& The Fever Strikes, Again

 sigh.. Natalie has a 101.6 rectal temp. At 1 AM of course 

Just gave her a dose of Tylenol. Time for every 2 hour checks again

We think it's teething

I can see the top teeth through her gums

She had a good 3.5-4 hours of sleep. Interrupted but still. 

I'm okay with her having some fun time with daddy before the next stretch of sleep.

& of course I'm battling coughing fits 

Crawling forward

Not sleeping

& instead doing what?

How about scooching around

And then..

Crawling forward

Yup! Crawling forward

Lofty Goals for 2016

I rarely do New Years goals, but about time I do! 

The husband is worried for my happiness.  That sometimes I seem so frustrated & I agree. Those sometimes are happening more often, and husband believes it mostly stems from the fact that  all my time is with Natalie (which I love) that I lost control of being myself.  What I can see is a disorderly home.  Makes me feel helpless everyday.  Also being able to craft/ decorate, my naps & just being me. We are starting off with sending Natalie to daycare 5 days a week, even on my day off she's going.  I mean we pay for it!  It'll give me time to nap, clean, & I'm sure a lot more

As for cleaning, I'm changing it up ..  5 weekday, breaking home into 5 areas- bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, living, stairs & by end of that day the designated area will be clean. If I work, then I'll tackle that area the day before/ after when I'm off.

As for baby weight, I'm less than 10 lbs from pre-pregnancy & I may or may not work on that depending on where I am after getting better.  I might have glossed over this somewhere but I've been doooowwwn with a crazy flu

38 weeks

It's been a month of nonstop sniffles, fevers, vomiting, coughing, & honestly sniffles sniffles sniffles. But here you are, a happy baby at 8.5 months.  So chatty, with discoveries of new sounds. Such a good car passenger, playing with toys and talking to Sherman the lion.  Also, great at waving hello & goodbye.  Actually, your hands just might be your favorite toy. So adorable seeing you do little twinkle motions and sometimes sign us yummy yummy!

Dear daughter

Despite society acceptance of the current sex culture, the prevailing wisdom that most moms still impart to their daughters is to wait before having sex.  Myself included.  & found this to to my heart strings as I'm experiencing the most love in my life by the biggest love of my life 

http://momlifenow.com/2014/11/09/crazy-hot-sex/

To my dear daughter,

As you grow, many boys will enter your years. They will speak words of love and passion, of wanting you–all of you.

Their sex will be lacking.

Believe me, dear girl, I know what crazy hot lovemaking is made of. Until the boy can assure you of the following, it is not true passion.

If he can patiently wait for over three years. From pregnant to nursing to pregnant to nursing, with your hormones fierce, and desire often dead. “Please, just let me sleep. I am so tired.” will be your common response. Until he can love you still, choose you still, it is not true passion.

If He can call you beautiful when even your feet are swollen from baby belly. Call you sexy when your legs run thick with varicose veins from the same. Call you perfect after your belly hangs loose with skin and your eyes deep with bags. Until he can still call you these things, it is not true passion.

You may throw things at him, yell words of hate and shame as you feel the hormones of post baby blues run deep. Until he can love you even deeper, piercing through the pain into your heart, it is not true passion.

He will go to work where there are other women, pretty women. Pretty women with no children and varicose free, high heeled legs. I know the way they toss their pretty little hair to and fro.

He will come home to you, your hair pulled back into the frizziest of buns, a baby on your hip, spit up down your arm. Until he can come home to you–you with no makeup–and express there is nothing as wonderful as seeing your face, it is not true passion.

You are touched by his love, and whisper tonight you will return the favor. Tonight there is a crying baby and a feverish toddler who just joined you in bed. Until he can laugh, fully laugh about this, it is not true passion.

Can a man like this exist? Yes, dear girl, and you call him your dad. He has shown me what true love is.

The hormones have faded. I am not pregnant. I am not nursing. My own passion has returned. Can I truly say “returned?” I really had no idea what passion was. So intense, so raw, I cannot put it fully into words.

I am not in love with just another man. I am in love with the father of my babies. The one who called me beautiful through nights of ugly, called me strong through days of weak, called me valuable through days of uncertainty. The one who waited patiently for me. Who washed the sheets of vomit as I bathed the fever infested child.

This is love dear girl. This is passion. It is being one with he who is going to be there for you, till death do you part, regardless. It is something mystical and unexplainable. It is something crazy. It is crazy hot sex.

Wait dear girl. Wait for him. There is nothing so beautiful as finding your heart in his, the one who will wait for you–even after marriage.

Love,

Mom

8.5 Months

We've grown quite attached to eachother the past couple weeks, with Natalie sick/ daycare on holiday/ me staying home on vacay

It broke my heart when I left for work today. She woke up, tracked me & wailed when I left the room
Brooooke my heart

37 weeks

With childcare on a 3 week holiday, I've had to take vacation from work to solely watch Natalie.  Ite been tough, with Natalie being mostly sick.  But now that it's been 10 days, I am really getting into the sync of things and loving this full time mommy gig.

She's really good at self play, as long as I'm right by her.  She likes to play on her back, tummy time, and sitting up.  Her favorite toy has become this flip phone.  She's constantly opening and closing it, touching the buttons, and munching of course.  Enjoys her car rides, as long as it's less than 15 minutes.  Loves being forward facing in daddy's ergo & falling asleep wrapped closely to my heart every night.

I'm dreading the 3 days I'll work- 12/23, 24, 25 this week but already looking forward to my 3 day weekend.  Maybe I should take these weeks off work to just spend time with Natalie.  

Daddy's Little Girl

So cute, between snores she started to whisper

Appa appa

Wait I'm jealous 

Poop Talk

 After first intro to solids, Natalie went from daily morning poops to.. 13 days without! Now she goes 2-5 days without then 2-3 days of daily poops. All different shades and textures of Browns

Since getting a fever, she's been off solids & only BFing, & now going 1-3x daily. An orangey yellow syrupy with little white curd or brown stringlike stuffSo gross so gross

Roseola then Stomach Flu

So, we went to the pediatrician
Natalie just got over roseola, with the rash scheduler to go away tomorrow
But she has stomach flu, gotta brace myself for 2 more days of vomiting, then 2-3 days of diarrhea

36 weeks

Now the backward crawling is quite deliberate
She really hates when I wipe off her snot or even worse.. Use the nose Frida.  It's the absolute worst thing that can possibly happen to her
Pink flamingos are her favorite animal
Can reach and yank off her hair bow and likes munching on them,.. Uhoh

Fever Over

No more 103-104F temps
But too bad it's raining, our planned zoo outing has been tabled.. But glad so j can rest up
Checking temps every 2 hours = exhausting

Happy 8 months

Started the day beating a fever, but had to table our zoo outing with the pouring rain.

Instead it was a lazy day in, Phil's BBQ and some outlet shopping. Not shabby

Spoiler alert- fever broke

Natalie starting fevering Wednesday night and (spoiler alert) it just broke now. 99.9F 

I am so relieved

It's been crazy cuz she would throw up immediately after oral Tylenol. Like we can hear her stomach rumble & see it retract, then she would hurl. Nonstop vomiting, again and again.  everything would come out. 

This  happened 3x, even with a little bit of Tylenol

I knew the dehydration coupled with temps of 101-102 would warrant an ER visi

Luckily, I remembered that Tylenol is available as a suppository. So James was running around town, found it at the 4th pharmacy

& we've been "controlling" her temps with that.  At one point today, it was 104F but luckily not for long.  

Between every 2 hour rectal temp checks, nursing every 1.5- 2 hours and nonstop cat naps (requiring us holding and soothing her).. I'm exhausted

And it's only 5 am 

Off to the zoo

Celebrating with a little getaway to Carlsbad/ San Diego

Too bad Natalie's first fever started the night before the trip 

Up the Butt

Natalie starting fevering Wednesday night and (spoiler alert) it just broke now. 99.9F
I'm so relieved

It's been crazy cuz she would throw up immediately after oral Tylenol. Like we can hear her stomach rumble & see it retract, then she would hurl. Nonstop and everything would come out. It happened 3x, and I knew the dehydration coupled with temps of 101-102 would warrant an ER visit
Luckily, I remembered that Tylenol is available as a suppository. So James was running around town, found it at the 4th pharmacy
& we've been "controlling" her temps with that. 

35 weeks

Nonstop battling the sniffles
This weekend I'm working, so it's daddy daughter time.  Heard she's super fussy and pretty much attached 24-7

Still a little chatter bug, saying umma on bad fussy mood & appa when happy. She started waving hello and goodbye, and even signing milk (we couple it with "yummy yummy") with her little hands.

Crawling

.. Backward

Today, the crawling starts 

Backwards for now

Sleep Routine

I've given up
& resorted to holding, rocking /bouncing, singing Natalie to sleep, followed by standing for 5-10 mins, then her sleeping on me for 15-20 mins before I attempt to put her down
Or a variation of ^^the above, sometimes with baby wearing, sometimes James does part of it.. 
Every Night
Every single night..