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Not sure what happened to the blog counter on the right hand side. It hit 1,160 hits and turned back over to zero this morning and then it hit 80 hits this morning and turned back to zero again, so it started all over again. That is strange.

Don't forget, for new readers or anyone who is looking to catch up, you can view any of my past entries that are no longer on this page by clicking on "view archives". You can view 2006 and 2007 posts.

Check out "my favorite sites" as well. I added some of my pics as well as Erik's cousin Lauren's website and my father in law's as well.

Olivia Update-ENT

We didn't make it the 3 weeks for Olivia's check up and hearing test. She had gone to the ENT on 2/14 for her initial visit and there was some fluid in her ear, so the ENT wanted to wait 3 weeks and for her to come back to see if the fluid had cleared up and also to run some hearing tests on her. She made it one week and the fluid turned into an ear infection. She had a fever and runny nose yesterday so I knew she had an ear infection. We went back to the ENT yesterday and sure enough both ears are severely infected. She is back on antibiotics and she will stay on them for 2 weeks. She has a follow up visit with the ENT in 3 weeks where they will test her hearing and check her ears. Most likely we will have to have the surgery again. I am going to try and see if we can just do the tubes for now rather than have her adenoids out as well b/c the recovery is much more worse for the adenoid removal and it just devastates me. I spoke to a couple of moms yesterday that I know have children who have had the tubes and adenoids removed and both of their children had sleep apnea and that is why they had to have the adenoids removed, to improve their quality of life. Olivia does not have sleep apnea, so I am hoping that the ENT agrees with me and will only put the tubes in for now and see what happens. Hopefully that will work.

I will keep everyone updated.

Tags: Olivia, Kids

Photographs of West Point & the Hudson River Valley by Ted Spiegel

Yesterday there was a reception at the Eisenhower Hall Theatre at West Point for my father in law, Ted Spiegel, to celebrate his career photography.

My father in law was a freelance photographer for National Geographic which for 25 years took him all over the world on assignments.

In 1978 he did an article on the Hudson. Most of my friends and family are very familiar with his annual Hudson River Valley calendar that everyone has been able to enjoy since 1989.

Ted was also the photographic contractor to the United States Military Academy's Admissions Department for West Point for a decade.

His books include: New York's Hudson: America's Valley (2000), The West Point Guidebook (1999), Gardens of the Hudson Valley (1996), West Point: An Illustrated History (1991), and An American Treasure: The Hudson Valley (1986). He also has 2 new books in progress: a 400 year view of the Hudson Valley and a 50 year view of the journalistic skills needed by a photojournalist.

My father in law's work has been displayed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The American Museum of Natural History and many museums within the Hudson Valley.

Yesterday was so amazing and we celebrated him with a cake cutting ceremony which read "After 50 Year's, Still A Clicking". He then presented myself and my sister in law with a bouquet of flowers for creating such works of arts ourselves: Olivia, Scott and Sam! He also presented my mother in law with flowers as well as a cake that read "After 40 Years, Still A Loving". Priceless and absolutely moving!! Love him!

We had a fantastic time yesterday and please enjoy some of the pictures.

Also, please visit http://www.tedspiegel.com/ for my information and more pictures!

Tags: Family

Marissa's Birthday

Last night we celebrated Marissa's 11th birthday at my aunt's house. Her birthday is actually tomorrow. It was a great time. My uncle John's family was there as well as our family. I took lots of pics once again.

Scott

I am still practicing with my new camera, so I thought I would take some pics of Scott this morning b/c he was being so good. I think some came out pretty cute. He is such a ham.

I can not believe that on Monday he is going to be 14 weeks and I have to go back to work in 2 weeks. What am I going to do???????? AH!!!!!!!!!!!

My Valentine Kids

I had bought both Olivia and Scott outfits to wear on Valentine's Day. Since it was a blizzard and we really didn't get to do anything, Scott never got to wear his. Olivia wore hers the next day to school because they had a Valentine's Party at school, so at least she got to wear hers. I figured since I bought one for Scott and spent money on it, I would put him in it today with Olivia in hers and take some pics of them. Too cute!

Long Lost Friends

This weekend I got to catch up with 2 long lost friends!! It was awesome. A friend of mine, Elena, who I caught up with on myspace, came up to CT this weekend and we got to catch up. Elena and I were best friends in middle school and remained friends through high school. We even had the best friend necklaces, ok! After high school we lost touch and saw each other once about 6 or 7 years ago. I found her on myspace and we have been exchanging emails. She lives in Brooklyn right now and she came up to CT to visit with her parents, so she came over on Saturday and met the kids and we had soooo much to catch up. It was so great to see her again. She brought this journal that she I had from 7th grade that she and I wrote in and we were peeing our pants reading it out loud to each other. If only my problems were whether or not a certain boy was going to be at the dance and would talk to me or whether or not he liked my new haircut! AHHHHH!! LOL

Saturday night my cousin Michelle and I went out with our friend Tom who coincidentally also lives in Brooklyn. Michelle and I met Tom when she and I moved into our first apartment when we were 21. We all went out Saturday night and had such a fun time reminiscing about our 20's and how friggin nuts it was back then. We were insane. Our stomachs were killing us by the time we got home from laughing all night long. Tom is a writer for Days of Our Lives which is the soap I have been watching since middle school, so it was fun to blast him on the story lines I need fixed. LOL

All in all it was a fantastic weekend. I got Erik to buy me a new camera b/c I was going through withdrawal from not taking pictures. I got the most fantabulous camera and everyone should be jealous, except I read the manual cover to cover and I still have the camera on "dummy"mode which just does the "basic" stuff. I think I need to have a session with my father in law so he can teach me how to take better pictures. I know this camera is capable of so much more than I am doing right now.

The pictures I am posting with this entry have nothing to do with Elena or Tom b/c I didn't have my camera around when they were here b/c I was too busy chatting and not taking pictures, but I took tons of pics of the kids this weekend. I will get better with this camera once I figure out how to use it!!

Olivia: ENT update

Despite the weather yesterday, we trekked to Olivia's ENT appointment yesterday morning. I am not sure what happened to the "snow" we were supposed to get b/c all it mostly did was a dusting and then about 6 inches of ice. As we got pelted in the face and head with ice balls, we made our way to the doctors office. We got there just in time b/c she was the last appointment they saw yesterday so they could close early and get home. What a mess the roads were! I was white knuckled driving there even though I have a 4 wheel drive vehicle and I was swerving all over the place, but we made there and home safely.

So, the doctor checked her ears and her one right ear that has been infected since November and treated with antibiotics 3 times still has some fluid in there which is most likely causing her to have a low grade fever almost daily. This is the first time that after treatment, she has had fluid left over in her ears which made me nervous. This is the same ENT that she had seen when she was about a year old when she was first diagnosed with chronic ear infections and I was told back then that it was really up to me whether or not I wanted to do tubes b/c there wasn't a fluid issue, so tubes really weren't going to prevent her from getting ear infections and since she really didn't have an issue with fluid, what was the sense? We then just hoped she would grow out of it.

The ENT has said now that they want her strictly to be their patient going forward to treat her ear infections. He does not think that the antibiotics that were given to her didn't work because she is "immune" to them (that is common misconception amongst parents), it's that the infection was that severe that what she was taking was not helping it.

What do we do from here? Well, he wants to see her in 3 weeks to see what course this is going to take, her right ear, that is. Will the fluid clear up by then or will it turn into another infection. That is what he wants to see to determine what needs to take place. He does not want to treat her with more antibiotics at this time. At that 3 week appointment he will also test her hearing, which I was so happy about b/c that was one of my major concerns from day one was her hearing and speech. Although she really doesn't seem to have any problem with speech, even her preschool teacher said she has a fantastic vocabulary and is very articulate and well spoken. So hopefully there won't be any issues.

If this goes down the path that I am really hoping not to go down, she will need surgery and have tubes put in AND have her adnoids out. It freaks me out and if we do need to to that, I will be so upset that I didn't just do it sooner, especially now that she is so much older. It will kill me.

I will keep everyone updated. Her next visit is on March 7th for the follow up and hearing test.

Sweater Cousins

We took pictures of Scott and my nephew Sam on Sunday when I went to pick up the kids from my inlaws. Scott and Sam got a gift from a friend in Norway when they were born, so we decided to take pictures of them in their matching sweaters on Sunday. Too cute! Don't mind the pictures of me...this is when I first starting feeling sick with the strep and I had a fever!

Some of the pictures are from the couple weekends before when the kids were there, when Madeline was there too, so there are some pics of her as well.

Tags: Family, Kids

Strep Throat

So every sickness I could have gotten while I have been out maternity leave, I have gotten. I now have strep throat. Ergh! I haven't had this in years. I have had the stomach bug, pink eye and now strep. No one else has it and no one at Olivia's school has had it, so the doctor thinks I have gotten it from being run down. I woke up Sunday morning with a wicked fever and sore throat. I finally went to the doctor yesterday and tested positive for strep so I am now on antibiotics. I just hope I haven't given it to anyone else!!!

Olivia has an appointment tomorrow with the ENT to discuss her chronic ear infecti

Heidi's 30th Birthday!!!

Saturday night we all celebrated Heidi's 30th Birthday at Bar in New Haven. Her birthday is actually on Valentine's Day. We had an absolute blast! Erik and I were kid free once again. I dropped the kids off at my inlaws earlier in the day for a sleep over!!

We got to Bar at about 7:30 and had their famous pizza. There were about 20 of us there. Then the festivities began. I have tons of pictures from the night and then my camera died on me. We have no idea what the problem is with it. It has a fully charged battery and just won't work. I am so sad and was so sad last night b/c I would have taken a million more pics. I have about 20 that I am not adding to this entry b/c they are not appropriate! LOL

Who joined the festivities? Andrew, Heidi, Heidi's brother Tim and his wife Jen (who flew in special from WI), Aunt Laura, my stepdad Mark, Pam, me, Erik, my cousin Mike and his wife Sarah and my cousin Jason, Doug, Lindsay, my friend Terisa and her friend Isaac, Doug and Andrew's dad Big Doug, his wife Irene and their girls Jackie and Kelsey, and Heidi's friend Tiffany and her boyfriend Mike.

We danced and danced, had fun in the VIP room, hung out, drank and drank and drank. It was a great night and I hope Heidi had a great night too...from someone falling on the dance floor (won't mention who), Heidi spilling her drink on the dance floor, Mike dancing with a candle on his head, Jason busting his moves, Pam dancing with Kevin...OH WHAT A NIGHT!!!

Most of us left at around midnight and went across the street to Louis for burgers and headed home. We got home around 1:30 and needless to say, I am exhausted today! But it was worth it since Heidi was the last woman standing at my 30th birthday party, so I tried to repay her!!

Tags: Family

Olivia Update

Last night Olivia came into our room at 4am screaming in pain saying her ear hurt and she had a fever. I couldn't believe it. She just finished her meds for the ear infection and here we go again. I kept her home from school today although when she woke up this morning she didn't have a fever anymore and she said she felt fine. I called the pediatrician anyway and they gave me free samples of a topical antibiotic, drops for her ears. I also received a referral to go so the ENT (ears, nose and throat) specialist for next week to see what they say b/c this ear has been infected since November.

Her blood work all came back fine, so no anemia, no mono, all fine. That's goood.

Olivia

On Monday and Tuesday this week I got called from Olivia's school that she was just "not right". Crying a lot and very tired. She fell asleep at the table on Tuesday while doing crafts with her friends at preschool. She then slept on the teacher's lap for an hour and half and then woke up, went to gym, went back into the school, crawled up on her cot and went back to sleep during nap time. This is just not right behavior for a 3 year old. I have been very worried about her lately with the ears and her not eating properly. I just feel that something is wrong. She had a follow up visit to the doctors yesterday to make sure her last ear infection (which she has had since November) finally cleared up. I was assuming it hadn't and that's why she was acting the way she was. Well, we went to the doctors yesterday morning and she had stayed home from school. The doctor checked her ears, nose, throat and chest and all were clear. Clean bill of health, no problems. I told the doctors about my worries and fears and she thought it would be a good idea, if I was ok with it, to do a full blood work up and test her for everything including mono and anemia. Olivia and I headed over to the lab and had her blood drawn. I was sick to my stomach thinking that they had to take blood from her and I think the lab technician was nervous as well. She kept telling Olivia to stop looking up at her with those huge blue eyes because she felt bad every time she looked at her. The first arm was ok, Olivia didn't even flinch or cry. The tech got one vile of blood and then as she was starting to fill the 2nd one, her vein collapsed, so she had to stick her other arm to get the rest. Olivia was not happy about that at all, but she still didn't flinch or cry. She was so brave and so good, I was so proud of her.

We should get the results tomorrow and hopefully all is well. If she is anemic, then that would explain her tiredness and we can just give her an iron supplement. If she's not, then I have no idea what the issue is. Granted, we had a very long weekend and maybe she just needed to catch up sleep, but she had been going to bed early Monday and Tuesday and I had to drag her out of bed in the mornings. I hope she is ok and this will alleviate some of my worries once the results are in.

Back to Sleep Campaign

Ok, am I the only mom in the world that is 100% against sleeping your baby on their back? I am not a follower of this "tummy to play, back to sleep" campaign. I know I get A LOT of flack from many moms who know me b/c I sleep my kids on their stomachs, but I don't really care. I believe the MOM is the expert on this one NOT the "experts" themselves. I am not comfortable with putting my kids on their backs in any way shape or form especially when you have a chronic "spitter upper" like my Scott.

When I first had Olivia I listened to these so called "experts" and slept her on her side, not her back b/c I was so not comfortable with putting her on her back. She hardly every slept and when she did would only sleep about an hour at a time b/c she just wasn't comfortable on her side. I listened to a family member who said to "put that baby on her tummy", so I did and she slept wonderfully! I never put her in any other position from that point on. I started sleeping Olivia on her tummy at about 4 weeks. Scott starting sleeping on his tummy the day we came home from the hospital. I am sure in the hospital they put him on his back, but I don't really know b/c he was always in the nursery! Mwahahahahaha! I had to catch up on my z's, ok? Shoot me. Whatever.

Anyway, for real, our generation (and many generations before us) all slept on our stomachs and we are all still here. I understand that if you have a small baby or if your baby isn't strong and can't hold their heads up, then sure, don't put them on their stomachs, but both of my kids were turkeys from birth and both could hold their heads up perfectly fine. Scott already can keep his head lifted for an extended period of time when up on his forearms. Come on, he's only 11 weeks old!

I will never criticize any other mom for sleeping their child on their backs, they know their baby best, so whatever you are comfortable with. I am just asking for the same in return. I know my children and they sleep best on their stomachs and that is what I am comfortable with. Plus I am not a big fan of the flat head! Just kidding moms. I am sure everyone who looks at Scott knows that he was NEVER on his back b/c his head is just perfectly round, but oh well.

Case and point, the other night I was feeding Scott and in the middle, I put him down on his back to change his diaper and he starting gagging and choking. I immediately propped him up and he would not breath. I had to almost punch his back and finally he took a huge gasp of air, tears in his eyes and everything. That to me is a sure sign and confirmation that he will never ever sleep on his back.

I am a firm believer in the tummy to sleep. Don't put excessive blankets or toys, stuffed animals in the crib. If you avoid this, I feel it is safe. I would LOVE to see all of these SIDS cases where a child died because they were left sleeping on their stomachs. What else was in the crib? What were the other factors? Seriously, these "experts" need to have really studied these cases for years, and years, and years in order to make these determinations, but once again, I will take the nickname as the "slacker mom" or whatever, but hey, both of my kids slept through the night at 6 1/2 weeks and sleep very soundly, so call me what you want, but I think I know what is best for my child...

Tags: Health, Journal, Kids

Another Fun Filled Weekend

Well, we had another busy weekend visiting with family and friends! Friday night we went to my Aunt Laura's house and hung out for a while and my cousin Tricia was there with her kids. She was supposed to be just driving through to visit a friend up in New Milford and staying the weekend up there, but she was coming from NY and Friday the roads were soooo bad, so she stopped at my aunt's and stayed the night. I ended up leaving Olivia at my aunt's house Friday night and she had a sleep over with Marissa, Kaitlyn and Meagan. She had an absolute blast. She was sooooo excited about the snow and FINALLY got to wear her new snow pants etc, and play out in the snow on Saturday morning with Marissa. They were actually out there for a really long time. Just like Mommy when she was little!

Saturday my mom, my cousin Mike's wife Sarah and I went to a baby shower up in Shelton. I took Scott with me and Sarah brought Mason. My aunt watched Olivia while we were there. After the shower my aunt had a luncheon at her house for the "girls". My mom and my aunt's friend Sue came over (my friend Ryan's mom), and Ryan came with Jackson. I am so mad, but I didn't get any new pictures of Jackson and Scott together. Ergh! It was a good time.

Yesterday we went up to Mike and Sarah's for the Super Bowl. Doug and Lindsay and Andrew and Heidi were there as well. We stayed for the entire game and I am now very tired.

Olivia was quite tired this morning and I had to wake her up at 8:15 and shovel breakfast into her in order to get her to school by 9am this morning. Then when we got to school there was a fire alarm in the big school, so there were about 10 fire trucks, police etc there which caused it to be utter chaos b/c this is the time that the buses are arriving dropping off kids and all of the parents are there dropping off kids at Big and Little School. I got there just in the right time b/c I was one of the few that didn't get blocked in. I have to say that St. Joe's did a really great job at controlling the traffic and people this morning and staying on top of the kids. They disbursed the Big School kids between the Little School and the Church, which also had to house all of the teachers while they waited for the green light to go back into the school. Not sure what happened, but I believe it was all under control.

Enjoy the pictures of Mason and Scott from Saturday at the shower and then the pictures from last night at Mike and Sarah's from the Super Bowl. Not much, but a little something. Scott is 11 weeks old today! I can't believe it. He is such a good boy. He goes to bed at night between 8:30/9:00 and sleeps until 7/7:30am!!! I can not complain about that. He has really come a long way and is not nearly as cranky as he used to be. He now laughs all the time and it is just the cutest thing I have ever witnessed.