Not Back to Work After All

I was planning on headed back to work yesterday, and giving you all a lovely post about dropping both girls off at daycare, yadda yadda. Instead, Sunday night Ava decided to spike a really high fever. After calling our pediatrician's office, the doctor on call decided that we needed to be admitted to the hospital Sunday night for observation. Mind you, I say "we" because Ava had to have an adult in the room with her at all times, so guess who was the lucky volunteer?

Now, before anyone gets pissed that we didn't call you, or that we kinda kept it under our hats, mind you - Ava was only running a fever, and people tend to panic at the mention of the word hospital. She wasn't showing any other symptoms, she was still happy (mostly), and eating well, and the doctor wasn't terribly worried, but wanted to err on the side of caution. After running a boatload of labs, it looked like we were dealing with a virus of some sort, which was a good thing (aka - no bacterial infection which would have required antibiotics). So, Ava and I settled in to let the virus run its course.

Poor baby had to sleep in the newborn Tupperware crib :( She barely fit in that sucker.

The first thing the nurses did was make sure the temperature in our room was as close to that of a meat locker without going to the hassle of actually hanging meat in there - I guess we were the pork chops being preserved, lol! I do understand keeping a cool room when the patient has a fever, but is it really necessary to set the thermostat for 55 degrees?????? I'm not even exaggerating. For the majority of our stay Ava wasn't allowed to be covered, or clothed in anything more than a short sleeved onesie. Again, I get the reasoning, but considering I was freezing (and I usually run hot), and I was wearing jeans, I felt so sorry for her. After that, it was a series of temperature checks and Tylenol.

Fortunately, our pediatrician is a pretty laid back guy, probably due to the fact that he has five kids of his own. I don't see how you can survive five children without being somewhat of a realist about things. So by 5:00 Monday we were being discharged to wait the rest of the fever out at home.

Just after Daddy and Taylor arrived we got the green light.

Taylor loved all the "freebies" you get at the hospital. Here she is chewing on the world's most expensive drinking straw.

Fortunately, as of this morning Ava is fever-free. I'm hoping she stays that way (and that Taylor also stays healthy), so that I can get myself back to work. Not that I don't love my children or love being a mother, I'm just not cut out to be "Mama" 24 hours a day. I cherish my 9 hour break every day, and I feel that it makes me even more thankful for the time I do spend with my kids in the evenings and on weekends.

My New Pet Peeve

Most days I'm pretty sure Taylor's mission in life is to give me as many gray hairs as possible before she starts Kindergarten. Case in point, she has developed a new habit of "savoring" the last one of whatever it is she's eating. Translation - she will carry around a slobbery potato chip, fruit snack, or Reese's Piece (Is that the correct singular form? It just sounds weird....) and lick it for at least 15-20 minutes before actually eating the damn thing. This absolutely drives me nuts. For one, she winds up with slobbery gunge all over her hands, and for two just eat the damn thing already!

For example, this morning I gave Taylor two Pringles as bribery for taking her allergy medicine (Yeah, yeah, I know. But bribing her with junk food is waaaaaay easier than sitting on her and forcing it down her throat.). Ten minutes later, she is still holding on to the last one:



Me: Taylor, eat your chip so we can go to school please
Taylor: No. (And she says it with a very nonchalant tone. Kind of like no thanks, I'm good.)

At this point she just licks the chip again adding to its grossness. We need to leave for daycare, but I do not want that nasty thing in my car.



Me: Taylor, please, eat your chip so we can go to school.
Taylor: No (again with the nonchalant tone). School!!!!! (said very enthusiastically).

Again, she licks the chip.


Me: Taylor, eat your damn chip!
Taylor: School!!!!!!

Now she hops off the chair (still clinging to the soggy remnant of the Pringle), and heads for the door. Ava is already strapped into her carseat and is getting rather impatient, so I admit defeat once again and have to concede to having that nasty thing in my car. The drive to daycare from our house is roughly a 15 minute trip. No lie, she continues to lick and finally take tiny nibbles of that chip and doesn't actually eat it until we pull up into the daycare parking lot. Oy vey.

One Month

Ava has officially reached the one month mark! She is weighing in somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 lbs according to our bathroom scales (However, these are the same scales that claim I can gain/lose 5-8 lbs in a 24 hour period, so I'm not totally on board with their accuracy), and is already wearing a size 6 months in clothes. I keep thinking that she is just ginormous compared to what I remember Taylor being, so I took a picture of her in the "astronaut chair" to get a comparison. Here are both girls in the same chair at approximately the same age. Taylor was closer to 2 months in her pic, but you get the gist.

Again, note how much these two look alike! There's no doubt that they're related, or who their Daddy is. And, I stand corrected, Ava's not just ridiculously larger than Taylor was, I guess it just seems that way. Maybe it's the hair that makes her look taller, lol!

Like her sister before her, Ava has also been diagnosed with reflux, and we have once again had to cease nursing and move to the thick formula. Not a terrible tragedy in the big scheme of things, but damn, I forgot just how expensive that stuff is. Fortunately, Ava hasn't been plagued with just a whole lot of colic-esque screaming, and the Zantac actually seems to be helping. One thing that did need a little more medical intervention however, was her umbilical stump. We went on Tuesday to have the doctor remove it because it was still hanging on for dear life. Can you say gross? So, now Ava has officially joined the belly-button-having society with the rest of us.

Ta-da!

Blue Steel

For the last few weeks I've been joking that Ava looks like Ben Stiller in "Zoolander." Just in case you need a little refresher, here's Mr. Stiller doing the trademark "Blue Steel" look.

....and here's Ava. Note the similar hairstyle.

And the piece de resistance - Ava does "Blue Steel!"

Home Alone

This weekend Ava and I are home alone while Jody and Taylor are braving the big city of Gruver. Jody and his brother-in-law are up helping his dad wire his new barn, and Taylor is going to be partying it up with her cousins and Grammy while the men do all the work. Normally I would have tagged along too, but with Ava not sleeping through the night yet, it just didn't seem fair to interrupt everyone else's sleep at 3 a.m. when we could stay at home and I could be the only one to suffer the early wake-up's (after 4 weeks of it I'm pretty much used to it anyway). Plus, I have to admit, the thought of a weekend without my two older children (Yes, I include Jody in that head count. Spend an afternoon with him and Taylor rough-housing and you'll understand.) was just so tempting I couldn't resist.

Oh no, Mom's going to make me watch those damn "Twilight" movies. Someone call CPS!

As of now, Ava and I have been rockin' it solo for 12 whole hours. I have gone on an oven strike, and had a corn dog with chips for dinner last night. The strike is going to continue through today if I have anything to say about it (And just who is here to challenge me anyway? Oh thats right, NO ONE!). I was also able to start a new book last night that I've been wanting to get around to for several weeks. It was so nice to be able to read quietly on the couch without a little midget coming up and trying to run away with my book or eat my book light (Yes, that last part actually happened. I was on the phone for less than 2 minutes and the little terrorist ate my freakin' book light. Chewed the on/off switch right off. Thanks Taylor).

The funniest part of it all is that I think Jody is actually feeling a little sorry for me for being home all by myself with nothing to do. Before he left yesterday he suggested I call over a friend to hang out and keep me company, but yeah, that would kind of detract from the whole "home alone" appeal of it all. Remember that scene in "Date Night" where Steve Carrell is just absolutely baffled when his wife, Tina Fey, describes her ultimate fantasy of getting a hotel room by herself and reading a book with no one bothering her? I totally get that. It must be a woman thing, because like Steve Carrell, Jody just doesn't see the appeal of having an opportunity to possibly get bored, or even better just to relish not having to hear, "Mama, mama, mama-mama-mama, MAMA!!!" from the little gremlin clinging to your leg. Don't get me wrong, I adore every member of my little family, but sometimes a break can be refreshing too.

And speaking of my better halves, don't be feeling too badly for them. My brother-in-law made sure to call me on their way back from O.D.-ing on barbecue to tell me how fabulous of a meal I missed, and Jody's dad even admitted to having the meat sweats. This is an actual condition in which you eat so damn much meat at one sitting that your kidneys promptly give you the bird and you find yourself perspiring from the effort of digesting all that protein you just consumed. If you've never experienced this phenomenon go eat at a Brazilian steakhouse, I guarantee you'll understand by the time they roll your ass out the door. As for Taylor, I'll just let you see for yourself:

Not only is she dead to the world, she didn't even wake up when Jody turned on the light to take this picture. Awesome!

Our Kids and Altoids - All Curiously Strong

You may remember this awesome pic that we took of Taylor long ago:

Everyone asked how we got such a cool pic, and how fast was Jody swinging her around? Here's the mind-bender. They were standing still. Taylor always was, and still is almost freakishly strong. She was basically planking mid-air before it became trendy.

Fast forward a year and a half to Ava. Once again, this kid has amazing strength for a baby that's not even a month old yet. She is almost totally able to support her head, and is able to get herself turned over onto her side from her back. Also, don't even think about leaving her unsupervised for tummy time, because this one is such a little scooter that she'll be off and gone. So, here are a few pics I took yesterday of her amazing head-raising skills (It doesn't get much more exciting than this, folks.).

When you put her on her belly, its almost like she starts doing push-ups.

Now, the impressive part. She's actually raising her head and legs off the bed at the same time. It's hard to tell, but there was about 1/2" of air between her knees and the bed.

RAWR!

What's the Difference?

This is something I meant to do the last time I was pregnant, only I forgot to take the pictures. Remember my fat feet that I posted a few months back? Just for funsies I wanna revisit that atrocity with a comparison shot so that you can see what my feet look like now that they're back to normal.

Wow, I know I lived through it, but this makes me cringe to see it again.


Fee-fi-fo-fum......


And now, are you ready for it???????



Stupid computer isn't cooperating so the damn picture won't turn the right way. Just tilt your heads.


Yeah, I'm a little shell shocked at how big the difference is.