So much to do.

We've all been so busy lately with work and school and Maggie of course. She's no longer in daycare. It is a happy/sad kind of situation for me. I love the idea of her staying home with us instead of being in a daycare where I may not know what she does, what the other kids are doing, and exactly what she's learning. However, having her home takes away a little of our time for homework or house work. I haven't had a clean living room for more than 8 hours since she stopped going to daycare. Those 8 hours were the 8 hours she was asleep by the way. Isy and I have both just completed the first session of summer school and are preparing to start session 2 Thursday.
Maggie had to get her one year shots last week. She did so well. She recovered rather quickly from her 5 shots. She had to have her finger pricked to check her Iron and a couple other things. I wanted to cry. She only cried during the shots, but was quickly pacified by her cuddling with her daddy. Her iron was low but only two from normal. She's taking an iron supplement for that just to bring it back up to normal. The doctor also said he heard a heart murmur, so we have to go back Thursday to have that checked out again. If we hear it again, we will have to have test done. It's all going to be gravy though.

Maggie's 1st Birthday Party.

We had Maggie's party Sunday at the park in Grenada. It was great but we were also visited by some nasty heat that made it a little difficult to stay comfortable. She enjoyed herself and was completely worn out by the time it was over. Isy and I spent several hours making the cakes and they turned out wonderfully as you will get to see. She got to try some new flavors. She doesn't approve of mustard or mild salsa just yet. She took the bread out of her mouth and handed it back as soon as she got a taste. When she was done eating, She threw slung the food on the floor and then set the plate on the table. ( I want to know where she got this behavior from.) We put the cake in front of her and she gave us the funniest looks and acted like she didn't know what to do with it. Once she decided she want to reach for it, we couldn't let her or the photographers wouldn't be able to get any good pictures and we weren't done singing. She wasn't so sure about the song either until we said her name- then she smiled at us. She had the best time with her cake. My sister and dad would try to take her cake away and she'd quickly grab it with both hands and pull it towards her and glare at them. She loved her cake. She ate on it for a while before she decided to dig into and really tear it up. She got sleepy and started rubbing her eyes. It was awful trying to keep the cake out of her eyes. She went to go sit on my dad while I got her presents on the table for her to open and when he sat her on the table she threw a fit. She was so tired and didn't care to be put down. He finally got her stay there. She opened the three presents before crawling back into his lap and letting me open them all for her. She had a great time but was completely tired when it was all over. She slept the whole drive home and let me have the music as loud as I needed without any complaints.
Here are more pictures if you are interested in seeing the rest of them.

Happy Birthday Maggie

Yesterday Maggie turned ONE! What a milestone, after all, she survived a whole year with us for parents. I found my self reminiscing about the day of her birth every time I looked at the clock yesterday. I came to realize that I have no written recollection of her birth for her to possible read one day. This is where I bore you with the story of how she arrived.
Her due was June 1st. That day came and went. Finally the Friday before she was born I had my next to last prenatal visit. I was already 2cm and 70% effaced. We had scheduled her induction for the following Tuesday June 9th. Having read about how much more painful induced labor pains would be and the chances of that leading to a c-section, I was hopeful for her to come on her own. I prayed that I would go into labor on my own. After all, I wanted to try to birth her with out any pain medications if possible. Monday, I went for my last visit at 9 that morning. I hadn't dilated any more. Since June 1st I had been doing everything possible to make her come. I did jumping jacks, squats, walked a mile each day, and anything else I had ever heard had worked. I came home, or my home at that time, and took a nap- isn't that what every pregnant woman should be doing so close to time to give birth. I woke after a couple of hours with some back pain. It was very sporadic. I didn't think much of it until about four that afternoon when I realized it was happening every thirty minutes or so. I was so excited to know I was having labor pains. Isy wasn't scheduled to get off work for a couple more hours. I decided that I should call him just yet. What if they stopped? I'd feel stupid then. Isy was working in Cleveland at the time and we still lived in Grenada, so he was having to drive an hour back and forth. I'd hate for him to have left early for no reason. About 8 him and his parents arrive and I let everyone know that I'm having contractions. This continues and we go to bed. Well, I try to sleep as much as possible, but around 4am I'm having contractions every 5 minutes. I was to be induced in an hour at this point.
We go to the hospital hoping they'll cancel the induction, but that doesn't happen. I receive my first dose of pitocin. The pain gets amazingly worse. I get my first dose of pain medicine. I receive more doses and harder more painful contractions. I ask, no beg, for an epidural. I finally reach 4cm. Water finally breaks. Two tries on the epidural and it doesn't work. I suffer. The Dr. finally examines and says that he believes that I'm going to need a c-section, but we could wait an hour and see if things change first. I tell him that would be pointless. We start the preparation for surgery. Isy's dressed in his sexy OR scrubs while I get my spinal. Two of those and they also don't work. I'm getting put to sleep now. Isy will not be able to witness the birth of his child. I think this is the most heartbreaking thing for me. He's one of those father's that wanted to be there. I last remember seeing 1455 on the clock. I then remember waking and hearing some one telling Isy that I'm awake if he want's to come in. It was about 4:30. At 3:335 I had a 8lb 9oz, 20 1/2 in. baby removed from me. She was pretty and perfect.
It made all the moments of pain and awful nurses worth it.

Oh so busy.

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Summer school has started for Isy and I. I've began preparing for Maggie's birthday party. I can't believe she'll be a year old Wednesday.
She managed to start saying mama some. It's more exciting than I thought it would be. Now we'll have to work on dada. A couple weeks ago Isy and I took her to the park for the first time. She loved the swings. She was a little scared at first but eventually she began to love it as much as her mommy does.


For Memorial Day we went over to the Joy's house to hang out with them and some of the other youth kids and play some rock band. Despite the loud noises and big group of people, Maggie seemed to have a great time. She got lots of attention from some of the youth girls and even got to help daddy sing Twist and Shout. She was just the cutest thing. She'd pull the mic up to her face and make noises. I think she might be into music just like her daddy.