Images of Imma-Jane and Lucy!

Checking in

2011-05-08T18:58:00.002-05:00

We are still in the process of selling our house, though we have closed on the new one. Anyone want to buy a house in McKinney?
Lucy is crawling everywhere! She is unstoppable. A few minutes ago she grabbed the remote, changed the channel to Family Guy (she loves Stewie) and then sat there laughing at the tv.
Imma is doing so much better! She will even answer the question, "What's your name?" We have a meeting with a member of the autism evaluation team on Thursday. I'm pretty sure she is going to tell us she is autistic, but now I am thinking she may just be hyperlexic, which means she could grow out of these symptoms of autism.
It is taking forever to get our new house finished! Ever since we closed, work has stopped!
Imma's birthday party is scheduled for 6/11 at the new house. Somehow we've got to get them to finish it before then!

Moving!

2011-03-31T07:39:00.008-05:00

We are moving! It has all happened like a whirlwind but we found a house we love in Nevada, Texas. It is on 2.5 acres with two ponds and views of Lake Lavon. Imma calls it the "Duck House." We should be closing soon.

L M N O Q

2010-09-15T21:04:00.002-05:00

Hi! I'm back! I know I haven't posted in forever. I've been pretty busy with a new baby and with Imma starting school. And my laptop has been very uncooperative. But I had to share how Imma is doing in school.
Imma started her intensive pre-school program a few weeks ago. Since then, I have noticed some major gains. She still has a lot of difficulty with communication but these are some of the things she has improved with:
1) The alphabet. She sings the alphabet song now and gets most of the letters right. She has been playing a lot of alphabet apps on my Iphone, too, which is also helping. I got her an alphabet puzzle for Christmas last year where you have to put the pieces in alphabetical order and it makes a long train across the floor. She can do it almost perfectly by herself but sometimes she insists on skipping P. She also recognizes a ton of letters when she sees them independently, which is better than a lot of my kindergartners could do at the beginning of the year. And she is picking up some letter sounds, too.
2) Counting. She can count to nine now without saying, " E, go, by" which used to be "three, four, five." She seems to have one-to-one correspondence, too, which is pretty advanced.
3) Shapes. She really recognizes circle now and star. She used to completely ignore me when I talked about shapes so that is really cool.
So, she seems to be learning a lot and I am really happy with her academic progress. However, the last three days she has bitten another child at one of her two pre-schools so we have been working on how to be nice to our friends!

Lucy is growing like a weed. She had her two month check-up on Monday and she weighs 11.4 lbs. and is 25 1/2 inches long. Both of these numbers are near the 50%. She got really upset Monday afternoon and screamed for about an hour. I knew something was wrong because my baby only cries when she is hungry or wants picked up. I gave her some Tylenol and she finally settled down but that was not pleasant at all. She still has the coolest hair ever.

I also got to go see my friend Alyson's twin boys today. They are very tiny but sooo cute. I was so happy to finally get to meet Jack and Will. I've been praying for these babies for a long time and it is such a miracle that they are finally here and that they are doing so well though they were 11 weeks early. It is awesome to see Alyson with them, she is such a great mom already. I know my girls will get to be very good friends with the Steiner Boys!

Hopefully I will do a better job of keeping this updated so my girls have a good record of what was going on in their lives, since that is the major purpose of this blog. And, of course, to let friends and family know what is going on. I'm lucky if I get twenty minutes during the day between feedings though because Lucy is a very demanding little girl! Still, I will try to do better!

Lucy is here!

2010-07-08T21:19:00.002-05:00

Well, she wasn't quite a 4th of July baby but Lucy was born at 3:48 am Monday, July 5th. After Dr. Bailey decided to admit me, the nurse decided to take matters into her own hands. I don't know if she didn't want me to stay or if she just didn't want me to have an Independance Day baby, but she dumped a whole back of iv fluid in a couple of minutes, which basically brought my contractions to nothing. She was bragging about it to the other nurses at the nurses station and Brian over-heard her. So, it took me forever to dilate. At shift change, I got a 27 year veteran, no-nonsense nurse. She was great except for she wanted things her way and not my way. I was a 5 at 7:00 when shift changed. I was a 6 at 9:00 when they sent the anesthesiologist in. I really thought I could do it myself at that point but they told me he had a c-section to go to so if I was getting it, it had to be right then. So I did. The good thing I'd it let me sleep. My labor continued to progress so slowly that my epidural started to wear off by the time I reached an 8:00 at about 1:00 am. So the anesthesiologist came back in and boosted it, much to the horror of my nurse. She wanted it to wear off before it was time to push. To me, there was no point in getting the epi if I was going to be able to feel while pushing. Contractions never bothered me. It was the pushing I was afraid of. I finally got to a 10 at about 2:00. However, my nurse decided I was too numb to push so she made me wait and "labor down" before she would let me push. By the time she had called Dr. Bailey and was ready to let me start pushing, it felt like Lucy was going to fall out. I only pushed a couple of times and she came right out. Unfortunatly, this epi was not like the one I had had with Imma and I ft everything as she was coming out. So there was really no point in getting it to begin with. But, she came out a perfect 6 pound, 11ounce baby. She is beautiful! She looks so much like her sister. And for being 37 weeks 4 days, she was a good size. I will post the rest of the story (hospital stay, coming home, etc.) later and should be able to get some pictures up soon, too. I am so glad she is finally here!

Lucy is on her way!

2010-07-04T17:51:00.002-05:00

Lucy should be here sometime tonight! I started having contractions yesterday evening and by 11:30 this morning they were 3 minutes apart and I was having trouble talking through them. It had been that way for a couple of hours so I decided to go to the hospital. My friend Debra came and got Imma and Brian and I headed to Baylor Frisco. When I got here, my contractions were still strong but they died down as soon as they started checking me. They said I was barely a two (even though my doctor said I was a three on Friday) and that first exam was really rough! They said they'd give me a couple of hours. Dr. Bailey checked me again a few hours later and she said I was a 4. So, I could hang out for a while and see if I made any more progress or go home. I chose to stay two more hours. By then, I had progressed to a 4.5. The nurse said Dr. Bailey would probably send me home but she didn't. So here I am! We'll see what happens.

It's Been a While!

2010-06-16T10:04:00.002-05:00

It seems like it has been ages since I have posted anything. It's not that I have nothing to say, it's that there is just too much going on! I will try to list the highlights.
We went back to re-do Lucy's ultra-sound and she was much more cooperative! We got some great pictures and video, which I hope to post someday.
My friends at work (Joyce, Alyson, and Kary) through me an awesome shower with lots of great gifts, fun games, and delicious cake!
My friend Debra also through me a great shower at my house. I got to see a lot of friends and Lucy got some very cute things.
My sister McKinley and my moms (yes, both of them!) through me a shower in Missouri. I got to see some friends and family I hadn't seen for a very long time so that was very nice.
I hope to post pictures of all of the showers soon, too! (Maybe that will be Brian's job!)
The trip to and from Missouri took it's toll on me and I was on modified bedrest for a week. I gained over 10 lbs. in a few days, all in fluid. So I could still go to work but I had to lay down as soon as I got home. Brian did a great job of making sure I drank my water (and so did all of my friends at work) and he took great care of me, Imma, and everything else! I am really lucky to have a husband who will let me sleep when I need to and one who takes such great care of his little girls.
Imma qualified for PPCD as a child with a speech delay/disorder. This wasn't the easiest process but I think PPCD is the best thing for her and she will make great strides in that program. She will attend 1/2 day starting in the fall. ECI is over and I am very happy about that. I do not feel that she benefited from that program.
I am enjoying my role as principal at summer school but it is definitely the hardest job I have ever had in my life. Being solely responsible for everything that happens on a campus all day is very challenging. And the work doesn't stop when you go home. I do have the most amazing staff and that has been very helpful. And I have had a lot of support from other administrators, friends, and fellow teachers. So that is a good thing. I'm glad I am doing this but I don't think I will be able to breathe again until it is over!
Hopefully, Lucy will stay in for a few more weeks!
And that's what's going on, in a nutshell!

Lucy the acrobat!

2010-05-03T08:17:00.001-05:00

We went to our 3D/4D ultrasound on Saturday and Lucy was
not very cooperative. She was wadded up in a little ball with her knee over face-- the back of her knee! So we get a second chance in a week or two. Hopefully she will be more cooperative the next time!

Progress

2010-04-30T08:20:00.002-05:00

Imma seems to be making a lot of progress as far as communication is concerned these days. Yesterday in particular she did several things that I have never seen/heard her do before. I want to record them here so that we can remember.
1. She found Elmo's nose! Ever since she was about six months old, we've played that game every mother plays, "Can you find Elmo's nose," (or whatever) in a book. Usually, she responds by pointing at something else and saying it's name or turning the page. Last night, three times, she pointed right at Elmo's nose and said, "Elmo nose." Yay!
2. Brian was standing in her way. So she said, "Beep! Beep!" in order to get through. Not even sure where she picked that up from.
3. She nodded her head, "yes," in response to a yes or no question. Lately she has been saying yes about as frequently as she says no but I have never seen her nod her head before.
4. She unlocked the dead bolt on the back door. I guess she really wanted to go outside! This one is a little scary.
We are having more conversations. This morning, while driving to school, we talked about what animals we saw. We saw birds, dogs, and cows. She also told me that she wanted to watch, "more" Barney. She usually just screams when the show is over and she wants me to do something to fix it. I really think she is making a lot of progress, though it was disconcerting earlier in the week when the ECI people told me they thought she might be autistic. I frankly don't see it at all. She has some tendencies but I think all children have some tendencies. There are some major things that most autistic children do that I don't see in Imma at all. But we are going to have her evaluated by the early childhood center next week so we will see what they have to say.

Glucose Screening

2010-04-23T16:17:00.002-05:00

I failed my one hour glucose screening. The nurse said it wasn't by much, but I still have to come in and do the three hour test. I am not extremely excited about this. That means I have to sit in the doctor's office for three hours, not to mention having my blood drawn three or four times. I am going to try really hard next week not to eat too (or drink!) too much sugar. I would really, really hate to fail the next one. I don't need a gestational diabetes diagnosis--no thank you!

Baby Registry and Easter

2010-04-04T20:27:00.003-05:00

I went ahead and did our baby registry for Lucy last night. I decided to register at Target, Wal-Mart and Babies R Us. I also decided it would be easier to do it by myself than to try and make sure Brian agreed with all of my decisions. Doing on-line seemed a lot faster than going to the store (and I could do it in my PJs!) While I was advised by several people that I should just ask for diapers (good advice!) I did pick some cute things out for Lucy. It seems like she is getting a lot of hand-me-downs so it would be nice if she had some things that weren't stained with Imma spit-up. Mostly I just chose some towels and sheets for her, and some things for her room. I think I could change her clothes three times a day for the first year and we might make a small dent in all the clothing she has. (Thanks Grandma Libby and Grandma Kelley for keeping us stocked!)
I do have some Easter pictures of Imma to upload but I am having trouble uploading anything and have been having trouble for the last few days. Might need to call in an expert (Alyson!). We ended up not making it to church because all three of us have a horrible cold. Imma fell asleep around five this evening, she was so tired. Brian made a nice ham though so we at least didn't miss out on Easter dinner. I feel bad that we didn't make it to church but I'm sure the people we would have been coughing all over appreciate it!

I've got to go to Summer School!

2010-04-01T21:38:00.003-05:00

Because I am the principal! Can you believe it? I interviewed this morning and found out this afternoon. I am so ecstatic! This is such a great opportunity and I feel very blessed and honored to have been chosen. Now the really hard work begins! God has been so good today! Thank you Jesus for answering prayers!

One of these things is like the other!

2010-04-01T11:28:00.002-05:00

My friend Alyson just found out she is having identical twins! So exciting! What a prescious gift the Lord has given to this amazing family. I am so happy for Alyson and Justin and so blessed to have them in my life. Please continue to pray that Alyson's pregnancy goes well over the next 33ish weeks and that these little boys or girls grow big and strong! You can follow her story at http://thesteiners.us

Mini-Vacation

2010-03-21T14:53:00.010-05:00

We took a quick little trip to Brenham, Texas over Spring Break. We stayed in a Bed and Breakfast called Mariposa Ranch. Brian and I had visited there a few years ago and decided it might be relaxing to take Imma there. It wasn't! But she had fun. These pictures are of us on our way home. We stopped at Washington-on-the-Brazos state park. Imma really liked the river. The video is of Imma exploring at the park.

Loot!

2010-03-21T14:45:00.005-05:00

My mom came down last week and bought Imma and Lucy a ton of clothes! The

picture directly above and below show Imma's loot. The bottom two are the things she bought for Lucy. It's so nice to get stuff from Grandma!

Rainforest Cafe Video

2010-03-21T14:35:00.005-05:00

My mom, sister McKinley, neice Ella, and brother Daniel came to visit last week. We took the little girls to the Rainforest Cafe in Grapevine. This was my mom's first visit. Imma and Ella had a lot of fun, especially during the thunderstorms.

The Dream is Still Alive!

2010-03-12T15:57:00.002-06:00

Remember that song by Wilson Phillips? I heard it on the way to school today. (Okay--it was on my mp3 player.) And guess what! It's true! My friend Alyson found out today that she is pregnant! So the Dream is Still Alive! Thank all of you who have been praying for her and please continue to do so. She goes in for another blood test on Monday. By then her beta number should have doubled. Please pray that this baby (these babies!) continue to grow stronger every day. A lot of people have been praying for a long time and we cannot wait to see the Miracle Steiner Baby! But we are definitely willing to wait nine months to do so! We are so thankful that God has finally answered this prayer and it will be amazing to see what he has in store!

Ticker question

2010-03-12T08:26:00.002-06:00

Hey Bloggers--
I'm having an issue with my tickers. It's been that way for a while and it is really starting to drive me crazy. Does anyone happen to know why my tickers are getting cut-off and how I can fix them? I've been messing around with them and can't seem to make any improvements. If you have any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks!
Amy

Scrooged or Lost??

2010-03-08T15:44:00.002-06:00

Any of you that know me well know that I like to quote arbitrary lines from movies and tv shows. I don't know why I do this, I guess I think it is funny. Maybe just to annoy people or make them wonder what I am talkng about. Anyway, one of the things I have been saying a lot lately is a line from the movie Scrooged with Bill Murray. The reason I've been saying it is because I have been watching Lost. Let me explain. Both of these stories have a character named Claire. Whenever someone on Lost says, "Claire," I quote this line out of Scrooged: "Claire, Claire, Claire, they're just children!" in a really annoying voice that Brian can't stand. Well, last night a commercial for Lost came on and I just said the, "Claire, Claire, Claire" part. Imma was sitting on my lap and she turned and looked at me and said (in an equally annoying voice, except for she is sooo cute) "Claire, Claire, Claire."
And they say my baby can't talk!

Early Birthday Presents

2010-03-04T12:38:00.002-06:00

I am so excited about the smallest (but nicest!) things! My birthday isn't until the 25th but Tuesday I got a beautiful flower from the PTO. So thoughtful. And today I got three bags of Skittles from the church that has adopted our school. It was such a pick-me-up when we have been testing the last few days. I just love thoughtfulness!

Are You PT?

2010-03-03T16:02:00.002-06:00

I remember being in elementary school and having other kids ask, "Are you PT?" If you said, "Yes," they would reply, "Ohh--you're a pregnant teacher!" If you said, "No," they would reply, "Ohh--you're not potty trained?" Well, now I am PT--I am a pregnant teacher. And I am potty trained. And yesterday I got a new PT, Physical Therapy!
I have been to physical therapy in the past but this is the first time I have been while pregnant. I went right before I got pregnant with Imma for some other issues I'd rather forget about for the rest of my life. This time, it is because I am having a lot of pelvic girdle pain. What is pelvic girdle pain, you may ask. Well, it's basically when the ligaments between your legs feel like they are being stretched to the point of snapping, like someone is stabbing you there, like acid is eating your legs from the inside out. Sounds like fun, right? There are a few things that can cause it but mostly it has to do with the hormone that is released to make your ligaments stretch and the weight and shifting of your body. It could be too much hormone, and it could be too much shift and weight. With me, the right side of my body is moving just fine when I walk or climb stairs, etc. but the left side isn't shifting right, so it is being dragged. This means that the ride side of me is working a lot harder to make up the difference. I am having pain on both sides. One from over-working and the other from shifting and dragging.
My physical therapist is very nice. She is a definite Christian, I found out from just a few minutes of talking to her, and the mother of four, including twins. So she knows all about pregnancy. She is also very familiar with Chronic Myofacial Pain Disease, something I was diagnosed with about four years ago. She thinks that she can correct my pelvic issue, and maybe even some of the other muscle pain issues I have. She said that she thinks we have caught this in time. Otherwise, I could end up with a girdle or using a walker towards the end of my pregnancy.
I had this same pain with Imma. With her, I told my doctor and she basically chalked it up to being pregnant--things hurt. This time, I guess I was a little more vocal, and I also talked to the nurse practitioner. I love my doctor but I think other ears heard me a little better. I really wish I had been able to go to therapy when I was pregnant with Imma because I think it would have made a huge difference. Towards the end of that pregnancy, I could hardly walk. I had to shuffle my feet and pivot. No fun!
This time, I have pretty strict directions about what I am not allowed to do. Hardest of all, I can't pick up Imma unless she is standing on a table! (No squatting.) I can't sit on the couch because it is too squishy. I am supposed to pretend I am wearing a mini-skirt at all times and keep my legs together. So I have to swivel getting in the car, sitting down, turning, etc. I am also not supposed to climb stairs if I can help it (and I live in a two story house!) So all of this will be really difficult. But I need to do it to make myself feel better.
My advice? If you start to feel any pain in your pelvic region, talk to your doctor about going to see a physical therapist. It would be much better to get help early on so that you don't end up in a girdle or with a walker!
In other news, I missed Imma's speech therapy last night but she did really well! She repeated several phrases for her "teacher" and even said some words on her own. The preschool evaluation team called me today and they are getting ready to screen her, as her birthday is now about 90 days away. Hopefully, their test will come out much differently!

Prayer Request

2010-03-02T13:30:00.002-06:00

My very good friend, work roommate, and practically-a-sister-we-spend-so-much-time-together (and I borrow her mom a lot!) Alyson had her frozen embryo tranfer today. Those of you who are not very familiar with IVF may have no idea what that means, and that's okay, because God does! If you could all please pray that those little snowflake babies will burrow in and snuggle-up for about another 8 1/2 months, we would really appreciate it. Alyson has been through so much on her way to becoming a mommy and she deserves it more than anyone in the world. She is going to be the best mommy-ever! She just needs these babies to make it. So, please, please, please say as many prayers for her, especially over the next two weeks while we wait to find out the news, as you possibly can. And on March 12th I'll get to post the wonderful news that Baby(s) Steiner is(are) on the way!!

Celebrate!

2010-02-24T19:46:00.003-06:00

We went out to eat tonight to celebrate our exciting news that we will soon have two daughters! We went to Saltgrass Steak House. The first fifteen minutes was great and then Imma decided she needed to sit on my lap. But we made it work. What was really awesome was that they were able to bring Imma's entree out with our salad/soup. That was great! Unfortunately, she chose not to eat any of her macaroni and cheese because she was busy eating oreos and cheetohs. So Daddy ate it. Why waste perfectly good mac and cheese that you just paid $6 for?
The desserts looked great but Imma was ready to go so we went to Brahms and got ice cream.
We are so happy about Lucy! I'm sure that, if we were having a boy, we would have been happy, too, but it is just so great to know Imma and Lucy are going to be sisters and best pals. I always wanted a little sister and I had to wait ten years to get one so I'm just ecstatic for Imma. I really hope they are close always and they share everything--toys, clothes, friends, etc.
I do think Lucy's personality is going to be totally different than Imma's. It's kind of weird but I had a sense of who Imma was before she was born and the second she entered the world, it was quite evident who she was and what we were in for. Lucy just seems a little more mellow, even though I still feel her a lot. She was pretty still during the ultrasound and just seems to have a more calm personality than Imma. I could be totally wrong though so I guess we will have to wait and see.
One final thought, as we were walking in to the restaurant tonight, I swear my sweet little girl screamed a phrase that, if she said what I think she said, I have no idea where she picked it up. It sounded like she yelled, "You guys suck!" Maybe I miss-heard . . . .

Okay--I think it is time

2010-02-24T14:43:00.004-06:00

I think everyone knows now. We had some family we needed to contact before I posted anything yesterday. It's a girl! Lucy Kate (or maybe Lucy Kate Annabella, if I can convince Brian.) I would love to post ultrasound pictures but our scanner is having issues, thanks to someone being confused and thinking it might in fact be a trampoline.

I sent a picture to everyone at work yesterday that had a picture of Lucy from the peanutes and said "Lucy Kate Van Horn" but it seemed to have confused a lot of people. I just thought it would be cute . . . .

We Know!!!!

2010-02-23T15:37:00.003-06:00

After being up most of the night terrified that we would have a blizzard and I wouldn't be able to go in for my ultrasound today, we jumped out of bed to find--not a drop of percipitation!
So, off we went to the doctor's office! Well, first we went to sonic because I wanted a cherry/vanilla dr. pepper, you know, to stimulate the baby's movement. Then, we dropped Imma off at school. I would have liked to have brought her with us but I wasn't sure she would be able to sit/stand still long enough for it to be very peaceful for Mommy and Daddy. And then we were off to the doctor's office. We waited for about 20 min. before the technician, Beth, came out to get us. She asked if we knew the sex and we said no but we wanted to find out and we hoped she could help us with that! She said she made no guarantees.
It seems like they always look at everything else first. She measured the head and the brain and the heart and the kidneys, and the legs, etc. Everything looked just terrific. Finally, she gave us the news!
And if you want to know what it is, you will have to send me an email because I have decided not to post it just yet! amyevanhorn@gmail.com
So please don't post it in my comments either or on Facebook.

Baby Names

2010-02-22T12:58:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow is the big day! Assuming a blizzard doesn't hit North Texas, we are set to find out what we are having. We have finally decided on baby names! If it is a girl, we will name her Emma and if it is a boy we will name him Immitt. What do you think? Everyone always gives us a hard time about how we spell Imma so this will solve that problem and who doesn't love Emmitt Smith?
I am sure you are all going to post a comment about how much you love our choices!
(and yes, I am just kidding.)

Imma learns a new word!

2010-02-21T21:16:00.003-06:00

Imma decided today that she needed to sit exactly where the baby is sitting. I told her she couldn't sit there, the baby was there. She kept trying to sit there and I kept telling her to scoot over. Finally, I told her that spot was, "occupied." She said, "Oc-pied? Oc-pied?" and then ran off screaming, "Oc-pied! Oc-pied!"
Also today she handed me some binoculars and said, "You see?"
I know it sounds like the proud stories the mother of a one year old might tell but every time we can get Imma to say anything, it is a break through! I also heard her say "pepper" and "potty" today. Too bad she didn't really want to go potty, but she did sit on the potty chair for about fifteen seconds. . . . Some day I will be complaining that she won't stop talking.

Bowling--not necessarily for pregnant people!

2010-02-19T16:12:00.002-06:00

Brian took me bowling Monday night. Now, I am a horrible bowler. Those of you who were in my high school gym class can vouch for that. I was the worst bowler in the grade-level! But I have gotten a little better over the years. But not while I am pregnant! It was very hard to keep from turning my wrist to go around my big tummy. Brian is also a terrible bowler but he did better than I did. He said, "I beat my pregnant wife!" Uhm, maybe you should rephrase that!
Imma stayed with the daughter of one of my friends. Haley is so sweet and we are so lucky to have found someone to watch Imma that is very trustworthy and just a good kid. Imma had a lot of fun with her.
Brian has been traveling a lot lately. He was gone last Thursday night and all day on the snow-day Friday. He was gone Wednesday night and came back late Thursday. And he'll be gone most of the weekend, coming back on Monday night. It is really hard to take care of Imma by myself because you have to constantly find something else to entertain her! But we are having a lot of quality time together.
Only 4 days until the ultrasound. I wonder who is in there. Guess we'll find out soon!

Daytona 500 (with unlimited two year old interruptions)

2010-02-14T21:16:00.002-06:00

Brian got me started watching Nascar when we first started dating about eleven years ago. At first, like many people, I said it wasn't a sport and it was just a bunch of rednecks driving in circles. But the more I watched it, the more I saw how much strategy was involved. When to pit, when to stay out, two tires or four, who to work with to get to the front, when to go, etc. Eventually, I ended up watching it even more than he did and now it is very hard for me to miss a race. From the end of November until Daytona in February, I ask Brian about three hundred times each week, "Where's the race at this weekend?" only to be told there isn't one. Sigh. But this was Daytona weekend and there definitely was a race. Despite the fact that there were over two hours of red flag delays because the track was coming apart, it was an exciting race. I was pretty bummed when Jeff Gordon made an idiotic move and knocked Kasey Kahne (my favorite driver) out of the race with less than two laps to go. But Jamie McMurray, who is from Joplin, Missouri, near where I grew up, one the race so I was happy with the ending. Brian really likes Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and he came in second. At the end, Imma and I were cheering, "Go Jamie!" and Brian was yelling, "Go Jr.!" Imma and I must have yelled loudest.
I think that last lap was about all Imma watched. The rest of the time she was running around like a crazed monkey, getting in to all sorts of things. During one of the longer breaks we watched a Baby Einsteins video together. She may seem too old for it but I like to watch them with her because it helps her vocabulary-or at least her word usage. I name whatever is on the screen and she actually repeats it. This is rare for Imma. She usually does not repeat but if she is really interested in what she is watching, she isn't paying attention to the fact that she is saying what someone wants her to say. She said all kinds of things, including "no touch!" though she apparently has no idea what this phrase means.
We are going to celebrate Valentine's Day tomorrow. That is the day we could get a sitter. Today, Brian did give me a box of reese's and a card. And I gave him a card and Imma a card and some stickers. She ate about 10 reese's minis today and enjoyed sticking and resticking her stickers until they are no longer sticky.
I am also enjoying the Winter Olympics!
Only 9 more days until we find out what we are having! I don't know whether or not I will post that information right off. I am struggling with whether or not we should let everyone know. . . . We'll see! Hope everyone has a great week!

Conversations with Imma

2010-02-13T15:56:00.003-06:00

Mommy: "Imma, do you want Mommy to have a baby?"
Imma: "Yay!!!"
Mommy: "What should we name the baby?"
Imma: "Apple!"
She has never said the word apple before. She must be listening to the celebrity gossip.

Mommy: "Imma, be careful with Mommy's glass house. Imma? Imma?"
Imma: "I've got it!!!"
This is a long sentence for Imma!

Mommy: "Imma, don't put that toy in your mouth."
Imma: "I diben't!"
And this was just cute!

On another note, I changed my background all by myself without having to ask Alyson to show me how again!

Monday's Doctor Visit

2010-01-31T20:47:00.002-06:00

I have been a terrible blogger lately. So sorry! I am having all kinds of laptop issues and then blogger wasn't cooperating. I am hoping all is good now!
Last Monday I had my third prenatal check-up. Everything still looks good. It took Dr. B. a long time to find the heartbeat but she finally did. My weight was exactly the same, which is awesome for me. I think with Imma I had already gained about 30 lbs., no joke. So the fact that I haven't gained any yet makes me really happy. And I've been eating whatever I want. I think it's the medicine that she gave me. It seems to help me digest everything and not let it sit there forever, not to be too descriptive.
We also had a parent meeting at the early childhood center last Monday. I was pretty anxious going in because I still hope that Imma doesn't qualify for any services but it helped that I knew both of the teachers that presented and they know Imma. One is even a Facebook friend! I think the test that they do is less heavy on the language portion so she shouldn't come across as "cognitively delayed." Still, I wish she would just choose to speak so we wouldn't have to worry about it anymore!
It has been really cold here lately. I am really ready for Spring!

Will this work?

2010-01-27T13:32:00.001-06:00

I attempted to publish a post on Sunday that never went through. It said it didn't know if I was a real blog or spam. So, before I type anything else, let's hit publish and see!

Mommy and me time

2010-01-17T21:02:00.002-06:00

Sorry we have been missing for a while. I have been really tired lately and my computer hasn't been charging very well.
Today was a day filled with mommy and me time! We watched Polar Express (yes, I know, it's mid-January, but who's gon'na argue with that face?). We puzzled for ours. We yelled "all fall down!" because that is our favorite part of Ring Around the Rosies--and then actually fell down about a dozen times. We played Little People Farm. Oh, and we tripped while walking on the couch and hit mommy in the trachea, causing her not to be able to swallow for several minutes. A good time was had by all!
I love spending time with Imma but she is very demanding! She doesn't talk much so it is hard to figure out what she wants. And she needs to be with me all the time. I think, for me, being a stay-at-home mom would never be an option. I am a better mom when we can play and then take a break from each other.
She has been saying a lot more words the last few weeks, so that's good. I think she will add more words as she gets older. This is all in support of my theory that she doesn't really need speech. . . .
Not a very exciting post but a good one for posterities sake!

Snowball Fight!

2009-12-29T19:02:00.000-06:00

Christmas Eve Snow

2009-12-27T19:20:00.003-06:00

It snowed in McKinney on Christmas Eve for the first time. Imma loved it!

Baby dedication

2009-12-27T19:14:00.002-06:00

Imma's dedication at church last Sunday went pretty well, considering we were back stage for a good hour before it started. She was a little cranky but I can't blame her. When she finally got out on stage, she really wanted down so she could show the congregation her mad drumming skills. Daddy didn't let her down.
Some of our good friends were able to come and celebrate with us. Thanks to Dawn and Phillip and Alex and her daughter Abby for helping us make Imma's special day even more memorable.
Dawn took these pictures for us at the church after the dedication. Imma needed a reward for her "not-so-horrible" behavior--cookies!

Help--my baby broke my finger!

2009-12-27T19:06:00.005-06:00

Can I blame this on pregnancy brain?

On Saturday, Dec. 19, I slammed my pointer finger on my left hand in the dryer door. It is broken at the first knuckle and is missing most of the skin on the left side of it, around the break, not all the way to the bone but pretty deep. So it has been really hard to type, thus making blogging pretty difficult. My Christmas posts will be mostly pictures. :)

Teacher Conference

2009-12-15T20:56:00.002-06:00

Today was our first ever parent-teacher conference when I was playing the role of "parent" and not"teacher." It was odd to be on the other side of the desk!
I told Imma's teacher about the report we got from ECI. I asked her about some of the things I wasn't able to discuss yesterday that maybe she would know since she sees Imma interacting with other kids. Some of the things that I told them I didn't know about she has actually seen Imma do, so that was nice. But there are still a lot of areas on her progress report still marked as "Not mastered." These are things that should be mastered by the end of the year so I wasn't too upset that she hasn't mastered all of them. Also, some of the things she doesn't do at school, she definitely does at home--like "completes a 4-5 piece puzzle." Uhm, everyday when she gets home she does a 52 piece puzzle so I know she can do that!
I was having a really rough time with the report yesterday (if you couldn't tell) but I also found out today just how much support we really have down here. Our prayer group prayed for Imma this morning (which made me bawl), my good friends were ready with hugs, and one of my co-workers who has been kinda like a mom to me the last yearish had so many supportive things to say over lunch today. It was really helpful and it made me realize that just because my real family is far away, it doesn't mean that we don't have the love and support we need when we are going through a rough time.
I also got a call from our church today. I have been trying to get Imma signed up for this week's Baby Dedication service this Sunday for a couple of months and they couldn't find our form. I'd been told we couldn't get her in this time. But I got a call today that she was added and we will be able to do the dedication Sunday. I'm really happy about this. I was beginning to feel like nothing was going right for my little Angel. So, if you live around here and you want to come on Sunday, it will be at the 11:00 service at Cottonwood Creek Baptist. Please let me know you're coming--we'd love to have some friends in the audience. It's a great church, though very, very big by my little Missouri country-church standards.
Last thing. Any of you who know Imma know that she does not name body parts. For literally years now we have been asking, "Imma, where's your nose? Where's your nose Imma? Imma, Imma? etc." Tonight she accidentally poked me in the eyebrow and said, "eye-bwowo!" Of all the body parts to start with. . . . but I will take it!

Speech concerns confirmed

2009-12-14T20:56:00.003-06:00

Imma was evaluated by Early Childhood Intervention today. At her six month check-up the doctor mentioned that she thought she should be speaking more and I had also noticed that she didn't seem to be talking as well as some of her friends. We decided to give her a little bit of time and see if she caught up by herself. When she started school in August, I spoke to her teachers about it and a lot of them said that she wasn't really talking at all at school. Well, we finally had ECI come out and do their full evaluation and Imma does qualify for speech services, as well as some of the other services they offer. I was really surprised to hear that they qualified her in some of the other areas but they said that those are so tied in to her speach that it is difficult to determine if cognitive issues are caused by the delay in speech or the speech is just making it difficult to determine her cognitive abilities. It didn't help that the evaluation was late in the afternoon and she was very cranky and disagreeable. So she will begin getting services pretty soon.
This is pretty hard for me to take both as a mother and a teacher. You try to do everything you can to make sure your kids are well prepared. They say breastmilk is supposed to help cognitive development. Well, she had that until she was eight months old, much longer than most kids I know. I also took Lipil along with my pre-nate religiously before she was conceived, the whole time I was pregnant, and the whole time she was still getting breastmilk. I read to her, I talked to her, I did all of the things they say you are supposed to do and yet she still "chooses not to speak." I have such a beautiful, creative, intelligent little girl but a state agency just told me she is functioning up to 11 months behind where she should be!
If anyone else has had a similar experience, I would love to hear about it, especially if it has a happy ending. I just wish I knew what changes, if any, I need to make this time to make sure my second kiddo doesn't have similar issues.

School Pageant--sort of

2009-12-08T20:19:00.001-06:00

I'm having all kinds of blogger issues tonight. We'll see how this goes!
Imma had her first Christmas pageant tonight at school. The two year olds sang a lovely rendition of Twinkle Twinkle, the three year olds sang Rudolph, and the four year olds danced to Jingle Bell Rock.
Imma sat on my lap and clapped.
I guess she is practicing to be a cheerleader, not a performer. I would have been up there hamming it up. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really her mother. . . .
But she's my girl and I will support her in whatever she chooses to do.
The pictures, needless to say, are of the outfit she wore to the pageant but not the pageant itself.

I love Imma's expression in this picture. Brian was trying to get her to sit still so we could take her picture.

This started an international incident of Christmas tree ornament-stealing that is still causing controversy around the world. Okay, not really but "no touch" seems to mean nothing!

Who can resist that smile? Okay, Baby, touch whatever ornaments you want to!

Birthday party and Christmas tree

2009-12-07T21:03:00.000-06:00

"Look at my pretty fairy-princess hair!"

This weekend, Imma had a birthday party at Sugar and Spice on the square in McKinney. Well, it wasn't her birthday party! She was a guest though. It was very cute. All of the girls dressed up like fairies--except for Imma. She dressed up like Imma with her hair done. And refused to get off of Mommy's lap. But it was a really cute party and she did get to eat cake--which is a rarity for her. She usually doesn't make it to cake. These are picturs of her once we came home. See the cute blue flower in her hair? If you are planning a party for a little princess any time soon, I suggest you look into Sugar and Spice. Thanks for inviting us Lily!

Yesterday, we went to a Christmas tree farm to pick out our first live Christmas Tree! We already have three (uhm, yeah, three) fake Christmas trees but I really wanted a live one for our back porch. So, Brian finally (reluctantly) agreed and off we went!
We went to a Christmas tree farm in Van Alstyne. First, we went on a hay ride out to the Christmas tree lot.

It was cold out there!
Then, we picked out a tree and Dada cut it down.

And then they hauled it back to the little store where you pay and we threw it in the back of the truck and took it home! Now all I have to do is get some lights and it will be ready to go!

Thanksgiving story

2009-12-07T20:53:00.000-06:00

If someone embarrassed you in a restaurant by doing the following:
1) compared you to someone you've never met and told you that she is a better mother, student, and harder worker than you
2) told you look "terrible" and "exhausted"
3) told you you should not work after your seventh month of pregnancy because you obviously can't handle that
4) wouldn't stop when you asked her to so you had to walk out of the restaurant
5) proceeded to yell, literally run around the restaurant, while screaming profanities and disowning your family
and then
6) called two weeks later and accused you of abusing your child because you yanked her out of her high chair so quickly
Would you ever want to speak to that person again?
I didn't think so!

Help--my baby is trying to kill me!

2009-12-04T09:15:00.001-06:00

I am feeling pretty lousy today. I think the baby is trying to see just how green mommy's face can become. I really wish I could go home and go to sleep instead of working but that's really not an option since I need to save my days for maternity leave.
Dr. B. gave me some new medicine for morning sickness but I don't think it is working. It says it could take up to two weeks to work. Hello! By then I might be just fine. Hopefully it will not take that long to work.
Imma came home from school yesterday whistling. She was doing it backwards (sucking in instead of blowing out) but it was very cute. She will probably be a much better whistler than I am. If I lived in NYC, I would never be able to get a cab.

First Doctor's Appointment for Imma's Sib

2009-12-02T20:29:00.000-06:00

We had our first doctor's appointment for the new baby today. Everything looks great. The baby was measuring at 4.6mm, which is a lot bigger than Imma was about a week later than this baby. Dr. B. said everything looks good though. I will try to post the ultra sound pictures tomorrow. We actually got to hear the baby's heartbeat, too, which I wasn't expecting. It was 120 beats per minute.
The only bad part was that we had to wait in the waiting room for a very long time!

I go back to the doctor on Monday Dec. 28th.

This morning we woke up to snow flurries! It was actually coming down very hard for a few minutes. Imma was amazed. She said "it bootiful!" And if you know Imma, that's saying a lot. She did not like walking in to school with it hitting her in the head though. She was pretty upset about getting her hair all wet.

So, I started a blog!

2009-12-01T22:16:00.000-06:00

I have been thinking about starting a blog for about a year now. One of my good friends has a blog and I started reading hers last fall. From there, I started reading a few other blogs, and then I decided I needed one myself!
Now that I am expecting my second child, I am hoping my friends and family can use this blog to stay updated. However, as the title suggests, I also plan to use this as a forum to journal the events of my two year old's life as well.
Now, I just have to figure out how to make my blog as cool as everyone elses!