18 Month Pictures

I took Kate out the other day to shoot some 18 month pictures. Next week is just going to be bad with her surgery, and I'm not sure how long recovery will take, so they're a week early, but I figured that's better than nothing. I can't believe how quickly she is growing up! She is looking more and more like a little kid every day.







I'm starting to get a little nervous and anxious about the surgery. I'll just be glad when it's all over with. I still am assured we are doing the right thing, but that doesn't make it any easier. All prayers and words of encouragement from moms who have been there are appreciated!

Sweet Moments

Every minute you spend with your child is a gift, but there are just some moments that are priceless and make your heart ache with the love you have for that little person.

When I was getting Kate ready for bed tonight, after her bath, and putting her PJ bottoms on, I stood her up to pull up her pants. She pulled me in for a long hug, then started swaying back and forth with me in a 2-minute or so hug!! It was SO sweet, made this mommy cry.

We had a fun day today. The Blairs came into town, and we all met up with my parents at a pumpkin patch in Richardson. I think the one in Celina was a little better, but we didn't feel like making the drive all the way out there again! It was fun, and we got some more great pictures! (Once again, see Facebook.)



Jeff turned the big 29 earlier this week. We all went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory the night of his birthday. For dessert I ordered plain cheesecake with fresh strawberries on top, and Jeff got Reese's PB Cup Cheesecake. For a while, I just fed Kate bites of whipped cream, with the occasional bite of cheesecake mixed in. Well, then Jeff gave her a bite of his cheesecake. She got a big smile on her face and nodded her head. :) After that first bite, she wouldn't take any more whipped cream, or even my plain cheesecake! All she wanted was Daddy's PB Cup Cheesecake. :) She really does take after him in SO many ways!

Strep Throat Again

I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but Kate has strep throat again. Poor baby. We went to the Pediatrician, and she decided to just put Kate on antibiotics until the surgery - 3 weeks. She said this is getting absurd! So we are hoping this will keep Kate healthy and ready for surgery. She chose a mild antibiotic, to try to ward off diaper rash and yeast infections.

We also got her immunology bloodwork results back. Everything looks normal so far. They do some tests to see if the body is mounting immunities correctly after vaccines, and a couple other tests too. So far so good, but she shared the results with a couple of her immunology colleagues, and they recommended getting 2 or 3 more tests done, just to make sure all is well. I told the doctor how traumatic the blood draw was for Kate, and asked her if there's any way it could be done while Kate is under anesthesia for her surgery. The doctor thought that was a great idea, so at least we won't have any additional trauma caused for my poor baby.

All in all she is doing well. I'm starting to get anxious for the surgery, but after this latest round of strep, I'm just ready to get it over with. This is so ridiculous, and I'm positive now I'm doing the right thing. We can't go on like this catching strep every 2-3 weeks.

Developmentally she is doing great! She is talking more and more, and is getting to the "parrot" stage where she is attempting more words than ever, and loves to repeat after us. She is also getting very good at identifying pictures of things when we ask her where something is. It's just so amazing to watch them learn and pick things up when you don't even realize it's happening!

Immunology and Update

Earlier this week, I thought Kate was getting sick. She was showing me some of her classic very early symptoms, so I scheduled an appointment with the ENT to get her tested for strep. We went yesterday, and the test was negative. The doctor said he was actually really glad to see that, because it likely proves that she's not a carrier who is just going to test positive every time because she is carrying it, not necessarily infected. (If that makes sense.)

He did say though, that after talking things through with my Pediatrician, they agree that they want her to have an immunology workup before she has surgery. They want to make sure her immune system is working correctly because tonsil surgery might be unnecessary if it's actually an immunity problem. In other words, more torture for Kate. The nurses at the pediatrician tried to do the blood draw, but two awful attempts later, they couldn't get any blood out of Kate. :( I felt so awful holding her down while they just dug in her arms. They sent us off to a lab to get it done. I asked them if they had anyone who is really good with babies because Kate had already endured so much. They assured me they were really good, and don't make the poke unless they're sure. Well, it took them two digging tries too. Poor Kate. I was definitely crying with her by the end. I'd never heard her cry that hard. She was crying so hard she was gasping for breath in between sobs. Poor sweet heart. At least it's over and we can try to forget about it. They said she's probably going to bruise pretty badly.

On the way home we stopped and I treated her to some Cold Stone Cake Batter Ice Cream. All her trauma was long forgotten. :)

It'll take the results about a week to come in, so it'll be interesting to see what we learn. After all that, I almost hope we get something out of it, though of course I'd never hope for something to be wrong with her immune system! I'd just hate to think it was a pointless exercise just to torture my baby.

I just hope we are coming to the end of a long stretch of illness, questions, and doctors in Kate's life. I really hope we'll just get through this surgery, make it through recovery, and have a great healthy winter.

ENT Appointment

Overall, it was a good appointment. At least we have a tentative plan of action...

Basically it comes down to a surgery date of November 12, but there's a lot that goes into that. Our doctor said that he REALLY hesitates to do it under the age of 2, but depending on exactly how many cases of strep she's had, the risks of "underage" surgery will outweigh the risks of leaving her with the tonsils. He said that recurrent strep infections can cause heart and liver damage! I didn't know that! Our Ped sent over some of her past strep tests, 5 positive and 2 negative. They only went back to April. I told him that she's had it WAY more than that! His other hang-up was that he's not sure if he'd like her to have an immunology workup before we proceed with surgery. He said he'd talk to our Pediatrician, find out her exact number of strep cases, and just talk to her in general about how she feels about Kate's history and moving forward from here.

So the plan of action is that the next time Kate gets sick, the ENT wants to see her. He wants to be the one to swab her and send it off to his lab, to see if for whatever reason there's a difference. He wants to see what her tonsils look like when she's sick. He said, "For that matter, let me see what they look like healthy." He looked in and commented how huge they were! He said that just shows him how many times they've been infected, just how enlarged they are. After that he seemed less concerned about getting an immunology workup. He said one thing that Kate has going for her is her size. He said she does NOT look like the typical 17 month old that comes through his office! He said she looks more like a 2 year old, in terms of weight and size. (That's my girl!)

We have an appointment one week before surgery to go over where we're at. If she doesn't get sick between now and then, we'll postpone the surgery another month. Jeff and I are pretty sure it won't be more than a couple of weeks, however, before we're in his office with strep again!

Frustration to Fruition

Earlier this week I used my Gymbucks and bought Kate a lot of their adorable Yorkie line. However, I was needing some charcoal grey pants to go with everything, and the smallest Gymboree makes them in is size 3, which would be waaay too big. I had a little extra time today, so I stopped at NINE, yes count them NINE stores that carry children's clothing, and NO one had charcoal grey leggings. Heather grey yes, but not charcoal. I finally got frustrated enough and decided to make my own! I bought some heather grey leggings and dyed them. Here is a little photo journal of my experiment!

Exhibit A: Original leggings



Exhibit B: Soaking in the dye



Exhibit C: Running through the washer



Exhibit D: Finished product!



Exhibit E: Happy coordinated baby!



I would have liked them to come out a little darker, so I might make another pair, or dye over these ones. I'll see how they come through the wash a few times. The bottle of dye said to leave it soaking for 30-60 minutes, but I only left them in for about 10. The pants looked SOLID black, so I was afraid it had already been too long! So I guess next time I'll try 20ish minutes!

Our appointment with the ENT is tomorrow morning. I'll come back and post details tomorrow!