now, about me...

In the words of Linkin Park, I'm waiting for the end to come...

... actually, it's already here.

Today is the first day in the last 7 months and 5 days that I have not breastfed Sami. And it's very, very strange.

We knew we were getting to this point... at least I did. After cutting my feedings back to once a day (in the mornings) and no longer pumping at work, I knew that my supply was eventually going to start disappearing, and sure enough, Sami was struggling to be fed Friday morning, so I knew. I was going to keep trying... but I knew.

And then Saturday she was sick, so we didn't give her anything but Pedialyte that morning. And then Sunday we were out of town, so she wasnt going to be getting anything from me anyway... so yeah, this two days, plus me being sick, and buh-bye supply.

Oh well. 7 months was a good run. I should be proud of what I've accomplished, not dwell on what I no longer have. Besides, I was only going to feed her until she was a year, tops, and that's only 4ish months away... :o

Happy Easter!

teething must-haves

As we're going through another bought of teething, I figured now would be as good of a time as any to show off what's worked for us during Sami's hardest times. A Top 5, if you would...

#5 -- refrigerated teethers

I vaguely remember growing up and having these myself when I was younger, so my first instinct was to get some for Sam so she could use them while she was teething. But believe it or not, she wasn't much of a fan. In fact, the only time she would ever use a cold teether was when she was borderline inconsolable, and at that rare moment she wasn't a chilled reverse pressure. Beyond that, she could have cared less.

#4 -- the RaZ-Berry teether

I learned about this teether through my friend when her own daughter was going through teething. I remember seeing it and thinking how clever it was, so it was definitely on my must-have list for a while. Now, I guess it comes in a variety of colors -- a Blueberry, and two clear raz-berries... pink or blue respectively. It's great though because it has the look of a pacifier, with bumps on the "razzberry" to help soothe gums. The oversized "leaves" are always fun to chew, and the handle is ridged for added relief. I love multi-purpose baby items!

#3 -- Baby Oragel

Dear Oragle. You are, in fact, my teething savior. The only reason you are not in the #1 spot is because I can't/don't use you every day. Despite what one of the pediatricians may think (*eyeroll*) Oragel has been a fantastic help with teething. At first we bought the swabs, because we thought it would be easier to apply rather than sticking our fingers into her mouth, but every time we used them, we noticed that almost 1/4 of the tube wasn't being used. So then we bought the regular version, but we realized we weren't using it during the day as much as at night to give Sami relief before bed, so then we switch to the nighttime version -- a little more potent, a little longer lasting, and it's been as close to instant relief as we can give her ever since. Again, we don't use it every night because we don't have to, and it does cause a LOT of drool (as if teething didn't cause enough on its own), so other than it being a medication, that's the only downside I have.

#2 -- Baby Banana Brush

 

Another wonderful suggestion from a friend, I thought this was ingenious. It's a toy. It's a teether. It's a training toothbrush!

 

 #1 -- Sophie the Giraffe

 

We don't go anywhere without Sophie. Despite it being a $25 purchase (though luckily we received ours as a gift), Sophie is worth every penny. Non-toxic so every part of her can go in Sami's mouth, soft, flexible, easy to grip, and it squeaks... I don't think I could ask for better teething relief! A must-have for every parent with a teething baby, and if you know someone who's pregnant, make sure you give them one at their shower!

7 months

7 months old, and we got a stomach bug. =( I'm hoping it's a 24-hour thing, and we're a lot better prepared for it now than we have been in the past, so here's hoping that with a little Pedialyte, this too shall pass.... especially since Chris and I have plans to go away tomorrow night! >_<

So yeah, other than projectile vomiting, things are going well.

Thanks to Ferberizing, she is sleeping through the night. We put her down at 7pm, and we don't usually hear from her until 5am, and even then I can go in, give her back her pacifier, and she'll sleep for another hour. Even at 6am, I'll take a good night's sleep!

Naps are another issue... for some reason Ferberizing is harder during the day than at night, but we're still trying! I think now she's on a 3 naps a day schedule -- 10am, 12pm, and 2pmish... she might go down for 30 minutes, sometime and hour and a half, and then some days we get one half hour nap out of her, and that's it. So yeah, a work in progress...

But thanks to the sleeping through the night, we now have more scheduled feedings, which makes planning a day a little easier. I'm down to one breastfeeding session per day now (though I think that's going to be ending soon) so I will wake up and feed Sam at 6am, then we'll give her fruits after her next formula bottle at 9am, bottles at 12pm and 3pm, and then veggies with her 6pm bottle. It's a good little schedule.

And, oh my goodness, is she moving! Not crawling just yet, but she can get up on her hands and knows and rock back and forth -- "turtling" as we like to call it. And sometimes she'll even put herself into a Downward Dog! Soon though... I can feel it. And if she's anything like Chris and myself, she could very well be walking by the 4th of July! :o

No rush though... no rush at all.

This is a test.

Trying out networking to Facebook...

... and it works!

Ferberizing

As of today, I believe it's been a week of trying Dr. Ferber's technique for sleep training, and I'm going to be the first to admit that, as much as it sucks allowing your baby to cry it out, it works. And it works well.

By definition, "Ferberization is a technique invented by Dr. Richard Ferber to solve infant sleep problems. It involves "baby-training" children to self-soothe by allowing the child to cry for a predetermined amount of time before receiving external comfort."

Before, bedtime always seemed like a battle. There would be crying, there would be screaming, there would be fussing, and some nights it took us over an hour to get her to finally fall asleep, and most of the time it was by being rocked to sleep in our arms.

Now, things are a little more systematic. We're incorporating more of a routine, and I think that's helping as well. We come home, Sami gets her solids, she gets a diaper changed and gets put into pajamas, and then I either try to breastfeed her, or she gets a bottle, or both depending on how hungry she is, and then we put her in her crib, kiss her good night, tell her we love her, and shut the door.

This, inevitably, leads to crying. But then again, that's the point.

Running in as soon as she weeps lets her know that hey, if I make noise, someone will come to my attention! And that's not good. Instead, by using 5-10-15 minute intervals between fits, she starts to learn how to self-soothe rather than us trying to put her to sleep, and in the end, that's what Ferberizing is all about.

The first night was rough, and I think it took about 45 minutes start to finish before she finally put herself to sleep. The next night, 30 minutes, and 20 after that. Every night was getting better and better, and now she'll fall asleep anywhere between 5 to 15 minutes after putting her in her crib. And now, she's sleeping through the night. She might wake up once around 4-5am, depending on when she ate late, but one of us will go in, give her back her pacifier, roll her back onto her back if need be, and by the time we're out the door, she's back asleep.

She's sleeping better through the day now, too. Before she was a baby who would maybe get an hour of naps in a day, now she's napping 45 minutes up to 2 hours 3 times a day. Like I say, a napping baby is a happy baby!

But yes, we still give her her pacifier, and she has a blanket bear that she cuddles, and so long as those little things give her comfort through all of this, I'm not going to try to take them away from her.

I'm not going to lie, though... I hate it. It's like torture, knowing that your baby is crying and you can't go in there to make her feel better. But in the end I know it's for her own good, so that's why when it's bedtime, I give her her kiss good night, then I go downstairs and distract myself with TV at a higher volume so I can drown out her discomfort. I give Chris credit - he's the handler of the incremental soothings (which is better, especially since I'm still connected to food) and he's definitely got this under control.

People may think we're cruel. People may think we're crazy. But you know what? When my baby can put herself to sleep on her own without having to climb into Mommy and Daddy's bed later on, you might think differently.

6-month check-up

LAST Thursday was Sami's 6-month appointment with the pediatrician, and I never thought I would be the mother going in with a list of questions, but there I was, looking over the notes app on my phone, making sure I had everything in order for the doctor when she asked if we had any concerns. And I'm grateful she was so understanding, because she leaned back against the counter, folded her arms, and basically said "bring it" with a smile on her face.

So yes, a lot of my fears and/or concerns were quelled.

First off, her growth percentiles are spot-on. Weighing in at 15lbs 13oz, 25 7/8" long and with a head circumference of 16 1/4" she is in the 25th, 50th, and 16th percentiles, respectively. Everything is where it should be, so there are no concerns there.

Next, I was concerned a lot about her development in regards to rolling over, sitting, etc, but again we have nothing to be worried about. The doctor checked out her core strength, and she seemed to have passed with flying colors. She told us that it's more based on a check list of milestones where not all have to be hit to move on... or something like that. Basically, because she has amazing head strength, has been applying pressure with her legs for as long as we can remember, and can sit well enough despite being supported, she is developmentally where she needs to be.

(Of course, Sami made a fool of me in regards to the whole rolling thing... as of Monday, she's been rolling up a storm, and something tells me she's going to be crawling in no time!)

Finally, we touched upon her feeding stuffs -- supplementing with formula, solids (what and how often), and the spitting up. Nothing really seemed to concern the pediatrician much at all. The formula/breastmilk conversation was fine, especially since she's gaining weight. Having her on fruits til this point wasn't a problem, and she said to start her on veggies and two meals whenever we felt comfortable at this point. And the spitting up was most likely due to her being more active and mobile now, especially after eating and on a full belly. Growing baby.

We also received a flouride-infused multi-vitamin since Braintree's water does not have flouride, and oddly enough there wasn't a co-pay when I went to pick it up at CVS. Now I just have to make sure to give it to Sam every day, especially now that she has teeths!

And she got 3 more shots... well, I guess I should say 2 more shots and 1 sugar drink she loves. Poor thing -- shots never get easy.

And now we wait 3 months... she doesn't go back until her 9-month appt in June. JUNE! She could be walking by then! AHHHHH!!!

enough is enough, already...

I apologize.

I've been a horrible blogger.

And I wonder why I only have 21 followers... ¬_¬

I think between bad teething, not sleeping, busy work, and anything else you can pile into the life of a late-20something mother and her 6-month old daughter, we're doing it.

The funny thing is, I'm actually in the midst of writing 2-3 posts behind the scenes as it is... but I either get writer's block, lose my motivation, or just get so busy that I can't finish enough to publish the post.

More to come soon. I promise.