End of the Quarter

Fall quarter is finally over and I am so happy that I did okay. I am sure that I could have done better, if I had better study skills but those are not my strong suit. I ended up with 2 A's and 1 C, which was okay as the C was in Political Science, which was a really hard class for me, especially with my lack of study skills. I really have Carl to thank for these grades, without him I know that I would not be able to do it and I know that I would either quit or done much worse. There were many days when I just wanted to quit school, but he was always there to support me and make sure that I did what I needed to do and got through it.

I know that next quarter will be better, I have a better handle on life with "A" and "D". I am also taking all legal courses so that hopefully will make it a little easier and I will hopefully not feel as out of place.

Children's GI

We took "A" to the Gastroenterologist at Seattle Children's Hospital the other day and I am so impressed with how they treated us and what they said. The doctor that we met was really nice and took the time to answer all of my questions, make sure that I understood what reflux is, understood the next step and was just overall awesome.

We ended up doing an upper GI series. It was not half as bad as I expected it to be. The hardest part was her being strapped to a board for the photos to be taken. She drank the barium from a syringe like a champ and barely cried. She did not like being rocked back and forth or upside down in order for the barium to coat her tummy but she still did okay. The results of the series were that there were no structural anomalies, but they are unable to tell from this test whether or not she has reflux, but we know that she does.

The doctor did recommend that we start her on solids, so two days before she turned six months she started solids. She did fine with the oatmeal, as I was afraid that rice cereal might constipate her as was also a risk from the barium. No such problems. This has made it a little more difficult to go with only baby-led weaning, which is when you skip the mushy foods and give the baby finger foods to eat. We are going to go that route for the main part but we still want her to have the cereal as it is supposed to help with her reflux.

Review of the Hevea Star and Moon Orthodontic Pacifier

I was given a wonderful opportunity to review a product that is brand new to the US. The product you ask? It is a 100% natural rubber binky, aka pacifier. The binky was the Star & Moon Orthodontic Pacifier by Hevea USA. There are so many positives to this binky that I was hoping that "A" would love it. Sadly she is not the biggest fan of it for sucking purposes, but she does enjoy chewing on it. She has never been adventurous when it comes to trying new binky's but I was really hoping that she would like this one.

There are many things that I like about this binky even if she isn't its biggest fan. I love the feel of the 100% natural rubber latex, it is so soft. I really like that it is only one piece I just washed it with soap and water and boiled it for a few minutes and squeezed the water out of the tip and it was ready to go. It is orthodontic shaped which I have heard good things about, but that is the part that "A" has a problem with. I also like that the packaging is recycled and biodegradable. On a more cosmetic side I like that it is natural rubber colored, it doesn't have all the colors and dyes like some binky's on the market do and it is gender neutral.

Overall this is a very well made product that I would recommend to anyone. We will be trying out one of their Panda Teether’s soon.

Be sure to check out their facebook page to find out about their new sales.

Here are a few of the stock pictures:

New Happenings

So much has happened in the 11 days since I have written. I am still super busy with school but finally got one of my big papers done. That was a huge relief.

DeShawn is sounding out words and starting to really read. He loves to write and has found new love for his Leapfrog Tag Reading System. We have to get him to go to bed sooner as he likes to lay there and read forever. He comes home and writes a bunch of words and rhymes. I am so proud of him. He is growing up so fast right before my eyes. I never imagined that he would do this well in school. I was so afraid for him to go to public school and fall through the cracks but so far he is doing outstanding.

Amari is not sleeping. She is waking up about every hour regardless of whether she is in her crib or our bed with me. She wants to eat sometimes but other times she just screams and cries. We have an appointment at Swedish's GI. Other than that she is doing well. She is rolling all over and trying to sit by herself.

We bought a new car seat to see if she would like riding in the car more, but it only seems to help marginally. It is our first Britax. It is the Marathon 70 and it is adorable and we got a great deal on it. Here she is when we were trying it out in the house.

Little Update....

Life is kicking my butt these days. I am super busy with school and falling behind which I hate, but is so typical for me, which makes it even worse. I started out so determined to stay on top of it and here I am way behind in my reading. Thank goodness for Carl, he is such a great guy that is helping so much around here but I know it is stressful for him to have to do so much and I just hope I can get it together soon and help a little more around here.

"D" is still doing wonderful in school and comes home with so much knowledge. We are having some trouble with him in the evenings, he seems to be getting grumpy around 6:00 and I am thinking it is because he is hungry and getting tired so we are going to have to start getting him to bed a little earlier. He actually read part of a book to me the other night. I almost cried. He sounded out the words and read them to me. He is only 5 and I didn't expect this for quite a while! My baby boy is growing up so fast.

"A" is having troubles with her reflux again and we are going to be taking her to Children's for an evaluation, I have to schedule that soon. SHe was doing so well and then it was like overnight she started spitting up a lot again and crying out in pain. She is still sleeping better thought which is a huge plus for all of us. I hate the thought of her in pain and there is nothing that I can do to help her. It doesn't seem to be waking her up so that is awesome and laying flat doesn't seem to bother her, as long as she has been upright for long enough. Although sometimes after she wakes up from a nap she will spit up even though she hasn't eaten for an hour or two.

I have sold a few of the diapers and I am super happy about that but I would love for them to all be gone now. I am still having a hard time getting rid of them but I love having the money in my PayPal account to hopefully buy something nice, like maybe more diapers. :)

I just bought my first woven wrap and I cannot wait to try it out. I bought if off the Babywearing Swap on Baby Center, which is a an awesome place to get all kinds of advice and buy some great things.

Letting go....

I have decided that it is time to let go of some of my diapers, well I guess they are actually "A"'s, but still. I am having a very hard time accepting that I will not have any more children, at least in the foreseeable future, and I feel like I am finally letting go of that hope. "A" is growing up so fast, she has moved up to size medium in most of her diapers and we need to get rid of the ones that are too small.

I hate that I am having such a hard time getting rid of the diapers. I mean they hold her poop and pee, why is it so hard to get rid of them? It isn't like I would save disposable diapers, so why do I feel like I am getting rid of something so important. I know that I tend to keep everything and that may also be a part of it, but I also feel like I am getting rid of part of her. I know that is totally illogical but I cannot help it.

All these people that I know are pregnant and I love seeing them happy but I feel so disappointed with myself. I feel like I have failed. I cannot explain it as I know in my head that I have a wonderful family and having more children would be risking my life and the future of my children, that they could possibly run the risk of living without a mother and I am not willing to risk it. I remember after I had "D" and only sort of feeling like I wanted another baby when I saw my friends having babies, but not until he was quite a bit older than "A".

I have posted the diapers that are too small for her on Craigslist and I hope that they sell fast so I don't have time to reconsider it. I have decided that once they sell I will buy a new wrap and some more diapers, as a way to cope with it.

If anyone has any words of advice I would love to hear them right about now… :-)

New Reflux Meds - Continued

So "A" has been on her reflux meds for over a week now and they seem to be helping quite a bit. She is sleeping better and seems to be feeling better. Although she does have another cold. Last night I tried swaddling her again and she slept 8 hours. She was sleeping really well a while ago but lately has not been doing so well. She hasn't been spitting up like she was either.

I would even go so far as to call it a success, thus far. Although I still do not like the idea of her being medicated and would love to find some other option so any ideas are welcome. I hope that once she starts solids it will help as well.

Pumpkin Carving

Sunday we spent the afternoon carving pumpkins with the kids. "D" and "C" had a blast and their pumpkins turned out very well. Hope you enjoy. It was still fairly early in the morning so please don't mind the PJ's and messy hair.

"A" really enjoyed watching them while sitting in her Bumbo. Despite the look on her face...

"D" is very proud of his pumpkin that hasn't even been carved yet.
"C" is scaring me with that knife. Thank goodness "A" isn't in her seat anymore.


Sometimes Daddy has to help get the top off.

It was pretty slimy but they both enjoyed it.

"D" used Starfall.com to design his pumpkin.
"C's" work in progress.
This is the final product!

Hyland's Recall

So as many of you may already know, at least I hope so, some of Hyland's teething tablets have been recalled. I have been using them for "A" and they seem to work fairly well. The ones that we have are included in the recall so I will be contacting the company on Monday to get either a replacement or a refund depending on what the problem was. From the website it doesn't say what the problem was so that will decide whether I ask for a refund or a replacement.

I really like the idea of natural instead of Orajel and the likes. So if anyone has any other ideas I would love to hear them. She isn't into teething rings or the likes yet so these really seemed to be our best option.

Here is the link regarding the recall.

"FARE MAM"

I am so proud of "D". He is doing a phenomenal job at school. He is absorbing so much and thriving. I am so glad that he is in a place that is helping him to grow and learn so much. I was very worried and hesitant to put him in public school, although we cannot afford private I was very scared. But he loves it! He was sitting at the table tonight after I left for school waiting to get in the bath and drew a picture. It was a picture of a fire truck and he wanted to write what it was, so that there would be no confusion. Anyways he sat there and sounded it out, it was very close. He ended up spelling "FARE MAM" instead of "Fire Man" but it is amazing. He has been so resistant to me helping to teach him these things and was resistant at Head Start too but he just loves it now. Maybe it is the approach or maybe it is the environment. I don't know, but I am thrilled with whatever it is. He is also counting like crazy. He can count by 1's, 5's (usually missing 15), 10's and 100's. I know that he is a genius. :)

He is also doing his first fund raiser for school. He has his eye on the prize. He is so excited and wants to win a pen that has gumballs in it. He has to sell 35 items to get it. I am sure he can do it. We are going to be going around this weekend hopefully to family and friends and showing them the catalog so that they can see if they are interested in anything. Wish us luck!

My baby is growing up into such a wonderful young man right before my eyes. I am so proud of him!

New Reflux Meds

So we finally got the new meds for "A's reflux. I was really worried that it would taste worse than her Zantac did, yes I tasted it. But it actually reminded me of the taste of Amoxicilin. Which by the way I loved but am now allergic to. She took it like a champ and even waited the 3o minutes after to eat, although she wasn't exactly thrilled to do so, she did. It has to be given at least 1 hour after she eats and 3o minutes before she eats.

I sure hope that this will make her feel better. I hate seeing her screaming in pain. I especially hate it when she is in a deep sleep and she just starts screaming and is inconsolable. I feel so helpless and it breaks my heart.

Flats and Daddy

I am so proud of Carl! He is such an awesome daddy and he has taken to cloth diapering like it is nothing. He mainly uses prefolds and covers, instead of the pockets and AIO/AI2 that I bought mainly for him to use. But it is all okay as we still use those for out of the house and at night. Anyways, after I bought my Green Mountain Diapers prefolds and flats many of the flats were defective. They were uneven and basically unusable in the folds that I know how to do. So Green Mountain Diapers sent me a whole new dozen and these are perfect. So now I have over a dozen size large flats for "A" to use now and be able to use for a long time. Anyways, Carl decided that he wanted to try his hand at using flats and this is how it turned out.....

(Please don't mind her chunky legs, nothing is hanging out, just her chunkiness...)

Pictures

So I finally found my camera. It looks like we were enjoying ourselves to much to bother with taking pictures much. So here are a few of what we have. They are all of "D"

Here he is, on the train. He sure loves trains!

Here he is playing on the fire truck. He loves them too!

"D" sure loves his trucks! I am sad that I didn't take more pictures. I was too busy enjoying myself... There aren't even any of "A".

Pumpkin Patch

So Sunday we took a family road trip. We drove to Carnation to the Remlinger Farms Pumpkin Patch. It was totally awesome! I cannot believe that we haven't gone before. I think that we will make it a yearly tradition. It was expensive at over $15 a person but so worth it. They had all kinds of cool stuff.

We rode the train, which "D" absolutely loved. He still loves trains even though his Thomas ones don't get much use these days. "D" and Daddy rode the roller coaster and according to "D" it "tormented daddy" and he was dead serious. I am so proud of my little man, the other one he went on alone and hated it. I also got my first caramel apple and it was divine!

I wish that we had gone through the corn maze but that will have to wait until next year and we will take "C" with us. I think that she would have even had a good time, which is a high expectation for a 16 year old girl. "A" will also be big enough to enjoy it.

I am so looking forward to cutting our own tree this year. We will have to find a nice tree farm, maybe one that has other activities too... Any suggestions?

I will post pictures as soon as I can find my camera (yes I just used and it is already MIA)....

Dear "A"

Dear “A”:

I cannot believe that it has been four short months since you were born. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and knowing that you were on your way. I remember the dazed look on your daddies face as he followed me into the bathroom cleaning up after me. I remember waking your brother up and him being so excited that he would get to meet his baby sister. Then going to your NaNa’s house where your brother was while I was in labor and her being so excited as well. I texted Auntie Heather and we were off to the hospital. It was surreal getting there and telling them that I was in labor, that my water had broken. I felt like I was on cloud 9. I was finally meeting my baby girl that I had dreamed about so often since I was young. I just knew that you would be special. When we got up to the room, I was so excited that I could barely sit still, even after not sleeping and being exhausted. I was so determined to get you here safe and sound!

Your arrival was miraculous. It was just like I wanted. You came out and looked around. You barely cried. You were so aware and ready for life. Your dad was awesome! I could see the love in his eyes the moment that he saw you. Auntie Heather was also awesome. She was so helpful and her presence allowed your dad to get some much needed rest as he hadn’t got to sleep at all since the night before. After your birth things got scary. I am not going to dwell on it, I just accept that things were scary and complicated but we are here and healthy.

You are such an amazing baby. You have grown so much since then. You have almost doubled your weight and are growing so nicely. I look at you every day and cannot believe how much you have grown and learned. You are such a shining light for our whole family. You complete our family.

When I see your amazing smile and hear your adorable laugh it makes me smile from the depths of my soul. I see the way that you watch your brother and just imagine the day that you are able to get up and follow him around. I see you outside playing with him in the mud with trucks. I see you running around and playing with dolls, playing dress up and playing in your kitchen. I cannot wait until these days. But I am truly enjoying these days that we get to spend together. I am loving every minute of watching you grow and mature.

You complete our family like I could never have imagined and thank God every day that he has blessed us with your presence! There is so much that I want to show you, so much that I want to teach you and so much that I want for you.

Love Always,

You Mommy