Health Alert!

Newsflash: Antibiotics cause mental growth spurts in children under 6 months!

Nah, just kidding.  But now that Cupcake is feeling better, she's had a developmental growth spurt!  Hubby and I have been fighting over her both of us saying Mama or Dada.  She's been totally confused, too.  But last night, while Hubby was working late and I had some extra time with them, I took advantage and just continued to repeat "mamamamamama".  Her little jaw started working but no sound came out.

I praised her and praised her and continued to say it.  Before I knew it, she was saying "yayayayayayaya".  Not close, but progress for a 5 month old.  Then "yaya" turned into "wawawawawawa".  This morning she continued to perfect it and there was a definite "mama" amongst it all.  WOOHOO!  I win, Hubby, neener neener neeeeeeeener!

I still don't count it for her baby book until she's intentionally saying mama, but it's only a matter of time...

Oh and....I think it's time for a haircut, no?

Cupcake needs prayers...

Sorry about the delay in posting.  Much has been going on since I was around last.

Cupcake got sick last Thursday, running a fever and acting like she felt horrible.  I figured it was more of the same of this stupid stomach bug we've all had.  She's the only one I wasn't sure had gotten it.  I gave her motrin and sent her to bed.  Friday, my sister in law was watching the kids while I was at a doctors appointment (stupid UTI's!!!) and called me to say I should take Cupcake to the doc.  Her coloring was bad, she was breathing heavy and fast, and her fever had gone up.  At the pediatrician's office, they drew blood.  That seemed to indicate an infection.  Since she's not congested and her ears looked good, the doc catheterized her and drew urine.  Sure enough, the kid has a kidney infection.

It's rare for a kid that's not even 6 months to have one.  I immediately started panicking when she mentioned that she was going to have to put Cupcake through some tests.  She thinks she has kidney reflux (When urine goes back up into the kidney's from the bladder) but we won't know until after the tests are done, probably some time after her well visit on the 21st.  Several people at church told me yesterday that they knew kids who had this and outgrew it without any long term damage.  I sincerely hope so, it's very disconcerting to feel like my kid might have a chronic illness until her body outgrows it.  Apparently treatment for this is a low dose antibiotic, long term until she outgrows it.  It's not guaranteed that she has it, but it seems likely since she's so young with this type of infection.

At the moment, she's responding well to the antibiotics, so we're avoiding a hospital visit.  If she relapses from it, we might wind up there, but I hope not.  Finding a babysitter is difficult these days!

Cupcake's distress

So I haven't had to go in Cupcake's room at night since she started sleeping through the night on October 17th (I know because it was the night she turned exactly 3 months old).  Imagine my surprise when she started crying at 5 am.  My first thought was a growth spurt or she had flipped over.  She's still not able to roll from her back to her stomach but she's got the stomach to the back down TOO well.  She flips over a lot and wakes herself up.  It's annoying.  But she's never done it at night.

I sneak into her room, trying to make sure she doesn't see me.  There she is, crying with her eyes closed on her tummy.  I gave her some tylenol (she's been gnawing a lot) and moved her down in the bed so she wasn't in the corner.  As I moved her, her sleeve brushed against my hand.  It was wet.  Her sleeve was completely covering her hand....and her thumb.

Ahhh...the poor kid had been trying to suck her thumb through her sleeper, all to no avail and finally had to call me for help.  I rolled her sleeves up and snuck back out of her room.

I didn't hear from her again until 7:30 this morning, the little stinker.

Germs germs, go away.

My life is FILLED with all sorts of craziness right now, not to mention my initials right now are P.M.S.  Blogging right now is my way of thumbing my nose at the world and all I NEED to be doing.

This book I'm writing is burning a hole in my computer, waiting to continue.  However, I fear I've backed myself in a hole and thanks to my wonderful crit partners, they've caught it for me before I got in too deep.  It's a fixable problem, but it involves thinking - something I don't have a lot of time to do lately.

Cupcake is having sleep issues.  She's still sleeping her usual 12 hours at night but during the day it's been a nightmare.  I've introduced solids and I think her stomach may be bothering her from that.  Or it could be early teething.  Or it could be developmental.  Who knows.  All I DO know is that I'm at my wits end trying to keep the house clean (and failing miserably), keep the kids alive (that's the tricky one) and finding time for myself.

I'm almost done with the Twilight books, so that will be a relief off of me so I can focus more on writing.  Those stinkin' Twilight books suck you right in!

I think we're all about over all the stomach bugs, colds and such, too.  All the kids are finally ok, Punky hasn't thrown up or had diarrhea now for a couple of days.  We're venturing out to church tonight for the first time as a family of 5 since before Christmas I believe.  But we all know what is lurking in children's classrooms....

MORE GERMS!

Yay for us.  I want a bubble suit that keeps germs away during the winter.  I HATE GERMS!

Only my kid

She said the green dress and necklace made her look like Drizella from Cinderella.  Leave it to my kid to want to be an ugly step sister.

Still in the Christmas Spirit...

The Picture by Yours Truly

“Have you ever loved someone so much it hurts?”

I nodded and swallowed, not believing that he was actually going to tell me - a virtual stranger - about something so personal.

“I didn’t know her until about this time two years ago.  She came into my life like a tornado.  By the time I realized I couldn’t let her go, she was already gone.  I’ve never felt that helpless.  Never.  I watched the only person I’ve ever really loved waste away with cancer.  But what hurts even more than that, if it’s possible, was her spirit.  You wouldn’t believe the amount of spunk.” 

 

But I could.

“And I watched that die, too,” he added softly.

Silent tears streamed down my face and from the sound of Nicholas’s voice, he was crying, too.  He sniffed and exhaled against my hair.  “Sorry,” he apologized.  “I’m a wreck tonight.  Today is her birthday.  She couldn’t wait for her birthday.  She said it made her wiser.”  His grin echoed in his voice.

“What was her name?”  I asked even though I knew the answer.

“Emily,” he whispered.

For those of you who don't know, I resolve to make this year MY year to get published.  It's not completely in my hands, but I'm going to do everything possible, starting with this story.  It has the potential to be huge.  I just have to make sure I don't mess it up.  What are your thoughts on this?  If you read this on the inside cover, would you want to read more?  BE HONEST.