Sickies and Sleep Deprivation.

The past few months have been a whirlwind of hospitals, holidays, travel, pool construction, illness, and sleep deprivation.  We've been busy, to put things mildly, and not really in a fun, good way.  Since Chloe started daycare in August, she's had four, that's right, FOUR double ear infections, wheezing that sent us for a three day stay in the hospital, a nasty stomach virus, puking and diarrhea from antibiotics, and constant congestion.

 

 I think she was at daycare a total of 10 days in December, and maybe 10 days in January.  The ear infections and wheezing are almost identical to what we saw with Cassidy, so we are experts at nebulizer treatments and trips to the pediatrician.  It's less scary this time around, but just as frustrating and exhausting.  

With constant ear infections and fluid in her ears, Chloe's got reduced hearing in both ears and is not vocalizing or babbling like she should be.  That developmental delay pretty much made the decision for ear tubes an easy one, but we had to improve the condition of her lungs before surgery was an option.  She had her ear tube, adenoid, and tongue tie surgery last Friday and it went well, but recovery has been rough with a lot of discomfort and little sleeping.  Hopefully she'll be on the mend soon ...  once we get past the 10 days of antibiotics which bring on diarrhea, read:  more days out of daycare and work.

 

Cassidy's been pretty healthy, just the normal seasonal colds to deal with.  With the exception of a week long battle against the flu beginning on the tail end of our Christmas week in Minnesota, which featured a fever of 103-104 for five days, she's been well.  She's rockin first grade with straight A s for the first two quarters (yes, they get real grades, have ALOT of homework with weekly spelling, vocabulary, grammar and reading, and math tests... Don't get me started on lost childhoods!) 

We've also just finished construction of an in ground pool!  We are just waiting on installation of a safety fence and need to landscape around the outer edge of the yard.  

Bring on summer!

So that's where I've been at ... Fumbling through life day by day in a haze of sickies and sleep deprivation.  

Six.

Six.

I have a six year old.

The past year has been a blur with Cassidy in "big girl" school, pregnancy, birth of a preemie, buying a new house, moving, and selling our old house.

Somehow, during all that, my baby started first grade, turned six, lost her first tooth, and made the honor roll with straight A's.  She's growing up ... 

too fast.

We had her birthday party at our new house, and Cassidy and Jeff went bigger and better with the birthday bounce house ... as big as possible for our yard and complete with a water slide.

 

 

 

We had a fantastic turnout with 18 first graders and a couple of their siblings.  The weather held out with only a short burst of rain, and the thunder holding off until we were ready to have cake.  The downpour started shortly after everyone left!

 

Cassidy lost her first tooth in september, just after her birthday.  The toothfairy brought her $1 and an Elsa Dress. (Apparently the tooth fairy is very generous on the first tooth, or so Cassidy explained to us after her friends lost teeth.)

Cassidy's adjusted well to first grade.  She's got 1-2 hours of homework each night (yes, you read that right).  Nana picks her up monday - thursday and gets her going on homework after school so our evenings aren't so rushed. (I don't know how we'd do it without Nana!)  She's got spelling, vocabulary, and Math tests each week, with the occasional reading test thrown in too.

And she's excelling.  Cassidy earned all A's and all S's (satisfactory) on her first report card.  She got awards for the honor roll, perfect attendance, and a "mustang award" for always doing her best.

She's also a fantastic big sister.  She loves to entertain Chloe with crazy dances, songs, giggles, tickles, and anything else needed to get a smile.

 

 

 

Cassidy is amazing.  She is smart, friendly, outgoing, funny, independent, caring, and a complete joy to be around (most of the time!) 

 

I am so, so proud of her.

So proud to be her Mama.

 

 

My big six year old.

 

Building Immunity

Chloe made it one week into daycare before her immune system began the torturous process of making antibodies.  The congestion and nasty diapers started the Sunday after her first week.  After a week of this, we started major spit ups after coughing and gagging on mucus.  The trip to the pediatrician concluded, "yep, she's got a virus.  It'll run it's course in 1-2 weeks."

We were back to normal for about four days with only a little congestion when she had several major spit ups overnight.  After her spitting up on a regular basis for the past two weeks, I didn't think anything of it.... until the next morning when daycare called 45 minutes after I dropped her off and said she had thrown up all over her bed.

So we faced her first stomach virus this past Friday.  We did a lot of laundry, mopped a lot of floors, wiped down the house with Clorox wipes, washed hands in scalding hot water, and gave Baxter a bath...yes, he got puked on too.  Another trip to the pediatrician when the diarrhea started Saturday morning told us we were doing everything right, she wasn't dehydrated, and she should be on the mend soon.  After a few more rounds of throwing up after eating, we decreased the amount we let her eat at once to let her irritated stomach recover.  The diarrhea didn't last long once we got the throwing up to stop and she was pretty much recovered by Sunday ... when Nana started throwing up.

Fun times on Mommy's birthday!  But at least we aren't evacuated for a hurricane!!!