Random Photos!

Here's a few photos from this weekend already that I just wanted to share...

First Kolache!

Daddy's Newest Lawn Lab Supporter!

"Helping" put her toy cubby together

Driving daddy's truck

O-TAY!!

The word of the day is O-tay ... wait till about the 1 minute 20 second mark and you'll see why!



That's my funny girl right there!

On a health related note, its been a rough week for us.  We thought Brianna had hand, foot and mouth virus but after seeing a blister starting on her eye when she woke up this morning, I took her to the doctor.  He diagnosed her with Herpetic Gingivitis (I think...).  Basically, she has the virus that causes cold sores and this first eruption has left her with several sores around her mouth, one on her finger, one on her knee and her gums are highly inflamed.  Unfortunately, this means she will get cold sores off and on her entire life now but we're keeping things in perspective.  If that's the worst medical thing she ever has to tolerate, then that's really not so bad.  However, the doctor put her on an anti-herpes medicine to keep it from spreading to her eyes any worse.  Well, she now has 4 hives on her right leg so no more meds tonight until we know if its unrelated or an allergic reaction.  She doesn't seem bothered by them at all but we gave her some Benedryl just to be safe.  As you can see from the video, she's her normal crazy self tonight!

18 Month Update & Summer Pics

I can't believe that Brianna is 18 months old now.  She had her well check last week and is doing wonderfully on all her development checklists.  She's at the 87th percentile on height and the 49th on weight.  She's up to between 50-60 words/signs in her vocabulary and is regularly speaking two word sentences with the occasional three word sentence.  Her first 3-word sentence as Dada Foo All-Gone.  She doesn't quite have the "d" on food yet but it was clear she was telling me that Justin had cleaned his plate!

We've also been having lots of fun playing outside, despite the 100+ heat.  She tolerates it a lot better than I do.  Below are some pictures from the backyard, a recent trip to the pool and her first experience with a trampoline at our friend The Ray's house.

She's going to make her Grandma Petrik very proud with this next picture.  She "helped" me feed Moab yesterday and of course, the food ended up going everywhere.  She wouldn't be happy till she'd done this ...

Surprise!

First Trampoline Experience

She loves her friend Andrew, who took care of her and played with her all night.  I think its obvious that she had a great time!

A Busy Two Weeks

I'm not sure if this will just be a really long post or if I'll end up breaking it into two, but for now, I'm just typing and we'll see how it turns out.

To start with, for those that aren't on facebook or friends with me there, you might not know that Brianna had to be hospitalized for dehydration on July 14.  She had been fighting a GI virus since Saturday, the 10th.  We thought she was over it after Monday as we'd had no further vomiting or diarrhea for over 24 hours, so off to daycare she went on Tuesday while I flew to Atlanta.  Justin called me Wednesday morning to say she'd thrown up again and the earliest we could get her a doctor's appointment was that afternoon.  The doctor took one look at the fact she was screaming her eyes out, but without any tears, and decided to admit us to Denton Presbyterian for observation and fluids.  It took them at least 30 minutes and multiple tries in each arm and hand before finally getting the IV in her foot.  It was pure hell for both of us and all I could do to stay strong for her and not break down in tears.  You can see how they had to tape up the IV to keep her from pulling it out.  Once the fluids starting rehydrating her, she perked right up and we were released Thursday morning. 

However, Friday morning she woke up throwing up again and we were pretty scared that we'd end up back in the hospital if we couldn't get it stopped. But, after some anti-nausea meds and a liter of orange Gatorade, combined with a 3 hour nap, she seemed to be doing better.

Unfortunately, Justin and I were scheduled to leave for Cabo San Lucas on Monday, the 19th, while she spent time with her grandparents in Oklahoma.  After much thought, we decided that staying home with her was the best choice so we canceled our Cabo vacation.  Although we made the right choice, we were pretty upset by this since it was for our wedding anniversary and had been booked for a year but, thankfully, we had travel insurance so hopefully, we will get most of our money back.  We also didn't want to deprive the grandparents of the chance to see Brianna since they'd been looking forward to spending time with her as much, if not more, than we'd been looking forward to the chance to put aside our mommy and daddy hats for a few days.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love being a mom and Justin feels the same about being a dad, but we believe its just as important to take care of our marriage by spending some time alone.  After all, Brianna will be grown and gone before we know it and we'll still be stuck with each other!

So, we packed up the car with Brianna and Moab (that was one very full car!) and headed up to my parent's house.  I got to see my adorable pregnant sister for a few hours before she headed back to Tulsa and I simply can't wait to meet my new niece or nephew in January!  After a few days with my family, we headed over to Justin's.  After looking through baby books at pictures of him and his sister, Amanda, there is no doubt that Brianna looks like him!  There are some pictures of his sister that could pass for Bree if you didn't know better.  You'll have to look below for a picture of Justin at 15 months to see for yourself.

 Sometimes, its the old toys that are still the most fun.  I played with this tool bench and rocking horse when I was her age!

After not eating meat for almost a week, Brianna decided to be a carnivore the night mom fixed rib-eye steaks.  Yes, that is a whole rib-eye she's holding in her hand and eating!

Out of desperation one day, I downloaded some animal games to my iPhone for her to play.  Now, whenever she sees my phone, she says "animo!!"

Crazy Hair!

Playing at the park with Pops, Bethany and Addisyn

And now, for the picture of Justin that shows just how much like him his daughter looks!

We're safely back home now and headed back to work and normal lives tomorrow.  Brianna is perfectly fine and back to normal, complete with a hearty appetite to put the weight she lost back on in time for her well check next week.  Have a good week everyone!

Summer Pictures

Well, unfortunately we didn't make it to all the 4th of July parties we wanted to since Brianna is cutting 5 teeth at once.  She ran a 101 fever all day Friday, was highly irritable, sleepy and cranky on Saturday and then Sunday morning, woke up around 7 and threw up all over us due to all the extra drainage, etc. that had upset her tummy.  She promptly went back to sleep as soon as she was cleaned up and didn't wake up till 11.  Thankfully, she was her normal self after that and we were able to make one of the parties, which is where I snapped the below pictures.  My apologies to the Gawley's and all our friends that attended their party, that we weren't able to join you but trust me, you are probably thankful we stayed home!

17 Months Old

Its been awhile since I've posted what Brianna's been up to lately so I thought, since she's 17 months old as of July 4th, I'd fill everyone in on what she's been up to lately.

• She still signs quite a bit, both for things she can say and things she can't.  At last count, she was up to 24 signs.  The latest words she is saying are: Mama, Dada, puppy, kitty cat, outside, shoes, icky, uh oh, no (in many different intonations to communicate exactly how emphatic she is or isn't), eat, paci, strawberry (sta-be), cook, hi, bye-bye, more, knee, nose, eyes, cheese, cereal, belly button, toes, book, animal and fishes.  She can also say all the names of the kids in her class and the babies that are in the class below her.  She mimics a lot so I'm not counting those.  She did a perfect mimic of "suitcase" the other day, but when asked what it was later, wouldn't say it so until she actually uses the word without it being a mimic, we don't count it.
• She loves to throw the ball for puppy and play "catch the baby", where we chase her around the house, then throw her over our shoulders when we catch her. 
• She's the sweetest baby and the cleanest baby ever!  She gives lots of hugs, snuggles and kisses and likes to give "group hugs", particularly if she wants to hug someone other that Justin or I.  She'll also blow kisses to her daycare teachers at the end of the day.  She also doesn't create a lot of messes and will walk around the house picking things up and then taking them to the trash can, putting them in and telling them bye-bye.  There's been a few things make it in the trash can that weren't supposed to but its a good way to occupy her for a few minutes while I'm doing dishes if I need paper towels thrown away! 
• She's starting to show an interest in all things potty related.  She will point to her diaper after she's peed and when you ask her if she needs a new one, she'll go in her room and wait for you to change her.  She also loves to help me go potty, including handing me the toilet paper, flushing the toilet then telling it "buh-bye".  I think buying her own little potty is in the near future.  She can start official potty training at school when she moves up in August and I'm hoping she's a fast learner since she seems so interested in it.
• She hasn't, thankfully, started showing too many signs of the terrible two tantrums.  She'll have her moments and start whining or fussing, but usually ignoring it or providing her a distraction seems to work.  We haven't had any total meltdown temper tantrums that involve throwing herself on the floor yet, but I know they're coming.
• She has 6 teeth right now, one that just broke through and 3 more on the way.  She's got 4 on top (including the new one), 2 on bottom and then one on the top at the back.  The three new ones are all back teeth and seem to be very painful, including causing her to run about a 101 fever the last few days.
• She also is starting to want to be rocked to sleep less and after about 5 minutes, she will point to her crib and want to be laid down.  She falls asleep all on her own with nothing needed from Justin or I to help her.  Its nice because we know that's what's healthy for her, but there are nights when I really want to rock her and she's pretty adamant she's ready to lay down instead.  She regularly is in bed about 8:00 and then sleeps until about 7:30, still taking a good 2.5 hour nap each day. 
• She still LOVES books (makes me so proud!!) and will sometimes ask for one as soon as she wakes up from a nap.  She carries a book around almost as much or more than anything else.

I think that covers most of what's she's doing these days.  She's not a baby any longer but a full-fledged toddler.  Its so much fun to play with her all weekend but there are still times I miss that newborn cuddliness.  She seems to know when I'm needing a few extra cuddles and will come crawl up in my lap, lay her head on my shoulder and pat my arm.  But, then she's off and running again and the moments past.  She's a busy little girl but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Another Double Book Review

I'm sitting here in a hotel room in Ontario, CA, and nothing about my computer is working quickly.  I'm trying to open files off our servers in Plano and its as slow as molasses over the hotel's wireless and Bayer's VPN.  So, while I'm waiting for this massive file to download, I figured I'd work on a blog post / book review.  The one benefit of all this travel is that I get to read, a lot, which, considering that its my favorite hobby (ok, obsession might be better stating it), is a good thing but hey, at least I'm putting my Kindle to good use.

So, what am I reviewing for you today?  Well, the two books are very different, yet surprisingly similar in theme in a way that caught me by surprise.  The books are (thank you Amazon for the images...)

So, what does a novel about a supposed religious sign appearing over the Earth's melting ice caps and a face-to-face encounter with God have to do with each other?  Well, that's what I've been pondering ever since I finished The Sign a few hours ago.  The connection isn't obvious so first, let me tell you a bit about each, starting with The Sign.

Its a statement about the author's take on the current global warming crisis and humankind's take on "religion" wrapped in a modern day thriller.  There's not a lot I can tell you without giving away the plot and although I'm not typically one to like novels that make a political statement, I liked this one.  If you liked the movie Avatar, even with the pro-environment, anti-military, save the world message, you'll probably like this book.  Its got good character development, a fast-paced plot and plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing.  Religion enters the picture when the technology behind the sign (which by the way, is really cool and I'm sure not that far out there in terms of actual development) is used to manipulate a devout monk into appearing to be a messianic figure in order to deliver a message to humans that is controlled by a small paramilitary group.  It touches on the phenomena in today's culture where all things are acceptable when done in the name of Christianity.  We elect leaders, as long as they tell us they're "believers", without ever questioning their beliefs.  We follow the latest evangelical teacher who has the biggest light show, the loudest voice and the most fundamental message, without ever questioning their teachings or looking for ourselves at what the Bible says.  I'm a big believer in discovering the Word of God for myself and that's where this book intersected, for me, with The Shack.

First, let me tell you that I LOVED The Shack.  I know and fully agree that its not the Bible and that much of what the author claims has been debated by some of the brightest and best minds in theology.  But, the idea that God loves his children enough to take such a personal interest in them as to arrange a weekend alone with one of them is not far from my personal view of my Father.  I confess that I truly believe the author had a personal encounter with God, in all three of His forms.  I mean, why not?  God is not an absentee Father to any of us but I also know that I'm not "educated" enough to debate the finer points of theology on this one.  So, for me, its enough that I believe it happened and that much of what the author claims resonates with how I view God.  If you haven't read this one, please do.  Sit down, read it, cry with it and discover a wholly different way to think of our Creator ... one that is personal and loving and mind-blowing.  Follow that up with some Bible study and lots of prayer though ... while this is a great book, its no substitute for the real thing and your own personal relationship.

So, how do these two books intersect?  In one, I expected to find God and it made me think about my relationship with Him in new ways.  In the other, I had no expectations of finding God within the pages, yet there He was.  But, where The Shack opened up thoughts on my personal relationship, The Sign left me with that sour taste in my mouth called cynicism.  Yet, sadly, The Sign's view of God and religion is far closer to what most people seem to have embraced.  Its shallow and tainted and says more about what people are blindly willing to believe in their search for meaning than it does about what God desires for His children.  They both made me think and ponder, albeit on similar yet fundamentally different ideas.

So, I hope I haven't completely confused you and if I have, mea culpa.  Perhaps you'll read one, or both, of these and have a different viewpoint that I did.  Perhaps if I'd read The Sign before reading The Shack I would have had a different reaction to it as well.  Its not a bad book, its just a book that left me more worried about today's culture and the direction we're heading than anything else.