The Verdict Is...

...it's not Hand, Foot & Mouth...Dr prescribed antibiotics for her finger, which is definitely a tissue infection...he said the sores in her mouth are from the teething & the sores on the outside are just coincidence, maybe from all the drool (they look like pimples)...but the antibiotics will take care of everything...he advised against the benedryl/MOM mixture & just advised to let her eat as she tolerates, whatever she tolerates & encourage fluids...thankfully it's nothing too serious...my baby girl gets her 1st ever prescription & medication...at 15 months that's not too shabby.

Now I must get myself off to bed & try to catch up on some sleep...thank you all again...I may just be weepy from exhaustion but this blog community is awesome & I really appreciate the show of concern & words of advice & encouragement.

Quick Update...

First of all, thanks so much for all your comments, advice & encouragement...if there's one thing you can count on in this world, it's the blog world to have your back...sincerely, thank you.

It hadn't even occured to me that Elena may have HFM Disease but it seems this may be the case...I had wondered if maybe her fever was related to her infected finger...it's been low grade, around 99.0 - 100.9...but at her 1am dose (Advil) last night, no fever...

My Mom called me this morning (since I leave for work before Elena wakes) & the fever is still gone but she has sores around her mouth now...she is calling our Dr's office as soon as it opens at 9am...

As a side note, the photo I posted of Elena's finger may have been a bit deceiving, looking a bit worse than it does...I had taken it just after we had soaked it in antiseptic...what a trooper Elena was for that! Not a peep or a tear & kept her finger in for a good long time to let it do it's work.

Thanks again, everyone, for your help & advice...will keep y'all posted...

Need Advice, Please!!

Elena has had one heck of a weekend...the poor kid is teething, all four of her incisors are coming in at the same time...her gums are red & swollen...she's been running a fever all weekend...she also has a cut on her left hand ring finger that has become infected & is also red & swollen...the worst of it tho is she has canker sores on both sides of her tongue, presumably from chewing her tongue because of the teething...this is where I need advice...Elena is resisting drinking anything since is hurts her tongue to suck...aside from applesauce & yogurt, she won't eat anything else & those have to be COLD, so obviously they're soothing to her tongue...short of feeding her ice cream until they heal, what else can I do for her? Does anyone know of any canker remedies that would be appropriate for a 15 month old...

And since I didn't share any purple-crayon-poo photos, I thought I'd share one of her disgustingly infected finger:



A Sign of Technological Times

Elena is obsessed with phones, she loves to play with them...in an effort to keep her from playing with the real ones, aside from the plastic toy ones, we have dozens of old phones scattered all over the house...cordless ones, classic ones, even old cell phones...what kills me is, with the cordless or cells, as often as she'll put them to her hear & mimic talking to people, she'll hold them in front of her & using both thumbs, will punch away at the buttons...obviously texting away to her imaginary friends, lol!!!

Head to Toe

It has been a while since I’ve done a proper update on Elena…she is changing so rapidly, it’s hard to keep up! So I thought, since she is 15 months old today (how did that happen?!!?) I would do a complete head to toe update…with pictures no less!

She loves her books!

From the Top

Though Elena’s hair is steadily growing thicker & longer, unfortunately it seems she has inherited my thin hair…it seems to be curling in the back but it’s too soon to tell if she’ll have curls since the top is bone straight.

Elena has this endearing habit of rubbing her ears to sooth herself…she sucks her fingers & rubs her ears…she does this when she’s tired or if she’s feeling anxious…the endearing part is that if I’m holding her, whether to rock her to sleep or to comfort her, she’ll reach up & rub my ear instead of her own…even in her sleep she’ll reach over & rub my ear…

Elena isn’t talking much yet…she says “all done” appropriately & and she’s saying “Mama” to address me now but other than that, there are no discernible words really…she’ll say “ga” in reference to the garbage…& she does say “yuck” but only when prompted. She certainly makes herself clear tho using grunts & groans, whines & babbles…this can be tedious, especially when she’ll point at a table full of stuff & grunt, “uh” indicating that she wants something on that table. It gets frustrating trying to decipher what it is she wants…I don’t want to rush her growing up but I kinda can’t wait until she can talk…I know what you’re going to say, “you’ll regret saying this once she’s talking & doesn’t stop” but to be honest, I’m really interested in what she’s got to say.

Watching TV...never traditional, my kid!

Down the Hatch

Elena is a good little eater…she has her likes & dislikes to be sure but she’s pretty great about trying stuff & has quite the appetite for the stuff she loves. She’s feeding herself more & more & by letting her, she eats a lot more…more often than not if she’s fussing & refusing to eat, it’s because she wants to do it herself. She doesn’t quite have the dexterity for spoons or forks but she’s getting better.

It has been more than a month since I weaned Elena. She was obviously ready since she never looked back. She has a yogurt or some milk before bed & hasn't shown any signs that she misses it at all. I was so afraid she would feel rejected or wouldn't understand but nope, she was obviously ready. I, on the other hand, have not adjusted well...but we'll leave that for another post...

What girl doesn't love her Cabbage Patch?

Sleepy Time

We seem to go thru phases with Elena’s sleep…up until about a week ago, Elena would go to sleep easily by 8:30 & sleep straight thru until 7am…she would nap every afternoon for about 1 ½ to 2 hours…it was awesome…oh how I miss those days…now, for the last week, she has been resisting going to sleep, still being awake at 10:30 or 11pm…the last 2 nights, I fell asleep before she did, waking at 12:30am with a start & not knowing when she’d fallen asleep. The upside is that every other time we have gone thru a sleepless phase, she’s gotten teeth so I remind myself that it’s just temporary…I noticed yesterday that it looks like her incisors are coming in…hopefully we’ll be back on track soon.

Back when she use to sleep...sigh

What Else…

So what else is there to report…I’m sure once I hit publish, I’ll think of a million things I should have mentioned…I love how Elena’s personality is really developing…she is such a character & so funny…she’ll do ridiculous things that she knows are funny & then laughs & laughs!! And well, you saw her determination & fearlessness. That fall didn’t deter her from continuing to take the stairs like the “big people”.

Speaking of that video...many of you commented on how big Elena looked and yes she is quite tall! She is 3 inches shy of 3 feet tall already!! & it's mostly all leg & just keeps growing up, she's been 27 lbs for the last however many months & already in 2T clothes which is a bit complicated since tho they are long enough, clothes are big in the waist...thankfully it's summer time & she looks adorable in sundresses!

Well, that’s all I can think of for now…

Poor Elena

Elena's a bit fearless & a very determined little girl. She decided recently that she can go up & down stairs holding the railing like the rest of us...she was practicing her new-found technique this weekend at the park, going up & down the stairs...and then this happened:

She's alright...

As you can see, a fine scrape on her cheek & a little bruising...but otherwise she recovered very well...

Now that she is okay, am I a bad Mama since that video makes me laugh everytime? In my defence, it makes Elena laugh too...

Crazy Am I Slowly Going?

Thank you for all of your support & encouragement on my last post. I apologize for coming across as a whiney bitch…at least when I reread it, I sounded like a whiney bitch to me. I can’t say enough how grateful I am to have Elena & how perfect our life is, just the two of us.

The thing is, this week I have been really sad & emotional thinking about it…I’m talking over emotional. The emotions I was feeling were disproportionate to how, in my head, I knew I should be feeling.

On top of this, my Mom was driving me nuts. She wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary or unusual, but everything she did was sending me over the edge. I couldn’t understand why she was doing “this” to me, why was she hurting me so much? Why did she hate me so much? Completely disproportionate with what was really happening.

I couldn’t understand it…I was a mess! The emotions I was feeling just didn’t make sense to me. On top of this, I hadn’t been able to sleep. I was having aches & pains in my joints. My head was aching, not full on headaches, just a dull pain. And at night it felt like my body was buzzing, I was feeling very edgy & anxious on top of everything.

Saturday morning, while Elena was still sleeping, I was catching up on some blog reading & Shannon had posted about pumping/weaning…I started bawling. It was an aha moment…Of course!! This has to be what has been wrong with me!

You see, as of Wednesday April 25^th, Elena was completely weaned. This explains my completely irrational state lately!! My hormones were running amok! It also occurred to me that I felt similarly back in December, just before my periods started again…and I also felt this way when I was 1^st pregnant…DAMN HORMONES!!!

So, although I still feel pretty anxious & edgy, at least I know WHY!!