The Party Must Go On......

The Worzalas kept the Immediate Care in business on Saturday! Melanie went with a deep cough that sounded like croup. Her Grandpa Worzala went with dizziness..... Verdict: Melanie, antibiotics (no croup), Grandpa W - vertigo. Mel had chest Xrays and a throat swab, but it seems to be this lingering cold she just can't shake. She missed her first day of swim lessons, which I was bummed about, but the good news is she's in better spirits now!

-

So, her birthday party went on, although sadly without Randy, Cory, Charlie and Sammie. Those kiddos just can't afford to get any more respiratory madness. We celebrated with a Curious George cake, lots of presents, and lots of love for Miss Mel! She LOVED her cake, after being a bit skeptical of it at first - daintily picking his eyeballs off before smashing in. Despite the fact it was a "low sugar" cake, I think she had a bit of a sugar high Saturday night!

-

Thanks to everyone for making Melanie's birthday such a special occasion!

Happy First Birthday, Melanie Grace!

"The days are long and the years are short" is sooo true, no? Not ALL days are long, of course, but while you're in the moment, it doesn't feel so much like time is flying. Then, suddenly, you wake up and your little baby girl is ONE YEAR OLD!!! It has been a blast watching Melanie learn everything over the past year. When you catch her at a good point, she'll even hold up one finger to tell you how old she is!

-

Miss Melanie is now in 6-9 month clothes, size 3 diapers, and says the words "dada," "hi" (nonstop), "kitty," and something that sounds an awful lot like Sh-t. Over and over, of course. She continues to be very happy, and very active. She likes all food put in front of her - particularly if she can feed it to herself! Bananas are back into the favorite, after a brief stint on the "possibly allergic" list. She fluctuates with her formula intake, and is currently in the boycot stage, so we struggle to get 20oz a day - although she, as her daycare provider reports, "is the first to start eating and the last to stop" for table foods. She's in a clingy stage where she doesn't like to be left - especially by Mommy or Daddy. She's developing a longer attention span, and the thing that makes her giggle the most is getting Lucas riled up. She's moving to the next car seat (still rear facing) since I can't bear to carry the pumpkin seat any more. She sleeps through the night, with a bottle at about 5am or some such time when I am not aware of the time (she has a fabulous Daddy who takes care of that!) She is starting to get to one looong nap a day rather than two shorter ones - except, of course, at daycare. She claps most anytime she hears music - even if it's a church hymn. She continues to LOVE bathtime, her silky, and her favorite toys are a choo-choo train, Tad the Frog who sings to her, her Fridge DJ, a caterpillar that plays music, a horsey on loan, her kitchen, and the stacking rings. She has eight teeth that we can see (middle four on top and bottom)

-

The above photo was taken at the house today, but we also got professional photos taken. If you're reading this, I'm sure you'll be a lucky recipient of one of the 85,000 wallet pictures we got with the package :) In case you can't see the writing on the dress, it says "Birthday Girl" with a cupcake above it.

-

We're looking forward to celebrating with the immediate family this Saturday with, of course, monkeys as the theme!

A True Worzala!

In case anyone had any doubt that Miss Melanie is a Worzala.... here is video proof.



For those of you who don't know what the Worzala/vacuum connection is.... you only need to go on a vacation with the Worzalas. If you, hypothetically, find yourself sleeping on a couch in a shared condo (since you're not married to a Worzala).....you might just be awakened every morning of the vacation by the patriarch of the family vacuuming. It may be 6am at this realization that someone is vacuuming your vacation home, and that that someone is your boyfriend's father. It is a long-standing Worzala tradition to LOVE vacuuming. I'm so proud that my daughter has caught on so quickly.
-
Edited to add: Okay, it might not have been 6am, but if you know me, you know I am NOT an early-morning person. Maybe it was 7am. Maybe even 8. The point being that he was vacuuming a vacation property.

Recovering slowly

Melanie had her follow up appointment at the GI on Friday, February 13. She was up to SEVENTEEN pounds, and all signs looked good. The doc, however, was concerned she was not eating enough formula - which I said was being supplemented by table food. However, table food doesn't give her enough calories (said doc). My take is, she has to eat table food when the other kids at daycare are eating it - or else we'll have another problem on our hands! She had inched up on the growth charts (above 3%), and she continues to seem great, so while he said force the formula issue, we'll probably be continuing along the path we are - trying for 4-5 bottles a day, and if she gets them, great! Then, later that day, we went to her pediatrician, because she's still not shaking the cold. He thinks the first was a sinus infection and the second is a cold - it's likely just continuing its path around daycare, so just keep treating it with the antibiotic.
-
Fast forward to a week later.....Melanie is feeling better after a total of two weeks on the antibiotic, one week off, and another two weeks on. Tuesday night while Jeff went to the Purdue game (thanks again for the tickets Dad!) - Melanie was a little crazy, and all out of sorts. My guess is she was teething - all the classic Mel teething symptoms - clingy, whiney, grumpy, inconsolable. Jeff's guess was that she was grumpy because he wasn't home. I'm sticking with teething. Wednesday night she was back to herself, so hopefully when she comes back off the meds this weekend she stays well this time. She went through about a five-day boycott of formula, but she's doing better now!

My kind of town, Chicago is....

We had a great Valentine's Day/President's Day weekend in Chicago. Jeff & Mel (and Cory) had Monday off, so I utilized one of my 30 vacation days, and we headed up on Saturday morning. We drove around the city a bit for some reminiscing, and then headed to see the cousins. Cory and I even got some shopping in during the day in the midst of three naptimes.

-

Sunday, we started the day with brunch with Uncle Rick, Aunt Sandy & Becky and all the kiddos. Wow, how times have changed - the morning was spent chasing a kid around a restaurant who was begging food off strangers. Literally. Some lady gave Mel some "puffs" since she clearly was starving after her bread, pancakes, water.... That's my girl, get all the free food you can! We then got to see Jenny & Matt's new Chicago house, and then the party started. Cory & Randy invited several of our Chicago friends over for good food, cocktails, and good visits. Annie & her kids, Carolyn, Bryan and their 1 + 1 in the oven, Jenny & Matt.... it was nice to catch up with everyone!

-

We headed out on Monday, while Sammie headed to the doc with another bout of pneumonia! Poor peanut! She's doing better now, and hopefully a few days out of daycare helped her heal! Melanie got to see Molly for a little while on our trip back home through Frankfort - we had to stop by for some Milky Way to open the season!!

-

We had a great little getaway; it's amazing how long it takes & how many bags it takes to pack an 11-month old for a weekend away!

Cough, cough

Melanie had a two-week cold, and on MLK Day, we put her on antibiotics. At the time, it almost seemed like she was over the cold - but we went ahead with the drugs.... Two weeks later, she was doing fantastic, and the drugs stopped. Two days later, the coughing started again....and has gotten worse. She went back on the antibiotics on Friday morning, and we're hoping the coughing & snot go away soon! She's been cranky, which is either due to the cold or potential teething. She is on another formula strike.... she's been eating okay at daycare, but doesn't like the bottle at home. This may be due to the congestion - if she can't breathe out of her nose, it's probably tough to eat the bottle! Above, Melanie is eating a full banana she had at Aunt Brenda's house on Saturday! After playing with Charlie and Sammie for a while, she got to spend the afternoon at Grandma & Grandpa's house while I went shopping with Cory & Brenda - fun afternoon for everyone!!

Happy 11 Month Birthday!

Miss Melanie Grace was born 11 months ago today ~ can you believe it?? Time certainly does go fast!

-
Melanie is wearing 6-9 month clothing (some pants are a little loose in the waist, but we all wish we had that problem!) She is learning and exploring new things every day. Her memory is improving, and it's fun to watch it - for instance, if she gets a toy out and it doesn't have all the parts with it, she will search for them so they're all intact (so she can then throw them all over the room). She puts toys into buckets, she now puts the rings on the stand from that classic toy with the five different-sized/color rings, she LOVES to take Daddy's glasses off his face and giggle about it, she likes to dance, play in her kitchen (well, throw the kitchen parts into the next room), TORMENT the cat, and smile and laugh a lot. She has six teeth and lots of hair. She still loves her "silky" - she has to have it with her whenever she's sleepy, cranky, or hungry. She averages about 20-25 ounces of formula a day, along with an ever-growing assortment of table foods (she does better with table foods at daycare). We also still give her oatmeal and baby fruits and veggies each day. According to daycare, she feeds herself each of her bottles - but she's also coming home in different clothes every day because of this endeavor, so I won't put that "W" in the win column just yet. She "talks" a LOT, but "dada" and "baba" are the only things recognizable. She giggles when asked to say "mama" - leading me to believe she's got her mommy's stubborn streak and knows how to say it, just won't! She still loves bathtime, despite her little antics last week - she even blew bubbles last night! It was probably a fluke. She loves to cuddle, and will come over and give hugs even when you're not expecting it.

-

I can't believe we're just a month away from my baby's one-year birthday! We are very blessed!