Poor girl!

I would like to just go an entire week without having to visit the pediatrician. Week before last we had Allie's 4 month visit, last week we had the bleeding nipples and this week we have a raging eye infection!

We noticed a few days ago that it looked like the tear duct in her left eye (the one that's been blocked since birth...that's why she always has a tear in her left eye...because the duct that drains her tears is blocked) looked like it was goopier than normal and getting infected like it did when she was just a week old. So we broke out the eye drops they gave us to use when it gets infected. One and a half days later and the poor girl was running a fever and looked like she had been in a fight with Tyson!

So I discontinued use of the drops and took her to the doctor yesterday. They ran some blood work (all was normal) and gave her an injection of antibiotics. Poor little thing already didn't feel good and cried pretty much the entire 2 hours we were there. They also gave us a prescription for another antibiotic, one that would take care of a staph infection, and told us to come back in the morning (our appointment is at 11:40 AM). By the time we got home, Allie was worn out, her fever was back up to 102.7 and she was finally hungry. So, I gave her some Tylenol, nursed her and put her to bed. After a 2 hour nap we could already see some improvement in her eye but she still had a fever (down to 101.6 at this point). I finally got her to bed for the night around 9:00 last night with a slight fever of 100.5. This morning, the redness is still there but the swelling has gone down significantly and the fever is completely gone.

Hopefully we won't see the pediatrician next week. That would be good.

More wedding pics

My sister-in-law, Angie, just posted these on Facebook and I just couldn't resist posting them here too. At the very end, you'll  see why!

Before/during/right after the wedding:

JD relaxing in the stroller before the ceremony began

My other handsome brother, Merv

Father of the Year with two sleeping babies in the double stroller

Walking to meet Dave and check on the kids right after the ceremony

Merv & Angie. Can you believe they've been married almost 18 years?!?

Me with my "Big Buddy" as I used to call him when I was little

Making sure the groom is "picture perfect"... his suspender was peeking out!

My two brothers....

At the reception:

I love the look on Kent's face in this picture

My cousins Rachel, Jeremy and Meghan and my Aunt Avis

With my little man...

He loves Grandma!

Listening to the oh so funny toasts

Bottoms up!

Laughing at the best man's toast

Merv with my mom and dad

My family gets a little goofy: Hold on to your seats... or hats... HA!

Merv & Angie havin' a little fun

Mom & Dad jump in on the fun....

Now things are getting really interesting! Dave and I had already left the reception but I realized that I left my purse so I went back in to find this:

Of course I had to jump in on the action. Kent caught a break because he's the groom... poor Merv had to wear the pink floppy hat

Finally able to relax. I love this picture!

Dinner at Frank's Outback after the wedding and reception

One more thing...

I forgot to add this on the last post! It seems like it's always something with kids.... and when you have two under two, you can multiply that feeling by ten! Unfortunately, we seem to have kids that routinely stump our pediatrician who has been in practice for over 30 years!

On Monday, May 10, 2010 I took Allie for her 4 month immunizations. While we were there and she was undressed I noticed a little bit of dried blood on her right nipple. Her fingernails were in need of cutting at the time so I just figured she scratched herself and didn't think any more about it.

Fast forward to the following Thursday. I had Allie in her bathing suit all ready to go to the beach. About an hour after I put it on her I noticed a spot of blood on her bathing suit in the same area - right nipple. So I looked a little more closely and didn't see a scratch. Odd but we were down in Pawleys for Kent's wedding at the time and she wasn't in any discomfort so I decided to keep an eye on it.

Over the weekend her nipple continued to bleed and, if I put slight pressure on the left nipple it would bleed too. So, Dave and I googled it and found a list of horrific things that it could be. As we were getting freaked out, we came across this article that seemed a little more fitting and calmed us down.  First thing Monday morning I called the pediatrician and took her in (which contributed to our busy week last week).

Our pedi was expecting her to have mastitis, which is a breast infection that some nursing mothers get. Well, there's no redness, swelling or discomfort so he said that's not it. When I asked him what he thought it was he said maybe her shirts were rubbing her nipples causing her to bleed (I brought in her shirt from Sunday so he could see how much bleeding there was.... I didn't think it was much but from his reaction, it was more than he was expecting..."oh wow" were his words). When I pointed out that there was no "raw" spots (indicative of rubbing) and also that her left nipple bled with slight pressure, he was stumped. So I told him about the article that I found on AAP.org. He asked what it said so I told him it said that bleeding nipples in infants is very rare (only a handful of documented cases in the last 25 years) and that it's usually caused by something called ductal ectasia and corrects itself within a few months. But then the article continues and says that doctors should run a few non-invasive tests such as hormone testing, a culture of the nipple discharge and an ultrasound of the breast tissue to make sure there are no other abnormalities. He said he thought it was too early for such tests and we should just continue to watch it.

So watch it we have. It seems to be getting a little better. We've had a couple of days here and there with spots on her shirts but as of today have been spot free for a few days! I'll keep you updated if it turns in to anything more.....

Another Busy Week!

Well, not quite as busy as last week since we stayed at home most of the week but busy nonetheless!  Here is what we've done:

On Monday we started Allie on rice cereal. It didn't go so great. She was cranky and pretty much just cried. Tuesday my mom was here and she did great. The rest of the week has been hit or miss so I decided today to try it around lunch time since the evening is naturally everyone's cranky time. It was better but still not great. She gets tired of it pretty quickly. Totally different than when JD was this age. He instantly tried to eat everything and was a great eater from the start. I hope Allie gets the hang of it soon and doesn't turn out to be a poor eater like I was as a kid! Here are some pictures....doesn't she look tiny in the high chair?

Besides eating, Allie has been doing lots of jumping in her jumperoo. We also broke out the doorway jumper but she's a little too small for it still.... but JD's not! Silly boy asks to jump every time we put Allie in her jumperoo. Anyway, Allie loves to jump and quite often jumps herself to sleep. In fact, she goes to sleep easier in her jumperoo than if I rock her....doesn't bother her at all when I move her to her crib!

Lastly, we've been working on sitting. Allie does not recline any more. If I put her in her bouncy seat or swing she gets pissed off because all she wants to do it sit up and she can't. So I've been putting her on the floor with the Boppy a lot this week and that makes her very happy. I think she'll be sitting up on her own in no time!

Beach Playdate!

I love where we live! I love that I can take JD to the beach for a playdate, he has a couple of buddies to dig and run with and the mommies and I can sit in the nice warm sun and watch.  OK so it wasn't as serene as that sounds but damn it was fun! I didn't do a whole lot of sitting but I do have to say that the beach with JD is much easier and more fun than it was last year! Here are some pics of JD, Walker and Peyton.

Let me just add that this is the THIRD time JD has been to the beach in ONE WEEK! He's a lucky kid too, to live so close to the beach that we can go so often!

Thursday

Thursday was our last day down in Pawleys. That morning Merv and Angie packed up and hit the road back to Georgia. After they left Dave, Grandma, JD and I took Allie to the beach for the first time:

Bathing beauty all ready for her first trip to the beach...

The first time Allie's toes touched the Pawleys Island sand

After the beach we went back to my parents' house and relaxed for a little while. That evening we went to Kent and Sarah's house for a cookout. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera handy while we were there so no pictures but we had a great time.

We didn't get home that night until about 9:30 PM. Both the kids went straight to bed (JD even slept in his clothes) and Dave and I collapsed too! We had a very busy, tiring week but it was a whole lot of fun and we look forward to the day that we can build a house in Waterford and live down in Pawleys!