November 21

Happy 11 months to my beautiful daughter! I'd insert some recent pictures here, but I'm at work and don't have my memory card with me. Just trust me when I say she is gorgeous. ( :

I don't have a whole lot to report. No new developments. We thought a few weeks ago that Claire's top teeth might be making an appearnce soon (so far she only has 2 on the bottom), but so far that hasn't happened. Not that I'm rushing it! I'm sure there will be a few bites to my boobs when the next teeth emerge, and I'm not lookin forward to that! (It hurts bad enough now, and there's only gums on top, ha!) She still hasn't graduated to REALLY walking yet, although she does let go of our fingers more and more now to walk on her own. Which terrifies us, so we usually end up walking behind her with our arms out making a circle around her. lol.

Tomorrow we go to a pediatric urologist in Cary. Claire had a UTI last month (while we were on vacation, of course!), and her regular pediatrician referred us to this specialist. I'm not really sure why. Sometimes doctors send babies to specialists with their first UTI, and some doctors wait until they get a 2nd one. But we had her renal system ultrasounded last month, and it showed some swelling of the ureter. But Dr. Cook said it was probably due to the infection, so we didn't worry too much. Then Claire just wasn't actin right one day, so I took her back to Dr. Cook, who called the specialist, who said he wanted to see her. We also had a VCUG test done, which basically checks to see if she has kidney reflux. (Instead of urine goin from the kidneys to the bladder and out, with reflux the urine goes back up into the kidneys. Which causes frequent infections and can end up damaging the kidneys.) Thankfully, the VCUG test was negative, though the radiologist's notes said that Claire's bladder wasn't emptying all the way. No one has said if that was a problem or not. We'll find out tomorrow, I guess. I do want to talk to the specialist because I feel like Claire pees a LOT. I don't have any previous experience with baby girls, but even Paul's mama said she pees an awful lot. Kidney problems run in my family, so I'm not taking any chances here. (And my 2 year old cousin has kidney reflux. SHe's been on antibiotics for a year now, and might have to have surgery.)

Paul and I are also gearing up to start planning for Caire's 1st birthday party. Its hard since its so close to Christmas, and so much is going on at that time. Plus, I don't want to have the party on her actual birthday. Its on a Wednesday, and we'll be at work and then she usually goes to bed around 8-8:30, so a party would be hard to squeeze in. Obviously, we can't have the party the weekend after her birthday, since that's Christmas. And the weekend before already has a lot goin on. We haven't decided anything yet. My mother wants to have a huge party and invite everyone in both our churches, plus our entire families. But Paul and I don't want that. We want something small and quiet. Should be interesting to see what actually happens.

So. I'm leaving work early tomorrow to go to Cary, my boss will be gone on Wednesday, and I'm off Thursday and Friday (Thanksgiving). Not a bad week!