Elliot is sick. He threw up several times late Sunday night and again on Monday. He's been living off of chicken noodle soup and "orange milk," a concoction of Gary's made with orange sherbet and 7-Up. He resisted the orange milk at first, requesting regular milk instead (which we knew would make him sick. Ask me how we know.) So Gary just made the drink in one of Elliot's sippy cups and handed it to him. Elliot eventually forgot what was in it, took a sip, and decided he liked it after all. So far he's been fine today, and we plan to try some solid food for dinner.
Meanwhile, I've been doing laundry almost non-stop since Sunday night. I learned that there are numerous ways of getting vomit out of clothing, but washing an item multiple times is not one of them. I wound up adding vinegar in with the detergent, which seems to have removed the smell. Other suggestions have been borax, baking soda, drying the item in the sun (I did this with some of Elliot's stuff), color-safe bleach, Oxyclean, and some magic spray you can get at pet stores. Who knew? (Well, apparently a lot of people did, just not me.)
Luckily no one else has gotten sick, but Gary and I have gotten a lot less sleep. I didn't know it was even possible to get less sleep than what we were getting.
It's been a rough week for Elliot. Mostly he has been pretty well behaved, but he's had his low points. He now has a difficult time getting to sleep at night. This is partly because he's teething, but I think he has some fear of abandonment, too. It took him 2 hours to get to sleep a couple of nights ago; Gary had to lie on the floor next to the crib until Elliot fell asleep, something we've rarely had to do. He's had a few tantrums this week also, but again it's hard to say if he's upset because of the new baby, teething, or both. (My money's on both.)
The good news, at least on the teething front, is that he is able to tell us that he hurts, and point to which tooth is bothering him. This makes it a lot easier to decide to give him Tylenol or put Orajel on his gums.
Gary has added links to the Elliot videos on the photo website.
Lexi is now a week old. When we took her to the ped on Monday (standard checkup) she weighed 5lbs 15oz, but she's back to her birth weight now. Nursing is going really well, and I suspect she will be a slightly heavier baby than Elliot was.
Gary and I are having mixed results with sleeping. We had an awful night Thursday night; Lexi just wanted to nurse from about 11pm to 3am, almost non-stop. I got frustrated because I was very tired (even though I was nursing her in bed) and because my milk supply was quite low (most likely why she was trying to nurse constantly). Gary was frustrated because he really couldn't do anything to help, except change her diaper a couple of times, and we were keeping him awake. Last night she slept for several hours straight, woke up around 3 to nurse, and slept another 3 hours. I've been carrying her in a fleece pouch in the morning to help her sleep, so this means I've been up since 3, but I got some sleep beforehand, so it's not so bad.
(Gary has added new videos, and links to all the Alexia videos, on the photo website.)
We've gotten a lot of comments about Lexi's hat. This is the hat the hospital put her in; we didn't pick it out ourselves. I guess the idea is so that the hospital staff know right away if a baby is a girl or boy. It's cute, but I found that the bow really got in the way of nursing, so we're not using it anymore.
Gary uploaded some photos of Lexi this afternoon. They are at http://alexia.snethen.com; go take a look!
Just a quick post to say that we are back from the hospital, a day earlier than I thought we would be!
Alexia Anne Snethen (we've been calling her Lexi)
born 19 May 2007, 2:37 pm PDT
6 lbs 8 oz
18" long
No pictures are up yet, but we should have some in a day or so. And I'll write a post about the actual labor and delivery this week, too.
At least I think so. Our friends Scott and Rose came over so we can head to the hospital whenever we think we're getting close. I had some infrequent weak contractions last night before bed, and I woke up this morning around 1.45 with somewhat stronger ones. They were pretty regular, around 6 minutes apart, but not very strong. And now that our friends are here they've slowed up somewhat, so I don't know when we're going to the hospital.
There's still several more hours to the day, but at this rate she's not going to be born today. Probably just as well. Friday's child is filled with, um, traffic jams and crowded movie theaters.
Elliot surprised me and Gary, and himself, this morning when we all learned he could reach the water tap on the fridge. Gary and I will be learning how to lock the controls as soon as possible, although Elliot will no doubt quickly learn how to push a chair over to the fridge and unlock them.
Elliot now also knows all of his letters, at least the upper-case ones.
My due date is on Friday, and it's not looking like the baby is going to arrive early. I went for a checkup yesterday but there were no changes from last week. Gary and I have a bet about when she'll be born. He's already lost (if she had been born before last weekend I would have owed him $100), so if she's born before Saturday I will win. But if she arrives on the weekend or next week it'll be a tie. I've got another appointment for Friday.
I had a very relaxing Mother's Day, thanks to Gary and Elliot. Gary made us a yummy waffle breakfast in the morning. Afterwards I planned to rest briefly on the sofa while he cleaned up, but I wound up falling asleep and taking a good long nap instead! Elliot used the potty in the evening, which made me really happy and was the best gift I could have gotten. We aren't pushing potty training, but we figure each successful attempt is a step closer to the goal.
The SSA has released its 2006 popular baby names list on its website.
No hints, but I will say that none of the names on our short list are in the top 10.
Elliot has enjoyed lemons for many months, but this is the first time we captured the love on video. Go watch two and a half minutes of sourness!
Just a little over a week until my due date! My checkup yesterday morning went really well. I am still just 50% effaced, but now 3cm dilated (which was more than I was at this stage with Elliot). And the baby has dropped to a -2 station so we're definitely close.
Gary and I took Elliot to the toy store this weekend to pick out a gift for his sister. He was most interested in a popcorn popper push toy and the train set, but we managed to steer him to the baby toys and he picked out a soft squeaky toy.
Two and a half more weeks until our official due date (May 18th), and I'm ready for it. I had a checkup on Monday; the OB said my cervix is slightly dilated (<1cm) and about 50% effaced. But the baby is still pretty high, so I don't think I'll be delivering any time soon. I have another appointment next Monday.
Meanwhile, at home, I've washed all the newborn clothes and some of the bigger ones. My overnight hospital bag is nearly packed. Gary and I have a 2 page plan detailing who does what when I go into labor (it is complicated because we don't want to take Elliot to the hospital with us and we're expecting a short labor like last time). The Pack-n-Play is set up with the bassinet, although I still need to buy sheets for it and decide where in our bedroom we'll put it. Ideally it will go between the bed and the wall. Our freezer is packed with food, and I've been trying hard not to munch on the post-partum multigrain muffins I have in there. No names yet; I looked through an entire baby name book and decided I didn't like any of them. The termites are gone. We got central air conditioning and a new furnace installed yesterday. Gary took me to an Arlo Guthrie concert for my birthday, and we had a small pre-birth birthday wingding on Saturday. I finished Elliot's blanket, but I haven't washed it yet. I also bought the yarn for the new baby's blanket, and plan to start swatching tonight. I am back to eating Tums by the handful during the day. Life is good, but dang am I tired!