Happy 3rd Birthday to the sweetest little boy I have ever known.
.jpg)
3 years ago you made me a mother...
.jpg)
And being your mother has been the most incredible experience of my life.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Happy Birthday Noah!
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Sick Again!
Last Thursday I wrote about a really crappy night of sleep courtesy of dear Isaiah. I said I wasn't worried about it because (and I quote) "this likely won't be repeated tonight."
Well, turns out it was repeated the next 4 or 5 nights! Haha. No seriously. The next night at Isaiah's first wake up I heard how congested he was, and he continued to wake up about every 2 hours all night, with some long awake periods. He's been sick for the past week. Poor little guy. He's still really congested. I have to use a saline spray and the Nosefrida on him before almost every time we nurse because he can't get any air through his nostrils.
I have no idea where this virus came from, because none of the rest of us are sick and we didn't spend any time around anyone who was sick. It's a mystery. I also have no idea how I got through Noah being sick so often when he was 0-18 months old without a Nosefrida. Seriously, NO IDEA. That thing is amazing.
Isaiah has been pretty cranky for the past week. Between teething and his cold (and sometimes being hungry because he's too congested to be able to nurse), he's been a big ball of crank. Thankfully it is March Break, so Justin has been home for some moral support.
Back to the sleep thing though... The past few nights have been better because Isaiah has gotten used to being congested and has stopped protesting having to breathe through his mouth. Last night he slept 7:45 to 5:15am, then after about half an hour of being awake he went back to sleep until 8:30am. I went to sleep around 10pm and then stayed in bed until 8am (Justin was up with Noah)... it was amazing!
Picture time!
.jpg)
Well, turns out it was repeated the next 4 or 5 nights! Haha. No seriously. The next night at Isaiah's first wake up I heard how congested he was, and he continued to wake up about every 2 hours all night, with some long awake periods. He's been sick for the past week. Poor little guy. He's still really congested. I have to use a saline spray and the Nosefrida on him before almost every time we nurse because he can't get any air through his nostrils.
I have no idea where this virus came from, because none of the rest of us are sick and we didn't spend any time around anyone who was sick. It's a mystery. I also have no idea how I got through Noah being sick so often when he was 0-18 months old without a Nosefrida. Seriously, NO IDEA. That thing is amazing.
Isaiah has been pretty cranky for the past week. Between teething and his cold (and sometimes being hungry because he's too congested to be able to nurse), he's been a big ball of crank. Thankfully it is March Break, so Justin has been home for some moral support.
Back to the sleep thing though... The past few nights have been better because Isaiah has gotten used to being congested and has stopped protesting having to breathe through his mouth. Last night he slept 7:45 to 5:15am, then after about half an hour of being awake he went back to sleep until 8:30am. I went to sleep around 10pm and then stayed in bed until 8am (Justin was up with Noah)... it was amazing!
Picture time!
As Isaiah gets older he gets blonder:
.jpg)
He's got the hands and knees thing down... and he can end up halfway across the room independently, but he just can't seem to get the cross crawling thing down ;)
I did not tell Noah to get in the picture... he just kept going next to Isaiah and making ridiculous faces. This picture cracked me up:
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Mini-Babywearer
I just found this picture from back in December...
.jpg)
And then I died from the cuteness.
Apparently I Don't Blog, But My Kid is Moving
Apparently I don't blog anymore. I don't really know what's going on except that I just don't have time to sit down and write actual posts. My kids won't tolerate it. The only reason I'm writing this one is because Isaiah is sleeping in (more on that in a minute) and Noah is playing on my iPod. Although as soon as I started typing this Noah asked "Can I go get Isaiah? Is he awake?" No, no you may not.
So, it's 8:30 and Isaiah is sleeping in, and here's why. This is what his night looked like last night:
7:25 - 10:30 - sleep (3 hours 5 minutes)
10:30-10:40 - nurse
10:40 - 1:15 - sleep (2 hours 35 minutes)
1:15 - 1:25 - nurse
1:25 - 3:45 - sleep (2 hours 20 minutes)
3:45 - 3:55 - nurse
3:55 - 5:20 - AWAKE... for 1 hour and 25 minutes
5:20 - 6:50 - sleep (1 hour 30 minutes)
7:00 - 7:10 - nurse
7:10 - 8:35 and counting - sleep
What the heck. Obviously I could do without the getting up every 1-3 hours, but that hour and a half long party in the wee hours of the morning was definitely the kicker. I mean, I still have to get up at 6:45 regardless of whether Isaiah decides sleeping is for the birds.
Thankfully I've been a mom for long enough to know that a) this is completely normal and to be expected, and therefore not the end of the world, and b) this likely won't be repeated tonight. And since we cosleep I also didn't have to walk around the house or rock in a rocking chair while he was awake. I just lied beside him and pretended to be asleep while he laid his head on my arms and sides and back (depending on what position I was in. Then finally I laid on my stomach next to him with my left arm draped over him body, and he drifted off.
This leads me to another point... this kid is getting mobile. He isn't army crawling forward, but he's going backward. He is spinning in circles and can end up feet awake from where he's placed on the floor. And finally... he's pushing himself up on his hands and knees. Like, fully pushing himself up. As in, 3 inches of daylight between his belly and the floor. Since he turned 5 months old.
What??
I was hoping since we cosleep that he'd take longer than Noah to become mobile (Noah was a very early mover and crawler). Apparently not.
So, it's 8:30 and Isaiah is sleeping in, and here's why. This is what his night looked like last night:
7:25 - 10:30 - sleep (3 hours 5 minutes)
10:30-10:40 - nurse
10:40 - 1:15 - sleep (2 hours 35 minutes)
1:15 - 1:25 - nurse
1:25 - 3:45 - sleep (2 hours 20 minutes)
3:45 - 3:55 - nurse
3:55 - 5:20 - AWAKE... for 1 hour and 25 minutes
5:20 - 6:50 - sleep (1 hour 30 minutes)
7:00 - 7:10 - nurse
7:10 - 8:35 and counting - sleep
What the heck. Obviously I could do without the getting up every 1-3 hours, but that hour and a half long party in the wee hours of the morning was definitely the kicker. I mean, I still have to get up at 6:45 regardless of whether Isaiah decides sleeping is for the birds.
Thankfully I've been a mom for long enough to know that a) this is completely normal and to be expected, and therefore not the end of the world, and b) this likely won't be repeated tonight. And since we cosleep I also didn't have to walk around the house or rock in a rocking chair while he was awake. I just lied beside him and pretended to be asleep while he laid his head on my arms and sides and back (depending on what position I was in. Then finally I laid on my stomach next to him with my left arm draped over him body, and he drifted off.
This leads me to another point... this kid is getting mobile. He isn't army crawling forward, but he's going backward. He is spinning in circles and can end up feet awake from where he's placed on the floor. And finally... he's pushing himself up on his hands and knees. Like, fully pushing himself up. As in, 3 inches of daylight between his belly and the floor. Since he turned 5 months old.
What??
I was hoping since we cosleep that he'd take longer than Noah to become mobile (Noah was a very early mover and crawler). Apparently not.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Isaiah is 5 Months Old!
This is 5 days late... does it count that I've been thinking about it since before he turned 5 months?
-He is 27.25 inches tall and in 9 month clothing. He's grown almost 2 inches in the past month and can't squeeze into 6 month at all anymore.
-His head circumference is about 17 inches.
-Same as last month, he is on the medium rise setting on his diapers. Even though we have hundreds of diapers (I'm slowly selling off the pocket diapers that there is no chance of me using anymore), we exclusively use Flip covers with various inserts (stay dry, organic cotton, Thirsties inserts, flats, or prefolds) during the day, with a few bumGenius Freetimes thrown in, mostly for Daddy. At night he wears an sbish snapless fitted (with both doublers) with a Blueberry one size cover with aplix. The rise on the cover is completely unsnapped to fit over the fitted.
-He still has those two bottom teeth playing peekaboo, and his bottom gums are swelling out in other areas, so I think some of his other teeth are moving around. The poor baby's stubborn teeth just won't poke all the way through!
-He has no bottles ever, nor will he ever have one unless something horrible happens, like me ending up in the hospital on my deathbed unable to breastfeed.
-We've been cosleeping for over a month, and we love it. He sleeps like an infant is supposed to - getting up to nurse anywhere from 1 to 3 times in the night. He can fall asleep if I put him down when he's awake, as long as he's calm and relaxed. I lie there with him, though.
-Same as last month, he is on the medium rise setting on his diapers. Even though we have hundreds of diapers (I'm slowly selling off the pocket diapers that there is no chance of me using anymore), we exclusively use Flip covers with various inserts (stay dry, organic cotton, Thirsties inserts, flats, or prefolds) during the day, with a few bumGenius Freetimes thrown in, mostly for Daddy. At night he wears an sbish snapless fitted (with both doublers) with a Blueberry one size cover with aplix. The rise on the cover is completely unsnapped to fit over the fitted.
-He still has those two bottom teeth playing peekaboo, and his bottom gums are swelling out in other areas, so I think some of his other teeth are moving around. The poor baby's stubborn teeth just won't poke all the way through!
-He has no bottles ever, nor will he ever have one unless something horrible happens, like me ending up in the hospital on my deathbed unable to breastfeed.
-We've been cosleeping for over a month, and we love it. He sleeps like an infant is supposed to - getting up to nurse anywhere from 1 to 3 times in the night. He can fall asleep if I put him down when he's awake, as long as he's calm and relaxed. I lie there with him, though.
-Overall he sleeps about 11.5-12 hours at night, and goes to bed between 7 and 8, depending on when he woke up from his final nap - right now it's usually closer to 7.
-Isaiah doesn't nap in a crib anymore, just on me while I wear him (which is what we're doing right now). His naps are usually 30-40 minutes, but occasionally we get one around an hour long.
-Isaiah doesn't nap in a crib anymore, just on me while I wear him (which is what we're doing right now). His naps are usually 30-40 minutes, but occasionally we get one around an hour long.
-He is down to 3 naps a day, which isn't a lot of napping time considering his naps are usually only 30-40 minutes long, but it seems to be all he needs. Apparently I breed children who need freakishly short naps.
-He still sleeps on his tummy, which I am less nervous about now that we cosleep.
-Isaiah is THE happiest baby I have ever met. His constant enormous smile makes us all smile constantly, too. I love his shrieks and giggles and how he "talks" to us. He has such an awesome personality.
-He's getting very good at grabbing things and putting them in his mouth.
-He rolled over for the first time at 15 months (front to back), and didn't do it again until 19 weeks when he started going both ways. Then he didn't really do it much until the week before he turned 5 months. Now he's just like Noah was at the same age - if you lay him down on his back he will immediately roll onto his front.
-He is friendly to people and smiles at them when they talk to and smile at him, but he's very selective about who he wants to hold him. He is obviously awesome with me, good with Justin, good with my mom or sister, but kind of awful with my inlaws. He likes them from afar, but if they even start talking about holding him he gets a scared look on his face and will start crying. So weird.
.jpg)
.jpg)
-He still sleeps on his tummy, which I am less nervous about now that we cosleep.
-Isaiah is THE happiest baby I have ever met. His constant enormous smile makes us all smile constantly, too. I love his shrieks and giggles and how he "talks" to us. He has such an awesome personality.
-He's getting very good at grabbing things and putting them in his mouth.
-He rolled over for the first time at 15 months (front to back), and didn't do it again until 19 weeks when he started going both ways. Then he didn't really do it much until the week before he turned 5 months. Now he's just like Noah was at the same age - if you lay him down on his back he will immediately roll onto his front.
-He is friendly to people and smiles at them when they talk to and smile at him, but he's very selective about who he wants to hold him. He is obviously awesome with me, good with Justin, good with my mom or sister, but kind of awful with my inlaws. He likes them from afar, but if they even start talking about holding him he gets a scared look on his face and will start crying. So weird.
-He really likes his Dad, I think maybe more than Noah did when he was this age, but my memory might be skewed because once Noah was about 6 or 7 months (and for a long time after that) he had a HUGE preference for me, and it sometimes seemed like he didn't even like his Dad (which was sad and ridiculous because Justin is the world's greatest Dad!)
-He can sit independently for up to 15 seconds if he's interested in balancing himself properly. He is nowhere near mastering this, but I have no doubt that by 6 months he'll be sitting independently.
-He loves Noah!
-We still babywear all the time, which makes us all very happy, and our carrier stash continues to grow. I've sold a ton of carriers, but I'm pretty sure I have about 25 right now. I honestly lost track, and I need to do inventory.
-Evenings are no longer witching hours for Isaiah. He's pretty happy, the only difference is that if he is tired, he NEEDS to be with me. If Justin is carrying him around while I get stuff ready for bed he will start to WAIL, and then stop as soon as I take him. We can hold this off for a bit if Justin follows me around while I get stuff ready, but he HAS to see me. It's only when he's feeling tired, but as soon as I take him he can often be perfectly happy for another half hour before starting bedtime routine. We find it rather amusing.
-He still has all his baths in the kitchen sink because it's easier for me.
-He can sit independently for up to 15 seconds if he's interested in balancing himself properly. He is nowhere near mastering this, but I have no doubt that by 6 months he'll be sitting independently.
-He loves Noah!
-We still babywear all the time, which makes us all very happy, and our carrier stash continues to grow. I've sold a ton of carriers, but I'm pretty sure I have about 25 right now. I honestly lost track, and I need to do inventory.
-Evenings are no longer witching hours for Isaiah. He's pretty happy, the only difference is that if he is tired, he NEEDS to be with me. If Justin is carrying him around while I get stuff ready for bed he will start to WAIL, and then stop as soon as I take him. We can hold this off for a bit if Justin follows me around while I get stuff ready, but he HAS to see me. It's only when he's feeling tired, but as soon as I take him he can often be perfectly happy for another half hour before starting bedtime routine. We find it rather amusing.
-He still has all his baths in the kitchen sink because it's easier for me.
Picture time!
The day he turned 5 months! This was not a planned "photo shoot", he just happened to be naked on my bedroom floor:
.jpg)
I'm currently selling this wrap:
.jpg)
Brothers:
I did not tell Noah to put him arms around Isaiah... that's all him!
Because he's teething he is ALWAYS chewing on his tongue! I think it's cute :)
LOVE this kid!
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Valentine's Day!
I like Valentine's Day, but it's not that big of a deal to me. Noah and I made a picture for Justin, and Justin and Noah made a picture for me. It's been kind of a long day with a fussy, tired, teething 4 month old (who still has lots of smiles in between the whines, of course). I haven't been able to eat or drink much (I think I just kind of forgot except during the times that it was impossible to), and I have a headache from that. Oops!
We're having frozen pizza for dinner. Well, we'll cook it first. After the kids are in bed we'll spend half an hour cuddling on the couch eating cheesecake and watching something we PVR'd this week. Then I'll fall into bed. That's it, that's all. I love my life. (To be clear, I'm not complaining - I really do love my life!)
A couple of snapshots from my Valentine's Day...
The following 2 pictures are very representative of my day:
Note the drool and look of distress:
Happy Valentine's Day!
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Weekend Tidbits
-Mastitis is 95% gone. No more systemic symptoms and just a little bit of discomfort left. I'm guessing I could kill a vampire just by walking past him with all the raw garlic I've been swallowing, but HEY, no antibiotics needed. And antibiotics are awful, so that's good. TAKE THAT Mastitis!
-Jack is still stable... he's off the ventilator which is awesome, but since then there have been few improvements except that he's been able to spend a bit of time actually nursing. They tried taking him off the prostaglandin again but, again, it didn't go well. Matt and Lynsey are in it for the long haul. But man, he is freaking cute and has amazing frosted-tip hair.
.JPG)
-Am I the only person who thinks people who post full-body pictures of themselves in their bathing suits on Facebook are incredibly vain? "Hey, look at me, I'm 24, single, and have never had children so I am a stick figure with amazing abs, and obviously I want all 457 of my friends to know it!"
-I love cosleeping. You wanna know one big reason why? Because one night your kid will sleep almost 9 hours straight, which is amazing, and the next night he will be up every 2-3 hours all night, and you know what? It's not a big deal. It's just not nearly as disruptive when you don't have to actually get up out of your bed. Also, when he decides to spend 40 minutes awake at 4am, it doesn't really matter, because instead of sitting upright in a rocking chair holding him, wishing desperately that I could be horizontal, I can just lie in my comfortable bed with my eyes closed and hold his hand - and he doesn't cry because he's not alone. And it also makes it so that he's used to falling asleep without nursing or rocking. Pretty awesome, if you ask me.
-I have to go to bed now, because even though it's not nearly as big of a deal when your baby wakes up every 2-3 hours all night if you're cosleeping, it still makes me want to go to bed at 8. And it's almost 9 now.
-Jack is still stable... he's off the ventilator which is awesome, but since then there have been few improvements except that he's been able to spend a bit of time actually nursing. They tried taking him off the prostaglandin again but, again, it didn't go well. Matt and Lynsey are in it for the long haul. But man, he is freaking cute and has amazing frosted-tip hair.
.JPG)
-Am I the only person who thinks people who post full-body pictures of themselves in their bathing suits on Facebook are incredibly vain? "Hey, look at me, I'm 24, single, and have never had children so I am a stick figure with amazing abs, and obviously I want all 457 of my friends to know it!"
-I love cosleeping. You wanna know one big reason why? Because one night your kid will sleep almost 9 hours straight, which is amazing, and the next night he will be up every 2-3 hours all night, and you know what? It's not a big deal. It's just not nearly as disruptive when you don't have to actually get up out of your bed. Also, when he decides to spend 40 minutes awake at 4am, it doesn't really matter, because instead of sitting upright in a rocking chair holding him, wishing desperately that I could be horizontal, I can just lie in my comfortable bed with my eyes closed and hold his hand - and he doesn't cry because he's not alone. And it also makes it so that he's used to falling asleep without nursing or rocking. Pretty awesome, if you ask me.
-I have to go to bed now, because even though it's not nearly as big of a deal when your baby wakes up every 2-3 hours all night if you're cosleeping, it still makes me want to go to bed at 8. And it's almost 9 now.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Mastitis
Jack update - he is still on a ventilator following the surgery on Wednesday. One of the risks of the surgery was that he would have a stroke, but he has full movement in his body so thankfully this didn't happen. After the surgery to open his pulmonary artery, they tried to take him off the prostglandins that are keeping the pathway that closes after birth open (the one that is still allowing him to live, since his pulmonary artery was blocked), but it didn't go so well so he was put back on. They are just beginning to tube feed him breastmilk (up until now he has only had an IV glucose solution, except for his first day of life before anything was discovered and he was nursing).
So, as the pickle on top of the giant crap sandwich that is my week, I have mastitis. I have no idea why this is happening, but it is.
At the end of last week I had clogged ducts in my left boob. They went away after about 24 hours after me applying warm compresses and massaging and nursing as often as possible.
Then on Tuesday I woke up and my engorged left boob hurt more than it normally hurts in the morning (it's always incredibly full). I nursed Noah (that's his side) and it still hurt and the lower part of my boob still felt about half full, but without a really obvious lump.
As the day progressed I had the chills, my skin hurt all over my body, and I was exhausted. I was pretty sure I had mastitis, so I started swallowing raw garlic, taking extra Vitamin C and probiotics, ibuprofen, and trying to empty that side as frequently as possible.
On Wednesday my boob still hurt but I didn't feel like crap anymore, so I thought maybe it wasn't mastitis after all. I stopped doing the garlic and vitamins thing.
On Thursday the pain and fullness in my boob started spreading along the outside of it, and my skin started hurting, I had the chills,whole body muscle aches, joint aches, a headache, and was exhausted again. I started up the garlic and vitamins again.
Today my skin and muscles hurt again, I'm sooo tired, and my boob has finally gotten red over part of the painful full area.
I really don't get why this has happened, since my left side is Noah's side and it gets drained very well several times a day. I shouldn't have gotten a clogged duct to begin with. It's a mystery.
I really really REALLY don't want to take antibiotics, so I'm doing everything I can naturally to get rid of this - even if it takes longer. Today is a snow day, and Justin has prep last period so he's hoping to come home around 1. He's cancelling his 3:30-4:30 client, and then it's the weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to get the rest I need to kick this stupid infection.
***
So, as the pickle on top of the giant crap sandwich that is my week, I have mastitis. I have no idea why this is happening, but it is.
At the end of last week I had clogged ducts in my left boob. They went away after about 24 hours after me applying warm compresses and massaging and nursing as often as possible.
Then on Tuesday I woke up and my engorged left boob hurt more than it normally hurts in the morning (it's always incredibly full). I nursed Noah (that's his side) and it still hurt and the lower part of my boob still felt about half full, but without a really obvious lump.
As the day progressed I had the chills, my skin hurt all over my body, and I was exhausted. I was pretty sure I had mastitis, so I started swallowing raw garlic, taking extra Vitamin C and probiotics, ibuprofen, and trying to empty that side as frequently as possible.
On Wednesday my boob still hurt but I didn't feel like crap anymore, so I thought maybe it wasn't mastitis after all. I stopped doing the garlic and vitamins thing.
On Thursday the pain and fullness in my boob started spreading along the outside of it, and my skin started hurting, I had the chills,whole body muscle aches, joint aches, a headache, and was exhausted again. I started up the garlic and vitamins again.
Today my skin and muscles hurt again, I'm sooo tired, and my boob has finally gotten red over part of the painful full area.
I really don't get why this has happened, since my left side is Noah's side and it gets drained very well several times a day. I shouldn't have gotten a clogged duct to begin with. It's a mystery.
I really really REALLY don't want to take antibiotics, so I'm doing everything I can naturally to get rid of this - even if it takes longer. Today is a snow day, and Justin has prep last period so he's hoping to come home around 1. He's cancelling his 3:30-4:30 client, and then it's the weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to get the rest I need to kick this stupid infection.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)