breath holding spells

So Lily had a well-child doctor appointment today and everything looks good!  She is a happy, healthy 15 month old..with the emphasis on the 15 month old.  "Happy" and "healthy" are liable to change on a moment's notice, dependent on naps, teething, etc.  Lily is weighing in at 23 lbs, 3 oz, 30" long and wearing mostly 18 month clothes.  I no longer have a baby *sigh* I have a toddler who is looking more and more a little girl.  On a typical day, Lily and I leave work between 1130-12, she's asleep 5 minutes after I get in the car and we go home.  Once we're home, I transfer her to her crib where she sleeps anywhere from 2.5-4 hours, normally 3.5, though.  After struggling with her not sleeping through the night from months 5-12, and only catnaps since birth (an hour was a huge accomplishment), I realize I am blessed with a good sleeper, but feel I did pay at least partial dues with a poor sleeper.  When we have to run errands, she dozes on the way to the store or wherever and then decently happy until we get back in the car and head home where we pick up where we should with napping.  

Today however.  She and I both had doctor's appointments.  Mine was at 115 and hers was at 2.  No, I didn't plan that, I just forgot I had made her an appointment already when I scheduled mine.  I ended up rescheduling mine, but as you can see, a 2pm appointment for Lily is clearly cutting into nap time.  And when the doctor is running late and you don't get seen until 3...you have a grumpy baby on your hands.  Poor Lily.

Did I mention before that Lily has passed out on two occasions?  If I have, old news.  If I haven't, new information: Lily has passed out before.  Once when a friend was watching her and once when I was watching and got to see it first hand and actually see her pass out.  Ever since she was born, when she's been incredibly tired and upset, she'll cry without taking a breath.  And within the past 2 months, she's passed out from this.  Which is incredibly unsettling to watch your 1 year old be unresponsive, flop back, start screaming (ah, oxygen to the lungs!) and then look at you with a completely dazed expression of "what in the world was that!?"  My sister used to pass out on occasion, so I KNOW what people look like when they pass out.  After telling the doctor about this, she said it sounded like "breath holding spells."  The definition on the handout she gave me:

-- breath holding is preceded by an upsetting event, such as being frustrated angry, injured or frightened. check.

-- your child gives out one or two long cries and then holds her breath in expiration until the lips turn blueish.  check (and the point where I started to panic).

-- your child passes out.  yup.  check.

-- your child then resumes normal breathing (check) and becomes fully alert in less than a minute.  check.

-- onset is between 6 months and 2 years old.  check.  the attacks occur while the child is awake.  check and check.

Basically, nothing to be concerned about yet.  Sounds like something that kids outgrow and that is typically a learned behavior.  Since she's been doing it since birth, I don't think it was really learned..but it can turn into something learned later if we don't stay on top of it and try and stop it sooner rather than later.  But, as I said, kids outgrow it, typically by 5-6.    

All that to say, if you have ever seen Lily cry to the point of not breathing, we now know the cause!  YAY!  And that it isn't something to be too concerned about, just to keep an eye on. 

Sorry that was a long ramble.  If you got bored, hopefully you stopped reading before now!

All is well, here though!  See, look at me trying to blog more!

quick update

Hello again :) maybe I REALLY will do better about keeping this thing up in the new year.  Maybe my life will slow down a bit.  And maybe pigs will fly..

Things continue to move along here!  I don't really have too much to report right now..but felt like it was a good blogging evening.  Lily has 3 molars now-- 9 teeth total-- and is silly as ever.  She is understanding more of what I Sign to her, but isn't picking up on how to do some of the ones that require a bit more dexterity.  We're working on it still and still are having fun with it!  She's saying a few more words and trying to say others..her favorite is still "no" though.  Hooray.  

Christmas was of course wonderful.  We had a great time up in Ohio with my family, and I just wasn't ready for the weekend to end!  Jesse and I headed over early afternoon on Friday and left Monday.  The in-between time was spent laughing, playing games, making and eating a TON of food (of course), spending time talking, opening presents, and just enjoying being together.  Typically, Christmas with my family involves Team Pagano opening presents on Christmas Eve and going to a service that evening at our church.  Christmas morning is spent with Mama and Poppy.  This year, with Christmas being on a Sunday, Team Pagano went to church with the grandparents before we started out traditional day of festivities.  The service was really fun, I thought.  The pastor had encouraged families to come and not to feel bad if they were still wearing their pajamas and for the kids to bring a toy from that morning.  We sang some songs, pastor had a children's time-- Lily and I went up front with the other kiddos where she was more entertained by the golf ball the pastor used as an illustration and going up and down the steps-- and then a few more songs and we went home!  I really appreciated taking the time to focus on the real meaning behind Christmas this year, especially since it was on a Sunday.  

playing blocks with Uncle Richard

Christmas morning

since she was out of her routine, she didn't want to nap..until she went for a ride on the scooter.  out like a light!

Alrighty..that's all I have for now!  Hopefully back soon :) I updated my pictures, go check 'em out!

a short story

I really should be blogging more than I have been.  My apologies to all 5 of you people who read my blog when I post :)

Today, I just have an amusing story.  Well, I was amused.  Jesse LOVES seafood and asked me the other day if I could make some salmon or something soon.  I did, and it was ok but nothing spectacular-- I forgot to use my cedar planks until it was too late-- and then he brought up the topic of shrimp.  Shrimp intimidate me.  In my mind, that is one of those dishes that I shouldn't try and cook, we should just go to a nice seafood restaurant and get it there where they won't mess it up and if they do, we can nicely send it back.  He told me to get over that nonsense, in a more tactful way, and to find a recipe to try.  I did, and if I do say so myself, it was delicious.  Anyway.  I made that, rice and some coleslaw (another thing Jesse had been wanting me to make) for dinner tonight, and I was kind of apprehensive about Lily's meal.  Jesse asked if I was getting her something separate to eat and I said-- cautiously-- that I was going to try and just give her what we were eating.  

I gave her a bite of rice and she liked that, obviously.  Then I gave her a small bite of the shrimp.  Her eyes absolutely lit up and I'm pretty sure the look she gave me said quite plainly: lady, why have you not been feeding me this ALL the time??  I went to get her a plate of her own and when I turned around, she was happily picking the whole shrimp off my plate and shoveling them in her mouth.  While her daddy watched.  His shrimp were safe, he didn't care.  hmph.  

Anyway.  It was a happy dinner and we all were content with full bellies and apparently, I CAN make a shrimp dish successfully, and may need to try more!  If you have a good recipe, pass it on, please!  The easier the better ;)

Gilroy Garlic Shrimp

24 large shrimp, peeled and deveined

salt and fresh black pepper to taste

2 T olive oil

6 garlic cloves, crushed and minced fine

2 T cold butter

1/4 c chopped Parsley

1/2 lemon, juiced

Make sure the shrimp are very well drained.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Place a large skillet on high heat, and add the olive oil.  When the oil is very hot, add the shrimp and saute on high for 2 minutes, or until the shrimp are halfway cooked.  Add the garlic, and saute for 1 minute.  Add the cold butter, reduce the heat to medium and cook for another minute or until the shrimp are cooked.  Turn off the heat, stir in the parsley and lemon juice.  Serve immediately.

Christmas Cards

Every year, I tell Jesse that some day, I want to be like all my big kid friends and send out Christmas cards. He smiles and nods and is obviously super supportive in my ideas, and probably breathes a sigh of relief when I say "maybe next year I will have something interesting to send out."  So to all of my super on top of it friends and family who send out cards regularly (including birthday, other holidays, and 'hey I'm thinking of you'), you are my inspirations and I want to be like you one day.  My one aunt is incredible at this (as are a lot of my friends), but she never fails to track me down no matter how many times I move or what's going on to let me know that they are thinking of me and my family (thanks, Aunt Toe!  One day, I'll send a card back..).

This year, I'm making progress, though.  Betsy text me and said "hey, come over and take Christmas card pictures with me and the kids."  I'm always game for that, so off we went.  I wasn't expecting pictures of Lily, or for her to cooperate at all, really, because why would she?  She's my kid after all..anyway, we had fun, Lily didn't cooperate-- but thoroughly enjoyed photo-bombing the pictures of the Partin kids-- and I got some super cute pictures of Betsy's kids anyway.  My little goober and I just need more practice with the staged pictures, apparently.

staying a safe distance away from all the picture-taking nonsense

Fiona was really upset, so Lily went and comforted her

oh hello again

Clearly, I am excellent at keeping up with blogging recently.  But really, not a ton has been going on.  We continue to unpack (sort of..we kind of lost interest) and continue about our daily lives. 

Since last blogging-- this is slightly embarrassing-- we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Jesse's mom's side of the family.  It was the first time that everyone had been able to get together since the summer of 2010, and that's always a good time.  As an added bonus, Jesse, Lily and I got to spend a few days with Matt, Erin, Mom and Dad H.  We went to see some Christmas light show with everyone, and Jesse's favorite part of that was when he took Lily and showed her a nativity scene and told her the story of Jesus' birth.  She was fascinated and got upset when they walked away, so he took her back and told it to her again.  

This past weekend, Lily and I took a girls trip up to Findlay to see our friend that flew in from Alaska JUST to see us.  Ok, not really, she really came back to this side of the country for Thanksgiving..but whatever.  We were thrilled to see her and a handful of other friends.  The time went too fast for as much time as we spent in the car, but isn't that how it always is?  Since it was just the two of us, I left with the intention of her napping in the car.  Hah.  For reasons unknown to me, she decided to be difficult (probably gets that from her dad) and sleep only half an hour of the 5 hour drive there and then had a repeat performance on the way home.  Which was super because she has a cold and was just exhausted. She just wanted to tease me apparently and stay awake the whole time.  Poor little girl, she's been kind of miserable when she gets up and when she goes to bed, so hopefully we knock this cold out soon.  After we'd been in the car yesterday-- where she cried for the last hour because she was tired and just wanted to be held-- she went to bed early.  Or so we tried.  I was tired and crabby, and when I tried our normal bedtime routine, she wanted nothing to do with it and just cried and cried.  So we ended up rocking for a good while and she calmed down instantly as soon as I picked her up.  I then felt terrible, since I had asked her to just ride unhappily for at least an hour and then ignored the one thing she wanted: to be held for awhile.  We talked and I apologized and then we cuddled for 30 minutes while she quieted down and fell asleep on my chest.  Sometimes it takes something like that to remind me that she won't be small forever, and one day she'll be 16 (ugh) and not want me to rock her and hold her.

On a lighter note- sorry for my sentimental tangent- tonight, Jesse took Lily up to the tree and asked, "has Momma told you the story of the Christmas tree?"  To which Momma said ....what?  So he proceeded to tell her the story: Well, long ago when Jesus was born, he was born in a manager.  That's where they feed the animals in the barn.  There was probably a tree next to it, and so that is where we get the Christmas tree!

...this is why my kids don't need a made up story of Santa.  Daddy makes up his own stories that are way better.  

Go check out my other blog where I'm (kind of) keeping up with pictures!