Happy Birthday Brin!

Well January is gone, getting closer to Bella's big day (check out her birthday suit below). My birthday just passed, I was 28 on the 29th. When I got to work on Thursday, my desk was all decorated and balloons and banners all over and hanging from the ceiling. I felt loved when I saw all the hard work they put into the decorations. I guess my co-workers really do like me! I'm starting to plan for Bella's 1st Birthday, I can't believe she is going to go from an infant to a toddler, scary. She is so sweet and so good, I'm scared to have another baby b/c I'll probably end up with just the opposite!
Beverlee is down this weekend, she misses Bella so much so she has to come see us since we barely make it to LA. Brett and I have finished demolishing the bathroom, now time to put it back together. Brett hurt his finger, but will live! Going out to Shogun's for a birthday dinner, I get to splurge and each something that's not on my diet! YEAH! I am super excited though, I have lost 6 lbs and counting. My clothes are fitting better and my face isn't so fat and round! I have to hurry and lose weight, or Bella may be an only child (no more insulin needles for me hopefully)!

I'm SICK of my family being SICK!

Well the Hammonds have all been sick since 2009 began. I got sick on New Year's Eve and stayed sick until the 3rd of January. Then Bella got sick from a kid at daycare on the 8th with RSV. I'm so mad at that mom for bringing her child to daycare after going to the MD and finding out he had RSV (which is highly contagious!). Bella started breathing treatments on the 11th and was on her way to recovery when she woke up on the 15th with fever again and then found out on the 16th she has double ear infections. So now she is on antibiotics for the ear infections and breathing treatments for the RSV, oh boy! Then on the 15th Brett started feeling bad and actually sounded like death on the 16th when he had to keep Bella while I could finally go back to work. When Brett took Bella into the MD, she said he probably had RSV too, are you kidding me? Well I started Brett on a Z-pack that I had left over from my pregnancy and Mucinex-D and Tylenol and whatever else I thought would help (echinacea). He thankfully is much better today (18th)! I'm so ready to get back to normal. I never thought I would miss work! Hopefully in the morning, we all wake up well (well enough that is) and Bella can go to daycare and Brett and I can go to work! Prayers are needed that Bella's lungs clear up, her snotty nose is getting better, but her cough is still pretty bad at times. Also, prayers that Brett is also on the road to recovery. And finally prayers that I don't lose my mind! Bella is not her happy, cheerful self when she doesn't feel good and Brett is not a lot of help with her when he feels bad, so I've been going solo. Besides all that I am trying to think about Bella's first birthday party, I can not believe I just wrote that, she's gonna be 1 already!!!!! This has truly been the best year of my life, I love that little girl so much and am truly blessed that she has grown and developed normally and is very smart! She is walking very well with hand-held assist, she'll be doing it all by herself soon, I think. I can't imagine my life without her and I hope she knows how much she is loved. Until next time..........

Well the Holidays are over, back to the daily grind....

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year. The holidays go by too fast! We had a blast with Bella on her first Christmas. She got stuck on her first toy and I had to be the mean Momma and take it away so she could open all the rest of her toys. She had fun, but didn't quite know what to do as far as opening the presents. She mostly wanted to climb on all the boxes, imagine that! Santa brought Bella lots of new toys that are more age appropriate than the stash she had before, we didn't want to buy her too many and then Santa not be able to bring any. She is starting to walk really well behind one of her new toys, no time now before she'll be taking off on her own. We really enjoyed my family being here for Christmas. Dad, Mom, Sarah, and Megan were all here with us at our home on Christmas day. We then travelled to Haynesville for Christmas at Bev and Keith's house which is always fun as well. I got a sewing machine and Bev has promised to teach me all she knows, which I hope is a lot, b/c I know nothing. I plan to sew Bella lots of new spring clothes and maybe I'll get so good I can quit my job and just sell clothes for babies. We came home on Monday the 29th, thankfully over our entire trip, we did not get a ticket, but we did get stopped once (we got a warning). Megan and Dad and Sarah all came back on 12/31. Brett popped some fireworks, but unfortunately I didn't get to see them b/c I was very sick, something I caught while in LA. I was sick all day New Years day too and then didn't go to work on Friday either. Finally feeling better today! Sadly, Megan is leaving for Alaska tomorrow, I wasn't able to convince her to stay with us here in Houston. I am really going to miss her! Well I guess that's a wrap on our 2008 Holiday season! Hope you and yours had as good of one as me and my family did!