This one's for my dad

(Wherein I fully embrace my mommy-blogger-ness and put words to the task of describing my children's every toot. Or the equally pedestrian topics of potty-training and pacifiers. :)

Jackson is back in pull-ups overnight right now. This seems to work for him and saves me the hassle of (nearly) daily sheet-washing. I put him in pull-ups at night last month for a week straight, and he never had an accident even once. So we quit that for a while, but he cycled back into bed-wetting again last week. This, like everything else, is a do-what-works-for-us-in-this-moment kind of venture. So, we'll just roll with it.

Cooper is no longer taking a pacifier, though I'm making it sound like HE made that decision or something. While he was outside yesterday, I cut the tips off his two remaining paci's per the pediatrician's advice. When Cooper asked for "my ba-ci" at nap time, I brought one to him saying that it was broken. Sap that I am, I almost cried when he asked in his sweet innocent voice, "It boken, Mom?" He, however, took it in stride and after inspecting it closely and deciding that it was indeed broken, he even said goodbye as he threw it in the trashcan himself. (It took every thing I had in me not to dig it out later for pictures.) I put him back in his crib, and he again asked for a paci. I grabbed the remaining "broken" one, and we went through the whole process again. He has asked for them since, but he remembers right away that they are in the trash. I think this is easier than just having them disappear all of a sudden. I hope it is, anyway. It does seem to take him longer to fall asleep right now; not that he's sad per se, just that he doesn't have the sucking of a paci as a trigger for sleep anymore. Here's hoping he finds new ways to self-soothe soon. I did find a third pacifier in the diaper bag today, but I think I'll spare us the trouble and just throw it out without his knowledge this time.

Ella and I are both full-blown sick, Cooper's not far behind us, and even Jackson has a persistent cough right now. My mother-in-law, bless her, came to our house this afternoon to be with my boys while I took the girl and myself to our respective appointments. Whereas I was miserable, chilling, and extremely weak all morning, I somehow rallied enough this afternoon to get out and about. It turns out that I have a sinus infection and am now on a course of antibiotics. Baby girl is wheezing mildly and will have albuterol inhaler treatments every four to six hours for the next four days. No other meds are needed to treat what the doctor thinks is something viral, so that's good.

More concerning than her virus, though, Ella has been having what I describe as "staring spells" since Monday afternoon. She had two episodes on Monday, none until after Chris got home yesterday evening, and then several more this morning. During the episodes, she gets tense--especially in her arms, has rapid & shallow breathing, and her eyes are fixed to the side and vacant. Each one lasts only seconds at a time, but they began to come one right after another this morning. With one exception, they have all happened right after nursing, but she is not spitting up much if at all so I don't think it is reflux. After sharing this history with the pediatrician and a full exam, the plan is to follow up with a pediatric neurologist and an EEG. Those appointments are in the process of being scheduled with the understanding that if Ella has no further symptoms then we can cancel them. I thought about trying to capture one of her episodes on video, but I haven't had the opportunity since then. As of now, she has had no episodes since this morning, so I am cautiously optimistic that this will pass.

I am trying to keep things in perspective; we don't know that ANYthing is wrong or permanent or life-altering yet, so I am working hard not to let my thoughts go there.

Please pray for my girl and my fragile mommy heart. I will update when I have news.

♦