Needed this today. A great read for a worn out, much-loved mother.

First Giggles

William laughed for the first time while awake yesterday! It was super sweet and I was the lucky reciepient of the laugh.

So sweet!!!

We're also getting lots of spontaneous smiles which just warm our hearts.

Patrick can swim!!!

Patrick has discovered he can swim!! His biggest drawback to swimming has always been having water in his eyes. Daddy bought him a mask and a pair of goggles and now Patrick just loves going under the water and yesterday he discovered he can swim under the water.

He still refuses to float at the surface of the water, or try to swim there, but we are definetly making progress! At this rate he'll be really 'swimming' by the end of the season!

Yay Patrick!

We think we may finally know what is causing William to be so gassy and uncomfortable.

About 4 weeks ago, Shaun was doing some research on the internet about William's awful bum rash. The rash started after we got home from the hospital and got to the point that it would bleed with every change. We started using wet cloths instead of wipes but that wasn't really helping. Vaseline did nothing and my miracle butt-paste that cleared P&K's bottoms literally between changes did nothing. We started using canestan/hydrocortisone cream mixed 50/50 but that also made very little improvement to his poor little tooshie.

On the internet, Shaun discovered that his rash (it had a specific pattern) could be caused by a lactose-intolerance. So, I cut lactose from my diet, including all packaged stuff contining milk products or lactose... even those just with 'may contain traces of'. I did, however, continue to use small amounts of butter to flavour rice/pasta. Websites said that the lactose content of butter is very very low, so I was comfortable continuing to use it sparingly for flavour.

After a week there was definite improvement in his tooshie. We were still using the canestan/hydrocortisone cream with every other change, alternating with the butt paste and using corn starch with every change too, along with using wet cloths and no diaper wipes.

However, there was a lingering 'circle' rash that just wouldn't clear. We were happy because at least it wasn't bleeding!

Meanwhile, since I had cut out all dairy I was using soy milk, but only in my coffee. I had tried to drink it but it was just awful. I decided after I finished up the soy, I would try lactose-free milk.

On Monday I had lactose-free milk on cereal for breakfast. It was so nice to have cereal!! And to have milk!!

That night we had the night from hell. William was completley inconsolable, full of gas, couldn't sleep, miserable. It was not good. We were exhausted and cranky too. Something was definetly wrong.

Doing some more research into what might have set him off, I stumbled across information on milk-protein allergy/sensitivity which manifests similar symptoms to lactose intolerance in breastfed infants. It made complete sense! That milk I had for breakfast sent his little tummy into a tailspin. Also, it said that infants that have milk-protein sensitivity likely also had soy-protein sensitivity... that little remaining rash could have been from the little bit of soy I was having daily or from the bits of butter I was still using.

So, now I am eliminating all dairy and soy. I'll be picking up some rice milk to try on my cereal. Rice is one of 6 foods cited as being the most unlikely that a breast-fed infant would react to. Although I think I would prefer almond milk, I'll go with 'safe' and 'bland' for now.

We've also identified eggs, chocolate, strawberries and tomatoes as potential things that set off his stomach. I do have a bit of tomato sauce on my spaghetti - but we only eat that once every couple of weeks so I'm comfortable with that for now.

A friend of mine emailed me yesterday about seeing a natropathic doctor... there is a test they can do on the mother's blood to see what digested foods produce a reaction - these would be the ones that are getting into the breast milk and could be affecting the baby. Two of my friends have done this and have seen the change in their baby as a result of cutting out the offending foods. I have booked an appointment to see the natropathic doctor she suggested and look forward to learning more about this test. The biggest downfall of it is that it is over $200. Fortunately Shaun's benefits will pay us back about half.

We are also using homeopathic colic drops - Cocyntal - which seem to be helping. Shaun scored 4 boxes on clearance (with good dates) at WM.


So thats where we are at. I am hoping these things all work together to give the little guy some relief, and in return, give us some sleep!

Daddy and his kiddos:
A great shot of Daddy with his princess and littlest prince:

Blogging changes everything.

Because as soon as you assume something is routine and you actually put it in writing, it changes without warning.
Yep.
William changed in response to my post.

Last night was hellish. Just hellish. After a day of being his normal 'blob' self, he changed his nighttime routine.

He didn't 'wake up' till 10ish and then he was up till 2:30 battling 'gas' - the magical nighttime gas that only ever appears at bedtime - or so we thought anyway.

He was up again at 3:15, 5 and 7 to nurse and stayed up after 7. He was somewhat happy then, but fussed off and on from 8-10 with Shaun while I crashed upstairs before he needed to be fed again. We thought this might cause him to have a nap as he was definetly entering 'over-tired' territory, but alas, he stayed awake, napping only in 10-minute spurts until I gave up trying to put him down and let him nap on me while i sat semi-upright in the nursing chair in the living room and had a little snooze myself.

Now he is napping in his reclining chair. What does this mean for tonight? I'm not sure. All I know is that this sleep-deprived fog I'm living in is getting closer and closer to turning me into a blubbering, emotional mess.

I'm still keeping my eyes on the 3-month goal... but its so far away! William is (only!) 6 weeks old today

What baby?

There is a bit of confusion in our household.... we know we have a baby, but during the day its (almost) like he's not here. He is this little blob that we regularly attempt to wake, feed and change every 2-3 hours but he's often back asleep within 10 minutes. Since, from day 1, we were not going to let him get accustomed to sleeping in arms, so after he is asleep we put him down. He usually falls asleep while we're burping him and often remains asleep even after a diaper change.

So he becomes this little blob that sits in his reclining chair, or in the swing, or in the car seat if he's asleep while we're out. He rarely cries. He rarely wakes up of his own choice. If he is awake, the big kids are all over him, because they really want to be able to 'play' with him and be with him. Patrick will always tell us if his eyes are open - its such a rare day-time occurance.

During the day we keep him with us. He is around lots of noise and always in full daytime light. We take him outside, to the park, shopping, everywhere. This is what all the 'experts' say to get him on a regular cycle. Unfortunately he has not read these 'expert' books.

During the evening/night we have a completely different baby. Around supper time, sometimes later and always before 8 p.m. William 'wakes up'. Hes hungry and cluster-feeds, often passing out for 1/2 an hour between feeds and then waking up frantic for food.

After the big kids are in bed, he's usually WIDE awake. He'll feed and fuss and feed and fuss and generally be unhappy until 10 or 11 at night after which he'll pass out for a few hours and sleep in his crib (3 a.m. seems a popular wake-up time as of late). Then he will be up to feed and get a change. This is usually followed by at least an hour of fussing/unhappiness. After he passes out again, he'll wake again every hour or so. Around 6 a.m. he's ready to be awake again and will be until about 8 a.m. when he turns into the daytime baby again.

So, in general terms, he's awake mostly when our other kids are sleeping, and sleeping when the big kids are awake.

All attempts to keep William up during the day have failed. All attempts to wake him when he's not ready fail. And trying to make him sleep at night when he's not 'feelin' it' are a huge fail.

So, Shaun and I are learning to survive on minimal sleep.

This too shall pass.

And its never more clear during these trying times why it takes 2 to make a baby... you definetly need the support of 2 parents to survive it.

Please excuse the messy living room, but I had to share this picture.

I was nursing William (surprise! sometimes I think thats all I do all day) and Kathryn decided that her baby, Rachel, was hungry too. She dug out the nursing pillow and sat down to nurse. Patrick didn't want to be left out either, so he declared that baby Peyton was also hungry and he would nurse her. So he got a pillow and snuggled down in his thomas chair to feed her.

I think its absolutely adorable!

First visit by the tooth fairy!

Gramma came over to babysit the 3 kiddos while Shaun and I escaped for an hour last night. When we returned, Patrick had lost his tooth (bottom middle left). He was proud of himself but not overly excited about it.

Interestingly, that was the second wiggly tooth. The other middle bottom one was actually wiggling first and its still holding on. And for the first time last night I was able to see the points of the 2nd adult tooth poking thru (the replacement for the one he actually lost).

I'll be curious to see how many days before the other tooth is out too!

Patrick isn't awake yet... but there is a loonie in the tooth fairy pillow!

Growing up is a slow and steady process....

The past 2 nights have seen improvement with Patrick and his going to bed. He still asks for his buppy and tears up a bit, but he does go to bed without much sadness. He's also sleeping right thru so that is a good sign.

His 2 front bottom teeth are just hanging on by threads. He refuses to pull them out but we do make him wiggle them. Last night I brushed his teeth a bit 'agressively' to help the process and one of the front ones stuck straight out! But, when he allowed me to pull it, it was still held in there fairly good. I'm just so afraid he'll swallow it and miss out on the whole 'tooth fairy' thing.

Kathryn had a bit of a tummy issue yesterday, but after spending 90% of the day on the couch watching princess movies, she ate a great supper and seems fine. She didn't have a fever, but she was very pale and didn't want to eat. The only breakfast she did eat, a few crackers, was what she puked up in the van yesterday morning. Fun times! We are glad she is feeling better.

William slept 99.9% of yesterday. We thought we were in BIG TROUBLE for last night but he surprised us and continued to sleep well between feedings! He's just had an awake time and is now passed out in Shaun's arms.

William is starting to give us real smiles which is so nice! This morning he was giving huge smiles to the microwave. Ya.. I dunno either... but I was holding him so I felt I had some part in it.

Playing CandyLand with Daddy

Growing up is hard to do....

After a very successful buppy fairy night, Patrick had a rough time going to bed last night.

Even though it was his idea, and even though we were certain he understood the consequences of giving his buppies away, he was very sad about not having them. He tried to figure out a way to get the fairy to bring them back. When we explained it didn't work that way, he was quite upset.

Then he decided that he didn't want to want to grow up or be a big boy anymore.

Lots of tears and sadness later, Shaun convinced him to take his old bear, Radar, to bed to keep him company.

In retrospect, we should have introduced another comfort object before the big buppy fairy day. Hindseight is 20/20.

He did sleep ok, and woke up and seemed to be ok. Here's hoping tonight is easier on the little guy.

Of Buppies and Buppy Fairies

Patrick was only 1 day old in the hospital when we figured out he had a strong need to suck. I was sore and cracked/bleeding so we gave him a soother. He was instantly attached to it and it did the trick of keeping him calm and happy.

Patrick ended up being bottle fed, not because he had a soother - I think he would have sucked on anything - but because I was so sore/cracked/bleeding that I refused to let him back on. Once he got a feel for bottles, he was happy, and so were we (although I had lingering guilt about not breastfeeding).

Patrick continued to be very much attached to his soother. It brought him comfort and security. We rarely allowed him to have it out in public after he turned a year old and made rules about it being used only for bed/nap and in the van on long trips.

We'd been talking to him for a couple of years about it being time for him to give up his buppy. I understood his reservations - after all, it would be like giving up his teddy bear or favourite blanket. He used it to fall asleep and it brought him comfort and security. By this time, he was only keeping it in his mouth for maybe half an hour total every day as it was too small and after he was alseep it fell right out. In the morning, he'd pop it back in long enough to walk to the kitchen and put it in the sink.

We told him about the Buppy fairy in hopes it would encourage him to give it up. The Buppy Fairy comes in the night and takes all your buppies/soothers/nuks/mouth appliances from under your pillow and gives them to children who don't have any. In return for your generosity, she leaves you a gift of thanks. Most of the Buppy Fairy stories I've heard involve hanging the soothers in a bag in a tree outside... but we were happy to adopt the under-the-pillow idea as it is easier. Patrick liked the idea of the Buppy Fairy but wasn't ready.

We upped the pressure a little bit when he started to sprout his first adult tooth. Although we wanted him to be the one to agree to be done with buppies, we really did want him to be done before his adult teeth came in. I had read somewhere recently in one of my parenting books that most children willingly give up soothers/sucking their thumb by 6. I was hopeful Patrick would as well. Despite our concerns about his teeth, we refused to demand he give up his soother. It needed to be his choice.

I have a real issue with parents who decide one random day that it is time for their child to be done with their soother. Usually there is no real reason except the parent thinking 'its time'. Its not really fair to the child, afterall it was the parent that introduced the soother, likely to help the child learn to sooth itself or keep it quiet. Again, its like telling your child you're going to throw out their favourite teddy bear, or blanket. Kids grow attached to things that bring them comfort and as adults we need to be sensitive to that. Once you have given your child something, you really need to let it be their decision unless its causing ill-harm, and even then, you should do your best to reason with the child to make them understand, and offer an alternative if necessary, that won't cause the same harm.

Patrick had not been ready to give up his buppy - until yesterday! Yesterday he decided that he would put all his buppies under his pillow that night so he could get a present from the buppy fairy. We were so proud of him!

Throughout the day, and especially before bed we ensured he understood what a visit from the buppy fairy meant - that he would never again have a buppy. He understood and eagerly put all of his buppies under his pillow before bed.

And sure enough, sometime in the night, the buppy fairy came and took his buppies and left him a Wii game as a gift of thanks.

This morning he woke up at 7. I heard him because I was already awake with Mr. W, so I went in to see if he'd looked under his pillow yet. He hadn't! But with a little prodding and encouragement he had a look - he was convinced his buppies would still be there - and was quite excited when it was Mario Galaxy II for the Wii instead! I took the wrapping off so he could read the instruction booklet, and promptly at 7:30 he marched down to the living room to try it out (he knows he's not alowed to get up till 7:30).

And now he and Shaun are playing it!

I'm so proud of my big boy for making such a huge decision and following thru on it. He's growing up fast!

William is starting to become more alert!

Current favourite day-time sleeping location.

A big thanks to Anna for this awesome blanket. He just loves sleeping on it!
I was in the kitchen and came into the living room to find the kids had created stadium seating to watch their DVD. Amazing what a few minutes can do!

Kathryn drew this picture for us. I can't believe how quickly her skills are improving. She says this is a king and a queen

She has also refused to draw any 'proper people' since and is back to mostly scribbles. Oh well!

HAPPY 1-MONTH BIRTHDAY WILLIAM!!

We took the traditional chair picture. William wasn't too impressed with that! This is actually the best shot I got before he got histerical. It will have to do!

Here he is awake! Not so much happy as he doesn't generally smile yet. WE are getting real smiles but they are few and far between and unpredictable.

Patrick agreed to let Shaun cut his hair yesterday! I just love the n ew look. It will be so cool for summer and so easy to wash! Plus it will be instantly dry when he gets out of the pool.

Awesome Read!!

Just finished reading the first book of The Witching Chronicles and once I figured out that I could read it on the itouch while nursing, I couldn't stop reading it!!! I was really drawn into the plot and the character development was excellent. Kris has posted the first 7 chapters on the site (click the above link) and you should really check it out. If you were a fan of the Twilight series you'll like this!!

I hope she has a second book in the works - I can't wait to read what happens next!

Had to post this article about the best line for new moms!

Its short - so go give it a 60-second read!