Spring break synopsis

This may be the longest I have gone without posting! Things have been very hectic at home and at work. Alaina is all over the place and into everything!

She is just so happy. Even when she is refusing to sleep. :)

She is fussy at times these days because her ears are still bothering her. We ended up doing another round of ear drops and they are draining again. So, I'm taking her back to the ENT on Friday and hoping for some answers. Chad and I are beyond frustrated with this experience. Poor thing just needs to be well.

The Friday before Spring Break I picked Alaina up early and took her to my graduate student lab meeting. FYI, I do not feel guilty having meetings the Friday afternoon before Spring Break so don't even ask (good graduate students don't take spring breaks). :) Anyhow, she enjoyed hearing about our upcoming projects and is excited that Greg and Hilary will soon be defending their theses and Ashley is proposing in a couple of weeks...okay, maybe not. But she was excited that we stopped by the new gelato/grilled cheese/coffee house, Blue Spruce, after work. She got her first taste of a semi-naughty food, strawberry sorbet. She was pretty addicted.

What are you waiting for? I need more sorbet!

Along these lines, and in response to new research saying you no longer need to wait until after 1 year to introduce high-allergen foods (though she is so close to a year ::sniff sniff:: that this is really a moot point), she tried peanut butter last week. I just gave her a tiny dab to make sure she did not have an allergic reaction and she was infuriated to get such a small amount. I am sad I didn't get that on video because her response was priceless. She has also tried yogurt and ground beef recently. On Sunday she had some small bumps on her chest and today she had a few around her mouth but I'm really not sure what that's about (both days she had pretty typical food). Trying not to sweat it too much. Because she has done okay, I am thinking that I will just do a regular birthday cake for her. I had been thinking about doing a vegan banana or applesauce cake but I think she can probably handle the little bit of cake/frosting that she will get. And it's a lot more fun.

We were all excited that Alaina got to meet her sweet cousin, Avery, who came to visit for a couple of days. I cannot believe that this precious little girl is almost 5 years old. I still remember being at the hospital before she was born. Of course, Avery was more excited to see the puppies than anything. But I think she misses her "momma Steph." :) I certainly miss her. This is a definite reminder how hard it is being away from family and how fast time flies. Glad we have more family coming to visit in the next couple of weeks.