Update on Miss Sensitive!

Callie has been battling her cough for over a month now. She is on a nebulizer, thanks to the Afterhours  Pediatrics in Waterford.

Her first night there was a slight difference in the type of cough. The second night, she didn't cough at ALL! Then, last night she only coughed 2-3 times around 4am! So, we think it is helping. She continued to cough during the day on and off, but not as bad.

She has picked up a new habit of throwing up 4-5 times a week! We do NOT enjoy this at all. In fact, today she puked all over Ms. Monica at daycare! Sorry! Callie has her GI appointment and her 4 month Pediatrician appointment coming up in the next two weeks, so we hope to address these issues.

Meanwhile, Callie is ALWAYS in good spirits! She can throw up and smile right after! She is just so beyond amazing. Her nails are growing so fast. We file them every other day it seems! Her eyebrows are darkening, which helps accentuate her eyebrow gestures and eye movements! She is a hoot!

Calllie is still sleeping through the night, although Mommy thinks she needs more sleep!

Callie is LOVING bath time. She is doing so well on making volatile farts like rotten eggs! This is noted for when you ask us to go on your first date... lol. We will bring your blog out (in the future we will probably think about it, and it pops up- right?)

She also is grasping anything in sight! Pacifier clips. bibs, burp rags, necklaces, locks of Mommy's hair...

She is almost 4 months! Where is this time going!? Tomorrow she has a 2nd ENT appointment with Nemours. I hope that they discuss with Daddy what is going on, and that they do NOT need to proceed with any procedures! Mommy will be at work anxiously awaiting the news!

Well, I hope to have some good news upon our next post! :) Take care!

inhale, exhale

Long night... we barely slept last night due to Callie's choking/coughing episodes. Tonight we went to the Urgent Care After Hours Pediatrics, and she had a chest X-ray done as well as an albuterol nebulizer treatment. Tomorrow we start in-home treatments twice a day. Too exhausted to write more, will try and revisit this tomorrow.

Callie- we love you so much. We hope you get well soon. Thank you for continuing to smile throughout the rough times!

It has been a while- Sorry! It has been super busy in the Ortiz Household!

Callie has still been dealing with her cough, which unfortunately keeps Mommy and sometimes Daddy awake at night! Her cough sometimes leads to a forceful vomit session, which is no fun for anyone (except Patch).

Callie's pediatrician would like her to see the ENT specialists at Nemours- I still am unsure what they think they will "find", other than she is just vocal. I know that I am NOT  doc, but LITERALLY, the day that Callie cooed, she started this grunt she does. Every exhale is a sound now. She is talking in my opinion... but we shall see.

Callie had Grandma visit last weekend, which was a lot of fun! Grandma loves Callie AKA her Pushky, Pushkala, etc.

Patch continues to need some TLC, and I hope that as the years progress, he will be able to interact more with Callie!

Looking in my calendar on my phone, here are some dates of things that Callie has done:

Jan 23 Had her first cold from ONE DAY OF daycare!
Feb. 1 held bottle accidentally.
Feb 5 Callie mumbled the sounds MA
Feb 6 Had ENT appt, slight laryngomalaccia
Feb 7 Callie leans forward during feeds like she is doing a crunch!
Feb 13 Pushes the pacifier back in her mouth- not coordinated, but rather by going to suck her left hand
Feb 19 Callie copied Mommy doing the raspberry sound repeatedly while we were at the Food Truck Bazaar :)
Feb 20 Callie mumbled the sounds DA
Feb 21 Callie's formula Neocate was approved by insurance at 100% coverage!!!
Feb 23 rolled to the side in her bouncer

Mommy's phone literally says "NOT ENOUGH STORAGE", so I will try and upload more pics soon!
Hands are crampy :(

Neocate just arrived in the mail!

WOW!

Tonight, we witnessed our little bundle of joy suck on her pointer finger, as well as push her pacifier back in to her mouth! We thought it was a fluke, but she did it twice! She has been gnawing on her left hand a lot lately, so my guess is that when the pacifier fell out, she went to suck her hand, and it just put it back in her mouth... WOW. It is so much fun watching her change and grow! Now, if only she could put her own laundry away... 

Drool Monster

Callie has been drooling A LOT lately. Also, she has been sucking on her hand (only the left one!). I am wondering if she will teethe early. Some of her "Due in November" friends are at 3-4 months and are sprouting teeth!

Last night she went to sleep at 10:45 and started cooing and talking a lot at 7:45 am. That is NINE hours! She did cry in the middle of the night a little... The dog was going crazy from the smoke detector that was going off, and Mommy was coughing all night!

Back to play with Callie!

Followup 3 months

Callie is just changing day by day! She is getting So strong! She is recognizing when Patch is close by, and sometimes she smiles, she smiles at Mommy and Daddy, and really loves bath time :)

Callie has done SO WELL on Neocate! I am SO thankful we found something for our sensitive baby! I kind of expected some sensitivities... Looks like Daddy mostly, but acts like Mommy!

I found out 2 days ago that insurance covered her Nutramigen at 100%, SO, since we are now on a new Rx kind, (OTC, but needs to be ordered via a Rx since not sold in stores), I am starting the process over, and also submitting receipts to get reimbursed. We really didn't buy as much as we thought! THANK YOU to everyone who had purchased some for us, or got samples from your pediatrician friends!

So, here's to hoping that Callie gets 100% coverage on Neocate, so we can have some relief monetarily! they are over $40 a can!

Callie started using a NUK pacifier at daycare "that she would keep in her mouth" they said... so we bought 2, and so far, we have had great luck with it! Thanks Einstein Academy!

Callie still has her cough (that Mommy has too), so she is still sleeping upright and using a humidifier as well as an antibiotic for her ear infection. I am looking forward to the cold going away, so we can go back to seeing how long she will sleep on her back in the bassinet in our room. Plus, I sleep half-way listening to her cough, and making sure she is still breathing! It is a scary feeling! I guess it is Mommy Ears + light sleeper, because at 3 am last night Kahlil heard me say "she just pooped- ugh", and he was like "HOW do you know?", well "I heard it"... weird.

Callie is mumbling more sounds other than her vowels, and has started saying MA and MOM (no connection to me being "MOM", but it is cool to know that this is how the names Mom and Dad come to be in almost all cultures- first few sounds with a vowel after... )

Here are some recent pictures and videos: (Hmm- can I even call it a video anymore?! Here are some "movie clips")

HAPPY CALLIE!

Holding my bottle! Not 100% independent yet, but if it rests on something, she can do it!

HI!

One of my new pacifiers

Thanks Esther, Scott, Justin and Allison for the cool stool!

Callie and Mommy

Callie and Daddy watching TV

Yup... Neocate is the winner in this formula battle!

Callie met her cousin Lyla via phone

Bumbo sitting time... gotta work on this so we can sit independently soon ;)

Pinky up- Fancy Nancy look who's next!

Posing

"Are you looking at ME?"

Lifting my head up... 

wiggle worm....

Stay tuned! 

Callie is 3 months old!

HAPPY THREE MONTHS TO OUR BABY GIRL CALLIE!!!

Callie is just SUCH an amazing daughter! She really turns my day around! We have had our ups and downs lately with battling a terrible diaper rash since day 1 of formula, congestion, a bad cough, a scare of RSV from daycare, drooly days, poopy days, throw up sessions, funky eye movements, and MORE. 

All of that aside...

She is a healthy, beautiful, growing baby girl.

She has a followup GI appointment next week, and also an ENT appointment. Her pediatrician wants her looked at because she grunts on her exhales almost all of her wake time. I just think she is talkative, but that is just Mommy instinct... I am not a doctor.

Some milestones she has hit recently:

Held her bottle once, laughs, coos, smiles when recognizing Mommy and Daddy, enjoys bath time, sits in bumbo, holds head up, sleeps through the night, moves her neck left to right, and as of today, tries to sit up from a laying down or inclined position! (Daycare teachers said she looks like she is doing crunches!)

An update on her GI issues: We are on day 3 of trying a new formula: Neocate. After ALL of those coupon requests and mailings from friends and family, as well as samples from a few of our doctors and even my maternity sub's pediatrician friends, we are on a prescription formula. Long story short, we think she has an external allergy to Nutramigen. It was predigested, for her cow's milk protein allergy, however she battled through a BLISTERY, nasty diaper rash since day 1 of it. She had $130 worth of prescription butt creams, and nothing worked to keep it away! Her rash is GONE as of tonight!!! She has new black poop- exciting, SUPER STINKY, but normal... supposedly it will stay this way! The good news: time to celebrate a smooth tushy! She still has some random throw up sessions, like tonight.

Cough: Someone in her daycare had RSV, and she did have a cough from starting daycare... so we had the "first cold" scare, and as new parents, it was not fun. She does have a cold mist elephant humidifier by her swing where she sleeps now, and until the cough is gone, she will not lay flat.

Callie makes a cute Elvis-style lip gesture, and it makes us laugh. She also lifts her eyebrows up and wrinkles her forehead!

Below are some videos and pictures :)

Callie at her first BIG MINI event - MINI bib and onesie compliments of Orlando MINI. She caravanned with 17 MINI's to Ocala National Forest, where we saw some cabins, had a BBQ, and enjoyed some motoring!

All smiles!

Holding my bottle

Holding my pacifier

So adorable... This was for Lily's 1 yr old birthday party!

Super Ears

At the "Mickey Masion" where she met the Palm City family!

Case of Nutramigen that I begged for, and got... will have to pass this on to someone in need.

Didi, Mommy, Callie, Great Great Uncle Don, Great Great Aunt Elinor, Russell

In Miami, sitting in Auntie Ro's childhood chair

Off to relax some before her nighttime feed. :) Stay tuned!