Visit to New Jersey

Yesterday we went to New Jersey to visit Samantha's Great-Grandmother. We were able to see the whole family while we were up there. Samantha had a lot of fun and can't wait to go back up and see everyone again. Samantha is very lucky that we have such a loving, fun, tight extended family.

Samantha's favorite thing of late is "cookie." Anything she likes to eat she calls a cookie. So she walks around saying cookie, cookie, cookie and runs into the kitchen so you know exactly what she is thinking. When her daddy asked her if she wanted spaghetti and meatballs for dinner on Friday night she shook her head no and yelled "COOKIE." Her father was not very happy with her for yelling that at him! She seems to be getting smarter and smarter, today she was very careful to put her sippy cup on a coaster. She was so proud of herself when she did it.

Samantha is very excited to have two new friends. Mrs. Angie had her twins on Friday, they were two months early so they'll have to stay in the hospital for a while, but Sammi can't wait to meet them and show them how cook cookies are. We all hope that the babies get bigger and stay healthy.

Teething fun

Samantha is feeling much better these days. Her appetite is finally back and she has been much happier. Although she has two molars coming in so she still has her cranky moments when you can just tell that it hurts. Last weekend Samantha spent more time with Grandpa because Daddy and SAM went up there while I threw a baby shower for my friend (yes, the rumors are true, 3 people ended up in the hospital after the shower--so you probably don't want me throwing any parties for you anytime soon). Then this week she was walking around with the phone just chatting away, so I dialed Granny and Grandpa's house and she just talked and talked and talked to them. It was awfully cute. She did the same thing last night with Pappy and Grandma.

This week has gone by so quickly without any trips to the hospital.

Back to the hospital...

No, I'm not joking. Little Samantha made her second trip to the hospital in a little over a week last night. Day care called us around 5 p.m. and told us to come get her because she was vomiting. (If you don't want the gruesome details stop reading!) When we got there she was in the food room, sitting in a highchair, with a bib on, and she looked awful. She looked sad, scared, and sick. It broke my heart. Apparantly she was wearing her third outfit of the afternoon. Miss Gladys said she got sick 3 times in just under an hour. Thank goodness Ken and I drive to work together and that Miss Gladys gave us a roll of paper towels and a plastic bag for the trip home, because I sat with Samantha and caught her vomit the whole way home. It was really really bad (and disgusting). Then we got home and she kept doing it. We called the doctor's office and they suggested we give her a teaspoon of pedialyte every five minutes. We did. And yes, she threw that up every five minutes. She couldn't keep anything down. And she just screamed and and looked so scared. Finally we decided to take her back to the emergency room to make sure she was hydrated. And of course we had to get the same doctor we had last week. He did a double take on us and remembered us from last week. They gave her something to settle her stomach enough that she could drink some liquids. So thankfully she didn't have to have an IV. That would have broken my heart even more!

Today she's back to normal. I had to give her a bath this morning which made me late for work, but she was worth it. Then I left work early to take her to the doctor for her regular check up. Of course they didn't want to give her shots because she was recently sick, so I get to take off more time from work. And I pointed out some white spots on Samantha's mouth and the doctor said that she has thrush. So we got another prescription that we'll have to give her for that. Poor little thing.

Well, its been an eventful week.

Feeling better

Samantha is feeling much better now. She really never seemed "that" sick. "That" sick meaning pneumonia. She had a runny nose and coughed occasionally. But overall she was her normal playful self. Samantha does however want to thank her Granny and Grandpa for dropping everything to come stay with us for a few days. She had a blast with them and it sure made my life easier!

Samantha also got a visit from Grandma on Saturday. Grandma and Pappy were nice enough to store our Christmas decorations. We just don't have enough room to store them in our little place. Grandma, Samantha, and Daddy went out to lunch on Saturday and from what I hear, Samantha really enjoyed herself!

Daycare was closed yesterday in honor of MLK day, so Aunt Jenny was nice enough to come spend the weekend with us and take care of Sammi yesterday. So today was Samantha's first day back at daycare in over a week, she was very excited!

Well, Daddy finally got his hugs from Samantha. Yesterday when we got home Samantha was so excited to see us. Daddy picked her up and she wrapped her arms around his neck and just held on for a big hug. Then se would pull back and smile at him and then wrap her arms around him again. This went on for about five minutes. Ken couldn't put her down, he was in heaven.
For the second day in a row SAM decided to wake up at 5 a.m. Ken got up with her this morning and when I got out of the shower a little after six and went downstairs, the two of them were passed out on the floor cuddling. It was so precious. Unfortunately I had to get Ken up so we wouldn't be late for work.

Life with Pneumonia...

Well, today is Samantha's worst day yet. She woke up really congested and has been coughing more. I think it is just the medicine doing its job and breaking everything up in her lungs. But she sounded awful this morning. Her Daddy stayed home with her because I had to come to work (somebody has to pay for her three prescriptions!)

I forgot to write the other night (something about my middle of the night daze) that Samantha did the cutest thing in the hospital. When we went back to her room in the ER, I sat her down in the middle of the bed/stretcher. Ken had to get a visitor pass so he showed up about a minute behind us. As soon as he rounded the corner into her room, she patted the bed in front of her and said "sit" to him. It was like her little way of saying "sit with me Daddy, I'm scared." It was so sweet and made Ken feel like a million bucks.

Granny and Grandpa are coming tonight to stay with Samantha the rest of the week so Ken can come to work. I bet Samantha is going to be delighted to see them!

Oh yes, and in case you were concerned, Baby seems to be feeling better too.

Being Sick

So Samantha wasn't feeling well all day and got sick a couple of times, but she was her normal playful self. So imagine my surprise when I hear her crying around 11 p.m., I of course had been asleep for about 20 minutes. But her cry wasn't normal, it was super congested and she sounded like a seal. And it sounded like she couldn't catch her breath. Terrifying. It scared Ken and I so much that we threw some jeans on and took her to the ER. She was fine as soon as we got outside and down to the car. We spent two and a half hours in the ER, she got a nebulizer (inhaler), a chest x-ray, steroids, and a stuffed easter piglet. Turns out, and trust me, we were both surprised, she has viral pnemonia. She's doing really well now (so is baby, baby was also examined by the doctors and got the nebulizer treatment), both Samantha and baby are sleeping in the crib right now. As I'm typing this of couse I see little movements on the monitor, I'm sure she's just getting settled in. Meanwhile, Ken's at the 24-hour pharmacy getting her three prescriptions filled. Oh what a night. I hope you had a good night's sleep, I'm wide awake and it is 2:30 in the morning!

Baby, Baby, Baby...

Its been quite a week for little Miss Samantha. As I alluded to in an earlier post, she is becoming quite attached to her baby doll. "Baby, Baby, Baby" is all we hear any more. Baby drives into daycare with us now, and Baby sleeps with Samantha at night, Baby eats what Samantha eats, and Baby almost took a bath with Samantha the other night. But, we had to draw the line somewhere! But the worst was when we tried to leave for work yesterday. Samantha had just placed Baby in her stroller and wasn't ready to go. Ken tried to explain to her that it was time to go, but when he picked her up, she wouldn't let go of the stroller. She had quite a grip on it. We had to pry it out of her hands. I just can't see me explaining to my boss that I'm late because my daughter wouldn't let go of her stroller... Well if nothing else, her attachment to Baby is terribly cute!

The other night I got my first real hug. She's been holding onto us a lot closer recently, and she likes to run up and hug our legs when she wants something, but the other night I picked her up and she puposely draped her arms around my neck and placed her head against my shoulder for no reason other than to hug me. I thought I was going to cry. It was the sweetest thing and made me feel so loved.

Last night we decided to go get some burgers for dinner and eat out. We went to Five Guys for the first time (its no Cheeburger Cheeburger), but they did have decent music playing. Well, when Billy Joel started singing Piano Man, Samantha instinctively started swaying back and forth. Its like she saw the last song played at our wedding... or maybe my girl just loves to dance!

We're a little nervous about this weekend, apparantly her whole daycare is sick except for her and Lauren. Lets hope they don't catch what is going around...b/c rumor has it its not too pretty.

Well, we're excited to see the family this weekend when we celebrate Great-Grandma Z's birthday!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!

Check out recent pictures of Samantha on her shutterfly site at http://sammi.shutterfly.com You'll need the password to get in, the password is our last name (all lower case).