Friday, November 19, 2010

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Ear Infection

Poor little Claire has her first ear infection.  She woke up early last Thursday morning.  Matt went to check in on her and decided to take her temperature which was slightly over 102.  I fed her while Matt called the nurse's hot-line at nearby Children's Hospital.  The nurse suggested we give her Tylenol every few hours and try to make sure she's getting plenty of fluids and sleep.  She was very fussy Thursday and Friday.  Her temperature was up and down.  She wanted to be held and cuddled a lot.  Even though we didn't want her to be feeling bad, we did enjoy all the extra cuddling time.  Matt watched Claire while I was at church Thursday morning, and she wouldn't calm down for anything.  He finally turned on Veggie Tales and she quickly fell asleep in his lap.

I spoke with a nurse at Claire's pediatrician's office on Friday who said that we needed to bring her in if the fever got high and stayed there for a few hours.  Sure enough, Saturday morning around 3 AM, Claire woke up with a fever over 102 and it stayed there until I took her in to the doctor's office around 8:30 Saturday.  The doctor diagnosed her as having an ear infection.  We got a prescription for an antibiotic and he recommend using Ibuprofen instead of Tylenol.  He also said she should have yogurt twice a day while on the antibiotic. 

She seems to be doing a little better but is still not her normal happy self.  She is back to taking naps in her crib.  Yesterday she took four naps instead of her usual two or three.  She's got a bit of a cough and sounds congested.  She's being a good sport about taking her medicine but hasn't had much appetite.

I asked Matt how he knew to take her temperature that first time.  He said he could tell by her cry that she didn't feel well, and he's absolutely right--she does cry differently when sick.  We remembered looking at a table in a book about a baby's different types of cries.  At the time, Claire was very young and we sighed in frustration because every cry sounded the same and we didn't know what she wanted.  Now we've really gotten to know her.  Too bad there's not more we can do to help her feel better.

Hopefully she's be all better soon so she can enjoy Thanksgiving and visiting with her Huyser grandparents, Aunt Dana, and Uncle Andrew next week!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Seven Months

Little Claire is seven months old today!  She is such a little sweetie and at a very fun stage.  She is content to sit and play with her toys for long periods of time (well long periods of time in her little world which is about 15-20 minutes).  We usually start her in a sitting position but she likes being down on her tummy and rolling all over the place.  She is SO close to crawling.  I'd say she has crawled a few "steps" but doesn't quite have it down yet.  We've begun the baby-proofing process with outlet covers and such because I believe that when she takes off crawling, it'll be hard to stop her!  Her favorite toys right now include her stacking cups (not stacking them yet, but knocking them over and chewing on them), both her cloth-covered book and her indestructi-book, her singing puppy dog "Violet," and a few rattles and teethers.  She puts everything she can into her mouth as she explores.

Claire has now added avocado, banana, oatmeal and sweet potato to her menu.  She doesn't seem to like anything more than the others but does offer some strange faces when it's something different.  She can grab the spoon and usually it makes it to her mouth.  It's a messy process!  She gets a little sip of water from a cup after eating.  She eats around lunch time and around supper time.  I'm planning on making most of her baby food.  Yesterday I cooked a sweet potato, purred it in the food processor, then froze little portions in an ice cube tray.  Today I popped the sweet potato cubes out of the tray and put them into a freezer bag.  The plan is to pull out a cube or two when she is ready to eat.  The book I read says that it's really easy to make up batches and then have different things available in the freezer.  We'll see how it goes!

Claire loves going to the grocery store.  I made a shopping cart cover that fits into the basket where she sits.  She especially loves the checkout area where she often gets smiles from strangers and also where there are balloons floating overhead.  I'm sure the whole experience will be very different someday when she's old enough to ask for things, but for now I'm going to enjoy this time where the whole experience is so mesmerizing to her!

Matt, Claire and I all went to Macon, Georgia, last weekend for Matt to take a test.  Claire had her first night in a hotel.  She was fussy at bedtime and not interested in sleeping in her pack-n-play, but once she fell asleep, she was fine and slept until we had to wake her the next morning.  While Matt took his test, Claire and I hung out in the hotel, went shopping, and spent some time in her wagon at a park.  She loves going for a ride in her wagon and is content to sit there playing.  Towing Claire in the wagon is how Matt gets yard work done while I run errands!

We took Claire out to eat Friday night.  This was the first time we've gone to a semi-nice restaurant with her while she sat in the restaurant's highchair.  Except for one little incident when she leaned forward too quickly and accidentally bumped her head on the table, she was GREAT and Matt and I enjoyed the night out.

Not sure if we can officially count it as her first word, but she is saying "da-da" now.  She doesn't understand what it means, but it's the first time we've ever been able to say "Claire, say 'da-da'" and she does!  It's pretty exciting, especially for Matt!

Claire is wearing 12 month sized clothes and size 3 diapers.  Her second tooth arrived October 18.  She usually takes 2-3 naps every day and sleeps 11 hours every night.  We bought an inexpensive umbrella style stroller that works great for going in a store because she can look around much better than in her previous stroller.  She always does well for the childcare workers while I'm teaching.  I think they are growing quite fond of her!  She likes getting to "Skype" with her grandparents and now great-grandparents.  Let me know if you have a webcam and would like to chat with her sometime!