Who knew?

Having dogs our whole lives meant that we knew dogs could get Parvovirus. Didn't know until today that people can get it, too. Though the kind people get is different than the dog/cat strain.

The doc at the medxpress is pretty sure Victoria has Fifth Disease. It's not really a disease, but a virus - what they call the "slapped-cheek" virus.

It makes for a moody child with a small appetite and a short temper, whose face is all blotchy and whose body is full of little red bumps. :( No quick fix, just have to ride it out. Luckily, there are still occasional happy moments (usually brought on by frozen blueberries or raspberries!)

Peek-A-Boo!

New pics

Possibly the best laugh I've ever heard

I just happened upon this video on youtube, and can't get enough of it!!!

New video from the weekend

I'm thinking she was playing Ring around the rosy by herself in the bouncy house! Yes, that's chocolate all over her face - from one little chocolate chip!

What a weekend!

This weekend was Stefan & Janet's annual White Trash Bash up in Gaylord. Basically, an excuse for everyone to camp out and drink for a few days, grill out, let the kids and dogs run wild, etc.


We learned that our daughter's reach is a *tad* further than we anticipated... We put her down for a nap in her P'n'p in the camper on the floor, next to the table. It was next to the gas stove, so we just turned the gas off, just in case she decided to play with the knobs. We thought we moved everything back far enough on the table.



Scroll down to see the result.













Ready? You won't believe it!




















Dress off, wide awake, and apparently hungry! That's what was left of a half bag of BBQ chips, and a bag of hot dog buns!

Hats!

Thought I'd share a few photos of Victoria in various hats (or makeshift hats!) from the vacation.

On the subject of teeth...

For the record, let me just say that this cutting molar business is NOT fun. For Victoria, it's meant a drop in milk consumption (from around 3 sippie cups a day to about 1, if we're lucky), and an overall crankybutt. The top right and bottom left molars are mostly through, and the top left is now starting to make an appearance. Unfortunately, they're not fast in coming through, either - about a week a piece before they're finally all the way through the gum. But between the teeth and the hair finally getting thicker, Victoria is looking more and more like a toddler and less like a baby. Knock on wood, but one positive thing is that it doesn't seem to affect her sleep much, she's still pretty much a two-nap-a-day girl (Ex: last night she went to bed a little late, around 9:30, but slept in until 8:00 this morning, took a nap from 10 until 12, fell asleep for about 10 minutes in the car at around 3, wouldn't go down for a second nap, so was in bed for the night at 7:30.) I really hope saying something about it doesn't jinx our good sleeper!

We're Back!

We just got back from a week-long camping trip in Canada. I'll refrain from calling it a fishing trip, as I believe the actual *catching* of fish is required for that to apply. As the customs agent put it when we came back across the border, we brought back frustration and bug bites (and a few bumps & bruises, as you can see by Victoria's face!) This was our annual trip (with Rod's mom & stepdad, stepbrother and his family, and my parents), and despite the crummy 'fishing', we had a good time, and a break from the fast pace of civilization.

Some photos from the trip:

What's a bear say? 'Round these parts, they say, "Mmmm... trash!" The bears were around... we'd been told they had been getting closer and closer to the camping sites, as we were about a mile from the garbage dump site. These pics were taken out the window of the truck. We saw as many as eight at one time.

Teaching daddy something about nature, I'm sure!

Helping with the trailer.

Words and Sentences

Victoria's getting so much better with words and sentences. She's trying hard to repeat what we're telling her. Big words she tries include: blueberries, ravioli (see video), tomorrow, and even a sentence here and there (ex: "Bye, guys! See you!" - see other video!)

The new wheels...


ETA: replacing the old wheels (the Camaro). So if you know anyone interested in a '68 Camaro, send 'em our way!

Nothin' much goin' on

We haven't updated in a while because there's really not a whole lot going on. Victoria's still struggling to cut her molars. It's not fun. We will be changing daycare next week. Charee got a job. Now, Mary (the wife of one of the guys Rod works with) will be our new sitter, as long as Victoria doesn't drive them all crazy. She has three young girls, and they're all excited to get to play together.

And now the obligatory photos:

She gives the greatest looks sometimes!

Just being a busy-body out on the deck.

More!

More teeth, that is. Molars number 2 and 3 are making their appearance this week. I noticed the 2nd one yesterday - bottom right. This afternoon, I felt the top right one just peeking through. Seems not even frozen blueberries are helping these two. Though for the most part, she's taking it pretty well.

Here are some new videos:

This is a new toy we found at a garage sale for $3!! Jaj still has to operate a little on it to get the noise going, but the lights work. Either way, she loves it! She heard the train outside about halfway thru the video, too.



Nothin' like dancing to the abc song! Notice she anticipates when I get close to "s" and "v" and she starts making the sounds.

We welcome Abby to the club!

The NICU Grad club, that is! If you get a chance, stop by & congratulate Kris & Bry ~ they're bringing Abby home from the NICU today to be with her sister Grace! YAY!

Request for thoughts & prayers

Kris & Bry were discharged from the hospital yesterday, only being able to bring one of the twins with them. Little Abby is slow to eat, and has to spend what is hopefully only a day or two longer in the NICU.

Here she is!

I think she's got Nat's eyes, and Joey's nose and mouth. She's a doll!

Photo of mommy and daddy for comparison:

Fun fun fun

Rod and I got to go up to the Soo this weekend for a conference with a few other couples from Rod's work. We had a blast, actually won money at the casino, and had a little mini-vacation.Jeff & Melinda

Tracy & Dave

Jen & Brad

Pat and Helene

She's here!!

Congrats, Nat and Joey! This morning (9:22am), a little girl - Rowley Marie - made her entrance into the world, weighing 6 pounds, 14 ounces, and 19.5 inches long.

Will post pics when I get them!

On the growing-family note, 40 fingers 40 toes is soon to be (okay soon as in December 21st) 50 fingers 50 toes! Congrats, J&M!

Destined to be odd

The number of teeth in Victoria's mouth, that is! She's been stuck at 7 teeth since January:

I finally was able to feel around a little bit in that mouth, and found not one, but two more teeth! Finally the fourth front bottom tooth has appeared, along with a molar on the upper right. Fun days for us!

'Nuff said

Happy Father's Day

To all the dads out there. Have a wonderful day!

Love,
us ;)

How fortunate we are

Sometimes the heartache others are going through serves as a solemn reminder of how lucky we are that our little NICU graduate did so well, and continues to do so well, and that we have these beautiful eyes to stare into every day.

Please keep A, B and little G in your thoughts and prayers (I hope she doesn't mind me sharing - I figure they can use all the help we can give). Little G is going on week 10 now in the NICU, after being delivered at 34 weeks due to IUGR. At what would now be 4 weeks adjusted age, he's up to 6lbs, 10oz, but has many other issues. Finally the doctors were finally this week able to diagnose his situation as Tracheal Bronchial Malacia, or a softening of the airways. They are now faced with the very strong possibility that he will most likely have to have a tracheotomy, and that's a long-term thing (anywhere from one year to a few years). Where at one point, I felt as if I could call A and be one of the few who could truly understand the heartache she felt each time she left her child to go home, I now feel like I'm with the masses who just don't understand the difficult decisions they face in the upcoming weeks, months, years. Little glimmers of hope: the best things for Little G to help his situation are time and growth - no miracle cure, just demands a high level of patience. His mommy is fortunate enough (blessed with good bf-ing genes) that she's able to produce enough breastmilk for not only him, but to donate to others in need as well (both their freezers, and that of a neighbor!!!). After I mentioned to her that if all breastmilk is liquid gold, preemie mommy breast milk is like liquid diamonds (is that more precious?!? whatever. you kwim), A's in the process of getting screened to be a donor. Preemie mommy breastmilk has a different mix of calories, and milk banks are usually able to give that milk to other preemies who really need all the help they can get.

18 month stats

Victoria had her 18 month well-baby checkup this morning, which would normally mean shots. Unfortunately, the scheduler (and I) didn't pay close enough attention to the dates, and this appointment was 3 days too soon to get shots. So we did the well-baby portion, everything looks good (I forgot to ask about percentiles) both physically and mentally according to their developmental tests.

Stats I did manage to get:
Height: 31 inches; 35%, 50th % adjusted
Weight: 22 lbs, 7 oz; 25th %, 35th % adjusted (our scale at home said 22 lbs, so it's good to know it's close!)
Head: 47 cm (I think?!?); 60th %, 75th % adjusted

Percentiles listed are actual (18 month) and adjusted (16 month) percentiles based on what I could find on the CDC website.

When we go back in 2 weeks for her shot, I'll double check, but am assuming they're still charting her by her adjusted age.

And now today's baby blues pic:

18 Months

Wow. A year and a half. On one hand, it seems like just a short while ago when we had to endure all that accompanied Victoria's sudden arrival. But then on the other hand, it's tough to remember our lives before Victoria was such an integral part of our family.

Today was spent napping, playing in the yard, napping some more (all Victoria, of course!), then rounding the night out with a Great Lakes L00ns minor-league baseball game. I wasn't quite sure how Victoria would do... kind of figured she'd get bored after 15 minutes, no way would she stand to be in one place for 3 hours. But she proved me wrong. It wasn't until about halfway through the 8th inning (about 9:30pm) that she started getting a little antsy. Mostly, though because she was tired and wanted to be home in bed left alone.

All in all, a great day to top off a wonderful 18 months we've enjoyed so far.

New Pool

Nice weather prompted the use of the new pool. Wonder if Victoria enjoyed it...

Happy day

Hopefully. The morning is usually a good idea of what the rest of the day's going to be like. Here's this morning's attitude.

Yesterday was not so fun... no naps, hot, restless night.

Random Stuff

No new Victoria photos in the past few days, but I did finally get copies of some of the pics from our trip to Chi-town, so I'll share those. In the first one, it kind of looks like just a shot of Marie, but if you look in the median, you'll see me, and if you look even further in the background across the street, you'll see Jeff!



On a side note, I had my first missed "first" this past week... Victoria peed on the potty TWICE for Charee (the sitter)!!! I let her try a few times this weekend with the little potty I bought, and she went once for me, too! We're by no means close to potty training, it's just a step in that direction of toddlerhood, I guess.

Also, I think I finally felt a molar coming in. I'm having a hard time these days getting her to let me feel around in her mouth, so it's tough to tell.