Blueberries

Blueberries are one of my most favorite things on the planet. They're cute, they're highly portable, they're sour, and they're wonderful in so many things (pancakes, muffins, cereal, my mouth ...).

This morning, my mom, Natalie, and I drove up to Molino to pick blueberries. It was miserably hot, but the blueberries (and my car's AC [another one of my most favorite things on the planet]) more than made up for the heat.

I was carrying Natalie in my sling and she had on a big floppy hat, so the only part of her that was exposed to the sun was her right arm that she insisted on flailing around. I was worried she's get sunburned if we stayed too long, so Mom and I only picked for 20 minutes or so.

But we ended up with about 3 lbs of blueberries which cost us a grand total of $2.06! If we had been Natalie-less (carring around an extra 16+ lbs is not conducive to effecient blueberry picking) and/or it hadn't been so hot, we definitely would have picked more. But 3 lbs is great! Especially since I probably ate 4 lbs while we were picking (just kidding, Mr. Blueberry Farm Owner).

I can't remember the last time I had fresh-picked blueberries. They're w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l. Like ten times better than ones from the grocery store.

I can see a few more trips to the blueberry farm in my future.

Jumperoo Shmumperoo

Who needs a Jumperoo when you've got a Mom?!

Now that Natalie has gotten the hang of jumping in her Jumperoo, she jumps all the time - especially in my arms. I'm worried she's going to crack her skull on my chin (worried for both her delicate skull and my delicate chin), but it's so much fun watching her jump that I can't bear to stop her. After that first trip to the ER, I'm sure I'll stop her.

Weekly Natalie - Week 23

Superbaby!

We still swaddle Natalie at night - she's still so squirmy and fidgety that she'd wake herself up every three seconds if she wasn't swaddled. And we put her to sleep in in a spare changing table pad - again, because she's still so squirmy and we don't want her rolling over while she's swaddled because she might have a hard time flipping back over.

She is a swaddle ninja. Even with both Lee and me working together to get a super-tight swaddle, Baby Ninja still manages to break free. This is how we found her the other morning, halfway off the changing pad with the swaddle only attached around her belly.

She finds it hilarious that she's the swaddle victor.

Weekly Natalie - Week 22

For some reason, she's not wearing many clothes in the pictures I took this week.

I love her baby bathrobe

After her first experience with rice cereal.

She scarfed it down like a champ.

This picture makes me want to nibble on her cheeks

She's been making this face a lot

Hiding underneath her blanket

She didn't fight back at ALL when we played

"Let's Wrap Natalie Up In A Blanket"

This is her latest game:

"I Don't WANT to Wear a Diaper, so I'm Going to Roll Over"

A Day of Two Firsts

First first: Natalie tried rice cereal for the first time! We didn't give her a lot - probably only about a tablespoon, but she scarfed it down. She doesn't understand eating from a spoon just yet, but she did great for the first time.

Second first: Natalie peed on Lee (*cough*giggle*cough*) I was getting her bath ready and Lee brought Naked Baby into the bathroom. Obviously we waited too long to get her in the tub because she peed on him twice. I take partial responsibility for it because I was trying to open a container of tub toys for her to play with - and that delayed her getting into the tub. My bad. Thankfully Lee is good-natured and saw the humor in it.

Correction

I swear, it's a good thing I married someone with such a better memory than me.

Lee told me that Natalie's GI doc didn't say she showed no signs of reflux - he said he saw no signs of abnormal acid reflux. He saw signs of reflux (because everyone refluxes), but saw no signs of acid reflux (ie: her esophagus looked good). And just because he didn't see any acid reflux doesn't mean that Natalie doesn't suffer from another kind of reflux. Or maybe she did have acid reflux, but the Prilosec she's been taking for the past few months has helped. Or maybe she has no problem at all with reflux and we haven't yet found what the problem is. Or maybe there is no problem and she's just a fuss bucket.

Either way, Natalie's pediatrician reassured us that getting the endoscopy was a good idea. And she recommended that we start her on a small amount of rice cereal to see if that helps calm her fussiness.

May 2009 - Recap

So, yeah, May? Are you friends with March or something? Because you two months were eerily similar.

My darling Natalie. I've done some researched on this 'four-month wakeful period' thing to see if that could explain why, all of a sudden, you stopped sleeping well at night. It's not that you went from sleeping through the night and then started getting up once in the middle of the night. Oh no. When you commit to something, you commit. Instead of getting up once a night, you got up two, three, and sometimes four times a night. It was u-g-l-y.

But you started this month off GREAT, sleeping almost eight hours last night. Let's hope that this streak continues. Daddy will give you a pony if it does.

High points:

• Your first laugh! Even though it wasn't directed at me or Daddy, it was still awesome. And I was able to get it on video, so that just makes it extra awesome. I will forever be indebted to your Aunt Amanda for making you laugh for the first time.
• Rolling over like a professional roller-over-er. Daddy and I love watching you roll over. I'm fascinated at how you learn things. It's not like we taught you how to roll over - you just figured it out on your own. And now, you roll over all the time. (Though it would be nice if you could explain to me why you start fussing when you roll onto your stomach ... I put you on the floor on your back and you immediately roll onto your stomach and start crying. Seriously. That makes no sense, kid.)
• Watching you jump in your Jumperoo. You hated it at first, but now you seem to really like it. In fact, as I'm typing this, you are jumping and singing. It's so incredibly cute. You often surprise yourself with the noises you get the Jumperoo to make. The look of shock on your face is adorable.
• Your noises! Oh good gracious, your sweet little noises. You sing, you squeal, you squawk, you coo, and you blow raspberries. And they're the sweetest noises we've ever heard.
• Watching you and Daddy 'play fight'. You'll be in your swing and Daddy will come up to you and you guys will start batting at each other's hands. I have a sneaking suspicion that you'll be a complete Daddy's girl. And I wholeheartedly endorse that. Your Daddy's quite awesome.

Low points:

• Lack of sleep. Enough said.
• Not knowing what's causing you to be completely happy one second and completely hysterical the next. We now know that it's not reflux, but we don't know anything more. That's incredibly frustrating.
• You're like a baby ninja when we swaddle you now. It takes both me and Daddy to get a proper swaddle and even then, most mornings we find you with both arms out, both legs out, and some semblance of a swaddle around your stomach. It's half funny and half annoying, as you often wake yourself up with your flailing arms if you're not swaddled.
• Having a man ask if you were a boy or a girl when you had a blue bow on your head. Apparently pink bow = girl and blue bow = boy.
  

Daddy and I are so thankful for your beautiful smile. It's what's gotten us through this rough month. I don't have much experiences with babies, but I swear you've got to be the best smiling baby I've ever seen. Even in our sleep-deprived madness, you bust out one of your smiles at precisely the right time and it helps us refocus.

I can promise you this - Daddy and I won't stop trying to figure out what's causing you such discomfort. Because when you're happy, you're the most delightful person in the world. And we want to see more of that. And we'll try our hardest to find out what's getting in the way of you being happy more often. Because Daddy and I want to bottle up your smiles and sell them to grumpy people. We'd be millionaires in no time.

Hugs and smooches,

Mommy and Daddy

Bouncing Baby Girl

Natalie's Jumperoo has been the source of much amusement in the Smith house. Lee and I could watch her for hours (except that she gets tired of it after 10 minutes or so). She get so excited when she's able to make the animals 'sing'.

It's times like these that make up for the month-long whine-fest that she's been going through.

Upper Endoscopy

Natalie had her upper endoscopy this morning. The doctors and nurses were so great and let Lee and me stay with her right up until they gave her the IV. Lee even got to hold her while the anesthesiologist gave her the gas to make her fall asleep. That part was a little hard (emotionally, not physically), but I'm glad we did it. I didn't want her to be surrounded by strangers when she fell asleep.

The procedure only took about 20 minutes and then we got to see Natalie in the recovery room. I immediately fed her (she had been food-less for almost 5 hours) and she fell right to sleep afterwards. We stayed in the recovery room for an hour just to make sure she didn't have a bad reaction to the anesthesia. While we were waiting, her doctor came in the room to talk to us about the results.

Final result: he couldn't see any signs of redness, irritation, or inflammation in her esophagus or stomach. He did take a biopsy of her stomach just as a precaution, but he said he didn't expect the results to come back with anything.

So in other words, she shows no sign of reflux.

Hm.

This is good news. I know it is. I don't want Natalie to have reflux. But if she did have it, we could have gotten her medicine for it. And maybe she would start feeling a little more comfortable.

I have to keep reminding myself that even though the endoscopy revealed no reflux, it doesn't mean we put Natalie through all of this unnecessarily. We were able to successfully cross off the list a possible cause of her discomfort.

So we're not quite sure of our next steps. We'll wait for the results of the biopsy and then talk to Nat's pediatrician. My guess is that we'll start Natalie on rice cereal to see if that helps. I was planning on waiting until she was six months old to start rice cereal, but maybe it's not a bad idea to start it a little earlier.

Weekly Natalie - Week 21

Here are some shots from the pre-op area before Natalie's upper endoscopy this morning.

Getting suited up

A Natalie-sized hospital gown!

Trying to find a way out of her baby jail

Thankfully Ernie and her Taggie blanket came along for the trip

All done!

Ironically, the worst part of the whole procedure was the ID bracelet the hospital put around her ankle. Natalie rubs her feet together a lot and she sliced up her toe pretty good on the ID bracelet. We thought she was crying because she was hungry - it took us a while to see the blood and realize that her toe probably hurt too. Poor kiddo.

Oh the Humanity

A nurse from Nemours called me yesterday to go over the check-in procedure for Natalie's endoscopy tomorrow. Get there at 8am, check. Bring NJ's favorite blanket or toy, check. The procedure starts at 11am, check. Bring a sweater because the waiting room is cold, check. No eating after 5am, che-- wait, WHAT?

Nemours obviously doesn't know my daughter. My daughter, the one who, for the past 3.5 weeks, has yet to go more than 4 hours without eating. My daughter, who, for the past 3.5 weeks, has been totally grumpy even WITH a full belly. And you want her last meal to be at 5am? And she won't eat again until after noon?! Oh the humanity.

I mentioned to the nurse my concern about everyone's eardrums and Natalie crying herself hoarse if she has to go that long without eating. She said that the doctor really prefers an empty stomach on all patients getting anesthesia, but she put me on hold to double-check with the doctor. She came back on the line and said that the doctor was fine with pushing her last meal back till 7am, because it takes less time for breastmilk to be digested. Whew.

But if you're within, say, 15 miles of Sacred Heart and you hear this high-pitched wailing, please don't be alarmed. It's just our wonderful Nataroo, politely letting Lee and me know that she's hungry. Now.

All jokes aside - please say a prayer for her. I know everything will be fine, but still. She's my baby girl and I want this procedure to go as smoothly as possible.

Upper Endoscopy

So we've finally decided to go ahead and have an upper endoscopy done on Natalie. Her pediatrician, her GI nurse, and my lactation consultant all say that her pain has gone on long enough and it's time to try something else - it just stinks that the 'something else' means my baby girl has to be put under anesthesia.

But we've pretty much exhausted all other non-invasive options - I've changed my diet three times, we've changed Natalie's medicine twice, we've changed the way we feed and burp her and she still seems like she's in pain. Thankfully it's not a constant thing, but it definitely happens more than we feel it should.

Her appointment is next Thursday (the 28th) at 11am. We have to be there at 9am and the doctor said we'd probably be home around 2:00 or 2:30. The procedure itself only takes about 30 minutes, but they want to monitor her for a while afterwards to make sure she doesn't have any ill effects from the anesthesia.

The doctor is looking for signs of inflammation and/or irritation. If he sees any, he'll take a biopsy (the size of a pencil point) of the area. Among other things, the biopsy will reveal if this is an allergy problem. If the biopsy is clear, the doctor will likely change Natalie's medicine from Prilosec to Prevacid.

If the doctor doesn't find any signs of irritation, he'll probably take Natalie off Prilosec since she doesn't have the problem that Prilosec is supposed to fix. If this happens, I'm not sure what our next steps will be in terms of how to ease her pain. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

As nervous as I am, I feel at ease with where she's getting it done. Her GI doctor strictly works with children. So it's not like she's getting an endoscopy done at a clinic that mainly works with adults, but occasionally has a child or two come in. Nemours is kids-only and the staff there is mind-blowingly wonderful.

The nurse reassured me that the doctor has done endoscopies on babies younger than Natalie. (Unfortunately this is a problem that affects lots of babies) The hospital has its own pediatric OR, its own pediatric anesthesiologist, and its own pediatric GI nurses. Just knowing that makes me feel more at ease.

The biggest worry we have is how she'll handle the anesthesia. Even though I'm nervous about it, I feel at peace about our decision. God's got His hand in this. Of that I'm sure.

After Lee got his upper endoscopy, he was supremely loopy for a few hours afterwards. Loopy to the point where he was making race car noises as the nurse was wheeling him to our car. It was awesome. Unfortunately, Natalie is too young to make race car noises ... maybe she'll make her own loopy noises.

First Giggles!

It's a good thing I love my friend Amanda so much ... or otherwise I'd be bummed that Natalie's first laughs weren't directed toward me or Lee. Natalie has very good taste though - Amanda is pretty funny.

Weekly Natalie - Week 20

One of my new favorite games is wrapping Natalie up in a blanket and watching her try to free herself. Personally, I think it's the best game ever and could play it for hours. Natalie, on the other hand, is quite over it after, say, the 10th time. What a party pooper.

there are those smiling eyes again - I love it

Natalie is slowly growing into her tongue, but occasionally it still pops out. I adore these two tongue-sticker-outers.

Another Accomplishment

I looked away for two seconds and missed seeing it, but Natalie rolled over from her back to her stomach!

As much as I love watching her grow and learn new things, I'm going to miss being able to put her on the floor if I have to leave the room for something, and knowing she'll be in the same place when I come back.

Weekly Natalie - Week 19

These are Natalie's first shots of her wearing her "I am not a boy" headband. Seriously, people. Pink onesie = girl.

Daddy's hands are great toys

Smiley baby

I LOVE feet

I love this kiddo

Baby For Sale

I kid, I kid ... though I can't say that over the past week, I hadn't thought of doing it.

The past week seems to have been an evil combination of the general grumpiness that occurred after Natalie got her 4-month shots on Thursday and this interesting phenomenon of the '4 month wakeful period' that I hear is pretty common.

At four months, babies become increasingly more aware of their surroundings and become easily distracted while eating. So they're not eating as well (or as much) as they normally do during the day. And when nighttime comes, they haven't had a good day's worth of meals ... so they wake up many times during the night to eat, even if they had been sleeping through the night before.

Up until a week ago, we had a pretty good run of getting a full night's sleep. We had a few nights where she'd get up in the middle of the night for a feeding, but there were a lot of nights when she would sleep from 9pm - 6:30am. And it was goooooood.

And then the craziness happened. She was becoming more and more distracted while she nursed and then would pitch a royal fit when I closed up the Buffet O' Mommy. She was fussy and irritable when she had a clean diaper, a full belly, and wasn't sleepy. She seemed bored and annoyed after doing an activity for 1.2 nanoseconds. She started waking up two and three times a night to eat.

Getting her 4-month shots certainly didn't help the situation. She handled the shots well, only crying for a few minutes (it made me, a complete needle phobe, so proud). But the whining increased exponentially.

Saturday night was the worst night's sleep we'd had in a looooong time (bad timing since that meant we were all severely sleep deprived on Mother's Day). We put her to bed at 8:30pm. She woke up mad at around 11:30pm. She woke up mad again at 1:30am. She woke up yet another time at 3:30. Lee went into her room and put her pacifier back in her mouth, hoping that's all she needed. He came back to bed and said "Well, I've got good news and I've got bad news."

Me: What's the bad news?
Lee: She's wide awake.
Me: (groaning) And the good news?
Lee: She's really, really cute.

We can hear her over the monitor half fussing and half babbling. And then we hear her fill up her diaper. It sounds pretty critical, so we both drag our bleary-eyed selves into her room to check out her diaper situation.

She sees up come into her room and immediately breaks into this huge gummy grin and starts babbling up a storm. I'm sure this is what she was saying "Hey guys! Oh, boy! You couldn't sleep either? What a fun coincidence! Take out these blackout shades, guys - I know it's really something like 9am. You can't fool me. Now get me out of this crib so we can play!!"

Lee and I clean her up, put on a fresh diaper, and wrap her in a clean swaddle. We finally get her to sleep, only to have her wake up again at 5:30. Ugh.

Thankfully today seems to be a much better day. She's been pretty good-natured all morning and is sleeping peacefully in her swing.

So Natalie, as much as I talk about wanting to give you away to the panhandlers on Davis Hwy, please know I'm only kidding. Daddy and I couldn't bear to part with you and your smiling eyes, your happy squeals, your tasty feet, your chubby legs, your warm hugs, and your kissable cheeks.

But I'm hoping this 4-month wakeful period is short-lived. I hope this phenomenon only gets its name for when it starts, not for how long it lasts.

Weekly Natalie - Week 18

I seriously just love this kid. Although she's been kinda whiny this week (teething, perhaps?), when she's cute, she's c-u-t-e.

She's started grabbing our faces when we get close to her.

It's really sweet.

Examining my tongue and my teeth

This hat has been the source of much amusement

in the Smith household.
A big 'thank you' to whoever got it for us.

I have a feeling that Nat might wear this hat

on her first day of school ...

The Little Roller-Over-er

Natalie is now a little more mobile! A few days ago, Lee saw her roll from her stomach to her back. And right before dinner this evening, I was able to see her do it, too! She's such a genius baby.

I think she was easily motivated to roll to her back given her incredible hatred for tummy time, but it's still awesome. I love watching her do new things ...

April 2009 - Recap

Ahh, April. What a great month you were.

Well Nataroo, your reflux seems to have gotten a lot better this past month. You're still spitting up, but at least you're a 'happy spitter' and not a 'maniacal spitter'. You've hardly cried after you've eaten - and that's made mealtimes much more pleasant.

This past month, you've also started fighting sleep more. Now I can understand you fighting sleep when you're a toddler - you don't want to go to sleep because you're afraid you're going to miss something fun (and being as incredibly cool as Daddy and I are, we do some pretty fun things). But you're a baby! You don't know yet if you're missing something or not. So stop fighting sleep, okay? I've started swaddling you for your naps, and that seems to keep you a little less grumpy. But seriously. Don't fight sleep. Sleep is wonderful. Sleep is incredible. Sleep is your friend.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Low Points:

• We've had the occasional explosive diaper, sure. And it's gross, yes, but it's not off-the-charts gross. Until that one fateful morning. You were playing on the floor in the living room. And while I was cleaning up the kitchen, I hear some funny, diaper-filling noises coming from the living room. It doesn't sound too bad, so I finish up cleaning. As I'm walking over to you, the smell hits me. And when I reach down to pick you up, I realize that my hand is wet. I turn you over and see that you have given yourself a poo bath. It exploded out of your diaper and somehow made its way up your back, all the way to your neck. Your NECK. I briefly contemplated taking you through a carwash to get you cleaned up, because, ew, there aren't enough wipes in the world to clean off that level of atrociousness. And how is someone supposed to take a poo-filled onesie off a baby without giving said baby a poo-filled hairdo? Answer: you can't. I briefly contemplated cutting the onesie off you, and if it hadn't been such a cute one, I probably would have. But seeing your hair after I took the onesie off made me wish I had just cut it off you.
  
  (I'm giggling as I'm writing this, so this probably shouldn't be considered a 'low point')

High Points:

• Your smile. I know it was a high point from last month, but it's so cute that it'll be a permanent high point. You are the best smiler in the history of smilers. You're such a great smiler that you can't keep it contained to your mouth. You smile from the tips of your fingers to the tips of your toes. And it's seriously the best thing ever. I love watching you and Daddy together. He gets the cutest smiles out of you. And he smiles bigger than I've ever seen him smile, when he smiles at you. It's wonderful.
• And you even smile when you're nursing. I'll be honest, that's mildly annoying - but only in the sense that I like for meal time to be about business. Eat and be done - that's my philosophy. We've got more fun things to do than for you to dilly-dally while you eat. But it's also incredibly cute. You'll eat for a bit, look up at me, and break into a big smile. So while I try to be mad at the dilly-dallying, I just can't. I'm a victim of your cuteness.
• You've discovered your voice this month! It's SO much fun. Watching you 'talk' is hysterical. You surprise yourself with the sounds that come out of your mouth. You'll make a new sound and your eyes will open up really wide, like "Holy cow! Did you hear that?! I'm a genius!" Daddy and I love to have conversations with you. They go something like this:
  
  Nat: blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah (sometimes you'll stick out your tongue while you talk; other times, your tongue remains in your mouth)
  
  Mommy & Daddy: Really? No way!
  
  N: aaaah blaaaah aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
  
  M&D: You don't say! What happened next?
  
  N: aah aah aah aah aah aah
  
  M&D: Get outta town! She said that?!
  
  We could do this for hours. It's so, so fun.
  
  
• This month, Daddy and I have started coming into your room after we put you to bed. Daddy opens his cellphone (to get a little bit of light on your face) and we just watch you sleep for a minute or so. You're so peaceful, all swaddled up like a burrito. Seeing you so relaxed and quiet is a great way for us to unwind after a crazy day. It's a really nice, quiet moment that Daddy and I love sharing.
• You slept from 9:30pm until 6:30am two nights in a row! I don't expect it to last, but it was w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l while it happened.
• You're so close to rolling over! You're like 90% of the way there, but that last 10% (usually your left arm) keeps you from going all the way. It's coming soon, though. I can tell.
• You've gained a lot of weight! You now weigh 13 lbs, 11 oz - up 3 lbs from 6 weeks ago!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

You are incredible, little one. Daddy and I can't get enough of you, and we are humbled every day that God allows us to be your parents.

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy and Daddy