She's Bouncing Back!

Merrilee was a bit under the weather last week with her virus and ear infection. But it's amazing what a little antibiotic can do. Her appetite and happy attitude came back with a vengeance!

Of course, this week was another abnormal week because of the snow and ice here in Baltimore. Merrilee's school opened late on Tuesday, and was closed on Wednesday. A special thanks to Aunt Sharon two doors away. She watched Merrilee for a couple of hours after mommy went to work, and before daddy got home. (Fortunately, that morning, daddy had to be at work at 4 a.m. so Merrilee only needed someone to watch her for about three hours.)

Today it was still icy and blustery and cold! But Merrilee was all bundled up and ready to head out for school at 6:30 a.m. She wakes up happy most mornings and she rarely gives us any trouble getting dressed.

When she gets to school, Merrilee loves to drink a children's yogurt (she was already drinking that when we got her in China) and she usually wants to eat oatmeal. Just ask her, "Would you like oatmeal?" and she'll answer "oatmeal."

By the way, a special thanks to Terri and Rich for the comment in the last posting. We know a lot of people check in on the blog from time to time, but few leave comments. It's always so cool when they do -- even cooler when they come from people we've never met who live on the other side of the country.

Merrilee has been a great little girl. This is part of tonight's dinner conversation with Merrilee and daddy...

Not Feeling So Well

Poor little Merrilee has been sick all week. He pre-school called on Tuesday and mommy had to go pick her up and take her home.

She has a nasty cough, runny nose, and a fever that tops out around 103. When you give her children's Motrin, the fever comes down, but as soon as the Motrin wears off, the fever goes back up. It went up to 103 again early Friday morning (5am)

Daddy took her back to the doctor this morning, and now she has a "raging infection" in her left ear.

In addition to the Motrin, she's now getting amoxicillin twice a day for ten days. It's pretty standard treatment and hopefully she'll be feeling better soon.

She has no appetite, but she's drinking a lot and staying hydrated. She just hasn't been her funny self lately.

She Sings, She Signs

Merrilee loves to do motions to songs like "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider."

She's obviously already seen enough football too, since she knows how the refs signal touchdown, and personal foul and facemask penalties.

Oh yeah. She's big fan of the Ravens, and she thinks they'll kick butt against the Steelers in the AFC Championship game.

Big Eyes, Small Eyes

One thing Merrilee loves to do is play with daddy.

Some nights she just cracks us up with the "big eyes, small eyes" game.

We just love it when she shows us her "surprise face" too!

Merrilee's First Christmas With Us

We've been swamped, so it's taken us a while to freshen the blog.

Merrilee had a wonderful first Christmas. She enjoyed all the holiday lights, and seeing so many of our relatives.

Christmas morning was interesting. At first, Merrilee didn't know what to make of all the "stuff" -- her gifts from Santa -- that had been left in the living room.

But in a few minutes, she was getting into the hang of her T-ball set. Later in the morning, she had become a master at riding her rocking horse.

We share this little video with you. Merry Christmas!