June 28, 2008
Perfect timing!
We have been intending to repaint Truett's room for months now (we liked the color we painted before he was born, but I unfortunately got flat paint that marks when you look at it too hard, not a good choice for a child's room!), and even bought special non toxic paint a couple of months ago but just hadn't gotten around to actually painting. Since we knew we were going to end up painting we haven't hung the pictures, border, or letters spelling his name that we have had just sitting around. With his 6 month birthday coming up on Monday we decided that we should probably try to actually finish his room. So we decided this weekend was going to be painting weekend, the plan was to get as much done while he was taking his morning nap. So as soon as he fell asleep we sprang into action and moved all the furniture into the middle of the room and Chris taped while I started cutting around the top of the room. Our goal was to only need one coat, so we were trying to work quickly while still covering thoroughly and get as much done as possible before the baby woke up. The timing couldn't have been better, Truett took a 2 hour nap and I had finished and already put away my roller, and Chris was rolling the very last spot on his wall when we heard the first peep from the monitor! Now we just have to hang the border and pictures tomorrow and we might get his room finished before he turns 6 months old. . .
| By jlg | 11:08 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
June 24, 2008
Lately
Lately I have felt like my life has been consumed with nursing related issues, so here is a little of what has been going on in my life and in my head in the last couple of weeks. We started giving Truett rice cereal when we were at my parents (he was about 5 months old) and in all the stuff I was reading about food allergies it kept saying to watch for congestion as a sign of a food allergy, my first thought was "how would we know if he is reacting to food since he is so congested all the time" followed shortly by the thought "wait a minute, why is he so congested all the time?" Now, Truett has been congested for a while (enough that people are constantly commenting on it) but I was just blaming it on day care germs. When I really stopped to think about it though, I realized that he has been chronically congested for a solid 2, maybe 3 months. He isn't sick at all, just a constant rattle or wheeze in his chest. I hadn't really noticed it much, and when I did notice it I just reminded myself that we have been in for a couple of well visits and the doctor hadn't seemed concerned about it, but I really started to realize that his congestion probably isn't normal. Anyway, to make a long story short (too late!), I started doing some research on my own and talking to the lactation consultant at my doctor and the nurse at his pediatrician and ultimately decided to go on an elimination diet, I basically cut all the common allergens out of my diet (plus anything that Chris has reactions to). The idea is to see if his congestion clears up and then slowly add things back in one at a time to see if it comes back with any particular food. I had already eliminated dairy from my diet since I am pretty sure he has a dairy allergy, and the fact that he might have a dairy allergy means it is more likely that he might have another food allergy.
In all of this, I keep reminding myself to keep a level head and that allergies are pretty rare, and even if he has a food allergy he will most likely outgrow it. Plus he is obviously thriving, so I don't have to worry about that! I am just really hoping that the results of this elimination diet are conclusive and we feel like we get a good "yes, he has allergies" or "no, he doesn't have food allergies." Believe me, I will have a bunch of questions for his 6 month appointment!!
It is a little high maintenance to think about everything I put in my mouth, and I certainly miss bread (wheat is out for now!), but really this diet is healthy if a little limited. I mean, anything that has me snacking on salads and sweet potatoes instead of chocolate can't be bad for me! I have had to cut out all processed foods, another healthy step. My guess is that if he has another allergy besides dairy it will be soy since I increased my soy intake when I cut out dairy and I think that might be when his congestion started.
In the middle of all this, Truett got a cold!!! So now I am just sticking to the diet and waiting out his cold so we can tell if his "regular" congestion is better. I felt like his breathing was better right before he got the cold so I am cautiously optimistic. Monday was 2 weeks for me on the diet, and tomorrow will be two weeks for him (I had to send milk with him to school for the first couple of days that I pumped before I started the diet), so hopefully he will get over his cold soon and we can get some answers! We stopped rice cereal while we are figuring all this out, but we might start cereal again soon, and then maybe some other low allergen foods like sweet potatoes, or millet, or squash.
The other major nursing concern was that right after I started the diet my supply dropped suddenly, and I got to the point one night where I did not have enough milk to send with him the next day, even though I had pumped two extra times that day. I didn't know what to do, I have a bunch of frozen milk but with being on the diet I didn't know whether to send milk containing a possible allergen and set us back on figuring out about all of that, or get a hypoallergenic formula. We decided to get the formula, since I was planning to use formula to thin his food anyway, so we will use it one way or the other, but I got really sad and was worried that this was the beginning of the end for nursing. I had been wondering if I would get to a point where I decided that the hassle of pumping was not worth the health benefits and enjoyment we both get from nursing, and this "scare" showed me that I am not emotionally ready to be done with nursing. I ended up being able to pump enough the next morning to send to school and we haven't used the formula yet, and after drinking tons of water, fenugreek tea, and nursing as much as I can get him to nurse, my supply is almost back to normal. Besides all of those things, I am also trying to remind myself that God is in control, not me, and that he will take care of me and my baby and that I should give thanks every day for nursing going well that day. (I would like to put in a little disclaimer here, I do not think formula is a bad choice, lots of things can make it the right choice, I think think you have to make the decision that is the best one for your family at the time. For us right now, that is still nursing but we might move to formula at some point if nursing is no longer working for our family before his 1st birthday).
I also keep trying to remind myself that these nursing issues that seem so huge right now, will probably seem like distant memories this time next year.
I know I have written a long, long post and my 2 readers have probably already quit by this point, but here is one (sorta) funny story: We have communion every Sunday at our church, and we walk up front where we tear off a piece of bread from a loaf and dip it into either the grape juice or wine. Anyway, I went through the whole process this past Sunday, and I was back in my seat in the act of raising the piece of bread to my mouth when it hit me that I can't eat bread right now! So then I was faced with the dilemma of what to do with the communion bread, I mean, can you throw away communion bread?!?! I ended up slipping it to Chris and asking him to eat it, but that seemed weird too. I am not sure what else I could have done though.
| By jlg | 8:07 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
June 7, 2008
Vacation...and recovering from vacation!
We spent the week of Memorial Day in Illinois with my family, and it was sooooooo nice to have a week off work, a week of being a full time mom, a week with my family, and even a little time for just Chris and me. We did lots of fun things, we took a day trip to Chicago, we took the whole family golfing (including my grandma and Truett), we finally found a Wii for sale (those things are scarce!) and got the whole family to have a wii bowling tournament (including my grandma, but excluding T). We also got to spend a couple of nights with Dave and Philana on the way home. Despite my fears, T did AWESOME on the trip up and the trip down. On the way up we left after work Friday and stopped in Nashville for the night at a dog friendly hotel, did I mention that we had both dogs with us and that we drove my FIT?, and finished the drive on Saturday. Boy was that hotel nasty! It was a Comfort Inn, so I thought it would be okay, but it was the kind of place where I kept my shoes on the whole time and tracked black stuff onto the bathroom floor from the carpet.
As awesome as the trip was though, after almost a full week back at home I still don't feel like we have totally recovered. There is still a suitcase waiting to be unpacked (it is full of all the projects I brought with me, foolishly thinking I would have time to work on them) and we still have laundry to do from our vacation. Truett is down to wearing the Christmas bibs, always a sign that we are behind on laundry! Traveling with a baby is certainly different than traveling with just the 2 of us, but it was a fun trip and definately worth it.
I still have flickr pictures to upload from the trip, I am slowly working through them.
| By jlg | 7:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
May 15, 2008
Air Guitar
Flickr's new video upload is pretty cool! It was easy to use and uploaded pretty fast. This is something we would never have been able to do with our old computer. So, for your viewing pleasure, here is Truett in his first air guitar performance!
| By jlg | 9:13 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
May 11, 2008
Happy Mother's Day
Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!! I hope everyone is having a fun and special day doing whatever you want to do. I am so thankful to be a mom, and I am having fun on my first mother's day with a baby on the outside! I was only a few weeks pregnant last mother's day and had no idea what it would be like.
We had fun at Brian's graduation yesterday, and there are new pictures on flickr. We ended the day with a picnic by a lake, chilly but fun. This a big step in Brian's life and I am really proud of him. His girlfriend is graduation today with her master's in speach pathology, so congrats to Allison too!
| By jlg | 9:04 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
May 9, 2008
Yay for Friday!
We are off in a bit for a fun weekend in North Carolina. We are going to the Goseys tonight and then tomorrow we are going to Boone for Brian's graduation. Sunday my father-in-law is making a yummy lunch for Mother's day.
Have a great weekend!
| By jlg | 6:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)