The flu struck again....

Lucky us - Olivia came down with the stomach flu AGAIN last week Friday! One of the daycare ladies called me at my desk late in the afternoon and said Liv wasn't eating all day and had a low grade fever. So, I left work and picked her up and came home. I gave her some Motrin for the fever and about 20 minutes later, she threw up. I tried to tell myself it couldn't possibly be the flu so I gave her dinner, she played for a bit and then went to bed. Around 9pm, we heard her vomiting in the monitor. She kept getting sick until 1am - I held her until she stopped getting sick, since we knew she'd vomit and end up laying in it. All weekend she wasn't herself and didn't eat much. If she wasn't sleeping, she was crying and fussing. Needless to say, it was a L O N G weekend!

Napping with Daddy

On Monday she still wasn't back to her normal self so I stayed home from work. Tuesday I had to get back so it was back to daycare. She cried most of the day and then kept going when we got home. Each day was a little better and then when Friday rolled around, it was great! No tears during drop-off and none throughout the day. We finally had our Liv back!

We did discover new teeth on Friday night, though, which means she was dealing with that pain while trying to recover from the flu. We noticed her top two canines and one of her molars popping through. Seriously - she's been through so much in the last week!

Right now we think she's trying to recover from having been sick and not having an appetite because all weekend all she wants to do is eat! Yesterday, she gave us the sign for "eat" about every 2 hours. This morning we met some friends for brunch and she had a pancake and 2 of my turkey sausage links! Good thing I'm making homemade lasagna tonight - she always eats plenty of that! Here are a few pictures I took this morning after our brunch.

"What? I'm not supposed to be flushing the toilet?"

"Hey...who's in there...." Liv LOVES the bathroom and she's always getting into something in there!

Weihnachtsgeschenk von unserem deutschen Familie - die Frankes

Lieber Opa Axel und Oma Petra,
Vielen Dank für mein Puzzle! Ich liebe es. Auch liebte meine Mama und Papa die Pralinen!
Love,
Olivia

The fun never ends here in St. Paul!

Even though we just had a really nice holiday break, I was ready for another long weekend! On Saturday, Duane brewed beer with some friends so Liv and I hung out at home.

"Hey - I'm all done!"

Going after Sadie....

Now, trying to play with Sadie...

Sadie saying - "get away from me, kid - I'm serious!"
*No child or animal was hurt during this photo; Sadie was giving a warning; Liv just looked at her and walked away. I guess they have an understanding. So far no tears or blood so I guess that's good!

After Duane came home from his man-afternoon, we ventured out into the snow and went to Whole Foods for the first time. I have to say, it wasn't as amazing as I had expected. It could just be the store we went to - it was super small and jam-packed with bearded men and sandal wearing women. (I'm exaggerating on the women comment but I saw a lot of beards on the men!) They had a nice produce section and their blueberries were huge and cheaper than Target. The best part of our trip? Punch Pizza in St. Paul! We don't get there as often as we used to but when we do get there - I practically knock down old people and children who stand in my way! Olivia loves it too - she eats her entire Bambini - that's our girl!

Sunday morning Olivia and Duane ran some errands and I flew through the house and did laundry and various other chores. Olivia napped and then we decided to torture her and ourselves by going to the Mall of America. I had some things to return that could only be returned at MOA so we sort of had to go. It was a quick trip but we stopped in the middle and Olivia experienced her first ride. Her first ride was "Blue's Skidoo" and the second was "Big Rigs!"

Waiting in line with Daddy

All fastened in and ready to roll! (Duane looked awesome on this ride, by the way!)

Before I knew Liv had extra ride tickets left, we let her run around for a few minutes to blow off steam. (She wasn't in the best mood after Blue's Skidoo ended - I think she wanted to do it again.) 

 Next up - Big Rigs! Liv loved this ride, too! It actually went a lot faster than I thought it was going to but Liv mostly loved the horns. She couldn't really reach the horn, but any time I beeped it, her smile couldn't get any bigger!

After Big Rigs we decided to leave the mall and spare ourselves a meltdown (either from Olivia or myself - I'm not a fan of the MOA). We were on a bit of a leisurely drive back home, allowing Liv to cat-nap, when I realized I missed a call from some friends of ours asking us to meet them for dinner. We were all in the vicinity so we met them for dinner at Bonfire and it was another great dinner! Their girls are so well behaved (except for the bad timing of needing to use the potty right when their parents are mid-bite) and cute that it's hard to say no. Everyone had MLK, Jr. Day off so we made plans to meet them at the Shoreview Community Center in the morning.

The pool at the SCC wasn't open until noon so we settled on the indoor playground. It's quite the playground and the girls had so much fun! The slide was a big hit for all three girls - and each of us parents had the opportunity to run around inside, too.

Is this a sign that she'll be petite like her mommy? Let's hope so!

The growth chart in Liv's daycare room....she's the peanut of the class! I know someone else who was always the shortest in the class! ;)

Olivia the Toddler!

Olivia started out this week with visiting the Toddler room at daycare. She will spend the mornings with her new room but end the day in infants. However, next Tuesday, she'll be in the Toddler room for good! The big changes are they play outside everyday - unless it's below 5*!!! Yikes - that's cold! She will also have to learn to nap on a cot and do so for 2 hours...if they wake up before they're supposed to, they will learn to lie there quietly with a book.

Yesterday was her first morning with her new teacher (Ms. Heather) and "classmates." We were told she did really well - no tears - and had a lot of fun outside, even though she struggles a little with walking and staying upright in her snowboots and suit! Haha! Here are a couple pictures from her first day.

On the playground

Ms. Heather measuring how "tall" Olivia is

Ms. Heather weighing Olivia

Christmas 2011

Happy New Year, Blog Readers! Well, our holiday season was a bit interesting this year....Olivia was carrying some type of stomach flu and it hit her, me (Abby) and my mom. We were almost 2 hours into our drive from MN to IN when all of a sudden, Olivia started vomiting! She's never done that and it really shocked me and Duane. She was covered in vomit and so was her car seat....we pulled over at a gas station and tried to clean up everything we could. About 30 minutes later, she got sick again. She stayed sleeping so we kept driving.... We rolled into Ferdinand about 12 hours after leaving Saint Paul - 12 hours later I got sick and then 12 hours after that, my mom got sick. Christmas Eve was cancelled at my mom's house as we recuperated. We spent Christmas in our pj's and I didn't have the effort to get Olivia dressed in the outfit I had picked out for the day. We all received excellent gifts and ended up feeling better by Christmas night. Here are a couple pictures of Olivia opening gifts. She wasn't really into it -she would pull a strip of paper and then walk away. Haha!

Olivia got her first dollhouse!

Christmas morning pj's - complete with a tutu

The rest of our stay in Ferdinand was illness-free and a lot of fun! Olivia visited with family and played outside quite a bit. On December 30, Duane hosted his Dezemberfest and I celebrated my 30th birthday. We were supposed to drive back New Year's Eve night but about 2 hours before we left, I decided to check the weather and we made a last minute decision not to leave. The weather in MN was looking iffy so we left Sunday morning. Olivia was such a trooper and did really well on the drive during the day, considering she spent 13 hours in her car seat!

Today was a flurry of unpacking, grocery shopping and laundry. Olivia kept pointing outside so we packed her into her snowsuit and she walked around with Duane.

"Moon!" Olivia LOVES to point out the moon!

Tomorrow it's back to the real world and poor Olivia will go back to daycare. She's definitely not going to get the level of attention she's been spoiled with for the past couple of weeks. To top that off - she'll be soon moving to the toddler room at daycare. Lots of changes coming so stay tuned!