Stomach Bug

So that bug Ella had...she shared! She was sick for about 4 hours....and that was about it....really was fine from that point on....well Josh and I went to work on Monday....feeling fine. Josh called me around 11 and said...I'm not feeling well...I'm headed home. When he called me....I had been feeling a little ehhh for about an hour...but I thought it might pass....well a little time goes by...and yeah it's not going away...so I told my manager...I don't think I'm going to be able to stay (she knew Ella was sick over the weekend)...I called Josh (about 45 minutes after he had called me)...and said...I'm coming home...he told me to leave Ella at the sitters so we could both rest. I got home and got right into bed....and within the hour....I was super sick. It was so awful....both Josh and I were VERY sick...thank goodness we now have two bathrooms!! At about 4:30....we had to leave to go pick Ella up....I was a little sicker than Josh (if that's possible)...so he said he would go get her....I asked him to get ginger ale on the way home...I would have paid big money to get my hands on a bottle of ginger ale! While Josh was gone...I made my way upstairs to the couch as I knew he would be home with Ella soon. He got home and he went and got in the bed...and Ella was a pretty good trooper....she knew we were sick and did a fairly good job at entertaining herself....the worst part was she wanted dinner...of course she did...she was healthy and hungry! I told her the only thing I could do was make an English muffin for her....poor girl....I could barely handle that. Thankfully she was a good girl...and she went to bed just fine....and as soon as she was in bed...Josh and I got into bed....we were so pathetic...we had all these layers on....3 comforters on our bed...and we were both shivering the bed felt like it was shaking! Ugh....but that's all behind us...WORST 24 hours that I have experienced in a really long time! We were both overdue....we figured it out...Josh was last sick with a bug in 2004 (he hasn't been sick once since we've been married)....I've had a few little things here and there...but not like this bug....but I do have to say....it didn't stick around too long! It did take us about 4 days to get our appetite back. But we're all healthy now!

The rest of the week went fine....I actually had Wednesday off...I had taken a vacation day (planned it a few months ago)....so Josh decided to take that day off too. It was a really low key day. I had my physical set up for 11 - so I went to that (nice and healthy!) Josh and Ella waited in the car. Then we went to Josh's work for a few minutes. Came home and got Ella down for a nap. Then had to get her up....she had a Doctors appointment at 3:45. We were meeting with an allergist. They were really testing to see if she was allergic to penicillin. We talked to him for a while....and he said that since she's already been on 2 different kinds of penicillin and the "reaction" that she had is unfortunately just a side effect from the medication. He was very confident that she was not allergic to it. We talked to him also about seasonal allergies...he said we could test for it...it was completely up to us....but at this point....she's young...I didn't feel it was necessary. We use the zyrtec and it has helped so much...and we run the air purifier in her room...which I think has also really helped. So we're going to hold off on all that for now.

Saturday was going to be another nice day....in the 70's....so we wanted to do something fun. Josh has worked so much in the last 4-6 weeks....we haven't seen a whole lot of him....so he wanted to do some fun family activities! We decided on the zoo in Roanoke. It's a little zoo. It happened to be their "spring fling" this past weekend...so we headed there....

 

We looked at all the animals....then we played on a little playground there....and Ella and Josh built a birdhouse (a whole thing they had set up by Home Depot there)...And then we rode on the "zoo choo" train....all in all...it was a fun time! Ella loved waving to everyone.

We then went to lunch at Red Robin. We were going to head home and Ella said...I want to go look at toys (sometimes we'll just walk the toy aisle at Target....cheaper than buying new toys!!) Josh said why not....lets go walk off our lunch! We were right by the mall so we stopped....well they have a "Build-A-Bear" store there....and probably about a month ago Josh and I were talking about doing something like that with Ella...I didn't even know they had one in Roanoke....so we walk into the mall and we're walking around....and I spotted it....so of course we had to go check it out!


She picked out which "bear skin" she wanted....

 

Then she stood on the pedal to help fill the bear up with stuffing!

 

Making sure she is nice and squishy.

 Then at the end....the bear gets a bath to get nice and clean.
They also have about 1000 different outfits and accessories to go with it! We let her pick out one thing she wanted the bear to wear...so she's in a pretty spring dress (and I already checked out eBay and found lots of outfits that run about a $1 compared the $15 in the store!).

So now her bear is her new friend...and she'll say....Can the bear that I made come in the car with me? Can the bear that I made sit at the table with me? She's also very obsessed with her birdhouse....Why are there no birds in my birdhouse?? So tonight...Josh rigged up a spot to put the birdhouse on the deck so she can look out the doors in the kitchen and see her birdhouse. She was thrilled with that. Hopefully we'll see a bird!

Tonight I made my very own mushroom cream sauce to serve with spinach ravioli....I told Josh....this tastes better than Olive Garden! :)

Well...that was our week....we're hoping for a healthy week this week!

70 Degrees/Snow

We had a fairly normal week...Josh had a few days with long hours and a few normal days. I had to fill in for someone on Thursday so I worked until 7pm....then had to be back for 8am....felt like I never went home! :)

Friday night we were talking at dinner how nice it was going to be to have a nice quiet weekend....without any plans, etc. I went to bed around 9:30...I was super tired....and Josh went to bed around 11....I just remember waking up in the middle of the night to this ringing noise....turns out Josh is on-call this month...and got called out at 1:30am!! Ugh! However...his phone rang...and he thought it was an alarm...so he swiped his finger across the screen to turn it off....he said he was laying in bed...and he could here this faint..."hellllo? Josh.....? Can you hear me?" Then nothing....and Josh was like what in the world...! Then the ringing started....now he was a little more coherent and realized it was his phone ringing...he answered it...and found out he was getting called out....so he left at 1:30am....and came home around 6:15am...went to bed for a few hours and got up. Ella slept in until 7:30am...yay for me! :) I got her up and we played for a little while before Josh came up and said he wanted to go out and do something....it was going to be 70ish on Saturday....so we decided we would go to Amazement Square. Ella went one time...but she was like 5 weeks old! :) So...we got ready and headed there. It's basically a discovery museum for kids with a lot of local things incorporated. When we first got there she was very timid and didn't want to do anything....but after about 10 minutes she opened up....

The first section is for 4 years and under....it's a farm scene...

The have a pretend vegetable garden that you can pick vegetables...you can "milk a cow"....I failed at it...Josh was like come on you're the one who grew up on a farm! :) He was able to do it! They had a chicken coop that you can climb in (it's right behind Ella in the picture) and you can gather the pretend eggs up. We stayed in this section for about 30-45 minutes....until she finally opened up and was ready to play!

There are multiple levels with slides all throughout the levels....we found one slide that wasn't too big and she loved it....we did that one multiple times!

They have a huge exhibit all about the James River....

I think she would have stayed here and played quite a big longer....but her shirt kept getting wetter and wetter! :)

It's very interactive...lots of things to do....we checked out a Native American display...

Digging for some artifacts!

It was a fun day....we spent almost 3 hours there...then Ella was saying she was hungry and wanted a corn dog....her almost weekly treat! :) And we got a milkshake to share!

The rest of the afternoon was spent taking naps....all 3 of us! And playing at home.

We got woken up at 2:30am to Ella yelling MAMA! MAMA! Josh was like probably a bad dream...so I went running upstairs...turned the light on and she was sitting up saying, "I'm sick. My tummy doesn't feel good." And she was right....she was sick....all in her bed...Josh came upstairs to help me....I got her bed all changed....Josh cleaned Ella up...we got her all tucked back into bed...I laid down for about 2 minutes...and I could hear her moaning Mama.....so I went back upstairs...and she said, "Mama I just don't feel good...can you please hold me?" Well....not what I REALLY wanted to do...I wanted to go to sleep....but how can you say no to that....so I gather our pillows and some blankets and we camped out on the couch...good thing....she got sick almost every 30 minutes for about 4 hours straight....ugh! I kept waiting for her to fall asleep on the couch....and no such luck! We watched show after show....and actually I found this to be pretty neat....she wanted to watch the Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Filmed in 1977) - I can remember watching that when I was little! And she loved it....watched the whole thing (twice today as a matter of fact!) About 7:30 she was like I'm hungry....can I have some applesauce....I was very hesitant to give her anything....but she was asking for it....she ate it....and kept it down....and really had way more energy than I did! I kept telling her to lay down she needed to rest, etc. Josh finally got up around 9....I wanted to go to the grocery store since I didn't go on Saturday...so I got up and got ready while he stayed home with Ella...she was feeling better but still wanted to be snuggled up on the couch with her Daddy. She took a 4 hour nap today! And Mama took a 1.5 hour nap! :) I scrubbed the bathrooms clean today! And did 4 loads of laundry!

She seems to be just fine now though....so fingers crossed she is!

It's snowing like crazy now....beautiful weather yesterday and now predicted 4-8 inches of snow...we'll see!

I made Banana Bread today...I was right in the middle of making it....and realized I didn't have ANY sugar....and the recipe called for quite a bit....well.....I made it without sugar! I did put some pure Vermont maple syrup in it....about 1/3 of a cup....and the bread actually turned out okay....not quite as fluffy as usual....but not bad.

Well it's 8:20....and since I got a whole 4 hours of sleep last night....I'm ready for bed....I have to go fold my last load of laundry...and get ready for bed!

Happy Birthday!

Monday...our 4-8 inches only ended up between 2-3 inches of messy freezing rain, that turned to sleet, that turned to snow. I ended up being home on Monday...not due to the weather....but Ella's sitter had two sick boys (her own kids) - they had the stomach bug that's been going around...so she very well couldn't watch kids with her own two sick! Worked out just fine...so Ella and I spent the day together at home.

She is in a singing mood these days....

I worked with her some on Monday with "activities." I had looked through a few preschool work books at Target a few weeks ago....to get an idea of things they are teaching that age range...so I made up my own activities. One thing I did was draw two big dots and had her connect the two dots with a straight line. I also made a maze and put one dot at the beginning and one at the end....and I had her draw a line connecting the two dots without going outside of the maze....she did really well! I talked to her about coloring inside of the lines (she's working on that one! She gets a little crazy when coloring and likes to go fast). We did ABC activities....and worked on counting....and my favorite one...we colored a picture together and I said....let's put your name on it...and she said, "ok!" So I went to go take her hand so we could do it together...and she said, "no I do it by myself." And here is Ella's name (without ANY help!)

She completely did that on her own....not bad for not even 3 yet!

That's been our last couple of days...Ella is still awake (an hour after she went to bed)....she just called to me....I went in her room and she was sitting up in bed holding her ears...saying, "what is that??" And she's right...it was loud! It was a loud airplane going by....she is so scared of loud noises...I don't know what triggered that....but she is sensitive to things being loud!

I was going to make taco's tonight...and Ella said..."banana tacos? I like banana tacos." Sure...why not. It's a big tortilla shell with peanut butter, a sliced up banana and a few chocolate chips....she ate it right up....and Josh had a small piece of it (with his chicken marsala)....and he was looking around for more "banana tacos"....guess they liked it! :) Tomorrow night will be real tacos!

What We've Been Up To....

It's been a few weeks...

We purchased a fancy little air purifier for Ella's room.....trying to think of all things that will cut down on her coughing. I read quite a few articles on how to deal with allergies...as I really think that's what she has. The switch to Zyrtec was good...we run the air purifier at night. And her bedding gets washed weekly in hot water to kill the dust mites, we clean her room at least once a week, and well...of course we're only a week into it...but at least we're sleeping through the night!!! Last week Josh and I were only getting about 4 hours of sleep at night due to her horrible coughing and having to get up with her over and over. The worst part of her coughing was at night....and always started at midnight...and would last until about 4....ugh! So after a few days of that....I was whipped...and Josh and I are both super busy at work...I had to work Saturday....and I was exhausted...I came home around 1:30...and it was just about time for Ella to lay down and take a nap....she took a 3 hour nap....and so did I!! :) A full 3 hours...I couldn't believe it....but I was super tired! :)

This past week Josh has been practically living at work...he has a defense expert coming in to review his case and he wanted to make sure he didn't miss anything...so he has been working from 6am - midnight for almost a week straight....he did come home from 6:30-7:30 so he could see Ella and have dinner with us....then back to work he went...

Ella really likes to do what Mama does....one day this week I was getting ready for work and I was blow-drying my hair...next thing I know...Ella is standing next to me....

And she's got her brush and pretend hair-dryer...also doing her hair! :)

Ella has gotten into playing with her dress-up clothes....Josh is not a fan at all of the shoes...but she likes them! She's only allowed to wear them in the living room where the carpet is....

And now she asks to be a princess all the time! :)

Yesterday our friends were having a "gender reveal" party to tell us all what they were having...boy or girl....the majority was thinking boy....but when we all sprayed the silly string and saw the pink....we were surprised....girl it is!!! :) So of course....now I'm in a shopping mode....as shopping for a new baby girl is so much fun! :)  Josh had to work today...so Ella and I went to church...and after church...of course we had to go to Target! And picked up a few baby girl things....!

I felt like Betty Crocker today....I made (for the first time ever)...Mozzerella stuffed meatballs served over spaghetti...I was pretty impressed....turned out pretty good! Ella ate a good portion of that! I also made in the crockpot...Chicken Marsala. And I made a caramel cream cheese apple dip....yummm!

We had weather around 65 today...I had the windows open....and now tonight they're calling for 4-8 inches of snow/sleet moving in.....ugh! I'm over winter! So guess we'll see what tomorrow brings!

And it snows....

Before the snow arrived this week....we ended up taking Ella to the Doctor on Wednesday morning....her coughing was getting worse...and we wanted it looked at since it had been 2.5 weeks....so the Doctor checked her out....ears were fine, lungs were fine, throat was good...no fever...so she said to just keep sticking it out....to switch to giving her Zyrtec every night...we were doing clairtin before....so we switched to that...we keep her propped up at night, humidifier going, etc etc...and she does actually sound better today than she has in a few weeks!

Wednesday afternoon the snow arrived! Josh called me at work and was like we need to get home! It was coming down fast and sticking...he said there is no way the car will make it home...so we had to leave it at my work and he picked me up. It took us 1.5 hours to go pick Ella up!!! (which it normally is right at 10 minutes away)...but the traffic was bumper to bumper going at a snails pace...and people were just pulling off and leaving their cars and walking because the cars couldn't make it up the hills, etc. It was awful. We finally got to Ella and put her in the car and Josh said he was going to go home a different way (the bypass instead of the main way)....which ended up being such a smart decision....it took us about 40 minutes to get home after we got Ella....and we went inside and didn't leave the house! We both got the call that work for both of us was going to be closed on Thursday. We ended up with about 12 inches at our house. Of course we live on a back-road that the snow plow took forever to getting to us....I really think it only went through one time....it was pretty messy. However....thankfully we've had a few warmer days which have helped it melt quickly! :)

Ella is not a fan of the snow at all....she is "scared" of it....and wants nothing to do with it...she won't walk in, won't touch it, etc....which is fine...I'm not a huge fan of it either! :) Today I did convince her to go outside with me and walk around for a few minutes....

 

It was a little colder than I expected...it was windy...so we didn't stay outside for long...maybe 10 minutes...I think she would have stayed out longer now that she discovered that she likes it!

I found something new that Ella REALLY likes to eat...I took a whole wheat tortilla and spread peanut butter on it, sliced up a banana on it, put a tiny handful of chocolate chips on it, folded it over....and cooked it like a quesadilla...she loved it and ate it right up....and I cut up some watermelon...another favorite of hers. 

At the Doctor's office they did weigh her....she gained a little weight....finallllllly after almost 4 months of being at the exact same weight....now she's 25.2 pounds....still as light as a feather....but it's an improvement!

I came home on Friday to a dozen roses, a card and a box of chocolates....I think it may have been my first valentines gift in a long time (we normally don't do stuff for valentines)....so that was a nice surprise! :)

I have a new recipe I'm going to try out in the crock pot tomorrow. Last weekend I ended up making 4 loaves of banana bread...so I sent some to Josh's work...and I made for his work....Buffalo Chicken Dip...spoiled boys! 

My eyes are getting heavy....time to head to bed!

 

Still Cold.

It's still cold outside.

We got a special day last weekend of being almost 70! (I'll post some pictures in just a minute)...which was really really nice.

Ella still has this lingering cold :( Last weekend it turned into a cough....so I asked Josh if we could please go to the health food store...that I really wanted to get Ella some "homeopathic" remedies. I just don't think she needs ANOTHER antibiotic! Now last time we went to urgent care she was truly very sick and needed something to get her better....but this is just a miserable cold that won't go away. So....I got some elderberry syrup that she's been taking everyday, an immunity builder essential oil, and the humidifier at night....it's improving...just still lingering a bit....but colds can last for weeks I suppose. I even made homemade Chicken Noodle Soup....and I made my own stock. I was feeling very domesticated....the whole process took almost 4 hours! Ella loved it though....and I'm actually going to make it again tomorrow!

We all took super long naps today. I haven't laid down and taken a nap in quite a while. It was just a long week this week for all of us. Josh worked a few 12 hour days....and has a stressful case he's working on....so not sleeping much at night....I laid Ella down for her resting time in her room. I laid down on one couch and Josh on the other...I had Brinly and he had Bella...the whole family slept for 3 hours!!!!! I woke up and I said..."I can't even believe I just slept for 3 hours!"

Josh is in the market for a new dress watch....his beloved Seiko died....so we went "watch shopping" today....but didn't find anything that he loved.  Ella got all kinds of compliments, "what a sweet girl," "isn't she a cutie!" "I just love her boots!" She was soaking it all up! :)

Ella was up at 6:15ish today....I almost always wake her up during the week around 6:40-7:00....but on the weekends...of course she's up early on her own! So I dragged myself out of bed...and we made banana bread at 7am this morning!

Here's some pictures from our weekend last weekend (Daddy had to work)...

 And Ella coloring her Daddy a picture this week when he was at work.


Hard to believe Saturday is almost over...and it's Sunday tomorrow and then the week begins again! I've got some cleaning to do tomorrow...I got a good start today...but need to finish up tomorrow!

Is Winter Over?

I'm tired of being cold and high electric bills....bring on the Spring weather!

We've had a few "snow dusting" days now...Ella's not a fan...she think it's cool to look out the window and see the snow. However...she is very concerned when she has to walk in it. This morning Josh switched the car seat from the car to the Xterra so I would have 4-wheel drive...and I was carrying all our things out to the car so I told Ella she needed to walk and we could hold hands....she finally took that first step into the snow (mind you she's wearing snow boots)....we get to the Xterra and I put the bags in...and then I pick Ella up and get her in her car seat...and it's 12 degrees out...the wind is blowing...I'm stinking cold...and Ella is fussing that there is snow on her boots and can I please wipe it off....I said, "NOOO" that it was ok for her boots to have snow on them....that is what they are made for. We got to Beth's house...and she wanted to take her boots off as soon as we got inside and make sure that the snow was off of them.

Ella has a mild cold....I tried so hard to avoid her getting one! It's very very mild though....so I think we'll actually escape having to go to the Doctor this time...I upped her vitamin intake, allergy medicine, got the humidifier running, added some probiotics to build her immunity....and I think it's working!

Saturday morning Josh volunteered to go help a co-worker set up for a fundraiser. His family is adopting a little boy from Eastern Europe with some physical setbacks...so they have been raising funds to complete the adoption process....this past Saturday they did a BBQ fundraiser. This man does a lot of "smoking meats"....and they cooked over 300lbs of meat! So, Josh helped out for a few hours on Saturday and Ella and I met him over there....we got lunch there before heading home. Josh got some ribs...and I got a pork sandwich....both were awesome! They sold out by 1pm....only 2 hours into it....it was going to be open until 3. I think they are just a hair away from their final goal...

Ella entertaining herself while I was getting ready...

 

It's a puzzle she got for Christmas and she was doing a great job putting it together...needs a little help with it...but she's getting the concept!

Ella posing with her Mama last week...

 

Josh has been working a little extra lately...a few big court cases coming up that he's a little nervous about....so he's been putting in some extra time to make sure he's got everything done that he needs to have done.

Ella got a package in the mail last week from her Grampy and Nanny up in Vermont that had some glitter tattoos in it....so everyday Ella is asking for a new tattoo....it's pretty funny to hear her say, "Daddy, can I please have a tattoo?" :) They are princess themed...and sparkly...and they last for about 24 hours before coming off....so yes Ella....you can have a tattoo! :)

Ella loves to sing...she has been singing about anything and everything....making up the words as she goes along....it's cute! Tonight's song was about elephants!

She's got things figured out...when she does something that upsets me (like if I tell her Ella don't climb up in that chair....and she does anyway)...she'll say, "Mama you mad?" I answer her...."Mommy doesn't like it when you don't listen to me. Please listen to me...I don't want you to fall off of the chair and get hurt." She'll wait a few minutes and then say, "Mama....I like you. I like you a lot." How can you be upset with that?? :)

That's been our week in a nutshell...We're ready for spring! We're hoping to go to DC for a weekend....take Ella to the zoo....once it warms up of course. I'm tired of being stuck inside!