The ExerSaucer

Elsa discovered how to turn herself around in the ExerSaucer yesterday. This may seem like a non-event to you, but it is big news here in Mommyhood Land. She also started performing a take on the Raspberry, and is now becoming quite intrigued with Merckx. She will even reach out her hand in an attempt to pet him, though instead of fur, she usually gets a handful of doggie kisses.

Baptism Sunday

Yesterday was a big day for Elsa. She was baptized during second service at our church, and then we went out to celebrate at the Brick Store (what is a baptism without a celebration toast at the Brick?) with my parents, who were in town for the weekend, as well as some of our good friends. Elsa did quite well considering she missed her long morning nap, though her schedule was all out of whack anyway because she woke up at 2:45 a.m. Sunday morning and then again (or maybe she never actually went back to sleep after I fed her and put her back down) at 3:45 a.m. Then she slept until about 8:00 a.m. and took another short nap before we left for church. She hung on until it was time for the baptism, of course. :) But, really, she only got really fussy when Matt, our dear friend and assistant pastor who performed the baptism, reclined her in his arms, and she's not a big fan of that position anyway. She fell asleep in my arms while at the Brick and then woke up toward the end and got quite fussy, but she was just overly tired at that point. She ended up taking over a three-hour nap that afternoon in her swing!

Despite any fussiness, it was a very special day for us as a family, and a good reminder that we, as parents, grandparents, and friends, all play a very important role in the lives of the children that grow up around us.

Dr. Owen's Lotion Recipe

Since some of you have asked, here is the recipe for the lotion I made the other day. You should be able to find all of the ingredients at your local health food store. I got everything at Rainbow Natural Foods in Decatur, and ended up with a personal shopper of a guy who was extremely nice and showed me where everything was, which was awesome considering the ingredients were scattered throughout the store.

DR. OWEN'S LOTION

Melt in double boiler or in a pan over low heat (I created my own double boiler by putting some water in a pan and setting a stainless-steel bowl over that):

1 oz. bees wax
2 oz. coconut oil
2 oz. almond oil
1 oz. jojoba oil
1 oz. borage oil (I had to get this in gel capsule form and then pierce and squeeze out each capsule)

Mix into oil mixture once melted:

1 tsp. lecithin

Heat to warm (I just realized I forgot to heat these two ingredients... oops!):
3 oz. water
3 oz. liquid aloe

Add liquid to oils and whip until good consistency.

A First -- Solid Food

Elsa had her first encounter with rice cereal on Saturday morning, and she actually did surprisingly well with it. I was expecting a much bigger mess -- you know, cereal in the hair, all over the face, spit out onto the floor and walls -- but she stayed relatively clean. I know... just wait for the spaghetti days. She had two helpings of cereal on Saturday and three yesterday, but I am actually putting a pause on the cereal eating today. It has been surprisingly overwhelming for me to fit in three cereal feedings on top of regular nursing, as well as administer her antifungal medication four times a day and her probiotics twice a day. The cereal also does not seem to be helping with the spitting up issue. So I've decided I am going to hold off for a least just a little while to make sure this yeast problems clears up, and then maybe reintroduce the cereal. Who knows, maybe I am being stupid since I already made the leap, but I am just thinking it might be better to conquer one thing at a time. Oh -- and if anyone has any advice on how to know how much to nurse combined with the start of solid food, I'd love to hear it. I feel like I've been overfeeding her the past couple of days. I kind of figure that she knows when she is full, though, and she's spitting a decent amount back up anyway.

The Many Faces of Elsa...

...or at least some of them.

Lotion Potion

I made my own lotion today. How cool is that? Now I just need to find a pump for it, as it's not so user-friendly in this glass bowl. Anyway, I hope it will help both Elsa and me out with our skin ailments.

Unmummified

We have used the Miracle Blanket for weeks and weeks now and just last night decided to keep her feet and one arm unbound from it and put a wearable blanket over that, as she is starting to outgrow the Miracle Blanket anyway. She must of liked it because she slept from around 7:45 p.m. last night until 7:00 a.m. this morning!

Four-Month Appointment

Well, I did go ahead and put Elsa down for her morning nap this morning despite the doctor's appointment, and just put her down slightly early so she at least got about an hour of sleep before we had to head out the door. She actually woke up on her own, but I typically would have tried to lull her back to sleep because it was clear she was still tired. This made the ride TO the doctor's office that much more fun. She already hates her carseat, but group that with tiredness, paused traffic due to a train, and stopping at every stoplight, and you have yourself one FUN car ride. We made it, though -- and just barely on time.

Elsa weighed in at 13 pounds even and is 25.25 inches long, making her 15 ounces and 0.75 inches up from her last appointment. That was the good news -- that she is actually growing. That and she apparently has a great complexion and strong back muscles. Everything else was not so positive, it seems. I brought up a few issues with Dr. Owen, as follows:

1. She has been spitting up a lot and in mass volume since last Wednesday. The doctor thinks she is still refluxing, but that it is not the same as it was before, and not as -- if at all -- painful for Elsa. Before you could hear liquid regurgitate in her throat, and she would scream because it was likely burning her. Now you can still see/hear it happen, but she doesn't cry, and it often is paired with spitting up/vomiting. Dr. Owen suggested I try giving her just a little rice cereal about three times a day just to see if getting something slightly thicker into her tummy will help keep the milk down. So I guess I am going to try that. This means very many messy food photos are likely to find there way onto this blog soon.
2. The yeasty diaper rash still has not totally cleared up, despite us using very much antifungal cream, diaper cream, washing her diapers and wipes with some vinegar, cleaning out her wipe warmer thoroughly between refills, making sure she is patted dry between diaper changes, and giving her the two types of probiotics the doctor previously prescribed. Dr. Owen is convinced that this is no longer a surface issue; if it was, the antifungal cream would have cleared it up by now. She thinks there is a yeast issue in Elsa's gut, and that we need to clear it up from the inside out. The reason we're seeing it in the diaper area is -- well -- you get the point. So we're going to continue with the probiotics, but we are also going to give her a prescription antifungal medication that is taken orally. Fun... more syringe episodes. I can't wait. Especially since I get to go through this with her four times a day.
3. At the site of her last injection (her left thigh), there is a little hardened area, almost like some scar tissue has built up. I had Dr. Owen feel it and asked her if it was normal and, of course, it is not. Why would anything be normal and easy when it comes to Elsa? Poor little Elsa Bean. Anyway, Elsa was administered two vaccinations today -- one for haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and one for pneumococcal conjugate. Dr. Owen used the smallest needle she had and poked her in her right thigh this time so we can see if the same thing occurs this go around. If so, she said we will have to reconvene and rethink what we are doing. I guess we will figure out what that means if and when we need to.

Other than that, Dr. Owen also noticed that Elsa has some eczema on her legs, which she thinks could be tied in to the first two issues listed above, or could even be signs of a food allergy of some sort (I told her that I have been off of cow's milk since last Monday... and for real this time). She gave me a recipe for a food-based lotion, which is pretty cool. Now I get to make my own lotion. I could probably benefit from it myself. Jarrett likes to make fun of me and all of my weird skin issues. We definitely know from which side Elsa is getting THAT.

Despite the tiredness and the crankiness (though Dr. Owen did get some good smiles out of the little one, as well as some near-giggles), it was a pretty good appointment. I always enjoy seeing Dr. Owen and hearing what she has to say. I really have a lot of respect for her and how she operates her practice -- I feel like I can't say that about many doctors these days. I am definitely lucky to have found her.

Sleepyhead

Elsa took a two-hour nap this morning, and has now been asleep for going on two-and-a-half hours this afternoon. This is rare. I had to go in and check on her just now to make sure she was okay. She has been taking two hour naps (from around 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.) every morning this week, but this long afternoon nap after a long morning nap is a new one. I am definitely not complaining, but I AM kicking myself -- really hard! -- for making a 10:00 a.m. doctor's appointment for tomorrow. She just was not taking regular naps a month ago when I scheduled it. Now I am afraid everything will be messed up after tomorrow! Oh well, I guess we will just take it as it comes.

Sunday Afternoon Fun

Just a few fun shots from our Sunday afternoon. Elsa is wearing an outfit that I wore when I was a baby. She christened it today with much of her own spitup.

Elsa is Four Months

Elsa celebrates her four-month birthday today. Amazing. Sometimes it seems like things are in slow motion, but then I look back on these four months and realize how quickly they have really raced by. Sometimes I even find myself missing those early days where she would just snooze away peacefully in our arms all day long. But then I smack myself back into reality, remembering that during each and every minute she was actually awake, Elsa was screaming her head off. And then I appreciate the fact that she is now napping in her crib, in her own room, and I have time to sit here at the computer and type away.

So what is she doing these days? She has teased us a bit, making us think she might roll over, by kicking her legs and bringing her knees into her chest, and kind of rolling over onto her side, but it still hasn't happened. She hates tummy time, and considering most babies learn to first roll over from tummy to back, it might take her a little longer, I guess. I try to get her on her tummy for at least a little while every day, and she can now lift her head 90 degrees and will draw her knees in, lifting her little (heh -- not really that little with those cloth diapers!) rearend into the air. And though she hasn't quite gotten the hang of her thumb, she will grab on to toys now and swing them around for awhile, and, of course, chomp on them too. She takes turns sucking on her fist, all fingers extended, or just two or three fingers at a time. I got her to to laugh for the first time in the mall parking lot on December 23, but though I have been able to get kind of a growl-like staccato laugh out of her since, I haven't been able to get her to repeat the laugh she gave us that day. I can't wait to hear those ongoing giggles. Our little Bean continues to sleep through the night, going to bed around 8:00 p.m., and waking up around 6:00-6:30 a.m., sometimes earlier, sometimes later, depending. She still eats around every two hours (except for at night since she sleeps all the way through), and seems to be growing quite well. We see Dr. Owen next week and will get all of the measurements then. She's a lot of work, no doubt, but she continues to bring joy into our lives, and we love her so much.

Here is a shout out to my mom, as it's her birthday today as well! I'll spare her from leaking her age, though. Happy birthday, Mom! We love you!

Elsa's First Christmas: Part 3

After being home from our holiday travels for just over a week now, I'm finally getting back into the swing of things enough to hopefully get through a few blog posts. We had a lovely time in North Carolina over Christmas, heading up the Friday morning preceding the big day to spend three nights with Jarrett's dad and Susan in High Point, then back south to Charlotte to spend three nights with my family, and then ping-ponging it back north again to High Point to spend the remaining three nights with Jarrett's mom. It was really nice to be able to spend equal time at each stop, albeit a bit difficult to break down and set up all of Elsa's gear each time. At least we were able to settle in at each house for a bit, but we still found traveling with a little one definitely makes things somewhat more complicated. But -- hey -- we can't really complain. Elsa did really well, considering... and she slept nearly the entire way home on the drive back! Without the time to go into all of the details, I will simply share with you some photos from our journey. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A very belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!