Thursday, January 29, 2009

walking the dogs... with a stroller...

I decided taking both dogs on top of a stroller was just crazy talk, but since it was such a nice day and Molly was feeling better I decided we needed to get out of the house. I first took Sadie out. Once she realized she couldn't get in front of the stroller and resigned herself to walking *next* to it things were fine. I did have her sit and bellow when a few dogs passed us. I knew if she wasn't in a sit she would pull and that just wasn't going to work with the stroller. So she sounded like a tortured dog that had a red hot poker up her ass the entire time two dogs passed us. Such a drama queen. Still, other than that and the initial adjustment to where she had to walk the leash stayed slack. After a lap around the rose garden and a detour up and down some streets we headed back home to drop off Sadie and pick up Snickers. Of course, Snickers was a dream. Other than stopping every few feet to pee we didn't have any issues. I did see an older lady when I was out with Sadie. She had commented how adorable Molly was. When she saw me again with Snickers she stopped running and asked, "How many dogs do you have?' with a very southern drawl. Just the two, I assured her. If the weather keeps up I definitely think we'll be doing this more often. With N out of town I haven't been able to get to Muay Thai and I'm in desperate need of some exercise.

tooth #6



With all the craziness of Molly not feeling well and the dogs keeping me up at night I completely missed Molly's sixth tooth breaking through. I noticed it earlier today when I was changing her. It is her second top left incisor. For a while I've been thinking her top left canine was going to make an appearance before this last incisor, but it broke through first. I honestly don't know if it broke through today or a few days ago as you can already see the entire bottom edge of it. Usually I see a corner peek through and it takes a few days for the entire bottom edge, but maybe this one came faster? Molly now has all of her top incisors and the two center incisors on the bottom. I quickly checked to see if anything else broke through, but she wasn't really cooperating. I'll try and get a better look tomorrow in the day light.

Finally!

We are back in the land of solids. I never thought I'd be so happy to see a little turd... literally. :-)

Yesterday I dropped Molly off at Granny Marsh's house while I took a break and saw a movie. Sure, I *could* have spent that time running errands and doing chores, but I didn't. Sue me.

Molly had a pretty solid diaper for my mom, but this morning's diaper was definitely back in the normal range. Phew! Now we just need her appetite to come back in full force. She is eating more each day so we're heading in the right direction. It will take some time after not eating much for a week. I'm just glad all systems are back to normal. It's been a long week.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Update

Molly bug is in pretty good spirits, but still has diarrhea. It's been a week. And she's not eating very much. So I called the doc and we headed in this morning. She's lost some weight (was 24 lbs 7 oz at her 15 month check up on the 13th and is now down to 23 lbs 12 oz), but they still think it's just the stomach flu. If she still has diarrhea at the end of the week I am going to have a stool sample analyzed to make sure nothing else is going on. I'm also going to pick up Lactaid to help get some more calories in her. I hope she'll drink it. If her sippy cup has anything but clear (aka water) in it she'll bat it out of my hand immediately. So Pedialyte and gatorade have been a major no go. She did have a pretty good breakfast, but she tends to eat less as the day progresses. Last night was a long one. Let's just say there was lots of screaming. NOTHING made her happy. Here's to hoping she bounces back soon. It's a loooong day when your little one is down for the count and your husband is in another country.

Also, why can't dogs be on the same pee schedule? Is that really too much to ask? Snickers is no longer making it through the night so I've been up letting him out. And of course once he's done outside Sadie wants to go out. I swear she just wants to re-mark wherever he just peed. Yeesh! Stop interrupting my precious sleep you darn furry kids!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Definitely made the right decision...

Molly woke up just before 5 am covered in vomit and not at all happy about it. Got her in the tub and she screamed pretty much the entire time. This all happened a few minutes shy of the alarm clock(s) N had set so he could still catch the flight to the DR. Not the best send off for dad, but she had calmed down a bit by the time he was heading out the door.

The diarrhea has continued, but is starting to move back towards the solid end of the spectrum which is an improvement over last night's diapers. She also threw up on the floor while playing this morning. However, she did just gobble down some pasta in tomato sauce (not a fan of plain pasta) so that's something. This morning I discovered she does not like oatmeal (can't really blame her as I've never been a fan myself). For some reason cinnamon sugar on top of oatmeal was even *more* insulting than the plain stuff. She did get some french toast down, but at first she was not interested at all so I tried putting a little maple syrup on it and that just made her scream. When I came back to it and she had a few bites of the plain stuff before brushing it away. She likes her carbs plain. Well, except for pasta... that needs to be covered in tomato sauce. Only tomato sauce. She hates mac n' cheese or any type of "white" sauce. She also got down a few peas before she sent those flying. She had an entire yogurt this morning. That tends to be the go to when she's not feeling well. I'm also trying to give her wheat crackers whenever I can. It's a work in progress.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Sanity check?

Or impulse buy? Perhaps a little bit of both. With N about to take off for 10 days... and with Molly down for the count.. I decided a new toy was in order.

update from doc appt

Molly has a stomach virus. Could last a few more days. Could be longer. Bottom line, Molly and I will not be going to the Dominican Republic.

The doc said to try and give her pasta and rice and to avoid milk/juice if possible until her diarrhea goes away. The latter won't be a problem as she's never liked juice, but the doc did say to try Pedialyte and that didn't go over so well last time. I'm going to pick up some chicken broth and see if she'll be receptive to that. She did have half a piece of whole wheat French toast this morning and had some wheat crackers. So that's good. She just hasn't been eating nearly as much as she normally does, but at least she's eating something.

Super bummed about not going though... especially since my sister was going to join us!

*sigh*

Dominican Republic

Molly, N, and I are supposed to get on a plane tomorrow morning and head to the Dominican Republic. N has not one, but two "work" conferences there next week so Molly and I had decided to tag along. Aunt Tracey also made plans to fly out and meet up with us for the first conference in Santo Domingo.

I say "supposed to" because Molly bug has a bug. She's had diarrhea since Tuesday and it's been really hard to get her to eat. Then this morning we came in to her room and discovered she had thrown up all over herself and her bed. It was pretty dry which meant she either slept through it or went back to sleep... which is *not* normal. The only times she has thrown up before have been from coughing too much and she wants it *off* the second it happens. We have a doc appt today at 2:45, but I'm thinking a full day of travel is not the best idea. She just hasn't been herself since her checkup last week. I find it a little hard to believe that this is all from her shots (the Hep A one really got her), but that's when everything started.

Oh, and Snickers isn't eating. He didn't finish either meal yesterday (not sure how much he left since Sadie was kind enough to take over before I got a good look) and then wouldn't touch breakfast this morning. We took him in last week for a checkup and he is on meds for a skin condition. I'm hoping it's just the meds and nothing more, but yet another reason the DR won't happen. However, he did gobble down a treat so that's something. He just doesn't have any interest in his normal food. We have a call into the vet so I'll keep you posted on that as well.

UPDATE -- Snickers just finished his breakfast. So that's one less thing to worry about. However, Molly has had another blow out and was very upset about it. She finally fell asleep on N in the glider so they are both currently sleeping in her room. It's never a good sign when she wants to sleep on us. It means she's really not feeling well.

Monday, January 19, 2009

N is for Ninja

Just in case you were wondering...



Since Granny and Grandpa Marsh are both going to be out of town this week (Molly's last Little Gym class is this Thursday) they came to last week's class. Molly wasn't 100% herself since she had her 15 month check up on Tuesday and I believe her Hep A shot had some lasting effects. Normally she's all over the place and first in line to try the skill of the week. This time she was hanging out on her own more and was acting a little fussy. However, she still managed to have some fun with Grandpa:



Then later that day we decided to hit the park just up the street as the beautiful weather continued to hold:



On Saturday we headed over the hill to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk to meet up with the Jodoins and the Chouns. Since Molly was having an off week we took off after her nap and met up with everyone in time for a late lunch. After that we took a stroll around the boardwalk (wouldn't you know the kid area was closed for winter?) and then took a lap around the wharf:



Click on any of the pics above for more...

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Oak Meadow Park



Molly and I went to Oak Meadow Park on Monday since it was such a lovely day. Click on the picture above or the link below for more. There are also some pics from our get together with the Chouns and Connally/Shipmans over the weekend.

pics 01/10 to 01/12/2009

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

so sensitive...

While we were waiting for the doc in the exam room Molly was playing with this race car toy. There was a button (shocker) that would make a horn beeping sound the first time you pressed it. The second time you pressed it you would hear tires screech as if to avoid an accident. Molly heard this and got very upset. Her mouth turned down and tears welled up. I think she might have been associating this with the ambulance sirens. She's heard these on various trips to Zanotto's (the hospital she was born in is just up the street). They always upset her (probably because they are sooo loud). However, she kept pressing the button. She loved the honking horn, but would get very upset by the screeching tires. Yet she would not let me put it away as she kept pulling it back out. Never fully cried, but really did NOT like it. It's just a sound effect honey, no one was getting hurt.

15 months old

Molly is currently passed out after a big bottle and some shots at the doctor's office. She got her Hep A shot (plus two others) which had a little bite and she was NOT happy about it. I could feel the cry come up into her shoulders and the nurse tried to get the band aid on quickly so I could turn her around and give her a hug before she really let loose. She let out a few sharp cries and then calmed down a minute later. She did not mind the first two shots as she was more fascinated with the process than she was concerned with any pain, but that last one got her. Poor bug. She came home and sucked down a bottle until she got air and then reached over towards her crib.

Molly still doesn't have a huge vocabulary. There are words she uses on a daily basis (she loves to point out dogs and cats when we're out and about or if she sees them pass by the house through the front window), but there hasn't been too many additions lately. However, she understands a lot. Just this morning she spent a good hour playing with her farm house puzzle. She always handed me the right animal when I asked for it. She also does this with her shape blocks and other toys. She gets commands (open, shut, put away, hand to me, etc etc) and can communicate quite well. She also loves to babble in her own little language. This isn't just certain sounds over and over, there is a definite speech pattern to it. She will tell herself little jokes all the time and laughs at them. She started babbling to the doctor just as she was leaving and the doc listened for a minute and was impressed. Molly is focused more on the sounds and patterns of speech than getting the right words down. It definitely sounds like she's having a conversation in a different language. The doc said she wouldn't be surprised if she started talking in sentences and said she would definitely be talking very soon.

Molly is also fascinated with how things work. She knows the word no very well and it usually works. Once something is off limits she usually won't go back to it. However, her vices are remotes and the dog's big ol' water bucket. She knows she's not allowed to play with remotes, but she just can't help herself. Since they are off limits she's sneaky about it and will wait until we're not looking or in the other room and she'll make a beeline towards them. She definitely understands cause and effect as she will hit one button and then look up to see what happened. If nothing happens she won't come back to that button. So she now immediately goes for volume up (her favorite) and the power buttons. She will also only hit the caps lock on my laptop (green light comes on) or the power button (which she now knows to hold down if she wants my computer to turn off). The little stinker!

Her dexterity is also quite impressive. My mom got her a farmhouse wood puzzle with animals. Each animal has a little peg so she can lift them up out of the puzzle. My dad worked with her (they have a similar one) on using her thumb and forefinger to rotate the peg slightly so she can get the piece to be at the right angle to go into the puzzle. She can easily do this for 10-20 minutes on her own taking the pieces in and out. I'm always amazed at how much patience she has to figure things out and how much information she can retain.

Molly does know all of her body parts, but her favorites are her belly and her nose. She will lift up her shirt and pat her belly any time she hears the word. When you ask where her nose is she'll point hers out, but then has to come over and touch yours too before moving on to something else. She has to be in the right mood to do the rest of her body parts, but you can always count on her to show you her nose and her belly.

The Little Gym has also been great with teaching her balance. We always seem to be dogsitting and Molly can maneuver herself quite well around several animals at a time. If the dogs are sleeping (and really, when are they not?) she can pull off Spiderman moves to get around them. My favorite is when she scales the side of the futon while walking sideways and stepping over various limbs and tails. If the dogs brush past her she rarely falls down and usually recovers quite well from the impact. I think the fact that she "walked" with her walker toy for months before walking solo also helped. Her favorite skill from Little Gym are somersaults. She LOVES them. The teachers will usually use Molly when showing the class any new skill that involves putting her head down as she immediately tucks it under in hopes of being flipped over. She also tries to do them herself. However those usually entail putting her hands down in front of her, tucking her head in, and then just rolling over. Not quite, but she tries.

Doors. Doors don't stop her... they barely slow her down. Word to the wise for anyone coming over, LOCK the bathroom door as Molly will come barging in with no notice and fling the door WIDE open. I try to get something simple done like putting laundry away and it takes 10 times as long because she will not stay still. I wonder if I could get a pedometer to stay on her... it would be interesting to see how much distance she covers in a day.

15 month check up

24 lbs 7 oz 32.5 inches long 48 cm noggin

ETA - I forgot to ask for the percentiles when we were at the doc's office, but I just plugged everything into the calculator over at Babycenter.com and she's 90-95% for height and head, but down to 50-75 for weight... which seems like quite the reduction, but people keep telling me how skinny she is these days so maybe it's not too far off. She eats. I promise. She's just non-stop motion these days.

Monday, January 12, 2009

record breaking highs

That's the forecast for this week. I'll give all of those not in CA a moment to yell profanities at the screen.

Molly and I hit the park yesterday. It was gorgeous. She loved the swing (not surprising), but she was also all about the stairs this time. She kept wanting to climb up a pretty steep staircase that wasn't all that wide to get up on the platform. She couldn't quite get back down the stairs as they were quite steep and not that deep of a step, but as soon as I got her down she would head right back up again. She was also pretty cool with the slide this time.

Today is supposed to be even nicer than yesterday so I'm hoping to hit another park this afternoon. Molly had a blast doing laps around Best Buy on Friday so I'm thinking a park is going to be that much cooler. I'll try to take pics... as long as she doesn't attempt any daredevil stuff... so no promises.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Fingers = quiet

She figured out that plugging her ears is a decent strategy in a loud restaurant. :)

Thursday, January 8, 2009

and the cleaning madness continues...

Since we were homebound all last week due to Molly being sick (fighting a fever *and* bronchitis) I decided it was high time to get some items checked off our to do list. It was time to get organized! I emptied out a bunch of boxes from the attic...



... which then cleared out a nice empty spot...



... I then got rid of a bunch of crap and labeled what I kept...



I am quite happy with the results. There are still plenty of items left on our to do list (isn't there always?), but I'm feeling good about what I accomplished. I think our new entertainment center inspired me. CA Closets came out today to finish up the job and it looks great!

This is new.

The other day Molly was emptying out one of her toy boxes while I was putting away some of her clothes. Next thing I know she's in the toy box reading a book! It was pretty cute.



pics 01/06 to 01/08/2009

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Someone's feeling better...

Molly is back to running all over the house. Her energy has returned and she's eating a lot more.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year!

Molly is starting to act and play like her old self. Her appetite is slowly coming back and she's almost done with two of her meds. Unfortunately she still has plenty of nebulizer treatments left. I am going to call her doc tomorrow and see if we can stop those early.