A fun week

We had such a fun week with Mom and Martin. Claire hardly let Nanna out of her sight the whole week. I think Claire is her biggest fan! They played with dollies and changes their clothes and had doll tea party's with Claire's new tin tea set. They read lots and lots of books of course. We had fun doing gardening and appreciate of all the extra hands which made the work go quickly. Claire had fun helping put leaves in the greeen waste bin. Our front yard look fabulous! Emily loved sitting on Martin's lap and they had a good time entertain each other. Emily is becoming more and more communicative and likes to play little games like "I'll do a raspberry and smile and then you do it." I got to do a few small sewing and mending projects and go to the dentist to have a filling repaired and do a little shopping for Beth's baby.

Today we went on a day hike with people from church. It was beautiful and both girls were happy and really enjoyed being out in nature. We had to wade across a river 4 times (I was scared the first time but then got used to it and had fun with it.) and when we stopped for lunch Claire and Aidan went in the water just for fun. We are very tired but very blessed to be out in nature and bask in the wonder of God's creation. It sprinkled on us briefly a few times but was warm and sunny and breezy most of the day... perfect hiking weather. We hiked about 5 hours. It didn't seem long till about the last hour.

b-day

We had a breakfast birthday party for Claire today with coffee cake and lots of presents. I'm glad we opened presents this morning because once she saw presents in Nanna's car the other day she has been lobbying to open them. She had a great time opening and playing with presents this morning and now both girls are napping and I'm having lunch. We enjoyed a trip to the LA Zoo on Monday and got an annual pass.

Time for food

 


Emily started eating food this week. She really seemed to enjoy the avocado I gave her.

Emily likes:
having something new in her hands and exploring it in a variety of ways.
sometimes likes a stroller ride but prefers a nap in the pack.
being able to roll and scoot around on the slippery floor to reach interesting objects. (She scooted backwards using her arms for the first time today.)
six little ducks song
music class
watching her sister

silence

Walking on Aspen Acres Dr. I hear the sound of my footsteps, my breathing and my baby's breathing. I hear the chirping and twittering of some small birds and the chee-chee-chee-tut-tut-tut-tut song of another bird. I hear a dog bark once in the distance. I am enjoying the relative silence. The lack of traffic and airplanes and helicopters and incessant ice cream trucks and car alarms and loud music. It sure is good to get out of the city.

We returned from a mostly blissful long weekend in Prescott AZ. The main snafu was that Emily and I were up at 4 am every day. Thankfully I was able to go back to bed for a snooze around 6. We enjoyed time with family and a garden tour.

Claire keeps saying, "Let's go back to Nanu's house".

We look forward to a visit from Mark's mom next week.

Appetite

Claire has gotten her appetite back and has been eating a bit more than usual so I think she's putting on weight.
I got Emily to sleep in the Amby bed tonight for the first time in weeks. I started really early before she was cranky. Now she knows how to make it bounce so I just let her kick her legs and bounce herself for a while then I sneaked in and squatted where she couldn't see me and continued to bounce the bed till she quieted down completely and went to sleep. She has been sleeping ever since. I am so weary of the waking every 10-20 minutes from 6:30pm to 10pm routine. UGH! It has been nice not to have that battle tonight.

Emily and I still have a little residual cough. Mark has had a mild cold since Friday. Today he's feeling better.

Our house is in shambles after Mark bought two new shelves for the living room/dining room and we've been sick and all my evening free time was taken up by Emily's lack of sleep... It is overwhelming, I don;t even know where to start.

Saturday evening post

Well, I bought some things to make mothers day crafts for the grandmas but since we were all sick this week, we didn't delve into them yet. Good things come to those who wait :)

Emily who used to fall asleep so sweetly and easily now takes about an hour to get to sleep at night. She won't fall asleep in her bed and she has a hard time staying asleep and will not self soothe is she awakens. I hope we can get back on teh track we were on previously because this is very frustrating. Thankfully Claire has been surprisingly patient with this recently.

Happy Mother's Day!

finally feeling better

We are all feeling better today. Claire is going on an outing to the museum with Linda today. She is very happy to be out and about again. We are all coughing a little bit still but all other symptoms seem to have subsided. Now Emily seems to be teething. She wants to be constantly chewing on something. She likes it when I massage her gums.

Claire slept all night long the past two nights. She put herself down for a morning nap the past three mornings. Each time I have put Emily down for a nap and hoped in bed myself to try to catch up on much-needed sleep. Emily's sleep last night started out on the same track as the previous night waking every 10-40 mins, until Mark put her to sleep in the Amby bed around 9 and she slept till 2. She didn't sleep much between 3 and 5 but then slept from 5-8.

I am so thankful to be feeling better.

enduring classic board books

Claire's all-time favorite from the Top 10 Board Book List is Good Night, Gorilla.

She often refers to herself as a gorilla and me (dad) as the zookeeper: "The gorilla is being held by the zookeeper," or, "The zookeeper has a mustache."

In second place is the Big Red Barn, but all the others are quite distant runners-up. A new favorite of mine is Each Peach Pear Plum by the Ahlberg team. Each Peach, in common with Gorilla, is illustrated by the author, which seems to give it that certain extra special touch.

still sick

I got very little sleep last night due to Emily waking every 20-60 minutes. Emily just took a 90 minute nap and seems a bit more chipper. I am a wreck. will this ever end? each hour feels like an eternity

Wednesday Progress

Claire is feeling much better. She still has a cough and very little appetite but was energetic and not so clingy. Mark returned to work today. Claire's regular babysitter was here this afternoon so that was a big help. Emily and I are still under the weather. Emily is having a hard time napping and sleeping with her stuffy nose and coughing. Claire is not yet back to sleeping all night long. I'm going to bed early. good night. Claire lost 2 pounds during her illness. Please pray that her appetite returns and that she gains the weight back.

resting up

Claire went back to the doctor today and they said her lungs sound clear. She is still coughing a lot and her fever returned this afternoon as it did yesterday afternoon she slept 3-4 hours both yesterday afternoon and today.
I kept Emily home so she could sleep since her symptoms are unchanged since yesterday. We both had a nap while they were gone. We are both very sneezy today. I'm thankful that I don't feel any worse. Although I'm not feeling better yet, I have a little bit of energy for some basic chores in addition to caring for Emily. Mark has been doing an amazing job nursing Claire non-stop the past 4 days. You are my hero, Markos.

Dr. Visit

So, it turns out Claire has pneumonia (left lower lobe of lung). They gave her an antibiotic shot and nebulizer treatment at the pediatrician's office and we have to go back tomorrow for them to check her progress. They will re-check Emily as well. They also gave us some Albuterol syrup to help open up her bronchial tubes. Mark and I have been trying for the past two hours to get Emily to nap without success. He decided to take her for a walk. I still have a sore throat and head and neck ache. The doctor visit was very tiring for me.

3 sick

Emily and I are sick too and Claire is still not 100%. she coughed a lot during the night which kept me from sleeping. Emily, however slept 9 hours straight.

Claire sick again

Claire has been under the weather the past few days. She seems to be feeling better this afternoon but still not 100%. She has a cough and fever off and on. I have a bit of a scratchy throat. I hope I'm not going to catch it.

Emily can sit unassisted for about 5 seconds. And now she rolls both front to back and back to front.