Avery's Halloween Birthday Bash!

For some reason, my iPhoto isn't letting me upload pictures anywhere anymore. No clue why. It doesn't even let me select pictures which is super frustrating and I'm not MacSmart so I have no idea how to fix it. Any Mac techies out there that can help a sister out?

Okay back to Avery's BIG party! It was such a great time! Aside from some mild hysteria about swine flu, it was a complete success! I had ordered black and orange tablecloths and my sister made the most adorable centerpieces. There were pink and purple balloons (because I still wanted it to be a girly halloween birthday party) and frilly girly decorations. It all turned out perfectly!

I arranged an activity for the kids to do so they wouldn't be running wild the whole time and it worked like a charm. They really enjoyed decorating their foam pumpkins! The food was good and the cake...OH MY GOD!!! The cake was AMAZING! For reals, I've never had such a tasty cake. Mad props to Sweet Eats Bakery in Marlton, NJ. I just may go order another cake for me to have for dinner tonight. It was that good. We had a few extra slices leftover and my mom and I inhaled them out of fear that my dad or Big Poppa would get to them. And I don't regret doing that for one minute. 

Avery loved being sung to but wasn't too interested in her vegan smash cake. Can't say I blame her though. It tasted like ass. Especially compared to the big mama cake that was so good I wanted to rub it all over myself. But Avie Baby got so tired near the end of the party that she curled up on me and crashed. She's my little cuddler so this isn't far fetched. But it's so sweet and I hope it never changes. Luke was never a cuddler, he was more the kissing type and still is. But there really is nothing better than a sweet smelling baby all curled up under your chin snoozing away.

I'm going to try and upload pictures through another site and stick it on here as a slideshow. I'm not sure what else to do until I sort out this iPhoto mess. Check back and hopefully there will be some pics up!

Avery's Birthday Celebration and how I almost caught it all on fire.

It just wouldn't be a birthday celebration without a little pyrotechnics, right?

Avery turned the big 0-1 on Tuesday and in celebration we sang happy birthday after dinner and had some vegan cupcakes. Woohoo!!! PAR-TAY!!

Pop-Pop lights the candle, we sing and I proceed to tip the cupcake over (What? It was top heavy, damnit!) just as Avery swings her little princess birthday party crown hat forward with all the ribbons and bows hanging out the top of it. Do we see where this is going?

Yes, I almost lit my daughters birthday hat on fire. And the dining room table.

But all was okay after I screamed, scared the shit out of Avery, pulled her hat off her and quick blew out the candle. It was frantic few seconds and Avery cried but everyone was burn free. Which if you ask me, that's what really matters.

Here are some pics of that night. Obviously no one caught the near fire on camera because we were all screaming and trying to get Avery's head and the ribbons out of the line of fire.

Before the pyrotechnics.
After the pyrotechnics.

Disney on Ice with Luca

He had so much fun and was just in awe the whole time. He sat so perfectly, mouth dropped open, staring as the characters skated out and sang and danced. And aside from one small tantrum, he was really well behaved.

Here are some pics!

Waiting for it to start, eating his chicken nuggeys ("chinese" to Luca)
The show begins...
And Luca is officially in awe.
Screw the chicken nuggeys, I want to DANCE!
Bye Mickey, bye Guppy, bye Don Duck!

Happy Birthday Avery!!!

Birth

2 Weeks
4 Weeks
Month 2
Month 3
Month 4
Month 5
Month 6
Month 7
Month 8
Month 9
Month 10
Month 11
Month 12

My sweet Avie Baby turns one today! I can't believe it's been a year since she was born. I know it sounds so cheesy but it really does feel like just yesterday that I was being induced. Unfortunately, Mamacita is sick with a nasty cold on her special day. She was up off and on all night and has been a snotty mess. I pray that she's better by Sunday for her big birthday party. It would really suck to have a birthday party without the birthday girl. 

To my Avery...

I love you as high as the sky and as big as Heaven. Happy birthday, A-Pie!

And we're DONE!

Well, at least I hope.

Avery braved the Upper GI just like all the other procedures. She seriously amazes me with how tough she is. She cries then calms down. She doesn't ever scream bloody murder the entire time. She's a trooper for sure. 

Preliminary results showed no anatomical deformity of the small intestine which is a HUGE relief! Now we're just waiting on the results of the procedures from last week. As long as those look good then *fingers crossed* we're done with testing!

I'm anxious to get back to a normal life that doesn't revolve around specialists and doctor appointments. I'm even more excited to get back to some normal blogging. I feel like humor and sarcasm have been lacking lately because of the stress and worry for my baby girl. I have a lot of fun things coming up that should be good blog material (Disney on Ice, Avery's 1st birthday and Halloween just to name a few)!

Be sure to check back!!

Quick Update

I haven't had a free minute to update on Avery's friday of fun. Everything went well for the most part. The doctor had a hard time getting the scope around a bend in her small intestine so now they want to send her for an Upper GI to rule out an anatomical deformity. We go for that on Wednesday. Awesome.

Hopefully we get the results from the endoscopy and flex sig this week and will know something. Anything.

I'll be back to my regular blogging asap. Hopefully it will be something fun. Although that's not likely.

Thyroid Scan of an 11 month old and yes it was painful....for me.

Does that sound selfish? Probably. Okay, it does. She was the one who had to endure the NG tube being shoved up her nose and then down her throat. And she's the one who had to endure the radioactive material being injected into her little belly. Then she had to wait 2 hours while the radioactive crap made it's way throughout her system. She's also the one that had to be swaddled and taped down to the table of an enormous machine. Oh and she had to lay on said table for two hours without moving while Gigantor took up residence mere inches from her throat to take pictures of her thyroid.

And we won't even discuss the panic attacks I was having as I imagined this machine breaking and falling on my poor baby girl. Ugh. Intrusive thoughts, much?!

All that being said, it was super painful for me. I hated watched the nurses literally lay on top of her to restrain her for the insertion of the NG tube. She looked at me like I had betrayed her. After that part was done I made sure to whisper in her ear that I would key the cars of those nasty nurses that had done that too her. She was happy with that and fell asleep on my chest. 

(yikes...Mama's looking a little rough...)

Luckily she didn't nap for long. No, you didn't read that wrong. It actually was a blessing in disguise. By the time the actual testing started she was so exhausted. She screamed her little head off while me, Big Poppa and the nuclear medicine tech swaddled and taped her to the table. She eventually fell asleep with her Daddy rubbing her head and singing in her ear (have I ever mentioned how amazing Big Poppa is?). She slept for the entire thing which was so nice and quiet. I haven't had that much quiet in months and I loved it! I loved it so much that I fell asleep right there next to her in the chair. I'm talking head all the way back and mouth wide open. The kind of sleep position that you get when you fall asleep in the car. Only when you're in the car you drive past hundreds of people looking like a total tool. This time only the nuclear medicine tech was lucky enough to see my drooling, snoring hotness. 

But at least step 1 is over. Results came back and they are all good. She's been diagnosed with congenital hypothyroidism and will be on a low dose of Synthroid until she is 3. At that point they'll re-test to see if she's outgrown the condition. Unfortunately, this is not what is causing the failure to thrive and lack of weight gain. 

Onto step 2...endoscopy and flexible sigmoidoscopy this Friday. Fingers crossed!