... with a tantruming toddler and being busy with a baby, sometimes you just need to find some humor in your day. If you know me you know that I certainly enjoy "adult" humor, so I couldn't help but snicker when I heard Asher say these things today...
"Papa stop being silly with Mama"
"I don't want to see your purple carrot"
"I go downstairs and get my woody on"
I sort of feel the need to explain each of those, but I think I'll just leave it at that! Thanks for the laughs, Asher! Some day you'll understand.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
At 30 I have learned about myself...
... I lose patience quickly, and tend to notice this flaw in others.
... I have a love/hate relationship with my hair.
... I prefer salty and crunchy over sweet, unless it's ice cream or cheese cake.
... I'm an 8-hour a night kind of sleeper.
... I love being a mother.
... being a mother is MUCH harder than I ever thought it would be.
... I value my own mother much more than I ever knew I could.
... my faith is my cornerstone, but I struggle to live this out in real life.
... a shower everyday makes me feel human.
... I want to eat healthy, but I don't want to put a lot of effort into cooking.
... I second guesses many choices I have made.
... I struggle to like the reflection I see in the mirror.
... running makes me happy. Literally.
... I need alone time like I need air.
... I often mistake time out of my house, away from my family, and with friends as alone time. It is not.
... I long for intimate one-on-one relationships.
... I believe that loving others is the most important thing in life, but I tend to forget this.
... I'm much too hard on my husband.
... folding laundry is the one chore I actually like.
... I'm quite anal about certain things in my life, namely that objects and articles are put in their place in my home, even if that place doesn't make sense.
... I struggle with envy. A lot.
... there is still so much I want to do in life: learn how to take good photos, bake, run a marathon, dance again.
... I can put off the simplest tasks for way longer than I'd like to admit.
... I can hold a grudge.
... I can be selfish and judgemental.
... I still believe in the infinite possibilities and goodness in people.
... gratefulness is a virtue I need to practice.
... reading and writing are just something I need to do.
... the longing I have to travel will have to be satisfied.
... I worry too much over things that don't matter.
... I forget to see the big picture sometimes.
... I should trust my gut more often.
... I believe in the power of prayer.
... I think God's reasoning is complicated, and I hate not knowing the "why" behind His choices.
... I trust God's goodness, and this fuels my faith and gives me hope.
... I struggle to express my emotions, even though I feel them so strongly.
... I like a nice glass of wine.
... I appreciate the wisdom of older people.
... I will always miss my grandfathers.
... I am changing constantly, but I am always still me.
... I have a love/hate relationship with my hair.
... I prefer salty and crunchy over sweet, unless it's ice cream or cheese cake.
... I'm an 8-hour a night kind of sleeper.
... I love being a mother.
... being a mother is MUCH harder than I ever thought it would be.
... I value my own mother much more than I ever knew I could.
... my faith is my cornerstone, but I struggle to live this out in real life.
... a shower everyday makes me feel human.
... I want to eat healthy, but I don't want to put a lot of effort into cooking.
... I second guesses many choices I have made.
... I struggle to like the reflection I see in the mirror.
... running makes me happy. Literally.
... I need alone time like I need air.
... I often mistake time out of my house, away from my family, and with friends as alone time. It is not.
... I long for intimate one-on-one relationships.
... I believe that loving others is the most important thing in life, but I tend to forget this.
... I'm much too hard on my husband.
... folding laundry is the one chore I actually like.
... I'm quite anal about certain things in my life, namely that objects and articles are put in their place in my home, even if that place doesn't make sense.
... I struggle with envy. A lot.
... there is still so much I want to do in life: learn how to take good photos, bake, run a marathon, dance again.
... I can put off the simplest tasks for way longer than I'd like to admit.
... I can hold a grudge.
... I can be selfish and judgemental.
... I still believe in the infinite possibilities and goodness in people.
... gratefulness is a virtue I need to practice.
... reading and writing are just something I need to do.
... the longing I have to travel will have to be satisfied.
... I worry too much over things that don't matter.
... I forget to see the big picture sometimes.
... I should trust my gut more often.
... I believe in the power of prayer.
... I think God's reasoning is complicated, and I hate not knowing the "why" behind His choices.
... I trust God's goodness, and this fuels my faith and gives me hope.
... I struggle to express my emotions, even though I feel them so strongly.
... I like a nice glass of wine.
... I appreciate the wisdom of older people.
... I will always miss my grandfathers.
... I am changing constantly, but I am always still me.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
I'm 30!
And this year for my birthday I got...
... a cold
... a full nights sleep (THANK YOU MOM! This was by far one of the best gifts you could have given us!)
... lots of cards, emails, phone calls, and gifts from family and friends (even homemade fudge - yum!)
... supper cooked for me (nice effort, dear!)
... a really good haircut, which I went back to have one small spot touched up, and that led to a really bad haircut (I'm bringing the mushroom cut back apparently)
... a mini crisis about my body/look/image/style (a sacrifice I make as a stay-at-home-mom, happily, but sometimes it gets to me)
... a new pair of jeans (that fit NOW)
... a ladies night out on the town
... 4 blisters on my feet
... good food, good company, good friends, dancing, too many martini's, and way too much fun
... a reputation as a fugitive (by skipping out on the cover charges at bars with my partner in crime)
... a mini hangover
... a blocked milk duct (not fun!)
... 2 bouquets of flowers
... skor cheesecake birthday cake
... a 3 in front of my age!
Thanks for all the love, support, and care many of you have given me during the big 3-0 celebration. It has meant the world to me!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Impressive!
For the past month or so, Asher and Greg have been working on this downstairs. I finally stopped to take a video today because I was so impressed. I can't believe all the letters my boy can recognize! Wow!
Friday, October 8, 2010
What made me laugh and cry today...
... because all of these things are so true!
A good friend of mine sent this link to me, and it was exactly what I needed to read today.
I thought if I could go back and tell myself something right before I had kids it would be this:
Nothing is as bad as it first seems once you have time and sleep on your side. It will get better.
Remember to have fun. It's not all about the schedule.
This will be hard on your marriage, but if you work together, it will grow in ways that weren't possible otherwise.
There can never be too much love.
Fellow mothers, what would you say? What do you wish you had known?
A good friend of mine sent this link to me, and it was exactly what I needed to read today.
I thought if I could go back and tell myself something right before I had kids it would be this:
Nothing is as bad as it first seems once you have time and sleep on your side. It will get better.
Remember to have fun. It's not all about the schedule.
This will be hard on your marriage, but if you work together, it will grow in ways that weren't possible otherwise.
There can never be too much love.
Fellow mothers, what would you say? What do you wish you had known?
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
Loose Lip Levi
Challenges with nursing little Levi began, I think, when he was born. Knowing what I know now, I wonder if this contributed to Levi struggling to maintain his blood sugar, even though he seemed to be gaining weight well.
I noticed when Levi was less than a week old that when he was hungry and I would go to nurse him, he would often be very unhappy at the breast. He would seem to latch well, take a few sucks, and then come of crying and screaming. He would do this repeatedly (read: 30-40 times each nursing session I'm sure) until we were both frustrated. Usually, eventually, he would get over this episode and nurse for a bit on each side. This happened just about every time we would nurse.
Greg and I were frantic to figure out what the issue was, because we knew something was up. We spoke with a couple Family Physicians, Lactation Consultants, other mothers who had experienced similar things, and did our own research online. The top biggies for possible causes were: thrush (a yeast infection of the baby's mouth and mother's nipple), acid reflux, overactive letdown, excess gas and a food sensitivity.
We started treating for thrush even though we didn't have many of the symptoms. Since the treatment was basically harmless and all over the counter stuff, we tried it first. After 4 or 5 days we saw no improvement, so ruled out thrush.
I was pretty quick to rule out the overactive letdown as often Levi would come off screaming both when I was having a letdown and often when I wasn't. His fits didn't seem to be connected to milk flow (and of milk there was plenty).
Next we tried treating excess gas. We were super diligent about burping the poor guy and began using Oval drops and gripe water consistently throughout the day. After 4 or 5 days of this treatment, we saw little improvement and Levi continued to be quite gassy.
At this point I seriously considered cutting dairy from my diet as this can cause issues with babes. I was super hesitant to want to try this because I'm a vegetarian and dairy is a big source of protein for me. We decided to hold off on this option as Levi's issues had very little in common with this type of issue. I did, however, stop taking my prenatal vitamin as one piece of advice had mentioned the iron in the prenatal vitamin upsetting baby's tummy.
We really didn't want to treat for acid reflux if that's not what we had, but after learning that there was absolutely no harm that could be done, and that this treatment was comparable to giving Tylenol for pain or a fever, we went ahead with it. I filled the prescription for Zantac after one particular nursing session where Levi seemed to be in serious pain and it killed me to see him like that. We began giving him the Zantac close to 2 weeks ago now, when he was just 3 weeks old.
After 3 days on the Zantac we had a consultation at the Breastfeeding Clinic with a Lactation Consultant. At this point we discovered that Levi was not gaining weight well. Breastfed babies should gain between 4 to 8 ounces a week, and Levi was just gaining 4 ounces. Still within the norm, but barely. The Lactation Consultant observed me nursing Levi and didn't see any obvious concerns with latch, etc. One thing that did raise a little red flag for her was when I pointed out an observation that Levi seemed to have difficulty maintaining his suction when he was on my breast and I could often pull him off without having to break his latch. She mentioned at this point seeing a Speech Language Therapist (SLP) to assess Levi's mouth muscles, which of course I was all for.
At this point, wanting to try every avenue possible, we also began bringing Levi for chiropractic adjustments to a Chiropractor that Asher saw who specializes in babies and children. I believe the idea behind chiropractic care that says if the vertebrae that house a specific set of nerves are subluxated, that body part or bodily function could be effected. Levi has since had numerous adjustments in an area of his spine that houses the nerves of the face and head. (It's painless, I swear, he doesn't even flinch during the treatment).
So off we went to continue with the Zantac and allow it to fully take effect on Levi and wait for this appointment with the SLP. During the course of the week between these appointments I did noticed that nursing sessions with Levi seemed to go somewhat better. He still had fussing fits, but not every time and not as bad. I was encouraged by this. I had hoped the Zantac would be the miracle cure for him, and while it didn't fully seem to fix the problem, it did make a noticeable improvement.
When we went back to the Breastfeeding Clinic this week, Levi had gained 8.3 ounces, a great improvement from last weeks 4 ounces. I credit the Zantac having some effect. When the SLP did her assessment she did discover that Levi does have a small issue. When he nurses, he is using his tongue to do the work, which is supposed to happen. Levi, however, is not engaging his lips like he should. There is no problem with his lip muscles, but he is certainly not using them during nursing to latch on and help maintain suction and draw the milk out of the breast. This is a problem. Combined with the fact that he has a bit of an overbite (we are already saving for his braces!), this means that he struggles to maintain his latch and his tongue is not always enough to grasp onto my nipple. This also means that Levi takes in excess air when he's nursing since his lips do not form a proper seal on my breast, which leads to gas. Awesome. Surprisingly this issue is not fixed when Levi takes a bottle. This past week he has had 3 or 4 bottles of pumped breast milk and he makes a very funny sound while drinking this way - obviously not making a firm seal on the bottle nipple either.
So we are now doing lip exercises to strengthen those muscles. We do one set of exercises to engage the muscles that allow him to open his mouth and one set of exercises to engage the muscles that allow him to close his mouth and make a proper seal. We do these 3 times a day and should see improvement within a week or two once he starts using those muscles more. Many of you have been asking what the exercises are, so here's a copy the SLP wrote out for me:
I noticed when Levi was less than a week old that when he was hungry and I would go to nurse him, he would often be very unhappy at the breast. He would seem to latch well, take a few sucks, and then come of crying and screaming. He would do this repeatedly (read: 30-40 times each nursing session I'm sure) until we were both frustrated. Usually, eventually, he would get over this episode and nurse for a bit on each side. This happened just about every time we would nurse.
Greg and I were frantic to figure out what the issue was, because we knew something was up. We spoke with a couple Family Physicians, Lactation Consultants, other mothers who had experienced similar things, and did our own research online. The top biggies for possible causes were: thrush (a yeast infection of the baby's mouth and mother's nipple), acid reflux, overactive letdown, excess gas and a food sensitivity.
We started treating for thrush even though we didn't have many of the symptoms. Since the treatment was basically harmless and all over the counter stuff, we tried it first. After 4 or 5 days we saw no improvement, so ruled out thrush.
I was pretty quick to rule out the overactive letdown as often Levi would come off screaming both when I was having a letdown and often when I wasn't. His fits didn't seem to be connected to milk flow (and of milk there was plenty).
Next we tried treating excess gas. We were super diligent about burping the poor guy and began using Oval drops and gripe water consistently throughout the day. After 4 or 5 days of this treatment, we saw little improvement and Levi continued to be quite gassy.
At this point I seriously considered cutting dairy from my diet as this can cause issues with babes. I was super hesitant to want to try this because I'm a vegetarian and dairy is a big source of protein for me. We decided to hold off on this option as Levi's issues had very little in common with this type of issue. I did, however, stop taking my prenatal vitamin as one piece of advice had mentioned the iron in the prenatal vitamin upsetting baby's tummy.
We really didn't want to treat for acid reflux if that's not what we had, but after learning that there was absolutely no harm that could be done, and that this treatment was comparable to giving Tylenol for pain or a fever, we went ahead with it. I filled the prescription for Zantac after one particular nursing session where Levi seemed to be in serious pain and it killed me to see him like that. We began giving him the Zantac close to 2 weeks ago now, when he was just 3 weeks old.
After 3 days on the Zantac we had a consultation at the Breastfeeding Clinic with a Lactation Consultant. At this point we discovered that Levi was not gaining weight well. Breastfed babies should gain between 4 to 8 ounces a week, and Levi was just gaining 4 ounces. Still within the norm, but barely. The Lactation Consultant observed me nursing Levi and didn't see any obvious concerns with latch, etc. One thing that did raise a little red flag for her was when I pointed out an observation that Levi seemed to have difficulty maintaining his suction when he was on my breast and I could often pull him off without having to break his latch. She mentioned at this point seeing a Speech Language Therapist (SLP) to assess Levi's mouth muscles, which of course I was all for.
At this point, wanting to try every avenue possible, we also began bringing Levi for chiropractic adjustments to a Chiropractor that Asher saw who specializes in babies and children. I believe the idea behind chiropractic care that says if the vertebrae that house a specific set of nerves are subluxated, that body part or bodily function could be effected. Levi has since had numerous adjustments in an area of his spine that houses the nerves of the face and head. (It's painless, I swear, he doesn't even flinch during the treatment).
So off we went to continue with the Zantac and allow it to fully take effect on Levi and wait for this appointment with the SLP. During the course of the week between these appointments I did noticed that nursing sessions with Levi seemed to go somewhat better. He still had fussing fits, but not every time and not as bad. I was encouraged by this. I had hoped the Zantac would be the miracle cure for him, and while it didn't fully seem to fix the problem, it did make a noticeable improvement.
When we went back to the Breastfeeding Clinic this week, Levi had gained 8.3 ounces, a great improvement from last weeks 4 ounces. I credit the Zantac having some effect. When the SLP did her assessment she did discover that Levi does have a small issue. When he nurses, he is using his tongue to do the work, which is supposed to happen. Levi, however, is not engaging his lips like he should. There is no problem with his lip muscles, but he is certainly not using them during nursing to latch on and help maintain suction and draw the milk out of the breast. This is a problem. Combined with the fact that he has a bit of an overbite (we are already saving for his braces!), this means that he struggles to maintain his latch and his tongue is not always enough to grasp onto my nipple. This also means that Levi takes in excess air when he's nursing since his lips do not form a proper seal on my breast, which leads to gas. Awesome. Surprisingly this issue is not fixed when Levi takes a bottle. This past week he has had 3 or 4 bottles of pumped breast milk and he makes a very funny sound while drinking this way - obviously not making a firm seal on the bottle nipple either.
So we are now doing lip exercises to strengthen those muscles. We do one set of exercises to engage the muscles that allow him to open his mouth and one set of exercises to engage the muscles that allow him to close his mouth and make a proper seal. We do these 3 times a day and should see improvement within a week or two once he starts using those muscles more. Many of you have been asking what the exercises are, so here's a copy the SLP wrote out for me:
Pretty interesting stuff huh? I'm hopeful that this will fix up our issue once and for all. So far Levi doesn't really seem to mind the exercises and I find they help me to keep him awake when he starts to get sleepy during nursing.
So that's the scoop. A pretty intense trip so far, and further proof of my feeling that breastfeeding is one of the biggest commitments I've ever made. It would have been so easy to give up by now, but the experience and benefits for both I and Levi will be worth it in the end!
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