18 Months

Wow! It has been forever since I posted here, time is just flying by and I have been so busy that I haven't had the time to blog, much less be able to get my mind to form cohesive sentences :) In the middle of December I opened up my own Etsy store selling handmade headbands and never dreamed it would take off like it has, so that has been what takes up every spare second. I named it Little Love's Designs after Kaylee because I always call her my 'little love.' When I get so busy with the store I feel guilty because I don't want to take time away from Kaylee because I know I will never get these days back, so I have been trying to find a balance between the two.

Last week I took Kaylee to the doctor for her 18 month checkup. I was expecting it to be just a normal checkup but things changed as soon as we got there. The nurse came in to get her measurements and walked back out of the room. A few minutes later she came back in and wanted to remeasure Kaylee's head, I still wasn't concerned because this has happened before since her head has always measured large, but then the doctor came in to show me the growth chart and her head measurement showed a spike on the chart. From there I started to panic as the doctor started asking me questions about different symptoms that she might be having that are related to hydrocephalus and brain tumors.

The doctor said Kaylee needed to have a CT scan done asap and went on with the rest of the exam. The CT was scheduled for the following Tuesday morning, unfortunately we weren't at a children's hospital and because of it, Kaylee had to suffer. The CT was ordered to add contrast if needed, instead of waiting to see if anything looked abnormal, the nurse insisted on putting a iv in as soon as we got there. On top of having a unnecessary iv, the nurse also refused to sedate Kaylee before trying to put the iv in, saying she wanted to wait until after. After digging in her arm for what seemed like forever, the nurse made the comment that she couldn't get the iv in because Kaylee wouldn't sit still...really?... she's 18 months old, what did she expect? Luckily there was another nurse in the room that was able to get the iv in on the first try.

We went back for the scan and they let me stay in the room with Kaylee. Thankfully, everything looked fine and they didn't have to use any contrast. It was such a long week, wondering if something was wrong and being worried for Kaylee because I knew she would be scared. For now, we just assume that she is a big baby, if she continues to get further away from the 98% line on the growth chart, there might be more tests run, but hopefully we won't have to worry about that!

But enough of all of that, I haven't done Kaylee's monthly update in 3 months, so here is what she is up to at 18 months:

• You are still in size 5 Target brand diapers
• You wear 24 month/2T clothes, I just put away all of your 18 month things last week
• You are in size 8 shoes but I feel like you will be going up a size soon
• You are learning new words all the time, you can say: mama, dada, remi, liza, winston, kitty kitty, puppy, baby, apple, ball, juice, milk, grandma and you have started copying your Daddy by saying "Gah" a lot
• You have all of your teeth except your 2nd molars, I think, it seemed like you were teething a while back but you won't let me look that far back into your mouth
• You started going to Mother's Morning Out last month at a local church. You absolutely love it and I think it has helped you learn to be away from me every now and then. You go every Tuesday and Thursday from 9-1
• You are a bit unpredictable with your naps, sometimes you will take 2/day but other times it's only one. You are always so tired when you come home from MMO and go down for a nap as soon as we get home (the church is only 5-10 minutes away and I do good to keep you awake on the ride home)
• You are still my good little sleeper. You usually sleep right at 12 hours each night.
• You are still attached to your 'lovie.' You like to carry it around every now and then throughout the day and have to have it with you when you take a nap or go to bed at night.
• You still love to eat and now like to snack throughout the day. You love for me to put some snacks in a sandwich bag and you will carry the bag around and eat while you play. You are getting a little picky at supper time though and don't like your veggies as much as you used to. Here lately when I have stopped at Chick Fila I have been getting a small strawberry milkshake. You love to come home and sit on the couch with me and share the milkshake, I think you'd drink the whole thing if I let you :)
• You still like helping me unload the dishwasher and will also help with laundry and throw stuff in the trash if I ask you to. You have also figured out that when you're done with your snack, you need to throw the bag in the trash!
• You have finally decided it's ok if I sit down, just as long as I let you sit in my lap :)
• I have noticed over the past month that you are becoming a mama's girl, you love to play with me and make me laugh and since it's usually just the two of us here, we do everything together!
• You have also started giving kisses and it's the sweetest thing! It started with you blowing kisses, then giving kisses on the cheek, but yesterday you wrapped your arms around me and gave me a kiss on the lips twice, it was too cute!

Before I forget, at your 18 month checkup your measurements were 35" for height and you weighed almost 32 pounds! All 3 of your measurements were above the 98% line, as usual!

Even though you are a big girl, you are still my little baby girl. I love you so much and I love all of the time we get to spend together!

Love,

Mama