Family Update

It has been a long time since I've posted on the blog.  I keep thinking of things that I wish I had journaled and written down and then I realize again...I can type way faster than write and essentially if I'm not blogging then journaling certainly isn't going to happen.  So I'm hoping to improve this method first. Anyway...

Life is great(ish). But no really-it's great. Tim just got a new job at Etrade and is really enjoying it so far. This is his first week but it looks like he'll have a lot more opportunities for growth there than at Morgan Stanley. He is still the best husband and father ever. Every weekend with him home I just think...man, if only the weekend was 5 days long and the work week 2 because it is such a joy having him home. Me and Mary sure miss him when he's at work.  The look of joy Mary gets every day when he comes home though is priceless!

Me-life is great. Now that Mary is on a little more of a schedule and takes pretty legit naps during the day I feel like I'm kind of my own person again (sometimes).  It's weird though.  I will try to get stuff done during the day and some days nothing gets done, but at the end of the day when Mary is in bed sleeping, I miss her. I think how it would be great if she would take a longer nap or let me leave a room for more than a minute, but then at night when I'm in bed I just look at pictures and videos of her. So basically....we love her so much and being a mom is the best thing in the world. Also, my sister and her kids from Virginia are in town, and so me and my sisters are all together and its great to see everyone.

Now Miss Mary-she is now 8.5 months (crazy!).  And just over the past week she has had a lot of things happen.  Mary has always spit up and thrown up (since she was like a week old), but since we started her on solid food she has been throwing up more. Every day, without fail, no matter what, after every meal, before meals, after naps....just all the time. Well she's always been kind of skinny, but I was kind of worried about her because I really feel like she hasn't gained much weight at all since she was 6 months old. So we took her to the doctor last week to just check and see how she was doing. When she was 6 months she weighted 13 lbs 12 oz. At eight months (with a thick onesie on, full diaper, and later she pooped a lot that day) she weighed 14 lbs 8 oz. So she gained less than a pound in two months. Not great.  I was really starting to get worried because she went on a little mini nursing strike and would barely nurse, wouldn't take a bottle at all, and was throwing up her solid food.  Our doctor had her take a barrium swallow on Friday to just make sure all of her anatomy is ok. Thankfully, it is.  The swallow was very traumatic since Mary had to fast from Midnight on, would NOT take the bottle, and ended up having to have a nose tube, but thankfully nothing is wrong with her anatomically.

Fast forward to Tuesday. We were told that Mary needed a second Barrium swallow on Tuesday morning.  I was really dreading it because Mary had to fast again, and it was such an awful experience the first time, and this time Tim wasn't going to be able to come with me so I'd have to go by myself. When we got there they told us they couldn't find the order and would like us to come back later in the day.  I just broke down and cried. Making a baby fast is one of the saddest things, and then having them go through an awful procedure is even worse. So I told them I would reschedule for Thursday morning instead so that she could sleep during most of the fast.  Later that morning her doctor called and said she didn't need a second exam (YAY!), so that was great news.  Well later that day when I fed her solid food she just wouldn't stop eating. She then proceeded to throw it all up.  I just assumed I let her over eat since she had fasted earlier and that it was my fault.  Well later that night, same thing, she just couldn't keep her food down except this time the throw up was bigger and chunkier and grosser, and just not her normal stuff. She also sounded like she was pain, moaning on her tummy until she threw up.   After she threw up she was really disoriented and wobbly/weak. She was so happy, smiley, and snuggly too-which when she is tired she's normally cranky, and she was super tired, so we knew that wasn't normal. So we gave her some pedialyte (as instructed by Tim's brother Bryan who is a pediatrician. SO nice to have a doctor in the family.) and monitored her to make sure she was ok. Yesterday she seemed pretty good. And then this morning she threw up SOOO much. Like as much as an adult. It was coming out of her nose and mouth, she was crying, and just looked like she was in pain, poor girl. So we went to the doctor today and he thinks she might have a stomach flu.  Sick babies are seriously the saddest thing. So we are all doing good, but Mary is feeling under the weather.  Today at the doctor appointment she had also lost weight. She weighted 14 lbs 2 oz and was wearing a thick onesie, and had a very full diaper.  At 6 months when I started her on solid foods I put formula in with her cereal to try and bulk her up.  I had a lightbulb moment the other night though and realized that I think she is probably lactose intolerant.  Sometimes I think I am a little bit, and since she was spitting up more since we started her on cereal I think that the formula probably contributed to that.  I also started sleep training at six months and she used to nurse the best at night. I read that the foremilk has more lactose and the hindmilk has more fat, and since she now sleeps through the night during the day all she gets is the lactose milk from nursing. So I went to the store and bough a small thing of spit-up formula (since she doesn't really nurse in the day much I am drying up and so we're transitioning to formula. Kind of a sad time for me, but I want her to be as healthy as I can and I don't think I'm cutting it anymore.) I thought, if she can keep this down maybe it was just the spitting up, and if she can't then I'm almost positive she is lactose intolerant. Well, this morning she threw up a lot of what she got yesterday, so to soy formula it is. I'm hoping she'll be able to keep this down and pack on a couple lbs.

Well that is the end to this Ellertson family novel installment. Check back in another two months for another update. ;-)