Mother's Day Out, take two

After 3 months off, Mother's Day Out started back up again today. JKK & I took her to drop her off on her first day; such a big girl!

I don't know why I had so much anxiety about this since we took her several times last spring. She cried a lot those few times that we did take her though, so I've been hoping that another 3 months would make a difference. I suppose it did...she didn't cry the whole day. Ms. Erika said she did well overall...there was intermittent crying throughout the day and the pacifier stayed in pretty much the whole time. But I really think that will get better each time we go, right?! Our girl just takes awhile to get used to new environments...

Look!! Millie's very first piece of artwork brought home from school...it's clear we have a little genius on our hands. ;)

 

Here is what her day looks like...I pulled this up several times to see what she would be doing at that time of day.  I missed her...

 

Meltdown at the Allergist Appt

This was officially our first frustrating and sort of awful outing with Millie.  We went to visit the allergist today to discuss her milk protein allergy.  The appt was at 12:30...right after she ate lunch and not too close to naptime.  It should've been perfect timing, but I suspect those days of relying on perfect timing are over.  She wasn't happy no matter what we tried to do with her today and kept going all "no bones" and throwing mini-fits.  Argghhh...very frustrating.  It was so distracting and hard to hear the doctor, and frankly, embarrassing...even though we all know it happens.  It was a long appt though and we were in a very boring exam room, so you can't really blame her. 

The allergist went ahead and did an 8 prick test on her back, which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be since they have a little tool that does it all at once.  They tested for milk, soy, eggs, peanuts, and some of the other basics.  She did not test positive for milk; the only one she reacted to was soy...so no soy milk or tofu any time soon.  The doctor said just because she didn't have a reaction to the milk test doesn't mean she doesn't have a milk protein allergy...the prick test doesn't necessarily test for the protein allergy.  Thus, we have to take her for blood work sometime soon (which should be super fun).  The doctor said that based on her past reactions to milk, we need to take it very slow.  First we add in baked goods that have milk in them, such as muffins or pancakes.  If she can tolerate the "cooked" milk, then we wait several months and move on to adding in something more potent, like yogurt....and so on.  It's going to be a process.  We are also going to start mixing some of her formula with rice milk, and we'll need to talk to the doctor about a calcium supplement.  Hopefully by 2 or 3 years of age, she will have outgrown this intolerance. 

I'm thankful the doctor is having us take it slow.  I was worried she was going to tell us to just push through the diarrhea that lasts for weeks and always ends up with poor Millie having a raw bottom and screaming every time we go for a diaper change.

Weekly Update

First up...funny videos from this past week:
1) Fun with the hose (plus a little booger action)
2) What Millie does when we say "No"
3) Millie's new swaggle walk

Last week, Cayden came over for an afternoon playdate.  We sure have missed them!  Usually, whatever Cayden is interested in, Mills has to go play with it too.  It's never the opposite though; big C is content to do his own thing and hasn't taken much notice of Mills, at this point.

See?  She just has to be right there...I guess she's going to help him sit?  After awhile, he usually gets tired of her handsy tendencies.

If he gets the chair, I suppose she'll make do with the dog bed.  Gross.  Shortly after this, she tried to stand up in the chair and fell on her face...busted her lip. :(

This is her new thing...sitting or standing on the fireplace.  She also loves to climb the stairs at the playground or crawl up on the playground benches to take a seat.  You can see her busted top lip here...

cheese!  In the afternoons, we usually alternate between the sunroom...

...and the front yard.

Sometimes we even get crazy with the water hose!

We went to Mother's Day Out open house last week...met Ms. Erika, her teacher, and saw her classroom.  My anxiety is growing daily...is this the right thing to do?  I know it sounds silly, but she's so young...I could wait another year.  Millie is SO shy and sensitive to new environments; I'm scared she's going to cry the entire day (like she did when we tried this last spring).  Plus, this class only takes one nap at midday, where she is still taking both a morning and afternoon nap at home.  Plusssssss, how can one teacher handle six one-year olds by herself?!  Ugh...we're going to try it, but the teacher has strict instructions to call me if she won't stop crying.

I don't even think this pic looks like Millie, but it cracks me up...she's being silly and doing her new wiggle waggle move while running.

We have had the worst two weeks of sleeping and Millie constantly looks like a little zombie, she's so tired all the time.  I know she's been teething, but I'm really not certain that is why she's been all of a sudden waking up 2 or 3 times a night.  I've read kids start dreaming at this age, so I suppose that could be part of it?  It's been killing us though...thankfully JKK is so happy to take his turn in the middle of the night. ;)

September 15th is a big tax deadline, so I had to work all weekend in the office.  I make JKK send me pictures throughout the day, and when he sent this one, I just swooned.  Love her.

I'm sure you have noticed that we still don't have tile down in the sunroom...well, it's been quite the process getting through inspections and them having to come back and put in a footing around the base after it was already constructed.  The contractor has a few more things to finish up, so we need to get those scheduled before we put down the tile.  Hopefully soon though!  At least we can use it, even if it does mean putting on shoes every time we go out there. ;)

Long Live Buddy Love!

Poor, neglected Buddy Love has had quite an adjustment this past year.  He gets nowhere near the attention he used to get from me...but some of that is because he chooses to spend most of his day in the garage.  He's started spending so much time out there that I've had to get a litter box for the garage and move his food out there.  We hardly see him anymore. :(

Right after he got his haircut in June was when he started acting really strange...lethargic and stand-offish, nipping at Millie, and he lost a lot of weight.  So, of course, I took him to the vet to figure out what was up.  This change in him was very sudden and the weight loss really had me worried. 

After many (expensive) trips to the vet, we've now ruled out any type of cancer, kidney and liver problems, and his heart disease hasn't progressed any further.  Basically...he's fine.  Maybe he was just in a funk, but he must be out of it now...he's eating like a horse and has gained the weight back.  He's coming in from the garage more, and when Millie and I play out front, he has even sprinted to this tree to "scratch" on it a few times.  He still has a little gumption left, I guess...not bad for a 15 year old.  Long live Buddy Love!

What's the opposite of Indian Summer?

Whatever it is, it's been here this past week.  We haven't hit 100 in at least a week, and the early morning time has felt so good during our walks and playground time.  Very thankful for this break in the heat so that we can play outside.  We were getting cabin fever.

 going for it!  yesterday, john said she climbed up this thing all by herself!

 pffftttttt (she is making this sound all the time now)

 momma's big feet

 holding the cell phone up to her ear...and she has her bracelet on ;)  such a girl...

Mills hasn't mastered looking behind her while walking yet...she let me ice her big goose egg for quite awhile (thanks to yo gabba gabba)

makes me think of Millie's planking

 sneaking up on Cayden at Little Gym

crazy how much stuff she can do at the gym now compared to 6 months ago!  she's climbing and running and having the best time...

 look at all those teeth!  she now has 8 teeth.

 kissing her baby (open-mouthed)

This had me cracking up for quite awhile.  Millie loves to take a seat on anything that is just her size, like stepstools or that little adirondack chair.  Apparently, she thought she could sit on the drum but didn't realize the top had to be on.  I was working at the kitchen table and heard her whine; when I looked over, I found her like this!  Is it terrible that I took a pic before rescuing her?! :)

I know I never really talk about the bad stuff when it comes to Mills.  Really, I think I do like most moms and just skim over it knowing whatever it is, it's probably a phase.  For example, we've had a couple of weeks of strange sleep issues - short naps, trouble going to sleep, super early morning wakings.  She's been teething, so it could be that.  She's been eating a ton, so might be a growth spurt.  Who knows.  I feel like I can't complain too much because she does sleep through the night 99% of the time (at least 7:30 - 5:30 anyway).  She also eats REALLY well.  For lunch and dinner, we've moved to all big people food now.  She loves roasted carrots, sweet potatoes, and green beans; lunchmeat turkey or chicken, Gerber graduates ravioli, baked chicken, whole wheat bagels, fresh fruit of almost any kind (no kiwi) but still especially cantaloupe and peaches.  This weekend, she has devoured a ton of cucumber and also some red bell pepper and tomatoes.  And I give her whatever we are having for dinner too....last week, she got down on some pot roast and veggies.  I'm just so so thankful that she's eating so much and hasn't seemed to be too picky.  See...it's things like this that make me skim over the sleeping issues...or those fits that she's started having.  I can tell she's getting frustrated and doesn't know what to do with herself; one minute she's fine and then all of a sudden she goes "no bones" and is writhing on the floor whining.  Thankfully we can distract her easily, so they only last a few seconds.  I have a feeling things are going to get more interesting around here though.

One last piece of news: we had Millie's heart doc checkup this week.  I don't think I've ever talked about this on here before, but Millie was born with two tiny holes in her heart.  One of them is extremely common and isn't even considered a heart defect; it has already closed up.  The other one still isn't closed; it is called a VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect)...a small hole in the lower chamber of the heart.  More than likely, it will close on its own in the next few years.  However, even if it doesn't, the cardiologist assures us it is nothing to worry about.  It is so small that it won't cause any problems, and it won't prevent her from playing sports or doing anything else she wants to do when she's older.  The cardiologist said they wouldn't even do a procedure to close it if it never closes on its own.  The only reason we will go back to the heart doc for the next few years is to see if it has closed and give us some piece of mind.

she thinks the armband at the doctor feels funny

seeing other kids in this children's hospital waiting room certainly makes us thankful she is so healthy...it is always a humbling experience

Ode to Vinegar

I love vinegar...salt & vinegar chips, loads of mustard on sammis, pickles and especially pickled okra.  But what I've come to love most about vinegar is it's cleaning power.  Before I got pregnant, I had just started investigating some green cleaning techniques because I was wondering how those toxic chemicals used to clean our floor was affecting our pets.  Now that I've had a baby and she's all over that floor, there is a lot more incentive to think about what is used to clean it.  Although our house is nowhere near considered green, I've made a few small steps here and there...and most of those steps include plain white vinegar. 

Per my various google searches:  vinegar will kill approximately 99% of mold, bacteria, and other germs.  It isn't quite as effective as commercial products, but there usually isn't a huge need for those super-strength products.  If you want something clean, usually soapy water is enough.  If you want to disinfect, vinegar can be used to do that.  Unless you have someone in your household with open wounds or immune system problems, vinegar should be enough.

I wash Millie's toys in hot, soapy water with a healthy splash of white vinegar.  This helps to disinfect after multiple playdates or if she's had a runny nose or cold.  It's also good for baby bathtubs and bath toys.  And when the floor needs a quick sponge mop, I've been using about a half cup of white vinegar to a gallon of hot water.  It makes me feel a lot better knowing that she won't be ingesting any bleach or hard-core cleaning chemicals, especially since she eats cheerios off the floor daily.

Anyhoo, I just thought I would share my love for vinegar in case anyone else is looking for a cheap, easy, green way to clean for your kiddos.  And let me just say one more time...TGFG (thank god for google)!  Now, if I could just soak Beansie in some vinegar...

Weekend Fun with the Wilsons

Colleen, Daniel, and Lucas came to visit this weekend.  Friday, we all went to the Springdale Aquatic Center, which normally is awesome; however, after the week of rain and cooler temps, it was downright cold.  Since it was the last day of summer break for Amanda, she and Cayden met us there.  The kiddos splashed about a bit, but Mills was too cold to really get in much...she preferred to stay on the perimeter finding things to pick up (like dirty band-aids...puke-o-rama).  Cayden had much less of an issue with the water temperature; he's pretty fearless when it comes to those splash pad sprinklers.

Saturday evening, we went to the Tontitown Grape Festival for some carnival rides and fair food.  We weren't there all that long due to Millie's bedtime, but we got to enjoy some footlong corn dogs and a couple of rides.  I can't wait until Mills can ride some of those cute little kiddie rides!

 people-watching

 daniel-son and lukey

 this ride was actually VERY fun

 Mills was ready for bed at this point

 my sweet girl