What a Day!

Whew, I'm glad to have survived yesterday! (Somewhat literally...)

I took yesterday off because Emilia had a doctor's appointment in the morning and I had one in the afternoon. We got to sleep in a little bit which is good because we spent the rest of the day running around!

We started with Emilia's 2 month check up. She's doing great- 23 1/4 inches long and 10 pounds 15 ounces. That puts her in the 90th percentile for height, 75th for weight and head. (I still haven't quite figured out what that means, but whatever. She's healthy and growing!) She did so well with the doctor- just smiling and cooing the whole time. It was adorable. I was asking the doctor if I should be concerned that she's only pooping maybe once a day. I was relieved to find out that with breastmilk-fed babies, there could be as few as 1-2 a week, so she is fine. But, right after I got done saying that she doesn't have dirty diapers often at all, she let one rip and filled that diaper to the max! Then she just smiled like "Ahhh, much better!" I had to change her diaper mid-check up, it was hilarious.

Next was the not-so-good part...the shots... I have been preparing myself for this part because I wanted to be able to remain calm for her. I didn't want her to sense my fear or stress and, in turn, get upset too. So, I did great- just holding her in my arms, keeping her leg in place and looking right into her eyes. She was looking at me without a care in the world and then...instant pain and horror all over her little face. I could see in her eyes that she didn't know why this was happening to her. I immediately started to tear up. (I've always been that way, Jason reminded me- one thing that will always make me cry is seeing someone in pain, and it was even worse because it was my helpless baby girl.) She had to get 2 shots in one leg and then we had to fliip her over for another one in the other leg. The nurse said we were done and told me I could take my time. So I just brought Emilia up to my chest and rocked her and tried to calm her down. It took a few minutes before her cries were only wimpers. The rest of the day she spent mostly sleeping and crying. I held her most of the day trying to comfort her and let her know she was safe. (Ugh, I'm fighting back tears just thinking about it.)

Is there anything worse than watching my sweet, innocent daughter crying out in pain? I think not. Even though I hated having to watch her in pain, it was also comforting to me that she just wanted to be close to me to calm down.

Well, after that awful ordeal, it was off to Wendy's for a quick lunch. I ate in my van (treated myself to an ice cream for getting through the shots- my mom always gave us ice cream after shots growing up). Then, I fed Emilia in the back seat of the van before my doctor's appointment. I'm getting pretty darn good at feeding her in my van. The windows are tinted, but I always use my cover. That's one of the nice things about breastfeeding- I can do it anytime, anywhere. (I try to use the van as much as possible while out, I don't want to sit in the mall and do it...)

My doctor's appointment went fine- I was just getting some tests done to make sure I can get an IUD and I can! Woo hoo! Best part is I don't have to pay a dime!

After a few hours of cuddles at home, it was time to head up to church for VBS...another dramatic tale!

I was picking Jaxon up from daycare because Jaime was working until 6 and would be coming straight to church. No sooner had I carted Emilia and Jaxon back out to the van from daycare than the rains came down. I actually had to shut myself in the van to buckle Jax in because it was getting so bad. Everytime Jax heard thunder he would say "Annie! What's that!?" I stayed calm and told him it was thunder. He didn't seem to be liking the storm, so I told him "Jax, you know all the pretty flowers outside?" He said "Yeah..." I said, "Sometimes it has to rain like this so those flowers can grow so pretty". "Oh..." I don't know if he really understood what I was trying to explain, but that was the least scary thing I could think of to tell him. So, I just kept saying it's just raining so the flowers can grow.

Once we were loaded up, I started driving towards the church...and the rain came down even harder. I pulled up under the little awning at church and luckily Carol saw me waving frantically for some help. She grabbed an umbrella and ran out to take Jax from me. Then, once handing him off to Holly, she tried to come around to the other side and help with Emilia. The winds were so bad, the umbrella broke and Carol literally couldn't make it to us. She ran back inside and I ran in with Emilia (luckily I had packed an extra blanket to put over her carseat...she stayed dry and didn't even wake up!) Next I grabbed up both diaper bags, our McDonald's dinner and my purse. I threw them inside the building and went to park the van. As I tried to run in from the parking lot, the winds were beating down my back faster than I could keep up. With my slick flip flops, I barely kept from falling. As I reached the church, a woman pulled up asking if she and her 4 month old daughter could come in until the storm was over. I helped her with her bags and we all made it in safely. I was soaked for the rest of the night, but so very thankful for Carol and Holly's help and that God had kept us safe. Josh later pointed out that our church is a pretty safe place to be during a storm- it's all made out of steel and concrete!

VBS went off without a hitch. I think attendance was down because people probably thought it was cancelled. Emilia did fine in child care (I checked on her like 100 times!) and as far as I know, we didn't lose any children.

So, needless to say- I'm worn out today! Hopefully the next 3 days of VBS will be less eventful than yesterday...I don't know if I can keep up!