May 10, 2012

Walking with shoe

Look at her go!  This is the longest I’ve seen her walk so far.  She did this three or four times this morning as I dropped her off at day care.  She’s been shuffling a few steps here and there for a couple of weeks.  Stu said she walked a lot around my mom’s house the day she was so sick.  Walking while she was throwing up, poor baby.  But so determined to walk.  Since that day, we haven’t been able to get more than those few shuffle steps from her.

This morning, well, she decided that she would walk.  I’m not sure if she’ll be of the same mind tonight, but this morning, was a walking morning!

April 29, 2012

Done! Well, I need to mulch still, but Stu wasn’t feeling well enough to get the mulch for me today. Looks like he’s caught what Ashlin had yesterday.

Hope we didn’t contaminate anyone yesterday!

Ashlin is still only shuffling for me. No true walking from her that I’ve seen. Her sister walked at just shy of 13 months. Ashlin is 13 months today.

Not that it’s a competition, but it is a measure.

 

PS.  Teagan did help pick out the pink and blue cotton candy pansies, and she helped dig holes for them too!

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April 28, 2012

Up! Up! Up!

Today sucked.  A lot.  With too much body fluid.

We started off the morning well enough.  Ashlin slept until about 5:30, but was convinced to stay in bed dozing until 6:30.  Happy with cheese and cheerios and a bit of music.  Down for a nap just before her sister woke up.

A very good morning with Teagan, her breakfast of raisins and cheerios was eaten on the sofa while watching Rio from the DVR.  I get dressed, dress her in a new-to-her outfit as her sister wakes up.  The three of us go for a walk as Stu gets ready.  Stu takes over with the girls as I make sure everything is in the diaper bag for a day trip out of town.

While we’re getting ready, Ashlin’s playing in the family room, cruising, when she lets go and does five or six shuffling steps sideways towards Stu.  Yay!

And double yay!  Today is hair cut day!  Teagan was looking forward to getting her hair cut and then braided by Mr. Wayne.

Eventually, we’re loaded up into the car and off.  About 20 minutes into the trip Ashlin throws up.  Cries.  I pull over as soon as I can, clean her up, change her clothes.  At first we thought it was a fluke, that she had eaten her string cheese too quickly and had been focusing on her new toy, maybe got motion sick.  We start off again, and she falls asleep quickly.

No suck luck.  About an hour later, when it was too far to turn around, she wakes up and throws up again.  We stop to clean her up, again.  As all there is left are a pair of pj”s, we leave her in the clothes, intending to stop at Burlington on the way to get her more.  She throws up again, another 20 minutes or so later, about 15 minutes from the hair salon.

Three times in the car.  Awesome.

We stop and I run into the store to get some clothes, another blanket.  Teagan and I go into the hair dressers, Stu and Ashlin stay in the car, she’s sleeping again.  Mr. Wayne cuts Teagan’s hair quickly, and shows me how to do a french braid.  Again.

Stu then takes both girls and goes to my parents to see if he can get Teagan to nap and clean up Ashlin, and maybe get her to nap.  Ashlin ends up puking another three times over the 2 hours they’re there.  But in the mean time, she climbs up the stairs all by herself!  And then walks, arms high like she’s tiptoeing through a swamp.  I, of course, don’t see this, as I’m still at the hair dressers.

Just as they’re finishing up drying my hair, (it always takes forever to dry my hair), Teagan has a poop accident.  Yay fun.  She deliberately did, but we’re not going to go there.  On top of Ashlin puking.  Stu gets Teagan cleaned up, as much as he can, puts her in the pj’s, and heads out to get me.  Ashlin then pukes again.  In the car seat.  Again.

Quick stop at my friend’s house to change and clean her up, and attempt to clean up her car seat.  We leave almost immediately, wolfing down some dinner, so we can drive home in the day light.  I wanted to be able to see if Ashlin puked again.  Thankfully, she slept most of the ride, and didn’t puke.  One good thing.  Teagan slept most of the trip too.

Once home, we gave Ashlin some pedialyte and cheerios.  Teagan got a cheese sandwich and some milk.  Both girls are in their beds now.  Ashlin’s monitor is turned up high.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.  With less body fluid all around.

 

 

 

April 15, 2012

We all scream for ice cream!

Teagan’s first ever ice cream cone. With rainbow sprinkles. She loved it.

Not sure how we made it almost three years without giving her an ice cream cone before, Maybe because we don’t eat out with the kids too often, and when we do, we don’t usually get dessert. When we have ice cream at home, it’s in a bowl.

I ordered the kid size, but was handed a full size cone. Teagan didn’t quite understand the reason to lick around the edges and why to not hold the cone at an angle. She was lucky that her ice cream didn’t fall off onto the ground, but it was a very tenacious cone.

We ended up turning it into a cup, letting her eat some of the cone. She put it all down to ride the carousel again, and Stu took the opportunity to throw the ice cream soup out. Teagan didn’t miss it.

A very good evening.

April 14, 2012

I'm still standing

Look who’s standing on her own!  All morning, she’d handstand, stand unsupported, then sit down.  She’d pull herself up then let go.

Like it was nothing.

Yay Ashlin!

She also took three steps this afternoon.  Shuffling steps.  Then sat down.

But you can’t stop her from standing in the middle of a room now.

~~

In terms of firsts, it was a good say.  Ashlin’s older sister walked through the zoo, all afternoon.  No strollers for her.  Strollers are for babies.

On a Carousel

I had the front pack to carry Ashlin, if Teagan got tired and needed to be in the stroller.  We didn’t need it.  I’m sure that if we didn’t have it with us, we would have needed to carry Teagan from the far corner of the zoo back to the car.

She listened and was a good girl, so we let her ride the carousel.  We were in the front of the line, so she had a decent choice of horses and animals – there were lions and tigers and a bear, oh my!  She almost chose a sledge, but I prodded her, a little, to chose one that went up and down.

I think she was scared at first, nervous about the motion, but she calmed down quick enough, and enjoyed it.  Waving at dada and her sister every time we went around.

Her sister pointed back.

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April 3, 2012

Booty!

Today was the girls first visit to the dentist.  A little behind schedule for Teagan, but very early for Ashlin. We talked it up to Teagan, to get her psyched and to hopefully keep her from not being scared.  Although she froze up, we probably didn’t need to bother much.  I was more worried than I needed to be about passing on the phobia I have of the dentist.  She’s such a brave girl.  Very good.

I ended up stuck in the office filling out her insurance forms as well as Ashlin’s.  Stu went in as moral support, to help ground Teagan in case she started getting too scared.  The dentist was really good with her, I could hear.  She showed Teagan the mirror and talked through the whole thing in nice, easy steps.  Stu said you could see that Teagan was scared, she was just the right level of scared, compliant, but not screaming and freaking out.  She was a bit uncertain as the chair reclined, but the dentist and Stu talked her though that, and then she was fine.  Nervous, but fine.  She opened her mouth nicely, when the dentist asked, opened wide and let her look at her teeth with the mirror.  She also let the dentist count her teeth – ten on top and ten on the bottom!  She said that Teagan was a very good brusher, her teeth were nice and clean.  Nicely spaced too.

After the tooth check, the dentist asked if we wanted Teagan to have a fluoride treatment.  Sure, anything to help prevent any possible cavity and actual dental work.  Raspberry flavored!  Again, Teagan was very good with the application, nervously compliant.  She gave Teagan a lollipop to have 45 minutes or so after the application to help seal it.  No juice or soda (like that’s a problem!) for the rest of the day, only milk and water.

Lollipop!

Teagan was super excited afterwards, when the dentist gave her a treat bag, with a new toothbrush, and a few toys.  Teagan called the dentist, and the hygienist, her friends.  Of course, she immediately lost the toy ring that was in there, probably behind the fish tank.  Oh well.  Teagan played with her new trinkets while enjoying her lollipop at the kitchen table.

Ashlin, on the other hand, was not as good with the dentist.  She sat on my lap, and did not like the light, and cried when the dentist tried to look in her mouth.  She asked the order that Ashlin’s teeth came in, and said that we needed to watch for the top front.  There could be a problem if they weren’t in after a month and a half.  That it’s not usual for teeth to come in out of order.  She wasn’t too worried, as you can clearly see the bumps that are the nascent teeth, but we did need to keep an eye out.  Dr. Google was no help, really.

Anyway, the dentist said that Ashlin doesn’t have the nice spacing between teeth – the few she has! – like her sister does.  Hopefully that will fix itself, but it’s way too early, and too few teeth, to worry about.

Next appointment is in six months.

March 29, 2012

Tower

So, my baby turns one today.  I can’t believe it’s been a full year already.  It zoomed by in the blink of a bleary eye.  I was a bit bittersweet this morning watching her eat gold fish (and toast, and cheese, and fruit, and, and…), knowing I was sending her off to day care today, sad that I wasn’t going to be spending the day with her.  But, I got over that bit of sadness quickly.  She was home yesterday, and will be home with me tomorrow.  But the melancholy of today being her birthday is still there.

She’s grown so much, changed so much from the little (big!) peanut I had to wait to hold.  It’s been a year of challenges, for both of us.  She’s overcome so many of them.  At first it was her breathing and glucose levels.  Then it was the possibility of  hip dysplasia, thanks to her being breech for so long.  Then she was caught in the PKU screening, then nursing too much, and refluxing.  Not nursing enough, losing weight. And losing more weight.  Throwing up and almost needing to be tested for pyloric stenosis, a bout of croup, an ear infection, rash, allergic reaction, and another more impressive rash.  Stomach flu with severe dehydration, which lead to two ER visits, with an IV for fluids during the second one.  Sleeping through the night.

Swinging Birthday Girl!

No, wait.  She hasn’t overcome that yet, still up at least once, usually twice a night.  Though she will sleep around four or five hours in a stretch now.  More, if she’s been stuffed with macaroni and cheese, saltines and gold fish.

But there were good things that happened too.  Her first smile, her first laugh.  The huge laughs that Teagan can get from her, the way she looks at Teagan, and Teagan at her.  Her first party, staying up to see the Royal Wedding.  Many walks on the beach.  Rolling over, finally getting out of the swaddle.  Finally saying Mama. Standing.  Crawling.  Cruising.  Supported walking.  It’s all going by so fast.She loves imitating you, putting things on her head, playing peek-a-boo, talking on the phone.

She will say LaLa now, and NayNay, though her preferred word is still DaDa.

She gives hugs.  When being rocked to sleep, she wants to be up, with her head on your shoulder, snuggled in, instead of reclined in your arms.  She loves her glowing seahorse, and will usually go down easily, though still doesn’t stay down all night.

She’s got five teeth now, all came up within the past six weeks.  At least three more are just waiting to break through.

She sits back and watches, happy to be on the side lines.  If she wants attention she will ask – cry – for it, unlike her sister, who will be a dancing monkey for any attention.

~~

I had this post open, revising it, adding to it, all day.  Maybe to keep my baby in mind today.  To hold her a bit longer.  I know the time she allows me to hold her is limited.  She’s going to grow up so fast, and want to run, run, as soon as she can walk.

I am looking forward to finding out who she will be as she grows older.

March 23, 2012

Ashlin said her first word today.  Well, tried to.  Stu was feeding her pieces of string cheese, and swears she said “cheese.”  When I got there, Stu asked her to repeat it, and she did.  It sounded pretty close to “cheese,” though I’m not sure if anyone else would understand it.

Her first word is cheese.

My baby!  I’m so proud.

February 25, 2012 ~ Here, Do The Turtle Again!

Today, Stu was playing with Ashlin in the play room with her push-n-go turtle.  He’d push it, it would roll, Ashlin would giggle and watch.  He’d get the turtle and do it again.  Repeat.  After a few times, Ashlin decided she wanted to play along.  She reached out and pushed the turtle back to Stu, so he could start it again.  I think this is a 13 month skill, not one for a not-quite 11 month old.

She has imitated before, anticipated even.  She loves the “on your head” game.  We put something, a rattle, a stuffed animal, a cup, on her head.  It falls off, and she laughs.  We put it back on her head.  If we stop, she will try to put it back on her head, herself.

She also loves to do jazz hands.  She is such a happy baby.

February 19, 2012

In the chair

Teagan got her first real hair cut yesterday.  She’s had her bangs trimmed once or twice before, but I don’t really count that.  Those little trims were done while standing and holding her.  Quick little things.  This time, she sat in the chair, and had a drape.

When we got to the salon, everyone was surprised that we called it a hair cut.  Our saying that she  she would be getting a hair cut today.  They quickly called it a trim, a style.  They were worried that the word cut would freak her out.  Teagan, although sensitive at times, isn’t too phased by that word.  We had done all the prep work on hair cut.  Her first hair cut.  I had told her that it would be like getting her nails cut, that if she sat still and followed instructions it wouldn’t hurt at all.

She was still a little nervous.  And excited too.  She had been looking forward to having her hair cut, but now that it was time, I think she was having second thoughts.  If she even knew what second thoughts were.  Maybe she just wanted to go eat oranges or grapes.

Still so small

The hairdresser had her watch while I got my hair washed and cut.  Smart!  She got to see that it didn’t hurt, and that it really wasn’t a big deal.

Then it was her turn.

She looked so small in the chair, even with the booster.

But she toughed it out.  She followed the hairdresser’s directions, well, as well as a 2.5 year old can.  She didn’t cry, she was such a trooper.  You could see she was anxious, but she braved it out.

Back

First, he trimmed the back of her hair.  Mr. W asked her to look down at her shoes.  Teagan tried.  She would look down, and then after about 30 seconds would look up to the mirror.  I think 30 seconds is pretty good for a toddler, who’s never had her hair cut before.  I  crouched down by her feet and tried to talk to her, hoping to keep her attention to try to help her keep her chin down.  That helped.  A little.

Bangs

Then, the bangs.  She sat very still for those.  She didn’t flinch, much, when he cut her bangs.  He got so close to her with the scissors, and yet she stayed very still.  Such a good girl. You could see her concentrating on not moving.

Pretty braids

Then he did these lovely french braids.  It’s crazy how many different shades are in her hair.  It almost looks like it’s highlighted.  Unless she went back to the early 80′s, I don’t think she has a bottle of Sun-In at her disposal.  And she didn’t do a very even job at spraying it in either.  I wonder what color her hair will be, once it stops changing.  Ashlin’s is lightening up, while Teagan’s seems to be getting darker.

Teagan had no idea that she’dget a lollipop after her hair cut.  We hadn’t mentioned it to her earlier.  She loved the fact that she could actually pick the color/flavor of her treat.  At first, she wanted pink, no blue, no green…  wait, purple!  She was very excited by her lollipop.  It may have been the first one she’s had.

The Mr. W said she did a great job, as did the other people from the salon.  She was so happy.  She hugged the hairdresser afterwards, and said thank you.

My baby girl is getting so big.

Lollipop

And yet, still so small.

Sitting Pretty

Oh, and the braids lasted maybe an hour. She couldn’t stop touching them, playing with them.