Jo's major gash

yesterday JoJo really made a dent in her face! i was feeding her and noticed blood on her cheek and saw this huge scratch.  no matter how many times i cut and file her nails, she still seems to cut herself.  as my friend Deanna said, "she has street cred"

quit scratching yourself Jo!! makes me look like i hit you!!

Sorry!

I know it's been a while since my last post.  Working full time then taking care of a baby at night is tough work! But we are doing good! Baby is sick but she is OK.  She is actually sleeping AMAZINGLY! 10pm-6pm and on Sunday we had to wake her up at 7pm.  But I've been thinking that she's sleeping so great bc she doesn't feel so great.

To make up for not posting for a while, I uploaded a video that I recorded on my cell phone a week ago. Enjoy :)

Back to Work!

Friday March 16th was my first day back at work.  I guess I was nervous about it since I woke up at 2:45am and could not go back to bed.  I was actually hoping that JoJo would wake up so I could do something that might make me sleepy. Hehe but she actually slept til 5am.

It wasn't that bad, but I cheated!  Jo came to visit me at work.  Teehee.  She won't do that often because I will be busy at work, but since it was my first day back I figured why not?  Everyone loves seeing a baby!

On that same couch, I was in labor with her! :) Who would know that a few months later JoJo would come and visit me during lunch.

So tomorrow is Monday and I go back to work and I actually feel good about it! I'm able to get home, feed her, give her a bath, and put her down for her night time sleep.  I'm happy that I do get to spend some time with her.  I also feed her at 9 and then when she wakes up in the AM.  This morning she woke up at 5am again and we just hung out in the guest bedroom.  We both laid there and we both fell asleep.  It was pretty sweet. 

She has this new thing that she does with her bottom lip. 

Not a great picture, but if you can see, she tucks in her bottom lip.  I feel like that's her thinking face.  

So every night, she goes down at 6pm and eventually we drop her 9pm feeding and she sleeps 12 hours straight.  It's crazy that kids can sleep that long.  My nephew Jack goes to sleep around the same time and wakes up at 6 too.  I wish I can get 12 hours for 1 night! 

Any who, I feed her around 515/530 and every night, there is no doubt, that she falls asleep in my arms.  I love it. and I just sit there for a few minutes just holding her and keeping quiet.  Here's a picture from tonight.  

When I get up to tuck her in her swaddle she ends up waking up, but it's fine.  I like that she can fall asleep in her crib on her own.  Here are pics of her in the crib and the contraption I have for her.

Oh you can see that she's doing that thing with her bottom lip in this picture.  So let's talk about my wonderful contraption!  Well we have these pillow things on the sides so she feels cozy.  Then I have a towel hugging the bottom and another heavier pillow pushing up against the towel.  I did this so she doesn't slide down.  The mattress is elevated a bit because of her acid reflux and she's used to sleeping at an angle from when she was in her Rock and Play Sleeper.  

We read Good Night Moon to her every night and at some nap times when she's a bit fussy.  She smiles when you read it to her.

I have my nursing pillow under there "My Breast Friend" holding up the mattress.  She eats more at an incline seated position so it's now being used to elevate the mattress. Before we tried pillows but it was always uneven.  With this pillow, it's perfect and I don't need to use more than 1 pillow.

Oh and lastly, we love her swaddle.  We bought this thing after seeing this video:

She's been sleeping through the night ever since we got this. Her arms can never escape but they are also not uncomfortable.  After Nelson and I saw that video, we were blown away by the "escape free" arm pockets.  Definitely a great purchase!

Have a great work week everybody! I know I will, especially when I know Jo is in good hands with Grandma and Grandpa :) 

Three Month Photo Bloopers

Slip Sliding Away!

 Wooooo

WOOOOOOOO

Get me out of this fake tummy time!

Hmm this looks like a tasty dress

Oh Mama you're so funny and crazy for taking a blurry picture!

Yea I'm not sure I'm all into these monthly shots.  You'll have to speak with my agent. 

JoJo Update!

So I feel like we have a new baby these past few days.  She's much better.  Yes there are times where she doesn't want to eat so much during nursing or she squirms here and there, but it's MUCH better.  So much better that she's sleeping more!  Yesterday she slept from 10pm-6am. and last night she slept from 10pm-5am.  Very exciting.  I'm hoping I didn't jinx it!

I ended up canceling her 2nd gastro doc appointment because I felt like she didn't need another doctor telling her anything else.  She's feeling much better and acting much better, so why go see another doctor? She's still supplementing at least one bottle of formula during the day so I can stash some milk in the freezer.

So let's see, there have been so many new things that has happened these past 2 weeks:
- she rolled over - twice.  Once she does it on her own, I get the camera out to get a video of her doing it again, but she's too pooped to do it again.
- she doesn't like pacifiers.  she may take one for a few seconds to a minute or two and then spits it out.  She likes her hands much more!  And she LOVES her giraffe Sophie.  She licks and chews and squeezes her all the time.  It's so cute.
- we listen to Jack Johnson's Curious George album everyday and she LOVES it!  Smiles all around and I love dancing with her.
- She has the prettiest earrings!
- She is SO MUCH BIGGER!

This was taken Christmas Eve :) 

This was yesterday! Everything is so much more plump!  She has chubby legs and arms.  So so so cute.

She loves watching TV with mama and dadda.  We have our baby channel. 

Jo and Soph

Jo before getting her earrings.  Poor girl didn't know what was coming.

 Right after the piercings.  She's cried louder during feedings though!

I shouldn't be smiling in this picture.  Poor thing!

 She cried for maybe 30 seconds total.

What did they do to me???

I took this pic this morning before her nap.  I wanted to see if this dress fit her.

So now that she's better and definitely a lot more fun, I have to go back to work.  I have to admit that in the beginning i missed work because she was a life changing experience that took all of my energy.  Now I don't want to leave her.  good news is that I'll still feed her in the morning and night and give her baths. I'm sure this will get easier, plus I miss my coworkers :) We have fun at work.

That's all for now! More updates in the future!

what beautiful weather!

we went for a nice walk to the post office today.  of course Sophie came for the ride.

a little lady!!

she got her ears pierced on Friday! daddy was in Vermont so we wanted to surprise him when he got home! he was definitely startled!

she also had a growth spurt this weekend.  she looks bigger to me and im with her all the time.

guess who rolled over today?

This girl!!!!

i have this song in my head most days

turtle kisses

doesn't it look like this turtle is going in for a forehead kiss? she's sleeping in her crib!

i created a sleeping contraption for her. pics will come later.

Almost 3 month old video...

I was going through my phone photos and noticed this little video that I recorded in the hospital the day after she was born.  I don't remember taking this at all.  I think I only had a combined of 5 hours of sleep after labor and when we left the hospital.  Hasn't changed much since :) she looks so different!

definitely not a vegetarian

No more peanut butter!

So we got the results from her blood allergy test.  She has a slight allergy to peanuts but not allergic to anything else.  So when the nurse said she wasn't allergic to milk or soy, I said "then she's not allergic to my milk?"  She said "no she's still allergic to the milk protein."  So confusing!

But all in all, I gotta cut out the peanuts too.  I have been eating peanut butter since she was born so hopefully it will get better after that.

It seems that I won't be having Thai food anytime soon - no peanuts and soy! I have to say that all of this cutting out food stuff is working wonders for my weight loss! :)

In terms of her feeding, it's strange.  At one feeding she will be completely fine but then at another she just stiffens up and cries and cries and cries.  Next week we go for a second opinion.

Good note - she has been sleeping in her crib for the past 2 hours with no hiccups yet.  Knock on wood that it will only get better! :)

MSPI??

You're looking at a MSPI baby - Milk/soy protein intollerance

The first month with this little girl was tough - sleep deprivation, contant feedings and just trying to figure it all out.  But I have to say that this past week was the hardest, physically and emotionally.  

Both Jo and I had to deal with changes.  She had to deal with the nasty disgusting taste of the formula, which she hates by the way.  I'm not over exaggerating by saying that the formula smells like dried cat food.  I smelled regular formula yesterday and it is far superior than this special stuff.  And TMI here, but her poop is just as disgusting!  Nothing compared to the sweet breast milk poopie.   It takes her about a full hour to get 4 ounces down.  And it's not like we can just sit and feed her the bottle. We have to walk around holding her for her to get it down.  So yea, not an easy week.  Plus when I'm by myself with her, she wants nothing to do with the bottle.  She'll go to my chest, my sweater, my neck and just start sucking away there.  She smells me and that's what kills me the most.  

Ok so after 1 early AM feeding and dealing with her troubled feeding,  I had this feeling that this wasn't right.  Breastmilk is supposed to be the best for babies, right? So I did more research.  I went to community boards and I even scheduled a 2nd opinion with another gastroenterologist, which is not for another 2 weeks. Apparently there are thousands of breastfeeding mothers who are dealing with the same thing.  What do they do?  They eliminate all dairy and soy from their diets.  I have and still am not eating any dairy.  I check every label and just this week I started eliminated soy.  Everything processed has soy - bread, granola bars, chips, frozen stuff. Even worschestire sauce! I know that because I looked at all the ingredients in my fridge.  

Yesterday I also went to my pediatrician for her monthly well visit.  I told him about my visit with the gastro and he said that the study is a lot to ask for a breastfeeding mother.  And I agreed.  Pretty much I was intimidated into doing this.  I was told that there's no way I could go back to feeding her.  The gastro also said that the no dairy diet "is too hard to follow."  So apparently there is some truth in cutting out dairy and soy, but he just wanted me to be part of this study.  

My decision - continue breastfeeding while having no dairy/soy products.  It takes about 2-3 weeks for all Milk/soy protein to get out of my system.  So I have to be extra careful.  Just 1 teaspoon of creamer or a soy product can aggravate her.  Anything that is processed in a facility that processed milk/soy - cannot be in my diet.  This is gonna be good.  I love to cook and now I will just have to cook big meals on the weekend for the week, which I've done pre-baby.  Just haven't had much time (and energy) to do that. 

I love my pediatrician, he's great and down to earth.  We will be monitoring over time to see how she is doing.  Plus he said I'm not doing any harm by feeding her now.  It's not like she's going to go in shock.  She may be uncomfortable and irritable, but she will be fine.  I am also going to substitute formula with her.  I noticed this morning after nursing her that her cheeks got all rosy and her cheeks weren't rosy when she was solely on the formula.  

So what about the study? Not doing it, can't do it since I already introduced the breast milk and I don't want to alter their study at all.  They can scare another mother to do it.  BTW, they need a total of 40 babies.  They only have 14.  Another reason why I had that sick, gut feeling.  

Ok enough of that.  I will update as the weeks go by.  Gotta go get her now!  But first, on a happier/fun note, Jo had her first play date yesterday with Haley Rose! Her mama Marcy lives in Queens and had her baby girl 6 weeks ago! Yay another girl! 

 Haley - Hmm that rainbow looks quite interesting. Jo - Hey, hey, Haley.  Check this butterfly out.

 Jo - Did you hear the joke about when the 3 babies walked into a bar?

Jo - Why didn't you think my joke was funny? WAHHHH! 

Haley - Can you keep it down please, I'm trying to enjoy this moment.