Saturday, August 8, 2009
First Cold
Runny nose, coughing, but no fever....but, I guess he doesn't feel that badly because he is still constantly lunging, crawling, and smiling. What a cutie, he is....
Video of Elijah Crawling
He is seven months old today! He is a bundle of joy and keeps us ever so entertained and busy (and sometimes tired too)! Here is a video of our son doing the "military crawl." Enjoy!!!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Amazing growth....
When I think about how different Elijah is developmentally even from a month (sometimes a day) ago, it baffles my mind. I feel like I am interacting with a completely different little being (although still adorable as one can be). I've been finding myself more tired recently because he has not been sleeping well at night. He wakes up twice at night, which is quite unusual for him. Sometimes he is up and is wide awake and wants to play! There is some sort of shift happening I think in his sleep pattern....I think he is now switching from 3-4 naps during the day to 2 naps (morning and afternoon). But, the two naps are longer, which is nice for me. But, when he is awake, he is constantly on the go or wanting interaction. I hope I can keep up with him! ;)
We also have a crawler now. He now is able to move from a sitting position into a crawling position. And, when he sees something that interests him, he crawls and gets it.
Separation anxiety has also begun. I can't even go to the bathroom these days without him crying when he sees that I am not in the same room. He would be playing on his own and then suddenly he'll notice that I am gone and would call out for me. He still does well with people but he looks around to make sure I am around. When I am not there, he doesn't fuss that much but as soon as I am back, he wants to come back to me.
He definitely is keeping me on my toes! I love this stage but I am also finding it to be more challenging both physically and mentally.
Pictures below: Elijah sees the sunscreen tube and wants it. Do you see his focus and how he is lunging for it? He is strong!! Imagine now, he does this pretty much all day. I have to make sure that there is nothing interesting around me when I am nursing him so that he doesn't suddenly stop nursing and go for whatever interesting object he sees. ;)
These are some photos with Korean nunas (older sister) and hyoung (older brother) from the Korean moms group. Elijah is the youngest so he gets lots of attention and love. He now gets mad if someone takes his toy away, and if someone tries to grab it from him, he holds on to it for dear life! He made an older kid cry!!!
We also have a crawler now. He now is able to move from a sitting position into a crawling position. And, when he sees something that interests him, he crawls and gets it.
Separation anxiety has also begun. I can't even go to the bathroom these days without him crying when he sees that I am not in the same room. He would be playing on his own and then suddenly he'll notice that I am gone and would call out for me. He still does well with people but he looks around to make sure I am around. When I am not there, he doesn't fuss that much but as soon as I am back, he wants to come back to me.
He definitely is keeping me on my toes! I love this stage but I am also finding it to be more challenging both physically and mentally.
Pictures below: Elijah sees the sunscreen tube and wants it. Do you see his focus and how he is lunging for it? He is strong!! Imagine now, he does this pretty much all day. I have to make sure that there is nothing interesting around me when I am nursing him so that he doesn't suddenly stop nursing and go for whatever interesting object he sees. ;)
These are some photos with Korean nunas (older sister) and hyoung (older brother) from the Korean moms group. Elijah is the youngest so he gets lots of attention and love. He now gets mad if someone takes his toy away, and if someone tries to grab it from him, he holds on to it for dear life! He made an older kid cry!!!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Swimming!!
We went swimming as a family for the first time. What a great way to cool off. Elijah LOVED it again. Indians think it is amazing that we would take a 6 month old in the pool with us.
Elijah loves playing with daddy!! He is waving HELLO to everyone!! (He's not really waving, I just caught it right as he was about to splash.)
Elijah loves playing with daddy!! He is waving HELLO to everyone!! (He's not really waving, I just caught it right as he was about to splash.)
Inoculation Mishap
Last Friday, we went to get Elijah's 6 months immunization and check up done. An ex-pat friend recommended us a doctor that they liked, who is the head of the pediatrics department at a local medical college. So, we got there early in the morning around 8am-ish hoping to beat the long line we kept hearing about. She practices medicine from her house and her garden is the waiting room. We did beat the long line and we were able to get Elijah on a weight scale (a digital one). When we shared with her that we need to get his vaccination done, she informed us that she does not administer vaccination but that she will recommend a doctor for us. It was a quick but a good first visit with her.
So, she made a phone call and off we went to go see the doctor who would administer the shots. We explained to him that we had brought our own vaccines. (The vaccination schedule here in India is quite different.) He knew what they were and proceeded to prepare to administer the shots. Understandably, the vaccine kits were a little different than what he was used to so it took him some time to read through the instruction and figure it out. I must admit though that I was nervous because I could tell he was not feeling very confident and I so wanted to snatch the instruction paper away from him and put the kit together, but I didn't. Eventually, I asked if I could take a peek at the instruction paper because I was getting really nervous that he was going to mess it up.
He eventually figured it out with some help from us and said he was ready to administer the shots. I was not feeling very happy with his performance so far, and I was even unhappier when I saw that he didn't even clean the little guy's thighs with alcohol swab before administering the shots. He didn't wash his hands, put on a glove, nothing! (Afterwards, Paul said to me, maybe we should have left when a spider fell on my head....I thought we should have left when his weight scale was 2 pounds off the digital one from the first doctor's office. He weighed Elijah by having me get on the scale first then I held him.) Elijah did great....he didn't even cry the first time (and I thought the needles were long) and with the second shot, he wimpered a little, but forgot about it as soon as it was over. Right afterwards as I was cleaning up the viles and the needles, I noticed that the tablet in one of the viles was still there. I mentioned it to Paul and to the doctor and they both said they thought it was probably just a part of the vile. I was not convinced. So, I made sure to take every instruction paper, needles, and viles home so that I could double check when we got home. Unfortunately, I was right. I told Paul, if the tablet is "just a part of the vile," than the instruction should say something about how afterwards, we should see a tablet or something like it left in the vile after everything has been dissolved. As we read it, it was clear that the doctor did not manage to dissolve the tablet in te vile at all (although he said to me it was!). As you can imagine, I was livid! A part of me felt like I should have just walked out when I saw how much he lacked confidence. I was angry but I felt guilty too for not being more assertive. Why didn't I listen to my intuition?
Paul and I talked about what we should do and we decided to call Glendale Pediatrics and talk to our doctor there. We couldn't call Friday because the internet went out. So, we waited until Saturday night to call and we were able to connect with the nurse there (who was amazing!) who was able to relay the message to our doctor. He recommended that we wait a month and go and get HIB vaccine ONLY. Now, I am hoping and praying that we won't have trouble getting just that vaccine and that the doctors here wouldn't insist that we get all the other shots or refuse to administer unless we do it their way.... My medical experiences here have been the worst and I find myself feeling ever more wary of it.
Meanwhile, we were at an ex-pat gathering and we mentioned the doctor's name (who administered the shots) because the doctor had mentioned that he had been the pediatrician for all three kids of this particular family. When we mentioned his name, the husband's response was that he was " a necessary evil." The wife told me to never go to him and she gave me another name.
I can tell I am still kind of worked up about it all because after writing all this down, I could still feel my blood boiling. I think it is not just because of this incident but all my other experiences have left such a sour taste in my mouth....honestly, I have no confidence in the doctors here and it is a scary feeling to have.... I hope the next doctor we try is better.... please God!!!
So, she made a phone call and off we went to go see the doctor who would administer the shots. We explained to him that we had brought our own vaccines. (The vaccination schedule here in India is quite different.) He knew what they were and proceeded to prepare to administer the shots. Understandably, the vaccine kits were a little different than what he was used to so it took him some time to read through the instruction and figure it out. I must admit though that I was nervous because I could tell he was not feeling very confident and I so wanted to snatch the instruction paper away from him and put the kit together, but I didn't. Eventually, I asked if I could take a peek at the instruction paper because I was getting really nervous that he was going to mess it up.
He eventually figured it out with some help from us and said he was ready to administer the shots. I was not feeling very happy with his performance so far, and I was even unhappier when I saw that he didn't even clean the little guy's thighs with alcohol swab before administering the shots. He didn't wash his hands, put on a glove, nothing! (Afterwards, Paul said to me, maybe we should have left when a spider fell on my head....I thought we should have left when his weight scale was 2 pounds off the digital one from the first doctor's office. He weighed Elijah by having me get on the scale first then I held him.) Elijah did great....he didn't even cry the first time (and I thought the needles were long) and with the second shot, he wimpered a little, but forgot about it as soon as it was over. Right afterwards as I was cleaning up the viles and the needles, I noticed that the tablet in one of the viles was still there. I mentioned it to Paul and to the doctor and they both said they thought it was probably just a part of the vile. I was not convinced. So, I made sure to take every instruction paper, needles, and viles home so that I could double check when we got home. Unfortunately, I was right. I told Paul, if the tablet is "just a part of the vile," than the instruction should say something about how afterwards, we should see a tablet or something like it left in the vile after everything has been dissolved. As we read it, it was clear that the doctor did not manage to dissolve the tablet in te vile at all (although he said to me it was!). As you can imagine, I was livid! A part of me felt like I should have just walked out when I saw how much he lacked confidence. I was angry but I felt guilty too for not being more assertive. Why didn't I listen to my intuition?
Paul and I talked about what we should do and we decided to call Glendale Pediatrics and talk to our doctor there. We couldn't call Friday because the internet went out. So, we waited until Saturday night to call and we were able to connect with the nurse there (who was amazing!) who was able to relay the message to our doctor. He recommended that we wait a month and go and get HIB vaccine ONLY. Now, I am hoping and praying that we won't have trouble getting just that vaccine and that the doctors here wouldn't insist that we get all the other shots or refuse to administer unless we do it their way.... My medical experiences here have been the worst and I find myself feeling ever more wary of it.
Meanwhile, we were at an ex-pat gathering and we mentioned the doctor's name (who administered the shots) because the doctor had mentioned that he had been the pediatrician for all three kids of this particular family. When we mentioned his name, the husband's response was that he was " a necessary evil." The wife told me to never go to him and she gave me another name.
I can tell I am still kind of worked up about it all because after writing all this down, I could still feel my blood boiling. I think it is not just because of this incident but all my other experiences have left such a sour taste in my mouth....honestly, I have no confidence in the doctors here and it is a scary feeling to have.... I hope the next doctor we try is better.... please God!!!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Some recent photos
Elijah loves his rice cereal. Mommy loves his big brown eyes!
Elijah hanging out with Lindsay and Timothy. Too bad they are leaving for Africa....
Having fun with his toys in the morning...
He loves his tupper ware.
Elijah loves his "lovey," Patrush the Penguin, a gift from his cousins, Jesh and Seth.On a different note, we had Elijah's 6 months check-up and immunization done on Friday. Let's just say I was not a happy camper afterwards because of the mistake that the doctor made...but I'm too tired to write about it currently, so I'll save it for when I have more energy.
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