Attack of the 32" Twin Sister

Abby REALLY wanted to give Claire a kiss in the tub tonight, and she just wouldn't take no for an answer! Can you tell who the more aggressive twin is? At least Claire's a good sport...
We've had lots of fun celebrating with loved ones lately! First, my family went out to Pittsburgh Blue (really good steak place) to celebrate my brother's long-time-coming graduation. He already had a Bachelor's, but now he has a teaching license. With the new work bag we got him, doesn't this guy look ready to teach kids math?
Then, this past weekend, us Lamberts headed to Eau Claire to celebrate with some friends. This pretty lady below just got engaged to a wonderful man, Matt. They just happened to be throwing a BBQ this past weekend so we got to see the ring and hear the proposal story. Ah, love - so sweet!
Congratulations, Hannah and Matt! We're thrilled for you and can't wait for the wedding! Since we were in Eau Claire, we also got to spend some time with Grandma Gwen and Grandpa Rich. Claire loved getting an airplane ride from Grandma!
We also headed to Irvine Park with some friends. Attempting such an outing with 4 young babies, 1 pre-teen, and 3 dogs may sound crazy, but it actually went very well! Kayla helped push a baby...

and Erik helped keep Asterix under control (a tough job, but he did it well) while also watching his much more well behaved dog, Archie.
Ryan hoisted a baby around most of the park...

...but Zach shared his stroller whenever Ryan's arms got tired.

It was a really nice day, but bitter sweet because it was the last time we got to see Jon, Val, Kendall and Harley before they made the big trip back to Maryland. Hopefully they will get to visit again soon!
Monday seemed pretty boring in comparison to our action-packed weekend, so we headed to the park for some quality time on the swings (Claire below).
Have I mentioned how much we love, love, love the nicer weather?? Happy almost May everyone!

Everything's Coming Up Roseola

So... where to begin?

The last few weeks have been quite the adventure! After our trip to the zoo on Sunday, March 29th (see my sister's blog at http://woyak.com/ for some cute pics), Claire developed a high fever. It got so high that very late on Monday, she had a seizure. Trust me, Ryan and I have never been so scared in our lives! The 911 operator calmly told us that it is actually quite common for babies to have seizures with high fevers, but we should bring her to the ER and have her checked out anyway. So we did, and the lovely people at the ER got her fever down and diagnosed her with an ear infection. After a quick stop at Walgreen's to pick up Claire's amoxicillan prescription, we were home and in bed by 4 a.m. Quite the night!

By Wednesday night, Claire had developed a rash over her entire body. Assuming this was an allergic reaction to the amoxicillan, I slept in our armchair with her to make sure she didn't stop breathing (yes, a bit of an overreaction, I know, but I was running on little sleep and high adrenaline, people!). We took her in Thursday morning where she was then diagnosed with Roseola, plus her ear infection. Oh, and just to not be left out completely, Abby was also diagnosed with an ear infection.

Things were smooth sailing over the weekend, and I left for a work retreat on Monday morning. On Tuesday morning, Ryan woke up with the girls and found Claire covered head to toe in a rash even worse than before!

Poor girl! Ryan took her in to Urgent Care, and they determined that she was allergic to amoxicillan. Her regular pediatrician still isn't completely convinced this was an allergic reaction, though, so we'll just have to wait and see! I kept trying to tell people she just wanted to be speckled for Easter, but no one really seemed to give my theory much merit.

Anyway, we are doing MUCH better now! Good thing because we had many fun plans for this past weekend! First, we went to Eau Claire, WI to hang out with our friends Jon and Val (in town from Maryland), Sean and Kari, Erik and Katie, and Jake and Kelli. The girls got to play with Jon...... and Val, and meet their beautiful baby Kendall! And their dog Harley, who is too small to be photographed, I believe.
We also got to meet Erik and Katie's very sweet dog, Archie...

... and play with our boyfriend, Zach!

Thanks to Jake and Kelli for having the "stampede" (as their daughter Brinn puts it) over!

For Easter the next day, we dressed up in our Sunday best and went to church with Grandpa Rich.
We then headed back to the cities to celebrate with my side of the family. My Aunt Pat, whose house we were going to gather in, continued the trend of sickness by ending up in the hospital the night before with a bad infection of some kind, so we impromptu met at my Aunt Joy and Uncle J0e's house, conveniently right next door.
There were many fun things to play with, including our cousin Lily (above), bunny ears, bunny and chick sippy cups, little bunny and chick books, and a coffee table at just the right height for climbing!
Claire's rash seemed to be bothering her a bit, so we took her dress off and she seemed content just cuddling with Daddy. Abby, who started walking sometime in the chaos of the last few weeks, was thrilled to run around and play with all her cousins and aunts and uncles.

We are back to normal today, and hopefully we'll stay rash-free for a while! Hope everyone had a great Easter!