16 Months

**Had this in my saved drafts, but never posted. So lets just pretend this was posted in October**

Oh Kaylee,
You are 16 months old today and you love to talk about yourself in third person. The nice thing about this (besides how cute it is) is that you have held off on learning the word, "Mine!" Instead when you want something you say, "KyKy." and somehow that seems significantly less rude. My favorites are when I am eating something and you point to your tiny mouth and say "KyKy", how can I not share! You also love saying, "bye bye" to things like, "bye bye me me" (me me is light night night) when you wake up. Or when you finish eating you say, "bye bye num". You also use this to say, "get away from me" like when I am trying to change your diaper or put you in clothes.

Things You Like: You love love love your baby doll. You breastfeed her, you give her kisses, you shhh shhh her when she is sad. You bring her on walks and in the car. It is fun to see how loving and sweet you are to your baby. 

Things You Dislike: Now that the days are getting shorter you really despise when we are driving and the sun gets in your eyes. The first time it happened I thought you were dying in the back seat. Now I know that my little princess (who from day one acted like death was upon her when the sun shone into your delicate blue eyes) is simply shrieking and curing st the sun. It took you so long to learn to tolerate your car seat and now I get to relive the joys of hearing your screams in the back seat!

What I Like About This Age: Your attention span is so much longer. I can actually get things done around the house while you play with your books, puzzles, feet, whatever. Getting chores done is less of a chore because you are pretty content just playing by yourself. Most of the challenges about babyhood are a distant memory although knew ones naturally have cropped up. I am enjoying toddler hood more and more each day, tantrums and all.

One Of My Favorite Days

Two years ago today I found out that I would finally be a mommy with two little pink lines on a pregnancy test. I had no idea that day two years ago how much bliss, extreme laughter, overwhelming love, and joy the rest of my life would be filled with.

Update On All My Natural Supplements

I have been researching a lot about natural supplements. I am no longer willing to do only as my doctor prescribes (although I will always continue to do all that he prescribes). There are so many other options outside of the medical world and as I feel more and more desperate to be as healthy as possible for my daughter I am now delving into the natural side of treating CF.

Part of me wants to start all the supplements I have been researching right away and see how it improves my health. The problem is I am the daughter of a scientist and so for me, this just isn't possible. I want to make sure each supplement works for me and that I can feel the difference. I don't want to waste time and money on things that don't work for my body.

I started juicing in April and after deciding I felt a positive difference, I enjoyed the taste, and genuinely liked juicing so I decided I continue to juice.

In June I started L-Glutathione and noticed a HUGE difference and loved the change. I decided it was absolutely worth my time and the cost. The first night of using it my mucus was so thin I actually woke up gurgling. This was such a dramatic difference that I instantly wished that I had done L-Glut since my diagnosis. But then, something not so miraculous happened. I started to feel tight. It was subtle at first, but over the next few days I felt much more tight to the point that I became hard to breath let alone move mucus at all. The only change I had made was L-Glut (which is why I didn't start everything new at once) so I immediately stopped it. I felt some relief within a day or two. In order to be a good scientist I want to try L-Glut again and see if it was a fluke (something in the air that made me tight like an allergen) or if it really was the cause of my extreme tightness. Honestly, I have been a little nervous to try again.

In July I started Fizzy NAC for the second time in my life. I felt like I had positive results two years ago when I was using it, but stopped when I got pregnant with K. I am not as impressed with it this time around. I don't seem to feel a huge difference, but my health has been a little rocky since I got the flu last winter and so maybe it is just harder to tell the difference it is making. I am still using it, but have not decided if I am going to buy another shipment.

In late June I started Liposomal Vitamin C. Again, I am not 100% convinced it does much. I haven't noticed the difference that a lot of my CF friends have noticed. I wonder if I was getting enough Vit C through my diet so I didn't really see a difference. Again, I am not sure if I will be buying more when my bottle runs out.

Finding Answers

Tomorrow I am finally getting assistance in finding some answers to my PICC problem. Apparently, my body is allergic to everything PICC related. The PICC nurses always assured me that this time, yes, this time they found a dressing that would not irritate my skin. As you can tell from the link above they are wrong every single time. In fact, my reactions keep getting significantly worse.

So tomorrow morning at 10 on the 5th floor on the hospital they are going to try to figure out what it is I am actually allergic to (everything??). I will be covered in the all the hypoallergenic, non irritating, gentle adhesives the hospital has to offer. I will be swabbed with all sorts of skin cleaning solutions (EXCEPT Chloroprep which is a death sentence to my skin), and I will even be injected with Lidocaine (apparently you can be allergic to the preservatives in it) just to see once and for all what it is I am allergic to. And if all goes well they will take what they learned to apply to my next PICC which should be placed early next week.

Am I pessimistic if I admit I am not 100% sure this will actually solve the problem? I swear I keep developing new allergies to anything PICC related. I worry we will find a solution only to realize five days in that I am actually allergic to it after all.