Discovering New Things (from 1/20/08)

Charlotte's recent discoveries have kept us quite entertained.

A few weeks ago, she discovered that her thumb tastes better than any single finger or her entire fist. She's gone from smacking her head with her hand and then pulling it down until her thumb lands in her mouth to plopping it right in there - which is why you see it in her mouth in so many photos these days:

The day her cast came off, I caught her kicking her leg and staring intently at her knee/foot as it moved up and down. Sunday night, while drawing her bath, we let her sit in the bumbo seat for a little while, where she quickly engrossed herself in the task of removing her sock and playing with her toes. If not for the bumbo seat, I think they may have ended up in her mouth!

Saturday (the 19th) Charlotte met Genna, Michelle and Tony's little girl. They really did not seem to know what to make of each other, but we expect them to play more on their "play dates" as they get older. Below is a really cute photo of Genna telling Charlotte how it is:


After the play date, Fred and I made an escape to the Southern Heritage Ball at River Oaks Country Club where we went crazy at the silent auction. To our disappointment, our effort to gain the top bid on this painting for Christy came to nothing:



Dad came away with a ton of stuff, but we left only with smiles:



All in all, we can't wait until Charlotte comes out of the brace, so we can get more shots like this:

Poopy Revisited (again, and again, and again!)

Its amazing the things that Fred and I talk about now when we engage in conversation. Baby poop is one of them.

The brace is indeed far better than the cast, but where the cast once guarded Charlotte's clothes from poopy explosions, the brace makes things worse. As Charlotte is wholly breast-fed (for a long list of reasons including laziness and not a vendetta against formula) and not yet on solids, the consistency of such messes is quite...watery. The brace seems to hold her diaper so close to her little bottom that when the little bomb goes off, everything explodes up the back, making for a lot of clothing changes and laundry. Perhaps she intends to create the mess for additional time out of her brace.

Poor baby girl whined on our trip down to Mass in Pearland yesterday. I kept handing her toys to distract her - usually she contently rides in her new Britax Marathon seat. Upon arriving EARLY for Mass (YAY!) we discovered the source of her discomfort in another such explosion. So much for being early. After a full outfit change and sans the soiled brace, we finally joined Fred's parents 10 minutes into the Mass.

It seems that every other diaper change causes such an event, though usually at home and not in the back seat of the car (again, poor baby!).

We're so tired of LITERALLY being up to our elbows in poop every day. Why even put her IN a diaper if we are going to have to do this much laundry anyway? Perhaps cloth diapers? Another kind of diaper? I know we have many lurkers on this blog, but any suggestions on how to keep things from coming "up and out" onto her clothes would be greatly appreciated!

(sorry for the lack of photos, I have a post from lastweek that I've slowly been putting together!)

The Bittersweet Stuff

So, most of Charlotte's Newborn to 3 month stuff has been packed away for quite a while now, but a few items missed the box, and she's outgrown a few of her 3-6 month outfits already, so I did some more packing and reorganizing the clothes she's outgrown. I looked at all the little clothes that once swamped her little body and miss her tininess. At the same time, I take such pride in every ounce and inch of her growth and take joy in her growing-up as I anticipate watching her learn about the world around her. Sadly, it already happens too fast for this Mommy. I wish I could slow it down. The little clothes are so precious, yet she only wore some of the outfits once or twice.

As I pack the little outfits away, I know (God Willing, anyway!) the neutral clothes we'll use again, but I really hope we have another little girl someday so I can use the girly ones again before giving them away.

Adventures in Grocery Shopping

So after leaving the orthopedic place today, Charlotte and I went grocery shopping as a duo for the first time since she was confined to the cast.

The fun started in the parking lot when another mother cut across a few empty parking spaces to zip in front of me (I had to put my foot on the break to keep from hitting her) so she could grab the last "customer with child" parking space. Like its worth getting into a parking lot accident with your child in the car to grab that spot when the lot is not crowded. I ended up parking across from her, one row over, in an undesignated spot.

With the aid of the new brace and our cloth grocery cart seat protector that has shoulder straps, Charlee was able to sit in the cart for t he ride! She thought that was great!

Since Charlotte's birth, I've learned that strangers love to talk to people with babies even more than they love to talk to pregnant women! Of course, they all tell me that I have a cute baby, so I can't complain. The oddball one, though, was a guy with a gallon of milk who skipped all of the nearly empty 15-items-or-less lanes to get behind me an another woman with a full cart. He proceeded to tell me about his two boys and his ex-wife - and about California where people aren't as friendly and wouldn't have a conversation like we were having because they are paranoid.

Ummm, please add me to the paranoid crowd as I had to take a deep breath when the sacker had to pull the cart - with Charlotte still in it - a few feet away to put the groceries back into it. I could also do without the random conversations about ex-wives and the disadvantages of popular states at the checkout line.

While unloading the groceries at the trunk of my car, the woman unloading her cart into the car next to me said "hello, again" (I'd already seen her in the store). She proceeded to push her cart OUT of her car's way and behind my car. Of course, I didn't realize she'd done that until she was pulling out (I was facing the other way). So now I had to hold a baby in a brace and push TWO carts to the return rack.

Sheez, people are nuts.

Brace Yourself...

Tada!

Charlotte wears this nifty contraption for 4 weeks! Oh so much fun! The best part is that the WHOLE thing has to come off for every diaper change. AND there should always be some kind of fabric between her and the brace, so that entails pulling some kind of leggings, pants, shorts, capris, stockings, on and off as well. Oh FUN.

But overall, I am much happier to have her in the brace than in the cast. The foam padding can be washed, as can Charlotte, so the whole situation just starts off cleaner. She also now fits into her car seat and stroller without having to jerry-rig them. :-)

On the downside, she does seem a little ticked about having her freedom taken away after a weekend of fun.

3-2-1 Cast-off!

So Friday was the big day! Charlotte's cast finally came off! Beta came over and joined us for the trip down to the medical center. One last photo at home:


We waited a little while in the waiting room:


At last Dr. Gerow's assistant led us to the "cast room" where Charlee laughed and had a great time on the table...



and then tolerated the cast cutting, for a little while:



About halfway through cutting off the first side, she went bananas. Poor little girl wanted the cast cutting to stop! She did not have a chance to chill out once the saw stopped, because some of the plastic lining stuck to the sore spot on her skin.

I had been dreading seeing the bad spot under the cast. My biggest fear - that somehow I wasn't diligent enough in caring for her causing the sore to form. I'll spare you the details about the area around her knee that was pretty yucky, but after looking at it, I know there wasn't anything we could have done. The sore also did not look nearly as bad as I thought it might, so that was also a relief; she's healed like Wolverine of the X-Men and it looked just like red, new skin by today.

After the doc's office we went to the orthopedic supply place to pick up her brace. Although I am sure the doc wasn't thrilled, they did not have in stock the specific brace the doctor prescribed. That little detail has made my weekend! She's been a "normal" baby all weekend - even taking several turns in the Hotsling! We took her for dinner at Connie and David's house. She was such a good girl playing with Augustine. The best part about the delay is the time her skin has had to heal. I am confident that the brace won't agitate her skin when it is fitted tomorrow.


The craziest part is how much she has grown since we took her into the surgery center 6 weeks ago. She is close to 2 inches taller and weighs 16 lbs 9 oz. Her 3-6 month clothes will soon join the newborn and 0-3 month clothes already boxed away, as I already pulled out the 6-9 month outfits for her to start wearing.

Our little girl is such a happy baby:

Its a "Have a glass of wine to celebrate" kind of day!

YAY!

After a crazy and frustrating day yesterday (will get into that later) we got good news last night - Charlotte's hips are growing so well, with good coverage and reaching normal angles, in the cast, that it will come off today! She will still have to be in a brace around the clock for 4 more weeks, but we are thrilled. Now, since she looked good three weeks ago, the Dr. anticipated taking the cast off after only 6 weeks, but of course, not without consulting an x-ray first...

Back up to Wednesday - Fred and I both noticed that the back of Charlotte's thigh under her cast wasn't dry. By the afternoon, I realized that something was seriously not right and that something was irritated in there. We'd been on a playdate at the park, concerned, I left so I could call the Doctor about it. On the way home, the doctor's office called me and to say they needed to reschedule my Friday appointment to January 25th. After telling them, "NO she's in a hip spica cast that needs to come off, and I was just about to call you because there is something wrong and she needs to come in sooner," she said, "How about Tuesday?" I think my bottled emotion began to pour out because she said, "How about I let you talk with Dr. Gerow's assistant?" Of course I had to leave a message for her.

Figuring that I wouldn't get a call back anytime soon, I decided just to take her into the office. Mom joined me and I called from the car - hitting zero for an "emergency" to actually TALK to someone about the problem (and mention that I was around the corner and just going to bring my baby). Lo and behold, you tell them you are on your way and they will give you call back ASAP. Anyway, the nurse said not to panic if she didn't have a fever or chills, and set us up for an 8:10 am appointment for the following morning - at the Pearland office.

So bright and early Mom and I, Buggaboo tucked in the carseat, are on our way to the newly opened Pearland office. Before the cast can come off, we have to get an x-ray. They send us to the MRI & imaging place across the parking lot, where we are told that they don't do pediatric images for children under 7. WHAT?

This news shocks everyone back at the doctor's office. The doctor told me to slather Desitin on the dermatitis (generic term meaning skin irritation) and with many apologies sent us back to the busy main office to get an x-ray. The Dr. said he'd call after he looked at the x-ray. So we got to drive to the Medical Center, sit in another waiting room, and look at more shocked faces when I explained why we were there.

For the lack of napping and delayed mealtimes, Charlotte was such an angel all morning. She proceeded to pass out after lunch and sleep for 3 hours of the afternoon. I worked for a while, but was exhausted from all the runaround!

Of course the nurse called me just after 4 pm to say that they had scheduled us for the OR this morning at 6 am. WHOA! I asked her if he'd looked at the x-ray yet and she said no. How on earth can they make that kind of decision to put my child under without looking at an x-ray? Especially since the last x-ray showed good growth? (Never mind the 1K deductible we would have to meet all over again for 2008) Anyway, she called back to say that the doctor would drive to the main office, look at Charlee's x-ray, and let us know if we needed to go to the OR in the morning or not.

And then the call came - she looks very good! Now I am waiting for the office to open so we can go in and get this thing cut off!

YAY YAY YAY!

We'll post pictures of the whole thing later :-).

Baby Laughs

First of all, Happy New Year!

Yesterday Charlotte sneezed and I mimicked her by sneezing back. She thought I was funny! Her laughter lasted long enough for me to get a short video in. Please don't mind the shaking camera as I am the entertainment as well as the videographer. Also, please don't mind my goofiness - especially once Charlotte catches sight of the camera and doesn't think I'm funny anymore. Enjoy!