Accidents at 13 Months

This past Monday, Laney proved that my children are accident-prone around 13 months.

Since Friday, we've been dog-sitting our favorite Harlingen kanine, Rocco, and I've managed to keep Laney out of the dog's water bowl (although keeping her out of Rocco's crate is a different story)....until Monday. On Monday, her curiousity resulted in a puddle and semi-wet clothes. I immediately grabbed a towel to sop up most of the water; however, she was ready to relocate prior to me being able to dry the floor completely. It was when she was on her way away from Rocco's crate that she slipped (thankfully, she was just crawling) and smashed her face on the tile. We had screams, tears, and blood immediately (yet another reason why I HATE tile). My heart sank and instantly worried about her teeth. We were able to stop the bleeding within a few minutes, so that was a good sign. But her upper lip had caught her front teeth coming down, resulting in a pretty good-sized gash, but nothing requiring stitches. And the impact of the floor-to-face crash caused a verticle split of the under-belly of her upper lip. As you can imagine, her lip swelled within minutes.

Once she calmed down (with a walk outside), we gave her Motrin, which must have helped a lot because she was still able to take a bottle and her paci before bedtime.

I failed to take a picture shortly after the accident happened, but here is what it looked like the next morning.

During our trip to VA Beach a couple of summers ago (for my half-marathon), Josiah managed to pull a small side table (which sat next to the chair in our hotel room) down onto his eyebrow, causing a pretty ugly gash. Unfortunately, it didn't really quit bleeding, so Randy made the decision to take him to a local ER. Thankfully, no stitches were required on this gash, just a little Dermabond. And you can barely see the scar...unless you're really looking for it.

What is so interesting about these accidents, is that Josiah and Laney were almost the exact same age (just shy of 13 months) when they incurred their first accident. I'm praying this is not a new trend....but I'll be keeping my eye on M#3 when he's 12-13 months.

It's My Party.....

Two weeks ago we hosted a double 1st Birthday Party since having two separate parties (a couple of days apart--James is only 3 days older than Laney) where the same people would have been invited would have been perhaps a bit too much. James' mommy, Cassie, and I decided to go with a Western Themed party, seeing that we're in Texas 'n all. It was a lot of fun.....we had grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, chips, baked beans, fresh veggies and dip......and can't forget about the CAKE and ice cream.

Laney sitting with her fellow birthday friend, James, in front of a cowboy pinata (the pinatas down here are just amazing).

I found the cutest red bandana pillowcase dress on Esty and just had to have it...it was so perfect for the theme...and she just looked darling in it, especially with the bow which she definitely was not sure about.

And just as she was unsure about the bow, she didn't know what to do with the cake. She definitely didn't "dig right in". However, she tried a couple of times to bite it.

We were so blessed to have Randy's family (Mom, Dad, Sister and nephew) make the 12 hour drive down from West Texas so that they could celebrate Laney's birthday with us.

Laney with Tia

Laney and Josiah with Grandma and Pappo

O-N-E

My dear Princess Alayna,

When Dr. Anderson announced "It's a Girl!", I could hardly believe it....and neither could your daddy. Both of us thought, "what are we going to do with a little girl?" And your daddy went a step further and said, "I guess it's time to buy a shot gun". Once the initial shock of being the parents of a big (8 pounds, 8 oz) little girl wore off, we were so excited! And we were just amazed by how much you looked just like your big brother.

You endured a lot during your first couple of nights "on the outside". Your bilirubin levels were too high to allow you to go home with me, so we spent your third night in a "tanning bed" in the Pediatric Unit. I was so sad because I could only hold you long enough to nurse you. I was never so excited for you to make a poopy diaper.

Our first picture as a family of 4....being discharged from the hospital.

Your brother was so proud to hold you all by himself....and he's been very protective of you ever since we brought you home.

You've had quite a year, young lady. Your daddy and I are so very proud of you. We've had a lot of fun watching you grow and learn about the world. You now have 13 teeth: 8 on top and 5 on the bottom, including 3 of your 1st year molars. You now weight 25.5 lbs (95%) and are 29.5 in. (75%) tall. You love to snuggle and will remove your paci after I pick you up out of your crib (first thing in the AM or after nap) and give me a kiss. You started walking about 3 weeks ago and sometimes forget that you can't move as fast as you want to, resulting in a face-plant. You still don't like cow's milk (or soy milk for that matter), but you love to drink water from your sippy cup. You are still taking 2 naps/day and are usually ready for bed around 8PM. You want to go everywhere your big brother is, and you get upset if you can't go out to the garage with "the boys". You definitely know how to throw a tantrum....as your grandma says, "she came by the drama honestly". I have no idea what she is talking about. *wink*

You make us laugh every day, Laney....and we just love that about you. We can't wait to see what the next year brings.

We took you to Chili's for your official birthday dinner since we partied a few days before. You enjoyed quesadilla, salmon, french fries, and black beans.Happy 1st Year! We love you, Princess, and thank God for blessing us with you.

Love,

Mommy (and Daddy & Josiah)

Catching Up

After an unexpected 3 week blog hiatus and a few "just checking up on ya" emails, I decided to forgo my usual 2 hour nap this afternoon and take some time to update you on what's been going on....because A LOT has been going on.

Randy just finished up a hard month on ICU. While I know Randy learned a lot, the hours were long and the patient care was difficult. Sadly, Randy sent multiple patients "down to the floor" with orders for "comfort measures" and even had to tell a young 20-something man, new husband and new father that he had AIDS. He spent each Thursday on-call, which meant that by the time Friday afternoon rolled around, he had spent over 24 hours, awake, on the unit. Needless to say, it was a very tiring month for both of us....and we're very glad it's over.

Almost 2 weeks ago, Laney celebrated her 1st birthday. We had a lovely party and celebrated with many friends and family (Randy's parents, sister, and our nephew drove down from West Texas).

Last weekend, I travelled ALONE to Columbus, OH to stand up for one of my very best girlfriends as she married her long-time boyfriend/soul mate. While leaving my children behind for the very first time was very difficult, I had such a wonderful time. I hadn't seen those crazy chics since Randy and my last weeks in VA, when Laney was only a couple of weeks old.

And lastly, we were informed SHOCKED to find out 6 weeks ago that the Martinez Family Expansion Project is in full force. While we fully intended on having another 1-2 children, we were in NO WAY expecting #3 so soon. Baby M #3 is due November 23....and no, our plans to find out the gender this go-around have not changed from the first two. ;-)

I'm going to apologize ahead of time....I'm definitely lacking the mental energy these days to write much, so I'm just going to post mostly pics.

Thank you to those of you who 'checked up' on me....it meant a lot. ((HUGS))