Our Merry Christmas

18 Month Stats

She was 33 inches and 27 pounds. I didn't get my little sheet with the percentages for some reason :(. But if the whole doubling-your-height-at-two thing is true, then Leslie will be at LEAST 5'6". What??? How is it possible for ME to have a tall daughter??? Craziness.

Our Christmas Parade

Ok. Since she only sleeps about an hour a day at daycare, Leslie usually decided at least one day during the weekend to go to sleep around 9:30 a.m. to catch up. That wasn't such a convenient thing today because the parade started at 11. So at 10:45 she was asleep and I decided we weren't gonna make it. Then she woke up at 10:50 and we decided to take our chances. We parked 100 miles away and jogged to Ashford Church to watch -- 21 minutes late -- and I'm so glad we did! Leslie had a blast!

P.S. She LOVED her mittens and did not want to take them off!

Our "Just Because"

This is one of those pictures I take just because I love the outfit!

Our Fun In the Leaves

Our Thanksgiving

Leslie had the time of her LIFE on Thanksgiving. I've never seen her so excited to play with her cousins and Recie.

On a more sour note, we found out she does have kidney reflux on BOTH sides, just like her mama did. We await word on how soon she'll need surgery. Until then, it's antibiotics every day to ward off infection!

There are probably too many recent accomplishments to note, but I'll give it a shot:

• She does all her gymnastics positions: straddle, pike, and butterfly
• She can begin her forward roll all by herself (we have to help her with the roll part)
• Just TODAY she started saying "Awww man!" like swiper on Dora. Before that she just said backpack
• She has FINALLY started trying to say all kinds of words if you ask her to. They mostly just come out in the correct number of syllables but not the correct consonants!
• She is still a creature of habit who loves her routines and is very helpful with cleaning, throwing things in the trash can, putting toys back, etc.
• She TRIES to count!
• She loves to scream out "Mama" and "Dada" when she's looking for us.
• She says more now instead of just signing it!
• She says "hello" when the phone rings.
• When she sees the Christmas tree she says "oooohhhhhh"
  

Our Halloween

Our Rare Picture Together

Happy Halloween!

Our Bed Head :)

Our Little Emergency

Leslie had a 102 degree fever when I picked her up from daycare Wednesday, so we went straight to Dr. Edwards' office. By the time we got there her fever was 104.6 and she couldn't lift her arm she was so fatigued. He performed strep and flu tests. Both were negative, but we assumed it was the flu based on the facts that flu test is rarely positive the first 24 hours and we had definitely been exposed to the flu.

We gave her the Tamiflu that was prescribed and she puked. I wasn't surprised because I came straight home and read up about it and found it makes many kids puke, but that it does lessen flu symptoms by a day, and she only threw up a tiny bit. The next day, more 104 fevers and she puked in the doctors office (green puke all over my shirt). Dr. Edwards asked if her urine smelled, and I told him no. He said if I was nervous he'd put her in the hospital, but if I thought I could keep her hydrated he had no problem with her staying home, since she seemed well hydrated there in the office. I preferred to keep her home.

So we continued with 104.5 degree fevers. Every six hours she'd have Motrin and that would reduce the fever down to 100 or so, but the alternating rounds of Tylenol wouldn't budge the fever.

Then Friday around 10, her fever totally broke, and we played outside and ate lunch. She napped, but not long, so I rocked her a bit. While we rocked she started shivering, and I could feel her fever was back. Her forehead temp was 102, but then she spit out her paci and I saw BLUE BLUE BLUE lips.

Can I somehow make this more dramatic?? SHE HAD BLUE LIPS.

And they were cold as ice to the touch, even though her forehead was feverish.

I completely freaked. Called a friend for advice but then decided that I just needed to take her to the ER. I turned up the heat in the car and my blue-lipped, shivering child just kept telling me it was "hot."

We went to regional first care and they took us straight back. They took her temp (104.6) and gave her oxygen. Immediately her lips were red again. We were told later that she was not getting enough oxygen because the fever makes her breathing more labored. We guessed that's why she was blue. But today, I found this explanation online: "I have seen children with no underlying medical problems experience high temperatures and skin color changes. When a young child’s fever is high their abdomen and back can feel very hot to touch while their arms and legs feel cool. In some of these children the hands and feet may also appear to be bluish in color."

Then they took us in an ambulance from Regional First Care to St. Mary's. Not because she was in that much danger, but because they didn't trust me to drive. Which I don't get because I promise I totally kept it together (pat on back). The only time my lips quivered was when I told the receptionist we need to be seen immediately because "m-m-my c-c-child is b-b-blue."

The ER experience was horrible for Leslie but ok for me. I really felt like they covered all their bases and I was comfortable with that. It was clear from the beginning they suspected a urinary tract infection, and Dr. Edwards' questions about the smell of her urine kept coming back to me. I was sure now that it was a UTI.

But they performed flu and strep tests, as well as xrayed her chest, and of course took a urine sample, which they had to do with a cath.

Have I mentioned Leslie was traumatized? I mean, some of you are relatives who live quite far away, so let me say that Leslie measures strangers from a distance. She does not trust them and does NOT want them in her personal space. I'm afraid I cannot describe her as friendly! But it was bad enough that all the strangers in the ER were in her personal space, but they stuck her no less than three times, swabbed her throat and nose, inserted and removed a catheter, and put six monitor things on that pulled the crap out of her skin if she moved too quickly.

But it was all over quickly and she was soon feverless and playing. Daddy went for food and she asked for "Da" the whole time he was gone. She got a full round of IV antibiotics, but the ER doc thought that would not be enough and we had to stay overnight. We left Saturday after another strong dose of antibiotics.

We'll see what Dr. Edwards has to say about all this. I had kidney reflux as a child, as did Tricia. The condition is hereditary and it's quite likely Leslie has it. However, Susan cautioned us not to be too quick to perform the awfully painful test for the condition (I can remember it from my childhood it was so bad). I can see how it might make sense to wait and see if she at least has one more UTI. After all, next time she has a fever I'll immediately ask the doctor to check for UTI, so we should (praying) not have a situation this serious again. But we'll see what the doctor recommends.

Our Quick Update

Things are moving so quickly I need to jot down a few bullets.

• Leslie is saying "ball," "all done" (in a sing-song voice),"High Five" (she gets that from Ms. Erin), "Bray," and "feet." She points to the picture above her changing table when she says "feet."
• She loves to play the game where she kisses mommy, then daddy, mommy, then daddy!
• She likes kissing HERSELF in the mirror!
• When we say it's time to put on her pajamas, she walks to her room and sits down, patiently waiting for us to change her.
• When leaving for school, she throws her paci and Sprinkles in her school bag and walks out the door.
• She makes a lion sound and cow sound.
• She loves dancing to the Wonder Pets song!
• Oh -- and she looooooooves apples :)

Happy Fall!

Our Happy Game Day!

Our Happy Birthday to Kate! (and our first gymnastics class)

First, Happy Fourth Birthday to my sweet niece, Kate. I love you!!

I took Leslie to School Street Gym for the first time today. It's hard to relate this sort of thing in writing, but let me just say we had a blast. She was dancing in the lobby before we ever got into the gym. For her first day, I think she did a very good job of using the equipment and being a nice student :)

Our Church Dress!

Our Kate's Fourth Birthday Party

Our 15-Month Stats (well, almost 16 months!)

Dr. Edwards delayed our 15-month visit because he didn't want to expose Leslie to all the flu and strep-throat germs that were crowding his office this month.

Height: 32in. (80th)
Weight: 25.9 (80th)
Head: 48.5 (off the charts, apparently!)

Some cute things worth mentioning:

• She continues mimicking tons of things: putting her toothbrush under the faucet, putting on my bras (ha!), putting items where they belong when I'm cleaning.
• She has started saying "byyyyyeee" instead of bye-bye, and it's really darn cute.
• She has learned the names of rooms in the house, and will go to those rooms if I ask her to.
• Calls the sunshine "hot" even if it isn't!
• Calls Baxter "Ba-Ba"
• Can un-velcro her shoes to take them off.
• When the phone rings, she picks it up, holds it to her ear, and "talks."
• When we're leaving daycare, we walk out the door and she says "carrrrr" when we approach the van.
  

Our Words

Hiiiiiiiiiiiii!
This post is dedicated to Leslie's new word: "Hi." Which is totally strange because we say "Hey" in this house!

Looking like Daddy...

Ready for School!

First Words & Our little helper

This weekend Leslie starting trying to say words for the first time. To be clear -- she's said "mama" and "da" for some time, but da is the only word she has used in context. Two weeks ago she randomly starting saying "car" in a very enthusiastic manner! I have no idea why she chose this as her first word -- it's not one we were trying to coax her to say -- but it's what she chose!

However, this weekend was the first time I said words to her and she really focused on repeating them. She has nailed "bye-bye" and "hot." She is using "hot" in context very well. Every time she sees me blow on her food she said "hot." She only says "bye bye" when I ask her to...I suppose she thinks waving is sufficient! She is trying her hardest to correctly repeat "cookie."

She has also discovered a love for cleaning! Obviously she's her daddy's girl. She is absolutely GIDDY when I give her the wipes container to let her pull one out herself. She's so excited she looks away (the flirt) and smiles before taking one. Then she proceeds to wipe her hands and clean her tray. She does a very good job!

Leslie has become such a little helper! She usually plays around in the bathroom while we are getting ready for work, so she has learned my routine pretty well. The cutest thing about this is when I turn off the water in the shower, she grabs a towel and hands it to me every day. Another example was in her note from school today: Sutton was asking the teacher for her bunny, and Leslie found the bunny and gave it to Sutton.

Les' favorite activity is to play outside. Every evening we got out side and play golf, as well as pet Walker and Stripey (Stripey is the neighbor's cat -- Leslie LOVES her).

As an extra bonus in the blog post, I'll link to the video of me skydiving over Kauai :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J6m0dPQ6ig

Leslie climbs and slides down the slide...

ALL BY HERSELF! This is a big one for us.

1st game of the season...not a good one

What a morning of firsts!

Just wanted to list all the firsts I've seen this morning.

1. Leslie signed for me to change her diaper before I noticed it needed changing! She just looked at me and did the sign for diaper, I sniffed, and sure enough...

2. She usually sits on the counter with me as I get dressed. Well, she picked up my bottle of moose, touched the tip and then rubbed her fingers in her hair!

3. I get in the shower, and she walks over to the towel hanging down and starts patting it, as if to say, "Mommy, don't you need this?"

She's done some similar things before, but I found the moose pretty impressive since I never acknowledge what it is or talk to her about what it does. About a month ago she picked up my comb that I used after I take a shower and started combing her hair, so I suppose I shouldn't have been too surprised that she figured out the moose. Let's just hope she doesn't figure out how to get the moose OUT of the bottle for a long while!

Now, since I've been slack, here are some things she's accomplished in the past two months.

• Wiping her own hands
• Leads her daycare class to the lunchroom every day!
• Knows how to get to some places by name...the laundry room, Mommy & Daddy's room...her high chair!
• Signs "Please eat" ALL THE TIME! (started those signs at 12 months)
• Also signs diaper (just got that one), milk (since about 11 months..I noticed I didn't write it earlier), bath, all done.
• Points to her head when you start looking for a bow!
• Learned to sit in small chairs all by herself (this was a major milestone; she was frustrated that she couldn't do it).
  

Daddy tickles Leslie ;)

Some random pictures for Ashley :)

Leslie at the beach!

Visit with Recie

So my 15-year class reunion was this weekend, which meant Les got to spend some quality time with Recie. She had a ball and was all smiles and giggles. She is just too much fun.