A couple weekends ago we went to Tahoe with the Bellenger clan. Mum-Mums and Pop-Pops stayed with us Thursday night and then we all slowly made it out to Tahoe during the day. Kevin and I had to pack the car, including the bikes and Olivia's bike chariot so we were running a bit late... and ended up catching every bit of traffic along the way. Olivia was a trooper, but we ended up pulling off the road in Davis to give her a break from the car seat (and we were stopped in traffic anyway).
The time share was a perfect size for everyone with a big common area to spread out and have toys everywhere. We brought up quite a few toys and books for the sharing. We were on the first floor which made move-in and move-out very easy (but was a little scary when bears were sighted in the area).
Friday night / Saturday morning, poor little Olivia was up just about every hour crying hard-core. She was hot with fever and just not feeling very good. Funny part was - when she was finally asleep for a bit, the smoke detectors started going off in all the rooms! Coffee was a good thing in the morning. Mom and I took a walk down to the Tahoe shore (1/4 mile from the condo - perfect!) and it smelled so lovely and fresh outside. Kevin and Joel napped for most of the morning / early afternoon due to our long night (Joel and Dad fought the smoke alarms). Annie, Walter and Dad went exploring and we were all anxiously awaiting Sarah to arrive from Reno. All good things. I ended up sleeping in the afternoon with little Olivia - we both had a good long nap. Poor little sweetie was still sick and not drinking or eating much.
At some point, most folks hung out at the shore for happy hour. We were back at the ranch cuddling with Little Loo.
We all enjoyed hanging out and practiced playing black jack at the kitchen table in preps for hitting the casinos on Sunday.
Sunday the Dunkelberger's swung by to say hello and we all ended up going for a bike ride. I really enjoyed getting back in the saddle after all this time and Olivia's chariot is lovely. It was gorgeous and Kevin and I needed a little time as a small family without Olivia crying. She kept pushing the button on her Baby Einstein Beethoven music player so I had a lovely soundtrack to our ride through the woods. We eventually caught up with everyone but the Middletons at the Beer Fest and had a beer and a pretzel. That was the one time of the weekend when Olivia was almost herself and we practiced walking around a bit. She was pointing and saying hello to everyone - much better!
Sunday evening we were back with Tylenol and a cuddly, sick kiddo. She was fussy and hot. We had a tasty dinner of tri-tip and Kevin made a joke about cooking meat outside at the grill as a call to the bears to come since Mom and Dad had seen a bear by the dumpster early that morning when they went out to go star-gazing. Funny thing..... after kiddos were asleep when we left to go to the casinos, we were warned by persons across the way and up a few flights that there was a bear right near us!!!! The drought is driving bears down the mountains. :( Poor things.
At the Casino, Annie and I were the big winners, both coming home with ~$135 more than we started with - very fun. :) Kevin was up $2. All fun times. :)
Sunday night at some point, Olivia vomited in bed next to me (she never has tummy problems). Monday morning Olivia was inconsolable. Her mouth was white and sticky, she still had a fever, though it was a little lower. So I made the executive decision that it was time to go around 9am, maybe even earlier. So we packed and left as fast as we could to take Olivia to Urgent Care. Mercifully, Olivia slept for most of the way home. We made it to Urgent Care - Roseola and a stomach flu have been going around. They actually posted at daycare that there had been a case of Roseola (high temp followed by head-to-toe rash that does not hurt or itch, just a rash). No more temperature by that point, but clearly still dehydrated and not herself. Apparently the white sticky mouth is a sign of dehydration.
ON the drive home from the doctor, Olivia was perking up - talking to herself and happy. What timing!
We had an uneventful week at work and Mom and Dad Bellenger stayed with us again Saturday night. We all went to the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum during the day on Sat and Olivia was as bright and sunny as ever! How nice for my parents to finally see Olivia healthy and happy! The Museum was fun - the water area and sandbox/table were a hit, as was the toddler crawler area where Olivia 'salamandered' down the wavy ramp. Too funny! She was so happy!
All in all, we really enjoyed the opportunity to spend some time with my folks.
In other news, Kevin, Charlie and Uncle Steve have been working on the pergola and great strides have been made! All the support posts are currently installed and Kevin is planning to finish most of the work next weekend! How exciting! It sure makes my TALL rosebushes seem too tall, and closes in the space by quite a bit. It'll be super nice, but I think I'll miss the openness as well. I can't wait to see the finish product, I hope Kevin is ultimately happy with how it turns out.
Work is work. It's been busy, but is slowly calming down, which means I'm starting to look for something new to do.
Kevin traveled last week and leaves again in two weeks. I have to head back East at some point as well. We'll have to figure that all out.
Olivia is absolutely adorable. Yesterday she and I went to Joan's Farm in Livermore to check out the pumpkins and she was enamored by the gourd trough. We spent some serious time there checking them out! Today, Aunt Kathy came over and the four of us went to Ardenwood and actually bought some pumpkins - fun!!!
Olivia's trick this week is to point to my nose and say "eye!". Too funny. She has such a sparkle in her eye and loves to crawl under your legs when you're sitting on the couch. Today Olivia came up to me, pulled herself up on my leg and gave it a BIG HUG saying "mamma". So I think I can official say that she says "Momma". That makes me happy. :) She still says "Hi" "Bye Bye", "Bub Bub" for bubbles, "Ball!", "Dah!" for dog, "Da Da" for dad, sometimes says "Balloon", once said "Butterfly", sorta says "Kiwi" and "Trixie", "Uh Oh!" is a favorite, and occasionally says "Thank You" or some rendition of it. She and James are still best buds at daycare. Her "Hi" on the phone is the sweetest, softest voice. She picks up phones, remote controls, whatever and holds them up to her ear saying "Hi". Olivia still loves her monkey, George, and now carries around her soft duck too (both at the same time). She crawls out the back door without a second thought and loves playing chase ("I'm gonna get you!") Today she was checking out the dishwasher, and had a blast with a plastic spoon she found in my lunchbag. Olivia is starting to learn to eat with her own spoon - that's a fun little mess, thank goodness for our dogs! But on the other hand, she is so interested in feeding the dogs that Olivia throws them food all the time and doesn't eat for herself! My little girl is so into Momma right now and I love it :) She loves me so much it makes my heart warm. :)
Poor thing had another bout of those welts / lesions. The dermatologist on Tuesday said they were flea bites but Kevin and I have our doubts. They are healing, but if there's another round, we'll go in for a second dermatologist opinion.
That's all I can think of right now. Olivia is *almost* walking. She's really close, just needs the confidence now. I wish I could stay home to play with her tomorrow. Today I spent a bunch of time making chili verde from scratch - it was tasty, but it would have been fun to play with Olivia instead (little stinker dind't nap at all today! Just a few minutes in the car)
ok, gnight. I'll have to post pics tomorrow, and update smugmug. I know Mum-Mums is waiting for them... but our Tahoe pics won't be great since Olivia was so sick. THank goodness she's all better now!
