Happy Water

Sarah was baptized today. She was super happy all day, hardly any crying. Not sure if it's the Zantac finally kicking in, or if she knew the day was all about her and was just enjoying it. Either way, it was a really good day. Here are some nice pictures of her in her sweet little dress. Enjoy!

An Apple A Day...

Well, since we spent 3 out of 5 days in the Pediatrician's office this week, we thought we'd get out of the house and do something fun today so we took the girls to the apple orchard. Alex gets to go next week with school so I knew he wouldn't be too upset.

Here is Anna feeding the goats. Ordinarily I'm not a big fan of these types of things as I do think they can make the kids sick but with the array of antibiotics this girl is on, nothing's getting into her system! (we did lather her up with antibacterial hand sanitizer right after this though just in case :)





In this picture, I thought I'd get a cute shot of Anna holding Sarah under the apple tree....that is until we got closer and noticed the hundreds of bees....this was a quick click and run shot :)



Here are the girls.

Update....

Anna is much improved this afternoon. The redness has significantly decreased and it seems the antibiotics are doing their job. The pediatrician was very pleased with how it looked and he thinks we caught it early enough, phew! She has to take the antibiotics for about 5 days past when it is completely healed, so hopefully that will be soon as the poor thing is running to the bathroom very often because of the nasty drugs. We are very thankful it took a turn for the better and are hoping for no more excitement anytime soon!

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs

The following photos are a bit gross, for those that are squeamish (although to be honest, the photos look much better than it actually looks). Anna has developed a nasty case of cellulitis in her ankle. The black marks are so we can watch to see if it is spreading. I'm not really sure how she got this, although I think it started from a bug bite. On Monday afternoon she was complaining that a bug bite really itched. When I looked at it it looked just like a mosquito bite, nothing more. Yesterday afternoon when I picked her up from preschool she said that her sock felt really tight today. Strange since I just bought her new socks! So, I took her sock off to discover her ankle was twice the normal size, bright red, shiny, hot and draining a clear fluid- yuck, I know! I cannot believe how fast it happened. I had put on her socks at 8 in the morning and this was only at 1 in the afternoon- scary! I immediately called the pediatrician and said that I was bringing her in right away and who could we see. It was either that or I was going to take her to the ER, but I knew this couldn't wait for the "next available appointment". Anyways, it was as I suspected and the pediatrician is quite concerned. Since she didn't have a fever though, or swollen glands, he wanted to try oral antibiotics first. So, she is on 2 different really strong antibiotics which have made her a bit sick (but the little trooper is still taking them). We have to go back in today and the doctor thought there was still a 30% chance she'd end up in the hospital with IV antibiotics even though we caught it early. We were up most of the night with her since the antbiotics need to be given around the clock and the times do not coincide. It seems to be a bit better today, although her cheeks are bright red now (no fever though when I checked). As we are discovering, there really are no dull days when you have 3 kids, there is always something going on! We are keeping our fingers crossed that we caught this in time, I will keep you posted.

Soooo Big

2 month checkup time was this week. Sarah weighed in at a whopping 12 lbs, 13 ounces (90th percentile for weight!). Can't believe how fast she is growing. We are starting her on some Zantac in the hopes that her inconsolable evening scream fest is due to reflux. The doctor thought we'd notice a difference in 4 days if that is the problem- we are keeping our fingers crossed :) She has become somewhat of a better sleeper however (once she actually falls asleep that is). On Sunday night she slept from 10pm to 6am- yeah!! I'm not delusional enough to think that this is the new norm though so when she woke up last night with a scream at 2:30 I wasn't surprised. She got her first set of shots yesterday though so I think that contributed to an especially difficult night. She has started to smile at everybody and make the sweet little happy noises- no full laughs yet but it's coming. My bets are on Alex getting the first one- he always makes her smile the easiest. School is going well for Alex and Anna, no recent drama that I know of :) I return to work 3 weeks from today :( Not looking forward to that, but I have enjoyed my time off.

School bullying....with a twist

Ok, ok, before you worry that poor little Alex has been victimized by your typical school bully, let me put your minds at ease- he's fine. He got off the bus today with this very interesting fashion statement.......
Note the ripped pants (not how we sent him to school I assure you!).
Now, I should also mention that for the last several school days he has been complaining of a little girl named Alice who has been following him around at recess asking him to play tag with her. Apparently today, she got a little carried away and grabbed onto his pants. Alex then did what any little boy would do- attempted to run. Problem being she didn't let go and thus the ripped pants. Chris and I thought this was pretty funny actually and would have been enough to keep a smile on our faces despite the screaming 2 month old who has taken over our lives :). Alex, though, after explaining the ripped pants debacle went onto say, "That's not the worst thing mom....the grossest thing happened at quiet time today- a girl kissed me right on the lips!". Of course we thought it was the girl who had previously tried to rip off his pants- not so, apparently this was a different admirer. So, Alex has come up with his own theory of why these girls must like him- his blue eyes. We've always teased him that he has such pretty eyes that someday it'll help him get the girls....never thought it would come up so soon! Alex has now decided that he wants those color changing contacts that they sell so the girls will leave him alone- too funny! (some of you may know that Alex is a bit of a night owl and we will sometimes find him in the living room in the middle of the night watching infomercials- the kid is like a walking commercial so I'm not surprised he knew all about such things). It's days like these that I am certain God absolutely has a sense of humor :)

In other news....we successfully left Sarah with my sisters for 4 whole hours! Bowling league started up again and we've been a bit worried since we bowl during peak "crabby" time. However, she was a little angel for Becky and Claire- might have to have them come over every evening :) It was nice to get away for a little while and make fun of each other's terrible bowling. Although....Doug got a new ball and was on fire by the second game- I think he got a 260 (or something like that?)....such a show off!

"What...you're leaving me....oh no"

"Oh good..Becky and Claire will walk around with me all night long"

Sarah's Stuff

Just thought I'd share a few of Sarah's favorite things for those interested. I know there are a few blog followers who are expecting soon so it thought they'd appreciate this.

First up is a little gem called the Sleep Sheep. He was given to us by our friend, Mary. He is always near Sarah when she is sleeping and has kept us sane on many occasions. He's soft and cuddly and plays ocean noise, white noise, etc. For anyone interested, the website is: www.sleepsheepandfriends.com I think this will be my new official favorite baby gift to give :)


You can see Sleep Sheep in the upper right hand corner of the crib.

Next item we have much appreciated is the Bumbo chair. It's supposed to be used for ages 3 months and up but since Sarah has had such good head control she's been able to use it already. It also has an attachable tray which will make it a great portable high chair type device for our meals on the go. You can get these at Target, or www.bumboshop.com


Doesn't she look all grown up?


Another great invention is the Graco Sweetpeace Infant Soothing Center. This thing is the cadillac of swings, it sways back and forth, side to side, front to back and it vibrates, plays lots of music (you can even hook up your mp3 player to it!). The seat actually comes out of this in case baby falls asleep in their car seat and you can put the car seat seat in it instead. What an invention. Problem is it comes with a cadillac cost as well. We were lucky enough to find this one on craigslist for about half of retail, and man was it worth it. Here's a picture of Sarah enjoying the good life :) Target also carries these. If you look on Graco's website you can watch a cool demo on how this little puppy works!



And now....our final favorite product as it has ended the "Hell no I'm not taking a bottle stage"....after many attempts and several different bottles, we have finally settled on the Playtex Ventaire bottles.....here's proof that she will take a bottle!



Ok...that's all for now...there are many other favorite products but I've run out of time!

Bring on the Chinese water torture....please

I would like to start this posting by stating that it has been a really long week. No, make that a really really really long week. Alex started it off on Sunday with his fever which turned into a nasty cold which Anna in turn caught on Monday night and was up most of the night blowing her nose with (missed her first day of school on Tuesday, poor kid). Sarah was then up all night Tuesday with with a runny nose. Everytime I tried to lay her down she cried. The only way she'd sleep was if I held her sitting up. This was not very conducive to my sleeping however as everytime I'd drift off, she'd fall over and wake up. This was a very long night. Wednesday was again a long day as everytime I'd try to nap, something would wake me up. I then had a dentist appointment, which as anyone who knows me, is enough to ruin my entire day in itself. Only one cavity though so not too bad. Add to this fun is that we are desperately trying to get Sarah to take a bottle as my return to work is fast approaching. She had been taking a bottle about once a day since she was 3 weeks old. However, as we have tried to increase this so that she is taking a bottle more often, she has decided that she does not want a bottle at all. Wednesday night was a particularly difficult night for her and we eventually got her to take a bottle after a long battle. Not 5 minutes after finishing it however, she projectile vomited (like something out of the Exorcist) everything back up on Chris' lap. This was not a good night. Thursday morning I woke up (*not sure if you can technically call it "morning" when I officially got up at 2 am with Sarah and never went back to bed) with the nasty cold which apparently comes with a horrific sore throat that makes it so you can't swallow (still hoping it's not strep). This brings me to the title of this posting. I was thinking how effective sleep deprivation must be as a torture tactic. I think all total this week I've probably gotten about 10 hours of sleep (none of this in any sort of consecutive stretch). If I were a spy or knew any kind of valuable information, I'd be really good at this kind of torture, as I'm sure most moms would be. However, as my mind is a complete fog and several times I've actually forgotten I've let the dog outside (sorry about that Jazz) for hours and once put the thrown up, pooped on clothes back ON Sarah (not my best moment)- I'm thinking that Chinese water torture sounds pretty good. Just lay there and let water drip on your forehead until you go insane.....pretty sure I could handle it at this point.

Allergies

So...now a lighter look at life at the Tveits. I was reminded of a funny incident involving allergies this morning. Alex didn't go to school today because he has a cold. When we were talking about how he probably caught this (school I'm certain) he said, "Yeah, there's this kid in my class who brought raspberries to lunch and I sat by him and since I'm allergic to them, I'm sure that's how I got sick". We seem to have somehow misdefined (is that word?) allergies to the kids because this not the first time that allergies have led to a laugh at our house....most recently Alex decided that he was definitely allergic to Lemurs. Probably a pretty harmless allergy since your odds of a chance Lemur encounter (at least in MN) are pretty low. My all time favorite though was our allergy discussion at the dinner table. Both kids have had lettuce allergies in the past and so when Chris and I were having salad one night, they started talking about how they couldn't eat that or they would get sick. Then they asked if I was allergic to anything to which I said, yes mommy is allergic to raw apples and when I eat them I get sick. Then I went on to say how daddy is allergic to cats. Alex got this mortified look on his face and said (of course) "Do we actually eat cats?"Hmmm...chicken, ham, beef, pork chops....seems he couldn't recall "cat" ever being on the menu. Anyways, gave me a chuckle and I thought I'd share the laugh.

The RNC welcoming baby

Ok...not really, but as I put this little outfit on Sarah today I couldn't help but think she looks like a little McCain supporter with her elephant with the star on it- click on the picture for a close up if you can't see it......

The "Free Lunch" program

Ok....confession time, we've been duped by a 6 year old. Upon registering Alex for school last week I had the brilliant idea to put money into his lunch account so that he could buy milk to go with his cold lunch everyday (all he ever eats for lunch is pb&j so we figured it's much more economical to just bring a lunch. Plus at over $2 per day for lunch, we can make A LOT of cold lunches). Anyways, the kids have to punch in a 3 number code on this keypad and the money is taken out of their account. Yesterday I asked him how it went and he said "Great- I had chocolate milk- there were thousands of them and they were free with your number". After explaining to him that it wasn't exactly free and that we'd prefer if he chose white milk, not chocolate milk, he seemed to understand. Later in the evening he said that they had pizza yesterday at school and it was delicious. I said, "How did you have pizza when you brought a sandwich?" "Oh, I was just kidding" was his reply. Fortunately I have the ability to look online to see how much money has been taken out of his account and when, but it is a bit delayed. So, we again sent him a cold lunch today (lovingly packed I might add). During the day today, the charges from yesterday showed up and apparently he ate hot lunch at school. When he got off the bus today I asked him about the lunch situation to which he said, "Mom, I don't know what the big deal is, there is so much food there, plus it's free if you know your phone number. I just couldn't resist it." When asked about the fate of his nutritious, well balanced lunch so nicely packed in his "Pirates of the Caribbean" lunch box, he said "Well, I didn' t have time to eat both lunches so I had to throw that one away." It makes me wonder- who is monitoring these kids at lunch???? Did no one notice that he already had a lunch box full of food and they still let him go through the line and purchase an additional lunch????? Oh yeah and then after dinner tonight, Alex said that he didn't need to eat breakfast at home tomorrow, he was just going to eat at school instead (they also offer breakfast everyday). I feel like I've lost control of my money- might as well have given the kid a credit card. Damn these schools and their PIN numbers. I'd have been better off sending him with the .40 each day for milk, at least then know he isn't going to burn through $5 in one day on cafeteria food!

Ok...enough ranting about the lunch situation. I guess I should just get used to missing money and getting lied to- must be a preview of his teenage years. In other news, Anna made it through her first day of preschool....although this was a parent/child day so I stayed with her the whole time. She was really excited and had fun when we were there. However, when we got home she cried for about an hour because she has decided that I need to stay with her everytime. Man, next week is going to be rough. Here are Anna's first day of school pictures.

It's Official

We now have a Kindergartner. The first day went well, from what Alex shared anyways. He really like science where he claims they made milk out of water....hmmm....not exactly sure what step was missed there but I hope I'm not called upon to recreate that experiment at home! The sweetest moment of the day though was when I asked Alex if he got my note I had left him in his lunch box (just a little note that said I love you written in symbols so he could read it) and he said "yes" and that it made him cry- how cute is that! He even let me give him a kiss when we dropped him off at school and he ran off the bus and gave me a great big hug when he got home. Guess he's not totally grown up yet and some part of him is still my little boy. Tomorrow is Anna's first day of Preschool. She is super excited and has been talking about it all day. If I make it through this week without an emotional breakdown, it'll be a miracle!