Family Pictures 2010

This year, we had Erik's cousin, Dani, take our family pictures. Usually, this isn't a very eventful activity. We arrive at the location, we smile a lot, we try to get Laddie to look at the camera at the same time as everyone else, we go home. It's a good day.

But this year was a completely different story. About half way to Ogden's Union Station to meet Dani, Laddie decided to puke on me. Well, not on me so much as in my general direction. Most of it landed on the seat. It wasn't a lot, so I didn't worry about it much.

A little while later, we arrived at Union Station. As we were getting ready to get out of the car, Lily decided she didn't feel great either, so she puked on me, too. Unfortunately, it was significantly more than what Laddie managed. I had it all down my arm and side. And on the seat. Luckily, none of it ended up on her. I managed to wipe it all off, so at least I was presentable for our pictures, even if I did stick a little...

Dani arrived and we started our shoot. But it was so windy and cold, and we could hardly get pictures with our coats on. I mean, I'd agonized for months over what we would be wearing. I was not covering anything up with a coat. So we toughed it out long enough to get some shots in a couple locations. And now that we have the finished product, you'd never know we were freezing. But I think next year, we'll do pictures on a warmer day.

Thanks, Dani!

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Fully Initiated

I've debated whether or not to post anything about our past week, especially since I'd rather forget the whole thing myself, but I've had a couple hints that the update would be appreciated. And I know there are some people out there who will get a good chuckle at my expense. But I warn you: those with weak stomachs or vivid imaginations should probably stop reading here. I'm serious. It wasn't pleasant. In fact, those of you who have yet to procreate, feel free to use this post as proof of your sanity when dealing with nosy in-laws or ward members. Plus, it's a long one. Ok...here goes:

Thursday night, Lillian kept waking up, which is pretty unusual for her. On the third time, I sent Erik in...for some reason, pulling the Daddy card will usually end the cycle when it does occasionally happen. He'd been out of bed a couple minutes when I hear, "Leonora, come help me. She threw up!" With Erik's weak stomach, I hurried out of bedding hoping to avoid cleaning up two messes. But when I got there and actually turned on the light in her room, nothing. I went to the bathroom, where they were sitting in the dark for some reason, and turned on the light. Nothing on her. It turned out her shirt was a little wet, but there was no smell and no sight of anything that might be something other than excessive drool. So I searched her bed a little more and found...one green bean. One. Uno. All alone. So we changed her shirt and put her back to bed.

She woke up again about half an hour later so I curled up with her on the Siesta Sak hoping it would help her sleep since she obviously wasn't feeling well. Nothing much happened after that. She acted like she was trying to throw up a couple times, but nothing came up, and she finally fell deep asleep and actually slept later than normal, even after I got up.

Once she woke up, she didn't really want anything to eat but was perfectly normal other than that. Except for the the horrendous diaper I had to change. She told me she was poopy and headed to her bedroom to get changed. Not thinking it was a critical thing, I decided to wrap up what I was doing before heading after her. Before I could finish, she came to tell me again and then ran back to her room. Once she turned around, I realized her legs were soaking. The best description I can give is this: Toast up a piece of bread. As soon as it comes out of the toaster, smear a fair amount of peanut butter on it and let it sit a little. That melted pool of peanut butter that normally looks so appetizing isn't so much when it's in a diaper. But we got it cleaned up and headed on with our day.

That night, we ordered pizza. Lillian still wasn't too interested in eating, but she wanted some milk. So while we watched a little tv and ate some delicious Pizza Hut, she sat on my lap and drank milk. (Can you see where this is going? I wish I had.) Then she burped. Then it ALL came out. All over her. All over the futon. All over me. Not so much all over Erik since I've never seen him move that fast, but I guess I can't blame him. I actually had to ask him to get me a towel so I didn't track it all over the house. I'll admit. I'm a pretty prissy girl (if you haven't noticed that, you're not very observant). I don't really care for getting messy. Just ask my mom. She thinks it's hilarious how I carry a dirty wash cloth. And here I was, covered in curdled milk. After Lillian was clean enough that Erik would actually touch her, he gave her a bath while I stripped (the futon and myself) and started some wash. Then she went to bed. Luckily, she completely missed the pizza.

I ended up spending another night sleeping with her next to a puke bucket she had to use twice, but about 2 am, she finally went to sleep and I went back to bed.

Don't you wish that was the end of the story? Me, too.

On Saturday, Erik and I headed down to the snowmobile show in Salt Lake. We left Lillian with Erik's parents in case she decided to be sick again, but even before we left, I could tell my stomach wasn't feeling all that great. Lillian was just fine all day, but I ended up throwing up on the way back from Salt Lake, in the car, on the freeway, into a Wal-mart bag...with a hole. Yep...a hole. We had to stop in Layton to get me a new pair of pants since I didn't think I needed a change of clothes for myself. When we left Roy, Trent sent us off with some gallon Ziploc bags, which I ended up using just before we started up Sardine. They work much better... Luckily, that was the end of my sickness. I felt achy for a couple more days, but that I can deal with.

On Sunday, we stayed home from church since no one was feeling great. Lillian went through every pair of pajamas she owned, and we did a ton of wash. We tried giving her pedialyte and pediasure since she wasn't eating anything, but she chugged them and they'd just come right back up.

She slept all day Monday, but there were no stomach pyrotechnics and we thought we were through the ordeal. She even ate a little and kept down the pedialyte. I decided to work from home on Tuesday just to give her one more day to recover. But 10 minutes after she woke up, she threw up again. This time, she was sitting in my bed. On my white comforter. There are several things in that scenario that make me ask myself what I was thinking.

But since that last episode, she's been fine. The rest of Tuesday, she ran around like her normal self. She still wasn't interested in eating, but otherwise seemed fine. We took shifts with her on Wednesday since I had some stuff for work I needed to be in the office to do. Erik took the morning and I had the rest of the day. She scarfed some spaghetti-o's and crackers and chips and was just fine.

After these last few days, I think I'm fully initiated as a mother. I've had more puke on me than anyone should ever have. But I should be able to handle anything now...right?

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Helpless

Lillian hasn't been feeling well for a couple days, and it makes me feel so helpless. She's had a fever that, first, we chalked up to teething since she's pushing a couple through. But after three days, I decided it was time to see a doctor. It's just so hard when the invalid can't tell you what's wrong or how to help. We've spent a lot of time the last couple days just cuddling since that seems to be the only thing that makes her feel better. Don't get me wrong...I love cuddling. But the reason just makes my heart break.

She seemed to be feeling better this morning, and she slept a little better last night, so I went ahead and took her to daycare and headed to work. But about 11:00, our sitter called to say that she woke up from her nap with a fever of 103. We went straight from there to the doctor. After a quick elimination of a vaccine reaction or ear infection, he looked at her throat, where his suspicions were confirmed - or so he said. My question is, if he suspected Strep to start out with, why start with the ears? He did the quick office culture, and it came back negative. But he says that's common, so he wanted to start treatment anyway until the full culture comes back in two days, especially since the high fever and the redness in her face still suggest Strep, not just a viral sore throat.

If only she could have said, "My throat hurts." Instead, I've been thinking her appetite isn't great just because she's not feeling 100%...which has happened in the past. Now I feel so bad that she's suffered longer than she really needed to 'cause I thought it would pass on its own. Do they offer mind reading classes at the University?

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Lillian has what???

So Lillian is now nine months old, if you can believe it. We went to the doctor last week and she's still only 12lbs 13oz. We expected a little more of a change after 3 months, but it didn't happen. As I got thinking about it, I remembered that she had a bout of not nursing well about a month ago, and we finally started doing formula except first thing in the morning and right before bed. So I wonder if she wasn't getting enough during that time and maybe lost a little weight before she started gaining well again. But we told the doctor, again, that she's eating well, so he said not to worry about it.

So she was healthy as a horse while we were at the doctor, but then on Saturday (the next day) I noticed that her "diaper rash" was spreading to other parts of her body. She had two little bumps on her tummy under her diaper and so I assumed diaper rash. But by Sunday morning, there were four on her neck and one on her leg and we started to think Chicken Pox. After doing some research online, we found some pictures and decided that's what they were. So Erik stayed home with her while I played the organ at church. By the time I got home, she had several more on her face. Today, she looks like a pizza. She looks awful, but the spots themselves don't seem to bother her; she's not scratching (yet, anyway), but she's had a bit of a fever and is sleeping quite a bit.

The crazy thing is that we have no idea where she got them from. I called the babysitter today to let her know, and none of the other kids have them. Addison, Erik's niece, was with her all last weekend, but she doesn't have them. She hasn't had a lot of close contact with any other kids and definitely none who have Chicken Pox, so we're mystified.

Anyway...enough with Lillian's health update. We spent last weekend in Park City with Erik's parents, brother, and niece. Grandma Nancy kept the girls while the rest of us went four wheeling. We had a pretty good time, and I only got myself stuck a couple times. I did bang up my knee a little, but it's getting better. Lars, Erik's brother, was the only one to roll his on its side, and he did it while driving through a huge puddle and ending up hydroplaning. He walked away without any trouble and Trent got a great picture from it. The rest of the trip was pretty low key. We spent some time in the pool/hot tubs and took Lillian swimming for a little while, which went a lot better than the last time we went. It was nice to just get a way for a couple days.

We got Lillian's picture taken in her Halloween costume. We don't have them back yet, but when we do, I'll scan one and put it up. She's going to be a chicken, and I think the pictures will be really cute. We're hoping to get a family picture in the next month or so, too.

Speaking of pictures, I finally framed a cross-stitch I did of a Japanese woman about 2 years ago. It looks really nice, and they did a great job with the matting. It's going to hang in our bedroom with the rest of my Asian-inspired collection. I just need to paint in there (still), and I have purchase in mind for over the bed. I just need to work up the courage to buy it. It's hard to justify with other bills and Christmas around the corner. Mom was up here a few weeks ago and brought the birth announcement she cross-stitched for Lillian, so we got that framed also. I picked it up Friday and it looks great in her room.

Erik is enjoying his new store. He's thinking about talking to one of the other managers about carpooling. Today, he followed the other guy to work and the other guy followed Erik home. It just seems silly for them both to be paying for a tank of gas each week when they could cut the cost in half. With Christmas coming, his time off will be slim. Basically, he can't expect to get any between now and New Year's. But he'll get time during slower times, so it all works out.

We're having a nice fall this year. The leaves were gorgeous a few weeks ago, at least until it froze. It seems like we've gone straight from summer to winter the last few years, so to actually have a fall is nice.

Hope this update will tide you over until next month. Love to all!

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