Shingles

What a weekend!  Tanner went to his Junior Prom Saturday (another post on that later today/tomorrow), and I was diagnosed with shingles.  My stomach and side had been itching since Wednesday or Thursday and I couldn't figure out why.  Nothing was showing on my skin, but it itched like crazy.  Joel thought it had to be dry skin, but I knew it was different.  On Friday, a raised red spot appeared on my side, and that's where it mainly itched.  By Saturday morning, I had another smaller spot on my side.  When Joel got home, I showed him and told him something wasn't right, and that's when he mentioned shingles.  We'd discussed eczema, psoriasis, dry skin, but never thought of shingles.  I texted a picture of it to Alaina to see what she thought, since Lou had shingles last year.  She thought it looked the same.  So, after running to Hettick to take pictures of Tanner and Emily before they left to eat, I ran back to Jacksonville Prompt Care to see if they could tell me what it was. 

Sure enough, it was shingles.  They asked if I had been around anyone with chicken pox, which I haven't (at least not that I know of).  He said it could be caused from a weakened immune system or stress.  I was sick (running a fever, aching, upset stomach) last weekend, and I've been a little busier with work the last week than normal, but I've been much more stressed than what I was last week.  He saw the scar on my back from where they removed my tattoo, and mentioned that could have triggered it also.  Taking that much skin off my back and sewing me back up would have weakened my immune system.  So, I don't exactly know where/how I got shingles, but I did, and they suck!

Not only does it itch, but it also burns and constantly just hurts.  If I scratch it, it burns even more and feels like someone is taking an ice pick into my skin.  My back also hurts, which I don't know if it's because of the shingles or the medication.  It hurts to lay down, and my back just aches.  I'm taking benadryl to help with the itching, which of course makes me tired.  I slept for most of the day yesterday, and am already tired again this morning. 

The doctor said the pain is a nerve pain and could be permanent, which is why I'm on medicine.  He said it should be completely gone in 3-4 weeks, and it will go through stages.  It will blister and then turn purple/violet, before finally healing completely.  It could also leave scars (like I'm worried about scars....I have plenty for everyone!) 

I'm not contagious.  It's only contagious when it blisters and it's the fluid in the blisters that's contagious.  I haven't started blistering yet.  He said that there wasn't anything I could have done to prevent it, because they don't recommend the shingles vaccination until you're over 60.  I know I'm ready to be done with them already! 

In case you don't know what shingles look like...here are a few pictures.  It started out as the two spots on my side, and then the spots on my stomach appeared late Saturday and yesterday.  I also have a spot on my back that came up yesterday.  I'm assuming they'll keep popping up as the days go on.

Walking

Ainsley is officially a walker.  She's actually been walking most of the time now for a week or so.  It still looks like she's drunk sometimes when she's walking, but she does pretty good.  She can also run.  If there is food in sight, or anything else that she wants, she will take off running to get to it.  It's pretty funny!

Now that she's walking, she can see more things on my desk, the counters, tables, etc.  She's very intrigued by my pens on my desk and reaches to get them.  I gave her a pen earlier this week, while she was sitting on my lap, and she knew exactly what to do with it and made some scribbles on a post it note on my desk.  I ran to the bathroom the other day and when I came back, she was on the floor with my pens, trying to put them back in the basket.  She managed to get it down...finally!

She's also learned how to blow kisses.  I've done it a few times with her, but I didn't think enough for her to actually remember it.  I'm wondering if she learned it at Lisa's.  A few nights ago in the bathtub, she started doing it out of nowhere. She was doing it with both hands, one right after another.  It's pretty cute!  Here's a video of her walking down the hallway and then she blows kisses toward the end.


Outside is one of her favorite places.  She doesn't complain at all about putting on a hat before going outside.  She has also started reaching up to the door handle when she wants to go out.  We went on a walk Thursday afternoon and we were out as the bus was dropping the kids off from school.  Ainsley had to yell "Hi" and wave to every kid we saw.  It amazes me that she does that, but if anyone gets close to her and tries to talk, she'll act shy and bury her head into me. 

Ainsley had to take her pinwheel with her on our walk.  She held onto it the entire walk, and it finally started catching some wind about half way home and she would hold it out and just watch it spin. 

We also saw a man walking his dog while we were out.  The school bus was dropping kids off just a little ways from us and as he passed us, he looked at Ainsley and said "There's another one that will be riding that bus in no time."  Is it bad that I wanted to punch him right then and there???  I don't even want to think of my baby going to school, and the sad part is that he was right.  It will be no time before I'm dropping her off at school and wondering where the last few years have gone. 

We're working on using a fork and a spoon while eating, but she still likes for me to get the food on her fork and then she'll put it in her mouth.  The other night, she decided she didn't want to wait for the food to get onto a fork and shoveled the mashed potatoes in with her hands!

Brushing her teeth is also another work in progress.  She doesn't like for me brush her teeth, but instead she wants to do it herself.  It would be nice if she actually used the right end of the toothbrush to brush her teeth, but whatever works, I guess!

She likes chewing on the other end....

I love when she smiles with her eyes!

There's her teeth!

She still likes playing with toys where she can put things into something and then take them back out and repeat the process.  She's started holding up the "cookie jar" toy and dumping the "cookies" out and she just laughs.

March for Babies

The March of Dimes walk was yesterday morning at the State Fairgrounds.  Ainsley and I went down to Mom's Friday night to stay.  I headed to bunco Friday night while Ainsley stayed at Grandma's.  Bunco was a good time (as usual) and it was nice to get out and have a few good laughs, especially after the week I had! 

We headed up to Springfield Saturday morning for the walk.  It was pretty cool, but it didn't seem to bother any of the kids.  Ainsley enjoyed being outside, and the exercise was good for her Mommy!  There was plenty to look at and lots of people to see, so Ainsley wasn't the least bit bored. 

Ainsley and Rowdy

Kisses for Ainsley!

Mark, Rowdy, Nathan, and Josh walking

Rowdy had to "help" push Ainsley's stoller during the walk, and really thought he was doing something!  I think Ainsley enjoyed having someone right beside her to look at.  They had a lunch after the walk, but Ainsley was tired so I decided to head home.  She was asleep before we even pulled out of the parking lot and slept the entire way home!

Playing outside and at Grandpa's

Yesterday, we emptied Ainsley's piggy bank and took her money to the bank before meeting Joel for lunch.  She had lots of fun playing with the money and helping Mommy pick up all the coins that spilled out of the bottom of the piggy bank.  All that loose change from Daddy's pockets has added up the last couple months!

Like usual, she was shy in the bank, but she did start to warm up to Pam after she played peek-a-boo with her and then gave her a sucker.  Ainsley got the hang of the sucker rather quickly, and I had to take it away from her once I got her to the car, which didn't make her very happy.  I gave it back to her at Placke's while we waited for our food and she loved it!

I took her outside yesterday afternoon, and told her she had to wear her hat if she wanted to go outside.  She put up a small fight, but once I insisted that she had to wear it if she wanted to go out, she finally left it on.  I couldn't believe it.  She doesn't want anything on her head anymore.  The hat stayed on the entire hour and a half we were outside, and she never once tried to take it off.  We walked up town and stopped in the "new" antique store.  The store has actually been open a few months now, but we hadn't checked it out yet.  It's really big in there and they have a lot of stuff.  We'll definately be stopping in more often.

When we got back from our walk, I pulled her Cozy Coupe and a ball out of the garage and let her push her cars around and play with the ball.  She did good walking in the grass.  I didn't know how it would go, since it's not exactly completely flat, but it didn't seem to bother her.  She loves being outside, and I have a feeling her cars, wagon, and swing will get plenty of use in the upcoming months.

On the go!

See you later, Mom!

Uh oh...she fell in the grass and didn't like it!

Ainsley likes to get in the pantry and pull things out.  Since it keeps her occupied, I usually don't tell her "no" and let her do it while I fix supper, do dishes, etc.  Last night while I was fixing supper, she managed to get an opened box of spaghetti out and crawled into the living room with it, where it finally opened up and all the dry spaghetti spilled onto the carpet.  Just another day in the Freeman house....
Grandma Shelly stopped by before work last night and we were just finishing up supper.  After a quick bath, Mom took her and got her pajamas on.  She was able to watch Ainsley dance, which is pretty funny.  Ainsley will bend both knees, stick her butt out, reach her arms out in front of her, and do a little bounce.  She has also started walking around in circles when you ask her to dance.  I think she probably learned that from Lisa's house.  She laughs every time she does it, especially after falling down.  Mom also read a "Row, row, row your boat" book to Ainsley, who can repeat the "row, row, row" part.

Ainsley "ooohhh-ing" looking at her Easter card from Gma Shelly

Our internet has been down since early Wednesday morning, so Ainsley and I headed down to Dad's this morning to use his internet so I could get some work done.  Ainsley and Grandpa Bill played quite a bit this morning and then we took her outside after lunch.  There was a frog on the sidewalk when I walked out, so I set Ainsley down to see what she would do.  She bent right down and tried to pick it up.  The frog wasn't fast enough to get away and Ainsley caught it for a few seconds in her hand.  Ainsley wasn't quick enough to catch it again.  Here's a video of her trying to get the frog before it hops off.

Ainsley feeding Jake some of her lunch...

Grandpa found Ainsley some flowers outside.

I think Ainsley wore Grandpa out!

Jake (the dog) is staying at Dad's while Thomas and Jamie are on vacation.  Ainsley didn't pay too much attention to him at first, but this afternoon she started warming up to him.  She tried kissing him, which involved her leaning her head into his cone.  This afternoon, one of her favorite things to do was to play with his hair and pull on it.  Then, she got really brave and started climbing onto his back.  Luckily, Jake didn't mind.  But, Dad was giving Ainsley animal crackers, and Jake was very interested in them.  At one point, Ainsley had the animal cracker out to her side and wasn't paying attention and Jake knocked Ainsley down and got the animal cracker.  That also meant that Ainsley got scratched on her arm and was pretty upset.  Once she calmed down, she went right back over to him to hop on him again.  Uncle Tanner got home and held Ainsley while she "rode" Jake around the living room.  Here's a video of her giggling while riding Jake.

Ainsley and Jake begging for snacks from Grandpa

After a big day at Grandpa Bill's, we fed her supper and I gave her a bath before heading home.  She fell asleep about five minutes after we got on the road, and right as I got to Scottville, she started coughing.  I could tell it was coming, so I yelled her name so she would wake up.  There are times when yelling her name to wake up doesn't do the trick, and you can tell that she's going to throw up after having her coughing fit, and this was one of those times.  We made it through Scottville and a little ways down the Scottville blacktop before she threw up.  I pulled the car over as fast as I could and hopped out.  By this time, she was choking on her vomit a little, so I had to pull her out of her seat so she could get the rest of it out.  At 7:30 tonight, I was standing in the middle of the Scottville blacktop as my daughter threw up all over herself and me wishing it was me that was sick instead of her.  I stood outside the car with her for 5-10 minutes while she finished throwing up.  I was able to get her outfit off of her and put her back in her carseat with just her diaper and socks on.  It was a terrible drive home with the smell of vomit coming off of my shirt and my hands, and Ainsley in the back seat crying.  She finally cried herself to sleep around Woodson, and slept the rest of the way home.  She woke up when we got home and played for half an hour or so and is back asleep (hopefully for the night).  She didn't eat much today for lunch or supper, but she didn't act like she didn't feel good.  I'm hoping it was just a one time thing, and we can make it through the night without any more episodes.

Starting out the day with a little Mickey Mouse!

5 a.m. in the Freeman bed

It's 5 a.m. in the Freeman house on any given day.  What do you think is happening at that time?  Joel and Trista sleeping in their bed while Ainsley sleeps in her crib in her room across the hall?  Maybe.  But, for the last few weeks, our precious little girl has been waking up at 5 a.m. on the dot, and her two still groggy and tired parents lay her in bed with them hoping for another hour or so of sleep. 

This morning, it was about 5:30 when she woke up and I went to the kitchen to grab a sippy cup with juice and then grabbed her and layed  her down in our bed hoping she'd fall back asleep.  She drank a little juice and then sat up and had to kiss me and then kiss her Daddy.  Joel uses his cell phone as his alarm clock and it vibrates to wake him up each morning.  He usually brings it in and puts it on the night stand, but he forgot last night and left it on the hutch in the dining room.  It goes off around 5:45 every morning, and this morning when it went off, Ainsley perked right up and just stared out our door into the hallway.  She could hear the phone vibrating against the hutch, but couldn't figure out what the sound was.  Her eyes were glued to the hallway.  Joel looked over at me and said:  "It looks like we have a watchdog."  As soon as that came out of his mouth, Ainsley piped up with a "ruff-ruff".  Joel and I cracked up!

The things that happen in the early mornings in Mommy and Daddy's bed...when she gets in bed with us, she has to lean over to give me kisses.  Sometimes one is enough, but other times it could be ten kisses before she's satisfied and is ready to lay her head back down.  How can you resist her sweet little face leaning into yours smacking her lips for a kiss???  She's also good at standing up in the middle of our bed, in between Joel and I, and just bouncing away.  She gets so excited and will squeel, bounce, and wave her arms in the air.  Yes, this is at 5:30 a.m. with all the lights in the house out.  Sister doesn't care.  She thinks 5:30 a.m. middle of the bed dancing is fun!

One morning a few weeks ago, we brought her in bed with us and she put her head on Joel's chest and laid sideways in bed.  That meant her feet were on me.  I rolled over a little to try to fall back asleep (and let her have her space).  As soon as I did that, the little stinker started kicking me.  I'm talking about kicking me like a donkey.  As.hard.as.she.could.  I ignored her at first, but then she started LAUGHING while she did it.  She knew exactly what she was doing, and obviously thought it was funny to kick her Mommy over and over again.  That got a good laugh out of Joel, and a not very happy Mommy out of me.

Ainsley started getting a runny nose on Thursday and it kept getting worse as the next few days went on.  She didn't sleep well Friday night (and I was up sick through the night) and then Saturday night the little stinker was up from 12:30-3:45.  I mean wide awake, wanting to watch Mickie and dance around the living room awake.  I think she got a total of 5 hours of sleep that night and then didn't nap very much yesterday.  She started coughing Saturday and you can tell that she just doesn't feel good.  My throat started getting "the itch" Saturday morning, and I ran a fever all day.  I'm hoping Joel doesn't end up with it and it leaves the Freeman house just as quick as it came in.

So what if it's 3:30 in the morning, Mom.

With the runny nose, comes wiping her nose every 10 minutes or so.  If she sees any type of kleenex, baby wipe, toilet paper, etc laying around, she'll go get it and try to blow her nose with it now.  I've even caught her "blowing her nose" with her little picnic blanket that goes with her picnic basket.  Sometimes, she blows it correctly (blowing out), but she usually sucks air in when "blowing".  She likes to "blow" her nose in the bathtub.  Here's a video of that.  You can see about half way through when she blows her nose, but really sucks in water through her nose. 

Time for bed.

It's amazing how fast Ainsley's starting to catch on and learn things.  She's starting to communicate better.  She can tell us when she wants more in sign language, what a dog says, and will let you know when she wants to watch Little Einsteins.  On the Little Einsteins cartoon, in order to get the rocket in the air, the kids have to pat their hands on their legs and then put their arms in the air and yell "Blast off".  Ainsley knows every time before they even start the little song that comes with getting the rocket to blast off and will start patting her legs and then raising her arms.  I got it on video here.

She's been walking more and more.  If we're in the living room, she'll pretty much walk most of the time, and go from one piece of furniture to the other.  We had her down in the basement yesterday and she wouldn't walk as much down there.  She's still into everything and likes to go into other rooms (one that noone else is in) and get into drawers and cabinets. 

Standing in her chair...AGAIN.

Oops.  She fell out of her chair AGAIN while standing in it.

Ainsley can now say "Trista".  She hears it all the time when Joel yells for me, and she's been saying it quite a bit.  I was in the basement cleaning yesterday and Joel yelled down to ask me a question and I hear "Tri-ta" come from Ainsley.  Now, when Joel says "Trista", Ainsley has to repeat.  She still says "mama", so I'm okay with "Tri-ta" every once awhile also.  Here's a video of Ainsley saying "Tri-ta".

Needless to say, with Ainsley and I not feeling well, we didn't do much of anything this weekend.  There was a lot of lying on the couch and resting.  Dad, Tanner, Jim, and Rita all came by last night.  Ainsley didn't care that Jim laid his head on her chair, but as soon as they left, Uncle Tanner went over and laid on the chair and Ainsley wanted him out!  Usually, if anyone is in her chair (or near it), she gets very protective of it and will try to push you away.  That's just what she did with Tanner last night.  She tried pushing him out, pulling his hair, his ear, screeching at him, telling him "out", and just about anything else she could do to get him out of it so she could sit in it.  She was finally able to get him out and she hopped right in.  Here's a video of that.

She was suppose to be laying down taking a nap with Daddy, but as soon as I got the camera, she hopped up and started playing.

I picked Ainsley up one day last week from Lisa's, and when I got there, Ainsley was sitting in a little booster seat on the floor.  Lisa said she found the seat, and was going to use it during lunch with the kids, but she said the kids had played with it all day, especially Ainsley.  My little stinker even tried pushing Blaine and Blake out of the chair when they climbed in it, because she thought it belonged to her.  I'm so glad she's able to go to day care with the other kids, and in the process, hopefully learns how to share!  Here's a funny video of her in her chair dancing, saying ouch (ou-kkk) and falling out of her chair near the end.  It doesn't phase her when she falls out...she just gets up and gets back in it. 

One thing she's been doing for a few months now is crying when told "no".  Lisa confirmed this last week and said she does it for her also.  If Ainsley is standing up and doing something she shouldn't and you tell her "No", she will plop her butt down on the floor and started crying.  You would think you just beat her or something the way she sits there and sobs.  I have to admit that I do laugh sometimes at her crying because it's pretty pitiful!

She's also started throwing a fit when I put her in the carseat.  This picture is from a few weeks ago, and the first time she did it.  I just stood there and laughed and her and then grabbed my phone to snap a picture.