2 months old!

I just must say that I cannot take credit for the above photos. A couple of weeks ago, we had a family photo shoot with my friend Kristin. She completely outdid herself and I will now commence spending us into the poor house buying photos to cover my walls with.

Last week, Emily had her two month check-up. Much of the appointment was dominated by her continuing digestive issues, but we also did all the normal check-up things.

So, Em, at two months:

*You weigh 10 lbs. on the nose. You are 22 inches long. You are growing, but you are still a little peanut compared to your brother!

*You smile all the time! Especially at yours truly and your brother. Twice you have spontaneously started giggling, which is cute, but also, honestly, a little weird. However, just a few days ago, you laughed AT me! It was probably the best sound ever! And now, I act like a total moron trying to get you to do it again!

*The formula has, so far, worked wonders for you. You eat more at a time, sleep better, and have not had any hard crying jags in the evenings. In fact, last night you went to sleep on your own in your bed. You still fight sleep like none other, but you are learning to soothe yourself. And, now I'm sure tonight will be a complete train wreck since I posted this!!

*You are very alert during your awake times and you love playing with your taggie blanket.

Just a few more weeks until that "magic" 3 month mark. I am living in full anticipation of the fog lifting. Each day feels a *little* more normal. Daniel and I will celebrate the anniversary of our first date in a few weeks. And, if I can take a moment to be a sap, I am overwhelmed at the life the Lord has gifted us with. As you know from my stories, our life is crazy, dirty, and hard at times, but it is real. And I love it.

Tree Trimmin'

Surely you didn't think the putting up of the Christmas Tree would be uneventful did you? You didn't think we had finally learned anything from all of our mishaps did you?

This year's tree fiasco involves insulation. You know, the stuff in your attic?? And not the new fangled spray on insulation like they use on home makeover shows. Nope. The pink stuff. The pink stuff that comes in little chunks. Somehow in our rage of shoving the tree in the attic last year, it got COVERED in insulation. Which, you know, makes for a nice, pink snow effect, but is um, you know, DANGEROUS! So, I spent the better part of yesterday morning picking insulation off the Christmas Tree. And off the steps, and off the couch and off the floor. And then running the vacuum to make sure every last speck was up before my nephew came over and ate some.

Once all the toxic material was extracted from the tree, I started putting it together. Let me just say that I'm a stud, because the pieces of that thing are heavy. I think I made some very un-ladylike grunting noises while I was working. My hard work paid off though, because Drew said, "Wow Mom, you are super strong to do that." Yep. That's me. Super strong.

After the tree was assembled, I worked on the engineering puzzle that is getting all the lights to come on. As I've mentioned, the tree is pre-lit so there is a very complicated (ok, just to me) system of male and female outlets. After a while, I finally just gave up with one band around the tree still unlit. I just.couldn't.take.it.anymore. I got a second wind later in the evening and FINALLY got all the lights on.

We got out the ornaments and starting decorating. Within two minutes two ornaments were broken and Drew was crying. It was a true holiday family moment. You know, depending on the family...

And...

...we're done.

Breast feeding that is. The saga of my daughter's stomach pain continued to escalate, culminating in a diaper that tested positive for blood. Her dipes were consistently disgusting and her pain continued. Her poor pediatrician called me LOTS of times and I'm pretty sure once he was on his way out of town with his family for Thanksgiving.

I took her in for her two month check-up and we discussed our options. (More on her check-up later...) After lots of discussion and thought and prayer, I decided to start her on Nutramigen formula. It is both lactose free and hypoallergenic. Because I was already on the grandaddy of elimination diets, this seemed the best option. I pumped for a few days to make sure she would take the formula and do ok with it. Yesterday, though, there was SUCH a difference in her after eating formula and breast feeding-she was miserable wreck any time she drank breast milk. I decided I would not be doing that to her anymore.

So. I told my inner lactation nazi to bite me and promptly poured some breast milk down the sink just for effect.

There is always a chance that in a couple of weeks she could start doing poorly on this formula, but clearly breast milk is not the answer. It is so nice to watch her eat peacefully and not writhe around and struggle. Cross all your fingers and toes and hope this is the answer!

Christmas Junk

Holy cow, it's December. I have no idea how this happened. Between living in the fog, and October and November switching places this year, it just all snuck up on me! It has been pretty warmish for the past few weeks, and then, on Monday-BRRRRR!! Yesterday there was frost on the grass. Drew needed to know everything about frost and why it was there. I'm learning that I'm fairly stupid. I have a hard time explaining even the simplest scientific phenomena to my almost 3 year old.

What I don't have a hard time talking about to him is CHRISTMAS!!! Oh, how I love Christmas time. And really, honestly, I love the days leading up to Christmas even more than I love Christmas. I.love.it. The decorations have started going up around the neighborhood (but not around here-Daniel has a strict Dec. 1 policy and so far we have not had time to get the decor going...) including the giant blow-up Tigger and Santa, made famous last year. Drew was so excited to see them, but had no recollection of the love affair he had with them last year. Said neighbors have added quite a bit of "decor" to their lawn this year. Here is what Drew had to say about it, "Whoa. Look at all that junk!" Well said, my son, well said. I plan to take pictures of the tackiest yards I can find and posting them here. Let me know if you see one that is particularly heinous. Even better, take a picture and send it to me!

Today Drew and I got his Christmas box down from the attic. It was like he got a whole box of new stuff! He didn't remember any of it. It's that way with all of Christmas-it's like it's all new to him again. So much fun! I think this is probably the last year it will be that way.

We are having a really hard time knowing what to get Drew for Christmas this year. The only thing he wants is the game Hungry, Hungry Hippos. Oh, and some Cars stickers. I know I should be thankful he is not greedy (yet) and isn't dying for a Zhu Zhu pet or whatever other ridiculous toy everyone is fighting over this year, but it sure makes it hard!! Every time we ask him he says something like "I want Daddy for Christmas" or he names a toy he already has. Wonder how long we can keep him in the dark about asking for presents???

Hope you make the most of the season! Drink some salted caramel hot chocolate for me!!

Not Me Monday!

If I had music on my blog, it would now be playing circus music. The fun continues, and I continue to do ridiculous thing after ridiculous thing. So check out all the things I certainly didn't do, and head here for more Not Me! fun.

So, as I mentioned in my previous post, I'm on a grandaddy of an elimination diet. And, please, I'm handling it fine. Which is why I do not have repeated dreams about food, and certainly not one about a fried pie from the grocery store. I also would never stoop to taking a big giant whiff of Drew's Sunny D. Not me! I don't mind eating five foods for days on end.

I got out for a little bit on Sunday and ran to the used bookstore (one of my favorite places on Earth). I'm totally cool and collected when I venture out in public and I definitely did not have a complete moment of panic at the register thinking I had left the baby in the car.

Last but not least, we are the epitome of hygiene around here, which is why I would NEVER repeatedly forget to bathe my new baby. She's squeaky clean, for sure!!

Adventures in Lactation

Here's the thing. I kept trying to avoid mentioning breast feeding on my blog, because, well, my dad reads the blog. And my father-in-law. And if you're one of those two guys do you really want to read about my breast feeding? What about my brother? Yeah, him either. But, it's the main focus of my life right now and I need some things documented. As I have demonstrated numerous times over the past months, my brain is full, so my blog it is!

Drew and I did not have a successful go at breast feeding. There were lots of reasons for that, and by the time I quit at near 8 weeks, I was not sad at all-only relieved. I have been thrilled at what a great nurser little Emily is. Things started out great in the hospital-she latched right on and nursed like there was no tomorrow. And then the hurdles started coming.

Our first hurdle was the pediatric version of Nurse Ratched who tried to convince me that my baby would starve to death if she didn't get some formula. In the middle of the night. When I had a two day old. Thanks, lady. Sheesh.

Second, Emily would periodically forget how to latch on. Like from one feeding to the other.

Third, she decided one side was just fine with her and the other side was clearly from the devil. This presents all sorts of issues. I'll spare you the details.

Fourth, we tackled our first growth spurt. For those of you who don't know, these growth spurts are also known as "marathon feedings". Sounds fun, huh?

In the midst of all of this, Emily started having some major stomach issues. We believed her issues to be reflux-like Drew-and started her on reflux medicine. As her discomfort continued, we moved her up to taking a PPI (Proton Pump Inhibitor) that was the saving grace when Drew was a baby. Turns out this medicine only made her issues worse. She cried and screamed each evening and was very fussy during the day. We were all stressed out and I decided I needed to work harder to help her.

Which leads to our fifth hurdle. I am now on a super strict elimination diet, trying to give Em's intestines time to heal up and then determine what the offenders are that make her stomach hurt. Here are the five foods I am currently eating: rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pears, and organic turkey. Sounds yummy, huh?? Thankfully, I love rice and sweet potatoes, and I am learning to really love pears! The good news is that the evening scream fests have ceased and hopefully soon her belly will be all better.

And, just in case things were calm for too long, we're having ANOTHER growth spurt.

As long as she keeps eating, I'll keep feeding her. I'm crossing all my fingers and toes that some peace is on it's way!!!

They're coming to take me away, ha ha! They're coming to take me away!! It's crazy town around here, so I thought I'd purge my soul of all the psycho things I've done lately. For more Not Me fun, head on over to MckMama's site (and if you have a few extra minutes, browse her posts from the last week or so. Her baby boy is a miracle!!)

For starters, I definitely have not forgotten to buckle Drew's car seat on NUMEROUS occasions over the past two weeks. Not me! I'm a total safety mom. Thankfully, my child is a major rule follower and screams from the back seat, "Mom! You forgot to buckle me...again!"

My night time crazies are definitely NOT still hanging around. That's why I definitely did not sit straight up in bed and yell at Daniel, "Where is the baby?" when he came to bed the other night. And it was definitely not literally minutes after I had laid her down to sleep in her pack and play.

I have not spent the last week completely obsessed with the state of both of my children's poop. I'm much too fancy to spend so much time thinking about poop. And I definitely did not just discuss poop on my blog...

Finally, my pets are definitely not getting all of my pent up aggression poured out on them. I would never be hateful to my pets. Which is why my son definitely does not say, "Is Barney on your last nerve again, mommy?"