Valentine's Day, 2012

I happened to schedule Taylor's "5 year old" check up on Valentine's Day.  She had an eye exam and had to draw a picture.  Her doctor (Dr. Prince) was impressed with her elephant.  She said she doesn't get many of those.  It will be fun to see what she makes next year and compare.

 Taylor and I decided to go to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner...

 Tito's, Taylor always makes a very yummy pepperoni pizza.

 After dinner, Taylor really wanted to go for a walk around the boardwalk.

 That seemed like a fine idea.  We do like to walk and I thought it might be a little busier out, since it was Valentine's Day. 

 It was a little creepy out there.  I don't think we saw one other person and the water was very low.  It made walking over the bridge kind of a steep walk, which is of some concern since it can be icy.  I hurried us around as quickly as possible. We will be back to the boardwalk when the weather warms up a bit.

Taylor...first time on Antibiotics

One of the reasons I started my blog is to attempt to really keep track and document Taylor's milestones. Another reason is to have an additional place to back up some of my favorite pictures. I get behind on updates, but I want to always keep things in order as much as possible. However, today, I had to break order and document something that happened, even though I'm probably about a month behind.

Thankfully, Taylor has been a pretty healthy child!! This week she had a low grade fever, which I usually don't give her anything for, unless she seems uncomfortable. I want her body to do what it's doing and fight off whatever is wrong. It got a little high a couple times, so I gave her Ibuprofen. Then, last night she said she felt like her throat was sore. So, this morning I called her doctor's office first thing to make a morning appointment. When Taylor woke up she seemed fine and when asked she said her throat seemed fine. I debated on canceling the appointment, but we went anyway. Side note: she is 44 inches tall and weighs 38.2 pounds. She was so brave when they swabbed her little throat, and didn't even gag, like I always do. It turns out she has strep throat. They also said if anyone else has a sore throat we should have it checked out as well. Almost immediately, after hearing those words, I started questioning myself...is my throat sore, is my throat hurting too?? Ben runs from illness, he doesn't want to get sick (there's one advantage to working out of town). Taylor will have had her antibiotics for 24 hours before he gets home.

I had to purchase a new thermometer and Taylor wanted some of her favorite soup. Again, she seems fine, but I'm feeling a little run down now and thinking about calling my doctor's office, but still trying not to overreact. We had a nice soup lunch at Olive Garden. Please don't judge me. I tried not to expose anyone to our germs, really I did, but we wanted the soup. We then picked up her antibiotic and some Danimals Strawberry yogurt, with active cultures. I called my mom to tell her about Taylor's first illness requiring any antibiotics. She said it sounded like me. I think I had strep throat a time or two when I was younger. I told Taylor that I remember my "sick days" as kind of "fun days." When I was sick my mom would take the day off from work, we would go to the doctor's office (where they always seemed to have the large children's bibles to look at in the lobby) and get lunch. I would get to spend the afternoon at my home with my mom. I had forgotten about that until today. I remember driving down the road to the doctor's office lined with trees. I don't recall the type of trees, just remember there were many lining the roads. I had a discussion with one of my favorite people/friends today about antibiotics vs. natural remedies. My mom reminded me she always gave me antibiotics for strep throat because my grandma had it and ended up with rheumatic fever which caused some damage to her heart. My grandma is 90 and doing great, but this is an interesting fact. When I asked at the doctor's office, he said the same thing, as to why they always recommend the antibiotics for strep throat. Better safe than sorry when I am talking about the heart of my little angel.

After returning home, I immediately changed into yoga pants, not because I'm doing any yoga, but because they are comfortable for all the "mom chores." As I was attempting to put away Taylor's left over chicken gnocchi soup, I dropped it. DANG! It landed on it's bottom, so it wasn't a total loss, but there was A LOT all over the floor and (from my knees down) all over my pants and socks. DANG! What a mess. As I'm standing in the middle of this mess, I called for Taylor to get the wipies so I can clean this up a little without making it worse by moving. She said, "Are you going to cry?" No, I wasn't going to cry, but good grief...I'm not feeling too good (probably just overtired from having a sick daughter who hasn't slept good all week), I've been running around, and now I have a huge mess. I wiped enough to move and get my clothes off without tracking it downstairs to the laundry room (or stepping on any gnocchi). After a quick change, I came up stairs and Taylor said, "You're not gonna believe what I'm doing." There she was sitting on the floor, cleaning up the chicken gnocchi mess. I LOVE THAT GIRL!! I gave her a big hug and thanked her, and I finished it up. That was probably the sweetest thing ever. My little five year old helping me clean a huge mess, when she is the sick one. She is a very sweet hearted little girl and I'm forever thankful for her!! This is one of my favorite moments.

Taylor's 4year Check Up...Oct 26, 2010

My healthy little girl, very thankfully, has only had to visit her pediatrician for well check-ups. She doesn't mind going, but she did say to the nurse, "But don't fix me." I think she was saying, I'm okay...I don't need any shots.

Taylor is in the 90th%ile for her height (42inches) and 25th%ile for weight (32.8lbs). She also got her eyes checked at this visit. She did need to get some shots. She didn't cry, but said they hurt, "Those shots were sharp...not like my shot..." speaking of her own doctor kit at home, where the shot is not at all sharp. She was happy to receive "Little Pony" stickers. Afterwards I asked what she would like to do. My little girl said, "Lets go downtown."

I took her to Qdoba for lunch, then we went for a walk downtown.

It was a nice fall day for a walk. This would cheer me up too, if I had to get some unexpected shots...

Give me a pose Taylor....too cute!