March 24, 2012

Who Me?

Look who had a new tooth show up over night!

When she went to bed last night, she had the two on the bottom and then the top two eye teeth that are through, but not fully erupted.  This morning, as she was eating cheese and crackers, there was a new one on the bottom left just taunting me.

The top two aren’t out yet, just hanging out there, bulging her gums, looking ready to cut through.

This does explain why she’s been so cranky at bedtime these past few days.   Well, more than just the two teeth that aren’t cut yet.  However, she’s been a bit less bity, which is nice, though her latch is a bit scrape-y still.  I can’t seem to find a position where she’s not scraping those freshly budded top teeth.  Hopefully, soon, we’ll get it figured out.  I don’t remember this being such an issue with her sister.

This cheese-loving baby now has five teeth.  She seems to be getting a new tooth every week!

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March 12, 2012

Ashlin’s been putting us through the ringer with these teeth of hers.  They can’t come through fast enough for me.  She wants to be held, but then doesn’t want to be held.  You can’t rock, or sway, or spin or swing her.  She’s not happy if you sit, nor is she happy if you stand.  She will not let you put her down, but she doesn’t want to be held.  She cries if you hold her horizontally, but also if you hold her vertically.  The teething tablets are helping a little, but not enough.  Motrin is also helping a little, but not enough.

The past two nights it’s taken somewhere between 45 minutes to an hour to get her asleep.  And then she may not stay asleep.  She comes up for air, or comforting, and then it takes another 30-45 minutes to get her back down.  Three to four (and sometimes five,) hours of sleep with just a few awake minutes of nursing and patting, but then more sleep is great.  Two to three hours of sleep, with an hour of nursing and trying to put back down is not fun.

I’m not 100% sure I do want her to have more teeth, she has become a bit bitey, and I’m not quite ready to stop nursing her.  But I do want her to not be in pain any more, to feel better.  I’d also like her to be my lovely, yet not-so-great sleeper, who would sleep (a bit!).  The one you could put down drowsy with her glow worm, and who would put herself to sleep.  I’d also like her to stop biting.

Is that too much to ask?

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March 4, 2012

It’s been a long day, although somehow I was able to sneak in not one but two naps, and I want to get to Once Upon A Time on the DVR before the baby cries again.  She’s been bizarrely cranky tonight, and just doesn’t want to stay down.  She’s also started biting again, so I think there may be teeth working their way out.  Not that I’m complaining too much, 11 months and only two teeth so far has been a dream.  It wasn’t this easy nursing Teagan, who had many more sharp bity teeth much, much earlier.  Still, it would be nice if Ashlin didn’t bite at all.  Because, damn!  Those teeth are sharp!

So, we spent the weekend up at my parents, for my dad’s birthday.  LaLa, of course, did her shopping magic and had fun new toys for the girls…  My little Irish Princesses.  Princesses who worship their grandparents.

Beautiful Irish Princess

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September 8, 2011 ~ Day Care Update

Around lunch time, I ended up calling day care to see how Ashlin was holding up.  (I was concerned about whether she took a bottle or not.  Really.  It wasn’t because I missed her.  Really).

Turns out that she was doing ok, though not having a spectacular start to her day care experience.  She did nap off and on most of the morning, in the swing and in her crib.  By the time that all the naps were over, it had been about 4 hours since Ashlin had last eaten, so she was a bit cranky.  They hadn’t wanted to wake her, as she was getting used to the new environment.  So, cranky baby who doesn’t really like bottles?  It didn’t go too well, she ended up taking 2oz over an hour, really making the instructor work for it.  I was pretty happy she took something.

When I walked in to pick her up, she was in the swing, crying.  According to the afternoon instructor, she had just started that minute.  A few minutes before she had been playing and smiling.  Ashlin loved their play-gym mat, and the excersaucer they have (theirs rocks too).  She also really enjoyed the swing.  They had tried to give the second bottle, but Ashlin didn’t want any of it, but was obviously hungry.  Poor baby.

I go get her sister and get home to nurse my baby.  Ashlin is obviously tired, as her nap schedule has been thrown off by the new place, new sounds, new people.  Today may not have been the best day to start her, as there were three instructors today, where usually there are only two.  They’re sure that next time, Ashlin will do better, not that she did all that badly today.  She will get used to taking bottles, and sleeping in a new place with new people and new sounds.

I’ll get used to it too.

June 6, 2011 ~ Ashlin’s Stats

Bored Now

Forgot to update with Ashlin’s Two Month Doctor’s Appointment.

She’s grown!

At birth she weighed 7lbs 11oz, she’s now 11lbs 2oz.  That puts her in the 50-55th percentile.  Her height went from 19.25 inches to 22.5.  Again 50-55th percentile.  Head circumference is now 40 cm – 80th percentile!  OMG!

She’s doing well all around – nursing, growing, sleeping.  Sleeping like a dream!  She will give you a big smile, one that lights up her eyes, and makes her pull up her arms like she’s the cutest.  She sticks her tongue out, tries to play the game often.  She’s almost laughing, the proto-laugh is getting more and more like a real laugh.  She’s beginning to interact with toys, though that’s still in it’s very early stages.

She does get fussy – gassy – every now and then.  Very not fun when she’s crying and everything you do doesn’t help.  Thankfully, it’s not too often, maybe once or twice a week or so.  Not every day.  Not every night.  Sometimes gas drops help, but unfortunately not always.  Sometimes the swing helps and that’s good.

April 13, 2011

It’s been two weeks since Ashlin’s delivery and I’m just shy of 20 lbs down.  Not including any gain from all the fluid they gave me for the section and after.  Oh, and the double ice creams I ate in the hospital for at least two, (if not three), meals a day.  LOL!

I ended up gaining about 7 lbs more with this pregnancy than with Teagan.  A bit more than they wanted – 15-25lbs was recommended.  I ended up gaining 34 lbs.  Oops.  I really did try to not gain that much.  Ate steak over salad for lunch often, apples with peanut butter.  Tried to stay away from pasta, but oh, mac ‘n cheese was lovely.  Cheese was lovely.  Frozen pizza was a lifesaver.  Too often.

All in all, I tried to eat well, but circumstances sometimes didn’t help.  But that’s history now.  I have 14 lbs left to lose.  After Teagan’s delivery, it took me 3 weeks to lose this much weight.  So, all in all, not too bad this time.  A total of six months to loose all the pregnancy weight with Teagan.

I know breastfeeding is helping.  And that’s also going better than with Teagan.  Ashlin is latching and feeding much better than her older sister.  Teagan was a bit of a battle for the first month, before she really got the hang of it.  We’re still using a shield, but have gone down one size, and are working on getting rid of it completely.

Because we’re breastfeeding, I know I have to eat, and can’t deprive myself too much.  I need the calories to pass on to Ashlin.  So, it’s not really time to “diet.”  We’ll just see how it goes, eating when I’m hungry, nursing Ashlin on demand.

Hopefully, I’ll loose all the weight this time within six months as well.  By not doing too much, like last time.  Fingers crossed!

September 17, 2010

So, I think my daughter is weaning. <sigh>  I suppose officially she’s been weaning since she turned six months and started eating solid food.  Nursing sessions have been slowly decreasing, till about two months ago, with two a day, if that.  She’s almost always wanted to nurse just before going to bed, even though she doesn’t nurse to sleep any more.  She hasn’t done that since she was about 7 months, although she still does get a bit trancy and milk drunk.  That one last session has been decreasing in time, and occasionally hasn’t happened at all (like last night).

The past few nights, however, she’s woken up at stupid early (or late, depending on how you look at it) asking to either 1. Nurse or 2. Go downstairs and eat.  Sometimes you can get away with giving her some water.  Last night, she asked for a banana.  The night before, it was cheese.  Sometimes she’ll go right back to sleep, sometimes she’ll be up in 40 minutes asking for more.  The start of this week, she slept from 7pm to 8am.  No trouble.  Last week too, well, except the few nights she woke up demanding to be fed.  Downstairs.  Repeatedly.

I suppose I should be happy, she’s 16 months old, very into her food (as you can see!).  We’ve actually nursed up till now, when at first the whole thing was up in the air.  We needed to work on it.  It’s been very rewarding, close, snuggly, warm.  I’m going to miss it.

March 15, 2010

Watch out world!  Here she comes!  She’s nothing but trouble now.  And she’s fast! 

We’ve protected the coffee table with foam insulation and even have an outlet cover in the living room.  Never leave the basement door open.  Try to not let her further than the dining room.  Did I say that she was fast?  She’s gotten to the kitchen.  We’re in the midst of packing, so it’s not completely safe to get out of the living room.  Piles of boxes that are not stable enough to pull up on.  We try to keep her distracted from the rest of the house. 

It will be easier in the new house, we have gates that we will put up.  Get new fancy ones that have foot pedals and you can walk through – a must if you are short and can’t simply step over the other kind.  We’ll have to be good too, as there’s two sets of stairs there.  and LOTS more wall space that will be unencumbered by furniture.  She’ll have her own play room upstairs (for now).

So, we’re about two weeks away from the move.  Pods will be delivered to the driveway, and we can pre-load the stuff we’ve already packed, and what was in the basement in tubs (prepacked!  WOO WOO!)  Getting those boxes out will clear the way to get the rest of it done.  Hopefully.  At least, I think it will.  I’m getting excited about getting into the new place.  It’s going to be fun :)  A home for all of us.

We’re also about a week away from the plague that attempted to take out the household…  I started feeling ill late Tuesday evening, which became a full on bodily horror that lasted most of the night.  It seemed to never end.  Every hour, on the hour, I needed to get up and threw up.  Stu got something similar the following day, but never quite as pukey as I did. We were both thankful that Teagan went into day care Wednesday.  Neither of us really were able to deal with her, so we just writhed in agony on the sofas for most of the day.  She never seemed to get ill, (breastfeeding benefit!)although she slept about five hours in day care, up just a little from her usual hour and a half.  Stu was only really out of commission for two days, I on the other hand about a week.  I dropped 4-5 pounds in two days.  It was not fun.

So, anyway our near future contains more packing, four teeth cutting at once, a bit more packing.  A touch of corned beef, and some left-over ice cream cake, and maybe more packing…

:D

December 19, 2009

So, I’ve been meaning to write up a new blog entry, but somehow never seem to find the time.  Then there’s the immobility behind actually writing something, that gets bigger and bigger each day.  Then I end up not actually writing the entry.  Repeat cycle. 

So.  I’m doing it, sitting in bed, with my hubby, while my Sister-in-Law sleeps on the sofa.  Mother-in-Law is in the guest room.  They arrived yesterday, even with all the snow in the UK and the soon to be snow here.  They haven’t been able to get over to see Teagan until now.  It’s fun. 

Anyway…  bullets to catch up!

1. This made me sad.  So much history, culture gone.  Sort of the same as Route 66 going away too.  The trip to then Leningrad on the train from Moscow was one of the highlights of my past.  Taking a sleeper car to Rome from Toulouse was another.  I’ve never been on the Orient Express, though I wanted to.  I don’t think any of my trips counted as being on that line.  I probably never would have had the chance, even if it hadn’t gone the way of the dinosaur.  It feels like we lost something important.
2. This made me go “huh? WTF?!?!?!?!?!!?” and then laugh a little.  I thought the article might have been making it up until I saw it myself on TV.  Stu said he didn’t want to spoil the surprise, but he also scheduled my mammogram.  I’m hoping he found a place that will read lactating breast images :D
3. I really like the MamaPop site.  Bunch of interesting blog writers writing about current events, with attitude :)
4. 1,000 Awesome Things.  The site name just says it all.  Interesting site, a visit always leaves a smile on my face.
5. Ear infections suck.  Double ear infections 10,000 times worse.  I suppose this should be higher on the list, but I’m trying to forget.    Teagan doesn’t seem to do well with ear aches.  We did 10 days of Amoxicillin, went for the follow-up, only to be told that her ears were filling up again, and we needed to do a second round of antibiotics.  Welcome Augmentin.  I need to put some food coloring in it or something, it’s a pain to fill the syringe thanks to the creamy whiteness.  Although she doesn’t seem to like it as much as the Amoxicillin, she does ok with her doses.  I love shoving the syringe into the side of her mouth twice a day.    Poor kid.  She needs a non-medicated break.  The doctor we saw for the follow-up didn’t mention anything about tubes, which was nice – the first doctor did though :(  THis is the second ear infection (double trouble even!) in her now seven months.  Not that bad considering she’s been in day care for four of them.
6. I’ve been able, more or less, to keep up with Teagan’s breast milk needs, though pumping has become less and less enjoyable (like it ever was!!).  She also is less frustrated while nursing, which is good, although she’s still incredibly distracted.  Food, so far, hasn’t completely ruined our nursing relationship.  It’s still there.  I do know that it will end – it does have to – but the little blip we’ve had recently made me realize I wasn’t quite ready for it to be over yet.  I will miss her little hand reaching around and gently hugging my back as she nurses, the free hand grabbing my finger, hair, necklace, whatever.  The little puppy whimpers and cries when we switch sides and I’m not fast enough.  The way her eyes flutter and roll with pleasure at the beginning as hunger begins to retreat.  The way she stops and smiles up at me and then dives in for more.  Even the way she’ll try to talk around my nipple after she’s had her full but doesn’t want to pull away.    It’s little gestures like that I’ll miss terribly.
7. Thanksgiving was fun!  Teagan tried grabbing the turkey during the pictures…  I need to see if I can get a copy of one of those pics :D
8. Teagan is SEVEN. MONTHS. OLD!  Wow.  Where has the time gone?!?!?
9. I need to finish Christmas Shopping.  <sigh>  Where has the time gone?!?!?!?!?
10. I can’t remember the rest of the stuff I wanted to write about…  I’m going to bed!

:)

December 2, 2009

So today was the first day that I wasn’t able to keep up with her appetite.  I didn’t pump what she normally eats while at day care.  <sigh>  I knew that starting her on foods would eventually lead to her weaning – can’t nurse her forever now, can I – but I didn’t expect it to start so quickly.  Then again, seeing her excitement with each new food she tastes, well, that might eventually be worth it.  :)