Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Cardio Full Report

I suppose I should go into a little more detail about yesterday's cardiologist appointment, than just the quick text message that I sent on the way home, huh?

It went great!

He said that Peeper's echo was "perfect," and that she's "really taken off" and "really filled out" since surgery.

(They weighed her at about 12 lb 2 oz (!) but, again, I will believe it when I see it on our usual scale at the pediatrician's office. That will happen next Tuesday, when she gets her last (!) Synagis shot.).

He took her off the Lasix, so she's now medication-free for the first time since she was 2 weeks, 3 days old.

And the best part?

He doesn't want to see her again for two months!

(Actually, it will be more like two and a half months from now (June 29) because we're waiting until he's at the OurTown location. Hopefully, we can do that from now on, and won't have to make anymore hour-long drives!)

And, assuming everything is still going well then - our next appointment will be six months after that.

For a little perspective:

She will be fourteen months old at that point.

It's likely to be 2010, because we'll probably push it back a little to get past the holidays.

She will probably be walking.

And talking a bit.

And strong enough to really fight us about the echo.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Peeper's Playmate

Here are some pictures of Peeper and Baby W from our playdate last week.

Thanks, M, for having us over, and for sending me the photos!









Daily Peep: Look, no Ma-hands!

It was still pretty brief, but at dinner tonight, Peeper was keeping herself upright for a lot longer than the 2 - 3 seconds she's been able to manage up until now!

Cardio Report

NO MORE MEDS!!!
Back in TWO MONTHS!!!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Got Goody?

Hmm, it didn't show up so great in the phone-photo, but in real life, she had a serious milk moustache. And goatee.

Nevermind.


I wish I'd blogged about her hating the carseat sooner.

Happy baby!

Daily Peep: All Her Glory


Sunday, April 12, 2009

(Near-)Misadventures

After Shrike left for work today, I decided that it was too nice out, and Peeper was too cute in her bunny outfit, for us to stay home, so I began planning a trip to Target.

I got myself dressed, and Peeper rediapered, and behatted, and into the car seat and grabbed my keys, and . . . .

Where are my keys?

Not in the diaper bag.

Not on the end table.

Not on the "dining" (ie: clutter storage) table.

Not on my desk.

Oh yeah, they are in my jacket pocket!

Where is my jacket?

Not on the couch, where we usually dump the car seat and jackets and such.

Not hanging on a dining chair.

Not . . . oh. Yeah.

In the "back-back" of the car.

Locked in the "back-back" of the car.

With my keys in the pocket.

Well, shit.

So, I called Shrike and asked her if she could think of any place I might have put the keys, other than where I was absolutely certain that they were.

Nope.

Of course, what had been a "eh, what the hell" trip to Target suddenly became a Very Important Outing, and I suddenly got very claustrophobic at the thought of being home with no transportation all day.

And then I remembered -This is what we pay AAA all that money for - to save us from our own stupidity.

So, I called AAA and asked them to send someone out to unlock the car.

Meanwhile, it was getting close to 4 pm, so I thought I'd better see how late Target would be open, since it's a holiday.

Doh!

Not open at all today!

So, I called Shrike again, to update her on the key situation, and whine about Target being closed, and she suggested that we try KMart.

A quick phone call confirmed that the KMart folks are as heathenistic as we are, as they were running their normal Sunday hours on this holiest of days.

Yay heathen capitalists!

About then, AAA guy came and got the car open, my keys were, indeed, in my jacket, and we were on our way.

Of course, Peeper had plenty to say about that, but then she wore herself out and fell asleep, so I took advantage of that and made a quick trip through the Taco Bell drive-thru for a "fresco" (no cheese or sour cream) burrito, and then - off to KMart!

Shrike had asked me to pick up a couple of things for her, and I managed to remember one of them. I also got a few things for myself, including some Oreos, which it turns out, seem to be dairy-free.

(No, I do not want to think about what the creamy middle is made of, if the entire cookie diary-free. )

Then Peeper and I basically just played around in KMart, and I discovered a wonderful thing - the toy section!

Now, taking, say, a three-year-old to the KMart toy section just to browse would be hellish, what with the "I wants" and "buy mes" and "whah whah whahs" - but Peeper has no concept of the market economy, so she doesn't know that we could make those things come home with us if we wanted to. She also has little or no object permanence, so she doesn't know that we didn't.

It's like a baby amusement park. Fun stuff to look at and listen to and play with and then it all stays there and doesn't fill our house with loud, obnoxious, battery-eating, lead-filled plastic crap.

(Yet.)

It was great!

I spent most of my time on the baby aisle, looking at all the cool stuff labeled for "6 months and up," pressing buttons, making noises, and showing it all to her.

She seemed to be enjoying herself, but the one small hitch to wearing her in the wrap (in this position) is that I can't see her face, so I can't be sure just how much fun she's having. I know that she's not mad, but beyond that, I'm really just guessing.

After KMart, we stopped at our favorite convenience store, for coffee and dinner (which is in the fridge, waiting for me), and I talked baby-wearing and extended-nursing and White House Easter egg roll with a complete stranger. (She started it.)

And then, back home for a clean diaper, and some goody and a bit of a nap - followed by toy time and naked time (for Peeper, not me!), more goody and a longer nap (shhh - still napping!).

Other than the part about Mommy missing it all because she's at work, it was a pretty good day, after all.

On the Bunny Trail

And none too happy about it.



Have I mentioned how much Peeper loathes the carseat these days?

She always seems to enjoy going places, being out and about in the world, and having adventures, but the getting there, she can do without.

At first, she cried when we put her in the carseat or took her out, but settled down once she was all strapped in and on her way, and usually just fell asleep.

Then she went through a period of being awake in the car, but just staring out the window, watching things go by.

Now?

There is screaming and wailing and the gnashing of gums, until (when we are lucky) she falls asleep from the sheer exhaustion of it.

Once we reach our destintion, within seconds of getting out of the carseat, she's happy as can be - until it's time to go back in.

Sometimes, I can get her strapped in and she's still hanging in there, not quite pissed yet, and I think that maybe, maybe, this time, she'll just be happy with it, but it usually doesn't work out that way.

It helps a tiny bit - but not much - if Shrike and I are together and one of us is in the backseat with her, doing a song and dance, offering toys, or offering a finger to suck on.

I've not yet tried offering a boob while going down the road, but it may well come to that on Tuesday, when we will be driving an hour to the cardiologist's office.

Today, we went adventuring (more on that in a moment) and on the way home, I just gave up and decided to think of it as a very loud, obnoxious car-sound.

She's not being harmed, she's not in pain, she's just pissed, and there's no talking her out of it right now, so I've decided to just turn up the radio (balance set all the way to the front speakers), say something reassuring to her every few minutes, and hope that this phase passes quickly.

Yeah, that's all much easier said than done.

Note: This photo was actually taken in the house, before we really got underway.

Yes, I did snug the chest clip up to its rightful place at armpit-level and made sure that the straps were well up on her shoulders before driving.

(The straps-on-shoulders thing is difficult, because her shoulders aren't much wider than the straps are.)