15 months: Allergies, Rashes & Stitches

Yep, you read the title right....

Allergies, Rashes & Stitches (Oh My!)
It has been a rough one for Claire this past week.
Claire turned 15 months on the 9th. I am a little late on her 15 month post because of all the craziness of Project 320 & designing Holiday Cards.
Claire is still a super happy easy going baby/toddler.
(Unless you take her to see Santa)
Her personality is showing more and more each day. She is FUN!
Claire is always on the go! Talk about a ball of energy. Wow.
She is a VERY busy girl & gets into EVERYTHING.
(My mom says she reminds her of me when I was a baby...hmm.
You know what they say about payback.....)
We didn't have to childproof anything with Kate. Claire is a different story.
We need child locks, ASAP. She is VERY curious!
Oh yeah, and she likes to climb things. We have a monkey on our hands!
Here she is trying to climb into her crib. yikes.
But, she has been starting to become interested in books.
She will sit and look at books for 2 minutes. Amazing!
She loves ALL food & will eat anything you put in front of her (unlike her older sister)
Her 15 month stats are:
Weight: 21 lbs 8 oz (25th percentile)
Height: 31 inches (50th percentile)
Claire has 12 teeth!!! 4 on the top and bottom & all 4 molars. She is a great teether & got 5 teeth at once and I had no idea until I looked in her mouth one day & all 4 molars had poked through. What a trooper. Her bottom eye teeth look like they are going to pop through any moment. They are so swollen.
She babbles & talks non stop (also like her mommy!)
She said her first sentence yesterday as I was leaving for school, "Bye Bye Momma" and then she waved.
Other words she loves to say are: Mama, Dada, BoBo, Byebye, Baby, beep beep, boo, No N0, Ball, Baba, Moo, mook (milk), hiya, Mimi, bonk-bonk & dog.

At Claire's 15 month appointment, I mentioned to our pediatrician that Claire had been battling a big diaper rash on and off since I weaned her in September. About 2 weeks ago, Claire got a little rash on her rash, around her nose, so that concerned me as well. I wasn't sure if it was eczema, dry skin, or a reaction to something. I had been putting hydro-coritzone cream on it & also Aquaphor. You can see it if you click this picture:

Her doctor thought it might be a possible milk allergy (since the rash started when I weaned Claire & she went on cow's milk) so she told me to give her Soy milk or Lactaid for a month to see if it cleared up. Well, the soy milk made it worse, so we are just giving her Lactaid. We go back in a few weeks for another check up.

In the meantime...Claire had an appt at the dermotologist this week because about 6 months ago I noticed a tiny mole this size of a pencil tip on her inner right ankle. Well, it has been getting bigger & darker the past few months & is now about the size of a marker/sharpie pen mark.
See?
Because skin cancer runs in my family, I decided to get it checked out by the dermatologist.
Well, the dermotologist didn't like the look of it, so instead of just taking a biopsy of it, she decided to REMOVE the ENTIRE mole & have that biopsied.
Oh yeah, and because they cut it out, Claire needed STITCHES!!!
My poor baby. I held her the entire time, but looked away.
If you know me, you know I don't do medical stuff. *shudder*
Let's just say Claire was NOT a happy camper at that appointment. Myself AND the nurse had to restrain Claire. I was SWEATING when it was over. Claire is STRONG! We go back next week to get the stitches out & by then we will get the results. Please pray for it to be benign!
Claire's stiches:
Oh yeah, and the dermatologist noticed Claire's rash on her face & she doesn't think it is a milk allergy (because the rash is only on her face) She diagnosed the rash as periol-dermatitis, which is a viral skin rash & now Claire is on antibiotics for 8 WEEKS! She is taking ammoxocilin & we are hoping she doesnt get an allergic reaction to that since Kevin and I are both allergic to penicillin.
When they both have their hair in pigtails like this, I think the girls look like they are actually sisters!
So, it has been quite a week! I have still not recovered from my lack of sleep from the Project 320 weekend. And, I am still getting Christmas card orders, and both girls have been sleeping terribly this week.
The good news is I am officially on Christmas break from school & for the next 2 weeks, I am looking forward to making Christmas crafts, baking, cooking, watching cheesy Christmas movies on Lifetime & spending time with family & friends and reflecting on Christ's birth.