Updates

Update #1:
I think Tayler is teething!

I am worried... I read that some children can teeth as early as 2 months, although it is rare. However, she is 1 1/2 weeks shy of 2 months.. She has been really cranky lately... cries and wakes up every time she is put down. She has been sleeping 1 1/2 hours at night the past few days.. She has been eating very frequently but only little amounts. In addition, she has been VERY fussy during breastfeeding and kicks, punches, gets red and seems angry. She will latch and then do the same thing. So, I have given her a bottle of breastmilk more than usual lately because we have both been frustrated during nursing sessions. In addition, she developed a rash on her face a few days ago and has been having a lot of loose stools. She has also been sucking on her first a lot more than usual. All of these things she has been doing fall under the list of teething symptoms. I didn't think too much about these things until this morning when she was crying, I saw 2 white dots on her bottom gum. I felt her gum and could barely feel them, but I could feel something. So, I think she might have teeth coming in! Is this normal? Surely not! She has an appointment sometime soon for her 2 month check-up, but I will be calling tomorrow to see if I can get it any sooner. I just hope that if for some strange reason she does have teeth coming in then that just means she is an early developer and they don't have to remove them!

Update #2:
We are moving!

Yep, if you haven't heard yet, we are moving!

When?: We will start moving this coming Friday. We were scheduled to move Aug. 15th but that has been moved up to the 1st.

Where?: We will be getting an apartment in Cinco Ranch. The address is Richmond but is right on the Katy border.

Why?: As I am sure most of you are wondering, we are moving for several reasons. Overall, the reason is to save money so that we can live more comfortably. We will be downsizing in size and should have a lot lower water and electric bills. (Our neighborhood uses a small private water company. Our bills are usually $150! most of which is automatic service fees. In addition, our electric bills have been over $300! At around 2pm, our AC runs nonstop til about 9pm. We have to keep it on 69 just to keep it somewhat cool, and no one can find anything wrong with it...) In addition, Kyle will be 5 minutes from work (vs. 45) and I will be 5 minutes from school, so we will be able to save a lot on gas. MOST IMPORTANTLY: These are brand new apartments that are scheduled to be finished in September. When they are complete, the complex is looking to add a second security patrol officer. In the event that the second position is added, Kyle is suposed to be up first for the spot. So we are crossing our fingers her gets it, because if he does, we will have free rent!

In addition to saving money, we are looking forward to being back in the city. We are tired of having to drive 30+ minutes to go anywhere and are also far from practically all of our friends. Kyle will be close to 3 of his best friends and I will be close to my sister, my best friend and a couple of other friends. We are hoping the move will help add playdates for the children and also give us a little bit of a social life. Everyone needs friends, other than their significant others. With the busy-ness of our lives and living so far, it has become difficult to see friends and Kyle and I have both began feeling trapped at home. We are hoping that being only minutes away from so many people will help us regain friendships and a life outside of the home.

Although it will be an adjustment moving from a house to an apartment, I am looking forward to the move. I am especially looking forward to having a fresh CLEAN start! :) I am also looking forward to having a pool to take the kids to and a fitness center to work out in. I am also hoping that living in a larger community (our neighborhood is very small and spread out) that it will open opportunities to meet new people, especially those with children.


Those are my updates for now! Have a great Sunday!

Feelin' Good!!

I am happy to say that I am "feelin good!"

Colton and I haven't had much routine or structure in our lives and that is something that I have really wanted to change, just had no idea where to start. After Tayler's arrival, her schedule was backward in that she was up a lot at night just wanting to sit up and look around. They say babies are nocturnal because when they are in the womb, the mom is finally at rest at night, which is their time to move around. So, I had to train Tayler to get her out of this. I gave her a bath at night and then dimmed all the lights so she would start to realize the dark means sleep. She caught on quickly but this still wasn't a solid routine. I have recently added more structure to our evenings...

6:00-6:30pm - eat dinner
8:00pm - go on a walk with the kids
8:30-9:30 - I shower, then bathe Colton and then bathe Tayler.

After Tayler's bath, I dim the lights and she is usually ready for her last feeding. At this feeding, I have began giving Tayler a bottle of expressed breast milk. (I have chosen the bottle for night time feeding because she seems to eat more, which I can actually monitor, and if she tries to doze off I can wake her much easily with a bottle in her mouth.)

Well, several GREAT things have come from our new evening routine..

- I have already started losing weight from walking
- Colton goes to bed without a fight

and most importantly.........

- Tayler sleeps longer!!

I have noticed that giving her a bottle of breastmilk makes her sleep longer than putting her on the breast. I am soooo excited to say that she went 5 hours between feedings, 4 1/2 of which she slept, between the bottle feeding and the next last night! It was sooo wonderful! I have not felt this refreshed since before she was born!! Usually I am groggy and have no energy but I feel GREAT this morning!

I am hoping to add more structure to our entire day but I gotta start somewhere!

Just wanted to share my excitement!!

Pics

Here are some pics of the kids taken this week...

Below: "PEACE"

Below: So proud of the truck he built

Below: He LOVES wearing my shoes!

Below: Daddy wrapped his hair after his bath. It was so funny, gave us all a good laugh.

Updates

Tayler

Tayler went to the dr. yesterday for her "1 month" check-up. The dr. said there is unfortunately no accurate way to test for food allergies in children this young. The dr. recommended that if I have noticed allergic reactions to certain foods then to continue avoiding them. So for now i will be continuing an elimination diet (excluding all dairy and foods containing soy and milk proteins - almost all processed foods.) The doctor said that IF I wanted to switch her to formula, it would be very expensive since most are milk and soy based, both of which she is allergic to.

Tayler is still only sleeping about 2 hours at a time at night, about 2 hours between feedings. So, after feeding, diapering and pumping, I am lucky to get an hour of sleep before the next feeding. However, the other day she went 4 1/2 hours between feedings and yesterday took a 3 hour nap. I am hoping these are signs of good things to come soon!

Tayler is currently 5 weeks & 2 days old. She is now 9 lb 9 oz and 20 3/4 inches long. (She was 7 lb 4 oz and 20 inches long at birth.)

Below are pictures taken yesterday...

Colton

Colton has been a handful lately. Often, he wants to be a baby.. He frequently steals Tayler's pacifier to suck on it and has been very whiney lately. He has also not been wanting to listen and telling me "no" and rolling his eyes a lot. He has developed a little attitude. Potty training has also been very difficult. He knows when he has to go, but chooses to go in his pants and then tells me to change his diaper. I am not sure if his actions are a result of his age or there being a baby in the house, or both, but I am so exhausted and feel like I am at wit's end with what to do. I am praying things will get better soon. He likes to test me, especially when I am breastfeeding, because he knows I cannot get up to do anything. I just want me sweet little boy back. :( And I want him to poo-poo in the potty!!

Me

Overall, I am exhausted, mentally and physically. From not getting much sleep to having to deal with a toddler who thinks he is the boss, sometimes I just want to cry. I had no idea 2 kids would be this difficult.

I got a double stroller a few days ago so I have been going walking in the evenings with kids. I wanted to go in the mornings but I am way too tired to exercise in the a.m. So, we have been going in the evenings when it is not as hot. It has made me feel a lot better. I have really been able to relieve stress. My feet are not liking it, though. I am so used to wearing flip flops that I have developed blisters on my heels. I am hoping that after a week or so this will no longer be an issue.

Not only has walking helped relieve stress, but it has also allowed me to develop an evening routine. We eat dinner about 6pm and go walking close to 8pm. When we get back, I let Colton play outside. When getting dark, we come inside, I shower and then bathe both kids. After the kids are bathed, I feed Tayler one last time and then put them both to bed. It has been a while since Colton has been on a strict routine so I am hoping this is the beginning!

Well, that's our updates for now!

A Milk Allergy?

So, Tayler has been having issues with "projectile" vomitting and diarrhea. (When I say projectile vomitting, I mean it shoots like 1-2 feet. I call her the exorcist.) She has also been grunting a lot and pulls her legs to her knees. I just knew this was not normal. I began doing research online to find out what could be causing vomitting in a breastfed baby. I found a few things, one of which is a milk and dairy allergy. All of her symptoms fell under this category. So, I began experimenting... I ommitted milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. from my diet for 2 days. Well, no throwing up. So, I then ate a salad with shredded cheese to see what would happen... she threw up. So after this experiment and a few accidents I have determined that Tayler is allergic to milk and dairy products. Ok, simple enough.... I stopped eating milk, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, ice cream, etc... all of the dairy products...

Yesterday on the way home Colton and I ate chick-fil-a. I had a grilled chicken sandwich (no cheese or mayo) and french fries. After breastfeeding Tayler, she drenched me in throw up. I began to cry.. My thoughts: What the hell!? I have been so careful!! I did not eat any dairy! What is a matter with my baby?? Well, I began to do research on foods that trigger a milk allergy. Well, in my research, I found that a lot of restaurants use milk in the ingredients when frying foods, as McDonald's does with their french fries. I also ready that most breads contain a milk ingredient. I thought that this meal was soo far from dairy and come to find out, it wasn't. In my research I have found that soooo many foods contain a milk ingredient, specifically a milk protein, which is what the allergen is. Almost everything in my pantry has a milk ingredient... spaghettios, raviolis, pop tarts, bread, etc. I thought that eliminating dairy would be such an easy thing to do... I thought wrong. Almost all processed foods (packages, canned, etc.) contain a milk indredient, so practically almost all shelf items.

Tayler's allergen did not seem to sensitize until about 2 weeks after she was born. I have been pumping breast milk and saving it for later use. I had 32 bottles of frozen breast milk... keyword: had. I have had to discard all of this precious milk. Because Tayler showed no signs of an allergen the first weeks of her life, a lot of that pumped milk probably contains dairy in it. Thus, I have no way of determining what I ate when it was stored. So, I am having to discard all previously pumped milk and start all over again... sooo upsetting. If you have breastfed, you understand how precious breastmilk is and how difficult it is if you had to throw it out.

I plan on purchasing a dairy-free cookbook but for the meantime have found a couple of helpful websites with meal ideas. Most of what I will have to eat is fresh foods... fruit, vegetables, fresh meat, etc. I have made a grocery list and will be going to the store today because currently the only thing we have that I can eat is apples. This is going to be extremely difficult. However, I do no want to stop breastfeeding because breastmilk is the best thing for Tayler and read that finding a formula that does not trigger the allergen is very difficult so switching to formula is the worst thing to do. Even though eating dairy-free is going to be very difficult, I am trying to stay positive... After I get the hang of shopping and reading food labels, it should hopefully become second nature to me. In addition, I have always heard of people losing a lot of weight after cutting out processed foods from their diet. So, this should be very healthy for us and hopefully help me continue to lose weight. I have lost 32 pounds since going into the hospital for delivery. However, I still have about 50 pounds that I would like to lose so hopefully this new diet will help both Tayler and myself!

15 days old!

Below: pretty blue eyes - I sure hope they stay blue! Above: Mama and her little girl!

Below: Colton loves his little sister!

2 weeks old!!

WOW, Tayler is 2 weeks old today!!!

Today she went for her checkup and is doing great. She was 7 lbs. 4 oz. @ birth and is now 7 lbs. 11 oz. so she is growing great! She has been doing A LOT better with the breastfeeding.

I had my checkup yesterday and was given the clearance to begin light exercising, so I am very excited about that! Now just gotta get a stroller and I will be rockin & rollin!

I am still extremely sleep deprived. I cannot just sleep when she sleeps as with Colton because this time there is a toddler in the house who doesn't sleep... However, I think my body is finally starting to get used to running on just a few hours of sleep.