A Reflux Tale

Josie had horrible reflux. It was our first big parenting lesson when she was about a month old. Trust your instincts - when something doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. We didn't know much as new parents, but we really felt like our little girl was in pain.  After a couple of weeks of watching her writhe in agony after she ate and after cleaning up lots and lots of projectile baby-spew (sorry), we finally got a diagnosis of acid reflux from our doctor and started her on zantac.  A year later, when we found out that Josie had a peanut allergy, we deduced that all that vomiting and agony was an allergic reaction to the peanut proteins Josie was getting through my breastmilk. (Peanut butter and trail mix were almost daily staples.) 
We hoped and hoped that Bea wouldn't have to go through the same thing.  But... pretty quickly after we got home from the hospital little Bea started to show the telltale signs of reflux. At first we weren't sure if it was just a leftover problem from all the suctioning and stomach-pumping after her birth. But, it wasn't long until there was no denying it. This time, we intervened right away.  By Day 11, Beatrice was on zantac.  It definitely helped, but (like Josie) didn't eliminate the problem all together.  We did loads of research and talked to lots of people and (this just in) we think the problem with Bea is dairy!  Three days without dairy and her symptoms are almost completely gone! Note this doesn't mean Bea will have a milk allergy. Most infants have trouble tolerating cow's milk. In fact, it was the first thing we tried with Josie as well. I cut back then eliminated dairy for several weeks but it made no difference for her - likely because I kept pounding peanuts.
Sooo... to wrap this whole reflux tale up... no more dairy for Carri!  That's the bad news.
The good news is that 1) Bea is in less pain and much happier, 2) We figured out the reflux much sooner this time - before she grew to hate sleeping as much as her big sister did, 3) Having gone through all of this before, we know all the tricks and they come naturally. 
Speaking of all the tricks - don't put Bea on her back.  She hates it. If you ever get a chance to hold this little darling, she likes to stay vertical and get the super-fun over-the-shoulder view of the world.  It makes for some great cuddling!

So, let it be known - we have learned a few things in the 3 1/2 years as Josie's parents.  And that feels really good! :)

First bath

(Another "catch-up" post...)

 Giving Miss Bea her first bath was unbelievably different from Josie's.  Lou and I had no freaking clue what we were doing with Josie and I think she almost froze to death. With Bea, it was much less scary and we had Josie's help to wash and entertain her.  No doubt this was just the first of many "sister baths". Josie really wanted Bea right in the big bath tub with her but she settled for having her bath first and then quick following up with bathing Bea.

first bath, one week old

First zoo trip as four

(The catch-up posts continue...)
The weather was beautiful the second weekend that we had Beatrice home and I couldn't wait to get out and enjoy our new family of four.  (You'll remember that November was the last time I could get out and get anything even remotely approaching exercise.)  So, the zoo sounded like a great idea. Truth told, it was waaaaay too ambitious.  Bea was well over her carseat after spending the whole morning in there (Josie had ballet and then we went to Whole Food for lunch) so she fussed about 90% of the time.  I somehow forgot how hilly the zoo is and was pretty quickly in a decent amount of pain.  Josie and Lou, however, had a lovely time! So lovely in fact that they think I'm nuts when I reflect back on the trip with anything less than absolute joy.  Here are a couple of pictures.  I took a total of six the whole time we were there - which says a lot!

"Elephants, I like Elephants"

Posing

Still Posing, (Um check out that attitude)

More interested in the playground than animals today

Proof Bea was there and Proof Josie was ready to go home

Best Big Sister

Josie's generous spirit made the transition into big sister an easy one for her. She's always loved helping others and now there are lots of ways she can be helpful.  No kidding - this was a scene I happened upon a couple of weeks ago. I had set aside the basket of Josie's dirty clothes in the laundry room and then went into our bedroom to fold and put away some other clothes. I come back to find Josie putting her clothes into the washing machine. She had gotten her own stool and had just finished loading up the machine with all of her clothes. Sweetest little girl in the world.

 Here she is with her own Moby Wrap. (Thanks Kelly!)  Bea is a regular traveler in my Moby (as was Josie in fact) and our biggest problem around here is trying to convince Josie that it really is unsafe for her to carry Bea herself. She wants to so badly, but knows she can't. So for now she's content to "practice" helping by carrying Baby Stella around. 

Here's another scene I came upon one afternoon after our friend Missy brought over a delicious dinner and these adorable sister dolls for the girls. (Each one has their name embroidered and they are so cute!) Josie carefully buckled both sisters into the swing. She loves to go visit Roly when she's in the swing, give her kisses and change her music. (Thanks to the Austins for the sweet hand-me-down swing and to Grandma & DD for getting it back into peak condition.)

Here is Josie helping out in the kitchen. Let me just give a shout-out to Montessori Education and the "practical life" lessons that have created a very talented dish washer.  (And get this, she thinks it is fun!) Here is actually washing the breast pump and bottles.

 And while helping out with all the baby-related chores is certainly appreciated, some times the best thing Josie does is just relax, step away and keep herself entertained while we take care of Bea's needs. Here she is looking rather grown-up in the TV-watching pose.  (BTW- There's a post brewing about how big she has gotten but I'm just not ready to face those emotions yet. I will say that there these little moments when I look at her and she just looks so grown-up and this one was definitely one of them.) 

All told, Little Josephine is now Big Sister Josephine and couldn't be more proud.  Four weeks later, she still proudly declares "Roly is HERE! I have a baby sister!!" whenever she meets someone new or sees someone she hasn't seen for awhile.  She randomly tells anyone who will listen how much she loves her little sister and how happy she is that she is "finally here."   And, she really has been such a big help.  (Consider this our official endorsement for spacing out your kids three years, although you all know that certainly wasn't our original plan.) Thank you Josie for being the best daughter and best big sister a family could ever want! Love you Bug!

*And I think the photos are fixed now. Thanks for the tips.*

Cookies for "bee"

Our very talented neighbor brought over these beautiful and delicious bee cookies to celebrate bea's arrival. Have you ever seen anything sweeter than this? (Fyi we live in the best neighnorhood ever. For reals.)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Tiny Dancer

Let the great "catch-up on the blog" festivities begin!

taking flight

Little Josephine has been taking ballet lessons at the Cincinnati Ballet Academy since January.  She's always been quite the dancer and was blessed with the gift of the Johnson-rhythm that I know makes her DD (and would definitely make her Great Grand-Nana) very proud.  (As an infant in our Tiny Tunes family music class, she could just naturally pick up the beat of any song and would clap and tap along perfectly with the rhythm. Even now when she hears a song or sings she automatically taps her toe or pats her hand to the beat. I hope she gets the Johnson "perfect ear" for playing instruments too!)  Anyway, I digress...

yes sweet josie, we're watching

So the Ballet School is pretty serious. Not quite "Black Swan" serious, but close. We actually didn't know this when we enrolled her and were a little surprised at what we saw during the only Parent Observation day of this semester.  Make no mistake, they are training ballerinas - from the tender age of three. And those little ballerinas fall right in line. Now the instructor certainly isn't mean, but she's strict and she has very high expectations. And if you close your eyes and imagine Mademoiselle So-and-So ballet instructor you just about nailed it. She has this great ballet instructor accent and it's all just perfectly perfect. (This type of discipline really is good for Josie. And, a little to our surprise, she loves the class - even with its obvious lack of warm-fuzziness.)

working on the routine

1, 2, 3, 4... 1, 2, 3, 4...

her partner for the spring production

fly little bird fly

getting some air

I forgot to mention that this big parent day at the CBA took place when little Roly was just four days old. There was NO way we were going to miss our only chance to see Josie's class and *somehow* we managed to get both girls out of the house that morning and even managed a trip to the pediatrician in on our way there (Bea was having cord issues).  I was still in "less than a week postpartum" condition so Lou got me seated and carried in the carseat with sleeping Beatrice and then it was completely up to him to get Josie in her uniform, pull up her hair, etc.  Doesn't she look great? (Good job Daddy. Those ponytails get better and better each time. My guess is that with two daughter you'll be able to open up your own salon by the time they're in Junior High.)

Josephine's big show is May 1st at the Aronoff center downtown.  She's in the youngest age group and it's going to be fun to see the full range from the first class to the adults. There's no doubt that the fancy costume and big stage have been Josie's motivation for taking ballet all along. We can hardly wait!  She'll have the summer off and then we'll see if she wants to continue with the program in the fall.

Three Weeks Old

Somehow Little Beatrice is already three weeks old. Every day she gets more alert and more active. Every day she makes all of us melt a little more. Every day seems she seems less like a new addition and feels more like she's just always been here. I've still got A LOT of catching up to do here on the blog - it's been an exciting three weeks of many "firsts," a whole week with Grandma, another epic battle against the dreaded Infant Reflux Monster and our official newborn photo shoot (start practicing your "awwww" now because I hope to post at least a sneak preview of the images tomorrow or Friday). And I haven't even started writing her full birth story. All in all, things are great! Stay tuned...

Bea's Birthmark

As if there haven't already been enough signs that little Bea is one special little girl, check out her birthmark.  Seriously.  She has a perfect little red heart right on her chest. 

The strange thing is that it gets darker every day.  I hope it never goes away. It's the sweetest little thing.

Beatrice also has a little red birthmark on her left eyelid and a "stork bite" on the back of her neck that is identical to Josie's. Those little suckers come in handy. They're like temperature gauges. We can always tell when Josie is too hot or has a fever because it glows bright red.

Speaking of Sleep

We heart co-sleeping. Don't get me wrong; I will be the FIRST to admit that we thought the idea of co-sleeping was a little wacky before we actually had kids. I think Josie knew all along that we were destined to be an "attachment parenting" family and just helped encourage that by demanding to be by our sides from the day she came home from the hospital. (Thank you Josie. I'm sorry we doubted you in the beginning.  Thanks for being so persistent because we'd have it no other way now.)

Now that I have my phone in bed at night (because it has revolutionized night-nursing and because the "Baby ESP" app has revolutionized parenting) I get to capture some of these overnight co-sleeping moments on "film" (well technically on my memory card but you know what I mean).

There really is nothing better than cuddling with sweet Josie.  Most nights she still winds up right in the middle of us at some point, and because we only have a queen sized-bed, there are a lot of sleeping scenes like this one:

And because Josie likes to stretch out, she usually ends up with more room than Louie & I combined:

And now that Roly is here, it's fun to surprise Josie in the morning by sticking a sleeping baby next to her in bed. This morning was priceless! She reached over, eyes closed to cuddle up with the closest warm body which she assumed would be me. She wrapped herself all around Beatrice (I had the camera down at this point to prevent any three yr-old elbows from coming in contact with three week-old cheeks) and it took her a minute to realize who she was cuddling.  She popped her eyes open and let out this big surprised "WHOA!"  then closed her eyes again and cuddled up saying "Awww...Roly" and went right back to sleep.

Here's the actual overnight set-up. Bea is in the co-sleeper (which is the best invention known to parenting if you ask us) and Lou and I share what's leftover once Josie is comfortable.

As I said, we wouldn't trade all the overnight cuddles & kisses (and yes kicks) for anything in the world! However, I would GLADLY in fact GLEEFULLY trade in the queen-sized bed for a king (hint, hint Louie).

Life is good for your Four Schneiders.  In fact, I would share with the world that a certain shiny new baby sleeps like a dream but that would be unwise. A certain mama declared the same thing about a certain big sister and it totally jinxed her.  So, mum is the word on the topic of Bea's sleep habits.  I will leave it at this (and likely expand on this in a later post when we're out of the jinxing woods), I owe an apology to all of you parents who swore your babies ever exhibited any of the following behaviors: getting themselves back to sleep without crying, falling asleep without nursing, sleeping more than two hours at a time, putting themselves on their own routine/schedule.  I have to apologize because I thought you were all either a) lying through your teeth or b) somehow training (dare I say torturing?) your child into learning these behaviors.  And I have to thank the two mamas who spoke the truth to me when they had their second children and apologized to me for assuming I was doing something wrong because Josie wasn't a "good sleeper." These two moms were sweet enough to admit that they really thought they had done something right until they got second children who did not sleep well.  Three cheers for a tight circle of mama-friends!

And with that...good night.