Hangin Out!

Saturday night the Andersens and Caitlin (who was babysitting Maddie) came over for pizza and to hang out. The girls had a great time playing together!

"Maddie, sit at the table...I'll make you a plate!"

"No thank you Nola, I'd rather read right now!"

BUSY WEEKEND!

"Hey guys! I'm here so let the fun begin!"

Friday night we headed to Uncle Brian & Aunt Dawn's for pizza with the McGoey's. Nola & Rosie were going to have a play date while the adults had one too! Only a few days before Uncle Brian & Aunt Dawn have the baby. Will it be Sara or Jacob?

Nola & Rose exploring the territory!

Nola with Uncle Matt

"Oh shoot Rose split up! They have a camera which means evidence!"

Nola made a new friend!

"Alright, who turned out the lights?"

Thanks Foxes and McGoeys for a really fun night...we stayed till 1am and of course Nola was up bright and early. It's like they have radar and LOVE to torture us!


Saturday night we babysat for Caitlin and Ryan because it was her 26th birthday and they wanted to enjoy a nice dinner by themselves. We, okay I was really excited because I wanted to see what it would be like to have 2 kids.

Jay & Lily

Nola showing Lily all of the accessories on her Exosaucer!

Okay this is too cute!

Nola definitely looks ready to be a big sister!

I'm not gonna lie it was a little challenging, especially when Nola was digging in all the cabinets and Jay was on the computer but we had a fun time. I forgot all of those little baby moments. I loved when Lily was talking and smiling to me. It was a very nice change to hearing NO all the time! And when Caitlin & Ryan came back we played games and hung out!
FUN TIMES!

Sunday Nola & I decided to bake the reduced fat bisquick cookies. Since there aren't that many ingredients I thought they would be perfect for Nola. So, I poured the bisquick in the bowl and walked to the kitchen...when I turned around Nola had taken a HUGE bite of the bisquick with spoon. When I screamed, she looked at me like:

"What?...I thought it was a big helping of oatmeal!"

The big helper!

Isn't her apron so cute!

Sunday afternoon, St. Elizabeth's, the montessori pre-school, had their open house, so Jay, Nola, AnneMarie and I headed over to check it out.

I felt silly taking pics but I could resist snapping the little sinks!

And toilets!

I only snapped one pic. There are multiple classrooms, all with many hand on learning centers. It was also VERY clean which is important to me.The nuns were so sweet with Nola and of course Nola was OBSESSED with the little chairs and kept sitting and standing. I was praying that she wouldn't scream NO at them...and she didn't...good thing or they might have taken us off the waiting list.
The nuns brought Nola activities to do and if she is ready now she will DEFINITELY be ready for school by 3. I am still going to check out a few more places so I'll keep y'all posted on schools. I can't believe this stage is right around the corner.

The Atwells came over for dinner and Jay was their horsie! Nola LOVES Sydney and Carlye and talkes about them all the time! They really play nicely together!

Birthday Party Mania!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY ROSIE JO!

January 10th was our friends, Matt & Christine's daughter, Rose's 1st birthday! We got hit with a big snow storm but we made it just in time. Thanks for a fun time!

Canoli cake..it was delicious!

Uncle Brian & Aunt Dawn, due any day now!
Will it be Jacob or Sara?
Stay tuned!

Nola & Mom

"Nola let me show you how it's done!"

"Okay Rose, can I do it?"
"No Nola, it's my party so I can play a little longer!"

"Hey y'all! I'm kind of new here. Can I play with y'all?
I'm really good at Ring Around the Rosie, wanna see?"

"Oooh this looks like fun! What are y'all doing?"

Party outfit shot!

HAPPY 3rd Birthday Carlye Anne!

On January 18th our friends Anne Marie & Mike's daughter Carlye turned 3!

Thanks for a great time!

The birthday girl!
(Look at her shoes!)

Baby Emily..too cute!

Before party!

Party outfit shot!

Sick & Tired of Being Sick & Tired!

Not even a high fever can stop our little cow from playing in her new play room!

She is obsessed with her kitchen and table and chairs. She loves telling Jay & I were to sit and serves us our dinner!

Seems to be an unlucky start to the 2009 year for the Andersen household in terms of sickness...well at least for some of us. Nola & both came back from New Orleans with stomach viruses...only Nola's lasted for 12 days of diahrrea. Right when that cleared up last Friday...she got a fever on Saturday. Luckily we made it to the birthday party before the fever started. It lingered around 102.5 for Saturday and Sunday so we went to the dr. on Monday, day 3 of the fever. Dr. Kahn said she probably had a virus but not exactly sure what since her ears, nose and throat were all clear. When we were about to leave, he said the other thing we could check for was a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) and since she had so many days of diahrrea I didn't think it was far fetched. Nola had to wear a bag that hung outside her diaper and we had to wait for her to pee and since she had a fever we had to sit in the sick room and she touched EVERYTHING, so if she didn't have a virus she was getting one that day.

Finally, after an hour of no peeing, I asked for the cup and we went home. Sure enough we got home and there was pee so we put the coat and hat back on and headed to the dr. Dr. Kahn was about to leave for lunch but he was nice enough to test it before he left. He said initial test was negative so we went home and if the fever didn't break we would be back in two days.
My throat was also hurting so I got out the flashlight and FREAKED out when I saw spots all over my tonsils. I was sure it was STREP and knew I couldn't go to school so I went to the CVS one minute clinic by our house and the nurse did a strep test but said it was just a virus and to gargle with salt water, get plenty of res (yeah right) and take ibuprofen.

So Nola was still up Monday night and Tuesday Jay and I went to work on barely any sleep, only to get a phone call that Nola's overnight UTI culture showed traces of bacteria. SO, we went back to the dr. and they put in a catheter :( to test it again, but luckily all tests came back negative.
Tuesday night Nola was still up but thankfully by Wed. morning her fever had broken. I guess she and I were fighting the same virus but in two separate ways!

Luckily, Jay did not get sick at all but did take turns sitting up with Nola because she couldn't sleep. What a great dad! And we are all finally well and are enjoying hanging out again! Thanks to everyone who continued to check on us and I apologize if I was testy with anyone, I was just very worried about Nola and running on no sleep with a virus!

18 MONTHS!

We can't believe our little princess is 18 months! Time has flown by so fast! We went for the 18 month checkup on the 7th and everything looked great. Nola weighed 23 1/2 lbs. (35-40%), which was a little low due to the stomach virus she had. Her height was 65% (the dr. asked us where she got that from..real funny!), and her head circumference is still at the 90% mark. He did say she needed one shot but we could schedule it later because she wasn't feeling 100%.

Dr. Khan asked us about her skills, "Is she running and climbing?, Is she engaged in Pretend Play?, Does she have about 5-6 words in her vocabulary?" We said 5-6! Nola LOVES pretend play and she has over 20 words that she says every day. She even puts 2 or more words together to make phrases. Dr. Kahn says she is very advanced and he thinks that Nola will be a kid that once she starts talking she won't stop and we agreed! She also has been saying "K" instead of yes. When we ask her if she wants milk, it's either Noooo or K. Too funny!

Speaking of pretend play, here is a few videos of Nola with one of her favorite presents from Christmas. Her baby doll station from Aunt Ne and Aunt Carrie. She absolutely LOVES feeding, changing and putting her baby to sleep! Thank y'all so much for such an entertaining present!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Nola & Heather

We spent New Year's Eve at Grammie & Pipaw's! We had such a fun time! Fr. Adam held his traditional mass at the house and to our surprise, Aunt Patty and Uncle John were in town from FL and Uncle Brian & Aunt Jane were in town from CO. It was great catching up with everyone. Jay stayed for mass and then headed to Nanny & Paran's to watch LSU KILL GA Tech. Nana, Nola & I left at half-time to go meet up with Jay but suddenly I felt really hot and nauseous and had to go home. Come to find out there was a stomach bug going around the family and I got it. LUCKY ME!
But, it was just in time to kickstart my First of the year diet!
I spent NewYear's Day on the couch and then we flew out the next day...so sorry here are the last few pics I got on NYE and then the camera didn't come out again.

P.S. Nola got sick on NY Day, my mom got sick the day after that and then my dad got sick! I won't mention all the cousins it touched as well.
CRAZINESS!
Luckily, it was short lived for each of us!

Riley the cutie pie!

Nola was fascinated with my cousin Hunter who loved explaining his Transformers to her. She was glued to his hip!

"Thanks so much for getting my dad that LSU diaper bag. I just LOVE my new purse and carry it around the whole house. You're the best!"

"Ooh what's this cool thing Uncle Michael? I love music. Can you teach me how to use it?"

Nola & her buddy!