Tuesday, September 27, 2011

3 months along!

a few days late on this post but Ellie girl turned 3 months old this last Tuesday!


we didn't go for her well check until the friday after.
here are the stats:
length: 24 1/2 in. 90th% (tall girl)
weight: 12lbs 13oz 75th%
head: 15 3/4in 50th%
she got 1 shot and she does absolutely wonderful with them.
she just lays there on the little table smiling and cooing at the nurse and then cries out for maybe 2 seconds after the shot and then its all over with back to happy baby.

that's right I said "happy baby".
which is pretty much what she is these days, that is during daytime hours.
don't get me wrong she still has an occasional off and we still have a small fussy time in the evening but for the most part she has turned around during the day.
her naps aren't quite as long as I like but she takes them and is still pretty happy when awake even with a short nap.
as for nighttime we are still struggling.
she has been a  horrible sleeper at bedtime.
we were still up several times during the night.
our doc said "brandi leave her in her bed and see what she will do, do not get her up"
so for the past few days that is what we have done.
it has been rough on everyone, even Caraline but we are seeing some progress!
last night for us was pretty much sleeping through the night!
Ellie woke up twice, once at 3am and then at about 430am, both times she had rolled over to her back.
usually this totally freaks her out and there has been no getting her back to sleep but last night all we had to do was roll her back to her tummy and she went right back to sleep!
doing this took a total of maybe a minute and a half!


happenings:
the rolling over business definitely wasn't helping with our sleep progress.
this big gal sleeps on her belly and right at her 12 week birthday she decided she would start rolling over to her back and freaking out after she did it.
she is also very good at holding her head up and I'm hoping we can start some bumbo seat sitting very soon, I think she will really like it!
the smiles, coos, and squeals are coming all the time!
during the day she really only gets fussy for 2 reasons, poop and sleep.
she still has the biggest, brightest blue eyes just like her sister (we are hoping they are here to stay)!
her hair is still dark, out in the sun it is a very pretty auburn color, can't wait for more of it to come in so we can really see what color it is!
she loves her bouncy seat in the morning, we put it on the kitchen table and she can be a part of our morning routine of coffee, breakfast, dishes, and making bottles.
she also loves to play underneath her activity gym, which is what we routinely do after she has her bottle and before naptime.
she is also starting to like her bjorn much more, we took her to the zoo this past Saturday and used it and she did great in it!
she loves to watch her big sister Caraline play too!
and Caraline loves her little sister, she wants to tell her "Hi  Baby" all the time and give her kisses constantly!!

Things are definitely looking up in the Maxeiner house these days! Couldn't imagine my life any other way!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Embrace the Camera, Sept. 15, 2011

Here is try #1 at safari family photo:



#2 was much better!


This was right before I stepped in a hole and fell forward with Ellie! Luckily hit my knees first and caught myself with my left hand.  Thank goodness for the Bjorn, she didn't hit but it scared poor baby!



Tim with Caraline and his hot pink backpack he now totes everywhere.lol!!!


Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Daddy and Caraline Time!

Daddy and C spending some time together working on her adorable playhouse she got for her 2nd birthday from her Nana and Papa!



Thursday, September 1, 2011

1 week left....

needless to say that my maternity leave has not gone as I would have hoped.
I hate to use this word to describe it but I really can't sugarcoat it, it has been MISERABLE.
miserable as in my blood pressure is still high 140/90 as of yesterday at my 10 week checkup that my doctor had me come back for because of my bp.
I can't even believe that it has almost been 11 weeks, the days seem to drag on forever so it doesn't seem like many have passed, it honestly still feels like we have a 2 week old baby in the house and that's really how little miss Ellie acts.

so not going to beat around the bush on this one so here it goes.
this week breastfeeding came to an end.
Ellie has had horrible fussiness/gas/stomach/reflux/mucusy stool issues and they were not easing up but only seeming to get worse with each week
I had tried to cut out dairy in my diet for a while to see if that was the problem and her symptoms eased up a bit but never went away.
one weekend I had pizza and then sour cream in something the next day, that evening there were some specks of blood in her poop.
that night and the next four nights were HORRIBLE.
the ped and I have had several discussions about these things and have decided that E more than likely does have a protein sensitivity.
I cannot even express how disappointed I am to not be breastfeeding.
yes, I could have tried to totally eliminate dairy from my diet but for me this would have probably been just as stressful as stopping on the breastfeeding.
I have cried and cried over it.
It is so hard not being able to do it this time when it came so easily with Caraline.
but they are 2 very different babies.
Its also hard when Ellie and I are both so good at it, she had become quite the natural and I have milk for days (you would die if you seen my freezer).
I prayed and prayed and prayed some more and couldn't understand why I wouldn't be able to nurse Ellie, why God couldn't just heal her tummy and let us breastfeed.
Maybe he is reminding me that I am not in control. Maybe he is reminding me that sometimes the thing that we want so bad is not what is actually needed.
I know that God has a plan for Ellie and that she is still going to be a healthy, happy(hopefully sooner rather than later) baby even if we are not breastfeeding.
so for the past few days we have done soy formula, talked with the ped this morning and he would like us to start using a hypoallergenic formula (Nutramigen).
let me tell you I don't know how babies drink this stuff, it makes me want to vomit just smelling it but if it will help her, then let's do it!
I am already doing a little better in accepting the situation until it comes time that I have to use my dang pump and then I get upset all over again thinking about it but I know in time it will be ok.
Right now I keep trying to focus on some of the things that I can do with this new found freedom that I have.
Like eating whatever I want without worrying that it is going to hurt E's belly (I have been craving Mexican especially chips and queso), enjoying more than 1 glass of wine, coffee coffee and more coffee (yes, please!), and having a little more freedom (I have been preggo or nursing for the past 3 years), so I didn't realize what doing something for myself and letting the hubs feed the baby was all about until now.

so now just waiting and praying that this helps my little girls tummy to feel better and help our sleep deprived family to heal.
(I know this is kind of all over the place as in still getting no sleep rambling all over the place:)

Friday, August 26, 2011

2 months old!

Wow 2 posts to do at the same time.
A 2 month post and a 2 year post.
The past 2 months have flown right on by.
It doesn't seem like it's been that long since E's arrival.
Maybe bc the days seem to drag on and on when I'm so exhausted so it really seems like 1 day never ends sometimes.
Really hate to report that things are still very rough around here.
Which is really starting to bother me because I go back to work in just 21/2 weeks and I can't even imagine going to work a 12 hour shift at the hospital on the sleep that I am getting (or in my case not getting)!
But not going to go on and on about how bad it is because we have a beautiful baby girl that we adore and that's what we need to focus on right now!



We are also having a name change-up!
We don't call C anything short, her name is Caraline (however, I like to call her my carebear)!
so we decided initially that Elleanor was going to be just Elleanor.
We had many people asking us if she would be called Elle, Ella, Ellie, etc.
Tim and I said no, it will just be Elleanor.
Well, we have recently changed our minds!
We feel that with her cute little stubborn no sleep self that she is going to be called "Ellie"!
Plus little missy Caraline can already say Ellie!! (Think Elleanor would take her a while)
But most of the time C just calls her Bay-bay.lol!!!

Took "Ellie"! to her 2 month check-up on Wednesday.
Here are the stats:
weight: 11lb 15oz 75%
height:  23 3/4in 87%
head  15 1/2in 50%
all in all great measurements for the girlie!
Talked with the doc about all of our concerns.
He looked at her rash, which is getting better.
and listened to everything that I had to say.
He does not feel at all that we are dealing with a food allergy and encouraged me to continue breastfeeding if that's what I wanted to do.
I still plan to avoid the big dairy things just bc when I have too much of it, I feel that it does bother her little tummy, which I can remember doing the same with C for a while.
Her reflux is still bad and has gotten worse.
We talked about some things to do here and decided that we were going to try a different medication on top of the one we were already giving.
He didn't want to stop the old just in case the new didn't help at all.
We are only on day 2 of the med so really don't know yet???
I officially HATE HATE HATE reflux.
It just really sucks.
Poor thing is just so uncomfortable.
Praying that she is one that it gets better at the 6 month mark rather than closer to the 12!! (most say it usually subsides between those months).
So for now we do what we can and wait to see if her meds will help.

When she is in her happy awake time she is such a delight.
Huge smiles and coos all around for this girl.
She loves to be talked to and wants you to talk to her constantly!
She tolerates her bouncy seat and will play underneath her little floor gym for about 20-30 minutes then she starts to get tired.
But getting her to give in and go down takes some work.
Right now we are struggling to get her to lay down for more than 30 minutes.
There is something about that 30 minute mark, never fails, she is totally out and right at 30 minutes, wide awake, ugh! (really could use an hour here soon please)!
(However as I type this she has been down 40 minutes, I did hear here stirring but hopefully.....nope, she's up:)
I had thrown putting her on a feeding time schedule out of the window but with her meds it is easier to have her on one so we are working on it.
but it is a 2 1/2 hour schedule, turns out the more frequent, smaller feeds are better on her, can't wait for this to stretch out to at least 3 hours, I know its just 30 minutes but I think it will make a world of difference.
We start our morning with our first feed at 630ish depending on how the night went, and end our day with usually an 830 feeding and have her in her bed at 9pm.
I get her and C down for a nap at the same time everyday!!! but one usually wakes up so no napping for me which is a total bummer! (C's 2 year molars have broke through so she is sometimes waking during her naps)
That's pretty much it for now.
Just continuing to pray for relief for Ellie and more sleep for the whole family!

Here are some of this pretty girls 2 month photos! We had a little session on her changing pad yesterday!


such a cutie pie!



Wednesday, August 24, 2011

And we have a 2 year old!!!

I cannot even begin to wrap my head around our first baby girl already being 2!
It does not seem like it could already have been 2 years ago that we were welcoming Caraline into the world.



We will start with the party!
This year was a little smaller than last (the big ONE)!
Just family and a couple of friends.
No big jupiter jump this time.
But still lots of fun!
We had the party on Sat. Aug. 20th, the weekend before C's birthday!
The theme was CUPCAKES!
Caraline's memaw made her the cutest little party dress!
And her Nana and Papa took care of the Cupcakes and Cupcake Cake!
There was pizza and drinks.
Then presents.
Followed by cake/ice cream and cupcake decorating for the kiddos!
And lastly cupcake pinata fun.






Tuesday the 23rd, Caraline's actual BIRTHDAY!!!
We really just celebrated at home.
Elleanor kept us up all night on Monday night so we were all exhausted on Tuesday.
C got her favorite for breakfast: pancakes!
And her favorite for dinner: pizza!
She also got a couple of surprises that we had saved for her to open on her actual birthday.
A book, she loves to read!
And a new outfit, including shoes!  This girl LOVES clothes, especially new shoes!
She had to put on her new stuff right away after opening it so her daddy took her with him to pick up food and run to target so she could show them off a bit!






Our little gal is transitioning very well to having a little sister.
She loves loves loves to kiss Elleanor on her head and sits in front of her and shows her toys!
C has also gone back to being a wonderful sleeper!
She even stays in bed in the morning until we come in to get her, so happy this has come back!
We finally figured out that she did not want her door shut at night when she was going to sleep, so we leave it open just a tad and she goes right to sleep, no more screaming fits at the door or daddy having to sit by her bed until she is asleep!
She has also been a pretty quiet gal.
Don't get me wrong, she can get pretty loud with her little 2 year old fits we are experiencing.
But for the most part she hasn't been very vocal (may have something to do with that thumb still being in her mouth).
However, just in the last couple of weeks she has starting talking up a storm!
Saying new words everyday and throwing in 3 word phrases all the time!
I love it!
I think it will make a world of difference right now in this transitioning time for our family for her to be able to better communicate her needs!
I still of course think she is just the cutest little thing on the planet!!
Her little blond ringlets just get longer and longer!
And those big blue eyes, gorgeous!
She loves to dance.
Loves to sing.
Loves playing with her cousins Mel and Zac on Sunday, think this is her favorite day of the week!
Still loves to read her books.
Favorite show is still Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, wish that we could get into the disney movies but for now Mickey is it.
She is so active and hyper, don't know how this tiny little gal has so much energy, guess that's one reason she's so itty bitty.
This summer while I have been taking care of Elleanor she has become quite attached to her Daddy, and him to her (don't think he realizes just yet how much he's going to miss her when he starts back to school)!
We are currently on the waiting list to get her into a 2 year old preschool, don't think I am ready for this but I think she would love it!

She has her 2 year checkup next week, will  post after that on her stats, which I'm scared to even think about where her skinny little self falls on the weight category.lol!

Oh and I would have loved to have had her 2 year old pics for this post but those are having to wait until next week too.  This past Sunday we think our little gal got beat up at church. Tim went to pick her up from her classroom and noticed when they got outside that she had scratch marks down her face on each side of her cheeks and even blood drawn on one side and her face was a little puffy! Tim went back in to talk to the teachers, 3 of them to be exact and no one knew anything about it, they did say that the had been on the playground but this didn't look like a fall, it was straight scratch marks! Really wishing she could communicate better so that she could tell us what happened but guess we are just left wondering, which stinks!


Caraline, you are such an amazing, bright and sweet little girl!  Daddy and Mommy couldn't imagine our lives without you and are so blessed to be your parents!  Love you sweetie!