Last weekend we stayed with my parents to help with their
garage sale. Let me tell you that my family knows how to do garage sales right
as you can see…
That’s SOME of what we had ready Friday night to put out
Saturday morning! It was crazy but ultimately successful. Kiersyn had fun
helping and learned to wave in the process. Here’s a video to prove it AND a
video to show you how to keep an 8 month old entertained all day at a garage
sale.
Kiersyn has been off of Carafate for awhile now. The first
few days were not fun for anyone and even though she now fights having to do
anything laying down (which makes diaper changes pretty difficult) and has
fussy days here and there, things seem to be evening out. She has gone to a
milk-based formula (no more prescription formula!!) and is a happy girl for the
most part. In fact the baby that screamed non-stop only a short time ago seems somewhat
like a distant nightmare. It is possible that she outgrew a milk allergy around
6 months and it is also possible she is still intolerant as this formula is “partially
hydrolyzed”. I don’t know if we will ever know since it is likely she will
outgrow the problem before she can talk to us about it. Despite these
improvements, she is still having major issues trying to eat solids. All it
takes is 1/3 a jar of the wrong food and we are up with a very angry baby in
the middle of the night. It’s hard to figure out WHAT the “wrong foods” are and
WHY. We don’t know if some foods just irritate her reflux or if it is allergies
or intolerances… it is so frustrating that she can’t just tell us what’s going
on. It is also difficult to keep trying different things knowing we are
constantly taking a chance of her being in pain and us not getting any sleep at
all. It seems consistent that carrots and anything with carrots in it causes problems.
No big deal, just don’t eat carrots right? It’s not like carrots are the number
one ingredient in baby foods right? No, water is. But guess what’s second? That’s
right, carrots. Almost EVERY “Stage 2” baby food available has carrots as a
filler. Pick up a jar of “Tender Beef and Spinach” and read the ingredients: water,
carrots, beef, spinach. Yeah, that’s right. Since I don’t want to spend all day
making a million different purees WITHOUT carrots in them to try just one bite
and then toss, it also seems easier to wait until she can eat finger foods.
Since she has had so little experience with foods, we’re a little behind on
that. We’ve tried to use those Gerber Graduate puffs to teach her the concept of
putting food in her mouth but she consistently hands them to the dog… They look similar to her reflux pills which
may be part of the problem…
In any event, she is on the move! Crawling, pulling up,
standing for .2 seconds at a time, even cruising a little. Luckily the little
chunk isn’t very fast…yet. J
She claps, waves, and says “Dada”, “Uh-oh” and “Whoaa” when she is surprised or
impressed. She is basically brilliant. J
In other news, as many of you know, I have been fighting
chronic sinusitis that has turned into full blown bronchitis and upper
respiratory infections many times over the past 6 months. I saw an ENT a few
weeks ago who stated I would not find relief until I had my deviated septum
repaired. Thinking that was ridiculous, I went to a different ENT for a second
opinion who promptly did a CT scan and even more urgently assured me that I
need surgery. My septum is severely deviated and she actually suggested 5
surgeries (to be done at one time) that involve a lot of bone removal and
reshaping in addition to a balloon sinuplasty. The pain and time involved in
recovering sound really unpleasant and will require a lot of help around the
house and with Kiersyn… I am pretty apprehensive about it and have been putting
off actually scheduling the surgery because of it. However, the thought of
being able to breathe normally again and not being sick every month is
thoroughly appealing and I know it really needs to be done.
Please keep these issues in your prayers and send up one of
thanksgiving for Kiersyn’s continuing improvement.
Here's a couple more videos for good measure :)
