Whew!

Time line:
Wednesday, May 26, Gabi has a fever of about 101º.

Thursday, May 27, Gabi has a fever of 100.5º.

Friday, May 28, I notice a slight rash on Gabi's face in the late afternoon. I pay no attention to it.

Saturday, May 29, Gabi's rash is a little worse, I start to wonder. We are babysitting a family of five kids.

Sunday, May 30, Gabi's rash is definitely worse and I'm concerned. We are still babysitting. Jeff and I give talks in church. Thanks Kristine for helping us keep all of the kids reasonably happy during our talks.

Monday, May 31, Memorial Day. My friend who is a nurse practitioner looks at Gabi and suggests that her rash is either a result of roseola or an allergic reaction to amoxicillin. (Gabi was diagnosed with an ear infection at her 1 year old check-up, and was on amoxicillin to treat it.) She suggested that I go to The Little Clinic which is open every day, even holidays, and see her very experienced co-worker to get a better idea of what's going on with Gabi. She concurred that everything I said was consistent with both roseola and a drug reaction, so for the sake of being safe we have to assume she is allergic to amoxicillin.

Tuesday, June 1, Jeff's first day back to work after the long weekend. As I always do, I woke up Rachel so that she could say good-bye to Daddy. Or rather I should say I tried to wake her up. I brought her downstairs and laid her down on the couch, and she stayed asleep. She usually wakes up gradually this way, but not that day. Gabi woke up on her own at 7:00, which is about typical for her, however as I was nursing her she fell back asleep at about 8:30. That is not typical, but I put her back in her crib and she stayed asleep until 10:00. Rachel, meanwhile, stayed asleep until nearly 10:30. I decided to prevent her from taking a nap later so that she would go to bed at night. Rachel had other plans. She fell asleep again at about 1:00. I woke her up at3:00 because if not, I was worried that she would never sleep that night. Even with all that sleep Rachel still fell asleep reasonably well that night. I guess she had some serious sleep to catch up on!

Wednesday, June 2, Rachel woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 7:00.

I took the girls to the library today for "Story Time" for the first time in a long time. We checked out a library book for Rachel, and also picked up the card for the Summer Reading Program. (We need to read 10 books and then we'll get a bag and some coupons. I got one for Rachel and one for Gabi.) When we put Rachel to bed tonight, she insisted on sleeping with her library book.

I called Gabi's doctor yesterday to let them know about her situation, and they agreed with everything that I had been told so far, and they also said to not let her get hot and sweaty because that could make her rash worse, so we've been staying indoors most of the time. I think that her rash is pretty much cleared up now, so hopefully tomorrow we can get back to enjoying our beautiful summer weather (complete with thunder storms).

You're never too young!

You're never to young to start playing the piano.

For that matter, you're never too old either!

Seriously, this kind of cuteness should be illegal! How am I ever supposed to be able to say "no" to that face?

I can't think of a good title for this post.

It has been a while since I last blogged, but I've got to say, it has been a very full week. Last Tuesday Jeff and I were asked to watch a family of five kids while their parents took a trip. It was kind of a last minute thing, and we ended up watching these kids from Thursday afternoon until this evening. So we went from parents of two to parents of seven, with three in diapers. I entered into the adventure with the attitude that no matter how good or bad, easy or hard things were, I knew I could last for six days, and sure enough, I did. It really wasn't too bad. The older kids were a huge help. My biggest challenge was the dynamic between Rachel and their 2 year old.

Last Saturday we had the opportunity to see Wicked. It was wicked awesome! I had heard such excellent reviews, I was worried that it wouldn't live up to the hype, but it did. I loved it. My only regret was that I was not familiar with the music. I feel that I missed some by not understanding the lyrics at times. I'm currently working on remedying the situation by listening to the CD. I'll be ready for the next time the show comes to Louisville.


Here are some pictures of the girls over the past several weeks. Enjoy.

We got this costume of the little girl lion from Lion King, and Rachel decided to wear it for a while.
Gabi got this awesome huge bear for her birthday. A family who is moving out of our ward was getting rid of it, and it was right before Gabi's birthday, so it worked out perfectly.

Gabi's One-Year Check-up

When Rachel turned one, I unwisely scheduled her doctor's appointment on her birthday. She got shots, and was rather miserable the rest of the day. I learned my lesson and decided to never again schedule any kid's appointment on their birthday. So today, three days after her birthday, Gabi went to the doctor for her one-year check-up. Here are her vital statistics:

Height: 28¾ inches (45%)
Weight 20 lbs. 5 oz. (50%)

Gabi is now taking two or three steps more predictably. Now the only thing from capturing it on video is the fact that she wants to walk towards me, and if I'm filming she can't really walk that far, so you'll need to wait for Jeff to come home for the video.

At her appointment the doctor diagnosed Gabi with ear infections in both ears. I wasn't really too surprised because she has been coughing pretty bad for over a week, and her nose has been pretty stuffy, so I was not shocked when he said that. This is her first ear infection, and to be honest, she really hasn't been sick her entire life. Anyway, she got a prescription for an antibiotic, so hopefully she'll be all better in a jiffy.

In all other ways Gabi is healthy and developing well.

Happy First Birthday Gabi!

One year ago our family welcomed sweet Gabriela into our family. Here are some pictures of Gabi as she has grown over the past year.

minutes old in all her glory

hanging out in the NICU

home sweet home2 weeks old3 weeks old4 weeks old1 month old2 months old

My only memories of the first two months were anxiety, frustration and exhaustion, but month three was a turning point. She finally started gaining weight!

in her blessing dress

4 months old

5 months old

6 months old7 months old8 months old

9 months old

10 months old11 months old1 year old

One of Gabi's favorite activities when we are outside is to eat dirt, so for her enjoyment, I made her a dirt cake for her birthday. Yes, I thought it was a good idea to confuse her and encourage even more consumption of dirt on her part. Why not?mmmm . . . let me at it!

BC (before cake)Ah, it was so worth it!

I'll post more pictures of Gabi's party later. For now, I hope you enjoyed my little stroll down memory lane!

Fun Day

Today we did some new and different things. After naps I took the girls up to Henry's Ark, a free petting zoo in Prospect. At first I thought it was a waste of a drive, but after a while Rachel really got into it. In fact I had to drag her away! She really had fun with all the animals, especially the baby ducklings. I only had my phone camera with me, so the the pictures are not fabulous, but they are okay. And the content is fabulous! Gabi spent most of the time attached to my back, so she didn't get to be in quite as many pictures as Rachel, but I did the best I could.

The pièce de résistance

This evening after dinner Jeff and I went o a political event. We had the opportunity to attend a gathering to listen to US Senate candidate Dr. Rand Paul. It was really good, and I am looking forward to casting my ballot for him at the primary this next Tuesday. I even got my picture taken with him.

First Step

We were at the playground yesterday afternoon. I had been holding Gabi, but I put her down, facing towards me. She took two small steps and then fell forward against my legs. I'm calling it official. Gabi has walked. Okay, I can't get her to duplicate the feat, so I can't document her steps at this time. You're just going to have to trust me on this one.


Here is a picture I took of the girls on the morning of Mother's Day. (Yes, they are wearing their matching Easter dresses.)

The Weekend

Yesterday I had the chance to go to a fireside where Gladys Knight performed with her choir Saints Unified Voices, and shared her testimony of the gospel. It was a great evening. Jeff was an usher, so he saw both performances. I went to the early one. I really liked her arrangement of I Am a Child of God. I also enjoyed the song called Over My Head. I don't own any of the CDs of Gladys Knight and the SUV choir, but I plan to change that situation in the not too far distant future. I wonder how many people around here are big Gladys Knight fans, and had no idea she was here. Anyway, I could have listened to them all night.

We are currently taking care of a dog for a friend who is out of town this weekend. He spent a week with us at Christmas too, so he fit in right away. Rachel, who loves dogs, really likes him a lot, and Scout, who is also a dog, likes him too (a little too much in my opinion). Gabi likes him, but she doesn't seem to be as into dogs as Rachel is.


Today we went to the graduation party of Jeff's cousin Matt. It doubled as a going away party as he has a job in Indiana, so he and his wife and daughter are moving away. They had a very nice little spread for their party, including cake. Gabi decided to have a practice run at the whole cake thing in preparation for her 1st birthday party which is next Saturday. I think she did a pretty good job on the cake, for a first try.


I have to apologize for the poor quality of the pictures. Since I have a camera in my cell phone, and it is always so handy, I tend to use it for pictures more frequently, and the quality is just not as good as pictures taken with a regular camera. I suppose I will have to focus on the benefit of quantity over quality in this case. Anyway, the subject matter is so awesome that I can live with the reduced quality.

Odds and Ends

I think I finally have sleeping time for the girls down to a workable system. It's not perfect, but it works. Step 1, I can't go anywhere in the morning. If I do, Gabi will fall asleep in the car and not take a nap in her crib. Step 2, I have to wake Rachel up early from her nap. She sleep so well at nap time, but if she sleeps too long, she won't go to sleep well at night. So I wake her up by 2:00. It is the hardest thing I do all day. Then I try to wear the girls out in the afternoon. At bed time, around 8:00, we put both girls down, and they both go to sleep just great.

Things have been going pretty well lately. Rachel has started calling me "mama" instead of "mommy." I love that. It is so sweet.

My garden is growing really well. I've decided that beans are the most satisfying plant to grow. I planted them just one week ago, and they are already looking great. I also have tomatoes, onions, carrots, cucumbers and zucchini in my garden.

Thanks to my sister-in-law Trish, I had the chance to see "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. It was really good. A friend of mine played the role of Lucy Van Pelt. She was great, as was the rest of the cast.

I really need to post some more pictures here. I'll try to get to that this weekend.

A Rainy Derby Day

As beautiful as yesterday was, today we had rain. And lots of it. The storms started sometime in the night. I woke up around 5:00 and heard the thunder and pouring rain, and it continued well into the morning. The rain did ease up, but didn't really go completely away.

Today was Derby Day, the day that Louisville shines, and is in the public spotlight around the country. In spite of the rain, it was a good day. We had a Derby Party with Jeff's family, as well as a few other friends. Calvin Borel did it again, this time in the mud. He has won 3 of the last 4 Derbies, and he does it the same way every time. He gets on that inside rail and finishes strong, passing everybody on the inside.

There were prizes for the people who came in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and last. We went home empty handed. All four of our horses finished in the middle.

Sorry I can't put the video on here of the race. I can't find it on youtube, at least not yet, however, if you click on this link -->LINK<-- you should be able to watch the race.

We'll catch you on May 15 for the Preakness (the 2nd leg of the Triple Crown of horse racing), and coincidentally, is also Gabi's birthday.