My Poor, Stopped Up Peanut

Get ready from a TMI post about baby bowel movements....

Sweet Hannah is severely constipated!  She hasn't had a "normal" bowel movement in almost a week.  Yesterday it got really bad!  Each time she would try to poo, she screamed in pain!  It was heart-breaking to see me little peanut in so much pain.  I cried each time she did.  I did things I never thought I would do....stuck a suppository in her booty, scraped poo out with my fingers in hopes of assisting her, used a thermometer with petroleum jelly on the tip to try to stimulate the poo reflex....UGH!  It was a very emotional day for Hannah and for me. 

I am not exactly sure what caused the constipation, but I have a feeling it was the bananas I introduced into her diet a few days ago.  In an effort to get her back on track in the poo department, we have stopped all solids for the time being and are back to nursing only.  I suspect that she is hungry, as she has cried for each nap today (which isn't normal lately), but I have seen some improvement overall.  She has had 3 bowel movements today, with the latest one being almost back to normal and only slightly uncomfortable for Hannah.  YEAH!!  Hopefully she will be back to normal real soon and then we can go back to re-introducing solids....very slowly!  I am going to essentially start from scratch with the solids and stick to one food for several days before introducing another.  That way I can very closely monitor how her digestive system handles each food.  I think we will start with avocado (again).  She seemed to like that when she ate it a few weeks ago and I have read that it is easily digestible....exactly what we need right now!

Wordless Wednesday: Family

I have the best family ever!  This is a picture of my cousins (on my dad's side).  They are like sisters and I love them so much!  Unfortunately this picture is from April 2009 and the last time I saw most of them was Sept. 2009...too long!! :-(

New Schedule

After LOTS of thinking, planning and praying, we have a new schedule for Hannah.  The last 2 months have been exhausting and filled with many tears (for Hannah and me).  I just couldn't decide what to do in order to "fix" her sleep problems.  We tried all different things and nothing worked.  Finally, after much hesitation on my part, we decided it was time to give Babywise a try.  I have read the first book in the series (and am working on the second right now) and really love the idea of BW, but I was so hesitant to start it.  The main reason was because of how much trial and error it takes in the beginning to determine baby's "optimal waketime".  I just didn't think I could figure that out on my own.  I am VERY type-A and like things to be laid out for me, in black and white.  With BW I have to do a lot of discerning on my part and that makes me a bit anxious.  But after consulting a Babywise website that I LOVE (http://www.babywisemom.com/), I found a general schedule that I could start with and tweak as needed.  So on Friday morning, we jumped right in!  Here is what our new "ideal" schedule looks like....

8am - Wake Hannah (if she isn't already awake), nurse, feed solids, change diaper, independent playtime (right now she is in her pack n' play with toys for 12 minutes...more on that in another post)
9am - Short story, song, and put down for a nap (1-2 hours, depending on what we are doing that day)
10 or 11am - Wake Hannah, playtime and/or errands
12pm - Nurse, Feed solids, playtime
1pm - Story, Song, Put down for a nap (2 hours, hopefully!)
3pm - Wake Hannah, playtime
4pm - Nurse, Feed Solids, Playtime (I try to do independent playtime again, but not always)
5pm - Story, Song, Put down for a short nap (1 hour at the most)
6pm - Wake Hannah, playtime
7:30pm - Bedtime routine (bath, pjs, nurse, bible story, prayers, bed)
8pm - In bed (this is where the crying begins....she HATES going to bed!)

Things are definitely not perfect and we are still working out the kinks, but I do think that this schedule will work well for Hannah.  I am happy that her first two feedings line up with breakfast and lunch and eventually will work on moving her 3rd feeding back a bit to make it line up with dinner time.  Then, eventually we will drop that last nursing and be down to just 3 meals a day.  For naps, she is taking 3 for now, but will soon drop that third cat nap and just do a morning nap and an afternoon nap.  Then at 1 year we will move to just one nap (an afternoon one). 

Today is 4 of this new schedule, so I am not judging anything yet...but there is silence in my house right now and that means a sleeping baby! ;-)  There is a light at the end of this tunnel!!

Thanks so much for all the advice and encouragement the last few days.  It was greatly appreciated!!!

Need Help!!

Okay everyone, I need some suggestions!  As you know (if you have been reading this blog for any length of time), Hannah is definitely not consistent with her schedule and/or sleeping.  However, I am determined to keep trying and being the type-A person that I am, I must have a plan!  ;-)  Right now I am nursing Hannah 5 times in a 24 hour period (well, at least 5 scheduled times...anything else is just extra).  I also feed her solids at 3 of those feedings.  My goal is to drop one of her nursing sessions and be down to 4 feedings with 3 of them having solids in addition to the nursing.  I also would like to try to align her feeding schedule more with a "breakfast", "lunch", and "dinner" time.  I am also trying to figure out how her nap(s) will work into the schedule.  So this is where I need help!  Please look at our current schedule and offer any suggestions you have!!! 

• Somewhere between 4-6am: Hannah wakes up crying...I try giving her the paci if it is before 5am because I really don't won't to feed her that early, but sometimes that doesn't work, so I end up feeding her.  My goal would be to drop this early morning feeding, if possible, but I don't know how to do that if she is the one waking up this early and won't go back to sleep.  After this feeding I put her right back down and she goes back to sleep.
• Somewhere between 8-10am: Hannah wakes up crying...I try to give her the paci again if it is before 8:30am, but if that won't work I get her up, but don't usually feed her til closer to 10am.  This nursing session is not usually a very good one.  She doesn't seem very interested.  My guess is that she isn't very hungry since she got such a good feeding a few hours earlier.  Ideally I would combine these two feedings somehow and have her first feeding be somewhere between 8-9am ("Breakfast").  I also feed her solids after this nursing.  After this feeding we run errands, have playgroup, and don't have a schedule nap, although she does cat nap sometimes.  But I really need this time to be able to get out of the house and not have to be home for a nap, that is why I have always down the afternoon nap.
• Usually about 1:30pm: I feed Hannah again.  This nursing session is also not very good (she is generally not nursing well anymore except in the early morning....she is so easily distracted and is fussy while nursing...I am a little worried that my supply is dropping)  I feed her solids after this nursing as well.  Then I put her right down for her afternoon nap (I hope for 3 hours, but lately it has only been a 2 hour nap).  She usually goes down pretty well for this nap.
• Somewhere between 3-5pm: Hannah wakes up from her nap (My goal has been for her nap to be from 2-5pm, but things are changing around here!).  I try to put off her next feeding to closer to 5pm no matter when she wakes up from the nap.  I nurse her and give her solids at 5pm.
• 7:30pm: Bedtime routine (bath, pjs, nursing, storytime, prayers)  I nurse her again (even though she just ate a couple hours ago) and she sometimes eats well, but most of the time does not.  But she is again very fussy while nursing, as if she is hungry but can't get anything out.  This is a very challenging time of day for me because it can get pretty stressful.  I have given her formula on occasion at this feeding and she usually will gulp it down, which then makes me worry about my supply again! :-(  However, she is 17lbs right now, so I really don't think she is lacking in the food department!
• 8pm: In bed...this is where the fun begins.  Sometimes (most of the time) she goes down okay, but then after 30-40 minutes she is awake again, crying.  We try to let her cry for 10 minutes before going in the room, in hopes that she will fall back to sleep, but that usually doesn't happen.  So we end up going in after 10 minutes and giving her the paci, which usually (though no always) puts her back to sleep.  Then the schedule starts all over again....

HELP!  Suggestions are VERY welcome!!

Thanks so much!!

5 Months Old

My sweet little girl,

You are 5 months old today and what a 5 months its been!  So much has changed in the last 5 months.  Just today I saw a newborn baby while walking around Babies R Us (buying you a 5 month birthday toy) and I couldn't believe how big you were compared to that little newborn!  I won't be able to call you my little peanut for much longer (although I'm sure I will!). 

This month was filled with firsts!  You are such a little person now, with quite a personality.  You are VERY active and rarely sit still.  Trying to change your diaper or get you dressed is quite the task these days.  You are constantly wanting to roll over and scoot around.  I'm sure crawling is not far off....oh boy!  You have a very lively personality and you are definitely the "life of the party".  You love having everyone's attention and are so happy when someone is holding you or playing with you.  But being alone is another story.  You are a social butterfly! :-)

Here's what you're up to these days:

• We weighed and measured you at home today and you weigh 17 pounds and are 26 inches tall!!
• You can roll over both ways, but you are mostly working on back to front right now (thankfully you haven't been rolling in your crib much lately)
• You can sit up all by yourself for several minutes now...you rarely need me to catch you, but I still sit right next to you just in case!
• You LOVE to stand up while holding onto the couch.  We just tried that for the first time a couple days ago and you thought it was SOOOO fun!!  :-)
• You can scoot all around while lying on your back (and also your stomach, but you only do that in your crib...like the time I know I put you down facing one way and the next morning you were completely turned around).
• You love to "fly" on your tummy (you put your arms and legs up and just kick away)  I think you get frustrated though because you aren't actually going anywhere....soon enough my love!
• Your sleeping is still a bit off.  The last couple days have been better, but still not great.  You still have trouble after we put you to bed at 8pm.  You often wake up 30-45 minutes later, crying.  It has been hard to get you back to sleep at that point.  I used to feed you again, but have now decided that you really aren't hungry (you just ate at 7:30pm) so we have resorted to letting your cry it out for 10 minutes at a time....NOT fun!!!  I definitely shed a lot of tears myself. :-(
• Waking you up from a nap or in the morning is one of my favorite moments with you.  You are all smiles!!  I LOVE that you are waking up happy now....precious!
• You are eating several different things these days - applesauce (which you seem to like), peaches (still not sure about those), oatmeal cereal (you seem to like it), rice cereal (yum!), and today you tried avocado for the first time (you seemed to like that too!)  You are also getting really good at drinking water from a sippy cup.  I also let you practice taking sips from a 'real' cup and you do pretty well!
• Nursing is still going well, but you are getting REALLY quick (5-7 minutes per side) and you are very easily distracted when you eat.  
• You love bath time and you have so much fun kicking your feet and splashing water everywhere!
• You are so good with your hands!  You can transfer a toy from one hand to the other with no trouble and you reach for toys that you want and grab things so easily.  The other day at the grocery store, I gave you a green bean and you held onto it for a long time!  I finally had to take it away from you when you decided it would be fun to try to eat the green bean whole.  You also love to grab things you aren't supposed to...mommy's food, earrings, hair, dirty diapers....
• You love our doggie, Bubbles!  You love when she walks by and you try to reach out and grab her.  She's not a huge fan, but I think she will really start loving you when you are a little older and start feeding her scraps from the dinner table. :-)
• You LOVE getting undressed!  You smile and giggle and think it is just the most fun you have ever had! ;-)
• You are wearing size 3 diapers now!  Although you can still fit into size 2's, but they are getting snug!
• You are wearing almost all 3-6 month clothes (6 months in most stores).  But there are still a few 0-3 (3 month) things you can wear and that I squeeze you into! 
• You put everything in your mouth and love to blow raspberries!  Mommy loves when you do that....just not when you're eating! ;-)
• We still aren't sure if you are teething or not...lots of drool, chewing on your fingers and sucking on your bottom lip...but no redness of inflammed gums, so maybe not??  But if your sleep is this crazy before teething, I don't even want to think about what it's going to be like when those suckers start popping up!  UGH!
• You love to be carried on my hip.  You are such a big girl now and definitely don't like being held like a "baby"
• You schedule these days looks like this:
• 5 or 6am (I am hoping this gets later soon!) - You wake me up, I nurse you and change you and put you right back to bed
• 9 or 10am - You wake me up, I feed you (nursing and solids) and change you and then we play!
• 1:30pm - Feed you (nursing and solids), change you and then put you down for a nap (2-4 or 5pm)
• 5pm - Feed you (nursing and solids), change you and then we play some more!
• 7pm - Bedtime routine (bath every other night, pjs, diaper change, nurse, bible story, prayers) and you are in bed by 8pm
• The rest of the night is "unscheduled" and sometimes chaotic.  I try not to feed you again (although sometimes that's all that works) and we let you do some crying on and off until you fall asleep.  But there have been two nights in the last week or so that you actually slept through the night!!!  PROGRESS! :-)

It is such a joy to watch you grow and I am so thankful that I get to stay home with you everyday and witness all these changes.  Your Daddy and I love you more than words can say!  

Wordless Wednesday: Sunset

Happy 6th Anniversary!

Today is our 6th wedding anniversary.  Hard to believe that it's been 6 years since our wedding day!  6 years ago today, I walked down the aisle and made the best decision of my life.  I married my best friend!  I didn't know what love was until I met Brian and I didn't know someone could love me so unconditionally.  He loved me for me!  I knew he was going to be my husband from the very beginning....he was perfect!  As the saying goes, "Opposites attract", but I think we prove that wrong.  We are so very similar it's scary.  Yes, we have our differences, but overall our personalities are very much alike.  We are both indecisive, fairly laid back and like things a certain way.  As a result of being so similar, we rarely (if ever) argue or fight.  And if we do, it only lasts for a couple minutes before we both forget all about it.  I honestly can't tell you about any significant arguments we have had because there haven't been any.  We truly compliment each other perfectly.

Brian,

You are the most amazing husband, father, and friend.  You are the hardest working man I know and I am so thankful to be able to call you mine.  You are smart, funny, amazingly attractive, hardworking, an incredible provider, supportive, selfless, understanding, my rock, an awesome daddy, and so much more.  Hannah and I are very lucky to have you in our lives!  I will never forget the day I walked down the aisle and saw your face.  You were so overwhelmed with love and emotion that you couldn't stand still.  Tears flowed down your cheeks and I knew that I was the luckiest girl in the world.  You were mine!  I could hardly believe it.  How did I deserve such an amazing man?  The last 6 years have flown by and you have continued to amaze me.  You have been my rock and support through our trial with infertility and then through a rough pregnancy and an even rougher labor and delivery.  Then when Hannah was born, you sobbed.  I saw the love you had for her and my love for you grew more.  I knew you would be the most amazing father, and you haven't proven me wrong.  You changed every single diaper in the hospital and were amazing during the first few weeks of Hannah's life.  I don't know what I would have done without you.  You are my best friend and I love you more than words can say.  Thank you for being who you are and for loving me for who I am. 

I love you baby!

**The pictures above are not from our wedding day, but are from a 'Trash the Dress' photo shoot we did 4 years later (in 2008) with our amazing photographer friends, James and Lindsay Christerson at http://www.adfotos.net/**

Daddy and His Daughter

I love how much Brian loves his little girl!  It melts my heart to see them together.  I thought I would put together a few of my favorite photos of the two of them.  Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday: Picnic

This picture is from March 2009...before I was even pregnant with Hannah.  We had a picnic at a local park.  Weren't we just so cute! :-)

Vote for Hannah!

Please take just one minute to vote for Hannah in the Gerber Photo Contest.

http://www.gerber.com/photo/?entryid=68761&/#/detail/

You can vote once per day, per computer until August 31st.

Hannah says "Thank you!"

Rite Aid Diaper Deal

I thought I would share with you a great deal on diapers going on at Rite Aid this week.  If you aren't familiar with Rite Aid, let me tell you a little bit about their two rewards programs.  They have a new program called +Up Rewards.  This is a card you get at the store and you scan it each time you shop there (just like CVS or Kroger).  The card gives you "money" for your next shopping trip, on certain items. These are coupons that print at the bottom of your receipt that you can use on your next purchase (just like CVS Extra Care Bucks).  Rite Aid also has another reward program called Single Check Rebates.  This is something you do online.  After each shopping trip, you go to their website (https://riteaid.rebateplus.com)  and enter your receipt information and then at the end of the month you have to go back to the site and request your check for that month. (You can only request your check one time per month, so make sure you have entered all your receipts for that month!)  This online rebate takes a little more "work", but is essentially free money.  I get a check in the mail every month from Rite Aid for at least $5, but sometimes up to $20 (depending on that month's deals).  This is a regular check that you can deposit or cash at your bank.

So, here is the diaper deal going on at Rite Aid this week...

Buy 1 pack of Pampers Diapers at $8.99

- You will get back $2 of +Up Reward "money" for your next shopping trip at Rite Aid
- When you enter your receipt online, you will earn $2 more that you can have sent to you at the end of the month
- If you got the Sunday Paper this past weekend (August 1st), there was also a $1.50 coupon for Pampers in the P&G Coupon flyer that you can use
- Also in the same coupon flyer was a coupon for a free pack of Pampers wipes when you buy a pack of Pampers diapers that you can use
- So, you can get a pack of Pampers diapers and a box of Pampers wipes for $3.49!!  That's a great deal!!!

Even if you don't have the two coupons from the Sunday paper, it's still a good deal!

If you have any questions, let me know!!

Solids & Sippy Cups

Hannah has started eating rice cereal on a more regular basis.  We started her at 3 months, but then stopped after a week or so because she started not sleeping well.  We thought the cereal might be causing her troubles.  Then at 4 months, we started again.  She was definitely ready!  So far she has had rice cereal, baby food apples, all natural applesauce, and peaches.  It is fun to let her try new things, but for now it is mainly just for practice.  She is definitely still getting all her nutrients from breast milk.  She only eats a couple tablespoons each day (if that), but we are trying to increase that slowly. 

We also gave her a sippy cup of water for the first time.  She wasn't quite sure what to do with it, but after a few days she is starting to get the hang of things.  I only put a small amount of water in her sippy cup each day (1-2 oz total) and only give it to her after she eats (nursing and rice cereal).  It's not that she needs the fluids, it's just for the practice.   Most of the water ends up running down her chin and around her neck.  But at least it's just water, so it's not to messy!

 

While it's fun to watch Hannah try new things, I am definitely a little sad to see my little peanut grow up.  Didn't we just bring her home from the hospital?