Vivi: Forty-Nine and Fifty Weeks

Vivi had her first bad cold this week.  She spent Tuesday sleeping on my chest all day long.  She was pretty sad.

We brought her into bed with us that night.  She nuzzled right up under my chin and twirled my hair as she slept.  It was really sweet.  I almost didn't mind the six inches of space that she left me to sleep in.

Luckily, two days later she was back to her normal rascally self.  

She's been kinda terrible to Madeline recently.  Every time I give big sister attention, she gets jealous.  If Maddie's sitting on my lap, she crawls over, whines, and tries to push her body between us.  If that doesn't work, she bangs her hand on Maddie's head.  

Yesterday, I was reading them both a story.  I had the girls on either side of me, but Vivi still found it necessary to crawl over to Madeline's side and push her out of the way.  

You better get used to it Miss Vivienne because I'm not going to stop cuddling my Maddie Bear any time soon.  

On the other hand, Vivi and Madeline are playing together more, and it's the cutest.  Yesterday they played hide and seek (Vivi "hid" behind a curtain) then they chased one another around the living room for half an hour.  The house was filled with squeals and giggles.  

Vivi makes a noise that we think is her attempt at saying Madeline.  It sounds like Ma-ine-ine-ine.  She repeats it a lot especially at lunch or dinner when she's sitting next to her sister.  Or maybe she's just saying she's hungry...

This morning this happened when Madeline woke up:

Awwww

A few weeks ago I was convinced that Vivi's eyes were just about brown.  Now they're bright blue again.  Can that happen?  

She's curious about everything.  She points to things around the room and asks, "Dah?"  And I list the names of everything until she's satisfied.  She likes to point to her head most of all.  She thinks that's funny.  I don't know why.   Babies...

She's still not walking, just thinking about it.  Madeline learned to walk about a week after her first birthday, and I feel that Vivi's working on the same timeline.  

She had some more poop episodes over the past two weeks.  They were the first in months.  I have no idea what happened.  It seems like her body just doesn't want to digest anything too solid.  

I keep a log of everything she eats along with rashes and BMs, etc.  When we see the allergist and nutritionist in a few weeks, I figure it might be useful.  

Anyhow, things are operating as they should be now.  I'm learning not to be too stressed over it.  For whatever reason, this is how her body works.  

In the meantime, our local bakery that made vegan treats went out of buisiness.  If anyone has a good recipe for dairy and egg free cupcakes, I'd be grateful.  This girl needs to have a birthday cupcake!

Forty-Eight Weeks

We saw Vivi's GI dude this week, and he's very happy with how she's doing.  She weighs 16 lbs 8 oz, which puts her in the same percentile as last time.  She's growing as she should be.  

We're taking her off the acid blockers.  This is not only good news for her tummy, but also for our wallet!  Hoo-ray!  

Speaking of chubby babies, Vivi is great at getting food in her own mouth.  I feel like Maddie didn't have that skill mastered until the age of three, but Vivi shovels it in by the fistful, forkful, or cupful.  

Those chubby cheeks are not just for kissing and squeezing though.  She hides  food in them.  When there's no more room, she spits all the mushed up food back out.  Gross.  Sometimes she spits the food out half an hour after she's eaten.  It's like she's preparing for winter.  

We tried avocado again this week without incident.  Last week's rash must have been from her clothing.  Hoo-Ray!

She now loves avocado, beans, grapes, and applesauce the best.  We had spicy chili for dinner one night this week, and she loved it!  Maddie likes spicy foods too.  It always surprises me.  

Vivi is a champion pointer.  She points at pictures on the wall, people walking by, toys she wants.  Pretty much everything. When Eric gets home from work, she crawls up to him and gives him the double point.  "You.  Hey, you.  I know you, man."  

We have a red headed witch decoration that we hung on our door for Halloween. Today, Vivi pointed at the witch, then pointed at me, then back to the witch.  She repeated this gesture several times.  I guess I look like a witch.  

She's getting braver about standing solo.  I think she'd be able to walk if she were just a little more confident about letting go.  We'll see.

She's also been a bit better around other people.  Not the doctors...who touch her, but people who stay a comfortable distance away seem okay.  

She's entering such a fun age.  We can see the wheels turning.  We can watch her facial expressions as she processes the world.  Communication is growing.  Her personality is fully emerging.  

I can't believe we'll be celebrating her first birthday next month.  Life is passing so quickly...too quickly.  Sob.  My baby!  

Vivi: Forty-Seven Weeks

Vivi tried avocado for the first time yesterday.  I didn't have high hopes since her sister gags every time she tastes the stuff, but Vivi loved it!  She also loves black beans.  Perhaps it's all the burritos she was fed in utero.  I was fist pumping all afternoon until Vivi broke out in a really nasty rash a few hours later.  

Her skin has been clear the last few days, (the new skin care routine is working well) so it was a pretty obvious eruption.  Maybe it was the avocado.  Drat!  This baby needs some fats!  

On the other hand, she also wore a new sweatsuit yesterday. The rash was mainly on her legs and forearms where the onesie she was wearing underneath the sweatsuit wasn't covering her skin. Hmm.

Sigh...Vivi's life is one giant, rashy experiment.  

In other news, though she may be rashy, she's also the cutest baby on the planet.  Her smile kills me.  It's a slow, sweet, shy grin.  I die a million deaths from too much cute every day all day.  

She's invented a new game out of grabbing Eric's toes.  He wiggles them just as she touches his foot, and it startles her.  She lets out a little gasp, a giggle, and shuffles away.  As soon as it appears that Eric is no longer paying attention, she sneaks up on his toes again.  It's so funny watching her trying to be sly.  

She loves looking out the window.  She perches on the back of the sofa in the sun like a cat watching the world go by.  Sometimes she catches a glimpse of her own reflection and waves happily at herself.  

She's started reaching for me when she wants to be picked up.  It gets me every time.  This morning she did it to Madeline.  

Vivi and Madeline crack eacother up in the backseat of the car.  I don't know what they're laughing at, but whatever it is, they think it's very funny.  

They also hold hands from their car seats. It's the sweetest thing ever.  

She had a few rough nights earlier in the week that kept us up all night.  Her lone tooth is bigger, so maybe it was a teething issue.  Her poops are back on track, so it wasn't that.  

We've all been sharing germs, so it's been a quiet week.  Vivi spends most of her time trying to escape to whatever area of the house we are not in.  

Munchkin.  This baby is a munchkin.  

Vivi: Forty-Five and Forty-Six Weeks

Well, if you read my last post, you know that Vivi is allergic to milk, peanuts, and eggs.  Boo.

Her belly was a mess this week too.  I always know big poop drama is on the way when she stops sleeping well and rejects all solids.  Last week, when things going well, we tried going without laxatives for a few days.  Mistake.   She clearly still needs them to function properly.  

She's sixteen pounds now.  That means she only gained one pound in the past two months and is in the fifth percentile.  We meet with GI soon, and I'm curious to see what he'll think of her.  I suspect we'll be changing formula.  

I need to pack some calories on this girl, but without dairy, it's hard.  Plus, Vivi is a picky eater.  She likes bluberries, black beans, and peaches.  Everything else she just tolerates or spits out.  Carrots are not her friend.  She doesn't like prunes anymore either...not that I can blame her.  

She loves bite-sized food and feeding herself.  I have a hard time getting her to eat purées.  

We haven't fed her meat yet.  I'm worried about what that will do to her digestive system.  

She still only has one tiny sliver of a tooth.  It's quite sharp, and she does a good job mashing things with her gums.  

Vivi is very happy and active in spite of her troubles.  She continues to get into everything.  She zooms around the house on all fours.  

Yesterday I watched her go from a crouch to standing without holding on to anything.  She was able to stand for several seconds before she lowered herself back to the floor.  

She likes to climb.  She used Eric as a step-stool and climbed on top of the ottoman the other afternoon.  She is obsessed with the stairs.  Good thing we can block them off.  

She's constantly banging her head on things.  It drives me insane.  I don't remember having this problem with Maddie, but Vivi is a more active baby.  

Her personality is shining.  She's a mixture of sweet and rascal with a flair for 

the dramatic.  She had a runny nose earlier in the week and you'd think she was dying at night by the way she howled and whined.  If conditions are not to her liking, she lets everyone know it.  

Madeline had her shots last week.  The nurses wanted me to hold Maddie, so one of them held Vivienne.  Well, Maddie didn't let out a yelp or a whimper.  Vivi, on the other hand, screamed for thirty minutes.  The wrong child was crying!  

Vivi loves playing with Madeline.  Poor Maddie Bear can't get away from her.  She likes to grab the same guys Maddie is using, and she's very persistent.   Can't distract this baby with anything.  

She loves music.  She dances to everything from commercials, to Maddie singing, to Eric drumming his hands on the table.  She grooves.  

She's "talking" up a storm.  Her babbles sound just like a conversation.  She says dada as clear as a bell, and she's working on mumma.  When I get her from her crib in the morning, she says, "Umm-ma! Umm-ma!"  

We weren't sure how she'd handle Halloween, but she was great.  She sat wide-eyed in her stroller and didn't make a peep the entire time we trick-or-treated.

We love our little bean sprout.  I can't believe she's nearly a year old.    

Maybe Kale is Our Only Option...

Vivi had some allergy testing done today. She's allergic to milk, (no surprise there) eggs, and peanuts.  

Eggs and milk are in everything.  This Mumma is going to need to brush up on her vegan baking skills...

I went to the pharmacy after her appointment and left with this:

A huge box filled with her monthly supply of formula, epi-pens, hydrocortisone ointment, and laxatives.  Seriously...wtf.  I could run a pharmacy out of my kitchen.  

On the bright side, she was also tested for allergies to almonds, casein (a dairy protein), soy, apples, sweet potatoes, and coconuts.  All of these were negative.  She'll at least be able to drink almond, soy, or coconut milk going forward.  And Maddie should probably get used to the idea of almond-butter and jelly sandwiches.  

I was dreading the testing, but it was pretty painless.  Vivi cried when anyone touched her, but that's because she's antisocial.  It was actually an interesting process.  

She had a skin test. (A percutaneous test if you want to be fancy.) The doctor asked a lot of questions before deciding what foods to test for.  These items were then applied to her back on a grid.  The nurse actually pricks the skin a bit to allow the allergen to enter the body, but it didn't seem to hurt Vivi at all.  

Then we waited fifteen minutes to see if any red circles appeared.  Every few seconds, I'd peak at her back, and was both relieved and annoyed to watch her skin turn red in three places.  On one hand, I wasn't crazy.  She really IS allergic to food.  On the other hand, she really IS allergic to food...

Before cleaning her up, they measured the diameter of the rash.  I assumed this was to estimate the severity of the allergy, but it actually indicates the likelihood that the child will outgrow it. 

The milk circle was very small, so that's a good indicator that she will outgrow it in the near future.  Hoo-Ray!  It's also likely that she will outgrow her allergy to eggs.  Double Hoo-Ray!  The diameter of the peanut drop was the largest, and the doctor told me that people do not usually outgrow peanut allergies.  Bummer.  

However, the doctor made it very clear that false positives are common.  Then, I went home and did some research and found that false positives occur fifty to sixty percent of the time!  Um, okay...I'd call that common. (Please don't quote me on this statistic.  The Internet is also fifty to sixty percent unreliable.) 

It's tricky because Vivi has never eaten eggs or peanuts, so there's no way to know if she would have a reaction to them.  And nobody is going to stick a peanut down her throat just to see what happens.  Obviously.  She could go into anaphylactic shock or she could sniffle once, but we avoid these foods just in case.  We may now be in possession of several epi pens, but it's my goal to never use them.  

I do believe she's truly allergic to eggs though.  I was suspicious of eggs early on when she was still nursing. Her symptoms always seemed worse after I indulged in my favorite Eggs Benedict.  Womp.  

To throw another wrench in the puzzle, these results don't explain any of the symptoms she's currently experiencing because she hasn't had any milk, eggs, or peanuts.  Maybe there are other foods she's allergic to, or maybe her symptoms have nothing to do with allergies.  We have a more detailed skin-care regimen to follow to see if her ezcema improves, and more testing may be done in the future.  

In the meantime, I'm going to go polish off the last of the Halloween candy less some peanuts find their way into baby hands.  It's a tough task, but I'll do it.  After all, I'm a mother.  

Seriously though, I have zero experience with allergies.  My family eats everything. So, if you have any tips, resources, or recipes to pass along, I would be grateful!  Leave a comment or email me. Maddiebearsmail@gmail.com. 

Happy Halloween

 Happy Halloween from our little witch and kitty-cat!

Madeline's old enough to pick her own costume now.  First, she wanted to be Madeline from the books, which I was very excited about.  Then she wanted to be a candy princess, which I was not so thrilled about.  Then she went through a pumpkin phase before settling on a witch.  I asked, "Are you sure?" about twenty times before buying the supplies.  Once I got everything, it was too late to change her mind!

Once Madeline settled on being a witch, we decided Vivi should be her black cat.  It's fitting because Maddie was a cat for her first Halloween too.   

We're so excited to go out trick or treating tonight!  Madeline has been obsessed with Halloween this year.  It's so fun watching her get jazzed about holidays now.  Christmas is going to blow her mind this year if she's this excited about Halloween.  Vivi....we'll see.  She's not too happy around people let alone people dressed as goblins and ghosts.  

 Here's Madeline at her school's Halloween parade.  She didn't want to wear the hat even though she's worn it around the house on a daily basis for the past month.  Boo.  Hopefully I can get her to wear it tonight.  She's cute either way.

M & V: Fall, 2014

Playing:

M: Elsa and Anna MagiClips.  She's still obsessed with Frozen, and she loves MagiClips of all kinds.  She thinks it's funny to switch their outfits.  

V: Melissa & Doug Farm Animals puzzle.   This is a leftover from Madeline's baby days.  She can't do the puzzle yet, but she likes to play (chew on) with the different animals.  

Reading:

M: Room on the Broom.  We took out all of Madeline's Halloween books at the beginning of the month.  This one is by far our favorite.  It's so fun to read.  

V: Little Hands Love.  Vivi likes any book with different textures to explore.  She likes to turn the pages herself too.  

Eating:

M: Apples.  Tis the season for apples.  She will eat two or three of them at a time.  She has been very into snacking lately, so I don't mind offering her apples between meals.  

V: Mostly purees with some cut up fruits/veggies.  Pictured here are frozen cubes of pureed prunes, carrots, peaches, and blueberry/spinach.  

Wearing: 

M: Orange jacket from Jannie and Jack bought last year.  

V: Orange pumpkin hat from a local craft fair.  Also, a Maddie Bear hand-me-down.  

Watching:

M: Winnie the Pooh.  She discovered her old Winnie the Pooh costume and wore it for about a week straight.  Yes, it's her costume from when she was one.  Yes, it's ridiculously tight and short.  Then she decided she needed to watch Winnie the Pooh while wearing her costume.  She used to love, love, love this movie, but hasn't watched it in over a year.  I was happy to revisit an old friend.  

V:  She is a baby.  She doesn't watch TV.  

P.S.  I'm copying this idea from HERE.  See our summer edition HERE.  

Vivi: Forty-Four Weeks

There's really only two things you need to know about Vivienne.  One: She is very, very cute.  I mean cheeks for days.  Cuddles for hours.  Gurgling noises that make your ovaries quiver.

But the second thing is this:  She is a demanding child who will bring a grown woman (and I mean me) to her knees faster than you can say, "Quick!  Get me a pumpkin latte!"  I mean really.  Holy. Cow.

People used to tell me that Madeline was an easy baby.  I didn't believe them.  I was a first time parent running on little sleep.  Easy?  It sure didn't feel easy.

But they were right.  How blind I was.  Madeline was a cake walk.  It took the arrival of Vivienne to teach me that.

Don't get me wrong.  I love this little ball of trouble.  I can't imagine life without her.

It's just that she seems to think that I am her personal man servant who lives for the sole purpose of catering to her every whim and whimper.  And let's face it, that's exactly what I am.

I'm a little grumpy now, so forgive me my rantings.  She hasn't slept well this week, which means I haven't slept well this week.  We even tried bringing her in bed with us last night to try to get some sleep.  She calmed...but also pulled our hair, poked our eyes, and kicked her feet.  This week she is fussy.  She is clingy.  She has spilled her sister's juice three times and my coffee once.  She is determined to play with all the things she's not allowed to play with, and she somehow manages to find the only chocking hazards in the house to pop in her mouth.  Changing her diaper is torture.  She cries the entire time I leave the room.  She cries the entire time I put her in the playpen or a chair or her crib.  She yells at Madeline and her Dada when they try to hug her.  And even though she was up for a better part of the night, I just spent the entire time Madeline was at school trying to get this overtired, cranky pants to take a nap.  Guess who won that battle?

Let me get back to the cute part.  If I don't focus on that, I might bring her to the children's consignment store to be consigned.

Vivi's eyes are currently green.  They are very pretty.  I still think they're on their way to turning brown.  Madeline's eyes didn't settle until she was about a year old.  We'll see.

She's determined to walk.  She spends every minute she can searching for things to pull herself up on.  It won't be long.

She is very shy.  All the moms gather in the hallway outside Madeline's classroom at pick-up time.  Vivi spends the whole time burying her head in my chest and stealing quick peeks at the people around us.  If someone catches her eye, she smiles quickly before hiding her face again.  Sometimes she does the same thing to us.  She catches us watching her, smiles shyly, and hides her face.  It's her thing.

She has learned how to wave and clap.  It's the cutest thing ever.

She's showing her first signs of interest in Elmo.  Whenever Madeline watches Sesame Street, Vivi looks at the screen, grins, and waves.   Then she goes back to trying to pull over the coffee table, stealing Madeline's Cheerios, or ripping up the mail.

We gave her black beans with dinner one night this week and she LOVED them.  She also tried papaya for the first time this week.  She's not as enthusiastic about that.

It's almost the weekend!  Here's hoping Vivi will sleep in for us.  :)

Vivi: Thirty-Eight Weeks

The big news this week is that Vivi has slept through the night the past four nights in a row!  I'm talking a solid eleven hours.  It's amazing.  Of course, I wake up every night around 4 am in a panic wondering where the baby is, but it's huge progress.  Now that I've made this milestone public, I'm sure she'll wake every hour tonight.  Knock on wood.

We've been battling the poop monster a little bit this week, which is frustrating.  It's been nearly two months since her last bad episode, so I had hoped that we were moving past this.  This time isn't nearly as bad as her previous battles, which is good, but there's been straining and crying and blockages and a crazy explosion for good measure.  She's fully weened from the breast now, but there was a bit of overlap two weeks ago where I was nursing in the middle of the night even though I had started adding dairy back into my diet.  I'm not sure if what we're seeing this week is the result of that poor judgement, or if it's just Vivi being Vivi.  Time will tell I suppose.

Overall, the formula is definitely working better than the breast milk was for us.  She's chunking up fast, eating more, and sleeping better.  She just seems much more comfortable...except when she tries to poop.

Eric and I continue to be amazed at how physical Vivi is.  She still isn't crawling, but she might as well be.  She gets around so well.  She's been fascinated with opening doors and drawers lately.  Madeline's play kitchen is a lot of fun for her.  I sometimes set up the pack n' play mattress on the kitchen floor while I'm getting things done in there, and she figured out how to access the baking pans in the drawer under the stove.  I really have to keep a close eye on her at all times.

She still communicates mostly in growls, but we're starting to hear more consonant noises thrown in.  Last night she kept repeating, "Dah-dah-dah-dah-dah," under her breath.  This morning there have been  more "Dahs" and lots of "Goos" and "Gahs."  

Vivi is a huge cuddle bug.  She likes to climb up Eric or I when we're sitting on the floor with her.  She stands hanging on to our knees or shoulders for a long time while we rub her back and she nuzzles her head into us.  It's nice.

She's still Madeline's biggest fan.  She thinks her big sister is hilarious, and she wants to do whatever she sees Madeline doing.  Vivi and I have had a lot of alone time this week now that Maddie's back in school, but she's a lot more needy when her big sister isn't around to entertain her.  Madeline is a huge help.

Finally, she still doesn't have any teeth.  This is surprising because we've thought she was teething several times, but still, nothing has poked through.  Madeline had a lot of teeth by this age, and she was eating a lot of finger foods.  Vivi hasn't really started down that road because of her tummy troubles, and because of her lack of chompers.  I think I'll make some soft-boiled chunks of fruit next week to see how she handles finger food.

Come on, baby girl, grow 'dem teeth!

Little Sisters are Obnoxious

Big Sister is playing Legos.  I'm gonna totally mess with her.

 That was hilarious, right?  

Let me do it again.

What?  Why are you telling me "no-no"?  This is hilarious.

Watch more closely this time.  You'll get it.

See?!  Bwhahaha. Oh my God....so hilarious.

But seriously, Maddie.  I want in on this action.

 ...

What part of "I want to eat them," don't you understand?  Gimme some Legos! 

Dude, you're really not gonna let me eat them?

Haha.  She's mad at me.

Fine.  I didn't want to play with your stupid Legos anyway.

 Then again...