Going to the Doctor

This morning I heard Nadia saying "two, two, two" and when I went over to see what she was up to, I saw that she had put on both of Paul's gloves. She tried to wear both at the same time yesterday but only could get one on at a time. She definitely understands the concept of "two." I had to call Paul (who was en route to PSU) to tell him this since he's concerned about her math skills. :-)

Ian spent less than 3 hours in the Nap Nanny last night. He spent about 3 hours in Paul's arms while I slept; then he slept for less than 2 hours after I nursed him, and the next time he slept less than 1 hour. He spent the rest of the night with me (either nursing or snuggled beside me in our bed). Paul was surprised to learn this morning that Ian had joined us last night. I'm glad at least one person got some sleep. I got about 5 hours of sleep last night which is not much considering I went to bed at 7:45pm.

Part way through the night I decided I'd be calling the Pediatrician's office first thing this morning. I first called at 7am and learned through listening to their answering machine that their office opens at 8am. I called many, many times before I finally got through at about 8:50am. His appointment is at 2:35 this afternoon. I didn't make an appointment for Nadia, but I told Paul last night that of course if the doctor wants to listen to her (due to her cough), that will be fine with me. Ian sounds AWFUL. It is heartbreaking to hear him cough. I feel so badly for the little guy. I had planned to go to ladies Bible study this morning but decided it was best if we stayed home. I admit I am getting a bit of cabin fever due to not going to work the past 2 months and now recently staying home from church and Bible study. I had planned to go to MOPS tomorrow, but I doubt I will be going due to #1 the snow we're supposed to get (about 8 inches) and #2 my sick children. Hopefully we'll all be healthy in the very near future!! I especially hope Ian feels better soon. Of course I don't like hearing Nadia cough, but it's not as scary since she's so much older and bigger than Ian.

Nadia slept through the night but woke up at 5am even though she didn't fall asleep until after 8pm. She was one TIRED girl this morning. In light of Ian's doctor appointment at 2:35, I put her down for her nap at 10:40. Yesterday she slept from 12:00-3:00pm, but that wouldn't work with his appointment today.

Ian's Turn

Sunday night was the best night we've had in quite awhile. Nadia slept throught the night, and Ian spent the night (in between feedings) in his Nap Nanny. Nadia got up at 6am and finally had an appetite as she was asking for oatmeal. I let her feed herself as I know we need to work on her self-feeding skills. I think I've been a bit delinquent in that regard. Her temperature was never higher than 99 degrees, she hasn't thrown up since Saturday night, and her nose isn't running nearly as much, although we need a tissue handy for whenever she sneezes. Unfortunately, her appetite didn't continue throughout the day. I did manage to get her to eat almost a whole yogurt for dinner (it was a struggle!). She didn't really have lunch aside from a couple of bites of an apple. Her cough sounds terrible, but since she otherwise seems to be doing much better, I am hoping her cough will get go away soon as well.

Unfortunately, Ian has begun coughing and sneezing today. If he sounds any worse tomorrow, I'll be calling the Pediatrician's office in the morning. I wish Paul or I had caught the cold from Nadia rather than little Ian.

I thought it was cute when I saw that Nadia had put on her Daddy's glove. She frequently steps into one of his sneakers. She asked to sit in the pink chair and hold Ian. It will be awhile until they can be playmates, but I do think she's past the jealous phase. Whew...

HE SMILES!!!!!

Although kept down her breakfast and lunch yesterday, dinner came back up as I was just about to brush her teeth a little before 7pm last night. Thankfully most of it landed on the linolium which made it easier to clean up. This has been quite the bug!! She had two doses of the seasonal flu shot and one dose of the H1N1 shot, but they didn't seem to help with whatever she caught. Last night was again a rough night for both kiddos. Ian slept in the Nap Nanny until midnight, but then that was it for the night. He was with me for the duration. Nadia was up many, many times. Paul fed her some applesauce at 5am and put her back down at 5:30 and wonder of wonders she then slept until 8:00am. I fed her half a bagel this morning for breakfast. I'm hoping she'll keep ALL her meals down today. In light of the rough night, we stayed home from church this morning.

Last night I wasn't feeling like a very good Mommy. I felt rather selfish as I realized that one of the main reasons I wanted Nadia to feel better was so she'd go back to sleeping through the night so that Paul and I could get more sleep. Here she is coughing and crying all night long, and I'm worried about how much sleep I'm getting? Similarly, I found myself actually feeling upset with Ian last night because he was reverting back to a prior habit of not nursing very well (just falling asleep on me but then if I put him down he'd wake right back up again). I had attempted to nurse him for almost an hour. I knew he hadn't consumed as much as he usually does in one nursing session, yet I was very annoyed when he woke up maybe 10 minutes later wanting to be fed again. I remember thinking something like "buddy, I am very willing to get up at midnight to feed you if you'll actually nurse, but...". How pathetic is that to feel upset at an 8 week old baby? I was also beating myself up over Nadia's hair. I kept thinking why on earth did I wait this long to give her bangs??? The Lord knew I needed some encouragement today so he allowed today to be the day that Ian had his first social smiles!!! He's been having spontaneous smiles since almost the beginning (often in his sleep), but this morning was the first time I witnessed him smiling "on purpose." The first time was ironically just before he was about to begin nursing. He looked up at me and smiled. My heart melted, and I didn't care at all how little sleep I've been getting lately. He has smiled at me many other times today, and I was able to catch a few smiles on camera! Enjoy!

Today is also monumental because he now weighs 7lbs (plus 1/2 ounce). YAHOOOO!!!! PTL!!!!

First Haircut!

Keeping the hair out of Nadia's eyes has been a problem for a few months. Barrettes don't stay in very long. I wasn't sure I wanted her to have bangs, but yesterday afternoon I decided enough was enough and trimmed some of her hair, which gave her bangs. I discovered the challenge of trying to cut the hair of a wiggly toddler! I think it looks cute! What do you think?

Last night was a rough night. Ian slept in the Nap Nanny for about 5 hours between 8pm and 2am (nursed him at 11pm), but then he couldn't seem to fall asleep in it after the 2am feeding. I brought him to bed with me at 3:30am. During that time span Nadia also was up and she coughed quite a bit until she woke up around 5am. I basically only got 5 hours of sleep last night. Thankfully I was able to take a nap this morning during Nadia's nap. We put her down for a morning nap since she got up so early. Hopefully she'll also take an afternoon nap.

The good news is that her fever has finally gone away. It hovered around 100 degrees for five days straight. Her appetite also finally returned. On Tuesday she didn't eat anything, and Wednesday through Friday she only had a few bites of food each day (mostly applesauce). I weighed her this morning, and compared to the last time I weighed her (about 2 weeks ago) she had lost a little over one pound. This morning she ate pretty much what is a normal breakfast for her (oatmeal and some yogurt), and she had an egg salad sandwich for lunch. She did throw up once more last night, but hopefully she won't throw up today. Her nose has stopped running, but a lot of junk still comes out when she sneezes. Her cough still sounds awful, but every other symptom is either gone or much improved. Hopefully her cough will start going away soon. We put a little medicine in the vaporizer last night for the first time. I am very grateful that it seems that Ian, Paul, and I have escaped catching this bug from Nadia. We were going to attend a family game night at church this evening, but we'll be staying home. Depending on how she does this night will determine whether we go to church tomorrow.

We got about 5 inches of snow. Nadia had fun playing in it, particularly when Daddy pulled her around the yard in the sled. Once again, my parents, who live 3.5 hours south of us, got FAR more snow than we did - 30 inches thus far just from this storm! This must be reminding my mom of her childhood as she grew up in Detroit, Michigan.

Ian now weighs 6lb 15.5oz, which means he gained 13 ounces over the past 15 days.

He should hit 7 lbs. tomorrow. Today he's 8 weeks old!

She Slept In!

Nadia has been getting up before 6am for quite awhile, but this morning she didn't get up until 7:20. YAHOOOO! She didn't nap well yesterday so we put her to bed earlier than usual, and she fell asleep immediately. She was only up once last night (2am); so she got a lot more sleep last night than she has in awhile - about 12 hours! Ian went in the Nap Nanny a little after 8pm. His norm these days is to spend at least 7 hours in the Nap Nanny over the course of about 10 hours. I thought Nadia was soon to wake up at 5:30 when I finished nursing Ian so I just brought him to bed with me. Had I known Nadia would sleep almost 2 more hours I would have put him back in the Nap Nanny. Nadia still doesn't have an appetite for anything except milk although I did get her to eat a little applesauce as her breakfast this morning. Her nose isn't running as much, and she didn't throw up at all yesterday. She still has a fever (usually over 100 degrees), and her cough is getting worse. Since she slept so well last night I'm not going to attempt a second nap today. Hopefully she'll take a nice afternoon nap. I am also relieved that it doesn't seem like the other 3 of us have caught her bug. I rescheduled Ian's first photo session for next Thursday. Hope Nadia is back to normal by then!!!

Yesterday when I was putting away the new clothes I recently bought into Ian and Nadia's closets, I discovered a box of size 18 month clothes for Nadia that I hadn't put into her dresser yet. OOPS! In the fall I had put all the 12 month winter clothes into her dresser along with the size 18 month sleepers. I totally forgot about these clothes. There were two outfits (one of which she's wearing today) and several pairs of size 18 month pants. The only thing that still fits her in size 12 month are some pants. I guess that's why I hadn't gone to the box yet. The sad thing was that the other 18 month outfit was a Christmas outfit (reindeer). I was just going to have her wear it anyhow since it's still winter, and I think it's cute, but Paul said I should sell it instead on eBay. He's probably right. I paid less than $5 for the outfit so it's not a huge loss, but still I wish she had worn it in December! OOPS! I'll have to be more careful in the future not to do this again. I guess that's one of the possible glitches that comes with purchasing clothing so far in advance.

Ian has taken one nap so far today in the Nap Nanny. Today I took Nadia outside for the first time since church on Sunday. While Ian slept (Paul stayed home today due to the snow we're supposed to get) Nadia and I went to the grocery store, bank, and Italian restaurant (picked up 2 pizzas). Since he's doing so well with the Nap Nanny, that means the next thing to work on is the shield. I want to work on it this weekend. Please pray that I stick with that goal and that we find success!!!

Clearance Racks

Paul's parents came up yesterday to help me care for Ian and Nadia. They also brought some food we hoped Nadia might be able to eat. Over the course of the day she had two very small popsicles, two saltine crackers, and five bites of applesauce. That isn't much food, but considering she only had milk and Tylenol on Tuesday, it was an improvement. She also didn't throw up yesterday (except for a tiny bit of phlegm one time). She got up twice last night (same as the night before). Since she was able to keep a little bit of solids down yesterday, I insisted that she eat something this morning. It took a lot of work, but eventually I got her to finish the single serving container of applesauce that she started yesterday. After a short morning nap she ate some Teddy Grahams. She's definitely still sick but seems to be doing better than she was on Tuesday. While Paul's parents were here I made tuna noodle for dinner, did 2 loads of laundry, had one short nap, and did a little shopping. Nadia took 2 naps (11:15-12:15 and 1:00-3:15). Ian slept in the Nap Nanny for one hour while I was shopping. I decided to start working on getting him to take naps in the Nap Nanny. So far he took one 70 minute nap in it today.

Yesterday I bought one outfit for Ian ar Sears (the one he's wearing in these pictures). It's size newborn and fits him well. Newborn sleepers are still a bit too big, but preemie size are too small. He's also wearing the PSU socks that were a Christmas gift. This outfit wasn't from a clearance rack, but I am glad I "splurged" and got it ($7.99). There wasn't a lot left on clearance at JCP, but for some reason I didn't go to the mall for the past 7+ weeks. I bought Ian two long sleeve shirts, a sleeper, and a winter coat (all size 12 month) plus a pair of brown size 4 sneakers all for $17.12. For Nadia I bought two pairs of pants, two sleepers (one Disney princess one), and eight long sleeve tops all for $26.52 (from size 3T to 5T). Compared to the original prices, I saved $226.37. Hopefully I will be able to go elsewhere this month before all the clearance racks are empty.

A stay in your pjs day for a sick girl.

He now weighs 6lb 14oz.

Need a Bigger Lap

 It's hard to hold both kiddos at the same time on my lap. It's not really the size of my lap that is the problem. The problem is that Nadia has no concept of giving Ian any personal space. I have to be very careful or she'd lie back right on top of him. Since she weighs 27 lbs and he weighs less than 7 lbs, she could definitely unintentionally hurt the little lad rather easily. This made yesterday a very long day. There were periods of time were I was successful in holding both of them at the same time, but there were also many points in the day where I was only holding one child, and this meant the other child was crying. It's rather exhausting to constantly hear either a toddler or an infant crying. I admit that yesterday I was wishing Ian didn't need to be held so much as I really wanted to be able to snuggle with my sick little girl more. I tried the nap nanny, and I tried putting him in the boppy right beside me on the couch, but he just screamed. It was usually easier to keep Nadia calm beside me, so he ended up being held far more than Nadia although she definitely was held far more than usual yesterday.

I called Paul and asked him to please come home a little early. He left 90 minutes earlier than usual, but he stopped at Walmart to buy her some Pedialyte and more Tylenol so he actually got home 60 minutes earlier than usual. He bought two different flavors of Pedialyte, but she unfortunately didn't seem to care for either of them. She just wants to drink milk. She attempted to eat one bite of food when I was eating dinner last night, and just one bite of food entering her mouth (she hadn't even swallowed anything yet) led her to start throwing up - you could tell that she has just been consuming milk by what came up out of her. She threw up once more around midnight last night. I hadn't bought a mattress pad for Ian. We had two for Nadia so I had been using one of "hers" for his crib. Since he's sleeping in the Nap Nanny, he doesn't really need sheets or anything right now so Paul took the mattress pad from his crib when he changed Nadia's sheets last night. Whenever we wean him off the nap nanny I should buy another mattress pad so we have an extra one to use when either of them throws up during the night. Nadia hasn't eaten anything since noon on Monday. I wish she's drink the Pedialyte, but I guess at least the milk she's drinking is preventing her from being dehydrated.

Ian spent about 7 hours in the Nap Nanny between the hours of 7pm and 5am. Way to go, Ian! It was still a big effort the first time he went down, but then thankfully he went down very easily after his 11pm and 2am feedings. I was careful to burp him several times during each feeding (rather than just burping him after he finishes each side) because yesterday he was spewing up large quantities of milk - sometimes when I was burping him and other times when I was changing his diaper in the middle of a feeding session. More frequent burping seemed to help as he didn't spit up very much at all last night. Nadia rarely spit up At All so this is a new situation for me.

Paul's parents volunteered to come up today to help, and I gladly accepted. I realized yesterday that it's very hard for one person to care for a sick toddler plus a 7 week old who is used to being held all day long. Nadia only slept 30 minutes yesterday morning, but she took a nice long afternoon nap. Whew. This was a big improvement over Monday when she didn't sleep at all during the day. I did get a little bit of sleep during her afternoon nap. My mom and sister also volunteered to come up and help if needed. I am very grateful that our family wants to help out! I am not sure that my mom or sister would have been able to come up given the snow they got last night and are supposed to continue to get today. Hopefully the snow won't be a problem for Paul's parents. My parents live 3.5 hours away, and Paul's parents live 1 hour away from us. Ironically, my parents (who live in Maryland) have gotten a LOT more snow than we have so far this winter. With Paul's parents helping me out this means that both children can be held as much as they want to be held plus it means I can take a nap (or two), and I also might be able to make a quick trip up to the mall. Now is the time to shop from the clearance racks to buy winter clothes for the kids for next year. I was at the mall on Saturday morning for a haircut, but since this was Paul's first time being home alone with both kids, I knew I needed to get home as soon as possible so I didn't do any shopping that day. It was the first time since Ian was home from the hospital that he and I weren't at the same location.

It had been over 2 months since I had gotten a haircut, which is longer than I usually go. Another reason I wanted it cut was because we have an appointment at Sears this Thursday for our pictures to be taken (Ian's first time). That appointment will need to be rescheduled if Nadia isn't feeling better. I went to a different salon (because I got a coupon in the mail), and although I asked for one inch to be taken off, the lady took off WAY more than that. I believe (especially in the back) this is the shortest my hair has EVER been. At least she left the top layer long. It doesn't take very long to blowdry the back right now, which is a perk of this hairstyle, and to be honest although it wasn't what I wanted or asked for, I think it looks fine. Even though it turned out okay, I still find it annoying that she just did her own thing. Well it's just hair. It grows back, and who knows maybe this style will "grow" on me and I'll keep it this way.

Sick Little Girl

As I mentioned before, our first clue that Nadia wasn't feeling well occurred on Sunday night when Nadia woke up crying during the night. Yesterdsy it "just" appeared to be a cold (cough, runny nose) but then last night around dinner time she threw up. It was her first time in her life to throw up more than just phlegm. Even her beloved doggie had to go in the washing machine. She also has a fever. We've been giving her Tylenol every 4 hours. She didn't take any naps yesterday; so she fell asleep immediately when we put her to bed, even though we put her to bed earlier than usual. The first time she woke up crying last night I gave her Tylenol and let her sleep with me for 30 minutes before Paul put her back in her crib. I won't be going to ladies Bible study this morning since Nadia is sick. Hoping she feels better soon and that the rest of us escape coming down with it although that seems impossible given she keeps coughing right into our faces. I had recently ordered some VeggieTale stuff from CBD, and the order came yesterday, which was perfect timing. She is OBSESSED with "Bob" these days so I bought her a Bob stuffed animal, 4 more DVDs, and 9 VeggieTale books. She loves them! She actually was kissing the Bob books this morning. On Sunday I saw her kissing her reflection on the mirror hanging on our bedroom door. I guess it's possible to kiss oneself on the lips, LOL!

Last night didn't go as well as Sunday night did, but he did sleep about 5 hours in the Nap Nanny (7:45-10:45pm and 3:15-5:15am). I worked very hard to try to get him to sleep in it after I nursed him at 11pm, but I eventually gave up and let him sleep in my arms in our bed for about 2 hours. Even though it didn't go as well as the previous night, it was still far better than most nights. He didn't take any naps in the Nap Nanny yesterday either although I tried several times. It's more important to me that he sleeps in his crib at night. I am fine with working on him taking naps in the crib after it becomes the norm for him to sleep in the crib at night. I don't think it would be fair to make too many changes at once since the little guy has been held almost 24 hours a day for several weeks. It also would be hard on me as I love holding my little peanut! I'm not going to weigh him until this weekend as I'm hoping he'll weigh 7lbs the next time I weigh him.

Nadia woke up a few times last night, but not as many times as she woke up on Sunday night. Yesterday she didn't sleep either time that I put her down for a nap. Thankfully she is sleeping right now. I put her down at 9:30 for a morning nap (in light of being sick as usually she just takes one nap a day nowadays), and she fell asleep right away. She hasn't eaten anything since lunch yesterday. I tried to get her to eat dinner last night. Bad Idea. The first time she threw up yesterday was while I had her on my lap trying to get her to eat dinner. Since then I haven't pushed her to eat anything. I've offered her food (such as a bagel for breakfast this morning), but every time she just asks for milk. So the only things she's consumed the past 22 hours are milk and Tylenol. Paul was concerned, but I figure if she's hungry, she'll eat. I certainly don't want her throwing up again just because I tried to get her to eat when she didn't want to eat. I also am not going to keep track of how much tv she watches today. I have a feeling we'll be watching a fair amount of VeggieTales plus PBS. So far today we already watched part of one VeggieTale dvd plus most of one episode of Sesame Street (which she calls "Elmo"). I can only hope that maybe I can get a nap in today as well. Ian is nursing right now, or I'd be sleeping instead of typing! This too shall pass. I am thankful that in general she's been a very healthy little girl the past 19 months. Hoping she gets over this bug very quickly and that none of the rest of us catch it!

Kisses for Ian

Nadia started kissing Ian of her own initiative today. How sweet! She then brought him 2 blankets. When she brought the first one she said "blanket," and when she brought the second one she said "two." I then decided to record a video of her kissing Ian, and this shows her sense of humor as she calls Ian "Pop Pop" which is what she calls Paul's Dad.

SUCCESS!!!

Between the hours of 7:30pm and 6:30am, Ian spent about 7 hours in the Nap Nanny (in the pack 'n play in the family room). The first time I spent 30 minutes stroking his head and/or putting the pacifier back in any time he started to fuss, but the other times all I had to do was put him down and he didn't fuss or cry At All! The routine I've established is to nurse him on one side, burp him, change his diaper, and after I change his diaper put him in the sleep sack and then swaddle him (even his arms). Then I nurse him on the other side, and when he's done, I burp him and then put him in the Nap Nanny. I'm going to move the Nap Nanny upstairs and have him sleep in his crib in his bedroom this evening. Now I would have gotten more sleep than I have been getting except for the fact that Nadia was waking up almost every hour the whole night. She seems to have caught a cold. At different times during the night Paul gave her Tylenol, started the humidifier in her room, and put Vick's baby rub on her. Even though I didn't get up to care for her too many times, I still didn't get much sleep as I was awake every time she cried. Also, since Ian was downstairs I was concerned I wouldn't hear him so I was sleeping very lightly. In light of how little Nadia slept last night, I think today should be a two nap day. Hope that works as she needs more sleep, and I would love the naps also. I am VERY encouraged though that in the very near future I should start averaging at least 6 hours of sleep a night now that Ian is able to sleep somewhere besides someone's arms.

My postpartum/ D&;E follow-up appointment is this afternoon. I'm going to drop Nadia off at Sarah's on the way to the doctor's office and take Ian with me to the appointment. I'm sure she'll have fun playing with Abby for an hour or so. She was with her for almost 4 hours at church yesterday because we stayed for lunch after the worship service.