A Prince and His Princess

Jeremy gets into Halloween...as in planning his costume before Samantha does.  And its usually on the gory or odd-ball end of the spectrum.  So when Sam mentioned to me for a second time that "...and Daddy is going to be my prince"  I told Jeremy that he's either going to have to re-think his costume or break his daughter's dream of having her prince with her for the festivities.

He got home from work and ran around the house getting his prince outfit together.  Sam Cinderella was ever so patient!

She got to wear her costume for two days at school.

Note the sword in his "hilt" and the cardboard crown with jewels.

I had Lucy's pumpkin hat that Charlotte was going to wear and it disappeared right before it was costume time.  Don't worry, Mom!  It will show up, I promise!!  UPDATE: found! Jeremy decided to "put it away" in the hat drawer.

Trick-or-treating at mimi and papas (where all the candy is!)

Chunky Cheeks

Again?

Ok fine, but make it quick.

Are we done yet?

Help?  Anyone?

Fighting off Colic

All during my pregnancy with Charlotte I was preparing myself for another "Samantha".  I planned on taking 8 weeks off, started the mspi diet at 38 weeks pregnant, bought a boba, another white noise maker, more swaddling blankets that we like, and I mentally prepared myself to just hold and sleep with my baby 24/7.

But secretly I was really hoping for that second baby everyone told me I was going to have.  You know, the "easy" one.

Anyway, the first week was great and I would have gotten a lot more sleep were I not watching her all day and night because of her silent gagging/turning blue trick she kept pulling.  I had to swallow my pride in the hospital and send her to the nursery for them to watch her so I could sleep. Luckily there was an amazing nurse who took care of my baby the way I would.  She could do the perfect swaddle and brought her to me while she was awake and rooting (instead of a screaming and frantic baby, which another nurse did, but I won't go there). 

My favorite nursery nurse Gretchen!

After leaving the hospital I got sick and was fighting off pneumonia while I was trying to get through severe (and horribly painful) engorgement. 

The second week (with the help of a happy side effect of some much needed pseudoephedrine) my engorgement was getting under control and I felt well enough to make it to MilkWorks for a mom's group.  While there I heard the leader and another woman describing symptoms that were describing Charlotte to a T- nursing every 30-60 minutes, fussy after eating, lots of gas, squirts in the diaper, grunting all the time and painful cries.  All symptoms of a food intolerance but also of oversupply. 

Oversupply.  Huh.  I hadn't thought of that. 

Since I was already on the MSPI diet, it was fairly easy to conclude that I probably had oversupply.  They gave me some information about block-feeding and I was off.  Within 24 hours there was such an improvement that I was able to say Charlotte was "easier" than Samantha at this point.  And then I started thinking about Samantha and my supply and realized that I probably had oversupply with Samantha.  And then the guilt tried to settle in. 

But I wouldn't let it!  Samantha is a fighter and uber resilient and there's a reason God gave her to us first.  She survived.  As much as I did know about babies and colic and mspi, there was a lot I didn't know too.  And that's ok.

Tee hee hee...you've got 2 minutes before I start fussing.  Make good use of it!

So, back to conquering oversupply.  After that was under control we still had the horrible scream/fuss fest that lasted 3-7 hours in the evenings.  Then I realized they coincided with the days that I had coffee in the afternoon to help me get through the rest of the day. 

Crap. 

Let's just say that was a hard cycle to break.

Ok so two weeks in and we've conquered the mspi diet, coffee detox, engorgement, oversupply and pinkeye.

Did I not mention the pinkeye?  Yeah, that was Samantha's gift to Charlotte.  The evening before her baptism.

Week three came and she was still having perpetual gagging/coughing fits and suffering through never ending bugger-infested sinuses .  Ever heard an infant try and clear their throat?   Have you seen Jurrasic Park?  Remember the velociraptors and the sound they make when they call each other?  Imagine that sound coming from your infant. Not fun.

At her two week appt the doctor suspected GERD and told us to keep her elavated after feedings and to just keep doing the nasal rinse and blue bulb sucker for her cold. 

Got it.  I became a blue-bulb expert with Samantha. It's like my sonic-screwdriver.  No nasal passage can stop me.

But after a week of constant nasal rinses and pulling gobs and gobs of snot out of my child I noticed her RANK breath and called the doctor again.  She said to bring Charlotte in.  After looking at her again and hearing all the symptoms were still the same (if not worse) she said she thinks it's all due to refulx.  That snot I keep sucking out?  Probably milk and acid from her stomach that is coming up and pretending to be snot after those gag/cough sessions. 

Lovely.  My poor baby.

We also tried the binky route.  We found one she'll take 20% of the time.

I did some internet research to see what the "natural" treatments for GERD were and we were already doing them (diet change, keeping her elavated, chiropractic care, no smoking, etc), so we decided to go the medication route. 

Which takes about 5 days to take effect.  Today is day four.  Yesterday was sleep-all-day-and-make-mom-and-dad-suspiciously-watch day.  Today is starting out somewhat the same but she's still coughing and gagging after she eats. And has horrible breath.

I'm just gonna lay here oh so quietly

and then jerk suddenly to make you come see what happened, only to have moved my hand in a slightly different position.

She even slept through her ever-moving and loud big sister holding her.

And mommy addressing birth announcements
(I'm determined to get these out this time around!)

Basically I typed all that to say "So, we'll see..."

Sisters at 3 weeks

Monday at her 2 week appointment Charlotte was 9 lbs 5 oz- 90th percentile!  She was 98th for height and head circ. too.  At one week she was too big for her newborn diapers and clothes and she's currently close to finishing up some of her 0-3 month clothes.  Yesterday she gave me two big smiles when I picked her up.  She just melts my heart!

Samantha calls Charlotte "Chunky Monkey" and if you ask her what she was called she grins and says "Skinny Minnie!"

Charlotte 3 weeks

Samantha 3 weeks

Sisters at 2 weeks old

Samantha 2 weeks old

Charlotte 2 weeks old

Look at those legs!!!!

 

I could squish them all day...

Cousins





June 2013



October 2013

Baptisms

I'm totally breaking the tradition of doing less for the 2nd child.  Samantha didn't get newborn pictures taken, didn't have a baptismal gown, nor a party after her Baptism.  Part of these were due to circumstances at the time, but also part immaturity on my part as well.  I never even posted about Samantha's shotgun baptism!  (Sorry, my love)  So here are Charlotte's Baptism pictures, with a few from Samantha's as well.

 

We chose an amazing couple whose faith has blossomed into something truely beautiful in the 18 years that I've known them.  They were my neighbors growing up and I babysat for them almost weekly (daily in the summers) for almost 10 years.

Although Fr. Christensen was hoping to baptize Charlotte, I was very happy that Fr. Schultes did.  He's sharing my classroom with me this year and works with Jeremy so he's kinda special to us both.

Thank you Amanda for the best shots of the day.

Denise was surprised I wanted her to hold her.  It was partly because I knew Charlotte would wake up if she smelled me and partly because I thought the godparents were supposed to hold the baby during the baptism.
 

Samantha's Shot-gun Baptism 2009
 

The day we left the hospital Samantha was baptized.  My mom and Jeremy's parents had to leave as soon as we finished.  We were SO happy they were able to attend.  On a completely different note, look at me wearing a watch!  That must have been the last year anyone wore one.



She did not mind holding her the whole time.

Samantha's job.  She got a very stern, "Do NOT blow it out!"

Denise said Charlotte heaved a big relaxing sigh when Father annointed her with the chrism oil.

One of my favorite shots from Samantha's baptism.

AAAAnd that is why Charlotte has a cold and pink eye.  As one mother of 6 told me "It's not about growing when they have older siblings, it's about merely surviving."

Aaaaand that would be me 3 days after giving birth.  I can't believe how much healthier Jeremy is now.  Deacon Greg was his boss and did us the honor of Baptizing Samantha at the last minute too.

She woke up for this picture and this picture only.
 

For Samantha we chose a two friends from two different families that we got to know very well while living in Arkansas. We watched their faith blossom and they helped ours grow leagues as well. Choosing them was our "insurance" that they would both families would remain part of our lives after we moved.  So far so good!  Samantha still talks daily about how she misses her Godparents and can't wait to visit them in "Arkansa in the summer".

Showing off her baby to the cousins.

Denise did eventually let her go.

My best attempt at a panoramic shot using word and paint...although thinking about it, our camera probably has a paniramic picture option on it...oh well.  I love my dad in the middle there

I have one with Samantha somewhere...anyway, four generations!

Sisters at 1 week old

When Charlotte was born, I looked at her and my mom agreed- it looked like I'd given birth to a 3-week-old.  She never had the "newborn" look. One week old and already she'd outgrown newborn diapers and some newborn outfits.




Samantha 1 week old





Charlotte 1 week old

Tummy Time

She just can't get enough...

 

 

I wish I'd had the camera yesterday.  They were doing tummy time and I asked Samantha to help me with something.  She hollered, "Just a minute!" and then came running.  She explained that she had to leave Charlotte with a friend.  She had laid down a doll to replace herself on the floor.  The doll was on its tummy with its head turned to face Charlotte.  It melted my heart! 

One handed update

pneumonia
strep
pink eye
colic (not as bad as sam though)--update: OVERSUPPLY!  yay for answers and easy solutions
diaper rash
exhaustion

...all being reasons for no update.  I'm typing this one-handed, so here is what I can do for now.

Charlotte Mary Therese
Born October 3rd at 10:11pm
8 lbs 7 oz, 21 inches long








Samantha is in LOVE.