Merry Christmas

Our girls would like to wish you a Merry Christmas - from the house of no such thing as a silent night!!!

Family of Four

We are now a family of four - and starting to love it. We are finally getting into the swing of things and establishing this as our norm. We love our new baby as much as our almost 4 year old! What a blessing we have in each other...and what a blessing it is to have a healthy baby and healthy delivery!

Super Bug?

Last week we were hit with some sort of super bug. They kept telling me M had H1N1 because of her high fever (104). However, she developed this rash that kept getting worse and worse and was unexplanable. On day 4 the Dr. said she possible had Fifth's (which on day 2 the Dr. said she absolutely did not have). At any rate, we believe she was having some sort of toxic reaction to one of the 3 perscription drugs (in addition to 2 OTC) they had her on. We have since come across Serum Sickness and think this may be our culprit since symptoms started on day 9 of Sulfa. Does anyone have experience with serum sickness? If so, what do you think? Good news is M is better now and is eating again and sassy as ever - just in time for Halloween. Here are some pics from day 2 of the illness. I would say day 3.5 was the worst...the rest of her body started to look like her face at that point.

Spoke too soon

Well, it is official, we are back on the antibiotic for lung infections. I guess we made it all the way into October before we had to start, so that is a step. We were just really hoping that this was the fall she would not need to start the meds at all. We will keep praying for her to outgrow this and for the new baby to not have this condition.

A little bit of hope

M had a very stuffy and runny nose for two weeks and guess what? She DID NOT develop a lung infection. In fact, she didn't even get the slightest cough. I hope this is not premature excitement, but this is the first time in 3 1/2 years that she has not gotten a lung infection due to a simple virus as this was. I am THRILLED to say the least!

Nesting

It is safe to say that I have been nesting lately. Unfortunatly, for my hubby, that mostly means nagging him to finish all sorts of projects. In the past two weeks we have rearranged and gotten rid of furniture, ordered (and will be arriving tomorrow) a new sofa sleeeper, had the majority of our new windows installed, and enjoyed grandma and gradpa Pate's company last weekend to build a play set for M and baby. This is no ordinary play set. It is the size of a small bedroom with a swing set off of it. Plans in the future include a rock climbing wall and a slide - lucky kid! All of this nesting - you would think my house was immaculate, but I can not stop cleaning out closets. I am getting rid of things left and right, so my house is always looking like junk. I just can't help myself. I see a storage place and I just start organizing. Hopefully we will get on to the nursery soon - we are just waiting for our window coverings to come in.

In other news M started dance class on Monday night. She proclaimed to me on the way there that she was going to cry when we got there because her friend was not in calss with her. And she did. She cried the first 10 minutes of calss. It was so cute seeing little ballet positions with giant tears in her eyes. Next week WILL be better. M has also proclaimed her lack of desire to learn. Last weekend she told me she turned off the TV because they were talking about words and she did not want to learn. The joys!

Guilt Trip

As we were getting ready for school and work on Wednesday morning M is on the potty and mumbles loud enough for us to hear, " I wish you guys loved me enough that you would let me just stay home." So starts the guilt trips!

Growing

Niabi Zoo - three years in a row. You should take note that the attitude is also grwoing and the desire to wear a sun hat has depleted.

The June of Travels

M and the Bride

M with her godparents

Family at 6 Flags

This month has been very busy. We started off the month by going to Minnesota to celebrate a friends birthday. Then, the following weekend we went to Guelph, Ontario for a wedding and immediatly went to Sacramento for a week to see Uncle Todd and Aunt Kelly.

M did much better in this months flower girl adventure - she may have been bribed with money, but she made it down the isle and sat through the entire service.

In Sacramento, we went to The zoo, a railroad museum, six flags, hiking, and to wineries. M learned many new phrases from her Aunt Kelly, which she has taught her friends back at school. Her teachers find her hilarious! Our unfortunate outcome of all of these travels is that M no longer desires to go to school and cries when we drop her off - - - horrible parents. Luckily, she has been able to guilt Daddy into taking her on project aware (a river clean up effort) some this week.

Another big challenge we are facing is explaining to a very medically inclined 3 year old how a baby is going to come out of my belly. The simple "a Dr. will help." answer did not suffice!

Spring Updates

My cousin from Denver came and vsited over Easter with her daughter. It was a joy to finally get to meet her. We took the girls to see the Easter Bunny, to the zoo, and to the park. I wish we lived closer. M was really into the egg hunt his year, which was fun to watch.
M has also taken to ice skating this spring - although she is not at all good at it. I hate to crush her dreams at this age. We have most of our garden planted and have "enjoyed" my help with that this year.
In other news, we have successfully killed 4 goldfish in the past month. The first was purchased to keep M company in her room (bribe to stay in her bed at bedtime). It worked lovely for two weeks. Now, they do not work and we are done buying fish. FOr the recod, their names were airplane, Elizabeth, Teegan, and David.
I got sucked into private swim lessons this summer, because I didn't realize that July lessons would be booked before May. I guess being a mom is a total learning curve. Seriously though, why are they all booked so early?
Happy Spring!

Wedding #1

Other than Meara behaving rotten in church and not walking down the isle, Holly and Drew's wedding was great. We all had a lovely time. Let's see if M's June wedding goes better than this - I still don't have much faith she will walk down the isle though...she doesn't do anything if it is not her own idea! Thank God she looked cute!

As a parent, I feel bad for getting so upset with her for behaving so rotten in chuch. I mean, what do you expect when you take a kid with no nap for two days to a church for several hours and expect them to behave when they want to be twirling in their fun dress. What I really hate is those people who judged me for the way my child behaved and what I really love is those people who too had/have children who were/are full of life and totally understand what I was going through. And, I love that my child was able to put a smile on their faces as they remembered their own kids when they were M's age. I have to say that I also love that I was able to take High School Musical away for a week as a punishment...I haven't had one of those songs in my head all week!

Three is the New Two

Yes, three is the new two, and although I HATE three I LOVE it. Since turning three M has certainly developed a stronger personality with longer more violant episodes (who knows where she got that - I guess it is a sign of intellegence). On the bright note...this lucky St. Patrick's Day month we have been able to take her to the movie theater and to Disney on Ice - and we made it through both of them without a tantrum.. This summer I am taking her to the real theater! I love that she is old enough to have some real fun now...
Saddest thing ever - yesterday morning we were waiting to get M's script filled (again) and she asked me what meds she was getting now. I told her the same ones as always. She replied, "Mommy, why don't the other kids always have to take medicine?" Talk about breaking a mothers heart.
Wishing everyone a Happy warm St. Patrick's Day.

Before the big melt

Here is the snowman masterpiece M and I made before our big weekend melt. Currently we have very little snow on the ground - yeah! I woke M up on Saturday morning and told her that our snowman must have walked away because he wasn't in our front yard anymore. She told me, "no he didn't mommy. He just melted." You must imagine the attitude that went along with this. She is way too smart for her age. I thought for sure she would fall for that one and we would be able to make up stories as to where the snowman might have walked to, but she didn't fall into my trap.

Dance Marathon

Phi Rho girls with M.

Having Fun - after 2 hours of warming up!

Dance Marathon Buddies.

Emily and M in the Bounce House.

We had the pleasure of enjoying our 3rd Augustana College Dance Marathon this Saturday evening. It is hard to believe that last Saturday we were sitting in the hospital wondering what was to come of Eric and this Saturday we were at Dance Marathon. Thank God! We had a lovely time with some Dance Marathon friends and enjoyed our time with the Phi Rho girls. We would like to thank ALL of the students who raised money and danced for Meara and all the other kids who benefit from the University of Iowa Children's Hospital. It is you who get these kids and their families through all of their treatments - Thanks! We are truely blessed to be part of such a wonderful event.