Sicky Wheezy Poo...

Little A is sick again. I searched the archives of my blog from September to refer to the post where I told you all about what happened with her back then, and low and behold... I didn't blog about it.

Shocking.

See, I don't blog about everything...

Anyway, remember when Sassy was sick in September and had to have the chest xray? Yeah, well remarkably healthy Little A did not remain...

I guess I was stuck in this rut because I was sick of having sick kiddos and didn't want to blog about it, truth be told...

Anyway, the week after Sassy was sick, we picked the girls up from MDO, and Little A sounded pretty congested. As I was making dinner, she began to sound worse and worse. By the time we were eating, she was struggling to breathe. Once I stopped to count her respirations, and saw the retractions she was having as she inhaled, I knew a trip to the ER was in our future...

Tyler decided to take her in as I finished up dinner and cared for Sassy. About an hour later, I received a phone call from Ty saying that it was a really good thing we had brought her in. Her O2 sats were terrible and she was rushed back to be worked on. Luckily, they got everything under control with a breathing treatment and an oral steroid. They diagnosed her with croup, monitored her for four hours, and sent her home on the oral steroid.

Fast forward to yesterday...

Same scenario- she was perfectly fine besides a bit of congestion. When she awoke from her nap, she was a little wheezy. As Tyler was on his way home, she started sounding worse, so we called the pediatrician to see if they would see her before close in order to (hopefully) prevent another trip to the ER if things progressed in a negative direction.

Long story short-- they saw her and Dr. agreed that her breathing sounded lousy. Her O2 sats were not critical this time- 95-ish. They did a nebulizer treatment in the office, and decided that she needed to continue the breathing treatments until further notice. Oh, and she had a double ear infection. Yuck!

We are a little concerned as to why she has these breathing difficulties every time she gets the slightest bit sick- it is something we all will be keeping a close eye on. For now, she will continue a preventative nebulizer treatment twice a day for 10 days and then once a day until she has her ear recheck in 4-5 weeks. We also have the "rescue drug" for any acute breathing difficulties and an antibiotic for her ear infections.

She's not used to it yet, so she still fights us a little bit:



But, after a minute, she calms down and we sing songs and read books. She is so pretty:





I know that there are a million things more severe that could occur. I am not trying to compare apples and oranges here with severe, life-threatening illness that we, thank God, are not facing.

I'm just saying that it is really hard to have a sick baby. I'm sure all of you moms can agree...

The Mole

I was sleeping peacefully in my bed this morning when Sassy comes bolting into my bedroom. Exasperated, she starts spewing off this long, complicated story about how I need to come quick because there is a mole in our house by the front door and Graycop is outside killing it and he told her to stay inside so her feet stay warm but the mole is still inside but Graycop is outside and there is a mole...

Meanwhile, I have processed about 12% of what she has just stated. I ask her, "Sweetie, do you even know what a mole is?"

"Yesssss," she says. "There is a mole by the front door and you need to come see it and it is scary but it is not a bat, it's a mole, mommy."

I saunter out of bed expecting to see this:



Instead, this is what is hanging out by our front door:



"Oh, that's a moth, sweetie," I tell her.

"I told you there was a moth, mama," she replies.

Sigh.

Monkeys & Turkeys and other things...

This past Sunday, we had a chance to attend a birthday party at My Gym for one of the girls' playmates. We had such a great time. Just like our first visit, the girls had a ball... no pun intended!

Sassy was a little jumping jack:



She enjoyed playing the parachute game with her friends:



Little A played on the bridge with her buddies:



Sassy crossed a few bridges herself:



Where's Sassy? We can't find her!!



Making Daddy proud:



She looks a little devious with those pigtails!



Whee!



My friend Mandy made the cutest.cupcakes.EVER for her little guy's birthday- sock monkeys:



Little A thought her monkey was divine...



What a great birthday party- they really kept the kids entertained. I already had a master plan up my sleeve for Little A's 2nd birthday party, but I may just have to reconsider...

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With all of that cupcake inspiration, I thought I'd take a stab in the cute cupcake category for my PAT playgroup, Grins & Squiggles. Our theme this month was Thanksgiving, turkeys, and all things "T"...



Clearly, there is a reason that Mandy should be doing this and not me! They sort of resembled turkeys, no??



Sassy made a turkey finger puppet:



And, she worked on a paper bag turkey:



Little A was unavailable to be photographed during craft time.

Her agent Graycop said she was too busy inhaling turkey cupcakes.

Halloween Wrap-Up...

I am so behind the times in the world of blog... it's driving me crazy!!

We've had quite the busy Halloween season this year. We left off with our 2nd and 3rd Halloween parties the weekend prior to the big day. The following week, we had cause to celebrate Wednesday-Saturday!

The girls wore their Halloween outfits to MDO last Wednesday. I rarely get a decent picture of the two of them together anymore, so enjoy:



Isn't Little A gourd-geous??

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Wednesday evening, Parents As Teachers held Move 'N' Groove, Spooktacular edition. The kids had a great time seeing their friends in costume and singing and dancing the night away. Sassy especially enjoyed the "leaf game", which involved sorting the leaves by color and shape!

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Thursday evening, we headed to our Dillon's Marketplace for their Halloween event. The girls got to decorate mini pumpkins, participate in a cake walk, get tattoos and balloon animals, and play a few games.

Little A was the cutest little ladybug I have ever seen at Dillon's before:



They gave the kids sharpies to decorate their pumpkins with. Sharpies. Really, Dillon's? Do you have kids, Dillon's?



I couldn't decide which pumpkin was cuter. Well, actually, that's not true. The red & black one, hands down!



Sassy was SO proud of her big cake walk win:



There was definitely some BFF princess power being channeled... which brings me to this topic. Was I a little disappointed that Sassy did not want to wear her Little Red Riding Hood Costume that I spent a year putting together, including searching high and low for that organic red fleece cape, re- stitching said cape, and having an authentic hand-dyed dirndl from Germany shipped to the States? Yes. Was it worth it to disappoint her? No.



Future BFF's?? The jury's out...



The balloon station was a hit:



Sassy ♥'d her balloon flower bracelet!

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On Friday evening, we went to a fundraiser event at my friend's daughter's preschool. We went last year, as well, and had a great time.

On the way to the event, Sassy started having a major coughing spell. Like, non-stop, 20-minutes, coughing her lungs up coughing. Crazy! I questioned whether or not we should turn around, but she would have had her little heart broken. Her coughing continued when we got there, so we basically power walked around the gym, hitting as many stations as we could in the shortest amount of time. I had some moms give me the why did you bring your sick kid out death stare. I felt pretty guilty- she was FINE at home, I swear...

She was still cute, though:



Picture of the girls together in their Halloween costumes, take 3,794. Epic Fail.



Fishing for treats:



Lollipop tree:



Little A spent most of the evening delighting in taking her hood on and off:



Kiddie Plinko. Love it!

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Sassy was pretty bummed about feeling under the weather and having to leave her friends early, so once we got home, we gave the girls their Halloween buckets a day early.



I had just picked up a few Halloween odds and ends over the past few weeks, and the girls really enjoyed them!



In true 14-month old fashion, Little A enjoyed the container the most:



Sassy was thrilled to have glow-in-the-dark bracelets!

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Sassy had a very rough night of coughing, and we decided to keep her home from tumbling class Saturday morning. She did a lot of resting and drinking plenty of fluids, and when it came time to trick-or-treat, we agreed that a little bit wouldn't hurt.

Our town has a small trunk-or-treat at the main park and then trick-or-treating at the downtown businesses, so that's what we stuck to. Graycop* came with us!

Sassy insisted on dressing up as Belle this time. Whatev. As much as I wanted her to be Little red riding Hood, she was a radiant Belle.



We did have a slight battle over her shoes. She wanted to wear her dress-up shoes, and I kept trying to convince her that those would be no good for outdoor trick-or-treating. I finally dug up a pair of gold mary janes that were put away for the future. Even though they were still a little big, I figured they would do the trick. After I promised her that these were, indeed, golden princess slippers, and after everyone in the house affirmed my claim, we were off!



Little A made Graycop her buddy, and he had the pleasure of carrying her throughout the evening. Better him than me... she's h-e-a-v-y!



Ty took Sassy up to each car for trunk-or-treating:



Sassy enjoyed checking out her goods:



Little A spent some time taking it all in:



She had a bundle of fun once we let her loose in a pile of leaves. Ah... fall!



We enjoyed a bit of trick-or-treating at the various downtown businesses:



All in all, we had a nice, rather brief time. In fact, Little A thought it was just ducky:



* Refer here for back story...

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Phew. Another Halloween behind us. Sassy has already declared her costume choice for next year- a purple unicorn. We'll see if it lasts- her choice from last year held all throughout the year. I'm hoping to still have one more year to dress Little A however I choose... we'll see. Sassy told me that Little A will be a butterfly next year. I guess only time will tell...

Three.Point.Five

Miss Sassy: Loves to play dress-up. Eater of peanut butter and jelly, hummus and pita chips, and oatmeal squares. Dancing fool. Collector of rocks, acorns, nuts, leaves, and various outdoor treasures. Liner-upper of baby dolls. Lover of blankets and all things that may possibly pass as a blanket substitute. Princess at heart. Wearer of dresses, jeans, shirts, leggings, tights, socks, and shoes. But, mostly dresses. Singer of many songs, most recently Bear Hunt, Tic Toc, and The Lady With the Alligator Purse. Avid fan of Dora, Diego, Kai-Lan, Ming Ming, Ruby, and Olivia. Number recognizer. Wishes she was Alice in Wonderland, in real life. Lover of purses. Master colorer and drawer to many castles. Sleeper without covers; professional tosser and turner at night. Giver of many hugs and kisses. Specializes in butterfly kisses and Eskimo kisses. Invader of personal space. Cute as a button. Loves to bake, pour, and stir. Prefers pink... and purple. Hair-stylist to numerous My Little Ponies and Disney Princess Barbies. Collector of Disney Favorite Moments princesses. Big-time reader; loves Bear Feels Sick, Fancy Nancy, Alice the Fairy, The Mine-o--saur, and There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly. Oh, and Llama, Llama, Mad At Mama. Slipper-wearer. Nail polish fiend. Coveter to Mommy's makeup. New gum chewer. Hoarder to many small things. Cuddler. Bed Warmer. Cheerer-upper. Wearer of many sweet smiles. Maker of goofy giggles. Owner of baby blue eyes and sweet, rosy cheeks. And the pointiest tongue you have ever seen.

Sassy, you are my cherry on top. Thank you for three and a half years filled with laughter, joy, cuddles, hugs, and sweet, sweet kisses.

I ♥ you!

Picking Your Battles... aka Halloween and your 3-year-old...

This is what Sassy dressed up as at the beginning of Halloween season:



This is what Sassy dressed up as in the middle of Halloween season:



This is what Sassy dressed up as today, Halloween Day:



You win some, you lose some. What can I say?

Well, besides that she is my little Beauty, no matter the costume...

Every.Single.Time.

Why, I ask you... why, why, why?

Why must you take one shoe off each and every time we get into the car?

Why do you enjoy feeling the breeze between your toes on your right foot, while miss lefty over there sits hot and stifled?

It never fails.