Kendall's 6m well visit

Today Kendall had her 6 month well visit check up. Everything went well despite her getting three shots. She wasn't too happy about those, of course. She was 27 inches long and 15.12 lbs. She's actually lost alittle bit of weight since her 4 month appointment. Doc says she's right on track.

He is referring her to an opthalmologist (eye doctor) for her eyes. He called it esotropia. We have to wait and see what the eye doctor says but he thinks it can be corrected with just her wearing a patch. We'll see.

He also 'confirmed/agreed' that the mysterious rash she's had for the last two months is an oatmeal allergy. We've thrown out all the Aveeno products... actually just using them on Taylor instead. I'm hoping she'll grow out of it by 9 months. He mentioned that if she doesn't then he'll probably refer her to a GI doctor... not sure why though.

So insurance reenrollment is coming up at Adam and mine work. After today's appointment, I feel comfortable signing up for the higher monthly premium. It'll probably benefit us since we'll have all these 'extra' doctor visits and procedures. We sure could have used this plan this year with all that has gone on... probably saved us a thousand bucks.

Kendall is constantly on the go. She hardly sleeps, I suppose she's scared she'll miss something. She's already scooting on the floor, rocking back and forth on her knees and really getting around. However she's not even sitting alone yet. I keep telling her she can't crawl until she sits. But I'm not sure she's listening. We are slowly introducing solids. Because of her possible food allergies, we are being extra caution. She can only eat rice (as in cereal) until 9 months. We just started veggies last week. She's such a joy to be around.

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!

Kendall's allergic reaction

Last week Kendall broke out in this crazy bump like rash. At first I thought it was flea bites. But they continued to get worse and worse and no one else was getting bites. After about 5 days of it progressing, it hit me that we had started her on oatmeal a few days before the rash appeared. I should also mentioned that while she had the rash, she puked like crazy. She's a reflux baby but hasn't spit up like this ever. It was crazy. So I looked up and of course self diagnosed her with an oatmeal allergy. But the internet said a reaction would be exacty like she had. She's been oatmeal for 5 days and the rash and continued to improve. Yea! Though now I'm scared about what kind of allergies she may have. I'm hoping this is something that just didn't agree with her right now. But I'm worried she may have a wheat allergy or worse a gluten intolerance, which will change our eating habits drastically. See pictures below... I had taken these prior to realizing what it was... I was prepared to post them on here to ask people what they thought it was... bites, rash, eczema. But now I know. We see the doctor on Friday so we'll see what he says about that... along with her eczema and cross eyes. I'm sure I'll have something to blog about then.

Taylor is TWO!

Taylor finally turned two on Saturday. She's been tempermentally two for a while ... now she's there chronically. heh. We decided to have an Elmo party because she has been into Elmo this year and I figure I should be able to get away with a neutral gender party while she's younger. I figure the older she gets she'll want more princess, fairy, pink parties. I was real happy with how it turned out. We originally were suppose to celebrate at the park but at the last minute moved it to Popsey and CiCi's house due to the weather.


We had a good turn out and Taylor got alot of good gifts. One of her favorite gifts is a talking baby and baby size play pen. She LOVES these. The doll is kind of freaky. It has a motion sensor setting so it starts talking, cooing, laughing when you walk by it. Adam says he's going to take it out and shoot it. Ha! She carries that baby doll around everyone and at times drags the playpen around behind her. She feeds the baby, puts it in time out, and puts it to bed. Too funny. She has also enjoyed her new 'lawn' chair. It's been deemed her 'tv' chair. Instead of rocking at night, she wants to 'sit here.

Baby Kendall (live baby, not doll) in Taylor's baby play pen.

It's hard to believe Taylor is two and she's made so many accomplishments this year. We've started potty training, she's sleeping in a big girl bed, started at a new school and adjusted well. She's learning her colors (knows orange, white and purple) and alphabet (A and B). Her favorite game is pointing and counting the school buses to and from school. Her favorite are the 'white' buses. She may even have her first 'boyfriend' as she asks about Tyler, a kid in her class, every night. Though she's hit her two's with a vengence (I'll save that for another blog moment) I am excited about what she will come up with next. She sure makes me smile.

Things I've realized....

Random things I've realized....

1) I hate asking for help. I don't necessarily turn help away but find it hard to ask for help.

2. I have forgotten how to relax. Even when I have moments to relax, I choose to do something else that needs to be done. In the end, I am the only one who suffers.

3. I don't give my husband enough credit for all the hard work he does.

4. My children are so darn cute... even when they are irritating.

5. Vinegar makes a great household cleaner.

6. There's no point in cleaning house when it becomes stain splattered dirty in a matter of minutes.

7. I'm so done with animals (for now)... I have enough mouths to feed, poop to clean and cries to attend to without having dogs or cats.

8. Revelation: According to Taylor's baby book, every time she was sick last year with her 'fever viruses' she also got a tooth or teeth at the same time. The runny noses caused her to have ear infections but I believe most of her 'illnesses were really teething symptoms. Therefore, I'm thinking this on and off low-grade fever for two weeks and runny nose is her getting her two year old molars. Plus she told me last night that her teeth hurt... however I did catch her gnawing on her bed rail.

9. I miss my own kid imagination. I enjoy watching Taylor play with her ceramic garden frogs. She treats them like other kids treat baby dolls... I know... my kid is special. She rocks them, changes their diaper, feeds them, spanks them, puts them in time out and this weekend we had her school nap stuff home to wash and she kept her frogs in nap mode with blanket, pillow and milk... after singing Amazing Grace to them. It was so adorable.

10. Kendall isn't ready to sleep through the night. She did sleep from 7 to 5 ish for about two weeks but that stopped a week ago. She's back to her one night feeding again.

11. I also realized this weekend that the pesky skin rash on Kendall's face is really eczema and it is spreading. We've started to treat it with Aveeno.

12. For the first time this weekend, I was almost embarrased by one of my babies and am almost ashamed about it. We ate at IHOP and Kendall was very alert and looking around. It seemed everyone was oohing and aweing over her with giggles. Then it hit me are they awwing or laughing at her cross-eyes. I can't wait for her Oct appointment so we can see what the doctor says. I'm sure we are past the stage for them to correct themselves.

13. Should feel blessed for all I have and am but wear myself out so thin that I forget how blessed I am.... that's a problem.

Growing up too fast....

Taylor started 'school' this past Monday. It's really not school... not even a preschool... it's daycare. But after being in an in-home daycare since birth it's a huge change. Overall I think she's adjusting well. She cried a good bit on Monday. She still cries at drop off in the mornings and says she doesn't want to go to school. But she dries up quickly and has a good day. I can already tell a difference in things and am so excited about school. First, she's wearing panties and still going to the bathroom. Now let me explain this. At home, the only way we could get her to go potty is to let her run around with no britches (no panties, diaper, nada). She would pee, poop,etc all by herself. Put a diaper, pull-up or even panties on the girl and she would pee in them. So today I put panties on her (trying to get away from the bare bottom phenomenon) and she pooped and peed in the potty all by herself. YEA!! Second thing she has learned this week (remember in just three days) is the letters A and B. We are just sitting there playing when she starts telling me "that's B." At first I ignored her but she kept repeating herself. Sure enough, when I looked up she was pointing to the B on the title "Mega Blocks." Ask her where the "A" is and she knows where it is as well. I was so proud I had a tear in my eye. And lastly the funniest thing was coming home from school. All of a sudden she starts screaming "Stop!" "Stop" Momma, Stop the car!" What two year old says that? Ohhh... it was soo funny.


Kendall is also getting so big. I weighed her at home (so probably not very accurate) but she's about 15 lbs. I'm shocked... but not. I think Taylor was only 10 lbs or so at 4 months... I should look. But Kendall is such a big girl. We started her on rice this week (a litle early, I know). I was just experimenting to see if she was ready because she has been eating us out of the house. She gobbled that stuff up. It was crazy! She doesn't eat much of it but she seems to like it. Imagine that! She is also starting to smile and laugh alot. We think she is very tickilish. She giggles every time we change her clothes, wipe her neck play with her hands/arms. It's pretty funny. She seems to be such a happy, laid-back baby. I can't wait to see what her personality will be like.

Ahhh these moments are the ones we cherish for a lifetime.