My daughter turned a year old two weeks ago! That's so crazy to think about! I'm the momma of a big kid now! She's not quite walking yet but boy is she talking! She's so smart, it's crazy. I started bringing her to the daycare I work at and she's doing well there... well, besides the sickness. The lead teacher in the room tells me everyday that "she can talk!" and yep, we know! She never stops! Anything you say once she'll repeat. It's unreal. I think she's fully able to walk, she does very well one-handed, but she absolutely refuses to move (or even sometimes stand) once you let go. Stubborn like her momma.
Emma at 11 days old
Emma at 360 days old!
Unfortunately it's been rough since last Tuesday night. She woke herself up with a hacking cough and whooping sounds in between and finally fell back asleep on me. The next day she was fine, barely even coughed. We actually went to the zoo for a bit, only to the inside buildings and such. That night her dad and I (her dad is in town on leave) went to the pediatric after hours clinic at our local hospital where they looked at her and listened to her chest and said that she had a cold and sent us on our way. I was very angry because my mom instincts were telling me it was something more! It progressively got worse. On Thursday she was sent home early from daycare with a 102.4 fever and my parents came and got her and gave her motrin and she was alright just a little crabby. Then Friday her dad watched her for me while I worked and when I got home her fever had dropped to 96.6, which is a dramatic drop and 2 degrees below normal... but within 2 hours it was back to normal. I called the doctor and he said he didn't think it was whooping cough, but gave me a list of things to take her to the ER for. She was fine all night. Finally last night I'd had enough of it all, and the daycare she goes to/I work at was closed for Monday so I told my dad to come get us in the morning and take us in. She woke up twice, the first time she coughed and whooped, the second time she turned beet red and almost vomitted. She'd been coughing badly whenever she was eating and sleeping. My mom thought it sounded like whooping cough (which my sister had had as an infant, and my niece had a while back.) which only further confirmed my suspicions... We went in this morning after she woke up and I packed her things. She wouldn't really eat or drink until dinner tonight, either. They admitted us and did a chest x-ray that came back clean, a breathing treatment, and two nose swabs. One of them came back positive for RSV (a highly- contagious upper respiratory infection with symptoms that did not match hers at all) and the other was for pertusis, the results will come back on Wednesday for that one. They sort-of dismissed me when I told them she may have been exposed to pertusis and hasn't been vaccinated. I actually took a video that I can show if I don't hear back soon. I found several articles online that say that you can get pertusis and RSV together and that pertusis often masks the symptoms of RSV and children often don't get diagnosed with pertusis until the doctors have seen a video or an actual coughing fit. Here's hoping we get this sorted soon! I need to be tested as well for both before I can safely return to working with preschoolers.
Phew.
Additionally, I figured now was as good a time as any to update on the rest of my family, since I haven't posted much about them in a while (very busy with my own little family!) Alright so I don't know how much everyone knows or remembers so let's just cover all the bases.
Clay, my eldest nephew, is eight. He's in third grade. He has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, he currently wears leg braces that go just below his knees, and he's doing very well. He's still ambulatory about 100% of the time and he's doing much better than they predicted a few years back. He's taken to physical and occupational therapy with some crazy kind of fierceness that I have never seen before. They don't see him needing a wheelchair for a couple years yet with the progress he's made! He's one of my favorite little dudes to talk to, as well. Getting a bit "too cool" for me, though.
Jade is in first grade this year, today is her 7th birthday! She's reading a couple of years above most kids in her class, about 20 "levels" based on the new level scale they've picked up. Not too much going on there, just a girl learning a whole lot when she's not having snow days.
Maya is also in first grade, turning 7 in the spring she's doing alright. She's pretty much average at this point. She's really good when it comes to her older brother and any issues he has, she always wants to help. She seems very fascinated by his leg braces. We've caught her a few times playing sick herself or making her barbies sick. She gets embarrassed if we notice, though. Come to think of it, embarrassment becomes a real issue when they are in first grade, Jade gets embarrassed a lot, too.
Evan is in preschool, he's been held back because they didn't think he was socially ready for kindergarten this year and because his birthday falls just after the cutoff anyways. Clay, Maya, and Evan all moved further away a couple years ago so since Emma was born I haven't gotten to see them much. I've heard a rumor recently that they might be moving back this way soon!
Nora is two, she's wild and rambunctious and very dramatic, she stays home with mom all day and I work all day so I only see her on weekends where nobody is sick, and she and Emma have both been sick lately!
AND two of my brothers are getting married this year. The 2nd oldest of us is getting married at the end of September in a very nice refurbished barn 3 hours away, and the 3rd oldest is getting married two weeks later in a really big farmers market close by. Not very good planning, but I love weddings. Rumor has it that Emma and I will be in both! Yeesh!
I think that's all for crazy family news?
Edit- because I forgot to include pictures of my girl! & again to resize images
Show Posts
