Puke.

Puke is a daily reality when you have a 6-month old. E is far too interested in doing stuff (rolling around on the ground, playing in her ExerSaucer, etc.) to sit still for long after a meal. I'd say she pukes at least 3 or 4 times between feedings. It's easy to wash her floor blanket, or the seat in the saucer.... but her clothes. I can't change her clothes every time she spits up. She has remarkable aim, too. She can avoid the burp cloth and hit her shirt every time. So, unless we're going somewhere where she needs to look especially cute or is too soaked.... I kinda let her stew in it all day. I blot up excess, of course, but she always ends the day looking like I never burp her.

Does this make me a bad mom?

Time for a blog glut....

Wow, it's been too long since I've blogged. It's been a busy few weeks. Here's some Cliff's Notes:

Life Update- Hubby, E and I are still desperate to move out of California but soon. Our apartment complex just wrote to let us know that rent for the next year is going to be 15% higher. Isn't that considered extortion? Unfortunately, Hubby's job possibility in Denver fell through. We're looking again. Something has got to happen soon. Either we're finding a new job and heading out of State, or moving down to the beach to be closer to hubby's work.

Em Update- She's 6 months old now, and the cutest thing ever. Almost 16 lbs, and FINALLY growing some hair again. She's right on track for all her developmental milestones, and has crazy old man eyebrows. I love it. I love everything about her.

I'm all good. I'm done with Jenny Craig. Lost about 7 or 8 lbs. Happy to be off the wagon and eating real food again. Still, I have enough Jenny food to get me through a half-plan for another couple of weeks.

Easter Bunny.

Isn't she cute. Hats with ears are the best. Emma was generally non-plussed by the whole Easter thing. She munched on her cloth eggs, and was generally happy all day- her usual routine. Fun for us though. Easter fell during E's cousin C's visit to sunny SoCal. We had such a good time!

First trip to the aquarium...

While Hubby's mom and dad were in town, we decided to take E on a trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific. She loved it. Well.... she slept through the first half, but loved everything once she was awake. We put her in the bjorn and she saw fish and sharks. But her favorite was the otters. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a good shot, but she and I went up against the glass while the otters were playing. They kept swimming by, kissing the glass and rolling around. She watched them and got so excited. She started kicking and "Ooh, Ooh"ing everytime one swam by.

I don't know how winter is where you are....

But it's 80 degrees and sunny out in SoCal.

We had lunch in Santa Monica, and took E to the beach for the first time today. To be completely honest, there wasn't a whole lot of reaction from the little one, but we had fun.

My boobs gave up.

Is that TMI? My milk production has been going down ever since the 4 month mark, when E started hitting me after three or four minutes when she ran out of milk. Soon after, she wouldn't even take the breast- just the bottle. Slowly, I went from 3 pumping sessions a day, to two, to one.... yesterday, I pumped for 15 minutes and got just an ounce.

I tried really hard, and almost made it to my goal of 6 months. I like to think that I've given her what she needs. Still, I can't help but feel like a bit of a failure. She got sick after my production went down, and has had a cold since. I hope this doesn't mean I'm a bad mommy. I want E to have the best start possible, and I know Mommymilk is the best thing. I'm ramping up the Fenugreek, and continuing to pump, hoping it'll come back, at least a little.

Hey, on the positive side.... maybe I'll lose the last of the weight now.

It's like they've been in our bedroom...

I couldn't have said it better myself....

Giggle Kisses....

Nothing makes this kid laugh like kisses. Blowing kisses makes her squeal. If you sneak up behind her and smooch her neck (and give her zerberts), she goes berzerk.

Funny Hubby

Emma just projectile puked (a regular occurence). As hubby was searching for a burp cloth, and mopping up her and her puddle.... under his breath, he muttered, "She's like one of those spitting dinosaurs from Jurassic Park. I fell off the sofa laughing. Maybe it's not that funny, but I think it is.... What do you think?

Hubby thinks this is stupid.

And maybe it is. However, I stare at the same four walls most days, and this cracks me up. I cannot watch it without getting the giggles.

Hungry.... Week 3

In other news, I lost another 2.3 lbs. last week. Bringing my total to almost 5. We'll see about this week. I finally gave into a craving and Hubby and I had Chinese food this weekend. I'm already sick of pseudo-food, but I'm getting into good habits. Every day now, I crave a bunch of veggies with my lunch. My goal is to be 10 lbs down by E's baptism in a month. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Yes, folks. She's mine.

I had three great moments with E today. All of them let me know that there was no mix up. This perfect little critter is mine.

1) We were in the kitchen, and I was cleaning, and singing along to my iPod. This isn't strange for us. E generally coos along when I sing. But today, the song La Vie Boheme from Rent came on. I started singing along and E started dancing and laughing. She was kicking her feet like crazy and just giggling away at me. She likes SHOWTUNES! Yahoo.... I don't care if some people might consider the lyrics a little questionable for such a little pup. I'm thrilled.

2) This afternoon, I picked her up after a diaper change. And she just wrapped her arms around my neck and shoulder and sqeezed. Now, this kid is generally a push back from anyone holding her/only snuggles when sleepy kid. It gave me my baby-tears of the day (I've cried happy tears over something every day since she was born...), and I had to message hubby right away saying, "She hugged me!!!)

3) Just now, she was chillin' on her blanket. She really enjoys tummy-time right now, and prefers to be rolling around on the floor whenever we let her. She also loves TV. We know that and most of the time we fight it. This moment, however, was just too good. Here she is. Chillin. Watching Oprah. Happy as a clam.

Camera Shy.

My daughter has the most beautiful smile I've ever seen, and has just the sweetest laugh. It's a sound that just makes my heart soar. It's nearly impossible to share these moments with the world, though, because she's incredibly camera shy. This is Emma laughing her little booty off a me being a goofball.

This is Emma once she realized that daddy had that noisy machine pointed at her.

We think she'll eventually get the hang of it. I mean, the camera is out, most of the time. This is perhaps the most documented child of all time. Oh well. We keep trying.

I'm so proud!

I can't believe Em is closing in on 6 months old! We still read almost every day. Here's a pic of the pup reading with me at less than a month old.....


And here's one of her this week.....


E may be bigger and balder, but she loves her story time. She's already developed a love of Dr. Seuss (I do voices for Yertle the Turtle), and like her daddy, gets very frustrated with the perfectly practical tales of Beatrix Potter. Even when she's stitting in her bouncy chair, she's constantly staring at the books in the bookshelves. We made a reader! YAY!

Pet Peeves

I got a couple of magazines at the grocery store today. Now, my entire home is littered with those stupid subscription offers that fall out. Why, exactly, can't they be attached. If I want to subscribe, I'll seek out the card and pull it out. Or I'll go on line and do it that way. I hate those things.

Holy Bumbo....

Tonight was the first night Lil' E really sat up by herself in her Bumbo. She seemed to really like it. Then, just as we were in wonderment at her ability to hold herself up, she grabbed her pacifier and stuck it in her mouth. We almost fell over.

She also has a new habit of cracking up when I blow kisses at her. Tonight, all three of us were in hysterics because the tenor of the laugh reached a kind of shrill, screechy level. She's laughing in the pic here.

And just because we couldn't help ourselves......tootsies ........enhance!

I've been hungry for about a week...

So, after a full week of eating Jenny Craig pseudo-food, I'm down 2.5 lbs. I was hoping for progress, but considering all the stress we were under last week, that's not surprising. Now, I'm just hoping to keep up the pace.

It would be better if I could get to the gym more than a couple times a week, but the little Miss doesn't like to nap. I'm going to keep trying to time our errands so she starts napping in the car, and I can take her up to the gym in the main building and get 15 or 20 min on the elliptical before she starts to make noise. She can do whatever she wants, though, as long as she keeps smiling at me like this.

That's right. I called Jenny....

Now that we're out of the hospital, I can get back to a project that I started the day E got sick. . . and postponed because that sort of worry can only be ausuaged with lots and LOTS of brownies.

Following in the footsteps of Kirstie Alley, Valerie Bertenelli and Queen Latifah, I have started the Jenny Craig program. It's just for 6 weeks and mostly because I need to do something that requires little thought or preparation. I'm hoping to drop about 10 lbs., get back into some clothes, get into better habits, and most importantly, stop having to tuck my tummy into my pants every morning.

Let me state for the record that I do not believe this to be the best way to lose weight. It is just a jumpstart and fits my requirement of 0 thinking.

So far, it's been okay. The Beef Chow Mein is a good lunch if you suppliment with extra veggies, but I am starving for my snack in 1/2 an hour. More on this later.

My worst days as a Mommy yet...

The lapse in my bogging is due to a Mommy Nightmare. This little fam has just returned from a 3 day stay in the hospital.

On Tuesday morning, E felt warm. Hubby and I dismissed it due to the fleece sleepsack she had warn on a warm night, and her general morning snugglebug routine. So, went about our business of the day, running errands and such. When we got home, she was fiery to the touch, and the temperature reading I got was 102.2. Lucky for us, the pediatrician's office hadn't yet closed for the day (it was after 4pm) and they told us to come right in. The temperature they got was even hotter- 104.5!

After a short emotional breakdown, we went home, packed a bag, and checked into the hospital. Because our doctor was on that call, he was with us and was the one to do her spinal tap. Do you know how scary it is when someone says the words "spinal tap" in reference to your 4-month old. She also had bloodwork, a urine test, and got started on an IV of concentrated antibiotics. Check out the pathetic little sock that she had to have to keep her from getting at her IV! 24 hours later, it was looking like her temperature had stablized enough to not be frightening, and the spinal and blood tests came back negative. The urine test, however, showed a nasty infection. Happily, it was sensitive to the antibiotic she was on, so we were looking at a speedy-ish recovery. Her fever hung on another day so we ended up staying til Friday morning, which gave us the comfort of knowing she'd had 3 more doses of the strong antibiotics, and that her temp had been under 100 degrees for over 24 hours. She may have spent her first Valentine's in the hospital, sleeping in what I thought looked like a cage at a vet's office, but she was still our sweet, darling little angel.

We are SO happy to be home. This was the most heart-wrenching thing I've experienced in a long time, but E is definitely on the mend. She'll be on oral antibiotics for another 10 days, and after a clear follow up with the Doc next week, she'll have a couple of procedures to check her bladder and kidneys for any defects that could have caused this. More likely, though, it's just a fluke and we'll never have a scary week like this again.