200th Post!

This is the 200th post on Abby's blog! She's grown a lot (since we started when Anny was only a few weeks pregnant!)

I start this post by saying: Abby is okay.

That being said - today was an exciting day as Abby had her first visit to the Emergency Room.  She has a sprained left leg (knee).

I got a call at 11:30 saying that she had jumped funny in their Activity Room from a play structure.  I can't describe it, but it's normally a very safe activity and they play on it regularly.  She hit the floor with her foot in an awkward position, got up and walked away.  About a minute later she refuse to put any weight on it.

We decided to go ahead and let her have lunch to see if it would go away, assuming she had just twister her ankle a little bit and it would not last long at all.  I got a call again when lunch was done that she would still not put any weight on her left leg.  I left work and tried to get Anny on the phone.  One we connected we decided that the best route would be the ER.  Better safe than sorry.

I got to school and Abby would not budge from Ms Denyse's lap.  We tried to get her to walk to me, and she would not have any of it.  (Amusing side note: she wet through her diaper and they had to change her clothes.  The only thing they had was a one piece PJ set without feet.  From the fall.  It was hillarious and I will load a picture of it soon!)  I got her stuff together, grabbed a snack for her and we headed up to Howard General.

She went to sleep.

I managed to keep her asleep in the stroller for quite a while longer, until the doctor needed to see her put weight on it.  He gave it a once over and said it was probably a knee issue more than her foot or ankle.  Then he called for an X-Ray.  Yeah, that was the most miserable thing I've ever experienced with Abby.  She was being held down by me AND a technician and it still took a long time to get her leg and foot into position.  Five times.  Not fun.

After reviewing the X-Ray the doctor confirmed that her left leg is sprained.  Our orders are as follows:

• limit activity (she's 22 months old!  Really?  Limit her?  Wow.)
• Use child strenght Motrin for discomfort
• Keep her off of the playground for five days
• If there is no improvement by Tuesday, call Dr Tang, an orthopedist.

There you have - we're home and she's happily having her afternoon snack.  She still will not walk, but she has put a little more weight on it a couple of times.  Should be an interesting weekend!

Surprising Great Gramps for his Birthday!

Last Friday we made an overnight trip to surprise my grandfather for his 76th birthday! (I thought it was 75, but was corrected over the weekend.)

Things did start on a sour note Friday when I got a call from Abby's daycare that she had a fever and was just not being herself. I was at work, but hopped in the car and headed off immediately. When I got her home I gave her Tylenol and a cold bottle (of milk, not beer!) and took some of her clothes off. She cooled down within a few minutes and played happily for the next hour and a half until Anny got home.

We decided that Abby would be fine, especially if she took a nap. A two and a half hour car ride should do the trick - and it did!

Since this was a surprise visit, I decided to skip our normal "halfway there" call. When we did arrive, I just let our dog in through the front door. The thought behind this was that if his dog went crazy with barking, she would do it at Rusty (our dog) not at Abby, which could have presented a problem. It worked perfectly.

We arrived early enough to take Gramps and Grammy (HIS mother!) out for a proper birthday dinner. He had planned on soup from a can, which is not acceptable in my book! Two of my aunts arrived later in the evening, after we had gone to bed.

Saturday we went to one of Gramps' breakfast hang outsThe Kannery. Amazing breakfast sandwich! Abby was still not at 100%, but we decided that since we were so close to the shops, we would take a look at the sidewalk sales going on. Good idea! Abby fell asleep pretty quickly, so we got a walk, she got sleep and everyone was happy.

We were also too close to the beach to pass it up, so we took Abby down to the water. She was not really awake yet, but we did grab some pictures. I wish that she would have been feeling better so we could have gone back. The water was still freezing, so we'll have to go back for a day this summer and do the beach trip right.


From May 2008

We had a good time and Gramps was truly flattered. He was so giddy that he called on Sunday to thank us for our surprise trip.

This weekend will be different. Lots of hanging around the house and cleaning. Probably another test run with the Cupcake Cake. More on that next week, hopefully with pictures!

Defining a Good Father?

Abby is home sick again today, so I'm home again today. Luckly we found a pharmacy that could order the prescription and it will be in later this morning.

She has made forward progress a few bits at a time, but we're not quite ready to call it crawling. I'll borrow the work video camera later this week when she'll hopefully be on the move.

Since I'm home, I'm watching some mindless TV in between other things. (Cleaning out the shop is high priority, but I can only do it for so long at a time before I go crazy. There is a lot of sorting to get done.

Scott Baio was just on Live with Regis and Kelly. (Okay, I'll admit that I like the show out of the other junk on morning TV. You caught me.) I don't remember Scott Baio from his days on TV, and that is okay with me. I know what he has done recently on VH1, though I will also admit to NOT having seen any of that.

Kelly asked Scott's wife if he was a good dad, and he immediately came out with what seems to be the deciding factor on daddy-hood:
"Yeah, I changed a diaper this morning."

Is that what fatherhood is about? Are we really so stuck in dad's are good at being dad's if they change poopy diapers? Am I some sort of super-dad because I do a lot more than that!

I wash the diapers, too. I don't just "changed one this morning" but rather am often the primary diaper changer. Anny will not dispute this. There was a ten day span in October that Anny did not see a poopy diaper!

To me there is a lot more to being a good dad, some of which I do and some I don't. That's okay, by the way.

I see these things as just as important:
Getting up in the night with your screaming baby.
Getting on the floor and encourage development.
Keeping your child at the center of every decision you make.

This is a very short list, and know that there are things that are more important. For me the standards will change as Abby continues to grow.

It really RE-HEALLY bothers me when the standard seems to be diapers. I hope for the sake of the Baio family he was just giving a standard answer and that behind the scenes he is better than that.

Why I am a Jealous Dad

Okay, it happened again yesterday. Abby was home sick (not homesick, very different issue) and I got to spend the day with her. I adore my time with my daughter, and enjoy spending as much of my day as possible with the both of them.

However, I am a jealous dad sometimes.

Anny is a teacher, so when Abby is out of school, Anny is. They spend the day playing, and sometimes visit me at the office. I am almost always at work. Abby is healthy and not fussy on those days.

I get the day alone with her only when she's sick and fussy. Not Fair.

I am at work and they are at home on a snow day again today.

Okay, no more griping.

Raw Behind

Had to schedule an extra pediatrician appointment for Abby on Friday because of a bad rash on her behind. When we talked to the day care folks they were unsure if it was just a rash or a yeast infection. (by the way, want to mess up a guy, use the term "yeast infection.") Thankfully it was not that bad.

Turns out that she just has a very bad diaper rash. Probably has something to do with the new food that we had been feeding her, but there is no way to be sure. We got a perscription for a better diaper cream, and it has helped tremendously already.

We have also been told to not wipe her backside until things have cleared up. When she needs to be clean, we need to run her under water - it keeps the rash from being irritated more. (I could give more details about how we're doing that, but will not!)

Oh yeah, and we've moved to a different food - applesauce. Nothing in the world less harsh than applesauce!

She did get weighed and is at 19 pounds.

As an update, she is not yet crawling, but gets a little closer everyday. Her favorite game is to empty her toy basket one toy at a time, so I think motivation of the toy basket being out of reach will start being used this week. Yes, I realize that I must be crazy to want her to be mobile! Remember, though, that I'm the one that wants her to start talking!

We think she is beginning to understand some sign language (milk) because she sure get's excited. Honestly, though, I can't tell if it's our saying "milk?" or the sign. I'm interested about the whole process of learning signing though!

I spoke too soon

Not even 24 hours after this post, I was following Abby and Rob's lead with my own stomach issues. Luckily, it didn't last long because we have had far too much to do.

Abby got to see her first high school homecoming football game. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring her a hat and her cheeks got a little pink from being outside so much. Oh, and we lost...

Abby, Rob and I have also had the requisite head cold for the beginning of the school year. So we have learned how much Abby hates the bulb to remove snot. I have explained that I will stop using it as soon as she learns to blow her nose... she and I are still trying to figure out how soon she can learn to do this.

Now we are preparing for Abby's baptism. So many people love her: Nana and Grampa are coming from Wyoming, uncle, aunt and two cousins are coming from St. Louis, Rob's dad is coming from Florida, Gramma and her husband are coming from North Carolina, Great Gramps and great aunt are coming from Delaware, great aunt and great uncle from Virgina, aunt from Virginia and of course, all the local friends and relatives. We will pack our house for a reception and pack the church Sunday morning.

Abby is going to wear her great grampa's baptismal gown. Since he died this summer soon after she was born, I am very excited that it fits her and thankful that so many people will be here to share this occasion.

Sick Baby Update 3

Abby is through with her virus, but her eating is still off. Two ounces here and there, but rarely keeping to her normal schedule.

The update, though, is that she gave it to me. That's one of the big problems with taking immunosuppresants - I can get sick pretty easily.

No more sickness updates - I am going to grab another nap. Ugh.

Sick Baby Update 2

She looked and felt really good all night last night. Then we woke up this morning...

After her first solid poo (see previous post), she has definitely made up for it since 5 this morning. She has not slept a wink since then, a very long stretch for her. She's had ten ounces of the pedialyte and it seems that her body has regulated itself to push is straight through.

I long for the smell of baby poo again. This is our first diarrhea bout, and it's disgusting. Not hard to clean up. Actually, easier to clean up. But the smell....

Since a lot of you are non-parents I will not try to compare it to anything, and I'll leave it right where it is.

We have bravely given her some more regular formula about 20 minutes ago. We'll take her to the farmers market and hope that it stays down.

Sick Baby Update 1

Okay - I'm home with Abby today. She kept down the pedialyte that we gave her through the night. This morning we thought we should give formula a try, and after four ounce of that it came back at us. She's now just doing the fun drink for the next day and a half, no formula for our little one.

You're right, by the way, to think that baby puke on your feet is not the way to start the day. Anny is a trooper, for she was the one holding Abby.

I changed a stinky diaper only to find a robins egg of poop. Yup, first solid poop. (for those of you without kids, first solid poop typically happens after you start feeding them solid foods.) Perfect little egg of poop, but still kind of freaky when I'm used to true baby poo.

Anny headed off to school and Abby and I have been spending time together. Mostly it's been getting her to eat, then encouraging her to sleep. When a baby does not want to sleep, they won't sleep! That meant that we played on the playmat, sat in the bumbo and really just hoped that she would not throw up on me again.

We did have to make a run to Target as I realized that we were running out of the fun drink. She fell asleep in the sling pretty quickly, so a trip for Pedialyte cost me $50 because I made four trips around the store. She was happy and I could walk for a while. Win win.

The only pedialyte that Target had is the "artificially fruit flavored" orange flavor. The only flavors she has ever had are breast milk and formula. She was taken aback by the sweet flavor. She got the hang of it, and is now napping.

She's truly happy through all of this. She smiles and chats while she's awake. We are slated to go out tonight to a viewing (like funeral viewing). If she's still happy when it's time to go, we'll go. If not, we will put in a call to send our condolences this time.

I hear crying. Update later.

Sick Baby

Anny has back to school night tonight and I get Abby all to myself.

Of course this is the first time that I get a call saying that she's sick. Threw up all over the day care teacher. One other child was sick earlier this week, but we thought we had skipped it. That appears to not be the case.

I immediately left work, leaving behind a consultant that needed a ride to the train station, to get to school. By the time I got there, Anny already had Abby. We walked around the school a little and gave her two ounce of pedialyte, as directed by the doc's office.

She threw that up as we got to the car.

Once we got home Abby took down four more ounces and is now sleeping.

She is still happy, just not well. No fever. Smiley. Abby. Just threw up a few times.

We'll see how she is when she wakes up. Hopefully the pedialyte will stay down. I'll keep you posted.....