Molly's going to kill me...

For posting this post! You all must remind me, if we are still writing this blog when are kids are in middle school, that I MUST delete this post so poor Molly doesn't feel exposed! :-D

Ok, so I know it's been a while since I posted and I have a lot to tell y'all. I'll probably do it in a series of posts but I wanted to start with this situation. For those of you who have girls, or will have girls in the future, this may help you feel a little more at ease if the doctor gives you the same news (it's not as bad as I'm making it sound!)

Anyway, lately Molly has had a really bad rash on her cheeks and really bad diaper rash (I will post more about those later). Anyway, her body was trying to heal the diaper rash by closing up the little blisters but it seems that her body is an overachiever! Those little blisters weren't the only thing that was closing... What does she mean?!!? you ask yourself. Molly's female area was also closing up! After learning this about her and talking to some people, it seems that while not common, it's not that unheard of.

So for the past 2 weeks we have had to use an estrogen cream on Molly to help things open back up. Over time it would have opened naturally but the longer it's closed the more risk she would be at for bladder infections and uti's so we are helping it along.

Things are opening and we now only have to use the cream once a day (instead of twice like the last 2 weeks). We still have about 3 or 4 weeks to use the cream before things are really back to normal.

We try to look at the bright side: in Todd's words: "At least she can't get knocked up!"

I just hope, if you get similar news in the future, you can think back to this post and know that you are not alone!

-Emily

Eye spy...

So Andrew has his first eye doctor appointment Thursday. I think I have mentioned this in a previous post. I am so nervous because, well that is what mommies do, they get nervous before doctors appointments that are out of the norm. My ped is concern that Andrew's eyes are a little crossed. It is something I have noticed, but just assumed he would grow out of...guess he already passed that part of development and it is still funny looking. I think the diagnoses she is assuming is esotropia, but we are off to the eye doctor to get his expert opinion. His father and I have horrible vision and knew that glasses were in his future but not so soon and not anything more than corrective vision. Other possibilities that I have researched include a) nothing his face makes it look like he has a problem, but once he grows into his face he will look normal :) b) he would wear glasses or a patch...can you see my little boy wearing a patch, I mean "We are the Pirates of ECU- Hey!!!" sort of thing but wearing an eye patch is just taking it to a whole other level. or c) surgery...guess we will find out soon enough. I just wished I could fast forward a few days and just know what the doctor thinks already. Patience isn't one of my favorite virtues...

mel

Ear Infections

Hadley is on her fourth ear infection in three months! I actually had to call my mom in to help out a few weeks ago because it was all just getting to be a bit too much for us to handle. About a week after she finishes her antibiotics for one ear infection, she already has another one. They do seem to be going away in between--every time we take her for a re-check she is all clear. But she is still getting them really close together, and it is not even cold/flu season yet. She is running out of antibiotic options because after you take one, you have to wait a certain number of weeks before you can take that one again. So they have been alternating penicillin and non-penicillin-based antibiotics, but she is fresh out of options at this point.

The pediatrician has referred us to an ear, nose and throat doctor, which we will see next Friday. However, I would like to know if anyone else has had this problem or knows anyone that has had this problem and what they did about it. I am afraid the doctor is going to recommend tubes, but I'm not sure if we are quite ready to do that yet. I've talked to several people, and that is the only solution I have heard other than antibiotics. It seems that so many babies have this problem that there would be a better option that does not involve putting an 11-month old under anesthesia. Let me know if you know of anything--we are getting desperate here!

--Amanda

First the updates...

Where did the last 10 1/2 months go? I don't think a year has ever gone by so fast! Hadley is crawling, pulling up and cruising all over the place. And she has been experimenting with letting go the last few days too--so far it hasn't worked out in her favor. She is so much fun right now because she is starting to interact with us more. If we throw her one of her rings or a ball, she will throw it back (although it might go the opposite direction of where we are sitting). She knows how to give five (high and low), and she loves to wave at herself in the mirrors on the cribs at daycare.

She is also a sneaky little thing. Her daycare teachers have told me that although she has never taken a pacifier at home, and in fact gets angry if you try to give her one, she steals the other kids' pacifiers at daycare. And I'm not talking about picking them up off the floor if they drop them--she steals them right out of their mouths! I didn't believe them when they first told me that, but I saw her do it last week when I dropped her off.

And she is a bottomless pit! She is a tiny little thing, but she can pack away some food. We have not really found anything she does not like yet. Luckily, she is almost entirely on table food. The only baby food we bought this week was prunes. Because with big girl food comes big girl poop, and she is not liking that part of the deal.

We took her to a pumpkin patch last weekend. As you can tell from the picture, she was not a big fan of the big pumpkins, but we bought her a little mini pumpkin.

Now, for the fun part--ear infections. That post coming momentarily...

--Amanda

Got Whole Milk???

So the sippy cup thing is still not clicking with Andrew, so we are going to put it on hold for just a little bit. I am actually wondering since he is cutting his very first tooth, if that is more of a reason he hates the sippy cup. So seriously does anybody else have a baby with no teeth?!! So that is what we are thinking/hoping so when the tooth finally gets all the way through maybe he will be more receptive to the whole sippy cup thing.
But on the plus side we decided to start with the transition of changing from formula to whole milk, and I am thrilled to report that it is seamless. We are doing half formula and half organic whole milk, and he drinks it up just like if it was only formula. I am still warming it up, but I think once we switch over completely I might try to go from warm to semi warm to cool to straight from the fridge. Wish me luck!
As far as the whole idea behind changing him starting at 11 months old...I have read to start at 12 months, but a lot of daycares require children to be on milk before the switch to the one year old class. And I figured that if it was bad for the children, they would never require that transition before the baby was ready for it right? Either way, we haven't noticed any difference in him drinking it, his activity level, his ability to eat regularly (we thought he might start getting hungrier if it didn't fill him up the same...), but his poo is definitely different. It kind of reminds me to going back to breast milk. I don't know if this is just until we get used to whole milk, of if this is the way it is going to be until he is more on finger foods...but over all I am relieved that this transition is working so well for him.

mel

Toddler Formula is Cheaper!

We just realized that the toddler formula says you can use it from 10 months up, and it is like $5.00 cheaper! I think we are going to try it to get some extra savings for the next two months before we are able to switch to milk at 1 year. They sell it in Enfamil Gentlease too!

--Amanda

Toddler Formula is Cheaper!