We're still here... really.

It's Gilda here (under Ian's name) finally dropping a line. Wow has it been busy these last few weeks. After the whole constipation thing, we had a week of crazy night wakings which just totally wore us out, then we had did some traveling over the weekend. Now we're finally home and hopefully back on our normal routine, which means more sleep for E and us finding time to actually work and update you all.

So, what have we been up to? Well we just came back from a long weekend visiting both sides of the family for Father's Day. Happy First Father's Day Ian. No we didn't really do anything special, sort of like we didn't do anything special for Mother's Day, unless you count giving Ian a couple more hours of interrupted sleep and time to sleep in. The traveling wasn't too bad, either. Actually it isn't much more work to do that than it is just to visit one side. Especially if the traveling ends while we're in Stockton. (I think it's because there seems to be more people around just wanting to hang out and subsequently wanting to play-watch E . Oh and we tend to not have to drive around the whole Bay Area to see people as everyone is located in Stockton.) So we went down on Sunday after church to see my family, which involved a two-leg trip where we finally ended up in Santa Clara for a barbecue dinner. Then back to Dublin for the night. Then on Monday afternoon, we were off to Stockton to celebrate Ian's Mom's birthday. We stayed the night there. We meant to head home on Tuesday, but just sat around enjoying not having to do much and getting fed by G&G (Grandma LaVeda and Grandpa Jim) and hanging out with Ian's siblings. So we ended up staying until Wednesday. Then we got back midday and ran a bunch of errands because E was still sleeping when we drove into Davis.

Other new developments is that E is starting to do the infinitely slow scooting (on her rear). It's funny because she's not really crawling, but if you look away and aren't paying attention, sometimes you'll look back and she's moved on her butt a few feet from where she was. Usually it's in trying to get a toy that rolled out of reach or get something she shouldn't get into. She has also been doing the infinitely slow scoot or even pulling herself forward with on her belly with her arms while on the bed (I know, we need to get the bed rail up... so many safety gadgets). Once or twice I watcher her as she was "exploring" on her stomach, pulling herself to the edge of the bed and then promptly starting to reach over to see what was on the floor. A couple times she also got quite close to falling off (well once she actually did, but I was spotting her and letting her know she'd fall and letting her bonk her head very lightly on the floor before picking her up). I think this might have been the reason for her not sleeping well last week. She's in a growth and developmental spurt. We think by the end of July, she might be crawling everyone (and also getting into everything... watch out!).

E also rocks back and forth with her hands out in front of her like she is going to get into a crawling position. Sometimes she evens gets almost on to her hands and knees, just before her legs swing behind her and she plops down on her stomach. Of course, she hasn't quite learned how to get from her stomach back to a sitting position. Once she does that, I doubt crawling all over the place will be far off. Not to mention she'll probably be able to pull herself up on things (into a standing position, which she also likes to do now too). We have to get one of the safety gates up (to keep her out of the CDs and the plastic bags in our hallway), drop her crib down and finish safety latching all those off limit drawers very soon !!

Constipation Aggravation

WARNING: This blog post is graphic in parts (when having to do with infant poop), so read on only if you are have a strong stomach/gag reflex. Also, don't say we didn't warn you.

E woke this morning in a very clingy, crying mood. This is very unusual, especially, since she slept the whole night through without waking up once. Usually, she gets up as happy as a clam, ready to get her diaper changed, eat some Mommy meal and then play play and play. Instead what she woke up with was crying, squirminess and not wanting to be put down for any amount of time. "Awww, she just wants to be cuddly" we thought... well, maybe not.

As the day wore on, she seemed to play a little better and be her normal happy self... except when we had to change her diaper. The second she was laid down she would cry loud and hard, straightening out her little legs, squirm back and forth and protest till she was red in the face. We both figured it must be because she started to get a little bit of a diaper rash (from all the solid food poop she's had recently and from using some disposable diapers over the weekend)... well, maybe not.

E also loves to eat. Anyone who's fed her can tell. She eats a lot for a baby who's only been eating solids for 3 weeks. She also eats and actually does better with chunkier/thicker solid paste. So we've been letting her eat as much as she wants. We've also been giving her one new food every week or so, in order to find any allergy culprits (since it runs in the family). So far, she's "mastered" Bananas, Pears, Rice Cereal and Sweet Potatoes. This last week was Sweat Potatoes.. and she liked them!

Well... then comes today. Ian mentions to me in passing that E has a little poopie that pops out a little and then goes back in. He noticed it this morning and again in the early evening. He tells me he thinks her aggravated crying on the changing table and her source of pain (not to mention diaper rash) may be because of this poopie that refuses to be pooped. So what do we do? We grab two infant books and look up "Constipation - Causes, Prevention and Treatment". (Information is Power, right?) In the books they tell us to "Take the child off cow's milk (if they're drinking it) and go back to formula." OK, not useful. Then the books say "Breastfed babies don't get constipation." Hmmm... what if they're breastfeeding and solid food eating? For that, there is no advice. Again, not useful

So, we call our doctor's office and get an advice nurse. She lets us know that certain foods (IE: bananas, sweet potatoes, apples, squash) can cause poop to be more solid and therefore more constipating. She doesn't seem to be worried that E has constipation issues and a poopie that won't poop, since she still gets a little out (don't ask me how, I just know what I clean). She offers advice about soaking in a tub, trying to "jump start" the colon/lower intestines and also giving her a suppository (ew, and ouch). We decide we'll try the bath first and then maybe take-a-rectal-temperature "jump start" idea.

Off to the changing table (to get her ready and disrobed) for her bath... and again starts the crying. She is crying, kicking, squirming and (I think) trying to toot all at the same time. Ian calls me over for some help and to show me this illusive poopie (that I never saw when I changed her today). And sure enough, there's a poopie that is just sitting there... not coming out and our poor little girl crying her head off in pain. Me being the Mommy (and not afraid to touch poopie with my bare hands... yes, my bare hands!!), I think there must be something we can do to help her get this out - she's already trying so hard to get it out that she's turning red! So with Ian on Leg Duty (keeping her from straightening her legs and tightening her butt) and me on Poopie Duty (breaking pieces off as it comes out so that there can be some release and helping ease the poop out of her colon) we aided E's Constipation Aggravation out. It took about 10 minutes, a lot of crying, some massage (there was such hard poop stuck in her colon that you could actually feel the hardness from the outside - like a rock) and some dirty work on my side. And then it was all over and instantly, she stopped crying and was happy.

Wow, who knew poop could be so distressing. I guess if you're one of those unlucky few who get constipation, then you probably know what it's like. Anyways, after that E took her nice bath (still) and laughed and splashed through the whole thing. She let us put on a diaper without a single crying second and then went promptly to sleep as I nursed her to bed. Yeah for messy mommy work and daddy aid. Tomorrow we look forward to a happy baby.

Oh, and we'll remember to give E a variety of good eatings even as we introduce her to new foods, and hopefully avoid any more constipation poopie problems.