Ian Swims!

While we all had a great time during our vacation in Florida, Ian truly adored the pool and here's the proof!

Sammy is 9 months old!

I'm a little late on this post.  But Sammy is 9 months old!

This isn't the best chair photo she's ever taken, but after I took this picture, Sammy was either flinging the stuffed puppy around or trying to launch herself off the chair.  The pictures that I did take while trying to prevent her from falling off the chair were not so good.  :-)

On Sammy's 9 month anniversary, we went back to the doctor for her "well-baby" visit.  Except I knew she wasn't well because after a terrible night, she woke up and her face was pretty puffy.  At this point, I knew the second round of Augmentin didn't work (she started exhibiting sick symptoms roughly 2 days after we stopped the antibiotics).  Her right ear is still infected (to the point there is puss) and so the doctor switched her to another antibiotic - Azithromycin.  This time we only have to give her antibiotic once a day for 5 days (which sure beats twice a day for 10 days!)  We're on day 4 now and she seems much better, although her nose is still running a lot.  I've got my fingers crossed that this last round of antibiotics will finally clear the infection.

But here are her 9 month stats:

Height:  29 inches - 92%
Weight:  17 pounds, 10.1 ounces - 29%
Head circumference:  43.3 cm - 30%

My father-in-law likes to graph out the progression of her weight and height gain and as he points out, she has some "nice, smooth curves."  Momma is proud!

Florida Vacation!

We had a fantastic time in Florida on vacation.  The weather was amazing the entire time.

Despite my worries about traveling with Sammy (because she had an ear infection and the antibiotics were KILLING her stomach), it was a very easy trip.  I didn't need any of the 5 extra outfits I packed for her and I only needed to change her poopy diaper once on the plane (and thank god, the poop was contained).  I nursed her during take-off and she slept for the first 90 minutes of the flight.  And Ian was FANTASTIC.  He was a total dream kid.  He sat nicely in his seat for the entire trip, played with his leap pad, watched the TV and talked to us.  The people sitting behind us couldn't believe he wasn't even 3 yet.

We spent a bunch of time with my sister and the twins.  Shawn was very happy to play with Ian and Dylan enjoyed reading bedtime stories to Ian.

Both boys took a great interest in Sammy, who loves loves loves(!) the swing.  We went to the park multiple times and she spent over 30 minutes in the swing each time.  Ian never liked the swing as a baby (and still doesn't as an almost 3-year old) but Sammy laughs and smiles the entire time she swings.

We went to the beach once.  It was a good experience but we decided not to go back again because it is quite the schlep with the 2 kids, sand gets everywhere and neither Ian nor Sammy really loved it.  But we got a lot of good pictures there!

We went to my parent's clubhouse pool a lot and Ian got more and more comfortable in the water.  By the end of the week, he was jumping off the side of the pool, putting his head in the water and even going under water.  I loved going underwater with him.  He kept his eyes open and gave me huge smiles under the water!  It's too bad we didn't have our underwater camera with us.  Sammy also went in the pool, but she didn't seem to care whether she was in or out of the water.  She really liked chewing on the green turtle pool toy though!

 

My husband and I were each able to get a 1 hour massage, which felt really nice.  The massage therapist told me that the muscles in my upper back were "bedrock."  That's what you get when you work full time and take care of 2 kids!  I really wanted to see a movie in the theater too, but Sammy had such severe mommy-itis that my parents were uncomfortable taking care of her and I didn't want to leave them with a screaming baby.

The trip back home also went well, but boy were we tired by the time we unpacked and got ready for work/school the next day!  I can't wait to go back again next year.  It's so very nice to see my family and it's such an easy trip (because there is room for all of us to sleep, my mom buys diapers and wipes, we don't have to think about food or grocery shopping, etc.).  It's such a nice vacation!!

God Help Me

We're leaving for Florida tomorrow and I am DREADING the flight.  Sammy had a zillion poonamis today from the antibiotics.  I had to change her outfit SEVEN times and I did a LOT of laundry.  What are we going to do on the plane when this happens??!??!  I'm totally stressed about traveling with my pooping monster.

Sammy is Crawling (and Crabbing)!

I had to stay home with Sammy again today.  She had a fever and when I brought her into the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner diagnosed her with another infection in her right ear.  It's not clear whether it's the same infection that made her sick last time or a new one but I'm guessing it's the same infection since her nose started running and she started coughing only a day and a half after stopping the antibiotics.  So now she's on another 10 day course of Augmentin.  I have my doubts about her being on the same antibiotic that didn't work last time, but the nurse practitioner thinks it did work last time because she did get better, just not all the way better.  So hopefully, the next 10 days of antibiotic will clear it up.  BUT!...

Despite being sick, Sammy started crawling today at 8.5 months of age!  Here is the proof.  Hooray!  For now, she is using her right foot and left knee to move around.

Happy New Year!

Sammy swung into 2012 on a healthy dose of antibiotics to get rid of an ear infection and periorbital cellulitis.  Luckily, she didn't need a second round of intramuscular antibiotics.  The antibiotics seem to have quickly cleared the infection, but unfortunately, it's wreaking havoc on her poor tummy.  There is poop in every single diaper, which has led to a bright red and sore bum.  I've been giving her probiotic and we have been feeding her yogurt, but it doesn't seem to help much.  The doctor said that it would be okay to do a 9-day (versus 10-day) course of antibiotics since she had the IM shots prior to starting oral antibiotics.  I'm looking forward to being done with the drugs.

Sammy still isn't crawling but she's trying very hard to do so and gets frustrated when she can't.  She wants to pull up very badly and likes to sit next to her play table, which allows her to pull up and play.

She's had 3 or 4 nights of very poor sleep.  And I think it's because she learned the new skill of pulling up.  She wakes up and wants to pull up and then gets pissed off that she can't.  Luckily, this phase seems to have passed and she's once again sleeping pretty well at night.  Last night, I only had to get up once around 4:15 am to give her a pacifier and she went right back to sleep.

Ian is doing well.  When I picked him up from preschool today, he didn't want to leave because he was engrossed in flipping through a book.  I happened to mention to his teacher how much he loved books and she agreed that he adored books.  She also mentioned that he is the only one in his preschool class with the attention span to listen to a long story being read, which makes me feel very proud since he's also the youngest in his classroom.  I honestly think Ian would let me read to him for hours if I could do so.  It will be great when he can read himself because he will always have that as entertainment instead of TV or video games.

I'm also very impressed with Ian's language skills.  He ran into Sammy's room the other day when I was changing her diaper and very quickly closed the door behind him.  As he was doing that, he said, "I closed the door hastily!"  When I asked him how he knew the word "hastily," he said that in the story the Frog Prince (one of the stories his daddy reads to him at nap time), the girl closes the door hastily.  That floored me.  Not only did he remember the word from the story, but he also used it correctly in context and he's not even 3!  A stranger in Stop N Shop also commented on how nicely he said the word "pomegranate."  For a boy who won't turn 3 until March, his speech is amazingly clear.  We can understand every single thing he says and it's not because we're his parents.  I'm so proud!