Friday, August 31, 2012

Back On The Net

My internet was out for a while and I feel so behind on my blog and all my favorite blogger's lives! Now that I am back I promise there will be a blog update soon!

Monday, August 20, 2012

Water Cures Coughs

Obviously, it doesn't be people think it does!

I was in the waiting room of a pretty large office building the other day when I felt a tickle deep in my lungs.I knew from the feel of it that I had a plug that wasn't going to come out easily and was not going to wait till for a convenient time. Sure enough my body, without my permission, starting coughing. Once the cough started there was no way to stop it and so I spent the next few minutes coughing and trying to clear my airway. All of the sudden from somewhere down the vast hallway someone shouted from their office, without emerging mind you, "Would you like some water?" How many times have I been asked this throughout my life? I awkwardly shouted back down the empty hallway, "No thanks, I am fine." Only to once again hear from the long empty hallway, "Are you sure?"

Now if I were a "normal" person this may be seen as a kind gesture. I may even think how nice it was for mystery woman to offer some water to soothe my cough, but I am always somewhat annoyed when people offer water or cough drops. It reminds me that what is normal for me is something that is so abnormal to the rest of the world that it needs to be fixed. While my body is actually doing what it needs to do to be healthy other people hear my cough and want to immediately stop it. Or maybe I am just bitter that a sip of water won't fix what I have got. I try to tell myself that the guy offering me a cough drop in line at the post office or the person that offers water upon hearing my cough is trying to be kind and yet I find myself annoyed.

Anyone else find this irritating or am I the only one?

Sunday, August 19, 2012

CF Moms and Future CF Moms

I have super exciting news! Although I am not going to lie, out of the handful of followers I have about 1/2 of you already know about it. Well, it is so exciting you can hear about it again! There is a brand new website made specifically for women with CF who are already mothers or want to become mothers. They have info on surrogacy, adoption, ttc, and parenting all specifically geared towards women with CF. How awesome is that!? It has a forum to ask questions and also will have articles from CF women discussing their journey through all topics from CFers with multiples (twins!) to going through IVF. The website is based off a private Facebook group that had a very large following, but the creators decided to make an actual website to open it up to everyone, not just FB users. If you have CF and have or want children even in the distant future I suggest you check it out!

It just launched so it is not 100% finished and some of the FB women are still coming over from the other site so give it a few days to pick up.

Just click the link and enjoy!
http://cfmothers.com/

Friday, August 17, 2012

And So It Starts Again

The days are getting shorter and the store aisles are filled with pencils, notebooks, and anxious kids. The first day of school is rapidly approaching and summer is coming to a close. The school I worked for is starting Monday, but I won't be there this year. Although, I want nothing more than to be home with Kaylee I am feeling a little sad that I will be missing out of the flurry of excitement the first day brings. I love walking around seeing parents taking pictures of their little ones all dressed up for the first day of kindergarten, watching the older kids reuniting after a summer apart, the crisp air that starts the day before the heat rolls in. I will miss seeing the kids I care so much about and the staff that feels a lot like a second family.

And then...

I think about waking up at 6:30, morning rush hour, of the kids crying cause it is their first day of kindergarten, of the older kids that think they are too cool to follow the rules, of the blistering afternoon heat, the air conditioners that only turn on if it is sweltering, and the fact that I can only pee during two time slots in the entire day and realize that maybe I won't miss it as much as I think.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

A Day In The Life of a CF Mom

Anyone who has ever been around a baby knows that 2 month olds can't tell time and don't really care what your plans are because they are too busy living their life the way they want to live it so this is a general idea of our day. I left off the feeding and changing diapers. Both happen every 2 hours or so.

7:00 My alarm goes off.
Despite being a stay at home mom I have to set an alarm which was something I thought I could kiss goodbye once I quit my job. Well, being a CFer it took me a few weeks of frustration to realize that the best way to get my treatments in is to get up before the baby! So I pass Kaylee over to my husband where they snuggle and sleep and I get up to shower and do treatments. My husband has to get ready a little after 8 so by that time he hands me Kaylee and we start out day.

8:00 Smiles
Kaylee loves the morning. I go to change her diaper and we smile and play as we pick out an outfit and get ready for the day. I am not a fashionista in any regard, but I LOVE dressing up Kaylee in all her fun outfits and socks, bows, the works! This is actually one of my favorite parts of the day.

8:45 Walk
It has been so hot (over 100) that if we want to play outside we have to get out there before it gets too warm. So as hubby leaves to work we get ready for our morning walk and nap. Kaylee usually falls alseep by 9. We get home from our walk around 9:20. I usually throw in a load of laundry at this time and try to fit in a few more chores.

10:00 Songs and "School"
I tease Kaylee that she has to go to school in the mornings. This is when we lay a blanket on the carpet and we do tummy time followed by language development (yeah I know she is only 2 months). We are raising her bilingual so we do everything in Spanish and English. I am not bilingual (hubby is though!), but lucky for me I have enough Spanish (college, a 6 week volunteer trip to Costa Rica, and a fluent hubby) to handle the basics. She loves the songs we sing and often coos along to the music. So very cute! We then read books. Three is usually her limit. I used to sit her on my lap to read, but she gets really distracted. I found if I lay on the floor next to her and hold the book over us she stares at the pictures.

10:30 Chores
She usually needs a change of scenery so I put her in my Maya sling and do chores while telling her everything I am doing. She gets bored relatively quickly with chores (I can't blame her) and she usually lasts only about 20 minutes which is enough time to clean the kitchen and start a few other little chores.

11:00 Nap
She naps and I eat then usually wash the diapers and hang them on the line outside.

1:00 Chat time
When she wakes from her nap we usually chit chat for a while. If I softly talk to her and pause a lot she will coo and squawk and make all sorts of adorable sounds and she loves to smile.

1:20-4:00 Random/Treatments
This varies day to day. Sometimes we play on the mat, or play with toys (she really doesn't care much for toys yet, but it keeps me entertained), more tummy time. It really varies, but there is usually another little nap in there. I try to squeeze my afternoon treatment in at this time.

4:00 Dinner Prep
I bring Kaylee's bouncer in the kitchen and set it in the eating area so she can see me prep dinner, but is away from the stove. I chop veggies next to her and just chat with her as I prep. Once her dad gets home he likes to have play time with her and I can finish dinner.

6:00 Dinner/Nap
Kaylee usually naps around the time we eat so the hubby and I get a nice dinner together. When she wakes hubby takes her so I can clean up. I then do my treatments and get ready for bed which includes getting diapers ready for night changes, a little towel for milk leakage (when you feed on one side the other side decides to let milk flow all over the bed so I need something to catch the milk or else we sleep in a little puddle every night), turn on the nightlight, the air purifier (for white noise), and get a snack and water for me for my night feedings.

8:00 Bath
Every other day we give Kaylee get a bath before bed which she loves. We then get her in a night diaper (since we use cloth we use a double stuffed pocket for night) and mommy and Kaylee go to bed around 9:00.

Nighttime is something like this:
Sleep 9-1 Feed and change
Sleep 1-3 Feed
Sleep 3-5 Feed and change
Sleep 5-6:50 Feed and give to daddy so I can get ready

So there you have it! The overly exciting day of a stay at home mom!

Sunday, August 12, 2012

2 Months

Kaylee! You are 2 months old today!! I can't believe how much you have changed. You are much more independent now and you don't need mommy so much. In fact, you no longer nap on mommy (unless I need some extra snuggles) and daddy is pretty good at getting you to fall asleep on his shoulder. You are also sleeping more which I love, but someday I hope to get more than 3 hours of sleep at a time. That is okay though because sometimes even when you are sleeping i wake up just to stare at your little face which really is the cutest face i have ever seen!

Things You Love: When I sing songs to you! We sing a Spanish counting song and sometimes you  even sing along with a little, "oooh" or "gaaah"! You also have a new best friend, Fanny! I think you love Fanny almost as much as mommy and papi, but someday you will realize Fanny is just a ceiling fan and you won't be so infatuated. For now, you spend every morning after you wake up talking and smiling to Fanny. You also love the pom poms over your changing table and your mobile in your crib.When we are done changing you we lay you in your crib to wash our hands and you immediately look to your mobile. You often have little chats with your mobile animal friends.


Things You dislike: The hiccups. You get them often and they make you whine. I have to nurse you to make them go away. 

My favorite thing about this age: You make me laugh! You are so expressive and it is so fun to watch you react to your environment. I also love that now that your a little more independent I have a little more me time and sometimes I even get to eat a meal without nursing you. You have also recently found your voice and will even cry sometimes although not often. Even though you can be bossy I love watching you develop a little personality and acquiring likes and dislikes!

Monday, August 6, 2012

Mothering Misconceptions Part 1

I saw this on another mommy blog and loved it since motherhood is so full of surprises!

  • I thought that I would have trouble getting all my treatments in once baby came,                                                    
BUT

I have only missed 2 treatments in the whole 8 weeks Kaylee has been alive. Not too shabby if you ask me!


  • I thought I would get in a nice exercise routine (even if it was just walking) soon after she arrived and then a more intense exercise routine after my 6 week check up,


BUT

With weather in the hundreds walking is out and I have yet to drag my butt to mommy and me yoga even though I was cleared for exercise 2 weeks ago. Shh don't tell my CF docs!

  • I thought I would lose weight rapidly from breastfeeding since that was one of my doctors big concerns with breastfeeding,
BUT

I am still 1lb over my baseline and have been sitting steady at that weight for about 4 weeks now. I have been eating like crazy and it seems to be working! Yay!

  • I thought I would have Kaylee sleep in a bassinet for 3 months and then transfer her into a crib in her own room,
BUT

Once they handed her to me I never wanted to let her go so we bed-share (GASP!). Never in a million years did I think I would bed share, but now I can't imagine NOT bed-sharing. I will post more about this later. (And NO I have never ever come close to rolling over her or tossing her out of the bed like everyone makes you think. I think babies and mamas, especially when breastfeeding, are so connected that under normal circumstances this is highly unlikely).

  • I thought I would start getting more sleep after 6 weeks since all my friends told me that babies sleep for longer stretched after 6 weeks, 
BUT

My baby loves to eat and still nurses every 2-3 hours at night. Honestly, if my baby needs mommy time that often I don't mind waking for her. Since we bed share when she is hungry she can simply latch on and enjoy! I find that this allows all of us a lot more sleep and I think is the reason she never cries- she doesn't have a need to!  

Friday, August 3, 2012

Quiet and Questions

I know I haven't been around much lately and I sincerely miss blogging. I have no idea how so many mommy bloggers can still update daily! I have made a rule for myself that there is no t.v. (in the form of hulu since I don't actually have t.v.), internet, or texting (I cheat on this one sometimes) while Kaylee is awake. I want to dedicate all of my time to her and honestly nothing on t.v. could be better than spending time with my baby anyway. As she gets a little older and her naps more regular I think I will blog more often. I am hoping to still update once a week. For all my blogger friends, I still check out your blogs during treatment time so I haven;t disappeared completely.

**So I have  not posted pics on my blog of my baby yet for 2 reasons and if anyone can help please let me know!

All pics on blogger get put into google images. I want to keep pics of my daughter from floating all over the internet. I know this can be prevented because I have known bloggers to do this, but I am not sure how. Do you?

I would be okay posting pics if I could put a watermark on them, but again not sure how and with a 7 week old I don't have too much spare time to figure it out. Anyone know how to do this??