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So my husband has decided Isaac will be a musician like him.  Since our son cannot talk yet, he does not get a say in the matter, and I truly hope for both their sakes that Isaac is not tone deaf like his mom!  I cannot carry a tune, but luckily that doesn’t stop me from making a complete fool out of myself singing songs to him (:

Look at that concentration!

Some background info:  Chris used to play in a local band for years and still writes and plays his own music.  He can play a song after hearing it just once, which is pretty neat.  There is also a guitar collection in our living room, which I know will be troublesome when Isaac begins to crawl, but for now the precious instruments are safe, which brings me to my next point.  If anyone touches the guitars, Chris throws a fit.  For example, if I am cleaning and accidentally nudge one or if one of the dogs whacks one with an enthusiastic tail, get ready to hear it from the musician of the house!

This is why I wasn’t surprised when Chris wanted to teach Isaac to play the guitar, but when he sat him down at 6 months I was thinking disaster time!  My mom held him and I watched as slobbery little baby hands grabbed at the strings, smearing all over the wood, but Chris just gritted his teeth and smiled!  What?!  Well, it seems that Daddy does have some patience when it comes to his guitars.

After all, Isaac’s middle name is Clapton, after Chris’s favorite guitar hero, Eric Clapton, so we’ll see if he inherited the musician gene or the “please don’t ever sing in public” gene…

First lesson with Daddy and Grandma

Ever since Nora was born I have experienced pain in my back. Well, I guess I should say since before Nora was born because the pain started when I was pregnant. I lived with the pain for eight months hoping it would heal itself and gradually go away. It didn’t. It just got worse. My pain progressed to the point where Garrett had to be the one to put Nora in her crib and I was crying when I had to bend over or go from sitting to laying.

As I mentioned before one of my sisters is a physical therapist. While home for thanksgiving I asked her to take a look at my back.  I thought that I was just being a baby and the pain was all in my head. I wanted her to re-assure me that I was fine and then I could get the pain out of my head. It turns out I was wrong. I had apparently at some point in time (pregnancy? Or child birth?) had pulled a back muscle that had spasmed and tightened up and was pulling my spine majorly out of alignment.

I only have one spine and it has to last me for the rest of my life (and hopefully through many more children). So I made an appointment to see a physical therapist here in Jacksonville. He agreed with my sister’s assessment and also said that the right side of my back was stronger than my left side which added to the problem.

Through the course of physical therapy I also learned that I have been picking Nora up wrong. I was always hinging at the hips to lean down and pick her up (like doing a dead lift). This was putting major pressure on my lower and middle pack. I should have been squatting and using my legs to pick Nora up and put her down. I also learned that my core muscles (abdominal and inner muscles) are really weak. 

Physical Therapy involved the doctor realigning my spine, getting 20 minutes of heat therapy (while watching TV), electrotherapy, massages, stretches and exercises that target specific muscles that need to be stretched and strengthened. I am very proud to say that my pain level has decreased dramatically! And best of all I have the tools to help myself recover even more. The moral of this story is don’t ignore that back pain! Go and get help!

Have you experienced back pain since giving birth?

Now that Sayle is on the healthy side of the baby stomach virus, I feel like I can speak intelligently about it in hopes I can help some other moms out there.  I learned things the hard way last week, so please learn from my mistakes.   

baby stomach virus questions answered

* Sayle continued to have diarrhea for a week, which concerned us as he could have become very dehydrated.  The diarrhea occurred approximately one  hour after he had a bottle.  I contacted the pediatrician’s office and they told me to discontinue formula and to give Sayle Pedialyte or Gatorade. 

When your baby has a stomach virus, formula only irritates their bowels further, which is why Sayle was having blowouts after his bottles.  When I started the Pedialyte and Gatorade, he still had diarrhea, but it certainly was not as bad as it was with the formula. 

* I made the mistake of pouring Sayle a full bottle of Gatorade like I would with the Pedialyte and he ended up screaming.  I felt horrible as I was trying to help his tummy, but I only irritated it further as the Gatorade is full of sodium.  If you are going to use Gatorade, be sure to use half Gatorade and half water. 

* Even though it is technically no longer used, the nurse suggested putting Sayle on a form of the BRAT diet, which is an acronym for Bananas, Rice, Apple Sauce, and Toast.  I never gave Sayle toast as he doesn’t have enough teeth to chew it, but we used bananas, rice, and apple sauce.  The nurse stated it was important to keep them on a high starch diet so we also gave him bits of baked potato.  These foods added some substance back to his bowel movements.

* Sayle developed a horrible diaper rash as I was unable to keep his bum dry.  It got so bad that if he even thought I was going to change his diaper he started crying.  I used the same recipe for the yeast infection diaper cream, I just eliminated the Monistat.  Definitely keep it in the refrigerator! 

* When your baby has 24 hours of no diarrhea you are able to start them back on formula.  That is exactly what we did and that is a BIG MISTAKE-HUGE!  Sayle ended up projectile vomiting all over me and getting diarrhea all over again.  I started him back on Pedialyte for the rest of the day and called the Nurse line that night where I was given a detail I wish I had been given earlier.  When you start your baby back on formula, you need to water it down.  For instance, if Sayle was getting an 8 oz bottle, I gave him two scoops of formula rather than four and I gradually increased the amount of formula with the water. 

Baby’s bowels and stomach becomes very irritated when they have diarrhea so it is important to ease them back into their normal eating routine rather than jumping right back into it.  I wish I had caught that detail prior to being barfed on.        

* Unfortunately, you can’t stop a stomach virus and it has to run its course.

FYI:  I tried so hard for a cute picture at the beach of Isaac sitting naked on a towel facing the water so you could see his cute little booty (hence the title), but neither the weather or the photo subject cooperated…maybe next time!

at the beach on Halloween!

With spring coming I start to feel antsy, even though it’s still in the 30’s or 40’s at night.  I have to get outside!  Do you know what I mean?  I look out the window and see the sunshine and the blue sky and rush out the door, only to hurry back in for a warm sweatshirt and maybe some fuzzy gloves.  So close…but so far away (:

I’m glad we live here instead of where I grew up or went to college, because both Maryland and Minnesota still have snow on the ground!  Oops, I guess North Carolina did a week or so ago, but you get my point…the warm weather and the beach are calling to me!  And I’m happy to see Isaac is hearing the call as well!  When we walk past windows he grabs at them and tried to pull himself outside, not realizing there is a pane of glass in the way.  We have had a couple bonked heads, but still haven’t seemed to learn.

I try to take my son outside every day unless it’s really cold or rainy.  It’s something my mom always advised for us, to get some sun on your face and breathe fresh air, and I think she might be onto something.  Isaac can be screaming his head off but as soon as we step outside he falls silent, look around, then breaks into a huge smile and then a giggle fit, usually followed by some happy squeals and crazy legs.  I think I have found a cure- all!

What makes your baby stop crying?

Jeremiah recently turned five and he requested a dirt bike themed party for the celebration.  At first I was worried about pulling off a grand event with our new Dave Ramsey budget we’ve been living on. 

In the past, all of my kids’ birthdays have been pretty extreme both literally and monetarily.  Yikes!!  I knew I had to keep this one pretty low budget, but there was no reason why it couldn’t still be a hit.  I had big plans for the party that included having our friends bring their bikes, scooters or trikes over, all decorated for a parade and contest judged by the birthday boy. 

Well, the weather had other plans for us.  Blah.

We ended up shortening our birthday list by telling the parents to just drop off their kids given the fact that we’d ALL be staying indoors for the gala.  The kids ended up playing throughout the house being wild animals and screaming at the top of their lungs.  Good times.

I served yummy BBQ pork sandwiches and homemade potato salad to the grownups that DID come and then mini meat and cheese sandwiches for the little folk.  The cake was my favorite part because it was SO fun to make.  Chocolate cake turned into a dirt bike arena complete with messy chocolate frosting, crushed oreos, cocoa puffs, pretzel lined trails and fruit roll up flags.  The kids LOVED it. 

Not everyone opens presents during birthday parties.  However, we always have and to make it less stressful, I had Jeremiah ask each kid to hand him his or her present.  Everyone took turns while the others sat on the couch and watched.  To wrap it up, everyone was given a big huge container of bubbles and sent on their way!

I was super proud of myself because the entire party was only $60 which included Jeremiah’s Razor scooter we got him.  It taught me a HUGE lesson, and that is, the kids don’t know the difference between a $60 party and a $350 party, it’s all just good fun for them!

The mirror is like a magic wand for Nora. She could be terribly upset and screaming her head off but one look in the mirror and she’s not only calm; she’s also smiling! On the day of this video Garrett and I were letting Nora play with the mirror during my physical therapy appointment.

 
How does your baby respond to the mirror?