Colds, Vaccines, and Thrush -- Oh MY!

We've had a busy couple of weeks compounded by a mildly sick baby who needed lots of hugs and cuddles. Millie's cold finally cleared up early last week, so we were clear to get her DTaP shot on Tuesday. Of course, the weekend before we noticed that her tongue was sporting more thrush than usual, so I made another appointment with the Dr. instead of just seeing the nurse for shots. Dr. Moore was happy to see that Millie's cold was gone and commented on the fact that she had been seeing a lot of the babies from our mommy group lately. Which was true -- we actually got off pretty easy compared to some of the other babies, lots of colds, ear infections and even a case of RSV. Somehow Millie got pegged as patient zero and we were told no more playdates for a while ;( (in a joking way). I'm pretty sure Millie was wrongly accused! We're just happy that everyone is on the mend now.

So, Millie got her shot after being officially diagnosed with thrush and given a prescription to clear it up. As always, Millie was a smiley delight at the Dr.'s office. She gave me a look of "why are you letting this happen?" as she was stuck with the shot, stuck out her little lip, gave a cry and then calmed back down as soon as I picked her up. There were no immediate effects of the shot and things went on as usual for the next day or so.

Thursday evening when Millie and I got home I took her temperature 'cause she was feeling warm, and indeed, she was running a fever. We gave her Tylenol and monitored things all night -- her temperature went up to 102 around 10:30 p.m. and that's about the time I decided that mommy and Millie were staying home on Friday. Millie's temperature was down to 99.5 the next morning, but we decided to do walk in hours at the Dr.'s office and have things checked out anyway. Millie's appetite the day before had been less than usual and her digestion seemed slow too -- plus the fever the night before -- we just wanted to be sure everything was alright. It seemed too late to be having effects from the shot, but apparently not. The Dr. checked Millie out, and of course she was the picture of perfect health. All happy and smiley, no temperature -- just perfect! So, we got a "watch and see" order and the Dr. thought the fever was probably a leftover effect from the shot and the decrease in appetite and BMs was probably due to the thrush. So, Millie and mommy got a free day at home ;)!

Saturday we spent the day out as a family -- we started talking to a woman about having Millie's baptism dress made. My initial thought was to have the gown made from my wedding dress, so we took it to a little Italian woman recommended by one of my friends. We learned one thing, there is no arguing with a little old Italian woman! She was very reluctant to cut up my dress. After some discussion we agreed to leave the dress with her for now and to come back with my baptism gown to see if she could make that bigger rather than using my wedding gown. So, we'll go back this weekend with not only my baptism gown, but my first communion gown too and see what she can do. I like the idea of making the baptism gown from my wedding dress -- I feel like it would really then be a family heirloom that we could pass down for many generations, whereas the liklihood that anyone will wear the dress as a wedding dress is pretty slim.... We'll see how the conversation goes this weekend. I have a feeling the little Italian woman will get her way.

After visiting the dress shop, we stopped in to a little corner breakfast place and treated daddy. Millie had a great time sitting at the table with mommy looking at everyone and everything in the restaurant. After that we headed back to Fairfield where mommy and Millie were meeting the other mommies and babies for lunch (most of them -- Kara and Em and Donna and Cole were out of town, they were missed!). Once again Millie had a great time looking around and exploring and it was great to sit and chat with the mommies. Turns out we're all losing our hair -- mommies and babies alike! -- and dealing with a plethora of other new mommy issues, not to mention sick babies. Daddy had dropped us off, but got back before we were done, so Millie went and took a nap in the bar area with dad while mom finished her lunch with two hands ;). It was a very enjoyable afternoon for everyone.

Sunday brought with it a very sleepy baby -- so much stimulation the day before wore her out! Her thrush seemed to be bothering her too as she was fussy from time to time (especially when mommy and daddy were on the phone :)). The amazing thing was that for as tired as she was and as bad as she might have been feeling, she was VERY chatty! When she was crying, the best thing to do was to lie her down on her back next to me so she could look up into my face. I talked to her, sympathized with her and echoed back her emotions and soon enough her face was unscrunched, her eyes were open and we were having a great conversation complete with giggles from both sides! Millie was quite impressed that mommy could make the same sounds that she could. I'm doing my best to get her to imitate "mama" ;). We're working on daddy too... And the chattering hasn't stopped ;).

Millie was talking before this weekend, but it wasn't too consistent -- you never knew when you would be lucky enough to talk with her. Now though, it's a pretty sure bet that she'll talk to you when she sees you. You, her mobile, her toys, anyone who is around! I captured some video of her doing just that this afternoon :).

Monday things got back to normal. Millie seems to be feeling better -- she's eating well and sleeping well again. Though, today she thought she was a big girl and didn't need a nap. Stephanie earned her money today! We're still working on clearning up the thrush with medicine, but other than that everyone is very happy and healthy. The good thing about so many trips to the Dr.'s office is that Millie got weighed a lot. 11 pounds 6 ounces on Tuesday the 28th and 11 pounds 8 ounces on Friday the 1st! Up a whole half a pound from the week before. Simply amazing how quickly she is growing... Though, I must say she's still a little chickpea and she still has a little pea head :).

In non-baby news (kind of). Mommy made it to the gym twice last week! Quite the leap from where I was pre-pregnancy, but I'll find my way back again. I tried out a couple of new gyms with a co-worker last week, looking for one that will help increase my motivation. I found one I liked and Millie seemed to approve too, but I might stick with the cheapie one we are already at -- it's 24 hours which means theoretically I could go early in the morning before work. Still trying to make that theory a reality.