Holiday Woes

Christmas has come and gone (and I'm so glad it's over!), and we are finally back home in our own warm and cozy beds. It was a very trying and tiring couple of days because Corbin contracted a virus and was very sick.

We realized something was up last Tuesday when she woke up completely whiny and refusing to eat much of anything. We thought that perhaps she was teething or maybe just a bit constipated. Ryan ventured out that evening and got some apple juice, which we gave to her Wednesday morning.

I guess the juice worked?! Trying not to be too graphic, but Corbin had stomach issues from Wednesday up until this morning, and they are finally tapering off. She screamed and cried every time she went to the bathroom, she refused to touch any sort of food, and she had a fever every few hours. When I woke up on Christmas Eve with her before 8am (very unusual for her to be up that early), and she was running a fever, I called her pediatrician and took her in.

She went through five containers of Pedialyte over the last few days. She also ate a few crackers here and there, too. It wasn't until Sunday that she really started eating any sort of food, and only a little of that. She had some chicken nuggets and fries. And how many diapers did she go through? Let's just say that I packed enough to last our entire five day trip and then some and I was completely out by Friday (we left Thursday afternoon). I also had to change her pajamas almost every single time she went to the bathroom, and she didn't get to wear her Christmas dresses at all.

As for her sleeping habits, they were nonexistent while she was sick. She was up every few hours screaming and crying, almost inconsolable. Add to this that on Saturday she chewed the end off of her pacifier and refused any of the others that we tried to give her (I ordered her some Pacifiers from Pacimals the Friday before, but they didn't arrive before we left on Thursday). I ended up driving to Americus at 1am (which was over half an hour away) to find a Walmart to buy those Soothie pacifiers that look like the Pacimals one, but she still refused it. It was utterly exhausting and I am surprised by my patience in the whole matter. I guess I wanted more than anything for my baby to feel better.

The best and most relieving moments were when she finally gave in and just let herself sleep:

Corbi-lou on Christmas Eve after we got back from the doctor. She was not happy. She curled herself up in her daddy's chair while we got ready for our long drive to Macon.




Christmas morning, playing with Christmas bows:



Checking out her Olivia book (it's so cute):




And then the crying commenced! Mood swings!



After lots of hard work, I finally managed to get her down for a nap. Doesn't she look so peaceful?




Small victory! She was eating crackers! (Although I'm not sure if those are the same crackers she ended up sleeping with?)




And after a particularly rough Saturday night without her pacifier, on Sunday afternoon she finally conked out in Grandmother's arms.




So definitely not the Christmas I envisioned, full of smiling babies in overly adorable Christmas dresses, but my baby girl still had a good time. She got lots of books which she is thrilled with, and Santa was very good to her.

And yes, she's feeling much better today. She's had fish sticks, sweet peas, and macaroni and cheese, and she's been happy and singing all day long. :)

Ego Boost!

Today (or yesterday since I'm writing this at 1 AM, lol) my sister Franki called and said she wanted us to get a picture of Corbin for some picture frames that she was going to be giving our Nanna as a gift. I thought this was a wonderful idea and a good excuse to finally get prints made of the Christmas photos (see last post) that I spent forever editing and Photoshopping several weeks ago.

I uploaded my pictures to CVS.com and got ten prints made (five of each picture) and had them printed in the store so that I could pick them up in an hour.

I arrive at the store, pick up some Pedialyte (my baby girl is sick, sadly), and head on over to check out at the Photo Center. I get to the counter and tell the girl I'm picking up photos and give her my name. She walks over, picks up my packet, and the pulls a folded piece of paper off of them.

"You have to sign a release," she said. I'm sort of staring, dumbfounded, not sure what she's talking about. "Because these are professional photos."

I lean over the counter. "Those aren't professional pictures."

"They're not?"

"No, I took them myself on my digital camera."

She kinda looks at me like I'm crazy and then opens up the packet and pulls one out. It's the purple one. "But look at the background..."

"That's Photoshop!" I said. My heart was pounding and I was actually sort of nervous.

"Do you have the originals?"

"Yeah, on my computer back home!" And of course my mind is racing and I'm sort of pissed that I'm probably going to have to drive all the way back home and get proof of my pictures.

"Hold on, let me go talk to my manager."

She leaves me standing there, fuming, worried, my heart still beating way too hard over the whole thing. The manager is checking someone out, and the line behind this lady has gotten pretty long (she was ringing up the lady that was originally in front of me that went to that counter when it opened), and I can sort of hear the manager and the girl helping me talk. She's saying something along the lines of "they're not professional" and the manager sort of mumbles something that I can't make out. And apparently the girl in line behind me works at this CVS because she comments on how the manager is super mean and rude.

Finally, the lady comes back and rings me up, asking if I have a CVS card. I breathe a sigh of relief and thanked her for the huge compliment, explaining to her that photography is kind of my hobby and that I have had older photos mistaken for professional pictures before. I paid for my pictures and my Pedialyte and was happily on my way.

BUT WOW. Thanks for the compliment, lol. Here's my picture packet and receipt:



And thankfully, the prints came out great, so I'm pleased. And they didn't cost a thing, since I was a new customer and I got 50 free prints! :D

As for Corbi-lou being sick, it seems as though she has some sort of stomach bug. She wouldn't eat anything yesterday and was running a slight fever, and then today the same thing but without the fever. Then the diarrhea kicked in. It's not really poop but just water (so sorry, TMI I know...) so that's why I got the Pedialyte. She didn't eat anything at all today and then FINALLY around 10pm she ate a cookie and seemed to be feeling better. Here's to hoping for a healthy, happy holiday weekend!

Merry Christmas, everyone! :)

Pink Christmas & Baby Reindeer

A few weeks ago I took some pictures of Corbin for our "Pink Christmas" themed photoshoot. I never posted the end product, so I thought I'd put up some pictures finally! This is going to be a post of pictures, so enjoy!

Here are some out-takes:











And after much Photoshopping, the final two pictures:





I love my beautiful girl. :) She was fun to photograph, but she did at one point get really upset with the whole thing.

And a few days ago, I got some pictures of her being my "baby reindeer." She was wearing these antlers that I've had in my trunk since Christmas 2006 (when I was in the Christmas parade with the CCRG) and Ryan pulled out recently.





So it's officially the last few days until Christmas and we're still trying to finalize our family and travel plans. From what I've heard, Corbin's going to have a great Christmas and I'm really excited for her. Not to mention I can't wait to dress her up in her adorable Christmas dress for this year! It definitely rivals the adorableness that was last year's dress!

Merry Christmas, everyone! :)

Baby Surgery

Corbin had her upper lip frenulum cut this past Wednesday, and everything went fine. The frenulum in question was the fold of skin that connects your upper lip to your gums, scientifically called the frenulum labii superioris and hers was really far down and between her two front teeth, causing a big gap to form there. (You can feel your frenulum with your tongue pretty easily).

We first noticed the gap in her upper front teeth when they started coming in, but upon closer inspection we realized the gap was caused by something. We asked her pediatrician about the skin between her teeth at her 18 month check-up, and they referred us to an ENT. They took a look at it when we went to see them, and said that it wasn't too bad but they'd still like to clip it.

The procedure was incredibly fast. We showed up to the hospital, she had to put on a hospital gown, they took her vitals, and we waited a bit. Then they came back to get her and took her back for the "operation." They used gas to put her under and the tissue between her teeth and the frenulum itself was cauterized. She was back there for about ten minutes.

I was absolutely terrified for my baby, especially when the nurse who was working assured us that it was very normal for the babies to cry when they are removed from the gas. She told me it was because they were confused and not because they were in pain. I was like, "Do all the babies cry, or just some of them?" and she was like, "They ALL cry." All you could hear in the background were crying babies while she was saying this.

MY BABY, however, is a champ. She did not cry. She whined a bit when we put her clothes back on her, but she did not cry. No, sir. Those tears came much later, lol. She woke up from her nap that afternoon absolutely bawling. A little bit of baby Motrin and some Kai-lan, and she was herself again. Then she woke up in the middle of the night pitching a fit. Some more baby Motrin and Yo Gabba Gabba did the trick that time.

Corbin HATES for you to get anywhere near her face, so I haven't really got to take a look at her mouth. The glimpse I did get, I could see where the gums and tissue were gray looking, which they told me was normal because of the cauterization.

So yes, not even two years old baby has official had surgery! Even I've never had surgery in my entire life!

Go, Corbi-lou! :)

Tumblr

As though this blog wasn't enough, I've started a Tumblr for Corbin.

Corbin Olivia

As far as I can tell, you post a photo, thought, video, or something similar every day. I think it'll be fun and perhaps a bit more simple to keep up with than her blog. Don't worry, I'll still update here. Just know that you can follow the Tumblr as well. :)

I'm getting ready to post the Christmas portraits that I took of Corbin. They are way too cute. Our theme was "Pink Christmas!" :D