omg! we had a great day!

today was such a great day! it started with o sleeping until 8:15ish; i'm so thankful i have a child that likes her sleep! we were on the road to monroe before 10! we stocked up on diapers, wipes, lotion and each got a dress at target! to whomever got my buggy after me - you're welcome for the free sippy cup. good thing o can drink from a straw b/c i didn't have an extra! then we picked jackie up for lunch with courtney. melvyns never disappoints. the service always does!

her first time at the bar.

after lunch o and i were going to my friend's just ducky show. there was 1 outfit i wanted so it was going to be a quick trip. well...o had different plans. i started backing out of jackie's driveway and o was pitching a fit. jackie was running after me so i pulled back into the driveway to collect the new delta style from jackie and mentioned that o was pitching a fit. jackie went to her door and o reached right up for her! she wanted to stay there! so i let her! this was a first. she's never indicated she wanted stay with someone. now, she always "indicates" she doesn't want to leave a toy or something like that but to show me that she'd rather be with someone else; that's new! jackie got her out and i heard her say, "i knew you loved me!" from all accounts they both had a great time during the impromptu babysitting gig!

i think jackie made her work for the free babysitting!

once home we played outside for a while. then val brought amelia by to pick up some baby clothes. o wasn't thrilled to play with amelia. maybe it's b/c she's a good bit smaller. i sure hope they start to like each other! then back outside for what seemed like forever! o cannot get enough of playing in the dirt! then lindsey brought jack over for a visit. this visit went better except o is not a fan of sharing. i can't help it; she's an only child! how do you teach sharing when all she knows is playing by herself with whatever she wants? i assume she's ok at daycare as i've never received reports of being stingy but i guess they could just not be telling me...

oh, and i figured something out this week. i've been wondering why o eats so little compared to other kids her age. come to find out she's just a SLOW eater. normally i give her about 20 minutes and then we're done. i'm not sure why but earlier this week i just let her take her time and she ate EVERY bite. it took her 45 minutes but she ate it all. i feel awful (like that emery?) that i could have very well been putting her to bed hungry every night for the last several months. but i guess she'd have shown some signs of being hungry and she never did so maybe it's no big deal at all. but for the last week she's eaten every bite on her tray; it just takes a while!

playing outside!

we've pretty much been cooped up inside for almost 30 days. it's made for some LONG weekends! o got sick on saturday the 1st so we were home that week. i kept her home that next weekend just to be on the safe side and then the next 2 weekends were bad weather...you get the point. so today when it was 68 degrees after work we headed outside! o LOVES playing outside. i can leave her in the backyard while i do a few quick things inside and she is just fine. when she's inside she's attached to my leg. i don't get it!

she just couldn't wait for me to clean the cozy coupe and i decided that was ok. by the time we went inside she was soaking wet since i let her play in her pool that was FULL of old rain water. i'm sure that's probably pretty gross and germy...

at kindermusik this past week we made "hats" out of scarves. o liked looking in the mirror at hers! a little vain, maybe? :)

at the end mrs. pam always gets the instruments out and o goes straight for the eggs. i'm not sure what she likes so much about them but it's not pretty if she doesn't get them. and don't even think about taking them from her. sharing the eggs is not an option to her! we need to work on that...

kool kids

i have no cute pics from this past week. it was extremely uneventful! our only plans for last week were kindermusik on tuesday and that got cancelled so we pretty much just hung out all week! i spent this weekend getting ready for kool kids. this i a huge consignment sale here in town that happens twice a year. i've shopped it that last couple of years but i decided to actually sell stuff this year. now, it's no secret that i want another child. (and the sooner the better!) but i also need my house back. olivia's stuff is overflowing out of her room and has taken over my guest room. my attic is full (it's not very big to begin with) which means i'm out of room! so i spent this weekend cleaning out, organizing, pricing and tagging clothes, bibs, burp cloths, shoes, etc. i've decided that i can get away with 1/3 of the stuff i had for olivia. we had a swing. hardly ever used it. we had a playmat thingy. hardly ever used it. we had a baby bath tub. we so much more preferred the yellow sponge thing from target. we had burp cloths and bibs that were never used! and i hate that!

this is what i started withand this is what i ended with

so, this go round i'm purging. i'm keeping o's "good" clothes (smocked dresses, etc.) b/c i really do want another little girl but also b/c those things are expensive and i have dreams of olivia having a little girl who will wear them! but pj's and play clothes...those are cheap (especially when you shop at consignment sales!) so i'll just rebuy them if/when i need them. i had a few friends come "shop" this weekend and sold a good amount! cha-ching! if you know anyone that has a little baby born in the summer named olivia please send them my info! i can hook them up with cute monogrammed clothes!

olivia came home from rett's this evening and immediatly spotted my sonic drink. i hadn't seen her since wednesday night so of course i obliged. bad parenting, i know. but i couldn't help it! she got in her chair and drank her coke just like a big girl. at one point she had that cup in one hand and her "cell phone" in the other hand. she's just like her mama!

20 months old!

olivia is 20 months old! she'll be 2 in 4 short months. it's all happening so fast; i can't keep up! she's so much fun (except when she doesn't nap) and is growing and learning and doing so many new things! i said in her last monthly update that she had 2-3 new words a week. that was a typo. it's 2-3 a month. i'm still not completely satisfied with where her speech is but from all accounts she's fine. if by 2 she doesn't "explode" like everyone assures me she will we may look into our options but for now she's fine! i guess i've just quit doing the official monthly photo so these snap shots from today will have to suffice. we went shopping in monroe and then to jackie and brock's to kill time before dinner with the fam to celebrate jackie's bday.

o LOVES dogs (puppies) and wanted to be everywhere moe was!

eating dinner tonight at the new mexican joint in wm. el sombrero or something like that. the salsa was kind of spicy and o LOVED it!

happy 20 month birthday sweet olivia! i love you!

bubbles!

it never dawned on me to give o a bubble bath. i don't know why; it just never crossed my mind. until my friend sheree mentioned that she gave her little girl a bubble bath. DING DING DING! (that's the light bulb going off in my mind...) so i bought bubble bath a few weeks back but then o got sick so i've been putting it off. until tonight! at first i think she was scared. i can usually put her in the tub and run around the house while she plays for a minute (don't freak out on me. i'm a good mom regardless of what you're thinking right now.) but this time she cried. so i played in the bubbles with her for a few minutes until she got used to them and then she was good! she wouldn't sit in the bubbles but that's ok; it's easier for me to bathe her standing up. the only drawback is the bubble bath (which doubles as bath soap - thank you johnson and johnson) isn't as "soft" as the regular baby wash. it left her skin and hair kinda sticky if that makes any sense. so all that to say o had her first bubble bath tonight!

winter storm 2011

i had heard rumors of a possible winter storm coming this week. i knew it was suppose to be cold today but thought the ice was coming monday or tuesday. good thing i'd planned on just staying home today b/c the ice hit! i've not seen any snow but it's pretty much sleeted all day. my car is covered in ice; tmrw morning's defrosting should be fun! it's days like this that i'm thankful i'm too lazy to put together all of o's new toys in a timely manor. her gg and pops gave her this tent/tunnel thing and i'd just been dreading putting it together. mainly b/c i don't have a great place for it but also b/c i'm just lazy. :) well, after a failed attempt at a nap i needed some major entertaiment and decided today was the day. it's blocking my back door and taking up most of my future playroom space but she liked it. however, just as i thought, she won't play in it unless i'm back there with her. in due time...


i pray we don't lose electricity. i'm not one to prepare for a "disaster" (yes, loss of electricity constitues disaster to me) so if we lose it i'm kinda up a creek without a paddle. i think i may clean up this mess of toys o left me; i'd hate to cuss in front of her when i trip over them in the dark! haha!

i'm also thankful that mrs. debbie opens even when schools close. i NEED her to get o back on a normal nap schedule. i can't take too many more no nap days! i hate that i'm putting her up to that task but it's so true that kids will do things for others that they won't do for you!





hope you all stay warm!

lazy saturday

i'm sitting here waiting on my baby girl to get home from her daddy's so i thought i'd post. a few weeks ago i started this debate on fb about whether i should move o to a twin bed or full. now, the time isn't here yet but it will be before we know it so i wanted opinions. well, i hit up the dillard's new year's sale and the decision was made for me! i got her bedding and it's for a full size bed. it had been $200 and i got it for $48! DEAL! and i don't have to buy a bed b/c i have an extra full size bed at my sister's house. score!

i went home at lunch on thursday to relieve my mom and olivia was a little clingy. no surprise since she's been sick and i've been loving on her a little extra! but, i needed to eat and she wanted to be close by so the solution...the counter. she loves playing on the counter. and she's good at it. she's never tried to jump off or anything. well, i put her up there this day and only turned my back for a second (probably more like 45) and she went to town with the tulle! lesson learned!

i'm on the hunt for some fun indoor activities for me and o to do tmrw and monday night. the weather is suppose to get really chilly (like the high on sunday is 33 and since she's been sick i'm not taking her out in that!) so i need something creative to do indoors. we're skipping church just to be on the safe side so we'll be home all day long!

olivia vs rsv round 3

i was so happy when we got through christmas with no major illnesses. i (very stupidly) let myself think we made it through the winter (yes, i know winter just started) without getting rsv. WRONG!!

back story: november 2009 - our first round with rsv. olivia misses her first thanksgiving b/c she couldn't be around large groups of people. then january 2010, rsv round 2. see this post. so i can pretty much diagnose rsv with no help from a dr. :)

back to now...rett text me on sat afternoon letting me know o was running a fever and had some chest congestion. (we're pro's now at determining if congetstion is head or chest..) so i advised him to treat the fever (tylenol/motrin 3 hour rotation) and to give zyrtec. on sunday there was no change. he brought her home about 4:30 and she was wheezing! i still can't fathom how he didn't notice the wheezing (but he's a man so go figure..) jenny came over sunday night and noticed mild retractions when she breathed but she didn't elaborate about what that meant. (now i know it's BAD!) o had a TERRIBLE night sunday night so i called the dr first thing monday morning. we got there at 11 and by 11:15 i could hear nurses whispering about "sending her on." they immediately put us in a room and did a breathing treatment without even seeing the dr. then dr. khanfar came in and i could see the look on his face and it wasn't good. he assessed her and called a nurse for another breathing treatment. he closed the door then opened it again and looked at me. i must have said something and his reply was, "i'm trying to decide if i should admit her." i was SHOCKED. he did an rsv test and it was positive and she also had the croup. she wasn't breathing, she was grunting and was in distress and i didn't have a clue. (i swear she was running and playing all sunday night, monday morning and even in the office waiting room.) after the 2 breathing treatments she got 2 shots and he told us to come back in a couple of hours. we left there at 12:15 and returned at 1:50 (i couldn't wait any longer!) her breathing had slowed and she wasn't grunting anymore so he sent us home with meds and a new breathing treatment. we went back today for a follow-up and her breathing is much better (not completely better - she's still retracting when breathing) but she now has an ear infection. (#2 ever and the 1st was caused by rsv, too!) we're still doing breathing treatments, antibiotics and steriods and we have to call them friday morning with our thoughts on how she's doing. he may order a chest x-ray just to be on the safe side before the weekend is here.

whew! hope you kept up! i can't thank my mom enough - she moved in with me sunday night and has been here ever since so i could work and not use all my sick days in the first week of the year! but i think it's worn her out! she's headed home at lunch tmrw and i'll be on my own (except for help tmrw afternoon from my fab little sister and o's daddy is picking up some slack on friday.)

i have to give it to olivia...she's a pretty good sick kid, relatively speaking. she's pretty whiny but the dr today told me the steriod will do that. we've not had any MAJOR meltdowns and with the exception of 3, her breathing treatments have gone well. we had to get creative and give her babies treatments! whatever works!

after almost being admitted on monday i talked to jenny and told her what was going on. she THEN tells me we should have gone to the ER sunday night/monday morning. now you tell me... :) i can't believe i didn't notice that my little girl was in distress. i feel aweful. but she was playing and acting fine. i mean, i knew she had rsv, i was just going to the dr for confirmation. i had no clue about the other. so lesson learned. the croup isn't nearly as "scary sounding" as i thought it would be. people had warned me that you think your child is dieing. i didn't think that. now i know....

we're on our way to being healed and that's what matters. nex year i'm going to BEG for the rsv shot. i think after 3 rounds of it we should qualify. damn insurance companies...

happy new year

2010 was tough but we made it through. 2011 WILL be better! happy new year to you and yours. may all your dreams and wishes come true!