Can You Really See the Light at the End of the Tunnel??

...when people say that, do they really mean it? Or are they simply trying their hand at some sort of self preservation...just trying to hold on to the thought of that light at the end of the tunnel, to get through the really messy, unfun part.

I am determined to keep this blog about positivity and all things Stella, which I can say, are usually fun and smiley and nothing but optimistic, because when I look at her, I see only happiness and many, many months and years of blessings ahead of us. But we can only be perfect and happy a certain percentage of the time...so I'll just ask for prayers. Please pray that this difficult time we are going through eases up and that with God's help, we'll be directed on the path he chooses. Another good idea would be to pray for understanding...to let go of the things we cannot change and to change the things we can.

In other news, Stella is a sick baby! The ped said she has a virus, but unfortunately we cannot tell from the blood test what kind. Stella hasn't been quite herself these last few days and I haven't really known what to do. She hasn't been running a fever but I could tell she doesn't feel good. She was a lot more fussy than she's ever been, which is very out of character for her. We've been on rice cereal for a week or 2 now, so I know she's getting enough food, along with nursing, except for these last 72 hours where she just hasn't nursed for her usual amount of time. After 2 days of straight fussing, I scooped up Stella in a rush to go to the doctor, without an appointment. I was just at my wits end...I knew something was wrong with her...I couldn't be imagining it. 

While I cried and explained the symptoms she'd had and then apologized for crying, the nurse kindly asked if I'd been getting enough sleep...what is enough sleep these days?? Really? I really didn't know how to answer that. We go back to Stella and they checked her out and said she didn't have thrush (one of the symptoms I noted was a whitish color to her upper back gums and roof of her mouth - but the ped said that was normal coloring for a baby) or a fever or an earache.

After talking with the ped a bit more and explaining that her hunger tapered off a bit (even though she tipped the scaled at 15lbs 7 oz!!!) and she hadn't gone to the bathroom in 6 days, she decided to order a blood test to rule out an infection. So my poor baby had to get stuck:( It was just as bad as a shot:( The tests came back within minutes and it showed that she definitely had a virus. The ped told me that she most likely hasn't been running a fever because she was breastfed versus formula fed. You see, she is definitely sick and more than likely has body aches and head aches and maybe even a sore throat, but the usual tell tale sign of a sick baby is fever and crankiness. Babies who are breastfed tend to fight of fevers more than formula fed babies, so she was very happy I brought her in rather than blame her crankiness on teething or a growth spurt. The ped said my breast milk was probably the reason she WASN'T running a fever, which made me feel great about our decision to continue nursing indefinitely!

So I'm giving her .8ml of Tylenol every 4 hours as needed and will watch her over the next few days. The ped said with a viral infection, you can't really do anything except keep her chocked full of fluids - antibiotics only work with bacterial infections. So here's hoping that Stella gets to feeling much better soon! I'll leave you with this pretty precious picture...it was taken today at 21 weeks, 1 day old sharing a smile for mommy even though she felt pretty rotten!

We Found Out We Were Pregnant a Year Ago!

...a year ago this past Thursday!!! We can't believe it's already been a year since our lives were totally changed for good:) This collage shows Matt's birthday gift that kept on giving and giving! You see, we found out we were pregnant the day after Matt's 30th birthday, October 8th - a day we will never forget! Like I said on Facebook...last year for his birthday I gave Matt a big ole fat positive pregnancy test. This year - Mellow Mushroom pizza. Way to live up to the curve! Happy Birthday to my best friend! I love you!!

...and now we have THIS sweet thing as a daily birthday gift...I mean, could she be any cuter?

 

Sweet thing fell asleep in her swing with her pacimal juuuuust barely in her mouth!

 

Here we are enjoying the festivities of the Light the Night Walk in New Orleans!

 

We are just so stinking blessed to have Stella, even though the time is FLYING by! We can't believe in 3 short weeks she'll be 5 months old....it's truly crazy. At her recent 4 month appointment she weighed 13lbs, 13oz and measured 24 1/2 inches tall. She is right on target with her developmental goals, though she hasn't mastered tummy time yet:( Maybe I'm a bad mommy...but she just doesn't like it. I try and try and the kid doesn't do it for more than 5 minutes without getting upset and smooshing her face into the ground. Well, at least we get in 5 minutes of practice every now and then, plus her practice at daycare!

The pediatrician gave us the green light for baby food but also said if we weren't ready we could continue to nurse her exclusively and not introduce baby food until 6 months. She said to watch Stella and as soon as Stella pays attention to us eating, she's ready to try it herself. I may have caught her eying a bite of my super over the last few days....but I'm not jumping up to buy a box of rice cereal and a baby bowl just yet. We'll wait and see with the baby food. Neither Matt nor I are really ready for that!

We Met Our Goal for Light the Nigh Fundraiser for LLS!!!

Here we are at this past Friday's Light the Nigh Walk in NOLA - and guess what...we got a T-SHIRT for meeting our goal of raising $100 - we are "Champions for Cures"!! Thank you to everyone who donated - I walked in memory of Jennifer Steckler, a family friend who lost her battle with leukemia while Matt and I were on our honeymoon and in honor of my childhood bestie, Sophie, whom Stella is partially named after (she is Sophie Estelle and Stella is Estelle Anderson) who is a leukemia survivor.

Matt and I joined the team somewhat last minute. My sis Mary Catherine is team captain AND works for LLS (Leukemia & Lymphoma Society). The team is Life of Brian, made up of Mr. Brian O'Neil's wife and family, neighborhood friends of MC and David. Mr. Brian lost his battle to cancer in 08 and the team has been walking in his honor every year. We were so excited to join the team this year and look forward to walking at many more Light the Night events! Our team is so so close to reaching our team goal of $5000 - we are currently at $4475! I am still fundraising until I meet my 2nd goal - $200. You can help me reach my goal by just donating a few dollars here http://pages.lightthenight.org/msla/NOrleans10/CDevereaux. Even though the walk is over, we can still raise money!

We had such a great time last night - and may I mention that this was no physical/excercising fundraiser...this was a New Orleans type walk where everyone ate heavily and played around prior to the walk. We mosied, really:) But it was great fun. Everyone held balloons lit from the inside and walked around the lake at Lafreniere Park - at the end, they all released the balloons simultaneously...I say "they" because we didn't get to participate. Stella had other plans, which included freaking out, eating and sleeping, so we let our little balloons go on the walk to the car - it was still special to us!

Thanks for letting us join the team, guys! We'll definitely be back again next year!

Love to Look at Houses

Matt and I are looking at this house today...to purchase. What in the world are we thinking? The whole thing has to be renovated BIG TIME. However...they are pretty much giving the house away in an estate sale...oh, the joys of our crazy life!!!