I have a new friend

Recall neighbor down the street that just had a baby? We've run into them here and there and guess what? Baby cries...a lot. Baby has reflux. Totally not shitting you. Baby's momma has been joining me on my evening walks. It feels so nice to talk to someone who TRULY understands. The daddys need to get together too. Eric is forever saying that nobody really gets it. Well, now he has someone who does.

Katie's still sleeping reasonably well. The last two nights she's insisted on a party from 3am-5am. I haven't much cared for partying at those hours since I was in college.

I met the chiro on Friday. He's nice enough, not bad looking either, but maybe a bit radical in regards to diet for my taste and I'm pretty hardcore. He didn't understand why I wanted to be able to eat dairy. Dude, have you ever tried cheesecake? Alrighty then.

Sweet Sweet Sleep

Eric stayed home with Katie on Tue because she was so screamy and we didn't want her wailing her little head off at daycare all day. I'm not quite sure how I made it through the day on 1 hr of sleep, but I did.

As you can see by my blog, we've tried just about everything. Chiropractic care had been mentioned to me in the past, but I was leery of chiropractors and didn't believe it could actually help with colic.

There is a chiropractor in town that Eric has been to and really liked, so he called and made an appt. He said breastfeeding is absolutely best, to nurse her as long as possible and not to give her any formula. He really likes to avoid rx medications when possible. Sounds like I'm going to love him. He applied gentle pressure to an area in her neck and one in her back.

She slept 10 hrs Tue night. She slept almost 9 hrs on Wed night, ate and went back to sleep until I had to wake her to leave for work almost 2 hrs later.

I'm not sure if it's a fluke, if it was the chiropractor or the prevacid is finally kicking in. Whatever it is, I don't care. We're all sleeping! First the first time in over 7 mo, we're all sleeping!!

Good Morning

I'm getting ready to jump in the shower because I have to work today.

I had one hour of sleep last night.

I want to break something, cry uncontrollably and laugh hysterically all at the same time.

Bit Bits

So since the prilosec was so terribly nasty, we've switched to prevacid. It's a little tab that disolves in a just a bit of water and goes down easily. Hopefully we'll start seeing it work soon.

One test came back and she's not allergic to cow's milk. We're still waiting on the results for the whey. Keep your fingers crossed.

We're giving it a go with solids again..very slowly.

Katie is 7mo tomorrow and both Eric and I are feeling super discouraged as we really thought by this point, things would be 100% normal. We're exhausted (she didn't sleep worth crap this weekend) and just ready for things to get better.

I realize that after 7mo of this, I'm a little sensitive, a little touchy. I also realize (and believe I have said so before on this blog) that we're pretty blessed that overall, Katie is a healthy little girl. It makes me feel like an ass to be told repeatedly how I could have it worse. Of course we could and we're thankful we don't, but that doesn't help with the problems we're having or the rapidly rising stress level in our home.

The good news is that the change in Kelton's medications seems to be doing the trick. He even spent a lot of time on the tractor with Papa this weekend...and he's not coughing!

the down and dirty

So I'm not really all cheerful and hopeful all the time. Quite frankly, these past almost 7mo have nearly done me in. I just want to throw my arms up in defeat. What am I doing wrong here?

Before we could even see if the prilosec would work for Katie she spiked a damn fever again. It's 103 right now. And the prilosec? It's tastes so terrible that she gags and chokes when we give it to her. It's terrible. Just watching us give it to her made Kelton cry.

Speaking of Kelton, how many medications am I going to have to put him on before he gets better? Why are his allergies so bad, the ear infections, the asthma?

And you know one of the most terrible and shitty things about colic, reflux and sick kiddos? Fighting with your husband. Unless you've been there, you can't imagine the stress, the sheer exhaustion and frustration.

I want my life back.

I should listen to my husband more often.

At Eric's insistance, we decided to see another pediatrician for a second opinion on Katie's relux and tummy issues. Turns out we should have made the switch sooner. While I liked our previous ped, I absolutely love this guy and Eric thinks he's great also.

Katie had an odd looking diaper rash that turns out is eczema. He had her blood drawn to check for milk and whey allergies. He also switched her med to prilosec, a proton pump inhibitor. I'm hopeful, so very helpful. I mentioned the consitipation issue, but didn't get the chance to discuss it more. I'm going to bring it up again in 2wks when we go back to see how the prevacid is working.

We're also going back in 2wks to recheck Kelton's ears. Yep, you guessed it, infected again. 5th time since January. Instead of rushing into tubes, the new ped wants to get his allergies and asthma under control better and he thinks that will stop the recurrent ear infections. I should change my blog to my life dealing with reflux, allergies, asthma and eczema. The chance that Katie will be the same as Kelton is pretty high, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that some how the allergies and eczema will pass her by.

I seriously love this new ped. If anyone close wants his name, let me know and I'll get you the number. I just love how he wasn't rushed, came in, sat down, discussed things at depth. He's mega awesome.

What time is it?

It's 5:44am. Been up since 4:30am.

Miss Katie was hell to get to bed, but then seemed like she was going to have a good night as she slept from 8:30pm until 12:15am. I fed her when she woke up, but then she was up again at 1:30am, then 2:30am, and yes, then 3:30am.

Eric took a turn, then I got back up. At 7:30am, I'm going to wake him up again.

I so wish this was abnormal and not the norm.

Thousand Words Thursday

Fall, Frustration and the Floor

We're actually having a fall this year. Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. I love football, it's great camping weather, the leaves, the smell, jeans and sweatshirts, I met Eric in the fall. I just love the fall.

We're all still recovering from colds here and trying desperately to get Katie back into a 1/2 way decent sleep pattern. It's so frustrating!

The kids and I spent the weekend at my mom's house so Eric, Jason and his dad could put in our new floor. It looks amazing! I can't wait to pick out an awesome rug. The only downside is it's a bit louder now and Jasmine's little nails clicking around drive me batty.

15 hrs

We spent our first night away from Katie last weekend. We were gone a total of 15 hours but it felt like much longer than that! Nana came down to spend the night and we were super nervous about leaving her. Nana kept telling us not to worry, that she'd be fine. We weren't worried about Katie though, we were worried about Nana! Turns out we had nothing to worry about. Katie was up and down until about midnight and then gave her two 4 hour stretches of sleep! The next two nights she gave us 6 hour stretches! That ended quickly with a 104 temp on Tue night. It's nothing serious, we're just fighting a terrible cold. Poor baby. We're crossing our fingers that she bounces back quickly and goes right back into a nice sleep routine.

Our night out was wonderful though and just what the dr ordered. Colic, reflux and nonsleeping babies play hell on a marriage. But that's another blog entirely..

I was thrilled to find out our swings have weight limits of 25lbs, which should last us through her 1st bday if need be. These stretches of sleep I was referring to took place in one of her swings. She still hates her crib.

She's been off of solids for a week now. She absolutely loves to eat, but decided to give it a rest because even prunes were plugging her up. We're going to give it another week or so and then try every other night for awhile and she how her system handles it.