Halloween

This Halloween season was such a blast. In lieu of giving Olivia a knife to carve pumpkins ("punkins"), we painted. Olivia had so much fun and asked for paint everyday for about a week after.

We went to a local pumpkin patch, and ended up coming home with this cute little kitty.

The girls had so much fun climbing/sitting on hay barrels and exploring all of the pumpkins - big and small.

At my work, they have an annual Daycare Halloween Parade, where all of the health department workers bring candy and the daycare kids go trick or treating throughout the building. At first Olivia was very uncooperative wearing her costume, but once she realized she got candy for wearing it, all of the sudden it was not such a burden :)

Later that day we went trick or treating in our neighborhood. Both of the girls were so much fun. Olivia would pick and choose which houses she wanted to go to (some of them were scary!). She really liked houses that were decorated with lots of lights, and a few times she just wanted to get closer to inspect the decorations, and wasn't interested in ringing the doorbell at all.

Olivia had just as much fun at home when the trick or treaters came to our house. When someone would knock, she would get so excited and scream "trick or treat"! She is also a candy nazi, and freaked out when I took a Snickers "No, my candy!" Oh she has so much to learn. It costs half of your Halloween booty if you want Mommy to buy you a costume.

Growing So Fast!

Our little girls are growing up so fast. In the past month, they have both changed so much. It is so fun to watch, and yet I feel like I miss so much. I really need to have a video camera on them 24/7.

Since Olivia's ear tube surgery, her speech has blossomed. Without all the liquid in her ears all the time, she can finally hear. She has become somewhat afraid of noises that never bothered her before - for example fire trucks, mostly because they are now louder than they used to be for her. She says the funniest things to us all the time. I am amazed at how much she understands and picks up. Her catch phrase seems to be "I fall down". It is a generic response to any question. What did you eat for lunch? I fall down. Are you tired? I fall down.

Olivia is really into colors and numbers. It looks like her favorite color for now is green. She points colors out to us everywhere, and asks for things by their color, not necessarily what they are. For example, when she wants a blanket, she asks for "the green one", even though she knows what a blanket is. She asks for "the pink one" when she wants a spoon. She loves to count, but is still working on accuracy. Things are usually "one, two, five, six seven". She knows her age, and if you ask her how old she is, she will say "two old". If you ask her how old Ellie is, she will say one. Mommy and Daddy range in age from one to three, depending on the day.

Being in the preschool class at daycare has really expanded her imagination. She loves her friends there. She has learned so many fun little songs, and comes home everyday with several art projects. Her creative play has really blossomed, as well. She loves to pretend to be a kitty cat. She purrs and comes to Mommy for pets.

Ellie is still a Mommy's girl and major cuddle-bug. It is amazing how different she is from Olivia in size and personality. She is wearing clothes right now (at 9 months) that Olivia was wearing last winter (at 15 months). She has a much more reserved and shy personality. She still loves attention from people, but has to know that Mommy or Daddy are right by.

Ellie loves to squeal and jabber. She has just started crawling and is working on pulling herself up to stand. She LOVES her solid foods, and we are introducing her to more chunky foods everyday. On Saturday I was taking a nap, and she started choking on a puff. Jeremy quickly grabbed her, tilted her down, and smacked her back. It came flying out. I was so proud of him for how he handled it. I asked him if he was scared, and he said he wasn't, that his Daddy instinct just kicked in and he knew what to do. I guess he wasn't sleeping through that infant CPR/choking class I made him take when I was pregnant with Olivia :)

I Love Her

A great video for a gloomy day. I dare you not to smile (or laugh)!

Sick-tember

This past month has gone by very quickly, and quite frankly, good riddance! Our family has single-handedly paid our pediatrician's salary for the month :) I feel I need to document this in detail so one day I can show my girls that we truly did survive the infectious disease Armageddon.

The month started out great - I turned 30 (yikes), but we had family in town and were enjoying our time with them. Ellie had been jumping from cold to cold, but other than a runny nose and a little irritability at times, she was doing well. After a few weeks, though, Ellie's nose was still not clearing up. She was producing yucky-amounts of yucky-colored boogies, so I thought we needed a quick office visit to make sure nothing was going on.

Thurs, Sept 8 - I brought Ellie in for a doctor's visit. She was diagnosed with a sinus infection and we were given an antibiotic (amoxicillin). I was also an evil mom and got both Olivia and Ellie their flu shots.

Fri, Sept 9 - Ellie did great. Her nose was drying up, and she was happier than she had been for the last few weeks.

Sat, Sept 10 - My mom and Allie took the girls to the local farmer's market. I sent Ellie with a bottle, which she refused to drink for them. She cried in the car the entire way home. She wasn't much happier at home, either. Still wouldn't take the bottle, and was pretty darn cranky. That night, I spent the entire night awake holding her while she cried. She developed a fever, and would sleep at most for 20 minutes, and then cry for the next 30-60 minutes. I finally got her to sleep for a couple of hours next to me in bed around 3 am.

Sun, Sept 11 - Ellie was miserable all day. We held her most of the time, and she still refused to eat. She developed some nasty conjunctivitis (eye boogers), and we spent most of the day cleaning her face so her eyelids wouldn't dry shut. We had another nightmare night with Jeremy and I taking turns holding her while she cried.

Mon, Sept 12 - Ellie was in no shape to go to daycare. I was slammed at work with a major grant - I NEEDED to be there. Jeremy stayed home with Ellie. I got a doctor's appointment for her in the morning, which Jeremy took her to. She was diagnosed with a nasty virus and an ear infection. She was given a new antibiotic, Cefdinir. She still refused to eat - Jeremy only got 1 ounce in her all day. Another horrific night.

Tues, Sept 13 - Jeremy stayed home with Ellie again. He held her all day. Luckily she slept most of the day. Didn't sleep at all at night.

Wed, Sept 14 - I stayed home with Ellie today. Ellie woke up with a rash on her face and torso. I called and made an appointment with the doctor for later that day. During the day, Ellie's rash progressed all down her arms and legs, and the bumps got bigger and bigger until she looked like a speckled egg. The doctor determined she had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics. It looked like her ear infection had cleared, so we decided to not try another antibiotic. Another sleepless night.

Thurs, Sept 15 - I stayed home again. Ellie's rash clearing, but still fussy.

Fri, Sept 16 - Brought girls to daycare for partial day - had to get some work done. Left early and went to doctor's. Ellie had another ear infection. Got another antibiotic, Augmentin.

Over the weekend, Ellie started to improve. She was still clingy, not sleeping well at night, but was making improvements. Olivia started to get sick - goopy eyes, very clingy, runny nose. I also started to get sick. I developed a horrible cough, and intense sinus/ear pain. I was awake most of the night coughing.

Mon, Sept 19 - I went to the doctor - diagnosed with a sinus infection. Because I'm nursing I can't take the cough medicine, so I spent most of the night awake coughing.

Tues, Sept 20 - Ellie is restless, not going to bed easy. I bring her downstairs to cuddle and she throws up all over me several times.

Wed, Sept 21 - I'm still not sleeping, so pretty darn tired. Work is REALLY busy and stressful. Olivia has been having rough nights and just generally cranky. I brought Olivia into the doctor's - she is diagnosed with a double ear infection. We also get some medicine for Ellie as she has developed a nasty yeast infection in her diaper area.

Fri, Sept 23 - I notice greyish-looking plaques on the inside of Ellie's mouth. I show it to her daycare teacher. She thinks it looks like thrush, a yeast infection of the mouth. The doctor confirms. We get medicine for that.

Over the weekend, Ellie's thrush clears up, and she starts eating much better. She is slowly sleeping better at night, too. Olivia has been a little more cranky than normal. I'm finally starting to sleep a little better at night, my cough is finally going away!

Tues, Sept 27 - Olivia has surgery for ear tubes. Olivia was given a little Versed to help her calm down for the surgery. She got very loopy and quite funny. She would laugh and say everything was funny, and she kept trying to stand up and would lose her balance. They have little wagons that they sit the kids in to bring them back to surgery. We watched her laughing all the way down the hall as she was being wheeled back by the anesthesiologist. The procedure is very simple and quick, within 15 minutes, they were done. Another 15 minutes later we talked to the doctor. He mentioned that she still had an active double ear infection, so she was given antibiotic ear drops. Another 15 minutes later we were in recovery with her. She had a tough time coming out of the Versed - she cried for about 30 minutes and we couldn't calm her. She kept telling us she wanted to go home. We finally got her calm and drinking some apple juice. When they told us we could go, we started to walk out, and Olivia told us she wanted to leave in a wagon. A nurse pulled her all the way to the car in it.

Things are finally looking up. Ellie is totally healthy, eating tons, and sleeping well. Olivia has recovered from surgery, and has slept better at night since her surgery than she has in a long time.

But just for the record - here are the final counts:
2 sinus infections
4 ear infections
2 yeast infections
6 prescriptions
7 doctor's appointments
1 surgery

Bring it on October!

Olivia's 2nd Birthday

For Olivia's 2nd birthday, we ended up having a small party at a local park with just Allison and Jeremy's parents and sister. It was a fun, relaxing day.


I can't believe that Olivia is 2-years old. She has turned into such a wonderful little girl. Here are a few of our favorite things about Olivia:

1. Olivia is such a ham. She loves to dance, especially if people are watching. Her favorite move is to put both her hands on the ground and raise one leg into the air.

2. Olivia is getting so verbal. She is easier to understand each day, and she has the cutest little voice. We've had to work through some awkward phrasing, though, particularly her pronunciation of the word "fire truck" which came out sounding much like a very naughty swear word.

3. Olivia loves her sister Ellie (or as she says it, Eh-yee). She gives her hugs and pats her back. She is pretty good at sharing toys, and tries to comfort her when she is upset. When Ellie is napping, Olivia will constantly say, "baby, wake?", hoping we can go wake her up.

4. Olivia loves her daddy, and lately, her daddy's car. She is always asking to ride in it, and is so disappointed every morning when she has to get in mommy's car to go to daycare.

5. Olivia loves the sun roof in her mommy's car, but hates the sun. She will point at the sun roof, and say "ope" (open), and the minute I open it, she covers her eyes and cries "sun! no! go way!". If I shut the sun roof, she gets upset and wants it open again. Unfortunately, the sun is still on the other side.

6. Olivia loves animals. She always wants to watch videos of animals on you tube, or TV. She likes to make animal noises, as well, but lately, all any animal does is growl. Including giraffes.

7. Olivia loves stickers and loves coloring. Both activities can keep her preoccupied for hours. She also likes to watch other people color. She often brings Jeremy or myself her markers and asks us to color so she can watch. If we open her marker and hand it back to her, she gets so upset and says, "no! mama color!".

Ellie has grown leaps and bounds in the past few weeks, as well. She has mastered sitting up all by herself, and it provides her with a new sense of independence that she thrives off of. She has recently become a really good sleeper at night, as well. It literally occurred overnight. We got to the point where we had her sleeping for 2-3 hour stretches at night. Then one night, she slept for 5 hours. The following night, she slept for 7 hours. The night after that, she went for 9 hours. She now fairly consistently only wakes up once during the night. Her tummy troubles have also seemed to clear up, and she is now eating some solids. She LOVES her food, and lunges at the spoon.

The following are some pictures from our summer, so far:

Fast Asleep

I put Ellie down to bed on her back. I went to check on her after a while, and found this...

Fourth of July

For this 4th of July we took a quick trip to California to see my family. Once again, Poika was a hit with the babies. While we were there, Olivia got ANOTHER ear infection, and he sat with her all night and let her cuddle him and pet him. Such a sweet dog. I'm so glad that Ellie is getting to know him, too.


We went to the local farmer's market while we were there. Olivia got her first balloon "animal" - not exactly an animal, but a flower (or "frower" as she calls it).

It is amazing what a little humidity does to her curls!

The girls had a blast bathing in grandma's sink!

We celebrated my dad's birthday while we were there. He's a true Yanky Doodle Dandy. We had lots of fun that evening at a local school for fireworks. Ellie is entranced by them, Olivia gets a little nervous, but does well if she is cuddling with her daddy.