Tuesday, February 19, 2013

1st Birthday Party

The thing about having a birthday girl in February is that it is cold outside here. So while our June and September birthday parties can spill into the back yard, no one really wants to wander outside now. So Hannah's invite list was a little smaller than previous 1st birthday parties. Add on to that the surprising fact that some people don't like to travel  in the cold weather and our small list became even smaller. So Hannah's birthday was a nice little affair with some friends and some family.

That didn't stop me from getting all fancy with her birthday cake! The giant cupcake was white with candy melt to make the 'wrapper' and buttercream icing. The smaller cupcakes were all chocolate with buttercream. And they were all fabulous, oh I want more just looking at the picture.


The birthday girl was having none of it though. I mentioned in a previous post that she had been sick the week before. Fortunately, she managed to kick the fever a couple days before the party. However, she was not recovered completely. Or at all. Okay, she was grumpy and tired and clingy. 


And she wanted nothing to do with cake. Seriously, whose child is this? Turning down cake!



But then....then came the presents. I recruited Xander, Josie and a neighbor to help with opening the gifts and, one-by-one, they were presented to the birthday girl. And slowly her demeanor changed. "What is this offering that has pretty sounds and twinkling lights?" you could all but hear her say.


Then it happened. A final gift that had one piece of jewelry. Her godmother slid it on her arm and it was as if the clouds parted. The birthday girl was finally happy. (Chris, on the other hand, had to deal with realizing he had another girlie-girl for a daughter.)




Sunday, February 17, 2013

Easing into One

Hannah turned 1 last week! It's amazing how much she has grown and changed in the year since she has joined us. You would think that by the third child we would be used to how quickly a baby grows, but no. I think that chasing two older siblings around means that Hannah can sneak the growing in faster.

Unfortunately, she could not sneak into turning one. She spent the week before it sick, sick, sick. On Super Bowl Sunday I noticed she was shivering. I chalked it up to sitting on the cold tile in our bathroom and put a hoodie on her. As I put her to bed I thought she felt a little warm but absently thought it was probably from teething.

I stayed home on Monday with Xander because he inexplicably threw up repeatedly during the night. He was fine Monday but Hannah developed a full fledged fever and became super-clingy. I realized that night that she hadn't eaten much and was even refusing to nurse. During the night she was up repeatedly and had to be held to keep her calm. By the morning I was ready to call the doctor just to rule out anything dire.

Fortunately the doctor was able to rule out the flu (they swabbed for a test as soon as we arrived), strep throat, Fifth Disease and Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. Hannah's lungs and heart sounded fine. Her nose, throat and ears all appeared healthy. The doctor said he thought it was a viral infection that would take some time to run it's course and to give ibuprofen or acetaminophen as needed.

It took Tuesday and Wednesday for the fever to wind down. Those were some rough nights, even with the medicine. Thursday and Friday had a few fever spikes but Hannah finally began sleeping and eating better. Just in time too because Saturday was her birthday party. I'll write about that in another post.

We had Hannah's well check the next Tuesday, the day after her birthday. She was finally over the virus and seemed in great health according to the doctor. Her charts are off though due to weight loss from the week before.

Weight: 19 lbs. 12 oz. (29th percentile)
Height: 30.5 inches (90th percentile)

I mentioned that Hannah is teething. I think all four molars and one of the front teeth are coming in excruciatingly slowly. When she laughs (or yells) I can see all of the molars poking through and it makes me cringe a little. Hopefully they will all be through soon.


Sunday, February 3, 2013

Winding Down

While I wouldn't describe our lives as hectic, there is definitely some weeks that are busier than others. This week it included a broken garage door, beginning the search for a new dentist only to find out we could keep our current dentist, dance class, tutoring, soccer, pizza and game night with neighbors, mom's night off and overtime for dad.

Despite all of that, it has been a surprisingly nice weekend. Time to share some pictures.

We've had the fireplace going for most of the weekend.
This is the first we've had it going this winter and the kids loved it.

Watching the Super Bowl after trying a dinner of appetizers.
Xander's favorite part of dinner was dipping cheese puffs in pizza sauce.

Josie was not very interested in the Super Bowl so played with her My Little Ponies,
making her bracelets into necklaces for them.

Xander is happy that his new cousin will be another boy.

This is Xander's 'to do' list from a couple weeks ago, since I had my own list. He accomplished 'have fun' and 'play with Josie' but was unable to get to 'wrctgether' (work together).

Hannah's hair has grown long enough to be in her eyes. I'm not a big fan of bangs so tried barrettes, which did not work out. Pulling her hair up into a Pebbles Flinstone 'do is working much better. I sent Chris a text with this picture and said "You said I could be anything I want, so I became a unicorn."