Polar Opposites

I realize I may look back on this post in the months to come and laugh my tuckus off, but as for right now Abbi and Keevia are complete and utter polar opposites.

Abrielle was SO active in utero, and now that she's out she is the calmest, quietest baby EVER. She cries when she's getting a diaper change (sometimes) and occasionally when some gas crosses her stomach... but other than that, she makes little whimper noises. Keevia screamed. Constantly. Our entire hour and a half car ride home from the hospital was a complete scream fest with Keevia, while Abrielle NEVER MADE A SOUND.

Keevia is super long waisted, with short(er) legs (and a honking huge head). Abrielle has a normal sized torso and looooooooooooong legs (and long fingers and long toes)(and a huge honking head).

I can put Abrielle in the bouncer awake, and she will fall asleep. To date, (I'm not even joking here people) excluding a very few rides in the swing, Keevia has fallen asleep outside of someones arms TWICE. Both of those times were watching TV. She did FINALLY learn how to fall asleep in the car after she hit 6 months, but those first 6 months had me singing to her, rocking the carseat... basically doing anything I could to get her to sleep.

Abrielle sleeps like her father (read: the dead), Keevia sleeps like me (read: any noise within a 1 mile radius can wake her up).

Keevia took a pacifier (voraciously) from day one. Abrielle will (sometimes) take one in the car, or in the middle of the night when she doesn't really want to nurse but has that need to suck.

Keevia nursed every hour to every hour and a half. Abrielle nurses every 2-3 hours (this may have something to do with the fact that I nurse them differently. I didn't ever do ten minutes on side A then switch to side B for the remainder of the feeding with Abbi. I offer one breast, let her nurse as long as she wants, burp her, then offer the second breast if she wants it. If not, I start the next feeding on the second breast. I had oversupply issues/milk imbalance issues with Keevia, and I think a good bit of the screaming she did was because of belly ache).

Keevia wouldn't let ANYONE but CLOSE family hold her from day 1. Abrielle could care less who has her as long as Mommy gets her back to nurse.

All in all, Abbi seems to just be a calmer baby. I've said numerous times in the (*SOB*) almost two weeks she has been here that I didn't realize how high maintenance of a baby Keevia was until I had Abbi. I could NEVER have considered laying Keevia in a bouncy seat and taking a shower, and with Abbi I would have zero qualms about it. And it's not just a second time mother thing, it's totally a child's temperament thing!

I can't wait to see how Abrielle grows and changes... like I said, I could be laughing in a few months!

I'm still pregnant

Most of my contractions are manageable... in fact, they've slacked off SOME. Friday I was having quite a few strong ones (why is it already a Friday?) and I have, in fact (cover your eyes if you get grossed out easily) lost my mucus plug over the past few days. I got all excited because I lost a big piece this morning and then started having like crampy contractions and I was all "THIS IS IT!" but it wasn't. Sad face.

I'm really torn right now between desperately wanting her to hurry up and come, and wanting to soak up these last few days of Keevia being an only child. I'm SO ready to meet her and snuggle her and nurse her and wear her.... but Keevia is my baby too. And her life is about to forever change. For the good, but it's going to be a huge change.

Carl and I got to get outside with K some today (we had the first REAL snow of the year last night) and take her sledding some. It was nice to be outside, just the three of us. She had a BLAST and I wish (only for her sake!) that the snow would have stayed around a little longer. I detest winter, but I remember how much fun it was as a kiddo. Honestly, I swear she had fun. She FREAKED OUT when Carl first sent her down the hill, but a few minutes later she was going "We try again?" Then she and Carl both got snowballs to throw at Mommy, and everytime they threw them, she'd go "Try AGAAIN??". Her little personality is just SO huge. And she really is the sweetest kid. If she thinks she's upset you, or she thinks that she's done something wrong she goes "OH I sawwie Mommy! I so sawwie!" If SHE gets hurt and you say something about it, she apologizes! She also picks up her toys, a lot of times, without being asked. I call her my little Monica (from Friends). I don't know how we lucked out with her, I honestly don't.

I also worry about how much I'll compare the girls. Babygirl#2 (I want SO BADLY to tell y'all her name, but we're still semi indecisive about it, so I'm not announcing it here or on Facebook until we've named her). doesn't seem to be quite as sensitive to noises in utero as Keevia was, but she also seems to be WAY more active. I remember Keevia kicking and moving, but she never kept me up like Bean does.

I can't wait for these girls to grow up together, and I can't wait to meet little miss...According to my calculations I'll be 37 weeks tomorrow, according to the midwife I'm also 38 weeks (she goes by my LMP which isn't 100% accurate I don't think). So she's welcome to come at anytime!

Keep us in your prayers!

And a picture of Carl being an AWESOME Daddy today!

Weaned? Maybe Not...

I had fully intended on nursing Keevia past two years. That was my goal. So I was a little heartbroken when, due both to my supply tanking and her teething, she weaned at 17 months.

Back in September my husbands first cousin gave birth to a BEAUTIFUL little girl. She decided to breastfeed (really, in our family it's not a choice. Everyone does it. It's just what you do. This is why I love my family), and so Keevia got her first real view of nursing.

Let me just state now that I am SO glad that B (Carl's cousin) isn't shy about it, because my kiddo likes to stick her face two inches away from B's boob and be all "What she dooooooooing?" and then I explain how she's eating, and she's nursing her mommy, and do you remember nursing your mommy? And Keevia always answers yes, and continues to stand two centimeters away, kind of just staring in awe.

Well since she's been exposed to it more, she now wants to "nurse" mommy again. Not in the literal sense, but she snuggles down (usually when she's going to sleep) and just presses her face against my breast. She'll even whisper "I nursing mommy" and close her eyes. It's quite possibly the cutest thing in the world.

Earlier this week, on a night when she was fighting sleep particularly hard, we talked about when baby girl comes out, she's going to nurse mommy's boobies. And she was SO excited. She even leaned over and hugged my belly while saying "I love baby ____ SOOOOOOO much!" It's moments like this that I just want to stop time and be in this moment forever. I can't wait to have TWO girls, but I know how drastically my life is going to change -- and how it's going to change my relationship with Kee.

I'm so happy that she remembers nursing (however much she does) and that it's something that still, almost 10 months after we stopped, brings us both such joy. I can't wait to nurse her sister, and any other babies we have.

And if she really does want to nurse when the baby gets here? I think I'd be okay with that too!

We survived!

This holiday season has kicked our butts.

Literally.

K came down on Christmas day with a 103.7 fever and vomiting. With the help of my mom, we made it through that night. She felt better the next day, then slowly started declining. Her temp was around 99.1 and she had sinus issues. The drainage would make her throw up, and she just felt SO bad. Also, there was a boil forming in her groin area. On Thursday we headed to the chiropractor (her C2 vertebrae was out) and then we headed to the pediatrician. The pedi wasn't in (holidays), but the nurse practitioner that we saw this time LAST year was. She gave us a round of bactrim (to cover the boil and the sinuses) and some decongestants.

Keevia threw up again that night. The next day she acted like she was feeling better. On Friday evening she fell asleep in our bed, and we stayed up a little bit. She woke up around 10pm coughing. I was having some, shall we say, intestinal difficulties myself. We knew she would end up throwing up (She always coughs before puking) so we didn't try to put her back to bed. I had just went back to the bathroom when Carl had to set her down to get a sippy. She came in to the bathroom with me and started coughing. Next thing I know she's throwing up IN MY HAND. I'm pregnant. I was already having tummy troubles. I turned and started throwing up in the bathtub. She kept throwing up, as did I, and I managed to croak out "call mom!"


Mom came over and sent me to bed shortly after, when it was evident that I had a virus. She slept with K that night and had to change her diaper about 3 times. I stayed in the bathroom all night, and chilled, but never ran a high fever (99.6 was where I topped off). Mom took K back to her house on Saturday for a little while, where SHE started getting sick. We stopped the antibiotic to try and make the diarrehea better (or at least not worse). K started feeling a lot better by Saturday evening, the rest of us (Carl came down with it on Saturday as well) not so much. On Saturday night I ended up pulling her toddler mattress in our bedroom because I desperately wanted to sleep that night, but I didn't want her all the way across the house in case she started throwing up again. It worked WONDERFULLY. She slept on her mattress from midnight until six am, then came in bed with us.

Sunday morning Mom and I woke up feeling bad, but by that afternoon we felt decent. I even did 2-3 loads of laundry and cleaned the living room last night! Carl still feels/felt horrible. My Dad got it VERY mildly (he's been pushing probiotics and vitamin D like crazy for the past week or so though because people at work were so sick).

I brought Keevia over to Mom's this morning (per usual) to have breakfast, and as she was changing her diaper, she said "Bring me a sharp pin and some medicine." Keevia's boil had (PRAISE THE LORD)came to a head! It took me, Mamaw & Papaw to hold her down, but with one little prick she drained it. NO SURGERY!!!!!!! We started the Bactrim back up and started putting Bactriband on it with a small bandaid. I gave her a hot bath and changed the bandaid earlier today (very traumatic). It's not easy, but so much easier than surgery would have been.

Keep the boil in your prayers. It's looking so much better, but it could still flair back up. We're so thankful that we look to be not having to deal with a surgery!

I had to reschedule my 30 week appointment (Um... THAT MEANS I ONLY HAVE 10 WEEKS TO GO!)today because of our sickies, but the positive is that I'll actually be in Lexington on the same day as the babywearing meeting! I've NEVER got to go because of scheduling conflicts and I am SO freaking excited. They're doing newborn carries as well! I'm hoping to get to feel a "real" wrap!

I hope your holiday season was better than ours!!!

Keevia's funnies of the week

I don't have the energy to post the other posts I have planned in my head. K has been sick since Christmas night and I'm dead on my feet. She's up right now (at 1:43 am) after puking all over the wall beside our bed... so I thought I'd write down these little funnies to keep me going.

Carl was laying on the couch in just his PJ pants. Keevia came up to him and pointed to his chest and said "What's this?" He responded with "Daddy's booby" She then pointed to his nipple and said "What's this?" and he said "Daddy's nipple." She kind of squeezed it a little, then walked away. He then began talking to me about how she would now need therapy, etc. She came back a moment later with a bottle nipple she's been playing with for a few weeks and laid it gently on his nipple. We DIED laughing.

Keevia threw up all over her bed and herself late last night (after 10pm). My mom (who lives beside me) has always told me that if I need her at night, to call. Carl usually has to be up at 5 am, but since Mom and I are both "stay-at-home" people, we can sleep in if need be. I basically have the best mother in the world. Anyway. As I was stripping her off in the bathroom, trying to get her in the bathtub, and she was screaming every breath, I called Mom and said 'I need you.' So she headed over (literally two minutes away). I had K in the bathtub, hosing her off when she walked in. Keevia (who HATES to throw up) was screaming BLOODY MURDER every breath, but when Mamaw walked in, she never stopped screaming, but she raised her little hand and waved. So adorable, and so funny.

Keevia started off the week of sickness with a stomach virus on Christmas day. She would throw up, be screaming, and go "I sawwie, I sawwie, I sawwie". She was so miserable, but she was still worried she was upsetting us.

I have the best toddler in the world.

Please keep her in your prayers. Not only that she gets over this sinus infection she has right now quickly, but also because she has another boil forming. If you don't remember, or didn't follow us then, she had to have outpatient surgery at 18 months to have a non-MRSA boil drained. They told us she was much more likely to get another one, and she did. It's in a different place, but still in her diaper area. I plan on hardcore trying to potty train her once she gets over the fever/sinus infection thing to try and reduce the wet/moist area, and we're trying some home remedies (oregano oil, tea tree oil, etc). Plus they put her on Bactrim today for both the sinuses and her boil. Just pray it comes to a head and we can drain it, and that it requires NO surgery to do so. It was literally the WORST day of my life last time, I'd rather not repeat it. Pray and pray hard, PLEASE!!!

Alright, going to snuggle my sniffly baby now. Babywearing & Hairbow review post coming SOON. Promise.

I'm totally going to jinx myself... (sleep post!)

About two weeks ago we moved a twin mattress into Keevia's room and put it on the floor. That night she climbed up on it, laid down, said night night and closed her eyes. I asked her if she wanted me to lay down with her and she said no. She went to sleep that night by herself in her dark room. And the next day for naptime. And the next night. And the night after that. No tears.

I was in SHOCK. This is the child I have to snuggle to sleep, that usually takes from 20 minutes to over an hour. We put the twin bed in so I could lay down with her and then get up when she fell asleep (usually goes faster than me rocking her in the living room).

The 4th night we went to my husbands parents and spent the night. I laid down with Keevs and got her to sleep in the room we sleep in. She went down easy, but slept really poorly that night.

The next night we were back home, and when I suggested she go to bed, she started screaming. I ended up rocking her to sleep that night and several nights after. A few times she fell asleep sitting up in my lap. Then I started laying back down with her.

I don't know if she was scared of her bed, or her room, or whatever, but even with me laying down with her she would scream. Now, as I'm sure you all know that I am VERY against cry-it-out when it comes to baby (BABY as in 2-6 month old baby) being in a room by themselves, in the dark, "teaching" themselves to soothe to sleep. I've never been against in-arms crying however, and we've done it numerous times over the past two years. Laying down with her, with her sobbing, is the same to me as me holding her and her crying. So for about two to three nights, I laid down and had her cry for 5-10 minutes until she gave up and decided Mommy meant business and it was bedtime. She'd then drift off to sleep. The 4th night there was no crying.

Night 5 I tucked her in, and then sat at her feet. Crying started again, I soothed her, talked to her, sang to her, and 15ish minutes later she FINALLY calmed down, then fell asleep a few minutes later. Night 6 she cried for about 5 or so minutes, then went on down. Night before last she cried for a minute or two, wanting me to lay down with her. I kept telling her I was sitting at her feet and wouldn't move til she fell asleep. She went down pretty easy. Last night I told her it was bedtime and she set off for her bedroom. I went to fill up her sippy and she popped her head out of bedroom door and said "C'mon Mommy!" I told her to go climb up in bed and I'd be right there. When I went in, she was snuggled on her pillow. No tears. I stayed in there 5-10 minutes, then I told her night-night and went in the living room. She drifted off on her own.

I plan on keeping it up... we're doing so well right now, and I'm so happy about it. I honestly won't do anything different with number two. The only reason I made a push for getting her to go to sleep on her own is that my back cannot take packing her 28lb dead weight, especially with a burgeoning belly. I didn't figure we'd be going to sleep on our own quite yet, but I'm pleased with it!

Now to just tackle potty-learning!

Wordless Wednesday - Where did my baby go?????

Really, I'm still alive!

Wow. I suck as a blogger right now. But in my defense, some very real things are going on in my off-the-internet life that are kind of taking precedence.

For starters, this pregnancy is still kicking my butt. Don't get me wrong, I literally COULD NOT be happier that I'm pregnant, but when Keevia goes to sleep at night, I literally follow her 15 minutes later. Plus, I usually follow her at nap time as well. Not only my blog is suffering, but so are bills and housework, so don't feel TOO neglected!

On top of that, my Dad has been having some medical issues that are resulting in a lot of tests and travel. Keevia and I tag along quite a bit, so we've been on the road a lot. Please keep my Daddy and my family in your prayers. It could be very minor, or more serious, and we're trying not to worry.

Keevia is doing FANTASTIC. She's living up to her "Diva" name quite well. She enjoys coloring and building with blocks quite a bit, as well as playing with her babies and cooking. She's currently obsessed with Word World and Blues Clues. We recently started encouraging the potty again, and have had some success. She peed in the potty right before her bath the other night, and got SO excited that she went to get her Daddy to show him. This morning, when she was squatting in the kitchen (for some reason it's her favorite place to take care of business), Mamaw encouraged her to go to potty and she pooped! She's sleeping fantastically, and she's really just a pleasure right now (remind of this in the afternoons or evenings when the tantrums start).

The pregnancy is going well as also. We had an appointment on the 6th with an ultrasound. They re-dated my pregnancy, bumping me up a week, so as of today, I'm 14weeks! They did the nuchal screening test (my midwives are overseen by a high risk doctor, so this pregnancy will be more closely monitored than my pregnancy with Keevia was) and they couldn't get one of the measurements, so the ultrasound technician had to shake my belly to wake up the baby. It was soooo funny to see it's little legs kicking and it's arms punching. I'm so excited to be so far along because I felt Keevia for the first time at 15weeks and 5days, so maybe I'll get lucky again!

Hopefully next week will calm down some and I'll be able to breathe (and blog) again. I DESPERATELY need to revamp and work on Rows for Remembrance, but it's just not happening right now. Stay with me y'all, it'll get better.

Please keep my Daddy, and my family in your prayers! I really appreciate it!

Wordless Wednesday - Surprise Edition

"And I'm feeeeling gooooood...."

Does anyone else have a love/hate relationship with that Jennifer Hudson Weight Watchers commercial? Does anyone else watch as much TV as me?

Apparently having your pelvis and your neck realigned make you want to clean your house. I managed to deodorize & vacuum the carpet, as well as clean out (and not just throw away the food, but actually SCRUB) the fridge. I also did the dishes, cooked dinner, and bathed my kid. Day well done, eh?

Still frustrated with my cycles. I didn't exercise today, but I am DETERMINED to do so tomorrow. I missed temping this morning, but this months cycle is so screwy. Day 37ish and no ovulation. Lovely. I don't know if I should just concentrate on dropping the weight and putting procreating on the back burner for a bit... or if I should seek out more testing to make sure that I'm not missing something. They checked my thyroid in April and it was normal. We don't have the best insurance and I don't want to be out a huge amount of money... but I want to be better. I don't want to fall into the whole "using the weight as an excuse" thing, but I want to find out if it really is just the weight that's causing my cycles to be SO freaking long (and for me to apparently not ovulate).

On a happier note.... my child is hilarious. I'm so blessed to be her mother. At 20 months, she has 12 teeth (10 all the way through, her upper molars are still working on it), can identify a scary amount of shapes (thanks apps for the iPhone...), loves books more than anything, will point to any clock and go "Tick-Tock! Tick-Tock!", will identify anything that has anything to do with "The Wiggles" by screaming "WEE WEE" and wiggling her fingers, is very girly and dainty, loves to "cook" in her kitchen, would live outside if I let her, plays constantly with her "door" we got her, wishes Mommy wasn't quite so stuck up about the whole kissing doggies things, loves stealing chairs and iPhones, still loves her "Pah-peeesh" (pacifier) and just has the best personality.

I'm trying to keep perspective through this whole weightloss/conceiving thing. I have an absolutely beautiful daughter. I don't want her to be my only child, but if there's a 3+ year difference between them?  I guess I'm going to have to live with that. And I can, it just means erasing MY plan and settling in for GOD'S plan. Something I'm not always happy doing, but hey, life happens.

Today was a better day. Praying tomorrow is as well. 

Wordless Wednesday...I mean Thursday...

Keevia Cuteness

For whatever reason, my child decided not to go to sleep until well after midnight last night. I've blogged numerous times about baby sleep, but I've come to the realization that I am MUCH happier if I just don't stress about it. She's currently sleeping through the night in her own toddler bed, and taking 2-3 hour naps. Who am I to rock the boat by trying to have a earlier bedtime?

Anyway.

Keevia Cuteness #1:

Last night I was rocking a very awake toddler. In an effort to get her to speed the process along, I said 'Keevia...close your eyes'. After a few times of showing her what I meant, she closed her eyes. "Now go to sleep sweet girl" I murmured, figuring her eyes would pop open. To my shock (and my humor), she kept them closed and began fake snoring. I literally about died.

"Are you being Daddy?" I asked, she opened her eyes, took out her paci, nodded her head and said "Daddy!"

It's either Daddy, or Jeff the Narcoleptic Wiggle.

Keevia Cuteness #2:

Kee LOVES you to chase her a tickle her. Or have her run and you hide behind something and jump out. Or merely say 'I'm going to get you!' while she takes off squealing. Recently she's started holding her hands out in front of her and going "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" while moving her hands when she wants to be chased. I think she's channeling the Karate Kid or something. It is literally the most funny thing, and I SERIOUSLY need to get it on tape.

She has a vocabulary which has EXPLODED. She went from barely talking to repeating everything that is said. One of my favorite things she picked up from her great-grandfather. "Toodle-Doodle!" Daddy also had her going "Poopie! Pee-pee!" in the car today. All drinks are "Jewwwce" and all food is "Appul!" She can say Sippy, although she says "Sipsey" or "Pissey" which makes me giggle. Her "hungry" sounds more like "Hommey"which is basically Mommy with an H.

This post is nothing but fodder for my baby book, but I thought some of you might enjoy!

Not the post I had planned...

I had planned to write out my baby toddler girls 18 month post, but apparently her 18 month birthday was not meant to be uneventful.

Starting a couple of months ago, I felt this little bitty bump right outside of Keevia's diaper on her inner left thigh. I thought it was a swollen lymph node, and brought it up my chiropractor. She assured me it wasn't a lymph node, but was most likely a cyst of some kind. She mentioned that if it changed in shape or size to bring it up to the pediatrician.

We took Keevia in almost a month ago for what we thought was pink eye. Turns out it wasn't, but while we were there I brought up the spot on her leg. She looked at it and said it was possibly a cyst or a boil, and said exactly what our chiropractor said -- to let her know if it changed in shape or size.

Around two weeks ago, it started getting red and growing. In a matter of days it quadrupled in size. I called last Thursday (not two days ago, a week and two days ago) and left a message for the pedi, she was out of town for the holiday, so I figured I wouldn't have a response right away. On Easter I had a doctor in our church look at it. She agreed that it was probably a boil, and encouraged us to put prescription strength antibiotic cream on it, and to take hot hot baths and let her soak. So we did.

On Monday, the pediatrician called and spoke to me, and ended up calling in a prescription for Bactrim. Due to a ton of reasons, it was late Tuesday afternoon when we got it filled. We started it Tuesday afternoon.

From Tuesday to Thursday the spot didn't change much at all. It KIND of looked like it might be coming to a head, but hadn't yet. I called the pediatrician on Thursday because she said it needed to be looked at if it hadn't gotten better on a couple of days of the antibitoic. I didn't want it to get suddenly worse over the weekend. I got an appointment for Friday morning.

I slept late Friday, and ended up not eating breakfast (or feeding Keevia) before we went to the appointment. After looking at it, we were informed that Keevs would need to have it lanced, and that she would have to be under general anesthesia. Our Pediatrician asked me if I wanted her to be seen in our hometown, a local town, or in Lexington. I chose Lexington. She then said she'd go call some doctors.

I tried to pull myself together at this point, as she called the doctors. I did NOT want surgery for my baby. I started planning the week in my head, trying to figure out logistics. The pediatrician came back in and told us she'd spoken to someone at the UK Children's Hospital, and if we left right away and got her down there, she could have surgery that evening and then stay over to the next day. And to only give her clear fluids from there on out.

Holy. Crap. Surgery TODAY? Leave NOW?

I panicked. I started sobbing. I sobbed all the way home. Then I put my big girl panties on and started packing. We packed for overnight, and packed movies, toys and books for the babe.

We made it to the hospital, and the fact that I hadn't fed my kid breakfast actually paid off. She was able go into surgery around 4:30.

I'm not going to lie. That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. KNOWING that she was going to scream as they took her away from me and that they were taking her into a strange environment. That killed me. I think I would have been okay if I had been able to hold her as they put her to sleep... but knowing that they were scooping her and running? Killed me. KILLED ME. I sobbed.

Carl and I prayed together before leaving the holding room. We were told that the anesthesia would take longer to administer and come out of than the actual procedure would take. The only reason they knocked her out was because of how little she is, and that it was actually less traumatic (for her, MUCH more traumatic for Mommy).

We went to the waiting room, and 10 minutes later we got a call that they'd started the surgery. Then, about 10-15 minutes later we were called to the consult room. The Pediatric surgeon came in and said that it went perfectly, and we could go to the recovery room as soon as the nurses gave us the go ahead.

They ended up having to go in in two places on her leg and "break up" the infection. He (the surgeon) told us he does 300 of these surgeries a year. THREE HUNDRED. And that 95% of those are MRSA. Apparently a traditional poke and drain doesn't work with MRSA because MRSA looks like honeycomb. It actually invades the fat tissue, and has to be broken up. That's why they have to knock the kiddo out. He expected that that's what hers would look like.

Thankfully, with hers it was mainly liquid pus and a few small pockets of the honeycomb looking stuff... so he isn't 100% sure it was MRSA. They sent out cultures. They left a drain in her leg, which is basically a large piece of rubber that is tied at the top. We have to give her three hot baths a day and move that rubber band back and forth to continue to break up any infection. We go back to have the drain removed in 10 days.

Carl and I were able to go down to recovery. When we walked in she was stretched out on the little crib hospital bed, snuggled up to a nurse. She wasn't really crying, but she wasn't awake yet either. They had told us she would be mad. Carl sat in the rocker and held her first, but that only lasted about a minute until she opened her eyes and saw Mommy. He got up and handed her to me, and her hand immediately went down my shirt. It was kind of cool to watch her pulse rate slowly drop as she calmed down! She woke well, without any crying whatsoever and drained down some apple juice. By the time it came to remove her IV, we used Carl's iPod touch to play Blues Clues, and she totally didn't pay ANY attention to them pulling it out! She only got mad when the nurse had to hold pressure on the needlepoke!

We're home, and she's doing very well. We didn't end up having to spend the night... but came home! She ate some Macaroni and Cheese at Cracker Barrel on the way home. She hasn't had an appetite all day, and has only eaten a little hummus and Lil'Crunchies.. but as I write this she's helping Mamaw eat some Ravioli. She ran a low grade (99.2) temperature before her nap, and has a little gunky cough (a side-effect of the anesethia I think) but has been playing well.

Not the 18-month post (or birthday!) I wanted her to have (She was 18-months old yesterday!) but hopefully this will keep her from getting sick! She never ran a fever before the surgery and except for favoring the leg and getting MAD when you touched it you wouldn't know she had it.

Please be in prayer that the cultures are normal, and that we manage to keep it broken up.

Toddler Reset Button

Toddlers have tantrums. That's no news to anyone. My toddler is getting especially good at the foot stamping, head thrown back, screaming her head off tantrums!

The past two days, Miss Priss has decided that naps are for losers. Therefore, this is what I see a lot.

I've found out, however, in the past day, that if you head off the tantrums, that they don't seem to be as bad. Oh, they still happen, but instead of being 30 minutes of inconsolable toddler drama, it usually is only around 5. I'm sure that this distraction method is also common knowledge!

The majority of our tantrums are caused by teething right now. It can be expected! When you have 6-7 teeth coming in at once (I'm not real sure of the number, she never opens her mouth long enough!), it's difficult to be good all the time! I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of our amber teething necklace.

Anyway, with the teeth kicking our butts, tantrums are running high. Our current way of making them go away? Well, it has me handing in my AP card.

Step 1. Get a orange Sherbert Push Up. Feed to child.
Step 2. Turn on Wiggles.

The sugar revs her up, the cold soothes her teeth, and the Wiggles make her zone out. Once she "resets" herself, she acts normally. There are other reset methods we use as well... change of scenery, stripping off her clothes, tickling her when she tries to throw herself backwards off my lap...

What is (or was) your toddlers reset button?

Joy Is...

Being outside on the first really warm day(s) of the year...

My poor girl...

My poor sweet girl. This is how I'm seeing her a lot today.

We've been having sleep problems for a while now. Absolutely fighting going down like it's no ones business. I've been miserable, questioning my parenting choices... questioning, well, everything. She would usually (not always) sleep once she went to sleep, but getting her to sleep was a war. Finally we discovered that Daddy can get her to sleep much easier than me. For whatever reason. So we're going with it.

Last night she was SO fussy. I knew she was overtired, but she was just unconsoleable. My mom was holding her, and I happened to glance in her mouth (as she was screaming, I might add).

Low and behold... I see that her molars. MOLARS are swollen. Now, this may not be a big deal for most parents of 16 month olds... but my kid and teething are kind of different. She didn't get her first tooth until she was 1 year, 10 days old. Then she got three. Right now she has 6 teeth. Three on the bottom (two bottom middle, bottom right) and three on the top (same configuration). Her fourth "front" tooth is coming through on the top. Her bottom "front" tooth has no inclination of coming in. Like, at all. But whatever.

So, I was shocked that her molars were swollen. Then, I examined closer.

Her molars aren't just swollen. Her bottom molars, bottom eye teeth, top eye teeth, and possibly her top molars are all swollen. Y'all, that is 8 teeth. AND she still hasn't gotten that top front tooth through.

My poor, poor girl.

We gave her Tylenol last night, and she slept from 11pm-5am in her crib, then came in bed with me until 9am. It was blissful.

So, I expect we'll be doing a lot of this for a while, and I'm okay with it.

Baby snuggles are my favorite.

Potty Learning

I usually blog at night, and have "scheduled" posts for the next day. It means the posts usually happen in the morning, and I don't have to worry about posting during breakfast and such. Works for me! Since our internet went out though, my schedule has been kind of upset.

I actually had an entire different post planned, which will still probably take place tomorrow. But, last night, my little girl did something that changed todays plan.

MY SIXTEEN MONTH OLD PEED IN THE POTTY!

                                                                                                               Who me?

Now, I know that she's not going to be prancing around in underwear next week. But it's a step.

I subscribe to potty learning instead of potty training. Training makes me think of dogs, and I don't like thinking of my kid as a dog... so I call it potty learning. I am teaching her to use the potty like a big girl, not training her to do so (and training, in my opinion, insinuates discipline, which I don't think has a place ((or has a very small place)) when it comes to using the bathroom).

My husband thought I was crazy when I purchased Keevia a potty chair right after her first birthday. "She's too little!" he exclaimed, "She can't even walk yet!"

"I know" I replied, "But I want her to get used to it." And that's exactly what we've done. We're getting used to the potty. Every night, when I'm running her bath, I strip her off naked and put her on the potty, and ask her if she needs to pee. Some nights she sits there happily, some nights she fusses as soon as I put her on there. I usually leave her there for, oh, 20 seconds if she fusses, then help her off. I never want to force her, or make her be wary of the potty.  If she's happy, I let her sit there until the bath has ran. I'm not even that consistent about it. We bath at Mamaw's house once or twice a week. Sometimes she and I take showers together.

Night before last (Tuesday night), I sat her on the potty and she fussed, so I got her back off and went along running her bath. I moved my foot a little and noticed that rug under my toes was wet... sure enough, after looking at her legs, I saw that my little stinker had promptly peed all over the floor. So I simply said: "Keevia, did you pee? It's okay baby, but when we have to pee and we don't have a diaper on, we pee in the potty, not on the floor. Let's get in the bathtub." I threw the rug in the wash and bathed my kid. After setting her out of the tub all sparkly clean, she took off, naked, towards the living room. I followed her, then went into the bedroom to get a diaper. I heard Carl go 'Uhoh Mommy! She just pooped on the carpet!' I came out of the bedroom going "REALLY? Really!!!" and then noticed he was laughing, he told me he was joking, then I looked down. "Well, she didn't poop, but she did pee!" So I repeated my little "We pee in the potty" spiel.

Fast forward to last nights bath time. Per usual, I stripped her down and plopped her on the potty, then went about getting the bath temperature right. No fussing! Once I got the temperature situated, I turned around and she signed "All Done" and held out her arms, and I got her off the potty chair.

And the rejoicing began.

So where do I go from here? I'm just going to keep on keeping on. We're learning the "potty" sign, and I ask her when I go in the bathroom if she wants to sit on her potty. I know we're months away from truly being "learned", but hey, a step is a step.

I honestly never thought I'd get so worked up over a little pee.

Baby Sign Language

I live in the middle of nowhere, as I'm sure we've discussed before. I had absolutely no earthly idea about baby sign language until I was pregnant, because, well, no one does it around here. When I was pregnant, I was signing up for natural birth classes at my favorite local store, Mother Nurture, and I saw sign ups for a Baby Signing class. Around that same time, I stumbled upon the Attachment Parenting boards at thebump.com, and found numerous people talking about various signs. So I got curious.

I bought a book or two on clearance, and promptly forgot about it. Until it became apparent that my little 4 month old KNEW when she wanted to nurse, she just couldn't communicate it. So I googled the sign for nurse (and chose to just to 'milk' for nurse, because she wasn't receiving any other milk at the time other than the boob), and began asking her if she wanted to nurse, and doing the sign. It wasn't very long afterwards (She was about 5-5 1/2 months) when I suddenly realized that she was doing it! She was signing to nurse! Not only that, when someone else had her, she would make the nursing sign to come back to Momma.

I was sooooooooooo excited, and yet I kind of dropped the ball. She stopped signing it as much, and I stopped teaching her new signs. Around the ten-twelve months though, I could tell her frustration levels were rising. So I started trying to teach her "more", "eat" and "Drink" for some reason that child has a mental block against eat and drink, but she picked up "more" in MINUTES. Since then, I'm struggling to find signs to teach her. Usually I show her a sign once, and BAM she knows it. It is OUTSTANDING.

Yesterday, she had just pooped, and was walking around my parents living room. I'd been working on "diaper" and "change" separately. My Dad, who fully supports signing but doesn't know all the ones she does, says "I don't know what sign she's making, what's this?" and then performed a sign. My chin hit the ground. She was signing "Change"!!! Not only is this big for signing, but it's also a step towards potty learning!

I have kind of wavered back and forth on whether I think that it's limiting her spoken words, but just last night she came up and said 'want more juiwcee'. So obviously she can talk. I think she says stuff that we just don't catch some times, and she's not one to repeat a performance (i.e. repeat a word she said).

Her current signs are:
more
bird
dog
cat (when prompted)
nurse
drink (sometimes)
hungry
bath
change
sleep
want
all done
down
car
wiggles (she made up her own!)
small
big

She learns new signs daily, like I said. It's difficult for me to keep up! It has made our lives SO MUCH EASIER! When she's crying and inconsolable, I can start asking questions "Do you want a drink? Are you hungry?" and instead of just crying, she can answer me. I am forever grateful to whoever it was that determined little ones can use sign!

Keevia at 15 Months

This post is a little late, but I wanted to make it to her 15 month appointment first!

At Fifteen Months :



- You are 23 lbs and 32 inches! Your head is 54 cms, which, per usual, is off the growth charts!
- You went from 25th% in weight to 50th% and from 50th% in height to 90th%! In just 3 months! You now have the head of a normal 4 year old. See why we're still rear-facing?
- You can now RUN where-ever you want! You're so hilarious! You have this little arm swing you do!
- You can do the motions to "Itsy-Bitsy Spider", "Pat-A-Cake", "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", "Rock-A-Bye Your Bear" and... some other wiggles song I can't think of.
- You ADORE the Wiggles (and the youtube video Giggle with the Goats!)
- You've discovered what a computer is and you want to watch videos on it whenever anyone has one out!
- You LOVE to eat! There really isn't anything that you don't like!
- You've finally discovered books! You won't let us read you a full one yet, but you'll "read" to us. ADORABLE.
- You jabber constantly. I'm beginning to make out not just words, but sentences. Last night I said "Um, Keevia? That thermometer really doesn't go in the wall" and I heard you say, clear as day "I want it to blahblablhalblah" CRAZY that you're talking!
- You finally learned to sit up on your own! This took a while, that big head weighed you down!
- You can pull up on anything. Doorjam, chair, stack of books, etc. But, you cannot get yourself to standing in the middle of the floor. Your head is just too heavy!
- You love to snuggle! When you aren't on the run, you snuggle up with Mommy and talk to me.
- You adore pulling up your Mamaw's shirt and "tickling" her belly to watch her squeal!
- You "love" your baby when asked too. Giving it a hug and going "Ahhhhh"
- You give splendiforus kisses and hugs!
- If Mommy is hugging anyone, you will run up and hug the back of my legs!
- You can sign: bird, dog, cat, more, nurse, hungry, bath and you've made up your own sign for wiggles!
- Your vocabulary is kind of small right now, but I think you're close to talking!
- You LOVE to get in Mamaw's cabinets and see what treasures you can find!
- You despise having your diaper changed. You also aren't a big fan of finger nail clippings or toe nails... I keep trying to tell you it's a manicure, but you just don't believe me.
- You love to "cook" with Mommy or Mamaw. You get a pot and spoon and stir away!
- You ADORE your sippy cup. You drink about 5-6 6oz sippies of milk a day, and 1-2 of juice.
- You're such a ham! You make the funniest faces!
- You can locate and point to: Your belly, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, toes, and head!
- You are very, how shall we say, opinionated in matters. You enjoy letting us know those opinions as well!
- You now have 6 teeth!!!! Three on the bottom and three on the top (and they're on matching sides!). What can I say? You're original!
- You are now in 18 & 24 month shirts and 18 month pants (and still some 12 month pants). You wear size 3 shoes, and 6-12 month socks. You hate jackets, but tolerate pull overs okay. You wear 18 months or 24 month sleepers. Where has my tiny baby gone???
- You still wear size 3 diapers (and medium cloth diapers), but I think when we go to Lexington to get diapers the next time, I'll be buying size 4's!
- You had your first ear infection the week after Christmas, and also had bronchitis.
- You sleep through the night almost every night. If you don't, you usually have a belly ache. You sleep in your crib really well, but after your little sicky episode, you've spent the majority of nights in bed with me. If your Daddy quarantines himself off into the guest room (like he is now with a 101.6 fever) I usually just keep you in my bed so we'll get more/better sleep. I adore waking up to your sweet face!
- You're still nursing, although definitely not as strong as you were! You nurse about 2-3 times a day now, and sometimes more or less. I know you're weaning slowly, and it's breaking my heart!


Keevia,
You have the best personality. Seeing how giving you are with others at such a young age just melts my heart. And the fact that you are so affectionate, even to people you don't know very well. You always have a smile, and a finger wave for everyone. You light up my world little girl. I love waking up with you in the mornings. I love watching you get so excited about food, or about a doll, or a balloon. I love the way your whole face lights up. I love when you throw your hands to your mouth in a "uh-oh" gesture. I love every stinking thing about you and I can't believe you've been with us for 15 months... yet, I can't imagine not having you. What did I do with my days? With my time?

I cannot wait to continue to watch you change and grow. Girl, you ARE amazing. You're smarter than me already, and I adore watching your mind work. You challenge me every day: My patience, my heart, my mind. And I love you more for it.

I can't wait for you to grow up, and play tea parties, and dress up, and school. Yet I love the simply joy that a bowl and a spoon brings you right now. Stay little my baby girl.

Mommy loves you.

The Sleepy Lady Shuffle

Sleep is something that seems to cause huge rifts and wars when it comes to parenting. Both between parents (cry-it-out, not to cry-it-out... To nurse to sleep, not to nurse to sleep... Sleep in the crib, sleep in the parents bed, etc.) as well as between parents and child ("Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase baby. Please go to sleep. Please. Mommy is dying. Please sweet heart!"). It's something we've struggled with some, but something I definitely have no regrets on.

I'm anti-CIO (cry-it-out). No apologies. I'm sorry, but leaving my baby alone in a room to cry themselves to sleep to "teach" themselves to sleep? Not buying it. Let me interject here to say that I DO believe that there are two different types of cry-ers though. Moxie discusses how her two children are completely different when it comes to falling asleep, and how one of them is a "Stress Intensifier" (or something like that) and one is a "Stress-reliever". Basically one of them cries for 2 minutes to release stress, rolls over and goes to sleep. While the other one, if left alone to cry, becomes more and more stressed as they continue crying. Keevia, without a doubt, is in the first category. Even now I have to distract her when she starts crying, or it will intensify and escalate until she forgets why she's crying. I do believe that it's the parents responsibility to teach their children to fall asleep, but I think it needs to be in a safe, healthy environment. If it were me, and someone locked me in a room, where I couldn't get out, couldn't have anyone answer me, and I as scared... I'd go crazy crying. That's not something I want my daughter to experience.

Also, let me state that I think in-arms crying has its place. We've HAD to do it on some nights when she was so over-tired that there was no other option. It is excruciatingly difficult for the parent, but over-all it sometimes works for the child. It's not something I would want to do on a regular basis, and if I find we're doing it for more than 3 nights in a row (and something medical isn't going on), I know it's time to re-vamp our sleep schedule.

I also think that a lot of Moms fall victim to sleep training when their kid is going through a developmental stage. I know when Keevia was 4 months old, she was waking up ALMOST EXACTLY at 4 am in the morning and being awake for an hour to two hours. It was EXHAUSTING. I was at my wits end. I googled "Four Month old wakening" or something like that, and came to Ask Moxie's post about sleep regressions. CHANGED MY LIFE. Go read it. Right now (well, after you've read mine). It was so true to point, and as I read the comments, I actually cried. Most Moms seek out sleep-training at four months and nine months... the two most common sleep regressions! Keevia's sleep was greatly effected both times (and I'm dreading the 18 month regression!). I think that sleep regressions are VASTLY unknown and VASTLY under-rated. Once we got through the week-two weeks, she went back to her normal sleep habits without issue.

So how have we done it? Let me start off by saying its not perfect. We've had some issues. In fact, right now, we're in a kind of transition phase that isn't much fun. But we just grow around them. Instead of freaking out because her routine is changing, I try to be as go-with-the-flow as I can.

When Keevia was born, I always (read: mostly) tried to start her out in either her Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper or her Baby Trend Gabrielle Pack n Play beside the bed. As soon as she woke up the first time, I pulled her in bed with me. In the very early weeks, SOMETIMES I would sit up in bed and nurse her sitting up... then attempt to lay her back down. Most of the time though, I just pulled out the boob and nursed her as we both drifted off to sleep. Now, let me break in here to say that I never had a baby who freaked out if she fell asleep nursing and dropped the boob. She also took a pacifier (MAM brand) from the very first week or so.

As she got older, she slept longer and longer stretches in her baby bed. Around 9 months, we moved her from her baby bed in our room to her crib in her room. It was seamless. I'd napped her in there for a week or so, and she had no problems. She would sleep through the night (STTN) occasionally, and occasionally still come in bed with us around 4-6 am. She actually slept BETTER in there because it was quieter.

This had been our routine for around 4-5 months. Until teething hit.

Oh teething. How I hate thee.

Now? We have a routine, and one that, for me, is inconvenient at times... but its obviously what my babe needs.

Around the beginning of December, Keevs got a sinus infection. She had to sleep with me on and off some. During this time, she was also extrodinarily fussy from teething. She would no longer rock and nurse to sleep in my arms in the living room. Out of desperation one night, I carried her in the guest room. I nursed her, and then when she started picking at my face, I rolled with my back to her. Within minutes she had soothed herself to sleep.

This has became our routine. Every night we do the bath, story, snuggle time... then she'll start going "Nigh nigh" which means she wants to go lay down. She's been known to go to the door of our bedroom and call my name as well :)

The only problem is that she's not doing well in her crib at all. Over the last three weeks, she's spent one night in there (for the majority of the night). I sleep better when she sleeps in the crib, but she obviously needs me (emotionally if nothing else!).

It IS frustrating. I'm exhausted, and sometimes her soothing to sleep takes upwards of 45 minutes to an hour. I always think of all the housework I could be doing if she were already asleep, or if she would go to sleep faster. I've really been struggling to find the balance recently, and learn to relax in our snuggle time.

I think it's a transition to learning to fall asleep on her own, but we're obviously not to that step right now. I randomly try to lay her drowsy but awake in her crib, but I'm always met with screams... so I pick her back up. And then we go lay down.

I've enjoyed the snuggles we've shared, as my very active 14 month old is NOT very interested in snuggling during the day... but I've missed snuggling with my hubby. I know she won't be in our bed forever, so I take it night by night. Last night she slept in her crib from 10-5... tonight? She's in my bed right now, we'll see if she gets moved!

I think sleep is such a big issue because we all need it. As parents, we get so deprived of it that we can't think clearly. I have a daughter who requires me to put her to sleep every night. That gets tiring.... but she won't be little forever. It's a mantra I chant to myself, and with every day I know it's true. My baby is fading, and a strong-willed toddler is taking her place. If clinging to me at night is how she's holding on to her babyhood, then I'm okay with it for now!