Finally on the up and up!

   I am so happy to report that my sweet girl finally seems to be herself again!  She is playing, eating, and generally being as silly as usual.  (Although today she opted out of her morning nap.  I'm pretending that's a fluke.)  She still has her rash, but it's finally getting brown and fading.  Apparently that's what a measles rash does-- it "stains" as it fades, meaning it turns brown instead of red, sort of like a freckle.

Friday rash

   We were able to get out of the house a little this weekend, which was good for my sanity.  I only noticed a few people giving her the side-eye, but no one said anything to us.  I think it helps that she was pretty happy and didn't act sickly.  She was still a little low energy over the weekend and seemed to run out of steam a little more quickly than usual.

Sunday rash

Monday rash

   We kept her home from church again because her rash was still pretty prominent and we didn't want to worry any of the other parents.  I was also a little worried that her immune system wasn't quite up to the challenge that the nursery can provide.  We knew she wasn't contagious, but her little system has had quite a workout lately, and I wanted to make sure she was good and well before exposing her to anything else.

Monday rash.  That face!  Love love love!!!

    Maybe we can get things back to normal this week.  I had outlined a cleaning schedule for myself to hopefully keep myself on track.  I made it about four days into my schedule before The Great Rash Outbreak, then everything went out the window.  It's not a complicated list, just a reminder of some things and a way to break up tasks to make housework less overwhelming.  I'll let you know how that goes.  What are your favorite housekeeping tips?

Rash Update

   This has been the longest week I've had in a long time.  Probably since we figured out that Abigail had a milk sensitivity.  I told you that we took her to the doctor on Monday morning about her weird rash.  And I told you that the rest of Monday was rather unpleasant.  Well, unpleasant has persisted.

Tuesday bumps

   She has continued to cry off and on (mostly on) all day, every day.  When she isn't crying, she is alternately clinging to me for dear life and lying in the floor limply.  This is not like my sweet girl.  She is typically happy, social, and wild.  She is not a snuggler, sadly.  She does not have a fear of strangers.  She doesn't do anything quietly.  I know, many of you have babies with different temperaments, and are rolling your eyes at me complaining about my baby crying, but since that's not like her at all, I know that when she acts like this there is something very wrong.

Tuesday bumps

   I called the pediatrician's office this afternoon to ask the nurse how long I should anticipate this to last.  She seemed concerned that Abigail was still having symptoms, and wanted us to come in an hour later.  So we went.  We saw the same doctor that we did on Monday, which was helpful because he knew what she'd presented with then.  He checked her over again and declared she was fine.  He said that the measles typically last 10+ days, so this might as well.  X(

Wednesday bumps

   I was smart enough to ask a few more questions this time around.  I asked exactly what component of this vaccine had caused the reaction.  He said it was nothing in the serum or any chemical, but was her body's immune response to one of the actual diseases, likely measles because of her rash.  I was going to ask what that meant for the later dose of this vaccine and he beat me to it.  He didn't recommend that I skip it, but insinuated that perhaps that would be a choice that I (and he) might make, and offered that when the time came he would be happy to provide whatever documentation was necessary to obtain a medical exemption.  He said there was a chance there would be no reaction at all, but there was a chance it could be even worse than this.  Things to think about.

Wednesday bumps

   While of course I'm glad that she's improving and there are no other complications, I was clinging to the hope that we were about done with this.  Every morning when I go get her out of bed, I hope that the rash will be gone.  Now I know I may not be even halfway there.  Talk about a buzzkill.  Chris has been great to take the wheel in the evenings and let me be a worthless lump on the couch for much of the evening, but I am just. so. tired.  I can feel myself getting emotional about stupid things, and I can recognize that is from fatigue.  Today I was so tired that I broke down and took a nap while she was taking her morning nap.  I have a million things that I should have been doing, but I just couldn't.  And it did help some.  Thankfully, tomorrow is Friday and we'll have Daddy home with us for the weekend! Two-on-one is always better!

Project 333: Fall

   I've been pondering an idea called Project 333.  It's not new, but it's new to me.  In an effort to challenge people (women) to do more with less, to view their closets with fresh eyes, and to get creative with their clothes, the game is this: Select 33 articles of clothing to wear for the next 3 months.  Now, some people get all hardcore and say that your 33 must include shoes, accessories such as scarves and belts, and any outerwear you might need.  Me, notsomuch.  Almost everyone agrees that your 33 does not have to include PJs, workout clothes, super gribby work clothes, or underthings.

   My closet, shared with my dear husband, is not spacious.  It is not well laid-out, and it has some downright wasted space.  If you have known me for long at all, you have probably heard me complain about it.  Since we're renters, there's just about nothing I can do about it.  However, compared to the rest of the world, it's almost embarrassingly excessive.  What's more excessive is the amount of clothing I have stuffed into it.  I have been making an effort to pare down and simplify many other areas of my life, and have "conveniently" not gotten around to my clothing yet.  The time is here.

   The objectives are few and simple: 1. Look appropriately dressed for the event, weather, and social group.  2. Dress in a speedy manner in the mornings.  3. Have enough variety to prevent boredom and resist the siren call of Target's clearance racks.  I scavenged through my clothes, made lists of what occasions I would need to dress for during these three months, and started mentally weeding through my closet. Here's what I came up with:

    Rest assured, this is merely a representation of the clothes I have.  Not the actual brands/pieces/whatever.  My grey dress has a v-neck.  My striped sweater is green and white, not green and grey.  It was the best I could do on Polyvore.  On one hand, it was hard to decide what made the cut.  It seemed like I have so many clothes that I had to say no to.  On the other hand, seeing them all in one place, 33 seems like plenty of clothing to get me through the fall. (Oh, that's right.  I decided to do September, October, and November for my three moths.) I clearly did not include my accessories in my 33, partly because I was scared to go that minimalist, and partly because I feel like I choose my accessories to be worn in a variety of seasons and settings and with the intent that I will have them for a long time, so I didn't want to limit them.  We're talking about belts, jewelry, and scarves.  Not going to take up a lot of room.

   I am actually looking forward to this experiment.  The object of the game is not to suffer, hate your clothes, feel ugly, or pity yourself.  It's an exercise in creativity and hopefully a gateway to simplifying another area of your life.  You do not have to throw away anything not in the 33.  You simply box it up out of sight, and at the end of three months, do what you will.  Some people put their clothes back in the closet and get on with their lives, and some assess the 33 and make any necessary edits for the next three months.  I'd love for some of you to join me in this adventure!  Any thoughts? 

Spots!

Sunday bumps

  
   This is what we woke up to Sunday morning.  Spots.  All over her, but mostly concentrated on her torso and face.  My first thought was chicken pox.  She got her MMR/varicella vaccine a week and a half ago, and we had been warned about late reactions to it. I tried calling the pediatrician's office, but they don't have anyone answering the phones on Sundays.  I gave the families that had been at her birthday party the day before a heads-up, although thankfully all the kids had had their vaccines well in advance of Abigail.
    

Sunday bumps

   Obviously we couldn't take her to church, so Chris stayed home with her and let me go have some grown-up time at church.  When I got home, he said that she'd been a little less perky, and seemed to have a very low grade fever, but generally seemed okay.  We stayed in the rest of the day, just taking it easy and low-key.  By bedtime, I was doubting my diagnosis of chicken pox.  The bumps didn't quite look right to me.  I couldn't call the doctor until morning, so we went on to bed.

Monday bumps

    Our pediatrician has walk-in hours from 7:00 to 8:30 on Monday mornings, but the nurse hotline doesn't open until 8:00.  I was undecided if I was going to go straight in, or call the hotline first.  When she woke up this morning even splotchier and redder, I decided to go on in.  We were given our own private waiting room when we got to the office, "just in case."  By that point, she hadn't been running a fever for a while, but had started rubbing at her skin like it was bothering her, especially on her face.  (Who could blame her!?)  The doctor checked her out, and concluded that the rash was a reaction to her MMRV vaccine.  He described it as a "measles-like rash," explaining that this is the type of rash a child with measles would present with, but she would be a very sick little girl if she actually had the measles, with high fever, coughing, and often icky eyes.  This rash is not contagious, he said, but also isn't treatable.  We could give her something if she had a fever again, and we could give her Benadryl if it kept itching.  Otherwise, it just has to run its course.

Monday bumps

   I took her home and it was all downhill from there.  She pretty much cried all day, didn't nap for more than 20 minutes at a time, screamed like she was on fire if I tried to set her down to do anything, but squirmed and flailed when I held her.  In short, we both had a very bad day.  We were out of oatmeal, but I tried a baking soda bath, I tried essential oils topically, I tried Benadryl.  The combination of the three of them seemed to help a little, but she's still a miserable little speckled thing. She's in bed now, but still restless and cries out occasionally.  Last night she got up 3-4 times and needed me, hopefully we can sleep a little longer than that tonight.

   It's a scary situation when the things that are supposed to be protecting your health are detrimental to it.  I can't say that I 100% support the standard slew of vaccines as they are recommended by the medical community, and things like this make me so uneasy.  I don't know what she had the reaction to.  Was it a component of the serum?  One of the viruses itself?  Should I be concerned about future vaccines?  I know that this wasn't one of the life-threatening side effects that the scary pamphlets warn you about, but it is unnerving for me.  She's my baby!  And she's clearly ill!  You better believe that I'll be doing some research and asking a whole lot of questions before her next vaccines.

   So many people have called, texted, or Facebooked to check on us, and it really means a lot.  It's nice to know that we have so many people who love us and our sweet girl, and so many people praying for her.  Thank you thank you thank you!  Keep it up!       

Well, that escalated quickly...

We won't talk about the last time I posted.  Yes, my child is nearly 13 months old.  Yes, we are still in the Little Nest in the Big City.  No, we were not abducted by aliens or deathly ill or dealing with some other sort of terrible tragedy.  I was just learning how to do this mom thing.  Some days I'm a better student than others. 

As soon as I get my photos edited, I'll give you a walk-through of the past few months, including a very sweet first birthday party.  But for now, here's a terrible quality albeit recent photo of my little Peanut:

Bath time is very exciting.

At her (somewhat delayed) 12 month checkup last week, she was 23 lb 3 oz, and nearly 30 inches long!  Still at 95% for height, but she does seem to have slowed down a bit with the growing.  Her 12 month clothes still fit, which hasn't previously happened.  Usually she is a size ahead of her age, but she even has a couple of 9m outfits that work, and some of her 12m clothes are a little big.  Mostly in the waist. 

She has eight teeth and a great appetite!  She eats just about everything, with her favorites being meat, eggs, and beans.  I declare, that is the bean-eatin'-est kid I've ever seen.  She loves them all.  I'm glad.  It's something I've had to learn to eat, and I'm still a little wary of them.  Her other favorite food is broccoli.  Who'd have thunk it?  Not quite walking alone yet, but if she has a hand or some furniture, she's off like a rocket. 

I think it's good for me to have this outlet to pretend I'm talking to grownups, so I'm going to try to keep things more updated 'round here.  If there's anyone out there...