Very Best Christmas

I hardly slept the night before. I was so excited for the kids to wake up and open their gifts. We had a wonderful day. We didn't have to go anywhere, just stayed in and enjoyed each other.



Kelton gave us a present that he made at school. We absolutely loved it and hung it up right away.



Katie actually gave us two gifts. First was the video below. She's figured out that raise her arms above her head when we ask, "How big is Katie?" She does it all sorts of random times now just to see us make a big deal out of it.

Second was that she slept Christmas night, the entire night, in her crib. She slept 9 hours, I nursed her in the rocker and then put her back in her crib for 3 more hours! No screaming what so ever. It was like a Christmas miracle.



And because you know I have a thing for matchy matchy jammies...

Rudolph

This couldn't wait for a flashback friday. This was Kelton last year. He's quite the ham.

A twofer!!

Katie's last week or 10 days or so (really it all becomes a blur) were really bad. Her reflux got so bad, she wouldn't even eat and she loves to eat. I probably don't even have to say that she wasn't sleeping. It was really starting to get to me, so Eric suggested that I spend the night at my mom's. I did and it was wonderful.

Then Eric's parents decided to come stay the night on Saturday night so that we could go stay in a hotel and get a full nights sleep. Ahhh, sleep. It's a wonderous thing.

I really think she does better when I'm not home. Each night I nursed her and then put her to bed before I left and each night, she did really well. I also think the 2nd dose of prevacid is starting to kick in. We hate having to give it to her, but don't really have any other options at this point because recall the ped gastro won't do any testing because she's not skinny.

Speaking of that. I weigh Katie every month. She's 10 months today, so I took her in to be weighed and she's lost 4oz since last month. Thank God I'd gotten some sleep or this would have pushed me right over the edge. I'm taking her back in a week to check it again and just praying that she doesn't lose anymore.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

It started snowing last night, continued through the night and this morning. Kelton has had a tummy bug since Saturday and was vomiting again this morning after seeming to get better. So I got to drag both kids out into the freezing cold and snow. Fun stuff. Kelton's a bit dehydrated, but I think he's finally on the mend.

This evening when Eric got home I went out to shovel our driveway. OCD and shoveling snow does not mix. I felt as if I couldn't stop until every last flake of snow was removed from our driveway.

Then I went across the street to our neighbor's who weren't home yet. I shoveled their driveway, sidewalk, swept all the snow off their porch and their car. I cannot wait for them to get home and see. Of course, I'll never admit to doing it. I LOVE it when I get a chance to do something like that. It's so important to pay it forward. In a world that often seems like such an icky place anymore, little random acts of kindness are HUGE.

PINK

Since she graduated cosemetology school about a year ago, my sister has been dying to get her hands on my hair. I finally let her cut it about a month ago and I really liked it, so when she offered to do some color for a bday gift for me, I was excited to pick somthing out. I settled on a bright reddish/pink and a blue/black. The blue/black doesn't really show that well, just looks darker than my natural color. I love how the red/pink turned out!

When my sister was first taking the foils off, my mom kind of made a face and I told her, "I've had a long hard 9 months with Katie and I've been feeling a bit rebellious lately. At this point, let's just all be happy that I haven't run off with some 17 year old boy or something." LOL!!

denial

When Katie was still very young, it was suggested to me that she might have reflux, that maybe it bothered her when I ate dairy. I was sure that couldn't be the case. Wrong and wrong. I just didn't want it to be the case.

She's not just up at night because she's teething. Her reflux is acting up again an it's very clear. Her breath is nearly always sour smelling. We can hear her reflux and spit up in her mouth and if this happens while she's sleeping, she wakes up screaming. Sometimes in her sleep, she wakes up coughing and gasping for air. She had been spending the majority of the night in her crib had been getting some good stretches of sleep. Now we're back to every hour, sometimes less and it's in her swing.

As I said before, the gastro didn't want to do testing because she's otherwise healthy and not underweight. So because she's not skinny, she has to suffer. We can give her prevacid 2x/day instead of once, but we're worried about side effects from that large of dose.

We're just at a loss. Apparently, there's nothing left to do.

Sweet Potatoes!!

I have been waiting FOREVER for sweet potatoes to go on sale. At Walmart they are normally $1.12/lb, but I knew as Thanksgiving drew near that they'd go on sale. Finally the day came and they were marked down to .33/lb! I filled up three big bags. I love sweet potatoes myself, but my main purpose was to make baby food. I now have tons in the freezer and if they're still on sale, I might do more.

My first batch...


I decided it was easier to bake and peel, rather than peel, cut, and steam. It was nice to have the oven on too since it was a cold day.


The first batch yielded 4 ice cube trays plus 6 baby food containers (I kept 2 out for her to eat right away). To the right, you'll see summer squash that I made earlier this year. To the left is my meager supply of breast milk. I don't have the crazy oversupply like I did with Kelton and I work for every drop of it!



Lastly, I must brag on the boy's duck hunting adventure. Kelton was super excited and had no problem getting up at 5am, even though I have to drag him out of bed during the week. Hopefully Eric will make duck gumbo again soon. It's super tasty and awesome on a cold day.


And in case anyone is wondering, no, Katie is not sleeping and has not been in a very good mood lately. She's back to being up about every hour at night. I'm attributing it to teething.

sneaky sneaky

Last night while Eric was downstairs playing with the kids, I snatched his phone and programed it to play Pour Some Sugar on Me whenever I call. Hehehe.

I forgot to mention yesterday that I finally shed some more poundage and I'm now 6 lbs under prebaby weight. Funny how my jeans still don't fit quite the same. Big babies and csections aren't very forgiving. I'll take my precious babes over killer abs any day.

This morning Kelton climbed in bed with me and snuggled up. He'll be 5 in less than two months. I'm so proud to see what an amazing little man he is growing into, but I'm going to have a lot of trouble holding it together when he starts kindergarden next fall.

While Kelton was getting dressed and ready for preschool, Katie woke up. I brought her into the bed to nurse all warm and cuddled under the covers. I noticed how long her hair is getting and drank in her sweet baby smell. I know I'm going to blink and she'll be Kelton's age with very little time to snuggle with Mommy.

These kind of moments make all the hard times so worth it.

No rest for the weary

Katie hasn't given us more than a 3 hours stretch of sleep in a week. I'm in a fuzzy haze. The other night, I was just bawling as Eric tells Katie while changing her diaper that she will never have a little brother or sister.

Just when I think we're dealing, we're obviously not. Kelton has adjusted the best, constantly soothing and playing with Katie. He has a huge heart, but I never imagined how much he would truly adore his sister. Just yesterday at lunch, he told me, "Mommy, I love Katie soooo much."

I don't think I've eaten anything to upset her and I know she hasn't eaten anything. My only guess is that it's her teeth. Perhaps since we have a generally discontent baby already, teething has hit us harder than norm?

Anyway, in addition to my yearly Black Friday order on The Children's Place and Gymboree, I indulged in a little retail therapy last night and put in an order at BabyGap. I had free shipping, 15% off and a gift card, but who am I kidding, I would have ordered without those.

Since Katie is such a terrible sock taker offer, one of the things I ordered were some footie pants.

Cross you fingers that semi-happy Katie returns shortly.