The Peanut

Hi Guys.  I need to preface this blog post by saying my mommy really isn't sure she wants this on the internet for people to read.  BUT since this blog is sorta my baby book in our digital age, she has agreed to let me write about my experience with The Peanut on here.

However, let's not go and tell Super Grammy (aka Mommy's grandmother) anything we read here today.  In fact, let's never talk about this to anyone.  Thanks!  :)

Last Friday, the 22nd of February, Mommy was still at work while Daddy and Laura (and Riesling) were eating peanuts.  Peanuts are tricky, because sometimes they fall.  And sometimes Daddy and Laura (and Riesling) don't notice they have fallen.  I'm at the perfect age right now for finding the tiniest, most miniscule things  dropped on the floor, and putting them in my mouth.  So I found a peanut.  I put it in my mouth.  I couldn't quite swallow it right - and I choked.

I was always breathing  and I never turned blue or anything, but I had this obnoxious thing lodged someplace that was neither my mouth nor my tummy, I was wheezing like a broken squeaky toy, and I had a dad thumping me on the back really hard.

Mommy came home and immediately knew something was wrong.  She said I looked like carp.  (Um, Mommy?  Did I really look like a goldfish?  Maybe I misheard her.)  She mentioned ER, Daddy thought about it too.  They waffled back and forth, and both decided that maybe I just needed a good night's sleep.  But I was still wheezing funny the next morning, so Mommy bundled me off to the nearest ER.

The ER got me situated very quickly.  But! My wheezing didn't sound like choking to them.  It sounded more like a virus.  Both my lungs were wheezing, not just one.  The nice doctor took me to radiology for mean old x-rays for some inconclusive pictures of my lungs.  Apparently peanuts don't show up on x-rays!  So they took more pictures - if each lung got smaller when I laid on that side, I was fine.  Unfortunately, my right lung didn't get smaller (sign of obstruction), but my left lung got TOO MUCH smaller (sign of a virus).  No one knew what to do!

Finally, the nice doctor talked with some pediatric specialists at another hospital and they all decided to transfer me.  Daddy got to the ER just in time for my ride in an ambulance across town, while Mommy went home with Laura (and also her friends who were visiting from out of town).  The doctors at the next hospital waffled a little back and forth on what to do, too.  But in the end, the scheduled me for a bronchoscopy.  That's a procedure where they put a camera down into my lungs to see what was going on.  They had to give me general anesthesia to do it, which was partly why it took so long to decide if that was the right move.

Transfer to Hopkins

Chillin' in my scrubs

 The bronchoscopy was definitely the right move!  They quickly found the peanut at the top of my right lung - and a little bit of fluid in my left!  Both were removed (but we only kept the peanut).  They kept me overnight, since I did indeed have a virus after all, and I went home the next morning, ready to play.

Before: see the peanut on the right?

After: peanut free!

Here's the peanut!

Mommy and Daddy (and Laura, too) have been far more wary of little things on the floor ever since.  No fun for me!

Thinking about going to med school: I look awesome in a stethoscope.

Laura: February Recap

Don't I look badicalous in this?  (Yup!)

Looking thru a Tiffany catalog: how do we get the jewels off [the [page]? Where are the crowns?  (Alas, I don't know.  Get on that, Tiffany & Co.)

Mommy, for your birthday I will buy you a cot for your work so you can take naps! That a good idea?  (Yes!  A thousand times, yes!)

Scun-scweam - sunscreen

Is Gavin Jesus?  (Not that I know of.)

Laura pretended to he a wolf all afternoon, so I asked when she turned onto one. She said this afternoon when Liz took her wand and said Abra cadabra. I asked who is Liz (because I thought she was talking about a school friend), she said "Aunt Liz, my fairy godmother!"

Laura seems to consistently call Liz her fairy godmother:

 Laura will you be my valentine?

Um, okay.  But can I be a princess first?  (Obviously!)

I love ___ TOO MUCH!

Keeps me worm (warm)

Audrey tricked me on the playground today! She slid down my castle! And then I! Haha! And then she!!  Haha!  Then heehee!  Oh and then! Haha! And then I said oh my gracious! (Audrey's mom tried to find out what was so funny.  Audrey said "I don't know.  Laura just kept laughing!")

Laura insisted on wearing beachy summer capris to school on Monday.  Mid-morning, her teacher found her sobbing.  "What's wrong Laura?  Are you hurt??"  "These pants are TOO WEIRD!"  I could have told her that before she left the house... 

 Mommy when I grow up can I go to college?  (Yes please. Go Terps!)

We finally used the gingerbread man baking dish we received for Christmas.  The results were delicious.  Laura also asked rather mischievously if she could cut off the gingerman's head.

Dogmation - Dalmatian (as in 101 Dalmatians - we've watched the live-action version a lot this month!)

Mommy, next time we go to that beautiful restaurant with the slides, we should get a shake milk! (Chick fil-a is pretty awesome, politics aside.)

I'm running so fast you can't see me!

You wear a braid in your hair too! We can be braid buddies! (Done.)

Who is Gavin's favorite best friend?

Well you of course!

No, I think it's Baby Emmett

Laura built a house (that was really just a disastrous pile of books around a chair that she didn't want to clean up).  Between the interest in architecture and the desire to fix all the roads when she grows up, she might want to look into engineering as a career choice.

Gavin: 9 Months

Gavin had his 3/4 birthday on February 18th.  Here's a look at the few things I thought to write down over the course of his 9th month.

1/30/13: Gavin started waving!

Also on the 30th, we noticed he yelled Lalala as Laura walked by.  It's infrequent, but he does seem to call his beloved big sister "Lala!"

Gavin started banging his empty bottle with a toy teacup trying to get more to drink.

Gavin finally started clapping!  His cousin Nico has been clapping for at least a month longer.  Not that it's a race, right? 

2/13: Gavin got his first nosebleed! It wasn't bad at all, more just a funny little thing.  He was really sleeping, and started to fall asleep at the toy piano.  He woke right up when his nose hit the top!

This month, Gavin became more vocal about everything.  As if he wasn't vocal before. 

He also welcomed in his fourth tooth (a fifth is coming in soon).  

Gavin is starting to eat more finger foods: cheerios and steamed carrots are my favorites to give him; he's not such a fan of cheese, but I'll try again. 

Gavin really seems to want Laura's sippy cups... I've gotten a few just for him and he has no interest in them.  But show him a pink princess sippy in Laura's hand - he's all over it.  It's probably really just anything Laura has in her hand, which just happens o be a pink princess sippy!

Gavin is incredibly resourceful at using various toys to get across the room.  His push-car, the ride-on horse, Laura's stroller... But without a toy around, he'd still much rather crawl than attempt to stand on his own.  Fine by me.  Gavin gets into enough trouble as it is without walking!

Gavin does not appear to like snow.

Kale, Valentine's and Baptisms

What do all three of those things have in common?  Me!  On Monday February 11th, Mom, Gavin and I were at Giant, per usual.  Except that I got to walk next to the cart while Gavin rode - yessss!  I decided to embrace my new grocery store freedom, and walked over to the leafy greens.  Grabbing a bunch of kale, I reminded my mom that "we haven't tried this before but we might like it."  I like a little shock value - so of course Mom bought the kale.  I ate some in the store, a little in the kitchen while Mom got ready to cook it, and then I devoured the bunch.  Yum!  I liked kale that one time, maybe I'll never like it again!

After we ate our kale all up (Daddy was not a fan), we made our Valentine's.  Mom only got a picture of this one, which I sent to Super Grammy.  All of the others I made were these cute little foam animals.  Mom helped me with the first one, but then I got the idea and made all the Valentine's for my class without any help at all!

Dad and I chose these beautiful tulips to surprise Mom at work on Valentine's Day.  Boy was she surprised!  She was not expecting flowers at work!  Mom and Dad also went to see Flashdance at the Hippodrome Friday night.  They said the plot and acting weren't great, but that the dancing was fantastic! 

After a night out on the town, Mom and Dad met up with me and Gavin in Philly for an overnight with Aunt Kathy and Uncle Joe, as well as Nico's baptism. 

The baptism meant I got to hang out with my really cool older 2nd cousins.  They are so much fun, and so patient with tag-along little me!  They even gave me a present - a Horton the Elephant stuffed friend (and a Seuss alligator for Gavin).  Gavin and I both fell asleep clutching our new friends on the ride home.

Nico was baptized, assuming any of the Holy Water could get through her much and much hair to her head.  Let's just assume that it did ;-)  Nico didn't cry at all, and she looked so sweet in the dress her Grandma Margaret made for her.

(Mom would like to add that she really enjoyed having Monday off while the rest of us were at school and work.  She claims to have gotten a lot of errands run without us.  Silly mom - who will select the leafy greens if you go to the grocery store without me??)

Check-ups!

Gavin and I had our respective eight-month and three-year check-ups on Thursday.  We are both super healthy!!  And cute.  Obviously.  At eight (and a half) months old, Gavin is 28 1/2 inches tall (50th percentile), 19 pounds 6 ounces (50th percentile) with a 44.5 cm head (40th percentile).  Gavin says "See! I'm not really that enormous after all!"  Which is true - he's getting lean from all the furniture cruising.  He is still eating like it's going out of style, a style I never quite understood.

At three years old, I am three feet tall, and weigh 27 pounds 6 ounces - somewhere around the 20th percentile for both!  I'm petite in size, but not in spirit!  Gavin and I both got shots.  We both cried.

The next day, I got to skip my nap to go to the dentist with Mommy!  Gavin's mouse that I stole My mouse, Belle, came with me for moral support. 

I opened up very wide so the dentist could check my teeth!  I wasn't sure why she needed a pokey thing to count them, but I really liked when she put sparkle on my teeth (polish).  I absolutely abhorred (Mom says hate is a bad word) the fluoride - that lady only got the very front teeth very slightly painted with that stuff before we all called it a day!  The great news is that she says I'm brushing very well, and didn't have any plaque on my teeth!  I have seen some of those plaques Daddy gets at work as awards - I can't imagine having any of those on my teeth!

Saturday, our friends Emily and Andrew visited from Charlottesville.  We went out to eat and had a grand time.  I even got to have a ginger ale!!  Gavin ate (and loved) refried beans.  I ate (and sort of loved) a quesadilla. 

On Sunday, I went over to Audrey's house to help her ring in the big 0-3!  She had a Super Why party, and we got to make masks and search for letters!  The cupcakes were delish.

Keep brushing your teeth, friends!  Have a great week.
xoxo

Princess Super Kitty Laura

Hi everyone!  It's been a very long time since I blogged, what with my mom and brother bogarting the internet and everything.  I turned THREE!  I know my mom told you about it, but it was pretty fantastic.  I got so many presents!  I'd like some more, in case you were wondering.

Last week at school, we read a really fun book called Princess Super Kitty.  We made crowns and everything!  I added that crown to my growing collection of crowns, and love wearing it.  So I was wearing my Super Princess Kitty crown when I found the most amazing story - a whole book filled with pictures of jewels!  I asked my mom, "How do we get the jewels off [the pages]?" and "Where are the crowns??"  I was disappointed that the Tiffany's catalogue is just for looking at, and there aren't any crowns.  Oh well.  I still enjoy looking at the pictures!

On Friday, I went with Grandma (and Gavin, oh well) to see Aunt Liz and Nico!  Gavin and Nico needed baths, so I hopped in too.  We had a grand old time!

Gavin also enjoyed riding Nico's rocking horse.

Saturday, Mom and Dad met us in Philly so we could all go out to dinner for Pop-pop's birthday.  Happy birthday, Pop-pop!  I enjoyed the chocolate milk they served alongside the Hibachi chicken I chose not to eat.

Sunday was the Super Bowl!  I'm not sure why it was called that, since my mom just had a very small bowl of chips out.  Anyway, my friends J, C, D & S came over with their moms and dads for a ton of food, some silly commercials, a little football, and some fabulous halftime dancing (by me).  It was a lot of fun!  I think our town's team won, because there were a lot of fire crackers after I went to bed.  I picked out a fancy dress to wear for the evening, because I wanted "to be beautiful for Jackson."  Mom almost didn't let me wear the dress, but then figured why not!

Not the most exciting blog post, but at least you get to hear from me!  My mom would like to add that she was so busy watching Gavin's two bottom teeth come in, she didn't even see the rogue tooth up top!  Three teeth for Gav, but still no hair!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Laura!

Laura is THREE!

We began celebrating Laura's third birthday a few weeks ago, when our families were all in town for Gavin's baptism.  We had a big party for Laura on Saturday night, complete with cake and candles.  No pictures, of course (oops)!  Since that time, Nate and I took Laura to see Beauty and the Beast, the musical, for her birthday AND she had a party with her friends as well. 

So the other day, Laura told me "It's always my birthday.  I'm special!  It's not Gavin's birthday; he's not special."  Ahem, yes Laura, you are special.  However, Gavin is special too!!  This is what happens when you have The Month of Birthday!

At three, Laura is very into princesses, ballerinas, party shoes, tutus, necklaces, crowns, wands, anything jewelry or fluffy or pink or GIRLY.  When she's not playing princess or ballerina, she's either playing doctor or school.  Her imagination is fabulous!  Laura also loves to RUN. 

Laura was wearing her bulkiest princess dress - the one with the hoop skirt! - when she announced, "I am the fastest runner in the whole! wide! world!"  She ran circles through the house for the next twenty minutes.  She certainly does have the endurance to be a runner!

We were talking about birthdays and signs of the zodiac a few weeks ago, at the start of The Month of Birthday.  We asked Laura was Gavin's sign is.  She answered, "DANGER!" 

Last week, I was snuggled under a very colorful wool blankie.  Laura, the blankie hoarder, came over stroked it once, then said "I like that blankie, Cait."  I'm Cait when she wants something of mine!

I was making grilled cheeses for lunch, and Laura told Gavin "you can't have a girl-ed cheese, you're not a girl!" 

Gavin: 8 Months

I really skimped on the photos this month.  However, Gavin at eight months old has mastered crawling, started cruising on furniture, was baptized, and has 1 1/2 teeth!  He also had his first ear infection, poor guy.

Gavin is not a fan of snow.  (Although I think he may have had some snow in his snowsuit, and who is a fan of that?!)

Gavin tried his first cupcake at Laura's 3rd birthday party - and ate every bite!

Laura: December Recap

Laura, again, had so many cute and hilarious things to say this month.  And once again, I was awful at writing them down.   Here are a few that I did make note of:

Laura was so cold she was "frivvering" 

She was pretending to be 'Punzel.  She kept telling me she was "Penzo" and I couldn't figure out what she meant, so she started to describe:

Penzo, Mom!  P-P-Penzo! With the long hair?

Oh! Rapunzel! 
Yes, Mom.  (The "duh" was implied.)

One morning (that she blogged about, it was so cute), Laura ran out of the playroom at school after I left because she had to tell me something:

L: Mom!  Houses tonight after school!

C: huh?

L: Let’s make a house!

C: Sure………

L: A Gingerman House!

"I can't close it. I'm full of hands." (her hands were decidedly full)

"I have an idea! If I eat the fist cookie all up, then I can eat more cookies."  (She has been full of "ideas" that wind up being statements more than suggestions).

Fairy go round - merry go round

Laura was reading us a story from some random book, it was getting more and more grim:

"No one saved them at all.  And they lived happily ever after."  

"Mom! Mom! I have something I need to tell  you!"  

Laura has also started saying "Ummmm" way too much.  We're trying to break it.

She's also still asking "WHY" to everything.  Usually things like "Why is Ries a dog?" or things like "Why do I like cookies?"