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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

My back has flared up again. I am having trouble doing every day things but I am trying to get by. There are moments through the day where I feel hopeless and down in the dumps but luckily those are few and far between. I try to keep my spirits up and am trying to take care of myself. Trying to eat less and get some walks in whenever the weather isn’t too cold. I know losing some weight will make me feel better so I am starting that journey.

We took Z to a new pediatrician today. I liked my old one but just didn’t feel like we were getting enough time and attention in the appointments. I actually took her to my pediatrician! The same guy that I saw from birth to about 18 years old when they finally kicked me out and told me I was too old to be seeing a pediatrician. We introduced Z to him and they gave her the other half of her seasonal flu shot. All in all, it was an excellent appointment! She’ll go back next month for the other half of her N1H1 vaccine and then we’ll see them again in January for her 9 month well baby check up.

Z is doing wonderful. She is such a fun and happy baby. Always smiling and laughing. The only time she ever cries is if she gets too hungry or when we put her down for naps or to bed at night. She has learned at a very early age that going to bed is For The Birds. She will usually fall asleep pretty quickly after putting her down. She also still needs a pacifier when going down for naps and bed which kind of bothers me but we still have a few more months before we really need to start the weaning process.

Oh and one new thing is that Z looooves cheerios or puffs. I’ve been giving her the puffs but I realized I could just as easily (and much much cheaper) give her Cheerios! She is still working on her coordination to get them into her mouth so only a few ever actually make it to her mouth (lucky Emma gets all the goodies that fall from the high chair!) which causes the OCD in me to kick in and start hand feeding them to her. I know she needs to learn and I try to stop myself from doing it but I wont lie, sometimes I just can’t help myself.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! I am really excited for Thanksgiving dinner and just spending time at my parent’s house. I’ll be honest, when I first moved out of the house and into an apartment with Gene, it didn’t feel like “home.” I still felt like I wanted to be at my parent’s house a lot. Don’t get me wrong, I loved being able to share a life with him but I just didn’t have that warm home feeling that I did at my parent’s house. So anyway, give or take 5ish years later and I really feel like our home is “home.” I think the day that happened was the day that we bought this house. And I actually like being at my house. I like everything about it and I really feel like THIS is home now. But I also love going back to my parent’s house and hanging out there because in the bottom of my heart, that will always be home.

On that note, I’ll leave you with a picture of my little peanut. Doncha just love her cloth diaper? Too cute to put pants over!

Candy :: Nov.25.2009 :: Baby Food, Family, Health, Zoey, Zoey's Firsts :: 3 Comments »

So, after 2 weeks straight of awful pain, I am starting to feel a smidgen of relief today. I’ve been holed up in this house for 2 weeks and have spent the majority of it in my bed. I haven’t been able to actively play with Zoey and I’ve had trouble just caring for her basic needs like diaper changes and feeding. It has been an emotionally challenging 2 weeks that I do not wish to ever re-live.

So my spine is curved, my pelvis is tilted, my L3, L4 and L5 are degenerating. Sunday was possibly one of the worst days I’ve had so far. I stayed in bed almost all day and cried on and off almost all afternoon. I was so depressed and felt so hopeless. I literally felt like I would probably be in this pain for the rest of my life and that I had no reason to even keep on fighting it. I wanted to give up so badly. Monday morning I called my Chiropractor first thing in the morning, crying my eyes out and telling him over the phone that I couldn’t take it anymore. Gene came home from work and took me to Urgent Care where I received a cortizone injection in my hip and a steroid pack, I then went to have an MRI done of my lower back and then went by my Chiro’s office to have an adjustment.

This morning I went to my Chiro for an adjustment and he gave me the findings of the MRI. The radiologist said I have dehydrated discs in the lower part of my back, that I have the beginnings of arthritis in my lower back, that my discs are degenerating and bulging and that there appears to be a cyst on the lower part of my spine. BUT, the upper part of my back is in great shape and there is plenty of fluid in those discs! So yay for that, I guess?

Anyway, the good news is that there are no ruptured discs, I don’t need to even THINK about surgery at this point and that the chiropractor is positive that he can get me better. I’m going in for adjustments 4 times a week right now, I’m doing stretches at home, icing it as often as possible and trying to take it easy. I’m trying to change from walking, sitting to laying every hour so that I’m not stuck in one position for too long.

Today has been the BEST day I’ve had in two very long and depressing weeks. I’ve been able to play with Zoey and hold her a little easier. I’ve been able to put her in and get her out of her Jumperoo (she loves that thing!). I was even able to make myself some popcorn for a late lunch. The best part of it all is that I have not cried a single tear today. And that my friend, is what I call progress!

It feels good to be myself again. I am far from being totally recovered. I am still in a LOT of pain. More pain that I would EVER wish on someone. But I am slowly but surely getting there and today I have HOPE. Which I have been lacking for a couple of weeks now. I even opened the window blinds today because I wanted to see the sunshine.

Zoey is doing wonderful! She can sit up for a short time on her own. She is laughing more and she loves both her Jumperoo and the play gym. She loves to play peek-a-boo and loves when I “eat her tummy” and “eat her stinky feet.” She is going to be 6 months old in a couple of weeks and we’ll be starting solids soon. Right now she eats about 6oz every 3 hours during the day and still sleeps for about 12 hours a night.

Candy :: Sep.29.2009 :: Daily, Health, Zoey :: 2 Comments »

So… I am not doing well. At all. I was all gung ho about updating more frequently but I’m sorry to say it’s going to be a little while before I can do that again.

Friday evening my back issue took a turn for the worse and I could hardly even walk. From Friday night into Saturday morning I decided that I couldn’t take it anymore. I told Gene I would much rather have 10 more c-sections and a couple knee surgeries than to ever feel like this again.

So Saturday morning my Mom took me to urgent care where they did x-rays and told me my spine looked straight and wonderful. He gave me 800mg ibuprofins, muscle relaxers and pain medicine. I went home and started taking the medicines. Yesterday morning (Monday) I got in to see my chiropractor. He did x-rays and told me my spine is curved pretty bad and my lower discs appear to be degenerating more and more. He did a light adjustment on my upper back and stretched me a little bit. I’m going back to see him this morning to see what my prognosis/treatment plan is.

I am so sick of being in horrible pain. I am so sick of laying in bed! It hurts to sit up for more than a few minutes and it hurts to walk for more than a few minutes. I haven’t really held my daughter since Friday and I miss holding her, snuggling her, playing with her, etc. Gene needs to desperately get back to work and I can’t take care of Zoey fully yet because I still can’t even lift her without awful pain.

It comes to a point where you’re like.. What in the world do I do?? I have no idea. I am at a complete loss. Right now I just don’t want to be in pain anymore. I want my husband to be able to go back to work. And more than anything, I want to be a Mother to my daughter again.

It’s 4:30 AM and I’m awake because I couldn’t get comfortable. The pain in my back woke me up and kept me from being able to get comfortable enough to sleep. Grrr. I am going to go take some medicine and get my butt back in bed.

Candy :: Sep.22.2009 :: Daily, Health :: 4 Comments »

My back hurts extremely bad and I’m having a hard time doing anything these last few days. I can barely lift my daughter to hold her or go change her diaper, let alone clean my house or keep it in order. The trash needs taken out. Groceries from last night need to be put away. Clutter needs to be dealt with. I just can’t do it! Walking is proving to be VERY difficult. I have really pulled a muscle bad in my lower back and it is becoming debilitating and I hate that. I am the type of person who wants to do things when I want to do them and being held down by something like this is extremely frustrating.

Right now I am just trying to take care of Z to the bet of my physical ability. She is spending a lot of time in her bouncy seat and I think she is starting to get really bored with it. This is day 2 of her spending 90% of her time in that stupid thing. I can’t get down on the floor to play with her or practice sitting up with her.

Needless to say, I have been counting down the minutes until Daddy gets home since the minute he walked out the door this morning.

Candy :: Sep.18.2009 :: Daily, Health, Zoey :: Comments Off

• We had fun in California. Zoey did AMAZING on the flights and never really cried.
• Zoey rolled over from back to front, found her feet, began grabbing things more precisely, her squawks got louder and her hair got a little more thick while in California
• We went to see The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and we got GREAT seats.. and on camera! Crazy. Didn’t wanna be on camera but was happy to see Conan live. Was on my “To do before I die” list.
• Astro didn’t eat for the 10 days that we were gone and was practically emaciated when Gene picked him up from the vet’s office. I’m still confused as to why they didn’t TREAT him or something when he had gone that long without eating in their care??? He has been eating wonderfully since he has been home and has gained his weight back.
• Someone e-mailed me to tell me that they found a spam e-mail in their inbox and when they clicked on it, it sent them to a PHP file on my domain that was showing a porn site. I found the PHP file that was importing the header/footer information from an external porn site. They were using my domain to host their porn site!! I have no idea how it happened but I still feel really violated. I cleaned up my domain, changed file permissions, changed passwords, got rid of unnecessary stuff, etc. Hoping I am all secure now.
• My right foot has been causing great pain for a few months now so I finally went to the doctor for it on Monday. She said I have Plantar Fascitis and that I need to get special shoes and insoles and start doing exercises on that foot. She also gave me a tetanus shot because a couple days prior I had cut my leg pretty bad with rusted chicken wire.
• Tuesday I had a root canal and my jaw has been in horrible pain ever since. I still can’t eat anything that requires chewing. I think it’s either an infection or the shots. For some reason I have major issues with the numbing shots that dentists give..I’m always in awful pain for DAYS afterwards, even for something easy like a filling.
• Yesterday I somehow threw my lower back out. I don’t remember doing anything specifically to cause the pain but today I can barely lift Zoey and barely walk without excruciating pain. I’m wondering how exactly I’m supposed to take care of a baby when I can barely lift her?? Ugh :(
• This morning I woke up and I felt yucky (foot, back, jaw) and I went in to say Good Morning Sunshine to Zoey and my voice sounded really raspy and my throat was hurting pretty badly. If I’m getting sick I will be sooooo mad!! That is all I need on top of everything else. Needless to say, I am downing the Emergen-C.
• And last but not least, about an hour ago I started getting some pretty bad lower abdominal cramp. I guess to warn me of what is in store for me this weekend. And to make it worst, those cramps are causing me to have some pretty bad lower back pain, ON TOP of the already pulled muscle or whatever it is that I’m already experiencing in my lower back. Not fun at all.
• So today I am going to my dentist office to have my permanent crown put on and my teeth cleaned.
• Zoey? She is doing wonderful. She can sit up on her own for a minute or so.. She’s getting there! Her favorite position to be in is standing up with your help. She loooooves standing and has super strong legs. I will help her stand by holding her waist and say “Look at you big girl!” and she will just arch her back to stand more up-right and grin from ear to ear like she is SOOOO proud of herself!

Sorry for the lame list but I had no idea how else to catch up from all the time I’ve been gone. I’m wanting to get this place back in order and start writing more regularly again. We are still cloth diapering and LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I’ve got a few cloth diapers and accessories that I would love to write some reviews on so expect that in the near future!

Candy :: Sep.17.2009 :: Baby, Cloth Diapers, Daily, Dogs, Health, Vacation, Zoey, Zoey's Firsts :: 1 Comment »

It’s 10:30 PM and I’m washing diapers. Today was a pretty awful day so I was lazy and used my All In One diapers all day, therefore I am out and have none to take with us tomorrow when we’re out. I really need to purchase some more so I can have a good stash.

Tomorrow morning we’re taking Zoey to an ENT to check on her tongue. I just want a specialist to look at it and tell me if we need to have it taken care of or not. Personally, I’d like to at least try to get her to latch on if it gets fixed but I’m not getting my heart set on anything just yet. It may be way too long gone for me to re-establish my milk supply but I can at least dream, right? Hee hee.

Today Zoey had her first shots. The shots themselves weren’t too awful and I only got a few tears in my eyes. She slept really well for quite a long time afterwards but then the rest of the afternoon if she wasn’t sleeping, she was screaming and crying. It was awful! We spent most of the afternoon crying together on the couch. I slept almost all day and all evening. Just a depressing day due to a few other things that happened. I’m feeling a LOT better right now though.

Last night I had an “episode” similar to what I experienced Memorial Day weekend and wound up in the ER. Luckily I had the pain pills the ER gave me so I took one of those and felt better pretty quickly. I went to the doctor this morning and she put me on Prevacid for a month. We’re gonna monitor it and see if I have any episodes again. I’m hoping it works. We’re trying everything we can before resorting to surgery.

Candy :: Jun.17.2009 :: Baby, Health, Zoey :: 1 Comment »