October 31...Day 278

Little Miss Audrey is one today!! We had a fun time at her birthday party this afternoon and then at the Family Fall Festival at church tonight. I'm getting ready to post more pictures on the blog and Facebook, so check there soon!

October 30...Day 277

Tonight we had baked potato soup (from a can, not from scratch. I've made it from scratch before but there was no time for that tonight) and grilled cheese sandwiches.

We are in the process of getting ready for Audrey's big first birthday party tomorrow! So excited!!!

October 29...Day 276

In my head, I posted this yesterday. But in reality, I guess I never actually did it!

We had French Toast, bacon and eggs for dinner tonight. Kellie, I promise we weren't copying you. I was already planning on this meal before I saw your picture the other day!

October 28...Day 275

Tonight we had dinner at church. The church serves dinner each week before our Wednesday night program. On the menu tonight was fried chicken. Audrey and I skipped out after dinner; I didn't want to put her in the nursery in case she still has germs that could be passed on to another kid.

Daniel went back to work today. Audrey was doing better today as well. She was acting completely normal this morning and took a good morning nap. This afternoon she was pretty grumpy and didn't take a very good nap. She had another bad night last night, waking up at least once an hour until Daniel finally slept with her on the couch for the last 5 hours of the night. I think we are on the road towards being back to normal, but she's just not quite there yet. I just hope she gets back to her good sleeping habits soon...we haven't really had to deal with her being up this much at night since she was just a few weeks old. I'm ready for my good sleeper to come back!!

October 27...Day 274

Neither Daniel nor I really wanted to cook anything tonight. But we didn't have any money in our eating out envelope, so we needed to find something in our house for dinner. We were going to do a frozen pizza, since it requires no prep and very few dishes. But that didn't sound good to me at all. Then I remembered that I bought stuff for homemade pizza. And I decided that the extra work it took for homemade pizza was worth it, because it tastes so much better than frozen. I used pizza crust mix (where you just add water) so it was really pretty easy to make.

And now for my daily update on the health of our household: Daniel is doing much better. He didn't have a fever today, though he still has a nasty cough. He will probably be going back to work tomorrow. And Audrey seems to be doing better as well. She had a low grade fever for a little bit this afternoon, but for the most part it has remained around normal. She did not sleep last night though. She was up at least once every hour, screaming and very unhappy. Then she did not want to nap today. But she was not acting tired at all. Instead she was super energetic and wanted to go, go go. It was odd after being so sick yesterday and getting so little sleep...she seemed excessively hyper. We are wondering if maybe the Tamiflu is causing the restlessness and hyperness?? She did calm down this afternoon/evening and wasn't acting quite so chipper. After talking to a nurse today, we found out insomnia can be a side effect. So we decided to skip her Tamiflu dose tonight and see if she sleeps better without it.

Still no flu symptoms for me. I'm starting to feel like I am out of the woods...but I know as soon as I start to feel too confident, I will probably get sick. I am completely exhausted. I haven't slept much at all since all of this started on Friday. Daniel is going to take over baby duty tonight. I am going to take an Advil PM, turn off the baby monitor, and hopefully get a much needed night of good sleep!!

October 26...Day 273

Tonight we had chicken and noodles and biscuits for dinner. On a normal day, I probably would have fixed a vegetable to go with this but things aren't very normal around here. Chicken and noodles sounded like good comfort food for the sick ones at our house, and it was pretty quick and easy to make with the help of a rotisserrie chicken.

Daniel was feeling a little better today. I allowed him out of quarantine, and he was able to watch Audrey for a little bit while I went to Wal-mart and fixed dinner and got some things done today. I think Audrey was feeling worse. We got a prescription from the doctor for Tamiflu. Now we just have to figure out how to get her to take it! She got the first dose down earlier today, but tonight she spit and gagged it all back out. I think I am going to have to try mixing it with some applesauce or something to get her to take it. It's frustrating that we have something that might make her feel better, and she's not taking it!

I'm still feeling OK, though I am exhausted. I haven't slept well at all the past few nights, sleeping on the couch, listening to every noise Audrey makes and getting up a couple of times to check on her is taking its toll on me. The only way I could get her to sleep today was to hold her. I really hope she will sleep in her crib tonight because I need some rest!

OK, so this blog is turning more into a daily sick update rather than a daily photo blog...hopefully we'll be back to normal soon though!

Oh, and I also found two teeth breaking through Audrey's gums today. So just in case the flu wasn't making her feel bad enough, she is teething too!!

October 25...Day 272

Kellie and I decided to try a new theme for this week: What's for dinner? The plan is to take a picture of what we eat for dinner each night. I thought it would be a fun way to maybe come up with some new dinner ideas. However, with all the sickness in our house right now, it may not be such a good week for this theme. We'll see what happens...it may be interesting.

This is my dinner for tonight: a kids' meal from McDonalds. SO healthy I know. But it's been a long day at the end of a long weekend and cooking was the last thing I wanted to do.

Audrey started with a cough and a fever today. She seems to be doing OK. She had a few rough moments and she has been pretty clingy all day long, but for the most part she hasn't been too grumpy or sickly yet. We watched A LOT of TV today...I've probably messed her all up by letting her watch so much. We have this free preview of the Baby channel (24 hours of programming just for babies, seriously there's a whole channel just for them!). What a good day for a free preview, because I probably wouldn't have even turned the TV on on a normal day. But it kept Audrey somewhat content and occupied when she seemed to be feeling especially bad. Her fever hasn't been too high. It was around 101 tonight, which was the highest I'd seen it all day. We'll see how the night goes. I have a feeling that between her cough and her fever, it may be a long, sleepless night for both of us. Daniel is still sick...I think he might be going completely crazy in his quarantine room. He doesn't do well sitting still for long. Hopefully he will be better tomorrow. I am still healthy for now. After Audrey breathing, coughing, sneezing and slobbering all over me today, I think it will be a miracle if I don't get sick!!

October 24...Day 271

Here I am, all alone on my makeshift bed on the couch. Daniel is still quarantined in the upstairs bedroom, Audrey went to bed a while ago, and Maggie and I are just chilling on the couch. Whew, it's been a long day! The good news is that Audrey and I still seem to be healthy. She was a cheerful bundle of energy today, so that's a very good thing. Keep praying that this good health continues for us!

I really should be doing something productive right now. I had my whole weekend planned full of things that I was going to get accomplished. And they are not getting accomplished as planned. So since I have failed so far, I'm just giving up on being productive for tonight. Instead I'm going to be lazy on the couch and watch The Proposal. It's been a long day, so I think I deserve that!

October 23...Day 270

Ugh, I came home from subbing today to a sick husband. He's had a fever around 101, stuffy head and cough, weak and achy feeling. H1N1 maybe?? Who knows? Maybe it's just a cold. But we're not taking any chances. He is currently quarantined in our bedroom. I have been using disinfecting wipes and spray like crazy trying to get rid of all his germs. I don't know if that will do any good, but at least it makes me feel like I'm doing something. I think I've washed my hands like 50 times since I got home today. I'm really nervous about Audrey getting sick, especially since Daniel spent the whole day taking care of her before he really knew he was sick. And they keep saying that the swine flue is especially dangerous for little kids. Or what if I get sick and then both Daniel and I are sick and there's no one to take care of Audrey? Or what if one (or all) of us are sick next week for Audrey's birthday party???

October 22...Day 269

The past few nights I have been cutting out flower petals to make centerpieces/favors for Audrey's birthday party next week. I figured that I need 180 flower petals to make 30 flowers, and they all had to be cut out by hand! Yuck! But I think I'm just about done...now I just have to put all the flowers together. They are going to be pretty cute I think!

I realize Audrey could care less about any of this party stuff, but it's fun for her hard core, party planning mom! I have pictures of all of my birthday parties as a kid, and even though I don't remember many of them, I enjoy looking at the pictures now and am appreciative of the work my mom put in to make cool cakes and have fun parties. Hopefully, Audrey will feel the same way some day!

October 21...Day 268

Today I made this pumpkin crumb cake. It is pretty tasty!! Kind of like pumpkin crisp, only with more cake and less pumpkin. I'm going to gain 10 pounds this week with all these baked goods around my house!

(Wow, I just looked at this picture in comparison to yesterday's picture...it shows the importance of natural light for photography! Yesterday's picture was taken at about 9 pm in my living room with no natural light and no flash, so it was a pretty dark picture. It seemed somewhat decent though yesterday, until I took today's picture. Now it just looks horrible! Today's picture was taken at about 4 pm with natural light coming in through a window and again no flash. HUGE difference!!)

October 20...Day 267

I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins today using this recipe. They turned out really good; I can't stop eating them. I still have some pumpkin leftover, so I think I might try another pumpkin recipe tomorrow!

October 19...Day 266

I don't have anything too exciting to post today. So here's a picture of Audrey from tonight...just being her cute self!

October 18...Day 265

Coming home from vacation on a Saturday night is not the best idea. Sundays are busy enough with church and small group. Coming home adds the stress of getting to the grocery store, doing laundry, putting everything away, and (for me) editing pictures! What a busy day!! Using the spare minutes that I've had today, I've been trying to get the pictures finished. I was so busy working on last week's pictures tonight that I almost forgot to take/post a picture for today. So here is a picture of what I'm working on in Lightroom.

October 17...Day 264

Before:

After:

Day 2 of Martha Stewart Fall Fun weekend includes: a trip to Curtis Apple Orchard, a quick visit to the outlet mall in Tuscola, lunch at Flesor's Candy Kitchen, and the grand finale is The Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur, IL. The Great Pumpkin Patch was featured in Martha Stewart magazine, which is how this event came to be named Martha Stewart weekend.

This is the last of my unedited, straight out of camera pictures. I came home with about 300 pictures from our trip this week!! I'm working on sorting through them all and editing, but it may take me a while. So, if you are interested in the "after" pictures from this past week, keep checking back. I will post them (with the original post) as soon as I get them finished.

Back to today's picture: I had a lot of Pumpkin Patch pictures to choose from today, and I probably should have picked a pumpkin picture, but I chose this sunflower one instead. This was in the middle of the sunflower maze (a new addition to the Pumpkin Patch this year). The maze was a muddy mess, but the sunflowers were really pretty!

October 16...Day 263

Oops, I accidentally posted the after picture. This one is the before: And here is the after picture:

It's the 4th annual Martha Stewart Fall Fun Weekend (I'll explain in Saturday's post where we came up with this name)! Each year our small groups get together for this great fall event. Day 1 is spent at my friend Lindsey's parents' house in Tuscola, IL. We enjoy a great home cooked meal, a bonfire and smores, and lots of fun with friends! The event gets more and more popular each year. This year, 16 adults and 4 kids spent the night. Here is part of the group enjoying their delicious dinner.

October 15...Day 262

Before:

After:
Since we are on vacation and I was feeling nice, I let Audrey have her first few bites of french fries tonight at Red Robin. She seemed to like them okay, but I think she was more excited to eat her broccoli at lunch today than she was to eat the french fries tonight. I'm hoping that, unlike me, she will be a good green veggie eater! Audrey, I hope you enjoyed your fries tonight because it may be a while before Mommy lets you eat them again!!

October 14...Day 261

Before:

After: (I didn't do too much to this one...just got rid of the red eyes and did a little brightening and sharpening)Audrey had a fun night at Mimi and Papaw's house tonight while Mommy and Daddy went to a movie!

October 13...Day 260

Before:After:Continuing with my straight out of camera pictures for this week, here is Audrey playing in the leaves at the campground today. These pictures turned out super cute; I'm really excited about them. Once I get home and sort through them all, I'm sure the rest of them will make an on Facebook or somewhere!

Also, I'm cheating and posting 2 pictures today. We met the Bungards for dinner tonight. It's always good to see our friends BJ and Kellie and to watch our babies play together. Audrey and Ava had lots of fun together tonight.

October 12...Day 259

Before:

After: We are in Indiana camping with Daniel's parents this week. It is going to be nice and cozy with all 5 of us in his parents' camper! But at least we don't have to sleep in a tent, because it is going to be pretty chilly the whole time we are here.

I meant to bring my computer so I could upload and edit my pictures with it, but we forgot to pack it in the car when we left this morning. So I decided to try an experiment. All of the pictures I post this week will be straight out of the camera...no editing at all. I'm not even going to crop them or lighten them or anything. This is a big test for me because I have become fairly reliant on making my pictures look better by editing them on the computer. I'm going to try to take better pictures with the camera this week. Then when we get back home and I have my computer back, I will edit them and post an "after" picture, so we can all compare! Isn't this going to be a fun game??

Back to today's picture, Audrey is having a blast so far. She was perfect in the car, and she has been the happiest little girl. Everything about the campground from the dogs to Mimi and Papaw and even to the grass has been fun and exciting. In this picture, she is proudly showing her freshly picked handful of grass to Daddy.

October 11...Day 258

Happy birthday to me!! My husband and family got some great presents for me--a new lens for the camera, Adobe Lightroom for photo editing, and Pushing Daises, Season 1 on DVD. I took this picture of Audrey holding my new DVDs with my new lens and edited it with my new Lightroom!!

October 10...Day 257

We went to hang out at the Millers house tonight. And whenever all of our kids are together, we always try to get a picture of them sitting together. It never, ever works, and I don't know why we keep trying...but we do! I was very proud of Audrey tonight. I am pretty sure this is the first time that she has not cried when we try to pose her for a picture with the other kids. But even though Audrey was not crying, getting all 3 kids to sit and look at the camera and smile was still an impossible task!

October 9...Day 256

Audrey loves her Daddy!!

October 8...Day 255

Tonight we had a party to watch Jim and Pam's wedding on The Office. It was a great episode! I decorated the entertainment center with pictures of Jim and Pam from my Entertainment Weekly magazine last week. I also made a wedding cake. It wasn't very pretty, but I used the Jim and Pam game pieces from our The Office board game as cake toppers!

October 7...Day 254

I wish I would have made this card last year, because it would have been a great Christmas card. Audrey doesn't look like a little baby anymore, so it's not really fitting to use this year. But isn't it so fun? The ornament with Audrey's picture in it is 3D, and it has little jingle bells inside. Audrey thought it was a pretty cool card when I let her hold and jingle it today.

October 6...Day 253

Mommy learned an important lesson today. Don't try to close an inkpad and hold Audrey at the same time. That colorful ink is just too tempting, and Audrey can't keep her hands off it! Her other fingers were much more blue than the two you can see in this picture, but she wasn't too willing to show off her blue fingers for the camera. No worries though...the ink is non-toxic, and it easily washes off with a little soap and water.

October 5...Day 252

Audrey and I took a trip to the mall this afternoon. We were looking for a pair of tennis shoes that she can wear when we go camping next week. We did find a pair of shoes...as well as a couple of pairs of socks and a shirt and a really cute sweater. The shirt and the sweater were definitely not in the shopping plan (or budget!). But I have a weakness for baby Gap! Especially when I find really cute things on sale for more than 50% off...how am I supposed to resist that?

October 4...Day 251

Today I decided to make a practice cake for Audrey's birthday cake. I really like throwing parties, and I always have big ideas for cakes...but they never turn out. To hopefully avoid the last minute stress of a cake disaster, I decided to do some trial runs for Audrey's cake.

So here is a preview...you'll have to wait until her birthday to see it all. The cake today turned out OK. We didn't like the taste of the icing recipe I used, and my icing decorating wasn't the prettiest. But it wasn't a total disaster. I'm going to do a little more experimenting with the icing to try to perfect it before her birthday.

October 3...Day 250

Last week I signed up to receive the Chicago Tribune Sunday paper for just 50 cents a week. I always buy our local paper each week (for $1.50) to get the coupons. The Tribune is cheaper and it has better coupons.

Notice the date on this paper...it's tomorrow's paper. But it showed up at our doorstep a little before 8:00 tonight. I find it a little strange that I can read tomorrow's news tonight. Hopefully nothing major happens in our world tonight, because I won't be able to read about it in the newspaper tomorrow! (This would be true if I actually read the paper. I don't...I hand it to Daniel and go straight for the coupons!)

October 2...Day 249

I finished making birthday presents for our nephews tonight. Then I made cards for each of them that coordinated with their presents, and then decorated the envelope and wrapping paper to match as well! I know my 7 year old nephews could care less about handmade gifts and wrapping paper...but it was fun for me to make it all match (and much cheaper than going to the store and buying presents, then a card, then wrapping paper!).

October 1..Day 248

Only 11 months old and she already loves stamps!!!