The cousins meet...

Today we had a cousin play date at our house. There are now three grandkids in our family and ever since Amelia has been home, each one has taken their turn being sick. So, in order to not cross contaminate the kiddie germs, we kept them apart. Today, though, since everyone is finally healthy, we got them together for lunch and a walk around the neighborhood. They're very close in age (27 months, 9 months, and 4 months) so it's going to be great fun to watch them start to spend more time together.


And this, is just a picture of a happy Amelia after her bath tonight. For the past week, she has screamed hysterically the entire time she was forced against her will to sit in the tub. Tonight though, she smiled, laughed and seemed to actually enjoy herself. We're not counting on this, but maybe, just maybe, she'll sleep a little bit better tonight since she wasn't so traumatized by the tub?!?!?! We can hope, right?

Happy Friday!

Despite the constant feeling like we're walking around in a haze as a result of some serious sleep deprivation, we managed to have a great day. Both kids are healthy, Graham's tantrum's were few and far between today, and the weather was PERFECT...life is good!

Amelia and I ventured out on our first mother/daughter outing to the mall this morning. She's in need of some new shoes so we began the hunt. Despite not finding what I wanted anywhere in the mall (yes, I'm picky!) Amelia proved herself to be a delightful shopping partner. She happily sat in her stroller, babbled to me about the cute clothes she saw, and was a great helper when I needed her to hold things.

We decided that a picnic dinner at local lake with a great playground would be a fun way to spend the evening since the weather was just too perfect! Graham and Amelia both loved the playground. Graham enjoyed having some freedom to climb over, under, and through things, and Amelia was introduced to the joys of a swing. She loved it! Actually, both kids really love to be in a swing...I'll have to remember this when I'm going crazy and need to contain them both! :) We took a long walk around the lake after the kids were tired out and they handled being next to each other in the stroller very well. Amelia likes to have constant physical contact with Graham though and she continued to fling her legs into his lap. Graham decided the best way to deal with this unwanted leg in his space was to lean over and bite her toe...oops! No worries, I was more upset about it than Amelia was!

Amelia's first time in a swing!

Graham loves the swing too!

Who needs sleep???

Last night, for both kids combined, we were awakened on 10 separate occasions! I wonder if sleep deprivation has caused anyone to officially lose their mind?!?!

We've finally turned a corner...

Amelia woke up a different kid today!!! Honestly, the change in her is so drastic it's almost as if a miracle occurred! Yesterday morning we took her to the doctor for her 9 month check-up. Thankfully, this was already scheduled, as it was timed perfectly with our feelings of complete helplessness as we tried to nurse our girl back to health. Like we were told at the hospital this weekend, she just has a nasty virus that needs to continue working through her system. The doctor did suggest that while her stomach is so upset, dairy is difficult to digest. So,we put her on a soy based formula temporarily until things are back to normal for her and it seems to have done the trick! Other than her current virus though, the doctor was very impressed with Amelia and how advanced she appears to be-crawling, cruising along furniture (the robot walk according to Graham), feeding herself, and attempting to stand up in the middle of the room is pretty good for a 9 month old!

Since the pictures have been so sparse lately, here are a bunch. Enjoy!

This might just be my favorite picture of Amelia so far!

We took advantage of the picture perfect spring weather today and watched Graham play with bubbles on the deck.

Annie is thrilled with her new friend!

Graham refuses to stop climbing into this bouncing baby seat. He gets himself stuck every. single. time. This morning I told him I was too busy to get him out and that he would have to wait until I had my hands free. I'm hoping he was bored enough to not climb back in there. I'd say he looks pretty bored, don't you? :)

They love to hang around the piano. I'm not sure how much longer Amelia will fit underneath though.

This morning Graham went through his drawers and started dressing himself. No worries, I didn't let him leave the house in this ensemble!

Still sick...

Unfortunately, Miss Amelia is still sick and she's still unable to keep anything in her little stomach. We have an appointment tomorrow morning with the pediatrician and as doubtful as it is, I'm just praying they have some magic remedy for her. She's miserable, we're exhausted, and we just want our happy girl back. For the first few days after we arrived home, we saw the sweet, playful side of Amelia, and right now, we have an understandably irritable girl who refuses to be set down for even a minute. Please keep her in your thoughts...

Another eventful day...

Today was a first for us...a trip to Children's Hospital. Miss Amelia had a very rough time last night showing us that even one ounce of formula was too much for her body to handle. So, we did what any concerned parent would do; we called the after hours nurse line for our pediatrician hoping for some advice. Not once, but twice, we left messages with the answering service there and not a single nurse called us back :(. I called the clinic as soon as they opened this morning, descried the horrible night we just had, and they advised us to take Amelia to the hospital. Once there, after some blood work (not fun for anyone) it was determined that she was dehydrated and low on sugar and an IV would be necessary. Amelia was really not feeling well by this point and generally just ticked off with all the poking and prodding so the IV was pretty traumatic for both Mommy and Amelia. She's got a pretty rotten case of the flu, so hopefully the extra fluids she received today will give her the extra strength she needs to fight this thing off. We're all in desperate need of some sleep, so hopefully, tonight goes better for all. Most of all though, we just hope that Miss Amelia turns the corner and is soon back to her happy self.

An eventful night...

I'm glad that last night is behind us. Graham was hysterical at bedtime-screaming to be let out and allowed to sleep with Mama and eventually trying to throw himself out of the crib. Once he finally fell asleep, he woke up at least every hour screaming for his Mama. It was a full out tantrum on a scale that I hope to never see again. Amelia went to sleep nicely, but woke up in the middle of the night throwing up then repeated herself several times. And because that isn't quite enough, the big boy in the house has come down with a cold (the really bad 'man cold' version). Triple the fun in the Olson house!