BOO!

I had a change of heart. I handed out candy and let me tell you that took MAJOR willpower. I even bought a few kinds that didn't seem tempting like the orange and cream kit-kats (yuck?) and Snickers Crunch which I know I don't like. I'm not sure what possessed me to buy Hershey's with Almonds candy bars though. For those who don't know, nuts in chocolate are my FAVORITE. They were taunting me. And even the yucky candy smelled so good when I opened the bags. It's crazy how many times my hands just instinctively went to reach for a piece. It was totally subconscious, no wonder why people have a hard time losing weight. We're just so accustomed to taking a little here, a little there. We don't even have to think about it.

And we also ended up dressing Julian as a Puppy-who-looks-more-like-a-cow and we sat outside and handed out the candy. It was a hand-me-down from Julian's cousin Johnny. For what we were doing tonight and how long he'd be in it, it served it's purpose. He loves to people watch but man, do people not trick or treat anymore?? There were hardly any kids out. All the crazies keeping the kids indoors I guess. So I was giving out handfuls of candy because I did not want to be left with it.

Overall I think Julian really enjoyed his first Holloween experience, despite his facial expressions in the photos!

Bunches of cuteness

I bought Julian a couple pair of baby legwarmers from Baby Legs. Does it get any cuter?

I was hoping I'd like them as much as I thought I would. They get a whopping 5 out of 5 stars. I'll even go crazy and give them 6 stars. I was concerned about them staying up on legs with chunky monkey thighs and little calves. I was afraid they would constantly slip down or if they didn't slip down, they would be so tight they would cut his circulation off. Neither of these are the case.


They stay up great and seem just as comfortable with plenty of room for growth. Not to mention their convenience for a quick and hassle free diaper change while in the house. It's so much easier to change a diaper without having to take pants on and off but they still keep his legs nice and warm. Not to mention they hold socks on great. They are extremely versatile. You can do so much in them:

You can watch TV...


do some tummy time...


Or even faint in them and they don't budge.


We'll even try Yoga in them this week. What could be better? I'll tell you what...I WON another pair of babylegs last night! Woohoo, they are sending me a free pair, not sure which pair but how cool!

Julian got to spend time with Mom Mom and Pop Pop this weekend. He really enjoyed it as he hasn't seen them in a few weeks.



Isn't that cute, they are both in their Holloween colors. Speaking of which, it doesn't even feel like Holloween today. We didn't end up buying Julian a costume since we would just be staying home. We aren't even handing out candy since it would be too tempting to have it in the house. We'll probaby sit out on our bench and watch the trick-or-treaters, Julian loves to people watch!
Talk about a fluke of a lifetime, Julian slept 5 hours straight last night! 5 HOURS. This may not seem that great for a big and healthy 3 1/2 month old, but let me tell you it's wonderful when we're typically waking up every 2 -3 hours. His sleep has gotten progressively worse. Not that I got anymore sleep since these 5 hours were from 7pm - 12am and I didn't go to bed until 10:30. And then we were right back to normal waking every 2 hours after that. I'm not counting on this becoming a regular habit of his although it would be great if it did.

I can't be upset about it though as I know it's food allergy related. I KNOW in my gut that is the cause for frequent night wakings, it's even a common sign they do have food allergies. (Of course I'll be upset once we get this straightened out and he's still not sleeping through the night! I'll have to come up with another excuse). It also seems as though what very, very little acid reflux he had has increased. I'm not sure why, I'm going to talk to the ped about it next appointment. Depending on how it is by then, I might look into medication. I know that wakes him up because he'll start arching his back. Poor guy. Frequent night wakings is so common with food allergies that on the Parents of Food Allergic Kids (POFAK) forum I belong to they have a thing called "You know you are a POFAK when....and one of them says "You know you are a POFAK when your kid doesn't sleep through the night until he's 10 years old." Hmmm, not what I wanted to hear! Well there is plenty of time for sleeping when he's out of the house living with his own family and Bryan and I are old and retired.

How could I get upset at this face for not sleeping


One last thing...his allergist has still yet to get back to me. If he wasn't on my sh!t list before...he is now!

Happy Holloween!!

Yogi

We had our 4th yoga class today out of 6. I really wanted to skip it because I am soooo tired but I was afraid Julian would be sad and bored bummin' around all day. But he's gotten himself into a little routine so when the clock strikes noon, he turns into a sleepy pumpkin. Since the yoga class is from 11:30 - 12:30, the 2nd half of the class isn't quite as fun. But it sure does make a nice relaxing car ride home while he's conked out in the back. There were only 3 of us there today and at one point all 3 of us were nursing so we just chatted. They all said Julian grew so much since last week’s class.

There was a new girl there today, hair and nails all done (roll eyes). She had her little 5 week old. She was telling us how quick and easy her delivery was (roll eyes). Someone said how alert her baby was and she said "she was this way since the moment she was born (roll eyes). She said how she's been rolling over since she was two weeks old (roll eyes). And "her neck is so strong for her age" (roll eyes). OK, I'm not that mean, it's cute when moms are so proud and her baby was very precious. We all know I'm not one to hold back on the "isn't my boy perfect!" talk. I did however say "well she's just a miracle baby isn't she?" jokingly of course. I bet she sleeps through the night and poops flowers too, right?

Julian's allergist called today making his routine patient checkups. I guess he's heard me cursing his name. I should be happy he called, he doesn't have to do that and most doctors don't. He could just assume I'd call if I had concerns. Unfortunately I missed his call (because he called at the crack of dawn!) So I'm now waiting for him to return my call. I hope this seething anger I have dies down before he calls back. I'd like to have a nice, calm, rational conversation, politely demanding some explanations for the lack of and misleading information provided at our appointment.

And what's up with Julian's hair! I thought we were passed the infant-pattern baldness. His hair is now thinning on the top, just when the back and sides were starting to grow in nicely. And actually it's receding around the sides too again...is this normal? Nobody warned me about this. Maybe because if they tried I wouldn't listen.

On a lighter note

Complete and utter cuteness...


So do you think this means he likes his new car seat?






Julian made a surprise appearance at Grandpa Schrock's office to wish him a happy birthday.




Grandpa's need their tummy time too

GI Update

We had our GI appointment Friday and it went as I expected. I was surprised I liked the doctor so much. From the name I couldn't tell if it was a man or woman. I was relieved it was a young (hot, as Bryan said) woman. I normally prefer male doctors but when breastfeeding is involved I prefer a woman, although there are plenty of women not very pro-breastfeeding.

She took history of my eating habits, how often/long Julian eats, what his elimination is like, his mood, other symptoms etc. She did a physical exam and said he has great skin, repeatedly kept saying how content he was (not relevant but good to hear). She said he is really healthy and growing great. Never had doubts he was growing. And one thing I learned is you never get tired of hearing how healthy and content your baby is!

She tested his stool and said whatever I've been doing is helping because while there was traces of blood (not visible to the eye in this particular diaper), normally it reacts by turning bright blue but his was very minimal, or something like that. Her point was, he isn't that severe. She confirmed there are no bacteria or parasites, and this is allergic colitis. Is it wrong I was praying for bacteria that could easily be taken care of by a magic pill and I could go on my merry eating way? No such luck.

She said she did not feel he needs any kind of medication or evasive testing, formula isn't necessary now since he is thriving so well and its "advantageous to both of us that I keep breastfeeding." Yay, what I wanted to hear.

She instructed me to do diet elimination for 8 weeks before we re-evaluate. She said NOT to worry about blood or mucous during the 8 weeks because it will require at least 8 weeks to heal. And if during the 8 weeks, his stool gets back to the proper seedy consistency and remains consistently good, NOT to introduce any foods until AFTER the 8 weeks. (Patience isn't one of my stronger characteristics!)

The diet she recommended is also what I expected. She gave me a list to exclude (dairy/soy/eggs/corn/wheat/peanuts) She said meats, vegetables, fruits and spices are OK. Also anything rice, encouraged me to drink Rice Milk since it's vital for breastfeeding moms to get our calcium and proper nutrients. She didn't feel I need to be as extreme as I am as I'm not doing beef, pork, chicken or a variety of fruits/veg/spices or worry about all the cross-contamination as in the rice milk.

Regardless of what she said about the diet, I am going to stay more hardcore than what she recommended, just because I don't want to go 8 weeks with no improvement then have to eliminate more and do another 8 weeks. I rather get it all out of the way up front, especially since I've already started. I've been doing diet elimination for sometime but I keep learning I wasn't very good at it (I.e. the probiotics I was using to help heal his gut contained ingredients he shouldn't have, most likely my pre-natals did too, I was consuming corn without knowing, the list goes on..) so my official "start date" of my 8 week diet is 10.22. Hopefully I'll be able to challenge in new foods in 8 weeks. I was eating many more things before anyway as you know and kept seeing reactions which is why I've eliminated everything. The day after I ate oats and barley, he was really bad. Got rid of those. The day after I ate pork and broccoli he was really bad, got rid of those. Now I did add rice back because I learned that Rice Milk is risky, especially since it contains other ingredients and the brands are notorious for cross-contamination. So I'm going to blame Rice Milk for our rice issues and assume pure rice is OK. Having rice opens up many more options. But if there are still issues that is the next thing to go. Surprisingly reactions to rice are pretty common despite many doctors denying rice would cause reactions. Yea, tell that to the mom's on my POFAK forum who only learned their babies had food allergies once they started solids and had to go to the ER within 2 hours of starting their first solid...rice cereal.

Anyway...so, I'm staying on my limited diet of all-natural turkey, sweet and yellow potatoes, yellow and green squash, rice (including rice oil, rice flour, rice syrup, rice pasta, rice cakes but no rice milk yet) sea salt, olive oil and pure cane sugar crystals. Rice milk might be one of my first trials if we ever get Julian baselined again.

Now here is where I get all pessimistic:

I've learned a lot since joining the POFAK group. Maybe too much and it's causing extreme paranoia. Bryan thinks I'm not being optimistic, and maybe it is my natural tendency to look at the worst case scenario, but I like to think I'm just getting informed of other *possible* outcomes. I know doctors are the "medically trained professionals" but I never have much faith in them and these parents have experienced it and are dealing with it first hand. That has more weight in my book than what any doctor may have "read" about something. Another strike against us, I've recently learned there are some peanut/dairy/soy allergies in the family. So guess we have some sensitivities floating around. I didn’t know this when all the doctors asked if we have anything like this in our family, so I said no. Maybe they would have taken more notice if they knew there was a history.

Looking back, I'm unhappy with our visit to the allergist. I've since learned that allergy tests on a 2 month old are never accurate. Usually they will always test negative until they are at least 1 year old. Never was that mentioned to me that could be the case. Why bother testing then, or at least tell me that it may not be accurate. I feel I was led to believe he didn't have food allergies. It was implied this was a very common infant dairy/soy protein intolerance and most likely he'd outgrow it by 6 months, maybe a year. I've learned on the forums, that MOST of these kids on here test negative to food allergies but have severe reactions (even at 5 years old!) I was never explained the difference between non-IgE and IgE reactions and that non-IgE will never show up on a test but it's still a "food allergy." That's what scares me the most is that this can go on for years and get progressively worse. Now I'm hearing a year is being optimistic especially if multiple foods are involved. In the doctor’s defense, I'm sure he sees a million cases a year where it is something minor like that, but I still feel he could have prepared me for the other side of this.

The GI doc said once the 8 weeks are up, if all is well we can introduce solids (rice cereal) to Julian since he'll be 5 months old. I didn't get into it with her yet that I will not introduce solids before 6 months. Never planned to, food allergy or no food allergy as there are many benefits to being exclusively breastfeed for at least 6 months. (It used to be recommended to introduce solids anywhere between 4 – 6 months but it has since been updated although many doctors have yet to get on board. Don’t believe me? Even the American Academy of Pediatrics says so and normally they are the last people to agree with breastfeeding practices.) “Exclusive breastfeeding is ideal nutrition and sufficient to support optimal growth and development for approximately the first 6 months after birth” and “In the first 6 months, water, juice, and other foods are generally unnecessary for breastfed infants” And here is a good rundown on the benefits for delaying solids. Depending on how things are going, I may even hold off longer and follow the AAP 8 month old (sometimes 12 month) recommendation for kid’s with signs of food allergies. (So Mom, don’t even bother trying to sneak him food while I’m not looking!) I will however let him get used to eating from bowls and spoons at 6 months by giving him breast milk or water in bowls, regardless if he's getting solids or not to prevent him from developing a gag reflex. That's the last thing we need!

Long story short, I'm still where we were at before Friday. I did like the fact she kept driving home waiting the 8 weeks because I am way too impatient with all this.

So there you have it. We're still in the same situation. I can't help feeling I got shafted in this breastfeeding thing. I thought getting past the first extremely painful 8 weeks would be our biggest hurdle. Amazing I've still managed to turn into a borderline breast feeding Nazi. I know I should be thankful he is so healthy and if food allergies are our only problem then we are very fortunate.

A few things this diet has taught me...
1. If you are desperate enough for something sweet, 1/2 cup mashed sweet potato mixed with 1/8 cup pure cane sugar spread warm over Lundberg Brown Rice Organic Rice Cakes are quite tasty.
2. 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup pure cane sugar, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp sea salt and 1 to 1.25 cups rice flour does NOT make good sugar cookies no matter how desperate you are
3. Nobody will ever remember you are on such a strict diet
4. People will always try to suggest possible things for you to eat
5. You can get very grumpy and resentful of others being able to eat anything
6. But one look at your baby's face makes it worth it
7. Most Dr's don't have a clue unless they have experienced or had more then one patient with "complicated" problems.
8. That puts a lot of pressure on you to figure all this out.
9. And that is a lot of pressure.
10. Again, one look at your baby makes it all worth it.

Where we're at now

Julian has a GI appointment this Friday although I'm not that hopeful they will tell us anything we don't already know. I will not put him through any kind of evasive testing until we've exhausted all dietary options first. I'm sure they will suggest the same diet changes and mention formula but I know they prefer mom's to keep breastfeeding as long as the babies are thriving. But we really don't have much of a choice at this point since Julian still refuses to take a bottle. We'd have to feed him formula with a dropper, while I pumped to keep up my supply so that itself would be a 24x7 job, one that I just can't take on right now.

The hardcore elimination diet I was on has gotten more hardcore, if that was possible. I have now gone from an Elimination Diet to the Dr. Sears TOTAL Elimination Diet. I thought I discovered that McDonald french fries were safe which would have been my saving grace but Julian had a tough time after I ate them so I'm taking them off the list. Turns out they are not only cooked in soy oil but also contain corn and beef extracts. I am pretty sure dairy/soy/eggs and corn are problems for him, the rest we're still trying to determine! I joined a Parents of Food Allergic Kids online support forum, specifically their breastfeeding group. It's full of information, support and great ideas from parents in the same situation that have experience dealing with this. It was almost more discouraging at first to hear what everyones kids are allergic too, things I never would have dreamed of and the thought that Julian could be the same was pretty upsetting! What's more amazing, they were actually able to diagnose it through months and months of diet elimination.

So on this "TED" I no longer eat chicken, pork...actually it's probably easier to say what I DO eat: all-natural turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yellow and green squash and pears. I use olive oil for cooking, no longer use pepper and found out that most iodized salts are processed with dextrose (corn) so had to switch to Sea Salt. The TED also recommends rice but I suspect it's bad for Julian so not doing that. I might introduce Millet in a couple of weeks. If we're still having problems, pears will be the next thing to go. Yes, I eat turkey and potatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Today I had ground turkey mixed in with hashbrowns for breakfast. Actually very good. We'll see how good it is after the 100th day in a row of it. I just need to get creative with the way I cook this stuff. I guess I can really only change the shape of the foods since I can't add any ingredients!

I already braced Bryan for a very unhappy Thanksgiving on my part where I'll be eating my own meal at home. I did give Bryan the OK to go gorge himself on his favorite meal in the world with the family instead of suffering along with me! I have no desire to be around that food and watch everyone else eat, it'd just be a slap in the face! We still have a month so maybe we'll have some progress by then but the chances of me being able to eat anything else by then are not looking good.

It amazes me with all of this he's still just a happy, pleasant little man. We know he's growing because at 3 months he's just about out of his infant seat. I just ordered our new car seat which was going to be a Christmas gift but we had to put our request into Santa early. We assumed he'd be able to last at least 6 months in his infant seat! We can only pray that for some reason this new car seat will actually keep him content in the car. Unless the rides are during his naps, they are miserable! But, we had another great day at the movies today. He's such a fun baby (you know, except for in the car!)

I think that's all for now, I'll post an update after his appointment Friday or at least sometime over the weekend. Enjoy the pics below!

Simple addition

A very sleepy, hungry Mama + tiny finger nail clippers =



but let's move on shall we?





OK Julian we get it! I hurt you, I know, I said I'm sorry!!



Can we continue?





Fine, I see you are still mad. We'll finish this up some other day.

Not a loser this week

For Julian's 3 month birthday I took him to the movies. Alright that is a lie, I went for myself but he totally wanted to see "In Her Shoes" too. But ah-ha! I had a friend and her baby with me this week. Not the lonely loser this time. It went well, I can't say it was as carefree as our first time but it wasn't bad. He didn't cry but there was a period where he was getting a little fidgety, he needed a nap but wouldn't sleep and had no interest in nursing (gasp!) And then he pooped. This may not be a surprise since he is afterall a baby and this is what babies do but I saw the back of his white onesie slowly turning brown as yet another diaper leaked. He needed to be changed ASAP. I've been getting cocky with all this motherhood experience I have now so I thought I could easily change him right in the seat next to me. Changing tables? Puh-leeze those are for ametuers. (Before you go off on your tangent, I now realize this was the DUMBEST idea in the world). Not only is it pretty unsanitary (I did lay down his mat you know) but it's extremely difficult as well. It was a disaster but once I had started there I had to finish.

I laid him sidways so his head and feet were both by the arm rests. I reach for his wipes and suddenly he's gone! The seat closed up on him! You would think 15+ pounds would be enough to keep it open. I freaked out, pulled him out of the crack and apologized like mad. He, the content babe he is, could care less. I then turn him the other way so his feet are up on the back of the seat but he likes to test out his legs so much these days, he kept practically catapulting himself off of the chair. So with one hand on the wiggle worm at all times, I reach two seats down (why I didn't have all this stuff next to me I don't know) trying to reach his new outfit and I knock my purse onto his head and chest with some contents spilling out. Again, he could care less. It was probably the most stressful diaper change ever but I had to keep a happy face on making him smile because I am in a room full of moms that are probably hawk-eyeing me checking off every little mistake I made. And during that episode there were plenty of mistakes. After the movie I changed him again, this time in their bathroom on the changing table. Surprisingly, things did not go any better. My game was off today let me tell ya. It could be because I have to be the most sleep deprived person in the world. And Julian is not to blame. I canNOT sleep to save my life. I am wide awake until 3 or 4 in the morning. I force myself to stay in bed after Julian's first night feeding but I just toss and turn waking him up I'm sure. It's awful, I don't know what my problem is.

Julian has been a little weird the last couple of days. Not bad, just different. Tugging on his ear again and not nursing well and such a drool factory. We started wondering if he was teething already. I thought he was a bit young but it could happen. I also read that teething can start 2 months before the tooth ever shows so that could be what we're dealing with. Bryan was so funny the other night he was feeling his gums and excitedly yelled from the other room "we got a tooth!" I run into the room as if it would suddenly disappear and feel where this new mouth feature is supposed to be. I don't feel anything AND it was on the side towards the back. I'm sure it's a possibility but I really doubt that Julian's first tooth will be a fang. Sorry hun but good try. Even today at the movies his shirt was soaking wet and since I haven't needed a bib before I forgot to pack one. Fortunately my friend had one to lend me

Yes that is a pink bib on my macho man. I'm not one for "color-coding" kids (as someone once said). I don't think Pink = Girl and Blue = Boy but this particular pink bib says "Daddy's little girl." Now that might be a bit too femme for me. It did, however, get the job done.

Here we are at the movies

Julian Ridley: Month 3 Adendum

How could I forget his comparison pics!



to

Julian Ridley: Month 3

We're on to you kid. We've got you figured out now so don't go changing it up on us. We know that high pitched, whiney cry you do means you are tired. We know that full-blown cry means we waited a milisecond too long to tend to your needs. We know that rocking you won't get you to sleep at night but a nurse-down on our comfy bed knocks you out in 30 seconds. I can now even leave the room after your asleep for some adult time (although adult time usually = uploading your thousands of pictures!). We know you will want a morning nap about 45 minutes after you wake up. I know when you'll be tired enough to make my car trips to avoid a full-fledge scream attack and a mommy-meltdown.

This has also been a big month for your milestones. You rolled over! You have only done it twice since but damn if you didn't do it. You showed us you knew how to do it and now you are done with it. No sense in putting out all that energy to do it again (you are more and more like your father every day.) You hold your head up during Tummy Time like it ain't no thang. You lay there on your belly, head straight up for hours upon hours. Well hours might be a bit of an exaggeration but minutes upon minutes.

We're still battling your belly problems but we'll get you all fixed up. Despite that, you are one content baby now that I've eliminated some (all) foods from my diet. Man are you content, almost too much. This allows your Papa to do all kinds of things to you like stuff you into a cereal box. You could care less if your diaper is dirty but I wouldn't mind the occasional reminder. You experienced your first cold and were all too willing to share it. It was that moment when I realized the major differences between my 9-5 with pay and benefits and my new 24x7 with no pay, better benefits but not one sick day to cash in on.

You no longer drift off into a nice nap when you are tired. Nope, you are now at the stage where you fight it and it takes a circus act to get you to give in for your much needed rest. Speaking of which, gone are the days when we'd sleep in until 10 or even 11. Now the world is much more interesting to you and you need to get your day started ASAP! As in 7:30 am. I try to pull you on to my belly and pat your back, one of the former fool-proof ways to get you to sleep. But now you think it's an invitation for Tummy Time. You just lift up that big nogin, crinkle your forhead and look me right in the face with a big old grin and giggle. When I am dead tired and want nothing more than to go back to sleep, I can't help but giggle back. I'm not sure if this is fair though since we know you'll be getting a nap soon once I'm forced to be up and ready for the day.

You are still very selective with your smiles, you know their value and use them wisely. You don't go wasting them on any old thing, you keep them for the important moments so we can savor them. Your smiles are better than Prozac, there are no blues or bad day your smile can't wipe away and turn into the best day ever.

You are really reaching and grabbing on to things. Now that you can do this you want to shovel everything into your mouth. You love to nibble on Banana Man and chomp on your soft puppy dog. You even like to grab on and try to shove things in your mouth that are way too big like my head or our queen size mattress. While this is quite charming when you are still a blob of babe, I can see this quickly turning into the most hated trate once you become mobile and try to eat every choking hazard our house has to offer.

You still favor your left hand but are becoming increasingly aware there is another one just like it on the other side. It really gets you if it's creating a shadow on the wall; you struggle trying to figure out where the 3rd hand is coming from. You kick your little legs like crazy now. Specifically every 30 seconds throughout the night right into my gut. This just isn't quite the same as when you were kicking there from the inside.

You are pretty darn clever too. You figured out that there is really no need to take a bottle when you always have access to the breast. You were taking it just fine for a while and then let a few days go by without us giving it to you and man, you showed us! No more bottle for you, that's one way to keep me around. Little did you know that you didn't need a reason, if anything you'll be trying to get rid of me someday. We've masterd the laying down nursing which makes nighttime feedings a breeze. No more sitting up and turning on lights. But now that you don't have to move to eat you think a 24 hour diner just opened up right next door and you don't mind helping yourself. And sometimes it really feels like it's for 24 hours. As long as you don't wake me up, I don't mind. For now.

Your little body is growing as fast as your mind. You now wear a lot of 6 - 9 month onesies but your little legs have yet to catch up (or straighten out) as those still fit in 0-3 months. This makes buying a 2 piece outfit very difficult. Some baby clothing manufactures don't take into account the possibility of a big ol' belly like yours which is all to evident when some sleepers barely zipper but are still 10 feet too long.

You are Papa's one and only "Monster" but you are my little "Oompah" since the little Oompah song I made up always seems to put a smile on your face. I must say "Man, you are such a handsome boy" about 500 times a day. You love to tell us stories with such emotion and inflection, where you proudly use your favorite word "Ah-goo". Someday we might be able to follow along in your stories but for now we just lose ourselves in your magnetism. Your Daddy rewrote the ABC song into such a catchy rock tune, the hook stays in my head for weeks. You are mesmerized as he performs it on his guitar for you.

As the months go by I realize I have more and more to write about you and your accomplishments. Everyday we are amazed. Everyday our hearts explode with love and pride. Everyday we wonder how we ever lived without you and are thankful we don't have to anymore.

I've not only lost my husband, but I think I'm losing the boy to it as well. Damn the Sunday Football!

The Itsy Bitsy Baby

Julian and I along with a friend and her baby went to our first baby yoga class today. It was so cute and we have 5 more sessions. This is different than some of the Mommy & Me yoga classes because a lot of them focus on the moms while the baby is off to the side. This was pretty much all about the baby and is called Itsy Bitsy Yoga. Looks like they have them in every state and up to 24 months old.

I love baby specific things because you don't have to worry about freaking out if your baby cries or anything. Although, Julian was a perfect Yogi, so mellow and goin' with the flow until the very end when it started to interfere with his nap time. Nothing a little nursing can't handle. Here is Julian with his Yoga buddy Max (same age)


It looks like Julian worked up a sweat but nah, just a little drool. Max's mom and I were talking about how the boys rolled over (which by the way Julian has only done twice since the big day) and I was about to say how I swear he's about to crawl when the Yoga instructer said "It's funny because mom's always come in with their babies about this age and say 'they are about to crawl' but babies are about to crawl for like 3 months!" Good thing she said that before I said it first and felt totally stupid.

Well his belly doesn't seem to be getting much better. Actually his mood has increased 100% since I've eliminated dairy and soy, he hardly fusses and never seems to be in that pain anymore. Maybe that has to do with his age too though. So now we're on hardcore diet restrictions until we can get him baselined. Our dogs had intestinal problems and the vet had me feeding them boiled chicken and rice until their guts healed. It had to be very bland. After talking with another mom in my situation who has been to a GI specialist (her son is now 15 months old, healthy and still nursing beautifully) and she basically had to apply the same logic. That's where we are at now to see if I can get it controlled before going to a GI. This means we are trying to get him baselined and back to healthy yellow-seedy breastfed stools for 3 weeks before introducing other foods. I figured I might as well try it if they are going to tell me to anyway. So I'm keeping a food diary, a diaper log and eating a very limited and bland diet. This is what I eat (and I'm serious this is ALL I am and will eat right now for the next few weeks, no sense in suggesting anything else).

Dinner:
Free-range, hormone-free, anti-biotic-free, all natural Turkey, chicken or pork
Rice or potatoes (boiled or baked)
Vegetables, mainly squash and zuchinni
Only condiments are S&P and Olive Oil

Breakfast:
Hot creamy rice cereal with pure organic Cane sugar and calcium-fortified Rice Milk
1/2 of an organic fruit, mainly pears

Lunch:
Leftovers from night before dinner and the other 1/2 of my fruit.

Beverage:
Water

Yes that is IT. No variations, that is all. Currently we are dairy/soy/peanut/tree nut/egg/fish/wheat/corn free. Nothing acidic like tomatoes and no citrus. As you know that is very hard because it's not simple like just not eating corn on the cob. Corn free means no corn starch, no corn syrup (which is in a lot more than you'd think) and wheat is everywhere including vitamins. All labels must be examined under a microscope. So my food has to come from a very controlled environment meaning my house, cooked by me. There is too much cross contamination in restaurants plus hidden ingredients. We won't eat dinner at anyone's house because you get the "Well what about this, what about that" and I hate to keep shooting them down (and never know about cross contamination there either) and how can I really ask them to cook the blandest meal in the world from my limited menu. So it saves us money and we've probably never eaten this healthy before! I do take supplements and Bryan endulges in other items but generally, this is it. And this is how it will be until we get him on the straight and narrow.

I'm often asked why do I keep breast feeding since it's so hard on me. And my answer is because it's the best thing for Julian. Breast milk is way more gentle on their digestive systems than formula. I'm not knocking formula but this is what this stuff was designed by nature for as opposed to made in a lab somewhere. There are so many other benefits to him (like reduced risk of ear infections/illness, SIDS, learning and behavioral difficulties, less risk of obestity as an adult, etc.) and to me (reduce risk of breast, cervical, ovarian cancers and osteorporsis, etc.) Not to mention it's free and CONVENIENT. So that's why I keep doing it, as long as he keeps growing and thriving.

Speaking of feeding Julian, his latest development is to refuse the bottle. It's kind of our fault since he was taking one bottle daily but since all this stuff started I've been preoccupied with everything and pumping got put off to the side. And now that we tried to give him a bottle a couple of weeks later, he wanted nothing to do with it. So we're trying to work that back in. I kind of don't care that he won't but then at the same time we could be doing this for another 2 years and someday I may want to be away from him for more than 2 hours. Although I can't imagine that desire now, I'm sure it will happen!

Well that's life In J-land for now!

Pictures are in!

We received his adorable professional photos the other day. We only ordered the one pose which is proudly displayed, along with copywrite infringement, to the right. Some of you already have received your copies and others should get them in the near-ish future once I have the energy to put them in the mail. Unfortunately due to the overpricing of JC Penny, we were only able to get a few for our parents, grandparents, sisters, and wallets for the aunts and uncles.

In the meantime, you can check them out on this link. You will need to enter my (Cara) first and last name.

You can order additional copies and sizes, as well as some of the other poses that we didn't really like. Access to the images will expire on 12/20/2005.

I think it's a safe to say when he starts flicking us off, he's sick of getting his picture taken.