My New Best Friend

This stuff seriously is the best. My cousin Kimberly who owns a preschool turned me on to it. Since Tom had the flu, I've been using it all over the house. Literally every square inch I can. It's cool because you can just spray it and let it dry, or spray it, let it sit for 2 minutes and then wipe it dry. It's great. I use it on all of Ella's toys, and lately on everything Tom touched or possibly touched. He is feeling much better though. In fact, today he said he felt great. So it looks like he's better. I think it's a good thing that we started the Tamiflu as soon as we did after he became symptomatic. It really seems to have shortened the duration of the illness.

Anyway, here are a few random pics from the past few days.
It has been been very icy here in Missouri. Here are a few pictures I took of the ice. The roads were bad on Thursday, but by Friday when I took these pictures, they were pretty much clear. But everything else was covered in sheets of ice. Everything you see is ice...no snow at all!

Our sidewalk and driveway.

Lampost in the front yard. I thought this was a neat picture.

This is what Cooper did while it was icing outside. Well, this is pretty much what he does ALL of the time! It's hard to tell, but these are actually a pair of baby scrubs I got as a shower gift. They are called Wee Scrubs :) I had actually forgot about them, then found them in Ella's drawer and decided we had to try them on since we were Daddy's nurses while he was sick. Ok, really, Ella wasn't allowed anywhere near him, but it was still cute :)

I know, baby. Sometimes being a nurse can be tough!

On a great note, Ella got her ears re-checked on Friday and the fluid in one of her ears is totally gone, and almost gone in the other. We are so glad. Dr. Krenning said to keep her on the Nasonex for 6 more weeks to aid in keeping her ears clear of fluid. What it does is open up the eustachian tubes and allows that fluid to drain out. In case you were curious :) So we are very happy about that report, and just keep praying that Ella doesn't catch the flu that Tom had. Like I said, it would be hard for her to with all of the disinfecting I've been doing...but you never know!! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Man Down

Well, Tom woke up this morning with a 102 degree fever and a cough. Out of nowhere. So, he went to the doctor first thing this morning and sure enough, tested positive for influenza A. He is on Tamiflu, as am I for prophylaxis. Ella is too young to take it, so we are just praying hard and keeping our fingers crossed that she doesn't get it. It has been one thing after another this Winter! We certainly won't be sad to see it go. As I write this, though, there are sheets of ice falling out of the sky. It is unbelievable. The clinic closed early so I was able to pick Ella up early from the sitter and come home to take care of Tom. I've told him he has been quarantined to our room only. I am spraying Clorox Anywhere spray like it's nobody's business. I've washed my hands so many times they're cracking. Let's see if it helps!!
Hope you all are staying healthy! We'll keep you posted.....

On the Mend....Again!

Well, since our last post we celebrated Valentine's Day, had a lazy weekend at home, and started a new work week. Unfortunately, we also started Ella on another antibiotic. Last Wednesday, in the middle of her 14 day course of Omnicef for a double ear infection, she spiked another fever. This went on until Friday til I could finally get her into see the doctor. Luckily, she saw Dr. Krenning, the doctor I work for who is an ENT, so I was glad to have her see Ella since she deals with ear infections all the time. Ella had fluid on both ears again, one of them was "bubbling over" with fluid the doctor said. My poor girl. So, we started her on another antibiotic for 10 days. The good news is, this particular medication, Biaxin, is in a class of antibiotics that Ella has not yet been on, so it increases our chances that it'll get rid of the ear infection. The bad news is that it is such a strong antibiotic, and Ella has been on so many lately, that we have to keep a close eye out for opportunistic infections to take over since all the "good bacteria" in her system has been knocked out too. We are making sure she eats yogurt every day with lots of probiotics in it, and so far, thank goodness, she seems to be tolerating it fine. We are hoping this is the last antibiotic, if not forever (far fetched, I know), than for awhile. She acts fine at this point, no fever and no tugging at her ears, so that is a good thing.
Even though all of this came up last Thursday on Valentine's Day, we still made sure we got a picture of her opening her card from her Mommy and Daddy.

Here she is with Daddy, her favorite Valentine :)

Here are a few more pics of the last week at our house. This first one is of Ella before we were headed out. She loves going places. She is the happiest girl in the car and especially when she gets to visit somewhere new! She is definitley my girl.....loves to be out and about!

Here are some pics of bathtime at our house. I made a mohawk out of Ella's hair. She has so much of it. As you can see, she loves bathtime!

Who, me?

I absolutely love this picture. It just looks so angelic, doesn't it? Those big blues staring right up at you. There's nothing better :)

Just doing a little light reading....or eating? Unfortunately most of her books have little teeth marks all over them.

Hmmm....which one should I pick? OLIVIA is her favorite.

This is something new she's doing. She is "giving loves" to her bear. She'll pretty much do this to anything she has in her hand, whether it be a ball, a stuffed animal, whatever. What a little snuggler :)

This is the sweet smile I see when I sneak into her room while she is playing. She's a happy girl!!

Anyway, hope you all enjoy the pictures! Have a great week!

My List of Loves

So, I thought I'd jump on the "Valentine's" bandwagon and make a list of the things I love in life, followed by a few things I don't so much. Hope everyone has a very Happy Heart Day!

1. The way Ella smells right out of the bath, in her pj's.
2. A warm towel from the dryer when I get out of the shower (I'm always cold).
3. The way my head fits just under Tom's chin in that snuggly neck place.
4. Warm, fresh coffee on a cold morning.
5. Shopping, any kind...but especially for clothes for Ella.
6. SHOES!
7. Knowing my favorite TV show is waiting on my TiVo until I have time to sit down and watch it (probably with a cup of coffee!)
8. Finding money in a pocket you didn't know was there.
9. Going to the car wash and getting my car all pretty!
10. Cooking in the kitchen for my family.
11. Sitting around, talking with friends and family.
12. Catching up with a friend over a nice long phone conversation, or even better...in person.
13. Watching my daughter's face light up when I walk into the room (she's a Mommy's girl). :)
14. Going on a nice long walk with Tom, Ella and Cooper
15. The warm, refreshed feeling I have after I leave Church.
16. Sitting and chatting with my hubby over a glass of wine.
17. Waking up in the middle of the night knowing I still have several hours left to sleep (unless Ella wakes me up!)
18. Knowing I've helped a friend, or at least made them smile.
19. Getting all dressed up for a night out on the town (doesn't happen very often!).
20. Ice cream, Ice cream and Ice cream. Oh! And Ice cream.
21. The smell of the BBQ grill during the Summer.
22. Getting Ella out of her crib every morning and waking up to a happy, smiling, good smelling girl with crazy bed head :)
23. Taking naps.
24. Massages! And mani's and pedi's!
25. Trying out a new shampoo and/or conditioner (is that silly?).

And here are a few things I don't love so much.....
1. Slow drivers. They are the bane of my existence.
2. Morning breath. Yuck.
3. When people blare their music so loud in the car that you can hear it for 5 miles.
4. Finding a piece of clothing or pair of shoes that I LOVE but they don't have my size.
5. When every traffic light I come to is either turning yellow or red. Give a girl a break!

Busy Weekend

It was a busy weekend for us! Saturday we were able to see my friend Katie get married. It was a beautiful wedding, and she was of course a beautiful bride. It was wonderful not only to see some of our friends we hadn't seen in awhile, but it was nice to get all dressed up together and have a kind of 'date' night. I wish I had a pic of the bride, but I don't. I didn't take my good camera to the wedding, so all I have are a few I took with my point and shoot. We had a great time. The reception was beautiful, and we wish we could've stayed longer. But we had to drive back Saturday night because we had to head to Jefferson City on Sunday morning. Here are a few pictures from the wedding night.

Me and my handsome hubby.

My friend Sara and I.

On Sunday we headed to Jefferson City for Tom to meet the Bishop as a part of his RCIA classes. It was a great day and a very neat ceremony. Ella had a blast spending the day with Tom's parents. She is doing so much more every day now. While she has pulled up before, she has been mostly content being on the ground crawling around. Until now. Just in the past week or so, she has gone from having no interest in standing (or walking for that matter), to pulling up on everything and standing at every chance she gets. She even walked with her little buggy tonight...it turns from a little car she can sit on to a push thing she can walk behind. I just know she'll be walking before we know it. Here are a few pictures of her standing like a big girl :)

Look at that big girl standing at the table! What a mischievous grin :)

This is Ella's new thing. She does this thing with her face and opens her mouth really wide. Absolutely precious. AND hysterical. We can't stop laughing when she does this!

Our baby girl laughing. Something must be very funny. I think she was giggling at her Daddy here. This smile melts my heart.
Ella and I are looking forward to a lazy day at home tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be cold and icy, so it's a perfect day for it. Hope you all have a great week!!

On The Mend

Ella is feeling much better. We are all sleeping again, thank goodness, and although she still looks a little puny at times, she is pretty much back to her normal self. It is wonderful. Here's hoping she stays healthy!
This will be a short post, but I just wanted you all to know that Ella was doing better. Here are a couple of pictures from the past few days. I'll try to post something more exciting in the next few days. Hope you enjoy the pics. Have a great weekend!

Always happy when she's eating...just like her Mom & Dad!

Where did that Cheerio go?

A girl's gotta get her beauty sleep!

Check out that hair!

Poor Baby

What a long 5 days this has been. My baby girl has been so sick. She's been fighting a cough off and on for over five weeks now. She has been to the Dr. numerous times, on several meds and just when we think it's almost gone, it comes back again. The past five days have been a blur of breathing treatments, doc visits, one ER visit including a check for RSV, Strep and Influenza (all of which were negative, praise the Lord) and a chest x-ray, sleepless nights, wheezing, coughing and fever. And tears from both Ella and Mommy. I just want my precious baby girl to be well...it has been quite a winter. We are very anxious for Spring. Our pediatrician assured us that she just keeps catching virus after virus, probably from being at the sitter, and that this is very normal, especially for a baby's first Winter. I was feeling some guilt over all of this, thinking that maybe it was because I had to stop breastfeeding, but then realized after a look at the calender that all of this actually started almost a month prior to when I weaned her. She spiked a fever last night, and I took her to urgent care worried that she had developed pneumonia. I was told the wait would be two hours. Not great, but I was willing to wait. However, after an hour of waiting only 2 people had been called back. I was then told there were still 12 people ahead of us to be seen, and there was one Dr. on duty. What the heck? So we opted to go home, give her some Motrin and another breathing treatment and put her to bed. Needless to say, it was another long night, but we were able to get into our pediatrician first thing this morning. Luckily she hasn't developed pneumonia, but now has a double ear infection and has bronchiolitis (we were told that in the ER). So now 2 weeks of antibiotics, another medication, and continuing of her breathing treatments. I just hate putting all of these medications into her little body, but I know it's what she needs to get well. She is such a well-spirited baby that even when she's sick, she's still the sweetest little thing....she just looks pitiful. She is at home with Daddy today, as I have to work. Hopefully these antibiotics will kick in soon and maybe we'll all get a little sleep tonight. Oh! And today is Ella's 11 month birthday. My big girl. Hopefully she'll be all better for her 1st birthday!

My Man

What is his name? Tom
How long have you been together? A little over 11 years, married 6 this Summer!
How long did you date? We started dating in November 1996...so almost 6 years before we got married.
How old is he? 28. Turning 29 in June.
Who eats more? He wins this one...although I have a pretty healthy appetite! He can put food away like none other :)
Who said I love you first? He did....I felt it too but was worried I would scare him off if I said it first! Whew!
Who is taller? He is...not by too much. He is about 4 or 5 inches taller than me. I can still wear heels and be shorter!
Who can sing better? That would be me...sorry babe :)
Who does the laundry? Me definitley. Not that he doesn't offer, I just prefer to do it myself. But I am HORRIBLE at putting laundry away. It sits folded up on top of the dryer for days! So sometimes he ends up doing that part ;)
Who pays the bills? He does because he is extremely organized about that kind of thing. I guess so, working in finance! But I like to be a part of it, too so I can see where all the money is going. EVERYTHING is on the computer!
Who sleeps on the right side? Me. I'm a snuggler when we first go to bed, but he can't stay in one spot for very long before he has to move. Once I'm almost asleep, though, I like my space!
Who mows the lawn? He does for the most part...but I have helped out in this department on several occassions. We like working in the yard together.
Who cooks dinner? That would be all me. He would if he could. If it were up to him we would only have eggs, mac & cheese or boiled water. (that's all he can make). But he helps clean up which is good. And I don't mind because I LOVE to cook!
Who drives? I prefer to most of the time...I am also a backseat driver. He drives too slow for me! But he says I drive like a bat out of hell. I disagree :)
Who is more stubborn? This is a tough one, because we are both stubborn but for different reasons. I must say he is better at apologizing than me. I tend to be one of those people that says "I'm sorry, BUT...." Poor Tom ;) But he is more stubborn when it comes to little things like making sure lights are turned off when we're not in a room, recycling, etc.
Who kissed who first? He kissed me...I still remember it perfectly.
Who asked who out first? He did. I couldn't believe it because I had ALWAYS thought he was so hot, and when he asked me out I was so happy I thought I was dreaming!
Who proposed? Him....at Shelter Gardens on a gorgeous Spring day in 2001. It was perfect :)
Who has more friends? I'd have to say me. Or at least I am better about staying in touch with my friends. I think it's a girl thing.
Who is more sensitive? Me, me and Me. I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve, and think emotionally rather than logically sometimes! But he is very sensitive for a guy....is very good at "maintaining" this emotionally high maintenance girl :)
Who has more siblings? Him....he is the youngest of three boys; I have one sister.
Who wears the pants? I'd like to say we have a good balance on this one. There are probably issues where I wear the pants more, and others where he does. But we tend to talk everything out together and make all major decisions as a team.

What an incredibly lucky girl I am :) Love you, babe!

Excuse our mess....

As many of you have probably noticed, our blog has received many makeovers in it's short existence. I am trying to figure out which template I like best, and just when I think I've found the one, I change my mind. But I do think I like this one. I need some feedback...feel free to let me know how you like (or don't like!) the changes. I promise to be posting a more interesting post in the next day or two. Not near as easy on the eyes as a sweet pic of Ella!

More to come!