Hearing M cry...

NEVER GETS ANY EASIER

I have been working on getting our afternoon nap to be more routine. M always gets a PM nap, but it was never at the same time because typically, we are on the go. Even though I feel like I am creating more opportunity to be stuck in the house...trapped by naps, I really think it is better for her to get good sleep in the afternoon. So after a couple of weeks of monitoring her tired cues, I decided that 4:15 ish made the most sense. This give me about 3 hours of free time to get things done out of the house between naps. (Almost) every day this week, when I have put her down for this 4:!5 nap, she screams and cries. I am soooo not used to that. I leave the room and just stare at the clock trying to decide what time I will go back in there if the crying does not stop. Today, 16 minutes went by. But then, SILENCE! At night when we put M down to bed, there is rarely any crying. If there is, it lasts no more than 5 minutes so 16 minutes feels like an eternity.

I am assuming that once we get this nap to be more consistent, like bed time, there will be less crying.

RIGHT?

Wordless Wednesday

Swing Swing Swing!

Thank goodness its Friday

So it turns out, Melanie has an ear infection. Poor sweet girl. After 3 days of an on again, off again fever and yucky congestion, I finally decided to call the doctor (again). The had us come in for an appointment that afternoon. Melanie and I went alone as Robbie was stuck at work. We saw a different doctor (at a different office). When we got there, M's cheeks were uber-rosy in fact I had multiple people ask me if she had a fever etc. She was no feeling well. Her temp was 101.3 and her heart rate was a little high (although nothing to be worried about). Oh and she weighed 19 lbs and 12 ounces!!!

The doctor came in and did his thing. When he looked into her ears, she said, "Mom, I am not sure I like what I see." I was trying to process what he said when he told me I needed to hold M down as he was going to clean her ears out. M did great, fussing and squirming a bit but nothing near as bad as I thought it was going to be. After he cleaned them out, he looked again and told me that she had an ear infection. The cold she had, caused it. The good news was, that antibiotics would clear it up right away. So off we went to the pharmacy to fill our script.

That was was Wednesday. Today (Friday) M is doing much better. Still lots of snot but not nearly as much and no sign of a fever. I am so relieved. I just do not like seeing my little munchkin sick.

Poor baby...

My poor baby girl is sick. This is the first real "sick" she has ever been. When we were in Hawaii in early December, she had the sniffles and I thought she was sick. But now I know she was not. SHE IS SICK NOW! It started Saturday with a cough. Out of no where, this wet, mucousy cough appeared. At first, we thought it was a result of all the drooling she has been doing lately. Dr. K told us before that sometimes, excess drool can pool up in the throat and make babies cough. But when the coughing turned into congestion and then a fever, we knew it was more than teething. She has been such a trooper. Still smiling and laughing but in between eat happy session, there are snot bubbles, dripping eyes, and that horrible cough. Today after her morning nap, she woke up without a fever and for a while, I thought she was on the mend. But when she was not that interested in her oatmeal and carrots, I knew something was wrong. (The girl loves to eat). So I I took her temp again and it was back up to 100.6. Not crazy-high but high enough to know she was not feeling well.

We spent the afternoon, nursing and playing and wiping snot. I used the snot-sucker a couple of times and she was soooo mad at me. It really defeated the purpose because after I used it, she began to bawl and thus creating more snot. At about 3 PM, my babydoll was so sad. He temp was back up, despite another dose of acetaminophen so I decided to call the doctor. I spoke to someone who took down all the info and said she would page the advice nurse or the doctor on call. About an hour or so later, the RN called. She told me what we already knew and that was we were doing the right thing. If her temp was up again tomorrow, to call them back. She recommended saline spray for M's nose to try to flush everything out and some warm water on a spoon to lubricate her throat since milk is sticky.

M is a trooper. Throughout all of this she has continued to sleep well. She cough in her sleep a ton but some how does not wake herself up...or she just falls right back to sleep immediately.

Throughout all the tears etc. today, I was able to catch a cute photo (on my phone) of M riding her new "pony." I found this new toy as Ross yesterday for $4.99. She really likes it.

Over the hump

I have been feeling kind of icky these last few days. Not sick icky, more like down in the dumps icky. Typically for me, that stems from weight. I gained just about 33 pounds when I was pregnant. I was so proud of myself for not gaining more. I never had one of those crazy pregnancy related cravings that sent my husband to a drive though at 2 AM. (Robbie wants me to point out that he would not have gone for me anyway... nice guy). I ate when I was hungry and although that was more often than normal, I gained less than the max of 35 my OB recommended. I also went to a weekly prenatal yoga class and Robbie, Tillee (the dog) and I walked about 3 miles almost every night.

My recovery after having M was pretty easy. I was out walking again very quickly and in no time, I was back doing my 3 mile neighborhood loop, with M strapped to my chest at least once a day. The weight just fell off. By the time M was 3 months old, I had lost all of the baby weight and but the time she was 4.5 months, I had lost an additional 10 which put me back to my wedding weight! I can give lots of the credit to breastfeeding as it burns somewhere between 500-750 calories/day.

But now, M is almost 7 months and I have plateaued. I should be proud that I have not gained a bunch of it back. Instead however, I am frustrated with myself that I am not taking full advantage of this opportunity. The weather got yucky (cold and rainy) and I took a break from walking. In addition, I seem to be hungry all the time. I know that I am supposed to be eating more because of the nursing but I feel like I need to eat all day long! The two combined are creating the issue. So yesterday, I got my tush back out to the pavement and walked. Today, I did the same. I feel good but know that I need to keep it up in order to see some progress. I figure if I can walk daily and just adjust my eating a tiny bit, I should be able to see some progress.

I will keep you updated.

Garbage in, garbage out

A week or so ago we started Melanie on carrots. Since we do the solids in the afternoon, evidence of what Melanie has eaten does not appear until the next day. So the morning after the first carrot feeding, Robbie sends me an email at work titled, Garbage in, garbage out. He proceeds to tell me that that is an old engineering phrase and that the same applies to carrots... or poop! Lets just say that baby poop certainly changes when solid food is introduced.