2008 Christmas Portraits

Every year I get the dog's photos taken for a Christmas card. This year there is finally a real baby in my Christmas portraits! These photos were taken this morning.

Another Ear Infection

Gabriella has spiked a fever on Tuesday evening. We were quickly able to get the fever down with Tylenol and I wasn't too concerned because she was sick with a stomach bug and I felt that the fever was related to the bug. But yesterday, after she woke up from a nap, she had spiked another fever of 102. Again, we quickly got it down with Tylenol, but I was more concerned. She was not showing any symptoms of the stomach bug and I was concerned as to why she would have had another fever. Other than the fever, though, she had no other symptoms of being ill, but I brought her in to her doctor anyway today. The doctor checked her ears and she has ANOTHER ear infection! She just completed her antibiotic from her last ear infection this past Sunday, but she already has another infection. The doctor (who, by the way, used to be Ken's pediatrician. We see his son who took the practice over from his father. Since the office was so busy today he was filling in and it was the first time we saw him. He was great.) put her on another ten day round of antibiotics and is going to check her again in one week to make sure that the antibiotics are working on the infection. She was showing absolutely no symptoms of being sick but I felt horrible that she was potentially having pain and just dealing with it. She was actually very happy and silly today. These photos were taken before we went to the doctor's office.:

"Dear Santa, I've been good all year! (ask my mommy)!":

Other than the ear infection we had a great day. Ken's uncles came to visit from Virginia and are staying with us this evening. This was Gabriella's first time meeting them. We had a second Thanksgiving dinner with them.

Another very special thing that happened today was that we talked to and saw Gabriella's foster family via a web cam. Daniel had bought us the web cam and gave it to us during our pick-up trip for this reason. But, being un-technically-savy we had not used it until today. Our whole family was together here and Gabriella's whole foster family was together in Guatemala and everybody was very excited and very emotional. It was wonderful. The web feed did not come through extremely clearly from their end, so I know it was kind of difficult for Gabriella to realize who they were. I am sure, though, that she recognized their voices. She was pretty quiet throughout the conversation, but did kiss the computer screen a couple times. She did her fake coughing when I asked her "are you sick?" and they got a kick out of that. We are going to meet again with them via the web cam on Sunday for Daniel's birthday.

Gabriella's First Thanksgiving

Since they obviously do not celebrate Thanksgiving in Guatemala, today was Gabriella's first Thanksgiving celebration.

She had been sick with the stomach bug since Sunday, but today she did not have any stomach issues so she was able to eat her first Thanksgiving dinner.

She enjoyed being entertained while standing on the dinner table!:

Somehow Gabriella has mastered stairs and is very proud of it. The first time we realized she knew how to navigate stairs was during our trip to Maine. She demonstrated her skills proudly today!:

She took a three hour nap in the afternoon and then woke up with a fever of 102! We gave her Tylenol and her fever quickly came down and she was acting like herself again. I am very concerned, though, as to why she keeps spiking fevers and will be addressing it with her doctor.

The MagnaDoodle is one of the greatest toys! Gabriella eats crayons and other writing utensils, but because the writing wand is tethered on the MagnaDoodle, it rarely goes into her mouth.:

"Everyone is thankful for me." Isn't that the truth?!

In the early evening she enjoyed pumpkin pie and custard pie.

With Gabriella, this Thanksgiving was so much more special than Thanksgivings past. My life is so blessed with Gabriella and she gives me so much to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our family and friends!

Almost Better

Gabriella certainly had more energy today than she has had over the past few days. She has not vomited in over 24 hours. She still is having messy diapers but they are less frequent. I am hoping this bug has just about run it's complete course. She has pretty much spent the entire week in pajamas! We are going to have a low-key few days so that she can be back in the swing of her normal routine next week.

Still Sick

Gabriella is still sick and our washing machine is still doing double duty! Gabriella ate a piece of dry toast in the morning and some yogurt (the doctor said no dairy, but that yogurt was okay), a couple Saltines at lunchtime, more Saltines in the afternoon, plain pasta with a bit of chicken for dinner and lots of Pedialyte throughout the day. She kept her dinner down which is a very good sign. She was still lethargic throughout the day but when Grammy and Grampy came over this evening she was showing off and acting silly which also was very positive. Hopefully she will be well enough to be able to enjoy her first Thanksgiving meal.

Sick Again

Gabriella recovered nicely from her ear infection, but now seems to have a stomach bug. She woke up at 4:00 AM this morning and vomited, went back to sleep, woke back up at 6:45 AM and vomited again. The vomiting passed and it quickly changed to diarrhea for the remainder of the day. She spent the the entire day sleeping and being changed. She has gone through four sets of pajamas, one outfit, two sets of sheets and blankets on mommy's and daddy's bed, and two changing table pad covers. She has been drinking Pedialyte all day, but she has only been able to eat one Saltine cracker and a bit of some dry toast. She is clearly lethargic. Hopefully this is only a 24 hour bug and she will be better tomorrow.

Isabella's 2nd Birthday Party

Today we went to Isabella's (Gabriella's cousin's) second birthday party at a local children's museum.

Gabriella knew she looked cute in her matching hat and sweater, another precious gift from Tia Abuela Trisha.

Isabella enjoyed her birthday cake:

Gabriella did not mind wearing a party hat:

Gabriella had fun exploring the museum and checking everything out:

To me, Gabriella seems to be changing from a baby to a little girl, but she still looks like a little peanut next to the other children.

She liked playing in the kitchen at the museum. She cooks like mommy...throw everything on the grill and hope it comes out okay!

She definitely had a fun time and fell fast asleep during our drive home.

"Thank You"

Gabriella has mastered the words "Thank You!" Her pronunciation is not very clear and without spending an extended amount of time with her, you probably would not recognize that she was saying "thank you," but it is clear to us that that is what she is saying. She not only says "thank you" when something is given to her, but she also says it when she gives something!

Sick

Ken, Gabriella, and I have been battling a cold and have been feeling pretty under-the-weather. But Gabriella's illness has taken a turn for the worse this week. On Tuesday she developed a fever of 102. We were treating the fever with Tylenol and Motrin and on Wednesday her fever went down to 100.4. She was not tugging at her ear or showing any other symptoms of illness aside from her fever. However, she spent most of Wednesday night up crying so I brought her in to the doctor on Thursday. She has an ear infection and a bit of a gastrointestinal upset (an attempt at saying diarrhea politely). She seems to be feeling a bit better today. She obviously has been home from school all week except for Monday.

Cranberry Harvest

On Sunday they began harvesting the bog at my office. Ken, Gabriella, and I went to see the start of the harvest and to enjoy a walk around the bogs.

Gabriella and I wore matching Gap sweatshirts thanks to Tia Abuela Trisha!

Ken carried Gabriella in a child backpack during our walk. Gabriella enjoyed it.

Gabriella tried a cranberry and she seemed to like it. She didn't mind the tartness of the berry, but that was kind of expected since she has no problems sucking on a lemon! She loves lemons and anytime I order a water with lemon she always reaches for the lemon.

Check out her stylish boots...too cute!

After the bog walk, Gabriella fell fast asleep in the car. We put her to bed once we arrived at Grandma Floyd's.

After her nap, Gabriella enjoyed a messy lunch of pasta and meatballs.

We all went for another walk in our pink sweatshirts!

She looked so cute in her hat.