Scarlet Fever

I think this is the longest I've gone without blogging ever since it began. I've been so crazy busy lately, I really feel like this is the first time I've been able to really sit and not feel like I have a million other things to do. 

I guess the big thing right now is that Leni is sick. Actually, she is looking pretty good today and seems happier. She even slept the entire night, which wasn't the case for the last few. 

Last Sunday evening, Leni started getting cranky and it was becoming obvious she wasn't feeling so well. Jesse, Gemma, and I drove Jesse's sister, Leah, back to the airport and when we got back, my mom told us how whiny and cranky Leni was. 

Next morning, Leni woke up with a fever and she kept getting hotter and hotter. At one point I measured her temperature and she was 38.7, which, to me, seems pretty substantial. But she didn't have any other symptoms, so I kinda just wrote it off to teething. 

But the fever persisted and I was just pumping her full of Tylenol. As long as the Tylenol was working, she seemed okay. When I'd be late on giving her next dose, however, and her fever would creep back, she would be all whiny and wanting nothing else but to cuddle in my arms. 

On Wednesday, I had to take mom to an ophthalmologist appointment for her cataract surgery assessment. I left Gemma at a friend's house, but took Leni with us. The appointment turned out to be way longer than expected (2.5 hours). However, Leni did okay. She was pretty happy and it was only on our way home that she really started to get cranky. Still a bit feverish, but she seemed to be getting over it. 

Thursday morning, we had to go back to the ophthalmologist to get mom's eyes measured. This time, we took both kids. While we were at the appointment, I noticed Leni had a rash on her face, kinda just under her eyes. Then, within 15 minutes, it was all over her face. 

Unfortunately we didn't get back to Okotoks until later and Leni was sleeping in the car and slept when I moved her into her crib, so she didn't get seen in Urgent Care until maybe 2 pm. Thankfully the wait wasn't too long, but the doctor was in such a hurry, I didn't get much information or much discussion out of her. She examined Leni and after reviewing her history, thought Leni had scarlet fever. She said she was 80% sure it was, but there was a good chance it was just a virus needing to clear her system. She took a swab and told me I could wait til the results or start her on antibiotics right away. If you know me, you know how anti-antibiotics I am and so I told her I would wait for the result. Then she left, saying something along the lines of "so I'm writing in here that you are refusing the antibiotics". She never really told me what scarlet fever is, how a baby would get it, what kind of damage it could do, and what the long-term complications of it are. So once I got home, I did some research of my own. The only time I've heard of scarlet fever is in Little Women, when the babies that Beth looks after die from it and then she gets it and then dies. HOW REASSURING. 

The internet told me that it's not a big deal as long as it's treated, but it can leave complications, such as kidney damage, heart damage, rheumatic fever, etc. I still figured I could wait 2 days for the swab results, but Jesse and my mom kept worrying me and guilt-tripping me, making me feel as though I should've taken the prescription. 

So the next day, I went back to Urgent Care, explained my situation and they told me I would still need to have Leni reassessed. So she was. By a different doctor this time. He wasn't convinced it was scarlet fever and reassured me that even if it was, the damages don't occur for some time and we definitely had time to wait for the swab results. When I told him I thought I was such a bad mother, he disagreed, saying that he preferred more people to be more like me in being cautious about antibiotics instead of coming in, demanding antibiotics.

Anyhoo, today is day 2 of the swab and so I hope to hear back some time today. Actually, I hope I don't hear back at all, which would mean the swab was negative. Nevertheless, Leni's rash has significantly improved and she is in much better spirits today. I hope it really is just a flukey virus that will just flush out of her system and leave her alone from here on.

Trampoline time!

Gemma's favorite part of gymnastics was definitely the trampolines. That's where she spent her 5 minutes of free time at the end and she just couldn't get enough. Even at home, she is always leaping like a frog or hopping like a bunny or just wearing herself out jumping on the bed. 

I know what you're thinking. 

She's two. 

You guys are moving. 

Long story short, Canadian Tire had springfree trampolines on sale (the safest trampolines you can buy) and so we grabbed one. Set-up was excruciating! but the result is well worth it. She enjoys it so much and even Leni loves to sit in there (with me or mom of course) and watch Gemma bounce. I am not looking forward to taking it down when we move, but I'm really happy Gemma got one more season of jumping out of us setting it up now.

Not to mention she naps like a baby!

Leni

About Wednesday, Leni started pulling up on things to stand. Around the same time, she started picking up her feet and taking steps when we would walk her, whereas before she would kinda take steps, but usually drag her feet a bit. Honestly, I feel like this week while I was at work, Leni has changed and grown so much. I'm glad I won't have to miss any more milestones ...

Gemma

We bought Gemma a bicycle 2 days ago. Initially I wanted to get her a tricycle, but when I took her to the store, she wouldn't even look at a tricycle, let alone sit on one. However, her toes were just touching the ground on a 12-inch bike, so that's what we ended up getting her. She's been yearning for a bike so much every time we go past an open garage or a bike left on a random yard, she is begging to go see it. Jesse's parents got one of those balance bikes for her last summer, but she was too small. We put her on it as soon as the weather got nice enough and she is still too small for it and doesn't seem to like how clunky it is. Anyhoo, a pink bike with pink and silver streamers made all her dreams come true and she has spent every waking moment of the last 48 hours on that thing. Her helmet is permanently stuck to her head and she only takes it off to sleep. 

At first, she couldn't figure the pedals out and was getting really frustrated, but wouldn't let any of us help her. When I got home today, she was pedaling all by herself and was so proud. 

And I gotta say, it makes me so happy to see her so happy.

Leni

I don't know what has happened, but Leni has gone through a major personality change in the last week. I don't know if it's the newfound independence that came with her crawling or the fact that I went back to work, but she is a totally different baby. Actually, she acts like she isn't a baby anymore but a toddler! She is throwing little fits (if we take away something from her that she isn't supposed to have OR if the wrong person came to get her from her crib after her nap) and is crazy HYPER! She used to be so laid back, but I feel like she completely fooled us all with her sweet girl routine all this time. She is super fast, going from one end of the room to the other and wreaking havoc and leaving a trail of chaos behind her. Also, she does this thing that Gemma NEVER did - Leni will put little tiny things that she finds in her mouth. Gemma never, ever did that. She would put her toys in her mouth and stuff, but never little fuzzies or odd crumbs that you can hardly see or pieces of dirt that fell off someone's dirty clothes, etc. It scares the heck out of all of us because she's already been found with one too many tiny things in her mouth that shouldn't be there. Even though we vacuum religiously, she picks up everything the Dyson might leave behind (and that's not much!). 

So in short, Leni has gone from the "easier" child to the "oh man, I don't know how I'm gonna handle her when she's a bit bigger" child. Hopefully this is a phase that she will grow out of or else I need to have some major life lessons on how to deal with two extra-crazy toddlers!

Back to the Grindstone

Ugh, I can't believe I'm back to work tomorrow. When I called my boss to tell her that I was coming back in April, April seemed so far away. 

I have to go back to the office for a week for retraining (and thank goodness, they've changed so many things in the last 9 months) and then I'm home after that. Even though I'm up at 6ish everyday, I always go back to sleep after feeding Leni and I'm going to struggle trying to stay awake tomorrow. Being in the office at 7 means I have to leave probably by 6:20, so it will be an early, early morning. 

The girls will be well taken care of by my mom, of course, who has taken the week off from work to be full-time caregiver for the week. Thank you mom!

Crawling... Forward!

Even on her 9-month birthday 2 days ago, she wasn't doing too many forward "stepping". Yesterday, she did a two-stepper, and then today, she just whipped it out of nowhere! She looks like a cautious crawler still, kinda taking it easy, but I'm just relieved that she has reached this milestone. Here's a little video of this morning...

In other news, I took Leni to the health centre today to get weighed. At my doctor's office, she weighs the babies with all the clothes/diaper on once they're older than 2 months. I wanted a more precise measurement and so, even though we have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday, took her to weigh her myself. 

Gemma was 19 lb 5 oz at 9 months. 

Leni is 21 lb 11 oz, 30 inches long. She wears 12-18 month clothes. The large-sized sleep sack that Gemma wore way past her first birthday is too small for Leni. 

As shocked as I was, I'm so happy to have such a healthy and sweet *little* baby girl.

Eyes

After watching an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, I had this hankering for crab. So while i was out grocery shopping today, I picked one up and mom cooked it. Gemma had already eaten, so she was just playing in the living room, but she would come by once in awhile to check things out. Then, at one point, she looked at the crab and shouted "eyes! eyes!.... don't eat the eyes, okay?"

Dry Overnight

I am so proud of Gemma! For the second night in a row, she has not had an accident during the night! About a week ago now, I decided (against Jesse's... opinion) to try putting Gemma to bed without a diaper. This was kind of a crazy thing to try, seeing as how she would wake up with a FULL diaper each morning, even with us not giving her anything to drink after supper. Needless to say, The first 5 days I did a lot of laundry! On night 3, I actually went in before going to bed myself, saw that she hadn't peed yet (on the bed or the potty), just picked her up in her sleep, and sat her on the potty. She was completely disoriented and didn't say a word, but she did pee. She woke up in the morning and peed in the potty. 

The next night... she peed in the bed... but peed in her potty upon waking in the morning. 

The next night, she had gotten up, peed, then peed when she woke up in the morning. That potty was so full of pee!

And last night, once again, she peed throughout the night in the potty. 

I am seriously so proud of her!

Leni

is crawling backwards! and she is so darn good at it. She will sit, crawl backwards, then sit, then change direction, the keep crawling backwards, then sit, then repeat. She gets around all over the place, gets stuck under sofas, tables, toys, etc., then screams in frustration. So funny.