Vala's Pumpkin Patch..

This is how tall she was in October of 2009.
This was taken on the hay rack ride out to get the pumpkins. The entire night we fought rain off and on. It wasn't overly cold though. We spent about four hours out at the patch. Delilah did not enjoy it as much as I would have hoped. She was scared of so many things. She just wanted to hold on to us whenever we tried to show her something new and just kept saying "no." When she was really upset, she just kept saying "no, no, no, no." It was funny though. When on the way back in from the hay rack ride, one of the last things we did, she suddenly was herself again and just smiled and started talking. It was like her second wind came on and she just wasn't afraid. She loved walking along side us. She went into the Apple Education Barn and she kept walking over the bridge type walkway. Then we went to the checkout barn and she walked all over the place and kept smiling. I am really unsure what changed. Oh well overall we had fun and I am glad we did it before it got to cold. We have two great pumpkins and can't wait to try that experience of carving pumpkins. Everyone was really tired and ready for bed when we got home. Of course Delilah fell asleep in the car on the way home. I was glad I had brought her pajama to change her into. It made her getting into bed easy. Can't wait until next year to take her again and hopefully then she will enjoy it more and can get her to ride the ponies.

Just peachy....

Delilah came through her surgery with flying colors. She was very tired after her surgery, but overall did handled it like a champ. The fussiness later in the day I think was more related to teething than her ears. The biggest fight was actually the ear drops. One of the baby signs and words she know well is "all done" She uses it to let us know that she is done eating most of the time. Or we ask her if she is done eating and she says "all done." Well apparently the other day while Jarrod was giving her the drops she just kept repeating "all done, all done, all done." Jarrod felt so bad that he couldn't stop! We really do hope the tubes stay in long enough to get past that bad time and then no more tubes.

She is doing great. She is really starting to talk and actually said thank you the other day. I swear it was like we had the surgery and because she could hear so much more she jsut took off with her talking. She is always on the move. Yesterday all three of us went to Borders and man that girl was in heaven. She pulled off more books than I could keep track of. She just ran around and would grab a book look at it and then move to the next. It was like a kid in a candy store but it was bookstore. I like that even better. A kid happy in a book store.

She has start occasionally biting Jarrod and I but we think we have that figured out to be boredom as it is usually when we are on the computer and not paying attention to her. She does not do it at daycare, so apparently Jarrod and I are slacking :)

Other than that doing good and very excited to be expecting a nephew. Looking forward to a trip to SD soon to be a part of a great baby shower!

Surgery next week...

Next Tuesday Delilah will have her ear tubes placed. Sounds pretty quick and simple. We meet with her Pediatrician today too and she is doing well. Her weight dropped again, now to the 58%, her height spiked to the 68 percentile and head remains in 90th percentile. She got two shots (those don't get any easier to watch) and overall she is healthy. So off to surgery and then hopefully no more need for antibiotics!

Delilah's First Drawing

It took two days of effort but the masterpiece is finally finished. Behold the masterful strokes created with wax and paper. It proudly hangs on the fridge.

September 15th...

So as you can read in my last post that yes Delilah had moved onto Omnicef. Luckily though we have been able to keep the diaper rash at bay. We immediately started giving her Lactobaccilus (a probiotic), and treating her diaper area with lots of triple paste and Lotrimin twice a day and so far have only had a little redness and then a spot every once and awhile. I am excited that we aren't having a horrible diaper rash yet. By we are on Day 6!

The awesome news is that on September 15th we are getting to see the ENT for tube evaluation and our Pediatrician for her 15 month check up. So going to be busy day but finally we can get the ball rolling for tubes. I really want to get them in as soon as we can. Hopefully no more antibiotics for ear infections! Otherwise, Delilah finally said "Mama" I am not sure she was saying it at me but hey she said it and I heard it. Apparently Jarrod has heard it long before I did.

Delilah has quite the temper and is rather stubborn ( I know like mother, like daughter), she has learned "No" very efficiently and is starting to throw temper tantrums of throwing herself down and kicking. Does she know that she is only 15 months and she can't do this until she is TWO! Oh well. She is so funny and has such purpose now. It is so cute to see her so determined. She is one smart stubborn cookie!

The fun continues...

Apparently even though I cought the ear infection on day one, the nasty bug still seems to be resitant to Amoxicillin, so onto stronger antibiotics. Nice things is the dose is only once a day, but it will almost gaurantee a daiper rash for poor Delilah! Hopefully I can keep the rash at bay. Time to call Ear Nose and Throat for tubes.

Never doubt the intuition...

There are somethings I don't think I will ever understand.

How does that frequent flyer know that today of all days he should miss his flight, and that is the day the plane crashes?

How does the nurse know that the patient is just about ready to code (have a heart attack) and the patient is in ICU alive because she convinced the doctor and the patient was in the ICU when the patient coded?

How does the mom know that something is wrong and needs to go to the Doctor, and sure enough her daughter has an early ear infection?

Never doubt those "gut feelings" as they always seem to pay off. Sure enough yesterday I just knew that Delilah's ear irritation had progressed to a full infection and to hopefully prevent having to use the stronger antibiotics on her again, I wanted to catch it early and sure enough, I took her in and she was in the early stages of the ear infection. So we are trying the high dose Amoxicillin which is actually the lower end of antibiotics and we shall see if this clears. I am unsure if I should pray that it clears or pray that it doesn't respond because if it doesn't clear we are headed straight for tubes. If it does clear we still need to decide do we still just wait this out and see what happens or do we say enough is enough and just go for the surgery and get tubes. It can not be good for a child to be on antibiotics as much as she has. The thought also that we are starting to enter into the key speech development stage makes me nervous and I want to make sure she can clearly hear the needed sounds.

So remember trust your instincts becuase they always seem to pay off.

Baby porn

Yep had to do it. We decided to put Delilah just in the tub and not use her ducky and she loved every moment of it. Hope you enjoy the fun.

Instead...

Instead of taking the time to resize all the pictures I decided to just make lots posts. So here is Delilah in her new pool from aunt Regina at her pool playdate. Then it is Delilah's one year professional picture.

More pictures...

l

Here is more pics from her first birthday. Keep in mind we had been at the zoo all day and had eaten at Valentinoes. So we aren't the prettiest looking group but Delilah sure is cute. Man the tree has grown too.

It's been a year...

I know I am late but it has been busy lately. Things don't ever truly seem to slow down. It has been a year since the blessed birth of our daughter. I feel so very lucky to have such an amazing daughter. She is growing well. Her weight is in the 64 percentile. Her height is in the 46 percentile. Her head is in the 94 percentile. I am surprised with that her big head that she can walk as well as she can. In the last two weeks she has really taken off with her walking. She has four words that we know. Uh-oh, no, Joe (our cat) and Ab (for Abby our other cat.)

Daddy's girl

Daddy's first day home with her during summer break and see what he can get her to do. Grandma and Grandpa I really hope you enjoy. We will have her walking to you the next time we see you.

Finally...

Finally we got her to do it today. May 29th in the afternoon on Jarrod's last day of school, she finally decided she would take some steps without assistance. Now her first attempts were better but I was so excited that she was doing it that I forgot to get the camera until after she was getting tired. But we were still able to get some shots for Daddy to see. Thanks Aunt Regina for helping her take her first steps. Was a very proud day for mama.

Delilah walking with her car

I really hope you enjoy the video. She will walk with the use of hands or her car. It opens up to make a walker. She really is getting better using it but this video was on the first day she was using her car on her own.

Baptism, and belated updates...

Despite a snowstorm, and Delilah and mommy both being very sick, Delilah did get baptized. She had some people missing at the event because they were stuck in South Dakota, and Iowa, but they were there in spirit. Delilah did great. Mommy couldn't talk but I am sure God heard her anyways. Delilah only got fussy the last 5 mins of church but once Daddy took her to the back of the church she was much happier. Then we got pictures and then back to our house where we had lunch, cake, and opened gifts.

Let's go back a little. I keep meaning to get all the updates. Delilah has her nine month check-up at about 9.5 months. Her head circ is still remaining in the 90th percentile. Actually she was up from 93 to 96%! Her weight dropped percentiles. She went from the 88th to the 64. But hey still above average. Doctor wasn't worried he said usually about this point they level off because they move around more but don't take in any extra calories. Her length is back down again from 75th to the 59%. But all in all she is still above average in every area.

Now as far as sleeping goes, she is getting better. We usually only have to get up once or twice, sometimes she puts herself back to sleep. She usually has to eat around 6am. Now that brings up one of the areas of mommies concern. The girl just doesn't eat solids very well. She was really making headway and then she got RSV and ever since then I just feel like we are headed backwards. She will barely take bites sometimes. Then one meal out of the blue she might eat and entire jar and it doesn't matter what it is. You sit her in the chair and she just screams most of the time. We used to blame it on the RSV. Then we blamed it on the teeth, then the next illness, then the Roseola, then the teeth, now she is sick again, with a very nasty bug so she wont eat. She drinks formula, but no more than 6 ounces ever at one time. She goes anywhere from 2-6 ounces every 3-4 hrs, until bedtime at 8 pm then she drinks at 6 am. The doctor said he wasn't worried but it is not normal for her to eat so little. It has been a battle for almost two months. Any thoughts I am open.

She is walking if you give her a hand to hold onto. But you try to let go and she immediately tries to sit. She is to scared to fall. She crawls all over the place. She does have a single tooth in her bottom right front incisor. Hopefully the other one will break soon if that is her issue. She still doesn't talk much. She still hasn't said mama, and she is 2 days away from being 10 months old. She still will not call Jarrod Dada. I still haven't heard her make the kaka sound. It really is starting to scare me but the doctor said not to worry as she is focusing on her physical rather than her speech and communication. She still hasn't reproduced any signs that we can recognize.

So now that gets you somewhat up to date. Well Friday the 3rd was my birthday and Delilah woke up with a 102.8 degree temp and she was very fussy. By that night she was rather fussy and I was starting to feel very achy. Sure enough I woke up Saturday morning also running a temp of greater than 102. I took Tylenol and Day Quil and by that evening I had really starting to loose my voice, of course when all the family was here to celebrate. Sunday I woke up and really had no voice and was really coughing. Sunday was so bad for me that my mom wanted to take me to the ER. She thought I had walking pneumonia. Delilah seemed to be getting slightly better. So Monday I head to the doctor and they put me on Prednisone to help with my breathing, Albuterol four times a day and an antibiotic once a day. A very strong harsh antibiotic, I must say. Then Tuesday off to take Delilah to the doctor because her fever came back and she was breathing hard now too. So sure enough she has an ear infection and it also settled into her lungs so back on breathing treatments. She is getting slightly better taking the treatments. At least this time we don't have to do the Pulmicort. We just have to do the albuterol. So you would think after getting on prednisone and antibiotics and albeterol we both would be feeling better but it has taken quite a few doses to even feel like I am able to stay awake enough to even think about going back to work. Finally the cough seems to be getting better so maybe I can sleep better tonight and will make it through work tomorrow.

So I think that is all of the updates. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

9 months...

Nine months ago my life changed more than I ever imagined. Anyone who has a baby knows that, and they tell you that, but man you never understand how much until you have a baby yourself. Delilah is growing very quickly. She is about 19-20 lbs. (She was 19 lbs 4 oz when she was sick, we see the doctor in a week and half) She mastered the crawling in well about a week once she got moving. She is pulling herself up on everything. She is even taking walks if we hold her hands. She would prefer to walk then to crawl. It was so funny. The day we moved the bed down because I knew she was close to pulling herself up was the same day that she pulled herself up in bed. But the poor girl, once she got up, she didn't know what to do. She stood there, we think for awhile, but then when she got tired she just went ballistic. She got so scared. Even after we picked her up she was still shaking. She didn't want to stand for about 2 days but then she took right off again.

Now she doesn't really say much. She just says dadada a lot but and then ahahahah but they are more like babble than anything else. She also will respond if we sign but has not produced any signs herself. We get to rely on a lot of her nonverbal sucking on thumbs and relying on her schedule.

She finally got over her RSV. Then two days later she got another cold. Actually we all got another cold. Very frustrating. We had just sent the nebulizer back because she hadn't needed it for almost 5 days and then last night I actually heard her wheeze for a little bit but it only lasted about 5 mins. Hopefully we don't end up back at the doctor to get another nebulizer.

She is starting to finally eat meats and keep them down. She is starting on the finger foods and getting better. So all in all she is wonderful

I will get pictures up hopefully soon but did want to get and update out. Last night she was too fussy to get a few good pictures of her.

Another trick...

Now this one she just started doing so she is not very good but baby steps, remember baby steps.

Can't keep the girl down for long...

Despite her being sick and still having a hard time breathing, that doesn't keep this girl from learning new tricks. So here's for Grandma and Grandpa so you can see her one of her tricks. Hope everyone else enjoys too.

Fever Finally Broke!

Delilah's fever finally broke for good I'm hoping. She had been down to 99 in am and then spiking again in the afternoons to 100.8. Well this morning she finally stayed down in the normal range and only spiked to 99.0 once! Yeah! I was also finally able to suction her only every four hours right before her treatments. Now the lungs/breathing has a long way to go. She still wheezes all the time. She is still coughing a lot and she still has an occasional crackle in the bases of her lungs which worries me that those haven't improved but the Dr said that it could take almost a month for her lungs to recover and she will always be really sensitive from here on out. She is still really clingy and wants to be close to me all the time.

I am starting to finally feel slightly better. I can actually breathe again through one of my nostrils. The headaches are getting better. Jarrod came home today with the full blown thing too. He can't breathe through his nose at all. Luckily both his and mine is all just in our head not in our lungs. I had spoken with my manager and she didn't want me to work until all my symptoms were gone since RSV is so contagious and so bad to give to the babies, so I think it is good that I already had the weekend off. By Monday I better be ready to go back to work or I am going to go completely stir crazy. I don't know how mom's do it, no being able to go anywhere. I can't risk taking her anywhere and get other people sick so we have been finding things to do here and man I am running out of ideas.

Silliness

We decided that since her treatments wake her up at night that we were going to try to wait until she woke up, and then Jarrod would do last nights treatments. We didn't hold to the every four hours but we figured since she was sleeping she must be okay. So wait until she wakes up. Would you believe it the little girl slept from 8:30pm to 7 this morning. Ah ya aye. So technically I guess tonight will be my shift that means she will wake up every four hours, right?

Need to vent...

So as you can read from the previous post, Delilah is sick with RSV leading to bronchiolitis, and possibly the start of pneumonia, with an ear infection to top it all off. So she gets antibiotics once a day. Then one nebulizer is twice a day and then one every four hours. The frustrating part is the nebulizers don't help with the wheezing much. Since she has an ear infection, and a possibility of the start of pneumonia, we can't risk suppressing her immune system with steroids. However, we discovered that even though she is wheezing and sometimes working really hard to breath she can maintain her oxygen saturation, so the nebulizers are doing something. So I got up with her every four hours and then today she wanted to nurse every two hours, needed suction every two hours on top of all the other stuff. So low an behold what did I wake up with this morning, yep a huge headache, sore throat and runny nose. Imagine that, I am around a very contagious baby and then lack of sleep, yeah RSV! It has made today a very difficult day. I am exhausted, feel horrible, and to make matters worse I have to see and hear just a very sick baby. She struggles so hard sometimes to breathe and cry. She hates her treatments. She HATES having her nose suctioned. I just really do not know how other parents find the strength to get through times like these. Absolutely nothing is getting done around the house, and I admit that some of that is because I sleep or I relax playing Mario Kart but if I didn't do those I think someone would be checking me into the loony bin right now. I guess the good news is that I can't work right now. With me having RSV, probably, I can't risk going in a nd taking care of sick babies. But instead I am not getting a break from a sick cranky baby who doesn't feel good and every time she cries it breaks my heart a little to hear how pathetic and weak she is. If any one has suggestions on how to cope please let me know.

RSV and ear infection

Yep, that's right. Delilah has RSV. She also has an ear infection. She started wheezing really bad. She gets to stay out of the hospital for now. We have to do treatments every four hours. She is on antibiotics for the ear infection. She is pretty miserable. I am being very precise as I need to get going but wanted to update the grandparents here. So she is doing okay. She is still breastfeeding enough that they are not worried about dehydration yet but we shall see. So any questiosn feel free to call.

Love to you all and stay healthy!

Frustration

Okay, so I know I really am lucky. I have a beautiful, healthy baby girl, who is happy, and growing and so adorable. But oh I am so frustrated with her sleeping! Anyone who know me knows that I do not do well on little sleep. I really like a good solid eight hours, or beware. So this not sleeping thing is getting old.

Ten days ago we finally set our foot down, no more nursing from 8 pm until 5:30 am. She is a big girl and should be able to go 9.5 hrs without needing to nurse. So we set our foot down, and it started to work, she slept a good part of the night, well then she got a slight GI bug and was throwing up, got a little dehydrated so OK she can nurse during the night. Okay then she got over the GI bug, no more nursing at night again. We held strong. Monday night she slept through the night. Tuesday night she slept through the night. Wednesday night she cried out twice but put herself back to sleep without us needing to do anything. Well then Thursday night she cried out, was coughing, and needed to be consoled but no feeding. Well Friday morning she woke up coughing and by afternoon she was running a fever. Yep the girl is sick and since the fever is there, they say the push fluids so if she wakes up I guess she can nurse. So yep this am at 4:30 she wakes up and wants to nurse after a not so restful night. Oh my what am I going to do with this girl. Will we ever make head way with no nursing at night?

Future Alumni

Okay, so I graduated from South Dakota State University, The mascot if the Jackrabbit. Here is the picture for Great-Grandpa.

Update on the theories...

Oh just to finish the theories on the screaming. She has only done it one other day. I never really did figure it out but seeing how it stopped, maybe it was just gas pains or something. Heaven knows I know how bad those feel. So thank you for all the support that day. I will never truly know but at least it stopped. Thanks for all your support.

Working hard and my pink marshmallow

Okay so for Christmas from Grandma English, Delilah got a little play computer that she can press the buttons and explore things. It has music, color, shapes, and other things. She really likes it. Jarrod has made it his mission to teach her proper use of the computer by showing how to use his computer. Okay not really but he has decided that they both need to use their computers together A LOT. He will take her on the couch as shown, or go lay on the bed, both on their bellies each just typing away on their computers. He thinks he will turn her into a computer geek before she is even 2!

Okay and here is my pink marshmallow. For Christmas she got a really nice set of mittens and the pink hat that are nice. She also got a pink winter jacket. It is for size 18 months so still a little big for her. But we decided to try it all on and when I saw it in person it wasn't so bad but then I saw the picture today and her face just looks likes help me. It makes me laugh. I still think she makes a very cute marshmallow.

I need theories...

Okay so I am putting a shout out to everyone. I need theories. The last two days Delilah has done this wierd thing were suddenly she just get really upset for 25mins first day and last night it was 1.5 hrs. It is sudden both times. Even after you pick her up, hold her, change diaper, attempt to nurse her, give her pacifier, give her food, she just stays crying and then suddenly she will just stop. Both times she finally would eat first time is was solid food, second time it was breastfed.

So I went through the usual stuff. She has had a cold since Monday. But she can breathe and seems to actually be on the mend. No fever, No pulling on ear so no ear infection.

She doesn't seem to be teething as she is not really drooling any. She knaws on everything but she always does that.

She is nto having any changes in stools or gasiness.

She is still eating good.

Are these jsut random tantrums about something?

Thoughts? Theories?

Christmas with the grandparents/greatgrandparents and the Four Generation Picture

Grandma and Delilah
Grandpa and Grandma Olson
The Greats. Great Grandma and Grandapa
Four Generations.
Delilah in the family rocking chair

Christmas at home...

Well here are Christmas pictures. Here is her dog from me
Here is her gift from Daddy
Here is her stocking stuffer and yes she liked the paper better.
Here is Jarrod's and I's best gift ever... Delilah!
And her with her stocking.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, very late!

Okay, I know, I know. I am very late in getting this posted. And no I still will not have pictures. The reason, I kept thinking I would have time to resize the pictures and I just don't get them resized. So at work today I decided I would just quick write the update.

I worked actual Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so I missed out, but nothing happened on the Eve and on X-mas day Jarrod took Delilah over to my sister's and they all hung out. Gma and Gpa English, Regina, Delilah and Jarrod. Jarrod really appreciated not having to be alone for the holiday. Gpa said he was glad to actually be around a baby again on the actual holiday. She was not content to be on the floor She wanted to be held the entire day. So she got just a little spoiled.

Then on the 26th is when we celebrated and opened gifts. She really could care less. She liked the paper more than the rattle at first. Then the 27th we headed up to the other side of the family and got to see Gma, Gpa, G-Gma, G-Gpa and had all sorts of fun up there. I will get the four generation picture up soon.

Well she is taking a sippy cup and does fairly well. She sits up on her own but cna't get into that position on her own yet. She gets up on all four and rocks but doesn't really go anywhere unless she is ticked off and pushes backwards. Overall she si doing great and is growign so fast. We are going to have to get a larger car seat real soon. Well all for now. Happy Belated Holidays!