Sickness strikes again!

So Noah had his first Christmas celebration on Sunday (I'll post pics later). He has a little runny nose but overall seemed fine. Then Monday morning, same runny nose, so we sent him to daycare, half expecting a phone call during the day. There was no phone call. I went and picked him up and they said he wasn't acting like himself, so I took him home and fed him, then took his temp. 100 degrees. He seemed tired so I put him down and he slept a good 2 hours. Then we woke him up to get him ready for bed. He had a 101.6 degree fever then. So we gave him some Tylenol and a bath and already he was feeling better and his temp was down. So then we fed him some applesauce. Then he wanted to play. So we played with him for a little while and finally around 9pm he was ready to go to bed. He did wake up around 3am because he vomited but still no fever and he basically went right back to sleep. We kept him home from daycare today just to be safe. My wonderful aunt came over and helped take care of him while David worked from home. So far, he's been great all day so hopefully we can send him back to daycare tomorrow and then I'll be home Thursday and Friday.

Here's a little video in the meantime. This is when we were feeding him the applesauce last night and he kept making this funny face. Too cute!

Updated Weaning Post

Ok, I just want to update that we will not be attempting to wean Noah from the bottle next week as originally planned. After more thought, I realized next week will be a short week in daycare. Both David and I are taking off work Thursday and Friday and the whole week following, so we will wait until the week of January 3 when he returns to daycare to start the weaning process. Although I fully intend to really work with the sippy cups while we are at home.

Snow Day (almost)

Can I just say that I now LOVE my new job. I definitely went through a period where I was very skeptical and unsure whether this new job was going to be better or not. Even when I first started, I was still nervous. I think I just hated the fact that I was moving from a place that was familiar and I knew all the clients and people to a brand new experience. Well I'm finally starting to get comfortable and as that gets better, I'm loving my new job more and more.

Last night, it iced pretty bad and our short experience on the way home last night showed me that. So this morning Noah's daycare emailed me (I love that) and school wasn't starting until 10am. Yeah for going back to sleep. So then I took him up there at 10 and was at work by 10:30am. Did they care? Not at all. So now I worked through lunch which is easy since I have my own office and I will be leaving at 5:30pm. Tomorrow I'll work through lunch to make up the additional hour I lost today. Again, they don't care at all. I'm still working through the guilt thing. At BKD, I always felt guilty working 7:30-4:30. Even though I was getting my hours in, everyone else always looked at me like I was cutting out early or something. Here, it seems like the normal time to leave is 3 or 4pm. Although when I'm leaving at 4, I still feel somewhat guilty but I think that will improve gradually.

Noah was in a Christmas play last night for his daycare. I absolutely love Noah's daycare. His teachers are so nice and they just love Noah. Did they have to put on a Christmas play? No, but they just go above and beyond and I just love that he gets the opportunity to go there and the fact that they are Christian. In fact, the more he goes to daycare here and is involved in a Christian school, the more I wonder if we should be seriously considering a Lutheran elementary school rather than public school.

Noah started walking with our hands the other day. He wants to go more sideways than forward (probably because he's so used to cruising along the furniture), but he's figuring it out. When I pull him up, he just gets this big grin on his face and giggles and takes off. I can barely keep up.

I have also made the decision that we are going to start weaning him off bottles next week. We are going to choose one of his sippy cups and start by taking away his morning bottle and putting the breastmilk in a sippy cup. Hopefully it goes well but I'm putting a lot of faith into the daycare to do this with me and I hope they don't end up hating me or something. I think he'll take a few days to get used to it and then he'll be ok, but I'll post again next week to update.

10 months - Another tooth and my new journey

That's right, Mr. Noah has his 2nd tooth. It's the bottom one in front on his left side. He's definitely a little snaggletooth now!!! We are still working with him on bye-bye and clapping but he mostly just stares at us. I did get him to stand up on his own for about 10 seconds, but then plop, down he went. We've been having some daycare sleep issues which I may have mentioned before. Basically, he can't sleep very well there. At home, he will take 2-3 hour naps. At daycare, only about 1 hour. Hopefully when he gets transitioned to the walker room, there will be more "quiet" naptimes and he will be able to get more sleep there. Oh and on Wednesday night, he will be in the Christmas play at school. Not sure how big of a part he will have, but I'm excited for him nonetheless.

Now onto a little bit of news about me. I've decided that I want another baby. I actually decided this quite a while ago but I've realized that I want this 2nd baby sooner than later. Sadly there are many obstacles to this goal. First, I'm still nursing Noah. I've done a lot of research on this and really now that he on solid foods and goes all night without nursing, I should have my cycles back by now, but I'm pretty sure it's the PCOS again. So, I do want to go back to my doctor for help, but before that, I'm going to try to do some things on my own. First, I'm going to try and lose some weight and be healthier. Since I'm insulin resistant, that makes it very difficult for me. Basically I will need to follow a low GI diet, similar to diabetics. I also need to start working out more often. If this works and I can actually lose weight, it may help several of my PCOS symptoms, mainly the fertility, though. If I can get my cycles back all on my own, I may not even need the doctor. BUT, our plan is to wean Noah at 12 months to a sippy cup of cow's milk during the day and just nurse nights and weekends, if he's still ok with that. Then either in Feb or I may wait until after busy season or even closer to my 1 year appointment in June, I will start talking to my doctor about my possibilities and whether I can start fertility treatments again. Hopefully my cycles will just return on their own with the weight loss and I can get pregnant all on my own (wouldn't that just be amazing).

Ok, well that's enough for now. I'll try and get some pictures at the play on Wed night.

10 months old!

Noah is 10 months old as of Nov 3. Such a big boy now. He has such a personality. He's getting better at cruising. Our new favorite game is to put our cell phones or the TV remote at one end of the couch and place him at the other end and watch him go crazy cruising along the couch to get it and then when he gets there, we move the item to the other end he started out and he goes off towards it again. I'd say it's really mean, except he just laughs and giggles when we move it back and forth. I'll try and get a video of it soon.

Noah has also started exploring a lot more big boy food now. We started giving him peach pieces which he absolutely loves. He's getting better at picking up the banana pieces and he also loves to feed himself peas. We also give him pieces of pasta as well. We started telling the daycare that they could feed him certain types of their school food which I think he loves being a part of the group now. We did break down and buy some jarred foods, just because it's so much easier to buy macaroni and beef than to make that up myself. I figure this period of time where he's still eating baby food is short and soon he'll just be eating with us, so no big deal. I do have the moral dilemma that I want to feed him the best food possible, but David and I don't really eat the greatest food all the time (i.e. We had Chick-fil-a for dinner last night). I need to start being a better example to him, not to mention I could afford to eat better (and maybe lose some weight). It's just hard with being busy taking care of him and working. If anyone knows some good simple, healthy, and fresh recipes, I'm all ears!!!

Lastly, I want to comment about our little boo-boo last night. Noah was playing on his table and he turned around at me and fell backwards. I went to grab him and instead, poked him in the eye! He screamed and screamed and I just picked him up and held him so tight. I felt so bad that he was in pain and that I caused the pain! I'm sure if he just went ahead and fell on the carpet, he would have probably been just fine. I finally got him to open his eye and there was a little red mark, but by this point, he was laughing at me, so I think he's ok, but I was so worried about him. I guess I need to get used to this. With him being so mobile and being a boy, this will not be the last boo-boo.

Oh and here's some 9 month photos for you to enjoy:

My new job

I know, I have been so bad at posting. I keep telling myself I will get better and it just doesn't happen.

So I started at my new job at Abeles and Hoffman, P.C. last Monday and so far, so good. There are definitely aspects that I like better than others, but overall I think it has been a good change. What I like is having my own office. Having the ability to just close my door and pump while I work is fantastic. I also like that I can take a personal call or eat lunch at my desk in a little more privacy. If needed, I can close my door and get more work done. On the other hand, I find myself not as motivated because I don't feel big brother is on my back as much. This might also be because I don't have much work yet so I find myself wandering out on the internet too much. This will get better with busy season and as my work load increases.

I also like how my new job has more flexibility. This is probably my #1 LOVE. I thought that I would probably work 8-5 for a while and then eventually ask to do something else, but no. I don't have to ask or anything, I just come in when I want and leave when I want. They want you to have 8 hours a day and work at least 10-3, but otherwise, it's up to me. I've fallen into a nice schedule of working 7-4 which allows me to avoid a big chunk of traffic and David takes care of Noah in the morning and I go get him in the evening. Of course, this will change when busy season starts, but for now, it's awesome.

Some aspects I don't care for is the dress code. I do like that we can wear casual clothes on Mondays with a logo shirt, but I don't have a logo shirt yet, so I have to wear professional. It'll also be nice to wear jeans and casual clothes on Thursdays (yes, EVERY Thursday). Friday is business casual which is what I'm used to. BUT Tuesday and Wednesdays (and right now, Mondays) I have to wear professional which is basically I suit. The biggest problem with this is mostly that I just don't have much to choose from in my closet right now. I plan on going shopping this weekend and this will change gradually. Then, I don't think it will be that big of a deal. I'm already kind of getting used to it.

Another "bummer" is I had to work the Friday after Thanksgiving. They only have 6 holidays here. In the future, I will use PTO for this, but I don't have any yet, so I had to work. Luckily, David came and visited me and I got to show Noah off a little bit.

A tiny Noah update - he's doing good. He's so mobile now, just crawls everywhere and cruises along us and the furniture. We are having a small problem with daycare in the fact that he won't put himself to sleep for naps there. At home, we put him in his crib and he cries for a second until we leave the room and then he is fine and puts himself to sleep. At daycare, the cribs are out and so it's impossible for them to walk out of the room, so he wants them to pick him up. I don't think leaving him in the crib to scream and get all upset until he finally goes to sleep is the answer, but I know it's difficult to rock him to sleep when he's super cranky too. I might talk to them and see if they can try harder to put him down for a nap earlier, say right after his 3pm bottle, so that he doesn't get overtired and nothing works. The last two nights he has fallen asleep on the way home and slept another hour, which is fine (he clearly needs a 3rd nap), but that also cuts into our time with Noah which is limited.

Oh and Noah had a great Thanksgiving, minus some vomiting episodes. For now, I'm saying he's getting another tooth, but who knows. He isn't upset afterwards and he doesn't have a fever, so I don't know. Times like this, I wish he could talk to me.

Noah's 9 month Appt

Noah had his 9 month doctor's appointment today. Here are his stats:

Weight: 17lb, 14 oz (8.63%)
Height: 27.5" (19.66%)
Head Circumference: 45.7cm (58.23%)

I can't believe his weight is so low, but the doctor doesn't seem concerned. He showed up Noah's chart on the WHO chart. Basically, he's still on the chart, but he's leveled off a lot. The doctor will be concerned if he doesn't grow at all before his 12-month appointment. So hopefully Noah will grow, grow, grow before then.

What Noah lacks in physical growing, he is making up for in his milestones. He crawls like a champ now. No commando crawling, all on his hands and knees. He's getting pretty quick at it, too. He can pull up on everything now, including mom and dad, like when he wants to be picked up. Then he will cruise along the furniture. My favorite new thing that Noah does now is he will pull himself up on his music table and hit the keys to play a song and then dance. Like literally, dance by bouncing his legs up and down and smile from ear to ear. It's so cute and makes my heart melt every time.

In other news...I quit my job. My last day at BKD was last Thursday. I start at a new firm called Abeles and Hoffmann next Monday. In the meantime, I get a whole week with my Noah. Unfortunately, I have a bunch of stuff to do this week. My reasons for leaving BKD and joining Abeles and Hoffmann are to gain more flexibility and a better work culture in order for me to be the best CPA and the best mom that I can be creating a balance between the two. I'll let you know how my new job goes.

Breastfeeding

I know it's been so long since I have posted here. I will post again in the next few days about updates on Noah along with pictures and videos. But first, I wanted to post an update about our breastfeeding triumphs and challenges.

Basically, Noah does really well as far as latching on. We don't use a Boppy pillow anymore. He doesn't really need my assistance latching on. We nurse on the bed, couch, in the mall, wherever, it doesn't matter. I love the bonding time that nursing brings us. He always looks up at me with those big ole' eyes. I've even caught him smiling while nursing while looking at me. It doesn't matter what else just happened or how upset he was 2 minutes prior, nursing makes everything all better. And there's just nothing better, than Noah falling asleep in my arms while nursing. Those are the triumps and joys of breastfeeding.

The challenges come in with pumping mostly. I am so thankful to have worked for a company who found value in a mom's room, which is basically just a lockable room with a comfy chair, sink, and refrigerator. I was lucky, really lucky. Sadly, I'm about to start a new job that doesn't have a pumping situation quite as good. I'll post on that when I start my new job on November 22. The problem with pumping is that I'm slowly not pumping as much as I used to. I think a lot of this is due to my PCOS which the symptoms are slowly coming back. This affects my prolactin hormone which affects the lactation. When I first went back to work, I could pump approximately 12-15 ounces over 3 pumpings during the day. Around the 6 months mark when Noah started solids, it was down to around 8 ounces a day. That was when I started pumping first thing in the morning before I nursed Noah. That first pumping, I would get 6-7 ounces at first. Currently, I'm down to 3-4 ounces over the 3 pumpings during the day and about 3-4 ounces at that first pumping in the morning.

Noah has gone down from 4-oz bottles to 3-oz bottles as well. So basically he takes 9-oz and I get anywhere from 6-8 oz a day, so I'm always losing. The only thing that really saves me is that I pump first thing in the morning on the weekends. This next week I'll be off so I plan to do some good pumping. I'm taking a week off at the end of December to do some good pumping. Otherwise, I only have 2 more months or so, and then it's not a big deal to stop pumping and give cow's milk during the day.

Once I started breastfeeding, I was determined that this was something I was going to do all the way through the second year. Now here we are at 9 months wondering if I can even make it to the 12 month mark. At this point, I don't have to worry about formula. If there was never enough milk, I can always supplement with solid foods, but I know there is so much benefit in the breastmilk.

I've talked to several breastfeeding experts and they assure me I don't have anything to worry about because Noah is growing (maybe not weight, but definitely height) and that he has good output and he is meeting his milestones. Ok, well that's enough on this topic for now. I will try and be a better blogger in the future.

7 months old

Noah is 7 months old! Can you believe it's been that long already??? I never thought I could fall in love with someone so precious and sweet. You can really see his personality coming out now. He's grown so much now. He scoots along the floor, almost figuring out that he has to move his knees and arms together. He can pull himself up on you and then stand, wobbly, but still standing. We put up his baby gate yesterday, which looks really nice thanks to the fantastic custom banister holders. I will post a picture later.

Noah has also been crazy about his solid foods. He is now eating peaches, pears, avocado, green beans, squash, and carrots. He eats 3 meals a day and for now, that seems about right. Sadly his least interested meal is the evening one since I think he gets really tired and cranky in the evening. Probably from all that playing during the day. Speaking of daycare, we have been really happy with them lately. They have been working with him with the sippy cup and doing all the solid foods.

That's all for now. I'll have to get around and post some pictures.

Birthing Choices

I have been looking back on prior posts and I realized that I wrote briefly about our Bradley classes and then I wrote again about our specific birth, but I never really touched on my opinions on certain aspects of birthing, specifically in a hospital.  I want to get this all out there and honestly I don't care what people think anymore.  Somehow through the whole pregnancy, birth, and raising a child process, I've become this "natural", attachment parenting, crunchy mama and I love it.  Not saying that everyone else should be exactly the way I am, but I was not this way before and after doing all my research and thinking and praying, I knew I was making the right decision for our family.  I just want everyone else to research and make the right decisions for their family.  Please don't just let the hospital make the decisions for you.  Birth is a huge event in your life and yes, it may only be 1 day but I guarantee you that it affects both you and your baby for the rest of your lives. 

 

What bothers me the most about birthing in America is the lack of education and knowledge.  Birth is portrayed on television and in movies as this horrific event where a woman is screaming her head off and the doctors and nurses are running around like crazy people.  Sadly birth is none of those things.  Birth should be a quiet and calm event where the medical personnel is assisting you and giving you encouragement.  I'm not saying it doesn't hurt, but there are definitely ways to deal with the pain.  Looking back on Noah's birth, I honestly didn't even feel pain until we got to the hospital, it was more of just discomfort.  Even at the hospital, I was able to move around, I was given water, David and the nurses were saying happy things.  With all of this, it was hard to even realize I was in pain.  And when I did, the contraction was over and I was on a break.  In the end, any pain I did feel was 100% worth the fact that the birth was calm and everything I wanted.

 

Also, I can't stand when women say they don't want a difficult or painful birth so they are going to do an epidural or a C-section.  The only way to have a painfree birth is to not give birth at all!  If you are in this to never have any pain, then you should not have gotten yourself pregnant.  This is just one of the first sacrifices we need to make for our children.  Sure, no one actually likes pain, but it's something that you can deal with, if you have the right information.  Now I'm going to go through a few (or maybe more than a few) birth interventions and what my opinion is on them.  I'm a huge believer in the fact that one birth intervention generally leads to more.  It's hard to say "Oh, I'm just going to have a little pitocin but I don't want an epidural".  Usually with pitocin, you will almost always need an epidural.  This is how a birth can get out of control.  Also a good reason to make sure you have a birth plan that goes into all possible situations even if you aren't necessarily planning on it. 

 

I love love love the book "A Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth" by Henci Goer.  She does a better job of presenting the pros and cons.

 

Continuous Fetal Monitoring - Most hospitals will require this when you are first admitted to be sure you are truly in labor.  However, after the first 10 minutes, not necessary.  The thing is uncomfortable, you have to lay in bed and can't move, and it can detect slight changes in heartrate that are actually nothing to worry about.  Also it is an ultrasound and produces ultrasound waves which some say can hurt the baby.  Alternative - Use a doppler monitor once every hour or whenever they feel necessary.  For me, they wanted me to have continuous once I started pushing and I was ok with that.

 

IV - Generally hospital mandated, but of course, your doctor can override anything.  They want this in case you need fluids for dehydration or they have to rush to the emergency room.  Both can be done in a matter of seconds if needed, so I opt for no on this one.  I told them that I was ok with a Hep Block where they could hook up an IV quickly if needed, but I never needed it and next time, I will specifically say no.  The bad thing with this is it straps you down.    Which leads me to...

 

Drinking and Eating During Labor - The reason they don't want you to do this is because with some meds you can get nausea and vomit and in the case of anesthesia, you could aspirate.  First of all, hopefully you won't end up in a C-section anyway and even if you do, it's unlikely you will need general anesthesia (where this is the issue).  Even then, the risk of aspiration is so slim and it won't really matter if you just ate or ate 12 hours ago (the food will still be in your stomach).  Birth is like a marathon, you NEED to eat and drink or you will get dehydrated and not have the energy to go the distance.  I personally wasn't hungry but David made me eat something at the beginning.  Then I had water by the gallon (it seemed like).  I only got potentially dehydrated at one point, but was quickly fixed with more water.  By doing this, you don't need an IV.

 

Epidural - Needle in your back.  Do I need to say that is going to hurt?  So if you are against pain...  Not to mention I've heard so many stories of "they did it wrong and had to do it again", "my back still hurts months/years later", "spinal fluid was leaking out", etc.  Also when you get an epidural, you are strapped to the bed, can't feel your legs, have to have an IV, no more drinking/eating, have to have a catheter, continuous monitoring, and I'm sure there is more.  Not to mention that epidurals SLOW your labor down (your body can't progress naturally anymore).  When I think back to labor, I just kept thinking "when will this be over?" If someone had said "here take this, it'll make the pain go away (for a little while) but it will drag your labor out longer", I would have said "heck no"!  And yes, even with an epidural plenty of people say they feel all sorts of pain since it doesn't always work perfectly.  This can also lead to the baby being in distress and then a C-section.  I know there are plenty of women who have given birth just fine with an epidural, but the risk of getting a C-section with an epidural is so much greater, that I was not willing to take that risk.  I won't even go into the potential risks to the baby (if it does all that to your body, what does it do to a tiny little infant).

 

Pitocin - This is a drug used to induce labor so first I have to explain my feelings on being induced.  Basically, you shouldn't be.  There are a few medical reasons to why a woman should be induced to protect either herself or the baby, but a majority of the time, women are being induced for the wrong reasons.  Most likely anything seen on an ultrasound (amniotic fluid low, baby is too big, placenta is old) is probably wrong.  Not 100% of the time, but ultrasounds are so inaccurate that you really need to be sure what they tell you is true and sometimes even then you don't have to induce (if amniotic fluid is low, there are ways to increase).  Other reasons to avoid being induced include the usual iv, strapped to the bed, etc.  but also pitocin will increase your contractions (duh, that's it's job) and make them feel twice as bad which means most women will then need an epidural (and now you are traveling down that ugly path to C-section again).  Remember a baby is due anywhere between 38 and 42 weeks.  That baby will tell you when its time (not the doctor).  Let him/her make their decision and it will make the birth that much easier (instead of evicting the baby out).  There are also some natural induction methods although most will NOT work unless baby is ready.  For me, I took a warm bath and did the accupressure points and bam, I was in labor.

 

Scheduled C-section - So we've just been discussing all the choices you have so that you can avoid the C-section and here we are with women who are actually choosing the C-section.  There's the "hollywood" way where you get your C-section and tummy tuck done all together conviently scheduled in your datebook.  But more likely you have the women who don't necessarily WANT the c-section, but because they had a previous C-section or because their doctor is going to be out of town or whatever the reason they were convinced they had to have one.  So there's the breech baby who in St. Louis no doctor will deliver you with a breech baby so yes, that is an automatic C-section although there are lots of methods to turn the baby and those should definitely be tried.  The next is the previous C-section.  VBACs (Vaginal birth after ceseasaren) are so popular now.  Most doctors will do them (if yours doesn't, maybe you should consider a new doctor).  There is one previous C-section type that I think is too dangerous to do a VBAC and I think it's where they cut you vertically, but don't quote me on that one.  Most others do not need to be a C-section.  Please don't let your doctor bully you into this.  Of course they like C-sections (they are quick, easy, and no recovery time for the doctor), but they shouldn't be the way babies are being born. 

 

Cutting the cord - You should let the cord stop pulsing.  This allows baby to get all that remaining blood and oxygen until he/she is breathing good on their own.  You can (we did) have the blood donated if you decide this option as well. 

 

Ok, I think I'm done for now.  I might remember more in the future and revise this.  Please don't think I'm critizing anyone or making anyone feel bad, but these are my opinions and I don't really want to hide them.  Thanks for listening if you made it all the way through.  Oh and feel free to ask me anything.

 

6 months - Working Situation

This post has been a long time coming.  So some of you may know that I was going to start working part-time and be a stay at home mom part-time.  Well, that didn't work out exactly as planned.  I don't care to go into a bunch of details about what happened on here, but feel free to ask me in person and I will share.  The end result was me figuring out what I want and what I don't want.  I think in the end, I am happy that Noah is still in daycare.  I think he loves being with the other babies and that he will learn a lot, especially when he turns 2 and starts their preschool program.  I really like the daycare we are sending him to now and the ladies are so good with him.  I won't say they are perfect and they definitely don't care for him exactly the way I would, but I think that's just something every parent has to deal with no matter what daycare you take your child to.  No one will take care of your child as well as you will, that's just a fact.  I also like the fact that instead of me being exhausted at the end of the day and ready for Daddy to take over, I'm excited to see him and play with him.  The weekends are so exciting and I love snuggling with him in bed on Sat mornings and then we all fall back asleep.  I don't think I would feel the same if I was home with him all the time.  I'm going back to my original thinking that I'm just not cut out to be a stay at home mom and that doesn't necessarily make me a bad mom either. 

 

Now everything is not just peaches either.  I'm sad I can't go to day nursing group at Kangaroo Kids.  They have a night group and it's good, but in the evenings, Noah is crankier and I feel so much more rushed than when I could go to day group.  We also had some difficulty figuring out how I'm going to do busy season.  For now, the plan is to work approximately 7-6 at the office then come home and have family time and then work another 2 hours at home.  Saturdays I'll go into the office for a few hours in the morning.  David has also offered to do as much as he can around the house to make the burden on me easier.  Not sure if we'll continue this arrangement for many years in the future, but for now, it'll work.  The other change we are making is to hire a cleaning service.  I had a lot of internal debate on this because I feel like by doing this, I fail as a homeowner.  Why should I own a home if I can't even take care of it?  But my reasoning is that we did all this work to determine we could financially make it if I worked part-time on approximately half my salary, so clearly we have the money to splurge on this.  It also frees up more of our time to spend with Noah and do family things when we aren't working, rather than having to clean the house. 

 

Overall, I'm happy with my life for now.  I'm happy that we do have that extra money and I don't have to stress over that part of my life.  We have even started discussing taking a vacation to Hawaii next summer for our 5 year wedding anniversary (I know, I can't believe it'll be 5 years) or going to the beach with Noah as a family vacation. 

 

Other bits of information:

 

* Noah had his 6 month checkup and weighed 17 pounds, 4 ounces (approximately 35%).  His length was only in the 18% and he technically lost a 1/4 inch, but I think they goofed up the measurements the last time.  I don't really expect him to be tall since David and I are short.

 

* Solid foods are still going well.  He now eats Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Apples, Bananas, Squash, and Peas.  Next up is Pears.  I love making his food and I am thinking of doing more with fresh fruits and veggies in our own diet.

 

* Solid foods are creating new fun in cloth diapering.  We definitely need to go to Cotton Babies and get a diaper sprayer, but in the meantime, the daycare is making it easier on us by getting rid of the "bulk" in his diapers.  We didn't even ask them to do it, they just did it.

 

* We are getting ready to get a new patio.  We are super excited and I can't wait to see the end result.  I will definitely post pictures.

6 months - More solid foods (apples and peas)

So we decided after 4 days of sweet potatoes that he either wasn't ready for solid food or just not a big fan of sweet potatoes so we decided to move on to a fruit and see if we get better results. This time we tried apples. Again, super easy to make. We peeled, sliced, and cored 5 gala apples and then put them in a bowl and microwaved them. Then we threw them and the juices they made into the food processor and voila! baby food!!! I even tasted it and they were delicious. The only thing annoying about the apples was peeling them, but eventually we can throw the peels in with the food.

So then we gave them to Noah. He absolutely loved them!!!! So I'm totally convinced he just isn't a big fan of sweet potatoes. So we did apples for a few days. Then we decided to mix 1 apple and 1 sweet potato and he still liked it. I haven't tried a plain sweet potato cube by itself (too scared of rejection).

Today was a new day to introduce food and we decided on peas since we eat these all the time. These were EASY to prepare (unlike the apples). We just bought 2 steam bags ($1 each) and microwaved them. We did have to add what I thought was a ton of water to get them to puree down to an acceptable consistency, but easy enough. Again, another winner. He didn't eat them as much GUSTO as the apples but that could also be that we fed him pretty late tonight and he was just tired.

Nothing else too exciting is going on. We are trying to do sign language with him, but mostly just "milk". He sits up like a good boy. He hardly ever uses the swing or bouncy seat but loves his exersaucer. We just went shopping and got several 9-12 month outfits for the fall/winter. I can't believe we are getting so close to that 1 year mark. Sorry no pictures today.

6 Months - First Food

Noah's first food is officially sweet potatoes. We wanted to do a vegetable first because I've heard that it's better to stick with a blander food so they don't develop a sweet tooth. I'm pretty sure that's out anyway since we feed him breastmilk, which is naturally sweet. But whatever! So we are also making our own baby food. Reasons - It's cheaper, I know what's in it, and it tastes more like the real thing. After our first experience, I honestly don't know why EVERYONE doesn't just make their own baby food. I even feel like I'm cheating since I have a baby food recipe book and trays specifically designed for baby food (honestly, they just look like ice cube trays with lids, but whatever). So we bought two sweet potatoes at the market, even bringing Noah along with us (he slept the whole way so I'm sure he really understood the whole "where my food is coming from" concept). The total cost was $1.80. We cooked them in the microwave for 8 minutes (I'm not going to go into microwave vs. oven right now). Then we just scooped out the "meat" and added some water and processed it up. Here's the result:


I took that and put them into our trays (it filled all 20 slots) and then froze it. The next day I put the cubes into a plastic bag to be stored in the freezer until use. So I made approximately 20 servings/ounces for $1.80. For comparison, the store sells jars of 2.5 servings/ounces for $0.80. That same amount is about $0.22. Only like a 50 cent difference, but multiplied out by all the baby food we will make - that's a big savings! Not to mention the priceless difference that feeding Noah healthy food with no preservatives or junk. I will say Noah will probably end up eating some jar baby food if we forget something or we travel far distances, but we will try to avoid this as much as possible.

On to the fun part - feeding. So the first try was actually yesterday and I don't have any pictures from that. We recorded it though and as soon as I have some time, I will post that video. In the meantime I will share photos from today's meal. He was a lot more receptive to the food today. I hope it gets better the more we do this. Not that the first times went badly but he definitely didn't seem like he wanted to gobble it up or anything. I think he was just confused about it. It really helped when David and I started making a huge production each time he took a little bite. So here are the photos from today:

Noah's 6 month Pictures

We went to a different place this time - Portrait Innovations. In the end, we liked the quality better than Olan Mills although we did end up spending more money. Here are some of the shots we got:















We got a ton of prints, especially wallets. If you like any of these, please let me know and you can have one (or honestly, you can have a few, since we have a TON). ENJOY!!!

Lactation Cookies

Here's the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip lactation cookie recipe. Let me tell you, they are delicious!

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons flax seed meal
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups oats
1 cup chocolate chips
2-4 tablespoons brewer's yeast

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. Mix the flax seed meal and water and let sit 3-5 minutes.
2. Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar well.
3. Add eggs and mix well.
4. Add flaxseed mix and vanilla; beat well.
5. Sift together flour, brewer's yeast, baking soda, and salt.
6. Add dry ingredients to butter mix.
7. Stir in oats and chips.
8. Scoop onto baking sheet.
9. Bake for 12 minutes.

I baked mine longer, for about 14 minutes. It made 4 dozen cookies for me. I found the flax seed meal at Dierbergs in the organic aisle. They didn't have brewers yeast at my Dierbergs, but apparently they do have them at certain ones. We ended up finding it at GNC. Enjoy, they are really good!!!

5 months old!

Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry for my late post. I can't believe I haven't posted in a whole month!!! So Noah is 5 months old now. He can sit up by himself for limited amounts of time, he rolls from his back to his tummy in like 2 seconds, he laughs all the time especially when tickled, he is wearing his 6-9 month clothes, and he is definitely teething. He's grown so much in the last month, I can't even remember having a little newborn anymore. ***looking at old pictures*** Tear....

So we've been frequenting the pool a lot. Noah loves riding around in his floaty and he is just so tuckered out afterwards. We also went to O'Fallon for their 4th of July celebration and Noah saw his first fireworks. Honestly, he was more interested in the glo sticks, but I would say a success overall. I just hope he doesn't get scared next year. We also went on our first road trip - to Kansas City. He did pretty good, but there was some crying in the car. Hopefully we'll go on more and he can get used to the car riding.

Everything else has been going good. Daycare is comfortable now and I think they are doing a great job. I can't wait for him to start preschool there (when he is 2) and really get to attend all the fun activities.

Here's a video of Noah laughing at "the baby" in the mirror. He can be screaming his head off and you show him this baby and he will just start laughing...it's so funny!

4 months - Doctor Visit

Noah had his 4 month doctor's visit today. His stats are 15 pounds, 15 ounces (69%), 26 inches long (83%), and head circumference of 16 3/4 inches (55%). Don't ask me where the length came from. The doctor was pleased with everything he saw, especially that he sounds better. So glad that Mr. Noah is feeling and sounding better.

Then, we had a discussion about solid foods which I really want to post here because I feel like this question is going to come up a lot in the next few months. The doctor suggested starting rice cereal by spoon. We told him that we would rather wait on solid foods because we don't think Noah is ready. The main reason for this is because he still uses his tongue to push food out of his mouth. He also hasn't shown any interest in our food and he still seems satisfied with just breastmilk. Our second issue is with the cereal itself. We asked what the reason behind the cereal was and our doctor (as many other doctors will say) said it's to give him texture and teach him how to eat off a spoon. But, as I have researched, cereal has NO nutritional value. I guess I shouldn't say it has no value, because it does have extra iron which if needed would be good for formula fed babies but breastfed babies already have an increase in iron. That's the neat thing about breastmilk. It actually "reads" Noah's saliva and interprets it to what he needs and then the milk responds by making that extra vitamin or mineral. That's why my milk increases in caloric value as he gets older and that's why you don't need to increase the amount of milk he is taking in (as you would with formula fed babies). Anyway, getting back to cereal having no value...the doctor agreed with us. We told him we wanted to start him on fruits and veggies and skip the cereal which he was fine with but he wants us to wait until 6 months to make sure his body is able to handle that. This is totally fine with us seeing as though we want to wait until 6 months (or more) for any solid foods regardless. We basically see no reason to force solid foods on him before he is ready and he will definitely let us know when he is ready.

Ok - step down off of soapbox. I'm sure I'm going to have to re-explain that about 400 times, but oh well. I'm still sick, so I think I'm headed off to bed. Night.

4 months - Swimming/High Chair

We FINALLY bought Noah's high chair. It was a huge decision because I couldn't decide which one fit all my needs. Most importantly we wanted one that had the T-bar attached to the chair (not the tray). We really liked this Fisher Price one (that we ended up getting) and a Peg Perego one. Honestly the 2 biggest factors in why we bought the Fisher Price one was that we couldn't see the Peg Perego one in person anywhere (it was only online) and the Peg Perego one had a huge gap between the baby and tray where the Fisher Price ones comes close to him. However, I didn't care for the bright colors that the Fisher Price one had, oh well. Here is Noah showing off his neat chair:

After shopping this morning, we decided to take Noah on his first pool trip. Here he is sporting his new swim threads and the floaty. I think he had a great time, he smiled and laughed the whole time. He even made a new friend in the neighborhood.


When we left, we strapped him in his car seat and before we even had the car started, he was out. Noah loves sucking on his thumb now and I guess he wanted to still hang on to his swim hat.


I would say Noah is just about 100% over his sickness. Just a little congestion and we are still finishing out the antibiotics and breathing treatments. Unfortunately, I now have a low fever and don't feel very good. Hopefully my body fights it off quickly, I need to get back to a regular work schedule this week. Oh and one last item, Noah is now rolling from his back to his belly. I've been trying to get it on video, but I guess he's camera shy. Hopefully I'll get some video this week and post it later.

4 months - Sickness

So Noah was sick about a month ago and he never really got over it. He developed this cough which would make him vomit, especially right after a meal. Then on Tuesday morning, he developed a low fever which required David to go pick him up from daycare. He took him to the doctor and the doctor said it could just be a continuation of the virus he had before and he just hadn't gotten rid of it, or it could be a whole new thing, adding on top of what he already had. So the doctor sent him for chest x-rays, which came back clean. So the doctor suggested using a nebulizer for a breathing treatment several times every day. We did that for the remainder of Tuesday and all day Wednesday.

Thursday we took him back to the doctor. He was still having a fever and vomiting. The doctor looked at his ears and said they looked good, but he was still having a lot of congestion so we are supposed to continue the breathing treatments through the weekend. We also got an antibiotic to help fight off anything that is keeping him from getting well, especially since he is in daycare.

He seemed a lot better on Thursday. So far, he hasn't had a fever since Thursday afternoon, so about 24 hours feverless now. He also hasn't vomited since Thursday morning. You can tell he is generally in a better mood. Now if we can just get this congestion out of here. Hopefully this is the road to healthy Noah, because sick Noah is not very much fun. I'll keep everyone posted about his progress.

If he is doing better by Monday, he will get his 4-month well baby checkup.

Almost 4 months - Daycare

Noah won't be 4 months old until Thursday, but I may not post again before then. Everything has been going well with us. David's birthday was Sunday. He is the big 2-8 now. We did some bbq'ing for the holiday weekend. Noah has been developing so much. He now sleeps without a swaddle, just the sleep sack and he does great. He also loves playing in his exersaucer and bumbo chair. He can really hold onto his toys and move them from hand to the other hand. He loves to laugh and be naked. Breastfeeding is still going great and I have pretty much completely stopped using the nursing cover. It's actually harder to use than to just say forget it. Sorry if I make you feel uncomfortable, but it's something that everyone should get used to it. Sorry, I digress....

The most important part of this post was going to be about the new daycare. This was Noah's first week. Overall, I love it. I think they are taking really good care of him and he is already learning so much. We have had a few issues. This one particular lady was putting his diaper in wrong but I think we've straightened her out. There was also an issue where the daycare only changed his diaper once all day. And honestly, it wasn't that they only changed his diaper once that bothered me, it was the fact that his daily sheet said it was changed three times. So obviously some miscommunication issues occurred. But we've talked to all the care providers and the directors and I honestly think they are very serious about this and it will never happen again. I think with any daycare, there are going to be some growing pains and adjustment issues.

Nothing else too exciting is going on with us. Next weekend I'm having more toe surgery done (not exciting AT ALL). Otherwise, just relaxing and recovering.

Quick Daycare Update

Just wanted to mention that we did give our notice to the current daycare and they were fine with just finishing out the week and then we can switch to our other daycare.  We don't need to give them 2 weeks notice, which I'm so happy and relieved about.  So next Monday, Noah will start.  I'm excited for him!!!!

3 months - Daycare

Be prepared for a long post....

So we found our current daycare, Miss Cindy's Learning Center, before Noah was born. We took a tour of several places and ended up deciding between Miss Cindy's and Childtime. We liked these two because they were on our way to work (near I-55 and 141), they were both licensed, and they seemed to be a good daycare we were comfortable with. Our final decision came down to cost. Miss Cindy's was $27 cheaper per week. As it got closer to the time we would take him there, I got happier and happier about our decision because they told us they wanted to do everything the same way we were doing it and they were totally fine with cloth diapers. Once we took him there a few days, I started noticing little things that bothered me. It seemed like the reports I got at the end of the day just had the most basic information on them, nothing more. I also noticed that his back was wet everytime we picked him up. We think the air wasn't on, so it was a little warm and he was in the bouncy chair. Slowly, I started to dislike the place itself. It seemed so small and dark, and always warm. I also noticed that the older kids seemed to just run wild, no structure. We definitely knew we wouldn't be sending Noah here longer than a year, but we still thought we could at least send him here while he was younger. He seemed to be getting good care. Well, then the breaking point...

I picked him up Thursday and there was a note on his cubby saying that another kid reached for his binky and scratched his eye. When I asked the girl that was there, her reply was she didn't know anything about it, she had only been there an hour and everyone else had left (this was the answer we always got when we picked him up, something else that bothered me). I was pretty angry, mostly because no one had called to tell me especially since no one was there to talk to me when I picked him up. Also, why was a kid who could walk and attack around Noah who was defenseless. They should have been watching him more. So we started to look around at other daycares. Our first thought was to go back to the other daycare we were looking at...Childtime.

I called and they did have availability. We asked about the cloth diapers and they seemed to say "yes" but had to check. I never got a call back but we went and took another tour. Basically they told us that they would do cloth diapers but had to follow all the rules, which meant packaging the dirty diapers into separate plastic bags, which seemed stupid to me. Also, they had a lot of strict rules about how my milk was prepared, and we couldn't keep extra there, we had to have a doctor's note for EVERYTHING, we had to give him jar food that they provided. It all just seemed so strict, although we did like everything else. We were thinking that we would switch here, but not sure if we would do it right away or wait until there was a promotion or what. Basically, it was better than Miss Cindy's, but still scared of all the rules, and not overly 100% satisfied.

Then, David said there was another place we never looked into when we were looking at daycares and suggested we go look there. It's a place called Stepping Stone Academy. It's located in a church, called Solid Rock Ministries. So we called and they did have openings, the tuition is $172 a week (which is $10 less than Miss Cindy's), and they are fine with cloth diapers. I think the reason we didn't go look before was because they are located on Hwy 30 which isn't the normal way we go to work, but at this point, it was worth it to entertain the idea. So we went out there last night to look. First of all, it's really not that far. Just on the other side of Gravois Bluffs. I figure we can take Hwy 270 to Hwy 30 from either 44 or 55, so it even gives us a little flexibility.

Next, I was AMAZED at this place. First, the doors are secured (Miss Cindy's - you could walk right in). Next, they had a computerized system for signing in and out. The director, Michelle, was SO nice and welcoming. The nursery was fantastic. It had 3 separate areas for itty bitty babies, babies who can sit up, and babies who can move. So no more attacking Noah. The place was so brightly colored and fun, so unlike the dark dungeon that was Miss Cindy's. Also, the teachers work overlapping shifts and the "closer" has been there most of the day, so we can always talk to them about how his day goes. The other rooms were so educational and fun looking. When he turns two, he would start the preschool program. They use a christian based learning. He would move on to the 3s, 4s, and 5s. They do all kinds of fun activities, field trips, computer time, etc. When they graduate, they will be able to read a book, can you believe that? Also, when they start eating table food, they will all eat together in a cafeteria sitting, but when they go to the 5s room, they eat family style and pass the foods and use their manners, etc. They also pray before every meal and nap. I love how christian based it is. Needless to say, we are beyond excited about this place and only wish we could start Monday. Sadly, we are supposed to give 2 weeks notice to Miss Cindy's. Maybe we'll get lucky and they won't care and we can just leave right away, but we'll see Monday.

Ok, I think this was long enough. Sorry, I don't have any new pictures to share right now. I'll post more later when he starts the new daycare and I have some newer pictures.

3 Month Pictures