Doug & Christine's Beautiful Tahoe Wedding

On Friday, April 3, 2009 our family flew to Lake Tahoe for Doug's amazing wedding to Christine. It was a beautiful event, and also a wonderful opportunity to see my extended family, including my mom (Nana), Tom, and my brother, Fritz. Almost the entire Thomas family was also there so we got to catch up and introduce Avalon to everyone. We stayed at the family cabin of Aaron's high school friend, which meant we were only a stone's throw from one of his favorite bars in the world--Sam's Place. Before we even got to the cabin we met Nana, Tom, & Fritz at the bar/restaurant for dinner. Aaron's worlds collided by having us all invade his beloved dive bar, but he managed very well.

Aaron is in shock that he is bringing his two kids back to the site of so many wild times during many boys trips to Tahoe.Avalon loved cruising at Sam's.

Tom got some quality time with Avalon, who loved her very high vantage point in his arms.

Tom quickly figured out that Avalon loves hanging upside down.

A ping pong ball vending machine...genius!

Family photo on Sunday before the noon wedding.

Doug, the handsome groom, and my brother, Fritz

Avalon literally bee-lined for her only cousin, Alia, whom she had never met. She was so excited to see another baby.

Time for girl chat.

Avalon immediately went in for the hug.

They looked so cute together. I dont think they understood why all of the adults were oohing and aahing all around them.

I know I am mean, but I jumped on the opportunity to dress them up as twins.

As soon as Waylon walked up and saw Avalon and Alia, he grabbed his baby sister away. He was obviously very jealous.

Aaron tries to juggle two kids while we meet and greet with family.

I love this photo. I cant imagine why we dont take both kids to every wedding we attend. Note the appendage to Aaron's leg.

Nana Patty and Tom (he cleans up nicely).

Uncle Fritz helped out by chasing Avalon all over. She was a woman on the move that day.

Its too much fun playing dress up with a real human!

The wedding was absolutely perfect at the Edgewood Country Club. Doug and Christine thought of every detail--down to the gorgeous linens, chair covers, and bows. However, they did not foresee that Waylon and Avalon would attempt to untie all of the bows before the reception even started.

Fritz and I (we also clean up pretty well).

I usually take tons of photos of the bride and groom, but since I was juggling two kids and I knew the photographer, Tim, would take amazing photos, I only took a few. Here is Doug on the way down the aisle. He was clearly the happiest (and luckiest) guy in the world that day.

This photo does not do it justice, but Christine's dress was stunning, and she was definitely glowing. We are sooooooooo excited to have her join our family, and thrilled that they tied the knot before she realized the craziness she has married into. Just kidding...sort of.

The ceremony was beautiful (note the candles down the aisle--very chic). You cannot tell here, but through the window behind them was the most amazing view of the snow capped mountains. It was gorgeous!

Nana and Avalon got some bonding time before Avalon was off and running again.

I am pretty sure that I was holding up veggie puffs in order to elicit this smile (from Avalon--not from Nana).

I did get one very distant shot of the bride and groom during their post-ceremony photos.

"The Great" Aunt Tina was the happiest, proudest mother-of-the-groom that I have ever seen.

Thanks to the magic of the portable DVD player, Waylon was an angel most of the day.

Tina helped us keep Avalon entertained, which was a full time job.

Avalon LOVED all of the clapping that is expected at weddings.

Tina and Doug during the mother/son dance. Again, I apologize for not getting more photos of the bride and groom, but you can see more photos here.

I had to get a photo of our portion of the table as we exited. I think they had to call in FEMA.

Aaron and Waylon spent a good portion of the reception running around, chasing geese. Here is Waylon as he returns from the "hunt."

Waylon relaxes after a long day.

Daddy really relaxes after the long day.

A Pox Upon Our House

As I write this I am holding my breath because both kids are actually healthy. Knocking on a lot of wood here! It all started on Saturday, March 7. Avalon had a fever and ended up missing two days of school. She seemed OK except for the fever, which maxed out at 102.7. Just when the fever broke she got a rash and we knew she had Roseola. We were lucky she never had a scary, high fever. About 10 days later Waylon had the same thing, and also missed two days of school, which was a Monday and Tuesday.

That same week, on Wednesday night, Avalon began throwing up and it lasted all night. She also had diarrhea, but no fever. That lasted two days, and she was just beginning to feel better on Friday night. However, I wasn't feeling so hot. I was a little queasy and tired and was very relieved when Grandma Josephine wanted Waylon to spend the night with her, and I was able to get to bed really early. Unfortunately, Waylon woke up in the wee hours of Saturday morning throwing up. Grandma Josephine took care of Waylon all weekend while I tended to Avalon, who was still a bit under the weather. Did I mention that Aaron was in Mexico for a bachelor party? Good times.

Waylon was hit extremely hard by the flu and hardly drank fluids and barely ate. Grandpa Ed and I took him to the kids' Urgent Care on Sunday night. Things did not improve and on Monday night Aaron got home and declared that Waylon, who was basically non-responsive and staring into space, needed to go to the ER. I am very thankful that our friend's sister, who is a pediatric ER nurse, confirmed that he should go to the ER. The nurse for our pediatrician's office had told me that as long as Waylon was meeting some minimum criteria for water intake and urination that he would be fine at home. She was wrong. Aaron and Waylon were at the ER for several hours, and even saw one of Waylon's preschool classmates, who was there for the same reason. Eventually they were seen and his blood tests showed that he was not doing well. Many of his levels were entering the "unsafe" zone and he'd lost 8 pounds! They gave him a bag of fluids, and in a miraculous turnaround Waylon came home chatting and laughing. It was a miracle, and another lesson that parents should follow their own instincts, even if they go against the advice of the doctor (or their nurse).

Waylon took a few more days, but he was on the mend and we all flew to Lake Tahoe on Friday for Doug's wedding (post coming soon). Just as we were leaving Tahoe Waylon got pink eye, and 2 days later Avalon had it as well. I was seriously worried that the Health Department was going to quarantine our family for the good of the community. Lets all keep fingers crossed that the cloud has passed and we will be in good health for the next few weeks.

I have not yet explained the true hero of this story...Grandma Josephine. She took care of both kids for almost all of their missed days of school of Roseola and flu. That is until she got the flu herself. It hit her hard! Aaron and I felt terrible. However, I know that Avalon and Waylon loved their time at home with Grandma, getting totally spoiled.

I cheated with this photo. This was after Avalon was doing better and back at school, but after I had taken out her pigtails and she just finished an exhausted crying fit, but this gives a good idea of what she looked like for several days.

Grandma Josephine caring for Avalon at the beginning of her Roseola.

Even with fever, Avalon was still all smiles once the motrin kicked in.

Avalon's Fifteen Month Update

Unlike her brother, Avalon is very good about posing for photos these days so this post will have many more photos and hopefully less text than her brother's update. Of course the big news is that Avalon is now walking!!! She took her first steps at the end of January, five days before she was burned (see post below). She walked quite a bit at first--as many as 10 steps at a time the first day! However, once she was burned and had the bandage on her arm her balance was totally thrown off and she stopped walking completely. However, she regained her confidence and on March 1st she started walking and never really looked back. She was about 14-months-old. As a reference, Waylon was 13-months when he started walking. She is very stable, but sometimes walks like she has a peg leg.

Avalon looks younger than other kids her age, and definitely appears younger than Waylon did at this age. I dont think she is behind developmentally, but she is shorter than other kids and still insists on many "baby" things such as a bottle for milk and jarred baby food. She is incredibly stubborn (hmmm, wonder where she gets that quality?). Avalon will drink water from a sippy cup, but absolutely refuses any milk if its not from a bottle and not sufficiently warmed up. She also is an insanely picky eater and will not even try new foods. All she wants to eat are carbs and dairy. Other than that she really only likes ham, green beans, and bananas. We have resorted to feeding her jarred baby food at least one meal per day just to get her filled up. I know that pretty soon we will have to be firm and only offer table food, but I just haven't been willing to deal with her nightime wakings if she goes to bed with a semi-empty stomach.

Avalon is still a great night sleeper and on the weekends she does well with two naps at home. However, at daycare the naps were not going well. She just transitioned this week to one nap per day at school and its going much better. Most days she naps for 2.5 hours. It will be wonderful when she and Waylon are sleeping at the same time. Maybe we can actually go out for family outings during the mornings!

Avalon does not have a lovey, although I bought her several. She often likes to carry around PJ's, but only when she is awake. She also LOVES kleenex/napkins/or rags. She will scream and cry if she sees anything like that, and once we give it to her she instantly walks around "cleaning" and refuses to let go of her prized possession. She also loves playing with sippy cups and tupperware, but that is probably because those cabinets and drawer are the only things in the kitchen that are not baby proofed.

Our biggest concern at this point is her lack of vocabulary. After dealing with Waylon's speech issues, which were due to hearing loss from fluid in his inner ear, we are very hyper-sensitive about Avalon's speech. She used to say "doggie" all of the time, but has since stopped. She now says "Ma ma" constantly and also says "ball," "dah" for down, attempts to say balloon when she sees one, "Da da," "Bubba" sometimes, and babbles a lot. I may be missing a few other words, but not very many. She will also mimic Waylon's silly noises. Unlike Waylon, Avalon seems to have good receptive language skills and will do tasks such as picking up a ball when asked, or pointing to well known objects in books such as a picture of banana when I tell her to point. She relies on sign language ("eat," "more," and "all done") to get her basic needs met. Plus, she is very cute while pointing and grunting so that she gets everything she wants without having to say anything. We are definititely keeping an eye on things and will insist on an assesment soon if she doesn't improve. We know from experience that it cant hurt to get everything checked out!

Avalon at 13 1/2 months

Walking at 14 months

Princess Avalon at 14 1/2 months

About to leave for daycare in the morning--15 months

Beginning to look like a little girl at 15 months

Showing off her "interesting" arrangement of teeth (on Opa Fred's Birthday) at 15 1/2 months