To All Moms

This Mother's Day made me feel close to my fellow ladies. I think only a mother can truly understand how other moms feel and I think this day is a great way for women to connect. I felt touched by the little things I found other women in my life doing. It started with Morgan's daycare provider having Morgan make a card for me and giving me a potted flowering plant and balloon. I even had a stranger tell me Happy Mother's Day when they saw me with my little one. What topped if off was when my neighbor, who has 3 little boys, gave me a plate of cupcakes.

These small gestures made me feel great! I wish women looked out for each other like this every day. What a powerful thing that would be! Daniel did lots of sweet things like having Morgan draw me a picture, he made me breakfast and we spent a great day at the park. I wish I could have gotten pictures because Daniel and I realized this was our first park trip since Morgan really started walking. We truly enjoyed ourselves and can't wait until next time.

After Daniel left for work I remembered that I didn't have any pictures from last Mother's Day and that we still hadn't taken one from today. The below picture is my attempt at taking one of us. It didn't work out too well but I didn't have time to keep trying.

Of course the best part of my day was this little girl.

The best gift she gave me was the fact that she kept walking up to me and getting my attention by saying, "Mom." When I'd look at her she'd pucker up and lean forward, letting me know she wanted a kiss. I absolutely LOVE when she does this. There's no better feeling!

Whenever I sit on the couch, she crawls up and sits with me. Today she kept poking her eye and saying "eye." I'm happy she added a word to her vocabulary today. She also kept perfecting her "thank you" throughout the day.

I hope everyone had an amazing Mother's Day!

Nana and Papa Visit

The weekend before Mother's Day weekend, my parents came down for a visit. I feel very fortunate that I'm able to spend time with the family. We always have a great time and I love getting to see Morgan with her Nana, Papa, Aunt Dusty and Cousin Chase. Morgan got some much needed Papa bonding time.

She loves Chase and Dusty's cat! I keep telling Daniel we need to get her a kitty :) Maggie would enjoy one too.

Morgan enjoyed playing with a basket of balls Chase had in his room. She played with them all weekend and insisted everyone join her.

The weekend at Dusty's house ended with Morgan eating a snack while watching cartoons! I realize that this little activity is unhealthy in so many ways but I secretly love that this works wonders when you need to get something done around the house. In my defense, it's always a healthy snack and the cartoon never lasts longer than 30 minutes.

18 Month Health Update

I’m happy to say that Morgan is doing great! The two health concerns we were last worried about were the fact that she may have a rare blood disease that runs in the family and the fact that she has Neutropenia (her body doesn’t make the amount of white blood cells it should). Fortunately, she doesn’t have the blood disease. Although this would have explained what happened at birth and some of the health issues she had right after she was born, it turns out we don’t have to worry about this health issue. She still has a mild form of Neutropenia but it doesn’t negatively affect her. She doesn’t get sick more than any other child (which is a concern with a child who has Neutropenia) and when she does get sick her body finds a way to fight off the sickness just fine. We only have to take her to Children’s Hospital once every 6 months to get her blood tested just to check her blood count and make sure her levels are acceptable. As long as she continues to keep decent levels and doesn’t get sick more than most children, she will only need to get her blood checked once or twice a year. I’m finally feeling completely relaxed when it comes to her health. It feels great to have that weight lifted off my shoulders!

I've just noticed as I'm trying to look for pictures for this blog that now that Morgan is really walking, it's extremely difficult to get a good shot of her.

She Rocks!

Later, Dad turned on some ACDC for Morgan. The first video is the best but is hard to see.

Morgan tried out my music too.

So sweet!

I wish I could capture Morgan’s personality on film. I don’t normally video tape her, so when the video camera comes out she stops whatever it is she’s doing. Morgan often has these moments where she is just so delicate and sweet and dainty and lady-like that I just sit there in amazement while observing her. Lately, I find myself just admiring Morgan and how special she is. I know every parent feels this way because every child is unique.

Morgan’s sweet, dainty, girlie self just makes me smile and love being around her. She doesn’t have a huge vocabulary but she’ll sit there and just jibber- jabber constantly in her sweet little voice. She’s extremely expressive as she tells her stories and sometimes at the most intimate moments she just sucks me in with her little self. I hate that there is really no way to quite explain what the experience is like and I doubt I’ll ever capture one of these moments on film. I guess I’ll just have to be content in knowing that Daniel and I are some of the few who will ever get to experience these precious moments.
Here’s some video I recorded trying to capture Morgan’s personality.

Only a child...

could eat a spaghetti dinner and manage to do this to her butt.

I was cleaning her up after a fairly clean consumption of spaghetti, or at least I thought so until I set her down so she could go play. Daniel and I still don't know how she managed this. It's not like she was sitting on her spaghetti.

Morgan ate most of her breakfast a couple of months ago like this. Didn't the Cheerio on her forehead bother her?

I left my baby girl!

Daniel and I just spent 5 days in Texas without Morgan! Can you believe it?! I started freaking out a couple of weekends before we left. I literally cried off and on all weekend and worried about if I could actually go through with leaving her. I even called the airlines and tried to cut my trip in half only to learn that would cost an additional $700. We traveled to Texas because Daniel was the Best Man in Brian and Brianne’s wedding. We left her with Aunt Dusty and of course she took great care of her. I was never worried about that. I was worried about the fact that she wouldn’t understand why Dad and Mom left her and that we were coming back. It eased me to know that Morgan loves her aunt and that she’s a pretty easy-going baby who adapts easily to new situations. She’s never had to be on a strict schedule and is like her father in that she can just go with the flow. Daniel and I had a great time but yes, I cried pretty much every day. I would get this overwhelming sick feeling because I just yearned to hold and squeeze her. Being a mother and experiencing the bond with my child never ceases to surprise me and open me up to a whole new world.

People were shocked that we left her for so long. The reason I went ahead and did it is because I make Morgan my entire world and will continue to do so until she no longer lets me but I know that the relationship between Daniel and I is just as important. I know that I shouldn’t completely lose my identity as Angela.

We got to sleep in, have some alone time and I even hung out in South Padre Island alone for one of the nights. I drove to the Island late Friday night, checked into my hotel and then woke up the next morning and hung out at the beach for a few hours. I lounged in the sun, listened to my IPod and watched waves crash on the beach. Their wedding was beautiful and it was fun getting to hang out and get to know everybody. I was happy that Daniel got to be there for Brian and I was happy to accompany him as his wife. I enjoyed meeting and spending time with friends who he grew up with. Morgan did great but I can easily say that I won’t be leaving her again anytime soon.

From left to right: Jesse, Brian, Abe and Daniel. These guys grew up together. It was fun getting to hang out with them.

The below picture is Daniel and I at the wedding. Brian and Brianne got married at Brian's parent's house on the Arroyo. The Arroyo is a shipping channel to the Gulf of Mexico.

Eating at Whataburger after a long night of having fun!