our monday.

i'd planned on taking millie on a mall date during our weekend together... that couldn't happen so we went today after her labs. she loves the "throwing pennies in the fountain" game and gets super excited to play in the play area & ride a few of the little rides. she is an easy mall date! we had lunch at chickfila in the food court and shared an ice cream cone on our walk to the car. i'm going to miss spending time alone together... we will definitely need mama & millie dates. and she will need some daddy & millie dates too!

and we can't end the day without a craft... our family in bunnies.

a superhero party for alice.

millie's sweet friends held her hands all the way down the slide, because she was scared to go alone.

happy 4th birthday to alice!

i'm growing. thirty-three weeks.

this little lady is going to be here so soon!

and it kept going.

more of the same on monday... not throwing up, but no eating & diarrhea.

more of the same on tuesday... and she threw up after she woke up & had a bit of breakfast. i called to pediatrician to leave a message for a nurse to call me... i just needed to know that this was normal. we didn't leave the hospital with much knowledge of what to expect for the following days. they got her in to see a doctor within the hour... easier for them to check her out and for us to chat in person. after filling the doctor in, she told me that this all sounds normal- not eating, still have bad diarrhea, throwing up randomly... the more extreme end of normal, but still normal for a stomach bug. she said that the diarrhea could last up to two weeks, and she will start eating when she feels ready. and that i should give her zofran if it seems to be needed- like saying her tummy hurts or if she thinks she might throw up, but doesn't. i left the doctor feeling so much better... i just needed to know what to expect. i wasn't worried, just worn out and needed to know when the end would come. mama needed a break!

by wednesday night she was feeling well enough to put on her glitter jellies to play a bit in the evening... and even wanted to sleep in them. i think she missed getting dressed in normal clothes as much as her mama. we've never worn our jams all day for so many days in a row.

and finally after a full week of sickness... she seemed to be close to normal. we made it.

i hate stomach bugs.

a nasty stomach bug.

It all started Thursday night, just a few minutes after finishing our dinner... throw up everywhere. It was a complete shock to both her and I, so it was not neatly caught in a bowl or in the sink. Ugh. I was quick to think it was nothing, because Millie tends to gag easily and puking isn't too crazy for her. And she couldn't be sick... G left that afternoon for his long weekend in Moab with Grant & Luke, and Millie & I were looking forward to a fun weekend together. We had an easy night, and she went to bed normally. She woke up in the middle of the night with diarrhea, and threw up again. Ugh. And it only got worse from then on... she slept until about 7:30am, and threw up all day. She wasn't able to keep any liquids down for more than about 15minutes. She became a master at letting me know that she needed to throw up and was able to catch it in a bowl. Thank goodness. She was also having crazy diarrhea, so I was worried about dehydration. I knew this bug was worse than the one in January... it wasn't quite this extreme with the constant throwing up. I called her pediatrician, and they got her in within an hour of me calling. We met with a doctor who suggested trying Zofran at the office and then a popsicle... we waited over an hour in the office while she ate popsicles and waited for her to get sick. She never did, so we left feeling optimistic. The doctor let us know that if the Zofran didn't work that evening and she was still throwing up everything, we needed to go to the ER for fluids. Ugh... all of this without G. We ran to Target for bland foods, popsicles, juices, and her prescription for more Zofran. She seemed to be doing much better until we were back home for about an hour... more throwing up. I gave her another Zofran and waited another hour or 2 before I decided that we needed to go to the ER. I packed up things for an overnight stay, and we made it there around 10:30pm. They were awesome with her... quick check-in, went straight to a room without waiting in another waiting area with lots of sick people because she's had a transplant, got her a really sweet nurse with a daughter Millie's age, and took great care of her. They took some blood to check liver numbers & other levels, and then got an IV in to start fluids. They were amazed by Millie's bravery during all of the pokes... Millie watched silently as they started her IV. She made me so proud... sad that it doesn't phase her, but still so awesome. She was able to sleep a bit during the first bag of fluids and while we waited to hear from the doctor. He came in about an hour or 2 after being there, and let us know that he wanted her to stay overnight on the peds floor... with her history and the fact that the first step of Zofran didn't work from the pediatrician. They brought in a bed for me and let us know that they were hoping to move us up to the peds floor soon... we made it to her room around 3am. After a snack for mama and lots of paperwork with the nurse, we were asleep by about 4am and then up again around 8. She was on constant IV fluids the whole time, and they were hopeful that she would only need to be there for the one overnight. We met with the on-call pediatrician that afternoon, and she let me know that they felt like she needed another day of fluids. She hadn't thrown up since getting to the hospital, but she wasn't eating and still had crazy diarrhea. She didn't diagnose it, because it didn't change the course of treatment, but called it a stomach bug leading to dehydration. So I connected with Sarah to come sit in Millie's room while I ran home for a shower and a few more things for our stay... I'm so used to having G around during hospital stays- it's hard & boring to be alone! We spent the rest of our evening the same as our time in the room all day... watching movies and taking super short walks in the hallway. She was so low on energy, and took little cat naps throughout the day & evening. I talked with G sometime Saturday evening and found out that they were leaving Moab & skipping their last night... it didn't cut any fun time out of their trip, just sleeping before their 6hour drive. We were excited! He would be coming to hospital around 2am, so we would have him around all day Sunday. I let our night nurse know that he would be arriving sometime in the early morning. And about our night nurse... she was so awesome. She was SUPER excited to have Millie as her patient, because she worked at Children's for over 30years and many of those years were spent in transplant surgery with Dr. Karr- Millie's surgeon! She was so excited to see a transplant patient on the other side! It was really sweet to see her love for what she does, and called Millie her "special girl." G arrived in the early morning, and Millie was excited to see him when we were all up before 8. She decided that she wanted to eat breakfast... and ended up just having a few bites, but it was something! She was still having pretty bad diarrhea, but still no throwing up. The pediatrician came in around 10am and felt like Millie was ready to be released. We were ready to leave around noon. What a weekend!

what crazy timing, but i'm happy that he was able to go!

thirty-seven months.

(i was going to stop this at 3, but there are still things i want to remember from each month!)

millie's thirty-seventh month...

- she's wearing 2T & 3T clothes and size6 & size7 shoes... all depends on the brand.

- she is wearing size4 diapers- only for naptime & bedtime.

- she is 28pounds & 35inches.

- she is still napping 2-3hours a day.

- she still loves milk. her pediatrician said to keep it to under 32ounces a day and switch from whole to 2%, but don't discourage drinking it. she said that having a kid that is a milk drinker is a great thing. 

- she loves her big girl bed... especially since i found sleeping beauty sheets that i don't hate at a thiftstore.

- she becoming a bit of a turkey about bedtime. she trying to push limits and see what she can get away with... her desire to follow directions isn't always there. she wants more books, she needs to go potty one more time, she wants to cuddle longer, she runs to other rooms when we ask her to get in her room/bed, etc. we've needed to be strict with her... and sometimes punish her.

- she's been doing well with potty training. we are officially leaving the house in undies. it is crazy how long she can go before she needs to go again... normally 4-5hours. i was surprised at first and was encouraging her to try more, but i'm learning that she really doesn't need to go any sooner. she's still having accidents, sometimes they seem intentional, but she is bummed when it happens and apologizes quickly. i'm hoping to see a big decrease in accidents in the next month... we especially need to work on stopping activities or playing with friends to go.

- she had her first dance class in tap shoes.

- her favorite shoes are pink sparkly jellies that weren't supposed to be worn until summer.

- she loves singing along to the frozen soundtrack. 

- one night, after being in bed for over an hour, she was desperate for another dinner... we brought her downstairs, and she ate 4 chicken nuggets & a pouch of apples.

- she flew her first kite.

- she hasn't had a hospital stay in an entire year.

- she plays with her little people disney princesses, doc mcstuffins figurines, and sophia the first figurines every single day... usually with her little people house.

- she loves making sticker art and likes to works on a craft every day.

- she can write the letter "m" and will hopefully be able to spell her name soon.

- and her creativity and imagination are growing everyday... i love seeing what she comes up with while she's playing and how she makes her little figurines interact and how she plays with her baby.

our day.

drawings for daddy, trying out my gym for a month thanks to a living social (she loved it!), a trip to target for frozen & then watching it right after lunch in mama's bed, and after naptime barbie playing.

a hunt for green.

our st. patrick's day.

our princess.

she made me say, "ladies and gentlemen... here comes princess millie moo cheney, and she is ready to dance with her prince daddy." i love that her daddy is her prince.

let's go fly a kite.

we took advantage of our pretty (and windy) morning, and spent time outside... attempting to fly a kite that we picked up at walmart last night. we are inexperienced kite fliers, so we didnt have much success keeping the kite up in the air- g sure gave it an awesome try. millie also got some scooter time in around the neighborhood parks. she's finally figuring out how to make it go without our help... she just wants us to help so that she can go faster.

and g was supposed to be putting her down for her afternoon nap... she won the battle.

he said it was so sweet how she mimicked everything that we do for her before naptime for him.

i'm growing. thirty-one weeks.

my sciatica issues are nearly non-existent, and i'm still comfortable.

our saturday.

her first dance class in tap shoes!

it was a bit chilly & windy at the st. patricks day parade, but still worth it! millie loved the animals and hated the sirens.

i love that he loves to dress-up crazy for things like a parade... we are lucky to have him!

and a late evening run to walmart (or as millie calls it- warmit) as a family... it was a ton of fun.

hooray for weekends.

a whole year.

as of tomorrow, it has been an entire year since her last hospital stay!

a normal evening these days.

good thing mama has little hips... that's a toddler sized tutu.

a surprise night out with girls.

wishes for our girl from the special girls in my life...

- i hope you learn how much God loves you.

- i hope you learn how to write like your mama.

- i hope you aren't afraid of trying new things.

- i hope you aren't afraid of elmo. millie would be sad.

- i hope you love to play barbies.

- i hope you love adventure- like your parents.

- i hope you get your dad's math skills.

- i hope you get your mama's creativity.

- i hope you laugh with millie.

- i hope you laugh often & loudly.

- i hope you never forget how much you are loved.

- i hope you never forget how much Jesus loves you.

- i hope you ignore boys who are no good for you.

- i hope you ignore teenaged girls.

- i hope you become a woman after God's heart.

- i hope you become a great sleeper.

- i hope you find joy in music.

- i hope you find joy in farts.

- i hope you respect your parents.

- i hope you respect your mama's desire for a clean home.

- i hope you grow to love our amazing God.

- i hope you grow to love yourself.

i had such a special night with friends... they surprised me with dinner out at p.f. changs for my baby shower and the perfect gift. we chatted about being mamas, played a few games, enjoyed wine (& a shirley temple), and had time away without the littles. it was a great night.

what i wore wednesday.

 a friday.

jacket- ross / shirt & pants (maternity)- target / shoes- h&m.

a visit to young life.

blazer- h&m / shirt- francescas / jeans (maternity) & shoes- target.

a surprise night out with girls.

jacket- jcp / dress (maternity) & socks- target / boots- goodwill.

our day.

tribal print bottoms & metallic shoes.

reading to a kitty in the sweetest high pitched voice at carters.

and great finds from the dollar tree! at this point, she can do about half of each workbook. her favorite activities are colors, tracing, cutting, and gluing. we need to work on letters & numbers... her attention span is much shorter for these.

pulpit rock.

it was muddy, snowy, and steep at times, but the view at the top was awesome. our weather was in the high 60s today, so it was the perfect day for a hike. my 30week bump & i felt good the entire time, and millie was content riding in the backpack on her daddy's back. sometimes i like the wilderness...

my little ballerina.

we went to chickfila tonight for a special "evening with the ballet"... millie was enjoying it until the giant cow in a tutu showed up, and then she was shaking in fear. the ballerinas did a little performance & danced around the restaurant, and then they were available for photos & to talk. once the cow disappeared, she was so cute & excited to talk to the ballerinas. they complimented her dress & sparkly shoes and told her that she was cute... as soon as we got back to our table she told nana & papa- "they say that i'm so cute!" and before we left she told me that she needs a flower crown to wear with her ballerina dress- sounds like a fun craft to work on next week!

another family drawing.

this one with a baby!

at the park.

a fun morning with friends!