Off they go

Tuesday, we took professional pictures because this will be the only time the cousins will be together for who knows how long!  These aren't the professional pictures (just candids taken during the session) but I thought I'd post them until I got the professional images.  Carleigh smiled some ... more than her Houston photo session, but she's still not a fan of other people (besides mommy) taking her picture.

There's a smile!

She was having fun!

Bubba and the boys

The grandparents and the boys ... nice smiles boys

Three generations of women.  Carleigh was losing steam.

But she came back to life inside following the pictures when the boys shared their legos with her!

That night, we went to dinner with them to say good-bye at La Hacienda and Pa-Paw, Uncle Jason, Aunt Maggie and Cousin Nuria joined us.

Love you guys!  Send us pics from Hawaii!

Something New Everyday

What an accomplishment today: Carleigh successfully climbed up her frist step!  And I was ahle to catch her doing it on video a second time!  Now, nowhere is safe unless it's quarantined with a baby gate!  Even with a few falls as she crawled, Carleigh was determined to continue the quest for Maddie.  (She got several rugburns on her face in the process). 

Watch the video below and be prepared to laugh.  Maddie provides Carleigh with at least an hour of free entertainment per day, and here's a glimpse of it.  For those of you that know Maddie, look at how well she tolerates Carleigh, even with a tail grab here and there.  So proud of my girls...  sigh.

She dances to the beat of a different drum

I promise to go back and post some pictures but I'm waiting for my sister to get some to me! I've been videoing Carleigh alot lately because she's hitting so many milestone's these days and I want to make sure I have them recorded.  She'll thank me later.  She's been a dancer for some time... ask my girlfriend Jill, whom we visited over Spring Break.  She thought it was a riot how Carleigh would dance all the time.  I'm the dork she gets it from because I dance like an idiot all the time.  I guess that's what happens when you become a mom.  (Someone back me up here).  Anyways, I thought I'd share because it's cute!  Carleigh, seriously does this about 5-6 times per day, especially if Nick Jr. is on TV.

Aloha Party for The O'Leary's

It was wonderful to see Julie, Stephen, James and John yesterday while they are here for a short visit while on their way to Hawaii (via San Antonio and San Francisco) where they are moving!  Talk about lucky orders!  Living, and not just vacationing in paradise, sounds good to me!

They will be minutes from the beach!

To commemorate their departure from the states, my parents threw them an "aloha party," rather than a going away party and we had the whole family over to celebrate with them! 

Aunt Julie with Carleigh

Caroline and Stella are getting bigger and bigger!

... but don't even come close to cousin Carleigh's size!

Aubrey sunbathed and tried to avoid the boys' shenanigans

Aubrey defended her raft from John (James was sweet and shared)

Carleigh is still on antibiotics but her ears seem better.  No swimming for her, though.  Instead of a swimsuit, she was rocking her skinny jeans.

Not sure what's up with the mouth fixation ... no teeth are iminant.

Carleigh got to see her cousins John and James again, whom she'd only seen over our Mexico Christmas trip, but they weren't too interested in her ... to them she's still a baby.

James was a sweetheart to Carleigh ... not sure where John was???  He's usually a ham but wasn't very friendly at the party.

We'll get to see them again before they leave when we have professional photos taken Tuesday.  It's so nice having the family together!

Procedure Day

At 5 am this morning the whole family woke up, (for once, we had to wake Carleigh instead of the other way around), and we got ready to go to the surgery center for her endoscopy and sigmoidoscopy.  We had to be there at 6 am for prep, though the procedures didn't begin until 7:30 am.  She was such a brave girl!  We were a little hesitant about what anesthesia would be like for an 8 month old but instead of inserting an IV, they put a gas mask over her face, and she breaths in the gas, and falls asleep within seconds (I'm was in there with her while she faded into oblivion, very frightened).  At that point, the anesthesiologist inserts a tube in her nose and monitors her the whole time.  Both procedures only took a total of about 15 minutes.

Daddy and Carleigh right as we got there at 6 am!

Stetching her legs in the waitiing room.

With mommy back in the triage area.  Mommy looks tired!

Carleigh makes that hospital gown look good!

The good news is, they didn't find any tumors or structural abnormalities (any growth problems she was born with).  They took biopsies of her colon, esophogus and her stomach and those results will take 1-2 weeks to come in.  They are checking for abnormal cells and other allergies that could be causing her to refuse to drink milk or cause this irritation.  Dr. Elizondo also said it very well could have to do with the severity of her ear infection.

No joke - this is her 2 hours later.  She seemed slightly sore and didn't have much appetite, but was all over her toys!

She even did better this afternoon getting her antibiotic shot!  Of course she cried, but she was back to playing while we waited to see if there was an allergic reaction.  What a grown up girl!

Since she's eating solids well, Dr. Elizondo told us to not worry.  Obviously continue to try to get her to drink milk, but since she's growing, she's getting adequate nutrients for brain development.  We will still try to sneak the powder formula into her solids in hopes of getting 6 oz. a day in her but he said fluids are the main concern.  So this lucky little rascal gets to drink strawberry and apple pedialyte non-stop!  And 4 oz. of apple juice a day.  Maybe that's why she doesn't want the formula?  Just kidding.  All in all, it wasn't a huge discovery day, but it at least helped us uncover that there was no devastating hurdle to overcome.   Thanks to all of you who were thinking of little C today!

Check out her moves!

This video was taken one hour before Carleigh started screaming today!  It was like a switch was flipped or something but then I got to worrying ...  I thought maybe she had perforated her eardrum, but, thankfully, she hadn't.  Dr. Pauli saw fluid in one ear and said one still looked super inflamed and puss-filled, so it was time to up the anti on the antibiotics once again.   They gave her a Rocephin shot at today's appointment and tomorrow she'll get another shot and then Monday, she'll receive her final one, at which time we'll reevaluate her ear condition.  She's going to hate me tomorrow when we do the endoscopy, sigmoidoscopy procedure, and then get the antibiotic shot on top of everything!  She had lost 2 oz. today (17 lbs. 2 oz.) but on a positive note, at least her eardrum didn't burst.

And look what a good mood she can be in!  Crazy! 

Crawling!

After a 1.5 hour nap, Carleigh woke up full of energy! And who better to chase than Maddie! I captured it on video, so have a look-see! She's still a bit awkward. Her crawl is funny because sometimes she tries to put her feet down instead of her knees, but nevertheless, she gets around. No more leaving her on the blanket to play while I unload the dishes!

Mystery maybe solved?

At 2:30 am last night, after 2 hours of being awake with Carleigh, who wouldn't drink even Pedialyte, and was crying uncontrollably, Dustin and I made the call to go to the ER.  The GI's office had called yesterday during the day to check on her intake and had told me to go to the ER if it got worse, so I felt justified for going.  When we got there, I felt pretty confident that we were dealing with a gastric issue.

For once, we were the only child there, so she was seen immediately.  Sad to say, poor C hadn't gained any weight in the week or so that had past since her Good Night Pediatrics visit and upon checking her out, the doctor was confident in her assessment.  She said Carleigh's original ear infection had never gone away.  In fact, it had become reinfected if anything, and was so severe, she strongly felt that the eardrum was most likely going to burst within the week.  The other ear was also severely infected but she said it would heal nicely with antibiotics.  The doctor gave Carleigh a shot of codeine and a shot of Omnicef that she said would give us a 2 day headstart on the antibiotics (the amoxicillin she'd been on had not been effective) and then gave us an rx for the Omnicef to begin today.  We also got eardrops that contain lidocaine.  Our poor baby!  Let's hope this works and is the reason for her erratic behavior/moodiness/eating!  We are still going to do her endscopy Friday, just to be on the safe side, but I feel pretty good that she's going to get a good report there.  I hope she knows one day that we are doing this all for her!  We love you C!

So happy to see Daddy!

Today, Carleigh was so happy to play with Daddy!  After several days away, he was eager to get some C-time and that smile that was missing yesterday for pictures?  It came out for Daddy!  (and Mommy's camera).  Of course, it could also be that she's tickled pink that she's drinking apple and fruit juice (pedialyte flavors), instead of milk (formula), and she thinks she has the world by the tail!

She was even in a good mood at dinner tonight for Mimi and Papaw!  Look at these silly faces!

Visit to Spring to see The Kuhn's!

Tuesday, Carleigh and I went on our first road trip!  We went to see my good friend Jill and her boys, Ricky and Everett in Spring. 

Her boys, 4 and 2.5, are so much more mature than their ages.  They were so good with Carleigh, and Everett actually gave her kisses and hugs all the time!  He is going to be a very loving older brother to baby Sawyer.   Ricky already is since he's had the practice with Everett.

We had an eventful few days, or so it seemed to us!  Jill had a playdate planned with many of her friends and their children and it was a lot of fun .... EXCEPT that Jill and Ricky weren't there because they had to go to the doctor.  Turns out that was a good thing because they found out he had a virus that had settled in his hip, something called Toxic Synovitis, and it was causing his low grade fever and limp.  Hopefully, he will get better soon, but Jill's friends made Carleigh and me feel very welcome! 

We also went to the park in their neighborhood, where the kids had a great time.  We even got out to the mall and the boys' got haircuts and we rewarded them with a carousel ride and included Carleigh (her first).  She did great! 

Yesterday, I met with an old pharma partner, but now professional photographer, Shalonda Chaddock of Chubby Cheeks Photography, and she took Carleigh's pictures in Old Town Spring.  I had been dying to have her photograph Carleigh and was so happy to have the opportunity this trip.  Shalonda is mega-talented!!!!  But wouldn't you know it?  Carleigh was in the worst mood!  This was the first 24 hours of her formula-standoff and her smile was no where to be found (she's now gone 48 hours with only .5 oz).  I was so sad.  But, I still love my girl!!!  We had a very enjoyable trip and it was great seeing Shalonda, Jill, Rick and the boys.  I can't wait to meet baby Sawyer when he arrives this summer!

Pouty at Playgroup

Today, I hosted playgroup at my house and Tara and Carter, Marne and Tennyson and Stacy and Sumner came over.  What was originally planned as a fun morning, was soured a bit by Carleigh not feeling good.  She wasn't in the mood to play with others, share her toys, or crack a smile.  But she napped and was a sport!

Tennyson modeled his Ritzy Rugrats Easter onesie (I am putting his pic up on the etsy/facebook sites as one of our models)!

Carleigh liked Stacy's necklace!

But she didn't like Sumner playing with her toys.

Carter and Tara!  Look at that funny face and cute smile!

Carleigh was quite touchy-feely.

Carleigh liked Tennyson. It appeared that Carter wanted to hold Sumner's hand.  Hmmm....

Sumner got loud and rowdy on the DJ toy!

Tennyson was overwhelmed with the chaos!

Only after everyone left did I catch a smile from Carleigh.  The medicine must have kicked in.  I can tell her ear is still bothering her, but this evening she was definitely in better spirits. 

I dressed her today in her rhinestone butterfly shirt so she'd look good even though she wasn't feeling good!  I'm trying to teach her all the secrets.