Sickness will do that to you...

Seems like long time, no post. We've been in sickness hell. One antibiotic cleared up the strep, but not the ear infections. Mika was put on drops and another oral antibiotic that she had an allergic reaction to. It was described to me as a 'cousin' of penicillin with a 10% cross-reaction rate..Mika is in that 10%. Then she developed a viral infection that caused major canker sores in and around her mouth. She has been fine for the past 2 days, save for an exzema breakout that is causing her much grief. This morning Mika woke with gunked up eyes, so who knows what's going on now. Ugh.
On a positive front, Mika's vocabulary is exploding and she is closer and closer to full-on walking. She currently loves her string of beads, fridge magnets (especially the retro Liberace one..if you ask where Liberace is, she goes to the fridge and points), and the tickle game that I play with her. Mika supposedly eats well at daycare, but at home she eats only: raisins (other dried fruit is no good), cheerios, soy pablum, minigo/yogurt, and pasta on pasta night. She loves teriyaki chicken bowls from Badass Jacks. Mika likes to drink organic whole milk, water, and vanilla soy milk. She's not a big fan of juice, which is fine by me.

YouTubed

Click the big play button Mom.



or click the link: Mika Eating Cheerios

Oi

Man, it feels like forever since I've posted. Here's the lowdown on our activities lately:

Saoirse and family have moved in and even dropped by for an unexpected visit last week! The fire alarm went off in their tower, so after hauling it down 17 flights of stairs and across the lot with baby, diaper bag, and dog in tow, they arrived at our door! Whee! Mika was just on her way up for a bath and bed, so Saoirse had free reign over Mika's toys! Woot! Kris was in her PJ's and I in my sweats, so there goes any concern over "What will she say/think if I am wearing _______". Some jerks left their old mattresses by the garbage bin beside the towers. Some bigger jerks came along and set the mattresses on fire - even melted the security camera. Nice.

G turned 104 on Friday. Mika and I took the day off school and work respectively and were social butterflies all day. First we went over to visit Kris and Saoirse. They have some seriously nice digs. Will be even nicer when all traces of the former tenants are gone. I wish I had their balcony to sleep on. It's huge! Mika was loving looking out across the city from the 17th Floor, which was making me wig out with paranoia. The girls seemed happy to hang out together too. Saoirse was showing Mika the torture device that her Mama uses on her when Mama wants a shower - that being a swing. They shared some juice and cheerios and Mika and I were on our way over to G's. First we met up with Grandma - she was G's only visitor when we arrived. Soon after that, Auntie Laura (bling bling) arrived with my Uncle Brett and cousins Sheena, Kendrick, and Ken's wife Joanna. Mika hadn't seen Uncle Brett in a year and she had never met Ken, Sheena, and Joanna, so it was a party. Shortly after that, Josh arrived with Ava and Evan. I so want to steal his children. That Ava...and wee Evan - you'd just have to experience them for yourself. Ever the loving Daddy, Josh fed Ava some cola slurpee and she put on a bit of a show for us. Nothing like sugaring up a 3 year old for some quick entertainment! We all had some of G's birthday cake, except G. She wanted the box of timbits that I had brought her instead. Silly woman, but who will argue with a 104 year old on her birthday? Not I.

Dad: we weren't in G's room for most of the time and it was noisy in there when we were which is why I didn't call you.

Daddy picked us up after work and away we went back home finally. Mika had a nap in the morning, but no sleep in the afternoon, so she was quite wild by the time we got home. We let her stay up later than usual to burn off some of the 2nd wind energy and the kid was just nuts! It was like watching her usual routines on fast forward.

Mika and Daddy went to visit Nana on Saturday while I came into work to get a couple of things done. Sunday was our day to ourselves. We took Mika to the playground for awhile. She was shy about it, but liked it nonetheless. I made her go down the slides with me a few times, played with her on the teeter-totter, and she swung with Daddy. Watching her try to walk in the sand was amusing. Then there was the inevitable shopping and such. Meh. Kerry and Damon came over last night to dropoff an order just as Mika had woken with an earache. The kid was screaming bloody murder beyond anything. Daddy finally calmed her down by using a warm compress and bringing Mika down to see Auntie Kerry and Uncle Damon. Mika, of course, put on a show for them. No tears or screams, just playing coy peekaboos with them. She is such a little ham. I think Damon may count as Mika's first crush - she really has a thing for him.

Mika Is a Headbanger

Mika has been shaking her head 'no' for quite some time now. In fact, a head shake is her current standard answer for anything, whether she means yes or no.
This past Saturday while listening to some heavier music (can't remember if it was BR or Metallica), she started banging her head in time to the music. We're not sure where Mika picked this up. Daddy and I are certainly not in the habit of banging our heads in time to music. Perhaps Mika is just a natural metalhead.
Of course, we were unable to contain our laughter over Mika newest 'skill', so it's become a thing that she does for attention and laughs. This kid is a serious ham. She plays it up as well as her great-great granny. Usually when Mika sees someone with a camera, she instantly starts posing. Baby Diva indeed! Jeebus help me.

Time Flies

It's been a busy past couple of weeks. Mika is finally on the mend. Turns out that she picked up one of the Strep A strains at daycare. Her doctor had found a couple of ear infections (inner ear on one side, middle ear on the other) a day prior to the Strep results, so the medication for the ear infections is expected to clear up the Strep as well. Ugh. My poor little nugget. I think she's lost about a quarter of her body weight in ear discharge alone. Things are getting back to normal now though and Mika already seems 100% better after only 3.5 days of medication.
Grandpa and Grandma Barb are currently en route back home to Ontario after about a 10 day visit here in Edmonton. As is often the case with visits from out of town, the time went too quickly. Thanks for Mika's gloworm and uber-cool Peruvian looking hat! And for the family history book! Mika and I can now easily trace our Norwegian roots back to the mid 1700's! Aside to my Mom: Thanks for not letting Dad name me 'Brynhilda'!
Mika didn't play strange too much with her Grandpa and Grandma Barb. Not like we've seen her do with other people where she won't even crack a smile or worse, she just screams and cries in their presence. She was even offering Grandpa some of her most prized possessions: Cheerios!
Mika became better acquainted with her Nana recently too. Mika wasn't supposed to go back to daycare until she had a couple of days on her medication. Daddy and I had been taking a lot of time off work to look after her and it was starting to get to the point where he and I were concerned that our respective workplaces would see this as a problem. Nana to the rescue. She came over first thing Friday morning so that I could go into work and complete what absolutely needed to be done before heading back home. Daddy and I had plans with Clan Thompson for dinner on Saturday night that we knew would run well past Mika's bedtime, so Nana dropped by again on Saturday evening to look after the Nugget. Mika ended up staying up until we got home anyway - she was sound asleep within 10 minutes of our arrival. Then I had to work on Sunday plus we wanted to go and visit with G, so we dropped Mika off at Nana's for the afternoon. (It's a short trip from Nana's to G's) 3 straight days of Nana!

Mika's balance is noticeably improved since being on medication. She's started to stand up and try walking on her own without encouragement finally. She was also making new sounds yesterday. I feel so badly for not realizing she had ear infection earlier, but she was exhibiting no signs. At least it's being taken care of now and Daddy and I are more aware and informed and can watch her more closely for signs of recurrence.

AND Saoirse is moving in today!! Well, moving into one of the penthouse suites of one of the highrises that are part of my condo complex. Kris: Gah...saw that you called last night. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to remain conscious past 9:30 P.M. - I'll call you later!