The Trials & Tribulations of....
CABBAGE PATCH HUNTING!
Really. I put a lot of thought into this Christmas gift so I feel it warrants an entry here.
So I decided that since Emily loves her dolls and doll clothes so much, I'd get on the bandwagon and buy her a Cabbage Patch doll for Christmas (from Santa, of course). So I set out on the mission about 2 months ago. I had a gameplan. I was prepared. I'd scour the store shelves and find the perfect doll. I would NOT settle. No siree. I was looking for an Emily or a doll born on August 22nd. I could do this.
Target was my main hunting field. I'd go once a week (or sometimes 5 times a week but who's counting?) and check the doll shelves. After a few weeks of searching through Viola Latisha's and Jocelyn Mirabele's (who names these things anyway????) I found a possible contender: Emilee born on August 3rd. Hmm......... It was like it was so close but not good enough. Emilee? Of course it was Emilee. Emily is to plain-jane for a Cabbage Patch. So after going back and forth with "to buy or not to buy?" (oh and hiding it in a towel aisle "in case" I changed my mind and went back for it) I decided with the latter. I would keep hunting. After all, I still had a good 6 weeks left to find the perfect doll.
So hunt hunt hunt.... now we are at last week. I walked briskly to the Cabbage Patch display because after all, this was Black Friday I was shopping on and now people might see my Emily doll and steal it out from under me. All of a sudden I gasped and said out loud: "Oh my God Emily!" That warranted a stare from some woman also browsing the dolls so for some reason, I felt the need to tell her about my search (I wonder if everyone appreciates my chatty side or if people think I have a screw loose?) I picked the Emily doll up and put her in my cart. Then (and I swear I did this) I pushed my cart to a remote, desolate baby aisle to examine my doll. Why was I hiding with her? Anyway- oh wait, and I forget to mention her birthday was in August too! Ok so here I am, giving her the once over, and I just don't like her. She had jet-black hair and c'mon; I think you'll all agree that black yarn hair is just too severe on a doll. Maybe if she got a cut and style and some lowlights it would work but that day, the way she looked, she was not doing much for me. Damn! Now what?
So I walked back to the display. I looked and looked and then I found a cute one named Quinn Belen (Belen? What the hell is Belen? Helen with a typo or just some weird-ass name none of us have ever heard of? (Sorry to all the Belen's out there reading my blog!)) She was a redhead with freckles. I liked Quinn. She had pizzazz. I like when girls have boy-ish names but can still pull off the girly-thing (I swear I am still talking about Cabbage Patches here- bear with me). Anyhoot- now I had Emily and Quinn in my cart. But I keep looking. So obviously, something was telling me that Emily and Quinn just wouldn't do. I said to myself "how can you buy Quinn? If you buy any old doll, you could have picked out anyone you liked this whole time". I also thought about it and said "why would Emily want a doll named Emily? How foolish". So they both went back to the shelf. What a sad day for Quinn and Emily. They thought they were being adopted, I got their hopes up and bam- they were sent back to the Cabbage Patch, just like that.
So now I was free to choose whichever doll I wanted because I told myself that my search was really quiet assinine after all. So I scoured the shelves and then I found her: Marguerite Iola born August 15th. It was love at third sight. August 15th was my due date with Emily. Marguerite has brown hair, bangs and teeth (I always thought I hated the ones with teeth but they just worked on her). So now Emily has Molly and Marguerite. I wonder what she'll call this doll since we know she won't be pronouncing Marguerite for a while. This will be the next thing on my list; come up with a feasible nickname for Emily's Cabbage Patch. See: I really DO have a lot to think about on a daily basis.
Margie, Marge, Reetie, I (for Iola), Mar, Wilbur, Frances.......
The Allergist
Dum Dum Dummmmmmmmm!
Just kidding. Our appointment actually went really well. We waited all of 5 minutes in the waiting room. They stuck us in a room right away and the receptionists couldn't have been nicer (well in reality, if they had tossed a $20 my way, that could have upped their standing but otherwise, they were great). Everyone was "oooh"ing and "ahhh"ing over Andrew. They couldn't believe he is only a 2 month old with his size. I told them I was not lying- his birthday is in fact October 3rd. I give him a few more years (like sixteen). Then he'll start to lie about his age right?
The doctor was really nice. She wrote down every little fact I gave her. I told her Andrew has been on 4 formulas, 5 switches. She wrote down his reactions each time (vomitting regular Similac, blood in his diapers and congestion with the soy, etc). For now, she said to remain on the Lactose Free, even though his spit-up is thick and clumpy. She said that since he doesn't have a cough or rash, there isn't an allergy. Besides a small wheeze at the end of his cries, he seems ok. She did order bloodwork though, which I am happy about. Once we draw the blood, there will be tests for egg whites, wheat, soybeans, peanuts and milk. At least this will make starting his foods a lot easier. I kind of feel like we went from underdogs to having a small advantage now. :)
I drove to the lab after the appointment (ok I can't lie- with a pit stop to Target first) for the blood draw but is was nearing lunch time and the parking lot was a zoo. They aren't the nicest people in that laboratory so I know we would have to sit and wait just like any old 85 year old geezer would to be seen so I figured we'd make an early trip there tomorrow. If Andrew was sleeping, I would have went and sat most likely. But he was screaming his tiny head off so I didn't think people would want to listen to that. Figures. I have one child who always loved the car and slept all through my shopping trips and one who screams and whines and is wide-awake the whole time. I had to practically sprint through Target, filling my cart with the necessities I stopped there for (toilet paper, paper towels, formula, new shoes.. you know...NeCeSsiTiEs.) all while dragging the cart backwards, pulling with one hand with my other hand plugging up the baby's mouth with his binky. I swear I have a good idea, I just have to put it to motion. I need something, kind of like Duct Tape but not, that will hold a binky in a child's mouth. You'd buy it right? He sucks so hard the thing goes shooting out. I have another idea too...but I'll keep that one a secret. A girl's gotta have some secrets!
"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...."
Howdy folks. I have been meaning to update this blog but everytime I sit down to do it, I have a tiny child crawling up my pant leg or a little baby crying because he's hungry or something along those lines. I tried and tried to think of a clever title and something momumentous to post about but let's face it; my life is filled with little thises and smaller thats. So I'll just do one gaint Miller Family Update all rolled into one. Before I begin, a little note: this blog will have to be PiCtUrELeSS (I know, it's absurd!) because the commands they are giving me to use just will not work. And you all know, I am pretty computer literate so I will have to place all of the blame on this website and NOT myself. I wrote to their Technical Support and they wrote me back saying they don't deal with this sort of thing. Thanks guys. That was way helpful. I'm really glad I wrote to the help desk. So I went ahead and uploaded this crappy program the FAQ page recommended and that helped with the few pictures in previous posts and also added about 109 new viruses to my computer. So while that was fun and all, I went ahead and deleted it. So... this is pictureless and the Ofoto albums are picture-filled. That should make a nice equal balance. ;)
Well- our Christmas tree is up! And it has been since the day after Thanksgiving, as per the norm. You know how I'm big on traditions (and Vinny just loves to roll his eyes at each and every one but I suspect he really likes them too because why else would he go along with them right?) so every year, we "trim our tree" while we watch Christmas Vacation the day after Turkey Day. It's a long, huge, big-ass proccess but it's fun! We have a pre-lit tree with two different kinds of pine needles so if I do say so myself, it is quite real looking. Artificial trees have really come a long way. Oh and it rotates! I love to stare at it; it's kind of hypnotical and it looks like something in Macy's window. Last year was our first year with this tree. Everyone said "go small, you don't have the room" but it's Christmas for cryin' out loud! I will NOT, have not and cannot skimp on Christmas decorations!!! So we bought this huge tree and then thought "wow, we hope it's not too big" because we don't have the tallest ceilings in this place. So we take it out of the box, turn it upside down (it's in three parts) and all of the pine needles fall into place and our mouths drop open; it's huge! Did you ever see the part of Christmas Vacation where Clark and company cut down that huuuuuge tree and then it takes up all of their living room? When they open it up, branches shoot out the windows because it's so big. That's how we felt about our tree!! It really looks great!
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So I got called for Jury Duty the other day. And I was looking forward to it. Really I was. I got a summons to be a "telephone stand-by juror" for this week. So the drill is, you call the night before the week starts and see if your number came up. I was 242. They called 1 thru 780. I hung up the phone and all these thoughts flooded into my head at once; charge cell phone, take a shower, iron a decent outfit, pack snacks in my pocket book, etc etc etc. I was positively giddy at the idea of serving! Something for me to do with my days, other then lounge around in sweats, eating Bon Bons and taking Calgon baths (as IF!) But in all honestly, I was pretty excited about it. If you know me, you know I love anything to do with law, crime, trials, criminals.... So I got everything set up and then thought "do I really want to do this"? It was the idea of being stuck in a room for 8 hours that bothered me. It was supposed to be nasty out and I'd be sitting there, reading a book, bored out of mind. All of a sudden, I got really sad at the idea that I couldn't work on my crafts, play online, hang with the kids, come and go as I please (yeah I'd be good in the working world). So then I decided, nope, don't want to do this. Ok so how do you get out of jury duty 12 hours before it's scheduled to begin? Legally, I am allowed to be excused because I am a caregiver to children under the age of sixteen. So I found a number to call in the morning. I was planning on saying a child was sick (because it looked kind of irresponsible of me to just say "oh yeah I don't want to do this anymore and I never sent in my kid's birth certificates"). I called, got some woman on the phone, told her I had two babies under 16 months old at home and before I could go on she said "God bless you". Sarcasm or true sympathy, I don't know. But just like that, I was in the clear. I'll serve one day. I want to be on a jury; it's a goal of mine before I die. (Yes, I need to re-evaluate my life long plans, wouldn't you agree?)
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Emily is really into movies nowadays. She loves her shows but I am finding that longer pieces are starting to hold her attention just as well. I am going to try some Disney movies soon, since they would actually be fun for me as well. I'm a little Barney-ed out. We watched two movies together recently; 13 Going On 30 (really cute) and Uptown Girls (really slow and kind of blah). As long as there is catchy music played every so often (and I did mention these were 'chick flicks' right? So there is girly music all the time), she pays attention. Of courseon the other side of this coin is that now, we have to really monitor what we are watching (Vinny and myself). No more Law & Order SVU or CSI during Emi's awake times.
Oh- and Emily is such a polite little lady nowadays too! :o) I taught her to say "please" and she says it when she really wants something. Her version is "pwease" and it's the cutest. It's a LOT better then hearing "NO!" all day long. I am now working on teaching her to say "I love you". Something new worth mentioning is she loves to give me hugs! The first time I say "Can Mommy have a hug?" she smiles and says "no" but then if I clasp my hands together, shake my head back and forth and say "please please please please" like I am begging, she cracks up and comes running over to me. It's the cutest, but then again, everything she does it cute to me. ;) Even when she broke one of my Martha Stewart ornaments. Yup, broke it. But in her defense (hey why am I sticking up for her? She should go out and replace my broken ball right?), it was the first time she saw the tree and it's our only broken ornament to date, so that's pretty good. For the most part, she ignores the tree now. She knows it's "hands off- look only". Although as I mentioned before, my tree rotates, so occasionally I see her trying to follow it around if she's trying to "catch" an ornament like Ernie or Mickey Mouse. A couple of times I've heard her rustling through the branches and when I walk around the tree to see what sneakiness she's up to, she drops whatever ornament she was trying to sneak off and high-tails it into her room. It's quite comical to watch her flee the scene and run towards a dead end. :D
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Andrew is Andrew. Growing at an astronimical rate and looking cute as ever, in true infant style. He is a little bit of a handful (and at 3am it seems like a BIG handful!) but just when you think "OMG I am going InSaNe!!!!!" he acts all quiet and sweet again. His days and nights are still off and even on his Lactose Free formula, he spits up a LOT. I think he inherited his daddy's bad belly. I brought him back to the doctor last week because I am not at all happy about his stomach issues and we were told to stop feeding him so often (easier said then done; you try and appease him with a binky when he is screaming bloody murder for food) and to give him up to 4 ounces a day of chamomile tea. Yup, tea. I asked him if he was English (he didn't answer me though). At this rate, he'll be eating crumpettes in no time. Oh and he wanted to let you know, he invites you to afternoon tea anyday you'd like. ;) I am bringing him to an allergist today however, because I am just not happy with the help we've been getting. If this doesn't work (we know he has a soy allergy and is lactose intolerant so I am thinking maybe an allergist can help us. Hopefully.) I have the name and number of a Pediatric Gastroenterologist. No one wants their kids to go thru testing and specialists BUT I want him to stop being in pain and know that belly aches are NOT a daily part of life and he will feel better then he is feeling now. So we'll see what happens...........
