Sunday, October 11, 2009

We Have Moved!!!!

This will be the last post on this site. Please follow us to our new site www.ourberryvine.blogspot.com

It is a little sad to be saying goodbye to our cute little girl only site. As excited and ready as I am to expand our family to include Grayson, I sometimes worry how this change will affect my sweet little Ruth. As you can see in the picture above, her little cherub face just makes you want to smile back at her. I worry that this new addition will bring her feelings of being cast aside.

So as I invite you to the new site, it is with a note of reminiscence that we leave this site. Please join us and follow our Berry vine.

A Great Day to Be a Hog and a Hokie

A Hog, of course, is an Arkansas Razorback. I love my hogs, even when we lose, but what a joy it is to hoot and holler when we win. Brian was working the flu shot event at Target yesterday so Ruth and I got to watch the first half of the Razorback game by ourselves without having to flip the channel to see other games, namely the Virginia Tech game that was being played at the same time. The VT game was a blow out so even when Brian got home we got to watch the Hogs until it was time to leave for our joint birthday party.

Ruth finally called the hogs yesterday. For those of you too unfortunate to live in Arkansas or attend the University of Arkansas, calling the hogs is a time honored tradition. You begin by placing your arms above your head and wiggling your fingers (like spirit fingers) and saying a very loud "woooooo," then you pull both arms down as you shout "pig" and then throw one arm up and yell "sooie". Ruth would do the spirit finger and say "woooo" and would say "sooie" but wouldn't do the rest. Let's hope the hogs keep winning and by the end of the season I am sure she will have it.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

We Need a New Name

For the blog, that is. Everything cool (the berry vine and anything we can think of associated with play on the name berry) has been taken.

So we need your help. Only 54 more days before we will need a new blog address. So send in your suggestions!!!!!!!

Two Funny Stories

This morning was my doctor's visit. Nothing special. I am on the every two weeks visit now (but I did get the regular flu shot today).

All women who have been pregnant know that every time you go to the OB/GYN, no matter what, they want you to pee in a cup. Those people are fascinated by pee. Today I didn't think I could give them a "sample" (as they call it) and asked if I could wait until the end thinking maybe it would have time to build. Usually, Nurse Karen who thinks Ruth belongs to her holds Ruth for me so I can go in peace. But since I was giving them the "sample" at the end, Karen was involved with another patient. Ruth had to come in with me. No big deal. Ruth just has never seen me pee in a cup (well, not since she was in a car seat in the bathroom). After crying because I wouldn't let her color (I had to write my name on the cup after all), she observed the steps in peeing in a cup. We deposited the "sample" and left.

When we got home I promptly put her to nap eventhough it was only 9am. She went down without a fight (remember, we had a late night last night and she rose at the same early time this morning). When she got up from her nap, I had to go to the bathroom. Ruth took her normal position on her potty (with her clothes on) and then got up, got the cup we use for her bath off the bathtub, put it in the potty and then sat on it. I guess she figured this was the new way to use the bathroom.


Soon after we were having lunch. We usually make her stay in the high chair until we are finished eating. Ruth finished earlier than me, of course, and I was really too tired to fight her so I took off her tray and started to get her out so I could finish my lunch in peace. But Ruth reall just wanted to play with the straps that lock her in the chair. She was able to lock one side but not the other. She lifted her arms and said "dang" and then sighed and said, "pa-strated". This means, of course, frustrated. I have started saying that I am frustrated rather than mad because that is usually the case. I thought it was funny that Ruth said it for the first time in context and so calmly and matter-of-fact.

On the 54th day from now, Grayson will be here!

Our First Emergency Room Visit

Today is Ruth's 19 month birthday. And we celebrated the end of her 18th month with a three hour tour of the Northside-Cherokee Emergency Room.


Let me set the stage. Ruth doesn't like vegetables. But last night she ate a good amount of black eyed peas. And a little bit of carrot. Very few noodles. And almost no chicken. Brian and I had chili. Brian and Ruth finished dinner early so I retired to the living room to watch some news with my remaining chili while Brian cleaned Ruth up and gave her the liquid Tri-Vi-Sol with Iron vitamins she takes. As soon as my bottom hit the couch, I heard the coughing.

But this wasn't normal coughing. This was choking. And the worse choking ever. As I walked in to the kitchen I could see Ruth's face as Brian took her out of the high chair in the dining room. She was red and coughing but obviously gasping for air and looked scared. Brian was remaining calm but I could see the look on his face: fear. She threw up the contents of her dinner on his shirt (so much for vegetables) and on herself. She was crying but still didn't sound right. We stripped her and Brian's shirt and washed her off a little. She wouldn't drink water and wouldn't take a paci. We finally got her calmed down and the two of them cuddled in the rocking chair looking so much like they did when Brian would hold her when she was a little bitty baby - both bare chested (or "naken" as Ruth likes to say). Ruth sounded like Lou Rawls when she talked, had a bad cough and still sounded a little wheezy when she breathed. A quick call to the nurse line confirmed that we needed to take her to the hospital. They said we didn't have to take her to the children's hospital in Atlanta (thank goodness) so we went to our little local one here.

Ruth is fine. During our three hour tour Ruth was checked over and had her first chest x-ray (I couldn't go because of being pregnant) but Brian said she did great. She was sounding much better by the time we came home (the two crying fits helped clean her out). The x-ray revealed that her lungs were clear. She sounded congested this morning but is sleeping great now. We didn't get home until almost 10pm and then she was up at normal time this morning at 6am. I had my doctor's appointment at 8:30 but Ruth went down without a fight at 9:15 and is still asleep. Let's home for a nice long nap so she can recover.

Not that I am a fan of the proposed national health care plan at all, but I did think last night how lucky we are to have good insurance and for Brian to have a good job that we were able to get care for our baby girl. So many other families would have been so stressed financially by the emergency visit. We were able to pay the co-insurance without worry. Most of you who read this blog are probably in the same situation we are in - insured with good coverage. But how many aren't? Socialized medicine is not the answer. But what is?

Friday, October 2, 2009

We are Okay!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. With all the rain, appointments and grading papers, I haven't had the time or energy to post. Brian's parents are going to be here soon and we plan to take Ruth to the zoo tomorrow.

I will try to post next week.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Game Day

Football season can be so crushing. Yesterday, during Brian's afternoon Virginia Tech game, he was frustrated and disappointed during most of the game until the last two minutes when VT pulled out a win. I was excited most of the first quarter, scared the second quarter, hopeful the third quarter, and sleeping and then ticked the fourth quarter. And that, folks, is college football.

As I update this blog, all three of us are in bed. Ruth is sitting on Brian's stomach singing and bouncing. Poor Brian is trying to sleep. We have decided to stay home from Sunday school and only go to church today. Brian is too tired and I, frankly, don't want to hear people who didn't even go to Georgia go on and on about how great they are (when we all know that Georgia is overrated).

But I digress.

I thought it would be fun to see pictures of Ruth and Brian from GAME DAY (it is in all caps because it is the first game of each season) from this year and the last year. How Ruth has changed.


The game heats up against Alabama.
Things are looking good at this moment.


Look how little Ruth looks in Daddy's lap last year!!!! Ruth and I took a nap during the second half of this game.

This is still her favorite seat in the house.