Happy Thanksgiving

Hope all of you are having a very lovely Thanksgiving holiday. I am missing my baby girl, especially since her daddy called me to let me know he was taking her to Urgent Care b/c she was cranky and I have been telling him all week it sounded like she had an ear infection (fever off and on, cranky, not sleeping as well). And, of course, I was right. So now she is on some antibiotics and I hope that she is on the mend by the time I get her back on Saturday. And I hope that her plane ride is okay. I can't believe that this is the second time in 2 months she has had an ear infection -- both since weaning her from breastfeeding. Could be coincidence, but I am not so sure. And, it isn't just daycare, b/c the first time she wasn't even in daycare yet.

Edmond did put up some pics for me to see from the day which I love. He did a good job picking a cute dress for her to wear.

I definitely know what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving: my baby girl, my mom, my sister, my brother, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, nieces and nephews, good friends, a roof over my head (even if it is not the roof I hope to have since the house just will not sell), clothes on my back, food in my belly and the ability to Christmas shop like I have been this past week.

Have a blessed day and a good "Black Friday." Happy Shopping :)

It has been awhile

I can't believe that it has been almost three weeks since I last wrote... such a slacker. I have been trying to enjoy my daughter in the short amount of time we have together these days. But this week she is with daddy, so I am left on my own.

I am finally getting in the groove at work. I am enjoying it more as well, although I still miss Katelyn while I am at work. I really cannot stress enough how much I need prayers for this house to sell. I spend THREE HOURS in the car EVERY day going back and forth to work. It is torture. And if I lived closer to work it would give me an extra 1 1/2 to 2 hours a day with Katelyn playing instead of riding in the car. And I know that she misses me, because her teachers say that she talks about me all day "mommy doctor, go work." It has made me appreciate my time with her even more. And, I find my most meaningful moments are spent with Katelyn going through our bedtime routine -- splashing in the bath, getting on pj's, reading stories and snuggling. It is funny b/c she has started saying "no night night yet" when it is getting close to bedtime, and she says "go snuggle, mommy's bed" when she is getting sleepy. I can't believe that a few months ago she had a vocabulary of about 25 words max. Now she uses 3 - 5 words in a sentence.

She was very excited to go bye-bye on the airplane. She kept saying "mommy go bye-bye" and "Katelyn go bye-bye" and I had to tell her that mommy was staying home b/c I had to work and she was going to go with daddy on the airplane. When I got her all packed she was wanted to pull her own suitcase (as you can see below). She was a little disturbed when the lady at the airport put her suitcase on the conveyor belt at check-in. She kept saying "Katelyn's case." We had to explain that she would get it back at daddy's house. I hated leaving her. Edmond said that when they were walking to security and I walked the opposite direction (she was looking back at me which about broke my heart) she kept saying "Mommy go work." But I know that they both need this week to figure things out and build their relationship. And I am glad that he wants to spend time with her. Apparently today he went shopping and bought her a dress that was more "fall-ish" for Thanksgiving (I had sent a dress that was black and red and he wanted to save it for New Years) as well as some tights, shoes and something for her hair. I hope that he takes a lot of pictures so I can see her all dressed up. I am going to miss her like crazy. Although every day is Thanksgiving for me, b/c I thank God every day for sending Katelyn to me.

Here she is getting ready for her trip to Cincinnati:

And then she decided she wanted to ride it... she kept saying "horse... neigh."

She is just the cutest little munchkin in the whole world (if I do say so myself).

First Trick-or-Treat

Katelyn's first Halloween was a success, despite the fact that she did not have a nap at

daycare :( She looked so cute as a little ladybug. We went over to Dr. O'Reilly's house and ate dinner before heading out around 7. We just went down the street and back, but it was plenty. Katelyn started to say "home, bye-bye" and I knew she was worn out. She didn't quite get it all and I never could get her to say "trick" or "treat" (I knew she would never put it all together). She was very sweet, though, and she signed "thank you" each time. She also signed "please" a few times. She was very pleased that a few of the houses remembered the little ones and had "minems" as she calls M&M's. Her only disappointment was when many of the people were already outside so she couldn't "ding-dong" (press the door bell), which was the highlight of her evening. Her most favorite house had two white rocking chairs like the ones at Cracker Barrel and she kept saying "mommy seat" and "Kaylin seat" and trying to climb in it. It was so sweet.

We gave my Boss's daughter all of the candy that was not toddler friendly, except the Peanut Butter Cups... those are for mommy. One guy even asked Katelyn what mommy would like, and through one in her bag, so I didn't feel bad about keeping them. Just before 8 I put my exhausted baby into her car seat. She took two sips of milk and put her binky in -- about 5 minutes later (or less), she was out. She slept all the way home and I just changed her diaper and put her in a tee shirt (yes it is still hot here) and layed her in her bed.

Today was back to the grind. And while I was giving Katelyn a bath I noticed a mark on her arm that looked an awful lot like... teeth marks. Yes, she has been in daycare 4 days and already some other little munchkin has bitten my baby. Grrrr!!! As I pediatrician I know that there are and will always be some kids who are biters. And it has nothing to do with the home they come from or how they are raised. And it is the one thing that I was nervous about happening to my baby at daycare. It may have been a little better had I been told about the happenings by the daycare teacher. I was told that they would have to fill out an incident report if something like that happened... and no one even told me. First, I cried (okay so I am a little sensitive). Then I called my mom (I needed some perspective). She pointed out that they may not have noticed and just to let them know tomorrow so they can be on the lookout for who the biter may be. I have a small suspicion b/c there is one little boy who is always pulling hair and pinching the other kids. He tried to pinch Katelyn when we had just walked in the door on her FIRST day. I hope that it doesn't become a regular occurrence, or I am going to have to rethink daycare.