Memorial Day

Here are some pictures from our trip to the beach on Memorial Day. My friend, Kristin was visiting us for the week and joined us.

Going off the Milk Cold Turkey

Ainsley had her re-check today regarding the heart murmur. It's still there, only it has gone from a Grade 1 to a Grade 2 or 3. This grading system is totally subjective, but because her doctor feels that it has progressed, he is sending her to a Pediatric Cardiologist for an echo cardiogram to rule out structural defects that could be causing the murmur. More than likely, it is the severe anemia that she has at this time.


Her blood work from last Wednesday came back to the doctor's office Thursday afternoon. They called me Thursday night to give me the results, telling me that she is SEVERELY anemic. It is NOT a permanent condition. It is not genetic. It is the anemia caused by lack of iron in her diet. It IS totally fixable.


The doctor wanted me to start her on a triple dose of iron drops every morning in orange juice. I could not get near her with the juice without her screaming. She wouldn't touch it. So I tried the drops in apple sauce. No go. Peanut butter. Nope. Cherry Juicy Juice. Nada. This continued on through the weekend with us not able to get a single dose of iron in her. She even stopped eating if it was something that could be easily mixed with the drops. She only wanted solid stuff, bananas, bagels, crackers, etc.

So now that she has had her follow-up appointment we have a few things we have to do.

1. She has to come off the milk completely.
2. She has to have the iron drops every day, whether we have to force them in her or not.
3. She has to drink as much Pediasure as we can get her to drink.
4. She has to start back on formula, though it is one that is made for older children ages 9-24 months and is fortified with iron.
5. She has to take a daily vitamin that is fortified with iron. I bought chewable Flintstones ones and liquid ones that can be given in food or drink.
6. She has to eat as much iron rich food as we can get into her. Red meats, green veggies, black beans.

Her doctor says that she won't let herself starve, so to hold off on the milk when she asks for it. Only give it to her at night, and then it should be watered down. It may be a few days before she actually will start drinking the Pediasure and formula and actually eating, but he said that is fine.

Baby Kayleigh

Some of you may remember not too long ago that I posted the links to some blogs that I follow. One of which was the story of little Kayleigh Freeman, who was born at 1 pound 1 ounce. After a long and painful 11 months, she passed peacefully last night. It saddens me to hear that a family has lost their precious little one like this. No parent should ever have to endure something like this. I can not even begin to imagine.

Please keep the Freeman family in your thought and prayers.

http://kayleighannefreeman.blogspot.com/

Ah, Mother's Day......

For Mother's Day, Steven and Ainsley bought me a new bike. It's a bright purple beach cruiser. Along with the bike came a front mount baby seat for Ainsley. We tried out both on Sunday afternoon when we went for a leisurely 5 mile bike ride. Ainsley was not fond at first of her Seasame Street helmet or the bike seat, but once we started moving, she was over the moon. This is how the ride went:

Me: *Pedal, pedal, pedal.......*

Ainsley: "Weeee weee weee!"

Me: *Pedal, pedal, pedal........*

Ainsley: "Weeee weeee weee! What's that?"

Me: "That's a flower." *Pedal pedal pedal*

Ainsley: "Weeee weeee weee! Duck! (as she pointed at a bird)"

Me: "No baby, that is a cardinal." *Pedal pedal pedal*

Ainsley: "Weeee weee weeee! Hat Mama, hat (as she pointed at her helmet)"

Me: "Yes that is your hat." *Pedal pedal pedal*

You get the picture........

We had an awesome ride and plan on doing again quite soon.

My Kiddo Eats Shells and Swims in the Toilet

Where to even begin to explain the title of this post........

I took Ainsley to the beach this afternoon. Her normal routine, before getting in the water, is to eat a few small handfuls of sand. It's icky, but her doctor says it can't and won't hurt her, so I pick my battles. It's not worth fighting her over.

Today, she sat down next to my chair and stuck a handful of sand in her mouth. Chomping and crunching away, she looks at me and says, "Mmmmm, good Mama." I could only shake my head.

Then she decided to go play in the tide pool. Well, once she got to the water, she discovered there are the shoreline, tiny little bitty shells. What does she do? reaches down and grabs a handful and yep, you guessed it......ate them. Stuck them in her mouth and chewed them up and swallowed them. What did she then turn to me and say??? "Mmmm, Mama. Yum yum!"

My kiddo has got to be part goat. Has to be. There's really no other explanation for it........

Then, later tonight.......we had not been home from Steven's Mom's house for too long. She was sound asleep in the car, woke up when we brought her in and fought going back to sleep due to the thunder. So, we let her come out and play for a while. I was sitting here at the computer, checking email and she decided to follow Steven into the bedroom. From the computer I can see the door to the hallway. It was half open. I hear our bedroom door open, then I see her open the hall door and peek out at me. She says, "Hey Mama." and shuts the door halfway. Then I hear our bedroom door open and shut. I figured she was just going back in with Steven. I figured wrong......

A few minutes pass and I hear something that sounds like something being drug across the floor in the hall bathroom. I knew that my mom was still in her room as her door squeaks and I would have heard her come out. So I get up and start to walk toward the hall door. As I am walking, I hear a little whimper. It turns into a big cry. My mom opens her door, looks into the bathroom and yells, "Oh my God, Ainsley!" This sends me tearing butt down the hall to see what is wrong. By now my girl is all worked up and to the point of slight hysterics. I walk into the bathroom to my mom holding Ainsley, her little feet dripping water onto the floor rug.

She reaches out to me as my mom says, "She was standing in the toilet!" WHAT???? Apparently, Ainsley had snuck into the bathroom to try and climb up on top of the toilet to reach her bathtub crayons, which were on the window sill above the toilet. Well, the seat was up and it was dark, so she landed IN the toilet. She must have realized she was not going to be able to reach them that way and reached over to grab the trashcan for leverage to climb out. It slid away from her and I think that is what scared her. I think. But then, she could have been screaming because she was standing in the toilet......who knows with this kiddo?

Mommies Funding Research

As many of you know, I belong to an online birth board for mommies of July 2007 babies. In the past 2ish years, we have lost 2 of little ones from the board, both to rare and devastating genetic disorders that have no cure.

We lost Sawyer in October of 2007 to a disease called SMA, or Spinal Muscular Atrophy. He was only 3 months old.

We lost Hannah on December 27, 2008 to a disease called MPS, or mucopolysaccharidosis. She was 17 months old.

Both of these beautiful babies touched many, many lives in their incredibly short little lives. As a result of that, the mommies on our July 2007 board have started a yearly fundraiser to raise money for medical research into these 2 horrible diseases. This year, there is an online auction that is going to begin at the end of June. You can bid on items and even choose which charity you want your money to go to. It is going to be really great.

You can read Hannah and Sawyer's stories and view the auction website at the following link.
http://mommiesfundingresearch.blogspot.com/

You should at least check it out and see what they have for bid. They are adding more items on a daily basis.

Another Day at the Beach With Mommy!

Yep, we went to the beach again today. Ainsley always has so much fun and it always wears her out so much that she sleeps great that night, so I am trying to take her every other day. We live at the beach, so why not?

There were a ton of tide pools today, as we were there just as low tide was beginning. Some of them were waist high on me! Ainsley found some very shallow ones and splashed around for a couple of hours while I sat there and watched her play and enjoyed the beautiful day.

The excitement of the day was our umbrella flying over not once, not twice, but 3 times from the wind! I finally got smart and anchored it through the metal pieces on our beach cart and it only flew off once, with the cart still attached.......oh well. Nobody was hurt.

P.S. I am not sure why the last post has so much empty space at the end...........

Digging in the Sand, Soaking up the Sun, Swimming in the Pool, and Playing With Zavi

I forget to post on Saturday about the days activities, so I decided to just post pictures instead. We met up with Craig and Tara and their little girl, Zavi and went out to the beach. The we went over to their house to the community swimming pool. Then the girls played at their house for a while. Both went to bed exhausted that night. It was an Ainsley and Zavi fest!