I'm Ready To Talk About It

It has taken me a week, but I am finally ready to talk about the worst day of my adult life.

Last Thursday was by far the worst day of my life! Poor Miss Elise has been battling reflux and really bad gas. She also has the privilege of having colic too! And Yes reflux is different than colic. What that means is she cries A LOT!!! On a normal day we would have crying from 4pm-10pm with a few 10-15 min breaks. She also will cry throughout the day for really what seems to be no reason. I just change her diaper, feed her, try to get some gas passed and then just hold on until the crying stops. I can handle that. It sucks a lot, but I can deal with it. Very different from big brother Ryan who never cried! Elise is making up for both of them. Everyone warned me this would happen and silly me thought "No way-both my babies will be angels"--let me first say Elise is an Angel and very content when she is not crying-she just is crying 90% of the time (at least it seems that much)

So last Thursday started pretty normal. Both kids up, ate breakfast, and played. Ryan went down for nap (Elise was fussy but not bad) I was rocking little Miss Pretty (as I call her) and had a great conversation with my sister in law Erin. I hung up and was thinking it was time for Miss Pretty to nap and that is pretty much were everything went to HELL!!
Elise started to cry-no big shock, but then she continued. She started at 11am and did not stop until 10pm--yes you read right nine hours of non-stop crying!! I shouldn't say that. I think I had her settled and almost asleep three times were she was quiet maybe for 5-10 min.

Now this was not just crying that is normal--this was turn your face red shrieking kind of crying. I tried everything, gas drops, gripe water, walking, sitting, rocking, feeding, patting, bouncing, shhhh-ing, white noise, loud music, EVERYTHING!!! But alas Little Miss Pretty was having none of it. She just cried and cried.

Now at this point you might be asking, "Did you call the DR.?" and the answer is No, I could not even get my head straight enough to think of doing that. You may also be asking "Did you call anyone for help?" Again the answer is No--honestly did not even cross my mind!! You will probably also ask "What was Ryan doing?" He is so amazing, he just went about his day playing, getting into things, eating, and napping. He would try to come and kiss the baby and pat her like he always does but that is it!! It was like we were having a perfectly normal day! He makes life just a little easier, not just by being good, but also just by how happy he is. He makes my heart sing :)

Now not only was this going on, but I also had a little bit of stomach distress going on. This meant that I was frequently holding the baby while having a bit of the Cha-Cha-Cha, which I know seems crazy, but when I set her down she screamed like she was going to explode, so what else could I do?!?

So here is were it gets to be really bad: In retrospect this is all my fault :(
Ryan used to like to be pat pretty solidly to get himself settled down. He also liked his paci. So I tried patting and bouncing like I did Ryan-which I will say was pretty aggressive, but it always made Ryan feel better. I was doing all of these things and now in retrospect realize was keeping her awake. So basically I forced my 5 week old daughter to stay awake for nine straight hours! I am shocked CPS isn't at my door!!
I have now learned my little delicate flower just likes her back rubbed gently with the slightest pat pat here and there to relieve her gas...and it works!! My little flower also does not like the paci or anything else put in her mouth that she does not want. She will scream if you try to give her the breast when she is not ready for it!!
I also was trying to feed her because I thought she might not be getting enough milk. This is where I again went wrong. I was giving her the breast about every hour to hour and a half. What I really was doing was making it so her little digestive system had to work overtime to try and get out all the food I was giving her. I also have a very aggressive letdown, which means that she has to gulp the milk to keep up with it. This then gives her more gas!! So basically I was making her reflux waaaay worse than it had to be. This is where I hate breastfeeding. You never really know how much they are getting, and when you have a little one who cries about everything, you never know if it is because they are hungry or not. But...I digress

So, to recap I overfed, over bounced, over patted, and did just about everything I could do to make my little girl miserable for an entire day

I now have learned she likes to eat about every three hours, she likes to be in a baby carrier the entire day-including her naps, so I am pretty much attached to her from the time she wakes up until the time she gets her bath. I have also learned she IS a delicate little flower who has to be handled very gently.

I also no longer drink coffee or eat/drink anything acidic and I also am trying to cut all milk/milk products from my diet. This includes any food made with milk in it. This is to rule out MPI (milk protein intolerance) Bacon and eggs, here I come!!!

Well, wish me luck and say a prayer for me. A friend said to me every day will get microscopically better, until one day it won't seem so bad.

What A Great Birthday

My Birthday is still a few days away, but my babysitters are leaving town tomorrow so husband and I had to take advantage of them before they left (which they throughly enjoy)

Friday Ryan spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa, while Elise got to spend some much needed Mommy/Daddy alone time. The three of us ate dinner at Olive Garden, seeing as though it is normally her VERY fussy time, we thought a family friendly place was needed. To our amazement she slept the whole time happily in my arms! She just was tired of her loud big brother.

Saturday Elise, Mike and I had a very leisurely breakfast out and then we picked up Ryan. Mike and I then went to see "Alice in wonderland" in 3D. It was really awesome!! Finally a Disney movie with a female character I can get behind!! No "Princess" waiting around to get "saved" by some guy...Alice was a girl who found out she could make choices for herself without doing what others thought she should in both real life and wonderland. AND it was the girl who saved everyone by slaying the big bad monster. Again-Finally a movie I can endorse as good for a little girl, or boy to watch. Yay-go girls...No Sissy Girl for me :0)
After that Mike and I enjoyed a few adult beverages, just the two of us for the first time in I couldn't even tell you how long!!!

Mike also let me guess my birthday gift, which I did successfully!! Go Me!!
So I am getting (it arrives Monday) a new Camera!! Something I have been wanting since Ryan has been born. The catch was I wanted a REALLY nice camera. So I got a fancy Sony SLR which will let me take the amazing photos I want to take! No more missing the cute baby moments that you only get a split second to capture, which was impossible with the stupid point and shoot I had. It was SO slow I barely could get a pic of Ryan at all!!

So Sunday is here and we are enjoying an awesome day around the house...just the four of us and it feels great!!

Little Miss Elise is doing so much better now that her Reflux meds have kicked in and I have also quit coffee completely...it wasn't the caffeine, but the acidic coffee that was also making her tummy upset. Oh how I will miss it...but it is not forever and I would rather have my little peanut feel good instead of enjoy my favorite beverage in the world!

You know you have been wearing maternity underwear too long...

So I was getting dressed this morning and I pulled out a pair of underwear, and realized they were a pair of baby pants! This is what you get for not 1. folding your underwear and 2. wearing maternity underwear for way too long!!

My poor husband...how patient is he!

I guess that will be the good news losing the baby weight, I can wear normal clothes again. At this point I have no idea what normal even will be! Will I go back to my old size, or will I get to enjoy building a whole new wardrobe in another size. I know from the short time I wasn't pregnant, that just because your weight is in the range does not mean that everything goes back into the same place it was before!

This also goes for wearing breast accessible clothing. Unfortunately for my husband, this is not for his enjoyment. This is for ease in whipping it out for my 5 week old while corralling my 13 month old. It truly is amazing what you learn how to do in a pinch.

This new thing I thought I would I would try

My lovely sister-in-law Erin started a blog when she got pregnant with her little man. She was able to document the whole way for her family and friends to see what she was up to. I thought that was a pretty cool idea and she suggested I do one to. I thought what the heck, can't take but a few minutes here and there and this would be a good way keep a sort of diary of the craziness I currently call my life and also a nice way for my family far and close to keep tabs on our nutty family.

So I hope you enjoy. I will as always probably give TMI (Too Much Information), something I can't seem to stop myself from doing, and also post some pics of the kids and keep you up to date on what is up.

Wish me luck!! We have started on a crazy journey raising two kids 12 months and 5 days apart, at the very least it will be entertaining!!