Cousins

While Angie & Derek were in the process of packing their stuff to move from Kingman to Page, I took their 2 youngest, Lexi & Sam for a few days.  Elea adores them both- with Sam she has a little idol worship going on and with Lexi she acts like a twin sister would.  They fight.  Over everything.  But, they do have fun together in between the swinging fists.

 

(I normally do allow toddlers to sit on the actual couch cushions-- Sam was sick earlier that morning so the cushions were in the process of being cleaned and aired out!)

"Wee."

What've I been up to lately?

Sherri Piegdon- "Urban Edge" kit, Shabby Princess- "promise" staple, & Loved by the King Font

Sherrie Piegdon- "This Girl" kit, joeshand2 font

Amie Collofello- "I Love Cupcakes", Font: Loved by the King

What was Elea up to the month of August?

Elea Laughing

I think this is the hardest I have ever heard Elea laugh.

It's sort of unfortunate that her giggling stems from thinking she is kicking me in the face.

Elea's 1 year Dr. visit

She's getting taller!! Elea weighed in at 19 lbs 1 oz so she is in the 14th percentile for weight but she is 29.75 inches tall so now she's up to the 64th percentile for height. Her head circumference measured 18.5 inches but the girl measuring her didn't take off her cloth headband so I think it's actually less than that. Regardless, her percentile at that measurement is 91%!! That is so funny to me. Our little midget.

Everything else was good- I didn't realize that she should be able to point to her eyes, nose, etc. by now. I haven't ever even pointed those out to her. BUT, we did have a break through with the sign language. She was drinking from her sippy cup and her doctor said something to her about her drink and elea took one hand off the cup and did the open fist/close fist sign for milk. Now ask me if she's done it since then. NOPE. But, she is atleast recognizing the signs when we do them. If I sign "eat" she says "yaaass" and walks over to her high chair. Also, today in church she had a little zip lock bag with crackers and such in it. I would open the bag, she'd grab one, then I would zip up the bag and hand it to her. She would play with the bag until I did the sign for "more" then she would automatically hand me the bag to open up for her to get "more." Pretty fabulous-- it made me feel telepathic not having to talk out loud to her during church! ha.

Back to her doc appt., she had the 2nd to last round of immunizations for awhile. They also pricked her finger to draw blood for an anemia test. She wasn't too appreciative of either of those things but at least they are over with for now and the immunizations didn't seem to affect her the way they have in the past.


OH WAIT!!! GOOD NEWS!!!!

I almost forgot! Anyone who has been around Elea for longer than 5 minutes since she was born has probably noticed her nose running. All. the. time. So I finally took her to the N.A.E.T. (allergy doctor) in St. George last week. He tested her for a milk allergy since the runny nose is a common side effect and she was allergic so he treated her for that and sent us home with the vial to wear for 24 hours. So her nose was still running that night but not as bad. Then the next day it was still running but not near as much. But by Friday it wasn't running at all!!!! And she isn't snoring anymore either! Which kind of freaks me out because I'm used to being able to hear her in her room when she is asleep-- but I'm getting used to it because I can tell she is sleeping better even though I can't hear her sleeping. If that makes any sense at all. So yeah. It's pretty amazing. Sitting in church today I realized it was the first time I'd left the house without grabbing kleenex or some other nose wiping utility for I do not even know how long.

1st Birthday Party Pics

Jordyn & Sam on the slide.

Katie Kate.

Annie.

Elea couldn't quite figure out why everyone was singing at her.

Grandpa O got her this cute little hat with her name monogrammed on the back.

Me & her. Obviously. (Notice the empty capri sun in her hand!)

After she got all messy in her cake I rinsed her off in the splashpad and ended up using her swim top as a washcloth so she was half nakey the rest of the party. The wind died down a little later and she actually wanted to walk around on her own.

Elea's 1st Birthday

Yesterday went really well. If the wind would have stopped for her party I would call it a perfect day. But it didn't, and in the end it just saved us money on some tablecloths and crepe paper we couldn't use.

For her birthday we rented a bouncehouse-slide combo and had it at a park in St. George that has a splashpad and sweet playground with rubber under it instead of sand or woodchips or whatever. Anyway, Jeff and I were able to run around and get all the food and decorations, etc. while she took a nap so that worked out perfect. It was fun to get to spend that much one on one time with Jeff too, just running errands or whatever.

The party started around 4-ish and the slide was in constant use except for a break long enough to eat. The kids all loved it and the adults with swimsuits (and even some with regular clothes) had fun on it too. We had checked to make sure there was a water faucet at the park but were dumb and didn't check to make sure that we could actually turn it on. So we weren't able to connect the slide to the water, so instead the guys would go fill up a 5 gallon bucket of water at the splashpad and then throw the water at all the kids waiting at the top of the slide. So it worked okay and I think the kids got a thrill out of getting blasted in the face with the freezing cold water.

We took Elea down the slide a couple of times-- she didn't hate it but she didn't love it either-- we hung out in the bounce house a little bit but I think she preferred sitting in her highchair getting to squeeze a capri sun out all over her rolls and sandwich meat more than anything else. For dinner we just did some meat & cheese trays, veggie trays, fruit bowls, and some chips. Nothing too extravagent and none of it involved cooking!

I made her a little 4 in. square cake to devour. Or touch. She's not a fan of sweets so I didn't think she was really gonna dig into it. AND . . . she didn't. She got her hands into it and then was annoyed that they were all covered in frosting. We tried to get her to at least taste the frosting--- yeah, she wasn't a fan of that either. In the end she ended up with frosting all over her face and in her hair, but I don't think she ate any of it. We got the obligatory "1st birthday cake" video and photos though. :) Angie was a champ and took a lot of the pictures during the party for us. So this time I am actually documented as present in my daughters life but her closest aunt isn't, once again. Almost everyone stayed and played hard until after 8 pm and the kids probably would have lasted longer but all the adults were tired.

Elea opened her presents after we got home, way past her normal bedtime. I was sort of embarrassed that people brought her presents in the first place-- I should have made the disclaimer ahead of time not to bring gifts. It was fun to watch her pull the tissue out and try to rip the paper off. (It made me really excited for this year's christmas 'cause I can tell she's gonna have so much fun opening presents).

So it turned out to be a great day-- I am determined to make a big deal out of my kids' birthdays. Not that we're going to throw a big shindig every year or anything, but I want them to feel special on their birthday somehow, in someway. This year, let's be honest, this was more for me and Jeff- she won't remember it and wouldn't have noticed if we never sang her happy birthday-- but it is going to be a good memory for the rest of us. Thanks to all the friends and family that were able to come celebrate with us- it made the day better to have all of you there with us.

Now the senimental. I'm not usually big on birthdays or anniversaries- I don't usually get all excited about them. But yesterday I was more excited about Elea's birthday than I think I was about our wedding reception (not our wedding, just the reception). I am so grateful to have her in our family. She's a smart, beautiful, good-natured little girl. I am always getting comments about how there is just something different about her, that she's special in some undefinable way. It's been awesome getting to be her mom and having the joy that comes with knowing her little personality and quirks better than anyone else in the world (except maybe Jeff). It took so long to get pregnant and when I found out that I was pregnant I was sure that I would never be able to be in a bad mood ever again, that's how thrilled I was. (But we all know that by the end of the 1st trimester that wasn't the case!) Anyway, while we were trying, I spent a lot of time and energy obsessing over it and being upset-- but now I am grateful that Jeff and I had those years of being married and our relationship improving and I was able to experience working full-time, etc. so that now that I am home with her I am happy with it and not resenting it or wondering if I would be happier going to work somewhere all the time.

Yesterday throughout the day I was remembering where I was a year ago-- at what stage of labor, etc. I'd always heard that you don't know how much love you are capable of until you have a kid. It's possibly one of the truest statements I have ever heard. I am so grateful that she is healthy and developing well. I know that she knows she is loved and is growing up in a good environment and hopefully we'll be able to keep it that way her whole life.

But in the meantime, yay for 1st birthdays.

**pictures will come later-- oh, & if you were at the party & took pictures will you let me know? thanks!**

2 MONTHS???!!!! OUCH!

I hadn't realized that it had been 2 months since my last post . . . I knew it had been awhile, but 2 months?!

UPDATES- sorry for the quick and dirty, but it's either this or nothin' because I doubt I'll ever have the fortitude to fill it all in in detail. :)

May 7th- moved into new place. LOVE IT. :) Actually have decorations up on some of the walls. woot woot.

May 9th- St. George Triathlon. I competed in the sprint distance again. Except that morning was windy and that kayaks couldn't hold their position in the lake so the swim was cancelled. SO- we did a Duathlon instead. Which was about a billion times harder for me. Run 5k, Bike 20k, Run 5k AGAIN. So basically I wanted to die. I was ready to leave when they announced the change-- if Jeff hadn't been there I probably would have! So needless to say, my time wasn't fabulous, but at least I finished it.

May 13th- 23rd- flew to Omaha for Derek's graduation from Law School. Then from there we flew to Kentucky to visit my parents for a week. The whole trip was fun- things were a little more interesting at my parents house since Elea could walk and get into (every)things!

Sometime in here my back got messed up. I had started upping my run mileage because I've agreed to do a half-marathon with Angie in August. Anyway, so it was making me incredibly ornery and the picking up and putting down of Elea and everything in between got to the point that I could hardly stand it anymore. I went to the chiropractor and it didn't help at all. Then Jeff had been shadowing at the Physical Therapist office so they told him to have me just come in. So I went in and did all the different movement tests, and he meaured this and that, etc. The determination was a) he had no idea what exactly was wrong and b) my hips/back/legs are all so squeewampous that he said that he was surprised I could even run at all, physically. AWESOME thing to hear when you've become addicted to Triathlons, etc. So did the hot zapper then the cold zapper and took a few days off of running. Then I went back in and the 2nd physical therapist came and took a look- same thing, neither could figure out exactly what was going on. So they gave me a heel lift for one shoe and an SI belt to wear around my hips when I run. So then on my runs for the next 2 or 3 weeks I wore them. My back stopped hurting but then my hips/legs started to ache really bad. Angie and I did our first "long" run one saturday and by the end I was aching bad- frustrating as heck. So I rebelled a week or 2 ago and didn't wear the SI belt. PRESTO! My back doesn't hurt, and my hips don't hurt- so I'm a happy girl.

MOTHER'S DAY- I don't remember the exact date of mother's day . . . but it was a good day. Jeff is always good about remembering "gift" days and making them special for me.

June 13th- Utah Summer Games Triathlon. This is almost identical to the St George Tri, except the run portion is on the pavement instead of dirt. Jeff had to work so my sister was a sweetheart and came to cheer me on. The weather was a little sketchy again but we made it in and out of the water before the rain so it was all good. It was my first race swim in the lake. I actually handled it a lot better than I expected too. I was 3rd coming out of the water in my age group so I am happy about that. Then the bike portion came-- As I was headed up the big hill it started to rain, at about that same time my front tire started to make this obnoxious squealing noise. I thought it had something to do with the water on the tires or something but I am an idiot and I actually had a VERY FLAT tire. However, I didn't even know this until I was headed DOWN the big hill at 30+ miles per hour and one of the refs off to the side at the bottom of the hill yells out- "YOU'VE GOT A FLAT TIRE!!" So I get over the cattle guard safely, pull over, and then begin to take the wheel off, etc. LUCKILY, that same guy came down and took care of the tire for me. I had stopped to by a tire pump for my bike the night before, but kind of like the 10 virgins, I was too late and so I didn't even have a tire pump. If he hadn't came along, I would have been stuck walking my bike until some kind hearted competitor pulled over to let me use their air pump. Anyway, after finally getting that tire taken care of I finished the bike course- the flat tire added a ton of time- so I'm not even paying attention to my time on that leg of the race. Then the run- I actually managed to run the entire 5k without walking AND I kept 10 minute per mile pace so I was happy with that. At the end when Angie gave me a hug I had an emotional breakdown for about 10 seconds. This was the first race that I actually felt like I ACCOMPLISHED something, so that combined with the realization that a million things could have gone horribly wrong with that flat tire (i.e. completely crashing into the wet pavement)- I had to cry for a sec. So in the end I finished 16th-- which is has about zero bragging rights attached to it, BUT all things considered- I'm okay with it. I wasn't planning on doing another tri until september, but I wanted a redo, so I'm doing the scofield tri next weekend. :)

June 19th- 2 of my nieces got baptized so my parents came to visit for a few days. It was fun to have them here. We went to the splashpad in downtown st. george and elea LOVED it.

June 21st- Father's Day. I got jeff the standard father's day ties-- I was inspired the friday before because he had me bring his church clothes for the baptisms and I couldn't a) find a tie without a stain on it, and b) figure out what were his real ties and what ones were his ugly tie contest ties from his mission. So my mom helped me find some sweet ties that I am going to confiscate if I ever see them within 10 feet of food or liquid.

During that time there was a bunch of birthdays so it felt like we were driving down to St. George about every other day! Angie & her fam are in St. George for the summer so that is pretty fabulous. It's gonna suck when she moves to AZ, not thinking about it, not thinking about it, not thinking about it.

Elea is walking like a pro now. She is such a fun kid- I spend half my time at home calling out "where's elea?? Whhheeerrrreeee'ssss EEELLLLEEEAAA??" and then she comes hurrying out from wherever she is in the house with a giant grin on her face. She's started eating more and more big people food. I love it. It's great to be able to put her in her highchair with a piece of bread and then unload and load the dishwasher in one attempt while she's eating. She turns 1 on the 13th and I'm so excited for her birthday. Jeff gets sentimental every time he thinks about her growing up-- I get excited because I love her little, I mean big, personality developing a little more everyday- it's fun for me. Oh, one other thing, I've taken her swimming a few times and the first couple of times she wasn't thrilled, but now she loves the water, and not just at bathtime!

Jeff is going to go to Occupational Therapy school instead of Physical Therapy school. What this means: Less pre-reqs, less school because it's a masters not a doctorate, less competition to get in to a good school, AND more stability job wise because face it, there are gonna be a lot of old people the next 30 years. (Occupational therapists work in a lot of different settings, with kids, babies, adults, disabled, etc.- so there are a lot of potential paths career wise). He did a semesters worth of Trigonometry during the first 5 week session of summer school. Let's just say we are ALL glad that is over. He got an A- which really isn't a surprise because he is a perfectionist so he studied like crazy the entire 5 weeks. And he is smarter than he gives himself credit for. :)

My sister-in-law Shanna taught me how to use coupons effectively. So if "couponing" is a skill then that's been my latest project. At first I started because it made grocery shopping more exciting for me, now I think I have become a snob-- I look down my nose at a box of cereal that's going to cost me more than 75 cents. This week was my first real trip to the grocery store that I only had to get produce and milk. It was almost a let-down in some twisted way because there wasn't the thrill of buying 5 things and having the total be $1.06--but I guess that's the whole idea.

She's starting to walk.

And it is freaking me out.

Elea has started to prefer getting around 2 legs over 2 legs and 2 hands as much as possible. She still needs to use one of the couches, or the baby gate, or the dresser, or her toy stroller to balance, but she's getting quicker everyday. When she started walking with the stroller she stiff-legged it like Frankenstein, but not anymore. It really hit me how big she is getting when she stood up using the wall for balance, and then walked along the wall until she got to a doorway earlier today.

It looks pretty funny because she is still so little and short. But she'll be 10 months old in a week so I guess that isn't super early to be walking.

Crawling!

Yesterday I pulled out my camera so that I could take a picture of Elea's latest signature move. If you've ever done yoga, it's very similar to the "downward dog" position. However, Elea has learned in her few short months that if a camera is out you should stare at it and get to it as fast as possible. Well, it just so happens that getting to the camera as fast as possible required crawling on hands and knees- not staying in one place doing her yoga pose. So I spent the next 20 minutes racing around the room trying to get her to crawl one way while I took pictures from the other way. It sort of worked.


Later, I was able to distract her long enough to get the yoga pose saved for posterity as well. If I had known that she would start legitimately crawling when I pulled out the camera, I would have done that a week ago when my mom was here!

1st hair cut!

I took Elea to get her first haircut today. Not even 7 months and she had an intense mullet. I've been wanting to cut it for weeks now but Jeff was having none of that. But finally he realized that she did indeed have a mullet, so then the past few days he was bugging me to get it done ASAP. So then I started to put it off until today the girl who is usually on the bike next to me in spin class mentioned that she thought Elea was cute and that she has a ton of hair. (She sees her in the daycare when she drops off her kids). I said, "Yeah, she's got a mullet right now." Her response was, "yeah, I noticed that." HELLO?! Really?! So funny. She wasn't being rude, but just matter of fact. Anyway, point being, if complete strangers will tell you that your daughter has a mullet, it's probably time to get it taken care of.

My friend Amanda cuts hair so I had her do it this afternoon. She shortened the back so that it is more even and less scraggly. Then she trimmed the front so that her hair would not hang in her eyes constantly. So now I have a 7 month old with legit bangs. Who's ever even heard of such a thing?

** I was really having a good "mom" day and saved some of the hair for her baby book and took before and after pictures. I then left the camera and hair sitting on Amanda's counter. I'll post them tomorrow. (the pictures, not the hair).**

Alligator Crawl

When I started taking pictures of her she caught sight of the string hanging from my camera. That's what she was focused on until I blocked her with my foot.




Elea can get wherever she wants to go these days. She hasn't progressed passed rocking on her hands and knees but it definitely hasn't stopped her from moving around!

. . . and yes, even Divas have bad hair days.

Life is about to get a little more interesting.

Elea has been scooting around on her belly alligator style for the past couple of weeks. Her forearms are constantly red and chaffed because it doesn't matter how big of a blanket I put on the floor, she prefers the rug and carpet for gettin' around. On Monday I was on the phone with Angie and I looked down at Elea and she was up on her hands and knees. (Then she face planted and got ticked). The hands and knees thing has progressed to hands & knees with a forward and backward rocking motion followed by a face/shoulder plant and yell/cry of frustration from Elea.

So according to Angie who is my go-to girl for all things baby development related- she'll be crawling any day now. And then the fun begins. I guess we'll be ordering the baby gates sooner than later. It's crazy. She's not even 7 months old yet. Combine her probably crawling relatively early with her mop of hair and she's gonna seem 5 before she hits a year old. So weird.

Oh yeah, one other thing. She knows how to get out of her bumbo chair. It's kind of scary actually because she twists to the side, pulls one foot under her and then proceeds to launch herself out. Luckily, there has been someone to stop her everytime but it has become necessary to hold one of her ankles almost constantly while she's in the chair. And that's with the tray on. I guess that's why the box says not to put children on a counter or table while in the chair . . .

Guess we're back to the sleeping bag jammies . . .

Picture explanation: We had a crib bumper on her crib but she moves around A TON in her crib. Actually, she moves around A TON all the time. After a few times of finding her with her face smashed into the crib bumper we decided to take it out. I'd rather her tweak her arm or leg then suffocate. (One's permanent, the other isn't). So, that's why we took the crib bumper off. But after the first few nights/naps she figured it out and now I have blankets shoved along the edge of the crib so she can't push her binkie out onto the floor as easily.

6 months.

Milestones:
On Sunday I was asking my MIL if she thought that Elea made sounds like a normal baby. Because up to that point, she very rarely made any noise at all, except for when she cried and the sound "geee".
Jeff thinks she heard me "talking trash," because starting Monday morning she has become way more vocal. When she gets frustrated she gets almost loud. It's pretty funny. Her noises have grown in variety too. She doesn't "babble" much except for when she has her binky in.

I feel like she's almost been trained in a "Pavlov's dogs" sort of way. Whenever we click our tongues on the roof of our mouths, she smiles. For about 2 seconds. And then goes straight faced again.

All of a sudden she likes to sleep on her back. It's weird. It's going to look awesome if she rubs a bald spot on the back of her head.

She spends a lot of time on her tummy on the floor. We spread some toys all around a big blanket and she scoots around to play with them. By scooting I mean that she draws her knees up under her and then tries to move forward on her face. Usually it just results in moving away from what she is trying to get to instead of making progress towards it. But now she's figured out that she can just reach out and grab the blanket in front of her and pull her arm back and it brings the toy to her.

She can roll from her tummy onto her back but hasn't really figured out how to get back to her tummy again (on purpose at least).

She's starting to understand peek-a-boo and actually smiles instead of just looking at me like I'm a complete idiot.

False Alarm.

This week has been stressful. It feels like Monday was a month ago, not 2 days ago.

It all started out normal, I took Elea to her 6 month Doc appt. She has gotten back up to the 50th percentile for height and 45th percentile for weight (up from 25% since we started her on formula). Her head circumference is getting bigger on the percentile scale every time, last time it was 70th and this time it was in the 80th percentile. Big heads run in the family, what can I say.

Then the doctor starts telling me how because her face is narrow and the bridge of her nose is flat and wide it gives her the appearance of having crossed eyes. In my head I'm thinking, yes, I know, we've covered this. . . Then he does the light test and the reflection is on the pupil in both eyes. So she really doesn't have crossed eyes, it just looks like she does sometimes. It's called pseudo_____________ (whatever the medical term for crossed eyes is). But she's adorable so who cares.

Anyway, so that was great and then the doctor does the hip check thing. And he says he feels a "clunk." Not a click, a clunk. Then he says that he has to go check with the head doc in the practice to find out if they can do the ultrasound in Cedar or not. He thinks she has congenital hip dysplasia. So then he comes back and says that they can do the ultrasound in the hospital in town, and not to worry too much, yada yada. He also gave us a referral to an orthopedic surgeon. Then Elea gets her immunizations and handles them like a champ, I am very glad though that this is the last round of shots for awhile. On the way home I called Jeff and he instantly got really stressed out. So then I get home and call my mom and ask her what she knows about it. She says that she doesn't think it's a big deal, and looks it up online.

Congenital hip dysplasia/dislocation is when the baby's hip socket in utero is pushed out of joint and the head of the femur bone never gets back into place once the baby is born. So it's fixed by a brace, and if that doesn't work, then they put the baby under anesthesia and ram it back into place (delicately, I'm sure) and if that doesn't work then they have to do surgery. Then my mom starts describing the brace and it's a shoulder to toe contraption that has to fit just right or it can be ineffective or problematic. Fantastic. If the problem isn't corrected the child limps and/or walks like a duck the rest of their lives.

We went down to St. George to pick up Jeff's computer and met his parents for dinner. His dad has a way of just saying over and over whatever Jeff needs to hear. This time it was, "Everything is going to be okay. Everything is going to be fine. She is healthy. Be thankful she is as healthy as she is." (and repeat). When we got home later that night Jeff and Jace gave Elea a blessing.

Then Tuesday I took her to the hospital to get the ultrasound. 2 1/2 hours, 1 bottle and 1 poopie diaper later, they finally called us back to get the ultrasound. Supposedly there is only 1 radiologist in the whole hospital that can oversee that kind of ultrasound and he doesn't do appts until 2 hours after they scheduled my appt. Anyway, he was a nice guy and him and the ultrasound tech were good with elea. He looked and looked and moved her leg all around and pushed on it and tugged on it and didn't see or feel a thing. So then I asked if it was worth seeing the orthopedic surgeon and he said that it never hurts to get a second opinion. And he also ordered an x-ray just to be thorough.

So I left the hospital feeling a little better about things.

Then today Jeff and I drove down to the orthopedic guy in St. George (we weren't huge fans of trusting one in Cedar). His dad was able to get us an appt. w/the surgeon who did his knee replacement. He checked her legs and looked at her x-ray and didn't see or feel anything either. She's totally fine. If she walks like a duck or with a limp it will be because she has her mother's coordination, not because of congenital hip dysplasia that was left untreated. The orthopedic guy seemed almost apologetic that he didn't find anything wrong. . . which was weird because it was the best news we could have heard, obviously.

So yay for it being a false alarm. Not cool that there was an alarm in the first place because between that and her trip to the ER for her RSV a couple weeks ago I think we're going to be meeting the health insurance $1000 deductible for the year 2 weeks into 2009. Fabulous.

I'm just grateful we were able to get it checked out so quick. And maybe next time I'm gonna try and see the specialist before the tests are done. Because honestly, I think that he wouldn't have even bothered with the ultrasound or x ray to begin with. So who knows if there was a clunk on Monday and the blessing healed it. Or if there wasn't anything to begin with. I'm very grateful that giving her a blessing was an option and that it's all good now.

And sorry Derek, you don't get to call her Elea Gump anymore.

Elea's feeling better!

So last week I ended up taking Elea to the E.R. Not because it was really an emergency but because it was New Year's morning and it was the only medical facility open within 50 miles. She had had an insane runny nose the days before and a mild temp but Thursday morning she did not look good at all. And she was acting like she didn't feel good which was what made me the most nervous. And she was basically refusing to drink anything. The E.R. doc said she had an ear infection and a cold. He ordered a breathing treatment and when the respiratory therapist came in he kept talking like she had RSV. So then we were a little confused. He did give us one of those giant green bulb syringes which is pretty fabulous except that now if it gets within 12 inches of Elea's face she starts thrashing her head around, crying/yelling, kicking her feet while simultaneously issuing a series of karate chops with her arms until the syringe is no longer aimed at her face.

But besides that it works fantastic.

Friday she seemed even worse than Thursday. Shanna had lent us her breathing machine (nebulizer?) so I called our pediatrician to see if they would prescribe her something but when I described her symptoms the pediatrician wanted to see her himself. So we took her in and her oxygen level was still good so he didn't do an official RSV test but he said that all the symptoms pointed to RSV but that we caught it early. And he didn't see any sign of an ear infection. So who knows what was going on with the ER doc, but I trust our pediatrician- he's very thorough. He also said that the 5th day was always the worst and then they start to turn around. And that was about the 5th day, luckily. So since then I have kept her on lock down. Partly for her sake, partly for the sake of all the other little babies around.

One would think that since I have been home for almost 2 weeks straight I would be getting all sorts of things done around the house. Yeah, not really. I feel more like a giant snot rag than anything else at this point. She is doing much better though and I am so glad. Now that she's breathing easier she has been sleeping 12 hours at night (not completely straight through, mind you). I don't know if it's because she's still fighting the bug(s) or if it's angels descending from heaven on my behalf. I guess we'll see.

Elea's 1st Christmas

Elea and Santa meet.

Last night was the Oliverson Family Christmas Party. Santa came to visit. By the time he left I had started to believe again after 19 years!

Elea's first visit with Santa.

She kept staring at him as he answered her cousins' questions about elves, reindeer, the North Pole, etc.