She-Baby Shenanigans

Oak,

Welcome to your virtual baby shower! 

I am beyond happy for you on your second miracle baby!

It's no secret that you've been through the ringer over the past few months and I know you aren't the mushy type but I want to tell you what a strong woman and great mom you are. E, Mac and She-Baby are so lucky to have you in their lives.

I'm so glad I found your blog because I know each time you post something I will be in for a good laugh.  Your comments, emails, and advice have always been spot on and I appreciate your friendship very much.  In one of your emails you told me, "Just remember, you're the perfect Mom for Emily and your parenting will be just what SHE needs even if it's different than what you imagined or what you see other mom's do." best.advice.ever. Thank you.

So congratulations Oak, I can't wait to hear all about your upcoming adventures with an infant and a toddler!!

Half a year old....my baby is a textbook Scorpio

Happy half birthday to my sweet Emily Bonnie! I can't even begin to describe how insane it feels to have a 6 month old...

Emily is growing and changing and learning so much right before my eyes!  She watches everything so carefully and soaks it all in, you can almost see her mind working and making sense of the world around her.

She is playful and funny; her smiles and her giggles are everything to me. She is feisty, stubborn, determined, and already opinionated- a true Scorpio. Emily's nickname has been honey badger since she was only a few days old...the nickname fits her perfectly.  I swear my mom is looking down on me laughing and saying, "I told you you would have a daughter just like you!".

She loves to talk and there are times I swear she knows what I'm saying and answers me in her own language.  She is rolling from her back to her belly all the time but is now refusing to roll from her belly to her back. Instead, she lays on her belly and screams bloody murder until someone comes to rescue her. She is sitting on her own and wants so badly to crawl- she gets her legs moving but doesn't get anywhere.  She is grabbing (and smacking) our faces, yanking on my hair, reaching for the cats....she is in constant motion.

Sitting on her own, April 15, 2012

Her favorite time of day is when daddy comes home.  Her face lights up like a Christmas tree when she sees Steve.  She loves bath time and starts bouncing and grinning from ear to ear when she hears the water running. She also likes going for walks and jumping in her jumper.
 

She just got her helmet to fix her flat spot that was caused by torticollis and she has been such a trooper.  She is still doing physical therapy once a week to work on her neck.  Her head tilt has gotten a little worse over the last month but her therapist says this is normal because she is sitting now.  Our biggest challenge is trying to get her to hold/push herself up on her elbows or hands while on her stomach and lifting her head to look up.  She tends to want her arms pushed back and her back arched.

Her schedule is still changing a little bit day to day.  She eats a 7oz bottle every 4 hours and gets fruits and veggies for breakfast and lunch.  She is taking 3 naps almost every 2 hours and sleeping about 11.5 hours a night from 7:00pm-6:30am, waking up once to eat at about 2:00am (she started this about a month ago and we are working on eliminating this feeding). She weighs 19.8 pounds and is 28 inches long. Her hair is light brown and her eyes are still blue. She is in size 3 diapers and her clothes are 6-9 months.

I know you're watching me mom!

 

carrots!

I have to give so much credit to Steve.  He is a wonderful dad and so great with Emily.  He is helpful and involved- more than I could ever hope for. I am so grateful to him for working so hard to allow me to stay home with our little girl. 

Daddy's girl

Happy 6 month birthday Badger, we love you more than anything and we are so happy to have you in our lives!

Playing catch up...

I've been reading all of your blogs on my phone and I'm trying to catch up on commenting!

We've been busy!

One of my very best friends came to visit last week and it.was.awesome.  We drank wine, talked, went to a baseball game, talked, got massages, talked...you get the idea.  It was so nice to have an old friend here and I feel refreshed after her visit. 

Emily got her helmet today.  She did really well during the fitting, only a few adjustments had to be made.  I learned how to put it on, take it off and how to clean it.  The first few days she wears it off and on for increasing amounts of time each day and by Friday she will be wearing it for 23 hours a day, only off for bath time.

Even with a helmet she's the cutest thing I've ever seen!!

Brain.Dead.TVT.

Happy Thursday. 

~ Emily has an ear infection, conjunctivitis, and is getting another tooth (I think).  What does this mean? I'll give you three guesses.... it means no sleep and lots of crying.  My poor girl.

~ I read the book Whe.at Be.lly and I'm trying out my newest food challenge- no wheat, no grains, low carb, good times.  This book is eye opening to say the least.  I'm on day 4 of no grains and it's not that bad. We've made spaghetti squash spaghetti, and cauliflower crust pizza, both were good.

~ One of my best friends is here visiting (yay!!) and Emily is pumped, can you tell?

~ Oak did a hilarious post on her doppelgangers and I had to check mine out....

Sofia Coppola? I don't even know who that is.

Picture #2
 No. 1

Match: 92%	Match: 88%	Match: 84%	Match: 82%	Match: 81%
Claire Danes	Sharon Stone	Danny Glover	Julie Andrews	Hillary Rodham Clinton
				Upload a picture of you and this celebrity to Facebook and show to all your friends who is your celebrity look-alike!

Danny Glover 84%. Perfect.

~  And last but not least, I am addicted to insta.gram. It makes me feel like a pro photographer. If you're on it, let me know your user name, I'll follow you.

Match: 80%	Match: 79%	Match: 79%	Match: 79%	Match: 78%
Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima	Tara Reid	Bridget Fonda	Jessica Simpson	Sarah Michelle Gellar
Upload Upload a picture of you and this celebrity to Facebook and show to all your friends who is your celebrity look-alike!	Upload Upload a picture of you and this celebrity to Facebook and show to all your friends who is your celebrity look-alike!	Upload Upload a picture of you and this celebrity to Facebook and show to all your friends who is your celebrity look-alike!	Upload Upload a picture of you and this celebrity to Facebook and show to all your friends who is your celebrity look-alike!	Upload Upload a picture of you and this celebrity to Facebook and show to all your friends who is your celebrity look-alike!

Teething, I hate you.

We are going on two nights of very little sleep in this house (thank God for coffee). 

Miss E is teething- one of her bottom teeth has broken through a tiny bit.  She is waking up at 11pm and 2am screaming her little head off.  We have tried having her chew on anything and everything but for some reason she does not want to chew.  The only thing that calms her down in the middle of the night is a bottle.

We've tried...

Humphreys "3" tablets
frozen or cold toys
ty.lenol
teething pacifier
cold or frozen washcloths
frozen or cold fruit in a mesh feeder
Sophie

the Humphreys has worked the best so far and the ty.lenol of course but I don't want to give her that all the time. I've heard from a couple of people that pure vanilla extract works well (has anyone tried this?)

Any other suggestions?

Helmet news

Today we had Emily's head scan for her helmet.  The scan only took 1.5 seconds and was super easy. Her head measured at 6.6mm asymmetry which is considered moderate.  The orthotist told us that most insurance companies don't cover helmets for under 6mm. So compared to some cases, her head isn't that bad and should be relatively easy to fix.

So, in two weeks  Emily will be getting a clear helmet (similar to this) that is supposed to be cooler (temperature wise... but baby girl will look cool, believe me) and less bulky for the summer. I'm already looking at stickers to decorate her it, there are tons of websites for this, who knew?

In other news, my blood tests came back normal so the next step is to go see my pcp to see about what other tests need to be done. 

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Easter past and present

Last Easter we had our gender reveal ultrasound with our families and found out our sweet baby was a girl. 

Here she was one year ago all snuggled up in my belly.

This Easter we were beyond happy to have Emily in our arms smiling and laughing.

Happy first Easter Emily Bonnie! 



dots and joint pain

Since having Emily I have had the worst joint pain in my knees and hips.  There are times when I feel like my knees are going to give out when I go to sit down.  It's painful but I thought it was just from being on the floor more and lifting Emily, you know- mom stuff.  I also have small red dots all over my abdomen, upper thighs, upper arms and back.  These 'dots' as I call them are called petechiae and they originally showed up on my stomach after my ectopic and blood transfusions.  At the time I worked for a dermatologist and he had me get some blood tests because he thought it might be lupus.  My blood work came back normal so I never thought about it again.  Since having Emily, the joint pain has been pretty awful and the petechiae are multiplying.  I had some blood work done yesterday so I'm just waiting to see if anything is out of whack. 

Has anyone heard of anything like this?

a bunch of stuff I couldn't think of a title for.

* Emily has been sleeping terribly for the past couple of weeks.  Steve and I were getting up to put her pacifier in about 500 times a night. Not fun. So last night I broke down and read Ferber's book. Yes, I was so desperate for sleep that I was going to let poor Emily cry it out.  What I learned from his book is that her pacifier (or lack of) was probably the thing that was waking her up multiple times per night and only allowing her to nap for 30 minutes.  Last night we got rid of the pacifier cold turkey.  I was sure we would be up all night with a crying baby but she only cried for about 10 minutes and then she slept- the.whole.night.  And today she has napped for over an hour each time!  Victory. (Knock on wood)

*  We had our appointment with the craniofacial doc last week and Emily will soon be sporting a helmet.  While it's not the best news, it's ok with us, we aren't that upset, and we are just glad it's something that can be fixed.  The appointment was at Pittsb.urgh's Chil.dren's Hospital and it was heartbreaking to see little kids dealing with so much. 

*  Emily is loving solids and disco music.  So far she likes oatmeal, avocado, pears, sweet potatoes, bananas and apples.  Shake Your Booty is her favorite song. What can I say, she has good taste.

* I've lost 6 pounds in 3 weeks and I have pre-pregnancy jeans on today. Granted, they are the biggest pre-pregnancy jeans I own but hopefully I'll be working my way down to the rest of them very soon. I guess wei.ght wa.tchers really does work when you set your mind to it (also, not stuffing your face like you're still pregnant works too).   I'm finding tons of good recipes on pin.terest (I'm obsessed, isn't everyone?) here are a couple of my favorites:

Protein Ranch- this stuff is awesome. It tastes just like ranch and it's only 1 point for a 1/4 cup, in my book that is aaaaamazing.

Cake with applesauce- sometimes I need dessert. I found these recipes for cake without using oil or eggs. 5 stars, all the way.

Cheesy cauliflower pancakes- we had these for a side dish one night- yum.

Zucchini tots- like tater tots only better for you.