We let Elizabeth mess around with paints and a paintbrush this past week.  We put her in an old t-shirt of my mom's and stuck her in the highchair in order to try to limit the mess.

 

This was pretty successful, except that our highchair tray is now rather pink in spots.  Elizabeth loved painting, especially the part where she got to rinse her brush.  We had one rather teary moment when she discovered that paint isn't too yummy.  Luckily it was "non-toxic"...  Hopefully she has now learned that we don't eat paint.

7 photos / videos
3 comments

   

Elizabeth and I didn't get to go to church this morning because she still had a fever and we felt we shouldn't pass it on to the numerous babies there.

 

Sometime mid-morning the fever broke and Elizabeth went back to her normal chipper self.  We had church just the two of us, reading her Noah's Ark book and singing Jesus loves me complete with actions.  Auntie Janice and Daddy brought home a palm to wave, which was very popular.

2 photos / videos
0 comments

   

We obviously need to eat more apples because no sooner did Elizabeth finish her antibiotics than she came down with another big fever in the night and we spent 24 hours giving her Tylenol every four hours or so.

 

Elizabeth and I duly headed off to the clinic, and after a long and patient wait we finally managed to see the doctor.  He checked that her ears were now free of infection and listened to her chest.  "Hmm", he said.  "I thought from your description that she had a chest infection, but it is clear."  He heard that she had stopped throwing up but was now on day 12 of diarrhea.  "That's too long!" he said.  No kidding!  So Elizabeth is supposed to avoid dairy in case she's developped some lactose intolerance as a result of the flu, and we're to go back in seven days.  In the meantime I need to feed her more (she's lost weight) and hydrate her.  "Give her more fluids" he said sternly.  "Try coke."  Coke?!? Apparently it has electrolytes. 

 

PS. After checking with my pediatrician neighbour, I've determined that I'm going to ignore the advice about coke.  We seem to be attracting goof-ball doctors lately.

4 photos / videos
1 comments

   

Elizabeth is feeling much better (no more throwing up - woo hoo!) but she does seem to have caught a nasty cough.  Hopefully it will go away soon because I am bored of writing about injury and illness.  Bleh.

 

It's time to start doing fun things again, like the time we went swimming at Grandma and Grandpa J's condo a couple of Saturdays ago right before we got sick.  Elizabeth loved the giant bathtub...  I had been worried about how she'd react to the temperature but it turned out the water was 32 degrees; warm enough that even Daddy admitted it was a nice temperature.  She splashed and laughed and played with the pool macaronis (what else would YOU call short pool noodles?).

 

In other news, Elizabeth has discovered that her finger is exactly the same size as her nostril.  Daddy spends quite a lot of time these days explaining to her that while it is a pretty exciting discovery, she really needs to stop showing off this new skill.  Mommy probably doesn't help matters with all the giggles.

 

 

10 photos / videos
3 comments

   

We're digging ourselves out of a mountain of laundry and other household chores that have been put on hold during the last week, not to mention catching up at work.  So please excuse the delay in blog updates.

 

My dentist asked me how our weekend was this morning.  He was a bit shocked to hear we'd spent pratically the entire time at the hospital.  I think he had been fishing for sympathy as his wife just had a hip replacement and wasn't expecting to hear such a tale of woe.  I was very sympathetic!  My root canal this morning did go well, although once the six shots of freezing wore off I found out why my dentist prescribed T3s.  Ouch...

 

Auntie Janice recovered dramatically from her illness after anti-nausea drugs and IV fluids (still under the weather, but much better).  Elizabeth is still throwing up a couple of times a day.

 

On the seventh day of PukeFest, the doctor gave to us: seven days of antibiotics...

 

I've learned some new parenting skills in this month of health crises.

 

1. What to bring to the emergency room.
2. How to check for dehydration in a one year old (dark circles under the eyes, sunken eyes, lethargy, cold extremities, dry mouth, reduced volume of pee, sunken fontenelle at the top of the head).
3. How to give Elizabeth oral medication when she really, really doesn't want it.  We have 6.5mL to swallow twice a day. 

3 photos / videos
2 comments