Saturday, July 12, 2008
Slow down, baby!
Is it wrong of me to want Claire to slow down her growth and development? I feel like it's all happening too fast! Plus, sometimes I look at her, and I wonder if it really is happening too early?! The teeth growing, the sitting up, the drinking from a straw and a cup, the wanting to feed herself ... I keep wanting to tell her to slow down, baby!
Our First Trip -- the dirty details
Just got back from Aspen ... our family real family trip. I have to say, before going out there, I had no qualms at all about traveling with her. Although I was nervous about the plane ride (and being "those people"), lots of folks have told me that babies just get lulled to sleep by the engine, so I figured that would be the worst of it.
On our flight from Dallas to Vail, Claire did not sleep. She wasn't exactly "that" baby, but she refused to settle down, didn't want to take her (overdue) nap, and was not happy being confined to a seat. Luckily, it's only a 2 hour flight, there was an empty seat in our row so that we could spread out, and our flight attendant didn't mind when I ended up walking with her up the aisle. She fell asleep as the plane was landing. I give Claire a C- ... James gave her an F.
My parents picked us up in Vail to drive us the hour and a half to Aspen. Claire, who usually sleeps in the car, proceeded to have a meltdown for the first 15 minutes or so. I gave her a D ... James gives her an F.
Once in Aspen, things were much better. We all had a touch of altitude sickness ... the worst of it for Claire was when we went up the Aspen mountain gondola and Claire threw up (not spit up) while we were up there. I give me and James an F for putting our baby through that ordeal. :(
The biggest drama of the week ended up being a non-pooping baby. Claire was a VERY poopy baby (think multiple times a day) up until she started solids and formula a month ago. Since then, it's been a little bit more here and there, but never more than 2 days. While in Aspen, she went from Friday until Wednesday without doing her business. It became a pretty big deal to where I called the pediatrician to ask for advice. They suggested brown sugar w/water first ... Claire didn't like it much, but she drank it. Nothing. Next, diluted apple and/or prune juice; Claire didn't like either. How did I end up with a child that doesn't like sweets?! So, nothing. Added in a little rectal stimulation. Still nada. In the end, we ended up with the suppository to do the trick, and suddenly we went from fussy to happy baby!
So, again to summarize ... Saturday through Thursday were "eh", poop on Thursday morning, and then Thursday and Friday were fabulous! Saturday (this morning) Claire did a great job on the trip back to Vail (A) and was the best baby ever on the plane (A+!).
The trip itself was good. I love seeing my whole family together, and everyone loves Claire so much. Claire had tons of firsts, growth, and development -- she's sitting up on her own without tripoding, she holds her straw like a real adult, she went in the pool for the first time -- and it was nice to hang out with her for long periods of time. I haven't been able to spend just normal days with her since my maternity leave, so I really enjoyed this quality time.
Next vacation ... Outer Banks in October for Daphne's wedding! I'll have my supplies ready. :)
On our flight from Dallas to Vail, Claire did not sleep. She wasn't exactly "that" baby, but she refused to settle down, didn't want to take her (overdue) nap, and was not happy being confined to a seat. Luckily, it's only a 2 hour flight, there was an empty seat in our row so that we could spread out, and our flight attendant didn't mind when I ended up walking with her up the aisle. She fell asleep as the plane was landing. I give Claire a C- ... James gave her an F.
My parents picked us up in Vail to drive us the hour and a half to Aspen. Claire, who usually sleeps in the car, proceeded to have a meltdown for the first 15 minutes or so. I gave her a D ... James gives her an F.
Once in Aspen, things were much better. We all had a touch of altitude sickness ... the worst of it for Claire was when we went up the Aspen mountain gondola and Claire threw up (not spit up) while we were up there. I give me and James an F for putting our baby through that ordeal. :(
The biggest drama of the week ended up being a non-pooping baby. Claire was a VERY poopy baby (think multiple times a day) up until she started solids and formula a month ago. Since then, it's been a little bit more here and there, but never more than 2 days. While in Aspen, she went from Friday until Wednesday without doing her business. It became a pretty big deal to where I called the pediatrician to ask for advice. They suggested brown sugar w/water first ... Claire didn't like it much, but she drank it. Nothing. Next, diluted apple and/or prune juice; Claire didn't like either. How did I end up with a child that doesn't like sweets?! So, nothing. Added in a little rectal stimulation. Still nada. In the end, we ended up with the suppository to do the trick, and suddenly we went from fussy to happy baby!
So, again to summarize ... Saturday through Thursday were "eh", poop on Thursday morning, and then Thursday and Friday were fabulous! Saturday (this morning) Claire did a great job on the trip back to Vail (A) and was the best baby ever on the plane (A+!).
The trip itself was good. I love seeing my whole family together, and everyone loves Claire so much. Claire had tons of firsts, growth, and development -- she's sitting up on her own without tripoding, she holds her straw like a real adult, she went in the pool for the first time -- and it was nice to hang out with her for long periods of time. I haven't been able to spend just normal days with her since my maternity leave, so I really enjoyed this quality time.
Next vacation ... Outer Banks in October for Daphne's wedding! I'll have my supplies ready. :)
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Projectile Vomiting and Bleeding Scalps
Last Sunday, Claire tried a new food. Having mastered rice cereal and bananas (she's more fond of the former than the latter), we thought we'd try something new and selected sweet potatoes (the baby food variety) as the winner. James and I bought the organic kind from Babies R Us, and Claire ate it for dinner very eagerly.
Later than evening, Claire was also super fussy due to teething (we think) so we gave her some Tylenol before going to bed. I was holding my little angle after she finished her formula just gently rocking when .... BLEEEEEEEEEECH ... she proceeds to vomit all over me, herself, the glider, and pretty much everything else in our vicinity. I sat there in horror for a second debating me options while Claire sits and grins at me. The girl has spit up before, but never this much. I didn't even know her stomach could hold that much food!
"James!" I call hoping he can hear me through the monitor. "Jaaaammmmmmeeeessss!" Nothing. I kind of pick her up but hobbling because I want to avoid driping any more spew and head to our bathroom. As I strip her down to put her in her bouncy chair (we keep it in our bathroom), I noticed that there was a red mark by her eye. Geez, not only did she throw up, she scratched her eye! I grab a face towel off the ring and wipe her down before heading to the changing table to re-dress her.
I get the diaper on (it's an increasingly difficult job as she becomes more mobile) and a sleep sack on when I notice the red mark has grown to cover her entire face. Horrified, I reopen her sleep sack and see that the blotchiness covers her entire body!
Later than evening, Claire was also super fussy due to teething (we think) so we gave her some Tylenol before going to bed. I was holding my little angle after she finished her formula just gently rocking when .... BLEEEEEEEEEECH ... she proceeds to vomit all over me, herself, the glider, and pretty much everything else in our vicinity. I sat there in horror for a second debating me options while Claire sits and grins at me. The girl has spit up before, but never this much. I didn't even know her stomach could hold that much food!
"James!" I call hoping he can hear me through the monitor. "Jaaaammmmmmeeeessss!" Nothing. I kind of pick her up but hobbling because I want to avoid driping any more spew and head to our bathroom. As I strip her down to put her in her bouncy chair (we keep it in our bathroom), I noticed that there was a red mark by her eye. Geez, not only did she throw up, she scratched her eye! I grab a face towel off the ring and wipe her down before heading to the changing table to re-dress her.
I get the diaper on (it's an increasingly difficult job as she becomes more mobile) and a sleep sack on when I notice the red mark has grown to cover her entire face. Horrified, I reopen her sleep sack and see that the blotchiness covers her entire body!
My options run through my head ... was it the sweet potatoes? The Tylenol? The formula? Can I give her Benadryl if she just had Tylenol? But what if she threw it up?! I run into her bath past James who's trying to clean off the glider and dunk her into the tub and sponge her off. Luckily, it seems to work even though she's still a little itchy in the head.Crisis averted, we noticed that there was some booming noises outside. The Castle Hills 4th of July celebration (yes, on 29th). Our little family unit gathered on the window seat in our dining room to watch the show and settle down after all the drama.
And bleeding scalp? Claire's head itches either due to eczema or cradle cap, so she's been scratching in a comical hand on head scratch-scratch-scratch kind of way. We're forcing her to wear a sleeper with mittens at night so she doesn't scratch at night, but we don't want to do that during the day because of developmental reasons. The girl is FAST and can get those little fingers into her hair in less than a second; one day, she managed to scratch herself on the scalp enough to make it bleed! That day, socks on the hands WERE the solution. Urgh ... she's a mess ... but oh, so cute. :)
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