Sam's sleeping....

From a post on 9/29/05:

I was convinced that once we got Sam's food all figured out, that she would magically start sleeping better at night. Well, I was wrong. And I am at my wits end and sick of having crappy sleep for weeks on end. Or is it months? I can't remember.

This is going to be long so please bear with me!

So, here is our day routine and a big part of why I'm *soooo* frustrated at night:

• Wake whenever (8-9am, generally)
• Play in exersaucer, on floor - very independent (1.5-2 hours)
• Rock and feed her, wake her slightly, put her down in the swing in her bedroom to nap.
• Music going (sometimes sounds), fan going slightly, swaddled (so she doesn't scratch) and she goes RIGHT to sleep (1.5-2.5 hours)
• Wake & play some independently, some with me watching Ellie, a major variety at this time (1-1.5 hours)
• Same routine to go to sleep - (sleeps for 1.5-2 hours)
• Wake and play, mostly with me - more needy, but not bad. May play for 2 hours and then need another nap
• Same routine for sleeping - sleeps only 20 minutes.
• Dinner time for the family.....

And that's when things get bad. I then will try the SAME routine that works like magic all day long and it will take me 3 hours on most nights to get her down! She will NOT play by herself for more than 5 minutes and she's showing all signs of being tired. I'll rock her, put her down, she'll sleep for 5-20 minutes and wake back up. Still VERY tired.

I've tried:

• Not letting her sleep as much during the day - no change
• Feeding her rice cereal at night - no change, but when she had too much, we had a VERY scary incident so won't be doing more cereal 'til she's 6.5+ months
• Turning on a soft light (since that's the ONLY change from day to night in her room) - she's more awake!
• Different music - no change
• no music - wakes immediately
• I stay in there forever - she wakes 5 minutes after I leave
  Put her in her crib - no go
• Chris putting her down - she cries and won't go down
• Trying to get her to sleep MORE during the day - no change
• Fussing it out - *I won't let her cry it out*, but if she's just fussing, I've let her go. It generally turns into all out crying after about 10 minutes.

I think my frustration lies in the fact that I'm doing everything the same and I don't understand why she won't go down at night, but she does during the day! And generally at night, she'll wake several times until about 2am even if I DO get her down and it's only from 2-7 that she actually sleeps with only waking once or twice. And I consider that a GOOD night. (She almost never sleeps longer than 3 hours and never longer than 3.5)

I'm going out today and I'm going to buy the Fisher Price aquarium for her bed and try that. I just don't have any clue what to do next! All I really want is for her to have a routine at night. I don't care if it's me nursing her to sleep or whatever... I just need her to sleep!

Any suggestions are MORE than welcomed! TIA!

Sleepless in Colorado. *yawn*

PS On a side note, she's the happiest baby ever now! It's hard to get mad at such a smiley, happy baby. Maybe she's just making up for lost time?!?! GRRRRR.

An Ellie update

i realized I haven't posted much about her lately with Sam being so tough!!! So I thought I'd brag on her a bit.

She's doing really well! We've been talking about potty training, but not pushing it at all. We instituted the m&m rule (1 for trying, 3 for peeing, 5 for pooping) and almost every night this week she's peed in the potty - HER asking, not us! I was asking constantly and she kept saying "No" so I stopped and now she's starting to ask...

It's so cute - when she starts peeing, she'll look up from her magazine (generally Sports Illustrated or The Week... LMAO!) with a sly grin on her face to see if we're listening and then grin HUGE when she sees how excited we are for her! It's adorable!!!

She's also really great when we have a tough day with Sam. She'll play by herself and won't whine and complain at all.... I expected some sort of lashback, but nope! She's just a delight.

And she is talking up a storm. It's so much fun - I think she grasps a new concept about language every day!

Oh, and finally, my very unaffectionate girl has turned into a VERY affectionate toddler! It's so sweet. I was thinking it was a phase (that's why I never posted about it), but the last two months have been hugging and kissing and sitting in laps and... being a doll!

I feel very lucky.

We officially have ROLLING!!!

I'm sooo excited. Sam has rolled several times in the last month, but today is the first time she's rolled more than once - and it's been several times! By jove, I think she's got it!

Going to a nutritionist

Well, I got some trace dairy/soy in my diet the other day and yesterday was pure hell for Sam. Poor thing! I'm not even going to try the Nutramigen....

Anyway, once I realized that even trace amounts are not good, I knew that going to a nutritionist was a must.... I'll let you know how it goes!

3 months in - weightloss update

Well, on June 21st I weighed and measured myself and here I am 3 months later and although I'm losing, I'm certainly not losing as quickly as I'd hoped i would. Bummer.

BUT! I am losing! And it's relatively steady. I've hit a few plateaus, but I am just patient and my body catches up.... And with my crazy diet because of Sam, I'm actually pretty proud! I'm currently trying once again to figure out what I can eat and what I can't.... Sam is allergic to dairy, soy, eggs and it was recommended that I avoid nuts and shellfish. I go to a nutritionist in about 1.5 weeks and hopefully she can help me figure this all out.....

In the meantime, here are my stats:

21-Jun 21-Sep Inches lostweight 190.5 180.5 (was down to 178.5 2 days ago)
left thigh 25.25 24.75 0.5right thigh 25.125 24.75 0.375hips 44.5 43.75 0.75waist 40 39 1chest 35 34.5 0.5breast 43 41 2neck 13.5 13.125 0.375 5.5" - Total inches lost!
As I mentioned, my weight was less a few days ago, but I counted today's weight. Only about 20lbs to go. I can't wait to get there!

I figured out a yummy breakfast! Why this is good and bad....

I was laying in bed last night thinking, "I'm going ot really miss scrambled eggs with stuff in them for breakfast.... I wonder what I could replace the eggs with? Tofu? Nope, that's soy. Cauliflower? Nope, gassy. HEY! Potatoes!"

And I looked at the package of hashbrowns I have and it's 12carbs for 1/2 cup....

So I used about a cup and scrambled up some hashbrowns with low fat sausage and left over squash - and gave some to Ellie!

You see, that's the great thing. She's allergic to eggs so we've always had different breakfasts! So I was able to give her some of mine - and she loved it!

And that's the bad thing... I made it thinking "1/4 for Ellie, 3/4's for me!" Wrong! She LOVED it so it was half her and half me.... And she STILL wanted more! LOL!

So actually, this is going to be good from that standpoint. (Oh, and it was yummy, yummy.)

Andi (who actually got about 7 hours of sleep with only having to get up twice - a first in about a month)

Sam's allergist appt..... I *ASKED* her not to be allergic to....

eggs! But did she listen? NOOOOOOO...... *grumble*

Okay, so here's how it works.... This doctor does scratch tests. This sort of surprised me after what Heather (Ben & Ollie's mom) said. She tried to find someone in Dallas to do it, but couldn't. But when you scratch test infants, they don't always show an allergy. For instance, I'm 99% sure of the soy allergy, but it didn't come up. But because I had such a good case for it and she's allergic to milk, he's not surprised.....

But with wheat, it could be something else in the cheerios that caused it. Like (dumb me) the strawberries, blueberries or raspberries. He said it's very unlikely that wheat is the cause of her eczema breakout - that's extremely unusual. So I should add in some bread and keep an eye on her.

As for eggs, they are officially out of my diet. Along with dairy and soy. But he also suggested, since they are so common, to cut out all nuts and shellfish, too. *waaaahh!!!*

But the good news is that I can start adding in trace amounts of soy/dairy/egg into my diet. For instance, cakes. YUM! LOL! Or things (like taco meat seasoning) that have trace amounts of dairy. Or thing cooked in soybean oil. It's the major things that are out. That opens things up SO much for me.

Breakfast is going ot be a tough one.... I always eat eggs.... Does anyone have any low carb suggestions for breakfast? Or low carb toppings for bread? (Not jelly, jam.) I find that when I eat cereal (which I'd have to have with rice milk - bleh), I get hungry way too quickly. I'm thinking of finding some good meats to snack on for breakfast..... and maybe some whole grain bread. I'll also look for some whole grain cereals and see how that does. (Higher fiber helps me stay fuller longer.)

So it's back to redoing my diet again! But now I have answers and maybe cutting out eggs will help with some other issues we're having. (Like not sleeping well at night. You never know! Or extremely smelly farts.)

Damn it!!! Wheat, too?!?

Well, I'm starting to suspect that Sam has a wheat allergy, too. Nuts and eggs pass through breastmilk, but I've been eating those since day 1 and her eczema was clearing up and was almost gone. Then this week I discovered Cheerios with fruit and that was my new snack.....

And Sam's eczema is flaring again! It's not nearly as bad as when I added in soy, but it's happening for sure....

She's also been VERY fussy and very gassy. So I'm starting to think about cutting out gassy foods - namely broccoli, cauliflower and onions. I might just cut back on onions, but the other two I will cut out until after they get out of her system....

*sigh*

Ellie words and what she said to me!

She told me "i love you" 2 days ago - my heart melted!!!

Some words she says and how she says them:

buttyfly
frog/fork
eeyore is OE

doing great, going through growth spurt

Dairy, soy, and rolling over! (Sam)

eczema cleared up after cutting out soy

dairy is out completely - happy baby

rolled over 3 days ago, rolled again today!

horrible sleeping at night, great during the day - most of the time

Sam's followup allergy appt....

I decided to go back to the pediatrician just to chat about allergies further... I've completely cut out soy and milk and have seen a remarkable difference! Her skin is SO clear after cutting out the soy. And her demeanor is so great compared to the milk..... I also got some samples of Nutramigen to see if she's okay with the soy proteins in there. Nope, not going to formula, I just want a backup in case I get dairy or soy in my diet accidentally. (I'll pump, too.)

We are also going to an allergist on Monday to make sure there aren't any other allergies luking that are causing her a few additional minor issues. I know it could still be milk getting out of her diet, but I still want to check. And talk about how allergic she may be. Can I get trace amounts? Or none?

We are also going to try adding in rice cereal at nights. We have MAJOR issues with sleeping at night. She's great about napping during the day - 1.5-2.5 hours for two naps! But at night, she won't sleep by herself. She's practically attached to me - and literally at times. And she's kicking in her sleep and waking me constantly. I hate cosleeping - I just don't SLEEP! We need to figure this out.... *yawn* I can't tell you how many times I've started feeding her and woken and hour or more later with her still on the boob. Not a habit I want to start!

Sam's 4 month checkup

She's doing well! She's dropped a little on her percentiles from 2 months, but she's UP for her weight from 3 months! She was 25" (about 75%) long and 12lb 2oz (25%) for weight. Developmentally she's doing GREAT and she's VERY strong. I'll even let her grab the OUTSIDE of the exersaucer and she'll just stand there!

I talked to the doctor about the milk allergy and we talked about soy. And while I was there, I realized that this *really* bad outbreak of eczema coincided with my upping of soy. *sigh* So I'm cutting out ALL dairy and ALL soy for the next 2 weeks and we'll see where she is then. If she's all better, I'll add soy back in and see what's up. If she reacts, it's out for good. Then I'll try adding in trace amounts of dairy (like in breakfast bars and random stuff) and if she reacts, it's out for good, too....

If she's NOT doing well enough, I'm going back to the doc and talk about getting her tested for other allergies that go through the breastmilk. (Eggs, nuts, wheat, etc.) If she's highly allergic, we'll evaluate at that time and see whether I cut EVERYTHING out or if I just switch her to that stupid expensive formula. I'm not even going to think about it yet - or predict what I'll do.

But she's doing so great (for the most part - still some fussiness that I attribute to either soy or some left over dairy) that this is all worth it. It's funny, I'm not really all that worried/upset about changing my diet. Only from the standpoint of making sure I get the right nutrients to keep the milk good for her. Not the reaction I would have thought I'd have!

Quick Sam update

I think pictures are worth 1000 words.... And these photos show that. The first one is while I was still eating dairy (This is a typical picture. It was almost IMPOSSIBLE to get her to smile without someone helping....) :


And this second one is just a week or two later without dairy (I can't get over how many smiley, happy pictures of her I have taken in the last 2-3 days!!! And when I looked at her this morning, I SWEAR she's got a chubbier face! I know her legs have a lot of chunk and rolls on them now... It's a TRIP!) :

Anyway, I'm just reveling in how happy she is. If only...... I had done this sooner....

Ellie's nightmares - a thing of the past!

Or was it nightmares? I thought it was, but then the other night she complained "tractor dirt" "leg hurt" "beep beep" "leg hurt". I assumed that she was having a bad dream that the tractor was hurting her leg.... But then I thought, "What if it's growth pains?"

I gave her motrin and she slept through the night! That's the last 4 nights.... AND I measured her - she's grown and INCH since her 24 mo appt (2 months ago)! So, I guess that is what's going on.... (And I know it was just the motrin helping her sleep - she had been given stuff noses before and that helped her sleep, but she still woke from "nightmares" - or leg pains)