2 doctors in 2 days (warning, it is graphic!)

18 month check up:
We took Charlotte to her 18 month check up on Thursday where we confirmed she is a growing healthy girl. She was so good in the waiting room, let the doctor listen to her heart (and said "boom boom, boom boom when the stethoscope was on her heart), weighed in at 24 pounds 12 ounces, and with no vaccines needed we were on our way. She has met all of her milestones: says at least 10 words, can point to parts of her body, climbs on things, points to things, can follow a simple direction, and pretend plays. We left the doctor's office thinking that was our best trip ever and how lucky we are to have a smart and healthy little girl.

Day Two of the doctor:
Charlotte went off to Mrs. D's house on Friday like it was a normal day. I had a Gap coupon that was burning a hole in my pocket mixed with some serious spring fever so Bryce picked up Charlotte and was going to meet me at the store. I got a call when they got home to let the dogs out that Charlotte had just thrown up in the driveway. "Oh no", was all I really thought. Bryce said he thought she was too hot so he was going to change her clothes and let her cool down a bit with something to drink and then they would be on their way. I got another call 10 minutes later that she had thrown up again so I immediately raced home, calling Mrs. D and my Mom to try and trouble shoot while I was on my way. Mrs. D said she had a perfect day. She slept well, ate well, everything as usual. Even my Mom was thinking it was a fluke so I was totally unprepared for what I walked in to. As soon as I walked in the door Bryce was holding Charlotte and she reached out for me and we went to sit on the couch.....where she promptly threw up all over my lap. Now we've got the towels out on the floor for her to sit on, I go to change, and we get a towel to catch it if she throws up again. I called our doctor's after hours line and the operator said she would have someone call me right back. By the time the phone rang again we were on throw up number six in about two hours. The nurse on the line told me if she gets to throwing up 8 times in 8 hours that we needed to head to the urgent care. If her throw up turned dark yellow or green we needed to head to the emergency room. Seeing as we only had two throw ups to go before we had to go to a doctor I started packing the car up full of towels and changes of clothes.

In less than 30 minutes she had thrown up two more times so we were out the door. We went to Childrens Healthcare in Duluth where we waited an hour to be seen. I spent the hour over analyzing every child waiting ahead of us and getting more and more desperate because I felt like Charlotte was sicker than all the other kids who were ahead of us. The wait was worth it though because the doctor and nursing staff were wonderful. They gave Charlotte an anti-nausea tablet and drew her blood. She finally stopped throwing up so they allowed her some apple juice which she sucked down in one gulp and said "more please". Her lab results showed she was dehydrated (which I knew because she had not wet her diaper since 3:00 that afternoon) so we got strict instructions on how to care for her and were allowed to go home. Three juice boxes and a prescription later we were on our way. My Mom and Dad met us at Childrens and we split up so that Bryce and my Dad could go get the prescription and Mom could help me at home. I can't even explain how reassuring it was to have my Mom with a nurses background giving me some advice and helping take care of Charlotte. The night was not quite over yet though, when I went to pull her out of her carseat I got three juice boxes full of throw up down the front of me. Yuck.
So the results are in: she had a 24 hour virus. The doctor said she saw 8 other children with symptoms just like Charlotte that same night. Charlotte was still a little queasy today and didn't want to eat much but she would play hard and started to act like her normal self again. The doctor reassured me that the virus would be gone within 24 hours and that Charlotte would not be contagious any more but we are staying quarantined for the weekend just to be safe. Bryce's parents came up to check on her and she really started to come back out of her shell then. It was a really rough night so we are all ready to have our happy girl back!

18 months old...that's a year and a half!

Oh my, where has the time gone? I absolutely positively cannot believe my baby girl is already a year and half old. She is literally changing and growing before my eyes. Some mornings she wakes up and I swear she looks different, like she grew up some more during the night. Her face is what strikes me the most. Even looking at her face from our Christmas pictures it is already different from how she looks now. I swear she gets more and more beautiful every day too. Every where we go I still hear "she looks just like her daddy", but I see more and more of myself in her as she gets older too. She has definitely taken on my facial expressions.

Since our last check in on developmental milestones it seems like she is a whole new kid. The word toddler does not begin to describe everything a one and a half year old can get in to. I actually think we have it pretty good though. Charlotte is a great listener and even though she doesn't like to hear "no" she will stop what she is doing. She is not destructive at all, just curious. She has lots and lots of new words, most notably please, help, up, baby (every child is a baby to her), apple, purple, uh-oh, and my favorite-I love you. I'm pretty sure I've seen her roll her eyes at me I ask her to say I love you so many times! I cannot get enough!

Charlotte loves to be outside. Much to our surprise she can throw and kick the ball pretty well. She has started eating with a fork and wants to have her hands wiped right away if she gets anything on them (this coming from the kid who used to use her hand like a shovel in her food and work it in all over her face). She is working on eating with a spoon but does better at stabbing things with a fork. She loves Elmo. She loves his songs, his laughs, if Elmo is around she is a happy girl. Charlotte also loves to color. Not so much with finger paint, but give her a crayon or some markers and she will go to town on the paper. We also have our nightly dance sessions where Charlotte breaks out her moves, usually bending her knees and moving her booty back and forth. She has started singing now too, much to our delight! We end every night with our prayers and she has started reciting her prayers after Bryce or I....so sweet!

We simply love every day with Charlotte. She makes me laugh all day at her silly antics and her sweet personality. She puts me in such a good mood when I come home which is wonderful after dealing with testy teenagers all day. She has the warmest heart and the brightest smile, she is a year and a half full of wonderful!


Picking flowers in the grass


Look, more flowers Mommy!



I love to be outside!


Reading in my chair....what a way to end the day!

Most Improved

And the most improved award goes to.....Charlotte! We had swim class #2 today and she did AWESOME! We worked hard all week in the tub on getting used to water in her face and dumped on her head and she was ready to go when we got in the pool. This week we added "zooming" through the water, where you float the baby across to the pool instructor. Charlotte got a little nervous being with someone else, but once she got back to me she was fine. She really did not cry at all (maybe a little tiny whining at first though). Charlotte also got to swim with a noodle which she kept saying over and over again (noole, noole!). We ended the class once again with ring a round the rosey she did give a little squeal when she came back up but there was no shrieks and no tears. The swim instructor said she was a totally different baby! I was so proud of how good she did today!

Watchin' TV

Charlotte found a new way to watch TV......

Such a pretty day!

The scary thing is that we had snow on the ground one week ago.....

I came home from work to find Bryce and Charlotte already playing in the back yard. They had dragged chairs out to the sunny part of the grass and I could see Charlotte sitting and waiting patiently for me to come outside. I ran to go get our camera so I could save that perfect memory but Charlotte had to come investigate what was taking me so long. After a big hug and kiss she ran off to get her chair and could not decide where she wanted to sit next. She kept roaming all around the yard carrying her chair with her. It was the funniest thing!

Charlotte loves to be outside. She will pick up a tennis ball and walk all around the yard with it, and she has gotten pretty good at kicking a ball too. Now we just have to work on coming back inside when Mommy says to!

Swim Class

Well, our first swim class was a flop. Bryce and I have been talking about taking a vacation with Charlotte this summer but Charlotte didn't love the pool last year. She wasn't against it by any means but she did cling to my bathing suit and protest in her float so I decided we needed a swim class before we wasted all that money on a trip. Bryce is a pool person and I am a beach person so either way she was going to be confronted with lots of water!
We geared up for swim class all weekend. I am trying really hard to work on preparing Charlotte for things ahead of time in an effort to eliminate the tantrums. When it was time to get ready we put our swim diaper and bathing suit on and already she was looking anxious. We got to the pool a little early and sat on the edge watching big people swim and she seemed content. She kept pointing at everyone in the water with amazement. Some other toddlers from her class came in and she kept pointing to them saying "baby" even though I realize now she was probably the youngest kid in the class. When it came time to get in Charlotte did ok. The water was wonderfully warm and I tried hard not to think about how awfully pale I am! Our first move was putting the babies on their stomach so they would keep their heads up and kick their feet. That is when the tears started. She did not want to be close to the water, and she did not want to kick her feet! We played fetch with some water toys, practiced floating on our back, and kicked our feet on the edge of the pool with her whining almost the whole time. Then came ring around the rosey. The part where they "all fall down" you are supposed to put them under water. Everyone else came back up sputtering and wiping their eyes. Except Charlotte. She came back up with the most piercing shriek I have ever heard! We were pretty much done after that. I tried to do the other parts of the lesson as best I could but Charlotte was so over it. The swim instructor felt bad but kept reassuring me to come back to the next lesson and it would get better. There is no way we are quitting! This just convinced me even more that it will be money well spent to have Charlotte a willing participant in the pool!

Wordless Wednesday