Hello All!  It's been a rough month at the Kassel Household.  We have all been sick at one time or another.  Laura was coughing and had a stuffy nose for all of January.  She would wake up 1 or 2 times every night and want to be held until she went back to sleep.  She seemed to be getting better, but it came back.  I took her to the doctor and she was given a prescription for Amoxicillin.  The doctor thinks she had both a bacterial infection and a viral infection.  She will take her last dose of Amoxicillin today and is now better.  She is still coughing a little bit, but it's really not much.  One unfortunate side effect is that Laura is so used to waking up in the middle of the night that it has become routine.  So starting last night, I have begun letting her fuss herself back to sleep.  It really doesn't take too long for her to fall back to sleep.  I would guess within a few days she will be sleeping through the night again.

On Monday, Andy stayed home from work because he had been sick as well.  Just like Laura, he seemed to be getting better, but then he got another round of it.  He called the doctor and the doctor ended up calling in a prescription of Amoxicillin for him as well.  He is feeling better now, but still coughing.  As for me, I was sick for about a week, but I only missed one day of work.  Unfortunately, I was sick during our three-day weekend in the middle of January.  I did not require antibiotics though and that is amazing because I was so worn down from constantly getting up with Laura.  I was really sleep deprived so my getting better was a surprise to me!

Now on to more fun things!  Miss Laura is really starting to talk.  She says several words very clearly.  "Elmo" is currently her favorite (thanks to Grandma Lanette and Papa Bart for that one).  She also says "mama," "dada," "eat," "up," and "duck."  Laura also understands a lot of what we say.  We will ask her to go get a particular book and she will.  Last night, I asked her to pick out a book for Daddy to read to her before bed.  She pulled one out of the cabinet and placed it on the rocking chair seat, so it would be all ready for Daddy.  I love how helpful she is at this age.  She wants to help us do everything.  At times, that is frustrating for her because she simply isn't big enough.  In those cases, one of us has to act as a distraction!  She is growing so fast and doing so well though and we just love it.

On the other baby note, we had another doctor's appointment today.  I was very much amazed because my blood pressure was only 126/74 at the doctor's office.  Now for those of you who don't know, I have "white coat syndrome" and I get extremely nervous before any appointment.  It doesn't matter how much I like the doctor, my blood pressure just goes up.  Even when I feel completely relaxed, it is high (and by high I mean easily 140/90 and higher).  Andy has been taking my blood pressure every day since my first appointment and it has been normal.  Dr. Mills said we could stop monitoring it every day at this point.  She felt comfortable with beginning to monitor me again at about 28 weeks.  She did say that it would be fine if we continued to take it especially if we were in a routine.  I told Andy I would like to continue because I don't want to end up getting out of the habit.  Other than that, everything is going very well.  We heard the heartbeat today and it was good and strong at 157 - normal is considered 120 to 160.  I'm 15 weeks along now and I've got a little baby bump.  I've only gained 3 pounds so far (I only gained 20 total with Laura so hopefully I'll be able to maintain that with this one).  My biggest thing now is that I'm at that "in between" stage where I'm not quite big enough to wear my maternity pants, but my regular pants aren't fitting so well.  Hopefully, I'll pass this stage quickly!  The morphology ultrasound is scheduled for the morning of March 4.  As long as little one cooperates, we will know that day whether we are having a boy or girl......

And finally.....the office is coming along nicely.  We've been a little derailed with all the illnesses, but we are close to being back on track.  All the shelving is built in the closet and nearly everything has been gone through, reorganized, and put back.  This weekend, I hope to hang a couple of the decorative shelves so we can start taking care of the rest of it.  I must admit though that it is really nice having my own desk.  Thanks to Andy for being so cooperative about redoing everything!  It was something that came out of the blue and he's been great about everything!