Mommy Blogging

The new buzzword these days is "Mommy blogging". There has been a recent media blitz about mommy blogging, including on Nightline and NBC.

The queen of the mother bloggers is Dooce. And by queen, I mean that she and her husband quit their jobs and make a living off of her blog. The Wall Street Journal and other recent media have estimated the amount to be about $40,000 a month. What the?!?! I make .40 cents on Google Adsense and I giggle like a school girl. "Oh my mom must have clicked something." $40,000 a month! DG and I look at each other, sigh and start dreaming.

So the question that I ask myself is, "Gasp, Have I Become a Mommy Blogger?". And the answer is, well, um, ::foot shuffling::, sort of.

In the late 90's, every Monday morning, I would draft a "Monday morning email" to all my girlfriends detailing my lascivious rambunctiousness of the previous week-end. At the time, it was my own version of Sex in the City. It was the standard stuff, you know like drinking excessively, having guys pick up your tab and then take you to a strip club and give you a hundred dollars in $1 bills for the ladies, taking a cab home at 4am only to have the cab driver recognize you from the week before, going out at 10:30 am for a bloody mary and stumbling home 12 hours later wearing a 1/2 eaten candy necklace, or one of my personal favorites, going home with a guy I liked, only to have his girlfriend waiting for him outside of his apartment. Oh the good old days.

Anyway, I've always said this blog is ABOUT ME, so when I went and got engaged, my blog was about weddings. And through a natural progression of life, we now have a baby, so I blog about her because she's the cutest freaking thing I've ever seen. But now, instead of fun urban hip girl, I am suburban Mommy Blogger. I've gone from Girls Gone Wild to Girls Gone Child.

I'm not sure where this is leading other than to say that I post pictures of her so people out there, her grandparents mostly and my friends who are so far away can feel closer to us and watch her grow up. But have no fear, I'm sure I'll try to fit in some more sex, drugs and rock and roll. And by drugs I mean Vitamin C and Ibuprofen; and by sex, I mean watching Gibson hump Tica; and by Rock and Roll I mean GO buy the new Death Cab Cutie album because it is awesome.

What Motherhood Means

On my first Mother's Day, I realized that I do not yet associate myself with being a mother. I mean I do know that by all technical use of the word that I AM a mother. I do all the standard things that new mother's do, like panic over the details, check to see if she's still breathing in the middle of the night, try to make sure her socks match etc. But just being the milk machine and chief soother does not make me a Mother. I think motherhood is deeper than that. It is a level to which I have not yet achieved.

That being said, one thing that I am really excited for in Motherhood is the passing on of tradition, something that my mother passed on to me. So it is with great excitement that this week-end we introduced the annual planting the pots.

Ok, Hadley, the first thing you do is buy a bunch of pretty flowers. Next year, you can help me pick out all of your favorite colors.

Now we talk about each of the flower names. These are pansies. They are your Nana's favorites! Today we picked out white and purple ones to be different from last year.

And finally, here is where we will let you get your hands in the dirt and make lots of mud and then chase Gibson and Tica screaming and smear it on them. But since you are not old enough yet, we'll let you stare for a little while longer at the pretty colors.

Ask and the Lord Shall Giveth

And on the 11th day, the Lord sayeth "Let Hadley poop"!

Now why didn't I think to make a shout out when I was pregnant, eating bran/flaxseed muffins, chugging Metamucil, and throwing down 7 prunes at a time with a Milk of Magnesia Chaser?

On the Pooping Prayer Chain

I've been beginning a lot of my posts with "When we were in the Hospital". Here I'll just say, during our unfortunate stay with the delightful staff at Children's, Hadley's name and our family were on quite a few prayer lists throughout the country. My mother had all of Connecticut covered with every American Baptist Church in the state. My aunt informed me that the Catholics in San Antonio, Texas were praying for us. I believe we had quite a few shout outs from Iowa, Colorado, and Arizona as well. With that many people talking to God, no wonder God listened. Even though we have been home from the hospital now for over a week, we remain in people's prayers and Hadley's face has been inserted into many the church bulletin.

Just tonight, my dad informed me that he has some Catholic friends in Connecticut now praying for Hadley to poop. (Note: She has not pooped on her own since April 9, and it has now been 9 days since she has gone at all. The stimulation, massage, and suppositories are not working. We have moved on to Milk of Magnesia, which I have a case of left over from my pregnancy.) It warms the cockles of my heart, (and not just because I LOVE poop talk) to think that the bowel movements of my baby girl are in the prayers of people across the country. A pooping prayer chain, no request too big or too small I guess.

And so, we are now in countdown to poop mode. Come on poopy diaper.

One Big Happy Family

DG just got this picture of us from 2 months ago at an engagement party. It was so warm in the room we were in, that the little nugget just cashed out. Even though this picture is pre-botulism, nothing much has changed. We are still smiling, she is still cute when she sleeps, and that black sweater is still my standard "I'm going out and need something without spit up on it" look.

Splish Splash We Were Taking a Bath

Knock-Knock


Who's There?


Dwayne


Dwayne Who?

Dwain the bafthtub, I'mb dwowning.

The Weight of the World

While we were in the hospital, I didn't eat much the first couple of days, and then I ate salad for every meal for a week. From day one, DG ate donuts, hamburgers, french fries, coke, and ice cream for EVERY meal. I will tell you a gazillion times, I am not exaggerating. Ask him. It got to the point, where I had to ask him to stop because the french fries were flying off his plate and jumping into my mouth, two at a time. Then we got home and he informs me that he lost 2 lbs while we were in the hospital. Hrrumph.

UPDATE: I've started getting phone calls from Hadley's fan club because I haven't been posting enough updates! Hadley has been eating very well on her own, but when we went into the doctor last Tuesday she had lost an ounce. The doctor is not overly concerned, but we are trying to bulk up on calories by giving her more concentrated formula along with the breast milk. But as far as I am concerned, every day is great progress. She is holding her head up nicely, and though she can't do this anymore, we are working towards it every day with our own form of physical therapy.

Thumb Sucker

Hadley has found her thumb, which we currently think is very cute. When she's 10 however, and still sucking away, that's another story.

In other good news, we removed Hadley's feeding tube this morning. She's been doing really well eating on her own and we were mostly using it to supplement her diet. The doctor will let us know tomorrow if we need to put another one in.

Just Another Run of the Mill Friday Night

There I was on Friday night, checking out at Walgreens with the above items. I was so sure that the cashier was thinking "Whoa, she's about to have an exciting week-end". She didn't even blink an eye.

Along with the rest of her body, Hadley's bowels have not caught up to her muscle strength (ie. she's not pooping). And one very valuable lesson that I have learned from my father, "Your ouput NEEDS to equal your input!" At the hospital, the nurses took care of the daily suppositories. I was hoping that this would be DGs job when we got home, but I drew the small pinky finger, so got stuck with the task. Just another part of parenting they don't mention in the baby manuals.

We are home

The plan was to discharge us today. However, after rounds yesterday, we asked (ie. pleaded, begged, offered to clean bedpans) if we could go. We nodded confidently that we were quite able to do the NG tube feedings and they agreed to release us with a promise of a doctor's visit the next day. The moral of this story is, you never know unless you ask!

Here is a demonstration of what it takes to feed her through a tube. First we attempt to feed her via breast/bottle. If she eats less than 3 oz. then whatever is left goes into the tube. First, using a syringe, we pump 5ml of air into the tube and using a stethoscope, listen to her stomach to hear the phht of air. And um yeah, phht is the correct technical verbage. If we hear the phht, then the tube is positioned properly in the stomach and not in her lungs. Then we fill the syringe with breast milk and let gravity take effect. We will do this every 3 hours until she is strong enough to eat on her own again, which we hope will be early next week. We've also learned how to remove the tube, though if it comes out, I'm not so sure that I would want to try and put it back.

DG and I slept in the same bed for the first time in 2 weeks. Life is good.

Not the Vacation I Had in Mind

The average length of stay in the hospital for a baby with botulism that got the drug Baby Big is 2.2 weeks. Day 11 and we are officially ready to go home. Hadley's personality has come back, giggles and all, and she is showing some new traits. For example, whenever there are doctors and nurses in the room she is so patient that doesn't let out a peep (like her mother) and instead she flirts and smiles like an attention starved shut-in. (like her father.) I think if she talked, she would know all of their names and life stories, and they would know all about the bees, her frog, and the wieners.

We were moved out of the PICU last Friday, yay! Though we are no longer constantly monitored, this means that we now have our own bathroom and shower and we don't have to share one bathroom with 26 other patients. We also are allowed to have food in our room. However, we now do not have the luxury of taking a walk when she is asleep.

Right now, we are working with occupational therapy to get her strong enough to suck and swallow. We've been practicing several times a day, putting her to my breast, and today we worked with a bottle filled with 1/2 ounce of milk. Once she is able to eat on her own for 24 hours, we will be able to go home. They were supposed to pull up the feeding tube from her small intestine into her stomach this morning to do bolus feedings. However after 2 xrays, they had not pulled out enough. So they are going to try again tomorrow. Currently, she is on a steady flow of food at an ounce an hour. When they pull the feeding tube back, they will go to 3 ounces every 3 hours. This will help to give her that full feeling and take longer naps. (We hope.)

Counting down the days until we bust out of this joint.

Reunited and it Feels So Good

When I held Hadley last night for the first time in 6 days, not only was it a relief for me, but for her, it was like she was home. It reminds me of the lyrics to my favorite Breeders song "I am the Sun, I am the New Year, I am the Way Home, I am the Way Home." Relief washed over her, she no longer needed anti-anxiety medicine and she sighed and fell asleep.

We are doing so well, back to our old jovial selves and other than a little sleep deprivation, eating excessive amounts of donuts, muffins, and ice cream from the cafeteria. Comfort through food.

Since we've been here, the support of our friends has been amazing. My first night here, Lora stayed on the phone with me late, helping me to calm down and fall asleep. She then came here every day to visit, rub our backs and bring us food. The minute I called Holly and told her what happened she left work and came to the hospital. Jinnie spent an entire day here allowing us to take breaks and eat and she keeps bringing us meals all the time. Cynthia and Jeff have been baby sitting the wieners, who are no doubt delighted to get extra cheerios fed to them by 2 year old Elliot. Last night, our friend Jay brought us Greek Town, YUM! And then today, I had two special colorful cards delivered to the room for Hadley. My friend Tara, all the way in NJ found email greetings here on the Children's Hospital site. Thanks Tara, that was so cute. We then got another one from my Aunt Betty. What a fun treat to brighten our day. Again, I can't thank you all enough for the well wishes.

Talking to the Bees

Hadley was extubated last night and I can't tell you how excited we are. It was so fast the way they whipped that tube right out of her. We anxiously awaited her cry which finally came as a mousy squeek. I had not held her since Friday so I danced around the bed waiting. When they finally put her in my arms, it was like being reunited with your true love. She is still on the feeding tube and they have oxygen in her nose as well, but she is doing so well. Every day we see her move more. Just yesterday she tried to turn her head. We're hoping to be out of the ICU soon.

Here is a video that I took on April 4 of this year. I posted it to YouTube and originally just sent it to the grandparents, because I thought it would only be of interest to them. However, DG and I are finding it to be great medicine for us to remember how she was just last week.



DG also posted a picture of Hadley in the hospital flickr. Click here to see it.

Children's Hospital in Denver

Hadley is regaining strength little by little every day. She is doing such a good job breathing on her own, but they are looking at two things before extubating her. 1) Her negative pressure, or the air she breathes out is not quite up to the level they want yet and 2) She's drooling so much that they are afraid she is not strong enough to swallow yet, and upon removal of the tube they don't want her drool to go into her lungs. They let her breathe on her own for an hour today and even though she did very well, she seemed a little fatigued by it, so they will probably wait another day and try it again tomorrow. The minute that tube comes out, I told her to watch out because I am coming in like a hurricane to scoop her up. I haven't been able to hold her since last Friday. *sniff* When I was washing my pumping supplies in the sink the other day, I found myself rocking back and forth in her favorite comfort move.

Here is a good analogy of what she is going though:Botulism is what gets injected into Botox patients because it kills the nerve endings and doesn't allow the muscles to move. Ultimately this is what has happened to Hadley. The toxin in her system started killing her nerve endings turning her into a rag doll. The medicine has started to kill the toxin, but once the nerve endings are dead, they need time to regenerate and depending on where they were in their life cycle is how long the recovery is. She gains back more movement every day. Just tonight with her Nana here, she started smiling and laughing.

We could not possible be in a better hospital. Not only is this brand new facility beautiful, but the staff is amazing. When we first checked in, I joked about how gorgeous everyone was. I felt like I was on the set of a tv show. First a hot male nurse brought us into the ER, hubba hubba. Then an even prettier woman came to give Hadley her IV. Even the resident who kept coming in to ask us questions over the 6 hours we were there was a Hottie McHoterson. And they are not just beautiful, they have great nurturing personalities. Yesterday morning, the ER nurse saw me in the cafeteria and came over to ask how Hadley was doing. She relayed that they were all so stumped by her condition, but they had heard she had botulism and they all started reading up on it, and studying the information so next time they would be better informed. Then yesterday afternoon, the young resident from the Short Term stay ward where we started came down to see how she was doing too. They get cases on that floor like asthma, severe colds and rashes, not usually something so serious. After listening to him talk about how he keeps reliving that day, I realized that it was a bit of a whirlwind for them as well. Last Friday night, Hadley's pediatrician stopped in for the ENG test and stayed for over 2 hours with us until we found out the results. And just today, the pediatric nurse from the pediatricians office who recommended that I come to the ER, came to visit with a present for Hadley. She had been so worried about us that she called the hospital every couple of hours the first 2 days we were here.

I've also received visits from the nutrition, lactation, and child development specialists, all with great information on what we can do for Hadley. Child development brought in lullaby's to play for her and a mobile to put on her crib. This woman was so giddy over this mobile because in the 10 years she has worked in PICU, they couldn't find a mobile without all of the plush animals on it that could not be washed. This is plastic and they made colorful laminated cards to hang from it.

So we are well on our way to recovery. Thank you so much for all of the emails of support. It's like a big giant hug from everyone we know, making us feel so loved. My dad told me that he would start feeling better when I feel better, and I feel great. So rest assured that we WILL make it through this.

Infant Botulism Recovery

Everyone has been so kind and wonderful with their emails. Thanks to everyone for their well wishes. I will continue to try and update the blog as I am finding it a bit cathartic to get my thoughts written. I wait until she is asleep at the end of the day to start.

Hadley woke up at 8am with big eyes ready to take on the day. By then they had increased the amount of breast milk being fed to her to 1 ounce an hour. This is a lot for a girl that normally only eats 18-20 oz. a day. But they need to make up for the days that she was unable to eat. Thursday and Friday I had been attempting to feed her using a dropper, like a little bird. By Friday morning however, after an ounce, she started choking on it, so they had to suction out her mouth and nose. There were afraid that her inability to swallow would push the liquid into her lungs causing other problems, so we were not allowed to feed her any more. They told me she would have to feed off the fat of the land, which when you look at her little chubby legs, looks good. However at her 4 month visit, she was only 12lb 3 oz, and in the 25% for weight. She probably lost 1/2 lb or so over this time, so she needs the extra calories.

Also this morning, the respiration nurses told us that she was barely using the breathing tube, so they were going to start lowering the oxygen levels and talk about extubation. Initially, she needed the breathing tube because her muscles were so tired that she couldn't breathe, not at all because of her lungs. She is still so weak however, that they are going to keep the tube in until she gains some strength back and we are sure she can breathe on her own. This could potentially happen tomorrow. :fingers crossed: I can't wait because it means that I can hold her again...and never let her go, until she is 18.

She was alert for so many hours today and such a brave little girl. She barely fusses with the tube down her throat and hasn't had any narcotics since yesterday morning. She's just on tylenol now. We've noticed amazing improvement throughout the day. She tries to moved her hands, even though they are strapped down. The neurologist said that her tone was better too which means that her muscle reactions are looking good. The attending doctor of the PICU told us that recovery with this drug often takes 2 1/2 weeks, so we will be here for awhile. I told Hadley that if she would get better in a week that I would buy her a pony.

Things are looking up and since I have not slept more than 2 hours at a time since this happened, I am going to sleep in a private room tonight with a shower. David will stay in the room with her. Hopefully I'll get rested so that I can remain strong for the bravest little girl that I know. Her good temper puts the rest of us to shame.

YAY Botulism!!!

Hadley did really well last night and remained in stable condition. This morning, they put a feeding tube through her nose to her small intestine and started giving her 1/4 ounce of my pumped breast milk every hour. At 10am this morning, when the infectious disease doctors came to visit they told us that her stool sample lab results, which they had not expected to get for 2 weeks were back. The results were positive for Toxin A, which meant that she has botulism. At this point, with 2 tests pointing to it, we rejoiced. YAY botulism! At least now we could work on curing her. The medicine, or white diamonds as we referred to it, got to us today and was injected around 1pm.

Having been sedated for most of the night, she slept a lot today only opening her eyes a few times to say hello. Mostly she cried, or should I say her lips made the shape of a cry, and tears came out, but there was no sound because of the tube in her throat. Because I can't hold her, there was a lot of hand holding, whispering in her ear and singing.

Even though I am sure that a lot of you have googled this disease, here are a few things the doctor's are saying. 100% of children who get botulism recover. There are less than 100 cases of infant botulism in this country every YEAR!!! (I'm thinking we need to go play the lottery as well.) Infant botulism is an airborn spore that usually comes from being exposed to new construction, or someplace where a lot of dirt is being rustled up. It can also come if a child were to ingest honey. However, since the 70's there are only 2 documented cases to base this on. Hadley has not received anything but breast milk supplemented recently with some formula and there is no construction around us. In the majority of the cases, patients never figure out how they got it. So we need to stop focusing on it, stop wracking our brains, looking for the cause and look to the future of her getting better. Ultimately, the medicine is supposed to kill the remaining toxin, allowing the rest of her nerve endings to begin regenerating. In most cases of botulism, without medicine, recovery can take up to 52 days. This serum is supposed to cut that time in half. The effects however are not immediate and there is no telling how long it will take. We are also in that top 4 best Pediatric Hospitals in the country. We have one nurse who sits outside the room and monitors us all night long. It is very reassuring.

Just now tonight, we had an hour of open eyed alertness. It was the best I have seen her in over 48 hours. I think she may even have tried to smile a few times. She has been such a trooper through this whole experience. Other than her general discomfort, she seemed to enjoy the attention she was getting from everyone and never let out a peep when different doctors came to examine her every few hours. She has been such a good girl.

Thanks so much for keeping us all in your thoughts, it has been very comforting.

Botulism

On Tuesday, after receiving her 4 month immunizations, Hadley started to become very fussy and refused to eat. The situation worsened Wednesday when she was even refusing the breast and her ability to swallow seemed impaired. She had also started a low and constant moan. Thursday morning, I took her into the Pediatrician thinking it was just a side effect of the shots. They noticed lethargy and her head was flopping around, so they sent me to the ER of the brand new Children's Hospital which just opened last September. We were checked into the ER Thursday morning by 10:30am. After hooking her up to an IV, they sent us to an observation room by 5:00 pm. After hours of watching us, all of the interns, residents and attendings were stumped, so they decided to admit us. After less then 3 hours of sleep, and excessive amounts of crying we woke up this morning and Hadley was even worse. She hadn't eaten in days, she couldn't raise her head and she was pretty much a rag doll. Everyone had no clue what was going on, so they started doing tests to rule out the possibilites. This morning she had a catheter put in to test her urine for a UTI. Negative. Then she had a CT scan which showed her brain was normal. This was followed by a spinal tap which again showed the fluid to be normal. She was poked with needles, prodded by all 30 doctors that came to see her. She slept through her enema. Then they started to entertain the idea of botulism. This is a rare air born illness which attacks the nerves (like Botox). The head Attending physicians of Neurology, Center for Disease Control, and NICU all came to visit us asking the same questions over and over. No one had answers. Finally, they had one final muscle test to give her. After an hour of moaning, they puzzle pieced their info together and it appeared that she did indeed have Botulism. I won't go into the nitty gritty, but ultimately, this one test that they were not sure would work, ended her pain of further tests. Relief for us. There is one company in the country that makes the medicine for this disease and they are over nighting it to the hospital. Let's just say that one dose is half the price of my first condo.

Right after this assessment, ICU came up for an evaluation and decided it was best to move her to monitor her more closely for the night. So here I am, sitting here, watching my baby girl, hooked up to machines, intubated, and a shell of the smiley playful girl she was just a few days ago.

The past 37 hours have been some of the worst in my life. I am living in a panic attack, unable to pull it together and realize that this is my life. The good news is that botulism is curable with no long lasting side effects. We could potentially be looking at a few week stay in the hospital. At this point, nothing in this world matters to me except this little girl. She is what I live for and I am humbled as I am nothing compared to her.

As such I am not sure when I will post again. Please keep us in your thoughts.

Parenting Dogs and Babies

I so badly wanted to name this post "Girls Who Pee their Pants", but felt it perhaps violated the integrity of these baby pics. I don't care if I go down in flames, but I didn't want to drag Hadley under the bus with me. She's got a reputation to uphold after all.

DG caught some pics of us playing this week-end. We sang the ABCs.


We practiced saying MA MA MAMAMAMAMAMA.


We had eskimo kisses.


Then I threatened to throw her down on a plate and eat her up because she's so gosh darn cute I can't take it.


As I was posting, I was reminded of a picture of Tica and me from 2006. Apparently I was practicing for parenthood.


Yes Gibson, I love you too.

How Did you Find Me?

Once a month, I go through my Google Analytics to see how many hits I've been averaging. For the most part it remains pretty consistent. On occasion, I like to look for trends. How did someone in Estonia find my sight and why are they coming back for more?

Analytics actually helped us once when the buyer for our last house mysteriously backed out of the sale 4 days before closing. His realtor, his mortgage person and he lied by saying he had funding problems, but we knew better as he had already been pre-approved. Because he had a good excuse to back out, we were required to give him back his deposit. Needless to say, at 3 months pregnant, it was a stressful time as we were left to scramble around and come up with some creative financing to be able to close on our current house. I didn't know until 30 minutes prior to closing that we were approved. We also had to carry two mortgages for several months. *ouch* That being said, we Googled the buyer, found out where he worked, and were able to track the day that he hit both of our blogs. He ended up reading something he didn't like about the neighborhood (the power of the internet) and tried to unethically get out of the contract. We were able to confront his realtor with the facts and they ended up admitting to their lie and we got to keep his money, which didn't even begin to cover our losses. I think my exact vengeful words were "Google works two ways Mofo!" (See what a family friendly site we are now?)

That was a long tangent to get to what I really want to talk about, which are search strings that people enter to find this site.

Top search strings:

1) The most popular string is: "Love of Mine, Someday You will Die" which goes back to a post I did about one of my favorite Death Cab for Cutie Songs. Who knew that so many people would find this site from one line of lyrics?

2) All things bee: beehive, beehive cake, beehive hairdos, bee keeping: These people must be surely unhappy when they come and find out that there is really nothing to do with what they are looking for.

3) Pabst Blue Ribbon baby onsie, Pabst Onesie, etc.: Ooops, maybe I should not have called the PBR booties so tacky. There are actually quite a few people out there who are looking for them.

4) Ultrasound big head, big headed baby, baby ultrasound overbite: Poor Hadley got such a bad rap.

5) Boobies full of milk, milky jugs, engorged jugs: Ahhh the joys of nursing. Not exactly the fetish filled site they were looking for, I suspect.

6) Christy wears diapers, Christy Pee pics, Girls who enjoy pooping their panties in public, I was incontinent in my knickers today blog, fat girls pooping and pissing, and cheerleader crotch shots: Gawd knows what I wrote about to end up in these search strings, but I actually feel bad for the guys that are lonely on a Friday night, who have gone out and picked up some mountain dew and porn at the 7 eleven, and are getting settled in at the computer, ready for hot girly action, and instead they find excessive baby pics and diaper talk. Nothing like a cold shower.

Hadley's First Bagpipers

The day my parents came to town last week, we headed downtown to witness some of the St. Patty's Day reverie. Hadley got to ride the light rail for the first time. She was such a good baby all day.


The only part that made me nervous was getting on and off the train. They don't mess around and only keep the door open for about 5 seconds. I am a nervous ninny.



Once we got downtown, we had missed the parade in the morning, but the drunks in their green gear were out in force. We got to McCormick's in downtown Denver just in time to view the bag pipers come through. Click the video below to watch Hadley's reaction.

Practicing Push Ups

Happy Friday. Here's one of the 1,000's of pictures my dad took this past week. I do believe it's my new favorite. It makes me miss her, like I haven't seen her in forever.

Hadley Loves Her Grandpa

The previous evening, before bath time, I brought naked baby downstairs to parade her in front of her grandparents. When my Dad asked to hold her, I warned him that in her naked state she could possibly pee. Sure enough, as my Dad was playing with her and holding her over his head, she started to let him have it. Luckily, he didn't take it to the face, having learned from me when I was 4 months old above his head and peed on him. However, he promptly pushed her towards me, holding her over the rug. Being the practical mom, I covered her tush with my hand which started the sprinkler effect and pushed her back over my father. I mean seriously, I didn't want to get it on the rug or couch. Grandpas are good for that.

Things Grandparents Do

Hadley loves it when Nana reads her stories. She stares intently at all of the pictures.


Nana and Hadley have great conversations.


But when Nana puts this bow on Hadley that she got her for Christmas, Hadley is unsure of how 1983 she looks. The bow was promptly removed when DG came home. "It's burning my eyes, my eyes." It burning MY minds eye.


Here is a much better use of the bow. Now Gibson and Tica look like Chippendales Dancers.


Lap dance anyone?

I Love Me Some Nana and Grandpa

A week ago, when a friend came over, Hadley got the giggles and laughed her head off for several minutes. It's like her funny bone took over and shook her whole body in fits of belly giggles. It is probably the cutest thing I have EVER seen.

For the whole week following, I did everything except stand on my head and sing showtunes to get her to laugh like that again. I blew raspberries on her belly, tickled her feet, danced around singing songs about butts. Nothing. I was her own personal cartoon character. Nothing. A caricature of myself. Nothing. "Am I not as funny as I think I am?" I asked myself? How could this beeee?

Then her grandparents came to town, and one day while her Nana was holding her, David said the word Bazooka to her, which got the giggle factory going. I then followed it up with every B word I could possible think of. Each word, worked her up more and more into an hysterical giggle fit. Bumble Bee, brassiere, Booby, Brown Bunny, Barbara, Bling, Banana...I tried to fit in a few P and D words too, but they did not elicit the same response. I'm hoping to get this on video some day because when you watch it, you won't be able to say you've had a bad day.

What Did you Say?

You are interrupting my reading of Fuzzy Bee why?

To tell me that I have bears on my feet?

Oooh, Nana and Grandpa are coming again? Yippee!

Big Girl

Last Friday night, Hadley slept for the first time in her room. She was ready, I was not. *sniff*

Having her sleep more than 2 feet away from me, started a new round of my recurring nightmare where I'm convinced that she is suffocating in our heavy down comforter. I had this nightmare several times a night for the first month and a half she was home. Then the dream tapered off to only one night a week. Friday night I was up three times, turning the light on, looking for her in the bed sheets. DG rarely wakes up, but when he does, he usually laughs and tells me that she is ok and that she is sleeping in her bassinet. No matter how hard and long I stare at her, I'm still convinced she needs to be saved from the sheets. Apparently she wasn't the only one in the sheets the other night, as DG swore I was looking for Simon le Bon as well.

How to Design a Baby's Room

I would like to preface this post by saying that I did not just magically come up with these ideas of my own. It was my friend Cynthia's expertise, knowledge and ability to strategically pack as many dishes in the dishwasher as possible that helped advise me on the lay out of the baby's room.

LAY OUT
Step One:
In colder climates, make sure the crib is not positioned on an outside wall. This will help alleviate drafts from windows and cold uninsulated walls.


Step Two:
Place the diaper changer in an area with lots of natural light. During the day, light is important to see if you accurately cleaned all the poop out of crevices. As seen here, the natural light comes through the window during the day. Because we are both right handed, the baby's head is on the left side of the changer and her feet on the right side. At night, the light on the nearby dresser is in a crucial position to shine in the direction of the bum.



Step Three:
Have all supplies near the diaper changer available within hands reach. Use bins or if needed, put a shelf on the wall above you. As seen in this picture, the wipe warmer is on a shelf on the right side. The diapers are stored in a bin on the first shelf on the right side and God's gift to parents, the Diaper Champ is on the right side for easy diaper disposal.



Step Four:
If you are right handed, place the laundry basket on the left side of the diaper changer. I love this particular laundry basket as it has a mesh insert to put all the soiled pieces in. This helps twofold so that the lovely pink shell doesn't get messy and it is easy to just grab the bag and carry it down to the laundry machine.

Step Five:
If you have a diaper changer, make sure to utilize all of the storage space for the baby's toiletries. In the 6 bins, I have diapers, felt pads, extra changing pads, rattles, bath items, hats, toys, and thermometers etc.

Accessories:

Dresser: When DG moved in, he had this dresser that I begged him to toss. He put his foot down, and we stored it for 3 years in the garage. Thank goodness! This is great to hold all of the onsies, pajamas, socks, shoes, and outfits that we received as hand-me-downs. It has helped me to separate out all of the sizes; newborn, 0-3 mos., 3-6 mos. and 6-9 mos. etc.

Rocker: A rocker is a luxury to have, but I do not feel that it is a necessity. And what I mean by this is don't spend $700 on a rocker. We got this one on sale at Sears for $90. Score!

Rug: We were lucky enough to get a green hand-me-down children's rug from Cynthia. It definitely adds to the coziness of the room. But there are also colorful inexpensive options from Flor.

Color: My favorite color is apple green. See wedding photos. I wanted to incorporate color (green and pink) into the room through art, objects, and bedding instead of painting the walls. It started with the Tryptich Craft Project, then I bought the bee pictures at TJ Maxx, the green lamp shade was on sale for $10 at Pottery Barn Kids, and my Aunt Susan made a gorgeous framed cross stitch with Hadley's name and birth date on it (above the book case). Finally, the whipped cream and cherry on top are the curtains that my Mom, the seamstress put together from fabric and ribbons I found.

The whole room, including the crib, diaper changer, art, and curtains were done for under $500. Apparently I've watched too many DIY shows.

Karaoke

I bet you are wondering why I've called you all here.

Seriously, I have something really funny to tell you.

Last night mom and dad found Karaoke on Demand. We danced around laughing and singing. Mom was doing her classic Michael Jackson dance and singing Beat It, while Dad used me as his air guitar. I believe there was also some 3 Doors Down and Christopher Cross. It was great fun. It was such a good time that I did not want to go to bed until the wee hours of the morning. Next time, I want to sing "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns N Roses.

Seventh Generation Diapers

When I first discussed diapers here, I had no idea what I was in for. Now on Hadley's 3 month birthday, I've got some diaper changes under my belt (about 594 give or take) and can make a more educated judgement on diaper brands.

The results are in and Seventh Generation diapers are my favorite for wearablity and usability. Following in a close second is Huggies with Pampers pulling up the rear. Har-Har. Just a little diaper humor for you.

Addendum: I just purchased some Seventh Generation diapers (in bulk) on diapers.com for .19 cents per diaper. I think Pampers were the cheapest in bulk for .16 cents per diaper. Because I ordered in bulk, I also got free shipping! We should now have enough diapers until she moves up to the next size. I figured this out with an easy math problem by estimating that she uses 10 diapers a day and she gains 1 ounce a day. Then I calculated how many diapers she needs until she gains enough weight to move on to the next size.

I Grew Her in my Belly

I still can't believe that I grew her in my belly and pushed her out. Here she is at 12 weeks and smiling. I must have said something wickedly funny to induce this look.

She is in her stripped jail house outfit, one of the many cute hand-me-downs that I've received from DGs sister. Her Nana made the mistake of calling this one the Jail Bait outfit. I had to inform her that it would be another 16 years before she would have one of those outfits and over my dead carcass.

A Brief Interlude

And we interrupt this story to let you know that at 12 weeks, Hadley slept through the night last night! Good girl.

Unfortunately, I did not. When I woke up at 4:15am and realized that she had not gotten up, I bolted out of bed, turned on the light, and poked her to see if she was ok. I was so riled up that I couldn't fall back to sleep. So I proceeded to poke her every 20 minutes until she got up at 6am. I did not learn this technique in a book, this is what I like to call hands on parenting. I am not proud.

Mini Me

With technology today, I will snap 100 photos of Hadley in 10 minutes and only keep the best five. Back when we were babies, it is a miracle that our parents have any photos of us at all with the slow shutter speeds, not being able to see your photos immediately and having to send the negatives off in the mail and wait to get them back. Remember those days? Then you would get your precious 24 pictures back only to find your finger in all of them. How patient we had to be!

Here's a picture of me at one week old. My dad thinks it's a spitting image of Hadley. Honestly though, how can you tell from this picture? This one is like the 95 I just deleted today. You can tell what era this photo is from because 1) The side rail of the crib goes up and down and 2) *gasp* there are stuffed animals in the crib. We know too much for our own good.

I've always wanted a mini me. From Day 1 we have been trying to figure out who Hadley looks like. We think she has Dave's nose, but the rest of her seems to be pure Allbee. Poor thing, I would notice that overbite a mile away. We will have to open a separate savings account for her orthodontist. Here is a better example. Compare Hadley at 2 months old to me at four months old. She has my eyes, expressive eyebrows, and widows peak. Can you tell?

The Incredible Baby Gym

We are using the E.A.S.Y. method with Hadley based on the technique from Secrets of the Baby Whisperer. Her days consist of Eating, Activity and Sleep, in that order. The Y stands for You Time when the baby is sleeping. Or in other words, "scramble your ass around to get done as much work as you possibly can" time.

For our active time, which is usually around an hour long, I play guitar for her, we sing, kick our legs around, practice standing, have belly time, look at black and white pictures, giggle at rattles, watch a mobile in the bouncy seat, follow objects with our eyes, and try to imitate sounds. She is such a sponge that I've been feeling like she needs a little more stimulus, so I went to Babies R Us last week and got the Sit and Lay Play Gym.

There I was in the store, hemming and hawing over what model to get and should I get them because they were in excess of $55. Geesh, $55? Then I had to have a reality check and remind myself that I would easily drop $100 on a pair of jeans that made my legs look like I had just strut out of a college campus. So I decided on the one in the picture above. It was money well spent because she loves the freakin' crap out of that thing. And I love watching her play, giggle, and smile at all the fun toys.

Gratuitous Baby Shot

Little Red Riding Hood

He is so Handsome!

Babies are androgenous. Unless I dress Hadley in head to toe pink, she inevitably gets called a boy when we are out and people ooh and ahh over her.

This past week-end, she was called a boy twice. As we were leaving the mall, I was was carrying her around, all wide eyed and getting lots of stares and people saying "cute!". Then one couple walking by asked "How old is he?" "Two months", I said. "Oh he is very handsome." "Thanks," I giggled as DG and I looked at eachother and repeated to her "You ARE so handsome little miss pretty".

A Dog is a Girl's Best Friend

Leg room was getting cramped.


So we needed to upgrade. A girl needs to stretch out.

This photo needs a name. I was thinking the Birth of Wiener, a play on the Birth of Venus by Botticelli. Ideas?

Now the dogs can babysit all the time.

You Know You're a Mom When

You pick a booger out of your baby's nose and wipe it on your own shirt. And I'm already digging around up there when I see a bat in the cave. I don't even think it's gross. Who am I? Someone get me a martini, a Kate Spade bag, and cash for a cab ride home.

Two Months Old