for those of you who actually read my updates (c'mon, there's a few of you out there... right...?), i probably won't be posting as much on LJ anymore. i've got a new blog at www.dalpenlumbel.com (the frst three letters of each of my dogs' names, in the order that we got them).

anyhoo, i usually cross-post all of my posts about shiloh with the pictures and everything from closeknitfamily to dalpenlumbel, so if you want to read it, you can do it there. i'll still be checking LJ for my friends' posts, but it will probably be a rare occasion that i'll post on it myself, other than to plug dalpenlumbel so that you guys who DO read my updates (seriously, nobody...?!) will remember to go there.

and that's all. :)

i'm a vegan. i've been working on it for awhile, as in, i haven't eaten eggs in forever and i drink mostly soy  milk (that i make myself from soybeans, thank you very much). my main problem has been cheese, and vegan cheese substitutes are so expensive that i haven't made the full switch yet. 

that is, until i saw the documentary "Meet Your Meat." yeah, you can guess what that's about. it's on PETA's website if you wanna see it. it's incredibly graphic. 

so, now, i'm a full-fledged vegan. i don't really care how expensive it is. shiloh will be vegan, too. rick's working on it, but, like me, he's having a hard time with the cheese. if we can find a decent substitute, he's on board. he didn't see the video. 

geez. seriously.

so, i don't really feel like rewriting the entire thing again, so i'm just going to say that there's been some updates, but i've been making them on closeknitfamily. so click here if you want to read the whole thing. :o)

i know, it's not really easter anymore, but here's shiloh's first easter anyway. :o)

i guess there isn't a whole lot going on other than stuff with shiloh. she's still the most amazing person i've ever met and there hasn't been a single day that has gone by since she's been alive that i've regretted staying home with her. and that's pretty much that. she'll be four months old on sunday, which is crazy.

i'm not really sure what else to say.

someone was going to buy the house, but didn't. we even got as far as the inspections before they felt the need to mention that they couldn't get financing. so, back to square one. blah.

i don't know, i just feel so blah right now.  rick and shiloh are taking a nap on the couch, all the dogs are asleep, the house is kinda dark. and i'm SUPER angry b/c there's a freakin blue's game on the WB and i can't watch smallville. i need my weekly dose of tom welling; they already took smallville reruns off the family channel to make a two-hour block for 7th heaven. *sigh* it's just frustrating b/c rick and i have a deal -- he gets wednesday and friday nights to stay up late and play his computer games, and i get tuesday and thursdays to watch my shows on the WB. on each of those nights, one of us totally takes care of shiloh while the other one gets to do their thing. and he's been able to have his nights, but these stupid blue's games have been messing up my nights! gah!

and we've been posting on closeknitfamily like crazy lately. there are a million pictures up of shiloh, and lots of nadia, too.

and i don't know what else. i'm bored. :oP

-- our smoke detector's battery is going dead. for the past two days, it's been beeping every twenty minutes, but (oddly enough) only between the hours of 9am to 3pm. very strange. it actually doesn't bother me that much (which is why i've neglected to change the battery as of yet), but it really really freaks dallas out. he keeps trying to hide from it, and in the most impossible places, such as under the playpen or behind the baby swing that's leaning against a wall; keep in mind the dog weighs nearly 100 pounds and he can only fit his head (if that) in any of the places in which he tries to hide. but i don't want to make him think that it's okay to be freaked out by the smoke detector,  so i'm trying not to give him any affection when he does this. and when i tell him to stop it, or, when he tries to hide behind me or crowd me, i tell him to go away (yes, i know, it's very difficult). when i do this, he goes into the bathroom, sits in front of the shower on the shower mat, and stares at the wall for several minutes. he's truly a strange dog.

-- penny lane was getting really uppity and snappy, which, with a small baby, you can imagine i didn't tolerate very well. she's always been allowed on the furniture, and we've all around pretty much spoiled her. then, she started getting protective (or, rather, possessive) of her space and would snap and growl at any of the other dogs who disturbed her when she was sleeping on the furniture or just didn't want to be disturbed. so, we did some behavior modification. she had been allowed to pretty much do whatever she wanted, but for the past week or so, she has been the only dog not allowed on ANY furniture, we severely limited the amount of affection she gets, she doesn't get any treats, eats last... basically, we're putting her in her place. she had wrongly assumed that she was somehow at the top of the pack as far as chain of command, and we're informing her that she's actually at the bottom. her attitude has, predictably, gotten immeasurably better and you can really tell she realizes that she's not in a position to correct  (or snap, growl, etc, at) the other dogs. you would think (using human psychology),  that she would resent it, but she actually seems much more well-adjusted now that she's more certain of her role in our pack.... and we've made it VERY clear. :o)

-- three people have come to look at our house in the last two days. hopefully, one them will freakin buy it! i want to get out of here!! the last people, though, that came tonight, made me mad b/c i left certain lights on in the house so that we could see when we came in, and they turned them all off, so we came in to total darkness. and, on top of that, they tracked mud throughout our entire house!! i was under the impression that when realtors brought clients in your home, that they were supposed to leave it the way that they found it -- as in, when i come home, i'm not supposed to be able to tell that anyone was even there. ugh. those people better buy our house, since they're so freakin comfortable here already. blah. as you can probably tell, it put me in a bad mood for awhile.

-- shiloh's doing awesome. i've been emotional and sentimental lately about her for two reasons: 1) she's gotten too big to swaddle. we always swaddled her to put her to bed, but she's started kicking her way out of her covers at night and waking up, so we started using a sleep sack instead. it made me sad b/c i guess i always equated the swaddling with her being a tiny baby and now that she's too big for it, it's just that much more obvious that she's a not-so-tiny baby anymore. 2) on that same note, she's growing out of all of her 0-3 month clothes.  i had to go through her closet and wash all of her 3-6 month clothes, and put away everything that she'd already grown out of. it was sad b/c it made that much MORE obvious that she's getting bigger. geez, they grow so fast. i love seeing her grow and experience everything as only a baby can, but i'm just not ready for how fast she's growing and how big she's getting. *sigh* such is the plight of a mother, i guess. :o(

-- we get our tax money back in a few weeks! yay!!! i am SUPER excited about this return, in particular, b/c this past year, we bought a house AND had a baby, so i'm hoping that we'll be getting quite a bit more than we have in the past.

-- i was watching this documentary on the national geographic channel tonight about animal emotion, and there was this baby elephant that was born with a deformity on his front two legs, where his front feet were twisted up behind his legs and he had to walk on his knees. normally, an elephant would die from type of defect, b/c he would walk his knees raw, they would get infected, and he would eventually succomb to it.  the rest of the herd left the baby elephant alone to die so they could search for food, but the mother elephant stayed behind and for three days, used her trunk to hold the baby elephant up and push him, trying to get him to walk on his feet. it took three whole days, but she was relentless about it, and eventually, the baby elephant actually started to put weight on his feet and was able to walk and join the rest of the herd! it was incredibly inspiring and uplifting, b/c you could tell that this mother elephant was clearly distressed about the possibility of leaving her baby. there were a few times where she could hear the other elephants in the distance, finding food, and she would start off to join them, leaving the baby, but she kept hesitating and looking back over her shoulder, and she always chose the baby over the food and the rest of the herd. it may sound corny and weird, but it really was one of the best things i've seen in awhile.

-- i forgot to use an LJ cut and i'm tired. sorry.

i'm slowly getting over the sick thing. i had the strep pneumonia, then, when that went away after a few days with the meds, i got this horrible head cold. but, i took some sudafed and all is (almost) better.

shiloh is 12 weeks old today. wow. three months. craziness. seriously, it seems like it's been forever and, at the same time, like it was just yesterday. she talks almost constantly. to me, to her toys, to the wall, to the fan. and she's finally getting to where she can grasp her hands together, which also means that her hand-eye coordination is working well enough for her to grasp objects better.... and then stick them directly into her mouth. :o)

in other news, i was taking the one medication that dr mani gave me for anxiety, and it's worked. pretty well, in fact. i feel so much more relaxed and easy-going -- i'm all-around happier. however, the ear-ringing and the teeth grinding are practically unbearable. the ear-ringing is so bad that at night, when it's quiet and all i can hear is the ringing, i've gotten headaches b/c it's so loud. and the teeth grinding is just getting increasingly worse. i actually have a loose tooth from grinding/clenching my teeth so hard when i sleep. and i'm not gonna wear a night guard every night for the rest of my life, aside from the fact that it wouldn't stop me from getting headaches and sore jaw muscles from the clenching. so, i had my appointment today and she put me on something else. so, we'll see.

and, other than that, rick, shiloh and i are meeting mom and the grandmas in mt vernon tomorrow for lunch so they can give us the exersaucer they have for us and so shiloh can finally meet the grandmas. that should be fun. and i'm actually serious -- i'm looking forward to it. :o)

and nadia was born!!! she's one week and one day old today!! she's so cute. i can't wait to see her in person. i think it's crazy that she and shiloh are just 11 weeks apart. that's so awesome.

and, that's all.

went to the doctor today. i have strep pneumonia. :o(

i almost didn't go, b/c, after taking a shower this morning, i thought i was feeling better. not so. throughout the day, it got worse and worse. apparently, strep pneumonia -- which is a separate and more serious form of strep throat -- comes on incredibly quickly and gets really bad really fast. and, if not treated quickly enough, can lead to lung infection, as well as a host of other potentially serious infections.

i have no idea how i developed it or, if it's possible to "catch" it, how i caught it, but it pretty much sucks. my entire jaw is stiff, and every time i chew, it feels like someone is shoving a newly sharpened pencil into my eardrum repeatedly. every time i yawn, all of my throat muscles seize up and i have to massage my throat to ease the pain. my voice is practically nonexistent, and even if it wasn't, i'm not sure with the coughing that inevitably occurs after every other word i say, that i would use it. i have a fever that comes and goes, my head is constantly throbbing, my ears are ringing even more than they were before, and i have absolutely no appetite. which sucks, b/c i have to eat so i can feed shiloh.

blah.

so she gave me this stuff that i take three times a day til they're gone. we'll see. evidently, once you get strep pneumonia, you're much more susceptible to it in the future, b/c it's supposed to be remarkably good at building up resistance to antibiotics. awesome.

i have to go to bed now.

i woke up this morning feeling like absolute and total crap. my throat is completely swollen, so much so that i practically can't even swallow, i have a 100 degree temperture, i'm achy all over, i have an earache... *sigh*. ick. this totally sucks.

and you'd think, "well, go to the doctor." you're right. i should. but i can't, really, b/c there isn't anyone to watch shiloh. then, you'd think, "well, just take her with you." you're right. i could. however, she's been battling this cold for almost five weeks, and she's JUST NOW getting over it. so, i don't really want to take her someplace where there's a bunch of sick people who are potentially even more sick than i am to make her sick again. and derek's in class, and miranda's working til six, and rick's at work (he has a fairly important meeting this afternoon so i'm not about to ask him to come home early; we live forever away from the university and it'd almost be more trouble than it's worth).

so i'm thinking that i might just sit it out today and see if it gets any better, and if not, ask rick to go into work late tomorrow so i can go to the doctor. blah.

she's being so great, though. i usually hold her most of the time and talk to her almost constantly. this morning, though, i've made hot tea in an attempt to ease my sore throat, so i can't hold her while i'm drinking that and i also don't want to breathe all over her and make her sick, and i can't talk to her b/c i've practically lost my voice. and, after all of that, this is what she's doing right now:



she's just sitting in her bouncy seat, totally content, watching me and playing with her toys. she's so awesome.

i would say that i've been busy lately, but that's not really the case. i'm not sure what i've been doing, but i've worn myself out doing it.

we drove around the city looking at apartments last weekend. i'm definitely encouraged by what i saw. there are some really cool places that i had no idea existed in the city. and we would save literally hundreds of dollars a month if we found a place close enough to wash u  so that rick could take the shuttle instead of driving.  awesome.

shiloh has a cold. blah. it's not too bad, and she doesn't seem to mind and isn't overly fussy about it, but she sounds horrible and has all this nasty green gunk in her  nose. we have to use the aspirator to get it all out, but she doesn't seem to mind that, either. she can be such an agreeable baby. the interesting thing, though, is that lump is completely obsessed with the aspirator. ever since we started using it,  he follows me around any time i go to the back of the house and watches me get it out of  one of the baskets on her dresser and whines the entire time i use it. i've caught him running around the house with it i don't know how many times and i have no idea how he even gets ahold of it. anyhoo, i've taken her to the doctor twice over this cold and they keep telling me that it's not bad enough for antibiotics and that she'll get over it on her own. what sucks, though, is that i wish if they were going to just send me home every time that they would stop asking me to come in; i call the nurse before i bring her in to see if there's anything i can do for her at home, and the nurse always says that they should probably see her, while the doctor says that i should have stayed at home. and it makes me angry b/c it costs me a twenty dollar copay every time i go. arg.

we tried some TVP tonight (textured vegetarian protein). it's supposed to be a direct replacement for meat. i was a little leery, but it's actually really awesome. we had "beef" tacos tonight with it and, in my opinion, it tasted better than beef. it was exactly the same, except it wasn't as heavy and greasy. TVP is going to make being a vegetarian super easy.

shiloh is growing out of her clothes. this makes me sad. she's not very little anymore. next month, for sure, i'm going to have to go buy her more gowns and sleepers. :o( we have a ton of 3 - 6 month outfits for her, but no basic-wear-around-the-house clothes for that age range. she's getting so big. she laughs now, and smiles all the time. she's getting to where she can grasp an object in front of her and she can put her hands together. she's pretty laid-back, i think. she can sit in your lap for hours just looking around at everything and not fuss, completely content. she's a completely different baby, though, when she has gas. that is no fun at all.

we've been putting her to bed around 9.00 - 9.30 every night and since she was about three days old or so, she's been sleeping through the night, until 6 - 7 in the morning. i've been noticing, though, that she gets pretty cranky and really sleepy around 7.30 every night, and then we have to wake her up for her bath and nighttime routine before we put her to bed. so, tonight, we decided to go with her schedule that she seems to have set for herself and start her bath and everything at 7 and put her to bed really early. i'm not expecting her to sleep through the night tonight, but we'll see. she seems to want to go to sleep for the night around 7.30 - 8-ish, so maybe she'll do fine.  OR, it might take awhile and i'll be up with her all night. she's been asleep for two hours now, so here's hoping. *crosses fingers*

since we've changed our diet, rick is losing weight and i am not. i'm happy for him and all, but dangit, i've got pregnancy weight to get rid of! we're on the same diet, i actually eat and snack less than he does, and i haven't been able to lose a single pound! i'm fearing that i'm actually going to have to exercise this excess weight away. *sigh* how sad. the interesting part will be finding the time to do it. right.

ah -- shiloh's two-month checkup: at 10 lbs, 12 ounces, she's in the 50th percentile of weight and at 22 inches tall, she's in the 40th percentile for height. so, she's exactly in the middle as far as weight goes, and is a little below average for height, but the doctor says that's nothing to worry about -- she may catch up, or she may just be a little short. :o) so, obviously, the breastfeeding is going well and i don't have to worry about whether or not she's getting everything she needs.

i miss her while she's sleeping. i think she's totally amazing.