Bored and Broke

I guess those two could kind of go hand in hand.

It has been a tough month or two since I have been on maternity income wise. Since I am only part time, I don't get paid for maternity leave. I know my hubby is so sick of hearing how broke we are that he probably wants to put a muzzle on me. I think it is hard to hear you don't have money for things when you are accustomed to being able to be more lenient. Granted, it isn't like I bring home tons of cash, but I have come to realize that I definitely bring home enough to make our living comfortable. We are using our tax returns to live off of while I am on maternity leave, and it is slowly dwindling away. The money I allotted us to get through 12 weeks, has only gotten us through about 8. It's not like we don't have any extra cash in our savings. But, I hate to use that up. We will have to dig into some of it though. So, I am going to try to be extra cautious on the money we spend in the upcoming weeks. Even more so than I have been. No more new shoes for Alyssa...LOL.

So, that brings me to bored. I am so bored today. It is a beautiful day and Alyssa and I spent some of it outside playing, but now she is down for a nap. I am so thankful for my two babies, but I dread going anywhere with the both of them by myself. So, I am sitting here thinking that I could go somewhere, but that would require LOTS of work packing everyone up. I like having plans and right now I have none. Maybe when Alyssa wakes up we can go for a walk. I'd like to go to the park, but I am nervous going to the park with both of them by myself.

I should get some more laundry done, but I don't feel like doing that either. I can't believe how blah I am feeling on such a beautiful day here. I hate that feeling.

And now I don't even know what else to type about. So I will stop typing...LOL.

Fussy Baby

Yep, I have yet another very fussy baby.

Morgan has progressively been getting fussier and fussier. She likes to be held a lot and during the day, she will hardly sleep at all unless I am holding her. (Except at night I can swaddle her really tight and she will sleep well...it is strange).

She will eat and then about an hour later, scream and scream. Sometimes there is just no consoling her. No pacifier, no rocking, nothing. I was talking to a friend of mine who has dealt with silent reflux in two of her kids and she said that Morgan was showing some possible signs of silent reflux. First, she has bouts of fussiness. She sounds congested when sleeping. She makes gagging noises as if she wants to spit up, but then doesn't. I think she may be spitting up a little and then swallowing it. Sometimes when she is screaming, I will feed her again and she will drink the bottle VERY slowly. Almost as if the the liquid is making her feel better, not that she is hungry, but it is soothing for some reason.

So, I called the peds office about this and after the nurse made me feel like a silly, paranoid mom, set me up for an appt today.

After seeing the ped she said that usually babies with reflux will spit up a lot, but that doesn't mean Morgan doesn't have it. She wants to try her on a new formula (Enfamil AR Lipil). I am sort of surprised because it says that the formula is for babies who spit up a lot and Morgan doesn't spit up at all. I was reading about the formula and it says that it is a thicker formula with added rice starch in it. I guess this helps keep the formula down, but as I said, if she isn't actually spitting it up, I don't understand how this will help. I just hope it does, because I feel like Morgan cries so much. I went though this with Alyssa too and it is just so hard to enjoy these first few months of life when they are constantly screaming.

I did read that Enfamil has a formula called Gentlease and it is for fussy, gassy babies. I wonder if we should have tried that one instead of one for spitting up. But I guess the ped knows best and I will follow her orders. The only other thing that sucks is I bought a ton of Good Start Formula before I went on maternity leave. Plus Good Start starting sending coupons for buy one get one free cans of formula. I am all for the deals. Oh well, whatever is best for my baby.

Super Sweet

My older daughter is the so sweet to her baby sister.

If Morgan is crying, she always runs over and wants to give her a kiss! She will demand to give her one until she kisses her. She will also try to stick the pacifier in her mouth all of the time (even if she doesn't need it).

Just now, I went over to the pack n play where Morgan is laying and noticed that Morgan's empty bottle, and her burp cloth were thrown by her feet. Alyssa must have thought Morgan needed her bottle and burp cloth. She is so thoughtful. It makes me smile to see Alyssa being so sweet and caring about her baby sister.

Being a mom of two might be hard and overwhelming, but little moments like this really make me realize it is the best thing in the world!!!

Pictures!!

Since I signed up to be a portrait club member, I got a free smiles by wire. That means I got to view my pictures online and therefore, get to share with you sooner than when I get them back!!
I was so excited to get these done. These are the pictures we ordered:

Alyssa


Morgan


Alyssa and Morgan

And my favorite - Alyssa kissing Morgan

(Or as Alyssa calls it "Diss" instead of "Kiss"...too funny!!).

I love getting pictures taken. I can never do this good of a job at my house. I always get action shots. I always spend a pretty penny when I do, but it is worth it. I love having these pictures to look back on.

Linda Loses It...

I need some big time motivation to eat well, exercise and lose weight. I need something to help me do this, so I have decided to start another blog entitled "Linda Loses It...My Weight Loss Journey".

I wanted a place to vent, record and ramble about dieting, exercising and weight loss and didn't want to clog up this blog with that type of stuff.

So, if you are interested in checking my progress and ramblings over there, feel free. I need all the support I can get!!

Happy Easter!!

I have been on the computer since 6:00 this morning, anxiously awaiting Alyssa to wake up and search for her Easter basket and Easter eggs!! I know I am way more excited than she is.

Morgan is already awake, but I told her she has to wait for her sister before they can search for their baskets. Morgan doesn't seem to mind waiting...LOL!

Here is a picture I took of Morgan yesterday:



She is doing really well!! I think I have seen a couple smiles, but I don't know if it is really smiling or just gas. I love when she gets a big grin when she is sleeping. It just melts my heart.

We went to get their pictures taken last Tuesday. We got Morgan's 1 month pictures, Alyssa's 2 year pictures and pictures of them together. Yep, JC Penny made a small fortune off of me that day. I will post the pictures when I get them back.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter. We have a fun filled day of having the IL's over for breakfast. Then we are heading over to my aunt and uncles for an Easter egg hunt and then over to my mom's for dinner. Should be a fun day. I am about to start the coffee now...LOL!

Happy Birthday, Morgan

Today is Morgan's one month birthday!!

I know, I am a dork, but I can't believe that she has been here for one whole month already.

She is doing so well and sometimes can sleep for a five hour stretch. It ends up being good if we can time it right at night. If not, then we end up waking up twice a night anyway.

Happy one month birthday, Stinkerbell (Daddy's nickname for Morgan).

Monday's Moments

Today, Alyssa said her first official sentence.

I asked her this morning if she pooped and she looked at Gary and said "Daddy, I pooped".

So I am happy for three reasons. One, that she finally put words together that we actually understood. Two, that she asked Gary to change her diaper and not me. And three, that she knew that she had went to the bathroom in her pants. We always thought she didn't even know when she went. So, maybe she will be potty trained before she is five! Woo Hoo!!

Today we also went to her speech therapy "toddler time" session. Of course, I boasted to the therapist that she said a sentence this morning. She seemed happy. She proceeded to tell me that we are really focusing on Alyssa's listening skills and the ability to be able to complete one task before moving to another and participate in group activities.

Normally, I think I would have been somewhat offended. The reason being is because I thought that we were there for speech therapy and Alyssa is making amazing strides in her vocabulary and speech and then for the therapist to focus on what Alyssa needs to work on could have rubbed me the wrong way, but it didn't!!

I am actually loving the class that Alyssa is involved with now. To me it seems somewhat like an early preschool program. They do art projects and sing in circle time and then today they got to go outside for a little recess time. I really think it is cute what they do there. I don't know why it took me so long to see that. She has only recently been involved with the "toddler time", but I think she is really getting the hang of what it expected of her there. She still had two small tantrums when she wanted to do something else, but overall that is wonderful compared to the fit she would throw the entire time when we first started this program.

So, maybe it was my pregnancy hormones mixed in with "there's nothing wrong with my kid" attitude that made me think she really didn't need to be there. But, now I am impressed with the program and even if I don't think she "needs" to be there, it is wonderful that she can still be involved with a program like that and I know she will learn from it no matter at what level she is at with her speech skills.