday, we had Trunk-or-Treat at church.

And thirdly, tonight, we went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. This year was the easiest so far for trick-or-treating. she carried her bucket by herself the whole time, and she would have ran ahead of us to each house if we had let her. She was very excited about getting more candy, but she was also very polite to each person who came to the door. Can I say: #proudparetingmoment. :)

Checking out all her loot. She actually has about twice that much from preschool and from church. She will be eating candy for a while.

Pumpkin Patch 2011

2011-10-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

Maddie needs a pumpkin for preschool on Tuesday, so I thought yesterday (Friday) was a good time to take her to the pumpkin patch down the street for some yearly pictures and she could pick out a pumpkin to decorate for preschool. We have been going to this pumpkin patch since she was 7 months old, I forgot to go when she was 1, but we have gone every year since. So here she is in all her cheesy-ness.

This is Maddie at 7 months old

This is Maddie at 2 Years

And now at 3 years

They also had a Hay Maze. It was really fun to go through it, Maddie would have stayed all day.

Bridal Portraits

2011-10-16T21:37:00.001-07:00

I am finally able to post these bridal portraits. I shot a wedding last night and now I am able to post these bridals I took last month! They came out beautifully! To see more: taraedwardsphotography.blogspot.com

Why all the yelling?

2011-10-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

I am now 10 days post surgery. I had my follow-up today and my Dr. said everything looks good. I haven't been feeling the greatest, I feel a lot of pressure, sometimes like my ear is going to explode and I cannot hear a thing, but I remember feeling that way the first time and it took me two weeks to get back to normal. My Dr. said there is still a lot of fluid (water they spray in there from surgery) and that is probably what is causing the pressure. Which is good, because that means its a fluid from surgery problem, not an actual ear problem. What is different this time, is that I can feel the bone around my ear more now then I could before, so I have a constant head-ache on the right bottom side of my head. I think its because I still felt sensitive around that area, then when he went and shaved more, it just kind of made it worse. But, I'm not complaining, it's nothing a little Tylenol wont fix. So, so far, so good.

My experience this time was about the same as the first two, everyone that works at Forest Park is super nice. My anesthesiologist was really friendly also. He was a bit young, he actually looked like he was about my age. At first, I was like, can you do this? But...I'm sure he's had many many years of practice, and he obviously did just fine.

One thing that I have noticed that were in common with these surgeries is that when I'm waking up from anesthesia, I get yelled at for rubbing my eyes. This time, I vaguely remember my Dr. patting me on the shoulder saying "Tara, you can wake up now, we are done and everything went well." then I remember the anesthesiologist yelling my name "Tara, Tara, wake up!" When someone is trying to wake you up from the deepest sleep you've ever been in, your first instinct is to rub your eyes. It just helps you to wake up. Well, the nurses and anesthesiologist are yelling at me (probably not yelling, but trying to get me to hear them) to wake up, so I automatically raise my hands to my face, then they yell "Don't rub your eyes!" so my arms fall back to my side and I drift back into sleep. Then I hear again "Tara wake up!" so my arms go back up again then they yell "Tara, don't rub your eyes!" I was thinking WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME? this little game went on for a while until I finally squirmed my eyes open just so the yelling would stop. (again, I'm being dramatic, but everything is weird when your under the influence)

They wheeled me upstairs and I got to stay the night. My Dr. suggested I stay. He knew we had met our total, so, why not take advantage of it? I was glad I chose to do this, that way Brian could stay home and only worry about Maddie. That part of the hospital was completely new and all of the nurses were very nice. And the pampering was nice too.

I asked a friend who has an anesthesiologist friend why your not supposed to rub your eyes when waking up. She said it was because your eyes can dry up, depending on the length of the procedure and if you rub them, your corneas can get scratched and vision can be impaired. They also try to get you to wake up quickly because there are rules about making sure the patient is coherent within a certain amount of time. There are a lot of rules we simpletons don't know about when it comes to what goes on behind the scenes of a hospital. She filled me in a little and I find them interesting. Maybe I'll be a Dr. in my next life.

#3

2011-09-25T20:32:00.001-07:00

So, yes, indeed, as I suspected I will be having surgery 3# this year on Tuesday. This time, it's on my ear again. It's not my Dr.'s fist choice as a measure of treatment. The affective-ness of this surgery has gone from 70% success rate, to pretty much something most Dr.'s believe its just a placebo. (according to google). In other words, it works for some and it does not work for others, and if it does work, it might only work for a month, or it could work for years. Its different for everyone. This procedure will be similar to the first one I had where he will shave off some of the mastoid bone around the ear, do some other things that only Dr.'s know about, and this time he will put a shunt in. It's called Endolymphatic Shunt. I could tell by my conversation with my Dr., he would have preferred for me to do the Gentamicin injections which are 90% effective. I told him that the problem with the injections, are the side affects, and if my 3yr. old could make herself breakfast, then I might go along with it, but that isn't the case. He understood, having small children of his own, he could relate. Which I appreciate.

I figure that with the surgery, I have nothing to lose by giving it a try. The good news is that it will be 100% covered by insurance. I just had a feeling they would be calling me telling me I owe some ridiculous amount of money because they didn't want to cover this certain type of surgery because of some ridiculous reason. But they didn't!

It will be at the same surgery center as the last two, probably with the same two pre-op nurses I've had before. (what are the odds of that?)

I'm also glad I'm doing it now, and not waiting. I have a wedding to shoot on the 15th of October, and I am PRAYING I am fully recovered by then. I'm also glad I'm doing it now and not waiting until after the wedding. The pressure and ringing have been getting worse, in a way that its not subsiding. Even for a little bit during the day, and when it's constant like it is, the crummier I feel and the more likely I'll have an episode. Which I HAVE been having during the night. And one time during the day when I was at CCCCD taking a statistics exam. Pretty sure I failed because I had to guess on most of the answers so I could high-tail it out of there.

But, whatever. All you can do it move forward right?
I'm praying that this will put the whole thing to rest for a while, I know I'll always be dealing with this, but a break from it for a year or two would be nice.

My Dr. told me last time I saw him that he thinks I have Menieres because of an autoimmune problem. A bout a month ago I was reading on the internet that there is a link between people with Menieres who also have Thyroid disease. I nearly jumped out of bed. Of course none of this is a fact, but I thought very interesting how both became very apparent in a matter of a few months of each other. (That also could be another reason why I had trouble breast-feeding.) Looking back, I think that's why my Dr. sounded so intrigued when I told him I had a partial thyroid-ectamy. I think maybe that helps figure out just a little bit, why I have this "disease".

I will be typing a full report after recovery. We will see what happens next in the "Tara's Surgery Saga of 2011"

She's having a baby!

2011-09-23T12:46:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday I was able to drop Maddie off at preschool and head off to a Maternity shoot in McKinney. Tara is one of my best friends and we have known each other since I was a Sophomore in High school. In fact, here is a picture of us back then. I found this recently and laughed. We had found a neighborhood in Lukas were the name of the development is Tara and the names of the streets are names from Gone With the Wind. (I can quote this movie, along with Princess Bride, but that's for another time.) Anyways...We were super exited to find our names on something so large, since, it's not a very common name.

So, now, ten-ish years later, she is about to deliver their first baby girl in December. So, here are some of her maternity shots. To see more: www.taraedwardsphotography.blogspot.com

cRaZy DaY!

2011-09-15T18:41:00.000-07:00

Today was the CRAZIEST of all the days. Its Thursday, so it was a preschool day, which was great, I would be able to get some studying done for my Statistics exam on Saturday. Its SUPPER hard to do homework and study when you have a little body in your house running to and fro wanting to play. I also had a Dr.'s appointment in Dallas at 2:30. It takes me 30 minutes to get there from my house, and preschool ends at 2:00. But, I thought, no worries, I'll just get there early for the pick-up line, have all snacks and entertainment for the waiting room all ready to go in the car and head strait from the school to the appointment. THEN, I remembered, today was the first day for Maddie's ballet class. At 4:00. oh dear.

Ok, so new plan. Pick Maddie up early from pre-school at 1:30, bring her home, change her into her leotard and tutu, grab snacks, entertainment (ipad) for the Dr's office, camera and ballet shoes for ballet. Go to Dr.'s appointment, pray that it doesn't take long, then make it back just in time for ballet.

Everything was good to go until I got into my car to pick Maddie up and it wouldn't turn over. ARE.YOU. KIDDING.ME? it worked fine this morning! (the check engine light had been on for a couple of days. oops) Luckily, my dad was turning into the neighborhood when I started to panic. He threw around some car lingo that I pretended to understand, and went onto thinking of a solution to my current problem.

New plan #2 take my dad's truck to pick up Maddie, (in Allen) get her home changed, grab my stuff, then have my dad take us to get Brian's car at work. (Richardson) I would take Brian's car to my appointment, (Dallas) then Maddie to Ballet, (Sachse) then back to pick Brian up from work (Richardson). And that is was I did. There was A LOT of driving involved.

Maddie was precious in Ballet. I could tell she was exhausted but she had fun.

(she's the one with the yellow bow)

First Position

Play time!

2011-09-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, Brian, Maddie and I got to go play at the park for the first time in a long time! In these past few months it seems like, we have been cooped up inside because of the heat. Poor Maddie hasn't been able to go to the park because the slides and swings have been radiating so much heat, you could almost see the steam. Not to mention the second we leave the house, without even making it to the car, sweat starts to poor down our foreheads. So, this summer, we did a lot of in-door playing.

Maddie was ecstatic when we suggested we go to the park that evening and play she did.

Waiting Patiently for daddy to gather his things.

We went to the small park near our house, but where ever there are slides, she's a happy camper.

Trying out the monkey bars

Maddie's First Day of Preschool

2011-09-07T14:52:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was Maddie's first day of preschool. It was also the first day of preschool that I was not in the same building as her. It was the first time she didn't sit with me in Chapel, the first time we were not playing outside together or me being able to check-up on her when ever I felt like it.
It was a little bitter-sweet. She put on a small show when we dropped her off, wanting one more hug and kiss, and of course I oblidged. But, like what other several other mom's and dad's did that day, after many first-day photos, hugs and kisses, walked right back out the front door, and on to the tasks of the day. For Brian, who went with me to drop her off, went to work. Me? I had GLORIOUS moments of sheer silence. I went home, and did most things I normally do, but I did it in silence. I got to watch HGTV when I ate lunch, ran some errands and then, 2:00 p.m. came very quickly. I was excited to pick her up to see how her day went.

She looked SO big walking out to the pick-up line with her back-pack on her back. Her teacher said she had a great day and she came out of her shell quickly. Maddie also told me she had a good day when we got back in the car. She is excited about tomorrow, so I'm glad I made the right choice by keeping her in school. They will be learning and doing a lot this year and I am also excited to see how much she will be growing and little by little getting ready for Kindergarten.

I forgot to get a picture of her and her teachers, but here she is before we left the house Tuesday morning. I could not get a reasonable smile.

Baby Brylee Photoshoot

2011-09-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

The other day, I decided to take baby Brylee and Maddie on an impromptu photo shoot. I originally wanted to shoot both Maddie and Brylee together, but that didn't work out so well, especially towards the end when both girls had decided it was time to move on to a different activity. We went just down the road a little bit where there is a very small community garden/pick-nick area with lots of nice trees for shade. We just went down there and played and took pictures. Both girls had a great time in the out doors. I feel like we have spent most of our summer in doors because of the heat, we all needed a change of scenery. The weather was nice and the breeze was great! Here are a few of my favorites of the day:
For more: www.taraedwardsphotography.blogspot.com

Meet the Teacher

2011-09-01T19:53:00.000-07:00

Tonight was meet the teacher night at Preschool. It was actually harder for me then I thought it was going to be. I recently told my sweet director, at the last minute, I couldn't go back this year. I had already told her in the beginning that I was wanting to go from a class-room teacher to doing Spanish again this year. That way I would have one day a week at school, then another to focus on my classes, go to Dr.'s appointments etc... Well, last week, I just couldn't take it anymore, I had been having some minor Meniere's episodes during the night and my Dr. told me he wants me to highly consider Gentamicin injections.

These injections kill the balance cells in your inner ear, with the goal of eventually stopping the vertigo. Well, this might seem ideal and all, but for your balance to function correctly, the other ear must compensate for the other. This could take weeks, and during that time, there is a high chance of me being sick that whole time. If that did happen, I would not be a very reliable employee, and that's not someone I want to known as. So, in the best interest of myself and preschool, I decided to take the year off, focus on school and photography and take some time for myself in the process. We decided it was important for Maddie to keep going, she absolutely loves it, and I would hate to take that away from her.

When we walked into the building, this was all new to me. I had never been on this side of things before. I turned in Maddie's paperwork, then gave my old boss a hug, then, came on the water works. I quickly left her then went to talk to the assistant director, then, came on the water works again. PERFECT. I left her quickly as well, then ran into a couple of teacher friends that were wondering what was going on (like why I wasn't there) and it took all I had no not tell Brian and Maddie PEACE OUT and run to the bathroom. Fortunately I composed myself in time to make it to Maddie's new classroom and let her get to know her two new teachers.

Ms. Justine and Ms. Katie are her teachers. They are the Giraffes. They are wonderful. Katie is new this year, but Justine has been there for many years. Maddie warmed up quickly, and soon didn't want to leave the room.

I hope Tuesday goes just as well. For her at least. I hope I get a grip before then.

Going to her new class

Assessing the situation

She got a folder with her name on it and a new Disney Prices puzzle from her teachers

Computers with Ms. Allison

Music with Ms. Ashley

Maddie's 3yr. Photos

2011-08-30T14:31:00.000-07:00

It has been nice having Brian home this week. At least, having another warm adult body in the house. However, he's not much for company since he's studying for his last CPA test he takes on Wednesday afternoon. But he has taken time off during the day to eat and play with Maddie some, and I know she has been thrilled to have him home.

Today I decided I needed to do Maddie's 3 year old photos. It seems in the past I have always waited till the Fall to do it. It's my favorite time of year, I LOVE the pumpkin photos and the leaves and the smells and everything that goes with it. But...I have done that for the past two years and her birthday is in March. So, by the time October comes around, she's closer to a year older, then her actual birthday. So, today I decided to take some summer one's to change it up a bit, and then maybe I'll take some in October again. Most likely I will. I also wanted to use the oportunity to get out of the house while Brian was studying, but right as I was about to leave he decided to take a break and he joined us. I was very thankful, because this girl can have an attitude that sometimes requires re-enforcements. I think photographing my own kid is harder then doing someone who's not my own. Either way, I was happy with the turn out, and they will be a great new addition to Brian's collection in his office. And in my house. Enjoy. www.taraedwardsphotography.blogspot.com

p.s. I know I have said this before, but for some reason the quality of my photos on this blog is not quite good. My photo blog is much better, probably because its a newer version. Just FIY.

Good Bye Coach Nick

2011-08-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

I know I have blogged about this in the past, that Maddie has been in gymnastics ever since she was 22 months old. First we started off at Tiny Totts, then she moved up to Kids Gym, and now she's about to move up to Kids Gym 2. She loves it and it has been apart of our routine for a long time now. Coach Nick has been Maddie's coach this whole time and he is great with the kids and the whole time we have been at ASI, he has never missed a class. We were thrilled when a couple of weeks ago, he mentioned that he wanted to move her up to Kids Gym 2.

Last week however, he came up to me and told me he would be changing Gyms. The words "OH NO!" just bursted out of my mouth without even thinking about it. Then I immediately retracted what I said with a more positive "congratulations". It turns out he will be moving the Lake Highlands Gym, on Forest and Greenville, then eventually go on to manage a new Gym in Huston. We are happy for him (by we I mean me, because I haven't told Maddie yet.) But sad to have to be changing coaches after being with him for so long. I guess all people move on eventually. I took my camera today to get some last few shots of Maddie and Nick. We don't know exactly when he will be leaving, but it will be within the next couple of weeks. There is a waiting list for the other coach we want, so I might take Maddie to the Lake Highlands Gym until there is an opening. We will see.

We were very late as usual, so she had her hardy breakfast of cereal bar (organic from Sprouts at least) juice and yogurt.

They had a couple of helpers today. Probably for training.

Standing on one leg

Right after ringing the bell

Maddie needs lots of assistance on the cheese Matt.

Maddie and Coach Nick.

Maddie's Bedroom

2011-08-18T09:49:00.000-07:00

The other night Maddie got the notion to make her own bed. All by herself. Right before bed time. Never mind the time of day (night) she decided to take on this task, she was quite proud of herself and wanted us to follow her back upstairs to oohh and aahh at her accomplishment. And of course it was a Kodak moment.

She is into silly faces now.

She pulled her comforter to the top as much as she could, then gathered all her bed-time friends and laid them all in a row. Her efforts were pretty cute.

After taking these pictures, I realized I never did take pictures of her "big girl" room after I had finished it.

This is the bassinette Moses basket she slept in when she was a new born. I let her play with it now. Her babies are very comfortable.

This is the bedding I got her from PBK. I LOVE IT! I'm also glad I was able to stick with the pink&green color scheme I had with her crib bedding.

(Brian got her that foam clock at the $1 spot at Target and just hung it up without consulting me first. I realize the clock and the paining are not in visually stimulating locations in the room, but, I had re-arranged the furniture, and didn't mess with the wall hangings. I'll do it later.)

These are the curtains and valance I made to match.

This is the hamper I made to match as well.

This painting I did that hangs above her bed. The blue came out a little darker then I intended. I'm going to fix it, I just don't know when.

This is the bow hanger I made.

I made these letters when I was pregnant, and this dresser used to be Brian's, and also when I was pregnant, we pained it white and bought new knobs for it. The empty space right now holds a hideous 1970's looking fan that I didn't care to document. But, as I have said before. It gets hot in her room during the day.

When we move we plan on getting her more furniture, but for now this works very well.

Sleeping Arrangement

2011-08-12T11:42:00.000-07:00

Maddie's bedroom is right above the garage and if I forget to leave the garage door cracked open during the day, her room will get sweltering hot. The AC up here cannot keep up with the 115+ temps we've been having, so for "nap time", I moved her to the guest room were it is SO much cooler. When I decided on this new sleeping arrangement, I didn't think about everything that would come with it. Her toys. She has lots of toys and stuffed animals but she has specific ones she sleeps with and likes in her bed. She also likes to have her favorite baby doll sleeping next to her in her own pack-n-play. (placknplay as Maddie says) Here is how I found her one rare day when she actually fell asleep. I guess she felt it was necessary to put on a cap since her baby has one on too.

As the days of 100+ weather have not let up, we have been putting her in this room at night too, then when Brian and I go to bed, we move her to her room, where at that point its cool enough. On Tuesday night, before I went to bed, I moved Maddie back to her own room, but I was tired of lugging everything back and fourth, so all I took was her pillow and her special bunny she likes to cuddle with. I figured since she was already asleep, she wouldn't notice.
Boy, was I wrong!
I woke up at 3:00 a.m. to a flowery pink little flashlight pointing in my face. "Mommy, I need my animals!" Oh heaven help us.
I new that arguing at that time would exhort more energy then just getting up and scooping all the animals and toys and throwing them on her bed in her room.
The next night we didn't mover her at all. This might be her new room for the remainder of the summer.

I just thought this was a cute picture. We had a family reunion about three weeks ago at my Aunt's house (same place as the 4th of July pictures) and wanted to post this here.

resolutions

2011-08-07T22:05:00.000-07:00

Today Maddie said something funny. We had gone to the pool, Maddie, Brian and I, and on our way home we decided to stop at Pappa Murphy's to get a pizza for diner. On our drive over there, Maddie saw the moon and this is how the conversation went:
Maddie: I want to be a spaceship
Brian: you want to be an astronaut?
Maddie: Yes
Brian: Maybe one day you will be able to go to the moon!
Maddie: Yea, I'll need a very big ladder!
Hahaha! We just snickered to our selves as we pulled into the parking lot and as Brian was getting out of the car (I was driving which is rare when we are both in the car) to order the pizza, he asked me for my debit card because he didn't bring his wallet. We stared at each other for a few seconds when we realized neither of us had our wallets. Who takes their wallet to the pool? We had to drive all the way back home. Brian got Maddie in the tub and I ran out for the pizza. I will never say no to some quiet time in the car.

Now to the purpose of the title for this post.

On Tuesday I got a steroid injection in my ear to calm things down a bit and my Dr. gave me strict orders:
1) Take my diuretic pill everyday
2) Take my potassium pill everyday. (diuretics deplete potassium levels)
3) No salt intake (eat greens)
4) No caffeine.
5) come back next week

I said OK! and went home. Did I do what he told me to? Somewhat. I took my pills and got de-caff at Starbucks. But how am I supposed to omit salt from my diet? What about delicious cheese enchiladas? or pizza? I think I did ok actually. But I know I could have done better.

Today I came across a blog about a guy who sufferers from Menieres and he posts a TON of stuff about it and a ton of people comment. I found some helpful information. I learned that I thought I had it bad. WOW, there are people out there who have it WAY worse then I do. Which makes me kind of scared, but I also think knowledge is power right? The main thing I learned was that there are several different treatments for several different cases of severity and no two people will react to the same kinds of treatments the same way. The only one thing in common was: Diuretics, low salt intake, and no caffeine. I highly believe my symptoms are stress induced. Not that if I'm not stressed I wont have an episode, but being stressed does help promote the onset of episodes. I have no idea how or why. Its just one of those trial and error things everyone has to go through. So this is my new resolution:
1) I will make a POINT to lower my salt intake
2) eat less sugar
3) no caffeine.
4) get back to the gym.

Hopefully some post baby weight loss will help in reducing stress and pressure on my body among the other things I listed. I decided to post them, so I could keep up with it because, I'm a quitter. So hopefully since surgeries are out of the way, I'll be able to get back the momentum I had once before.

Almost there

2011-08-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

This week has been so great. It has been so nice being home with Maddie and getting somewhat back to our normal routine. I haven't been able to go to the pool yet since surgery, but I'm getting my stitches out tomorrow, so hopefully after that, I'll be able to lather up some sun screen and go for a dip.

Not to be a broken record, but even though the Thyroid surgery and recovery was tremendously successful, It messed up progress on my ear. My Dr. and I both think that from all the stress my body went through and all the swelling and extra fluids they pumped in me, caused my Meniere's to "flair up". I had to see my ear Dr. yesterday. I was there from 2:00 pm till 4:30 pm. And it takes me 30 min to get there, so I was gone for a long time. He had me do a hearing test again and it seems my hearing is back to were it was before surgery about 60% hearing loss (not permanent, but only due to swelling in my inner ear) and he gave me a steroid shot in my ear too. That helped, but the shot only seems to last for about 24 hrs, then I'm back to were I was. With all this new pressure and swelling in my ear, I'm terrified of having more episodes, since that's how they always start. I'm praying that when my swelling from my last surgery goes down, my ear will go back to normal. If not, we will need to be talking about plan B, which could potentially mean surgery #2 on my ear. There is no cure for Meniere's Disease which makes it rough. All we can do is preventatives to keep my ear from swelling. The positive side is that IF I need surgery #2, it should be free since we have met our total out of pocket for this year.

Sometimes I feel like I should find a Menieres support group or something. Like an AA. I'm the only one I know that has this, and since I look fine, you cant tell that I'm not feeling fine. When my ear is swollen, I hear loud ringing, I cannot hear when people talk to me and it hurts to be in large crowds. I am also deathly afraid of having episodes, because at this point I have to take heavy drugs and sleep all day long and wait for the dizziness to go away. Which makes me ask, What do I do with Maddie when this happens? And I do not want to get to the point were I cannot hold down a job, or be unreliable to people just because of this. I know that its something I'm going to have to live with. But I also know that God wont let me go through anything I cannot handle. And if not me, then someone else right? Might as well be me were I know I have a loving God who is here with me and a large support from my family. People may not understand this disease, or may even think I'm being a hypochondriac, but at least I have a FABULOUS Dr. and a wonderful family who is there to help when ever needed.

But as of now, I believe with this 115 degree weather, I'm taking Maddie to the pool tomorrow. I hope October gets here soon.

Recovery

2011-07-26T21:55:00.000-07:00

I had my surgery yesterday, the second major surgery I have had in the past 5 months that where completely unrelated to each other. Since all this, we have met our total out-of-pocket expenses with our insurance, so Brian and I joke around that we are trying to think of other things I could get done before the end of the year. Will our medical insurance cover a tummy tuck? Or is that considered cosmetic? hm.....something to think about!

Everything went well. I was at the same surgery center I was at last time, and funny thing was that I had the same nurses that were with me before and during surgery both times! They obviously didn't remember us, but Brian and I had a good laugh about it.

This surgery was a lot more invasive then my ear surgery, requiring more time and two doctors, however, it seems that the recovery experience has been a lot better. Probably because with my ear surgery, my inner ear was swollen and I couldn't hear and it was VERY painful. With this one, it is quite painful, its hard to swallow and it feels like someone punched me in the chest, but, unlike the first one, I feel like I can be mobile. At least for a while. I don't feel so bound to laying in bed all day long. So, that has been a positive.

I have a huge scar around my neck, but I have heard from numerous people that it will be barely noticeable. I went to the Dr. today to get the drain taken off and he said that he made the incision on one of the neck creases, so when it heals it will be less noticeable as well. He also said that while he was in surgery he could tell that the the growth I had was in fact benign (otherwise he would have taken the whole thyroid) and while I was in his office, his nurse came in and gave him the pathology report to confirm it was in fact benign. It has a specific name but I cant remember it. He said that you may see this kind of growth a lot in impoverished countries were people have giant tumors sticking out of their necks because it does not stop growing. He said that mine was the same and that even if I hadn't had removed it now, it would have had to come out sooner or later. And now I am glad it was sooner.

I get to go back next week to get the stitches removed, then in 6 weeks I'll get blood work done on my hormone levels to make sure half of the thyroid is producing enough. I also have to keep an eye on the other nodule I have on the left side, but the Dr. said he wasn't concerned. I just have to make a point to have it checked once a year.

I hope this is the last for me as far as health issues. At least for a long while. I don't feel like they were major health issues, but they have required a LOT of work and energy!

What.Is.Going.On?

2011-07-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

Towards the end of May, preschool was about to be done, and I had A LOT to do to wrap up the school year. During that time, I felt a bump in my throat and it was hard to swallow, but I was also having other allergy symptoms, so that's what I thought it was. After a few days it seemed to have gone away, with my other allergies, so I didn't think about it again. A couple of weeks later, beginning of June, I felt the lump in my throat again, but again, just thought it was allergies. One night I woke up and I thought I couldn't breath. I think that If I had an epi-pen I would have used it. It freaked me out so much that went to the Dr. that very morning. She checked my throat and she said my thyroid felt a little swollen. They went head and did some blood work that later showed up that I have no food allergies (my mom is allergic to tons of things) and just your basic seasonal allergies like mountain cedar, grass etc.... Since the blood work came out fine, she referred me to a sonographer to have an ultrasound done on my thyroid. I wasn't in a huge hurry, my parents were in Brazil, so I had to wait for them to get back so my mom could watch Maddie, and in general, I wasn't to worried about it. I waited about a week then made the appointment for Wednesday the following week. By then, I could really feel it when I swallowed and I could also feel it on the outside, like there was a bump sticking out or something. No one else could see it, but I could.

It wasn't until the next Tuesday, that my Dr. called me back and said that there was a hard mass on my Thyroid. From the sonogram they could tell it was not a cyst, but it was a mass of some sort. She gave me the comforting news that it still could be a million different things and to not worry about it. Then she made an appointment for me to go to Plano Presby Hospital and have some imaging done. The appointment was for the following Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday I went to the hospital and took a radioactive pill with Iodine. Then on Thursday I went back and they took some pictures using an ultrasound. Apparently Iodine and Radiation are like magnets to the Thyroid. The Thyroid will soak up all the iodine and radiation and from that the Dr. will be able to tell more about what is on the Thyroid. If it had soaked up all the liquids, it would have meant I had a goiter (which is swelling of the thyroid) or a functioning nodule (or a hot nodule i.e. a nodule that produces hormones) Hot nodules are always benign. However, there was a large spot on my thyroid that didn't take up any of the liquids. This is called a cold nodule. Which is a mass on my thyroid that isn't doing anything ( 95% benign). I got these results back on Friday and by Thursday the next week I had an appointment with an ENT in Plano to talk about doing a biopsy. My Dr. also said that IF it is cancer, out of all cancers a person wants to get is thyroid and testicular cancer. They are the easiest to cure because they don't really spread and they take a long time to grow.

This ENT didn't really tell me a whole lot I didn't know before. He felt my throat and confirmed again that Thyroid nodules are VERY common, most people don't even know they have them and 95% of all thyroid nodules are benign. He said my age is a good factor for it being benign, however, my nodule (by this point) was large for a nodule. It is clearly visible (for people who see me everyday) that there is something there and the fact that its a cold nodule raise the possibility for cancer. He also said that either way it would be a good idea for me to have surgery to have it removed because of its size and biopsy's are not 100% correct.

The next Monday I was made an appointment to have the biopsy done on Wednesday and I had to go ahead and make the surgery for the following Monday, June 25th. It was either then, or August 23rd. Which, if it were benign, I could probably wait that long, but then school would have started a week later, and I would have no time for recovery. Another crappy thing was that we were planning on going to a family reunion and float down the Brazos River, then take Maddie to Sea World that weekend and we wouldn't be back until the 27th. But...it needs to be done, so the 25th is it. Bummer.

Needles to say these past 6 weeks or so have been absolute torture. With bad news after bad news...it seems like the chances for this thing being benign are getting slimmer and slimmer. I also didn't like that it took SO LONG to get from appointment to appointment. I feel like I could have been over with this already. Having to wait a whole week in between appointments plus the weekend, and not to mention the whole time thinking the worst. I don't think anyone could help it though. Thinking the worst. Especially if you have kids. The first thought in your mind ALWAYS goes to your babies. What will happen to Maddie if......? Or what is Maddie going to be thinking if.....? Will she understand? These thoughts are terrible and will eat you up inside, so I did my best to think positive and stay busy so I wouldn't even think about it at all. I was just wanting to get the biopsy done. It was a hurdle I wanted and needed to jump over.

While in the hospital Baylor Plano this time, it all came crashing down. This was real, it was really happening and all my thoughts about Maddie and my family kept swirling around. It was hard to keep from completely hyperventilating in the waiting room. The Biopsy was not pleasant. The Dr. gave me some local anesthetic which really hurt, then he poked me 4 times with 4 different needles. I couldn't feel the needles through the skin, but I could feel them in my throat. It was a weird feeling. Finally I was done.

Today I got the call. It was benign. I almost cried of joy and relief, but I think I'm all cryed out. I literally feel a HUGE burden lifted off of me. I feel like I carried it this whole time.

I'm still scheduled for surgery on Monday. They will be removing half of my thyroid. While doing the biopsy, they found another very very small nodule on the left side, but they are not concerned. It would be wiser to just keep an eye on it and leave me with half of my thyroid, so as to not need to take hormones the rest of my life. The surgery will be at the same place I went for my ear surgery. Forest Park Surgery Center. I loved that place it was very new and nice. This surgery will take approximately 3 hrs and I may or may not stay over night. While I'm still under, they will take the nodule and biopsy it one more time to be 100% positive its benign.

When I first got the bad news I wondered why all these things keep happening. This will be my 2nd surgery in 5 months. Not to mention the personal goals Brian and I have set for ourselves that for many other reasons we have not been able to achieve quite yet. I have been shown time and time again that God works in His time. Not mine. I need to remember that He is with me ALWAYS and that His plan is SO much greater then mine. I think he is trying to teach me to lean on Him and give everything up to Him and to stop trying to control the directions I take in my life. I praise Him for being with me through this rough time. I always remember that He never allows us to be in situations we cannot handle.

Movie Time!

2011-07-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Saturday, Brian and I took Maddie to her her first movie at a movie theater. They were showing a new Winnie the Pooh movie and I had been wanting to take Maddie to it since I had seen the previews for it a month ago. We got up and I ran to the store to grab somethings for a hardy breakfast, since our movie started at 11, and I knew she would want popcorn when we got there. So, I wanted Maddie to eat a good brunch before having junk food.
When we got into the car, she didn't really understand where we were taking her to, she kept asking us were the Winnie the Pooh movie was. We kept telling her she would see it in a little bit, and I tried to make it as big of a deal as I could. By the time we walked in the atrium of the theater, she was very excited. We were running a little late (of course) and to my surprise most of the seats were taken, so we had to get seats just a couple of rows from the front. 45 min later, the movie was over, Maddie loved it, and Brian and I had a great time.

These were taken from my iphone.
On our way! Be sure to always wear your Barbie sunglasses when its bright outside!

She really got into the movie AND popcorn!

Family Photoshoot

2011-07-12T09:15:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I did a photoshoot for a family that I have become good friends with through Maddie. Maddie and their little girl are in gymnastics and ballet together and are good friends. They have gone to each others birthday parties, have gone on swimming dates and they see each other each week at ASI. It is so cute to watch their friendship develop. This little girl just turned 3, so her mom asked me to take some photos of her, rather then them going to Sears, were they have been going for the past couple of years. I said SURE! and we were off. Here are a few of shots. To see more, you may go to my photography blog. www.taraedwardsphotography.blogspot.com

4th of July, 2011

2011-07-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

This year for our 4th celebration, we went to my Aunt's house in Fort Worth. Or more accurately, Azle. We had lots of bbq, desert, games and swimming. Maddie went down the water slide they had, and I think she didn't know weather to love it, or hate it. We also forgot her life vest/floaty, so it was partially our fault she didn't feel secure enough to go down it. But over all, we had had a great time!

Maddie really wanted to play pool with my dad and Brian

Then she got upset and pouty that they wouldn't let her play in the middle of their game.
She came to me for comfort, but I couldn't help to find it a little humorous. Then took a picture.

She wanted to go down this slide really bad at first, then she decided, she didn't want to anymore.

Brian almost had to pull her down. But she let go eventually.

After all the fun had been had at the house, we went out to the lake around the corner to watch the fireworks. Maddie was not too impressed. Probably because she was exhausted.

HAPPY FOURTH!

Thompson Wedding

2011-06-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine from college, who also does photography got in touch with me this past weekend and asked me to join her to shoot a wedding of another mutual friend of ours from college. I was excited and of course I said yes, so here are a few of the photos I took from yesterday. (sorry, they got out of order)

Engagement Photo Shoot

2011-06-05T16:13:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I did an engagement photo shoot in Dallas and Carrollton for a couple that I'm also doing their wedding in October. Here are a few shots of them. I think they came out pretty cute.

A Fun Day.

2011-06-01T15:05:00.001-07:00

Today Maddie and I had a fun day!
First, we went to ASI and I watched her do her gymnastics thing. She has made good friends with this other girl Kayson. Kayson will be 3 next month and I have gotten to know Kayson's mom pretty well. We sit on the bleachers and talk while the kids jump and tumble. A few weeks ago we had planned to take the girls to Hawaiian Falls, a water park in Garland. Supposedly its super fun, cheaper (and a lot closer) then the water park in Arlington, and we had planned on going and checking it out today after Gymnastics. We especially wanted to go today because it would be before the "big" kids got out of public school. However, Kayson's mom (Jeannie) realized yesterday that the park is only open for party's or school functions this week, and will be open for the public next week. BUMMER! Maddie had been talking about going swimming with Kayson all day yesterday, I'm just glad I wasn't specific on where we the swimming would take place.

So, instead of going to Hawaiian Falls, which I'm sure we will have many other opportunities to check it out, we went to Kayson's neighborhood pool. The girls had a blast. Their kiddie pool was only 6" deep and there was also a water spray area. Maddie wanted nothing to do with it, but it was cool just the same.

I got to work on my tan and talk to Jeannie while the girls had fun in the water. I'm really enjoying this stage Maddie is in right now. I think this is the stage I wish I could keep her at forever. She is independent and can do lots by herself (including going potty without even having to tell me about it!) and her daddy and I are still the center of her world. I will just die when that changes I know. But...I will not think about that right now! ( As I am listening to Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance" on Pandora. Tear!)

Ballet

2011-05-22T13:19:00.000-07:00

This coming week is Maddie's last week of Ballet. I haven't broken the news to her yet that it does not continue on through the summer. She will be very upset. But I did take some cute pictures of her last week, and this Thursday will be the week were they will be facing the audience of parents and they will perform the song they've been working on to us.

I took my good lens with me last week so I got some better pictures then before. I think my "everyday" lens is broken.

Rangers Vrs. Oakland

2011-05-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

Monday night, Brian and I went to a Rangers game. The first one this season. I have to admit, sometimes I don't know who I am anymore. I'm all about these Rangers games. I ask Brian everyday if the Rangers are playing and I'll sit and watch most of the game if I'm not to tired. My knew found interest is quite bazaar. I think it started when the Ranges went to the play-offs last year and I learned all the rules. Knowing the rules makes a lot of difference apparently. Since I've been excited to watch them play, and have established some of my favorite players, I was very excited to go to a game. And that we did.

We sat 21 rows behind the Rangers dug out, a camera man caught the people in the row behind us, and someone caught a faul ball 3 rows behind us. Brian made best friends with a guy who was drunk before the game even started and bought Brian a bag of penuts (aparently the penuts were to hard for the guy to open in his drunken state so he gave them to Brian) and a beer. He also kept talking to him while Brian was trying to watch the game, but at the top of the 7th inning, the guy and his girl friend just up and left. The ranges were loosing, but we kept the faith until the bottom of the 8th. Plus, we didn't want to sit in traffic. But, we had a great time!

Easter 2011

2011-04-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

This Easter was pretty relaxing. We first celebrated at preschool on Thursday. The day started off with Donuts with dad were Maddie and Brian shared some donuts together, then at the end of the preschool day, the kids got to hunt Easter eggs. This year we had to hunt them in the foyer because it was raining. Bummer. But the kids had fun non-the-less.

On Sunday, the Easter bunny brought Maddie a Snow-White barbie doll, some cute wooden food for her kitchen and a chocolate bunny. After lunch she hunted the eggs he left for her and they were filled with jelly beans. For diner, we went to Brian's parents house were Maddie did more egg hunting and topped it off with an egg shaped cup-cake. That girl got A LOT of sugar from the Easter bunny this year!

Last year, Maddie had just turned 2, so she wasn't quite into it, but this year, she really got to enjoy it. When we were talking about the Easter bunny leaving treats in the middle of the night, she related it to Santa Clause during Christmas, so she was very excited to see her basket in the morning.

Maddie did not appreciate that the Bunny hid his eggs in the dirt. Brian had to help her reach those eggs so she wouldn't have to get her feet dirty. What a miss priss.

Then she decided to pose for pictures. This never happens.

(I don't know why my pictures look grainy on this blog.)

Love/Hate

2011-04-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

Let me talk about my love/hate relationship with naps for a bit. I just came to terms with the fact that Maddie has pretty much out-grown her naps. Some kids nap till their 4 or 5, some have given them up way earlier then Maddie has, but still, it is a sad departure in our household.

I do however, make her stay in her room for 1 1/2 hrs. I put her in bed, after we watch Olivia on Nick Jr. after lunch, (hilarious cartoon, I think I would watch it even if Maddie wasn't around) and when I leave, as if I have no clue as to what she's up to, she gets up, pushes her rocking chair up to the light switch and turns the light on. Then proceeds to play with her toys. I have come to terms with that. As long as she stays in her room until I get her.

This new little schedule sounds great and all, except until the 6 O'clock hour comes upon us, and I would like to pull my hair out. Some days, she's good. Most days, its melt down city. Especially if we happen to go out for dinner. One day, we were eating a late diner at home, it was around 7:00 and Maddie was pouting for one reason or another. She put her elbows on the table amd leaned her chin on her palms and stuck her bottom lip way out. (were do they learn this stuff?) Brian and I ignored her. If she wanted to pout and not eat her diner, then that's the choice she makes right? So we went on talking. A few minutes later, I look over at Maddie and she was SOUND ASLEEP! What in the world? Brian picked her up and just put her to bed.

Now on the other hand, if she's had a busy day, mostly on Saturday mornings when Brian wears her out at the play ground, she'll take a nap, however, the 8 O'clock bed-time, comes to soon for her. Good luck to us if she'll go to bed then. And again, if she's asleep or not, I don't care, as long as shes in her bed at night. However, the night time routine lasts FOREVER. "I need my water", "I need my bear", "I need more hugs and kisses"etc... Its hard to put a stop to all that. After all, who can deny their child more water? Or hugs? What kind of mother would I be if I said NO to more hugs? I actually had to come up with an alternate to hugs, were I can stand at the doorway and blow kisses. The whole bed time routine can take up to an hour if we let it. And that's AFTER shes ALREADY in bed. Crazy kid.

So that's my love/hate relationship with naps these days. I love them and I hate them at the same time.

Zoo Day

2011-04-11T16:35:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was Walk for Epilepsy at the Dallas Zoo. I really don't know anyone close to my heart that suffers from Epilepsy, although, I'm sure its quite a debilitating disease, we actually went there to see Corey. Corey helps organize ASI's involvement in the walk and he designed the t-shirts they all wore.

Brian had to study for the CPA exam he was taking on Monday, and my mom had something else she needed to. My dad was going to go so, Maddie and I went with him. It was a lot of fun but it was HOT! They have a safari section in the zoo and I really thought I was walking in a real safari. I pretended I was in Africa. It was hot. And I think it was in the low 90's. Not even close to whats to come this summer. Not looking forward to that. But we did have a great time, and Maddie found all of the Animals in Lion King, and I sang the entire "pumba" song from memory. She wanted to see a bear, but I don't think they have any at the Dallas zoo. If they do, we sure didn't find any. Towards the end of our venture, she stopped asking to see one, so we were free to leave without the little one getting upset that she didn't get to see one of her favorite animals. BUT, she did get to ride a camel and a pony. That was pretty cool.

updates

2011-04-01T07:14:00.000-07:00

This might be a little TMI, but I wanted to remember this.
I went in for my first after-surgery appointment Tuesday, I started experiencing less of the intense pressure in my ear, and more crackling sounds, like the kind when you pop your ears, or
when you're on a plane or something like that. He was glad to hear that. He said that those sounds are from lots of fluid in my ear. He did some ear "tests" and also looked and said he saw lots of fluid trying to break fee.

He said all this is normal and I'm on the right track. I guess its just taking longer for this process to happen with me, then with other patients, and that's why the nurse said I'm not "normal, but not typical" when I called last week.

If I'm still feeling pressure and crackling in two weeks, he's going to put a tube in my ear. The good news is that I'm feeling less pressure and crackling (since that's supposed to happen) so the
chances of me getting dizzy are becoming less likely. I just pray that I continue on the right track and that the surgery winds up being completely successful within the next couple of weeks. Because, honestly, melt-downs were about to start happening!

In other news, as I blogged earlier, Maddie is in baby Ballet and we got her some official ballerina get-up.

It is quite the most precious thing I have seen!

My birthday

2011-03-26T22:21:00.000-07:00

So my surgery had been on a Wednesday morning, and the following Monday and Tuesday, were mine and my mom's birthdays, so we got the family over to celebrate on Saturday evening. I was sure I would be feeling better by then, so we made plans to go to Brio. I LOVE that place. Their Field Greens Salad is wonderful for a main course.

It was pretty much just immediate family that was going, (including my grandpa, my dad's dad) something we have done for years now. Except for this year, we got to include my brother's girlfriend Rachel (she was there last year too) and this time for the first time, Michael, my sister's new boyfriend.

Ashlee had been texting me that day asking me were we where going to eat, and wanting to know why we weren't going to this nice Brazilian stake-house restaurant (Mastergrill, not AS pricey as Fogo de Shao, or Texas de Brazil, but comparable) we had gone to the year before. I told her, there were a lot of people coming, I knew who would be picking up the tab, and I didn't want anyone to feel obligated to have to pay for something like that, plus, I really like Brio's, and that's what my mom and I had decided on.

So, later that day, we all pile in the cars. Brian and I were in the car that was leaving first, together with Ashlee and Michael, (and Maddie of course) and my dad pops his head in the window and says we are going to Mastergrill right? My sister says "yes", I say "what?" and then confusion set in. Apparently my sister had told my dad to take us to Mastergrill, and that that's what we wanted for our birthday dinner. Then, my dad realized it had been Ashlee's sneaky plan all along and told me to pick. Brio, or Mastergrill, and that as far as price goes, they were about the same (NOT!) which told me, he would take any excuse to go to Mastergrill. I said, "If I'm gonna pick, I'd pick Brazilian food any day of the week." So my dad said ok. Lets go to Mastergrill. So Mastergrill, we went. I had been savoring that salad from Brio all day, but I wasn't about to complain about the change of plans.

Dinner was wonderful, however, my face and ear were still pretty swollen, and the pressure in my inner ear was TREMENDOUS. So, I was not feeling well, and since I couldn't hear much of the conversations going on, I was quite frustrated.

When we got home, Brian had pulled out the cake he bought from LaMadeline's and it was SO rich and wonderful, and had some kind of liquor in it, which, makes any cake delicious! We ate some more and opened some cards and presents. Other then my inner ear issues, it was a great time!
On Monday, my actual birthday, Btian had made reservations at The Melting Pot, which we had gone to on our anniversary this year. It is FABULOUS! Our plan was to go and just have the cheese and chocolate fondue, and even though we weren't going to get the full 4 course meal, we were super excited about it.

So, we told our waitress our plan and while she was gone, Brian looked at me and asked if I just want to go ahead and have diner too? They were having a "big night out" special (the same one they were having on our anniversary in December) I thought about it, since its unexpected, and I always need a little time to think through something if we have a change of plans, then I said "SURE! its my birthday, and its not like we come here every day!" So, we had the full dinner and it was simply amazing. We love that place! Plus, we were both starving since we hadn't had much for lunch that day. It was kind of like going to the grocery store when your hungry.

I had a great time, both times, celebrating my birthday, #27.

Surgery

2011-03-22T18:57:00.001-07:00

YES! The day finally arrived!
I was actually looking foward to the surgery. I felt like I had been waiting SO long (actually only about a couple of weeks) for this to happen and couldnt believe that the day was finally arriving.

The surgery "Endolymphatic Sack Decompression" was set for 7:00 a.m, and I had to be at the surgery center at 5:00 a.m., so Brian and I set our alarms for 4:00 a.m. to leave the house by 4:30. There was not much I had to do to get ready. I had picked some comfy clothes and put my hair in a pony tail and we were set to go. I was kind of excited. Like an adventure or something. Its not like we do this every day. I also had Maddie taken care of. My mom would take her to ASI gymnastics at 9:00, then take her to the play place at 24 hr fitness, then to target etc... My mom had her day all planned out, Maddie wouldnt even know we were gone.

We get to the surgery center, which was fabulous, only a couple years old. It still smelled like new. We got checked-in, filled out paper work and answered several questions and signed a bunch of "if something happens to you, you will not sue us" papers. They gave Brian a pager, then we waited in the lobby until it was my turn.

When they called my name I went back into the back to get un-dressed and had to wear a hospital gown, that of course was open in the back and was embarrassing when I had walk across the hall to use the restroom. It was super awquard trying to hold it together in the back, but whatev.

The nurses I had were hillarious, probably because I was so delirious from only having 5hrs of sleep the night before, but never the less, entertaining, while being hooked up to several monitors and being asked many many more health questions. After that, Brian came into my little room and waited in there with me for a while. We met the actual nurse that would be in surgery with me, the anesthegiologist, and then my Dr. came in to say hi and marked an X on my right ear with a purple sharpie. We never want to be too careful on which apendige would be operated on.

After that, Brian went back into the lobby and the anesthegiologist gave me a little "pre anesthesia" that imediatelly made me feel like all my muscles went on strike. I seriously could barelly move my arms. They weeled me into the operating room and made me move from the "prep bed" I was in, onto the operating bed. How in the world was I suppoed to do that when I couldn't move a toe AND keep the back to gown from flying open and exposing myself to all the MALE nurses helping me? I dont know. But somehow we managed and I kept my dignity. My Dr. was somewhere beside me getting all his tools and lights together, and I wanted to watch him to see what he was doing, but the anesthegiologist, made me breath 10 deeps breaths into an oxigen mask looking thing, then all of a sudden, I was out. I didnt expect to be gone so quickly, I wanted at least to say something to my Dr. and see what he was about to do but, I guess he would not be able to do his job very effectivly if I was concious.

Next thing I know, I'm waking up, and it took a while to actually open my eyes. I noticed I had leg massagers on my legs, and my throat was sore and scratchy. I also noticed I had on an ear guard and what Brian said looked like what wrestlers wear to protect their ears, but mine was only on the right side. I also noticed it was already 10:00 a.m. The nurse with me when I woke up, said the surgery had lasted an hour, so I had been waiting to wake up for a couple of hours. Brian was also in the room when I woke up, but we had to wait a little bit more before I could be discharged. I had to pee. Aparently the bladder is the last of the organs to wake up and I needed to make sure I could use the restroom before going home. So, they gave me another IV, and I napped for about another hour until the urge finally came and I could use the potty.

I was actually kind of scared that I would not be able to go, since I had to stay a whole extra day in the hospital after Maddie was born because my bladder wouldnt work after the anesthesia. However, on this day, we were succesful, and actually quite proud. The nurse went over discharge papers, perscriptions to pick up at the pharmacy and what I could/could not do for a few weeks and we were off and home my 12:00.

When we got home I had a bowl of cereal, because I hadnt been able to eat anything since the day before and went to bed for a nap. That first night was aweful. The anesthesia had completelly worn off by then, and I was in VERY much pain. I had to keep the ear guard on until the next day and I didnt notice on the perscription bottle that I could have taken 2 pills instead of just one. A mistake I did NOT repeat the next night.

The days and nights after that have slowly been getting better. I actually thought I would be up an running a couple of days later, (that's how I was with my c-section) but this has been a hard recovery. I am still sore and a little swollen on the outside, but, the inside pressure in my ear is still very intense and I am just praying that its still swollen from the surgery and the fact that it had been swollen for a long time (before surgery) that it is just taking its time to heal. It will be a week tomorrow since the surgery and it feels like its been a month already. I still cant sleep on my right side, so now, my left side is starting to hurt (but im trying to not complain too much). I still feel week, and Im trying not to do to much. I'll be going back to preschool on thursday, so I'm praying i'll have enough energy and that the swelling on the inside of my ear starts to subsude. I see my Dr. for a follow up next week. I'm praying for good news.

Baby Ballet

2011-03-11T20:17:00.000-08:00

After my Debbie-downer post from the other night, I will post something a little more fun.

Last Wednesday, Maddie went in for her 3 Year old well check up. Luckily, there were no shots involved and mainly just height and weight measurements. They tried to do a vision test on her, were she stood at one spot at had to look at letter E shapes on a large purple page across from her. The letter E was the only letter, but they were upside down, right side up, sideways and etc... Maddie stood there holding a black spoon to one of her eyes and thought it was the coolest thing in the entire world. The poor nurse stood at the E's pointing at them, asking Maddie which way they were facing, exhorting a large amount of energy and body weight, trying to get a clear answer, but Maddie just stood there and giggled with a spoon to her eye. I told the nurse, she just didn't understand the concept, and she finally gave up.

After that, the Dr. came in. (we LOVE her!) and game Maddie an over all exam and said she was doing well. And to no surprise to us all, she is 50% in weight, and 25% in height. This poor girl DID not receive the tall jean. My dad's mom is not even 5', and I'm not much more then that. Oh well...we get what we get!

Maddie also likes to ride her tricycle around the house sometimes and there is a little storage compartment in the back where she stores ALL kinds of things. She even totes her babies around with her back there on her way to "Target" to get some yogurt. One day I came home and took my jewelry off on the coffee table and forgot about it. Later that evening Brian just happened to look in her storage compartment and asked me if I was missing some jewelry. I sad "no, I don't think so?" then he proceeded pull out the earrings I had been wearing that day, 2 James Avery Rings, a James Avery necklace AND my wedding bands. We just laughed. I should be more careful were I leave my things from now on. She is TOTALLY into doing everything I do. Every time we go somewhere she has to carry her purse (a cute straw one we got her in the Bahamas with her name on it) It had all sorts of nothingness, but things that are VERY important to her on our trips out of the house. SO cute.

And lastly, yesterday Maddie had Ballet for the first time. It was THE most precious thing I have seen. A friend of mine from ASI Gymnastics told me she was enrolling her daughter in Baby Ballet, a class they offer in the Sachse Sr. Center. Its only about 15 min from my house and only $35 for 6 sessions. I thought it would be a good time to try, so why not? And I'm SO glad I did! She talked about going to Ballet all day, even though she had NO clue what it was, and when we got there, she did so well! I was impressed at how much she followed instructions and tried the moves her teacher was teaching. It was simply precious.

March of 2011

2011-03-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

So, to be quite honest, probably more for my memory sake then anyone else's, these past four - five weeks have been like hell. But, let me back up. Maddie's birthday is on the 1st, which will always be something to look forward to, and not to mention my own, a mere 20 days later, which I have ALWAYS told Brian and much to his joy and delight, we get celebrate my birthday MONTH, instead of just the one special day, so I have always enjoyed the month of March. My mom's birthday is the day after, mine so March has become quite a family affair.

However, a few weeks, ago, the 8th of February to be exact, something all to familiar, however, but, to a much larger scale happened. I got dizzy. It was a Tuesday morning, I was at preschool, about to get my day started when a dizzy spell occurred. I have had vertigo pretty much all my life, and its typical for me to have a dizzy spell about once or twice a year, (sometimes more and way more when I was preg.) But it was never to terrible. All I had to do was take some motion sickness meds, take a nap, then I would wake up and feel better.

I had seen an ENT about it about a year ago, he did some testing and said I probably had Meniere's disease, and the permanent swelling/hearing loss I have been having in my right ear would come and go. Ok, so fine then, there was nothing I could do? NOPE. That's what he said. Steroid nose spays worked a little, the swelling/hearing loss was still there, but hey, at least I wasn't getting dizzy, and was able to go on living a normal functioning busy life, with the occasional dizzy spell every once in a while. I could live with that.

However on this dreadful day of February 8th, in the mid preschool morning, I had to leave Maddie at school (fortunetly) and drive home as fast as I could to get the motion sickness meds I had and lay down. Well, this time, that didnt work. To spare anyone from grotesque details, I got so sick, I got dehydrated, Brian had to come home from work and take me to the hospital.

Once there, they got me fixed up, but woe and behold, Wednesday night it happened again and I had to go BACK to the ER on Thursday morning. Nothing was working.

The second time I went to the ER I went to Allen Presby where we knew of an EXCELLENT ENT (Dr. Champion) with an office on the second floor, (who is not even taking new patients, she's so busy) and prayed to GOD HARD that she would be happen to make her rounds and see me for Vertigo. It was truly a God story that she came into my room because ENT's NEVER come down to see ER patients.

She talked to me a little and had her office call me in for an appointment THAT SAME WEEK! AMAZING! She confirmed that I had Meniere's and immediately had her office call another AMAZING audiologist (Dr. Hahn) in Dallas who specializes in Menieres. Who would have thought there was such a thing? I could have had this taken care of an ENTIRE YEAR ago!

I get an appointment with him the next week, and AGAIN he confirms I have Meniere's. He explains to me that for some reason, no one knows, but there is swelling (or pressure) going on in my inner ear. Inside the inner ear there are two sacks of liquids (I cant remember, you can google it if your interested) that should NOT mix. However, when there is pressure, the liquids mix, hence, the permanent hearing loss and dizziness.

I was SO glad I got to see him as early as I did and get some clarification on what is going on. A week later he did a test to see how great of a pressure is in my ear and it was quite significant. (not to mention while in his office I got sick and he was able to see the intensity of my attacks. Informative for him, embarrassing for me.) He was quite concerned about the hearing loss I have already suffered. (I'm more concerned about not getting dizzy anymore)

So, without any other considerations as to what the next step should be, he highly recommended surgery. So, I will be having my only second surgery of my life (If you count a C-Section) on March 16th at 7:00 a.m. to remove a portion of my mastoid? bone. I believe that's what he's removing. By removing the bone around the sacks of fluid, that will allow the pressure to still form, however have room to expand, and not be confined by bone.

At first I was dreading the thought of having to have surgery, but my attacks these past few weeks have been more frequent and more severe. I have not been able to do ANYTHING, since all I can do when it happens, is take LOADS of prescriptions and sleep. Which I know puts a lot of pressure on Brian, and Maddie is always asking "where's mommy" :(

Last Saturday night, I felt AWFUL, I was completely exhausted from all the meds that make you SO drowsy, but I wasn't dizzy, and I wanted to do something fun. So Brian was a sweetheart and took me shopping at the Allen Outlet Mall and then Cheescake Factory for diner.

I have also been medicating on new shoes from DSW (I got a birthday coupon in the mail)

A new bra and panties from VS, that I confiscated coupons addressed to my sister, and a new make-up back from Vera Bradley (which I also got to use a birthday coupon!)

I cannot wait until the 16th, and I am praying I have no more episodes. Yours would be appreciated as well.

Thanks!

Tomorrow I will recount Maddie's 3 year well check-up, where Brian found my jewelry and her first Ballet class! AAWW! :)

Lots and Lots

2011-03-08T14:11:00.000-08:00

wow, I have not been doing a good job at keeping up with my blog posts.

In the mean time, since my last post, I guess, Brian and I got a new computer. Let me brag about that for a while. Its an Imac to be exact. and its one I have been wanting FOREVER. Literally, years. I wanted one in college, so I could work on my art projects without having to go up and spend hours and hours in the Mac room. So, now, probably 5 years later, I finally got one. The screen is so big and so nice, we can now also watch movies from our bedroom, streaming them from Netflix or itunes, or a DVD, from the confynness of our bed, and it is simply heavenly. If I had one of these when I was pregnant with Maddie, I think I would have left a permanent mark in our mattress.

Let me update on some other matters that have been going on. Maddie is currently supposed to be napping, but she is not. I can hear her opening and shutting her bedroom door. But if she comes out, she would be confined to the gated loft area where I know she would play "quietly" doing her "best" not to let me know she's out of her room. But since I am in my room, and she cant see me, Im hopping she will do her own thing for a while.

Today was a preschool day. A tuesday to be exact and 9 little ones during the day are exhausting. So, I am in desperate NEED of quiet time.

About a month ago, I have been having the pleasure to start watching a sweet sweet "new" (14 week old) baby. She also comes to preschool with us, and she is just a delight. Maddie LOVES being a little "mommy." Every time i'm feeding Brylee, Maddie gets her own baby and a bottle and sits next to me on the sofa and feeds her too. It's quite precious. Maddie received a new baby and baby carrier for her birthday, so now when I put Brylee in her carrier, Maddie does the same to her babies. However, very time consuming for when trying to leave the house (which is not very often). but never the less, quite cute. It has been a good learning experience for me too, since I've been wondering what it would be like having more then one kid, and there ya go, I get a little taste of that right now. Its not as difficult as it seems, and I think once one gets settled into a routine, anything is possible.

On the 1st of this month Maddie had her 3rd Birthday, and we celebrated on Saturday, February

26th. We had it at ASI Gymnastics. I mean, where else really? And it was great! It was our first non-family only, invite friends party, and it was so much fun! She had a blast. The party coordinators did everything, from jumping, games, sponge block pit, setting up, cutting the cake....all I had to do was bring the goodies and they did the rest. We had great fun.

And for some reason, I cannot get these photos in order, AND the quality that they appear to be on this blog is quite irritating. But oh well..

She had a princess cake, which I forgot to take photos of it by itself. bummer.

The Tuesday after that, was her actual birthday, so I took cupcakes up to school and celebrated her birthday with a class party. They sang the birthday song and blessing to her in chapel and Daddy came to have lunch and brought us Chick-fil-a, which was much better then the left-overs I was planning on eating.

And for all accounts, I was there that day, but for some reason, I managed to walk out of my house, with 2 babies, (kids) 10000 bags, goodies for her party at school, and as soon as sat my stuff down in my classroom, I realized I forgot to put my make-up on. Not even mascara. How embarrassing is that? I have been having SO many of these mommy moments lately. Next time, I'll be going to school in my pj's.

Kids Gym

2011-01-26T08:49:00.000-08:00

Today is Wednesday, and what do we do on Wednesdays? We go to, as Maddie still refers to it, as Tiny Tots. But in fact a few months ago she graduated to kids Gym, but according to Maddie, it's still Tiny Tots, so whatev.

Maddie does really well in her class. I really think it has been so good for her. She is SO cautious, with everything she does, so gymnastics has really helped her conquer some "fears" and has also, with preschool, helped her open up a little bit and not be so shy.

Today, I had the GENIUS idea of whipping out my iphone and filming her while she's doing her thing. I don't know why I haven't thought of it before. Just the other day, Brian and I were talking about how we haven't been filming her enough through out the day like we should.

As far as gymnastics go, there is plenty of room for improvement, but hey, she's not even 3 yet. Plus, she REALLY enjoys it. Today, I was able to capture a little fumble on video. She was doing donkey kicks, and she kicked to high and fell over backwards. You can kind of hear me laughing, but I knew she was ok.

tooth paste or butt paste?

2011-01-21T17:13:00.001-08:00

Even though I posted this funny little comment from Maddie on my Facebook and twitter, I have to post here, just so I wont forget about it later.

A few days ago, Maddie was taking a bath and if we have diner before bath time, I go ahead and let her brush her teeth while in the tub. SO she was in there splashing away and I was talking to Brian, (all 3 of us were in the bathroom for some reason) so I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. I pulled out her toothbrush and toothpaste did a little quick squirt and gave it to her. I continued the conversation I was having with Brian and all of a sudden I heard Maddie shudder and contort her face in a matter that indicated to me she was not pleased at all with what she had put in her mouth. I immediately realized what I had done. I had put mine and Brian's tooth paste on her brush instead of her own mild fruit tasting paste.

I apologized and rinsed her brush out and gave it back to her with the correct tooth paste. She was still making "yucky" faces and said in all seriousness: "I don't like daddy's butt paste!" I nearly died laughing. I apologized some more and reassured her that I corrected my mistake and that now it was safe to continue on with good oral hygiene.

I am looking forward to other silly things I know she will saying in the future. Right now her biggest accomplishment is her successful potty training. It has been going quite well with few accidents. However, after her proud moments of glory, if we are at church or at a public place, rest assured she will be letting everyone know she just went titi in the potty. But, I AM proud of her too.

Snow Day

2011-01-10T14:23:00.000-08:00

We had our FIRST snow day this winter. It started Sunday morning. We were sitting in church during second service and one of the elders was giving his closing thoughts and he said (not in these exact words) "the weather report said it wasn't supposed to start snowing until later this afternoon, but as I look through the front doors, I can see that it has already started" The whole church turned their heads to look behind them and see the snow falling through the glass doors. I think everyone said "AAWW" at the same too.

It was so pretty. Snow is always so pretty. We went to lunch, (Panera Bread. I think we go there more than anywhere else. I also think it's Maddie's favorite. The kids meal is ORGANIC turkey and cheese with organic yogurt. I think she loves it more then Chick-fil-a. Or Chick-a-lay as she calles it.) After lunch we came home, changed Maddie's clothes and took her outside to play in the snow.

January

2011-01-07T12:44:00.000-08:00

About a few days before Christmas, Maddie came down with a bad cold, she had fever, a cough that sounded like croup (fortunately it wasn't) and your general lethargy when it comes to being sick. We took her to Acute Kids Care, then again to her pediatrician and got a prescription for her cough. During our trip, she felt much better, but of course she had a lingering cough that lasted FOREVER, which caused her to wake up several times during the night. Which leads me to what has been happening ever since we've been back.

Ever since we've been back from Oklahoma, she's been waking up in ungodly hours of the night like 3:30 and 4:00 a.m. and screaming for me outside my door. When I come out and ask her whats wrong, she immediately stops crying and these are the responses I have been receiving:
1) "I want some water" (her water is in her bed with her)
2) "I want to role over"
3) "I teetee'd in my diaper" (we are potty training)
4) "I..............." This response is for when she hasn't thought through what she needed before she decided to wake me up.
It has been a crazy week, and I'm looking forward to uninterrupted sleep through out the night.

As mentioned earlier, something we started working on this week is potty training. I have tried before, last summer, but I felt like she wasn't quite ready. But I am happy to report that we have been making progress. The first time she went all by herself was Monday, Jan. 3rd. (This is mainly for me to remember.)

She has been doing well ever since we started with few accidents, and sometimes not wanting to stop playing, but its only been a week, and I am glad we are moving right along.

Christmas Time!

2010-12-28T15:33:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas! This year our family did something different. We hauled ALL our food and presents on a 3hr. drive to Broken Bow, OK were we stayed in a cabin. Actually, the cabins were in Hotchatown Ok, but the "main" (I use that term VERY loosely) town is Broken Bow. Mainly because of the state park that's in Broken Bow. The biggest thing in Broken Bow is a Walmart and its NOT a supper Walmart. I really don't know what else they have.

Last January I went on a girls trip with some girl friends to this place called Hidden Hills Cabins in Broken Bow. When I came back, I told my mom all about it and since then, we have been planning a family Christmas trip. It was wonderful. They had our cabin decorated with a Christmas Tree and Christmas place-mats and coffee mugs! SO CUTE! Our cabin had 4 bedrooms with KING size beds, 4 bathrooms, kitchen, dining area and a living room with a flat screen. One of the bedrooms had a flat screen too. There were a total of 17 people that drove up, so my grandparents rented a cabin down the road for themselves and other family members. But our cabin was the main one where we did Christmas and had our meals.

We left on Friday, Christmas eve, and came back on Monday. I think I could have stayed an extra couple of days. We had such a relaxing time! We went hiking in the state park, watched movies, hung out in the hot tub, played games, and ate, ate and ate.

There was a fully stocked kitchen and Laundry room

Maddie helped put Candy Canes on our tree. She didn't move from that spot she was standing.

This was our room.

Our bathroom.

There was also a wrap around porch and Hot tub. This was the view we had from the back.

A better view.

Our Cabin was Called Gallo Del Cielo. (Rooster of the sky?)

She picked out the cookies she wanted Santa to have.

Then wrote him a letter All we had was a sharpie and an index card.

Maddie has been doing through this "I don't want to take pictures" phase. I hope she outgrows it soon.

Showing off what Santa brought her. A new baby doll, clothes for her, puzzles, Thomas the train tracks, and an air plane?

Breakfast!

Thursday night, Maddie, my mom and I made Christmas cookies to take to Broken Bow for for Santa.

Sweet Kisses!

Happy New Year!

Winter in the Park #2.

2010-12-16T15:24:00.000-08:00

I think we are starting a tradition of Winter in the Park at 6 Flags. We went last year, and again this year. Maddie was able to ride more rides, and there were a few she was able to ride by herself, which made me kinda nervous, but she LOVED it. She is kind of a thrill seeker when it comes to riding rides and I have thoughts were I see her jumping out of air planes or from some absurdly high altitude with a bungy cord attached to her anckles. But, on the flip side, she is SUPER cautious, she never climbed or got into things she shouldn't when she was an infant and If someone takes something from her, she wont grab it back, instead, she would just pout about it. So, hopefully those two traits coming together will lead to safe thrill seeking activities like your simple every-day roller coaster. Oh, what will the future hold for me?

So, a few weeks ago, December 5th actually, Brian's birthday, we went to 6 Flags. We had a great time, but it was SO COLD! I think the high was low 40's at like noon. So, around 3:00, the temp. had already dropped drastically. Maddie was able to do just about all the rides in their Kid area, and Brian and I were able to ride some too. Here are some photos of the day.

Halloween

2010-11-08T07:19:00.001-08:00

Wow, were have I been? I completely forgot to blog about and post photos of Halloween! Maybe because in the past couple of weeks, Ive been kinda busy. In between coming back from our trip, catching up with preschool duties, editing a wedding, shooting a birthday party and editing those, not to mention watching after a cRaZy little girl, I completely forgot.
Halloween was fun. Maddie was way more into it this year then last. She knew what candy was and knew that, to get said candy, she had to cary her bucket all by herself (until it got to heavy of course.) She was so good about saying "thank you" It was so cute! I have been trying to get her to say "Trick or Treat" when the neighbors opened their doors, so when they did, I whispered in her ear "what do you say?" hopping she would say "trick-or-treat", but instead she would say "thank you"! How sweet is that? I'm glad she knows her manners.

checking out the awesome goodies from the night.

This was the previous week at Trunk or Treat at church. We had JUST flown in and this was Maddie seeing daddy for the first time in 3 days. I thought it was a sweet picture.

New Photo Blog

2010-10-30T08:07:00.000-07:00

As my previous post stated, Brian and I went to Florida to photograph a wedding. We had the greatest time!

I am still not done with the editing, but I wanted to put up a preview of some sorts for Kayleigh, (the bride) so I did. In my new photography blog. I had been meaning to make a photo blog, but I just haven't gotten around to it. It's a huge consuming project, since I had to go through my entire portfolio, add the watermarks to photos that did not have them, then upload them all to the blog.

I am also not crazy about how my photos look on blogspot, something about it, the quality of the website makes some photos look kinda grainy, but....it will have to do for now, because I don't want to pay for another website. Maybe when I become a super famous photographer I will pay for a blog specifically designed for photos.

Anyways...here is the new photo blog. www.taraedwardsphotography.blogspot.com
I will obviously keep this one to post personal things, the other one will be attached to my website. Check it out! I hope you like the photos! Here is a tease.

Florida

2010-10-23T19:16:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning Maddie and I went to preschool and Brian headed off to work as usual. The unusual thing that day, was that at 12:00, Brian came home early, and when Maddie and I came home at 2:30, I took a shower, got our bags and Brian and I said our very sad good-buys, and drove to the air port.

About a month ago, I was requested to photograph a wedding in Destin, Florida. I was excited about the opportunity of expanding my portfolio to destination weddings and also for the mini-vacation Brian and I would be able to have. My feelings about this trip varied. At first I was excited, then nervous about leaving Maddie, then excited again, then about a day before we were supposed to leave, I was just plain sad. I had left Maddie over-night before, but Brian had always been with her, and it was never for longer then 2 days. And we have never been gone as far as Florida before. This was the first time both of us would be away from her, not that my parents aren't capable, Its just different.

We miss Maddie, but we know she's having a great time. We have had a great time too. We hung out on the beach, rode a tandum bike for the first time, and let me tell you, it was as rediculous as it looks. We couldn't stop laughing at ourselves. Then more hanging out on the beach. Not to mention the whole reason we were out there of course. The rehearsal, wedding and reception went great, it was all very beautiful!

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-18T12:28:00.001-07:00

These are the times when I like being a photographer the most. When I get to take Maddie out for a photo shoot myself. Even though out of 100 photos, I probably only get about 5 that are printable, and about 2 that she's actually looking at the camera, it still makes for an enjoyable experience.

For this lovelly October afternoon, the Pumpkin Patch we went to is just down the street from where we live at a little church. They do a pumpkin patch and Fall Festival every year, and that's where two years ago, I took Maddie to her first pumpkin patch and took some photos. And let me tell you, it was much easer to get her to cooperate when she was 7 months old as opposed to 2 1/2. But, this year, she did get to pick out her own pumpkin which was fun for her.

Here is Maddie at 7 months old:

Here is Maddie at 2 years and 7 months:

She does this nose squint thing. It kinda reminds me of some of my old baby pictures.

She wanted to give the pumpkins a kiss. Even though, kinda gross, it was cute at the same time.

Fair Day!

2010-10-11T18:35:00.000-07:00

Saturday we went to the fair. We had a blast! The first time we took Maddie to the fair it was two years ago and Maddie was only about 6 months old, so she slept most of the time. This year, she wanted to walk everywhere, which was fine, because, we had the monkey leash. I was freaked about by the enormous crowds, but it turned out fine. I couldn't expect her to want to be in her stroller the whole time.

We had a real blast! This year we went a little later in the afternoon and stayed to see all the fair lights. Maddie was absolutely exhausted, since she refused to take a nap before we left the house, and we didn't leave the fair till after 10. It took her all about 10 seconds to fall asleep when we got in the car.

Maddie rode her first roller coaster! It was so cute! she gripped the handles tightly the whole time. I asked her if she wanted to throw her hands in the air, but she ignored me and kept her fingers tightly on the handle bar. She immediately wanted to go again when it was over. Unfortunately, the it took several tickets to be able to ride the rides, and come-on, we are not made of money. I didn't eat anything at the fair this year, Brian had a couple of corny dogs (EW!), but I just couldn't make myself eat any of that fried fair food.

We had a great time, and will definitely be making plans to go again next year!

At first she was scared to feed the animals, but once she started, she didn't want to stop!

She got really crazy with the ice cream. It went everywhere, but what she was concerned about was were it had gotten on her hands.

We rested for a little bit. It was hot.

Maddie with Brian on one of the rides.

Maddie with 1/2 of me on the roller coaster.

Halloween Costume?

2010-09-30T13:46:00.000-07:00

As stated in an earlier blog, Maddie is still napping in her pack-n-play. Yes, I have a 2 1/2 year old squeezed into a pack-n-play to nap. She just will NOT stay in her bed. She sleeps in her bed at night just fine! But for nap time, I just don't know what to do to make her stay. Yesterday, however, I was determined to make a change! I was standing my ground! She would nap in her big girl bed, so-long pack-n-play! So I put her in her bed (she was exhausted, I could tell) and tried and tried to get her to go to sleep. I even laid in bed with her for a while, then she thought we were playing a game. It was quite sweet, I had my eyes closed and she patted me and kissed me and told me to have sweet dreams! So cute, but not what I was trying to get accomplished. So I got up and told her to stay in her bed.

During that time, I decided to color my hair. It was WAY past due, so I colored my hair and waited for it to process. About an hour later, it was time to rinse my hair out, but first, I decided to check on Maddie. She had been so quiet I thought she might have actually fallen asleep. I opened the door to her room and found this:

She said it was lotion. But no, it was BUTT PASTE! B.U.T.T. P.A.S.T.E! It was in her hair, eyes, nose, all over!

I was in a pickle. I had to get her cleaned up before she spread it anywhere else, but I also had to get the color out of my hair before it over-processed and fell out. So I snapped a couple of pictures for documentation and possible future blackmail and sat her on a towel on the bathroom floor and rinsed my hair out quickly. Then, with my hair still dripping wet, I proceeded to scrub that girl clean. I wish it had been lotion like she thought it was! It took FOREVER to get the paste off of her. I almost pored DAWN into her bath water!

It was quite a feat, and there is probably still paste residue in her hair, but that was all I could do.

After I got her dressed and presentable again, It was my turn. In the box of color ( I have been cheap lately and not going to the salon) there is ingredient#1 and ingredient#2 that when mixed together, react chemically with each other, resulting in the new color of choice. After you rinse, you add the conditioner to your hair that also comes in the box. I had just opened the conditioner and rubbed it in my hair when I realized that what I was stroking through my scalp was in fact the 2nd ingredient. NOT the conditioner. What had been processing in my hair the whole time was the 1st ingredient and the conditioner. I wanted to cry. Nothing happened to my hair of course, because there was no chemical reaction with the ingredients. At least my hair didn't turn blue.

This was another fine day in the Edwards house hold. Stay tuned, I bet there will be more.

First Day of Preschool!

2010-09-13T06:34:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, September 7th was the first day of preschool this year. Maddie is in the 2's class called the Bears with Ms. Rachel and Ms. Krista. They are wonderful! Ms. Rachel says Maddie engages in class, loves to answer questions and sing songs. This day, it was raining really bad, so Maddie got to wear the rain coat she got for her birthday earlier in the year. I'm glad it still fits!

Maddie with Mr. Bears and her Hello-kitty back pack.

Ms. krista and Ms. Rachel

Disaster Documented

2010-09-06T17:19:00.000-07:00

This Labor day weekend has been nothing but relaxing. We went to the pool and I went with Brian and Maddie to the park and took pictures.

Today, I went out shopping with my mom, grandma, aunt and sister. I got Maddie some SUPER cute new clothes to wear to preschool (which starts tomorrow!) I left her home with Brian while she was napping. I was going to take her with us, but, she started throwing a fit at lunch, so...I just put her down instead. We are still putting Maddie in the pack-n-play to nap (so she will STAY and actually nap) but, we moved the pack-n-play into her bedroom. After her nap, Brian found this:

She completely emptied the contents of her chest of drawers. Needless to say, we

WILL be moving the pack-n-play.

Brian went to change her diaper after her nap and found two head bands she used to wear when she was an infant, the kind you put flowers on or other cute things, anyways... she had snatched them from her dresser and put them around her waist!

Last Day of Summer Swimming

2010-09-04T13:23:00.000-07:00

Today Brian and I decided to take Maddie swimming for the last time this summer. We know the summer isn't quite over yet, but the temperatures aren't in the 3 digits anymore, and it will only get cooler (hopefully, because honestly, I HATE the heat. ) So, we figured we wouldn't have the opportunity to go again so we went today. The water was SO COLD! I couldn't believe it. I was only able to put my feet in. Brian was a trooper and got in the water all the way so Maddie could "swim." She did not have a problem with the water at all. She could have been out there all day long. Here are some pictures to prove it. Of course the only proof that I was there at all, was because pictures were taken, but thats ok because I did get some good ones!

When I was gone one day, brian bought her a swim baby. She came with a towel and little ocean animals. Its pretty cute.

My shadow.

She wanted to practice her jumps. although her feet never left the concrete. She would just fall in.
I asked Brian to lift her up for a cool motion shot.

What does Maddie do while she's napping?

2010-09-01T10:10:00.000-07:00

I am writing this mainly so I can remember it later, Brian didn't take any pictures, his "I have to clean the mess up NOW" fixation got the better of him before a shot could have been taken. But oh, well, at least I have a story.

Last Saturday I put Maddie down for a nap in her big girl bed. We have been using the Pack-n-play for nap time because she NEVER naps in her regular bed. She ALWAYS gets up and plays. It has also been to hot upstairs for her to nap in her room, so we have been taking the pack-n-play down stairs for her to nap. Well...saturday was much cooler then it has been, and her room had an appropriate napping temperature. So, I put her down in her bed, give her hugs and kisses etc... then left to get a pedicure with my mom and sister.

We were just done with the pedicure, when I get a text from Brian saying "Im not even going to tell you what Maddie did, you have to come see it!" What do you mean what Maddie did? She was supposed to be ASLEEP! but NO! That didn't happen.

BUT what DID happen was this: She has (had, Brian moved it) a canopy over her bed full of stuffed animals and when Brian walked in to check on her, the canopy had fallen (she pulled on it) and she was sitting in her bed surrounded by stuffed animals. Every piece of clothing she owned was pulled out of her dresser and onto the floor, and it is 4 days later, and I am still finding the rubber bands for her hair scattered around. She had gotten into the the little zip-lock they were in and did who knows what with them.

This week has been SO crazy! For some reason our monitor isn't working, its getting interference from something else, so all hear is static, and its a new one too. The last one did the same thing. So, with the monitor not working, I cant tell when she wakes up. So, she figured out how to open her bedroom door walk across the loft, open my door and wake me up wanting breakfast. If only she could change her own diaper and make her own breakfast, I could sleep in a little longer. I shouldn't complain though, because she does sleep till 8:00-8:30.

Im hoping that we will be in a new preschool routine soon this craziness will stop.

The End.

Pop Corn! Pop Corn!

2010-08-30T20:42:00.000-07:00

I will blog a little bit about Brian right now. Poor guy, isn't even in the Blog picture with Maddie and I. (it was the only good one I had).

For the past year, or more actually, Brian has been involved with the young marrieds softball team at our church. Its really fun for them to get together and play, and it makes a great outreach opportunity as well. I don't have the opportunity to go to his games very much, seeing as I have a 2 year old and all. I have thought about bringing her, but then all she would want to do is play on the playground, then I would not be able to watch him. The games also run after her bed time, so that also hinders my presence at the games.

Today however, I was able to make it, and it was a lot of fun. Most of the times, there is a large crowd of wife supporters, but tonight, it was just me, so I sat in the dug out and took photos! Here are some of the night.

They won by the way. This team was their nemesis, the team they have not been able to beat since they have started playing over a year ago. So, we were all proud of 'em!

Big Girl Bed

2010-08-24T07:59:00.001-07:00

Sorry for my absence blog world, but nothing to terribly exciting has happened since I last saw you.

The new thing with Maddie right now is that she has moved up to a "big girl" bed this summer. She LOVES it! The first night was rough and she cried herself to sleep. Brian and I went in to check on her several times of course, but she has never been a cuddle-er, and if we went in there to rock or hold her, she would want to play all night long. So.... when she got out of bed which was a few times and nocked at the door, we would simply put her back in bed, give more hugs and kisses and walk out. At first she was really excited about getting a big girl bed, but when it was actually time to go to sleep, I think the combination of fear of change and that she wanted to get up and play with the toys in her room made her upset. But, it didn't last long, and she finally fell asleep. The nights after that have been a breeze.

Since she is in a big girl bed, she needs big girl bedding! And what does that mean? New bedroom decor! YAY! Not that I wasn't upset to part with the pink and green Lady Bug crib bedding, I still love it and will keep the valance, curtains and room decor. I am also thinking of hanging the small quilt on the wall or something. I don't know what to do with it, but I'm not ready to box it up just yet. Any ideas are welcome.

I just got her new twin size pink sheets for the her bed from bed bath and beyond. Brian and I have about three sets of Jersey sheets and we LOVE them! I looked at target for kids sheets and they were so scratchy I felt bad getting those for her, so I used one of my thousands of 20% off coupons for Bed Bath and Beyond and got her her own pair. The pillow cases come separately in a package of two. And to my surprise, when I opened the package there were THREE pillow cases! Not the said TWO, BUT THREE! So, when I go to get an extra set of sheets for her bed, I wont have to get extra pillow cases!

I also picked out her bedding, we haven't gotten it yet, since it is still really hot and she wont need it now anyways, but we are planning on getting it within the next month or so. Its a quilt from Pottery Barn Kids and it is PRECIOUS! I know its a little splurge, but I just can't pass it up. Everything else I've seen is either tween with a rocker logo on it like Hanna Montana or something like that (which I don't like for little girls) or it has some Disney character on it (which I don't care for either, but better then the rocker stuff.) So this is what I found:

So cute! I can't wait to get it and put her "big girl room" all together. It is a little bitter sweet to have a "big girl" in the house, but also fun to see all the changes!

P.S. She will also be going into the 2's class this year at pre-school! She has a real back-pack and everything! (Tear!)