Latex

Hannah had a dentist appointment yesterday and she did really well. She was a model patient. I was so proud of her, especially since the rest of the day (before and after the appointment) she had a hard time keeping herself together! However, within minutes of leaving the office Hannah started complaining that her arms itched. She was tearing into them like crazy and when I looked into the backseat at a stoplight to tell her to stop scratching I saw that her face was beet red and that she had a rash all over her arms and face. Her nose was also so stuffy that she was breathing completely out of her mouth and her eyes were watering like crazy. Moments later she started scratching her face too. When we got home I checked her over and the race seemed confined to only areas of her skin that were exposed, areas where the dentist and hygienist had touched her. I started thinking she was having an allergic reaction and wondered what it could be too. At first latex didn't even cross my mind since she's been to the dentist before, had 2 surgeries, and spent two weeks of her life considered infections and everyone who touched her had to wear gloves. She's had plenty of exposure to latex and never had an issue. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the dentist office was the only thing out of the norm for the day and the rash was really only was in places where she had been touched by the staff who were wearing gloves. Not to mention the fact that all the symptoms appeared immediately upon exiting the office. I started googling latex allergies (what would we do without the Internet) and sure enough I read that an allergy to latex could develop after repeated exposures and that mild symptoms were exactly like what Hannah was displaying. Today we gave her some benadryl to try to get the itching and swelling (her cheeks are all puffy today as well) under control and I called the doctor and she agrees with me that it could very well be a latex allergy so we have an appointment to meet with her this afternoon. Please wish us well and pray that this ISN'T a latex allergy that could potentially escalate in severity as she grows older, but that it's some other benign contact dermatitis and not a life long problem we'll have to deal with.

Photo notes: More pictures from our recent house guests and Hannah riding her bike. Notice the concentration on her face! Again, gotta love that 3 year old fashion sense in these pictures! Click on them to see them full size to get the full effect.

First Hair Cut

Hannah had her first real haircut last night. She's had her bangs trimmed twice by Daddy, but this time she got her bangs cut and the back of her hair (much to my dismay). It about killed me to let Janet (the lady who cuts our hair) do it, but I was out voted 4 to 1 on the subject of Hannah's baby mullet (as Kyle calls it). So, she now has a new hair do that I think makes her look like a boy, but everyone else seems to think looks much better. It's kinda like a baby bob cut. She was very good for the whole process so I was at least proud of her for that.

Hannah's butt is officially cleared up and sore free! YEAH! I've not had to put diaper rash cream on for 4 days! I'm so happy that chapter in her life is over. I hope it NEVER happens again.

Our visit this past weekend to see Tiffany and get all the kids' pictures taken was a huge fiasco. The photo session LITERALLY was a 3 ring circus! Not once during the an almost 2 hour session did all 3 of them cooperate at the same time! It really was a sight for sore eyes. This makes 3 photo sessions in a row that Hannah has not been good at. At least Melissa was able to get some good pictures despite Hannah's objections. The other two photographers were not so lucky (or maybe just not as talented as Melissa). It was nice to get to see Tiffany and the kids and we got to see her mom too. In a few weeks when the pictures are back Tiffany and Mike are going to come up and bring us the pictures and stay for a visit. That should be nice because we will actually be able to let the kids run around and play and we'll be able to sit and talk. Then in May we are going to the twins' 4th birthday party. Tiffany is getting one of those bounce house jumping things for the party and Kyle is wishing he could play in it already! Soon Hannah's birthday will be coming up and I can't wait to plan the party and for everyone who hasn't got to meet Tiffany and Mike and the twins to get to meet them.

Hannah has finally started to use her baby signs to communicate with us. She signs more, drink, and sometimes eat. Her favorite sign is more and she uses it to get us to give her more veggie puffs or to get me to continue to play a game with her for just a little bit longer. She also definitely understands the sign finished and she DOES NOT like it. Lately we've been getting tantrums when we sign finish if she still wants more puffs. Now I pour out a certain amount of puffs and tell her that these are all she gets. When she's down to the last one I tell her that she only has one more left and when they are gone we will be finished. When she's done and I tell her she's all finished and make the finished sign, she immediately signs more and stares right at the jar that holds the puffs. I tell her and sign finished again and she makes the more sign with more force (for her it's a clapping motion) and grunts at me. When I tell her finished again she starts to scream and makes the more sign! It's actually a bit funny to watch, but it gets old fast. I'm becoming the master at distracting her from her obsession with the puffs. She'd eat the entire jar if we would let her!

Hannah's crawling speed is increasing and she's trying to pull up on anything she can get her hands on. She's pulled several things over on herself and flopped back on the floor many times, but it hasn't seemed to deter her from trying. She's quite good at using our arms to pull up on since they are an adjustable height, but so far she hasn't mastered using the furniture to pull up on just yet. She has acquired a few battle scares from her new found mobility though. She cracked her head on the coffee table (we now have a pad around it!) and cut her eye the day before her photo session with Tiffany and the twins and then last night she crawled head on into Sarah and Jason's bed and cut her lip! She's a definite hazard to herself, but I'm afraid it's only going to get worse as she really loves to explore everything. She's figuring out the lay of the land so to speak in the house and now crawls from room to room to come find us if we leave her alone in a room. She always looks so proud of herself when we look down and see her at our feet when it was not where we had left her! She loves to bang on things, open drawers and cabinets, and pull things off shelves. I'm in the process of trying to teach her which books are hers and which shelves of books are off limits to her. This will be a LONG process I think. Let's just hope that there are not too many casualties in the book department before she learns! She also really likes her grandpa's oxygen tanks. I wage a constant battle every day to keep her curious little hands from tipping them over on her head.

She's also learning how to manipulate people very easily. She has her grandpa trained very well to get the things she wants. She knows exactly how to lure him out of his seat and how to get him to pick her up. She also knows how to get him to take her to me! She's a little manipulator already! This does not bode well for her teenage years!

Crawling Machine

Hannah has finally figured out how to use crawling as a mode of transportation and has turned into a crawling machine! Nothing is off limits now, or so she thinks! She's been getting into absolutely everything: pulling books off shelves, tipping over baskets, pulling herself up to her knees on anything she can grab, opening and closing the doors to the dog crates, and getting inside the dog beds!

With this new found independence she has ushered herself into a new (and unpleasant for us) stage that requires much patience from us. TANTRUMS, TANTRUMS, and more TANTRUMS. She throws tantrums dozens of times a day for any reason she can think of and sometimes for no reason at all! If she doesn't want to be burped she throws a tantrum. If I put her down she throws a tantrum. If I pick her up she throws a tantrum. If I put her in her car seat she throws a tantrum. If I change her diaper she throws a tantrum. Do you get the idea? If it's not her choice then she throws a tantrum and these aren't just little things either that we can distract her from easily. She literally throws herself back onto the floor and kicks her legs and flails her arms and screams at the top of her lungs. If you try to touch her she goes stiff and cries louder and harder! I must say that I'm at a loss for what to do. I wasn't expecting tantrums like this for at least a few more months, maybe for a year! I don't know if I should try to distract, voice my displeasure, or ignore her. Obviously there are some things that she has to deal with like being put in a car seat or getting her diaper changed or some things that she just can't do like put her fingers in an electrical outlet, but there are other times when I wonder if I need to do something to snap her out of the tantrum. It's just so hard to tell since she's really too little to reason with and I'm not really sure that she understands what being good and bad means just yet.

Hannah's diarrhea is officially gone and her bottom is healing up nicely. It's still more red than I would like, but at least the sores are no longer open or oozing. Now they are just a darker shade of red than the rest of her bottom. She's back on her normal feeding schedule and eating like a horse. She had her first baby food dinner the other day and it didn't phase her a bit. It was vegetable beef dinner. I tasted it and it didn't taste bad at all.

Hannah has decided sleeping for any reason is evil unless she is in mommy or daddy's arms. We are back to the Ferberizing and hopefully we can get things back on track. I think she is actually moving towards only two naps a day now :( which means that I will now only have 1 hour total to myself to do anything. 3 half hour naps made it hard to get stuff done, but 2 half hour naps will be close to impossible, especially now that she's mobile and I can't let her leave my sight for a second!

Walk America

Kyle, Hannah, and I will be participating in Walk America this year for the March of Dimes. While Kyle and I have both participated in the walk for several years (Kyle for 5 years and me for 7) it has taken on a special meaning last year and this year. We lost our baby Gabriel to miscarriage 2 weeks before last year's walk and this year we have a beautiful healthy little girl who has benefited already from research that the March of Dimes has funded. So this year we walk for our babies. If anyone feels led to help us raise funds for the March of Dimes (an organization that helps to save lives by educating and researching about preterm birth and various other newborn ailments) you may donate directly to the March of Dimes via my personal Walk America website at http://www.walkamerica.org/personal_page.asp?si=6AEA2FCC-404C-4F01-9377-5A014FC02125&prefill

Updates on Hannah's illness, Hannah went to the doctor yesterday and we found out that she DID NOT have pneumonia at all. It makes me angry that those ER doctor's put her on that strong antibiotic which made her even more sick when it was not necessary at all. When Dr. Hendrick redid the chest x-ray there was nothing on the film to suggest that she had even a touch of pneumonia. When he reviewed the blood work further he said that she had a stomach virus. Now that the antibiotic is working it's way out of her system her poop is firming up and the attacks are becoming fewer and further between. Her bottom is still pretty nasty looking, but it is getting better thanks to lots of neosporin and butt paste! Today we gave her a shower (we were afraid to put her in the tub because we didn't want her to poop in the tub and then have it wash back into her girl parts and give her a bladder infection on top of the stomach bug. She's been cleared to eat, drink, and go anywhere she wants which makes us very happy.

I'm back now and it's Sunday. Hannah and I just took a nice walk around the bike trails because it is absolutely beautiful outside. It felt so good to be out in the fresh air after being cooped up inside all winter. Hannah really enjoyed looking at all the scenery for a brief moment and then promptly fell asleep with the warm breeze blowing on her face! Now that is the life!

Next Sunday we are going to go down and visit with Tiffany and her family and have all of kids' pictures taken together for Easter. Kayla was absolutely adamant that she and Hannah have matching dresses so both Tiffany and I have bought sets of matching dresses (but left the tags on for the time being) so that hopefully when we hook up at least one of the sets will actually fit both of the girls! The pictures should be cute and we are really looking forward to visiting with Tiffany since we haven't seen her since Christmas.

Hannah recently started to eat biter biscuits and Zweibeck Toast and she thinks they are absolutely great! When you hand her one of them she just grins from ear to ear and then starts to gnaw away at it! She uses her two bottom teeth to scrape chunks of it off and then mashes it up and eats it. She's getting quite adept at eating table food and absolutely loves to feed herself. My little girl is growing up so fast. It's hard to believe that she is actually 8 months old! It won't be long before I'll be planning a big bash for her birthday!

Well, I think that is all the Hannah updates I have for now. I'll keep you all posted as she learns new things!