Family Sick Day

Today has been an unscheduled family day.... vomit included! So I won't put in any pictures of course, who has time to take pictures when you are cleaning up puke and more importantly, who wants to see that!

It started last night. I took Courtney to my sister Nicole's house while I played volleyball. We left about 7PM and was in great spirits when I left to play. I started playing and with about 4 points left in the match, I got really lightheaded and had to go sit down. I just attributed it to the pregnancy. Three of the girls sat with me a bit to make sure I was OK (Thanks Sarah, Dawn and Candice!) and then I got a call from Nicole telling me that they had a bit of a problem. Courtney had thrown up in their bed. I changed my shoes, stood up and ended up racing over the garbage can and vomiting as well. Lovely! Sarah called Brian and told him to call in sick for Tuesday as he had 2 sick girls at home. Sarah and Candice then drove my car (and me) to pick up Courtney and half of the way home. Sarah's plan was to drive me all the way... but they live about 45 min south of me and it would have been very late and by then I was feeling like I could drive.... so at least they could get home a bit earlier.

So today was pajama day and Courtney is on her 3rd set of pajamas but it seems that she is doing better. She ate a bit of toast around 3pm and seems fine. Maybe tomorrow will be a normal day for her and I, but now Brian has a sore throat. Here's hoping to a healthy family by Friday so we can participate in the planned Christmas festivities!

Keep Healthy!

Clap your hands, stomp your feet, and turn in circles!

This video was too big to put directly on the blog so here is the link:

Clap your hands.....

Leaves

This rake doesn't work very well......

There, this shovel works better.....
but my hands work the best!

Corn Maze

I know this blog is about a month late, but who cares! We went to the corn maze on that incredibly nice day in October. Who thought we would be wearing short-sleeves and shorts in October! Courtney didn't really care for the corn maze, but loved the petting zoo, the bin of corn kernels and the bales of straw to climb on.

What is this stuff?

It is stuck in my toes.....

Finally realized how fun this is!Llamas

Just wandering around in the corn.

What a good Daddy! He made sure I didn't walk off
the end of the bales.

This maze is more my size.

Quite the conversationalist!

Courtney is hanging out and talking to her friends on the phone.

Tinkerbell

Here is the group of neighbors we went trick or treating with and my little Tinkerbell!

Barbies already!

Giving Kisses

"Shooos"

Playing with Barbie's hair.

Things we do with Courtney's Castle

1. Run around it and try to catch each other.

2. Peek out the window.

3. Close the door and say "Bye-bye".

4. Play peek-a-boo

5. Put the stroller in it.

6. Sit in it and look cute!

Test results

I got a call from our pediatrician today. Courtney is allergic to peanuts and egg whites. She said that in a year, we will retest her and the egg white allergy could go away. Apparently it often does. The peanut allergy is usually chronic. So I asked about a billion questions and it turns out that when doing allergy testing, the results are given as a ranking from 1, which is mildly allergic up to 3 which is highly allergic. Courtney was a 1 for egg whites and a 2 for peanuts.

I didn't know what to think about the egg white allergy..... there are eggs in EVERYTHING. Dr. Sprenkle said that typically the eggs in cakes and other BAKED goods are ok. But nothing from the stove (poached, scrambled, french toast). So that allergy seems a lot better than what I was first expecting. Courtney doesn't like eggs anyway, maybe there was a reason for that!

I will now be sending all of the peanut products that we eat to either school with Brian or to work with me. I also will go through all of our foods and see if any have the peanut warning on them. I asked if she could be around peanuts or PB and it turns out that she can be around them, but she wants her separated from other kids that are eating PB. This is achieved with her high chair right now, but we will have to formulate a plan with our day care provider on how to proceed once she is at the table with the other kids. Dr. Sprenkle is worried about Courtney grabbing other kids' food and eating it. She does it with our food all of the time!

So, it's time to educate myself and read a lot of labels. I will also be showing a lot of you how to use the epi pen for emergencies. Hopefully we will never have to use it! If anyone knows any resources for this, feel free to share.

In the grand scheme of things this is only an inconvenience. Courtney is a healthy and happy little girl and I thank God everyday for that!

Not lipstick

Here is a picture of Courtney after a little boy bit her cheek in our church nursery. OUCH!

15 month update

Courtney had her 15 month well visit at the doctor today. She now is 31 1/2" and weighs 23lbs and 6 oz. She is healthy and doing well. We also drove to Children's hospital to get her blood drawn for allergy testing. So, in about a week, we will know whether she is allergic to peanuts. Keep your fingers crossed!

She has also learned a few new words. Some cuter than others. Her favorite of these new words is "mine". I have heard it a lot in the past 2 days. So the power struggle begins!

Here is a recent picture of our little bug!

Courtney's New Cousin

I know this is a bit overdue, but better late than never! On July 12th, my sister Nicole had a little girl named Ingrid Marie. She is a cute little girl that has darker skin already than Nicole has. Here are some pictures of the latest girl in our family.

Girls, girls and more girls

We had a few of our college friends over one Saturday evening. As we were watching them play, we decided there were a lot of girls! The one family that has the token boy wasn't able to make it. We had 5 girls all under the age of 3.

Courtney's version of mac-n-cheese

Summer activities

Summer is in full swing and the time seems to be going too fast. We are enjoying the weather and getting out and running, biking, and playing in the water. Here are some pictures of our adventures!


Courtney's first time in her baby pool.

Brexton and Courtney hanging out in the pool.

Courtney getting ready for her first ride in the Burley.

Courtney's first trip to the MN Zoo

On Mother's day we went to the zoo. Nana, Courtney, Brian and I had a great time! The day started with rain, but as the day progressed, we were able to get outside. Courtney's favorite part was the tiger. She was able to get very close!

Courtney and the tiger

Courtney's face after the tiger had passed

Nap time with Nana. Apparently Courtney doesn't like dolphins as
much as her mom does.

Cleaning Courtney's room

I was trying to tidy up Courtney's room the other day including taking out some bigger clothes and putting away some of her small clothes. Then a tornado hit... ie Courtney wanted to help. Here is what it looked like with my cute little helper! Just so you know, the clothes were in piles at one time.

Peek-a-boo

Sorry it is a little dark. Courtney is playing peek-a-boo from insider her pack and play.

New Car

Garage Sales

I was never much of a garage sale person, but now with Courtney growing out of her clothes so fast it seems to be the only way to go. I went out during City Garage sale days and got quite a bit of clothes. Here are all of the goodies I found.

New standard operating proceedure at work

Last year at work, our night shift was so short staffed that the supervisors were having trouble filling (finding volunteers) all of the openings. So, the higher powers decided that there should be a policy to fill these vacancies. Needless to say the majority of the staff is not liking this new policy. Here it is in a nutshell:

If a shift remains unfilled 72 hours prior to the shift time, the supervisors get to tell somebody they have to fill it. The supervisors assign based on reverse seniority and make sure the proper mix of staff is working. The employees get to turn down one shift and if they do it a second time, there is some documentation that gets put into your permanent file.

This also applies to sick calls in which you may get 5 hours notice before you have to fill a shift.

Back to the proper mix of staff. The reason I am especially not keen on this policy is that I have quite a wide skill mix. I do 3 out of the 4 departments, including Blood bank which has fairly limited staff. In fact, I am next on the list as the 5 people that have less seniority than me have either already filled their turn or they do not do blood bank.

So wish me luck that we have lots of volunteers to fill all of the openings and that no one calls in sick!

First time swimming

A while back, we went and stayed in a hotel while Brian was coaching JO volleyball. While there, Courtney went swimming for the first time. Well... maybe not swimming. I guess it could be described as hanging on for dear life! Maybe a zero entry pool is more her style.