4/10/10 - Another Exhausting Day!

Well, today was another exhausting day...and another early one! Christian's truck is overdue for an oil change...and a tire rotation...and he's been hearing a "noise" (I say "noise" because he always seems to hear something, and I swear, usually he's the only one who hears it!). He got it in at 8:30...so we were up and at em' bright and early. I followed him to the dealership, to pick him up, and then we were off on our errands for the day. I caught wind of a big "kid sale" going on at the Eagan Community Center. Admission tickets went on sale at 9:15, so we headed right there to get in line (good thing too...there were TONS of people there!). The actual sale didn't start until 11:00, so once we got our tickets, we were off to Home Depot. We picked up sand for the sandbox and some fertilizer. It's weird having to take care of the lawn so early, but it's going to be much needed, soon! We picked up some breakfast after shopping, then headed back to the sale to get our shop on. We found a few great deals...got a fun tunnel and some balls for outside, got a couple swim suits and a couple pairs of shoes for Olivia, and a few other toys I'd been spying in the stores lately. They had TONS of clothes, but Olivia's pretty set for a while, and we don't know baby's sex yet, so we didn't really get to take advantage of that, but we still made out well!

Olivia again passed out on the ride home, so she took a nice long nap. Christian left to pick up a friend, and his finished truck (and they actually did hear the noise as well, and luckily whatever was wrong was actually covered by his warranty!). I did some picking up and the dishes, ate some lunch and relaxed a little bit. Once Olivia woke up, we filled her sandbox and Christian did some grilling! It was such a perfect day, so amazing outside! After some playing, and eating, Christian and his friend headed off Buffalo Wild Wings for the UFC fight and it was time for Olivia to go to bed. Now that I have Olivia bathed and to bed, I'm catching up on some shows and the heading to bed at a decent hour again! It's already been a long weekend (but in reality, they are never long enough!)! Here are some pics from our grilling/day out! Including one of daddy, taken by Olivia (told you we had quite the photographer on our hands!).

4/9/10 - Exhausted!!

Wow, today was a LOOOOONG day. We are all simply exhausted...even more than usual! The day started out bright and early, even though it's my day off. Olivia had some big appointments today...her very first dentist appointment AND her 15 month well-baby check.

The dentist appointment went great. We get a lot of odd comments from people about taking her to the dentist "this early"...I guess I don't understand why it's so weird. She has teeth...just like we do...shouldn't they be checked? Kids get cavities, kids get teeth pulled and cavities filled, even if they are "just" baby teeth...I'd rather start on prevention early and hopefully avoid that as much as possible. I didn't have a single cavity until I was 18 years old...I'd love the same for her (of course I'd love that she never get any!). In addition to that "need" that I feel...my clinic has a great pediatric dental section, and the visit is free, which I know isn't the same for everybody. Obviously at a 15 month dentist appointment they don't do a ton...he just swiped her teeth with a toothbrush, checked them out to make sure everything was coming in well, confirmed that her other 3 molars ARE coming in, and talked to us about caring for them. He said with our routine...no "candy", no juice, brushing before bed (then no liquid after), etc...we should be on our way to a cavity free kid! YAY, let's hope so!!

After the dentist, we were on our way (downstairs) to her 15 month well-baby check. Thank god they are in the same building! First came weight and height...she now (since her 12 month appointment) just gets to stand on the scale like a big girl...she doesn't like it though. She weighed in at 24lbs even...up 2lbs (in 3 months) and down to the 66%. She measured in at 32.25"...up 1.5" (in 3 months) and still up in the 92%! She is very tall, and really thinning out! Her head is still massive...I'm pretty sure she's still off the charts there (we're sure it's because she's so smart...ha)! The pediatrician listened for the murmur right away, and of course it was still there, and still loud as ever. He initially said even though he still thinks it's "nothing", we should head in for another echo. By the end of the appointment, he'd convinced himself otherwise and said he really didn't think it was anything to worry about....and said he was going to leave it up to us. We go back and forth about it...I don't want to put her through the stress of an echo, spend the money and all that if it really is "nothing", but we obviously don't want her to go too long without intervention, if needed. He said if he had to "guess", he'd say she has Peripheral Pulmonic Stenosis...this made me perk up because I have a form of Pulmonic Stenosis...so that makes our decision even harder. For now, we're going to hold off until her 18 month check. If it's the same, we are definitely heading in at that point. Heart murmur's are VERY common in babies...but it's very rare for a murmur to hold on this long, as loud as hers is, and have it not be something else. We're staying positive though! After all of this, our poor lady also received 3 shots. She took them SO great though...barely even a cry! We were then informed that this fall she will receive one more vaccination and her flu shot, then is DONE with shots until she's 5 years old (once they're 2 they can get the nasal spray for the flu)!!! Great news!

After our appointments, Christian was off to work for the day, and I stopped into my work for a quick visit. Everyone loves to see the little ones at work once in a while, so it's a nice treat to stop in for a few minutes. Olivia was simply worn out after all of this, and passed out on the way home...then slept for a few hours. After her nap, we had some lunch, then headed down to the park for a while. She was ALL over the place, and LOVES the slides. I was getting pretty worn out going up the stairs, down the slide, up the stairs, down the slide...so I finally told her we'd need to come back with daddy another time so he can take her down some more! We were soon on our way back home, but stopped to watch the geese for a while at the pond. Once home, she wore herself out again, so she and I took a little snooze together on the couch. Once Christian got home, we ate some dinner and just hung out for the night...we caught up on 24 again (which just announced this is the last season...and we're very distraught over that...) and will be heading to bed on the early side...we have another early morning tomorrow, so no partying all night for us!

Here are some pics from our day at the park...so fun. As you can see from one of the pics, she has recently decided that she is far too big to crawl up (or down) the stairs anymore...she walks. It drives us nuts, and we were very against it for a while, but she's going to do it, so we're now just letting her learn. She's using the railings really well now, and doing a great job. Going down still makes us really nervous, but I guess we just have to let her grow up :(

4/8/10 - So, It's Thursday...

Yup, it's Thursday again! I don't know what it is about Thursday, but it's never a very exciting day for us. Today was work as usual...my "Friday", so that's always nice. We have early appointments tomorrow, so it won't be a late night or anything, but it's still nice to get the day off!

The weather seems to be clearing up well, and it looks like this weekend should be nice, so hopefully we'll get lots of time outside! For today, we just relaxed! Our little energizer bunny has been feeling pretty under the weather...she actually took a few minutes to relax on the couch and watch some TV with us tonight...which she NEVER does. Poor baby.

4/7/10 - 24 Weeks = 6th Month!

OK, now this really is crazy! How am I in my 6th month already?? 24 Weeks...July is really sneaking up on me!

Contrary to my usual weekly post, I haven't been feeling so well lately. This baby is very active..I mean VERY active. Olivia was so calm, barely moved around...just some little jabs here and there, and a little shifting here and there...otherwise, she just kind of left me alone. This one...oh boy, this one doesn't stop. Tumbling, kicking, punching, moving from this side to that side, way out front and way in back. It's crazy. I love feeling the baby move around, and watching my tummy do all kinds of crazy stuff...but this one moves so much, that it actually makes me sick. The moving and tumbling actually starts makes me pretty nauseous...and, s/he sure likes to push out in front as far as possible, which makes me very uncomfortable and gives me that really "full" feeling, so then it's hard to eat. It's weird...this is night and day from when I was pregnant with Olivia...literally!

The weight stuff is starting to bother me though. I went so long under my pre-pregnancy weight from being sick, then was gaining very slowly. It was great! I'm worried my body is making up for lost time now! I'm still right on track to gain what I want...but, not for long if my current trend continues! It's weird seeing that I can't really bring myself to eat too much...I guess it really doesn't make sense. Oh well, I just have to keep watching myself and working towards my goal!

4/6/10 - Torture Tuesday

Well, my poor baby girl is NOT a happy camper. Not one bit. I swear, these teeth are going to be the death of me. I thought as kids got older, the teething was easier and less painful??? Not in this house. So far she has her 8 original teeth in (4 front on top and bottom), her bottom left molar is basically all the way out, her bottom right molar is now poking though, her top right and left molars are just showing a little bit of white, but haven't broken the skin and her canine areas are swollen. TORTURE!!! When all is said and done, she'll have 16 teeth...and I hope it goes fast, for all of our sanity! She hasn't been able to sleep well without some Tylenol before bed, and I hate giving it to her. The orajel doesn't seem to be helping at all, so we just need to grin and bear it for a while. I just want this over....OVER!

The only thing to temporarily cheer her up tonight was playing with the old camera. She is a smart cookie...she knows how to turn the camera's on (and off), and is actually getting good at pointing and shooting actual objects, rather than just accidentally taking 15 pictures of the floor, her finger and her foot! Maybe we have a future photographer on our hands :)

4/5/10 - Surprise "Road Trip"

Well, today started off just like any other. This is my week to drive the little one, so we were up and at em' bright and early! Work was normal as can be. During my lunch break, I decided to check out Craigslist. Now, I don't live under a rock or anything...but I'd never really gotten into the whole Craigslist phenomenon...now, I'm addicted!!! I found so many great things on there...now if only we actually had the money to get EVERYTHING I wanted on there (kid stuff of course!). Olivia is set for clothing through the summer (basically) and we don't know what this little bundle is yet, so we don't need any clothes. We have LOTS and LOTS of indoor toys...and most if not all are very gender neutral and still in great working condition, so we aren't in any need for those. BUT, our current goal is to work on the backyard! We bought a little inflatable pool already, but I've had my heart set on getting a sandbox and tree swing for the yard (among other things). I found a great sandbox and a plastic, radio flyer, double seater wagon...and I was so excited! The problem....the seller was located in Minnetonka (not even close to our house), and we had to go tonight if we wanted it. After a lot of convincing, I talked/guilted Christian into going to check them out after work. So, we did...and we got em'! BONUS, the guy threw in a free tree swing (also in great condition) because they forgot to post it, we were buying two things and he really wanted to get rid of it! YAY, I'm so excited!

Down side...it's raining, and it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow too...so I don't think we'll be getting much use out of our new toys for a couple days...but we are sure excited about them! Can't wait to find some more great stuff for the yard now!

OK - I will admit I'm cheating with today's photos. I really wanted to get photos of Olivia actually using the new toys...so I had to wait for the rain to stop! So, here is her loving her new swing and wagon. The weather finally cleared up and we were able to fill the sandbox and try it out. She LOVES it, so YAY :)

4/4/10 - HAPPY EASTER

It's Easter...Happy Easter! We were so excited for today. Olivia was so little last year, and pretty much just slept all day, so this year felt like our REAL first Easter with her. We were up bright and early, got dressed, and it was time to rummage through the Easter basket. We don't do the candy thing, so she got lots of great "dollar spot" stuff...a slinky, a light up toy, some felt flowers, some bunny ears, some sidewalk chalk and a little wind up chicken toy. I will confess...we did put two little tins of candy in there...one for Christian and one for me :) She loved everything, it was fun to watch her go through it. Then, we had a quick breakfast (and, during this breakfast, she made her first real attempt at using the fork herself! Very exciting), while I went outside to hide her eggs. We dyed eggs a couple weeks back, so I hid those around the backyard. After breakfast, we stepped out and started on our hunt...and it was SO beautiful outside, perfect day for an egg hunt! She had so much fun looking around and collecting all of her eggs, she did such a great job! After she found all of them, she proceeded to dump them out and "collect" them again...over and over again. In the process, she managed to break every single egg, which grossed her out completely. Finally, we headed inside and relaxed for the rest of the morning. She went down for a nap a bit later, and Christian and I got ready for the day.

After nap time, we got her dressed in her Easter best, and were off to dinner with my family. It was nice to see everybody, but my grandparents decided to take us all out to eat this year rather than cook, and being out to eat didn't give us much of a change to really catch up with anyone. After dinner, we had to skip out right away to stop over to his parents house. They wanted to do an egg hunt with all of the kids, and, with his sister moving, it may be our last holiday together with them for quite a while. Olivia had a blast, as usual, running around the playing with the girls.

She passed out on the way home, and that was that! The nights have still been rough, including tonight. She kept waking up, crying (with that painful tone to it), so we broke down and gave her some Tylenol. I hate seeing her in so much pain, it just breaks my heart!