whoa . . . there's been a LOT going on!

Hello everyone! My goodness there has been a TON of stuff going on around here. I have about 3 blogs worth to tell you all. Ok, so let me first tell you about Olivia's rough time she's had over the last 2 weeks. Well, about 2 weeks ago she started to get a "cold" from a little boy at daycare. No big deal, right? Well, it started getting worse and worse and she was sounding like she had a full blown ADULT bronchitis cough and SHE'S ONLY 7 MONTHS OLD!!! Well, we kept saying we needed to take her to the doctor, but then by the morning she'd seem like it wasn't so bad so we wouldn't go. Then by night she'd be bad again . . . ugh! She had also started wheezing and sounding like she had a ton of gunk in her lungs and throat! She would get so worked up coughing that she would spit up EVERYTHING she'd eaten. Anyway, by last weekend she was running a pretty good fever! So, Grant took her Monday morning to the doctor. Anyway, turns out she had bronchiolitis (an infection of the bronchioles), which can be quite bad! Fortunately, the doctor said she had been fighting it off really well, so that was good news! But, the bad news was . . . she also had gotten a sinus infection! Poor little girl! So, they gave her a script for amoxicillin. Well, after being on it for 2 days, she developed hives all over her body! geez! Yup, turns out she is allergic to the amoxicillin. So . . . now she's on a different antibiotic and she is doing better! No more rash, but still got some crud in her system she just needs to work out. But she is eating better and feeling MUCH better!

Ok, so that was the bad part of the last couple of weeks. The good part is - we are having a lot of firsts lately. Olivia had her FIRST SNOW! They were calling for a couple inches of snow to come this past week, and we got SIX INCHES!!! Wow! Grant's mom had come up to visit Monday night and stayed through Tuesday. She just about got snowed in here! Anyway, we took Olivia out to see the snow for just a little bit (not too long since she was still a little sick) and she seemed to enjoy it. We started by peeking out the window at all the flakes coming down:

Then we went out and she wasn't sure what all that white stuff was, but she had fun checking it out!

Ok, so you all know that she's been "army-crawling" for a while now. Well, she's been trying to crawl up on her knees and is starting to get it figured out. Nothing too dramatic yet, but we're getting there. Here's a picture of her working on it:

Yeah, just as I am typing this she crawled over to me!!! Wow, she's doing so much these days!

But the BIG news is, she has figured out how to pull up! She did it for the first time yesterday morning (Grant went to get her from the crib and she was STANDING!) and by the end of the day, she was a master at it! Woa, don't blink around here! She is now pulling up all the time! Here are a couple of videos of her pulling up - one is from yesterday morning (with Grant) - and one from this morning. You can just see the progress in only ONE DAY!

AND, aside from all of that (and on top of her dealing with being sick), she's getting her FIRST TOOTH!!! Yup, the bottom front right tooth is coming in! I tried to get a picture of it - it is just barely out of the gum-line, but see if you can pick it out in this picture (I tried to put a circle around it to point it out):

Ok, so that should be enough for one blog entry - right (ok, maybe 3 or 4 entries), but with everything going on, I haven't had time to write. I have also been working a lot more lately as my project is coming to a close, we are in a big-time crunch to get everything done! In fact, I really need to get going to do some work today (yes, on a SUNDAY!). And Grant is officially out of his old company and working on getting HIS company started! He has a part time home care PT job starting this Tuesday, but has been quite busy getting everything going for his own company.

Here's just a couple random cute pictures for you all:

So, you all can see, there has been a LOT of exciting stuff going on around here. Hopefully we'll have more fun firsts and no more sick babies! Until, next time, take care and keep in touch!

Happy Birthday - Gracie!

Hello everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I last blogged. Things have been crazy here! My work project is in its final phase and I've been pretty consumed with it. AND Grant's last day at his current work is TODAY! Wow! He is venturing off on his own (actually with a partner) to open his own PT Practice. Wow! He'll be doing some home care stuff with a company part time until they get going, but they will be business owners in the very near future! Yeah! And Olivia now has a terrible cold. She has been pretty pitiful the last couple of days - she has a terrible cough and every time she sneezes, well . . . let's just say we make a run for the tissues!

Anyway, ok so what has Olivia been up to these last couple weeks??? Well, the biggest thing is that little Gracie turned 1! Yeah! We went to her birthday party on Sunday and had a fun time hanging out with them. Here are some pictures from the party:

Here are the little friends hanging out!













Here's Gracie with her birthday balloon.














Look at all those toys!!














Here's Olivia "borrowing" Gracie's car














Borrowing some more toys!













Yummy! Gracie really enjoyed her cake!















Gracie with her new Pooh car from Olivia













Isn't this cake so adorable?? Sara made it to go with the Winter 'One'derland theme! How cute is that??













Aside from that, Olivia has learned a new trick - ok, so she stole this trick from cousin Drew, but either way - she's become pretty determined that NO towers shall stay standing anywhere within reach!! Check out the videos to see what I mean:

No obstacle can stop her:

She is also trying to "Crawl" the *right* way instead of army-crawling. She keeps getting up on her knees and testing out the waters. She has taken a couple of baby knee steps, but no real crawling yet - but it will be soon. She is however, getting lightening fast with her army-crawling. She is even starting to try to pull-up now, too. We haven't quite finished baby-proofing our house for her yet. We have gotten rid or the coffee table and end tables and cleared out the living room for her. We haven't gotten our gates up yet (they are on order) but we have a temporary barricade for her using a big box and some tray tables on their sides. It's been working for now, but she'll soon figure out how to pull up then it's all over! Our gates should be coming in this week and we can do some more permanent baby barricading!

Well, that's about all for now. I do need to scan in some fun artwork that she's done at daycare over the last several weeks to show you all. I'll try to do that in the next couple of days. Until then, here are a couple more pictures of her to hold you over.

Check out Olivia with her cute NC State Overalls that mommy and daddy got her!
































Isn't she cute in her little Polo Ralph Lauren Shirt from Santa! What a little preppy girl! ha ha