Fun Day

I'm so sad I forgot my camera today - so I don't have any pictures to post - but thought I'd write about the day, anway. We got up early and got Eric's favorite breakfast - donuts - on the way to the zoo. It was looking very gloomy this morning and we were counting on rain, but it turned out to be absolutely perfect weather. Haylie was especially interested in the turtles at the zoo today. And, she got to feed a giraffe - you pay $2.00 for a bunch of leaves and the giraffe comes up to the fence and eats right out of your hand. She was fine at first, but when his big long tongue came out, she got a little scared - so she wouldn't hold the leaves, but she was definitely intrigued, and couldn't stop talking about it. I ask her what the giraffe did when she fed him and she sticks her tongue out as far as she can. So cute. After we were done at the zoo, we went to Playland, which is right across the street. For those of you not from Fresno, the zoo is in Roeding Park, which is sorta' like how the San Diego Zoo is located in Balboa Park - only on a MUCH smaller scale. Well, Playland is a little tiny amusement park (within Roeding Park) with little kid rides like a carousel, train, mini roller coasters, etc. It has been struggling for years and I believe it has even been closed for a while. Roeding Park hasn't always had the best reputation and they have really been trying to clean it up and eliminate the bad behavior that was taking place there...Anyway, today they opened up Playland and you could go on all the rides for free. So why not? We went on the carousel, a little train that takes you around the park, and a helicopter ride that was much like Dumbo at Disneyland. Haylie had a blast on the helicopter - she kept saying "HIGHER!!" We got home around noon and Haylie took a 3 1/2 hour nap - that's a sure sign of a fun day!

Blogger Slump?

I haven't posted in a while - and don't have much to write about now - I guess I'm in a bit of a blogger's slump - or maybe it's writers block? No, I have chronic writers block - I'm by no means a writer. Nothing really exciting has been happening. Haylie made a full recovery from her illness - she was back to her normal, chatty self by Friday night. As a matter of fact, the last few days have left me a little fond of last week's "pitiful" look. She has been very chatty and very whiney...ugh...the whining. When will it stop?

I've also not been on the computer quite as much these last couple days because I am temporarily watching a friend's 8 month old baby while her normal babysitter recovers from carpal tunnel surgery. I have her about 2-3 days a week from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. She's a really good baby - but seems to hit a fussy period around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. I am really enjoying the opportunity to sorta' feel what it will be like to have a baby in the house with a toddler. Haylie gets a little jealous - but it's good that she is getting a taste of it now before her baby sister comes. Yesterday, Haylie fell asleep on my lap after the baby went down for her nap - she was sooo snuggly with me - which, like I said, only happens when she's sick.

So, to try and ease the baby's fussiness, we're going to go for a walk - the weather has been FANTASTIC - yesterday it barely reached 80 - actually - I don't think it ever did reach 80. NICE!

Hopefully I can get some cute pictures of Haylie and get back into the posting groove soon.

Weird...

I just got a call from the pediatrician's office...Haylie's urine culture came back totally normal. No bacteria. No urinary tract infection. Huh? I'm so baffled right now. But certainly not complaining - I don't have to force feed antibiotics down the poor child's throat for the next week!! Woohoo!! Eric gave her a blessing Wednesday night...wonder if that had something to do with it...hmmm...

Whew!

PS...I got a good night's sleep last night but woke up with a pounding headache. I took some Tylenol, which for me is almost totally ineffective, but Haylie took a nice long nap today and so did I. I think I'm gonna make it!

It's A....

GIRL!!!


Cute little profile


She looked like she was sucking her thumb, so it says "For my big sissy" since Haylie sucks her thumb too


Cute little feet

We're very excited to have another girl. I think Haylie's gonna love having a baby sister. Now the fun of coming up with a name...ugh.

Also, an update on Haylie: we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Her fever finally broke this afternoon (but only after spiking to 105 again last night AND this morning!) She is finally eating again too! Not a lot, but at least she got SOMETHING in her today. I was beginning to worry after 3 full days of nothing. She was getting her energy back this afternoon too, and just as her energy was returning, mine started going. I'm exhausted! I'm going to go to bed early tonight and hope that I don't get sick - I feel like it could go either way right now - I think I've just been running on adrenaline all week taking care of Haylie and not paying much attention to myself. Hmm...crossing my fingers.

Urinary Tract Infection!!

Haylie's fever got up to 105 today and she had severe chills...so I called the doctor back and apparently I said the magic word because they got her right in...about stinkin' time! Apparently when I told them she had the chills a light went off in their heads and they thought it might be a urinary tract infection. So we got there and they wanted her to pee in a cup - she tried, but couldn't get enough pee to come out to be sufficient for a culture. So...I begged, I pleaded, tried to bribe her to pee some more and she wouldn't. That is when they told me that they would need to insert a catheter to get a sample. That is also when I lost it. I tried really hard to keep it together, but let's keep in mind that I am 21 weeks pregnant and hormonal AND I'm suffering from severe lack of sleep. So I asked them if it would be alright if I stepped out while they did it, because I just didn't think I could handle seeing her go through that - she was already distraught from the rectal thermometer and being touched by the doctor (she has issues with the doctor touching her - you do so much as look at her in the doctor's office and she loses it). So, I stepped out into the waiting room and cried my little eyes out while they did the catheter. She was actually fairly calm when I got back to the room - they said she did great and gave her a sticker which she promptly pushed away and said "NO!" So, sure enough, it's a urinary tract infection. They had to send the culture in to be fully evaluated to find out what bacteria is causing the infection and therefore figure out what antibiotic to put her on, but in the meantime they gave me a sample of chewable amoxicillin in the hopes that it could help bring the fever down. Only problem is, she refuses to eat it. I tried everything - grounding it and putting it in kool-aid, stuffing it into a piece of chicken, stuffing it into a marshmallow, etc. etc....she's too smart, and now she's totally on to me. Finally, I had to mash it up and mix it with water and put it into a medicine syringe. Eric held her down and I forced it down her throat. It was not pretty - but we got the job done. What a day. PS...I just ate half a pizza all by myself. Yikes.

Pitiful

I can't help it - she's so pitiful but so darn cute. She actually fell asleep sitting up. She just took a bath, I guess it wore her out.

Day 3

I finally got a call from the nurse yesterday at about 2:30 p.m. She said that Haylie had all the signs of a viral infection that's going around right now. Viral=no antibiotcs. So, she said I just have to wait it out - which could take 3-4 days. We're on day 3 now and this is how she's doing:

She's catching up on some sleep since she didn't get much last night (again). I'm trying to ease up on the ibuprofen dosage and let her body ride out the fever - it's so hard to watch her suffer. She is so sad. Oh, and the nurse said not to worry that she isn't eating - as long as she is drinking lots of fluids, she'll be fine. So I had apple juice on hand for her all night and she is definitely getting A LOT of fluids. And even going potty in the toilet in the middle of the night! Bonus! Thank you to those of you who had advice for me yesterday - I really appreciate it - here's hoping her little body fights this thing off quickly!

My little girl is sick :(

Haylie's had a fever since yesterday morning. I've been giving her ibuprofen and the fever will break for about an hour, then come right back. She was up for most of the night - and consequently, so was I. On a selfish note, I did sort of enjoy being able to snuggle with her last night - she's at that age where snuggling doesn't happen much. Anway, I called the doctor today and they are really getting on my nerves. Her fever is at 103 (!) Here's how the conversation went down:

Me: My daughter has had a temperature for 24 hours and it's up to 103 now and not going down.

Receptionist: We'll have a nurse call you back.

Me: I really think she needs to be seen - she hasn't eaten anything since yesterday morning - she's really not doing well

Receptionist: We'll have a nurse call you back

Me: Do you have any idea how long it will take for the nurse to call me? (I've had this experience before - you call at 10am and don't hear from anyone until 4pm - not helpful)

Receptionist: No, I don't have that information - there are several calls ahead of you and she'll answer them in the order received.

Me: So, in the meantime, as my daughter's temperature keeps rising, what am I supposed to do?

Receptionist: I am not a nurse. I cannot give advice.

Me: Alright. Thanks for nothing. (No, I didn't really say that, but I was thinking it)

So, here's a picture of my poor, sweet thing looking pitiful on the couch.

Haylie's Preschool

I enrolled Haylie in a once a week "Mom and Me" preschool class with her cousin Tyler. These are some pictures of her first day. She had lots of fun playing with all the toys and learned about the letter "A". She had a bit of hard time staying with the group for the activties, but she'll get used to it. She's just a "free spirit" I guess! Incidentally, a little boy beat her over the head with the plastic spoon she is holding in the last picture. How rude.

Looking forward to the letter "B" next week!

We got a kitty!!

I didn't think we were ever going to own a cat - Eric has very strong feelings for them - in a bad way! Well, a couple days ago, Haylie and I were at the park playing when this little fella came up and played with us. He was sooo starved for attention and when we ate lunch - we realized he was starved for food too. He ate about 1/2 of my peanut butter & jelly sandwich. Then, when it was time to go...he followed us. And I let him. He was too cute - I couldn't bear to leave him there. We named him Sparky. He ate a whole can of tuna when we got to the house, and drank a bunch of water - and has hardly left the back porch. He loves climbing the tree and terrorizing the blue jays too. Eric says if he catches a gopher then he won't complain about having him here...I'm praying for gophers! :-)

Labor Day Fun

We decided to take Haylie to the zoo for Labor Day - we got there early in the morning cuz it was ONLY supposed to be 104 in the afternoon. We had a really nice time - some of Haylie's favorites were the elephants, the gibbon monkeys, and of course, the ducks. Oh, and we bought a membership too, so I'm excited cuz we'll be going a lot more often now! We love the zoo!!

After the zoo, we dropped Haylie off at her cousins' house to play and nap, and Eric and I went out test driving cars! I need to upgrade from my cute little 2 door Civic to something a little more "family-oriented" - or at least something with 4 doors to fit 2 carseats! Eric had fun stumping the car salesmen with his silly questions and I just had fun looking at and driving the cars. We have made a decision and know what we're going to get - we just need to sell Eric's car then we'll be the proud owners of a 2008 Scion XB. I'll post pictures when we get it...:-)