Baby School

Miller started daycare last week. I, like some other moms I know, prefer to call it "baby school." It sounds a lot less guilty, don't you think? This way, I can pretend that daycare is a place where Miller must go in order to learn very important baby stuff rather than a place she goes just because she obviously has to go somewhere while I am at work.

Miller has done okay. The first few days, they said she required "a lot of comforting." I took that to mean she screamed all day. By Friday, they said she had a great day. They also said that they have only ever had one baby that took longer than a week to adjust. I am sure the nice lady did not mean to terrify me by saying that, but she did. All I could think about every day after that was, "What if Miller is the second baby to take more than a week to adjust?" I didn't want my kid to be the one she was talking about to the next new mom, like, "Well, all but two babies have taken only a week to adjust. The two that took longer were this Korean kid who didn't understand the language or his new American name and this really high maintenance kid named Miller." Anyway, thank God Mills had a good day on Friday, so it's still just the Korean kid. Phew!

It is a good thing there is not a list of moms who took longer than a week to adjust, because I would be on it. I just don't like the idea of daycare. I don't like that Miller has to hang out with a bunch of dirty babies all day. I pretty much feel like everyone else's babies are dirty. Mine, of course, is not. I don't like that the baby school teachers are pretty much going to do whatever they want with her all day and tell me what I want to hear. How do I know that? Well, because I am a teacher too! Just kidding, but I am sure that there are times when they will do something different than what I ask, and I don't like that. I don't like that the teachers at Extremely Religious University Baby School don't exactly get me and look at me like I am crazy whenever I talk and probably go home and pray for me, referring to me as "that un-modest mom who wears pants."

But....I do like that Miller going to baby school allows me to go to work, which allows us to have food, shelter, the new couches we are about to get (yay!), the occasional expensive handbag etc. So, there you have it. Baby school it is.

365 Photos

Get excited. I have started another blog. In the grand tradition of bloggers everywhere, I am going to attempt to post a photo every day this year. For those of you who would enjoy seeing a photo of me, my baby, my husband, my dogs, etc EVERY DAY, you now have the opportunity here. You're welcome.

Happy New Year!

Fat Girl Bottles and Alarmist Pediatricians

So...I mentioned in Miller's 4 month post that she had lost a little weight at her last doctor's appointment. After an ultrasound to make sure she didn't have pyloric stenosis and blood work to make sure she wasn't dehydrated, they told us to add rice to her bottles to help with the reflux and also add formula for extra calories. We have since been referring to this combo as the Fat Girl Bottle.

Well, we tried the Fat Girl Bottle for about a week, and when we went back to the doctor, she said that she still didn't feel like Miller had gained enough weight. She said she was very concerned and that she wanted Miller to have an Upper GI. Fred and I said okay, even though we thought this was overkill and did not want to put Miller through ANOTHER traumatic hospital experience. When we found out that the Upper GI couldn't be scheduled until 2 days before Miller's next weigh-in, I called the doctor and asked if we could just wait until after the weight check and do the Upper GI then IF Miller still hadn't gained weight. Well, the doctor completely freaked out, said that she was VERY concerned about Miller and that when she had consulted another doctor in the practice he had asked why Miller hadn't already been admitted to the hospital and said that if it wasn't Christmas she would have already admitted her. She said that if Miller did not have a "miraculous" weight gain before her next check that she would want to admit her....WHAT?

Ya'll, the kid has grown in height, she is happier than she has ever been, she is meeting all of her developmental milestones, and she is eating, sleeping and pooping. I knew that there was nothing wrong with her. Now, those of y'all that know me well know that I can be a pretty big hypochondriac. If I say nothing is wrong, nothing is wrong! However, the doctor had me freaking out at that point so we agreed to do the stupid test, which was scheduled for 2 days after Christmas.

On the day of the test, Miller had to go without eating for 4 hours, which I thought would be awful. However, I think that the Fat Girl Bottle must be really filling, because she didn't seem to mind at all. When we went in for the Upper GI, we found out that the doctor also wanted her to have x-rays of her small bowel, which meant that we would have to stay at the hospital for 2 more hours. Ummm....I am still a little concerned as to why NOBODY told me this beforehand. Luckily, I came prepared with a granola bar or I could have possibly starved to death in the time that we were there which turned out to be about 3 stupid hours.

Anyway, Miller did not cry a tear throughout the whole ordeal, and she drank her barium bottle like a champ, and OF COURSE everything came back normal just like we knew it would. The x-ray tech actually said, "Y'all have seen everything from her neck to her toes, so I don't think ANYTHING could be wrong with her!"

So, this morning we went back for another weight check. We were sure that the doctor would come up with some other thing that must be wrong with her or that she would still decree "not enough" weight gain and say she had to go into the hospital. We were fully prepared to grab Miller and run out of there before we let that happen.

Well, I guess it was a Few-Days-After-Christmas Miracle, because the doctor said she had gained plenty of weight and that she must be fine. She also said that there had been a baby patient there at some point who had DIED, because he had an intestinal malrotation that was causing him to spit up a lot, and they just thought it was a virus. This was why she was acting so paranoid about Miller. Seriously, Dr. I-Won't-Say-Your-Name-On-Here-So-I-Don't-Get-Sued?!?! That would have been nice to know ahead of time!

I am secretly a little disappointed that we didn't get to get in a fight with the doctor today, because I had so many awesome comebacks prepared. Want to hear my favorite? It goes like this..."Well, Dr. So and So, babies grow at different rates and are genetically predisposed to be different sizes. OBVIOUSLY my baby would weigh less than yours, for example." Ha ha. Zing!

Bottom line: While we really enjoyed Miller's first Christmas, there was a bit of a dark cloud over it due to all of this ridiculous medical drama. Obviously, Miller is just going to be skinny like her mom. Duh. I will leave you with an image that proves Boo Boo is not wasting away. Look at those cheekies!

Christmas, Part 2

Yesterday, we went to Columbia to celebrate Christmas with Fred's family. Miller and her six cousins has a great time getting stockings from Santa, who made a special trip a few days late, and opening gifts from family. Miller did a great job considering how crazy it was and the fact that she has had a rough few days. (More on that in my next post.) Miller enjoyed getting loved on by all her cousins, especially Elizabeth, who is only about 8 months older. They are going to be best friends!

Miller and E Baby

Miller and Olivia

Miller and Claire

Miller and Grace

I guess the boy cousins weren't so interested in sitting around holding a baby. Last, but not least, here is a poor attempt at a picture of all the kids together with Memama (Fred's mom)...

Yep, that's mine screaming bloody murder.

By the way, if you have noticed that my last few posts have been rather boring, don't worry. I have also noticed, and I will try to spice it up for you in the future.

Christmas

Miller had a great first Christmas! On Christmas Eve, she got to have lunch and open presents with my family. Then, Santa came on Christmas morning and brought a Sophie giraffe, teething beads, and a Christmas book. Miller has already been plenty spoiled, and she gets to have another Christmas tomorrow with Fred's family in Columbia. Miller is excited to see everyone in Columbia, but she is sad that she won't get to see Grandaddy and all her family in Alabama or Ryllis and Maggie! She told me that. Here are some pictures from Miller's first Christmas and her first snow, which happened to take place on the same day!

Our little family on Christmas Eve day.

Me, Miller, Mom (CC), and Grandma (Memi)

Millsie in her pj's on Christmas morning. Excuse the snot-nose and bedhead!

All bundled up in the snow.

Miller and Sophie...love at first site (bite?)

Here we are again. Mills is modeling her Christmas dress in this one.

I hope everyone had a great holiday. I will be back soon with pictures from Christmas Number 2, the Columbia edition.

4 Months Old!

I can't believe that Boo Boo is 4 months old already. Actually, she is 18 weeks today. She had her 4 month appointment on Tuesday, which didn't go exactly as planned. The doctors decided that since it had been a few weeks since they had scared the crap out of us that it was time to do it again. Apparently, Miller has lost a little weight since her last appointment. Now, if you have seen her, you know that this shouldn't be a problem. She is certainly not wasting away. But since she spits up fountains (and sometimes colors), they thought she might have pyloric stenosis. She also decided that Miller seemed dehydrated, because her mouth looked dry. I am pretty sure her mouth was dry because it was 1007 degrees in there, but nonetheless, the doctor got all freaked out and sent us to the stupid hospital for lab work and an ultrasound.

Now, we all know what happened last time that stupid hospital did lab work on my poor baby, but fortunately the lab tech that did it this time must have been a little smarter than the first one, since it came out fine. The ultrasound was normal too, but you should have seen the temper tantrum Miller threw while they were trying to do it! Mommy was so proud. I have no idea where she gets that temper from...

Anyway, since everything was normal the doctor decided that she was just stupid and Miller needed to eat some rice cereal. Well, duh. We were planning on starting that anyway, so she got her first taste last night.

She acted like she has been eating it her whole life. I knew she would like food. She is just like her mommy. I was pretty sure she was ready since she took a string cheese out of my hand and tried to eat it a few days ago.

I can't wait to feed her some real food. I want to make it myself, mostly because the Duggars do and I like to be as Duggar-like as possible. "Buy used and save the difference," is what I always say. This is the part where Fred would tell me that I should explain who the Duggars are;however, I feel that if you don't know that 1. I am kidding and 2. the Duggars are the 19 Kids and Counting Family, then you just might not be my intended audience.

I actually want to make it because I am cheap, and also because I don't really understand baby food. I would rather mash up my own bananas that came from an actual banana tree than feed her banana mush that may or may not have come from an actual banana. There I go getting all hippie-ish again. Oh, well. Can anyone (Sara) recommended a good source for how to make your own baby food and when to start what etc?

Ok, well, I am off to enjoy the rest of my "snow" day. I love that our district recognizes a cold, rainy day as a reason to stay home. I kind of agree.