Olivia is changing so much - what fun! It's been too long since a really good post, so let's see what I can summarize.
Last weekend we had a lovely time - I was home for a quick house clean-up before the cleaning ladies, Olivia seemed somewhat OK when I picked her up from daycare. We had the Reilly's over for dinner Sat night and Olivia danced for them, refusing to go to sleep - I thought because she wanted to be the party girl.... but after dominoes and falling asleep, she proved me wrong, being up crying in discomfort from 1:45 until sometime around 4am. Poor thing. She finally fell asleep on me in the glider in the family room (thank goodness we still have it!) She was just not happy. I didn't know what to make of it.
Sunday we had a nice time with Aunt Annie & Cuz Walter at Roberts' Park in the redwoods - gorgeous! Olivia was sitting on my nap, not being her normal social self, and she really hadn't been eating well at all over the weekend. Fortunately, she would down bottles of milk without hesitation. Annie and I did notice what seemed like a rash on her knees... and she was a tad warm to the touch. We hung out for a few hours, did a little walking, then headed home for lunch and naptime. Sunday night though, same thing. Olivia was up for several hours in the middle of the night, just visibly uncomfortable. I tried all sorts of things and nothing worked until we had some Tylenol and parked in the glider again.
Monday at 1pm, I got the call. KinderCare sent her home. Fortunately, it was a time when I could easily break away with various management out of the office. So, I picked up O and she just wasn't happy - Hand, Foot & Mouth virus. A child had it in her room the week before, I later discovered that Baby James had it as well late that week... and when I took Olivia into daycare yesterday there were only 2-3 kids there; the rest were home sick. But, being the concerned mother, and given all the other drama my poor daughter had been through with non-healing bug bites and spider bites/staph infection on her skin 2 weeks earlier, we went straight to Urgent Care... again. The doc was really good, and Olivia's prognosis was a standard case of H,F&M - rash all over, blisters on her feet, blisters in the back of her throat, rash like diaper rash, and general discomfort. The verdict was hastily announced over a cacophony of Olivia screams. I really liked this doc. I was worried there might be some bigger issue that would tie all her bumps together into some horrible disease. But no. Just H,F,&M. So we went home and when Kev came home that night I went and picked up the prescription ointment to try and make her bug bites and lesions fade & heal faster... and some band aids while I was at it.
Tuesday, Kevin left for FL on a no-sleep-for-48-hours trip shipping the CLIO satellite to CCAFS. These trips suck. So unhealthy in so many ways. So I arranged various forms of childcare to get us through the week. We are lucky to have help around. Tuesday, Olivia was not a happy camper when I got home and was fast asleep within 45 minutes (by 6:15). She slept a lot to get over this virus.
By Wed morning the worst had passed. While I couldn't take her to daycare, and Olivia still wasn't eating much, she would suck down milk, and cold fruit puree pouches. Those seemed to soothe her mouth. Patti had fun recounting the story of one long, difficult BM Olivia had... and the 3 additional ones afterward. She also acknowledged how much Olivia does NOT like having her diaper changed now! She's quite a handful. I worked late into the night to try and get my hours in.
Thurs was another day home with Patti and they had a ball. I was very late from work and walked in to a nice surprise - a bathed and bottled baby! We cuddled for a bit and Olivia went to sleep shortly afterwards. What a great thing! That was the best part of my day.
Friday, I only had a few hours to finish so I took a healthy Olivia into a sparse daycare for her LAST DAY in the toddler room!!!!! I picked her up around 3:15 and we had a lovely late afternoon together running to the grocery store and the library. I cooked some more fancy food for Olivia in the evening - which she spat out today :(.
Today, I hung a few pics before Kevin got home :) :):) and we had a nice walk around Lake Elizabeth with Toni and Baby James (who also had H.F&M last weekend). The dogs tagged along for the good walk. :) So nice to see Kevin. I'm flattered that our new neighbors came by and are super nice. What a fabulous addition to the neighborhood - I just hope our dogs aren't too annoying. If we maintain the friendship, and have our little ones playing together, this could be a beautiful relatioship come time for school. Royce is a SAM, Thomas the hubby works at Cisco as a Network engineer and their son Lucas is 20 months. They're from Taiwan, lived in Canada for awhile and moved to Cali about 7 years ago or something (Kevin got the scoop).
So..... after all the drama, Olivia is the cutest and happiest and sweetest little girl!!! She smiles and loves hugging her dollies. We skyped with Mum-mums and Pop-Pops Bellenger Friday night and I saw Olivia side-step along the coffee table - more movement development! She really enjoys feeding the dogs from her high chair. Her fun trick now is saying "Uh Oh" when she drops things, and making sounds like "Thank you" when you hand her something. TOo cute! She's also throwing tired temper tantrums, so we'll have to work on nipping those in the bud. What else. Dressing Olivia after her bath is like WWIII every night - not sure why. She sticks her finger in the pouch openings and is trying to learn how to use a spoon - trying to pick up food with the wrong end, then getting food in the spoon and picking it out with her fingers. Olivia likes bath time in the big girl bath, with bubbles! Moving up to the toddler room is exciting... I don't technically have to bring in any food for her anymore, which will free up significant time at night. Sometimes I'd like more healthy foods though, so I'm not sure about that yet. What else... I call her my little Spider crawling all over, loudly smacking her hands into the floor. She really wants to go outside after the dogs but isn't quite ready to try navigating the threshold on her own. But she'll sit there and protest, flapping her arms. I've hung the alphabet and numbers that Mom made for us girls in Olivia's room. The moths did some damage, but they're adorable still. Olivia squawked when I showed her the fixed alphabet one today. :) Love that little girl. She's much better on her feet, confidently standing and sitting at the coffee table. Tomorrow I'll have to try and hold her arms to see her walk a little that way.
I'm whisking Kevin up to a new park we haven't explored yet tomorrow - Robert W. Crown Memorial State Beach up close to the Bay Bridge. We need some time together as a family outside of the house & chores. Kev and I have hardly seen one another for the last 3 weeks and he's gone again next week; it'll be nice to have some quality time together.
We are settling in our our schedule for the next several weekends - family events mostly. We're looking forward to a bday party next weekend, then bday golfing Sunday with the Janeiro crowd. Next is Labor Day weekend, possibly putting up the Pergola, or the front stone work if the wood doesnt' arrive in time. Then there's camping up at Gualala State Park (trying to get a second night, I have to call tomorrow) with Natalie & Steve.. then there's probably Monterey right before my bday (using a free Marriott room I have), then a few weeks later Tahoe with the Bellengers in early October.... Halloween.... and Turkey Day in MD. Phew! I'm tired just thinking about it! I'll have work travel coming up and Kev always does. But, it's great to be employed. :)
OK, Kev is now in bed snoring and I should follow suit. I'll have to add pictures tomorrow.
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