Vivi: Twenty-Seven Weeks

Eric's on vacation for the summer, we're at the beach, and I've already lost track of time.  Is it really Friday already?  Is it even June still?  What year is it?  Where we're going we don't need roads?  

Don't mind me.  I just drank a piña colada by the sea because...vacation.  I'm not a delinquent parent.  Vivi was napping in the stroller right by my side the entire time.  

Vivienne's rashy problems are consistently inconsistent.  One day her skin looks great, and the next it's a mess all over again.  I've been scouring my food journal, but fail to recognize any connections between what I'm eating and her health symptoms.  Bah humbug.

I'm still dairy free, but have become a lot less strict with the rest.  The good news is that I'm twenty pounds lighter than my pre pregnancy weight.  But then I lost five pounds last week alone and decided I was becoming obsessively ridiculous and needed to chill.  

In other news...

While at the beach, we've learned that Vivi does not like sand, waves, or sunscreen.  However, the sound of the waves crashing put her into a deep slumber on Eric's shoulder.  

Maddie and Vivi have been sharing a room for the first time while we're on vacation.  When Vivi realized Madeline was lying in bed across from her, she couldn't settle to sleep.  She just wanted to smile and screech at her big sister.  

Tonight, when Vivi started getting fussy at dinner, Maddie was able to distract her and keep her calm.  The two of them played happily at the table while we adults finished eating in peace.  They're so sweet together.  

Vivi loves chewing her toes, loves banging objects on the table, loves drinking from a cup, and loves pulling my hair.  And I love her.  

Maddie Bear Says

M: (playing with her dolls) Ariel's going potty in the shower.  

Us: Oh no!

M: (Shrug) That's just what princesses do.  

(Watching that commercial with the body builder dude dressed up as a cow.)

M:  He's got...what do you call em?...Boobs?...

M:  Mumma, guess what I have. It's round, and it's ball-y, and it's round.

Me: (Looking at the Cheerio  in her hand.) Is it a Cheerio?

M: (Pops Cheerio slowly into her mouth, eyeing me suspiciously.)

M: I want to get married two times when I'm a grownup.  

M: (Singing) Who's that burping?  I think it's Captain Hook cause he likes coughing, and he likes burping.  So he burps all the tiiiiime!  

M: Why is my castle tent so sad?

Me: It's sad?  

M: Yes.  See its miserable face.  It has a miserable mouth, and it's the most miserable thing in the whole world.  

M: (Out of nowhere.) A ghost with no head would be terrible.  

M: Vivi, you're silly and awesome like me.

Vivi: Twenty-Six Weeks

Vivi is officially six months old!  Time has gone by so quickly.  It seems like she was just a bundle of cheeks sleeping on my chest.  Then I see little babies crawling, waving, pointing, and find it incredible that they're only three or four months older than Vivienne is now.  She'll be on the move before we know it!  

Her facial rash is much better this week. I've been slathering her with vaseline several times a day.  She's quite slippery, but it does the trick. 

I'm going to start adding foods back into my diet next week.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed because we're going on vacation soon, and I'd like to be able to eat a bit more than I currently am. 

On the other hand, we've been battling the poop monster again the past few days.  At least this time I'm fairly certain this is not due to something I ate.  She's just having a hard time processing solid food.  I was feeding her pears all week, but I made the mistake of trying some banana again the other afternoon when she finished her pears and cried for more food. Poor girl.  We started back on prunes yesterday, so hopefully that helps.  

At six months, I still don't know what color Vivi's hair will be.  It's looking very strawberry blonde this week.  It glows red in the sunlight.  In dimmer light, it looks brown.  Eric was fair haired as a baby, so maybe she'll end up with his coloring.  

Her eyes are still as blue but are taking on a greenish hue.  Madeline was about a year when her eyes finally turned brown, so Vivi might follow in the same fashion.  

She can roll over, but she doesn't do it often.  There's got to be something she really wants, like the remote or a dirty diaper, for her to make the effort.  She's extremely wiggly and grabs everything in sight.  The buckles on her carseat are a current favorite of hers.  I have a feeling she'll be one of those kids who figures out how to unbuckle herself.  

Vivi loves to drink from my water glass.  She pulls it right up to her mouth and knows just what to do.  I was just eating a peach, and I had to fight her off from it.  Girl knows what she wants, and she's strong.  

She's not teething yet, but we're close.  Her gums are quite swollen, and I can almost see them below the surface.  She's not drooling much though.  I'm worried about that milestone.  Madeline had no trouble teething at all, except for buckets of drool.  Something tells me Vivi won't be so chill about the whole thing.  

She's sleeping better.  She usually nurses once and sleeps the rest of the night.  Getting her down to sleep is finally clicking too.  She's able and willing to calm herself...at least sometimes.  

Vivi is still enamored with Madeline.  She's always watching her, looking for her, smiling at her.  She laughs at all of Maddie's jokes.  She wants to play with Maddie's toys.  Nothing makes her happier than gnawing on Olaf's face on the rare occasion that Madeline shares him.   

She's intense at times, but Vivi is such a good baby.  As long as she's part of the action, she's happy.  She'll sit on my lap watching her surroundings for hours.  

I love this little nugget who has challenged us in new, unexpected ways over the past six months.  And I'm so excited to watch her grow and develop over the next six months.  I can't imagine our family without her.  

Letters to Maddie Bear: June, 2014

Dear Madeline,

You are one smart cookie.  We often have deep conversations in the car.  Today, you started asking questions about outer space. We talked about the sun, planets, comets, and galaxies.  Your questions are endless.  

"What are we called?"  You asked.  

"Earth," I replied.  

You frowned a moment.  "You mean planet Earth," you corrected before asking, "What are the other planets called?"

And then there was:

"Why is there a universe with everything in it?"  

Oh, Maddie Bear, don't we all wish we knew.  

You saw the cover of a book that illustrated the evolution of man, and you had a lot of questions about that.  

"Why did people used to be monkeys?" you asked a few days later while driving around.  Let me tell you, evolution is a very difficult concept to explain to a person with so little concept of time.  A long, long time ago to you means when Mumma was a little girl.  

You asked what people do at church so I told you that they talk about God and Jesus and how to be a good person.  So then you had a lot of questions about Jesus, which you associated vaguely with swearing.  

"Jesus Christ?"  You repeated in bewilderment.  "Why was his name Jesus Christ?"  

I think you were very surprised to find out he was a person and not just something Mumma says when she gets mad.  Sorry, Madeline.  

At any rate, you're quite the little philosopher.  

Meanwhile, all of the games you play with  your dolls involve the bad guy capturing the princess.  When I play with you, I try to capture the prince instead.  Or, I pretend that the prince falls in love with the ugly witch because secretly she's beautiful on the inside.  You are not amused by my tactics.  You're like...leave your agenda at the door, and let me play, Mumma...

It's funny to eavesdrop on your play because you narrate the game through song.  Sometimes your lyrics include lines from movies you've seen, sometimes they're things we've said, and sometimes they're completely random.  It's one big mash up.  

You're a sensitive child sometimes.  A little girl recently told you that you couldn't play on a climbing tree at a park we were visiting.  Lots of kids were on it, but every time you tried to approach, the little girl yelld at you.  

I watched for a few minutes as you tried several times to approach the tree.  You don't have a single mean bone in your body, and so you stood there, beeildered, crushed, and unsure of what to do.

 I took your hand, walked you over to the tree, and helped you climb up on the branch anyway.  I also shot the girl's father a few dirty looks as he sat there grinning at his daughter.  

 You were happy playing, but later you blinked back tears and asked why the girl was mean to you.  I tried to tell you that she was just a little girl who didn't know how to share yet.  I tried to explain that not everyone will want to be your friend, but that's okay.  There are plenty of other kids out there who would love to play with you.  Find those kids.  

You look so grownup these days.  You're long and lean with mosquito bites on your legs and freckles across your nose.  People comment on how beautiful you are everywhere we go.  This is true.  You are very beautiful.  But I hope you also know that you're smart, kind, funny, and brave.  You are the sunshine after the rain.  

I love you, sweet girl.

Love,

Mumma

Vivi: Twenty-Five Weeks

Vivi is back to her smiley self after last weekend's horribleness.  Hooray!

Her eczema disappeared last weekend while she was on her hunger strike, but by Monday afternoon, it was back.  It's been going strong ever since.  Along with the skin issues, her nose gets runny/itchy and she has difficulty sleeping.  She's also a bit wheezy.  

I've restricted my diet even further.  In addition to dairy, I haven't had any soy, eggs, wheat, or nuts for a week.  I've also ditched tomatoes, strawberries, and chocolate.  The point of elimination diets is to slowly add the restricted foods  back in to identify the allergen.  But first, her symptoms have to go away.  

It's only been a week, but there hasn't been any improvement so far.  I'm incredibly frustrated...and hungry...and maybe this has nothing to do with what we're eating. But my whining is best saved for another post at another time.  

She started prunes this week to help with her digestion.  I think they're her favorite food so far.  She eats them up!  Surprisingly, Madeline loves them too.  It's funny watching the two of them eating prunes after dinner every night.  Madeline literally clapped when I took them out of the freezer.  Okay, kiddos!

She can sit up great now.  I sit her on the floor with a variety of toys spread around her.  She loves taking blocks out of the bucket and flipping through the pages  of books.  

Vivi's starting to reciprocate cuddles.  She leans toward me when she wants to be picked up. She wraps an arm around my neck when I hug her.  She loves to hold onto my face.  She grabs my lip when she's nursing.  Sometimes she holds my cheekbone while I carry her around.   She also opens her mouth and sorta gums my cheek.  I'm not sure if this is her way of telling me she's hungry or if they're early baby kisses.  

Bedtime is still going backwards.  She's  waking to nurse more frequently than she was a month ago.  By the time Maddie was this age, she was in her own room.  I just can't see doing that with Vivi while she's still nursing so often.  Poor Madeline will never get any rest if her roommate is up every three hours.  

I started her on a sippy cup this week, and she likes it better than a bottle.  Every time she sees me with a cup in my hand, she tries to wrestle it toward her mouth.  I let her have a few sips of my water, and she did well.  

Overall, Vivi is a happy, loving, demanding little bundle of awesome.  

Sisters

Love.

Okay, maybe a little too much love.

You're squishing me!  

Parenting, Currently

I know there's probably nothing, and I mean nothing, more boring than hearing a mom talk about her baby's poop.  I get that.  I do.  

But you know that amazing feeling one gets when the waitress brings a giant slice of cheesecake?  Or the bag boy calls you miss instead of m'am?  Or you get a hefty tax refund come April?  (Maybe this just applies to me?). 

All this pales in comparison to the sweet rush of euphoria I just got in discovering that Vivi finally pooped after three days of nothing but pain-inducing turd nuggets.  I mean, the poor girl has lost her voice from crying so hard and so often.  She sounds like a Lindsay Lohan baby.  It's so sad.  

And it was a real poop...with substance and style.  And it didn't make her cry.  And she smiled at us again!  

As soon as I finished putting her to bed, I scooped up that dirty diaper and brought it downstairs so I could gaze at it under the lights.  It was like Christmas morning.  Sure, it smelled like something had died, but that bad boy is going to change our lives.  It deserved its moment in the sun.  

I threw it out with a salute, washed my hands, and treated myself to two squares of ultra dark chocolate from Trader Joes cause it's dairy, soy, wheat, egg, and nut free!  

Boy, I feel ten pounds lighter.  

This is a parental love, folks...getting this excited because somebody else pooped.

And if future Vivi ever reads this and gets horribly embarrassed, I'm sorry honey, but you pooped!  Go, you!  Yay!