Molars

Seriously, these 2 year molars need to make an appearance soon.  We have to be going on 5 months of this crap with no results.  I think we're getting close, because she is jamming her fingers into the back corners of her mouth and chomping on them with a lot more enthusiasm than she has in a while.  In the meantime, she's been a hot freaking mess, and driving me absolutely bonkers.

Teething Hell

One of the advantages of talking to other moms who have babies around the same age as Judith (her actual age, that is) is hearing about all of the milestones/other things they go through with their little ones - it gives me some perspective for what we will be in for in the coming months.  When so many of my friends talked about how bad the 1 year molars are, I kind of blew it off and thought, "Well, it can't be any worse than the rest of the teeth!"  I know we've been lucky so far, and Judith is a pretty good teether - minor fussiness, generally good eating habits, no major runny noses, etc.

Holy crap, how naive could I be?!  The last week has been a teething nightmare.  Judith's been working on these molars for 6 months.  6 MONTHS!  She's been worse than a beaver, chewing on everything she could get her hands on.  Sunday she was a little fussy, but nothing too serious.  Monday she was a complete bear.  I thought it was the heat until I decided to risk losing my finger and felt her gums.  Success!  She finally cut her first molar!  I realized then that her fussiness was due to that elusive molar making it's appearance in the lineup of her teeth.  A further investigation discovered that 2 more molars should be making an appearance very soon, as there were 2 very hard, pointy knots on her lower gum line, 1 on each side.

4 days later, and we're still waiting for something to happen.  It can't happen soon enough - last night she refused to go to sleep until 10, and that was only after allowing the tylenol to kick in (I generally don't give her anything for her teething pain, as I don't want her body to get too adjusted to it, but she was so miserable that I figured, "What the hell, it's not going to hurt anything!").  Her teeth have always emerged in sets of 2 or 3, so I'm not surprised that these particular teeth are queuing up.  But these suckers are so hard to come through, and I know she's miserable and cranky because of it.

I really want my happy, pleasant toddler back.

Ouch Update (haha)

Our biting situation is getting a bit better.  I'm working on creating an arsenal of supplies to keep handy for entertainment purposes (apparently Anderson Cooper isn't entertainment enough during those morning CPT times), so we'll see what they can do to help turn things around.  Videos and whatnot will probably become therapy treats around here very quickly.

Judith made an attempt to bite my dad last Thursday when he did her CPT (his work schedule finally worked out so I could actually accept one of the teaching days I got called for), but he was able to avoid those little razors.  She started to go after my arm once on Friday, but for some reason stopped.  And after seeing what I saw this afternoon, I may have a reasoning for a small part of the problem: tooth #8 is queued up and ready to rupture through the gums very, very soon.  We're talking a full-blown pit where that sucker will make it's appearance within the next 24-36 hours (based off of her pattern from when I actually notice the pit).  And as a side note, if you never noticed this phenomenon while your child is teething, it's kind of freaky to see.  There's nothing more bizarre than seeing a small hole in your child's gum, then seeing the first portions of a tooth poking through a day later.

Anyway, we currently have 8 small bottles of bubbles that were purchased yesterday at Wal-Mart (4 packs of which will make their way to my parents' house so they have some there), and I want to try using those as an extra treat - the nurses at the CF Clinic will sometimes use bubbles to distract Judith when they're taking her vitals, and she really seemed to enjoy them.  Fingers crossed that the novelty doesn't wear off too quickly, but if she's anything like me that novelty will never wear off.

We'll see how this goes - with any luck, she'll keep her interest in these new things long enough to give me time to think of some backups when stuff becomes stale.

It's A Christmas Eve Update!

I know I haven't been around much in the last week.  Things have been a little busy with rehearsals and getting things ready for Christmas.  My birthday was on Sunday, and I've been enjoying my gifts!  I got a new winter coat from my parents, and bought a new camera lens plus all 7 Harry Potter books with the money from my in-laws (well, part of that was Christmas money too, so I treated myself early!).  So between taking pictures with my new lens, taking care of Judith and the dogs, and burying my nose in books, I lost track of time and forgot to post!

I have to say that I've been enjoying the Harry Potter books immensely!  Believe it or not, I never read them before now (I was kind of bucking the trend for quite a while), and in retrospect that was one of the dumbest things I've done.  Thanks to many of my awesome mommy friends constantly talking about the books and movies, I finally caved and began reading them.  I'm hooked!  I'm getting ready to start the 4th book, and can't wait to get the movies with the rest of my birthday money!  I'm still kicking myself a bit for not reading these sooner (I had a major "WTF self?!" moment after reading the first chapter in book 1), but I'm glad that I'm remedying the error of my ways now!  Hopefully once Judith gets older, she'll decide to read the books herself, and will enjoy them as much as I am enjoying them!

One source of frustration this week has been with the sippy cup.  When Judith was sick last week, we didn't force the sippy on her as much and just gave her the bottle - that way she could use her energy to fight off the virus rather than burn the calories fussing about the sippy.  As a result, we had some minor regression.  So this week I was working with her to get her back to where she was.  She was only taking maybe an ounce or 2 at a time from the straw sippy, and I kept second-guessing our decision to keep working on transitioning/dropping bottles (as a side note, it's not the sucking part that she's having problems with - she can get liquid through the straw fine.  It's the intake that was concerning me).  For some odd reason, I decided to give the soft spout sippy another try, and the little stinker took to that right away!  The past couple of days, she's downed at least 2-3 ounces with each meal.  Talk about easing up on the frustration!  I'm thrilled that she likes it, and while shopping with my mom yesterday we picked up 2 more cups - 10 oz size this time, so we can fit an entire can of Pediasure in it.

We also had a surprise this week: remember when I mentioned before about Judith getting ready to cut one of her upper teeth?  The one right beside the upper front left tooth?  Well, it cut through, and the surprise part is the tooth in the same spot, but on the right side also cut at the same time!  When I felt/looked at her gums, that tooth definitely did not feel like it was anywhere close to emerging, but after a quick swipe I noticed it was there!  Her total tooth count is 5, and the final upper front tooth feels like it will come through in the next week or 2.

I am getting excited for tomorrow!  I know Judith probably won't be super enthusiastic about Christmas this year, but I can't wait to see her open her presents!  This year is a far cry from Christmas last year, and John & I are grateful that we can celebrate Christmas at home with our beautiful little girl.


John, Judith, Buster, Lady, & I would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season!

T-Minus 6 Days

It's officially less than a week until Judith is 1.  Less than a week before I no longer have a baby, but a toddler.

Things have been insane around here since Thanksgiving.  We had a great holiday - the Wednesday before we spent the night at my parents' house, and went to church in the evening.  My "other" church hosted the conference-turned-semi-community service, and I played with the brass group (that's the 2nd time in about a month that my trombone has been played, and it's still trying to figure out what hit it - thank goodness it didn't shrivel up once it saw the light of day!).  Thursday John, Judith, & I drove to see John's parents and one of his brothers, and we had breakfast with them.  Turkey dinner was later that day, with my parents and grandmother.

Judith had her first tastes of some Thanksgiving foods, minus the turkey; she doesn't handle meats well, and I'm honestly waiting until she has more teeth (I'd ideally like to hold off until she has molars, based off of some good advice I was given a while back) before really trying meats with her.  Despite the meatless meal, Judith really enjoyed herself!  Mashed potatoes were an especially big hit:

We even put some gravy on them, figuring it would be a good high-calorie option for her.  She didn't seem to be a big fan.  Silly kid.

The rest of the weekend was spent shopping and preparing some things for Judith's upcoming birthday and party.  We have our paper goods & decorations, and yesterday I finished her pictures for our photo wall.  I feel a thousand times better knowing this is done!  I need to find my Pampered Chef easy decorator and wash it so it's ready to go for cupcake decoration, and there are a few small loose ends that we'll need to take care of, but otherwise we're in good shape!


We have another CF Clinic appointment, and it will be the first one with Judith's new doctor.  I have a big list of questions I'm taking with me this time, and hopefully we can get some answers.  I'm so curious to see how long she is, and how much she weighs!  Next week she'll have her 1 year well-baby visit with her regular pediatrician, and that means shots.  I'm seriously contemplating delaying one of them until her 15 month appointment since she's getting her Synagis injections at this appointment as well - I don't want to stick her too many times, and I'm wary of overloading her system too much.  Load these appointments on top of crazy rehearsal schedules to get ready for building dedication at my "other" church, PT changes (since we'll be at clinic during her normal therapy time), and general holiday preparations, I may go nuts.

I am excited that Judith has a new tooth!  Her upper front left tooth made an appearance over the holiday, and it's steadily working its way through her gum.  It'll be a while before it's fully in, but at least it cut through.  She's still teething like crazy though, and there are at least 2-3 other teeth lined up, preparing to come out.  I'm not surprised that she's cutting a bunch at once, but she's also been super cranky because of it - these teeth had better come out quickly for everyone's sake!

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!

Knoebels and Teething

Friday we went to Knoebels Groves for the first time in years.  It's been a good 15 years since my family and I have been there, and probably close to 15 since John and his family went there.

For those of you who are not familiar with Knoebels, it's a medium-sized amusement park located in Central PA that also has a campground.  It's not nearly as large as Hersheypark, but still has a great variety of rides for everyone in the family.

We had quite an adventure, and despite an unexpected event with my grandfather, still had a relatively enjoyable time.  We were a bit bummed that Judith didn't get to ride the carousel or the trains like we had planned - she fell asleep in her stroller, and there was no way I was going to wake her up to go on the rides!  Hopefully we can get her on them some other time.



In the land of teething, we don't have a ton of progress happening - those suckers aren't showing themselves anytime soon, but we have lots of gnawing on anything and everything, plus a nice, "runny" nose to go with it.  I use the term runny loosely (haha), because we're having great adventures with the world of CF.  I know that the CF makes the mucous thicker, and I'm realizing this every time I have to suction Judith's nose.  This has got to be one of the worst tasks I've done - Judith hates every sucker I use (we have a bulb sucker we got from the NICU, plus I have a Graco electric sucker), and it is so hard to get the crud out.  Thank goodness it's clear, otherwise I'd be sitting here typing while having a small panic attack over an infection or something.

Teething

We have officially entered the stage many parents dread.  We have a teether - the lower teeth are very visible under the gums, and are starting to push up against the surface.  Judith has been absolutely miserable all day, and I'm about ready to pull my hair out.  It didn't help matters that I put her in her adorable Carter's crab romper (it has a smiling red crab on the butt), because every time I put her in this outfit she immediately decides to emotionally imitate the depicted shellfish.  Add that to a teething baby, and fun times ensue.

The day wasn't completely insane - Judith had a weigh-in with her pediatrician today.  She had developed some congestion and a bit of a runny nose yesterday, and her pedi said it doesn't look like it's concerning, and is more than likely a part of teething.  Knock on wood it stays that way.  Everything else checked out good - lungs are clear, and she gained 2 lbs. since her 6 month appointment (she now weighs 14 lbs 4 oz).  I scheduled her 9 month well baby visit (and next round of shots), and if the flu shots are in Judith will get her first one at that time.  Her name's also been submitted for the next series of Synagis shots - she'll get the full course this year, starting mid-fall with the last shot being given in April.  That means 6 or 7 monthly visits to the pedi this year, dependent on when the first shot is given (I'm figuring mid to late October).  I don't know if we'll have to go back under lockdown this year or not, and that's something we'll have to discuss closer to time.  Granted the kid's going to get sick at some point, and will more than likely get a cold this winter, but we'll still be as proactive as possible to keep the bugs away that could cause even worse problems for her.