My girls... cuddled up in bed this morning... Aw.... At 5 weeks and she's already challenging mommy to staring contests... I wonder at what point she'll get 'The Question Game"?
Friday, February 18, 2005
Let's just ignore the pesto...
In other parts of Teresa's world I wonder if she's not heading off for another growth spurt - next spurt is nominally supposed to hit at 6 weeks so we're a little early, but we've been rather, erh, attached today. Dad just took the fussy child for a walk which generally quiets her right down, but this time no dice, still fussy when they returned home so even though she'd barely finished eating when they left, she's at it again.
I am finding though that if I can act QUICKLY, there are small accomplishment possible in the 5-30 minute windows of time I can steal. And, sometimes, like now, I can multitask - she's attached but I'm able to reach most keys on the keyboard to keep you entertained.
Our cloth diapering experiment continues well so we're seeking more supplies - we've found that we're not the only cloth diapering parents out there and competition on ebay for new and used supplies can be rather fierce. A brief note about those green poopies - they stain diapers less than regular breastfed newborn poop. Not that we're overly concerned about the color of our diapers... HELLO, they are DIAPERS, they're meant to be pooped on!
Hmm, I guess I didn't ignore the pesto too much in this post... Let's hope the weekend brings us more distractions!
In other parts of Teresa's world I wonder if she's not heading off for another growth spurt - next spurt is nominally supposed to hit at 6 weeks so we're a little early, but we've been rather, erh, attached today. Dad just took the fussy child for a walk which generally quiets her right down, but this time no dice, still fussy when they returned home so even though she'd barely finished eating when they left, she's at it again.
I am finding though that if I can act QUICKLY, there are small accomplishment possible in the 5-30 minute windows of time I can steal. And, sometimes, like now, I can multitask - she's attached but I'm able to reach most keys on the keyboard to keep you entertained.
Our cloth diapering experiment continues well so we're seeking more supplies - we've found that we're not the only cloth diapering parents out there and competition on ebay for new and used supplies can be rather fierce. A brief note about those green poopies - they stain diapers less than regular breastfed newborn poop. Not that we're overly concerned about the color of our diapers... HELLO, they are DIAPERS, they're meant to be pooped on!
Hmm, I guess I didn't ignore the pesto too much in this post... Let's hope the weekend brings us more distractions!
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Can you believe it? We STILL have pesto poopies!
Teresa can't believe it - she screams at us to take them away, but so far their source remains a mystery. Needless to say, Dad and Mom have NOT had pasta and pesto recently.
Last week we had the pediatrician and lactation consultant suggesting slightly divergent treatments; neither which ended up to be right. This week they seem to be in agreement - Teresa is very unlikely (though slightly possible) to be allergic to proteins in wheat or dairy that I'm eating. She didn't/doesn't have a garden-variety virus that would have shown signs of improvement by now. So where does that leave us?
Another round of poop sample testing to see if she's having a reaction to the antibiotics Mom was on during labor and an appointment to see a pediatric GI specialist. Hopefully one of those two will give us some answers. The good news is that when she's not trying to make a leaky pesto diaper, she's still content, happy, curious, and beautiful; we love those times. When she's creating a package it can break your heart.
She's eating well and still gaining weight (though a little slower than optimal amounts) which is good news - those two characteristics rule out a lot if YUCKY diseases that diarrhea might otherwise indicate. Whew. But the unknown cause is still frustrating.
In the meantime Mom has found a few other "new" moms to hook up with, maybe soon Mom and Dad will start making some South Bay friends. So far no rock climbing parents though!
Teresa can't believe it - she screams at us to take them away, but so far their source remains a mystery. Needless to say, Dad and Mom have NOT had pasta and pesto recently.
Last week we had the pediatrician and lactation consultant suggesting slightly divergent treatments; neither which ended up to be right. This week they seem to be in agreement - Teresa is very unlikely (though slightly possible) to be allergic to proteins in wheat or dairy that I'm eating. She didn't/doesn't have a garden-variety virus that would have shown signs of improvement by now. So where does that leave us?
Another round of poop sample testing to see if she's having a reaction to the antibiotics Mom was on during labor and an appointment to see a pediatric GI specialist. Hopefully one of those two will give us some answers. The good news is that when she's not trying to make a leaky pesto diaper, she's still content, happy, curious, and beautiful; we love those times. When she's creating a package it can break your heart.
She's eating well and still gaining weight (though a little slower than optimal amounts) which is good news - those two characteristics rule out a lot if YUCKY diseases that diarrhea might otherwise indicate. Whew. But the unknown cause is still frustrating.
In the meantime Mom has found a few other "new" moms to hook up with, maybe soon Mom and Dad will start making some South Bay friends. So far no rock climbing parents though!
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Pesto poopies indeed.
So that was early evening Monday. Later she was inconsolable and after an hour or more of crying (her, not us) I sent Dad and Teresa for a walk. This was 11:45PM... About 15-20 minutes later there's a loud insistant knock on the door. Yes, midnight. Steve is out and I'm trying (unsuccessfully) to sleep. So I get up wondering how Steve could have locked himself out since a key is neede to lock the door, or who else it could be. A peek out the office window and a friendly but commanding voice says, "It's the police."
Ah well right, the police. Yes, the police. The police?? what are they doing here at midnight while my hubby is out peacefully walking our daughter? So I open the door to 3 burly San Jose cops who ask if everything is OK. "Yes, why? What's going on?" (awful images are flashing through my head that Steve and Teresa were hit by a car or worse.)
"Ma'am we had a call from a neighbor concerned about the adults yelling here, have you and your husband been fighting?"
Fighting? Ha! fighting lack of sleep, yes. fighting poopy diapers, yes. fighting each other? no way, rocks of support. Besides, no energy left to raise voices!
"No sir, my baby has been crying the past 90 minutes but no fighting or yelling from us."
So they questioned me further, asked where my husband is (or maybe I volunteered that he was out walking, it is all a blur). They asked if anyone else was home and if they could walk through the house. I said no and yes. Yeah, I could have refused their request to walk into my home, but hell (<- you can tell I'm stressed, swearing like that), I wanted them to believe we're domestically peaceful and not think this a house of such disturbances. They seemed accepting of my explainations but asked for a description of Steve. That delivered, they left and wished us well with my baby.
Shortly thereafter Steve wondered up the street on his way home and was questioned by the cops who were waiting his return. I guess when his story jibed with mine, they were satisfied.
4 cops, 4 cars responding to a domestic disturbance call? Toto, we're not in Oakland any more.
So much for Steve's walk allowing me some precious sleep time. Instead Dad and Teresa returned, we all 3 fatigued. Teresa fed her midnight snack and we all tried to settle down to sleep.
The rest of the night was uneventful, but short and Tuesday continues with the pesto poopies so our dear daughter is still not happy... Mom's not happy either. Dad should be at work, trying to stay awake and get work done; hopefully happy.
So that was early evening Monday. Later she was inconsolable and after an hour or more of crying (her, not us) I sent Dad and Teresa for a walk. This was 11:45PM... About 15-20 minutes later there's a loud insistant knock on the door. Yes, midnight. Steve is out and I'm trying (unsuccessfully) to sleep. So I get up wondering how Steve could have locked himself out since a key is neede to lock the door, or who else it could be. A peek out the office window and a friendly but commanding voice says, "It's the police."
Ah well right, the police. Yes, the police. The police?? what are they doing here at midnight while my hubby is out peacefully walking our daughter? So I open the door to 3 burly San Jose cops who ask if everything is OK. "Yes, why? What's going on?" (awful images are flashing through my head that Steve and Teresa were hit by a car or worse.)
"Ma'am we had a call from a neighbor concerned about the adults yelling here, have you and your husband been fighting?"
Fighting? Ha! fighting lack of sleep, yes. fighting poopy diapers, yes. fighting each other? no way, rocks of support. Besides, no energy left to raise voices!
"No sir, my baby has been crying the past 90 minutes but no fighting or yelling from us."
So they questioned me further, asked where my husband is (or maybe I volunteered that he was out walking, it is all a blur). They asked if anyone else was home and if they could walk through the house. I said no and yes. Yeah, I could have refused their request to walk into my home, but hell (<- you can tell I'm stressed, swearing like that), I wanted them to believe we're domestically peaceful and not think this a house of such disturbances. They seemed accepting of my explainations but asked for a description of Steve. That delivered, they left and wished us well with my baby.
Shortly thereafter Steve wondered up the street on his way home and was questioned by the cops who were waiting his return. I guess when his story jibed with mine, they were satisfied.
4 cops, 4 cars responding to a domestic disturbance call? Toto, we're not in Oakland any more.
So much for Steve's walk allowing me some precious sleep time. Instead Dad and Teresa returned, we all 3 fatigued. Teresa fed her midnight snack and we all tried to settle down to sleep.
The rest of the night was uneventful, but short and Tuesday continues with the pesto poopies so our dear daughter is still not happy... Mom's not happy either. Dad should be at work, trying to stay awake and get work done; hopefully happy.
Monday, February 07, 2005
Green Monster poopies!
She's not yet 4 weeks old and she's already sick :( And here, we'd just gotten used to 'dijon mustard' and now we're getting 'rotten pesto'. Plus she's obviously uncomfortable with the diarrhea. Sunday night we called the on-call nurse who reassured us that no, she was not in fact going to die (for some reason, our books couldn't agree on whether diarrhea in a newborn was life threatening, or just sub-optimal). For reference, green is not as bad as black or red or white. Hopefully she doesn't transition into 'salsa' or 'mayonaise'.
Anyway, today mom took her to the Doc, who admitted that although she didn't know what was causing it, she did agree on the not dying part... Daddy got to take a break in the middle of the day to run home and run a pesto sample off the to the hospital, and Teresa seems to have become somewhat accustomed to her new digestive processes. In the meantime, daddy is going to relax and play the mandolin a little... I'm really feeling my oats after attempting Underwater Hockey on Sunday. This gives you the idea:
Anyway, today mom took her to the Doc, who admitted that although she didn't know what was causing it, she did agree on the not dying part... Daddy got to take a break in the middle of the day to run home and run a pesto sample off the to the hospital, and Teresa seems to have become somewhat accustomed to her new digestive processes. In the meantime, daddy is going to relax and play the mandolin a little... I'm really feeling my oats after attempting Underwater Hockey on Sunday. This gives you the idea:
Thursday, February 03, 2005
What? no posts since Sunday? has nothing of note happened this week?
Well, we had a busy first part of week - on Monday we noticed that the refrigerator was no longer a refrigerator and was instead a huge pantry... yes, it was no longer cooling, the whole reason a refrigerator lives! We called our "home warranty" folks and an enteraining repair man came out to replace one of the circuit boards in the fridge. Yes, our fridge has at least two circuit boards that I know of - what happened to the days of sawdust on an ice block??! Tuesday was consumed by refrigerator excitement.
On Wednesday, Teresa and Mom attended their first Mom and me group meeting at Good Sam. Teresa was the youngest in attendence - I guess the other REALLY new moms are still at home recovering? It was a non-event of a meeting since all the other moms with their huge months-old babies all already knew each other and have established circles. It does sound like many of them will soon "age" out of the group and there should soon be more "young'uns" attending so maybe Teresa and I will give the group another chance or two.
Today Teresa and I had a pretty good day - which inspired me to chance cooking for real! I noticed we had a wedge of fancy Spanish Manchego cheese in the fridge and decided to plan a meal around it. The first 200 recipes I found online were rejected becuase they called for potatoes. Who has potatoes just sitting around in their house waiting for use? not us!! I ended up finding a mushroom, green onion, and carrot cheese bake that sounded good so we're now waiting for the oven to heat up and for Dad to come home from work. This (hopefully delightful) treat will be supplemented by a sausage/veggie dish that is supposedly from the same region (Manchego, duh) of Spain. Maybe I should have told Dad what dinner was and he'd just toddle on home and forget about work. ah well.
Well, we had a busy first part of week - on Monday we noticed that the refrigerator was no longer a refrigerator and was instead a huge pantry... yes, it was no longer cooling, the whole reason a refrigerator lives! We called our "home warranty" folks and an enteraining repair man came out to replace one of the circuit boards in the fridge. Yes, our fridge has at least two circuit boards that I know of - what happened to the days of sawdust on an ice block??! Tuesday was consumed by refrigerator excitement.
On Wednesday, Teresa and Mom attended their first Mom and me group meeting at Good Sam. Teresa was the youngest in attendence - I guess the other REALLY new moms are still at home recovering? It was a non-event of a meeting since all the other moms with their huge months-old babies all already knew each other and have established circles. It does sound like many of them will soon "age" out of the group and there should soon be more "young'uns" attending so maybe Teresa and I will give the group another chance or two.
Today Teresa and I had a pretty good day - which inspired me to chance cooking for real! I noticed we had a wedge of fancy Spanish Manchego cheese in the fridge and decided to plan a meal around it. The first 200 recipes I found online were rejected becuase they called for potatoes. Who has potatoes just sitting around in their house waiting for use? not us!! I ended up finding a mushroom, green onion, and carrot cheese bake that sounded good so we're now waiting for the oven to heat up and for Dad to come home from work. This (hopefully delightful) treat will be supplemented by a sausage/veggie dish that is supposedly from the same region (Manchego, duh) of Spain. Maybe I should have told Dad what dinner was and he'd just toddle on home and forget about work. ah well.
Sunday, January 30, 2005
A 70 degree January day meant Mom and Dad had their first swim of the new year... and of their new lives as parents. Teresa came along in her first ride in her Snap-n-go stroller and napped peacefully while we swam a few brisk laps and then sat in the jacuzzi. Mom got out a little early - to temper any bad effects the submergence in the heat might cause - which was Teresa's cue to request a feeding. Now we know why string bikinis were invented - Mom can feed babe without baring ALL.
This was our afternoon activity after a morning of frequent feedings and a haircut for Dad (by Mom). Then Dad had a quick shower and removed some errant plants from teh yard before the trek to swim. Dad wrapped up the day by fixing a rather decadent dinner of scallops with polenta and cheese-stuffed mushrooms. yum.
We are now lolling about in equal comfort - awaiting Teresa's 2nd and 3rd non-familly visitors. Oh I guess we didn't note that yesterday was spent relaxing, doing nothing in Livermore - and Teresa's first non-family visitor was Beverly Hobson. Teresa took a break from her evening of feeding to say hello to Bev; Bev said the appropriate compliments as to her beauty. We'll see how Teresa schedules this evening - since she's been napping for a few hours now she will probably be attached to my breast when the next visitors - Bethany and Kerriann arrive to visit.
Tomorrow is her first doctor's visit - just a checkup to see that she;s growing well and to allow me to ask my 200 questions I've thought of... but neglected to write down yet!! time to to job the new mom brain.
This was our afternoon activity after a morning of frequent feedings and a haircut for Dad (by Mom). Then Dad had a quick shower and removed some errant plants from teh yard before the trek to swim. Dad wrapped up the day by fixing a rather decadent dinner of scallops with polenta and cheese-stuffed mushrooms. yum.
We are now lolling about in equal comfort - awaiting Teresa's 2nd and 3rd non-familly visitors. Oh I guess we didn't note that yesterday was spent relaxing, doing nothing in Livermore - and Teresa's first non-family visitor was Beverly Hobson. Teresa took a break from her evening of feeding to say hello to Bev; Bev said the appropriate compliments as to her beauty. We'll see how Teresa schedules this evening - since she's been napping for a few hours now she will probably be attached to my breast when the next visitors - Bethany and Kerriann arrive to visit.
Tomorrow is her first doctor's visit - just a checkup to see that she;s growing well and to allow me to ask my 200 questions I've thought of... but neglected to write down yet!! time to to job the new mom brain.
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Oh my. Where were we? Oh yes, tired at 4PM. that ain't nothin'. Friday (yesterday) my little Rose gave Mom a very challenging day. She fussed, ate, poop, fussed, refused to eat, fussed, slept all in an hour. She then repeated the same activities the next hour, sometime mixing up the order. Yes, my first full day of cranky baby. Finally I gave up my strength at 3:45 and called Dad to return home... then she was the picture of angel babyhood the rest of the night. Go figure. Next time (will there be a next time?) I'll call Dad at noon and save myself at least half a day of grief!
But it was blessedly peaceful once Steve came home. She finished eating a proper meal, Dad fed Mom her second full meal of the day (never was a moments peace to eat during the day), and then Dad and Teresa went for a walk to Great Uncle Jim's and Auntie Barb's allowing Mom some SILENCE. Dad reports she was pretty peaceful anyway on their walk and visit at Uncle Jim's.
Today we hope for some peace and will go visit GramMary and GrandpaPete if it seems like a peaceable enough day is blossoming. Happily we did sleep well, but then we did Thursday night too, it was the day that was a terror. We'll see what the day brings us.
But it was blessedly peaceful once Steve came home. She finished eating a proper meal, Dad fed Mom her second full meal of the day (never was a moments peace to eat during the day), and then Dad and Teresa went for a walk to Great Uncle Jim's and Auntie Barb's allowing Mom some SILENCE. Dad reports she was pretty peaceful anyway on their walk and visit at Uncle Jim's.
Today we hope for some peace and will go visit GramMary and GrandpaPete if it seems like a peaceable enough day is blossoming. Happily we did sleep well, but then we did Thursday night too, it was the day that was a terror. We'll see what the day brings us.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
We got back some of our hospital pictures today. Because dad killed the digital camera, we had to take our old camera and get the pictures developed onto CDs. Unfortunately, alot of the pictures didn't come out... The focus was wrong for some reason. Anyway, here is one of the first pictures of Teresa, already sucking on her finger!
I was just spending some quiet time responding to friend's emails of congratulations. I've just finished typing to one, "oh yeah, I'm generally up from 11AM to 8PM so feel free to call in that window." I sent the email and a wash of fatigue came over me.
Mommy brain. I forget I'm tired? Yes, the past 2 days of no midday mommy-naps were not the start of a trend but an anomaly. Or maybe I did nap these past couple days and have just forgotten? There's a reason I'm still in my PJs.
I could use a good curling up right now, but not to be... Teresa is due to awaken any time now for another feeding and I've ordered groceries for delivery in the next 2 hour window. How's that for timing? Dad said he would come home early today but its 4PM and there's no sign of him yet.
I did accomplish a few non-baby care tasks today. Well, accomplish might be too strong as I didn't actually finish any chores yet, but nibbled at the corners of tasks between feeding and soothing the wee one. That counts for something.
I'll try a catnap on the couch while I wait for Teresa to want food and food to be delivered.
Mommy brain. I forget I'm tired? Yes, the past 2 days of no midday mommy-naps were not the start of a trend but an anomaly. Or maybe I did nap these past couple days and have just forgotten? There's a reason I'm still in my PJs.
I could use a good curling up right now, but not to be... Teresa is due to awaken any time now for another feeding and I've ordered groceries for delivery in the next 2 hour window. How's that for timing? Dad said he would come home early today but its 4PM and there's no sign of him yet.
I did accomplish a few non-baby care tasks today. Well, accomplish might be too strong as I didn't actually finish any chores yet, but nibbled at the corners of tasks between feeding and soothing the wee one. That counts for something.
I'll try a catnap on the couch while I wait for Teresa to want food and food to be delivered.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Last night Teresa gave Mom a nice treat - we went almost 5 hours between feedings: 2AM to just shy of 7 AM. wonderful. Somehow though that made Dad more tired today - he's in bed napping with Teresa Rose this past hour (of course Dad didn't come to bed until midnight last night so he's maybe feeling that?). Teresa's long rest at night seems to have resulted in more frequent feedings during the day - but given a choice (ha, choice!? I'm at her mercy.) I'd rather she demand food frequently during the day and rest well at night.
Teresa and Mom went to a Breast Feeding support class today - Fortunately Teresa stayed focussed on the correct set of breasts but boy were there a lot of choices! The support group was good - we received further confirmation that we're doing great! Many moms and babes had some challenging problems, so if we end up with some issues, this seems like a great forum to get help.
Teresa got weighed again at the group meeting place and our little Rose is growing well. She's put on 5.5 oozes in a week, since she should be gaining 0.5-1.0 oozes a day, we're well on track. Next weighing will be her first doc's appt next Monday.
Today was Teresa's 3rd trip in the Jeep, she was very happy when the Jeep was humming along the road, not so happy when the Jeep had to wait for stop lights. Wonder when we should take her offroading?
Gramma and Mom finally finished her little handprint and footprint picture frame today. The box suggested this was a 20-30 minute exercise - well maybe if your child doesn't curl her toes and fingers up into a ball. The first two attempts at imprints (yesterday) got us a imprint of a 4-toed sloth. Not what we were looking for! Fresh attempts today with a milk-induced-comatose child resulted in a 3rd attempt with 4 fingers and finally the 4th attempt producing imprints worth saving.
On a side note: we heard the exciting news today that Cousin Allison is just a moment away from figuring out crawling!
Mom's off to curl up with Dad...
Teresa and Mom went to a Breast Feeding support class today - Fortunately Teresa stayed focussed on the correct set of breasts but boy were there a lot of choices! The support group was good - we received further confirmation that we're doing great! Many moms and babes had some challenging problems, so if we end up with some issues, this seems like a great forum to get help.
Teresa got weighed again at the group meeting place and our little Rose is growing well. She's put on 5.5 oozes in a week, since she should be gaining 0.5-1.0 oozes a day, we're well on track. Next weighing will be her first doc's appt next Monday.
Today was Teresa's 3rd trip in the Jeep, she was very happy when the Jeep was humming along the road, not so happy when the Jeep had to wait for stop lights. Wonder when we should take her offroading?
Gramma and Mom finally finished her little handprint and footprint picture frame today. The box suggested this was a 20-30 minute exercise - well maybe if your child doesn't curl her toes and fingers up into a ball. The first two attempts at imprints (yesterday) got us a imprint of a 4-toed sloth. Not what we were looking for! Fresh attempts today with a milk-induced-comatose child resulted in a 3rd attempt with 4 fingers and finally the 4th attempt producing imprints worth saving.
On a side note: we heard the exciting news today that Cousin Allison is just a moment away from figuring out crawling!
Mom's off to curl up with Dad...
Monday, January 24, 2005
The great finger... Teresa really loves her portable pacifier. We tried the 'hospital pacifier', but it just doesn't compare to mom and dad's fingers. She does try to suck on her own finger, at times, too. In fact, about the first thing she did after she born was put her finger in her mouth! But her's just don't seem to be a vey satisfying size...
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