What a week...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Before I get into this past week's events, let me start by saying we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was awesome. We drove to Moline Tuesday afternoon, Elaine sleeping peacefully for the entire three hour drive. Fully recovered from her ear infection, she slept soundly through two nights and napped long both Wednesday and Thursday (as did I). The picture above shows our happy, healthy, and rested little family right before we headed to Mark's sister's house to enjoy our delicious Thanksgiving dinner (that I didn't lift a finger to prepare). It was the most relaxed and rested I have been since before Elaine was born. It was bliss.

And as I'm thanking Lonnie and Rebecca for their hard work on the meal and reveling in my state of rest, Mark comes into the kitchen with Lainey and says, "I think she feels warm."  She did feel warm. But, she'd been running around with her cousins and was cutting a molar. Surely, if she did have a mild fever it was just the tooth. Right?

Fast forward to 1:00 AM and an unhappy little girl with a temperature of 101.5 degrees that would continue to climb over the course of the day. Once again, we made a holiday trip to the urgent care center to get her checked out and see if maybe another ear infection has cropped up. The doctor looked at her ears first and said they looked fine. They took strep and flu cultures--both came back negative. I'm thinking, okay, so she has a virus. But, the doctor second-guessed himself and decided to diagnose antibiotics just in case it was her ears. Against my mother's instinct, we went ahead and filled the prescription and started her on the meds. By Sunday morning, when she still had a fever over 102 degrees, we decided to take her to her regular pediatrician who confirmed her ears were fine and she just had a virus. She had us stopped the antibiotics and said these things usually clear in 72 hours (which the fever did almost to the hour).

But, we still had a problem. Lainey couldn't go to daycare until she was fever free for 24 hours. Neither Mark nor I could possibly miss work on Monday. Now on my third day averaging about 4 hours of sleep, I had spent much of the morning crying and stressing over how to get in touch with an emergency nanny, knowing the service provided through our daycare didn't take calls until 9am Monday morning (and also knowing the last time we used this service, we were very unhappy with the woman they sent). Finally, through my sniffles, I asked Mark, "do you think your mom could come for a few days or is that stupid?"  It was not stupid. And, Lonnie, my wonderful mother-in-law got in her car that Sunday afternoon and drove the three hours to Chicago to be our savior. And acted as if we were doing her a favor. Knowing we had Lonnie around to care for Lainey allowed me to unclench a bit and enjoy the four hours of sleep she let me get that night. Lainey had a fun Monday playing with Grandma, and Mark and I went to work without feeling guilty about leaving our sick daughter with a stranger. Thanks again, Lonnie! It really meant the world to us!

So, with our little peewee feeling all better, you'd think she'd hop back on that sleep wagon. Alas, not so much. It has been a very, very long week. Maybe she's just trying to keep me primed for when the new little one arrives. We were all geared up to do a little "crying it out" again tonight (we have to do this after most of her ear infections to get her back on track), until...

...Lainey and I got home and couldn't get into our apartment because the lock was broken. I'm not going to get into the whole background on this situation, but when our landlord still didn't have the door open for us at 6:30pm, I sent a text to Mark at work and told him to take a cab home, because we needed to get Lainey somewhere for dinner. Mark finally arrived at 7:00pm (no cabs to be found downtown) and we rushed off to a nearby restaurant. By the time we had our food it was 7:30pm--Lainey usually eats at 6:00pm and goes to bed by 7:30pm, so I'll let you imagine her temperament at this point. But, I have to hand it to her, she behaved pretty well considering. I don't think I've ever seen her eat so fast in my life though--and my girl knows how to put down her food. She's sleeping peacefully now, and I'm hoping it lasts through the night. But, if not? I'm not letting her "cry it out." She can come sleep in the bed with Mommy and Daddy again tonight. She deserves some extra cuddles.

I'm hoping the weekend looks up from here (even though both Mark and I brought home bags full of work for the weekend, and we have a very long personal "to do" list to accomplish). But, it IS the holiday season, so I'm going to try to keep the bah-humbugs away and put the "want to dos" ahead of my "have to dos." Looks like that laundry may not get folded again this week...

Dude Looks Like a Lady

For some unknown reason, Lainey has started calling Mark "mommy." I'm still "mommy," and if you ask her "where's daddy?," she looks for Mark. So, she knows the difference. But, no matter how many times we correct her, and much to Mark's chagrin, she continues to greet him with an enthusiastic "MOMMY!". We'll see how long this lasts...

Here's a picture of our girl and her mommy getting in some story time...

The Week in Review...

It's been a LOOOONG one...

SATURDAY/SUNDAY:  Our week of fun kicked off last Saturday night, when Mark got hit with the stomach flu around 9:30pm. After getting him settled in bed (and cleaning the bathroom), I headed off to the guest bedroom for the night. I was taking no chances on catching another round of that nastiness. (Mark did offer to sleep in the guest room, but I insisted. I knew from just going through this that he wasn't actually going to be doing much sleeping and deserved to have the t.v.)

I tried to keep Lainey out of the house much of Sunday morning, so he could get some rest. We had a pretty good time running some easy errands and playing in the park. Her cold seemed to be a little more pronounced than the day before, but she was in good spirits and active as usual. VERY active, so I was pretty wiped by the end of the day and looking forward to a nice, solid night of sleep...

MONDAY/TUESDAY:  Tired...so, so tired. Elaine woke for the first time at 9:30pm. Then a little after 10pm. By midnight I knew what I was trying to deny...Elaine was battling her umpteenth ear infection (damn cold). I managed to dose her ibuprofen in the near dark, while rocking her in one arm to keep her calm so she didn't wake her sick father. I got a good three hours of sleep out of her, before we were back up again at 3am...and that was the last I saw of my bed.

Mark stayed home Monday to finish his recovery. I started Elaine on her ear drops (we should buy stock in the pharm company that makes Ciprodex) and took her off to daycare. Although not 100% and short on sleep, she was happy and talkative and no worse for the wear  She almost made it through the day before spiking a fever at 4pm. Mark picked her up, and I managed to snag an 8pm appointment at the pediatrician. At this point, we actually don't have to take her in when she gets and infection, we just start the drops, but because of the fever, we were going to need a note for daycare.

Mark stayed home Tuesday morning with her and I took the afternoon shift, because neither one of use could afford to miss a full day. We probably could have gone ahead and sent her into daycare though. You would have no idea anything was wrong with her. She was very full of energy. So full of energy that evidently she didn't need much sleep, because...

WEDNESDAY: Lainey is up and ready to rock at 4am. After trying to calm her back to sleep with no success, Mark rose at around 4:45am and let me go back to bed, since I hadn't had a full night's sleep since Friday. Not that any additional sleeping was had, because Elaine is so talkative and has no volume control, but the gesture was appreciated.

So, you can imagine both of us we're ready for a good night's sleep Wednesday night. And we were getting it. Until we are roused at 2am by our landlord's shouts outside. Mark stumbles out of bed to go to the bathroom and I'm cursing our landlord in my head for being so inconsiderate, until Mark comes running back in and says "Kylie, get up. The garage is on fire." Turns out it was the garage across the alley from ours, but the flames were pretty massive...enough for three fire trucks. We were only up for about 20 minutes before it was clear that we were safe and there was no need to evacuate. But, we couldn't exactly just go back to sleep, because the firefighters were using our backyard to access the alley and fighting a fire isn't a quiet activity.

Elaine slept through it all. Of course she did. The first night she didn't wake at least once since the past Friday.

THURSDAY: But, she did wake promptly at 5am! What is going on?!!! Is she experiencing a daylight savings throwback this week? I let Mark stay in bed this time and attempted to keep Lainey quiet, so he might actually sleep. Now, we generally don't let her watch t.v., but I thought it might keep her peaceful. Wrong. She was giving commentary of everything on the screen..."BALL! BALL! BALL!...BEAR! Hi, bear! Hi, Bear! Bye-bye bear!...Lion! Rrrroar!" And so on and so forth. It was adorable, but could have been so much more so at 6:30am.

FRIDAY:  So, here we are...FRIDAY! Another early morning, another failed attempt at trying to get her back to sleep. But, we made it. Lainey's snug in bed, Mark and I are lounging on the couch, and relaxation is being had. We did have dinner reservations (cancelled because of Lainey's ear infection), but tonight I'm very happy with pizza and pajamas.

I am sooooo looking forward to next week...

Ten Fingers, Ten Toes

We got to take a peek at our little one today! Everything is absolutely perfect! And this tiny darling was much more cooperative than Lainey at his/her first major photo shoot. The technician practically had me doing handstands trying to get Elaine in the right position for all the vital shots, but this baby only required a few rolls from side to side to get everything we needed.

We stuck to our decision not to find out girl or boy and didn't see any give aways on the screen. Now only 19 weeks to go until due date time!!!

Sweet, little profile

Two, tiny feet

Happy Halloween!!!

Tinkerbell...complete with the attitude!

Our little Tinkerbell partied it up over the weekend! First at daycare on Friday and then at our friends', the Kabances, house on Saturday. While she looks oh-so-sweet here, I really think a WWF outfit would have been more fitting. In fact, her daycare sheet comment yesterday was "Lainey wanted to be a wrestler today. The other kids were not as excited." **Sigh.** Looks like she's keeping her rough and tumble ways for now (but, I have to admit, I kinda' dig that she's tough like that--as long as she doesn't become a bully).

We won't be Trick-or-Treating tonight. I have to work late and she's still too young anyway. We'd just end up with a lot of candy around the house for us to eat and that's the last thing a pregnant lady needs...easily accessible temptations!

Two weekends ago, we made some Jack o' Lanterns. We thought we'd take advantage of the warm weather surge and do it outside with Lainey. But, the distractions were too much for her and we had to move it back inside. Hard to make any carving progress when the wee one keeps darting for the street.

All-in-all a much brighter Halloween than last year! And I know that if Mom can see Lainey's antics, she's been tickled lately. I can hear her in my head all the time saying "She's too much, Kylie, she's just too much!"

Helping dig out the seeds!

The finished products!

Butterflies

I had to wait until almost 22 weeks to feel Elaine moving about in my belly, but those familiar flutters started last week and are building in frequency and strength. Looks like this little one is already working those legs muscles with a fervor. S/he must know Lainey will be a tough big sister to keep up with and is starting endurance training now.

And the mystery of "he" or "she" will remain just that until we all meet for the first time! Mark and I decided to keep the suspense going this time and to wait until the baby's birthday for the big reveal. My mom would gave been very happy with our choice. . .

Family Daze

The past month has kept us busy with lots of visits from our beloved family members! Uncle Chris came across the pond at the end of September; my Dad and his girlfriend Sharon took advantage of a free weekend (OSU was playing away) and drove up two weekends ago; and Aunt Rebecca, Uncle Tim, Jacob and Ben were super troopers and made a day trip over last Saturday. Elaine loved all her visitors and the extra attention.

Chris got the most mundane of activities, but he had friends to visit while he was here, so I didn't feel too bad about not planning anything (and I did treat him to a marathon of Honey Boo Boo).

We hit the Chicago Botanical Garden, Logan Square Farmer's Market and the Bucktown Apple Pie Contest with Dad and Sharon. Of course, it rained the whole weekend for the first time in probably two months. We managed to just avoid the rain at the garden, but got stuck under an awning for about 20 minutes at the farmer's market and had to do a mad rush into the pie contest, as a down pour broke loose just as we arrived. Fun was still had by all! Extra bonus for Mark and me:  we got out to see a movie at an actual movie theater Saturday nights, while Dad and Sharon babysat and watched the OSU game. We saw Looper, which I wasn't really excited about seeing, but turned out to be a pretty great flick.

And last, but certainly not least, the Kammler crew popped over on Saturday for a day in Chicago. We hit up Dunlay's on the Square for lunch and then I headed home with Lainey for her nap, while the rest went down to check out the Willis Tower (or Sears Tower, if you're still in protest of the name change) Skydeck. From how it was relayed, the lines were ridiculous, but the experience was awesome! I'm kinda' jealous I didn't go, but did enjoy a very long, very cuddly nap with my little girl. We topped off the day with a trip to Pequod's, our favorite pizza in the city. Lainey had so much fun laughing at her cousins silly faces and playing games (like handing a bowl back and forth with Jacob--over and over and over--thanks for being patient and humoring her, Jacob!).

I'm sad to say, I didn't get any pictures last weekend with Lainey and her aunt, uncle and cousins. But, I have a few from the other weekends. Enjoy!

Lainey and Uncle Chris at Palmer Square

Lainey and Grandpa at the Chicago Botanical Garden



Lainey was trying to lift the concrete spheres - she wasn't successful.
(But, she was adorable trying!)