So Ivy rarely watches TV or movies, which I suppose is a good thing...except for the fact that it would be a welcome break once in a while. Well the other day she was actually sitting in the chair with me watching the Curious George movie. Just when I thought 'this can't get any better', she says to me "put your arm around me mom"...I thought my heart was going to burst. Although that sweet break only lasted about 5 minutes, it made my whole day...

We've sure been getting some usage out of our backyard pool these days. Ivy is becoming quite the swimmer, and Ada enjoys the water too.  We usually go out and swim for an hour or two after her nap; sometimes her cousins come out to play!

We planned an Okoboji vacation with my family the week after Laurie's wedding since we'd already be up in northern Iowa. So we drove another hour and a half to get there Sunday after the wedding. We had such a great time, great condo, great view. There was a park at the resort for the kiddos to play on in the morning, and then most afternoons we spent on the beach playing in the sand and water. We went to Arnold's Park one afternoon and Ivy had a blast! She just loves rides, the faster the better. The little roller coaster was her favorite, she rode that over and over again, meeting new friends each time. Ivy got her haircut on the 2nd, partly because we hadn't been able to comb through it for a few days, but mostly because it was getting too unmanageable to do without a fight. I can't believe how much easier it is to get through now, why didn't we do that months ago?! We closed the week with fireworks on the lake on the 4th of July and that was an awesome sight. Thanks to Grandma Margie and Grandpa Jerry for a fun week!

We went to Humboldt and Fort Dodge this weekend for my cousin Laurie's wedding. Ivy was a flower girl and had a great time walking up the aisle with her cousin Riley. Thanks to Laurie for having her be a part of such a great wedding of such a great couple. Here are a few pictures of the day:

I told a friend of mine once that I blog too much about pet peeves, or things that annoy me. She said "why don't you phrase it like 'ever wonder why...' instead of 'i hate it when...'?" So per Laura's suggestion...ever wonder why some people use the urgent! flag in Outlook for every message they send? I'm always tempted to write them back and say something like 'oh really, it's urgent that your spellchecker isn't correcting your mistypes?' or 'just because you forgot to mention this to me weeks ago, doesn't mean I should drop everything to get it done right now'...poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine. It also makes me less interested in getting their problem taken care of. The squeaky wheel does not get the grease in this case. My apologies to those of you out there that have no idea what the urgent flag in Outlook is...sometimes I assume that everyone spends their work day in a cubiffice staring at a computer like I do...

I took Ada to the Dr today for her 6 month well baby check and shots. She weighed 19lbs and 12 ounces so she was still in the 95th percentile for weight. I don't remember exactly what her height was, but it was in the 75th percentile. She took her shots pretty well again and everything checked out fine on exam.

We got her pictures done at JCP in Lincoln this weekend and they turned out great. Here are a couple for your viewing pleasure...

Ada felt left out so I wanted to blog about her too. She woke up Tuesday morning with a fever of 100.8 so she stayed home. The doctor said she had pink eye and possibly a sinus infection...but I'm betting she has whatever virus Ivy had last week. If that's the case, I'm expecting her to be sick for at least another 5 days. She's on an antibiotic for the sinus infection and I have a really hard time getting her to swallow it since her favorite thing to do is spit and blow bubbles now. I can't believe how relatively content Ada is, since she just looks miserable. Side note: Ada weighed 18lbs 11oz at the doctor Tuesday!

I'm frustrated because we've been missing so much work lately, and I wonder why they couldn't have just been sick together to get it over with. Also they were both supposed to start a new daycare together on Tuesday. Ivy has been going and is loving every minute of it. But she's been asking where Ada is when we leave for the day, Ivy misses Ada when they're apart, it's pretty sweet. Here's a picture of Ivy at the new daycare and a recent one of Ada for your viewing pleasure...

We spent this Easter in Fort Dodge with my mom's side of the family. My cousin Laurie's bridal shower was Saturday afternoon and then we had Easter dinner on Saturday night. We finally got the 3 newest cousins together for a photo op. My cousin Alecia had Lauren on September 28th, Ada was born on November 4th and my sister Dawn had Elise on December 29th. I'm sure they will grow up to be the best of friends. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

I took Ivy to the doctor on Tuesday because she had a fever and had been cranky for a few days. At first I was going to chalk the crankiness up to her two new molars coming in, but the doctor said she had a sore throat and of course an ear infection. So we started her on Omnicef for the ear infection and I thought she was acting a little happier yesterday. But last night she woke up at midnight with a temperature of 104 degrees! We were frantic of course, but when I called her doctor he didn't seem concerned with it being that high. I just thought the antibiotic would've started to make her feel better by now.
I rocked with her for a couple hours and her temp finally went down enough so that she could sleep. I felt horrible because I can't imagine how uncomfortable she must've been. Our hot tub is usually set between 100-102 degrees and if it gets much higher than that, I cannot set foot in it. I just kept thinking about that last night...poor thing...

Ada is 5 months old today and she's as cute as ever! I took her to the doctor on Thursday because I had a suspicion that she has acid reflux. The doctor agreed and prescribed some Prilosec liquid to see if that helps her belly. The first day she took it and didn't seem to be too bothered by the taste. But the second day I tried it, she gagged until she vomited. I don't blame her though, I tried a little bit myself and it tastes absolutely terrible. I mixed it with milk, but that didn't help, so this morning I mixed it with some apple juice and I got her to at least keep it down.

Ada's becoming more aware of things around her now. She's grabbing toys and gumming her hands all the time. She rolls over from her back to her front like a champ. She's such a sweet baby, and is so fun to be around.