Wiggly Piglet’s Playpen

We’ve been teaching Mckayla to be gentle with MeiMei. She used to pull poor MeiMei’s hair out whenever she tries to pet her. Now she pats MeiMei, but sometimes still a little too hard for MeiMei’s liking. Now Mckayla’s walking a little bit on her own, it’s even more trouble for MeiMei. She loves to follow Mckayla around and basically right behind her by just a step or two. Mckayla is not really stable on her feet yet and she would either sit or fall ”unannounced” on her butt. Many times, she has landed on MeiMei. But for some unknown reason (maybe it’s all the food Mckayla’s been throwing at MeiMei), MeiMei still loves to follow Mckayla despite being sat on a few times already. Nanny told me yesterday she took Mckayla out to play in the backyard and left MeiMei in the kitchen. Mckayla kept looking in the kitchen when they were walking out. When she realized MeiMei was left inside, she started whining until Nanny let MeiMei out to play with them in the yard. This morning, after another sleepless night (thanks to Mckayla), Mckayla was up early again. MeiMei was still asleep in bed while I was in the shower and Mckayla was playing in the playpen by herself. When I got out of shower, I put Mckayla on the bed while I got ready. MeiMei finally woke up and came out of the blanket. Mckayla was so excited when she saw MeiMei and kept smiling and clapping her hands. MeiMei walked up to Mckayla and licked her cheek. In return, Mckayla gave MeiMei a big hug and even planted a kiss on her head. It was so cute, wish I had a camera to capture the moment.

Mckayla’s walking more on her own. Last night, she took more steps unassisted and made it almost two yards before falling down on her butt. She’s in such a hurry to get from point A to point B, it looked lalmost like she was running.

Mckayla’s been cruising for a long time. She started moving around when she was about 9.5 months old. At the time, we were all thinking she might beat my record (according to my Mom, I started walking at 10 months). And few weeks went by then almost 3 months now, she’s still cruising and not willing to let go her hands. Every time we try to get her to walk herself, she sits back down on her butt immediately. Then last night, she finally took 3-4 steps on her own. Getting herself from Ted to me, then back again. And when we started praising her, she even clapped her hands while standing up. But she sat back down right the way when she realized she wasn’t holding on to anything.

We’re on the last can of formula that I bought after I stopped pumping. I didn’t want to get more since she’s almost one, so I e-mailed Mckayla’s pedi and got her blessing to start Mckayla on cow’s milk. I started mixing cow’s milk to her formula on Friday. Yesterday, we went to the mall to pick up a few things right after she woke up from her morning nap. I thought I brought everythng that I needed, including a bottle filled with water. But diddn’t realize I completely forgot to bring formula until it was time to feed. We looked around the food court and finally found Mrs. Fields selling whole milk. It was her first time drinking whole milk straight without added formula. But she didn’t seem to mind at all. Later in the afternoon, she was due for her bottle again and we weren’t home yet. So, I stopped by Startbucks and got her a kiddie size drink (whole milk). She couldn’t wait and wanted to drink when we were walking back to the car. Not sure if she was excited with the cup/green straw or the milk inside the cup. She ended up drinking 1/4 of the milk from the cup through the straw before we even got to the car. Maybe it’s time for her to put away her bottles, too.

Saturday was Julie’s 30th birthday party. We were home most of the day cleaning up the house during the day time. Mckayla took her usualy nap in the morning after breakfast. We had lunch at home and continued to clean in the afternoon. It was little after three o’clock when we realized it was time for Mckayla to nap. Ted took her to her room with the bottle. I can hear Mckayla crying and screaming with the door shut. Forty five minutes later, Ted came out and asked for help. I went in the room and her face was completely covered with tear. I tried all my tricks but failed to put her to sleep. After struggling with her for an hour, I was exhausted. It was already 5PM and we had to leave in an hour for the party. I handed Mckayla to Ted and was going to hop in the shower to get ready myself, but she refused. She wrapped her four limbs around me like koala bear on a tree trunk. She was so tired but for some reason couldn’t fall asleep. We gave up on her nap and gave her a bath instead. We barely got ourselves out the door in time to head down to Los Gatos for the party. Once she got in the car, I gave Mckayla her bottle and hoping it would knock her out sooner, but she continued to play with her toys and babbling during the drive down. Then, she finally fell asleep when we got off the freeway. We were prepared for her to sleep and brought the infant car seat so we didn’t have to disturb her to get her out the car. She behaved semi decent for the dinner because she slept for almost the first hour when we got there. We were able to chat with friends and socialize when she slept. After she woke up from her nap, we fed her dinner while we ate. She didn’t want to sit in her high chair and wanted to get out. We were only able to get her to eat a few pieces bread and cheese for dinner. After she was done eating, she was fully energized again. She was walking around in her pajamas and chasing after Jesseyn and Leon. It was almost ten when we left the restaurant. By the time we got home, Mckayla was so exhausted that she fell asleep as soon as we put her in the crib.

I took MeiMei in for check up again last Friday. She’s been wheezing at night and coughing more than usual. She was scheduled to see her vet at 9AM but shortly before we were getting ready to head out, I got a voicemail from the animal hospital stating the vet called in sick and they need to reschedule. I called back and was able to schedule an appoitnment for the same day in the afternoon with a different vet. I took MeiMei in after Ted got home from work. The vet  checked her temperature, listened to her heart & lung, checked her ears & teeth, and also felt her belly and her joints. I was told the only way to see what’s causing the wheezing and excess coughing is to get an x-ray again. The radiology technician took MeiMei to the back (I didn’t want to follow them since she gets more upset and want to come back to me when I’m in the room). They came back shortly and while we waited for the x-ray result, Meimei had her anal glands expressed by another technician (smelly!). The verdict – excess fluid in her lung and need to up her Lasix dose for the next few days to see if it gets better. If not, then need to give her Tussigon (doggie cough suppressant). I think I could have prescribed this regimen to MeiMei without shelling out couple hundred dollars to see the vet and getting an x-ray. I’d prefer her usual vet much better – She didn’t even show me the x-rays!

Mckayla’s back in Uncle Andre’s room, the same room she slept for almost 3 months in April – July. Just to make sure she’s comfortable and also have something “familiar”, we brought her crib this time. We didn’t have much time to take care of our stuff since it was weekday night, and only got to unpack Mckayla’s entire closet (she took over Uncle Andre’s old dressers) and her crib. It was alraedy passed her beddtime before we were able to get her settled down to sleep. She went to bed half past ten and we continued to clean up as much as we could. By the time we go in our bed ourselves, it was already close to midnight. Before we were able to shut the lights, Mckayla already woke up crying. Ted got up to check on her and put her back to sleep. It wasn’t too long after that, Mckayla woke up crying again. It was my turn to get up to check on her. After trying to put her back to sleep in her crib several time and she kept waking up crying, I gave up and brought her to Andre’s old bed and slept there with her instead. I completely fogot how cold the house gets at night and was freezing most of the night with a light blanket. Mckayla was nice and warm in her pajamas and new winter blanket, and fell asleep the moment I took her out of the crib. I kept waking up because it was so cold, but I was so tired and lazy to get up to look of a warmer blanket. And before I knew it, Ted was already standing next to the bed and trying to wake me up without startling Mckayla who was sleeping in my arms.

I woke up this morning from MeiMei licking my face. When I opened my eyes, I realized it was already bright outside and my radio alarm has already gone off. For some reason, I was so tired that I didn’t even hear the alarm went off. I didn’t even recall Ted leaving in the morning or Mckayla waking up crying in the middle of the night. I peeked at the monitor when I got up and Mckayla was sound asleep still. When I got out of shower, expecting to hear her crying, still nothing. Did Mckayla sleep through the night without waking up at all? I had doubts, so I called Ted to double check. Mckayla did wake up last night just once last night and it took Ted an hour and half to put her back to sleep. But I really didn’t hear anyting at all last night…

This mroning, Ted was feeding Mckayla breakfast while I was in the shower. When I came out, Ted told me Mckayla refused to eat yogurt but ate tons of Cheerios. He offered her some grilled cheese sandwich cut up in little squares that he made for himself. Mckayla had a funny reaction on her face at first bite as usual but proceeded to eat the rest of it. When she was done eating, she tapped her fingers and gestured for more. Ted offered her another piece of cheese sandwich and she ate them all again. When she was done, she made the same gestrue again asking for more. It was the first time she made the sign without us prompting her to do it when she wanted more food. But I have yet to witness it myself.

Last night was rough again with Mckayla, even MeiMei got really upset and left her usual spot on top of our bed and slept under the blanket. I put Mckayla to bed around 10PM last night. She woke up crying at 2AM. I didn’t want to take her back to our bed since Ted was away and I was worried she might fall off the bed again. I went to her room to check on her. She stopped crying when she saw me and wanted me to pick her up. The moment I picked her up, she leaned in on my shoulder and fell asleep. I held her for a bit longer than put her back in the crib. I went back to bed myself but had a hard time falling asleep. By the time I was dozing off, she woke up crying again. It’s 3AM and it’s only been an hour. Went to her room again to check on her. She stopped crying and wanted to be picked up just like last time. She fell asleep shortly and I went back to bed again. Then, the Mckayla crying alarm went off again at 4AM, then again at 5AM, and one more time at 6AM. I was exhausted when my alarm went off at 7AM so I snoozed to sleep in for another 5 minutes. After I got up and even before I was able to hop in the shower, I already heard her crying next door. I checked the monitor to make sure everything was fine and hopped in the shower. When I got out and went to her room to check on her, Mckayla’s face was already covered with tears. I took her out of her crib and changed her diaper and out of her pajamas. She was happy and giggling again, and wanting to play MeiMei. But as I try to put her in the playpen so I can let MeiMei out, she started screaming again. The moment I picked her up, the crying stopped and the happy smile’s back on her face again. I couln’t put her down the entire morning without her getting really upset. So I had to hold her while I pack up my bags and lunch for work. Because I couldn’t hold her while I feed MeiMei her meds, I sat her down on the floor. She screamed and cried the entire time, and grabbed my leg so tightly that I had to drag her around the floor. I was surprised at her sudden attachement but when the Nanny showed up, Mckayla was back to her usual self again, smiling and waving bye bye to me when Nanny took her over. I think she knows they’re heading out to the park after I leave.