Third times a charm... Another New Sitter, a 7 month Birthday, and Lots of More Changes...

Well the little munchkin had her 7th month birthday last Friday. I can't believe I haven't blogged since she turned 6 months... well, actually I can.... since I was having issues keeping up with my blog anyway...

Alot has changed in the past month! We finally closed on our house, March 17th. It was the best St. Patrick's day ever. I can't even describe the relief I felt signing those papers. It felt so good to close that chapter and put that behind us. The villa has been working out okay, although we are already ready to move again. We have a 6 month lease, and we are really thinking we might move again when its up, which is at the end of June. I love the neighborhood that we are in, mainly because when me and the munchkin go for our walk each evening, we stroll through beautiful streets with very different and unique homes that all wrap around a huge lake that you can see for a good chunk of most of our walking routes. There are also so many different directions we can go in and different things to see, which helps to keep things interesting. The court our villa resides on, however, is not the best location. There are about 100 kids that live on the same court and they are usually all outside for most of the day. When we come home, their bikes are laying in our driveway and we have to sit and wait while they move everything out of the way. I am not kidding, they are everywhere. And they are rude. Nothing like walking out of your house and getting dirty looks from a kid standing in your drive way. Yep... time to move on. And before the munchkin is old enough to meet any of these little shits.

We also have a new babysitter. Our third one. And I am really hoping that this one will be for a long time. Our first one told us she couldn't babysit the munchkin anymore. We were devastated, but one of my good friends, Laura, stepped up and told us she would help us out and start watching her and for the same very discounted price that our previous sitter was watching her for. We were so relieved. We were still paying all of the utilities at the other house and had zero room in the budget for any more expenses.

Things seemed great at first, but after a while I began to realize that it just wasn't a good fit for us. Laura also has 3 beautiful children that are turning out great, so obviously she is a great mom, but she just has a completely different parenting style then I do and different ideas of how things should be done. And maybe my little one just has a totally different personality then her kiddos, but whatever the case, it wasn't working. Our main issue was with her naps. Half of the time when I would pick up her up, Laura would tell me that she didn't get a nap in that day. I then had to prepare myself to spend the evening with a very crabby baby. Often she would pass out in the car as soon as we got in it and I would find myself driving around for over an hour just so she would get a good nap in before we got home. This was getting expensive in gas money alone!

I guess I was hoping she would be on more of a schedule. Not a strict schedule, just a loose one... where she would get her bottles in and take a good nap (or two) and have lunch around the same time each day. She really thrives on this kind of schedule and when she is on one, it makes each evening so much better and she is in such a better mood. When she eats more solid foods during the day she also sleeps better, and sometimes Laura's busy schedule didn't have time to get all of this stuff in. The munchkin was more along for the ride when she was at Laura's house, and Laura is a very busy person, so there was really no way to have her on any kind of schedule. Plus it was really hard for the munchkin to sleep over there. She likes it to be quiet and dark, and that was just impossible at Laura's. Between her kids being home from cycle break or just off from school half the time, her dogs barking at the wind blowing outside, and there not being her own space to take a nap, the odds were just against it.

Last Friday, was when I finally decided it was time to make a change. Laura's daughter had strep throat and she took the little munchkin with them to the doctor and had her sick daughter giving her a bottle in the car on the way there. She called me and told when when they were already on their way to the doctor's office. I was freaking out! When I came to pick her up, I asked her if she would call me earlier next time so that I could come and get her because I didn't really want her around anyone with strep throat. She kinda laughed at me like I was being paranoid and said that it wasn't like her daughter was drinking out of her bottle. All weekend I was worried she was going to get sick. It's scary for a little baby to get strep throat. It's highly contagious and although infants don't usually get it because of their small tonsils and the antibodies they are born with, it can cause alot of problems for a baby, especially if it isn't diagnosed right away. Then munchkin is 7 mos now... so she is kinda moving out of the "infant" age anyway.

So last Thursday was her last day at Laura's. And all though it was sad to say goodbye, and very hard to tell her, it is very obvious already that we made a very good decision. And she is still at an age where the transition wasn't very bad at all. Infact, she seemed to not mind one little bit. I am glad this happened sooner rather then later, because as she gets older, uprooting her from her babysitter and sending her to a new one is going to be much more difficult. It's amazing how fast things can change. Starting last friday, I began working on "her" schedule. And I really do mean her schedule. She has been wanting one so bad and now that I have been following her lead and sticking to it, she has been so incredible happy. With her getting better naps and eating more during the day, I have been going in and rubbing her back and giving her a binky instead of a bottle during the night and she is now sleeping through the entire night! She is now sleeping 11.5 hours straight! Every night! And we are going on 5 nights in a row! I am so freaking happy about this. We are all getting sleep and every one is so much happier.

So here is a rough outline of her schedule:

7:30am - 6 oz bottle
8:15am - breakfast, oatmeal
10:00am - 6 oz bottle
10:15am - nap (1-1.5 hours)
12:00pm - lunch, veggies and fruit
1:00pm - 6 oz bottle
2:00pm - nap (1-2 hrs)
4:00pm - 6 oz bottle
5:00pm - dinner, veggies and fruit
7:00pm - 6 oz bottle
8:00pm - down for bed

I have been waking her up at 7:30am and giving her a bottle. I leave at 8 and Joe feeds her oatmeal before he leaves to take her to the sitter. Who knows how long this will last, but I gotta say she seems incredible happy about it. She seems so giddy... like literally bursting with joy half the time. It is so funny. She finally switched to 6 oz bottles once she started sleeping through the night too. Before that she was getting a 4 oz bottle every 2 hours. Its so much easier having a 3 hour window now between her bottles.

When I picked her up from Stacy's, our new sitter's house yesterday, she had the munchkin sound asleep for her 2nd nap in her pack n play in their spare bedroom. The room was nice and quiet, dark and with a fan going. It was perfect. I could have kissed her. She was sleeping so soundly infact, that I ended up staying and waiting around for 45 minutes while she finished her nap. When she woke up, I gave her a bottle and we were on our way! And we had such a good evening. When she gets her 2 good naps in at the sitter's house, she is wide awake and in a good mood the rest of the evening until it's time for bed. So the time I get to spend with her in the evening is so much better then her being crabby and me having to fight to get her to take a nap, and then she doesn't go to bed as well either. I had given Stacy the outline of her schedule and she was able to follow it with no problem, because really it was what the munchkin wanted all along. Stacy also watches another little girl that is about the same age as her own little boy, who is about 1.5 yrs. She has the other two napping at about the same times already, so the munchkin seems to fit right in with their schedule too. So she has a total of 3 little children there now. I think it will be more fun for her there, having the other little kids to entertain her.

Our new sitter is also more expensive and since we are looking to find a house to rent, in a better area for us, and maybe something a little bigger and with a yard, I had to go pick up some more hours at work. I am also working again on Wednesdays and although I am going to miss having this day off with her, I am happy that it is all working out for the best. I am now working 8:30 - 3:00, M-F (I was previously working 9-2 with Wednesdays off). Picking up the extra 12.5 hours a week is making a big enough difference in my paycheck so that we can afford the new sitter and spend a little more towards our rent. Now we just need to find a new place! And it has not escaped me how fortunate I am to have a boss that is so flexible with me and willing to work so well with my ever changing schedule.

The munchkin is now sitting up like a pro and has started to work on her crawling. She is so interested in her toys and is handling them really good back and forth with her hands. She will sit on a blanket and play with her toys forever. She still lets me know when she wants me to pick her up though. It's still her favorite place to be. She has her bottom teeth starting to show through her gums but they haven't broken all the way through yet. She has been getting much better at eating her solid foods, but she still doesn't quite get what they are for. If she is hungry she gets mad and lets me know that she wants a bottle... so still doesn't realize that the food serves the same purpose. Her favorite veggie right now is a mixture of butternut squash and corn and her favorite fruit is pears. She is not a big fan of sweet peas. She is still in the 95th percentile for her height and is in the 75th for weight. She is a big girl! Her feet are still super small though. She is still wearing the hand me down socks that her younger cousin grew out of months ago! She loves to laugh and will squeal with delight if you tickle her or bring her in close and make noises in her ear. She has really become such a happy baby. And for the most part, unless she is tired or hungry she is usually in a really good mood.

We have been walking in the evenings around 5 or 5:30 and will usually walk for 2.5 - 3.5 miles. The munchkin loves to look around and see everything. Sometimes she will fall asleep half way through and sleep the rest of the way. And if the sun is in her face she will get really mad and let me know right away! Luckily, our stroller has a great shade on it that can be adjusted to block the sun from pretty much any direction. Sarah, our original babysitter, and her little girl Ada join us for many of our walks and will often stay afterwards to hang out and eat dinner. This has been great, especially the nights Joe is at school. Sarah's husband is usually at school in the evening too, so it works out well for both of us really.

The past weekend I finally got to get out and get some adult time... and I really had a blast! Friday night I left Joe at home after I put the muchkin to be and went to a party at a friends house. I only had 3 drinks but I couldn't drive, and had to leave my car behind while a friend took me home. What a lightweight! Then Saturday night, my mom came over to babysit while Joe and I went to a friend's 30th bday party at a bar. The Captain and Diet Cokes were flowing and I couldn't even tell you how many I had! Some of my girlfriends came up to meet us and we tore up the dance floor. It felt so good to let loose and not have to worry about anything but having fun! And since my mom was at home with the baby, I didn't have to worry about her at all. When we got home, she said that she went to bed around 8:00 really well for her and hadn't heard a peep from her since. 7:30 am came quick though and it was really rough getting out of bed... good thing she was sleeping through the night now though.... no more middle of the night bottles.... Yay!!!!

Here were some pics taken by others throughout the night. Yes, I was completely out of control.

There's me and my gal Toni on the far right.

It was our friend Cort's 30th bday and there's his fiance Brenda between us.

Here I am motorboatin' Toni...

And here's Nicole, me and Toni. I am a little intoxicated as you can tell.

This is what happens when you don't get out enough!

Sorry for this very long-winded catch up.... but there has been so much going on and I really wanted to try to get some of it down. And with my new hours at work, I am here longer, so it's not so crazy busy and I actually have some time to blog again. Woo Hoo! I am going to work on a photo update tonight!!

6 Months Old, 8 Hours of Sleep, and a Boat Load of Breast Milk!

Today is the munchkin's 6 month birthday! I can't believe it! What a difference just a few weeks make when they are this age. She is becoming so much more interactive and so curious about the world around her. I am going to make a separate post all about her and what she has going on in her world at 6 months. I will work on that later on today.

Last night I gave the munchkin a bottle at 8:30 pm and then put her to bed. I couldn't believe it when I woke up and looked at the clock at 4:00 am and she was still sleeping! At first I thought Joe must have given her a bottle before he went to bed while I was asleep. I looked in the bathroom and saw all of the bottles still sitting there clean and ready to go, along with a full formula dispenser, so I knew he hadn't. I usually give her a 6 oz bottle before bed and then 4 oz bottles throughout the night, but I figured since she was still sleeping, I would give her another 6 oz bottle when she woke up. It's kinda crazy how somehow a mother's body just seems to know what is going to happen before it does, because since I had woken up right before her, around 4:20 she woke up and I already had everything ready to go.

She was on her belly and crying really hard by the time I got in there. I didn't know if rolling over had woken her up, or if rolling over had kept her asleep for so long and she was just finally waking up because she was starving. She scarfed down the entire 6 ounces and would have probably eaten more had it been in there. I laid her down in her crib and went back to bed. I woke up at 8:00 am and she was still sound asleep. So I got dressed and ready to go and about 8:20 I went in to to wake her up. She was sleeping soundly on her belly! So I guess she has discovered she likes sleeping on her belly and hopefully (I'm not counting on it) she will start sleeping longer stretches now. The last couple of weeks, she has been rolling over onto her belly and she would wake up screaming because she didn't want to be there and couldn't get back. We had to go in there and roll her back onto her back so she could go back to sleep. Joe and I were so excited this morning. I can't believe she slept that long... that is a record. The only time she came even close to that was 7 hours when she was about a month old, but she has never gotten even close since then. I gotta tell ya, I felt pretty good this morning!

Then to add to my good mood, I had an email this morning from the milk bank in Indiana. I wanted to share some of the emails back and forth between us from the last 2 days.

Hi Dane!

I shipped all of my milk out to you guys on Saturday, Feb 27th. It took me a while to ship it because I had to find a place that sold dry ice and figure out how to go buy it and ship it all in the same day. I just wanted to make sure you guys got it and make sure it got there okay. Is there any way I could find out what the final amount was and a receipt for that?

Thank you!
Laura

Laura,

Thank you so much! We did receive your shipment - all 875 ounces of it! It was in great condition... so great job!

I have attached a letterhead stating how much you donated. Let me know if this works.

Thanks!
Dane

Wow! I had no idea it was that much.... that is fantastic. I was hoping around 600.... but 875!!! Holy Cow! I am so glad that it arrived in great condition, that is so wonderful to hear. It makes me feel better about having to stop breastfeeding to know that it will help feed another baby.

The letter you sent should work just fine. Thank you for sending it.

Thanks for all your help!
Laura

Laura,

Yeah - you had a LOT of milk. Some of your milk has actually already been pasteurized and is being distributed to NICUs throughout the Midwest. You are most definitely helping many other babies with your gift.

If you need anything else, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thanks
Dane

I broke down and cried after I found out that it all got there safely and there were 875 ounces! A sense of relief washed over me knowing it arrived there in good condition. I still can't say exactly why, but for some reason that milk just meant so very much to me. I really was very sad to have to stop breastfeeding the munchkin. But it does help to know that because of our efforts, another little life will be nourished. Donating my milk was a great way to help me to move forward and to somehow feel good about it all. I can't even imagine how much harder it would have been on me if I had no other option then to just throw it all away.

And just an FYI, I can't actually get a tax deduction for my donated breastmilk, but you can get some credit for all of your supplies (e.g. milk bags and pump) along with your time. I don't think I will actually bother with it, but I wanted the letter just incase.

"Today Was a Good Day" ~ Ice Cube

Things are looking up...

We are on our second day of formula now and things are going pretty good. She's been really tired and a little cranky, but I think that is just from her body adjusting to this completely new diet. She has been a little more gassy then usual. And her poop.... wow.... formula poop is definitely ALOT stinkier! I can actually smell the formula in her poop. It is so nasty. But she hasn't been stiffening up and screaming in pain at all since we started her on it, and for that I am starting to become very hopeful. I find it sadly ironic that the food I was working so hard to provide for her, is what may have been causing her reflux to become so painful.

Last night she slept better then she has in a very long time. She had a 4 oz bottle at 10:45 and then went straight to bed. She woke up at 3:30 and had almost another 4 oz bottle, then fell right back to sleep. Then she woke up at 7:30 and had another 2 oz. Then I laid her back down to sleep while I went to pump and get ready. I came back in to wake her around 8 and she was in such a good mood! She was talking up a storm and laughing and smiling with me. I am hoping that today is a good day for her.

On a side note: Has anyone had problems with their baby getting hungry and if you take too long to feed them (like 10-15 minutes after they want it), they will get really upset and worked up and then it is hard to feed them at all? We have always had this issue since the beginning. Her reflux medicine has to be given on an empty stomach atleast 15-20 minutes before she eats. Last night she decided she was hungry a few minutes after I gave her her medicine, so I had to make her wait. She got so pissed off, that by the time I could give her a bottle, she had worked herself up so much that she wouldn't eat. I had to take her into her bedroom, turn off the lights, rock her, make a sushing noise in her ear (this has always helped to calm her down), and then give her her bottle. Then she would finally eat. It took me a while to try this though, because I haven't had to do it since she was really little. But back then it only took a few minutes of her waiting to get that worked up. I would always have to take her into a dark room and rock her, making the sushing noise in her ear so that she would calm down enough to eat. Just curious if anyone else has ever had similar issues....

If formula ends up being our solution (and it looks like it is), I am looking forward to not having to pump anymore. Freeing up the time it takes me to keep all of the pump parts and bottles clean alone will be pretty wonderful. And to not have to pump in the yucky bathroom at work... I have been pumping during the day and bottle feeding her, while nursing at night for a while now. (We had another issue with her only eating a little bit at a time all day, which caused her to only get formilk, which caused her to have green foamy poop, which caused her to have a horrible diaper rash. By pumping and giving her bottles this corrected the problem, because she wasn't getting a milk inbalance every time she ate). I have really built up my supply while doing this. I have over 100 bags stored in the deep freeze, ranging from 4-8 oz each. It will be really sad when I have to throw them all away. Yesterday I decided to only pump when I became uncomfortably full and even then I didn't empty my breasts all the way. I ended up pumping 4 times and I still ended up with 35 oz at then end of the day. It feels like such a horrible waste.

It's not going to be easy to stop my breasts from making milk. My plan is to keep waiting till they get uncomfortably full and pumping out enough to make them soft again, but not empty. I hope that, eventually, they will slow down their production until I can only pump a couple of times a day, then once.... then stop. This morning I woke up and pumped 10 oz, then I stopped even though they still felt really full. Its only been 2 hours and I am already starting to feel uncomfortable again. Did I mention I have had an oversupply from the beginning?

Merry Christmas... hopefully next year will be better!

We seemed to be improving with the acid reflux but on Christmas day it decided to rear its ugly head again. We went to my parent's house christmas morning and everything was fine for the first couple of hours. She was laughing and smiling and she nursed fine at 11:00. She even laid down for a nap in my niece's crib. But when it came time for her to eat again, she started to get really upset and refused to eat, even though she was acting hungry. After a few more tries and lots of crying and fussing, we left my family early and took her home.

She still wouldn't eat there. Finally I fed her about 3.5 ounces with a medicine dropper and cuddled her up in our sling and she slept for a few hours. When she finally woke up I nursed her and she went to bed. I hoped that all of the excitement from Christmas had overstimulated her which can aggravate reflux. Hopefully she would be better again the next morning.

The night was our usual routine. She would wake up to nurse then straight to bed again. But this morning was different. She is always in a good mood in the morning. Even if she has a terrible day, atleast the morning is usually good. She woke up, nursed and before she was even finished she started crying. It was so sad. She looked at me with her sad little eyes, with her big tears rolling down her face and my heart ached for her. I waited till the doctor's office to opened at 8:30 and I set up an appointment for 11:00. We took turns holding her and walking her around. We couldn't make her pain go away but atleast we could let her know we were there for and we loved her.

Our usual doctor was off today so we saw one of his partner's . I asked him if we could switch her over to prevacid. My sister went through all kinds of medicines before they finally landed on this one with success. So he sent us home with some samples to get us through the next 15 days. He also suggested we give her a small dose of mylanta when she is in alot of pain. We are going to start her on her first dose of the prevacid tonight.

I feel so bad for her. It's obvious she is in alot of pain. I just hope this new medicine helps her. She seems to be good for about 2 weeks or so when we try something new, so we'll know in a couple of weeks if this is the one for her. Wish us luck.

On a side note. She has started taking naps in her crib. She took one Thursday and one today. She also took two naps in my neice's crib when we were at my mom's house for our christmas gathering. So hopefully she will be sleeping through the night in her crib once we move to the new place. I don't want to try until we get her acid reflux under control. I am sure she is much more comfortable sitting up a little for now.

We are moving in 2 weeks and I haven't packed a single item. You can see why I have been MIA. When I am not at work I am very busy with her and since I only work 4 hours a day, I am very busy when I am there as well.

I miss sleep. I miss relaxing. But even though I am exhausted and I feel like crap most of the time, I feel much worse for the little munchkin. I just want her to feel better and on a more permanent basis.

I hope everyone else had a better Christmas then us...

Sleeping

Last night I finally was able to get some decent sleep.

The little munchkin hasn't been sleeping well, so ofcourse, I haven't either. It would go something like this. At bed time each night, I would nurse her, burp her, swaddle her and then spend about 20 - 30 minutes to rock her to sleep. Then 30 to 60 minutes she would wake up again and couldn't put herself back to sleep so I would have to spend 20 - 30 minutes putting her back to sleep again and so on until it was time to nurser her and then we would do this over and over again till morning. It takes me a while to fall asleep after she does, so I would only get aobut 15 - 45 minutes of sleep before she would wake up again.

I did a little research about infant sleep patterns. I was getting so frustrated and I wasn't able to figure out why she kept waking up and couldn't fall back to sleep on her own. Apparantly when they first fall asleep, they are in a light sleep pattern that lasts about 20 minutes, then they go into a deep sleep pattern. After about an hour, they go back into a light sleep pattern in which some stay asleep, some will wake and fall back asleep and some will wake and need to be put back to sleep in the same way they are put to sleep in the first place. Once I would hear her start to wake in her light sleep pattern I would try to follow some of the suggestions I found. I would stick her binky back in her mouth (we recently gave her the binky back and it has been working out great this time), I would rub her belly, or sing her a lullaby. Nothing would help. She would wake up every time and would only go back to sleep if I would pick her up and rock her.

So last night I decided we were go to try co-sleeping in the bed. I have been very nervous to try this because I wasn't sure there was enough room in our queen size bed for all three of us and even though I am sure I would wake up very easily any time she did or if anything was wrong, I still wasn't sure it was entirely safe. But every morning after Joe leaves for work, I bring her into the bed with me and after nursing we would both fall asleep for a couple more hours. She always sleeps so well and just really seems to enjoy being so close to me while she is sleeping. We set up the bed to be a little safer for her to join us and had everything set.

The last few nursings last night she would start to cry and act like her tummy was hurting her really bad. I figured it had to be something I ate and I am pretty sure it was the pizza we had. By the time we went to bed, it wasn't any better and she was really upset (screaming) when I would lay her down flat. We were all exhausted, I felt so bad for her and I wasn't sure what to do, so I brought her swing into our bedroom, strapped her in and set it to the highest incline. She was practically sitting straight up. As soon as I set her in it, she calmed right down and passed out. She slept for four hours. Then she woke up to nurse and I put her right back in her swing and she slept for another three. Then the same thing again and another three hours of sleep. It was so nice to be able to just wake up, nurse her, maybe change a diaper and then right back to bed. I was in heaven! I don't know how long this will work, but for now the swing will be coming to bed with us and rocking her to sleep (and keeping her asleep) for me. Yay!!

I can't believe how much she loves that damn swing. Often during the day, I will try to cuddle up on the couch with her. She will start to fuss and cry and after trying everything I can think of, nursing her, rocking her, changing her diaper, walking around with her, the only thing that that she wants is to just sit in her swing. Some mothers will try to get their baby to hang out in a swing while they can get things done or just have some time to their selves and their babies will have nothing to do with it, but it seems we are kind of the opposite. I will try to keep her really close to me, wear her in my sling and sleep right next to her, but sometimes she is just happier in her swing. I suppose I shouldn't complain though, atleast now I am getting so sleep.

Update: Here we are 2 days later and we are getting lots of sleep! I am only nursing 1 or 2 times during the middle of the night and the rest of the time we are sleeping. I am so relieved. I am not sure how it's going to work out, keeping her in her swing all night. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there.