Yesterday mid-morning, I sneezed.  Then in the afternoon, I sneezed again — by this point, I knew something was wrong.  About an hour after that, the tonsils started to swell.  Immediately, I called and made an appointment for today so I can get started on antibiotics, as I’m out of refills.

I went over to Bill, a guy in my office, and told him that I am sick.  He KNOWS (as does everyone else) that I have to get on antibiotics AND I can’t expose Elizabeth to illness.  Without even blinking, he said that he was sick last weekend and the beginning of this week.  Can’t the man tell me or at the very least, scrub up before touching the doorknobs in the office?  geez!!

Last night I went to the store and got some clear liquids, popsicles and Zicam.   This afternoon I’ll start the drugs and I should be back to 100% by tomorrow.  I’d love to take some time off work, but my boss has me working like a slave around here even more lately. 

by a raccoon or some wild housecat or something…….   She has scratches all over her face!  I clip that girls fingernails at least 2x per week, but now I’m starting to clip them every other day.   One funny thing is that when she has the scratches in the morning, they are all healed up by the end of the day.   The ones on our faces (from her pinching) don’t heal up quite as fast. 

Elizabeth is already 5 months… time flies when you’re having fun.  She knows how to roll over, but she rarely ever does it.  She’s so very close to rolling over from back to front now. 

We’ve started giving her rice cereal a bit, as she keeps waking up, starving to death.  She’s really not ready for it because she still swallows by sticking out her tongue, but we’re despirately trying to fill her tummy before bed.  She’s still not quite 14 lbs yet, but close.

Elizabeth is very alert.  She can recognize her name and her eyes follow us around the room when we’re walking around.   Of course, her head is very steady, but she isn’t even close to sitting up by herself yet. 

With most physical milestones, she seems to be about a month behind (the amount of time she was born early) but she seems right on schedule or ahead of schedule for everything else like laughing or cooing or showing basic intelligence.

This weekend was spent cleaning, painting & moving stuff to storage, in preparation for the upcoming house sale, which (hopefully) will happen in the next month or two.   As for Cameron, he went hiking with Anne & then went to the dance on Saturday and worked all day Sunday. 

Click HERE to view a “how to” for Paul, to help him know what to do with Elizabeth.

It’s a rare thing to get Cameron to pose for a camera.  He’s a bit shy, like his mother.  I was able to get these taken before he walked out the door to meet Anne, who was OVER 1 hour late!  As soon as I get the portrait that was taken at the dance, I’ll get it posted.

Elizabeth is, once again, in a feeding frenzy.  I’m sure she’ll go over 14 lbs by Monday.  Usually, she only wakes up once in the night to eat, but the last couple of nights, she’s been up at least twice.  As you can see from the pictures, she’s really starting to put on the weight.  It doesn’t seem like that long ago that we were so grateful when she went over the 5 lb mark… we were so worried about her when she was born.

FYI: The picture on the right is Elizabeth talking to her favorite toy, “Blizzard”.  He was a present from Uncle Gerald and Auntie Betty.  She LOVES her dog!

   Today is rainy & cold, so this is most likely the view of Paul & Elizabeth if you were to go to our house today.  Aren’t they cute?  This is Elizabeth’s favorite spot.  (mine, too!)

from the UK:          from France: 

from Italy:         from the Amish: 

I got out the 9 month clothes and they are all washed and pretty, and then Elizabeth decides to stop growing temporarily.  She is now wearing BOTH sizes… 6 month AND 9 month.   Some pants are too small in 6, so she’ll wear 9, but she can still fit into some 6 month sleepers.   Elizabeth weighs 13 lbs 8 oz.

Yesterday, since I had the day off for MLK day, I took Elizabeth to Sears Portrait Studio for her very first photo shoot.  Those pics are ordered and will be ready on Feb 5.  I’ll scan & post those as soon as I get them back. 

today is my mom’s birthday.