She's changing

I have really noticed big changes in the baby this past week or two! She is starting to laugh more, for one. The last 3 nights she has slept through the entire night, knock on wood (I hope I didn’t just jinx that). We are talking she went to bed about 8:30pm and slept until 7:30am the next morning without wanting to be fed! The last two nights she really didn’t even fuss. We are finally past the whole pacifier thing, thank goodness. And that is because she has found her thumb. We had been leaving one arm out of her swaddle and she was able to suck her thumb and soothe herself back to sleep. Tonight we are trying no swaddle at all, and we shall see how it goes. The Swaddle Me is still handy in case we decide halfway through the night that we need to stick one arm in. She has been doing great with one arm free, so we shall see. Of course I still wake up about every 2 hours to check on her. But overall, she just really seems different to me the last two weeks, older I guess, but different. She seems to understand more, is trying to communicate more, and making different sounds. She has been practicing her MMMMMMMM sounds. She is so funny! Her new thing is making an Oo, Oo, Oo noise when she sees us making a bottle, like she is trying to say ‘oooo, I want it NOW!’ It makes me laugh every time!

Long ago I made insulated curtains for the basement. I thankfully had some of the insulator left over, and I made one large insulator curtain for the baby’s room. The insulator curtain has fabric, then a layer of a shiny plastic material, and then a layer of cotton. And then you put whatever fabric you want on the cotton side. Well, in the baby’s room, I just sewed a strip so I could put a curtain rod in and then we hung it behind the blinds. So, from the street, you see the cream colored fabric side. In her room, you don’t see anything because the blinds and curtains are closed. It does help a bit, the room got to 74 degrees the other day. And that was without her ceiling fan running. Once I turned that on, it went down to 73. That is much more acceptable than 77 degrees! Now that we have that figured out, I will try naps in there again.

I also bought oatmeal to try with her. She still does not like the rice cereal. She likes the oatmeal a little bit better. We tried it tonight for the first time, and not at bottle time, but on its own, about an hour after she drank a bottle. She ate a couple spoonfuls without really complaining! We may have success with this! Next we just need to adjust her schedule a bit to better accommodate when she wants to sleep. That is going to be a bit rougher. It might mean that I might have to start getting her up at 7am or earlier. She really prefers getting up at 7:30am or later. Not sure, I have to play with that one.

It looks like we are also going to be enrolling her in daycare this upcoming week. The girl who took over for my extended maternity leave has accepted a full time position elsewhere and they want me to come back. I have having a hard time with this one. The closer we get to the enroll day (Monday) the more I feel I am just not ready. But we did find a really great daycare. It’s the Child Development Center at Pikes Peak Community College. So, you have your ratio of 1 teacher for every 4 infants, but then you also have student teachers in with them a lot which drops the ratio down even more. And they are accredited by some big accreditation people, who I forget now, but it’s rare to have. And the prices are GREAT! So, who knows…?

Well she is asleep, which means I should be also! Hope everyone is well!

Poor Buddy!

Well, let’s see. I guess big changes here. Buddy went in for surgery yesterday. They did end up shaving off the part top of his leg bone, re-aligning his leg and putting in a plate with screws (called a TPLO). Yea, ouch! We have to carry him down to the yard to potty, we keep him gated in the family room away from the other dogs and we have yet to find out what works best at night. I also keep giving him Happy Travelers to keep him calm. Happy Traveler is an herbal sedative.

The place we took him was wonderful. We took him to Colorado Canine Orthopedics. Dr. Bauer is the main doctor there, and was the only doctor there for a while. Dr. Reicks (pronounced Ricks) joined him recently and he did Buddy’s surgery. Dr. Bauer is probably one of the best in the nation! I know that I have heard stories of people coming from all over the country to have Dr. Bauer do surgery on their dogs. And the vets around town rave about him. I have also known several people who have had him do surgery and said he is wonderful. Anyway, their office is so great! They have people chairs and next to every people chair is a dog bed. And dog toys everywhere! When we picked Buddy up, he had a whole bag of goodies! And his picture was on a tag on the bag and on his discharge instructions! They sure made the whole process easier, and they were so friendly.

We are attempting to start to move the baby to her room. I am starting by putting her pillow in there for naps. First time was this afternoon, where she is right now. I have discovered that her south facing room gets HOT during the day. So, she is in there, but it’s also 77 degrees! So, I have her ceiling fan on high and a fan in the hallway blowing in. She isn’t sleeping much, probably because it’s so hot. The heating vent was open, so I closed that, and I am going to put a cover over it later. It’s going to be a trial and error trying to figure out how to get it cool in there, but yet, keep it warm enough over night. We might also have to put something like white poster board over the windows to try to reflect some of the sun. If it wasn’t so tacky looking, I would put foil up!

She also is not used to her room. The only other time she has slept in there was when she first came home and was on the lights for her jaundice. And those machines made it really hot in there! But, since she hasn’t been back in there since, and at that point she couldn’t see much, she is not used to being in her crib.

She has been having sleeping issues at night. We aren’t sure why. She wakes up several times and wants her pacifier. We have to hold it in her mouth for a few minutes and then she will finally fall back to sleep. We swaddle her when she is asleep because she sleeps best that way. We tried not swaddling her for about a week, (conveniently Hubby said we should try this and then left town) and I really didn’t get any sleep. So, back to swaddling we went, and it made it a little better. But she also likes to suck on her hands, which you would think would take place of the pacifier. So, we now swaddle one arm and leave one arm free. That seems to be doing to trick. Sometimes instead of demanding the pacifier, she will suck her fingers or thumb. But other times, she wants the pacifier no matter what. So, right now we are working on easing her into her crib and out of her Swaddle Me! She slept more when she was a newborn, I swear!

And she still HATES her rice cereal. I have a call into the pediatrician to ask what she thinks we should try next. I want to try oatmeal, but the other day at the store, I was reading the box and the box said ‘may contain wheat’. Her specialist was very adamant that she not have any wheat until 8 months and up, so I need to ask them if I can try oatmeal or just keep chugging along with the rice cereal she hates! I feel bad forcing something she obviously does not like in her.

We set up her excersaucer for her. It’s one of those stationary play saucer things, you put them in the middle of, the seat swivels and there are toys all around her. She is small in it, but she will sit and look at all the toys. If she is in a good mood, she will sit there for 30 min or more. She will touch some of the toys, but she is not yet really big into toys. The only things she really loves right now are the dangling toys on her bouncy seat. She will reach for those all day long! She loves her bouncy seats. Her favorite is the one her Aunt and Uncle and Cousin in Virginia gave her, she kicks her feet and the lights light up and a song will play. We also recently got her another one that has fish on it. She likes watching the fish. We got tired of lugging one up and down the stairs, and holding her at the same time. So, we found the fish one on clearance at Target for $26 and it matches her swing! So, we now have one on each level!

Well, she is due to get up soon and Hubby is on his way home, so I am gonna run!

Forgot to Mention

I forgot to mention in last night's post that it's snowing AGAIN! This is like the 5th weekend in a row for snow!

Ah-Ha

Ah-HA, I finally did listen to one thing that the specialist told me! He said to try getting the baby’s formula on Ebay. To get it from a regular pharmacy is $33-$36/can. My mom is able to get it at cost through her work pharmacy for $30/can. I can get it for about $20/can on Ebay! I all ready bought one case. There is another case only for $85 right now, which would make it $14/can, but I am floating in Elecare now, so I unfortunately am going to hold off. It’s always for sale on there. People stock up on it, and then their child stops using it, so they sell it! I sure wouldn’t want to waste formula that expensive. Heck, I hate it when I make a 5 oz bottle and she only drinks 2oz! I have to throw 3 oz away!

We did go see the specialist this week. That was quite the trip. If you recall, last time we went, he was very upset, saying that she was only in the 5^th % for her weight. He diagnosed her as Failure to Thrive. He asked us to up her calories, and wanted us to put her on a monitor to monitor her heartbeat and breathing (in case she stopped, an alarm would sound). I was very upset after the last visit. I was in tears and on the phone with my pediatrician as soon as possible. We started going for weekly weight checks with my pediatrician, and she was very happy with the baby’s weight. She said the baby was consistently in the 25^th %. On the baby’s 4 month visit, she told me to tell the specialist that if he had a problem with her weight, call her. Well, we got to the specialists office, and the same medical assistant as always took us back, weighed her and then went to the chart. At this point she said, ‘the baby’s not a boy! This is a boy’s chart!’ AH-HA! Guess what? Once they got her charted on the girls chart, she was in the 25^th % and they removed the failure to thrive diagnosis! The specialist was kind enough to say ‘sorry ‘bout that’.

Anyway, we also discussed that she isn’t going to be moving off the elecare until she is 7 months-8 months old. She is also banned from having any wheat products until then as well. So, we will have to be careful what we give her as time goes on.

She still HATES (HATES!) the rice cereal. We shove a spoonful in and then shove the bottle in her mouth to rinse it down. I am assuming it’s the texture she is having a hard time with. She wouldn’t drink it in her bottle a few months ago, and now… well, we will be lucky if she ever eats rice cereal. I am sure she will just be a ball to start with baby food. Due to her allergy, we also have to be very careful about starting new foods with her. We have to give her a full 7 days between each new item we start. How fun for us.

Hubby just got back LATE last night (actually early this morning) from an unexpected business trip to New York City. This job came up last minute, and he flew out last Sunday. My mom came up and spent a few nights with us, which is always SO NICE! I love it when she does that. And the baby does too, ‘cause she gets spoiled!

The office Hubby was doing work in was on Broadway! But down near Wall Street. And he was staying in a hotel on 5^th Ave! Must be rough! He was able to meet up with his Uncle Paul one night for dinner. Paul works near Wall Street as well. Other than that, Hubby put in some LONG days while he was there. I think the company had unrealistic expectations of what they wanted done and in the time frame they wanted it done as well. Bu they were also on a deadline because they wanted to fire a guy on Friday, so part of the job for Hubby was to secure everything so this disgruntled employee would not be able to log in and sabotage the company on his way out the door.

His plane was delayed leaving NY, and thankfully his plane leaving O’Hare for Denver was also delayed. He literally made it by the skin of his teeth! His bags, however, showed up today.

Speaking of by the skin of his teeth, he was driving home from the airport in Denver, and suddenly on I-225 (interstate in Denver) there was a car coming at him in his lane! He was barley able to swerve and miss the car. He dialed 911, but unfortunately, this guy collided with someone else not long after the near miss and killed himself and the driver of the other car (ironically another Jeep Cherokee). A detective called Hubby today asking questions, but since everything happened so fast, Hubby wasn’t much help. They don’t know yet if the guy was drunk or not, but how could any sober person do that!? Phew, thank goodness, we get to enjoy Hubby still!

Well, I worked today, so I am exhausted! I think I hear Hubby doing the last feeding of the night, so I will end here!

4 month shots

Well, we survived the 4 month shots, barely! The baby suffered after effects of a mild fever (100.3 was the highest we recorded), loss of appetite, irritability, and sleepiness. The last 48 hours have been a little rough.

However, at the same time, she is starting to really change! She has discovered the baby in the mirror and enjoys smiling at her. She is finally reaching for toys now when you dangle them in front of her she will grab them and pull them towards her mouth.

We have tried the solid foods two nights in a row, and so far, she hates it. We have only made it through a few spoonfuls and I am not sure she swallowed any of it! This may be an uphill battle with her.

I have discovered a tool that should be on every new mom’s must have list! WD-40! I finally bought a can today and sprayed the hinges on our bedroom and bathroom doors. Now they make no sound when the open and close. What a difference! Now if I only knew how to fix floor creaks, I would have no problems sneaking in to check on her, or put her pacifier in.

We got another round of snow the last few days. It only amount to a few inches, but it brought REALLY cold temperatures with it. And we are talking barely double digits. It’s COLD!! And it just adds to all the snow we have. I think everyone’s outside Christmas lights will be up until spring!

Well, the little one finally is asleep for the night, or at least for a while. That means I can get ready for bed also!

Growing up

The baby is growing up too fast! She weighed in at 11 lbs, 15.5oz today. She is still in the 25% for her weight, so nice and constant. She got her 4 shots and 1 oral today. She was not happy about it, but she seems to be recovering fine. She didn’t have many side effects last time, so hopefully she won’t this time either. She is always a little bit more irritable, but wouldn’t you be if you just got 4 shots!? The doctor also gave us the go ahead to start her on solid foods, so we will start tonight. I also spent the afternoon packing up her small 4oz bottles and level 1 nipples. She is just moving right along now!

In fact I need to go and wash more of her 3-6 month clothes and pack up some of her 0-3 month’s clothes. So, I am off to work on that!

Monitors and Christmas decorations

It’s here, it’s here, it’s here!!! The monitor arrived last night. I am currently watching the little one sleep! It’s so great. I can even hear her snoring. I love how sensitive the microphone is, so I can hear her breathing. This is the first opportunity I have had to use it and I love every minute of it! Now I just have to get her to sleep through her naps without waking up a million times. When she wakes up, I have to sneak in and put her pacifier in her mouth. I do this about every 15 minutes. She is also on a kick where she wants this done at night too. She starts about 1am and it sometimes goes through when she gets up at 7:30am. During the night she wants her pacifier about every 30 minutes. Needless to say, I haven’t been sleeping well recently.

Yesterday I went out and took pictures of our Christmas decorations. I know you are probably asking yourself why. Well, I only took pictures of two little bumps sticking out of the snow, actually. And I did that because it was the first time we have seen them since December 21^st! We put two of those inflatable decorations out on Thanksgiving Day, and since we got hit with the first snow storm on Dec 21, we haven’t seen them since. So, I think we are getting close to getting them back, however, they are predicting more snow for this weekend. Someday, like maybe springtime, we will get them back!

Happy 4 month Birthday to baby! She turns 4 months today! Hard to believe it was 4 months ago she made her entrance into the world. To celebrate she goes to the doctor to get her shots tomorrow, she will be so pleased.

Well, I have a few things I wish to do before she wakes up. Hope everyone is well!

Massages, Yes-Facials, NO

The little one is working on taking naps on her special pillow. So far she is doing pretty well with it. She only requires occasional intervention to put the pacifier back in her mouth. Now we just have to figure out her nap schedule. The afternoon is pretty easy; it’s the mornings we have difficulty with.

For a few nights last week she was not sleeping. We have learned that we have periods like this occasionally. Thankfully it only lasts a few nights and then she is back on schedule. But those nights where she doesn’t want to sleep turn into LONG nights.

Buddy is going to see a Canine Orthopedic Specialist tomorrow. When he was under a year old he had surgery on his knee. The vet thinks that over time, that surgery has deteriorated and he will need to have surgery again. First they will scope his knee to see if they can figure out what is the cause of his pain. He has been keeping weight off of his rear left leg for well over a week now. But, since we now have him on some heavy duty pain meds, he is starting to put it down occasionally now.

Well, one of the guys at Hubby’s work is leaving. He was owned most of the shares of the company. So, they are going to redistribute all the shares of ownership. Originally he was going to get 7% of the shares, and the other guy was going to stay. But since he has decided to leave Hubby will now end up with 25% of the shares of the company. So, Hubby is now 25% owner of the company.

For Christmas, Hubby got me a VIP Package to a spa. One of the perks is that in the month of your birthday you get an express facial (30 min) and express massage (30 min) for free. So, since I just had the month of my birthday, I went Friday to get that done. Well, I am apparently allergic to something in the facial stuff. Saturday I woke up with bumps on my face and it was a little red. Later that night my eyes started to swell. By the time the baby had woke up for her 4am feeding, my eyes were so swollen, Hubby took one look at me and said ‘ewww, you’re not going to work today’. When I woke up at 7:30am, it was pretty scary. I looked like a lion child. My eyes were just about swollen shut. So, I didn’t go to work, I stayed home taking Benadryl every 4 hours and sleeping. The swelling is down a lot today, but I still have the little bumps all over my face. I think I will stick with massages only. I forget that my face can be sensitive to things sometimes!

Highchair

Well, we went out tonight and got the munchkin a highchair! We will build it tomorrow so she can start sitting in it. Now-a-days, they make them so they recline. That way, baby can be sitting in the highchair from day 1 if you so desire. We figure we better start getting her to the table! She needs to see us eat and how the process works. My guess is that we will begin spoon feeding her next month. Oh, no wait, probably this month, because in just over a week she turns 4 months old! So, while we were at Babies R Us we also got spoons, so we are ready when the doctor tells us to start.

She and I went to the grocery store today. I must say, it’s not easy to push a cart AND hold a pacifier in at the same time. I only hit one other cart. Yesterday we went to the mall. I was in Bath & Body Works, and most of you probably know that their store is designed so that anyone with a stroller has a miserable time moving around in there. I hit 3 different woman’s feet. I felt like a fool, but there is NO ROOM!

Big news here today is that I got the munchkin to take her afternoon nap on her pillow! She slept a solid 2 hours. So, tomorrow I plan on trying her morning nap there as well. The only problem now is that we don’t have a monitor. So, I need to stay nearby where I can hear her in case she refluxes and chokes. Hubby’s task, since I was pregnant, is to get the monitor. He will be purchasing one tonight, before he goes to bed. Then, when the little one is napping, I won’t have to stay up in our bedroom with her. I am really looking forward to that!

Well, she is sound asleep. It’s time to put her on her pillow for the night. Here is the link to the pictures Zak took the other night, enjoy!:

http://zakeller.googlepages.com/courtneycolette

Happy New Year's

My blog site wasn’t working last night, so I had to wait until this morning to post this:

Well, here we are in 2007! We made it!

I think I jinxed myself. Courtney had been doing really well the last few weeks with her reflux. I started thinking, wow, maybe she is outgrowing it! Or maybe we have her figured out so well we have it so managed it hardly shows. Well, then a few days ago it flared up. She had a day of fussiness, spitting, projectile vomiting, and choking. Just when I though things were smooth….. Oh well!

She is doing better now, again. I think so, anyway. Her pillow still seems to be working really well for her. The day she had the flare up, of course that night she didn’t sleep as well. She woke up at 2:30am and wanted to eat. She had been on a pretty regular schedule of waking up at 4am. Well, when she wakes up at 2:30am to eat, that means she wants to eat again around 6am. I think she woke up at 5:30am. We are used to being on her schedule as well. Usually she is asleep by 10pm, and we are asleep by 10:30pm. Then she wakes up at 4am, and then again at 7am. Not too bad. But when she changes things up, it’s hard on us too. So, waking up on New Year’s Eve morning, I knew it was going to be a LONG day. I worked at WnW, and I just have to say ‘Thank goodness for Starbucks!’ She is doing better now and getting herself back on schedule. I guess I know better than to think the reflux is gone at this point. But I am still holding our hope that at 6 months it will disappear!

Zak and Susan came to our house tonight. After spending some time walking around the Shops at Briargate, we came home and Zak took Courtney’s 3 month old pictures. Okay, she is more like 3 & ½ months, but such is life. I can’t wait to see how they turn out, as she looked SO cute!! He will play with some, turning them black and white, or sepia. I am so excited to see what he does. He really is an amazing photographer! Maybe we will have to fly him out for her 6 month, 9 month, and 1 year old pictures…. As payment for the pictures, we took them to an Indian restaurant for dinner.

Life starts to get back to normal tomorrow. Hubby goes back to work after 4 days off. The office was closed Friday due to all the snow. By the time the storm stopped we probably ended up with a foot of snow. We aren’t going to see our sidewalk for a long time. There is so much snow that shoveling some parts just is not possible. There is about a 4 foot mound on the corner! And there is no way I can get my car up our street. If I am going to leave the neighborhood in my car, it will have to be on Maroon Mesa.

Well, I am off to see if we can’t get the little one to bed soon! Happy 2007 everyone!!!