Thursday, January 29, 2009

Drinking Pig

Pig using her straw cup, the cuteness just kills me.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Eat it and Wear it

Pig's been getting picky as of late. She's a good eater but it depends on the day/mood/lunar phase/size of diaper wedgie up her butt...who knows...but one day she'll eat eggs and the next day she'll look at us like "what are you stupid, who said I liked eggs?"

Does anyone know how to say "you'll eat it and you'll like it" in baby babble?

I kid, we don't force Pig , we'll try a couple of times and if she keeps declining we'll just try again another day. But I wish I could see what's going on in that little dome of hers.

Luckily there are some things that she'll always eat. She loves rice and fish and will gobble tofu soup. Oatmeal and yogurt is always accepted and so is anything in a baby food jar. For the most part, she likes whole wheat toast and will eat cheese, if it's melted on bread. So far, linguine is ok, we've tried it coated with marinara and another time with a creamy tuna sauce. Turkey chili is tolerated, she ate a ton when I made it and made through half of it when I packed it for her lunch a few days later.

Pig's stance on fruit is a conundrum. She'll eat it pureed from a jar no problem. She'll have applesauce. But fruit chunks she'll spit out every single time. I've tried mango cubes, grape slices, pear cubes, banana slices in her lunches and the little container always comes back 3/4 full. However, when her dad gives her pieces of the whole fruit he's consuming she'll eat it. The other day she knawed on the pear that K was eating. She'll also eat pieces of apple if someone scrapes pieces out with a spoon.

Actually, it's the same with veggies. I have to chop them up and hide them in her meals. I smush up peas in with her salmon and rice or mince cooked spinach with her chili. I've tried steaming and cooking veggies for her lunch and like the fruit...rejected. We keep trying but in the meantime, I'm hiding them in her food to ensure that she's getting what she needs. It's not like she objects to the taste because she'll happily eat the Earth's Best jarred peas and carrots and spinach which looks just awful to me.

We're assuming that it's just pure cussedness at this point. So to be safe we don't plan to introduce juice into her diet until she can understand and respond to the words "drink your milk first." I frown generally on sugar, it's unnecessary and kids just go ballistic under its influence and it'll just rot her teeth. I don't think I'm being anal, food is important and kids should be getting their energy from protein, not sugar. It irritates me when others try to tell parents to relax when they're not the ones who will have to take the fructose frenzied kid home. An occasional treat is fine but sugary juices, soda and candy on a regular basis, no way.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

My Parents

I was reading about Marian Robinson, the First Granny, and thinking alot about my parents. They came out and looked after the whole family when Pig was born and they're all set to do the same when Moo is born. I know I'll do the same for my children when they have kids but I'm still in awe of everything my parents did for us.

First they cleaned the house, from top to bottom. All of the laundry was done, folded and put away, in fact, we started running out of dresser and closet space. The kitchen and bathroom floors were swept all day long. My dad, horrified by the dog fur, vacuumed everyday. The refrigerator was fully stocked and my mom started cooking, soups, stews, teas, roasts... My dad worried about K being tired would take the dogs out and feed them before we woke up in the morning. While we were in the hospital, my dad completely took charge of the dogs, walking, feeding and brushing them everyday.

While we were in the hospital, my parents came by 3 times a day to deliver food. It's tradition for new mothers to eat miyuk gook, a seaweed soup, to help cleanse the blood. She also made vats of pumpkin juice to help bring down the swelling. My parents were convinced that K and I were malnourished so we were fed protein-rich dishes. I thought K was getting sick of the soup so I ordered my hospitals meals for him...turned out he preferred the soup to the hospital food after all. When we came home with Pig and K went back to work, my parents took charge of Pig while I was recovering from my surgery, I pumped or nursed but otherwise, my parents did everything else, bathing Pig, changing her, bottle feeding her when I was asleep all while cooking up a storm, cleaning the house and taking care of the dogs...not to mention keep me in good spirits while I battled with hormone-induced mood swings.

Thank you omma and appa, we couldn't have done it without you.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Need a new home for Kirby


After a lot of agonizing we've decided to look for another home for Kirby the lab. K and I are sad about it, he's been with us for nearly 6 years and while he's a big dork, he's a lovable dork and he's still part of our family and it's hard to think of letting him go. But...
Our priorities have changed. With a second baby on the way, we need every last square inch of our house and currently Kirb and Anoki completely occupy our basement. We don't devote as much time to the dogs as we used to. Our weekends used to consist of trips to the dog park and beach. I used to buy special treats for them and plan out their Halloween costumes. Not anymore. Also, every trip we take out of town means having to leave them with our dogsitters...two dogs, three visits a day for 1-2 weeks at a time..means a whole chunk of change. Also, Anoki is sick and getting sicker, the swelling on his head grows and calcifies so we're thinking he doesn't have much time left either. Kirby will drop even lower on the totem pole of piorities as we look after his brother.
We're being very picky about finding him a new home and I've been relying primarily on word of mouth. I did answer one ad in craigslist.com because it honestly seemed too good to be true. A family living on a horse farm was looking for another dog (lab or boxer). The couple both worked from home and could take Kirby out for at least 3 long walks and more if needed. We started exchanging emails and things were looking good and we were about to set up a meeting but then at the very end, they found another dog they liked so that lead fell through. Sigh. Kirby would've loved a farm...apparently they have a stream running through their property as well. Sigh. Kirby loves splashing.
So we're back where we started.

Friday, January 16, 2009

My Daughter the Comedian

I was at Metrodad reading about the funny things his daughter is up to and started thinking...Pig is a funny chick, not really talking yet but she manages to keep K and I in stitches. Granted we're her parents and I'm sure what we think is funny would likely leave others yawning and most of the time Pig is totally bewildered when we laugh at her antics. For example she doesn't think it's all too amusing when we laugh at her downturned mouth when she's about to start blubbering. I can't help it, she looks just like this guy:

We're so mean that when she gets upset we start shouting, "not the buttons, not the gumdrop buttons!" (See Shrek I)

She reminds me alot of her emo (her aunt). We called her the family comedian because she always managed to say or do the funniest things. I'm always telling K that my sister is the only person on this planet who has made me laugh so hard I peed. So....I'm excited, I had the great luck to grow up with one funny chick and now have the great honor to raise another. Pig has great potential. I can tell from the way she dances with a tambourine at her daycare and eavesdrops on people that I'll have to stock up on some Depends.

One of my favorite things. She finds laughing infectious (unless she's sad or mad, scroll up to view pic of gingerbread man). So if people around her are laughing, she'll immediately start laughing as well. It's not baby chuckling or giggling either, it's a full on adult guffaw. In fact she reminds me of the pillbugs Tuck and Roll from Bug's Life. This is in Spanish but you get the picture:


Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Random Thoughts

Yay, got back from Dr. K. Pig's pediatrician and her clavicle is healing beautifully. She poked and prodded and nary a response from Pig. Huzzah! I asked about her cough which is sounding less baby and more and more Marlboro man. Thankfully, lungs and ears are clear so it looks like it's just a cold that we'll have to wait out. In the meantime, K and I will have to keep Pig as hydrated as she'll put up with and the humidifier running. She had some sleepless nights because of the congestion but last night we gave her a little dose of baby Benadryl and than goodness she was able to get about 9 hours of sleep and seems happier as a result.

Sleep works wonders to restore everything to normal particularly the GI tract, as I know from my vomiting days. Everything relaxes and strengthens and you're able to face another day. I'm embarrassed to admit it but I keep thinking of a chapter I read in All Things Bright and Beautiful or was it All Creatures Great and Small, well it was one of 'em. The vet, Dr. James Herriott, was puzzled by a bad case of doggy diarrhea, the poor poodle just grew sicker and sicker, couldn't keep anything down. So finally, he decided to put her under deep sedation in order to give her spasming insides a chance to calm down. And it worked! I'm thinking of trying that on Kirb the next time his insides go out of order again...which hopefully won't happen for a long long while...I think after this past week, it'd only be fair if the diarrhea fairy never again knocked on our family's door.

I am addicted to the Twilight saga. Yes, sigh, I've succumbed. In fact, I'm anxiously awaiting my shipment from Amazon with the last two volumes, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn and was seriously displeased when I didn't receive it on the promised initial delivery date of the 5th. Do I feel silly ready these books. Yep...because the reality is that I'm actually very anti-mush and if K said any of the thrilling things that Edward says to Bella, to me, I'd likely a) laugh my ass off and b) gag. However, in print, it just rocks the world of the little teenager that I guess I still have in me.

Listening to: Angel by Massive Attack, to go with the dreary weather here in the nation's capitol.

Friday, January 2, 2009

A Week of 1,000 Deaths, Part 2

So Monday morning we woke up early, poor K was feeling awful from the flu and I was starting to develop symptoms. However, Pig had been sleeping well, she ate, she pooped, she played, the rest of the weekend went well. We got Pig dressed and ready for daycare. Her cheeriness was contagious, perhaps she knew she was headed to daycare. K and I laughed and sang with her all the way to the body shop where my car was waiting. I kissed Pig and K goodbye and went off to my monthly ob/gyn appointment.

On the Moo front, all is well. He has a nice strong heartbeat, he's measuring 5 days older than expected so K and I are readying ourselves for a big boy. He's got a helluva kick on him, feels like I'm carrying a baby ostrich some days.

Came back home, worked while Kris rested upstairs. When it came time to pick Pig we both got ready and left looking forward to seeing her cheery little face. I knew something was wrong when I heard crying the minute we walked into her daycare providers house. It wasn't whining or that sulky wah-wah noise, it was full-on, crying in distress. But I still couldn't believe it was my child, she doesn't cry that way for one thing.

We went downstairs and found her daycare provider, Mrs. V. changing her diaper and Pig was wailing away, redfaced, very unhappy. K scooped her up, which usually soothes but she kept crying. We assumed it was fatigue, Mrs. V, told us her nap had been short and she hadn't eaten very much. We thought well, perhaps she's developing the flu as well. So we took her out, she screamed as we put her into her carseat and continued to cry. She finally passed out and remained quiet until K took a sharp turn, she woke up suddenly screaming. I remember thinking that was odd. Like all kids, she hates being woken up when she's tired but she doesn't scream.

Thus began a night of horridness. We decided to put her straight to bed. I left K to look after Pig and went to the grocery store to replenish our fridge. When I got back, pandemonium, K had been rocking her and when he put her down in her crib, she began screaming. Nothing would soothe her, milk, her rainforest toy. She began passing little farts so we thought, okay, she must have really bad gas. So we rubbed her belly in clockwise motions and sang and tried to soothe her. Her crying would subside and then resume...and they were frantic cries of pain.

We gave her some baby tylenol and then as K continued to rock her, I went downstairs to my computer to do some research. Could it be gas, a urinary tract infection, ear infection, bad flu symptoms? None of them made sense. Pig had had some gnarly constipation before and had only whined. A UTI might do it but we had taken her temperature and it was normal and her urine had no weird odor. Ear infection? Possibly but didn't explain the frantic screaming. Cold/flu symptoms while they disturbed her sleep didn't really bother her. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

A few hours passed and still Pig cried. I decided to call her pediatrician Dr. K. and was told that it might be gas so to go ahead and try a glycerin suppository. That should bring on a bowel movement shortly and if that didn't provide relief to give a dose of motrin. It that didn't work within 30 minutes, to head to the ER. K continued to rock and try to soothe her and I ran out in search of the suppositories. Our local grocery store only carried the adult size, damn. I sat in my car and started calling drugstores and found a Rite Aid 10 minutes away that had them. I rushed back home with them praying that K had succeeded in soothing Pig and that we wouldn't have to resort to using the suppositories. The minute I walked in, the crying started up again.

The suppository did nothing. I got the motrin ready but before we could use it, Pig passed out. She had been farting up a storm the entire time so we assumed that she managed to get most of the gas out. Relieved, we collapsed into our beds. Pig slept until 9 am, she had had an appointment set to receive her second flu shot so we got ready to go. She cried as we got her changed and ready.

So we repeated our nightime saga to Dr. K. When we told her that Pig would cry everytime we shifted our position as we held her, she began probing and proding a bit more until she finally reached the neck and head region. Pig began crying hard and eureka, we found our problem. Pig had fractured her clavicle. There was no bruising or redness in the area. In fact, unless you looked real hard, you couldn't even see the bump. K got teary-eyed and I tried hard to keep it together in front of the doctor. We decided to head over to Howard County General across the street to get x-rays done and in the car as I tried to explain to my parents what had happened, I found myself sobbing so hard I could barely get the words out.

Oh the guilt. K and I thought of how many times we shifted her in our arms the night before in hopes of helping the gas out. How we changed her onesie that morning, lifting both her arms. How she spent the night crying her eyes out before her parents had no idea. I cried more in the waiting room. I know she won't remember this when she gets older but I wished desperately that there was a way I could tell her that we were sorry and that despite our clumsiness we hadn't meant to hurt her. Gawd, it's the worst feeling the world, to know that your child is hurting, had been hurting and there wasn't a damn thing we could do about it. My sweet little smiley faced child, who had been so cheery that morning...my heart aches just thinking of it

The x-rays confirmed the fracture. After another visit to Dr. K to get further instructions, we went back home to get Pig in bed. Needless to say that night was rough. Pig was having trouble getting comfortable despite the Motrin and cried on and off all night. Her temperature spiked so we frantically stripped her down trying to get the temperature down. I had developed bronchitis and severe chest pains at this point so the running around was wearing me down. At one point, I put my face down onto the duvet in our bedroom and thought, please God, can you give me the broken clavicle instead...please just one thing at a time, please just one catastrophe at a time...because as we were worrying about Pig's clavicle, she had started showing flu symptoms as well and the dogs were still projectile pooping and needed to be taken out every two hours.

It's Friday night and all seems to be well. The little twinkle in Pig's eye was returned her eye and she splashed up a storm in her bath. Thank heaven she's eating, drinking and pooping normally. She's been asleep for 2 hours. So K and I are slowly exhaling.

Kirby still has diarrhea but hey one thing at a time, right?

Week of a 1,000 Deaths: Part 1

We're back in MD. I am all about nonstop flights after this. The LAX to Atlanta leg of the trip went fairly well. Pig slept most of the way. Atlanta to BWI was hellacious, Pig squirmed, whined, yelled, cried, threw things, pooped, peed, kicked...thought that 1.5 hours would never end. Our flight had been delayed because of a sudden crew change so we didn't get into Maryland until after midnight and didn't get home until 1 am. We were all physically shattered, eager to fall into bed and then of course the inevitable happened.

I unlocked the door, carrying a drowsy Pig in my arms and then it hit me...the worst smell imaginable. 100 times worse when you're pregnant. My first thought. "No, that wouldn't be fair. K must've forgotten to take out the garbage." So with great effort, I ignored the smell and carried Pig upstairs to get her ready for bed. K walks in and then I hear "Oh shit!" Literally. He had gone downstairs and saw the stuff that nightmares are made of. Kirby or Anoki or both had gone all around the basement, spraying the contents of their bowels on the carpet, on the walls, on the stairs.

Meanwhile, the smell was actually worse upstairs so I was dry heaving so hard I was in danger of throwing out back. K took the dogs out and began cleaning the basement. I tried to breathe through my mouth so that I could soothe Pig to sleep. We didn't sleep until 3 am. Luckily, Pig slept until 11 am EST the following morning so we were able to recharge a little. K called the our carpet/upholstery cleaner who like the angel he is, came over later that day to sanitize the basement.

So I thought, the worst is over. Nope. I had to pick up my car in the morning and head over to my monthly ob/gyn appointment so I teleworked the next day, K was coming down with a bad case of the flu so he did the same.