We Love Her So Much :)

9 lbs. 9 oz

It's hard to believe Kaia has been here for 3 months. In some ways, it seems like forever ago we were driving to see her in NICU and in others, seems like just last week.

I haven't been updating as much for obvious reasons. Funny how that whole work thing gets in the way. But she is doing great. Her upper body is getting much stronger, she can hold her head up for small periods of time and continues to smile big when we make funny faces at her. And sometimes when we're just around. We were at El Tapatio for Diane's 30th and she stared at me, grinning from ear to ear the whole time. It was awesome.

She has been sleeping great...sometimes as many as 8 hours at night. We are loving that! Though I think Cory will agree with me that we are both still completely exhausted, sleeping through the night or not. We attribute her good sleep to the fact that we have given up on her sleeping anywhere but right smack in the middle of us. Yep. We caved. We have the family bed now. We are hoping to just do it for a little bit longer but I must confess, I love having her right next to me.

My back, neck, hip are all effed up, so every morning when I get up it's painful. Not sure what is going on there but since I have so many medical bills to pay anyway, I might as well go get some therapy!



Giving up dairy seems to be helping with her tummy issues but guess what I just had to do last night? Make a creamy Oreo pie. It's to die for, people. Trust me on this one. I hope my big slip doesn't punish her later.

I had to work Tuesday night and Saturday morning this week. Talk about suckage. The only thing worse than being back at work is doing extra work than usual. :( I've got to get my shit together though. I didn't make it in before 10:00 one day this past week. I can't keep doing that and expect to get away with it...

Oh, I was pumping the other day, just happened to ask Cory to rub my back (see above post about being effed up!) and he found a tick! Sucker might as well have built a condo, he was so settled in. Now my back is red as fire where it was, going to have to get it checked, I'm afraid. (No, we didn't save the tick but yes, we think we got the head and have been doctoring me with neosporin). Creepy.


Diane is still taking care of her during the day - YAY! No daycare, which means she hasn't been sick at all. :) I'll take that for as long as I can get it.

Hi Peeps

It’s been awhile...

Well, last week was Week No. 1 back at work. I survived. That’s about all I can say about it. It’s hard, even if she is at home instead of in daycare. There’s still the feeling that I should be home with my daughter. I worry that she will forget who I am. I worry about all the things I am going to miss while she is there and I am here. It’s not easy, and it will be even harder when she is bigger and gets a “real” schedule, because before you know it, it will be time for her to go to bed, and we will only have had a few hours of wakeful time together. It makes me sad.

I’ve decided to cut my work hours back to a Mon-Thurs. schedule. The pay cut will not be easy, but easier to manage after having 3 months with no paycheck at all. I am going to work one pay period full-time and then switch over. That way, I will have 3-day weekends each week. Fridays will be Mommy-Daughter Day! We will have great adventures together, and sometimes, we’ll make Daddy stay home from work so he can join us. I think it will be better for all of us.

Guitar Hero

Hospital week is the first week in May, so we always have a week of silliness at work. Cookouts, ice cream sundaes, karaoke... well, this year, they finally got with the times and are having a Guitar Hero and DDR contest. I can’t tell you the excitement I saw on Cory’s face when I told him I needed to brush up on my GH skills. It was like I told him I was pregnant all over again. ;)

Do we actually have the opportunity for me to do that? Not really, but we’ll try.

Riding for 2

Well, Diane and I rode this weekend. I squeaked out 17 miles. I won’t even comment on how slow I am but it sure was good to get a decent ride in. It was hard but good.

Latin festival

Aunt Paula and Kaia and I went to a Latin street festival this weekend, listened to Edgar Cruz and watched people dance. It was fun, the weather was beautiful. Kaia slept through it all but I still feel good about getting her out and about. Later that night, she went over to Aunt Paula’s so we could do out to dinner and guess what? It sucked. We decided on Chili’s and it was a wasted night of freedom. It was loud, they got my order wrong so I had to wait... ugh. Chili’s is good for southwestern eggrolls and Molten Chocolate Lava Cake. Period. Everything else is too mediocre to be worth the expense or the calories.

Shout out

Today is Diane’s 30th birthday, so Happy Birthday Old Woman! Welcome to the 30s! ;)

Ouch

Went for my first post-partum bike ride today. Good grief. I'm fat, it was windy, and I'm out of shape!

So... has anyone won the lottery? I won't bore you with the details, but my doctor sent us to an out-of-network hospital. 12 days in NICU is not cheap. Especially when your insurance is only covering 60 percent...

Cue the Guilt

1) daycare looms
2) I wish I could stop pumping!

Ups and Downs

Smiles are awesome! Cries not so much.

We had four nights in a row of pure hell. Each of those nights, between 9 and midnight, she went apeshit. I've heard of colic and knew it was bad, but thought it just meant the baby cried nonstop. Well, Kaia didn't just cry. She screamed bloody murder, it sounded like we were torturing her, and we couldn't find anything wrong. Dry diaper, full tummy... I even stripped her naked at one point, just in case the diaper tape was rubbing her wrong, or her clothes were irritating. Nothing helped. It was a horrible. I gave her to Cory Friday night and went into the fetal position and bawled in the dark.

The past two nights have been tolerable. She's kind of fussy, but nothing like before.

Family Reprieve

The Cheneys and Bloyds came up Saturday and cooked us dinner. It was awesome. I ran some errands, tried to take a nap but it didn't work. They were so disappointed in our grill that they bought us a brand new one, one we've dubbed Cory's ManGrill. It has everything. Bun warmer, rotisserie, stove... We had some friends over on Sunday just to test it out. Yeah, the ManGrill is sweet.

I go to work in one week.

Surprise, Grandma Jane!

I drove to Mom's on Friday and surprised her. She was just giddy. Kaia was a little bit fussy, but she did manage a few smiles for Grandma. Her smiles are beautiful. I hope I can catch one on camera pretty soon so you guys can see. :)

So...

The last couple of nights have blown. She's been fussy all night, not crying but fussing. I've been up and up and down and up and down. Even when I put her in bed with us, it seems she only sleeps for a little while before she is twisting and turning and her tummy is churning. :( I don't know if it is just gas, reflux or something I ate, but it's been horrendous.

She took her shots like a champ today. OK she cried like a champ. She has three little hot pink band-aids on her little tiny legs. Official weight? 8.0!!! She's 21 inches long. :) She's grown 4 inches and gained almost 4 pounds since birth. We are very pleased. She makes us so proud!

Work is less than two weeks away. :(

Here's my new favorite picture... my sister and I went to a huge consignment sale in town last weekend and I got her this cute little pjs. Best $3 I've ever spent...