The Week in Review

Sickness has invaded our home!! Lauren went for an ear check on Thursday to make sure her infection was gone. The doctor wasn't happy with the result, so she put Lauren on her 3rd round of antibiotic since November 6! I"m a little worried about this. We go December 31 for another check to see if it's cleared. Lauren is doing well on her meds, but I've also started giving her a cough syrup/decongestant because she started with a racking cough last night. She's also getting her inhaler 3 times a day.

Paul also got sick somehow. He has a stomach thing, but he's also feeling congested and full of fluid. He actually stayed out of work on Monday and went to the doctor. He got an antibiotic but they aren't sure what is wrong with him. He went to work today (Tuesday), but he wasn't sure how long he'd last.

As for me, all I'm going to say is that I got most of my Christmas cards out in the mail! I ran out of pictures for the cards, sadly, but I did my best.

Dec. 15--It had been a while since Haley had come to visit, so she and Lauren got together to play. Haley loves Lauren's go-go. Lauren has a little John Deere tractor from her grandparents from last Christmas that we just put together. It was a little smaller than we'd anticipated, or we'd have gotten it out sooner. I can only imagine what our lawn will look like with all of the riding toys next spring...

Dec. 16--Lauren's daycare had their annual Christmas play. Here are Lauren (the candy cane) and I before the performance.

And what would be a daycare performance without a picture of Lauren, Harris, and their mommies?

The children performed the book Jingle Babies. Each toddler dressed as a character from the book. As I said, Lauren was a candy cane. If you look way back, you can see her top.

Here she is again, behind the angel to the left.

I pulled out some foam bath letters Mary had given Lauren a while back...and Lauren LOVES them! She likes putting them all over the tub (as well as herself). She's gotten good at rearranging the letters.

Dec. 18--Lauren got a package in the mail from Arizona. Inside was this AWESOME Steelers cheerleading uniform! Of course Lauren had to try it on! Thanks, Grandpa and Grandma Ryan!

Here is my little streaker. After changing her out of her uniform, I changed her diaper and put on her pants. I went to do laundry and when I returned, I see this naked bottom! The little stinker had removed her pants AND her diaper! (I was wishing that I'd had a puppy pee pad at this point in time!) Then I remember what my dad told me when I was little--I hated soiled diapers, so I would remove my own...however, Lauren's was just changed, so I guess she just wanted to have some air...

Dec. 21--Lauren is all decked out in her uniform, complete with her Terrible Toddler Towel. If you notice that she isn't looking at me, she's actually watching the game. (Sadly, the Steelers lost.)

Dec. 23--Lauren and I had waffles this morning for breakfast. While I was cleaning up my dishes, Lauren thought it was time to do something with her bed head. She put her hands in the syrup on her plate, rubbed her hands through her hair, and viola! Hair with volume! (And if you look closely, little pieces of waffle, too.) If that wasn't cause for an instant shower, I don't know what would!

My next post will be after Christmas (and probably after the new year, too). So, until then, have a very Merry Christmas!!

Exciting News

I cannot BELIEVE that I forgot to share this, but the Newton-Conover High School football team went to the state championship...AND WON!! The final score was 51-28. There were 8,500 fans at the game, 5,000 of which came from our area! The game was played at Chapel Hill!! Go, Red Devils!!

We also learned that our associate pastor, Pastor Amy, and her husband are expecting! This was welcomed news for our church family. The scary thing is that there seem to be an awful lot of ladies getting pregnant or planning on trying to get pregnant.

The Steelers also won their game against Baltimore tonight, so Paul was on cloud nine. That brings them to 11-3. The fight song I mentioned, Here We Go, Steelers," a few weeks ago, is listed on Wikipedia. I've copied and pasted for your pleasure.

Here We Go, Steelers" is the fight song of the Pittsburgh Steelers. It remains popular among Pittsburghers despite being updated due to the departure of several of the players mentioned in the original lyrics and the fact that the Steelers no longer need to win "that one for the thumb" after having won Super Bowl XL. The song was updated following a 2006 online vote conducted by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.


Chorus:
Here we go,Here we go,Here we go,Steelers,Here we go,Pittsburgh’s goin' to the Super Bowl. Here we go

Cheer the Steelers,The black and the gold. It's time for Pittsburgh’s heart and soul. With Cowher power,We'll get the job done. This is the year we'll get that one for the thumb! Roethlisberger,Is ready to win...Here we go,With Ward, Randle El, and Cedrick Wilson, Here we go,Bus, Duce, and Willie will make a touchdown. And if you get in their way, they're gonna knock you around. Now the offense is ready to score. Here We Go, And theres one thing we know for sure, Here We Go If we don’t get it in the end zone,We’ll get 3 points off of Jeff Reed's toe.We got Farrior, Porter, and Haggans,Here We Go Polamalu, Hope and Townsend,Here We GoThe other team won't get any ground'Cause the defense is gonna bring the steel curtain down.

Thanks for humoring me...I may have to try to find a Steelers background for the blog, especially if they get to the super bowl...have a great week!

Not Much Happening But Healing...

I think Lauren broke a record at daycare this past week. After her fall last Sunday, she proceeded to be issued THREE accident reports the following week! On Monday, she was bit on the shoulder. On Wednesday, they were making reindeer pictures with their hands and feet. Lauren wanted to participate, but it wasn't her turn, so she climbed on the table and slipped off, biting the inside of her bottom lip (and ruining a pair of pants and a shirt with the amount of blood she lost). Then on Friday, she was running in the classroom and tripped over some toys. She got a bump on the head that bruised. Incidently, her bump was right next to the scratch on her head from her fall so it all blended together! With all of the harm she brings to herself, I don't need to have a little boy!12-09-08: LAUREN'S FIRST PONYTAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!! All of the other little girls in Lauren's class have been sporting these little ponytails since the infant room! Once in a while, Lauren's teachers play with the girl's hair for the fun of it. They decided to try Lauren's hair and it worked!!!! I was so excited! So, here is concrete evidence that Lauren's hair IS growing, though slowly. (And I apologize for the picture. I rotated it on my camera card, but it refused to post properly. I even cut the picture from the blog and reposted. No luck.)

12-08-08: Lauren can really be a BIG helper. She loves to do her part because she loves to hear the praise that goes along with it. She picks up her toys in her room and in the living room, and she puts her dirty clothes (and clean clothes, toys, diapers, etc.) into her hamper and the hamper in the bathroom. I don't know what possessed her this night, but she started to hand me her toys that were in the tub. When I didn't move quickly enough, she lined her tub toys on the side of the tub for me to put in the mesh bag on the wall. I was so excited! Our new routine is that she will pick up her toys to signal that she is through with her bath, splash her hands and kick her feet for a bit, then Lauren will push the tub stopper to allow the water to drain.

12-13-08: It's taken me some time to get Lauren to agree to wear the pilgrim hat she made at school in November. It got wet after she drew, but her fine motor skills are increasing! This was also a good shot to see how well she's healing. The last harsh mark left from her fall last Sunday still looks really red, so we continue to apply Neosporin to help.

December 13: Aunt Suzy emailed and said she needed to have a visit with us, so naturally, we jumped on the opportunity to have fun! Suzy has only 7 weeks left until Cara joins the family. After playing, eating (not very much), and running around, Nick felt the need to check on his baby sister. Lauren was intrigued by this investigation and LOVED feeling Aunt Suzy's belly! Cara was exceptionally active, so there was a lot to feel! (Sorry for posting your belly, Aunty Suzy, but it was fun! Thanks for having us over!)

My Latest "Trip"

Okay, now it looks worse than it really is...

Paul dressed Lauren this morning for church. He put new shoes on her feet because they matched her outfit better. (True.) However, the shoes were a little stiff and a little too big, but Lauren was excited by having new shoes. She was so excited that when she clomped out to the kitchen, she bent over to point to her new shoes to show me!

However, on the way out of the door, Paul took Lauren's hand and let her lead down the stairs. Given that Lauren was a little unsteady due to her eagerness to walk down the stairs, plus the newness of her shoes, she missed a step somehow and rolled down 4 stairs. She got banged up, as evidenced in these photos. As ever the calm parent that I am, I screamed and Lauren began to bawl (when she stopped rolling).

We've decided to chalk up this weekend to being decidedly rough. We received a phone call on Friday night that Paul's Grandma Wade passed away earlier that day. We also found out that our pastor, whom we love (and joined the church because of his unbelievable way to connect with the congregation) would be with us until January 25. He will be moving to Hendersonville to take over a church in that area. Those two events, coupled with Lauren's spill, left us feeling out of sorts.

To conclude our weekend, the Cowboys played the Steelers in Pittsburgh. It didn't look good for our boys for a while. Something clicked and the Steelers made two touchdowns in a 24 second period! We were psyched. Paul was a little vocal about his excitement and pulled Lauren onto his lap to help him cheer. Here's Lauren waving her Terrible Toddler Towel to support our Steelers. The final score was 20-13 Steelers...can you say, "Here we go, here we go, here we go, Steelers, here we go! Pittsburgh's going to the Super Bowl!" (I'll have to find the audio clip of this song.) If you're from "up there" you know what song I mean!

More Pictures from Thanksgiving Break

We've had a rough week. Lauren has hit new highs in her tantruming and crying. Out of frustration, I made an appointment with the doctor for today to discuss Lauren's weird eating patterns, her waking in the night, and just the fit-pitching crying mess that has become my daughter. Low and behold, we were battling an ear infection! How about that! Lauren was put on Omniceph. I thought it smelled putrid, but she didn't mind taking it down. (I was actually prepared for a Nick Cadwallader spit out on the floor, but surprisingly, it didn't happen that way! There's still time...)

As promised, here are some photos from Thanksgiving break when my family was down. My family is more camera shy than the Wade's, so I made a point to get some family shots (or I'd pitch a hissy fit!)
November 22--Lauren always looks so peaceful and adorable when she sleeps. I was lamenting to Paul one evening after checking on Lauren that I wish we could get pictures of her in the dark to show her peaceful slumber. He found one of his 3 cameras, made some adjustments, and viola! (Too bad I hadn't whined before!)

Thanksgiving Day--Lauren and Mommy enjoying the nice outdoor temperatures after dinner.

Paul experimenting with his cameras to see which lenses worked the best for different angles and lighting. How Lauren LOVES her sandbox! Thanks, Papa and Grandma!

This was just too cute! Hey, here I am! Love me!

Myself, Josh, and Lauren

My Immediate Family: Dad (Mark), me, Josh, Lauren, Mom (Deb), and Paul.

Thanksgiving

Here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving vacation. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post. We've had a slight difficulty with computers as Paul's desktop crashed. In the process of trying to reinstall all of the programs and save important documents, his mouse died, dibilitating my computer. Paul has his laptop at school and for doing his work, and my work laptop won't allow me to access Lauren's blog to update due to the firewall. I have more pictures from Paul's cameras, but the only way I can add those pictures is to use my computer (due to his funky camera cards). Please enjoy what I have posted.

We had a pretty good vacation. My parents came down to celebrate with us as is part of our annual tradition and were here 3:30 Thursday morning and left Sunday afternoon. Lauren was not as agreeable as usual. I guess she's quite the creature of habit. She's teething hard and taking Tylenol often. She's still not sleeping through the night still which wears on us. For example, she was up at 1:45 this morning. Paul got up with her around 2:15 and she decided that it was playtime. She finally gave up at 3:30 and slept until 6:55...yes, we're tired (and open to suggestions!). November 26--Lauren's daycare invited the families to attend a big Thanksgiving dinner at the school. I chose to attend to have lunch with Lauren. This was probably one of the only times that Lauren smiled. She didn't eat much and whined and cried. She did NOT like it when I left her for naptime. Live and learn, but at least I try to do my best to attend the extra functions the school provides. Lauren may not remember it, but I try to make sure that I create as many memories for Lauren as I can. In this instance, it also shows my support of Lauren's school.

November 26--Lauren's class enjoys celebrating holidays. They made pilgrim and Native American hats. Here is Lauren in her own painted Native American vest and hat.

November 27--My brother, Josh, who lives in SC, came up to join our family for our intimate Thanksgiving dinner. We have NO idea what caused Lauren to go limp in her uncle's arms, but I wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it to take the pictures! Lauren would lay in Josh's arms for 20 minutes or so, just enjoying his company. She followed Josh around like a little lost puppy. It was adorable!

November 28--Lauren loves her Papa, but she wasn't feeling cuddly toward him during his visit, but we caught them snuggling at least once! (Of course, she really wanted to snuggle him the day they planned to leave!)

November 29--Lauren and Grandma Bernosky decorating the tree. Lauren had an accident while we decorated the tree. What we have deduced is that she was playing with the heater grate on the wall and cut two of her fingers. She had blood on her nose, so when I took her hand to guide her to the bathroom to clean up, I discovered blood on her hands and arms as well. Lauren was perfectly calm throughout this ordeal (obviously, because she didn't cry to let us know she'd been hurt) until I started screaming for Paul to come to the living room. I set Lauren off crying. Talk about a high tolerance for pain. This will be the child who falls, breaks her arm, and we won't know it until two days later. Yikes!!