living...laughing...loving

THE ROBIDA FAMILY

hollyandpatrick — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:49:31 +0000

Thank you so much to Chad and Kim Robida for trusting me to take their family pictures! They knew I needed some practice after finishing up my photography class:) I think we were able to snap a few good ones despite the cloudy day…Chloe and Gavin were such troopers! Let’s just say I have A LOT to learn about professional photography, especially when trying to get the attention of active children…AND make them smile at the same time! Needless to say I had a wonderful time and can’t wait to take more pics of their beautiful family.

WHAT A BUSY FALL!

hollyandpatrick — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 05:35:40 +0000

I’m just getting caught up on posting pictures from the past couple of months. I cannot believe how fast time flies! We have stayed busy with the day to day tasks of parenthood and our jobs, as well as a few other fun activities. We spent a weekend in Madison, WI for the Badgers/Huskers football game at the beginning of October. It was a gorgeous weekend that we were fortunate enough to be able to spend with Patrick’s parents, Wally and Carissa. I started a photography class through Minneapolis Community Education which kept me busy one evening a week as well. We finally got Noah enrolled in swimming lessons at the YMCA which he enjoys. Halloween weekend was kind of low-key for us since Selah was sick with strep throat and high fevers. We did manage to get the kids dressed in their costumes and took a trip to the local pumpkin patch to snap a few pictures. Patrick was able to take Noah out to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood on Halloween while I stayed home with our sick baby. Selah has definitely kept us on our toes over the past few months. It all started back in September when we ended up in the ER while on our vacation in Colorado. She was diagnosed with an ear infection and put on amoxicillin. When her ear infection didn’t clear up she was put on a stronger antibiotic, which in turn started to destroy her GI tract and she ended up with C.diff (a name for diarrhea associated with lots of antibiotic use). A couple weeks after her diagnosis with C.diff she was diagnosed with strep throat…she was then placed on 2 more antibiotics (the first one didn’t work so they had to give us another one when it wasn’t clearing up). She then developed C.diff AGAIN!!!!!! I was ready to go crazy–when someone has C.diff they are usually pooping multiple times a day. She was seriously pooping 10-12 times a day and she would go through so many outfits. When her pooping continued after she had completed her medication for C.diff we ended up seeing a pediatric GI specialist at the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital (yes, where I work:)). Selah was diagnosed with temporary lactose intolerance due to the fact that her gut is so stripped from being on so many antibiotics and having C.diff 2 times in the past few months. WHEW! So anyway, that was just a couple weeks ago and things have gotten 110% better since the diagnosis! We ended up switching her to a lactose free formula and are giving her a special probiotic powder everyday in her food. We are hoping she is on the mend and we will slowly be incorporating dairy back into her diet as her GI tract begins to repair itself. During all of this pooping craziness I managed to escape to Florida for a work conference which was amazing! We managed to do a little work and a LOT of play during the course of our stay in St. Petersburg. Thanksgiving was spent with Patrick’s family in Des Moines and we are slowly but surely getting ready to celebrate Christmas with our families in both Iowa and Wisconsin again this year. This past week our sweet Selah turned 1!!! We will be celebrating her birthday with our families when we are home for the holidays and we had small celebration for her this past week, just the 4 of us:) We went to eat at our favorite place-Outback Steakhouse!

Alright, I think that just about sums things up! Thanks for taking time to check in and enjoy the latest pics! Stay warm and happy holidays to you all!

STONE ARCH BRIDGE

hollyandpatrick — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 03:47:19 +0000

Recently I took a photography class through Minneapolis Community Education with my sister-in-law Tara and one of our good friends from work. It was 5 weeks long and we met once a week for 2 hours to talk about digital SLR cameras and how to use the different settings. Taking this class was one of the best things I have ever done! I cannot believe that Patrick and I have had our Nikon D80 camera for 5 years and have never learned how to use it other than ‘automatic’ mode. One night for class we went to shoot on the Stone Arch bridge in Minneapolis. It was absolutely beautiful to see what kind of pictures we were able to capture at night with the use of our tripods. But let’s be honest, I am by no means a professional photographer AND I have a lot to learn when it comes to digital photography!! Here are a few pics that I captured that night~enjoy!

CATCHING UP!

hollyandpatrick — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 04:55:48 +0000

Heeellllooooooo!!!!!!

Oh my goodness, where has the time gone?? I can’t believe it has been 4 months since my last blog post…slacker! We had a fantastic summer and this is a small attempt to recap our adventures and outings from the past few months…The month of June started off with Wally and Carissa’s wedding in Jamaica-absolutely beautiful in every way! We spent a full week playing in the ocean, laying in the sun, eating great food, drinking rum punch and getting to know each other’s families. I have posted just a few of the many pictures we took while on our vacation. During the last weekend in June we celebrated Wally and Carissa’s reception back home in Wisconsin. The reception day started out a bit on the crazy side as Noah accidently bumped into my mom as she was pouring coffee. Unfortunately the coffee splashed onto his chest and he had to be rushed to the Luther Hospital ER. I think Patrick was more scared than Noah was! Our little guy suffered a severe 2nd degree burn and we had to do dressing changes to his chest two times a day for the next week…he was such a trooper! Most of our weekends this summer consisted of traveling to Des Moines and Wisconsin to visit family and friends, celebrate weddings and just relax. We celebrated Selah’s baptism and Noah’s 3rd birthday the weekend of August 6th and 7th. I cannot believe how fast time has gone-it seems like just yesterday I was celebrating my 30th birthday in the hospital after giving birth to our first born! Selah was baptized on Saturday evening at Pax Christi Church in Eden Praire (the same church Patrick and I were married at 8 years ago:)). On Sunday afternoon we all celebrated Noah’s birthday at Champps Restaurant. It was such a blessing that our families could be with us for these special times. The only ones missing were Ryan and Ashley who live in Colorado:(

We took a long road trip out to Colorado with Patrick’s parents over Labor Day weekend to celebrate a family wedding. We always enjoy vacationing in Colorado-it is so beautiful and the weather is perfect. Noah and Selah did great traveling in the car for so long. The ride home, however was a bit more difficult for Selah being as though she had an ear infection. We had to take her into the ER the night before we left Colorado-poor thing was inconsolable and we knew that something had to be hurting her. Things are on the mend for our little peanut, however she is on her second antibiotic since the infection didn’t clear up with the first 10 days of Amoxicillin…ugh! Last weekend we spent some time in Wisconsin-our annual trip to the apple orchards and Oktoberfest. We also enjoyed purchasing some Badger/Packers gear for the kids to wear this season—Lord knows we can’t find any of that Wisconsin stuff here in Gopher/Viking country! Patrick just returned home from a week long trip to LA this evening-thank God he’s home!! I can only handle being a single mom for so long:) I am so lucky that my mom is able to come and stay with me while he travels. It is so wonderful to be able to work, sleep and run errands knowing that Grandma is here to help me out with the kids. Thank you “Gramma JoJo!” Oh yay, I always forget about Skeeter and Skippy now that we have the kids, but we did have a bit of excitement with Skeeter last month…an emergency trip to the vet one evening got a little crazy-I had to take him in because he wasn’t walking or eating, this has happened before and was resolved with pain meds. This time however it seemed more serious so we decided to go ahead with X-rays to see if there was a bigger problem. They had to put a muzzle on him while doing the X-rays since he was in so much pain and started to nip at them…well, Skeeter didn’t like the muzzle so he attempted to paw it off and proceeded to tear off his entire claw and bleed profusely. If any of you have experience with dog’s fingernails you know how much they bleed! So anyway, they had to wrap his entire paw up to stop the bleeding and finally get the X-rays. Two hours later I left the vet with Skeeter–only to find out that he had yet another bulging vertebral disc, needed 2 different pain meds, a muscle relaxant AND an antibiotic to prevent infection in the torn-off toenail…seriously! If it isn’t the kids it’s the DOGS!!! I can only look back and laugh…I have also posted a picture for you to enjoy.

Finally, some baby news…NOT me, don’t worry! Patrick’s brother Ryan and his wife Ashley had their baby girl-Ella June McGowan was born on Wednesday September 21st-HORRAY!!! Also, Patrick’s sister Tara and her husband Jon have announced that they are expecting their first baby at the end of March. We are so happy for all of them and are excited that Noah and Selah will have cousins to play with.

Okay, I think I have summed up life from the past 4+ months…I can’t let myself get behind like that again, sheesh.

Have a wonderful week and enjoy the autumn weather!

LITTLE PEANUT

hollyandpatrick — Tue, 24 May 2011 02:52:47 +0000

I just love this pic of Selah! I cannot believe she is almost 6 months old already. She sure gave us a run for our money during the first couple months, but since then she has settled into a great routine and is such a happy baby! We love you baby girl!!!