Nana and Papa visit

Nana and Papa came to visit for 5 nights, and Lia had such a great time with them! It was great to get to spend some time with Philip's parents. They were also sweet enough to babysit Lia for Philip and I to go out on a dinner date, which was really fun for the two of us! We can't wait to visit Atlanta in a couple of weeks so Lia can see more of Nana and Papa and so she can meet the rest of the Cato family! Thanks again for coming out here Nana and Papa. We had such a wonderful time!!

Playing on activity gym

She loves her activity gym now. She likes the lights and sounds that it makes and she can kick the sides or grab the dangling toys and the music starts again. She's growing so fast and making new discoveries every day!

Smiling...

First Day at Jessica's

Today was Lia's first day to go to Jessica's house for a few hours while I ran errands. I am planning to take her every Thursday from 10 - 2 so I have a little time to get some things done outside the house. It was a little hard leaving her, but I knew she was in good hands so I wasn't worried. She did really good and so did I! Here is a picture of Lia and Jessica:

Going for a walk

We used the stroller for the first time today. We went for a walk with Keri and Sage around the lake in our neighborhood. We walked for about an hour and Lia slept the whole time! Keri and I are going to try to make it a weekly thing to take the kids walking now that the weather is getting a little cooler. I had a great time and I think Lia liked it too!

2 months old!!

On Tuesday 9/15/09, Lia was two months old! I put her in a dress that was mine at her age to take some pictures. It will be neat to compare the picture of her wearing this dress to the one I have of myself. Of course, as soon as I got it on her, she spit up all over it : ) Oh well, we took the photos anyway!



Uncle Cliff made Lia a few onesies that she can now fit into. This one has a baby carriage on it and says "That's How I Roll" She's looking forward to wearing all the ones he made for her!

Daddy time

Sleeping (finally!) with Daddy...

Watching Baby Mozart

I decided to try letting Lia watch one of her Baby Einstein DVDs this week. We started with Baby Mozart, which is for 3 months plus but its the youngest one I have so I figured we'd give it a try. I was shocked when she actually stopped crying and watched it for about 10 minutes! I have let her watch it every day this week. She usually only makes it through 10 minutes before she loses interest, but she really seems to enjoy it until then. Its the happiest she's been sitting by herself in the swing yet!!

Swinging...

Lia's 8 week shots : (

On Thursday, Lia had to go to the doctor for her 8 week appointment and get her first set of shots. She was very brave and was a perfect angel right up to the moment when they gave her the first one. She had to get 3 total. I had to hold her hands while the nurse gave the shots. Poor Lia cried a hurt cry that I've never heard before, but it was over pretty fast and I was able to nurse her so she calmed down pretty quickly.

Lia weighed 9 lbs 9.8 oz and was 22.5 inches long. This week I put away all her newborn size clothes and got out all the 0-3 months size and we are about to switch from newborn to size 1 diapers - she's growing so fast!

We are really lucky to have found such a wonderful pediatrician. She always makes me feel so at ease and is very informative, which is great for me! We won't go back for the next round of shots until Lia's 4 month check up which is set for November 11th.

Astros vs. Braves

We got tickets to the Astros Braves game last Tuesday. Ryan, Keri, me and Philip all went and we had a great time! It was fun to do something with just the adults : )

Philip's NY Trip

Philip had to go to NYC for a business trip this week. It was his first time to travel there, and he had a really good time. He got to go to a great game at Yankee Stadium, eat dinner at Carmine's, and enjoy a great view of Times Square from his hotel room. He went up on Wednesday and came home on Friday. It was so sweet, he went shopping while he was there and brought back some really cute clothes for Lia, her first pair of jeans, a few turtleneck onesies and an adorable dress. What a great daddy!! Here are some photos from his visit:

More pics...

We are trying to break Lia of the habit of always being held. She has started crying any time we put her in her boppy, swing, or papasan chair. So, we tried to let her sit by herself a lot this weekend and not pick her up right when she started getting upset (she literally wails until the second you pick her up and she immediately stops, it's terrible, how did she get so spoiled this quickly??)

After about 20 minutes of crying in the swing, Lia finally tired herself out enough to fall asleep. I really need her to be able to sit happily somewhere when she is awake so I can get things done like folding laundry and I don't have to rush to do it all while she is napping. I hope she gets used to sitting by herself soon!

Miller and Lia

Miller is such a sweet boy and he always gets upset when Lia is crying (he comes to check on her if he's in another room, it's cute!) Here is a picture of the two of them hanging out in our bathroom while we were getting ready the other day:

Hanging out with friends

At Ryan and Keri's for dinner Sunday night

Lia's First Game Day!

We had fun watching our teams play (and win!!) the first weekend of football season and enjoying that extra day off work for Philip. Lia got all dressed up in her game day gear to cheer for Auburn with Mama and Tennessee with Daddy. She looked adorable! Here are some pictures:

Update after doctor

We went to the gastro specialist this morning, and I feel so much better after talking to him. He confirmed that Lia does have a milk protein allergy. He said about 5% of babies have it and most grow out of it in 6 or 7 months. In the mean time, in order to keep breastfeeding I will have to keep dairy, soy, eggs and nuts out of my diet. We will also continue using the Alimentum formula for those times when Daddy gives Lia a bottle. We will continue to monitor her poopy diapers for blood (yesterday and today have been clear.) If it comes back and doesn't go away or if she has any other symptoms that concern us, we'll take her back in. I am glad he told me I could be a little less strict with my diet, I am gonna have a hamburger tomorrow while we watch football (with no cheese or mayo of course!!) So, we are breathing a sigh of relief that we got good news today and that we aren't dealing with anything more serious. Now, all we have to do is get Miller healed and we can all move forward. We have to give him his first injections tonight, I am dreading it, wish us luck!!

Lia - Gastro specialist tomorrow

We were able to get in with a private practice gastro specialist at 8 in the morning. Our other appointment wasn't until the 25th, so I am really glad that Philip was able to get us this appointment sooner. After 4 days with no blood, on Tuesday it came back and we have had a couple days now with blood in the diapers again. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what I did differently on Tuesday that could have caused it to come back. The only thing I can really come up with (besides eating corn, which I just can't believe is the culprit because its the first ingredient in her hypoallergenic formula) was getting a flu shot. Flu shots contain egg, so maybe that triggered it. I don't know, but I am just anxious to talk with a doctor who knows all about this and can give us some answers. I will post as soon as we get some news, hopefully we will learn something at this visit in the morning. Here are a couple new pictures of my girl showing her pretty hair. It's curly when its wet right after her bath and then its all pouffy when it dries. It's so cute! We were able to put one of her clip in bows in the other day too! I really hope her hair doesn't fall out, I just love it!! Plus she would look funny bald : )

Miller

Well we got the results back on Miller's infection and it turns out that the bacteria he has is too strong for the general antibiotic he was taking with his food twice a day. Instead we now have to give him 2 injections (one is the antibiotic, the other is a bag of fluids to prevent kidney failure from the strong antibiotics) every day for 10 days. Philip went today and learned how to give Miller the shot and the fluid and he will teach me so that I can do it next week when he is out of town for work - yikes! After 5 days, we'll take Miller to our vet for blood work to check his kidney functions and make sure the antibiotic isn't damaging them. Then at the end of the antibiotics, we will take him back to the surgery center for another evaluation. Dr. Beale told Philip today that due to the type of bacteria, he is probably going to recommend that once the leg is completely healed, we go back in and remove the plate because this bacteria likes to hide between the plate and the bone and could cause further infections going forward. So by removing the plate one the bones are healed we'll take away that chance of continuous reinfection. So, yep, that means another surgery. I am at the end of my rope with this whole thing and although I know we had no choice I am wishing that we would've at least waited to do this surgery until Lia was a little older, but what's done is done. I just hope that this new antibiotic works and that we don't have any other obstacles to deal with before the next surgery. Not sure yet when that will be, but probably not until December because we have travel plans in October and November and won't be able to board him if he's still recovering. We will see what the doctor recommends as far as timing for the plate removal goes...

Miller Update

Some of you have been asking how Miller is doing, so I thought I should post an update. Unfortunately, we ran into a little difficulty last week.

He stopped putting weight on his leg altogether and it began swelling. We took him in to the surgery center and they aspirated the fluid which was tested for infection and took xrays to make sure that the metal plates/screws had not slipped. They also told us that he was running a fever. Luckily, the xrays showed that the plates/screws were still holding in place (we were so worried that we were going to have to operate again if this was the problem) but they also revealed new fractures in two different bones in his leg. The vet said this could have happened slipping on our tile floor. They put a full cast back on his leg and told us that he has to stay in our bedroom (carpeted) at all times for the next 3 weeks. He also went back on a general antibiotic while we awaited the test results. He stopped eating, so we were spoon feeding him anything he would take a bite of to get something in his stomach so the antibiotics wouldn't make him sick.

Then, on Sunday night fluid starting coming through the cast and the emergency vet told us to cut it off ourselves, which we did at midnight. Philip took him straight in the next morning. His fluid test results were positive for infection. We will know tomorrow what kind of infection it is and if we need to switch to another antibiotic to fight the specific infection that he has. The swelling has moved from his knee to his ankle, so we now have to apply a warm compress to his ankle for 15 minutes 3-4 times a day.

The good news is that the fever has gone down and he has eaten great his last two meals (we are mixing canned food in with the dry he normally gets and that seems to be more enticing to him.) So, we will re-evaluate based on the test results tomorrow and go from there. For now, he's wearing the cone on his head again and we are keeping a VERY close eye on him to make sure he doesn't do anything to make his leg even worse. He really is a good boy and even feeling as bad as he does with two fractures, an infection, and a healing incision from surgery he still does anything you ask him to do! We love our Miller!!

Running errands with Mama

Today, Mama decided to take me with her to run a couple of errands. We went to the dry cleaners first and I slept the whole time in my car seat. Next we went to Walgreens where Mama got her flu shot and I got my picture taken for my passport application (I got dressed up and decided to wear a bow for the picture!) I woke up for that part since Mama had to hold my head up for the photo. Here is a picture of me getting ready to go: