Two Babies

This past week the unthinkable happened...my husband got sick! Erik NEVER gets sick. Seriously I think I've only ever heard him sneeze twice. It's not because Erik takes his vitamins or eats healthy,nope, it's because he has some sort of Viking Super Immune System (Erik is Norwegian, and feels this is why he is sooo healthy). So you can imagine my surprise when, The Viking (as my Dad affectionately calls him) said his stomach hurt.

It was about 3am when we both thought he just had bad indigestion...so I was a tad annoyed when he woke me up for this. However as 4am rolled around he got progressively worse. He was throwing up and was in a lot pain. I rushed to the nearest 24-hour Walgreens and spoke with the pharmacist. She said it sounded like an ulcer and suggested Pepcid AC and Prilosec. We tried both and they didn't work. Erik's pain got worse and he had a fever. So, now I'm trying solve the mystery of Erik's illness and do my usual routine with Ellie. She's crying, Erik's whining, and I'm running around playing Dr. Mom.

Around 3pm Erik's fever and pain got really bad and I decided to call the doctor. The doctor said it sounded like potential appendicitis and I needed to get Erik to the hospital ASAP. Immediately I panicked. What if I had waited too long to call the doctor and now Erik was in danger? Quickly, I called my sister and asked her to come and take Ellie (luckily we live in the same building...super convenient!), packed a bag for Ellie, packed a few things for Erik in case he needed to stay over night, and we were off. Every bump I went over hurt Erik even more, it was awful.

Finally once we got into the E.R (after waiting nearly 2 hours in the waiting room), the doctors started running tests on Erik. Luckily we found out it wasn't appendicitis. But they couldn't decided between an ulcer and the flu. After 6 hours of playing a guessing game, they sent us home with a few prescriptions for an ulcer and told us to follow up with Erik's doctor. Once we picked up Erik's prescriptions and picked up Ellie, Dr. Mom was back in the house. I went back to running back and forth between my two babies. Erik's fever was up and down all night and I made sure I was right there with Tylenol. Finally around 6am Erik's fever went away, and he seemed to be better. We spent the whole day testing Erik's stomach with bland foods, and he was right as rain by that evening. So, we're pretty certain he had the flu. Irregardless of what it is was, it was stressful! I now officially know I'm not even close to ready to thinking about having another child (although I kind of knew that the moment I went into labor) because I already have two at home :)

Baby Fat and shots

So I am trying to lose all the baby weight. So far I have lost about 35lbs, but I still would like to lose 10-15lbs more. I have always been pretty small, and I kind of miss it. I can definetly tell I have lost weight, but there are several parts of my body that have not given up the baby fat yet. Erik of course says I look great, but I don't think he understands I would like to be close to my weight pre-baby. I have never had to diet really, or exercise that much, so this is new to me.

I am right now doing the "Naturally Thin" diet. Its not really a diet as much as it is a way of life. The author challenges you to change the way you think about food. She talks a lot about balancing yourself out with food. So if you have a craving for a burger, have half of it and fill up on vegitables. Or if you pasta for lunch have a protein and veggie dinner. Basically have the ideal diet. I'm truly not sure if I can be this good with my diet, but I'm trying. Often times Ellie keeps me so busy I barely have time to eat. So a lot of times I just put whatever in my mouth to keep my going. I am going to change this...I just have to.


In other news, the other day Ellie had 5 shots given to her. It was awful! She was screaming and crying. Then when we got home she didnt want to eat, she was throwing up, and crying so loudly I was sure the neighbors thought we were hurting her. We called the doctor and they reminded us that some kids respond poorly to shots...they just stress themselves out and don't feel very well. It was seriously the hardest day we have had with Ellie since she was born(her birthday was by far my hardest day of life. She went to bed 3 hours early and slept 12 hours. It was horrible. However the next day she was back to beautiful smiling self!Thank God! I am not looking forward to anymore shot days...I don't know if my heart can take it.

A Peaceful Night's Sleep

I don't want to jinx myself,but Eliana slept through the night...twice!

The first night, Erik woke me up around 4am...worried. He said, "Babe, Ellie woke up and I re-swaddled her, and she went back to sleep..." First of all, why was he waking me up at 4am, and wasn't it a good thing that she went back to sleep? Since we had Ellie, she always woke up at 4am for a feeding. Not matter what time we put her down and no matter when her last feeding was, she always needed a 4am feeding. Recently, Erik and I read that we should try re-swaddling her first and comforting her, and if that doesn't work, then we feed her. So for weeks now, we had been trying this, but she always needed a feeding. However on Sunday night, re-swaddling her actually worked! So as my husband is staring at me at 4am, these thoughts came flooding back to me, and I jumped up out of bed and ran over to her bassinet. She was fast asleep! Erik and I went back to sleep and Ellie didn't wake up until 6:30am(her usual wake up time). We just couldn't believe it.

Monday night, we were so excited to get a full night's sleep, no such luck. Eliana woke up at 4am for a feeding. We were a little disappointed. However, last night she slept through the night again...she didn't even need to be re-swaddled! Ellie slept until 6:45 this morning. And for the first time in a long time, I feel like I actually got some sleep.
I just asked Ellie if we could make it a third night of sleeping through the night, she simply smiled then spit up. Is that a yes?

Video

Before Eliana was born, Erik and I invested in a video camera. We knew that we would obsessively take videos of her every move. Pretty much we have videos of Ellie just staring at nothing, and videos of her holding her head up. However, we lost the USB cord. Therefore we cannot upload videos on to the computer. So, when my sister emailed me a video of Ellie that she took on her iphone, I was excited! Here is the video of Ellie and her uncle doing a sort of interview...

Teething

Believe it or not our sweet little girl is getting teeth. My mother made the discovery a few days ago. Ellie had been drooling more and chewing on everything that comes to her mouth. So one day when Ellie yawned, my looked and saw two white lumps in her gums! I couldnt believe it. Even now, a week later they are more prominent. Erik and I discovered 2 other teeth coming as well! Ellie has definetly not been a happy camper! But she isn't super interested in teething rings. However she does like the cold teething rings. And Orajel just made her cry. Eventually she looked entertained about her mouth being so numb. We can't believe she is teething sooo early! I'm hoping, however that her teeth take their time to come to the surface. I'm not ready for a teething baby yet!

I couldnt get a good picture of Ellie's teeth so I found one on the internet that somewhat looks like her mouth...

Frustrated

Ellie is getting her rash back. The good fortune is going away. I thought that the formula was working. But now, I'm not sure if that was the problem. Erik and I are just frustrated because we just want her to get better. Its so hard to see your little girl suffer. A friend of mine gave me the name of a pediatric allergist, that is supposed to be amazing. So today I am going to call her and try to get an appointment. More details coming soon...