Again...and again..

I cannot believe we are fighting yet another battle of SICKNESS in this house. Addy has had the worst of it (so far) and it is by far the worst illness the poor child has suffered. She spent the ENTIRE day on the couch and at least half that time was spend sleeping.. (This kind of thing is completely unheard of for her.. she can't sit still for 10 minutes, on a good day.) She has been running a fever of 103-something all day, despite the constant doses of Tylenol. She is coughing terribly and looks completely and utterly awful! I just hope it passes-- and soon.



I am doing everything I can not to catch this terrible thing or spread it to the baby who may or may not have already had it.. As some of you know, Ainsley came down with something pretty bad, in addition to her second ear infection not clearing up from the antibiotics that were prescribed. UGH.. I'm exhausted from caring for sick people.. I feel like we may never all be healthy again. I hope I am wrong.

I am really not looking forward to the heat..but for the sake of all our health, I welcome the summer months and wish the virus bearing winter season farewell! And boo to these rainy weekends.. I want to enjoy the "nice" weather outdoors while it lasts.. Soon enough it will be too scolding hot outside to enjoy the park or zoo. Though, I have plenty of projects to keep me busy indoors too. Maybe one day I'll have something more interesting to share! :)

My Valentine's

We had a pretty nice Valentine's Day. Addy got some Valentine's treats this morning from Mommy and Daddy and we all exchanged cards before Rob left for work. Ainsley slept in, trying to recover from her ear infection and we ate a little breakfast. We had plans to attend a Valentine's Day party with friends.

As we were getting ready and I was changing Ainsley I noticed that her little ear was full of goo! After a call to the pediatrician I was told that she had ruptured her ear drum, and needed to be checked out. I'm not sure at what point it happened. Apparently it was during the night and just didn't ooze out until later in the morning, which would explain the sleep we were able to get the second half of the night. Poor girl was miserable all day Sunday and part of the night too. This morning, she woke up smiling! It was good to see her enjoying life again. We went ahead and went to the party and scheduled the appointment for the afternoon, so we could get a prescription for ear drops.

The party was nice. Addy entertained us ladies momentarily, mimicking me and repeating words I repeat often at home. She complained of the mess all the children were making and proceeded to tell them how it made her mad. :) I often tell her that it makes me mad or angry that she makes messes and doesn't clean them up.. Then, as we laughed.. she said in a very stern tone "it's not funny!". I still hear the scene replaying in my head. It really was quite funny. I have never seen Addy take any kind of authoritative role in a group. It makes me wonder how she acts at school. Even more so, how she makes ME look at school! I can only hope she is honest!

Ainsley's appointment went quickly and smoothly. We headed off to get her prescription filled and get home to relax. Ainsley was a trooper all day and smiled plenty. She is exhausted and will hopefully rest well tonight. We will enjoy having some quiet time tomorrow while Addy is at school!

While we waited for Rob to get home from work and the usual evening events, we went out back to play and I snapped some V-Day photos of my two favorite little Valentine's.










Rob came home and cooked a very nice surf & turf meal for the two of us. We actually got through the meal uninterrupted by the sleeping baby or Addy! It's quite a miracle!



It was a nice day.. A little like every other day, but with a cherry on top! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Birthday Fun!

We celebrated Addy's 3rd birthday this weekend. We started with a small party on Friday, where Addy and two of her close friends visited a place called Girly Girlz. They got their nails painted, a little make-up, and their hair done. It was pretty cute, except for the fact that Addy was having an emotional breakdown throughout the entire process. I was looking forward to the event for weeks and was quite disappointed that it didn't go as planned. They took a group photo at the end, which was pretty much the best part..but Addy insisted upon sobbing on the edge of her seat and spoiled the picture. In addition, my camera had a smudge on the lens and the pictures I got are messed up.




I actually managed to get 1 picture where she looks happy. Too bad it's foggy from my dirty lens. :(

We took the girls to get ice cream afterward, and the birthday girl sure perked up there. I cleaned my lens (thanks Jess!) and got a few pictures of her chocolate princess face.





Things went better on Sunday at her official birthday party. It was a nice day and so many of our friends and family made it to the party. It was really great. Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated with us!









I made my first ever fondant cake, for the party. Though I made cupcakes for everyone to eat.. I'm sure they tasted better. :)






Ainsley made her rounds at the party. It's a good thing she got a nice long morning nap in.. The poor girl was still suffering from our ongoing cold symptoms but seemed to enjoy all the lovin' and slept quite well last night.







It was a really great day and we are so glad so many people were able to come and join us. Addy's REAL Birthday is on Wednesday and I plan to do something special with her..just not entirely sure what yet. We will have a girls day of sorts. I'll be sure to get some pictures and post about it. If Ellen Degeneres can celebrate her birthday all week....so can Addy! :)

Slacking..already!

I'm already falling behind on the blog posts. We've been busy, but I'm not sure a whole lot of it is noteworthy. Addy has been doing great at school and really loves it, so I think we will try to increase it to 3 times a week, unless we are busy with other activities. We are going to try dance class again, starting next week. She attended classes shortly after her second birthday and really enjoyed it for the first 2 or 3 classes. Then she clammed up and got really shy. She didn't want to participate and wanted to cling to me. Now that she has opened up so much more and is SO into girly things and dressing up, we are going to try again. She loves wearing her leotards and tutus..and very much looks forward to playing with her peers, so I am thinking it will go much better this time around. I do have a tendency to rush into things and she really wasn't ready before. We will see how it goes. I am looking forward to it..

I've also got intentions to start her in gymnastics classes, but I sure don't want to overwhelm her so we will take it one step at a time.. Maybe switch off between the two. She definitely enjoys the gymnastics gym by our house a whole lot. Their free play is awesome. She gets to try out everything and do whatever she wants during free play. Though, it's kind of hard now to participate with her while lugging Ainsley around, so I am hoping to get her enrolled in actual classes that I can watch and not actually be required to be involved in. She loves the trampolines, of course. She's really good at things like the balance beam.

Which reminds me... I need to make an OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! :) :) :)

My daughter...Addison Rylee...is FINALLY...OFFICIALLY..POTTY TRAINED!!!!

WhooHooo!! I was so frustrated and thought she was going to pass up her 3rd birthday and still be fighting the issue. It's been one solid week of big girl panty wearing, potty using, goodness! I am so thrilled. She just gave in and decided she was ready, I guess. I am so proud of her and so relieved to have just ONE diaper wearing child now! I've even been playing around with the idea of cloth diapering Ainsley.. Hrmm... Lacking the willpower I think.. :/ If it weren't such an initial investment, I would be much more apt to trying. Ah well.. anyway. That is my BIG NEWS!!

So all the doors are open now, to my ALMOST 3 year old. We intend to research some local Montessori schools and decide where we would like Addy to start a more official preschool program. WOOT!!!! What a huge weight off my shoulders.

We are so looking forward to Addy's 3rd birthday party! It's really not going to be anything super fancy, since we have decided to do some other things for her birthday in addition to the casual party. We just want to opportunity to get together with all our friends and celebrate the big occasion. It seems like 3 is such a BIG milestone. I feel like she is officially transitioning into a little girl. I know I have a lot to do with Addy turning into such a girly-girl..but really she is very strong willed and either likes something or doesn't. She really cannot be convinced one way or another.. But I do know that she watches me and likely takes to things that make her feel more like Mommy. We are big supporters of her fascination with trains and things more gender neutral or "tom-boy-ish". We try to keep her well balanced. She is a bit of a dare-devil. She likes to do things like sledding and crazy carnival rides. I'm definitely going to have a lot of fun along side her with things like that. It's just really neat to see the little person she it turning into.

I think that pretty much sums up the events of the month so far. I'd post pictures, but they would just be repeats of Facebook posts, since I have been adding new photos so consistently. :)

Holiday Stuff

I can't believe how fast the season came and went this year. We had a great Christmas. We celebrated through the weekend with family. Christmas day was really neat. It gets more exciting every year, as Addy comes to understand a little more each time. I did go a little overboard this year..again..despite my attempts to keep things simple. Having the only grandchildren in the family also plays a roll in the spoiled-o-meter.

I was surprised to see that Ainsley enjoyed herself so much. She's always smiley and happy, but she was also very interested and took an immediate liking to some of her gifts. That was exciting. I wasn't expecting that she would express much interest. Addy made sure to help her open her gifts and kept a steady stream of toys flowing her way, so she didn't get bored.


Happy girl.


Unpacking Ainsley's stocking..her first sippy cup.. she grabbed it out of my hand and plucked it right into her mouth..no instruction necessary..


More stocking goodies.


Addy rockin' her new blades...now Mommy needs some.


Santa's big surprise..it's what she asked him for.


Personalized.


Cruising with baby Ainsley..


Addy enjoying her new playset..now featuring lots of sand!

That's a little bit of our Christmas fun. We are thankful to be so fortunate.

Gravity Hates My Baby

My poor sweet little Ainsley.. I haven't shared much about what we have been dealing with over the past couple months, but Ainsley was born with some unfortunate "issues". Fortunately, the issues are relatively minor and mostly harmless. The road to learning about the problems was a bit of a rough one, but we are happy to have the facts now and the resources to help her work through them (a HUGE insurance deductible later..)

Ainsley has always been so sweet and easy going. She is such a happy little girl, even as she deals with discomfort. It was almost by accident that we learned that Ainsley was suffering from a UTI around 2 months of age. It is pretty uncommon for a child so young to get a UTI, apparently, so she was summoned to undergo some testing. One of the tests was a bit scary and extremely uncomfortable for her.. It was one of something I surely could have lived without experiencing. Unfortunately, we will be repeating the test after a year-- which will surely be more unpleasant as a toddler.

The tests confirmed that she has Urinary Reflux. It is a genetic condition that she very well may outgrow in the next year or two and if not can be corrected by a small procedure. We are glad to know that it is nothing that will effect her, long term. It still breaks my heart to see her dealing with the repercussions of it now. She is much stronger than I am. Mean-while, she must take antibiotics daily, until the problem is corrected, to protect her kidneys from infection.

Today we went in for her 4 month check-up. I had suspicions, but I was completely in denial. I voiced some concerns to her doctor and was immediately told that she has reflux...aka..GERD.

Why must all the fluids inside my baby insist on traveling upward?

Lucky for all parties involved it is a relatively mild case..she was prescribed yet another (thrice) daily medication to help ease the discomfort. This too, she will outgrow. We are thankful that her problems are of the mild nature. We know that things could be a whole lot worse. I am just not use to dealing with these types of things, since Addy was/is the one we refer to as "The Tank". She seems to be able to ward off pretty much everything. Until this year, she had never once even suffered from even a common cold. Of course, we got a rude awakening this year when she suffered from a few little things back to back, at the same time we were dealing with Ainsley's dilemma. We have come to know the people at our pediatrician's office quite well.

Anywho-- I didn't intend to elaborate quite so much.. I just wanted to say what a wonderful and brave little girl I have..and how I wish she didn't have to deal with these things, however minute they may be, I hate seeing her in any kind of pain or discomfort. She is so lovely and so happy-- I'm not sure how she does it, but I admire her. The reflux makes for extremely awkward, uncomfortable and stressful "mealtimes" for her and I both..but it's a small price to pay, I suppose.. since she wears a smile most of the time.

...


On a completely separate note.. we visited Santa this week. For what it cost me, the he should be one rich man! So much for him bringing the gifts! I was disappointed that they didn't take more time to achieve a picture worth $40!! Even though we were the ONLY PEOPLE IN LINE! It did my sweet little baby no justice, the way she sat, slumped into Santa's arm.. but we managed to get a smile out of the very skeptical miss Addy, so I guess we take what we can get.

Big Girl Stuff

Addy is very interested in "Big Girl" things. Everything related to her is now known as Big Girl this or that. Such as her Big Girl bed.. or Big Girl cup.. She always wants to do things herself. I've been trying to let her help do things a lot more. She helps make her own PB&J sandwiches, helps me cook on occasion, she pours her own milk (when the container isn't full), gets her own water, mixed her own oatmeal, etc.

I was looking for a snack when I got a flashback from my childhood. I'm pretty sure I've made it for her in the past, but I specifically remembered making these in school..must have been in kindergarten. So we made "ants on a log". Only-- I didn't have raisins, so we substituted mini m&ms instead. I'm pretty sure Addy didn't mind! ;) She did a real good job and I couldn't resist taking some video.



You wouldn't know from the video here.. I think she was too busy concentrating on what she was doing to speak in complete sentences..but Addy has been speaking very well lately. All of a sudden she started having full conversations, with complete sentences and even talking a lot in play. I spy on her with the video monitor when she's in bed and her stuffed animals are talking, hugging, kissing, etc. It's so extremely neat to see her developing into the little person she is.

We also sat down and created a gingerbread train the other night. Addy is huge into trains..so we opted out of the typical gingerbread house and decided on a train instead.. We didn't really complete it..and I must admit it bothers me a bit that the project is so sloppy.. but I just have to remember it was really for Addy's benefit, not mine.. It's just the OCD hiding deep down inside me. We may finish it at a later time.. but Addy really enjoyed putting the candies on and sneaking plenty of them into her mouth in between.



Just thought I'd take a few minutes to share some of our recent fun. Now I must attempt to get ready and get to the store. :)