A Very Merry Christmas!

As I previously mentioned, we are going to MN to be with Jamie's family this weekend, so I am posting this week's blog a day early.

Last weekend Jamie's mom and stepdad were here and we did Christmas with them (and Aunt Sandy who came up for the afternoon from Denver). Kinsey was really into opening her presents, tearing the paper and setting it aside to get to the gift! The pictures are on Gramma's camera so I'll have to post those later.

While Gramma was here, we went to the Budweiser factory to see the Clydesdales. Kinsey LOVED them! Most of them were inside eating, but there were a couple outside and they started playing with each other and running around and Kinsey thought that was just great. Here's a video: http://youtu.be/_EjhAfsz9qg



Here's Kinsey on Christmas eve by the huge pile of presents under (and around) the tree:


The weather people kept teasing us, but the ended up being right and it started snowing here on Christmas eve so Kinsey got her first White Christmas! (In fact, it's snowing again as a type this.) It's so great living where it FEELS like Christmas (instead of being 85 like in FL) and it was even better to wake up to snow!



Kinsey had a great time opening presents again on Christmas and playing with all her new toys. Here are some pictures and videos:


A bouncy, rocking horse from pop-pop


A sled and Minnie straw cup from Aunt Cheri (once we opened the sled, she sat in it to open the rest of her presents)



Magnetic Stackrobats from Aunt Linda


Playing with mommy's ipad mini. Here's a video of her playing with it too: http://youtu.be/EpihKggaczU


Loving the slinky that Santa left in her stocking




Digging presents out of her stocking

And after we were done opening presents, we bundled up to go outside and play with the new sled from Aunt Cheri: http://youtu.be/DvfTq3VQFJE


Poor thing was so bundled up, she couldn't move!

And here's just a cute picture of Kinsey being silly:


That's it for now. See you next year!

Lots of Pictures & Videos

There's not much to report this week. We've just been having fun getting ready for Christmas and playing. Here are lots of pictures and videos:

Today my dad and I took Kinsey to see some real, live reindeer:

I forgot to share this video of Kinsey playing with her Goldfish crackers when we were in the hospital:  http://youtu.be/hEIsdXX1HV8

Kinsey was feeding Bailey from her highchair. Of course, she stopped when I got the camera out, but this is still cute: http://youtu.be/ec7LsRfvzck



Kinsey reading a book about Pugs: http://youtu.be/kjHgWZq_ihU

Kinsey playing with the cloth ABC book my mom made for me when I was a baby. She was really enjoying this book and talking a lot!: http://youtu.be/l60MMmFifPI



Kinsey was very interested in the snowflake fabric on this pillow: http://youtu.be/-PgnZGwU5Rg

Practicing sitting on a stool and playing with her toys: http://youtu.be/iaZfDdCUlZ8




My friend Liz sent Kinsey a cute Minnie Mouse blanket with her name enbroidered on it. When I handed it to her, she hugged it in such a sweet way:
 

Gramma and Papa Wayne are here visiting for a couple of days. We're doing Christmas with them and Aunt Sandy tomorrow then we'll do it again with my Dad on the real Christmas. Then the 3 of us are headed to MN next weekend to celebrate Gramma's 60th birthday with all of Jamie's family.

We hope everyone has a very merry Christmas!

Our First Ambulance Ride

Last weekend started off normal and calm. Kinsey was starting to get (yet another) cold, but other than that, we were all set for a relaxing weekend at home. We were eating breakfast so I gave her a couple of pieces of  my scrambled eggs, and then it happened. . .

It started with fussing, which quickly evolved into Kinsey screaching at the top of her lungs and throwing herself around like she was in extreme pain and then her nose and lips started turning blue. We didn't know what was happening or where we were going, but we jumped in the car and raced off. The fire station is about a mile away so we stopped there (the nearest urgent care place is easily 30 minutes away). Unfortunately, we found out our fire station doesn't have paramedics on site, but they did have oxygen, which they gave her immediately and they called 911 for us. When the ambulance arrived, we rushed off to the nearest hospital and they gave Kinsey an EPI shot, some benadryl and hooked her up to an IV. She responded immediately to the EPI shot and began to perk up a little.

At the ER we were still unsure whether Kinsey actually had an allergic reaction to the eggs or something else had happened. And by something else, I mean we had no idea! They said she had to be kept overnight to be watched because she had been given the EPI, but they weren't comfortable keeping her at the hospital and wanted to transfer her to Children's down in Denver, which meant another ambulance ride (at least this one wasn't so scary). Once at Children's, they said they actually only needed to watch her for 6 hours following the EPI, but they wanted to keep her there because her oxygen levels were low (low 80s when it should be in the high 90s). Remember the cold I mentioned earlier? Well, it turns out she had bronchiolitis (or baby bronchitis) and that (probably combined with the allergic reaction) was causing her oxygen levels to be low. So she was admitted and we spent the night in the hospital.

That night was rough because Kinsey won't wear the oxygen mask or the nasal canula, so the only way we can give her oxygen is to do a "blow-by" technique by sitting the mask near her face. The problem with that is, when she rolls over and the mask isn't near her face anymore, the monitor goes off and the nurses come running in, etc. By 3 am, I'd had it with the monitor and made them stop it from beeping every 2 seconds. Then we both finally got some rest! When the doctors came around in the morning, they all agreed we could go home. But before they could get their act together (several hours), the nurses decided to check her oxygen again and started acting like they were going to make us stay. Long story short, we got a little forceful with them and agreed to come home with oxygen for her at home.

We know our own daughter and could tell she was just suffering from bad cold and would be fine. We tried to use the oxygen at home, but it was rather futile. She was still pretty tired and a little weak for a day or two, but by Wednesday she was starting to act like herself again and now she's doing just fine. The brochiolitis is still lingering, but the doctor today actually said her lungs sounded clear.

So anyway . . . we made an appointment right away to have some new allergy testing done. Our greatest fear was that it wasn't an allergic reaction to the eggs and that we wouldn't know what caused the episode. If we know what it is, then we can avoid it, but if it's unknown, that's worse to me. Once we were back home, I checked the results from the allergy testing we had done a year ago and it turned out she had been tested for eggs and wasn't allergic to them then. It is possible to develop an allergy after exposure, but we were still unsure. Also because the paramedics said it didn't seem like a typical allergic reaction.

So today was our allergy appointment. They did a skin scratch test this time (last time was a blood test) and tested her for a lot of things. It turned out the only thing she reacted to was the eggs! She didn't even react to milk, which she was allergic to during the last test. So apparently she outgrew the milk allergy, which was never severe anyway, and develped an anaphylactic allergy to eggs! She also had a borderline reaction to Almonds, so we need to watch those too just in case.

Now we have an EPI Pen (actually 2) on hand at all times. I hope we'll never have to use it. It was a terrifying experience and I don't ever want to go through that again!

In other news, Kinsey is now 25 months old. We are excited for Christmas because Kinsey is much more into it this year than previously. She really likes looking at the tree and all the ornaments and lights. If I let her near the tree, she pulls the ornaments off to play with them. Here are some cute pictures and a video: http://youtu.be/OeJ8lhBF37k






And here are some other videos:
Kinsey bouncing on her Howdy Cow: http://youtu.be/B_y9vyFs3-w
Kinsey reading People magazine: http://youtu.be/xIwnrgGBWKI

We're hoping for a couple of calmer days this weekend!

How Tall is Kinsey?

How tall is Kinsey? That depends on which side of her body you measure. Yep, we've determined that her legs are different lengths, by a half inch. Her left side is 31.5" and her right side is 32". The good news is that she has grown a little. Kinsey's nutritionist noticed the difference at our last visit and told her PT about it so when the PT was here this week she looked at Kinsey's legs and hips in various ways to try to see where the difference is occuring. We need bone xrays to be sure, but we think the bone between her knee and ankle is longer in her right leg. Kinsey's original orthopedic surgeon did xray her hips a while back and said everything looked normal. I'm hoping it is just the bone in her leg because that's a simplier issue than the hips.

We'll make an appointment for xrays with the orthopedist in January, but in the meanwhile, the PT put some inserts in her left shoe to make up for some of the difference and it seems to be helping. Kinsey used to take good-sized steps with her right foot, but then would only bring her left foot up to match the right and never step past it. She also tended to favor bearing weight on her left leg before. But since the inserts, she seems to be walking better.

In fact, she's been able to push her wagon on her own since the inserts! http://youtu.be/0KuJFGsv2cg

In other growing news, Kinsey's head has grown a half inch. That's always good news because it means her brain is growing!

Last weekend we went to pick out our Christmas tree. We tried to go cut one down ourselves, but couldn't find one that we liked. But Kinsey found one that was just her size:

Once we got our tree home, I decorated it, but helped Kinsey put the final ornament on. She really likes looking at the lights on the tree this year!



As always, Kinsey's been in a great mood and she continues to laugh at all kinds of things, and sometimes basically nothing! Here are some fun videos: Laughing at Jamie serve pasta: http://youtu.be/8YplGI7pe-4, This one starts as her playing with her bead toy, but then she starts laughing at Bailey http://youtu.be/VeNN8AerY_g

And here's a cute video of her playing with the bead toy, while bighting it (crazy girl!): http://youtu.be/HGEMcEaFgZI

I think I found a way around my photo problem for the blog. It's not the best solution, but it will work for now. So, here are some photos:

We had a mini photo session with Santa and Mrs. Claus over Thanksgiving weekend and the photos turned out great:


And we finally got the photos from our family/birthday photo shoot back in October:








Here's a picture from last week of Kinsey wearing the Thanksgiving Turkey dress I made her: