I’m posting a few gratuitous cute shots.
Just look at those blue eyes!!
Josie sure loves her blocks. She carries them around with her, crawling with one in each hand.
She’s a very hip girl! People pay big money to get hair like that. 
I know, I’m going to have to trim it at some point, but right now her bangs fit very nicely into her fountain or piggy tails. Maybe later… 
WINS!!
Josie was so good at the midway games at Circus Circus, Reno, that she came home with a whole bunch of new stuffed animals. Our first trip to the midway brought us a few new bear friends and a Steamboat Willie (gray and white Mickey for those not in the know). Our second trip brought us a big goofy (just like daddy!), a little pig, and a couple more bear friends. They are Josie’s adoring public in the picture. We went a third time and brought back even more bears, a dolphin, a gecko, a “bear-pig” (because it kind of looks like both), and a large Pluto. Grammy and Pappaw were good enough to use their Circus Circus comps to buy us midway tickets so we could stuff the van with new toys for the trip home. Josie, Grammy, Steve, and I all had a blast playing the games. Pappaw preferred to take a nap since he was usually out late at night.
Josie is finally getting her appetite back after being so sick. After the flu like symptoms went away she developed a nasty cough and stuffy/runny nose. Last Tuesday we took her back to the doctor after she spent 3 hours screaming and crying without stopping. My mom stopped by and neither of us could figure out what to do with her. She was hurting but we couldn’t figure out why or what to do to help. The doctor said she didn’t see anything wrong so it should be just a couple more days of flu and cold symptoms and to hang in there. Of course, she calmed down when we got into the doctor’s office. Not even the ride over helped but as soon as we walked in she stopped crying. Next time, I think we’ll just go for a visit to the doctor and see if walking in the office helps again. If not, she’ll be so miserable that I’m sure they’ll get us a doctor quickly. The bad part of all of this is she lost 10 ounces from where she was at her 12 month check-up. That put her at 16 pounds 11 ounces. She dropped off the weight chart again. 
We’ve been trying to push both liquids and solids but she just hasn’t been interested in eating. She will only nurse to get her liquids or take a bottle if she sees me make the formula. She doesn’t seem to trust us after trying to get her to drink Pedialyte, Gatorade, and juice while she was sick. But she’s eating more regularly now so we’re pushing all the good for you foods that will put on weight like yogurt, shredded cheese, and Easy Cheese. Hopefully she can make up what she lost soon.
We went with Helene’s parents to Reno, Nevada for a five day vacation and had a lot of fun. The slot machines weren’t as nice this trip as they were the last time we went, but Steve had a good run of luck playing Craps and Three Card Poker and was also able to come in third in a poker tournament the last day we were there. Both Steve and Helene were able to contribute to a winning trip, which is the best kind when you go someplace like Reno or Las Vegas.
Since Josie is still a youngster she couldn’t go on the gambling floors so everyone took turns taking care of her while the others went out to play. She was a trooper and had fun with all the attention she was getting because of just how darn cute she is.
On the drive out we took two days, staying overnight in Kalamath Falls, Oregon. We decided to do this because the last 3 hours or so of the trip are in pretty much of a dead zone when it comes to rest stops, or anything but farms for that matter. The first time we went we hit that area and that’s when Josie became miserable after too many hours in the car. We decided this time to take it easy and break the trip into two legs. This worked out pretty well and I’m sure we’ll do that again the next time we go.
On the way back we made it in one long, twelve hour trip. It was tiring but everyone made it back in one piece. However, (you knew there had to be one) around 1 AM that night Josie became violently ill, throwing up every 5 to 10 minutes for over two hours. We ended up at the hospital around 3:30 in the morning after she started having blood show up when she threw up.
Fortunately the doctor told us that the blood was probably from irritation in her throat or stomach due to the vomiting and shouldn’t be a concern. They gave her some anti-nausea medication which worked wonders and after she had a little apple juice to drink and was able to keep it down we were able to go home around 4:30 AM.
The rest of the weekend was spent making sure Josie stayed hydrated (dehydration is a major problem with stomach viruses) and slowly worked her way back to solid foods. Helene picked up the bug and it hit her on Sunday, although not as hard as it hit Josie. Steve took care of Josie on Sunday while Helene rested and she returned the favor on Monday when he came down with the bug.
But everyone is back up and running again, no worse for wear. We’re all still a bit tired from the trip and being sick, but we’ll be back to full strength in no time.
So it was a great trip, but we paid for it when we got home. I guess we can live with that since we’d rather it happen after we got home than while we were on vacation.
Josie had her first birthday pictures taken at Yuen Lui almost 2 weeks ago. As always, they did a fantastic job. It’s so hard to choose, believe me we’ve tried, so I’m just going to put up a few different ones.
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