Croup

I noticed Avery Claire cough a few times during the movie Sunday and by the time we went to bed we knew we were in for a long night. And we were right. She coughed. all. night. long. Keep in mind that she we do daily breathing treatments of Pulmicort to prevent this. And we've done well so far this fall and winter - none of our coughs and colds have turned into pneumonia - and we hope it stays that way. 

So when she started running a fever early Monday morning, we knew this was more than her normal cough. We were off Monday, so we headed to the doctor that morning. 

Poor girl. She never touched that waffle. If you know her, you know it takes a lot to keep her from talking and playing. She just didn't feel good. 

Dr. Allen teaches classes at UAH on asthma and respiratory problems and he did an xray to rule out pneumonia and said she had croup. He gave her a steroid and told us to keep doing albuterol every 4 hours to make sure it didn't develop into pneumonia. 

Very little sleep Sunday night meant a tired girl. 

Dusty and Avery Claire stayed home again Tuesday so she could recuperate a little more. Needless to say, after two doses of steroids every day and albuterol 3 times a day, Avery Claire has lots of energy and we're all on the cranky side. But (fingers crossed), we have been sleeping better for the past couple of nights!

This was Sunday, but I have to document her latest outfit of choice. One night last week, I had a sweatshirt on over a t-shirt, as I've done 1,000 times before. She decided that's what she'd sleep in that night and every night since. I think she really does it so she can take the sweatshirt off and run around in the short sleeve shirt. 

Again with the sweatshirt and t-shirt. And she had to have a band on her head after I wore one while I washed my face. I love that she wants to be like her Mommy...makes me very cautious of what I do and say. And very cautious about what I wear!!

Lazy and Frozen

We had a lovely weekend!! We played a little living room, get the ball in the cup, mini golf Friday night. 

Guess who won? She may or may not have dropped the ball right in front of the cup and hit it repeatedly until she got it in the cup.

We love an early night in our pjs and slippers!

Saturday, we went to get haircuts for Dusty and Avery Claire. We had lunch at our favorite restaurant in town, "Mexico," as Avery Claire refers to it (otherwise known as El Patron).

She spent some time taking pictures that afternoon, and showing me a blank viewfinder and saying "Look at _________, Mama!"

I tried to convince her to take a nap. 

I was almost successful. Can you spot the one person who needed no convincing to take an afternoon nap?

Her eyes popped open and she requested popcorn. Eating is the best way to get yourself wide awake. 

She was ready for bed last night, though. She was out by 8:30, which meant her Daddy and I squeezed in three episodes of The Walking Dead. We just started and finished season 1. The best phrase to describe that show: like a train wreck you can't look away from. The best word to describe that show: disturbing. (to the very core).

Today, I finally took her to see frozen. We got there a few minutes late so we could miss most if the previews. Y'all. Did you know that the previews for a kids' Disney movie lasted 35 minutes? Needless to say, about 15 minutes into the movie, Avery Claire was ready to go. I convinced her to stay a little longer. I thought she might fall asleep so I could at least finish the movie. 

She stayed wide awake and actually made it til the end! She loved it, and I quite enjoyed it myself. I think I needed a wholesome Disney movie after watching the zombies curled up in a tight ball for the last few nights.

She came straight home and got her Anna doll and told her Daddy that the movie was about Elsa and Anna. And somebody got died. I told her they got frozen. Her response "well, yeah, but they got died too."

She did eventually tell him about other happier parts of the movie.

Full House, Bling, and Proper Teacher Stance

I introduced Avery Claire to Full House. She was very interested after I told her Mommy and Daddy watched the show when we were kids.

She can't get enough of it!

I worked really hard to catch up on the blog last week. I spent time every night posting so I could get up to date. I even worked on it while supper cooked. Thank God for the blogger app.

This girly girl would make Frances so proud. 

She never stops teaching. All teachers must cross their legs, you know. 

Happy 31st to Me!

Yesterday, I turned 31. My mom and dad came Friday and we all went to eat together.

Of course, this girl is in Heaven when these two are here.

For my birthday, my sweet husband gave me a massage at one of the spas nearby. It was glorious. He knows the way to my heart! 

Papa and Nana had to leave Saturday afternoon, and Avery Claire and I decided to take the car through the car wash. I ended up getting a Grand Cherokee. We love it and she was so excited when we told her we got to keep it. Poor thing. 

We're still doing ear drops, which means she has to lay still for 5-10 minutes after putting them in. It only took about 2 minutes for this to happen at around 5:00. 

Dusty and Avery Claire took me to eat (isn't that the best part of a weekend birthday? Lots of eating out!)

I had the best day! Although 30 really didn't bother me, 31 was a little easier to swallow. I thank God for every single day that I get to be my sweet girl's mommy and Dusty's wife. I could not ask for more. 

I've Lost Mom of the Year Already

This chick hasn't slept all night since Saturday night. She woke up complaining about her ear. She complained about it Sunday, but never ran a fever. We looked in it with our little ear tool and saw some drainage. We put drops in it and gave her Tylenol. She complained during the night and a little Monday morning. Still no fever.

After I picked her up from school, she said it felt better and never mentioned it again that night or the next day.

Wednesday, she woke up saying it hurt again and she had dried up, bloody stuff in her ear. She went ahead to school and I called to make an appointment and left school to take her. 

When I explained to the dr. her compaints, he knew immediately, before he ever looked in her ear, what had happened. His words were "she has a ruptured eardrum." I immediately took myself out of the running for Mom of the Year. 

He said she'd probably had an infection and the pressure caused the eardrum to burst, which relieved the pain for a short time. He acted like this was fairly common and gave her drops to put in twice a day. He said to bring her back in 2-3 weeks to make sure the hole had closed up. 

I need to document her stats! She is 45 months and weighs 37.75 pounds and she's 39.5 inches tall. I need to look back and see what her July stats were. I know she's grown at least 2 inches since then! 

After the first couple of doses of drops, she stopped complaining. We have felt awful that we didn't even know she had an infection and waited about taking her to the doctor. 

Christmas Break {after Christmas}

The Rook cards started a game streak in the Davis house. We bought a few games at Walmart and quite enjoyed our time off of school.

Here are your Cootie champs.

We promised Avery Claire that we could "camp out" during Christmas break.

Somehow, Daddy managed to actually sleep in the real bed while we roughed it.

We went to Chuck E Cheese. Avery Claire loves to play and we secretly like the pizza. 

She begged to camp out one more night. I told her she was welcome to. 

But this old mom couldn't handle another night on the air mattress. 

Tomorrow, we go back to school. Because of the weather, we get to go in at 10 for the first two days. That makes the blow a little easier to take!

I don't mind at all when the cold weather calls for a few extra snuggles! 

New Year's Eve

The Lawrence's came to spend New Year's Eve with us. We had so much fun. Since they moved, we've seen them for a couple of hours at a time. We loved that we got to spend hours and hours with them and really get to visit.

These two girls are both messes. They played so well together. They are both sassy and bossy, which worked out perfectly! I wish we lived as close as we used to so they could play all of the time.

The girls were adamant that they could stay up til midnight. At around 10, we played a ball drop we found on you tube and they called it midnight.  

Tia will kill me. But if this pic wasn't blurry, it's a perfect depiction of the ladies' faces during our Rook game. Very nervous and confused. 

I don't even know what this one was about. Dusty was probably frustrated at my Rook playing skills.