May 25

One year ago today I got a call from my Agency.  "You Passed Court."  Those three words meant that I was legally Janissa's mommy.

Birthday Girl

What a week it has been!  When I picked up Janissa at daycare last Friday, I noticed her nose had started running again and she just didn't seem like her little self.  She didn't eat much for dinner and fell asleep early.  She woke up around 10:00 p.m. and her body felt like it was on fire.  I gave her some Tylenol and brought her to bed with me.  Shortly thereafter she got really sick.  I won't go into detail, but I will tell you I had to change the sheets and both of our pajamas.  The next morning she was still quite warm and not herself at all.  It was also my niece Lisa's graduation from Vanguard University.  Despite my better judgment, I dressed her up and off we went.  She slept through most of the ceremony.  Thanks to family members, there were plenty of arms to share the weight of a sleeping child.

 Lisa and Janissa

She slept through most of Lisa's graduation party (so did I) and refused to eat anything.  I made sure she drank plenty of fluids.  Janissa LOVES Lisa.  In fact, when her fever spiked Friday night, she insisted Lisa was in the room and kept looking for her under the pillows.  

Lisa and Janissa

 Not only was Sunday Mother's Day (my first as a Mom), it was also Janissa's 2nd Birthday!

Despite the fact that Janissa was still running a temperature, we went to my parents house anyways as we had family coming to celebrate the two events.  She napped for awhile, but mostly sat in my lap or asked to be held.  She refused to eat a thing, although she was drinking lots of water and juice.  She just stared at her cake when we lit the candles, so at that point I decided it was time to take her to the walk in clinic.  

 My Birthday Girl

 

 

 

 

 

We got to the walk in clinic around 5:30 p.m.  Janissa sat in my lap for two hours with her two fingers in her mouth humming Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  I felt sorry for the other people waiting because she really did hum for 2 hours!  We were finally called in at 7:30 p.m.  The doctor took one listen to her chest and said, "take her to emergency now."  So off to CHOC we went.  After discovering she had an ear and throat infection on top of the cough and congestion, they gave her Tylenol and took chest x-rays.  They didn't think she had pneumonia, so they gave me a prescription and sent us on our way.  I found a 24 hour CVS and filled the prescription.  I woke her up when we got home at 11:00 p.m. to give her a dose.

She stayed with my parents Monday and literally slept all day.  By Tuesday she wasn't getting any better so I took her to our regular doctor who took one listen to her chest and said, "you have to go back to emergency".  So off to CHOC we went again.  We spent about 6 hours there while they tried to get her fever down.  They gave her three breathing treatments and monitored her oxygen levels (they were way down) and her heart rate (which was way up).  They finally sent us home with a new antibiotic and instructions to give her breathing treatments every four hours until her cough is gone. By the way, it was pneumonia.

She started feeling better sometime Thursday and for the first time since Friday, ate something.  Friday I took her back to our doctor for a re-check.  She said even though she is still coughing and congested, she is a million times better than she was on Tuesday.  This time she was able to hear a little air getting into her lungs.  She prescribed an anti-inflamatory to open her airways and reaffirmed the use of the nebulizer.  Today (Saturday) she is almost her old self again and is eating regularly.

Speaking of eating, her new favorite food is avocado.  It doesn't matter if it is just sliced, or in the form of guacamole, she loves it!

So that is Janissa's birthday week in a nutshell.

So now she is 2 years old.  She moves up to the next level at daycare and I hope that goes well.  She is very attached to her classmates.  One little boy moves up with her, but he's the one she talks about the least (he bit her once).  Janissa is the joy of my life.  She entertains me constantly.  She makes me laugh every day.  She hugs me and kisses me and says "I lub ooo".  I don't know what I would do without this little girl in my life!