7 Months Old

Lately everyone is saying, "She's gotten so big!" And it's weird, because it's like all of a sudden she went from being a little baby to a ....big baby. Or something like that. She is 18.6 lbs and 26 inches (90th percentile). It's going to be weird when my girls are taller than me someday.

Last week I was realizing that her footie pajamas were all a little too small, and I better go dig out the bigger size. That's when it DAWNED on me that Annaliese is 7 months old, and still wearing 3-6 month pajamas. I have to blame this on Kalia. (Hear me out on this one). Kalia started crawling at 4 months, before she could even sit up on her own. And she started taking steps at the age that Annaliese is now (remember the video I posted of her last year, at 7 1/2 months? That movie blows my mind now that I see what a normal 7 month old baby is doing.) Anyway, since I don't know any better, my unconscious mind still thinks that Annaliese is 4 months old.

That was fun for a first-time Mom, but from here on out I know better and I want her to stay SITTING and not CRAWLING or WALKING for AS LONG AS POSSIBLE!! Especially because of her food allergies, I am going to have to keep my floor spotless which is a daunting job as you all know.

About those food allergies-- She is still very allergic to cows milk (thanks to Kalia, who dripped milk all over A's face, we know that she hasn't outgrown that one) and she still has her corn allergy. When ever I see her start spitting up a ton, (or sometimes it's a rash on the back of her neck) I know that I wasn't careful enough. She's on solids now, but several jars of fruit baby food have citric acid added to them. Citric acid is sometimes made from corn starch. And I forgot about that until the spit up started up again. So I have to stay on my toes with her. At least the vegetables don't have anything added but water. She really loves carrots and sweet potatoes. I am very cautious with any baby cereal, but so far rice cereal has been fine.

Here's a few other little things about Annaliese at this age:
1. I cut the mullet!
2. Her eyes are taking their sweet time on changing colors. They are still grey/blue with some brown streaks in them.
3. She has survived some pretty hard falls, one of which she landed face down on the ceramic tile and got a bloody nose (DANG THE BUMBO!)
4. She just started reaching out for people when she wants to go to them.
5. She's drooling again like crazy. And she started waking up at nights. Those bottom teeth better get in soon, PLEASE PLEASE!
6. She found out that standing is pretty cool, and when I go to put her on the floor in a sitting position, she locks her knees and tries to stand. Finally I just put her on her stomach which she HATES, and rolls over to her back and is just stuck there.
7. She's increasingly tolerant of Kalia who likes to hold her, squish her, roll her around, and drag her by the feet. But she does NOT like sharing the Exersaucer. (Sidenote: My mom has a picture of my older sister trying to get in a baby Walker with me, and I'm screaming my head off. I tried to find it at home but I couldn't. It's just funny to see K & A reinacting my old baby pictures.)
8. She gets REALLY UPSET when she doesn't get what she wants. She could be a real challenge when she's older. I usually see it when she's really hungry, and I'm trying to get her bottle ready, and she's reaching for it. and when I won't give it to her, she starts crying so hard it sounds like she's laughing.

9. She has a cute little voice and loves to say ba ba ba and da da da.



10. And for those of you who are wondering, she is still sleeping in a pack and play in our walk-in closet. I can't bring myself to move her in with Kalia yet. Annaliese wakes up at 5:30 for a bottle and then goes back to sleep. I can't bear the thought of Kalia waking up and STAYING awake at that hour.

11. Last but not least, she has a sort-of foot fetish going on. She will rub and scratch her feet on everything. She loves having them massaged. And sometimes when I give her a bottle, she holds onto it with her hands AND Her feet....kind of like a little monkey. I really need to get a picture of it.

6 Months Old

I told you she had a nice mullet going on! It might be time for a little snippity snip.

Happy Half-birthday to my little Anna-leecee. Latest developments:

This month she started holding her own bottle and sitting up. She's started giggling a lot too. And she no longer needs to be swaddled when sleeping. Still as cuddly as ever, and her Daddy calls her Teddy Bear. It's the most fitting nickname...of all time. 'She still seems so YOUNG to me, and I love it. Because, as we mothers love to say, "Where did the time go?"

Weight: 17 lbs (75th percentile) and my arms are starting to get a little muscle back, packing her around all the time, just like this:

Look at the baby. I'm too tired to crop out the parts I'd rather you didn't stare at.

My girls have been sick today. Kalia has been sick all week. I took her to the doctor to give myself peace of mind that it's not swine flu. Long story shortened: It's not. Just the stomach flu. It breaks my heart when she asks so sweetly for food, and I have to tell her no- and she doesn't understand why. I tried to give her rice and applesauce, but they came back up every time. yech. Today Annaliese started. I washed sheets and babies (not together) so many times today, I lost count. Both girls drank Gatorade (G2) all day and loved it. I can't believe I fed my baby Gatorade all day. Oh well. She kept it down. That's all for now folks. I must go sleep.

5 Months Old

Today Annaliese is 5 months old. Sometimes it's hard for me to believe she's that old, Kalia was pulling to a stand at this age. Annaliese is a very content little thing, and is happy to just lay on her back (and roll over occasionally). I'm grateful for a baby who is much slower paced. She is just what I needed. Here's a few things to remember- 5 months old means:

She's found her toes

She grabs everything in sight, usually that's my hair

She's usually pretty quiet, but when she babbles, she really speaks up

Her hair is thinning out (and so is mine!) and she has a lovely mullet

She is fascinated with her big sister, and smiles at her often

She is the squishiest, cuddliest little thing and I can't stop kissing her

She is taking 3 long naps a day, and still sleeping 13 hours at night (and this one took a lot of work to achieve, so we don't take it for granted.)

She gets so excited when I go in after she's been asleep, she starts kicking her legs like crazy and it sure makes me feel loved

Sometimes I can't believe this is the same baby that cried all the time, that never let me put her down, and that wouldn't sleep anywhere but my arms. That seems like a million years ago! She is the complete opposite of Kalia in every way- I can't think of a single way that they are the same, except for their hair color and eye color will probably be the same...anyway, it's just so interesting to me that two little girls could be so different. I think it means they will be even more compatible later on, at least that's how it was with me and my older sis.

Happy Days

Annaliese....oh this little thing is SUCH A HAPPY BABY!! You know, during those 2 months of miserable crying I thought "I WILL NEVER GET THROUGH THIS!" but once we got the allergies taken care of, she turned into the sweetest little thing. When she hit 4 months old (last week) I decided it was time to sleep train her, using a mix of all the books I've read on the subject. I admit, we are not 100% consistent (more like 95%) so we're probably shooting ourselves in the foot (feet?) but she is doing really well, and is probably about 90% consistent in return. She cries for about 30 seconds before naps, then sleeps for 2, sometimes 3 hours. If she gets 3 naps, she will usually sleep through the night until 6 or 7 a.m., but with 1 or 2 dream feeds in there. Every now and then she will just fight it and resist and cry for an hour or two til it's time to eat, so I have to get her up. I hope I can figure that one out. She's in her own little pack and play right now (in the walk in closet. Hey, come on, it's all we've got for now! Nice and dark!) but anyway, I AM HAVING THE HARDEST TIME FALLING ASLEEP AT NIGHT. I love co-sleeping with my babies, and I miss having a warm little head in the crook of my arm.

:( Anyway, it's worth it in the end. Oh yeah, and I was wrong about the eyes. They are turning brown after all. I guess that's one little piece of me that she got, since everyone says she looks like Samuel!! Whatever!! Here's a few recent pics of her:

Getting to the Bottom of It

Who is this baby? It's Annaliese! Look! A smile! Finally caught one. I had to post a few new details about what's been going on (and why Annaliese is feeling a bit better these days.) About a week ago we switched her over 100% to a Hypoallergenic formula by Similac called Alimentum. It's made specifically for babies with milk allergies. We tried it before, but not completely, I would still breastfeed her at night because I was too tired to bottle feed. Anyway, we did find out that this formula is the "lesser of the two evils".... She still has little bumps and rashes that pop up at least once a day, and she has cradle cap and the red ring around her little bum, but she is NOT CRYING ANYMORE!! Unless she's hungry or tired that is. It's such a dramatic difference. We are going to see the allergy doctor Wednesday to see what other formulas we can try so that maybe we can eliminate all her symptoms.

Unfortunately, she has some other things going on since we've started the formula. I hope this isn't TMI for everyone, but she has stringy mucous in her poop. We took her to a pediatrician in St. George, and it tested positive for blood in the stool. Her urine did as well. The doctor thought she might have an infection, but we're waiting on some lab stuff to see if that's the case. My gut instinct says that's not it, but I would love it if I were wrong, because an infection is an easy-fix.


We are still seeing the chiropractor, and some of you mentioned the NAET method, and that is what he is doing on her. He doesn't know how long it will take for it to work on her (he says it always works), but we've been 7 times, and I'm capping it off at 10. It hasn't worked so far. I REALLY want it to work, and I am even pumping to try to keep my milk just in case we can keep doing that. If not, so be it. I took the advice of a good friend to let Annaliese know that I love and accept her just the way she is. She seems to respond to loving words and loving touch, way more so than Kalia ever did.

This picture had to be documented: She has done this twice this week, just falling asleep sitting up in someone's arms. Usually she has to be swaddled and bounced with a binky. So I think this is a good sign. And it's so darn cute. Thanks everyone for your thoughts, prayers, and concern. Hopefully we will have more answers soon.

Update

HEATHER: Not much to report on me. I have to hold Annaliese for about 80% of my waking hours. I pretty much only put her down when Kalia needs to eat or be changed. She always wakes up when I put her down. More on her later. I am still breastfeeding her and since I'm not eating anything with milk, eggs, soy, corn, tomatoes, onions or broccoli, I have finally started losing weight again (I plateaued for awhile.) I lost 11 lbs last month and have 10 more to go, so hopefully it will keep coming off. Samuel has been patient with me, as I have not cooked or cleaned since the baby was born. Probably because he is distracted by his new toys. And because he is holding Annaliese for the other 20% of the time, and he knows why I don't get anything done. Oh yeah, I did get some new contacts. Somebody accidentally washed mine down the drain. No naming names (but it was not anyone female.) They are hard contacts (not disposable) so I hope this pair lasts me another three years. I am seeing better than ever though!0

ANNALIESE: Her pictures loaded first, so she can be first. Things are still pretty rough with her. There was improvement, but we still have a ways to go. On a positive note, she has been smiling at us for awhile. It's my favorite thing-- waking up in the mornings. She rewards me with the hugest smiles ever. Unfortunately, the SECOND the camera comes out, she looks like she's seen a ghost. Just like this picture:

Her eyes are surprisingly quite blue. We never expected that...my eyes are brown and Samuel's are green. We'll see if they stay this way.
This is Kenya (Tara's 6 month old). We've been to St. George a few times lately, my mom had surgery on her shoulder for a torn-rotator cuff.) She's such a cute chunk, and the best baby I've ever seen.

And here's the girls in matching jammies. Oh, let the matching begin. It's so cheesy and so fun.

So, here's what's going on with her health: Her reflux really got bad, so we gave in and took her to the doctor. She's now on liquid Zantac and doing much better. I guess it was $130 well spent. The doctor found that she had an EAR INFECTION from all that congestion, but that it was resolving itself. Poor little thing, no WONDER she screamed so much. Allergies, reflux, AND an ear infection? Anyway, the allergies are really giving us a hard time still. Milk, soy, and corn are the worst...we've learned through trial and error. The good news is that she doesn't seem to be allergic to wheat. The bad news is the corn-- She is just miserable. So I quit eating it---but it's in SO many things--including baby formula. Even the non-milk and non-soy and the "hypoallergenic formulas" --one of the main ingredients is corn. (I didn't know that. It's like, corn syrup solids and stuff like that.) So it's like...which is the lesser of the two evils...formula with a little corn, or breastmilk with traces of other things? I am trying really hard to not eat anything that bothers her. We also started taking her to a chiropractor. He was referred to us by a friend (he cleared up her boys' allergies in just 5 visits) so we are hopeful that he can help Annaliese too.

I had to take her to the pediatrician again on Monday because she screamed so bad on Sunday night, we almost took her to the emergency room. I was in St. George and my mom and Tara and everybody heard the cries, and they all think something is really wrong with her. The doctor found that it's not her ears (finally better) or throat, but a possible urinary tract infection. They found a little bit of infection in a urine sample, and they've sent it away to do a culture. I don't know what to think, because sometimes she's pretty good during the day (when she's held) but is really fussy at night. So it's almost like we've come full circle. Back to COLIC. Anyway, I am just doing my best to make her comfortable, but it kills me that I can't always ease her discomfort. I think I am tense all the time (and I'm sure she picks up on it and it makes her even more nervous.) Anyway, she really has a sweet little spirit, and I love her to bits, but the Lord is testing me in so many ways with this, and I just keep hoping that I'm learning whatever it is He wants me to learn. Here's a happy moment.

KALIA: Thank goodness, she has FINALLY adjusted to having a sibling. She is not clingy anymore and she's doing so much better with Nursery (she's barely 17 months but they're letting her go anyway) and with babysitters.

My favorite thing that she does is when Barney is on (the same episode, about 6 times a day) she hears the "I love you" song and she comes running to me, wherever I am, and gives me kisses and hugs. She's really become affectionate and I love it. She's talking a lot too, and likes to repeat the last word of sentences. She's really loving spaghetti noodles ("noo-nos") and slurps them up like a pro.

It was pretty funny, over the weekend in St. George we heard her crying a lot, but we just ignored her. Finally someone went and found her on the stairs, stuck. Somehow she'd gotten both legs into her pajamas. Yes, she still has her binkies. I'm not going to try to wean her yet, because Annaliese is taking a binky and so they're all over the house. We'll figure that one out later.

She's getting a lot of teeth, and I don't do her hair unless we go out (basically that's only for church.) So she does run around looking like a little rag-a-muffin (sp?), but I'm okay with it. It's really the least of my worries.

She got this little playhouse for Christmas, it's called the Rose Petal cottage, and it is so adorable. She's a little young to play pretend; I'm sure she'll like the cottage even more as she gets older. But she sure loves it when I crawl in there and read her stories. I miss all the time I used to have with her, but we'll all just have to get over it.

She is so funny and constantly makes me laugh (much needed laughter!!) Whenever we go outside, she either hops or jogs everywhere. I need to get a video of that. She brings me so much joy and I really do love this age.

Just two little clips of the girls. I was trying to get Kalia to talk about her "boyfriend" but she was a little too involved in her book. And this is just a short clip of Annaliese so you can see how she looks. She's almost 3 months old. Well, both babies are screaming now, so....I am done blogging for the day. Goodbye.

Improvements!!!

Wow, you guys, SERIOUSLY, THANK YOU SO MUCH. Your advice and suggestions and love and support were SOOOOOOOO HELPFUL in so many different ways. We've seen some major improvements in the last week, and here's what's helping:

1. We put her on an expensive fomula for a few days (specifically for allergies and colic) but it HELPED! She immediately stopped with the rashes and the crying and reflux improved too.

2. I went on a completely dairy-free, egg-free diet. I won't lie. IT HAS BEEN HARD. I feel hungry for a lot of the day. I am basically only eating fruits, veggies, and some meat here and there. I am having major carbohydrate and junk food withdrawls (since sooo much of that crap has milk and eggs in it) but it is getting easier, and the best parts are:
*A* Annaliese is nursing again and doing much better. She still breaks out in a little rash every now and then, but then I can trace it back to something I ate with TRACES of milk or egg in it, and so I'm getting better at not eating things that she reacts too.
*B* I'm eating much healthier. I never would have had the willpower to do it for my own good.
*C* I've lost a few pounds already since starting it.

3. My friend Emily knows sooo much about herbal remedies and what is helpful for what, etc. She gave me some Coral Calcium powder, some Slippery Elm Powder, some Aloe Vera Juice, and some peppermint. She really urged me to do what felt right to me, and since Annaliese kind of refused the "master mix" I made her of ALL that stuff, I really felt strongest to give her lots of Coral Calcium. (Then later I started with more Slippery Elm, to help coat her stomach and intestines and help the reflux.) I'm not sure WHAT is doing WHAT but she started pooping at least once a day, sleeping more both day and night, she only cries for little bits here and there after eating, and her nightly "screaming episodes" are down to about 10-15 minutes, IF AT ALL!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS???

4. We give her tiny doses of Mylanta for instant relief when she's hurting. Don't worry, I read online that it's okay, the infant does is 1/8 of tsp (althought I confess we give her more sometimes). If she doesn't continue to improve, I will go ahead and take her to the doctor.

5. I do squats and lunges with her to get her to stop crying, and that works too. And my legs are toning right up. Thanks Mel, for telling me about that trick!

6. Today after she ate she really started crying in pain, and so I tried a new trick-- I turned on a blowdryer and just held it by her ear (pointed away of course) and she stopped crying immediately. 5 minutes later I was able to rock her to sleep. GOOD TO KNOW!

Soo...it appears the worst is over. I am feeling so much better. I got a good chunk of sleep the other night (thanks to Samuel and also some Melatonin) and it's just so true, everything is easier when you're not so tired!! Also, Emily gave me an herbal mix called "Happy Juice" and that stuff makes me feel good--the emotional equivalent of a good workout, I'd say! If anybody wants to know more about that awesome stuff, please ask!!

Annaliese is just a different baby. She is smiling so much more and her eyes are brighter and she's more alert. As soon as our insurance comes through (any day now) I am going to take her to the doctor anyway just to have a chat with him, and also find out when I can get her tested for allergies and maybe asthma. She's still wheezing and stuff, but not as bad. I'd also like to know if I should eliminate (or add back) anything into my diet.

I'm just so grateful that things are finally turning. The last month has been miserable. Finally things seem to be making sense, and I can look back and see that I WAS learning from it all, and hopefully progessing in the eternal scheme of things. I hope I can add "improved patience" as a benefit from all this too. It's felt like quite the refiners fire, but I was told in a blessing that things were "working together for my good" and of course I need to trust that, even when I can't see it when things get too hot in that fire.

Thank you again for your loving support and for all the great ideas. I'll (of course) keep you updated on things.