Thanksgiving

Let me begin with our Thanksgiving Eve ER visit...It was about 6:30 and we were getting ready for bath and bed time, and Joe and I both noticed that Isabella was passing some gas, so we told her to go sit on the potty and go. She went into the bathroom and started screaming, so I followed her in and asked her if she needed to go #2. I was thinking that she was having a hard time going since she has had her fair share of these issues in the past. She then started crying and saying that she just wanted to go to bed. It was early and I didn't want her going to bed without going to the bathroom. So we headed upstairs. She continued to cry and whine, so I put her on the potty upstairs and she just lost it. She was screaming so loud and so frantically that she was really scaring us. She kept trying to get off the potty, but her knees were buckling and she couldn't even stand up. She just kept screaming that she just wanted to go to bed. At this point we didn't know if it was serious constipation, appendicitis, or what. So I grabbed my shoes and took her to the ER.

Thank goodness the hospital is literally 5 minutes from our house. She screamed at the top of her lungs the whole time in the car :( They saw us right away and I told them I suspected constipation. While we were waiting for the doctor, she fell asleep in my lap which is highly, highly unlike her- which scared me even more. The doctor came in and said that with her history, she felt like it was pointless to keep her in pain for an hour while they did an x-ray and waited for results, so they went ahead and did an enema. She was in so much pain that she didn't protest; she just let them do what they had to do. About 8 minutes later, she asked to go to the bathroom, so we ran over there and got her on the potty- except she didn't go #2, but instead she passed a serious, serious amount of gas. As soon as she was done, she was like a new child, "Mommy, I feel better now!"- it was seriously amazing. The doctor checked in with us and I told her what happened. She said that she wasn't surprised, that people come with appendicitis and a dull pain, but when they have trapped gas, they come in screaming. The doc kept comparing trapped gas pain to labor pain and explained that her passing out/knee buckling was all due to how much pain she was in :( My poor baby.

If I hadn't witnessed her behavior and how much pain she was in, I would have never believed how painful that can be. So all was well, and we were just so thankful that it wasn't anything else. Joe Bass put it best, "That's a $1000 fart right there." Hopefully, it won't end up being quite that much, but we didn't have a choice! We kept her up a little later than usual to make sure she was all done. She went to bed fine and woke up fine:)

And on to Thanksgiving! We started at my parents' house for lunch.

These 3 wouldn't even look up for a picture!

Sweet boy thinks he is so big:)

Saying hi to Nonna

Mia needed a little cuddle

Lisa and Sara- Sara was baptized just two days later and Lisa is her godmother :)

Does she look like she was at the ER the night before?

Jason and Andrew

Big kid table

Hiding out

One sock and one shoe...check!

Papi and Jack building a domino tower

Innocent Papi decides to let Andrew help out and add a domino...

Ha ha, Papi! I knocked them down instead!!

Later at Mimi and Paw Paw's

Life is good for these two!

Ummm....yummy!

And here is where I found Isabella...In Mimi and Paw Paw's bed, reading Black Friday ads. Not gonna lie, I totally joined her! It was a great, but very long day :)

18 Months (plus a little more!)

**Beware of total rambling ahead!! Just trying to get it all in!

Andrew Dalton, where has the time gone? You are getting so big, or at least you think you are!

At Andrew's 18 month appointment we were thrilled to learn that he weighed 21 lbs (3%)and was 31.75'' (35%). We were so excited to have him back on the growth chart! From -2% to 3% is pretty good to me! Andrew's common words and phrases are: no, oh no!, momma, daddy, ball, I want that, all done, hi, bye bye, more, thank you, juice, shoes, 1-2, down, poo poo, boo and Be-wa to name a few :) If he can't find me in the house, he wanders around shouting "MOMMA! MOMMA!" until he finds me and shouts for Izzie up the stairs "Be-Wa!" His new favorite is throwing one of Izzie's purses over his shoulder and saying "bye bye". He leaves the room and comes back 3 seconds later to do it all over again. When you ask him if he wants something, instead of saying yes, he says "do". Pretty cute in action.

He's a pretty good eater- his favorites are grapes, goldfish, dry cereal, celery, as of recently hamburger (?!), anything momma is eating and he has just been introduced to fruit snacks- a new favorite. He loves the Fresh Beat band so much that I've downloaded their music to my phone in case of an emergency aka meltdown. He is still super sweet and a really good cuddler. He still likes to be held a lot and recently has started boycotting highchairs- not fun. He still REALLY loves the paci but we have made some progress in his addiction. At about 15 months, we noticed that it was getting really out of hand- having the paci ALL day long and trying to talk with it in him mouth, so we had to make a change. He started having paci in bed only and during emergencies only. And when I say emergency, I mean doctor's appointments, holidays, teething, etc. He really is doing pretty good with it, but I'm thinking we will be pulling the plug around 2? Any opinions on that?

Andrew does a good job at following directions- putting things away properly, throwing things away. He also does a good job at imitating Isabella when she is crying- it's really hard not to laugh! He loves to spin in circles and he is trying soo hard to jump. He can't quite get, it but he has a good time laughing as he tries. He loves Lucky and wants to kiss and cuddle him and give him treats all the time.

Where's Andrew?

There he is!

Big feet! Actually they are still pretty tiny!

Andrew, my sweet baby boy, I wouldn't change you for the world. You help make everyday the best day just by being you. I smooch and cuddle you as much as I possibly can because I know that before I know it, you won't let me. You will never know how much your mommy loves you.

xoxo

Birthday and Halloween

We had another dress up party for my birthday this year! We had a lot of fun, but were sad that Jason and Brandon couldn't make it because of a stomach bug.

Here's the group shot


The Norreds and Izzie- yes, she changed her mind about her costume from her school party!

Some of the kids

Is that Jessie and Woody? No! Just us!

Seriously, how cute is Mia dressed as Olivia?!

Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega (Pulp Fiction)

Maybe not the most kid friendly, but it's sooo Philip!

Everyone trying to fit at the kid table- I thnk we need another one!

Ethan and Sara

And actual Halloween! We had some friends over for pizza and trick or treating!

And yes, she changed her costume AGAIN! But at least I can say, these were dress up dresses that we already had and I didn't buy her new ones!

Trying to get a group shot

Couch: Left to Right- Hannah, Ray, Evie, Izzie, Demi, Hudson

Running away in the front: Andrew and Hunt!

Sweet Hannah! Love the hair :)

Hudson and Andrew- they were just fine being carted around!

After the little kids left, it was just the "big" kids :)

Izzie and Evie :)

Happy boy!

Checking out their loot

Family shot

So excited to be like the big kids, and yes, that is pizza all over his face.