5yo "well child" appt

Better late than never! We have been so busy with prepping our house for the market that I haven't had much time to breathe, much less blog. But Rose's last medical appointment went well, and she also had a fabulous birthday party!

Two months
weight:  12# 6.4 oz (85th %ile)
height:   23.5"  (86th %ile)
head:    15.5" (66th %ile)

Four months
weight:  15# 10oz (86th %ile)
height:   26"  (95th %ile)
head:    16.75"  (85th %ile)

Six months
weight:  17# 7oz (78th %ile)
height:   27.25"  (93rd %ile)
head:    17"   (72nd %ile)

Nine months
weight:  19# 9.6oz (65th %ile)
height:   28.75"  (87th %ile)
head:    17.5"   (66th %ile)

Twelve months
weight:  20# 9.6oz (61th %ile)
height:   30.5"  (89th %ile)
head:    17.75"   (55th %ile)

Fifteen months
weight:  23# (70th %ile)
height:   32.25"  (91st %ile)
head:    18.25"   (67th %ile)

Eighteen months
weight:  24# 9.6oz (72nd %ile)
height:   2'10" (98th %ile!)
head:    18.5" (68th %ile)

Twenty four months 
weight:  27# 12.8oz (66th %ile)
height:   2'0.25"  (98th %ile)
head:    19"  (72nd %ile)

Thirty months
weight:  31# 6.4oz (80th %ile)
height:   3'3.25" (99th %ile!)
head:     19.5" (83rd %ile)

Three years
weight: 32# 12oz (71%ile)
height: 3'3.75" (96%ile)
BP: 86/50 

Four years
weight: 38# 3oz (74%ile)
height: 3'7.75" (99%ile)
BP: 88/52 

Five years
weight: 43# 12oz (74%ile)
height: 3'10.5" (98%ile)
BP: 94/50 

4yo "well child" appointment

I put it in quotes because Rose and I have been anything BUT "well."  We found out at this appointment that I have pink eye in both eyes (really bad in my left eye) and she has mild bilateral pink eye as well as bad ear infections in both ears.

I look like Bob Costas at the 2014 Olympics!

Antibiotics for both of us!

She is still managing to smile!

Hopefully we can keep up the R&R and get TRULY better soon!



Two months
weight:  12# 6.4 oz (85th %ile)
height:   23.5"  (86th %ile)
head:    15.5" (66th %ile)

Four months
weight:  15# 10oz (86th %ile)
height:   26"  (95th %ile)
head:    16.75"  (85th %ile)

Six months
weight:  17# 7oz (78th %ile)
height:   27.25"  (93rd %ile)
head:    17"   (72nd %ile)

Nine months
weight:  19# 9.6oz (65th %ile)
height:   28.75"  (87th %ile)
head:    17.5"   (66th %ile)

Twelve months
weight:  20# 9.6oz (61th %ile)
height:   30.5"  (89th %ile)
head:    17.75"   (55th %ile)

Fifteen months
weight:  23# (70th %ile)
height:   32.25"  (91st %ile)
head:    18.25"   (67th %ile)

Eighteen months
weight:  24# 9.6oz (72nd %ile)
height:   2'10" (98th %ile!)
head:    18.5" (68th %ile)

Twenty four months
weight:  27# 12.8oz (66th %ile)
height:   2'0.25"  (98th %ile)
head:    19"  (72nd %ile)

Thirty months
weight:  31# 6.4oz (80th %ile)
height:   3'3.25" (99th %ile!)
head:     19.5" (83rd %ile)

Three years
weight: 32# 12oz (71%ile)
height: 3'3.75" (96%ile)
BP: 86/50

Four years
weight: 38# 3oz (74%ile)
height: 3'7.75" (99%ile)
BP: 88/52

consecutive heartbreak

Tuesday, February 24th:
Mac had barely eaten for at least 24 hours. His corneal ulcer looked TERRIBLE. He had been in hiding all day while we were at work, then after Rose went to bed he came out to sit with me while I was reading in bed. Normally he sits on my lap (or even under the covers with me), but today he stayed down at the foot of the bed. Mike came up to talk to me for a few minutes, and I cried my eyes out about how depressed I was feeling. (Long story, but my depression is back. I'm working my way out of it again.) He convinced me to do some meditation, so I started on that. After about 20 minutes, I realized that Mac had been licking his bum for the entire time that I had been meditating. I gently pulled up his tail, and there was something seriously wrong down there. I rushed him to the Emergency Veterinary Clinic. He was clearly in pain, leaking fecal liquid, and obviously miserable. It's a horrible feeling to see your beloved cat in such extreme misery and to feel so helpless. After evaluation, the verdict was that he had an impacted anal gland that had ruptured and become infected. Oh, poor Mac!  We were faced with the prospect of a major surgery to repair that, plus the possible removal of his eye. It was a horrible, horrible decision to have to make, but Mike and I eventually decided that it would be best to let him go. He was always a kitten at heart, and his quality of life was no longer adequate as it had been declining for months - neither of us could remember the last time that we had seen "crazy Mac time" and we used to be able to set our watches to his antics. He is SO sensitive to medications, so the prospect of multiple anesthesias and pain meds was just too much to consider for him.

I said goodbye and helped him transition to a place where he can chase mice, eat bananas, walk on the counters, and enjoy being a scheister to his heart's content. He lived a good life, and he is so deeply missed.






After getting home around 10pm, I had a bit of time to mourn with Mike. But then his sister Anne contacted us because she needed a ride to the hospital. (Her story is here.) Thankfully my boss let me plan for a mental health day to recover from Mac's death and Anne's illness.


Thursday, February 25th:
I got home from the ER around 5am, slept for a couple hours, and then got up around 8:30 to spend the day with Mike and Rose. We mourned as a family, remembering the good times we had with Mac.   Lucy sat on my lap while Mike and Rose finished the movie they had started earlier in the day. It was heartwrenching to spend time with Lucy while knowing that Mac was gone. Then the three of us went to the Science Museum for a couple hours in order to get our minds off our grief. (It was only somewhat effective. We were quite the scene, with intermittent crying spells that popped up for each of us.) When we got back, Rose and I took a brief nap while Mike visited Anne at the hospital. Around 4pm, shortly after Rose and I had finished our snack, Lucy got up from the cat bed (in front of the heater) where she had been sleeping, and she couldn't move her hind legs! She dragged herself to the rug in our entryway, lost control of her bladder function, and started panting in distress. I called Mike in a panic to tell him to hurry home, called our vet in a panic, and quickly notified the emergency vet that we were on our way. Once we arrived, they immediately took her back for preliminary treatment. The vet came in quickly and notified us that the prognosis was grim: Lucy likely had an underlying heart condition (symptom-less in cats) that caused a clot to break free and had totally blocked all blood flow to her hind quarters. She was in pain, would likely never get function back, and even if she did she was looking at a likely recurrence due to the underlying heart condition. The vet basically urged us to make the most humane decision, letting her go. Less than 24 hours after saying goodbye to Mac, I also had to help Lucy make the same transition over the rainbow bridge.  I imagine her sitting in the sun ever more, warm and peaceful.

 

 I don't know why Mac's time had come, and I can only suspect that Lucy ailed from a broken heart.  My heart now feels broken as well.  They were such wonderful cats. I hope their lives were as happy as we tried to help them to be. They certainly brought immeasurable joy to us and will be forever missed.
.

RIP Mac 9/1/04 - 2/24/16
RIP Lucy 5/1/03 - 2/25/16

Speech Therapy

I don't know if this is standard in every state, but MN requires all kids to undergo an "early childhood screening" before they start kindergarten. The idea is that it's easier to treat problems (autism, hearing problems, intellectual disability, etc.) if you catch them early.  Some school districts start the screening at age 3, although our district starts at 3.5 - which was back in October for Rose. It was also back in October that we had Rose's biannual school conferences. Overall her teachers gave her glowing praise (my favorite was when they commented on her exceptional emotional development!), but they did raise some concern about her articulation abilities. Now, I've often had a hard time understanding Rose, but I had no basis of comparison and figured all parents must struggle to understand their toddlers/preschoolers, amIright?  So to hear an experienced teacher express concern suddenly brought MY anxiety level to a whole new level! It was officially time to panic.

So I got Rose in for her early childhood screening as quickly as I could, which was Nov 12th. For the most part, she was a rock star! She passed the hearing screen, the visual screen, the gross motor test, the cognitive screen, the social screen...everything except the articulation screening. Huh.

Next (Dec 1) we got referred to the district's early childhood speech therapist, who completed a much more comprehensive evaluation of her articulation, as well as getting more details about Rose's history (social, medical, etc.). She didn't score the test as she went, but I could tell it wasn't going great - particularly when the speech therapist (whose job it is to understand little kids) had to ask me to "interpret" a couple things Rose said. Needless to say, I nearly breaking out in hives by the time the results finally came back.

But Rose, I should mention, loved all this testing! She got to spend some extra time on the test days with me and got to "show off" to these new adults. She had a blast!

And it was only a day or two later that we "finally" got the results: Rose's scores officially qualified her for speech therapy services, so we needed to schedule an IEP (individualized education program) meeting to formalize the plan for special ed.

Gulp.

Yep, my daughter needs special ed.

And clearly I was having a reaction to it - an emotional reaction.

After much reflection, talking with friends, a few unexpected tears, and a couple long sessions of journaling, I think I've come to understand where my emotions were coming from, some of which were quite a surprise to the logical part of my brain! But after much hard work, I got to a place of understanding with myself and could more fully support Rose. (I'd be happy to tell any of you, my loyal blog readers, all the details in person some time. It just feels too personal to type it all out here!)

We had her first official IEP on 12/8/15. The short story is that Rose's standard score on the Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation was 69. The test has a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, which means that scores of less than 70 are required to qualify for special ed. So, in a way, it was a good thing that she just squeaked in! This means that she is eligible for special ed for as long as she needs it throughout school, even as her articulation improves. And since her score isn't super low, she should improve pretty quickly! The optimistic side would be "graduating" in a year to 18 months, but realistically she might still need some help in kindergarten - we'll see.

But the other crazy part of the story is that Mike and I were both a bit frantic trying to figure out how we would get her to speech therapy each week since we both work. And that's when we found out that the school district would pay for her to take a special bus from daycare to the "big kid school" every week for speech class!!! (I am so grateful to pay taxes in order to make services like this possible for us and for others!)

So Rose had her first official speech class on Jan 5. Since it was the first one, I followed her in my car (I wasn't allowed on the bus) and joined her for the first half of the class. That week she was one of four kids total, with three little boys about her age or a little older. The class seemed great, and she seemed to be having a good time!

And now we've also started with weekly homework! (I thought we wouldn't have to deal with that until grade school!) The good news is that it's pretty easy and fun. The first two weeks we just had to repeat a bunch of syllable (ickee, ackee, uckee, okee, achy) and then Rose got to color something - the first week she got to color a stripe on a zebra each time she said the sounds, and the second week she got to color a kite each time she said the sounds:

She especially loves the coloring! She isn't always excited to start the homework (mostly she'd rather play Candyland - bane of my existence - instead), but once we get going I have to convince her to stop after about 15-20min (we're supposed to only have 5min practice sessions at most!). My little overachiever daughter.  ;)

So we did two weeks of the K sound, and now we're moving on to the G sound. And Mike and I are trying to enunciate even better  -- do we both mumble??  Although we did get lots of reassurance that there is no research to date identifying any specific causes for why some kids need speech therapy and some kids don't. But apparently there is at least some genetic component, and since Mike needed speech as a kid, that could be part of it.

That's the big news from the home front! But I will leave you with two photos to make up for this otherwise incredibly text-heavy blog post:

Candyland with Grandma Roles!

Rose loves art projects!

Have a great week! Hope you're staying warm out there.

another accident

If a picture tells the story of a thousand words, here it is:

note the red abrasion and the HUGE black-and-blue goose egg surrounding it

We had a SUPER busy weekend, so we tried to get outside for a little bit of relaxing "family time" this afternoon while the weather was still nice. We went across the road to the construction site in order to play on the dirt piles and pick up some of the extra rocks to "steal" for our yard. Mike had a backpack on and was handing me rocks to fill it up....

Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Rose ducked in between us, leaned down to climb up a dirt hill on all fours, and Mike swung a rock back to hand to me.   And BAM.



I HATE accidents where Rose gets hurt!!! Inside, I was crying just as much as she was. It was awful.

And the poor girl had to put up with me trying to do a mini concussion eval on her - do you realize how hard it is to test the orientation, memory, and processing speeds of a three-year-old?!?  Thank heavens she didn't lose consciousness and did not report any post-traumatic amnesia.

Now I just have to practice self-forgiveness yet again.

Wacky Wednesday, and Impetigo

Wacky Wednesday:
Sometimes things unexpectedly work out!  Mike and Rose were at the cabin for four days (MEA weekend), which means that we didn't do laundry on our regular schedule. As a result, Rose was running dangerously low on clothing by mid-week, including having totally run out of pants. Apparently she was uninterested in wearing a dress (with leggings) on Wednesday, so Mike dressed her in a pair of horrid pink plaid flannel pajama bottoms, which she paired with a blank-and-gold ruffly shirt. I try to avoid making any comments about her clothing choices that aren't complimentary, so I kept my mouth shut that morning. Imagine my surprise when we showed up at "school" and all the teachers told her what a GREAT combo she had on... and then I realized it was "wacky Wednesday." Ah, we couldn't have created a better wacky Wednesday outfit if we had tried! :)




Impetigo:
As I mentioned, Mike and Rose were at the cabin last week. When they got home on Sunday afternoon, I saw that the skin around Rose's mouth was covered with a rash! I immediately jumped into "protective mommy mode" and asked Mike what he did to our daughter. (Sorry, Mike!) He and I brainstormed for awhile what it might be:  allergy to a new food? Irritation from drooling? Allergy to a new detergent? Insect bites? Eczema? Gangrene? Leprosy?? Necrotizing fasciitis???    (No, we don't catastrophize at all. Really.)


We turned to "doctor google" and quickly learned that google image searching for anything rash-like is not a good idea. Don't do it on a full stomach.


Anyway, it seemed to look a little better by evening (and she said it didn't itch at all), so we sent her to school on Monday and asked her teachers to keep an eye on it. On Monday night it looked better in some areas, but we started to question whether it might be spreading. We sent her to school again on Tuesday, hoping that it would just go away. Well, Tuesday afternoon I got a call from school stating that she wouldn't be able to come back until after we got a doctor's note clearing her. Wah-waaah.


Mike did a great job of getting her the first available appointment at the doctor's office, but it would have required one of us taking a half day. So instead I took her to urgent care. A couple hours later we had a diagnosis of "mild impetigo" (don't google it!) and a prescription for a topical antibiotic. Whew! So happy it was nothing more serious, but also hopeful that neither Mike nor I contract it from her.

I'm SO thankful that she's not nearly as sick any more as she was in the first year or two of life, but I sure will be glad when we're done experiencing all these random illnesses of childhood!

I refused to photo-document the impetigo!

3yo medical appointment

Two months
weight:  12# 6.4 oz (85th %ile)
height:   23.5"  (86th %ile)
head:    15.5" (66th %ile)

Four months
weight:  15# 10oz (86th %ile)
height:   26"  (95th %ile)
head:    16.75"  (85th %ile)

Six months
weight:  17# 7oz (78th %ile)
height:   27.25"  (93rd %ile)
head:    17"   (72nd %ile)

Nine months
weight:  19# 9.6oz (65th %ile)
height:   28.75"  (87th %ile)
head:    17.5"   (66th %ile)

Twelve months
weight:  20# 9.6oz (61th %ile)
height:   30.5"  (89th %ile)
head:    17.75"   (55th %ile)

Fifteen months
weight:  23# (70th %ile)
height:   32.25"  (91st %ile)
head:    18.25"   (67th %ile)

Eighteen months
weight:  24# 9.6oz (72nd %ile)
height:   2'10" (98th %ile!)
head:    18.5" (68th %ile)

Twenty four months
weight:  27# 12.8oz (66th %ile)
height:   2'0.25"  (98th %ile)
head:    19"  (72nd %ile)

Thirty months
weight:  31# 6.4oz (80th %ile)
height:   3'3.25" (99th %ile!)
head:     19.5" (83rd %ile)

Three years
weight: 32# 12oz (71%ile)
height: 3'3.75" (96%ile)
BP: 86/50

A clean bill of health! She did awesome at getting her vision and her hearing screened for the first time (apparently most three year olds struggle with these?) and she's right on track for her development. :)

what a week!

A week ago today (last Monday), Mike was busy after work so Rose and I ate dinner together and then I put her to bed with no problems. She seemed mostly like herself, maybe just with a little runny nose (which, unfortunately, is pretty "normal" for us in MN at this time of year). I ended up going to bed a little later than usual since I was up packing for my first work trip at my new job - I was scheduled to go to a training all day on Tuesday (something I had been signed up for since I started six months ago!), then slated to head directly to the airport after work to fly to St Louis for a special psychotherapy training the rest of the week. So I was up packing on Monday night, and didn't get to back until almost 10pm, which is late for me. Mike came to bed shortly thereafter, but we both woke to hear Rose crying and gasping at about 11pm. At first we thought she might be anxious about having to throw up (?), but her breaths kept getting shallower and shorter, and she was "barking" as she coughed. I asked her to slow down and take a deep breath and it just got worse. As she started to panic, Mike and I did as well. I called the nurse hotline through my insurance, but quickly handed the phone to Mike because I couldn't bear to not be holding Rose (and I couldn't take in the phone over the sound of her gasping and barking). Mike then got a terrified look on his face - when he hung up, he said the nurse made him promise to call 911 immediately after hanging up - no ifs, ands, or buts about it. He did, unlocked the front door, then proceeded to find my socks and my wallet for me. By the time he came back to Rose's bedroom,  the sheriff/police/someone in uniform was already at the door. About 30 seconds later, the firemen were there, and another 30 seconds later the paramedics arrived. (I can't believe those six burly men fit in Rose's tiny bedroom and our tinier hallway!) The lead paramedic was young (late 20's? - as an aside, when did that become "young"?!?) but incredibly calm and efficient. He instantly diagnosed her as having croup and said she would need medicine, given how hard she was struggling to breathe. We got into the ambulance outside, and they administered a nebulizer of some sort of epinephrine. (Rose was so brave! She even held the neb up to her face herself!) Unfortunately, her breathing only improved for a few minutes, and then it got bark-y and whistle-y again. So they decided we needed to take the ambulance ride to the ER for further treatment. As scary as it was, I also felt this this sense of calm during the whole thing, as if I knew everything would be okay - which was weird because I was oddly terrified and peaceful at the exact same time. Anyway, we got to the ER and she got a second nebulizer, and then also a dose of steroids. FINALLY, she started to breathe normally again.

After about an hour of waiting around, the pediatrician came to see her. (Prior to that, everything had been done by ER staff.) She asked a bunch of questions, then said she wanted to admit Rose since she hadn't responded to the first nebulizer and it was likely that her symptoms could return. She then commended us for calling 911 when we did, as she said that Rose's presentation was quite serious.  At that, we proceeded to wait for a bed to be ready up on the peds ward. And we waited, and we waited. Finally, around 2:30am we got to Rose's room. About 10 minutes after we got there, she totally perked up. She was absolutely herself, laughing and joking and smiling. She ate some cheerios and drank some water, and then we had to get her calmed down to sleep a bit. (In retrospect, her abrupt transformation back to health made me wish we had just done more observation in the ER, rather than be admitted!) Mike went home to get some solid rest, and I stayed in her room (on a horrid little glider chair that didn't fully recline) because I couldn't bear to separate myself from her any sooner than I had to. She eventually fell asleep (maybe a little after 3am?), and I did my best to sleep as well. But I woke every time she coughed or moved, which was quite frequently! At 6am Mike returned, I got a cab home (the hospital is only about 4 miles from our house, but Mike would need the car/carseat to get her home later that day), and then arrived for my local training promptly at 8am. Needless to say, I was EXHAUSTED all day. Every time I got a break I would text Mike to check in - Rose was still doing great, enjoying the hospital food and the opportunity to watch several movies. I think she got discharged around 2pm, shortly after my mom happened to arrive in town for a pre-scheduled visit (she usually visits whenever I leave town - read into that what you will! ;)  ). All in all, I knew Rose was in good hands, but it was still hard to leave for the airport right after work, when all I wanted to do was go home to see Little Miss!!  To make it even worse, my 7:30pm flight was delayed, we spent forever on the runway awaiting de-icing, and the hotel shuttle took 45 minutes to arrive (after several calls, and each time being assured it was "7-10 minutes away at most"), and it was after 11pm by the time I got to my hotel room. My alarm going off at 6:15am the next morning (the latest I could possibly set it, in order to get to the shuttle to the training location on time), was most unwelcome!!!  In the end it ended up being a REALLY good training, but you have no idea how excited I was to get home late on Friday night to see Rose, sleep in my own bed, and have my mom tell me I could sleep in as late as I needed/wanted the next day. And Rose is 100% back to her usual wonderful self again:

Yay for Rose!!

P.S. My dissertation was cited during the introduction to the training that I was at! How cool is that?!?!

P.P.S. Rose even felt well enough to go to swimming lessons on Sunday, and to take silly selfies with me today:

Here's hoping for a MUCH less eventful week this week!!

Happy Columbus Day!

Two months
weight:  12# 6.4 oz (85th %ile)
height:   23.5"  (86th %ile)
head:    15.5" (66th %ile)

Four months
weight:  15# 10oz (86th %ile)
height:   26"  (95th %ile)
head:    16.75"  (85th %ile)

Six months
weight:  17# 7oz (78th %ile)
height:   27.25"  (93rd %ile)
head:    17"   (72nd %ile)

Nine months
weight:  19# 9.6oz (65th %ile)
height:   28.75"  (87th %ile)
head:    17.5"   (66th %ile)

Twelve months
weight:  20# 9.6oz (61th %ile)
height:   30.5"  (89th %ile)
head:    17.75"   (55th %ile)

Fifteen months
weight:  23# (70th %ile)
height:   32.25"  (91st %ile)
head:    18.25"   (67th %ile)

Eighteen months
weight:  24# 9.6oz (72nd %ile)
height:   2'10" (98th %ile!)
head:    18.5" (68th %ile)

Twenty four months
weight:  27# 12.8oz (66th %ile)
height:   2'0.25"  (98th %ile)
head:    19"  (72nd %ile)

Thirty months
weight:  31# 6.4oz (80th %ile)
height:   3'3.25" (99th %ile!)
head:     19.5" (83rd %ile)

I took a *big* hit in the PTO department when I took this new job, but in return I get 10 federal holidays per year, including Columbus Day (today) and Veterans Day (next month). So since I have no PTO to burn, I booked all of our major medical appointments for these two days. This morning Rose and I went to her doctor (she got a clean bill of health!), then we went to my doctor (I also got a clean bill of health!), then I dropped her off at "school" and went to my dentist (no cavities!). I got home, ate lunch, and scheduled Rose's first dentist appointment for Veterans Day. (Time to start brushing more regularly!) Then I got a phone call from Target's fraud department - ugh. I'm thankful that they were keeping a close eye on our account and that we aren't responsible for the bad guy's charges. So I just made some new passwords for our accounts and we'll get our new CC in a week or two. Now I'm making a cup of tea and trying to decide how to spend the rest of the afternoon:  quilt? read? nap? The world is my oyster! Thanks for sailing the ocean blue, Columbus!!

I didn't take any pictures today, but here's one from our "family walk" last night. Rose loves traipsing through the pretty fallen leaves.

24 months old!

Two months
weight:  12# 6.4 oz (85th %ile)
height:   23.5"  (86th %ile)
head:    15.5" (66th %ile)

Four months
weight:  15# 10oz (86th %ile)
height:   26"  (95th %ile)
head:    16.75"  (85th %ile)

Six months
weight:  17# 7oz (78th %ile)
height:   27.25"  (93rd %ile)
head:    17"   (72nd %ile)

Nine months
weight:  19# 9.6oz (65th %ile)
height:   28.75"  (87th %ile)
head:    17.5"   (66th %ile)

Twelve months
weight:  20# 9.6oz (61th %ile)
height:   30.5"  (89th %ile)
head:    17.75"   (55th %ile)

Fifteen months
weight:  23# (70th %ile)
height:   32.25"  (91st %ile)
head:    18.25"   (67th %ile)

Eighteen months
weight:  24# 9.6oz (72nd %ile)
height:   2'10" (98th %ile!)
head:    18.5" (68th %ile)

Twenty four months
weight:  27# 12.8oz (66th %ile)
height:   2'0.25"  (98th %ile)
head:    19"  (72nd %ile)

Our little miss's growth is right on target! She is happy and healthy, and the doctor said she looks great. :)  No signs of autism, she is hitting all her milestones, and we have some good plans for the coming months (potty training, dental exam, and big-girl bed). She is still understandably terrified of the doctor's office, but she didn't have to get any shots this time, so hopefully that made it a more positive experience! We also found out that she actually DOES have a birthmark! She has a red mark on the back of her head that I was worried was a rash or a fungus or something - nope, just a birthmark! I'm actually thrilled that she has a birthmark, since I think they're pretty cool.  Anyway, here she was coloring as we waited for the doc:

(I'll get some Easter photos up here soon, I promise!)
Have a great week, everyone!

18 months!

We just had Rose's 18-month appointment. She is growing and developing right on track! She's our little rock star. :) The pediatrician put me at ease about all my neurotic first-time mom worries (language development, potential tooth decay, dandruff, carseat safety, etc.). She also did a great job reassuring me when I started crying about Rose's burns. Sigh. Most of the time I've been thinking that I've forgiven myself, but sometimes I still start crying at the drop of a hat! I guess I haven't completely forgiven myself yet, although it's definitely getting better. In other news,  Rose's assessments show that she really excels in fine motor skills. She can hold a spoon like a pro!  Also, here are her stats:

Two months
weight:  12# 6.4 oz (85th %ile)
height:   23.5"  (86th %ile)
head:    15.5" (66th %ile)

Four months
weight:  15# 10oz (86th %ile)
height:   26"  (95th %ile)
head:    16.75"  (85th %ile)

Six months
weight:  17# 7oz (78th %ile)
height:   27.25"  (93rd %ile)
head:    17"   (72nd %ile)

Nine months
weight:  19# 9.6oz (65th %ile)
height:   28.75"  (87th %ile)
head:    17.5"   (66th %ile)

Twelve months
weight:  20# 9.6oz (61th %ile)
height:   30.5"  (89th %ile)
head:    17.75"   (55th %ile)

Fifteen months
weight:  23# (70th %ile)
height:   32.25"  (91st %ile)
head:    18.25"   (67th %ile)

Eighteen months
weight:  24# 9.6oz (72nd %ile)
height:   2'10" (98th %ile!)
head:    18.5" (68th %ile)


 And, since I know you all prefer pictures over text, here she is! :)

milk time with daddy!

helping daddy brush his teeth

love her big brown eyes!

she LOVES to read!

and to stand on books :)

her "official" 18-month portrait

Happy hump day, everyone!

hello? helllloooooo???

Is anyone there? I thought I heard crickets. I did! Well, I suppose that must be my fault for not posting anything in the last two weeks! Seriously, how has it been that long already?!? Yikes. Here's a quick rundown of what's been happening recently:

* I went to Osmo Vanska's farewell concert with the musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra. It was heartbreakingly beautiful. I hate not going to classical musical concerts throughout the year! I am firmly on the side of the musicians and wish the Board would (a) end the lockout and (b) adhere to the recommendations from Senator Mitchell!!

* Rose was sick again last Friday with a fever of 104! It was scary...and also scary that I'm getting a bit desensitized to such high fevers. We didn't go to the ER (on the recommendation of the on-call nurse) and the fever broke around 20 hours after it started. Whew!

* Speaking of ER's, we've started getting EOBs and bills related to Rose's last ER visits (for fever and then for burns). Man, modern medicine is expensive!

* Last weekend Rose had her first sleepaway without her parents around! Mike and I were at a wedding in Duluth, so Rose spent the weekend with Grammy and Grandpa Jack. We all had a great time!

* This is MEA weekend, so Rose got to spend all day with Grammy and Grandma Roles today, and tomorrow she gets to spend all day with her Daddy. What a lucky girl! (Thanks, grandmothers!!!)

* Rose's new favorite words are "uh oh" and "no." She especially loves saying NO to Mac - poor cat! She also refused her bath last night, which turned into a disaster of epic proportions. She tried to refuse it again tonight, but we insisted and her bedtime routine went as usual, so hopefully her sleep will be as usual tonight too.

I haven't taken a lot of photos recently, but here are a few to tide you over until her "official" 18-month shots next week! (Can you believe she is 18 months old already?!)

Rose has been super interested in ears recently. Sometimes it hurts when she pulls on them or inserts her finger.

When Rose is feverish, she just lays lethargically on me.

When she feels good, she LOVES to help me bake :)

Mike and I had a great time at the wedding!

Have a great Friday, everyone!

Friends who bite

See the big bite mark on her forearm, up by her elbow? Apparently Rose has some "friends" at school who like to bite. This is the third incident that we've had since she entered the toddler room. None of the others have left marks, but this one looks bad! Poor girl.

long time overdue updates

Two full weeks since my last post?! Yikes! Here's what we've been up to in the past couple weeks:

* Rose's burns are almost completely healed! Yay!!!!

* I was in Washington (state, not DC) for work for almost a  week. I planned to get caught up on sleep, but ended up coming home even more sleep deprived than ever. (Stupid time difference vs. circadian rhythms!) But at least I came home (mostly) emotionally healed. I can now almost talk about how Rose got burned without crying. Almost.

* I took the WA jurisprudence exam - on my birthday. Blech! Let's just hope I passed.

*  We went apple picking at Mike's stepbrother's new house!

* Rose is pretty much fully transitioned to the toddler room at "school" now. According to Mike (who does daycare dropoff every day), she is now reaching for her teaching rather than clinging to him and crying each morning.

* Mike starts student teaching tomorrow!

* The change in schedule means that I have to do both dropoff and pickup. Gulp! Wish me luck with that...

* I played mahjong with friends, sewed a few more quilt squares for Mike's belated anniversary present, and had lunch with another friend. As you can see, I'm working hard to fit in time for self-care.

* I've also been trying to exercise again, but every time I start running, I end up getting sick! It happened again last week (and maybe being sleep deprived, stressed from taking an exam in WA, and getting the flu shot had something to do with it, but apparently I'm just going to blame the running). I think running is just a lot of stress on my body and I'm also making too many changes all at once (eat better! see friends! do hobbies! and RUN!). I've started looking into yoga classes and gym memberships so I can try to get exercise in a more gentle way, since I'm sick of being bed-ridden for a day or two within 2-3 weeks of each running attempt. Sigh.

* And Rose turned 17 months old!



Here are some photos from the last few weeks, in completely random order:

Remember when I was pregnant and said I'd never dress my daughter in all pink? Well, apparently the saying is true that you're a far better parent before you become one yourself! :)

Teaching the art of the "selfie."

She is so excited to finally be able to reach the sink faucet!

Her burns were mostly healed when I returned on 9/14 (above), and the scar is barely even visible now.
I am SOOOO thankful she was not hurt worse.

She's turning into such a little person nowadays. She LOVES seeing dogs and was pointing to one here.

Cousins Claire and Ella, as we hiked through their forest.

My two favorite explorers!

Claire asked me to take a picture of her under this tree.

After the woods, we hiked through a field.

Rose has learned to flirt for the camera!

She decided that she loves fettucine alfredo!
(I love her big, expressive eyes!)

My friend Marcy brought over some DELICIOUS cupcakes for my birthday. Her son Noah was so wonderful with Rose! He read her books, practiced animal sounds with her, and taught her to be silly by putting the tupperware lid on her head. She loves him!


Rose's two new favorite "games" are:

...picking up a tomato from the pile in the kitchen, making a bite mark, then hiding the tomato in our living room. So far I've found about seven of them. I hope I find any others soon.

...or giving "gifts" to the cats. It sure is sweet to watch, even if the cats are completely uninterested.

She also loves crawling through the tunnel my parents gave her.

And she is learning to enjoy helping me bake! (Finally!! I can bake again!!!)

And, last but not least, here's her official 17-month-old photo! Mike and I both think she looks SO similar in this one to a photo of me (at about her age) that we've seen, but neither of us knows which exact one. Maybe my parents will know so we can do a side-by-side comparison.

So for the very long (and very belated!) post! Have a great week, everyone!