Showered with Love

Saturday evening our parents surprised us with a mini-shower to welcome Baby Ory.  We met out at the cabin for a chicken dinner, cake, and some beautiful gifts.  Both grandmas tend to go overboard with gifts for their grandkids, and this was no exception.  Little baby will be well outfitted in adorable clothes, towels, hats, bibs, burb cloths, and blankets.  My Mom made the most beautiful quilt for him.  The colors are absolutely fabulous and her sewing work is just impeccable.  We're going to hang it on the wall in his nursery. It's so gorgeous!  Baby Ory is so unbelievably loved and we are so lucky to have our parents there to support and encourage us.

Influenza Hell

Saturday morning Nolan woke up feeling awful with a 103 degree fever.  However, that was the extent of his symptoms.  He spent the day snuggled up on the couch and by Sunday he was better.  Little did we know that it was the start of something terrible... 

When I woke up on Sunday morning, I had a terrible barky cough...the kind that makes me cough til I vomit.  I went in to Urgent Care, thinking I had a case of bronchiolitis and hoping for a round of steroids.  The doctor wouldn't prescribe them though, due to my pregnancy.  She sent me home with an inhaler and I was absolutely miserable.  My coughing continued to get worse and then the muscle aches and fatigue set in.  I don't know if I had ever felt so miserable.  Of course, Eric got it too, and by Wednesday Olivia had a fever of 104.  I took her in to see the pediatrician who did blood work, a urinalysis, and a chest x-ray.  These tests all came back normal, and Liv was diagnosed with influenza and prescribed Tamiflu.  After some phone calls and a quick stop to the OBGYN department, Eric and I were prescribed Tamiflu as well, and we hoped that we were at least on the road to recovery.  Throughout the week, we were barely able to get off the couch.  We couldn't grocery shop or even muster enough energy to pick Nolan up from school.  Eric missed the entire week of work and we all struggled to just get through each day.  It was one of the worst weeks our family has ever had.  I wouldn't wish influenza on my worst enemy - especially not when you're 9 months pregnant.  

The Adventures of Whack Man

Nolan has been really into reading graphic novels and comic books lately, and last night he decided to write one of his own.

The Adventures of Whack Man.  By Nolan Ory.  The First Book.

Meanwhile at the super hero station, the super heroes were having a meeting.

When along came Sonic.  Then Sonic came in.

Then they fought crime.  The end.

Thank you for reading this book.

Snow-maggedon...again

Words cannot adequately describe what it's like to watch a couple of feet of snow fall from the sky over the course of a couple days.  We hunkered down for the weekend and I couldn't help but think of the book, The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder that I read when I was a kid.  Roads were impassable and roofs were weighed down with the burden of the wet, heavy snow.  The snow reached the bottom of our front window, completely covered our deck, and took down a huge tree limb in our backyard, destroying the wooden sitting area.  Thankfully we were well stocked on groceries and had no cause to go anywhere, though I'm not sure what we would've done if we had an emergency.  We are all struggling with being sick of snow, sick of the cold weather, and sick of being sick.  It has been such a long, difficult winter, and looks like there's no end in sight.

Rabbit or Duck?

Nolan's class recently did a persuasive writing piece about whether they saw a duck or a rabbit when they looked at an illustration.  Here's what Nolan did:

I think it is a rabbit because if it was a duck it would have a tongue.

100 Days of School

Nolan's class recently celebrated the 100th day of school.  His teacher asked them to dress up like they were 100 years old.  Nolan was completely fine with this until the morning of, when he was completely overwhelmed by the idea.  I did manage to get him to don a cardigan sweater and neck tie, but that was the extent of it.  He does really enjoy school and is doing such a great job in kindergarten!

The Great Shrew Rescue

The other day, while Eric was setting up the baby monitor, he called upstairs for Livi to come down.  There was a tiny shrew stuck in the window well, frantically trying to climb out the slippery metal sides that he wanted to show her.  Each time it slid back down into the snow and it looked like a hopeless cause for the poor little creature.  I gave Eric *that* look and he knew it was useless to argue with me...he marched out into the waist deep snow to put a wooden bridge into the window well for the shrew to climb up.  Sure enough, within a couple of minutes, it climbed out and scurried away under the deep snow.  A few minutes later a second shrew emerged from the window well, and followed the path of his friend.  My husband; my hero.