Mommy's New Diet

On Friday hubby and I had big plans... none of which actually happened.  Instead we had our first non-well baby visit to the clinic.

My poor little baby had been really fussy and having some issues with bright green poop.  We took him in to the closest clinic for a weight check and he was up to 9 pounds 5 ounces!  So he is still gaining weight!  (Yay!)  But he has been very fussy, especially after eating, and has been having some very green poop.  Lime green.  Poor little guy.  I did my research on KellyMom (which is an amazing website with all kinds of new mommy advice) but I was still nervous that something could be very wrong.  KellyMom said that the issues could be due to a foremilk-hindmilk imbalance, but I was able to rule that out because we already do everything the way they had listed to fix this problem.  The next culprit that was listed could be an allergy.  They said the most common allergy for infants is a protein in dairy products.  I was on a mission to cut out dairy from my diet.  This is really hard.  Almost everything that I eat seems to have dairy in it.

It had been a few days of kind of trying to stick to my no-dairy diet and there hadn't really been results.  It had been almost a whole week of the fussiness and green poop.  I kept wondering if maybe something else was wrong.  I called to ask the nurse if I should really be worried.  She said the doctor was a bit concerned, so it would be best for us to come in and have our little man checked out.  They squeezed us in for an appointment.  I will admit that I was a bit of a crazy mess while we were in the appointment.  The doctor was checking him over.  Cameron was crying, like a heartbreaking "why isn't my mommy saving me!?" kind of cry.  So I cried, too.

There is just nothing like not being sure if something is wrong with your baby.  And I'm already an emotional person.  Want an example?  I cried at the horse commercial that Budweiser had for the Superbowl.  Sobbed, actually.  I could try to blame pregnancy hormones, but clearly that had nothing to do with it.  You can watch it here, if you want.  (Go ahead and laugh, but I am sure if I watched it again I would cry just as much as I did the first time.)  Anyway, I'm not surprised that an unexpected baby appointment would make me cry.  I would be more surprised if I was able to make it through the appointment without shedding a tear.

The doctor didn't find anything wrong with Cameron.  What a relief!  However, she did agree that I should definitely cut dairy out of my diet.  But that's not all!  She also told me to cut out processed meats (she actually said "no processed foods" but her focus was on meats, so that's where I will start).  No more lunch meat.  No more hot dogs!  No ice cream.... no cheese... I basically left the appointment wondering what in the world I am going to eat.  If you've been following my blog, you know that the only thing I ever really wanted to eat throughout pregnancy was a cold lunchmeat sandwich (with cheese on it, obviously).  Apparently me and sandwiches are just not meant to be.  I am convinced that this will be the healthiest I have ever eaten.  I guess there is no time like now to force myself to learn how to cook.

I am very thankful that some of our veggies survived our garden flood.  It makes it easier to eat non-processed food when I can run down to the garden and pick veggies.  Hurray for lettuce!  We have an abundance of green beans, so I guess I will be eating a lot of those, too.  I'm a little bummed that all but a few of our snow peas were washed away in the storm the weekend Cameron was born... And the ones that survived aren't looking too good.  I've also discovered unsweetened almond milk, so at least I can still eat cereal.

We will see how this goes.  I don't have any intentions of switching him to formula so it's really good motivation to stick to a strict diet.  So if you hear me complaining, which I'm sure I will, just ignore me.      

I love snuggles with my baby and puppy (she's a big puppy, but she's still a puppy to me!)

5 weeks

My sweet little baby was 5 weeks old on Wednesday.

chop chop!

I have been growing my hair out since hubby and I got engaged. This is probably the longest my hair has ever been!  

Bye bye long hair! 

I've never been attached to my hair.  I've never been sad to chop it all off.... Until today.  Two years is a lot of time to invest in growing out hair.  But when I always just tie it back, it doesn't do me any good to have it long.  At least that's what I convinced myself of today! 

Hubby calls it my "mom cut." 

7-21!

On Sunday we celebrated our one year anniversary! I can hardly believe that we have already been married for a whole year.  Crazy! 

I thought it would be fun to take a picture in the same place as one of our wedding pictures!  Maybe we'll even remember to take one next year! :). I had big plans for us to be dressed up and looking nice for this picture, but I think I'm just lucky we took one at all.  

Since Pepper wasn't in the wedding pictures, here is a picture of what she was up to the week of our wedding... 

She's so tiny!!! 

One year later she is much more interested in swimming in green ponds than she is in shredding....

Seriously, she's a swamp monster.

This doesn't have anything to do with our anniversary, but I just have to show off my little dude at the lake today.  We love the lake! 

One Month!

The past month has officially been the fastest month of my life.

Big Bear and Little Bear... and Roarbert the Lion.

Pepper just loves getting in on these photos, too.  

And just for fun, here is his one week photo for comparison...

In other news, I got my first box from Citrus Lane today!  Happy one month birthday little buddy, we you got fun mail!  Citrus Lane is a monthly subscription service that sends a box of fun things for your baby.  I never knew that this kind of company existed, and now I might be hooked!  The items in the boxes are picked specifically based on the age of your child, from birth to 5 years old!  I used a coupon code so I didn't pay the full $25 that it would normally cost for a one month subscription.  I was really curious if it would be worth it.  (If you have been thinking about it, you can sign up here and get $10 off of your first box!)

In my box I got an Aden and Anais burpy bib (retail for these is usually between $10-12), a mini mobile from Tiny Love (retail for $13 on Amazon), Buddy Wipes (retail for $3 on Amazon), a sample of mum + bub soothing ointment (which is AWESOME.  Now I want the hair and body wash.) and a gift certificate for Postagram (They listed the value as $10).

Egh, super blurry picture.  But you get the idea.

So the value of the box would be approximately $36.  Definitely worth buying, especially with the discount code!  I had been looking at buying another burpy bib anyway, because they are awesome.  I already have one, but I always use it first so it always seems to be dirty.  The mini mobile is super cute.  I'm excited for little bear to start interacting with it.  He likes the chime noise it makes and he is starting to follow the movement, so I don't think it will be long!  I had been looking for some kind of hand and face wipes to keep in the diaper bag, so the Buddy Wipes are perfect!  I have never seen them in stores, so I'm not sure I will ever buy them again, but now I will know if they are worth ordering on Amazon.  The mum + bub soothing ointment is delicious.  They say it works for everything from diaper rash to minor cuts and scrapes to chapped lips.  I put it on my lips and love it.  Sorry Cameron, that one is for mommy.  I think that I will like the mum+bub stuff even better than Mustella and Lavanila.  (Yes, I'm serious!)

I'm not sure if I will keep getting the boxes because $25 each month is kind of crazy (but worth it if you love everything in the box!)... if anyone else wants to try it you can sign up for a monthly subscription here (affiliate link*) and you should get $10 off of your first box!  You don't have to get more than one box, so I think it's at least worth a try using the discount!

Anyway, discovering monthly subscription boxes could be a dangerous thing.  I had no idea what I was missing!

*If you use my link to purchase a box or subscription I will receive a $10 credit towards future boxes for Cameron!*

Travels!

This past weekend we took Cameron for his first OVERNIGHT trip!  We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa!

Traveling with a newborn is not the easiest thing hubby and I have ever done.  The trip that would usually take about 3 1/2 hours took more like 6 hours!  We did better on the way home and shaved about an hour off of that.  We'll get the hang of things eventually, but when baby is hungry, we have to stop!

We stopped at the clinic for a weight check for Cameron on the way.  He weighed 8 lbs 8 oz!  So he is gaining!  At his two week appointment he was 7 lbs 13 oz.  And by the way his clothes are fitting (and not fitting) I can definitely tell that he is getting longer!  They didn't check his height, but the next time we go in for a weight check I think I will ask them to.  :)

On our trip I ended up sitting in the back seat so I could keep an eye on Cameron.  Pepper was in the way back all by herself and she didn't really like that.  She wanted to be close to us, so she spent a lot of time like this:

We are looking into getting the cage to keep her all the way in the back.  We don't want her to be trying to climb over the seat.  Poor girl isn't going to like that.  

We had a nice time visiting Grandma and Grandpa.

And we finally got a family picture! 

We used the cloth diapers while we were there.  So grandma got to help out with some diaper laundry.  And Cameron helped, too! Aren't they so cute hanging on the line??  The cow one is definitely my favorite.  The Smurf blanket is Hubby's baby blanket!

When we got home on Sunday it was time to try something new!  My doctor suggested introducing the bottle sometime between 3-4 weeks, so we decided to give it a try.

No problem at all!  I think Cameron really likes getting a bottle from daddy.  I was a little sad, but it will be nice knowing that we can go somewhere and not have to worry about only being away from him for an hour or two!  Especially since our anniversary is coming up!  We might actually get to go out on a date for the first time in a long time!  I wasn't very much fun when I was pregnant... going out to eat really wasn't something I wanted to do.  I'm really glad that I like food again!  In fact, we even stopped to pick up Chinese from our favorite place (the one we used to live by) and took it home with us for supper on Sunday.  It's probably a good thing we don't live next to that place any more.  I have a feeling we would be ordering delivery a lot more than once a week with a baby around!    

Last night Cameron slept right through his usual 1:00 wake up time and made it from 11:00 until 3:00!  That was his first 4 hour stretch!  I would maybe be able to tell that I had an extra hour of sleep, but we were up until midnight anyway because Cameron was WIDE AWAKE after his 11:00 feeding.  So that hour gave us lots of time for stories and lullabies.  I'm curious if he will start sleeping 4 hours at a time every night.  That would be nice!   

Three Weeks!

Cameron is THREE WEEKS old today!  I can hardly believe it!

I've seen a lot of people do pictures with a stuffed animal so you can watch baby grow.  I think it might be easier to see the changes like this instead of on the giraffe chair.  So I guess I will try to do both.  :)  A huge thanks to "Auntie" Beth for the super cute lion!

We had a very big day today.  I had my first check up, so we made our first long trip without Hubby!  We were only a little late, so that was ok.  I blame the road construction.  Seriously, I only left 5 minutes later than I had planned because we had a last minute poopy diaper to deal with.  At my appointment I found out that I am currently only 7 pounds above my first weeks of pregnancy weight.  Which is still a few pounds away from where I would ideally like to be, but I was pretty proud of myself for being so close to my pre-pregnancy goal weight.  We'll see how hard this last 7 pounds is to get rid of!

Not only did we have our first long trip, but we also had a lunch date with cousins!  It was some well deserved mommy time for Laura and I (you can check out her blog here) and it was fun for all the babies, too!

And of course we had to do a group photo!  At least it's almost the whole group.  I guess we could've had our waitress take one of all of us.... she was very fascinated by the twins.  I think she would've sat with us for our whole meal if we would've invited her to.

We also had our first trip to the mall.  We realized that poor Cameron doesn't get much attention when the twins are around.  Cameron wasn't as big of a fan of the mall, although in his defense he was hungry.  So we also had our first experience with nursing in public!  A huge thanks to Macy's for having comfortable chairs in the women's restroom.  So it wasn't 100% public as we were able to to into a bathroom, but it was a very busy place.

Cameron and I made a few more stops around town and went into a couple of stores that I had always wanted to go to, but never had a good excuse.  I've been having a few issues with my cloth diapers so I wanted to get some advise from a couple of the specialty stores in town that stock them.  The first store, which exclusively stocks GrowVia, was a super cute place!  However, I would never go back there with a question about cloth diapering.  The girl admitted that she didn't have children so didn't have any experience diapering, but I guess she tried her best to answer my questions.  I've been having issues with leaky diapers.  She was convinced that I need to wash my diapers with vinegar.  She said that might help with the absorbency (cloth diapers are tricky little buggers with all of their requirements to reach "maximum absorbency").  I told her that we had only been using the diapers for about 2 weeks, so there shouldn't be build up on them, especially since I'm using one of the recommended cloth diaper detergents.  I wanted to tell her that if people needed to strip their diapers every two weeks, no one would cloth diaper.  I suggested that maybe he is a "heavy wetter" because the diapers seem completely saturated when change him.  (At this point she suggested changing him more often to which I responded that people would also not cloth diaper if they had to change their baby more often than every 2-2 1/2 hours.  How would a baby be able to sleep through the night!?)  I was hoping that she would show me some kind of extra layer that I could use (called a "doubler" in cloth diaper land).  The girl showed me some disposable liners and then she told me that they have flushable liners also that you use to catch the poop and can just throw away (but they were out of stock).  Neither of these options was anything that would solve my problem.  I left there disappointed, although if I wasn't looking for something specific they have a TON of cute stuff!

Cameron and I ventured to the next specialty store.  They carry Flips and BumGenius.  The lady there was great!  She actually uses the diapers and has lots of friends that cloth diaper.  She was very encouraging and offered a lot of suggestions that would (hopefully) solve my problems.  We pretty much decided that Cameron might just have too much wetness for the newborn diapers to handle.  She seemed confident that our problem would go away as soon as he fits into the "one size" diapers I have.  That should be soon because most of them are suggested for use on babies starting between 8-10 pounds!  I also picked up a couple of hemp doublers that she said will probably help now and also be very useful in the future.  They are really thin, but she said they absorb a lot!  I like how thin they are because Cameron isn't a very big guy!  If his diapers get too bulky, his clothes don't fit!  Aside from diapers, the whole store is full of stuff that I would love to have.  I was able to check out the Aden and Anais bamboo dream blanket.  I love this blanket.  I almost bought it.  But then in a moment of "I really shouldn't buy a blanket, I am here to learn about diapers" I skipped the purchase.  But if anyone is looking for an amazing gift, I really want Cameron needs this blanket.  It's so soft, not like minky soft... it's so much better.

Anyway, we left that store with renewed hope in my ability to successfully cloth diaper and a new obsession with blankets.  On to Target.  A much bigger Target than we usually get to go to.  Cameron was not as excited about this as I was.  We hardly got my contact solution in the cart when he started wailing.  Poor little guy.  I thought he might have a dirty diaper so we headed to the bathroom.  We get there and he is nearly inconsolable.  I'm very flustered because the family bathroom was out of order.  We go into the women's bathroom only to find someone else using the changing table!  Oh no!  The bathroom isn't a quite place when there is a screaming infant.  It has a really harsh echo that only magnified his little cries (which at this point were not so much the little squeaks they usually are and more full out screams).  Ladies tried to talk to me "A line for the changing table?  I've never seen that before!" and "Oh, someone isn't happy!"  I was a little flustered at this point because it seemed like everyone who came in made a comment.  Then it dawned on me that maybe he didn't only need to be changed but he was probably hungry as well.  I didn't bring his blanket in which I had used for a nursing cover in Macy's.  I don't know what I was thinking.  It was probably something like, "This will be really quick (is that even possible?).  It's hot outside, he won't be cold."  For some reason I forgot that this was also my nursing cover.  So at that point I had a choice to make.  Did I leave the bathroom with my wailing baby and head to the Starbucks/Food Court seating area and just go for it, our first VERY public, no cover nursing session?  or do I duck in a stall and just hope that we can make something work.  So that's what we did.  Cameron's first "in the bathroom stall" feeding session.  It seemed like the better option than making him wait until we made it all the way over to the table and chairs, especially since he also needed a diaper change.  Poor guy.  I'm sure that eventually this will be something that I don't even think twice about.  I do have a cute nursing shawl that I got (do you think it was in my diaper bag today?  I didn't think so either... turns out it WAS.  I was more prepared than I thought!).  If my baby is hungry, I'm going to feed him.  I don't plan on hiding out in a bathroom stall ever again!

Anyway, we survived our first big trip without Hubby.  It was nice to get out and have some mommy and baby adventures!  Tomorrow I expect that we will both be making up for the lack of naps we had today.  Or maybe we will sleep for longer than three hours tonight, that would be nice, too!  :)