Olivia's first steps

Another winter wonderland

I think we've had almost 2 feet of snow since late last night. It's still coming down strong and they think it's going to last until late tonight. Who knows how much we'll get before it's all over. Jason made a grocery store run last night so we're set. We've already worked on a lot of indoor projects and it's definitely a perfect day for doing about 6 loads of laundry. There's something kind of nice about knowing that you have no choice but to stay home. No pressure to run errands, make an appointment for this or that, etc. It's just a day or a couple of days in this case to hang out at home with the family.
Isabella and I are already making preparations for Olivia's 1st Bday party next Saturday and started making
these this morning.

Jinx

I think Jason definitely jinxed me the other morning when he said, "Babe, you have the greatest job ever (referring to staying at home w/the girls). These girls are so incredibly cute and you get to hang out with them all day." Typically, that is the way I feel about my girls, but not so on the day he made this statement. For the rest of the day I was putting Isabella in time-out, dealing with an emotional crisis or holding Olivia b/c that's all that would make her happy. Of course then Jason gets home just in time to grab a bite to eat and then heads to campus until midnight. Nice.
The photo above is the moment of the day when Isabella was actually happy because she was loving her new Dora sunglasses. She wore them the entire day, even when I put her down for her nap. So funny. She just kept saying, "I look like mommy now." Although, my Dora glasses are a lot cuter.

On the mend

Olivia and Isabella are both on the mend. Thank goodness. Olivia is back to her old self. She loves digging around the kitchen cabinets and climbing onto just about anything and everything, including the dishwasher. She's also getting really good at voicing her opinion and is becoming quite opinionated at the ripe old age of 13 months.

A bit of math

2 girls + 2 ear infections + 1 pink eye = 3 Dr visits and a mini at-home pharmacy

The sandwich

I knew last night was going to be tough. Olivia was still sick with a temp of almost 103 and it was difficult for her to fall asleep. I put her down around 8:30pm and she awoke screaming at 9:30. She quickly fell asleep on me and so I just brought her into bed with me. I usually don't do this, but she usually isn't this sick either. We both got some shuteye from 10-1, (I think) and then Isabella awoke screaming "papi" so I thought, why not just join the party. Well, around 1:30 Olivia awoke crying and yelling for her "ba ba" which scared Isabella who insisted on coming downstairs with me while I made Olivia's bottle and hanging onto my every move. Olivia drank her bottle (she never wakes up and asks for a bottle in the middle of the night) and feel asleep quickly. For Isabella it was a different story. She tossed and turned and even cuddled with Olivia and rubbed her back when she was fussy saying "it's o.k. baby, it's o.k." At about 3am both girls were fast asleep but insisted on cuddling as closely as they could to me so that I was completely sandwiched between them. It was kind of annoying, but more than anything really cute. Then Olivia awoke at 6:30am ready for the day.
Today I'm kind of dragging and a night like last night is only a reminder of things to come when the newborn arrives. I hope I'm cut out for it.

Ear infection part 2

Olivia has had a cough, low grade temp and runny nose for the past three days. I thought she was on the mend because she seemed to be back to her old self yesterday but last night was a completely different story. She was up at all hours of the night and just screamed every time I laid her in her crib. She slept with me for several hours but still had a hard time getting comfortable between dealing her fever, cough and runny nose. Poor little thing. I felt so badly for her. I took her to the Dr. today and she has raging ear infections in both ears. She had her first dose of Augmentin and some Tylenol and is now asleep. In addition to addressing the ear infection and wheezing, the Dr. also remeasured her head circumference which has always measured in the 90-95 percentile. Well, after her one year well check last week, her head circumference has increased. I'm scheduled to go to the Children's Hospital of Philly on Monday for and MRI with sedation. I know I shouldn't be worried because she's showing now signs of hydrocephalus (accumulation of fluid in the ventricles) except for the increasing head circumference. But, of course the more I think about it, the more I'm worried about all of the terrible possibilities. I shouldn't worry, I know, but I am. I'm stress eating, I'm worrying. So annoying. Now it seems like Monday can't come quickly enough.

As an aside, Olivia's new favorite thing is pulling out all of the books in Isabella's room as quickly as she can. As you can tell, she's pretty good at it.