Happy Easter!

Our Easter celebration actually started yesterday. Auntie Lorraine, Dan, Keira and I headed over to the annual Easter Egg Hunt in Encinitas. They had an Easter Bunny to take pictures with, jumpers, arts and crafts and all sorts of fun things to do. They had the hunts broken down into age groups with the first group of 2 and under at 10:15am. There was a huge crowd of us that lined up behind the line and once they waved the flag we were on our way! They laid down the ground rules that parents were allowed to point the eggs out to the children, but couldn't touch them or pick them up. Last year, the parents were picking up all of the eggs...competitive, huh? lol



Last year, Keira just didn't get it and wanted me to carry her around the whole time. She wanted the eggs, but wouldn't let me put her on the ground. Because of that, ok, I'll admit it. I was one of the parents that were picking up eggs for her...guilty...I know. Well, this year, all it took was pointing out one egg and she was off and running! Here are some pictures of Dan pointing eggs out to Keira.


There was an Easter Bunny there to take pictures with and Keira was happy to do it...that is until the 2 kids in front of her started crying and were screaming hysterically. She changed her mind, but just like most kids, a "High Five" will usually make them a little more open to things.
Here's Dan carrying Keira's basket. He thinks that he's trying to prove that he can still look macho carrying a Hello Kitty basket. I think he failed miserably.
As many of you may know, Dan and I gave up chocolate for Lent, so of course the first thing Dan did was buy lots of chocolate for Easter! He had to work this morning so Keira and I headed to Easter Mass by ourselves. Keira was being a ham and after mass, several people stopped me to tell me how fun it was to watch her laughing, clapping, singing and dancing around during mass. She really is a total ham. We didn't get to do much today after that because I ended up with a low grade fever and wasn't feeling too good. To make up for it, I made an Easter Dinner for when Dan came home. After that, I hid eggs in the backyard for Keira to look for.

Now I tried to hide them in spots that weren't going to be too hard to find, but she is definitely getting the Easter thing. She found them in a couple of minute and wanted more!

I hope that everyone had a WONDERFUL Easter!!!

Nursemaid's Elbow

I was just arriving home last night when I saw Dan in the driveway. I was making a U turn to go and check the mail when he started flagging me down to hurry up and come over. I rushed over to see what he wanted and he had already gone back inside the house. I parked the car, went inside and almost bumped into him rushing back out carrying Keira. She was screaming and crying hysterically. "Hurry! Get in the car!" I asked what happened a couple of times and he said that he would explain it on the way to the hospital. I wanted to know what was going on, but obviously I wasn't going to make him stop and explain everything to me. We got into the car and as we started driving he explained what happened. Keira and Dan were at the grocery store just up the street. When they were walking out to the car, Keira was holding Dan's hand and she apparently thought Dan was walking too slow and started pulling his arm to walk faster to the car. She lost her footing and almost fell forward. To stop her fall, Dan pulled her arm back a little and that was when it happened. She let out a scream and started crying hysterically. He was in a panic and called the dr's office and we were on our way to the hospital.

I was able to get her to stop crying for a bit on the way, but the whole time, her left arm was laying limp on her side not moving at all. I tried to hand her something to see if she would reach for it at all and she still wouldn't move her arm. Oh please don't tell me her arm was broken! We reached the hospital and Dan dropped us off in the front so that we could rush in while he found parking. She started screaming and crying again as I was getting her out of the carseat. I brought her in and Dan joined us and after a pretty short amount of time, they brought us in. The nurse took her vitals and asked what happened. Dan started to explain what happened and once he got to the part with her falling forward, she knew exactly what was wrong. "Ahh, sounds like Nursemaid's Elbow". What on earth?!?!?

Apparently Nursemaid's Elbow is a very common injury that happens with 1-3 year olds. It's more common for some reason with girls than boys and happens when the child's arm extends and the arm holding the arm doesn't let go. There are 2 ligaments around a joint in the arm and with the extension that happens with the arm, one of the ligaments crosses over the head of the joint. The doctor came over, took her arm, moved it around for a second around her elbow to move the ligament back over and boom! All fixed! We gasped and she cried for a second more, but was now about to reach out to get the sticker that the nurse gave her. Thank goodness she was ok. She was good as new and was her laughing happy self again on the way home!

I guess the moral of the story is:

1. When you are holding your baby/toddler's hand, make sure that there isn't alot of tension with them pulling your hand.

2. Be careful when dressing your child. When you are pulling their arms through the armholes of their tops, make sure you are aware of the angles that their arms are in.

3. Finally, you've probably all seen the family walking where the toddler is in between Mom and Dad. They are all holding hands and then on the count of three WEEEEEEE! They swing the toddler between them. Perhaps you yourself has done that. I know that we have. If you are doing that, STOP IMMEDIATELY! That is the most common way that toddlers are getting this painful injury.

Is It So Wrong Of Me?

The other day, I ran into a co-worker that I hadn't seen for quite some time. She's been so buried in projects and meetings that she rarely gets to peek her head out from cubicle world, much less leave her desk to go to lunch. We crossed paths and the first thing she asked me was "Hey Sharon! How is your baby?" I told her how great Keira has been doing and how big she is getting. As we were parting ways, she said, "Oh! Well, I guess I shouldn't call her a baby anymore, huh? I mean, she is officially no longer a baby and a toddler now that she is 2!" She had already walked away as I continued standing there like an idiot talking to myself...."No! She's still a baby...isn't she?" She's still a baby, right?"

When DO you stop calling your baby a baby? The thought makes me so sad! Even though I don't necessarily SEE it because I see her every day, I KNOW Keira is getting bigger just by little things like her pants! I'll buy her a new pair of pants and before she's worn it a second time, they are already floods. She talks more and more each day and even though I don't understand everything that she says, her communication gets clearer and clearer as time goes by. Every day I look at Keira and marvel at how fast she is growing without necessarily thinking that one day I wouldn't be calling her my baby.

I love the fact that she is becoming a wonderful, smart, happy, beautiful little girl and that I have been so blessed to be part of that, but is it so wrong of me to wish that she would always stay a baby??? I love the funny silly little things that she and I do and the silly songs that we sing with her as a baby that in a few years she would NEVER do in front of her friends out of fear of not being cool. I love the fact that Mommy and Daddy mean love and feeling safe as a baby and when you are a kid, you're usually hoping that they won't do something to embarrass you! I also love the times when she wants nothing more than for Mommy to carry her and give her kisses or when she wants to be EVERYWHERE with you, including the bathroom! I KNOW that the time will come when she would rather go out and do things with friends. That's ok...it's a normal part of growing up. But does she HAVE to grow up???

It's such a wonderful time and it goes by so fast. I just want to enjoy every second of it.
I know, I know, it's selfish of me and I know that she isn't going to stay a baby forever, but I don't care...Whether she likes it or not, she will ALWAYS be my baby and that's that! ;)

On the other hand though, it could be fun! I remember my dad would pick me up from school in our car, which was a bright Orange Gremlin. He would be dancing around in the driver's seat really silly with the windows rolled down and BLASTING some crazy Rick James song totally on purpose just to embarrass me! I guess if it's going to happen eventually whether I like it or not, I can start thinking of fun things to do that will embarrass her when she gets to the "cool" stage! lol

The Return to Legoland

When I was picking what days I wanted off from work, I thought that I had figured everything out. I decided to go with the weekend (of course!) as well as Wednesday. I know that most people like to have their days off all together, but believe it or not, there were a few advantages to this schedule:

1. This year I would get pretty much all holidays off with the exception of the one that I volunteered for. Granted, I would have gotten them off anyway, but this way it would be an EXTRA day instead of just one of my regular days off!

2. With this schedule I'm pretty much never away from Keira more than 2 days at a time.

3 After your brain being beaten down on conference calls all day, it's kind of nice to know that you will not have more than 2 days of it at a time! :)

I thought that I had it all worked out...until I realized that off season, Legoland is closed every Wednesday! Oh no! We have such a fun time at Legoland and now that she is over 34 inches tall, there are so many more rides that she can go on.

I know that I could take Keira to Legoland on the weekends, but the crowds are so much bigger and the lines are so much longer. The weekdays are so much better!

Well, Legoland opened up for Spring Breaks on Wednesdays again! YAY! We made our way there today. They have a new area that they just built called "Land of Adventure". Anyway, we had a great time. Yay for Legoland!!! :)

The Extra Poopy Day

Now, I understand that some people may not find this all that interesting or even funny, but I think that every parent has probably experienced this at one time or another. If you HAVEN'T, just wait! Your turn is coming so be ready ;).
I was working on Saturday, so Dan and Keira got to hang out and spend some Daddy and Keira time together. He did have to do some marketing at some of the local motorcycle shops for his insurance business that he is starting up, so Auntie Lorraine volunteered to watch Keira for a couple of hours. The day started out with a couple of poops...enough to where Dan was going to tell Lorraine that she was lucky since that many poops early on pretty much guarantees that she wouldn't have to worry about another one for the rest of the day. Little did he know...

Well, Auntie Lorraine and Keira spent a couple of hours running errands and playing before she brought Keira back home. By the time they got home, there was ANOTHER poop waiting for Dan. What was that? Four in a day? He started to change her when he realized that he didn't have a garbage bag to throw the diaper away in. He ran out to the kitchen to get a bag and by the time he got back, Keira had pretty much gotten poop all over the place. What a MESS! He cleaned it up and decided with as poopy as she had been through the day, he should give her a bath. He ran the bath and Keira was having a blast like she always does playing with her toys and splashing around. As she was playing, she decided to give daddy a little surprise! A floating Baby Ruth in the bathtub! Any of you that have seen Caddyshack know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Now, I wasn't there to see it for myself, but when I think of how much Dan must have been freaking out, I STILL laugh! The next day Dan had to work, so we spent Mommy and Keira day together. Later in the evening, we took Auntie Lorraine and Uncle Mike out for dinner at King's to celebrate Auntie's birthday! I can honestly say that I have never had a bad experience there! Keira got to help Auntie unwrap her birthday presents before tearing up some sushi! She LOVES California Rolls and eats them up seaweed and all.
Here is the picture over her head that was just fascinating to her. She kept saying "Mommy,what's THAT???"
This was our version of the picture.

By the way...since I spent the whole day with Keira having Mommy and Keira day, Dan was curious whether I experienced and Extra Poopy Day as well. The truth? She pooped once...and it was in the potty! :) FLUSH and that was the end of it! lol Poor Dan!