Life with a newborn

Liam was such a sweet baby.  He was quite hungry all the time, and constantly needed a new diaper.  In fact, the first night we were home was quite interesting.  We put Laney to bed and watched a little tv.  I fed Liam and we were about to turn in for the evening.  I went to change his diaper and as soon as I took it off he pooped explosively.  As I cleaned that up he pooped again!  So as I begin to wipe up the poop, he begins to pee and it fountains all over the changing table.  I don't know what to do, so I end up shielding it with my hand it just floods all over him and fills up the table (the detachable table portion of the port-a-crib).  So, I now have to give Liam his first bath impromptu in the sink while Patrick cleans up the messy changing table.  No pictures to remember the event by, just a disastrous clean up!  After a day of leaking diapers, we finally realize that folding the band down for LIam's belly button is allowing pee to escape so we stop doing it.  He really only wears newborn diapers for a week before we switch him to size 1 in order to stop the pee from escaping.  His scrotum is still so swollen that his penis points up and he pees toward the waist band of hte diaper still, so a bigger diaper really fixes the problem. 

For the first month Liam is getting up every 2 to 3 hours to eat, and Patrick and I become zombies as we are up all night feeding him.  At least he goes back to sleep relatively easily.  After 1 week we have him start sleeping in his room so we can get some rest in between feedings.  At 3 weeks he stops wearing newborn clothing and is in 0-3 month clothes.  He is growing really fast and gaining weight at a fast pace.  When we give him bottles, he is drinking about 4 ounces a time already (at the most Laney only drank 4 ounces and that was when she was 10 months old).  Laney is learning to be a good big sister, helping me with changing diapers and sitting on the couch with me while I feed Liam.  She has been learning to be a little more independent as I need to spend more time with Liam.  I have her pick an activity to do while I feed him so that she is kept busy. 

At just shy of 4 weeks I realize that Liam has acid reflux.  He only really sleeps in the swing or his car seat and cries and cries when I lay him flat in his bed.  He officially was diagnosed with Silent Reflux since he never threw up and would do a reflux in his throat only.  Dr. Schmottlach started him on Zantac, but it didn't really help.  We switched him to acid reflux formula and that seemed to help some.  Then we got Liam on Prevacid.  That changed our life.  He became a happy baby who could sleep.  My mom brought home a Nap Nanny and the first time I put Liam in it he fell asleep 5 minutes later.  We moved it to his bed and sleeping became a welcome activity for him.  I also found that if I pumped milk and mixed it with formula then he was happier after a feeding than if I just breast fed him.  This was fine with me because I never really loved breast feeding and found it to be a nuisance to me.  I loved spending time with Liam but breast feeding left me feeling sticky and wet all the time, not to mention uncomfortable when I was engorged which often resulted in a blocked milk duct which is sooo painful. 

At 4 weeks Liam was able to bat at his toys on a playmat.  He smiled at me for the first time right around 6 weeks.  He has such a happy smiley face and it was just so stinking cute when he smiled at me!  Still, the sleepless nights were really getting to me and I was having a hard time taking care of my kids and funcitoning like an adult.  Liam was gaining about a pound a week and I was hoping that this meant he would sleep through the night soon!

8-23-10

Laney and I are home sick today with fevers, sore throats, and coughs.  At least she can take decongestant.  I am stuck with Tylenol.  We just received good news from the hospital that Anneliese was born this morning.  Laney has a new cousin to play with!

Laney has been getting easier to put to bed the last few nights, really getting used to sleeping in her "big girl bed."  She has really taken to Play-Doh in the last week or so, and loves coloring on her own with her markers.  She is such a good helper.  I can ask her to turn on the fan or get a wipee and she does it for us.  We bought her a dust buster so she could help clean up after dinner (under her chair is a mess!).  She likes to carry around the little red vacuum torturing the dogs with it because they run in fear from all vacuums.

I try to teach her a new song every few days or so now.  She likes the Itsy Bitsy Spider, 5 Little Monkeys, and now Old MacDonald.  When we get to the E-I-E-I-O part she just yells aye yay yay.  I am now teaching her Twinkle Twinkle and the ABC song.  So far she can't really carry a tune, but can memorize the parts pretty quickly.  It is so cute to hear her singing to herself in another room.  I will have to try and video tape it.

8-18-10

Last night I was tasked with getting Laney to bed while Patrick was at softball.  I put her to bed and went downstairs to get some water.  I turned around and she was standing there in the kitchen, lovey and pillow in hand, smiling and saying "hi mommy."  I took her back to bed and promised I would stay on the couch in the playroom until she fell asleep.  I got out my laptop and then heard her door creak open a few minutes later.  She tip-toed out with lovey over her head and eyes.  I think she thought I couldn't see her because she couldn't see me.  She quietly snuck over to the side of the couch and ducked down by the arm.  Then she started giggling uncontrollably.  I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing as I sent her back to her bed to lay down.  What a cutie pie!

Today she threw up banana on my while I was painting her fingernails this morning.  She has had a slight fever all day, took 2 naps, and went to bed early.  I only hope that she sleeps through the night!

8-17-10: part 2

While we were away celebrating our anniversary, Laney decided to start sleeping in a "big girl bed" at Shesh and Pop   Pop's house.  When we got home, we purchased a full size mattress and put it on the floor of her room.  It was  a big hit outfitted in big girl sheets to match the room.  The first night she slept in her BGB was funny.  P and I were sound asleep when WHAM! the door to our room slams shut and it is pitch black in our room.  We both sit bolt upright and P turns on his light.  Laney is standing in the middle of our room with Special Pillow and Lovey Doggy and just says "hi mommy, hi daddy."  Now she comes in our room without shutting the door (thank you night lights) every night around 4 or 5 am.  She sleeps with us until about 6 or so, and then wakes us both up by smashing her face into ours, kissing us, and declaring that it is time to get clothes on and get some milk downstairs.  So much for sleeping in!

We have also started going to toddler classes at the local community center Tue and Thu mornings.  I call it school, and we do 45 minutes of Alphabet Adventures one day and 45 of Toddler Tumbling the other.  It was not a hit the first few times, but today she managed to participate without doggie or tears, even riding on the parachute with the other kids for the first time.  Progress.  The first class was a 45 minute sob fest with her crying and whining to go home the whole time.  Today she followed along and couldn't wait to get the letters C and D stamped on her hand at the end.  I have been telling her that I would stay the whole time and wouldn't leave her.  She repeats in the car "mommy whole time no leave!"  I'm glad she is getting used to it because we start preschool on Tuesdays at the church in September, just mommy and me classes actually.  Shesh is going to enroll her at Hammond Dance on Wednesdays and I will probably continue with tumbling on Thursdays.

Laney began using "I" instead of "Laney" this week.  She can really tell you a story, and you can almost conversate with her.  She remembers rhymes now and her favorite is "5 little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" as well as the Hokey Pokey.  I am working on Old Macdonald with her right now.

As for me, I am diabetic and exhausted at 32 week.s  I am having Arianna come most afternoons to play with Laney so I can rest.  My feet started swelling this week...just in time to get the baby's room done.  I had my "sprinkle" this past Sunday and got so many beautiful gifts.  I can't wait to get Liam's room ready.  I talk to Laney about Liam and babies every day.  I praise her for being my big helper and am encouraging her to play independently now so she will be used to it when he is born.  It is hard to tell if she is going to like having a baby in the house.  I am guessing that it might be fine until he can crawl and get into her things.  Then we will have to have a gated "Liam-free" zone for her.  

8-17-10: part 1

Funny things Laney has said recently:

• A few weeks ago she started telling me that there was a monkey in the house.  It was in the kitchen, on the sofa, on the coffee maker, on the chair. etc.  I started to worry that she was hallucinating because she was so certain that it was there.  I even thought about calling the pediatrician.  Finally she ran to the door and pointed to a fly and said "monkey."  I was so relieved that it was just a housefly and not a figment of her imagination.  I still have no idea why she thought it was  a monkey.
• As I got out of the shower  she brought me my bra and said "Help boobies.  Wear bra."
• As I squatted naked and pregnant on my closet floor looking for something down low, she ran over and lifted up both boobs with her hands and proclaimed "lotsa boobies!"
• Patrick was about to get in the shower one morning for work and she ran in the bathroom and declared her intent to shower with him.  He started to undress her, and as he did I saw her little head look up, followed by a hand that shot up in the air and pointed, screaming "weenie!"

7-23-10

Here it is July, and I have thought about blogging for so many days now.  Laney has changed even so much since the last time I wrote, and so have I!  I am 28 weeks pregnant with Liam and am getting bigger every day.  Yesterday was our 10th wedding anniversary and we are celebrating by a small vacation to Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara.  We exchanged some new right-hand rings on the beach yesterday and went out to a nice dinner in town. 

Laney has turned two and is just a joyful little girl to be around.  I finished work in June and have really been enjoying my month home with her.  She seems to enjoy having me home too.  She wakes up early and then we put her in our bed so we can try to sleep until seven, but are up most mornings at 6.  Laney really loves to have her back rubbed and also loves "cratchy back".    We got her a special booster that raises the height of a regular table chair and she likes to climb into it and declare "dinner" when she is hungry, no matter what meal it is.  Usually she asks us for a cheese quesadilla or chicken and rice, her two favorites.  Lately it seems that her other favorite food is whatever mommy is having and I find that I usually have to give her bites from my plate too!

Laney moves at full speed now, declaring "Laney fast" as she runs laps around whatever she can.  She loves to take the pillows off the sofa in our living room and then jump off the sofa onto them.  No fear!  She also likes when I help her do somersaults on the pillows and laughs hysterical and proclaims "again." 

Her hair is getting much longer, with beautiful golden ringlets in the back.  She rarely lets  me style it, but loves to shake her head and mess it up with her hands declaring that she has "crazy hair".  Laney is also in a major "self, self, self" stage.   She wants to do everything from putting her socks, shoes, clothes on to washing herself with soap and climbing in and out of the car/stroller by herself.  She often needs help, especially knowing what shoe goes on which foot, and freaks out if you try to help her. 

5-10-10

Well, Laney has a new word and it is "dammit". She heard me say it and now any time she drops something she says it! So embarassing :) I am trying to get her to say "rats" instead, but so far she seems convinced that dammit is the right word.

Patrick commented tonight that reading with her is so amazing because she is really beginning to point out the names of things in her books without being asked. She knows some key words in favorite books too, and likes to yell them out as we read (especially in Go, Dog! Go!)