Magical Times Are Happening

One of the first of many magical times, is beginning to happen around here. Olivia will be 8 weeks on Tuesday and she is starting to react and smile at us. Nope, its not just gas anymore! She is staying awake a little more throughout the day now, which means we get to interact with her more. Ella loves to get in her face....ALL THE TIME! Did I say ALL the time? Ok, just making sure....


She is also making noises at us and trying to talk. Her little lips start to curl and tiny coos and googoo gaagaa's come out. Oh how I love this stage! With the postpartum I went through with Ella, which lasted almost 10 weeks, I really feel like I missed out on this stage with her and wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I am with Olivia.


Keith and Ella went up to the cabin with his family for the night and it was just Olivia and I. I cant tell you how much I enjoyed myself. I took a nap. I stayed up late catching up on all the shows I DVR'd. And I slept in until 9am. Granted I had to get up and feed Olivia a couple of times throughout the night, but she is at the point where she will go back to sleep after her belly is full and diaper is changed. It was great quality time!

I am so in love with my little girls....Individually, but most of all together!

Enough Already...

Sick. not sick.
Sick. not sick.
Sick. not sick.

That's how it is. Ella has been sick for countless months now on and off. She got a regular old cold a few months ago and then it turned into a chest thingy with a cough where the doctor ended up prescribing an inhaler because the cough never went away.


But the last 3 weeks have been so weird....I am not kidding. One week, she got sick, was throwing up and had a fever. That was quite an experience. This was the first time she has puked as a toddler and I don't think she knew what to do. Seriously, she didn't know whether she should keep her hands over her mouth, where to let it land once it came out or if she should swallow it. **Yuck, I know** I was in such a deep sleep when she woke me up that I didn't know what the hell was going on. I just kept saying, "Let it come out..in the toilet!" That lasted 2-3 days. Then she was better. It wiped her out so much that she fell asleep on the coach within 45 minutes of waking up the next morning. Ella was never one of those kids to fall asleep wherever unless she was in a bed. It was SUPER weird that she did that.


The next week after being fine for the last 4 days or so, all of a sudden she came down with a fever that went up to 103.5 degrees. To me, that is high and I was freaking out! It started around 2pm and every few hours we gave her Tylenol and was putting her in a cold shower. Her temp would go down to around 100 degrees and then spike back up. This happened all night long. We took 4 showers that night (and I mean from midnight to 6am). Keith thought that since the shower was breaking her fever that we were ok and just needed to let it pass. I brought her into the doctors the next day and the doctor said the same thing. That lasted 2-3 days. Then she was better.


Now, she is just coming off another cold. When I came home from work on Tuesday, my Mom said Ella was warm, had been coughing all day and kept having blowouts from her nose every time she sneezed. Lots of Care Bear and My Little Pony movies later and she is starting to feel better.

My friend had a baby a couple of weeks ago. We have been trying to get together on Wednesday for the last 3 weeks! Every week, Ella gets sick and we don't want to bring her near little V. so we reschedule for the next Wednesday. Fingers crossed that next week works! :0)

I think it was on the first bought of sickness, we got a wonderful surprise in the mail. I had asked Jen at New Green Mama to make me one of her awesome owls, but then I saw this bunny and thought, "I must have the bunny!" Thankfully, Jen asked me if I wanted the bunny instead of the owl. I must have sounded too excited in the comment I made about the bunny. :0) I didn't know she had even mailed it at this point, so when it came that day it was the most perfect thing Ella could have seen considering the way she felt.


After I took a few pictures of her with her new bunny, I started picking up the house a little. About 20 minutes later I looked over at her and she was again, asleep on the couch. It was absolutely the cutest thing. She was so wiped that she just closed her eyes and was out. I just stared at her.

Thank you so much Jen for the bunny. It really was just what we needed that day. :0)

I'm done venting....
Hoping for healthy summer days ahead.

The Trials of Motherhood

Since I had this post just screaming to get out of me and didnt realize it was "Theme Thursday" until after the fact, I am contributing the photos as my theme for Summer Fun. Rolling around in the yard with our pooch is always a favorite pastime when the weather is warm. The trials of motherhood is just an added bonus!

Ella and I are going through a rough patch at the moment. My sweet, polite little girl has turned into a sassy, disobedient toddler....ONLY TO ME.

Ella has always surprised me at how she uses manners and is considerate of other people, but all of a sudden, I am the person she does not use any of those characteristics with. Everything I say to her, she turns around on me. For instance, when I say things like, 'don't talk back to me', 'stop being sassy', 'your'e not being very nice'. Imagine a 3 year old telling her mother all of those things. It's like fighting with a child and saying, "I know you are but what am I?"

I put her in the naughty chair and tell her to be quiet, but she doesn't. She says over and over that she wants to get down, that she wants to talk, its not quiet time. She slams her hands on the chair, she stomps her feet around, she puts her hands on her hips as she gives a great big sigh of frustration. Her and I are banging our heads together all day long lately it seems (not literally).

Maybe its because we just got back from vacation and she is still out of sorts from being off schedule. She has taken a nap 2 out of the 4 days this week, which is unheard of. It's just a phase, I know. But I am afraid it will get out of hand, and my sweet little girl will turn into a monster of a toddler.

The best times are after she wakes up. She crawls in bed with me and is still a sleepy head and she just wants to cuddle. Jekyll and Hyde. I know. I'm sure every toddler is like that. "This too shall pass" is a term I use alot once its quiet and the trauma has passed. Like now, after I have put her to bed and there is silence. My mom used to say that to me alot when I was a teenager, going through a broken heart or dealing with kids being mean.

Or how about...."You always hurt the ones you love". Why are these cliches so true? No one wants to hear them or have to say them to themselves.


But you know what? I am crazy in love with her.


The uniqueness just oozes out of her little pores. Her intelligence amazes me every day.


The cuteness when she shakes her bum and dances around gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.


So what do you do? Enjoy the wonderful times and take a deep breath during the tough times I guess. Squish them all together and you get parenthood. Something I tried very hard to get in life and something I am very grateful for.