I Got The Laryngitis

Kate's pediatrician told us to be prepared to be sick "for the next year" when we told her that I would be returning to work and Kate would be attending daycare.  (She's a real optimist, that one.)

She wasn't kidding.

Kate has literally had the sniffles for two months now.  Her little nose is congested and/or runny and I feel so absolutely powerless that I can't stand it.  I suppose I came down with whatever congestion Kate has been dealing with because I ended up getting the sniffles too, only mine came with an incredibly achy back, exhaustion, a terribly sore throat, a four day case of laryngitis, a cough, and now congestion.  (Fortunately Kate's version of this cold is much milder.)  We're going on 14 days now where I have not felt myself, people.

I tell you this not for pity but to remind you that our darling girl is still very much getting to know us and the very world around her.  Having a raspy/barely there voice accompanying her Mama's face threw Kate's world upside down for the first couple days of this little laryngitis bout.

And what exactly did you do with my real
Mama?

I would talk to Kate like I normally do, but because I sounded so completely different, I would get less smiles and more "why on Earth are you talking like that" looks.  (See said look above.)  She eventually came around and realized that her Mama was in fact her Mama.

Having to take care of your baby while you yourself aren't feeling well is the second hardest thing I've had to do as a Mommy.  Leaving Kate is still the first.

The Many Sounds of Kate

When Kate was first born her cry sounded more of what I described as a pterodactyl cry rather than a newborn baby cry.  Out of nowhere you would hear this raspy, screechy, prehistoric battle call.  It was absolutely adorable and made us all smile each time our little girl needed our attention.  As a matter of fact, the very first night we were home from the hospital Kate let out her pterodactyl call in the middle of the night.  This caused Jack to start barking...  It sounds like chaos, and it was for a moment, but we composed ourselves, and our dog, and took care of our sweet baby.

That pterodactyl sound morphed into an occasional hawk call and then very clearly into more of a screech owl type of sound.  (I'm not entirely sure why all these sounds come from animals of flight when Kate clearly will not be flying herself.)

It has now morphed into a very funny babble!  Unfortunately, I don't have any pterodactyl, hawk, or screech owl videos that I am aware of, but I do have several funny babbling videos:

(Please excuse the poor filming in this one.  I'm not entirely sure how the camera turned off and then back on and kept recording.  Ahh, technology!)

Now, if that doesn't make you smile, perhaps this one will:

Still at it the very next day:

We're not entirely sure where the next speech transition is going to take us, but we will be sure to have our cameras on hand for whatever Kate decides to throw our way!  I can only imagine it will be vowel sounds, or perhaps even first words!!!

Rollie Pollie

Kate has been perfecting her roll for about a month now.  I have finally captured some pretty fantastic ones on camera!

Also, I am in no way referring to our sweet girl as a potato bug.

Be Mine

Last Valentine's day, Brian and I had a traditional Valentine's day dinner at an Italian restaurant and talked about where we would vacation.  A little Thailand-Cambodia-Malaysia excursion was pretty high on our list and we envisioned all of the things that we would do and the places we would go.

I distinctly remember waiting for our table and all of a sudden, out of no where, having to go to the bathroom immediately.  (Number one, not two.)  Brian said, "maybe you're pregnant!"  After all, we had been trying, but I quickly blew that off because I thought that your lack of bladder control happened more when there was limited space within your uterine walls, aka toward the latter part of your pregnancy.  (Alas, I was merely an amateur at that point.)

Four days later we found out we were expecting!

We quickly scratched our Southeast Asia excursion (that could most definitely wait!) and began the most incredible journey of our lives: having our baby girl!

In t-minus four days, we would find out that we would
be parents-to-be!

This Valentine's Day finds us together as a family of three with our sweet angel, Kate, and we couldn't be happier!

Our very first Valentine's day together!  XO!

Kate is Mommy's Valentine...

...AND Daddy's Valentine!!!

We made Valentine's on Kate's behalf to send to all of her Grandparents and celebrated this day with a non-traditional Valentine's day Mexican dinner.

Kate's Valentine: front...

...and back!

And Daddy surprised us both with a little bunch of roses and a delicious cupcake!  (Daddy is Mommy's Valentine too!)

Brian mentioned that this is the first holiday where he realized he's going to have to come home with two bunches of flowers now!  What a sweet Daddy!

Our Valentine's Day was extra special this year with our baby girl by our sides, and we are so looking forward to celebrating this holiday together for many, many more years!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Daddy's Girl

Kate,

I see the way your Daddy looks at you, and I know that he loves you more than words.  Your smile melts his heart, and you especially love to smile for him!  I know that he will always, always be there for you.  You already make him so proud.  There is no doubt in my mind that the two of you will have a very special bond.  You may not know it right now but you already have him wrapped tightly around your little fingers.

You are and always will be his little girl.

♥ Daddy's Girl ♥

Kate Kompilation

Ok, so B.K. (Before Kate), I would label our photo folders with the date and a little description.  An example would be: 10-17-12 - Week 38 Bump.  A.K. (After Kate), all of our albums have a date and then all they say is "Kate".  Obviously, when there are special moments or occasions (first bath, holidays, etc.), those are put in the description, but all the rest of the folders are just labeled "Kate".  I am not kidding when I say we nearly have a folder for every day since Kate was born.  And that is perfectly fine with us!  We think you would too if you had those darling baby blues staring up at you every day!

Anyway, in lieu of our plethora of "Kate" folders, we've put together a little Kate Kompilation, highlighting our very favorites over the last several months!

Morning cuddles before work.

On our way home from daycare!

♥

Beautiful little face!

Check out these and more in our entire Kompilation album here!

Namaste

While we were expecting, I had intended on enrolling in a prenatal yoga class.  Unfortunately, the timing just never really worked out.  (I know.  I had ten months and didn't get the timing right.  It sounds crazy, but it's true.)  Nevertheless, when I heard about Mommy and Me Yoga, I wasn't going to waste anytime getting signed up and making it work.

So, three Saturdays ago, Kate and I started our very first yoga class.  After a week at work without my baby girl, it is so nice to look forward to some relaxing Mommy and me yoga time on Saturday morning with my baby girl.

Plus, it is such a fantastic way to kick off the weekend!

Our modified sailboat.

Our modified tree.

Our modified cobra.

Namaste!

Spilt Milk

They say it's no use crying over spilt milk...

...But when it's your first full week back at work...

...and your are getting used to a very different schedule...

...and you miss your baby girl every moment of the day...

...and you have to pump on the floor in a supply closet...

...and you know producing milk takes time...

...and you actually spill your milk...

...there is a use for crying.

Supply closet accomodations are better than
 none, right?

It makes you feel better, and it is 100% ok to cry over spilt milk.

Trust me on this one.

Snow Angel

We had a snow day today!  We didn't make snow angels, per se, but it did snow and Kate is our little angel, so the post title is more than fitting!

Our little angel!

That face is so precious! ♥

And that cold little nose gets lots of kisses!

Jack cares less about precious faces and little red noses
and more about tennis balls and the act of throwing them...

He does provide good entertainment for Kate!

Kate realizes that it's much more difficult to
find her hands in this getup.

After about 10 minutes in the snow, we went inside and
cuddled to get warm!

Let it snow!

The Littlest Patient

Four days after Kate's two month check-up, I noticed that her pupils were different sizes.  I grabbed Brian and he noticed too, so my eyes weren't just playing tricks on me.  I was immediately concerned.  I had not heard of this and there was nothing that I read in any book that said this was "normal".  So I took to Google.

Do not Google things in moments of panic.  Trust me.  You'll find the worse case scenario and it won't leave your mind when 9 times out of 10 it's nothing to worry about at all.

This was our case exactly.  I searched everything that I could with different sized pupils.  I studied Kate's eyes, her vision, and her gaze as much as I could with my own eyes.  And I kept a very close eye on the eye that appeared to have a larger pupil.

That was a Thursday night.  First thing Friday morning I called Kate's pediatrician.  The nurse told me that the different sized pupils, which are only noticeable in low light conditions, was probably environmental.  Meaning that there was a bright light shining on one side of her face and not the other causing two different sized pupils.

Now, I'm no ophthalmologist, but that just didn't make sense to me.  I realize that brighter light causes your pupils to contract and lower light causes them to dilate.  But, in a "normal" environment (read: a common house as opposed to a scientific testing lab), I just couldn't grasp the fact that there would be a noticeable difference in the amount of light that entered each of Kate's eyes.  I mean, it wasn't like I was holding a flashlight to one side of her face and not the other.  (I would never hold a flashlight to my baby's face, for the record.)  I thought that perhaps the pupils had just developed at different rates.  I mean, that's more believable to me than it being "environmental".

So, I called the pediatrician again.  The nurse assured me that this was probably nothing to worry about and that the pediatrician would take a look at Kate's eye at her next appointment in March.  MARCH?!  Two months away March?!  I wasn't going to be able to last on "probably" for two months.

Over the next several days, I payed particular attention to Kate's eye and ended up calling the pediatrician back again.  I couldn't wait until March.

The pediatrician saw Kate and thought that her eyes looked completely fine.  I explained that you could not tell a difference in normal light conditions, it was only low light, and that I noticed that Kate was only rubbing the eye with the pupil that appeared to be larger.  (Kate, fortunately, rubbed that very eye that I was referring to right then and there!  I felt like saying, "You see, lady?!  I'm not being paranoid.  Check her.  Now, please!")

The pediatrician turned the light off and cracked the door open and held a little light to each of Kate's eyes.  Then she said, "Oh, you can tell a difference."  DID YOU THINK I MADE THIS APPOINTMENT JUST BECAUSE I WANTED TO COME SEE YOU AND CHAT?!  SERIOUSLY??  THAT IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN SAYING THIS WHOLE TIME.

She referred us to a pediatric ophthalmologist who could take a closer look and told me not to worry "at this point".  Now (pardon my french), what the hell was that supposed to mean?!  Don't worry about my baby "at this point"?  And at what point do I begin to worry?  Please, enlighten me, because I've been told that I probably won't stop worrying about my baby, ever.

(Side note: We actually really like our pediatrician.  I think I was a little on edge with going back to work looming in my near future and my concern with my sweet little girlie that I'm probably making our pediatrician sound like someone that should not be trusted with our child.  That is not the case at all.  She is very much a reputable doctor and we have really enjoyed working with the practice.  Plus, a little drama helps the story...)

Anyway, we were able to schedule an appointment with pedi ophthalmologist for the following week, which actually was today.  The doc gave Kate a once over.  He checked her eyes, followed her gaze and looked at her pupils in low light.  He also noticed the different sized pupils.  He put some eye drops in her eyes to dilate them and he checked them again.

Kate gets ready to meet the doctor.

She is the sweetest little patient!

We found that Kate's baby blues are perfectly normal!  Her vision and development are right on track, and the variance between the two pupils in low light is attributed to a very mild case of anisocoria.  I cannot tell you how wonderful that was and is to hear!  I had too many scary thoughts running through my head.  Google is so very useful in many, many situations, but it does not take the place of a specialist with a trained eye.

I will still worry when things don't seem right.  I will probably still worry when things do seem right.  I guarantee that I will always be looking out for my baby.  I just won't be worrying about her eye...for now.