Lew's Favorite Things - Age 4

What is your favorite...

...color?   orange

...toy?   an airplane

...stuffed animal?   my baby and my dog (his 'baby' is a little stuffed penguin that he got from his teachers, Ms. Shauna and Ms. Linda, for Christmas; his dog/puppy is the dog we take monthly/yearly pictures with)

...thing to sleep with?   my puppy and my baby

...fruit?   apple

...vegetable (new this year because I forgot last year)?   carrots

...cereal?   Strawberry Frosted Mini Wheats (Not just the regular kind...made that mistake once) :)

...thing to eat for breakfast?   toast

...thing to eat for lunch?   peanut butter and jelly

...dessert?   ice cream (chocolate, specifically)

...candy?   worms (gummy worms, not real ones) ;)

...drink?   lemonade

...restaurant?   Moe's (the boy can throw down some chips and salsa)

...animal?   dinosaur

...book?   Thomas (specifically, Crack in the Track)

...song?   A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay :)

...game/sport?   basketball

...TV show?   Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

...movie?   Blue Mountain Mystery (Thomas)

...thing to do outside?   play with my wagon

...place to shop?   Goodwill :)

...shirt/outfit?   Thomas shirt

What do you want to eat for your birthday dinner?   toast (of ALL the foods in the world...) :)

Who is your best friend?   William (one of his classmates...they like to play trains together in their classroom)

What do you want to be when you grow up?   a train conductor


Clearly there is a strong train influence right now, so that was the theme of his birthday party yesterday. I'll get a post together on his party soon (right alongside that long-lost Boise trip post from last month), and I'll take his yearly picture with his puppy.

Lenore at 3 Months

My pretty girl at 3 months 

And showing her personality at 3 months :)

Lenore is 3 months old now and is a very sweet baby girl. No doctor's appointment this month (at least no wellness-checks...hopefully no more sick appointments, either), so I took the measurements myself:

Her stats (percentiles from BabyCenter):

Height: 25 inches (in 90th percentile)
Weight: 16 pounds (above 95th percentile)
Head Size: 16 3/4 inches (between 90th and 95th)

What she's up to this month:

• Sleep has been rough on me. With the sickness of the past few weeks, she's started waking up 2-3 times a night (at like 12:30-2-5 or 1-3:30-6:15), and I've had trouble falling back asleep some nights in between feedings. I put her down between 7 and 7:30pm, and then I've been going to bed shortly thereafter (8 or 8:30pm) to try to get enough, but it's still been rough. I try to get her to stay in bed until at least 6:30am--sometimes she won't go back down after a 5am wake-up, though. I know I'll look back on these days 'one day,' but man. What I wouldn't give for a continuous night of sleep.
• She has the sweetest giggle. That helps. A little. :)
• She is having more 'active' time...in the Jumperoo, on the floor, standing on our laps, etc. She really seems to like to stand.
• I've started trying to do her naps in her crib this week. She was napping in her rock-n-play or her swing up until now, but her naps were only lasting 30 minutes or so. I'm trying to keep her in her crib for at least an hour--it's going well in the mornings and at mid-day, but not so much in the late afternoon. (Update: we're back to napping in the rock-n-play. Still trying to avoid/wean off the swing naps if we can.)
• We've both noticed that she seems more verbal than we ever remember Lewis being at this point. She coos and makes all sorts of noises, like she's ready to talk already.
• Breastfeeding is better than it was, but still not as it should be. I no longer have the toe-curling pain at latch-on, but I do still have a lingering, burning (raw) pain after we're done feeding. She will not take a bottle when we've tried on occasion, which feels very limiting to me. I've been reading about how to get her to take them, and it seems a lot of people say to keep offering bottles-only (no boob) for a day or two, and that she will eventually give into it (and then reintroduce the breast once bottles are established). If I can get my *(&$ together, I can pump and try that, though. I'm just having trouble finding time to do much of anything besides keeping the children out of trouble right now. I also dug out a different brand of bottle we used with Lewis, and a friend might bring a third brand over for me to try out...maybe Lenore is just unsure of the particular design? I had a friend suggest that last week, too. I'm not sure, but I really hope we can get her to take one soon so that I can maybe sleep through a couple of feedings and let someone else take over.
• She is wearing 6 month clothes.

Crazy Busy Life

Phew! Life has gotten so crazy busy this month! I feel like every day has been an uphill battle to some extent, and I'm hoping that things will calm down a little in the next months. I still need to write my Boise post, I realize. I had some free time a few weeks ago and had to wait too long for Dropbox, so the moment passed. I will do my damnedest to get it together, I promise.

After Boise, both kids had colds. Lewis had it worse at first (fever and runny nose), but then Lenore got fussy and snotty (not fevered, though). I ended up taking her in because she had an exceptionally fussy day of only 30 minute naps, and they found that she had a double ear infection! They put her on 10 days of amoxicillin, and by day 7, she was still a fussy pants, so I took her and Lewis in that time to be checked again. Sure enough, they both had double ear infections, so we switched to 5 days of Zithromax and went on our way. The last day of that was last Friday, and I think Lenore is better. Lewis still has a runny nose and cough, so we'll see about him. Needless to say, these past few weeks have been difficult around here.

On top of it all, Kevin got a promotion at work (yay, Kevin), which means he's been working more and has more responsibilities. It is great, but the timing of it has made home life a little challenging at this particular juncture. I haven't been able to get into much of a routine yet, so home-cooked meals have been meager and the house is a bit of a wreck (from the infant stuff + toddler stuff coming together). Sooo, on top of all of that, we've decided to move to a bigger house! Why not just pile it all on at once? New baby? Check. New job? Yes. Move? Why not?! We've clearly lost our minds. I met with a Realtor on Friday, and we are aiming to put it on the market in March. Life definitely won't be calming down anytime soon, but we'll at least have a proper bedroom for my parents and our friends to stay in when they come to visit. And we won't be tripping over toys at every turn if we can get some sort of toy room set-up.

I'll get the 3 month post up this afternoon. I have to wait for Miss Lenore to wake up so I can take her picture and do her measurements.

Christmas 2014

This was our first year to stay home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, in the 12 years we have been together. Our 'usual' routine was to drive up to my parents' house a few days before Christmas, do Christmas Eve with my mom's side of the family and Christmas morning at my parents' house. Then we would pack up and drive (2 1/2 hours, if no stops) to our house to drop off and reload gifts, and then spend the afternoon/evening at Kevin's parents' house. All that running around clearly is too much with two little kids. It was too much for me before we had kids, too, but we didn't do anything about it--it's nice to start traditions of our own. I think it worked out well, even though we missed getting together with my side of the family. We did get to see them a few weeks before at Thanksgiving dinner, though. 

We made an Italian meal for Christmas Eve and went to the Episcopal church where Lewis goes to school. I thought taking both kids to the service would be a nightmare, but Lewis was pretty well-behaved, and Lenore slept through the whole thing (she sleeps a lot!). :) It was neat to see some of the same traditions at this church as at my parents' church--I might have started crying during the candlelit-singing of Silent Night at the end of the service, thinking of my family doing the same thing, missing my sister (we used to sing like maniacs, especially on Christmas Eve), etc. I felt very close to them, even though we weren't with them.

Here is video Kevin took of Lewis walking in to see what Santa brought for him on Christmas morning:

A Construction Train!

He wanted to set it up and play with it immediately, so we did that before opening his other presents (from Kevin and I and my parents).

We went over to Kevin's parents' house later that afternoon to have lunch and open more gifts. Overall, it was a nice day. Much more relaxing than in years past.

A few days later, from Kevin's phone:

Sibling Hugs!

Snuggle Time!

There are probably 50 other pictures similar to these on Kevin's phone. :) Lewis likes to hold his sister, a lot. Life is very full and busy and pretty wonderful right now.

The Polar Express and I Turned 34

While we were waiting for Lenore's arrival, my parents came down to stay for if/when I went into labor. My mom mentioned taking Lewis to The Polar Express ride in French Lick around Christmastime, so we decided to go for it. I bought him the book (which came with an audiobook) and the movie, and he and Kevin went to the Science Center to see it on the big screen sometime either before or after Lenore was born. (It's all a blur!) :) We listened to it in the car just about every time we drove anywhere, so that we were up on the story, and Kevin read him the book most nights at bedtime. Lewis could recite the book to you if needed.

We drove up to French Lick on a Friday afternoon and met my parents at our hotel for the night. They were sold out of the train tickets, so the only way we could get tickets was to book a package at this hotel with an indoor water park, so it became a whole getaway thing, which was great. We unpacked and got ready to go for our 5:30pm departure:

 They encourage kiddos (and adults) to wear pajamas, like the kids in the book. :)

 Waiting at the train station

 Lenore was there, too! 

She slept the whole time, of course. Maybe next year she'll be awake for it. :)

The conductor came through and punched our tickets like they do in the movie. 

I think Lew thought that was pretty cool, seeing punches/confetti flying everywhere. :)

They did a really great job of reenacting the book and movie details. Lewis thought it was pretty great--it stops at the North Pole and heads back to the station, at which time Santa comes aboard the train and talks to each child. Lewis' face, seeing Santa walking down the aisle, was priceless. He wasn't much into talking to ol' Mr. C, but he happily took a bell from Santa's sleigh (which is from the story) as a souvenir, which was pretty cool.

The next day, we headed to the water park at the hotel where we were staying. Lewis was tall enough to ride the big water slides with an adult, so we took turns taking him down and going down ourselves. Despite feeling like I might crash and seriously injure myself (they were FAST), we had a blast. We all switched off holding Lenore and riding the slides and/or lazy river. It was a really great set-up, and we'd like to go back sometime. After lunch, we headed over to the French Lick Resort to see their Christmas decorations, which were beautiful.

The next day was my birthday--the big 3-4! It's kind of a blur--I know there was cake and ice cream. I might have gone for a pedicure, I honestly can't recall! [Update: Kevin reminded me that we went out to dinner and to see Wild.]

 Getting some help from Big Lew

There are a ton of pictures that I haven't posted--of Lewis and Kevin raking leaves, visits with family at Thanksgiving and Christmas, etc. I could do a whole posting of pictures of Lewis and Lenore snuggling--Kevin has so many on his phone! I'm working on getting the pictures off of my phone so that I can post about our trip to Boise--it's just taking a while.

Lenore at 2 Months

Two Months Old

Her stats (from the doctor's office):

Weight: 14 pounds 4 ounces [96th percentile]

Length: 23.5 inches [89th percentile]

Head Size: 40.6 cm [97th percentile]

Everything looks pretty good this month. I did ask about her head shape because I thought she was favoring turning her head to one side. Sure enough, she's starting to get a flat spot, so we're going to try to encourage her to look the other way more often. The pediatrician said that her range of motion seems fine--she just seems to prefer turning her head the same direction most of the time (when laying, sleeping, etc.). She got one oral and two inject-able vaccines this time, and she's pretty fussy now that we're home (after an almost 4 hour nap). Hopefully this evening/overnight isn't too bad--tomorrow, we're off to Boise!

At our 1 month check-up, they found a heart murmur that had previously been undetected. Our pediatrician referred us to a pediatric cardiologist the next week. They ran a few tests and found that she has a 'very mild pulmonary stenosis' which is a thickening of the valve that regulates the blood flow from the heart to the lungs. She also has an ASD (Atrial Septal Defect), which are some extra holes in between the two atriums of her heart. The cardiologist said that both issues will go away on their own and that we don't need to worry about limiting her activities (e.g. crying) at this point. We'll go back for another check in six months. That week of waiting for the appointment was pretty worrisome, so we were very relieved to get good news.

What she's doing this month:

• She is back to swaddling! Sometime just after turning a month old, she started waking up shortly after we put her down (after 10-15 minutes). Kevin mentioned that maybe she was startling herself awake, to which I thought, 'Well, duh.' That's what the sleep book said when I read it with Lewis, but I'd forgotten. So now she's happily swaddled at night and sleeps pretty well. 
• She typically goes down between 9:30 and 10pm and wakes up once, around 3:30 or 4am. There was a week where she slept until 6am, but then that turned to 5:45, 5:15, 5, etc. and now it's 3:30 or 4am. I was having to get up with her for the day when it was in the 5:45-6am range (because she wasn't going back to sleep), but now (thankfully) she is going back down after the 3:30 or 4am wake-up and sleeping until a more reasonable 7 or 8am.
• She did just sleep until 6:15am this morning. We are going to Boise on Wednesday for a week (2 hours time difference), so I'm sure everything will be up in the air during and after that trip. So it goes.
• Our daily routine cycles are usually to eat, play, sleep, but we don't always follow that. I'm following her lead a lot more than I did with Lewis, watching for her cues more than watching the clock. I told my lactation consultant that I was trying to not let her go past three hours without eating during the day, and she told me I didn't need to do that (unless she gets past 4 hours). She said that 2-4 hour stretches between feedings could be 'normal' for her at this point, and that she's clearly getting enough to eat. It seemed like once I stopped waking her up from daytime naps to make sure she was eating, she started sleeping better overall. That could have just been a coincidence, but still. On her own, she's falling into a fairly predictable routine, so I'm not messing with it. She usually has one 4 hour stretch during the day, and then feeds closer to every 2 hours in the evenings.
• She is smiling and laughing and cooing sometimes when we talk to her, which is just the sweetest sound. I don't really remember Lewis being quite as ooshy gooshy as she is (that's a technical term). :) She's just really sweet.
• She LOVES Kevin. She usually lights up when she's with him (which is quite a contrast from the first month, when their time together [evenings] was full of fussiness).
• I'm still sucking at doing tummy time, but her head control is pretty good, I think. I will do better this month.
• She loves to try to stand and bounce on our laps, and we'll probably bring up the jumperoo sometime soon.
• She is pretty close to outgrowing her 3 month clothes, though she is swimming in some of her 3-6 month ones. Separates seem to fit her better than one-pieces right now, I guess.

Now onto breastfeeding...

• Breastfeeding is still not going well. It's going, just not well. She is obviously fine and gaining weight, but she is hurting me in the process. I usually have pain at latch-on, sometimes pain during a feed, and always pain after a feed.
• Going way back to week 2, we thought it was thrush, but it's not thrush.
• A few weeks after that, they diagnosed me with Raynaud's (lack of blood flow to extremities due to cold or stress). At first they told me to just try to keep warm (during a record low cold snap). My LC was able to help me get a medication prescribed (nifedipine) by my OB's office, but unfortunately that didn't help, either.
• I was finally able to separate the pain and distinguish that the worst/lingering pain was due to a shallow latch rather than Raynaud's (they're two different pains, occurring at two different times). The Raynaud's happens when I'm cold (which is great timing, since winter has just begun). Once I was able to separate the two, I went back to my LC to try to work on latch again, sometime after Thanksgiving.
• Fast forward a few weeks, and we're still having issues. We went back last week, and my LC checked Lenore's mouth to make sure that there wasn't any tongue tie (and there isn't). She did notice that she has a very sensitive gag reflex. My LC thinks that she is pushing my nipple out of her mouth as I attempt to get it further back in there for a proper latch. That results in her nursing off the end of my breast rather than where she's *supposed* to, which causes the continual damage to my nipples (because they are hitting the hard palate instead of the soft palate). Because of that rubbing on the hard palate, my nipples keep getting damaged and have vasospasms (a constriction of blood flow) after feedings (throbbing, burning, stinging, etc.). It is the most horrible pain--it usually happens 5-15 minutes after a feeding and lasts 5 minutes or so. Sometimes it crosses my whole chest, deep in the tissue.
• My LC also mentioned that I just have large, full breasts (duh and duh), and that it will make it harder for her to get a good latch. What I'm supposed to do about that, I don't know.
• I have googled my eyes out and watched 'how to' videos and consulted my books, and it seems I'm doing everything to the best of my ability. We are just not grooving (yet).
• SO, having said all of that, I'm going to ask the pediatrician about the gag reflex tomorrow at our 2 month check-up. The LC said that it could possibly lead to issues when it comes to starting solids, but she isn't sure if that's what's causing the issues with feeding now. I don't know if the pediatrician would recommend doing any sort of therapy now to see if that would improve breastfeeding, but I am willing to try anything at this point.
• In other words, breastfeeding sucks. Ba-dum-ching! :) [Slightly jealous kudos to all of those mamas who have a natural and blissful relationship with it.] Talking to my friends, now, I'm learning that a lot of them have had a difficult go at it, and it's good to know I'm not alone. I remember having a few issues with Lewis early on, but they were resolved in one session with a LC. I would say I had a very easy time after that, but there's been nothing easy about it this time. I keep reading that maybe she'll outgrow it around 2 months (which would be any day now!), and I'm hoping that's the case. Otherwise, we'll see how long I can put up with the pain. I can't just quit, either, because that would be a hell unto itself with engorgement pain. I'd need to taper off over a few weeks and either pump or formula-feed, and it is 'easier' to just breastfeed. I have tried taking breaks for entire days by just pumping, but the time it takes to pump, plus feed, plus wash bottles and pump parts, is a lot, especially when I'm by myself and also taking care of Lewis. So I don't know what the right answer is for us right now. Certainly, to be continued.

And now some more pictures, to end on a happy note:

 She's got cheeks for days. :)

 Yea, my brother loves me.

 I think she's got the look-of-love for her brother, too.

My babies. :)

Books, Books, Books

I got three new books for my birthday from my extremely well-read, older, and wiser sister, with a note. Something to the effect of, "Thought you might like to read something other than baby books.' I didn't realize how much I appreciated getting my mind taken away from what can be the doldrums of breastfeeding every couple of hours all day long. Or something to do while snuggling a sleeping baby, too. Rather than check my phone again to see that (still) nothing is happening in the outside world. 

I took those books down to my bookcase after they arrived for my birthday last week, which is *all* the way downstairs, where I don't always venture. On Christmas, Kevin got me four more books, so I started reading them right away, since they were right in front of me. I will move on to Emily's selections next.

I read Amy Poehler's book (Yes Please) in less than 24 hours which is highly unlike me. I usually get gung-ho for like a chapter or maybe 30 pages. But 375 pages? In a day? [Too bad I couldn't be as interested in my English lit assignments in college.] I love Amy. And I love Tina Fey. I'm now halfway through her book (Bossypants) at about the 12 hour mark so maybe I'll wrap it up by tomorrow. 

UPDATE: I did finish Tina's book within 24 hours and moved along to Lena Dunham's, which I also finished under a day. 3 books, 3 days. If I achieve nothing else these next few days while Kevin is off, I will have read more books than the entire past year! That's both encouraging and pathetic. I have read my fair share of news articles and People magazine (and Parents and Martha Stewart Living and This Old House) over the year, of course.

I really liked Amy and Tina's books because they not only tell about their upbringing and how they've come to be, but they touch on relevant-to-me topics such as babies and breastfeeding, and I appreciate their lightness and wisdom at this particular time (minute, hour, day) in my life.

Lena's book was about how I expected it to be, just as she is. I don't love her, but I do find her interesting.

And I've finally taken the plunge into the smartphone world, as of a few weeks ago. My old phone had been superglued together twice and has had unbelievably crappy reception from day one, so it was time. I am slowly figuring out how to use Blogger on there (thanks for the inspiration, Keith), but I'm not quite there yet. I started this post on my phone but had to finish on the laptop. Maybe one of these days I'll figure out how to add pictures (wow!) and be more succinct (yea right!) for maximum phone blogging success. We shall see. I make no promises. :)

Oh, and the 4th book from Kevin is Wild.