On the Mend

It's been awhile since we posted but we had our hands full the past week and half with illnesses. So here's the update: Stella's high fevers lasted for about 6 days (8/15-8/20). On the 6th day, we went to see an infectious disease specialist at Georgetown university hospital on the recommendation of our pediatrician. Our pediatrician was concerned because Stella had very enlarged cervical lymph nodes (which she had prior to her fever starting) and there seemed to be no obvious cause for the fever.

To make things more confusing, Stella was on antibiotics 4 days prior to her fever starting b/c the ENT we had gone to see for her enlarged tonsils had put her on antibiotics to see if her lymph nodes would go down to confirm that they were reactive lymph nodes. Anyway, on the 6th day of her fever, Stella woke up with cold like symptoms consisting of a cough, runny nose, and congestion. Desmond also had similar cold like symptoms with a fever of 103.5 F.

The ID specialist's assessment was that Stella initially picked up a virus that caused the high fevers and then picked up a second virus resulting in the cold like symptoms that Des also seemed to get. If Stella's fevers didn't go away, we were to go see the ID specialist again on Fri.

Luckily, last Wed evening was the last time Stella had a fever and now she is getting over her cold. Des also had a mild fever for a day and a half and now he too is getting over the cold...hopefully, he won't get another ear infection.

Stella is scheduled for her tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy on Sep 11th and hopefully she will remain healthy till her surgery b/c if she has any illness, they will postpone the surgery. Since her lymph nodes didn't go down with the antibiotics, they will also perform a fine needle aspiration of the lymph nodes to look for any abnormality while she is under. Our poor Stella girl has been through a lot and we are hoping for an uncomplicated surgery and a clean bill of health.

During the past week and half, Stella continued to show her tough spirit by never complaining once and being sweet as usual and when the fevers got really high, she would just get so lethargic and lay on the couch and sometimes fall asleep. She just hated all of the different doctors poking and prodding her and who can blame her?!?! Needless to say, we are all exhausted!!!

Over the next week, we are going to try to update posts that were started and saved as drafts of events that occurred prior to our kids getting sick, so remember to scroll down and check out the posts about Stella and Des's fun times in Pittsburgh (Kennywood, family reunion, etc.) and other milestones.

Desmond is 10 Months Old

Desmond is 10 months old today and the following are all of the things he can do. There's probably more, but these are the ones we can think of right now.

• Walk with a walker and holding our hands.
  
• Say "booo" for "moo" for what a cow says. So funny, he has a hard time saying "m" sounds but he tries and "booo" is what he can muster up.
• Dances by bopping up and down whenever he hears music or we sing to him. He will also dance if you ask him to.
• Loves to eat bananas and strawberries.
• Has given up army crawling and only crawls the regular way.
• Only wants adult food and will only eat baby food if he is the only one eating.
• Loves pancakes with syrup.
• Drinks milk out of sippy cups.
• Gives Mama kisses on the lips when she asks him.
• If you ask him where Mama's belly button is, he lifts up her shirt to find it, while saying "ba ba".
• Top left center tooth is 1/4th of the way out.
• "Bye" (pronounced byaa with a southern drawl) is what he calls the phone b/c he hears Mama say bye on it.
  
• When Mama gave him his toy phone, he said, "bye" so he knows that it's a phone as well.
• Has started pointing and will point at Stella's pictures and says "tetta" "tetta" and "Dada" for Dada's pictures.
• Goes up the stairs with ease but there is still fear of him falling back.
• Laughs when we say "a doggie says woof, woof".
• Shakes his head no when he doesn't want something.
• Understands "no" when Dada tells him no sternly when he is doing something he is not supposed to like grabbing electrical cords or pushing TV buttons and for the most part, listens to the "no" and moves over to another activity.

Deja Vu

Stella has been sick with a high, high fever since Friday night and as of right now, we still don't know what is wrong with her. We've been to the doctor, the hospital, and had her blood drawn and still no diagnosis. Her fever was as high as 106 F Sat night and has been around the 104 to 105 mark for the most part..very scary and very reminiscent of her ordeal with the Staph infection on her arm from a vaccination back when she was 15 months old. Back then, Stella went through 2 weeks of high, high fevers before we saw the right doctor and got the correct diagnosis. We are praying that this doesn't take as long.

Primping

Last night when Mama was changing Gup's diaper, she gave him Stella's hair brush to play with and the Gup surprised Mama by using the hair brush to brush his hair. In the past, he was happy to just nibble on the brush handle, but now he knows that hair brush is for brushing hair. We didn't teach him this...he just learned from observation.

Growing Up So Fast!

Stella slept in her underwear last night, as opposed to a pull up, and she stayed dry all night long...yeah! What a big girl she is getting to be.

Today is also the first day of her transition into the pre-K classroom where she will join the other 3 year olds at school, many of whom were her classmates in her two year old class. In 2 short years, Stella will be starting kindergarten...we are not ready for that!!!

Say My Name, Say My Name!

Tonight, Stella came around the corner and Desmond looked up and Dada heard him say "Tewah" to which Stella replies, "You said my name Guppa!" Des repeated again, "Tewah" with a big smile on his face. This is so special for us in many ways. First, Des not only knows who his sister is but can say her name. Secondly, Stella understood right away what Des was saying while Dada had to hear Des repeat Stella's name twice before he realized what Des was saying...it is so sweet that Des and Stella can communicate with each other.

Des sure does love Stella and vice versa. On the car ride home from Pittsburgh, Des would look over at Stella and start laughing out aloud and then Stella would get excited and join in the laugh fest. This cycle repeated itself over and over again and it was so sweet for us to witness it!

The following series of pictures cracked us up. Here is Stella and Desmond squeezing themselves into the Cozy Coupe car that Stella received for her 1 year birthday.

The Cozy Coupe is aptly named because it really is not big enough for the two of them!

Z Family Reunion 2008

Saturday was the day of Dada's family reunion, but before we headed over to Aunt Betty Ann's house, we had a very leisurely morning with the kids having fun doing what they do best...playing!

The girls had fun reading.

Stella was nice enough to help Desmond on the rocking horse...

...and he loved it.

After lunch and naps, we headed over to Aunt Betty Ann's and Uncle John's house for the family reunion. Aunt Betty Ann lives out in the country with lots and lots of beautiful land (as you will see in the pics below) that is ideal for kids and adults to run around and let loose. Aunt Betty Ann and Auntie Avril had set up different games for the kids and if the kids participated, they would each get a bag full of gifts, regardless of who won...so fun! Kids and adults enjoyed jumping into the pool, playing T-ball, baseball, badminton, and grilling out. It was a fun filled afternoon catching up with family.

Aunt Betty Ann's cute collection of birdhouses in the backyard.

Stella playing with bubbles...

...playing baseball...

...blowing bubbles with Auntie Avril...

...playing ball...

...blowing more bubbles with Mama...

...playing frisbee...

...and enjoying some cuddle time with Auntie Marisa.

We think our Des is more of a city slicker and didn't take too well to the country, but we suspect that it was more a case of "stranger danger" with all of the new faces he was encountering.

Here he is with Auntie Avril sampling the water sponges to make sure it had his seal of approval...

...having a conversation with Eva...

...hanging out in his stroller playing with his phone...

...and modeling his swim trunks which he didn't really get wet because he didn't even like getting his feet wet in the pool!