"Ganpa's Birthday"

Thurs. night before my dad left we celebrated his Jan. 1 birthday. We ordered out Chinese food, had some cheesecake and put back up the birthday decorations. Caroline had tons of fun singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out "Ganpa's" candle-twice!

Christmas Day

Spreading "Reindeer Food" in the backyard with Daddy
Setting out cookies and chocolate milk for Santa and carrots fro Rudolph
Tree on Christmas morning
Opening Presents
Eleanor, Santa's Little Helper

In spite of all the sickness going on in this family the week before and the week of Christmas, Caroline still had a wonderful Christmas day. It was so much fun to see her getting ready for Santa Claus (baked cookies for Santa with Mommy, spreading "reindeer food" that she made at preschool in the backyard for Rudolph, setting out the cookies with milk and carrots -for Rudolph by the fireplace). SHe was so excited on CHristmas Even when she went to bed. Christmas morning Caroline woke up and found all the presents under the tree. She was very excited to find a scooter on the tree and yes, she did also receive her fishing pole and a "phone to call her shapes", along with many other things, too. Eleanor slept through present opening, but I'm sure Caroline will catch her up to speed in order to prepare her for next Christmas! "Ganma" and "Ganpa" and Aunt Willys and Uncle Stan came over in the morning to open presents. Christmas night we had dinner out with everyone and we sat my contagious girls on the very opposite end of a very long table from my brother, sister-in-law and baby niece who would soon be leaving to go to France and on to Angola and did not need to be sick, too. All in all, even though the girls were sick, it went much better than expected. It was so much fun to watch Caroline really "get" Christmas for the first time.

Week and a Half from HE**!

Poor Eleanor on the nebulizer machine

Seriously, the last week and a half has been the week from He** for this family! It all started last Tues. (the day of Caroline's Christmas Show) when Caroline and Eleanor woke up miserable. I brought them to the pediatrician and Caroline had a single ear infection and Eleanor had a double ear infection. Two days later, on Thurs., Eleanor seemed worse and Caroline was coughing up a lung. I brought them back to the ped. and it turns out Eleanor had RSV and Caroline most likely had it too since it shows up as cold symptoms in older children and adults. Those of you that do not know what RSV is, it can be very scary and dangerous for babies since the virus cause difficulty breathing and affects the lungs. I was sent home from the ped. with a nebulizer machine to use on Ella 2-3 times a day to help her breathe better. By 4:00pm that afternoon she was getting worse and the ped. office told me to take her to the ER. So with Caroline in tow, we went to the ER and waited for Brett to join us. In the ER I had to hold down my poor little baby while they put a  catheter down her nostrils and the back of her throat to suck out what was preventing her from breathing properly. By Thurs. at about 6:00, she had only ate about 4 oz. and slept for all but 45 minutes of the entire day. After they used the catheter on her, though, she immediately drank a 4 oz. bottle since she was able to breathe again. By 7:00pm we were back on our way home when my right eye started feeling funny. When we got home, I went to take out my contacts only to discover that I had the beginnings of pink eye. Lovely. 

Friday morning we had to bring Ella back to the ped. office to get her checked and where I also asked her Dr. if their was anything she could give me for my eye, which thank goodness, she took care of for me. When we talked to the pediatrician we were also told that Eleanor (and to assume Caroline, too) was very contagious and to keep them both completely away from other children. There went any possiblity of my brother being able to come to our house with my 10 month old niece for Christmas, even though they were here visiting all the way from Angola, Africa. My parents were coming in for Indiana and my aunt and uncle were driving in from Abilene, TX. So now we had to figure out all the logistics of Christmas, now that my two girls were so contagious!

Eleanor seemed to be doing better on Friday, but by Sat. afternoon, after talking to the nurse on call when Eleanor was having trouble breathing again, we were sent back to the ER to have her sucked back out with the catheter.  

Monday we had to go back to the ped. office again to have her checked up on and we were told that she seemed to be improving, although we needed to continue the nebulizer treatments. Tues. afternoon I start coming down with a cold. great, just what I needed right now! Eleanor seemed to be improving though and Caroline didn't seem to be coughing as much. 

Friday afternoon Eleanor is back to not eating as much and acting very fussy. By Friday night she is only eating 2 oz and is inconsolable. Back to the ped. office in the morning (Sat.) only to find out that she has another ear infection, but thank goodness, the RSV has cleared up. I sincerely hope that after all that has happened in the last week and a half that we have cleared our house of germs and we will be healthy for the new year!!!

Christmas Show

Caroline had a Christmas Show at her preschool on Tues. night. Her class sang "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", "Jingle Bells", "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and "We Wish you a Merry Chirstmas". Caroline was so cute in her reindeer ears and red nose and she did a great job, especially considering that she was diagnosed with an ear infection that morning! Caroline also enjoyed making funny faces at the audience with her preschool friends, while they had to sit listen to the three and four year olds perform. That's our Caroline...

Christmas House

All decorated for Christmas. I'd show you the inside decorations, but because we had our kitchen and living room painted this week, it's not quite all together!

Little Miss Brett?

You decide for yourself...Do you think Ella and Brett look alike? IT's kind of hard to tell since the quality of Brett's picture isn't that great.

Sister Bonding Time

Caroline wanted to cuddle with Eleanor on our bed

Christmas Pictures

Here are a few of our Christmas family pictures and some newborn pictures of Eleanor that we had taken about a week and a half ago.

Daddy's Birthday

It was Brett's birthday on Tuesday. Caroline had a great time getting the cupcakes ready and helping Brett blow out the candles and open the presents. I think she had more fun with it that Brett!

Santa at the Mall

The Santa at out mall was such a grouch! He didn't even smile at Caroline or ask her what she wanted for Christmas. I had to ask her while she was on Santa's lap for her to tell him what she wanted. What a disappointment. I think we're going to see another Santa this week.

Babysitting

Caroline was so excited when she found out we were going to be babysitting our friend's daughter on Fri. night. She kept cuddling up to eight month old, Allie, and saying, "I love this baby!". Caroline was my little helper.

Eleanor Learning to Smile

Eleanor has been smiling and cooing a lot more latey. I have some video of her cooing that I'm going to try to post.

Eleanor Eight Weeks

Eleanor is already eight weeks old! I took her in for her 2 month check-up and she is doing great. She now weighs 11 lbs, 11 oz and measures 22 1/2" long. Her weight is in the 75-90%, her height is in the 50%, and her head circumference is in the 90-95%. Brett and I have been joking around that she has a big head and now it's been confirmed! That's ok, it just means she'll be really smart! : )
She is starting to sleep longer at night now, sometimes sleeping for up to 5-6 hour stretches! She is still drinking about 5 oz. each feeding at about 3-5 hours apart during the day. Eleanor (a.k.a. Ella /LB/Little B-for Little Brett since she looks just like him!) is still working on the smiling and lifting her head while lying on her tummy. When she gets it down pat, we'll be sure to post a picture.

Dress Up Time

Caroline and her friend, Lexi, were playing together and decided to dress up as "beautiful princesses"!

Caroline's Tree

Of course the lights weren't working on the bottom half of the tree, but Caroline didn't seem to notice!
She doesn't really understand yet that the ornaments need to be spread out, instead of many ornaments on the same branch!

Caroline has really been enjoying getting ready for Christmas. Last weekend she decorated a little tree we have in our foyer "all by herself"! Today Brett bought some more Christmas decorations and she wants to help him put them up when she wakes up from her nap. I'll post some pictures when they are done.

Christmas Parade

We took Caroline ands Eleanor to the Horse and Carriage Christmas Parade in our town last night. Caroline had a blast watching all the decorated horses and carriages ride around the square. Her friend, Amelia and her mommy, Michelle, joined us, too.

"What's you doing?"

Caroline (seriously) must ask me at least 50 times a day, "What's you doing, Mommy?" I"m glad she is curious and interested in what's going on, but I have to tell you, after about the fourth time she asks me within a 5 minute time spam, it gets a bit frustrating! I think, actually, that she doesn't even realize now how much she is saying it now it has become such a habit. I even will ask her back sometimes, "What's Mommy doing?" and she'll tell me exactly what I'm doing ("folding laundry", "driving the car", "Feeding Baby Eleanor", etc...) I talked to her today about some other ideas/questions she might want to ask Mommy, like, "How are you doing today?" or "What did you do today, Mommy". By five o'clock today after the 42nd time (give or take!) I told her to ask me some other questions instead, so from five until bedtime, she kept asking, "How are you doing today, Mommy?". I guess my idea backfired! Any suggestions, anyone? : ) The funniest part is though, that earlier today, I tried to playfully turn it back around on her and kept asking her "What's you doing, Caroline" every couple of minutes and she got really frustrated and said, "No you talk to me, RIGHT NOW!".

Creative Imagination

It seems that Caroline's imagination is starting to run wild. This week at nap and bed time she has requested such books as "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak, "Where are the Monsters?" (a cute little open the flap book with pink fuzzy monsters) and "Birthday Monsters" by Sandra Boynton (again, cute little fuzzy monsters are involved). Now, for the last two days when she is downstairs in the living room, she'll run down the hallway and come back to me and say, "Mommy, there is a monster in that hole!". WHen I ask her "Where?" she points towards the front door. Yesterday Brett even went on a "Monster Hunt" with her and even looked under the door mat, but no monsters were found in "the hole". When Brett said there are no monsters under the mat, she ran to the window and said, "THere outside then!" So Brett and Caroline opened the front door and yelled, "Boo!" and scared the monsters away.
Yesterday morning when she first woke up, we heard her on the moniter say, "No you monsters! You go away right now!" SHe wasn't scared though, just saying very confidently and matter-of-factly.

Christmas Confusion

Caroline has decided that she wants a fishing pole, "a phone to call her shapes" and "Diego Go candy" for Christmas. We have no idea how she came up with the fishing pole or the "phone to call her shapes" but she saw some Go Diego Go! themed candy in Toys R' Us and wanted it and I told her she had to ask Santa. We were at the mall today and it was all I could do to try to explain to Caroline that she does not need to ask Santa for something everytime she sees him somewhere and that when you ask Santa for something you do not immediately recieve it from him. It is a very hard concept for a 2 1/2 year old to grasp that you ask Santa for what you want and then you have to wait for a long time to actually get it from him! Brett keeps reminding her that Daddy gets presents first on his birthday and then Santa will bring Caroline presents (even though she will not actually see Santa bring her the gifts!).

Fashion Statement

I think I'm really in trouble now...Caroline has started having an opinion about what to wear each day. Now in the mornings, I need to try to explain to her why she can't wear just "bloomers" for her bottoms with a fleece sweatshirt top! She has really taken to a pink baseball hat that she has and says she "looks just like Daddy" when she wears a hat.

Big Girl Room Completed!

Caroline's room is finally done! It looks so sweet. Grandma (or "Ganma" as Caroline calls her) made Caroline's quilt, pillow sham, curtains, and night stand covers. Thanks, "Ganma", it looks incredible! Now we get to work on Eleanor's...

Big Sister Things

"Give her space, Caroline!"
Giving her little sister some encouragement during "tummy time".
Big hugs Getting ready to kiss Daddy's head before going upstairs to bed.

Caroline is still very much loving her little sister. She says and does the funniest things when it comes to Eleanor.

-When Mommy or Daddy starts talking to Eleanor, Caroline immediately interrupts us and says, "Talk to her!".

-Her preschool teacher told me that they hear all about Eleanor at school b/c Caroline is constantly talking to the classroom's babydolls as if she were me and the doll is Eleanor. "Good, job on your bottle Eleanor. Now I have to burp you. Do you have a poopy diaper?"

-Caroline is now referring to Eleanor as "Baby Eleanor Grace" at all times.

-When Caroline goes to bed at night, she gives Eleanor 2 kisses on top of her head. THen she comes over to Brett and I and grabs our face in both hands, pull it down and kisses the tips of our heads two times, too!

-We must hear at least 20 times a day "I don't want my baby to cry!", even if Eleanor is not crying!

-She loves to talk and sing to Eleanor, but gets so close to her that we are STILL reminding her multiple times a day to "GIVE HER SPACE!"

It is so much fun, though, to watch Caroline with Eleanor and see how excited she is to have a little sister.