big girl pajamas

We're putting away the 6-9 month winter pajamas and busting out the new ones! Wait...I'm digging through her tote of 12 month clothes...no pajamas! This is the first time since she's been w/o pajamas from showers, cousins or older "friends."

Off to Wal-Mart I go...

Can you believe there were no 12 month pajamas with feet at Wal-Mart?!?! It must be the season because I KNOW I've seen my niece & nephew in footed (is that a word?) pajamas past the age of one.

Looks like two-piece pajamas are now in our vocabulary.

Check out this big girl in her new pajamas!



Freshly bathed and munchin' on a Scooby Snack



*Disregard the laundry on the couch*

Isn't she just adorable!! She looks so big!

I am a bit worried that her little feet are going to be freezing! My feet are always cold! I should have put socks on her before putting her to bed....wait....we're out of socks that fit comfortably. Looks like we'll be off to Wal-Mart again tomorrow for some "sleeping" socks - may as well get some day socks while we're at it.

For tonight, she might find herself covered in a blanket for the first time. We haven't used any blankets since we stopped swaddling. She honestly rolls around FAR too much for blankets to be of any use. Trial run...unless I get too paranoid about a blanket in her crib before going to bed myself...

eye-opening weekend

I had a thought today...

Layla used to be an excellent eater. She would tear through baby food like nobody's business. The doctor was quite impressed with how many jars she would eat in a day (despite lack of "normal" weight gain).

She began eating "people" food and did very well with that, too.

Somewhere along the journey, though, she has become a very poor eater.

I have been chalking it up to teething. This could still be the issue as she has seemingly been in a constant state of teething for months on end now. I think we're up to 12, but I have lost count.

However, last weekend I was with some former co-workers and their little girls (1-2 months younger than Layla) and saw just how well they ate. I was quite impressed. They both would open wide any time mom brought a piece of food to their mouths. Not a head shake, not a tight-lipped rejection, not a hand-flapping fit...an immediate positive reaction. It opened my eyes at just how bad Layla's eating habits have become.

Then I started wondering...

Have we created in her an aversion to food because we were feeding her foods with egg in them that made her feel all funny inside?

It has been slightly over a week since she has been on an egg-free diet. We haven't seen an improvement yet. She did eat a little better today. *knock on wood*

I'm not sure how long it takes to rid an element from your body.

She has shown quite a bit more interest in her formula, though. Maybe because this has never made her feel funny??

Maybe it is simply teething and it doesn't bother her like food does.

Maybe we're just destined to have a picky eater on our hands. Lord knows I sure was when I was younger...

Pregnancy talk

Those of you who read my blog (and there are more than I realized!) should feel lucky...you've known several weeks longer than most other people about my pregnancy. I guess that's a little perk for following my blog :-)

It's late, so I'm going to attempt to make this brief. We'll see how I do. :-)

This pregnancy has been quite different than that first...at least the first trimester. Here's a run-down of the differences so far:

1.) More nausea, less vomiting. I had at least a good month of vomiting with Layla. I feel like it was nearly every day. I've had one day with this little peanut (and I'm not entirely convinced it was pregnancy related, but rather a 24-hour bug of some sort). I do feel actual nausea has been more severe with this pregnancy. I'm not sure which is better...longer-lasting nausea or vomiting every day and getting it over with. I'd simply prefer to have neither.

2.) "Morning" sickness has hit in the evenings the last two weeks or so. Before that it was definitely in the mornings. With Layla it was entirely in the morning. This being nauseous in the evenings isn't quite as strong as when it hits in the mornings, but not fun never-the-less.

3.) Extreme exhaustion. I don't remember being so exhausted with Layla at the end of the day. I think I'm past the worst of it *knock on wood* as I have had a bit more energy the past week or so.

4.) Heartburn. I never experienced heartburn during my entire pregnancy with Layla. In fact, I don't think I've ever had heartburn. There's an old wives tale that says heartburn means a baby with lots of hair. Layla definitely had lots of hair at birth, so I have busted that myth. I wouldn't say it's severe heartburn, just an annoying ache of sorts. I can't really describe it. I've had it maybe 5 times thus far. From what I remember reading my first pregnancy (because I'm definitely not engrossed in literature on the subject this go-around), this is one symptom that isn't typically experienced in a single trimester, but the entire pregnancy. I'm going to hope this isn't the case for me. :-)

5.) Cramping. I had two days (not in a row) where I was fairly crampy. It actually made me a bit nervous. The last incident has been maybe 2 weeks ago now, so it apparently was nothing bad. Regardless, I hope to not experience it again.

There might be one or two more differences that I can't think of at the moment. I'll be sure to blog if I think of any I missed...or if more should arise.

In no way am I implying that this means I'm pregnant with a boy. In fact, I have no "feelings" on whether it's a boy or girl. I'm not even sure which I would prefer...but this topic is for another post.

I am chalking up the differences to the fact that I am teaching full-time with this pregnancy and I was only working in the afternoons during the first trimester with Layla. Actually, I wasn't working at all for the first half of the first trimester (summer break). I had the "opportunity" to get sick with Layla. I had the mornings to just lay* around on the couch. Therefore, I wasn't so exhausted, either.

The fact that I have approx. 10-15 more pounds on me than I did at this time with Layla's pregnancy is probably playing a role in the differences, too. However, I am DETERMINED to be more active during this pregnancy than the last. Having a little one already will most likely help...and the fact that I won't be suffering from first-trimester woes during the summer should also help.

In case you're wondering, we will again be finding out the sex of this baby and will let you know when we find out.

*I'm not afraid to admit that I had to look up online to make sure I was correct in using lay instead of lie. English teachers are allowed to use their resources, too. :-)

New diet

We have an appointment with an allergist here in Terre Haute next month. Until then, we're on an egg-free diet. Joy of joys!

I found some things to use instead of egg (baking powder, water, vinegar). I'm interested to see how things turn out using this method.

I'm also interested to see how things improve over the course of the next month...hopefully the scratching, runny nose, coughing all disappear!

As we suspected

Layla has an egg-white allergy. She's on the low end of moderate on the scale. We are now waiting to hear back from the actual doctor early next week for "recommendations." I'm not really sure what that means. The nurse did mention that they typically refer patients to allergists when a test comes back positive. Hopefully we can see one in Terre Haute if that is the case.

Although we know for sure that she does have an egg allergy, at this point we don't really know what that entails. We have a lot of questions now, more so than we did before we were certain of an allergy.

Can we continue giving her foods that have eggs cooked/baked in them?
Is there a possibility of her moving up the scale and her allergy worsening?
Is this something she will out-grow?
Will we know if this is the cause of her scratching?
Are her respiratory issues at all affected by this*?

I'm sure the answer to some of these questions will simply be by trial-and-error. Eliminate all egg-containing foods for a certain period of time and see if anything improves. I think we're in for a fun little summer if this is the case.

As we hear more, I'll be sure to post.


*Yesterday was the last day of treatment with her breathing machine. If you remember, the doctor was treating her for asthma without actually diagnosing her with it. However, as I'm typing I'm listening to her cough during her nap which I haven't heard in a while. Should I still continue her treatments each morning? Ugh!

Anxiously waiting

I am definitely wanting to hear the results of her allergy test. I definitely DON'T want her to have any allergies to food. However, it will ease my mind a bit as to why she is constantly scratching herself. It almost seems to be a habit. She constantly scratches the same spot over and over until she's red & raw. :-( The location of scratching lately has been her lower back. Before that it was the back of her neck/upper back. She would always have scratches on the top of her back that looked awful. At least now her location of choice is usually covered with a layer of clothing to prevent too much damage. But as soon as her clothes come off for a diaper change her hands go immediately to her back and begin scratching away! If she's wearing just a shirt instead of a onesie, she can easily lift it up and begin scratching. I feel so bad for her.

If tests come back positive, I really hope a change in her diet changes her compulsive scratching.

If tets come back negative, I'm not sure what to do about the situation.

"No!"

Apparently "no" is quite amusing for Layla. She definitely knows what the word means. However, it somehow evokes a feeling of joy in her when we say it. She thinks it's fun (a game?) when we pull her away from whatever she's doing. This can be quite frustrating.

Tonight there was an incident that actually lead me to tears...tears of laughter. You see, she's gotten into a bad habit of "beating" items on our entertainment center. The "beating" usually occurs on the glass door. Definitely not good. Items of choice are typically a remote or her sippy cup (which has lead to some nice opaque streams down the glass). We tell her "no" and she usually smiles/smirks/laughs and continues until we pull her away. She thinks this is fun and most likely will walk right back.

Might I add that every time she is hitting the door...she's looking at us as she's approaching with her hand in the air...she's looking at us the entire time she's hitting...and she's smiling at us when we say "no"...and on and on it goes.

However, tonight she did something slightly different. As always, she walked up to the entertainment center (watching us the entire time) and began smacking her sippy cup against the door. We said "no" several times to no avail. Jeremy stood up to take the sippy from her and she immediately stopped and brought the cup down into both hands. Jeremy sat back down, Layla began hitting the door. We said "no" and she continued. Jeremy stood up and she immediately brought the cup down into both hands...as if to say "I stopped." Jeremy sat back down and Layla started hitting again. Jeremy stood up and Layla pulled her sippy back down. At this point "no" was out of the rotation because we were too busy trying to stifle our laughter. I don't know how many times we watched this routine...enough for me to spout out "we should be videoing this!" through my laughter and tears.

Oh my. Parenthood has begun full-swing!

What do you do with a 1-year-old to stop a behavior that's inappropriate? "No" isn't enough...removing her from the location doesn't work as she simply walks right back. Time-out is too advanced. Flicking of the hand sometimes gets her upset and other times not...but I don't know if she's truly recognizing that the flicking happens b/c of her actions. I can sit and read a book with her or try and distract her with another toy, but how will she learn that her previous actions were wrong?? Ugh!


**At some point I'm sure I'll be writing a post with the same subject line...only the discussion will be about my frustrations with her constantly saying "no." I can definitely wait for that one...