Joy

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Welcome to the Joys of Colic

Wow, we have been busy. Nothing exciting or note worthy has been happening but we have been BUSY. Busy trying to get back into the swing of things after staying at my parent's house for two weeks while Josh was in Africa, busy doing laundry, busy cleaning, busy with cooking and busy with kids.

Joy has been keeping us especially busy in the evenings as a few weeks ago she decided to have colic. It started the day before Josh left for Africa. Like clock work, at 6pm, my sweet, little Joy turns into a fussy, gassy, burpy, back arching, crying, spitting up, screaming Joy. At first we didn't know what her deal was and assumed it was because I had been eating spicy foods. I cut those out of my diet and she was still having her daily issue so I knew it wasn't that.

After a particularly bad night, I made a doctor appt for her to make sure that it was just colic and not something more serious. I was pretty sure it wasn't anything too bad since she only had trouble in the evenings. The doctor said she wasn't sure what it was since it only occurred at a certain time of day (dumb) and I was doing all the things that she would have suggested. She called over to a Pediatrix group doctor to see if they had any other tips. After waiting 40 minutes she came back and said "Well, they think she might have a little acid reflux since she is arching her back. Here is a prescription for Zantac, give it to her twice a day". I was proud of myself for not saying anything - I have learned from experience not to share my beliefs about certain medicines to the doctors who are getting paid big bucks to write the prescriptions. I just said "Okay" and took the prescription and promptly threw it away after I had left. Seriously? Zantac?! They want me to give my little 6 week old baby a drug like that, to treat something they THINK she MIGHT have a LITTLE of? The thing about Zantac is it doesn't even cure acid reflux, it just masks the symptoms, not to mention it has been linked to causing stomach cancer. On top of that, she doesn't have acid reflux, I had researched colic and AR extensively and she definitely has colic.

So, I set out looking for a way to ease Joy's colic but so far they have all been futile. I cut dairy and wheat out of my diet, cut out coffee, spicy foods and any acidy foods. I feed her when she is sitting upright, burp her repeatedly, we've tried ALL of the typical calming tricks, i.e. leg pumping, and laying over your legs on her tummy. We have been giving her probiotics since she was born, we've tried gripe water, Mylicon (which seems to help a tiny bit), Hylands colic tablets, and my last hope was that she was getting too much foremilk and not enough of the fattier milk but even when I fixed that problem she still has her hours of screaming and fussiness. I have just accepted now, that she has colic and it can't be helped.

Poor Joy... poor us.

Friday, September 23, 2011

3 and Up

We have recently discovered that there is a reason why companies mark their products with the phrase "3 and up". There is something magical that happens when a child turns 3 that suddenly makes them capable of tasks that to us, seem simple and doable at the age of 1 1/2 or 2.
I am very guilty of forcing things on Claire before she is ready for them. We put her in a Johnny Jump Up at 2 months, gave her a Little Tikes car on her first birthday, she got her first trike at the 18 months, and her scooter last Christmas when she was 2 1/2.
But much to our frustration, she wasn't able to ride any of these toys until she turned 3. Hi Ho Cherry-O and Candyland also games that she is just now able to grasp.... if only we had believed the box we would have saved ourselves (and Claire) much frustration.

When Claire was a baby, we were constantly looking toward the next milestone. "I can't wait til she can smile" "I can't wait til she can sit up" "I can't wait til she can crawl, walk, talk etc".

I don't feel that way at all with Joy. Maybe it's because we lost Will that I don't take this baby stage for granted, or maybe it's because we already have been through it with Claire. Either way, I am loving every moment with Joy. I want to be careful not to rush her along and make her grow up too fast.

She'll be 3 before we know it.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Rub-A-Dub-Dub!

Rub-a-Dub-Dub, Joy's in the tub...
and she's getting to be a chub...
(She weighed 8 lbs on her due date last week!)

Friday, September 9, 2011

Changed


Remembering our Will today and all that the Lord has done for us during the year.


Monday, September 5, 2011

Swing Seat Makeover

This project took me forever! I am so glad it is done and I can move on to other things.

Last year I bought this swing at a thrift store for only $25! It works perfectly!
I loved it because it swings side to side or front to back. The best part about it though is that it plugs into the wall. No more expensive D batteries! Hurray!

The worst part about it is obviously the hideous fabric. What is it about the people that make baby items who think they need to plaster bright hideous monkeys all over everything? I am sick of it!

So, I decided to do something about it as I could not live with the fabric. At the time, I thought the swing was for Will so I started it with this cute car fabric I ordered from Etsy. I was going to recover the boy pieces, but decided to hang on to them just incase we need them next time. I used them as a pattern and made an entirely new piece out of super thick quilt batting and some colorful fabric I got at Goodwill for $1.50. (we are not doing the whole pink/green) thing for Joy. She is getting joyful primary colors.


So here is the finished product. I took off the annoying straps and tray. They just get in the way, although I can put them on again if needed. I also dismembered the leaves that were on the toy hanger thing. We can hang whatever we want on there and change it up periodically.

I am pretty happy with it! Joy seems to like it too!
Now on to the next project!