Teething

Recently Jason and I started cleaning out the downstairs closet in an on going project in our home. The entire process led to an empty box. Something in the back of my head came forward to remind me the love children have for anything cardboard and I couldn't resist the temptation to set her in a box to see what she would do. The result:

Eureka! It's a happy baby in a box!!!

Oh wait, it's RACHEL in the box...which means she'll try to bite it.

She'd stop biting for a second....

And then she'd bite it again.

Lesson learned: she does love cardboard, but as with anything she can get her hands on, she'll try to bite it.

Last week after her horrible fever we met up with her Terry Grandparents in Lousiville and went ahead and let Rachel stay with them for a week. Jason was going to be gone and since I'd already taken 2 sick days I really didn't want to chance having to take any more while he was gone. So she's all better from the fever (still not sure what caused it, just glad it's done!)

Geri and David were so kind and brought her up to our house on Saturday afternoon. From her just being gone a week it was amazing how much strength she had gathered! She now crawls on her knees instead of pulling herself across the carpet. She now pulls herself to a standing position with almost no trouble. And I can see how much more sure of herself she's becoming in that she will hold on to the couch or other furniture and try to walk.

Her curiosity, however, is insatiable. As it should be. She wants to touch and explore EVERYTHING. Her toys are not interesting her for more than a few second. Instantly she'll see a piece of grass on the floor, or a cord, or a shoe and she simply MUST crawl towards it and MUST touch it. If possible, she MUST also try to bit on it or lick it with her mouth. So much to discover!

One thing I did notice and Jason and I aren't too happy is how fussy she is. It is almost impossible to keep her happy. I know her gums are hurting, you can see the second tooth poking through the gum. But she is fussy now 90% of the time when she used to be pretty happy once you figured out what she needed. We were at our wits end last night trying to figure out what was wrong with her.

Geri offered me some great advice that I hadn't thought of. We've been having trouble getting Oragel into her mouth. She'll see it on our finger, she'll open her mouth for our finger to go in to apply the gel, then suddenly she'll stick out her tounge and her tounge gets the gel, not her gum. Geri said she was putting it on with a Qtip, and it works like a charm! Way to go Grandma Terry!

We did have a short window of time on Saturday when Rachel was being playful and exploring some items in her room.

First, she discovered the steps I bought to use in the bathroom when we're eventually potty training her:

Do you see that mischevious little look? Oh yes, that wasn't the camera capturing a weird face. I could FEEL she felt like she was getting in to trouble and she LIKED it!
Then she discovered her Princess basket I'd gotten her a long time ago:

Ahhhh! Such a ham. I love it!

Jason had to hang on to her while I did something upstairs and when I came back here I see that he's already trying to make her a gamer:

Sunday we headed out to my parents' place as we hadn't seen them in a while. Right before we left, though, I tried to feed Rachel some peas and she was so frustrated that we wouldn't just give her a bottle which is much faster. I thought she was thirsty, so I had Jason grab one of her sippy cups to try for the first time:

I know she liked chewing on it and holding it, but I don't think she ever quite understood how to get the liquid out of it. Regardless, we've at least introduced the sippy cup. Let's hope we get that figured out soon.

At mom and dad's their neighbor came over to hold Rachel for just a bit:

But Rachel was getting tired. I kept trying to tell my mom that she'd probably need to go down for a nap, but mom had an even better idea:

This is a smart lady. GramE knows her grandbabies! Had we laid Rachel down she would have just fussed and fussed. GramE took her out to the swings where the rocking of the swings and the sunshine put her right to sleep. So sweet!

Getting Rachel to bed last night was a 2 hour ordeal. Since she's mobile now and can stand up, she does NOT want to go to sleep. I refuse to let her be rocked to sleep as she really needs to be putting herself to sleep. So we'd lay her down, she'd pull her blanket to her face a close her eyes, we'd tip toe out thinking we're such clever parents and within 2 minutes she'd be standing at the side of her bed crying. *sigh* We were so tired. We were so over this cycle. I tried to let her just cry and cry for a few minutes, but that doesn't help us get to sleep now does it? So I went in there and rocked her to calm her down and put her to bed and she was finally out. But argh!!! Used to we'd wait until we could tell she couldn't stay awake anymore and put her down and she was out. It's like she constantly gets a second wind.

I miss our sweet happy kid. This new fussy and inconsolable kid is not fun. I'm ready for teething to be done. Here's hoping they stop hurting her soon!

The Letter "S"

Poor Rachel. After her ordeal at the hospital on Wednesday we've kept her home the rest of the week. By state law, if a child has a fever, she cannot be taken back to day care or school until she has been symptom free, without medicine, for 24 hours. She probably could have gone back to day care today since she wasn't running a fever on Thursdsay at all, but I'd already made arrangements to be home from work and I'm glad I stayed home.

I can tell she's feeling a little better, but she's not back to 100% just yet. She's eating just fine, but she's so worn out and grumpy. This morning she slept late and I finally woke her up to eat. She ate, had a much needed bath, and then immediately got sleepy and wanted to go back to bed. And she's slept most of today, so I know she's still fighting off whatever has made her sick.

So today is brought to you by the Letter "S":

A Sleepy, Sick girl has wanted to Snuggle and watch Sesame Street all day! I hate that she's sick, but I love that she wants to snuggle and be in my lap when she's awake. Today she actually laid in my lap and watched Sesame Street with me. It was so wonderful!

Also, "S" is for "SIT!" This past Tuesday while visiting her Gigi, Rachel was crawling around and suddenly just Sat up! So she's mobile AND she's steady! I'm assuming her next big accomplishment will be to pull herself to a standing position. Right now she can only pull herself up to her knees on her own.

But she is doing better. No fever, but she's feeling sickly. Yesterday her daddy took good care of her and was at home all day. He not only was able to take care of her, but he ended up getting pulled into conference calls and he also cleaned parts of the house! Busy man!!

This weekend we'll be venturing to Louisville to meet her Terry Grandparents. We'll visit for a while, then they'll take her home with them for a week.

The timing works out great, as I'd like for her to get specialized attention as she gets better, and although she will probably be find by Monday, it'll be nice not to have to worry about taking another sick day, especially since I've just started a new job. In addition, Jason will be leaving on September 2 for about 3 solid weeks to go to the Middle East, so we'll use this week while she's gone to get him all ready to go.

And thankfully, Geri will be coming up to stay with me for quite a  bit of time while he's gone to help me out with Rachel.

This girl is quite a traveler herself!!

To the Hospital....

Before you freak out over the title, let me start by saying: RACHEL IS OK!!!

On Tuesday I received a call around 3pm from the Day Care saying Rachel was running a fever and they had to give her some Tylenol. It was a low grade fever, so they told me I could bring her back again on Wednesday.

We headed up to my Grandma's just like we do every Tuesday evening and although she was a bit fussy, I thought she was just really tired.

This morning when we got her up to feed her and get her ready for day care she felt really warm so I had Jason take her temperature. It registered at 97.8, so we figured she was fine. I took her in to day care and headed in to work.

Around 9AM I got a call from Day Care that she was running a temperature of around 101° and I needed to go get her. I started making phone calls right away. I called the pediatrician and thankfully they were able to get Rachel in to be seen as soon as I picked her up from Day Care.

At the doctor's office she felt really warm, but was acting fine. Her temperature registered at 102.5°. In an infant that young, any temperature over 102.4° is immediate grounds to go to the hospital for blood, urine and chest X-ray.

They gave her a LOT of tylenol (the doctor's allowed to do that) and told me to head for the hospital in the pediatric unit.

(We did find out she weighs 17 lbs 5 oz...so she's growing just fine!)

I run home to change my clothes, feed her (she wouldn't eat), and pack everything up as I was told this process at the hospital would take a few hours.

We left the house around 11:30 for the hospital and arrived just before noon. We didn't have to wait long before they took her in and did a catheter, drew blood, then took the x-ray. Jason arrived shortly after the x-ray was completed and brought me lunch. He also fed Rachel and we got a picture of her first hospital stint since she left the NICU:

Rachel did NOT like anyone in scrubs after the catheter and blood draw. But aside from that trauma, she was still smiling and being happy. For a sick kid, she wasn't all that fussy. I know the massive dose of Tylenol from the doctor's office really helped. She quickly drank down her bottle that Jason gave her and then we've finally been able to put her in the car seat for a nap.

I had to drag our huge stroller, the car seat, her diaper bag, my computer back pack and purse along with me all day today, so I'm grateful they have a really nice parents' waiting room here in Peds while we wait for the results.

Right now, we've so far heard that the blood and urine tests have come back normal. So far we're waiting on her X-ray results and should know those soon.

Here's hoping it was just a high fever due to teething!!!

Crawling

So what has our little cutie been up to recently? GROWING. That's what. The past couple of weeks she's discovered she can be mobile. And she gets very frustrated when she has to be stationary or can't reach something that's caught her attention. It's truly adorable to watch her drag herself across the floor and heartbreaking when she falls over.

She's got the talking thing down. She knows she can make noise and she enjoys doing so! Her babble has developed into a "ba ba" "ma ma" (So she'll say "mommy" first, right?!) "da da" along with lots of raspberries and coos. She still does sound exactly like a dove.

I'm thankful that about half the time I can leave her be and she'll entertain herself and the other half she wants to be around another human. When I'm in the kitchen and she's in her little play area I can hear her in there babbling to something and she'll get excited and squeal or yell. It melts my heart and makes me chuckle each and every time. I think I could listen to her babble all day long and not tire of it. When it turns from babble to fussing....well that's another story.

Fashion show time!!!

I call this her "tea" shirt. This is one of the items that Aunt Connie found. It's a shirt that's been stained with tea, then the lady embellishes the shirt with lace, flowers, buttons, etc. This shirt is still just a bit too big on her, but I wanted to get a picture of her in it anyway. It's adorable!

Here we have what I like to call the "Convenient" outfit. This girl goes through SO many outfits in a day that there are times I have trouble keeping up with the laundry. So here she's wearing a cute little summer outfit I found at a garage sale paired with a pair of pants that were hand-me-downs from Alana. (The pants have a shirt! she's just not wearing them in this picture).

I realized we'd run into a bit of a complication with her wardrobe. Unfortunately, she's learning to crawl during the summer. This means I tend to keep her in shorty outfits. The downside to that is that she's dragging/crawling around the house on the carpet and her poor little knees are getting carpet burn! I've been tempted to get those baby leggings that look like someone cut out the ends of socks and babies wear them on just their legs. They are ingenious to say the least. However, I don't want to pay for them and I also think they look really silly. So instead....I'll just buy her pants! She and I headed out to the consignment stores today to get some pants to save her poor baby knees from being burned.

The weekend before last she got to stay all night with her GramE and GrampE while Jason and I attended a concert. From what I can tell, they had a blast! Then, on a whim, I purchased another set of tickets and Jason and I attended another concert. This time she stayed with my Aunt Gail, Uncle Paul and Grandma Esche (which all the great-grand kids call "Gigi").

They apparently had a great time with her because Jason and I got a play by play of everything she'd done while staying all night. (I secretly think they had more fun than she did). Aunt Gail has been a Kindergarten teacher for 30+ years and did some analysis on her behavior while she was watching her. Apparently she's pretty impressed with the way Rachel is developing and the coordination she has. Great new to this mama's ears!!!

Saturday and Sunday this weekend we've actually stayed home and taken it easy. Rachel's been on another one of her "sleep most of the day" kicks....which means she stays up pretty late. Last night she didn't fall asleep until 10:30 and slept until 8AM. In my opinion, she's not doing a ton to wear herself out. So I'm going to chalk it up to another growth spurt.

You can see (if she'll let you look closely) that her second tooth on the bottom is starting to come in. I know that has to hurt, but so far this weekend I've not needed to use anything to give her relief. So I don't think this one's hurting quite as much. I'm hoping her teeth are going to come in slowly and not be as painful for her.

We saw today that she can pull herself up from the floor to her knees. Won't be much longer until she pulls herself to a standing position!

Friday when I went to pick her up she wasn't in her usual day care room. Apparently she's reached "big baby" status and was moved to the "Infant 2" room. The Infant 2 room is for babies, but for those that are starting to become mobile. The room has a mirror on the wall with a bar, similar to what you might see in a ballet studio. The difference is this one is very close to the floor and it's purpose is to help kids, like Rachel, who are trying to pull themselves up. When I went up to the other room to get her I was told that she'd had a very productive day and really liked the new room. I'm assuming that some kids don't take well to the sudden change. So I was really glad to hear this awesome news. Such a great kid!!!

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'.......

She's on the move now. Our little stinker has her first tooth and is now mobile. Watch out world! This kid gets stronger and more curious every day. Her new favorite activity during the evenings this week have been to look around, find something she wants to try to climb, and figure out how to get over there. Although she doesn't technically "crawl" per se, she can get to where she wants to go! It's a combination of rolling, slithering, pushing with her feet and pulling with her arms. Our job of keeping an eye on her is now more of a challenge than it was.

This past weekend I helped out with a garage sale and brought Rachel with me for funsies. Even though it was unbearably hot outside, we'd take her out with us for little bits at a time then take her back into the air conditioning. What a trooper this kid was. And since I didn't have room in the vehicle for her pack 'n play due to all my garage sale merchandise, she slept on the floor. I gotta hand it to this kid, she's pretty easy going and I really appreciate it. And as usual, kept everyone entertained with how adorable she is:

Missy Helen insisted she needed that puppy dog stuffed animal and I think Rachel did like it. Look at her cute little tounge! She keeps sticking it out because it feels weird to have a tooth in her mouth!

She had many visitors come to see her, including Randy Good from next door, the owner of Good's Candies (best chocolate and ice cream in the world!!!)

At one point Jalaine and Missy came out and told me that they tried to lay Rachel down for a nap (which was not easy as she had all that room to roll around in and insisted upon doing so!) Apparently they laid her down, she rolled over, put her paicifier in her own mouth and was gone. How sweet is this picture?!

This week we've been spending our evenings in my Aunt Gail's Kindergarden classroom. It's a perfect place for her to be crawling around and getting into stuff. While I'm helping to get Aunt Gail organized, I put the diaper bag on the floor and Rachel takes a lot of time pulling everything out. Every item she pulls out must be looked at, tasted and chewed upon if it feels good on her gums. When she gets bored with an item, she simple reaches into the bag and pulls out something else.

And in true child form, she was elated when we gave her a larger cardboard box. Since she couldn't tip it over or lift if up, she enjoyed chomping on the sides of it. Further proof (at least for me) that all children are entertained by cardboard. It's a time honored toy.

She's really had to entertain herself quite a bit while we're there and she's done a great job. We noticed this week that she makes a noise that sounds JUST like a dove. Literally, it's a "coo" and it is so pleasant and sweet!

Last night I put her pajamas on her right as we were getting ready to head home and sent this picture to Jason since he's out of town this week: