A Very Late Thanksgiving Update

This Thanksgiving we were lucky enough to be able to take the entire week off and travel to California to visit with the Butler's. It was a much needed vacation for both Jeremy and myself, although it went by way too quickly. Our flight out to California was our most difficult flight with Olivia. The flight didn't leave until about 8:30, which is usually when we try and get her to bed, so she was super tired, and she was just fussy and unhappy the whole way out. When we woke up the next morning, it was clear that she was getting sick - she threw up several times, and was generally lethargic and cranky - she wasn't even excited to see the dogs, which is how we knew that she really wasn't feeling well. That evening we took her to an urgent care, and sure enough she had an ear infection. Poor girl.

We didn't do anything too exciting during the rest of the week. It was mostly a time to just relax and have fun and try and recouperate. We were able to go to the mall and get some much needed clothes for both Olivia and myself, and of course we had to see Santa. I don't have the picture of Olivia with him, but it is hilarious. She wasn't a huge fan. I'm a little bummed that we really didn't take very many pictures while we were there. At the time, I just wanted to enjoy the moment and not worry about always having my camera nearby, but now I wish I had documented some of the fun things a little more.

We had the most fun watching Olivia with the dogs. She just loved them. She would walk (ie chase them) all around the house. She loved to give them treats, hugs, and kisses. They were pretty remarkably behaved with her, as well. When we finally got back to Utah, Olivia walked around our house for an entire day looking for them. It was so sad.

Things got back to the good old chaotic life right away. Olivia had started to recover in California, but seemed to be getting sick again back in Utah. I brought her into her pediatrician, and her ear infection had not completely gone away, so we had to put her on a different kind of antibiotic. After about a week it finally cleared up, and she was feeling pretty good for a couple of days, and, of course, began to develop a cold. And being Olivia, if she is at all sick, night time is a bad time! So in the past month, we've had about a handful of good nights with her. I'm just hoping that this cold will clear up this week, and we can have a relatively uneventful - perhaps restful - Christmas.

We were able to get all decorated for Christmas pretty quickly. I wasn't really looking forward to it, and actually considered not getting out many of the decorations, just because I wasn't looking forward to having to put them up (and then take them down). But, with Olivia's help, we were able to get it all done, and she has done remarkably well with the Christmas tree. She generally ignores it, but sometimes will go over and gently touch the leaves or the lights or an ornament. I recently wrapped some gifts and put them under the tree, and she pretty much ignores them, too, except for one that is kind of small that she likes to pick up and carry around the house.