Preparing for the big day

Tomorrow is the big baked egg food challenge day for Callie. It's only been postponed since January which is unfortunate but it's finally time to get this over with. It's a really important test for her as she will be starting preschool hopefully next week and this will determine if she can eat at the table with the other kids or not. I am very hopeful that she will pass and that would make life so much easier for all of us. It would mean no more asking if every bread product is made with eggs and would mean she could eat pancakes and waffles at a restaurant. She could eat cake at birthday parties and cookies too! The biggest thing is to be able to sit and eat at the table at school without worrying she might get a cracker from another kid. This would mean she had her allergies down to nuts and blackberries only which would be such an improvement from where we were just over a year ago.

So today was a day of preparing to be at the hospital all day tomorrow. I made special muffins with eggs in them to bring and have been talking to Callie about what we are doing. She is smart enough to tell you now she can't eat eggs, Callie no eggs, mommy only, daddy only she will say. So I have been talking to her about how we will practice and try at te hospital with Dr Leonard and if she passes we can buy a special cake on Thursday. She is actually excited about this prospect even considering she knows she is going to the hospital. I asked her what we will do tomorrow and she said "go hospital eggs". Pretty impressive if you ask me that she grasps what we will do.

I am dreading being stuck at the hospital all day for the test but am gathering fun things to have while we are there. My coworker downloaded her favorite Disney movies for me so I could get them on my iPad. I think it will be a lifesaver to have videos to watch for a few hours while we just sit in a room. I'm also bringing stickers, play doh, markers, books and some small toys. I feel like I am preparing to be on the airplane with her again.

So wish us luck! It's going to be a long day no matter what but I just am hoping the end result is positive.

And for a laugh, I took this photo of Callie in the car wearing Juan's hat and being silly this weekend. It really captures her silly personality these days. Gotta love this kid!

Callie holds Baby Ford

Today I let Callie hold Baby Ford. She's been jealous of everyone holding him so I thought t would help her if she got a turn to hold him. She did such a good job and was pretty gentle for Callie. I was really proud of her and she was so excited! She even likes looking at the photos afterwards and talking about it so I know it meant a lot to her. I'm glad she enjoyed it so much and I know she'll be a big helper when Diego arrives.

Go UConn!!

Today Callie and I wore our UConn gear and watched them win in the final four!!

I tried I get a better photo but she wasn't cooperating. I'll get one for the final game!

Tonight we celebrated my birthday again with dinner and a movie. Callie and Juan came home with a surprise birthday cake, but Callie is terrible at keeping secrets. As soon as she walked in the door she was yelling mommy mommy cake and pointing at Juan. He tried to quiet her down but she was so excited about the cake. It was adorable! I couldn't help but smile and laugh at her.

We went to the movies after her bedtime and I remember why I don't do things like this normally when I'm so pregnant. I am so antsy, my feet were so swollen I had to take my shoes off and get my feet up on Juan. The movie was good though. Lesson learned, keep in mind that I am very pregnant when I make any plans that involve sitting for extended periods.

My birthday can officially be over now. It was a good week or so run of events which is impressive for a prego mommy ;) thanks for all the birthday love to all my family and friends who helped make it great. 30 is the new 20, but I feel more like 75 right now.

LT cardiology Update

This morning I took LT to the cardiologist. He was supposed to be seen sooner but since he had been doing well sinceast May I just never brought him in. Last May the vet said lifespan was likely a year. Well here we are, nearly a year later and still chugging along. On his medications he is essentially asymptomatic and has been doing really well. Our regular vet strongly encouraged I take him back to cardiology to ensure he doesn't need any medication changes that might further expand his lifespan. I decided to switch to UCDavis cardiology on the recommendation if a coworker and I am sure glad I did! The vet was fabulous and spent nearly an hour with us. LT still has congestive heart failure, that won't ever change and his condition isn't getting any better but it only got minimally worse. The average lifespan for a boston terrier with this severe of heart failure is 18 months and he has made it a year. The vet says to aim for 6 months and then see how he is. We are waiting for bloodwork to come back to ensure the rest of his organs are holding up to all the drugs and stress from the heart. While sad, it's really the best I could have hoped for. I know the severity of his condition and am just glad that he seems to still be enjoying his life in our family. Callie loves him dearly and I can't imagine having to help her through losing him but I know it will come sooner than later.

On a less depressing note, I went to the dentist today and brought Callie again. She was fabulous and sat on my lap and wasn't scared at all for nearly an hour. She is so smart and able to really understand the concept of what's going on. In hopeful that in another year she will actually let them clean her teeth. Dr Jim have her 2 toothbrushes! One that lights up and has a duck and glitter inside and one that suction cups to the mirror. Can't get much cooler toothbrushes than that.

Since she was so good I took her to the mall playground on the way home. She didn't get to play much on the playground as there were a lot of bigger kids being too rough :( so we focused on playing on the ride on vehicles and getting toys out of the gum ball machines. She just loves collecting these little balls of junk.

And somehow this Giant Mickey in her bed has been a miracle at night. She slept all night without making a peep last night and then tonight went right to bed without calling my name since Mickey was in her bed. I think I owe Sean a big thank you!!!

Giant Sized Mickey!

Everytime I complain about how horribly behaved Callie has been she turns it all around the next day. Yesterday she had time out for hitting and several meltdowns and then screamed at bedtime and throughout the night. I was exhausted today as was she because she spent half the night calling my name or crying. I gave in twice and went down to tell her enough yelling and go to bed.

Today when I went to pick her up after work she was all excited about her new toys. Sean bought her a GIANT Mickey Mouse and a new doll. Both were big winners with Callie as well as her brothers new toys. We let her play with them as we are trying to teach her share already so we said Diego would share with her.

Then her big successes were with the potty. She spent all afternoon in underpants and used the potty 3 times successfully! One time she went and used the potty all by herself then came to the other room to tell me, "potty self" for potty by myself. I was so proud of her! I was even proud she came to tell me. She got gummy bears and marshmellows and was quite proud of herself too. :)

Tonight we read the new Easter book that GiJu got her about Curious George and Easter... Twice! We had giant Mickey and Minnie with us too. And she went right to bed tonight.... With Mickey and Minnie in her bed too. It will be a bit crowded I think but if it makes her sleep better I'm all for it.

Lilo and Stitch

Callie fell in love with a new movie. This time it's Lilo and Stitch. She laughs so much at Stitch's antics and also awwws at the loving family parts. She wants to watch part of it every night. Look at her all snuggled up in her bean bag chair intently watching....

Besides Stitch at bedtime she has been really testing us with her behavior. Every night has been multiple attempts at putting her to bed yelling mommy mommy 50x until I come in. Then in the middle of the night she does the same thing and se doesn't need anything. Just to be covered, get a hug or kiss and she goes back to bed. Then she most recently realized if she yells at 5 am "change you!" I will come and change her diaper and snuggle her for 5 min. Will all this is exhausting and she is just manipulating. So enough is enough! Tonight starts returning to tough love. I told her that at bedtime no one was coming back and she had to sleep all night until the morning. She immediately tested us yelling mommy and daddy about 200x. It took 20 minutes before she stopped yelling and went to bed. Now I have to make it through the night without going down there. I might hear my name called another 100 times just as she tests me. Callie needs such firm rules for everything as she really looks for any inconsistency to take advantage of. Battle of who is the most stubborn!

Playing at the Park on April Fools

This afternoon I took Callie to play at the park. It was April Fools but no jokes for Callie :)

She is getting better about climbing and doing some of the playground activities safely without help. Hopefully soon she will be even better so I can sit on the side with baby Diego and watch her play.