Today we got to see our baby in 2d, 3d and 4d. They even gave us a DVD with this video on it. There's no sound and it's pretty long, but I figured that a few of you might be interested in it. Lindsay swears that she can see some boy parts ( :  At about the 5:30 mark is where the 3-d part begins.  It's pretty cool.

Okay, first, a warning!  This post will have a lot of pictures.  :)

Now, on to the good part.  Ruby's hair has really hit a growth spurt.  It seems like it's longer each day.  With this growth spurt, however, comes some frustration.  Her bangs are starting to get in her eyes, but she *will not* leave a hair clip in her hair to save her life.  Therefore, I cannot use a clip to hold her bangs back.  In addition to that, she has taken to pulling out her pig tails.  When she does that, she breaks off some of her hair, which makes it uneven.  Not to mention, I think it hurts.  ( I imagine it must! )  I don't like that thought.  So anyway, I've been debating about giving her bangs, while letting the remainder of her hair grow out.  I'm still undecided.

Today, I decided to try a ponytail (and subsequently pig tails) with no bangs, to see what she looks like with a bare forehead.  To put it mildly, I don't think Ruby is a "no bangs" kind of girl.  LOL!  That girl has her Daddy's head, and it's big!!  Her forehead is ginormous!  LOL!  I think that bangs may be a good idea...at least for the short term.  :)  I haven't decided, and I haven't taken the plunge, but the pictures sure push me closer to the "Bangs" side of the debate.  Hee hee hee!!

On a totally different note, this kid *loves* to chew on wipes.  I mean, seriously, what is WRONG with her?  I don't think there's any way those things taste good.  However, here's a pictorial essay of Ruby's love for wipes (and picture proof of her inability to carry off the "no-bangs" look.)  :)

Ruby with a silly Pebbles ponytail.  She's still in a pretty cooperative mood, so I have not introduced the wipe at this time.

Now her patience is waning.

And now her patience is gone.

So I introduce the almighty diaper wipe, decide the ponytail is definitely stupid, and change to pig tails.  All is well in the world.

I want a picture of the pig tails *sans* wipe, so I take it away and hold it to the side of the camera.  Can you *see* the sheer excitement on her face??

The pleasant smile turns into a begging action.

And this is what happens to her face, when I don't give it back to her straight-away.  Renay, I believe that, perhaps, I am on my way to joining you in tantrum-world.  :(

*Quick side note about her "tantrum".  Do you SEE how there is a half-smile there??  I mean, seriously, she thinks she can manipulate me into giving the wipe back by crying a little bit.  But even SHE knows how ridiculous that theory is.  I mean, I refuse to give into these little power struggles.*

Oh, who am I kidding??  I want a half-smiling picture with PIG TAILS, GOSH DANG IT!  Have the stupid wipe!

And Ruby replies with this death look that clearly says, "If you ever try that again, I will throw the tantrum of my life."

But, I am super-mom.  And I DO dare to take the wipe away.  Because I still want a smiling picture without a wipe in it.   And what do you know???  She obliges!!  :)

She even cooperates long enough for me to get TWO good frames!!  :)

And chooses to leave me with this peach of a face:

So anyway, thanks for humoring me.  I thought this series of pictures was especially entertaining, but I am the mom, so I completely realize that I may be mistaken.  :)  Love you all! 

I'm going to try to get back in the swing of adding "The Office" quotes each week.

Plot

Michael, Oscar, Pam and Darrel go the job fair at the local high school. Andy, Jim, and Kevin go golfing with a client. Dwight and Angela stay in the office while the rest skip out.

Quotes

• "You could be a classy janitor, or a cashier with dignity or a migraine worker." (Michael talking to a student that he didn't like)
• "Kids are very wary of being wooed these days. Thank you Dateline." (Michael talking about "wooing" students to be interns)
• "Shortcut!...I fell in the sandtrap." (Andy, after wrecking his golf cart while "racing" to the next hole)
• "Count me in. Nope. Alright." (Andy getting shot down when he wants to join the client in future golf games)
• "H&R Block. Come on. I don't even know what they do." (Michael talking about other businesses)
• "Boooooooow woooow wow" (Andy and Kevin while Pam kisses Jim)
• "Kiss her. Kiss her good." (Michael with a very awkward statement while Jim and Pam kiss)

I have truly been intrigued by the "wave" of friends who have started blogs.  :)  I'm so glad you all did!  Now I can be even more nosey and keep up with you and bug you to post more!  :)  I was scanning the news this morning, and I saw this headline, "Your blog can be group therapy".  It made me chuckle just because.  So, I thought I'd share!  :)

Here's a link to the full article:  http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/05/07/blog.therapy/index.html 

Anyway, the article is actually kind of interesting.  (It's not really new information.  It's long been known that journaling is a very effective form of personal therapy.)

Love you all!  Hopefully I'll see many of you in about an hour at the mall!  XOXOXOXO 

Hey everyone, we are feeling much, MUCH better around here!  Ruby's blisters are starting to heal up, and I haven't thrown up since Friday.  Mike and I still have a cough, but we can handle that!  :)  I spent yesterday running errands with a friend, and I felt pretty much back to my old self.  Today, I'm focusing on returning the house to some semblance of normal.  It was a wreck after the chaos of last week. 

Thank you so much for your prayers!  They are truly appreciated.  :)  Love you all! 

The tough send their kid to grandma and poppa's and call it a night.

Seriously, friends, I'm done. I know Mike is at the end of his rope, as well.

My good streak of not throwing up was not meant to continue. I am praying that God will help me keep fluids down for the rest of the night so I do NOT have to go to the ER in the morning. Keep praying to that end with me.

Even though I have not been to the ER yet, Ruby went to Immediate Care this evening. She had a really bad rash on her bum, and she was really cranky. I wanted to be sure it wasn't something serious before we sent her out of town, so we went. Well, she has Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease, AND she has ANOTHER ear infection. So, she is now on more prescription medications than most of the elderly I know.

My mom seems a little intimidated to take my sick child, and I certainly don't blame her. She is a saint. Please pray that Ruby is EASY and GOOD for them.

Love you all! Keep the prayers coming, please? Thank you!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I concede defeat to whatever monster is after me. I have been sick since Monday morning. In a matter of five days, I have kept down 1 toaster strudel, 4 glasses of tea, one Olive Garden breadstick, one serving of spaghetti, and one serving of strawberry shortcake. Today has been the worst. I have been emptying my stomach every 20-30 minutes. I'm not keeping any of my antibiotics down, so I'm pretty sure the UTI is going to rear it's ugly head right back at me again.

Dr. Harrison wants me to go to the E.R., but I have talked her into letting me try the rest of the afternoon to keep something down. If I haven't kept down the amount she requested, then I have to go to the E.R. this evening or tomorrow morning. PLEASE pray with me that something stays down. PLEASE!

Thank you.

UPDATE:  Yay!  Claiming victory!  I ate some chicken noodle soup and some potato chips for lunch at noon.  Six hours later, they are through my digestion system!  That's really good!  Here's to dinner!  :)

I wanted to drop a quick post to congratulate my twin brother Marc for obtaining a position as "Minister of Children and Youth" at Beavercreek Baptist Church outside Dayton, OH. He and Stephanie will be moving there in the very near future, as he starts on June 1st. This is excellent timing, with Marc finishing school in the upcoming weeks and their lease ending at the end of May. Hopefully they can find a place to stay and get settled quickly.

We're proud of you Marc and Stephanie!

Well, it's happened. Ruby had another severe allergic reaction today. We knew it was probably inevitable, but it was still shocking and scary. It was the first time I had to use the EpiPen for real, and that was not fun at all. The needle in that sucker is close to an inch long (no exagerration), and it made Ruby bleed really bad onto her pants. She's napping right now, but I'll take pictures when she wakes up. We ended up spending quite a bit of the rest of the afternoon in the ER. If you want to know the full story, read on.  I'll put the pics first.

A flashback of my precious baby girl:

The EpiPen leaves it's mark:

The shot site (the bruise has subsided quite nicely!) :

Just the pants:

Poor Ruby (she's not back to 100% yet):

I'm not feeling well at all today, but I had some errands that I had to run. Our license plate expired today, we had paperwork that had to be mailed out today, and I let Ruby run out of wipes. (With a child who still poops in her diaper at least once a day, wipes are essential.) Since we had to run out anyway, Kyle asked if we'd like to go to lunch. I haven't been able to keep anything down since Sunday, but McAlister's sounded really good, so I decided to give it a shot. I had a chicken salad sandwich, Kyle had a roast beef sandwich, and Ruby had grilled cheese. We had Lays chips, which are fried in corn oil or sunflower oil, and Kyle had mashed potatoes. Ruby had some Teddy Grahams, which are produced in a peanut-free facility. No peanuts anywhere in our vicinity.

About half-way through lunch, Ruby got fairly agitated, and I noticed that she had two hives starting to form and grow on her lips. I gave her a tsp. of Benadryl, and we left the restaurant. By the time we got back to Kyle's work (to drop him off), the hives had not subsided, in fact, they were growing. Ruby was also starting to rub her tongue against her teeth, and scratch at her tongue with her hand. Those are all signs of an anaphylactic reaction, so I chose to give Ruby the EpiPen. That made her even more angry. That needle is *really* big, and it caused her to bleed a lot and get a really big bruise. I held it together, as I drove her to the ER and tried to call Mike.

As soon as we got to the Registration Desk at the E.R., I completely lost it. I started crying really hard (thank you, hormones and sheer panic) and trying to tell them what had happened. They kept saying, "You did a really good job, Mom! She looks like she's doing great!" Thankfully, the EpiPen did exactly what it is supposed to do. It stopped Ruby's reaction cold, and restored her to good health. The ER doctor gave Ruby a stronger medicine that would last longer than the Epinephrine, and they observed Ruby for a while. We have to give her that medicine for the next three days.

Ruby was really worn out when we got home, so she's napping for a little while. We won't be at the skating party tonight. We've had enough excitement for one day.

Please join us in praying that Ruby outgrows this allergy quickly. We love you all!

Many, many, many of my blogging friends have done at least one of the following two exercises.  Like a lazy, selfish, parasite, I have enjoyed reading their entries without returning the favor of entertainment.  Tonight, I read Amy's blog, and I felt really guilty all of a sudden.  So, here I go!  :)

Ten Random Things About Me: 

1. At some point in time, I have played the following instruments: voice, piano, guitar, bass, cello, marumba, xylophone, and kettle drums.

2. I played four of those instruments in the high-school marching band.  LOL!   I was also in the choir, on the swim team, drama team, debate team (I bet that one shocks a lot of you, huh?  LOL!), and a member of the National Honor Society.

3. I *love* to take baths.  Probably more than I should.  It's a little bit of an obsession.

4. I love the early infant stage.  Even though I don't have a high patience level in other areas of my life, I seem to have an uncanny level of patience for those first really hard weeks.  I would like to be a dedicated foster mom to infants and young toddlers, if God allows that opportunity in my life at some point.

5. Mike and I love the Ninth Street Hill and Highland Park neighborhoods.  I'm not sure we'll ever be able to afford a house in that area, but, if we can, I would really love to live there.  Reality is that we will not be able to live there, so we hope to live in the immediate vicinity of our current home.  We love our location!

6.  I'm really diggin' my mom's Blackberry right now, and I would love to have one.  LOL!  I totally would not be able to use it for all it's worth, though, so I would never actually get one.

7. I have lost 8.5 pounds with this pregnancy, because I have had such terrible and constant diarrhea.  (How's that for RANDOM and TMI???)

8. Today, I saw a headline that said, "Dolphin dies after mid-air collision."  I laughed really hard, and now I feel really guilty.  LOL!

9. My only craving through the pregnancy has been McD's sweet tea.  However, I'm scared of the caffeine because of the miscarriage.  Oh!  I take that back!  Last week, when I was grocery shopping, I started craving a PB&J really bad.  I started crying as I walked by the PB in Aldi's, and I cried for the remainder of the shopping quest.  People were looking at me really werid.

10. I have a celebrity crush on Sean Connery.  and Sean Combs (a.k.a. P. Diddy).  LOL!

Okay, are you all still my friends after that?  I hope so!  :)

As for the second exercise:

A "Meme" (I have no idea what a Meme is, but that's what Amy titled it...  *shrugs shoulders*)

Where is your cell phone?  Sitting right next to me on the side table.

Your significant other? What can I say?  He's truly amazing.  He's a devoted follower of Jesus Christ.  He's a wonderful and completely unselfish husband.  He's a caring, responsible, and funny daddy. He's an intelligent and driven man.  He's full of love, and I can trust him completely with anything.

Your hair? Really unruly.  I hate it.  It's naturally frizzy and thick.  Yuck.

Your mother? If I grow up to be just half the woman she is, then I will have made a success of my life.  She has been the best mother I could have asked for, and I hope I can follow in her footsteps.  She's also a pretty darn amazing Grandma.  :)

Your father? If my other half is made up of him, then I will be the most amazing person on the planet.  He is honest, wise, intelligent, loyal, loving, dedicated, and devoted.  He's the most wonderful Poppa I could have requested for Ruby.

Your favorite thing? I refuse to choose just one.  My husband, my daughter, my family, my friends.  Hands down.  On a whole different category, several levels down: McD's sweet tea, Girl Scout Thin Mints, Ice Cream, My bath, and My book.

Your dream last night? None last night.  I'm sick, so I slept pretty soundly.

Your favorite drink? McD's sweet tea, Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola Classic

Your dream/goal? To help people on a mass level/grand scale.  I don't know who they are, and I don't know what I'm supposed to help them with, but I want to help them.

The room you are in? The basement, soon to be my bedroom.

Your ex? Which one?  LOL!

Your fear? Being alone.

Where do you want to be in 6 years? I hope to have our family on the verge of completion and be on our way to being foster parents or adoptive parents.

Where were you last night? At home in bed.

What you are not? Single (LOL!), weak-minded, soft-spoken, foolish, mean-spirited, disloyal

Muffins? Blueberry, please.

One of your wish list items? I need my house to be baby-ready.  That includes a lot.  I'm starting by pretending that "Clean Sweep" is coming to my house on Saturday.  I'm taking everything out into the back yard and separating into three piles: keep, sell, trash.  Anyone want to help?

Where you grew up? Terre Haute, Indiana

The last thing you did? Sat on my bum watching t.v.

What are you wearing? jean capris, a Purdue t-shirt

Your TV?  It's Mike's from the college years.  We like it.  :)

Your pets? Don't have any right now.

Your computer? A Toshiba Satellite that we were shopping for on the day of Alex's birthday party and the day our poor little Cavalier was totaled.

Your life? Is everything I ever could have hoped for. 

Your mood? Is a little unpredictable these days.

Missing someone? Almost every day.

Your car? 2001 Chevrolet Venture (A Mini-Van)

Something you are not wearing? A lot of things!

Favorite store? Well, I'm sure I'd have one if I ever actually spent money.

Your summer? Getting my house baby-ready.  We'd also like to take Ruby to a few places: Shedd Aquarium, Indy Zoo, etc...

Like someone? I like quite a few people!

Your favorite color? Green right now.

When is the last time you laughed? When I read the "Dolphin" headline tonight.

Last time you cried? When I read Amy's meme tonight.

I hope you enjoyed!  I don't feel nearly as guilty now, even though this took me an entire 40 minutes, which I had planned to spend in the bathtub with a book.  :) :)