Updates

I am so happy to report that Rach seems to be feeling better! She's had a few doses of the antibiotics and they are definitely working. The last two mornings she has woken up with no eye crusties! She also hasn't been rubbing her eyes as much. She is still playing/tugging at her ear every now and then but that could just take a little longer to get better. We'll just have to keep a close eye on it. A surprise blessing from all of this mess with the pink eye and ear infections is that the antibiotics seem to have helped her butt rash! It's amazing!

I stayed home with Rach yesterday and we enjoyed a nice, relaxing, lazy day together. I know I had mentioned in my last post that I was not feeling 100% and by Tuesday night I really was feeling awful. Yesterday morning I woke up and wasn't feeling any better so we ended up at the doctor's this time for me. Rach was great. I took a few pictures of her sitting in her stroller with puppy. While we were waiting for the doctor she kept herself entertained with puppy snuggles, drinking her water, eating a few goldfish, and playing Peakaboo Barn about 30 times.

As for me, I am having sinus issues. I'm feeling a little better today, but have also been taking medicine. I am not really too congested in my nose but I have so much pressure in my ears that I was in pain and was even feeling dizzy and off balance. The congestion/drainage is also doing a number on my throat. It hurts to swallow and my glands are a bit swollen. Luckily the doctor found that nothing is infected but told me to keep hydrated and to keep taking a decongestant so that the pressure will break up and the drainage will go away before anything can become infected.

It was so great to spend the day with Rach yesterday! I so wish we could be together every day and that I didn't have to miss a minute of anything she does or says or learns. I think she must have been happy to have me home too because she was passing out kisses yesterday like crazy! She would also be playing and then take a break, come to me and just give me a huge hug! She is such a sweet little girl and I love that she is so cuddly and affectionate. I hope she always stays that way!

Last, but not least, Matt is finally home! Thank goodness he had safe travels and our family is back together again. It was such a great sight this morning to see Rach and her daddy snuggled up and cuddling again before I left for work. I so love my family!!

I Can't Make This Stuff Up...

Just a quick update today. I ended up having to take Rach back to the pediatrician's last night (3rd time in 8 days!). Luckily we were able to get their last appointment of the day at 5:50 PM. Rach now has pink eye in both eyes and a double ear infection!! My poor sweet baby!!!

Through this ordeal here is what I have learned: 1) Daycare is EVIL!!, 2) Always, always trust your Mommy instinct! You know your baby better than anyone else. I had a feeling Rach was sick and I could tell just by looking at her little face that she was not my normal, 100% baby girl. For a few minutes I felt hesitant to go back to the doctor for fear of being the over-worrying, hypochondriac mother, but I am SO glad that I trusted my instinct and took her! Rach is now on a 10 day course of antibiotics and will hopefully start to feel better really soon! Luckily she is in good hands. She is spending today with Grandma and Grandpa again (same as yesterday) and I am staying home tomorrow to take care of her (and myself, to be honest I don't feel 100% anymore, hoping I'm just run down & need a nap...).

Also, a special thanks to my parents. I do not know how I would have been able to get through this week without you! Rachel and I appreciate all of your help and all that you have done for us SO much!!! We love you Grandma & Grandpa!

Lastly, do you know how happy we will be to finally have Matt home late tomorrow night?!? We miss you Daddy!!

Just The Two Of Us...

Well, actually just the three of us when you count Charlie, but the Phillips Girls Only Week officially began Sunday morning, a day earlier than planned. Matt is out of town for work, down in Louisiana and Arkansas (yeehaw). He was originally scheduled to fly out this morning (Monday) but thanks to the snow storm we got yesterday and today he got a phone call from Delta on Saturday night telling him that his Monday AM flight was cancelled and that he now had to fly out Sunday AM instead.

Rach and I had a fun weekend though. We spent most of the day Saturday shopping with Grandma. Rachel is such a good shopper! She loves to look at everything and even had fun trying on a few pairs of shoes. Yesterday we did our usual Sunday routine of taking it easy, staying in jammies, cuddling, and playing, with a little bit of cleaning and laundry tossed in for Mommy while Rach napped.

Rach isn't feeling 100%. We are still fighting the butt rash and she seems to have come down with a little cold as well. Her rash always starts out looking pretty good in the morning and even through most of the day but by the evening after a few poopy diapers its back to being irritated. Her nose is also pretty congested and I have to keep kleenex close by knowing that anytime she sneezing I did one right away but all things considered she is still pretty happy.

Other Rachel stories: one night last week Rachel was eating dinner in her highchair next to our dining room table while Matt and I were also eating. She knocked/threw her sippy cup off her high chair tray and said "uh oh!"

Rach also loves to kick and throw things off of her changing table, her favorites being to kick off her noise machine and to throw off her seahorse. I'm not sure when it was but a few weeks ago when she would do this I started saying "boom" when they would fall, well wouldn't you know, Rach is quite amused by this and now when she is kicking and throwing them off she says "bbooo" (boom) her self!

Doctor update & lots of pictures of the cutest little girl ever!

Yesterday afternoon we were back at the doctor's for another check of Rach's little butt.

Since there are 8 different pediatricians at the doctors office and we took the first available appointment we met with a different doctor than on Monday. I think sometimes this can be a good thing so that you have another person's point of view/ideas.

The appointment went fine and this doctor agrees with Monday's that this rash is more of a "contact rash" than an actual diaper rash. Being that the rash is located only around Rach's little tush the doctor believes that it is more likely the result of something from inside irritating the outside, meaning that possibly she is eating or did eat something that irritated her tummy and subsequent poop and that each poopy diaper just re-irritates the area causing it to flare up again.

Yesterday the pediatrician also reiterated that the diaper area is a hard area to heal and heals more slowly than say a skinned knee would, being that we can't easily keep it dry or cover it with a band aid to keep any other irritants out.

For the most part we are to keep following the same protocol we had been, except now we are to wipe less and more gently and to put on a thin layer of Neosporin after the area dries and before applying the Calmoseptine.

Fingers crossed we finally have this under control! Rach is such a trooper! She was in a much better mood at yesterday's appointment. We had puppy with us (of course!) and before the doctor listened to Rach breathing she "listened" to puppy breathing. Then before the doctor looked into Rach's ears she "looked" into puppy's ears. Rach got a kick out of this!

Can I just say how much I LOVE this little girl? She is the best! Throughout this whole ordeal she has still been a pretty happy, smiley little angel. Yes, she has had her moments where she was visibly upset/in pain and she has been a little more clingy than usual, but I am of the mindset that you say "clingy" I say "cuddly". And I am not one to turn down any cuddles with my sweetheart! Rachel Ann, you make Mommy proud and oh so happy! I love you to pieces and promise to always take care of you!

Happy Valentine's Day...

.....from the pediatrician's office :( Yes, this is a pic of Rach there on Monday, Valentine's afternoon. She's pretty upset, but still super cute looking!

So here is what's been going on with us that led us to our Valentine's "date" with the doctor. We are dealing with Rach's first diaper rash and it is a doozy. Yes, I am happy that she is 13 months old and this is just the first time we've had to deal with this, but it is still heartbreaking to watch your sweet baby be in pain.

It all started last Tuesday, 2/8, I got a call from daycare in the afternoon that Rach had had two poopy diapers and after the second one her butt was pretty red and there was even a small spot that had bled. So of course as soon as we get home I inspect it myself and there is a reddish/pinkish rash just around her little butt and then off to the side slightly a redder round rash that was the one that bled.

So starting Tuesday night we began changing her diapers more often, applying Desitin after each change, letting her have some naked butt time at night, letting her little tush soak in the warm tub, etc. By Sunday 2/13, the rash was still there but was looking better, less red, more pink, no more bleeding. However, me being me, after I put Rach to bed Sunday I spent a few hours with my good friend, Dr. Google. (did I not learn my lesson with this while pregnant?? this is notorious for leading me into anxiety attacks and thinking the worse case scenario) Well, I do read that most common diaper rashes will clear up in a few days following the protocol we have been doing. Also, I looked at pictures of diaper rashes (oh those poor babies!) and to be honest not a lot looked like Rach. Most were all over their diaper area and many were bumpy were as Rach's was flat. The other thing that I read was that being that it was centered around her butt it could be a reaction to something she ate. Well the only new thing Rach has had recently was on Monday night, 2/7, was lemon chicken. She has had chicken before, but never lemon or anything citrus. I know that you are supposed to hold off on citrus until after their first birthday, but we did, Rach is 13 months now, and she only had it that one meal.

I decide to call the doctor's office Monday 2/14 to talk to their nurse line. The nurse tells me that yes, typically a diaper rash should be gone in a week and that we should bring Rach in to see the doctor. The doctor agreed it didn't look like a standard diaper rash and more like a "contact rash". The doctor also took a swab of the rash (like they do with your throat when they suspect strep throat) to make sure it wasn't a strep infection or a bacterial infection. Luckily that test came back negative. The doctor gave us a new ointment cream, Calmoseptine, to use at each diaper change and told us to keep doing what we were doing and let them know if it still was not getting better.

As soon as we got home Monday we started the Calmoseptine and by Tuesday morning when I changed her before leaving for work it really looked like it might be getting better. Unfortunately, the next two days things got worse. Rach is in daycare Tuesday and Wednesday and both days she came home with her butt looking worse than that morning and worse than the day before. Tuesday night when we got home after I picked her up she started crying as soon as I put her on the changing table to change her and while I was trying to wipe her she rolled over it a complete fetal position and cried! (I'll pause for a moment to let your heart recover from it temporarily breaking) Then yesterday when we got home I changed her right away and her butt looks the worst it has this entire time! WTH!?!? I'm serious, it is now worse than it was last Tuesday when this whole thing started.

I am at a complete loss. I hate seeing my baby in pain and I hate feeling helpless that I can't make it better. I have no idea what the issue is and am upset that this keeps coinciding with daycare days. We do have another doctor appointment this afternoon. Cross your fingers that we are able to get some answers and make my sweet angel better!

TIDWTF - Feb. 11, 2011

(Yes, this is an older picture from after the holidays of Rach cuddling with Matt and her Christmas reindeer, but it is so cute I wanted to make sure we saved it to her blog.)

Things I Don't Want To Forget:

• Rachel got 3 (!!!) new teeth within the last week! Other than two nights of a low grade fever (under 100) and one rough night of sleep you would never have even know that she was teething! This little girl is so tough! This now brings her teeth total to 7, she has 4 on the bottom and 3 on the top, however I am willing to bet that the 4th on the top will be following shortly, as all of her teeth have pretty much come in in pairs.

• Last night Rach and Matt were playing with her basketball and hoop before bath time and Rach made her very first baskets all by herself!! The first one she was semi-sitting on the floor holding the ball and she lifted up her arms to try to reach the hoop, she realized she needed to get up higher so she started to stand up and did so until she was able to shoot the ball right in the hoop! The second shot she made she was standing up next to the hoop and shot it right in the hoop!

• Today Rachel and Matt had their first Daddy-Daughter shopping trip! They went to Target to do a little Valentine's shopping. Matt also got himself some new things and of course he got Rach a new toy too!

Weekend Funnies

Well another great weekend was had by all in the Phillips family. On Friday, Matt and I enjoyed another date night. This time Rachel had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's. It was still a bit hard for me to be away from her, especially overnight, but I knew she was in good hands and it was nice to have another date night with Matt. After we dropped Rach off at Grandma and Grandpa's we went to Partridge Creek. We had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and then walked around a little. It was Matt's first time up there so I wanted him to get to see how nice it was but, man was it cold! (For anyone not familiar with Partridge Creek, it's an outdoor shopping mall, so we weren't walking inside). After that we stopped at our new Tim Horton's / Cold Stone combo store and got coffee and shared a brownie ice cream. When we got home Charlie seemed a bit confused since we had left with Rach but had come home without her, but Charlie quickly decided that she was okay with this and enjoyed having us all to herself.

Saturday morning I went and got my haircut and then went to pick up Rach. We hung out with Grandma and Grandpa a little bit (and I had actually planned to hang out longer) but we started to get an unexpected snowfall that was coming down fast and furious so I decided to pack Rach up and take our time braving the roads to get home. Yikes, were the roads ever bad! I'm pretty sure we got another 3-4 inches and there was no one out on the roads yet plowing or salting, so our normally 20-30 minute drive home ended up taking over an hour!

Sunday morning was our usual family hanging out time. In honor of the ND basketball game that afternoon Matt brought out his ND headband and put it on Rach. This girl is ridiculous amounts of cute! Here's a couple pics of Rach in her headband, enjoying cuddle time with Daddy and drinking her fruit smoothie. (sidenote: I made Rach's smoothies just a bit different this Sunday and she LOVES them, hurray! She downed two of them Sunday alone! Mommy needs to get to the grocery store and make bigger batches!)



Later in the afternoon after Matt had gone to work I decided to turn on the Puppy Bowl for Rach to watch a little. She loved it! This little girl loves dogs! Here's a couple pictures of her watching the Puppy Bowl. She was mesmerized! In the beginning they introduce all of the pupppies like a starting line up and each time they would introduce a new puppy Rach would wave and say "Hi!" at the puppy! So stinking cute! The photo were she is looking at me is after I had been laughing and telling her how cute she was! She's giving me the look like, "why are you laughing at me Mom? I'm just being polite." Also funny was that Charlie was nose to nose with the tv barking at the puppies onscreen!

After all of the Puppy Bowl excitement and Rach's afternoon nap she kept me company upstairs while I was cleaning the bathroom. She was playing in her room and after awhile I realized that it was really quiet, no toys making noise, no Rach talking, etc. So I decided to peek in on her, not knowing what to expect, and there she was, my little angel, sitting on her bedroom floor "reading" her books. There were a few on the floor around her and she was holding one, flipping the pages. Best. Kid. Ever.

More Things I Don't Want To Forget

• In my last TIDWTF (Things I Don't Want To Forget) I mentioned the "go figure" Rachelism of not liking fruit but loving vegetables. Well here's another "go figure", Rachel does not like getting her face wiped/washed. She doesn't like it if she has sneezed, or her nose is running, or she just ate, or she is in the bath tub, she does not like it. However, our Rachel Bear loves brushing her teeth and having them brushed!
  

• Rach and I have cuddle time every morning. I am the one to get Rach up in the morning most of the time since Matt works nights. Some mornings I have to wake her up and other mornings she is already wake and is waiting for me or lets me know she is up. Every morning I pick her (and puppy) up out of her crib and we go sit and cuddle in the glider for a few minutes before starting the day. Even on the mornings when Rach is wide awake and standing up in her crib waiting for me as soon as I pick her up and we sit in the glider she lays her head against my shoulder and snuggles into me, pure heaven!

• Rach and I also have a night time routine. Most nights she gets a bath before bed. After her bath we put on her jammies and brush her teeth have a few minutes of quiet play time for her to wind down (this is because the bath it self is not relaxing, Rach loves the bath! She splashes up a storm and sometimes cries when I take her out!) After wind down time I put Rach in her sleep sack and then pick her up from her changing table. It's at this point that she knows is "Give Mommy a Good Night Kiss" time! I used to have to take her binky out and ask for one, but now she almost always just automatically leans in to give me a kiss, regardless of if she still has her binky or not! I love this girl!

Snow Day 2011

Wednesday February 2, 2011. For days we had been hearing all kinds of news reports predicting a monster snowfall. 10 to 18 inches!! 2 feet!! The storm was to start Tuesday night, getting heavier as it went and we would all wake up snowed in on Wednesday. Well, as it turns out the snowstorm was not quite as bad as they were predicting. We still got about 7-8 inches at our house and it was enough that daycare closed for the day. Matt and I both stayed home from work with Rach and we enjoyed our very first Phillips Family Snow Day!!!
Rach taking in the view from our front window of all of the snow. She's also watching Matt out there shoveling. She kept slapping the window and calling out to her daddy!

We bought Rach her very first sled and snow pants earlier in the week in preparation for the coming snow. Here she is sitting in it with puppy. I pulled her around the living room a few times so that she would be familiar/comfortable with it once we were outside. She seemed to like it and wasn't scared at all!

I just think this picture is cute. Rach is just chilling in her birthday chair with puppy, just being her adorable little self.

We did take other pictures and video of her outside but I do not have those here ready to upload. We had such a great day! Rach was in an extra, super happy mood (I think she was thrilled to have a whole day home with her Mom & Dad!). She was really smiley, talkative, and full of laughs.

After Rach's nap we bundled her up big time and took her outside to play in the snow. We pulled her around in her sled and also took her down her baby hill/luge. Oh yes, Matt built Rach her very own baby sled luge hill in our backyard. Now how many other one year olds can say that?!? We didn't keep her out for too long since it was ridiculously cold out but we did have a blast while we were out. Afterwards we came back inside to warm up and do some cuddling. We watched the videos of Rach in the snow on the tv and also watched all the videos that were taken back at Rach's birthday party. That was so much fun!

I know I sound like a broken record, but it really was such a great day! I love my family more than anything in this world and to not only have an extra day to spend with Rachel but to also have a whole entire day that all 3 of us are home is amazing and just doesn't happen enough!

Things I Don't Want To Forget

Rachel Things I Do Not Want To Forget

• Our sweet little girl has really gotten better at standing. She has not figured out how to stand up on her own without pulling herself up yet but once she pulls up she is less hesitant to let go. Two of her favorite places to stand are 1) in front of the tv when Mickey is on and 2) in front of the full length mirror in my and Matt's room. In front of the tv she is mesmerized by Mickey and even tries to do the Hot Dog Dance! In front of the mirror she likes to stand and smile at the pretty baby girl in the reflection!

• For the most part Rach is a great eater. She loves anything dairy (which is great since she gets less milk now), yogurt and cheese are two of her favorites. She also likes pasta, meat, chicken, turkey, waffles, pancakes, cereal, vegetables, eggs, chocolate, mac & cheese, pretty much anything but fruit. Yes, I said it, right now our Little Bear does not like fruit. As you can see from the photographic evidence Rach has no problem with carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, but fruit, no thank you, go figure. I have had to resort to being "Sneaky Mommy" and hiding fruit to get it in her. I make her fruit and yogurt smoothies, blueberry waffles, organic fruit cereal bars, and give her the organic baby yogurt with fruit in it and so far so good. Luckily I understand this is most likely a phase ans as long as I keep giving her the fruit option she will one day decide that she does like it. (the other photo below is of my cutie drinking one of her smoothies!)

• Rach has a great vocabulary! Recently I was reading that the average 1 year old knows about 10 words. Well suffice it to say our Rach is well above average here. Not only is she great verbally in the words she will actually say, but the list of words that she knows in general is amazing! Rach can easily say: mama, dada, ba (grandpa), up, hi, bye, hey, yay, boo (boot)... Words that Rach knows: Charlie, doggy, puppy, mickey, minnie, basketball, ball, book, bear, bottle, milk, water, sippy, binky, kiss, hat, clap, wave,... I'm sure that there are more and that my mommy brain is failing me now as I try to remember them.

***Edit 2/7/11*** as of this weekend Rach has added a couple new words to her spoken vocab. She has been shaking her head "no" for a bit now but this past weekend started to say "no" as she shakes her head, only it comes out as "nay" (like yay or nay). If you try to get her to do something she does not want to do, like say wiping her face/nose she will shake her head no and say "nay, nay nay!" Also this weekend she started saying "baah" for bath, different than her "ba" for grandpa.

Another Weekend Recap

I'm happy to report we had another great weekend at the Phillips home! Matt, Rach, Charlie, and I enjoyed a nice quiet night at home on Friday. While we were home Friday night Rach took her first 3 steps!! She has been getting so much better at her standing but up until Friday she had not taken any steps yet. After dinner Rach and I were playing upstairs and she was standing facing me and she reached out for me to pick her up. I don't think I moved quickly enough for her and she took a step towards me! I called for Matt to come upstairs and we helped her stand up again. I reached out my arms for her to come to me and she took two steps towards me! We were so excited! Our little girl is getting so big.

Saturday Grandma and I took Rach to have her 1 year photos taken. I am so bummed to say that this was a bit of a disappointment. We took her to JCP just like for her 6 months photos (& those turned out ADORABLE!!) but we had a different photographer who wasn't really great. Add to that that Rach is getting to that perfect age where the stranger/separation anxiety rears its ugly head and we were in for a not so fun time. My usually happy, smiley girl was super serious and super shy! For the most part she did not want to sit by herself (even holding her bff puppy), instead she wanted to crawl back to Mama and sit in my lap. We only got 1 or 2 decent photos but I just felt like I was torturing her since she was visibly not happy and told the photographer we could just stop trying. Oh well, it's not the end of the world. Matt and I take tons of pictures of her at home and you never know, by the time we go back in 6 months for her 18 month photos she might be back to her happy little self around strangers again!

After the photos we spent some time with Grandma and Grandpa and Rachel was back to her usual self, laughing and smiling and talking up a storm. After hanging out there Rachel and I went grocery shopping. Here's a pic of my sweet little shopper helping me out. She's holding the sub buns to make sandwiches.

The rest of Saturday night and Sunday were pretty relaxing. Rach and I hung out, played, and cuddled until it was time for her to go to bed Saturday. Then Sunday before Matt went to work we hung out, played, and cuddled with Daddy. Sunday is usually my being productive day so I work on cleaning and laundry while Rach naps.

**A funny Rachel story**, Rach and I were playing in her room Sunday afternoon. Charlie was sitting out in the hallway watching us. Some of Rach's favorite things right now are opening and closing things and practicing her words. So...Rach goes over to her bedroom door, says "Bye!" to Charlie and closes the door. She smiles proudly to me. She then opens the door, says "Hi!" to Charlie and giggles to herself while Charlie wags her tail at Rach. She smiles proudly to me. She then says "Bye!" to Charlie and closes the door,.... and so on. This must have kept her entertained for almost a solid 5 minutes, silly girl!

So that was our weekend. Now we are just bracing for the possible blizzard/foot of snow we could be getting tonight/tomorrow. We'll see. If it really is as bad as they say Matt and I might get a freebie day home with our little bear tomorrow! We did buy her some snow pants and her first sled this week. We figure it we're going to get snow we might as well make the most out of it and enjoy it with Rach!