Two and a Half Months VS. Two and a Half Years

My heart is full of love!

Winter Fun

Rough Start

I haven't recorded my thoughts lately - why? Because I'm super tired and have sick kids. Yip, both of them.

Poor Little Miss H has had a rough start to this life. She joined us two and a half weeks early, and because she was so little they took her blood every couple of hours to make sure her blood sugar levels were okay. The only problem with that is the little gadgets measuring her levels were on the fritz, so they had to get the phlebotomist to draw the blood, which meant a much bigger jab to her super tiny foot and instead of just a drop of blood, they had to squeeze a whole vial of it from her tiny foot. She was such a trooper about it all, and didn't even fuss that much, even though her feet looked like she had just hiked over a field of broken glass.

Then, we took her home and her bilirubin levels spiked and she had to go "under the lights". She was completely yellow, and it was such an unflattering colour on her. They delivered the light bed and what they called a light blanket (It pretty much looked like a paddle that I had to hold over her back or stomach) to our home and the poor kid had to lie on the bed pretty much 24/7. Now bear in mind that it was snowing outside and she had to be stripped down to her diaper with nothing covering her but this thin blue paperish type covering. She did not like it at all, and so I ended up having to hold her most of the time with the biliblanket over her back. She was "under the lights" for three days, and every morning we had to take her back to the hospital to get her blood drawn so they could check her levels. Eventually they went down enough that the doctor said she would be fine. Relief. But, then a couple of days later she turned all yellow again. Back to the hospital for more blood work. Her levels had risen again, so she had to go back "under the lights". Luckily this time, they only delivered the biliblanket, and she responded to it alot quicker. The guy who did the home delivery of the blanket told me he had never had to deliver to the same person twice before. Great, that made me feel lovely. (However he did share his most delicious recipe for chipotle chicken so I forgave him). By this time I should have just checked into the hospital again I was there so much. This time they had to try to draw blood from my babies teeny tiny little arm so they could do a series of tests to see just exactly which type of jaundice she had. Turns out there are two kinds. One that if left unchecked or if the levels get too high can cause all kinds of brain defects (panic stations), or one where its just an enzyme in the breast milk that the body hasn't figured out how to metabolise yet. Luckily for us, her jaundice was the latter. Her levels finally dropped and her body caught up with how it needed to function and my little baby stopped looking like a pumpkin. Whew.



Then, she developed this rash on her cheeks, which turned out to be a yeast infection caused by too much yeast in my milk (once again I'm the one causing her problems with my boob juice.) The rash cleared right up after I put a little tea tree oil on it though. Yay for natural remedies.

And, just when we think we're finally in the clear, Taz gets a virus that she passes on to the poor munchkin. AARRGH! It was inevitable that she caught it, no matter how I tried to keep Taz away from her. So, after a trip to the doctor's office, we're once again back at the hospital, but this time to get the mucus sucked from her nose and throat. Luckily the infection isn't RSV. She does not enjoy getting sucked out though- who would? The same guy who delivered the bilibed, came back and delivered a nebulizer this time. I told him I was sure he was a nice enough guy, but I didn't want to see him again, and he laughed at least. So its back to the hospital at least twice a day for suckage, and the nebulizer every 4hrs or when I think she needs it. She should be on the mend by this weekend. Hopefully. Crossing fingers.

Oh and to top it all off, she has baby acne so her face is all red and spotty. Sigh. I'm tired.

Who is That?

I walked past a mirror today, and wondered who that frumpy old lady was. Then, I realized it was me. Inside I'm still the skinny girl who could eat anything. Sigh, too bad I'm not still that on the outside.

Its a good thing I'll have my post pregnancy six week checkup next week, where I'll be given the go ahead to start exercising again. Also, its the week after my birthday, so I don't have to feel guilty about over indulging in birthday cake. But, then its diet and exercise till I recognize myself in the mirror again.

More Taz-isms

The other day we were sitting outside enjoying the warm weather. The garbage truck came by. Taz wanted to know what it was (the last time it was warm enough to sit outside, Taz was too young to remember). I told her it was the garbage truck that had come to take away our trash. She watched intently until the truck dumped our rubbish into it and then drove away. Taz jumped up and yelled, "Hey, thats our trash - BRING IT BA-ACK!" I started to laugh as she continued to yell at the truck to bring our trash back, cause it was ours. I tried to explain to her that we wanted the truck to take our trash away, but it just wasn't doing it for her. For the rest of the day, she told anyone who would listen, that the truck took our trash away and it needed to bring it back. I'm still chuckling.

Then, this morning she was watching me feed her sister, and a tiny drop of milk splashed onto little miss H's babygrow. Taz got this really worried look on her face and said, "Mommy, shes all dirty. She needs a new ow-shirt." Umm, a what? "I'll get her one." She said. And, off she went to get little miss H a new ow-shirt. I was really interested to see what she meant. She came back with a purple fleece babygrow. It suddenly clicked, she meant a new OUTFIT. How stinking adorable is that?

The end.

One Month Old

Meeting the Cousins

Little Miss Maeve was totally enamoured with her new little cousin and just wanted to sit and hold her. Eventually we had to tell her that the baby was not a toy for her entertainment. It was too funny. Even Ethan was taken with our littlest munchkin, and loved it when she cracked a smile for him. (We won't tell him it was just gas.)

Keeping Busy

This is how we stay entertained when its freezing outside and there is limited space to run and play. Works for us.

So Precious

Tazism

This morning Taz informed me that all she wanted were some "tiny, baby marsh-pillows" for breakfast.

How do you say no to a request like that?

So, I put a few mini marshmallows on her cereal.

Welcome Little Angel

A week ago today Heidi joined our family. She was 2.5 weeks early and only weighed 5lbs 13oz. She is tiny but perfect. I am so excited that she is finally here.

Hibernation

It has been so cold here the last couple of days that I'm considering changing my species just so I can become something that is allowed to hibernate. Ugh! I am really not a fan of the cold - Especially when its forced on me in the form of temperatures that begin with a minus sign.

Boot Fetish

The Tazling is obsessed with boots of any kind, but especially mine. This particular day, she was loving that she matched the boots. Man this kid cracks me up.

Here's the Proof

Our dear little girl will be induced into the world on Feb 8th. I figured it was probably time that I took a couple of pictures of myself during this pregnancy so she has proof that I really was pregnant with her. Here I am at 37 weeks, I look alot smaller than I feel.

Hanging in there

Just hanging in there waiting for little missy to make her appearance. If all goes well only 1 week left.

Sigh!

Dan, Dan, He's the Man

I wanted to do a few sessions of acupuncture before I gave an update on how its working. Well, its working fantastically. Even Mack who was incredibly skeptical about all that "woowoo" stuff is now a believer.

I went from not being able to walk, to being able to move around, stand up from the couch by myself, sleep at night, wake without numbness and play with my daughter. My mood has also completely lightened and I am able to feel hope again instead of the thick darkness that had been hanging over me.

I am such a believer now, and am incredibly grateful that I have been able to find some relief from the excrutiation I was living with on a daily basis.

Yay for the "woowoo"!!!!!

Big Smiles

Today was a good day. For the first time in months I was able to sit on the floor and play with Taz for a bit. We were singing Old Mac Donald, and she was drumming on her little drum set and I was shaking a tambourine. With the biggest smile on her little face she turned to me and said, "Mommy, I'm so happy! Are you so happy? I'm so happy."

My heart just melted. It felt good to be able to be a mom again.

Acupuncture

I met with Dan today to asses whether I'm a candidate for acupuncture. He spent almost two hours with me going over my medical history and asking me questions about my diet, lifestyle and so many other things. He was incredibly thorough. Then he asked me to stick out my tongue which he examined for about 5 min. (Apparently my tongue is slightly swollen and purple in colour which is not good.) At the end of it all, he told me that my chi was stagnant on a variety of different levels, and that he could definitely help me with my back pain, insomnia and muscles aches.

So, I get to be a pin cushion for the very first time tomorrow. If he can help with this pain and get me sleeping through the night again - his name shall be praised.

I'll keep you posted.

Collapse

I woke up this morning and tried to stand. Ummm, it didn't happen. My left leg, pretty much buckled underneath me. The pain was overwhelming. Good times I tell you, good times. Tomorrow I will try to find out if acupuncture will be something that can help. I need a miracle.

Taz-isms

Today during story time, Taz handed a book to Mack and said, "Dis one for djoo." then handed a book to me and said, "Dis one for djoo." Then she sat down with a book on her lap. We each had to take a turn reading our book out loud. When it came to her turn to read, she pointed at the words on the page and said, "Once upon a time, there was a turtle. The end." And she shut her book.

I could have just eaten her up.