The stomach bug hits the Hughes house

Earlier in the week, I wrote that Maddie was a little out of sorts. On Thursday, I got a call from daycare saying that the teachers were worried about her. She wouldn't eat and she was laying around. I decided day four was enough so I left work and took her straight to see her pediatrician. On the way to the doctor, I heard what sounded like 10 whoopee cushions going off. I knew either my car was being shot at or Madeline was going to the bathroom. It was the second option. I had no wipes, no change of clothes, no NOTHING because I had not gone home after leaving work. We get to the doc and it's up her front, down her legs, all over her BRAND NEW forward-facing carseat, EVERYWHERE.  I rush her into the doc yelling "I'm in CRISIS mode here!" The nurses were fantastic. They brought me in wipes, diapers, warm wash clothes, plastic bags, the works. 

So after 10 minutes, this is what she looked like. 

And after I cleaned her off, I cleaned me off, so this is what we looked like.

In our matching "Be wise, Immunize" t-shirts.

She was still in good spirits at the doc, but her ped told me she had a normal stomach bug and that it would get worse before it better. And boy, did it.

This morning, I offered her cereal, yogurt, pancakes, anything I could find in the cabinet. She saw the guacamole we tried to give her last night and started shouting OLEE OLEE OLEE. So....she had guacamole for breakfast. Random, I know. But Dr. Trace had said to let her eat whatever she wants in an effort to get her to eat something. (She was already down a pound from her last visit). She drank some milk and I was feeling pretty good. Then she vomited on me. 

She spent the next 6 hours rotating between sleeping on me and sleeping on the couch.

Now both Chris and I are feeling a little woozy, but we're hoping we're just tired from a long week. We cancelled our weekend plans (Sorry, Kyle and Danielle! Sorry, Brindles!) and are planning on just relaxing the next few days.

In the meantime, say a prayer this little munchkin turns the corner soon. It's so sad to see her sick.

A little out of sorts

Madeline has been a little out of sorts the last two days. She hasn't been eating very much and just doesn't seem like herself.  Of course, fevers are scary things in our house, so we've basically been watching her every second to make sure there are no spikes. I don't think she has anything too serious because she is pretty happy, but with a few random episodes. She will be happy and laughing and then start crying and saying "hurt." I'm thinking it's either teeth or her stomach bothering her, so we're riding it out for another day before we call her ped. 

Tonight, we played in her room where she put her animals down for their bedtime.

 Of course, Violet needed a "change diaper" before she could go to sleep.

Madeline's BFF (or BF...I'm not sure yet!) is a boy in her class named Mason. They do everything together. They play all day, hold hands, dance together, etc. They even got their cots moved next to each other at nap time because they were too busy sitting up looking for the other. They are gym buddies, which means when the class goes to the gym, they always pair up to hold hands and march down the hall. Madeline talks about Mason ALL the time. A typical conversation with her these days goes something like this:

Me: Maddie, did you have a good day at school?
Maddie: Yeah. Mason.
Me: You saw Mason?
Maddie: Yeah. He home now.
Me: He's at his home now?
Maddie: Yeah. Mommy car.
Me: He went home in his mommy's car?
Maddie: Yeah.
Me: Did you hold his hand today?
Maddie: Yes. Kiss him.
Me: YOU KISSED HIM?
Maddie: Yeah.

Or

Me: Oh no, your excema is back, Madeline.
Maddie: Mason. He did it.
Me: Madeline, Mason did not give you excema.
Maddie: Yeah. Mason do it.

It is pretty funny actually. Madeline will move to Ms. Kelsey's 2 year old room at the end of the month (no, I don't want to talk about it!) and Mason will stay behind until his birthday in March. I'm hoping that she makes a new buddy like Mason. Everyone needs a best friend!

On the house front, we are slowly but surely making progress. We ordered new office furniture and have got almost everything unpacked now! Once it's a bit more tidy, I'll do a house tour and post some photos.  Have a great week!

Thankful.

We have had a great Thanksgiving weekend! We've enjoyed the time together with family and had lots of extra time working on organizing the house. 

We've had some nice housewarming gifts brought over, including this basket from my parents loaded with goodies!

On Thursday, we ate dinner with the Hughes family and it was absolutely delicious. Robin and Laura did a great job doing all of the cooking! YUMMY! Madeline always loves seeing her cousin Dane; she is basically a "monkey see, monkey do" girl. If Dane runs a lap around on the kitchen, you can bet there is a pint sized blond chasing after him. If Dane sits and stack blocks, Maddie is right next to him making her own tower. The kids played hard all day and then we had a great meal together.

That night, Laura and I went shopping and had a great time finding all of the deals! I had told Chris I wasn't going to buy much, but I came home with a car and a cottage, both for half off. Whoops.  I actually got caught up in the moment, I think. We ended up taking the car back the next day b/c we decided Maddie wasn't big enough to ride it and/or appreciate it.

On Saturday, my mom kept Madeline for the day while Chris and I did a lot of the loud jobs (towel rods, hand towel circles, door stoppers, etc). She had a wonderful time making a gingerbread man. She was so proud of her cookie!

On Sunday, my cousins Connor and Preston came to visit the new house. The boys are much older than Madeline but were so so sweet with her. They dressed her up like a doll and played in her playroom with her. She was sad when they left and kept peeking around corners saying, "Where's Preston? Where's Connor?"

We had a wonderful weekend surrounded by family - a great way to spend Thanksgiving. We didn't get to see all of my family, but I know we will soon. I'm so thankful for a healthy and supportive family, a loving husband and our brand new house where lots of memories will be made.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're In!

On Saturday, with the help of some great friends and family, we moved into our house! It took us right under 6 months to build, which is pretty great. The house wasn't completely finished (painters were still in action) but we got our official CO "certificate of occupancy" and all inspectors (plumbing, HVAC, general, etc) gave us clearance to move in, so we did! It was a super hectic week with lots of panicked phone calls between our contractors and me and Chris, but Maddie never seemed stressed! Here she is at a Scentsy party with my mom:

 

 

I took some pictures but the lighting was off on my iPhone for some reason - thank you so much to our friends and family who helped! It was a lot of heavy lifting!

 

We had two pods that looked like this:

 

We got everything out in a few hours and then spent the rest of the day Saturday and Sunday just organizing and unpacking.

 

In the new house playroom, there are two little closets that are Maddie-sized. She calls them her tunnels and love to play inside them and run between them. Last night we arranged all of her stuffed animals on the wall. Then she had to put them all to bed.

 

Laying them on the floor and saying "Night, night. Lay down! Go to sleep."  

 

Everyone got to take a nap next to each other, except for these two, who got put in the thinking spot. Madeline said "no bite!" to each of them and then seperated them from the group. Evidently we have some biters amongst us...

 

On Sunday, we had no food in the house so we went to Panera for our celebratory breakfast. Madeline ate her standard favorite- the french toast bagel.

And yes, I realize she has Justin Bieber hair here. I cannot get her to keep her hairbows in all day!

 

This week we've been unpacking and settling in. Madeline woke up the first two nights but is now sleeping great. Once the house looks a bit more together, I'll post pictures.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

T- minus one week?!

So, as of right now, our plan is to move in to our new house on Saturday. But, we have A LOT to do. We've been telling our movers, aka our friends, to plan on the 17th, but there is so much to do, we won't know for sure if we pass inspection until later in the week. Partially because, as of Friday, our house looked like this:

The good news is that we got all of the hardwood floor down - what a project!! Now we've got to finalize the plumbing, finishing the painting, put up the front porch railing, put on all of the door knobs and light plates....um, I think I'm still forgetting things. All of those jobs are different contractors and all say they will be done by Wednesday, so fingers crossed!!

Chris smiling as he cuts one of the last pieces of hardwood.

We have been working around the clock. Saturday night, Chris and I were at the house until midnight putting down the laundry room floor, evidence below:

 If I look tired, I am. 

Chris has pretty much been at work or at the house the last 2 weeks; I have gotten to have a lot of special time, just me and Madeline. She is getting very into the details now. 

We had a tea party yesterday and she had to line up the donuts and tea just right for the 2 babies.

When I told her she only had a few pennies left for the fountain, she took her time and slooooowly threw them in. Of course, she then turned to me and said "more pennies please" but that's a different story. People, send me your pennies!

We took a little trip to the doctor on Friday because she had a red mark in her eye - she got scratched at daycare- and she had a rash on her back. Neither were anything to worry about - thank goodness! And we got a free ear check and I'm so happy to say tubes are looking good and ears were clear.

 Enjoying a snack while waiting for the ped. I have found that cheerios come in quite handy at the doctor's office.

This week we're going to be super busy wrapping up everything at the house. Chris doesn't even know I'm awake and blogging, or I would have been put to work already! :) I'm going to go get to it. Enjoy this beautiful weather!

I DO IT!

Madeline is 22 months old, going on 22! She is VERY independent! Lately, everything is "I do it" or "I get it." She insists on doing nearly everything by herself. 

Like... climbing up the steps to big slides

Or climbing up the slide backwards

She had to hold her own Halloween bucket...

OK, seriously, so she's my daughter, and I'm biased...but was there ever a cuter watermelon?!

She wanted to help daddy with the hardwood floor

It's a lot of fun watching Maddie master language. She was a late talker due to her ear infections but has caught up and is now saying more than most of the kids in her daycare class. She knows all of her shapes, the alphabet, and is putting together short sentences. I cannot believe she'll be 2 next month!!

Chris, our dads, and some great friends have spent the weekend putting the hardwood floor down. Here's a picture of the dining room, in progress. I love the floors!! We are so blessed to have such great parents and friends who are willing to help us with this very big job!!

While the guys worked, Madeline and I had a lot of fun together. Here she is sitting with her grandma's kitties. She loves them!

Running around the park!

Tomorrow, Madeline and I plan to spend some time with baby Hudson and we can't wait!

Maddie makes a new friend!

Another great weekend in the books!

 

Thursday night, I got to be a teenager again. My friend Ashley and I went to the Yum Center to see the Olympic gymnasts perform some Olympic routines as well as some fun routines together. We had a blast!  Lots of little girls in their leotards were there; thank goodness we didn't try to fit in our old ones!

 

On Friday, my grandma came over to see Madeline before she moves down to Florida for the Winter. Maddie always loves seeing her great grandma and had a great time playing with her! We'll miss you this Winter!

As usual, the house has been a flurry of activity.

Tile shower in the master - work in progress

 Madeline sitting on the hearth.

Madeline playing in the cabinets!

 

Maddie has really taken to the new house. Her playroom has some side closets that are pretty small- she calls them her tunnels and she LOVES to play in them. She asks to visit the "tunnel house" a lot; I know she will be so excited when she realizes this is her new house!

 

On Saturday, we went to Dan and Sherri's house for a cook-out. It was Dan's birthday earlier in the week and they had family and some couples from the hockey team over to celebrate. Madeline had a great time playing with Rolfe and Soley. She kept following Soley around saying "So-wee. So-wee." She's met her before, but this was the first time they really played together.

 

Maddie, Soley and their babies squeezed into Rolfe's car. 

Madeline has been cracking me up a lot lately. She is talking all the time and has such a big personality for a little thing. This morning after her bath she wanted to play in her bed (I think because she wanted her pacifier. She only gets it in her bed and in the car.) She put all of her hairbows in the bed with her and then tried to put every one on her. First, they all went up her arms. Then she took them off and put them back around her legs. She does have a diaper on, in case you were wondering. She didn't want to get dressed right away, for some reason. What a sweet, silly girl!