Author: maggie

Well, I really hate this, but, I think I’m going to have to password protect the blog. Apparently I struck a chord with someone that I don’t know with the last post. I was fairly certain I had people looking over my shoulder that I didn’t know, but now it’s been confirmed. This commenter was not hostile in any way, just disapproved of my post and felt comfortable enough to let me know without giving me a direct way to respond to her (I’ve removed her comment, but I’m sure you can get the gist of it from my response comment to her). There’s no need to risk my family’s safety or have to put up with comments from a peanut gallery that are disrespectful.

So, I’m going to take until the end of the month to figure out the easiest and safest way to do this. Start sending me your email addresses if you’re interested in keeping up with us. Feel free to request permission even if I don’t know you personally- I love how the blog world has connected me to friends of friends and family- just let me know what the “degrees of separation” are.

If you don’t want to leave your email address in a comment, feel free to email me if you have my regular address, or I’ve set up weeblog@hotmail.com to collect requests as well. Just please include something in the subject about wanting to be invited to view the blog.

Thanks everyone & Happy Blogging.

PS- if you’ve been using this blog to get to my painting blog, please bookmark it- http://www.designedbymaggie.blogspot.com/

PPS- to all of my friends who are homeschoolers, granola crunchers, tree huggers, or that maybe lean a little to the left- I hope you got the humor in my previous post and that you were not offended. Secretly there’s a little piece of me that’s jealous of the patience and love you have for your families to educate them yourselves, take the time to search out the healthiest foods for them and the love that you have for all of us that leads you to live a life with the smallest carbon footprint possible. You truly do inspire me and are the reason that I have shelves of workbooks and story books that I try to spend time with my kids over, you’re the reason I pile empty bottles up outside the back door when the recycle bin is at the end of the driveway and I’m too lazy to go down there and get it, and you’re the reason I grow my own herbs and try to make my kids eat fruits and veggies everyday. See, I’m trying! What matters the most to me about your lifestyle choice is that you know the Lord and trust in Jesus. In light of that, I feel that what we eat, what we wear, what we drive, or where we go to school are fairly insignificant. I’m glad that we can be united in Christ and learn to love each other’s differences and shortcomings. If this is a foreign concept to someone reading this, please leave me a comment – I’d love to blog with you!

Yes. You read that correctly.

As many of you know Miller has been battling ear infections since October. We had tubes put in before Christmas only to have them both clogged and infected about 2-1/2 weeks later. It’s been frustrating to say the least. I had a doctor’s appointment in January and my doctor asked “what’s been going on” and I mentioned that we’d been having so much trouble with Miller’s ears and just didn’t have any idea what to do to help her. She suggested going to a health food store and asking what they have to help boost an infant/toddler’s immune system. I thought, “can’t hurt, I guess”.

So, I drive down to the local coop to see what’s going on. I’ve never been in so I’m expecting a real flying freak show of a circus and to be tackled by the nature police at the door for wearing chemically dyed polyester and reeking of red meat. I wasn’t tackled, but I was otherwise not let down. Did you know that there is a kind of rock that you can put in your laundry instead of soap to clean your clothes? Did you know they make vegan DOG food? There is and they do. Too much. I walked into the side room that has all the supplements and a friendly guy asked if he could help me. I looked up to see a white guy with dreds that would have made Denise Huxtable jealous. He was not wearing anything chemically dyed- it had probably been washed with “soap” rocks, too. I proceeded to tell him about Miller’s troubles and waited for my new witch doctor’s analysis. He showed me a few products and left me with “you should also not give her any milk- that can really aggravate congestion.” To myself, “Yeah right you FRUIT! I’ll just NOT give my baby milk, that’s healthy.” I didn’t buy any of his echinacea either.

A few days later I was at a party and saw a friend I hadn’t seen in awhile. She said she’d read on our blog about how we’d been having so much ear trouble and how sorry she was. She also mentioned that she had a friend that had been in the same boat and her ENT had said it might be a milk allergy and to go off of milk and replace it with soy products for a couple of weeks. Then switch back to milk and see what happened. The more I stood and listened to her, the more I started thinking THIS IS IT! We had so much trouble with milk as an infant and as soon as we were able to get on regular formula and milk around 9 or 10 months we started with the ear stuff. Why had no one suggested this possibility yet?! (if you’d like a window into this saint’s world here’s a link to her blog- thank you thank you thank you Dr. Jennifer!!)

So I went to the grocery store that night and bought some soy milk and yogurt and we began a new regiment immediately. And not too long after that I remembered why soy formula was never an option. Miller has a violent intestinal reaction to soy. I tried to keep her on it for a couple of days, but she developed the worst diaper rash ever and we had to quit.

Sooooo, I googled “alternatives to dairy and soy milk” and began reading. After I read about several options I went to the grocery store to see what was available. I could not believe it when I read about it on the web. I wrote it off because I knew it wouldn’t be sold at a regular grocery store- and there was no way I’d be making regular trips to the coop (and thereby becoming a “co-oper“). But it did have the best ratings as far as nutrition went. Had some protein, was all natural, you can cook with it. But who cares, I wouldn’t be able to find it and who would feed that to their child anyway? But there on the shelf in the regular grocery store in Nowheresville, USA it sat. Hemp milk. I grabbed a box and hid it under the feminine products (there was a time when I’d buy a doormat to hide those from the other shoppers). I can not believe I am buying weed milk for my baby.

I had a sippy cup in the car, so I loaded it up and handed it to Millie Moo. She took one sip and threw it to the floor. When we got home I put a little chocolate syrup in it and handed it back to her. What can I say. She’s my child. You could put chocolate in a mud pie and we’d eat it. She sucked back a couple of cups of it throughout the day.

And then I started getting a little concerned. I mean what if it’s a gateway beverage. What if this one little misstep on my part causes her to leave my house as a “lefty”. She could refuse to go mainstream, start wearing jumpers and want to be home schooled. What if she becomes a flag burning, war protesting hippie. What it if she insists on feeding the dog vegan food and washing our clothes with rocks. What if she becomes . . . a . . . democrat?

It’s too horrific to think that I might be leading these chubby little cheeks and bright eyes down that path. I chunked the half full, cardboard, hemp milk box away. We’re back to juice a couple of times a day and water. She gets a Pediasure every now and then for a little extra fat and calories.

She has been ear infection free for about a month and a half now. She’s also wearing a chemically died sundress that was purchased at a mega store.

One day it got awfully quiet in the playroom, so I snuck in to see what Miss Miller was up to. Obviously, she’s been very busy observing her big brother playing.

(I should also add that Wilson uses the cardboard box as a pirate ship sometimes- I think it’s so funny that she knew to put all these things together!)

I sat down this morning and planned out our meals for the week, made my grocery list, and went upstairs to get Little Missy to go to the store. Like I said in an earlier post, Miller is great at playing by herself in her room. I pushed open her door and this is what I found:

She was completely sacked out on the floor. She’d found a paci and a lovey and curled up among some empty wipe boxes!

And if you think it’s a good idea to let your one year old play for an hour by herself, be prepared to straighten up a room . . . fit for a princess. What a mess- she insists on emptying her drawers EVERY SINGLE DAY!

In January, Wilson, Daddy, and Big Daddy went down to the new convention center to check out the car expo. What a great guy day!

Wilson in a Smart car- one of my favorites, they took this for me. They remind me of the summer I spent in Italy.

Wilson and Big Daddy checking out a Jeep
Wilson’s favorite car from the show

Sweet Millie Girl, it’s been almost 2 months since you turned one! I can’t believe how quickly the year went by and don’t know how the last few weeks have gotten away from me. I can’t put into words what a perfect addition to our family you are. You are a loving little girl saying “Dub” and putting your forehead on almost anyone (or anything) that will get close to you. You’re friendly and will gladly leap into the arms of anyone willing to take you. You’re quite the comedian and keep your mamma, daddy, and little brother laughing (and crack yourself up quite often, too). You’re quite content to explore and play in your room or the playroom by yourself for an hour or more at a time. You love to sit in a lap and if one becomes available, you bee-line for it (and if there’s a book involved, all the better!). You’re going to bed at about 7:00 and wake up around 6:30, but stay in your bed with a cup of juice until around 8:00. You go down for a nap around 2:00 and sleep for 2 or 3 hours. You’re starting to pretend a little- you’ll get a cup from your tea-set and pretend to sip then offer some to anyone with you. You love playing with your babies, their stroller, books (especially lift the flap, touchy feely, and Karen Katz ones), and cars. You must have your puppy or lion lovey to go to sleep. You’re favorite games are pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo. You’ll clap your hands, rock a little, and say “pa-tu, pa-tu” to get it started and I’ve also seen you crawl over to a friend and pull her dress over her head and say “weeeah” (which sounds a lot like the way I say “wheeeere’s Miller?” when I cover you up!). You eat very well and like most everything except fruit. You’re a HUGE Daddy’s girl and can’t stand to see him leave in the mornings.

Wreath on the front door with pictures from each month of your first year

Your cake

Petit Fours for everyone else
Yummy Birthday food (heart shaped pimento cheese canapes, lemon curd and animal crackers, salsa sour cream dip, fresh fruit, and CAKE)Pink lemonade and favors- copies of your portrait
How Big Is Miller?

Eating cake:

Opening presents:Miller “dubs” her new dollMiller’s favorite new trick- climbing in and out of the frog chair

Could she be any prouder of herself?!The REAL day:Picking Daddy up for lunchLet’s get this party startedMmmm- Beignet Balls!She alternated between bites of beignet and bites of candle

We did a little post party birthday shopping

I think she had a good day 🙂

That title goes out to everyone who told me that I’d be soooo glad we did tubes and that I’d have a different baby that afternoon, and BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. We had Miller’s tubes put in December 17. By January 6th they were both clogged and infected. Poor kid, it was finally her turn to get the cold that everyone in our family has had and I just kept telling myself “at least I know that her ears aren’t infected, we’re not going to the doctor, it’s JUST a cold!” After two or three days of fever I finally went in to be sure she didn’t have an upper respiratory infection only to be told her ears looked terrible. We finished our 10 days of antibiotics Thursday, Saturday she woke up with 102.6 fever, and Sunday we went in to find out that, yet again, a tube was clogged! More antibiotics and a 3rd trip to the ENT today and I got to have the icing on the cake- they strapped my baby to a board, put a small funnel in her ear, and began pulling out crud while she screamed and fought the restraints with all her might. It was quite possibly the worst thing I have had to do as a parent. So, now we do 3-4 drops in the affected ear for FOURTEEN days and go back to the ENT in three weeks. Let’s just say, I’m less than thrilled with this “magical” procedure.

Also, I’m just kidding- I don’t really think everyone’s a liar. I’m just frustrated that my kid’s the one in a thousand whose ear crud is too thick to pass through a tube and I’m really tired of having a sick baby! 🙂

Celebrating with the Ethridges:

Even Santa can’t resist infomercials

Cousin Adam
Cousin Matthew & Miller

Miller testing out her new tea set