Children's Hospital

We spent the night at St Louis Children's Hospital on Friday night. Took Madison to the Emergency Room around noon & she was given an IV and admitted. She had been fighting a sinus infection for the past few weeks & the oral antibiotics were not working. Chest xrays determined that she had pneumonia, bronchiolitis and Human Metapneumovirus (a respiratory virus). Even with the IV's administering fluids & antibiotics, her fever spiked again to 104.7 on Friday night. Another dose of the IV antibiotic seemed to help on Sat morning & she was finally acting normal on Sat afternoon. We were released last night & are home now. She is breathing normal with no fever - doing 100% better than a few days ago. The Dr's at Children's Hospital are working with her pediatrician to try to find a reason why she keeps getting so sick. I definitely recommend Children's Hospital - the staff, nurses & Dr's are great!

Big Girl Bed

We took down the crib & set up Madison's big girl bed last night. I think we should've left the crib up...it was a long night! Good thing the bed is only 6 inches off the ground - she fell out at least 3-4 times. Then she would drop her Dora pillow & cry until we came in & picked it up. I don't think she realizes she can get in & out by herself yet & no one got much sleep last night.
Madison's hair is long enough for me to French Braid & it looks so cute! I don't do it often since she thinks it's funny to mess it up! She's got quite the attitude if you couldn't tell!!

Madison is officially into Month 20

no more "teen" months for us :(

Madison had her 3-month appt with the ENT yesterday. Her tubes are still in & look fine. She has had them for a year now. Dr said that they usually fall out within the first year, but sometimes stay longer. If they are still there after two years, we can discuss our "options". I'm not sure what those options are since Willie took her to the appt, but I think it may require another surgery to remove them. I hope they fall out soon! She is old enough that the ear infections should not be a problem, and I would LOVE to not have to worry about getting water in her ears every time I wash her hair. And with the summer months coming up, swimming with tubes is not going to be fun for either of us. I highly doubt she is going to like the ear band she'll have to wear if she still has the tubes!

We are going on our Florida beach house trip again this year. I think we will try to drive since Madison is older. We're staying with the same group of families at the same beach house in Daytona Beach. We went in April last year & the weather was still cool. We are waiting until June this year so the weather should be perfect. Madison is going to have so much fun on the beach & in the pool with the other kids. Allie (3) and Haley (4) love showing new things to their "best friend" Madison, so it should be interesting!

Snow Day!

While I hate to use time off work this early in the year (especially just after we just had a long holiday weekend at home), lounging around the house today has been nice. Madison's daycare was closed b/c of the snow, so we've spent the day in our PJ's! We didn't get much snow...probably 3-4 inches, but Willie and I both decided to stay home. The commute on a day like this usually takes 2-3 hours instead of the normal 1 hour.

Madison has been good at daycare this week. She has been using her big girl potty at home, but doesn't seem interested at daycare. I guess we'll keep trying & not push the issue this early. She fell & hit her eye on the step to our bathtub...she had a small cut & her eye was bruised for a few days. But if you ask her about her "boo boo", she points to her knee. So cute - she thinks boo boo's only happen on her knee!

We got Madison her own guitar & mic so she can play Guitar Hero with us. She think it's so much fun & I caught her trying to play the drums today.

Happy New Years Eve!!

A few updates on Madison:

She went 2 weeks without biting at daycare, but then she bit once yesterday. The worker watching her at the time didn't know about the vinegar, so it didn't get used. So we had an evening with no TV and she wasn't happy about that.

We haven't had to take Madison to the Dr in a few weeks. She has had a very runny nose & a bad cough at night, but Benadryl and the breathing machine seem to help. We're hoping it's a normal cold that will run it's course.

We had a great Christmas this year! We were able to spend Christmas Eve & Christmas morning at home and then went to Quincy to see my family that weekend. Madison really likes all of her new toys! We are enjoying our new Wii, Wii Fit and Guitar Hero guitar, drums & microphone. We got Madison a toy mic & guitar so she can play along with us.

Christmas morning.

Madison knows what to do with the breathing machine! I caught her in her room like this yesterday.

No biting (knock on wood)!

I debated on posting this report, but am pleased to report that Madison has not bit anyone since Tuesday! Daycare has vinegar & is prepared to use it, but she has been good so far! (Hopefully I will not jinx her good behavior by posting this!)

My sister gave us/Karma a Christmas ornament with a black lab a few years ago. Without being prompted, Madison pointed to that ornament yesterday & said "Karma". I'm really surprised that she remembers Karma. It's cute & sad at the same time.

My Christmas shopping & baking is officially done. Now I get to relax & enjoy the rest of the holiday season. Madison is going to be so much fun this year - we're really looking forward to it! She got to open a few presents early this week. Grandpa McArtor & Andrea sent us gifts & we let Madison open them.

Madison is 19 months, going on 13

WOW! Willie and I are exhausted from the attitude Madison had today. She is still biting & scratching other kids at daycare and loves to tell us "NO". We have tried biting her back (she just laughs), time-out (she also thinks this is hilarious), no TV in the evenings (this might actually work - she was unhappy about not watching the Backyardigans tonight). Tomorrow I'm going to see if daycare will put vinegar on her tongue if she bites. (Don't think I'm cruel, it was my mother's idea!)

We have even tried to praise her good behavior by giving treats (M&M's & stickers) throughout the day if she is good. We're out of ideas & open to any suggestions! Even the Dr says that it is just a phase that she will grow out of, I just hope it's soon!

I feel the need to post a cute pic since I've told you how bad she has been lately.