Catching the Wind, and Chasing Butterflies

We have had quite a week here at our household. Two weeks ago Thursday, Miss Mouse got a short-lived cold. It was over by Friday, but it included a sleepless night on Thursday night. Friday night was a bit better. By the following Wednesday, The Mouse was looking rather pink around the eyes. I brushed it off as allergies until about 7:30 p.m. when I sped to the walk-in clinic, finally quite sure that she had pink eye. Yep, we were definitely visited by a pink-eyed-monster. By 11 p.m. that night I had it, too, but thankfully the doctor had written a prescription for drops that are safe during pregnancy. We were feeling better with that fairly quickly until Thursday night when we both got a cold again. Seriously, this child has been sick maybe four times in her entire life, but this past week has been horrendous! Daddy Mouse got a sore throat, too, which was just great since he was preaching on Sunday. Ugh. Thankfully he didn't quite go as "down for the count" as Miss Mouse and I did. We were miserable. Blowing our noses, coughing, etc. My throat hurt from Thursday until, well, still when I cough too much. Thank Heavens, Miss Mouse is getting much better. She has slept through the night the past two nights, and seems to be blowing much less and coughing much less, as well. I, on the other hand, was in so much pain from coughing last night (head pounding, throat burning, chest in pain) that I thought about an emergency room visit at 4:30 a.m.! Instead the Mouse and I headed back down to the walk-in clinic for another 4 minute appointment this morning, sure that now I had bronchitis. Nope, nothing wrong with me really. Nothing to do. Great. I mean, it is good, but I was hoping for some relief in sight! The doctor suggested Mucinex DM as a safe cough aid for pregnant people, so I took one this morning after a short grocery store trip to secure it as well as more bananas. The Mouse thought she should eat a banana in the grocery store. How do you explain to a 1 1/2 year old that you have to pay for it by the pound first?! She was okay with waiting, though, and happily munched the banana on the way home. When we got home, I decided that we would spend some time outside with the nice fall-feeling temperatures we are having. As we went on our walk (slowly, unfortunately, this morning), I noticed that whenever we would turn into the wind, Miss Mouse would hold her hands out as if she were trying to catch it. How precious. When we got home, she noticed several butterflies in our dogwood bush and loudly proclaimed them to the world, "ooooooo!!!!" Even with a pounding head and hacking cough, she's enough to brighten any day. She, and the fact that Daddy Mouse took the afternoon off to let me rest. I hope to post as a healthy person soon!

Baby's First Portraits

For those who are not "into" ultrasound pictures, please ignore this post. Everyone else, read on! Yesterday was (finally) our first doctor's appointment. It was a good appointment other than that the doctor couldn't find the heartbeat. Thankfully (really, truly, thank God) I had started feeling this baby move at a ridiculously early point - Sunday night. With Hope and Miss Mouse, I hadn't felt movement until about week 17, and even then it was very slight. This little critter started kicking its sister quite soundly on Sunday night around week 13 when I was rocking Miss Mouse to sleep! I'm thinking that perhaps it is an "Olympic" effect. Let me explain: Miss Mouse has been jumping around the living room and clapping when we have the Olympics on (the child has never watched this much television in her life - and won't again for two more years until the winter Olympics!). The other day, she started doing sommersaults. Yep, our 18-month old does sommersaults. Perhaps that is normal, but we just thought it was funny, starting right as we were watching gymnastics (not that this extraordinarily tall child will likely have a very bright future in gymnastics!). Anyway, maybe the next baby is just getting in on the Olympic excitement, too, doing kicks and flips. Whatever the reason, I was much relieved to have felt the baby move before our appointment. I'm sure we would have been really worried if I hadn't felt movement and then she couldn't find a heartbeat, either! So, we went in this morning for an ultrasound just to get a good handle on the heartbeat. It was really awesome to see. This being the third time, it's surprising how amazing those pictures still are! Every time! This is only our second time with the 3D equipment which is just completely awesome. We saw five fingers on each little hand and five toes on each little foot. It kept its hands in front of its face most of the time - a shy one? Anyway, it was a good peak at the new baby, and it was nice to see that, at least at this point, there are no problems to be aware of. We're eagerly looking forward to our next "peak" at around 20 weeks (less than 2 months now!!).

A Horse for Auntie Laura!

We just received news that Auntie Laura outbid everyone else at a horse auction for her desired horse, a palomino named Jewel. This is a picture of Miss Mouse with a horse. It is not Auntie Laura's, but it is a beautiful palomino belonging to Great Uncle Bill and Great Auntie Karen. Hopefully sometime this fall we will have a picture of Miss Mouse with Jewel to post! Congratulations, Auntie Laura! We can't wait to meet your new four-legged friend!

Congratulations, Big Girl!

Our little Miss Mouse broke through her last two baby teeth (the bottom filler-teeth) on Saturday! She's showing them off in this photo. Today was her 18-month checkup at the doctor. She didn't need any shots, so it was a fun checkup (other than the 45 minute wait). Her statistics now are: weight=21 pounds, 9 ounces=12th percentile; height=34.75 inches=99th percentile.
Yep, those are pigtails and a vacuum cleaner. I found it at a rummage sale (typically I swear off rummage sales - I can't handle them because I feel bad for everything that other people are not buying and feel pressure to buy it because it was important to someone at one time and they might feel bad if no one buys it and....yeah, I don't do auctions, either....but this one was at the end of our block, and the vacuum caught my eye...knowing how much she likes vacuums, I figured it was definitely worth the $2!).
Monday was supposed to be our "celebration day at the zoo" in honor of the last two teeth. Well, the 3.3 inches of rain we received that day brought us to Plan B, Yunker Farm. We needed the rain (perhaps not all at once?!), and Miss Mouse absolutely loved the Children's Museum! In this picture she is putting countries up on a magnetic board. So Iraq was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and China was somewhere around Canada - so what? She's getting the idea!!! :)
She was extremely interested in the milk cow. There was much "mooing" and milking going on.
Daddy found the bee costume over by the example of a bee hive (yes, it's real. it's in a little box like an ant farm would be, and you can watch the bees make their honeycombs. very cool.). It seemed sort of disgusting to me to put something on her that had been on other kids (and had obviously not been washed anytime during its lifespan), but it was so ridiculously cute that we couldn't resist. Trust me, she got a washing immediately after it came off. At one point, she and another girl, maybe a 4-year old, stood and looked at eachother. The older girl looked a bit confused and walked off. I told Mike it looked like they had exchanged a silent conversation going somewhat like this: Girl - "What's with the bee costume?"; Miss Mouse - "I'm not sure, but Daddy put it on me. Mommy won't stop taking my picture. I think I look cute in it, but trust me, it wasn't my idea." After the bee costume was removed, we found what would be Miss Mouse's favorite area. It was a small room upstairs filled with balls. One could roll the balls down inclines, through tubes, etc. She loved it. We spent the majority of our time there which was fine except that the walls were slanted and a bit short even for me to stand up (it was a peaked ceiling, so if you stood in the middle, you were fine).

To finish our celebration, I had the "brilliant" idea of going out for Italian food. She loves Italian food. Well, I did not couple my brilliant idea with brilliant organization, so I forgot her milk and water at home. She gets terrible gas pains from city water (trust me, she does....I couldn't even drink it myself when I was nursing, or there would be a disaster), but after the playing at the Children's Museum, she was thirsty. So, she drank a bunch (for her) of city water. All went well for awhile. She devoured a bunch of bread dipped in garlic and oil; she inhaled the tomatoes from my salad. Then we began the wait for the main course. And we waited. And waited. And waited. And walked around with Miss Mouse. And walked. And visited the bathroom. And washed our hands. Twice. And walked around more. Finally by the time the food came, I could tell she was getting terribly uncomfortable. By all appearances to the tables next to us, she had an absolute, screaming, meltdown when I went to put her in her booster seat to eat her noodles. It was disastrous. We ended up getting takeout boxes and heading home. Poor thing, um, released a lot of pressure, shall we say, once we got home. So, indeed, she hadn't been a terror-child after all, but a very uncomfortable child, indeed. It was a sad end to an otherwise fun day. I won't be forgetting the water again.

A Few of Our Favorite Things....

Here are a few of Miss Mouse's current favorite things:
*Vacuuming. While I am vacuuming the kitchen (which happens about 3 times a day), she will run and bring me anything she can find for me to vacuum off. These objects usually include such things as: fridge magnets, stuffed animals, cups, socks, her feet, her hands. The initial object was a magnet, and from there she has expanded the "list" of things that need vacuuming. She laughs and laughs when I vacuum them off and say "all clean".
*Giving her animals drinks of water. She will find any small tupperware container available and pretend to fill it at the water jug. Then she runs back into the living room to give her stuffed animals drinks. The other night I watched her do this for 14 minutes straight. Entertainment doesn't get any better than that (for either the Mouse or the Mom)! Who needs a television!

Announcement!

Miss Mouse is shocked and delighted!

Miss Mouse has an announcement. Check out her t-shirt.

Her new sibling should arrive sometime in late February or early March!

Where to start.....

Where to start with this update is the question! We left last Tuesday afternoon for the farm and returned yesterday (Tuesday) just in time for our goddaughter's third birthday party. Whew! In between we packed as much as our little family of three could into a week! Miss Mouse spent most of last week with Grammy, as Mommy Mouse was working on her crafts for the Pride of Dakota debute at the ND State Fair in Minot. Miss Mouse did not mind one bit. She enjoyed spending time with the sheep, the cats, the horses, and the rabbits. One day she was obviously trying to get Grammy and me to realize something. She was getting frustrated, so she grabbed Grammy's hand, grabbed my hand, walked us out to the entryway, and said "Baaa!!!". It couldn't have been much clearer that she wanted to go see the sheep that morning! Friday evening was Mommy Mouse's 10-year class reunion (how did that happen?). Miss Mouse attended the family barbecue until about 7:30 at which time Grammy and Great Grammy came to rescue, er, take her home. We actually all had a really great time visiting with classmates and meeting everyone's children and spouses. Saturday morning came very early for Daddy Mouse. He biked in the "Bike to the Bee" event, biking from 35 miles out of Crosby into town with a group of about 16 other riders. They had a good time, although they all turned out to be too shy to ride in the Threshing Bee Parade. After completing the 5K run in the morning (Miss Mouse slept through it at the farm), I (thanks to the "shuttle service" of Grandpa Bob) managed to make it back to the farm, clean myself, and return with the entire group to the Threshing Bee in order to ride in the parade in our "Old Chevy". Papa had the car restored for Auntie Laura and me, so that makes it even more special when we get to "show it off". Miss Mouse rode with Grandpa Bob and me. She waved the whole way, and she had the entire crowd waving right back at her! She had a glorious time with everyone looking at her and actually waving back! The rest of the afternoon was spent in Great Grammy's motorhome. What a relief to have that right at the Threshing Bee grounds so that Miss Mouse could nap while I visited with a good friend and spent some quality time with her (adorable) new baby girl. That evening, after a quick practice session, Grandpa Bob, Auntie Laura, and I performed in the Threshing Bee talent show. Auntie Laura is sort of always the "star" at the end of the show, closing off the show with her traditional rendition of "The Orange Blossom Special". It's hard not to have her #1 fan in the audience anymore (Great Grandpa Don - front and center, or at least front, every year since she started), but the performance went well. And it was really an honor to be included in their group this year. Miss Mouse loved the show, though she did take a break with Grammy to ride the "kiddie train" around the Threshing Bee grounds. After the talent show came the dance (to 'old time music'). Grammy and Miss Mouse danced while Daddy Mouse and I had some time to dance together. As we were leaving, another little toddler (a boy) came over and asked Miss Mouse to dance. The other mother and I were able to coax the little ones out on the dance floor as they held hands and swayed together. At one point, Miss Mouse pulled away, so the little boy leaned over and gave her a kiss. So sweet!! The other mother was more prepared (and technological) and took a picture on her cell phone. I have no pictures other than the memory. It doesn't get much cuter! With that full day, we missed the class reunion activities on Saturday. I was happy to spend the afternoon chatting with my friend, and we had a great time at the Threshing Bee, though. Sunday, Grammy, Miss Mouse, and I headed back into the Threshing Bee to tie up some "loose ends" that we hadn't had time to do on Saturday. Great Grammy headed home to Williston after many kisses from Miss Mouse (I'm sure she cannot wait until she gets more!). At the Threshing Bee we visited the Laura Ingall's Wilder exhibit and bought Miss Mouse a "Little House on the Prairie" bonnet. Very cute, but it nearly fits me. Yes, we have small heads. Back to the "Bee". We also rode on the "kiddie train" again since I hadn't had a chance to experience it on Saturday. Miss Mouse enjoyed saying "whee" as we hit the bumps and took the corners. She hung on to both me (or Grammy) and the side the whole time (and didn't mind that we hung onto her!). Miss Mouse also had a grand new experience with horses! She fed grass/hay treats to a couple of young fjord horses that belong to a good friend of Auntie Laura's. The horses weren't terribly hungry, but she was happy to pet their manes (they're different than typical quarter-horse manes) and have them sniff at her. Then, Auntie Laura's friend found a horse for Miss Mouse to ride!!! I sat her up on the horse (a paint named "Pickles"), and she gave us the biggest, proudest grin she could! She stayed up for a respectable amount of time, but then she was "all done". She "rode" another horse, too (this one was a smaller horse named "Candy"), but she didn't enjoy her as much as Pickles. Auntie Laura's same friend (don't get any ideas, anyone, he's in his 60s) also graciously gave us a ride on his wagon, pulled by a beautiful team of fjords. We were getting close to parade time again, so the wagon needed to be decorated. But Lloyd wouldn't pass up the chance to give Laura's niece a wagon ride with us sitting right up front before the parade. Miss Mouse even got to hold a rein for a bit (don't worry, Lloyd had them, too). I was so proud of the "youngest driver" of the weekend! After our ride, we headed home and had good naps. Monday, Daddy Mouse and I took off early to the ND State Fair. Miss Mouse arrived after her afternoon nap (which happened during the trip to Minot) with the grandparents and Auntie Laura. She got tours of the animal barns and commercial buildings as well as watching a herding dog demonstration. She was excited the whole time we were watching because the two little herding dogs were herding sheep. Everyone around us was treated to continual "baaing" (from our daughter; the sheep were quite quiet). The day was a success (I sold several items), but we were all completely tuckered out. We started for home yesterday around 12:30 and, as I said before, arrived just in time for our goddaughter's third birthday party. It was a wonderful party, but we bowed out early rather than falling asleep with our heads in the cake. What a week! I'll post pictures later, although most of them are on cameras other than mine, unfortunately. I'll post what I can, though.