Hair Cuts & Pumpkins

Elora got her hair cut for the first time on Thursday.  I only had the ends trimmed a bit, in the hope that it would make it easier to brush out her hair.  Those baby-fine ends tangled so easily! 

Brandon thought I was ridiculous for taking a 2 year old to a salon for a hair cut, but there was no way I was going to risk ruining her gorgeous hair by trying to cut it myself.  She was really very good through out the whole process.  She was too busy watching the stylist to squirm much.  She would never have stayed to still for me!

Kaylie watched quietly from her stroller.  She is such a good baby!!

When we were done, the stylist gave Elora a ribbon. On the back, it says "First Haircut" along with her name and the date.

Yesterday, we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin.

Elora loved it!  She was excited when I told her that we were going to pick a pumpkin, and when we got there she said "Look, Mama!  Look, Da-y!  Look at all the punkins!"  She picked this one out first, but the stem was too short to make a good handle.

We decided on this one, because it has a good shape, a pretty face for carving, and a nice, long handle.  We're going to wait until next weekend to carve it, and then I'm going to cut it up and cook it down right after Halloween so that it doesn't have a chance to get all yucky.  We'll have the fun of carving the pumpkin, we'll have a jack-o-lantern for Halloween, and I'll be able to use it to make bread and pie for Thanksgiving!  Yum!

The Last Few Weeks

The last few weeks have been rough for Kaylie.  2 Fridays ago, she randomly started throwing up until she emptied her tummy, then it passed and was back to normal.  On Monday, she started coming down with a cold.  On Tuesday, she had her 6 month well baby check up, and got the appropriate round of immunizations, including a flu shot.  On Wednesday she started vomiting again around 4:30 in the afternoon, and by 5, she was ashen and listless.  She was like a little rag doll, except when throwing up.  But even that, she did weakly.  It was scary.  Rebekah came over to stay with Elora, and then Brandon and I took Kaylie to the ER.

Over the course of the next 5 hours, they gave her a Tylenol suppository to bring down her 103° fever, they did a chest x-ray that required us to put her in a clear cylinder that pinned her in place and held her arms up out of the way, they took a urine sample using a catheter, and they put in an IV port to draw blood and get her rehydrated.  It took them 3 tries to get the IV in successfully, during which time we had to hold her down while she screamed.  It was awful.  I kept my face right next to hers, talking and singing the whole time.  I definitely cried.  She had the most pained, bewildered look on her face.  I had to keep reminding myself that it was ultimately going to help her. They finally got it in to her hand, and had to strap her arm to a board to keep her from moving it.

That was the turning point in the evening though.  After that I was able to feed her, she was able to keep it down, and between that, the Tylenol and the fluids from the IV, she started to perk up.  She even started trying to play with the IV tube. They sent us home around 11 with Tylenol, Motrin, and something for nausea, just in case.

We spent Thursday recovering.  (Her voice was hoarse from screaming.)  On Friday, I got a call at 5 in the morning from the hospital, saying that her blood culture came back positive for a bacterial infection, and would we please bring her back in for re-evaluation.  She still had the cold symptoms, but the fever was gone and there'd been no recurrence of vomiting, so they gave her an antibiotic shot and a round of antibiotics to do at home, and sent us on our way with instructions to follow up with the pediatrician on Monday.

We are still not really sure what caused what.  We're fairly sure that she had a cold, caused by a virus.  This weakened her immune system, and allowed the bacterial infection to happen.  But who knows where the vomiting came from.  Personally, I suspect that it had nothing to do with either infection, but that her system rejected the oatmeal cereal I'd given her prior to both vomiting episodes. The pediatrician said that it's possible, and so it's a good idea to stay away from the oatmeal for a while.  All I really care about is that she seems to be doing ok now.  She still has a nagging cough, and she's still a bit fussier than usual, but no more high fevers and no more scary vomiting.
Thank God.

Bark in the Park

Rebekah invited us to go to Bark in the Park with her Sunday, and so we went.  It's an annual dog fair at the park to raise money for the local Humane Society.  I'd been hearing about it, but hadn't thought to go because we don't have a dog.  I'm so glad we went!  It got us all out of the house and in the fresh air, and it was a lot of fun.  There were so many dogs!

So, so many dogs...

All the area shelters brought in animals available for adoption.  Most of them were dogs, but there was also one very large rabbit, one frightened guinea pig, and one brave kitty.

There were also a handful of reptiles, from VIIPER.

I'll apologize now for any misspellings, or errors in identifying the dogs. Can you tell that I lost patience with it? 

Anyway, we had a really great time. Both girls were really good the whole time we were there.   I hardly heard a peep out of Kaylie; I guess she was just busy trying to take it all in.  I think the most amazing thing might be that we were there for almost 3 hours, in a park full of dogs, and not once did we step in any poop!  I'll be taking the girls back next year, fo' sho'.