It doesn't SLEEP

Sierra has become a grumpy monster! She will not sleep at night, and even when she does, Jaymes doesn't sleep either and wakes her up. She seems to think she belongs in bed with ME and it is getting old. With the total lack of sleep in the past week, I've relented and she sleeps a few hours. Let's just say everyone is dead friggin tired. TIRED.

Sierra is a grouch all day, because she's TIRED. Jason is also a grouch. As am I. Jaymes is Jaymes. Sleep, oh how I miss you.

Christmas goodies!

In case you didn't think Sierra had enough baby dolls, she now has a bunch more. We got her a life sized one, and I put one of her own newborn outfits on it. Kinda cool, since I saved her teeny stuff, her baby has a big wardrobe! She also got two other babies from others, one being a small newborn baby type with a bed and blanket and the other being a toddler-baby that looks just like her, minus the hemmangeoma! It has 2 pairs of shoes and 2 outfits. I think MIL got that for her.

She got lots of cute clothes from MIL too, for once I think she listened to Jason and I because she got all the right sizes, and not too much was hideous. Her taste was pretty on par with my own.

Her favorite gift was the baby doll stroller I chose for her. She wheels her babies all around the house, all day long. Loves it. Soooo cute. She got a big, clear, water/glitter filled bounce ball too, and loves to play "catch" with me rolling it up and down the hall.

She doesn't sleep anymore. She is apparently tall enough to open her door now, so she comes out every hour or so. We put her back, she screams her head off and comes back out, and in the end no one gets any sleep. It really sucks, and she's not a happy camper during the day since she's not getting her sleep. I may give the pediatrician a call and see if he has any thoughts.

All in all, I'd say the little shoe diva had a good Xmas. Thankfully the disgusting drama unfolding in the "family" has not touched her like it has Jaymes, and she can remain blissfully unaware of anything bad on a special day like this one.

Posting FAIL

I know, I know. I suck. once the holiday garbage is done with, I will have more time for blogging. I'm very sorry for my inactivity!

Sierra remains adorable, but evil. She no longer sleeps at night. She screams out "dadddddyyyyy!" or else just whines. She stops the minute you let her out, she just wants to sleep with me. I'm not doing it- terrible habit. No children sleeping in my bed. No no no.

She's getting a little better. I've implemented the whole "ferberizing" thing. It works well. I'm cruel and heartless.

But it's either she sleeps, or... I mail her away to Abu Dhabi.

Baby alive?

Apparently my mother in law has gotten Sierra a Baby Alive doll. Supposedly it is a numbered one, out of 5000 ever made. I don't know the truth of that, I thought Baby Alive was pretty much a mass produced Walmart commercial baby doll.

My fear is that she got this toy at a garage sale. I'm ok with garage sale goodies, generally... However Baby Alive pees and poops (ew), meaning the inside of those things get kinda foul if not cleaed out regularly. I'm imagining gunky, mold filled orfices on this doll, and cringing at the thought.

I could be wrong, though, she just made it sound a lot like it came from a garage sale. We shall see.

Boycott Pee-Pee!

Sierra is making our nights suck. Seriously. at age 2, you'd think she could hold her pee-pee until at least early morning, or ignore it like she used to... She'll wake up at midnight, and at 4am. We've concluded that all it takes to satisfy her is a diaper change and a drink. Has to be both, not just one. She cannot tolerate being wet. We need to limit her liquid intake at night I guess, but she is always so thirsty!

I cannot get over how smart she is... It's so weird, having a Jaymes at 2 and having a Sierra at 2... Very very different. Polar opposite. Sierra understands "me", "you", "mine", "my", "yours". It's incredible. She asks questions "where baby go?" "Where Jaymes go?" and tell us what she wants...


On the bad news side of things, Echo the Chewer Dog had declared war on the Tiny Shoe Diva's shoe collection.

One pair brown and pink sparkley dress shoes- eaten.
One pair little green slip flops with flowers- eaten.
One pair blue fireworks sandals-eaten.
One pair pink winter boots- eaten.

I've moved them to a higher shelf, and given the Shoe Chewer a stern lecture.

Wow!

Apparently Sierra knows all her body part names. How do I miss these things?

Worried...

Sierra saw the Endocrinologist over at Baptist Hospital today... She had been referred because the pediatrician looked at her growth charts from a year ago and graphed the progression up to this year at her 2nd birthday, and she had not grown at all in weight or height.

Apparently bloodwork he did prior to this appointment came back strange, they didn't explain it well and kept asking me about glucose and diabetes and stuff and I was too frazzled to get an explanation.

Anyway they want to check her growth hormones and her water retaining hormones. They suggested that she could be a late bloomer, or that when she hit her head and her brain bled as a 3 month old, that it could have damaged the part of the brain that controls growth.

They took blood, urine, and an xray of her arm for whatever reason... She'll go back in 6 months, unless the tests show something bad and then she'll be back sooner.

I can't deal with two sick kids. She has to be ok, because I can't handle anything else on my plate anymore. I'm past my limit. I need a break.

Sierra loves babies!

She loves toy babies, real babies, pictures of babies, and videos of babies. Here, watch for yourself!

I know, I know

I'm bad about this blog. Jaymes' blog, like Jaymes himself, often overshadows all else. As I don't have a lot of time right now, I'll make a list of things Sierra does that knock the socks off me every time!

• Brings me the phone and says "Spongebob want mommy"
• Goes to Jaymes' door every morning when he is at school and asks "Where Jaymes go?"
• Has a huge vocabulary
• Knows how to use that vocabulary properly
• Looks desperately for Jaymes when he is gone, even though they fight like cats and dogs
• Chases down the cat while sweetly murmuring "Kit-ty, ki-ty" and yanking on her ears
• Runs to her bed at nap time, smiles up at me, and says "I yuv oo mommy"
• Says "Ni-ni"at bedtime

And a zillion other things. she's SO smart! It's amazing, You can actually have a conversation with her.

Lookie my octopus!

Halloween costume recycling at it's finest... How cute is she?!

Autism-Free Zone

Yep. This blog is an Autism-Free Zone. A place where I and everyone else can get away from the curse and the obsession. So I'm going to voice aloud (er, write.. um.. not aloud?) the thoughts I have so often, looking at Sierra.

My pregnancy with Sierra was hell. At 31 weeks I went into labor. Went to the hospital and got put on Magnesium, which the nurse warned me would make me feel awful. I had no clue. As soon as it started, I felt like I was burning to death, was thirsty beyond belief but not allowed to drink, and so weak I couldn't move my head. The shots of Terbutaline made it hard to breathe and I found myself gasping and crying hysterically while the doctor tried to calm me down.

They transferred me an hour away to Sarasota hospital, where they had a NICU. I got put in a back room, where they forgot about me for quite some time, until I was practically begging them to take out the goddamned catheter they hadmade me have for the ambulance ride there. They finally did that, set me up on a megnesium drip, and left for another 5 hours. Apparently they overdosed me on the magnesium, because for that 5 hours I could not lift my head, get up to go to the bathroom, and I threw up all over my pillow but had to lie in it.

It was not a fun week. Everyone was angry at me because after 3 days of magnesium, I could not take it any more, and told them to stop with it. They did the steroids and Terbutaline, and lectured me on how irresponsible I was being. But I couldn't take the pain and sickness anymore.

I cried all week, and laid there just suffering... Then finally got to come home, on strict bed rest. Obviously, this didn't work out, as Jason didn't understand bed rest, and I had to take care of Jaymes. Sierra was born a week later, at 33 weeks.

My mother in law took over half an hour to drive 5 minutes to watch Jaymes. We got to the hospital, they tried to give me more Terbutaline to stop the contractions, but it wasn't happening. They gave up, got me my Epidural, and left me be for awhile. Jaosn read his comic books and looked annoyed everytime I moaned through a contraction.

The epidural started to wear off. Something it had not done during Jaymes' birth. I begged the doctor and nurse to give me more quickly, but they said it was too late, it was time to push. So it was a natural birth, really. I felt every agonizing second of it. I cried like a baby, and cursed at the doctor. She finally had to yell at me to shut up and push, then later apologized for being too intense. I was glad she was though, I was panicked and needed that.

Jason screamed and cried the entire birth. It was weird and I wanted to slap him. I didn't even get to hold Sierra, they took her away and it was 6 hours till I could have her again.

Once I had her, I didn't give her up again. She slept with me, she snuggled with me, I buried my face in her sweet baby smelling hair. For some bizarre reason my mother in law took a photo of her pooping. It's a gross photo.

I was so scared when we got home, I thought she would stop breathing or something. Jason dropped me and her and Jaymes off and left to go set up a TV for his mother.. I was really nervous. But she was so good and sweet and quiet.

She's always been good. Trouble, but good. She amazes me every day with how fast she learns. All the things she says, the phrases she picks up, the way she plays with her baby doll. She's the smartest child I know... Having Sierra is like being a new parent all over again. So different from her brother. SO different.

She's picking up language so fast. She's surpassed Jaymes already, and she actually teaches him things. She plays make believe, she pretends to be mommy. When the wolf on my radio station howls, she knows to howl too. She knows every animal's name, and what they are. She bosses Jaymes around, tells me NO!, and brushes her hair. She sits on the potty. She helps clean up after Jaymes.

She is a little prodigy, in this house at least. Every miserable moment of that pregnancy was worth it and everything she does fills me with awe.

Stop squeezing the cat, Sierra! Seriously...

Sierra is becoming more and more antagonistic toward the cat. She means well, I think, but what cat likes to be tackled? Phoenix is not a football player, and would certainly prefer not to be treated as such. Sierra however, does not get this and will come barreling into the room, leap onto the couch with superbaby speed, and tackle the hapless cat napping on the pillow.

And then of course much chaos ensues. Screeching, giggles, a hiss. The hiss is always followed by a scream of utter shock, horror, and agony from Sierra. She has no clue why the mean ole cat scratched her. I mean, all she was doing was chewing on the cat's leg and trying to pull her tail off her rear end. What, 22 pounds of toddler on the 5 pound cat is too much?

Sierra disagrees.

Tangled Si-Si

If the blog name Tangled Me had not been taken, I might have had to delete this blog and start a new one under that name. Sierra had a tangling problem. Nope, no complex, tangled emotional issues. No tangled up finances, or relationships.

Her hair. She twirls it incessantly. She sucks her thumb and twirls her hair, and soon there are knots the size of my fist. And minutes after I spend allllll that time untangling the globs of hair, I pick her up and what do I find? MORE! The back of her head mats like a cocker spaniel. It's awful. I think it's the combination of curly hair, twirly fingers, and the stickiness of most everything Sierra eats.

Generally I can remove the knots with minimal hair loss, but so far I have had a couple knots that simply had to be cut out. If she continues this, she will be bald.

Icomb it out, use detangler.. and yet I cannot stop or prevent these knots of death. Poor Sierra may end up with a bowl cut. Now I understand why mothers do those horrible haircuts- to avoid this situation!

Her hair is sooooo pretty...

Jaymes isn't the only Problem Child

Sierra has some issues we need to address. Obviously, the first thing that comes to my mind is that unlike Jaymes, she has no excuse to behave poorly. But that's unfair. She has a bad role model in Jaymes, and she is younger. Jaymes isn't excused from behaving properly either.

Sierra, though, has been spoiled horribly. She's the delicate little girl, and she's a daddy's girl. I've done my share of spoiling, but Jason has really turned my little princess into a snotball. Some of the things were cute at first- toothless baby biting our hands and growling. Cute, funny. Not so much now that she has a mouth full of razor sharp fangs. She's got a real biting problem. If you aren't careful, you'll end up with her teeth sunk into whatever flesh is available. She bites HARD and it HURTS. Then she giggles.

She also hits and scratches. Daddy thought it would be funny to teach her to poke mommy with a stick too, so now she wails on me with pencils, the broom, her doll... It was cute for a brief time, now it just sucks.

She's definately shown us the mistakes we've made in our parenting, and now it's time to fix it. She's started to get a 1 minute time out for any hitting/biting/scratching/throwing things, and she is learning that if she throws her plate at the wall in a rage, she has to wait until her next meal to eat again. It's hard, putting our little princess through this, but she needs to stop this. It can only get worse if we ignore it, and it'll make her life and ours much harder.

On the other side of things... My god, that child is so smart. She talks SO much. She learned the word NO and loves to use it. She loves to yell out whatever she's heard us say recently "Bad baby! NO NO NO!" "I CiCi!" "JAAAYYYYYMES!"

When my radio station (93.1 The Wolf) plays their jingle, she knows right when to howl with it. She sings to some of the songs on the radio that have repetative parts. She takes her doll and pretends to feed her and change her diaper, and dress her.

It's amazing... It's like being a parent for the first time, because she is so very different from Jaymes. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to make Jaymes seem less special. He is wonderful in his own ways. But that belongs in DBTD, this is Sierra's blog!

Babydoll mania!

Sierra has a new obsession, second only to her extreme love of shoes. It is an obsession both Jason and I had hoped fervently to avoid, but it would seem we've been thwarted. Baby dolls. Creepy, lifeless little babies for other little babies to lug around.

Actually, I think it's adorable, to an extent. Jason, not so impressed.

I have to admit that I am continually amazed at Sierra's intelligence, and while she is really on the low-ish end of "normal", she often makes me say "my little prodigy!"

So, back to the babies. Sierra looooves them. She has two, one I got her last week that was dirt cheap and is creepy and poorly made. it's face creeps me out horribly. It had tiny feet and hands, not atb all proportional to it's body. It wears a sort of clown suit, in pinks and purples. It had a gnome type hat, but I got rid of it, because it made the entire look all the more disturbing.

The other baby I bought her today, because it was adorable and on sale super cheap from it's original $30. It's cute, anatomically appropriate (eyes and ears don't look like aliens), and came with a ton of cool accessories. Diaper bag, teething ring, pillow, little bed, teddy bear, hat, and bottle. Veru cute set.

Which baby does Sierra prefer? Take a guess?

Yeah. The creepy one. Of course.

However, she carries both around, and in the car does the annoying "throw baby down and scream till mommy picks it up" game. But the cuteness wins out, in the end. She snuggles Baby. She feeds baby the bottle, feeds baby her food, kisses baby. She puts her diapers and clothes and treasured shoes on baby, then shows me with a huge grin on her face.

Life with my little shoe diva is amazing. I love my Jaymes, but Sierra just amazes me a little more every day.

New blog in progress...

Sierra needs her own blog, it's rather unfair to expect her to share with Jaymes. She's ready to be in the spotlight!