Sunday, December 16, 2012

Winter break, here we come!

Can you tell life got a little busy when I went back to work? I can't believe the school year is basically half over, but I'm looking forward to starting our 2 week winter break at the end of next week! Todd and I are lucky to share the same vacation this year. Last year, I was back at school right after the first of the year so I'm looking forward to having the extra week to relax with our family instead of being caught up in Christmas prep. Thank goodness for Amazon Prime though, or no one would get any gifts!

So I'll try to give the highlights we've experienced in the last 4 months:

Lorelei LOVES her high chair and started eating solids. 

Then, Lorelei had a horrible allergic reaction. Her joints became very swollen, and her little spots progressed into large target lesions which can signal a dangerous reaction. She didn't seem to feel too terrible and never had any respiratory issues (thank God!), but we ended up at the dr. twice and then the ER where she was given a dose of steroids and a prescription for 2 more days worth to help her body combat the allergen. I hope we never have to do that again, and I hope none of you ever have to experience an infant on steroids. She was so unhappy and fussy. She would just scream. And not a crying wail that signaled she was in pain, just an angry yell. When I spoke with the doctor about her temperament at our follow-up, she said Lorelei was experiencing baby roid-rage. She did calm back down when the round of meds was finished, but for those 3 days when she was so unhappy, I felt like that "David after Dentist" video... "Is this gonna be forever?!?!" We never pinpointed what caused the reaction, but I have a feeling it was my milk consumption. I've since given up milk, and we've slowly reintroduced some cereal, fruits, and vegetables without any trouble. The doctor recommended we wait to do any allergy testing because 80% of children grow out of any allergies by the time they're five, and testing can also give a false-positive, so we'll continue to be cautious. 



My gardening slowed down a lot once school was back in session, but I did get to harvest one watermelon that the Asian beetles didn't devour. It was a white-flesh melon; sweet, but tiny and very seedy, and I think I learned that I prefer a huge, genetically modified, seedless watermelon from the store. At least they're only in season for a couple months or we would have to take out a loan to support my watermelon habit. 

Before the time change, Lorelei and I were going on a 2 to 3 mile run each evening after work. I miss that time so much. She loves to be outside, watching the geese fly above us and she listens to the birds and insects when we get to the trail in the park. Our last run was a couple weeks ago when I got home a little early and the temperature was almost 70. I'm not comfortable taking her out with me though when it's already very dark when we get home and I don't think it's fair to put her in the jumper or the pack-n-play right when we get home so I can do Jillian, so squeezing in a run or workout will have to wait until winter break. 

I've done some sewing on the weekends when Lorelei takes her big nap in the morning. I've completed a couple dresses and some small knitting projects. I have so many cute things pinned but most of them will have to wait until winter or spring break, or summer for that matter.

Lorelei was a ballerina for Halloween, mostly because it was a good excuse to put her in a tutu, and I wanted to make one. She was adorable! She wasn't bothered by her giant tutu at all!

We took 6 month portraits on the first freezing day of fall. It was much more stressful than I'd anticipated. Poor Lorelei, who was a little wobbly when sitting on her own at that point, took a face-dive into the leaves about 5 minutes into the session. She came up with a muddy face and she hates having her face wiped. She never really recovered and was not willing to smile unless Todd danced behind the photographer, (which he did for the good of the cause despite the fact we were at the Arboretum during their fall festival and there were people everywhere. Such a good daddy!) Our photographer, Caitlin, of Hazelton Photography is a genius. We only took pictures for about an hour. She took around 70 shots, and we got some amazing pictures. She's also very good at using photoshop, because you can't even tell that Lorelei's nose was bright red and literally flowing the entire time. (Actually, you get a glimpse of her very sour face in one of the family shots, but she's not crying so we'll take it!) These are some of our favorites: 








We've decorated for the holidays and Lorelei visited Santa without a single tear. One of my favorite things about being her mom is how she is teaching me all about her little personality. I honestly expected her to lose it when she sat on Santa's lap, but she just looked at his face and really checked out his beard. (I think Santa was also expecting the worst, he was so happy she didn't cry! It was really cute. Poor Santa making all those little ones sad!) 



Lorelei is very close to walking. She wants help walking all over the house and at Granny's house. She can say, "Mommy" and "Daddy". She tries very hard to say, "Fletcher" and "Greta" and she says, "dog". She does love the dogs! She started waving last week and I got this video of her asking for "more".  (It's kind of long, but you get the idea in the first 20 seconds or so). 



Finally, here is our funny ham, and the answer to the video below is, YES, SHE WAS!



If I don't get back on here soon, Merry Christmas!!