Ahh... the stress... does it end...

This blog is more of a stress reliever for me. I hope I feel better afterwards... so I apologize in advance for the 'wahs.' We'll start with myself.

I had some dental work done last week to 'finish' off some issues. I was hoping it was the last of it and afterwards could resume my normal cleanings. But over the weekend my tooth started hurting pretty badly. I went in today and it turned out that part of the filling had chipped off and was shoved under my tooth and into my gum. I can assure you it felt as good as it sounds. However, the repair was 100 times worse. Despite four numbing injections of two different types and one injection going straight into the nerve of the tooth, the dentist still couldn't numb the tooth that was already aggrivated. I was between tears and climbing out of my skin. Towards the end, even just her touching the tooth caused severe throbbing. We are hoping it won't need a root canal. She said that my gum was pretty inflamed because of the chipped piece and that along with the work can make the tooth sensitive. So I'm on some meds for the next 24 hours but am hoping I'll be done with the dentist for a while.


Taylor is slowly killing us... by lack of sleep. This has been going on for about two months. She started out resisting to fall asleep. This lasted two weeks before I go so desperate I went out and bought all kinds of contraptions to 'help' her fall asleep. Then one night we did 'sleep bootcamp.' I established a strict bedtime routine consisting of specific books, a lullaby cd, a lava lamp, rocking, prayers and being tucked in. The first two nights were rough but then seemed to work well except momma had to do it. Well at some point, she wanted us to leave her lamp light on while she slept. She screams when we turn it off... so I started leaving it on. However, I'm not convinced it's helping her sleep. I turn it off when she's asleep. But she wakes up in the middle of the night screaming. So our issue now is not her going to sleep... but her waking in the middle of the night. For the past several nights, she'll wake up crying, screaming out and wanting to rock in the living room. She starts her temper tantrums and ends up waking the whole house. Sunday night, she was up for 3 hours. It's insane. I'm not sure what to do about it but this whole sleeping phase is by far the worse ... yet. We are all so desperate to get some sleep that we did the unthinkable last night. At 2:00 and we were all up, Adam and I decided to give her one of her paci's, thinking it would do the trick. It didn't. It's only meant for bedtime here at the house. She didn't take it to school and got it when she got in bed. We'll see how it goes tonight with it.


Kendall is so precious. She's such an easy going baby and so pleasant. She smiles at everything and especially when you talk to her. Poor baby though has had this crazy mysterious rash (off and on) for about 3 weeks now. It's the craziest thing I've seen and as a mother it is literally driving me nuts. It started the week she stayed with my grandma. I noticed these bite like marks on her belly and thought "nana must have flea's." Well by the end of the week (and she only stayed with Nana 2 days), kendall had these 'bites/marks' all over her back and belly and a few on arms and legs. I ruled out flea's because no one else in the house has any bites and we haven't seen any. On that Friday I realized the weekend before and the entire week I had been feeding her oatmeal. I was convinced she was having an allergic reaction. I stopped the oatmeal and they slowly went away with in a week.

Well fast forward two weeks... to last week. Kendall has eczema and I've been using Aveeno on her skin. I had used Aveeno for several weeks before we fed oatmeal to her with no problems. However, when she developed the rash, I stopped using it. Last Wed, her eczema was flaring so I decided to use the Aveeno. I used it Thursday too. On Friday, she woke with her belly flaring again. I assumed it was from the Aveeno. I've heard if they are allergic to oatmeal by mouth then you shouldn't use topical oatmeal either. I took her to the doctor and (not her ped but another doctor) said it didn't look like allergies. Her guess was either some kind of bites or a staph infection. (Adam had staph infection while I was pregnant) So she's on antibiotics for a staph infection.

So here's my dilema....

Description of the rash: Mostly on belly and back (few on arms and legs) A red splotch (size of dime) is present with a little white head bump (kind of pimply or bite like). When the redness goes down, her stomach has a very fine red rash on it, not including the bumps described above. These bumps with reddness come and go... usually in same spot but at times she pops out a new one or two or three.

I'm not convinced it's staph. If it is.. it's not typical. We are on day 4 out of 7 of the antibiotic and I'm not seeing a huge difference. I did see on babycenter.com some similar stories, but still not convinced. Not to mention.. if it is... how do I get it out of my house?

Bugs: This just gives me the creeps... what kind, where.. why are they attacking her and no one else. I've been searching for fleas and can't find a single one. Bedbugs.... we put tape on her bed and floor ... nothing so far. We may end up fumigating the house anyways... just to be sure. I should mention that her room is the room that patches lived in at one time (when the dogs and cats were inside). But again, we aren't seeing anything. I'm also thinking of calling our exterminator to come out and take a look. They said they could visit and just look around to see if they see any evidence of flea's.

I will say this.... I think (thought of this tonight) that I believe all this started when we got some clothes from melissa's. I washed all these clothes but wonder if something may have gotten in them while they were in Melissa's attic. I'm now tracking what she wear's and her breakouts.

Allergies: who knows... I think it's huge coincidence that it started with the oatmeal, cleared with the oatmeal, started with the Aveeno and is slowly clearing. We've stayed away from Aveeno... but i want to use it sooo bad to see if she has another reaction. However I'm scared because if it's an allergic reaction, they seem to be getting worse.

So what to do? where to go from here? Do we have bugs, do we have bacteria, do we have allergies? I'm not sure my pediatrician would know. I've thought about taking her to a dermatologist or demanding to see an allergist. I guess my plan right now is to finish the antiobiotic (Friday) and see what happens. If they are still there or pop up again, I may take her back in. I may end up trying the Aveeno on one spot to see what happens. And we may end up fumigating the house anyways, which brings on a whole new set of worries. How do you safely fumigate a house with an infant and toddler living inside. Pretty stressful stuff.

Day at the doctor

We officially accomplished two well visits in one visit today. Of course, Adam was with me. No way I could have gone solo. He had no choice but to go. :-) So here are the updates on my both chillen's two hours and four shots later...

Kendall - 4 month well visit
Height : 24.5 inches (75)
Weight 14.8 (50th%)
Head: 10 3/4 inches (90%) "huge" in our doctors words

Developmentally: right on track (rolling, cooing, laughing, etc)

He said Kendall looks great and no changes were made. He did confirm she does have eczema (really, so shocked). Regarding her eyes being crossed, he wants to wait until her 6 month appointment (which really she's 5 months old next week, so we only have 5 weeks to wait) and see how they are then. They seem to be alittle better just this week.

I showed him pictures of her allergic reaction. Apparently, I wasn't suppose to be feeding her oatmeal in the first place. Even though we did with Taylor, the recommendations have changed. How's a parent suppose to know this. His advice (strict advice that we'll follow is as this...) Begin rice once to three times daily. When she hits six months (not a day sooner) we can start with babyfood fruits and veggies. She's not to attempt multi-grain cereals (oatmeal, wheat, etc) until 9 months old. At that point if she still has a reaction, it'll be addressed then. So rice it is.

Kendall got two shots. She didn't even cry for the first one. It was amazing. I've never seen anything like it. The second one she cried for a split second but she did excellent.



Taylor - 2 year old well visit
Height: 34 in. (75%)
Weight: 28 lbs (50%)
Head: 19 3/4 in (94%) "Huge"

Developmentally: following conversation took place...
Dr. C walks into room...
Dr. C: Hey Taylor, how are you.
Taylor: gives Dr. Cope the eat sh*t look
Dr. C: Give me 5 (to Taylor)
Taylor: "STOP"
Dr. C: (shocked) Well my developmental exam is through.
Mom: Yup, she's two.
Dr. C: Definitely two.

Apparently she's right on track. Ha! That's my girl. She's also been described as a fighter and strong willed during the same exam. However I was so proud of her when she walked by herself with the nurse to get weighed and height measured. Such a big girl.

The other conversation brought up was I told the doctor she's recently been exposed to the swine flu. He laughed at me and said " I could have told you that, have you seen the waiting room." And yes... for all you mother's out there.... the waiting room was packed. I suppose this isn't the time to go to the doctor just to get a minor cold checked out. They'll leave with something much bigger.

So proud of both of them!