Molly - Two Months Old

Dear Molly-wolly,
You turned two months old yesterday. Hooray!  You're a big girl, my love.  Today we went to see your pediatrician to get the official stats.  You weigh 10 pounds, 10 ounces. Your noggin is 37 centimeters around and you're about 21" long (but your pedi things because you love to sit all yogi style, that your nurse Sarah didn't did measure your gams quite right. But that's okay.)

So where does that put you on the classic growth chart?  All over the place!  You're 50% for weight, 10% for head size and 5% for length (but we know that's probably wrong anyway.)  You're 100% perfect! It said so right on the chart. I promise. *wink, wink*

The worst part though were the shots. Oh my sweet drama queen! You did not like them one bit. I don't blame you. Those suckers hurt!  You stopped crying shortly after the shots were given but then when I picked you up and you looked at my face, you just whimpered and sobbed on my shoulder.  Break my heart, little girl!

So other than the recent trauma of exams and inoculations, this month has been just lovely.  You have started to smile and coo and gurgle at us.  You've gotten accustomed to sleeping for more than two hours.  You love to eat and even though I quit breastfeeding you exactly 1,832 times, I also restarted 1,833 times.  You love boob, kiddo (your dad is slightly jealous. Yes, I did write that because I know he reads this blog. Hi, honey!)

The love between you and your Ben-Ben is growing so much.  Molly, your brother is smitten with you.  I am so excited for the day when you and he can play together (and inevitably argue with, pick on, and bicker with each other.)  

You're starting to stir so I'm going to go for now.  I love you, darling princess.  My sweet love!
LHK,
Mommy

P.S. I promise to edit this post with your two month picture soon!

How'd You Do It, Stella?

Get your groove back, that is. 

I miss my groove.  Before Molly, we had our thing. Our routine.  I knew when to feed Ben, entertain him, get him ready for bed (ok, his dad did that).  I knew when I had my time, our time, family time.  It was lovely. We had it good.

I completely forgot how all sense of predictability goes right out the window when a newborn comes home.  *head slap* Doh! 

The comfort in all of this is that a) the creature that killed my groove is seriously adorable, snuggly, and wonderful and b) the groove will come back...so I'm told.  In the meantime, we're just holding on to this ride by our fingernails, playing man-on-man defense and doing our best to still say loving and kind words to each other at the end of the day.

Molly - One Month Old

Dear Miss M,

So I'm writing this a couple of days late from your actual “one month” birthday mark. Don't worry. As these letters continue, I'll get later and later in the month until eventually I'm playing catch-up the week you turn a year old. I'm just that good.

We made it, kiddo! You, me, your dad, and Ben-Ben have survived month one. Way to go! So what have you been up to this month? Mostly sleeping, pooing, eating. Technically, because you were four weeks early, you've been playing catch-up, growing and gaining weight that you would have done while you were still inside me.

You're a chunk-a-lunk, now! I love holding you and snuggling your sweet cheeks. Daddy was worried you weren't going to get that chipmunk look he loves so much, but you didn't disappoint. You're a championing breast feeder. I wasn't sure how that was all going to work out, but you've taken to nursing like a duck to water. You love it! Me? Well, I'd like to sleep a little more and be less of a buffet station at the Golden Corral, but I've been reassured that you eventually get more efficient and I will sleep for more than three hours at a time, once again (fingers crossed!)

Your brother is so taken with you, Miss Molly. He loves to help take care of you. When you cry because you're hungry and I can't get to you right away, your bubba will say, “It's okay baby girl.” Sniff! I think you two will be great friends as you get older. You'll love him. Ben-Ben is funny and adventurous. He's mischievous and stubborn so you'll have your work cut out for you as a little sister. But he could use a good dose of teasing and picking-on. Be gentle though, Molly-wolly. Your Ben is sensitive and has a soft heart. I know you'll be his protector. He certainly will be yours.

This letter will be short. You're currently giving me the stink eye and letting me know that you're about to wail for lunch in T-minus any minute.

I love you, my sweet princess!

Kisses,

Mommy

Introducing the Fabulous Miss M

She's here! She's here! She's here! We are now a four top (or a “four pack” as was often used to describe my family growing up, much to my little sister's irritance after awhile.) The Litts are now the quintessential suburban couple with 2.0 children (well, it's really something like 2.4 children, but my assumption is that in order to get .4 children, I would have to be constantly pregnant. Yeah...no thank you!)

I'm not sure how to start this birth story since it's a bit different than Ben's birth (i.e. totally unplanned). With Ben, I had lots of time to contemplate how he would be born and his birth date was sort of assigned to us.

However, with this little girl, things didn't go as planned (I wonder if I'll be able to look back on this post during her teenage years and say, “Yep. From the get-go, she was a wild card. Always keeping us guessing. Oy vey!”) Our daughter is probably one of the few children in the world with three birthdates, though only one is the official date. She was estimated to be due on February 7, 2011 as per the handy-dandy pregnancy wheel. But being the special patient that I am (high risk, yada, yada, yada), we were actually scheduling her birth via repeat c-section for January 27 (this Thursday). She (and my placenta) had other plans.

This is where her story begins...

The Monday that she was born, I had my regular check-up with my OB. At that appointment, my blood pressure was slightly elevated. This was pretty unusual for me as my blood pressure had always been normal and even a little low from time to time. At first, my doctor was not overly concerned but asked me to come back in that Friday and have my blood pressure checked again, just to make sure.

Friday morning came around and after I dropped Ben off at preschool, I headed to my doctor's office. My doctor was in surgery that morning, so I saw one of her partners instead.  The nurse took my bp and got a reading of something like 138/89, but she wasn't sure that was accurate since she was having a hard time hearing. She called in another nurse to re-check my pressure and that nurse got magic "pre-e" cut off of over 140/90.  Not a good sign. I was trying to be calm and think about the positive. I didn't have high blood pressure or pre-eclampsia with Ben, so this was startling. The doctor-partner came back in, and as sweet as can be, told me I was being sent to the hospital for a 24-hour bp evaluation. Depending on what those numbers looked like, my regular OB would decide if I got to go home to be on bedrest or we were having a baby that weekend.
After a quick trip home to get some stuff and to coordinate care for Ben, Andrew and I headed to the hospital.  I got checked in, changed, and hooked up to the automatic bp cuff (or as I like to call it, Boa the Constrictor!) I got an IV from the oldest practicing nurse in the United States (seriously! I think one of the other nurses said she was about 75 years old and had not intention of retiring!) Every 20 minutes or so, Boa would squeeze my arm and spit out my fate in the form of systolic/diastolic numbers. I was hitting 143/78. 150/89. 158/90. And so on. For two hours my pressure steadily climbed until I hit two in a row in the 180s/90s. My OB was in my room for both of those numbers and every time my blood pressure would hit above 170, her sweet little face would contort as if she smelled the world's worst fart. It didn't take long to get a diagnosis with those numbers: severe pre-eclampsia.
With pre-e, there is only one cure: the baby has to be delivered. My doctor had hoped we'd at least wait until the 36 weeks mark (which was 2 days away) to deliver, but after those readings, it was definitely go time.
Not even an hour after my OB told me, “We're having a baby tonight!”, the anesthesiologist and his nurse anesthetist came in to get me ready for surgery. I was wheeled into the OR at 6:30. At 7, I got the spinal and at 7:14 PM, out came the cutest, reddest little girl, screaming and a hollering!  She was perfectly healthy and beautiful! Margaret Olivia (who we call “Molly) was born January 7, 2011 at 7:14 PM, weighing 6 pounds, 10 ounces and measuring 19” long. Not bad for an early bird!

Delicious Dessert without the "Doh!"

A friend of mine from my women's organization is an accomplished gluten-free/food allergen-free cook and recipe writer.  She has a great website and blog with her really fabulous recipes, including things like crispy kale and gluten-free/dairy-free apple pecan torte.

She and I were talking at my baby shower last month about foods and how certain foods can promote inflammation in the body or cause some people to react badly when exposed. I had told her that as much as I love to the taste of wheat and dairy products, they really do a number on my system.  My people (the indigenous Mexican side) were not really meant to eat Old World foods like dairy and wheat.  We're more the corn/maize, quinoa, tropical fruits and veggies, legumes, and fish eaters.

One thing that has concerned me is how to feed Ben in a way that allows him to enjoy treats but without the excesses of refined sugar, wheat, and dairy that are in those treats (and makes them so yummy!)

I told my friend that I absolutely LOVE ice cream. So much so that I really have a hard time just having a little bit at a time.  However, the dairy doesn't settle well with my system and having diabetes doesn't make it the most friendly food to my endocrine system.

That's when she introduced me to Frozen Banana Soft-Serve.  It sounded intriguing! I love bananas and frozen things and anything that felt like ice cream was probably going to be a success.  I decided to give it a try.

It was fabulous! Ben loved it! The texture and consistency of the bananas is JUST like soft serve from Dairy Queen or a fro-yo shop. The flavor is definitely banana but with the right amount of a good quality unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder), it takes on a great chocolaty bittersweet quality.  Next time you're in the mood for some ice cream but want to try a substitute that is full of fiber, potassium, antioxidants, and low in refined sugar and fat, give this recipe a run.

Delicious Frozen Chocolate Banana "Soft Serve"
3-4 medium frozen bananas (especially delicious with those too-black-to-eat-throw-'em-in-the-freezer bananas)
1-2 tsps unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder)
1-2 T plain, vanilla, chocolate soy milk (or rice, almond, coconut, hemp milk. Whatever you choose.)

Directions:

1. Using a paring knife, peel the bananas and cut into chunks.  Place in food processor.
2. Pulse frozen bananas until finely ground.  Slowly add 1-2 T of "milk" and continue to pulse until almost smooth.
3. Add cocoa and pulse until incorporated.
4. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Of Babies & Boys

Happy 3rd Day of 2011!  I'm hoping to stay true to my resolution and blog at least once a week. All is well around here and I'm still pregnant (which is a good thing, because I'm only 35 weeks, but it's starting to get a little old.)

Last week we got a date on the calendar for my RCS (that's repeat c-section) and in about 3.5 weeks, Baby Too will be here. Yay!  We spent this weekend finally clearing out the old guest bedroom/storage hovel for the nursery and the result is one very clean space and two very swollen mama ankles (I'm so looking forward to normal sized feet.)

Being a sufferer of CBS (Cheap Bastard Syndrome), I had first concluded that Baby Too's nursery would just be hand-me-down furniture from Ben's room and we would re-do Ben's room all big-boy style.  But mister-mister is not ready to be a big boy, as he so informed us not too long ago, so we had to do a little shopping. 

So creativity and luck at Ikea have got us a great new crib, changing station, dresser (coming soon), and Pottery Barn Kids nursery bedding (a major score!).  I can't wait to get it all set up and ready to go for BT.  Granted, she'll be doing most of her sleeping in our room and a lot of her hanging around on me, but it's nice to have something ready for her, all pretty and neat.

And since this post is also about "Boys", I wanted to end with a Ben Funny.  Before the Christmas break, he had learned the song "Jingle Bells" in preschool.  But what little kids hear vs. what you've told them are two very different things.  I give you the lyrics to Ben's own version of "Jingle Bells"

Chingle bells!
Chingle bells!
Chingle all the way!
Old MacNoah had a boat,
And the cow eats lots of hay!
Hey!

Where Does the Time Go!? & Can I Buy Some Extra Patience, Please?

It's been months since I've posted.  I'm sorry to say that I've lost almost all motivation to keep blogging.  I have great Ben-tales to tell and funny observation but just when I think I'm going to sit down and write about it, I get side tracked and put it off.

Things have flown by in this house.  I'm 33 weeks pregnant and at that stage where pregnancy is definitely overrated.  My little boy will be three in exactly 1 week.  Whoever said the twos were terrible never quite made it to the almost-threes.  That's not to say my child is terrible. He's not.  He's typical and in this case, I kind of wish he was exceptional (lol!)  He's in a phase where he's exerting his inner rabble-rouser and I'm feeling very inclined to exert my inner fascist dictator.  It's not helping that this inner being inhabiting my body is also putting me through my paces (insomnia that wakes me up at 3 AM is no fun. A baby who wants to flip and dance from 4 AM - 6 AM isn't helping either.)

Of course, most of my frustrations are just compounded by pregnancy so I know that at some point things will get better and I won't keep asking myself, "When did I think staying home with a preschooler and an infant was a good idea?"  Right? Right? 

So other than the regular trappings and irritations of motherhood, I've made zero strides in getting things ready for this little one on her way.  Her nursery/storage room is still in storage mode, but I'm hoping to have a rush of nesting motivation sometime next week and some help from my mommy to get things done.  Add to that a birthday party for El Nino and the once-a-week doctors appointments, I'm not just kind of busy.  I'm really busy! 

I don't promise I'll post again before this little one arrives, but maybe I can make some New Year's Pre-Resolutions.

1. I resolve to post at least once a week on this blog, even if it's an update simply stating that I haven't flown the planet.

2. I resolve to post at least monthly about my children. I know my mom would appreciate that. I stopped the once-a-month letters when Ben was about 11 months old, and I think that was a mistake.

So until then, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to y'all!