Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful, fun, and safe holiday :)

Here are some pictures of our pumpkins from this year to help get you in the spirit!

Happy Halloween!!!

Awww :)

M cleaning the guts out

Me cleaning the guts out

All done!

Nothin' Can Stop Her Now

Miss L hasn't quite mastered crawling on her hands and knees, but she can sure move! I don't think I have ever seen someone army crawl so fast.

She is still getting up and rocking back and forth and has even done about 2 crawls before falling down. It is so fun to watch her try, and she gets so proud of herself! She has been getting into everything already though, so I can only imagine how it is going to be once she can really crawl.

On her hands and knees!

Did your LO army crawl first? Or did they jump right in with both... knees?!

8 Month Milestones

I can't believe it, but Miss L is 8 months old today. It is going so fast, and makes me so sad.

Exciting things are happening at this ripe ol' age, like sitting up on her own!!! Well, she can't actually get into the sitting position on her own, but she can sit on her own. She still is a little tipsy and I don't trust her to sit without someone behind her or her Boppy around her, but none the less, she is sitting!

She is also trying REALLY hard to crawl. I am not sure I am ready for that milestone yet though! She has mastered the army crawl, and the last couple days she has been getting on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth. It won't be long before she off... and into trouble!

What milestones have your LOs recently reached?

Halloween

I love dressing up for Halloween, but I think dressing your kids up is even better! Especially when they are little, and don't care or really have a say in what you put them in!! :)

After days and days of searching for Miss L's costume, I found the perfect one. I didn't want to spend too much money since I didn't think we would really wear it considering she is too little to trick-or-treat, and Pumpkin will be with his dad until 8 that night. The one I found was super cute and cheap! And she looks so adorable in it!

We actually are going to be using it a lot too, which is nice! We had a costume party last weekend for the kids. Pumpkin was so excited to get to wear the costume MIL bought him awhile back (Ninja Turtle), and Miss L tried to eat hers.

Me and the kids getting ready to leave for the party

M and Miss L at the party

On the 25th the NICU is having a costume party for all the kids that spent time there, so we will be going to that too. AND M's aunt and uncle have a costume party on the 27th that we might be going to. If we do, I am trying to convince M to be a gnome with me and Miss L will be our little flower!!!

For me (source)

For M (source)

What did you do for costumes for your kids? Do you dress up for Halloween too?

Heart Appointment

Miss L had her "6 month" heart check-up today. Her regular pediatrician couldn't really hear her murmur very well any more, so we were pretty optimistic going in.

The first thing they do is a full EKG on her. She kept trying to pull the stickers off herself, and once the wires were hooked to them, she kept trying to get them in her mouth! We had to hold her hands and arms and the nurse held her legs.

She's trying to figure out why the nurse is putting stickers on her ;)

Always so happy!!!

After her EKG she had an ultrasound on her heart. AND both came back good!!!

The Dr thought that the bottom hole would have closed already, but it was still there. It really shouldn't ever affect her though, unless she gets an infection, which would be really unlikely.

We are so happy to have such good news!!! Plus, we don't have to go back to the heart Dr until she is 2 now! Woohoo!!!! :)

Good News

I had a pap smear last week and got the results on Tuesday. I figured it would be the same as always.... cancerous cells. To my complete surprise, I'm cancer free!!! My Dr even seemed to be surprised! She told me to go out and celebrate :)

It feels so good to get good news! I don't have to go back in for another pap for 6 more months. At that time, if that pap comes back good, I get to go a yr like every other normal person out there! Woohoo!!!

I got other good news at my appt too. My Dr said that you would never know that I have had 2 kids! That is probably one of the best things I have heard in a long time, and a constant fear of mine that M always gets to hear about. ;)

Have you gotten any good news lately?

People Amaze Me

I posted a couple posts back about a fundraiser I was having done for baby Easton. Well, I just want to say that people truly amaze me.

Honestly, I have no idea how the fundraiser is going yet! I only know of one friend that has actually purchased anything (so get your butt over there and buy something!). BUT, the lady doing it for me, G from All Things G, is amazing. I couldn't have asked for more of a gift then just her doing this fundraiser, but her heart if full of gold, and she sent a little surprise my way.

When I went to leave my house today, there was a box sitting by my front door.

Wonder what it could be... 

And inside that box was 2 more boxes...

Sorry bout the crotch shot of my dog!

And inside those boxes were.... no, not more boxes, but Scentsy Buddies! G sent both my kids a Scentsy Buddy! How incredibly sweet is that?!

Pumpkin and Roarbert the Lion

Miss L and Lenny the Lamb

They love them!

Whoever came up with this idea is brilliant! They are these cute, SUPER soft, animals that have little pouches in their backs that you put scent pouches in. The animal smells amazing, and the room smells amazing without having to have anything plugged in or burning. GENIUS! I am hooked on this animals now, and so are my kids. Pumpkin kept taking the scent pouch out to show me how it worked, and Miss L loved chewing on her lambs arm!

The funny thing is, I was looking at getting these for my kids the other day! And I was for sure going to get Miss L the lamb because I had a lamb growing up that may or may not be still in my bedroom today....

Anyways. People amaze me. You always read on the news these horrible stories about people doing unthinkable things. Slowly you start to think that everyone in the world, other than your family (and maybe them sometimes too), are screwed up. Then, someone does something wonderful that makes you realize that there are still good people out there.

Thank you G. You are a wonderful, caring, giving, person. Thank you for doing the fundraiser for Easton for me, and thank you for the thoughtful gifts for my children. The world needs more people like you.

Has someone recently done something expectantly nice for you or your family? Have you participated in the fundraiser for baby Easton yet? DO IT NOW!!!! :)

Eating and Pooping

For the last couple of days, right after Miss L eats, she poops. Doesn't sound like such a bad thing does it?! It probably wouldn't be either, except that her food is passing so quickly through her that it looks EXACTLY like it did going in. I could probably put it in a container and you would never know. Also, it is passing so quickly that her stomach acid is eating her bottom.

I have never seen a bottom so sore. The second she poops she screams bloody murder. Her butt is beat red, blistered up, and bleeds. It also now is yeasty, so Dr S gave her a cream medicine to rub on it 3x a day.

We have actually been to the Dr for the last 2 days. Yesterday was becuase of the fact that within 30 minutes of eating she poops and has a very sore rump. He said to try soy formula for a while to see if maybe she is lactose intollerant. We tried that. We even stopped all veggies and gave her just rice cereal. Today her "poop" was more like water. And multiple of these diapers. I had to take her back up and he said to stop the soy also and just give her pedialyte. We also had to collect a stool sample and take it to the lab to make sure she doesn't have some kind of bug.

Do you know how hard it is to collect a stool sample on baby girl? Dr S suggested putting plastic wrap in her diaper, but that creates a mess. The lab gave me these little baggies that you attach to their bums to catch it, which is a great idea, if they are a boy. You can't have urine contaminate the poo, and it is really hard to catch just poo when you have a baby girl. Also, how do you get your baby to sit with a baggy taped to their rump? I got lucky tonight and caught her RIGHT after she pooped and before she peed. I know this for a fact because as soon as I collected the poop, and had no diaper near her, she peed.

They also want you to collect 3 vials tilled to a certain line. Ha! She has been pooping all day. There really isn't much left in her. I, unfortunately, only got 1 vial 1/2 way filled to the line. I am sure it isn't going to be enough and I am going to have to try to do it again. *sigh*

Now we are just waiting to hear back from the lab. We have to do the pedialyte for 12-18 hours, then start back on the soy formula. If everything is good on the soy, we can try regular formula again in a few days to see if that is what is actually causing this.

I feel bad that her bottom is so sore. And I feel bad that I don't know what is causing her upset tummy. I really hope that lab comes back with something so we can get this figured out.

Is your baby lactose intollerant?