Weaning and Summer Cold

I've begun the process of weaning Lillian. It has been definitely harder on me than her because to be honest I think she prefers to eat from a bottle because she can see everything going on. (Have I ever mentioned how noisy my child is? She has to check everyone and everything out). After her doctors appointment about the weight issue, I started supplementing with Earth's Best Organic formula. I was so worried she wouldn't take it, but she took it with out any problem with no breastmilk added. Once I saw that I gave up pumping. I figured as long as she still nursed when we are together, she could take formula when we weren't. I still had a pretty good freezer stash I've been sending 2 formula bottles and one breastmilk bottle to day care. She usually nurses when she wakes up in the morning and when we get home from work. She prefers a bottle before bed, so right now 3 feedings are breastmilk and 3 are formula. Once the freezer stash runs out, which should be in about a week, she'll just get breastmilk in the morning and around 5pm. We have a trip planned in the beginning of August without her, so I guess I'll drop those last two feeding then. It makes me sad to stop nursing, but I am kind of excited to get my body back to myself and be able to focus on dropping the rest of my baby & IF weight. I have 12lbs of baby weight and 20lbs of IF weight that I'd like to loose before my sister's wedding in November.

Of course as soon as I cut back on the nursing, Lillian got her first cold. ::insert mommy guilt here:: It was going to happen eventually, but I still like its my fault. To make it worse, I got her cold (probably because she's been sleeping next to me every night because she's so darn cranky). I can't take hardly anything because I am breastfeeding still and Lillian can't take anything because she is too little. I feel the worst for her because it has definitely moved into her chest and she keeps waking herself up at night coughing. I swear we are never going to sleep through the night again. We've been using the humidifier around the clock, and sitting in a hot shower with her, but nothing seems to really do the trick. Hopefully it will go away soon.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

5 Month Photos

Two posts in one day, I know you can't believe it. But I'm home with a stuffed up little girl, so I figured I'd try to catch up on the 100 posts I have in my head...

I can't believe Lillian is 5 months old already! Its amazing to see how much she is growing and developing. Here are a few picts Joey took on her 5 monthday!

Ella just wants you all to know she's still in charge :-)

New House!

So I finally got around to taking some picts of the new house! The downstairs is pretty much done, but we still have some work to do on getting the bedrooms upstairs finished. The bed I ordered from Restoration Hardware in October is FINALLY getting delivered next week, and once that is here I can start getting the master bedroom together. So for now enjoy some picts of the downstairs...

Front Door

View when you walk in the Front Door

Dining Room

Hallway between dinning room & kitchen

Kitchen

Kitchen

Kitchen

Living Room

Living Room 

Where to start?

So things have been super crazy in our house recently.

Last Wednesday we had our follow up appointment with the pediatric pulmonologist regarding Lillian's reflux. She had started breathing funny again, so I was interested to see what he would say. After briefly examining her, he decided we would put her on Zantac for the reflux to see if that would help. But then as we started talking a bit more, he realized how small she is for her age. After an few calculations, he decided that Lillian should have gained double what she had between our last appointment and this one. He said that he thought I needed to follow up with my Pediatrician immediately. He actually used the words "failure to thrive".

So of course I flipped out. I mean who wants to be scared like that. I had asked my pediatrician at her 4 month appointment 3 weeks earlier if I should be concerned about her lack of weight gain and he said she was fine, so I was frustrated that I now had another doctor freaking out about her weight gain. So I decided to go see another pediatrician in the same practice. The Dr I had been seeing previously didn't seem to really listen to me or to Lillian. He told me twice that her breathing was fine (which was obviously not the case) and didn't seem to care about her weight gain even though she's steadily been losing ground (percentage wise) on the growth charts. So I called the practice and made an appointment with the female doctor in the practice. I had heard good things about her previously, but she only works part time which is why I was hesitant to use her from the start.

So Thursday afternoon, Lillian and I went to see the pediatrician. It was a great appointment. She really took her time with us and listened to my concerns and listened to Lillian's breathing. She actually disagrees with the pulmonologist that she has reflux but said to keep her on the zantac just in case. She thought she has something else (a name I can't pronounce or remember) but said it was something she would grow out of. In the mean time she laid out a good plan for Lillian's weight gain. She wanted us to decrease the rice cereal intake because she thought Lillian was getting too full on it and not on breast milk, and she wanted us to make sure Lillian is getting around 30 oz per day, which is a big jump from the roughly 24 oz she has been getting. She wanted us to try to bottle feed her as often as possible so we could be sure how many ounces she was getting. Since I don't produce 30 oz per day (or at least not that the pump can get) this meant we had to introduce formula. I have been feeling very conflicted about having to give her formula but that is a whole other post. Never the less we put the plan in action this weekend and Lillian seems to be liking it. She took the formula with out batting an eye.

I hope everyone had a great 4th. We spent the weekend at home relaxing, and yesterday we went over to a friends house for a little swimming... Here are some picts from the 4th!

Sporting her 4th of July outfit!

Getting ready to swim with Thatcher!

Lillian loves the pool!

4 Months

Last week was a VERY busy week for us! We spent the first half of the week in Orange Beach on our annual family beach trip. It was a blast and I have LOTS of picts to share in my next post. We drove home from the beach on Wednesday and flew to Kentucky Thursday morning to see my brother-in-law get married!! It was such a great weekend, but I'm exhausted from all the travel!

But most importantly... Lillian is 4 months old!! We had her 4 month well baby appointment today and I'm happy to report our little bean is growing. She's still a peanut, but the doctor assures me she's fine so I'll try not to worry too much.

Weight: 10 lbs 12 oz (<5%)
Heights: 23.5" (20%)
Head: 16.5" (70%)

So the head is still leading the way on the growth charts! LOL! She had to get two shots and a oral vaccination today. I hate seeing her in pain but know a little pain now will prevent something bad from happening in the future.

Here's a little teaser pict from the beach trip. She is just so stinkin cute!

One year ago, this weekend...

...I had just found out we were pregnant. I was so nervous, but also relieved to find out that I could actually get pregnant. One year later, we have our precious Lillian.
 

A few pictures with her boyfriend, Thatcher.

Three month pictures taken by Erin Rachel.

Discombobulated

Discombobulated. That is how I feel these days. I swear I can't get back into a groove. I don't know if its the move, or starting work again, but I am just totally disheveled. Its so frustrating. I just can't get myself together.

Today for example, I left my badge at home so I got all the way to work and had to turn around and go home to get it. Once I got back to work and was dropping Lillian off at daycare, I realized I didn't bring any change of clothes to restock her bin. Let's all take a moment and pray for no accidents today. Once I finally got into the office, I realized I had forgotten to send a really important email yesterday evening. And then I went to pump and realized I had left my pump at home. So.Frustating.I.Could.Scream.

When will I ever get my groove back?! I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off... ALL.THE.TIME.

Oh, and to make matters worse, my child has decided sleeping through the night is WAY overrated and is now waking up at crazy points throughout the night. Last night she woke up at midnight and was screaming like crazy. After trying to console her, I picked her up and brought her into our bed. She settled down and went back to bed until she woke up at 4am to eat. However the night before she slept from 8:45pm-5am. I have no idea what is going on with her.