Spring Celebration!

Saturday the 26th of March we mosied over to the Highland Park library/Rec Center and celebrated the coming of Spring! Because as much as the weather isn't showing us, spring really is coming! It was so much fun! There were carnival games, face painting (which scared Linnea so she didn't get any pretty pics on her face), crafts, a big Easter Egg hunt and the Easter bunny. My parents, Brian, Megan and their boys and our cousin Tonja and her niece Kyndra were all able to come share the fun!

Saturday night we went on a double date with Megan and Brian. We played some Kinect and went to see The Fighter at the Riverview. Linnea had a sleepover at grandma and grandpa's. Some of her evening was spent with Kyndra playing, eating strawberries in a rocking chair together, watching Toy Story yet again and just having fun!

Lookout Ridge

Tuesday was Linnea and I's fun day of my spring break! We met up with my friend Lisa and her twin girls and a friend of theirs at Lookout Ridge indoor playground in Woodbury. She had a fantastic time getting out of the house and playing! She must have climbed to the top of this slide and went down like 20 times. She even let me have some turns :)

Linnea through the netting!

climb climb climb! It was so nice to see her playing again!

I was hoping to have her home from daycare 2 or maybe 3 days a week and do something fun just like the old times when I was a stay at home mom...but since she missed 5 days and was away a total of 7 days including the weekend we thought it would be good to get her back into the routine.

Finally we have a healthy girl! This was after her first day back to daycare in 7 days. She was pretty worn out so we watched some more Toy Story and kept her hydrated.

Why is she in the Bumbo seat you ask?? Well I guess it must be comfy. It is out because I have been bringing lots of Linnea's clothes and other baby things up from the basement to let Brian and Megan use for their little girl who will make arrival sometime in May! We cannot wait!

Cupboard Fun!

Hmmmm has anyone seen Linnea? She was sick for quite a while but began feeling better Monday midday when she realized she could crawl into this cupboard and play a game with me!

Hi mommy!

Peek-A-Boo!

Here I am!

My spring break was this week and I got to spend Monday nursing Linnea back to health. She was almost fully back but then had some diarrhea Monday night so we didnt want to/couldnt send her to daycare and spread it around.

Ear Infection!

Soooo....we decided to take Linnea to yet another urgent care Saturday afternoon. After sleeping in until 10am and waking up with a fever yet again we thought there is either something else going on or we need different antibiotic. After 3 days of being on an antibiotic we didn't think she should still be so miserable. And we were right. We are so glad we went in, this lil girl had a terrible ear infection! The pediatrician said there was so much puss and swollenness, had we waited it may have ruptured. It still may start leaking out :(

She was surprised Linnea still got this infection even being on an antibiotic. Anyways...important thing is as of last night at 7:00 and after just one dose of this new stronger antibiotic she is bopping her head and singing to Elmo and not being so lethargic. Still an icky cough and runny nose but I truly think she is now for sure on the way to recovery.

We made it through Sunday with again the help of Woody and the gang and Elmo and friends. She had a rough start to night...slept about 3 hours and woke up in severe pain joined by our friend the fever so in with us she came and we gave her more antbx. We had a slumber party until she woke up at 5:45am with another fever of 104.5 so we quickly gave her some Motrin and thankfully she got back to sleep and we all slept til 10am! She woke up super sweaty so we know the fever broke.

Like I said, she made it through the day with the help of the tv, meds, cuddling, a nap and lots of fluids...not much food but at least she is drinking. She still has fevers on and off and painful coughing fits so she will be home with me again tomorrow. She did perk up right before bed and tried to some playing and running back and forth but wore our very quickly.

Get well peanut!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hope everyone had fun with the color green in one way or another on Saint Patrick's Day!

Linnea still had a fever on and off yesterday and a terrible cough so she was home from daycare and our annual St. Patty's Day party with Irish stew, Irish soda bread, green beer and green desserts was cancelled. We also missed the parade in Downtown which was sort of becoming a tradition for Linnea and I, but that's okay there will always be parades and we are hoping the more easy we take it, the faster Linnea will get well. Chris worked yesterday morning and then I worked in the afternoon so Linnea had one of us throughout the day and then my parents came over for dinner.

We had homemade by me minestrone soup, Irish beer and a creme de menthe cake from my parents for our St. Paddy's Day fun.

A leprechaun did come and visit and hid some gold coins (chocolate) which L got a kick out of as you can see below. A big grin which was nice to see after her days of being sick.

At work one of my co workers made boiled dinner for our class which was delicious! Everyone was wearing green and on my drive in I saw a sea of green and fun costumes as everyone was walking to the parade.

Pneumonia

Well after hearing squirt say she has water in her ear for about a week now, we decided we would bring her in to the doctor on Tuesday night. A part of us also thought that maybe this "water" in her ear was a reason behind the crying at the daycare dropoff. We thought if she was feeling sick of course she was crying, she would rather be with mommy or daddy. Anyways...since we thought it would be a quick trip we went to CVS minute clinic. There were 4 people in front of us. We shopped around a bit but after a half hour we left and went to a Target Clinic. Between CVS and Target Linnea started to seem actually sick. When we left the house she didn't have a fever and we weren't aware of a fever at daycare but all of a sudden we realized this was more than a possible ear infection appt. And when we got into the Target Clinic and the nurse took Linnea's temp we were immediately sent to Urgent Care. Poor peanut had a 104.6 fever! Eek!

So we rushed to our fav pediatric place which was just minutes away but apparently the hours have switched, they were closed! But a nurse let us in and showed us a different urgent care place which was thankfully also just minutes away.

We still had to wait there about 30 minutes to get in but when we got in the nurse took her temp and gave her motrin right away. Linnea's lungs and breathing sounded fine and the strep test turned out negative. But with a fever that high, the tests had to continue. So they did a nose swap for a strain of influenza not covered by the flu shot, took blood, took X-Rays. All were a traumatic experience with lots of screaming and no immediate answers. So on with the worst...the catheter. No two year old should have to have this done and I'm pretty sure Linnea has had it done 3 times now. To top it off, she was dry. They couldn't even get any urine to do a urine sample/test! She wasn't dehydrated though, she had plenty of tears. It was just that she had peed plenty in her diaper about 20-30 minutes previously. So they left a bag in her diaper which by the end of the appt she did pee in, but we had already looked at the X-Rays which showed she had a case of silent pneumonia. Silent meaning they couldn't hear anything with the stethoscope. We are glad they found something and we have some meds but what a stressful night. The whole ordeal took about 5 hours! We blame ourselves for the first 2, we should have never attempted the minute clinics.

Linnea is doing better but has a very nasty cough and is very sleepy. Wednesday was spent all day with mommy mostly just watching cartoons and movies and reading books. Thursday Mommy and Daddy split the shifts so we each work a half day and not lose all of our vacation/sick time. Mommy stayed with her in the morning and Daddy came home from work early and was with her in the afternoon. She was a little more interested in playing but not completely back to herself. We know it takes time but it is so hard to see her like this. Hopefully by Monday at the latest she will be back to herself. I'm hoping for tear free dropoffs again! It truly is one of the worst ways to start the day. I'm sure she is going through separation anxiety again but I also think she wasn't feeling well for a while. But she had no fever, no cough, no cold and she is only 2 so she can't fully tell us how she is doing.

Next week is my spring break (it actually starts tomorrow) so if for some reason she doesnt improve I will be around to gladly take care of our kiddo.

A Plethra of Events!

I'm sure Linnea will love us for this when she is older. But we captured the second time she went potty on her big girl potty on camera. The first time was months ago...before she was even two. Total fluke. This time was sort of more attempted. She has been sitting down at daycare with every diaper change so we thought we better try it at home too. She knows when there is something in her diaper so we know she is getting close to being ready to take the plunge into potty training. We now have a potty chair in the living room and the bathroom upstairs. We should have worked harder at it this past weekend because she was into it and we didn't have much plans and now she is sick so the training will have to wait a little longer. The daycare provider who is with her more than we are thinks that is just fine. She may not be quite ready yet and you don't want to start too soon or it will take longer than it needs to. Anyways...she did have success once last weekend and there was lots of clapping and some m & m's! wahoo! Grandma and Grandpa just happened to be on the phone at the same time so they heard the excitement too. She then insisted on wearing underwear. I had one pair so we put them on and she ate dinner in them and then when we played we all of a sudden saw a funny face on Linnea and then heard uh-oh and she had wet pants. Then she had tears. Oh well. We will get there and it's bound to happen with many wet pants, undies and floors. But also lots of M & M's and/or stickers. We will see what works for us! Here's our lil pee-er!

Why not play pantsless for a lil while? Boxes are the best.

Help Daddy, please!

Chris and Linnea went shopping Saturday morning and bought the new potty chair, a big ball and a cool kitty keyboard.

And I found this fun alphabet online a few weeks ago and finally got around to putting up! so now Linnea has an ABC wall. I need to get different sticky stuff to put it on with tho...we have many letters on the floor.

We also found time Sunday to take Linnea to the Rosedale Mall where they have a train that people can ride around the main floor on. We have been meaning to do this for a while so we are glad we finally had a weekend of no plans to have another family date. There is also a nice indoor play area that Linnea enjoyed before the ride.

Linnea and I got together Sunday afternoon with our new parent connection group again. I can't believe all the munchkins are two and many either have a lil sibling or one on the way!

Tears, Mardi Gras and Butterscotch shakes.

On Tuesday we celebrated Mardi Gras at my parents house. Ever since I lived in New Orleans I have developed a love for this holiday. There were no parades or trips to over crowded bars and crazy Bourbon Street but the time spent at my parents house with delicious homemade food, Harry Connick, Jr. on the radio and friends and family was very fun too. Below is a picture of one of 2 King Cakes my mom made. She also made gumbo and jambalaya. I made red beans and rice and other guests brought food such as yummy homemade bread pudding, beignets, Hurricanes, home brewed beer and chicken wings!

Mom and dad decorated their dining room with authentic Mardi Gras Beads from when I lived there and went to the parades.

Daddy made a fort for Linnea one night this week and coming home to her giggling and squealing with delight while playing was just what I needed. She has unfortunately decided to cry again when I drop her off. I think she has just redeveloped some separation anxiety because she did it again today and I was leaving her with daddy. She is just fine on the way to daycare and we talk about how much she will have and who she will play with and that she will get picked up by daddy after her afternoon snack. Karen, her daycare provider said she usually gets over the tears within 5-10 minutes and is back to her happy self. She remains happy when we pick her up and doesnt seem to be sick....soooo we will just give her extra kisses and hugs in the evenings and remind her how much fun it is to play with her buddies. If it continues next week maybe we will send a special stuffed animal or something from home.

We treated ourselves Friday night after this somewhat tough week at Maverick's which is a hold in the wall on Lexington and Larpenteur that sells delicious BBQ. We went with Chuck and Deanna whom we have been having over every Thurs or Fri for a few weeks now to watch the show The Wire. When it's nice out we go on a walk, eat and then watch our show after we get squirt to bed. It's a nice way to see our friends and L is usually super excited to see them and entertain with some Toy Story or dancing around.

yum a butterscotch shake while wearing mommy's necklace!

We are working on drinking out cups without lids! Go Linnea! She is getting so good at doing so many big girl things! She is attempting to pull her pants up and down, pushes her arms through her sleeves, pulls her zipper down on her jacket and gets one arm out and today she got some big girl bibs which she put on and took off for a good 15 minutes. Both of them on at the same time. Soon we will even start potty training!

Weekend Fun!

Our weekend started out with a date in downtown Minneapolis with our friends Mikey and Laura. We went to see Halloween Alaska at 7th Street Entry which is next door to First Ave. Its a much smaller venue but was very fun! Halloween Alaska is a local band and the two acts before them werent bad. We got to visit and eat Snuffy's burgers with Sarah and Allison who came up to babysit Linnea. They also brought a tote full of the twins' old clothes! So Linnea has plenty of "new" outfits for now, this spring and summer! so exciting! Plus I had Friday off so got some stuff done around the house, skied and did some errands. There is still plenty to do but it was quite nice starting the weekend of like we did!

Saturday morning I took Linnea to another free music event at one of the libraries. Chris battled a migraine all weekend after the concert so he didnt have as pleasant of a weekend as me and Linnea. Hopefully he is better tomorrow! We let Chris rest more in the evening and went to visit GG. It had been a while since we visited last so it was nice to bring her some Arby's and catch up.

Linnea insisted she needed to go potty on gg's big potty so off came the pants and eventually the diaper too and we tried and tried. Tried being sitting on it for maybe 3 seconds with my help and saying "Im done" and going to the living room only to return to the "potty" a few minutes later. We may need to try this potty training thing soon...

And of course she got chocolate at GG's!My parents were also there near the end of our visit so it was fun to see them again too.

Sunday morning Linnea and I met up with Uncle Erik, Aunt Lisa and cousins Dylan and Jake at the Children's Museum. I got lucky on Friday and was able to check out a museum pass from the library. 2 people get in free and four more can get in for $2 each. Quite the deal since it is normally almost $9 to get it!

The kids had a great time driving the bus,

sitting in the Lego Castle throne,

building and knocking down towers,

examining the small legos,

wearing hard hats,

playing in the water and hand dryer

and bubbles!

Can't wait to get a pass or two again and bring the rest of the family!

Especially daddy!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

"I do not like green eggs and ham I do not like them sam I am"

We had them anyways to honor Dr. Seuss on his birthday.

We also made a hat which Linnea refused to leave on her head but she really enoyed mommy and daddy wearing it.

If we held it on and took the picture super quick she tolerated it as you can see below. She is also holding onto the book The Cat in The Hat which we read a little bit of before bed and watched a little bit of before daycare. PBS did a mini marathon of it for Seuss's big day.

We had smoothies with our green eggs and ham sandwiches which went over very well!

She also ate some of the green egg!

Thank you for writing so many fun books Dr. Seuss!

Birkie Weekend 2011

We took our what is becoming annual family winter/Birkibeiner ski trip to The Heartwood Conference Center last weekend. What a blast it was! We had planned on watching my dad at the finish of his 53K BirKie race but wimped out due to the cold and the fact that it would have taken up most of the day and we had plenty of fun crafts and skiing and eating to do at the cabin. We were able to watch the finish line online so we did see my dad cross the line and we cheered so we were with him in spirit! He had a great time skiing again but ran out of gas at 42K, so I think he maybe enjoyed last year more. It was a little colder this year which leads to a little bit slower snow. I was able to get out and ski twice on Saturday and once Sunday which was WONDERFUL! The trails are just so pretty and fun at the Heartwood!

We showed up Friday night around 8 or so...here is a picture of Linnea checking out my lemonade! She did great in the car and didnt need/want Elmo until the last 30 minutes of the trip! I was very surprised! She was so good about getting picked up from daycare and being in the car for 2.5 hours.

Good luck and goodnight giggles with Grandpa.

Rockin the big Rocking Chair!

And getting cozy and snuggly before bed.

Here is lil Linnea checking out the view from the cabin. And maybe waiting for her cousins and aunt Megan and uncle Brian. They arrived around 10:30 Saturday morning.

They did some wrestling on the bed which lead to tears for squirt...maybe she will have more fun with that when she is a little bigger and not such a drama queen.

I brought up a lot of crafts to keep us busy!

Us adults even had time to play some rounds of Hand and Foot after the kiddoes went to bed!

And there was some sledding and angel making done too!

all bundled up!

I think each grandkid got to go down with grandpa! What a guy...skis 50+k and still goes sledding! Thanks grandpa!

Time for a rest after all that outdoor fun!

and now time to play inside.

showing off her cute REI long underwear outfit.

More crafts!

and more fun with gramps.

Helping us pack up on Sunday morning...new backpack and all! (Well new from the teacher I work with. She has plenty of fun kid things on her hands that Linnea is lucky enough to acquire!)

I'm already looking forward to next year. Maybe I will even ski the Birkie or Korte again too...The cabins are so cozy and a nice mid winter getaway.