Lighting a candle for my dad, who would have been 68 today.
I wasn't really thinking about it and then when I was taking notes in a meeting this morning I wrote the date on the top of the page and I suddenly felt very sad. Guess this would explain the nagging feeling I've had that I should be buying a birthday card.
Laurel drank an ounce and a half of water from a cup today!
It was just plain water, no thickener or anything added to it. I got back a little while ago from a meeting with Laurel's teacher and speech therapist, and the ST said that she's been trying to get Laurel to take liquids for a while but that it hasn't been going really well. But it went GREAT today - no coughing or gagging or anything.
Laurel's been doing really well with purees lately, too. She seems to have finally reached a point where she LIKES to eat! Although she still tires very quickly, and we're a long way from her getting her nutritional needs by oral feeding - she's only getting about 50-60 calories a day that way (a little over 5% of what she needs). If we could double that, though, we could eliminate her last feeding altogether! At Christmas we decided her stomach was finally stable enough, took the plunge, and spread all but two ounces of her last feeding out over her other feedings. It's been GREAT! Because the feeding is so small, it only takes about 15 minutes, so it's done much earlier *and* she falls asleep more easily because she's more comfortable. For the first time in over three years, Bob and I are getting to bed at the same time most nights! We are so thrilled to have this piece of normality back in our lives.
Now, if only we could get her to sleep through the night! The news
isn't *all* good on the sleep front. Since Christmas she's woken up
almost every night. We found out she'd sleep through if we gave her
Claritin, so we're working on the theory that maybe it's allergies. This
last weekend we sprang for the $70 replacement filter for the air filter
my dad used to have. I think it might be helping, but it's hard to tell
because she's also been teething (she's getting her second 2-year-molar)
and seems like she might be coming down with a cold (we *all* seem like
we might be coming down with a cold - I think we probably caught it from
the babysitter, who was out sick earlier this week). Despite the waking
up, she's doing so much better now with staying awake and being in a
good mood at school - her teacher and therapists are all really excited.
Although she's still playing possum when the therapists first come! 
Anyway, we're very excited about the water! (Although having said
that, it'll probably be months before she does it again. 
) And pretty thrilled about the going-to-bed-at-the-same-time-thing,
too. 
February 25, 2004 (9:50 AM)
Laurel is SO miserable!
I think this is the worst I've seen her for the longest in a long time. To begin with, she's got a horrible cold (which I'm sure is the same one the babysitter had last week). She's really stuffy no matter what we try and starts coughing every time we lay her down. She's also been having diarrhea and terrible gas pains, and last night I found a possible reason for that. I was brushing her teeth and when I got to the back upper left, I got all this blood! Turns out that she's getting another 2-year molar, in addition to the one she started a couple of weeks ago. She just screamed and screamed after that, even though I put Anbesol on it (and on the other molar for good measure). I think it was close to half an hour before she calmed down.
Anyway, she has been up all night the last two nights and most of the night the night before that. It's really been a long time since she slept *this* badly! We had to cancel the fitting for her new wheelchair yesterday. I am just so, so grateful that we listened to the little voice that told us that last week would *not* be a good time to start her on the Sensory Learning program! (She would have to go twice a day for two weeks, so she would still have been needing to do it.) I was gung-ho to start her on it, but then we thought, "With all these sick people around her, what are the chances she'll stay healthy for the next two weeks?" (In addition to the babysitter, most of her class has been out sick with various things - what she's got looks most like what the babysitter had, though.) We're thinking maybe May - well, April might be OK too, except that we're traveling a lot then.
UGH, anyway, no surprise that Bob and I are zombies. And Laurel, obviously, is exhausted. I can hear her coughing and whining again, and she's only been down for about 20 minutes. We definitely need some get-well vibes! (Some no-ear-infection-afterwards vibes would be welcome, too.)
So, I just got Laurel, noticed she was really warm, and took her temp under her arm. 99.8. To me that combined with the nasty cough was reason for concern and I called the doctor's office, but the receptionist acted like I was being overly paranoid. ("Gee, that's not really a temperature.") I'm waiting for a nurse to call me back now...
Just got off the phone with the nurse...
Guess it really is just some delightful bug that's going around - even the diarrhea part. BTW, I forgot to mention in my last post that the 99.8 was with Motrin, but I guess that's still OK. The nurse is going to ask Laurel's doc if there's anything else we can give her for the congestion (Sudafed is totally not cutting it). Otherwise, it's about a five-day course so I guess we can look forward to a couple more days of fun. Oh joy!
Laurel slept through the night last night!
She had a hard time falling asleep because of the coughing, but we
didn't have to go get her and once she fell asleep, she slept all night.
And took another big nap this morning! When I left about 12:30 today,
she was still having diarrhea but hadn't coughed for a while and just
seemed in SUCH a better mood. It seemed like she turned a corner last
night despite the nurse's predictions. Thank you so much for all your
positive thoughts! I feel much more human today. 