i've had 12/24 until today off, and it's been AWESOME! Actually, Alan has been off, too, so double yay. And yet somehow we managed to accomplish very little in the way of housework. i think we've just enjoyed family time too much, and taking turns so we can get more sleep and have some "me" time, etc. Plus of course being out of town for Christmas.
D has benefitted also. She went from belly crawling forward and belly-up (real) crawling backwards to real crawling forward. Yup, i have a real crawler as of Christmas morning. And she's pretty much been non-stop since then, which is good and bad. i'm hoping she'll be able to be a little more independent as a result (but she still fusses wanting you to go get her or give her a new toy rather than crawling to get you or the toy herself so far).
Unfortunately, our old enemy Reflux has returned. It started being bad again about last Wednesday, the day after we took her to the pedi for that sinus/ear infection. At that appointment, the pedi noticed her weight had gone up enough to increase her Zantac dosage, which usually takes about a week to really start working, and prescribed Amoxycillin. As of the next day, reflux started to return, and i don't know if it's because it would have anyway (from outgrowing the old dose of Zantac) and we just happened to go to the doc before the symptoms really started, or if the Amoxycillin is hurting her tummy as it tends to do and this is manifesting as reflux for her. IDK, but her breathing/laryngomalacia is bad again. We're trying to up her solids again and thicken her formula with cereal again in hopes it helps.
As far as solids, we tried beans yesterday at the Mexican place. Definitely a baby-led weaning (BLW) moment as she kept reaching for it. There were whole (soft) beans in the mush, so i must have given her 10 of them and she ate all of them. She's getting so good about chewing and swallowing, even though she still has no teeth lol.
Oh, and this week i've been able to do lots of toilet learning. i don't think i personally missed but one poop (and that's after 3 tries before and i didn't want to constipate her). She had a couple with Alan, but the rest were all in the toilet. Yay! One of these days she'll start signing for it, but it certainly isn't happening yet. She doesn't mind the potty at all, by the way, and has gotten where she can poop on the potty just as well as she can when she's playing in the jumperoo (ICK!) or while standing at the play table or furniture. Boy, if this can just continue for the next year, i will be beyond thrilled!
Oh, and we've retired the SnuggleNest Supreme :(. This is actually meant for cosleepers to keep the baby in bed, but we've used it in her crib for months (and a cheaper model prior to that), since she was dx with reflux and we've needed something to help with the crib angle and her sliding down. But alas, i found her flipped over the side the other day, and figured it would be safer to take it out and let her sleep on the crib itself, angle or no. She's doing very well with it, but has turned into a full-time tummy sleeper. Thankfully she's past the prime period for SIDS, but i can't say it doesn't make me nervous!
In 2 days is the motions hearing. 2 days! i don't know yet if i'll be able to go. She has this court date (which we're not required to be there but we're allowed to) and an ENT appointment where they'll test her hearing (reflux can cause hearing loss, hopefully not though), and i'd like to attend both. However, i only have 1 day off i think, which means i would have to take a half day off for each and would have zero cushion. Should the court date be in January (not likely), i wouldn't have any time for it, and i'd REALLY like to be present then. i also have a doctor's appointment in Chattanooga on the 19th that i haven't decided if i'll keep or not, and will have to have the colonoscopy at some point probably in January. i don't technically have to take vacation time for the 19th but probably would because that's the kind of person i am. But i'll probably need a whole day off for the colonoscopy which doesn't count as a doctor's appointment and i'll need the whole day off. i'll get a little comp time for some work done over the break, but there were massive computer issues and i didn't work as much as i'd hoped to be able to, so... bottom line i'll probably only be able to go to either court or the ENT. Sigh. i hate being vacation poor. (This time off isn't vacation for me; the whole company is closed).
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
Something that's been on my mind lately
i wouldn' tcall it an all-out obsession by any means, but i've been thinking a lot about another baby, specifically a younger biological sibling to D. She's 7 months old now, so it's entirely possible that her birthmom is pregnant again. Or, it's entirely possible that she's not and will never be, or won't be for a long time. Who knows? D's older brother T is about 17 months older than D. Back down 9 months (if she wasn't very early) and you have pregnancy with D when T was about 8 months old.
D's birthmom will never be allowed to parent again. That's almost 100% guaranteed because she's sustained so much brain damage from the drug overdose that got older brother S removed at age 3 several years ago. Her birthfather conceivably could parent with a HUGE life change, but as long as he's with birthmom, that won't happen, and thusfar he hasn't really fought for custody, just stood by his girlfriend's side.
If another baby with the same birthdad were born in my county, even after the adoption, we should get called right away or within days at least. If a baby were born in another county in the state, if we haven't completed the adoption of D, we should get the call quickly. But post-adoption and it could take weeks or even months. If they left the state, it could take a while to get the call. Would we take the baby from another family? i don't know. We're SO grateful that T's parents didn't take D from us, and we'd lean toward paying it forward, but that's such a HUGE leap of faith! i don't know, i just don't know.
i don't know if i'm thinking about this so much right now because of D's age and it being somewhat normal to start thinking about future kids now (i've always wanted my kids to be close together in age), or because i'm nearing my next surgery and again dealing with some of the IF issues that go with it and the general lack of control of when we'll be parents again, or because it's come up twice in the last few weeks on an adoption forum i go to where people who've adopted have gotten the call very quickly about another sibling (one is foster/adopt and one is private agency adoption -- both have said "no", by the way), or what it is exactly.
Alan and i are in agreement, conceptually, that we will say "yes" if the baby is a newborn and we're called right away. It won't be easy, but we'll make it happen somehow. But will it happen? When will it happen? Am i crazy for thinking about this? i don't know... and i hate not knowing.
D's birthmom will never be allowed to parent again. That's almost 100% guaranteed because she's sustained so much brain damage from the drug overdose that got older brother S removed at age 3 several years ago. Her birthfather conceivably could parent with a HUGE life change, but as long as he's with birthmom, that won't happen, and thusfar he hasn't really fought for custody, just stood by his girlfriend's side.
If another baby with the same birthdad were born in my county, even after the adoption, we should get called right away or within days at least. If a baby were born in another county in the state, if we haven't completed the adoption of D, we should get the call quickly. But post-adoption and it could take weeks or even months. If they left the state, it could take a while to get the call. Would we take the baby from another family? i don't know. We're SO grateful that T's parents didn't take D from us, and we'd lean toward paying it forward, but that's such a HUGE leap of faith! i don't know, i just don't know.
i don't know if i'm thinking about this so much right now because of D's age and it being somewhat normal to start thinking about future kids now (i've always wanted my kids to be close together in age), or because i'm nearing my next surgery and again dealing with some of the IF issues that go with it and the general lack of control of when we'll be parents again, or because it's come up twice in the last few weeks on an adoption forum i go to where people who've adopted have gotten the call very quickly about another sibling (one is foster/adopt and one is private agency adoption -- both have said "no", by the way), or what it is exactly.
Alan and i are in agreement, conceptually, that we will say "yes" if the baby is a newborn and we're called right away. It won't be easy, but we'll make it happen somehow. But will it happen? When will it happen? Am i crazy for thinking about this? i don't know... and i hate not knowing.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Doctors Doctors
We took D to the pedi yesterday because she's not getting over that cold. Turns out it's in her ears. (Here's where i tell MIL and my sister "i told you so" -- sigh). Her breathing is still really bad today, though, but hopefully will get better overnight. They did a breathing treatment, but they were out of masks. The nurse said, "You'll need to hold this in her mouth for the next 8 to 10 minutes" and then she bloody left. Speaking of bloody, it CUT poor D in the mouth! i was (and am) SO PISSED. We only got to 7 minutes at that time and there was no improvement, so we weren't sent home with a nebulizer, which i guess is good if they were out of masks.
Today i had my appointment with Mystery Doctor #1. i was skeptical, and i guess i still am to a degree, but i actually really like him. He didn't blow smoke up my ass, but he told me what i needed to hear, most of which corresponded to what i was hoping to hear. He does operate with robots, and said there's nothing he could do in a cut-open laparotomy that he can't do in a laparoscopy with robots. And he can even do bowel involvement.
Meanwhile, however, i'm going to have to have a colonoscopy to determine if there *is* endo inside the bowel or just on the outside. Boo that! i'll update when that's been scheduled with the GI doc.
Today i had my appointment with Mystery Doctor #1. i was skeptical, and i guess i still am to a degree, but i actually really like him. He didn't blow smoke up my ass, but he told me what i needed to hear, most of which corresponded to what i was hoping to hear. He does operate with robots, and said there's nothing he could do in a cut-open laparotomy that he can't do in a laparoscopy with robots. And he can even do bowel involvement.
Meanwhile, however, i'm going to have to have a colonoscopy to determine if there *is* endo inside the bowel or just on the outside. Boo that! i'll update when that's been scheduled with the GI doc.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Christmas 2009
Well, we packed up the car on Christmas Eve and drove to MIL's house in Knoxville. But first we had Christmas at home on Christmas Eve morning since we were afraid we wouldn't be able to get all the gifts there and all the new gifts from IL's home.
i LOVE that last picture!
After this, we loaded the car with way too much stuff, including one of the 3 great danes (the other 2 stayed home with a petsitter, but we felt it would be easier on this one to take with us, and she did TERRIFIC, i must say!), and headed to MIL's house. D slept the entire drive (which is INCREDIBLE) but of course we had a late night. We got there and found that my MIL's husband's granddaughter was wearing an outfit almost just like D's, so that was cute. Unfortunately i don't have any pictures i can share.
D woke up on Christmas with a cold, poor munchkin, but she did quite well regardless. Unfortunately despite me finding a store local to them that sells Haba toys and Plan toys, they pretty much got her plastic electronic stuff. Well, a couple aren't plastic but the others are electronic. Not a wooden toy in the bunch. She did get lots of clothes, though, and books, so that's good. We're grateful regardless, i just feel like i screwed up the one opportunity i had to make my preferences known. We told them she wanted "clothes, books, and wooden toys" and they asked about a really bad Fisher-Price toy, so i told them instead (via DH) about that store. Apparently that store sells lots of plastic stuff, too. Sigh.
We also got to see my sister, who gave her 3 cute outfits, and i got some HILARIOUS pictures of my almost-18-year-old nephew acting like a fool. He and his sister and 2 brothers had a blast with us and with D, and i know my sister enjoyed playing with D and feeding her a bottle.
D's most hilarious gift came from my MIL's best friend, whom we call "good Susan" (bad Susan is an aunt of DH's, and she is BAD). i don't know how to describe her exactly. She's very sweet but appearance-wise is kind of into appearances. She's had some "work" and she wears lots of nice jewelry, etc. She's married some men with money over the years, too. She gave D a top and pants that are silver. Like silver, with metallic flakes in them. Definitely not something i would *ever* pick out, but as Susan pointed out, "it's not pink." But the cherry on top was the silvery gray baby FUR COAT to go on top! If only she had some silver slippers lol.
My haul was pretty intense, i must say. i should have gotten nothing because the double loven was my anniversary and Christmas gift. But, Alan spoiled me as usual and got me several smaller things (2 books, a DVD, etc) AND a new baby carrier, this time the Pikkolo. i already love it! IL's got me a new babywearing coat, Suse's deluxe kinder coat, which i can wear solo or with D in front, in back, or on either hip! It's so warm and awesome!
We're back home and settled in and both Alan and i have the week off. i have to get some reports done at work for a coworker (which equals much-needed comp time as i only have i think 1 day off and lots of appointments for D coming up), but nothing else for my job, but lots to do at home. We've kept the living room and kitchen fairly well, but as a result we've neglected the rest of the house and need to remedy that. i also look forward to cooking and eating some family meals :).
P.S. The fur coat was fake, of course.
Let me just say there is NOTHING cuter than seeing a baby go through her gifts on her first Christmas! 
(D's gifts in front, of course!)
(D's gifts in front, of course!)i LOVE that last picture!
After this, we loaded the car with way too much stuff, including one of the 3 great danes (the other 2 stayed home with a petsitter, but we felt it would be easier on this one to take with us, and she did TERRIFIC, i must say!), and headed to MIL's house. D slept the entire drive (which is INCREDIBLE) but of course we had a late night. We got there and found that my MIL's husband's granddaughter was wearing an outfit almost just like D's, so that was cute. Unfortunately i don't have any pictures i can share.
D woke up on Christmas with a cold, poor munchkin, but she did quite well regardless. Unfortunately despite me finding a store local to them that sells Haba toys and Plan toys, they pretty much got her plastic electronic stuff. Well, a couple aren't plastic but the others are electronic. Not a wooden toy in the bunch. She did get lots of clothes, though, and books, so that's good. We're grateful regardless, i just feel like i screwed up the one opportunity i had to make my preferences known. We told them she wanted "clothes, books, and wooden toys" and they asked about a really bad Fisher-Price toy, so i told them instead (via DH) about that store. Apparently that store sells lots of plastic stuff, too. Sigh.
We also got to see my sister, who gave her 3 cute outfits, and i got some HILARIOUS pictures of my almost-18-year-old nephew acting like a fool. He and his sister and 2 brothers had a blast with us and with D, and i know my sister enjoyed playing with D and feeding her a bottle.
D's most hilarious gift came from my MIL's best friend, whom we call "good Susan" (bad Susan is an aunt of DH's, and she is BAD). i don't know how to describe her exactly. She's very sweet but appearance-wise is kind of into appearances. She's had some "work" and she wears lots of nice jewelry, etc. She's married some men with money over the years, too. She gave D a top and pants that are silver. Like silver, with metallic flakes in them. Definitely not something i would *ever* pick out, but as Susan pointed out, "it's not pink." But the cherry on top was the silvery gray baby FUR COAT to go on top! If only she had some silver slippers lol.
My haul was pretty intense, i must say. i should have gotten nothing because the double loven was my anniversary and Christmas gift. But, Alan spoiled me as usual and got me several smaller things (2 books, a DVD, etc) AND a new baby carrier, this time the Pikkolo. i already love it! IL's got me a new babywearing coat, Suse's deluxe kinder coat, which i can wear solo or with D in front, in back, or on either hip! It's so warm and awesome!
We're back home and settled in and both Alan and i have the week off. i have to get some reports done at work for a coworker (which equals much-needed comp time as i only have i think 1 day off and lots of appointments for D coming up), but nothing else for my job, but lots to do at home. We've kept the living room and kitchen fairly well, but as a result we've neglected the rest of the house and need to remedy that. i also look forward to cooking and eating some family meals :).
P.S. The fur coat was fake, of course.
Monday, December 21, 2009
BabyLegs Buying Frenzy!
Someone on a parenting forum posted this blog site:
i just did it, and it worked. i now have 6 pairs of babylegs (two of them are over twice as spendy as the regular because they're "supersoft") on the way for $28 total. It should have been $58, so i'm beyond thrilled. It's actually kind of hard to find enough babylegs that you like from those pages lol, but i managed somehow. i bought Juniper, Gold Polka Dots, Pumpkin, and Huckleberry, and Cream and Spice of the SuperSoft. Assuming i haven't already forgotten ;).
Great deal for other BL lovers out there!
Growth Spurt
It's either a growth spurt or D is making up for last week when she barely ate. She's back up to about 42 oz/day plus 3 solids meals! Unfortunately it comes with 4 night wakings. At a time that Alan was unfortunately sick with a sinus infection plus stomach virus and couldn't get up at night or do too more than hold D during the day (don't get me wrong, this is a HUGE help because she's still teething and doesn't want to be put down at all, but still won't let me wear her around the house, so it's hard to get anything done, and with it being the weekend before Christmas there is a TON to get done!).
Needless to say, i'm a bit of a zombie after the last few days, but i've survived, Alan feels mostly better, and D has eaten 33 oz since 6 am plus probably 3 oz of solids today before bedtime. Alan's usually better at getting her to eat at night, so hopefully that will reduce her night wakings down to maybe 2 (she's been eating 8-10 oz at night).
Needless to say, i'm a bit of a zombie after the last few days, but i've survived, Alan feels mostly better, and D has eaten 33 oz since 6 am plus probably 3 oz of solids today before bedtime. Alan's usually better at getting her to eat at night, so hopefully that will reduce her night wakings down to maybe 2 (she's been eating 8-10 oz at night).
Friday, December 18, 2009
Today's food experiment
So, let me just say that i hate scheduling D's food. i'd prefer to feed on demand; and i did, until she stopped demanding except when VERY hungry, and even then she usually doesn't cry but just sucks on my thumb and fusses a little. So, we've had to more or less schedule when we and daycare offer her bottles and solids. Of course, if she ever shows hunger before time, we feed her. That's non-negotiable (except if she's hungry much before 8 -- typical bedtime -- i do try to stretch it, sometimes feeding some more solids, or it's really hard to get her to sleep).
Anyway, she's typically eaten about:
7 am - bottle
8:30 am - solids
10 am - bottle at daycare
1 pm - bottle at daycare
4 pm - bottle at daycare
5:15 pm - very small bottle at home with medicine
6:45 pm - solids
8:00 pm - bottle
Then she usually wakes around 3 am and eats a few ounces.
Each bottle we usually offer 6 oz, but she doesn't always/usually eat it all. The morning bottle she doesn't usually finish because of the night waking/feeding. Then at daycare she usually drains the 1 pm bottle but leaves 1-2 oz in the 10 am and 4 pm bottle, and then eats a ton at 8 pm. Her total before bedtime lately has been about 24 oz and during a 24 hour period usually 28-30 oz.
Today i took the risk and sent solids to daycare and told them only to feed her twice during the day at daycare. So her feedings today have been:
3 am - couple of ounces
7 am - 4.5 oz
no solids because caseworker was here then
10 am - 6 oz
12 pm - 1/2 oz solids maybe (she doesn't love green beans)
2 pm - 6 oz
5:15 pm - 6 oz (took 30 minutes to eat it all though)
6:45 pm - some baby-led solids (carrots, green beans, cheerios, and cranberries); didn't eat a lot but that's okay
8 pm - 6.5 oz
Her total for the day is 29 oz plus some, but not a lot of, solids. So far, so good, as they say! (Let's see how much she eats tonight).
i really hope this blog doesn't become a baby food blog though lol. Sorry, gentle readers, i tend to be boring sometimes. But yay for some progress. Right now it also seems that the reflux is under control with the meds and the solids :). At least until she grows some more.
Anyway, she's typically eaten about:
7 am - bottle
8:30 am - solids
10 am - bottle at daycare
1 pm - bottle at daycare
4 pm - bottle at daycare
5:15 pm - very small bottle at home with medicine
6:45 pm - solids
8:00 pm - bottle
Then she usually wakes around 3 am and eats a few ounces.
Each bottle we usually offer 6 oz, but she doesn't always/usually eat it all. The morning bottle she doesn't usually finish because of the night waking/feeding. Then at daycare she usually drains the 1 pm bottle but leaves 1-2 oz in the 10 am and 4 pm bottle, and then eats a ton at 8 pm. Her total before bedtime lately has been about 24 oz and during a 24 hour period usually 28-30 oz.
Today i took the risk and sent solids to daycare and told them only to feed her twice during the day at daycare. So her feedings today have been:
3 am - couple of ounces
7 am - 4.5 oz
no solids because caseworker was here then
10 am - 6 oz
12 pm - 1/2 oz solids maybe (she doesn't love green beans)
2 pm - 6 oz
5:15 pm - 6 oz (took 30 minutes to eat it all though)
6:45 pm - some baby-led solids (carrots, green beans, cheerios, and cranberries); didn't eat a lot but that's okay
8 pm - 6.5 oz
Her total for the day is 29 oz plus some, but not a lot of, solids. So far, so good, as they say! (Let's see how much she eats tonight).
i really hope this blog doesn't become a baby food blog though lol. Sorry, gentle readers, i tend to be boring sometimes. But yay for some progress. Right now it also seems that the reflux is under control with the meds and the solids :). At least until she grows some more.
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