Alex and Jonathan
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Home safe and sound…
8 DecThanks so much for all of your nice comments about Alex. She did just fine during surgery — she is such a trooper. Doug and I were the ones who I think had a tougher time.
The morning of surgery — around 4 AM –I thought Alex would be grumpy having been woken up early and without food. But she seemed really excited — like she was going on a trip. It was only a little before surgery (around 7AM) that she started to get a little fussy. Luckily they give her a sedative before taking her into the OR, so she soon forgot all about being grumpy. The surgery was about 3 hours long. Doug and I walked down the street for breakfast with a hospital beeper and then returned to wait for only about 90 minutes or so. We were then taken upstairs to wait for Alex while they were doing post-op stuff on her. At one point we heard a crying baby down the hall. We popped our head out of the door and there was Alex being wheeled into recovery. We totally knew her cry from so far away! We stayed in recovery for a long time waiting for a bed in the post-op ward. Luckily Alex was a little sleepy and out of it. It was just hard for us to sit there. It was strange but during this whole process I was unable to cry or let myself feel anything. I noticed that I had to detach from the situation in order to be strong and only cried once we were in recovery.
Alex slept a lot in the hospital which is good considering we had to share a room with a little boy who had just had brain surgery and who cried all night long. (Poor little thing, I felt so badly for both him and his mom…) Two days after coming home, Alex was rolling around on the floor and talking. Then…
She got the flu. Not just any old flu but that terrible one that is making the rounds of all the playgroups and pre-schools. The vomiting-nausea-diarrhea one. First it struck Doug the day after we got home. He recovered pretty quickly — was feeling better in 3 days. Then Alex got it the Sunday after her operation. I knew after she spent the morning getting sick all over me that it was just a matter of time before I’d get it. We spent most of Sunday in the ER. They didn’t do anything for us and we wound up back two days later because Alex wasn’t able to eat or drink anything. By this time I had gotten the flu. So, one week exactly after her surgery we were back in the hospital. We we admitted for observation. I stayed with Alex because Doug had to work. Luckily we had our own room. We were released the next day and by Saturday after Thanksgiving our little one was starting to eat again.
It’s been a long couple of weeks…
Alex & Doug pre-surgery
Alex & Mama post-surgery
Alex post-surgery. She insisted on holding her own oxygen mask.
And some not-so-great news…
17 NovI have been putting off writing about this, but little Alex has a kidney condition and will undergo an operation this coming Tuesday. Luckily both her kidneys are working well, she just has a partial obstruction of one of her ureters (the tubes going from the kidney to the bladder). It’s a fairly simple procedure as far as they go, but still a major operation.
So Sleepy…
1 SepSo the past 6 weeks have been pretty much of a blur. Doug and I moved to the burbs (well, in truth, isn’t all of LA a suburb???). I’d love to say the move went smoothly, but the day after we had the movers move the big stuff, I cut my hand with a utility knife accidentally and needed to have 5 stitches. (I have a pic, kinda gruesome, so I thought I’d forgo posting it).
Now kiddo’s decided that she’s going to wake up all the time. So for about 3 weeks in a row she woke up every hour. Not out of hunger. Probably teething related and maybe even related to moving. She’s a little better — getting up only a few times a night, but still. One of our saving graces before the move was that kiddo would sleep for 4-5 hour stretches at a time.
Would love to say that there is a lot that is exciting happening but basically for the past few weeks it’s been trying to catnap while kiddo sleeps and slowly unpacking and organizing our new place.
Now it’s off to bed…
Motherhood in one word…
11 AugExhaustion.
In two words-
Sheer Exhaustion.
But somehow it all seems worth it…
Alex at 22 wks – Just learning to roll over completely
Alex at 23 wks — Teething
Diagnosis…
17 JulTemperament.
Yes, it’s official. We got a diagnosis from the pediatrician the other day regarding Alex’s tantrums. It’s just who she is. When she’s happy, she’s the happiest baby in the world. When she’s overstimulated, well, she makes her presence known.
The pediatrician told us that we were doing well handling Alex, though. So seldom do we hear that! (Strangers have a way of saying the most obnoxious things to us…)
What’s been the most obnoxious thing a stranger has said to you??? (Could be about your kid or anything else…)
BTW, here’s kiddo at 19 weeks. Can’t believe she’s already 20 weeks old!
Busy Weekend
23 MayLast weekend we decided to escape the heat here in Pasadena (temps hovering around 100 degrees!). So, on Saturday we went to see our friends Stefanie, Henry and Holger in Santa Monica.
Papa, Alex, Stefanie & Henry
Henry was curious about Alex and seemed to want to play with her not realizing that she’s just a little squat…
Henry & Alex
While Alex was doing some tummy time on their fun mat.
We then went to the beach in Malibu for lunch and on a fun little hike in the Santa Monica Mountains at the Peter Strauss Ranch park.
On Sunday it was still hot so we took a drive around Big Tujunga Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains. Kiddo was really fussy the whole way and finally fussed so much that it was lunch time so we stopped at a nice picnic area in the canyon.
Big Tujunga Canyon
And then we went swimming at our friend Rae’s house. This was Alex’s first time in the pool. I tried to get her in slowly but then Doug said, “Give her to me!” and put her in up to her waist. After a minute or so she really started liking being in the water and now even likes taking a bath!
One thing you should never offer…
13 MayOkay. So recently I’ve been taking Alex to different play groups and such just so that I can get out of the house and connect with other moms. Generally it’s really fun and I’m meeting a lot of new people, many of whom are really cool.
Yesterday, though, was something else.
I went to a babywearing playgroup I had heard about from someone in my breastfeeding support group. Alex was a little fussy getting out of the car (heaven forbid, the car had stopped!) and was a little upset being put into my homemade mei tai baby sling.
As I was getting toward the group, one woman came up to me and said,
“You should nurse her.”
Well, nursing is such a thing for us. I have a low milk supply and it’s taken Alex a few weeks to get back into nursing since we had to introduce the bottle. To which I replied,
“Um.. Well, I don’t really nurse her.” (Not wanting to get into a lengthy discussion about our routine of nursing-bottle-pumping.)
Her reply, “I’ll nurse her for you.”
????????????????????????????????
I didn’t have the guts to say this but this is what I was thinking….
WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I’D WANT YOUR BOOBY IN MY CHILD’S MOUTH????!!!!
Instead I just looked at her and said, “I don’t think so.”
Geez, some people are just so clueless!
My days are filled with…
8 May- Changing diapers
- Pumping milk
- Nursing (if & when we can)
- Washing bottles
- Soothing a colicky baby
- Napping when possible
I never thought it’d happen to me, but I feel like I’ve become consumed with all things kiddo and that my mind has gone to mush…
Playing in the Poppies
1 MayOn Sunday we went to see the California Poppies at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Preserve. It was a great escape from the Pasadena heat (almost 100 degrees on Sunday) and the raging Sierra Madre wildfire which happens to be just a few miles away from our apartment.
Alex at 9 weeks — before our trip
Mamma & Alex
Pappa & Alex
Poppy Montage
