I am getting some sleep! YES!

Finally, we're all getting some sleep around here. Dot is sleeping for at least 5 hours straight every night, and it only took a week! I am truly amazed, but doctors really do know what they're talking about some of the time.

At Dot's 4 month appointment, we talked extensively about her insistence to be up every 2-3 hours during the night. Which, in turn, was waking Googie up at least twice a night. Not a fun deal.

I never had to deal with this sort of thing with Googie. She decided she was ready to sleep for 12-14 hours a night at 3 weeks old. She had no arguments from me. Now with Dot, I was at a loss. I didn't know how to handle it, or how to promote sleep.

My Doctor told me to just try and push back her feedings an hour at a time every couple of nights. Just get her back to sleep however we need to as long as it doesn't involve food.

The first she woke up at 12, I put her back to sleep. Then she woke up at 1, and I fed her. Then she ws up at 3, I put her back to sleep. Up at 4, and I fed her. Up at 6 and I put her back to sleep. So I got up at 12, 1, 3, 4, 6. And when Dot was ready to wake up at 7, I was exhausted. But I figured it was just the first night, the second would be better. It wasn't. I was up 5 times again, and twice Googie woke up and it took me a half an hour to get her back to sleep. I got a total of maybe 4.5 hours of sleep; in 30-60 min intervals. NOT FUN!!!

I was ready to give up, but I thought I'd just give it a third night and if there was no improvement I was done. But that third night she didn't wake up until 3, I put her back to sleep without feeding her and she slept until 5! I couldn't believe it was actually working! Then the fourth night didn't even wake up until 5.

Now a week after we started she is on a fairly steady sleep cycle. She goes to bed around 9, gets up at 11 to eat, then she sleeps until 6. I'm getting 7 hours of straight sleep people! Can I just tell you how Awesome that is??!!!! I didn't really realize how tired I was until I finally got the sleep I needed.

Every day it just gets better and better. I feel more and more alive and in control. I'm not just going through the motions, or just eeking by. I'm actually making it through the day, getting everything done that needs to be, and having leftover time for somethings I want to do.

It's amazing how much sleep affects all aspects of your life. I am more paitient, more creative, more determined, and definetly more ambitious then I have been since before I got pregnant with Dot. Life is wonderful again.

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I'm still here

I just haven't had much time to myself lately. Dot is four months old and still waking up 3 times a night. Googie has finally hit the terrible twos, and that has it's own set of challenges as you all know. I swear I can't turn my back on her for two seconds! We're looking into buying our first house, and figuring that out takes up any spare time I really have.

Just to catch you up on a couple things:

• Dot has acid reflux/heart burn and is on Zantac (this has really helped with the crying)
• Dot has decided not to sleep through the night anymore
• Googie's hair loss was not caused by lymphoma, leukemia, hyper/hypothyroidism, diabetes, celiacs disease, or any other potentially fatal disease. We're waiting on the test results on a possible dietary deficiency. So far that has all been good news. (I don't know that I ever wrote about this . . . anyway she lost most of her hair on the front/top of her head and my previous doctor dismissed it as stress. My new pediatrician was appalled that the previous doctor didn't run the appropriate tests, so Googie had a bunch of blood work done.)
• Googie's constipation may or may not be caused by milk. The new doctor says that since no milk diet is working to keep it up, but he wants an actual diagnosis from an allergist. So were going to see them in the next month or so.

Those were the big discoveries that we made. Everything else has just basically been ho-hum everyday life. Excitement here and there. But too much to write about here.

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There are times that I just send the tantrum throwing Googie to her room, (for her own safety, and my sanity), but then there are times that she just couldn't be any cuter. Like last night . . .

As I was getting ready to make dinner she comes into the kitchen and says "I nee a hel(p) momma." So I got out an empty bowl and spoon for her. She stirred it for about a minute and then, exasperated, she tells me "Momma, I nee a hel(p) momma!" She wanted to do something that would actually help, so I let her stir the sauce I was making, but when that was done, everything else was too hot for her to help with. So I had her set the table. One plate, one fork, one glass at a time. I would say to her "Here, this one's mommy's fork." "Here's Daddy's glass go put it on the table." And she did. Then when dinner was all ready and we all went to sit down at the table apparently we all sat in the wrong spots. She told us "No Dada, tas Momma's" "Momma, sit, sit, ere." Once we were seated properly she went and took her seat like the queen she is. Then, excited to be in charge she told us to be "quie" and that it was time for a "rayer." We said our prayer, and as soon as we were done she said "ea(t) Momma, ea(t) Dada." We both were trying so hard not to laugh.

She ate more for dinner last night then I have ever seen her eat, and I think it was because she was involved in the whole process. This is something that I am definitely going to encourage. If she wants to help around the house who am I to say no?

Dot on the other hand . . . Well she's adorable during the days. But she is killing me, slowly killing me at night. She's up at least three times a night, and since the girls share a room, Googie is getting up once or twice a night now too. Last night I was up 6 times. SIX! I really don't see the point of even going to sleep sometimes. Dot's four months old now and I think I should at least be getting a couple of full nights of sleep a week. She did it for a couple nights there before we moved, but ever since then it's like yeah right mom. Googie was 3 weeks old when she started sleeping through the night. I just don't know what to do.

I would let Dot cry for 20 minutes, or more, when she wakes up at night, if the girls weren't sharing a room. But I can't have them both awake; and as it is, if Googie wakes up she thinks it's time to get up. I just don't know what to do. I can't wait until we can get into a house and they'll have their own rooms. I wish I could change this pattern but I just don't know how to do it. Any suggestions (and I mean any!) would be appreciated. I am truly at a loss.

So that's my life lately. I'm tired all the time, and busy with Googie, or Dot, or both, the rest. They just never leave me alone! Even now, Googie is playing at my feet and giving me bites of whatever she's concocting in her pots. Kids. Yeah. What more can I say? I can't wait until they grow up. (I know, I know "treasure these moments, they grow up too fast" blah blah blah.) I'm just tired of Toddlers and babies. Actually basically I'm just tired. Okay, now I'm just babbling. I'll stop now. Maybe if I turn on a movie, Googie will let me nap. But probably not. It's no fun to watch a movie by yourself.

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Give That Women a Degree!

I'm ready to start my own practice. All I need is common sense, the internet, and I'm ready to diagnose the world’s problems. Heck, I'll be better than most of the pediatricians out there, at least the ones that I've seen.

I've decided that Doctor's are worthless. The only thing they are good for is handing out drugs.

Okay, so this post turned out to be a little gross -- this happens when you’re talking about poop. Consider yourself warned.

Googie never liked nursing. She just didn't like to cuddle, and has always been very independent. Nursing took way too much time, and required her to be too close to mom for longer than she wanted to. She tried to quit nursing at 2 months old. She'd go 4 or 5 hours between feedings and not even complain. If I tried to make her latch on she'd scream, cry, arch her back, and refuse to suck. It was a power struggle for a long time and I hated it.

At 4 months I stopped trying to force her. She still was on an exclusive breast milk diet until 6 months, when I couldn't stand pumping anymore (it gets old really fast when you have to pump from 1-1:30, feed the kid from 2-2:30, take an hour break and pump again from 3-3:30. It makes it really hard to get anything done). Then we started her on formula and rice cereal. That's when her real problems began.

She didn't poop for 12 days. And when she finally did it was so hard we had to pull her diaper off so she could get it out. And it was green (too much information?). I'd called the doctor when it had been a week since she pooped and they said that it was nothing to worry about and sometimes kids do that. She would pass it eventually.

This went on for a month (she pooped three times that month). She screamed and ripped every time she went. These were adult size poops coming out of her little 7 month old body. It was the saddest thing to watch. I took her to the doctor about it and they had me put her on a non-constipating diet. That means lots of pear juice, vegetables, and no rice cereal. When after a month (four more poops) she still wasn't improving I took her back. They didn't really believe me. "You just have to be careful with what she eats. No bananas, no rice cereal, no apple juice."

We stuck strictly to the diet. Nothing helped. At 9 months old she started pooping on the toilet. It took her so long to get them out I had plenty of warning to get her up there. And I figured it's got to be easier to poop sitting up then it is lying on your back.

Finally one day when she was ten months old, after she'd had an unusually big poop, and a large tear, I got fed up with it. I called the doctor and told them I'm bringing her in today, when is your earliest available appointment. When the doctor came in I made her look at the tear in her bum, and they finally started taking me seriously. I was so excited they finally believed me! -- They gave me a prescription laxative and suppositories.

Really I was disappointed. The laxative helped, and the suppositories melted all the hardness away, but there has to be a reason her body does this, some underlying cause. It's not normal. But every time I asked about it they just told me it would go away by the time she was two.

Fast-forward to her two year appointment. She is still just as constipated as ever. When I ask about it the doctor (different one than the first) says just to give it another year. It'll go away.

Now I'm really frustrated and starting to think she will never be regular. It seems like no matter how much laxative I give her I can't get her completely loose. She's always hard, and usually big, the laxative helps her not rip, but it's just not enough. 3 weeks later (last Thursday night) when she rips yet again I get on the internet.

Google search: Chronic constipation in toddlers

I come upon this website that says "if fiber and laxatives haven't worked on your toddler’s chronic constipation they may be lactose intolerant, or allergic to milk."

This finally made sense to me, and I figured it was worth a try. We had nothing to lose, if we took her off of milk and milk products and things didn't improve we really hadn't lost anything, but if they did we had everything to gain.

It worked. Two days after I took her off milk she pooped in her pull-up! She hadn't been able to poop in a diaper for 18 months. I was thrilled. I realized that this meant we would probably have to potty train again, but it is totally worth it. Now three days later she is pooping without screaming, crying, or ripping. Oh happy day.

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The Beetles and Dora

She did it. She Did it. She Did It, YEAH! Lo hicimos, She DID it!

Button is my hero. She's slept through the night for the past 3 days. 10:30 pm to 7:20 am people. Oh yeah, were celebrating today! Mom is getting enough sleep, that means everyone is in a good mood around here. Hurray! Yeah! Wahooo! Hurray! She DID it!

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I love the fall for the pretty spring colors, the crisp air, and the fact that the sun doesn't rise until 7:30 or so (and therefore Googie doesn't realize it's time to wake up until 8:00 or so). I can pull out my sweaters and wear them again, and lets not forget all the delicious foods that gets baked because it's that season, or just because it's cold and you need your comfort food. I love the fall in so many ways.

Then there are all the bugs that seem to find there way into your house. Last year we had ants, spiders, millipedes, I even found a caterpillar under my stove! This year hasn't been so bad, mostly because we now live in a second floor apartment. Until last night . . .

I was sitting at my computer innocently reading blogs, and trying desperately to teach myself and understand css/html. When I hear a creak. Probably just my walls, or a door, things creak when your at home by yourself and the kids are asleep. Then it happened again. And again. Out of the corner of my eye I see this big black spot flying through the air. I turn to look at it and it circles my head. Now I'm thinking we have one huge housefly flying around. It is not a housefly. It stops circling and flies right at my face. I jump up (scream of course), and try to swat it away. Once I finish jumping and flailing my arms about (like 2 minutes later), I look on the ground to see where it landed. It's no where to be found. I turn in circles trying to find it and resisting the urge to jump up on the table and stay there until my husband gets home. Then I see it. It's on the arm my sweater. I knocked that thing off my arm so fast it didn't even see my hand coming. It's only once its on the floor that I actually look at my attacker. It was either a beetle or a cricket, maybe a cross between the two. Black and gross, with legs and antenna, and it flew, so it must have been a beetle. After 2 more minutes of jumping around like a crazed monkey, I manage to calm myself down enough to grab a paper plate and dispose of the thing outside. Usually I kill bugs that dare enter my house and then leave there corpses outside as a message to the other bugs to stay out, but I couldn't do it. Not even to the beetle from hell. It was big enough it would have squirted and been messy, and it looked like it would crack and splinter into a million gross bug-gut pieces.

So I've finished with that bug, sit down at my computer to finish what I was doing. And then I hear the creak again. Oh it freaked me out so bad I have creepy-crawlies running under my skin even as I write about it now. I couldn't sit at my computer for the rest of the night.

We never did find the second beetle, but my husband thinks I was just so freaked out that I heard the sound even when it wasn't there. It took me forever to fall asleep last night, my skin just kept crawling every time anything would brush my skin -- like a stray hair. **Shudder**

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So now, if your like me, you not only have the Dora song stuck in your head, you skin is crawling and you have the desperate urge to swat at any place that so much as tingles.

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Cleaning Up

About two months ago Googie decided she likes to color. Since that time I've learned two very important things.

1. To get crayon off the wall use WD-40.
2. To get permanent maker off of little hands, feet, legs, faces, toys, and walls, use rubbing alcohol (or purell works too).

From now on the rule is if you want to color you have to sit at the table. Sheesh.

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SHE DID IT!!!!!

It's done. Officially done. She's Potty Trained!!!!

And its all thanks to this potty:
She doesn't really have the vocabulary to tell me when she needs to go potty. So she has a seat that she can do it herself on. It works great! Not only that but it cut out the need for M&Ms completely. It's reward enough for her to stand up and look inside to see what she did.

Now when we go out I just make sure that she sits on the potty every hour or so and she'll hold it the rest of the time. She even held it for more than 3 hours yesterday at daddy's work softball game (cause there was no way in he** that I was going to take her potty at some nasty outdoor play field hasn't-been-cleaned-in-a-month bathroom).

Can I just take a minute and brag about how smart my little googie is. She is only 19 months old and she completely understands. From start to finish it took us 2 weeks. But if you really look at it I wasn't consistent and there were too many interruptions to count those first days as actual training (I just count the last three). So yeah. Be jealous. Our two kids are going to be 23 months apart, and we get to take a break from diapers for the next 4 months (well except at night and except when we go on long car trips). YEAH!!!

**okay so I feel like that came off a little cocky. Let me just put a little disclaimer on here. Her being potty trained has very little if anything to do with me. All I did was put her in panties, change them when they got wet, buy her a little seat, and remind her to go. The rest was all her. She was ready. And I am so proud of her!

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Potty Trained!

Googie is potty training. YEAH! A month or two ago I wasn't sure it was going to stick before the baby was born. But we've started. A whole three days in a row wearing panties.

We have 6 pairs of panties. They live in the laundry room. Everytime one gets "icky" it gets hand washed and thrown in the dryer. After 3 or 4 are in the dryer, the dryer gets started. And we start the process all over again. It's been a long three days.

But we're getting there! Let me prove it.

Day One.
Wake up and try to change a diaper.
Get the diaper off no problem.
Googie throws the BIGGEST tantrum ever.
She wants to wear her panties.
Fine.
The next 12 hours we go to the potty every 20 minutes.
(Minus time to take a nap)
10 accidents.

Day Two.
Wake up, put on panties.
Go to areobics.
Don't really get to work out.
Go potty every 30 minutes.
At home, next 8 hours go potty every hour.
6 accidents. Total.

Day three.
Wake up, put on panties.
Googie yells "MOM" and runs to the bathroom.
First time she's told me when she has to go! YEAH!
2 accidents.
Nap time.

So that's where we are. A definet improvement in my book. I realize that we have a long way to go and this will probably be a month long process with it's good days and bad days. But hey if she's staying dry all day by the time she is 21 months old I'll be a happy, very very tired of the potty, camper. (That gives me two months. That's long enough . . . right?)

Oh and just a side note. If your trying to potty train and are just sick of dirty clothes, BUY CLOTH DIAPER PLASTIC COVERS! They make sure it's just the panties that get wet, not the whole outfit.

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