4th Month of Claire

November 1st-November 30th, 2021

We got Claire's 3 month pictures shortly after her 3 month birthday.  She was very skeptical of the photographer but we got a few good ones!

All 3 kids wanted to cuddle Mom.  I need a bigger lap these days!

Blake has been saying his first and middle name lately and I love how he says "William"

Claire has been so cute and giggly!  The absolute best sound!

We got family pictures again with Greg's family now that Claire is here and our family is complete! We went out to eat after the pictures and Blake did great with his food!  He didn't complain once. And Grandpa got some good Claire snuggles.

Claire is getting so strong with her tummy time!  She doesn't always love tummy time and it doesn't always last very long but she is getting good at it!

The only way I can get stuff done in the house without Claire whining for me to pick her up is to turn on Cocomelon and I will get a few minutes of quiet to clean or do the dishes.

Claire LOVES her brothers!  And they are very entertaining.  I think she even gets bored when she is home with me and they are at school.

Claire loves to giggle during bath time and bedtime.  She loves the undivided attention.

Grant had his first friend's birthday this year at Rainbow and the kids were able to play on all the playgrounds and trampolines.  We had pizza and cake.  He had a blast!

Grant had 3 birthday parties this year!  A birthday party with the Young's, Chalik's and friends. He was one lucky kid!

Claire got an ear infection from her Covid infection.  She did one round of antibiotics and it still wasn't healed.  We gave one day of Augmentin and it caused a rash and vomiting/diarrhea.  We went the next day to the doctor and they said her ears were fine so we stopped antibiotics and added Penicillin to her allergy list!

We put Claire in the bouncer for the first time and she loved it!  All these new toys to explore!

She also got to sit in her bumbo seat for the first time!  She falls over to the side and knocks all the toys off constantly but it is a new place to play.

Claire is trying to roll over!  She can't figure out how to get all the way over yet.  The video with Blake in the background telling me he loves me just makes my heart happy.  I love when kids randomly tell me they love me because I just love them so much!

Claire  got baptized at Hope!  Leslie, Tracee and Kellie were our god parents. Greg and I were not very happy with Hope's baptism (they didn't even include god parents) but luckily we were the last one so we got a little more time up at the fountain.  They all came over to our house after to have dinner and cake.

Blake woke up November 20th having constant seizures.  He would basically just sit and stare at nothing with his eyes half closed and occasionally jerk.  It was so horrible to watch.  It was hard to get the jerks on camera because they were so quick but we tried a few times so the doctor would be able to see what we are talking about.  We have no idea what could have changed.  He has been doing so well with his Keto and seizure free for 3 weeks before this. We had just saw neurology and were so hopeful Keto was going to be the answer.  He had one breakthrough seizure when he refused a nap and got over tired.  Then slowly over the week a few more seizures to this Saturday morning.  We called Iowa City Neurology and they gave us a rescue medicine, clonazepam, to him and it made him go CRAZY!  It was like a stimulant to him and he was off the walls and these very crazy tantrums that we have never seen before.  We gave it to him Saturday and Sunday and I will never give him that medicine again.  We took him to a functional medicine doctor to try something before medicine but the options the functional doctor gave us made us nervous to do with a 2.5 year old who can't tell us how he was feeling.  I am doing a ton of research and I still think Greg and I are going to try and find alternative options also but Blake needs medicine right now to control his constant seizures.  We ended up starting him on Keppra Monday November 22.  It was a very hard decision for Greg and I and there were lots a tears but we knew this is what we had to do for Blake.  We were titrating up slowly and he was still having breakthrough seizures but also refusing to eat.  When we already had such a limited diet with Keto, it was very stressful.  We tried dairy free Keto for a short while and that made Blakes refusal to eat worse.  When you are on Keto you have a lower blood sugar so if you don't eat it can get dangerously low quickly, especially in a little kid.  That next weekend on Sunday Blake was very out of it and was just laying in his bed lethargic not really moving.  It scared the crap out of me and we went to the ER.  I ended up giving him an applesauce before going into the ER and we was a lot better after that.  Greg and I want to stop Keto since it is now not working but out Doctor wants us to continue to give it a fair chance.  We are doing the best we can right now and he is going to get an EEG in December but we are hoping Keppra works for us and we can get out Blakey boy back!

Claire has SO much hair already!  I have no idea what to do with it and once night Greg gave her a mohawk.

The kids in Grant's class love the song "I feel like a Monster" from the movie Sonic and the boys love dancing to it.  We love Blake's arms when he dances and really love just watching out kids dance.

Claire and I are still nursing and I have gotten her to nurse and sleep on me in bed when she is fussy when she won't nap and I secretly love this.  I love when we can nap together in my bed.

We had a bad Thanksgiving.  Blake was still having constant seizures so I stayed home with Claire and Blake and Greg took Grant to Webster City to see the family.  My mom came over to bring me dinner since I had to miss the family dinners but at least Claire gave me these cute giggles to make it better.

We put up our Christmas tree and the boys loved helping! They were such big helpers and we are all excited for the holiday season coming up.

Claire is 4 months!  She is 15lbs and 6oz.  We are going to switch her to the crib this month but I have also been saying that every month since she was born so we will see.  It was nice to have that elevation in the rock n play when she was congested with covid but she is starting to try and roll over so it is time to transition.  She is happy and giggly when she isn't sick with her first ear infection and covid.  We just love this cute and smiley baby!