Sickness and Sleep

Too much of the former and not enough of the latter.  

So 2.5 weeks ago at Brody's sixth month check, we found out both kids had double ear infections.  Ugh.  I thought we were past this.  Ok, so fine, they both get put on Amoxicillin (good thing this is SUPER cheap with my prescription drug coverage.)  

Fast forward 4 days, Brody got a fever of almost 103.  After 36-48 hours we ended up at the doctor's office because she was worried the medicine wasn't helping his ear infections.  Which it was.  He apparently had some other sort of virus causing him to be so congested he literally couldn't breathe at all through his nose (which makes for very annoying nursing relationship, chest congestion and upset stomach.  He also decided he wasn't interested in eating solid foods anymore.  At all.  After four days of a fever of around 103 despite regularly giving him Tylenol, it finally broke.  Then he was SUPER cold and clammy for a few days.

So for Easter, we were all healthy.  We went to see the Easter bunny, enjoyed some time at our favorite appliance store in preparation for our impending move.

Come Tuesday when the kids went to daycare, I got a text at work saying Kayla had a fever.  So now Kayla has whatever Brody had.  (She actually threw up when she woke up from her nap today which is why I totally lost my train of thought on this post.)  We are sure if it's a virus, a concussion or a combination of the two since she got a huge goose egg on her head at my parents house on Easter Sunday.  She was in the laundry room and quickly turned and (we think) her her head on the door handle.  Honestly, she isn't great about watching where she is walking so I have a feeling we will have a lot of goose eggs in our future.  Needless to say, we are monitoring her closely to make sure she doesn't have a head injury.  We still aren't convinced.  Hopefully all will be well once we move into our new house this weekend.

My little man and me Easter weekend.

Kayla in the bubble machine at the appliance store (yes the appliance store is AMAZE-BALLS)

Kayla's fresh goose egg...the other picture my mom took was significantly funnier but I'm not mean enough to post it. 

Little man is very very mobile now and enjoys exploring his new environments.

This is what Kayla looks like EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. we leave Gigi and Papa's house.  I probably have about 15 photos just like this.

Yesterday, on the way home from daycare after picking up the kiddos, I was very concerned about Kayla's blank stares and not responding to me.  But I couldn't help but chuckle a little as I drove and heard quietly in the backseat the "zzzzziiiiiiipppppp"  and "bbbbzzzzzzzzzzzz" of Brody pulling on this zebra vibrating car seat toy.  He crawls to his car seat to try to pull it while at home too.  :)

In sickness and health...

This post has nothing to do with marriage...or maybe it does a little bit.

Yesterday Kayla was sick as a dog.  We woke up to get things ready for me to go to work.  Kayla asked for "juice" which is totally normal.  Then right before I left for work, she threw up.  This has happened once before so I asked Justin if he wanted me to stay home.  He said no to go to work and he'd call or text if he needed anything.  2 hours later, he was texting me to come home because she had thrown up 4 times.

It's hard to juggle an infant who needs almost all of your attention and a puking toddler who needs almost all of your attention.  So I told the front desk to cancel the rest of my patients for the day because my daughter was throwing up.

When I got home, she started to throw up every 15 minutes.  She literally would drink some water and then 5 minutes later throw that up.  I called the doctor again, because despite in the back of your mind knowing it's just a bug and she'll get over it, you still want that reassurance.  It's hard to keep her hydrated when she can't even keep water down.  After throwing up about 13-15 times before 1 pm, I told Justin that maybe one of us should take Brody out to get him away so he doesn't get sick and to just "divide and conquer."  He took Brody to the mall and Kayla and I took a nap on the floor.

My little girl, who is so active and busy that sometimes she won't even take a nap in her crib, fell asleep right on the floor next to me while I rubbed her back in 5 minutes.  Seeing her throwing up made me really want to cry for her, but I loved how cuddly and sweet she was while she was sick.

She's still sweet, but after our nap, she was back to her active, busy, loud and sometimes annoying self. :)  Back to the marriage thing, I have to say Justin and I were master tag team-ers with our sick toddler and our fussy baby yesterday.  I love that man more every day.

I realized while writing this post that I still have to update on Brody's 3 month birthday and photos, and yesterday Kayla was 23 months old.  I can't believe she's almost two - wait, based on her behavior I totally can.

Lack of Posts

I'm stopping in to say that I am sorry for not posting too much this week.  Kayla has apparently caught a cold or something for her birthday.  She didn't sleep more than a 1.5-2 hour stretch on Tuesday night, was up from 12-2 am on Wednesday night (with about 3 other wake ups), didn't sleep well again last night and has been having a VERY difficult time napping.

She has so much snot I didn't actually realize a nose that small could produce that much.  On and off she's been pretty cranky.  She'll be super happy normal Kayla one minute, then something really small happens and it's like the end of the world.  And honestly, getting her to take a nap has been like rocket science.

She seems to be getting better.  She slept through the night without a peep on Thursday night and took one nice long nap on Wednesday afternoon.  She is currently down for a nap right now.  Also, not only is she sick, but she also seems to be getting her 1 year molars.  I'm telling you, teething and sleep are NOT friends.  So in case any of my mommy friends come across this problem, here is what seems to have worked for us:

1. Tylenol every 4 hours to help her fever break.
2. Cool mist humidifier in her room.
3. Slight elevation of one side of her mattress.
4. Saline and a bulb syringe (even though she hates it, cries and creates more snot)
5. Vasoline on her nose to help it from getting to chapped (this was a late addition and she's had a bit of blood in her snot.
6. Cloth wipes (so much softer on her nose)
7. A Vick's small floor light with calming scents emitted.
8. We tried a very small amount of Benadryl (technically Wal-adryl, the Walgreens generic kind) to help with the stuffiness.

I think that's all.  Tonight, we might try some more Tylenol (which we stopped when her fever broke) and some Hyland's teething tablets (or maybe get some baby orajel swabs) to help if it is the molars coming in.  So far today has been better since we took her out of the house to wear her out to help with nap time.  It seems to have worked this morning (except about 30 minutes in she was crying...and sweating, because Mommy should have taken off her sweater before her nap.)  Do any of you have special at home remedies for colds/teething?

Tylenol and Breastfeeding

Today, I'm thankful for Tylenol.  Kayla is getting all top four teeth at the same time currently, causing some poor sleeping and some SEVERE fussiness today.  I'm not gonna lie, I'd rather her be straight up crying because the fussing has to be the most annoying thing.

Although, I did love the extra cuddle time I got today, Kayla was pretty much attached to my hip all day.  She almost fell right asleep only an hour after she woke up from her first nap while we were dancing to Christmas music when we were home alone!  Poor little stinker....

Thank you, Tylenol, for easing my baby's fever today, the first inkling of a fever she has ever had.  Which reminds me, I'm also thankful for breastfeeding, which I honestly believe has helped keep Kayla healthy these last 10 months (minus the dreaded thrush.)

Tomorrow, I'll be back with maybe TWO Hawaii recaps (if you are lucky and if Kayla is feeling better). ;)

Poor Baby

Kayla hasn't ever been sick in her nearly 7 months of life.  This week, I read a new book called Starting Solids to have some sort of plan on where to go with feeding her, because this seems to be the most confusing thing.  I mean, am I just supposed to wing it?  If you know me at all, I don't "wing it."  When you give me a recipe, you bet your ass it better have specific step by step instructions.  Don't even think about putting any of that "add a pinch of this" crap.

I digress.

The point it, the author talked about all these good starter foods and has some great recipes and good first finger foods, so I wanted to try some new things.  Well this week, I added peaches and yogurt with pears into her diet on the same day (a no-no in some circles.)  Ever since then, she's been REALLY stuffy.  I'm not entirely convinced it was the peaches or the yogurt, and I know it wasn't the pears since she's had those before.  I called the doctor's office today to get some advice (since she screams bloody murder and writhes around with her strong little muscles when I try to get saline up there and suck out some boogers.)  The nurse told me to just do the saline without the bulb syringe and she'll just sneeze it out.  I'll also probably have Justin put the cold mist humidifier in her room tonight.

Whatever it is...I feel really bad for her.  She's so snot-filled it's hard for her to eat so she's not eating well or sleeping that well, but I know she's so tired.  Poor little stinker (thought I took this yesterday and she doesn't seem too upset...)



And just because....quick story.  I hate taking Kayla into public bathrooms because I never know where to put her while I go.  I don't know if you've ever tried to go to the bathroom while holding a wriggly baby, but it's tough.  On our way home from the Midwest in July, the restroom had these....  She seems to really like it there. :)

Driving Miss Daisy

I've realized a couple things since becoming a mom.

1. When you have a child, you no longer matter to anyone.  Everything and anything revolves around the little one.  This is ok most of the time, but sometimes you start to feel pretty insignificant.  So significant others and families of new mommas, make sure you take some time to make sure she feels loved, and not just for being the new family member's mom.  And not only on mother's day and her birthday.

2. I still drive pretty much like I did before I had Kayla.  A little bit above the speed limit (yes only a little unless I look down and didn't realize how fast I am going, when I promptly slow down.)  Other drivers always annoyed me a little bit before, especially people that are extremely aggressive drivers and come up to my tail end quickly to try to get me to move out of the lane.  Here's what I say, listen, I'm going more than the speed limit, I'm passing these people on the right, so you can just not get your panties in a wad and wait or go around me.  However, since having Kayla, the one thing that has changed is these types of things annoy me A LOT more now.  Like I feel like shouting at them, "I have a BABY in the car.  If you do ANYTHING to put my child in danger, I'm going to ....(insert idle threat here.)"  Your protective instincts are really heightened after having a child.

Update on thrush:
Remember that post I wrote about NOT having a fussy baby about a week ago?  Yeah, well thrush makes my baby SUPER fussy.  I've been using the Lotrimin for me and the Nystatin in her mouth after almost every feeding.  Yesterday was the worst day I've had with her in all 4 months.  She literally screamed at me for 85% of the day.  She didn't nap as well as she has been and she was basically inconsolable.  Today has been significantly better, and I'm blaming this fussiness on the thrush and increased gassiness (also caused by the thrush.)  I'm feeling a lot less sore when feeding her and I think her mouth doesn't have as much white in it, but I can't really tell as she insists on sticking her tongue in the way whenever I try to look in her mouth.

We've started feeding her about 2 tbsp of rice cereal mixed with 1 oz breastmilk by spoon at night.  The first night was pretty rough but last night she just gobbled it up.  We have also been "dream feeding" her when I go to bed around 10 pm.  So far this seems to be making no difference but it might be because she hasn't been feeling well because of the thrush.  Hopefully, a weekend away at the island will help us all get some rest and get back on track.

I try to take pictures of her fussy faces because, honestly, they make me laugh :)

She loves chewing on Sophie.

Holy Hormones, Batman!

This motherhood thing is way overwhelming for me.  I told Justin that it probably doesn't help that Kayla wasn't exactly planned and I didn't really feel ready to be a mom.  I know I don't really have a choice but I just think that fact is compounded with the fact that I feel like I'm trying my best and it doesn't seem to be good enough.  And then I feel like my relationship with my husband is slipping because I'm clearly not the woman he married.  It's this whole big nasty circle of feeling crappy.  Not to mention the pain in my "undercarriage" if you know what I mean.

Kayla has been pretty fussy the past few days.  We took her to the doctor yesterday because her breathing has been really labored and she's been spitting up a lot of mucus...or so we thought it was a lot.  Then the doctor told us to try saline nose drops to help clear it out.  This morning, she spit up more mucus (8 times in 2 hours) than I thought a little person her size could even produce!  Hopefully, this means the saline is helping clear everything up and she can get back to being our good little girl and not be as fussy.

I also think she has her days and nights reversed, which is making it very hard for mommy and daddy to get any sleep when she's up for 2-3 hours at night.  Not sure how to fix this.  We are trying to keep her up for longer during the day and keep it bright and do some tummy time to make her know day.  And we are keeping the lights off at bedtime and trying not to stimulate her as much.  Nothing seems to be working.  Hopefully this will get better.

In other news, as a physical therapist, I was SO pumped when Kayla was 8 days old and she "rolled" from her tummy to her back on her own.  I know it was likely a huge fluke as this is WAY too early for anything.  She sure is strong though.  Here's a photo my mom must have photoshopped that I just love.  (P.S. Aunt Meg made us a new header for our blog!)