To remove or not?

So, here I am at almost 2:00am on a Thursday morning... when I really should be asleep... wide awake, in pain and contemplating the inevitable. Before I gave birth to EOR, I never once had a digestive issue, this included my pregnancy. I never once even had heartburn before. After EOR was here... it was awful. I started waking up at night with an awful pain in my chest/abdominal region that could last for hours. I saw doctors who told me that it was just indigestion and was told that nothing could be done since I was nursing. Come to find out, it wasn't indigestion... In February, and after countless attacks... I found out that I have pregnancy induced gallstones. No one ever told me that could happen. Since February I have been trying different methods to ease the symptoms to no avail. I have been working out since EOR was born, and although cardio three-four times a week has helped some... it definitely doesn't keep the attacks at bay. I've tried limiting my diet too. According to research I have done, it helps if you cut out breads, meat and dairy from your diet. This veggie only diet only lasted for a few days... lol... I was miserable and if I was miserable already from the pain, then it didn't really seem worth it. I've also nixed certain foods from my diet. I no longer eat gassy foods like broccoli (my favorite veggie), beans etc. This has been the roughest 11 months for me... because if you know me at all... you know how much I LOVE food. I hate not knowing when I am going to have an attack... or what foods may trigger it... because seriously I can go weeks without an attack and then.. BOOM... I can have an attack every night for a week... and they can last from 15 minutes to 5+ hours.
I know that I probably need to have my gallbladder removed.... and I have had laparoscopies before... I am just scared about the statistics. According to a lot of information that I have read, cholycystectomy surgery is only 60% effective in removing the painful symptoms. Those odds aren't good enough for me. I don't want to be in that 40%.... but I'm starting to think that maybe I should just go for it. And everyone, from family members to coworkers are telling me that I need to have the surgery... However, since my gallbladder isn't technically "diseased" I don't know if the surgery will be beneficial.

I just need some more advice on this issue. Anyone had this problem?

Oh my... no more bottle or binky?

Dun Dun Dunn!!! The end is near... and by that I mean for Emily's binky and bottle of course... ;)

I didn't want Emily to even have a binky while I was pregnant. However, my daughters endless need to suck as a newborn and my clueless-ness as a first time mother definitely won out. Everything I read while I was pregnant said that "a baby is hungry when they try and eat their fingers." Well, I took this literally and nursed her every time she sucked on her hands. I didn't even realize that she could just be wanting to suck on something until my RN pointed out that there is no way that she wanted to nurse every thirty minutes. So, we popped a pacifier in her mouth and she's been hooked ever since.

I want to have Emily off of the binky when she turns one... I just don't know how doable that is. She doesn't really use it that much during the day unless it's nap time or bedtime.

Anyway, I heard something the other day that I never even thought of. Apparently if you remove the binky and bottle when the farmers almanac says to then the transition should be pretty smooth...

According to the farmers almanac these dates are the best days to wean whether it be from a bottle, pacifier or anything else:

June: 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd
July: 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th
August: 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th

We shall see ... maybe I can wean her from the pacifier on her birthday...?

I am a little more hesitant about the bottle though.. I tried putting formula in her sippy cup the other day and the flow was too fast for her.. so I don't know when she will be able to drink exclusively from her cups.

It makes me sad though to even think about this step.. I know she's turning one and with that comes a lot of changes, it just makes her seem less like a baby and more like a toddler to nix the bottle and the sippy cup too. :(

Don't get me wrong.. I am so excited to see her grow up and experience new things with her... I just seriously think that the baby stage should be a lot longer than a year... So many changes in such a short amount of time; sometimes I forget how small she was or what she really looked like 11 months ago.

Time sure does fly...

Anyway, that's all I got for now. Forgive my my scatterbrained thoughts... And for my fellow mommy friends, how do you plan on weaning your little ones? Or how did you wean successfully?

The Countdown is on

The countdown is on!!! Emily will officially be a toddler in 1 month and 3 days. This year has gone by way too fast. :(But I am loving every minute of it. I have been planning her birthday party for a while now... like for months.

I decided on her birthday theme after seeing how adorable she was in her Halloween costume... I just hope that everything works out and I am able to accomplish it all. I want her birthday parties to be unique and memorable. I know that she is not going to remember her first... but who cares... that's what Nikon is for.

Anyway, here are a few ideas I have for her birthday:

I really like these ideas for snacks at the party... and they are lady bug themed which makes them even better.

The one with the tomatoes is my favorite!

I am soo torn between an awesomely cute cake and cupcakes (made by yours truly)... I want to have cupcakes for all of the guests because I know not everyone likes the same cake flavor. However, I love the idea of having a cute two tiered lady bug carefully crafted by my awesome coworker who is an amazing cake decorator.

I definitely want a tutu for my little lady bug... I just can't decided who I want to make it!

I love love love this idea!!!! I am going to hang up pictures from her first year so that everyone can see what a gorgeous little lady EOR has turned out to be.

This looks super easy and cute... I want this...

I really want to use this as inspiration for the centerpieces... I love this idea and I love love love flowers.

Another problem I have run into is the party local. I really really want to have her party at our new place.. I want EOR to have her party where she feels the most comfortable. But I know that our new place is on the small side so I don't want our guests to feel cramped. :(

Those are just a few of the million ideas I have bouncing around in my head right now.... more updates soon :)

Go MAVS!!!