We're leaving...on a jet plane!

Tomorrow morning we leave for Los Angeles for Jennifer and Josh's wedding!



This is our first time traveling with Stasa, so I'm sure we'll have plenty of stories to share when we return. Wish us luck!

Some fun on our non-sick days

Thursday we played inside, as usual, and I took the opportunity to get up in Stasa's face with the camera. Man, that playroom is the best idea we've ever had.





Then Saturday afternoon we played dress up with some of my costume jewelry and purses. Now she'll go "ooooo!" when putting on necklaces.

Food poisoning: 3 Merkels: 0

I came home Sunday evening after a fun day at Lauren's house with the girls. The minute I walked through the door I felt a little off and I ran to the bathroom and dry heaved before my body final gave up on the thought of vomiting. Or so I thought. About an hour later I knew it was coming and headed back to my porcelain shrine for round 2. This time Stasa came with me and while I was hovering over the toilet, she was busy ripping off squares of toilet paper and handing them to me between the seat and my face.

Well, I spent the majority of the night in the bathroom and at one point gave up and just slept on the floor. I woke up yesterday still sick so I emailed work to let them know I was on death's door. I crawled downstairs, grabbed a sippy of milk and some yogurt for Stasa, crawled back upstairs, got her up and then literally crashed on the playroom floor for the entire day. I had a slight panic attack when I realized that I was going to have to make Stasa's lunch. Just the thought of food would make me sick. Hell, even watching someone eating on television was making me sick. I settled on feeding her pancakes, which still bothered my stomach, but was the lesser of all evils.

By time Tom came home from work I was feeling more human. After a shower I felt like I could actually eat something without hurling. A banana and cup of applesauce later and I felt like myself again.

Now having gone through that I feel even worse for poor Stasa. She must have felt terrible and wasn't at all able to tell us what was wrong or how much it hurt. Kids are so resilient and strong. I hope none of us have to deal with food poisoning again.

I WON FOURTH PLACE

My submission

The Top 10

Food poisoning : (

Ugh, what a day.

Stasa woke up happy as usual this morning. I brought her downstairs, fed her pancakes and milk for breakfast while my coffee percolated. She didn't eat all of her pancakes, but I chalked it up to her just waking up. She spent the morning playing while I worked and then went down for her morning nap a little late, around 11:00 AM.

She usually sleeps for at least a couple of hours, but woke up a little after noon, crying and was very clingy. I brought her into the playroom and was rocking and patting her back when I felt her heave. I cupped my hand under her chin thinking she was just spitting up a little mucous, but ended up being drenched in vomit. I looked around for a blanket, burp cloth, ANYTHING that I could use to clean us. There was nothing. So I trotted both of us to the bathroom, deposited Stas in the bathtub so I could peel off my soaked clothes. She, of course, was upset and probably in pain and was crying the whole time. She calmed down while we showered, but refused to be put down and clutched me like a baby monkey.

After getting both of us dressed again, I took the afternoon off of work and laid down with Stasa on my chest. She was lethargic and whiny and then BAM. More vomit. This time I only got a tiny bit on me and managed to get her over the toilet before the majority of it came up. She had one more episode before I decided to drive her in to the urgent care since our doctor's office was closed.

I thought ahead and packed an extra shirt for both of us and covered Stasa in a blanket after buckling her into her car seat. She didn't move an inch for the whole ride until we were a block away and then BAM. More vomit. After I parked, I cleaned her up and then rushed into the urgent care where I filled out paper work and waited to be called back. We waited and then waited and then BAM. More vomit. All over both of us. She finished vomiting in the waiting room trashcan and then they took us back immediately. As soon as we were in the room I changed both of us again and then they took Stasa's stats: weight, temp, heart rate, etc.

Side note: She weighed in at 26 pounds even.

The doctor came in and examined her and I told him what she ate last night and today. He figures it was the hamburger or the onion mixed in it that made her sick. Diagnosis: food poisoning. Turns out poor Tom has it, too.

Treatment: push fluids (no dairy) as much as she'll take and try solid foods again in the morning and if she's still vomiting by bedtime, I was told to take her in for IV fluids.

She puked 2 more times after we got home, both of which were stomach bile (yes, gross) and napped on my chest off and on for an hour or so and then was up and playing. She was able to drink a couple of sippies of water, but refused the Pedialyte, which tasted just like water to me.

Stas was a little fussy going down for bedtime and I've been checking on her every 15-20 minutes. I'm hoping she sleeps through the night and wakes up feeling more like her usual self.

Poor peanut.

Happy belated birthday

Yesterday would have been my mom's 55th birthday. I don't think the pain of losing a loved one ever goes away; you just get better at managing it. I appreciate days like yesterday though because it slows me down for a minute and I think about how proud she would be of me and how much she would love Stasa. I miss her everyday, but take solace in the fact that she's still with us. I see it everyday in Stasa and in myself.

Kurt and Katie's Wedding

Disclaimer: Peter took the majority of these shots, so don't be alarmed by the closeups.

The littlest of troublemakers

Last Thursday I decided to wash the cover of Emily's Pottery Barn Kids Anywhere Chair and came back to find Stasa climbing all over the foam inserts.



She spent most of Monday evening tormenting the poor cat:


Then playing in one of her tutus:


And then I was goofing around with shadows (L to R: my muscle, Stasa, Stasa):


She was having a love affair with her blankey yesterday:


Then had a blast in her ball pit:


And then gave mama a heart attack:

All of my homes

Well, these are almost all of my homes. I wasn't able to find my very first home since I've long forgotten the street name. BUT, here are all of the other homes I've lived in so far, courtesy of Google Maps with Street View.

Home #1: living with my mom and dad on side 1 of the duplex


Home #2: first and only home my parents owned


Home #3: post-divorce, living with my mom and step-dad #1
(The house we lived in was demolished - this is a new one on the same lot)


Home #4: same duplex as Home #1, but on side 2 with my dad and Donna


Home #5: living with my dad and Donna


Home #6: living with Uncle Pat and Aunt Peggy


Home #7: first time on my own, but not for long


Home #8: living with Tom and his dad, post-engagement


Home #9: our first home

Stasa's First Year Book

More than a year ago, I started making some scrapbook pages for Stasa's memory book, but never got farther than the first 5 pages. I recently stumbled across an easier way to create Stasa's first year book without having to recreate everything: blog to book software.

I could either use Blurb and create a book similar to these:

or Blog2Print and create something similar to these:

My only other option is to create my own pages in Illustrator or Photoshop and then upload those pages as .jpegs and print a book from Mpix to make something similar to this:

But that would require a lot of extra hours to create all of the pages. I think I'm going to try Blurb first and if I don't like the final product online, I'll scrap it and create my own. No matter what I end up with, I'll definitely be adding extra pieces once I have the book, like Stasa's hospital bracelets, footprint card and other tchotchkes. I hope it's easy because I'd like to make a book for each year of her life.

Sesame Street

We love relaxing and watching a few segments of Sesame Street before dinner.


Stasa takes her TV watching seriously. NO TALKING.


But there are parts that she loves and can't help but laugh.


We went down to Virginia Beach this past weekend to attend my cousin, Kurt's wedding. Stasa was very well behaved most of the weekend. She had a few minor meltdowns when she didn't get the freedom that she felt she deserved, but other than that, she was a good little girl. She spent the better part of the wedding reception dancing on the empty dance floor while everyone ate and then slept through the rest of the party. I let Peter take control of my camera for the majority of the evening, so I need to go through and edit some of the pictures before I post them, otherwise it'll be a blog post full of closeups of Peter's face.

I also realized that I never posted pictures from Jennifer's bridal shower, so I'll work on those tonight, too. In the meantime, check out my photography blog for my iheartfaces entry.

Today, on the Stasa Channel...

Strolling with her baby in the court


And Rock-a-Stack Stas

More pics from the Walk for MS!

Traci + Garrett, Lesli + Lu, Lauren + Audrey, Me + Stasa


Grandma Flo + Garrett


Starting the walk - they literally kicked us "out" to start the walk since we were still just standing at the start line, gabbing away.