Easter 2011 and more blessings!

Hello friends I have been busy grinning my face off the last few days it's been a fabulous week after finding out our wonderful news about sweet baby Carys on Monday!!

Our Easter was a beautiful blessed day. We spent it with family and treasured up the memories of Carys' first Easter in our hearts forever! Let me just say when I called the doctor on Friday to see if we'd gotten Carys' test results and we hadn't I was upset thinking I'd spend my beautiful daughter's first Easter worrying over her instead of enjoying her. I got on my knees with God Friday night and asked him to block all thoughts of test results from my head until after Easter and you know what friends He did just that. I didn't for one second think about test results until I woke up Monday morning.

We started our Easter with 10:30 church service where our sweet girl got lots of love from all the church members. From there we headed back to our house for a delicious rib dinner complete with parmesan green beans, potato salad, fruit salad, and for dessert hummingbird cake made by yours truly the first cake I've made since before Carys was born.

Mr. A and I made Easter baskets for all the neices and nephews and of course made one for our sweet girl. The neices and nephews thoroughly enjoyed them I do believe.

Little Carys looked so sweet in her Easter dress and I cannot wait for Easter's to come for her.

Family Picture Easter 2011



Little Carys and her Easter basket with a few books, a bib, a lamb that played Jesus Loves Me and her first Bible.

Sweet girl in her Easter Best

Ok mom I'm about done taking pictures!

Ok NOW I'm really done! No More pictures please!!

her little lamb was almost as big as she is.

Carys and her cousin JT who is one month older to the day than she is :)

Oh and remember that perma grin that won't go away well it could also have something to do with the fact that tomorrow is my last day of full time employment!! I get to stay home with my girl although I'll be working part time teaching more cake decorating classes but no more 8-5 days! Yay! This momma's heart is rejoicing! We'll probably re-visit me working when Carys gets a little older but at least for a while I'll get to be with her. I am beyond thrilled and I thank God daily for this opportunity. Our God is AWESOME and he works in mysterious ways!! 

Later Alligators....

Mrs. A

PS for your enjoyment:

Hummingbird Cake Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 large eggs, beaten

1 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained

1 cup chopped pecans

2 cups chopped bananas

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup chopped pecans



Preparation

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; add eggs and oil, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. (Do not beat.) Stir in vanilla, pineapple, 1 cup pecans, and bananas.

Pour batter into three greased and floured 9-inch round cakepans. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

Spread Cream Cheese Frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake; sprinkle 1/2 cup chopped pecans on top. Store in refrigerator.

Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook, Southern Living

JANUARY 1999

Blessings!!

We had a beautiful first Easter as a family of three but more on that in another post later this evening. This one will be short and sweet. We got Carys' CT scan results back and her bump is not harmful to her in anyway, does not require any treatment and will possibly eventually go away on it's own. We are most assuredly BLESSED!! Thanks to everyone who prayed for our little girl I speak for all three of us when I say we are so grateful!!


Later Alligators...

Mrs. A

the post in which I whine about going back to work & other things

PSA: This post is nothing more than a gripe and whine session written by a teary eyed new mom who had to return to work this week if you don't want to read a lot of whining feel free to visit me another day.

Well it's Friday and that means a heck of a lot more to me this week than it has in a long time. You see I started back to work this week and it's been pretty much the week from Hades. There are numerous things about being back at work that I am not enjoying but the number one thing is having to leave my sweet baby at daycare for 8 hours a day. Talk about sucky! I knew that leaving Carys would be hard heck I cried leaving her with her daddy to go to Target for an hour, but I seriously felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest and stomped on.

I have literally bawled my eyes out all the way to work every single day uh so forget about wearing make up there's just no point, and then to make matters worse my well meaning co-workers will ask how she is doing and I will squeak out "she's fine" and look away before the tears start again. I have a picture on my desk of her but am thinking of removing it since looking at it always makes me tear up. To make things even more complicated I am pumping at work to keep my milk supply up and for Carys to have bottled breastmilk at daycare, the only way I can get my milk to let down is to look at pictures of my sweet baby and I even have a few videos so then I spend my entire pump time silently crying over missing my baby only to have to pull myself together to go back to my desk.

Pumping sucks plain and simple there is nothing that feels good about being strapped to a machine three times a day and that's not even mentioning my co-workers are not being very supportive about me needing to pump, I'm getting a lot of questions over how long I will need to keep up this schedule, and why am I  bothering breastfeeding and comments such as; I should just give my baby formula (There is nothing wrong with formula and until we got Carys' issues worked out she was getting formula and she still gets the occassional formula bottle at daycare if I can't pump enough to keep up with her I just have a desire to breastfeed), or even I should just give my baby cereal as early as possible to cut down on the need for breastmilk. I just smile and say uh huh while in my head thinking please don't tell me how to raise my baby. Working mothers have a tough road and if you get to stay at home I envy you, I want to be you but please don't judge me for having to work I am judged enough at work.

My heart is aching and I just want to be with my baby. Me thinks Mr. A and I have a big talk coming over how much my income is really needed or how we could at least get by on me just working part time.

Sorry this post is a big downer :( but it's how I am feeling and I never claimed to blog for any other reason than to express my feelings, thoughts, and ideas.

Later Alligators...

Mrs. A

A Test of Faith

Hello my sweet friends thank you all so much for your comments on my last two posts. Nursing is improving and I think we're finally sort of settling into a little routine. But I am facing the biggest challenge my faith has ever battled and I am calling out for prayers.

For you to really understand my battle let me back up to about a week ago. On Tuesday afternoon Carys and I were doing our usual afternoon routine of time on her play gym after her nap. It came time for a diaper change and I've been trying to get Carys to smile for me so I was blowing raspberries on her tummy and tickling her while I changed her. That's when I noticed something wasn't right I felt a lump. So I undressed her laid her back down on the changing mat and looked at her only to see a protruding lump on the left side of her chest near her rib cage. I freaked out then calmed myself down and called the pediatrician and explained what I had found and we went in to see her the next morning. Over the course of the evening my mind ran several scenarios but I was so sure that it was just something silly and the doctor would laugh at me for being the "paranoid new mommy", but that wasn't the case.

Upon examination of my sweet girl the doctor said words that made my stomach drop. "I don't know what it is, and I think we need to do an ultrasound"  so I waited for the nurse to call and we had the ultrasound at the hospital on Thursday. Having to hold down my baby girl while she cried and tried to scoot closer to me so the tech could get a good shot of her lump was ridiculously painful but I was hopeful that we would have answers afterwards. The next day which was Friday I broke down and  called the pediatricians office desperately hoping I wouldn't have to wait until Monday for answers only to be told I'd have to do just that. So I resigned myself to wait and this past weekend was very long and agonizing as my mind went to some dark places. I took solace in a great church service and amazing friends who have offered up so many prayers for my precious baby. Last night I started to get anxious knowing I'd hear something today and Carys must've felt it because we had a lot of difficulties nursing and she could only be consoled if her daddy was holding her.

I didn't have to wait long for the call from the pediatrician's office as it came in right around 9 AM shortly after I put Carys down for her morning nap. My hand shook as I answered the call hoping to hear the good news that it was simply something that would go away on it's own or that was easily manageable, but again my hopes were dashed. Instead I was told that the ultrasound was inconclusive and we would need to do a CT Scan to know what it was, I said OK and then the nurse said something that made humongous tears well up in my eyes, as I was thinking this isn't so bad the voice on the other end of the line so nonchalantly said "this will be done at Children's Hospital and she will have to be sedated for it". My precious baby girl that I would absolutely lay down my life for has to be sedated as tiny as she is.

I hung up the phone called Mr. A and immediately burst into tears I texted my girlfriends and asked for prayers and then tried to calm myself down before Carys woke up. The rest of the morning was a haze as I waited for the call to know when the scan would be scheduled. I got the call at 12:15 the scan will not be until April 19th.

That is two weeks from tomorrow. Two weeks of not knowing what this lump is, two weeks of my mind wandering to very very dark places, two weeks of praying and pleading with God to let this be just a nuisance we deal with and not something worse, two weeks of agonizing wait, two weeks for the fear over the appointment to continue to well up inside me, two weeks of horrible nightmares,  and two weeks of having my faith completely challenged more so than it has ever been in my entire life.

There is one comforting thing through all of this Carys doesn't seem to be affected in the least. The lump doesn't bother her, she is eating fine, she doesn't mind it being touched and prodded, she is sleeping fine, and she is having regular bowel movements and she is gaining weight. Right now that is my only peace.

Until Next Time....


Mrs. A