Playing Catch Up!

Ok, ok I know I've been a blogging slacker lately. It's not that I haven't meant to post and catch up on everything in the last couple of months, but we've been SO busy around here! Here's a brief synopsis since the last post.

The next week Ella Kate was diagnosed with another ear infection and this was really concerning b/c she was put on Clindamycin (nasty nasty nasty antibiotic) which smells like floor cleaner even when it's flavored with lemon, strawberry cream, or grape. She'd had bad diaper rashes when on antibiotics in the past, so I was mostly concerned about that and also C-Diff. The clinda was 7ml 3 times a day and EK HATED it. I mean really really hated it. We had to hide it in anything we could find, and really, nothing worked more than once or twice before she'd wise up to us and refuse-- even a chocolate Frosty from Wendy's! A couple of times it even made her throw up (unfortunately both times were on my brother- sorry Uncle Joe, welcome to babies!). We did learn to successfully combat the diaper rash, and maybe the c-diff, by loading her up with probiotics: yogurt, Keifer, and probiotic granules (which oddly made her wet diapers smell like buttered popcorn) and it worked! Not one spot of diaper rash!

In the midst of this mess I had to go to LA for work for a week which just made me even more stressed out. By this point I was adamantly voicing my concerns to the pediatrician. EK had chronic double ear infections from December through February. Within 10 days of completing one round of antibiotics another infection would set in. She had constant congestion and even developed an antibiotic resistant strain of strep in her nose and a different one in her ear. I was really pushing for tubes at this point, but the pediatrician wanted to get through cold season and see if things cleared up. The plan was to finish the Clindamycin and then put her on low dose amoxicillin for 6 weeks. Seeing as how we already had developed those resistant strains I was not excited about putting her on yet more antibiotics. Regardless, I went to LA with a follow up visit to check her ears scheduled for the following Saturday. At this point the ears were looking mostly ok and we were to finish the Clinda and start the amox. By the end of that week, before we could get the amox filled, she was acting fussy again so I took her in and yep, double infection. We got yet another round of Clinda prescribed, filled, and flavored (whole 'nother story there) and scheduled a visit to the ENT for the following week. In the mean time, that weekend we took a family trip with my brother and dad to visit my 97 year old Grandmother (Dad's mom) in NC for her birthday. Great weekend- EK loved the attention from all the people at Gran-Gran's retirement home. On the way home we ran into that huge snow storm that hit NC; not fun to drive in, but we made it back to Knoxville (which hadn't seen a single flake!). So on Tuesday we went to the ENT, scheduled surgery for tubes and adenoid removal for Wednesday, and by Friday we had a new baby. Seriously! It worked that well. Amazing! Dr. Joe Graves was fantastic! That was the first week in March and things have been much less eventful since. Lauran came in town at the end of the month to run the Knoxville 1/2 marathon and then last weekend EK and I went down to GA to see my parents. This week Chris is gone to DC for work, but will be home on Friday in time for the Easter egg hunt on Saturday and church on Sunday. Whew! I'll try not to let it go so long next time!

At the ENT for our surgery follow up visit. A totally different baby from the last time we were there!

Getting ready for bed with Gama

Don't worry, it looks scarier than it was, that slide was only like 3 feet off the ground and Gama (my mom) is right there beside her.

She loves slides!

Sliding with Aunt Katey

My neighbor Jill ran the race too, again, a fast one!

Lauran came in town to run the Knoxville 1/2 marathon. While I was busy having a baby she's been speed training and has gotten fast!!! Glad she waited for me at the finish line :)

I'd give way more than $1000 for this little outlaw!

Ella Kate and Abby Kate, so hard to get toddlers to focus!

EK eating some delicious birthday cake-- notice how she holds the fork all by herself!

Ella Kate playing with Anna Claire's doll house.

The Ellis' have such a great back yard for kids! A bounce house, swing set, trampoline, and a fort-- who needs a playground?!

She LOVES to swing. This is at Holly's house for Jacob and Abby Kate's birthday party.

Who needs a Big Wheel when you have a diaper box to ride around in?!

Getting ready for surgery-- love that Happy Juice!

Going down the twisty slide with Mommy

Playing on the playground at Bearden Elementary.

Her first car date with Noah Hagg at his birthday party.

She looks like a little person, not just a baby!

Daddy's girl :)

EK riding around in Gran-Gran's walker!

Hard to get babies and great-grandmothers to pose for pictures!

She had a great time playing on the big bed at the hotel.

EK, Joe (my bro), Gran-Gran, and my Dad

Lovin' the phone at the hotel during our trip to NC to see Gran-Gran.

Opening her birthday present from the Lewis'-- she loved to tear the paper and the gift, a tea pot that sings in a slightly British accent and teaches manners!

Favorite past time-- books!

Isn't it funny how babies can sleep in any position?

Ella Kate and her daddy

A trip to Sequoia dog park

As soon as the weather turned even mildly warmer on Sunday we took all the girls to the park. Of course, we failed to take any pictures of our first generation babies-- the doggies. Poor things. Ella Kate had a GREAT time toddling around. We had her all bundled up, but she still had a lot of fun.

EK is really hooked on noses lately.

She also likes to copy us when we stick out our tongues.

This is an action shot of EK leaning in for a face plant.

I don't know if she was aiming for a kiss, or what, but she kept getting my nose or chin. She did this several times. It was slobbery, kinda gross, and incredibly funny.

Making faces. She likes to purse her lips and puff out her cheeks.

Ooohh, a favorite.

Finding Mommy's nose again.

Me warding off another nose bopping.

Snow day at home

Ella Kate and I spent a snowy day at home today. I successfully kept a fire in the fireplace (yeah me!) with minimal side effects, other than smelling like I'd been around a camp fire all day.

She's been a little dream baby lately. Yes, she's very active and we can't take our eyes off her for half a second, but she's so much fun I'm not complaining. After her first nap and then lunch I decided to attempt an outing in her first real snow. Pops (Chris' dad) got this precious snow suit for her last winter. We didn't know what size she'd be, so we got an 18 month, so it's a bit big-- I had to do some tucking, but it worked great! Thanks, Pops!!

EK is still working on walking outside in uneven terrain, so snow just adds to the mix. She didn't seem to mind when she lost her footing, just giggled and with some help from Abbey, got right back up and kept going!

Miss Bree turns One!

Saturday afternoon we drove up to Johnson City to celebrate with Shay and Brian and their families the one year anniversary of the arrival of Miss Bree! Ella Kate had a great time playing with Bree's toys, and as usual, Bree let her! This may have been the first time that Ella Kate looked bigger than Bree, but Bree is still taller.

Doesn't this shot remind you of the Partridge Family or the Brady Bunch?! Can you believe this kind of look is back in-- at least for toddlers. She's even playing her token "instrument."

EK really loved Bree's gift from her Mimi and Popi (Shay's parents), this precious mini rocking chair that matches the big ones Shay and Brian have on their front porch. How cute!

The living room, after Hurricane Ella Kate came through.

The only thing that could calm the storm was Baby Einstein Mozart-- it's like baby crack-- she's totally transfixed by those little hand pupets!

Typical Morning with Ella Kate

See, now you know why we made the high chair a "low" chair.

Learning a Lot

As a first time mom I've learned that no matter how many questions I ask of my more experienced mommy friends we still have to stumble through most of this parenting thing on our own. Ella Kate is growing, learning, and changing by leaps and bounds, and we are struggling to keep up with her!

• She's babbling all the time in a very distinct foreign language all her own (I swear sometimes it sounds like French and then the next Japanese) I guess my dad, the linguist, has been teaching her a little on the side! I really think she said belly button tonight in the tub, she definitely calls the dogs "bop-bops" and "mama" and "dada" come out all the time, but I don't really know if they refer to us. She signs for milk, more, bye-bye, kisses and mimics us with sounds and movements. She points out other babies and says something that kinda resembles the word "baba."
• When asked, she points to her belly button, her nose (ok, finger goes in the nose and then she tries to put it in mine), and sticks out her tongue.
• Tonight she did the cutest thing after she got out of the tub: I had my hands on her knees as she sat on top of the potty holding a bath toy fish whose tail moves when you wind him up. When he stopped flapping his tail she kept holding him then she took my hand off her knee and put the toy in it. I handed it back to her, so she did the same thing with my other hand-- that's when I realized she was trying to tell me to wind him back up, so I did and she giggled with joy.
• She's a daredevil and thinks everything should be done upside down; I'm starting her at the Little Gym next week and I know she'll love it.

On our front we're learning things, too, like, how to read exactly when she needs sleep and how not to dare go past that point. She doesn't like the car seat-- rides do not calm her down unless she's extremely tired.

She's almost finished up with another round of antibiotics for a mild double ear infection-- Augmentin this time. If you or your children have ever been on this one you know the side effects include diarrhea-- and should always be taken with good starchy food. Easier said than done with a finicky baby. Ella Kate is very prone to diaper rash-- thankfully only when on antibiotics, but it usually gets really bad. This time we tried to prepare by loading up on yogurt, Keifer (a probiotic type yogurt/smoothie- thanks Kristen), Triple Paste, and looked up home remedies for diaper rash. The Triple Paste certainly helped, but the Augmentin was fighting against us causing her to have loose bowels at almost every changing. I don't know if the Keifer helped or not, but probiotics can't hurt, right? We also gave up wipes in place of a warm wet washcloth. The rash didn't look so bad, but it must've really hurt b/c every changing was a true struggle-- tears and screams-- you'd think she was getting shots, but she doesn't even cry for those! We found suggestions for at home remedies including Maalox, and Melissa had used it on one of her boys, so I thought we'd give it a try. Mixing it with Aquaphor was really quite a challenge, I mostly ended up with Maalox floating on top of the Aquaphor-- no matter, Mel said she just poured Maalox straight over the bottom and it worked like a charm. So, we tried it and, truly, it has helped tremendously. Tonight Chris successfully mixed the two, it took lots and lots of stirring- I'm sure his arm was tired after that, but he made a beautiful paste that we will cherish! I don't know why a company has not manufactured this on a large scale! hmmm.... maybe that's an idea....

Feeding is another challenge. So I've landed on a few must haves -- they have become staples around our house and if you'd like any of the recipes please let me know, I'm happy to share! The first is mini muffins either of banana bread or applesauce bread made with whole wheat flour. I make a huge batch and freeze half so we always have some on hand. Every morning we start with a sippy cup of milk, a mini muffin, and about 1/3 of a banana cut into chunks. This morning I created a new one that will be added as a staple and might be made in batches and frozen, as well. It was eggs, cheese, some Heart Healthy Bisquick, and milk all mixed together and baked in a muffin tin. Worked great b/c it wasn't messy and EK could carry it around and bite off it- just like a muffin!
We've moved her booster seat/high chair to the floor so that she can get in and out at her leisure-- I guess this give her some independence-- and also keeps me from having to constantly pick up things that she throws on the floor.
Some dinner items we've found to be a hit are :

• grilled cheese with either broccoli or spinach
• cheese quesadillas with mashed black beans and spinach
• flat croissant rolls with mashed black beans, spinach, and ricotta cheese
• mac-n-cheese with broccoli
• crustless quiche (a Vinson household fav!!!) I add cheese, chicken or turkey, and a veggie. This one has also been great for her to learn to use her fork. I cut the quiche into little cubes before I heat it then when I put it on her tray she can still stab at it and get it to her mouth. This is also the best way I've found to get her to eat at meat and veggies.
• turkey dog (white meat only, less sodium and fat than the "franks") cut into little tiny non-chokeable bites.
• cheese cubes
• spiral pasta made from veggies (tomatoes and spinach) with a little olive oil and salt (thanks, Haley!)

New fav snacks include:

• Mandarin oranges
• graham crackers
• cheese bits (you know, those little square crackers) they're great b/c they crumble easily keeping them from being a choking hazard, but not keeping them from being a terrible mess in the living room.
• Goldfish
• applesauce

The dogs love cleaning up after her, but she is getting better at feeding herself and keeping a lot of it in her mouth or on the tray.
She amazes us daily with something new she's learned and we are pretty amazed with ourselves for adapting to life with a toddler. Today we bought a treadmill b/c I just have to face the fact that I can no longer be a gym junkie. So, life is good. She even slept till after 10am this morning (Chris gave her a sippy at about 7:15 and amazingly she went back to sleep). It was a very nice treat for us all.
On a side note, if you read this on Monday scroll on over to Kristen's blog for some updates on Baby JuJu. She's got an appointment with an immunologist at St. Jude's and should actually have some answers by the time they leave in the afternoon. I will be eagerly anticipating the results of their very long day.