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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

ICE Day at Home!

Brrrr, it is C.O.L.D.!!!!! Texans are just not cut out for these low temperatures...my toes cannot seem to get warm! But, one good thing about this weather is Bobby got to stay home from work today and we were so glad to have him home. Brenley and I did not have school either; however I was kinda looking forward to it, since we missed all last week. Oh well. We have enjoyed our day, but Brenley is trying to decide if she wants to be sick or not. It all started last night....

At 10:30 last night I realized we were down to 4 diapers and with the bad weather coming, I knew we would not want to get outside today, so I nervously told Bobby because he was sleeping on the couch (oops), but he was happy to go -- you know, anything for his little girl. So he went to the store and maybe a run by Whataburger (since it was 11pm by this time). Right before we were about to go to bed, I hear Brenley fussing/whining. I go in there and discovered something that I have been dreading as a mom since I had her...she threw up! My poor baby! So we quickly cleaned her up and stripped her bed down. Then everything settles and I am rocking her back to sleep, it happens AGAIN--all. over. me.! In fact I leaned her toward me because I would rather me, than the upholstered rocking chair! :) After that clean up she finally went to sleep (in the pack-n-play). She slept great and woke up happy and hungry! Yay!

However, today she took two 2 1/2 hour naps -- ya'll this is long for my baby. I am usually happy to get 1 - 1 1/2 hour each time. But she was happy and playful in between. When it was time for dinner she did not eat much and had a low tempurature. Soooo, I am not sure what is going on in that little body of hers. Hopefully with all the sleeping, she is fighting off something. If she wakes up with a fever, then we will call the Dr. I prayed hard for her tonight -- gotta get this girl well!!

Other than all that, we had a great, productive and relaxing, family day at home!


Our cute girls checking out the snow/ice/sleet -- whatever it was


This is pretty much what she did all day! :)

Friday, January 28, 2011

An EVENTFUL trip to Beaumont...

Kinda long, but had to document all of the details...

What a week this has been!! It all started last Friday--Brenley and I drove down to Beaumont to visit my parents, fun, right? Well it was not all fun, but it was eventful, to say the least. Bobby stayed back in Dallas because he is super busy at work. So Brenley and I left around 7:30 Friday morning. She acted great during the drive -- slept, ate a few snacks, played toys, etc. So we get there around 12:30 and eat some lunch at home with my mom. I noticed Brenley was not eating very much, which is odd for her, but didn't think too much of it. We also noticed a little later that she felt a little warm, so we took her temperature -- it was 100.5. Hmm...so we gave her some tylenol. She also had a little loose cough, which she had had for a few days, but no other symptoms, so there was not much the Dr or I could do at that time. So now, we have a cough, fever and lack of appetite all in the first few hours we are at my parents -- nice! BUT, she is acting completely normal and happy as can be!


So dinner rolls around and again she does not want anything I give her...hmmm! I decide to give her a bath and get her in her PJs. By the time this is all done we notice her breathing is very shallow and fast. This is what really concerned me. By this time it is about 6pm. I knew I would not sleep good knowing she was not breathing right, so we decided to take her to an urgent care facility. Of course, no one is really a fan of these places, but let me tell you, we get there around 6:45 and the place is completley empty -- no waiting! Praise the Lord! And on top of that, the staff is so nice and helpful! They get her in, check her breathing, ears, throat, etc and decide to take a chest xray.


The nurse practicioner comes and drops the bomb (in a nice, gentle way) that she has pneumonia and he recommends we take her to the ER to be admitted to the hospital...WHAT?!?! All at once the motherly emotions came out of no where and I started to cry. Thankfully my mom was there to console me! He shows us her xray and explained everything so great. Next they give her a steriod oral medicine and a breathing treatment! It was all happening so fast!

So I call Bobby and my most calm, yet urgent tone I tell him what is going on and try to keep him from freaking out. He tells me he has to let me go so he can start packing...and he got on the road at 9:30 to start his 5 hours drive (which really only took him about 4 :) ).


We head home to get a few things and make our way to the ER. After a little while in the ER we are taken back, checked out and sent to a room. It went downhill from there. My mom had been telling me, "you just tell me if you need to step out and I will stay with her"...I really didnt understand fully why I would want to step out, but when those nurses (plural) started HOLDING down my daughter to take blood and give her an IV (which took TWO tries), I looked at my mom, lost it and ran out in the hall to my dad! It was awful!!!!! After things settled, I went back in to hold my baby! She got an IV, blood drawn, got tested for RSV and got an oxygen mask put in her nose. She was so worn out from everything, plus it was probably 11:00pm by now.


We were then wheeled up to the Pediatric floor where we BOTH climbed into the hopsital CRIB bed and waited for "Dada" to get there. He finally arrived around 2:00am and my parents went home. She slept off and on, ON TOP of me that night and the next night. How can anyone sleep when nurses are bothering you every hour....boo!

Saturday was pretty low key in the room since she had to stay on the oxygen. We were able to take a few walks, but not for long. Saturday night was rough again. The tubes were on her nerves and MINE and she could not breathe through her nose. So I asked the nurse to do a nose suction -- "niave" me thought it would be that little blue bulb, but oh no, 3 nurses came in (at 4am!) and brought this big electric nose suction...we all held her down while they sucked everything, but her brain! It was so horrible, but it was so much better when they were done, she could BREATHE! Oh and her oxygen levels had been up so they had turned off her oxygen, but left the tubes in her nose (taped to her face) in case they needed to turn it back on, BUT this mama took matters into her own hands at a 3:30am I pulled that thing off of her face (nicely of course) because she COULD NOT sleep with it in. I did not even care if the nurses got mad -- but they didnt! :)

Sunday she was more alert and active and so glad to have those tubes out of her nose. So now we could walk around longer and play a little...yay! So we went on many walks around the pediatric floor! They also had a playroom, a wagon, and Barney DVDs...so those entertained us, I mean her, also. :)

By Monday, this girl was ready to be home. We were all tired of the IV and breathing treatmenst that she was having to get every 4 hours. I think I counted that she got about 16 treatments total. She was bouncing (literally) around in her bed! Thankfully we got released around 11:30am! We had some lunch and Bobby headed back to Dallas that afternoon. Brenley and I stayed in Beaumont until yesterday, to rest and actually visit my parents in a normal fashion for a few days.


We are home now and so glad to be in our own beds and back to NORMAL! It was a scary time and I am so glad it is over. I have not stopped kissing my girl since all of this happened. Makes me so THANKFUL for a healthy girl. We are off to get a follow up with our pediatrician this afternoon.


Here are a few pictures from our stay...



First night - she looks so pitiful


Saturday morning -- so glad to have Daddy there



Playing in her bed


Taking a walk around the hospital with the G-parents


Weee -- she loved the wagon!
Hi mom!
Daddy and her IV pole


More toys in bed


The nurse brought her a sucker...she still was not a fan of her though :)


WE ARE OUTTA HERE! (excuse the no makeup and Bobby's shaggy face -- we didnt really get dolled up in the hospital) :)

Thanks to all our family and friends for your prayers, thoughts, calls, texts, etc. The Soto family appreciates you so much! (and a SUPER DUPER thank you to my parents who sacrificed their whole weekend to spend it at the hospital with us. I could not have done it or handled it without you both!)

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Brenley's FIRST Birthday Party

I am so late posting about Brenley's first birthday party, but now that I am chasing around a 1 YEAR OLD, my blog is kinda being put on the back burner. But I HAVE to post these great pictures that Bobby's cousin, Taylor took for us so we could remember her big day! We had a blast and I think she did too! I could not have asked for a happier baby during her party! We are so grateful for the family and friends that came to help us celebrate!










































Our little one year old!


She loved her cake - one lick at a time :)



Happy Birthday my sweet girl! You are the joy of our lives!!


Just had to put this in here -- this our girl on the same day, one year ago!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

A Jolly Good Time - Christmas 2010

Whew, what an eventful, fun and busy couple of weeks this has been! Lots of family, fun, food and memories! Let's see if I can recap all that we did over Christmas...

Well in the week leading up to Christmas, Brenley got pink eye...yuck! And the sweet daughter that she is, decided to share it with me! And then, hers decided to flare back up again for a couple of days, but after a trip to the doctor and two perscriptions we have finally conquered the pink eye!

Here is my poor baby on day 2. It looks awful, but thankfully she ate well and still smiled!
The day before Christmas eve, my parents took Brenley to a little train in Cedar Hill. My dad, Bobby and myself decided to cram in there with her. :)

Then on Christmas Eve we all went to see ICE at the Gaylord Texan. Very cool and VERY COLD! EVERYTHING is carved out of ice. If you have never been, I recommend it, but bring gloves!

Brenley actually fell alseep while we were in the nine degree area!

They have ice slides too -- so fun!


Later that night we had Christmas with Bobby's family.
She was pretty good with tearing that paper!


Family pic -- excuse the no eye makeup -- still getting over the pink eye
Christmas morning we discovered Santa had come!

Brenley in her new rocker!


She loves DVDs, well, mainly just carrying them around :)

Later that afternoon we went to my Nanny's to celebrate with my side of the family
Getting some assistance from Nana-D


She loves her sock monkey!


Playing with the cousin's Toy Story figures


Her very own wagon!
Well I think that about sums it up! We had a great time and really enjoyed Daddy being home for 6 whole days!
So grateful for family and their love - we made some great memories this year!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

12 Months

ONE YEAR!! One full YEAR since this little girl changed my life! I cannot even wrap my head around the fact that it has been a year because it has flown by so fast, but on the other hand if I think back to certain memories, they seem like forever ago. Very strange. But the hospital, delivery and bringing her home are so fresh in my mind and I pray they never leave!

This year has been so fun, yet so hard...so rewarding, yet so challenging. I have learned so much about being UNselfish in the last year. It really is ALL about Brenley and her needs and that was hard for this Momma to learn. (i.e. I love my sleep!) But when I look at that sweet face and see those hands reach out for me, it is ALL SO WORTH IT! Ok, before I start crying, let's get to the fun stuff...here is what my "baby" is doing these days...

  • SHE IS WALKING! Early in the month she was just doing a few steps at a time, but over Thanksgiving she started toddling around everywhere. Not much crawling anymore for this gal!
  • She got two more TEETH! So she officially has 8 teeth now.
  • She said 2 WORDS-- "Dadu" = thank you (must be prompted and will only do occasionally), and "uh oh"
  • LOVES on her baby -- she will rock it, hug it and pat it. Funny thing is, we did not teach her how to do this. Love how the Lord instills this in little girls.
  • She has started HUGGING us when we pick her up and I love it.
  • Met SANTA for the second time (the first time she was just 5 days old) and was not scared! :)
  • She is drinking COW'S MILK and did great with the transition. She is also done with bottles and has moved to sippy cups only. She did this pretty much on her own.
  • She starting to take longer naps -- Thank you Lord. They will last 1 1/2- 2 hrs at home and she takes one in the morning and one in the afternoon. She is also sleeping about 11-12 hours a night!
  • She is eating pretty much everything, although she recently started spitting out vegetables. Might need to pull out some tricks!

Well I think that is about it. We are having so much fun with this little girl. She is the highlight of her Daddy's day! Can't wait to see what this next year holds!


P.S. We had her party and it was chaotic fun! Bobby's cousin took pictures of it, so once she sends them I will dedicate a whole post to her party!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Look at her go!

I can't believe it, but my little baby that I had just 11 SHORT months ago is walking around this house! And best of all she really started "taking off" over the Thanksgiving week while my parents were in town! So both grandparents got to see her new ackomplishment last week. So fun!

Here is a little video of the big girl!



On another note -- we started brushing Brenley's teeth last night. She currently has 6 teeth and 2 growing in..so it was time. She loved her toothpaste!




Serioulsy --is she growing up this fast!?!?

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a great time with family over the Thanksgiving week! My parents were able to come into town for a whole 8 1/2 days!! We filled it with DBU Homecoming events, a Turkey Trot, a trip to the Dr office for my Nanny who fell and hurt her knee, cooking, eating, more cooking and more eating! It was fun!

Brenley enjoyed her first Thanksgiving mainly because she could eat ALL that was made and she loved every bite!

We spent Thanksgiving day with Bobby's parents eating and playing games and then Friday was spent at my Nanny's house with my side of the family. So glad we were able to spend time with both sides. Here are just a few pictures of our Thanksgiving!


Shoveling it in at GiGi's

Gigi and Jualito


Nanna-D introduced Brenley to a new game at Nanny's house, but some how Mom was the one that picked it all up when she was done. Hmm..


Brenley's cousins LOVE her!


More shoveling at Nanny's house
I think she is all practiced and ready for Christmas dinner now! Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!