My Week

Please excuse me while I throw myself a pity party.

Last Sunday I signed up to clean the church building. We only have 1 ward in our building, so each family has to sign up often. The sign up was open, and I figured I could go during the day and do stuff I could handle with V, and then Ryan and I could do bathrooms etc. at night. So Monday morning, like a good girl, I went to vacuum the chapel. A) Those vacuums are heavy, 2) They are difficult to maneuver under all those pews, and D) It takes a good hour just to vacuum the floor in there, including up by the choir seats. I had also gone grocery shopping that morning with a very full, heavy, cart, and I just kept doing stuff I normally do. None of that sounds strenuous, right? I didn't think so either. But sometimes I forget I'm 30 weeks pregnant.

Tuesday I felt SO SICK to my stomach. It hurt so bad I could barely move, and the only time it didn't hurt was after I lay down for at least 30 minutes. I finally figured out that I had pulled some stomach muscles, and that's why I felt sick. So for the next few days, I either had to lift my baby through the pain (ow ow ow) or watch her cry angrily at me for not picking her up. One day I called in reinforcements -- an 11-year old in our ward who came over and played with her for a few hours.

Then Friday she woke up sick. SICK SICK SICK. Fever of 102, very sad, and not eating all day -- though she did drink a lot. Ryan came home from work and had to leave straight for the Klondike Derby like a good Scoutmaster.

Saturday morning, V was still SICK SICK SICK. Fever of 103, not eating all day, and drinking very little. SO CRANKY. Just crying and whining all day. It was EXHAUSTING! Ryan got home that evening.

Sunday morning, V AND Ryan woke up SICK SICK SICK. Ryan stayed home with V while I went to church because I just needed to escape my baby. She napped during church time, so when I came home I had another day of dealing with a sick baby and no hubby b/c he was extremely sick himself. She wouldn't eat all day, and she wouldn't drink. I tried water, juice, milk, kool-aid, popsicles, and jello. I had to tip back her head and forcefeed her spoonfuls of water every hour so she wouldn't get dehydrated.

This morning, V feels better. Not so hot, and she's drinking and even eating a bit. Granted, all she's been willing to eat so far are cookies and fruit loops, but I'm just welcoming the calories. Unfortunately, now I'M sick, and Ryan has an inspection and an important meeting, so he couldn't miss work.

The Tally:
# of calls to the nurse: 3
# of times we've watched Signing Time: at least 10. SO sick of it.
# of Disney movies we've watched: 5. Ursula really scares V.
# of times I've broken down sobbing: um...
# of milk bottles I've poured out b/c V held them like a teddy bear but never drank them: 4
# of hours V has been awake and NOT crying/whining in the last 2 days: I'm guessing 3 total. Max.
# of vacation days I'm gonna need after this: Give me a vacation hour, and we'll call it good.

Pity me.

My Baby's a Genius

Genevieve is now trying to copy pretty much any sign we do. She's figured out that signing GETS her stuff, and she loves it. Her latest discovery is "please." When she learns a new sign, I try to reinforce that she's doing it right. So when she first learned to sign "candy," I gave her an M&M every time she signed it. Now she's learned to sign "please," and of course, she mostly uses it with "candy." It goes like this:

Vivi: signs "candy"
Mommy: "What do you say?"
Vivi: signs "please" and giggles
Mommy: gives V an M&M and says, "Can you say thank you?"
Vivi: signs "thank you."

My baby is a genius:

For those of you that actually know sign language, you'll notice that she isn't actually doing any of them correctly, but she gets pretty darn close!

If you haven't checked the blog in a while, make sure you look at the next post to see fun pictures from Christmas!

Christmas in Raleigh

Ryan, Genevieve and I went to Raleigh for Christmas this past year. WE HAD SO MUCH FUN. V ate herself sick with Christmas goodies, and she still misses her family terribly. Here are some fun videos and pictures from our trip.

Christmas morning, Vivi and her cousins got pillow pets from Grandmere. Vivi got a penguin, but she ditched that in 0.2 seconds and stole Alice's pink pig. She LOVES this thing. Last week I hosted my first play group, and V was very possessive of it. One boy tried to play with it, and she stole it away and then hit him. We're working on the whole sharing concept.

Here Vivi is playing tug of war with Olive's pillow pet:



Can you tell V loves her Howington cousins? Jack was SO cute with her. He spent a lot of Christmas morning running up and tackling her -- always very gently, so she never got hurt. She thought it was so fun.



Notice how Vivi is completely happy sitting on Aunt Nelly's lap.



Isn't she the cutest thing ever?