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!

My Poor Little Sammy

Sammy had a rough night last night.  When I put her in her crib for the night, she screamed, which she never does.  She finally fell asleep but was fitful all night.  I chalked it up to teething and let her cry it out.  This morning, I brought her into our bed to nurse (which is part of our normal morning routine).  And as she nursed, I kissed her forehead and thought she felt awfully hot.  I then brought her back to her room to change her diaper and took her temperature.  Sure enough, she had 102.2 at 6:45 am in the morning.  Ugh.  So I walked with her into the kitchen where the light was brighter and told my husband she was sick.  And when he looked at her, he said, "Man, she looks really sick."  And at that point, I looked at her face and saw that it was puffy/swollen and a bit red underneath her right eye.  I was able to make an early doctor's appointment and we were out the door by 8 am.

At 8:30 am, at the doctor's office, Sammy's temperature was 103.1 and she was burning up.  I couldn't believe how hot she felt.  And she was so miserable.  She couldn't even manage to cry.  She just sort of whined and rubbed her head against my shoulder.  My normally happy and active baby was so sick!  Here's how she looked at the doctor's office - this was the best I could do to get her to smile.  And you can see how her right eye is swollen and red.

The doctor examined her and said that she had an ear infection in her right ear.  He also said she had periorbital cellulitis, which can get very dangerous quickly because it could lead to a blood infection/sepsis.  Because of that, he wanted to do a CBC/white blood cell count to determine the appropriate course of action.  So my little 8 month old had to get her blood drawn.  She did okay once I nursed her and they were able to find a vein.  After waiting over 1 hour for the blood results, her white cell count came back higher than the doctor's cutoff. This meant that instead of oral antibiotics, she had to get an intramuscular injection of antibiotics.  The volume of the shot was too big for it to go into one leg so they split it up and gave her shots simultaneously in her left and right thigh (so she would only have to suffer the pain once).  We also gave her some motrin.

After that, we went home and she took a long nap.  When she woke up, she smiled at me and I knew that she must be feeling better since it was the first smile she gave me all day.  I could tell that her temp was much lower.  Tomorrow, we go back to the doctor for a re-check.  They will do a clinical assessment of her eye (no more blood tests) and based on that, decide whether to give her another round of antibiotic injections or switch her to oral antibiotics.  We dosed her up with tylenol at 5:30 pm and motrin at 7:15 pm tonight and I'm crossing my fingers that she'll be more comfortable tonight.

The silver lining of all of this?  We caught it early and Sammy should be fine.  Plus, as long as they were drawing her blood, they tested her for lead.  I'm so glad the doctor thought through that and spared us a separate blood draw.  It's great when you get good medical care!

**At just over 8 months of age, Sammy weighed 17 pounds, 1.5 ounces**

Sammy is 8 months old!

On Christmas, Sammy turned 8 months old.  Here is her official chair photo - this month in her PJs.

We had a lot more outtakes than usual this month because Sammy wanted to climb all over the chair.  She's really starting to maneuver herself around.  She wants to pull up on almost everything, but is often unable to do so and then gets frustrated.  This is her trying to launch herself over the side of the chair!

A couple of days ago, we realized that Sammy has learned how to get into a sitting position from being on her tummy.  Hooray Sammy!  Based on her current attempts at moving around, I'm guessing that she'll be crawling in about 2 weeks.  We'll see if I'm right!

My Son is Growing Up

I'm happy to say that I no longer dread the weekends.  I'm actually really looking forward to spending time with my son.  Why?  Because he's growing up!  Lately, he's been throwing far fewer tantrums and it's possible to get him to calm down and talk about what is bothering him.  He still has his moments and I still get frustrated with him, but overall, he's really a great kid to be around.  I think going to preschool has been very good for him.  He seems to really love it and the change in his personality seems to coincide with the timing of him going to preschool.  He absolutely ADORES books and will let you read to him for hours if you want to.  Here he is in a crown he made at preschool.  My King Ian.

We met up with friends yesterday and went out to lunch and he was so well-behaved in the restaurant.  It was amazing.  To treat him for good behavior, we ordered him chocolate ice cream.  And when we got home, we gave him an early Hanukkah present and let him watch his first movie ever - the Winnie the Pooh movie.  My brother's family sent it as a gift and it was really great to share that experience with Ian.  He laughed out loud at Tigger's antics and I loved every giggle.

7 month weight

Sammy got her booster flu shot this morning.  I specifically asked for a weight check, which they weren't going to do.  But I want data!  She is 16 pounds, 4 ounces.  That means she gained a little over 1 pound in 1 month.  Go Sammy!  I'm a little bit nervous about my milk supply since I'm just barely pumping the 17 ounces per day she is drinking from bottles while at school.  So I might need to change something up there.  But so far so good!

Last night we fed her some carrots and rice cereal, which was the second feeding of real food in the day.  And she slept through the night (8:30 pm to 5:30 am) with just a bit of crying when she woke up sometime in the middle of the night.  So perhaps we'll start feeding her dinner from now on.  And her other bottom tooth is making its way through her gum.  So soon, my little baby girl will have 2 teeth.  She's growing up so fast!