"Morning" Sickness Blues

Why do pregnant women have morning sickness? This may be one of the first questions I ask Jesus when I get to heaven. Just kidding, but it really stinks. Yesterday (Saturday) I felt TERRIBLE all day long. It is probably because I did not sleep well that night. Klara and I stayed at my parents' house because Alex was gone to a conference until Saturday night, and I did not sleep well on their guest bed. After leaving their house and coming back home, I proceded to lose my breakfast in the kitchen sink. Sorry if this is too yucky for you. You may want to stop reading now if you have a weak stomach. My parents came over to play with Klara so I could rest. After they left I noticed that Klara had a poopy diaper. On our way to her bedroom to change the diaper, I started gagging from the smell. So we darted into the bathroom and I proceded to get sick.....really sick. Poor Klara was just standing there having to watch me. I happened to glance up at her to make sure she had not left the bathroom, and what I saw was the most pitiful thing ever. My baby started throwing up everywhere!!!!!!! I guess watching me vomit was too much for her poor little stomach. As much as I wanted to grab her up and comfort her, all I could do was continue throwing up in the toilet. Then my lovely dogs enter the bathroom and start trying to lick up Klara's throw up, which gagged me even more and made me throw up again. I was finally able to contain myself and get to Klara, who had proceded to slip and fall down in her vomit. I finally got us out of the bathroom and closed the door. I called Alex and told him he would have quite a mess to clean up when he got home! I would have become sick again if I would have cleaned it up. After it was all over I just had to laugh along with my sobbing. I felt horrible, my baby threw up watching me throw up, but all of it somehow struck me as sort of funny. I really hope this does not happen again. I guess the moral of the story is to not throw up in front of your children.

Mother's Day 2009

This was my second Mother's Day!!!!! It is my last Mother's Day with only one baby! It is amazing that I will be having another precious baby in just 6 months! Anyways.....My weekend was wonderful! Alex surprised me on Friday by taking me to buy some new maternity clothes. I guess he had been tired of hearing me complain that all of my sister's EXTRA SMALL (you make me sick Karrie) maternity clothes do not fit. I was feeling rather yucky on Friday, so our trip to Chattanooga was cut short. However, I still had a great time and was very grateful for my new clothes. So that was part one of my Mother's Day present. On Saturday, Alex took Klara grocery shopping with him and let me stay at home for some alone time. Plus grocery shopping still makes me gag. I can't stand to look at some foods. Maybe this too shall pass. Then later in the day we were going to go back to Walmart and buy my yearly flowers for my flower boxes. It looked stormy outside, so I suggested to Alex that we go before it rained. We got in the car and the moment we pulled up in the Walmart parking lot it started pouring cats and dogs! We got wet getting into the store and then we could not look at the flowers because of the rain. I finally got out my umbrella and ventured into the flower section. I picked out my usual wave petunias. I buy them every year. I hope they live this year! I was not very succesful with them last year! We ended Saturday by having a fun dinner with our friends Jenn, Scott, and Grace. On Sunday we had a full day with the family. After church my dad wanted to go to Cracker Barrell, but since the thought of that makes me gag for some reason, we ended up going to Applebees. We then spent time at my parents house watching Klara play in the front yard. We also got to enjoy the baby birds that were in a nest in the corner of my parents' porch. Their mother was not too happy we were there and she chirped our heads off most of the time. I guess the baby birds were tired of us also so they all decided to take flight! They almost hit us in the heads and they pooped all over the front porch! I think we all screamed, but none of us were hit by the poop! What a weekend! I am a blessed mommy!

Some of my wave petunias

My mom, Klara, and me

Yummy lunch at Applebees
The baby birds that attacked us!
My precious daughter!

Family Fun

Last weekend we were blessed by a visit from my sister Karrie, her husband Brad, and their two little girls Macy and Mara. It was Mara's first visit to Cleveland to visit her family. We had a great time spending Thursday-Tuesday with them. We mainly just sat around, talked, ate, and watched the girls play together. Klara and Macy discovered the joys of sandboxes. They played for hours on my parents' front porch in the little turtle sandbox that my mom bought (it soon will be coming to my house!!!!).

And if you haven't heard yet....Alex and I are expecting baby #2! I am due around November 17. However, I think that it will be earlier since I will be having a planned c-section....which is completely fine with me! C-sections are the way to go!

Here are some pictures from our visit with Karrie's family!

On Monday all the babies came to play at my house (Macy, Klara, Sadie, and Jeremiah).

They had bunches of fun!
Klara and her new hairbow!


Klara loves to wear my necklaces now! I always end up taking them off of me and putting them on her. What a girly girl!Klara and Macy "cuddling" on the couch.
My niece, Mara Ellen King
Klara and Macy playing in the sandbox

Florida

We had a great time in Florida this past week. It was Klara's first official trip to the beach. She loved every minute of it! She got to visit with her Grammy, Gramps, and Great-Mima from Guatemala. She has not seen them since last June. We did a lot while we were there! We of course went to the beach four days, went shopping with the family, and drove Patsy and Mima to the Miami airport. If you want to visit another country but do not want to leave our country, I would suggest going to the Miami airport or Miami in general. It is a world of its own!

Klara loved the beach! She sat in the sand for hours just throwing it everywhere and picking up shells. She even made a little friend on Thursday (Mikayla) who played with Klara all day long. My camera battery died that day so I do not have any pictures of them playing together. Klara was a little unsure about the waves and water until Mikayla got in. Then of course Klara wanted to do what Mikayla was doing! Alex played with her in the water for a little while. Klara's favorite thing at the beach was all the birds! She loved watching the birds and trying to chase them when they would get close to her. At one point an older couple sitting to our left started feeding the birds and about 100 birds showed up. Klara had a field day! The birds got a little too close to my baby for my comfort, but of course they did not bother her! Overall it was a great trip, and we look forward to returning to the Florida house in June! Yippee!


I love the beach!

Okay birds, back away from my baby!
Thank you Jeremiah for my beautiful pink bathing suit and my hat!
Daddy and Klara I am up to something sneaky! I am gonna get you, little birdie! I am just too cute!
Check out my beach hair!
I could sit here for hours! Hmm, I don't like the water yet! searching for Easter eggs
Grammy and Gramps! My Great-Mima

Baby Blues

My poor Klara has had the worst few days! It started out Friday around 10:30 when I noticed she had a slight fever. By 6:00 that evening her fever was at 102.5. Now I know doctors say not to worry over a 102 temperature, but I was about to freak out. I called every friend I had in the medical profession (thanks Karrie, Hollie, and Jennifer)! By 7:00 Klara was throwing up and having diarrhea (spelling?). Her fever would not go down, so we kept her in bed with us because I was afraid that she may be prone to febrile seizures like my sister's little girl. Luckily that did not occur. The next day she quit throwing up but the diarrhea and fever persisted. Her fever went up and down all day long and she just wanted to sit in my lap and suck her fingers. By Sunday her fever was still there, but it went down to about 99. So we took advantage of that and went outside for a few minutes. While we were outside, Klara fell down on the sidewalk and scraped her nose, forehead, and the underneath of her left eye. My poor baby! Plus she is teething!!!!!! Oh the pain! Then, to top things off, she woke up with a rash this morning (Tuesday) all over her stomach, back, and neck. We let her try a strawberry yesterday, so I am pretty sure this is what caused the rash. I just pray that the rest of the week is uneventful in the health department. At least her fever is finally gone!

Klara's 1st Birthday!!!!!!

March 18, 2009 was a terrific day! My baby turned 1. I cannot believe how the time has flown by! It just seems like yesterday that Alex was driving me to the hospital getting ready to start the biggest adventure of our lives! What a blessing our little Klara is! We started out her birthday by giving her the presents we bought for her. We bought her a push and ride toy and a ball with kittens (only because she would not leave the ball box at Toys R Us without one!). She played with those toys all morning long as Alex and I prepared the decorations and cupcakes for her party. Then at 5:30 her guests began arriving! She was a great little hostess and met them at the door! We had quite a crowd! Klara's guests included Mimi, Papaw, Uncle Wade and Ashley, Jennifer and Chad, Hollie/Casey/Sadie Gallaher, Jenn and Grace Custer, Ashley/Cole/Jeremiah Strong, and Janet and Gene. The babies all enjoyed playing on the floor while the adults ate and chatted. Finally the big moment came! We sang happy birthday to Klara and gave her the cupcake of her dreams! She loved it! She put the entire cupcake up to her face and ate every bit of it! My baby is a good eater. She then opened all her wonderful presents! Her friends are all very thoughtful! We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives! After everyone left, Klara played in the bathtub with some of her new toys. I could tell she was exhausted so we cut bathtime a little short, put on pjs, and went to bed. She fell fast asleep. What a big day for the little birthday girl! Thank you Jesus for such a blessed year! May we have soooooo many more to come!

I love my new toy!

I am dancing with excitement over my birthday!

My mommy loves me soooo much!
My daddy loves me soooooo much!

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me......

Mommy made me delicious cupcakes!

Yummy! This is fun!

Opening my gifts

Playing with Sadie, Jeremiah, and Grace

Fun Days!

Klara has had several special and fun days over the past few weeks that I have not written about yet. She went to her very first birthday party for her little friend Andrew. He was born exactly a week before Klara. I was unable to attend due to an unfortunate meeting with the stomach bug, but Alex took Klara for a father/daughter day. After the birthday party they went to Chattanooga where Klara proceded to push her own stroller around Hamilton Place. Alex said it was the cutest thing ever! Klara also got to spend some time playing outside last week on the pretty days. It was the first time that she got to walk down the road all by herself. She had a blast pushing her little push-toy. She doesn't know yet, but she is getting a new one for her birthday!!!!! We bought it for Klara during her first of many adventures to Toys R Us. She loved that place! She walked up and down the isles touching toys and pulling books off the bookshelves. She also pushed her own buggy. She was a joy to watch! I cannot believe my little baby will be one year old on Wednesday! What a blessing this year has been!

Klara enjoys the books at Toys R Us

Klara pushes her own buggy!playing outside

walking with daddy

playing with Jeremiah and Grace at Andew's party