The Sickies Part 2

Ava is just finishing up her third illness (other than the common cold which she's had plenty of as well). This chick goes big when she gets sick. First she had Croup, then RSV, and now she's recovering from Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease AND a bacterial skin infection. Yes, both at the same time. That's why is was so hard (and stressful) to figure out what the heck she had. Whew. It feels like just when she recovers from one illness, the symptoms for the next one start coming on; with eczema just a given during and in between...

For being breast-fed and not in day care, we've sure gone through it with the illnesses. It hasn't been easy. Everyone knows that babies and kids get sick a lot but I don't think anyone could have prepared me for this part of parenting. It's exhausting caring for a sick child. Physically sure, with the increased laundry and wardrobe changes, a baby who won't let you go .02 seconds without holding her (even when she's sleeping), and don't forget the battle of medicine administration multiple times a day and into the night; but mentally and emotionally as well. You have to be on day and night. It's stressful trying to figure out what is wrong and it's a huge responsibility knowing that I'm supposed to be her advocate, the one who's supposed to be able to make it all okay, only I'm just as lost as her ER doctor dad, all his cohorts and her pediatrician. Add the fact that she can't communicate to tell us what's wrong; what hurts and where and the whole experience is downright frustrating.

The worst part for me is when she can't nurse. Usually it's due to congestion but in this case it was ulcers all over her little mouth, gums and throat. It's heart-breaking holding her lethargic little body and touching her hot, feverish face and telling her it's going to be okay, all while I pray it will be. Praying. I've been doing a lot of that lately. I've said it before, but I've never prayed as much as I have in the last 10 months of being a mom. She's dependent on Mark and I and we're dependent on God. Simple as that.

Here are some photos of Ava looking (and feeling) hard up this week:

Needless to say, we'll wait a bit to take her ten month photo shoot...

On a brighter note. Mark and I got to go on a date last night! We have a great babysitter who Ava loves and who can handle a recovering baby so we got to use the movie tickets we had purchased before she got sick and went on a much-needed date. We went to Islands for Happy Hour; sliders, fries, a lava flow for me, and a Kona Longboard in a frosty mug for him. Then Hunger Games at the IMAX. I was SO excited. I loved the books and have been waiting to see the movie, it lived up to all the anticipation. It was the first movie we've seen in the theater in 11 months. So there's that too. It was so nice to work out, shower, get dressed up just a bit and go on a date with my husband. So refreshing. I woke up feeling like a new woman, a new wife and a new mom. The great news is that we woke up to a new baby too! She was looking and feeling great. Back to her active, fun, funny, great little self. And guess what? She learned how to clap this week! She's a trooper, this one. Check it out:

9 Month Update

Dear Ava,
We thought that six months old was where it was at, then seven months old was a blast, and now 9 months is definitely our favorite ago so far. You are so fun. And happy. And cute. And smart.

Baby Girl, at 9 months old you...

• Wear 6-9, 9, and some 12 month clothing.
• Weigh 19 pounds and 2 ounces.
• Are 28 inches long.
• Wear size 3 diapers.
• Say "Mama" and "Dada." Or more like "mamamamamama" and "dadadadadadada." All. Day. Long.
• Have gone from giving tentative, delayed waves to hysterical, two handed ones. You wave at everyone, even if they aren't looking at you, nor are particularly interested in saying "hi" back. But if they are looking at or you or giving you even the least bit of attention, it's on. You turn into a total spaz, bouncing up & down and practically catapulting yourself out of our arms to get to him or her.
• Love people. Especially fellow babies or kids. We took you to the Long Beach Aquarium and you got a much bigger kick out of all the school-aged kids who were there on a field trip than any of the colorful fish or other sea creatures.
• Have been to Denver, where it all started! Daddy and I met in Denver and your grandparents and many of our good friends still live in this awesome city. We had a great trip in February. There had been a big storm only days before we arrived so there was a lot of snow on the ground. It was so fun to introduce you to snow for the first time. Sadly, we don't have many photos because we left our (very expensive) camera on the plane on the flight there. Doh! These cell phone pics will have to do...

At REI

Ava & Grandma Russell

Abigail and Ava at Emily & Brian's Fun House

• Have 4 teeth! Your two front, bottom teeth are completely in and your two top teeth are peeking through. We thought we'd miss your gummy smile, but this one is pretty darn cute too.

If you look really close you can see the bottom two

• Are a great eater. Your favorite foods are homemade baked sweet potato fries, puréed sweet potatoes, avocados, rice of all kinds (brown rice, chicken fried rice, Spanish rice, white rice...) and Clif bars; in that order. Your least favorite food is banana. It just sits on your high chair tray untouched and you look around like, "what else you got?" Here you are eating your beloved sweet potatoes fries.

• Have a new favorite game. It's called "Clear the coffee table." You "crab crawl" around the perimeter of the coffee table, picking up each item on it; books, magazines, remote controls, etc. and throwing them on the ground one by one. When it's all cleared you bang on the table for us to put the items back on it so you can do it all over again. It's a really fun game. For you.

 

• Can stand on your own for a couple of seconds!
• Can sleep through the night... you just don't want to. I went away for a weekend and my goal was to have you sleeping through the night so that daddy and Grandma & Grandpa Power would get to sleep as well. After a very short bout of letting you "cry it out" when you woke up instead of feeding you every time you woke up, you started sleeping through the night. You just needed that little push. We were both much happier in the mornings, all well-rested. Then everything went to heck while I was gone. Daddy has some night shifts coming up we'll start all over again soon here.
• Are obsessed with clapping. You don't do it yourself yet, but you love when other people do it. You know we clap when you do something impressive so whenever you hear clapping, whether it's at church or when daddy is watching a golf tournament on TV, you perk up and look around like, "What'd I do?"
• Are (pretty much) clear of eczema! Hallelujah! This is a HUGE answer to prayer. We were at our wit's end with this horrible stuff but we feel like we've finally experienced a break through. The allergy tests came back to be not all that helpful. On a scale of 1-6, 6 being the most severe. Your results were: 

Fish 0

Wheat 0

Beastmilk 0

Soy 0

Walnut 0

Milk 1

Egg white 2

Peanut 2

 No 3-6's which are the ones that would actually cause a reaction enough to pay attention to. I was shocked that you weren't allergic to wheat. You or I consuming wheat and your skin freaking out really seemed to correlate. I'm going with my "mommy intuition" on this one and continuing to use very sparingly in both of our diets. We're continuing to try to figure it all out but in the meantime we went to a dermatologist as well and have a good skin routine going that is working really well so far. Yay! God knows we needed to make some headway on this. It's so sad to see you ichy and swollen and in pain. I've never prayed and begged for direction and answers from God so much as I have in the last three months. God's always been there for us and He came through again. Here are the before and after pics:

At the Dr. Pobresita : (

Beauty face!

We love you so, so much Baby Girl. We can't believe how quickly you're growing up and that we're already starting to plan your first birthday party! When did this happen?! Here's to many more months and years of enjoying YOU!

Love You, 

Mamamamamama & Dadadadadadada

9 Month Photo Shoot

...and that's a wrap!