October 29, 2015
The last three weeks or so have been quite a crazy ride. With her birthday, Jules’ birthday, family vacation, rampant sickness, and childcare gymnastics, we’ve had our fill of October. As far as I’m concerned, we can have Halloween and be done with it. The weather has been pretty darn good, but the life situation has been a bit rough.
I took pics all along the way, but the onslaught of the plague wiped out my blogging mojo.
Zaxby’s
Okay… More tomorrow!
October 25, 2015
Sunday was better.
She had a little bit more of an appetite. Her coughing was less frequent. I felt a little better. (Unfortunately, Jeremy’s now sick.)
We installed her new Evenflo carseat (rear-facing) in my car, and she looks like she loves it! It’s basically a La-Z-boy for toddlers. We took down her swing in the doorway to our bedroom. And we encouraged her to drip Pedialyte from a sippy cup.
In so many ways, I feel like my baby is growing up. She’s funny and smart, energetic and snuggly, expressive and challenging. This phase is really fun, but I do have a little sadness in my heart that her baby days are coming to an end.
October 24, 2015 (after the little one crashed out for the night)
We spent a long day at home wallowing around in our sickness. SJ fought naps all day. I think she managed to sleep for a total of an hour-ish. By dinner time, she was a mess with us not far behind.
But even with all the coughing and sniffling and whimpering, we managed to keep our lines of communication open. She likes to repeat words she knows right now. And the list has quickly grown from about 10 or so words around her birthday to nearly 20 right now. Here’s the list:
ma-ma
da-da
ba-ba
ba-by
na-na
ga-ga
ga-paw
pu-pu
tickle-tickle
me-me
uh-oh
cra-cka
sa-tuh (Satie)
ball
Buh-tuh (Bastie)
this
nigh-nigh (night night)
ring ring (bells)
And then there are all her little idiosyncrasies:
“sweet baby”
playing boo
kissing
playing chase
continued fear of Abigail
love of all musical things
waving “hi” to her reflection (in the door, the oven, the mirror)
and biting me of course…
October 24, 2015
I’ve been waiting for the day to come when I just couldn’t keep all the balls in the air and had to raise the white flag in surrender. We came close to it this week, with a great crescendo of a climax last night.
Ten days ago, Miss SJ started having diarrhea. We blamed it on pizza. Then, as the days passed and the runs kept on runnin’, we blamed it on a virus. About six days ago, she started showing signs of a cold. With lots of cousins running around with the croup, we decided to nip it in the bud and take her to the doctor right away. Dr. Jen put her on steroids and encouraged bland food for the diarrhea.
We worked through three days of steroids. We gingerly handled severe diaper rash. We ate only bread and bananas for days and days. Meanwhile, I developed the same stomach bug and cold. Grammy is knocked out with a horrible respiratory infection. She sounds awful and can barely do anything without it knocking her on her petooty.
So that’s added a bit of intrigue to our week and rekindled our love for Ashley, SJ’s favorite sitter. (Thank you, thank you, thank you, Abigail, for the recommendation!!!)
Night before last, she was just a mess. She didn’t want to be in her crib. Lying down made her cough, and that made her a pathetic little ball of unbearable sadness. Jeremy took the 12:00am-3:00am shift, and I took the 3:00am-6am shift. It made for a rough Friday at work, let me tell you…
Last night, she started a coughing fit after we had eaten dinner and had most of a bottle. In no time at all, a cough turned into a gag – and Mom was covered in vomit. Wave after wave of hurling vomit crashed against the recliner, the floor, the blankets, the clothes, our hair. It was quite amazing. Jeremy just watched in horror as his anxiety began to shoot through the roof.
Turns out vomiting is okay for babies as long as they continue to pee. Diarrhea is okay too, as long as a little pee pee follows close behind. Really, I think a baby has to lose a limb or go into a coma before we all need to lose our shiz. That’s what I’ve learned over the course of the last 24 hours. Jeremy managed to survive with her at 2:00am, when she went through a similar round of hack-to-puke.
This morning, we’re doing a little better. She’s kept down three 2oz. bottles and a piece of bread. She’s napping without a coughing fit. Jeremy’s crashed out. I’ve had a shower. Thank goodness for that! And the only bad turn of events is that Jeremy has now joined Team Poop!
Parenthood for the win.
October 17, 2015
Jeremy was out of town this weekend, so SJ and I spent some good quality time together. The weather in Florida in October is just the best. I had to be outside, and SJ loves to listen to the sounds of nature and people watch.
She is having some terrible stomach issues at the moment and severe diarrhea consequently. We didn’t venture too far from home… just far enough to catch some rays, lay on our blanket in the grass, and watch the little children run amuck on the playground.
October 12, 2015
Selah June is 12 months old (as of many days ago). There is so much going on in that little brain. It’s nearly impossible to keep up.
We think she’s growing right now (including teeth) because she gets hiccups all the time, is waking up in the middle of the night, is fussy at weird times, puts everything in her mouth, and seems to be going through a “phase.”
She’s also demonstrating very willful behavior. When she’s bored with her food or sees the puppy pass by, she tosses food from her highchair. When she is pulled away from the cabinets or the puppy food, she immediately lunges to bite me… repeatedly. Let the fun times begin!!!
People at work think Jeremy and I are acting like young lovers with all the bruises I have up and down my arms. Little do they know I’m raising a piranha.
We had so much fun doing a photo shoot during our beach staycation. Everybody has different preferences, so I’ve erred on the side of uploading all of the ones with potential to be liked.
Let me know your favorites!
October 10, 2015
The weekends are so special for our little Evans’ family. Given that Jeremy and I both work outside of the home, we don’t get much time at home with just the three of us. And, during the week, we get run down by day’s end. The routine is very structured, and most of our time is spent getting ready for the day or coming down from the day. So I look forward to Saturdays as rich, quality playtime.
Today was not as much of that as I would have liked. Selah June woke up at 5:30am. That wasn’t too awesome. But then we watched some “Wheels on the Bus” in bed, which was nice. We had a good long morning nap… also nice. But the day was just feeling a little off. Sometimes you just know.
Jeremy made plans to go watch the Cubs’ game with Mario et al., and I decided to spend the evening with family over at Aaron and Jessica’s watching the Gator game. Kickoff was at 6:30pm, which I knew was pushing it for SJ’s bedtime. I went over to see them early so that I could have some good quality time with the whole clan before she turned into a pumpkin. And that was a good thing…
Just when parents started showing up (6:30pm for kickoff), she started getting fussy. First, she didn’t want to sit in her highchair facing the window, then she didn’t want to sit in her highchair. She didn’t want to eat bananas, then she didn’t want to drink a bottle. She didn’t want to rock in the rocking chair, and then she didn’t want to go to sleep. She didn’t want to be held by anybody, but she didn’t really want to be put down. It was just fussiness. Jessica couldn’t take the endless crying in the crib, and I couldn’t take the fitfulness away from the house. I finally surrendered and took her home. She calmed down as soon as I put her in the carseat. It’s as if she was missing her routine.
But then we got home and started the routine. She didn’t want her bottle, and she didn’t want to lie down. She didn’t want to rock in the chair, and she didn’t want to just watch “Wheels on the Bus.” Phew…. Just typing it out makes me tired and exasperated.
In my mind, I went back to the colic days (and weeks and months). I remembered the bouncing and shushing. We walked the halls and bounced, walked and bounced, walked and bounced. A few little toots came out… and she grew heavier. Then a few more little toots…. and she grew heavier. Her eyelids slowly sank until her eyes were closed. And we made it to bed. Wow. I don’t know how we ever survived the colic days. Tonight was just three hours, but it had me worn out by night’s end.
I’m thankful for family members who understand when the uncontrollable happens. I’m thankful for the colic days to make me appreciate the happy, healthy, easy, wonderful baby that we have today. I’m thankful for chili with lots of meat and fresh salad with pico and basil that gave me the energy to get her to bed tonight. I didn’t fix it, but I sure did enjoy eating it! There’s nothing like a home-cooked meal cooked by somebody else at some other home. 🙂 Thanks, fam. Sorry for the crazy.
October 9, 2015
Selah June and Daddy went to Greek Festival while I was at work. (“NO FAIR!!” is right.)
I received this little gem while I was at work. Selah Juney does like her some Greek music and pita bread… Have you ever seen a happier baby?
October 8, 2015
I came home from work to Selah June and Daddy playing a new game… CHASE!!!
She is a mess, and the two of them together get into all sorts of shenanigans.