And she weighs.....

Olivia weighs 16 pounds 9.8 ounces!!!! She has gained almost two whole pounds in the last month and a half! This is fantastic. And she barely cried when she got her flu shot.

We find out how much Olivia weighs today!!!

I am so excited. My 10 and half month old, Olivia, has a doctor appointment for a flu shot today. I know, who gets excited about giving a baby shot? I am not mean. I swear! But we get to find out how much she weighs. And THAT is super exciting!
Pregnancy does not agree with me. I had a horrible pregnancy with my son. It was better with Olivia but still, I had lots of complications. Olivia is our little miracle baby. Robbie was not supposed to be able to have children. His ex wife and him had tried. He was checked. Three (3!!) doctors told him that he would never have children. He was sterile. Yeah, doctors know so much. Anyway, she was born sick. Not super sick and, thank God, never went in the NICU. But her pediatrician said she had never seen white blood cell counts that high. Astronomically high were her words. This is a doctor that used to be a professor of medicine and is the second in the Florida panhandle for the Pediatrics Association. She is a great doctor. So, they did spinal taps and took blood. I had no infection. They tested me. Her cultures never produced anything. They gave her some really strong antibiotics and when her white blood cell count came down, they let her come home. She weighed 7 pounds 13.2 oz when she was born last December. She was a good sized baby. Then, she just didn't gain weight. She grew and got longer but her weight percentages kept dropping. We finally leveled off a couple of months ago and no longer have to go in for weight checks every two weeks. At her 9 month appointment she only weighed 14 pounds. She is just now fitting into 3 to 6 month old clothes. It is very frustrating. But, she has decided that she won't eat baby food but loves table food. I can just tell that she has gained weight. I keep hoping for big jump, like two pounds. We will see.

Monday Musings

Last Friday Robbie came home from work with a story about a coworker. It seems that his wife and him got into an argument about disciplining his stepdaughter. The wife didn't like the way he handled it so they argued and then she gave him the silent treatment. Coworker knows that Zach is not Robbie's biological child so he was asking how we handle things. Robbie's only child is our daughter Olivia. Zach is 14 and has Asperger's. We do not always agree on punishments and whatnot but I refuse to argue about the kids in front of the kids. I feel that is undermines authority and teaches children that they only have to listen to one parent. And I don't do the silent treatment. I want you to know how I feel whether you want to hear it or not. Zachary has to listen to Robbie just like he has to listen to me. Now, my older sister believes that Zach should not have to listen to Robbie because he is not his biological parent. She doesn't make her teenage daughter listen to her fiance. I think that would cause problems. I know that I would not live in a home where the children did not have to listen to me. It just would not happen. \

So my question is, are you a blended family too? And how do you handle it?

A cheap ball pit

I am always on the look out for a good deal or a way to save some pennies. The more pennies I save in every day life, the more pennies I have to go back to Disney World! Anyway, I saw this a couple months ago and decided to give it a try. We bought an infant pool and then some ball pit balls. The pool was $10 and the ball pit balls were $10 at Walmart for 100 balls. So, we spent a $20 for a ball pit! Now, tell me why I really really want to buy the oh so cute Mickey Mouse one at Toys R Us for $50? I am resisting!