Slumber Party of Five.

Well, we did it.  Our first full family overnight away from home.  I suppose we kind of cheated (and it was more like a Slumber Party of Four) because we brought Rowdy to his favorite place ever, doggie daycare, buuuuuuut we still had to get everyone ready and out of the house, so we'll count it.  Besides the pack and play Angie brought, we brought food (for us and Myra), another pack and play, blanket, pillow, sound machine, baby monitor, diaper bag, diapers (cloth takes up more space), travel high chair, clothes/PJs, frozen breast milk+bottle, my pump, random overnight stuff (toothbrushes, face wash), beer, and of course the kids+car seats.

Last weekend we packed up and headed to our friend Dan's house.  Dan is actually my best friend's brother.  He and his roommate let us all move in for the night and the dudes held down the fort with the kiddos while Angie and I rocked out to Billy Joel at the Target Center.  It was SUCH a good concert.  Besides the surprise opening act of Gavin DeGraw, Billy Joel sounded awesome and he.was.hilarious.  Very entertaining, great music, played everything we hoped to hear, and a much needed night out with my pal.  Sorry for the junky concert photos, I'm too lazy to upload the actual videos.  Maybe someday when I'm bored (HA!).

From what I hear, bedtime could have been better (there was a barking dog/baby waking incident and Myra has been very independent with bedtime especially "Myra to do it!") but really the night went very well.  We all slept in one room which was confirmation that we should not be doing such a thing.  We have never bed shared with either kid and Myra has never even slept in our room.  Neither of us is a huge fan of having Niko in our room, but it makes the most sense for right now.  So, having all of us in one room is definitely new.  Luckily, we had a pack and play for each kid and spread them apart as much as possible.  Niko slept well, woke up to nurse twice but let us sleep in until after 8 (close to 9??).  Myra did fine, too, except when she did her usual tossing and turning at night (typically no big deal and she falls right back asleep on her own), she realized we were in the room and wanted to chit chat.  "Hi Mommy!  It's Niko!"

And, for funzies, some random photos from the last week:

Grandma brought this for the day and Myra LOVED it

Helping Daddy clean up the sand box

Our first semi-short-notice house showing and it's nap time? No problem

Warrior's Pride wrap (red, white, and blue + yellow for support our troops and teal for PTSD awareness)

Doing tummy time with her baby

Babywearing isn't just for babies, hard to see the black wrap on black shirt

Three Months with Two Kids.

Wow - these past three months have been BUSY.  We have so much happening right now, I'm grateful for all Myra taught us in her first four months and even more grateful we haven't had the same struggles with Niko.  I'll break it down for you.  This one is a doozy (weird, right?).

Big Sister Stuff
Like most parents (I think), one of my biggest fears when having another child was how it would affect Myra.  In the long run, I knew it would be great for all of us-we were giving her a sibling; however, we had no idea what sort of growing pains we might have to deal with.  I'm pleased to say there has been absolutely zero new baby drama.  The first week after Niko was born, Myra regressed in her potty training a bit, but that was over as quickly as it started.  If he really gets going crying, she will cover her ears and sometimes do this obnoxious screechy cry herself, but I can't blame her.  She absolutely adores Niko and gets bummed when he is sleeping.  She'll ask, or even try, to go get him.  If I have him in a wrap/baby carrier, she often asks to see him (his face).  She loves to talk to him and says adorable things like "there's my smile, buddy!" and "Maybe he does want his Nuk!"  Sometimes she even wakes up crying asking to see him.  She still cites her Big Sister book and talks about helping Niko be "warm and cozy."  She loves to do what I do, she uses a kid sized neck pillow as a Boppy to nurse her baby ("baby needs some milk!") then burps her ("we're burping together! two burpings!").

New Baby Stuff
Niko is great.  He is currently sleeping in a crib in our room and usually sleeps all night (8pm until 530/630am).  Sometimes he will nurse once during the night which is fine because it usually allows me to sleep in a little longer in the morning.  I do, however, have to reach over and shove his pacifier in his mouth quite a few times throughout the night so I am anxiously waiting for him to find his thumb.  He's trying so hard!  Babies are hard, newborns are a-holes, I stand by all that, but there have only been just a couple nights where Trevor and I have given each other the "WHAT DID WE DO?!?!?!?!" look.  Babywearing has been a lifesaver and I have been incredibly intentional about getting him to sleep in his crib.  When Niko first came home, we did a few days of musical where-will-the-baby-sleep-best and landed on "on mommy's chest" which is neither the safest nor most comfortable option.  I slept on the couch for the first 8 weeks (don't be sad for me, our couch is awesome) and gradually worked Niko into sleeping on his crib mattress on the floor.  At 8 weeks, I moved back into my room and brought the crib mattress with me.  Just a few days ago, we put it into a legit crib situation.  These have all been informed decisions that I've felt a decent amount of guilt about because I know the guidelines about infant sleep, but I also know the importance of a well rested family (heck, even semi-rested family).  I've learned you really can't force a newborn to do anything, so I just kept working towards the safest goal.  He also sleeps on his tummy which is not my favorite, but hopefully he learns to roll over himself sooner than later so I can let that go, too.  Myra never slept in our room and I have confirmed I do not enjoy a baby in my room, but it is temporary and it's working-at least he's not in our bed.  I could go on and on about the fussy evenings, crazy gas, refusing to be put down, refusing to be held by anyone but me, loud crying, not wanting to go BACK to sleep during middle of the night wake ups, and all the newborn stuff that makes me bonkers, but we're just creeping out of that stage and I'm not feeling inclined to reminisce. So, hopefully simply mentioning all of those things will suffice.  Today Niko rolled over (from belly to back) for the first time so that was fun -- one of his first milestones!

Breastfeeding Stuff
Thankfully I don't have too much to say here, but I thought I would give this its own little section.  If you're not interested in breastfeeding stuff, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Niko was a tad sleepy with nursing at first in the hospital.  I wasn't concerned and just kept trying and he caught on really well.  My milk came in, tons of it (very common for the first 6-8 weeks or so), he bounced back up to his birth weight by 7 days old (awesome!), etc.  Then right around the 6 week mark I started having some pain, more on one side than the other.  I decided it was due to a lazy latch in the middle of the night one night and I would try not to let stuff like that slide and hoped it healed quickly because OUCH.  Niko continued to be a bit chompy on that side which was so, so, so painful.  Most women have a lesser producing/slower flow side and that's the side that was painful, so I figured he was annoyed.  I started pumping on that side while he nursed on the other side (and continuing to nurse both sides as well) to increase my milk supply and hopefully even it out.  That was not fun either because my poor nipple never got a break.  I had a crack and occasional bleeding and there was crying and it was awful.  If we hadn't had so many issues with Myra which terrified me to try formula with Niko, I'm pretty sure I would have given up.  I just cried.  I know breastfeeding doesn't always come easily, but to have this much pain start at 6 weeks seemed nuts.  I broke down and made a lactation appointment to make sure his latch looked good, no tongue or lip ties, etc.  Everything looked perfect but the nurse noted that with the amount of redness I had, I should go see my doctor if it didn't improve in a few days.  Well, I'm stubborn and waited a week with no change so I finally made an appointment with whomever could get me in.  As it turns out, I had been dealing with thrush that whole time, not poor latch, which is why nothing was getting better no matter what I did.  By now it's been over 6 weeks of this nonsense.  Things really started improving last week but then the pain came back.  I've been doing all sorts of tricks to try and kick this thrush (yeast) to the curb and today has been better, so hopefully I'm on the mend...again.  I have no evidence Niko has/had it, but with how long I've been battling it I don't see how he could have dodged it.  I have a follow-up appointment with my doctor in a week, so if it makes a comeback again we can figure out a new plan together.  All that said, I'm so glad I didn't quit nursing.  It was so tempting and I was just miserable, but he was gaining weight well, not having any issues like Myra did, and his latch was great, so I didn't want to give up.  I just needed an explanation for the pain and a plan to make it go away -- hopefully we're on our way now.  (Photos: Gentian violet is a very common and generally quite effective thrush treatment.  It's also very messy.)

Two Kids Stuff
I've pretty much covered it all, but I just want to give a couple examples that show how, even though things are going really really well with two kids, ish still gets crazy sometimes.  Last week, Myra woke up in the middle of the night flipping out and I couldn't figure out why or make it stop...which woke Niko up...and I was home alone.  Juggling two crying children in the middle of the night is even more annoying than it sounds.  This has happened at least twice.  (Note: I eventually figured out Myra's seasonal allergies are back and she's been sleeping much better now that she is back on Zyrtec.)  Tonight, Niko and Myra were ready for bed at the exact same time.  I picked the kid who is most self sufficient (Myra) and got her to bed first while Niko was whining off and on during her bedtime routine, how relaxing.  She was messing around in her crib while I was feeding Niko and getting him ready for bed, no big deal.  Just a couple minutes after Niko had fallen asleep in my lap, Myra starts whining and escalates quickly.  I checked our video monitor and she had gotten herself stuck in her crib rails thigh deep.  The only way to get her out of that mess is to shove it back through which results in shrieking and much more crying all while Niko is right next door so I'm in panic mode to just make it stop so I don't have a crying circus on my hands.  I'm sure you've noticed the bruised goose egg on Myra's forehead.  That was the result of letting her entertain herself (run run run run up and down the kitchen) while I was tending to Niko and cooking supper.  Myra launched herself into the corner of a drawer she left open.  I don't get too worked up about injuries ("brush it off!") but I didn't know where she hit and what was injured, just that she was freaking out big time.  Thankfully Myra is a great communicator and was able to show me where she got hurt even while crying so hard she couldn't breathe.  Naturally, Niko wasn't just giggling peacefully by himself through all of this, he got worked up, too.  So, while I love both of these kids and things really are going quite well, there has definitely been some crazy, too.

School Stuff
Myra and Niko are both in ECFE classes this spring.  Myra has so much fun there and her teachers are her heroes.  She loves going to the SibCare room just as much as she loves going to her actual class and she gets excited to "drop him off" at SibCare so we can have some one-on-one time.  Trevor just finished the marathon that was earning his Bachelor's Degree.  Graduation was last weekend and what an accomplishment that was, for all of us!  He spent the last 14 years working towards that goal, taking breaks for three deployments, being put on orders to work full time for the Guard, a marriage, buying a house, a dog, two babies, you get the idea.  Now he has the summer off of school work and will begin dental school in August.  We will miss our local ECFE dearly when we move, but look forward to making friends in a new program near our new home.

House Stuff
Putting your house on the market while being the primary caregiver for a toddler and a newborn (and recovering from childbirth yourself) is not my favorite combination of things I've ever done.  I am not meant to be a neat freak and I have taken 4, possibly 5, naps since bringing Niko home from the hospital.  My house has never been cleaner, but I can totally understand why people say to forget the cleaning and just enjoy your kids.  I do the best I can to do both, but as soon as our house sells I will cut back on the cleaning big time.  It's stressful.  We have had an open house and 15 showings so far and I'm exhausted.  Trevor has definitely helped with the big stuff and done the best he can, but a lot of this has fallen on me (which is fine, life has been nuts for him, too).  Again, babywearing has been a life saver.  To everyone who keeps asking us if we've found a new place to live yet -- no.  And actually, that's not really how it works.  Our house hasn't sold yet, so there's that, and rentals are much more short notice for the most part.  We have looked to get an idea of what's out there, but most everything is available immediately or June 1st and we don't really want to move until July at the earliest.

Helping her baby do the "activity"

Keeping busy with most of our toys packed

So.Much.Cleaning.

Killing time during our open house

Work Stuff
Trevor is busy as usual with his Guard stuff.  "One weekend a month and two weeks a year" turns into "four day weekends a month, sometimes more and three+ weeks a year...oh and LOTS of emails and phone calls in between, usually during supper or at bedtime."  I'm not complaining, it is what it is, just trying to point out that it definitely keeps him/US busy.  I went back to work gradually when Niko was 8 weeks old.  I have a beautiful position doing something I love, part time, with the opportunity to completely create my own schedule and even complete some of my duties from home as needed.  I don't really get into the specifics of my job on social media due to the nature of my position.

Food Stuff
We did our last semi-risky food trial for a while in January, before Niko was born - white beans and Myra has done fine on them.  We picked some foods with really high pass rates to do for a while as we adjusted to all the changes happening in our family.  There have been no food issues with any trials lately and we're starting to consider throwing a few riskier foods into the mix.  I even have a little nagging voice in my head telling me she may be outgrowing FPIES, but I don't have the courage for that just yet.  We will start with some generally risky foods in the near future, then foods risky for Myra in specific (three of her scariest incidents involved legumes, so we'd start with a different legume).  If all of that goes well, we'll discuss challenging previous fails.  Many kids outgrow their FPIES by age 3 and she'll be 2.5 in July, so keep your fingers crossed for us!  So far, Niko has really shown no signs of FPIES.  He's a gassy baby, but I expected no less considering the man I married ;)  We're certainly not in the clear, but optimistic.  We were having major issues with Myra at this point.  Today we restarted our tomato trial.  Last week I gave her a cherry tomato and she wasn't so sure, so we switched to ketchup and she was definitely a fan.  Luckily she has already passed onions and corn, both are ingredients in ketchup.

Dog Stuff
Last but not least, Rowdy, our first child.  He is adapting well despite the chaos.  He gets a little antsy and definitely barks more (protective, I assume), but he's such a good boy.  I wish I could explain to him that this time of year is tough, new baby or not (cold, rain, plus the house prep stuff) but I just do the best I can to get him exercise.  Myra loves going for walks, so if it's at all nice outside we take advantage.  He has been going to his favorite place EVER, doggy daycare, a little more often lately until our house sells.  He needs the exercise and attention and we're happy to send him.  A tired dog is a good dog.  :)

Blog Stuff
I really want to do better!  Now that Trevor has started a weekly activity again, I'll get some weekly 'me-time' too.  I have very low standards for this and I usually choose some combination of coffee, nap, book reading, and blogging.  I have a handful of drafts in the works, just need to finish them up!  I also plan to update the photos on my page to include our newest family member.

No fancy ending here -- I'll try to be better about the posts...again.

Comparison of Standard vs Toddler Tula vs Ergo vs Beco Gemini.

After a few questions on the sizing of a Standard vs Toddler Tula, I thought I would just post my own comparison photos.  Then I decided to add an Ergo and Beco Gemini since I have those, too.  The weights listed can be confusing because design varies and there is a large overlap, plus babies and toddlers come in all shapes and sizes.  The weights listed by manufacturers are in regards to safety testing, though they do not necessarily address ideal fit.  Let me be clear, many carriers out there can safely be used for a long, long time.  There is a trend of parents and caregivers feeling the need to 'upgrade' to a bigger carrier when, in reality, the carrier they have would likely work perfectly well for quite some time.  If you're interested in any of these, there are many resources online to learn more; however, I will always recommend trying them in person before buying if at all possible.  Babywearing groups are an excellent resource for this.

The Tula photos were all taken the day after Myra turned two and the Ergo and Gemini photos were taken the day after that.  She had her doctor's appointment that first day, too, so her stats are completely current.  She was 25 pounds, 13 ounces and 35 inches tall.  I would say she is longer in the legs than torso.

The photos are a Standard Cloudy Tula with Warrior's Creed wrap customization (gray Tula with black wrap over it, gray straps visible), Toddler Oasis Tula (purple straps with bright colored thin stripes), Ergo (tan), and Beco Gemini (black with white polka dots).

Though some of the verbiage seems biased, this chart is a great comparison of different features and dimensions for many popular buckle carriers (also called Soft Structured Carriers, or SSCs).  Here is a similar chart to that one.  If you'd like a different visual comparison, click here or here.  Other than just trying them on and finding one that feels most comfortable for my body type, the biggest things for me have been carrier body height and width.  The body height is important because at some point baby gets too tall and can lean too far backwards or side to side, possibly able to completely lean out of the thing.  On the other hand, one wouldn't want a carrier that is too tall either.  As for width, having a carrier that is wide enough to provide proper hip support is important (spreading from one knee to the other knee, or knee-to-knee is ideal).  This makes it much more comfortable for the child and the wearer.  Click here for a good visual of the difference in narrow-based carriers vs wider-based carriers.  Again, one wouldn't want it too wide, though, as that would certainly over-extend the child's legs which would be counter-productive.  From what I've tried, there is definitely some wiggle room in that carriers can still be comfortable for a while even if it doesn't spread completely from one knee to the other (like what is seen in the narrow vs wide link).  I often hear of people wanting to get a toddler sized carrier as soon as their child is approaching toddlerhood (age 1) and, for the most part, that's just not necessary.

And, finally, click here for information from the International Hip Dysplasia Institute on hip health in baby carriers and other baby equipment.

Here are our photos!

Standard Tula, still fits Myra very well especially since she usually likes to have her arms out.  I would absolutely not need to move up to a Toddler Tula with her yet, though I do have one because the print I fell in love with was discontinued.

Toddler Tula, Myra fits fine but definitely has room to grow into this one.  As you can see, it would go up even higher on her if she left her arms inside.  If I were going to keep her in this for a while longer, I could have bounced her down into the seat even more.

Ergo, we snagged one of these at TJ Maxx for $60 and it's been a great carrier for the price.  Many people love their Ergos, but out of everything I have tried, I must admit it is not my favorite (though still a great carrier!).  We had to quit using it for a time because Myra would lean so much and the panel isn't as tall.

Beco Gemini, this was such an amazing carrier for the first 9-10 months.  Myra is still well within the weight limits of it and I could certainly continue using it with her, but as you can see she can lean all over the place in it.  The dimensions are smaller which is what makes it so awesome for a newborn (you can even adjust the seat width to be smaller yet), but doesn't quite contain her anymore.  The headrest can be clipped up, but it just annoys Myra.  For us, the head rest was best used when she needed more head support as a newborn, especially when she fell asleep.

Hope that helps!  Let me know if you have any questions.  Happy Babywearing!

All The Exciting Things We Did This Week.

Well, these posts seem far less exciting when they cover one week at a time rather than one season.  Surprise, surprise, I still got ramble-y and tangent-y.  Trevor is still plugging away one dental school applications, shadowing local dentists, school work, Army work, you get the idea. 

In addition to the usual excitement of grocery shopping, dishwasher unloading, dog walking, and the like, I/we kept fairly busy this week.

Myra randomly started doing this pose a while ago, and when she does we call it "yoga."  Here she is doing "yoga" with Daddy.

I work, as in actually go to work, one day per week.  I work as needed/sporadically from home the rest of the week, too.  I am a case manager for our local transitional housing program which is something I love.  We provide housing subsidies on a short term basis (up to two years) while meeting with the recipients regularly to help them get back on their feet (that's pretty vague because that can mean many things...whatever they need to accomplish, we do what we can to help).  Grandma Christy comes to watch Myra and they have all sorts of fun. 

Myra had a semi-rough night Tuesday night.  We're leaning towards blaming our barley trial, but she's got some teeth coming in so it's really hard to say for sure.  Barley has a fairly low pass rate among FPIES kids, but there's no knowing until we try.  She loves it and we need more grains, so we'll see how the rest of the trial goes.  Regardless of the cause, lack of sleep and/or interrupted sleep turn me into a slacker the next day.  Although I was a total monster, I got used to never, ever sleeping during Myra's first four months, but I'm out of practice and growing a human now.  Side note: some day I will post the email I wrote to Tosha in the middle of all that CRAZY about everything we had tried and how desperate I was.  I'm sure it's littered with profanity and "I don't like my baby" (it was a horrible, awful time, even though I loved Myra and I knew something was wrong and it wasn't her fault, it was all around ugly).  I digress.

Speaking of her FPIES, I recently learned many FPIES kids do just fine with Dum-Dums suckers.  Since we are a family of multi-generational dentists, I haven't really been on a search of candy she can have, but the girl deserves a treat sometimes!

Thursday was a busy day.  We had a WIC appointment right away in the morning.  I always schedule them right away to get it out of the way, so I don't have to plan my whole day around it...then I wish I hadn't.  I just have to say this: WIC is an amazing program.  They have single handedly saved us.  The cost of formula varies a lot based on how it's purchased (confusing, I know, click here to read the specifics).  Although Myra's formula intake has gone down a little as her food options have increased, WIC still pays out $491.20/month for Myra's formula.  Because of insurance contracts and other exciting stuff like that, we would still have to pay $207.79/month out of pocket after insurance if we would have to purchase it ourselves.  That's not including the cost of Myra's special foods (we have to get certain brands and some "novelty" food items because of all the hidden ingredients in other brands).  Bottom line: WIC has been a huge help.  They are now providing her Neocate Splash, essentially a hypoallergenic nutritional supplement/Boost type drink, in addition to her formula ($132/month).  ANYWAY...we had a WIC appointment Thursday morning.  Our little smarty pants has figured out that doctor's appointments go like this: nurse comes in, doctor comes in, nurse comes back=shots.  Apparently she's narrowed it down even more because she was totally fine with the WIC nurse until she put on gloves.  Then she got really nervous, wanted to sit on my lap, and eventually started crying-all before the nurse was even ready to do her finger poke (hemoglobin and lead test).  Myra was a pretty tough cookie and there was minimal drama after the fact, but the anticipation is not cool.  We had lunch with my boss at Applebee's and Myra spent her time jammin to the music and finding all the apples (in the logo) she could.  She had a view out the window, so she pointed out "truck," "car," "cycle (motorcycle)" the whole time, too. 

Myra isn't the only one with food allergies.  Rowdy is on a grain-free lamb food.  It was easy when Myra couldn't have any of the foods Rowdy can't have (he gets itchy, gnaws on his paws, flaps his ears all day).  Now that she can have corn, she loves to feed him her Kix and Chex.  We're working on it, but in the photo above she thought I couldn't see her feeding him if she didn't look at him while she did it...

ECFE (Early Childhood and Family Education) is back in session this week!  I'm on the Advisory Council, which is tons of fun, and we had our first meeting of the year.  We started planning the events we'll be doing this year, divvying up duties, and learning about some really cool new programs coming to our area (like the Dolly Parton Imagination Library).  On Friday, Myra got to start school.  She is in the toddler class for one year olds.  We go every Friday for an hour and fifteen minutes.  The first fifteen minutes is free play then circle time (welcome the kids, sing a few songs).  After that, the parents go to a different room (separated by a divider left open just a tad, so the kids can come find us if they want).  There is a topic/focus for both kids and adults every week (kids: physical motor skills, sensory activities, listening and understanding, exploration, etc. adults: what to expect at one, one year old play, food and nutrition, how to get stuff done with a toddler in the house, etc.).  Myra loves going, the kids get to play and explore while having a focus topic; I meet wonderful people and love learning new things.  In fact, we still get together regularly with the moms and kids from our very first ECFE class (0-3 month newborns).

First day of school 2014!

Saturday was babywearing meeting day!  (I will soon be putting together a post on our group's blog about what exactly happens at meetings--I will link it here)  We have learned so much and met some awesome people from our group, so when it works out to get to a meeting we love going.  Myra likes playing with the kids, we get to try other wraps and carriers, and I get to help other care givers learn about babywearing.  In a nutshell, we start with introductions, have a demo (this month we talked about soft structured carriers, the backpack style ones, then split up into small groups to help people learn what they came to learn).  The photo below shows about half of the people who were there.

 

 

And a couple extra photos from this week:

 

Our little book worm.  She's reading a book called "Birds Have Beaks" all by herself.  She turns the pages and says "beak," "beak," "beak."



Always a little bigger by the end of each day.  No surprise, but a bit bigger than I was at 18 weeks with Myra!