What Do You Mean, "It's Been a Month"?

My goodness. Are you all feeling ignored? I've been truly horrid at updates of late. Partly because I'm stymied by the picture aspect. I need to add text to some pictures and I just haven't had two minutes to do so and the desire to attempt it occurring in the same part of space and time. Also, husband keeps hogging my laptop. Oh, and I can't justify the time to blog when I'm failing at my primary rolls of mother and wife.

Lucky for you, the cosmos have conspired to align and give me time to jot a few things down today.

1. CJ is in the 90th and 95th percentiles for weight and height. She's never had a drop of formula so, go boobies!

2. Placenta pills have an aftertaste and should only be taken at bed time. It's not that the aftertaste is unpleasant, exactly. It's just that I know that's what it is and I've had enough problems with the thought of taking the stupid things that an aftertaste is kind of a deal breaker. Nobody can deny these puppies work, though. Zero post partum depression, zero issues with milk supply. That's not something I've been able to say before.

3. This was my first week back in the gym. Muscle memory ROCKS. I'm already starting to get the definition back in my shoulders, arms, and butt. The abdominal area is another story entirely. It's complaining rather loudly that it doesn't know how to do very basic things. I tell it to shut up and grow a pair, and it yells back about nerve damage, blah blah. Then I tune it out and MAKE it do a sit up anyway. I NEED my core if I'm ever going to bench press more than 60 pounds.

4. The Boy has figured out how to ride his bike, thank goodness. Now he has something other than TV he loves. Also, now we can put him on bike, the girls in a stroller and roller blades on our feet and get an actual workout as a family. :D He's pretty speedy.

5. An old guy stopped me at Costco to ask if I had my baby strapped on with a curtain. Pretty much made my day. I love how wearing my babies in wraps seems to completely confound a whole subset of the population. Confounding people, in general, makes me giddy.

6. Cloth diapering is AMAZING. Honestly, it seemed rather overwhelming and kinda gross but it's FUN. I get sad on days I don't I get to wash and hang the diapers. Every three days I'm EXTRA happy because I get to make clean diapers!

7. I finished some coordinating skirts for my girls. Without patterns. Or knowing how to sew. When I get them both in the skirts at the same time, I'll take a picture. Can't promise it will make it's way on to the blog, though. You'll just have to take my word for it that they're super cute.

8. Now CJ, who has been eating pretty much since the crack of dawn and JUST gave me a break, is saying she needs more booby time. Growth spurt, anyone?

First Ever Placenta Encapsulation (no pictures)

Alright folks, I just finished the steaming/slicing portion of my first ever placenta encapsulation, and I have to say, that was a lot grosser than I'd expected. Those suckers are bloody. And slippery.

I can see why moms hire other people to encapsulate for them. I would, if I'd just had a baby.

Wow. It's nasty.

That being said, I'd do it again for the $200 fee folks charge for the service. It's maybe 30 minutes of stomach churning work for two Benjamins. I think I can handle that. :)

This time, however, I did it for free.

Never. Again. Not even if I love you. (OK, I MIGHT do it again if you're related to me. Maybe. But I'd also have to like you and there are not too many people who fall under both categories.)

Sick Baby

The Baby woke up this morning screaming her head off. (not literally)
She screamed through a diaper change and breakfast (ie one bite of cheesy eggs).
So I did what any good parent of a screaming child would do at 7 am.
I put everyone in the shower.
Where The Baby continued to scream.
The water was too hot.
The water was too cold.
She wanted up.
She wanted down.
I figured ten minutes of shower screaming was the upper limit of what any of us could tolerate, so I pulled out the last trick up my sleeve: Tylenol.
She kept screaming.
At this point, I was nigh unto despair, so after making an appointment with the pediatrician and dropping The Boy off at preschool, we headed to The Chiropractor.
She fell asleep on the way there. Blessed silence. But you should know, she never Never NEVER sleeps in the car.
I've not ever taken a kid to the chiropractor, but I was desperate and pretty sure she had a sinus infection. Once upon a time, pre-sinus surgery, I suffered from chronic sinus infections and chiropractic was the ONLY (short of surgery) thing that helped. Never having taken a kid in for this type of care, I didn't know what to expect.
Neither did The Baby.
After about 15 seconds of modified Logan, she melted into my chest and let the good doc do whatever he wanted.
AND she quit screaming.
Bless the chiropractor.
Bless Modified Logan, whomever he may be. I hope nobody else in that family had such a weird name.

Then we went to the pediatrician, because, why not? Plus, this was the second day in a row she was saying, "eyes. HURT!" while pointing to her maxillary sinus.
This is where we found out poor The Baby has a blister on her ear drum. Bollous Myringitis. :(
No wonder she was screaming.
This doc gave us numbing drops, which is a lot cheaper than chiropractic, and antibiotics.
Poor baby is sleeping now. I irrigated her sinuses before bed. You can pretty much imagine for yourself how that went, BUT she was breathing through her nose for the first time in two weeks as I laid her down.
Sweet Sweet baby, wake up feeling better.

I'm Thinking....I'm Thinking...

I've been thinking about THIS:

a LOT lately.

(Stina, I'm justifying right for you.)

Sorry ADD moment. What was I saying? Oh yeah.

Babies.

Everyone is doing it. Having babies that is. Oh my. You know what I mean. 

So it occurs to me that MY baby is the age The Boy was when I had her. 

That worked out,

sort of.

So maybe it's time to be hearing the pitter-patter of little feet around our house again.

Then again, maybe I'm nuts.

Here are the Pros and Cons

PROS

Babies are nice 

Babies are cuddly

that whole "multiply and replenish" thing hasn't been repealed

we *might* be able to afford another kid

pregnancy is the only way to stop my hair falling out (that I've found so far)

We have all the clothes for either gender

I like nursing

CONS

pregnancy makes me tired

I like sleep, babies don't

no maternity health insurance coverage

I JUST had the carpets cleaned

we'd need a new car

So I feel like The Thinking Man in Night at the Museum (the second one).

He looks all smart and like he has all the answers, but really he just says, "I'm thinking....I'm thinking..."

Car Seat Safety

I have a 15 page paper on infant hypoxia (low oxygen) caused by infant car seats. I'd really like to post it to the blog, but I can't figure how that would work. Plus, it's not my paper. (It came from an RN at the International Babywearing Conference.)
If you would like me to forward it to you, leave me a note.
Not all 15 pages are words. Some are x-rays!
Trust me, it's very interesting.
The general gist of the paper is: infant car seats are not designed for pre-term and term babies less than a few months old. The shape and size of the baby's head and the shape of the carrier causes the head to jut forward and partially occlude (close) the infant's airway leading to periods of low oxygenation which in turn can lead to various forms of brain damage and even death.
The recommendations by the study authors are: only use car seats for travel and minimize travel in the first few months of life and when traveling, use an insert, like a towel roll, behind baby's neck and trunk to help position the baby's airway.
We've all heard of babies who died in car seats. This is why.

Love, peace, and safe parenting,
Idaho Becky

All Grown Up and Going to Nursery

 The Baby is 18 months now, and WOW has she blossomed into her own little person. She's finally decided to begin talking for real, starting with giving herself a nickname. It will only make sense to those of you who know her in real life, but it's Zsa Zsa. Yes, like Zsa Zsa Gabor. I have no idea how to spell that soft 'G' sound, but Zs seems as good as any.

She's getting to be even more opinionated and just a little mischievous. She likes to run away from Mommy in the store. Heaven help her if I don't notice right when she dashes off, because she is FAST! She also likes to steal The Boy's toys and then cry when he steals them back, which makes The Parental Units think The Boy initiated the stealing, if you can follow all that. I know the machinations of the toddler mind are beyond some. 
She's really quite sneaky. Good thing I already know all these tricks, having invented them YEARS ago when I was a young child. Well, maybe not that many years ago...

Also new is her clingy-ness. I blogged about that here. Obviously that has been not as much fun as the talking and singing. We found out she's allergic to all humus, not just the roasted red pepper kind, which probably means she's allergic to sesame/tahini. You should see the hives she gets when a little bunch of hummus gets smeared all over her skin!

 
Happy 18 Month Birthday (a few days late) Baby!
  Mommy is so excited to go to Relief Society with out you tomorrow. Maybe you can show your brother how to behave in Nursery. I heard you were stellar last week. :)

The Baby turns 17 Months, Revisited

Just adding a few more things The Baby Says.
"Uh oh!" followed by "gidit" which means get it!
So demanding!

The Baby turns 17 Months

and you know what THAT means? ONLY ONE MONTH UNTIL CHURCH NURSERY!!!!! Not that I'm counting down or anything...
The Hubs and I are excited to learn we can have actual back and forth conversations with her. A few days ago her eye caught the animal net in the play room while The Hubs was changing her. He told her if she would let Dada put her pants on, she could get an animal down. She sat right down and let her Dada put one pant-leg on before she was up and moving again, but that's real progress! She also gives answers to questions if the answer happens to be in the affirmative, and she feels like it.
Here are the vital stats:

Words:
momma, dada, baby, no, bye, hi, thank you, me! (which means I want you have, and I want it NOW!)

Signs:
eat, more, drink, thank you, baby, no

10 teeth (she's still cutting the 10th-a molar, but it's through the gums so I'm counting it) and still no hair, but at least that's one thing more I don't have to do Sunday Morning. :)

Here's a picture of her signing thank you (and eating pizza).

My phone camera doesn't snap the picture right when I click, so I had a hard time getting the whole sign. Deal.
She loves to sing and chatters like crazy all day long!
Her favorite toys are baby dolls and stuffed animals. She also likes the ride-on car and the baby stroller. She loves to "help" momma play the piano and push the shopping cart. We cannot get her to sit still for anything! If it weren't for some very baby-centric teenagers in our ward, The Hubs and I would never hear a talk or lesson.
Happy 17th month birthday, Baby. We love you!

First Words

Baby has been "talking" for quite some time, but yesterday she said her first sentence.

I went in her room in the morning to get her up and she was sooo happy, so I asked if she was my happy baby. Then all morning she sang, "HAP-py, BA-by"! And she's doing it again, today. This makes me the HAP-py MAma. :D

Here's her list of words:
mom-mom/mom/mama (that's me)
dada (the DH)
baby (herself, and sometimes other little kids)
tickle (first "real" word)

list of signs:
more
hungry
thank you (love this one)
tired

Baby, I love you. Thanks for making me smile, and sometimes laugh out loud.

Fun With Baby

Someone has discovered his belly button. I bet you nearly never think about your belly button now, but trust me, it's funny. A concave (usually) bowl of tight flesh wrinkles. Who thought of this? Another question: When very young babies are burned severely, the wounds almost always heal in such a way that you can't tell the child was ever burned, so why don't our belly buttons heal smoothly? Curious, don't you think?
In Other Boy Related News, we have a new game. The required elements are a Mom and a bed. Mom hides on one side of the bed and pops her head up to say, "Boo!" to baby. Baby (tries to) RUN around the bed to catch mom. Mom LEAPS over the bed to the other side. Rinse and repeat until Mom is out of breath. Baby will continue with the most adorable baby giggle throughout the game. Variation: Put baby ON the bed, and Mom army crawls around the base of the bed, randomly popping up to say, "Boo!" This is best done with a Daddy on the bed, so Baby doesn't get so excited he falls off.
The Boy is doing a better job walking. He prefers it to crawling now, but still needs something on which to pull himself up. He can wave hello and goodbye. If you tell him it's time to go bye-bye, he will automatically wave. (Tres cute) He says; no-no, ni-ni (night-night?) hi!, mum-mum, da, uh-huh! (yes) and some other things we haven't been able to decipher. He answers in the affirmative appropriately to questions like, "Do you love Mommy?" He's a smart boy.
We will post new pictures soon. We've been a little crazy around here trying to sell our house. :)

What Can Happen In a Year?

It turns out, quite a lot. Three days after my last post I had a baby via c-section (Not a good time, don't recommend it). Find out I don't actually want to be a working mother, quit working, go back to work part time, get a dog, give the dog away, sleep approximately two hours a night (new baby) and manage to function during the day. (Thank you Pepsi Cola)
Go to Disneyland and Yellowstone and Phoenix twice in 30 days. Paint the house (twice), scoop approximately 30 million shovels full of snow, change 18 million diapers, give 365 baths. Learn that grape juice, even in a sippy, is a very BAD idea if your child is wearing any clothing at all, and an ESPECIALLY bad idea if that clothing is yellow. Install two different kinds of car seats, buy millions of dollars worth of useless baby equipment. Take half of it back to the store. Read "Good Night Moon" enough to memorize it, then read it 50 million more times. Sing "Rock-a-bye Baby" until you're hoarse and then sing it ONE MORE TIME. Read 30 baby books, all telling you approximately the same thing (you know, the thing that doesn't work?).
Call the doctor in the middle of the night 10 times, 9 of which were not necessary. Call poison control and 911 at least once each.
Spend an infinite amount of time online searching out mysterious rashes and treatments for sleepless nights (ear plugs).
Replace the batteries in the lullaby CD player, camera and baby swing every third day. Take the batteries OUT of all the baby toys and the remote control.
Spend another million dollars on beauty products in an attempt to "recapture" your youth, just to discover that all you really need is sleep. Resign yourself to looking old.
Yes, it's been quite the year, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.