Whitley Ann update

Time to do some catch up!!  I think since my last post Whitley Ann has hit probably her 10 month and 11 month birthdays - whoops!  She has changed and grown so much just in the past month, with almost a new trick coming each day.

She has moved from her early days of army crawling to a real crawl with her belly off of the floor.  The day after Christmas, we were at Annie and Pa's house and she climbed two stairs on two different occasions; I thought uh-oh then.  Shortly after being back home I ran upstairs to change the laundry over and in just a minute I turned to find Whitley Ann just behind me... I had not brought her, so she had climbed all the way upstairs and made her way into the laundry room!  Well, that happened only one more time before I got the gates back out and placed one at the stairs.

Teeth were coming in quickly there for a while, but seem to have slowed down for a bit.  She now has her bottom two center and top two center, along with the top right - looks like the top left is starting to peep through as well.  Her newest, most unfortunate trick, saved just for Mommy, is biting - she's only done it a few times, but still those little suckers are sharp!  She's now consistently saying "uh-oh", "ma ma" (although not necessarily about me), sometimes "da da" and once in a while a "buh" which comes when I'm trying to get her to say "bye" and will wave (most of the time after person leaving is gone, gotta work on that timing!).

She's been cruising around the furniture for quite some time and has one 'walking' toy that she loves to push around when Naylor and Lalon let her have a turn!  That's another fun thing; it is so much fun to watch them beginning to really interact with Whitley Ann now that she's bigger and trying to keep up and their laughs are just the best.  Whitley Ann can't stand to be without them these days and will sneak up in to whatever they are doing.  Naylor's thing these days are those 'races' he sets up with his cars and Whitley will come through and grab a car... or Lalon will have her work and Whitley will get all in her business.  We now (very lovingly) call her the "Whitley Monster " when she is doing these things.  It tickles Naylor so much and at night when we are going upstairs and we let Whitley crawl up the stairs and he will get in front of her and giggle the whole time saying the "Whitley Monster is coming to get me!".

This is a rare moment of seeing the Whitley Monster taking action, in a few short seconds that nice organized cabinet will be destroyed with a string of forks and spoons strewn from the garage door,
through the kitchen and into the den.

One last update that isn't quite as cute... she got an ear infection about a week and a half before Christmas which was the pits and we got some amoxycillin.  At her 2 week follow-up, she still had the infection in both ears, so we did a little stronger medicine, ominicef.  After a longer stretch, almost 3 weeks just because of scheduling, still there. BOO.  So at that point our pediatrician suggested we do a rocephin shot for 3 days straight to really knock it out.  We did, starting on a Thursday, went Friday and Saturday to get the shots.  By that Saturday, the dr said she could see some improvement and that hopefully this would be the end.  Another 2 week follow-up and she was looking pretty good.  Then over the past week and a half the rest of us have gotten sick; Naylor and Lalon both got ear infections (about a week and a half apart).  Brian was really sick and home for a few days from work, as he was starting to get better I started getting it.  We tried all the home medicating we could, but I finally went to the dr and got some meds which have done the trick - I really think I had an ear infection!  Anyway, the day I went to the dr, Whitley Ann was just out of sorts, so after naps I took her in and low and behold... ear infection.  She's on augmentin now and seems to be a bit happier, so I do believe it's working, but we obviously have some other issues to address.  I'm taking her Friday morning for a consultation with an ENT specialist per our pediatrician's advise.

Love this picture - that big old smile and look at those teeth - my sweet girl!

Oh!  And we are working our way away from bottles and she's eating tons and tons of table foods, basically anything we eat except for spicy stuff.  I'm not trying to rush her, but I am a tiny bit excited to not make any more bottles (after 3 years it's getting just a tiny bit old).  I just poured the last of our formula into the container last night, so the end is near...

Aside from the ear situation, she is doing really great and is just the best.  She is so happy and has the most contagious smile and really and truly completes our family.  I'm so thankful we have her in our lives and love seeing all three of them interacting together.  Brian and I are so very blessed; God is good.