Big Update

I started a new job this week. It is with a start-up company which was put together with people I used to work with. There are some risks of course, but the guys in charge have done this before and were pretty successful so I feel pretty good about the situation. In short, I'll be working on the same wireless broadband product I worked on a year ago. I think this will be a better fit than my previous job. Technically this will be the fourth company I've worked for in the past four years...all in the same building!!!

Trials of parenting a 2 year old...

So last week Brian and I wanted to get Payton a bigger bike with training wheels, so I got the girls together on Friday and we met Brian at the store after he got off work. I usually have a snack in my purse for Addie to get her to stay with us. We didn't even get to the bikes before I had the snack out and Addie was happy as a clam. Not to last long though... Turns out Addison loves to shop and didn't want to leave. Since Brian and I had 2 cars with us and it was raining we each took a girl and were headed to the doors and it became apparent Addison was going to cause a scene. She runs, screams, writhes etc.... all to avoid leaving the store. I could see Brian wrestling with Addie all the way to his blazer. Payton and I made it into my car and she asked me "Why did Addie have to go with Daddy?" My response was "Because Daddy is stronger than Mumma!"

Our Anniversary trip!

This June 5th is our 10th wedding anniversary! We have been thinking of planning a trip for while. Earlier this year we decided to go to Door County, WI for a long weekend. I mentioned it to my sister Nicole and she begged to take the girls. So we let her pick a week that worked for her, which happened to be last weekend.

We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast for the first time. It was a 130 year old Victorian home that had been converted into 7 guest suites. It was awesome! They were able to keep that Victorian feel while still adding modern bathrooms and whirlpool tubs. And a hot delicious breakfast brought to our door every morning was a luxury I could get used too! For anyone that has not been to Door County it is a peninsula on Lake Michigan. It is full of little towns on the water and state parks. We shopped, walked, and ate a ton. And we even caught a movie. We haven't gone to the theater together in about 2 years! It was just perfect, fun and relaxing. Not to mention the fun that our girls were having at auntie's. We bought them a couple of things to "lure" them out of her house. They never want to leave. And I don't think there is anything better than the look on our daughters faces when we walked in the door after being gone all weekend... we missed them too!

Our Weekend

We were to Duluth the past weekend to visit our friends Mark and Amy and their kids. It is SO nice they live so much closer (about 3 hours). Our kids all play so nice together and Payton did not want to leave. It was so cute. And it is so nice to just hang out with Mark and Amy!!! Thanks guys for the fun weekend!

And while we were busy having fun with the Wolcotts our neighbor had rented a de-thatcher (sp?) and de-thatched our entire lawn (along with 5 other houses on our street). And the best part was that he even cleaned up all that mess! We came home to a great looking yard and didn't have to do any work! Gotta love that "Minnesota nice"!

We couldn't believe it...

We went out to dinner tonight (my parents are in town) at an Italian restaurant. We got a salad and an appetizer to start. Payton was happy with the bread to start, but Addison wasn't thrilled about it. She was much more interested in our appetizer, fried calamari. She kept saying "bite! bite!". I looked at Brian and said "Should I give her some?" He shrugged his shoulders and said "Try it." I think we were both thinking that it would immediately be spit back out. She is a great eater, but calamari? Well, she LOVED it! We were all in shock of that one. She kept asking for more until it was all gone. Give her a cookie and she refuses it, give her fried "squid" and she will gobble it up. Go figure.

Payton

Before....


and after.


Yes, that's daddy putting beer in the fridge in the background.

Addie turns 2! And boy have we been busy!

Okay, so I am a bit behind on the blogging thing. We have been crazy busy around here... Addison turned 2 on February 20th and we celebrated by meeting our families at a hotel in WI. The kids got to swim in the pools and boy did our girls have fun. We had to drag Payton out of the pool! We all had a lot of fun, and the girls did awesome.

Addie had her 2 year pedi appointment and she is still running 85% for height and 93% for weight. He words are starting to pick up. Our favorites are Mummy, Daddy, Paypee (this is what she calls Payton), up-ah (this is how we know she wants to be picked up), and help me. She is still a bundle of energy and we are constantly running after her. She loves to steal toys from Payton (while Payton is playing with them) and proceed to run as fast as she can away from her. Her favorite toys are her My Littly Ponies, her baby dolls and Elmo. And anything she thinks she could climb on she will. This especially includes her Daddy if he lays down on the floor. The girls love that.

Last week both girls were plagued with the stomach bug. Payton started with it first and Addie soon followed. We had 2 days of quarantine and constant cleaning on my part... but Brian and I never got sick. Thank goodness for that!

The past weekend our friends Amy and Mark came down with their kids. Amy and I took Payton and Olivia to Disney on Ice in Minneapolis. It didn't start well with Payton when the first scene had some fire special effects. She cowered in my lap for most of the first act saying "I DON'T like fire!" Then during intermission she says to me "Mumma, I want something to eat. And it looks like a rainbow." Of course she saw the snow cones when we were walking in. So Olivia and Payton endulged in that and wow, were they chatty on the ride home!!!

We also finally bought a Nintendo Wii, which we had been talking about for months. We stayed up way to late with Amy and Mark playing that and then with the time change we were quite pooped by Sunday night! But that time change has worked in our favor with the girls. They have been sleeping later in the morning. Today Payton woke up at 7:45! If only Brian and I could sleep that "late"!

No pugger!

We decided to take the pacifier away from Addison last night. We weren't sure how it would go since she sleeps so well with it. But she doesn't get it any other time and she naps at daycare without it (she does get it for naps at home). We put her to bed with it since she was too wound up to just go to bed. I took it way once she was sleeping. She woke up crying around 11 and I got all setup to spend the night on the floor...pillow and blanket. She cried pretty hard for about 5 minutes then just snapped out of it and relaxed. I held her for a few more minutes then laid her in her bed. Waited until she was asleep then I went back to my bed. Didn't hear from her the rest of the night!!! She woke up the usual time in the usual way...6:15 banging on her door, but not crying for her 'pug'. Let's hope today's nap and tonight go at least as well.

Addie's Bedtime

Addie's bedtime usually consists of putting her in bed and then having her gently rattle her door a few minutes later. This happens once or twice on a usual night. If she's being a stinker then it's several times. Well, tonight she is being a real big stinker. Not only is she rattling the door but she was playing with a nightlight. We moved the nightlight then a little while later we thought we heard her closet door moving. I went to check on this and when I opened the door she was nowhere to be seen. She had gone into the closet and closed the door!
It's bedtime...why aren't you sleeping?!?

WOW Payton...

So as you all know Payton is in the 4 year old preschool room at the girls daycare. She has been doing very well in there. Her teacher sent home flashcards to work on her phonics because she could see that Payton was really excelling with her letters and sounds. Because this really is a kindergarten readiness room they split the room to work on different things and the kids that are starting kindergarten in the fall are put into reading groups. Payton will be put into a reading group next January because she will be started kindergarten in the fall of 2010 because of her late birthday. Well.... her teacher pulled me aside this afternoon when I picked up Payton and said that Payton has really been doing exceptionally well on her phonics. So much so that she would like to put her into a reading group! She feels that she is ready and that she really is more advanced than the rest of the kids in her group. We are very proud of her! She said that she will just gradually introduce this to her, but she thinks she will be fine. Nice job Payton!

Not much

Facebook has been taking up a bit of Tina's time lately (a bit of mine as well) so the blog hasn't gotten any attention.
Nothing too exciting going on lately. Most of our snow is gone since we've had 40+ weather with rain and lots of wind. I'm sure we'll get hit with at least one more below zero snap and a few inches of snow before winter officially ends. It has been nice not having to bundle the kids in the arctic explorer gear every time out of the house.

Sickos

I think whatever Addie had last week she passed on to me. I've felt like crap all week. Finally went to the doctor yesterday and she was convinced that I had Strep after looking at my throat. The rapid test came back negative so I should find out the results of the culture today. She prescribed antibiotics anyway and I've had two doses now and don't feel much better. At least the chills have gone but all other symptoms remain. Tina's started feeling ill yesterday and went to the doctor today. Her rapid strep also came back negative. Don't know what we have, but it sure does suck.

On a happier note Payton was telling me she saw a skunk the other day on her way home from daycare. I asked was it running. She said "no...it was still. It was sitting...I think it was pooping." That made my morning better.

Addie Updates...

Well, she is finally over this! On Tuesday I got a call at work and had to leave to pick her up at daycare because she had a 103 temp again. I had a long talk with our pediatrician that afternoon and she really calmed me down so I could be reasonable about this whole thing. Unfortunately Addison is more likely (than a child who has not ever had a febrile seizure) to have one again. She did talk with me about when I need to bring her in if it should happen again. We do have a follow-up appointment next week to recheck those ears and just make sure that Addie is totally better. She has been fever free for 2 days now so that is a HUGE relief to us, and everyone that knows and loves our Addison. Brian and I feel so thankful and blessed for all the hugs, phone calls, and thoughts/prayers that have been given to us. We truly appreciate that.

On to happier things, since Addie is back to herself and I had some time yesterday I decided to get the toddler bed out of storage and assemble it. Brian and I had talked that we really should just get it in her room so she gets used to it being there. With Payton we had a crib and a bed in her room for what seemed like forever! She was so excited to see that little bed she climbed right up and started to bounce. Payton got in on that action too;) At nap time we walked into her room, she climbed right up there and quickly fell asleep. I was shocked! Last night same thing. She slept through the night too, first time this week! So we are on a roll. Lets hope it continues.

Payton is SO happy that Addison is feeling better and is back at school. She said to me today "Mumma, when Addie was sick at home I missed her!" Isn't that sweet. Funny though, because they are in different rooms at school. But they do see each other in the lunch room. I had a meeting at work today so the girls had to go to school this morning, and Fridays are show and tell day in Payton's room. The letter today was E. Payton brought her book "Ella the Elegant Elephant". She was so excited to show her teachers and friends! I love that! So we are a pretty happy bunch right now. If it would only warm up! Brrrrrr......

on the lighter side...

Tina covered the serious stuff in the previous post so here are some moments we will gladly look back on from yesterday.

Tina falling in the snow. Damn, I missed it! I did notice her covered in snow when she got to the car.

Payton did awsome! She quickly put her jacket and boots on so we could get her next door. She grabbed her blanket, bear, and a pillow(?) and was ready to go when Tina go home. She was a very good girl at the neighbors. Fortunately she was watching a moving down stairs when Addie had her seizure.

Addie's little orange hospital gown. Very cute even though she was sick.

They pricked Addie's finger to draw blood. She barely winced at that. Started crying when they squeezed her finger to get the blood. Screamed bloody murder when they put the bandaid on! We let her scream for about a minute then took the bandaid off. Instantly stopped crying! She only cried half as hard when she got the antibiotic injection. I guess she really didn't like that bandaid on her finger.

Best of all...Addie being herself last night!

Frightening moments...

Today was one of the most frightening parenting moments that Brian and I have had... I will start with yesterday... Addie fell on the ice. She hit her butt and then her head. She was wearing a thick hat and a thick hood and she seemed to recover fast. The screaming didn't last too long.



Midnight... Brian and I woke up to Addie vomiting in her crib. The first thing out of Brian's mouth was "She fell today and hit her head..." "I know Brian, but Payton did have a stomach bug a few days ago. Let see what happens." She was restless all night and didn't vomit any more. At around 6:30-7am we gave her some Tylenol because she seemed quite warm.



10am She vomits again, but isn't too concerned with it. We had attempted some apple juice. I left for a meeting...



12pm Brian texted me that she vomited again, and was snoozing. She seemed warm, but wasn't keeping anything down, so tylenol wasn't an option.



12:30 my cell phone rings and as soon as I saw the number I knew there was trouble at home. Brian is quite upset and at first I honestly didn't hear what he was telling me... Addie was having a seizure... I asked where she was and asked him to get her on the floor and just make sure she wasn't injuring herself. As I was saying this I was running out of my meeting to the car.



I called Brian about 30 seconds later and asked if it was over. He said it was. So I asked him to call our neighbors to come and get Payton so we could get Addie to the ER. I then called my friends in my meeting to tell them the scoop. I honestly was glad that I wasn't home because I really would have had trouble staying calm if I had been there. Needless to say that Brian was quite shook up about it.



Payton safely delivered to the neighbors we were off to the ER. Here is some comic relief for you, as I was running through the front yards I totally wiped out 2 times. I was head to toe covered in snow. Too bad Brian didn't see me... it must have looked hysterical. Brian had Addie in the front seat of the car and she didn't look too good. She was moaning and listless.



Once at the hospital we get Tylenol (her temp was 102.4) and as we wait for the temp to come down we are talking to the MD and she said that this is not the typical febrile seizure, and because Addie had fallen yesterday we should check a few things. They had got a pink wagon from peds for us to walk Addie around the first floor of the hospital. She finally fell asleep in that wagon about 3pm or so. She stayed asleep through her head CT (which came back normal). Her labs were normal and her temp was finally down to normal. So we finally left the hospital about 4:30pm after getting a prescription for Zofran for the nausea and a shot of antibiotic for her ear infection. Of course. The doctor didn't want to do oral antibiotics because of her upset tummy. She did drink some pedialyte while we were there. They think that although her temp wasn't super high it probably climbed quickly which caused the seizure.



Since we are home she has drank more, peed a bunch, and ate some applesauce. Brian and I will be setting our alarm to be sure she doesn't spike that fever again tonight. Thank goodness tonight she seemed to be more the Addie we know and love. We had AWESOME care today and we were so grateful for that. It was quite scary... but everyone we came across in the hospital today really got a kick out of our little Addie in her little orange hospital gown!

Christmas Photos, as promised!

Happy 2009!

Our Chirstmas this year was spent in Negaunee with the Korby and Steward clan. It was a busy and crazy week... but we survived. We ended up in Urgent Care on Christmas Eve with Payton who is still taking antibiotics for a double ear infection. I will have to upload photos at some point, but Payton got her coveted Baby Alive Goes Potty from Santa (which my neice decided to feed macaroni and cheese and salami because the doll kept saying "feed me! I'm hungry!"... Thank goodness Payton noticed it that evening. After a couple of bottles of water and "surgery" with some tweezers and some time on her potty, Baby Alive was as good as new!), she also got all her Barbie TheDiamond Castle dolls and a ton of other gifts! Addie's favorities are a new doll stroller from my mom, a little doll with a crib and clothes from Grammy Betty, and her aquadoodle from Santa. I will say that Santa was VERY smart in getting extra "pens" for that aquadoodle. There would be a war in our house if he didn't!

On the way back from Negaunee we stopped at Amy and Mark's in Duluth to see their new home (gorgeous!) and had dinner and more gifts as the girls played with their kids. Payton didn't want to leave. We left at bedtime and the girls slept the whole 3 1/2 hours home. We love it!

We spent New Year's evening at Sheila and Jamie's eating, drinking and being merry! We were home by 9pm to put the girls to bed (again, they fell asleep in the car and went right to bed when we got home) and we watched Mamma Mia! (one of my Christmas gifts) once home... I just love that movie! It is so fun! Today we took all the Christmas decorations down and are finally getting back to normal around here. Other than the fact that Brian had the day off from work!

So that is our last few weeks... Photos coming soon! Happy New Year everyone!

Dear Santa,

So last year Payton asked for a certain gift just a few days before Christmas and Santa could not find it. And she was really sad about that... So this year we started early and she has her top 4 requests. Baby Alive goes potty (oh joy!), bendaroos (yeah right, we gave that request to Grandma), baby Cinderella (not sure what that even is), and Barbie The Diamond Castle Liana and Alexa barbies, oh and she requested the "boy Ian Barbie" from The Diamond Castle as well. She received the boy Barbie (she says that it is Jeremy) for her birthday, but in the movie he is a twin, hence she wants another one..... Addie is really easy still, she loves just about anything. This will probably be the last year she will not request anything specific. And she will not be disappointed either... We keep trying to tell Payton that Santa can't bring her every toy that she sees on TV. We hate Nick Jr. for those commercials! Addie and Payton did receive a Barbie house from us, and they got that last weekend (we are in the UP for Christmas). Brian keeps saying to me "Tina, I just really don't want to play with these girl toys!" Well hun, you had better quit doing those fun voices you do when you play with the girls! They just eat that up!

Rudolph..

so the red nosed reindeer is a major favorite in our house. We have the DVD, thank goodness! Addie will grab my hand and start jabbering (a lot of the time she just rambles away and we have no clue what she is saying!) and then will proceed to drag me over to our entertainment center. I will say "Do you want to watch Rudolph again?" Her answer is to scream with delight as I get the DVD in. The she dances around the living room clapping and jumping until it starts. Then it is silence for about 40 minutes. LOVING Rudolph! Addie is not a big TV girl, so this is quite different for her!

Trying something new...

So Payton has really been struggling to be good in school the last 2 weeks or so. This week we had not so great reports on Monday and Tuesday. She is acting defiant with her teachers, not listening and basically being naughty! We are quite concerned about it, although her teachers assure me that this is normal and that she certainly isn't the biggest handful they have. They just wanted to be sure that we were all on the same page as to where to draw the line with Payton. The Christmas program is tomorrow night and they actually have a lot of kids out of sorts with the holidays coming. I am really hoping that she is just overwhelmed with all of our holiday festivities. Last week we were busy every night! Anyway... first thing to go is TV. She loves to watch a show when she gets home from school, which is good for us to so we can make dinner! Monday and Tuseday she was TV free. You should have heard the fuss... until she realizes that she has a ton of toys she can play with. So we brainstormed and we now have a calendar in her room and are rewarding her with a sticker when she has had a good day. This reminds me of our "potty chart" we used to have before she was potty trained! Anyway on Wednesday I had called her teacher during nap time to see how she was doing, and good job girl! She was doing "excellent". So Payton ran into her room when she got home to put a sticker on her calendar. So far so good.

On a sidenote, our children have finally been initiated into the macdonald's playland... We went last night with a couple of friends. They couldn't believe that we had never set foot in our MacDonald's before! We rarely eat fast food, and if we do it is convience and we go through the drive through... How are we going to get away with that now?! Guess we had a good run anyway!