Monday, April 25, 2011

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

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Saturday, April 23, 2011

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!

Friday, April 22, 2011

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.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

This is a test.


Trying out networking to Facebook...

... and it works!