Bite Your Tongue

We had a crazy time at our house a couple of weeks ago. Do you remember this post about Avery? Well Parker wasn't about to be outdone by his little sister! And boy did he top her black eye injury with a big whopper!

Parker had his last dentist appointment Wed April 10th to get his 3 other cavities filled on the left side. If you remember, he previously had the right side done. I was going to be going out of town for my cousin's wedding the next day and I had already re-scheduled the appointment a couple of times and early morning appointments book months in advance so I had to keep this appointment. Thankfully, my mom was already in town b/c we were flying to NC together the next day. I figured I'd stay with Parker and my mom until they took him to the back. So we hung out in the small room while we waited for the anesthesia to kick in. About 45 minutes later, the called Parker to the back, I said goodbye, and dropped Avery off at daycare. Kevin picked my mom and Parker up about 45 min later. Everything had gone well according to the nurse who called me after the procedure was finished.

My mom called me around 11:30 asking if we had cotton balls. When I asked why, she said for Parker to bite down on. I didn't think much of it since he had a hard time keeping the gauze in his mouth the last time and I figured the gauze probably fell on the floor. She also mentioned that Parker was acting a bit crazy and running around. I told her to try and keep him still and to put a movie on. Then I get a somewhat frantic call from Kevin around 12:30 saying that Parker had basically torn his tongue apart. I heard hysterical crying in the background. I frantically gathered my stuff, drove home, called and left a couple messages for the dentist to call back. When I got home, I saw Parker's practically mutilated tongue and waited anxiously for the dentist to get back from lunch. I didn't wait for them to call back...at exactly 1:30, I called the office. After explaining what happened, they agreed to see us right away. Dr. W said there wasn't much to be done and to continue giving him Motrin for pain and they would prescribe antibiotics to ward off any possible infection. He also advised that his tongue would swell and look a lot worse than it actually was. I was a little relieved when we left the office, but felt so horrible for Parker.

He was pretty clingy and didn't want to let me out of his sight. I decided to take him to McDonald's to get a frozen yogurt to help with his tongue and since the only thing he had eaten/drank since dinner the night before was the drinkable yogurt I told my mom to give him. He gobbled up his ice cream and said he was still hungry. I'm a selfish Mommy and decided to get myself some fries, which I hid behind my purse, but of course Parker saw them and wanted some. I was deathly afraid to give him any...or rather afraid of his reaction when the salty fries hit his tongue so convinced him that the fries would hurt his tongue. Thankfully he accepted my reason and I ended up throwing away half my fries. I deserved to starve after eating them in front of my starving child! I convinced him to not eat when we got home and finally got him to nap.

Parker ended up running a fever after his nap...just 101 degrees, which according to the paperwork the dentist sent home with my mom, this was normal. If it didn't respond to fever reducing meds or went above 101 then we were to call the dentist. Thankfully his fever went down
He went back to school the next day (I figured the fevers weren't due to an illness and the dentist said it was normal after having aprocedure). My mom and I left for NC and Kevin was left to fend for himself. Umm...yeah if I had known how this would have all gone down I would have cancelled my flight!!! Parker was miserable the whole weekend and threw tantrums left and right. Poor Kevin had to do everything by himself.

It took Parker's tongue about a week to heal. During that time he barely ate. I'm already a bit very OCD about making sure the kids eat enough healthy foods so this was a really tough time for me. Kevin made Parker tons of smoothies (made w/ strawberries, bananas, kale, quinoa, protein powder, yogurt, and milk), which he thinks of as special treats and LOVES them. But after having it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a couple of days he was over them. Kevin switched to chocolate milk just to get some calories in him. Weird thing was on Thursday Kevin got a call to pick Parker up from preschool b/c he has a 101.5 temp. Parker asked for chips...umm salt + HUGE sores on tongue = not a good idea. Kevin delayed this but getting him to take a nap, but the first thing out of his mouth when he woke up was chips. Kevin said he ate a huge helping of sour cream and onion chips without any complaints. Yet on Sunday he couldn't even eat cake at his cousin's bday party! Hmm...

Anyway, when I got home from my trip on Sunday we switched him to PediaSure to make sure he gets calories. At $10 per 6 small bottles, they weren't cheap, but that was pretty much all he was "eating". I also mixed his nasty tasting antibiotics in with the PediaSure to help mask the taste. It had been a fight to get Parker to take his meds every morning and night, but this way Parker just thought yucky medicine was all gone. Sneaky, sneaky! It was a tough week, but we all made it alive...barely!

WARNING!!! Graphic pics below...you've been warned...they are quite gross looking pics of Parker's tongue! If you look and end up throwing up don't blame me...you've been warned!!!

Parker's tongue the day it happened...see the chocolate milk mustache?

This was on Friday...Dr. W warned us that lots of white stuff would be on his tongue and that it would look a lot worse than it actually was, but I was not prepared to get this text from Kevin!

On Saturday...looked much better

On Sunday...looked a whole lot better.

It's been 2 weeks and Parker's tongue is healed for the most part. There are still a couple of small spots that have tiny sores, but he hasn't complained about them and he is eating normal.

Sleep baby sleep

A few people have asked about Avery and how she was sleeping b/c of this post and this post. My parents were actually really worried. Truthfully I was too. I was actually really frightened that there was really something wrong b/c she was refusing to go in her crib, to lay down at all, and it looked like she was fighting sleep. As I've said before she has a really tough time with teething and she goes through periods where it is tough to put her to bed. But typically it isn't as hard to put her to sleep at night than it is for nap time. She's def never just sat in the corner for hours and refused to lay down.

To ease some of my worries, I actually spoke to her nanny for a while about what we were going through at night. I had already told her that she was having a really hard time going to sleep at night, but I didn't go into any details. She said everything was fine at daycare and she's a happy kid. The only time she cries is during drop off and pick up. She doesn't like it when she can't see Ms. Debbie and tends to follow her around and will refuse to lay down and nap unless she has her within her sight. I asked if she rocked Avery for nap time b/c I haven't rocked her since she was 13 months old and weaned from her bottle, but she started to say "chair" and pointing to her recliner for us to sit and cuddle at night. I told her this wasn't an issue, but just wanted to know. She advised that she cuddled Avery for a few minutes during the first week or so, but hasn't since. When Avery first started daycare and pointing at her chair we would literally only sit on the chair for 10 sec before she wanted to go in her crib, but during this whole "ordeal" we would sit in the chair forever!

So here's our theories of what might have been going on:

1) She was teething like we thought. 8 long days after the first incident, I got a pic message from Kevin showing Avery laying down for a nap. He said that she just layed down right away. That was on a Sunday afternoon. Sunday night I wanted to see if she had issues going to sleep so I tried to put her to sleep. I started to go through our old routine of standing by her crib, cuddling and singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I didn't even make it past "little" before she was reaching for crib and saying "bed" and "nite nite". It's been a breeze since...KNOCK ON WOOD!!!

2) Her ears were bothering her...possibly from teething...possibly from an ear infection. By the time we were going to take her to the doctor she was fine. Besides we kept getting mixed answers from her when we would ask if her ears hurt. She'd say yes then no. If I asked her if she had an owie, she'd say "owie. boo boo." and grab her knee. Anyway, when kiddos have an earache it hurts to lay down so that may have been a reason why she was refusing to lay down.

3) She just needed some extra time with us and needed the extra attention and cuddles. We gave her that. I made sure to give her as much one on one time as possible when I got home from work b/c I have a feeling that she may be taking it extra hard that I've gone back to work. All she's ever known is Mommy being home with her and now I'm dropping her off at Ms. Debbie's.

I'm just relieved she is sleeping better. She was a grouchy little kiddo in the mornings b/c she wasn't sleeping well. Now, she doesn't cry when I go into her room to get her ready for daycare. Then again I usually have a banana or a granola bar to bribe her with...hey, whatever works, right???

Daylight Shmay-light Saving What Time???

Avery has been having a rough time falling asleep...for nap and at night. It all started on  Saturday night. She took a long 2 hour nap on Saturday afternoon, but I don't know what happened after that. Maybe she realized Daylight Savings Time was going to happen at 2 am and she was going to lose 1 hour of sleep so she decided to boycott sleeping altogether??? She's normally really easy to put to bed. Sure we have the occasional times where she refuses to go to bed, but those are few and far in between.

she has been fairly good during the day (she's getting her haircut here)

I have a few guesses as to what's going on with her:

1) Daylight Savings Time is really affecting her and she's trying to adjust to the new time change. I don't remember Parker having issues like this so this is new to me. I do remember Avery having some issues falling asleep last November when we set the clocks back, but then again she was also teething...

2) She might be getting her 2 year molars. Momma ain't sticking her finger in that mouthful of teeth so who knows what's going on in there. On Saturday night after she cried a few times I finally decided to give her Motrin. She fell asleep for the night after that. Last night, however, the Motrin didn't work. She was awake and crying on/off for almost 1 hour. I'm all about the crying out method. I used this method for both kids. More so for Parker since he was a wacky sleeper, but Avery has always been a pretty good sleeper and I can only let her cry for so long before I get paranoid that she will wake Parker up then I'll have 2 crazy kiddos on my hands. Tonight she cried out 4-5 times and kept asking to cuddle, but almost as soon as Kevin and I would sit down on her recliner with her she would say "bed" and point to her crib. Finally I gave her Motrin, cuddled her, sang Twinkle Twinkle (for the 10th time), and talked to her about it being night night time and no more crying. Maybe it was the Motrin. Maybe it was the talk. Maybe she just got really tired. Whatever it was she finally went to bed.

3) She's trying to assert her independence and make her voice heard. I call Avery "sweet and sassy". She can be the sweetest little bunny...she loves to give kisses and loves to climb onto my lap to read books or play. But she's also very sassy. People are so surprised when they hear her say "No, I not!" b/c she sounds like she's 13 with an attitude. She has been protesting taking baths, brushing her teeth, changing her diaper, changing her clothes, putting her socks and shoes on, putting a bow in her hair, cleaning up toys, and going to sleep. The only thing she doesn't protest is eating! Her favorite word has to be "NO!".

It's probably a combination of all 3. I just hope this phase ends...really really REALLY soon!!!

this was after nap last weekend, but this is normally what we look like when cuddling her on her recliner for the 15th time

Operation Bye Bye Binkie

1/2/13 was day 1 of Operation Bye Bye Binkie. I had forgotten about the resolution I made last month on this post regarding weaning Avery starting on 1/1/13. And only remembered the resolution when Avery asked for it mid-morning. I was able to easily distract her and she forgot about it.

it's all fun and games until someone loses a binkie!

However, after lunch came a 1 hour meltdown. 1 HOUR! She cried, screamed, and hit b/c she wanted her "beh-bee". I was tempted to just give it to her, but I held firm, put her in time out for hitting, and told her she could have it at nap time. I tried to picture 4 year old Avery and me shopping and she's got a binkie in her  mouth. Sounds drastic, but I see it all the time. Sure, I wonder why a "big" kid has a binkie in his/her mouth, but I don't judge. It is what it is, but I didn't want that to be us! This was part of my motivation!

I was starting to freak out b/c it was getting close to nap time and I didn't want her to think I was giving in to her. I actually had to put her in her crib to calm down b/c she kept getting up from the time out spot by the front door. I pulled her pillow, owl, and binkie out of the crib. She cried for a few minutes then quieted down. I looked in the monitor and saw her curled up in the corner. I walked in b/c I didn't want her to fall asleep yet. Early nap will screw up the rest of our afternoon. I walked in and called her name softly...she pops her little head up, starts to whimper, and covers her mouth....which has a binkie in it!!! I must have missed a binkie! I took it away, which of course caused her to flip out. 

Parker was such a great help with calming Avery down. When she cries, he often comes over to her, pats her head or her back and softly "shh, shh, shh" - all things that I do to try and soothe her. 

I brought her to my room to calm down while Parker and my mom were in the living room. We talked and cuddled and I was able to calm her down a few times, but she's a stubborn little girl and would cry out every few minutes. I guess Parker had had enough of her crying and screaming and came into my room and tried to cheer her up by building a "house" with my blankets and pillows and playing peek-a-boo with her.

this wasn't from today, but this was what she looked like while screaming for her binkie...yep 1 hour!

It worked! Finally she was able to calm down and about 30 min later I put her down for a nap - a little later than usual, but I wanted some time to elapse between her tantrum and giving her binkie. I did our usual nap time routine: changed her diaper, turned her fan and air purifier/white noise machine on, and gave her her owl lovey. She noticed that I hadn't given her her binkie and asked for it. I calmly told her no and told her to put her head down on my shoulder, which she did. We sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and she reached for her crib after we finished singing. Through the monitor I saw her sitting up for a few minutes, which she occasionally does and goes to sleep when she's ready. I thought she would cry for her binkie, but didn't.

she was so sweet...until she asked demanded her binkie

Night time was another story...she whimpered for it. I tried to distract her with a song, but she was persistent. I put her in her crib with just her owl lovey and she dropped on all fours and started searching all corners of her crib for a hidden binkie...all while whimpering for "beh-hee". It broke my heart that she was truly distressed over it. Don't judge but I gave it to her. Not that I need to justify my actions, but here are my reasons for giving it to her tonight:

1. She's teething and it helps soothe her sore gums.
2. I don't want to just take the binkie away cold turkey. From past experience with weaning her from the bottle, she needs time to adjust.
3. I just don't want to deal with another 1 hour of screaming...ok so this was probably a huge factor. I admit it!

my sweet little bunny...4.5 hours after I tucked her into bed and her beloved binkie is still in her mouth

So here is how Operation Bye Bye Binkie is going to go down: no binkie during the day. I'm hoping nap time will go smoothly. She can have her binkie at night for the next few weeks, but then that will be phased out too.

Wish me luck and if you have any tips and advise about how to get rid of her binkie, please let me know! My only other experience was to quit cold turkey and that's def not an option for us.

Sweet & Sassy is 19 months old

Avery...she's sweet and sassy. Although lately it's been more sassy than sweet. She's 19 months old now. I know she's going through a stage where she's trying to assert her independence and show us that she's got a mind of her own and she wants to be heard. We def hear her loud and clear...in fact the neighbors can too! She loves to shriek...whether it's b/c she's playing or b/c she's throwing a temper tantrum. Either way my ear drums are begging for her to stop. Parker can often be found with his hands over his ears and yelling back: "Ouch, Sissy! You hurt my ears!". This is like the pot calling the kettle black b/c he is a shrieker too. Where do you think Miss Sassy learned it from? They love to have shrieking contests in the car and then laugh and giggle about it.

Her stats:
Weight: 26.6 according to our scale the other morning
Height: unknown - 34.25" as of her 18 month appt and her next appt isn't until May
Diapers: We've been squeezing her in the last of her size 4, but in the last week or so she's been leaking out of her diapers. It fits around the waist, but her tush has gotten bigger. She just started using size 5 this week and it's huge in the waist and her tush is swimming in it, but no more leaks!
Clothes: Mostly 2T, can fit into a handful of 18 month size - usually shorts b/c she's got a tiny waist. She's wearing some 3T Jumping Bean brand (from Kohl's) shorts. It's a bit big around the wait and a tiny bit long, it's not huge.
Shoes: size 7
Hair: It is almost shoulder length!!! But she's got a mullet. Sigh! I think I'm gonna ask my sister in law to trim it again to get it growing some more.

Loves: cuddling; reading books; still very attached to her binkie (will be weaning...soon); playing cars/trains with Bubba; loves to be chased or to chase someone; singing (new favorite is ABC song, she even sang: A, I, M, M, O, P, A, S today...multiple times, same sequence and happy birthday); loves to count (she's been saying 2, 3 after I say 1, but now she'll 8, 9, 10 too); going for walks (either riding in the stroller or wagon or literally walking while holding hands); drawing

Bad habits: same as before: hitting when she doesn't get her way or when she gets mad or just b/c she feels like it; closing her eyes when she doesn't want to hear something; she still spits out food when she sees something else she wants to eat or drink or she just doesn't feel like eating anymore; crying/whining/throwing a tantrum if you see a book/toy that you want that Bubba was playing with first

Potty training may be in our future. She keeps telling me "poop" after she goes in her diaper. Occasionally she will tell me before she has to go so I sit her on the potty, but she won't do anything and she'll usually poop about 10 min later...in her diaper. But sometimes she'll say poop and then run away and not let me change.

New words are popping up:
woo (look)
uh (up)
eee (here)
hung-geeh (hungry) - you say this as you rub your belly (a sign that I made up for hungry, which was the first sign you did, then you learned milk and more)
Eh (Elfs, our Elf on the Shelf)
I know (I don't know)
toe
daw (draw)
ha bih-day to you (happy birthday to you)

She is cutting some major teeth! But that stinkin' upper right molar still hasn't fully come out and it's been since October! What the heck?!? On 12/10 I saw her upper right incisor coming through and her upper left incisor is just under the gums - I saw a white spot. She's still working on those darn upper and lower left molars - still super swollen, but haven't broken through. I'm hoping that once these teeth all come out then her mood will improve. Then again, she'll probably start cutting her 2 year molars, which knowing what a slow teether she is, it will probably take a whole year!

She's doing really well stabbing food with a fork and putting it in her mouth. I'm still trying to teach her how to hold a spoon and put food in her mouth. She does pretty good eating yogurt and stuff that doesn't fall off the spoon easily. The thing is she wants to hold the spoon like her fork, which she holds with a tight fist and the fork facing down. I'm trying to teach her to hold the spoon right side up, but she keeps flipping it face down again once I let go of her hand.

Here are some pics from the past 19 months of our Miss Sweet:

she was about 3 months here - complete sweetness! she was such a wonderful baby. the only time she really cried was when she was hungry, needed a diaper change, or wanted to be put in her papasan chair or swing.

this was around this time last year so she was about 7 months old. still very sweet and agreeable baby...for the most part. 

she was about 15 months in this pic and def a sweet little girl who loves to cuddle and offer her cheek or forehead for YOU to kiss her when you ask her for a kiss, her "sassy-tude" (my husband says I make up my own words like trafficky when there's a lot of traffic) has def developed. Their cousin Mason and Audrey were over playing one afternoon and I built them a huge fort using Parker's bed sheets. Avery kept pulling on the sheets roof then would laugh cackle when the others would get mad at her and give them a look as if to say "what're you going to do about it?". I tried to distract her with her own toys and books, but she wanted to play with annoy the big kids.

about 16 months - at Busch Gardens...sweet baby girl just wanted to sit on the ground and play with acorns. there was no convincing her to get up...i chose my battles and let her sit on the ground and play since we were off to the side where there wasn't a lot of people. my OCD did kick in and I doused her in hand sanitizer when she was done playing. 

she was 18 months in this pic...we were going to take our family pics and picked my sister in law up so I was sitting in the back with the kids. Avery wanted to hold  my hand. She loves to hold hands and will even insist on holding my hand just walking around the house. 

Miss Sassy:

Avery's about 7.5 months - as you can tell her sassy side is coming out! 

about 8 months...we were going for a walk at the downtown outdoor market. she's got her sassy pout!

about 15.5 months - just look at that face! it's as if she's saying "I'm gonna do something naughty...whatcha gonna do about it?". She gives me this look ALL DAY LONG.