Sunday, January 30, 2011

Her first fever

Natali goes to daycare part time, 3 days a week.  So far it has worked out well for us, and it will continue to because Darren got a nice schedule in February with at least 2 weekdays off every week.  However, last week he had just completed training and didn't have an official schedule for January so they just put him in where they wanted.  That meant he worked 4 days last week.  He stayed home with her on Monday and then she went to daycare Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Friday was the problem.  Darren was scheduled to work.  We weren't sure until the night before what we needed to do.  If Darren got airport standby I would need to stay home from work, but if he was on a 2 hour call out from home he could watch Natali.  I let my supervisor know the situation.  Luckily, my work is extremely flexible and I can work different hours or days if needed.  Worst case scenario I could work a full day Saturday instead of Friday.  So, Thursday night came and Darren found out he was on a 2 hour call out starting at 4am.  I planned on going to work.  Friday morning I got up at my normal time and started to get ready for work as usual.  Of course, nothing went as usual that day.  Just as I was making my breakfast I found out Darren was getting called to go sit standby at the airport.  There went my work day.  We changed the plan.  Darren would go sit at the airport until 2pm.  I would drop her off with him on my way up to work as he started to go home.  I could get to work around 2pm and work until around 6pm and then work another half day on Saturday.  It was a good plan, but it was not meant to be.  Once Darren got to the airport he was almost immediately called out for a flight that would put him back home at 2:30.  I decided I would just go up to work at 2pm anyway and take Natali with me.  She could hang out with me at work for half an hour or so and Darren would just pick her up from me on his way home.  Of course, that plan ended up falling through too.

Natali and I had a decent morning at home.  Around 10am I decided to run out to the store for a few things.  While at the store I noticed Natali looked a bit dazed.  I thought she was just tired.  We continued shopping as normal and I figured I would just put her down for a nap as soon as we got home.  Well, once I got her out of the car seat when we got home I noticed she felt a bit warm.  I immediately took her temperature, 100.3.  It was her first fever.  Natali has been sick in the past, but she has never had a fever.  I have no clue what caused it as she had no other visible symptoms.  I was not prepared for a fever and I didn't have any medicine for her.  I figured we should get something right away, so I put her back in the car and we went down the street to the CVS for some Tylenol.  It took about 15 minutes and when we got back I did another check of her temperature.  In the span of half an hour it had climbed to 101.4.  I gave her the medicine and called my sister (the pediatric nurse).  She didn't answer the phone.  I wasn't sure how much I should worry about just a fever, but I figured I should go ahead and call the doctor just in case.  They took a message and told me a nurse would call me back.  In the meantime I called my mom.  She suggested a cool wet rag on her head might help, so I went ahead and did that too.  I then put Natali down for a nap.  An hour later the nurse at the doctor's office called back and said to just keep a watch on her and give her the medicine as needed, but not to worry unless it's been 48 hours.

There was no way I was going to take Natali to work with a fever, so I texted Darren and told him to just come home when he landed.  Natali woke up around 2pm and I took her temperature again, 98.6.  The medicine and wet rag had done the trick.  Darren got home and took over so I could head up to work.  On another day I would probably have just blown off work all together and just done a full day Saturday, but we had a deadline and I had some stuff to accomplish to send stuff out that day so I had to go.  Natali was doing ok, so I went and put in a few hours.  I got home around 6pm and immediately took her temperature again.  Unfortunately the Tylenol wore off and she was right back up to 101.5.  We gave her more Tylenol and I got out the wet rag for her head again.  Darren made fun of me for it, but it really does work.  At least he didn't fight it.  I was completely exhausted and fell asleep early.  Darren let me go to bed and he took care of Natali until she went to bed for the night.  He gave her one last dose of medicine before bedtime, but didn't take her temperature again.

Saturday morning we all woke up and Natali seemed fine.  I had work to do, so I left her and Darren and headed out for the morning.  I worked the whole morning and got back around 1pm to a very upset baby.  She was extremely fussy and could only be quieted by walking around the house.  Darren had a project to work on with his car, so I took over.  For the next hour and a half I could not sit down.  Every time I did Natali would cry uncontrollably.  We did a lot of standing in the garage watching Darren and standing in the backyard watching the dogs run around.  As long as I stood and held her she was ok.  Finally I couldn't take it anymore.  I knew she was very tired and my arms hurt.  I ended up laying her down in her bed and just letting her cry it out.  She cried pretty hard for about 10 minutes and then was out.  Of course, she didn't sleep very long before she was awake and crying again.  We had another rough 2 hours or so with a lot of crying, before she finally fell asleep again.  After this nap she woke up good as new, no more fussiness, and definitely no more fever.

I have no clue what the problem was.  We thought she might be teething, but we cannot feel any teeth, and we're told a 101.5 fever seems too high for just teething.  I guess we won't ever know what her issue was.  I'm just glad it's over now.  A sick baby is definitely not fun, and fevers are the worst!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

One last crazy week

I flew my first flight in 3 months last night. My schedule is pretty crappy for the rest of the month. Thankfully this is the last week of the month.

I work Monday thru Friday. Since we only pay for part time day care, this is a problem.

Monday I was able to stay home with Natali all day. I went to work at 8PM. As of now Kelli is planning on taking Friday off to stay at home with Natali and going to work on Saturday. This is the last crazy week we will have.

Natali is sitting up fine without any help. Still no rolling over.

She enjoys standing up though and is trying to balance herself. She can hold on to just one finger of mine and stand up fine.

Her sleeping has gotten a little odd. She has started waking up at 4:30AM...almost on the dot. No crying. Just talking. This of course wakes us up. Eh.

For all the flying Natali did in the first 3 months of her life...she hasn't been on a plane in a while. No flights are scheduled. Kinda sad.

As far as solid foods she has gone from rice cereal, to bananas to sweet potatoes. Apples are next. The sweet potatoes seem to be her favorite.

With both of us working there's going to be an adjustment period. It was odd to not see Natali first thing in the morning. Today was the first morning in...well months that I didn't wake up with her nearby.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Babies aren't pretty when they are born

Babies aren't pretty when they are born. Including my own child. Just throwing that out there.

Of course at the time I thought Natali was stunning. Looking back at photos....she went thru a "eh" period. Some photos of her don't look like her. She's changed quite a bit. Of course everyone thinks their kid is beautiful.....I swear the hospital must put something in the water to give people rose colored eyes while there. As a rule (my rule) babies are "eh".

Natali is beautiful now. I can honestly say that without rose colored glasses. I am still amazed that she's half of me. Just to be sure I've been taking photos of every postman I see....just to compare facial features.

We are really lucky with our day care situation. Right now we are part time and they let US tell them what days she is going....by the week.

My work schedule for next month has me working all weekends and I'm off 2-3 weekdays per week. This will save us $60 a week on daycare which adds up to a little over $3000 a year. Not too shabby. Almost enough for another car payment. Not that we are buying another car. Gotta pay off other stuff first.

Tonight Natali rode in a shopping cart for the first time. Kelli bought a shopping cart cover from Amazon. Worked great. Natali looked so small.

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Monday, January 17, 2011

Adventures in baby food

When Natali went for her 4 month check up we were given a sheet about starting her on solid foods.  It gave a whole bunch of information about what and when to feed her.  The paper said to start with cereal.  We bought a box of dry rice cereal and mixed it with formula.  She took it pretty well.  After that we tried mushed banana.  She didn't like that as well, which was surprising because I am a big fan of bananas and I figured she would inherit my sweet tooth.  The paper listed a few fruits and vegetables to try at this age, and at the bottom it talked about preparing fresh baby food at home as opposed to buying jar food.  This intrigued me.  I have absolutely nothing against jar baby food.  I know that's what I was raised on.  However, in my research I found that fresh foods are healthier and have less preservatives, and making my own baby food actually saves a lot of money.  I am not a cook by any means, but I figured I could try this.  It didn't seem too hard.

We started out by buying a small, cheap food processor and a butternut squash.  That was the first squash I ever purchased in my life, and my ignorance showed.  I had no idea I had to bake it in the oven for a whole hour before processing it!  It wasn't a big deal though.  Baking it was easy, and the food processor is really nice and quick to use.  Plus, Natali loves squash!  With the rice cereal and bananas she never finished the amount we prepared for her, but she has finished all of her squash without a problem 2 days in a row.  I tried it too.  It's actually not bad.  I have never been a squash eater, obviously, but I would probably eat a meal with squash as an ingredient.  I figure if I'm going to feed it to her I might as well be able to eat it myself.  Next we are going to try sweet potatoes.  I read that we can prepare a good amount of food at one time and freeze it in ice cube trays, then store them in a freezer bag in the freezer until we are ready to use them.

I am looking forward to preparing different foods for Natali.  It should be fun!  I found some interesting recipes for baby stuff for when she's older and can eat more than one food at a time.

In other news, Natali was diagnosed with bronchiolitis.  Darn daycare!  Then she got the rest of us sick.  I even took a sick day from work today.  I haven't done that in a really long time (other than for doctor's appointments during my pregnancy).  I don't think it hit me as hard as it could have.  I have been pretty healthy lately, and I still take several vitamins and supplements each day.

In other, other news, my cousin Julie had her second baby yesterday.  It was her 2nd daughter and her name is Lianna Michelle.  Congratulations Julie and Bill!  Also, my friend Shelbi Lynne, who I met because we both have the same condition and miscarriage history, is scheduled to have her baby boy by c-section on Friday.  Congratulations Shelbi Lynne and Matt!  It's so exciting that we were both able to have perfectly healthy babies with a simple treatment for our condition.  I can't wait to see pictures of little Wyatt! :)

Saturday, January 15, 2011

5 months old...her eyes are still blue!

Spent the day out and out. Took a few photos. We are both thrilled that Natali's eyes are still blue.


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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Our blog got hacked!

Scary moment last night. Loaded up the blog and thought "OMG Our blog has been hacked!" Why? Well Kelli hasn't updated this blog in months. So when I saw the last post wasn't one of mine I thought we had been hacked. Nope Kelli updated. Wow.

If I had a Million dollars I would still go to work, because I love my job...and the benefits. The amount we traveled last year alone was worth over $10,000......the year prior we traveled First Class to Tokyo. First Class tickets go for over $4,000 each way. Anyways.

At first it appeared as though Natali slept in a bouncer at daycare. I didn't think she'd ever been in a crib. Kinda bothered by this. This was just temporary as this week she has been in a crib. I think the staffing was high enough last week. This week there are double the number of employees in the infant/toddler area.

Natali is sick. I am sick. I don't think I have what Natali has though.

I worked three days in a row this week. All classroom training. The man next to me was sick. Coughed a ton. I think I have what he had. Thanks for sharing scumbag.

A few months ago Eric and Angela lent us a car seat. At the time I couldn't find the LATCH cables. I looked...allegedly read the manual. Nothing. Today I re-read the manual....and then looked where the manual stated the cables were stored....and they were there! Pays to read eh?

Natali is 5 months old now. Still not rolling over. We know she can. Bleh.

We sent off for Natali's passport last week. Her first scheduled use of the passport is in April. We (meaning Natali and I) might jet off before that. Maybe.

This weekend the North American Autoshow opens. We wanted to go. Snow in the forecast. Still debating. We will decide sometime tomorrow. I've gone every year since I worked for an airline.

Natali has started eating less since she went to day care. Maybe we (meaning I) were feeding her too much? Four ounce bottles are the norm except for the first bottle of the day which might be a five ounce bottle.

It's been a fast five months. Natali is incredibly tall. It's hard to remember when she was small. Lots of photos have been taken. I know not enough shared. I will work on that.

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Glad Kelli is updating. Hope she keeps it up.

Monday, January 10, 2011

If I Had a Million Dollars...

This post is brought to you by Kelli.  Darren will be shocked!

Being a working mother is hard.  I went back to work when Natali was 11.5 weeks old.  I, however, am extremely lucky to have a husband who was willing to take 2 months off work to stay home and raise our daughter.  I am not sure how many fathers would have been willing to do that, even if they were financially able to.  Darren is an excellent father and every day I would leave the house and work a full day without being upset about leaving Natali.  She was at home with her dad and I had nothing to worry about.  Unfortunately all good things must come to an end.  Darren stayed off work for as long as we were financially able to swing it.  It was a budget stretcher, but such a valuable period of time for all of us that it was absolutely, 100% worth it!

Last week Natali started daycare.  It has been a tough transition for us all.  The daycare we picked is very good, and I am happy to have Natali there if we must, but I would rather have her home.  She got sick in just her first week of being there!  Everyone keeps telling me that she will get sick constantly now and we will just have to get used to it.  I really hate the thought of that.  No one likes being sick.  I really hope her immune system is better than average and she starts resisting all the germs she comes into contact with.  Darren and I are fairly healthy people, so I'm crossing my fingers that we make it through all of this relatively healthy.

The good news about the daycare situation is we found out that we can just put her there part time.  Darren's work schedule changes every month and he typically has at least 2 days during the week that he is home, so we are putting her in daycare just 3 days a week right now.  For those few occasions when he works more days, my job is flexible enough that I can stay home 1 day during the week and make it up on a weekend day.  We are trying this out for now, and I'm hopeful it will work well for us.  If it works it will be so nice!  It will keep Natali out of daycare some days, so hopefully that keeps her a bit healthier, and it saves us a bunch of money.  The money savings is extremely helpful.  We can afford full time daycare with just a bit of stretching, but it is really nice to have that extra cushion in our budget.

I have always said I wouldn't quit my job even if I won big in the lottery.  Now I have changed my mind.  It's funny how life experiences can do so much to alter your world view.  Now all it would take is a million dollar win and I would quit my job tomorrow.  We could live for 20 years or more (if invested well) by just taking an amount equal to my yearly salary out of our million dollar winnings every year.  Darren could still fly and we could still travel and be perfectly happy.  Of course, I would want to work again once Natali starts school.  There would be no need to stay home after that if we have just 1 child.  Unfortunately I don't foresee a lottery win in our future so we will just have get used to daycare.  It really is a nice place, it's just not home and it's not us.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Just like that

Last week we were swaddling Natali and using a pacifier often.

This week she is sleeping on her back unswaddled and rarely uses a pacifier. Just like that.

Day two of day care done. I will have to accept a few things from the "reports" from the day care:

1) They have several kids to watch and aren't as meticulous as I was about noting eating/sleeping/diaper times

2) Natali really is sleeping more than the 2 hours recorded per day

3) Natali may or may not be finishing 4 ounce bottles in 20 minutes

Natali seems happy when I pick her up....a little dazed but happy.

The report today stated she ate 4 ounces at 2PM. I arrived at 2:25PM. Maybe she finished at 2PM. Bleh.

It is nice not having to swaddle her. She seems to sleep better unswaddled.

I start training next week. Natali will go to day care for real Monday and Tuesday. I don't have to be at training until Noon on Monday. I will likely take her in around 9...maybe 10.

Not sure I will get use to this.

Monday, January 3, 2011

She smelled different

Day one of day care done.

I came home and just sat for a while. Not sure how I felt about leaving her at day care. I didn't feel good sitting at home alone. Haven't been alone in a long time.

I kept myself busy for a bit, but I kept watching the clock. I said I would pick her up between 2:30 and 3PM.

Ten minutes to 2PM I left home. Had to make one stop at Autozone then straight to the day care. I was very impatient at Autozone. Took 7 minutes to check out. I counted each minute.

When I arrived Natali wasn't in the room I was told she would be in. I looked back in the room I dropped her off in. I didn't see her. I started to walk back to the front when an employee motioned me into the room while holding a baby she was feeding.

After taking off my shoes I walked in and saw Natali sitting in a bouncer seat facing away from the window. She looked dazed....sleepy. I picked her up and spoke with the employee. They said Natali was quiet most of the day. She handed me her sheet for the day showing when she ate, diapers and mood. I was given her bottles and I left.

The first thing I noticed....Natali smelled different. I've cuddled with her for almost 5 months. Suddenly her scent was different. It bothered me.

When we got home she was a little more alert. I washed her hands and face. They weren't dirty....maybe it was my way of changing her scent.

We played in the living room for a bit before she got hungry. Three ounces later and she was ready for a nap.

She slept for about an hour.

Natali is now eating again. Kelli is feeding her.

We are going to try it again tomorrow. We will go at least 3 days this week. I know it will take time to adjust.

She found her thumb

Sometime over the last week Natali has discovered her thumb. She's been putting everything in her mouth of the last few weeks. Natali has sucked on her hands for a while, apparently she has decided the thumb is the best.

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Kelli and I were a little concerned about having a thumb sucker. Various sources say it's nothing to worry about in children this young. So we won't.

Today was is the first day of day care for Natali. It's a trial run.

There was a large amount of items we needed to bring. Being a Monday morning after a holiday, Kelli and I decided to wait until 7AM to bring Natali in. The day care opens at 6:30AM. We wanted to avoid the rush.

When we arrived it was quiet. Only one other child was in the morning room. I held Natali while Kelli finished up a little paperwork. Natali's teacher wouldn't arrive until 7:30AM. We left Natali with the teacher in the morning room along with a duffle bag full of stuff.

I am going to pick her up at 2:00PM today....if I can wait that long. It's very odd to be in the house alone. I thought I would enjoy it. Not so much. Even after 2 months of non-stop care, I don't really want a break.

Today is my first day back to work, but I'm not going. There are lot of rules and regulations about pilots. I have to have yearly training on my plane. If I miss the training within 12 months I have one "oops" month to get it done. My normal month in November. My "oops" month is December. It's now January, so I am no longer qualified to fly my plane. This just means I have to have a little extra training. Still waiting to get word on when I head back. I am going to start buzzing in the ear of the training department.

Last week we got rid of the Mazda5. It was a good car, but the lease was going to be up soon. It was Kelli's turn for a new car so we bought a 2010 Prius. I took over her 2004 Prius. No more sliding doors for us. It's already been a little odd. I am sure we will get used to it. Since it's just the 3 of us, we don't need a big car anyway.