Lilypie Expecting a baby Ticker

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Another meme thingy



This one's courtesy of Von :)
What were you doing 10 years ago?
Let's see- I was thirteen going on fourteen. So I was still homeschooled, and just really getting involved with my youth group.

Five snacks you enjoy:
1. Any kind of fresh fruit (except bananas)
2. Peanut M&M's
3. Soft pretzels
4. Chips and salsa
5. Is ice cream a snack?

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics off your head right now.
1. Amazing grace-and all the verses too!
2. Dancing cheek to cheek (Fred Astaire/Frank Sinatra)
3. Fly me to the Moon (Frank again)
4. At last (Ella Fitzgerald/Etta James)
5. Fell in love with a boy (Joss Stone)

Five things you would do if you had one million dollars:
1. Pay off debt
2. Build a house
3. Put my kids thru college
4. Take a romantic trip to Italy with just my hubby
5. Take a trip to Hawaii with the entire family

Five bad habits:
1. Procrastination
2. Picking my nose (J/K)
3. Not keeping up with my laundry (it gets done, it just sits folded on my kitchen table)
4. Not exercising enough
5. Letting my daughter sleep in my arms during the day so she won't wake up.

Five things you like doing:
1. Reading
2. Taking pictures of Alana
3. Watching TV/movies
4. Going on dates with hubby
5. Singing in the shower

Five things you would never buy, wear or get new again:
1. Probably a two piece bathing suit (stupid stretch marks!)
2. Cheap diapers
3. Cute shoes that are a half size too tight, but they don't have them in my size, but think will work. They won't.
4. A pet reptile, bird, or rodent
5. A movie I haven't watched first

Five favorite toys:
1.Digital camera
2. Computer
3. camcorder
4.The chronicles of Narnia Series
5. My daughter- I get to dress her up like a dolly


Okay-so I copied some of Von's answers- but she had some good ones!!! Here's some more Alana dedication pictures!

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Alana's Dedication



Alana was dedicated today at my parent's church. We dressed her in the dress that my sisters and I wore when we were dedicated. She looked so precious. Alana got her very first New Testatment from the pastor, and of course, it was pink. It was very sweet of him. I haven't uploaded my pics yet, but here are some, thanks to my mom, of Alana and the dedication. My parents took us to El Sarape (my favorite Mexican restaurant) after church, and that was a real treat too. For the first time since Alana was born neither she nor I have any appointments this week, all week long. So, I think I'm going to take it easy, and try really hard to not make any appointments this week. That will be a really nice change if I'm actually able to get away with it!

Friday, January 27, 2006

Stupid shots anyways


Alana go there first series of shots yesterday. Poor thing, she was fine until I woke her up to eat an give her more tylenol. Then she just screamed for about an hour. Her poor little legs were bright red, so I felt the need to call the consulting nurse. She, of course, said that this was all normal after getting immunized, but I had never heard Alana cry like that, and it was scary. I cried most of the time too. I've never felt so helpless. I hope this pain thing gets easier, because if it doesn't I might die of a heart attack before she turns ten. My poor husband woke up to help and only ended up getting two hours of sleep last night before going to work. I felt so bad for both of them. Other then the stupid shots though, she had a good check up. She's doing great developmentally and everything. I asked the doctor about the suspected peanut allergy- she said that it sounds like that is what it could be. She suggested that since breastfed babies rarely have severe allergic reactions through the milk, I try having peanuts again and see if she has a reaction. Either way, she said not to let her have peanuts herself until she is past the age of three. This way if she isn't allergic she won't develop an allergy since she is showing signs of having allergic tendencies. If she is allergic it might go away by age three, and we won't have to worry about it at that point. She said this could especially happen with an early allergy since I am breastfeeding. They don't like to send babies to allergists to get tested since all the bloodwork and stuff can be so traumatic. She said this is the easier way to go. I have yet to work up the guts to eat peanuts with her though. Maybe later, I'll procrastinate on this one. Here's a picture of my little family that got left behind when I switched over to blogger from the first blog.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Back to square one


Well, the situation on the Alana sleep front has gotten worse. The past two nights she wanted to eat every two hours, and was wide awake between feedings. Even when she was a newborn she would let me go 2 1/2-3 hours between feedings. She will not stand for having the light turned off, and she spent most of the night "talking" to her bedding, and the quilt on her wall. Of course, she's going 4-5 hours between feedings during the day. Tonight I'm going to try to force her to cluster feed earlier, like in the next hour, and see if we can't at least shift her sleep patterns around a couple hours. The only problem is that it's almost impossible to force Alana to do anything. She's very strongwilled, and will lock her jaw shut if she's done eating/doesn't want to eat. At least Alana has her pediatrician appointment tomorrow, maybe she will have some advice for me. I do have some good news though! I went down to sign up for WIC yesterday, and they are going to give me an electric pump to use when I go back to work so that it will be easier to continue breastfeeding. The main reason I went down there was because I thought they might be able to help with the cost of renting one, I never thought they would just let me borrow one! And they measured and weighed Alana yesterday- She is now 9lbs 7oz, and 21 1/4 inches! She was in the 5th percentile for her height and weight when she was born, and now she is in the 10th percentile! It's weird to think that she is considered to be so little for her age because she seems to be so big to me.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Meme of Fours

Okay, me too! I had to try it too!

Four jobs I've had in my life:
1: Imaging Operator at State Farm Insurance Company
2: Cocktail waitress
3: Barista
4: Member Service/VISA officer at Credit Union


Four movies I could watch over and over again:
1: Sleepless in Seattle
2: Pretty Woman
3: Cinderella
4: Any Christmas movie


Four places I have lived:
1: Olympia, WA
2: Pullman, WA
3: Boise, ID
4: I'm all out!


Four TV shows I love to watch:
1: 24
2: American Idol
3: Friends
4: Anything on the discovery channel/TLC


Four places I have been on vacation:
1: Reno, NV
2: Disneyland
3: TJ/San Diego on Missions Trip
4: Oregon coast a lot


Four Websites I visit daily:
1: Other Blogs
2: Earthlink news
3: Baby Center
4: Everything else I visit I just check periodically


Four of my favorite foods:
1: Chocolate
2: Ice cream
3: Prime rib from the Outback
4: Chicken Parmigana


Four albums I can't live without:
1: Ray Charles greatest hits
2: Goodnight Wolfgang- classical lulabies
3: Everything else I can live without-I just listen to my favorites on the radio


Four places I'd rather be:
1: Bed!!!
2: The bathtub-with bubbles and a glass of wine
3: Anyplace with some sun
4: Someday, Italy! No kids allowed though!

Monday, January 23, 2006

Food allergy woes


Ever since Alana was born she's had a chronic stuffy nose, and a persistent rash that both come and go with what seems like no warning at all. At first everyone told me that newborns usually have pretty stuffy noses, and that rashes and acne are very common. So, I tried to ignore it until her nose got really bad when she was about a month old. I took her to the Pediatrician, and she said that it was just a runny nose, and to keep it clean, she was fine. So I thought, "Fine, I'll just keep an eye on it." It would come and go, and was always associated with a facial rash that would get really bad sometimes. Then I got to thinking about a little boy I used to babysit who would get horrible sinus infections and facial rashes. They eventually figured out that he was allergic to wheat. They cut the wheat out of his diet, and he was fine. So maybe she was allergic to wheat. But I thought back through the week, when she had been perfectly clear, and realized that I had wheat in my sandwich bread, so that probably wasn't it. My husband picked up McDonald's for dinner that night and Alana broke out again, and her nose was horrible. I realized that as I was getting the hang of this mommy thing I had started cooking a lot again, and we weren't eating fast food as much anymore. Also, I had tried to cut back on my guilty pleasure, peanut M&M's in hopes of losing some weight. So, I asked my sister if they cooked any of the food at McDonald in peanut oil, and apparently all of their fried food is cooked in peanut oil. For the last two weeks I have avoided peanuts like the plague and she hasn't had a runny nose or rash. Looks like I have a peanut allergy on my hands. Yeah. Hopefully I can find out for sure this week at her doctor appointment. It just makes my sad, because that means no french fries or peanut M&M's until she gets weaned for me. Oh, well, maybe I'll loose the weight faster this way. It's also really scary, because I have heard so many horror stories about peanut allergies, and how they are so deadly, the worst food allergy you could have, etc. Plus, peanuts are in so many foods secretly, I fear it's going to be worse then my coconut allergy when it comes to trial and error. I just wish I knew more about what foods contain peanuts and stuff. Does anyone have any advice for me? Are there any websites I can go to? Does anyone know what the Doctor has to do to confirm a food allergy? Above is a picture of her rash face, it's kind of hard to see because of the lighting.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Seahawks win!!!!



The Seahawks are superbowl bound for the first time ever! My husband, who has been a diehard fan since he was little, finally has a winning team! He thinks that Alana being born, and having her around to help root them on has been their good luck charm. Supposedly that's why they're going to the superbowl. Superstitious as it is, maybe he's right, 'cuz he's been saying that since the begining of the season. Regardless if you think that this fan has anything to do with the Seahawks winning, you got to admit that she's got to be one of the cutest fans ever.

Go seahawks!


Here's a picture of my daughter showing her Seattle spirit for the big game! Alana says: "Yeah hawks!"

My mother is a genius!


So, my biggest complaint with breastfeeding so far has been not so much been the actual job of breastfeeding- but the nursing bras and nursing pads! They make it nearly impossible to comfortably sleep! The other day I found a nursing camisole that was alot more comfortable then the nursing bra I was trying to sleep in, so my last thing to conquer to achieve a more comfortable sleep was the dreaded pads. All night long I chase those stupid things around so they sit right, and still I wake up wet or chafed over half the time. After discussing this with my mother, she sugested that I cut a diaper in half and use that instead. So, I tried it! And it works! I woke up dry and not chafed, and I didn't spend the whole night chasing them. They really are more absorbant then nursing pads, it's pretty amazing. They also work out to be a cheaper selection as well. I'll continue to wear the nursing pads during the day though, diapers are just a bit too bulky to wear in public, I think. Anyways, here's a picture of my genius mother, and my beautiful daughter!

Saturday, January 21, 2006

So many "what if's" and "could be's"

If there is one thing I am realizing as a new mom it is that there is nothing about parenting that is set in stone. Every child is different, and every parent reacts differently to different situations. While I know this is true, I think that listening to other people's opinions helps to educate me to make the best decision for me and my daughter. That being said here is my first question/situation: My daughter is two months old, and for the last month and a half, my daughter has been sleeping in her own room. It took a little work to get her there, but it was going pretty well. She had even worked up to about 7 hours between feedings, and that allowed me about 5 hours of solid sleep a night. That was until about a week ago. First it started with her just suddenly waking up, and screaming like she was in extreme pain. I would run into her room, pick her up, and she would go from screaming and being stiff as a board, to sleeping and limp in less then a second. Every time this happened I thought it was extremely weird, but I would just put her back to bed and go back to sleep. Then three nights ago, she started screaming and wouldn't stop untill I was holding her. Every time I thought she was asleep and put her down she would wake up and start screaming again. I finally had to bring her to bed with me so I could get some sleep. The night before last the same thing happened, but my husband was home (he works nights), so he took her, but still, she screamed until she was back with mom. So last night, I left the light on in her room so that maybe she would think she was just napping downstairs where mom is, like she does during the day. She didn't wake up screaming once. However she woke up to eat every three hours, just like she does during the day. It's like she's reverted back to her newborn sleeping schedule. Needless to say, I have no idea what to do. I don't know if she's scared, or just thinks she needs to be with me all the time. I have to go back to work in 3 1/2 weeks, so I'd like to figure this out before then so I can actually be somewhat rested at work. Anyone have any ideas?

My first entry..

After becoming addicted to reading my mother's blog, I decided that maybe I would try my own. I'm not very good at keeping diaries or anything, so we'll see how this goes. I basically just realized that I call my mother an awful lot expecting her to know everything when it comes to raising a child. I call begging for her advice, looking for support, asking general questions, etc. While I know my mother loves me, and doesn't mind the frequent phone calls, I thought maybe I could give her at least a little bit of a break if I were to ask other people sometimes. Hence the blog. So like I said, we'll see how this goes.