It just keeps getting better!

Tonight: Dinner in Wellingotn at my favorite Mexican restaurant.

With: Some good friends, my husband and KATIE.

Without: Crying.

That's right, no crying. No crying on the drive there, no crying during dinner, and no crying on the way home. In fact, she fell asleep on the way home as Eric and I recalled how we thought it would never get better.

1/3 of a year

I've copied and pasted this from my myspace blog. Katie's doing better, the weather is beautiful and we're enjoying life! Not much extra time for blogging!

Katie was 4 months on Sunday! Seriously! Where does the time go? Funny to say, a lot of it is one big blur of screaming, but that's changing!

Her newest thing is lots and lots of squealing. It's hilarious to listen to and much much more pleasant than crying. Even when she wakes up from a nap, she doesn't really cry, just lays there and coos and talks to herself. It seems our crying is now mostly limited to when she's tired. She fights sleep like it's an olympic event.

We had a checkup on Wednesday. Mimi and Nana came along! How fun! Katie checked in at 14lbs 3oz and 24 1/4in. Kelton was 36lbs and 39in. Katie looks great and we're going to continue the zantac until her 6mo appt. She of course, hated the shots, but calmed down quickly. Kelton's ears showed no signs of infection and his hip seems okay too.

Kelton's eczema is completely horrid right now. I'm not sure what else to do for him. I've considered trying to eliminate dairy from his diet to see if it makes a difference, but Eric isn't ready to try that yet.

Kelton and Eric have been fishing at least twice a week and are glued to the TV when Nascar is on. Eric and Papa plan to take Kelton to the race in KC and hopefully he'll get to meet Kyle Busch.

I am currently swimming my butt off at least 3x/wk getting ready to do the swimming leg of a triathlon with Eric's dad the 2nd weekend in Aug. It's great to be in the pool again. I have 4lbs of baby left to shed and I'm hoping all those laps in the pool will take care of that. The lack of ice cream probably helps also as I'm still dairy for for the time being. I'm thinking I might try a bit at 6mo and see how she does.

And we'll end with the thought of her being 6mo, which is about the time Kelton will start preschool. :CRY: They really do grow up so fast.

This and That

We experienced another first last night. I put Katie to bed at 8pm and she didn't wake up to nurse until 5am! I couldn't believe it. Of course, I didn't enjoy the sleep like I should have because I kept waking up wondering if she was okay.

Kelton had a bit of a stomach bug midweek and I think that's why screamy Katie had returned. She didn't seem to be feeling well either.

I forgot to add earlier that a heating pad used to work wonders to help get Katie to stop screaming. I would turn it on low, put it on my lap and lay her across it. Somtimes she would nurse and sometimes she would fall asleep.

During all the time I spend sitting on the couch, I have taken full advantage of our Netflix. Definitely helps pass the time. I highly recommend it if you have a perma-nurser like Katie.

She's still doing well at daycare and now will even smile at people she's not so familiar with when she used to basically hate everyone. Debbie even said she took a nap unswaddled on Thursday morning, but I've yet to get to her to do that at home. I'm absolutely sick of swaddling her, but I can't complain too much seeing as she's doing so much better otherwise.

I LOVE being able to enjoy my baby.

One step forward and two steps back...

It sure doesn't get you very far, very quickly.

Katie McScreamy has been present in the last couple days and I can't say that I'm happy to see her.

Sunday afternoon, she did very little sleeping and quite a bit of hollaring, just overall being unhappy.

Monday morning wasn't so bad, but the evening and night were pretty much horrid. I'm worried for how she's acting for Debbie this morning. It's either hell or she's sleeping since she didn't do much of that last night.

She's still doing better than before, but after you get a taste of happy baby, when screamy baby returns it seems to make it that much harder.

It's like a horror movie, just when they think they've killed Freddie, he comes back. Apparently colic is the same way.

On top of the screaming, we had a big scare with Kelton.

In Honor of Father's Day

There's no need for captions.
The love is apparent in these photos.
Eric is an amazing daddy.

Huge news, HUGE, I tell you.

We have had some errands we've been needing to run in Wichita for quite awhile, but are always hesitant about taking our screamer with us. We decided that today we'd give it a shot and see how it went.

She stayed happy while we grabbed a bite to eat at Sonic, but got really mad when we had to wait awhile at Altell. Once we loaded back up and headed to Toys R Us to buy Kelton's swing set, she fell asleep, which isn't super common for her. But here's the amazing part....when we got to Toys R Us, she stayed asleep when we shut the truck off and then stayed asleep the entire time we were in the store. It's crazy! I can't believe it!

This came at a perfect time because I've been feeling super bummed about my restricted diet. I would kill for a piece of pizza, some yogurt or ice cream. I miss eating like a normal person.

We've also finally solved our bottle problem. Katie loves Avent bottles. The only problem is that they contain bpa. We've tried a couple different kinds of bpa free bottles such as ThinkBaby and MAM Ultivent, but Miss Katie really preferred her Avents. We recently found out that all the Avent products have interchangable lids. The Avent Magic Trainer Cup is bpa free and this way Katie can still use the nipples she loves.

TORNADOS!

I cannot believe the rotation in the clouds outside. It's insane. I have never seen anything like it. Katie is sleeping though all of it, can you believe it?!!? Kelton is watching Cars and eating gummy airplanes.

What a night.

Download is nearly complete.

We've been trying for quite sometime to download the new and improved Katie 5.0. Supposedly this version is happy, cuddly and comes with much less crying and many more smiles and giggles. We've been able to see a small preview within this last week and think we're going to be really happy with our purchase. I really wanted the version that sleeps in her car seat, but Eric said it was too expensive. Ahhh, the luxuries a girl can only dream of..

There was a small bug in the system, a la cheesy broccoli rice. Yet again, I'm not sure what I was thinking. Hopefully this small glitch won't last long.

Now let's just pray we don't get a virus.

Our Arsenal #4

This was going to be a blog about how great Katie is doing and then she cried nearly the entire 2 hour drive home from Eric's parent's house yesterday.

So instead, Our Arsenal #4 - Prescription Medications.

Our pediatrician first prescribed her Zantac. It is an H2 antagonist. It acts by blocking H2, one of the chemicals that stimulates acid secretion in the stomach. It's a mint flavored syrup and she doesn't really care for it much. We noticed pretty quickly that she could lay flat without screaming so much and her sleeping improved also. She still did her fair share of crying, but there was definite improvement.

After a few weeks, we noticed she was getting screamier and the amount she was spitting up had started to increase in volume again. The pediatrician increased her Zantac slightly and also prescribed Reglan. It helps the stomach empty faster which means there is less to spit up. After a little of my own research, we decided to wait on the reglan because of the possibility of unpleasant side effects. The increase in the Zantac worked for awhile, but after a particularly rough day, I decided to try the Reglan. I called the pharmacist and asked about it. She said it was perfectly safe and very commonly given with Zantac. With the Reglan, there was a huge decrease in the amount of spit up, but only with the feeding after the dose. After other feedings, she was still spitting up quite a bit. It seemed to make her a little sleepy, which wasn't bad, but during her awake periods she was gradually becoming more agitated and screamy than before. We stopped the Reglan after about 4 days.

Another type of medication used to treat reflux are proton pump inhibitors. They work by blocking the production of stomach acid. Since the Zantac seems to still be working well, we haven't had to switch or try something else yet and I'm hopeful that we won't have to.

Who's raising your children?

Apparently, I'm not the one raising mine or so implied one of my patients yesterday.

You see, when she had children, she decided she would stay home and raise her children herself, you know, instead of letting someone else do it for her while she worked. She wanted to experience all the joy herself and that wouldn't have been possible if she was working because when you work, you NEVER EVER see your children, right?

Whatever.

Normally, I let comments like that slide off my back, but damn, it was my second day back. It stung a little. I am raising my children myself. I am fortunate enough to have a loving daycare provider whom I trust to watch my children while I work 2 whole days. I enjoy my job and the time out of the house.

I have spent over 3 months at home EVERY SINGLE DAY, listening to Katie cry and cry and cry. No one else was here doing it for me. I am raising my children. Thank you very much.

Only time

Monday night, I barely slept. We got up and got everything and everyone ready and Katie started crying. I clenched my teeth. I needed her to not start the day this way. It was already going to be hard enough. We loaded her in her carseat and luckily she remained happy the majority of the way to Winfield.

Kelton was thrilled to be back at daycare. I ran over a few last minute things with Debbie, gathered all my strength and walked out the door. Yes, she was crying when I left.

I was shaking when I got to work. Thankfully I was busy, which kept my mind busy also. A couple texts from Eric just to let me know he was as freaked as I was.

My last patient before lunch didn't show, so I left early and went to see how things were going. Kelton was laying down for his rest and Katie was sleeping also and had been for about 2 hrs. Debbie was all smiles, saying they'd had a great morning. She got Katie up, I nursed her, played with her and left her smiling in her swing when I went back to work.

The afternoon was easy and enjoyable. When I arrived to pick the kids up, Debbie snuggled Katie and joked, "Momma was telling stories about you. You're not a crier!"

The ride home was pleasant. The entire evening was pleasant. Today has been pleasant.

I'll continue my blogs on "Our Arsenal" because I still have more things to cover, but it's very obvious that the one and only thing that has truly been 100% effective is time.

Sadness, Guilt and Relief

Tomorrow is my first day of work since Katie was born. I have been off work for 14 weeks. I love my job and I'm semi-excited to go back, but then there's the colic.

Colic stole my maternity leave from me. It stole from me a sweet snuggly cuddly newborn who happily nursed and then feel asleep on my chest.

I'm terribly sad that just as she's seeming to get better, just as I'm starting to enjoy her, I have to return to work.

I have this huge guilt that I spent all this time at home, hating most of it and wishing her infancy away.

Then there's the feeling of relief, the promise of 8 whole hours without crying. Eight whole hours of adult conversation. Only, I'm afraid I'll be the one crying all day. Not to mention the added guilt for feeling the relief.

It's only two days/wk, I'm nursing over my lunch break, Kelton will be there with her. Everything will be fine, everything will be fine, everything will be fine....

Part Three of Our Arsenal

Before I do prescription medications, there is other randomness that I wanted to touch on.

One of Harvey Karp's 5 S's is swaddling, which I talked about already. Another is sucking, the breast, a pacifier, a finger, whatever. Babies like to suck, it soothes them, calms them, hence the name..pacifier. The book/video teaches you how to train baby to keep the pacifier in better. This only works if baby will even take the pacifier in the first place. Princess Katie refuses. We have tried 5 different kinds with no avail. I'm going to keep trying though.

Another of the S's is swinging. We have the Fisher Price Rainforest Swing. I liked the feature that baby could swing either direction. All babies love to swing, right? Wrong. Katie hated the damn thing. The most we could get her to sit in it was about 5 minutes at a time until she started on Zantac. Now she loves her swing. I often use it to get her to sleep and then move her to her crib. We even purchased the Rainforest Take Along Swing to keep in her bedroom.

Around the time we started the Zantac, we propped the head of whatever she was sleeping in. Books under the feet of the pack n play, the wheels up on one end of the bassinet and down on the other, and folded blankets under one end of the crib mattress. Besides swaddling, this is one of the few things that has been a consistant success.

We also purchased a sleep positioner. We swaddle Katie up and wedge her down into it. It helps her feel more secure and sleep longer. I got the exact one that is linked because it's the least bulky and easy to take with us when we go somewhere. If you think about how baby is kind of scrunched when you're holding her, one arm under the head and one arm under the legs, it's natural that baby is going to wake up when layed flat. So in addition to propping the crib and using the positioner, we often place a rolled blanket under her knees.

White noise is something else we use every. single. day. Babies experience so much sound and sensation when in the womb and once they're born we put them in a dark quiet place to sleep and it's like sensory deprivation for them. You can buy white noise machines, CDs, etc. We use a hand held radio set to fuzz, it's small and travels with us easily. After one of Katie's roughest days ever, Eric came home, rocked her a bit and put her down for a nap with country music blaring nearly as loud as he could get it. She slept for 2hrs and was the first time she'd stayed sleeping that long in at least a week.

What a find!!

WE MUST HAVE THIS SHIRT!!