HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, BABY
Jack and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary this weekend. Hello. We're that old? Yes. Yes, we are.
Our plan was to jaunt (another trip????) off to San Francisco to see Granny and get some baby sitting for a dinner out. But Nanners, our wee addition, got sick. We cancelled our plans Friday morning when she woke up screaming with symptoms of a cold. Saturday morning she woke up screaming at 5 A.M. and her heart rate and respirations were so fast for the next three hours I became alarmed. Van slept on me, belly to belly, so I knew what was going on. I phoned my sister who suggested I take her temperature then phone the pediatrician. Her temp read 106.8 which was obviously incorrect, since Nanners was running outside with Milo and was not in fact seizing.
In the end, our pediatrician's nurse told us to take Vanessa to the E.R. "do you need an ambulance?" she asked. No. It turned out Vanessa had two ear infections and asthma induced by bronchiolitis. The doctor thinks she has an R.S.V. (viral) infection. Her heart rate at the E.R. had been 150-170 bpm while sleeping on my lap, and her respirations had been 40+ per minute. In the E.R. she exorcised a monster amount of phlegm from her stomach, which surely made her feel worlds better. So did the steroid (prednisone), antibiotic, albuterol inhaler, and narcotic for pain. In fact, after a goodly nap on Saturday, she sat up, rubbed her eyes and, when I asked her what she wanted for lunch, said, "Onions?" I fried up a whole onion for lunch, her favorite. She was up 'til 11 P.M. on her steroids. Nice rebound, girl. Oy vey. Sunday she had *no* nap and was up 'til 11 P.M.. Today, Monday, she's breathing much more normally and is thankfully catching up on her sleep.
When she's not a sick puppy, Vanessa is shocking us with her vocabulary. I grabbed pen and paper five days ago, to try to write down all her words. I got to 100 and had to stop the list short. I tried to carry on, but Jack now keeps telling me to write down her sentences. Forget it! I can't keep up! I feel pretty sure she has a 200+ word vocabulary and it's growing. Every new word she hears she retains and uses later in context. Correctly. Oh the sponge that is the toddler brain. HOLY CATFISH. It's pretty awesome.
Some samples from yesterday:
"Milo! You slide!" (we got a new slide)
"We go ride Cadillac?"
"Dogs eat burgers." (a day after we gave Milo leftover burger)
(Looks at Daddio on the ladder) "Daddy is working."
"Max is eating cat food." (that's 5 words, folks)
Our favorites:
Mama: "Vanessa, we love you so much."
Vanessa: "I know."
Mama: "Would you like a pretzel?"
Vanessa: Points to the tortilla chips. "Chips." Then points to the refrigerator. "Salsa."
Mama: "I can't find my slippers."
Vanessa: "Your slippers?" Holds both palms to heaven, raises both eyebrows. "Are they outside?"
Mama: "Did you go for a walk to the tide pools? What did you see?"
Vanessa: "Crabs! Daddy had a crab in [his] hand!"
Cashier: "My, what pretty curly hair you have."
Vanessa: "I know."
Mama: "Vanessa! Can you say, 'Thank you'?"
Vanessa: "You're welcome. Bye."
She can finally say, "Nessa" with gusto, and "Vanessa" comes out like "Fanessa." Very fun to finally hear. She will call herself Ko-Ko-chan sometimes.
So how did we celebrate our anniversary in the end? Taking care of our baby miracle and thanking God for her existence, heartiness, and our marriage. She's taking her first prescription medicines like a pro, even the inhaler. The pediatric inhaler has a mask that covers the whole mouth and nose and a chamber that keeps the medicine suspended in air for about 20 seconds. To get her to take all the medicine in, we simply interview her - the talking gets her breathing. Her favorite thing to say? "Uncle Mark."
Since we've been home from Rhode Island, "Auntie" Shea-Shea high jumped on the David Letterman Show, "Auntie" Nell got engaged to her beau-hunk, Braidy and moved to L.A., Nanners said her first ever "Happy Birthday" over the phone to "Uncle" Allan for his 40th, "Uncle" Chris and "Auntie" Shea-Shea took positions as volunteer coaches with Jack (a HUGE help), and our new veterinarian told us Milo is really an Australian Kelpie. Kelpies are workaholic herding dogs who can run 37 miles per day. That's our Golden Hound!
Life is good.
Jack and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary this weekend. Hello. We're that old? Yes. Yes, we are.
Our plan was to jaunt (another trip????) off to San Francisco to see Granny and get some baby sitting for a dinner out. But Nanners, our wee addition, got sick. We cancelled our plans Friday morning when she woke up screaming with symptoms of a cold. Saturday morning she woke up screaming at 5 A.M. and her heart rate and respirations were so fast for the next three hours I became alarmed. Van slept on me, belly to belly, so I knew what was going on. I phoned my sister who suggested I take her temperature then phone the pediatrician. Her temp read 106.8 which was obviously incorrect, since Nanners was running outside with Milo and was not in fact seizing.
In the end, our pediatrician's nurse told us to take Vanessa to the E.R. "do you need an ambulance?" she asked. No. It turned out Vanessa had two ear infections and asthma induced by bronchiolitis. The doctor thinks she has an R.S.V. (viral) infection. Her heart rate at the E.R. had been 150-170 bpm while sleeping on my lap, and her respirations had been 40+ per minute. In the E.R. she exorcised a monster amount of phlegm from her stomach, which surely made her feel worlds better. So did the steroid (prednisone), antibiotic, albuterol inhaler, and narcotic for pain. In fact, after a goodly nap on Saturday, she sat up, rubbed her eyes and, when I asked her what she wanted for lunch, said, "Onions?" I fried up a whole onion for lunch, her favorite. She was up 'til 11 P.M. on her steroids. Nice rebound, girl. Oy vey. Sunday she had *no* nap and was up 'til 11 P.M.. Today, Monday, she's breathing much more normally and is thankfully catching up on her sleep.
When she's not a sick puppy, Vanessa is shocking us with her vocabulary. I grabbed pen and paper five days ago, to try to write down all her words. I got to 100 and had to stop the list short. I tried to carry on, but Jack now keeps telling me to write down her sentences. Forget it! I can't keep up! I feel pretty sure she has a 200+ word vocabulary and it's growing. Every new word she hears she retains and uses later in context. Correctly. Oh the sponge that is the toddler brain. HOLY CATFISH. It's pretty awesome.
Some samples from yesterday:
"Milo! You slide!" (we got a new slide)
"We go ride Cadillac?"
"Dogs eat burgers." (a day after we gave Milo leftover burger)
(Looks at Daddio on the ladder) "Daddy is working."
"Max is eating cat food." (that's 5 words, folks)
Our favorites:
Mama: "Vanessa, we love you so much."
Vanessa: "I know."
Mama: "Would you like a pretzel?"
Vanessa: Points to the tortilla chips. "Chips." Then points to the refrigerator. "Salsa."
Mama: "I can't find my slippers."
Vanessa: "Your slippers?" Holds both palms to heaven, raises both eyebrows. "Are they outside?"
Mama: "Did you go for a walk to the tide pools? What did you see?"
Vanessa: "Crabs! Daddy had a crab in [his] hand!"
Cashier: "My, what pretty curly hair you have."
Vanessa: "I know."
Mama: "Vanessa! Can you say, 'Thank you'?"
Vanessa: "You're welcome. Bye."
She can finally say, "Nessa" with gusto, and "Vanessa" comes out like "Fanessa." Very fun to finally hear. She will call herself Ko-Ko-chan sometimes.
So how did we celebrate our anniversary in the end? Taking care of our baby miracle and thanking God for her existence, heartiness, and our marriage. She's taking her first prescription medicines like a pro, even the inhaler. The pediatric inhaler has a mask that covers the whole mouth and nose and a chamber that keeps the medicine suspended in air for about 20 seconds. To get her to take all the medicine in, we simply interview her - the talking gets her breathing. Her favorite thing to say? "Uncle Mark."
Since we've been home from Rhode Island, "Auntie" Shea-Shea high jumped on the David Letterman Show, "Auntie" Nell got engaged to her beau-hunk, Braidy and moved to L.A., Nanners said her first ever "Happy Birthday" over the phone to "Uncle" Allan for his 40th, "Uncle" Chris and "Auntie" Shea-Shea took positions as volunteer coaches with Jack (a HUGE help), and our new veterinarian told us Milo is really an Australian Kelpie. Kelpies are workaholic herding dogs who can run 37 miles per day. That's our Golden Hound!
Life is good.
Ahh, fried onions... Yep, she's got Jennings genes!
ReplyDeleteExactly what I told Jack. Two weeks ago she reached into the fridge and pulled out a half of raw onion. She took off, eating it like an apple. So "Grampa!"
ReplyDelete