Our last few weeks. . . Clara's sickness continues

So Clara has been a little under the weather ever since we returned from our annual CT vacation. I took her in to the Dr a week ago and was told she had just a cold or allergies as her chest and ears looked clear, and to start her on a once a day OTC allergy med for kids. Dr told us to come back in a week for an antibiotic if her symptoms (horrible cough, tons of green snot, sneezing, coughing, more green snot, coughing, etc. . . did I mention horrible coughing?) worsened or the allergy med wasn't helping. Well here we are a week later and things have sadly intensified. :(

Our Dr told us that kids get an average of 10 colds a year the first two years and that the symptoms can last an average of two weeks. . . well I think we are right on par with that stat.

Yesterday was the worst, probably the worst off I have seen her in a LONG time. She basically cried from 8am-12pm and would not let me put her down. She was in and out of sleep and crying on an off and so we rocked and rocked and rocked some more in her glider. For four hours. Poor baby! Anytime I would get her asleep and try to put her in bed (or lay down with her in our guest bed) she would cry (and not a teeny little cry, like ALL out shrieking cry. . . this is not like Clara, aka the most laid back baby toddler in the entire world). So we called the Dr again, got an antibiotic and are praying she makes a turn for the better here soon.

 On our way to the Dr. . . pitiful face!

We stayed home from church Sunday and had to cancel dinner plans with Amanda and her fam. This is how she spent most of Sunday. She was awake but would only lift her head up to cough. Daddy enjoyed lots of extra snuggles.

And yesterday in midst of the four hour crying session. This was right after I got her to sleep again for the 500th time. It was so sad! But like daddy on Sunday, I embraced the cuddle time that I know will not always be so available. There is something amazingly powerful about knowing your child finds peace and contentment in your arms and nowhere else, you know? Kind of like this post. So so powerful. Can't think of a better word. 

And last night. . . poor kid. She didn't even want to open her eyes.

I guess it's safe to say we won't be taking Clara out trick or treating Thursday night??? Antibiotic. . . let's get this show on the road!

Clara 17 months

Clara turned 17 months on October 2, 2013. . . 

(Didn't have time to take a pic with her cute Etsy sticker as I have in past months, so instead I stole some pics from our recent CT vacay that will have to do. . . think they turned out pretty cute! Maybe if I get my act together I will get the sticker out and take some other pics. . . Maybe)

Loves:
Looking at the chandelier light in her bedroom
Books!! Loves turning the pages and intently staring at each page/picture. . . so cute!
Crawling all over the place
Pulling up on the ottoman & couch
Any toy with lights, music, sound etc (as long as the sound is not too loud, this can be a real fine line)
Putting anything and everything in her mouth
Playing on the couch and on mommy & daddy's bed (loves playing in all the big pillows)

Does Not Love:
Toilets flushing
Barking dogs (cue complete meltdown)
People yelling, cheering (even if happy cheers), etc
Sun in her eyes
When we wipe her nose, clean her face, etc

Eating:
She gets three 6 oz bottles of whole milk a day (working on sippy cup transition, will probably be a while, OT working on this during sessions).

While she is still mostly on pureed food (she spits out solid food,  a sensory issue) she has made MAJOR progress over the last few weeks. She will now swallow tiny pieces of. . .

strawberries
cheerios
puffs (has been eating these for a good while now)
elbow macaroni noodles (happened over the last week!)
cooked zucchini and potatoes (happened over the last week!)
string cheese (happened yesterday!!!!!)
the carrots or small pieces of veggies/pasta that are in the Stage 3 jarred baby food

Sleeping:
She sleeps like a champ. . . usually 10-12 hours at night and then naps between 2-3 hours during the day. Maybe three or so nights out of the week she will wake early morning (like between 3-5am) to play in her bed. She is 100% content and hardly fusses, so we just let her play to her hearts content. Eventually, she gets tired enough that she falls back asleep. Funny girl!

Schedule:
Her schedule for the day really depends on when she wakes for the day but usually looks something like this. . .
7:30am wake
8am - breakfast & bottle of milk
11:30am - lunch
12:30pm - bottle of milk and nap
3:30pm - small snack if needed with water/apple juice etc
5:30pm - dinner
7:30-8:30pm - bottle of milk and bed

Therapy schedule:
She gets private OT services 2x a week (OT also works on some social skills and also feeding issues) and ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) services 1x a week. Speech therapy will be added in near-ish future. (We are currently battling wtih insurance to get speech therapy coverage. . . this has only been going on for. . . months. . . fun times! Seriously at the point of hiring a claims specialist!! Will stop there in order to prevent a serious tangent.)  

Development:
She can now pull to stand on most any object! Woohoo! This has been so fun to see. Once she pulls up, she has started shifting her weight and stepping front to back (where before she would pull up and then just stay stuck in an awkward position until I shifted her feet). She is not cruising around objects yet, but that is ok. We are enjoying this new milestone!

Progress in the eating department - see above

She now lets us brush her teeth w/ baby toothpaste (I use the word brush somewhat loosely). But this is huge considering that for the last five months she would not even let us get the toothbrush anywhere near her mouth.

Two weeks ago in therapy she (for the first time) showed the true signs of object permanence! We have been working on this for a long time. We covered up one of her fav toys with a towel, and she promptly pulled the towel off to find it!

She has started swatting our hands away when we are doing something she doesn't like, or when our hands are covering up a toy or getting in her way of whatever she is wanting to do, etc. Some parents might be annoyed with this behavior, but oh my goodness this is something we have been working towards and praying for! Her therapist was THRILLED the first time Clara swatted her hand away :).

We recently had her reevaluated by another specialist who reports that Clara is more like a 8-9 month old in motor/nonverbal skills and a 3-4 month old in verbal skills. This is right in line with what the neurologist and various other professionals have stated and we also agree. The key in all of this is that she continues to make progress, and that she has not regressed in any area. So thankful for this b/c regression can be a sign of lots of other issues. So we press on. . .

She will get glasses in the next few months. . . we will see how that goes, ha! But nonetheless she will be super cute in her teeny tiny baby toddler glasses. :)

Adventures: 
We took a weekend trip with our church small group at the end of September to a TeePee Motel not too far away from home. It was so fun! Despite Clara's expression below, she really did have a good time!

Just got back Wednesday night from our annual CT vacation! Recap post with pics coming next week!

Cannot believe my little girl is 17 months. Time if flying, per usual, but we are really soaking in and enjoying the ride, even on the hard days. Cannot believe in three months my little baby will no longer by my baby! Crazy!

Have a great weekend!