My little flower

It seems like every time I turn around here lately, I'm thinking this about Payton. She is constantly changing and each day is becoming her own little self..... Its like watching a beautiful flower bloom.

 Having the girls as close as they are, its easy to get caught up in them being the same, liking the same things, wanting to wear the same clothes... etc. Simply, just as life goes, she has always mimicked her big sister and been the "shadow."... and I think a smidgen of me was a little concerned that she wasn't gonna be her own self.... if that makes sense. Payton just has that personality, like her mama, of slipping into the background and going with the flow of life without having a say so in much. Shy, quiet, introvert.

I'm getting to a point where I am catching myself only asking Madelynn's opinion on a matter.... like which plate do you want?? What do you wanna wear?? eat?? drink?? Now I'm trying extra hard to let Payton get her say so in the matter and its just been plain 'ol pleasant to watch her become this pretty little independent girl.

I think Madelyn going to school and Payton getting her own time has been good for her. Even though she misses her sister dearly, I see that good things are coming from this for Payton as well as Madelynn. she's always got her own opinion, and I'm glad to see her speaking up and making her voice known. She's learning new things and is slowly but surely learning her colors. I just love her squeaky little voice and everything about her!!

Sooo I guess this is a rather monumental thing for me, seeing my little girl going away from the way I am... cuz honestly, I wouldn't wish an extremely shy introvert on anyone! I've prayed that my kids would be the opposite of me cuz the way I am is a daily battle for me. I am constantly working on myself and working through "issues" I have as an extreme introvert. Yes, God made me the way I am. No, I'm not "dissing" myself. I've accepted who I am. I love me for me. and that's that! We all have our "hangups" and thats mine. 

P.S.... She has the most awesome bed head EVER!!!!!!

"2"

We celebrated our last big HOORAH for the year.

Whew...

July/August feels like a non stop party!!!

I am most definitely the outcast of the fam being born in Oct and all.... what were my parents thinking?!?!

Now we live another year and do it all again. I kinda feel like the Repeat button is being held down and I just have to keep doing what I've already done. I was kinda sorta (for just a few seconds) thinking I might would rather have had triplets and got everyhting done at 1 time. Rather then repeating the "terrible twos" for 3 years. Know what I mean?? or Potty training for 3 years in a row... like lets just get 'er done ALL AT ONCE! I hope that "repeat" feeling might go away once Stetson starts school and we've done the last repeat of first day of Kindergarten.

Payton, Payton, Payton... where to begin?!?!

She is a special little girl. She either loves you, or she doesn't. Its black or white. Although the average person probably couldn't understand her, she fully communicates with you. Seems since she has been fluently talking, she has been happier and the insane fit throwing has stopped.

We had planned to go to Chuck-E-Cheese for her birthday... then like 2 days before, Nat suggested we just go to Angelo for her B-day cuz we hadn't been in a really long time.... Of course, Mrs. Random.. being married to Mr. Random, agreed... then I decided lets go to good 'ol Mr. Gattis'!!! So we did! It was a lot of fun and definitely a great idea! The kids had a blast!!!

** Pardon the horribleness of the pictures... I cannot for the life of me take a decent picture in the not so good lighting... and I can't stand "flash" pictures... so bear with them.

bubba thought them smashing the gators was soo funny. He just laughed and laughed.

It was fun to watch Stetson take in all the new-ness. At first he was very cautious of everything, then after it wore of, he just had a good time!

Of course, Nat would get the bonus. Lucky duck.

It was a good day!

If you've been reading long enough, you probably know a thing or 2 about Payton's accident prone-ness right?? Like, if somethings gonna happen. It will indeed happen to her. Sickness', ER visits. Dr. visits. blah blah blah.... ya, so it should come to you as no shock, that we spent part of her birthday in the Urgent Care Clinic.

Shocker, right?!?!

Friday evening we were eating dinner at my parents house and I looked across the living room to see my little Payton's arm to be way swollen. After an initial evaluation, we just figured it was a mosquito bite... she has always had a bad reaction to them, and this looked no different than usual. Then it (redness and swelling) proceeded to spread up and down her arm. So we gave her some benadryl and the next morning it was about the same. so we proceeded with our the birthday plans... and after we left Gatti's, we decided it was definitely just getting worse so we decided to take her in. We definitely think it is a spider bite... but what kind?? Who knows. You can see 2 little fang marks on the bite.

First day: it was just swollen and oozing around the bite. Normal for her with just a mosquito bite.

Second day: spread all up and down her arm. Took her to the Dr. and got some antibiotics, benadryl, and caladryl.

after a good dose of all 3.... Day 3: minimal swelling, redness is almost all gone and she is a lot more comfortable.

Poor thing.

Happy 2nd Birthday to the Little Princess. Love you so much miss P.... Even though you cause me so much heartache... I couldn't imagine our life without you and your spunky little self. You saved me the dramatic delivery.... only to give me your dramatic life. :) You rock cuz you potty trained yourself... and for that I owe you my life. ;) Keep on being you, babygirl.... cuz you're awesome!!!

...and kinda cute.

The Heartbreaker.

I know I've told you all about her... the one who flew down the slide and busted her lip good enough to make a trip to the ER. The one who, when she was 3 months old, spiked a fever so high that she had to be hospitalized ... where we found out she had Kidney Reflux... where she has now put mounds and mounds of heartache on us with the torture she has been put through testing for this, and testing for that. The pretty little girl who trips and falls 32 times a day. The one who walks around with bruises on her noggin and bruises on her body. The one who makes my heart beat 10 times faster when I see her running cuz I know there's an 80% chance its gonna end bad. The one who runs into walls, chairs and doors.

Ok, know who I'm talkin about?? If you've been following my blog you know I'm talking about my Payton Elizabeth.

The precious little angel girl has been at it again, and we have now officially checked ER visit #2 off the list. My baby girl woke up soooo hot ...so I got some tylenol in her and the fever went down. Nat, our 2 other babies and my 2 youngest sisters went to breakfast at Ihop and I got to stay in bed with Payton all morning. It was very pleasant. :) We fell asleep together and I awoke to fire in my arms. Of course, thats a rude awakening to anyone.... but especially when its your baby. So I jumped outta bed, took her temp with an ear thermometer.... and it wasn't too high... but kinda high... then the instinct kicked in and I just knew that wasn't right so I took it rectally and sure enough it was flying higher and higher.... and my stomach turned. Once it hit 104.5 I just ran to the bath tub and threw her in the cool water....

do you know how torturous it is to have fever and not be covered up to you neck in blankets?? Well how bout being naked then thrown into the tub full of cool water. blech. I can't even stand to think about it. It pretty much broke my heart into a billion pieces and as tears rolled down my face, I splashed my baby girl with cold water. .. all the while my stomach is turning and turning... praying that her fever would go way down.... and it didn't

I called Nat and told him to get home cuz I felt like we needed to go ahead and take her to the ER.

I've always thought parents take their kids to the ER waaaay to soon before trying to tend to them at home so I've always been really cautious when deciding whether or not to go. (obviously) we've always tended to things at home with the kids but with Payton and her Kidney Reflux, I wanted to get her there to be checked out so we could rule out kidney and UTI's

About 3 hours later, after being roomed with a nauseated woman who vomited approximately 10 times while we were there. The torture of yet another catheter for urine. Payton mocking the poor lady vomiting. Payton laughing every time the poor lady vomited. Payton s c r e a m i n g through the process of anyone laying a finger on her we found out that the urine was normal, perfect.... just what we wanted . Woo Hoo! Then the Dr attempted for the second time to look in her mouth, and wouldn't ya know, her tonsils are super swollen and red. So we left with Tonsillitis!

You would have never known it, nor would you know it right now. I honestly didn't believe the guy when we left... but I looked for myself and sure 'nuff its true!

We left at ease and so grateful we weren't gonna get into anything with her reflux. Only by alternating tylenol and motrin have we been able to kept the fever down so now were PRAYING no one else gets this junk!!

The process.

Madelynn just started actually going potty on her own... like a month ago. She's just now been able to get on the potty by herself. That was another reason I wasn't ready to start potty training Payton, because I wanted to enjoy not living in the bathroom for 4 seconds before I had to start the process over again.

So, as you can imagine my shock as my 22 month old baby girl potty trained herself, I was just as equally shocked when the little monkey girl climbed up on the toilet no problem and did her business. Oh yes, she did! I'm a pretty proud mama!

Anyways, this is the process of her getting on the toilet, with all the time it takes her to get on the pot, I'm surprised that she can hold her pee when she's that close to the toilet....

success!

Whoopdy doo!!

So If there were an award for 'Person who's gone through the most MacBook chargers' I'm pretty sure that I would win!! Not even kidding.... just oredered #6. There's something about it that makes my children want to put it directly into their mouth... and the second that little white magnetic thing goes in the mouth. It stops working. Its pretty stupid and quite possibly a turn off to me on the whole Apple thing. I just think that's a little unnecesarry and something could be done to fix that about those dang things..... But seriously, what do I know?!?!

So, needless to say, I am without a computer... again...

We have something really. really. REALLY exciting going on in the Rose household. (NO... NOT PREGNANT.) It starts with a P... and ends with an -OTTY followed by training. Or rather.. She's already got it down like she's been doin it for 5 years now so there is no "training" going on. For a few weeks now we have battled with Payton over her taking her diaper off constantly. I kinda dabbled in the Potty training pool on and off in those weeks... but not 100% jumped in and ready to tackle that monsterous task. After my last experience PT Madelynn I've been pretty scared to start over again with Payton...

The other morning, she woke up, took her diaper off (As she does every morning) and told me she needed to go potty. So I took her, and she said "its comin, mama" I thought she was just being cute and pretending to be like her sister... but much to my dismay she went! and I had a heart attack... cuz as you may remember with Madelynn that didn't happen till like week 2.

.... and that's how its been since that morning. She comes and tells me she needs to go potty and we go... like its nothin. Its pretty awesome and REALLY exciting for me cuz Lord knows I needed a few more years before I attempt potty training again. She's even gone potty all on her own 3 times now! :):):) She doesn't have the #2 thing down yet and has had a couple accidents in that dept... but seriously, I couldn't ask any more from her!!

2 things.

I know I already posted today... but I, for some strange reason, just don't know what to do with myself when my kids are in bed and my hunny is still working.... which seems to be a lot here lately. So I thought I would write down a few things that I've had in the back of my head and need to write down.

Ever since Madelynn was a wee little baby, I've always gotten bottles ready for the night and brought them to my side table that way it would be easy, quick and with the least amount of walking-while-sleeping going on as possible......

and I just wanted to remember that two nights ago was the last night that I took a bottle to my bedside table for my little man. Because he is officially sleeping through the night!! It was a little bittersweet. Ever since I got that book I told you about.. I've been taking in, and savoring the lasts... especially since there's a pretty good chance he's the last of all my lasts. Hence the reason I'm blogging about something that might seem silly to someone else.

Another things thats been on my mind: I still find myself wondering when Madelynn actually talked. Had conversations, told us what she wanted, and what she didn't want. I know jibber jabber happens, but I'm talking like really talking.... and I think its safe to say that my Payton, at 21 months, is there! She's conversing with us, and with her sissy. Of course, the average person probably still couldn't understand her.. but we can! and its been neat to watch her make that transition from jibber jabber to actual conversing.

P

Payton Elizabeth.

I know I've said it before, but there's somethin special bout that girl. Nat and I often find ourselves sitting back and watching her as we shake our heads in amazement... wondering what were to do with this girl, and how we'll ever keep her safe enough to make it to her wedding day. We often joke about wrapping her in bubble wrap.

She's clumsy, trips over thin air approximately 6 times a day.

She runs into walls, tables and doors approximately 7 times a day.

She's a MESS when she eats.

She licks a battery, gets a little shock from it... and licks it again.

She's a daredevil... and pretty much has shown us no fear.

She loves to be NAKED and runs around diaper-less about 50% of the day... she just won't keep it on!

She loves life and takes it head on... and she scares us.

I, having stayed by her side pretty much 24/7 since the day she was born, have slowly become immune to her getting hurt. I know that sounds horrible, awful, and mean... but she gets hurt so many times in a day that half the time I don't even run to her side any more when I hear her cry. Horrible. I know, I even hate to admit that... but it is that bad and happens that many times a day!!

oh but I love her.

Good day gone bad.

I have been waiting, praying, and hoping for a nice warmish day so that we can get out and go to the park. So when I took the trash out this morning and felt how wonderfully pleasant it was a got all kinds of excited cuz today would FINALLY be the day we would get to go to the park. So I came in and starting the hour long process of getting the 4 of us ready, I even took the time to pack a little picnic for the girls. I was sooo excited that the day had come. So off we went to the park. Madelynn was soooo excited and just couldn't stop talking about going and playing at the park. Got Stetson in the stroller and grabbed the diaper bag (not sure why I did cuz I never would have... but later so thankful that I did) and we were off. The girls were bein all sorts of cute walking up to the park.

They really love to hold hands. They initiate it quite often without any of us saying a word and it melts my heart every time!! When we pray at meals, and before bed, P is always reaching for her sissy's hand. Its so sweet.

Anyways, back to the story, so I finally get Stetson situated in the stroller where I can see him and follow the girls around and help them... and take pictures... cuz I just don't seem to have enough on my computer.

Madelynn's all the way at the highest point of the play area and she's just laughin and giggling with excitement.

Payton is kinda staying lower, close to me. Then I mutter the words that I soon regret. I asked the girls to go down these double slides together. (The end of the slide wasn't your average height. I'm not a short gal, and I'd say it was probably up to my hip. On a regualr slide you have to bend over to catch your child, this one there probably would be no need!) So Payton stopped and looked up at her sister, waiting for her to come slide. Just as soon as she turns back towards me, she slips and lands flat on her back and goes flying down the slide. I mean flying like someone had waxed it or something. So fast that I was standing just to the side of the slide and before I could even process what was happening, and go catch her fall, she was down the slide, and her body went completely horizontal (up in the air) to where she was laying on her tummy... and thats just how she landed, flat on her face. My immediate thought was -Oh my, this isn't going to be a good outcome-. A tad scared of what I might pick my daughter up and see, I grabbed her and immediately blood was everywhere! All over me, all over her shirt, so I run over to the diaper bag and get some wipes and she immediately bleeds through one. I try to stop the bleeding as best I can to see what happened. Then I realize she has bit through her lip a tad and I start to panic. Here I am, at the park all alone with my 3 kids, and my child is bleeding like crazy.... As my mind is running a million miles an hour trying to figure out what to do I remembered I had got my sister-in-law's phone number out of Nat's phone just the other day. So I called her and asked her to call one of her daughters to come help me. Payton finally stopped bleeding, and I got everything loaded up then I ran the kids over to their cousin's house house, and hurried to the ER with Payton. She finally got all calmed down and I could see that from the park, to the ER, the gash had closed up tremendously and I felt so much better. They checked her out and decided it would do more harm than healing to stitch it, so just let it heal itself. I was so grateful!! I was not looking forward to that if it were to need to be done. Her nose was swollen and bloody, she has a pretty good size gash on the inside of her bottom lip, and a smaller one on the outside, her frenulum was busted, a cut between her nose and lip and a scraped up chin and nose.

This was her at the ER.

We picked up the other 2 munchkins and I dropped them off at home with Nat so I could run to the Post Office real quick and when I got home, this is what Payton was doing:

I was really worried about her eating and drinking so I was really relieved to see her eating! Cleaning her up was a different story. :)

By that night, she was already looking a ton better

only my Payton...

Good news!

Payton had her appointment today. ... but before we saw the urologist, she had to hae a VCUG done which was absolutely HORRIBLE for Payton and for me. I told Nat that he was holding her down this time cuz I already had my chance the first time around. it was horrifying... I just stood over in the distance fighting back the tears... at one point she was desperately reaching for me and saying mama... when I walked over I pretty much lost it. She was crying and fighting so hard she bit her lip and it started bleeding. Sickening to have to watch my sweet baby girl go through that.

The procedure was pretty quick and once they were done, they needed Payton to empty her bladder so they could get an x-ray of her bladder empty. So when they were all done, the Doctor asked me if I could go "talk" to her and get her to pee (keep in mind that she is 15 months old)... and I (and later found out that Nat thought the same thing) totally thought he was joking and kinda laughed it off.... Then the Dr. stood there staring at me and said, "NOW, can you go do it right now".... I walked over and we went on and on trying to get Payton to pee, meanwhile she is screaming and fighting still... and Nat and I are both sitting there like ok.... really... these people are IDIOTS if they think were gonna convince our 15 month old to pee. So after he left, the 2 nurses (both mine and Nat's age) stood there and stood there waiting for Payton to pee. The female nurse proceeded to ask me if Payton pottied on the potty at home and told me I could take her to the bathroom if need be. Ok, first of all, I'm her mother and If I knew of a way to get my child to pee for you, Im dang sure gonna try that first.... and second of all if I had my 15 month old potty trained, she would not be wearing a diaper. Inside I was in awe that the doctor and both nurses had absolutely no clue about this... I know some people are oblivious to that kinda stuff, but if your working in a profession like that, shouldn't you know a teeny tiny bit about children. I don't know, maybe I was grouchy towards them or something.

ANYWAYS... now that thats outta the way here's what the urologist said: Her reflux is not better, but not worse. Praise God! So in other words, no need to schedule surgery now and we'll continue to go back every year for the VCUG to check the status over the year. Her reflux is still at a 4 and has a 20% chance of healing itself. BUT, I still know this BIG Guy that can 100% heal it AND THEN SOME!! He said as long as nothing happens over the year, as it hasn't this year, we can keep putting of correcting it for a few years, that way to get her body, and body parts grown and easier, and safer to operate on. So keep on prayin!!!!!!!

15 months

I just realized I never posted about Pete's (as Madelynn calls her???) 15 month check a couple weeks ago. Oh how I love that girl. She is at that stage in life where she's not yet a 2 year old, but she's a sweet, precious little angel before the "terrible 2's" hit. Know what I'm talkin about?? We were a tad concerned about her weight loss. She was 20 lbs and the Doctor said not to be concerned about it because she was active.. so that was a relief. She is still so little compared to what she's been her whole life!

We were also concerned about the fact that she just plain 'ol doesn't talk! She barely started saying mama like a month ago and never said dada or anything! Little by little since that appointment, she has been talking like crazy!! Isn't that just about right?? Your concerned about something going on with your kid and 2 seconds after you take them to the doctor you just laugh at the fact that you thought there was something wrong.

So she now says:

mama

dada

bubba

maaaa (madelynn)

eshhh (bless you)

Hi

bye bye

dog

wuff wuff

duck

cack cak

horsh

(knows where and says) eyes

nose

mouth

ears

hair

please

thank you

nigh nigh (as she lays her head down and closes her eyes.)

sheeeesh (cheese)

She still gets pretty frustrated when she wants something but can't say it so that causes all sorts of whining battles trying to figure out what she wants. The biggest being when she is hungry, or thirsty.. but were working through them and teaching her.

She loves Madelynn to death and can't stand to be apart from her. They love to wrestle and be rough with each other and they just laugh and laugh together.

I think I've said it before, but she LOVES to dance. That girl can hear a beat 10 miles away and she'll start dancin. I've been trying to get a video if it but can't ever mange to. I got this little bit the other night, not that she is getting into it as much as usual, but the foot tappin business was crackin me up.....and just to clear a few things up, there is indeed a butt shot in the video, and YES I let my children crawl on the furniture. You try to stop a monkey from climbing. :)