Itchy Lily

One day last week while Lily was feeling particularly horrid I stopped at my friend Jakies house on the way to taking Lilipop to the Pediatrician. Lily has been there countless times but this time something was different for her. Jakie's cat Honey, in a ridiculously short amount of time, made Lily break out in hives. (My family and Jakie's pets = not good LOL)

We de-haired her clothes, wiped down her skin and headed off to her ped appointment. What is the first thing the nurse notices? The hives. In all fairness they were kind of hard to miss they were even on her face. After seeing Barbara about Lily being sick we discussed Lily's reaction and I agreed it was time to get her allergy tested.

Yesterday was the day. Since the kid hasn't been through enough lately we just decided to throw this at her too. Sometimes you just get really lucky when you pick a doctor at random and yesterday was one of those days. This doctor was fabulous and had a great sense of humour. One thing that he had in common with Lily's pediatrician was a common belief that it was not the cat that made Lily break out in hives but more likely something that she ate that morning. I stood firm in my belief that it was Honey.

In came the nurse with her tray of 32 nasty little scratchers to poke Lily with and we were off. She marked up Lil's arm and the first scratch was histamine and within seconds she responded.
She then continued down all 4 columns until she was done. The far right as you look at the photos are food and cat and dogs. We were watching these really closely.

Immediate reaction to histamine. Everyone has that.

As each minute passed she started to react to 4 things and get itchier and itchier but she could not scratch so behind closed doors she turned into a ninja and had herself and her mother in fits of giggles.

Nothing happening here

Something going on here but we don't know what it is.

Aha, see the bump on her arm that is tucked under that's CAT! 

After her 20 minutes was up the doctor came back in (he back in before that to just to check on her) and he looked at her rolled his eyes and sighed. She is allergic to cats and quite highly allergic to cats! He doesn't get it. She is also allergic to grass but only the kinds of grass that we have down here in Florida, the kinds that pollinate 10 months out of the year. He doesn't get it because most kids with these types of allergies display different symptoms: runny noses, bronchial infections, itchy eyes, asthma, what you consider typical allergy suffering symptoms but not her she goes straight to hives and displays nothing else. Plus, this is sudden onset!

I told him, this is typical of my kid, she doesn't like to be ordinary. He laughed. She made him laugh a lot. He said if and when she breaks out in hives, cos she will because, lets face it, you can't avoid grass it's around, she should just take anti histamines. It isn't a "bad" allergy. We know this.

Her ant allergy, now this is a bad one and is life threatening. I don't know if he was trying to scare me or not. If he was it didn't work but he says it can kill her. Yes, I know this. He wants the shot therapy for her. All doctors do. We researched it, thoroughly and I don't. Her reaction to ant venom is very high it measures a 5 on a 1-5 scale. She is aware of this and is careful. We don't go anywhere without her epi-pen and she has only had a problem once. ONCE. She might never have an encounter again.

So weird kid of mine has developed more allergies. The cat one blew me away cos this summer when we went to GA jacob took them to see his aunt who is cat lady and has 20 cats and she didn't even scratch let alone break out in hives.
What gives kiddo?

10 year old check up

The dreaded day arrived regardless of how much she wished it wouldn't, and believe me, she wished.

Lily was surprisingly chipper this morning and as soon as we arrived at the incredibly busy doctors office I asked exactly what tests they needed so that Lily could prepare a little more. (My brother suggested that I ask if they could do the same tests from a urine sample and my Auntie suggested that they let Lily do her own pin prick but I knew I would have to wait and discuss these options with Barbara so I needed to be prepared). Thank you all for the suggestions.

First off: height and weight. She is 66lbs and 54.5 inches tall. She gained 8lbs last year and grew 3 inches. A little more weight was suggested especially with all the swimming as all she has is muscle. Holy guacamole the child has grown like a weed and after a very thorough "inspection" from her pediatrician it appears she hasn't started her growth spurt yet. There is a chance that this girl is going to be taller than me after all or at least the same height as me. Do I need to tell you how happy that made her? No I didn't think so. Lily said that she is a shorty in her class and Barbara went on to explain the Tanner Scale and how lots of the girls in her class are probably nearly finished growing and how she hasn't even started because in her words, "she's not even knocking on the Tanner Scales door yet" in fact "she is only walking up the pathway".

They talked diet and health and exercise and school, and friends. They talked and talked about everything. I came into the conversation rarely. Hobbies, clothes, any problems, health issues, you name it they discussed it. Then it was time for the dreaded pin stick. We talked about her reaction to that news and Barbara pulled up her stool and went in to great detail about being afraid of things and how it is normal. She also said that at least twice a week she gets kids that go into her office who want shots and she finds them a lot more disturbing and thinks they need help. It made Lily giggle, especially since she rolled her eyes so far back in her head. She thinks Lilys fear is normal and manageable. If it gets worse then Lily will talk to someone. She then decided that since it is acceptable within national health guidelines to check for anaemia and cholesterol every 2 years that if Lily wanted they would skip this year with the understanding that it HAS to be done when she is 11. Lily agreed, imagine that. She then went onto explain that she WILL NOT allow her to skip a shot if it compromises her health. That Lily cannot take oral antibiotics so if she gets sick she has to get a shot, no choice. Lil' nodded.

She then suggested that the nurse come in with a needle so that Lily could just see it and see how tiny it is. At first Lily was nervous but I asked if I could see it so the nurse came in and the Doctor left. The nurse was so sweet and finally Lily touched it and looked at it but didn't actually speak. Barbara was amazed that she even touched it.

So she got through today. BUT she didn't have to deal with her fear and I am not sure if that is good . Kidlet was as white as a ghost, she looked sicker than some of the sick kids there.

The great news is she is as healthy as a horse. She is average height on the U.S. charts which is shocking to me and not so average with weight but that's ok, I think it's better that way. We left  with a very relieved child who vows not to get sick at all this year so that she doesn't have to see her again.

Happy go lucky is back again!

Afraid of needles

I don't think I have ever written these words before: Lily is afraid. Actually she is terrified.

Somewhere, somehow she has developed a completely irrational fear of needles. It started about 2 years ago and now I can say it has peaked to the point that by definition it is a phobia. And she has her annual physical tomorrow.

I have researched and researched her concerns and typically there is something that happened to start it but for her there was no one incident. I even asked her if it was when she got her ears pierced and the doctor slipped and pierced the very bottom edge of her ear by mistake and then couldn't get the earring out and had to tug and tug and tug. But that wasn't it. She says she doesn't know what happened. She absolutely loves her doctor so that's not it. She did say she hated seeing Rosie getting shots when she had her heart surgery but that was so long ago and she doesn't think that was what did it. She also saw Rosie hooked up to every machine known to man, post surgery and it didn't faze her at all and the hospital had therapists on hand to talk to siblings about what was happening.

Last Sunday in the car I gently reminded her that she has her annual physical coming up this week and she went silent. I checked on her via the rear view mirror and saw her crying her eyes out and breathing really shallow fast breaths. I whipped the car over and told to Jacob to drive and I hopped in the back seat with her.

I started deep breathing exercises with her and also muscle relaxation techniques and was able to calm her down but it was no easy task. The crying continued for a good 10 minutes.  She is terrified. Now to most of us this is ridiculous and she needs to pull herself together and I agree BUT when you are scared of something it just isn't that easy. I typically wouldn't have any patience at all for this behaviour but for 2 reasons I do. One: this is Lily and she doesn't make a fuss, she isn't scared of ANYTHING ever and two: I have been petrified, to the point of passing out, of dogs for a large portion of my life so I know what it is like to have an irrational fear. You truly cannot control it. You know it is crazy but you cannot help yourself once the fear kicks in and the adrenaline starts.

Everyday this week we have worked on breathing exercises and relaxation. I have also taught her to look at me and only me, in the eyes and focus.

Even Rosie has got into the act. The other day she appeared with a pair of tweezers out of her doctor kit and pinched Lily's finger, telling her it would only hurt that much. The tweezers were plastic so they bent as she pinched and of course felt nothing like the real thing but her intentions were good.

Yesterday morning as Lily got ready for school she got really snotty over her socks, of all things. Once I told her to get a move on she got really flip, so I scolded her. I failed to realise that she was worrying about Saturdays' appointment. It wasn't until later that I put the two things together. When I put her to bed last night she asked if I could stay with her for a while. She was afraid of her appointment again. I stayed with her on her bed and let her talk it through.

She is the most rational 10 year old I have ever met and she knows this makes no sense and it makes it worse for her.

If any one has any ideas at all please give me a heads up. It's no fun living life with a phobia and it isn't possible to get through life without getting a shot every now and again. Oh and all she needs this year is a pin prick in her finger!

Oh and this is a kid who carries an epi-pen everywhere she goes. Maybe she's forgotten that it contains a needle!

(this photo has nothing to so with this post it is just one of my favourites of her and shows her looking a lot more care free than she does at the moment)

Sad little Pickle

A couple of weeks ago Rosie missed a couple of days of school because she had a fever, no other symptoms, just a fever, last week she got another one, again no other symptoms. They last for a couple of days and then she is right as rain. I didn't bother taking her to the doctor cos frankly I figured with no other symptoms it was a virus and they'd be nothing they could do. Yesterdays fever was higher than they have been and she really felt awful. She slept on and off for most of the day and this morning she woke up feeling just as awful and looking pretty grim. I told Jacob to call the ped' and let me know what time to meet them there and I headed to work, which made Rosie cry. She is always the dramatic child, in case you haven't figured that out. Yesterday and today she hasn't made any noise when she cries she just has these ENORMOUS tears cascading down her cheeks by the bucket load. Sad, very sad.

My text read, Dr. G at 10.15 so once I was done with my first patient of the day I headed straight to the doctors office where I met Jacob and took Rosie. There is no point in a perfectly healthy kid setting foot in an office riddled with germs so Jacob took Lily off with him to run some errands. Rosie was still looking pathetic even by her dramatic standards.

The ped examined her; tested her for the flu, for strep, a blood test, a white blood count and  a urine test and the only thing that came back iffy was the white blood count. Oh joy. Everything else is negative. She isn't going to jump on the white blood count being low yet because Rosie feels like crap and it could be the answer right there but she doesn't like the fact that she has been sick this often so if she gets another fever in the next 2 weeks after this one has gone we have to go back for further testing.

It could be as simple as she is tired. It's the end of the school year and the kids have been working over time on their performance for graduation, for Mothers Day etc etc and some kidlets just don't handle it well. Hah, we all know how well Rosie handles anything different so I am putting my money on that. Plus I like those odds a whole lot better.

When the nurse did the blood draw Rosie started the tears, the great big aforementioned bucket sized tears and the nurse said she has never seen such big tears ever. She really does have enormous tears. I thought tears came in one size too until I met Rosie but I can assure you that they don't. One of Rosie's tears is the equivalent of 4 of anyone elses.

That is a tear under her eye. Just one. See how wide it is. 

Feel better little pickle. This really is the most pathetic I have ever seen you. :(

Are you kidding me

For many years the only time the kids saw the pediatrician was for their well visits. Both girls went a whole year without seeing her.
This is not going to be another year like that. Oh No. It's March and tomorrow morning will mark our 4th visit to the doc. Why you ask? Because when I picked up Lily from school she had virtually lost her voice, had a really sore throat and was running a fever. 10 kids were absent from her class today, all for the same reason.Oh and did I mention her nose is like a faucet. Are you kidding me? She just had strep!

Nothing has changed, they still both get plenty of sleep, their diets are good, they eat fruit and veggies like there is no tomorrow so what's going on? I don't like it at all.

But the real kicker here is that we are flying to England on Friday! GAHHHHHHH. Or at least we are meant to be.

Talking of flying, packing winter clothes is a lot more complicated than summer clothes. They take up a lot more real estate in the suitcase. I started packing this afternoon, before I picked up sicky kid, and before I knew it the case was full and it only had the kids clothes in it. No wonder I detest this aspect of travelling so much.

Spotty Maldoone

I mentioned that on Saturday Rosie was having a nasty reaction to her DTaP shot. On Sunday she woke up covered in spots and still had a rotten fever. I rang the Dr's office to inquire about the spots and was told there was no way it was a reaction to the shot and that she was probably coming down with something. Ok, well that was helpful. I was really pissed off about the response. Rosie had a fever of 103. I wasn't just calling to be a pain in the arse.

Yesterday the fever was gone, her arm no longer looked like it belongs on Mr. T however she still had a deltoid that would make a muscle man proud and her fever was back within normal Rosie range however the spots were even worse. I rang the DR again and made an appointment for that afternoon. Our pediatrician wasn't in yesterday or today so we saw another who is my absolute favourite. He took one look at her and said, She has chicken Pox. He then read her file and realised she had been vaccinated against them twice shook his head and ordered a chickenpox test. It came back negative. He then ordered a test for scarlett fever which also came back negative. He touched, he scrutinised, he rubbed, he scowled, he made Rosie laugh so hard and then he quit!

After all that he said: I think this is an allergic reaction to the shot. (I wanted to yell, I KNEW IT, but I refrained.) He has never seen it before, he ruled out so many other possibilities and that is all that is left. He gave her a paper to take to school stating that she isn't contagious and said it should look a whole let better tomorrow.

It doesn't itch, it isn't painful she just looks like hell. Actually she looks like she slept in a bed with bedbugs.

5 year well visit

This morning I took Rosie to the pediatrician for her 5 yr old check up. I wish I had taken my camera because when she had her hearing tested she looked like a little rock star in a recording studio it was hilarious.

Anyhoo, the kids is as healthy as a horse and growing big, this was said with a little cough. She is finally firmly embedded on the American charts and stands in the 25th percentile for height and the 10th percentile for weight. Barbara, who is my friend, couldn't help but giggle at those stats. She still would really like her to put on a few pounds but is no longer at all concerned as Rosie is no longer frail. Not bad for a kid labelled "failure to thrive" 4 years ago.

She had to have a blood test which came back clean and clear, ditto her urinalysis. She needed a couple more catch up shots and she is a year behind on a couple of them.

Her stats at five years are as follow:

Weight 34.75 lbs
Height 41.5 inches

Last year she weighed 30. lbs and was 39.5 inches.

I could have sworn she has grown at least 4 inches but I guess she has only grown these 2 and it just looks like a lot more when I put her in clothes that are suddenly way to short.

Barbara strongly suggested a flu shot since we are leaving on a jet plane soon and heading somewhere cold. Since both the girls
were with me she suggested we do both today. Lily freaked out. For sometime now she has been very nervous about shots and I think that since this was RoRo's visit and not hers she was 100% shocked by the idea. She totally wigged and ended up in a panic over the idea. Barbara left us alone to talk and came back a few minutes later and asked me to step outside the room. They had just received a new shipment of flu shots this week but only had one left. What did I want to do. I had already told Lily she WAS getting one and but couldn't expect her to take one when it was Rosie's visit yet I couldn't back down. I said to forget and we would go back when she had more. The nurse then came in to give Rosie her DTAP and Lily just fell apart. She cried and cried and buried her face in my chest and couldn't even look and it wasn't even her getting the shot.

Barbara came back in and talked to Lily. She told her that everyone is scared of something and that it is OK but she wants to help her overcome it. So we are going to start working to get Lily over this fear. She was truly petrified and even though she knows it is completely irrational she can't control it. I spent many many years of my life being petrified of dogs, to the point I would stop breathing until I passed out, (that only happened once) so I know how she feels and I know I have to get her through this, and I will.

Back to Rosie, she decided that she would be the 1 in 4 kids who gets a nasty reaction to her shot and her arm is really swollen, red and painful and she has a fever of 103.4 so I dosed her up with M0trin and she is asleep. Brighter days ahead.

Before she got sick :-(

We started attending the Beaux Festival of Art long before the kiddies came along. Lily went to her first one when she was 3. Every year they have an area set up just for kids and it was there that Lilipop made her first ever sand art. She carefully chose a bottle and then layered lots of different coloured sand into it. She thought it was a magnificent master piece and carried it around with her all afternoon, stopping occasionally to admire her work. After a few hours we headed back to the car and as I unlocked the door and helped her into her seat I dropped her prized possession onto the ground and it smashed into a thousand tiny pieces. She was crushed. Her Daddy took her back the next day to make another one. Harmony was restored to my life.

This year we took Rosie to the festival for the first time and Lily couldn't wait to introduce her to sand art. (I find it quite hideous but to this day we have Lilys whole collection in the toy room and it is most revered by the little sister) They were so excited and immediately started searching for the sandman. I forgot my camera which is pretty lame but I at least had my phone.

Adding the first colour

The pro doesn't need help.
More
phew, that was exhausting
Oh yummy, these ice creams were so good.


Now I have 2 more lovely bottles filled with sand. But I have a fabulous dragon painting too!

Shortly after we got home Lily said her throat hurt. I thought she may just have been very thirsty so I gave her a large drink. After dinner she mentioned it again. This time I gave her a salt gargle. Lily doesn't really complain about much so I put her to bed and she was fine. I woke up in the night due to hubbys glorious snoring and rolled over to whack him but found a child in the way. I knew right there and then that she can't have been feeling well. If Lily crawls into our bed in the middle of the night, it's never good. This morning she woke up and felt like poo. I took a look at her throat and knew immediately it was strep. It was all spotty and ucky. She has never had it before but I know from all my friends that it isn't something you want to mess about with.

Off to the dr's she went and was diagnosed with strep. The prettiest case of strep the Dr. has ever seen. (whatever that means). So she spent a day at home with a headache, no appetite and no energy. One of her classmates delivered her work and I helped her out with it as much as possible. Good grief they get a lot of work. Supposedly, if she has no fever, she can return to school tomorrow. She hates to miss school so I know she will push to go back, I will push to keep her home if she is still as pale as she was today. Hopefully her meds will kick in soon and she'll look and feel better.

Now to keep them separated and stop them from kissing each other. Good thing I love a challenge!

Life.

Today I think I left smoke in my tracks. I ran from here to there and back again from the second I woke up. I run like a lunatic on a normal day but today was extreme.

Rosie woke up this morning and was only able to open one eye which although hilariously funny to see was not a great start to my day. As soon as her doctors office opened I rang them and the sent a prescription to the pharmacy. We figured it was pink eye. About an hour later my eye got all funky too. If you have followed this blog for a while you know I can't take any chances with my eye.

We dropped Lily at school and headed straight to the assembly area for Lily's honor roll ceremony. We were informed by other mothers that have had this teacher before that this would be the first year she wouldn't make the honor roll and to forget principals honor roll as that was out of the question. When she bought home her report card she had all A's in academics but a B in conduct with the homeroom teacher. Oh well we had been warned. As I left school last Thursday I bumped into the "tough teacher" and she said she wanted to tell me something. She had been thinking about Lily's grade and had changed it. She wanted to surprise Lily at the assembly so would I please not tell her. This lady who I have been scared of since school started was so nice, just a really lovely lady. In fact we chatted for a good 10 minutes and I almost got locked into the school.

Adam and Lily. The only 2 kids in their class to make the Principals Honor Roll. Standing with their teachers.

Here she is receiving an award for Perfect Attendance.
Lily, Adam and Sana, the 3 amigos.


Lily was shocked, really shocked. It was great. She then went and thanked her teacher and was hugged by her. Obviously this lady is not what everyone says she is.

Anyhoo, from there I flew to work at full speed and on the way home picked up Rosie's script. the whole time I was driving home I kept thinking....but what if it isn't pink eye and she gets treated with the wrong meds. I know that is irrational but my eye problems started with me being given the wrong meds and now I have a droopy pupil, a scar in my eye that affects my vision, a pupil that no longer dilates and contracts and my eyes are 2 different colours. I'm a bit sensitive to eye problems.
I voiced my concerns to jacob and he agreed. I have the best eye doctor ever and I have his home phone number and his cell. With all the problems I have had, I have never used them. Today I rang his personal office number. He told me to bring all of us in immediately. When we arrived the front desk was waiting for us. This is a huge practice and so busy. The wait times are awful but whenever he sees me in the waiting room he just puts me to the front of the line. (I know it is wrong for the others waiting, It's not my doing) He dealt with Rosie first, then me then Lily. All of us got a full exam, a really thorough exam and vision tests. Rosie cracked everyone up and she went into so much detail about what she could see. The tech, and I were laughing uncontrollably. 2 out of 4 of us are infected.

Darn child of mine is always bringing home something skanky from school. We all got meds, just in case it spreads. We don't all have to use them, just Rosie and I, for now.

By this time it is 4.45 and swimming starts in 10 minutes. With my eyes completely dilated I drove as fast as I could to the pool. That was hair raising. Lily was 3 minutes late. Rosie and I sat and watched her swim then we flew home for dinner. DINNER??? Oh my word the lasagna I had planned on making was still in the ingredient stage. I threw together an omelette and salad. At 8pm the kids finally went up to the bath and then to bed.

Now I need to figure out what to do with Squirty Smurfy Murphy,

Last night he ate the chocolate out of the advent calendars that my sister sent and I got 2 very annoyed kiddies this morning. They couldn't believe he had done such a thing. Once they looked in the fridge they found the stash and then spent ages methodically putting each piece back in their calendars.

Cheeky little Elf.


It will be me who eats the chocolate tonight, not the elf.

Greetings from the house of skank

I swear there is never a dull moment around here lately with regard to trips to the doctors office. Up until this point we usually sailed from well child visit, to well child visit without visiting the pediatrician in between. Not so anymore.

We returned this week for Rosie's 10 day re-check. She told me on Wednesday that she could hear again out of her left ear so I guessed things were healing well and I was correct, to a point! Her medications were all finished and she wasn't complaining of any pain so I thought for sure we were done. It took the doctor all of 2 seconds to examine her ear, see where the tear had been and announce that both ears are still full of fluid. Urghh. She is hoping that it is healing and this is part of the ongoing process however....blah blah blah and no swimming for another 10 days.

I then bought up the fact that the "skank" on Rosie's body hadn't completely gone. It was much better but still there. Another look, another scrape. Rosie is completely unfazed at this stage in her life with whatever doctors do to her. Gone are the days of screaming whilst being restrained for an Echo or EKG thank goodness. Even shots are fine. So the scrape took only a couple of seconds and the results came back quickly.

IT'S NOT RINGWORM. Those were words I was very happy to hear. What is it? Well that's a bit of a mystery. This Dr. who is our regular ped' thinks it is 2 different things, not all the same so we now have 2 different treatments for them and yet again things appear to be moving along but it hasn't gone and by tomorrow if there isn't a really significant change we have to go back again.

Skanky, not really a word I like to associate to my children so she just better hurry up and shake it!

Even the Dr. mentioned she was surprised that I hadn't boiled her in bleach by now......who knew I was so transparent?

So here we are waiting to go back again, once for the fluid in her ears and once more for the skank. Sigh!

Pulled an all nighter

I have been a mummy for just over 8 years and for the first time ever last time I pulled an all nighter with a sick kid. (not counting the night of Rosie's heart surgery). Thems are good odds!

At 11-ish last night Rosie appeared at the top of the stairs and was crying, sobbing in fact. I whisked her into my arms and bought her down to the couch with Jacob and I. She sat with us for a few minutes and I tried to work out what was wrong. Finally I decided she must have had a bad dream. We went back up to bed and within minutes I could hear her crying. I bought her back downstairs and we sat for a while. Finally she stopped crying and managed to say that her ear and cheek hurt.

Jacob and I just looked at each other with dread. I gave her some motrin and went to bed with her. Even in her sleep she cried. By 4.00am I knew things were getting worse and not better so I rang the Doctor. Even at 4.00am someone answered the phone. I love our pediatrician. I talked with the nurse and she told me to give her a "large" dose of ibuprofen and if her temp went over 104 then I was to take her to the ER. In the meantime everything else I was doing was fine and we were to head into the office at 8.30. The larger than usual dose of medicine numbed the pain enough for her to fall asleep for an hour it didn't however touch the fever she now had.

The doctor showed Jacob and I her ear and it was nasty. She was very surprised that it hadn't ruptured and told us to expect it to. Alrighty then. We filled her prescriptions took our instructions and bought a sore and sad Rosie home. I laid her on the couch and offered her some lunch, she wasn't biting. She fell fast asleep instead so I hightailed it to my bed for a quick kip. I hadn't even fallen asleep when I heard screaming. I bolted downstairs and Jacob was carrying a very distressed Rosie up to me.I tried everything to comfort her, hot water bottle, pain drops etc but no go she just cried and writhed in pain for about 2 hours. Suddenly all was quiet and she was sleeping, soundly. I snuck out of bed and went about my day, checking on her periodically. She was sleeping on her nasty ear so I couldn't see if there was any blood but I pretty much knew by the way she was screaming that the tympanic membrane had ruptured.

I was right. When she woke up she was all bloody and in much better spirits but as deaf as a haddock. Jacob rang the Dr. again and she changed all her meds and he ran out to get the new ones. As the day progressed she got quite perky and by bathtime she was actually giggling again.

She isn't eating, she is drinking. Her fever is still up but she feels better. Now we just wait and see if she gets any permanent damage from this. I seriously doubt it. I can't even tell you how many times that happened to me when I was little and I am fine. She can't get used to not hearing out of one ear, it's quite sweet to see her furrow her brow and try to work out what is going on.

Oh both ears are infected but only the left is truly nasty.

Sleeping peacefully for 3+ hours. At first she had to sit up because laying down just made the pressure so much worse. She has slipped off of the pillows here and is far into the land of nod.

And of course we received the obligatory "your child was not in school today, please ring this number ******* immediately and send a doctors note with your child tomorrow", phone call.
She isn't going to school tomorrow, I wonder if they will come knocking on the door.

9 year old check up.

Today was Lily's annual well visit with her pediatrician. Her regular ped called yesterday to say that she wasn't going to be in the office and gave us the choice to re-schedule but since Lily has no issues I was fine with another doctor seeing her.
I loved this other Dr. just as much as I love Barbara.
She conducted the whole office visit towards Lily. She didn't ask me one question. I think that is so important cos I am not Lily and she needs to be able to answer the types of questions that doctors ask her and also feel comfortable doing so. First off was the weights and measure room. She now weighs 58lbs (4 stone 1) and is 51 3/4 inches tall. Not much growth this year. The doctor really questioned her regarding her lack of weight gain and wanted to be sure she was eating. Once she was happy with all the answers she got we moved on. She ended up saying that Lily looks terrific and it is nice to see slim and healthy children as so many kids are obese today. She then checked a few of Lily's joints and was quite surprised to see how flexible she is...aren't we all? Lily performed on demand for this one and the doc was laughing at her flexibility prowess.
Lily's hearing, eyes and everything else were checked quite thoroughly along with the usual urinalysis and blood test for anemia and cholesterol. Lily's cholesterol has dropped, not much but it is down so that's good. She isn't concerned about it either. it was 219 and now it is 205. She talked about growing boobies, and body hair but also added it wasn't very likely yet but at 9 these things are now considered normal. (say what?) I was much older than that and frankly I am still waiting for my boobs.
All in all another great visit. The doctor offered the flu shot, looked at her file and said, "I see she never gets sick, lets not bother. If you want it come in anytime and get one". She doesn't ever get them and I'm hoping the doctors words didn't jinx anything.
So we bebopped out of the office and Lily started to complain that she was starving so I did something that I NEVER do and drove through W*endy's and picked her up a kids meal. I'm sure the Dr. would have loved that.

Lily's new look.

This past Thursday Lily bought an envelope home from school that was addressed to, The Parents of Lily C. It was a really fat letter inside so I ripped into wondering what it could be. The letter stated that Lily failed the eye test and that they suggested she see an eye doctor.

It didn't come as a huge surprise because when we saw the doctor a little over a year ago he said he expected that she would need glasses in the next couple of years.

I called the Doc' immediately and we went to see him on Friday. ( you may remember that saga from a previous post) She was tested and needed specs so off we went to choose some. At first the whole idea of wearing glasses just devastated her. She kept chanting, "I look like a dork. Mummy, I look like a nerd", etc etc. All of a sudden she put on a particular pair and Lily came shining through. She tilted her head, she beamed from ear to ear, she wiggled her hips and said she liked them. Hallelujah.

I ordered them with all the bells and whistles that I was offered: scratch proof lenses with insurance so if she gets one little scratch, they will replace them for free, hinged arms so she hopefully won't snap them off or stretch them out, and of course transition lenses, there was something else but I can't think what it was.

Today as I was picking her up from school I received a call to say they were ready so we headed straight there. She put them on, had them fitted properly and just kept smiling. When we left the store I asked her to take them off for a minute and then I asked her to read a license plate. She did so I asked her to read the words above the letters and she had no idea. I told her to put her glasses on and try again and she read, myflorida .com, with ease. Within minutes she was saying that everything was so clear. She loves the sunglass effect in them and hasn't taken them off, well except to have a bath and go to sleep. At the moment they are the cleanest glasses I have ever seen as they gave her a cleaning kit and she is using it A LOT.

I feel a little guilty for not realising she needed them and also for not realising it was over a year since her last check up. Duh.

So here she is with a look that she will have for a few years, at least until I feel she is capable of dealing with contact lenses.

This is the only photo I have of her inside so the lenses are clear but it is an awful photo.

These were all taken at the park later this afternoon. Heaven help me, she looks so grown up.

I'm just throwing this one in cos I love it. Jakie and the girls.

So, is anyone interested in a friendly wager to guess just how long it will be before before she either breaks her glasses or loses them?
I give it 3 weeks until we have a calamity and I am really being positive with that guess.

Repeat, Repeat, Repeat.

When Andie comes to stay we have fun. Lots of fun and many giggle fits. She thinks life in this part of the world is crazy and moves at an insane pace. I agree with her. She also thinks my life is particularly nutty and she is right. If something needs to be done, I have to do it right away so add that to a fast paced society and you have bedlam. She likes a quieter life and loves large open spaces. I do too but it isn't happening here.

She knew that both girls would be in school last week and that Jacob and I would be working but she didn't care she came anyway. No quick trips away for us this time around just the everyday stuff.

On Friday I dropped Lily at school and then headed off to renew my driving license. To my delight it was uneventful and I left with a temporary license and was back home in record time. Next on the agenda as far as jobs was to pick Lily up from school early as she had a doctors appointment. I have only ever pulled Lily out of school early once before so I am not used to the protocol.

I grabbed my keys jumped into the car and headed to school where I raced into the office and was asked for I.D. Uhh, not a face in the office that I recognised and I know everyone there. I saw the assistant principal 2 seconds before but he was gone. I raced back to the car with Rosie and Andie in tow and headed home for my license. Then we returned to school I handed over my I.D. and they went to get Lily. Mr. P reappeared and asked if I was still waiting and I explained that I had forgotten my I.D to which he replied, I know you. Thanks, very helpful now! I am thankful that the school insists on I.D. and so I wasn't upset just a little pushed for time at this point. After what seemed like hours Lily appeared and we raced back home so that she could get changed and have a snack.

We left the house in a rush and drove to the eye doctors. I also know everyone at the doctors office as I have been a patient there for a long time and seem to be there all the freaking time due to my eye. I am unsure of what is worse, trying to find a parking space at baptist hospital or trying to get in an elevator. We were lucky on the first count but not so much on the second. As we are waiting Lily is reading all the doctors names and I point out that one is also in the office where she is going so we need to go to that floor. I said, "thats William T, but he is called Billy Boy cos his daddy also works there and he is Henry" then I point out Jack and say, "he used to date the doc I used to work with" and then we find Dr.S's name but before I can say anything a man in scrubs with a surgical cap walks forward and introduces himself as Dr. William T. He had heard the whole conversation and "Billy Boy" wasn't impressed. Andie and I cracked up laughing and fortunately the lift arrived at that moment and even though it was going down we hopped in. Unfortunately as we went back up we stopped at the same floor and "Billy Boy" hopped in. Andie and I were hysterically giggling but I was able to hide behind a tall guy so "Billy Boy" couldn't see me. My doc calls him Billy Boy and I have seen him many times as a patient and we have talked about it however I guess he doesn't want the world to know it.

As we are chatting with the office staff I realise I have forgotten the paperwork that the doctor has to sign. URGHHHH. I leave Andie with Lily and head back to my house in Friday traffic. Oh and my gas light was on at this point but I didn't have time to stop. Yeah, I know that makes no sense at all but it did then.

We get home AGAIN, I grab the papers and a huge bag of chocolate and head back to the office. Lily was in a room and waiting to see the Doc. After a few minutes he comes and announces Lily needs glasses. She is not happy about this but in my absence Andie has had her try a few pairs on and she is warming up to the idea.

I just needed to get out of there. The day just kept repeating the same task and I was fried. Before we headed home for the day we stopped at an eye glass place and she filled the script. She looks so cute in them and is now looking forward to them being ready.

If I have another day where I just keep re-tracing my steps like that I will go mad. I am usually very organised. And just for the record, yes I do know it is the law to carry I.D, but I never do when I run to school. It's a mile away and I leave my phone and wallet at home every single day. If you think I have learnt my lesson, think again, it's me!

Rosie's 4 Yr Old Check Up

The peanut just had her 4 yr old check up.
Drum roll please........
Kidlet is still on the charts. I think there will be no turning back now as she hanging on right at the 10th percentile and has been doing so since last August. Both of her Dr's were really impressed.
At 48 months Rosie weighs: 30 lbs
and she is 39.5 inches tall.

This means that in one year she has grown 3 inches and gained nearly 3lbs.

Average weight gain for children of this age is between 3-5 lbs per year.

She had to have 2 shots, MMR and Chickenpox booster. In addition she had a blood draw done and was tested for anemia which was negative and her urinalysis came back clean.
When we were with Rob and Gloria last summer Gloria was concerned about how many times she pee'ed so I made sure to have it all checked out. Gloria's son is diabetic and that was why Gloria was concerned. I guessed it was due to a mirror in her bathroom that Rosie loved so she kept going to pee so that she could see herself. Rosie's sugar levels are fine but I really appreciate Gloria's concern.

So the Peanut continues to be a peanut but a healthy Peanut.

Gung Hay Fat Choy

Chinese New Year starts tomorrow but we chose to celebrate early for 2 reasons. The first, it is already tomorrow in China and more importantly, it's Rosie's birthday tomorrow.

Since we always have our park playdates on a Wednesday I just decided to turn it in to a CNY party here at the house. We bought some fortune cookies and then dipped them in melted chocolate and covered them in sprinkles. All the kids have enough to take to school with them tomorrow to share with their friends. They had lots of fun doing it and they got might chocolatey!

Getting started

Yum...chocolate


Goo Goo bought these outfits back from Macau last month. I love the edging on them it makes them stand out.
Goo Goo and Father Joe came over to wish Rosie a Happy Birthday for tomorrow and they gave her a musical card, she loved it.
I have such a bad migraine tonight, again, that I am ending this post here and will add to it tomorrow

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(yeesh I didn't even manage to put a period at the end of the last sentence, I needed to get to bed fast)
I saw this idea on another blog, not sure which and new immediately we had to do it. On that blog the fortune cookies were all perfect and the photos were amazing. Not so much on this blog, the kids did everything themselves and we ended up with chocolate and sprinkles everywhere.

Rosie ended up at the pediatrician today. She woke in the night with a fever and she only just had one that lasted for 4 days. We ummed and ahhed about taking her, good thing we did she has an ear infection and is on antibiotics for the first time ever. As you can see by the photos she doesn't feel ear pain apparently.

Calling In The Big Guns.

I believe and this is just my own personal feeling, that the worst feeling in the world is not being able to help your children. I know that my sister can contest to this.

Rosie has always been an anxious child. In the beginning just about any situation outside of our home was too much for her. She withdrew and became very clingy. We kept all outside stimulation to a minimum. It wasn't fun but it had to be done for our daughter. Slowly but surely Rosie was able to take on more and more, yet certain situations were still triggers so we would talk her through them or sometimes just avoid them entirely. Ergo's were her comfort zone and her stroller was a close second.

She has never ever been completely comfortable when she is away from us and by away I don't mean under the charge of someone else but rather, in another room. All is right in Rosie's world when she has her immediate family right. next. to. her. side.

As time has passed she had become more comfortable but note that I used the past tense. Approximately 2 weeks ago Rosie's anxiety came back but this time it was worse than ever. Now she cannot bare to be away from me, at all, for one second. Our routine has always been the same and nothing has changed in it. Nothing appears to have provoked this but it is happening and to see our daughter go through this is so very painful. Yesterday she nearly vomited when she realised I was not going with Lily, Jacob and her on a play date. That's how bad it has become. Every single night she has nightmares where she yells out, please don't leave me or don't take me, no no no.

This is not normal and we won't stand back and watch her suffer. The Rosie that you see on the blog or see in person when we are with you is not the same Rosie that is being tortured by this constant thought that she is going to be abandoned.....again. Please don't sit on your high horse and tell us that she doesn't remember her life in China as she clearly does. She makes comments that rip deep into our hearts. Don't tell me she has to get used to being apart from me because I know this but she doesn't have any inkling of how to do this.

Jacob and I have done every thing we can think of to help her, she takes my photo with her, she gets a note from me (that was her own request), she wears something of mine every day we are apart but none, NONE, of it is working. We have decided that it is time to call in a therapist to help her work this out. Her school is on board with us and couldn't be more helpful. The director is also implementing steps to help her and her teacher is acting like her very own Grandparent. We have learnt so much in just a couple of days.

I will be spending time with Rosie in school and slowly we will transition me to the bench outside her classroom. This cracks Lily up as she loves the idea of me being benched. Lily has given her one side of a heart necklace to wear whilst she wears the other half. It not just Jacob and i that she missed but Lily as well. As much as she misses me the most she also needs her Daddy and Big Lily.

We have discovered that emotionally Rosie is at a 2 yr old level whereas mentally she is above average. She is exhibiting the behaviours of a child a year younger than she is. She checks on me constantly when we are in the house. If she is in a different room she calls my name calmly and if I don't hear her the second time she calls me it is with her voice filled with panic and fear.

Now we have lots of games to play. The most important is hide and seek. Mummy hides and she has to find me. Mummy is gone but only for a minute. We then explain that is just like at school or when I go to work. She can always find me because we are a family and families are forever. Monotony is the name of the game around here LOL. This will all take time and will probably take longer than we hope but we are in this for the long haul.

If you ring me and I don't answer it is because I am either on the bench, or hiding under a bed!

My father thinks therapist are foolish. How can someone else who doesn't even know you solve your problems? To him I say, I don't work on my own car and I definitely don't practice surgery on myself I turn to people who are adequately trained and with years of experience. I am not trained in psychology so I am turning to someone who is.

Together we will chase away these demons, once.and.for.all.

I am sharing this because if anyone is going through this with a child they are not alone and if they want to talk they can email me or leave a comment.

Happy go lucky Rosie at home!

Finally......we are through.

After nearly 2 years of being a patient Dr K's Rosie is all done! We had a 6 month check up this morning and even though she hasn't grown very much and hasn't gained much weight she has held her own for the past 6 months and is still crawling forward at the speed of a sloth!

At 43 months of age Rosie weighs 27.5 lbs and is 38 inches tall. This puts her in the 3rd percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height with her overall percentile at just under 10%. She is going to be long and lean. Honestly I don't see the long part considering how tiny she is but I suppose in comparison to her weight gain her length pushes the percentile up, up, up!

So all of this means we are through with the Dr. just as long as we check in after her next well visit with her regular pediatrician so that she can chart her numbers then.

I learnt something today from the Dr. regarding poorly nourished children and that is the first 2 places that they look on their little bodies for a visual is the calf muscles and the shoulder girdle. Kids can be scrawny skinny but the musculature in these 2 places is really important. Rosie is a little power house even though she is tiny.

And one quick note for my father straight from the doctors mouth after I asked her about Rosies high fruit and veggie intake:

Nutrition is key to good health. Rosie has not had any stomach flu's, or general childhood illnesses in over 2 years and has never had the need for antibiotics. This is a reflection of her overall nutrition. Some children do not like certain foods but I can see that this child has a balanced diet and receives the nutrition she needs. It is not good for children to eat to much just as it is not good for them to not eat enough.

I rest my case!

We are off to celebrate this banner day with a clementine and a few cherries........her latest favourites.

8 Year Old Check Up

Lily just had her 8 yr old healthy child check up and I just want to document it so that I have a record for her.

Not a very interesting visit, the wait was actually a lot longer than the time spent with Barbara. She is now 54.5 lbs (3.8 stone) and is 49 1/4 inches tall. She has gained 5lbs in the past year and grown 2 inches. That puts her in the 25th to 50th %tile for both weight and height.

She didn't need any shots so Barbara decided to check her haemoglobin, iron and cholesterol. All her tests were fine with the exception of her cholesterol. It is very slightly elevated. It came back at 219. (for Andie: over here it should be under 200) Now 219 isn't particularly high but for an 8 yr old that is weird plus we eat really healthy and the doctor knows this. She decided that in 3-4 months she wants to do a fasting lipids test and see what the numbers are then. She gave us a few suggestions to try in the meantime and I have already put them in to pplay.

Other than that Lily is as healthy as a horse and very solid due to all her riding.

Not So Big After All.

Sometimes it feels as if Rosie and I live at her gastro's offfice. I really don't feel that we need to be going there anymore and her regular ped' doesn't feel that we need to be going there anymore either and so as we headed in there today at the dark hour of 8.am I truly thought it would be for the last time....wrong again.

Since Peanut is looking so much bigger and is definitely getting taller I thought she might have tipped the scales at 2lbs heavier since we have not been there for 3 months but oh how silly I was! Rosie now weighs 26.8 lbs and is 37.5 inches long. She is still in the 10th percentile for weight and the 50th percentile for height. She has gained 1lb 2ozs in 3 months. I knew when her ped weighed her for her well visit and said she weighed 28 lbs it was a joke, it was all of her winter clothes. So yet again we have to go back again but this time not for 6 months. I swear I am canceling the appointment and being an irresponsible parent and just saying I am done. She is healthy. Her issues are all in the past. I won't be able to do it, I know that! I will go back and wait for 2+ hours in the waiting room to see the doctor and get told she looks wonderful but she should be gaining more weight than this at her age. It is really starting to get old. When we initially went to see her we had legitimate problems, Rose was losing weight and everything that she ate went in one end and out the other....mighty fast. She as tested for everything and they discovered nothing for months and then by accident the culprit was discovered and since eliminating it the problems have ceased but she never has gained the weight that the doctor has been "weighting" for.

If she didn't weigh her naked I swear I would hide lead in her pocket just to be done with all of this!