Dancing at the WH Easter Egg Roll

Dancing to the Jonas Brothers from nuggetsmom on Vimeo.
Charlotte stopped to bust a move in the middle of the crowd while the Jonas Brothers were playing.

White House Easter Egg Roll 2008

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of attending the last WH Easter Egg Roll hosted by the Bush family. Thanks a million to Kyler and Mike for sharing their tickets with us. I think Dave and I enjoyed it just as much as Charlotte (if not more). The highlights were:

1. Seeing the Easter Bunny, of course.

2. Watching Laura and Jenna Bush read stories.

3. Shaking Laura's hand! She said to me, "Happy Easter" and I blurted out, "We love you!" How embarassing, but true. We'll be sad to see the Bush family leave the White House. It's no secret that Dave and I are strong Bush supporters. Attending this event next year, regardless of who wins the 2008 election, wouldn't have been as exciting for us.

4. Seeing Jenna up close and personal - she's just as cute in person. My head is on the right.

5. Shaking hands with former first lady, Mrs. Barbara Bush. Both first ladies are truly a class act.
6. Watching Troy Aikman read Dr. Suess.

7. Watching the Jonas Brothers play live. Apparently, the Jonas Brothers are wildly popular with "tweeners." We're not there yet!

Here's Mike who made this all possible for us! Thanks again!


Mike also took the time to take our picture in front of the White House! We're all wearing our Sunday best for the President and his family.
After the White House, we stopped at Dave's office. Charlotte enjoyed playing with all his stuff and seeing where Daddy goes every day.

Charlotte looked so cute sitting in Daddy's big office chair. What a great day for our family!

Hippity Hoppity...

...Easter's on its way! We dyed eggs today so the Easter Bunny can hide them on Sunday. We're looking forward to Charlotte's first Easter egg hunt. Sunday will be her warm up for the White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday (yep, one of Dave's work colleagues is getting us in - we're super excited). If we're lucky, we'll even get to see "W" himself.

St. Patrick's Day

We didn't do anything in particular to honor St. Patrick. We did go to playgroup but I didn't take any pictures. Charlotte was actually wearing a green shirt to go with her green pants but, alas, it was ruined during lunch. Just some fun pictures of her playing outside. She would stay outside all day long if I let her. Today was the first time she went down the slide all by herself. She was so proud! I think she went down about 25 more times after that. She looks a lot like Dave in the second picture, don't you think?

Vesicoureteral Reflux

Two months ago, I hadn't even heard of vesicoureteral reflux. In January, Charlotte ran a high fever one weekend with no other symptoms. Turns out she had a urinary tract infection (UTI) which we treated with antiobiotics. When children get UTIs this young, they automatically recommend further investigation to rule out VUR (vesicoureteral reflux). Sure enough, Charlotte has a low grade of VUR. I'm posting all this information so others can be aware of potential UTIs when your child runs an unexplained high fever. If you want to learn more, here's a good resource: http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/vesicoureteralreflux/

A brief description of VUR:
Urine normally flows in one direction—down from the kidneys, through tubes called ureters, to the bladder. Vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) is the abnormal flow of urine from the bladder back into the ureters.
VUR is most commonly diagnosed in infancy and childhood after the patient has a urinary tract infection (UTI). About one-third of children with a UTI are found to have VUR. VUR can lead to infection because urine that remains in the child’s urinary tract provides a place for bacteria to grow. But sometimes the infection itself is the cause of VUR.

After many tests, doctor visits, and two catheterizations, the good news is that 80-90% of children grow out of this condition by the time they are 5 or 6 years old. Since Charlotte does not have a severe case, surgery is unlikely. The bad news is that she has to be on a low dose of antiobiotics until we test her again in 18 months (when she is 3 yrs old). Giving Charlotte medicine has never been an easy task. Every night is a battle to get one teaspoon down her throat. I'm hoping it will get better as time goes on. Pray for me!



One evening after taking the medicine she was playing with the syringe. She even gave her baby some medicine and then cried for her. It was so cute.

I'm done with "Parents" magazine

I was already sick of reading the fluff in Parents magazine and decided I definitely wouldn't renew my subscription. I don't even get excited when it arrives. This is the article that put me over the edge:
http://www.parents.com/parents/story.jsp?storyid=/templatedata/parents/story/data/1204903765533.xml
The article is about trying cloth diapers instead of disposables. I was thrilled to see that "Parents" was covering this subject, but enraged after reading the article. I didn't expect the article to promote cloth diapers. But come on, give them a fair shot! This piece was poorly researched, poorly written and flat out wrong on many issues concerning cloth. When I was pregnant with Charlotte, I never imagined in a million years that I would want to use cloth diapers. I had enough to worry about as a new mom without throwing extra laundry into the mix. But once I started using them (Charlotte was about 6 months old), I instantly loved them and never looked back. Of course, we have times when we resort to disposables for convenience, travel, or sickness. I've just started experimenting with using them at night because I was too afraid of disturbing Charlotte's sleep before. I know it's not for everyone and it definitely adds more work, but the benefits far surpass the extra effort. My initial draw was that they are just so cute and soft. Now I feel good about saving money and creating less trash. Bottom line is that if you're ever interested in switching to cloth, PLEASE don't read this article as a reference. Email me and I'll help point you in the right direction!

Okay, I'm stepping down from the soapbox now. Thanks for reading.

Palm Sunday

Thanks to the Cotters for the dress and Mimi & Sienna for the sweater :) She looked so cute at church today!