Everybody's Smiling.

Our daughter has finally slept at night. Meaning we have finally slept at night. It was a rough go there for a long while. But she finally went longer than a three-hour stretch in the nighttime and she was finally able to settle, not fuss, and go back to sleep after eating. And the choir of angels sang.

I have hesitated saying anything because it's possible this is just a fluke. But she went from up often to very decent the last three nights. Here's to hoping this is the new leaf we have wanted to turn over. Not sure the reason but we swaddled her again (we tried that last month with no success) but now that seems to be the trick. And by swaddle I mean baby-approved straight jacket.

We also are back on the reflux meds, higher dosage. All her symptoms really point to reflux. The last few days she seems to be doing better so let's hope that's working in her little insides.

I am back on dairy as of the last few days as well. That did not seem to change her demeanor or issues and I was really, really missing chocolate and butter and cheese and milk with my cereal. It was really good for losing weight. However the last few days I think I gained all that back. Nom Nom.  Munch Munch.

Getting her lip-tie fixed has been a bit of a hassle. The lactation consultant last week confirmed it, referred us to an ENT. He was booked solid this week. I called our family practice doctor, talked to the nurse who called and said this peditratician's office could do it the next day. We went to that appointment and the pediatrician said they didn't do lip-ties and called in another pediatrician who was a jerk. I won't go into those details. They referred me to a plastic surgeon. I cancelled that appointment and called the initial ENT's office and begged and they got us in on Monday. The ideal is we will get her lip-tie fixed and she will be able to nurse without me having pain. Fingers crossed for Monday.

But for now, rejoice with us in the fact Annalee has slept well at night and has started to smile more and scream less! The smiles are often for Daddy, her favorite, but occasionally I'll get a few. And soon I will capture a great gummy one where her eyes light up... for now, here's a tongue-filled smile for you:

Hi y'all.

-Heather

PS - thanks for the cute outfit, Courtney!

Thankful.

What a great day to pause and be thankful!

The Browns are over today and we are having a low-key but special day together! Yay for being close to family. 

-Heather

Bakers.

My aunt came yesterday for some holiday baking. It was more like she brought all the stuff mostly ready and did all the work while Eli and I pretended to help. Easiest baking ever!

Eli lasted about five minutes rolling the ginger cookie dough in sugar. It also took all his will to not eat all the dough/sugar or lick his hands every two seconds. Hard concept for this baker. 

Baby Bird?

Popcorn balls!

Here you go...

And she slept the whole day. Somebody needs to tell this kid to sleep at night instead:

Thanks for coming, auntie "ruffie"! So glad for you being so close. 

-Heather

'Member?

Our son has an excellent memory. Three times today I was amazed by it. 

On our drive home this morning, he said "I saw two fire trucks." I didn't see any and was about to ask when he clarified "at Applefest, I saw fire trucks. Pink one and red one and another red one." Y'all the Applefest event was in September. And we didn't even spend more than a few minutes staring at the pink (breast cancer awareness) fire truck. We did get up close to the two red ones. Obviously this was a highlight in his short life. 

Later on today he said: "'member Knowledge? Threw sticks in street." Knowledge was our SC neighbor's grandson (quite a name to live up to) who threw sticks into our street the last time we saw him, in July. 

Later he said "Didn't feed giraffes" which is referring to our visits to the awesome SC zoo we frequented. You can feed the giraffes lettuce and they'll eat it right out of your hands with their crazy long tongues. Eli never, ever got on board with that. He did not want any giraffe tongue coming at him. 

And even yesterday Eli said "got scared at Deanna's...scared of airplane." Deanna is our friend who is letting us store our stuff at their house. Eli was super freaked out by the crop duster plane that flew near there when we were there unpacking, in August. 

I'm not sure if it's normal for kids to remember things like this but it's quite entertaining. And a good reminder to watch what Eli sees/hears/does!

This was Eli learning the word condensation this afternoon. Check out Instagram for the video. Love this kid. 

-Heather

Lip Tie.

A college friend came over tonight and brought a doula friend of hers (who happens to have two kids very close in age to our two living kids). Their eight week old has had similar issues to Annalee. She asked to look in her mouth and after a two-second look said she's got a lip-tie. Maybe a tongue-tie but she said she's not an expert. Her daughter had both and had them fixed.

I had heard of tongue-tie before somewhere so I was vaguely aware. After my ten minutes of searching online and a few looks into Annalee's mouth, it seems to me she really does have lip-tie (I wasn't able to get a good look at the tongue and I don't really know what to look for there anyway). It certainly would explain my continued pain in nursing and her inability to continually get a good latch and possibly even some of her digestive issues. This friend gave me the name of the lactation consultant in town that diagnosed their daughter so I am going to call her tomorrow and see if she'll meet with us and look into Annalee's mouth.

More questions than answers, really, but an avenue to explore nonetheless. Click here or here or here if you are curious. I wanted to post to see if any of you folks out there have any experience or knowledge with either lip-tie or tongue-tie. If so, I'm all ears.

Also, this doula friend of a friend grew up next-door to my aunt and uncle in Crosby, ND. Our friend is from there too. Nothing like meeting people and knowing where they are from, where their roots are. I missed that when in SC. Glad for that happy perk of living in ND again... especially as it turns freakishly cold and snowy tonight.

-Heather

UPDATE: the lactation consultant today agreed Annalee has a significant lip tie. She told us of an ENT doctor that all her folks see here in town but we need a referral from our family doctor before we can make an appointment. We have to wait until Monday to get that referral faxed in, then hopefully we can schedule something for next week?! It would be so great to have less pain when trying to latch...which Annalee hasn't done in maybe two weeks. The lady also gave more tips and things we should change and try to get her back to breast. She then said I get 10 gold stars for all my work in pumping and trying. Anyone know the going exchange rate for gold stars??

Going Away.

Our little man is going through a lot with his sister's arrival and her consistent issues that take much of mom and dad's energy and attention. He's had some very "I'm Two!" moments as of late. We are learning that his love language is probably quality time. IF he gets to spend time with just one of us and we can focus on him for a bit, he is so much better behaved the rest of the day. He even eats better.

Yesterday all I wanted to do was accomplish stuff (oh my that list of things to do is so very long) but I could tell he needed me. So while Annalee was content sleeping (the last two days this hasn't happened as much), we just played around (which since this summer hasn't happened often, thanks big belly and broken foot). Eli just ate up all the attention and that 45 minutes with my (complete albeit tired) focus changed the rest of his day. I didn't realize how difficult having another child would be on the sibling that's used to plenty of one-on-one time. Of course Eli having to "share" us is so good for him in the long run.

Here's a few Eli-isms for you:

The last few times I've had to discipline Eli, he looks at me as he's running away and says "I'm going away!!" It's really funny and it's really hard not to laugh.

This happens numerous times a day:

Me: "Eli, what are you doing?"
Eli: "I'm whiiiining." (said with an extreme whine)

He loves the word beautiful. "What a beautiful day!" or "What a beautiful city!" or "Look at the beautiful fishes!". He really makes you smile and stop and agree that such and such really IS beautiful. Even if it is cold and rainy.

We hear "I want a snaack." and "I want breff-fast" (cereal) often. If only all food was a carb, he'd be golden.

Grandma and Grandpa left for China on Sunday for two weeks. Eli is obviously bummed. But he knows they are visiting family. When you ask "Who are they seeing?" he'll answer "Matt, Jill and COUSINS!" (he says this with excitement). Sometimes he'll name a few of the four, but rarely all four at once (too much for him I guess).

Last week Grandma said Eli's name and Eli corrected her "No - Lovebug". She calls Eli lovebug so much he thinks she should only call him that. Isn't that adorable?

Sweet little boy.

-Heather

Tender Tendon.

Wonderful news today. My foot is not broken, it's still healed. My tendons and ligaments are the issue, not healing well most likely due to the pregnancy hormone (still here in nursing) that relaxes all your muscles. I didn't know they could cause pain this long out so I feared the worse. I need to keep my boot on and just let time heal it. 

No cast. No surgery. This great news is well-received! 

-Heather

Which of the Six.

Annalee had a better night last night! We are still not where we'd like to be, but a longer stretch where she is content by herself is a huge improvement. If she can fall asleep after eating without fussing, that's a big step and she did that twice. Here's to hoping for good things this evening. I have first shift tonight... have I mentioned how grateful I am to have a husband that takes shifts?

Funny thing is if she does improve, we'll have to figure out which thing it is helping her! 

1. Chiropractor. We are giving it three visits. Her next is tomorrow. 
2. Thrush Meds. Her doctor last week prescribed them as she may have a slight case of thrush in her mouth...which could be causing some discomfort. 
3. Probiotics. We gave her one dose of baby ones last night and again tonight... they didn't work for her cousin so we'll see how they work for her.
4. Eliminating Dairy (me). I have stopped eating any dairy. It can take weeks for it to get out of your system but it should help if she does have a milk allergy. If/when she is better, I'll slowly add dairy back in and see how it affects her. I'll be starting with chocolate. Then butter.
5. Letting Her Cry Longer. Sometimes she just needs to exercise her lungs. 
6. Time. I do think she will get better as she matures. She won't be going to kindergarten colicky. Plus she just smiled at me which is awesome... perhaps this means she's feeling less yuck in her life.

I hope she gets "fixed" sooner rather than later, of course. These next weeks could be quite the challenge if she still keeps her mama and daddy up all hours. Since her birth, we've been spoiled with help from Greg's parents (making meals, laundry, housework, entertaining Eli, holding Annalee, etc). Today they left for China for two-and-a-half weeks. So now we'll get a taste of what life should really be like! I wonder how many days I'll be in my PJ's way too late?

Here's this sweetie earlier today wearing the outfit I wore home from the hospital:

Vintage is in.

She has gone from happy to sad in the time it's taken me to post that photo. No more smiles, only a mad desire for a binkie! Drama, drama!

-Mama that wants to go to bed but instead has two beady, beautiful eyes staring at me