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Diaper change time has turned into an Epic Battle. Every single time we lay her down, whether it be on the changing table, the floor or the bed, she will instantly start screaming and thrashing around like we are about to torture her to death. This Epic Battle has resulted in us doing any and everything we can think of to take her mind off of the task at hand. From plastic bottles, shoes, toys, funny faces, funny noises all the way to blowing raspberries on her tummy AS we change her diaper (that is one thing no one ever tells you when you are pregnant- you will become a GREAT multi-tasker once you have children). Tonight was no different than any other night and when I heard the “belly laughs” coming from Z’s room, I had to grab the camera and run in there. I got in on the “end” of it so she was getting tired from all of the laughing but I did get some of it on camera!

Candy :: Jan.31.2010 :: Baby, Video, Zoey :: 2 Comments »

Zoey was outgrowing her baby tub. Gene would try giving her a bath in it and she would do everything she could to try to climb out of it, making bath time a real pain in the neck! So, I went to Target and bought the famous inflatable duck tub! I have heard amazing things about it and I thought it would be just perfect for her. Um.. think again! She hated it. I mean, downright loathed the thing. Scared to death of it. Gene would go to put her in it and she would kick and scream and throw a huge fit. I kept it in the living room for a couple of days to see if she would warm up to it and she still would go nowhere near it.

Finally, one late night I was laying in bed, trying to fall asleep and I had the brilliant idea of just putting a bath mat down in the tub and letting her sit in the tub like a big girl. She can sit up on her own just fine but I am very nervous about her slipping because she tries to move around so much. So anyway, we tried it and it worked and we are back to having fun bath times!

She can now crawl around, play with lots of toys, make big splashes and just generally do whatever she wants. To say she loves it is an understatement. She gets so excited when we put her in the bath tub now and would play in there forever if the water stayed warm and her skin didn’t wrinkle up.

The only problem is that it causes a bit of trouble when Gene is trying to wash her and she wants to crawl around the tub and play with toys. I overheard him say “This is too difficult now” while he was bathing her earlier.

Candy :: Jan.30.2010 :: Baby, Zoey, Zoey's Firsts :: 3 Comments »

Z and I are on the mend but boy this past couple of weeks sure were a doozie. It started with Z being extremely congested and ended with me catching her awful cold. She had a good week long bout of awful sleeping, waking multiple times through the night, and crawling around whining and fussing. Every time she would bump her head, even if it was just a slight bump, she would melt down into hysterics. It was quite the pitiful sight, if I say so myself.

Well, now that she is feeling better, I was finally able to see that her top 2 front teeth are peeking through her swollen gums. I had the biggest “Ah ha!” moment of my entire life when I first saw the white specks on her top gums. Everything just made total sense! The crying, the whining, the not-sleeping, the fussiness and the sensitivity to Everything. That. Came. In. Contact. With. Her. just made complete and total sense to me. It all added up and I suddenly felt enormous guilt for not giving her teething tablets and Ty*lenol to ease her pain. Here I thought she was just battling an icky cold and come to find out she was battling an icky cold on TOP of some hardcore teething. Parenting fail!

Ever since we made this discovery we have been able to stay on top of her discomfort with teething tablets and the occasional dose of grape flavored infant’s Ty*lenol. She is in much better spirits and I no longer feel like I am going to lose my mind. It is a win-win situation, really!

I think the version of Z’s cold that I received was about a bajillion times worse. I got The Cough. It has been awful and even though I am starting to feel a lot better, I still have The Cough. I’ve been taking everything over the counter that I can and I even dug up an old bottle of antibiotics that I never finished (yes, I know, shame on me!) and have been sucking those down as well. Mu*cinex, Del*sym, Extra Strength Ty*lenol, Al*eve, Ny*quil, Day*quil, the list could go on forever. I am so drugged up on OTC medication that I should probably look into a detox program when The Cough is finally gone for good.

So that my friends is my unnecessarily long excuse of why I haven’t been around. I still want to blog more frequently and still have great aspirations to keep up with this thing.

Sidenote: Z is pulling up to standing position on EVERYTHING, regardless of it being a stable surface or not. There is a lot of head bumping and falling over going on at our house but surprisingly, we have yet to get any bruises. She is starting to learn that she can move her feet and I have a feeling she’ll be cruising along the coffee table or sofa in the upcoming weeks. She can crawl pretty fast now and has a love for any and everything that is not a designated toy (for example: the remote, the cell phone, cups, kleenex, shoes, breakable home decor, etc.). I am officially going to pack up all of the pretty decorative stuff in my living room and put it away in the garage until after we no longer have little children in the house. It’s a sad day but I realize that is what comes with the territory. It is either that or invest in one of those baby gate / makeshift jail house things and I just feel bad doing that!

Candy :: Jan.28.2010 :: Baby, Health, Parenting Fail, Zoey, Zoey's Firsts :: Comments Off

It’s 3 AM. I wish I could say that I was drunk-writing a blog entry after being out on a wild night on the town or a great party but sadly, that is not the case. Oh no, I am writing this because a certain little peanut woke up crying at 2 AM. Hubby rocked her while I dosed up some infant’s tylenol, teething tablets and a bottle. It worked but hubby was concerned about her breathing while she was asleep so we ended up waking her up while trying to administer saline drops, suction her nose and give her a sauna-esque experience in the bathroom.

Suffice it to say, I think Z and I may be going to our respective doctor’s on Monday. I am still so sick and she is still pretty congested as well. I have been taking Muc*inex, Tyl*enol, Del*sym and whatever else I can find over the counter to help with this monster of a cold but it just doesn’t seem to be working. The coughing and congestion in my chest is really what is starting to get to me. The constant coughing almost always triggers an asthma attack which has caused me to take one too many puffs on the ol’ inhaler one too many times.

This is one thing I hate about being sick when it lingers.. I never really know when to just suck it up and “wait it out” or give in and go see the doctor. I absolutely hate when I go to the doctor, give them my hard earned $20 co-pay for them to tell me to go to the store and buy a $20 bottle of Muc*inex over the counter.

Right now I am sitting here in tears. Because I am just sick of my sweet little girl being congested. I’m sick of her teething and being in pain. I am sick of MYSELF being sick because I feel like I don’t have the energy to even take care of her. I just want us all to be back to our normal selves. It was much easier that way!

Sidenote: This last week has been the WEEK OF HELL! The hardest week EVER in this parenting gig, so far. I think to add to Z’s congestion and cold, she has been teething. Her bottom 2 teeth just came in a few weeks ago but her top two are now peaking through the gums. You can just barely feel them through her swollen little gummies. She has been drooling excessively, whining almost 24/7, crying a lot and waking up a LOT at night. Today was the best day she has had yet.. Not much whining or crying, she was a happy little soul and it was sooo good to see my sweet baby again that I know oh so well! We hung out with Grandma and Grandpa almost all day so maybe that is why she was in such good spirits? She really loves them!

Candy :: Jan.24.2010 :: Baby, Parenting, Zoey :: 5 Comments »

We took Z in to see the doctor for her 9 month check up. Luckily there are no shots so I was happy about that! Zoey is 28 inches long and weighs 19.1 pounds, which puts her in about the 50th percentile for both. They wrote down that her head circumference is 90th percentile but her head doesn’t seem THAT large. Maybe it’s just all those smart brains in there ;)

Doc didn’t really say what she had, which tells me that he isn’t sure if this is a really bad reaction to teething or just a really bad cold. He gave us a prescription for Albuterol to help with her wheezing and basically we will just ride this out. Last night Z and I got barely any sleep. I ended up sleeping on the twin bed in her room to help minimize my trips back & forth across the house and my back is paying for it tonight. Tonight I will sleep in our bed and just make the walk back and forth just to help give my back some relief. I’m crossing my fingers that she will sleep better tonight but I know that she has a really rough time sleeping because of her congestion. She coughs and coughs and it wakes her up almost every single time. I guess we can write this down as her very first cold.

Here is to hoping for a better night as far as sleep goes. Oh and that tomorrow we have no projectile vomit. Because that? Is gross and starting to get on my nerves! I think the vomit is related to the excessive coughing.

Candy :: Jan.18.2010 :: Baby, Zoey, Zoey's Firsts :: 1 Comment »

Our poor little peanut is sick. She started developing a little cough on Friday, but it wasn’t congested. Today? It’s REALLY bad congested! She is coughing non-stop and choking when she eats anything. So far over the weekend she has coughed so much she has vomited at least 3 times :( I just hate to see her like this. She is acting her normal self other than maybe a little whinier than usual. She still plays and has a grand ol’ time, it is just accompanied by excessive coughing. Luckily tomorrow morning we are taking her in for her 9 month check up so we will see what the doctor says when he sees her.

Candy :: Jan.17.2010 :: Baby, Zoey :: 2 Comments »

I have really started to incorporate regular table food into Z’s diet. I try to give her whatever we are eating for dinner in addition to her baby food puree. She is loving all kinds of things from peas, bread, stove top stuffing, mashed potatoes to little nibbles of hamburger or chicken. She smacks her gums and “chews” everything up very well. She has only turned down one thing and it was when I added a little bit too much oatmeal to her butternut squash and she didn’t care for the taste too much. I snuck the bites in with something else and she did end up eating it all. I honestly can’t blame her because that oatmeal smells pretty rancid and I always add it to her food but usually only add a very little amount.

When I give her table food, I have this habit of blowing profusely on the food until I know it is for sure cooled down on the outside and the inside of whatever it is. I guess over the last few weeks she has been paying attention because today I went to give her a bite of stovetop stuffing and she “blew” on the spoon before allowing me to put it in her mouth. It was the cutest thing in the entire world!! I did it a few more times and she would “blow” (I put that in quotes because she doesn’t know exactly how to blow yet but makes a pbblltt type sound with her lips) on the spoon before opening her mouth. Soooo stinkin’ adorable!!

This is just proof that her little mind is already very sponge-like. She is watching every little thing we do and absorbing so much at such a young age.

I also forgot to write up a post about how my little peanut turned 9 months old two days ago! I can’t believe it has been 9 months since she has been in our lives. Amazing!! This has been, by far, the best time of my life. Now we will start the great First Birthday planning!

Candy :: Jan.16.2010 :: Baby, Baby Food, Zoey, Zoey's Firsts :: Comments Off