Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!

It's pretty chilly and damp tonight, so we decided to pass on trick or treating this year.  That, and I'm not 100% sure that our town was still doing it tonight - I tried checking our borough website, but they didn't have anything posted.  Oh well.  We have plenty of treats hanging around from her trip to John's work last week, and we're gradually working to whittle that stockpile down.

For fun, here's a comparison of last year versus this year.  It's pretty amazing to see how much Judith has really grown in a year:

2011


2012


Happy Halloween!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Hurricane Sandy: The Day After

We're very lucky: aside from 3 brief moments where we lost power, we still had it when we woke up this morning, and have had it all day.  Considering there were almost 68,000 customers in our county alone that were without, we knew we were fortunate.  There's no damage to the house, and only 3 trees lost in our immediate neighborhood that I could see.  2 of them were in the overflow lot, and another was beside the small building to the right of us.

I feel horrible and almost sick seeing the devastation that happened along the Jersey shore and in NYC. Areas that were familiar to me from family vacations look completely different due to all of the damage.  And then there were the images of the evacuation from one of the hospitals in NYC, images of the NICU nurses and staff evacuating the preemies in their care, in some cases bagging them, and transporting them to a different hospital that had power.  I know all too well the stress that normally comes with having a baby in the NICU, and I can only imagine what the parents of the precious babies were going through, knowing their baby had to be evacuated in the middle of a hurricane.  The images also showed the love, care, and dedication NICU nurses have for their patients, and they are among the heroes that emerged during this storm.  I really wish I could reach out and hug each and every one of those nurses and the families, let them know that they're in my thoughts and prayers, and that I hope they are all safe.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Riding Out Sandy

It's been a tense weekend bracing for this storm, and a tenser day as the hurricane approached the area.  I wanted to post a quick update to say that we're ok, and so far so good.  The winds are crazy, but the rain has eased up (for now).  Supposedly we're in the worst part of the storm, and this is expected to last for a few hours yet, but I'm hoping we'll continue to fare well and will still have power come morning.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Trick or Treat!

We've been enjoying a semi-relaxing week of vacation, and since John's been off we decided to take his car to my grandparents' to get it waxed (my grandfather has a detailing business).  We took Judith's Halloween costume along so they could see her in it, and she made her trick or treat rounds, acquiring a large load of various things!  This is on top of the many treats she got yesterday when we took her to the bank for a visit (also in costume).  I'm figuring she may as well enjoy the treats she has, since the weather for Wednesday is iffy, and the town's trick or treat night may be up in the air.

In any case, Judith absolutely loves her flower costume!  I got a 24 month size, and while it's huge on her, I know she'll be able to wear it for dress up purposes for a while.

Seriously?

Planting herself in one of her favorite hiding places

Strike a pose!  Dog photobomb courtesy of Lady

What?

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Pumpkin Patch 2012 and a Culture Update

We've been pretty busy the last few days!  Saturday we took a trip to the pumpkin patch.  My MIL and niece came for a visit, and went with us.  Judith did have a good time, but she seriously protested the hayride.  She was melting down waiting in line, and was still having a fit when we got on the cart.  John ended up taking her off the ride and took her to play in the kid's area.  My niece and I continued on the ride and had a good time!

Judith really enjoyed herself sensory area!  They had feed corn in troughs and old tractor tires, and the kids could dig and play with it.  They also had some hay bales with little slides.  She got to see some chickens and goats (she kept saying "doggie" for the black and white goats), and picked out a small pumpkin.

I do have pictures from Saturday, but I'm waiting to post them tomorrow for Wordless Wednesday.  So if you're curious, you'll have to come back later!


We did get the culture results back for Judith's abscess.  Go figure she cultured positive for MRSA.  The spot is getting better, and hasn't drained for a few days.  However, we had to switch antibiotics, and getting her to take the bactrum has been a massive battle.  All of my regular tricks that we use to get the drugs into her have failed miserably.  I've tried masking the meds in pediasure, pudding, water - just about everything I could think of.  No matter what we do, she can taste the meds and promptly spits them out.  Giving it to her straight results in lots of puking and gagging, so that was quickly ruled out as an option.  We have 4 days/8 doses to go, and I have a feeling it's going to be a long 4 days.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Abscess... Again

Judith developed another abscess, this time on her thigh.  I noticed that a little bump was starting a while ago, but didn't really do anything.  Much like the last one, it looked like a little pimple, and I thought that maybe the diaper ruffles were rubbing her skin and irritating it.  Then, over the weekend, it started getting worse, until it looked really ugly on Tuesday.  I called the pedi, and got an appointment for her.  My mom came along to help - I knew after the last abscess, I would definitely need help to hold Judith steady so the pedi could examine the spot and see if it would drain.  Luckily we got it to drain and were able to get a culture.  I'm still waiting to hear the results.  It could be staph, it could be strep, or it could be MRSA.  I hope it's just staph or strep.  If it's MRSA, the pedi said she'll have to put Judith on bactrum, and I'm leery about doing that since it's one of her go-to antibiotics for respiratory infections.  I want to ward off the possibility of resistance as long as possible, and her pedi agrees.

The amount of pus that drained out of this thing is disgusting.  Considering the size of the actual abscess under the skin, it's not surprising that so much pus was involved, but it still managed to catch me off guard.  I hate, hate, hate having to drain it.  I hate that it's so painful for Judith, and I hate hearing her scream in pain.  I also hate seeing all of the foul colored infection-laden pus pouring out of the abscess.  I normally have a relatively strong stomach for these things, but this was making me gag.

Judith does seem to be doing better each day, though.  Yesterday was a bit rough: she had a slight fever the night before, and yesterday didn't want to put a lot of pressure on her leg.  She was walking funny, partially from the pain and partially from the big band aids I was using to create a barrier for the diaper. Today she seemed to be back to her normal self, save for the crying whenever the spot was accidentally bumped.  She has 4 doses of antibiotics in her system, and it looks like it might be helping.

We're stumped by this.  Both John & I want to know how she's getting these infections.  Hopefully we'll have some answers tomorrow.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Wordless Wednesday & Happy 22 Months!

I can't believe that in 2 months, I'll have a 2 year old!

Today's (not quite) Wordless Wednesday: from the fair last weekend.