A Very Tough Week

So, I missed Emma's 7 month photo shoot. The past 7 days have been the toughest we've had at least since Ella had Roseola when she was 15 months.

Here's approximately what it looked like:

Tuesday, 4 AM - Took Ella to the emergency room because she hadn't slept all night and kept crying. They discovered that she had a bad ear infection in her right ear.

Tuesday, 4:30 PM - Rush Ella to the doctor's office for a quick appointment to get pain numbing ear drops.

Tuesday, 10 PM - Emma wakes up with a fever and diarrhea, coughing and vomiting due to congestion.

By Wednesday, Emma is very sick and not sleeping well. The challenge is trying to keep her hydrated.

Thursday, 10:30 AM - Ella has her ear checked and doctor confirms that it is healing well.

Friday, 10 AM - Took Emma in to the doctor after a very rough night. At that point, Emma's eyes would only open half way (probably mom's too) and she'd lost about half a pound. Her blood oxygen level was too low, so the doctor put her on the nebulizer with medication. He also saw that she had an ear infection. We head home after an antibiotic shot for Emma.

Friday, 10:30 PM - Ella asks for her pain numbing ear drops in her left ear. After they are applied she is inconsolable and holding her left ear. I head down to the emergency room with her again. After confirming an ear infection in her left ear, more pain medication, and a prescription for an antibiotic, I head home with Ella at about 1 AM.

Saturday night Emma literally wakes every 10 minutes or less coughing and crying all night.

Sunday, 11:00 AM - Took Emma to the on-call doctor. The doctor says she's improving, but is just really miserable.

Monday, 12:45 PM - Took both girls to their pediatrician to be checked up on. Ella's left ear is still infected, so she gets an antibiotic shot again. Emma sounds better, but still has a low blood oxygen level.

Fortunately, Emma finally slept through the night last night and is starting to smile and even laugh a little again. Ella's not complaining about either ear at this point, but we'll have them checked again tomorrow.

Here's my attempt at a late 7 month photo shoot for Emma. She's still not looking a 100%, but we're getting there.

The only way I could keep her happy was to let her chew on her polka dot horse (the tags, actually). :-)

So glad my girls love each other!

Ella was able to go to her dance class today! Yay!

Mini Vacation

I took the girls on our first hotel stay last weekend. We were in Salinas for three days and three nights. We stayed at a Residence Inn with an indoor heated pool.

 Breakfast at IHOP

 Emma slept through most of breakfast, but since she can't eat pancakes yet, she didn't seem to mind. ;-)

 Picking up some groceries for the room - this was Emma's first time sitting in the cart without her carrier. She was quite interested and excited about this new mode of transportation.

 Back in the room we got ready for the main attraction, the POOL!

 Ella loves her tutu bathing suit and pink life vest.

 Emma in her spring form float... one of the best baby inventions ever! It's super stable on the water and Emma loves floating and kicking around in it. It has a sun screen that I can attach when we're swimming outside.

 I brought just the right amount of activities for Ella to pass some down time in the room. She's really enjoying coloring these days.

 I'm not sure why the cushions had to be off the couch, but apparently it was critical to the action scene between Cinderella and Flint Ryder.

 A trip to Chuck E. Cheese! Ella spotted this Chuck E. Cheese the night we drove in, so of course, we had to add it to our to do list.

There were a few moments of chaos here and there during the trip (mostly during the arrival at the hotel and the packing up to go home portions of the trip). However, we did manage to have a great time and I got to spend a lot of focused one on one / one on two time with the girls without nagging chores and all the extra distractions that we've had over the past three weeks. I'm so glad I decided to take the time away.

Children's Discovery Museum on a Rainy Day

 We visited the Children's Discover Museum on Saturday. Our last visit was mid-September last year and it was fun to see how much Ella has grown-up since then. She was discovering things very differently this time and several exihibits that she didn't understand at 2 1/2 she now understands completely.

 She loves this blower. It shoots air out of a pipe and you can balance a ball on it.

 The Water Works area is also a favorite.

 Learning about lathes with Daddy

 A trip to the Children's Discovery Museum is never complete for Ella without a rest in the ambulance. :-)

 Emma, taking a break from the Baby Bjorn to play with her toys in the stroller - I still think she looks a lot like Papa (my dad).

 This was one of the exhibits that Ella now understands. The objective is to make a disk role on it's edge on this spinning platform. She understood that this time and was able to get them rolling on their sides. She use to just slide the disks across the platform on their flat side.

 This is a new exhibit, Imagination Playground. It was a bit crowded and Ella was getting tired, so we didn't spend as much time there as we will on our next visit.

 Playing with pipes and balls with Daddy



Ella's First "Professional" Haircut

Ella had her first professional haircut (more of a trim) yesterday at Lollipop Kids. Up to know I've cut her hair, but it's not easy since it's really hard to get her to be still long enough to even everything out and I keep getting confused about where her bangs begin and end. Now that she's more confident with people she did great and really enjoyed their fun shop. She wasn't too sure about the hair blow dryer, but they were able to dry her hair quickly and I just held her hand for a support. :-) Wish I had had my camera at the shop, but here are some pictures I took when we got home.

 They let the girls pick a cute barrette and every child gets a lollipop (of course).

They have little cars mounted for the kids to sit in while they get their hair cut and a really nice playroom upstairs, which Ella spent about half an hour playing in after her cut. She left so happy I'm sure she'll be asking me soon when she can go get her hair cut again. :-)

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is Emma's first Valentine's Day. :-)

 Auntie Joy made the girls theses adorable shirts. Ella's says "Sweet" and Emma's has her name on it.

 Looking cute as always :-)

Having fun together

 Valentine's Day surprises for the girls

 Ella was thrilled to find the Sleeping Beauty soft doll.

 A Cinderella book!

 Emma discovers her treats!

 Chocolate!!!

 Not only is this book pretty, it tastes good too. ;-)

 So many chewable parts on this Lilo & Stitch Angel

A wood "sun" chewy by Haba

Tide Pools at Moss Beach

 We took the girls to the tide pools at Moss Beach just north of Half Moon Bay today. The weather was great and I checked to make sure we'd be there during low tide.

 Ella always gets excited about trips to the "ocean", but this was something new for her to be able to explore the little crevices and creatures that live in them. 

She wasn't too sure about touching at first, but then warmed up to the experience and was ready to check things out.

 Emma and I were there too, of course. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to safely walk out on the rocks with Emma, but they weren't very slippery at all with all the growth on them so I just took it slow and was very careful.

 One of Ella's favorite pass times, throwing rocks into the water. :-)

Couldn't talk her out of the paci today. I think she was still tired since I had to wake her to make the low tide.

 Daddy and Ella found some interesting things, like a shark tooth and a crab arm complete with pincher. :-)

 Harbor Seals soaking up the sun

 The cones and signs are set up to tell you to keep your distance from the seals. It's a protected area for them.