Operation Soy: Day 3

Sorry, I missed the first 2 days!

Day 1: Only 1oz of Soy. She did great. Nana & Papa report a playful mood all day

Day 2: Given 2oz of Soy. So far so good. Notice slightly more spit up with the soy bottles but she doesn't seem to show any discomfort.

Day 3: Today is only going to be 2oz again. Hopefully today will go good too.

Tomorrow I am increasing it to 3oz which is basically 3 bottles with 1 ounce of soy replacing 1 ounce of Nutramigen.

Wish Hailey luck she continues to do well with soy!

Bath Time with Hippo!

Hailey's bath time friend is a blue hippo. We have always put it in there with her and now that she is interested in toys she's been grabbing Hippo and attempting to put him in her mouth. I am impressed how well she can grasp the hippo considering he is pretty slippery!!

Here are some pictures! She's too cute!

My hippo sure is nummy!
Are you taking pictures of me again?

If only I can get all of you in my mouth..

Bathing Beauty

It's a Bib-tastic World Part 2

I think this picture says it all! And on a side note, this is one week worth of laundry!...yup.....

GREAT GI Appointment!!

The GI doc seemed very pleased with Hailey's progress today. She had a great weight gain since her last appointment (she's still 13lb 7oz but last time he saw her she was 11lb 13oz).

He says we can try to see if we can wean her off of the Nutramigen formula by slowly adding Soy formula and decreasing the Nutramigen. Also he wants us to start solids. Rice cereal and yellow veggies. We will try to wean with the soy first rather than try everything all at once so if she's having a reaction to something we will know what it is.

He upped her Raglen but said we don't have to if we feel she doesn't need it. If she's having random reflux flair ups we can use Mylanta and if that helps there may be no need to increase the Raglen.

A great thing he also mentioned is that he doesn't see this as being a big problem in the future and she should grow out of normally (usually by 1 year definitely by 18 months).

So hooray for a great appointment!

Bring on the Crockpot

I love my crock pot. I hardly ever use it. I always tell myself I am going to use it more. I never do.

I came across this crock pot blog where a girl made a resolution to use her crock pot everyday is 2008. She has TONS of recipes listed on this thing. When you go the site look on the left hand side and scroll down. She has a links for different meals out of different ingredients and a link to see all the recipes in alphabetical order.

Hopefully this will motivate me to use the crock pot more often. Here's the blog link

Crazy Crock Pot Lady's Recipe Blog

And Here Come The Squeals!

In Hailey's 5 month old blog post I mentioned that I wished she would be more vocal with cooing and squeals. Well I guess Hailey decided to wake up this morning and grant mommy's wish. She was squealing like crazy today. At first in the morning I thought it was a fluke. She did all day long and most of the time when she was on her changing table. She really seemed impressed with her ability to shout and squeal. It was hilarious and so adorable.

I guess anytime I want her to begin to do something I should just blog about it and then she will do it! So if that's the case, it would be wonderful if she would roll over soon! =) She seems very close but not quite!

We put together her high chair (Or I should say Randy did while I supervised!). She seems to really like being in there. I put her toys on the tray so she can practice grabbing them (and putting them instantly in her mouth of course). At her pedi appointment yesterday, she said that she doesn't think Hailey will be ready for solids until 6 months old. I am okay with that. I am not in any hurry at this point.

Here are some pictures of Hailey in her high chair!

My Morning Girl!

To prove to you that Hailey is totally a morning person, here are some pictures I took of her when she woke up one morning!! Too cute!

Oscar, the Curious Cat

We get home from the pedi appointment. I hear Diane (Nana) laughing hysterically. Apparently she saw Oscar sitting in the middle of the room with a gift bag handle around his neck (not tightly, actually quite loosely) but with half of the gift bag still attached! It was hilarious!

Apparently he got into the bag, put his head through the handle loop, tried to get out, ripped the bag in half, and then was stuck with it around his neck until we got home! He really got himself in a doozie!!

Why are you people laughing at me?
Really, it's not that funny.

Can you just stop laughing and get this thing off of me?

Bathing Beauty

Mmmm my finger tastes like soap!

I'm clean, happy and ready for bed!

Reason #567,837 why I HATE Reflux...and some good news!

EVERYTHING is always chalked up to reflux. She sounds congested, her nose is stuffy, she's extra fussy, she spits up, she vomits. You name it!

It's hard to tell if she's getting a cold or if it's just reflux.

She begins to scream bloody murder while eating out of no where after MONTHS of not doing this, maybe an ear infection, oh no..it's reflux!!

I hesitate to call the pedi because is it just reflux or is she sick? Do I want to waste a trip to the pedi, a co-payment only to be told her reflux is acting up? What if it isn't reflux this time and she is sick and we are doing nothing when we could do something?

IT.IS.FRUSTRATING.

I suspected an ear infection last week. She was screaming through feeds, not wanting to eat. While this can be normal behavior for a reflux baby, it isn't for her! It's sudden and out of the blue. I call the pedi after hesitating for 2 days because what if I am missing something? I don't want to lag if it is an ear infection. So I call and NOPE it just sounds like reflux. oookkkkay.

Fast forward to today. My dad calls and says she only took 1oz (she NEVER only takes 1oz). Screamed. Her ear has a weird smell. The next feeding she ate 7oz but it was a struggle and she screamed bloody murder.

I call the pedi. Come in ASAP. possibly an ear infection. I suspected this a week ago! I am cursing under my breath the whole way there.

And what is discovered? NO ear infection. In fact, once again, pedi says she's doing perfect (yay!). Today must have been, surprise-surprise, REFLUX. While I am glad she didn't have an ear infection, its just annoying. The ear smell was gone by the time we got there (of course! Doesn't it always work out that way?). Ears, lungs, all clear.

But on a good note, she's 13lb 7oz. Pedi says she's developing like a 4 month old. This great news because she is actually 3 months old adjusted! So at least I got that out of it!!

Her next feeding she did fine and seems back to normal now. I guess it was just reflux!

Hailey is 5 months old!!

I cannot believe that Hailey is already 5 months old! Just 4 months ago, we brought her home from the hospital. Time has flown.

Hailey's personality is really starting to develop. She loves to chomp and suck on her hands. She will put anything in her mouth! She is holding toys a lot better now and waves her rattle around so it will make noise (after putting them in her mouth of course!). It seems like she could roll over any day now! She still hates tummy time but I can get a few minutes out of her now. She still loves lights and TV (uh oh!).

She is such a smiley baby. She smiles at everyone and just recently she will dig her face in my shoulder as if she is blushing. It's too cute. I can see her little dimples.


She recently discovered her feet. Not entirely, but if I play with her feet she will stare at them in the same way I catch her staring at her hands. She loves being sang to and if you dance in front of her, she will giggle. The other night Randy and I got some good belly laughs out of her! Her head control has really improved. Now if only she would exercise those lungs a bit more...in the form of coos & squeals, not crying. She has crying down to an art! She definitely sits back and takes everything in. She is very much an observer.

Hailey still sleeps through the night. She usually goes down between 7-8 and will sleep a good 12 hours. Sometimes she will still randomly wake in the middle of the night but its not very often and usually goes right back to sleep. One funny thing is that when she wakes up she is in such a happy, giggly mood. She is the happiest right when she wakes up. That is so the opposite of Randy and I. We are not morning people!

Hailey has big blue eyes. It's one of the first things people will notice when they see her. She definitely has her Mommy's eyes!

Her next GI doctor is Friday. We will see how much she has grown since her last pedi appointment.

And of course, some pictures with Hailey commentary!

I came to visit Mommy at work, I was happy to see her


I like to make silly faces.

You can't tell but I am staring at my feet...and drooling

Mommy says I look like a perfect porcelain doll in this picture

I don't know about you but I could really use a bottle

Discovering my feet has pooped me out

Mommy, why do you always put that flashing thing in my face?

Hailey's First Official Playdate

Hailey had a play date with Aidan this week. It went great. We went to the park for a short while, they stared at each other, Jenn and I got to have some adult conversation (Aidan joined in a few times! haha). When we sat them next to each other on the couch, Hailey started to cry and immediately Aidan cried too. After this they just kept feeding off of each other. Hailey would cry, Aidan would, Aidan would cry, Hailey would. Jenn and I were literally laughing out loud! It was too funny!

I guess the boys/girls have cooties stage starts earlier than I thought! ;)

Blogging Disclaimer..

As most of you have probably noticed, I am the queen of typos. I proof read, I promise but I always miss some. I will find them later and correct them but it's not until after I post and several people have read them. A majority of these are posted on the go so I read them over really quick and click post. So I promise my college degree isn't going to waste, I am just a sometimes lazy, fast proof reader!

And just for fun...







Okay, disclaimer is over.... =)

Mini Photo Shoot #4

Here's mini photo shoot #5. I try so hard to get a good picture of her big smile but she's such a wiggler those photos end up looking like this....blurry...but still adorable...

In these mini photo shoots, I actually take well over 40 pictures and out of those pictures I get about 5 good ones. She really just stares at the camera when I pull it out! But here are some cutes ones!! Maybe when she gets up from her nap I will catch some smiles!! Unlike her mommy, she's always happy right when she wakes up!!

Adorable Photo

I just had to share how unbelievably darling my little munchkin is!!

EARTHQUAKE!!!!

We just had a very small earthquake! It was barely a jolt and jiggle. Apparently centered in San Bernadino. I was rocking Hailey to sleep and she was out cold and never even budged! She slept through her first earthquake!

In other news, I got Hailey's blood work results...drum roll....no more anemia! Everything came back normal and she is no longer anemic! Yay! I guess all those Epogen shots did the trick.

Tales of an Unhappy Baby: Part 2

Bye-Bye Pretty Bumper!

Last night we took out the pretty plush bumper and put in the breathable bumper in her crib! She is starting to scoot out of her sleep positioner and snuggle with the pretty bumper. Even though she has great head control and is still on the apnea monitor, it doesn't make me feel comfortable. I would still like to prevent the monitor from going off!

Randy commented how it didn't look very good on the crib (compared to the pretty bumper) but unfortunately safety comes before fashion!!

Hailey seems to be feeling better though! She has been napping the past few hours so hopefully when she wakes up the flu bug will be more on it's way out!

Poor Hailey has the Flu!

Hailey woke up last night throwing up (out her nose and everything!). And some more this morning. I had the flu Sunday and now Hailey has it. Crap. She is still smiling away though! You can tell she is sick because she doesn't want to play just lay on Mommy or Daddy. Hopefully it will only be the 24 hour bug I had. When I called her pedi she said it has been going around. Poor baby! =(

It's a Bib-tastic World!!

If you have ever been to my house and caught us off guard, you will see that we have a ton of bibs! And they are every where! I think Diane (Hailey's Nana) counted our bibs one day (she is nice enough to do Hailey's laundry sometimes if we bring it over. Thanks Nana!) and was laughing at how many we had. And that wasn't all of them!

I received tons of bibs at the baby showers for Hailey and continued to buy more afterwards. I bought a few packs at work and even bought more from Santa. Hailey almost always has a bib on. When I pack her diaper bag, I always include several bibs, even if it's just for a day or a single outing.

The joys of having a baby with reflux! And the funny part is that she doesn't spit up nearly as much as a typical reflux baby (cue in silent reflux).

Just to prove this, I'd thought I would dig up some pics I took of her where she is wearing a bib. Usually when I get the candid, spur of the moment shots she has her bib on. If I am purposely posing her I make a point to take it off.

Cute in the bumbo (Bib)
Playing with mommy (bib)

Oooo pretty camera phone (bib)

I am almost naked!! (except for the bib)

Santa Froggie is my new friend (think he likes the bib?)

Interesting part is that whenever I would see a baby with a bib on when they were not eating I would think to myself why they still had the bib. It's covering their cute outfit after all! Gee, how naive you can be before you have kids!

So we are a proud bib wearing, spit up toting family! Bring on the bibs! (Don't forget a few burp rags too!)

Introducing the bumbo & jumperoo!!

Hailey likes her new toys. Although she will need to grow into the jumperoo!!

I'm sitting
and I like it....

I like this too, its fun

ooooo That lights up and makes noise...

I don't know about you but all this excitement pooped me out!

I was the featured birth story

I frequent a website called TheBump. I recently submitted my birth story and I am the featured birth story! (Not sure for how long). I thought I would share it with you while it's still up!

Here it is:

http://community.thenestbaby.com/cs/ks/blogs/birth_stories/archive/2008/12/18/mrs-mclstar48-hailey-s-early-delivery.aspx