A Day In The Life...

I don't know how many people actually read my blog, but if you are one of them, thank you for listening to me!!!!


Ok, here is the scoop, it's LONG and not very "uplifting" so to speak. After my grandpa died on Dec. 10, it has just been a whirlwind of not-so-good news. Christmas Eve we were in Arkansas visiting my parents and had to take Bailey to the ER. There is no after-hours clinic in their town so we didn't really have another option. So, at 6 AM we were visiting the ER. She had been really congested and had diarrhea for 12 days at that point. Yes, we took her to her doctor a few days before but he didn't do anything so when she was continuing to get worse we went to the ER. Come to find out, she needed antibiotics and is now fine (whew).



Christmas Eve night, we had JUST walked in the door and my sister called to say that my grandpa (my only living grandparent) had been in a car accident. He was taken by helicopter to a hospital here in Tulsa even though he lives in Arkansas (his girlfriend lives here ;) and he was on his way hom from visitin her. Anyway, come to find out, he had a broken ankle, foot, back, neck, sternum, and nose. He is now doing very well. I honestly believe God healed his body because as he is still in the hospital his ONLY injury is a broken ankle! He DID have a broken neck and the doctor doesn't know why he doesn't now! So, I am happy about that but the incident did add a little extra stress to my already somewhat sad holiday.


Saturday night, Zach's mom called to say she was being admitted into the hospital because of chest pains. Come to find out, she had a 95% blockage in one of her main arteries and they had to go in and fix it. She has another blockage that will have to be fixed in a few weeks. No one can or will EVER replace my own mother but Zach's mom is one of the most important, special people in my life and I don't know what we'd do without her. Needless to say, Zach was quite worried about her as well and now she is on some medications to prevent it from happening again but it has DEFINITELY got all of us thinking about losing those (in my case 50 extra pounds)!! For now, she is doing a lot better and says she can breath better and feels better too. I'm very glad!!


Today... remember that ER visit I told you about on Christmas eve? Well, today, Bailey's nurse from her pediatrician's office called and said that the ER called them and said that according to the chest x-ray they did, her heart is in the WRONG place! WHAT? Are you kidding me? So, here we go again trying to now figure out what is wrong with our baby girl! Thank God, about an hour later the ER sent another report to Bailey's doctor saying that they had MIS-PRINTED the x-ray! Ok, maybe mis-printed isn't the correct word, but either way it was THEIR mistake and there is NOTHING wrong with our baby! However, before finding this out, Zach and I nearly had a heart attack thinking something was wrong with our baby who will be one on Tuesday (by the way :)

Tomorrow morning I have to see the orthopedic spinal surgeon about my back. I am in excrutiating pain about 75% of the time and as much as I try to ignore it, it's really starting to effect my daily life (I'm an English teacher and I still have a hard time with effect/affect, please forgive me :) ). So, hopefully he doesn't say surgery but if he does, we will pray that the money comes. I have to do something I can't stand long enough to take a shower without wanting to cry and I've pushed through it as long as I can. After labor I kind of turned into what I thought was "super~woman" After natural labor I thought I could handle anything and I stopped having sympathy for people who couldn't. So, though I do still think I have a decent pain tolerance, I am starting to have my sympathy back and I DON'T think I'm super mama anymore! Please pray that all goes well!!!

At this point I am praising God that everyone is ok and we are all doing well. We are starting to get to the point where we don't want to answer our phones because we are afraid it will be bad news!

Here are some Christmas pictures and a side note to my friend Tiffany and her husband Zach, I pray that your baby will come soon! I read a post from someone else that said the longer you wait, the more you appreciate your little one. Sometimes, I think God didn't make me wait long enough and I feel un-worthy of being a mommy when I get frustrated at little B. I know it's normal to feel that way and to get frustrated and even though I love her more than myself or ANYTHING else, I sometimes wish I were a better mommy. Tiffany, you are going to make an AWESOME mom and I can't wait to hear some good news from you. As I've said 100 times before, God doesn't give you the desire to want something so badly and then deny you of it! Keep your chin up, you are such a role-model for me!


CHRISTMAS MORNING AT THE ESTES' (The first 2 are a few days after Christmas)

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

The blog is under construction. I have the WHOLE afternoon to myself so I hope to add Christmas pictures soon! We have hardly been home since last Sunday and I've been a little slow getting the blog updated. Hope everyone had a Wonderful Christmas!

First picture with Santa

Last night we went to dinner with some friends and then took a picture with Santa. Don't our girls look cute together? :)

The Worst Week

We are home now from a LONG weekend at my parent's house. It was not a fun, or a planned trip. Last Sunday, my sister called to say my uncle passed away. I wasn't extremely devastated because I didn't know him very well. However, I still felt very badly for my mom and her family. I know that they were close and death is so hard anyway. Wednesday was pay day! Zach and I went to wal mart to get Christmas cookies so that we could decorate with Bailey. About 8 o'clock we got another phone call. My grandpa died. I didn't know what to think, I still don't. I have never been so sad in all my life! So, Thursday we drove to Arkansas to be with my family. I honestly never thought grandpa would die. He was always so healthy until about a month ago. When we went to the funeral I just started at him. I kept hoping it wasn't real! I wished it wasn't real. I still don't think I believe that he's gone. I couldn't stand the thought of the casket being closed and it being the last time I'd ever see him. I didn't know anything could hurt this much and I still feel like I might not ever get over it.

Bailey's First Christmas

Eye Infection

I've never had pink eye or a cold in my eye, or ANY eye issues! Today, is my first official day of "eye infection." It's absolutely HORRIBLE! Bailey had it last week and thank goodness I took her to the after hours clinic because it was worse than just a clogged tear duct. So, today I woke up with "ishy" coming out of my eye. It is SO disgusting! Bailey luckily feels better and I am reaping the benefits of her eye drops! OH DEAR! Mommies aren't supposed to be sick!

Picky Eaters

Though, I love my husband, he is quite the picky eater! We are currently dealing with sore throats and "green snot" so he asked for soup last night. I really like to cook and I tend to try to change things up a bit when I make things so that we don't feel like we eat the same foods all the time (although we do and I can't really help it). So, here is what I did and it was GREAT! You should try it!

First, I used my Vidalia onion chopper (which I bought BC {that means before child} when we had money). I bought it because I thought it was "cool." I never use it! After I peeled the potatoes, I cut them in half and chopped them in the onion chopper so it made potato "sticks" instead of cubes. This was my first great thing! They cooked faster and everything was more evenly distributed. Then, I put in about half the pot full of water, one can of chicken stock, one can of campbell's cheddar cheese, about a 1/4 cup of velveeta and the rest was milk (so that I could monitor the "soupiness" (is that a word)? Then I cubed 2 ham steaks. VERY YUMMY! So, yes, I am proud of myself for this one!

In other news... and since the post is titled "Picky Eaters" I will move on to discuss Bailey's current pickiness! She used to eat just about anything I put in front of her (even non-food items)... toys, dog food one day, lint, button to her halloween costume... etc. Lately, I can't get her to eat ANYTHING tomato based. She won't eat ravioli, spaghetti, baby food with tomatoes, or basically anything red. What is wrong with my "almost perfect" child? Oh well... as long as she will still eat green beans, I guess it's ok. However, she's also decided if she doesn't want to eat something she will spit it back at me and then laugh. Isn't that just precious (note the sarcasm). If she could live off of vanilla wafers, she would be one HAPPY girl! Too bad that is not a food group, huh?