Our first "Cassidy is sick" phone call

On Friday, we got the call for the first time. Cassidy's running a fever. You need to come get her. Daycare's rule is no fevers over 100 degrees. Cassidy had been running a low grade fever all week with congestion, but never more than 99.5 and she hadn't really been acting sick. So I wasn't really surpised to get the call. Actually I'm surprised it has taken this long considering how often she's been sick with one thing or another.

I went to pick her up and got her in to see a pediatrician at her clinic, but her normal doc was out until monday. The good news, actually GREAT news as far as I'm concerned since I was really expecting to take her for more lung xrays and another diagnosis of pneumonia, is that the congestion is all in her nose and ears. Her lungs sounded okay. The bad news is that she's got infections in both ears. So we picked up her antibiotic prescription last night and got started on it right away along with a little tylenol. She slept great and was back to her cheery self this morning. We'll give her this antibiotic (augmentin) for the next 10 days which will take us almost to her 12 month checkup on September 16, so her normal doc will recheck her ears then.

Something about the shoes.

There is something about Cassidy wearing shoes that makes her seem like more of a little kid than a baby to me. Maybe it's just that she is looking more like a little kid than a baby, but for some reason, I only seem to notice it when she's got shoes on.

(Cassidy in her "big girl chair")

(She was always wanting to sit in the Ijoy chair which she can't

really get in and out of, so we bought her a chair of her own)

We've just bought her a few pairs of shoes in the last week or two. Before that, she's always been barefoot or just had socks on. We're sticking to soft soled shoes for now because being barefoot or wearing soft soled, flexible shoes while learning to walk is supposed to help foot development and ankle strength. She's not walking yet, but "cruising" pretty well. She still prefers to sit down and crawl to wherever she wants to go rather than holding our hands to walk, or even holding on to the furniture if its more than a couple steps.

(We also bought a storage ottoman to use as her toy box.

This way the living room doesn't always look like a playroom)

Our main struggle right now (aside from her being sick with something all the time) is sleep. Cassidy's latest trend is to go to bed around 8:30 or 9:00 and sleep until sometime in the middle of the night, usually around 3 or 4 am. She then wakes up and is up for around 2 hours. She'll finally tire out again and sleep soundly right past her usual wake up time of 7 or 7:30. This weekend we were up from 3 until 5am and then slept until 9am... okay for the weekends, not so good when we have to get up for work. Sometimes she's fussy during this time, other times she is just wide awake. We figured out that part of the problem could have been the pumped breast milk we were giving her right before bed which contained various levels of caffeine depending on my coffee, diet coke, and vitamin 10 water intake for the day. However, this new sleep pattern has been going on for the last month or so, which doesn't coincide with our change to all breast milk before bed. Switching back to a supplement of formula and reducing mommy's caffeine intake hasn't helped the problem, though I'll admit she wasn't up quite as long last night, only an hour.

I think there may be several contributing factors:

• the antibiotic she was on after the pneumonia and the one she's on now seem to give her a tummy ache.
• the yogurt we are giving her 2-3 times a day to prevent diarrhea from the antibiotics may give her a tummy ache.
• I'm pretty sure she's cutting another tooth.
• Caffeine in the breast milk.
• Her ear infections bother her more at night when there is nothing to distract her from the discomfort/pain.
• Her congestion wakes her up, either from coughing or just not being able to breathe well through her nose.

Since most of these involve some sort of discomfort or pain, we've been giving her some Tylenol before bed, and end up giving another dose in the middle of the night if she seems uncomfortable when she wakes up.

Cassidy's Play Date at the Aquarium

Well, okay, it admittedly was more of a playdate for mommy. We met Erin and Freddie at the aquarium on Saturday afternoon.

Cassidy fell asleep on the way there, having missed her morning nap due to shopping and errand running. She slept right through being moved into the stroller, the walk to the aquarium, and the first 15-20 minutes of fish viewing. Once she woke up, I moved her to the sling for easier viewing ... easier for her to see the fish and other animals, easier for me to see her reaction to them, and easier for us to work our way up to the windows. The place was packed, and while the stroller worked good for carting our diaper bags around, I think I'd definitly leave it behind and opt for the sling the whole way next time.

I think Cassidy tried to imitate the sign for fish when I showed her, but it looked a bit like her arm flapping in excitement, so I'm not sure. (She has started making the sign for dog pretty consistently now).

Cassidy smiled and giggled at Freddie - and promptly stuck her fingers in his mouth while patting his face when we were sitting side by side (as I cringed and silently hoped that she wasn't passing along the cold of the week to him).

It was great to have some "girl time" and get another new mom's perspective on things. Thanks Erin! We had fun and I hope we can get together again soon!

Snot, snot, and more snot ... but less than last week.

Cassidy has progressively gotten better over the last week, with the worst of it being monday night's wheezing. This is the first time she's shown significant improvement within a couple days of getting sick. I'm hopeful that she may actually be outgrowing these respiratory issues.

In the mean time though, we've made an appointment with a pediatric allergist/immunologist to check her out; we couldn't get an appointment until September 22 though. I've noticed that she gets particularly wheezy on days when we spend a lot of time outside. Usually this is when we meet on saturdays to play volleyball, which is along the bayou with fresh cut grass. I'm thinking that in addition to the numerous bugs she picks up from daycare, she may also have some allergies contributing to the overall wheeziness and congestion.

Frustration.

Throw my hands up and stomp my feet frustration.

Cassidy's recheck last Thursday went great. Doc said she sounded clearer than she's ever heard her. Even her nose was pretty dry. "Decrease breathing treatments to 1Xday with the pulmicort and xopenex. Stop the mucinex".
GREAT!

On Saturday -- yes two days later-- she started with a stuffy nose which progressively became worse and alternated between running down her face and clogging her up. On Sunday the congestion continued and a very small cough started. On Monday she came home from daycare coughing, congested, and wheezing. By bedtime she was wheezing bad and showing the beginnings of respiratory distress with her intercostal muscles sucking in every few inhalations, and coughing too much to nurse or take a bottle. The breathing treatment helped and she slept well.

I was up most of the night alternating between checking to see if she was still breathing and tossing and turning in frustration.

This morning she still had a normal temperature, but was still wheezing. We did another breathing treatment and I've placed a call to the pediatrician .... again.

Early Birthday with Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa came down for another visit to watch Cassidy while daycare was closed for its summer break. Since they won't be here for Cassidy's first birthday, we celebrated it with them a month early.

It was a nice break for Jeff and I also, with Grandma and Grandpa taking care of Cassidy's breathing treatments before nap times and bed.

We were a little unsure how the week would go since Grandma wasn't able to lift Cassidy up or pick anything up off the floor, with her next hip surgery coming up on August 20. But they worked out a system and Jeff and I worked most of the week.

While Grandma and Grandpa were here Cassidy improved her skills, pulling up on furniture with a technique involving biting whatever she's pulling up on, learning to "cruise" along the furniture, and sit back down gracefully.

She also cut another tooth, which makes five; she's got two on the top and three on the bottom now. She also failed to sleep the night through the entire time they were here, because of her coughing, cutting the tooth, or maybe she just wanted to get up and play with Grandma and Grandpa.

Once is enough?

I've always been fascinated by severe weather; in fact I think I missed my calling as a meteorologist despite a lack of knowledge on the subject. I love to watch thunderstorms, and enjoy trying to predict the paths of the tropical storms and hurricanes right along with the forecasters as they discuss air currents and low pressure systems. I've always wanted to see a tornado, though I've always said I'd like to see it from the top of my basement steps as it moves in the opposite direction.

On Sunday, my wish was granted. As we headed to the Northshore to look for properties for my parents, a good thunderstorm was brewing over the lake. Just as we pulled out onto the Causeway bridge I saw the funnel cloud. And then we saw it drop down to the water, forming the continuous line from cloud to lake. A waterspout!!!!

Waterspout on Lake Pontchartrain

The circumstances were definitely not ideal... on a bridge extending for 26 miles, with the occasional turn around every few miles. I think it was moving towards the bridge, because initially it looked quite far away, but by the time Jeff took this picture, you can actually see the water disturbance on the lake. I had a hard time driving, wanting to do nothing but stare at this amazing force of nature.

I'd like to say that seeing it once is enough, but I think I'm just as fascinated now as before, if not more. In fact, I would have loved to just sit and watch the waterspout until it disappeared back up into the clouds, and I hope I'll have the chance to see another one ... preferably moving away from me :)