Sick :(

Nothing more to say about our week than that! On Tuesday night, Charlie woke up around 9:30 throwing up. He threw up 3 more times that night before we managed to get him (and Lily, who woke up from all the commotion) back in bed around 1:00am. The next morning I took Charlie to the pediatrician for a lingering cough unrelated to the stomach bug. The nurse pracitioner we saw said the cough was from a combo of leftover cold and allergies, and we had to wait it out. The next day, Thursday, began with Lily throwing up and Charlie still weak, lethargic and coughing. As the pictures on this post prove, the poor boy could not stay awake for more than half an hour. On Thursday and Friday, both kids took a 4 hour nap, woke at 4:30 and were back in bed at 6:30. When they were awake, there was a lot of dozing, whimpering and begging for milk, which of course they couldn't have. And Thursday afternoon, I went down for the count with the stomach virus as well. (And oh, was it horrible!! I feel even worse knowing just how bad poor Charlie and Lily felt!)

Thankfully, Joe managed to avoid the virus (so far, at least!) and was able to stay home on Friday and take care of us all. But by yesterday morning, while the vomiting had stopped and the kids were eating a bit, they both were coughing, Charlie worse than ever. So off to the pediatrician we went again. This time, the doctor we saw said she heard wheezing in Charlie's lungs and diagnosed him with a sinus infection. She put him on an amoxicilin and prescribed nebulizer treatments for him every four hour. Lily gets nebulizer treatments for her cough as well, until it goes away.

I'm glad that we got some help for Charlie, and as of last night he seemed to be perking up a bit, so fingers crossed! Is it spring yet?!?!

(On another doctor note, Lily returned to Dr. Wasserman on Tuesday (before the plague hit, lol) to have her eyes re-checked. Dr. Wasserman has been following Lily since her NICU stay for a few pigment spots on her eyes. Lily was such a good girl at the doctor (she especially liked how we got to go walk around the mall while we waited for her eyes to dilate) and Dr. Wasserman determined that the spots are absolutely nothing and she's all cleared.)

Full of excuses

I have been a terrible blogger as of late, I know. Things have just suddenly gotten so busy around here that I haven't had much time to spend online. The biggest distraction of the moment is the fact that we're moving next month. (Yes, AGAIN, lol.) So a lot of our time and energy has been devoted to getting everything straightened out with that. Then there's my part-time job, which eats into a lot of my free time, and the fact that as they've gotten older, Charlie and Lily's daily naps have gotten shorter (sob!).

We've also been out and about a lot. The fight against wintertime cabin fever has kept us busy. We have Charlie and Lily's beloved music class once a week, and make frequent trips to the library. Both kids love books!
Charlie and Lily have, thankfully, decided that they love going to the kids' club at my gym, so we go there usually twice a week, on Mondays when I teach my Body Attack class and on Fridays. Fridays are their favorite day to go because we stop at Dunkin Donuts on the way home to get donuts for Charlie and Lily and coffee for Mommy. Donuts make Charlie very happy.
The kids are also big fans of Cracker Barrel, where I work. We regularly meet my coworker and her son, Dominic, there for breakfast.
Oh, and sometimes when we're leaving or entering the house, this goes on:
We also are still trying to get outside when the weather permits it. Yesterday we got our first snow of 2012, so we had to go check things out. Charlie and Lily had a blast!

High Five Routine

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Happy birthday to the most wonderful father and husband we could ever ask for. All three of us are so lucky to have you in our lives. You spoil us, you make us laugh, you shower us with love and you make us happy each and every day. We love you with all our hearts!

The Letter J and Daddy's Birthday

This week was all about the letter J. Charlie and Lily practiced doing jumping jacks and sang "Jack Be Nimble." We sorted jelly beans by color, then used the jelly beans for a little art project. Charlie and Lily really enjoyed deciding where to place the jelly beans on their J's.
We also took a little field trip this week to Junglerrrific. Charlie and Lily absolutely love to play at Junglerrific and had a blast. We met Joe there when he was done school, and the kids played until dinner time. Then we left and headed to Perkins for pancakes and chicken fingers. While we ate, Lily recounted for Joe the events of nap time. Since Christmas, Lily has been fighting nap big time. I had been putting them down for nap around 12:45, right after lunch. But since Christmas, Lily has been talking, jumping around, singing and kicking in her crib until at least 2:00, and sometimes not falling asleep at all. The day we went to Jungelrrrific, she somehow managed to get her arm stuck between her crib mattress and the crib side while she was messing around during nap time. She screamed and cried and I, of course, sprinted upstairs to rescue her. All through dinner, Lily kept telling Joe, "Lily's hand stuck! Lily cried. Mommy help you!" Lol! (Since then, I've pushed nap back until 1:15ish and have had much better results!)

Charlie and Lily have also been enjoying playing with all their new Christmas presents, including their easel. Lily especially loves drawing and coloring on it.
This week we also celebrated Joe's birthday by having our families over for pizza, pie and cake. (Joe only really wanted pie for dessert, but Charlie and Lily refuse to believe that you can have a birthday without a cake, so we made this one special for Daddy.)Happy birthday, Daddy!

Welcome, 2012!

2011 was a pretty good year for us, so we made sure to give it a proper send off on New Year's Eve. Once I got my work schedule and saw I had a morning shift that would allow me to be home on New Year's Eve night, Joe decided that we should have a little party with Charlie and Lily at 7:00pm. He called it "Happy New Year's, London!" since 7:00pm would be midnight there. Joe went shopping for decorations and came back with a giant bag of goodies - streamers, balloons, hats, glasses, noise makers, and even sparkling cider. Charlie and Lily had a lot of fun helping him decorate - they dictated where each balloon should be placed.

We asked the kids who they wanted to invite to the party and Charlie's response was, "Cake!" So we made some cake. I gave Charlie and Lily each their own 9" round cake and let them go to town frosting and decorating it.
This was bound to happen.
The mini M&Ms were fun to place on the cake, but both Charlie and Lily preferred to decorate with sprinkles.
Yay, cake! (And yes, that jar of sprinkles wound up on Charlie's cake.)
Watch out, Cake Boss!
And they tasted good, too!
After cake, it was time to party!Glow sticks are apparently an awesome form of toddler amusement. Lily chose to wear all hers as necklaces and bracelets.While Charlie enjoyed taking his out of their packaging and them putting them back in over and over.
Then 7:00pm arrived! Happy New Year!
We ended the night with a sparking cider toast, and by calling our family members so that Charlie and Lily could wish them a happy new year. Charlie started each and every call off with, "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Happy New Year, Mom-Mom/Pop-Pop/Crackers/Aunt Jill, etc."

We're excited to see what 2012 has in store for us, and we wish you all a happy and healthy new year!