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| Nov 1988 |
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How she came to be known as "Bean"... when i found out i was pregnant with amanda... i was very early in my pregnancy... in fact, when i went to get a pregnancy test done, they told me it was a "weak negative, come back in 5 days and do another one"... i just knew that i was pregnant! i went back after the 5 days, and sure enough, it was positive. i bought a book about in utero developement, and i looked up what the baby would look like at the stage i was at... it looked like a lima bean!!! since i didn't want too many people knowing about the pregnancy yet, we would refer to "Bean"... "how is bean today?"... "any news on Bean?"... "has Bean been to the dr yet?"... etc.... for christmas that year, amanda's aunt renee was shopping and she saw this little ceramic figurine, it was a small child dressed up in a lima bean costume, and around the base of the figurine it said "little lima bean in the garden scene". she reached for it and almost got in a fist fight with a woman that was determined to get it for herself. well renee wasn't having any of that! she jerked the little figurine back from the woman and said "this is MINE!" and then went to pay for it. she brought it to me and i've had it ever since. oh, it's had it's share of cracks and breaks, but i've repaired and glued it each time! it is packed away still, i will have to find it and put in in the glass cabinet with amanda's fairy figurines. |
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| Winter 1988 |
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well, it was winter time and i got sick. started out i thought i had the flu. i hadn't been to my first OB appt yet, it was scheduled, but hadn't gone to it yet. well, i just kept getting worse and worse and worse. at one point i went over to renee's house and she had a fit when she saw how pale i was and how weak i was (we lived in a mobile home park and she lived right across from us at the time). i had come to the conclusion that i must have a kidney or bladder infection because it was becoming increasingly difficult to pee, i was running a fever, adn i was terribly weak. renee told me i needed to call the dr. well, i didn't know my dr, hadn't met him yet! but i called. he told me to lay down, drink plenty of fluids and if i didn't feel better by the next morning, call the office and come in to see them. when i got off the phone i told renee what he said and i went home to lay back down. (i didn't have a home phone at the time, so i used hers). after a while, renee came over to visit and check up on me. i was in bed and couldn't hardly move. now i wasn't peeing at all. she said i needed to come back over to her house and call the dr again cause i needed to go to the ER or urgent care. so i did, but the dr didn't seem too concerned. he basically treated me like a whiney pregnant woman who wanted attention and implied that it couldn't be as bad as all that. well, renee went off! she asked him if he was telling me NOT to go to the ER or urgent care? because if he was telling me NOT to go, and anything happened to me or the baby because he wouldn't allow me to go get checked out now (at that time you had to have permission from your dr to go to the ER or the insurance wouldn't cover it) that she would sue his @$$ off! he stammered and stuttered a bit and said that of course i could go to the urgent care if i felt it was really necessary, he would call them and let them know i might be coming in. otherwise i should definately call in the morning and go into the office. well, satisfied with her persuasive efforts, renee bundled me up and took me to the urgent care facility. once again, they didn't really seem to care much. the whole attitude seemed to be "oh, this young pregnant woman doesn't feel good, she's probably got morning sickness and feels horrible. she's so whiney" and they took their own sweet time calling my name. well, with each moment that passed that they didn't call my name, renee got more irritated. renee is not a happy camper when she is irritated! she started yelling at them, even cussing, telling them that they better get off their @$$es and DO something before i just collapsed all together or she was going to have their heads on a platter! finally they called me, sat me down and drew some blood, and then told me to take the little cup and go to the bathroom and get them a urine specimen. well, i went to the bathroom, and the best i could do was about 3 tablespoons and it was such a deep dark gold color! as i was walking away from the bathroom to give them the little cup, i siddenly had the intense urgent need to throw up! i made it to the trash can, and after heaving my guts out, i sat down in the chair they had. shortly thereafter, the test results came back, showing that i had a RAGING urinary tract infection. un, DUH!!! i've never see people move so fast in my life! they had me in a room and hooked up to an IV in minutes! lol i felt so bad, renee stayed with me the whole time and continued to mumble about how stupid they were for not listening in the first place. they told me that i wouldnt' be allowed to leave until i was able to pee. they poured two bags of IV fluids into me, so fast that it made me freezing cold and my teeth were chattering even though i had a blanket on! that was wierd! after a while i was able to pee to their satisfaction and then we went home. i went to bed, and after days of medication and lots of fluids, i got over that UTI, but boy was it painful! i was so glad that nothing had happened to my baby. she was still safe and growing inside me. |
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| winter 1988 |
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oh the morning sickness!!! ugh!!! i was so sick, i couldn't keep any food down, and sometimes just the smell or thought of food made me sick! i was still working at the time, and i couldn't afford to miss work. i finally realized that i could eat fresh fruit and not get sick. so i bought every fruit i liked and kept them on hand and took them for lunch every day. but it had to be juicy fruit, you know, like oranges, grapes, plums, grapefruit, cherries, etc. no bananas! or exotic fruits. yuck. just regular old juicy fruits that were light and tasty and cold. Mmmmm. |
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| Spring 1988 |
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well, the morning sickness passed, thank goodness!!! and i was able to start eating normal food again. and one thing that i craved so much was hot meatball subs with melted cheese and smothered in pepperocini peppers (whole ones, probably a dozen on each sandwich!). there was a little shop down the street from where i worked, they had a sandwich counter where they sold all different kinds of sandwiches, and they were all so good! so at least once each week, i splurged and bought one of those delicious sandwiches! Mmmmmmmm! i think i must have eaten my weight in pepperocini peppers during that time! lol and later on, amanda loved those peppers so much! coincidence? hmmmmmmm.... maybe... maybe not! lol |
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| Spring 1988 |
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ok, i admit it, i am a clutz! i tend to mis step quite often and down i will go! well, being pregnant didnt' help me any! lol i even fell then. never got hurt, but oh did i get sore a few times! and nothing seemed to phase my little amanda, snug and safe inside my belly. for that i was greatful! |
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| winter/spring 1988 |
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i just KNEW i was having a girl. no doubt about it. it was a girl. i couldn't think of anything except girls names, and there was something inside of me that just KNEW it was a girl. during my 2nd trimester, they did an ultrasound, and they confirmed it was indeed a girl! i was so excited! i loved my son dearly, but i had always wanted one of each, a boy and a girl. we went through alot of baby girl names, and i finally decided on amber lea or amanda lynn... well, i drove by an area that was building up quite fast and i saw a sign for a housing developement... it was named AMBER LEA... well, i couldn't have my baby named after a housing developement! so i chose amanda lynn. it sounded good, and it seemed to fit. so amanda lynn it was from that time forward. i would talk to her and sing to her, rubbing my belly and telling her how happy i/we were that she was coming. |
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| June 1989 |
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the people at my work had a baby shower for me! they set it up in the lunchroom/breakroom and there were so many people there! it was wonderful. and the managers and supervisors got together and bought a carseat for me (they called my mom to find out which one i wanted!). and they had been told not to buy anything in a newborn size! lol so everyone brought clothes that were 3-6 months, 6-9 months, and 12 months... i think i even got some that were 18 months! (but that was good, cause i continually had new clothes for her as she grew!) i didn't think i would be able to fit everything into the car! but i did, and we took it home and marveled at all the wonderful things we had been given. it was wonderful. |
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| Birth, July 1989 |
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She was born on Tues, July 25, 1989 at 2:30am... she weighed 10lb 3oz and was 22-1/2 inches long. i had woke up in early labor at 7am the previous morning, the day that i was scheduled to be induced. i did fairly well, and didn't actually go to the hospital till 4pm, the time i was scheduled to show up and be admitted. by then i was already dialted to 4cm. later that night, i guess around 9 or 10 i think, i decided that it sure was a lot harder than i remembered it! lol and that i wanted an epidural NOW! lol i did it naturally the first time, with her brother chris... but that was almost 9 yrs earlier! i was older and out of shape now! lol the epidural worked it's magic and i progressed without any problems. her father and her aunt renee were both there, and my mom came to the hospital and brought christopher with her (they had been at her house cause you just can't keep an 8 year old at the hospital indefinately!) and they got there just minutes before she was born. after we were take to the delivery room, she was in such a hurry to come out, the doctor had to catch her by her ankle. of course nobody told me that is what happened until two weeks later! lol she was happy and healthy and i was done! i had a boy and a girl... they were almost 9 years apart! like starting two different families! her brother had been 10lb 7oz at birth... ok, that was my first, it would have just been just "one of those things"... but then, she was 10lb 3oz... that was setting a pattern! i said no more! two was enough for me!!! quite different from my original thoughts of wanting to have 12 kids!!! of course that was when i was in high school! lol |
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| 1 month, Aug 1989 |
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amanda and i discovered late night tv!!! yep, she was up so much throughout the night, we got to know arsenio hall very well! lol i was nursing her and she wanted to be held and fed throughout the night. every 2 hours!!! i can't even count how many times i fell asleep in that swivel rocker, thank god i had it! |
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| 1-1/2 mos old, Sept 1989 |
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i went back to work when she was 6 weeks old... that was heartbreaking! i cried so much! oh how i missed my baby girl! christopher was in school, and i was used to having him gone for a few hours of the day, but she was so new! so precious... i couldn't stand to leave her! but i did. after i went to work and our schedule changed, my milk dried up almost within a week! oh she didn't like that at all!!! i bawled my eyes out because i couldn't nurse her anymore. that was our special time, something that nobody else could do for her. and now that was take away. it was devistating, at least to me! lol and to an extent it was devistating to amanda too... she did not like bottles at all! i think we tried every nipple ever manufactured until we finally found one she would drink from! |
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| 3 mos old, Oct 1989 |
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formula... oh man! nothing agreed with her tummy! everything we tried upset her tummy in one way or another, i was at my wits end! i was on the phone with my mom at one point, talking about the problems with amanda and formula, looking through a baby book absent mindedly... i flipped to a page and after seeing what it was, i told my mom "if i can't find anything that she can tolerate soon, i just might have to try this recipe for an emergency infant formula!" she asked what it was, and i told her that the baby book i had been looking at had a recipe for an emergency infant formula in case you ran out of formula and had to have something untill you could get to the store to buy some more. she asked me what it had in it. i told her that it was equal parts of evaporated milk and water with a tablespoon of light karo syrup in it. i told her i didn't know if it would be bad for her or not, it was obviously cows milk based and the "experts" said not to give a baby cows milk till they were a year old. my mother kind of chuckled and said "honey, what do you think they fed babies before they came out with commercially produced formula??? this is what we called "PET milk formula, PET was a brand name of canned milk. even years ago, not everyone could nurse their baby for one reason or another, so they had to use a formula, and this is what it was. if it was truly that bad for you, the generations would have died out long ago!" well, i had to laugh too, and decided i would try it if it came to that. and it did, of course. and from day one of using, amanda no longer had any problems with her formula! she drank it well, held it down well, no more problems with diarrea or diaper rash. i was amazed! did i tell her doctor??? heck no!!! i wasn't gonna get a lecture!!! he was one of those new young doctors that had all the answers and was gonna revolutionize the pediatric world! yeh, ok, whatever! lol we just went on our merry way and kept using the formula. |
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| 5 mos old, Dec 1989 |
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5 months old... in her walker eating roasted marshmallows in front of the christmas tree with her brother chris... had them in her hair, in her ears, in her nose.... oh was that sticky!!! |
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| 9 mos old, may 1990 |
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finally getting teeth and walking! she may take a long time to do something, but when she finally does it... she does it allll the way and with style!!! lol |
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| 10 mos old, June 1990 |
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first popcicle! grape!!! walking around in the grass of our front yard, eating a double stick grape popcicle... it was so cold! but she refused to hold it by the sticks! she devoured it! oh what a sticky mess that was! |
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| 12 mos old, July 1990 |
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first 4th of July! she was so excited! we went to see the fireworks display... every place was too crowded so we just went out and parked at the side of a road near one and stood on the curb watching. she just kept exclaiming "dooka da dites! dooka da dites!" translates into "look at the lights! look at the lights!" lol totally cute. |
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| 1st BIRTHDAY! |
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aunt nae showed up with your very own cake! a boston cream pie cake! oh boy did you have fun!! you had it in your hair, up your nose, in your ears, between your toes, in your eyelashes... but you sure did enjoy it! LOL |
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| 16 mos old, Nov 1990 |
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she was taking a nap, and someone that had come over to see me was just leaving. i was standing right outside the front door saying goodbye... when i went back into the house, i heard her little voice just chattering away... when i went to see what she was doing, i found her talking on the phone... wasn't sure if she was just playing or if the phone had rung and she had answered it. i picked up the phone from her and said hello... and guess what?!?!? there was a police officer on the other end! she had called 911! the officer asked if there was some emergency because she had been talking to amanda for approximately 5 minutes! i explained what had happened and she kind of chuckled and said she would call off the squad car that was enroute to my house! i was just mortified! lol i never knew that amanda being on the phone at that tender age was just a hint of years to come... later on we thought it would have to be surgically removed from the side of her head, she talked on it so much!!! lol |
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| 20 mos old, Jan 1991 |
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first time amanda drove a car!!! or in this case, a suburban!!! amanda, chris and i had gone shopping (christopher was 10 at the time)... and as was my habit at the time, i would find the cheapest place to get meat and i would go get it, and bring it home and put it in the freezer and then go finish my other grocery shopping. we had a huge chest freezer that sat on our back patio, so i pulled our suburban into the alley behind our house, and put it in park... christopher and i got out and grabbed grocery bags and went through the gate into the back yard to put them in the freezer. we turned around to head back to the truck and we saw it moving! with amanda behind the wheel! all i could do was stand there with my mouth gaping open! luckily my son had more wits about him! lol he immediately ran, opened the door and threw the truck into park. of course it jerked to a halt... but not before taking out the corner of our neighbors chain link fence! lol apparently, amanda had unbuckled her car seat (didn't know she could do that!) and had crawled into the driver's seat and decided she would "drive". she was so pleased with herself! needless to say, i wasn't! lol i think i aged 10 yrs in those few short minutes! i also had no way of knowing that there would be another time in amanda's future that she would take the car again, without being of age to do so! lol |
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| 23 mos, June 1991 |
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two weeks before her 2nd birthday, and amanda was a rambuctious little thing! she had discovered the ice cream man!!! every day, he came through our apartment complex just about the time she was to wake up from her nap. oh joy! lol well, she would stand up on her little bed (the small kind that you used a crib mattress for) and look out the window (no, i didn't realize at the time that you shouldn't put a child's bed underneath a window!). one day she got so excited, she was jumping up and down on the bed! i told her no, to stop jumping or she might fall. she said "i not fall mommy, i jumping! ice cream man! ice cream!" i told her again to quit jumping, and when she didn't stop i started to walk toward her. she must have hear my footsteps (she was facing the window) and at that point dropped from her feet down to her knees, but when she did that, she hit the base of her nose on the edge of the windowsil and she hit it hard! she immediately started screaming like crazy and there was blood everywhere! i thought "great! she got a bloody nose!" but when i picked her up to try to calm her down and take her to wipe her nose, i realized she had cut her nose! that little section that divides your two nostrils was severed! well, yeh, i freaked out a bit! we made a trip to the emergency room, cause she was obviously going to need stitches! they tried sedating her to calm her down... nothing.... gave her more sedation... still didnt' do anything....and then MORE sedation... she was still fighting everyone off and wouldn't let them do anything! they said they had given her the limit, they couldnt' give her anymore than that. so they strapped her down to a papoose board, with the intentions of getting a facial xray to make sure nothing was fractured from the impact. she was still moving around too much! we tried EVERYTHING and nothing had an affect on her... untill we said that if she would just be still and let them do what they had to do we would get her some candy when we were done... i know, you shouldn't bribe a child to do something that they should just do because they are told.... yeh yeh yeh... lol... well, she immediately shut up and nodded her head ok. they took xrays, nothing broken... then they got her little nose all numbed up and then stitched up... and they released her from the papoose board, at which time she sat straight up and announced "now i want my candy!" lol... well, we got her some candy! lol |
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| 2-1/2 yrs old, Jan 1992 |
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one of her favorite things to do was go to our friend joanne's house and hold her bird! joanne had a cockatiel (can't remember what his naem was!) and amanda just loved that bird! she loved any kind of animal really, but this was one she could hold on her hand. he was so quiet and she was just tickled that he would just sit there and look at her while she talked to him. |
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| 3-1/2 yrs old, Jan 1993 |
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amanda had her first physical fight! we had a neighbor that had a 6 yr old little girl. she wasn't the nicest child in the world and was always taking toys away from the other kids, especially the little kids. amanda was playing with a toy and the little girl wanted it. she asked to play with it and amanda told her no. she tried to take it and amanda told her no again. she hit amanda and demanded the toy and amanda told her no again. then the little girl shoved amanda and called her a B**ch, turned and started walking away. well, amanda dropped her toy, went after the girl, grabbed her by her hair and took her down to the ground telling her "you don't call me a B**ch! that's no nice!" she let the girl go and the little girl ran home crying to her mom. nobody ever said anything about it incident, although i did have a talk with amanda about more appropriate ways to handle that situation... |
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| 3yrs 7 mos old, Feb 1993 |
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i went to my doctors appt, it was pouring down rain... it rained buckets all day! by the time i made it back through traffic the water on the walkway was up to the bottom of the doorway, it was horrible. i just wanted to change into some dry clothes and relax. but no, that wasn't in the cards for me! i was met at the door by amanda's father and her big brother chris (he was about 12 at the time). they were both frantic. her father wanted to turn right around and leave, he said that we had to take amanda to the emergency room. of course i immediately wanted to know why! he explained that she had been playing inside because it was too wet and rainy outside, and that she had gotten really quiet, and he had gone to check on her and she was playing with a box of wetwipes. she was fussy and started to cry and told him that she had something in her nose. well, he found out that she had torn up a wetwipe and for some strange reason, had stuck it in her nose! he had tried and tried to get it out, and he couldn't. and now, you couldn't even see it anymore! surely the doctor would have to get it out! i just rolled my eyes and asked where she was... they led the way. i asked for a tissue, to which he replied " i already tried that, she keeps sniffing it further up inside her nose!", i repeated my request for a tissue and he brought me one. i sat amanda on the edge of the kitchen table, and sat down in front of her. i asked her if she remembered her birthday when she blew out her candles on her cake, she nodded her head smiling. i told her that i wanted her to pretend that she was blowing out her candles again, only this time, i wanted her to blow them out with her NOSE! she kind of laughed and nodded her head. i held the tissue up to her nose and told her to blow her candles out as hard as she could... she blew her nose for all it was worth and OUT popped the wadded up piece of wetwipe! lol i wiped her nose, looked at her father with my eyebrows raised with a look that said "and you doubted me why???" and got amanda down and let her go play. her father was just amazed, and her brother just laughed. |
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| 4 yrs 9 mos, May 1994 |
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we lived in a mobile home community and amanda had her first bike and was learning to ride it without training wheels. she was so tickled and so proud of herself! i went out shopping for the day with a friend, and her father was home with her. i came home, walked in the door and saw amanda and her father lounging on the couch watching tv. when she heard me, she stood up and said "mommy!" and a washcloth fell away from her head. well, i just about lost it cause all i could see was the gigantic purple goose egg on her forehead! her father started talking a mile a minute, explaining how she had been riding her bike and she turned to sharply and just bit it big time on the pavement. he had called the doctor and they said we could bring her in and they would take an xray to make sure there was no fracture, but to just keep ice on it for now. it was so huge! stood out at least and inch from her forehead, and was easily the size of... let's see... the size of the lid on a baby food jar! yep, we took her to the doctor, she was fine, no fracture. he said as the swelling went down and the bruise settled into the tissue, to expect her to have at least ONE black eye if not two, and to make sure to get her a bike helmet! well, we did, and sure enough she ended up with TWO black eyes! |
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| 4 yrs 11 mos old, June 1994 |
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amanda's big brother chirs was 13-1/2, and he had a girlfriend... the official rule of the house was, you can't date or have a girlfriend till you are 16. so he finally said they were just "friends". yeh, ok. *sigh* well, hearing all these discussions, amanda pipes up with "when can I have a boyfriend?"... ok, here we go... i told her that she could have a boyfriend when she was 16. this seemed to satisfy her for the moment and she went out to play. the next thing i know, she's back inside and tells me "when i'm 16, i'm gonna get me a boyfriend and i'm gonna name him THOMAS." well, i was extremely shocked by this announcement, and then a bit tickled by it... lol... and i said "honey, when you are 16 and you do have a boyfriend, he will probably have his own name." she said "ok, but i'm going to name him THOMAS." i told her that he might not want to be named THOMAS. and she replied "he will if he wants to be MY boyfriend!"... lol... all i could do was laugh and try not to show it cause she was so darn serious! i told her ok, that was a long way off and she could worry about it when the time came. and once again, she was off to play. |
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| 5 yrs 1 mo old, Aug 1994 |
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amanda has always been fiercely loyal to her big brother chris. even though they were so far apart in age, and they fought and bickered back and forth as much as they did, they were each others champions! they could pick at each other endlessly, but let someone ELSE try to do it and watch out! well, chris had a friend that was also named chris. we called him junior cause he was the smaller of the two. well, junior came over to visit and spend the night. those two boys had so much fun! at one point they were in the living room wrestling around, i told them to be careful and either go into chris' room or outside! of course they didn't hear a darn word i said! lol amanda came in from outside, and after taking one brief look (and seeing that the boys were "fighting" and junior having chris pinned to the ground, she ran over, picked up her little wooden chair and hit junior with it, yelling "YOU DON'T HURT MY BROTHER!", clocked him smack on the head! knocked him out cold! well, chris came up ready to knock her for a loop! i got between them and held him off, chris standing there in such a rage at what she had done, and her standing there glaring at the now semi concious junior. i explained very quickly to chris that she wasn't trying to be mean, she was trying to "defend" him, she thought that junior was hurting him and she was gonna stop it! well chris was shocked, and very pleased that his little sister would do that. he relaxed and calmed down. as he helped junior up, i explained to amanda that the boys had just been playing, just wrestling around a bit, not truly fighting, it was ok. she glared at junior for a few more minutes, but then calmed down. she finally did forgive him and gave him a hug and told him she was sorry. |
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| 5 yrs 6 mos old, Dec 1994 |
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we lived in an apartment complex, and there were a ton of kids that lived there! it was christmas day and all the kids were out playing with their new toys (which their parents were thankful for because they were all driving them insane playing inside i'm sure!). amanda had on her frilly dress and her pretty maryjane shoes with her long hair in a high ponytail. she looked so pretty! just the epitomy of innocent femininity. she was pushing her new baby doll in her new baby doll carriage, just pleased as punch. there was a neighbor boy who got a police play set for christmas. he had on the hat, the badge, the belt, he had a whistle that hung around his neck and he had handcuffs and a toy gun. yeh, great stuff for a little kid! NOT!!! guns are not toys! (sorry, that's a "get up on your soapbox" issue, i'll save it for another time and place!) well, he wanted to play cops and robbers, but everybody was busy doing their own thing and didn't want to play cops and robbers with him. so he decided he could just MAKE them play with him. he kept trying to handcuff amanda... tried and tried... but she got away from him every time and told him to stop it over and over again. then he got rather aggresive about it, and wouldn't listen at all... he grabbed her and tried to handcuff her anyway... well amanda wasn't having any of that! she looked on the ground near her and she saw a lead pipe... yes, i said a LEAD pipe!... and she picked it up and just clobbered the poor boy over the head with it yelling "iI SAID NO!" well, it didnt' knock him out, but i'm sure it hurt like heck! he ran off screaming and never came back. amanda went about her business of playing with a bit of a lecture on a much less confrontational way of dealing with that situation. the boys mother came over to find out what exactly had happened, the littel boy had a slightly swollen red spot where the pipe had connected with his head... i explained what happened, and she thanked me as she marched back home to deal with her little "officer". nobody else tried to make amanda do anything! |
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| 6 yrs 2 mos old, Sept 1985 |
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we moved from our apartment to a small farm just outside of town. we had recently gotten a young filly for my son, her name was lissy, short for elisabetta which is romanian for elizabeth. she was about 6 months old and so beautiful! her coat was thick and lush, and a deep deep dark red with a white star on her forehead. she was quite the character! she loved to drink lipton ice tea out of the can and would chase you down if you had one and didn't share it with her! lol well, then we decided to get a horse for amanda too. we found a little foal that was just a month or two old. probably weaned a bit too early, but he was at an auction and had been bought by the lady that owned the stables we kept lissy in. amanda named him jasper. his name meant "master of the treasure" and she thought it was the greatest thing. i don't know how many time she got kicked! he was a fiesty one for sure! and mostly it was because she got between him and his food! lol the farm we moved to was really close to the stables we had the horses boarded at, and it was going to be convenient to get to them. |
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| 6 yrs 4 mos old, Nov 1995 |
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about the same time we moved to the farm, we got charlotte. she was a little black pot bellied pig. oh she was so cute! amanda just adored her and treated her like a little puppy! needless to say, charlotte became very spoiled! lol as she grew older and bigger, she would demand attention and if you ignored her, she would nip at your toe! sometimes she would come up the front steps of the house and into the door if it was open, just to sit there and have coffee wth us in the morning! what a pig she was! after a few months, amanda gave charlotte to her aunt renee. aunt renee and uncle mike had moved out to the same farm and had their camper trailer parked there and stayed in it. amanda loved having them so close! |
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| 7 yrs old, July 1996 |
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amanda wanted to ride lissie so bad! lissie was old enough to start training her, so one day when we knew that lissie would/could tolerate it, we put amanda in the saddle and led her around. amanda was so happy! her favorite thing in the whole world was horses!!! she wanted to "do it herself", so we cautiously let go of the reins and let her "steer" on her own. well, lissie got a wild hair crossways for some reason and she decided she'd had enough and she just bolted! it started amanda so much, and jerked her, and her foot came out of the stirrup! but the other foot was stuck in the other stirrup! she flopped around on and off that saddle, dangling as lissie ran for all she was worth. when they finally caught her, amanda was so upset and crying. after she calmed down, we made sure she would/could get back up on lissie, with us holding her, so she would know that she could still do it. she didn't stay on long, but she was ok with it. she had hurt her ankle, the one that had been stuck in the stirrup, and we took her to the dr to have it checked out. she had sprained it pretty badly, and had to have it wrapped and be on crutches for a few weeks. that was a lovely experience, let me tell you! lol |
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| 15 yrs 4 mos, November 2004 |
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Amanda came back home after staying in phoenix for about 6 months. She got home the monday after thanksgiving and i was so overjoyed to see her standing there at the airport with alex waiting to be picked up! she looked so good! i just wanted to hug her and never let her go. she just smiled so much, and she was glad to be home too. oh i had missed so much while she was gone... 4th of july, her 15th birthday, the beginning of her sophmore year in high school, halloween, and thanksgiving... but christmas would be coming soon, and sometime before christmas we were going to have a new addition to our family! amanda's big brother chris and his wife patricia were expecting their first child, a girl, due december 17th. amanda was so excited that she was going to be here when the baby was born! she just adored that baby even before she was born! she was so excited to be an aunt again and just wanted to get her hands on that sweet baby! chris was in the army still, but he would be coming to visit for a few weeks when the baby was born. all this upcoming excitement thrilled amanda so much! she couldnt' wait! |
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| 15 years 4-1/2 months |
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within the first week of amanda being home, we knew something was wrong somewhere. one morning she woke up with a huge bruise... it was the size of a saucer! she looked startled and a bit confused, sayng that she didnt' know how she got it. we thought maybe she had hit the bed frame or the wall or something while she was sleeping. but the next day when she woke up the next day with yet another large bruise, we were very concerned. at first, we were worried that maybe something had happened while she was in phoenix, maybe she got hit or in a fight and that the bruises were just surfacing... she swore that was not the case, and we beliievd her, but it was very puzzling. she had gone through a year of karate and judo and never got a single bruise... so why was she bruising now? i called and made a doctors appt for her. in the back of my mind was a thought that i didn't want to entertain... i had lost a sister to leukemia (i was 2-1/2 and she was 5) and i remember everyone talking about bruising being one of the symptoms. but surely it was something less serious. we went to the doctor appt and they drew blood to do some tests. we checked out and went home, thinking we were done and they would call us with any results. they called us back a couple hours later saying that they had actually wanted us to stay and wait for the results! oops! they said her blood tests showed that her platelet level was low... 117,000... normal was 150,000 - 400,000... they wanted us to come back in the next day and have another blood test to see if that number was accurate, wrong, or if it went down any further... so we went back the next day and she had another blood test. she was always a trooper when it came to stuff like that, even when she was little! she was amazing. the next afternoon after we came home from the doctor appointment, we got a phone call, from a different doctor. it was dr. deb smith. she was very calm, but concerned, and said she needed me to bring amanda to the hospital to be admitted. they wanted to do a bone marrow test. she said that normally they didn't like to discuss things like this over the phone, but there really wasn't any time to waste if they were to look after amanda's best interest. they were concerned that she might have leukemia and wanted to make sure one way or another. my heart dropped to my feet and i could hardly move. my voice froze in my throat. then i told her that of course we would bring her. i hung up and called ann at work to tell her. i could feel a hysteria building deep within me, threatening to drown me. but i knew i had to stay calm. i went in to tell patricia, i was in such shock. i could tell she was too... her eyes welled up with tears and all she could say was "i am so sorry". i let amanda know that the doctors wanted to do some additional tests in the hospital because they found some abnormalities in her blood, they wanted to make sure it wasn't something more serious. she seemed more irritated than anything else, not wanting to have to stay in the hospital, but she rallied and we packed a few things and went to the hospital. we had no clue that this was the beginning of a very difficult year. |
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| 2005 |
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Passed away on November 13, 2005 at the age of 16. |
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