Ayla got her first tooth this morning. If you have learned anything about her from my posts, it is that she is not easy going. So the past few days have been punctuated with high pitched squeals anytime something touched her mouth. And let me tell you, this girl has some good lungs on her. I'm sure the neighbors wondered what strange animal we had over here.
We are really excited to have one down and suspect there are several more right behind it :)
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Ayla Is 6 Months Old Today
I'm going to use this opportunity to tell her story. Ayla was a little surprise as a result from my six weeks joining Mike in California last fall (I know, too much information). I had pretty bad morning sickness which made flying home alone with Mikey an extra challenge. Mikey and I still had 3 1/2 weeks by ourselves while Mike finished his California job. It is torture to grocery shop and cook for a two year old while you want to throw up all the time.
Most of my pregnancy with Ayla was very easy. I was tired but felt good and was able to continue being active. I had very little swelling and water retention (vast contrast from Mikey). I did develop gestational diabetes which was not fun but it did force me to exercise and eat right. I am thrilled to say I only gained 27 lbs during the entire pregnancy (45 with Mikey). I was even at the beach playing with Mikey the day I went into labor. My mother-in-law will claim it was the gorgonzola cheese but I think it was coming anyway ;)
Not too many people know this but I have become a bit of an advocate for VBACs. That is a vaginal birth after cesarean. Mikey was a necessary cesarean (placenta previa and vasa previa) but I did not enjoy the experience and really hate what strong pain medications do to me mentally. Luckily, my same doctor that I have had since moving to Miami is one of the few in Miami that will allow VBACs. We discussed it at my first visit for Ayla's pregnancy and she said I was a good candidate. For those that think it is too risky, it really is no more risky than a repeat c-section. Both are simply more risky than a vaginal birth in someone that has never had a c-section. When I went into labor my doctor didn't even mention a c-section, just if I was ready for my epidural (boy, was I). Ayla's birth went great with very minor issues (usual tearing and hemorrhoids). It was so much easier than Mikey's. I was sitting up, feeling great and happy less than an hour later. I am so glad my doctor gave me the chance to let my body do what was natural.
Ayla has been feisty from the start. They first took her from my breast to go to the nursery to be checked shortly after birth. She screamed the entire 2 hours she was away from me. This has become a pattern. She will let you know how she feels and she may change her mind in the blink of an eye. She is a total momma's girl and loves to be carried around in her baby wrap carrier (as seen in our facebook pictures). She is very curious and loves to run her fingers over new things. But if something starts to frustrate her she will scream at it and bang in on the floor. Very amusing :)
She did end up with one major health issue. After her screaming all of her waking hours for the first 5 weeks of her life we finally figured out she had a milk allergy. I feel bad it took us that long to figure it out. The poor girl pooped 15-20 times daily, had horrible gas and an ulcerative diaper rash that wouldn't heal. I would scream too. We decided the best for her (she loved to comfort nurse) would be for me to stop eating all dairy and nurse her exclusively (no formula). Nursing her has been easy (didn't work with Mikey) but no dairy can be annoying. It is amazing how many foods hide dairy on their products. There was one day that I thought I ate safe but Ayla's tummy tols me otherwise. We later food out it was a bread I had eaten. I will be thrilled when she outgrows this. I am really sick of special diets :(
Anyway... She is a very strong little girl who rolls over, sits up for a while on her own (when placed in sitting position) and acts pretty close to trying to crawl.
We love her to pieces!!!!!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Zen With A Floor Steamer
One of the reasons I love Miami is the weather. We consider it cold when it hits the 60's and it doesn't go above 100. I know a lot of people hate the humidity but I love it. It helps keep my skin moist and it just gives that tropical feel. This lovely weather means I never have to wear real shoes. Flip flops are the standard footwear here. In fact, I would love to go barefoot all day in my house. But I can't... Between a dog, a two year old, and a husband, the amount of dirt that lives on my tile floors is too much to have stuck to the bottom of my feet. So I have my indoor flip flops. Sounds like the problem is solved, right? Well, Ayla is 6 months old this week and looking like she is planning to crawl soon. If I can't stand to have the stuff from the floors stuck to my feet you know I won't be okay with it all over my baby's hands and knees.
Luckily, Mike's stepmom is as much of a neat freak as I am and had some great ideas. Since I need to be able to clean during nap time we decided stealth was essential. I ended up with a dust mop and a eureka envirosteamer. I had a dust mop before and find them very handy to pick up dog hair without spreading it through the air. I did buy a new one that has washable heads. Super easy to use each morning while everyone is having breakfast.
The steamer arrived last week. I had to wait until I was over my cold so today seemed like a good day. Mike and Mikey left for a bike ride and I put Ayla down for her nap. The assembly and instructions were super easy so I was pretty excited. I put the water in and plugged it in. Once it was hot it emitted the most gentle of hisses. I put it on the floor and started gliding away. It slid very easily and picked up the grape juice stain with one pass. Because it works better if you move a bit slowly I really began to relax and enjoy passing it across the floor.
Ayla woke up about fifteen minutes after I started. I tucked her in the wrap and we began to slowly glide across the room with the new steamer. There is no extra effort involved with pushing it so having Ayla's weight added was no problem. She loved the gentle walking and and floor was shiny and new. Who thought I could find cleaning the floor so relaxing? I think I have found my new relaxation activity. I am forced to move slowly and smoothly and there is only the quietest hiss. It reminds me of when I used to practice tai chi (yes, I really did). My mind was empty and it was calm in my house. Thank you Eureka.
Luckily, Mike's stepmom is as much of a neat freak as I am and had some great ideas. Since I need to be able to clean during nap time we decided stealth was essential. I ended up with a dust mop and a eureka envirosteamer. I had a dust mop before and find them very handy to pick up dog hair without spreading it through the air. I did buy a new one that has washable heads. Super easy to use each morning while everyone is having breakfast.
The steamer arrived last week. I had to wait until I was over my cold so today seemed like a good day. Mike and Mikey left for a bike ride and I put Ayla down for her nap. The assembly and instructions were super easy so I was pretty excited. I put the water in and plugged it in. Once it was hot it emitted the most gentle of hisses. I put it on the floor and started gliding away. It slid very easily and picked up the grape juice stain with one pass. Because it works better if you move a bit slowly I really began to relax and enjoy passing it across the floor.
Ayla woke up about fifteen minutes after I started. I tucked her in the wrap and we began to slowly glide across the room with the new steamer. There is no extra effort involved with pushing it so having Ayla's weight added was no problem. She loved the gentle walking and and floor was shiny and new. Who thought I could find cleaning the floor so relaxing? I think I have found my new relaxation activity. I am forced to move slowly and smoothly and there is only the quietest hiss. It reminds me of when I used to practice tai chi (yes, I really did). My mind was empty and it was calm in my house. Thank you Eureka.
Friday, January 20, 2012
The Glass Is Half Full... With A Crack In It
So my glass is half full, with a crack and a lipstick stain because it never got washed. In case you can't tell from that sentence I'm a pessimist, and a bit sarcastic. Most days I keep the pessimism in check but other days I embrace it and let it out full force. Today is already one of those days. Mike dreads those days because I will probably nitpick everything he does and give him a long to do list. I see it as the pessimism pots gets a little more full each day and eventually has to boil over.
So why did it boil over today? A couple of reasons (usually the case). The first is our shower. The glass door has a plastic piece along the bottom that seals the water in. That piece began to break about the time Ayla was born and finally broke off the week that Mike left on a job out of the country for a month. Why is this a big deal? The water is now funneled through that broken spot straight onto the floor. Giving a great place for mold to grow. Did I mention I'm allergic to mold? As in, have asthma attacks? This should be simple to fix. Just call the handyman and get it replaced. Yeah, sure. It took the handyman a week to find the piece. Then three weeks of excuses before replacing it. And because he was going off of the old part to measure he cut off the piece that blocks the water flow. So now I have a new part that sticks, funnels water out of the shower and it only took about four weeks to come to this point. Ugh!
My second reason happened last night. Mike and I have been trying to have a weekly date night. We did this before Ayla was born and just started again two weeks ago. We thought it would be nice to have dinner out at Cheesecake Factory. Currently I am on a dairy free diet because Ayla is horribly allergic and the only way we could control it was for her to breastfeed and me have no dairy at all. (That's a story all on it's own that will be told at a later date.) So we called ahead to make sure they have some dairy free options. We were told since each order is made individually they would simply make my dish without dairy. When we got there we asked the waitress what items were dairy free and she also said to just pick something and it would be made without dairy. Well, some of their food would just not taste the same without butter so I went with what seemed a safe choice, wasabi crusted ahi tuna with rice and stir fry veggies. That would seem dairy free, right? When my meal arrives it is the rice and veggies as promised with a unseasoned (not a single speck of even salt, pepper, nothing), seared tuna and no sauce. So I asked the waitress what happened. And she tells me, "They leave off the part that has dairy." The wasabi crust and sauce have dairy?! Well, that changes the dish just a little! She was able to find me a red pepper sauce with no dairy but come on! If the main part of the dish has dairy could we maybe mention that before I get a really bland meal? The things we will sacrifice so our kids are healthy...
Ahhh, I feel better now that that's out :)
On a more fun note I did add more cute pictures to facebook. Ayla is sitting up now and so pleased with herself :)
So why did it boil over today? A couple of reasons (usually the case). The first is our shower. The glass door has a plastic piece along the bottom that seals the water in. That piece began to break about the time Ayla was born and finally broke off the week that Mike left on a job out of the country for a month. Why is this a big deal? The water is now funneled through that broken spot straight onto the floor. Giving a great place for mold to grow. Did I mention I'm allergic to mold? As in, have asthma attacks? This should be simple to fix. Just call the handyman and get it replaced. Yeah, sure. It took the handyman a week to find the piece. Then three weeks of excuses before replacing it. And because he was going off of the old part to measure he cut off the piece that blocks the water flow. So now I have a new part that sticks, funnels water out of the shower and it only took about four weeks to come to this point. Ugh!
My second reason happened last night. Mike and I have been trying to have a weekly date night. We did this before Ayla was born and just started again two weeks ago. We thought it would be nice to have dinner out at Cheesecake Factory. Currently I am on a dairy free diet because Ayla is horribly allergic and the only way we could control it was for her to breastfeed and me have no dairy at all. (That's a story all on it's own that will be told at a later date.) So we called ahead to make sure they have some dairy free options. We were told since each order is made individually they would simply make my dish without dairy. When we got there we asked the waitress what items were dairy free and she also said to just pick something and it would be made without dairy. Well, some of their food would just not taste the same without butter so I went with what seemed a safe choice, wasabi crusted ahi tuna with rice and stir fry veggies. That would seem dairy free, right? When my meal arrives it is the rice and veggies as promised with a unseasoned (not a single speck of even salt, pepper, nothing), seared tuna and no sauce. So I asked the waitress what happened. And she tells me, "They leave off the part that has dairy." The wasabi crust and sauce have dairy?! Well, that changes the dish just a little! She was able to find me a red pepper sauce with no dairy but come on! If the main part of the dish has dairy could we maybe mention that before I get a really bland meal? The things we will sacrifice so our kids are healthy...
Ahhh, I feel better now that that's out :)
On a more fun note I did add more cute pictures to facebook. Ayla is sitting up now and so pleased with herself :)
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Just A Head Cold
Oh, the joy of having little kids. Last night I started feeling a little stuffed up. Today both Mike and I have a cold. Nothing like passing everything around.
So, while I sit on the couch with Ayla I'll talk about our latest adventures.
Mikey started school a couple of weeks ago. The first few days involved some crying at drop off but it quickly improved. He loves going to see his friends and play with all the toys. It's a montesorri school and we've been thrilled with his new skills and sense of independance.
So, while I sit on the couch with Ayla I'll talk about our latest adventures.
Mikey started school a couple of weeks ago. The first few days involved some crying at drop off but it quickly improved. He loves going to see his friends and play with all the toys. It's a montesorri school and we've been thrilled with his new skills and sense of independance.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Time For A Blog Revamp
As most of you have noticed, I'm not very good about making my blog posts. The main reason is it takes me a while to create a post with pictures in it. I'm not very computer savvy so I always have to redo my photos a few times to get the post to look right. So now I am just going to post links to my facebook page :) I'm always sending pictures to facebook from my phone and that way I can post here more often.
Jill's Facebook Page
Since it has been so long, let me introduce us again :) Here's our family:
Me (Jill)- I'm a 33 year old mother of 2 who needs someone to talk to besides a toddler and an infant. I realize the internet may not be much more responsive but I just don't have time for phone calls anymore. My alter ego is a small animal veterinarian. I'm working part time right now, doing mostly dentistry and surgery. I truly love my job and am so grateful I can work and still spend so much time with the kids right now.
I'm also frugal. Some might call me cheap but I still argue for frugal :) I coupon a lot and am always on the hunt for a good bargain. Here's a few of my favorite coupon sites. This is where I trade my coupons online Trading Post And this is where I find my grocery deals I Heart Publix
I'm sure there is more I will think to tell about myself but that's a good primer.
Mike (my husband)- He's a 38 year old cinematographer. That means he is a cameraman for movies, tv shows, commercials, music videos, etc. He has more energy than anyone else I know and can talk anyone into anything. I insist he does all the customer service phone calls because he can get us anything for free versus I get in screaming matches with the customer help people. Sugar is his nemesis. he loves it but it turns him into hyper squirrel mode. If any of you have seen "Over The Hedge" you know Hammie the Squirrel. We call it Hammie mode. He is very active and stays in great shape with his various activities. If you can think of an unusual sport he has probably competed in it and earned awards. There is no halfway with Mike :)
Mikey (my son)- He's a 2 year old with the vocabulary equal to many adults I know. You may be thinking, "Yeah, we all think our kids are gifted." but really the kid can talk. It's especially amusing since he is is a skinny little kid. Strangers are always amazed when he answers their questions. He has way more energy than I can keep up with most days. He loves pretending to cook (please let that continue), cars and dinosaurs. He can be incredibly stubborn but is so happy most of the time. Thankfully tantrums are rare but like most toddlers he can have bad days too.
Ayla (my daughter)- Born in July she is 5 months of willfulness behind a cute smile. Even in the hospital we knew she had a temper. When the nurse assigned to your baby the first day remarks about it, you know you're in trouble. But she doesn't hold a grudge. As soon as she gets her way she is all smiles and giggles. She is a cuddly, mama's girl, which I love 99% of the time. I just wish she would decide momma doesn't have to be holding her to sleep, sigh.
Tibo (the dog)- A 12 year old tibetan spaniel, Tibo still has way more energy than any dog should. Incredibly stubborn (I see a pattern here) and not too bright he makes life interesting. He is very happy and just wants everyone to shower him with love. His goofy face manages to win over nearly everyone.
That's us. Life can be boring or incredibly exciting and amusing depending on the day. Hope everyone enjoys reading my updates :)
Jill's Facebook Page
Since it has been so long, let me introduce us again :) Here's our family:
Me (Jill)- I'm a 33 year old mother of 2 who needs someone to talk to besides a toddler and an infant. I realize the internet may not be much more responsive but I just don't have time for phone calls anymore. My alter ego is a small animal veterinarian. I'm working part time right now, doing mostly dentistry and surgery. I truly love my job and am so grateful I can work and still spend so much time with the kids right now.
I'm also frugal. Some might call me cheap but I still argue for frugal :) I coupon a lot and am always on the hunt for a good bargain. Here's a few of my favorite coupon sites. This is where I trade my coupons online Trading Post And this is where I find my grocery deals I Heart Publix
I'm sure there is more I will think to tell about myself but that's a good primer.
Mike (my husband)- He's a 38 year old cinematographer. That means he is a cameraman for movies, tv shows, commercials, music videos, etc. He has more energy than anyone else I know and can talk anyone into anything. I insist he does all the customer service phone calls because he can get us anything for free versus I get in screaming matches with the customer help people. Sugar is his nemesis. he loves it but it turns him into hyper squirrel mode. If any of you have seen "Over The Hedge" you know Hammie the Squirrel. We call it Hammie mode. He is very active and stays in great shape with his various activities. If you can think of an unusual sport he has probably competed in it and earned awards. There is no halfway with Mike :)
Mikey (my son)- He's a 2 year old with the vocabulary equal to many adults I know. You may be thinking, "Yeah, we all think our kids are gifted." but really the kid can talk. It's especially amusing since he is is a skinny little kid. Strangers are always amazed when he answers their questions. He has way more energy than I can keep up with most days. He loves pretending to cook (please let that continue), cars and dinosaurs. He can be incredibly stubborn but is so happy most of the time. Thankfully tantrums are rare but like most toddlers he can have bad days too.
Ayla (my daughter)- Born in July she is 5 months of willfulness behind a cute smile. Even in the hospital we knew she had a temper. When the nurse assigned to your baby the first day remarks about it, you know you're in trouble. But she doesn't hold a grudge. As soon as she gets her way she is all smiles and giggles. She is a cuddly, mama's girl, which I love 99% of the time. I just wish she would decide momma doesn't have to be holding her to sleep, sigh.
Tibo (the dog)- A 12 year old tibetan spaniel, Tibo still has way more energy than any dog should. Incredibly stubborn (I see a pattern here) and not too bright he makes life interesting. He is very happy and just wants everyone to shower him with love. His goofy face manages to win over nearly everyone.
That's us. Life can be boring or incredibly exciting and amusing depending on the day. Hope everyone enjoys reading my updates :)
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