Claire is Hilarious!

No clue how she accomplished this one. It was suctioned to her cheek. She had a little hickey for about an hour after I pulled it off!

She did this to herself. We went to get her and she was like this, fast asleep! Maybe her nose was cold?

Hmmm....

Baby-Proofing!

Yeah.... I need to get on that

So far, this is the extent of the baby-proofing--some pillows in front of all the TV cables!

Really, it's only those sharp corners on the fireplace that I worry about. One header into that will split her head open for sure! She''s stable now when she sits and crawls, so I don't fret about her tipping over and hitting her head on the tile... although that will change in a few months when crawling turns to walking!

Spring is in the Air

Claire spent the nice spring week playing with friends. 

Here she is with Liliana at the Great Park... which turned out to be a total bust! It was a giant balloon (which was grounded due to wind) and a parking lot. This was the only grass, and it was no nice at all! 

And here she and Asher were playing at the playground at Mariners Church. Claire had a great time! There was a fountain that shot water out of the ground for the kids to play in. She was laughing hysterically watching the older kids run through the water. It was so great! She loves to watch other kids play-- it makes her so excited.

And where there are no other playmates to be had, Claire is excellent at improvising! This is her first and favorite play companion--the baby in the mirror. Although she has wised up and no longer thinks it's actually another baby!

The Newest Numbers and a Vaccine Story

Claire went to her new pediatrician for the first time yesterday, and it was a much better experience than the last doctor. Story to follow, but it's long so I'll put the Claire update first, for those of you who are not interesting in the minutia of the whole thing.

At 6 1/2 months, Claire is 15.4 pounds (30th percentile) and 25 inches (13th percentile). The Dr. was impressed that she is already crawling on all fours. On Monday night, she pulled herself up to standing for the first time!

The Saga:

I left the old pediatrician for a couple of reasons. The major problem had to do w/ vaccines. I had discussed the hepatitis vaccine with her and we had agreed not to give it to Claire until much later. But, because that office is poorly organized and no one keeps good records (which I discovered the hard way), Claire was given the shot anyhow. That's irritating in and of itself, but not the worst of it. When I discovered the problem and brought it to the Dr.'s attention, she said, no, the vaccine record the nurse gave me was wrong, and ordered the nurse to make me a new one (she didn't look in her notes or anything, just essentially told me what I wanted to hear.) I should have wised up right then, but my natural instinct is to trust people to be honest. The only reason I knew something was up is because apparently the hep was part of a combo vaccine, so when the nurse removed it, she also took off the other shots in the combo from my records. So she basically erased all the November shots from my copy of Claire's vaccine record--uhm, I was there, I watched Claire get a shot in November, and now my records say it didn't happen? Not ok! So, again, when I brought this new discovery to the Dr.'s attention, she basically took 20 minutes looking through all their various records--which were all different--to decide what they had and had not injected into my daughter. I finally got what I can only hope is a correct record of her vaccines. I told the Dr. that I was very "concerned" about what had happened. She kept arguing with me about some vaccine shortage that required Claire to get the one w/ hepatitis. And she also said that while she tries to accommodate peoples desires for alternative vaccine schedules, it is really hard on her nurses. 

1st: If there was a shortage and they only had the combo w/ hep, she should have told me at the time and let me decide what I wanted to do. 

2nd: The bigger issue is not which shot she got, but that when I asked her about it, she denied it and changed my records instead of trying to find out what had actually happened. 

3rd: Do not tell me it is my fault for requesting a change from the ordinary instead of admitting your mistake, especially when you told me delaying the hep was "no problem, we do it all the time, there's no need for her to have that shot now." 

That was it, we were done.

And then I come to find out yesterday from my new Dr. that Claire is actually ahead on a few of the vaccines. I told her we were doing a slower vaccination schedule and spreading everything out, and when she looked at my records, she said, "wow, you're not behind, you're actually ahead on some of these!" GRRR! 

I have to admit that if I had been checking up on everything, I would have known this. Instead, I told my Dr. my preferences at the beginning and then trusted her to follow that.  So, I learned that if you want something done differently than "normal" you have to continuously pursue your choices, even if you think you have the hippie dippie natural Dr that was recommended by your midwife who gives you a hard time cause you're not completely "green." So, now I have a way less-hippie Dr. who recommends formula but listened to me when I asked for only one shot instead of 2 for this visit! Lesson learned.

Good Day Sunshine

We took advantage of the sunshine this week and decided to play outside a couple of times. Interestingly enough, Claire is not a big fan of the grass. She wasn't too pleased to sit by herself, and wasn't willing to crawl around and explore. She would just sit still and look cautious. It was pretty funny! We are definitely going to have to do this more often so that she can take her adventurous spirit outside where things are much more interesting!

All giggles with Daddy

Took this a few weeks ago. So cute! She is such a giggler now. 

An Eventful Evening

Tonight was both frightening and then fun all in the space of about an hour. It started out with me feeding Claire some sweet potatoes, which she promptly choked on. I had her out of her chair, flipped over and was pounding on her back in about a millisecond. But that wasn't the end of it. I thought she had cleared the obstruction, but she kept making gaging faces every now and again. She was breathing, so we thought maybe she just had a little bit stuck in her throat (they were completely pureed so we knew we didn't have to worry about a solid chunk lodging in her airway) I nursed her, hoping that would wash it down. She ate for at least 5 minutes with no problems, and even fell asleep. But I woke her up because I wasn't about to put her down for the night and leave her alone in her room after that.  And it didn't get any better.  She kept trying to clear her throat. Soon she started to panic a little, holding her breath and making gasping cries. I held her close and she just laid motionless in my arms, awake and breathing but completely still (she is never still!) At this point I knew she was definitely not ok. Kevin was looking up directions to the nearest ER when my friend Gwen (who was over for dinner and is also a Dr.) suggested I keep pounding on her back (I had done this quite a few times so far and was actually worried I was going to bruise her.) So I continued, checking in on her every few second to make sure she was still breathing. It was strange--after the initial choking episode, she never acted like she couldn't breathe, it was just obvious that her airway was partially obstructed. The last onslaught of pounding seemed to do the trick. She started smiling and screeching right away. I watched her like a hawk for the next hour, but she was completely recovered. 

What I learned: 

1. We should really know where the nearest ER is and how to get there.

2. Thank goodness for CPR classes and years of nannying for kids--she wasn't the first kiddo I've ever seen choke, and I knew what to do.

3. Thank goodness for Gwen being there to tell me what to do after the initial scare was over and she was still in trouble.

And now on to how the evening got fun. We were all on high alert after Claire seemed to be better, so it was hilarious when 30 seconds after we thought we were going to have to take her to the hospital she was so happy and playful. That is when she said dada for the first time. She just started talking and once she got the hang of it, that's all she would say. (we've been trying to get her to say it ever since she got mama down last month.) She was just grinning at us all and saying dadadadadada.  Such a funny kid! Here I am still shaking from the adrenaline rush and she's learning new sounds--all in a days work for a 6 month old.