isla - 7 months & 8 months

now that isla is back to a normal sleeping schedule, dave & i are sleeping again too.  everyone is happy.  this girl still refuses to nap- i don't know how an almost 9 month old can stay awake from anywhere from 7-10am all the way until 10pm, but this girl has mastered that skill.  isla turned 7 months old on january 17  and 8 months old february 17.  here's what she's been up to.

isla celebrated her first christmas- it was pretty non-eventful as she was just 6 months old.  she got plenty of books, clothes and toys- but she was more concerned about being held and loved on.  check.  we left the the warmness of atlanta once again to return to the frozen wasteland we now call our home.  for the love... it is now mid-march and we are still facing sub-freezing temperatures and snow.  we're only 10" away from the all-time snow record, and we are not going to get a repeat of the 80 degree st. patty's day from 2012.  i really just want to leave my house, but it's too cold.  while we were in atlanta, both of the kids were sick and a call to our dr. was asking us to take them to urgent care.  of course, none of the urgent care facilities around there would see isla, so we were able to find a dr to see them that afternoon.  that was an unusual experience as we left with no explanations and a bunch of prescriptions.  after seeing dr. nick, we decided to schedule an appt. to see our regular dr. a few hours after arriving home- the kids had just caught colds and we were able to toss the prescriptions.  sigh. 

we celebrated ian's 4th birthday in january- and isla enjoyed that because it was more time for her to be held and cuddled.  i took both of the kids (with dave's help) to the pediatrician and isla had her 6 month check up.  the ped told us that she sounded like she had maybe had a touch of rsv at some point, but was sounding really good.  she was weighing in at 12 lbs 7 oz, and i am unsure of the length.  weight is less than 2% and height was less than 5%.  she also had her shots and caught up on some others.  i've decided that while i'll probably keep her up to date on them- that i will not do that many shots again.  my doctor is willing to let me space them out how i choose.  there is no telling what caused the craziness the last 2 months- but a lot of it started shortly after...  we decided to start solids shortly after this and that was met with zero success.  after the first 10-15 attempts, i was beginning to think she wasn't going to be interested in eating.  she was nursing well though, so i wasn't as worried.  we had tried oatmeal, avocados and sweet potatoes with no luck!   sometime in february, i took her to see the pediatrician again because she kept coughing and throwing up- and although her check up came back as "perfect", it was her weight that had me a little nervous- she weighed in at 12 lbs 10 oz- only 3 oz gained in 3 weeks.  the ped told me that i should try a fruit with her, and they would re-check her weight at her 9 month appointment.  we decided to try applesauce for her- and she loves it.  i have learned that what they say about 2nd children and so on is true.  with ian, we tried all the fruits and veggies to schedule and i had made all of them.  with isla- we're still eating applesauce- if i remember to feed it to her... oh, boy.

on february 1, isla went from daily yoga to movement!  she had been pushing up on her arms, and then her hands and knees since late december... and finally she crawled!  it really doesn't take long to really get moving- now she is so fast, you can't turn your back for a minute!  later that week she started sitting unassisted as well.  the doctor at her sick visit said she though she would be walking by 10 months- we'll see!  time has just flown too fast!

 plank!

 celebrating christmas in georgia

 giving me the stink eye

 opening christmas presents!

 christmas planking!

 4 generations 

 my heart = bursting

 nap time with gg

 ooh, new toys!

 with gg & pop

 playing nice!

 sunday best!

 brother's birthday

 hanging with dad

 all smiles!

  valentine's day!

isla - 6 months

isla turned 6 months old on december 17th.  how has it seriously been half a year since my life changed again!?  i can't believe i have a baby who is old enough to start trying food, sitting on her own and learning to crawl... not that she's doing any of these things, but still... what?!

isla celebrated her first thanksgiving.  this year we decided to have thanksgiving with my family in georgia since we have not been there on thanksgiving since right after dave & i got married.  i really dreaded how isla was going to do on the trip, so we decided that it would be best to leave in the evening after her last feeding and then just see how it went from there.  we had dinner at our house with dave's mom, fed isla, then we got the kids in their pjs and hit the road.  she actually slept pretty well until we hit some road construction in indiana where we of course couldn't pull off.  she cried all through that and then went right back to sleep.  she slept pretty much from then until her normal wake time and we stopped for breakfast and fed her and then were back on our way.  we had a great week(end) and isla just loved being spoiled by everyone!  she woke up in time to see georgia beat tech and managed to stay calm while everyone lost their mind when auburn beat bama.  oh, college football.

that's about all i can think of for this month, but the pictures are the important part anyway.

hanging out with her buddy sophie.  isla loves sophie way more than ian ever did.

sitting with pop on thanksgiving morning

chatting with gigi

 giving adam and heather a little baby practice (!!)

 

6 months old!

this is about how pictures go these days...

Isla's Birthday Story. Part 2.

part 1.

my memory is very fuzzy, at best.  so i will hopefully remember everything. 

dave had just dropped me off at the er and had gone home to drop ian off with our friend nickie (who, bless her heart, was also very pregnant), and pack up some things for us.  a nurse had gotten me from the er and taken me to triage in l&d.  i was given my bracelets- name and allergy- which they put on very loosely for me, thank goodness.  when i got into triage, my bp was taken again and the top number was in the 190s.  i was immediately started on an iv of magnesium sulfate to prevent seizures and given my first exam so they could try and figure out where baby was.  the nurse couldn't "find any presenting parts", so they had to call someone in to do a quick ultrasound to find out whether or not she was head down.  luckily, she was.  i sat in the room alone in triage for a while and i remember the tv not working and a guy came in to try and fix it for me, but nothing happened.  so i just remember waiting alone and bored for dave.  my phone had died while we were at dinner and i was all alone.  dave finally showed up and i was moved into an actual l&d room because they were going to start the induction at midnight.  so at midnight on june 16, 2013, it was father's day, i turned 32 and my labor began.  since i wasn't dilated any more than a 1, i had to be given cervadil to soften up my cervix before the real stuff would begin.  that was pretty much the worst thing ever.  i pretty much had to be pinned down to be given the dose- it was awful.  i was induced (by choice) with Ian, and after having him and learning more about pregnancy and delivery I had decided that i absolutely did not want to be induced again- i wanted to go into labor on my own and have this baby on my own.  that was the first of many things that just didn't work out for this delivery- but then again- nothing was going the way i had planned.  sometime after the cervadil i was given a catheter b\c my urine output had to be monitored b\c of the preeclamsia.  that pretty much ties cervadil for the worst thing ever.  i had blood taken, which started 5 straight days of having blood taken 2x a day from the same place in my arm (also awful).  i am pretty sure we were able to sleep a little bit after this- the magnesium sulfate made me pretty drowsy, so it's hard to really know. 

my parents arrived sunday afternoon.  that day my friend kristen also came and gave my disgusting feet a pedicure.  i remember her making jokes about how gross my feet were before i passed out.  i also had my 2nd dose of cervadil at noon.  during all of this, i wasn't able to eat- so no birthday cake, which made me really unhappy.  at some point, i managed to talk a nurse into bringing me food- and i got a turkey sandwich from the nurses lounge.  when i ate this thing, it was like i hadn't eaten in years.  i still joke with dave about how it was the best turkey sandwich ever.  nurses kept changing shifts, and every time one would leave me, i would be so sad because i was going to have someone new.  at some point on sunday i decided i would also have an epidural.  this was another thing i had not planned on- i really wanted to wait and play things by ear with my un-induced delivery.  by sunday afternoon i was exhausted and in a lot of pain from the catheter, and the cervadil- i hoped the epidural would help something and it did- after getting it, i felt the most alert and awake i had been since arriving.  i think i had dilated to a 2 around this point and i may have started the pitocin (or maybe it was monday).  my blood pressure remained high, which i knew because i had to have it taken EVERY 15 MINUTES.  :(

my sister in law and brother in law had picked ian up at our house and taken him to fathers' day brunch and to hang out at their house for a few days.  this kept me from worrying and freaking out about where he was going to be, and he probably forgot we existed. 

dumb side story- it was sometime during this day that i had found out that kim kardashian had delivered her baby.  i remember i found out that she was pregnant shortly after i found out that i was pregnant and that she was due around the same time i was.  i knew she had to be delivering as early as i was- and i remember seeing that terrible picture of her swollen feet during the summer.  so we had the same thing at the same time and delivered a day apart.  too bad she has done little to nothing to bring awareness to pre-e.

i will have to finish this in a part 3 because i'm tired now.  here are some photos from my 2nd day in the hospital...

 me in my l&d room. hooked up to a blood pressure monitor and magnesium sulfate drip.  i am so swollen.

 i think as a pregnant person, i thought the rest of me looked like me.  when i see these pictures, i can hardly recognize myself. my face is so swollen i can hardly smile.  even my arms and hand look huge.

 preeclampsia gets a big ol thumbs down.  

 seriously.  my giant face.  i am so swollen that i just have slits for eyes.  ugh.

 i think i'm napping here.  or faking  my arm bracelets keep getting tighter b\c i keep getting more and more swollen.  

 i feel like crying when i see my feet... and what used to be my ankle.  

ow.

i'll try not to take 3 months to write the next part...

isla - 4 months

now that isla has had her 4 month appointment, i feel like i can write her 4 month post.  first off- how does this time just fly by- i swear, even faster than it did when ian was a baby. 

isla turned 4 months old on october 17th.  at isla's appointment she weighed in at 10 lbs 12 oz.  she had previously been below the 5th percentile- she is now below the 2nd percentile.  her length is 23".  she was previously below the 5th percentile and is now in the 15th-25th percentile.  her head circumference is 15" which moves her from below the 5th to the 25th-50th percentile.  there is no concern about her weight as she has gained 3 lbs in the last 2 months.  we did 2 shots- completion of dpt and the rotovirus.  i am still undecided about vaccinations as i feel it's a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation.  i really just don't know.  we also got the ok to start rice if we wanted, but were told it wasn't a necessity.  we're going to skip it.

she is still sleeping well at night- i have gradually moved her bedtime forward, and right now she seems content to eat around 10:00 and then go to sleep afterwards.  her wake-up time varies between 7 and 9- which is so crazy to me b\c ian never slept that late until he was at least a year old.  her sleep during the day is a crap-shoot.  she takes at least 1 good nap, but the rest are catnaps.  she definitely prefers to be in someone's arms, which makes it nearly impossible to get anything done (like packing boxes). 

she loves to "chat" especially while she is nursing and she is usually full of smiles.  i've even gotten 1 laugh out of her!  she loves playing on her play mat and she pretty much has full control of her head- so i've retired the infant insert in our carrier.  she prefers to lay on her belly to look at things, but normally flips herself over to her back.  she's trying really hard to flip over to her belly, but can't quite get over her arm.  she's still pretty indifferent about sitting in her swing or bouncy seat.  her big thing right now is standing.  she likes to stand on your lap or any surface you put her on- i'm so surprised at how much strength she has in her little legs. 

after having hardly any photos last month- we did a lot better this month.

 Isla & me before the Braves/Cubs game

 Ian wanted to pick out Isla's outfit and i think he did a good job!

 wearing one of my baby dresses

 sunday after church

 blue steel baby

 baby llama drama

 so serious

 daddy trying to get Isla to smile- it worked, but she was looking at him

4 months!

isla - 3 months

since isla is going to be 4 months old in just a couple days, i should probably do a 3 month post.  we have been so busy getting ready to move and just with 2 children in general.  it's been a little crazy. 

isla turned 3 months old on september 17th.  she was probably around 8.5-9 lbs (i know i weighed her around both of those numbers).  she started sleeping through the night at some point during that time (i feed her around 12-12:30) and she slept until around 6.  she's started sleeping even more now.  she's more awake and alert during the day and she's gotten super chatty with me.  she also smiles all the time which i just can't get enough of.  she has nearly full control of her head and loves to play on her mat.  she still prefers to be held if she can help it, but she will sit in her swing or bouncer.  i'll have more details in her 4 month post!  it's all running together.  man, time is flying.

also, i just discovered that these are the only pictures we took with our actual camera of Isla from 2 months to 3 months.  we are terrible parents!

 Disney on Ice!

 a smile captured on camera!  she looks like a fat little buddah!

 3 months old! 

no more photos!