Screams

Well, St Nick came last week, right on schedule.  He brought Christmas CDs and egg nog, but he also brought us the flu and night terrors.  And one exhausted mom.  Troy had the flu, which completely took him out of commission for Thursday and Friday.  We tried to keep him away from Kera as much as possible, so that she wouldn't get it.  Which meant that I watched her all day and then tried to work after she went to bed.
We avoided Kera getting the flu, but she did pick up a head cold.  Poor thing can't breathe very well through her nose, so it's hard for her to drink her bottle or suck on her pacifier.  We're pretty strict about her only having her pacifier when she's in bed, so it's not horrible, but you can just tell that she's miserable.
Just as Troy was getting over the flu and Kera was starting to get her cold, my excellent little sleeper started shrieking during the night, screaming so hard that I was sure something was terribly wrong.  It scared us half to death, and I started spending quite a few night hours rocking her and trying to get her to go back to sleep.  I'm still not completely sure what is going on... I've read some opinions online, talked to some moms and even talked to our doctor.  So, it could just be a side effect of being sick, it could be night terrors, it could be separation anxiety, or it could be something that I haven't even thought of.  But it's exhausting for me.
It's been a big debate between Troy and I whether we let her cry or pick her up and hold her.   While I always want her to be happy and feel safe and secure, I also don't want her to think that she'll get her way by crying.  So where's the happy medium?  While I know that some of the screaming is out of fear, I also can tell that some of it is just wanting to be held and wanting to get her way.  I'm starting to be able to tell the difference, so I'm kind of using different tactics for the different kinds of screams.  But I'm still praying that this is over with soon.
We went to the doctor today for her 9 month checkup.  It was pretty good timing, considering the cold and the sleep issues, but all seems well.  She gained some weight and is up to 16 lbs 14 oz now.  That's still only in the 13th percentile, so she's a little petite, but that's to be expected.  What was NOT expected is that she grew 3 inches in the last three months!  We had noticed that she outgrew some of her clothes last week, but I didn't think it was THAT much!  The impressive part is that it put her into the 41st percentile for height!!!!  The doctor was completely shocked and we even remeasured her.
Well, my exhaustion is kicking in and my last load of laundry is finished, so I'll wrap this up.  Unfortunately, I've been horrible about taking pictures with everything else going on, but here are a few.