Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Ainsley wants to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I tried to do a photo shoot with her a few weeks ago for our St. Patrick's Day cards, but she wasn't having it.  She's been terrible about leaving bows in her hair for the last month or so, and refused to keep the bow in her hair for a picture.  I did manage to get one or two with the bow, but you can tell Ainsley wasn't a happy camper!

 

Check out my teeth in this one!

Enough with the bow, Mom!  I don't like them!

We went to the St. Patrick's Day parade this morning and met Josh, Kathleen, Nathan, and Augie.  We debated on going, since Ainsley wasn't feeling the greatest, but she loves to go "bye-bye" and loves to be outside.  She did really good, and started getting tired about 3/4 of the way through the parade, but we made it.  She was asleep in her carseat before we got out of Jacksonville on our way home.  We were also lucky that we didn't have a blow out while we were gone!  When we changed her diaper after her nap, once we got home, we discovered a loaded diaper.

Trying to find a place to stand on the square

Nathan, Ainsley, and Augie watching the parade

Her feet look HUGE in these pictures.  Let's hope she doesn't have Uncle Thomas and Uncle Tanner's big feet!

Watching the parade

This evening, she took 4 steps for me!  That's the most she's ever taken.  They were little steps, but they were still steps!  Joel was even able to see them. 

I took Ainsley for a walk in her car Thursday afternoon.  We went up town and around by the antique store before heading home.  She was a good girl and loved watching everything pass by.  She's so cute when she rides in her car, and doesn't take her hands off the steering wheel. 

The wind wasn't good for her hair

 

Checking out everything going on around her

Joel was home when we got home from our walk, so we sat outside for a while and let her play with her car.  She pushed it in the grass, but that didn't last long.  She doesn't like the grass at all!  As soon as she sits down in it, she starts crying. 

We had fun the other night in the bathtub with Ainsley's hair.  Her hair is getting long, and it's almost touching her shoulders in the back.  It's getting thicker also.  I just wish the little stinker would let me put bows or headbands in her hair.  I can't even get her to wear a bonnet outside.  I'm hoping this phase doesn't last long, because Mommy has a ton of bows for her to wear!

Mohawk!

Every day, Ainsley watches more and more tv.  She didn't pay any attention to it in the past, but during the last month, she's started to notice it more.  She can watch 15-20 minutes of Mickey Mouse or Little Einsteins a day now without any problem.  I know that isn't that much tv, but it's more than she ever cared about before.  It's so cute to watch her when she's watching one of her cartoons, because she'll be glued to the tv.  The other night, I got a few pictures of her while she was watching Little Einsteins.  She was playing with her toes while watching it.  Her toes are something she's found again in the last week.  She likes to pull her feet up to her face while I'm changing her diaper, and I've caught her playing with her toes a few times in the last few days.

Glued to Little Einsteins

What, Mom??  Leave me alone!

Still watching (while playing with her belly this time!)

Here's a few pictures that I got the other day before our walk.  You can tell her nose was running and was still raw in the pictures.  She loves talking on the phone now, and usually has her play phone in her hand while crawling around the house.

Mid-cough

Here, Mom...you talk

Happy girl!

Doctors, doctors, and more doctors

Yesterday wasn't exactly a "good" day for us.  We dropped Ainsley off at Jennifer's yesterday afternoon, and Joel and I headed to Springfield.  I had my last appointment with the plastic surgeon to get the rest of my tattoo removed.  They managed to get it all removed, but it took longer than we thought.  It took her right at an hour of cutting and sewing to finally get it.  That was after 3 or 4 local injections and me grimacing and saying "ouch" a few times where I wasn't actually numb.  Feeling a scalpel cut your skin when you're not numb doesn't feel so good.  I'm glad it's done and over with.  I'm in some pain today.  I can't lift Ainsley, so Joel is home all weekend to help me out. 


Jennifer called us on the way to the doctor and said that Ainsley was wheezing pretty bad.  She had been wheezing all day, and all day Thursday.  On Thursday morning, I called the doctor about it and the nurse wanted me to bring her in so they could listen to her.  I swear Ainsley stopped wheezing as soon as we got to the doctor's office, and started back up an hour after we left.  When the nurse listened to her, she couldn't hear anything and said she just sounded congested.  She took her oxygen level and said it was fine.


Once we got back to Jennifer's last night and Ainsley was still wheezing, we decided to go ahead and take her in to Prompt Care to have them check her out.  It was 7:30 by the time we got her in to the office and by then, she was ready for bed.  We knew it wasn't going to be a fun experience, and we were right!  She didn't want them to listen to her and would push away their hands, didn't want them to look in her ears, or even get near her.  The doctor heard the wheezing and decided to do a breathing treatment.  The nurse brought it in for us to give her and Joel held Ainsley and her arms down while I held the mask in front of her face.  She cried and squirmed, but we were able to get about 2 minutes of the treatment done before she started coughing and I had Joel sit her up.  I pulled the mask away from her face and she started throwing up.  It was all over her, Joel, me, and the floor, so I ran over to get some paper towels and made it back just in time for her to start projectile vomiting.  I was able to catch most of it in the paper towels.  So much for that breathing treatment....


The doctor came back in and said she sounded a little better, which she did, and wanted to prescribe a steroid for her.  We picked up the prednisone at Walgreens last night around 9.  We changed Ainsley's vomit-covered clothes when we got home and tried to get the medicine in her.  She didn't want the milk that I had mixed the prednisone with, but she did take a little juice with her antibiotic and delsym.  She fell asleep without the prednisone, and we were tired of fighting with her so to bed she went.  She was coughing pretty bad throughout the night and I was afraid she was going to throw up, so Joel went and got her out of her crib and brought her in bed with us around 2:30.  By then, she was wide awake and as happy as could be.  She would stand up in bed and try to bounce, give Mommy and Daddy kisses, crawl from one side of the bed to the other, laugh and jabber.  We finally turned Little Einsteins on for her and she watched it for a few minutes, but she was still all over the bed.   I got her prednisone in her at some point with a little milk, and we started wondering if it had kicked in already because they said it could make her hyper.  After an episode of Mickey and finally turning out the lights and playing with her hair while singing to her, she fell asleep around 4.   She slept until 7:30 or so this morning.  She didn't wheeze as much today as she did the last two days, so I'm assuming the prednisone helped.

Jennifer said that Drake and Ainsley played good together and Ainsley thought Drake was hilarious.   She would laugh at everything he did.  Even with being sick, she's been laughing more than usual the last few days.  Joel and I both had to give Ainsley an "Atta Girl" for pooping in the bathtub at Aunt Jennifer's!  She's had diarrhea 5-7 times a day since starting her antibiotic on Wednesday, which has meant 3-4 outfits a day and changing of her changing pad cover at least once a day since then.  I warned Jennifer about her diarrhea, but she didn't go all afternoon for her.  She did, however, decide to go after Jennifer drained all the water out of the bathtub after her bath.  That then required Jennifer to give Ainsley another bath. 

Drake was fighting off the bad guys during their walk.  He's such a good cousin!

Her diarrhea has led to a horrible diaper rash. We can't use baby wipes, because she screams in pain, so we've been using wet papertowels to wash her bottom off. Destin doesn't seem to help any, and she screams any time we try to put it on. She's never had a diaper rash this bad, so I called the nurse's hotline with the pediatrician's office to see what they recommended.  They said to put neosporin on the open sores, lotrimin (because they think it's a yeast infection), and destin.  They also recommended putting her in a bath 2-3 times a day with baking soda and letting her go without a diaper as much as possible.  While I ran into Walgreen's to get the neosporin and lotrimin, Joel let Ainsley soak in a bath and then he was going to let her air dry and sit in the kitchen on towels without a diaper on for a while.  He said he was getting the towels put down when he heard the pee hit the tile and a few seconds later, Ainsley slipped in her pee and hit her head on the floor.  He rocked her until she fell asleep and then put her on a towel and covered her with a blanket on the living room floor and let her take a nap naked.  Luckily for us, she didn't pee or poop during her nap. 

Our daily routine now consists of:  amoxicillin twice a day, prednisone once a day, delsym twice a day, tylenol 2-3 times a day, bath with baking soda 2-3 times a day, neosporin each diaper change, lotrimin 3-4 times a day, destin each diaper change, and lots of snuggle time with our little girl.  We'll both be glad when she gets back to normal.

On a side note:  we have got some good news at a doctor's visit in the last few weeks.  A few weeks ago at my dentist appointment, I found out that I'm scheduled to be done with my braces in 10 months or so.  I thought I'd be in them for 2 years, but it looks like I'll only be in them for a year or so.   After this year, I'll be a new woman....teeth straightened and tattoo removed.  Now, if I could only get rid of my stretch marks, love handles, and the lingering belly roll.

Ear Infection

Ainsley didn't sleep well last night, and was still couging pretty good this morning so I kept her home with me today.  I ended up getting a doctor's appointment for her this morning and I'm glad I took her in.  She has a pretty bad cold, an ear infection in her left ear and fluid in her right ear.  This is her first ear infection, and I was surprised when the doctor said she had one.  She hasn't been pulling at her ears or running a fever (besides a very low grade 99 fever last night).  The doctor said that some babies don't show any signs of an ear infection at all.  I picked up her antibiotic and got it started around noon today.  I'm hoping she starts feeling better in the next day or so now that I'm getting medicine in her.

You can see how raw her poor nose is in this picture....poor thing!

Look, Mom...I pulled the swan's head off.

Now how do I get it back on???

She was very clingy all day and wanted held for most of the day.  That was okay with me, since I don't usually get to sit and hold her.  She would get to the point where she didn't know what she wanted and would just sit in the floor and cry.  I feel so bad for her.

One of her favorite things....trying to get everything off the tables.  Even standing on her tip toes didn't help her today.

Frustrated and mad baby after trying to pull things off the end table with no luck.

She puts her phones up to her ear now and says "Hi" and "Love You".  If the home phone rings, she'll immediately put her hand up to her ear and act like she's talking on the phone.  It's adorable!

She still loves her peas, even when she doesn't feel good.

She fell asleep a little before 7 tonight and I'm worried that it's going to be a rough night.  I'll probably end up putting her in bed with us, which means noone will sleep. 

Busy busy weekend

Last weekend was another busy one for us.  Friday night we took a party bus to Alton for Katie's 30th birthday, while Ainsley stayed at Mom's.  Mom was working the quarter auction in Palmyra, so Mark and Tanner were the babysitters for the evening.  Not only did they have Ainsley, but they also had Rowdy for the night.  I think they handled it just fine, and we might just let Uncle Tanner babysit again...that is when he learns how to change a diaper. 

Group shot at Fast Eddie's

Katie turned 30!

No clue what Joel is doing!

Everyone had a great time Friday night, and it was so nice to go and hang out with everyone.   Joel wasn't feeling too well Saturday, and I'm sure Thomas appreciated Joel's texts after midnight, but that's all part of the fun. 

Saturday morning, Mom, Ainsley, and I headed to Alton.  We walked over to the mall while the oil in my car was getting changed, and Ainsley played in the little kid play area.  I forgot how small the Alton mall is.  You can literally walk the entire thing in a few short minutes! 

This play area is kind of fun!

We stopped at Josephine's for a late lunch, and it was good, as always.  One thing I don't understand, though, is why do "tea rooms" always serve a cup of soup that is all of 5 bites before you've finished it, small salads, and then a dessert as big as your head???  Seriously...they put little doilies under your plates, which is very dainty, but what is dainty about a huge piece of dessert?  It just doesn't make sense to me!  I'm not complaining, well, maybe I am....a little more lobster bisque would have hit the spot before getting my giant sized bread pudding that I finally finished on Monday night.

Me and Ainsley at Josephine's

Shopping and eating wore her out!

So, back to the dainty little cup of soup and salad from Josephine's.  It didn't fill me up for long, because by the time I got home, I was hungry again.  So, we headed to El Ranchirito for supper.  Ainsley liked their cheeseburger and fries!

We lost an hour of sleep Saturday night for Daylight Savings Time, but it didn't bother me so much this year.  Maybe that was because Ainsley and I slept until 9, or 10 once we sprung forward, Sunday morning!  We headed to Madilynn's 2nd birthday party that afternoon.   It's so funny to watch Madilynn and Ainsley.  Madilynn is like a little mother hen to Ainsley and stayed right by her side.  She likes to give her hugs and kisses and helps her play with toys.  Ainsley started giving hugs and kisses back, but that also consisted of her tugging on Madilynn's hair while hugging.  That didn't sit well with Madilynn, and she started telling Ainsley "No no no".  Reese couldn't resist joining in on the fun, so we had three little girls hugging and kissing each other.  It was adorable!  I thought I got pictures of all the kissing and hugging, but I didn't!

Ainsley and Madie

Uh-oh, I think Ainsley did something wrong!

Reese liked Ainsley's cup better than hers!

Ainsley has been sick for the last few days with a runny nose and terrible cough.  Her little voice is hoarse from coughing.  You can tell her throat has to hurt when she coughs.  I'm hoping this passes quickly and we can have our happy girl back again.

Not walking yet, but taking a few steps

To sum up the last week and a half:  all three of us have been sick, I've been swamped at work, and Ainsley has taken her first few steps.  I haven't felt good for the entire week.  I have no energy and think it's just a head cold.  Ainsley had it earlier last week and I think her stomach has bothered her a little in the last week.  On top of that, she's had a pretty bad diaper rash that has been hanging around.  I'm hoping we've finally got rid of it.  Joel started getting sick yesterday and is still coughing and is tired all the time.  I'm ready for all the sickness to leave the house already!

I'm starting to get really busy at work, and of course, it's when Joel is starting to get in the fields.  These next few months are going to be rough. 

She found some of my old bracelets and loves them!

Neighborhood watch-baby

Watching over the neighborhood wears her out!

On a brighter note:  Ainsley took her first step Tuesday.  It was only two steps before she plopped down, but she did take them.  She's done it a couple of times since, but won't go more than two steps.  When I picked her up this afternoon from Lisa's, Lisa said she took a few steps today for her.  I think she'll be walking in the next few weeks.  She can stand by herself so much better.  It's so funny because she knows that she's doing something, and when she lets go of whatever she was holding on to stand by herself, she'll just look at you and smile like "Look Mom, I'm big stuff!" 

Helping Mommy get ready....

The chair that she got for her birthday from Aunt Do has become one of her favorite toys.  She can climb up in it by herself and sit, but her favorite thing to do it to climb up in it and stand in it while hitting the wall behind her.  She's become quite brave with it and will sit on the arm of it and then stand back up in it, and she'll even try to reach over while standing in it to grab something on the end table.  She's way too brave for my liking.  There are times when I wish we had the helmet back on....wait, did I really just say that?!?

She pushed her Mickey car over to the footstool of the chair last night and climbed up onto the Mickey car and then onto the foot stool and then from there into the chair.  All this climbing scares the crap out of me!  She also has figured out how to climb onto her Mickey car and sit on it.  She flings one leg over the seat and plops her little butt down and will sit there and honk the horn and play the piano that's on the car.  She's getting way too big too fast!

If you ask her where her nose is, she'll put her thumb in her mouth.  I have no clue why she does that, because she's never really sucked her thumb.  But, every time you ask where her nose is, that's what she does.  I guess, she's getting close enough to her nose, so we praise and clap for her when she does it.  Also, if you ask her if she's hungry and wants something to eat, she'll let you know by saying "Mmmmm" and then smacking her lips together and acting like she's eating. 

She's sleeping pretty good throughout the night and will go to bed in between 7:30-8:00 and sleep until 5:30-6:30.  It's so nice not dealing with a crying baby in the middle of the night, and not having a baby in bed with you throughout the night.  She's sleeping in her crib all the time now!

Here's some more pictures from Instagram over the last week.