Hand Foot and Mouth

Our day today was fine.

We got up, I showered, the girls played.

I got the girls dressed, we had some breakfast, and then played some more.

Odette went down for a nap at 12:15 and then Alegria and I read some books and played some more. I was going to try to have her nap, but she'd gotten up later today, so I didn't think she'd be tired. It was fine, though.

When Odette woke up, we quickly got ready and left.

Our appointment at the doctor's was at 3:20. While we waited in the waiting area, Alegria was playing peek-a-boo with Odette underneath her blanket! It was cute!

As soon as Alegria saw Mr. Brooks, our nurse, she said "Hey!" to him and ran to him. It's nice that she knows him and likes him.  :)

Waiting in the examination room after getting their vitals checked:

The doctor came in and examined both girls.  I let her know that last Thursday, they'd been exposed to Hand Foot and Mouth Disease at playgroup and that this morning they both woke up with red spots, so I wanted to come in and see if they had it, too.  After the examination, she said that yes, they exhibit the classical signs of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD). She said that it looks like Odette got it first since she has it more widespread, and then Alegria. She also said that normally the skin rash doesn't itch, but it can, and she suggested Benadryl cream for that (Alegria's HFMD itches). She prescribed Tylenol and Motrin for fever and pain for the girls. She said they'll be contagious for about a week after the onset of symptoms, so until next Tuesday, we'll be quarantined at home. Adults usually don't get it, though, so I should be good.

We waited for the medicines at the pharmacy, but it was taking a little longer than usual and Odette was getting hungry...she hadn't eaten since I nursed her before her nap! Finally we got the medicines and left.

We went to Walmart and the first thing I did was nurse Odette in the car. Then we went in and did our grocery shopping. Afterwards, I put the girls in their carseats and then I wiped down the cart with a disinfecting wipe (I had brought a container with me from home).

Then we came home.

Once home, I changed Odette's diaper and left her without clothes so I could try to get some pictures for Cameron so he could see her little rash. 

Odette is much more adventurous these days, trying to be more mobile, holding on to the coffee table, trying to pull herself up to things...and as I was going to get the camera, she fell flat on her face on the living room rug.  Poor thing smacked her nose and it's sore and red on one side and busted her lip a little on the top inside.  :(

I held her for a little bit and soothed her and put a cool wet washcloth to her lip and then used an ice pack on it, too (Alegria helped putting the ice pack on Odette's mouth, too...very cute and helpful!). She calmed down after a few minutes and then we had some dinner. She didn't care for the baby food lasagna-in-a-jar, but she did eat most of her pears.  :)

After dinner, we played some more and I got a few pictures.

Some of the bumps on Odette's leg:

As you can see, her rash isn't all that bad (you can hardly see it in the pictures)...and I hope it stays mild like this!

Happy Baby!

Odette "walked" around with me for a little bit. Then she went to bed. It was 8:35.

Once Odette was in bed, Alegria and I cuddled on the couch and watched a movie.  Here's a closeup of her hand (The flash makes it hard to see the bumps).  Alegria's is more on her forearms and hands, with a little bit on her feet:

In all, it was a quiet end to our day.

We had one accident today, though. Alegria did really well at the doctor's and at Walmart and stayed dry the whole time. At home, though, this morning she'd been complaining of her tummy hurting after eating her yogurt. (I asked the doctor about that and she said maybe the dyes in the yogurt do that to her...and she asked about the regularity of Alegria's bowel movements, too, thinking that could be the cause of the tummy ache.) And then in the evening she was complaining of her tummy hurting again.

I asked if she needed to poop, but she said no. Well...after Odette was in bed, as I was coming back out, Alegria told me, "Mommy, I poopie!" Sure enough, she'd pooped in her panty. I think that's why her tummy was hurting. Looking at the record I keep on my phone of her bowel movements, she hadn't gone poop since Sunday, so that must have been what was bothering her. When I took her to the bathroom, she started crying and I told her that it was ok, that accidents happen, but that she just needs to try to get to the potty earlier next time so she can poop in the potty and not in her panty. As I told her that, she nodded her head and said, "Yeah." I cleaned her up and gave her a hug and she seemed to feel better after that. Then I cleaned up the messy panty and had us both wash our hands.

When I put Alegria to bed after watching her "Daddy Movie," I was so exhausted I napped in her room with her while she slept. Then Odette woke up and I nursed her after giving her some more medicine (I gave both girls Tylenol before going to bed just in case their rashes hurt during the night.) Then I took another nap.

I really don't know what my problem is with how tired I am. I suppose being up late at night on the computer doesn't help, but when I can't function from weariness after putting the girls to bed, a little nap helps me. I hope I can get some better sleep habits soon...this is just not cool!

Other than that, we didn't hear from Cameron today.  Yesterday he sent me a message that there had been an incident and so he might not be able to call me yesterday.  And usually the blackouts only last 24 hours, so I thought he'd call today, but he didn't, so that was unusual that today he still hadn't called.

Oh well.  :)

And that's it for today.

Have a great night everyone!

Summer Reading Starts!

Our day was pretty good...other than the fact that Alegria and Odette woke up more than usual in the middle of the night...

Alegria needed water once and had lost her elephant another time and needed me to help her look for it...

Odette needed nursing.  I was so exhausted from the getting up so much last night that finally at some time of the wee hours of the morning, I took Odette into bed with me to nurse her there.

At 6:30, Alegria was awake, so I brought her into bed with me, too, and turned the TV on for both girls.

At 7 I got in the shower. The girls played.

We then had breakfast and got ready and left the house by 10.

We were one of the first ones to get to Story Time today...they didn't even have the doors to the conference room open yet!

Alegria insisted on being the one to push Odette's stroller. She did a pretty good job!

I had forgotten my phone, though, so we went back outside to the car to get it and I was able to get a better picture of Alegria pushing Odette.

Both Alegria and Odette had fun at Story Time! It was Odette's first time actually participating! She even had her own carpet square!

I helped Odette dance to the "Shake Your Sillies" song and she loved that! She then loved shaking a maraca during the "Goodbye Song."

Normally the kids would walk around the circle of chairs, but since there were more kids than usual today, the kids were told we were just going to stay in the circle to play the instruments...apparently Alegria did NOT get the memo! Lol! :)

After Story Time, the kids got to choose two prizes from some bins that they had leftover prizes from last year's Summer Reading program. Alegria kept taking Odette's toys. Oh well! We went to the Children's Area and checked out three books. I decided that this year we'd actually try to do as much as we could of the program instead of me pretending that we did it in order to get the prizes. I let Alegria choose the books. :)

Once home, I nursed Odette and she was in bed and asleep by 12:15. I was going to stay up with Alegria and watch a movie, but I was exhausted and I knew Alegria was tired, as evidenced by her pretending to sleep:

I persuaded her to go to her room. At first she didn't want to, but when I told her that we'd read her library books, she came willingly. We read all three of her books and then I told her she could play if she wanted, but that I was going to take a nap.

I fell asleep and woke up when Cameron sent me a message that he may not be able to call today.  After replying to his message, I saw that Alegria was sound asleep. Yay! :) So I slept some more...

Odette woke up at 3. I got her and brought her into Alegria's room and Alegria finally woke up at 3:15. We came out and played in the living room.

Odette is getting more adventurous and wanting to hold on to the coffee table and stand at it. She's also so much better about not fussing when she's sitting on the ground now that she can get around...she DOES get fussy when she falls on her back and can't turn over to get moving again, though! Lol! She reminds me of a turtle that falls backwards on its shell and can't turn over when that happens since Odette STILL does not roll over! :)

We had dinner at 5 and then at 6 the girls had baths. It was funny that both girls had their tongues sticking out in two of the pictures I took! I don't know if Alegria had noticed that Odette was sticking her tongue out and was copying her or if it was just coincidence...

Little Miss Odette kept wanting to stand up in the tub, though...and when I was washing Alegria up and making Odette stay down for safety's sake, she got VERY upset...so upset that when it was her turn to get washed, she was not happy at all and just crying because even then, she kept wanting to stand up and I wouldn't let her!

Once both girls were finally washed up, dried up, lotioned up, and dressed for bed, I nursed Odette.

At 7:22, I realized that I should probably lower Odette's crib mattress height...especially since she's so intent on standing now. I definitely didn't want to wake up to a thud and crying and come to find Odette had pulled herself out of her crib!!! So I went to get a screwdriver and an L wrench.

It took longer than I thought...especially since at one point, I couldn't find a screw. I was pretty upset because it was later than I'd anticipated and Odette was screaming up a storm...I knew she was tired and I felt bad that I'd waited til the last minute to adjust her crib. I knew Alegria had gotten the screw because I had asked her to help me hold up the bottom of the crib on one side for just a couple of minutes and on that particular side was where I couldn't find the screw, and Odette was in her walker, so she couldn't have been the one to snatch it up! I kept looking for it and asked Alegria to help look for it, but she just left and went to her room. Finally, I heard a small thud and I looked over to where Odette was and it had fallen out of her hand and onto the floor. Alegria must have given it to her. I'm sure glad Odette didn't try to eat it! It was a small screw.

Finally the bed was done:

I brushed Odette's teeth, we had family prayer, and then I got Odette into bed by 8:35...and my heart is at ease that she's safer now. :)

Alegria finally went to bed at 10.

After the girls were in bed, I found out that Quinn also has Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD), though not as severe as Tucker has it. Playgroup has been cancelled for the week because of this little epidemic. Apparently, Lee and Skyler are also sick, though from what, we don't know yet. Lee's had a high fever since yesterday and has been refusing to eat (unheard of for him!), but they don't know what he has. And I have no idea about Sky.

I sure hope that Odette and Alegria continue to stay free of HFMD. Apparently, there's no medicine for it, only for the symptoms...Tylenol for pain and fever and Benadryl for itching. I guess Quinn's was so mild that the doctor didn't give him anything. He only had a couple of blisters on his mouth and arms, unlike poor Tucker whose mouth/chin area, legs, and I guess also his bum were completely red and covered in these blisters.  Poor baby!!!

Some good news, though, is that today was an accident-free day for Alegria!  No potty accidents at either Story Time or at home. :)  Yippee!!!  :)

And that wraps up today.

Good night!

I've Stood Up and I Can't Get Down!

Today was a good day.  :)

I got up at 7 and showered and got ready. I can't even remember what time the girls woke up. I just remember that when Odette and I went to get Alegria, as soon as I opened her closet to get dresses for them, the first words out of Alegria's mouth were "Go church!" I was so impressed that she knew!

I dressed Odette and put Alegria's dress in the dryer to get some wrinkles out and then we had some breakfast. Finally, we got Alegria dressed and were out the door by 9:31. We got to the Gatesville church building at 9:59.

During sacrament, the girls did ok. Odette was trying to pull herself up from the side of the carseat at one point and kind of fell sideways, though still holding on with one arm, and started crying, so we all went out to the Mother's Room, where I nursed her...that got her in a good mood again.

Then later, I gave Odette her sippy cup with juice when she started getting fussy and Alegria wanted it. I explained to her that this was Odette's sippy cup and that I had one for her if she wanted it. She was being loud and crying that she wanted it and not wanting to be reasoned with. We ended up having to go to the Mother's Room while I waited for her to stop crying.   It was close to the end of sacrament, and I guess the nursery teacher, Sister Hall, had already come out to the nursery room, which was just a few steps away from the Mother's Room...and she came in and asked if I needed help. I told her I was fine but then Sister Hall asked Alegria if she wanted to go play with her in the nursery room and Alegria did, so I let her go with Sister Hall. Later, Sister Hall asked what Alegria's name was and when I told her, she couldn't pronounce it, so she said she'd just call her "Olivia." Lol! I guess Olivia CAN sound like Alegria...?  I could have said she could call her Allie. Oh well!

We had our presidency meeting and Odette didn't do too bad. After our meeting, I went to get Alegria...they had just come inside from a walk outside, and I took her to the potty. At first she didn't want to go, but then she did! I took her back to nursery and went back to Primary, where I got Odette (Don't worry, I hadn't left her all alone in there, I'd left her with Sister Hefner). Odette was getting hungry and sleepy, so I eventually had to take her to the Mother's Room, where I nursed her and she dozed for about 20 minutes.

Finally church was done and we came home.

Once home, Cameron called and we got to talk for a little bit.

Then I nursed Odette and put her in her crib. A little while later, Odette started crying and I let her cry...like I usually do. Well, she wasn't stopping and was just sounding more and more mad, so I finally went to check on her at 2:40...and she had pulled herself up to standing in the corner of her crib and couldn't get back down! Poor thing!

So I nursed her again and put her back down...but as I laid her down and pulled my arm away...I felt wetness...and then I smelled it...and sure enough, she had pooped! I couldn't let her sleep like that, even if she was sleeping soundly! So I got her up and changed her diaper. She was NOT happy! But then when I put her down, she went right to sleep again! (It was about 3.)

When I came back out, I was going to try to doze on the couch, but then I decided to try to take a nap with Alegria in her room. It was after 3 and the flooring delivery guys hadn't shown up yet. I told Alegria we were going to take a nap and she got mad when I turned her show off and left to go to her room. I started dozing and didn't hear anything and was afraid she'd fall asleep on the couch, so I came out and she was lying down, but not asleep, so I finally convinced her to come to her room.

We were about to go to sleep when I heard a big truck outside. I peeked out the window and it was the flooring people! So I opened the door and they dropped the stuff off in the master bedroom, since the flooring wouldn't be going in there. I had asked if they were going to leave it in the garage and had even opened the garage door when they first arrived, but they said the wood needed to be in our house for 24 hours to get acclamated to the climate in our home before they could install it. I sure hope that they come to install it soon!  It's so pretty, I can hardly wait!

Then Alegria and I stayed up and watched the rest of her movie.

Abilehi came over and we had some dinner.  I let Odette have her first taste of plain rice and she seemed to like it.  She kept eating it so daintily, one grain at a time!  Too cute!

At one point, Alegria told me her tummy hurt, so I brought the pink tub out in case she needed to vomit. Well...it turns out that she just needed to go poop because she went poop in the potty all by herself again! I was so proud of her! But another time when she said she needed to pee, she decided she was cold and had her blanket in there with her and was raising Big Bear up in the air! Weird!

I had woken Odette up at 4:40 and she played really well with some toys while I helped Abilehi with laminating a couple of cartoon strips.

In the meantime, Alegria made a mess with the water in the bathroom. She loves playing in the water and I have to constantly tell her to stop! She'll be washing her hands and get distracted and want to just play with the water!

After dinner, we took Odette's weekly pictures.

Odette holding herself up to the coffee table:

Then Alegria got a hold of the camera and she took these last few pictures of Odette and of Aunt Abilehi.  She's getting better and better at taking pictures!

Odette was in bed by 8:45 and Alegria by 10.

While Abilehi was on the computer, I fed Isis and Doralee, loaded and ran the dishwasher and the washing machine, and got ready for bed.

Speaking of having to do laundry...Alegria was wearing a dress for church, of course, and when we first got home from church, she had gone pee on the potty, no problem. Well, later, she had gone to the bathroom...but when she hiked her dress up to pee, she didn't do it well enough and must have actually sat on her dress when she sat on the potty and got it all wet...and it made a mess and got her potty seat and dress and panty wet! I'll have to remember that and take her out of her dress when we get home so it's easier for her to pee all on her own!

Anyway. Abilehi finally got done at 1 am and then I helped her get her stuff in her car and she left.

Now I'm here. I already had to go out and nurse Odette once tonight...we'll see what the rest of the night brings!

Good night everyone!  :)