21 Months!...

Hannah is 21 months! (yesterday). And more importantly, she is ALL better! Only about three more days of antibiotics and we will be 100%! This last bout of pneumonia kicked our butts...but especially poor Hannahs. It is very nice to see her toddler-energy back in full swing. Just a few bits about Hannah as a 21 month old:

Talks in 2-3 word sentences, can count to three, knows the letters A, B, and C, knows her primary colors, copies about anything that we say or do. Knows most of her extended family members, is in complete show-off mode for other adults. Hannah is still a very cautious young lady, but her personality is outgoing once she knows who you are and what your business is with her! She watches and is constantly trying to figure how things work and operate. She is a perfectionist and likes everything neat and clean. She still carries her "dee-dee" (blanket) everywhere, and sucks her thumb at night. When she wants you to follow her, she will make the kissing sound and say, "come." (As if she were calling a dog.) Duh, it makes sense- she hears us calling Riley all the time. People do stare at us funny when we are in the middle of Target and Hannah is patting her leg making smooching sounds and saying, "Mommy, Come!"...but it is funny and we understand what she is saying! She still uses both her right and left hands evenly. She is very much into kisses and "shooshing" people. She says "bless you" if she hears you sneeze and our lists could go on and on about how much fun she is.

She plays kinda rough..a.k.a. likes to plow kids over, but not before she yells out, "push!" (We will blame her daddy for this one, as he thinks it is hilarious.) But deep down, she is totally still a Mommy's girl. (And I am loving that for as long as I can get it!!)

She is a real person now. Her comprehension continues to amaze us. She knows exactly what we are talking about. Let's just say that we have to s-p-e-l-l out a lot of words these days!

Hope you are all healthy and enjoying the snow. (Let's also hope that the snow does not stay long!) :)

Happy Valentine's Day: Take Two

Last Valentine's Day was a bust, read about it here. This Valentine's Day is also an epic fail. Hannah has pneumonia. Second time in 21 months. We fail as parents in letting our child get sick. But at least we are consistent. It was exactly last year's Valentine's Day that Hannah had Pneumonia the first time around. (So that counts for something, right?!)....maybe it's Justin's even plot to get out of buying Hannah and I flowers and chocolates. Nonetheless... She is miserable. Three different medications including including nebulizer treatments, a sore nose, and a cough that sounds painful.

We basically rotate from our bed, to the living room floor, to down stairs and start the rotation again...jump back in our bed and repeat. We read books and watch this thing called Elmo. Hannah is only content when Elmo is on. She doesn't even need to be watching it....his annoying high pitched voice just has to be playing in the background for comfort.

I am all Elmoed out. Between missing tons of work and being cooped out watching our little lady struggle to breathe, our house has not been a fun place lately. So in the meantime, until everyone is healthy- I am dreaming of the days where Hannah is running around like a crazy lady....

Oh how I miss that smile! Happy Valentine's to all...we will be sitting this year's Valentine's Day out. Homemade cards and packaged candy will have to do this time.

AH!!!

Why?....

Hannah wears a hat, a coat, and mittens. Our house is clean, I mop the floors, I clean her toys and we don't let her chew on shoes.....anymore. I change my clothes when I get home from work, I wash my hands and I am very good about all of this. Laura's is clean, the kids are healthy, and nobody else is sick THIS much.

What am I doing wrong?!....I feel like I am torturing my child.

Miserable...teething and a double ear infection. Watching some cartoons and snuggling with Mommy...

Sick or Teething?...

My poor little babe is oh so sad. Hannah is cutting her top two teeth and we are suspicious of two other potential pearly-whites also trying to pivot their way to the surface of my little lady's extra sensitive gum. All last night she would cry just the saddest little noises and I knew she had a fever. We snuggled and rocked and snuggled some more and some time around 4am I decided I was staying home to continue snuggling Hannah all day long. At around six this morning I took her temperature. It started at 101 and slowly crept higher as the morning went on. Mid afternoon she spiked to 105 and I threw my burning baby into a mild bath.

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Today Hannah was the saddest that I have ever seen her. She laid so limp and warm and just snuggled me and whimpered. I could not do a single thing to peak her interest....not even Riley could get a smile. She wouldn't eat and she would not take a bottle....all she wanted was warm snuggles and love. Some where about three hours in of holding, rocking and singing I thought about just how fortunate I was to have a healthy baby. For all the mamas and papas out there who have to snuggle their babes in hospital beds- you are my hero. Just one afternoon of bad teething and high temperatures sent me straight into a helpless crying fit because I couldn't take Hannah's pain away.

Here are some photos of Hannah and I watching cartoons in bed this morning and getting our snuggle on.

(And for the record, I did not place the remote there- it is seriously one of her favorite toys.)

Push through the pain little babe...

Romantic Valentine Weekend & The ER

Justin and I had a really great mini-weekend getaway-just in time for Valentine's day! We had tickets to the awesomely crazy MN Wild game on Saturday night. The game was packed with fans, the Wild pulled off a win and there were about 5 too many fights for this girl. But we met up with our friends Kyle and Erin for dinner and drinks before the game and had a really great time laughing the night away with them....litterally. Then to top off this Valentine weekend, we stayed the night downtown Saint Paul at the same hotel that we did the night of our wedding. (Do not "Ohhh" and "Ahhh" about this, because we had no clue until we got there and looked around and wondered why it looked so dang familiar!) Strangely enough- we actually stayed on the same floor as the night of our wedding! Crazy.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Kahler, Justin and I enjoyed sleeping in until 10:30am.

W.O.N.D.E.R.F.U.L.

We were anxious to get back to Roseville and pick our little lady up. Unfortunately when we saw her she seemed HOT. Not warm, but HOT. We just shrugged it off to being overly dressed on this gorgeous day and she had just woke up from a nap- so we headed back to Elk River. Once we got back to Elk River, she was steaming and starting to act a little lethargic so we took her temperature: 103.2

Off to urgent care we went- unfortunately urgent care had a three hour wait and by this point Justin and I were worried about Hannah as she snuggled in tightly to her Daddy sucking her thumb, she just looked so sad. So we made the decision to head to the emergency room where we could be seen a lot quicker. We were "seen" by every nurse, doctor and admitting person at the Monticello Hospital. Hannah caused quite a stir with all the ladies as they poked and oodled over how cute she was. I think her good looks got her bumped to the front of the line, because it did not take long at all for her to be diagnosed with an ear infection and strep throat.

My poor poor baby. Will she ever be healthy?! Our doctor told us that within the first year, a baby will be ill anywhere around 8-10 times, and those times always seem to come in the winter.

So it is a Daddy and Hannah day tomorrow!

We hope your week is off to a better start than ours!

House of Horror

We cannot get healthy.

Between new daycare germs and me bringing home elementary-school germs, we just keep rotating who is sick. This time around Hannah and I drew the short-stick.... unfortunately Hannah gets hit every single time. This time is by far the absolute worst....so let's hope it is her last time.

Justin and I are finding ourselves in a brand new parenting-balancing-act: Missing work due to a sick child. Neither of us can afford to miss work, so it is a debate each time about who has the more important schedule the next day. This round, Justin wins because tomorrow is actually a teacher workshop day with no students.

We've easily knocked out 4 boxes of kleenex, neti-potted approximately 4 times a day, used that darn snot-sucker on Hannah to the point where her little nose hurts, and gone through a bottle of NyQuil in record time. (justin and I- not Hannah....duh.) Hannah gets little saline drops down her nostrils a few times a day, her mattress is elevated and her humidifier is going for every nap and night's sleep. Her eyes are puffy from watering and sneezing all the time, and the poor kid can barely eat a bottle because she cannot breathe out of her nose. Everytime she sees a kleenex headed her way it is an all out level 5 tantrum resulting in Justin putting her in a "hold" so I can suck out yellow snot and shoot drops down her nose. This sucks. I feel so bad for Hannah...she is MISERABLE....did I mention that she is also sporting a nice little fever?!

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We are the house of horror. Do not enter.

(unless you have magical powers that will make my baby better.)