Not a baby anymore!

I am enjoying being home w/the kiddos this first week of summer! We, like always, have had baseball every night, but have already worked in yard, went to the zoo, signed up for the reading program & conquered a nap routine! I am excited, yet sad that my little girl is growing up. Audrey started to tell us that she pooped. We would check & she hadn't, but 5 min later, she would! So we bought a potty seat. It, of course, turned into a toy, but we've been putting her in it whenever we would normally change her diaper & she has gone twice! Audrey gets so excited when we cheer her on!

Not sure Gavin realizes that his shadow wants to do everything he does! Sometimes he is a GREAT big brother & other times.... Well... Boys will be boys....

First train trip!

Audrey is very into trains right now. We have to watch Chuggington every morning as soon as we get up. My mom's birthday was coming up & I had been saying we should go visit her cousin, but was unsure about traveling a three hour drive w/an 18 month old. So, we took the train.

It was a little stressful at times, but I liked being able to get up & walk or allow Audrey to roam a little bit.

Barbara, my mom's cousin, watches her granddaughters so I didn't have to take anything. Audrey has been cutting her canines so she somewhat showed her true colors as she threw fits & had trouble sleeping. However, she did play pretty well w/Teagan & Logan.

It was nice to relax & just visit!

Escape

Jim & I took a much needed weekend & headed to Galena last Friday night. Miss A stayed w/Grammy & the boys were with their mom.

Out view from our hotel balcony was so peaceful Saturday morning.

We headed downtown to explore the shops, before checking out a wine tasting. This event was HUGE! There were 45 vendors that had 8 or so wines for you to sample. Some also had beer or hard alcohol. Good thing there was food to munch on!

Jim loves sushi, but I have never been willing to try it. Is there a better time than on vacation? We went to Little Tokyo & I ordered a cooked roll. It was surprisingly very good!

Like every down time, we came home to a house full of laundry & no food. I was trying to pay bills when Jim got a call that Gavin had been hit in the head w/a metal bat & he needed to meet Gavin & his mom at the hospital in her town. I'm not good at waiting,but probably wouldn't handle the blood well, either. Gavin is a trooper! Two stitches & a headache coming right up! Did I mention baseball starts Sunday? Ugh!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Tonight we went to the library to have dinner with the cat in the hat! I was so excited to see my Grammy working the food table. I kept waving to her! I got a hat & colored. They had sandwiches with cat shapes on them. I liked the blue jello with a red fish in it! I sat in my seat like a big girl. The cat has been my babysitter before! I was getting antsy so mommy didn't think I would sit for the story or face painting. She took me downstairs to look at books. I didn't want to leave & threw a small fit for mommy. She hopes I get better before story hour this summer!

Messy!

Audrey & I play every evening for about an hour between dinner & bedtime. Tonight we played in the kitchen. Audrey helped me make chocolate pudding. Yumm!

Audrey's 1st ER visit

I hate to say it, but I'm glad we got this "first" out of the way. Audrey started running a low grade temp Tuesday after dinner, but I just chalked it up to teething. She was zonked by 7, but I didn't give it a second thought since it was first day back to daycare. However, we woke up screaming at 2am w/high fever. :(

I do not get along w/thermometers, but after giving up on 2 of my own a friend brought Hera over. Audrey had a temp of 102! Couldn't ever really get it to break & when I checked on her at 9 it was 104!!!!

Sooooo.... We headed to the ER. They did a strep test (negative), chest x-ray (clear), & urine analysis (fine). First 2 tests were a piece of cake, but the third about ripped out my heart. The nurses couldn't get a catheter in her & tried forever only to decide to tape a bag to her. So.Not.Fun!

Finally determined that she had an upper respiratory infection w/a high fever. This momma now knows to alternate Tylenol w/ibuprofen.

We also know now not to give Audrey amoxicillin. She broke out in hives on Saturday....

It is always something around here!

Big girl!

Since we are still on winter break, we have a little more time to eat breakfast & experiment with silverware. Mommy thought Audrey would be a little messy so we stripped our clothes off. She didn't do bad, though, as she experimented with the spoon, her hand, & even her waffle to eat the yogurt.