Nursing strike... Miracle... stressful weeks!

I started the title but didn't have time to write anything, because I was too busy dealing with a very fussy baby, plus a very mind-challenged six-year old the same time!

I went to Circle of Mom asking for help, this is my message there, kind of described what happened at the beginning:

Since two nights ago, my 6month old daughter has been refusing to nurse. She will arch her back and scream when I put her to my breast. I walk her around and rock her while I try to feed her or I will wait until she is sleepy, but still unsuccessful. I thought she was teething since she bites/sucks fingers sometimes, but I don't see any tooth cutting out. (She already had two cutting out couple weeks ago). I doubt she has ear infection since looks normal and plays well. This is especially frustrating when she awakes in the middle of night or morning hungry but can't eat and we both loose a lot of sleep.

She does take bottle better twice yesterday and drank 15oz all day with some rice cereal and applesauce. I tried to pump but can barely pump anything out now, guess I'm too stressful. I'm afraid my milk supply will stop soon. One of my guess is she just learned to drink from bottle few days ago, and has been eating with spoon. So she is either too busy with learning all the new skills or confused.

I am stressed out and frustrated I'm thinking about weaning her to a bottle. Is this just a stage she is going through? What can I do to get her back to breastfeeding or at least eat at normal amount?

Well, miracle happened on the Good Friday. She slowly start taking milk again, but very cautiously. I just want to cry at the moment! For several weeks, the whole family was exhausted since she cried so much at night and woke up for 2-3hrs playing since 2:30am. Then the daytime struggle continued... she is as happy and sweet as she always is, just struggle with eating, reflux, tummy pain...

I checked with drs. She guess it's her reflux coming back again! It was painful for all of us. She is so painful, especially with the silent reflux when she laid down, that's what's keeping her up many times at night. The reflux and gas medication don't help that much either. She just have to outgrow it! So, I've been watching my diet, modify her feeding schedules, massage, medication, whatever it takes to get her feel better. Six-month sounds like a big transition period.


Today, three weeks later, she's doing much better. Back to eating milk again with some solids, but still have bad spitting up and reflux everyday! I'm already happy she only wakes up 2-3times at night and goes back to sleep soon! Thank goodness!

Meghan sure looks fine when she plays:

Special post attributed to my 6year old teenager...

Well, from the title itself, you know what I'm bragging about today...

Just like this morning, Kaitlyn is all happy nice when she got up. The 2mins before walking out of house, her mood changed just like that - she cried that she is too tired of walking. She would not say she wants take car ride, she just suggesting we can park across the street from school, and she doesn't want to walk, doesn't want grandma. I told her it's too late to wake up daddy driving her to school or she'll be late for school (because we had a deal that only if it's raining or too cold/hot, daddy will drive, otherwise we'll walk to school). Plus it's too late to get Meghan ready for the walk.

She whined, cried, and slammed the closet door while getting her shoes. She ask for car ride tomorrow, and I told her we'll see if daddy has time to do that. She burst into tears saying "That means no!" Things going downhill even worse - because she knows that's not a sure yes commitment from me!

Anyway, she ended up walking to school with grandma in a very bad mood, not said hi to any of her friends on the way...

Second thought, she is competing for my attention with Meghan. She wants me to go with her. But how could she change her mind so quickly? Should I compromise in her way? Is it a big deal? Her quick fuzzy mood change drives me nuts sometimes... Count 1, 2, 3 before I scream out, haha...

Am I having a six-year old teenager? My payback time is here already!! I have to say she is very sweet, caring, independent, mature most of the time. She is mommy's big helper, she loves her baby sister. Only when she is in bad mood, the whole world would turn upside down. She would a different person that drives me crazy! Parenting, uhh, parenting...

Here are some lines she talks to me quite frequently nowadays:
- Why you are always the one who is setting the rules in the house?
-You can't FORCE me to do that! I don't want to go! I don't want to do it now! I don't want to...
-It's so not FAIR!
-You didn't say I can't do this!
- You don't understand! Nobody listens to me!
-Urr, what did you say?

I have to admit Kaitlyn loves reading, and there are good and bad influences from it. She understands/comprehend contents much better, she had fun to read what other kids doing (in novels), she understands the social socienty better, but she does pick up attitude and "not so good" language from books as well (I don't mean bad languages, but bad words used by mean kids in her children's books. )

She's so advanced in reading chapter books. That's the time she'll be quiet for hours and not be distracted by anything. She could finish a whole chapter book within a hour. When she is so into the story, she could not hear any of us talking to her! Isn't that annoying sometimes? Well, I remember I did the same thing when I was young.

Her finished chapter books "AtoZ mysteries", "The Wimpy Kid", "Junie B. Jones", "Nancy Drew", and "Hannah Montana" of course. I pretty much let her choose the books from the library, just give her recommendations every once a while.

Ohh, speaking of that, since she loves playing games on computer and watching funny animals/babies/songs on YouTube. This is what she showed me the other day when I left her alone for a little while - "naked girls" OMG! I heard her giggling and she showed me what she found. We need to upgrade parental control on our computers!

What else, she tries to figure out our computer password - she watched us when we type, and wrote it down on a notepad and kept it her draw. I found out accidentally. It's really close with only 1 digit off! Who am I dealing with these days?

Enough of talking for today, it's not that I don't love her, I play favor between my two children, but every experience I have with Kaitlyn is my first time. Through her, I'm learning how to be a better parent, a better person as well! Thank you, my Little girl for giving me this opportunity! I love you so much!

Spring Break!

Yeah, spring break is here! I can tell Kaitlyn started getting the ideas of school breaks now, which should be normal right? She is going to bed late and sleep in later on weekend and holiday. Not like in Kindergarten, she loves to go to school and get up early on time:-) Why we teach our kids to have good sleeping habits while we barely follow the same rule? Are these just rules for kids so grownups would have free time for themselves?


We had a relaxed spring break this time, mainly because I don't want to travel with baby Meghan, too much hassle to bring her along, and she gets tired in 1-2hrs. Or she could hold for 4-5hrs, but I'd prefer not stressing her out. Am I too protective?


Here is my outgoing sporty girl Meghan checking out a basketball game.
Kaitlyn is learning about money at school. So she is practicing using her money while we're out eating. Here she was counting money to pay for her drink? Umm, I need to teach the girl to buy drinks for mommy later! Haha...

One day, she's helping daddy planting roses. We lost many plants this winter, only roses survived, so they're replacing with more roses. First, Kaitlyn is cleaning dog poops in the backyard to play freesbie. Good job!Dumping soil:

I don't know how this one got sneaked in - anyway, they're helping me making pancakes. Kaitlyn is showing off how to mix with chopsticks, haha... As far as why I don't have much of her pictures, check these out - she doesn't know what's WALKING ever since she learned how to walk!This girl is full of energy, running around and jumping all the time. How could I ever find her still?! If she was a boy, would she be on our roof all the time? Haha..

We went shopping couple of times with my mom. That's when I find Meghan can hold on 4-5hrs without napping, even though she was sooo tired. At the Memorial City Mall playarea:

More at First Colony Mall:

Tooth in ... tooth out

Hip hip hooray!!

My baby girl has her first tooth budding out, and my big girl is having her first loose tooth! How funny and how exciting!

Meghan had a unrestful night last night, my instant tells me wither she's teething or busy learning roll over. She woke up around 5am, tossing back and forth, I thought she was busy learning rolling over, and she seems alert and exciting! This morning, I opened her mouth and sure I see real tiny white thing barely coming out her gum! No wonder!!!

What else happening to her - I try to teach her roll,but she is not very interested in. She really likes standing up, or at least sitting up. She doesn't like laying down or roll. I don't blame her. Ohh well, sooner or later, she'll be able to roll, I'm not too worry about it!

While holding her, she turns from side to side very quickly, almost like jumping around. More interesting, if she sees anything interesting, she will use one arm pushing you, and stretch out the other arm towards where she wants to go, leaning her body down, telling you "Go, I want to go there!" She is a strong girl, I'm can feel it.

It hurts when she kicks me. She can roll half way. Funny thing is the only time she want to roll over is on the diaper station. She loves to roll to pick up diapers. Here is the clip, so funny!

She started on rice cereal this week. About 1tbsp at a time. She was all excited this first day, but not grasping the idea of swallow food from spoon very well. Then after a couple of days, she is getting much better, but not that excited about cereal anymore. But she is not refusing either, so gradually adding a little more. The disappointing part is I wish she could hold longer at night after having cereal, but no! She still need 1-2 feedings. Ohh well, maybe my two girls are both smaller frequent eater! Now I wish to switch them to formula!

We went to the library for Mother Goose Time. So much fun! Her eyes can't keep up with all things going on! Meghan was busy checking out everyone else, especially other babies! I'm sure she is learning and remembering as much as she can!

Here she is trying out some toys, way to go girl!

Kaitlyn had family art week, doing Eric Carle artwork. We didn't quite finish, because someone else is also very interested in walking around the school.

Doesn't she look like a boy here?!

I can't find many good pics of Kaitlyn, because she always makes silly faces or running around, I can barely take any pics for her. Sorry girl, not that I don't want to, but you don't let me, naughty girl :-)

I took Kaitlyn to dentist last week because she has been complained about a wiggly tooth a week ago. I wasn't sure that was a bad tooth or loose tooth. Apparently she is having her first loose tooth, plus two more cavities:-( So get ready for tooth fairy's visit soon!

Will share some video of her and Meghan together! Spring break is coming up! I'm so exited to spend more time with both girls! (which means more tired for me!)

Here is another clip showing how crazy Kaitlyn gets. Kaitlyn loves Meghan more and more for sure. She is jealous still sometime, but she loves to play with Meghan more and more. Sometimes I was afraid she might scare Meghan, but they start to get use to each other and are having fun!

Here they're playing rough after bath time!

Catching up...

Two weeks passe by, just catching my breath from sickness of everyone in the house (not really Kaitlyn). Then it's finally Kaitlyn's turn yesterday, with strep throat.

She hasn't eaten much since yesterday, just three pieces of sushi (at her special requests), one yogurt, and some water and apple juice. With ongoing high fever, headache and burning throat, she has been sleeping a lot, looks horrible. So sad to see that :-( Dr. said with the antibiotics, she should be fine by Saturday.

Well, what have happened since last blog?

Kaitlyn had her final DI performance on Feb. 21. Great job! Way to go, girl! She did very well, and talked to appraiser very confidently and politely. I'm so proud of you! I heard she was telling the appraiser about how she had an antenna but lost it. Funny!

Thank you so much Ms. Jessica for preparing kids of this fun activities!

This is the "big" reward she picked for herself at the site after performance. Writing thank-you card for Ms. Jessica: Yeah, taking a picture with mommy!

Where did Zoe go? They're missing one... Talking to the appraisers... I like this one so much, every one's expression is a little different.

When we finally had sunshine three days in a roll, we're rolling to the park:

Picture with grandma:

swing, swing, I like it...

Big girl What's in your mouse, sneaky girl? I bet she found a candy in her pocket. Ohh, speaking of teeth, a big deal for Kaitlyn - she has a loose tooth!!! It's a bottom one to the right. She went to dentist yesterday, and confirmed her loose tooth about a month ago. She first noticed while eating candy from her Valentine party treats. I thought was a bad tooth from cavity at first. But she does have a couple of cavities that needs filling soon! Err...

Bet she is thinking what's tooth fairy looks like, what' will she bring when her tooth fall out? She kept asking me what to do if she lost her teeth at gym, on the bus, in the classroom, at playground... Do I need to give her a treasure box to carry with her everyday so she won't lost her first loose tooth?!

As for Meghan, she is growing fast, I can't keep up with her changes...

We went to Mother Goose Time in the library this week. Had a great time! We did story, tummy time, parachute playing, then mingle with other babies. She was very serious and curious at first, then got very excited, jumping up and down on my lap.

She is such a good observer, just like her big sissy. Whenever we leave the house, she looks so serious, her eyes kept looking around. But so far she seems more outgoing than Kaitlyn. If she sees anything she likes, her response is - "Uh!" then stretch out her arm toward that direction, then her whole body flip/leaning toward that direction, like saying "go, go, go!" We have to hold her tight around waist and back, or she'll flip out of our arm anytime. Very brave girl, but scary for me!

What are you two looking at?? - of course TV! Do they look alike? She is not going too far on rolling over. But she is very good at grabbing stuff and pull. See, she grabbed the toy and able to pull down for music now. Very smart girl, figure out how to entertain herself. Tummy time at the library - almost got it! So busy checking out everything! For Meghan, she is very strong. She'd standing very still for a little while. If she can stand, she would on sit. If she can sit, she definitely not gonna to lay down. So roll over is not her favorite thing to do. She can sit without support much better now, still not totally upright. After she recovered from cold, her appetite is not big at all. Around 3-4oz each feeding, with 3-5hrs feeding time laps. I don't know how to get her eat more - one she thinks she is done, there is no way to stuck anything into her mouth.

She is alert to surrounding, so please don't make too much noises during feeding, or she'll be distracted easily. I believe she has longer memory now - because when she sees things falling off the table, or rolling out of her sight, she will follow the direction and look for that thing.

She loves listening to other people's conversations - I mean adult conversation, face to face or over the phone, not baby talking conversation with her. She would lie in crib quietly for as long as our conversation goes on... noisy girl!

Daddy caught two cute pics early last week:

And couple of sad pictures when she was sick:

Ohh gross - tears, running nose...

Don't remember why Kaitlyn wasn't happy that day? Didn't want to take a walk?

Kaitlyn opened up her first restaurant to us - there is a funny video about this, I'd have to put it on later.

I got some nice pictures of my sweet baby girl one morning. She must be in a good mood, had a good night sleep. I like them all, don't know which one to take out because that's exactly the way she looks most of the time:

Happy baby: Always smiling:

Still smiling and little silly coming out:

Then little naughty showing off:

Silly girl makes me laugh:Looks like little old lady: Haha still...
Then what happened next is a set-up by mommy:

Everything looked fine at the beginning - as normal I'm ready for post... Say Cheese...Running again?

Silly face...

Hehe... Yeah, I can sit! I can reach my toes...

Then, oh-oh...
I'm falling... but still smiling...

Hold on tight to my toes...
oops... falling more...
Help...

Where is mommy?

Face down - the end my story!

Finally, Meghan started her dry food diet journey today - I added a little rice cereal to her milk. she loved it! She doesn't like bottle, but she likes spoon, and eating well swallowing. We'll keep trying this week. So here I'm in the highchair:

Why is my table empty? This is fun!Yeah, a "thing" on my table... what's it taste like? Let me get it before it ran away...

This is all the story I have so far.

Disclaimer to Kaitlyn - I know there are a lot more pictures of Meghan here, not because I love her more than you, I love you both dearly deep in my heart! I'm so glad to have the time staying home with both of you. Life is a miracle thing! I wish I had digital camera and a blog back then to record all of your amazing steps as well. (Well, here I need to thank my dear friend Wendy introducing me to blogging!) Through watching every development Meghan has, I cherish every moment with you even more, and I feel so blessed to have a wonderful girl like you!