We’ve been busy this week! My mom is on Spring Break so Carissa took her and Pa to the zoo. It was so crowded that they had to park over at Hermann hospital! They tried to talk C out of going, but she had her mind made up. They rode the carousel (C picked the same white dog as always), saw all her favorite animals, and she got to play at the playgrounds in and out of the zoo. Sounds like a fun day!
Tuesday, I received some rodeo tickets from a friend at work. I left work a little early, and Dad and Carissa picked me up at the house to spend some time at the carnival and livestock show. We played several midway games but (luckily!) came away with nothing. Carissa was surprisingly ok with it.
We headed over to the kids area at the livestock show where they have stations set up with different animals and, after you go through the particular area, you get a little card with the animal on it. Carissa really liked the chickens. In fact, when she understood that the baby chicks were actually IN the eggs waiting to hatch, she wanted to stay and wait! I had to explain that it tends to take a little bit longer then we were willing to wait around for! She rode the ponies (Linda Lou this time), did the petting zoo, and saw the pigs in the pens waiting for their auction. She wanted to know ALL the pigs’ names so Dad and I had fun coming up with names for them (Bobby, Josephine, Helen, Henry, Esmeralda, Bacon, Pork Chop, Hamlet, etc).
We then went out to the food booths to get the requisite cinnamon bun, chicken on a stick, and turkey leg while we waited for Travis to get there. The rodeo has all kinds of delicious food. (Beth – You HAVE to bring Marco one day – he would love it!) They have fried oreos, all kinds of different sausages on a stick, alligator on a stick, shrimp on stick, key lime pie (yes, on stick), blooming onions, chicken fried bacon, fried twinkies, corn dogs, BBQ everything, jerkey… I could go on and on!
Travis finally got there and we headed into the stadium. Carissa really enjoyed the whole thing! I would say she liked the calf roping the best. She cheered, danced, and clapped. She did start falling asleep during the Keith Urban concert, so we packed it in a little early and headed on home.
Wednesday, mom and dad took Carissa BACK to the stock show so she could show my mom all the things she got to see and do. This time, she found a merry-go-round and that was the big hit!
Thursday, was haircut day for Nana and Carissa, and Pa took them both to see Marilyn for a trim. That evening, we went down to Angleton for Grammy’s birthday. She had a really good crowd at the local Mexican place – Granny and Pawpaw (“The Great”), Billy, Vickye, Steve, Johnye Leigh, Morgan, Becca, Crystal, Hunter, Alex, Colton, and us! After dinner, we went over to Granny and Pawpaw’s for dessert. The only one missing was Odie who is working a shutdown up in Ohio. Grammy seemed to have a great birthday dinner, and she gets to go to Louisiana today!
Today (Friday), Carissa wants to make a Target run after I pick her up. She claims that she needs some ‘big-girl Lightning socks’ because she has outgrown hers. I seem to remember them having some in the dollar bin – at least I hope they still have them! (Have I told you that they have a brand-spanking new Target at Pearland Parkway? I think that spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E for my bank account!)
Tonight, the plan is to watch a movie in our newly refinished movie room. Travis repainted the room a deep blue-grey (he actually had to paint it SEVEN times to get all the purple off!), and he found a good deal on fancy-smancy movie screen that has a remote control to drop it down from the ceiling! It is neato! He also let Carissa and I pick out some new posters – she picked out Bolt for herself and Little Mermaid for me. I picked out Sleeping Beauty. Travis picked out an autographed Top Gun poster from Ebay, and recycled his Star Wars and Gladiator posters.
No big plans for the weekend… Which likely means we should do some more work on the house. Boo!
Have a great weekend everyone!
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Earlier this week, Travis took Carissa and me to dinner and to shop at Bed Bath & Beyond and JC Penney. Carissa was in a very silly, talkative mood and it carried over into the car ride room.
So much so that I finally said, “Ok! We are going to play the quiet game! Everybody ready? One-two-three!”
Not more than literally three seconds later from the backseat came in a sweet little whisper, “I lose…AH-HA-HA-HA! Let's do it again!"
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Remember the conversation I described about reminding Carissa of the doctor’s instructions to drink milk and water instead of Sprite? We have had basically the same conversation every night since. Me asking what she wants to drink – water or milk, her answering Sprite, me reminding her about the doctor’s orders, she agreeing to drink milk or water. (Don’t ask why we even give her a choice - it is a delicate battle of control we have with my sweet, independent angel.)
Well, I was chauffeuring her over to her Pa’s the other morning, and she was just a chatterbox. Carissa is either one way or the other in the mornings – she either talks and talks and talks, or she doesn’t want you to bother her and just wants to meditate during her commute.
This particular morning was a talking day, to the point that I was doing a lot of ‘Mm-hmming’ and ‘Oh really?’ and ‘That’s great.’ You know what I’m talking about – the types of answers you tend to give when you are only paying half attention to what is being said, especially when you are half-asleep yourself.
Here is the conversation (at least as I remember it):
Carissa: ….yada-yada, and we’ll take Shelby for a walk in the park!
Momma: That’s great!
Carissa: …. Blah-blah, and we’ll use her red leash!
Momma: Mmm-hmmm
Carissa: And, we’ll take Mana some lunch!
(Yes, my Nana is called ‘Mana’ by C.)
Momma: That’s great!
Carissa: …LALALALALA!
Momma: Oh really?
Carissa: …And, the doctor told me to drink more Docta Peppa!
Momma: Mmm-hmmm…, Wait… what did you say?
Carissa: The doctor said I needed to drink more Docta Peppa!
Momma: I really don’t remember the doctor saying that Carissa…
Carissa: … Well…. She’ll tell me that the next time we go!
Sneaky little booger….
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The Friday after Carissa’s birthday, she had her three year old ‘wellness’ check with the doctor. Carissa has always hated going to the doctor, even as a baby. She didn’t like sitting on the ‘baby’ scale and she knew she was likely going to get poked with needles, have strange devices stuck in her ears, and a cold metal circle placed on her chest and back. Of course this dislike was only amplified after the whole emergency room and subsequent stitches removal incidents.
This time around though, I was very pleasantly surprised with her demeanor and general behavior at the check-up. She patiently sat in the waiting area, even conversing with some of the other kids. We counted the fish in the tank and drew C’s, O’s, and h’s on the back of the 3-year-old wellness handouts while we waited for our name to be called. Guess she is growing up, huh?
After about fifteen minutes or so in the general waiting room (with all the sick snotty kids, ew), we were finally called back. We first stopped at the height/weight checker where Carissa announced that was NOT getting up ‘there’ (pointing at the aforementioned ‘baby’ scale). The nurses assured her she was a big girl now and got to use the Nemo scale (similar to a bath room scale but with a huge Nemo sticker on it) – 29.2lbs. She then stood with her feet and head against the wall like an old pro – 38 inches. (Just two inches short for Soarin’, but perfect height for the Kali River Rapids. She'll either grow, or we'll get her some good shoes with a two-inch base for Epcot!)
We were escorted back to the exam room where the nurse pulled out the blood pressure sleeve. Carissa’s eyes snapped to the strange apparatus, and I said a silent prayer that the dams would hold and she would keep her stuff together. The nurse though was much better then some of the others we’ve had at this doctor’s office and seemed attuned to Carissa’s apprehension. She asked Carissa if she had any muscles. Carissa nodded. The nurse asked if she could measure them to see how big they were. She nodded again and allowed the nurse to put the sleeve on and turn the machine on. Wow.
The nurse then went through the usual questions. What does she like to eat? How many servings of bread and cereal? How many servings of veggies? Fruits? Milk? Sweets? Etc? What are her sleep patterns? Any problems we should know about? Any developmental concerns? Can she be understood by others? Does she talk in at least three word sentences? Are there guns in the house? Can she jump on one foot? Etc.
After fulfilling her nursing obligations, she excused herself, and we waited again. And we waited. This is the worst part. Carissa is just in anticipation. She doesn’t want to sit on the table – until she finds the steps leading up to the table top. Then, all she wants to do is be a monkey and climb up and down, up and down.
The doctor finally comes in and goes through the general check-up routine. Eyes, ears, mouth, heart, lungs, etc. Carissa was a little difficult on some of the parts, in particular where she is supposed to take deep breaths for the lung check. “Carissa, can you take some really deep breathes?” Carissa shakes her head and stubbornly tries to hold her breath. This clever doctor has many a trick up her sleeve and bets that Carissa can’t make the tissue blow off her hand. Ahhh, a challenge… Carissa blows the tissue off about five times before catching on to the deception.
The doctor then went through the questionnaire with me. Everything was good, except the diet. She wants us to give her more veggies and less processed meat. I guess chicken nuggets, fish sticks, and hot dogs don’t cut the grade as ‘fresh’ meat. *Sigh*
She also said to cut the Sprite out completely (?!?!) and limit the juice as much as possible, leaving only milk and water as an option. She said that Sprite was of course better off than Coke, but the carbonization will leech the calcium from the bones. Well, this is much easier said then done. Conversation Example:
Momma: “Carissa, do you want milk or water with your dinner?”
Carissa: “I’ll have Sprite please”
Momma: “Carissa, milk or water?”
Carissa: “I SAID Sprite… Please.”
Momma: “Carissa, remember the doctor said you needed to drink more milk and water.”
Carissa: “Well… chocolate milk will be fine.”
Carissa also didn’t want to speak to the doctor, but she pulled my sleeve when we were about done and says, ‘Momma, tell her that we’re going to the zoo. And, I would like to have a sucker.’
Anyway, bottom line is she got a good report at the doctor (and a blue sucker). Oh, and the doctor also said that we need to start adding in the dental checkups now. I guess since I did the wellness check, that task can go to Travis. Right?
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When I was little, and even now to a certain extent, on the days leading up to my birthday, my dad would always say “At this time x years ago, your mom was really nervous about getting to the hospital because of the rain”… And, then on the 7th, “At this time x years ago, we were at the hospital just waiting and waiting but you wanted to wait until the 8th” … And, then on the 8th, “At this time x years ago, you were born, and the heavens rejoiced and the angels sang…” (Ok, I may have embellished on that last one!) I would always roll my eyes and shake my head at him in exasperation because come on, he did it every stinking year.
Yet… here I am… At this time, three years ago, at 3:49pm, my little girl was born… with a great big gush and a lucky catch by my OB.
I remember at my routine doctor’s appointment in the first of February a little over three years ago, during my exam, my OB said something to the effect of “Well, are you guys ready to have a baby today? You are 80% effaced and one centimeter dilated!” I’m sure she clearly recognized the shock and disbelief on both of our faces – we were definitely not prepared for that! She then went through the rundown again on what to expect to feel when I went into labor because she truly didn’t think we were going to make it to our next weekly appointment.
Boy, was she wrong! For a little girl who is so impatient now, she sure took her sweet time to make it down the canal. After a few more weeks, my OB finally decided that I could be induced and instructed me to begin calling the hospital daily until a slot opened up. We finally got in the following Friday.
Phone calls were made to the grandparents with instructions not to rush as I wasn’t in active labor. Grandma Ronnie and Pops really heeded that advice and almost beat us there! I remember Mike saying that Veronica was impatiently waiting for him in the driveway with the hazards on, and he had to practically jump into the moving car! My mother on the other-hand… actually decided to finish out most of her school day! Geez! I guess she remembered how long I took and knew that my baby wouldn’t be any different!
When we got to the hospital, low and behold I was actually already IN labor and didn’t even know it. They went ahead and gave me the pitosin and the epidural. (I know now that I have a slightly twisted spine after the anesthesiologist had to do the procedure twice before having to twist and bend and shimmy the needle up my spine – yeah, it was that pleasant.) After the meds took effect, I remember taking a nap and watching Cinderella and The Price is Right.
Around 3:00, sweet-pea finally decided she was ready, the room was cleared of visitors, and then a gaggle of nurses, doctors, techs all came in. It was all very surreal and overwhelming. After some serious pushing and some encouragement from the ‘vacuum’, out she came at 3:49! 7lbs, 7ozs, dark hair, long skinny legs, cute button nose, and a nice set of lungs. She was perfect.
Her Pa was apparently waiting right outside the door and couldn’t take the suspense anymore – he had heard the cry and was expecting someone to come out right away with the news. When no one came out, he just came on in! The nurses shooed him back out, but he did get confirmation that she had arrived and relayed the good news back to everyone! I really think he was looking for a name as we hadn’t officially decided. (Remember we were waffling between Jayla, Brianna, Brooke, and Kendra.) Travis had come up with ‘Carissa’ about a week before the due date and was set on it. I couldn’t imagine her being called anything else now.
Carissa was taken to the nursery and her daddy and grandparents followed close behind. (All I heard were crickets in the delivery room…) Rumor has it that she cried the whole time during her initial exam and bath. She was finally returned to me, and we attempted breast-feeding without much luck. Her Daddy ended up getting to feed her first with a bottle.
We were moved into our room (a private one – thank God!), and we attempted to get some sleep without much luck. There were the lactation consultants, nurses (hers and mine), doctors (hers and mine), visitors, and a new baby to contend with. What was I saying about it being all very surreal and overwhelming? Yeah, I had no clue.
When we were released from the hospital, Travis loaded up all of our junk. He had taken the last trip to the car, had just shut the door, and the passenger side window fell down. He had already repaired a faulty pulley in two of my windows and was none too happy about this third one falling down at a VERY inopportune moment! The hospital of course didn’t have any type of tools on hand to help so he taped it up as best he could with electrical and masking tape! Carissa took her first car ride ghetto style!
We made it home (without the window falling) with the new addition to our family. Those first few weeks were pretty tough while we worked through the adjustment period. And then… we discovered the power of the hair dryer! What a life-saver that thing was! Remember how we even had it recorded onto a CD? I just shake my head when I think about those crazy days!
All these memories… three years ago today.
Happy Birthday Carissa Ann! You surprise and amaze me every single day. I can't wait to see all the things you will do tomorrow and the next day and the next day after that. I love you more than you will ever know.
All my love,
Your Momma
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