Long Weeks

Olivia still loves her bath - and trying to eat the towel afterward.

Is she ever!

Free to kick and play!

Olivia and Shealyn check each other out.

Babies in birth order - Olivia, Malachi, Shealyn, and Timothy

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted. In the last few week or so we've had a Tandy birthday extravaganza, a double ear infection, the reintroduction of solid foods, the end of our favorite TV show, and Glenn worked 12.5 hour days for plant shutdown and ended up with the flu. It certainly has been a little tiring, but we've managed!

About two weeks ago I became suspicious that Olivia had an ear infection. She kept trying to eat and then would stop and cry. Then she started scratching her ears inside until they were bleeding. I took her in and both ears were infected. She'd been crabbier than usual but I chalked it up to having her schedule switched around so much on Sunday. Apparently that was only part of the reason. Thankfully they didn't take long to clear up and I kept the Tylenol flowing for the first day or so and our days were much happier after that. I felt strangely proud that 1. I wasn't overreacting, and 2. I actually knew what was wrong with her. I was just thankful that she didn't have it during the time that Glenn had to work so much.

The last three pictures are from the Tandy birthday party. All four of the Tandy siblings' birthdays fall within one week so this year we opted to have one big long afternoon lunch and supper party instead of several family dinners. It was a great time. We had lots of good food and played games. It was fun to break out the Wii and Rock Band. We had it at the church and turned one classroom into a baby nap-time room. I think Olivia really liked being held by all different people (she still isn't showing any real preference for me or Glenn) and having play time with other babies around. I loved that we were able to get a picture of the four babies together - they were all born within a couple months of each other. They were all awake and in a good mood at the same time so we had to memorialize the moment!

Last week Glenn had to work 12.5 hour days at the plant. This meant that he would leave the house around 5:00 AM and get back around 6:30 PM and we would try to be in bed by 8:30. I honestly don't know how people who have to do this all the time or who are single parents do it. It made me realize how much I rely on Glenn. I also found myself missing him more than I had expected.

When Glenn arrived home on Thursday night he felt awful - fever, sore throat, cough, runny nose, achy, the works. He ended up having to call in sick on Friday, which was sort of a no-no during shutdown but more okay because it was the end of the week and because his boss knew he really was quite ill. After a day or so to recover he was feeling much better. I was getting pretty worn out myself by this point and Glenn joked that I had two babies to take care of. I am so thankful that I haven't gotten sick and I don't really think I will. Glenn does have off this week to work on all of the wood trim from the second floor that needs to be stripped of lead paint, but I don't think he'd get much of that done if he had to take care of Olivia (and me). He was feeling better on Saturday for his birthday but not enough that we wanted to really do anything. We grilled hot dogs and I did make him a birthday cake, but we're hoping to go to Lincoln sometime this week to hit Home Depot so I think we'll go out for a nicer dinner then.

Back to Olivia. The first time we started Olivia on solid foods she did really well for two days and then by day five would refuse to open her mouth when we tried to feed her. She literally would clamp her mouth shut. We decided to wait a while and I started again last week. So far she has been doing really well. She would rather eat off of my finger than the spoon, but at this point I'm okay with that. She's had no problem with the sweet potato or the acorn squash so tomorrow night I'm going to try green beans. Part of the trick is figuring out when she is hungry but not starving. If she gets too hungry she only wants her bottle and if she's not hungry enough she just isn't very interested.

And I suppose the last "major" happening is that one of our all-time favorite TV shows, LOST, had its series finale. We've been faithful watchers for years. We wanted to either go to or host a party but as it turned out Glenn and I watched it by ourselves here at home. It was still awesome. We had an appetizer bar for supper (won ton bites, chicken cordon bleu bites, and mini corn dogs) and smores and/or leftover birthday cake for dessert. I made really healthy meals today with lots of veggies to make up for it! Personally, I loved the way they ended the show. While I'll miss it, I'm glad they had a definite end point.

Hopefully Glenn will be able to finish off the woodwork and we will FINALLY be able to finish Olivia's room. Remember back to the weekend Glenn had planned to work on the room while I was out of town because of the lead paint issues? The one where he had people lined up to come up and help finish her room? You know, the weekend I ended up having Olivia? Haha! I haven't minded having her in our bedroom, but it will be nice to even have the option of moving her into her own room. Once we finish I'll be sure to post pictures.