stonewall spook

Someone thinks she has already met her smile quota for the weekend.

Happy Halloween!

BOO!

practicing for the time change

So yesterday we thought it might be a good idea to keep the baby up a little bit later in anticipation for the time change this weekend. We played and played and read and played some more, and at a last resort to keep her awake, we started playing choo-choo train with the diaper box. As you can see here, it was all she could do to keep her head up.

And on the next lap she konked out... five minutes before her usual bedtime.

So much for practice.

seven months

If you're happy and you know it...

It's been a good weekend. We went to the Greek Festival and ate some fantastic food yesterday, and this afternoon we've had some friends over for a jack-o-lantern carving adventure. (Pictures of the pumpkins will follow, but The Hater thinks this one is one of the better ones we've done, but not the best one...)

Baby turned seven months old yesterday. Ta-da.

Doing laundry now. Baby finally went down for her afternoon nap (after the company left). We're watching football, cooking up a letter to Fisher and Kiffin.

Neither of us are excited about going back to work tomorrow, but somehow the universe just doesn't seem to care.

quick update

Good news! My tumor marker was low enough so that we won't have to have a treatment this week, which means I took a small, tracer I-131 dose and do not have to be on isolation. The Hater is excited that he doesn't have to be the one-man show. Baby is excited that she continues to be the center of attention.

We're all excited and relieved that my chest xray was clear and that my tumor marker was low. I have another scan on Friday, but we're not expecting anything exciting at all from that one.

We'll both sleep better tonight... if baby lets us.

wanted: good vibes

We're asking for an assortment of good vibes this week. It's time for me to get another round of diagnostic tests to evaluate where we are with this stubborn cancer. I don't have my notes with me, but I'm thinking I get a shot on Monday and Tuesday, blood draw and tracer dose on Tuesday afternoon, then nuclear scan and chest xray on Wednesday. No idea when I'll hear back with the results. When I know more I'll let you know.

I'm nervous. Not Sword of Damocles nervous, but nervous nonetheless. Mind you, I have no tangible reason to be nervous or to expect that we'll get a crazy result. Really, I don't even think I'm going to need another radiation/isolation treatment this time. I think it'll still be there, but not big enough to justify treating yet. But I'm still nervous; I don't like being reminded of this monkey on my back.

oh, what a beautiful morning

I know this isn't the greatest picture, but this is the absolute best part of my mornings: waking up the baby. I sing 'Oh, What a Beautiful Morning', and before we even get to the cattle standing like statues she's up on her allfours, laughing and grinning, looking for me between the crib rails. I only wish I was this happy to get out of bed.

yogurt pyramid

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, then PLAY!

toothless maiden

Been chomping down on fingers this last week...

anybody think teeth are in our future?

baby in the mirror

You probably think this post is about you, don't you, don't you?

through clenched lips

Note these clenched lips? Look back to the green bean pictures and you'll see it again. She's also figured out how to whine through clenched lips, too. We think it's a response to being afraid that if she opens her mouth, she'll get more green beans... maybe even in the bathtub?

mommy isn't happy

Yesterday afternoon I picked baby up at day care and received no exciting news for the day. We came home, played for 10-15 minutes, and changed her diaper.

At that time I found some pretty bad diaper rash. She's come home from day care before with diaper rash in the creases next to her legs, but this time it was all over her bottom and her girl parts - and her creases. To say I was hot would be an understatement.

Before I go further let me acknowledge that babies do get diaper rash. I am not an idiot, nor am I wearing rose-colored glasses.

I am, however, a good registered nurse who grasps the concept of skin care. It's much like taking care of the skin of anyone else who isn't continent. It's not rocket science: try to keep everything clean and dry; if you know it's going to be dirty, use a skin barrier to keep the acid from irritating the skin; don't let them sit in the same position for a long period of time.

In baby's case, "skin barrier" is Desitin diaper rash cream in the blue tube. At home we put a little bit on her after every diaper change. It's easy, cheap, and protects all of her creases.

The first day I took her to day care I was sure to take a tube with her bag of diapers and breast milk. And I know for a fact that they are aware of it because several times they've told me that they've used it on her. They have always told me when her bottom is starting to turn red when I pick her up in the afternoons.

I fumed yesterday evening when I went to wipe her and she started screaming bloody murder. This was bad. It's the most raw I have ever seen her skin, and I spit nails while trying to clean her up and grease her down.

Now I really can understand some redness in the creases next to her legs. She's a wiggle worm on the changing table, and I can totally understand someone's inability to really clean those creases next to her legs. But this redness was not only those creases, but the skin on her girl parts and her bottom, too. This is skin that there's no excuse to be overlooked.

I wanted to call the day care lady and let her hear the baby scream while I changed her since I know for a fact that her bottom looked fine yesterday morning when I took her there... But I called mom instead because I knew that wasn't the best option. She suggested I take a new tube of diaper rash cream to them on Monday and when they say they have some (which I know they do), play dumb and act like I was sure they didn't have any because she came home Friday with bad diaper rash. She says that way I can be poignant without being rude. I decided that was a better plan than my original one, although I think it would have been poignant, too.

The Hater was gone last night. I called four local retail stores last night looking for a specific diaper rash cream that was better for treatment of diaper rash as opposed to prevention of it. He brought some home late when he came back home. I slathered her down with it at both the 11:30pm and the 4:30am diaper change and feeding wake-ups.

This morning her creases are still red, but not as raw as they were yesterday. She's not screaming with the diaper changes, but her little bottom is still red. By tonight I should have it whipped back into skin that's, well, you know, smooth as a baby's bottom.

The Hater is gone most of the day today for work things. Baby has figured out how to go from laying down to sitting by herself and has done it about three times this morning. We knew that we'd have to lower the crib soon enough... so with her rolling around in the floor I went ahead and dropped it to the next level. Hopefully we'll be able to keep it there for a little while before we have to drop it to the lowest level.

I forgot to post that baby received her six month shots on Wednesday. She's 26.5" and 15# 13oz, and Uncle Jerry would say she's "off the charts."

An explanation for the table: At work this week I was reading a study about an organism that causes a lot of hospital-acquired diarrhea, and came across this table. I laughed so hard when I saw it. Someone seriously got paid money for coming up with that. I thought it was so funny that I made copies and gave it to people at work, who also thought it was funny. I emailed it to my friends - one of whom decided she needed to make copies of it and post it in their staff bathroom. I made a color copy of it to bring home to show The Hater. Sister says I should frame it and put it over the toilet.... which is a great home-warming present for her since it won't be long before her new house is built. Someone told me it was so funny that I had to figure out a way to put it on my blog, and the rest is history.

green beans: a progression