Cold on The Shoulder

Today was supposed to be my first day donating plasma. Unfortunately, after being at the donor center for 3 hours, they informed me my iron levels were too low to donate. So I will go back on Friday and hopefully, things will be better.

Today was also the first "chilly" day of the season... It was beautiful. It's actually in the 50's right now. Tomorrow is supposed to be a record breaker... not forever, just for the day, but it was nice to feel the cool brisk air for a change. You could tell it is autum! Oh, and naturally, since it is almost Halloween, it was also time to carve a pumpkin! Here is Tommy, hard at work on his Halloween Masterpiece! (Complete with candle inside!)

It also meant it was the first time I could put Rachel in one of her cute little fleecy type outfits!

Here are a few cute pics of her with Penny & her bottle...

Best Friend

So today should have been a really great day. Victoria arrived on Friday evening. I was SO excited to see her. I was feeling a little yicky, but not totally miserable, and her visit would surely make me feel better. As soon as she saw Rachel for the first time, she cried. She agrees with me that she is the most beautiful little girl on the planet... LOL...
So jump to Saturday. We get up in the morning, and my stomach was feeling less than happy... great... another one of THOSE days... Then Tori realizes she's not feeling so wonderful either... but maybe it's just allergies. It's a little rainy out, so no pool time just yet.
We pack up the baby and go out for a little lunch. Well, I barely make it thru our appetizer (which was delicious... ) when I feel like I could die... it was awful...
So we head for home. We were supposed to meet a bunch of other local adoptive families for dinner and a Halloween train ride, but I was feeling too yucky to go anywhere...
So we decided Tommy would pick up a pizza after work and we could do that for dinner... Margie & Charlie came over too... As the night wore on, Tori started feeling worse and worse. She was actually so chilled she needed a jacket (remember.... we are in Florida... HOT weather).
Our friends left relatively early, and we all decided it was a good idea to go to bed early... Tori & I both felt like poop.
Around 2am, Tori comes to our door.... she is really sick... can hardly breathe, her chest hurts, the works. She has decided she needs to go home so she can recoup before having to go back to work, and so that she doesn't get the rest of us sick with whatever she has....
We are both SO sad... but I understood... We just kept saying we'd see her again in January when we go to Chicago for Chinese New Year...
So this morning, we got up, had some tea, and took Tori to the airport to head back to Chicago... It's a really sad day... I miss her tons already.... But we did take a few pics while she was here! And since it was finally a little "Chilly" this morning, Rachel got to wear her little long sleep top! :-)

Windy

My girlfriend Meri took these pics at the shower last week... too cute...

So today we finally managed to put away most of Rachel's presents from her both of her showers. I think I forgot to mention... yesterday was the baby shower at the Cape Bridge that her Grandpa's co-workers made for him at his job! How adorable is THAT! My dad works with some amazing people. They had terrific food and MORE presents!!! This little girl sure is gonna get spoiled!!!

She got SO many beautiful outfits! Her closet is actually organized by size now... Hopefully, she will get to wear all the beautiful things before she outgrows them! LOL... she is growing like a little weed.

She was terrific today. She did lots of playing by herself in her playpen while Daddy & I worked on straightening the house. We want to get things at least a LITTLE organized, especially because we are getting our next round of visitors next week. Rachel's "Auntie V" is coming on Friday for the weekend. We are SOOOO excited... and right after Tori leaves, our friends Vicki & Woody arrive for a couple of days... They were our neighbors, but moved out of the country last year... can't wait to see them too! So we thought it would be a good idea to get the house looking a little less like Hurricane Hannah blew thru... LOL...

I'm still feeling a bit out of it. Guess I'll find out for sure what I picked up tomorrow when I call the Dr's office for the final lab results... whatever it is, my Dr is convinced its viral and there is nothing to do but let it run its course... what fun... NOT

Good Night

We got some AWESOME news today. Rachel's ultrasound came back negative. So drinking the tainted formula for all those months did NOT do any damage to her kidneys... YIPPEE!!!! I was SO worried. Now I'm just waiting for the results of MY ultrasound. The tech couldn't tell me anything, but she said she did not see anything in the Gallbladder, so it may not be gallstones after all. She DID mention that "Maybe it has something to do with your Spleen". but that was as much info as she would share. My Dr. appointment is tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully we will FINALLY find out what the heck is making me so miserable. I really want to feel better so I can just enjoy my daughter! Not that I'm NOT enjoying her now, but it will be much more fun when I don't feel so yucky and we can go out for something FUN instead of just running from Dr visit to Dr visit!
I also want to start feeling better so I have the energy to put away all her beautiful presents from the shower! There is SO MUCH STUFF!!!!
I will get pictures posted very soon... promise..

Happiness is a Warm Gun

Today was an amazing day. The baby shower was awesome. I was thrilled to see all the people who came! and boy, did Rachel make out like a bandit! I'm gonna have the most stylin kid in town! She got some absolutely GORGEOUS outfits.... mind you, I love absolutely everything she got, but naturally I had one favorite... My friend Nicole got me a Beatles onesie!!! How cool is THAT!
Margie did an unbelievable job putting it all together... I am so lucky to have such good friends... and of course, Mom & Marla were amazing too... wow... what a day.
Rachel had a great time too... she had lots of food, and especially enjoyed the ice cream... smart kid.
Well, tomorrow will be another long day. Vana leaves at the crack of dawn, then I have a Dr. appointment (still trying to figure out why I keep running a fever) and then Bethany leaves at 5pm.. sad.. wish they could have stayed longer...

Crazy He Calls Me

This was just too much fun... Rachel likes to do "Cheesy Smile" and we were trying to catch her doing it at the restaurant tonite. I gave up trying to get still pictures, so we tried video. Hope it plays!

We were at Sweet Tomatoes. It's a giant salad bar place, but they also have awesome soups, potatoes, pizza bread, muffins, pasta, & some good desserts. We discovered Rachel LOVEs Chick peas, Macaroni & Cheese, green peas, peaches, and gee, here is a shock.... vanilla pudding and vanilla frozen yogurt! She was an eating hound tonite. (Boy are we ever sure they picked the right child to place with THIS family!!!)

Today was also a fun shopping day. Girls day out. Mom, Marla, Me & Rachel. We had fun hitting some of the stores. Oh, and BOY do we LOVE Kohl's! They had an incredible sale. I got Rachel a bunch of onesies in various sizes and neat designs, and they were all reduced to $1.20 each!!!!! Way too cool. Mom and Marla picked up a few little gifties for her too.. but mostly, we just had fun shopping!

Tomorrow morning we are getting up a little early and going to Bob Evans for breakfast. Marla has been telling us about their biscuits & gravy. I can't believe we have 3 of them here in town and I've never tried their biscuits & gravy! :-)

Come in from the Cold

Well, yesterday was the breaking point for me. My fever continued, I felt so horrible I wanted to cry. I knew it was bad when the baby got up from her nap and I couldn't get out of bed. I called my folks and they came over right away. Mom babysat and dad took me to the hospital. I was there until after 1am. In the end, they ran lots of tests, took lots of blood, etc, but they couldn't find anything wrong other than the fever. So they gave me morphine (I came in with a migraine to add insult to injury), pumped me full of fluids via IV, and when I woke up this morning, I felt 100% better! Wish I had a clue why, but not looking a gift horse in the mouth!
Today is a much better day. I'm going out to lunch with some friends, then picking up Marla at the airport!!! YAHOO!!!! I am SOOOO excited she will finally be meeting the baby!! What a difference a day makes!!!

Italian Plastic

So tonite we had a really nice evening. We went to Olive Garden (Tommy's first time ever and my first in YEARS) with a terrific family I met online. They have 2 beautiful little girls from China. A good time was had by all, I think! Lorie & John's oldest daughter was having a great time playing with Rachel, and their younger daughter was just as cute as she could be! She even let me hold her for a while...
Today was a little busy, as we went to the flea market during the afternoon trying to get a lock for Abbey's cage. That didn't work out well. Nobody had them available. The guy at the pet stand where we got Abbey suggested we do what he does... chain link and a lock. He actually uses the screw hooks that hold the toys in the cage, but she knows how to open those, so we are going to do a padlock.. if she gets thru that, I'm writing to Ripley's!
I'm still fighting off whatever this bug is... or flu... or whatever... today the fever came earlier in the day instead of after putting Rachel to bed... don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing... Guess only time will tell. So I am having a nice cup of tea and then going to bed. Tomorrow will be a busy cleaning day. I still haven't finished unpacking (part lazy, part sick, part mommy) So I will try to get all that stuff put away tomorrow. With Marla coming on Tuesday, I don't want the place to look like a tornado blew thru! (I'll post more pics tomorrow... the camera is in the other room and I'm just too pooped to go get it!)

Angry Eyes

We've had quite the busy week! And most of it was just not much fun! Monday was Rachel's first Dr's appointment... and I had one too... apparently, I have the flu! Lucky me... so we are both on meds for a while. She got a bunch of shots and lots of appointments for more tests. She did well, despite being stuck with a bunch of needles, poor little peanut...

Tuesday we hung at home, trying to recover from a long night with no sleep. Then I remembered I had to pick up her antibiotics, so we went out for a little bit... stopped in to visit Auntie Margie & the crew... and had to ask Nikki to cut Rachel's nails... I am still scared to do it, especially since I can't see that well! Luckily, Nikki is a seasoned pro, so they got done with no bloodshed and no tears... she even got to play with her "cousin" Garrett (who just started walking! Way to Go, Mr. G... )



Oh.. and yesterday was noodle day... can you tell? I can't wait to see what happens once we add the gravy to the pasta!

Wednesday, I had a follow up Dr appointment (total waste of time... walked in, she said "oh you seem better" and I left... gee thanks!)
We then stopped at Toys R Us... I had to... I am still trying to find that blow up bathtub... well, they didn't have it either, so it looks like I am going to have to break down and drive to Babies R Us.... Anyway, tomorrow, Rachel as to be at Quest Diagnostics for all of her tests. I tried to pick up the sample collection stuff, but I didn't know the place closes at 3:30! how crazy is THAT. so I will have to go first light in the morning, and go back to sleep after, I suppose...

I'm guessing after all her tests, she will be in NO mood for shopping, so maybe we will save that for the next day. After all our running today, we went to visit Nana & Grandpa, and go out with them and their friends to the Chinese Buffet... yes, I know I swore off Chinese food until the shower, but I knew they wanted to show off the baby... it's a Grandparents right... LOL..

Hopefully, all the activity today will mean a full night of sleep tonight. One can only hope!!! (that would mean 2 days in a row of good, LONG sleep...

And now, I think it's pretty much time for ME to get some sleep... going to grab a cup of herbal tea, cuddle with the puppy and say night night to all... xoxox