Another day

Sorry its been a while since I posted. We've been dealing with shift work, a sick baby, DH on the road and loads more fun.

Before I begin, a quick question, how do you know if the baby is completely over her ear infection? I ask because I was told that one of the kids at day care is on his third antibiotic for his ear infection and that worries met.

Ok, on with the show! Actually, there's not a whole lot going on other than the normal craziness. I am taking my last class for my Master's (yea!) while DH is still on the road and everything else. Miss C is getting better but for the past couple of days has been kind of clingy. I am not sure what prompted this. Might be another growth spurt, could be because of the shift or because DH has been gone a while. I am a little worried that she is constipated because of the meds (she is having more trouble with her #2s) so there's that. And, oh yea, I just found out that the day care won't give her the meds. Some policy they have that i was just now briefed on. Apparently I was supposed to get a parent guide but that managed to slip through the cracks. With Miss C getting her meds 3x a day and the day care telling me to take a break from work and give her the meds (not possible!) i am a little frustrated. I am hoping to hear back from her doctor about whether or not I can just split the middle dose into the other two and do it that way.

Well, I guess that's pretty much my update. We had a nice break between strings and got to spend some time outside. I am thinking about taking Miss C to the Farmer's Market after school on Thursday (they are only open 4-7pm on Thursdays) so that should be fun. DH is scheduled to be home on Sunday, yea! I hope ya'll have had a chance to get out and have some fun too!

Don't forget my question. If you have any experience with ear infections, that would help out a lot! Thanks!

Feeling better

If ya'll have been following, Miss C got her first ear infection. I just wanted to follow up and let you all know she is feeling tons better! I didn't realize how quickly the anitbiotic would work on her. I attached a picture we took today.

Thanks for your support!

An overdue update and a baby fever story

Its been a while since we updated you on our quest for real estate stability. So, here goes.
Earlier last month we decided to pull the house off the market and look for a renter. We looked at the market and recognized that we wouldn't get what we know the house is worth if we kept it on the market in the market's current state. We went through our agent and found a good property manager. He found us a nice family, they might have had their baby by now, and we are now landlords.
Because we are getting a little more than half of our mortgage with the rent (I would love to ask for more rent but because so many people bought when the houses were first built, well, they can ask a lot less than we can for rent), there is a little more breathing room. Once we started to see the rent checks, I talked to DH about getting some housekeeping help. I took a cue from Alphagal on this one.
Those of you with kids understand how hectic life gets with a little one and how difficult it can be to keep up with everything. With me in school and working full time and DH on the road part of the time, I wanted to get some help. We had our first visit yesterday and I am thrilled to know that every couple of weeks we will have someone to come over and scrub our bathtubs and all that. One less thing to stress out about.
Ok, so with yesterday being our first day, we kind of had to vacate for a while. Miss C got a fever (about 102F) on Saturday afternoon and started me worrying. I gave her some Tylenol and gave Alphagal a call since she has more experience with this stuff than I do. She suggested checking Miss C's temp within 4 hours (the general effective time for Tylenol) and if it hasn't dropped to call the doctor. We had a quick dinner (quick because Miss C didn't want much, a clue to me that something was wrong) and decided to check.
Have I mentioned that one of the problems with military medicine is that it isn't like civilian medicine. You can't generally reach your doctor on the weekends and our clinic here isn't open on the weekends or after 11pm during the week. Ok, on with the story.
I checked Miss C's temp and was a bit freaked out to discover it was 103.7F. I looked down at my little angel and said "ok, baby, adventure time." and off we went to the hospital. I gave her another dose of Tylenol on the way out the door, hoping it would help.
We got there and they checked her temp. Yea, it was still a pretty high temp. They did the preliminary stuff and gave Miss C a dose of Motrin while we waited on the doctor. The doctor eventually got there and checked Miss C out. He said she had a cold, what I thought to begin with, and once her temp dropped, sent us home.
Come Monday, Miss C wasn't back to herself but she wasn't running a high fever so I decided to take her to day care while the housekeepers were here. Around noon, I got a phone call. Miss C's temp was 101.5F and we decided to go home. I gave her some more Tylenol and tried to make her as comfortable as possible. I called her doctor again and managed to get an appointment for this morning.
While it seemed that the Tylenol was working, the fever didn't really go away. I tried to give her a bath and she howled. With most kids, this would be kind of normal. Miss C, however, loves her baths (another clue to me). Come 1030pm, Miss C woke up and cried her eyes out. She refused to be comforted. She woke up every half hour (worse than when she was 2 weeks old!) and wouldn't let me lay her down. When she finally did lay down, she rolled to her side and cupped her ear (another clue to me).
At 2am, I finally got her down for the night. She slept pretty well and didn't get up until 8am. Her fever seemed to get better but we were still going to the doctor. When we got there, her fever was gone and the nurses seemed to think I was kind of loony to be there. I love judgemental folks.
The doctor came in and I convinced him to check her ears very closely. Alas, the culprit! She has an ear infection. We apparently caught it pretty early. I got a script for Amoxicillin and Miss C has been getting back to her normal, happy self this afternoon. She is down for a nap and seems to be doing much better than this past weekend.
Sorry this was so long, but I just wanted to pass along the "trust Mommy instinct" message. The doctors and nurses all thought I was kind of out of it because the little girl they saw was pretty happy. They just didn't realize that this wasn't the uberhappy Miss C I am used to. I am grateful that we have been lucky with her health this far. Miss C is almost 1 year old and this is the first time we have been sick like this. I feel for ya'll who've kids have been sick this winter. I knew it was tough but ugh!

We made it

Well, we made it through the mid watch string.

I swear, I have never been more tired except for maybe the first two weeks after Miss C was born. For the past 5 days, I had to get Miss C out of her crib at 930pm and take her over to Mrs J's for a "sleep over" then go to work until 730am. I would get home by 8am, call Mrs J to check on how she slept etc then catch about 4 hours of sleep and go pick her up. In order to avoid that inevitable Mommy guilt about not doing enough, we always did something in the afternoon after Miss C took a nap. It didn't matter how tired I was (and let me tell you, but Wednesday, I was beat!), we did something. By something, I mean we usually went for a long hike around our neighborhood or played in the yard. We did lots of reading and coloring but it still didn't make up for the fact that I had to disrupt Miss C's sleep, which I will be paying for over the next couple of weeks.

It takes time to develop habits and by the time the string was done, Miss C wasn't even waking up when I got her to Mrs J's. The problem is, she kind of got used to Mrs J jumping up at her every noise, which is something I finally broke myself of when she was about 6 months old. Not that its bad that Mrs J did that, its what i expect because she doesn't know when Miss C doesn't need help or what at night. We have figured out what noises need attending to etc but she hasn't had time to figure that out at night.

Well, last night, our first night back at home, Miss C woke up a couple of times and when I didn't jump right up, decided yea, she really needed me. It will take a couple more days before I get her back to herself but I guess if this is the worst that comes from the string, I can take it.

Our next hurdle is a week of eve watches. That week I will be taking Miss C to Mrs J's in the early afternoon and picking her up around midnight to get her home.

I know that she will take it fine, I just hope she doesn't get into the habit of getting up at midnight. Again, we can deal with it, but argh! You all know how it is. We have been beyond this stage for a long time and now... to have to deal with the middle of the night awakenings again is tough.

I can't wait until June. I am taking a little leave and once DH gets home, we won't have to move Miss C anywhere at night (thank goodness). I am also supposed to come off this crazy schedule and become a "day snake." I can't wait.

Well, that's pretty much it. Hope everyone had a great week! I am attaching a new picture I took during the string. I think its just the cutest!

Happy Mother's Day

To my special friends who are mothers, mothers to be, mothered their friends even if they thought they didn't need it, mother their pets because they are their kids, and all of you who care about us (Alphagal, Aunt C, Aunt A, Mrs J, Poobou, MIL, Ms T.S. and those I have not named but know who you are).Happy Mother's Day.

This is our first "real" Mother's Day. I didn't really feel like i should celebrate last year since we hadn't yet met Miss C but this year is different. Miss C is already 11 months old and I have begun that journey of discovery that you all understand.

Since becoming a mother I have discovered that my love really does know no bounds. My heart aches to hold my little one after she is asleep for the night regardless of how hectic our day may have been. When I get a minute to catch my breath at work, I often wonder, what is Miss C doing right now.

When I have to miss bedtime or bathtime or even a meal, I worry that I am missing something so amazing that I get sad. I plan my off days around Miss C's nap schedule (rough as it is) and try to make every day, every meal, every moment count, even if it makes me seem a little anal.

Every night before i go to bed, I find myself tip toeing into Miss C's room just to check on her. I can hear her breathe through the monitor but I need to see her, my little angel, one last time before I can let myself fall asleep.

I call DH when I have to work through dinner, just to make sure Miss C is doing fine, inspite of the fact that DH is a wonderful father who dotes on his little girl.I find myself making up stories and learning signs to help my little girl talk to me. Its a wonderful feeling knowing that this little person who amazes me more every day gets a little help from us.

How was your Mother's Day?

Miss C is 11 months old!

Holy cow! Where has the time gone?

If you have been following, you know that Miss C is my dynamo! We don't have a check up so I really couldn't tell you how much she weighs (more than the last time) or how tall she is (definitely taller than the last time!).

I will include changes from this week when she started her new day care.

What I can tell you is:

1. Miss C is getting very vocal! She purrs to the cat and horses (she calls them kitty cats too) and barks to dogs (she picked this up visiting the neighbors little Jack Russell terriers). She signs nearly everything we can think of and teaches us new ones. When she is hungry, she puts her index finger to her mouth since the sign is kind of tough. When we take a walk, she uses her right index finger and puts it at the end of her nose to sign bird while saying bird (just in case we missed it!). I am utterly amazed at how quickly she is processing everything.

2. Miss C is so close to walking unassisted its not funny. She will often come over to you and get you to give her your finger so she can take you for a walk. We went to a picnic a week or so ago and she walked me all around until we got to the balloons so she could have one!

3. Miss C eats totally table food. I tried to kind of put this one on hold because I do worry about making sure she eats enough but she absolutely refuses baby food, even stage 3. However, if you put some chicken, green beans and rice on her plate, she will gobble it up.

4. Miss C sits at a little table in a little chair at day care to eat because, get this, her legs are too long for the high chair. Apparently she can stand up in the high chair because her feet meet the bottom rung so she has to sit in the chair. She seems to really like it so who am I to complain?

5. Miss C sleeps in a little teeny cot at day care. Again, another issue with her height (where are the other tall babies?!). I guess they can't get the crib low enough so she isn't able to reach over the side and risk falling out. So, she sleeps in this little cot. Its really close to the ground and while at first it bothered me, now it reminds me of when we had her sleeping on the changing pad when she was really little. No wonder she doesn't mind, it must remind her of that too.

6. Miss C is really sweet. I knew this all along but she did something the other day at the center that showed her teachers how sympathetic she can be. One of the little boys was crying so Miss C went over to him and started patting him on the back! She knows this because when she cries or isn't feeling well, we hold her and pat her on the back. When she hugs us, she puts both arms over one shoulder and does the same so its no great surprise that she applies this to kids her age.

That pretty much catches ya'll up to date. We've been spending lots of time outside since it finally seems like spring. While i started Miss C at the new center, she will be spending time with Mrs J while I am on the funny shifts (ya know, anything other than days) but I will try to keep getting her there from time to time until my next day string to make sure that she is still comfortable. Hopefully I will be done with this silly stuff right after her birthday!

Well, hope ya'll enjoyed this. If you have any suggestions/thoughts/etc, please share!

Another quick update

I know, I know. I should be trying to post more but I am spending my time in other pursuits like Miss C, DH, work, school, you know the drill.

DH is getting ready to go on a trip and Miss C is getting ready to start a new group day care so life is a little hectic. On the plus side, Miss C seems to really like the new place. We've been visiting, kind of like play dates, a couple of times over the past couple of weeks. This way she is used to the place before she starts. She seems to enjoy the classroom (lots of new stuff to investigate) and her classmates (again, lots of new stuff to investigate!). I am sure that come Monday, her first official day, she will do well.

Here's a recent shot from Mrs J's house. As you can see, Miss C is really working on walking. I am sure it will happen sooner rather than later based on these photos.


















Hope ya'll are having as much fun as we are!