Day 122: Mar 27 - Long time, no see, Old Man!

Since Daddy was going to be flying home today, I figured I'd give him some distractions from all of the travel headaches he was probably going to encounter. That darn cell phone flash struck again though. The last picture did made Daddy's desktop picture though.

Nothing exciting happened at daycare, at least not according to her form. The highlight really was getting to see Daddy again. Katie really struggled with her sleep patterns this week and woke up multiple times throughout the night. I think she'll be relieved that Daddy's finally home and she can fall back into her routine of being lulled to sleep by him.

Day 121: Mar 26 - When's Daddy coming home?

Daddy was *supposed* to fly home tonight, but things came up at the client this week and he's going to have to stay another day. Boo!

I got a call from Grammy late in the morning that she and Katie decided to play hookey from school and spend the day snuggling.

When I got home and climbed into bed to do my nightly ritual [posting on a Boston message board and IMing with my BFF, Packer decided she was tired of being neglected. Without Daddy to flop on, she turned to me for some attention.

Day 120: Mar 25 - What else can go wrong, Mom?

Today was just one calamity after another! I made sure to leave my signature lip mark on Katie before dashing out the door, but things really went downhill after that.

I got to work and realized I forgot my breast pump flanges. Then Grammy was bringing Katie in and we were going to go out to eat with my coworkers before Katie's pediatrician appointment, but I was told the wrong time. She did bring me some flanges, but one of them was broken. Grammy took Katie shopping to pass the time, but there was only so much to look at, so they ended up stopping by my work to pass the remaining time. Katie got to see Mommy's pumping supply closet, and when she got fussy, Grammy closed the door to calm her down.

That was only the beginning of the fun for the day though. I think the picture of Katie's face below sums it up. "Come on, Mom, I know the shots are coming. Let's just get them over with!"

The first vaccine was an oral dosage, and she smacked her lips after that, thinking maybe this whole vaccinated thing wouldn't be so bad. Then WHAM! It's always interesting to watch for the moment of realization that she just had a needle jabbed in her. She took this round of shots MUCH better than her 2 month shots though. It probably helped that I dosed her up with some Tylenol before taking her in. That all resulted in a big long nap all afternoon.

I spoke to the pediatrican about the fact that Katie's still eating every 2-3 hours and still getting up multiple times at night to feed. He said there is no physical reason for this and that it's probably more out of habit than anything. OK, how exactly do you help a 4 month old break an eating habit??? One suggestion was to start feeding her cereal, so I made sure to stop by Walmart on the way home and pick some up. First attempt at cereal? FAIL! She cried every time I put some in her mouth. As soon as I popped a bottle in her mouth, she was happy, so perhaps the cereal wasn't being shoveled in fast enough?!

[Sorry, but you're going to have to flex those left neck muscles again]

Day 119: Mar 24 - Mmmmm cake!

I am sooooooooo tired today, and I apparently fell asleep while pumping during my afternoon break. I woke up with flanges suckling my teet and I have no clue how long I napped for. Got a couple of ounces of milk out though!

Since Daddy's out of town, I've tried to assume the duty of taking a daily cell phone picture and sending it off to him. The only problem is that I leave the house wicked early and we haven't quite turned all of the lights on. That means the flash from my cell phone likes to blind Baby Girl and she squints her eyes.

I took in a crib mobile to daycare that I bought for Katie just like the one she has at home. On today's school sheet, it said Katie spent a lot of time on her tummy today and she loved watching her mobile with her friends. ;-)

I was going to head home from work and sneak in a nap before bedtime, following my sleep incident at work, but we got invited to a party at the neighbor's house. It was a 40th birthday bash, and Katie and I are not ones to turn down offers for cake. The party was close to bedtime though, so she wore her party tutu over her pink gumby jammies so she could immediately go to sleep when we got home.

She also got her bath in before heading to the party and while she was waiting for her bath to be drawn, I spied her coming thisclose to rolling over on video.

MommyCam:

VIDEOS:

Day 118: Mar 23 - I'm STARVING, Grammy!

It appears GrammyCam has better focus issues than DaddyCam!

I called Grammy around 9 to see how daycare drop off went, and all I heard was massive crying in the background. I immediately asked, "What are you doing to my baby??" She replied that she didn't know why Katie was crying.
Me: Umm, well, did you feed her?
Grammy: But she just ate two hours ago
Me: Yeah, that doesn't matter. Girl likes to eat
Grammy: OK, I'm off to warm up a bottle

Next time we spoke, she said milk did the trick. She started telling the story to Katie's teachers once they got to school and even they knew where it was headed. You do not deprive that girl of her nummy nummy milk!

GRAMMYCAM:

Day 117: Mar 22 - Spring is in the air

Daddy had to fly out of town for the week, so Grammy is stepping in to pinch hit in his absence.

We took Grammy up to Duke Gardens and eat at our favorite Mellow Mushroom. It's amazing how many more flowers and trees are blooming since we were there a few weeks ago. Katie slept through most of Mellow Mushroom, but when she woke up at the end, she just seemed so content staring off into space. Well, I thought it was space until I followed the path of her line of sight. Yup, what was mesmerizing her was the television. Even being held by Grammy was no match for a good game on the boob tube.

The gardens were gorgeous and Katie allowed us an opportunity to add another entertaining entry to her baby book. "Where are some of the embarrassing places you've had your diaper changed?" She can now add on a bench at Duke Gardens.

[I don't know why sometimes pictures go sideways, but I guess just take this as an opportunity to stretch the muscles in your neck]

Day 116: Mar 21 - For BabyA

I'm going to AWWW myself and my productive tittahs today! I saw a plea on a message board that a 4 mo old baby's mom died suddenly. He had been exclusively breastfed, so they were looking for donations to help sustain him. The mother was a 34yo single mother, who luckily was living with her parents when she passed away in her sleep. Lucky because now BabyA doesn't have to be uprooted during this time and go to different surroundings. The grandmother had tried to switch him right over to formula, but he did NOT take to it well. His crying just broke his grandmother's heart, and with all that's going on right now, that was just too much for them. With all of the breastmilk they've been given, they'll be able to slowly transition him over.

I was able to give him 180 ounces from my freezer stash. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into pumping all of that, but I'm so glad it's going to a great cause. I received this email from the contact person last Friday: "The family is so grateful for any milk given to sustain BabyA, there is a donor who has given milk that he will be starting on today, yours would be his 2nd donor milk. The Lord has provided 3 or 4 other Moms to donate Breast milk, one of whom lost her baby this week to a heart condition. The family is so overwhelmed with the generosity of people like yourself."

What an amazing feeling!