Roseola

In my last post, I talked about how much we enjoyed Riverwalk. And we did.  It was great.  Until 3 days later.  See the swing right down there?  What you can't see is the infectious disease it carries.   Maybe that's not totally true, but I do blame it for spreading Roseola germs to my child.  The Saturday after Riverwalk, Lyla woke up pretty cranky.  Usually she plays and talks in her crib when she gets up, but this day, she wanted me the second her eyes popped open.  When I went in to pick her up she felt like she was on fire! 

I took her temp and it was 102.  Alarming.  She's had a temp before, but not like this.  I kept a close eye on her for the next 24 hours.  She had moments of complete misery where all she wanted to do was sleep on me (including all night long) and then she had moments where she was running and dancing like nothing was wrong.   By late Sunday afternoon I had had enough.  With her temp spiking to 104 at night and no other signs of illness, the new mom in me went into freak mode.  We got the doctor on call who said to continue with tylenol and ibruprofen and to see my doctor the next day.

Still, no signs of illness, the next morning, the doctor determined it was one of three things; strep throat, rosela, or UTI.  After quickly ruling out the first, she informed us we needed to have her checked for a UTI.  The put this bag on her (taped) and said when she peed, I had to fill a container and bring it to the lab at St Joe's.  Well, instead of going home just to come back out, we decided to go to lunch and pump her full of liquids.  Two hours later and no pee.  We decided to just go to the hospital and wait for her to pee there.  It took almost another hour!  When she finally went, trying to control a 16 month old on a fold out changing table, while peeling a bag off of her and trying to pour pee in a little container, was a bit of comedy show.  It ended with a naked baby from the waist down, peering under the stalls in the bathroom saying "Hi" to the feet she found under the door.

Long story short, no UTI.  Doc said that only left Rosela and we would know by Wednesday if that was it because she would have a rash.  Thankfully, Tuesday night showed tiny signs of the rash.  By our appointment on Wednesday her entire torso was covered in a rash.  We had our answer.  Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about it so we took our rash home and got ice cream.  By Friday, I had my clear skinned, normal temp, girl back.  Now if only I could catch up on the sleep we missed for an entire week!

 



Waiting for pee at the hospital.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Once again the beautiful spring weather brought us out of our winter caves.  My parents took a few days off and we decided to take check out Naperville River Walk.  I'd heard great things about it so thought we'd check out for ourselves.  It was a gorgeous day and the only thing we did was walk around but it was one of our best days yet.  

Lyla was busy watching the ducks.

Grampa was giving her a nature lesson. 

Trying all sorts of new rides.

This was clearly her favorite, once again.

Mimi was freaking out that Lyla was too close the edge (just beyond those trees) and I was
freaking out the she was going to do a face plant.

And I was right.  This is Grampa wiping off Lyla's hands after she fell.

Spring Fever

At the first sign of spring, we headed out to the park in our subdivision.  Of course we took a million pictures of Lyla on the swings for the first time.   I'll spare you and just share a few.



wind in her hair.

She did like it, though she's not giving that away here.

Mommy probably had more fun.

But her favorite part was riding down the slide with daddy.  Smiles all around!

Delayed

So we went in for a regular 15 month check and to get some shots.  First of all, shots have become a battle.  She's old enough to know what they are and starts screaming the second I attempt to lay her down.  I've been able to hold in my own tears...so far.  

Second of all, when I walk in the door, the receptionist hands me a clipboard with three forms to fill out; general 15 month questions about speech, activity, eating, coordination, etc.   How the hell am I supposed to fill out this form while this child runs laps around the office and is in the face of a new baby seated next to us.  I finally managed to wrangle her on my lap and then the fight over the pen began.  Needless to say, the forms not only had my answers and her scribbles, but my sweat!!! Even my back hurt after that battle! haha. 

Anyhow, when we finally got called in to see the doctor, she brought in the wet scribbles and proceeded to tell me that, based on my answers, Lyla was on the verge of having a speech delay.  WHAT?  She said she was good, even advanced (music to a mothers ears) in some areas but we'd have to keep an eye on her speech.  She said that if she hasn't improved by her 18 month check, we'd have to consider therapy.  Therapy for a 15 month old seemed early.   At first I was pissed.  I mean, Lyla says plenty of words, what does she expect from a 15 month old? Then I started questioning my answers.  I mean, I was distracted, I probably just circled "sometimes" when I should have circled "most of the time".   However, by the time I made it to the car, I decided to blow the whole thing off.  My doctor tends to be a little on the strict side already so I wasn't going to worry about it.  She'd be fine.   I told Eric about it and he was even more irritated.   He didn't want to hear anything negative about his girl. 

As much as I said I wasn't going to worry about it, I started hanging on her every "sound".  Was that a word?   Then I started writing them down.  I was sure she'd be saying 20 words by that 18 month mark.    I've been paying much more attention to other kids her age and how they communicate.  So far, I think I have nothing to worry about (well, on that front at least).  I guess we'll know in three months.

Little Leprechaun

After taking a break from parades for about, oh, 20 years, we jumped back in for Saint Patty's Day.  We had beautiful March weather so we headed out to two parades.  We hit the Oak Forest parade with Grandma Laxton, Aunt Becky and the kids and the Tinley Park parade with Daddy, Mimi and Grandpa Mac the next day.

Go Irish!

Look at those toofers.

Playing with Emily.

The both have the same look on their faces!



Happy Girl

Checking out the new CNG truck!

She Walks!

I have to be honest that I don't even really know when it happened.  Lyla had been taking a few steps here and there for about two months and suddenly one day, when she was about 13 months, we realized that she was off and running.  We didn't have one of those moments where we knew we were witnessing her first steps and went running for the camera.  It just sort of happened.  It didn't last that long either.  She went from walking to full speed running within days.  And then it was over.  This child does not sit.  She runs.  And runs.   Luckily we have small house so I don't have to chase too much but whenever we go out I dress like it is summer because I know I'll be sweating.  I swear I should be 98 pounds by now.  Who needs a treadmill when you have a Lyla!

12 Month Stats

At 12 months, our little Lyla:

• Weighs in at 20 pounds, 4 ounces and is 29 inches long.
• Talking a lot of Chinese.  We can understand mama, dada, ball, uh-oh and coo (cooper)
• Bye Bye Bottle.   A few weeks before her first birthday she was down to two bottles a day and the rest sippy cups.   Within a week of turning one, the bottle was totally gone.  Yes, I'll give myself a little pat on the back for that.
• Walking?  Not quite.  She's OH so close.  She may take one or two steps on occasion but that's about it.  I am definitely in no rush. 
• We have made the switch to solid foods (non-baby) for the most part.  My goal is to get rid of the baby food completely in a month or two. 
• Has all of her hair back!
• Still sleeps like a trooper, 7:30pm - 6:30am!  Yahoo!