Chips N Salsa

Is it strange for an 18month old to like chips n salsa? In the video she can't get enough of it. I think it's a cute video but it's 3 minutes long so I don't blame you if you don't want to watch it. If you manage to watch it to the end, you'll see her do sign language for 'more'. Sorry this is all I have to say for the moment. I guess there isn't a whole lot going on right now. We are both busy with work and in the evenings we are busy with trips to the park with Kate. We love spending time outside now that the weather is nice. Today was a rainy day so we've been inside all day.

Our Little Fish

Kate and daddy have been taking swimming classes at our community pool. Brock talks about their daddy daughter swim class all week with Kate. It is so cute to see the two of them in class together. Here is a video of our little Fish during their lesson. I love how she almost "jumps" to her dad from the side of the pool. Kate has also learned how to go underwater. Brock says her favorite thing is when they chase after little rubber ducks in the pool.

Allergic To Roaches!

So because of Kate's persistent runny nose and recent weird rash we went to the allergist to see what is wrong with the poor baby. They did a skin test where they lightly prick her back with 15 different common allergens and watch the skin reaction. She came up positive for cockroaches. Well I've never seen a roach in our house so the doctor and I agreed her runny nose is mostly likely from a really bad sinus infection. I told Brock when we got home that Kate is allergic to cockroaches to which he replied "what are going to feed her for dinner now" that's Brock, always has something funny to say. In the meantime I get to suction snot out of a toddler's nose and then spray a nose spray up there. It's so much fun with an uncooperative 18month old! Oh the doctor also said that because she is allergic to 'something' more than likely she'll develop more allergies. Anyone know anything about this?

Willy You're A Whale Not A Cactus?

This is a line from Kate's favorite video at the moment, "Willy Was A Whale" by Justin Roberts. She loves this 3 minute song/video. In fact she loves it so much when it's done playing on HER laptop (a whole other story) she will sign for "more" in sign language and if that isn't enough for us to replay it for her she will say to us "la la la" "la la la" or her baby language version of "Willy Was a Whale". It's so incredibly cute, how can we not resist playing it again for her. It seems we will soon be needing to set limits on our 17month old daughter and her computer usage. When she first wakes up in the morning she runs directly to her laptop, and when she comes home from daycare, before she takes off her jacket, she is sliding down the steps to get on her computer...like father like daughter. What can I say. On a side note, I've been amazed at her language development it seems in the last 2 weeks she has tripled her vocabulary and I hear her often attempting to repeat words and phrases we say. I guess it's time we start watching our language!

Oh the laptop... Brock gave Kate his old laptop about 2 weeks ago. I thought the laptop had seen it's day but apparently it has just enough life in it to connect to the internet and bring endless smiles to this toddler.

Guess Who Hopped Over for Easter?

We had a great Easter Weekend, on Saturday Kate and I went to Aunt Helen's House of Fun(my coworker)and guess who was there to greet Kate? Yup the Easter Bunny. Kate has always had a special connection with animals and seeing her with the bunny was just so cute. She was so cute chasing the bunny around, Aunt Helen also has 2 birds and a hamster. Kate loved being around all these animals. We also went on a walk through the country which Kate walked for 1/2 mile of it, I was amazed that her little legs could carry her that far. Aunt Helen had lots of fun with Kate and gave her a cute little yellow jumper and some rubber stamps to play with, thank you Auntie Helen, we can't wait to come again.

Kate and Cookiedoodle

The bunny tried to eat her basket!

Oh I found an egg

Check out the blanket in the background, it has stuffed bunnies sown into the blanket, so cute.

Kate's little Easter Basket full of goodies.

I love Tilly's nose poking out of the basket

This card was from the Easter Bunny (aka Aunt Helen) Kate wasn't interested in the card but loved picking off the stickers that were on the envelope

We went to Church and then afterwards headed to see family in Fredericksburg. It was fun to see all the cousins on Brock's side. Kate went on a cousin's Easter egg hunt and each cousin got to find 3 eggs, Kate was the last one to find all her eggs, are you surprised? Nana sent us home with a ton of Easter candy for us and a little necklace for Kate.

Put All Your Eggs in One Basket

We went on an Easter Egg Hunt or 'drop' I should say on Saturday. Ms. Kimmie invited us to one that her church puts on for the kids. I'm not sure if Kate had more fun picking up the eggs or dropping them back on the ground. It took awhile before she really got the hang of it but towards the end of the hunt she was all about putting her eggs all in one basket.

Here are a few of pictures. I love the field covered with the colorful easter eggs.



Just in case you are wondering, her adorable easter basket was given to her by Ms. Kimmie last Easter (2007)


Just in case you are wondering, Ms. Kimmie is her babysitter. Also Kate didn't get to enjoy her candy, but mom and dad sure did!

ERYTHEMA MULTIFORME

Our Midweek Adventures.... I get a call from Ms. Kimmie at 10am today. "Uh Kate has a rash that is appearing before my eyes, it's bad come quick". So I get to the house and it is bad, looks like hives, her hands are swollen, her lip is swollen and her eye is starting to swell and the only thing I can think is that it's an allergic reaction to honey that Kate had this morning to help with a cough she's had for the last couple of days. I call the pediatrician while I'm at the sitters to see if I can come straight there and the nurse gets on the phone and says "call 911 and do it while I'm on the phone (for liability reasons) it could be an allergic reaction and her airways could close". OK I go in panic mode which she then says, "you need to remain calm the reaction worsens if she is upset so you can't get upset" So I'm panicking a little at this point but Kate seems fine besides the rash that is croppin up all over and she is breathing so I'm OK. Rescue arrives gives her a quick assessment and suggest taking her to the hospital asap so we load Kate in the ambulance (which she didn't like at all but later warmed up to) and we're off.

We get there the nurses all agreed it looked like some allergic reaction the doctor seemed to think otherwise but took no chance and ordered benedryl and epinephrine. A little while later the doctor popped back in to check on us and that is when he determined it indeed was not an allergic reaction because the rash was still present (the epinephrine would've nipped it immediately). That's when he threw the word ERYTHEMA MULTIFORME at us. The first part meaning "red" the second meaning "shapely rash" it's caused by a cold virus and is not serious. He explained it like this, most kids get colds and no rash some kids get colds and with it a rash, this is one of those times. Kate crashed a little while later (due to the benedryl) and I hung out in the room with her until we got the OK to leave. She is home now, and all wound up thanks to the epinephrine! But the good news is she seems so much better and most of the red swelling rash is gone. I'm so relieved and can't even began to describe the feelings I had when I thought it was serious, but thanks to a great bunch of people, my babysitter, rescue squad, nurses and doctors all is well and Kate is a thriving toddler.

Here are a couple of pictures of the swelling red rash, noice her left eye and how swollen and puffy it is


This makes me so sad to see this horrible rash, fortunately she didn't seem bothered by it