Some randoms

Here's a mismatch of shots from recent weeks to brighten up your Wednesday.
Ellie watched Brian shave the other day and kept asking for some of his shaving cream... so he apparently put some on her cheek and then she wasn't quite sure what to do.
I guess shaving isn't for her?

Generally running around getting into mischief is more Ellie's game. What can I mess with now, mom?

Oh, and we popped up Ellie's beach tent in the living room the other day and she was in heaven. She invited mom, dad and grandma in there many times -- even though it's close quarters!

Choo-choo

I finally remembered to bring some money with us on our trip to the park Sunday. That meant I could buy a ticket for the train! (Ellie's been asking to ride it for a couple weeks now...)
She loved it! But I guess she wanted to make sure I wasn't nervous because she held my hand during the entire ride.

On a separate zoo trip the other day I almost caught Ellie sticking her face through one of these animal cutouts.

And then she wanted to sit on one of these painted pigs like she saw other kids doing. Big smile!

Bubbles and fresh air

Brian felt good enough this afternoon to get outside and blow bubbles with Ellie. And she gave some kisses to remind him to keep getting better!

Got away

The week got away from me, that is.
We had a great, low-key Father's Day last Sunday. And since I promised at least a summary I can say that we spoiled Brian with some gifts, bacon and eggs for breakfast, and then we let him cook us an elaborate dinner. I asked in advance what he wanted to eat or where we should go for the big day... but Brian wanted to use the nice weather to grill a pork butt. It's was an 11-hour process that resulted in the most delicious pulled pork dinners I'd ever had. At least I made some of the sides.

The rest of the week was a bit less pleasant. Brian had to go in on Tuesday to get his tonsils out. Ever since then he's been laid up and in a fair amount of pain, even with regular doses of pain meds. Still, for most of the week he did better than we (or the doctors) expected. He was eating some soft foods/soups by the second day and generally keeping some of his strength up. But on Friday he either came down with a bug or developed a bad reaction to the pain medicine and couldn't keep any fluids down for much of the day. By that night we went to the ER and had to get him some anti-nausea medicine and IV fluids. It was a long, late night at the hospital... but I'm happy to report that by Saturday afternoon he was feeling a ton better. Today seems to be starting off good so far, so we'll hope for more gradual progress.

Perhaps the only silver lining through all of this has been the sweetness and love Ellie's been showing her daddy. I think she can definitely tell he's sick and she's been running over to give hugs, kisses and to say "hi" whenever he's around. She's had moments of becoming more of a "daddy's girl" in the past few weeks... which I know Brian relishes after some of the long spells of only-mommy-will-do we've had so far. I don't think Brian wants to resort to surgery to earn her affection, but it's been heart-warming to see how she can sense him hurting and how she wants to help.

Oh, and I also must thank my mom for coming down a few days this week. It was super helpful to have a second set of healthy hands around to pitch in on caregiving for two! And Ellie had a ton of fun spending a couple mornings with grandma while I had to return to work Thursday and Friday. They went for long walks, visits to the zoo and lots of time at the park swings. And even though we didn't get any pictures, Ellie lured grandma into her pop-up tent (a rather small structure) in our living room. Very fun.

Sun lotion

Even though it's a rainy morning here, this is a recent picture of a pool-ready Ellie. She loves to help get her sun tan lotion on... meaning she likes to have some squirted in her hand so she can wipe a huge streak of it on her leg or cheek. Mom has to help spread it evenly.
We didn't get much pool weather this weekend, but hopefully this week we'll get back over there.
And I'll post more later on our Father's Day adventures!

Dump the pump

This week the local bus system offered free rides one day, so Ellie and I set off on an adventure. We caught the bus that comes by the park -- that Ellie admires every time she sees go past -- and took it down to the transfer station. From there, we got to walk around and look at a bunch of other buses and then catch one that went across the river to Purdue. We got off by Brian's office building and went in for a visit.
After the bus trip, we decided to treat ourselves to an early Father's Day dinner out (since Brian is opting to bbq at home on Sunday). We went to Olive Garden where we all had way too much good food to eat... and Ellie did some damage to her white shirt. Good thing for washing machines.
Here's Ellie being silly before the food came. She likes to put a lot of emphasis into saying the names of the dogs, i.e. m-m-m-m-m-muzz! and ra-ra-ra-raaa!

Face plant

Last Sunday Ellie was running down the sidewalk and tripped. This is nothing unusual for our active little girl, who often runs like the wind (usually away from us when we're trying to get her to cooperate...). But this time Ellie forgot to catch herself. In fact, she specifically put her arms behind her as she fell and absorbed the impact with her nose and mouth. There was a lot of blood and tears, and at first we thought she'd knocked a tooth loose. Luckily (?) she had only erased a bunch of skin from her nose and bitten the inside of her upper lip. The fat lip was better by the next day, but we're still working on healing up that nose. As you can see from the picture, though, she's no worse for the wear in spirit!