Natalie’s Blog

Apparently vimeo.com is having some technical difficulty. That’ll teach me to post something before I’m sure it’s working!!! I’ll re-post the video when I get it figured out.

We had a little scare last Thursday, and I’ve been hesitant to blog about it until I was sure that it really was just a scare and not a real problem. I’m pretty sure it’s safe now.

So last Thursday Nama was watching Natalie while I was at work. At 4:30 the I got a call from my Mom on the office phone. I knew immediately that something was wrong, since she wasn’t calling my cell phone and I was due home at 5 pm. Mom’s voice sounded panicky as she explained that she took Natalie for a walk in the stroller and at some point realized that Natalie had gotten ahold of some leaves and was sucking on them. Mom (already quite upset at the idea that Natalie could have choked on the leaves) showed them to Smoky, who thought they were poison ivy! Prone to panic myself, I screamed, “oh my god!” causing a bit of panic in the office.

Needless to say, I rushed home immediately, calling the pediatrician on my cell phone as I drove. The nurse who answered advised me to call poison control. The operator who answered the poison control hotline spoke to a toxicologist/pediatrician, who informed us that it’s impossible to have an allergic reaction to something the first time the body is exposed to it. So if indeed the leaves were poison ivy, Natalie would not have a reaction until the next time she was exposed to the allergen. Phew! They did say to watch her closely, just in case.

We gave Natalie a bath to wash off any oils that may have been on her so nobody else would get infected (both my Mom and I are extremely allergic to poison ivy). Nama calmed down a little at this point, but still felt terrible about the whole affair. I tried to reassure her that Natalie was fine, that it could have just as easily happened to anyone, etc.

But just as many people reassured me that I shouldn’t beat myself up when Natalie fell, those words are little comfort to my Mom, who’s called every day since Thursday to check on her. Funny how easy it is from the outside to be calm about a situation, but you’re the one who was responsible for a child’s care when scares happen, it’s very unnerving. Just as I’ve forgiven myself for Natalie’s fall, I’m sure Nama will recover from this scare as well.

Natalie is indeed perfectly fine, and probably never knew that anything was wrong at all. Whether the leaves were in fact poison ivy is still being debated. To Natalie, Thursday wasn’t scary at all, just a fun day with Nama that included a nice walk and a refreshing bath!

No more having toys and baby-gear all over our living room…

No more having to put blankets on the floor for Natalie to play on…

No more tip-toeing around when Natalie is asleep in her swing…

Why, you ask?

Because…drum-roll, please…Natalie has her very own PLAYROOM!! Yay!

We’ve been talking about turning our sun room into a playroom for Natalie when she gets older, but we decided she could use it now. The next step is to get enough foam mats to cover the entire floor so we don’t have to worry about Natalie bonking her head on the tile. I want to make new fun curtains for the windows and sliding doors. So far, Natalie seems to really like the room and the foam mats are helping her learn to crawl, since she gets some traction on them.

Last night Natalie was fussy and tired, so we decided to try and put her to bed at 8 pm (normally she goes to bed at 10 pm). As usual, I nursed her in our bed to get her to sleep. We had to put the fan on high to drown out the neighbor’s hammering and the ridiculously loud thunder.

Despite the noise and the lightening flooding the room every 30 seconds, Natalie was asleep by 8:30 and I was actually able to sneak downstairs. Chris and I got to eat dinner in peace and watch a movie, something we haven’t done in a long time. We were ready to go sleep around 11:30.

In hindsight, should have just taken the monitor into the guest room and slept there, because Natalie woke up when we came in the room, and would NOT go back to sleep!!!! We tired nursing, rocking, rubbing her back, bouncing…at one point around 1 am she seemed to be sleeping while I was nursing her for the umpteenth time, but then I moved ever so slightly and she woke up and cried.

In frustration, I decided to go to the bathroom just to have a moment to myself. I fully expected Natalie to start screaming as soon as I left the room (Chris was still in bed with her so I knew she’d be safe). But low and behold, when I came back not more than 2 minutes later, she was asleep! So much for thinking she can’t get to sleep on her own…

Natalie cut her second tooth earlier this week! Now both of her bottom front teeth are in. She’s still chewing on everything—she practically bit my finger off the other day!