Flying With a One Year Old

I should point out, before getting started, that we were surrounded by such good people everywhere we went.  When I first realized I'd be flying with Millie all by myself, my number one fear is that I would be surrounded by grumpy, judgemental people.  I've heard horror stories, and that wasn't my case at all.

Let the fun begin.

We took two flights to get to Charlotte from Salt Lake.  Being the worry warts we are, Buck dropped us off in Salt Lake two hours before our flight.  I totally forgot you get to skip to the front of the security line when you have a baby.  By the time we actually boarded our first flight, I had been wrestling a very anxious-to-crawl-everywhere baby (that I didn't want trampled by wheeled suitcases) for almost two hours.  It felt like we had been traveling all day already.

The first flight was a tiny airplane.  I was squared away to sit in a row by myself (because it had just one seat), but it only had one oxygen mask so I had to switch.  We sat around a group of church women traveling from Alabama.  Aside from Millie trying to reach over the top of the seat to grab their hair, kicking their seats, grabbing the lady's shirt next to us while sleeping, and kicking the lady next to us, Millie did pretty good.  She took two naps on the first flight!  Both were nearly 10 minutes.  Yep.  You read that right.  It was a long three hours.  I literally felt like I was wrestling a slippery pig in a very confined space...all while keeping the isle clear!

By the time we started making our decent into Houston I started thinking this wasn't as bad as I anticipated.  Then it happened.  Millie started into a coughing fit (she's getting over a cold).  She had done this a few times before on the flight so I didn't worry, I was just wondering what disease everyone else was worried they were catching.  Then with out any warning, mid-cough, Millie threw up.  Then she waited a second and threw up again.  Then another break before she threw up again.  Three times people!  Three times.  She was covered, I was covered, our stuff was covered, the isle was covered, and she even managed to hit others.

I'll spare you the clean up story, but suffice it to say I now know what they do when someone gets sick on a flight.  Before this I had never seen it.  Now I have, and so have a few other folks.  I'm sure we made their day.

Houston.  The George Bush Airport is big.  I power walked for 45 minutes and finally made it to our gate where I was planning on cleaning us up.  I should have looked at a clock along the way.  Right as I walked up I noticed everyone was boarded already.  Millie and I were literally the last two on the plane.  Whew.  I sat in our seat next to a sweet lady.  I mentioned what had happened (hey, fair warning) and this lady touch Millie's head and said "sweet baby, in Jesus' name be healed."  I love the south.  I was very touched she didn't say "oh boy.  I hope she doesn't get sick again"!  Aside from wrestling the greasy pig (I've got cat-like scratches all over my neck and chest to prove it!) it was an easy flight.  We landed, reunited with our family, and found out our luggage didn't make it to Charlotte.

Such is life.

So in every respect this adventure was much more than I ever expected.  Throwing up never crossed my mind.  I thought I'd be around nice people, but people with your child's throw up on them still being nice?  That is more than I could ask for.

We're here.  We made it.  We don't step foot on a plane for nearly two weeks, and I couldn't be happier.  Feel sorry for me, please.  If you've had a worse experience though, I'd love to hear it.  Really I would.  Maybe it would prepare me for my flight home.

Speech Boot Camp

Tomorrow morning I'm heading to speech boot camp.

I kind of wish I was enrolling in a gym boot camp.  30 Day Shred will have to do for now.

Before I explain, let me catch you up on some Millie pictures.  I know that's really why you're here.

Millie enjoyed Valentines Day

If you know me well, you know I love a good deal.  I also love vintage things, especially children's clothing.  After attending the Gifts of the Heart Exchange and scoring one darling vintage summer outfit for Millie, I just had to see what DI had.

Check out these awesome overalls:

Yes, those are puppies keeping the padding for the knees in place.

Only after I took the picture did I notice she had spit up and crawled through it.  What's new? 

Handmade bright pink overalls for $2.  And yes Lani, I washed them before I put them on her.

I'm seriously considering making a collage of eating pictures.  This girl goes through more poses...

but I finally caught her standing up on her own!

And here's a first for us:

I'm not sure how one falls asleep with their arm in the air like that.

Poor girl only woke up after I couldn't hold in my laughter anymore.

I am so excited to announce we officially have a walker on our hands!  Millie walks, instead of crawls at least 50% of the time now.  I think it is a little funny because her feet are so tiny.  Can you imagine walking on feet three inches long?  She has nearly moved up to size 3 in shoes, but can still wear "crib shoes" which offer no grip on the bottom.

So to quickly catch you up, we had the team of therapists visit us on Wednesday.  The team consisted of two, so that was a relief.  I was wondering how many could even fit into my living room!  Both of them were great, and very knowledgeable.  They both gave me suggestions that I wanted to hear, so I am happy.  They also offered to enroll me in an 8 week Speech Therapy class for parents.  If I understood them  correctly, I'll be learning how to teach Millie (since it is more effective for me to do the therapy with her) and what to be looking for for the next few years with her.  Wonderful!  The only downside is that I will be missing two classes thanks to our two week trip to the Carolina's, but one of the therapists offered to catch me up.  

Know what my favorite part of this is?  The class is on Monday mornings in the PEIP office, so they offer child care!  I have been really wanting Millie to get more social interaction away from me, so hopefully this will do the trick.  Homegirl is clingy.

Tangent:  Parent's out there, help!  I try my darndest to not spoil this beautiful baby.  I try not to let her rule the roost when it comes to holding her instead of cooking lunch for us for example.  I go about my day expecting her to go play when I have things to do.  I still spend plenty of time on the ground with her playing, snuggling (if she'll let me), and doing therapy throughout the day.  I just can't only do those things.  You know?  I keep waiting for her to catch on, but instead I find this little one holding on to my leg whining.  Maybe I'm just whining and it is all normal.  Is it normal?  Am I missing something?  She is teething, so I'll give her a break on the whining.  But really?  It's more fun to hold my leg while I wash dishes than go play with your toys?  I love her and I'm flattered she wants to be near me, but please tell me it's just something "one year olds" do.

Ok back to the main point.  Thursday Millie's PT came over and was thrilled Millie could walk.  Not just walk, but walk and chew gum.  Or maybe it was walk and hold a toy.  And drop the toy, stop in the middle of the floor, pick it up, and resume walking without any assistance.  She said the next thing we need to work on is climbing onto our couch.  Poor girl is so short.

Friday we paid Dr. Later a quick visit.  I'm so glad I resisted the urge to hug him when he walked into the room.  We sure missed him, and are thrilled to be under this care again.  He was great, confirmed all my suspicions (Millie is doing super, don't worry about her vocal cord, keep doing what you're doing, and he liked me giving her pediasure).  The only thing he wasn't thrilled about was me cooking her eggs in butter.  You can't convince me all natural butter is worse for you than margarine.  Well maybe you could convince me, but for now I'm sticking to my old southern ways.  Butter is better.

Tuesday we are heading to beautiful South Carolina.  I am so excited.  It snowed a lot today, so I am even more excited for our little vacay.  Packing with a baby attached to your leg is a joke.  How am I going to back up for our move?  I'll save that for another day.  I know you've been dying to know what Dr. Later said about giving Millie medicine on the plane, so I guess I'll tell you.  He told me not to give her anything.  So that's what I'll do.  We've loaded the iPad with wonderful baby apps (if you know of any amazing free ones, do share!), I plan on wearing a necklace (her favorite), and I'll have loads of "new" toys and treats for her.  So wish us luck, and you better believe I'll let you know how it goes.

Secret Weapon #3

This is our current scenery here in Provo.

Who would have guessed it was sunny, bright, and about 50 degrees yesterday?

Last night the winds and snow set in, so I made one of my favorite recipes.

One of our friends, Krista Coons, made this for us right after I had Millie.  I loved the creamy, yet smokey flavor.  Early this winter I wrote her for the recipe since I couldn't get it out of my head.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

2-3 chicken breasts cooked and shredded ( I use a rotisserie chicken)
1 chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
3 cans chicken broth or one box of chicken broth
1/2 c-1 cup desired pasta noodles ( I use whatever I have on hand and to make it healthier I sometimes use wheat)

1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
4 cups milk
1 tsp salt
1/4 tps pepper
1/2 tsp sugar


In a sauce pan add veggies and chicken broth, simmer for about 15 minutes until veggies are tender/soft and turn up the heat and add noodles and chicken pieces. cook all together until noodles are done.

In a large soup pot add 1/2 c butter and melt it on medium heat. add about 1/3 cup of flour and stir together with the butter until it gets nice and bubbily. Add 4 cups of cold milk (whatever percent you like 2% makes it really rich and creamy but i usually use 1%). add 1 tsp of salt ,1/4 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp sugar. On medium heat continually stir the mixture until it boils and thickens. Add the chicken broth and veggies to the milk mixture and let it cook a few more minutes together...its done!!!

I copied this straight from the email she sent me.  It's easy, yummy, and besides the rotisserie chicken and maybe celery you probably have all the ingredients on hand.

I haven't actually gotten around to bringing a sick friend food yet, but if I did this is what I would bring.

On another note, along with being a fabulous cook Krista is an artist.  I got to see her final art show at BYU and was very impressed with her work!  She has an etsy shop where she sells a little of her work (Her Name is Mud).  Right now she has darling ceramic jewelry up, and previously had these darling salt and pepper bowls.  I plan on ordering a set once I have a real kitchen.

Stay warm and take care of your sick friends!

Say What?

Happy Valentines Day tomorrow!

We had a roller coaster week here in the Bagwell home.  Millie is doing super, don't worry.

This past week we had a visit from a feeding specialist and speech therapist, together.  I learned a lot, and got overwhelmed pretty quickly.

Millie is a great eater, and has taken to pediasure like a fish to water.  That's great for gaining weight right now, but we don't want her to only drink that and not eat solid foods.  The feeding specialist gave us some great suggestions to help with that, and is planning another visit to see how she is doing.

The speech therapist was so nice, and mainly observed during the visit.  Towards the very end, she mentioned that from observing Millie briefly she thinks it is quite possible Millie still has a partially paralyzed vocal cord.  If you've been around this girl, you know she isn't quiet.  We could barely hear her cry when we first brought her home from the hospital, so I just assumed since we hear her so well now that her vocal cord had healed.  Millie breathes very loudly, and that is why the therapist thinks her cord might not be moving properly.  That and she prefers pediasure to milk.  Pediasure is thick like a milk shake.  We had to thicken her bottles when she first came home.

Not a big deal, right?  Then the two of them mention because of this she is still at risk for apnea bradycardia.  Or is it apnea & bradycardia?  Oh well, look it up.  It is something we worried a lot about at the hospital, but has been far from my mind ever since we left.  They said since she is at risk that I really should only give her thick things to drink or water.  I've been giving her juice for the calories.

Ok.  So none of this is huge.  It was nothing I wanted to hear though.  After they left I started feeling so overwhelmed.  Its exhausting being the filter for all medical advice.  Millie needs a medical manager, seriously.  I began really missing our previous pediatrician, Dr. Later.  I trust everything he says, I just don't know our current one as well (nor does she know Millie as well).

Then a miracle happened.  To make a long story a little shorter, in order to get Millie the synagis shot on BYU health insurance we had to apply for medicaid.  We were sure we wouldn't get it because we have been so good at saving our money and had BYU insurance.  The asset limit is usually $3,000 for medicaid, which we had just in our car.  I heard back from medicaid and with children under 3 there is no asset limit, so Millie is on medicaid!  So amazing.  Do you know what that means?  We get to go back to Dr. Later!  I am calling first thing tomorrow to get an appointment so I can fill him in on everything and get his advice.  I've got to straighten myself out before we head to South Carolina in 9 days.

Did I mention all of this happened in one day?  The therapists and getting completely on medicaid.  It was quite a day.  I don't think I will ever complain about the medicaid people.  I applied online and sorted everything else out on the phone.  I never stepped foot in the office.  The WIC people on the other hand...

It's a happy day (month, season, year) in the Bagwell home.  The world is right again.

Did I mention we're going back to Dr. Later?

I nearly forgot one other thing.  The Speech Therapist mentioned Millie makes a very strange noise, like a Donald Duck type noise, and still won't repeat after anyone.  I'm not sure if it is that is why, or if it is her vocal cord, but this week we have a team of Speech Therapists coming to observe this darling.  Millie loves to entertain, so this should be fun.

Secret Weapon #2

This one is painfully easy.

Are you familiar with this stuff?

(photo from Walmart.com)

This is another trick I learned from my Aunt Karen, and used at Millie's birthday party (as well as baby & bridal showers).

Make chicken salad, but use Brianna's Poppy Seed Dressing instead of Mayo.  You can still add grapes, nuts and any other goodness you usually add.  Trust me, it will taste out of this world.

See.  Told you it was easy.

North of the Mason-Dixon Line

It has taken all my willpower to not spill the beans.

I've finally got Buck's permission, so here it goes:

We're moving to Connecticut!

I feel better already.  I'm sure many of you are confused, so I guess I'll explain a little more.

We had originally planned on moving to Charlotte this summer, and even had a job lined with with PwC there.  Buck was nominated by BYU to apply for a one year position for the FASB (Financial  Accounting Standards Board) in Connecticut, so we decided to take a chance and apply.  Doing this one year thing puts him possibly on a sort of different career path and could open new doors for us.  He applied, interviewed, and was one of the six (soon to be) recent graduates accepted!

To mark the occasion, here he is opening his offer from the FASB.

Each accounting firm values employees that have had experience with the FASB, so PwC was more than happy to basically defer his offer.  While he's there, he'll be recruited by firms all over again, but mostly for transaction services instead of audit.  We know that if he wants to go with transaction services we'll end up in a major US city after this one year opportunity, but if he has his heart set on audit after the year in Connecticut we could return to Charlotte.  We will take a look at our options in a year I suppose, and keep y'all posted on what we decide.  You'll need to know where to send our Christmas cards to anyways.

So come visit!  We'll be somewhat near New York (train ride away), and we're looking hard for a small house to rent.  I would give nearly anything to have a yard for Millie and I to play in, a large enough parking spot to pull her easily out of the car, a dishwasher, and a washer/dryer!  I would seriously consider not getting a cell phone if I thought it would save us enough money.  My sister would seriously consider killing me though.  Drives her crazy I don't have one.

Just when we thought we were finished with snow...

So exciting!

Hefty

Remember this skinny minnie?

Did I ever tell you I wanted to name her Minnie?  Buck didn't.

We've been busy:

Spending quality time with Aunt Bibi and Ella before she left on her mission in Italy

loading up on carbs (like Ella's left over Olive Garden)

In this picture she is showing off her new skill.  Blowing her snot in and out of her nose.  It makes for some darling faces.

and eating sweets!

She loved playing with vanilla pudding.

Guess what?  It worked!  We went in for our WIC appointment on Thursday and Millie gained about a pound!  Aunt Bibi bough her some pediasure earlier in the week, and I am sure that contributed to the weight gain more than spaghetti and pudding.

The WIC nutritionist was shocked with how great Millie looked, and was almost hesitant to give us pediasure.  Well the jokes on her.  Millie won't drink milk at all now!  She loves pediasure, especially vanilla.  Is this my child?  So we qualified for WIC and got pediasure for the next three months.  That should be enough time to grow some more teeth, gain some weight, and prepare to move.

The WIC nutritionist was nice, but I do have to say I could tell she wasn't loving her job.  Don't you hate that?  I was almost offended by one thing she said to me.  She said that she guesses they calculated my due date wrong since there is no way Millie was a 23 weeker!  Let me tell you, I went in for an ultrasound as soon as I found out I was pregnant.  Those early ultrasounds are super accurate since babies grow at the same rate that early.  I mean really?  All the medical attention we got when she was born, and even today, and this nutritionist tried to tell me that?  I was really taken back.

Did you know I got an ultrasound the day before she was born?  It is kind of strange looking back at that one and having a real picture to look at of her just the next day.  Three weeks before she was born, we found out we were having a girl, so we have a whole collage of ultrasound pictures from then.

Millie is doing super.  She gets up, without holding on to anything (often in the middle of the room) to a standing position.  On Saturday she took one step twice!  I was getting worried since she still doesn't like to push that toy, but I feel much better now.  Why can't I get these things on camera?  She is also wonderful at everyones favorite: the back arch.  Goodness, this girl can force you to put her down!  Did I mention I'm scared to take her on the airplane?  I keep hearing to give her benadryl, but the package says for 6+ years.  Has anyone tried?  I'm scared to ask her doctor how to drug her enough to sleep for my comfort.  I just don't see that going over well.

We have a feeding specialist visiting us this week, which I am really excited for.  I am still waiting for the speech therapist and aquatics person to call me.  I can't wait to get this girl in the water!

On a personal note, I have been so slack lately.  I made the major mistake of starting a TV series on Netflix.  The worst part?  It's so lame.  Ever seen The Secret Life of The American Teenager?  I'd say it's 7th Heaven meets 15 and Pregnant.  Don't even try and say you haven't seen 15 and Pregnant.  I won't believe you.  Consider this your fair warning.  The Secret Life of the American Teenager is not worth watching, yet I can't seem to stop.

Since this is so long, I feel like I need to summarize:

Millie gained weight, we're on WIC, we need benadryl help, and you shouldn't watch The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

Got it?

P.S. Maybe I'll finish our blog construction when I'm finished with this TV series.  Hey, I'm just being honest.