What Goes Down, Must Come Up - Part 3

Guess who's turn it was? JACOB!

Let's hope for Ryan's sake we don't have a Part 4...

What Goes Down, Must Come Up - Part 2

Last night, I was the one in the bathroom "bowing to the porcelain throne." Ryan can sleep through babies crying, phones ringing, you name it. But this? This he ALWAYS hears, no matter how quiet I am.

Jacob wouldn't nurse before bed last night. His nose was so stuffed up that he just kept turning away crying. He had a 102 fever. This morning, it was 103-something, so we have a pediatrician appointment at 11:45. I really don't feel like going anywhere today in my condition, but I know we should. Hopefully, everyone is OK.

Is this how every winter will be until there are no more little kids in the house? Because this? While I feel like this? This is hard.

What Goes Down, Must Come Up...

Last night, Lily threw up for the first time.

And the second time, and the third time...and the seventh time.

We were driving home from Bible study when we heard an awful sound from the backseat, like Lily was choking. Ryan turned around and told me she was throwing up and to pull over. Lily was a little distressed when she saw her lunch back on her jacket. Ryan and I were a little distressed that her lunch was back on her jacket...and her car seat and her blanket and her clothes, etc.

After two hurling sessions in the car, we finally got home and gave her a nice, warm bath. She had no idea something was wrong with her or that wretching was not normal, as she smiled and played in the tub. Then she threw up in her bedroom, into the garbage can we had prepared for her. Ryan rubbed her back and held the can as we told her how good she was doing puking in the can.

She's all about putting things were they belong, so we had to set a good precedent.

We wrapped an old beach towel around her crib mattress and put a few more on the carpet outside of her crib. Ryan tucked me into the bed across the room, and Lily thought it was neat that Mama was sleeping in the room with her. We put the Sponge Bob nightlight lamp on the floor, so I could keep an eye on her in the dark. The sand glowed yellow under Sponge Bob's beach blanket.

I hardly slept last night, and if I did, it was with one eye open. Every time she rolled over, or changed her breathing pattern, or sighed, or yawned, I popped out of bed, wondering what was coming, getting the garbage can ready. I only had a few moments notice each time, and she was not too happy that I was making her sit up in bed when she was so tired. But each time she was done, she went right back to sleep, and for this, I was very thankful.

At least ONE of us was sleeping.

Ryan came in to get me around 5 a.m. Jacob was ready for his morning meal. I tucked him into the bed with me and we drifted back to sleep. Lily woke up around 8 a.m. and took a super long nap (at least three hours) today. She is acting tired, but not crabby and miserable like when she had that high fever last week. She is still pleasant, and silly, just a little more STILL than normal. Which is always appreciated.

I bought some PediaLight, but she wants nothing to do with it. So far, all she's had to eat today is half a banana and a gingersnap. She seems OK with that, so I'm not going to push her.

Here's to hoping we don't have another repeat of last night tonight. It was so awful seeing and hearing her throwing up - I hope my little stinker is all better now!

P.S. Jacob and I are both stuffed up with runny noses (which actually helped me last night when I had to clean Lily off in the car...I couldn't smell a thing so it didn't bother me a bit)(Ryan was so bothered by the smell, he was driving along with the windows down and you KNOW how freezing it was last night). Anyway, Jacob's forehead just felt a little warm, so I took his temperature.

101.2.
If it's not one thing, it's another...

Welcome, Kimberlee Ann

Hospitals with tiny newborns - with that new baby smell and wrinkly skin and tiny cries - are a very dangerous place. I wanted to sneak this little peanut under my shirt and take her home with me.

Congratulations, Datnee and Kimani!

Lily Getting Her Face Painted

Watch this video of Lily's amazing stillness:

Jacob Jabbering

Random

My pocket is full of tissues - some dirty - from Lily's runny nose.

Lily's sleeve is covered with slime (see previous).

My gall bladder removal is scheduled for Friday the 13th...of February. The day before Valentine's Day. So I'm getting just what I wanted...an excuse to spend the whole day in bed sleeping and watching movies.

Jacob is in his booster seat at the table, playing with the little car dashboard that his grandparents gave to Lily when she was his age. He doesn't know it sings out of tune.

One of my friends is at the hospital in labor right now. I think "A Baby Story" is there with her.

Lily is walking around with no pants on, her diaper dragging from one ankle.

I'm going to a potluck dinner at church tonight and have nothing to bring. Maybe I'll make chocolate pudding pie.

Lily peed on the potty for the first time last week. It's funny congratulating someone over and over for something so mundane and oftentimes inconvenient to an adult.

Jacob just dropped his car toy and is complaining that he has been left all alone in the kitchen. He doesn't like to be alone.

I keep small scizzors in my purse to chop off the top of straws for Lily in restaurants. This keeps her from tipping the cup too far and spilling juice all over herself.

Lily likes to line up her Little People in very neat rows. All of the peole have to be facing the same direction. When I turn one or two around, she turns them right back.

Lily's hair barrette is blue with sparkles. Think I'll look less like a 12-year-old if I steal it for myself?

I spent $45 on 30 pieces of clothing yesterday (none for us). I saved $350.

Wordless Wednesday

Home-made Christmas

Many of this year's Christmas presents were hand-made. If not by one of us, then by some very talented people on places like Etsy. I just loved it! I wish more of the hand-made gifts were from ME. Maybe next year...

Lori made two wonderful hats for the kids.



Here's Lily modeling hers right after she opened it. This gift was DOUBLE hand-made - Lori bought the home-made pattern on Etsy.

Lori also crocheted a pair of wool soakers for Wyatt:



She sure was busy! (And so talented!)

Amanda bought Lori and I homemade necklaces fashioned out of old Scrabble tiles and hung on thick silver chains. Lori's tile has a blue bird painted on the front, and mine has three little flowers on a black background. They are both so sweet.

Amanda also bought the girls the cutest little tu-tus, made out of pink and purple crinoline.



Most of the time, Lily prefers to wear it as a hat more than a tutu - whatever works.



I sewed Heidi a patchwork-type pillow for her new car. I put in a zipper and her initials real small on one corner.

We had two big surprises. The first was the beautiful watercolor painting Ryan's mom made us. It was set in Williamsburg, and the heads of both our little stinkers are popping up in the bottom of the picture - including the crazy hair on Jacob's head!



It was awesome, and a wonderful addition to the Charleston, SC row house-type painting she made us last year.

And the other big surprise was the two baby-sized Adirondack chairs my dad made for the kids.



These were brought in from his car after all the other gifts were handed out, as the big surprise finish Ryan and I had not expected.



Thanks so much to everyone for the special, thoughtful hand-made gifts!

Swingin'

Jacob not only smiled, but started giggling when I put him in the basement swing:



So cute! I can't wait until it gets nice outside so we can start taking him to the park. He was in a park swing this fall (with Lily), but was too little to really enjoy it:



Here are a few pics of Lily in the swing right after we first hung it in the basement:





(They were all so cute, I couldn't pick just one!)

These were taken a little less than a year ago. Look how much more hair she has now!



(Special thanks to my Aunt Barbara for bringing the Mickey and Minnie back from Disney World for the kids!)

Feeling Better

Lily's fever finally broke last night around 11:00 p.m. She woke up super sweaty, but not hot to the touch. We took her temperature and it was 97.something, which didn't seem right. So we took it again, and it was 98.1. I was so happy to see such an improvement! It had gone all the way up to 103.something yesterday afternoon, and that had me concerned.

I'm really glad the worst seems to be over. When I saw 103, I had flashbacks to roseola, but her symptoms were much different then - her fever started and remained high the whole time, and she acted tired but not miserable. Can you even get roseola twice?



Lily asleep in Ryan's arms at Bible study the night her really high roseola fever struck exactly one year ago. This picture was monumental...Lily never, ever, EVER falls asleep in someone's arms or while other things are going on. We took this picture with Ryan's cell phone as proof.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Someone I "met" online a few months ago (and still plan to meet in person, once we can get our schedules aligned) just blogged about the sleep problems she's suddenly having with her son now that he's around three months old, and how frustrating it is for her.

My heart just goes out to her.

Sleep depravity with a newborn or any baby / child who isn't sleeping for long stretches at night is so difficult to endure. Sleep depravity messes with your head and makes you a mean/snappy person to those you love most. In my case? My husband and my toddler. I was not a very loving or patient wife/mother for a few months there when Jacob was around 3-6 months. I was so angry with myself for having such a short fuse, but at the same time, I couldn't do anything about it and that made me MORE grumpy. I even wondered if maybe I had PPD, but then I would always remind myself, "No, you just have NO SLEEP!"

Here's an edited version of the response I left on her blog. I wanted to post it here because this is a very important/personal issue to me that I didn't cover well enough while it was happening, because honestly I'm not too good at talking about not being good enough. Hopefully, someone else can be encouraged from my experience.

Here goes:

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. Having just recently come out of my sleep-deprived haze with Jacob, I can certainly sympathize with you. Jacob pulled that, "I suddenly no longer know how to sleep!" nonsense with me from about 4 through 6 months (not that he was any good at sleeping through the night before that, but at least he could fall asleep on his own or nap for longer than like 20 minutes at a stretch - which he still doesn't really do). Having come out the other side - finally! - a month or so ago, around month 7, I want to encourage you that it will get better...even if in your grogginess you feel like that will never happen.

You'll be there soon. He'll learn how to cry himself to sleep after just a few minutes, and not an hour or two (oh the heartbreak...). He'll learn how to sleep through the night after just a few nights of you "forgetting" to turn on the monitor before bed (because there's no way you can HEAR you baby cry in the night and not go to him, especially when you're so tired and you know that getting up to nurse him will take much less time than staying awake listening to him crying for an hour or more).

Just last night, as Ryan and I played a game of Boggle before bed (yes, we are crazy like that), I said, "Aren't you so happy to have the real Leah back? Not the mean, grouchy, constantly tired / unable to handle things Leah that blamed you for EVERYthing and never slept for more than like 3 hours at a time for a few months?"

He just nodded and smiled. It's good to be back.

It's Going Around

Lily has a fever of 102.9. That certainly explains her overall crabbiness yesterday. It's hard to comfort a sick child who generally doesn't like to be comforted. "I feel awful and want to be held but PUT ME DOWN NOW." Poor thing makes me so sad, I don't quite know how to help!

I was afraid she had another night terror earlier, but in hindsight I think it might just have been a combination of her being REALLY tired and REALLY not feeling well. She was cry/screaming facedown into her blankets in her crib. I went in there to comfort her and see what was going on (Lily has a very distinct cry, and I had never heard these sounds coming out of her), and was a little unnerved when she didn't startle at my presence. I rubbed her cheek, I rubbed he back, still the cry/screaming continued with her face buried into her crib.

I turned her over and she kept her eyes shut. Her crying slowly turned into hoarse, rapid breathing that I could still hear down the hall with her door shut. 10 minutes later, I was relieved to hear her regular lilting cry, and went in to retrieve her. I picked her up out of the crib, held her in my arms like a baby, and rocked her on the chair in her room. Her eyes were still shut, but at least she SOUNDED normal. She said, "Done!" between sobs after I asked her if she wanted to be put back in her crib, and I had to smile. That normal response was what I was hoping for.

She remained curled up in my arms with her eyes shut as I carried her downstairs to get the thermometer. Jacb meanwhile was screaming on the floor having just woken up very hungry from a nap. I put Lily down and managed to get Jacob into the Ergo on my back to at least get one of them to stop screaming.

After taking Lily's temperature and giving her some baby Tylonol, I carried her back up to her crib, where she responded much more normally. She asked for some milk and cuddled her blanket to her face and sucked away on the pacifier (I think the milk was more for comfort than for drinking). I left to let her go to sleep, and she closed her eyes as I walked away. That was at least 20 minutes ago and I haven't heard from her since.

Poor little thing!

On a related note, a girl across the street is coming over to spend an hour or two with Lily tonight while Ryan and I go out to dinner with some people from church. We'll be taking Jacb with us, but figured we shouldn't take Lily out feeling like this. This will be our first time using her babysitting services, and I figure it will be a good test run. We won't be too far away, we won't be gone all that long, and she won't have the baby. Keep your fingers crossed that it goes well...I see many more date nights in our future!

PS What's the going rate for babysitters these days? Does the amount increase with each child? Does the babysitters age and experience change the rate? We've only ever had family watch our kids so I need some schooling on the matter...

Daddy's Work

Every weekday, when Lily asks about Daddy, I tell her he's at work. Finally, she got to see just what that meant.



Ryan was very excited to give Lily a tour of the server room he designed and put together.



Here's a self-portrait of me with Jacob in Ryan's office. We tried to take one of Ryan with Lily, except, wait...



Get back here!



I guess she prefers self-guided tours.

Christmas Present Models

Gall Bladder Update

Had my appointment with the surgeon today. Gall bladder must come out. It will be a laproscopic procedure with four small incisions lasting all of 45 minutes, though it requires general anasthesia so I will be knocked out for the duration. Recovery time will be a week or two, and I'll be on pain killers for at least 3-5 days. SOOO that means I'll have to pump and dump. Very sad, pouring Jacob's precious liquid gold down the drain! That also means lots of pumping beforehand in preparation. Too bad it takes maybe two pumping sessions to get a full bottle. Don't ask me how that works.

Or doesn't work.

Oh, and did I mention that Jacob will no longer take a bottle? Yup, not a one. It's been well over a month (maybe two) since I had the need to give him one. When I tried again just before Christmas, he was like, "What in the world? Get that thing out of my mouth!" Much gagging and hacking ensued. That night was also the last night he ever took a pacifier. Seems like I'm all he wants! Which is a little flattering, but will have to change before I go under the knife. I guess when he gets hungry enough and desperate enough, he'll take a bottle again.

So anyway, the surgeon's office will call me in a few days to schedule the appointment and tell me what I have to do to get ready (for instance, eat a low-fat diet from now until then - haha - and get bloodwork done to verify that my liver is functioning properly). Sounds like my mom and Ryan's mom will come up for a little while afterwards to help take care of the kids while I recouperate, though I'm not really expecting it to be that bad. Can't be as bad as after giving birth. It's not like I'm pushing out a baby.

Just a gall bladder ;)