This last month was a doozie.
At the very end of May we lost my mother relatively unexpectedly, and it seems with each passing day I have a greater need of her. Not two months ago I was discussing with her my vague plans for Lydia's birthday party, and now that party is just a few days away; I cannot fathom that she won't be at the very event we talked about just a few weeks previous. I remember her voice just a year ago when I called to tell her Lydia had arrived; half excited, half admonishing (for catching her by surprise) -- it seems unnatural for her not to call this year and send birthday wishes. It feels so unfair to me that Lydia will never know her Nana -- I knew my mother's mother, so why can't Lydia know hers?
Lydia, bless her soul, was a trooper during all the multi-day functions that a funeral brings. She spent the first night away from us, staying with her Grandma and Papa, and she was a sweetie for them. As long as she has her snuggle blankie, she's good for a sleep just about anywhere.
Table foods continued to become more interesting to Lydia. She quickly switched to eating straight table foods -- she was eager to try anything!
Pretty soon, she started having trouble with looser stools, then straight-up diarrhea -- as in straight up the back! It became a daily occurrence for me to pick her up from daycare and find her in a completely different outfit from what she had on that morning. Sometimes she went through two outfits a day. Daycare clothes became commonplace. The doctor said to feed her more starches (the BRAT diet) but, alas, nothing seemed to stop her up.
Then her feet started peeling. Not like sunburn peeling, we're talking huge thick chunks of skin off the bottoms of her toes and heels. Good Lord, my baby is falling apart! The doctor said to moisturize and wait since her checkup appointment was around the corner. And the diarrhea raged on.
In desperation, I switched Lydia's milk from regular cow's milk to soymilk. She liked it and, the next day, a poo came forth that stayed within its bounds! More tamer poos continued and so far things are looking better. Her peeling feet are calming down as well. The doctor is thinking she could have developed a temporary intolerance to the lactose because of a virus (Hand, Foot, and Mouth, anyone?). I'm thinking Lydia can now shed off the stigma of being The Diarrhea Kid at daycare.
Throughout the month of Skin Shedding and Poo, Lydia became very adept at Walking With Assistance (tm), a pastime that my back is not very fond of. If you hold her hands, she can walk all over the place, and Lydia always makes sure she gets her money's worth. I've had a constant backache since this new endeavor began. Now I see why all new parents get so damn excited when their kid starts to walk -- their backs can now begin to recuperate.
In the teeth department, Lydia is now up to four -- her second top tooth finally decided to join the party. Most of the month she was an Itty Bitty Snaggletooth Girlie.
The night before Lydia's birthday, she had another first -- barfing. Technically, she's accidentally gagged herself and thrown up before when she was leaning to eat table foods but hadn't gotten down the chewing part yet, but that was nothing compared to this.
She had already gone down for the night but was fussing, but when I went in her room to give Lydia her pacifier, something didn't smell too good. When I turned on the light I saw she had barfed all in her crib. A mountain of grossness. The Husband and I got her out, cleaned her and the crib up, new pajamas and new sheets and back to bed. She pretty much slept through the whole thing.
Twenty minutes later The Husband hears her on the baby monitor and says, "She threw up again." We went back in there and sure enough there was more barf all in her crib and on her. This time she was wide awake and upset. We had not dealt with this before and I wasn't sure what was wrong. I just wanted to talk to my mother so bad. After we got Lydia cleaned up this time she was still wide awake and just wanted to be held -- I was happy to oblige with some snuggling.
Thankfully, she didn't throw up again and she was a most happy girlie for her first birthday. Something just got her tummy upset. Amazingly, we were also able to clean up and salvage her musical crib bear. It will live to play another day.
I didn't trust myself to take Lydia's one year portrait, so I got a real photographer for Lydia to ham up to. We actually did the photo shoot last Saturday and the pics are totally awesome. So here you go.
I know this is the longest monthly post ever, but I told you this past month was a doozie.
