Crazy Uncle Matty

Crazy Uncle Matty and his girlfriend, Katherine, came to visit us last weekend. We went out for breakfast and then went to the Great Lakes Aquarium. Since Matt and Katherine live in Chicago, we wanted to show them a little bit of Lake Superior.

Lily loved the aquarium! She loved all the fish, especially the really big trout. For some reason she kept going back to that tank. Lily also loved the ducks. They had an area with wood ducks and goldeneye ducks that had been injured in the wild and so couldn't be released. I think we could have spent all day watching one little duck paddle around the pond while his buddies slept. Another BIG hit was the otters. The aquarium has 2 otters that are a blast to watch. Next to the otters is a slide. Lily and Addie both loved the slide, but Lily felt like she was a really big kid on it!

The kids were exhausted by the time we got home. They went right to bed for their afternoon nap. Addie really enjoyed having people "stay over" at our house. She now wants to know who's staying over next. So... who's it going to be? Anyone want to come visit us? The girls will let you snuggle and read books to them!

While I'm typing this and uploading pictures (and getting some CM stuff typed up for my retreat this weekend), my wonderful hubby is cleaning up supper - unloading and loading the dishwasher and cleaning up the dishes. Did I mention he also cooked supper tonight? Pretty cool! Thanks hon.

Pumpkin Patch

If Peter Piper picked a patch of pumpkins, how many pumpkins would Peter Piper pick?



The answer: 6 pumpkins (one is hiding in the back of the wagon because it is tiny) and 7 acorn squash - all picked from the pumpkin patch in the back yard. Now, how many pumpkins will Peter Piper carve?

We're Exhausted

Lily had been sick since Tuesday afternoon with a temperature, so on Friday morning I made an appointment with a pediatrician. That morning she seemed worse than ever, more clingy, more sad, saying "owie Tummy." She didn't eat or drink much.

We got to the pediatrician's office Friday afternoon and were seen right away. The doctor did the normal sick kid check - ears, throat, lungs, etc. Everything seemed fine, except she clung to me and just whimpered. When he got to the pushing on the stomach part, Lily came unglued. She screamed bloody murder. The doctor ordered a CBC (blood test) and urine test. They had to do a catheter because she is so little (horrible experience that I hope to never have to go through again!) The blood test went slightly better, but not much. The urine came back negative for a urinary tract infection. Her white blood count was a little high.

The pediatrician decided that Lily was too sick to send home - he thought she might be having an apendicitis. Although it's rare in small children, it does happen. He told me to take her over to the attached hospital and get her admitted. She would need to be sedated and have a CT scan.

When we got to the hospital we were seen by a very nice nurse, Vicky, and a resident. Lily was again prodded on her stomach. He asked me to poke her stomach. Later a hospitalist also came in to check on us. She poked and prodded Lily's stomach and checked her ears and throat. They asked if she had been exposed to anything at daycare. The only thing she had been exposed to was strep. They were concerned about her being dehydrated so they ordered an IV and a blood test to test her electrolytes. I asked if we could just try getting her to drink fluids first. Lily drank about 4 oz of formula and some ice chips. She was happiest with the ice. Finally they ordered Tylenol for her.

By this time, Adam had found someone who could watch Addie so he came to the hospital. Mom and Dad were on their way up from Boyceville. We ended up getting a meal for Lily (of which she ate little) and Adam got me some food because it was getting late. The doctors ordered a strep test which came back positive. They ordered a shot of amoxicillin and canceled the blood test. They told us we could go home that night.

By the time we left, it was 10:00 pm. Lily fell asleep that night at midnight. The poor thing was exhausted by all she had been through.

Last night she had a hard time falling asleep. She didn't go to bed until about 11:00. Lily woke up at 2:30 screaming that her tummy hurt. I am completely exhausted, just drained.

My Monkey

I had a little monkey this morning. Her name is Lily. She didn't want to get dressed, she didn't want to drink her milk, she didn't even want to eat breakfast. She just wanted to cuddle on Momma's lap. She slept very late this morning and just woke up a little clingy and cuddly. My monkey thought it was pretty neat that I took a picture of her baby.


Big sister thought it was pretty neat that I took a picture of her. In fact, big sister insisted that I take a picture of her teeth. She wanted a close up of her teeth, but settled for a picture with her sister instead.

I tried to tell Lily she was too cute in her little fleece vest to cry, but she cried anyway. She also ripped the vest off just to show me that she's cute even when crying and without a vest.

Food Allergy Special

The Food Network is doing a special on Food Allergies:

Edible Enemies
"Edible Enemies is a one-hour special report that looks at the mysterious increase in both the number and the severity of food allergies in the United States. 12 million Americans now have food allergies. There is no cure. There is no treatment, other than a shot of epinephrine in an emergency. We will hear from the parents of small children, and from teenagers and adults living with life-threatening food allergies".

AIR TIMES:
October 13, 2007 4:00 PM ET/PT
October 19, 2007 10:00 AM ET/PT

Thanks to a different blogger, I got a recipe for Dairy Free Pumpkin Pie that I'll have to try out for Thanksgiving. Yummy!