Thumbs up

All my girls have been very short-lived thumb suckers. Being the fourth daughter in the family, Winnie's working hard to be remembered for something, so she's taken on the roll of long-term thumb sucker.

She still likes her pacifier, but if the kid is ever feeling tired, she just starts shoving her hands into her mouth until she finds the part she wants. It seems like she favors her right hand so far. 

I have no objections to her being a thumb sucker as long as it doesn't become a problem sometime down the line (the dentist had to threaten to cut my thumb off when I was 5 and still sucking).

Caught with her thumb in her mouth.

Stylin'

Yes, that's my child wearing a fuzzy brown backpack, a Tinkerbell bow, skull sunglasses, fringey hair and a purple hat. Why do you ask?

And guess who dressed the baby in the fluffy headband? See above.

Smart aleck

I'm totally blaming this on Seth's genes ... after all, I was a teacher's pet, not a class clown.

The other day, Rebekah brought home some typical papers from school with something atypical at the top. Make sure you look closely. Here's the conversation that followed:

In case it's too hard to read, in Rebekah's writing it says, "Name on it." In Mrs. Funke's writing it says, "Rebekah."

Andrea: Rebekah, what did you write on your paper?
Bekah: "Name on it."
Andrea: And why did you write "name on it" on your paper?
Bekah: Because Mrs. Funke handed me a paper and told me to write my name on it.

More little miracles

She's only 4 months old. She proved to us once that there are guardian angels watching over her ... I guess she just wanted to remind us of that fact.

One week ago (2/4), Winnie developed a barking cough. Since she's so young, I called the doctor's office first thing the next day and made an appointment. The doctor looked her over, told me she was okay and let me know that if she started having a hard time breathing or got a fever to bring her right back in.

By Friday night (2/8), the cough had transformed from a barking cough to a junky cough. She felt a little warm that evening, so we took her temperature. It was 100 degrees even, so we gave her some Tylenol. It kicked her temp back down to normal, and she seemed fine.

Saturday morning, no fever. Same cough. Saturday night, a temperature of 101.8. I called the pediatrician on call, and he said if she didn't seem to be acting too sick (which she wasn't ... she was being her same sweet self) or having trouble breathing, she could take some more Tylenol and wait to see the doctor until the next day. Or if she seemed to be doing fine Sunday, we could just watch her and determine if we thought she needed to see a doctor later on.

Sunday morning, no fever. We took her to church and to Grandma's. Sunday night, a temperature of 100.4. The Tylenol took care of that again.

Today was her 4-month check-up, as previously discussed. If she hadn't already had an appointment scheduled, I may have made one anyway ... I don't know.

Either way, I'm grateful we went in today. I'm grateful we have a skilled doctor. I'm grateful for the chest X-ray torture chamber of doom.

And now I'm grateful for antibiotics. Not only does she have bronchiolitis, but she also has early signs of pneumonia. We're instructed to give her medicine and keep an eye on her. She'll be fine staying at home unless she seems to be having a hard time breathing.

Isn't this the sweetest pneumonic baby the world has ever seen?

Gwendolen's 4-month check

Her stats:

Weight: 11 pounds, 5 ounces (3rd percentile)
Height: 23 inches (17th percentile)
Head: 16.33 inches (73rd percentile)

She's a typical Grover: big head, scrawny everything else.

Winnie's had a cough for a week and a fever the past three evenings, so the doctor suggested we delay her 4-month immunizations until she's feeling better. And after listening carefully to her lungs, he suggested that we get a chest X-ray. He said it sounds like she has bronchiolitis, but he wants to make sure it's not developing into pneumonia.

If you've never had a baby get a chest X-ray, you're missing out. I thought all devices like the Iron Maiden were a thing of the past. I really wanted to get a picture of my precious baby squeezed into a plastic tube, but Analee and Miriam had my phone in the other room (when the staff asked me, "Is there anyone else with you who can stay with them?" and I shot them a look that said, "Do you SEE anyone else here with me?") so they could play Angry Birds, and I was busy holding Winnie's hands up above her head. But since words won't do the procedure justice, here's a picture I borrowed from the Intertubes:

Here is an empty pigg-o-stat, as it's called. How does this help your wee one get her chest X-rayed?

By squeezing her into the tube with her arms above her head. This one has holes for the kids legs--Winnie just had hers tucked under her body so she was kneeling.

Looks traumatic, no? I'll admit I was a little nervous as they closed it around her tiny little body. But my sweet little Winnie was very content as they took the X-rays. She just spent her time in there chewing the piece of plastic just below her face.

We should hear back from the doctor's office later today. If she has pneumonia, she'll get to experience her first antibiotics. If it's just bronchiolitis, she'll get Tylenol as needed.

Miri-ism #10

Miriam mixes up a couple of exclamations:

Miri: Holy sakes!