ok, seriously, you have to watch this!

- I just referred to one of her rain boots as a shoe. She said, "Not shoe... BOOT!"

- Right now she's crawling around on all 4s saying "I doggie!" She has her ladybug rain boots on her hands.

- The other day she "helped" me pump with my manual breast pump. She was helping push down the lever that creates the pump suction. I'd taken the pump apart and left it in the drainboard after washing it. I knocked the lever piece on the floor accidentally (it detaches from the flange of the pump). Katie picked it up and handed it to me and said, "Uh-oh! See-saw broken!"

- She's been obsessed with soccer lately for some unknown reason. She's been kicking a ball around the house all day today, shouting "Soccer! Soccer!" She does this while wearing her ladybug rain boots which she calls her "soccer boots."

- Earlier she pointed at me and said "Mommy bunny!" She pointed at herself and said, "Kid bunny!" Then pointed at Emma and said, "Emma baby bunny!" She then proceeded to call me Mommy Bunny for the next hour or so.

- And now she's putting an envelope in and out of her toy oven and calling it a mailbox. She just hid the envelope from herself (she's pretending she can't find it) and is saying, "Gramma's card? Gramma's card? Gramma's card missing!"

I tell ya what. Watching a 2 year old play is highly entertaining.

...Emma is busting out the Thriller moves.

This picture cracks me up! Emma wearing daddy's hat over at gramma's house tonight. She's sooo much happier now that she's feeling better!

More photos behind the cut. If we're facebook friends, you've seen most of them already. If we're not facebook friends and you wanna be, add me (emilybrianne at yahoo dot com)!

( Lots of Emmas with a few Katies sprinkled in. )

Emma saw the doctor this morning. She has a pea-sized swollen gland on one side that my mom noticed this morning. Her rash looks better than it did yesterday, but she's still speckled head to toe. The doctor also found a blister on the back of her throat, which explains her trouble nursing.

And, of course, it's all viral, and there's nothing we can do about it except treat with Tylenol if that helps her nurse better - which it seemed to yesterday.

Meanwhile, my neck feels stiff from swollen glands and I've developed a sore throat and am starting to sniffle. Yay. And Sam was hit with chest congestion and a cough this morning. So this dumb round of viruses are dragging us all through the mud. Hopefully Katie and Emma won't trade illnesses as they each get over the bug they have.

I'm gonna go check on my napping plaguey babies and do some work around the house.

Okay. Emma is 4 months old. She's had a rash for 24 hours. It's over her entire body - ears, bottoms of her feet, palms of her hands, scalp, and everywhere in between.

No fever. Though she had one on Tuesday (102 at wake up, down to low 99's by afternoon) and ran a low grade (99.4) one yesterday off and on.

She stopped nursing midday today... WANTED to nurse, but twisted and writhed like she was in pain. I talked to my mom, she suggested Tylenol. I also gave her a bottle of expressed milk which she drank hungrily. An hour or two later, she nursed happily. AND the rash started fading from her trunk. Still heavy everywhere else.

The Tylenol has since worn off. Rash is back in full force, everywhere, and she's having problems nursing again. I assume sore throat or something along those lines.

Edited to add: I've given her another dose of Tylenol.

Has anyone ever heard of a rash that responds to Tylenol? If she doesn't wake up magically cured in the morning, I'll be taking her in.


On an unrelated note, Katie is on Omnicef for fluid in her ears from back when she had the high fever last week. It is TEARING HER UP. She has loose poops 4..6..8x a day, and it is burning up her little bottom. Wicked, wicked rash is developing. She had a reaction to amoxicillin, which is why they prescribe omnicef now. This is torture for both of us. Is it really worth this? I feel like I'm just at my wits end with all of the sickness in the house this week, and this rash, my own fever which is back again, and these horrible diapers Katie keeps having (on top of her cough and runny nose). Is this antibiotic worth it? I can't imagine these diapers all the way through the end of this week, and however much longer it takes to clear her system once she's off of it. Sigh. I'll talk to the doctor about that in the morning, too. I just feel so, so drained and incapable of thinking for myself right now.

Blah.

Emma looking rather otherworldly...

Katie's got a crazy fever... She woke with it this morning, starting the day just below 102. I dosed her up with Motrin. She woke from her nap at 103.4. She got another dose of Motrin. Three hours later she was at 103.6. I put her in a cool bath and gave her a dose of Tylenol at the 4 hour mark. That brought her down to 102.5. She fell asleep sitting up. She has an appointment in the morning if the fever hasn't broken.

We took pictures this afternoon while we were snuggling in bed. She was making "silly faces" for me.



( Katie's Silly Faces )

Emma and Ellis taking a cat nap.

( Sisters sleeping sweetly. )

We lasted 26.5 months, but it finally happened. Katie learned the word "mine." sigh.

Also, Katie put on one of daddy's shirts yesterday (all by herself!) and was stomping across the bed while I was folding clothes, saying, "I giant! Fee-fie-fo-fum!" It was awesome.

I have to go to the store, like, ASAP this morning. Sam knocked our last roll of toilet paper into the toilet. That's awesome, too. Note to self: don't put off going to the grocery store when you know you need to. Another note to self: put the damn toilet paper on the toilet paper holder. Thank god for kleenex.

Well... we don't have to worry about breaking Emma of the pacifier habit...



She's been trying to get that thumb for weeks. She's finally mastered it. I'm both relieved she's a thumb sucker (no desperate searches for one before a car ride, in the middle of the night, or when nothing else fixes what ails her... and I'll save a few bucks over the next few years) and disappointed (you can take away a paci ... not so much the thumb). But for now, it's just so dang cute!

( and a funny pic Sam took with his phone the other day )

Katie performed this Xylophone Concert for us today in honor of mothers everywhere! See her bow? haha! Don't mind the discusson on commute routes in the background...

If you have a cat, you have to watch these. I you've had a cat or want a cat, you have to watch these. Even if you don't like cats, you should watch these. These are my favorite accidental YouTube discovery to date.

PS - Simon's Cat is actually my cat. Even though I'd never heard of Simon's Cat before today.

They fell asleep like this within about 5 minutes of eachother.



( one more )

I'm watching Katie's BFF Jillian today. Check this out:


Little girls...



BIG MESS!

And it's not even 10am, haha. :) They're having fun, at least.