Love the lake!

Saturday, August 25th was the annual picnic at friends Eugenia & John's house. There is a group of us who worked together in the old office (plus Sue & Jack) who try to get together a couple of times each year. Eugenia and John live in a beautiful house on a lake and invited us to hang out on their boat, ride the jet ski, swim in the lake, and have a cook out at their house. Olivia was so excited to ride on the boat. She wore her life jacket at the house practicing for the outing on the boat. She and her Daddy also had a lot of fun riding the jet ski. He said she wasn't the driver but I'm not sure about that. They also swam in the lake and she was not afraid at all. She can't wait to ride the boat and swim in the lake another day.

Addison wasn't as lucky as Olivia. She and I hung out on the boat and tried to stay in the shade. Addie is too little to ride the jet ski or swim in the lake this year. She was also much less excited about the life jacket. The jacket label says it is for children 0-30 lbs. but at only 9 lbs. (approximately), the jacket was huge on her. But, she still looked adorable in it.

One little raisin

This is not a story for the squeamish. Be warned! :o) ha-ha!

I've been trying to think of a creative way to start this entry but I think the best thing to do is to just explain what happened.

Last week we noticed that Olivia has really bad breath. It got worse and worse as the week went on. Those who know her know that she puts her fingers, thumbs, and pretty much anything she can in her mouth. Could the bad breath be from her constantly having her fingers in her mouth?? So, we had her brush her teeth & wash her hands several times a day. It didn't help. We checked the Internet and found that toddler bad breath is rare but was usually caused by an infection from food particles that were caught somewhere in the oral cavity (behind tonsils, up the nose, etc.). There was also a site that said the bad breath could be caused by ketoacidosis which could mean she had diabetes. That was a terrifying thought.

On Monday, we called the doctor's office to make an appointment. The nurse suggested we make an appointment with her regular physician but she was on vacation Monday and Tuesday. So, we had an appointment for Wednesday at 3:50. Two more days of dealing with the foul breath and worrying about the cause.

Since the info we read said the cause was usually an infection we decided to play detective. Monday night Bill looked up Liv's nose and noticed it was pretty crusty so he sprayed some saline drops in her nose to clean it out. Tuesday, we were talking & remembered a day right before Addison was born (yep, about a month ago) when Liv came into the kitchen and said something about her nose. We didn't understand what she was saying but thought she was telling us that there was something up her nose. We asked questions trying to figure out what she was saying but she said she didn't stick anything up there. We checked her out, found nothing, and she went back to playing. She never said another word about it.

You know where this is going, don't you??

Tuesday, we looked up her nose again and noticed it was again looking pretty crusty. We pulled out the saline spray again and a flashlight. With the flashlight you could see there was definitely something up there. I asked her what she put up her nose and she said it was a raisin. Why didn't she tell us this a month ago when we asked?? Bill got the tweezers and tried to pull it out but Liv kept pulling away. I'm sure it felt funny having tweezers up your nose. So, I gave it a try. I took a deep breath, grabbed the tweezers, and slowly went up her nose after the object. I got a hold of it and slowly pulled it out. Whatever it was, it was enormous coming out of that cute, little nose. I almost threw up! It may have been a raisin at one time but now it was a big, fat, green thing that looked like it had sprouted arms and legs. (Sorry Mike, no picture.)

Bill wanted me to smell it to see if that was what was causing the bad breath but there was no way that was ever going to happen. I gave it to him and he smelled it and he too almost threw up. There was no question about it being the cause of her bad breath!!

Since we had the doctor appointment already scheduled, we kept the appointment. Even though her breath was better, could the month-old, rotting raisin in the nose have caused an infection? Dr. H checked her out and said she could see where the "raisin" had been but saw no infection. She checked the other side of her nose and both ears to make sure there was nothing else stuck where it didn't belong. No other objects. Thank God! I think it's safe to say Olivia will never do that again!!!

Way to go, Mom!

This has been my first week at home with the girls...alone, without Bill. At the end of my pregnancy and right after I came home, Bill was the one playing outside with Olivia because I couldn't do all the playing outside that she loves to do. Now that I'm back to myself and am the only one home with her, I make sure to have time to play with her outside while Addie's asleep.

Monday night, Bill and Liv had been playing with a golf ball that Bill found in our front yard. He would throw or bounce it to her and she would try to catch it and run after it when she missed. How hard is that?!? Right??? Well, we were outside on Tuesday. Liv wanted to play with the golf ball. I bounced it towards her and smacked her right between the eyes with it. That was the end of me playing with the golf ball with Olivia. At least she thought it was fun to get a little bag of ice to hold on her head. She had a red circle on her head the rest of the day. Thank God it was gone by the morning!!

Addie's first trip

Well, Addison is now a world traveler. Ok, not a world traveler but she did take a trip across the state this past weekend. Bill and I packed up the girls (and tons of other things - pack-n-play, portable swing, toys, millions of diapers, etc.) and headed west. We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa in the western part of the state. Olivia was excited to see her grandparents again and they were excited to see Olivia and to meet Addison. In addition to her grandparents, Addison was able to meet her great grandmothers, her Uncle Keith, and her cousin Shelby. Olivia brought her Dora the Explorer videos and showed everyone how much fun it is to watch Dora episode after Dora episode. It was a fun weekend.....except for the long ride home when we got stopped on the interstate for about 45 minutes due to an accident. Liv did a great job during the whole ride. Addison slept pretty much the entire trip.

Veggies don't kill!

Olivia is still a poor eater but she has made a major break-through. She has learned that vegetables are OK to eat....at least if it's corn on the cob (with lots of butter, of course). Baby steps! One day she will actually eat a real meal.........We hope.

And then there were two.........

Most, if not all of you know, that little Addison Margaret was born on Monday, July 23 at 10:43 am. After spending weeks thinking I wasn't going to make it to the scheduled delivery date and some days praying I wouldn't have to wait until the scheduled delivery date, the big day finally arrived. We got to the hospital right on time but the c-section was delayed by 2 other deliveries. Finally it was my turn!!! I remember from Liv's birth that the spinal was no big deal but still just couldn't wait to get that part over with. I think I had more anxiety about that then about any other part of the delivery or recovery. They did the spinal and it didn't work. There were 3 anesthesiologists checking and checking to see if maybe I was having a delayed reaction to the spinal but really, there was no reaction at all. They kept doing tests to see if I was numb - cold on my skin, pricking my skin, making me move my toes and legs. I would have gotten up and danced a jig if that is what it took to make sure they knew that I could feel everything!! It was not fun laying there listening to the three of them try to figure out why I wasn't numb ("This has never happened before.") and what they should do now (try another spinal or go right to general). Finally, they decided to try again and gave me a second spinal. This one worked, Billy was brought in, and the fun began. Just a few minutes later, our second miracle arrived. Surprise, surprise, the little child who made me so sick in the beginning and then squirmed and kicked me for months was a girl.....a tiny, beautiful, sweet, and perfect little girl.



We came home from the hospital on Wednesday and have had tons of fun ever since. Addison is a wonderful baby and is a pretty good sleeper already. Olivia is an awesome big sister.....we only had one major melt-down over a stroller and a few days of whining and testing the limits. Bill and I are happier than we ever thought we could be. Now the question is...how do we get our bosses to let us stay home but still let us collect our paychecks?? Bill has only one more week of staying home with his girls. I have 6 more weeks. That seems like a lot of time but I know it will fly by so quickly. Reality will return soon enough, but for now, I'm going to enjoy every minute at home with my girls.