A Very "Infected" Christmas

Christmas was not all that Merry for our family, because poor Andrea was sick the entire time. She wasn't acting like herself at Gram and Grandpa G.'s on the 23rd; on Christmas Eve, she was a limp rag doll, and did not participate in any of our holiday activities; she spent most of Christmas Day in tears. Finally, we found an open clinic on Boxing Day, and took her in. Andrea was suffering from a throat infection. Her fever had been up over 102 on Christmas Eve, and was averaging about 101 until we got some antibiotics from the doctor. Needless to say, Andrea was downright miserable; she had not been eating, barely drinking, and barely sleeping for about 72 hours.


Today, she has improved a bit. She no longer has a fever. She's still not eating, but she is taking in more fluids. She still cries when she coughs (it hurts her throat). Tonight she is sleeping restlessly; I hope she will settle down soon.

Now Mommy is starting to feel yucky, too, and I am exhausted from worry and lack of sleep. Daddy has been great, but he's worn out too.

Anyway, I don't have the energy to do up a big entry like I wanted to, about the usual holiday gatherings and activities. Instead, I'll do a photo journal of the past few days, so you can get a glimpse of our holiday.

***

December 23: Gathering at Gram and Grandpa G.'s

December 24: Gathering at Great-Gram Market's
(We also stopped by the Maurice's for a bit before we went to Great Gram's, but I didn't get any pictures there. You can see why.)

December 25: Christmas Morning

(We also went to Aunt Steph's for breakfast, but I didn't get any pictures there.)

December 25: Christmas Dinner at Grandpa S.'s

Andrea and Jocey had the SAME Christmas dress!

December 26: Relaxing (?) at Home

No pictures of Andrea on the 26th. However, we were pleasantly surprised to have visitors from out-of-town: Jay and Karen; and Matt, Sue, and Maeve. Maeve liked Andrea's cowgirl hat!

December 27: Feeling a Bit Better

A Visit from Santa

Andrea had a special visitor at her daycare today: Santa Claus!


Mommy was excited when she heard that, because we have been planning to take Andrea to the mall to see Santa, but it just hasn't worked out. So, it was great that Santa stopped by TLC to see the little ones!


What did Andrea think of Santa? Well, her teachers told me that Andrea was okay when she was first put on his lap. She just went kind of quiet and serious. Then, just as they were about to take her picture, the bottom lip started to wobble, and she got a bit teary-eyed:

I'd say that's a typical reaction for a 16-month-old. :))

Santa gave Andrea a sparkly board book about glitter-bugs, which had her name on it. The teachers at the daycare gave Andrea a wooden animal puzzle. They also had their Christmas lunch today--turkey with all the fixings. Apparently, Andrea enjoyed that very much!(Unfortunately, it came back to haunt her tonight--she had a very sore tummy, and a few full diapers! Poor baby!)

Yummy!

It's a rite of passage which may not be popular with some parents, but we all give into it eventually: the first fast-food kids' meal.

In the past, I've thrown something together for Andrea to eat ahead of time, so she only got a few nibbles of Mommy or Daddy's fast food, as a treat. But tonight, I just didn't have the energy. This isn't something I plan to do often.

But I did have to laugh when I saw my daughter pick up that kiddie cheeseburger and hold it up to take a bite. It looks huge in her little hands! Needless to say, she thought it was great fun that she got to have her own burger, and tear into it at will. Of course, she only ate about a quarter of it, but we could tell she enjoyed the freedom of having a burger to herself, so she could pick at the bun and the toppings, and take a bite here and there as she pleased.

***

Also, Daddy was on a mission tonight: he was determined Andrea would use a straw properly by the end of our meal! He was getting so frustrated, because every time we put/she puts a straw in her mouth, she chews on it, instead of sucking. Daddy, through much patience and a bit of smart thinking, got Andrea to use a straw properly. She's almost 17 months old, and we could never get her to do it before! Daddy got her to suck liquid out of the straw that he had drawn up, and held corked with his finger; then, as she was sucking that out, he shoved the straw back into her milk, and she'd unintentionally start using the straw properly. After doing that a few times, Andrea put two and two together, and realized she could do it on her own, and draw the milk up the straw! It's funny how we've struggled to get her to do this for so long, and it finally clicked tonight. I think it was Daddy's little trick that made the difference. Way to go, Daddy!

Gathering at Aunt Donna's

This afternoon we had a pre-Christmas get-together at Aunt Donna's house for we three kids, and our families. Aunt Donna made an awesome roast beef dinner. Andrea loved it! I haven't seen her eat so much at one sitting!

***

The kids also got to exchange their gifts. We actually let them do it before supper, so they'd have some toys to keep them busy. (It was a good plan!)

"May I please open it now?"

"Ooooo . . ."

"Cool videos!"

"Look at this!"

"Yay, paper!" (She really did say "Yay!" here.)

"Ap-ple!" (She was saying apple, over and over again.)

After presents and a bit of play-time, the big girls (Caitlin and her friend) whisked Andrea up to the bedroom to fuss over her. Andrea got lots of attention from her two new friends. They even did her hair up in a ponytail! (Well, more of a Pebbles 'do.) So, when the girls came back downstairs, we got them all to pose together in front of the Christmas tree.

Thanks Aunt Donna, Uncle Greg, Caitlin and Tyler. We had fun!

Andrea's Christmas Concert

Tonight, we attended Andrea's Christmas Concert for her daycare. The children from the Infant Room performed first, and the children from the Kindergarten Room went on stage after them. We weren't sure exactly what the Infants could do in the show, but we knew it would be cute!

Andrea wore her Christmas dress, and Mommy put her hair in ponytails. Here's a picture of her playing with Daddy before we left. (Notice she is standing!)

After we dropped her off at her usual daycare room, we headed over to the church to get good seats. They gave us a program, and Andrea's name was in it! We now knew her role: she was an elf!

***

(My apologies--from here on, the pictures and videos are kind of dark.)

The teachers brought the Infants on the stage, and they were SOOOOOOOOO CUTE! Andrea didn't quite know what to make of it all at first. Her face was very serious, and her eyes were huge!

(Andrea is sitting, in a red dress, next to Miss K., who is in purple.)

Finally, Andrea caught sight of Mommy; and every time I caught her eye, she grinned at me!

She also spotted Daddy, and posed for him when she saw the camera. What a ham!

Still, she seemed a little nervous up there. She was too preoccupied with what was going on around her to really perform. She did, however, enjoy chewing on the props!

***

Daddy captured video of the performance, pretty much from start to finish. As you'll see, there's a lot of Andrea just sitting with a poor little deer-in-the-headlights expression on her face. But once she got more comfortable, she let out a few excited squeals, played with the props, and even decided to stretch out on the stage for a bit! :))

http://media.putfile.com/Entrance-and-Must-Be-Santa-Part-1 (a deer in the headlights)

http://media.putfile.com/Must-Be-Satnta-Part-2 (still a deer in the headlights)

http://media.putfile.com/Rudolph-Part-1 (gets more vocal; chews on the props)

http://media.putfile.com/Rudolph-Part-2 (chewing away; wiggling her feet to the music)

http://media.putfile.com/Jingle-Bells-Part-1 (gives a half-hearted jingle; crosses her legs like a lady)

http://media.putfile.com/Jingle-Bells-Part-2 (tries to stretch out; sees Daddy and smiles)

http://media.putfile.com/Jingle-Bells-Part-3 (smiles at Daddy and yells, "Yay!")

Something Has Clicked!

Andrea's progress made another rapid leap tonight! After her bath, she crawled out of her room, pushing a walking toy that we had gotten her just after her first birthday. It was like she was telling us, "I'd like to try using this now!" So, Daddy helped her stand up and hold on to the bar of her push toy, and away she went . . . unbelievable! He walked behind her for the first minute or so, but then he let her go on her own. The next time around the room, Andrea pulled herself up to the toy, and took off walking with the toy, totally unassisted! We only had to help her when she ran into an obstacle, or had to turn around. And she was having so much fun, she didn't want to stop! Sometimes, she'd even pause and look back at us, and hold on with one hand, like she was thinking of letting go and really going for it . . . Oh, we are so close . . . Please let this amazing burst of progress continue . . . :))

Here are two videos I took of Andrea walking with her push toy tonight!

http://media.putfile.com/Walking-With-Push-Toy-1

http://media.putfile.com/Walking-With-Push-Toy-2

Yay, Andrea!

***

P.S. I caught her doing her "pyramid" tonight.

A Breakthrough! (We hope!)

Last night, while Daddy and I were at Daddy's staff Christmas party, Gram and Grandpa G. were babysitting for us. They were playing with Andrea, and all of a sudden, Andrea started to pull herself up, with no help or prompting! Later, she started cruising the furniture in the living room! Gram knew we'd want to see this, so she figured out my new camera and took some videos for us. So, we had a wonderful surprise waiting for us when we got home!

Daddy says he got Andrea to pull herself up using her crib bars this morning, but I haven't gotten her to stand up for me yet. Stinker. ;p

Here are the videos Gram G. took last night:

http://media.putfile.com/Pulling-Up-On-Crib

http://media.putfile.com/Pulling-Up-On-Couch-1

http://media.putfile.com/Pulling-Up-on-Couch-2

http://media.putfile.com/Cruising-Along-the-Couch (This one is sideways, and I can't change it.)

Good job, Andrea! Let's keep up this progress! :))

Dinner and an Assessment

Tonight we went to Gram G.'s for dinner. Gram's friend B., who is a physiotherapist who works with children, played with Andrea and evaluated her motor skills.

Here are B.'s main observations:

• Andrea has no physical problems or strength problems.
• Andrea just needs to gain a little confidence in her weight-bearing and balance.
• Andrea is a "stinker" who will walk when she wants to!
• Andrea doesn't need physiotherapy. In fact, she could "balk" it and become more stubborn about not walking.
• It's a "shame" that we have this pressure and time limit to make her walk.

I agree with everything B. said, but especially the last part, about the daycare being so stringent about the walking deadline. B. suggested we ask them for a grace period, if Andrea needs a little more time. She even offered to vouch for Andrea that she is fully capable of walking, and will probably start walking very soon.

Later, on the phone, Grama Marty pointed out that the daycare may have liability concerns (i.e., a little one who's still crawling in the Toddler Room might get hurt), so she suggested we offer to sign a waiver, saying the daycare is not liable for injuries incurred due to Andrea's crawling vs. walking. Then again, it could also be that they do start potty training in the Toddler Room, so they'll want her to stand independently.

***

It basically comes down to this: Andrea's time line versus the Daycare's time line. I think what we really need to do is to sit down in early January (once all the Holiday stuff has settled down), and discuss the exact reasons why the Daycare is imposing this walking deadline, and what we can do to accommodate Andrea's natural time line, if it becomes necessary.

***

Here's hoping our little bum will get off her bum and start walking within the next few weeks, so this whole issue will be moot. ;P

Physiotherapy?

Just a quick note, to let you know that yesterday our daycare called, and mentioned that they work with a children's organization that offers free physiotherapy sessions, at our daycare centre, for pre-school children who might need it. They suggested Andrea might benefit from this, but I had to call the organization and put in a referral for Andrea myself. After checking with Grandma G., who works for a similar organization, I decided to go for it. It certainly can't hurt anything, and maybe it will help Andrea learn to walk.

So, I called and put the referral in. The person I talked to said it may be two or three weeks before we hear from the coordinator. That's kind of cutting it close--Andrea has to be walking by the end of January, or she'll lose her spot at our daycare.

In the meantime, one of Grandma G.'s friends, from the organization where she works, has offered to come out and have an informal "visit" with us, and meet Andrea; and maybe she'll be able to make some suggestions regarding helping/motivating Andrea to stand and walk. That will probably take place later this week. :))

Silly Girl!

More proof that Andrea is recovering well from her bout of Bronchiolitis: she was being totally silly all day, yesterday. :))

***

Andrea is getting bored with her puffers, so she wants to play with them. I let her try it out for herself, and here's the result:

Her nose is in the hole where the puffer is supposed to go; she's holding the puffer up against her cheek; and the mask is way at the opposite end! ;))

***

Most notably, she kept scrambling to hide behind things, like the ottoman or the TV, and then she would peek her head out at me; or, again, she was pretending to get into the decorations, and laughing at me when I gave her a stern look. Needless to say, I just about fell over laughing when one time I scolded Andrea, saying, "I see you!" and she chimed back at me, clear as a bell, "I see you . . ."! Here's us playing, and me getting her to say her new phrase, for the camera:
http://media.putfile.com/I-See-You-29

***

Later in the evening, when Daddy returned from his trip (and hadn't heard the above story yet), he called to Andrea from the garage, "I can hear you!" and she yelled back, "I hear you!" Daddy was pretty impressed, and then I told him about her just learning "I see you" that same day!

***

Andrea also enjoys getting into what I call her pyramid position: hands and feet on the floor, arms and legs straight, and bum way up in the air! She likes to look at me upside down between her legs, and laugh at me. I haven't managed to get a good picture of that yet, but I'll post one when I do. She's a silly girl!

Christmas Decorations

Being at home with Andrea, I decided to take some time to put up our Christmas decorations. I have spread it out over the past couple of days. (As a side note, decorating has taken longer than expected, because both Mommy and Daddy now have Andrea's virus; plus, Mommy is fatigued, and has nausea!). Today was really the first day that Andrea became interested and involved in the process.

Andrea went for the silver bead string as soon as I removed it from the package. She loves jewellery, so she was in her glory with this huge strand of shiny silver. Of course, it was really difficult to string it on the tree, as she was clutching one end, until I made her give it up!

After the beads were on the tree, and I started in on hanging the ornaments, Andrea wanted to be in on the action. I gave her a safe ornament to distract her, hoping she'd want to play with it; but she crawled right over, and tried to figure out how Mommy got these things to stay on the tree!

Before the next set of ornaments went up, I decided it was time to introduce Andrea to a family heirloom: Daddy's Christmas Ball, which he made in Grade 1. Daddy and I have an annual battle over this monstrosity; he tries to put it right out in front for everyone to see, and I bury it in the middle, or back. I let Andrea look at it, and waited for her opinion. The result: I guess she has her Daddy's test in decorating. She loved it! ;p

When the tree was pretty much finished, we took a lunch break. Andrea and I shared a bowl of macaroni and cheese. I've got to say, she has become very independent with her eating. She'll say "No" or "All done" when I'm feeding her, but if I hand the fork/spoon over, then she'll eat! Actually, I thought we were done eating, but turned around to find her sitting there, helping herself to leftovers!

After lunch, as Mommy sat relaxing, Andrea started to notice the other decorations around the house. Her favourite is a little Santa wind-chime hanging from the railing. When she figured out that she can gently clink the metal rods together to make music, I couldn't keep her away from it. I don't mind; with all the other things she's not allowed to touch, I figured I could make one concession. :))

Finally--I knew this was going to be the toughest part--Andrea spotted the gifts. The instant I started putting them under the tree, she got right into them. Andrea loves paper; she had watched me wrap these gifts, and was into all my wrapping supplies then. The pretty paper is just too tempting, I guess.

Well, at least it was her own gifts that she started clawing at!

***

Overall, I think Andrea is really enjoying the festive decor around the house. She keeps looking up at the tree and saying, "Oooooooo . . ." It's a lot more fun this year, seeing her excitement about the decorations.

On the other hand, it's also more challenging. Last year, at this point, she wasn't moving at all. Now, she's into everything. She's already pulled down part of my porcelain village off the window ledge, tried to take ornaments off the tree, gotten into the presents, and cried when I put a pretty snow-globe out of reach. Yikes.

Andrea also has a quirky little personality; I'm not sure if she's testing me, or playing jokes, or what, but . . . For example, she will go up to where the lights on the banister wrap down towards the plug, reach out to touch the lights, say, "No," then look at me, and grin. It's like she's either saying, "Ha ha, I didn't really touch it," or, "You can't say no, because I'm not touching it!" She was also doing this weird thing earlier, where she'd crawl up to the tree, pretend to touch it, speed back over to me, and pretend to hand me something. That one made me laugh. Was she pretending to decorate, or just showing me she really hadn't touched anything? I don't know. She's so silly sometimes. :))

Andrea's Doing Better

This morning we went to our family doctor, for a follow-up to Andrea's hospital stay.

Dr. H. listened to Andrea's chest and said she sounds really good. She told us to keep using the puffers for about 2 more weeks, and to finish the antibiotics as directed.

Andrea is much better. She still has a nasty sounding cough, but it's a lot less frequent. She doesn't sound wheezy anymore.

Her personality is fully restored (little stinker!) and that's our best indication that she is getting well quickly. :))

It's Time for Some GOOD NEWS

In light of how tough this past week has been on our family, Rod and I decided it was time to share our good news, and add a little bright spot to the week.

ANDREA IS GOING TO BE A BIG SISTER!

And for those of you who thought I couldn't keep up two blogs, hah:

My Little Bud was created within an hour of my first positive home pregnancy test (on November 18)! For more information on Baby #2,

please visit the My Little Bud blog. :))

Andrea's First Hospital Stay

Well, we finally got home around 5:00 p.m. this evening, and having had some time to rest, I'm ready to post about what's happened over the past 48 hours.

***

Sunday Night: Andrea had been unhappy all day with a bad cough and runny nose. We had spent part of the afternoon at the funeral home, but left early because Andrea was getting so miserable. She didn't nap that afternoon, and was so exhausted by the time we got home, that she had a late nap, at about 5:30 p.m. Of course, that meant getting her to bed at 8:00 was a struggle. On top of that, her cough had worsened considerably; we were up all night, rocking her and comforting her.

Monday Morning : Andrea was irritable and coughing terribly from the moment I got her up. She cried and cried, and nothing would console her. We had already made plans to leave her with the babysitter while we were at Uncle Mick's funeral, and she seemed to perk up a bit when we dropped her off at the sitter's. When we called to check up on her around 11:30 a.m., she was doing okay. No naps, but eating and drinking.

Monday Afternoon: We went to pick Andrea up from the babysitter's after the internment at the cemetery, to bring her to the luncheon with us. She seemed okay, until we got her out to the car. Then she started to cry uncontrollably again. About 5 minutes after we headed out, she fell asleep, but I could hear she was breathing rapidly and was really wheezy. We decided to head back to Windsor, and take Andrea to the walk-in clinic.

As soon as the triage nurse saw her, they put her in a room. She was lethargic, and labouring to breathe. All she would do was cry. When the nurse and doctor came in, and looked at Andrea with her clothes off, they immediately contacted the hospital pediatrician who was on call. Andrea's oxygenation level was low, and she was breathing so hard and so rapidly that you could see her little ribs sucking in and out (there's a technical term for that, I forget what it is. Some kind of "retraction"). Anyway, they hooked her up to a machine to give her a Ventolin treatment (like an oxygen mask, but mixed with meds to open the lungs). She perked up a bit after that. Then they sent her for x-rays, which they said were (strangely) okay. However, they diagnosed her right away with Bronchiolitis, and then took her to another room to give her an oxygen mask. Each mask seemed to perk her up a bit; by the end of this one, she was talking and trying to get into stuff, and was more like herself. But because she was still sounding wheezy, and still doing that "retraction" thing (although the braething rate was better), they called the hospital and set up a direct-admission for her. And because they wanted her to stay on the oxygen, Andrea and I got an ambulance ride to the hospital, while Daddy drove along behind us.

Throughout all this, Andrea was so good. She kept her masks on, and once she had perked up, was making chit-chat and flirting with everyone. She enjoyed the ambulance ride; they attached her own car seat to the stretcher, and she sat up and looked at all the interesting lights and equipment in the ambulance.

When we got to the hospital, we by-passed Emergency and went straight up to a room in the Pediatric ward. Andrea and I hung out on a bed, answered a ton of questions to several doctors and nurses, and finally settled in when Daddy got upstairs.

Monday Night: Poor Andrea, not only did she have to put up with oxygen/Ventolin masks and constant poking and prodding, but all kinds of other irritating procedures. She got an ankle full of hospital bracelets, a blood test, and a huge IV board put into her right hand. Her right hand was so taped up that she couldn't use it.

Even with that, she was constantly picking/biting at her IV line (not because it hurt, but because she wanted to play with it), so they tried putting a sock over it. She looked like a little amputee!Well, that lasted all of 15 minutes. She just pulled it right off. So, they had to tape right over her IV line, and remove it when necessary.

The night was a blur. Doctors and nurses were constantly coming in and out to check on her, and give her medication. Andrea slept fitfully; she had a really hard time going to sleep, and woke up a bunch of times because of her coughing. Her cries were heartbreaking. A volunteer had brought in a rocking chair for us, and Daddy rocked and rocked and rocked her until she would fall back asleep. Mommy got to sleep on the hospital bed across the room (thank goodness, we never ended up with a neighbour, although it was close--they also needed a crib, but we were using it). Poor Daddy slept on two regular chairs, sitting up, with his head propped on a pillow against the wall.

Tuesday Morning: Andrea was awake around 5:00 a.m., so they came and did her vital signs check-up, gave her another Ventolin mask, and we also went and did the RSV test. It was really nasty. They stuck a little catheter in Andrea's nose and sucked out a bunch of mucous. Goodness, did she scream. It wasn't that it was so painful, but it feels weird, and kind of takes their breath away for a second.

Around 9:00, we got a chance to take Andrea down to the Playroom. It was really nice. There was a great range of toys. Some Clown Doctors happened to stop in, and Andrea was intrigued by them. She wasn't scared at all when they came and talked to her; she just smiled, and kept on playing. I didn't take any pictures of them, because Andrea had some other little friends she was playing with at the time; but I sneaked a couple pics of her playing with the toys, later.

Unfortunately, later that morning, we found out that Andrea's test was positive for RSV, so she couldn't leave her room. This was tough for all of us, because as her medicine kicked in, she got restless, and wanted to GO, whereas Daddy and I were taking turns napping! So, this was a familiar scene:

"Hello? Is anybody there? Please, let me out!"

Tuesday Afternoon: Finally, around 4:00 p.m. or so, a nurse came in with our paperwork and said we could go home. We were so happy. I have never seen Daddy pack so fast before!

***

Here's the latest/summary:

• of course everyone fell in love with Andrea, especially the young resident doctors, who wanted to stay and play with her :))
• the doctors say Andrea probably has asthma, and she may contract Bronchiolitis again
• they gave us two puffers (one steroid, one Ventolin) for home use for the next week or so, as well as a liquid antibiotic
• Andrea will see the family doctor later this week
• right now she is sleeping well, and we hope she will continue to have a good night
• Mommy is taking the rest of the week off to fuss over Baby, and recover from the last 48 hours

Here's a video I got of Andrea, as she had one of her Ventolin treatments: http://media.putfile.com/Ventolin-Mask

***

Finally, a special thank you to Gram and Grandpa G., who spent a couple of hours with us last night; Grandpa G., for stopping in again this morning; and Gram G. for having supper ready for us when we got home tonight. We know it's been a difficult week for you, too, so we appreciate your efforts all the more. :))