tubes are in

dear little amelia now has tubes in her ears. this is a good thing, we believe. i am hoping-praying-wishing that these tubes bring sleep to our nights. (which will bring more smiles during the day, right?!). so we arrived at the outpatient surgery center at 6:30, she went back around 7 to get some sleep-inducing medicine & motrin, went back for the actual surgery around 7:20-ish & they came to get us to speak with the surgeon post-surgery around 7:30. she was awake about 5 minutes later & we left to go home at 8. seriously, it zoomed.

amelia woke up hungry & thirsty, a bit loopy & grumpy, but very cuddly & totally fine. no vomiting yet. she had breakfast & is now napping for the past 90 minutes. *sigh* of relief.

speaking of amelia, look how grown up she is with her pig tails! when i saw these pictures (i took them, but in picture form it seems more pronounced?) i immediately saw a toddler. the baby is g-o-n-e. (*sniff, sniff*...but really, this is another good thing. we're on our way to a talking child, which is nearly always better in my book than a screaming/upset baby who can't communicate). & the toothbrush goes nearly everywhere with her. if an empty bottle isn't in her mouth, there's usually a toothbrush. i have no idea why (i'm guessing teething? the sucking makes ears filled with fluid feel better? who knows.)

a picture taken in the mirror--which is very dirty, apparently!--our two girls brushing their teeth for the 30th time. go figure.

amelia trying to avoid the camera (by the way, she was dressed up in the cheerleading outfit. & notice the toothbrush she's carrying?)

so here's fairy adeline.


adeline tried to put me down for a nap the other day...it was a very nice gesture on her part. she could see that i was sleepy & exhausted & kept telling me 'mommy take a nap, close your eyes' then she rubbed my back, pulled the blanket around my neck & closed the door. a few minutes later she barges in my room (i did stay in bed folks! i was all 'good idea adeline' & just laid there, with the gate closed & all medicines secured in a locked cabinet). so adeline barges in with the halloween pirate outfit on (we so need to get that back to the rightful owners, sorry judy) & was all 'argh mommy, i pirate, argh!' so cute.

we then played dress up for the next hour, trying on each outfit we have. amelia refused to take the cheer leading outfit off for quite some time but adeline was more about getting into the outfit, playing the part for 15 minutes, then changing into something else. & thanks to my wee nap time, it was a fun time for everyone.

so, now i just have christmas cards & 1 calendar left (i make them on shutterfly & give them as gifts to grandparents & such...only to people who want them, ya know!?). wes' gift arrived in the mail already...rei... i love it. he was here when it arrived & he is the *worst* person when it comes to being patient to open a gift on christmas. (sorry dear, it's true!). so now i have something to taunt him with. good times.

the amelia affect

i'm just waking up this morning. it was a loooonnnnnggg night with our 2nd daughter. she started to cry at 10 p.m. but wes beat me into her room (she went from sleeping to screaming--something had to be amiss). wes got her back to sleep & i was joking about how he *loves* snuggling with amelia & jumps every chance he can to steal some snuggles. we were cut off by yet another amelia jolt of screaming. i told him i would get this one, he can take a shower.

after about 30 minutes of amelia crying, then screaming, then flailing around on me wes took over. she immediately stopped crying. she was silent & snuggled into her daddy's grip. i was *devastated* & thoughts began racing that i shouldn't have had the surgery, that it put a large chasm between amelia & i & how could she not want her mama instead of her daddy?! & then after a few minutes she began to cry & fight wes as well. (i think i had a very terrible smile on my face as i took back all those miserable amelia-hates-mama-thoughts). but the truth is wes is much stronger than me now more than ever before & i just simply can not struggle with amelia most of the day, let alone at night. so wes said he would get her to sleep.

an hour later, she is finally not crying & i hear the nursery door shut. wes goes to brush his teeth & just as he's getting into bed--amelia wakes up screaming again & out the door he goes again. finally she was asleep again & he put her into the crib, ran into bed & sure enough, amelia woke up again. we decided to let her cry, see if she was just over tired & over stimulated & needed to do this by herself. i was exhausted as was wes--the baby fighter & soother--but she was crying the miserable cry that sounds as if every terrible country song had just happened to her. & suddenly, i hear snoring. WES COULD SLEEP DURING THIS?! so i nudge him & tell him to roll over, he's snoring & how the hell can he sleep through this? & he's all 'i don't think i was asleep' & i said 'dude you were snoring'...then he quickly falls back asleep. i lay there listening to her cry off & on until around 1 a.m. at which time wes woke up to try again to soothe her. this time, he slept in her room. she sleeps when being held; this situation has happened maybe half a dozen times with amelia. half the time, she has an ear infection. the other half--nothing wrong, per the doc. one jerk-off doc/pediatrician who runs the office but who we choose not to see (dr sotos) once joked that it was amelia's cranky disposition when he couldn't see any physical evidence of illness. when he looked up & saw the look in my face that screamed I WILL KILL YOU if you say that to me ever again, he quickly changed the subject to something totally random.

our guess is an ear infection. but amelia has on occasion but inconsolable with a mild fever (99.5) while on ibuprofen & sleeping on someone is the only way to get her to sleep at night (thank the golden heavens that for r.c.willy's rocking chair that makes it palatable to sleep in the nursery with a 23 pound baby on you). we don't know what's going on; i don't think she's seriously ill but i do think *something* is amiss b/c for freak's sake, it's not like her to be so grumpy. she does not have a cranky disposition (she was later diagnosed with reflux, thank you dr mahoney & most likely has GERD) .

the one person who shines during moments like these is my husband. he steps up like no other person, a mama or a papa. prior to my surgery he would lovingly take turns with amelia throughout the night. post surgery, he & my mom took turns. after my mom left, he usually dukes it out with amelia...i have tried to do this but pay for it times a million the next day in muscle soreness & headaches (which leads to heavy ibuprofen use which leads to terrible stomach pains). so last night he was like 'i'm going to take care of this, you sleep' . i checked on them a few times throughout the early morning & sure enough, there they both were sleeping in the chair, sprawled out with amelia's tiny arms hugging her daddy.

then his amazingness was sent to the moon this morning as he said i probably got less sleep than he did (since i was watching & listening to him sleep more than a few times i agreed) & let me sleep in a few hours & since he was also awake most of the night...he took adeline to school (which he's been dying to do) & now just took amelia to her doc appointment--across town b/c our own ped is sick today. i guess he's taking a half day off per we didn't get much sleep last night & amelia is sick & i am struggling with some surgery side effects recently (hello migraines & muscle pain, i thought our time together was over? well, it's not? well, shit on you).

so what i'm trying to say here is that amelia's affect or disposition is chipper & happy & mischievous, not cranky & clingy--that's when she's sick. & my husband is the best. i love them both...but if dr sotos today says that it's just her disposition & we should let her cry it out...well, please send me your pediatrician referrals. wes & i are pretty hard core when it comes to the whole cry it out thing; with adeline there was no choice, it fit her well & she is a champion sleeper since about age 12 months...but for amelia, what, should we let her cry the *entire* night instead of just 2 1/2 hours? it just doesn't seem like the right answer.

now to finish my coffee before i pick adeline up from school.

indeed, we are.

please, if you have any reservations about reading crass language, stop & wait until my next post. & don't think any less of wes & i ...b/c you haven't lived our day.
***
so what is the title of this post referring to? well, wes & i went to this movie awhile ago, while my parents watched the girls, away we go was the movie. pretty good, made us laugh. anyway, during the movie the couple asked themselves several times 'are we fuck ups? i think we are fuck ups for sure.' so wes & i have had this joke going back & forth when something near disastrous happens or we're just all melancholy & weepy & then we ask the other person, are we fuck ups? & it will usually get a good laugh from us.

today (& parts of the past month!) confirms it: we are fuck ups.

b/c adeline couldn't imagine living life without something on the back patio as wes was shutting the sliding door & amelia was also racing out the door...adeline used amelia as a floor. she ran over her bottom & didn't listen as her daddy told her (in his most firm voice) addy stop! she ran right over amelia's head, quickly & fervontly digging it into the sharp metal tracks of the door with her feet. we never did find out what was so important to adeline that she would risk getting shut in a door. anyway, amelia was instantly covered in blood & shaking & screaming. wes took her (i am so not good with blood) & i took adeline for a good talking to that ended with adeline also screaming (i believe in response to amelia's screams of agony). the verdict: amelia split her tongue, from tip to towards the back. the split is probably as long as her front tooth. & if you've never seen this before--which i hadn't before today--you don't want to. it's very amazingly gross. tongue flappin' around where it shouldn't be, blood pouring out, parents panicking, baby girl trampled, preschool girl feeling very crappy about herself & crying on her time out chair.

so that is nearly behind us. the nurse told us there's not much a doctor could do for us & recommended that we give her a popsicle. amelia abhors cold things, especially frozen food, so my attempt at a simple ice cube in a teething mesh-thing was quickly refused & thrown across the room. yes, she does have a good arm! (thank you for noticing, lol)...but under no circumstances are we to give her any food above luke-warm temperatures. & amelia refuses most bottles that are not *hot* so we are looking at a dire situation. oh & no table food, which is the bulk of her food intake at this point. the nurse also mentioned that we could give her some pudding. my heart skipped a beat. i could do pudding! so i made some yogurt pops with peaches for tomorrow then i put amelia in her high chair next to the stove (agreed? what kind of a mama puts a baby in a high chair next to a flame & hot pan?! fuck ups. but it worked out. this time.) & made the pudding. she ate about half a bowl (oh, about one serving size) for dinner then i shoved the bottle down her throat, trying to avoid the tip of her tongue (it had bled off & on throughout the afternoon of discontent, aka millie didn't sleep longer than 9 minutes at a time for 1 hour, which seems to me to add up to around 20 minutes somehow b/c of how long it would take to get her back to sleep). point is: amelia is in a lot of pain, plus teething (so she's shoving everything in her mouth, leading now to more tongue pain & bleeding). we hopped her up on benedryl tonight, wish us luck!

the 2nd foul of the day happened just recently. while i was putting amelia down at an astoundingly early hour (7:15!), wes took adeline for a walk around the hood. on the way home, addy was jumping off large rocks. first jump into the grass went find. 2nd jump that daddy said no to but she did it anyway, well the 2nd jump she landed on the concrete, then skidded her lips across the concrete. ouch. so she came back with quite a big lip, something a bird would probably try to land on if given the chance. i heard wes come into the house & ask me if i had started to soak the bloody clothes from earlier. i said almost. he said we have more, b/c we're fuck ups. & i walk upstairs to see addy putting on her brave face with a blankie from the stroller half covered in her blood. but, smart adeline used this to her advantage to snag a few m&m's & then also some chocolate chips from the open bag.

yesterday, amelia pooped & peed on the floor twice each (hmm, she peed 3 times actually) while a friend was over. a friend i don't know very well. a friend who is pregnant & easily nauseous. she didn't leave our house screaming & running, though. but still, there goes buck naked amelia (b/c she had a terrible diaper rash, so we let her wiggle & crawl around without a diaper to speed the healing process. really works). anyway, amelia's crappin' all over the place & peeing & grinning the whole time. that was after i also found a huge spider on a blanket that i was giving her (out of a bag that had been sitting on our porch for almost a week, mind you...she is getting a lot of our baby girl clothes).

so we wonder, what do folks really think of us, with bloody kids & as you will read below, mostly naked wee ones with poop & pee being dropped at every turn.

***
why does adeline insist on being near naked most of the time? i'm really hoping this is normal for her age. (anyone want to agree with this?! please?). here's some examples:

• last night, around 7:15 p.m. adeline was riding/pushing her tricycle down the sidewalk. she was about one house down & suddenly got off her trike & started dancing around like mad. it was immensely adorable, folks. then i watched in *horror* as she threw/kicked her shoes off & then proceeded to take her shorts off. then her underwear. (the whole time i'm pulling weeds & shrieking to her to get her clothes back on). adeline looks at me with a huge smile & then continues to do her dance. i walked over to wes, who was watering our weed--errr, veggie--garden to tell him that his daughter is naked from butt down & he needs to take care of her. b/c that was only the 4th or 5th time she's stripped down in a matter of milliseconds(!!) just that day (yes, in front a guest).
• after amelia's near death trample, wes took adeline to work with him. he grabbed videos & snacks to keep her occupied & it worked, from what i know she did great. except the conference room incident. she was watching her videos in the conference room--thankfully where no one else was--& suddenly had the urge to pee. in her dora undies & jeans. so naturally, she then decided to go nude b/c wowzers, those pee filled clothes are uncomfortable, right? so wes decides to check on adeline & walks in to find her sitting completely naked in a huge conference room style chair laughing & having a grand time watching dora. she looked at wes & said simply 'pee pee' & gave a sour look. so wes tells her to *STAY PUT* & goes off to his desk to get her 2nd pair of clothes (that i put in there for him, you're welcome) & then to his horror hears the little pitter patter of adeline accompanied with her giggles. yup, streaking child in an engineering office. you *know* that security guard watching the tapes is like "whhhaattt? i'm calling CPS!" oh my goodness is it so wonderful that none of wes' co-workers saw this sight; wes would never be able to live it down.

i just keep wondering, what next?

the good thing about today is that i snuggled amelia & took a mama-heart-snapshot of her sprawled out on top of me, in her rocking chair, asleep & snoring softly. she had this little curl coming down in the middle of her forehead & then another straggler off to the left side of her head. she was my not so tiny baby, who only wanted to snuggle up to her mama & b/c wes took adeline for the afternoon, i was able to be there for amelia's every need (even if it was every 9 minutes) & i was hit with joy that i have chosen to stay home (that joy doesn't hit very often, lol). (& oh man, i'm not saying that working moms wouldn't be able to be there for their child in the time of need...these are just my thoughts from this). this whole harold situation has put a spotlight on some things & the decision to spend so much time with my girls that it drives me nutso, well, i've decided its a good one after all.

mind exhaustion

first, to bombard you with pictures.

amelia squishing a strawberry.

big bear hug. check out their berry faces.

amelia, happiest near the berries.

addy giving a nice love pat to amelia who was just fed an enormous whole strawberry & didn't panic & choke, but rather chewed like crazy.

addy's berry face.

amelia & daddy before church on sunday

addy's outfit that she picked out for church! she is always so proud of her outfits.

addy & momma on saturday, going to target (then me to get my hair cut! new do folks! much shorter). anyway, addy picked out her outfit that day also & then using hand signals & gestures, told me exactly how she wanted me to do her hair...like princess laya (spelling?) but with poofy hair ribbons. what a girlie. she was smiling non stop after i was finished, though.

another look at her hair up-do of choice.

***

my brain is on, all the time. well, obviously, it's on all the time, but the past few days it's thinking all the what-if questions about a mile a minute.
what if amelia is allergic to griswold?
how will we tell addy why griswold has to leave us?
where would griswold go?
how long will we have to wait for speech therapy?
when we will know if addy has a more serious problem?(called "apraxia", more about that later)
what if addy doesn't qualify for the westerville preschool, where will she go so late notice & with a severe speech delay?
what if amelia is allergic to dust? will i have to spend an hour each day cleaning? will we need to spend thousands of dollars replacing carpet, flooring, upholstery?

i could go on, filling pages of my blog with these questions. i need to stop, i know! i'm wondering if some wonderful anti-axiety meds is what i need right now. there's this appointment i have with an ENT next week to check out some problems with my ears & then more people were let go at wes' job yesterday. i can't sleep all night, even though my kids usually are sleeping all night. i just don't want to think anymore!

***
after that wonderfully positive blurb...some of you may be calling your therapists to set up an appointment for me with them, lol! really, there is just very stressful things going on here & i need to stop worrying. easy enough.

today i'm taking the girls to franklin park conservatory for a picnic lunch with their aunt kristi (who works downtown, quite the big to-do "director" at children's hospital...next week she gets to meet with this lady who used to be an african ambassador for the united nations. next week i get to meet with the westerville school district special education teacher! comparable...?). anyway, wes & i got married at the franklin park conservatory, so this will be a fun place to take them to every once in awhile & tell them how we got married there & watch them roll their eyes, like 'big deal mom & dad'. but i'm happy to torture them, i guess.

amelia is now a speed crawler! she is zooming from room to room, checking everything out. there's a path of destruction following her & adeline has taken it upon herself to be amelia's babysitter. addy will walk in front of her, picking up little pieces of paper or a tiny hair barrette or anything & say to herself "no no b a-yea" (no no baby amelia) & then place this stuff on the kitchen counter for me to dispose of. if amelia is playing with something she's not allowed to, like the remote, addy will take it away from her, saying again 'no no b a-yea' & then give her another toy. if millie attempts to climb up the slide (there are painful consequences to amelia climbing up the slide), addy will *pull* her down in some amazing wrestling move & will usually try to make amelia stop crying from her take-down by tickling her. this adeline is a very protective older sister!

yesterday i finally had enough of the 'MINE MINEMINE NONONONO' shouts from addy towards amelia about certain toys. so i told addy that if she wants to play with something alone, she has to take it into her bedroom & if amelia starts following her, addy must shut her door if she wants to play with this special toy alone. so adeline did just that! she took her animal vet clinic toy, gathered up all the pieces & *sprinted* to her bedroom, shutting the door. she then played in there all by herself, babbling away with her imaginative play for about half an hour. it just made me laugh b/c amelia looked devastated! so i compensated by playing with the singing-baaing lamb (a favored toy).

***

okay, i've distracted myself with good stories, now to tell the results of addy's speech evaluation yesterday. sigh. she was shown to be 6 months ahead of her age for speech & language comprehension. she was mastering age 4 questions with some slight deliberation, which was so cute to watch (addy would go "hhhmmm????" & raise her finger to her mouth when thinking! like i said, CUTE!). she also was tested to be at least 1 year behind in expressive speech (words that she says, or expresses). both of those we knew fairly well already. she's a smarty pants, but she doesn't talk well.

what i didn't expect was to hear that the speech pathologist suspects that addy may have apraxia...which is a neurological disorder. basically, her speech neurons are firing to her facial muscle receptors & the two are not connecting. so she know what she wants to say, but her mouth isn't getting the message, so she isn't able to say the words...causing MUCH frustration. this is a disorder that takes more than a few sessions to assuredly diagnose a kid with. if addy does have this, she has a very mild case, thankfully. kids with severe or moderate apraxia never learn to talk fully & need help with a computer to communicate.

i keep telling myself that this is just another round of a severe diagnosis hanging over our heads that will soon be proven wrong. like me with inflamed optical nerves or ms... just one more thing to worry about for a few weeks or months & then find out *poof* everything is mostly fine. so i'm really trying not to get worked up about this, especially b/c children's hospital is so backed up with speech therapists that adeline won't be able to be seen again for quite some time (months).

which brings up another frustrating thing: why can't speech people get their ass in gear & get kids in sooner?! speech delays & impediments can have life-long implications...such as introversion, low self esteem, inability to make friends, anxiety, etc etc. i keep hearing from several people that it took a very long time for someone they know to get speech therapy. why?! i know it's not life-threatening, but should that matter? i don't expect people to get up & run around in panic just b/c my daughter has a speech delay, but heavens to betsy, can't they see her before preschool starts?!

again, it was reiterated that i can look around at private speech therapists & see if our insurance will pay for their services & i will for sure do that. until then, we are going to start learning preschool versions of sign language (which has been recommended by everyone since this started), so i will get back to everyone on how that's going. apparently this speech pathologist says that addy is very receptive & even taught her a few signs yesterday in 10 minutes. i mean, i'm a trained social worker, i have the basic understanding...i guess even if i have to drop amelia off at the gym day care & then addy & i will sit in the playground/lobby area & do some sign/speech therapy...so be it.

isn't there an advocacy group for parents with kids with speech delays? a therapy group?! lol.

***

we are not wanting to think about amelia being allergic to griswold, but the more we study her snot & eye itching situation, the more it seems connected to when she's in direct & indirect contact with the dog. like i said, let's avoid talking about that so i won't cry this early in the morning.

***

so if amelia has allergies, my kids will have forced the following on me:
eating peas
eating green beans
cleaning on a daily basis
dusting on a weekly basis
not reading all day long on a weekend day
not making cinnamon rolls from scratch
having the ability to ignore a crying child for about 20 minutes (hint: amelia in her jumperoo right now...keeps her contained, but very unhappy about it)
allowing the tv to be on when i'm not watching it (addy has discovered the wonder of pbs cartoons this week. my fav is sid the science kid)

& now i'm typing with amelia on my lap & she really likes it when i sing 'the lone ranger' type songs & move my legs like she's riding a horse. she just lays her head back on my shoulder & smiles up at me like i'm the best mama in the world. & i smile & hum louder.

sid the science kid is asking right now: can you smell things that are far away? gabriella's response: my uncle's socks. see, it's a funny show!

another medical post

if you don't want to hear about our latest medical saga, just ignore this post, lol!

we took both the girls in to their pediatrician this morning...addy is getting more croup symptoms & we don't want to go through another 911/er visit anytime soon. amelia's snot situation & irritated eyes are worse. *hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to the doctor's we go* (yes, i do think when i have less than desirable sleep i start reciting children's song or book lyrics, but i won't put you through another sandra boynton adaptation, not today).

today was a very good visit with our ped. she listened & gave us honest & more thorough advice, which was needed & appreciated & really in her (our ped's) favor b/c i was ready to **go off** if we got the 'it's just a virus' answer. ya know, can amelia really have a cold for 6 weeks & it not be reason for concern? this was our first dual-appointment & it was confusing at first, but being the smart parents we are, we caught on quick. lol.

so amelia may have allergies to...griswold. seriously, this is a sad sad thing to consider. i had been thinking allergies, but animal allergies didn't even occur to me. the reason the ped thinks dog allergies is b/c since this is her first spring season, it's not likely that she would already have developed an allergy to pollen, grass clippings, etc. it would be something that she's constantly been exposed to for some time now, such as a dog (or, in griswold's defense, it could be something like dust as well...which reminds me that the last time i dusted in her room was, well...before she was born?! the chipper house cleaner's who came a few months post millie delivery dusted her room, so it's been about 6 months maybe? ooops. put that on the to-do list, eh?). anyway, she has a prescription & samples for an allergy medication to take for a few weeks & see how she responds. the ped didn't want to say for sure it would be the dog, but she did say that's really the only thing it could be at this time... when she said that, i looked at wes & saw the horrific look on his face & i swear i saw tears welling in his eyes. it would be a very sad sad day if we had to get rid of griswold... so...that's the amelia file.

the adeline file is a bit more complex, so i won't go into detail, but we have been given an ongoing prescription for steroids (croup) & antibiotics (sinus infection). she has an order to have blood work done to determine exactly what she's allergic to & thankfully it's a blood test & not the skin-prick test. i was fairly little when my sister had her skin-prick test done, but i remember it very well & really appreciate the advances in medicine! one needle prick compared to a full board of them sounds much better & less traumatizing... & we were given answers about why she keeps getting croup & that it's not directly related to asthma & allergies, but they are checking that anyway.

we talked about her ear & speech situations & got some good info. i think we are going to just call columbus speech & hearing & set up a hearing evaluation thing with them at this point, just to get that second opinion. but the chances are, since they were able to do all the tests on her fro the 2nd hearing test (b/c she refused half the stuff the first time), the 2nd hearing test results are the accurate ones. which is a relief. & apparently kids with 'expressive speech disorder' = late talker.

then i also just talked with the 'help me grow' lady & got some answers. as in, addy probably will not be able to get speech therapy until preschool starts in the fall! whhhaaat? we can get connected with a private speech therapist, but they usually have such long wait lists that it would be nearly pointless (the wait list would probably be months out). tomorrow is her speech evaluation with children's hospital & hopefully they will step up to their country-wide recognition as a great hospital & give us some proactive help! b/c i'm thinking that my mood will not improve by tomorrow & my ability to *go off* on a medical professional will also not have diminished (sad to say, lack of sleep & two very grumpy sick kids & still being sick myself = short fused heidi/mama bear). the help me grow lady suggested i get addy involved in playgroups & get her socializing more, as in, daily socializing... is she trying to tell me to put her in day care?! so that goes out to all the moms out there who struggle with the fact of sending their kids to day care...i have just been sort of told that my daughter would benefit from something like day care! there you go, let free that guilt! lol. anyway, while she was telling me this i am thinking that addy is sick a lot & i have a problem exposing her to other kids & passing along her illnesses & viruses, so that creates a problem. hhmm.

sidenote: did you know that sinuses don't develop until a child is around age 2?! isn't that crazy. i had no idea. which is why addy is diagnosed with a sinus infection & amelia isn't. hhm.

addy escaped the confines of the house this morning while i was getting amelia dressed (yes, we need adult-eye-level deadbolts installed asap on all outside doors!). she went directly to the strawberry patch & picked herself a handful, ate them, then carried two ripe ones in for amelia & i (they were rather squished, so, not very edible, but the thoughtfulness is kind of her.) but during this escape she also managed to scratch her arms up pretty good on the hop vines (which are prickly & rough) & we didn't notice this until we were in the ped's office...when the ped starts asking addy to take her clothes off to check for signs of abuse, that's when i'll get worried, lol.

must go make a 2nd pbj for my adeline.