Poisonous Flowers

So Little Miss has been obsessed with flowers lately. She calls them her "pretties." Up until now, I haven't paid much attention to the flowers she has been picking or putting in her mouth. 

So, after much stress from my mother, I decided to look up some poisonous flowers to be aware of. However, all the sites I found either had funky methods for showing you lists OR it would have the name without the photo. So here ya go, you're welcome. Here is a simple list of poisonous flowers I put together from pictures on the Internet. 

 

To the Fathers in my life- Happy Father's Day!

DEAR HUSBAND:

Even though we are far away from you on this special day, we are so proud of your hard work these last few months as you've been preparing to take the Dental Admissions Test. 

Thank you for being such a loving, caring, loyal, faithful, and FUN husband/daddy. Little Miss and I love having you around to make our day brighter. We are truly blessed to have you around and I pray that we never take you for granted. 

 Knowing that our children will grow up having such a fun, smart, and adventurous daddy has made my wildest dreams come true. 

Thank you for being my rock, for bringing laughter into our home, and providing for us while you continue your journey towards dentistry. I love you.

 

DEAR DAD:

Here's my shoutout to the best dad (and grandpa) I could ever ask for! I couldn't have made it through life without your encouragement, love, support, and sacrifice (not to mention the countless hours you've spent in the kitchen preparing fabulous meals for us, including your own Fathers Day dinner). 

You are truly a man worth celebrating. 

I'm grateful for the opportunity to spend this day with you. Watching you with your granddaughter makes me so happy. She loves you so much (hence why her favorite word to say is "Papa"). We both love you.

DEAR FATHER-IN-LAW:

Happy Fathers Day! Thank you for raising the perfect son I call my husband. 

I love seeing the way he looks up to you; when he learns something new and is excited to discuss the many topics involving how the world works. Thank you for passing down your "smarts" to him. 

Though you live far away, you've always made me feel welcome and apart of your family. Thank you for being a great father-in-law and grandpa. We love you. 

DEAR GRANDFATHERS: 

To the best grandpas I know, Happy Father's Day! You too deserve to be celebrated. 

I feel so blessed to be among the older grandchildren to watch your love grow for  your family as it had expanded. 

Living so close to both of you has been a special gift to me which has helped build a foundation of love and respect that lots of grandchildren don't have the opportunity to do. 

It has always been fun seeing you be such a great grandma, and now with Little Miss in our lives, you are even greater! Happy grandFather's Day to you!

Baby Girl's Birth Story

After a weekend full of spicy food, sleepless nights, and back massages, we woke up and walked around the block for the 100th time (I'll be honest, those walks together are my favorite memories of pregnancy; despite those painful Braxton Hicks). Just three days before Little Miss's grand arrival, the husband decides he's going to put in a new kitchen floor...Normally I'd be grateful for house updates...but the only thing this pregnant mama could think about was, "Why now? With our luck, the baby is going to come today and my parents stay with us in a house with an unfinished kitchen!" He promised he'd finish before the new addition to our family arrived (all I could do was awkwardly laugh and roll my eyes).

Anyways, a day and a half later, I was FINALLY having continuous contractions regardless if I was sitting, standing, walking, or lying on the couch. 10 minutes apart, 8 minutes apart, 6, 5, 4 minutes apart! By now the day had gone and it was close to midnight. Thinking this might just be what we have been waiting for; we packed our bags (for the second time). ... 8 minutes apart... Oh no that's not what we want. As my contractions slowed down just a bit, I decided to lie down and try to sleep (If your betting that Justin went into high gear putting in the kitchen floor boards at this time, you're right).

1:30am; I woke up in the most immense pain I have ever felt! Honey, get the car!! Originally I had planned on getting myself at least some-what decent before heading to the hospital. However, that was not happening. All I could think about was the continuous cycle of sharp cramps as I waited for Hubby to finish the last section of the floor.

Finally, we made it to the hospital. I can now check parking in front of the  "Expecting Mothers" sign off my to-do list. They informed us that I was dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced (I was quite proud considering four days earlier my doctor said I wasn't dilating or effaced at all). The nurse had us walk the halls for a half hour in hopes to speed up the process. I felt miserable (and if you’ve ever seen a pregnant woman in this situation, they are not happy campers and slower than turtles). I could barely breathe. Every contraction stopped me dead in my tracks. These contractions felt like menstrual cramps x1000 while at the same time dealing with chronic diarrhea... (well hello there pretty labor details).

Turns out I am a wimp and almost passed out in the hallway. Don't worry, I felt myself getting dizzy and had my man help me to the ground before everything went black. That cut our hall walking short but luckily it did the trick and the doctor said we could stay!

We waited until 4am to call my parents informing them that their granddaughter was on the way. When the nurse came in asking about the epidural, I was surprised it was offered so soon after my arrival. If I had known how long the preparation took to get the epidural, I wouldn’t have told the nurse to ask me later. I was quite nervous about the whole thing. I have read horror stories about things that could go wrong. I put my headphones in and turned up the volume (anything to take my mind off of the needle). In my opinion, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. The contractions prior to the epidural were much more painful than the actual shot. I immediately began feeling better (Hurray for modern medicine).

Things progressed quickly at that point. After breaking my water, the monitor indicated that I was contracting every 1.5 minutes. I couldn't feel a thing (Oh epidural how I love thee!!!).

However, I did lose all sensation in my legs which wasn't my favorite thing to experience. I kept picturing the Joker walking into my room wearing a nurse outfit while I lay there paralyzed. "Why so serious?"... Thankfully that didn't happen. But if it had, this baby’s daddy wouldn’t have known because he slept the whole time on the couch.

As the morning progressed, my nurse guessed that our little bundle of joy would arrive between 2pm and 4pm. I figured I could take it easy and closed my eyes for a few minutes. By 11:45am the nurse was surprised to see I had dilated quickly to a 9. The doctor was notified and before I knew it, it was time to push!

With only 12 or so pushes, our baby girl came into the world at 12:35 in the afternoon. She weighed a whopping 7lb 15oz and was 20in long (yep, this tiny body of mine gave birth to almost an 8lb baby! Be amazed)

In my opinion, the contractions I had while walking the hospital hallways were more painful than pushing (again, thank you drugs) but let's be honest, that was the scariest thing I have ever gone through. Here you are, last step before meeting the sweet spirit you've been fantasizing about over the last 40 weeks, life's about to change forever. And if that doesn't put you at the edge of your seat, your mind keeps racing in disbelief that a baby could possibly come out of you and you'll still be alive to tell the tail. 

But in the end, there she was. 

Sobbing tears of joy, holding our sweet baby girl for the first time, I was in heaven. Who cares that my epidural ran out right before the doctor arrived. Who cares if I had to endure every stitch after my episiotomy.  It was worth it!! SHE was worth it.

Welcome to the world Baby Girl. You are so loved already.

Happy Doughnut Day

Happy Doughnut Day! 

What an exciting holiday to have right when school ends and summer begins!! I'll be honest, I didn't know that National Doughnut Day was actually a thing until an article popped up on my Facebook feed saying Free Doughnuts. FREE! My favorite word in the English dictionary. 

Anyways, I immediately knew that an opportunity for free doughnuts couldn't be passed up. So I called up a great friend to join me. 

Holy huge lines! But totally worth it. Little Miss even counted as a customer; meaning 2 free doughnuts! 

Together, my friend and I had two babies on our hips and two chillins with their noses pressed up against the glass watching Krispy Kreme pastries being made right before their eyes (p.s. remind me to just bring the wipes and leave the diaper bag in the car).

 It was a little overwhelming. I've never been is such a crowded place without my husband. But we did it. We survived! And everyone left sticky and happy.