Adventures in Babysitting

In my last post I mentioned that I just started keeping a friend's baby during the day yesterday. I will have her for the next month until she starts at the day care. My friend is a teacher in another county. Evidently the daycare where she is going to be going doesn't start until school starts in our county. My friend had to go back yesterday, so she needed a sitter for about a month until school starts here. I will be keeping her for about 7-8 hours everyday. She is 4 months old. At first I wasn't sure if I'd be up to it. I was afraid that Taylor would be jealous because she is already clingy with me at times, but so far she has done really well with it. I decided to go ahead and commit to keeping her because I thought it would be good preparation for when we decide to have another child. We are not planning on getting pregnant soon, but I thought it would give me a good idea of how it will be to have two.

Although things have gone fairly smoothly, let's just say that I am glad that I didn't have mine 14 months apart. After all the trouble we had getting Taylor to sleep and dealing with all the crying, my nerves just aren't ready to deal with that full time again. Anna Kate does go down a lot easier than Taylor ever did, but she doesn't seem to stay asleep for long periods at a time. I don't know if it is the new environment or what. She is supposed to be on a 3 hour schedule, but her napping has been a little eratic and so her schedule has been more like every 2 to 2 1/2 hours. I am sure that the longer I keep her the better she will settle back into her regular schedule. I tried to get her to sleep in the bassinet of the pack 'n play but she only slept there for about 30 minutes. I then progressed to the bouncy seat since it is probably the most similar to her seat that she sleeps in at home. The longest she has slept there is 45 minutes. Both of these were placed in a quiet part of the house - my bedroom. I put her in her car seat with Praise Baby on while I put Taylor down for a nap. I was just hoping that it would keep her happy while I tended to my own child. Would you know that when I came back in I found her asleep? It wasn't even time for her naptime again. Oh well, I am sure she needed it since she hasn't been napping very long. I guess we will see how long she sleeps this time. At least I can get some quiet time in and relax myself while they are both sleeping. This is nice. :)

Oh, by the way, here are a couple of pictures of the two girls together:

Makin' Progress

I am already seeing some progress in Taylor's speech. Some of it may be that I am just understanding her better, but I think she is also saying some new words and imitating me more. It is really cute to see her say new things and make new sounds. It is also very encouraging. A couple of days ago Taylor was walking around saying "Mama" all day long. Yesterday she started doing the sign along while saying it without me saying anything first. That was the first time she has signed anything without me saying the word first. She has also said "yes". We are trying to teach her the signs for "yes" and "no". This morning I was reading her a book about baby animals. I was making the animal sounds and after I did the duck sound she repeated "quack!" She has also started whispering when you whisper to her. She is also learning her body parts. Yesterday I was reading her another book called "Where's My Nose." I asked her where the child's eye was in the book and she pointed to her eye. I proceeded to ask her where her nose and mouth were and she pointed to them. I then asked her where her belly button and toes were and she knew them too. I just started keeping a friend's baby during the day while she works. She is a school teacher in a neighboring county and her first day back was yesterday. The little baby is 4 months old. Yesterday Taylor found her belly button and was tickling it and saying "goochy goochy goo!" It was so cute! Sometimes I wonder how much she is understanding when I read to her, but she catches on a lot better than I realize. That will be some good news that I can pass on to the speech therapist when I see her in a couple of weeks.

Rediscoveries

Warning: This post contains material that may be offensive to some.

The other night I was rocking Taylor to sleep and she was having trouble getting in a comfortable position. I had already gotten my comfies on and was not wearing a bra. Sometimes she grabs my shirt to pull up on me, but this time she grabbed my nipple. Ouch! After that she kept repositioning herself. She doesn't seem to have as much trouble finding a comfortable position on Daniel. I think that my breasts get in the way. Well, she did the funniest thing. She sat straight up in my lap and pressed her hand against my breast and just looked at it as if she didn't know what it was. It was like she was feeling it out and trying to see if she could press it down. I told Daniel about it and he thought it was hilarious. I guess that is probably the only time I have ever wished for a flat chest...when I am rocking my baby.

Excitement at the Doctor

Warning: This post contains content that not meant for those with a weak stomach.

Yesterday Taylor had her 18 mo. checkup with the pediatrician. Usually Daniel goes with me to Albany for these visits, but he was unable to get off of work this time since he was filling in for a co-worker who was on vacation. This is not the first time I have had to go without him, but usually I have someone else go with me if he can't go. This was only my second time going by myself. I wasn't as nervous about this visit since Taylor didn't have to get any shots, so I didn't expect her to be fussy on the drive home. I expected the visit to be a little less eventful as well. Boy could I ever have been more wrong!

Taylor had to have her finger pricked to have her iron checked in her blood (at least I think that is what they were checking). As soon as the nurse grabbed her hand Taylor started crying. She does not like band-aids, so as soon as she got the bandage on her finger Taylor pulled it right off. By this time I was taking her into the exam room. As soon as I realized the bandage was off her finger I noticed blood going everywhere. Blood was all over her hand and her leg. She had gotten it several places on my shirt and there was some on her face. I got another band-aid and was trying to use cotton balls to stop the bleeding, but I wasn't sure which finger the nurse had pricked. I was freaking out! I opened the door and cried out to the nurse, "Can I get some help in here!" She saw what was going on and immediately came in and we put Taylor's finger under cold water. That stopped the bleeding. She got some we paper towels to clean up the blood and I tried to console Taylor while I was cleaning her up. I am not nursing her anymore, so I tried to give her a sippy cup of water to help calm her, but that didn't work. She finally stopped crying and got interested in the books in the room. Finally the doctor came in. He is a very good doctor and has a very calming presence and is quite jolly, but for some reason Taylor is afraid of him. She did not like the stethescope. She cried the whole time he was examining her and tried to fight him off. I felt so bad. He said that all children 15 -18 months hate him and that by age 2 they start warming up. I wish I knew what I could do to make doctor visits less scary for her. I read her a book about going to the doctor before we went, but that doesn't seem to help. She even cried when they weighed her and checked her height. Other than all the crying and the bleeding Taylor's appointment went well and she was given a clean bill of health. Maybe her next visit when she is 2 won't be so bad.

Taylor's Eyes

OK, so I guess you have probably noticed that I went a little crazy on the blogging today. I guess I just have a lot to share. I am trying to get caught up too for not having shared very often in the past. I am sorry if I am overdoing it.

This is the week of doctor appointments. Taylor had her speech therapy this morning and we just got back from the eye doctor. Most of you already know that Taylor has an eye condition called a strabismus. All it means is that when her brain gets tired of focusing it causes her eyes to cross outward. Basically one eye strays out. It is not critical and does not require surgery or therapy. Dr Tu is confident that Taylor will outgrow this. I think one of her cousins had this same problem and his eyes are fine now (he is 3). I really notice it more when she is tired or not feeling well. Her vision is fine and she doesn't even need glasses. We are glad for that. So, for now we are just keeping an eye on it (no pun intented) and she is to go back in a year. That is good news.

Taylor has her 18 month well visit with Dr. Evans on Friday. Usually Daniel goes with me to all of her appointments but he is having to cover for a coworker this week and will not be able to take off early. This means I'll have to drive to Albany by myself. What fun! I am planning to take her to a little shoe store there to look for some more sandals. She needs some dressier ones for church. She is growing so fast! Well, one doctor down, one to go.

Speech Therapy

Taylor had her first speech therapy session this morning. I felt like it went well. She didn't come out with a bunch of words or anything, but Becky took a lot of notes and gave me some pointers of what I could work on with Taylor. Taylor seemed to lose interest in what she was playing with fairly quickly. She would get distracted by some of the other things that Becky brought with her. Becky was very patient with her and tried to get Taylor back on task. One thing I have noticed her doing is actually taking Taylor's hand and making her do what she wants her to do instead of doing it for her. She told me to take her hand and make her point to things. She also told me to practice taking turns with her like rolling the ball and putting snap beads back in their container and even making noises. This gets her used to imitating and hopefully will encourage her to imitate words. She is doing that some but not a lot yet. Another thing she wants me to do as time permits is silling things like putting one shoe on Taylor or getting her ready for a bath without putting water in the tub. The idea is to get her to point to tell me what's not right. I am skeptical that Taylor will catch on to that one right now, but we will see. Becky will come back next week for our second session.

The Phenomenon of Teething

I am never sure what is blogworthy, but my sister heard this story and said that I definitely needed to post it, so here it goes. I must preface this story by saying that Taylor is one of the happiest and most contented children I know. She is hardly ever fussy. The only time she gets fussy is if she doesn't feel well. For the last few weeks she has been teething and getting her molars in. She has her good days and bad days. For the most part it hasn't been too bad and teething tablets usually work right away, but if you mix teething pain on top of being tired, then you're in for a rough day. This just happened to be one of those days.

On Monday I had a meeting at church at 9:30. Taylor normally takes a nap at 10:30, but she missed it because the meeting lasted until almost 12:00 and she was being watched at the church along with other children much older than her. Usually she does okay if she misses her morning nap. She never gets one on Sundays. Usually she is just a little tired and then takes a longer nap after lunch. Well, she did great for the babysitter. After the meeting, the babysitter, who is a friend of mine, and I went to lunch. Her parents happened to be at the same restaurant where we were eating, so we sat at the booth just behind them. After they were finished eating lunch they came over and sat and talked with us for a few minutes. When my friend's dad got up to leave Taylor started wailing and the tears were pouring down her face. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. It was as if she didn't want John to leave. John had been talking to her and playing with her and she seemed to really like him. He has a beard and so does her grandpa, so maybe she was getting him confused with Grandpa. I am not sure what it was, but it took me a while to get her calmed down after they left. I got her out of her highchair and finished feeding her in my lap. I also gave her some teething tablets just in case her gums were hurting. Once she was done eating she was okay and ready to get down. She spotted an older woman who we frequently see at this restaurant (there are not many places to eat in Americus) and she went straight over to her and started "talking" to her. It was so funny. It was as if nothing had happened.

The story doesn't end here though. Taylor took a good nap when we got home, but when she got up I could tell that she still wasn't quite right. She fussed a little, so I thought maybe she was hungry. I set her little table and chair up in the living room and she sat there quietly and ate her snack. When she was finished she got up and tried to pick up her chair and move it. I don't know if it was just awkward for her or what bothered her but she got upset. I took her table and chair back into her bedroom and tried to distract her with toys. She played for a little while and fussed off and on. I finally gave her some teething tablets. I guess I should always do that first to rule it out, but for some reason I do it as a last resort. She was acting tired, so I tried to get her to go down for a second nap. By this time it was just too late and she wouldn't go to sleep. I decided to get her up and let her watch Praise Baby. That always calms her down. We have been having trouble with our DVR and had to leave it off for 24 hours, so I took her into our bedroom to watch it. She laid on the bed with me for the whole 30 minutes and watched Praise Baby. When it was over I turned the TV off and she started fussing again. I took her back into the living room and distracted her with toys and turned on the TV for some background noise to see if she would not fuss so much. She did okay, but the real turning point didn't come until later.

Would you know, that as soon as Daniel walked in the door everything changed. She always runs to the door when he comes in. It reminds me of myself when I was a little girl and would get excited when Daddy came home from work. She loves her daddy. He got down on the floor and tossed her around and she was happy and playful. It was like she had flipped a switch. I couldn't believe it. It was as if she had it in for me all day. She did good for the babysitter and was excited to see her daddy, but she wasn't happy with just mommy. I am sure that the teething has a lot to do with it, but it was interesting to me that she reacted the way she did. I guess she was feeling better.

Yesterday Taylor didn't seem as bothered by the teething as much as on Monday. She got an okay nap in yesterday morning. I tried to get her down for an afternoon nap but she wouldn't go to sleep. She would be quiet for a little while and then I would hear her talking and squealing. Then the fussing started. After about 30 minutes I went in to rock her some more and then put her back down for round 2. By this time it was after 3:00. She usually doesn't go down much past 2:30 and this day was not much different. She screamed for a little while and then silence. I thought it had worked, and it had. About 30 minutes later I heard her crying again. I went in to get her and she had been laying in vomit. I felt HORRIBLE!!! I immediately started cleaning her up. I gave her a bath and stripped the bed. After her bath and a snack she felt much better and was fine for the rest of the afternoon. I did check her temperature, which was normal, so I knew she only vomited because she got herself so worked up. She hasn't done that in a long time. Needless to say, I am ready for an uneventful day today.

Trip To Chattanooga

I must admit that I have been lax in posting lately. Taylor has not been napping well and that is usually the time that I take to write. She is actually not asleep right now, but at least she is quiet and hopefully she is on the way to being asleep. I think she is transitioning from two naps to one and it has been difficult. She has been going down okay for her morning nap, but the afternoon nap is a struggle. She just lays there and fights it. Yesterday she only got one 30 minute nap in. She was so tired by bedtime. If she would sleep longer then I would consider dropping her morning nap altogether in hopes that she would take a long afternoon nap. It doesn't always work that way though. Sundays are good days to test that theory since she doesn't get a nap in the nursery.

Well, that was just a preface. Now on to the meat and potatoes. My friend Lyndsey from church went with me and Taylor to Chattanooga last week. We decided to go up there and get out of Daniel's hair so he could get some work done on the kitchen. The biggest improvement that I could see when I got back was that he had painted the laundry area including the cabinets. The rest of the work he did was detail stuff that wouldn't make that much of an impact to just anyone. It does look better though. We still have the floor and the lighting to do, but that will come later.

We had a great time in Chattanooga. We drove up on Monday and got there just in time for Taylor's afternoon nap. Taylor did really well on the drive up. While in Chattanooga we did some shopping. I took Lyndsey to the mall and a couple other places around the area. Alicia let me borrow her stroller so I wouldn't have to bring mine with me. That was really nice. On Tuesday we went to one of the places where I used to work. A lot has changed in the past 6 years. There are not many people left there that I used to work with. I did get to see the ones I was closest too though, which is what mattered.

On Wednesday we went to Alicia's house to swim. She has a baby pool and a kiddie pool. My best friend Tina and her baby Caleb were also there. I tried to put Taylor in the kiddie pool with Rebekah because Joshua and Caleb were both in the baby pool, but Taylor would not sit down. I think it was a little too deep and too cold for her. She is very picky about the water temperature. When I put her down in the baby pool she was happy as a lark. Joshua didn't stay in there long though. He crawled out and was wanting Alicia. He seems to be on the clingy side lately. Part of it may be because he is teething and doesn't feel well. Taylor ended up staying in the pool longer than anyone. She loved it!

On Thursday we went down to visit my grandparents in Huntsville. This is my grandmother who I mentioned in one of my previous posts has Parkinson's. We recently found out that she doesn't have full fledged Parkinson's but has Parkinsonism. She is doing some better. She is eating better on her own and is using a walker with help. She is continuing to gain strength. She does have issues with balance though and still needs help with basic things like taking a bath and getting dressed. I wanted to take Taylor down to see her great-grandparents while we were so close. It is only 2 hours from my parents' house as opposed to 6 or 7 hours from ours. I was so glad that we went. They really enjoyed Taylor and she warmed up to them really well. I wish that I had not forgotten to take my camera. I could have gotten some cute pictures.

On July 4th we had an early dinner at Alicia's house. Once again the kids had fun playing together - especially Rebekah and Taylor. Rebekah treated Taylor like a miniature version of herself. She didn't understand that even though Taylor was walking, she was till small like Joshua. She thought that Taylor could do all of the things she could do. It was really cute watching them though. Alicia has a precious picture of her playing ring-around-the-rosies with the girls. Here are some pictures that I took while we were there.

Taylor loves playing with balls

Lyndsey hangin' out with the fam

It is impossible to get all the kids to smile for a picture.

I thought this was sweet with Rebekah putting the big squeeze on Joshua and Taylor.

Grandmommy and the girls

Aunt Alicia and Taylor

Taylor enjoying the baby pool

Sisters and cousins