Olivia's Checklist: 1. Have 1st ever Thanksgiving. 2. Meet Grandparents.

Proper attire for turkey day, would you expect any less from a daughter of Nicole?

It was a big weekend for the Sioux City Brownell's. Olivia had her 1st Thanksgiving. Celebrated mainly by eating, sleeping, filling her diapers, and repeat. I worked friday, so I felt like I missed out on the pop culture Black Friday, which I take some guilty pleasure in. Come on, Best Buy doorbusters? Not so secretly love 'em.

Then on Saturday, Mom and Dad, now also known as Grampa and Gramma, made the trip to Sioux City. It was the first time they got to meet Olivia, and she is their first granchild, so it was a pretty special weekend for all of us. Ok, 2am, time to go to bed...enjoy the pics.

Mom still has the touch to make 'em sleepy happy time. Apparently it spilled over onto Daisy as well.

Olivia meets grampa for the first time.

Nicole has a few cooking talents, with one of her specialties being paci soup. Mmmmm.

Dizzles' Cave

...The Other Dog...guest post by Daisy "Dizzle" Brownell

I got my first piece of mail today, addressed aptly to Dizzle Brownell, 26 Heritage Place. It was from Jamie and Sharon Steen, (thank you!) It was a book called 'The Other Dog', about a dog in a similar position as I am. Life was just perfect for me. King dog of the house, I was. Treats, attention, and army-crawling to my hearts delight. But, mom and dad brought home a NEW dog. Can you believe it? As if I weren't enough. Her name is Olivia.
In the book, the poodle had his parents bring home a similar dog, the same breed they call 'Baby'. In the book, the dog comes to love the baby. Well, do you know me? Maybe I will change my tune, but right now I am selling myself to the highest bidder. Payment should be offered directly in the form of meats, cheeses, and scratches, with the promise of never bringing home another dog.

After dad opened my book from Jamie and Sharon, I had some fun with the package.

Addendum: While Daisy insisted on making this post, in no way are we letting her sell herself. We still love her greatly, and she is still an equal family member, though 1/4 of the pie is apparently noticeably less than 1/3 of the pie to her. Additionally, Olivia is doing great. Growing like a weed. Her weight on monday was 8lbs 8 oz, up 1 lb from her birth weight already.

I hate Eaton-Lambert Syndrome

After 4 years of undergrad, 4 years of medical school and 3 years of emergency medicine residency, I am now qualified to examine a teddy bear. Ok, so really I was just showing kindergartners what happens when you go to the doctor.

I did take my EM boards yesterday. Brain was fried after, but it went really good. Man, I hate Eaton-Lambert syndrome. On every emergency medicine test I have taken, Eaton-Lambert is a choice on about 2 or 3 questions throughout the test. It's called a "killer foil", an answer that teases you into wanting to pick it, because it sounds mysterious, intelligent, so it MUST be the right answer. So, I decided to actually read up on it, as the details are always tempting me to pick it, and this way I will know for sure whether it is the right answer or just a killer foil. Well, after 6 hours of testing, and 305 questions, I never saw the phrase "Eaton-Lambert" once. Not once. Figures.
Why did I start this post at 350 am? Because 7 day old babies have NO normal sleep pattern. At least not at my house. Babies have been springing out of the woodwork. In the last 2 weeks we can announce our friends:
Brent and Melissa, Oct 26th, Baby boy Jack
Us, Oct 31st, Olivia Greer Brownell
Sam and Meredith, Nov 3rd, Gabriella Jae Burkett
Nick and Stephanie, Nov 4th, Ainsley Lillian Proud

Holy cow! That's a lot of babies in almost 1 weeks time. February was a fertile month. In the next 2 weeks we are expecting Brandon and Nicole Triggers little girl too. After that, Cullen and Jodi are on the Horizon, as are our friends Jamie and Sharon. Good luck to all. Waaayyyyy more diaper changing and feeding than I ever realized, but worth every minute.

Last, but certainly not least, I leave you with some video editing fun I was having. I really like this song, by one of my favorite artists, and the song is called, "W is for Winner". I think the video fits pretty good with it.

Long but excellent weekend

Our first weekend at home as a family! Rough first night, but great thanks to Jenni Galles and Mindy Dunne for saving us. They brought lasanga, sandwhiches and help with things around the house which gave us a big lift for our sleep time. Daisy is not quite sure of what exactly Olivia is yet.

Olivia donned her first hawkeye gear and settled in for what seemed to be a long day against the Northwestern Wildcats.

This is Olivia screaming when she saw Jake Christiansen once again throwing the football as if he was afflicted with some neuromuscular disorder. I think her official quote was, "Jake Christiansen couldn't hit water from a boat"

Ok, she settled quickly when the Hawkeye defense stepped up and Jake looked much better in the second half. Hawkeyes WIN!! Can you believe a 7-5 season on the horizon?

Last but not least, we decided Olivia kind of looks like a gloworm when she is all wrapped up.

Going Home Today!

Very Tiny Hands

They like to be bundled

Uncle Mike and Olivia

Cousin Jordyn came to visit and got into the chocolate.

Had to add this picture to show how cute Jordyn really is when she doesn't have chocolate moustache.