Ian Quote

Ian came home from school the other day and said that he learned about strangers.  And how if you don't know someone's name, they're a stranger.  So I tried to reinforce the concept and told him that you don't go into a stranger's car, or hold their hand, or walk down the street with them or eat candy they are offering.  And at the end of my monologue, I said, "Do you understand?"  And he nodded his head and said he did understand.  So then I asked, "Ian, what do you do if a stranger asks you to do something."

And he looks straight at me and says, "You do it and you don't whine or crab."

Sammy is One!

Sammy is one.  I can't believe it.  This year went by soooooo quickly, although I will admit that the 7.5 months of pumping weren't fantastic.  But I did it!  Like her brother, Sammy never had a single ounce of formula.  I'm very proud of my achievement.  I started mixing regular milk with breast milk around 11 months and once I saw she did fine with that, I started dropping the pumps at work.  Now I only nurse her in the morning and at night before bedtime (although I lately I find myself feeding her around 3 am to soothe her back to sleep).  I'm not sure when I plan to stop nursing her.  I think I'll let her decide.  Unlike with Ian, where I had to stop breastfeeding in order to get my period back so that I could start trying to have Sammy, there is no artificial stop point for nursing Sammy.  I'll do it as long as she's interested.  (And as a plus, 1 year later, I still don't have my period.  :-)  )

On Samantha's actual birthday (this past Wednesday), I had to pick her up early from day care because she had a fever (which went up to 103.3 by 5 pm!).  Poor thing.  She was like a rag doll in my arms.  With a little Motrin, she started to feel better and so I took the obligatory chair photos.  (It was pajama day at school, which is why she's wearing PJs).  This is how happy she is, even with a 102 fever!

She still had a fever the next day and so my husband stayed home with her.  He decided to have a little fun with her and took these photos.  If you look closely in these pictures, you can see the drool dripping from her face.  On top of having a cold, the poor little thing has THREE teeth cutting on top - the second tooth in the middle is coming through, as well as both incisors.  It's been a tough couple of nights for her.

And today, we celebrated her birthday for real with my in-laws.  My mother-in-law made an awesome chocolate cake.  Sammy didn't really like it (I think it was too sophisticated a taste for her).  But she adored the Hershey's kiss we gave her after trying the cake.

I love her so much.  I am the luckiest woman in the world that she is my daughter.

Sammy Speaks

Sammy is speaking with some intent now.  I don't think her words mean anything yet, but she will repeat the sounds I make.  She is saying "uh oh" now and it is so cute.

(And of course, you can hear Ian throwing one big fat tantrum in the background...sigh).

She is also saying "ba ba", "da da" and FINALLY "ma ma" when I ask her to say those sounds.  I'll be curious as to what her first word is going to be!

Ear Tubes for Sammy

Sammy had her surgery today to put tubes in her ears.  The surgeon was able to fit her in sooner because of a cancellation.  I was told she couldn't eat anything after midnight the night before but that I could nurse her until 3:30 am.  So I woke up at 2:30 am and nursed her.  We then got up at 4:30 am and were out the door by 5:25 am to make sure we got to Mass Eye and Ear by 6 am.  Sammy made it easy on us and woke up at 5:10 am all on her own.  It was all pretty organized.  We signed in and they took us back and asked all sorts of questions.  They made Sammy wear some scrubs, which were way too big.

She was pretty cute wandering around in this get up.  I put scrubs on over my clothing and went with her into the operating room.  She got a banana scented mask placed over her face and after 6 or 7 good cries, she went to sleep.  I then waited with my husband in the waiting room.  I couldn't believe how quickly they did the surgery.  The doctor was out to talk to us about 8 minutes after I left the OR.  She said that Sammy's ears were clear (not even any fluid in there), but that she could see that her eardrums had thickened, which is a sign of some bad infections.

It took Sammy another 15 minutes to wake up and when she did, they called me back to be with her.  She was very sleep and disoriented but did pretty good.  I held her for 10 minutes or so and then when they let me, I nursed her.  She nursed and slept and nursed and slept and nursed and slept for about 40 minutes and then we went back up to the pediatric unit where they monitored her some more.  We were discharged with some ear drops and out the door by 9:30 am.  I can't believe the whole thing only took 3.5 hours total.

She slept on the way back home and then she took another nap while we took a nice long walk in the afternoon.  I would say she was back to her normal smiley Sammy self by 1 pm, and even more so after her afternoon nap.  I hope these tubes work for her.  The doctor said they would probably stay in for about 1 year.  Let's hope that after they fall out, she'll have outgrown the ear infections.  Fingers crossed!

Siblings

I can't believe how fast my kids are growing up.  Sammy is almost one!  I can see them interacting more and more often (although Ian still wants to share nothing with her - not even the leftover mac and cheese that he doesn't want to eat himself).  Sammy adores Ian.  If he laughs, she laughs.  She follows him around like a puppy dog.  I've finally been able to get pictures of the two of them together (not always easy to do!).  In the last picture, Ian wanted to help Sammy eat her snack and so he's feeding her (which was like a hug for my heart).

Time for Surgery

My poor little girl!  Sammy woke up yesterday morning with a fever and her left eye was all puffy and swollen.  My husband brought her to the doctor and sure enough, despite being on the last day of her 10 day course of antibiotics, her ears were still badly infected.  Clearly, the antibiotic she was on wasn't working.  The pediatrician was no longer wishy washy about her get tubes.  He basically said that we were running out of medical options to treat her and given how hard it was to eliminate her infections and how often she gets them, he highly recommended that we get her tubes.  Her surgery is scheduled at Mass Eye and Ear for May 1.

In the meantime, the pediatrician switched her to the antibiotic bactrum and it seems to be working.  She woke up with no fever this morning and her eye is much better.  We sent her to daycare and her teacher said that she's acting normal and eating well today.  Phew!  I am crossing my fingers that this antibiotic eliminates her current ear infection and she stays healthy until May 1!  I'm hoping that the tubes will make her ear infections a thing of the past.  I can't keep pumping her full of ineffective antibiotics!

Sammy is Walking (and has a third tooth)

It's official.  Sammy is really walking at 11 months, 1 week.  She first started taking steps at 10.5 months when we would encourage her to walk to us.  But now, she is just walking instead of crawling to her destination.  She walked across our entire den.  She walked down our entire hallway.  Sometimes she evens claps when she walks.  She's extremely proud of herself and I'm amazed by how quickly she figure it out.

Other Sammy news:

1.  She is finally cutting her third tooth on the top right.  It's been 4 months since she got her two bottom teeth and so I'm glad that we're finally seeing some progress after so much drool!

2.  Sadly, Sammy has yet another nasty ear infection, only 6 weeks since the last one cleared up.  Last Saturday night, she had a 102 fever (after having a cold and yellow snot for a couple of days).  I was hoping for the best when I took her to the doctor on Sunday morning, but when they looked in her left ear, they said "Well, that's about the worst it can get."  Her left ear was super red and filled with pus.  Her right ear was just beginning to get infected.  Ugh.  I really wish Sammy exhibited symptoms of her ear infection before it got so bad!  My husband and I haven't decided yet whether to get her tubes.  We're hoping to push off the decision until next winter since we'll soon be out of cold season and maybe in another 6 months, she'll outgrow these ear infections.  But until we get her tubes (if we get her tubes), the minute her snot goes from clear to yellow, we're taking her into the doctor to get her ears checked.  Hopefully, this time around, she'll be able to clear the infection without only one round (instead of FOUR rounds!) of antibiotics.  We went straight to cefdinir which is in the same family as suprax but way cheaper.  It started working after 72 hours.

3.  Now that I'm winding down breastfeeding, we decided to give Sammy whole cow milk and see how she reacted. I gave her 2 ounces the other night and she drank it and was totally happy.  No reaction - no vomiting or diarrhea.  And I gave her 5 ounces the next day and it was fine.  Woo hoo!  So now I feel really good about winding down the pumping because I know that I can give her cow milk instead of formula.  And I'll still nurse her in the morning and at night.  Man, it will feel so good to get rid of that pump!