Sunny out!

Ava has taken notice to the dangerous effects of the sun and now opts for shades when we head out. Actually, she wears them around the house for long periods of time but today she decided she needed them before we went shopping. The sun had been shining through one of the windows and she kept repeating, "sunny out, sunny out." She demanded the sunglasses as we were walking out the door and wore them in the car as well.

We visited both Trader Joe's and Target today, so it was a successful day. I picked up some healthy snacks at Trader Joe's and Ava was delighted when she was handed a balloon. She followed the indoor sunglasses rule and was not upset when I removed them while we shopped. Once we got to Target, though, she either did not want to be seen with me or the lights were too bright because she wore her shades the entire time we were there. I made the mistake of trying to remove them and she threw a fit. She also got mad when I put my hands on the shopping cart. How was I to push it? She obviously thought I was a genius and would figure it out but unfortunately I didn't and she cried throughout most of the store while my hands touched the cart!

Once we got home from shopping, Ava had some lunch them took a short nap. I had lunch, made some calls for work and was just starting to fold laundry when I heard her. Guess she didn't think I needed any rest today.

We had fun taking pictures of silly things. I thought it would be funny to put her in daddy's boots because they look sooooo big compared to her. Needless to say, she was not pleased! We also took some self portraits and Ava complied by kissing mommy on cue!

She was so excited to see daddy this afternoon when he got home from work. They had fun reading books together and playing with the ball while I made dinner. Ava ate very well at dinner... not only did she eat all of her food but she actually ate the tilapia we were eating. I was so proud of her. Now if she would just eat some broccoli...

Much better...

The welts/rash that covered most of Ava's body have all but disappeared. She has a few tiny ones that reappeared on her face and neck area after her bath tonight, but the majority of them are gone.

She is in a much better mood... I'm not sure if it's because she's not as itchy or she's not on as much Benadryl anymore. I think that really affected her. She hasn't been able to fall asleep until at least 1:30pm the last two days for her nap. Usually she's down by noon. I've been tapering the dosage so she only got 1/2 tsp twice today as compared to every 2-4 hours a few days ago. I think tomorrow I'll give her 1/4 tsp.

She had a good report from daycare and came home talking and singing our ears off. She was able to independently count to 10 twice, but missed the numbers 8 and 9 both times! She continued honing her skills with Twinkle Twinkle and Pat-a-Cake tonight. I need to get it on video... it's so darn cute!

She had some turkey, pineapple and yogurt for dinner. She passed on the steamed broccoli tonight as well as last night. I think she's predisposed to not liking it. We've never made a scene out of it... she just doesn't like the way it looks or she KNOWS it's broccoli!

Tomorrow's my day off. We have nothing planned. I'm sure we'll end up at Target or Trader Joe's... :)

Well into January... I apologize!

Apparantly Joe is getting some heat at work that I am not keeping up with this blog. Between the radio contests they win on a daily basis and the obvious obsession with this blog, it's a wonder anyone in the city of Milwaukee gets a proper MRI done by these people ! ! !

Anyway, we've been surrounded by the sickies since I last posted. I ended up taking Ava to the doctor on Monday, January 8th, because her fever did not let up. She also began wheezing on day four w/ the fever. She had a right ear infection and the left ear was not too far behind. Her doctor also said that she had bronchiolitis (RSV). She was put on an albuterol and Flovent (steroid) inhaler until the wheezing subsided. He also put her on amoxicillin for the ear infection.

By the time she started feeling better, both Joe and I came down with a cold. Joe's is still lingering... I was fortunate to get rid of it early last week.

Unfortunately, Ava had a SEVERE reaction to the antibiotics (penicillin). This past Wednesday, the 9th day of the medication, I noticed a few small welts on her legs. Nothing serious... I thought for sure they'd disappear by morning. When she woke up on Thursday, the welts had not only increased in size, but also by number. I called the doctor because I didn't want to take her to daycare if she had something contagious. I had absolutey no idea what it was! By the time we left for her appointment the welts covered most of her legs and arms and she was itching like crazy. After the doctor did a thorough exam, he stated that it was a "classic allergic reaction to penicillin". He said that it is common for it to show up 7-9 days after the medicine has been started. He said the only thing to help it was to stop taking the amoxicillin and to give her Benadryl.

We obeyed although I didn't see much hope the first 48 hours. We were all miserable. Joe and I could hardly stand looking at her, thinking she must be feeling so bad... and she was. I ended up taking her to daycare on Friday and by the time she got home that afternoon, it looked like she had the mask of Zorro on her face. It took until Sunday morning for the welts to disappear on her arms and legs. She still has a few small red areas on her chin and neck but overall she looks 10 times better than Friday.

Aside from the sickies, Ava has been growing up so fast. She's now putting two words together, mainly to the tune of "no mommy" and "no daddy". She also says "thank you welcome" when you give her something. She can sing almost the entire Twinkle Twinkle song and is just starting to dig the Pat-a-Cake tune. (Daddy seems really bothered that I say Patty Cake instead of Pat-a-Cake. What's the difference, right?) She has inherited a few of our traits lately. She is just as stubborn as daddy (!) and is as obsessed with chapstick as me. That's my girl!

I can't complete this blog without mentioning the coolest shirt Ava got two weeks ago from Uncle Jim and Aunt Dineen. Although it did not bring them luck when it most counted, there is enough room to grow into to it for next year's championship game!!!

The Holidays, in a nutshell...

I apologize that it's taken me this long to get back into blogging. The last few weeks have been very exciting yet beyond hectic at the same time. I'm copying the format of my friend Jules' blog and will give you a brief summary of our daily happenings in the past two weeks:

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24th
We started today out by going to Grandpa Tony and Grandma Vicki's. Aunt Lisa, Uncle Tony, Aunt Jenny, Uncle Brett, Uncle Brian, Aunt Charisse along with Ava's cousins' Ashley, Troy, Tayler, Soleil and Dominic were all in attendance. Ava got spoiled by everyone. She got some cute outfits, a Little Tykes Kitchen, books, new doll and several other toys. She enjoyed running around the house with Dominic (Nieko).

She seemed tired by the time we left but was awake when we got home. We put her down in her crib at 12:30pm and she did not fall asleep until 3pm. We had hoped to get to Aunt Nancy's by 4pm but did not arrive until after 6pm. Unfortunately the flu bug (possibly Norovirus) was visiting with Ava's cousin Emily and eventually passed on to about a dozen more people within 48 hours. Overall, the evening was filled with lots of laughs, food, drinks and toys, toys and more toys. We stayed until just after 10pm. Ava was still awake when we got home, so we gave her a bath and put her down, all the while telling her about Santa's arrival!

MONDAY, DECEMBER 25th

Ava woke up shortly after 7am. I know she really didn't understand the concept of Santa's visit, but she was more than pleased with the Dirt Devil Jr. Vacuum and broom set under the tree. She played with them for hours. She also got a beautiful cradle for her baby doll, a baseball mitt, a Cabbage Doll named Fiona Harley, clothes, books and other toys. She was content for the rest of the morning with her new toys.

After her nap, we headed over to Joe's Aunt Jeannie's house. It was a wonderful visit and Ava had all the Aunts and Grandma Mary spoiling her. She enjoyed climbing up and down Aunt Jeannie's stairs and was happy that Grandma let her try several treats. That's what grandmas are for, right?

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 26th
I was out the door before 7am and met Ashley and Grandma Vicki at Target to get some after Christmas deals. Aunt Lisa babysat Ava and she conveniently slept in until after 8am. I think she only does that when she knows I'm not attempting to sleep in myself. Aunt Lisa nad Ashley then babysat until daddy got home from work while I went to a dr. appointment.

DECEMBER 27 - 29th

Fairly uneventful days... Ava went to daycare Wednesday through Friday. On Thursday night, We visited Aunt Lisa, Uncle Tony and Ashely and Troy one more time beofre their trek back home to Cleveland.

DECEMBER 30th - JANUARY 2nd
On Saturday, we drove to Detroit (Grosse Pointe Park), Michigan to visit Grandpa Bob, Grandma Nancy and the rest of the family. We made excellent time and daddy got us there safe (and fast). Our only stop was in Battle Creek, MI for some lunch at Cracker Barrel. We stayed in the condo of G&G's friends, Jim and Nadine. They were gracious hosts and seemed to enjoy Ava's company.

Fortunately, the family was able to reserve the *party* room. This gave us alot of extra room and we spent all of our waking ours there (daddy even spent some sleeping hours in there). We played games, watched a ton of football (shout out to the Badgers), ate, drank and ate some more. Ava enjoyed the company of Dominic and Soleil who also made the trek from Wisconsin. She was quite shy with most of adults, many she had not met yet. She eventually warmed up to everyone, but each day she took quite a long time to do so.

Ava slept/napped great in her pack n play, even though it was just inches from our bed. She didn't eat so well, but I'm assuming the excitment of her surroundings didn't help. Ava was asleep by the time we rang in the new year, but she enjoyed *practicing* the next day. Overall it was a success, and we look forward to our next Bieniek/Vetrone/Passante/Buck/Keller reunion. Maybe in WI???

JANUARY 3rd - PRESENT

Ava came down with a cold on our way home from Michigan. Daddy commented that Ava had a *morning voice* when she woke up from her nap in the car. Little did we know it was the start of something awful. She has not been feeling well since. She's got one serious head/chest cold... fever, cough, runny nose, congestion and possible ear/throat pain. She is beyond clingy and wants to be held 24/7. We both had the day off on Thursday because of a prior scheduled appointment with a dermatolgist; we had been referred there from Ava's pediatrician. We were told everything looks fine. We'll probably have the mole removed when Ava is between 10 and 12.

On Friday, I kept Ava home from daycare. She still has not improved today and I'm being a paranoid 1st time mom. I had called the pediatrician's office this morning but hung up after being on hold for 15 minutes. I know it's probably a virus so they can't do much, but I feel so bad for her. I sure hope tomorrow is a better day...