Snaggle tooth baby!

Annabelle decided to roll off a chair onto a tile floor after Thanksgiving lunch...result: chipped front tooth! Being a parent is seriously the most stressful thing ever! We have an appt with a pediatric dentist to get it checked out tomorrow. This girl is a mess!

This girl loves her Daddy!



I love her olive green eyes!



Last Friday, Annabelle and I went downtown before Ben got off work to walk around and play in a park really close to his office. It was such a beautiful night.

Mirabella V

This is the Mirabella V... it is AMAZING! It looks like any ordinary sailboat, right?!?! WRONG!!! I am slightly obsessed with it. It was in the Charleston City Marina for about a week and a half and just left yesterday. I saw it pulling out to the harbor and became even more amazed with it after seeing it in action. It looked smooth and sleek and awesome! It's valued at $90 million!!!!!!! In 2005, you could rent it for $250k for a week...one week! And who knows how much it costs to rent now. Just look at the website and be amazed! It makes the other yachts in the marina, which are really nice, look like nothing! It just puts them to shame really. I just wish I could see it with the sails up. I'm not even a boat person, but I love this thing!

What a week...

This was last week...
Sunday started the week off. Sunday morning Ben has church meetings, so it's just me and Annabelle trying to get ready and to church on time. Usually it's not a big deal. Annabelle and I got a shower, got out, and I waited about two minutes to take her upstairs (so she was without a diaper), go over to pick her up and what do I see? Of course...poop on my carpet where she was squatting down to read a book! Fabulous! After making sure she doesn't step in it or try to play with it, I get her dressed and then clean it up. Her dress was especially cute this day so I thought it would be super cute for her to wear some jewelry. I went to grab her bracelet and saw my baby ring. I thought, "how cute would that be? I wonder if it fits her." Luckily, it did! I was so excited. About 50 minutes into sacrament meeting, I look down at her hand and see that the ring is gone...devastated! It's my baby ring! My brother bought it for me! It's been a prized posession since I was a teenager. And now it's gone. I thought she might have eaten it, but after looking through multiple poops and almost throwing up multiple times, it is no where to be found.
Monday: we didn't even leave the house.
Tuesday: we didn't do much during the day, but ended up going to the Folly for the late afternoon. It was the perfect beach day. The weather was amazing!
Wednesday: Annabelle woke up with a super snotty nose...gross! And a bad cough and a slight fever...great! I call the pediatrician to set up an appt for the next day at 10am.  We had a great picnic lunch with Ben and one of his co-workers and his family downtown. Her fever gets worse as the day goes on. So, I call the pediatrician to see if there is anything that afternoon. Luckily, they were able to see us at 3:15. She has an ear infection and a sinus infection with sinus drainage that is causing her cough. It's a pretty bad cough, so I am thinking she has bronchitis, but the doctor didn't want to tell me that. Her cough is super bad in the mornings when she wakes up. Either way, she is on some antibiotics, and hopefully they make her feel much better.
Thursday: We didn't leave the house again, but Annabelle did not feel well, and would barely nap. 20 minutes here and there is horrible compared to the two hour naps in the morning and afternoon she usually sleeps. Thankfully, we made it through the day.
Friday wasn't been a lot of fun either. She still didn't feel well, barely napped that morning and only napped for an hour that afternoon. Better than nothing, but I just want my baby to feel better!!! I wish babies never got sick...that would be awesome! That night we went to Chapin where my parents' house is. The house is being sold on wednesday, so we have to move everything out. It really sucks.
Saturday was moving and packing all day. I had a headache all day and went to sleep around 8:30 after putting Annabelle down. I missed the big bondfire. We used to have the best bondfires at my parents' house. They were so fun.
Sunday was more packing, moving, and burning stuff. It's amazing how much stuff can be accumulated over 20+ years in the same house. We left for Charleston around 8pm. I hated to leave because there was so much stuff still to be moved and done, but Ben had to get back for work. Thankfully, my brother, sister and two of my dad's cousins were able to finish everything. And as of Wednesday, my childhood home will no longer belong to my family...but that's for another post.

Topsail Island, NC

We spent last week at North Topsail Beach, NC with some friends. We rented an oceanfront house and had a blast...as we do every year! With Hurricane Irene twirling in the ocean, we weren't sure if we were going to have a house or not. Thankfully, she decided to miss Topsail (although there was damage to parts of the area) and we were able to enjoy fabulous weather at the beach. Annabelle did not sleep well the whole week. I guess she knew there was a party going on and she wanted to be part of it. There is only one good thing about your baby waking up at the butt crack of dawn...sunrise pictures! She LOVES the beach, so instead of her playing around the house and waking everyone else up, we went to the beach and she had a blast. I would set her at the top of the beach and she would run down to the water...over and over again. She had fun!

I love her face in this one...pure joy!

This is our friends' baby, Eli. Look at that chub...he is so adorable! Annabelle loved squatting down and looking at him.

Thankfully, Ben was able to get a couple of days off from work/work remotely, and he was there Sunday-Tuesday. We definitely missed him when he left!

We always have such a fun time with the Gilreaths, Tuttles and Bargers. Even though we only see each other once or twice a year, whenever we get together it's like we have been hanging out constantly. I love it! Can't wait for next year!!!

About my little lady...

Annabelle cracks me up. She also amazes me. Today, we were just hanging around the house before her morning nap, and she found a bag that I had some of her cups and bowls in from the beach. She pulled out the top of the cup first and then the cup itself. She looked at it and then went to the refrigerator and stuck it under the water dispenser getting water on her and the floor. How did she know to stick it under the water spout and not the ice? I guess she does pay attention to me!!! :)

Then later today I opened the refrigerator to find a snack. As I was closing it, she climbed in, got on the step thing inside and found the bagels. She threw them on the floor and started "talking" to me. And then proceeded to shake her hands up and down and make noise while I put cream cheese on her bagel. That is on of her favorite snacks. I don't know why she likes it so much but she does. I think she gets it from my brother, David.

She also loves bath time. I think it's probably her favorite time of the day. She loves playing with all of her toys, splashing the water, squirting water from her toys, etc. She has fun and even tries to stay in when all the water has drained out.

Recently, everything has become a phone. She LOVES holding my cell phone, but she has figured out how to unlock it so I can't give it to her as often as I did before. But it doesn't matter what she has, she likes to hold it up to her ear like it is a phone. It doesn't matter if it is a toy car, a pumice stone, a box, etc. It's hilarious. Sometimes she even walks around holding the phone with her shoulder. She's too funny!

Funny girl

Annabelle is so funny these days! She definitely knows what she wants and lets you know. She is a really good eater...not surprised! And will eat most anything we give to her. If she finds something mixed in with food that she doesn't want, she has this crazy ability to only spit out that certain thing and then hands it to me. She never ceases to amaze me. She understands a lot of what we say. Sit down and get off the stairs are two that she hears pretty often. She still loves her rocking chair. She has two smaller ones that she is always climbing in. She is quite the climber. If there is a box, she is climbing on top of it. If there is a chair, she is going to sit in it. It's so funny.



She LOVES necklaces. I don't have a jewelry chest, and my necklaces used to be in a box on the floor. She found them and then put on every single one of them that would fit over her head. After she broke two of them, I decided to hang them up and purchase some just for her. We are both happy with that choice!


Annabelle was orignally wearing this necklace and then Ben put it on. Annabelle decided she wanted to wear it too. She's a mess!

She loves coloring. At first I put down a big posterboard and let her color that, but I got tired of cleaning crayon marks off the floor. I bought some sidewalk chalk and she is a big fan. It lets us get outside (which she loves) and I don't have to clean anything up...win/win situation!

She is such a cutie, and we are really enjoying her. She's my world!

It's about time...

I'm seriously such a slack blogger. I write all of these blog posts in my head and even think of the pictures I will put in the post, but I never actually get around to creating those blog entries. Maybe that makes me crazy?!?!?! If you ask Ben, he would definitely agree. He stated the other day that all women are crazy! haha!

Here is a snapshot of what we have been up to recently...

We went to my brother's house in Surfside to enjoy Memorial Day at the beach. This was Annabelle's first time to the beach this summer, and the first time she could really get into it. At first, she didn't want the sand to touch her feet. But then she warmed up to it and was trying to eat the sand by the end of it. Thankfully, she didn't try to eat too much and just enjoyed playing.

The next week, we MOVED!!!! Ben accepted a job in Charleston, and this is the house we are renting. It's perfect for us, and we are LOVING living 15 minutes from the beach! Yes, we have a guest room and we are definitely accepting visitors! :)

And since we live 15 minutes from the beach, it is definitely one of our favorite past times. Annabelle loves to play in the water now, loves picking up the seashells, and yesterday when we went, she was trying to chase down the seagulls. It's so fun!

Next we have Father's Day!

Annabelle and I got Ben a charcoal grill. Ben loves grilling, and he is always in charge of the grill whenever we go to my brother's house. Annabelle enjoyed helping Ben put it together and especially enjoyed playing with the cardboard. We grilled some delicious kabobs for dinner. I mean...delicious!!! I must say that I am also looking forward to having a grill, especially since Ben gets to cook with it! Yay! :)

I definitely missed my Dad this father's day. There was a golf tournament on and the gamecocks are playing in the college world series. I would have loved to hear what he had to say about that! He was the best, and we miss him soooo much!

And I should have put Annabelle's birthday party at the top. We had a fun time and a good turnout for her 1st birthday! She liked to eat the icing from her cake. It was cute! I can't believe she is so big now. It's crazy how much she has grown in a year. She used to be my little baby, but now she is big and walking and jabbering, and doing all kinds of stuff. The other day she was walking around making the "t" sound. It was so cute. She LOVES flipping pages in books and when I read to her. She is also quite a dancer when music is on and sometimes even when there is no music. The other night we went to a restaurant that had a guy playing live music and she was dancing!!! It was darling. She has 12 teeth and I believe she is cutting more right now. She has four in front on the top and the bottom and a molar on each side top and bottom. I can't believe she has BIG teeth. She seems way too little to have such big teeth. It makes me laugh when I hear friends saying their babies are just cutting their first teeth when they are like 10 months old. Ha, I wish! I have a little teeth monster on my hands!

So, that's us! Ben is enjoying his new job. We are blessed.

Kidney Scare

So, the day after I last posted, I took Annabelle to the doctor because she still had a fever of 102. They took her blood and told us to go straight to the hospital because her white blood count was 27000 and normal is somewhere between 5000-10000. Definitely not what I wanted to hear. We took her in, and after taking blood a couple of times and doing a urinalysis, it was determined she had a uti. BLAH!!!!!!! I didn't even know babies could get utis. I thought you had to have sex in order to get a uti...apparently not! We ended up spending four days in the hospital with her. It was miserable. While there, they did an ultrasound of her kidneys and saw that she has hydronephrosis on the left side, which means there is extra fluid in that kidney. She had to be on an anitbiotic for 10 days and then had to go in for a VCUG to determine if she had kidney reflux which can cause utis. Thankfully, that test was negative. So then she had to go see a urologist who scheduled a lasix renal scan. We had to have this test done in Columbia at the children's hospital in the nuclear medicine department. It was crazy! They had to inject her with this saline based radioactive material to watch her kidneys fill up and then empty and make sure that her kidneys work 50-50. It was rather fascinating to watch the screen of this stuff going through her kidneys. Thankfully, that test was negative as well!!! He said that she has physiological hydronephrosis, and her kidneys are 52-48, which is a variant of normal. And her kidneys look so good...pretty much perfect...so we don't have to go back unless she has more utis. Whew! Such a relief!!!!
Nothing can prepare you for your baby having to go in the hospital. This was actually her second time in the hospital. In December, she had a high fever and high white blood count, but she only had to stay one night. I broke down in the doctor's office when they said we had to go to the hospital then. Thankfully, I held myself together this time. The nurses at the doctor's office say she probably had a small uti in December that caused her fever, but her urinalysis and blood didn't show anything. Having a baby is craziness!!!! It's like a huge rollercoaster! Hopefully we won't have to go to the urologist again, and she will be just fine!

First stomach bug

After a super fun weekend in NC with friends celebrating birthdays and catching up, Monday morning Annabelle woke up with vomit all over herself. I thought it was because she might have eaten too much when I nursed her at 5am. After being thrown up on about 7 times during the day, I'm pretty sure it wasn't because she ate too much that morning. She was soooo pitiful! I mean break your heart want to take away every uncomfortable feeling away pitiful! I hate it! Thankfully it looks like it was just a 24 hour bug because she was fine on Tuesday. But today she woke up with a fever and has had one all day! There is nothing I hate worse than a sick baby! It's miserable for everyone involved. I'm just praying she wakes up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow morning! I want my happy, fast crawling baby back! I don't think I can handle another day in the rocking chair. I am hoping it is just teething. We've seen one tooth trying to come in and she keeps chewing and sucking on her fingers, which is odd for her. Yay for more teeth! She is so sweet and I just want her to feel well! She is ten and a half months old now. It's crazy to think that in just 6 weeks she will be a year old! She isn't a little baby anymore. It makes me sad! I certainly do not want to go back to the newborn days, but I just can't believe she is getting so big! She is super smart and I'm not really sure how she figures things out because I don't tell her or show her...she just does it. She LOVES standing up. As soon as I sit her down, she is crawling to the closest object she can pull up on so she can stand. And she is really good about squatting down to pick up something if she has dropped it. She constantly has something in both hands trying to crawl around. It is pretty funny to watch. Very recently, she was slowly "cruising" along the chair and couch. I have a feeling she'll be walking in no time. yikes!!! I'm planning her 1st birthday party which is kind of stressful! I think we are going to have it at the zoo here in Columbia. There is a picnic area where we can have cake, ice cream and presents and then of course the zoo has all kinds of activities! We'll see. I'm not set on it, but I think it is our number one option right now. I guess I should decide pretty quickly.

Perspective...

So, there is no doubt that it is extremely tough to lose both of your parents to cancer. Seeing my Dad's body deteriorate before my eyes sucks! But then I have to think...at least I have a Dad. Not only do I have a Dad, but he is an awesome Dad! He has taught me well, always been a great example of working hard and being honest, and cared for me and loved me my whole life. Just the other day I went to get my oil changed at a local car place here in town that my Dad's friend owns. I walked in to pick my car up and pay my bill and the guy behind the counter, who I had never seen before in my life, picks up my keys and lays my bill on the counter. I chuckled a little and asked, "how did you know who I was?" His response made my day...he said, "Well, a strong bull has good stock. Does that tell you?" I smiled and said, "Absolutely!" :)
And then I also think to myself...my trials today are absolutely nothing compared to what the people in Japan are handling right now, or orphans in Africa, or even a bunch of people here in the States. I still have a place to live, there is food in my refrigerator, clothes to wear, amazing support from friends (Thank you!!!), and a wonderful family...immediate and extended. I still say I cannot imagine going through this without my siblings. Thank goodness we have each other!
And for the happy news from my last post about the house...well, we can't get it anymore. Boo! We were pre-approved for a pretty big loan and then they sent it to corporate and corporate said Ben has to be employed for two years. So, we are putting that on the back burner and looking at rental property now. Whenever Ben told me, I just broke down...pulled the car into a parking lot and cried! I was soooo excited about this house. It was perfect for us right now, so I was definitely irritated, frustrated, bummed, etc. Thankfully, I have come to terms that it is ok that we won't buy a house right now. We can use the money that would have been the down payment to pay off student loans. Oh, how I love student loans. Or we can purchase another car since we only have one and Ben is driving his grandmother's minivan that probably won't be running in a few months. So, we'll just rent a house for a year or two and then buy and build or something! Everything happens for a reason, right???????????? Such is life!

Therapy...?

They say writing can be therapeutic...we'll see how this goes.

As my Dad nears the end of his life here on earth, I can't help but question why and what and how. Why did he have to get sick? Why does he have to die at a younger age? Why did he and my Mom have to die of cancer? Why does cancer exist? Why can't he be healed? Why does he have to suffer? Why can't he be here to see Annabelle walk and talk and run around? Why can't he be here to help me plant my garden at my first house? Why can't he be here to see my little boy (no, I am definitely not pregnant) in a few years and show him how to play golf? What is it that he needs to do in heaven that is so important right now? I lost my mother at 20, why do I have to lose my father at 25?

Obviously, I don't know the answers to any of these questions. I know Heavenly Father has a plan and I know everything happens for a reason, but sometimes I think Heavenly Father thinks I am stronger than I am. I may be an adult, but I still need my Daddy. I need to call him and talk to him and hear all of his funny sayings and stories and listen to him tell me about his golf outings. I need his hugs and kisses! He's the best!

And here is the Caring Bridge web site we have created for him. My brothers and I go on there to update how he is doing.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/drgeraldlong

Blah, anyways...I don't think writing is therapeutic. It just makes me cry more!

In happy news, our offer on a house has been accepted! Yay!!!!!!!! That's really all I know right now. We have to get it appraised and a survey done and the closing has to go through. We'll see, but still very exciting! Also, I am planning Annabelle's first birthday party! I'm pretty excited about it and we should definitely be in the house before her birthday! Yay!!! I can't believe she is getting so big. She crawls on her knees now and pulls up on everything. She'll stand in her pack and play (her crib is at our house and we are staying with my Dad for the time being) and scream for me to get her after she wakes up from naps. It's pretty dang cute! But this stage is a little nerve wracking because now she can hurt herself. She has bumped her head on chairs, tables and floors multiple times in the past week or two. Poor thing. Hopefully she will learn soon that you can't try to climb up everything. She is such a cutie! I just love her!

Sweet Baby!

I love this little girl!

Family life

This is my family! They are great people. Even though we are only able to get together once or twice a year, it's always fun! There is always something going on with one of us. Most people watch reality tv shows for entertainment, but I just need to talk to one of my siblings and I am set! There is no need for tv when you are a member of my family! This pictures was taken January 16, 2011, after Cassidy, my newest niece, was blessed and Xander, one of my nephews, was baptized and confirmed. It was a great day. We weren't originally planning on being together for such an occasion, but sometimes life brings you together when you don't expect it. My Dad was diagnosed with colon and liver cancer on Christmas Eve 2010. Originally, we were all going to be together for Christmas, but that didn't work out with my brother who lives in Brazil or my brother whose wife delivered Cassidy on Dec 12th. Thankfully, we were all able to get together in January! It was a great time, and it is always so fun seeing all of the cousins play with each other. They had a blast! At one time Elizabeth (10 yrs old) was playing with Isabella (5 yrs old) and it just killed me thinking about Annabelle being big and playing princess and dress up! So crazy!

Speaking of Annabelle, she is 8 months and 1 day old! She is quite the army crawler these days and I can't just put her down and walk away anymore because there is no telling where she will be when I come back for her. She's so cute and so sweet! Whenever I pick her up, she'll just nuzzle her head into my neck and Ben always says, "She doesn't do that to me whenever I hold her. I think she likes you better!" And I agree! ;) She can sit but she is still wobbly. I have no idea how much she weighs, but she already wears 12 months clothes and has been for a couple of months. At Old Navy, she wears 12-18 months. Crazy! She has 6 teeth...4 on top and 2 on the bottom. She is eating food...pretty much she gets some of whatever we eat except for meat. She loves fresh avocado and her strawberry-apple puffs. Everything she does is cute to me! I just love rocking her when she looks up at me and I smile at her and she smiles back. Or when I am rocking her and give her Eskimo kisses and she smiles so big! It's fun being her Mom! Tiring...but fun!

Ben's work is going well. We have been approved for a loan to buy a house!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!! FINALLY!!!! We have already found one that we like, so we'll see what happens. I'm excited because my Dad is going to move in with us. Since we found out he is, what he calls, "recovering from cellular malfunction" (he doesn't like the "c" word), he has quit working and Annabelle and I stay with him during the week. It's actually been really fun! I love my Daddy!

And now I can't think of anything else to write, so I'm going to sleep!