Back to the doctor...

This morning, I called the doctor's office to see if I could still bring Ayla in tomorrow afternoon for the second half of her flu shot. And since she still had a mild fever, their answer was no, which I figured would be the case. The nurse I talked to asked if her cough had improved and I said it was worse. Since seeing Dr.Davey on Tuesday, she has become so hoarse and several times a day, it sounded like she was working so hard to breathe in. It was awful. It really freaked me out last night...I just laid in bed listening to her to make sure she was okay. The nurse wanted us to go back in so they could check her out especially since we would be traveling next week.

Again, she was upset as soon as we went into the room...Judy, the nurse, and Dr. Davey are both officially on her "you-are-scary-and-I-don't-like-you" list. I think Dr. Davey was trying to say it was stranger anxiety and I, with a little bit of hesitation, said it really was just the two of them. :) We kept her on my lap during the examination, thinking she may stay more calm...but she still ended up crying and throwing up. Darn it.

Dr. Davey said she has croup. I've heard of it but never really knew what it was. Basically, it's caused by a virus that causes the airway to swell up and the telltale sign of it is the hoarseness and "barky" sounding cough. It starts out with symptoms like the common cold...sneezing, runny nose, fever. He prescribed a steroid for a few days to reduce the swelling so she can breathe easier.

I'm hoping she's at the peak of it...it's really hard to see her not feeling well. She spent most of yesterday afternoon and evening on my lap with her head on my chest, which is so unlike her. Tonight, she did seem to have more energy so hopefully she'll wake up feeling better.

I have a lovely sinus infection myself and Dean is not feeling 100% so we are not a healthy bunch right now. And if there's a plus side to all of this snot and phlegm, it's that I'd rather it be now than while we're in Ohio.

Sick

My poor little Ayla is sick. :( It's only the second time ever that she has not felt well, so for that, we are very lucky...but it still stinks. I hate seeing her like this.

On Monday night, she slept very poorly...up and down for about four hours in the middle of the night. We thought it was still related to teething, but in the morning she woke up with an awful-sounding cough. She developed a fever and a runny nose so we brought her in to see Dr.Davey in the afternoon. I wouldn't be as worried if we weren't flying to Ohio next Tuesday for Thanksgiving. I wanted to make sure it wasn't something we really needed to worry about. Of course, it turned out to be some nasty virus that we don't have a miraculous cure for.

She knew where we were once the nurse came in and shut the door. Smart girl. And then Dr.Davey had to check her ears...not good. She was furious. She ended up throwing up because she was so upset (which I figured she would) all over him, my mom, and me. I'm so glad my mom was there because I was near tears while I had to hold Ayla down, so she took over for me.

We cranked up her humidifier, gave her a shot of baby Motrin and put her to bed with our fingers crossed that all three of us would get a better night's sleep. She whimpered a few times but slept all the way through, thank goodness.

This morning, she still has a runny nose but her fever has gone down, which is great. She sounds pretty congested but is in good spirits. I hope we can knock this thing out before we head out of town. I'm already super nervous about our flight out *with a FOUR-HOUR layover* in Chicago. Yikes. And she being sick does not help me feel any better about it all. Wish us luck.

Cute

Ayla and I were just flipping through her "Who Loves Baby" photo book that includes pictures of family members. Each time I turned the page, her face lit up with a smile and she leaned down to kiss (lick) each person she saw. It was so cute. :)

Below are a few pictures from this morning. We were just about to pack up and leave for Yeh-Yeh and Nai-Nai's house when Daddy called to say he was going to stop home for a few minutes. He didn't get to see Ayla all day yesterday and happened to be close by.

"No, no, no!"

Lately, Ayla's favorite word is "no." She says it whenever we make her do something she doesn't want to do...which is a lot of things--changing her diaper, getting dressed, eating, sitting in her carseat, going back into the house after playing outside, getting out of the bathtub, getting too many hugs and kisses from me...and the list goes on. Or she'll walk around the house and point at things that we've asked her not to touch and say, "no, no" and then proceed to touch it anyways. Sigh. Is there such a thing as the "Ornery Ones"? Because I think she's there. As ornery as she is, she's a freaking riot. I just have to sit back and watch her sometimes.

Look at little Miss Guilty in this picture. (Don't worry...that cord now sits up high where she can't get to it.)

She's really starting to repeat things we say and mimic things we do. In other words, we need to start watching ourselves. She's like a little sponge right now. She listens to and watches us so intently...storing it all away for future use.

70 degrees in November?!

Seriously, can you believe it?! I thought we just lucked out last weekend and it'd be snowing by now, but nope, it's been in the 70's for three days. Amazing.

On Friday morning, I managed to "kuh-KUNK" into a gutter and get a flat tire that I didn't know was flat until I drove another fifty streets down the road. I pulled into a parking lot and a lady let Ayla and I wait in her place of business (which wasn't even open for the day) while we waited for my dad to come save us. It's so refreshing ro run into nice people. It was a chiropractic clinic so there was even a corner full of toys that kept Ayla busy. Downside? We think she got a rash on her fingers that transferred to her face from whatever was crawling on those toys that a million other kids have played with. Gross, I know. I'm trying not to think about it. We called her doctor's office but they were not concerned at all...no fever, no other reactions, no problem.

We had a very busy Saturday...we were running all over the place and Ayla did so well. We even went out for breakfast with no meltdown. Dean and I were both able to eat our entire meals without having to wrestle her. Rare event these days. I don't know if our busy morning riled her up too much or what because she--Would. Not. Nap. She usually goes down between 11:00am and 12:30ish (at the latest)...but at roughly 1:15pm, she was rolling around on the floor bear-hugging Elmo while she giggled her little heart out. All I could do was sit there and shake my head in wonderment. After three tries, she was finally out a little before 2:00pm. Crazy baby. Before having a few friends over for the Husker game in the evening, we strapped Ayla into her wagon and went on a long walk to enjoy every last bit of the beautiful day.

Today, Dean played stay-at-home-daddy for a few hours so I could do some Christmas shopping. I had already purchased a lot of things in the past few weeks...just things I'd find here and there, but I really wanted to go out for a longer period of time and get most of it done. I'm proud to say that I'm 90% done! My goal is to finish before Thanksgiving. Every year, I say I'm going to get all of my shopping done early, but it never fails...the day before Christmas, I'm still trying to find that last gift. By that point, I'm annoyed, stressed, and frustrated...pretty much the complete opposite of what the Christmas spirit should be. Growing up, I remember being so incredibly excited for the holidays...the entire month before Christmas felt so special. There was just a different feeling in the air and I loved it. As I've gotten older, I've let the stresses of everyday life get in the way and somehow, that feeling has started fading away...don't get me wrong, it's still my absolute favorite time of the year...it's just...different. So anyways, I'm rambling. Long story, short--I want to be done with my shopping so I can concentrate on really enjoying the entire month with Ayla. I want her to grow up with that excited I-can't-wait-til-Christmas feeling. :)

Miserable molars...

We think we may have found the culprit for Ayla's middle-of-the-night-screaming-fits. Molars. I logged onto Babycenter.com and lots of the October moms were having the same issues with their babies. (That site has been a lifesaver since the day I found out I was pregnant.) Turns out, there's this thing called "one-year molars." I had no idea. After I read a few things about it, I stuck my pinky in her mouth to see if they were, in fact, coming in. I poked around while she giggled and chomped down on my finger. The edge of one top one is showing and I could feel the one on the other side but it hasn't popped through yet...and so far, nothing on the bottom. Sigh. This could be a long process. In addition to the molars, she's getting two new ones in the front. Poor baby. Her mouth can't possibly feel good right now. I'd probably cry too. Hopefully they all come in quick.

She is such a little stinker lately. When I tell her no, she gets a mischievious sparkle in her eye, giggles, and does whatever she was doing again. Then she giggles some more and says, "No! No! No!" She's testing me, isn't she? For now, just the word "no" isn't cutting it, removing her from the situation and giving her something else to do seems to fair much better. She definitely has a mind of her own right now. She's a riot. :)

The Zoo

Yesterday was another gorgeous day...the first day of November and it was nice enough to walk around in short-sleeved shirts. We joined Meghan, Chris, and Heidi at the zoo for a few hours in the afternoon. I don't think we could have picked a better activity to enjoy the great weather. If you all remember, my first trip to the zoo with Ayla was not very successful...I picked the hottest day of the year and she wanted to be held the whole time. No fun. This time was completely different...she loved running around and seeing everything.

Munching on snacks while watching the giraffes

There is never a dull moment with the Gonzales family...I love it!

Feeding the fish with Daddy
Before we left, we stopped at this giant ball that rotates on water...the girls had more fun with this than anything else they saw all afternoon.