The Great Outdoors

 We spend a lot of time outside. Amelia loves it. Soon after she wakes up in the morning she'll go pound on the front door to let me know she wants to go run around explore.

Dancing with the Sego Palm

She loves Harvey

 She shares her leaves with me

We make all kinds of new friends.

Den of Disease

Last week, Amelia woke up one morning with a fever, accompanied by general grumpiness. We gave her some Tylenol and encouraged her to drink a lot throughout the day. She ate very little. We thought it was probably just related to teething. And then as the night wore on we noticed something new. Blisters started to appear on her hands, fingers, elbows, and ankles. She usually has eczema on her ankles. That dreaded night the eczema was lookin' mighty fierce. It was really red and had some blisters in and around it. 

Day 2 - Not much change, blisters were still there. The fever, however, let up. 

Day 3 - We spent our day visiting with doctors, nurses, and medical students. After a lot of waiting and then talking to someone and then some more waiting we had a diagnosis! Coxsackie Virus, or Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease, with a bonus bacterial infection on the eczema sites. Thankfully, Coxsackie goes away on its own in about 7 to 10 days. It's a pretty common childhood illness that's spread from person to person. It's characterized by nasty fluid filled blisters on (you guessed it) the hands, feet, and in the mouth and throat. Amelia looks much better and has been acting more like herself for several days now. She still has some red dots on her arms and legs where the blisters are healing. I also learned that I am not immune to Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. I developed sores in my throat and a few little blisters on my finger pads. 

Amelia gets hogtied four times each day for a not so tasty antibiotic. It's a challenge, but totally worth it. 

First Birthday Celebration!

I've been to put up pictures from Amelia's birthday bash, but I've had a few extra things on my plate lately. Speaking of things on plates, get a load of this beauty...

The first birthday was a great time. We had lots of food and fun with family. In the past year Amelia has grown so much. She loves to say "uh-oh", she meows whenever she sees a cat, she says dog and pants like a dog too! A few days ago she said Jesus while looking at a picture of the Savior. A tender moment indeed. Her favorite activities include emptying things and undoing whatever I just did (sometimes I'll pick up toys and make them look nice just so she'll play with them), sitting on the tile and kicking her legs while she turns in a circle, dancing, sitting on shoulders.

Here are some pictures from the big celebration...

dancing before the party

 4 layers of chocolate, held together with chocolate, and covered with ganache (chocolate)

It was scrum-didly-umptious

Uncle Ben is always ready to help!