Can't we catch a break???

Last week, I was off Monday for the holiday; Leah was home with me Tuesday (and to the doc); I worked a full day Wednesday; Lacey was home sick Thursday (and to the doc); Lacey came home early (and back to the doc) Friday.

Lacey's 2 doc appointments last week weren't much. On Thurs., Dr. Jill thought it was just the end of her virus (very sore throat, but not strep). But, on Fri., Lacey had a fever and was still feeling really bad, so back we went and I was going to insist on a strep test. However, that doc said the throat didn't even look like strep - not the same spots. She did change her antibiotic and prescribe a decongestant though. Lacey was a new kid the next day. It was amazing.

Last night, Lisa called to say she and her son are sick. She's closed today. Both girls are home again. I really hope that Lacey didn't pass along whatever she had --- although Lisa's symptoms don't sound the same. I need to work!!!!

Our lovely weekend....

Well, it really started last week.

Thursday
Butch got a call from Miss Lisa at 3:00 --- Lacey had a 101* fever. He left to go pick her up & I left work, too. I was thinking we could meet at the doc's office since I was guessing she had an ear infection. However, the pediatrician could not get us in. So, we went home. I took Lacey to the after hours place Thursday evening.

This left Butch with Leah - to get her fed and to bed. She didn't like that idea. I talked to him on the phone twice & both times Leah was screaming. I guess that she is okay with the bottle in the daytime, but wants momma in the evening. Anyway, she took a catnap after eating an ounce or so from a bottle, then woke when I got home for her normal routine.

At the doctor's appointment......yep, an ear infection. We went all last season without antibiotics once for Lacey. This year she has had them 2x already. Crazy.

Friday
Lacey stayed home with me since they aren't supposed to be back at daycare until 24 hours after a fever is gone. I was planning to work as best as I could with her here. However, I realized that in my haste to leave on Thursday, I left my laptop at work!!! My boss was very understanding and supportive and just said to work offline as best as I could. Love her.

Saturday
Everything seemed to be going okay. Until Leah woke at 10:30. After I went back to bed, I thought, "did she feel warm?". So, when she woke an hour or 2 later, we took her temp. Yep, she was warm. Very warm.......102* if I remember correctly. So she got Tylenol, but she woke throughout the night.

Sunday
Leah was fighting the temp in next morning, so back to the after hours place I went. She had no signs of infection, so we went home thinking "just a virus".

After Leah & I got home, I was snuggling with Lacey & realized she was warm. On antibiotics, but had a fever. Ugh. Hers was also pretty high. This went on all day and at 8:15 p.m., she threw up. Then, she was a different kid. Fever was gone and she was feeling good. She actually said "I'm tired of being sick!".

Monday
Leah's fever seemed to be gone. Then it was back in the afternoon. Gone again at bedtime. Back in the wee hours this a.m., so more Tylenol.

Tuesday
I took her to the pediatrician, despite the big happy smile she gave me when she woke this morning. Sure enough.....an ear infection for Leah, too. Poor girl. She actually was hurting so badly that after nursing at 5:30 a.m., she wouldn't again until 12:30 p.m. Poor girl. Hopefully she'll be feeling much better tonight with a couple of doses in her system. She's sleeping now.

Whew.

Butch & I were planning to go to the Sotterly Wine Fest on Sunday with the girls after church. (What a combination for the day, huh?) Anyway, that went out the window.

Assuming everyone is fairly healthy, we are planning to do some fun things this weekend. There is a Farm Festival and Lacey has really been into anything farm related lately. And, Dad will be there since the Optimist Club is doing something there. And, we're planning to go to the pumpkin farm, too. Lacey loved it last year.....I imagine she'll love it even more this year.

Oh - I actually have my laptop, thanks to our administrative assistant who lives nearby. She drove it to my house on Friday evening.

I think that covers the fun stuff we've been up to. ;-)

The Beginning of Cold & Flu Season

BLAH! Lacey had her first cold a few weeks ago. And (of course) gave it to me. Leah even had a little touch of it. Butch escaped. Lacey's experience was rough. She was fine in the evening, went to bed, woke crying at 10:00ish and it took a while for me to figure it out. Her nose was totally stuffed up & she couldn't breathe. All she wanted to do was sleep and she couldn't. I struggled to get a little Benadryl in her sometime in the wee hours (when I'd figured it out), but may have been lucky if I got 1/4 dose in her. The rest was all over her hair and PJs. We all had *maybe* 2-3 hours of sleep that night. I took her to the doc the next day b/c she's never had such difficulty sleeping with "just a cold", and I was worried it was an ear infection or strep. (It was a Friday and I wasn't heading into the weekend like that.) Lacey was a nightmare in the exam room.....screaming and fighting. The doc said she thought she had a sinus infection, so we got an antibiotic. She also prescribed Tylenol 3 (yes, you read correctly). She thought that Lacey's inability to sleep was likely caused by really bad sinus pain and thought Lacey was "beside herself with pain". We gave her the Tylenol 3 for 3 nights and were all able to sleep. The cold left. And, it left me a few days later.

This week, I got a sore throat (Monday) and realized on Tuesday that it was a cold....not just some random thing. Yesterday, Lacey was fine. Went to bed at 8:30, woke crying at 10:30 with a totally stuffed up nose. So, downstairs we went to watch Aladin (her new fav) and forced drugs into her. Decongestant. Benadryl. Motrin. And, Butch put the humidifier in her room. We managed to get her back to bed at midnight and she slept solid until 6:10. I sure hope she recovers quickly.

Now, if I'd been able to sleep for all that time, I'd be good. But, Leah woke at 11:00 (while LJ was still up); again at 3:15; and again at 5:15. And, my alarm had gone off at 4:50. So, I'm tired.

No idea what is up with Leah's sleep these last 4 nights. The first few, I was thinking growth spurt, but I would think she'd be settled back in by now. I hope this isn't a trend that continues.

Leah's Baptism

Leah's Baptism is scheduled for November 25.

We have a new pastor at our church. Her first Sunday was July 1. Leah's birthday. And, we haven't made an attempt at going to church since Leah was born. Not b/c of Leah. But, b/c Lacey hates the nursery so much.

Well, when I called to schedule the baptism, the pastor said she wanted to meet with us. And, she asked if we'd been there recently. I ended up feeling like bad parents and bad church members by the end of the call.

We met with her yesterday at 3:30. I really thought it would be about 30 minutes. Nope. We walked out around 4:45. We both felt like we were being quizzed on our knowledge of the Bible for a good chunk of the time we were there. And, also lectured for not bringing our little ones to church. She is a believer in having the little ones in the service and not in the nursery -- even though it might be difficult at first. So we are going to try that. Again. We have tried that before and Lacey ends up making so much noise that one of us (me) ends up sitting in the van with her. But, we'll try again.

Man, I miss Pastor Phil.

September

So, I'll try my best to do a rather quick recap of our September. It won't be everything, but I'll update you as I remember it. We had a pretty good month.

Leah started daycare a few weeks ago and is doing really well. I'm so happy that we paid Lisa to save the spot for Leah. It was quite nice feeling OK dropping Leah off somewhere. I knew she'd be well taken care of. I was totally unsure of how things would go with her eating, though. Since I'm still breastfeeding, I have no clue how much she takes at a feeding. That was honestly the biggest challenge of sending her. But, we've gotten through it.

Lacey has adjusted well to having her sister with her. She is a bit possessive and didn't initially want anyone talking to "her baby", but other than that, she's good.

A couple of weeks ago, Lacey went potty at daycare! Wow....the first time. That was a Friday. Then, on Sunday, she was running around naked after her bath (common occurance in our house for her) and she said she had to go potty. She says this often. She sits. For 2 seconds. Wipes and flushes. Nothing comes out. However....this time, she meant it. We weren't even in there with her, b/c she always says it and never does. We've had no success since then, but at least a little movement in the right direction.

On the 15th, we went to the Charles County Fair and had a ball. Leah was content in her stroller almost the entire time. Lacey rode a pony and did not hesitate at all about hopping on.

She rode several rides, but then it was all ruined when I (bad mommy) let her ride a kiddie roller coaster and it completely freaked her out. She just about flew out of it b/c she wasn't sitting down. So, after 1 lap on it, they stopped it and she got off....and was over the rides and ready to go home. I took off the following Friday & took her to the St. Mary's Fair. She still wanted nothing to do with the rides, but enjoyed all the farm animals and rode a pony again.

My birthday was the 22nd. As I was opening cards, Lacey kept insisting it was her birthday. Silly goose. Butch got me a charm for my bracelet with Leah's birthstone. That night, we even got to go out. Kristina babysat for us (along with Rick). We went to the Civista Wine Tasting with Dee and Buck and several of their friends. It was a nice night out. But, I had too much wine and felt it the next morning!!! With 2 little ones, that's why we don't go out much!

What else?

Oh - work. I started back a few weeks ago with working 1/2 days from home. The first week, I had Leah with me and just worked during her catnaps. The next week, she started daycare, but I kept my 1/2 days so I could try to run errands. Then, last week, I started the hellish coummute again. I'm leaving 20-30 min. later than I used to so that I can nurse Leah and help Butch get the girls to the car. So, I'm stuck in slightly worse traffic than usual. I hate that drive. Then, I found myself stressing b/c I was so late getting in (8:30-9:00 instead of 7:30-8:00) and really can't stay later b/c I need to get home to nurse Leah. So, I talked to my supervisor (whom I've known for 14 years and consider a friend) and she basically said not to worry. I knew she'd say that. I just needed to have the conversation to feel better.

Work itself is going okay. I'm just trying my best to dig out. Others handled things that were "must do" while I was out, but lots of stuff just sat....waiting for my return. And, my head isn't in the game completely yet.

2 Client Execs (my job) left while I was out on leave. Lovely. They are looking for replacements. When you pile more & more work on people without any real compensation increase, they leave. This is what happens. I hope the powers that be aren't surprised. We're lucky to get something "close" to cost of living each year.

I'll try to do another post in the next few days!

Dad's 70th Birthday

What happened? I haven't posted since Sept. 5 and hadn't even posted about the end of August! I think I'll do a couple of separate posts so it isn't so much at once.

In August, we had a 70th birthday party for Dad. He turned 70 and had made it clear a year ago that he expected a party. We combined it with our annual family party that is held each August/September since so many of the same people would be coming. And, we added about 40 people. Keep in mind this annual party isn't small to start. Dad's family is fairly large and the party includes his siblings, their children, their children, and in some cases, their children. It's awesome, though and everyone has a great time. Here is what Uncle Kennedy had made for Dad this year.....this is the pic of the whole family from last year.

So, to make it special, we used a theme --- Aloha! Almost everyone got into the spirit (Rick failed here) and dressed appropriately. In fact, the pictures all look the same b/c it is just a sea of Hawaiian prints. Quite funny.

We had (thanks mostly to Dee & Buck for catering) pork loin, pulled pork, fried chicken (thank you, Popeye's), Dee's special baked beans, Buck's awesome potato salad, cole slaw, deviled eggs, etc., etc., etc. You get the idea. Oh - and of course, the party wouldn't be complete without Joanie's crab dip. (Which Dee and I usually stand over and eat most of.)

For, us (Butch, me and family), the party was a little strange. We enjoyed ourselves, but it's not like we could have as much fun with an 8 week old. I think I failed to mention that it was 100* outside. Yes, you read that correctly. It was HUMID on top of that, too. So, Leah stayed inside most of the day while we all took turns hanging out with her. Lacey had a good time, though, and I was amazed at how well behaved they both were all day. We had several compliments on that. It's always good to hear. ;-)

Leah is 3 months old!

2 Months Old

3 Months Old