No more burritos!

So the past few nights have been a bit rough.  Scarlett has had such a hard time sleeping, thus meaning the same goes for her momma.  It started this week.  She wakes up around 1 and nurses.  Before this week she would go right back to sleep after about 15 minutes or so.  Now she's decided to stay up for about an hour.  So around 2 she finally lets me put her back down.  Around 3:30 she wakes up again.  Nurses again, but this time only for about 5 minutes, tops.  But when I try to lay her down she gets fussy and just can't settle.  It becomes obvious that she is not going to soothe herself back to sleep, so I get her back up.  She won't take her binky and only wants to nurse again.  So back to mom she goes.  But once again, she "fake nurses" for a couple of minutes and then just hangs out.  It took an hour and a half to get her to finally go back down this time!  I know she's not hungry cause she's not eating.  So to all of the people that say "Just start her on cereal", those empty calories are not what she needs or even wants.  

The only thing that I can think is that she is teething.  I know, she's a little young, but Lorelai got her first two teeth at 4 months, so it isn't far fetched.  Earlier this week she was having some difficulty nursing, just kept pulling away and fussing.  She was also quite the cranky pants!  She's also done the obvious drooling and eating her hands bit.  So maybe she's just uncomfortable?  Not sure, but I'm hoping it just a phase and passes quickly! 

Her first night home from the hospital.  My little baby burrito!!  

We're trying something new tonight though.  We've swaddled her since birth.  It was impossible to get her to sleep well without it.  She would just keep smacking herself in the face!  But in her squirming around last night, Geoff had the idea that maybe she done with the swaddle.  So we're giving it a half shot and leaving her arms out of the swaddle.  That way she's not too cold, but has a little bit of freedom.  :)  We'll see if she likes it.  So far so good.  It's been an hour and she's still asleep, so we're keeping our fingers crossed!!

Peace

Natural beauty goodness!

The hubby is out celebrating tonight with some of our friends in honor of our dear friend Casey who is now known as Casey E., R.N.!!  Congrats, Nurse Casey!

Since he is gone and the kids are in bed  I wanted to share with you all a new blog that I have come to LOVE!  5 Seed is ran by a beautiful woman named Yancy who recently left her career to pursue her dream of owning her own homemade beauty products business.  I so admire her passion and her strength to honor her dreams.  She even featured an idea I had about beauty in her blog today!   

We often think about the things that we put in our bodies and how they effect us.  But how often do you stop and think about what you're putting on your body?  I think about it in regards to the girls a lot.  I know that mineral oil is terribly bad for them, so we don't use any lotions or soaps that contain it.  But that's about as far as I've thought about it.  Yancy has opened to my eyes to a whole new idea of great beauty products.  She makes and, lucky for us, sells her own bath and body products.  It may sound silly, but I never thought that a person could make their own beauty products!  She keeps it simple and  natural and vows to keep her packaging as eco-friendly as possible.  She recently sent me some of her Cocoa Love Lip Balm and I'm loving it!  It tastes like heavenly chocolate, it's packaged in a very "green" tin, and it's VEGAN!  She offers other lip balms, hand and body balms, a moisturizer, and even solid aromatherapy perfumes!  I'm looking forward to trying more of her products.  Keep up the good work, Yancy!

This woman knows how to make everything, including her own natural deodorant!!  Who knew that was possible?!  So go see why 5 Seed is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. 

Peace

Singing a sweet song

Hello Bloggy world!  Long time no talk.  Since I work at a computer all day I find it hard to want to look at a computer when I get home, thus the lack of blogging!  

I thought I'd talk about what else, but my babies!  Lorelai has been cracking me up lately.  Tonight we were having "Lorelai/Mommy time" before she went to bed.  We were cuddling and talking about her day and said our prayers.  While we were cuddling she squeezed me really tight and said "best friends!"!!  It was so cute and funny!  Also, she's been singing a lot.  Geoff said he ever heard her singing the Marley tune "Three Little Birds"!  I haven't heard this yet, but I can't wait!  Today her song of choice was "The Wheels on the Bus".  Did you know they go round and round?  Just ask Lorelai, she'll tell you all about them!

Scarlett is finally laughing!!  And the girl is ticklish too.  The sound of her laugh is so sweet and peaceful.  But the poor girl hasn't been able to sleep very peacefully.  She's been waking up 3-4 times a night when she had been waking only once for weeks.  I think we might have figured it out though.  She sleeps on an incline sleeper and she's been scooting off of it until her feet and legs are pushed into the bottom of the bassinet or sometimes even on top of it.  We took the sleeper out of her bassinet last time and she didn't wake up until 4!  Granted she woke up again at 5, but oh well.  Also, I'm sure that we're waking her up by moving around.  She's such a light sleeper that any noise in the room makes her wrestle around. But I am not willing to move her to her own room yet!   She's my baby and more likely my last, so I'm holding onto her for as long as possible.  So we'll see how she does tonight.  Hopefully there is another night of sleep ahead of us!  

Speaking of sleep, I think it's time to get some!  Goodnight all!

Stalling and Cobras

I found myself trying to think about what I could write on this here blog.  To tell you the truth, I haven't really been able to think about much lately.  I haven't been able to get a grasp on this new work schedule thing.  It's hard because my schedule changes every other day.  One day I'll go in pretty early, but also get off early.  Then the next day is the opposite - go in later, leave later.  It's hard to get my body into a groove that constantly changes!  So I've been exhausted, and my babies are actually not to blame!  But in trying to stay positive, I won't complain.  For now.  hee hee

We've been faced with challenges from our Lorelai lately.  She has decided that she never wants to go to bed again! Every time we put her to bed and close her door, she's out of bed an opening the door before we even get down the hall.  She always use to be so good at bedtime too!  I always bragged to other moms about how she never fought us, never stalled, never cried at bedtime.  Well, I think that the universe wanted to show me what some other moms go through.  She now fights us, stalls, and not only cries but screams her head off!  This has been going on the last few weeks but these last few days have gotten much worse.  Having not gone through this before, we aren't really sure what to do.  We've tried being really nice, we've tried being mean.  We've tried having her put her stuffed animals to bed and asking her to help them go to sleep.  I've even tried aromatherapy and used lavender oil on her.  Nothing seems to be working.  However, I think we were on to something tonight.  After Scarlett went to bed we kept her up and had "Daddy-Mommy-Lorelai time".  I have a feeling that having a little sister who is getting a lot of the attention that she used to get is finally starting to get to her.  I asked her what she wanted to do for her special time and she said she wanted to run!  We ran in place for a minute or so, which was pretty funny.  Lorelai ended up spending most of the night doing Daddy's hair, which is always entertaining!  She did cry/scream when we put her to bed.  She did try to stall saying that it was "potty time".  Geoff did end up sitting in her room with her for a few minutes.  But it was nothing compared to what we have been experiencing!  Hopefully it just keeps getting better as time goes on.  If any of you mommy's have some suggestions, then I'm all ears!

As for my other baby, she is going to be three months old tomorrow!  Really?!  This can't be happening!  She is grabbing her toys now and she laughed for the first time last week.  She's finally starting to be OK with tummy time.  She doesn't love it, but she'll tolerate it for a short while.  She's been lifting her head for quite some time, but now she's doing little baby cobras!  Ahh, my little yogini.  Making her Momma proud!  We finally have her in cloth diapers full time now too!!  We are loving it!!  This is seriously one of the best things we have ever done.  Not only will I never have to buy another diaper again which will save me hundreds if not thousands of dollars, but I can feel good about not adding to the waste in our landfills.  Did you know that a disposable diaper takes 500 years to decompose? 500 years?!?!!  Just to give you an idea, Michelangelo was working on his masterpiece in the Sistine Chapel 500 years ago.  Remarkable. 

Well my little bloggy friends, it is time for me to start the going to bed process.  Somehow that takes up to two hours on some nights!  Until we meet again.......

Peace.

Hi Ho Hi Ho, you fill in the rest

Hello my bloggy friends.  It's been a while, I know.  It's been a little crazy around here lately and I'm not a fan!  This week has been really hard.  I went back to work on Monday after a much enjoyed 12 weeks of maternity leave.  You should have seen me on that first day away from my girls.  I cried in the morning and wouldn't put Scarlett in her car seat.  I just kept holding her and kissing her, and of course, crying my eyes out.  When I got to work, one of my co workers just gave me a hug as soon as I walked in.  I again, started crying instantly.  My desk is right by the kitchen so many people pass me all throughout the day.  Every time someone would walk by that would ask how the girls are doing.  So what did I do?  Cried.  Then sometimes I'd hear a stupid question.  "How are you holding up?"  Really?  How do you think I'm holding up?!  My face is red, mascara is under my eyes, and my eyes are swollen.  I'm doing great, thanks so much for asking.  Everyone just says that it will get better.  And I suppose in some ways it does.  I don't cry in the mornings anymore, even though I want to.  I'm able to concentrate on getting some work done.  But the desire to be with my girls does not lessen.  I want nothing more than to be with them and nurture them, play with them, feed them, and cuddle with them.  They are everything to me, and to know that someone else is doing these things with them breaks my heart.  

I do, however, feel positive about "new beginnings" for us.  This may sound crazy, but I just feel like things are going to change for our family soon.  I'm not sure what it is, but I know it's coming.  I'm praying for strength and for peace and serenity.  These are things that I have been needing more of lately.  Yeah, I know that peace and serenity are basically the same thing, but I need a double dose of that goodness!  

Well Geoff just brought home Coldstone ice cream, so I have a feeling that my mood is about to brighten.  "Peanut Butter Cup Perfection" - chocolate ice cream, peanut butter, peanut butter cups, and fudge.  I mean, come on!!  :)

My growing baby and the "V" word

Scarlett had her two month appointment yesterday and she is doing beautifully!  She weighs 12lbs, 14oz which puts her in the 90-95th percentile for her weight.  Also, she's 24 in long which puts her in the 95th for her height!  Such a big girl!  Her doctor always jokes that her momma makes some good milk - go Momma! 

She was also due for her immunizations.  I haven't fully decided where I stand on vaccines.  There's something about them that just doesn't sit right with me.  There are double the recommended vaccines now then there were when we were babies.  We all survived and none of us got a crazy disease.  I know that there are no scientific facts to say that vaccines cause disabilities, including autism.  But why is it that now 1 in every 91 kids will be diagnosed with autism?  If it isn't the vaccines, then what is causing this scary rise in numbers?  I'm open to possibilities that it could be something else, but vaccines seem to reason I keep coming back to.  How can I live with myself if I chose to give a vaccine and possibly give her autism?  But then, how can I live with myself if I chose not to have her vaccinated and she gets a life threatening disease?  These are the questions that I as a mother struggle with. 

The doctor was very understanding and said that there were some that perhaps we didn't need to give her.  Diphtheria being one of them, there hasn't been an outbreak of diphtheria since the 40's.  I believe the others that he said we could hold off on were polio and hep b.  I could be wrong on that, as I was crying my eyes out and it was hard for me to focus.  He highly suggested getting the one for pertussis (whooping cough) and the two for meningitis.  He said that we could split them up and just do one a month.  Some are saying that splitting them up to just one vaccine at a time can cut back on reactions.

I think a reason that I'm so concerned is because Lorelai had such a bad reaction to all of her vaccines.  A fever that lasted almost a week, swollen leg at the injection sight for about 2 weeks, and of course crankiness and lethargy which lasted several days.  I hated knowing that I did that to her and I don't want to put Scarlett through the same "torture".  And after her vaccines I would watch her like a hawk.  I was always afraid of SIDS and any developmental delays.  I would constantly be watching her for signs of autism.  I remember one time shortly after being vaccinated for something that I can't remember she was banging one of her toys on the ground over and over again.  I panicked that this repetitive action was a sign of looming autism.  Perhaps I'm neurotic, but that's me. 

Why must being a parent be so difficult?  I am praying for guidance and wisdom that we will do the right thing for our babies.

Peace 

Ok folks, listen to my sob story for the day.  This morning at breakfast, Lorelai said "Lorelai loves Daddy".  I thought, aw, that's nice.  Wonder who else she loves.  So I asked.  This was our conversation:

LO: Lorelai loves Scarlett Rose.

Me: Who else do you love?

LO: Lorelai loves Scooter, and Cooper, and Kitty.

Me: Who else do you love?

LO: Lorelai loves Ja Ja and Buscha, and Harley, and Rugby, and bubble water. (These are her grandparents, their dogs, and their spa......)

Me: Who else do you love?

LO: Lorelai loves Santa Clause.

Me: Who else do you love?

LO: Lorelai loves nice lady.  (that's the lady that cut her hair)

Me: Ok, does Lorelai love Mommy?

LO: Umm, no.

Yep, my kid hates me!  lol  How sad is this?!  It looks like I'm going to have to start bribing her to love me!  haha