Thursday, March 27, 2008

Just the facts...

I've started a long post about my never-ending quest to find baby-zen, but it requires thought and more importantly time, so here's a quickie post with atrocious grammar and sentence structure to let you know what's doing in our lives...

  • Michael is wearing underwear! He's not doing it full time, but he's been wearing them to school and then changing back into a pull-up at home. He pretty much only poops in the pull-ups and uses the toilet to pee. It's been really hard to grit my teeth and just let him go at his own pace, but we are finally seeing results. John's going to work with him on pooping on the toilet or potty (hopefully the former) on the weekends.

  • Alex gained a pound in 19 days - woo hoo! The reason I know this is because I had to take him to the ped's so we could get his Zantac dose increased. I'm really hoping that we can keep him on the Zantac only, but I'm starting to have my doubts. he is still vomiting at least twice a day and that doesn't count all the spitting that goes on as well. I don't think he has any food intolerances - his acne is completely gone and he has none of the classic symptoms, but I still have that niggling guilt in the back of my mind that I'm being selfish by not going on an elimination diet to find an environmental reason for the reflux. I know I could do it, but it would be awfully damn hard and things are pretty damn hard already so I know maintaining it would really take a toll. It's sort of like the guilt I felt for not pursuing a gluten-free diet for Michael or supplements after we got his autism dx (we did go dairy-free for 6 months with no real change). Definitely have to put this on the back burner for a while - taking care of myself and the two kids is more than enough to be going on. Let it be for now, Jenn.

  • Someone has replaced my lower spine and SI joints with broken glass. The main culprit is the sling - my joints are still recovering from the pregnancy and do not do well with only one shoulder supporting Alex's weight. My chiropractor did a lot of work on me yesterday morning and I'm pretty sure I undid every bit of it when I put Alex in the sling when I got home. He's all cozy in the moby wrap right now and while my back is marginally happier, I'm just resigned to having to wear him for the duration because there is no way I can ease him out once he's deeply asleep like I can with the sling. I'm going to dig out some bone-colored linen I've had forever and try to make myself an onihumbo this weekend so I can get the support and weight distribution I need and still potentially ease him out.

  • Let me say how much I like nursing! There are times where it does suck that I'm the only one who can feed him, but to be able to just leave like I did this afternoon with just my knitting, a receiving blanket and a diaper - it's fantastic. I've nursed him everywhere it seems - at the Please Touch museum, on a hay ride, in the park, at the peds office, and in Borders. I did manage to nurse him using the sling to support him twice now but I definitely have to practice more so I can become more proficient at it and avoid the screaming that accompanies my trying to figure out how to do it on the fly and keep Michael in sight.


Lunch needs making and eating, then dinner, ad infinitum...

TTFN!