Poor precious

This time it's Madeline who is ill. When we got home from work today, Madeline had gotten sick several times (always the carpet, never the tile...). We are so fortunate that our vet is open until 8 pm so Chad was able to take her to a 7:30 appointment. They did some blood work and unfortunately her enzyme levels were very off. Her amylase (which typically ranges from 300-1000) was 4,000 so it was clear that something was wrong. The vet suspects pancreatitis. Typically pancreatitis comes from eating a lot of food that is too fatty or high in protein. We did just start a new dog

food because California Natural had a voluntary recall and was impossible to obtain. However, the food we switched to (Nutro Natural Choice) has very similar ingredients and a similar nutrient profile (24% protein compared to 25% and 15% and 12% fat). We switched gradually, over a 6 day period. So that seems a little less likely. And we don't feed table foods and she doesn't end up with many of Alaina's scraps (Jasper is too fast and Madeline's eyes are too bad) so it's a bit of a mystery. The vet is being very proactive and aggressive with treatment and she said the prognosis should be very good. But of course I worry. Madeline is a special little girl. I feel sad for her. She hates being in a crate so I'm sure she's miserable tonight. But I know it's for the best. They are giving her tons of fluids to flush out the toxins along with lots of medicine. Hopefully they're also giving her lots of love. She's the queen in this house.

Update (8/1/13, 9 am): The vet said she had a good night! They are starting to feed her small amounts of food. If she tolerates that well, they will recheck her blood work at 5 pm. If her enzymes are going down, they may send her home. We might have to go back in for subcutanous fluid (she will have saddle bags again!) but it will be great to have her home again.

Flowery butterfly

The botanical garden and arboretum is definitely one of our favorite places to visit. I feel so calm and always notice the cool shade under the trees by the entryway. It's a welcome experience in the middle of July. We have been extremely thankful for all the rain lately. With the rain, the temperature has remained primarily in the double digits. That's a very happy change. Summer in Oklahoma actually has been pretty close to pleasant.

In other news, Alaina seems to have completely weaned from the bottle. We have replaced it with sippy cups instead which is a whole other habit we will have to break her of but oh well. It was actually way less dramatic than I was expecting. Again, thankful. 

At one point I had considered not doing sippy cups at all. She loves straw cups. But the sippy cups work really well in the car and, given how much she has hated her car seat lately, this is a necessity. She will only drink milk out of one particular style of cup. Man, babies are finicky. :)

She has been doing really well on 100% soy milk. 

These changes, a few days without illness, and a new bedtime routine where she has been falling asleep within moments of rocking her have caused Chad and I to feel like we may one day be able to accomplish things and develop yet another "new normal." I don't want to jinx it though. It has only been a few days.

The circular pattern threw her off a bit. 

One of my new favorite things is that Alaina loves to hold our hands. She will grab our hand and smile while she leads us to her room when she needs her diaper changed or when it's bed time. She gets especially giddy if she is holding both mine and Chad's hands. Absolutely precious. I'm not sure if it's as cute as when she gives us kisses or when she "blows" us kisses but it's pretty close to tied with those. 

She is seriously my favorite. If she gets any cuter I may explode. 

I saw the sign

So yea, that's a cheesy way of me combining the two topics of this post--baby signing and pink eye...also, you're welcome for getting Ace of Base stuck in your head all day...

Alaina is doing really well with communicating. She is picking up a few new word approximations. The most recent are "wawa" for water, "baa" for bath, and "baba" for bottle. She has also said something like book and outside. In terms of signs, I have been wanting to get her on video signing 'please' because I think it's the cutest thing ever. Her version of 'more' is more like a slow-clap. haha. She will also sign eat, water, and all done. Ignore my annoying mommy voice!

On Tuesday I got a call from Alaina's school that she had pink eye. This was again a nice reminder of the plight of the working parent as I was actually preparing for a meeting with the associate dean of our college when they initially called. I was able to make my meeting but had to then go pick her up and take her to the walk-in clinic to get a prescription for eye drops. She did really well and everyone thought she was adorable. Even with her pink eye.

I had to cancel all my Wednesday afternoon meetings. Instead that time was spent in the car, waiting for her to wake up from a nap...

I can't remember why she was mad here but she's still adorable when she's annoyed.

Pink eye also meant I had to stay home with her Thursday. I'm getting better at being able to shake the feelings of loss of productivity on those days but it's definitely a process. We did have a pretty fun day, though the late morning was a little rough. She loves her routine so not going to school in the middle of the week always throws her off. I am hopeful though that being out so much this week is actually a blessing in disguise. Hand foot and mouth disease is currently making the rounds in the toddler classroom so I am hoping she missed it.

Due to the pink eye, I spent lots of time sanitizing her toys and bedding on Wednesday. I removed most of her toys and books (and all stuffed animals) so that I could keep better track of what she was touching to try to limit mine and Chad's exposure. She didn't seem to mind.

I even turned the tv on for a bit and we were lucky that we caught the tail end (no pun intended) of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, just in time for the Hot Dog Song. Who knew this kid could dance?

Anyhow, she's back at school today so I am back to work. I thought I'd just take a few minutes during lunch to update.

A very Harley weekend

Every year my dad and several of his friends go on a bikecation. This year, they drove through Oklahoma on their way back from Sturgis, South Dakota. 

Alaina liked the motorcycles.

We drove to Pops Soda Ranch to give Dad and Glenn a chance to ride their bikes on Route 66 in Oklahoma and to eat lunch. Pop's is a great stop to get most any famous soda in the world. Their top sellers are Mexican Coca-Cola and Dr. Pepper from Berlin. But they also have Ale-8 which is always a nice taste of home.

After lunch, we had to make a stop at Stillwater's aquarium/aviary/cat den...otherwise known as Petco. Alaina was not impressed.



Most of our time was spent with Alaina showing off her Harley Davidson gear from aunt Traci. We're going to have to beat the modeling agents off with a stick with these poses.

We tried to let Alaina go swimming in the hotel pool but she wasn't having it. Maybe another time...

Finally we went to Click's Steakhouse the last night of their visit so that Glenn could try it out.

Like a record, baby

I know I said I would post these videos sooner. We lost internet at home for a few days (a loose connection in the phone line? perhaps it's time to upgrade to u-verse?).

I just thought this video of her spinning was pretty cute.

Also, I got this progression of Alaina going down for a nap at school. It's pretty fun to watch her all over the place.

Clearly we need to talk with her about personal space...

Her teacher has to keep her in her lap sometimes to prevent her from disturbing the others.

It's kind of creepy to watch people when they are sleeping (clearly this is what we have to look forward to once she is able to get out of her own bed...).

Finally in (her own) bed. It's the cot against the wall by the door.

Being a toddler is tough

...Especially if your genes predispose you to frequently trip over air, fall for no reason, and bump into every piece of furniture in an open room. Poor Alaina. Her mommy is pretty clumsy. So I'm sure you can imagine just how unsurprised we were to learn that Alaina got quite the shiner at snack time when she fell off the picnic table. Oops. She's okay. Lots of kisses were administered.

Ouch!

I am going to carry around a copy of the incident report if we take her anywhere this week. Goodness knows we don't want to have to explain her injuries to DHS. :)

Heartbreaker

If you let a toddler have any say in wardrobe, you end up with photos like this. Mismatched pjs, streamer "shoes", Hollywood glasses, and giraffe accessories.

This weekend we said goodbye to friends who are moving to North Dakota. They had a party at the bowling alley and Miss Alaina felt pretty unsure about the loud noises and crazy decorating scheme. She was very excited to see other babies, though. It was fun to watch her and Davis jabbering back and forth. Sara got a picture of the three little ones so hopefully that turned out well. It's fun to see them together as Alaina is 3 months younger than Davis and 4 months older than Isaac. She is always surrounded by boys. I'm not sure if I've mentioned but she is the only girl in her class at school! 

She's doing well, though her dreadful cough has returned. We have started giving her the inhaler again and also had to give her Benadryl the last two nights to get her cough controlled enough so she could sleep. 

Her cutest thing lately is signing "please". I need to get it on video because it's precious. She tries to use it to get everything she wants and it's hard to say no to such adorable manners. We are in so much trouble with her! Little heartbreaker. I have a few other videos I need to post the next time I have time on the computer. 

Weeks worth of fun!

The last several weeks have been incredibly busy so I have (once again) fallen behind on posting regularly. We've had a fun few weeks.

We got a new hat.

We hung out with mommy (and photos of cousin Avery as a baby).

We played in cousin Avery's pool (and discovered we don't like grass).

We got really dirty at school (every.single.day!).

We worked on putting shoes on.

We got all tuckered out at the blackberry festival. And were disappointed that they were out of blackberries (whaaaaaa?)

We enjoyed the Hot Dog song on TV.

We worked on our culinary, rolling, and people watching skills.

We found rolls of (unused) leftover birthday streamers and had a blast with those.

We rediscovered our infant bouncy seat.

And we found we love to "write/draw."

We cleaned up and messed up our room about 1,600 times.

And taught the puppies patience.

And even tried a drumstick (big, big fan, of course. Ice cream is our favorite).