Croup

Pretty girl before school Thursday.

Feeling better this morning. Steroids work so fast.

Finding the right babysitter can often be a task. We needed someone who could handle Harper's need to be with momma every second of the day and one that could make HG feel safe at the same time. HG is pretty good about taking care of herself but she is only 4. I think we sometimes forget that she is only 4. Last night we had a great sitter come. Originally, we had her scheduled to keep the girls while we headed to Zac Brown in Dallas. The husband surprised me with tickets, they are someone I've always wanted to see. I'm not really into concerts except certain ones or at Texas venues so he jumped at a chance to surprise me. Like everything else with kids, we have learned to be flexible with our own life. Sweet Harper love is sick, once again. With her being sick, even though she was going to be asleep, I didn't want to be over an hour away if we were needed. Plus, my allergies are killing my throat.  The tickets were sold in less than 15 minutes and lucky for us, we will get to hear all about it soon. Good friends of ours used them. Back to the sitter....she is a nanny and will work with us part time. I don't need a sitter daily or even weekly but grocery shopping alone is music to my ears. HG still wants to go to SS Noah this summer and I will probably let her (or them). It is really nice to have a date night where the girls are at home, in their own beds and we get to come home to our own house as well. No more driving them 30 minutes then us driving another 20-30 for dinner then repeating the whole thing again. Both girls did great and HG wants her to come again soon. With the husband's travels coming up, I love the idea of having a babysitter close. I actually have 10+ that I have interviewed and can call on. :) It is about time.

Harper totes the water bottle daily.

Pretty girl. She helped herself to Princess and Fairy tattoos up and down her arm without us knowing.
We sported the t shirt under the dress.

HG had her Spring Musical on Thursday night at the school. The sweet kids were so cute! Grandmommy made it just in time for HG's performance and it was a nice surprise for HG. Believe it or not, miss priss gets shy on stage and wasn't singing screaming like she does at home. Harper's favorite song at the moment is Who Built the Ark? The song has Noah, Noah, brother Noah built the Ark in it and Harper goes around chanting it. She would have loved it.  After the performance, HG scored a mommy dinner date at Fuzzy's. She loves the chips and queso. What I thought was going to be a pleasant dinner turned into me feeling like all did was work. A fly or two buzzing a little too close to Hailey Grace and HG let the entire place know. Have I mentioned she hates bugs of any kind? So between her squealing because a simple tiny fly was getting too close, her screaming shoo fly don't bother me, the looks and smirks from onlookers and her licking the spices off the chips like a dog, I couldn't get out of there fast enough. The cooks thought is was hilarious though. On the way home, she asked if we could do date night every night. Then dropped a chocolate dipped ice cream cone on the floor board. For real.

Mommy dinner date.

She could barely open her eyes on Thursday evening.

Sweet Harper love is down again. Like clock work, we know when it is time. Friday morning, our new Pedi and I went over every sickness, surgery, test, antibiotic and doctor Harper has seen in 18 months. The sweet thing has been on far too many antibiotics, much more than the average adult has ever taken their whole life. There is a cycle with her and once off antibiotics, it is a matter of time before she is back on. We don't jump to put her back on and always wait or drag our feet. Example, Thursday for her well visit, she was sick but I told our Pedi I wanted to wait another 24 hours before even considering medicine. She is on Singular and Zyrtec but you could tell by looking at her, she had a sinus infection. When Friday morning sun rise greeted us with one hour of sleep because Harper couldn't breathe, I knew we couldn't wait much longer. I actually debated taking her in over night because of her rapid breathing and grasping for air. I knew before we ever schedule or called the doctor that morning that it was Croup. If you've ever seen one with it or have heard it then you can spot it a mile away so to speak. Sure enough, Croup it was. Then add in double ear infections, sore throat from all the drainage, a sinus infection and eye infections from her clogged tear ducts she didn't want to lift her head off my shoulders.  She felt miserable. Oh, let's not forget teething molars too. I am excited that our new Pedi actually wants to find out why Harper is constantly sick or catching stuff and just not blow it off. It all started at 2 months. We've heard comments made that we aren't doing things correctly or we should try this or that. I promise you, we are doing every thing and more. We keep her so sheltered and away from so many people. I STILL wear her at the store so people can't get to her. We waited until 18 months to start her going to the nursery at Mass or being around other kids in a day care/MDO setting. Harper LOVES other kids and would be okay with play dates every single day. I feel like not allowing her to be around other kids is hurting her. There are only a few that I actually do let her be around. She needs to be around other kids because they learn so much from each other. She seriously worships other children. We talked about how she might not be able to attend MDO this fall and definitely not a drop in baby sitting place if we can't figure out what triggers this stuff. It isn't fair for her to be so sick monthly.  I mean she is on Singular, Zyrtec and breathing treatments (as needed) around the clock. Every day.  Right now, she is on a steroid, ear drops, eye drops, breathing treatments and a 3 week round of antibiotics. We are trying a suppressant therapy round of antibiotics right now and will be seeing an Immunologist in Dallas.  It could be asthma (she has been diagnosed with reactive airways since a couple months old), could be a food allergy or a simple one like grass or sun allergy. It might be that she just is that kid that will catch every thing. Whatever it is, we want to try and figure it out. I want my girl to be able to play in the backyard with friends and not be cooped up inside watching through the window.

Flowers will always brighten a gloomy day.

Hg working on her inserts for her birthday party in July.
Yes, we are working on them now. She likes doing things at HG speed like her daddy .

The steroids work great.
She went from laying down to wild child in about 15 minutes.

Harper thought this was a hoot.

Picky eater but loves some Chick Fil A.

Anything to reach those molars.

A little obsessed.

So yummy. Chopped vegetables topped with an egg or egg whites and spices.
Quick and easy.

Bathing babies.

We're gearing up for Western Week, a Texas lunch, a play date (Harper won't be contagious after the weekend just might sound like an 80 year old smoker for 3 weeks), a birthday party and hoping for good weather.