Birthday Girl!!

The last 52 weeks sure have flown by!  It's hard to believe that a year ago on Friday night, I went into labor. Then was in labor all day Saturday. And into Sunday. But then she arrived!! Finally, she arrived. Oh, glorious April 22nd!  A wonderful birthday for Rose, Mother Earth, Great Aunt Louise, and co-worker Angie!  Happy birthday to all! But before we get to the celebratory goodness of this post, let's quickly review the events of the last few days...


Last Thursday I made the incomprehensible error of saying to Mike, "Gosh, Rose hasn't been sick in about two weeks!"

Are you done laughing yet?

Now are you done?

Yes, as you probably predicted, Rose was awake for several hours on Thursday night, and had to stay home on Friday due to vomiting and diarrhea. Yuck!

On Saturday we tried to feed her bland-ish foods, like cheerios for breakfast, nutella bread for lunch, and cheesy bread for dinner. At lunch Mike and I joked about who would get the most nutella on their face.

Mike "won."

Then after dinner I got hit HARD by the virus Rose had had the day before. I'll spare you the sordid details, but I'll just say it was bad enough that I was debating going to the hospital for dehydration treatment. Thankfully, Mike found some ondansetron in our medicine cabinet and I'm so incredibly thankful for that miracle drug! I was finally able to keep some water down after that. (And, yes, looking at those pictures above is making me feel ill now, even as I type two days later!)

Sunday was a day of recovery for me, and of increasing nausea for Mike. That's right, he got the bug too. Meanwhile, Rose was basically recovered and was bored silly in our house. Huge thanks to Jack, Marsha and Anne for coming to visit (instead of the dinner we had had planned at Jack and Marsha's). Rose greatly appreciated the entertainment and Mike and I greatly appreciated the rest! Thank you!

As a result of my extreme nausea and fatigue yesterday, we had VERY few weekly pictures to choose from. But here are a few to commemorate her last week of portraits in her "weekly onesie" outfit:

As of this morning I had only eaten about 5 frosted mini wheats in 48 hours, so I decided to use some of my much-valued PTO in order to continue to rest and recover at home today. Rose was excited to have me home (normally I'm leaving for work by the time she wakes up) and gave me LOTS of kisses to prove it. (As you can see, we're switching from lip kisses to cheek kisses now. I'm pretty sure lip kisses last week had some role in our household virus sharing!)

I then had the opportunity to drop Rose off at school (and take some pictures), since Mike was still feeling "off" this morning. (But I must apologize to all her teachers for subjecting them to my stench - after I got home, I realized it had been 72 hours since I last showered. Ew!) Here's Rose in her classroom:

When I went back to pick her up at the end of the day (after several hours of rest, answering work emails, and folding laundry), this sign was on the door:

Looks like she and her friends had a great day celebrating!

For dinner we got special birthday sushi!

"Yummy avocado rolls!"

Which was then followed by something, judging from the look on her face, truly disgusting:

Yes, it was Italian dessert custard. Oh, the horrors! And then the whipped cream got on her wrist, which was truly awful!!

At least Mac was willing to distract her from the misery her parents had subjected her to.

Then it was time for present!  Formal thank yous will definitely be sent at a future date. In the mean time, let me summarize by saying that she got a fun vintage card:

And a fun pop-up card:

(Rose started clapping each time the pop-up card opened)

 Even mother nature sent some confetti (aka snow) to help celebrate.

Please let it be warm and sunny soon!!!

Happy Birthday, Little Miss!!! We love you so much. Hope you had a wonderful first birthday, Rose!

random thoughts

Happy seventh week of March! BLECH!!!


In other news, here's a thought-provoking and inspirational video about body image:


And here's another video showing Rose entertaining herself. Who knew socks could be so much fun?!?

Here's hoping for sunny, warm days in the near future!

51 weeks - standing!

This is going to be a relatively short weekly update. I had a LONG week at work and I'm still not entirely refreshed to face another week. Plus, I want to conserve my energy since Rose's first birthday is only a week away!!!


This week, Rose has continued to ask for opportunities to sit on the potty:

But only for tinkles, not for toots.

(Keepin' it real.)

As you can see, she also has been enjoying her wooden ring stacker:

She has started sticking out her tongue when she's excited (like, to be crawling toward Mommy):

She has also begun giving her stuffed animals and the cats hugs!

She LOVES reading.  This morning she kept bring me books to read:

Then this happened:

Yes, it's the Big Red Barn book. Again.

Wait a minute...are you...standing???

OMG! Rose is standing!

I'm so proud of you, Rose!

Isn't she brave and strong and well-balanced?  Yes, I'm a proud mama.

Have a great week, everyone!

good question

"Why is it snowing in mid April, Mommy?"

April?!

Yesterday I left my keys at work, so I can't park in my heated, underground parking spot today.
#firstworldproblems

50 weeks

Can you believe how close we are to Rose's first birthday?!? One year ago I was freaking out about when Rose would arrive (she came with perfect timing), nine months ago I was freaking out about returning to work (I've since been promoted), six months ago I was worried she wouldn't roll over (now she's almost walking), and now I'm trying to relax and enjoy our time together since it all seems to work out in the end. :)

This past week Rose got to spend lots of time with several of her grandparents!

Ninja came to town Monday through Thursday. She brought along a "see and say" that Rose totally loves.

Grammy took care of Rose on Thursday afternoon, as per usual. (No picture, sorry!) Rose loves seeing Grammy on Thursdays, and we are so appreciative of the time they get to spend together! (Thanks, Marsha!)

Friday night we went up to the cabin, where Rose got to spend some good time with Grandpa Fly and Grandma Roles. Grandpa showed her all the photos of her cousins ...

...and Grandma helped her learn to crawl up the stairs! Rose also enjoyed pointing out all the knots in the wood to Grandma.

Rose also loved the big fish pillow at the cabin. She is her father's daughter, after all.

We came home early on Saturday afternoon, so we took our weekly photos at home, as usual. (Only two more weeks of weekly photos!)  Rose has been enjoying "cruising"...

...and walking (with assistance). Any bets on when she'll take her first solo steps?

I had a couple other really cute pictures to upload, but after multiple attempts yesterday and today I'm just going to give up and direct you to our most recent Snapfish album instead.  Scroll to the end of the album to see her making her adorable "where?" gesture, to see her stealing her dad's glasses, and to see her clapping for herself as she plays with the potty. For the past month or so she's been loving reading her Potty book, watching me go potty while she's in the bathtub, and playing with her potty seat in the living room. Then for the last couple weeks we've been setting her (fully clothed) on her potty seat while we read books. Sunday, just for kicks, we took her diaper off as we were reading - just a few minutes later, she peed in the potty! Whoa! Mostly I thought it was a fluke, but then she did it again tonight! Now, I have no unrealistic expectations that she'll be potty trained by a year old or anything like that, but I'm hoping we can just continue to give her positive experiences with the potty. It can't hurt, right?

Have a great week, everyone!

weekend

We all had a great time at the cabin this past weekend!  :)

(More pictures will be coming!)