The Fab Foxes

I mentioned in a previous post that in April I will go in to have a Fetal ECHO performed on our little one.  After scheduling the appointment I went to Facebook and expressed some concern about driving to the hospital, in Downtown Detroit, alone.  Now I don't want to give you the wrong idea about downtown Detroit, it's actually a really nice part of the city and of all the times I have been there I have never once felt any danger of any kind.  Driving downtown was not my concern, taking a wrong turn downtown and getting lost in a questionable neighborhood alone was my concern.  I get nervous anytime I am driving in a place which is unfamiliar to me and I am alone, doesn't matter if I'm in the nicest neighborhood or the worst neighborhood.  I remember times when I have had to drive Y to her dermatologist or her physical therapist when she had Torticollis, I sat in front of the computer screen staring at MapQuest for close to an hour just to make sure I knew where I was going, what streets I had to pass before I took any turn, landmarks, etc.  And then I made detailed notes about the drive - just in case.  I know that we should really invest in a GPS but I hesitate if it's really worth it because I rarely go anywhere without B and he is a human GPS.  But anyway, I've made my point, you can see that I was quite anxious about the whole situation.

Fast forward to today, while sitting in church talking about random stuff a friend approached and said to me, "I saw your post and I will drive you to the hospital."  Initially I thought I had heard wrong but I asked, "are you sure?" and she replied that she was and I was honestly surprised.  Not surprised that she would be kind enough to do that but surprised that with the heavy load she is carrying, as a result of the trial she is going through at the moment, that she would think of me and offer to drive me to the hospital in an effort to help me feel more comfortable with a situation.  I cannot express to you how moved and touched I was by the gesture.

Similarly, a few weeks ago when I was feeling under the weather, suffering from a horrible cold and just not feeling well at all.  I had been suffering from horrible headaches from the time I woke up in the morning until I went to bed.  I had no fever but whenever I ate I always felt like puking, though I never did.  And yet again I posted how I was feeling on Facebook and shortly thereafter I received a telephone call from another friend to ask if she could come pick up Y for a few hours just so I could get a little rest and not have to worry about having a toddler running around.  Yet another instance where I was amazed at the generosity and thoughtfulness of people.

As I cooked dinner tonight my mind kept drifting to these two awesome women and others just like them who regardless of what they may be going through at the time are willing to help others.  And I couldn't help but compare it to myself.  I have been in a bit of a rut myself as of late, mostly just missing family and old friends and wishing I could be with them more, it's not a major life trial but it has really been a huge struggle for me recently.  But unlike these women I never reached out to help someone else, I allowed myself to become so engrossed in my own feelings and emotional turmoil, if you will, that I didn't have time to notice the needs of others let alone offer to help them. 

I won't say that I never provide anyone with any sort of service, if someone calls me for help I will try my best to help them in anyway possible.  The difference I notice between myself and these women is that I tend to wait for someone to call me and ask me for my help, these women didn't wait for a call, they saw a way to make my life a little easier and they approached me with a solution.  That's the kind of servant I want to become.  We have been so blessed in our time in Michigan, we have had so many doors opened and while we don't have "everything" we definitely have the things that we need and we definitely have the potential to help others in various ways.  I truly believe "to whom much is given much is required" and I think it's past time that I start meeting those requirements.

Y has reached the stage where she is quite the comedian. She does and says the funniest things and I am loving every minute of it. Below are a few examples.

B and I have a stack of old cards that we really need to shred. They are all expired but some are old bank cards, some are restaurant loyalty cards, some are AAA cards, old drivers licenses; you get the picture I'm sure. Well a week or so ago Y discovered them and I was kinda surprised by what she did with them. After playing with them at the dinner table for a while she walks over to a door frame and where the metal catch is she takes the card and swipes it and proceeds to say, "that's $6.99."

On our coffee table in the living room we have these stackable frames. When all stacked together they form a 6"x8" rectangle. She will move them so that they are at the edge of the table and then bring her rocking chair up next to the table as if she is driving a car. She then proceeds to order a burger and fries as if she is sitting at the drive through. Occasionally she will even run to pick up one of the cards and act as if she is swiping it to pay for her food.

Many times while she is getting her hair combed she she likes to play with my iPod. Most recently she has really been into watching YouTube videos of various children's songs. Today she happened to be watching an Itsy Bitsy Spider video and I began to sing along with it. At that point she pulled away and turns around to look at me and then she said, "no mommy sing it!!!". I think I'm gonna write American Idol and suggest they add a certain 2 year old to their panel of judges.

Today was our 16 week appointment and it was awesome. My blood pressure was great, 126/81! My blood sugar levels were pretty decent. So much so that it is kinda leaving him unsure of whether he should order certain tests.

When we went in for our initial visit with him we discussed it and agreed that we'd treat me as a diabetic since one of the tests he ran before we were pregnant gave him cause for concern. One risk of being a type 2 diabetic and being pregnant is the increased risk of the baby having a heart condition and so a test called Fetal ECHO is typically ordered. That way if there is a heart problem the necessary plans can be made quickly after the child's birth to correct it if possible.  This is what has him a bit undecided on treatment; whether to order the test or not.  In the end it was decided that I should go and have the procedure which will be scheduled for sometime between 20 and 24 weeks.

So yeah that was pretty much the appointment in a nutshell.  And on March 23rd we'll have our ultrasound to find out what exactly I'm carrying in this belly of mine!!!!

Twin size bed...check.

Twin size mattress set...check.

Twin size bedding...check.

Twin size (waterproof) mattress protectors...

We're one step away from from having everything we need to set up Y's new big girl bed!  The original plan was to wait and set everything up until May or June.  Which was mainly why I wasn't in a huge rush to get the necessary materials to set it up (mattress, box spring, bedding, etc.)  However, we've been finding everything on sale so we've gone ahead and bought it all, much sooner than we anticipated.  It also means that we have no room for anything in our coat closet right now because it is housing a bed frame, bed rails, mattress, box spring and as of today, an entire bedding set - the consequence of not having a basement. 

I've already told you all about the bed which we purchased from JCPenney.com.  Well a few weeks ago we went to Art Van when they were having a mattress sell and got a pretty good deal on a really good mattress set.  (Note to self:  next time buy a bed that doesn't require a box spring, they drastically increase the price paid).  And tonight we bought  the bedding set at JCPenney.  I was looking for something in a polka dot print (big surprise) because I really wanted it to match the rest of the polka dottedness (no, that's not a real word) of the room.  Now the only thing left is to buy waterproof mattress protectors.  I figure we'll have to buy at least 2 but seeing as I know absolutely nothing about them, I'm trying to do some research and figure out what type/brand works the best.  So if any of you have any experience with a certain brand that has worked for you, please let me know.

But yeah, here's a picture of the bedding:

We didn't get the curtains or the pillow.  We did consider the pillow but they don't carry it in store and when we priced it online, they sell it for $20 and I am NOT paying $20 for a throw pillow!  I'll make a pillow before I pay $20 for one.

Since this blog is also a journal of sorts which will be printed and bound I will start to keep record of all those funny things Y says here.  I know that I will also likely post them to Facebook but well, I can't print Facebook!  So bear with me if you've already read this and if not, enjoy!

Yesterday while I was in the bedroom and B was sitting on the couch in the living room, Y climbs into the computer chair and I hear the mouse clicking.  B asks her what she's doing and Y replies, "I'm checking my Email."

The E-Trade baby's got nothing on my kid!

The majority of the time we celebrate Valentine's Day on Valentine's Day but this year we went against the grain.  V-Day fell on a Monday this year and well, who wants to celebrate on a Monday?!?  Plus it's also a fairly busy day for us, it's when we do our weekly grocery shopping and it's usually a pain to have to change that up. 

So it worked out perfectly that B's Aunt J. gave him tickets to a Piston's game for his 30th birthday, back in December.  The game was Friday, February 11th and so we decided we'd just celebrate V-Day on that day since we knew we'd be out anyway.  We decided that we were either going to go to Buca di Beppo or to On The Border.  I was in the mood for Italian and I love Buca's so we made a quick decision to go there but I figured that there would be no way that B and I would be able to agree on what to order.  (For those of you not familiar with Buca's it's a family-style restaurant where you order the food for the table.  So instead of each entree feeding a single person, when you order your food it's meant to serve 2-3 people or 5-6 people depending on the size you order.  It's great when you're going with a big group of people!)  So based on that we changed (at the very last minute) and decided to go to On The Border.  The entire night was awesome, with the exception of the game which was a complete blowout, and we loved getting out and not having to worry about what time we got home so that we could get the babysitter home before it was way late!

As for Y, the original plan was to have B's parents come over and watch her for the night but they ended up having other plans.  It actually worked out perfectly though!  A few weeks ago a friend called us and asked if we would watch their kids overnight while they just got away for a night to celebrate her husband's birthday.  We agreed but refused to let them pay us so they told us that we had to allow them to keep Y overnight sometime.  At the time I don't think we had any intention of actually taking them up on the offer but when B's parents were unable to come and watch Y, we had the perfect solution.  B actually didn't want to leave her overnight but after explaining to him that we likely wouldn't even get out of the game until 10PM or later and then having to navigate the parking lot...we knew it'd be super late before we'd be able to get to their house to pick her up.  So we agreed we'd let her stay overnight.  When we first made the decision I was super excited to have a "childless" night but as the day got closer the more nervous I became.  Not because I was worried about Y but because I didn't want her to wake in the middle of the night crying for us and then they end up losing sleep because of it. 

Long story short, she did great!  I had been pumping her up all week that she was gonna go and play with their 5 year old daughter again (she loved playing with her when we watched them overnight).  So when the day finally arrived she was excited to go.  I kissed her and hugged her and told her we would see her tomorrow and her only reply was, "bye mom."  She was ready for me to go!  Turns out she slept through the entire night, didn't cry once and when we arrived to pick her up on Saturday she did not want to leave!  In fact that was the only time she cried.  It was actually a relief that she did so well, so if need ever arises we know that she won't completely fall apart if we ever need to be apart from her overnight.



I came across this picture while searching for a picture about dreams.  I just thought it was hilarious!

 Everyone seems to say that when you're pregnant you can have some crazy dreams.  Well I must admit that I haven't had any TOTALLY bizarre dreams during either this pregnancy or the last but I have woken up a few times wondering "what the heck???"  So I'm not really sure sometimes what to think about them.  I do believe that at times dreams can be a sneak peek into the future and I also believe that many dreams have meaning.  With that being said I also must admit that I think some dreams are just that...dreams.  No meaning.  No purpose.  Just entertainment.

Anyway, here's the dream:

Y is two, almost two-and-a-half, and in my opinion that is far too early to be bogged down with issues of race and gender.  Apparently she agrees.  She has many dolls now.  Male dolls and female dolls, with a blend of different races.  Now maybe one day she will change her choice of descriptions for each of her dolls, but personally, I hope it never changes!  In fact, I wish the entire world would adapt her method of distinguishing people. 

You see, she doesn't see her dolls as black or white or Asian or brown and she definitely isn't concerned with what gender doll should be doing what.  Her method is simple.  A boy doll is a daddy.  A girl doll is a mommy.  As for race, well that's simple, each doll is the color of the shirt it is wearing!  She has some Fisher-Price Little People that are firefighters wearing blue shirts, their skin is white but they are the Blue Daddies.  She has a little dollhouse and though the color of the dolls skin is brown, they are the Green Daddy and the Pink Mommy.  And so it goes with all of her dolls and better yet it's moving to humans too!  This weekend both B and myself were wearing white t-shirts and so we became the White Daddy and the White Mommy. 

If only life could always be so clear and simple as when we are kids!  I realize it could get confusing fast, because there are only so many colors out there and people are bound to wear the same colors on any given day, but somehow, I think you understand exactly what I'm saying.