Strike a Pose

Nobody told me that four years old was going to be the age when my child would form her own opinions on what she should be wearing, but...yeah. Apparently, it is, and Brigid's first rule of fashion?

Always wear pink.

Her second rule is there's no such thing as too many pink tulle skirts, as this one was a new purchase this past weekend, and is something like one of four currently living in her closet. Rule number three is accessories MAKE the outfit, and rule four is that it's all in the attitude.

Obviously.

And this is how I aged 15 years in two hours...

Last Wednesday evening, Steve thought Caitlin was feeling a little warm, and even though I didn't really feel anything out of the ordinary, we took her temperature. It came in at 100.6, and since the internet told me that 100.4 is considered a fever when you're taking the poor kid's temperature through her bum, I told Steve we shouldn't give her anything for the fever, yet. It was mild, and I'm in the camp that thinks a fever isn't necessarily bad, and you need to let your body do what it needs to do to fight whatever it's fighting.

Well, I was in that camp, anyway.

On Thursday, we left for work before Caitlin woke up, and neither one of us thought to tell Steve's mom that C had been warm the night before, so she maybe needed a little extra attention that day. And since Caitlin was mostly acting fine that day, the thought that she might be sick wasn't even on Karen's radar, at all.

Around 3pm, she thought Caitlin seemed a little groggy, so she took the baby up for her afternoon nap. While Karen was changing C's diaper, she started seizing. Karen called 911 for the paramedics, then my father-in-law to come get Brigid, then Steve to let him know what was happening. At 3:30, Steve was calling me, texting me, emailing me, and knocking on my office door as I was trying to give a year-end review to one of my employees, to tell me that we needed to leave right then, because Caitlin was leaving our house in an ambulance, and he didn't have all of the details, but she was unconscious, and maybe had stopped breathing at one point, and we needed to meet them at the hospital.

I barely held it together until we got into the car, and then I lost it. As I told Steve, I had a complete breakdown when our house sale fell through in November. Not panicking while my baby was on the way to the hospital in an ambulance was not an option for me.

We beat the ambulance to the children's hospital by about 20 minutes, because we were closer coming from work than they were in coming from the house, and they weren't treating it as an emergency run, because they thought Caitlin was mostly ok, so they weren't using the lights/sirens. While we were waiting, the EMT called me for some health history on Caitlin, and he was able to tell me that she was responding well, and they thought the fever was just a febrile seizure, meaning her temperature spiked too quickly for her body to handle, but there wouldn't be any last damage from it.

My mother-in-law had ridden in the ambulance with Caitlin, and at the hospital, she had to recount her story at least four times for various nurses and doctors. She also had to explain how Caitlin had managed to get her leg caught in the coffee table while Steve and I were out of town last weekend, leaving an impressive bruise on her poor little thigh, because she had twisted herself in there nice and tight.

In the end, they all agreed that it was a febrile seizure, and we needed to alternate her on Tylenol and Motrin every three hours to keep her fever (probably caused by the same virus that had Brigid up and vomiting at 3:30 Friday morning, but that's another story...) down, and we took Baby Caitlin home to eat all of the popsicles.

You'd better believe that kid is getting medicated at the slightest hint of a fever from now on, because this is dangerous or not, this is not something I ever want to have to experience again.

Poor baby...

Troublemaker?

Caitlin makes a break for the refrigerator, every time we try to open it. She's a lot like our dogs, now that I think about it: constantly begging for food, recognizing the sound of BOTH the refrigerator AND pantry doors opening (and coming running when she hears either one), trying to eat whatever might be lying around on the floor at any point in time, peeing on the floor if given a long enough opportunity to do so...

(I think I've just decided that the next time someone tells me I really should try again to have a boy for Steve's sake, I'll just go get a new puppy, instead...)

Anyway, I guess I should be relieved that she was only going for milk this time around, because yesterday? I caught her trying to break into the liquor cabinet.

It might be time to invest in some cabinet locks to guard against this one...

Weekend Away

Steve and I took a few days this weekend to head down to Tampa, Florida for Hunahpu Day, Cigar City Brewery's annual release festival for one of their more popular beers. Personally, we had a great time, because we got there a little early, stood in line first thing to buy the beers Steve had driven almost eight hours to buy, then took the next few hours to sample as many of the different beers on tap as we could, in absolutely perfectly gorgeous weather, I might add, before hightailing it out of there in time for a 4pm nap back at the hotel. Apparently, we were some of the lucky ones, though, as the 3,500 people that were supposed to have tickets to the event seemed closer to double, or even triple, that amount, and not everyone who spent $50 on a ticket for the right to buy beer was actually able to buy said beer.

I guess it got out of hand, the brewery (or the police, I'm not sure the specific details) shut the event down early, and Cigar City has decided to cancel the event in the future, moving to a regular distribution release of their super-special beer, instead of the big party it has been in the past.

Again...I was back in the hotel, under the covers at this point, watching Island Hunters on HGTV. To me? The event, and the weekend overall, was a success.

I even got to spend some quality time on the beach...

(Although, might I suggest, if you are looking for a peaceful spring break, maybe stay away from Clearwater Beach? At least on the weekends? It was CRAZY.)

(But fun.)

When we got home early Monday afternoon? Brigid was excited to see me, but she still told us she wanted Steve to put her to bed because even though she'd missed me, she'd actually missed daddy, more. And Caitlin wanted me to pick her up, only so she'd be able to more emphatically reach for Steve, going so far as to start CRYING ON ME when I wouldn't let her go.

So, obviously, if you're looking for me, I'll be back in Florida, since I'm OBVIOUSLY not needed at home anymore...

The Never-Ending Hike

On Sunday, it was 70 degrees and not raining, which made it the nicest non-working day we've had since...I don't know. December, maybe? I might be exaggerating, but I can't be completely sure. What I do know is that this winter has been terrible, and it just needs to go away, already. If I still lived up north, where it JUST WON'T QUIT SNOWING?!?!?! You'd probably find me rocking away in the corner at this point, in the fetal position, with my sound machine set to ocean waves and a picture of the beach gripped tightly in my hands...

As it is, we had a nice day before the cold weather came back to haunt us AGAIN, so we took advantage of it by hiking the falls about 45 minutes north of our house. The hike itself was only .8 of a mile, roundtrip, but as Steve finally gave in to Brigid's incessant begging for a camera and gave her our old digital camera, and as she is apparently the next Ansel Adams or something, we were on that .8 of a mile for something close to two hours. An effective aerobic workout, it was not.

But the family time was definitely worth it.

I couldn't get enough of Brigid in her little skinny jeans and ballcap PLUS her Converse and flannel. I mean...COME ON. It's like it was Halloween, and she'd decided to go as a stereotypical photographer, she was so dressed for the part. I took pictures of her taking pictures for maybe a quarter of the time she did it, before deciding that I maybe didn't need 45 pictures of her taking pictures, so I stopped. But I'd say that her eye for detail is pretty impressive...

We got a slideshow of Brigid's pictures when we got home, and she may need to work on the focus a little bit. Unless that's her signature look, I guess, because I never really can tell with these artistic types. At some point, though, I'll need to do a post of nothing but her pictures because what she finds interesting was pretty entertaining, and maybe we'll all decide that the blurriness was intentional.

She seemed pretty proud of herself, anyway...

Caitlin was not quite as impressed with the whole trip.

Oh. And then there was some nature stuff, too...

The park we were in had camping cabins everywhere, which is possibly the only way Steve will EVER get me to agree to a camping trip, and I'm excited to spend some more time around there when the weather starts to warm up a little. It's hard NOT to find peace hiking next to a mountain stream, even if you're having to stop every 30 seconds to watch your 4-year old take a picture of the side of a rock, so I really hope this becomes a regular thing for us.


PS: Mom, Georgia wants you to come visit...

Fifteen Month Check-Up: Caitlin Edition

As if I wasn't dreading Caitlin's morning appointment enough for the potential doctor-led scolding I was expecting, the powers that be decided to drop a heap of surprise road construction and one lane highways on me as well, meaning that my usually fifteen minute drive to the doctor took closer to an hour.

Also meaning that technically, I missed the appointment altogether.

See, my doctor has this rule about being more than fifteen minutes late, in that if you ARE more than fifteen minutes late, you get rescheduled to a later time, because SHAME ON YOU FOR MAKING YOUR DOCTOR WAIT. And honestly, I get it. I do. I like to think that this rule will make me all kinds of happy in the future, when I'm not stuck waiting in the office for 30 minutes past my scheduled appointment, all because someone else couldn't get there in time for their appointment. It's probably a good thing for everyone.

But this morning? After I'd left my house at 8:40am to find traffic stopped dead about a mile from said house, after I'd called at 8:50am to tell them I was definitely going to be late because of said stopped traffic, after I'd called them AGAIN at 9:15 to tell them I was STILL at least ten minutes out from the office and STILL sitting in traffic and was there anything they could do to help me? After they put me on hold for five minutes while they tried to see if there was any possible way they could still see my baby today? After I remembered sitting in the exam room during the last well visit for close to twenty minutes between seeing the doctor and having the nurse finally come back to give Caitlin her shots?

I can't say I was too high on the rule at that point. In fact, I may have had a slight breakdown around the fact that I was already closing in on a 45 minute trip, AND I was already going to be late to work (which has been a roller coaster of stressful situations in and of itself these last few weeks), AND I had already stressed myself out enough around Caitlin not walking, AND I was NOT going to be thrilled if they tried to push us out to another day.

Anyway. The doctor was booked for the rest of the day, but there was an opening at 10:30am with the nurse practitioner, so when Caitlin and I showed up at the office shortly after 9:30am, we settled in for a wait, and at 10:27am*, we were finally called back.

I'll be interested to see what kind of sick visit we have ahead of us after an hour spent in the waiting room for her well visit appointment, but I guess that's neither here nor there...

And now...the stats!

(Caitlin got blood drawn from her finger and shots in her poor little thigh. I feel like you can sense the betrayal in her eyes through the picture below. She is judging me harshly...)

Fifteen month stats, Caitlin:

Length: 31.75 inches (85th percentile)

(Twelve months - 31.25/95th)

(Nine months - 28.5/78th)

(Six months - 26/67th)

(Four months - 24.75/69th)

Weight: 22lbs 6.5oz (43rd percentile)

(Twelve months - 20lbs 15.4oz/42nd)

(Nine months - 19lbs 3oz/54th)

(Six months - 16lbs 6oz/59th)

(Four months - 13lbs 4oz/56th)

Fifteen month stats, Brigid:

Length: 30.5 inches (55th percentile)

(Twelve months - 30.5/90th)

(Nine months - 27.5/50th)

(Six months - 26.25/75th)

(Four months - 25/80th)

Weight: 24lbs 6oz (75th percentile)

(Twelve months - 22lbs 14oz/70th)

(Nine months - 20lbs 14oz/80th)

(Six months - 17lbs 9oz/85th)

(Four months - 14lbs 10oz/75th)

The NP asked if we had any concerns about Caitlin's ability to grasp things, which Caitlin answered by firmly grasping the NP's stethoscope and pulling it off of her neck. She asked if Caitlin could ask for things that she wanted through noises and pointing. She asked about playtime. Then she asked if we had any concerns about any of her other areas of development, at which point Caitlin kept trying to pull her socks back on over her feet, and I was all 'Oh, not at all. My kid knows how to dress herself already. See? She's really exceptional. She's trying to put her socks back on. But...uh...yeah. Now that you mention it...she's not walking, yet. BUT LOOK AT HER TRYING TO PULL HER SHIRT OVER HER HEAD!' The NP had Caitlin stand up, and said she's perfectly fine and more than ready to walk, she just must not want to do so right now. And then she told me to feed the kid more spinach (slightly low iron in the bloodwork results) and watch for more teeth (slightly higher white blood cells in the same results), and that was that.

And then I bought myself Subway to celebrate. The end.

*I was watching the clock intently, because if, as they kept telling me, so many other people were having problems getting in because of the traffic, too, didn't that mean there was a possibility that they could take me back early? Maybe? Please?

No. No it did not. You will wait your hour, and YOU WILL LIKE IT.

Missed Deadlines

When I took Caitlin in for her 12-month check-up back in December, we had just moved into our new house, so it was her first appointment with the new pediatrician that I'd found in our new city. Since the doctor didn't have any history with us, I think I was expecting some kind of deep background inquiry around what my kid could and couldn't do at this stage, but she simply asked all of the normal developmental questions for a one-year old, around what kind of sounds Caitlin was making, whether she was interactive with us, and of course, whether she was walking, yet.

Seeing as how Caitlin didn't really progress from army crawling to true crawling until something close to 10/11 months, the answer to the last question was not only 'no', it was a pretty emphatic 'HELL NO'. Not only was she NOT walking, she wasn't even close. She wasn't cruising around the furniture or behind a push toy. She wasn't trying to stand on her own. Heck, she wasn't even trying to stand with some assistance, since she wouldn't pull herself up into a standing position at all, for anything.

The doctor told me she wasn't too concerned at that point, since Caitlin was incredibly interactive in other ways, but that if she wasn't walking when we came back for the 15-month check-up, then she was 'going to want to talk about it'.

Tomorrow is that 15-month check-up. And Caitlin still isn't walking.

She's doing all of the other things she should have been doing three months ago, having finally learned to pull herself up against the furniture and walk with either adult (or big sister) or toy assistance, but as for standing on her own? Or even attempting to take a step on her own? We've had none of that.

And while I'm mildly worried about that fact that she seems to be so far behind in this developmental stage, I'm even more worried that the doctor is going to be concerned about how Caitlin is progressing at this age. Steve and I have been working with her for the last couple of months, trying to push the issue, but...

She just doesn't seem interested in walking. And I'm not sure how to remedy that fact, other than just wait it out.

I just hope the pediatrician is ok with that, too...