Adventures with Respiratory Infections

For the last week, Judith's been fighting off some sort of respiratory virus.  She has a track record of getting sick around this time of year, so it's not exactly surprising that it happened.  The wrench in the pattern, though, was the croupy cough that kept her up most of last Monday night, and lasted straight into Tuesday and parts of Wednesday before starting to resolve.  As a result, her team put her on a 5 day course of oral steroids to help her out since upping the albuterol wasn't cutting it this time.

Getting her to take her antibiotics has been as fun as always.  Her strong-willed temperament was awesome when she was in the NICU and needed to be so feisty, but now it's backfiring against us big time and leading to some interesting situations when it comes to oral medicines.  No matter what I mask it in (save for 1 time when she took the entire dose in chocolate syrup, but wised up after that), she refuses it.  It makes me wish that there was a human version of the pill pockets they make for dogs, because I'm that desperate to find a method to get the antibiotics into her without her noticing that I would keep the company in business.  What it's really boiling down to is we're going to have to start teaching her how to swallow pills as soon as she can handle doing so, because I have a feeling that once she can't taste it, she won't fight it nearly as much.

I shouldn't be surprised by her reactions, though.  For starters, it's kind of reaffirming the nagging little thought in the back of my mind that there may be some lingering preemie sensory issues that are causing these reactions.  Judith can get really weird about certain textures, and even a really finely crushed pill is enough of a textural change to set her off.  The other side of this coin is genetics, and I know it's coming from me.  My parents frequently remind me about how hard it was to get any sort of liquid medication into me when I was Judith's age and even a little older, so I'd bet a cool $1,000,000 that a chunk of the issue is her taking after me.  Once I learned to swallow pills, things improved exponentially (if I'm remembering things correctly ha ha).  I can only stay optimistic and hope that Judith will be the same way.

We're about a week into the infection, and after a quick call to clinic just to make sure we don't need to add anything new or give her more steroids, it seems like she's on the mend and improving.  We don't need to do additional steroids at this point, and we just need to keep doing the best we can with the bactrim to try and keep the MRSA at bay since that always flares when she's sick.  Cross your fingers and toes that she continues to improve, and this is it for sickness for a while.

What We've Been Up To

It's been a crazy last few weeks!  Our house officially went on the market a week ago, and we were able to start the fun part of the process and look at real estate.  It's been crazy busy around here getting things prepped, but the house looks fantastic.  Now I'm at the point where I'm in "maintenance mode," feeling like I live in a museum, but I know it'll be worth it in the end.

Amid all of the chaos, Judith came down with a summer cold, causing her MRSA to flare, and was gracious enough to share her germs with me and my mom.  Her team put her on bactrim right away like they always do, but go figure now she's wised up to the crushed pills in her Pediasure and was fighting us with drinking it.  I'm hoping that in another year or 2, I can start to teach her to swallow pills so she won't have to worry about the nasty taste from the antibiotics.

We've also been using the new vest, and we seriously LOVE it!  Judith now has the independence and control with it that I really think she wanted with the other vest, and even though I still need to help her put hoses back on if she unlocks it mid-treatment, the majority of the time she can handle it herself with minimal help (typically one of us has to support the hose so she can lock it in place).

Making our lives even easier was the arrival of the Raksog cart!  I'm seriously glad that so many people recommended this cart, and that we have a vest system that I know would easily fit into it!  It took some tweaking to get the middle shelf placed at the proper height so I could get the generator in and out of the bottom shelf, but overall the cart was easy to assemble.  I bought 2 plastic "woven" storage baskets at Lowes (a perk, because they're super easy to clean) that fit beautifully in the top shelf, and Judith's meds and neb supplies now reside in those.  Her nebulizer is housed on the middle shelf, along with her vest, and the generator is on the bottom.  The one thing I want to do is try to find some hooks that will hang on the side of the shelves so I can hang the hoses on them.  Currently they're draped over the top of the cart, and that works, but I'm thinking hooks will make things look neater.

General Update on Judith

I think we're starting to go a little stir crazy here.  We haven't been able to do much because of Judith's sickness and the increased treatments we have to do as a result (the vest alone sucks a good 1.5-2 hours out of your day), but on top of that we experienced record cold temps that we haven't seen in a couple decades.  I know a huge chunk of the country was plunged into that polar vortex, so many of you can sympathize with what was going on (temperature being relative to the area you live in, of course).  I was grateful that I called the CF clinic on Monday to let them know that Judith was not taking her liquid meds, and Dr. G. wrote a new prescription for bactrim tablets.  Judith and I made the trip to the drug store Monday evening so we wouldn't have to worry about going out in the bitterly cold conditions Tuesday.  It was a super smart move, because it was painful to even go out and start the car on Tuesday so I wouldn't have a dead battery in it!

Judith's doing much better with her antibiotics now that I'm able to crush them and hide them in her drinks.  And overall, she's doing better as well.  The cough isn't nearly as frequent, but she still has a lot of nasal discharge and sounds congested.  Our next clinic visit is coming up, so I'm hoping that they'll be able to give us some additional things to do to help her fight off the lingering symptoms.

Not The Best Start to the New Year

So far, 2014 hasn't been kind to us.  Not only has the weather completely sucked and we've been blasted with super cold temperatures (although I'm grateful that our temps haven't been as low as some of my friends scattered across the country, it's still pretty darn frigid here!), but we've been in a battle against some respiratory crud.  John actually had a nasty cold before Christmas, but it took until New Year's Eve for Judith to break out with symptoms.

By New Year's day, I knew it was time to act, because the faucet from her nose went from clear to green.  Gross for most people, but since I'm so used to dealing with mucus at this point, it didn't phase me other than being a signal to take action.  I got a sick appointment at the pediatrician on Thursday since Dr. G. wanted me to take her in for a listen to make sure her lungs were still clear, and luckily they were.  She has a cough and sinus infection, which she so graciously shared with me.

Of course this means we've entered into yet another epic battle of wills with liquid medicine.  Dr. G. has Judith on a higher dose of bactrim right now, which would make for some interesting pill splitting if we were able to do the pills.  I think it's going to come down to that, though, because once again we've tried everything we can possibly think of to get the meds into Judith, and she just.won't.take.them.

It's frustrating, to say the least.  This piled on top of the eating issues feels like one pot hole after another.  She's eating even less now that she's sick, and I'm concerned that she'll lose any gains she's made over the past few months.  The dietician is aware of our problems, and I had another good conversation with her the other day.  We decided that we're going to try to get Judith enrolled in feeding therapy, and will try an appetite stimulator to see if that makes a difference.  We're starting to max out on options, and John and I are getting increasingly frustrated while feeling defeated.  I'm sure we're going to have a long discussion about all of this at Judith's next clinic appointment later in the month, and I'm hoping that we can think of a couple other options in addition to the ones we're looking at that will help Judith eat more so she can have better weight gains.

Week Recap

Things have been really, really crazy around here since I last posted, and I'll try to keep this post as brief as possible as I recap everything!

Last Sunday, I had Judith dressed and ready for church, and was doing her vest before we would have to head out the door.  Saturday night was rough because she kept coughing a lot overnight, and Sunday morning she had a really tight, croupy sounding cough.  Her vest treatment and an extra dose of albuterol didn't loosen things up, so we stayed home instead.  I called the after hours line for the clinic and talked to the on call doctor, and for a bit I was very concerned that we would have to take her to the emergency room and possibly end up with a transfer to Hershey Med so the CF team could start more aggressive treatments to help her out.  They changed her antibiotic from augmentin to cipro, and had us giving her albuterol treatments every 4 hours (4 puffs of the inhaler since we don't do the nebulized version with her).  We were thisclose to starting steroids, but the on call doctor decided to hold off a day and see what her regular pulmonologist recommended.  By the time I called Monday morning, she seemed to have more energy, and her cough was starting to sound wetter and looser, so her doctor said that we could wait it out a couple days and see if the cipro kicked in.  That was a good thing, because by Monday I was feeling like crap and didn't really want to go anywhere if I could help it.  Sunday was, by far, the worst day of the ordeal and she's been improving steadily ever since.  Judith was so kind to share her infection with the rest of the family, but at this point everyone seems to be improving and I hope this infection is out of the house very, very soon.

On Wednesday Judith had a follow-up eye appointment with her ophthalmologist.  Everything looks good, so we can space out her appointments!  She'll go back in the fall for her annual exam, and hopefully will only have a couple follow-ups after that.

Yesterday (Saturday) we celebrated my mom's birthday and threw her a surprise party!  I still can't believe we managed to surprise her, because she's really good at figuring things out in advance.  She really enjoyed herself, and I'm glad that she had a good time!  Today we celebrated Mother's Day at my parents' place and watched the Make-A-Wish convoy in the afternoon, followed by a cookout for dinner.  Judith was being especially challenging today, but I think in the end we all had an enjoyable day.

Go Away, Infections!

It hasn't been that long since Judith and I got over that wicked sinus infection, and now she's sick again.  I know a lot of people have been battling colds and horrible allergies this spring (and I'm right there with most on the allergy front), but I still can't help but feel bad that she picked something else up.

Earlier in the week, mainly on Tuesday, Judith seemed a little sluggish but was still relatively chipper.  I noticed she was spending a little more time watching some of her favorite shows instead of pulling out 50,000,000 toys in the living room, but I didn't think too much of it and chalked it up to her teeth bothering her.  Wednesday rolled around, and she just wasn't herself: she spent a lot of time sitting on her chair or sitting with me, occasionally looking at books, but mostly chilling out.  Mid-morning, I went to change her diaper, and put her in her crib temporarily so I could wash my hands and not worry about her trying to go down the stairs on her own since I didn't have a gate out.  I thought she felt warm, and after I washed my hands I went back to her room to get her out of the crib for lunch.  She was already falling asleep a good hour before her normal nap time, and I decided to take her temperature because something felt off.  One swipe of the temporal thermometer said 101.7, another swipe said over 102.

Judith's been coughing a little bit, and I noticed that it was increasing.  She was super fussy when I was putting her glasses on or got too close to her ears.  Because of the fever, I decided to call the pediatrician and see if we could get an appointment.  It's a good thing I did that and took her in, because she has a double ear infection and a respiratory virus, most likely a cold.  So she's on yet another round of antibiotics, and we have an appointment for a follow up visit in a few weeks to make sure her ears are clear.

Wednesday night was getting scary, because her temperature kept climbing.  John stopped at the local CVS on his way home and picked up some ibuprofen, and thankfully that brought her temperature down.  She was hovering in the 100-101 range on Thursday, and today it looks like things are finally breaking, which is good because I was worrying that we'd have to take her in again over the weekend, per her pedi's instructions, if things didn't improve.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she feels better soon, and that things clear up quickly so she can go to the Great Strides walk with us later in the month.

Germ Attack

It's been quite the interesting week for us.  I am doing much better: still some congestion and a cough, and I sound like Joan Rivers when I talk (in other words, my voice is gone), but my energy and appetite are back, and my sinuses feel normal again.  Yay!  Unfortunately, Judith picked up the virus toward the end of the week, and on Friday began coughing, along with having a runny nose.  Let me tell you, that CF mucus is pretty gross since it's so thick and sticky.

Saturday rolled around, and Judith's cough was getting worse, and she was starting to cough the entire time she was on her Vest.  Instead of waiting it out further, I called the after hours line at the CF clinic, and tried to get patched through to the on call doctor (side note: whenever the parents of a patient or the patient themselves calls the nurse line, the nurses are supposed to triage the patient and immediately patch them through to the on call doctor).  I explained to the nurse that Judith's doctor said to call whenever she started showing signs of symptoms, and they would work to get an antibiotic prescription ready for her.  I asked if she could transfer me to talk to the on call doctor, but I was never patched through, being told that it was "probably just allergies" since Judith only had a low grade fever (99.7).  As the nurse was going on about this and telling me things to do that I already knew to do, I was sitting there thinking, "Why on earth won't you just transfer my call like I asked so I can speak to the on call pulmonologist and see if they want me to take her to an urgent care or if they'll just call in the prescription?!"  So my time was basically wasted, and I had a feeling we might be in trouble in another day or 2 because the antibiotics were being delayed.

Sunday, thankfully, was about as uneventful as you can expect with a toddler who has a sinus infection and mucus getting stuck in her lungs.  First thing Monday morning I called the nurse coordinator at the clinic, and Dr. G. sent the prescription to the pharmacy as quickly as he could.  We had a couple scary moments on Monday where Judith had coughing fits trying to expel the mucus in her lungs and couldn't catch her breath.  That was a first for us, and I freaked out a little bit because I had no clue what to do.  I was better prepared for the second one since I had the instructions on how to use her inhaler if it happened again.  That was the last of the episodes, and she didn't have a bad coughing fit yesterday or today.  I think she's headed into the improvement phase of the virus since she seems to have slightly more energy, but isn't coughing as much.  Of course the antibiotics and breathing treatments are probably also contributing, and that's a good thing.

All of this is happening just in time for Easter.  Go figure.  As a kid, I constantly had colds, various infections, and allergic reactions to medicines right around the Easter holiday.  I can tell Judith is my kid, because she's following suit, save for the allergic reactions to the meds.  And, naturally, John is starting to pick up the virus, and I'm hoping it won't be nearly as bad for him as it was for Judith or me.

CF Clinic and Illness

First, just a quick update on Judith's quarterly clinic visit.  It'll be short, because she did really well, and things sound good so we don't need to make any major changes right now!  She weighed in at 24 lbs, 10 oz (fully clothed and with a wet diaper, so she was probably closer to 24.5 lbs or a little less), and grew 3/4 of an inch from her nephrology visit, so is now 33.75" long.  We need to increase her miralax dosage because she's still battling some constipation, and we need to keep a close eye on her for the next few days in case she starts showing signs of illness.  Dr. G. didn't want to put her back on antibiotics at this point, despite the morning coughing, out of concern that she might have to stay on them for the rest of the season if we take that approach, and also because we're not sure if the cough is something else or illness-related.  As always, we'll have to wait for her throat culture results, and I'm hoping that the last round of antibiotics knocked the MRSA infection out of her lungs.

Right now I kind of feel like Judith might be a ticking time bomb, waiting for her to show signs of illness.  On Sunday, the Luck of the Irish certainly wasn't with me, because I'm sporting a nasty sore spot on my hand with some bruising and a nasty brush burn on my shin after I tripped over my own pants going up the steps at church (I really hate being so klutzy).  Later that evening, my sinuses started draining, and by Monday morning they were completely stopped up and pounding.  It's been a while since I had a sinus infection, and we were having a pretty good year up until this point.

I've been hand washing and sanitizing like crazy.  So far, so good, because Judith is still healthy (and I hope she stays that way!).  Being a stay at home mom with an active toddler while you're sick is it's own special brand of hell.  I was fortunate, though, that my mom was here to help for a while yesterday, and Judith was pretty good today.  The worst part was seeing her disappointment when I couldn't read to her when she asked (she kept bringing books to me saying, "I read to you!" in her little voice).  I hate losing my voice, but being able to have some vocal rest today has helped a lot, and I hope it, along with the rest of the infection, goes away soon.

So, if you're the praying type, say a little prayer that Judith doesn't catch this, because I'm afraid it might be worse for her than it is for me, and if you're not the praying type, cross your fingers, send good thoughts and vibes, whatever you choose, our way.

Rough Day

I am so glad that today is coming to a close, and I'll be snuggled up in my bed sleeping very soon.  Normally I'd ask for a do-over, but I don't even want that.  Today was one big, giant, hot mess.  I've been fighting off a mild cold since Sunday evening, and Judith's been coughing since Friday (she also has a bit of a snotty nose, but no fever so I've been taking the "watch and wait" approach).  She's still working on those pesky 2 year molars, and on top of everything she hadn't pooped since at least Monday, possibly Sunday (I can't remember exactly).  She finally went late this afternoon and got some relief, but it was not a fun time, and the poor kiddo was hurting.  Needless to say, we're laying off the cheese for a little bit, even though she's getting some good calories into her system.

The cough situation was starting to drive me nuts today.  I kept second guessing myself, and after Judith puked on the floor and couch during her morning vest treatment (and I saw that it was predominantly mucus), I decided to call the clinic and see what they thought, and if they recommended taking her to her primary or to wait it out another day or 2.  Dr. G. decided to place her on an antibiotic since she's had the cough for a few days.  I was grateful that I didn't have to take her to her primary and risk picking something else up!  So now we're on a 2 week course of bactrum, and the fun is already beginning.  This time I'm not going to wait as long to see if she'll take it, though: if she continues to reject it after trying tomorrow, I'll call and see if we can get the prescription changed to at least a pill that can be crushed or a capsule or something.

We Had A Good Run...

... but our track record is broken.  Thankfully I caught it early enough before it escalated into something more serious.  Judith has a summer cold with an ear infection - not surprising since we went to Hands-on-House last Friday.  She's been congested, and yesterday she was acting a little off, mostly with her sleep (she was sleeping a ton), and today she kept sneezing, causing her nose to run - this kid's nose rarely runs, so it's been a new experience for us.  Go figure that, just like last December when she had the sinus infection, she gets sick when Dr. G. is out of the office, the nurse coordinator is out until next week, and Dr. W. doesn't have any appointment blocks available.  ::facepalm::

We did get an appointment with a different doctor, and Judith handled the change pretty well.  Probably because it was someone new, and she couldn't predict what he would do.  In any case, the good news is her lungs are clear, so we don't need to increase her Albuterol or vest treatments right now.  If she starts coughing more, then I'll add an extra session or 2 to make sure things are getting cleaned out.  The bad news is she is on a 10 day course of Augmentin for the ear infection and to hopefully keep things from setting up shop in her lungs.  The pedi told us that there's a possibility that things could get a little worse before they get better, but we're hoping that's not the case and the antibiotics will kick in quickly.

We were working on adapting to her sleeping in her big crib at night, and she was doing really well until last night.  I thought it would be better to have her sleep in our room for a few days until she's feeling better, then we can go back to the other arrangement.  So for now, Judith's back in the travel lite with 1 end elevated to help relieve some of the pressure in her ears and help with the congestion.

I have to say, though, that the little bugger's already mastered the art of sharing, and was generous to share her germs with me.

Sinus Infection

This is but the latest diagnosis in the string of things Judith has had wrong in the last month.  I wish my poor toddler would just be healthy for a full month.  I'm really beginning to hate winter.

That cough that's been lingering for the last month or so came back full-force this weekend.  She was coughing a bit Christmas Day, but by yesterday it was sounding wetter.  Overnight, she was so congested, and the cough was so wet sounding that we decided not to wait and called the pediatrician.

The whole day was one giant cluster eff: Judith's regular pediatrician was out of the office today, so we saw a different one - I was nervous about this, because we haven't seen anyone else, but he was truly awesome and had a good idea about everything (so I won't hesitate to request him again if Judith's regular doc isn't available!).  Then I tried calling Hershey to see what the pulmonologist would want us to do, and neither he or the nurse coordinator were there.  Cue some very minor frustration for me, but I knew we'd get through everything (albeit slowly).

The pediatrician looked Judith over, removed some wax from her ear, and diagnosed her with the sinus infection.  Thank goodness her lungs sounded relatively good, and the infection hasn't moved to her lower respiratory area!  We were at the office for a good hour: that included the exam, the call to Hershey to set up a course of treatment, and figuring out which pharmacies in the area would carry the antibiotic we need to give Judith.

After the appointment, I had to drive to a different pharmacy than the one we normally use to pick up the antibiotic.  I really was not thrilled with them, and it took them twice as long to fill it as it would have at CVS.  Top it off with the cold rain that decided to start, and I wasn't in the best of moods.  At least we got it though, and hopefully it'll do the trick.

So in addition to the antibiotic twice a day, we have to increase her inhaled meds and her CPT to 5 times a day.  Yep, that's right: 5 times of manual CPT for the next 10 days.  Trust me: I'll do whatever necessary to prevent the infection from developing elsewhere in her lungs, but it would be so much easier to do this with the vest (Judith has 4.5 lbs to go until she reaches the minimum weight, so hopefully we can start talking about that soon).  Hopefully Judith will start to feel better in the next day or 2, and we can wave goodbye to this crap for a while.

Update

It's been an interesting past couple of days.

I worked yesterday, so my mom came up to watch Judith (John also had a day off, but went to the church most of the day to get ready for Christmas services and whatnot).  She threw up everything she had that morning, and still wasn't herself.  So by the afternoon, I decided to take her to her pedi and get checked out.

Everything was generally looking ok, except she had a fever and her lungs sounded a little crackly when she was laying down.  Her doc said she more than likely was fighting off a virus, and took a swab of her nose to check for bigger problems (like RSV, flu, etc.).

Today her fever seemed to be breaking (yay!), but she started to get the squirts, and they were really mucousy.  I put a call in to her pulmonologist to make sure it wasn't antibiotic related, and he also said it sounds like a virus, so we could stop the antibiotics since she already had 2 rounds prior to this.  This afternoon, I got the call from the pedi that Judith's nasal swab was negative for more major viruses (another yay!).  So we could still be looking at a cold, or she may have picked up a rotavirus infection.  Whatever it is, it seems to be working itself out of her system, and I hope she'll be in better shape by this weekend.  In the meantime, we'll keep doing her CPT 3-4 times a day as needed, and we increased her Albuterol to help keep her airways open - hopefully that will prevent anything bad from setting up shop in her lungs!

Sharing

We're learning to share in our house this week!  /sarcasm

It's official: Judith caught the cold that John & I have.  ::sigh::  This isn't unexpected, but the timing is what threw me for a loop.

She was a little more "off" today, but I was chalking it up to the possible growth spurt.  I kind of brushed off some of the other signs, because they're so typical for a Tuesday around here: disinterest in her lunch, wanting Pediasure more than the food, fussy before therapy, etc.  She was fussy during therapy today, and she hasn't been that way for a while - normally she's fussy at the end because she wants a nap after all of that work.  Today, though, I put her on my lap and she snuggled into me and noticed her forehead felt warm.  As soon as we finished up, I headed upstairs (like normal - she'll usually take a good nap when she's done) and took her temp.

100.2

Crap.

I put a call in to the clinic and talked to the nurse coordinator about what we should do.  She took a record of everything I noticed (Judith's temp, symptoms, that sort of stuff) and passed it on to the doctor.  She called back after a bit and said that the doc would phone in a prescription for another antibiotic, and that it sounds like Judith has another virus she's fighting off.  She also told me that we could take Judith to her regular pedi to get checked out if it would make us feel better, and I asked if we could wait a day or 2 since we were starting the antibiotics.  Thankfully she said that would be ok, but also gave us some signs to look for that would indicate Judith was getting sicker.

So now we're on round 3 of antibiotics (bactrum again), we're increasing CPT, and we're to give her Tylenol to help with the fever.  Currently, Judith is sleeping off whatever is invading her system.  While it's nice to have some quite time, I'd rather have it because she's healthy and it's bedtime.

I have a feeling it's going to be a long winter...

Cold and Flu Season is Here...

... and we may be fighting off the first cold.  I noticed that Judith has been coughing more toward the end of last week, and after the big weather change Thursday into Friday, it sounded wet.  I called the clinic first thing, and they put her on an antibiotic immediately to help prevent anything else from taking over (they like to treat all CF patients aggressively to ward off any potential problems as soon as they can).  Poor peanut hasn't been herself - she fell asleep on her back twice on Friday, and didn't roll over to settle in like she normally does.  Her appetite has gone to pot, and she's not taking in as much as she was before.  Combined with some major teething, she's turning into a hot mess - not that I blame her.  :(

The first thing I thought of while making the call to Hershey was "Thank God we got her first Synagis shot into her a week and a half prior!"  Any exposure to RSV, and the vaccine will help prevent it from growing further, but I don't think it is RSV since she hasn't had any other symptoms so far.

Anyway, her pulmonologist put her on a Sulfa antibiotic to help with the cough.  Cue a small panic on my part - I'm allergic to all sulfas, so now I have to watch her closely to make sure she doesn't develop a rash.  So far, so good; my allergies didn't turn up until I took it 2 or 3 times, and since this is her first time (I'm assuming - I can't remember if she had any sulfas when she was in the NICU) I'm hoping we'll be good to go.  Trying to get her to take it is a completely different story.  We have a thicker oral injector the pharmacy gave us since she's getting a teaspoon twice a day.  It's a slow process, and we can only give her about 1mL at a time or else she won't take any of it, and even then she still spits some of it out.  Apparently medicinal grape flavor doesn't fool her.  Naturally, she manages to get her hands involved, smearing some of the antibiotic on them, and attempting to stick them in my mouth.  I'm probably overreacting, but I really don't want to run the risk of ingesting some of it and ending up with a bad rash for Thanksgiving.  If I didn't know better, I'd say she's trying to get revenge on me for forcing her to take the stuff.  Only 8 days more of this...

As for the teething front, I am happy to announce that there are some definite bubbles on Judith's gums!  I managed to peek inside her mouth yesterday, and there are some prime spots ready to come through soon, mostly on the upper left side of her mouth.  Oddly enough, it looks like she's cutting her upper canines first, but the other front teeth don't look like they're far behind.  I can see them lined up under the gums, and Judith is gnawing on anything and everything she can get her hands on.  I still hold with the stance that we're lucky in the teething department - so many moms that I talk to seem to have it much worse with their little ones, and I count my blessings that she seems to handle it relatively well (even though it still has to hurt a ton).


Yesterday was super exciting!  I got to meet another one of the wonderful ladies I talk to online, and she took Judith's 1 year photos for us!  She is super talented, and such a nice person to be around - I really hope that we can get together again sometime soon!  Once we get the link for the proofs, I'll post 1 or 2 so you can see the great job she does!

I know this is long already, but I have to share a funny story about the doggies (and frankly, I don't post about them much and feel guilty about that sometimes haha).  John had his laptop at my parents' house, and when we got back from pictures he was working on some church stuff.  He left the laptop running downstairs, and came up briefly to look at a present idea for Judith.  Little peanut needed a diaper change, so I had to run downstairs to get the wipes.  Buster felt the need to follow me down, and next thing I know he's barking at something.  Buster doesn't bark often (not like Lady, who will bark at a speck of dust floating by outside because it dared stray onto her turf), but when he does, it's usually because he doesn't like something (like a cat, another dog, or a rabbit).  I was upstairs, and his barking continued.  My mom asked who was barking, and I said it was Buster!  My grandmother couldn't figure out what he was barking at either; after a few more minutes of this, John finally called him and he ran upstairs.  A couple minutes later, he followed John downstairs, and began barking again.  This time we figured out what the issue was: Buster apparently didn't like the floating balls screen saver on John's laptop, and was barking at it!  He did this once before with a makeup model on one of my magazines, and it was just as funny then as it was yesterday!  He's so weird, but so entertaining at the same time!