Baptized on Easter Sunday

We're down visiting the parents and my dad asks us last weekend how we felt about getting Chance dedicated, or baptized. I was all for it and daddy just needed a little reassurance that it wasn't something that would prevent her from being able to do it for herself when she was ready. So we called the preacher, met with him in his office before church this morning and this Easter Sunday, little girl was promised to God.

Dad said it was important to him that it be done and he'd be honoured if we would have it done here. So after a long conversation with the husband, we decided to go ahead. She did great this morning. We went up and the pastor prayed over us then asked three questions. Would God accept the dedication (Well duh, LoL!), would the congregation help us as parents with the raising of her in a Christian home, and would we as the parents, promise to raise her in a Christian home. Of course the answer to all three questions, yes. So she was sprinkled with holy water and baptized this morning. It was so awesome.

We all cried! Me, daddy, gramma and grampa. After it was done she smiled and shook the pastors hand, and the whole congregation laughed and fell in love with her instantly. It is so cool knowing that my daughter, was baptized on Easter Sunday. I feel so good having gotten it done. I have to admit, my dads church is enough to make me uneasy. And not because of the specific branch of Christianity, because I'm used to my church at home, which is a little Church of Christ that holds probably 150 people on a busy day. My dad's church holds 2800 people on a SLOW Sunday. Talk about feeling out of place. LoL! But in the end, today was about her and Jesus/God. Not about me feeling out of place. It was a great day today and I'm so happy to know she's dedicated.

First Steps in the Ocean

Well, little girl took her first trip to the salty sea today. We decided to go to Venice and visit Uncle Ga's dad and step mom and we stopped by the ocean to look for sharks teeth. Needless to say, the sand was about as far as we went. The ocean was so rough at the beach, people were surfing with the sharks near by! It was nuts! And there was so much seaweed rolling in from whatever had the ocean so blasted churned up, it was this dingy brown/black color. But, that being said, little girl had the time of her life. She played around in the sand, built sand castles, and even got in the water, a little bit. We walked on the beach and I got some awesome pictures of her and her daddy holding hands as the waves came up. She was ready to run out there and jump in the water, no qualms about it! LoL! It was so fun to see her like that. Sad note, it was too rough to hunt for sharks teeth. :( I would have so loved to have given her that experience. Maybe it's better this way though. That way when we go back, she'll be a little bit older and can appreciate it more.

She really enjoys Florida! She's loving the golf cart more than anything I think though. LoL! She's all about taking rides, and any time we go anywhere with her, if it's not in the golf cart she's upset about it! LoL! Bless her little heart. And she's made a big friend in Gramma and Grampa's dog Layla. She's a papillon, and like Chance, she's very small for her breed. She weighs in at a whopping 4lb, full grown. She's a funny little dog, and she and Chance really get along. Makes me miss my puppies back home.

Well, enough about that, gotta get things ready for Easter tomorrow and for church. Little girl's getting dedicated tomorrow. Very exciting for me and daddy. On Easter Sunday. :) Plans, plans, plans. Until later!

A Learning Vacation

So we finally made it! Down to Florida to visit the parents and let them enjoy little girl. They're having such a good time with her, and of course I'm having a ball just watching, and spending time with my parents. But I've got to tell you what she's learned so far. She's learned how to golf with her own set of clubs that Grampa got her, she learned how to dance and yesterday, she learned how to swim. Well, kind of.

I swear I think they traumatized her in the NICU because before yesterday, she wouldn't get into anything that resembled a bath. But she got in and had a ball! She's such a little big person and I love watching her interact with my parents. My dad just absolutely adores her and so does my mom, but it's funny to look and see some of the same relationship between myself and my Grandpa, as I do in her and hers.

Lord knows she's already getting him to do things that he won't for me. LoL! It was so funny, when we got here, she ran right up to him and gave him a huge hug around his neck. There's still a lot of vacation left, and I can't wait to report back to what she's going to learn before we leave. :)

My little girls blankie

Well I'm sure that anyone who has children knows that their child has a blankie, or a binkie, or a stuffed toy that is their security blankie. I still have mine from when I was a baby, and yes, admittedly, I still sleep with it every night. Well I have discovered as of late, that I am my daughters blankie. Yes, that's right. I have to admit, it's a good feeling, knowing that I am her security. Here recently it's been my hair, my hand, my thumb, even my pinkie finger. It's awesome. But I did tell her I wasn't going on her honeymoon with her. LoL! She has a blankie that grandma made that goes with her everywhere too. Maybe that will be her permanent blankie.

Side note, we have started the ever fated battle of potty training. Oh yes. Fun times ahead. NOT! I've barely started and already to throw in the towel. But it's a process and I need to be patient. Lord help me with that one. Sometimes I'm ready to give her to someone who's done it already and tell them to bring her back when she's done training. LoL! My sister told me to stop using pull-ups and to sit her on the pot every 30 minutes. Tried the every half hour thing. Gonna just give up the pull ups tomorrow. Bad part with her, she's so damn little, even the smallest panties are too big for her little butt. Trust me, I'm open to suggestions on that one.

Anyway, done with my rant. Off to spend some time playing. :) Until later homies! Peace out!

My Little Shadow

I officially have a shadow. She does everything I do, when I do it. If I have my hoodie on, so does she. If I have my shoes on, so does she. If I'm barefoot, so is she. And right now, she is in her recliner, with her little tyke laptop in her lap, typing away on the keyboard, just like her mommy. Today, she folded her own laundry (very haphazardly) and put it away today when I washed. She's such a big girl I can't believe it! She still doesn't talk, and she has her therapist and teachers completely perplexed because there's no real reason for it. Leave it to me to have a perplexing difficult child. I am one of the most self proclaimed contradictory people in this world. And my daughter, is just like me!

I'm such a proud mommy! :)

Last Year in Review

Yeah, I know, I'm into the second month of 2012 and I'm just now getting to writing this blog, but it's been crazy. Not bad thankfully, just crazy. So, even though it's late, I'm going to start off by talking about some of Squeak's firsts that took place in 2011. She had a lot better year than I did. LoL!

Her first amusement park happened in April when we went to Lake Winnie in Georgia. It was there that she rode her first Chute ride, her first carousel, her first slide, and her first time driving a Tin Lizzy (with daddy's help of course).

She hit 20 lb's finally! That was a huge accomplishment for her. On those lines, she made her first sentence. (More please). It was in both sign language AND speaking. It's only two words, but her speech therapist and her teacher both said it counts. She learned how to say Mimi and Papa, and she baked her first muffins with the help of mommy and her teacher, and she threw out the bottles and went to sippy cups!

Her second amusement park involved a few firsts of it's own. Her first vacation, her first stay in a hotel (for more than just six hours), first time walking in shoes (she typically refused to put shoes on, she would just walk in her bare feet), and that was because she knew we wouldn't let her walk around the theme park unless her shoes were on her feet.

Random firsts include her first Sunday School class (Which was a rising success, she had a ball), she flew her first kite (My grandma's kite), she got her first haircut, she walked on the grass for the first time (of course bare foot) and she got her first silverware. Needless to say, it was a pretty big year for such a little girl, and she took it all in strides! :)

It only proves just how much and how fast she's growing. :(

Bed Time

Okay so those of you who know me and my family know that my little girl sleeps in bed with us every night. Now I've had people tell me that it was bad, I've had others tell me it was okay (including her pediatrician), but I for some reason feel the need to explain my position on this. It's not because she doesn't have a bed, it's not because she doesn't have a bedroom, it is completely and utterly selfish.

My little girl spent the first seven weeks of her life in the NICU. Born ten weeks early, there was no choice. So the first fifty one days of her life were spent in an incubator. I couldn't hold her the first time until she was seven days old. And even then I could only hold her for half an hour every other day. The NICU nurses got to be with her and around her more than I did. It was amazing she even developed an attachment to me when she first started out. I cried myself to sleep praying every night to God that she would just make it through the night and that he would keep his hands on her and keep her breathing and healthy. On nights that it stormed I would cry myself to sleep and pray that she would be safe in the hospital on the top floor. Every night, I woke up in the wee hours, and call the NICU nurses to check on her.

So, is it selfish that she sleeps in bed with us? Absolutely. Does it bother me? Absolutely not. It wasn't always like this. For the first year she was always right beside me in a bassinet, (family heirloom that she fit into well after her year mark) then she fit into a big girl crib and it too was right beside my bed. Then we noticed that she would go to sleep in the crib and wake up next to us in bed. Well I tried to put her in her crib in her room. After the first night of waking up and she wasn't there for me to just look at and feel or see that she was still breathing, I threw my hands up, brought her to bed and she's been there ever since.

The ability to wake up in the middle of the night and reach out and know she's okay is a peace of mind that I'm not willing to give up yet. The ability to be right there when she wakes up from a nightmare, I'm not willing to give up yet. The waking up every morning to a slap on the shoulder and a kiss on the cheek, I'm not willing to give up yet. She'll eventually get to the point where she's ready for her own bed, and when she is, I'll let her. But until she decides she wants it, I'm going to remain the selfish mom that I am, and enjoy the peace of mind, while I can.