Finally!

My long stressful week is finally over! Where to begin...

As you all know, Ella was sick last week. I, and the nurses we talked to, thought she just picked up a virus somewhere. I wish! Oh no! It was much worse. On Saturday night, Craig went to the ASU football game, and I stayed home with Ella. Her fever still hadn't gone away, and it actually got to 103 that night. So, I freaked out, gave her more medicine, and called Craig (not that he could really do anything). He reassured me all would be well. After that, her fever went away, and I was relieved. He got home around midnight and then we both stayed up until around 1am. Ella was asleep in the living room in her Pack and Play. I went to go get her and take her to her crib. She woke up and would not go back to sleep. She was very fussy, which is unusual, so we knew something was wrong. Craig called the after hour nurse line while I tried to calm her down. Well, they said that since her fever is not gone completely after six days, they recommended that we take her to the ER. Not what I wanted to do at three 'o clock in the morning, but Craig really felt that we needed to. So we did. We were expecting to back home Sunday morning. Wrong again!

In the ER, they took a urine and blood sample, and put an IV in her. Oh my goodness! I've heard bad things about putting catheters in babies, but IV's are WAY worse. It took the nurses about an hour, four pricks, and a popped vein to finally get it in. And they didn't even know if it was good. It was, thankfully.

We waited for the results as I held Ella and rocked her to sleep. We were SO tired.

The ER doctor came in and told us that she had a urinary tract infection and that she needed to be admitted into the hospital. I got a huge lump in my throat and knots in my stomach the second I heard that. This is not supposed to happen to my baby! But, I also was relieved to finally know what was wrong with her, and she would be better soon.

We just got back from the hospital, and we have our regular little Ella back! She got pumped with antibiotics from 6am on Sunday through this morning, and she has to take oral medication for seven days. We were hoping to go home yesterday, but the doctor wanted her to stay another night. I wasn't happy about it, but time flew by, and here we are. Finally home.

Oh, the Misery!

Wow. This has been one stressful week. And it's not even over! Sorry, this will be long. To start off the week, Ella had her 4-month well baby check-up. That morning around 6am, I was feeding her, and half way through her bottle, she pukes EVERYWHERE! TWICE! WITHIN 5 MINUTES! She soaked herself, she soaked me, and the second time she soaked her bed. Thankfully, Craig hadn't left for work yet, so he was able to help me clean up. Well, at that point, he decided to stay home from work and go with us to her appointment.

Her appointment went very well. She now weighs 12lbs 15oz. That's very good considering her past weight issues. She actually gained 3 pounds in 2 months! Yay! She also is now 24 inches long. Her doctor says she is very healthy, except he still heard her heart murmur she's had since about 2 weeks old. He believes it is very innocent, but since it hasn't gone away yet, he wants us to go see a pediatric cardiologist. So much fun! Anyway, the big thing at her appointment was getting her immunizations. Last time was not fun, so I wasn't looking forward to it this time. She gets a high fever for about three days and is completely miserable. However, I was mentally prepared for it this time. At least I thought I was. This time is so much worse than last time! I'm so stressed, I think I'm going to make myself sick. She's had a high fever since Monday afternoon and it's still not gone. I've been pumping her with Tylenol (not literally) and it won't go away.

Last night, I about had a break down. No, I did have a break down. She got so hot! Craig gave her a blessing, so I knew everything would be alright. Her temperature spiked up to 103 around 8:30pm. I freaked when I saw that so I immediately called the after hour nurses for her pediatrician's offices. The nurse told me to keep giving her Tylenol and go to the ER if her temp gets up to 105. And she said to call Ella's doctor's office in the morning if she still had a fever.

Well, she did. 102 to be exact. And that was a while after giving her more Tylenol. I called the ped's office and the nurse said that since the fever has lasted for more than 3 days, it sound as if Ella has picked up a virus somewhere. That explains the puking earlier in the week. She puked twice on Tuesday. The nurse also said to give her ibuprofen instead of Tylenol because it works better and longer. I went to the store to get some infants' Motrin and gave it to her when we got home. Now she is sleeping soundly and hopefully the fever will finally break for good!

This was just one part of my week. To top things off, my cat Marcy had surgery on Wednesday. However, it was just a routine complete hysterectomy. AKA she got spayed. I just like how the tech put it so I used it. She's doing great, but I need to keep her quiet and give her pain meds every morning. I also have to make sure she's not licking the incision. Thankfully, she has not and is healing well. I really feel bad for my dog Nash, though. I have been unintentionally neglecting him. Poor guy.

Anyway, I can't wait until Ella is better. I REALLY hate seeing her suffer. Last night, I cried all the tears I could over her.

Now, I have to muster up the energy to clean up my highly neglected kitchen. I haven't been able to clean it this week at all, and now we're out of clean dishes. Hopefully nobody will stop by before I can get them done!

Sorry this was so long, but I just needed to get it out. Thanks for reading if you made it to the end!

Happy Four Month Birthday, Ella!

Our little Ella Kate is 4 months old today! She is learning so many new things, but she has no interest in rolling over yet ( at this rate, I think she'll be sitting before she rolls over ;-D)! She would rather grab at things and pull them to her mouth to chew on them, look intensely at anything and everything, and yesterday my mom and I discovered that she loves to look at books!

To celebrate her birthday, and add to all the new things she's learning, we decided to try out solid foods with her last night (I couldn't wait for today)! Well, she did a pretty good job! She didn't spit out as much as I thought she would. Below is a VERY short video of her eating.

I'm excited Ella is learning all these new things, and glad she's growing so big, but looking at some older photos of her, I can't help but wish she were that small again.

State Fair!

On Friday, we went to the State Fair with Craig's sisters. This was my first time going, as far as I can remember. I may have gone when I was really small, but I don't remember. I met Craig at his work and then we drove together to the fair. We got there around 5pm and it was still pretty warm. Not too bad, though.

We went on opening day, which is dollar day until 7pm. Holy cow! It was crowded! We had fun, but we couldn't walk two inches without bumping into someone, so we decided to leave around 8. Besides, it was an hour past Ella's dinner and there was no place to stop and feed her. She was tired and hungry, but she was a little trooper and was a very good girl. She only started to cry when we were trying to get through the endless wall of people, so I picked her up and she was fine.

Next time we go, Craig and I decided we will not go on dollar day. Too many people, and too many questionable/scary people. Here are a few pictures. We didn't bring our camera, so these are ones Craig's sister Melissa took and sent to us. Thanks Melissa!

When we first got to the fair.

Ella zonked out.

A strange picture of us. I was caught a little off guard and I don't know why Craig was smiling like that.

Aunt Melissa and Ella.

Yum Yum!

Last week, Craig and I were in the mood to make a sweet treat. One that was easy, very yummy, and a recipe that we had all the ingredients for. Well, we found it! They are peanut butter balls. They are so good, I've made the recipe twice since then, so three times in one week! Wow! Not good for the waistline I'm trying to shrink, but oh well! One has to splurge on something! Anyway, I thought I'd share the recipe with you.

Peanut Butter Balls (found in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook-I modified the recipe a little)

1/2 c. peanut butter

3 Tbsp. of butter (softened)

1 c. powdered sugar

8 oz. dipping chocolate (I just used chocolate chips)

Mix together the peanut butter and the butter until well incorporated. Gradually add the powdered sugar. Roll into little balls (The recipe says 1-inch balls, but who measures anyway!) and set on wax paper lined cookie sheet or plate. Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Dip the balls in the chocolate using a fork. I tapped the fork on the container the chocolate was in to get rid of the excess chocolate. After all the balls are dipped, place in the refrigerator to set up the chocolate. They are ready when the chocolate is not shiny.

I am not a candy maker, therefore, I cannot dip things in chocolate without them looking like a mess. I somehow also made the balls look like misshapen blobs! Hehe! I don't care though! I'm just going to eat them anyway!

Happy Birthday!

My little girl is 3 months old today! She has grown so much in just the past month. She can now smile a lot, she can laugh, she loves to look around everywhere, she talks a lot, and she can even grab and play with toys! She even rolled over once! I look back at her newborn pictures and remember how small she was. She is getting so big! I don't know exactly how much she weighs, but she is definitely over 10 pounds! She is such a joy to me and her daddy's life and we feel so blessed that she is a part of our family! Happy Three-month Birthday, Ella! Mom and Dad love you so much! (This picture was actually taken yesterday, but she's close enough to 3-months. It's one of my favorites so far!)

Ella's Special Day

Yes, I know. Two posts in one day. Anyway, yesterday was a special day for our little girl. It was her blessing day. Her daddy blessed her and it was such a nice blessing. He was sooooo nervous, but he didn't even show it! The circle was small, because a few of Craig's friends were supposed to be there, but they didn't show. So, Craig's twin brother Keith, my dad, my brother Marc, and our brother-in-law John (my sister's husband), and Craig's friend Nate were in the circle. Craig's parents are on a mission, so his dad was not able to participate. Ella was so pretty in her beautiful blessing gown! Thanks to my mom for putting in the time to make it!

After Sacrament Meeting, all of our family gathered at our house (well technically his parents' house because we're house-sitting while they are gone) and had a great time visiting and eating. It was a pot-luck style get together, and everybody brought some delicious food! After everybody left, we Skyped Craig's parents, so they were able to take part in the day in some way. It was a very nice day and it was wonderful to be able to be with both our families at once.

Both of our families together

Happy little family

Full view of her dress

Matthew (my nephew) holding Ella

My sister Kerin, her husband John, and Matthew

Keith (Craig's twin) and his daughter Ashlynn

Kerin, my dad, and Craig's sister Melissa