What a difference a week can make

I don't even know where to start with everything Ainsley's done in the past week.  I'm so proud of her!  She already has an "I'll prove you wrong attitude" at 9 months.

Had to make it a quick picture....

because the little monster was itching to knock all the blocks down!

Last Friday night I took her clothes off to put her in the bathtub, and noticed a rash on both of her thighs.  Joel thought it looked like dry skin, but I wasn't sure.  It was more of big red blotches all over her legs rather than an actual rash.  I ended up calling the nurse's hotline on Saturday morning because it had traveled down to her calves and there were a few spots on her arms.  They told me to keep giving her Benadryl if she seemed uncomfortable and put hydrocortizone cream on it.  Of course, I worried about it all day.  All I have to say is:  I'm glad I now have a pharmacist as a sister in law that I can call! 

The best picture I could get of the rash on little legs that kick constantly

In the past week, Ainsley has (somewhat) perfected bye-bye and "So big"...where she holds her hands up.  Sometimes she tries to do the two simultaneously, but she's just killing two birds with one stone, right???  Here's a video with some of her new tricks.  She's back to saying mamamama, which makes me VERY happy!  Babababa has also come back.  I work with her on dadada, but she hasn't even come close to saying that.  She loves it when you praise her after she's done something by clapping and saying "Good Girl".  I found that I could get her to eat more supper by doing that after each bite. 
She is now eating puffs, yogurt bites (broke in half) and the baby mum-mums (banana flavor).  She hasn't gagged on a puff in days now and eats them like a champ.  Baby food has taken a back door to the puffs now, so I have to try to feed her the baby food before I put any puffs on her highchair tray.  A few days ago, she picked a puff up for the first time and put it in her own mouth.  Of course, Mommy clapped and got a little too excited and Ainsley just smiled and enjoyed the praise.

Eating her mum mum

Nothing is safe anymore on the floor if Ainsley is in that room.  She can scoot her way half way across a room to get something she really wants.  It's more like she gets on her belly and reaches as far as she can to see if she can reach whatever she's after.  If she can't reach it, she walks herself back up to a sitting position with her hands and goes at it from another direction by getting back on her belly and reaching as far as she can.  She'll continue to do this until she's finally close enough to snatch it.  She loves playing with the handles on my hope chest in my office.  The vent under my office window is another new toy that she's found to play with.  Check out this video to see her playing with the vent. 

She likes the refrigerator toy

She also enjoys standing and playing with her table.  Here's a video of her standing while playing.  Here's a video of Daddy swinging Ainsley.  I do not approve of swinging so high, but she seems to like it.

A few days ago I put Ainsley in her crib to take a nap.  Of course, as soon as her body hit the mattress her eyes popped open.  I turned the monitor on and walked out thinking she'd fall back asleep.  I could hear her "talking" to herself and it sounded like she was playing with the crib toy I have attached to the side of the crib.  I just assumed she was lying on her side and reaching over to play with the toy.  This went on for 10-15 minutes.  I was beginning to think she would be wearing herself out any minute and falling asleep, but then she started whining.  I let her whine for a minute or so and then finally got up to peek in at her.  I about died when I walked in her room.  She was at the opposite end of the crib than I had laid her and she was sitting up with a foot caught in between two slats.  SITTING UP?!?!  I don't know why I didn't think of her sitting herself up in her crib, but she had been in there the whole time sitting up playing with her crib toys...that is, until she got her foot caught!  She's trying to pull herself up, so I called Joel and told him we would have to lower the crib this weekend. 

Ainsley has also started dancing.  It is the cutest thing ever!  They dance at the sitter's, but I'd hadn't actually witnessed her doing it, until earlier this week.  Any time music come on, she now dances.  I can assure you, she didn't get her dancing ability from her mother, who doesn't dance.  At all.  Not even for Albert Hoots!  Here's a video of her dancing.  Here's another video with her dancing with her hands in front of her...which is how she usually dances!

The lady from the Early Intervention Program (Four Rivers) came on Tuesday afternoon.  I thought they would be evaluating Ainsley that afternoon, but we just did paperwork.  She described the program to me and said that we would need to have two therapists evaluate her.  A developmental and physical therapist are both scheduled to come in the next month to do their evaluations.  If they find Ainsley to have a 30% or greater delay, she'll be eligible for the program.  The therapists would come to the house to do therapy with Ainsley, if they determine she qualifies.  After the great week Ainsley had, I don't think she will qualify for their program.  I'm still going to let the therapists come in and do the evaluations to see what they think.

Around 1:30 Thursday morning, Ainsley woke Joel and I up by coughing.  I guess it was just parental instinct, because we knew she was going to throw up.  Joel ran in and grabbed her and she threw up in her crib.  We laid her down in our bed in between us and she fell back asleep about 20 minutes later.  As soon as she fell asleep, she threw up again all over our bed.  At this point, she was wide awake and thought it was time to get up for the day.  So, at 2 AM, I was watching the movie Jack, while Ainsley was in the living room floor playing.  She played for a few hours and finally decided she wanted to go back to sleep.  She didn't throw up all day Thursday, but she didn't act herself either.  I could tell she still didn't feel good.  She hardly ate, and only wanted juice.  Thursday night before bed, she took about 4 ounces of formula for Joel and then immediately threw it all back up.  She slept pretty good Thursday night and stayed home with me again yesterday.  Formula was out of the question again yesterday.  She would gag every time I put a bottle with formula in her mouth.  All she would eat was puffs and juice.  She's only had 8 ounces, at the most, of formula for 2 days.   She slept most of the day yesterday and is acting like she feels a little better this morning.  She hasn't thrown up since Thursday night now, so I'm hoping she's starting to feel better.  I hate seeing my baby sick.