the past four days in a blogshell....

i hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving!! caleb's brother, ben was in town.  he lives in germany with his wife while serving in the army.  ben had a class to attend here in the states and was just a few hours from us, so he came down to share the holiday with us.  he'd never met amelia, and let me tell you - they hit it right off! he adored her, and she loved being spoiled by uncle ben!! it was alot of fun for both of them.

{nevermind amelia's hat..... we forgot to prepare for the winter and get one in the right size....}

so we had a delicious meal on turkey day!! caleb is a fabulous cook, he does the turkey for us each time he is home for this scrumption holiday.  this year, he stuffed the turkey full of granny smith apple slices and onions.  then he poured a delicious brine in the oven bag, full of yummy herbs like thyme and basil.  a few hours later, and 45 minutes of resting, i carved that bird up!  i was really excited to carve this year, because i watched the rachel ray show and watched bobby flay carve a turkey.  so this obviously made me an expert in the field of carving poultry.  i think i did a good job... and look at all of those delicious baked herbs....

holy moley - it was so good.  i am not much of a turkey fan, but this bird was so juicy and moist.  it was an excellent meal, complete with stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and my famous cranberry sauce!  amelia loved the cranberry sauce, it was her first taste.....



she looked a bit like a zombie, but she was all over that tiny pile of cranberries i gave her!!  so after eating and cleaning (i got help from the guys!), we just relaxed in the living room.  amelia literally passed out in the chair, which never really happens.  she's a "crib only" kinda gal for napping, but she apparently was in a bit of a food coma, check her out!!

beyond adorable, right?  she melts my heart with everything she does.

so as the day wore on, we all got tuckered out and it was bed time.  amelia, our darling little daughter (who has been sleeping through the night since one and a half months, mind you....) came down sick with a quickness.  it literally hit her so fast we had no idea what to do!  at first she just seemed constipated and uncomfortable.  we comforted her, sang to her, swaddled her, undressed her, changed her, attempted to co-sleep with her..... nothing!  she was crying so bad all-night-long.  literally, we had about three hours of sleep thursday night. 

around 3am, caleb strapped amelia into her carseat and drove down the road to our storage unit a few miles away.  out came the trusty baby swing that amelia outgrew more than three months ago.  we were at our wits end, and anything was worth a shot!  on the way back to the apartment, amelia finally fell asleep in her carseat, so caleb did the only reasonable thing possible at the time.... he took amelia and the carseat out of the truck and set the whole carseat in her room.  she slept for about three hours.  and then woke screaming.  we knew we had to do something.

so we put the swing action into full effect to get at least an hour so that we could all shower and i could pack the diaper bag and we headed to the ER to see what was going on.  luckily, there was no wait at 9am on black friday!! we got right in and the doctor pretty much told us she had a virus with a 101+ temperature, and to keep her on tylenol and motrin, alternating between the two for a couple of days.  when asked about the possible issue of constipation - he said they aren't concerned unless a child hasn't had a movement in SEVEN days..... wow!  i can't imagine what would happen if my every-other-diaper-is-poopy child didn't poop for seven days.  *cringe*

so we headed home, kept our poor little lovey on medication that we typically shy away from and let her sleep.  that night, she'd had one little poopy, but nothing like usual.  she wouldn't take her bottle or any juice (which is always a rare treat for her) and we knew we needed to help ease her discomfort.  caleb got one of the medicine droppers and filled it with a pear juice/water mixture and she took it!  he gave her about 4 ounces of liquid this way, trying to help her pass whatever was, well, clogging her up!

we finally got her to sleep, but after an hour or so, she was back up screaming.  it was another very long night.  thursday and friday night were, without doubt, the worst nights in our short parenting experience.  it was terrible not being able to calm or comfort our sick child.  but once saturday rolled around, our baby girl was back to normal and sleeping on her own - all night!! thank the Lord for his provision and healing power!  here's a sweet shot of our darling amelia, feeling like her old self again, and back to all her crazy shenanigans!

{can you see her tiny little teefers? they are there!}

so now i'm back to blogging, and i have alot of catching up to do!  my "all about me" 30 day challenge took a few days off on the back burner, as well as posting a few giveaways i have hanging around.  so be on the lookout today, because it's nap time and i'm in the blogging mood!