Week Forty

Mommy was still sick all weekend ... Daddy too ... but not me ... so I played a lot ... and took long naps with mommy and daddy ... it was great to snuggle up with them ...

Monday I went back to school ... I was really happy to see everyone ... my teachers told mommy they were really sad that I was going to be leaving but they understood how nice it would be for me to be closer to her ...

On Tuesday I turned 9 months old ... time sure flies ... here is my 9 month picture



On Tuesday Mommy stayed home sick so I stayed home with her ... Daddy had to go to work so we had the house to ourselves ... we sat in bed and watched Little Einstein ... sang songs and read books ... it was a great day ... by Tuesday afternoon it was snowing kinda hard and really raining ice ... by night time mommy knew she would have a snow day so I got to spend another whole day with her and daddy ... we had a fire going in the fireplace and I crawled all over the place ... I am getting much faster now ...

I didn't want to take a nap at all on Wednesday but when I finally laid down at 1 I fell fast asleep ... mommy and daddy were impressed with how quiet I was ... at 3 Daddy deceided to go wake me up to give me a bottle ... when he went in my room he was shocked and called mommy in ... my crib and myself was covered with throw-up ... and I hadn't made a peep ... they were so upset and felt so bad ... daddy gave me a bath while mommy cleaned it all up and called the doctor ... they were closed because of all the ice so she was waiting for them to call her back ...

I still acted hungry so mommy gave me a bottle ... I played with it more than I drank out of it ... and not 5 minutes later I threw it all up ... all over mommy and daddy ... we all changed clothes and mommy gave me some pedialyte ... she thought I was liking that better than my milk and I drank a whole bunch of it ... I love the cold grape taste ... well not even another 5 minutes I threw all that up and the doctor still hadn't called ...

so we all changed clothes again and headed for the Emergency Room ... at our hospital they have an infant emergency room so they took me back right away ... even though I hadn't had a fever at home by the time we got there it was 102 degrees ... the doctor said it was good they brought me in ... I had rotavirus and kids get dehydrated from it fast ... they gave me something to settle my stomach and motrin for my headache and I started feeling better right away ... which made mommy and daddy feel better ...

we went home and I drank pedialyte ... and I tried to go to sleep but I just didn't feel good ... so mommy sat up with me all night long ... I eventually fell asleep in her arms ... but she sat with me until it was time for her to go to work so I curled up in bed with daddy and slept for a while ...

I was feeling a bit better by the afternoon and after hanging out with daddy all day I curled up with mommy ... we were both so tired that we fell asleep and I slept ... daddy got up with me once during the night for a little while so I could have something to drink and take some medicine for my fever ... then I went back to bed ... I slept till 10:30 in the morning ... and when mommy got home from work daddy told her I seemed much better ...

but I started feeling bad again and spent most of the evening crying and really fussy on Friday ...

Week Thirty-Nine

Mommy started feeling like she had a cold on Saturday afternoon ... so we hung around the house ... Daddy built fires in the fireplace all weekend and I practiced crawling around ...

Sunday night Mommy and I went over to Grandmommy and Granddaddy's house ... they got back from a 2 week Panama Canal cruise and missed me a whole bunch ... of course grandmommy held me the whole time we were there ...

Mommy and Daddy decided to keep me home from school for the week ... I got to hang out with Daddy everyday ... it was great ... we watched Little Einsteins ... practiced standing up at my music table ... took naps together ... I love when I get to stay home with Daddy ...

On Monday mommy was still pretty upset that it took her so long to get to me when there was a problem so she called a school near her work ... it is only 5 minutes away and they told her to come on over for a tour ... well she liked it so much and they had an opening that she signed me up ... it is smaller than where I go now which is good ... only 12 kids in the infant rooms instead of 30 so they are hoping that helps in me not getting sick as often ... and the director is so very nice ... I am going to start there on Monday February 26th ... and I will get to ride to and from work with Mommy everyday ... we will get to spend so much more time together because I won't take her 2 hours to pick me up and get home anymore ...

So next week will be my last week at the school ... Mommy called and let them know ... my teachers will be sad I am sure because they love me so much and are so good to me ... and so are my friends ... but I'll make new friends and I'd never trade getting to spend more time with mommy ...

Week Thirty-Eight

The zoo was awesome ... we went on Saturday afternoon ... I had the best time ... I saw some elephants and panda bears ... a whole bunch of beautiful cranes ... otters and sea lions ... some Mexican wolves ... a lot of animals weren't out because it is winter time but mommy and daddy became FONZ (Friends of the National Zoo) and said (weather permitting) we are going to go at least once a month ... I didn't even nap the whole time we were there ... it is a great place and the weather was really nice the whole day ...

Monday and Tuesday I went to school and played with all my friends ... but I was so excited because I got to stay home with Daddy on Wednesday ... it was supposed to snow really hard and daddy was going to be home so he wanted to hang out with me ... I also went to see the ENT on Wednesday morning ... he said my ears still had fluid but weren't infected ... he said one was looking a bit better but the other had no change ... so they are all keeping an eye on me for the next month to see how it goes ... of course it didn't snow on Wednesday, mommy said there were about 4 flakes of snow ... but I did get to play with daddy all day ...

On Thursday I got to stay home with daddy again ... mommy forgot about an appointment she had scheduled for daddy and since grandmommy was still out of town I got to go with daddy to a job ... the perfect little angel that I usually am disappeared and I screamed the whole time we were there ... the customer said he didn't mind but I know daddy did ... he called mommy from the car as we were leaving and said I wasn't going to come with him to another job until I was maybe 22 ... I am sure he will change his mind in the future but for right now I don't blame him ...

Friday the school called mommy and said I woke up with the left side of my face all puffy and red and my eye red and swollen and watering ... she left work immediately but it still took her an hour and a half to get there (of course it started snowing on her way - 2 days later than it was supposed to) ... she was really upset that it took her so long ... by the time she got there my face wasn't red and puffy anymore and my eye looked a lot better ... but she took me by the nighttime doctor anyway ... we had fun hanging out and waiting for the doctor ... but mommy didn't believe anything she said ... she said I had pink eye which mommy didn't think was right ... and that I had double ear infections ... even though mommy told her I had just seen the ENT and he said there was fluid but not infected ... besides I was in too good of a mood and had no fever to have ear infections so mommy followed her instincts ... she didn't give me either of the medicines the doctor perscribed and woke up this morning and made a Saturday appointment to see one of my doctors ...

And woohoo for mommy she was right ... the doc said I didn't have pink eye and that yes there was fluid in my ears but it wasn't infected ... mommy has good instincts ...

Mommy did notice on Friday night that my two bottom teeth have started to poke through the surface ... can't really see them yet but you sure can feel them :)

Week Thirty-Seven

It snowed on Sunday ... it was beautiful ... and Ellie spent the whole day with us ... we had so much fun playing together ... which I am getting much better at ... we had a little yoguart party and everyone sat and had their own yoguart ... we listened to music and read books ... played in my room ... it was fantastic ... I had so much fun I zonked out early ...

since I didn't get to play in the snow on Sunday mommy left work early ... bundled me up in my snow suit and I got to go play with some ... although mommy said it was really just ice now it was still fun ... she said next time she will take me out while it is actually snowing ... I can hardly wait ...

I figured out the crawling thing this week ... mommy was right everything just clicked ... I'm not fast or anything but I can go forward now ... a couple of paces at a time ... I do love to lay on my tummy ... sit up ... lay back down ... sit up again ... I move around in a circle like that ... and of course mommy gets a big kick out of it ...

I also can totally hold my bottle and get stuff out of it ... I figured out it had to be tilted ... I don't feed myself all the time ... sometimes I still want mommy or daddy to do it ... but I do it a lot of the time now ... I love it ...

Most nights this week it has been really cold so daddy builds a fire in our fireplace and we hang out down there at night ... it is fun cause I can practice my crawling and it is so warm and pretty ...

today we are going to the zoo ... I can't wait ... it will be my first time there ...

Week Thirty-Six

I haven't quite gotten the crawling forward down ... but I can move backwards ... not fast but it is a steady snail pace ... Mommy says she can tell by the look on my face that I am working on going forward but it just hasn't happened yet ...

I started holding my bottle this week ... but I still need a little help sometimes drinking from it ... can't seem to tilt it up high enough to get anything ... but mommy and daddy ohhhhh'ed and ahhhhhh'ed watching me hold the bottle ...

I got to go to work with mommy for a little while on Monday ... daddy had a really early job near mommy's work ... so she took me with her and he came and picked me up ... I worked on my crawling while I was there but my jeans were so cute no one noticed the crawling ...

Mommy keeps saying any minute now everything is going to click ... I'll be feeding myself and chasing Kramer on my hands and knees ... I can't wait for that to happen ...

Week Thirty-Five

Well today is a VERY big day ... not only am I 35 weeks old I also turned 8 months old today ... mommy and daddy can hardly believe I am already 8 months old ... that is the same lenght of time I was in mommy's tummy ...

So to mark the big day I went on my first trip to IKEA ... wow what a wonderful store ... I understand why mommy calls it Mecca ... thay had the greatest stuffed animals ... and I got to ride in the little IKEA shopping cart made just for kids ... I had so much fun ...

This week was pretty fun too ... I got to try stage 3 baby food and boy do I love it ... so far my favorite is the lasagne with meat sause ... I gobbled up the whole jar ... mommy thought it smelled just like spaghetti-O's ... but it didn't matter to me ... even without any teeth yet I still "chewed" the pieces of food ...

Mommy also bought me my own yoguart this week ... since I was taking so many bites of hers she decided rather than share I could get my own ... and unlike mommy's mine has all the fat in it a growing baby needs ... I shake with excitment when I see mommy get a container of it ... and she says she can't feed it to me fast enough ...

The heater in daddy's car is broken so on Wednesday I got to stay home with him because it was so cold he just didn't want to take me out for the long drive ... I was happy about it because I love hanging out with daddy for the day ... and when mommy doesn't have to drive all the way out to pick me up I get to spend more time with her as well ... so it works out great for everyone ... while I was napping daddy actually fixed his own heater ... he is so cool and so handy ... he can fix/make/improve anything ... when I am big enough I am going to be his helper ... just like mommy was her daddy's helper when she was a kid ... this morning daddy got a table saw but I am guessing it will be quite some time before I am allowed to help him with that ...

Daddy said on Monday I looked sad about going back to school after having two whole weeks home with him and mommy and grandmommy and aunt Jenny and Ellie ... but I still had fun during the week ... I mean there is a buggy at school ... and other kids to make me laugh ...

I'm still not crawling yet but I can get into position really easily now and I do rock back and forth very well ... I am still sleeping through the night ... once in a while I wake up when I can't find my binkie but I go right back to sleep ...

Soon I will be able to crawl and I'll catch that cat of mine ... he won't be able to escape ... hahahahahaaaaaa

Week Thirty-Four

This was a pretty exciting week for me ... I stayed home from school again so I got to do all sorts of fun (and not so fun) stuff ...

Unfortunately mommy had to take me to the doctor again first thing Saturday morning ... I had finished my antibiotic but was really fussy Friday night and tugging on my ears so first thing Saturday morning we were in the doctors office ... she said my ear infections looked better but they hadn't totally cleared up ... and she was concerned about that ... so they gave mommy the name of an ear, nose and throat doctor (ENT) and said she should give him a call ... especially since I have basically had 4 ear infections (in both ears) in the last 2 months and they have never completely cleared up ...

this time the medicine they gave me I only had to take for 5 days ... instead of the 10 for all the others ... and mommy thinks it is helping because this week, every single night, I slept through the night ... the first time since the middle of October ... which is when she suspects I got my first ear infection ... mommy is such a happy person when she gets so much sleep ... and it turns out I am too ...

Daddy was really sick over the weekend, some sort of virus so mommy and I let him rest ... we ran errands and hung out reading books ... both Daddy and I were asleep before midnight on New Year's Eve ... so mommy taped the ball dropping in Times Square and we all had our own New Year's Celebration on Monday morning ...

Mommy was off from work all day on Monday so we played the whole day ... it was great ... I love when mommy is home for the day ... this week I also started getting up on my hands and knees in the crawl position ... rocking back and forth ... and mommy came into my room Monday morning and noticed I was up on my hands and knees and grabbing my mobile ... so that afternoon mommy and daddy lowered my crib to the bottom hole ... it is like I am a big girl now ... next step a big girl bed ... although I assume that won't be for quite some time now ... but I love the crib how it is now ... I am able to see more of my beautiful butterflies and mommy and daddy coming in because the bumper doesn't block my view being down so low ... it is fantastic ...

Tuesday I spent the whole day with Daddy ... he wasn't feeling very well but since I have been on so many antibiotics I could hang out with him ... we snuggled and snoozed on the couch a lot ... it was GREAT ...

on both Wednesday and Thursday I got to hang out with Grandmommy ... it seemed like it had been so long since I had seen her since she had been in North Carolina for Christmas ... but before I could go to Grandmommy's house on Wednesday mommy took me to see the ENT ... and I was sooooooooo good during my appointment ...

They had to do all sorts of tests ... but I have kind of gotten used to some of them so I stay much more still ... like when they look in my ears ... I sat on Mommy's lap in a really cool chair and she held my hand while the nurse checked me out ... then they took me to this cool little room where they took a picture of the inside of my ears ... then gave me a hearing test where this stuffed pig and bird on opposite ends of the room kept calling my name ... then the doctor came in to see me ... and he checked out my ears ... I got a little fussy when he cleaned them a bit but overall I did a pretty good job ...

Since I am currently on an antibiotic the doctor said he wanted to see how I did on that ... but he too said my ears were still a bit infected ... he also told mommy I had about a 15% hearing loss but he didn't think it was permenant ... that once the fluid was out of my ears I would be good as new ...

The bad news is that when I go back on January 31st is when they will make the decision of if I have to have tubes put in my ears or not ... mommy and daddy are really scared ... although everyone has told them the surgery is harder on the parents than the child ... and that I will feel 100% better immediately ... so they are starting to think it might be a good idea ... but they will wait to see what the doctor says at the end of the month ... he did say there is a chance I could burst into a high fever again before the 31st which would mean I have another acute ear infection and that I should see my doctor and get another antibiotic ... but they are hoping soon I won't have to take so much medicine ...

On Friday mommy took the day off and we got to go to Washington DC ... we had dinner with mommy's friend from High School Amy and Melissa and 4 of their 5 kids (Melissa had a baby 9 months ago who stayed in California with his daddy so her 2 older sons came and Amy's son and daughter) ... it was so much fun ... especially for mommy ... she hadn't seen Amy in about 15 years but it was like nothing had changed even though they were now all mommies ... and I even stayed awake past my bedtime and did great ... I loved playing with Payton (Amy's daughter) ... she was so sweet to me and we were even both wearing Ugg boots ... mommy and daddy decided on the way home we were going to go into DC more often ... especially once it gets warmer ... I'm so excited because I thought it was fantastic ...

And it seemed like the first Friday night in a long time that Mommy wasn't planning on taking me to the doctor first thing Saturday morning ... woohoo ... yea for me ... and yea for everyone in this house that I am now, once again, sleeping through the night ... lets just hope I didn't jinx it writing about it ...