Rainy Morning

This morning we got all geared up for a walk to the mailbox. This process includes getting Reese to put on shoes (socks usually optional), getting Paige into the Bjorn, harnessing the dog, remembering my keys (and my own shoes), and prepping the tricycle. We made it as far as the end of the driveway before the skies opened up and poured on us.

In an effort to get Reese to blow off some steam, I asked her if she wanted to play in the rain. I explained that Paige and I couldn't go outside, but that we'd sit at the door at watch her. She quickly donned her new rain coat, rain boots, and umbrella and played outside in the rain for about twenty minutes. The rain was coming down steadily but not hard and it was about 70 degrees outside.

Check Ups

Today I took two HEALTHY children to the pediatrician. I actually made it almost two weeks since our last trip, and this time we were there for our regularly scheduled well-checks--Paige's 4month, and Reese's 2 1/2 year. Luckily, our doctor would see them both at the same time, so I only had to make one trip.

Reese now gets measured on the "big person" scale instead of the infant scale. I knew she had put on some weight (and height) in the last six months, and her measurements confirmed it. She is now almost 27lbs and 34 1/2" tall. That puts both her weight and height in the 25th percentile. The nurse remarked that she hadn't been above the 15th percentile in weight since she was 4 months old! When the doctor came in he asked Reese "So, how are you this morning?" She quickly replied, "I'm good thank you." I didn't think anything of her reply, but apparently he wasn't ready for a complete sentence to come tumbling out of her mouth. He asked me a few developmental questions ("Does she use pronouns?" etc) and then moved on to her exam. Before he got very far, Reese starting talking to him about her doctor kit. "I have a stethoscope at home too. I listen to my babies hearts. And I have a doctor coat. And I give them shots if they are sick." He proclaimed her in perfect health and told me that her verbal skills are advanced for her age. Oh, and of course we couldn't move on to Paige's exam before she got a chance to show him her new panties and proclaim her ability to pee-pee and poopie on the potty like a big girl.

Then it was Paige's turn. She smiled and cooed during her check up, even during the hip exam which he warned me she wouldn't like. ("Just so you know, babies don't usually like this part," --pushes on her legs and hips, Paige coos--"ok, well, most babies don't like that part.") The only time she fussed was during the ear exam, but she also got a clean bill of health. She, of course, is still on the small side, but her growth is tracking steadily and she's on the percentile charts so they're not worried. She now weighs 11lbs 14oz and is 23 1/2" long. Her weight and height are both around the 9th percentile, but her head is 40.6cm which is the 25th percentile. Paige's appointment ended with three shots.

Reese collected enough stickers for her AND Paige on her way out (although she wasn't willing to share them) and we have our next visit scheduled for Paige's 6 month check up.

Baking

In the kitchen there are bakers and soup makers, and I've always considered myself the latter. I like cooking without rules--a little bit of this, a little bit of that, stir, mix, taste often, and always end up with something a little different each time. In my few attempts at baking, I often suffer from lack or patience or lack of precision and I end up with flat, sloppy, hard, or inedible creations.

The problem with soup-making, whether literally or as it's looseness applies to other culinary creations, is that it's harder to involve children. "Hey Reese, do you want to help Mommy make chowder?" just doesn't capture her attention like "Hey, Reese, how about we bake some cookies?" So, this winter I've been trying my hand at more baking.

I've discovered that it doesn't take as much time and precision as I previously thought. (At least not the recipes we're conquering.) We're currently making one baked good a week. Sometimes it's bread--banana bread, Grandma Bailey's zucchini bread recipe; other times it's cookies--pumpkin chocolate chip last week; and this week it was carrot muffins. Reese enjoys "helping" me measure and mix, and always wants to lick the spoons.

I think I'm getting the hang of things and I haven't made anything inedible...yet.

Perspective

As a former teacher (particularly one that taught in Texas?) I was required to know and thoroughly understand the educational goals my students should achieve while in my class (the TEKS). Maybe it's this practice that's got me wondering, "What should my kids be doing at this age?" Yes, I know there are no TEKS for parenthood, but there are "milestone checklists"--and from my experience with Reese, they are a total Catch 22.

Prior to Reese's birth, and in the months shortly after, I read a lot of parenting books. Chalk it up to a combination of factors: I had the summer off, I'd never spent much time around infants, and the neuroses of "nesting." I even went as far as to flag a milestone checklist in one book for quick and easy reference later.

After Reese was born, I consulted the books and all the information that I thought would be comforting and informative was anything but. Reese's weight fluctuated well below the printed curves, she excelled in some areas of development and not others, and she NEVER ate as much or slept as often as all the books described, so I put them away. Now that Paige has been born, I have kept the books on the shelf. I don't have time to read them, and I know that it will only get me caught up in worrying. Still, I sometimes get caught up thinking: What are kids their ages supposed to be doing? Do some of my frustrations come from setting the bar too high?

Here are some thoughts on keeping perspective that have been tumbling around my head lately about both girls:

Perspective on Reese: Now that eating, walking, talking, and potty training are accomplished for Reese, what's next? At what point should she be identifying numbers and letters or completely dressing herself? Seeing the contrast in independence between an infant and toddler, I know that I sometimes expect too much from Reese. She seems so big and she expresses herself so well, I have to remind myself that she's not 5 or even 3 yet. She sometimes compounds matters herself with her fierce independent streak, I need to remember to pack my patience with this one and not let her grow up too quickly--even if she wants to.


Perspective on Paige: Both our pediatrician and every parent reference I've had time to thumb through talks about the challenges that babies born early face. I know that Paige wasn't a true preemie, but when it comes to her milestones, I have to remember she was born almost a month early. That means that many of her milestones (at least for a while) will likely occur a month later than other babies who were born on or near their due dates. So...when I hear about babies eating more than she does, rolling both ways, sleeping more (and more easily) than she does, I have to tell myself that she may need a little extra time. With all her struggles to eat, sleep, and poop, I also have to remind myself that she is making improvements. Time seems to drag by, but in the last six weeks she's gone from eating barely 1-2oz per feeding to regularly eating 4oz. She's now sleeping in her bed at night, and she's more than doubled her birth weight (even if she still remains small). And, most importantly, she's a happy child.

Locus of Control

Soon after getting pregnant with Reese I went to dinner with a dear friend. I decided to share our news with her--both because of our friendship AND the fact that it was likely that I might have to sprint to the bathroom to vomit during the course of the meal. She was excited for us and we spent part of the dinner discussing pregnancy and it's strange effect on the body. As a mother of two herself, she said, "Being out of control of your body is just the beginning, it's just what parenting is all about." At the time I couldn't see how her advice would play out every day as a parent, but never have truer words been spoken.

I will be the first to admit that I can be the ultimate "Type A" personality. Routine, consistency, overachiever-ness, etc. etc. Parenthood has been a test of me in so many ways and is the hardest thing I have ever done, mostly because I realize that I am (nearly) completely out of control on a daily basis. Don't get me wrong, I know there are things about parenthood that you can control--I do discipline my children, I do provide them nutritious foods (even when they want to eat junk), and I try to be consistent in my routines and expectations, BUT that can all go out the window when you take into account the other two developing personalities in the house. No matter how hard I try I can't MAKE my children eat, I can't choose when or if they will sleep, or when or if the need to go to the bathroom will strike (think Paige's recent pooping issues on this one). In the grand scheme of the universe, maybe I was sent unpredictable and sometimes challenging children to help me grow as a person....that, or it's some kind of penance.

It may not be obvious, but staying home with Reese has knocked my A+ personality down a few notches...to maybe an A- on a good day. It is a daily struggle for me, though, to try not to think twenty steps ahead and instead learn to go with the flow everyday. Give me another two years, I may reach Type B-ness yet.

February Begins

Last week was no exception to our string of illness at the Bailey house: Paige got her first ear infection. Since I've been spending countless hours at the pediatrician lately, our neighbor (who is a doctor with her own family practice) came over to check Paige out. After looking in both her ears, she confirmed that Paige did, indeed, need to go to the doctor. The final verdict was an ear/sinus infection. We caught it before a bad fever developed (although it seems like my kids seldom run fevers with ear infections), and Paige is getting her first dose of antibiotics.

In other news, Reese is completely potty trained!! Hooray! She has been going poopie and pee-pee in the potty for over a week now with no accidents. She even goes without prompting and will sit down to go while I'm busy taking care of Paige and then tell me she has a "surprise" for me in the potty. She's very proud, and I'm super relieved. On the flip side, I think we're starting to see the beginning of the end of afternoon naps for her. Now most days at nap time she talks to herself, sings to herself, plays in her room, or sits on the potty reading books. She's only really napping once every 3-4 days. Most days she seems to manage ok minus the nap, but she does get a little crankier in the evenings. I've tried pushing nap time later, making it earlier, and nothing has worked. There's still hope that when the weather warms up consistently some trips to the park might wear her out and get her back in the habit. Until then, I'm still offering nap as a "quiet time" and we've moved her bedtime a little earlier to compensate (now 7pm).

Paige is finally sleeping well (knock on wood) in her bed at night. We're able to put her down around 7 and she doesn't wake up immediately or within the hour screaming. She's even becoming consistent about have just TWO feedings at night. Reese had one or two feedings a night until she was 7-8 months old, so I expect it will be the same for Paige. Naps are still a struggle for us. She's guaranteed to nap if she's in her swing, but the bed is a total toss up. We're going to give it a few more weeks (particularly since she's recovering from the ear infection and she gets her immunizations next week) before trying to banish the swing for good.

Paige is sitting really well in her Bumbo now and her neck control is pretty impressive. I've noticed that when I put her in her bouncy seat or car seat, she trys to sit up more. It's like she's doing crunches. It's hard to believe she can pull her upper body up so well.

I've been hesitant to introduce solids to Paige since she's been dealing with bowel issues on just formula, but her antibiotics are now giving her the runs so I may try a brand of rice cereal with probiotics and see how it goes. We started Reese on rice cereal right around four months, so it may be time.

Paige has also been enjoying the exersaucer lately. She can't work all the toys yet, but she likes to stare at them, bat at them wildly, and watch Reese show her how everything works. I dug up a picture of Reese in her exersaucer from around the same age. What do you think, do you see any resemblance? (Paige top, Reese bottom)

Memorable Moments

Here's a quick list of things I want to remember about the girls from the last month. They may not be "worthy" of their own blog individually, but I don't want to forget:

Paige
* Has started riding front-facing in the Bjorn.
* Has started sitting in her Bumbo; still a little wobbly, but getting better neck strength and control
* Coos and "talks" often
* Smiles constantly
* Has discovered her fingers and puts them in her mouth
* Is starting to grab and hold things--if she's wearing a shirt, she grabs it and pulls it over her head
* Stares at her toes a lot
* Loves the taggie Blankie Sara made for Reese as a baby. She can grab it easily and puts it in her mouth often

Reese
* Thinks 1 M&M is the greatest treat in the world. Would rather have 1 M&M than a whole cookie
* When talking about Daddy going to work, she told me "Mommy, you don't belong at work."
* When Paige does something that Reese thinks is neat she'll say, "Paige, that's a holy cow!"
* Loves to ballerina dance. Looks over her should and spins with her arms out. Will lay on the floor and lift her leg in "a ballerina way."
* Is finally eating like crazy. She's a bottomless pit lately. She's even eating veggies!
* Likes playing with her baby station from Christmas but wants to use all of Paige's diapers, wipes, and burb cloths on her babies.
* Was playing with her baby dolls one afternoon and brought me some babydoll clothing and said, "Mommy these need to go in the laundry because the baby pee-peed on herself." Hmmm...wonder where she got that one.
* Will feed her baby dolls and exclaim, "Wow baby, you drank 4oz!"

Paige Follow Up

Today we had Paige's one-month follow up at the GI.

Paige has shown improvements in her eating in the last few weeks. She now sometimes goes entire days without fussing about eating. She's also starting to eat a greater quantity--sometimes 4oz per feeding! She continues to use the hypoallergenic formula although we switched to the pre-mixed kind. It's expensive but she seems to like it better and it's easy to get her an additional oz here or there since she's still unpredictable.

The doctor told us he can't rule out reflux or a milk allergy at this point, but once things settle down and she gets into more of a pattern we can start weaning her off her reflux medicine and see what happens. He seems to think many of her issues are more likely related to her digestive system farther down.

All in all, we're starting yet another intervention in hopes of getting her bowels moving and we have a follow up in two months.

Snow Day

Only in Texas can two 70 degree weekends be separated by a week of below freezing temperatures and snow.

After the cold front that blew in last Tuesday, temperatures in Austin stayed below freezing (day and night) until Friday afternoon. Thursday night brought with it snow.

I'd like to say that the snow fall was magical. That I went to bed on Thursday night and woke up to the sight of everything covered in a white blanket of snow on Friday morning. The reality is, I was up at least three times that night so I saw the snow falling on multiple occasions--so it was no surprise to me to see about an inch of snow covering the ground on Friday morning.

I realize, though, that that didn't make it any less exciting for Reese.
During Paige's naps we ventured outside twice to enjoy the snow. Our first trip was into the back yard. There were some major power struggles in the effort to get Reese appropriately clothed for the occasion--including whether or not she was going to wear a scarf. In theory, she wanted to wear one, but once it was on there was nothing but complaints.

Once outside, Annie ran in circles in the backyard and even rolled in the snow. Reese squealed, picked some snow up, and then promptly slipped and fell on the deck. In an effort to keep her feet dry, we both wore our rain boots outside--maybe they weren't a good choice, though, because the snow accumulated underneath forming chunks of uneven ice, hence the fall. Round one in the snow was short lived since the fall prompted a massive panic attack about being covered in snow. (And, yes, I did take a picture before coming to her aide--bad mom move, but I couldn't help it.)

Later that day we ventured out into the front yard and built a snow man. Reese had very specific ideas on what our snow man should look like. Specifically that it should be "huge." She was very interested in overseeing my work, but didn't want to make snowballs herself. Each snow ball I made for construction was met with "No, bigger!" Our knee-high snow man isn't "huge," but in the end it was good enough.

After our snow day, here are some of my personal conclusions:
* Getting kids bundled up for snow-play is a pain. Particularly when they only want to spend 15 minutes outside in it.
* I don't like playing in the snow. Snowmen and snowballs are something I'll do for the kids, but I think snow is for skiing, or maybe sledding. (BOth activities hard for toddlers and infants.)

Sick, Sick, Sick

I swear I used to have other mom-friends. Sure, not many, but a few. This winter it seems impossible to meet up with any of them. Adding another kid to the equation not only makes it harder to physically get out of the house (consider the packing, hauling, and sleeping/feeding schedules involved), but I swear I haven't had two healthy kids at the same time since Paige was born. I've been joking that it may be spring before everyone has kids that aren't quarantined for one reason or another...it's only half a joke, though.

I don't think there's been a single week in the last two months that I haven't had one or the other child at the pediatrician. Just when I thought the family had recovered from the miserable cold virus of a few weeks ago, Reese started to run a fever. Unlike myself who barely registers as breathing if you take my temperature (I tend to hover in the 96-97 range), Reese seems to run high fevers easily. This time it was 102+ beginning last Saturday night. Fearing an ear infection I took her to the after hours clinic on Sunday when her fever continued. They did a strep swab, a flu swab, and pricked her finger for a blood count. Two hours later the verdict was a virus. Not that you want something to be wrong with your kid, but hearing they have a virus that you can do nothing about is frustrating.

When Reese's fever showed no improvement three days later and she kept complaining of tummy pain I took her back in. After a urine sample and exam they concluded that she had an ear infection and a UTI. Ten days of antibiotics are underway.

Which leads us to...explosive diarrhea. We're giving Reese yogurt daily, but the antibiotics are killing off her stomach bacteria and she's now pooping no less than 3-4 times a day. Combine this with her covert pooping, and our potty training success has almost completely been erased. And, since Reese loves new vocabulary words (the bigger the better), she loves to tell everyone about her diarrhea--since we're not leaving the house much these days that means I hear about it more than anyone.

It all inspired me to create my own Reese-themed verse to the famous "Diarrhea Song" (from the movie "Parenthood.") :
"When you're supposed to take a nap, but your pants are full of crap: diarrhea."
Snappy, huh? Just trying to keep my sense of humor about these things.