Tuesday, December 30, 2008

TEETH!!!


Well actually more like TOOTH! So today I was working from home because the dummy that I am, I left my keys in the car last night... locked. And Junior, with the other set, was already at work in the hospital. So he couldn't leave to help me out especially since he took the bus. Sooo... long story short, I ended up staying home and working from home. But that is besides the point! The point is... I was playing with Toni and making her laugh. And she was smiling and all and I looked in and what is that? It's a tooth!!!!! Well it's not all the way out, but it has broken surface! It's on the bottom, in the front left side. yay!!! I was hugging and kissing her like she just won a million bucks! hahaha! But then a little reality set in and aww... my baby is growing up!


Also I got this new thing for Toni. Well it's kind of for me too. It's a spoon that is designed to hold baby food in it so when you feed her, you jsut squeeze the handle a bit and it loads the spoon with food. OMG! It's one of the best things invented!!! It's mess free and so easy! And I find Toni eats more b/c the food is ready as soon as she swallows. Sometimes I think she gets bored waiting for the next spoonful (i know... impatient) and then just doesn't want to eat anymore. This way, it was ready. yay!!! I suggest any moms about to start solid feeding get this! I got mine at Babies R Us and it's by Boon.

Thrush Part II

She didn't actually get it again... it never really went away. But that is my concern... that it hasn't gone away. It's not bad at all... and it sometimes seems like it's gone. But every now then it appears. So I don't think it ever went away. WELL... so I do some research online about it (as always) and I find that it's probably b/c I am still nursing her. I knew that it could be passed back and forth, but dummy me... I thought maybe if I had it I would have white patches around and I don't. Well as it turns out, they say that if you are breastfeeding and your baby has thrush and you aren't sure you have it there are some symptoms. 1)If you have been feeding for months or weeks comfortably and all of a sudden it hurts or you are sore you can have it. So... I do experience that so CHECK. 2)If you are dry, cracked and or sore... CHECK 3)If you are itchy... CHECK 4)If you have shooting pains inside... nope thank God! So.... 3 out of 4... yeah I think I have it which may be why hers never went away completely... we're just passing it back and forth. I also read that mom and baby should be treated at the same time. Great. Would've been good to know that before hand! Fortunately, I can use the same cream prescribed to her for her diaper area on me. In terms of breastfeeding, I can still breast feed but then I'd have to give her medicine right after and I'd have to wash up and medicate myself after... or pump. I opted to pump. And actually since I'm weaning her and down to only about once or twice a day, maybe this will wean her completely. I don't know. So she seems to be doing better. I haven't really seen it the last couple of days so that's great! Me? Still dry and itchy but I know eventually that will get better too.

Post Christmas


WOW! All I have to say is Toni's first christmas was a success!!! Well that's not all I have to say really... hence the blog. But it was a total success! However, our home has now been taken over by toys galore. I kid you not. I keep saying it'll get better after the holidays when the tree is gone and we'll have more room... but I really don't think it'll be THAT much better. I think she has enough toys to last her until she's two or three years old. My worry... if this is what Christmas was like for her... I'm scared to see what her birthday will be like. YIKES!


But nevertheless, it was still successful! And she loved all her toys! I was worried she wouldn't really play with any of them or some of them but she does. The kitchen we got her, she likes! All the different sounds it makes, things it says, music it plays... it's great. And she's learning! Well all of her toys are learning toys really. The cookie jar, plays with it everyday. The drums... perfect! She slams on that thing and it plays music! I'm still trying to motivate her to crawl but I don't think she likes being on all fours very much. She got this learning table that you can sit on the floor or add the legs and it's a little table. Well today it was in table mode, and she was trying to pull herself up. So I'm not sure which will come first for her... crawling or walking.


My brother Neil got her this car thing... it's not a toy car but it's set up like one so that if she plays with it lying down, the "dashboard" is hanging overhead so she can reach it and there are "pedals" that trigger the music and lights to play. Or you can do it so she's sitting down. She plays with it more sitting down, but her feet don't reach yet in that position. That gets her attention a lot! She also got this 'Oh MCDonald' toy from either Rachelle (Junior's cousin) or Junior's aunt and uncle. I can't remember they gave her so much I'm not sure which is from which. She plays with that everyday too. Rachelle also got her this ABC train... yeah... honestly we haven't opened it yet b/c we don't know where we have the space for it! hahaha... but maybe after the tree is gone... I'm sure she'll love that too. Here's the crazy part. She got TWO rocking horses this christmas. What're the odds?!?! One is a more tradtional kind, so cute! It's funny b/c at my friend Jamuna's house, her son has one and when Toni saw it she was in awe. Funny how she got one. That one she got from Romel (Junior's cousin). The other one she got from Junior's aunt and uncle. This one is by Radio Flyer and it rocks and bounces. It's kind of neat too b/c it has an infant seat to attach to the horse so she doesn't fall off. That's not even all she got. Just the big things. Whew! But she's happy and learning so that's all that matters. The best part? Rachelle got Junior and I a flip video... so we can record EVERYTHING Toni does and I can upload it to my blogs!!! yay!! So here's a little montage to enjoy!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Toni and Santa


How could I forget?? Well I know, my brain has gone to mush since pregnancy. ANYWAY, here's Toni's first picture with Santa! My brother's company had this kids fun day where they had Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and a whole bunch of activities. So my brother invited me to take Toni there to take a picture with Santa Claus since 1) I could avoid the lines at the mall and 2) it was free! So I went and her picture was perfect! The first couple of shots they took she kind of just sat there expressionless. And everyone was like awww.. so cute... yay... and then she started to smile and that is this shot. yay!!! I have another GREAT picture from her school where they dressed her as a reindeer. OMG! She is THE CUTEST EVER!!! I still need to scan that one!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Pppbbbbttttt!



Yes.... it's 1:45am and I'm awake... WIDE WAKE. That's what happens when you put the baby to sleep at 8:30p... and then fall asleep. Mind you, I'm on this four hour thing where I am not able to sleep for more than four hours at a time. It sucks but that is the reality.

Anyway, Toni's new stuff. So she recently has aquired some new acts. The picture above explains it all. She's found her tounge... maybe still finding it and has learned to Pppbbbttt! It's cute, it really is except that a lot of spit comes with it. haha... What's worse is when she's nursing and mid way decides she wants to ppbbtt. It's all over me. Little squirt. But it's pretty cool b/c if you do it first a couple times, she will follow... which is very exciting to me b/c she can try to copy you! So MAYBE she'll try to copy me when I say MA. yes... I'm still working on that one... dammit.

She's also aquired a bit of an attitude. Don't get me wrong, she is still very much so the sweet baby girl you know (if you know) but sometimes if you take something away from her that she did NOT want you to take away, she can throw a fit. It's like her world is ending! For example... this past Friday she had her second round for the flu shot, WHICH she did very well, and so the doctor let her have a lollipop. Ok... so the last time she got shots she picked a blue one out of the candy tin. That was sucha bad color for a drooling baby. So this time as long as she didn't pick blue i was fine. She picked red. Not a good idea either... for future reference. ANYWAY, so we let her have her lollipop and was she enjoying it!!! The first time she had it at her 6 months appointment, she had a few licks and was un interested which was great for me b/c the blue... yeah. THIS time at 7 months, she was really into that damn dum dum. So she was enjoying it and it was getitng smaller and smaller when it I thought, what if it breaks in her mouth? She can't chew those pieces much less swallow those sharp edges. So I decided to take it from her. Can I say, WOW? Holy crap. She cried so hard she had one of those silent cries that ended with a huge breath followed by another loud cry. She was quite unhappy... and that's an understatement. Another time, she was opening a Christmas gift from Junior's boss. It was wrapped and so we started an edge for her so she can rip the rest off.... which she did, but as e expected she was more into the paper than the toy it wrapped. I don't care if she plays with the paper, but she still likes to put everything in her mouth. So the paper went into her mouth and as it soaked and started to create pieces, I, again, decided that was enough of that. Don't want her swallowing small pieces of wrapping paper. And again, she cried and cried despite the new toy she just got. Luckily she can still be easily distracted so as soon as I got the toy out and showed her she stopped crying... but how long will that work?

Since we're on the topic of toys... and this is going to be Toni's first Christmas... Junior and I... well maybe more I, have gone a bit crazy for her. We got her one BIG gift, a couple regular gifts and some stocking stuffers. hehe... Junior was good with the one big gift and one regular gift... I just felt we weren't done. I mean hey... it's her first Christmas!!! Junior did make a good point though. What if someone else gets her something we got her? Well, that is why I keep ALL receipts until after Christmas... just in case. So anyway, what'd we get her you ask? Well for her BIG gift we got her the Fisher Price Kitchen. I'm really excited about that one! Sounds like it might be too old for her but it's actually geared towards 6-36 months. So thankfully that toy should last her a while. I can't wait for her to play with it! We also got her this cookie jar that talks when you put in different shaped "cookies" and colors and this musical drums that lights and plays music AND when put together can roll to motivate baby to crawl! I'm excited about that one too! Some stocking stuffers... links, hair bands, bibs, teething keys... can't wait! But just watch... she'll be more interested in the boxes and paper!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Thrush

My poor baby has thrush. Apparently it's due to the antibiotics she had to take for her illness a couple of weeks ago. It also called the spots in her diaper region which I initially thought was a diaper rash but would never go away with the diaper rash cream. Fortunately the doctor prescribed some stuff for her so all is good. Plus, Toni never lost her spirit. It's like it didn't even phase her. So that's good!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Poo

Oh my how far I've fallen behind! I guess it hasn't been THAT long but considering how much she's changed since I last blogged... seems like light years. I titled this entry Poo and you'll see why later. But first, let's catch up.


Toni can sit on her own now! She doesn't need pillows to prop her up and she can sit for longer that just a minute before she falls over. In fact, she can reach out for toys with both hand, straighten her back and all that without falling! My, my, my... she is becoming more and more independent every day.

She's not crawling yet, but when she's on her tummy she's a pro. She can lift her upper body all the way up and even on one arm like it's not big deal. She can maneuver herself every which way she pleases. Sometimes she bends her legs and pushes off her feet to move around although she's not on her knees crawling just yet. But I can see she tries. Sometimes it's like she tries to get up on her knee but just isn't able to yet.


Her personality is amazing! She is STILL the happy baby but she has more personality that she did just two weeks ago! She has a voice! Not just that baby voice but a personal sound... her very own voice. She's still pretty easy to please and make laugh and smile but she'll let you know when she FEELS something isn't how she wants it. Not that something is necessarily wrong, but just not right to her. I'll get to that in sec as well.


She's onto solids! Well she's always been on solids but wasn't 100%. Before, she still had a little bit of the tongue reflex where she'd push some of it out of her mouth by reflex. I decided to give it a few days before trying her on solids again since she seemed to push more out than what was going in. She seemed to do ok with the cereal, but with the baby food more came out than going in. So I gave it a few days and then just this past week I decided to try again and she took it like she's been eating that way all along! She LOVED the carrots! Peas, she would tolerate but didn't seem to really care for. Sweet potatoes she seemed to like more than peas, but not as much as carrots. I haven't really given her fruits yet b/c they say that it's best to introduce your baby to veggies first b/c once they taste the sweetness of the fruits they may naver like veggies. Although, there is no real research to back this up, it's one of those that most people recommend... including her doctor. So, I'm playing it safe. No harm in giving veggies first. I've got squash to try and give her and I think there are sweet peas... not sure if that will taste any different than just regular peas. The other day I actually gave her some mashed potatos and she LOVED it! She smiled and wanted more! I was impressed! We also bought these dissovlable puffs that she can eat. They are actually whole grain banana flavored. Really I use it right now to allow her to practice her pincer grasp between the thumb and index finger. She hasn't gotten it quite down but the little puffs help her practice. So really she only has myabe 2 or 3 pieces a day. hahaha! By the time she gets it in her mouth, it's already a little mushy from her licking it and trying to get it in her mouth. But once in there, she chews like you would anything truly solid. And she seems to enjoy it. I think it makes her feel "grown up" just because she stares whenever I eat.


But with solid food comes yes.... solid poo. And it's so disgusting. I SO miss her newborn poops! I used to read that the newborn poops were nice and sweet smelling unlike that of when they start on solids. Well I would always think, there is nothing SWEET about her poop. Well NOW... I think I ALMOST might want to agree with "them." Her poop now is so disgusting. For one, it smells liek mine or yours. Maybe that is TMI (too much info), but you need to understand how disgusting it really is. And it's formed! UGH! So now, she's pooping like you and I do, but it gets all smashed in her diaper in all sorts of crevices.... BLEH! <--- That's me gagging. And I have to say, these diapers are no match for her poo. NO diaper can hold all this poo! It's impossible. The other day was HER worst yet and I PRAY it doesn't get any worse. Wishful thinking? Probably. She'll just have to potty train at 9 months. haha! So She's sitting their playing and mind you her last diaper change was not even an hour ago. And I smell something foul. So I'm like ok, she pooped. My biggest mistake, laying her down on the changing table. But what else was I supposed to do?! When I did that, the poo just creeped all up her back staining her clothes. BLEH! BLEH! BLEH! Mind you she is smiling and laughing like nothing is wrong. Ahhh the innocence. So I pick her up and I'm not even sure what to do at this point. There is crap EVERYWHERE! And the smell is NOT getting better! So I take her straight to the tub. Now I know she can sit by herself, but I don't like to sit her in the big tub my herself b/c I don't want her to fall. And I didn't want to put her in her tub yet b/c well, she's covered in crap. (Yes I suppose at this point the poo has turned into crap.) So here I am with the bath tub faucet on, trying to hold her with one hand and trying to disrobe her with the other. Here's the gross part. She's in a onesie. oh geez it has to go over her head. But I kind of did it smart. I just let the front part go over her hear since the crap was all up and down the back. Ths onesie I throw in the tub too b/c it needs some major TLC. I have her butt just under the faucet... let that water take the crap off! And oh how nasty the water in the tub is. All the while, she's trying to grab the water. So in tuned with the flow of water she isn't aware of the small hell I'm going through. I think when she's a teenager and gives me crap, I'll tell her to read the blog from December 8, 2008 and try giving me crap again. haha! So there is crap floating around the trub TRYING to go down the drain. I ahve to unscrew the plug to allow for a bigger opening in the tub. Remember when I mentioned crevices? Uh yeah. Water doesn't do crevices. So guess who has to. Yes... that would be me. So I am working to remove the crap in her crevices that the water didn't get. When I get to a point where I think she crap free, I put her in her tub to sit while I try to clean out the bigger tub. We always have her tub sitting in out tub. Then I start filling her tub only to learn that I must have missed some crevices. UGH! So I take her back out, try to do the most through cleaning I can. Then while holding her, clean her tub and still clean our tub. Ugh.... I had to basically pre wash her, her tub and our tub before I could begin to bathe her. That was tough and let me tell you I was sweating my ass off. It's hard doing all of that by yourself when even though your most precious thing in the world is growing strong, just not quite strong enough to sit in water without sliding and not strong enough to stand without support. I wanted to shower myself after all that. But of course I couldn't. Can't really leave her for too long unstil she's sleeping. Where was Junior during all this? Work. Lucky ass.


So anyway, back to her new eating habits. The puffs that we bought her come in the this tall plastic canister... almost like Pringles but in a plastic canister. Anyway, she always is so interested in the rattling of the puff pieces in the canister. Almost more than trying to eat the puffs itself. There is where we come to an example of her own personality. Before when she was just 3-4 months... maybe even 5 she'd only really cry if she was tired, hungry, uncomfortable or sick. And as expected as that is the only way babies know how to communicate... communicate the basic stuff. Now, she can sit there playing... hear her canister of puffs and cry for it. Not a full out cry, but whine more like. It's crazy. She used to only cry/whine for the basics but now she does it for personal gain? hahah! she's growing. And if she doesn't get it, she will start to get upset. Luckily she can easily be distracted at this age and all I have to do is show her something else interesting and she'll be happy.


So an update on her sickness. Keeping her home that week from daycare realyl paid off because she got much better fast. I worked home tues & wed and had thursday and friday off for thanksgiving. She was well by Thanksgiving so that was really good news! Bad news? Then night before Thanksgiving, I got the stomach flu. I know, right? Off all things to have before the day you are supposed to stuff yourself like there is no tomorrow and I get the stomach flu. Wed around lunch my stomach was hurting really bad. But I thought it was because I hadn't eatn lunch yet. There was a lot of work to be and it was harder, of course, trying to do so with a baby in your lap banging on the laptop. So before I knew it, it was 2-3pm and I hadn't eaten lunch. So I took a small break to do so. stomach still hurt after that but i thought maybe it's just b/c i waited so long to eat it's still recovering.



By dinner time everything I had for lunch, breakfast and probably dinner the night before came out. It was digusting. (The poo situation was still worse.) I waited an hour and I was freaking starving. By this time I logged off a bit early from work wince everyone was logging off anyway and going home early. I ate ONE tortilla chip and drank some water. That and then some (I have no idea where it came from) came out as well. Oh it sucked! So I researched and basically had to wait at least 9 hours before eating ANYTHING. and to keep from dehydrating, I had to drink water but in VERY small amounts to keep from vomiting again. So I basically kept ice cubes in my mouth. I just went to bed to pass the time away. When I got up Thanksgiving day, I could only eat bland foods such as bananas, oatmeal and water. And still slowly. I did not have a realy meal until dinner and even then it was about 7-8pm! Let me tell you that Thanksgiving plate had to be THE BEST PLATE ever! I was so hungry! But I felt my stomach was still recovering so I couldn't got for seconds. And we still had my family to go to and I basically didn't eat. But thank God Thanksgiving leftovers are still damn good! That was really nothing about Toni but I wanted to share. Junior had to work Thanksgiving week and day so while I was feeling gross I still had to take care of my own recovering baby. That's tough too. Sigh... the days when I could just go to bed when I was sick are long gone. I love caring for my Toni. But when sick, it's soo hard! I just wanted to get rest.

This past Saturday Toni had her first picture with Santa! I don't have the pics yet but I hope they come this week. My brother's company brought over a Santa for all the employees and their kids. I got to tag along which was nice. And the pictures are free! AND I didn't have to wait in line at the malls! Even better! I should have taken my own pics while they were doing that but I didn't think too. I did take pics of her at home in her Christmas outfit. She posed for the one with the white blanket over her head. Sometims she does this thing with her eyes were she makes them a bit smaller like she's posing. Already! Then I took her to see my parents, her Mama and Papa. Though I'm sure she sees them all the time and vice versa, I've never taken her to their grave and I really wanted to do that. I think every Christmas I get a little choked up not just b/c my parents are no longer here to spend Christmas with but b/c it reminds me that the night my mom and I were going to go Christmas shopping late at night since the stores were closing at midnight, she had her anuerysm. The last thing she verbally said to me was, "Let's just go tomorrow instead." Every Christmas I think of that and it's tough. But this Christmas is even tougher b/c now I have Toni. And even though December has just started, I've already had several moments. It sucks. And I can't say it enough how much it breaks my heart Toni and my parents will not get to physically enjoy it together. Well and me as well. Me as a parent with my daughter and with my own parents. December 13, 2003 my mom had a brain anuerysm and she fought for one month before passing on January 12, 2004. I think what sucks the most is that my parents were very loving parents. And myn mom especially was very loving.... there really aren't enough words to explain. And so although I love Toni with all my heart and being I possibly can give, she will never know what it's like to be loved my mom and dad. And that really, really sucks. But maybe I'm wrong. She has her moments where she'll stare at the ceiling or off into nowhere and just play and have fun and laugh like she does when she plays with us. Except no one or nothing is in her line of sight. You they say kids/babies are in tune to things we as adults have learned (or unlearned) to see or notice. So I like to believe she's playing with my mom and dad. So maybe I'm wrong and she already knows what it's like to be loved by them. God, I hope so.