Sunday, July 31, 2011

I spent the weekend camping....

Well, not exactly camping but I was at camp, well again kind of....I spent the weekend at Camp Alpha Nu in Gainesville at the sorority house! It was kind of like roughing it as we stayed in the chapter house and I am just not use to a twin bed that is so high off the ground I had to use a chair to get into it. It also required flip flops in the shower as you wouldn't want to touch the floor in there because who knows what has touched it in the 50 years the house has been around. As I think I talk about it often but in case you don't know I have a love for all things related to the sorority house, it is my passion, I have spent the last nearly two years working hard to make the house gorgeous, we have done so many projects I don't know that I can even begin to list them all but I have to say the house is nearly there, it is almost amazing, there are few spaces I haven't touched in one way or another recently but today in our annual House Corporation Business Meeting we passed a motion to begin the project of an addition onto the chapter house, this has been a dream of mine since I was in college, I dreamed of being rich one day and having a whole wing named after me....while I am not rich yet and the wing won't be named after me I am so excited to know we are on our way to a bigger, better, prettier chapter house and that is what I have always wanted. So needless to say it was a great weekend of "camping" and catching up with old friends (including my little sister I hadn't seen in years, it was so great she contacted me and came by to see me, even if it was only for a few minutes) and making new friends with recent alums. I have to say this is always one of my favorite weekends of the summer every year!!!!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

There is no planning for what life throws your way.

So I went back to work Thursday and Friday, it was fairly uneventful and calm, nothing too bad for the first two days. This next week of course gets crazy with events and tastings and things to sell and people to see but it was expected. What was completely unexpected is when Friday at the office my eyes started getting real red and itchy, my nose was running and it was awful. I went on with my day counting down the stops I had to make til I could just get home and get my contacts out, I figured there was something up with them. I went straight to bed Friday night with an ice pack on my face and took my allergy medicine and washed my eyes out. I woke up Saturday morning and my eyes were literally swollen shut, light bothered them and it was plain awful. Rich took Jolie to his Mom and called my Mom to come over and help us so Rich stayed with Avery and my Mom took me to the Urgent Care Center, it is like a step down from the ER and is suppose to be cheaper and faster than the ER, I am pretty certain it was both of those things. The doctor walks in my little room, takes one look at me and my eyes and decides I have super horrible, worse case possible of pink eye. Great, I work two days and leave my house for the first time in months and this is what I get, so not cool! So I am on high power drops and again held up in my house. Also turns out little Avery has some sort of cold with congestion and a running nose, she will be going to the pediatrician's office tomorrow. And I am fighting with the eye thing, hand sanitizing myself and the rest of the family every few minutes it feels and just lounging trying to get well enough to return to work tomorrow even though I have a note to miss Monday and Tuesday because of the whole highly contagious eye thing, big problem being my work will loose it if I am out another two days so I am trying. I have thrown away the contacts I was wearing on Friday along with ALL my make-up including the bag, brushes everything. My awesome Mom went out yesterday to Ulta and bout me the start to all new makeup, new brushes, new bag, a new bare minerals starter kit, a thing of eye shadows, mascara, eye liner, literally everything, she was amazing. Speaking of amazing my husband is truly the best! He has helped me get as disinfected as possible, taken care of Avery so I am not touching her, kept Jolie away from me so she doesn't get my funk, he is just awesome and I owe him more than I could ever even begin to repay! Needless to say the Perillo's should just own stock in the antibacterial febreeze, clorox wipes, and hand sanatizer as we are using more of them then I even thought humanly possible! Once done with this post I will be disinfecting the I-Pad as well. So again life has taught us there is no planning, things come as they will and you must adapt and forge ahead.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Mid Week Review

So it is mid week in the real world but tomorrow is really my Monday....I am going back to work for the first time in what feels like forever! I have mixed emotions about returning, part of me is very excited, part of me a little nervous, part of me gets exhausted just thinking about it, part of me is overwhelmed....you get the point, I have mixed feelings. I know the next several weeks or a month are going to be quite busy so that worries me because I don't feel as though I am at the top of my game and that isn't normal for me.

Jolie is back at school and loving it, the summer programs at her school are just so cool, she loves it! Yesterday they had Indian/Asian Dance Lessons, Friday is Bicycle Safety Day where they take their bike and helmet and get fit and riding lessons, it will be super cool and Jolie is totally excited! They also have several Water Days coming as well as Tye Dye T-Shirt Day and a few party days so it will be a great close to the summer at Jolie's school.

Avery has had a great week....she is just so super cute! She is working so hard to learn to crawl, it is just so cute to see her up on all fours and rocking to try to get moving! She is doing great with eating as well, we are slowly introducing new foods and she is doing great with the different textures and just loves getting in her highchair for eating time. She has been waking up at night lately but is easy to get back to sleep so that is good. After a few nights of crying it out to sleep she pretty much goes right to sleep every night so that is awesome! I am so glad we took care of all that while Jolie was gone!

All and all things have been pretty quiet thus far this week although part of normalcy will fire up tomorrow with me going back to work and before we know it, it will be August 15th which is when Rich heads back to work so summer seems to be slipping away. The one thing I will gladly give up is the heat here....it has been just scorching and with my surgery I haven't really had to go out of the house much so I just feel as though I am going to be melting tomorrow as I run around like a crazy person! Well, I have hours worth of catch up work to do so I have to run, will update on my first day back to work by the weekend but probably not tomorrow as it is going to be super crazy!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Avery at 6 and 7 Months

So I have a serious case of bad Mommy going on....I haven't written a post about either Avery at 6 or 7 months. So I am writing this quick post to acknowledge her milestones and I will post some pictures at a later date. So Avery is growing leaps and bounds, I posted her 6 month well visit stats about 3 weeks ago and she is just so long and big it is amazing! Avery is still wearing 12 month clothes but even some of those seem to be getting a little short, we don't put the kid's clothes in the dryer as we have learned that when you have tall children they simply become too short when dried in the dryer. Avery is a really happy baby and smiles a ton, she is sometimes hard to make laugh but is always happy. I am able to get Avery to laugh pretty regularly but it is much harder for others including Rich. Avery is still all about eating, she loves her bottle and when she gets hungry she gets fired up mad! Avery has just started eating puffs and loves them! She also is very good at eating baby food as well, she loves all fruits and veggies and we have just started introducing meats although I will say she doesn't seem as fond of those so far but she eats them. Avery is a great sitter and can sit up by herself well, just the other day on Saturday she went from laying down to sitting all by herself for the first time, I think she was as proud of herself as I was of her, she got sonexcited and it was so cute! She loves to put things in her mouth, which as her Mom freaks me out but so far nothing crazy has ended up in her mouth. She is fascinated by our blackberries and TV remotes and if she sees them she is reaching and streching for them! She even tries to touch the I-Pad screen as well. Avery is going to be crawling soon, she gets up on all fours and rocks like crazy, she can roll and scoot her way around though and gets off her little playmat constantly, I know it is just preparing me for chasing a crawling baby around the house. It is so hard to believe that my little baby is growing and changing so fast, I just can't believe it, I so badly wanted her to stay small as long as possible knowing she would be my last baby but she has just decided to grow even faster than a normal baby! I love both my girls so much though, they are so cute and just amazing spirits! I promise to post more regularly and get some pictures up soon, I am going to try and get out of my bad Mommy phase and back to the good Mommy I really long to be. I am finally able to lift Avery a little so that is good, I even think I am going to try to put her to bed myself tonight. It will still be awhile before I can pick up Jolie since she is over 40 lbs already.

Tomorrow I will do a post on Jolie's follow up trip to the ENT yesterday but Rich and I still have some discussing to do before we determine what choices we are going to make for her, please pray for our guidance in the choices we have been given for her care.

Friday, July 15, 2011

So it has been a long couple of weeks but the good news is we have made and things are getting better. I am finally feeling better and there is no more draining of my tummy scar, what a relief all of that is! Rich has done a fabulous job of taking care of both Avery and me, I am so thankful for him and all he has done, he has been the one person keeping our household running and that has been a blessing. In other good news, Jolie is coming home this afternoon after 3 weeks of being in the mountains of North Carolina with my parents, she has had a great time but is really excited about coming home. I have to say we are very excited about her coming home, it has been so quiet at our house without her home but it was a blessing for Rich and I to have her with my parents as I was so sick these last couple of weeks. But now that I am feeling better it is going to be great having her home, she has the weekend to hang with us and then on Monday will be going to the summer program at her Montessori Pre-School, she will love that as they do so many fun activities. I am home from work until Thursday of next week when I finally return. I assume the rest of the summer will be pretty busy with work since I have spent the last month out of the loop.

Oh, I meant to post about this a few days ago but time got away from me but anyone that does home school or pre-school at home should go visit the dollar spot at Target soon, they have some amazing school stuff all for a dollar, I even got Jolie a few things as even though she goes to a great school we like to re-enforce at home so I picked up several workbooks to help her with her letters and writing as well as some slight word flash cards as she is starting to read. I also got her a little calendar thing where we can do it every morning and she puts the month, day of the week and date. So if you are in need of educational materials, check it out. They pretty well have stuff for ages 2 and up and tons of stuff for 4 and up.

As of Tuesday of next week I will finally be able to pick up my kids, we at least Avery, I probably won't be picking Jolie up much for a while considering she weights about 40lbs. I don't want to push my luck as I have promised myself I never, ever want to do this surgery again! Having this surgery was far worse than either of my 2 c-sections.

Things are getting better in the Perillo House and we couldn't be more grateful for that!

Monday, July 4, 2011

Currently watching my favorite movie about independence, 1776!! Happy 4th of July! We are so thankful for our freedoms & all those who gave for us to be free!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Life going on around us....

So life is going on in the Perillo House but is far from normal.  As I said several days ago I had some surgical complications so I continue to lay held up in my bed at our house trying to recover from what was suppose to be a fairly easy and routine surgery to repair two hernias.  On Wednesday when I went to the doctor I was in more pain than I think I have ever been in before in my life.  The doctor quickly came into my room in his office and realized there was a problem, it seems as though my body decided to fill the space that was left open by the hernia repair with fluid that had to be drained, the doctor quickly began draining the fluid (probably one of the worst experiences of my life and Rich's as he was in the room watching all this).  From there he set up the incision to continue to drain for days to come, in fact it is still currently draining as we speak, every time I think it might be finished it fills up again and then yet again let's loose even more fluid.  I know most of you probably don't want to read about this but I figure I better write it down so I can look back years from now and remember what I went through to have these hernias fixed.

In other more exciting news Avery is doing well with Rich watching her and caring for her as I still can't lift her or anything else.  She had a pediatrician appointment on Wednesday afternoon that Rich took her to.  Her appointment went well, she got 2 shots and the oral Roto-Virus vaccine and did great with them.  Rich also discussed with Dr. Anton the fact that Avery is extremely difficult to put to bed and that she tends to scream and be inconsolable.  Dr. Anton fully examined her and discovered there is nothing wrong with her, no ear infections, no reflux problems, no intestinal problems and told Rich that more than likely her fussiness was more than likely just a behavioral issue.  So he basically says that she cries/screams at the top of her lungs because she knows that gets us to run into her room and pick her up and hold her and thus she doesn't have to lay in her bed and go to sleep.  So Dr. Anton suggested that we let her "cry it out" in her bed at night, so Rich and I bravely started the "cry it out" method on Wednesday night and go in and check on her in 15 minute intervals but never actually pick her up.  That first night the screaming lasted about 35 minutes.  Thursday night it lasted about 20 minutes.  And then Friday night the screaming was less than 15 minutes so I think it is working, I think we have her realizing that when it is time for bed it is time for bed.  It is amazing to me how different of sleepers our children are.  When Jolie was this age we put her in her crib at 8 pm every night and she didn't make a peep until she woke up the next morning around 7:30 am.  Now we have since had some sleep issues with Jolie but at 6 months old she was a dream sleeper, she took 2 naps everyday and was super consistent on sleep.  On the other hand Avery is not like that at all, she barely naps at all during the day and has been difficult to train to sleep at night.  Just shows how every child is different.  Also here are Avery's stats from her appointment.
Height: 28.75 inches (100th percentile)
Weight: 19 lbs, 4 oz (93rd percentile)
Head Circumference: 99th percentile (I forgot the actual measurement)
So as you can see Avery is a BIG girl, Jolie has always consistently been in the 90th plus percentile for height and weight but she never actually hit the 100th percentile like Avery.  Rich is already very excited about the possibility of athletic opportunities for both the girls based on the fact they are both so tall and projected to continue to be tall.  At two years old when they did the height projection for Jolie she is projected to be 6 feet to 6 feet 2 inches when she is done growing, even if she comes up a little short of that she should be pretty tall.  I think Avery might surpass her quicker than any of us expected if she keeps up at this pace!

Jolie is in the mountains with my parents and having a blast.  We have been skype-ing with them every evening and got to hear all about her adventures.  She has been pretty funny on skype every night, laughing, giggling, and just plain being silly.  Although it is so sweet when she tells us she misses us and loves us but at the same time she is loving being with Mimi and Poppy and the best part is she is behaving perfectly for them.  The three of them have played and watched numerous children's movies on DVD and been on several trips to town and the store and had a blast.  Jolie has gotten the chance to be both Mimi and Poppy's helper and I know their three weeks together are going by so quickly for them but I will say I sure do miss all of them!!

Hopefully this week will be the week I really begin to feel better, I am still out of work until at least Wednesday when I return to the doctor's office for another follow up appointment.  I am hoping that this week will be a better appointment and that I might return to light duty work by Thursday or Friday of next week.  I have a lot of things going on at work and just feel as though I need to be back to deal with all my upcoming events.

This weekend we plan on laying low as we celebrate our Nation's birthday and independence.  I think Rich's friend and mom are going to come over tomorrow for a little cook out, Rich is going to throw some food on the grill and we will all just hang out.  I think it will be nice that I get to see people instead of being held up in my room, I am starting to go a little stir crazy!!!  I again am so thankful that I had this procedure over the summer and that Rich has been around to take such good care of me, that sure has been nice!!  Well here is to a Happy 4th of July and a good weekend of recovery!!