Tummy Eggs

So, we've been thinking that Eva has a dairy sensitivity. She was getting fairly frequent "tummy eggs": they seemed to happen post-dairy consumption and match symptoms Andrew gets sometimes from dairy.

We've been letting her choose when and how much dairy she has and she's been paying attention to how her body feels.

Then the other day she says to us, "I don't think that it's milk that hurts my tummy. I think it's all the water I've been drinking from the tap."

Mystery solved.

A Glimpse of Teenaged Eva

I know this is not a great looking photo, but I was so struck by how much older Eva looks in this posture...

Horizontal All Night!

Big win last night! I didn't have to get up with Josh!

Now that it's just kind of a waiting game on the food sensitivities I turned my attention back to the idea of reflux.

The doctor reminding me that arching is a sign of reflux (apparently stretching out the neck eases the pain in the esophagus) reminded me also that congestion can come along with reflux. So I turned to trusty Google and did some more research. This confirms it for me: one site I read said not to give decongestants because they make the mucus thicker. And that night I gave him the decongestant his nose was more plugged up than ever.

Some suggestions for helping a baby with reflux include left side sleeping and tummy sleeping. So last night I made sure he was on his left side the whole night (usually I switch him back and forth with each nursing request). And that took us all the way to 5am before he was too stuffed up to sleep. At that point, rather than getting up to suction his nose, I moved him so he was sleeping on his tummy, on my chest. And that did it! He was as clear in the morning as he would have been if I'd suctioned him, and we didn't have to get out of bed!

I'm VERY encouraged by this. I am more than willing to sleep like this if it means staying in my cozy bed all night long. Especially now that it's starting to get chilly willy at night.

So I'm feeling pretty confident now that he has silent reflux. And a strong sensitivity to wheat, and quite possibly a more slight sensitivity to dairy.

The next question is: what do I do about it? I didn't notice it really bothering him today, but yesterday he had a crying session of about 20-30 minutes where he was obviously having waves of pain. Do I proceed with invasive testing? Do I try reflux meds to see if they help? Do I just wait for him to grow out of it?

One remedy for reflux that I have heard is potato water. Yep. Boil a few potatoes- no skin- and then give some of the resulting Potato Water to the baby. Apparently it neutralizes the acid. It's not clear to me how much one should give to the baby, or how often. But I suppose it might be worth looking into.

I welcome any other thoughts about what else I could think about doing.

Rosemary Chicken Stew

A winner with everyone!

I sort of made this up as I went along, so bear with this loosey goosey recipe...

Rinse, drain and sort about a cup of dried beans (I used some kind of white bean called Alubia). Cover with water, put lid on pot and simmer while preparing the rest of the ingredients.

Put 500mL of chicken stock into crockpot.

Chop 2 potatoes into chunks and 2 carrots into medallions. Add to crockpot.

Roughly chop about 1.5-2 tbsp fresh rosemary.

Chop about 6 cloves of garlic, one large onion, half an orange pepper, 8 or to white mushrooms, and three ribs of celery. Sautee with some of the rosemary in olive oil until onion is transparent. Puree in blender or food processor with the rest of the rosemary (this is to hide these "yucky ingredients" from the children). Add to crockpot.

Cube up some ham (oven cook type, not deli slices) and add to crockpot. Some cooked bacon instead would also be yummy.

Salt and pepper to taste (maybe 1.5-2 tbsp salt?)

Add a couple cups of water- depends how much broth you want in the finished product.

Cook on low 6-8 hours, until potatoes are tender.

Mix some cooled broth with some corn starch (2-4 tbsp?), set crockpot to high and stir in until thickened to your liking.

It turns out a bit of an unappetizing colour which both kids pronounced "yucky", but once they tried it they were sold.

Doctor Appointments

Yesterday Josh had appointments with the pediatrician and also with the pediatric cardiologist.

Good things:

- His heart stenosis is unchanged. Yay! I was hoping and praying it would be improved, but unchanged is still good! Dr. Diaz said that it is rare for this type of problem to heal completely, but it could improve somewhat. He also said that it is much less problematic to have problems on the right side of the heart, as Josh does, than on the left side. We will have monthly appointments for the first year.
- The pediatrician immediately commented how much better Joshua's colour is, and also how much more alert he is.
- His ears, nose, throat and chest look and sound good. No infections despite the weeks of illness
- The pediatrician prescribed some decongestant drops. (I was hopeful they'd help Joshua sleep better at night, but they only bought us about 30 minutes. He was up and desperate for help to breathe at 4:45am. And now it's a cloudy day so I won't get the bedding sunned again today!)
- Joshua seemed to enjoy his sonogram. He cried initially, then quieted and watched the screen. When it was over he started crying again.

Not great things:

- Joshua hasn't gained much weight and apparently no length since last month's appointment. Dr. Flores isn't overly concerned but does want to keep an eye on it. I guess it's not surprising that Josh isn't growing too fast, since he has so many other things to spend calories on. But as his Mommy and sole source of nutrition, I sure would feel better if he were growing better!!
- The geneticist was concerned about the status of Joshua's testicles because she couldn't locate them when she checked him. Dr. Flores confirmed that they were descended at birth, but right now both are in his groin, rather than his scrotum. One is lower than the other. He said that they are "retractile testicles" and at this point it is nothing to worry about. They may descend on their own, and/or go up and down for a while. But if they don't come down on their own, he would need hormone treatments or even surgery. If they stay up there it would mean infertility and increased risk of testicular cancer.

All in all, the visits were good. I like the way both doctors explain everything so thoroughly and spend so much time with us answering my questions. I never feel rushed. I am grateful that Joshua's health concerns require only surveillance and not invasive tests and treatments and that so many of them are likely to resolve with time.

Snotvac

When my friend Rita recommended the Baby-Vac to me, I thought it frankly frightening. She said it was a thing you could connect to your canister vacuum to suck the snot out of your kid's nose. I imagined it leaving a big hickey, not to mention scaring the pants off the poor child.

Well, after weeks of bulb suctioning and feeling increasingly desperate, I finally decided to find out for myself whether it was a product worthy of all her raving, or if she did in fact love it only because it was invented in Hungary (her native country).

I received it yesterday. Micah and I tried it out right away. It is COOL! Micah said it tickled (as it sucked a big batch of boogers out of his face). When I tried it I thought at first it wasn't attached to the vacuum properly, because I expected much heavier suction. But the suction is so gentle! Just enough to extract the offending boogies, but not at all uncomfortable. Today when I was suctioning Joshua before bed, he was calm and almost seemed to be enjoying it.

So thanks Rita for the recommendation, it's so much more efficient and effective than that suction bulb!

Even better if there were no boogers to suck out at all...

Coffee? Dairy? Reflux? Hypercalcemia? Allergies?

We continue to struggle to dig "happy relaxed Josh" out from under the pile of mystery debris.

Last week he had one, maybe two good days. Two were particularly miserable, and the rest were just not great. He still has his cold and wakes up nightly between 4:00 and 4:30am needing to have his nose cleared so he can breathe.

He has been acting the way he does when I eat wheat, yet I haven't had any wheat. So I started wondering whether he is sensitive to another food. Dairy is top of the list of infant food sensitivities and I realized that I have been eating more dairy recently, and recently he has been even fussier. At first I thought maybe it was coffee, which I have been also consuming more of lately. (Christmas Blend is available now- can you blame me?) Coffee is pretty much my only vice right now and the idea of giving it up struck fear into my heart. So naturally I am hopeful that a different substance is the culprit.

I have been off dairy for I think three days now and I have seen improvements! He hasn't been crying in the car from the moment I buckle him in until after I take him out and talk him down. Still crying, but not every second. Also he actually hung out quietly in the swing for a stretch and also on the sofa for a stretch. This morning, he was happy to just hang out in the wrap. Usually I have to be bouncing him and have the soother in as well. I was hoping that his congestion was also related, but it was actually worse last night. But I suppose there's still hope, since the dairy proteins can take weeks to completely leave my system.

Around lunchtime today he got really fussy again. Buildup of leftover dairy proteins? The oats I had for breakfast (no, please not oats!)? Reflux? Hypercalcemia? I don't know. But I was REALLY encouraged by the fantastic morning he had. He was so relaxed and soft and happy. So often he is rigid.

Mornings like yesterday I just basically bounce on the exercise ball or gingerly hold him if he falls asleep (because he has been such a light sleeper). And that is my morning. Micah watching tv, and me sitting or bouncing with Joshua. When I absolutely have to do something, like get myself or Micah something to eat, Joshua screams and wails and arches and stretches and scratches me and pulls my hair the whole time. It's exhausting for both of us.

But today was a different world!! It was amazing. Joshua was happy, relaxed, smiling back at me, making happy noises... incredible! He didn't mind hanging out in the swing for a bit while I cooked, and in the bouncy chair while I put away laundry. I got four loads of laundry washed, dried and put away, I premade lunch as well as supper (a crockpot stew that was a hit with everyone- YESSSS), and did all the dishes. It felt great.

Joshua did have two fussy stretches where it took about 30 minutes to finally calm him down. So my current theory is that either it was a tummy ache from buildup of milk proteins still in my system, or a reaction to oats, i.e. celiac. Both Andrew and I have family members who have celiac disease so it's plausible. Depending how much I feel like oats tomorrow morning, I may eliminate that, or wait to see how things go with the current no-wheat no-dairy yes-coffee diet.

The other thing I've been wanting to do is sun my pillows and duvet in case the nighttime stuffiness is due to dust in the bedding. Haven't yet because I would have to first clean the dust off whatever I'm going to put them on outside and that makes the task feel a little overwhelming. But if Josh continues to feel as good as he did today, I'll be able to get that done soon!

"I Am a Doula"

Nicole at Bellies and Babies wrote this lovely post about what it is to be a doula. She briefly and beautifully tells the story of her role at a woman's birth, and toward the end writes:

Pregnancy and childbirth is a time when women can be motivated or de-motivated to fulfilling their roles as strong, capable and competent individuals, which then translates into their mothering roles after birth. The difference often lies in how they are treated during their pregnancy and birthing time.

Empowering women with options and support enables them to take ownership for their healthcare and their bodies, which, later, gives them the confidence to take responsibility as mothers. A doula-relationship allows for that mental and emotional wellbeing while also freeing the medical professional to focus solely on the physical wellbeing. This holistic approach to pregnancy and birth has been proven to be the safest and most satisfactory approach for all involved.

Doulas support women who are choosing unmedicated birth, medicated births, hospital, home, and birth center births. We support women with multiple gestations, medical complications, variations, and normality. We are trained in what is normal and natural and how to make situations where interventions are chosen or become necessary as productive and risk free as possible.

I thought she did an excellent job of explaining doulas' value. For many of us, our first birth in particular is filled with so many unknowns. It can be scary! A doula can be an incredibly reassuring presence. With their knowledge and experience, they can provide very helpful suggestions, information, and affirmation- to both the birthing mother and her partner.

Sweet Josh

11.5 weeks

Joshua 11 Weeks, 4 Days

I haven't been very good at getting a weekly photo, but oh well. Also it's a little too chilly for a onesie shot. So much for good comparisons. Ah well. Somethin' is better than nothin'. I love these little overalls. I'm glad they're still big so he'll get a few more months out of them.

Pumper

Eva emerged from school today bouncing and loud-talking with excitement. She had learned to pump her legs on the swings! Her friend Valentina taught her. "And I wasn't even dreaming!"

So we went straight to the park. She jumped on the swing and away she went! She was just getting some good momentum.... when the sprinklers fired up. Poor kid got trapped and had to wait while I put Joshua back in the car then ran to help her. She was pretty upset but cheered up considerably when I suggested we call her Dad to apprise him of this latest development.

Little Boys

Should I Be Worried?

Bear has found himself in a tough situation, thanks to my eldest child...



(she credits the idea to when Joseph was sold into slavery in the movie Prince of Dreams)

Domestic Help

I have domestic help twice a week, for about five hours a day. Cori does general tidying and cleaning, changes the beds, and sweeps up out front and out back. Many people have their helpers do laundry and iron, and also food preparation. I don't mind doing laundry and Andrew doesn't mind ironing, so I have her focus on the other stuff. Our tidiness and also cleanliness does suffer in between visits but this arrangement has felt about right to us.

It is so dusty here that the house gets dirty much faster than in Canada and so it really is a lot harder to keep the house within the acceptable range of clean. Also with three little kids and our social life largely confined to our home and family, well, I'm sure you can see why I am glad to take advantage of the affordability of domestic help.

A couple of weeks ago I asked a Mexican mom what kind of domestic help arrangements she has, and this is what she told me:

- Live-in nanny, responsible for child care including accompanying mother and child(ren) to birthday parties, light cleaning, food prep, laundry. Expected to work morning to night. Has Sunday off. "She's really good" so she's paid $1,000 MXN (~$85 CAD)/week
- Daily housekeeper, eight hour work day, responsible for heavy cleaning and ironing. Paid $1,000 MXN per week.

I just can't wrap my head around dedicating something like $750/month to domestic help. I paid way less for my first apartment!

Another interesting cultural difference!

Smiles, Splashes and Silly

The other day I finally got around to hanging Eva's mosquito net. She was absolutely thrilled and Micah was very excited for her. While I was taking pictures of it, he made sure I got a shot of him and his bed too.



The kids thought Joshua might enjoy having some company in the swing. And a warm head.


Now a few shots from today:

Joshua gifted me with some awesome smiles today and I managed to catch one with the camera!

Here he is gazing up at Eva. Those three kids love each other a. lot.

I'm sure this would be harder on the Winnipeggers if the weather there weren't still unusually pleasant:

Micah is sooooo bored in the mornings while Eva is at school....

Not a Fluke

Josh just rolled over three more times! Now, the question is: can he do it when he's not mad?

Roller

Joshua just rolled over! Maybe it was a fluke (Eva rolled over once when she was quite young, and then pretty much never did again until she was crawling or walking or something). But that doesn't make it any less document-able. So there. It's been documented. Front to Back Roll, executed at precisely 10 weeks of age.

Another Eva Gallery

I think Eva has a future career in set design!



She was particularly taken by the impact of the flash on this shot:

Josh 9 Week Rug Photo

Joshua at 9 weeks 5 days:

It's Starting To Happen...

... The years are beginning to blend together. The other day I was trying to remember how old Eva was when she first went ice skating and I couldn't! I am so glad for this blog because I can actually go back and find the pertinent entry and see photos and maybe even video. This year I'm ordering hard copies of Joshua's pregnancy/birth blog and of the 2008 posts from this blog. I know I will treasure them both.

At the beginning of our relationship there were big events at regular intervals which helped us remember what happened when. But now we've been here in the same house in the same city going on four years, and there is almost three years between babies and all of the sudden I don't remember what happened when. Soon I'll stop remembering to whom. Sometimes can't get names straight. I might call Eva "Andrew", Joshua "Micah", it's just a mess.

Baby Micah Flashback

I came across this clip of 16 month old Micah and I am amazed. It is quite something to see him when he could only grunt! And his signing ability feels even more amazing here from the future. It must be so frustrating for those babies that don't have that communication tool!

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Eva's Photo Gallery

On the weekend Eva did some photography. She became quite incensed at Micah because he wouldn't let her take his backpack and Nerf gun long enough to include it in her carefully crafted setup. Here are a couple photos she took of her birthday loot:




This is a fun series of photos she took of Andrew and our Sunday Dinner guest, Mr. Bill.





By the way, the blue stuff on the wall in the middle of the frame is a picture that Micah drew and then taped to the wall with blue masking tape. I was quite impressed by both things and so I have left it on display for a month or two now.

I Spoke Too Soon

I made classic parenting mistake. I declared something so. Hence immediately thereafter it became NOT SO.

Joshua was miserable all afternoon.

Micah opted out of much of the Taekwondo class today. "I'm not interested."

Hopefully I didn't compound my mistake by signing them both up anyway. Micah was really tired from his sniffles so I'm counting on the return of his enthusiasm by next week.

Here is a 23 second clip of them working on a punch. SO cute.

Eva-ism and a Highlight

I don't want to forget this treasure:

"I don't want this drawing anymore so I'll just scrumple it up and throw it away."

And a highlight of my life:

A little while ago Eva told me I sing better than Daddy. (this is the power of a child's love talking- I can't sing worth a lick)

Snot, Smiles and Taekwondo

So Josh wasn't even over his last cold when this one hit him. Poor guy is so tired but just can't stay asleep once the snotcork wedges into place. However, despite the miserableness of having a cold, and at the risk of him immediately proving me wrong (as kids are wont to do) I am going to declare Joshua more content.

The last week or so has seen him enjoying diaper changes, quietly hanging out in the bouncy chair or swing for a stretch, and doing much less crying in the carseat. Yippee!!! He really enjoys when the big kids fuss over him- which is such a double edged sword because that's how he gets his colds. Yesterday he sat on my lap and quietly enjoyed the kids' Taekwondo class for a good 15 minutes before the snotcork got the better of him.

I've been looking for some sort of activity in which to enroll Micah. He is so bored in the mornings! He needs an outlet. Of course there are no morning activities since other kids his age are in school. But most afternoon activities are for kids four and up. But I found out that Xochi's Taekwondo teacher takes kids as young as three!! Yesterday we went to check it out. It only gets better. Both kids can be in the same class. There is a volume discount. It is two days a week and starts at 4:30 (many activities are three days a week and start as late as 6 or 7'o'clock). I like the confidence, discipline and language benefits I see coming from this class. And the kids really really enjoyed it! So did I. It was really fun to watch them learning with big smiles, and Micah was so cute doing his best to follow instructions. I will try to get some video tomorrow.

A Portrait

Last week, while waiting for Eva to come out of school, Micah did a portrait of me. Don't I look cute? At first I didn't have those three lines coming out of my head or the dot between my legs. But then I asked him if I could have hair and a body so he added those features.

I love getting a glimpse into the kids' inner workings and perceptions of the world around them. Eva, for instance, now makes sure the people she draws have necks.

In other news, Eva passed on her latest runny nose to Josh. He was still getting stuffy and a little restless in the nights from the last cold... but last night the poor kid was up every hour or two struggling to breathe through a ton of snot. So frustrating! I'm starting to get pretty good at the sleep deprivation thing now; hardly grumpy at all. Though my communication skills have suffered horribly. My Spanish might currently be qualified as 'broken'.