Whoa What Huh, A Post?

Sugar Bear is now 19 months old, her stats from her 18 month apt were 30 inches/10% and 20 lbs/-5%, a couple of our kids have a case of the teenies, what can I say, but as long as the dr says all is well I'm good with that!  Aliza has really started talking and I was writing down her words but she keeps adding new ones, I have written down 32 but there are new ones, like pretty and no. :)  Today she got marker on finger and said to me showing me her finger " on me, on me."  She is so sweet and gives lots of love, and wants to be in on everything the big kids are doing.  She is my WORST bedtime routine, hates the diapering, teethbrushing, just fights me on it. :)  All her teeth have popped through, till the two year old molars.

Other kid news, Christian lost his first tooth yesterday!!!  He has been waiting for almost 2 years when Isabelle started losing hers.  Isabelle pulled one of hers the night before.  The kids just keep on growing!!  I'm so behind on posting it's not funny but better late than never, I will post some pictures to shutterfly of the past few months soon, I think. maybe.

Isabelle did say something funny recently, Christian is a provoker he likes to tell his sister things like, " I''m getting bored of you being home from school" type of things on Christmas break even though they played like best friends that week.  Anyway, he was being like he can be and Isabelle told me, " he is being a hater and a non-lover."

This month I turned the ripe old age of 32, and what was the best thing I got for my birthday last weekend?  These people:

18 months

3rd child neglection.  I gotta log what little miss has been doing lately.  The time just gets away!!  I still need to make her 18 month apt oops... although we were in at 15 months.  She is a climber, she is now gated out of the kids room because she gets on the top bunk with ease.  Naughty baby Sugars, still is drawn to toilet water.  Words, hi, daddy, ma ma, or MOM!!!! I'm sure because she hears my name in this form the most, baaa(bath), deedee ( baby), ba ( ball), up!, out, I asked her if she could say Liza, it comes outs lila or la la. which is pretty darn cute in my book. haa,(hot), go go.  says "hush" when reading her favorite book Goodnight Moon.  Loves to bury her face in mine and giggle, squishing noses together.  Loves to be a part of what the kids are doing, and immitates them.  Loves blankie and her thumb.  Social and loves babies.  Understands far more than what she can say.  She communicates with baby jibberish, concerned looks, pointing and getting you to come with her.  Loves to play hind and seek and whispers while in hiding.  If we start singing her favorite song from Ponyo, she goes to try to turn on the ipod and the stereo, she is ever the little dancer and loves music.  Pictures?  I haven't uploaded pics since... Sept?  I will get on that, maybe. someday.
I forgot more words so I'm adding them today, eye, and also i, every letter on the fridge seems to be i, car, ni ni (night night), done!!  And so am I for the moment unless I remember more, which really isn't for the readers benefit, it's for mine when I need it for the baby book. :)

Aliza 1 Year

How a year has flown!!!  Your first birthday you were met with multiple viruses one including an ear infection.  You are well now after a month of fevers and crabbiness and your happy self has emerged yet again! 
One thing I will say for babies is that we do not give them enough credit for how smart they are.  A few weeks back, I had what my friend Katie and I call " Number One Mom Moments". I had come up with laundry and forgot to close the basement door, Aliza went down and thankfully was crying on her hands and knees at the bottom of the stairs, with the terror of it seeming to be the worst part.  A couple days later Isabelle left the door open and she wouldn't go to the stairs.  We got back from Ks, she still won't go.  She used to try to put her face in the tub water.  Then she got to where she would start to, then look at me and shake her head no.  She heard us talking about going for a walk so she went and got her sun hat and pulled up to the bench at the table while I was cleaning up supper to give it to me.  She is a mimic.  She signs more, all done, milk, night night.  I need to learn more to teach her!  If I say are you hungry?? she starts signing "milk".  She loves to dance, she loves the outside.  She also likes to pinch and bite which we are working on. :)  She got to a point where she would pinch then give "loves"  like she knew she was supposed to be gentle.  When I was talking to the dr at her 1 year apt, she kept nodding her head" yes".  Her stats were 16lbs. 14oz. I do believe 0% and 28.25 inches which was 25%.  She isn't walking yet but walks around things, and can stand up on her own.  She came crawling in to the kitchen with a baby safety outlet plug she had pulled out, I later found it in the bottom of the dishwasher. :)  She imitates sounds and everything else.  Funny little baby.  Still taking those two naps which is great!!
And Christian had his apt and he grew 3 inches last year!  He is still at the bottom of the charts.  I charted his height as if he were a 4 year old and that put him in the 25%.  It gives me a good idea where he will be in regards to his fellow kindergartners size when he starts a year later.:)
That's all for now, I could go into how amazing sick we have been for the past 6 weeks but I'm too tired to put my energy there.  We are trying to make the most of when we are NOT sick. :)

here is a link I really enjoyed btw motherhood

We're Still Kicking

Not much as changed with our lives being bizaaay lately, weeks go by and Mitch's work hrs are long still.  I was feeling ill a month ago and went to the dr a couple weeks ago just to make sure my thyroid, iron, blood sugar are all well.  The dr said I need to eat more often.  I can do that.  Iron good, thyroid good.  She thought my anxiety issues were from hormones and stress with Mitch's hours and if I need to look at where I'm at in my cycle and " not plan a big birthday party for my kids" during that time, then don't.  She didn't even know Isabelle's birthday, which we kept nice and quiet, had been a few days prior.  She said sometimes we ourselves or others put too high a standards on what it means to be a good mom and sometimes we freak out over little things we think are important.  I LOVE our dr!!!  I have been feeling better lately and I got winter clothes organized and put away so I am thankful for some strength because when you're going it alone till 6:30 5 days a week you need the strength let me tell you!!  We have, despite the long work hours, kept our weekends fairly quiet and planted a little garden and just enjoyed each other.  It's easy to forget that we had these kids to enjoy them and spend time with them.  I am trying to break away from my getter done mentality and take 10 minutes to play Frisbee or take the baby out in her swing.

So some kiddo updates are as follows,  Isabelle, turned 7!!!  We kept her birthday quiet with it being a weeknight and all, this also proved a good choice since she had run a 100 degree temp 3 days prior and wasn't fever free long enough to get to school till after her birthday.  Also this Saturday, we had a fun little girl's day and went shopping, she tried on swimsuits and we ate at Olive Garden and she decided that day she wanted her ears pierced.  I had always told her she could when she is ready or never if she never was ready.  She kept insisting, I painted a realistic, cartilage puncturing picture.  I told she can't leave with just one done, and she doesn't have to at all.  " can I get ice cream if I hold still??"  I told her NO if you can't hold still you aren't ready for them.  So she was determined and she hugged the bear at Claire's and said after the first earring " just give me a second" as she pulled back some tears and we proceeded with the other ear.  She was pretty excited about it.  I so enjoyed my day with my daughter!!  She was an enjoyable real little person you could actually converse with and wasn't just work to bring along like kids are when they are younger.  She is growing way too fast!!
Christian, not much on him other than the fact that he is overdue for a bike and we need to get to the store, he rode his trike behind Isabelle on a walk and got going too fast down a hill and face planted in the cement.  We told him he needed a helmet, he said " why didn't you get me one??"  Because we thought you didn't need one on a trike... so he has a helmet now.  Another thing.  Mitch told me Christian was spelling words on the fridge and he told Mitch " I'm going to spell something inappropriate, how do you spell 'privates'?"  Mitch told him he was NOT going to be doing that.  Christian told him " well I already spelled 'Bum'"  and sure enough there it was, bum, on the fridge.

Baby Lovin Aliza, pulls up on everything, is a little imitator.  She makes kissing sounds when we kiss her, dances, signs" more "when a song ends and signs "all done."  She is snugglie and nestles her little head in my neck and sucks her thumb when she is tired or just because.  She cuddles and hugs stuffed animals and loves to nestle her forehead into yours.  She jabbers na na na, mamamama, dadada, yea yea, if you say shhhhh she makes a hiss sound, if you whisper she will whisper.  She hates getting dressed and bawls if you take something from her like her toothbrush or won't let her go outside.  She LOVES outside!!  She also loves messing up my laundry piles.  She has started the type of play where she like to give me something, then take it back and on and on. funny girl, she crawls around with her toys in her mouth, my little puppy. We started a little early on whole milk and she loves it.  She takes two good naps a day and sleeps from about 8-8 and it's nice not to have get up anymore.  I will put some pics up on shutterfly soon!!

Child-like Interpretation

My responsible, sensitive eldest, very much a first born personality, yet she can be spacey and in her own world, at 18 months old she colored, and I don't mean crayon eating colored but lined up her chubby crayons and colored purposefully.  She will often say " why don't you laugh at ME????"  she has a really funny little brother that garners ( did I use that right?) a lot of laughs so when she says something funny I need to document.  When she was really small instead of saying " I don't like it"  it was " I can't like it" which is funny because it left no room for trying because it wasn't possible to like something when you just can't, there is no choice in this.  So the other night I heard her talking to Christian, " God can do many things at once, like drawing and playing basketball."

Lovins

Little Lovins is 9 months old.  We are a family of nicknames so just because I've never blogged Aliza as Lovins, doesn't mean she isn't called that by me many times as well as a plethora of many other things that her cuteness inspires at that moment.  I supposed I should've waited till she had her apt next week to give you the percent stats but oh well.  She got her first two teeth finally!!  She took her sweet time like big sis and they are crooked pointing in just like Isabelle's too.  And yes we are still nursing and yes she bit me a couple times and has not since. mmm hmm.  She is sporadic with her not bothering me in the night to nurse, sometimes she will go 12 hrs, other 8.  So I pretty much consider it a bonus if I'm not up at 4 or 5 in the morning, thankfully it's for about 10 minutes and I put her back down and go back to sleep myself.  Aliza has started this laugh, like an actual, ha-ha-ha.  It's funny and cute of course.  She is a pro at precision pincher picking up to feed herself.  She started that at 7.5 months.  So in my book advanced in the fine motor skills ;)  In gross motor skilling, which who needs them anyway when they're gross???  She has yet to roll over from back to front, it's weird, yet convenient.  She sits and can bend over her legs in odd positions to get things and can move some, but no go getting crawling.  It's so funny when she is laying on her back, not realizing she could do something about it.  Still my good happy baby.
And those other kids...Christian has been sounding out and spelling words with the magnets on the fridge.  I hadn't even been working with him and he was sounding thing out so I showed home how putting different letters on the start of two other letters make different words,  he got Isabelle's sight words out and sounded out jump with no help, at all.  He does not yet know how e makes vowels say their own name etc or th and ch sounds.  He is becoming more boy spastic, loud, rough.  He has accidentally bonked his head into the baby's a couple times and is just broken hearted when it happens, you can tell he is deeply distraught over his baby sis hurting.  We had a talk one day about how it's not always safe to give the baby something just because she cries for it etc;  love is often not doing what will make someone " happy".  Like eating pennies or going out in the street. :)
Isabelle and I had PTConferences this week and she did a great job on her report card, right where she needs to be academically and above standard in her behavior and work habits.  I was very pleased to say the least, and so thankful for her putting forth her very best efforts!  She is my responsible first born little caretaker.  Christian was hacking up a lung this weekend so I came out in the morning and she had made him a bed on the floor with towels, water bottle, crackers and another bowel just in case he threw up from the coughing which he is notorious for.  That is it for now!!!

8 Months

I am 8 months old.  I say Ma Ma Ma all the time now.  I won't keep bows in my hair.  If you deny me it, I will cry and ruin your picture attempts.  I know what I want and my displeasure will be made known.  I give big squeezes to mommy with my head in her neck.  I shake my head no, a lot.  I like to pull hair.  I never keep my socks on.  I am still quite cute.

Look What I Can Do



This is what can happen when you give your baby a chance to sit up.. they just might do it.  I used to let the other two kids practice thinking it helped them learn.  I'm thinking it doesn't matter... Aliza spends a lot of time in her saucer, laying on her back on the floor playing or sitting up on our laps.  I will say she's been doing that from a very early age but she always leaned up against our arms.  And did I mention my babies hate bumbos... so she never got that experience.  So this is the newest trick last week and she also started saying " da da da da da"  So cute.  She had her 6 month check last week and she weighs 14 lbs 8 oz (25%) and is 25.5 inches long (50%). more pics on shutterfly 

M.I.A and Baby Update

This is the first day I have felt decent in 2 weeks. I got the second sinus infection of my life and missed out on Thanksgiving. It was nasty. I felt like I did in the 6th grade when I was sick for 3 weeks, minus having a mom take care of me and instead having 3 kids to take care of, one who is nursing and my milk supply went down and I started having to get up in the night again. That's a long sentence but you get me.

Aliza is now 6 months old!! So a recap of her 5 monthness. We started solids! And we jumped in with both feet, the only babyfood she has had has been prunes and rice cereal. Otherwise, it's applesauce, sweet potatoes, mommy's somewhat spicey meatloaf, baked potatoes, homemade chicken and noodles, yogurt, mashed bananas. Suffice it to say, she is well acquainted with texture by now and it's cheaper too. I use Linda's old babyfood grinder. She really liked the meatloaf and I was surprised. :) She has stopped biting me. She started sleeping through the night again with the help of a 10pm nursing after she had been in bed for a couple hrs, but that has all changed since the milk decrease, but I can tell it's back on the increase and she went till 6 am this morning. Almost there. She is a delight of a little baby, I call her a little joy, which is fitting since her name means joy. She is snuggly, smiley, giggly, screamy, drooly, good good baby. I know it's weird but sometimes when I''m holding her I close my eyes and picture myself pregnant with her, which seemed like forever and wondering what she was like and then opening them and here she is in all her snuggly cuteness. Did I mention how cute her legs are?? How can they not be when her thighs are chubby and all of 2 inches long?? So as demanding as a baby and a nursing one at that can be and how I sometimes feel tied down not to be able to just get up and go, I remind myself how time flies and this is my last go around, live it like you got to go back in time for a second chance. No major news on the big motor skills, still only rolls from tummy to back, which is ok with mommy, life gets harder when they mobilize, she picks up and plays with her toys and loves her saucer.

That's it for now ;) oh and I put up new pics on shutterfly

Labor Flashback

Dang, I realized I didn't type out my labor process, not that my few readers are deprived but it's been almost 5 months and I'm pretty sure I've lost some of the details and I want to remember this for the baby book. My contractions of D day were slightly different and I had more pressure in my lower abdomen I noticed taking Isabelle to school that morning but didn't get my hopes up. They were somewhat persistent in the way they tightened and I told Katie on the phone hmm maybe I should be timing these, I am two days past my due date. I remember calling Mitch in the afternoon telling him I'm thinking maybe something is happening but don't come home they don't hurt much. I laid down on the couch that afternoon to see if that would go away, they had been 15 minutes apart, and I only had two in the hr I laid down, but they still had that weird lower ab tightening, I didn't have that with the other two, it was more of pain going into my lower back. I picked up Isabelle from school and her sub teacher asked something to the fact of when are you going to the have the baby??? I told her I thought I was in labor. She probably thought that was weird, yeah I think I'm in labor, just driving the kids around... When we got home they stayed about 10-15 minutes apart, and I called the hospital to see what the nurse thought, to come in and get checked or not... this is always more of a dilemma when you have kids that need watched should you go in. Our friend Sara come over at 8pm after the kids went to bed so we could go in. I was uncomfortable butnot bad yet. So fastforward 9 pm, I was hooked up to monitors for 20 minutes or so, then checked, I had been 1.5 centimeters a couple days before and I was to 2cm, while the ob on call was not impressed, I WAS!! :) Since I hadn't progressed much for the past month this was a big deal. So I had to walk around to convince them. So I was booking through the halls, I could walk and talk through them and we got them 3 minutes apart, got checked again and monitored blah blah, long process, I was to 3 cm at that point. I knew I was in labor but I was still not being told I was not being sent home. I went on another round of a walk 20-30 minutes. This time I couldn't walk as fast and I had to stop and do the leaning on the wall rail and breath through them which for the first time and I acredit this to yoga I actually breathed and didn't tense through the pain as I had always done before, on the bed on my side, gripping the rail in pain. I actually even in the room would get up off the bed and lean over for my contractions and they were a lot easier to deal with than just sitting or laying. I told the nurses, I KNOW I am in labor. So got checked again I was to 4 cm. I asked if I was staying, they said yes you're staying. I was over it and said " call the epidural man." Here's where things got less zen. You have to have an iv of fluids beforeyou can have an epidural and that's the downside to the drugs is being hooked up to so much crap, blood pressure cuff etc; They had trouble with my iv, so I've my contractions every 2 to 3 minut's while I am stuck in dug around, I think by 3 or more people. ( Mitch was NOT happy) I have to break for contractions then have them try again. All the needle digging makes me start to feel faint and nauseous and I start the shakes. I had this with the others Mitch remembers but the poking got it rolling this time. I asked them if they could just iv me in the inner elbow, I know THIS works because I get my thyroid checked regularly. So counting the blood draw required before the epidural I got stuck a total of 8 times and it ended up in the inner elbow. They checked me again I was to 5 cm. I can't remember at what time the anesthesiologist got there but it was a challenge to stay still through the contractions and the shaking but I was still. I got relief really fast and I could feel what felt like cold water running into one side of my lower back and it was an achey feeling it was weird when he was putting in the meds. So it was a wonderful warm comfy feeling. I still shook and it made the blood pressure cuff go really tight, I ended up with bruises from it and of course the needle jabs. The dr came to check me, I was expecting to be ready to push because that's how it went for the other two. I was to 6cm, I asked her, is that IT?? The dr decided to put me on pitocin because when I wasn't walking my contractions spaced out. I had never had it. Another weird thing, she still hadn't broke my water. Never had a dr not done that for me. I did start to feel it break or leak after the pitocin. Which was weird. I was hanging out trying to sleep for a couple hrs but it was hard because of the shaking and my blood pressure dropped a couple times which made me stop shaking go figure and I ended up needing ephedrine. So it's about...4:30ish at this point and I told then nurse I felt the pressure and sure enough she said, I was presenting. This was the first time I actually felt like I NEEDED to push!! The nurse kept telling me to wait since I don't push for long. The dr came in and actually had to snag the bag right before I pushed. I thought that was weird! ( I still can't get over the not breaking the bag thing can't you tell?) There is something nice about feeling so relaxed right before delivering, that's just my personal experience. So I pushed a few times during one contraction, I was trying to take it all in because I knew this was the last time I was doing this. I still remember the "stop pushing" while they suctioned and finally pulling out her little slimey body and putting her up on my chest, for the first time having a baby, I cried a little., it was the end of an era for me, savor the miracle for the last time. ( 5:02am) It's an amazing moment you can't describe, to finally meet that person you've been waiting 9 months for. I could tell she was not a huge baby. It was so nice and relaxed, I held her, I even told the nurses, she's gurgling you might want to sunction her again, I got to nurse her right away and it was a while before she was even weighed, they said they could do that whenever I wanted. The cool thing about nursing is that you can calm them right down out of the womb, they're geared for it right after coming out. She pooped, no diaper... lol it was still cool. The dr had Mitch take a picture of the cord, that had a "true knot". She said " she's a lucky little girl". I know a sovereign God sustained and protected her as I was none the wiser.
There, well that was more lengthy than I thought...

The Baby

Oh you little adorable thing you. Here is Aliza's 4 month update. She has started getting me up at night, and I mean for the past month or more and sometimes twice. Lately it's back down to one. I wondered, cereal? Not ready, spits it out. She is easily distracted when nursing lately, drives me crazy!! She has started cluster feeding in the evening and staying up 3-4 from 5-9 pm instead of 8 pm which is ok as long as I'm feeding during the waking hours. If she is not hungry, she gets TICKED if I try to nurse her and she has also started to bite me with her gums. I yelp, she looks up at me and laughs. mmm hmm. When she is hungry she gets right down to business, so it's like I'm having to relearn her at this stage. She loves her saucer, she plays in there forever, as in I can vacuum and dust while she plays. She is a snuggle baby doll that nestles in your chest and sucks her thumb. Oh that thumb sucking is SO cute. I'm sure it won't be at 3 yrs old but for now it's so cute! She is a giggler, screamer, loves to pick up toys and chew on them now. Grabs Christian's hair and won't let go. She is more of a fusser than a crier for the most part. Her stats are 12 lbs 5 oz weight and 24 inches long both 30%. And her head is 50% can't remember the measurement.

So that's it, this adorable little morsel has me running to the Lord for strength, wisdom, and sanity right now while she wakes me up in the night. She has grown SO fast already and I'm trying to soak in all the babiness for the LAST TIME. ;)

OH and I keep meaning to say, I'm going to be an aunt!!! My youngest brother's wife is 14 weeks pregnant, and the bigger surpise is, with TWINS. I'm pretty excited our kids will finally have cousins and Aliza will have some playmates when we go back to my folks to visit.

My Boy...

Christian, is crass, he comes up with it on his own, he trys to incorporate, poop, pee, boogers, privates, bottoms, belching, farting and the like into everything. He gets in trouble everytime, yet he just can't help himself and someday I might think this is as funny as everyone else does...

Here is his latest funny quote. The senario: it's election time so we have all the political ads running. One is for Chuck Grassely that says " Chuck Grassley works for us.... I'm Chuck Grassley and I approved this message." We were eating some sara lee new york cheesecake, which is YUM after lunch this week when that ad came on. So Christian says " CHuck Grassely works for cheese. I'm Chuck Cheesey, and I like cheese." It still makes me laugh...

Never Ceases

A couple Christian quotes that my parents think are the funniest. My mom said to me today, you're so used to it, you don't even think it's funny anymore... :)

I hope this isn't a rerun quote but I have a lot going on...

Talking about lunch Christian told me what he wanted on his sandwich: Garbage, an eyeball, and hair. You can't teach this kid something that's embedded in his genes from his Grandfather and I mean my Dad who thinks gas is the funniest thing EVER.

Today as I'm cleaning the bathroom. " Mom, I've used my imagination enough. Can I play video games now?"

Sweet Summer Gone

summertime 042, originally uploaded by Audge3.

I knew summer would fly this year with the birth of Aliza. Isabelle started school yesterday and now rides the bus! It went really well which I'm thankful for and she gets to stay on the same all the way to school no switching! I''m not too excited about her having math homework every night on top of the reading books and now spelling. Good grief, 1st grader people!!
The kids are obessed with mario brothers and they often pretend that Isabelle is mario and Christian is luigi. Before school Chrisitian said to me, "Peach?" (I somehow am peach) " Yes Christian?" " no say, what Toad?" He was Toad yesterday I guess. " Yes Toad?"
" I'm going to miss Mario"
Aliza has become a very wonderfully easy happy babe. She has started going to bed at 8:30-9 and waking up at 7am. She has also started napping longer, no weird cat naps and a hodge podge of a day. It was really frustrating me but I thought she sleeps through the night, the naps will come give the kid a break and seemed like once I quit trying to force things she did it herself. Thank you Lord. :)
In other news my thyroid is a little low. I felt edgey lately and it felt off, they didn't put me back on my alternating dose of 75 mcgs and 50's after the baby they just did 50's which I questioned but you know how that goes. Anyway I guessed my TSH would be 2.94 I feel best at around 1.5 anyway it was 3.94 on the high end of normal which means lower thyroid. He was going to keep me on the 50's but I plead my case through many obsticles and finally he agreed to go back. I started breaking out in hives last week and my hair loss tripled. I read online it could be thyroid for the hives or postpartum hormones. Either way the edgeyness should get better. So that's that for now, Click on the pic for more and pics of the baby as well.

Love This One

july2010 025, originally uploaded by Audge3.

Aliza has really started to love her bathtime! I've started doing it every night before I put her to bed because it makes her so happy and settled for sleeping that 8-10 hrs at night. All my babies loved their bathes and I think the key is getting that water nice and warm. Granted none of my kids were born loving bathes but it didn't take long before they did. And while I'm thinking of it, something I didn't learn till my 3rd baby. Lanolin is hands donw the best thing I have ever tried for diaper rash. My babies always got rashes during the newborn stage because every diaper has poo in it at that point, but the lanolin worked wonders, it's sort of like carwax, it makes the moisture bead up. Anyway it's late and that's all for now.

7 weeks old!

summer 2010 048, originally uploaded by Audge3.

Aliza is getting easier!! She loves playing and cooing and has been sleeping through the night ever since that first night of 7.5 hrs. Last night she slept for 10 straight hrs and not a peep from her!! I went to bed at 10:30 so that was pretty awesome to not have to get up till 7:30 am! She also took a really good morning nap for me. She does tend to just catnap throughout the day and want to nurse a lot but I suppose I shouldn't complain. :) She has gotten to like bathes. I am feeling much better these too. I best go for now before she gets tired of playing under her gym.

Happy Days

An update! :) I am feeling better, a lot better, tired at times, but I have a newborn so yeah. Anyway Aliza is doing really well this week. She slept 7.5 hrs last night, amazing!! And of course I had to check her at 2 am to make sure she was still breathing. She has been getting less demanding, settling herself to sleep, staying asleep in her own bed, happy to watch the kids play and be talked to. It is wonderful!! She also rolled over last weekend, can't remember what I blogged already. I've got almost 3 months of the budget to catch up on, that is my next big goal. I was able to eat supper last night, no crying babe, and make supper ( with my hubby's help). I can get things done here and there it's great and I'm so thankful!! I will add some pictures to flickr soon. She's growing way too fast. In other too fast news, school starts a month from monday, it's ridiculous, what's so wrong with sept to end of may, give the kids and their mom's 3 whole months off. Oh well, I'm healthy so I should just be quiet. :)
ps Aliza's eyes could not be bluer. :) Her eyebrows couldn't be blonder. How does a dark person with a full Italian grandmother birth such light people? ( Fall in love with a blonde man I guess) :)

A kinda crappy postpartum

So where have a I been the past few weeks?
Let me just give you a recap of my health since birthing.
First night home, sneezed before I got a chance to prepare, blew some stitches, the dr said I would still heal up on my own and I seem to be. Wish that was my only issue. :)
Day after getting home felt a yeast infection coming on my left side, burning while nursing. Had Mitch get me lotrimin.
By one week postpartum, I was at the dr with a bacterial infection on both "mams" bleeding, cracking a fissure on one side, blisters. AWESOME.
About a week after that, I felt the yeast returning. This time it's in my milk ducts to boot, which is very painful at times, just go to breastfeeding.com and read all about it!! I had no idea it was possible to have go into your ducts. Anyway, on one round of diflucan, 3 days. A couple weeks or days don't know it's all running together, horrible pain is back, another round of the same. Then that weekend I get an awful sore throat that I swear is strep, it turns out not to be but I end up running a fever, feeling like I am about to puke upon standing, and the baby has the same virus and is out of sorts for the weekend as well. The sick, calming and nursing the sick. My ladies are doing fine at this point. My virus seems to improve on monday and tuesday, burning pains in left side begin again, I go back to the dr, 2 weeks of dilfulcan this time. It takes a while to see improvements and my sore throat from my virus won't seem to go away even though the severity is lessened, it still keeps me up at night scratchy and swollen and hurts to yawn. My mamaries seem fine the beginning of last week, Alexa my sis in law is going to come over that week, and I'm looking forward to it, Wednesday rolls around, I'm feeling decent, the baby is becoming easier, happy, cooing starting 3 weekends ago and smiling from birth, giving me one 5-6 hr block at night. Anyway, I start to feel gaggy and nauseous while making my breakfast wed morning, I think I'll end up having diarrhea like Idid the morning before. But it's that, plus puking. I decide to lay down and I need to nurse the baby, 5 minutes in I'm feeling the feeling again, I burp her, put her down she's bawling, I go and puke again, it's amazing, I return to nurse, 5 more minutes in, I have to go and puke AGAIN. She is finally fed and thank the Lord Alexa is there!! She takes the baby. I try to rest, but no I must puke one more time. I have never puked/diarrhea so much in such a short amount of time, less than an hour, it was horrible, but short lived. That night Mitch sleeps in the basement, we don't need him puking, and of all the nights, Isabelle wakes up with a gusher of a bloody nose that takes 25 minutes to stop and I'm woosey. SIGH
So now, my breasts are giving me issues AGAIN, my throat still hurts 3 weeks later. It's pretty bad when your baby's fast asleep and your stupid ailments are keeping you up!!! So I go back to the dr monday, ( it was their idea) and I have a couple pills of diflucan left. So yeah, i'm weary, trying to function, in between stuff and somehow take care of myself JOKE!!! Mitch was really sweet last night and went out and got me a filter for the cool humidifier and sugar free coughdrops to help me sleep, I'm trying to stay off sugar to not feed the yeast in my body, which I LOVE sugar. :( So I'm hopeful that the Lord will see fit to give me some relief soon as He is well acquainted with the inner workings of my body and my troubles and I know he'll give me the grace to get through each day or hour. I think of that song " day by day and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my trials here" something like that.
The baby loves to smile and coo and loves when her siblings give her attention, her little bod is strong and she holds her little head up very well. That's all for now.. let's hope anyway. I just want to LIVE again!!! :)

Aliza Ann

In case you didn't check the album feed at the bottom of the blog..
June 3rd, 2010, 5:02 a.m; 6lbs. 9 lbs, 20 inches long. I've been M.I.A from webworld this week dealing with a NASTY bacterial infection on my ladies, symptoms started sunday, I thought it was yeast but apparently not. Bleeding, crying, pain, pumping instead of nursing for a while, went to dr yesterday and in one day things are starting to improve, thank the Lord. She let me sleep for a 4 hr block last night then a 2 hr. She weighed 7 lbs today at the dr and is doing a great, she's a really good baby and I'm looking foward to not going around bawling feeling and looking like I've been nursing a wolverine, I never had problems like this before!!! I was able to nurse on one side today and I'm so thankful, tomorrow I will try the other side. So I'm seeing light at the end of my nursing nightmare. My postpartum always starts off with a bang with pulling all nighters at the hospital, I ended up being jabbed 8 times, they had issues doing the IV but dang it I needed the fluids for the epidural. I pushed a few pushes through one contraction and she was here, with a knot in her cord, I'll post more pics eventually, Mitch took a pic of the knot, the dr suggested it lol. so it's been an exhausting week starting on a major sleep deficit, I thought I blew some stitches sneezing the first night, then the infection. I'm SO glad my mom was here this week!!! I would've died without her, probably really. :) The kids are doing great and love their sister, no issues with them at all. That's all for now, sorry for those of you I've not been able to touch base with yet. I appreciate you contacting me!!!!
ps, no cleft chin this time and she is my blondest baby! It looks blonder when her hair is freshly cleaned and puffed. :)

Mother's Day

Me and all 3 of my muffins. A lady in church was entertained that morning from the alien-like movements coming from my belly. " you're baby's very active". Isabelle made me a card while I was in bed that morning that said " I love you Mom, Today is Moms day, happy moms day, we will go to chrch( that's how she spelled it) love, Isabelle." So sweet.
Then we have the below picture, remember that commerical that went something like this.. " big big big BIG, so HUGE and BIG!" This is me last night, 37 weeks and 3 days. And I did work on packing the hospital bag finally, it's not completely done but you can't be completely done till you are actually going to go anyway, at least for me, I have a lot of face crap to pack. Check out those veins.. they look downright placental.... did I mention I'm running out of clothes that fit??? Here's hoping this is my last pregnant weekend.