elsie - twenty two months

Seeing as this post is well overdue, and the blog has been on radio silence, I figured I better get it done!  Sorry it is late E, love you!

I asked Elsie how old she was the other day, "TWO!" Ha.  Let's not get ahead of our self kid.  I'm hanging on to the last two months of you being one!  It is strange though, I refuse to say she is two, because she isn't, but I also feel weird saying she is one.  She seems so much older than how I perceive a one year old.  So, she's almost two.

My lazy bum didn't measure her again, but when we were at the hospital she wasn't quite 26 pounds.  I was surprised by that.  I can't remember how tall she was.  They never told me, it was just written on the dry erase board in our room, and I forgot to write it down.  But tall.  She has to be tall.  She seems huge.  There are a handful of 2T clothes in her closet that already seem too small.  It is her height, combined with her belly that is still a force to be reckoned with.  And it just hangs out of her shirts.  I can't imagine what she'll look like when that baby belly disappears, I'll miss it!  Still size 4 or 5 diapers, and size 6 shoes.

E's night time sleep hasn't been quite as good.  She goes to bed around 8pm, and wakes up at 6:30am.  Not terrible, but I liked not hearing her until 7am!  Ha.  She is, however, napping again.  So I'll take it.  I seriously didn't know what I was going to do with myself if that kid gave up napping.  Probably cry.  Elsie is still regularly taking off her pajamas after we put her to bed.  And once, just once she took her diaper off as well.  I walked in to her room in the morning, she stood up, shook her little bum and said "I'm naked!!"  I was so shocked and didn't know whether to scold her or laugh.  It was kind of (a lot) funny.  Minus the part where she peed in the bed.  But so far that has worked to our benefit.  She lost her regular blankets for a day because they had to be washed, and we told her if she ever pottied on her buddies we'd have to throw them in the trash.  She is rather protective of those buddies (all like freaking 11 of them now) so I think that is keeping her in check.

Elsie is definitely learning more and more every day.  I'm still pretty bad about actually sitting down and working with her on things, but she has picked up most of her colors, lots of shapes, can count to 15-18 and can sing the ABCs.  Not as well as she can sing Let it Go, but hey.  She's got her priorities.  Side note, she has watched this light show set to Let it Go maybe one hundred times.  She's obsessed.  Thanks Meg.  :o)  She can pick out the letter O and the letter Y when she sees them in print.  I'm trying to work on E since it seems like a logical one, or A, but she is obsessed with O's and Y's.  Whatever works.  She has gotten pretty good at puzzles (not the jigsaw kind of course) and stacking/sorting type activities as well.

Some of the things that come out of Elsie's mouth are just the cutest.  My favorite by far is when she says "I so ex-SIGH-ted!"  She says it about random things.  Sometimes at night as I put her to bed I'll tell her our plans for the next day, to which she'll reply "Yay mommy! I so excited! Yay!"  Sometimes when she says she is all done eating I'll ask her if she is sure, does she need anything else.  She'll reply, "No more.  My belly happy!"  Also she regularly tells me, "hair bodder me!"  Haha, lots of time when I lean over her or something my hair will get in her face, like when I'm buckling her in to the booster seat and such.  Or she'll say it when she is trying to lay her head on my shoulder and my hair is in the way.

roaring like a dinosaur

One not so cute thing, Elsie is, um, kind of a turd.  She loves to torment Ryann so incredibly much.  It drives me crazy.  She picks fights all the time and does anything to push Ryann's buttons.  She chases her around the house.  She pulls her hair.  Sits in Ryann's chair.  Steals her stuffed animals.  Anything she can do to get a rise out of her.  It drives me absolutely crazy.  What a punk.

On the flip side, Miss E absolutely loves being my little helper.  She is obsessed with unloading the dishwasher and throws a huge fit if I try to do it without her.  She also constantly asks to do the laundry.  "Go downstairs?  Do laundry?  PEEEEEASE!"  She will fling herself on the floor and cry if I don't take her down with me.  And she just randomly gets it in her head that it is time to do laundry.  I generally try to go down to the basement when she is napping to have it all sorted and ready to go, but sometimes she just plain demands to do it before I'm ready.  At least she keeps me productive?  Ish... Elsie always wants to help me vacuum too.  So very cute, and so very annoying.  She just can't actually get the thing going because it is bigger than her.  And even if I try to be in control while letting her hold it, it just doesn't really work.  But it makes her happy for a bit.  Oh and if I'm wiping down counters or something, she has to open the cabinet and get herself a paper towel to wipe stuff down too.

Which reminds me, one day she was doing just that.  Opened the cabinet to grab a paper towel so she could clean too.  Well she pulled too many, and then all of the sudden she was running across the room and spinning all while emptying the entire roll and laughing hysterically.  It was a scene straight of a sitcom.  I was so pissed but couldn't stop laughing.

Elsie girl, you keep me on my toes and make me smile every day.  I love you!

seven weeks

how far along:  7 weeks (compare to 7 weeks with Elsie)

size of baby:  according to the bump a blueberry, doubling in size from last week to about half an inch.  He/She is developing a permanent set of kidneys, and the arm and leg joints should also be forming.

weight gain: -4 pounds.  Just as the stomach bug disappeared, the nausea and aversions set in.  Yay.

maternity clothes:  nope

symptoms:  I've just felt gross the last few days.  Food sounds disgusting, it smells disgusting and I simply can't make myself swallow much of it.  I'm even having a hard time forcing down water.  No puking, which is good I guess, but ugh.  I hate this useless, helpless feeling.  Thank God for Christopher, he has totally taken over and tries to help me as much as he can.  Getting me things, taking care of the girls, going out of his way to try and help me feel my best.  I love him.  I've also been getting dizzy and feeling like I'm going to pass out.  That is super fun.

exercise: This week was pretty much a wash.  Between feeling like crap and Christmas and just having a lot on my plate, I ran once.  3.5 miles.  Hoping to do better next week!

cravings/aversions:  The only things that ever sound good are Pink Lady apples (and only Pink Ladies, no other apple will do), Townhouse crackers, fruit smoothies and onion rings.  Oh so nutritious.  I need to grab some stuff to make green smoothies, at least that would be good for me.  The thought of almost all other foods makes me want to puke.  I don't even want chocolate.  What is wrong with me?!?!  That might have been the most depressing part of Christmas.  Not wanting to eat all of the delicious things that I love so much and look forward to at the holidays.  Wah wah.

movement:  nope

sleep:  Meh.  There just isn't enough sleep.  Ever.

gender:  I really have no idea.  The Chinese gender chart and the Mayan gender predictor or whatever both say boy.  I've referred to the baby as a boy.  Maybe it really will be a boy this time?

looking forward to:  All I'm wishing for right now is a healthy baby, and not having the urge to vomit 24/7.

worries:  Nothing and everything.  There are so many what if's in the back of my mind.  A miscarriage could still happen.  We are going to freaking have 3 kids!  Yadda yadda yadda.  But I'm not consumed by any one thing, nor do I feel overly worried.  Woot.

what's different this time:  Nothing is jumping out at me right now.  I have a feeling the lack of nap time during the day might take its toll on me this time around.

best moment this week: Christmas was pretty great despite not feeling the best.  I also told my Dad that there is another baby on the way.  It was brief, without any build up or cutesy reveal, but it was the best opportunity I had without the girls overhearing.

six weeks

Dearest third child.

There will be no photo this week.  And uh, probably a big ol' fat chance of one next week.  I promise I love you no less than your sisters.  But honestly, life is crazy and it is only going to get crazier, so please excuse me for not documenting my non existent belly for a few weeks.  Thanks.  I promise once there is an actual belly I'll at least take a picture on my phone.

I really do love you.

Whew, ok, moving on.

This has been quite the week!  My first doctor's appointment was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.  My mom was in town with my dad for some meetings and she wanted to go shopping, so we ventured to the mall, with the excuse that I wanted to get home a little early to work on wrapping presents or something.  Naturally while there, my doctor's office called asking if I could make it there in 30 minutes because a surgery had been pushed back and she wouldn't be available that afternoon.  I was flustered, but tried to play it off like it was a follow up from my chemical pregnancy.  So my mom took me home and I headed over there.

The appointment went fine, my blood pressure was 102/76, I chatted with my doctor, and they drew some blood.  I was in and out really quick so I texted my mom and asked if she wanted me to meet her for lunch.  I headed her way, and we sat down at California Pizza Kitchen for some food.  While we were waiting for our meal she asked me how my appointment went.  I said oh fine, everything looks good, I'm alive.  And she responded with, "And you're not pregnant?"  Haha, shoot.  She was on to me, and I couldn't hide it.  So I told her :o).

The high of the day was short lived, because by that evening I was run over by a stomach bug semi truck.  It was miserable.  I stopped throwing up in the wee hours of the morning, and had ventured out of the bedroom around 9am.  Not much later I got a call from the doctor's office.  My HCG quant looked good, with a number of 27,105.  They had also checked my progesterone, and while it was within normal pregnancy limits (they said they look for above 10), it was low at 12.  So they called in a script for progesterone supplements.  The nurse also said my doctor wanted an ultrasound for viability, and was I able to be there by 11:30am?  Mind you I was still feeling somewhat close to death, but I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to see that little baby.

I was nervous, because at six weeks it really is a toss up whether or not the heart will have started beating yet.  So not seeing a heartbeat wouldn't mean the pregnancy wasn't viable.  But it sure would have stressed me out.  But almost immediately after the tech started the scan I saw the little flickering heart.  I was so relieved and happy.  The baby measured 3mm, or 5W6D.  Off by one day from what I thought, so for now I'll go with that.  I scheduled my next appointment for January 21st, I look forward to hearing the heartbeat! 

how far along:  6 weeks (compare to 6 weeks with Elsie)

size of baby:   according to the bump a sweetpea, a mere .25 inches.  Baby should be sprouting some eyes, a nose, ears and cheeks this week!

weight gain:  As of this morning, I'm down 4.5 pounds from my starting weight.  But seeing as I was puking my guts up for about 10 hours straight with some hellish stomach bug I'm not all that surprised.  I haven't had any real food aversions or lack of appetite yet, so I'm sure I'll gain that all back soon.

maternity clothes:  nope

symptoms:  Slight nausea and headaches.  And bloating.  Bloating is so damn annoying.

exercise:  I managed to run a total of 11.65 miles and walk 1 mile.

cravings/aversions:  Sometimes nothing sounds good and sometimes I want to eat everything right at that very moment.  The latter isn't very helpful with this whole bloating thing.  Really more than anything I am just too plain lazy and tired to cook anything.  Suppose I should remedy that.

movement:  nope.

sleep:   I go to bed freezing cold and wake up sweating like crazy.  And then I'm just really uncomfortable and can't sleep.  Plus my children haven't been sleeping well so nobody in our house is sleeping.  UGH.

gender:  I'm leaning towards a boy.  Then again, I've thought a boy the last two times and been quite wrong, so there's that.

looking forward to:  Christmas.  Other than that, nothing really.

worries:  Really hoping that the progesterone supplements do their job, and my levels don't drop low enough to endanger the pregnancy.

what's different this time:  The progesterone supplements.  Also, I have this really heavy feeling low in my belly.  I don't remember it the last two pregnancies.  It is different than the bloating.  And I feel like I was more tired the last two pregnancies.  I'm sure the fatigue will come, and I have been tired, but not like I'm going to die if I don't go to sleep tired.

best moment this week:  Seeing the little babe's heart beating.  I don't think it matters how many pregnancies you go through, an early ultrasound with that itty bitty heart beat is just amazing.  Somehow my body is taking two little cells and turning them in to a freaking human.  There is a speck measuring just millimeters inside me, with a beating heart.  How is that even possible?

five weeks

how far along:  5 weeks (compare to 5 weeks with Elsie)

size of baby:  according to the bump an appleseed, a wee .13 inches.  The major organs are starting to form.

weight gain:  A whopping .2 pounds.  Although based on the amount of hunger I've been feeling in the afternoons and evenings it is going to be a whole lot more than that soon.  Unless morning sickness sets in of course.

maternity clothes:  nope

symptoms:  I get queasy here and there, but nothing crazy.  I am so incredibly irritable.  It is insane.  I almost can't stand myself.  I did have some terrible reflux during my longer run this week.  That was gross.

exercise:  Two 3 mile runs, a 5.5 mile run and one barbell class.  I want to try and lengthen my runs a little bit, but being cold and dark in the mornings isn't really motivating.  I'm hoping to run a 10K in February, so I don't want to start slacking off.

cravings/aversions:  In the mornings nothing sounds good.  I can't decide if I don't want the food, or I'm too lazy to cook.  A little of both maybe.  And eating some chicken sausage the other morning felt like torture.  It isn't that it doesn't sound alright, but trying to chew it, I don't know.  It was just gross.

movement:  nope.

sleep:  I'm so restless throughout the night.  Tossing and turning and in and out of sleep.  I'm still anxious about getting to the next day, paranoid that I'm going to have a miscarriage.  I'm hoping that once I see or hear a heartbeat I'll relax and sleep a little better.

gender:  No idea.

looking forward to:  My first OB appointment on Wednesday (12/17).  I doubt that I'll get an ultrasound or they will really be able to settle my nerves, but still.  I'll be a day shy of 6 weeks at that point, and I feel like that would be a good step towards a healthy pregnancy.

worries:  Just still so paranoid about a chemical pregnancy or miscarriage.

what's different this time:  Even though I think about the pregnancy regularly, I keep having to remind myself I'm pregnant.

milestones:  Forget this line.  I hated it the last two pregnancies.  It disappears next week.

best moment this week:  Because I'm terrified about losing this pregnancy, I've taken an absurd number of pregnancy tests.  A few days ago the test line was actual a fair amount darker than the control line, and that is giving me some confidence!

thanksgiving 2014

Per the usual, I didn't take as many photos on actual Thanksgiving day as I would have liked.  But I was a wee bit occupied chasing Elsie up and down the stairs a million times.  Seriously, she has rug burn on her belly from sliding down over and over again.

We had a wonderful time with Christopher's family on Thanksgiving day.  Plenty of tasty food was had by all.  Well, Ryann didn't eat anything but the fruit cup and squeezy pouch that I brought for her, but the rest of us were quite pleased.  Elsie discovered she loves mashed potatoes, it is just something I don't really make.  The girls also received some gifts since we do Christmas with my family.  We are now the proud owners of a giant unicorn and an 8 foot caterpillar thanks to Grandma 'Nita (she did ask me if I'd allow it before giving them to the girls, I think we'll have enough space in our new house to handle them!).

Friday morning the girls and I headed to my parents.  Shortly after we arrived my sister and her boyfriend made it over, and Chris joined us in time for dinner.  My mom's food certainly didn't disappoint.  And the weather over the weekend was amazing.  The girls spent plenty of time in the bounce house and driving their car around the driveway.  We made some brownies and helped decorate my mom's Christmas tree.  And my mom and I did some holiday shopping online.

Just a little tidbit I wanted to remember... Elsie loved looking at the tree, and picked out the carousel as her favorite ornament.  It just so happens to be the 2013 ornament my mom bought to represent her birth year.  A little crazy to me that she actually picked 'her' ornament as her favorite!!

four weeks

how far along:  4 weeks (compare to 4 weeks with Elsie)

size of baby:  according to the bump a poppy seed.  The baby is currently just a blastocyst.  A tiny ball of cells.  Crazy to think that itty bitty speck is going to turn into a baby.

weight gain:  0 pounds.  This week will be my starting point.  Starting off 1 pound heavier than I did with Elsie, but still in much better shape than when I got pregnant with Ryann.

maternity clothes:  nope

symptoms:  I had a day with some nausea, but otherwise nothing.  As much as I don't want to feel like crap, I just wish I had some symptoms for reassurance.

exercise: I've been terrible about recording my workouts lately, but if I had to guess I'd say I got in 3-4 runs.  Hoping to stay active again this pregnancy.

cravings/aversions:  nothing really.

movement:  nope.

sleep:  Staying up too late and not getting enough of it.  Which makes me super tired and crabby during the day.  Good plan, obviously.

gender:  I don't have a clue.

looking forward to:  seeing a heartbeat.  I desperately need to see a heartbeat.

worries:  After a chemical pregnancy my last cycle, I'm currently terrified of another.  Or just a miscarriage in general.  I worry every morning that when I get out of bed I'll find blood.  I'm trying to think positively.  Just because I had one chemical pregnancy doesn't mean I'll have another.  But I'm scared to the point where I'm essentially pretending I'm not pregnant to keep myself from getting my hopes up.

what's different this time:  Not really feeling excited yet.  I hate that.  Of course I'm happy to be pregnant again.  But I just have this weight on my chest, and I hope that it will be lifted soon.

milestones:  I'm pregnant!

best moment this week:  Seeing those two lines again.  Even if I'm not able to truly feel it, I am excited.

that's what she said

listening to Lorde's 'Royals'
Ryann:  "... we're driving Cadillacs in the trees."
Me:  "They're driving in their dreams.  A Cadillac is a kind of car, so they're dreaming about driving a nice car."
Elsie:  "To Hobby Wobby?  Drive to Hobby Wobby?"
Ryann:  "I think they're driving their Cadillac to magic land where there are unicorns and castles and dragons."

Ryann:  "Elsie, can you draw a caterpillar?"
Elsie:  "Yeah!"
Ryann:  "Oh Elsie!  That is a very good bird!  But not a very good caterpillar."

Elsie:  "Dadooo dadooo!"
I have no idea.  Ryann was sitting next to me while I was typing this and insisted I include that Elsie says that...

And man these two.  We were at my parents over the weekend, and the 'pink car' finally got some serious use since Ryann received it for her 3rd birthday.  Something clicked and Ryann does a better job driving (though better does not = good!), and Elsie freaking loves going for a ride.  There was so much laughter and squeals of joy filling the air as Ryann did continuous circles on the driveway.

We were crazy enough to give Elsie a shot at driving.  The first time she actually connected with the gas, for just a moment, there was a look of sheer joy and power on her face.  She definitely felt like a queen at the wheel.  She was AWFUL at driving, and regularly would just lay on the gas without caring where she was going.  I was laughing so hard that I couldn't control the car at all.  We may have smashed one of my mom's rosebushes.  But hey, she was having fun!  Haha.

our advent activity calendar

At some point this week I hope to go back and get some of our Thanksgiving weekend photos on the blog.  But if anyone else is scrambling to put together activities for an advent calendar (as I am) I thought I'd share what I've come up with so far.  You can see the first set of activities I put together back in 2011 here.

We're a bit heavy on the 'look at lights', but I don't care.  It is easy, and the girls love seeing the lights.  I don't have all my cards pre-made anymore, I just do it the night before.  That way I can easily switch stuff up or change my mind if we need to.  Some of the days are just geared towards Ryann, but I don't think Elsie will really notice.

I'm just so dang excited for the month.  My mom picked up some coloring and activity countdown placemats for the girls, they are super cute and made by Two's Company.  Our Christmas tree just makes me smile.  Our elf is back in action, but most likely won't do anything terribly exciting.  I'm giving myself bonus points just for remembering to move it.  Festive pajamas and holiday themed bows.  Christmas cookies and gingerbread houses.  I'm just giddy!

we bought a house!

Ok, well really we were under contract for this house in August.  We didn't actually close until November 8th.  And we don't plan to move until sometime between May-July.

Wait what?  Yeah.

Christopher has signed with a hospital system, so we started browsing the housing market.  We had been following it for a good 6+ months, knowing we most likely would end up there, and hadn't seen anything that I loved for a price I was willing to pay for it.  So we moved towards building, found a builder and a plan we thought we liked, and started meeting with a bank.  While we were waiting for approval on our construction loan, this house popped up on the market.

It was 1200+ square feet more than we could afford to build, and was listed for over $100,000 less than we were going to spend to build.  And while I loved the house we were going to build, I wasn't 100% I love loved it, if that makes any sense.  There were still some things missing from my dream house list, and it was a lot of money.  So since I didn't hate the listing photos and the house looked to have more space than we could have dreamed of, Chris called the listing agent to see if we could look at it.

Honestly I was hoping I'd hate it.  I wanted a new house.  I'm tired of dealing with some of the issues in our not so new house right now.  But I didn't hate it.  I actually really liked it.  Well crap!  I mean who buys a house 9+ months before they actually need it?  Us, apparently.  We went back and saw the house again.  I still liked it.  A lot.  The laundry room is huge and there is space for a playroom and a workout room and the number of closets in the house is just plain insane.  We were referred to a relator who could help us since the listing agent couldn't really be our agent.  There was some back and forth with the sellers, but ultimately we got the house and they agreed to a long closing period.

We decided to buy this house because if we were going to have to put down the money now to build, why not put down the money to buy instead.  We plan to do some renovations, and a whole lot of painting.  I'm so excited to have a house to decorate and renovate again.  And a little stressed too.  But mostly just excited!

Here are some photos of the house right now...

So. Much. SPACE.  Those pictures don't even begin to capture it.  I can't believe I didn't snap any pictures of the mudroom/laundry room area.  It is easily the space that made me really REALLY want the house.  There is going to be a lot of trim painting happening (hopefully by a painter!).  And a complete gut job on the master bath.  I can't wait to get started and have before and after pictures to share.  But it will probably be a while!

We are truly so excited and blessed.

the aftershock

Throughout Elsie's little breathing ordeal earlier this week, I was surprised by how calm I was.  And how much I assumed she'd be fine.  I never panicked.  I never cried.  I trusted the doctors to take care of her and was really at ease for the most part.

It wasn't until Wednesday, when Elsie was taking her nap and I was alone, that the weight of the prior couple of days hit me.  I just started thinking over and over again, what could have happened if I hadn't taken her to the ER.  Chris was scheduled to travel with the men's basketball team that night.  It was a last minute decision for him to run by the imaging center to see us.  Had he not stopped by, I would have taken Elsie home and done my best to give her breathing treatments like the PA had said.  Heck even Chris was hesitant to have me take her to the ER that night.  Her attitude was so perky, she was eating and drinking just fine.  Her breathing just wasn't right.

But what if I had just put her to bed?

I know it isn't good to dwell on things.  I have no idea what would have happened, and it doesn't matter, because I did take her.  I trusted my instincts.  I just can't get it out of the back of my mind, that if I had put her to bed, she may never have woken up.

All the crying and stressing out I didn't do on Monday?  I did it on Wednesday.

People always ask me if I feel better about things such as this, knowing I have a doctor in the house.  And on one side, I do.  I know that he is quite knowledgeable and can take care of our kids.  But there is a flip side.  A)  Through med school and residency he wasn't home all that much.  The parenting and medical care of our children was almost completely in my hands.  Fellowship has been so much easier on us, but as I said above, there are still some days we don't see him.  B) I think I am regularly less inclined to take our kids to the doctor.  I know that there are so many viruses and little sicknesses that nothing can be done for, and I don't want to 'waste' anyone's time.  So something has to be pretty bad for me to want to take them in.

When it comes down to it, I DID take Elsie to the ER.  She is perfectly fine now.  Well, minus a nasty cough that I'm sure will linger for quite some time.  But she is fine.  I'm so incredibly grateful for that.

Love you Elsie girl!

this and that

I planned to write a post about my second half marathon this season, but honestly I'm so over my race play by plays, so I figured throwing in some race info along with other tidbits was the way to go.

::  So yes!  I did it!  Survived half marathon number two of the season.  It went pretty well, and I got to run half of it with my friend Laura, which made it infinitely more entertaining.  We started off with the 2:05 pace group, but about half way through Laura wanted to slow down a bit, and I was feeling good and wanting to speed up, so we split up.  The course had one pretty significant hill, but otherwise was flat or slightly rolling and went by pretty quickly.  The worst part honestly was the last mile, it seemed to drag on for no apparent reason.  But I finished in 2:04:03.  Laura completed her first half marathon and Meaghan also ran!  It was a good day.

::  After that weekend I bit the bullet and ate Whole30 compliant foods for a week.  I had been enjoying all the Halloween candy and my new found love of Dominos pizza WAY too much, and I needed to do something about it.  It was amazing how quickly I just felt better.  Of course there were days that I wanted to say screw it, if I'm only doing it for a week, it isn't worth it.  But I stuck with it thank goodness.  With Elsie getting sick and not really eating Monday or having my food and stuff prepped Tuesday I'm already way off track again, but back at trying to make healthier food choices.  The right food just does too many good things for me.  Plus I know Thanksgiving through Christmas is going to be tough so every day counts!

::  I love to read, but I rarely do it.  Partly because once I pick up a book I just can't put it down.  I absolutely have to know what happens.  So when I started reading Maze Runner, I ended up plowing through all four books in the series in like six days.  It was ridiculous.  I just couldn't stop reading.  I wasn't super happy with how the story line played out, some parts kind of pissed me off.  But it was definitely something that kept me engaged and was entertaining.  I also read Four: A Divergent Collection.  I can't say I really loved that one.  While it was interesting to see Tobias's perspective on some things, I felt like I wasn't all that interested because I knew where it was going.  Next on my list of things to read is Gone Girl, because I just have to read books before I see the movie.  It is just the way I am.

::  Who decided that this was put your Christmas tree up three weeks before Thanksgiving year?  All of the sudden my instagram feed got bombarded with Christmas decor shots.  Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas and the decorations and all that good stuff.  I've been debating holiday wear and headbands and leggings for far too long already.  But it is not put your tree up time.  It just isn't.  Plus then I just have to fight with my kids and my cats about not touching the damn thing.

Well little miss sicky is refusing to nap (%#$@^%!) so I guess I'm done.  Wahhhh.

an er visit

Currently Elsie is quickly becoming the more expensive child in the medical department.  Ryann has had a non well visit, maybe, um, twice?  Maybe?  Yeah Elsie, I don't even know.  Not an absurd amount, she doesn't have chronic ear infections or anything.  But I can almost guarantee that at 21 months Elsie has gone to the doctor more times than Ryann has in her 4.5 years of life.

So a little recap of our last couple of days... over the weekend Elsie developed a cold.  She goes to mother's day out, the gym daycare, gymnastics, playdates, you get the idea.  That kid is going to get something, there is almost no way around it.  I wasn't worried.  It was a cough and congestion, totally normal.  Monday morning she was coughing a TON.  I felt like she couldn't get a break, it was continuous.  So after dropping Ryann off at school and attempting a Target run (dumb idea, not even signing Christmas toys could comfort my little miss) we headed back home for liquids and some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  I try to refrain from using shows outside of our regular one in the morning and the evening, but she was so darn pitiful there was no other option.

Since she was pretty content and occupied, I opted to clean out the pantry.  I mean if we aren't going to be playing I might as well make the best of it, right?  I periodically checked on her, made sure she hadn't spilled her food, wiped her nose, etc.  I got to the point where I had a pile of Chris's food left that I wasn't sure if he was ever going to eat, so I texted him a picture of the stuff and went to cuddle with Elsie while I was waiting for a response.  It was then that I noticed how labored her breathing was.  Her breathing was fast and shallow.  She couldn't complete words or phrases because she just didn't have enough air.

Part of me thought I was imagining it.  I was already on watch because she wasn't feeling well, so it was possible I was over thinking it.  But she just didn't sound right.  I took a video and sent it to Christopher.  After a bit of him not responding I sent the video to Sarah and asked her if she would take her kid in with that kind of breathing.  She replied without a doubt, that it sounded scary.  Even after that I stalled a bit more, called my mom, waited a few more minutes for Chris to respond.  But he didn't, so I called the pedi.  They said that anytime someone suspects breathing distress they need to be seen, so we planned to arrive in just over an hour for their urgent care hours.

In the meantime Elsie asked to take a nap (NEVER HAPPENS), so I let her lie down.  Christopher finally finished his morning clinic and said she didn't sound great but he couldn't make any guesses without listening to her lungs, so taking her in was the best bet.  We were fairly quickly taken to a room when we arrived at the pedi.  The nurse asked me some standard questions, and about her symptoms.  Then she hooked up a device to check her oxygen levels (I don't know what those things are called, whoops).  She kept moving the thing around on Elsie hand without saying anything.  At first I thought she was having a hard time getting a reading.  But then she opened the door and asked for another nurse, the PA, tape and bubbles.  I was a wee bit confused, and worried.  Truthfully the bubbles confused me the most at first.  :o)  Apparently her oxygen level was in the 87-88 range.  She was pretty lethargic and non responsive (not completely though), but I figured I dragged her out of her crib and she was sick.  Not surprising that she was just laying around.  They blew bubbles to try and perk her up, but it didn't help a ton.

We ended up doing two breathing treatments at the pediatrician's office.  They helped a little and her numbers went up to 94, but the PA still wasn't super thrilled, so she sent us for a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia or anything else, plus gave us a nebulizer to take home.  I quickly drove to pick up Ryann from school and headed over to the imaging center.  Chris had finished with his afternoon patients so he stopped at the pharmacy to get E's meds and met us there.  Elsie was perkier at this point, but her breathing had already become more difficult again, and it hadn't even been two hours since we finished her last treatment.  Got the x-ray done and everything was all clear.  The PA said just be consistent with the breathing treatments, but to take her to the ER if she got worse.

We did another breathing treatment when we got home, but it just didn't really help.  Her attitude was fine.  She was up and trying to play.  Eating some food.  Drinking some water and juice.  Chris and I waivered back and forth about taking her back in.  We almost planned on just giving her breathing treatments throughout the night, but her little chest was working so hard, lots and lots of retractions.  It really was just better safe than sorry.  So after bath her and I headed out to Children's Mercy. 

It was only about 7:20pm when we got there, not terribly late.  The nurses were great and got us through triage in maybe 15 minutes.  Her oxygen level was about 92, and the retractions were still as strong as ever.  We were taken back to a room and waited to be seen by the doctor.  A respiratory therapist came in and gave Elsie a couple puffs of albuterol on a spacer, but confirmed it didn't seem to be doing anything to help her breathe.  We waited a bit longer and then the doctor came to see us.  She said E had a viral infection with bronchiolitis.  Essentially the little tiny airways in her lungs were infected, swollen, and full of mucous.  She said she wanted to do a deep suction to help her breathe a bit better, and test for RSV.  Sounded like lots of fun.  HA.  Not at all.  And it wasn't.  E was PISSED.  But they got a ton of crap out of her lungs and she instantly sounded so much better.  She passed out on my chest while we waited for them to run the RSV test.

I was just sitting there with her asleep, happy that she looked like she was breathing so much easier, when all of a sudden a nurse popped in with an oxygen mask.  Damn.  I couldn't see the monitor screen from where I was sitting, but her levels had dropped back in to the upper 80's.  They put her on blow by oxygen which helped.  The doc came back in and said the RSV was negative but if she couldn't maintain her levels we'd have to be admitted.  She turned off the oxygen and sure enough, her levels dropped.  Boooooo.  Admissions came in, followed by the doctor on call that night, then we waited for them to get the room set up.  At some point Elsie woke up and freaked the heck out.  She kept slapping the oxygen mask away from her, pushing me, thrashing around.  I tried to get her to go back to sleep so I could hold it on her, but her levels dropped too quick so a nurse came in telling me to get the darn mask on her.  Yeah, I know lady, I'm trying.  It took a bit, but she gave in.

About 30-45 minutes later we were taken to the room we'd be staying in.  Once we got up there they decided to take her off the oxygen to see how she did.  She surprised me and stayed above 94.  They took all her vitals and did all the necessary admissions stuff and left us to get some sleep around 11pm.  Elsie flat out refused to get in the crib, I don't really blame her, so she ended up sleeping on me in a recliner all night.  I didn't sleep much, and I got so uncomfortable, plus the nurse was in and out a couple of times, but E slept.  That is what matters.

Around 5:30AM Elsie started really stirring and just couldn't get back to sleep.  She asked for a drink and to eat, and really started to perk up.  Her oxygen levels went up a bit to the 95-97 range and stayed there.  I was thrilled they hadn't put her on oxygen all night.  The nurse told me she was close at one point, hovering at 90 for a bit, but it never dipped in to the 80's again.  Even though she was still tired I just couldn't get Elsie to go back to sleep, so we watched movies and Mickey Mouse, played iPad games and colored.  Elsie kicked me out of the recliner and claimed it as hers, and got some of her spunk back.

The remainder of the morning was pretty much spent waiting for rounds and waiting for discharge papers.  My mom drove up to take care of Ryann so Chris could come hang out with us (which at the time she left we weren't sure if we'd be discharged or not).  By the time they came to let us leave Elsie was crawling all over the place, full of energy.  Or as much energy as you can have as an almost two-year-old on six hours of broken sleep.

Overall Elsie was a champ throughout the whole thing.  She was great during the day yesterday, letting the doctors do what they needed, and didn't really start to get upset with them until she was incredibly over tired, and they had already tortured her with the suction :o).  I'm so glad we followed our guts and got her in.  Everything might have been fine, but it might not have been too.  Always better safe than sorry!

elsie - twenty one months

She can't be less than three months from two.  She just can't be!  But she is.  I just can't wrap my head around how fast these kids grow up.  I swear it seems like time is dragging, and then I look at my kids and wonder where the heck I've been!!

I didn't weigh or measure Elsie again this month, but she seems tall!  She was standing next to our friend's not quite 2.5 year old, who I think is tall for her age, and Elsie wasn't much shorter.  E is wearing mostly 2T clothes now, however the onesie she is wearing in this photo is an 18 month.  I don't have any onesies in the 24 month size, and at this point I don't feel the need to buy a pack just for these pictures.  In dresses and regular pants she still needs an 18-24 month.  Shoes are a size six, and diapers can be either a four or a five.

heaband

Sleep hasn't changed much.  She goes to bed bewteen 7 & 8, depending on when (or if) she napped.  She wakes up between 6:30 or 7, but will lay there without much of a peep for a LONG time.  I think it takes her a while to actually wake up in the mornings.  I generally try to put her down for a nap at 1:00 at the latest, sometimes she falls asleep in 20 minutes, sometimes she can be in there for well over an hour without falling asleep.  In those instances I check on her every 30 minutes or so to make sure she hasn't pooped, but she doesn't care if I leave her in there.  Sometimes she throws all her buddies out (still holding strong at NINE), and lately she has been taking her clothes off.  So that's fun.  Not.  She hasn't taken her diaper off yet, but I have a feeling it is only a matter of time.

 

I just don't get it.  Ryann went through a little phase of not napping, but I don't think it lasted this long.  And we didn't have her give up her nap until she was a little over 3.  I refuse to let Elsie stop napping until she is at least 2.5!!  E pretty much puts up a fight at nap and bedtime every day.  Once she is in her crib, again, she doesn't care.  But the actual process of getting her there sucks.

Elsie vocabulary just keeps exploding.  She is rarely quiet anymore.  She tries to repeat everything I say, and has started repeating TV shows (she sings the Mickey Mouse intro a LOT :o) and the radio.  She can still be difficult to understand, and occasionally I can't figure her out, but for the most part we don't have too many communication issues.  E sings her ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle and Baa Baa Black Sheep, but can also sing a lot of the words to Let It Go and In Summer as well.  Those two on YouTube have helped me through many difficult diaper changes.  She has picked up this really exaggerated please whenever she wants something.  "Juice peeeeeeeeeeeeeease!"  "Pay wit me peeeeeeeeeeeese!"  Sometimes it's cute, sometimes not so much.  My favorite thing she says right now though, is 'miss you'.  Whenever Chris comes home from work it's "Miss you Daddy!"  Today when I came to pick her up from the child care center at the gym she said "I miss you, Mommy!"  And when we got home after being at my parents for a couple days, she went around to all her toys and said "miss you ____" and gave it kisses.  Too flipping cute.

Miss E is really starting to learn more, and quickly.  It is like something clicked in her little mind and she is just absorbing more and more information.  She can count to 17, but almost always skips 1 and 10.  I find it funny that she skips 10, because that is a number we regularly end on.  She can name a triangle, circle, oval, square, rectangle, star and heart.  Her color recognition is also getting better, but her quick response if you ask her what color something is will be blue or yellow.  She throws one of those out first, and then if you ask her again she'll get the right color about 50% of the time.

As much as Elsie HATES getting her diaper changed, you'd think maybe she'd have an interest in using the potty and getting out of diapers.  Yeah no.  She screams anytime we try and sit her on the toilet.  However... we were in Target a couple weeks ago getting diapers, and she saw a Minne Mouse potty.  She was super excited and pointing at it, because she loves Minnie, and I told her that is for big girls who use a potty seat and don't wear diapers.  She looked straight at me and said "I poop in dat.  I poop on Minnie."  I about died laughing.  But it might be worth a shot.  Later I had her tell Chris what she saw at Target and she excitedly told him while trying to get her pants off.

A couple of her favorite things are school buses and horses.  I've been trying to settle on a birthday party theme, and was struggling to come up with an idea.  I was going to get to work on a school bus theme, but lately she has been pretending everything is a horse.  If she can sit on it, or even she can only somewhat straddle it, it's a horse.  Last week she hopped on her lunch box and said "I rid-in a neigh neigh!"  I'm not feeling a cowgirl type pony party just yet, but I think we'll have a horse theme of sorts.

And speaking of straddling things, haha, recently I had the vacuum out.  Elsie managed to get her legs around it and yelled to me "Bye! I going to Mimi's house!"  She never fails to make me laugh multiple times a day.  She is still constantly asking to go to Grammy's house, I doubt that will stop any time soon.  My girls love their Grammy and Papa.

I aksed Ryann what I should put in my post about Elsie, and she said that she is really really cute.  So I figured I'd toss that line in here too.  Because she is really really cute.  :o)  Even if she has become a master at pushing Ryann's buttons.  I swear they must actually enjoy fighting.  They do it so well.  I anticipate several cat fights in my future!

Nonetheless, Elsie girl, you're amazing.  I'm so happy you're mine.