Get the pokin' stick

Mommy got tired of throwing stuff at the kitties when they tried to eat the Christmas tree, so she taped two wrapping paper cardboard rolls together to make a long stick that she could poke them with. It was much easier than having to constantly pull throw pillows and my shoes and and cell phones out of and from behind the tree.

Mommy and Daddy thought that I wasn't paying attention when we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, but I was, and I've been vigilantly on the lookout for tree squirrels ever since. Yesterday I took it a step further.

Today, the tree came down.

Budding Picasso

Santa gave me bath crayons in my stocking. I've been drawing pretty pictures in the tub, and on myself.The best part: it all washes off!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas was exciting this year. Last year I was just a tiny new baby and didn't get to really celebrate it, so this year I made up for it. Here's a recap:

This past week, I've been having a growth spurt (or so Mommy and Daddy hope!). I've been eating so much food every day! For example, on Sunday for lunch I had 4 chicken nuggets. Mommy only eats 6 before she's full! And on Christmas, I had 2 1/2 pancakes for breakfast, the same amount that Daddy had!

All the growing and eating is good for me though, because on Christmas Eve I took my first step! Mommy and Daddy were so proud of me! They tried to get me to take more, but I found that it was more fun to just stand up, no-hands, and clap. Yay me!

On Christmas morning, we woke up and opened presents. Here are some pictures.
Santa Claus brought me animal crackers in my stocking, probably as a way to keep me occupied while Mommy and Daddy opened presents. It's really fun to shove handfuls in your mouth, especially when you already have about seven in there already. I really enjoyed opening my presents, especially ripping the paper.Like all babies, I enjoyed the box more than the actual toy.I also enjoyed playing with Mommy's presents, such as the new spatula she got. However, once Daddy changed the batteries in my baby Palm Pilot/magic screen annoying song thing, that became my favorite. Nothing beats hearing "Let's learn our ABC's" over and over and over and over! Thanks, Aunt Debbie and Uncle Dan, for that one!

All-in-all, I had a lovely Christmas. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Interesting milestones

I forgot to mention. Last week:

1. My second top tooth came in. I now have four teeth.
2. Mommy gave me my first haircut! She trimmed my long cowlick that just wanted to stick up in various directions, and she trimmed around my ears because she's sick of tucking my hair behind my ears.

Busy time of year

Sorry for the lack of updates, but we've been really busy! I'm feeling much better now, although I still get really tired, and my pediatrician said my nasty cough (from the RSV) should last another month or so. I spent a whole week at home recooperating, so I had to play extra hard at daycare, even though I really needed the rest. A new baby started this week. He's the same age as me, and we've become best friends already.
Here's a picture of my class at daycare. Christopher, my new friend, is sitting to the left of me (my right).

We got our Christmas tree last weekend. I've enjoyed watching the cats eat it, and listening to Mommy and Daddy yell at the cats for eating it, and trying to pull off the lights.

I always was really busy helping Mommy finish her holiday baking. We made thirty types of cookies: white velvet cookies, black and white slices, chocolate marzipan cookies, spiced-nut palmiers, cranberry and chocolate squares, brandy snaps, coffee sponge drops, chocolate almond torrone, toffee bars, lemon squares, citrus spice bars, chocolate crackle tops, cocnut macaroons, chewy apple brownies, bee sting bars, duck sugar cookies, fudge brownie tassies, pfeffernüesse, shortbread, viennese brownies, marbled brownies, fudge, peppermint swirl cookies, gingerbread cookies, sablés de confiture, cinnamon refrigerator cookies, glazed sugar cookies (spritz cookies), seven layer cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and jam thumbprint cookies. Next year Mommy and I are going to start at Halloween, instead of Thanksgiving, and make 45.

I've also been busy wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. I love an excuse to talk on the phone!

Worst sleepover EVER.

I have asthma and I go to daycare, so I usually have a runny nose and/or cough, and Mommy and Daddy don't think much of it. If I wheeze, they nebulize me and that's that. Well, Saturday night I wasn't feeling so good - fever, wheezing, coughing, etc. Mommy and Daddy nebulized me so that we could all go to Mommy's office Christmas party. Sunday I wasn't doing much better, but I still had an appetite and was playing. Monday Mommy stayed home with me, and I was clingy and whiny and lethargic and not at all hungry or thirsty. Mommy still thought it was a normal cold.

When Daddy got home, he thought I should go to the doctor because I was burning up with fever, coughing really hard, breathing very rapidly and shallowly, and not at all in the mood to do anything but lay on him or Mommy. The doctor nebulized me and said she thought I had RSV. I was still having a hard time breathing, so she sent us to the ER at Duke Children's Hospital (Daddy would have prefered Durham Regional since it's right by our house, but apparently they don't admit from the ER or something).

Waiting to be admitted at the ER, Mommy thought I sounded better and wanted to go home, since it's a $150 copay to use the ER. But Daddy said we were already there, so we might as well have my checked. After tons of waiting and a chest x-ray, the doctors concluded that I have pneumonia! I also had a low oxygen count (ranging from 90-95; 100 is normal), so they wanted me to spend the night for observation. They were worried about me becoming dehydrated, so I had to have an IV in my hand for fluids. Yuck! I was very good though with it and only cried a little when they put it in. Mostly I was frustrated that I couldn't pull it off! They had to wrap it in tons of tape and a splint to keep it on.

About 10:30 they moved me up to a room. It was WAY past my bedtime, so of course I wanted to play! Mommy was at a loss as to what to do, since usually when I won't sleep away from home I either get a car ride or have to cry it out - neither of which were possible at the hospital. Finally I fell asleep, but I was hooked up to a couple stupid machines that would beep loudly and continuously whenever the sensor was bumped. So whenever I rolled over, the IV would twist and the machine would beep until a nurse came in to reset it. And since I was up, I'd pull the oxygen sensor off my toe and then IT would beep until it was reset. That one was attached with tape that lost its stickiness very quickly, and it had to be replaced several times.

Fortunately the night respiratory specialist was very quiet. Whenever he came in to adjust my oxygen (the machine also beeped whenever I rolled over and didn't have it blowing in my face) or nebulize me, he didn't wake up any of us - Mommy, Daddy, or me. The pediatrition on call was nice about that too. The nurses weren't though.

In the morning, after we'd each gotten about 4-5 hours of sleep, we were really excited when the nurse said we'd be discharged soon. Naively we took soon to mean within an hour. After four hours of bugging the nurse who bugged the doctor, we were able to leave. Just as we were leaving, Miss North Carolina came by my room, delivering books as a holiday treat/mandated community service project. I got my picture taken with her, but I wasn't very happy about it.

So now I'm at home for the rest of the week, recovering from pneumonia and RSV. The doctors said it'll probably take several weeks before I'm back to normal. Hopefully I'll be able to go back to daycare on Monday. Until then, Mommy and I get to stay home and make cookies!

Cooking

We've been working hard in our newly-painted kitchen. Mommy was sick of the ugly brown cabinets, so she painted them white. Pretty, huh?I spent last weekend helping Mommy make cookies. She made me do all the cleaning up.

When I got too tired of being Mommy's servant, I watched football with Daddy. Carolina actually won their game against San Francisco, but I didn't find it very exciting.

Here are about a third of the cookies Mommy and I have made so far. They are all yummy!

We'll give you a goody basket if you can identify all nine!

Sick. Again.

Last Wednesday I had to go home from daycare early because I had a fever of 103. Thursday I stayed home, with Mommy in the morning and Daddy in the afternoon. I'm getting my two front teeth (one of them has acually broken through!), so Mommy and Daddy just assumed the fever was related to that. Not so, as today I wass covered in little red spots. Roseola. Again.