04.29.03

93484447

Posted in Uncategorized at 2:55 pm by Anne

The milk duct is healed at last! And I didn’t even need to get on an antibiotic because it didn’t get infected. Well, I’m happy to have gone through another trial by fire unbburned. Lily’s cold also seems to be mostly gone. we went to Austin this past wekeend, and it seemed to clear up by the time we got back to the house. I need to jot down the date of ‘baby’s first cold’ as well as ‘baby’s first road trip’ in the non-compelling babybook…so I can thank Cecily later for razzing me about keeping up with it.

I have learned something very important about roadtrips and an infant. If, as in Lily’s case, you are fortunate to have them sleep for at least 4 hours in the car, chances are, they will not sleep through the night. It happened the night we got there as well as the night we came back home. Lily just wasn’t interested in sleeping for more than a few hours at a time. Not a big deal though, she was absolute DOLL, and didn’t have any meltdowns while we were in Austin visiting.

Cecily and I noticed something about having a baby in such a hip environment. For the most part, the cool people are flagrantly unimpressed if you bring a baby anyplace in public. I am used to living up here in north texas, a suburban, shoppy environment, and people just go gaa-gaa when they see Lily. They ask how old she is and her name and smile and babies are just prized commodities here. In Austin, my Austin, the place i grew up, having a baby is anti-cool. I can’t list all the places we went and just received baleful looks from people. Surprisingly, the chichi Saks fifth ave. store (where Mac cosmestics are sold), was the only place where one of the ‘beautiful’ people admired Lily. Of course she was saleslady, and I was buying some eyeliner and lipstick, but still…maybe we were too much in the gen-X areas. Babies prolly scare the poop out of college students and as well they should. They used to wig me out too. Now I’m just an old lady with memories of self-imposed coolness but it doesn’t matter because miss Lily is the sh!t! I can’t get enough of her. I told Cecily when Lily sleeps for more than a few hours at a time, I actually miss her.

Permalink Comments

04.25.03

93247044

Posted in Uncategorized at 11:23 am by Anne

Yesterday while I was walking around with Lily, she grabbed my hair for the first time and held on. I am just so proud of the little chublet. This morning, while I was changing today’s blowout, I noticed what appeared to be a glop of blood streaked phlegm amidst the pooh. Yeah, I know, it’s gross. There was about 1/8 teaspoon of the affected material so I called the pediatrician. Her office was closed for the day but the recording said she’d check messages every hour so I left a message describing my recent finding. She returned my call while I was outside with Lily for a minute and told me it was probably nothing and that Lily didn’t need to be seen. So that’s good but I’m going to keep an eye on her pooh. Make that two eyes.

My blocked duct is still blocked. I massage it, I wash it with a wash cloth, I apply heated compresses. But still, the first 2-3 minutes of nursing on that side is the worst pain in the world. I have to make myself relax and that is difficult! sigh.

oops. There goes Lily.

Permalink Comments

04.23.03

93129562

Posted in Uncategorized at 2:18 pm by Anne

Oh Lordy.

I went to the Dr today on account of my right bosom. Ever since Lily came down with her cold, I had noticed unusual tenderness there during nursings and in the past few days, it’s gotten worse. Internet info and all my books suggest I have a blocked milk duct. sighhhh. The Dr. agrees and thankfully, it is not infected (yet!), so Im to apply warm compresses, massage it, wash it with soap, water, and a washcloth in the shower, and nurse from that side first, until the duct clears. I don’t know what I am doing to have another bosom issue in a little more than 3 months! It totally sucks but at least my sore throat is starting to go away and Lily is getting better too. And it’s also nice I don’t have to get on any antibiotics (yet!).

The bundt cake from last night was excellent. I sent his Grandparents home with some extra and am thinking about running a few slices over to his parents. Otherwise, there is the danger of self-scarfing. not good when one is trying to lose some more weight. When you hear people talk about ‘those feisty last ten pounds’, believe them. I feel like I’ve been treading water for a month. Although it’s not like I’ve given up sweets completely, I’ve just gone to the gym and eaten better for the most part.

sigh.

Permalink Comments

04.22.03

93071263

Posted in Uncategorized at 4:46 pm by Anne

I am sick sick sick with an awful sore throat. No fever, no other symptoms, really, but the worst pain ever in the world. Lily is still coming along with her nasal congestion and this morning, I even tried the saline drops when she had trouble nursing because she couldn’t breathe. They worked well and dissolved the boogs such that I could suck some out and wipe them away. Of course, she hated it but it allowed us to nurse, so what are you gonna do? I was so tired and cruddy that I stayed in bed until around 10AM with Lily nearby. I used to take for granted being able to stay in bed when I got sick. Not so anymore, especially with a little one who requires lots of attention.

At one point this afternoon I put her in the little swing and walked off to get the laundry out of the dryer. While I was hunched over the washing machine, I heard some little clicking noises. I couldn’t figure out where they were coming from and so took the laundry back to the room Lily was in to fold. When I got there, I found Lily reaching her arms out in front of her and pushing on these large movable beads that are situated in front of her on the swing. My little girl was playing! This just proves it; she’s brilliant.

Now I am getting all ready for dinner tonight. We are having Shan’s grandparents over and here is the menu:

Terriyaki glazed, grilled chicken breasts
Garlic mashed potatoes
Steamed spinach
Tossed salad
French bread (the dough is in the bread machine right now)

and

Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake

yummmm.

Permalink Comments

04.21.03

92992068

Posted in Uncategorized at 12:18 pm by Anne

The little miss is still sick. I called the pediatrician this morning since all the books say to call the doc when your baby gets her first cold. Since it’s limited to watery eyes and a phlegmy, blocked nose the doc reccommended saline nose drops and the bulb nose sucker that Lily hates. She is too young for medicine and unless her symptoms get worse, we’re just going to keep her at home and play it by ear. She is sleeping a little better through the night and doesn’t wake up crying as much but it’s not as good as it was before the cold and her naps through the day are much briefer in duration.

Saturday morning after nursing and dressing her, I dropped her off to spend some time with her Dad on the sofa while I took a shower. I said, “Okay hon. here is her burp cloth, you know what to do.” I sat propped her at the other end in front of some pillows while he strummed on the guitar. About ten minutes later I came back ti the living room and found them both in the same position, he was still prcaticing some fingerings, and she was still propped up on the pillows. But my GOD. She had what appeared to be two ivory horns protruding from her nose all the way to her mouth. She must have sneezed these enormous milky boogs. I charged, shrieking like a fishwife, and wiped her up. She was happy as a clam either way. Unbelievable.

Now she is sleeping again, in her little swing. That thing saves.

By the way, watched the first episode in the Helen of Troy USA miniseries last night and although it didn’t follow the greek mythos I learned in school, it was still very entertaining. I can’t wait to see the second and final part tonight. How can you go wrong with John Rhys Davies and Rufus Sewell? sighhhh… and the guy playing Paris is okay too.

Permalink Comments

04.19.03

92896851

Posted in Uncategorized at 1:08 pm by Anne

Poor Lily, she had been sleeping successfully through the night for the past week and a half and then last night, she woke up at 2AM and every 2-3 hours after that. It was different too, in that she woke up each time crying loudly. Usually I hear her making little quiet sounds from her crib and that’s how I know it’s time to nurse. Last night, Lily came down with her very first cold. As she cried, I could hear her blocked nasal passages. No wonder why she was upset! Poor baby. She’s been awake for most of the morning, every time she sneezes, phlegm shoots out her nose and I am ready with a cloth diaper to wipe it away, which sucks because it takes a while to wipe all the boogs away, and her little nose gets red. She just recently fell asleep. Man, having a sick baby is no fun. I’ve used the little nose suction device a few times but she hates it, so what are you gonna do?

You know, I seem to recall coming down with colds as a child, like clockwork, around the major holidays. What a freaking drag.

Happy Easter everybody!

Permalink Comments

04.17.03

92816256

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:22 pm by Anne

There is nothing in the world more lovely or important than your sleeping child.

Permalink Comments

04.16.03

92751777

Posted in Uncategorized at 9:10 pm by Anne

Do you have time for two more poop stories? Well here they are.

Late this morning, during a feeding, Lily farted. Not a big one, not a little one, you might call it a medium fart. As I often do once I hear such things, I clamped my hand over the back of her diaper to prevent a blowout and she continued to eat. Then I smelled the smell of fresh pooh, which caused me to start feeling aorund her backside. Had I missed it? Was my lap ceremoniously soiled? There was nothing on her bare back so I prodded a bit towards her diaper. Now comes the good part. Once I started prodding, I somehow forced a glop of pooh out the top of the diaper. I know this is what happened because my formerly pristine hand was suddenly coated in baby pooh. nice.

And then…

Right after my supper, I fed the little miss and heard the characteristic fart, connoting a big load in diaperland. So we moved to the nursing table and sure enough she had a near blowout. The process of wiping the pooh from her soiled hiney involves one hand to grab the babywipes and proceed with the wiping while the other hand holds both of her feet up and away from the poopy mess. While I was doing this, she slipped a hand BETWEEN her legs and splashed it smack dab into the pooish mess. Let me tell you, for some reason, washing a squirming baby’s hands in the sink is not a very easy thing to do.

This has got to be karma for something.

Permalink Comments

04.14.03

92596227

Posted in Uncategorized at 1:11 pm by Anne

Nice weekend. I replanted a number of peppers (Pimiento, Poblano, Anaheim) and some squash (Zucchini, and Crook-meck) to replace the ones that perished in last week’s freak frost. Lily is officially acclimated to the notion of sleeping in her crib, not through the night, we are still working on that, but I am sleeping a lot better. From the beginning we were co-sleeping and that made all kinds of people pissed off and opinionated. I did it because I thought it would help me sleep better, which it did for awhile, until I started thinking that it might be difficult to get Lily to sleep on her own in her own crib. So far, no worries…the only thing that kinda sucks is I get impulsive moments of worry sometimes. That’s easy enough to fix though, I just walk in and check on her.

She has a really cute move where she puts both hands behind her head when she stretches. I love that.

My girl Cecily is spending time with her parents in Georgia while her Dad is in the hospital and doctors try to figure out what is wrong with him. It sounds really scary and maddening and my heart goes out to her.We’re just at that time in our lives when we start, if we haven’t already, seeing how fragile our own parents are. I went through something similar a few years ago when my Dad had quadruple bypass surgery. sigh.Good thoughts, good energy to Cecily and her family.

Permalink Comments

04.11.03

92464725

Posted in Uncategorized at 9:57 pm by Anne

SInce Lily will be exactly three months old tomorrow, I had the great idea of making an appointment at a JC Penney’s photo dept. today. IT was scheduled for 1:30 in the afternoon which gave us time to go to the gym, come home and take our respective baths, and get dressed with plenty of other little errands in between. By 1PM I was ready. Lily was wearing her most beautiful dress, a light blue number with gorgeous embroidery from her auntie Cess, a bib, and a pair of frilly-frally socks. I even packed an extra dress in the off-chance that something happened before pictures were taken. My first mistake was the route I chose. Rather than turning the truck around after I missed the first turn-off, I decided to stay on the wrong road and switch over to the right one later. This sucked mainly because the road narrowed to one lane and not only did I get stuck behind a slow moving van but there were ‘no passing’ signs all over the road. It sucked even worse once I got to the hwy I needed to get on because of some road work. Basically the intersection was totally packed full of cars stopping and going in every direction. By the time I got past it, I only had 10 minutes to get the Penney’s so I called them and told them I’d be a little late. The woman at the desk assured me it wouldn’t be a problem. As it turned out I was only about 3 minutes late. Unfortunately, the people in front of me were taking FOREVER to decide which poses they wanted to keep and Lily had enough time to wake up from her car-nap and start getting a tad fidgety. She wasn’t crying, just fidgety. We looked at a slew of beautiful stuffed animals, photos of plenty of cute kids, picture frames, other people, etcetcetc until I started thinking that it was ridiculous top even bother making an appointment in the first place. By the time we were led back to the camera room, we had been waiting a good 20 minutes. This, and the uninspired customer service from the help-desk women, made me take back my initial plan to join the photo-club. Anyway, all was well with Lily for the most part until the first picture was snapped. She was placed on a little dais thing, with a hollow in the shape of her car seat, and both the photograper and I tried to get her to smile. Good gracious, Lily smiles all the time, but she wasn’t going to cave here. We dabbed her drool away and talked to her and made little funny high pitched fun squeaky noises and only one did she give kind of a partial smile that the photog managed to catch. After that, she decided it was time to throw a fit and it was a big, loud, teary-eyed occasion. I tried picking her up and talking to her but she just cried harder. The photog gave me a few minutes to try and calm her while she went next door to snap some passport photos and I took the opportunity to try nursing. Now, Lily had eaten just an hour previous, I know she wasn’t a starving babe by any means but she went right to it and started crying all over again when I tried to stop. The photog was totally cool with it and checked in a few times until Lily was done and we went back to trying different backdrops and poses. Well, Lily wouldn’t have any of it. And she certainly wasn’t going to smile. After a few sombering expressions that were on the thin edge of looking like she wanted to cry, the photog suggested a pose in which Lily would lean with her hands on the table and I would support her bottom. After getting her dress all straightened out and after cleaning the spit-up off the furry black thing in front of her, she launched into another bout of wailing. By this time,the photog suggested I look at the pics we had and hoose form there and I was in total agreement. Naturally I went with the 1 photo out of 4 in which Lily wasn’t stern-looking and after paying and making an appointment to come back in few weeks to pick up the pictures, I fled the mall like a bat out of hell.

Lily fell asleep in the car on the way home and I called everyone I knew to share my pain with them. Apparently the very thing has happened a number of times to my sister-in-law. I’m thinking next time we’ll try getting photos made someplae closer than 30 minutes away. Heck, there’s a Wal-mart on every corner, isn’t there? One of the women working the nursery at my gym raves about Wally World pics but I had coupns for Penney’s. Oh well. After we got home and were unwinding in front of the computer, Lily looked up at me (from my lap) with some of the most beautiful smiles and from her unintelligible cooing I could nearly make out, “It’s okay Mom, I just didn’t want to do it today.”

Non-professional dress pic.

Permalink Comments