red, angry welts, Part One

I got a call this afternoon at 3pm from day care saying that baby had woken up with angry red raised welts all over her body - face to toe. Other than looking unsightly she reported no other symptoms over the phone.

I stopped by the pharmacy and bought some more benadryl on my way to get her. By the time I got there she was sitting up in the high chair, making a mess out of Cheeze-its. She still had welts on her legs and face and on the backs of her arms. They were still raised, red, and warm to the touch. (They were between the size of her palm and my palm, and some of them had blister-looking places in the centers of them.)

Hmm... any new foods at lunch? She had beanie-weenies, which she'd not had before, and apple juice, which she'd not had before. She has, however, had apples before without problems - and every type of meat and beans, too. Next, any new laundry detergent? No. Maybe it's a late reaction to the shots she had last week? I'm clueless.

Meanwhile, she's playing and being herself without any signs of distress. She's happy as a lark. I called the doctor's office on the way home and left a message to be given to the nurse.

The whole way home I wondered between giving her benadryl or not. On one hand, she definitely had welts and it wouldn't hurt her. On the other, I halfway wanted to see what the natural progression would be (plus, it wouldn't hurt her). I sent text messages to some friends and nurses I work with - a poll, if you will, to see what the verdict should be.

It was tied. I took pictures of the welts. Then I gave her the benadryl around 4pm.

The Hater came home shortly after that. I'd already updated him, so it was just a matter of show and tell at that point. I'd poured over the discharge papers from when she got the shots last week (Hep A, MMR, Varicella). One of them mentioned the possibility of a rash, but this just didn't look like a rash to me. We played and got supper together.

During supper the doctor called. He said it sounded like she'd had a reaction to something. I asked if it could be a rash from the shots and he said it sounded like she'd had a reaction to something. He told us to get some benadryl cream and put on the red spots, then come to the office on Friday if it's still there.

After supper we sent The Hater to get the cream and I put baby in the bathtub. She's tired, but it's not out of the norm for her to be that degree of pitiful at that part of the day. Lubed her up with lotion and cream and put her down for the night at her usual time, about 6:30pm.

Hopefully it'll all be gone tomorrow morning. The next conundrum... do we wake her up around midnight to give her another dose of benadryl? Hmm... to poll or not to poll...

ode to the tantrum

Baby is warming up slowly to the sippy cup. Slowly.

She's also slowly working on the perfect tantrum, although she's doing that quicker than she's picking up the sippy cup.

Meanwhile, in other leaps and bounds, she ate REAL FOOD for lunch and supper today! Okay, real food plus cereal, but real food all the same.

history

This is the fist time in NCAA history that the UT mens basketball team has gotten to the elite eight. AWESOME!!!

Great game, guys!

Great coaching, Bruce!

whole milk

Weaning continues... today we focused on diluting her formula with milk. I started that last night, and it was continued today. Tonight with supper her bottle had 75%+ milk. I think tomorrow morning we may try 100% cow milk.

This is all still in her bottle. We thought it'd be wise to convert her to cow milk first, then try to change the bottle so it wouldn't be too much too fast for her. I know I said that's what we'd be doing this weekend, but we're at least working in that direction.

Day care reported she took about three sips of water out of a sippy cup this afternoon for them. I bought some juice for her after work. I'm hoping some watered down sweet stuff will be enough to entice her with the sippy cup. Maybe once she figures out that good things can come from the sippy, too, she'll warm to it more quickly. Or she may be like I was and just plain refuse to drink milk out of a sippy cup.

We're watching Tennessee play Ohio State. So far it's a good, close game. The Hater is watching it on his laptop as CBS keeps cutting to another game. The Hater tells me that I need TN to win this game because the person in our bracket who is ahead of me picked Ohio State to win. I told him I'd be for TN even if it didn't help my bracket. Silly man.

Baby went down for the night about 6:30. She slept well last night, and I hope we have a repeat performance of that tonight. I'm also hoping that the milk doesn't hurt her tummy tonight. Her formula is cow milk-based, so it shouldn't bother her much (if at all).

Meanwhile, our other daughter has climbed up on the couch next to me and is content to sit next to me for now. I'm glad she's content to drink tap water out of a dirty bowl on the floor.

change

Don't let this grin fool you.

We've been talking about the bottle and the process of getting rid of it. I talked to the day care lady, who said she went cold turkey with her kids. I thought that was a great idea. She thought it was great that I thought it was a great idea and suggested I try it this weekend. Oh, no, I said. We'll try it on her birthday! (The part I didn't say out loud but thought in my head was, "because this is why I pay you.")

Then she started backpeddling. "But she doesn't take them very well from us." Funny, I said, since she takes water from it just fine for me in the afternoons. I was sure she'd do fine if offered no other options. Day care lady agreed.

This morning I dropped baby off at day care with two emergency bottles in her bag. I thought about her at least every hour and wanted to call to see how it was going, but didn't want to be "that mother". I mentioned it to several people at work to get their reaction. One of them looked at me like I was a fool, they'd call me if they needed me. Another one told me that one call doesn't make me "that mother". The third one was convinced that I should have called already. I decided not to call.

When I picked her up this afternoon I was met at the door with, "well, that didn't work." I asked, "What do you mean that didn't work?" She answered, "Well, we tried it. After she ate her cereal I gave her the sippy cup and she threw it in the floor. So I handed it to her again, she touched it to her lips, then threw it in the floor and SCREAMED." I said, yeah, she's a screamer. She said, "No, genderist, you have no idea. This was unlike any scream she's screamed for us." So they gave her the bottle.

Today at day care my daughter learned that if she screams enough, she will get her way. I learned that it looks like it's going to be a really long weekend for us.

Today is baby's first birthday!

When baby was born someone told us that this would be both the fastest year and the shortest year of our lives. The Hater and I totally agree with this. In some ways it's hard to believe she's a year old, that a year ago tonight we were watching Sports Center and waiting for the cue to start pushing. In some ways it feels like I've aged three years. (Not that I've "matured" three years, but just flat out aged that much due to chronic sleep deprivation.)

Looking back it's been a fantastic year. We wouldn't trade one single moment, and we're eager to see what year two holds for us. Some of it we can imagine, as baby is already arching her back, flinging herself backwards, and screaming her head off to show us exactly what traits she inherited from The Hater. She's developing own agenda, walking around without us into empty rooms, and giving wet open mouth kisses to pictures of kittys in her books.

Bye bye!

(kinda sorta, but not really)

As the parents of a new generation we have many of the same challenges that our parents and their parents faced, things that are inherent to parenthood and guardianship. Although many things are the same, like safety for example, we are faced with a nuance of protecting safety in a more technologically advanced society. In light of this, The Hater and I have decided it's time for us to stop posting pictures of baby on this blog.

Don't be sad!

The blog is not going away. My hope is that it'll turn back into the random narrative of Uglyhoma goings on, the joys of raising an independent toddler, and general life musings. Old school blabbering, minus the pictures of baby.

This by no way means that I'm going to stop taking pictures of baby. We have too many grandparents out of state who would throw their own tantrums if that happened. I will continue to upload pictures once a week to the picture webpage like I have since baby has been about a month old. Also, if you'd like sneak peeks of the best of the best, email me and I'll send them to you directly, hot off the camera upload.

Thanks for going on this journey with us. We may not know what's around the bend ahead (or from which cup we'll be drinking), but it's nice to know that you're our virtual copilot.

FYI: Today is also Peyton Manning's birthday. I will continue to randomly post pictures of him because he is the greatest QB of all time. :)

PS: If you do not have the web address to the picture page, email me and I'll send you the link.

snow bunny

We woke up this morning without more snow on the ground, although thats what they had predicted. We skated to church (The Hater acting as Jeeves), and decided to wait until after Baby's nap to get outside and play in the snow. Unfortunately, by the time she woke up, more than half of the white stuff was already gone. She wasn't as impressed by it as we were, but she did humor us enough to stand still for 15 seconds.

Meanwhile, I've dropped from first to second place in our sports bracket standings. I had my eggs in the Kansas basket, so now I'm pulling for Tennessee to take it all. The Hater has dropped to "way far down" in the bracket - so now he's torn between pulling for my teams and pulling for the underdog.

He's looked it up. He says he is tied for 4th place. (In his other bracket he's tied for 9th place.)

It's been a good day and a great weekend. We've played hard and napped hard, but we're still a little sad that it'll be Monday tomorrow.