A Random Weekday Post

I'm pumping at school as I write this!  (TMI?  Sorry.)  My friend helped me rig up a way to be able to pump at my desk so I'm not just wasting 45 minutes of my doing nothing but pump (she actually GAVE me her curtain to cover my window)!  So now I can enter grades, email parents, etc during my conference, lunch, and after school, just like every other normal human being!  :)

So, I thought I'd post a quick blog.  We had a NICE relaxing weekend at the Dowell house-nothing special to write about. Here are some cute pictures I've snapped recently with my phone:



My principal gave all of us preggos this Katy Tiger onesie last year as a gift- here's Dax sportin' his!

It's school picture week, and the photographer requested the kids bring their favorite cap, headband, or bow... so we went out and purchased Dax one.  :)

OMG, so cute.  We got him a more "normal" one, too... but I didn't take a picture.  I can't wait to see which one the photographer goes with! (Ada just went in a big yellow bow to match her dress and Dax's shirt).



Ada's birthday party is this weekend!!!!  I sent this little sheet out with the invitations, and I thought it was just so adorable.  So I took a picture of it because I want to remember it forever.  (It's supposed to help guests in purchasing a gift for her- it includes her favorite colors, TV shows, pasttimes, etc.)



Here's my silly girl playing around yesterday afternoon with her cell phone. 

 Some recent Ada-isms:

• (see picture above): I'm calling somebody.    Someone's ringing ME!  Hello?  Hi.  I have 6... 8....11 soft animals.  (She kept rambling after this but I lost track of the conversation.)
• (when catching a whiff of a skunk on our drive to school): OOHH!!  My nose is grody!
• (in a pink blur whizzing past me): I LOVE RELAXING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Momma, I got a WEDGIE...
• She apparently saw a commercial for the movie "The Green Lantern", and constantly refers to it as "The Green Light Man."  HA!
• Stay still.  Don't move a muscle.  This is breakable.
• Stephen's shoes (at school) are so ugly.  They have SPIDERMAN on them.
• Tickly my feet.  Now this one.  Now this one.  Now this one.
• Whatcha making? (Me: a baby tie.)  Oh, for your business?
• Oh, Dax, you love me so much, don't you!?
• She thinks if she just tells me we're doing something, I'll just happily follow along:
• We're not going to school today.
• We're not washing hair today.
• We're not stopping at the grocery today.
• MOOOOOOOOOM, DAX IS LOOKING AT ME!!!!!

Dax- 6 months

Dax is 6 months old... a half of a year!  We love him more and more everyday.  His personality is still just as awesome as it was March 16, but it continuously reveals itself more and more. 

• He's still so happy, smiley, and easy-going.  But don't be too wild and crazy with him- his initial reaction is to think you are an alien, his next reaction is fear.  (He has a more "cerebral" sense of humor; as opposed to slap-stick comedy!) 
• Separation anxiety is beginning- don't spontaneously grab him from me, you'll burn a bridge forever!
• This kid has got GRIT and DETERMINATION.  He's already army crawling everywhere- simply because he figured out that if he spots something he wants, the most efficient way to get his hands on it is to take care of it himself. 
• He loves school, and ADORES Miss Terry.  (All of his teachers really, but he has a serious soft spot for her!) 
• He also adores his sister, Ada Grace Dowell.  :)  She intriguing and hilarious to him.
• He's sitting up by himself for a few minutes (minutes!) at a time, and babbling lots- with a few "mamas" in there.  Music to my ears, even though he has no clue what he's saying.  :)
• He loves to push big buttons on toys, especially if it makes a sound happen.
• He has two bottom teethies!
• He has discovered how to make HUGE splashes in the tub- I can hardly get him clean anymore, he's so wiggly and slippery and chubby!
• Still exclusively breastfeeding, but he's eating some solids, too: cereal, peas (his favorite), sweet potatoes, carrots, & squash. 
• Stats from his 6 month check-up:
• 95%ile height (durr)
• 50%ile weight (he was REALLY hungry, so I'm sure he's a little bigger... but that was a big shocker!  My linebacker is slimming down!)
• 95%ile head circumference (gotta fit that big ole brain in there, like Daddy's!).
• He also has some minor exema- Dr. G thinks it will not be so bad his skin "toughens" up a bit, but will probably always struggle with it a little bit.  Mobley skin.  :)

And now, what you've been anxiously awaiting: the Monster Photo Shoot.  Let's take a look at the previous Monster Shoots, first:

1 month old.

2 months old.

3 months old.

4 months old.

5 months old.

 TODAY: 6 months old-

New and Improved: Sweetish Baby Blankies!

We've tweaked our design for the Sweetish Baby original taggie-loveys to include a ribbon that can be used as a pacifier clip or stroller/toy clip!  They will arrive with an attached ring, but you can use your own binkies you already have hidden in every nook-and-cranny of your own home.  :)

How FUNNY that this order was for a baby named "Dex"!?

A humorously horrible morning!

OK, this is in no way meant to be a debbie downer post (wahhhh-wahhh-waaaaahhhhh!)... it does pertain to pretty much the most chaotic, ridiculous morning I've ever experienced, but I write this with a complete and total sense of humor!  I'm just going to write this in a bulleted list form, because I'm far too tired to make it a cohesive story!!!

• Casey's out of town (doing something really cool!  Was invited to be on an "employee roundtable" of sorts with a few other Aerotek staff members in the region- he flew to Kansas City to have conversations with the Regional VP, and some other dudes that I know nothing about.)
• Dax is cutting his two bottom teeth, so he was awake off and on all night- so we're already pretty drowsy and groggy when the alarm goes off at 5am.
• I'm doing a huge osmosis lab in Anatomy today that requires 3 jugs of vinegar, 2 gallons of distilled water, 84 plastic cups, a roll of foil, and... get this... 8 dozen eggs. 
• I try to get a head start and take a load of *crap* out to the car before I am also taking more crap, 2 kids, the kids' crap, etc. I drop 2 dozen eggs.  You know the rest... Thankfully in the garage, and in tightly knotted grocery bags.  Whew!
• Dax is up and at 'em.  He poops.  That's bad enough for it's own piece of the list.
• The poop gets everywhere. He poops more as I'm frantically cleaning.  I give up and bathe him.
• Dax pukes.
• Ada's awake- and actually being a total sweetheart.  Love her!  :)
• Everyone is ready, and filing out the door.  I spill my to-go coffee.
• Get out of the neighborhood onto Barker Cypress, and realize I've forgotten my purse.  Turn around to retrieve it...

And, I somehow remained calm through it all (ok, a few curse words were muttered)- AND made it to school relatively on time.  But, the thing that made me laugh so hard, and forget all of the above... was when Ada came running to me crying while I was making her chocolate milk.  Saying "Momma- I got a wweeddggiiee!"  I love these crazy pooping-wedgie kids!

Ada loving on Dax this past Saturday morning.  L-O-V-E!

Ada jabbers, Dax almost crawls

Here's a video of the kiddies.  It's nothing special- just a typical weekday afternoon at the Dowell house.  This is mostly for the grandparents and other close family members that savor every second of viewing time they can get!  :)



Newest Sweetish Baby Creation

Sweetish Baby has been hard at work this weekend creating a custom piece- Tiffany Reeves, it's ready!!!  And it turned out even cuter than the original!!!!!  Love love love~

You can see Sweetish Baby's post about it at Sweetish Baby Boutique Blog.

Aggie Game!

We loaded up the kids (and MiMi!) and drove up to Aggieland for the A&M vs SMU football game this weekend- we had a blast, but we were EXHAUSTED!  Here are the adorable pictures-

At the good 'ole Rec center- where our little family started 9 years ago!  :)

We ran into my dear old roomie Crystal, and her boyfriend Jason!  (They both worked at the Rec with us, too)

MiMi was a genius and brought stickers for Ada "just in case"- and we were into them before the game even began.

Lemme at 'em, coach!

YELL LOUDER, 12th MAN!

Watching the game.

Dax fell asleep, and his thumb was SERIOUSLY in the gig 'em position!  This was NOT staged!!!

Excited about this season, and excited to *hopefully* be playing in the SEC next season! :)

Sub-100 Temps = Zoo Trip!

Well, the temperatures have *finally* dropped to below 100!  So we scurried outside this weekend to get some fresh air and use our zoo pass before it expires at the end of this month!  :)  

Look how close the giraffe was to us!  We could have literally reached out and touched him if we'd wanted.  He wanted in our picture- he's even cheesing for the camera!

Diagnosis Update! :)

I'm sorry, I'm just now getting around to updating the news!  I got a call from Dr. Black about 3 hours ago- after speaking with the Radiologist, he is sure there is nothing to be concerned about.  Dax's heart is in the normal range for size- and no one has ever noticed any funny sounds when they listen to his heart beat and chest (there would have been abnormal sounds present if he had any of the heart defects that can lead to cardiomegaly, from my understanding). 

The radiologist mentioned a possible cause for it appearing like "cardiomegaly" is "hyper-inflation."  Which, let me tell you, sounds much worse than it is... it means Dax could have been taking a deep breath at the moment the x-ray machine snapped the picture.  Which- he was screaming bloody murder.  So, yeah.  :)

They are probably going to send us for a second x-ray just to cover our bases and be sure, but that is just to play it safe. 

Before leaving for the doctor's office this morning- look at those ADORABLE pigtail buns!!!



We all deserved a toy after this weekend (and week)- and Ada was an especially sweet big sister through it all, so she got to choose whatever she wanted (we filled Dax's prescription at Target so we killed three birds with one stone- meds, Starbucks,and shopping).  Guess which $25 toy she chose (that barks, sniffs, and walks)?  Guess which toy she got in her Sonic happy meal?  And guess which toy she prefers now...



My sweetness is on the mend!  He felt much better today- he had lots of smiles, snuggles, and giggles.  And got all caught up on his eating and sleeping, too.



And, I burned our dinner.  I forgot it under the broiler.  We still ate it, and it was actually still pretty delish!  :)



Dax's Enlarged Heart

We all know that Dax has a big 'ol heart because he's such a lovey boy.  But, now it's a proven fact.  Yesterday, when they performed the x-ray to see if he had any pneumonia, they noticed his heart was slightly enlarged.  They called it "mild cardiomegaly."  

Disclaimer: this is not Dax, nor his heart.  :)

I didn't learn of this until we had his follow up with the doctor today (which, incidentally, is Doctor Jerk from my previous post- Dr. G is still out.  He was actually semi-kind today.  I think he felt like an idiot from treating us the way he did on Thursday- after the ER doctors were so "aggressive" in their testing.  He basically admitted he wasn't aggressive enough in his diagnosis... like, probably should've been sent home with some antibiotics 5 days ago.)- anywho- Doctor Black (I will now refer to him by his real name, officially admitting he exists) says 3 things about this "mild cardiomegaly"-

1. It's probably nothing.  98% of patients (I'm 98% sure he made up this statistic on the spot.  I'm sure he meant "a large number of these diagnoses") that have a larger than normal heart, are still within the "normal ratio."  Meaning Dax's might be big.  But it's most likely nothing to be concerned about.
2. The fact that the ER physician didn't mention it to me yesterday is probably a good sign.
3. If it IS larger than the allowed "standard deviations" in this ratio, then something is wrong.  They would do more tests (EKG, ECG, MRI/CT scans, etc) to diagnose him.  From the research I've done today (which I really wish I hadn't, because now I'm officially freaking out), it's usually a result of Ventricular Hypertrophy in pediatric cases.  (The muscles around the ventricles are larger than normal, and the heart has to work harder to pump enough blood and oxygen to the body and/or lungs- depending on which ventricle is affected.) 

So now, we sit and wait for the doctor's call to tell us if we forget about it, or run more tests.  I know I should have waited to blog about it until I knew more, but I had to get it off my chest!

However, I would ALSO like to point out that it has been rumored that Lance Armstrong also has an enlarged heart.  (And maybe Michael Phelps?)  So, I think that's all that's going on here: is Dax is destined to be an elite international athlete.  :)