Sensitive Tummies

The weekend before Thanksgiving Emily got sick. It was easy to tell she was in pain and she was having 15-20 poopy diapers a day. Life was horrible. I tried tons of things but could not figure out what was wrong, so off to the pediatrician we went.

They fit us in immediately. They are always really good about fitting kids in but they were really worried about Emily because she was low on weight to begin with and did not want her dropping. Once there they checked a bunch of things and determined she has a milk protein allergy.

There are two ways to treat this:
- If breastfeeding the mom goes on an elimination diet. You cut out all dairy and gluten. It takes 3 weeks to start working on fixing the baby's problem. If it does not work then you need to remove more items from your diet and wait another 3 weeks and if it still does not work then you need to switch to hypoallergenic formula.
- Use hypoallergenic formula. This takes a max of 72 hours to start working.

The week before Emily got sick she went on a nursing strike. I was still pumping (I even was getting up in the middle of the night when she was sleeping to pump) but for some reason my supply dropped dramatically a few days after her strike started. Due to this she was only getting about a quarter breastmilk and I was driving myself crazy trying to pump as much as possible and run on absolutely no more sleep than an hour and a half at a time, sometimes less (due to her being awake and when I needed to pump).

This made the decision easy (well at least I thought it did). We switched to complete formula. Within hours I saw an improvement. That did not make the idea of losing my breastfeeding experience or the knowledge that breastmilk is best any easier. It took me a while but I now know that I am doing what is best for Emily. That does not stop people from making comments. Most of them are harmless but about 3 weeks ago I had a women stop me at the store when I was looking at the formula. She then informed me that breastfeeding was best. First I was stunned. I could not believe she was saying this to me. But I whipped out my best southern lady bitchy voice (that is right I was raised in the south and I know how to bitch you out like a lady). My response: "Why bless your heart. Thank you so much". She was slightly confused but wondered off and left me alone. I have no idea why people and society think they have the right to tell me how to feed my baby or what I should be doing with my ta-tas. Last time I checked they belong to me.

A few weeks into the new formula we noticed Emily was developing re-flux  She never had re-flux before and it was progressively getting worse. She normally changes her outfit 4-7 times a day and I have to change mine at least 2 times. She was also showing signs of pain. So back to the doctor we went. She got a prescription and the pain is now gone but the spit up is just as bad. Oh well as long as she is not in pain then we can deal with the rest.

The best part about switching to this formula is that she is now growing like crazy. In the first two weeks on it she gained 2.5 lbs and went from just out of newborn clothes to 3-6mo. She was always small in the 30th percentile and now is normal at 50th. Yay!

Christmas craft fail!

So back in October I started planing all the fun holiday things I wanted to do. Of course pinterest was a major inspiration. My problem with pinterest is that I don't have as much talent as I think I do.

I found this really cute first Christmas ornament where you use the baby's foot print. This is what it looked like. Here is the link to the original page.
 

I planned on changing it somewhat. My plan was to not put paint on the inside and to use glitter snow inside. Then have Emily's footprint with "Emily 2012" written in green. I also purchased red ribbon for the top.

I then had the brilliant idea that I should make one for all the different branches of the family and have these be gifts from Emily.

So with this in mind I went to Michaels and purchased all the materials. I bought 2 packs of clear glass ornaments, red paint, a paint pen, red ribbon and a pack of glitter snow.

My in-laws were spending Thanksgiving with us and I wanted all of their presents done before then so I could just send them home with them. (trying to avoid the post office). I also realized there was not going to be away for me to get her footprint on the ornaments by myself. I needed to enlist my husband to help.

That is easier said than done.

He procrastinated until the night before they were to arrive...

It was not pretty. There was paint everywhere and Emily was screaming like she was going to die. James decided it was not physically possible to make these. Then I started crying because I was sleep deprived and I really wanted to have these (also because I am a girl).

Emily's Footprint (3mo)

My response: "but I saw it on Pinterest, It has to be possible"

So I put it all away deciding I was a failure.

The next week my grandparents visited and I told my very crafty grandmother about the project. Grammie knows everything right? Well she does so we got to work on getting these footprints.

Again it was a huge mess. Paint everywhere. Screaming baby. But we were successful in getting some paint on ornaments. Unfortunately most of the footprints looked like they belonged to aliens. Most were missing toes and some had too many, all but one was 2 times as long as her actual foot.

I scraped the gift idea. But there was one perfect ornament (well as close to perfect as I was ever going to get). I decided this one was mine. But life happened and I kept putting off finishing.

Finally after much complaining from my husband (the supplies were sitting on the table for most of December) I completed the project. On Christmas Eve I wrote Emily's name and 2012 on the ornaments (I wrote on all of them just in case I messed up, knowing me that was entirely possible). The day after Christmas I put the snow in.

Putting snow in an ornament is harder than it sounds. Obviously you think, funnel. Well glitter snow clogs funnels. In the process I got snow all over my dinning room, the kitchen and the bathroom. I also somehow inhaled snow. Yep, it was not a good experience. I hacked and coughed for the rest of the day. But now I have a beautiful ornament

Thankful reflections

So I did not participate in the daily thankful announcements on Facebook this year in the month of November. But earlier today I was reflecting on my family and how blessed I am. I realized that my sister Melissa is one of the best things that happened to my family.

Some families have that "surprise" baby and she was ours. Always a surprise never a mistake as my mother made sure we knew growing up. But as I was thinking today I realized she was not a surprise she was a gift.

God blessed our family with a wonderful growing gift in the form of Melissa Marie. Or Lissa Ree if you are part of the family. Now every child is a gift from God but Melissa is one of those rays of sunlight that brightens every room. She is a genuinely giving and loving person and I don't know how our family would exist with out her. She completed our family and made us whole.

It has been wonderful to see her grow into an amazing young lady and cant wait to see where life will take her. Melissa is a wonderful example of Gods plan. He knew we needed her and I am so glad.
I love you Melissa and I feel so privileged to have you in my life.

Run away puppy!

Yesterday was a busy day. So after feeding the dog I put him in the back yard. I figured it would be alright for him to pretend he is a dog for a bit.

As I am feeding the baby, answering the phone and trying to find my shoes all at the same time when I hear a dog barking out front.

That bark sounds a lot like Slider. Why is it in the front?



AHHHHHHH! SOMEHOW HE GOT OUT OF THE BACK YARD!!!!!!!!

This runs through my head as the phone call ends. I quickly put the baby down. She starts screaming because she is not done eating.

I run to the door and there is a woman on my porch about to knock. She is in a robe and slippers.

"He got out" she said.

"Oh my God! How did this happen" I ask her

for some reason I assumed this complete stranger knew

Well she did! and told me my gate was open. She also said he was a good boy and when she tried to get him he turned around and ran home.

So I then run out the front door. By the way I never found those shoes and it rained the night before.

Slider had run back into the back yard so I followed him and went to close the gate.

We never open this gate and it was not just a little open it was all the way open and under some branches.

So I close it and follow Slider. He has run up the steps to the deck and is barking at the sliding glass door. I open it and he runs to the front door to bark at the lady who is no longer there.

Yes, my dog ran all the way around the house and then in and through it to bark at a person who followed him home and he was right next too.

This all happened before 8:30 am and before I had any coffee.

Good-bye Teddy!

So this post is a little behind but wanted to share :)

Yes, I am one of those adults that sleeps with a teddy bear. I received this teddy bear as a birthday present from my husband on my 19th birthday. It replaced what I slept with at the time, yes I took my baby blanket to college and I am perfectly fine with that.

This teddy bear has been much loved. It used to be fluffy and have sparkles and a pretty bow. Now he looks worse for wear. James bought him from Giant. He has sense bought me many stuffed animals but this one was always the favorite.

James kept telling me once I had a baby I could not have stuffed animals anymore. I insisted he was wrong.

Turns out he was right. I don't like being wrong so don't tell James I admitted it.

When Emily first came home from the hospital she was in our room. I insisted on still sleeping with my teddy bear. After about 4 days I realized that I would mother the teddy bear in my sleep thinking it was Emily and be completely confused when she started crying. Go ahead and laugh.

Yep, I was rocking the bear and probably singing to it (James sleeps like a log so he cant tell me). I was dreaming about taking care of Emily to wake up confused and out of place because I thought I was already holding her.

I determined that this was not healthy.

So, teddy was retired. Though I kind of miss him.


ps: James does too. He used to steal him from me in my sleep and still tries but teddy is not there :)

Trash Day!

The garbage man comes on Wednesdays. That is today. This is very important to know and remember because he only comes one time a week.

As I was changing Emily I hear the truck and realize it was Wednesday. Normally I check to make sure James put out the cans before bed but I forgot. I was sure he forgot too because he got home really late last night and had to go in early today.

So, I quickly put a half dressed Emily in her crib. I run to the stairs. I can see the truck is at the neighbors house through the window. I race down the stairs and jump the last few. I felt like I was flying. I can totally see why teenage boys and my husband do this all the time. I run around to the garage. I jump those stairs and open the garage at the same time. I slide around the car and .....


See that the garbage cans are not there! Yay! go Daddy!

I calmly walk back in the house and up the stairs feeling like a hero. Parents 1, Universe 0


Some of you may be wondering what the big deal is. Those of you have not had a 12 week old. There is no way that we could handle having 2 weeks of diapers in our garage. It would have to be condemned. The smell would probably waft up to the top floor and kill us in our sleep.

Mommy tip: Diaper Rash

When Emily was 2 weeks old I got an infection. I subsequently went on antibiotics. This gave poor Emily a horrible diaper rash.

We tried everything:
    - both types of desitin
    - butt paste
    - air drying

Nothing was working. So after 5 days when it was just getting worse I went to the doctor. He told us to use 1% hydrocortisone cream. After 3 uses the diaper rash was practically gone. It was amazing. Once I was off the antibiotics it went away completely but the cream defiantly made her feel better.

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and this cream will not work for all rashes (example: yeast infections)