Family Trip to St. Louis

Last weekend I too a few days off and the 4 of us boarded a plane to  St. Louis, Missouri.  We were headed to Joe's home state so see my brother Brian get married.  It was a very eventful weekend, one that I will not be forgetting soon.  Brian and Angela had a beautiful wedding and everyone had a wonderful time.  Well everyone expect for Olivia....

insert picture of mt very ill daughter here...(She looked terrible)

Olivia developed a double ear infection along with a double eye infection that was complemented with a fever of 104.7 and an event of vomiting all over mom on the way to the urgent care facility.

Audrey has never been this ill and Joe and I were very concerned. We took Olivia to the Urgent care a mile or away from our hotel. The staff was very nice and the doctor was awesome, if she lived in our city I would switch providers!  After the doctor examined Olivia she wanted to admit her to the hospital,  I almost died!  I did not travel from Los Angeles to visit the hospital in St. Louis and not see my brother get married.  As I mother I would not be albe to leave Audrey or Olivia in the hospital to attend a wedding, sorry Brian...

The doctor and I decided on another plan that allowed Olivia to be treated as an outpatient.  Over the next few days Olivia's progress began to improve and she was able to attend all the festivities. And to our surprise she was well enough to fly home on Sunday as we had planned.

Audrey was a great sport during this trip.  We were never albe to make it to the zoo that we had promised her.  But my mother did watch Olivia Saturday morning, we were able to take Audrey to visit Grant's Farm.

She got to pet several baby goats, and she touched a snake.  If you ask her about it she will tell you that petting the snake was not very good. 

  She rode the merry-go -round before we want home to get ready for Uncle Brian's wedding.

 Audrey was a very good little girls last weekend.  And she looked beautiful in her flower girl dress.  At the wedding she walked down the aisle with me and went to daddy for her promised lolly-pop.  During dinner she fed her new found friends goat and kitty- kat chicken tenders.

 After dinner she had a lovely evening of dancing and providing the entertainment.  

 

We had a wonderful night and are very pleased that Angela is now part of our family!

Life in the fast lane!

The past few weeks have flown by.  I am so busy at work trying to catch up from the mess I inherited there.  Joe has been my life saver the last week taking care of the girls at night and putting them to bed.  I also started getting sad realizing how much I miss when I am working.  Olivia is learning how to stand up on her own, and looks like she will be walking soon.  She has developed quite a likeing to being held all of the time.  She likes to nod her head in agreement with you and wave her finger back when she is mad.  Olivia also loves to wipe her face with a baby wipe when dinner is finished.  She has quite the appetite lately and eats almost everything. 

Audrey on the other hand is still as picky as ever.  We went shopping together today for the first time with out a stroller.  We had fun just the 2 of us girls.  We both had lipstick applied at the make-up counter.  She picked out a pink sun hat, pink hello kitty shirt and a plastic butterfly back pack today as her "present".  Audrey got her first boo-boo the other day at school. Her friend Reese pushed her on the playground and she skinned her elbow pretty badly.  But I was happy to hear that Audrey is starting to stand up for herself and not getting pushed around at school.  I am spending the weekend getting ready for our trip to St. Louis for my brothers wedding.  Audrey is very excited and plans to show Aunt Angela the jaguar at the St. Loius zoo.

 Audrey had her first "real" haircut a few weeks ago.  I took her to my hair salon and Ester cut her hair.  Audrey was very excited to go to the beauty salon, just like Fancy Nancy and Jewel in the book Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy. 

I was also very excited to share this special experience with her.  Audrey froze up when we showed her the shampoo washing station, so we skipped it.  But other than the shampoo scare Audrey had a fantastic haircut.  She chatted with Ester about her favorite colors and animals.  Audrey warmed up enough before we left to give Ester a jaguar roar.

Ester gave Audrey a layered look and trimmed her bangs.  She looked absolutely beautiful, darling!

Olivia has turned into a toddler!  No more bottles and she now sits at the table in a booster chair.  It is amazing to me how much she had changed since I have returned to work.  I pulled out some of Joe's baby pictures the other day and discovered that the resemblance is amazing.  WOW!  My mother in law, Kathie keeps telling me that she looks like my brother and father.  But I think she is 100% her daddy, but with a cute feminine touch!

Messy food pictures can be gross, but Olivia's hair in this picture is just too funny not to post.

The Ward family loves to picnic!  My first mothers day was spent in the ER with a sick little girl.  When we returned home after our unexpected trip Joe set up our picnic in our family room on the carpet.  We dinned on cheese, fruit, caviar and champagne.  Last year as a new mother of 2, we went to Griffith park and set up a picnic near the carousel.  It was perfect.  Last Sunday was another wonderful mothers day.  It was a bit brisk, but we still went out and tried a new park in Scholl Canyon.  It was a bit more hectic with 2 girls on the go.  But I still had a wonderful, special day with my family.  When we got home and clean up Audre decided to re-create our trip on the kitchen floor.