Ainsley's Newest Word......

Ainsley has been saying "Mama" for several months now. She just the other day started saying "Mommy". It really is the best thing to hear come out of her little mouth. Melts my heart every time. And she knows it, too! She uses it when she knows that is doing something she shouldn't be doing. Here are some sentences that I have heard the last few days:

"Make me , Mommy."

"Hole me, Mommy" (hole=hold)

"I wub you Mommy"'

"Mommy eat it"

"Mommy go pee pee"

Mommy, Ansee need more"

Today's Adventures So Far......

It's only 10:30 in the morning and here are the things that Ainsley has managed to do so far today.......Keep in mind that each time I left the room, I was gone no longer than 2 minutes either time.

Episode #1

I left the room to go to the restroom. Ainsley was left watching PBS and drinking some water. I cam back into the room to find a naked from the waist down toddler running around the living room! In the time I was gone, she managed to strip off her pj shorts, take off her diaper, wrap said diaper around her creepy doll, and pee on the floor! She was clutching the creepy doll that was wrapped in the pee soaked diaper to her chest and saying, "Baby go pee pee!" I managed to catch her (she is surprisingly much faster when half naked) and get a new diaper on her along with her shorts. The doll was wiped down with disinfectant and given a new diaper to be wrapped up in.

Episode #2

I went into the kitchen to refill my coffee. When I came back to the living room, Ainsley was missing. I found her in my bathroom. She had taken an entire almost brand new box of Q-tips and spilt them on the floor. She was also trying to get the cap off the toothpaste. I made her help me pick up the mess she had made and took her back to the living room. I decided that it would be a good idea to put the baby gate up in the doorway to the hall to avoid anymore messes in the bathroom. I turned around to walk away and she SCALED herself over the baby gate! I picked her up and sat her down on her couch and got out the second baby gate that we have. I put it in the doorway, on TOP of the other one! She is very perplexed as to how she can get over it now.

A Late Father's Day Entry

As per Short Family tradition, we had dinner at Longhorn's Steak House with Steven's dad for Father's Day. We used to go to Steak and Ale, but alas, they have closed their doors and are no longer available.

Ainsley's buddy Zavi was there with her Mommy and Daddy. She and Ainsley were able to sit side by side in their high chairs and have a grand time. Stealing each others crayons and eating ice. They really are way too stinkin' cute together.

We made it almost through the whole meal before Ainsley discovered the stuffed and mounted longhorn steer hanging on the wall. Here is how the conversation went when she saw it.....

AINSLEY: MOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

STEER: *silence*

AINSLEY: MOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! *pointing at the steer*

STEER: *silence*

AINSLEY: MAMA! COW NO MOO! *shaking her head frantically*

ME: No baby, that cow doesn't moo.

AINSLEY: WHY COW NO MOO? *getting very concerned and upset*

AINSLEY: MAMA! COW SEEPY, GO NIGH NIGH? *pointing and flapping her hands in the direction of the steer*

ME: Yes sweetheart, the cow went night night. *I couldn't bring myself to tell her that the cow was DEAD!!!*

AINSLEY: SEEPY COW!!! NIGH NIGH MOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! *blowing a kiss to the steer*

Notice that Ainsley's portion of the conversation is in ALL CAPS, this is due to the fact that she was YELLING! LOL. She was so very concerned about the cow that wouldn't moo. She even talked about it the whole way home. "Seepy cow mama. Nigh nigh."

She really is just the cutest thing.

Ainsley is Sick

Poor little Ainsley is sick with a horrible summer cold. It started out of the blue yesterday afternoon around 4:00. She had been feeling fine all day and BOOM! All of a sudden her nose was running, her eyes were watering and she was sneezing up a storm.

I assumed that it was allergies. I put a call in to her doctor to see what I could safely give her. But I couldn't wait to hear back from them, so I went ahead to the drugstore. I conferred with the Pharmacist about what to give her and at what dose (Children's Benadryl and 1/2 tsp). I bought the medicine and went back home.

I walked in the door and found her sound asleep in my friend Kristin's lap. She was burning up! I check ed her temp and it was almost 102. I knew then that this was not allergies, but a cold. The same thing that kept making her so sick and suffer from double ear infections for the first 4 months of the year.

I gave her some Motrin and some Triamenic and got her to sleep, though that was short lived. She was very restless through the night and finally woke up about 11:30 or so and wouldn't go back to sleep on her own. It was time for more medicine anyway, so I brought her out to the living room and gave her some Tylenol. Her fever was still around 101.

I got her back to sleep and took her into bed with me, where she slept through the night, all be it restlessly.

She woke up this morning running a fever of 102. The snot pouring out of her nose had turned from clear to yellow overnight and she sounded like it was trying to settle in her chest.

Poor baby walked around all day saying, "Nose. Nose." when she wanted her nose wiped. Her eyes are all puffy and red and watery. Her nose is getting sore from wiping it so much.

But the good news is this......I have been constantly checking her ears with the Ear Check monitor that checks for fluid in the ear canal, and there is none to be found yet. Hopefully it stays that way and she doesn't need antibiotics.

Her fever hovered all day between 101 and 102. The Tylenol and Motrin were not bringing it down, but they were helping to keep it from going higher. At least until late this afternoon. It got up to between 102 and 103 for a while.

She's sleeping pretty soundly right now. I can hear her breathing, which is a little raspy and congested sounding, but otherwise pretty good. We did put a pillow under the head of her mattress so that it is slightly elevated, so maybe that is helping.

I do know that if her fever is still above 101 tomorrow, I am going to call the doctor and see if he wants me to bring her in. Keep your fingers crossed.

Ainsley's First Haircut

More Pictures From the Cardiologist

The Cardiologist Appointment

Ainsley had her appointment with the cardiologist on Thursday. It was a long visit as they did 2 time consuming tests to ensure that her heart is fine. Which it is! Her murmur is one that is considered an Innocent murmur. I scanned the paperwork that the doctor gave me on this and have included it here for anyone that is interested.......just click on the picture to the right and it will enlarge.

Basically what it means is that she is fine and will have no physical limitations, nor will she need to even take antibiotics before having dental work done!

She was a real trooper during the appointment. She was SO brave. I would have thought that the EKG and the echo cardiogram would have been scary for her since she is so little and doesn't understand. But I told her that the nice lady wanted to put stickers on her chest, tummy and legs so that we could see a picture of how her heart was working. Know what she did? She raised her dress up! She laid there on the table and just watched with such curiosity. Her favorite part was pulling the stickers off at the end and sticking them to the floor and saying, "Uh oh!"

For the echo, she was a little bit more timid. But I think it was because she had to strip down to her diaper and lay on this wedge pillow in a dark room. I was able to sit on the table with her, which helped a lot. I told her that the lady was going to use her wand to show us a picture of her heart on the TV, that it would be like magic. It was kind of cool. We could see the valves of her heart opening and closing, just like they are supposed to. We saw all four chambers of her heart. We even got to see the blood flow through her heart. Everything was exactly like it should be. Absolutely no structural defects to be found!

In other news, Ainsley is doing great with taking her iron drops and vitamin drops every day. Her appetite is back with a vengeance. She is eating like crazy! her milk intake, while not cut off completely, is down to 10 ounces or less a day. I give her 3 oz in a 10 oz bottle and fill the rest up with water, first thing in the morning. Each bottle after that is refilled with water until she catches on that it is not milk. Then I will put a splash of milk in to color the water. It's sneaky, but it works. The bottle that she gets at bedtime is half milk and half water.

All in all, I am very pleased with how her treatments for her anemia are going. It has not been nearly as difficult to get her to take the drops as I thought it would be. She actually takes them without fighting. She makes a horrible face, but she takes them.