Old Blog Entry 05-03-06

A LONG overdue update

Hi Everyone! It's been way too long since I've been here. Do you guys even remember me? LoL I got a phone call yesterday from MichelleA, so my butt has been officially kicked into gear. I don't know why I haven't been online much...I just don't get on the computer that much. Natalie keeps me pretty busy. Let's see...how are things going over here? Let's start with Natalie, since I know she's who you all want to hear about first. :o)

Natalie is doing awesome! She amazes us every day with her intelligence. She will be 18 months in a little over a week. Here's a pic I took today,



She knows a TON of words. Let's see if I can list them...

1. Mommy
2. Daddy
3. baby
4. puppy
5. uh oh
6. up (pronounced up-pah)
7. poo poo
8. pee pee
9. apple
10. banana (manna)
11. milk (mocha)
12. Elmo - who is her absolute favorite thing in the world!
13. more(mo)
14. no
15. water (wah-wah)
16. juice (joo)
17. bubble
18. noodle
19. moo
20. baa
21. Lolo(this is Grandpa in Tagalog, she uses it for both Grandpa and Grandma, which is Lola)
22. hello
23. hi
24. bye
25. book (bookah)
26. ball
27. two (she recognizes the number also)
28. bee (really as in the letter, which she can recognize as a B)
29. eye
30. Lilac(lilah - her stuffed puppy)
31. potty
32. cheese(chee)

Okay, there are probably more, but I can't think of them now. LoL She still signs, and will now sign and say the word at the same time for things that she knows both like milk and more. She signs thank you and bath as well as a few more. We have a book called The First Hundred Words, and she can point out most of the words in there. On the last page there are 30 pictures and words and she knows all of them. She has recently started climbing, and does it all the time. She can also open and close all the doors, though she forgets sometimes when she has shut herself in a room and calls for me to come get her. She loves Elmo and watches Sesame Street every morning while we eat breakfast. She also loves to go outside especially when our neighbors are out. Her hair is growing slowly but surely, as you can tell from the pic above. It's still not long enough to style in any way and people still mistake her for a boy unless she is wearing obvious clothing. She is always hugging and kissing everything, especially the cats. She loves music and is constantly asking us to turn it on. If we try to watch anything but Elmo on the TV she will start crying, "Elmo, Elmo, Elmo!" and get's really upset if we don't put it on. We usually don't though, so she is learning not to do it. Peekaboo will crack her up more than anything else, especially when I hide behind my hair. She's a big goofball still, and cracks us and herself up all the time. That's about all I can think of new and exciting with Natalie. I'll put some more pics up in my album when I am done here.

Now for me. Well, I have good and bad in my life. Which would you like first? The good? Well, the good news is that we are now officially trying for baby number two. I am in the two week window right now, and I will test if I don't start by the 20th. I should start around the 17th, but I am not going to waste a test until at least that weekend. This is our first month of trying, and really my first time ever to TRY to get pregnant. Natalie happened when we weren't expecting it. So I am not sure how easy or hard this will be for us. I am really not too anxious about it yet, except that I would like to get a BFP just so I know I can again. No symptoms or anything yet, but it's still too early anyway. The bad news is that I have a spot on my face that is "suspicious." It was a freckle that got dark when I was pregnant with Natalie. Everyone kept thinking I had a smudge of dirt next to my nose. Nope, it's just a freckle. Your skin can get darker when you're pregnant so I didn't think anything about it. In the last week or so it has gotten raised up and it is very itchy. I went to the doc to get a referral on Monday, and I am currently waiting to get an appointment for dermatology. My mom had some spots removed last summer that were cancerous, so I guess it runs in the family. It's a little scary, though I know it's not too serious if you catch it in time. I am just sad because it is right next to my nose, in a very obvious place. It's about 3/4 the size of a dime, so it's pretty noticable now. Can you imagine what it will look like if they have to cut it out? Plus I am not looking forward to a lifetime of worrying about every single spot on my body. The other bad news is that both my kitties are not doing good. Pudly has kidney failure. When we were living with MIL, we took him to their vet who did dialysis on him. Luckily they didn't charge us, and it worked. He was doing much better after that. He has since deteriorated though, and is so skinny now. He has sores in his mouth caused by the kidney disease and I know they hurt him. They also make his breath very stinky and he drools. We are constantly having to shampoo the sofas. Mads is also not doing well. She has been throwing up A LOT. The other morning I came downstairs to find 4 piles of puke on the carpet. It's pretty much every day and I am getting very tired of cleaning the carpet all the time. I am not sure how much longer they are going to last. I am really sad about it, but I honestly don't know how much longer I can keep cleaning up after them.

The house itself is coming along slowly but surely. I really want to get started painting, but it's so hard to spend money on non-essentials right now. And Natalie's summer wardrobe was definitely essential! LoL We got an estimate for our backyard, which is just dirt and weeds right now, but it was 15-20K and we can NOT afford that any time in the near, or far future. It's going to have to be something we do ourselves. Also, our digital camera broke and Arnel keeps saying he is going to fix it, but never does. I've told him I want a new one for Mother's Day. He says to use the video camera, that it works just as well. Well, the pics I am posting today I took with the video camera, and they are crappy!

Well, I should post this now before it gets lost or something. Sorry I've been away for so long! I should come around more, and definitely will to document any pregnancy that happens. Wish us luck!! :o)