Photo Catastrope

We've had a little photo catastrophe. Or maybe a big one... depending on which side of the family you are on. I can't load my card right now, for some reason my card reader doesn't like 8 gb cards. But in trying to load my card I realized that all of my pictures from the Obreiter Christmas were deleted. Melissa and I combined our photos onto mom's computer and then put all the photos back onto our cards. The only problem is Melissa deleted everything from my card unintentionally, so I got back all the photos from the wedding and the Hodges Christmas, but since they didn't need my pictures from the Obreiter Christmas those photos never got put onto mom's computer or back onto my card. So, to Steve's family I am very sorry that all of the photos I took at Christmas got deleted. Next year we'll need to make sure someone else is taking photos too.

We are back from our visit downstate to see family and attend (and participate in) my cousin Meghan's wedding. She was a beautiful bride and it was a wonderful time celebrating the love she and Ron have for each other. I'm sure they have many, many happy years ahead of them. She was so excited to be marrying him and the look on his face as she came down the aisle was priceless. Congrats guys!

So, besides all the wedding stuff and two family Christmas parties, we have been battling the flu. Big time. I had it before we left (December 8th, for those of you keeping track). I spent the two days before the car ride laying on the couch feeling miserable. Abby wasn't feeling too well by Wednesday night either and she ended up throwing up in the car on the way down. Of course she had to choose the most desolate location to throw up, so we ended up stopped on a random exit with only a cell phone tower drive to pull into. It was a very long ride after that, but she managed not to be sick in the car again. We got to mom and dad Hodges' house and they had also been battling the flu around there, so it wasn't a big deal that we were coming sick. And Steve and Olivia almost made it out of there without getting the bug, but they both got sick on the 19th, right before our drive home. So we had two tricky drives, but we made it down and back.

We had a lot of fun visiting and helping out. I was able to clean out a good portion of mom and dad's basement - we took two full car loads of old toys, shoes, and other random things to Goodwill just in time for Christmas. It took a lot of time, but it felt good knowing that someday soon Abby and Olivia will be having a great time playing in the space that used to be overflowing with rubbermaid tubs full of things my siblings and I had played with as kids. I've learned to use cleaning as my form of stress relief instead of eating, and for the most part it's made my life a lot better. Melissa, Mom and I also got to help decorate for the wedding reception. We put together some amazing vases with sparkling sticks, jeweled feathers, and calla lilies. Meghan had great taste and Grandma Jennie did some amazing work. I almost kind of miss working at the flower shop.

Abby and Olivia got WAY TO MANY great things for Christmas. Lots of dolls, especially barbies which Abby is way into right now, a bike for Abby and a trike for Olivia, a ball popper, cool little people sets, some nintendo games, and "real talking Woody." I knew, sort of, that Abby wanted the talking Woody doll from the Toy Story movies - I'd had to drag her out of that aisle at K-Mart a couple times as she sat and talked to the toy in the package. When Grandma Mary asked her what she wanted for Christmas all she would say is "real talking Woody." So, lucky for her Grandma Mary decided that Abby did need a real talking Woody. And she's been enjoying him every single waking minute of her day since we got him. Olivia has been enjoying having her own things that Abby doesn't swipe immediately. She got her own doll house and Abby has come to grips with the fact that its for Olivia to play with and not for her exclusive use. Now we just need to work on that for the rest of our toys, movies, and books.

And... onto the funny to you, but not really to me. In the last couple weeks Abby has decided that bathing is the worst thing in the world. I know it sounds ridiculous, but when I bathe her it sounds like I am wrestling a rabid dog. She goes totally postal. I had to get into the tub last Saturday and hold her in so that I could get her clean for the wedding. It was a punching, kicking, biting mess. We got some bath crayons and gels and that made her a little more interested in bathing today, but she also had an accident that required bathing, if you know what I mean. Olivia on the other hand loves the bath and was trying to crawl and lay down while bathing today. She has no fear of anything. I am going to be totally gray within weeks.

And, finally, I chopped my hair back to a chin length bob today after 18+ months of growing it out. I'm not sure if the stylist wanted to chop off all that hair - she kept commenting on how long and healthy it was - but I am sure I don't want to deal with wet hair or spend the time necessary to blow dry that giant mess of hair I'd grown. And I think I lost a whole pound getting it cut.

A Lesson in Baby Measurement

Olivia went to the doctor's office again yesterday since the eye drops they gave her for her irritated eyelid made her whole eye red and swollen. Turns out it is an abnormal reaction to the medication, but she is fine now and the next dose only made her a little red and swollen, so for now we are supposed to keep giving it to her. But that's not why I'm typing this...

On Tuesday Olivia measured 24 inches and 16 pounds. Yesterday she measured 26 1/2 inches and 15 pounds 12 ounces. Now the weight loss is easily explained - she had a wet diaper and a very full belly on Tuesday and a dry diaper and empty tummy on Wednesday since she had next to no appetite from having shots the day before. But I can't really explain how she grew by 2 1/2 inches overnight. So I guess the moral of the story is, the nurse taking the measurements on your baby could be worth an inch or two in the total height. So... maybe I'll write down the average size in her baby book.

Another Whirlwind Weekend

We are back from another whirlwind adventure of a weekend and came back with 4 surprises. The first three were new area rugs for the house (since we have all wood floors). The 4th was runny noses and whiny girls. I'd rather have left that surprise in Flint. But the rugs are heavenly - and were a steal at the Pottery Barn outlet (50% off the regular outlet price, plus 40% off for the weekend area rug sale - the blue was was even more reduced for "stains" which we can't find). So the playroom has a huge blue 100% wool rug and the living room got an even bigger (8x10) bronze one. They have provided a nice place for the girls to play on something softer than hardwood.
And... they made it a whole 12 hours before Abby spilled something on one of the new rugs. She and Olivia had adorable matching dresses on for church, then Abby pulled the lid of her sippy cup and got milk all over herself and the rug. Thankfully, wool rugs cause liquids to bead up on the top so it cleaned very well.

These dresses below are not Sunday's dress, but they were adorable in their blue and white stripes. And this is Olivia's first picture with Maize. She made it over 3 months without her first dog picture... I'm slipping.
Olivia is still working on belly time and still does not like it, but thankfully she hasn't "spilled" (i.e. puked) on the new rugs yet. She is getting close to rolling over, but she really doesn't put much effort into her attempts to rolling. She either lays down and goes to sleep or she cries and whines until I flip her over. But she does LOVE to play on her back and hit her toys if we hang them over her.
Abby continues to crack us up, although today was one of those days where I just wanted to put myself into a time out and stay there. She was up until 11 p.m. last night and I had to wake her up at 10 a.m. so that we could try to get back onto a normal schedule. I didn't let her nap today, so by 6:00 p.m. she was pretty crabby. She finally crashed at 7:45, so I'm hoping a good night of sleep will get her back on track after her busy weekend. But even with her and Olivia being quite grouchy today, she did give me a good laugh. She crawled up next to me and said "I am growing big like a mom. Then I will drink coffee and diet coke." I guess she has noticed my caffeine dependency. Maybe someday, when I am not sleep deprived and exhausted, I will be able to kick the habit again (after all I have gone totally caffeine free twice for extended periods).

We headed down to Flint on Friday night for a whirlwind rendezvous with Grandma and Grandpa Hodges, Aunt Hannah, Aunt Emily, and my cousin Meghan. Abby and Olivia hung out with Grandma and Grandpa while the big girls and I went to see the Backstreet Boys in concert (so not my thing... I'm not a concert person and I'm definitely not a boy band person). We barely got back into the car before a HUGE storm hit - thanks to my mom for text messaging the warning to Hannah and Emily so that we knew to leave the concert early and avoid the downpour. On the way home from Flint Saturday morning I took the girls to Birch Run to the outlet malls with the grandparents and aunts. That is where we scored the deal on the rugs and Abby and Olivia also got some goodies. They have enough clothes for at least 3 girls...
So... that was a lot of catching up to do. And, over the weekend we celebrated Father's Day with the world's best daddy. Abby also made her very first present - a custom photo mat for Grandpa Scott (and Grandpa Roy may just have one waiting for him too... just maybe). She was pretty proud of her artwork.

Flu? No Thank You!

Well... the drain cleaner has come and gone and he couldn't get to the spot where the clog is. So, Steve and our good friend Trevor are going to cut the pipe and put a clean out in for Mr. Dean, then he will be back for a second attempt. So I have water all over the basement floor since the laundry had to get done. Especially after Abby developed the flu. Lots of dirty clothes, really fast.

Abby started feeling yucky after breakfast on Friday and attempted her first meal tonight. We are hoping she's about over it since we have a 9 hour drive to make tomorrow for the first leg of our North Dakota/Minnesota adventure. Stay tuned for the exciting updates of Abby and Olivia's big road adventure!

New Year, New Underpants

Abby is starting out the new year by trying out big girl underpants for the first time. So far we've made it one hour without an accident, which is actually about 45 minutes longer than I thought we'd make it. She just plain refused to put a diaper on, so we figured it would be a good time for her to learn that going potty in underpants in not the same as going in a diaper. This way she will either potty train quickly or agree to put her diapers on without a fuss. A win either way in my book right now.

We are ringing in the new year with a little living room clean up and a lot of resting. I think I started out with a cold, but probably now have a great big fun sinus infection. Since I have to see the doctor on Wednesday next week for my regular appointment I am going to try to tough it out, but it's been a rough day. I had been just dealing with nighttime breathing trouble and congestion, but I now have all day issues along with sore teeth, a headache, and overall blah feeling. Oh the joys of pregnancy and the inability to hit up the medicine cabinet.

Abby was very good at the New Year's party we went to last night, although she did fall asleep around 11:30 and missed the ball drop (but then again, so did the rest of us since we were playing a board game). Abby has been getting braver and braver around people and actually played a little with her babysitter Kitty at the party. She also demolished almost an entire red pepper and probably a pound of veggie dip. She sure loves her condiments. And, to make my day a little better, she slept in until 10 a.m. this morning after her late night escapades.

Ninja Baby

Baby O. is apparently a ninja. It took over an hour for me to get to sleep last night. I'm glad this baby is moving and healthy, but I would love to fall asleep without being a punching bag.

Abby played all weekend with her friend Maddie, who is now sick and throwing up. Icky... I can hardly wait until it hits our home. We've had a really busy weekend and will have a crazy busy week, so I don't really have time to be giving you much of an update. But either way, I thought you all should know how crazy the new baby seems to be.

Happy Monday.

Sick Baby

Abby has a little bit of a fever and is feeling weird today. I'm not sure what she got into, but I'm sure our super busy day yesterday didn't help. First we had to go help make pasties for a church fundraiser, then we had to go do Angel Food with Steve at the tribe, took a quick nap, back to church for pasty making and then Abby and I came home at 7 pm. She crashed after that and didn't wake up and stay awake until 9 am this morning. She was up for a little bit around 11 pm and again at 6 am, but both times she just wanted a drink, a hug, and some tylenol. I love that she is an easy baby to deal with, even when she is sick.

We were going to go down and have a great time playing with the Randalls, our friends from dental school, but since Abby is sick we decided that we'd better lay low today. We will have to make our trip to Wal-Mart for milk, but other than that we are going to do a lot of nothing. We need a day to rebound after all that busyness yesterday!

Cooking Lessons

Abby took some lessons on cooking today. She learned how to layer a perfect lasagna. She's finally on the getting better end of the cold, but she is still really clingy, so she's been doing everything I've had to do. So this morning she had to have her hair blow dried. And this afternoon, besides her nap, she's been glued right to me. And last night she made it 2 and a half whole hours in her own bed before she freaked out and needed her mom. I am going to need a vacation from sick toddlers.

We found a great deal at our Goodwill today - a Little Tikes play table for Abby. It cost her a whopping $1.50. It even has fancy pink legs. After we cleaned it Abby enjoyed her lunch from a seat at her big kid table. She is so funny about big kid things. Tonight her friend A.J. will be over to play, so they can both enjoy dinner at the big kid table.

Sick, Sick, Sick

Licking the sparkling apple juice out of my toasting glass at the wedding we attended over the weekend.
This is the "cheese" face. Hopefully we outgrow this one into one where she keeps her eyes open soon!

Poor Abby had a very long night last night. She is definitely in the middle of a bad, bad cold and was really feeling pretty bad last night. She and I ended up sleeping on the couch together so that I could keep her propped up pretty far. And she was not fun to sleep with - lots of tossing, turning, coughing, snoring, etc. I hope she is on the way to all better soon!

Abby picked out her first necklace and bracelet at Wal-Mart today. It is a rainbow heart set and boy did she think she was hot stuff wearing it around the store while I did my shopping. She certainly loves to be the boss of her own style. Today we had to switch her shirts 2 times because she changed her mind after picking out her own clothes. She finally decided upon a cute orange one, which looks great with her new jewels.

Summertime Sniffles

Thanks to Auntie Em, Abby has a case of the summertime sniffles. It isn't too bad when she's up and moving, but she is having a hard, hard time sleeping. It's pretty difficult to suck your thumb when you have to breathe through your mouth. She had to sleep with momma for part of the night so that I could prop her up enough to help her sleep. Not sleeping well creates a little grouchiness during the day for both of us.
Yesterday was a lovely day to play outside and we enjoyed it as much as possible. Abby is getting to be very, very tan. Even with spf 50 sunscreen she is already looking a lot like a native. I think she is up to about 40 words now. Today she learned piggy and horse.

Update Part 2

Abby is apparently on the downswing of a 4 to 6 day flu bout that is destroying this town. The doctor wanted to check her out, just to make sure she wasn't dehydrated, since he's already sent quite a few to the hospital from this bug. Luckily we checked out just fine.

Now we are airing out the house since it is so nice out. Maybe we should head out for a walk past our new house to check on the landscaping. It's a whopping 4.5 blocks away :-)

Going to the Doctor's Office

The nurse decided we had better come in to see the doctor after 4 days without eating. Our appointment is at 11:20 a.m. Hopefully we can get back on track soon.

Illness Update

Abby just threw up all over my leg and herself. We are not making steps in the right direction for making it down to Courtnie's shower.

Enough With The Sickness Already

We are still battling some bad diaper situations and we are not to happy about that. I'm not sure now if the problem is the flu, or the lack of solid food in Abby's diet the last few days. Either way Abby is on her third outfit for the day (the first was destroyed by the Mac and Cheese she had for breakfast). I'm hoping we are almost at the tail end of this! Either way she has had a wonderful nap today and has been in a pretty good mood all things considered. We are almost at the 3 hour mark for her nap, which is a first for this week.

We are busy trying to get things set up for a home inspection, getting the mortgage finalized, and trying to prioritize the renovations and changes we want to make at our new house. There is so much that could be done, but doesn't really need to be done at the same time. One thing that is certainly at the top of the list is a fresh coat of paint and picking the colors is proving to be quite a challenge. We are also planning to rip out all of the carpet that is currently in the house and hoping that the hardwood underneath isn't terribly damaged or stained. And then there is the fancy pink bathroom, which has a leaky sink. We may just get new fixtures and leave the major renovations of that room for later. Eventually we'd like to put a walk-in shower in so that we can have 2 full baths. And a fence around the yard, and someday a 2 car garage instead of the one and a half car garage that is there now. Like I said, a lot that could be done, but nothing that absolutely needs to be done before we move in. Either way, we are going to enjoy having our own space and will really enjoy the nice big deck in the back yard.

Sold

Abby finally talked us into buying her a house and we signed the contract today. She was most impressed with this nice big playroom and the big bedroom upstairs, although I think we will be changing her room from blue to a more feminine color before we move her in. Now all we have left to do is have the inspections, the appraisal and closing. Hopefully we will be in our new, permanent home sometime in June.































We are still battling the flu, but luckily the throwing up has ended for now, so we just have the other end to deal with. Still yucky! And poor Abby is still not feeling quite like herself yet. Hopefully she will be back to normal soon - I miss all the fun we have when she isn't clinging and whining.

Biohazzard!

We are in the midst of a terrible round of the stomach flu. Abigail went from playing and happy to blowing chunks of nastiness out both ends. I'll spare you any more detail, just think of the worst thing you've ever seen or smelled and double it. It was a pretty nasty night last night. And it hasn't really let up much today either. We are on to outfit number four for today so far. Yuck. And boy does this house stink!

If Miss Abigail gets to feeling better she and I are going to try and make it down to Hastings to attend Courtnie's two showers over the weekend. We wouldn't be leaving until Saturday and then would be making a quick trip back here, since Abby just can't bear being away from Daddy that long. We will have to see - I will definitely not be driving down if we have continued diaper explosions! Changing clothes is one thing, changing car seats mid-trip isn't really an option.

And so, I will now be back to the washing, scrubbing, and disinfecting. We are wishing and hoping health for all your family!

Happy Easter!

The Easter bunny stopped here this morning and let Abby have her Easter basket early, especially since she was not feeling very good at all and we needed a new book to read. So now we have a new Easter book and a touch and feel bunny book. When Abby isn't feeling well she really wants to be held and have books read to her. She loves reading books - especially the same one over and over and over. I know at least 3 of the books by heart. Hopefully Abby's teeth come in soon because we need a break from the fussing, runny nose, and general whimperish behavior.

We are all packed up and ready to go - and Abby is shoving a new book into my face, so I'd better get back to reading (or just quoting) her favorite book.

It Was So Cold...

Now here's the part where you all say "How cold was it" and we show you this picture of our exploded pop can. We had been enjoying the ability to leave pop out on our porch for a free way to keep it ice cold without cluttering up our refrigerator. Obviously we had to come up with plan b after our sub-zero temperatures created a 4 can explosion. Thankfully tomorrow night is supposed to be our last night of single digit temperatures for a few days. Hopefully we will be thawed soon.

We could also use the exploded can as a metaphor for my head, but it is much better. I managed to make it through the day without any cold medicine, and the only issue I've dealt with is lack of hearing. But, with a noisy dog and noisy Abby in the house my muffled hearing is almost a blessing in disguise.

Abby has been entering a new stage - deliberate disobedience. We are not too excited about her finally reaching an age where she purposely does things we've told her not to do. Our biggest problem is her constantly turning the t.v. on and off. I will admit, we found it funny and didn't address it right away, so we are partly to blame for the problem. So today, we tried doing a time out for not listening when I told her not to touch the t.v. power button. Let's just say that time outs were not working for us today, mostly because I couldn't stop laughing. Abby apparently loved being in time out and started doing her little Abby dance, cracking up, and in general enjoying her time in the "naughty chair". We are going to have to reconsider time out - it isn't going to be very effective if it's too fun.

Still Sick

Abby has bounced back wonderfully, but I seem to have a sinus infection and have been really out of sorts. The enormous amount of pressure has affected my hearing, vision, and breathing, so needless to say I've spent most of my last two days medicated and resting. Thankfully I have a wonderful husband to help me around the house. He's been so helpful that Abby wants to be with her daddy and won't even stay and play with me today.

Steve and I (and Abby too) participated in our first Angel Food distribution yesterday. Things went really well, people showed up to help, the orders were right, and the food quality was good. And we survived it with my sinus infection and Abby missing her morning nap. She just found all the grandmotherly aged women in the room and stole all their kisses. She is just a ham like that - as long as her mom is in sight.

So, I am going to get another cup of tea, some more advil sinus & cold, and try to get rid of this mess before our house falls apart and we run out of clean clothes. Abby has 5 teeth now and 1 more almost in, so between the two of us we haven't felt much like doing housework (or had the time to do it).

Quarantined

This is pictorial evidence that Abby is not all sugar and spice. Sometimes even the sweetest of us don't want to share toys with our cousins.

Abby and I are continuing our downward spiral into the common cold. We are not getting much better, in fact I am getting worse. Complicating the problem is the fact that as a nursing mother I can't take most over the counter cold medications, at least according to the labels and our doctor. Bummer... So, Abby and I are quarantined for the day. Steve is going to have to head to bible study by himself, since we were cooking the main dish and all. And with the minimal sense of smell I have left I can tell that the ham I am cooking is going to be amazing. Abby and I will have to entertain ourselves with Finding Nemo or some other Disney flick while Dad is away tonight.

We got another dumping last night. I'm not sure how much fell, since there is just a big heap of snow in the yard. It looked like about 3 inches on top of the car this morning, but that may or may not be an accurate estimate. We are starting to look forward to spring, but I have to admit that I do love watching the snow fall.