Celebrity

Friday night, we decided to keep it low key. I grabbed some pick up from a local eatery on my way home from work. When I entered the restaurant, they told me I could head the the bar for pick up. The bartender came over and I informed him that I had an order under Fleming. He immediately asked me (after letting me know he checked the caller i.d.) if this meal was for "The Gary Fleming." Confused, I replied that, yes it was. He again asked, "Like, The Gary Fleming that plays the guitar?" Yep, sure is I said. He then informed me that his brother was great friends with Gary and he just loved him. I was now hoping that maybe I was going to get a free meal...not so much. But, I did get some extra ranch which was pretty cool too. Who knew I was married to such a local celeb?? We may start being really creepy and hanging out there. Let me know if you want to be a groupie :)

Grandparents

Brooke calls her grandmothers by their first names. This started when she was around 18 or 24 months. She began by calling Gary's mom, Grandma Mary Annie (not, not Anne..but Annie). She then started to call my mom Grandma Etta. The Grandpa situation is a bit more confusing...since they are both named Tom. So, when she wants to refer to one of her Grandpa's she first references the Grandma. Example: When she is trying to tell me a story about one of her Grandpa's she will say, "Grandma Mary Annie's pawpaw" and vice versa for my dad. Last night, though, she surprised us a bit. We were talking about Grandma Mary Annie who made Brooke some new letters (spelling out her name) for her bed room wall.


Me:        "Brooke, who made you those super cute letters?"
Brooke:  "Ummm....Michael"
Me:        "Are you sure??"
Brooke:  "No...it was Grandma Mary Annie!! For Christmas! I love her."
Me:        "Me too."
Brooke:  "Grandma Etta is my other Grandma. And, pawpaw is my.....well....he is my...He's TOM JOHNSON!!"
Me:        (insert looking at Gary wondering how in the world she knows both my dad's first and last  name)
Brooke:  "Yeah...he is TOM JOHNSON!!!" *yes, she was yelling it.


My dad will love this.
Grandma Etta & Grandpa Tom Johnson. Way to keep it formal at an early age Brooke :)

Caroline = 13 Months

Here we are folks, year two.

Yes, I am going to continue to update you monthly on Caroline up until her second birthday just as I did with Brooke.

Excited?? Thought so!!

Ok, so maybe I didn't update monthly with Brooke after her first birthday (discovered after doing a 'breif' personal blog search), but I am trying to do a bit better with Caroline. I print my blog out yearly (http://www.blog2book.com/) and think of them not just as random updates for you, my devoted readers :), but as a mini journal that the kids can look back on when their older. They will most likely think that I am totally crazy...and not at all as funny as I think that I am...but at least they will have something!!

Back to Miss 13 Month.

I cannot say that a whole lot has changed from month 12. Christmas made life a bit of a whirlwind and if it hadn't been my nephew's first birthday, I may have forgotten the old thirteen month completely! Caroline seems to be trying to say more. There is quite a bit more babble and yelling, but no new words. Her all time, hands down favorite word is MaMa. I used to love it and felt extremely special. When I started to realize that she called everything and everyone (including the check out clerk at the grocery store) MaMa, I began to realize that maybe she just liked the way it sounded coming out of her mouth.

The walking is starting to turn into running. What started off as a waddle has now developed into a trot. She loves to have Brooke chase her around the house! She has also become quite adventurous. Just today I caught her all the way at the top of the stairs-alone. The gate was down and she speed raced to the top. She was SO proud when she made it to the top. I, on the other hand, was sacred to death. She was just having a great time, hanging in Brooke's room-no big deal.

Not so much a 13 month update, but as of today we are steroid free! No more 'roid range' or 'raiding' the pantry!! No joke, the steroid that she was on made her into a bottomless pit. This week, she broke into my mom's bread drawer, pulled out a loaf of bread, took what she wanted and ran off. She also dove into our pantry, threw out a couple sleeves of crackers and went to town. I was warned about these munchies from my sister and mom...but it was pretty hysterical!

We have had a crazy and fun month and are looking forward to an exciting (and healthy) month 14 :)

Happy Birthday Caden!!

This Monday was my godson Caden's FIRST BIRTHDAY!! I cannot believe that he is already one. I remember the day that I talked to his mom on the phone and she told me that she was pregnant. I was SO excited for them!! I can honestly say that I was more excited for them then I was for myself (being pregnant with Caroline)!!

Caden is such a fun little guy. Caroline and Brooke LOVE to play with him and we feel so lucky to live so close to their family :)

Happy, Happy Birthday Caden!! We are so proud to be your aunt/uncle/cousins and can't wait to see what this next year has in store for you!!!

:)

Somebody likes Prednisone.

Happy New Year!

For New Years Eve, we headed to Innsbrook with the Kallers and Tracie for some 2010 celebrations. I was a bit hesitant going because Caroline has been fighting off a nasty cold. We have all had a bit of 'something' these past few weeks so I packed up our things and off we went.

The kids had a great time together and the adults were looking forward to some Michael Jackson Dance for the Wii. Caroline seemed to be coughing and I kept having my sister Amy check her out since she is the all time pro with all that is wheezing. She seemed to be doing ok-just fighting off a cough. Caroline ended up sleeping with us that night which is totally out of character for her. She always wants her own space.

By the time we got home on Saturday she looked exhausted. She didn't seem to be getting better and her breathing started to sound worse. I made the decision to take her to the after hour pediatric urgent care to get her checked out. I just didn't think that it could wait until Monday and I didn't want to end up in the ER with a one year old (been there, done that).

After about 30 minutes at the doctors, my suspicions were confirmed. Poor little girl was wheezing, congested and totally miserable. They sent us home with one of these babies and put her on some steroids too.

So far, the breathing treatments and medicine have made a WORLD of a difference. She seems to be much more relaxed and has that 'sparkle' back (as Grandma Etta would say). She still wanted to sleep upright last night (with Dad) but slept in today until 8:30 and was a rock start during her first treatment. I am SO happy that she is getting back to her old self.

At this point, they are not going to say that she has asthma. It is the first time that her breathing has gotten so bad, but with our family history of asthma (Amy, Matt, Jack, Lily, and my mom) it would not be at all surprising if she does.

 Side note: did you know that eczema and allergies go hand-in-hand with asthma? I had no idea! Caroline has a bit of eczema and her skin always flairs up at certain time of the year. I noticed it just the other day. I had not idea that there was a correlation between the two. Although she has never been diagnosed with seasonal allergies, I would be surprised if she didn't have them with my families history...and she is lactose intolerant.

So, we will just watch her every time she has a cold or the weather / allergens could lead to an asthma attack. Luckily I have two pros that I can (and will) call obsessively in Amy and my mom with all of my questions. For now, we will just watch Caroline and keep the meds in her so she continues to return to our happy girl :)

More Christmas??

No. We are finally done with the Christmas enteries. Were you getting exhausted??

The fun continued, though, as we still had family in town to visit and catch up with!! The girls were exctied to play with their youngest cousin, Mary Ellen, and Mom loved getting to hold that tiny little girl :)

I mean is she a doll or what!! She seriously knows when the camera is on and loves to flash her 2 tooth grin.

A little holiday love.