poop

glorious poop. we have so much poop its like poop-town over here.
but in a good way.
liam is feeling so much better & nursing so much better & not screaming (which is faboooolous)
the apple juice worked great!
i love his doctor.
LOVE HIM.

Could this be the problem??

yesterday was the final straw, when Liam started refusing the breast with non-stop screaming i took him in to his dr.

the dr. said... this is so embarassing... that Liam is constipated!! he told us to give him prune or apple juice & that he should start feeling better by this weekend

:?: i thought BF babies didn't get constipated?
:?: does anyone have any remedies in case the juice doesn't work?

he also told us we can start Liam on solids any time we're ready b/c he's so big. he said there's a lot of controversy about the topic but in his experience, if the baby is above average weight & height, & BM doesn't seem to be filling them up, that there's no reason not to start. he also said it would jump start the intestinal maturation process.

:?: have any of you tried solids yet? how did it go? how do i go about starting?

overall i feel pretty good knowing what Liam's problem is & how to solve it. i just hope we start seeing an improvement soon...

Good Luck!!

today my aunt goes in for her double mastectomy - good luck Aunt Connie!!!
we love you!
xxx

Tummy Pain

i know some of you have been following our tummy drama, if you haven't, the long & short of it is that Liam is experiencing screaming epoisodes pretty much every time he has to poop - b/c he's breastfed, a lot of these painful screamfests occur during feedings, which makes BF'ing in public (also known as NIP - nursing in public) very hard.. for me & for him.

a new mommy friend of mine named Karen introduced me to a product called Cocyntal made my Bioron, its a natural Colic remedy. now i'm not in any way saying that Liam has Colic - he doesn't. generally he's a very happy, easy baby that sleeps well. our only problem is the painful, explosive pooping. anyway...

earlier this week i had Pharma Plus order it & we started giving it to Liam before every feedings - low & behold, his screaming fits stopped! his acid green poops changed back to a lovely mustard color (yes, if you're not a parent, this is gross & TMI... but bear with me, it has relevance!) ... we were living back on easy street again - or so i thought.

yesterday while i was chatting to my mom on the phone i started feeding Liam & forgot to give him one of those little vials. afterward, hours later, the explosive screamfest poops started again & sure enough, back to acid green. thats how i know the medication worked!! then, just as things are bound to happen, WE RAN OUT.

this morning i bundled him up & we went back to Pharma Plus to get more only to be told by the Pharmacist that he only ordered 1 box for us the other day & has no more in stock. WHO DOES THAT?? who only orders ONE box of baby medicine w/o telling the parent? if he'd only told me that he was only ordering one box i would've asked him to order 10!!! IDIOT!!! so now we have to wait until tomorrow when it comes in to give Liam more.

which has me sort of dreading the next 24 hours... i hate seeing my sweet little bundle in pain while me & Shaun watch helplessly as he screams & cries & tries to poop :(

if any of your know of any natural remedies to help us, please post your thoughts & ideas.

ps. i forgot to mention that we have been to the dr. about this & they recommended we get tested for Celiac - the disease my sister has. but personally i don't think its a Celiac problem, i believe its a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance in my breasts + acid reflux in Liam... so along with the Cocyntal, i've extended feedings from 10 minutes to 25-30 minutes every 3+ hours instead of every 2.5+ hours, which does seem to be helping b/c he's draining each breast fully & getting the rich hindmilk

pss. my boss Shannon says my pictures are too 'arty' - what do you think? post your thoughts!!

New Baby!

there's a new baby in our family & we've just seen the first pictures. introducing baby Shellingerhoudt - my little sisters tiny bean....

click here to see the newest addition to our family

kim & brad are going to make amazing parents!! we are so excited for them & can't wait to welcome this baby into our family. she's measuring at 11 weeks so the baby is due in June of 2008.

congratulations!!! we are so happy for both of you :)
xxxxxx

ps. just for fun (& because i can't help but think back to when we got our first pictures), here is our little Liam at 12 weeks

Sweetums

Get Well Soon!

my Aunt Connie (mom's younger sister) is sick with Cancer. she's having multiple operations soon & needs all of our support during this scary time. we just know that the dr.'s are going to get every little last bit of Cancer & that she's going to be okay :)

We Love You!!!

Tummy Time & the holidays

when you're a mom you learn about a thing called 'tummy time' where you put your baby on his tummy multiple times a day. it helps build up the strength in their arms, neck & back - plus it encourages them to learn how to roll over & eventually how to crawl. the first time i heard the term i thought "wtf is that?", i think it was from my mom b/c i don't remember knowing (before she visited) that he needed to have 'tummy time'

here is Liam (11 weeks) enjoying it...



the holidays. i find myself thinking a lot about the holidays this year. wondering what it will be like to have xmas with a baby at my parents house. there are so many traditions in our family that makes me feel warm & fuzzy anticipating it this year. here are my favorites:

- waiting until everyone is up & showered before opening anything
- stockings first
- big brunch (huge, super big, lots of yummy stuff)
- then to the presents
- 'A Christmas Story' film sometime during the day/night
rest of the day is just playing with stuff, or having family games, drinks & a big turkey dinner, then a movie where Dad turns it up so loud we're all deaf at the end

its sad that Shaun might not be able to make it... he might not be there for Liam's first christmas & i think a lot about how Liam won't have his dad in any of his first christmas photos. looking back at my own early childhood photos i really cherish the pics w/ my dad. but thats just me. maybe Liam won't care. i should stop projecting onto my child. arrrgghhh i'm becoming one of those moms :/ logically, Liam is so little he won't even know the difference.

okay another thing. if Shaun isn't coming & Bex/Ben (sis/bf) aren't driving w/ me, then i have to make the +6hour drive by myself with Liam in the back. i think he would sleep most of the way unless he was really hungry ... i think if we had to, we could pull it off just fine, but still.. i wish someone would drive with us

First Giggles (or not, its hard to tell whats 'real')

amazingly he kept doing it after i grabbed the camera - Liam's first giggles

A Yummy Giveaway

click here to enter into this super yummy give-away of 1 of 3 pairs of BABYLEGS

quite possibly the most adorable baby clothing accessory on the planet

Smilies - Liam at 10 weeks

'stay puft' haiku

mister marshmallow
he is fifteen pounds or more
wearing six month clothes

lovelies

the light above my change table is hilarous. paper, bulb. so much fun!



mmm my wrists are yummy!



a dog? whats is that??



what is my crazy mommy doing? oh, rite, taking a picture of herself in the bathroom mirror - who doesn't do that??

the curse

bundled up for a car ride


in his 'bebe pod' learning how to sit



the curse of writing about things going well has returned. since i last posted we've had lots of nightly wake ups, for hunger, for soother, for gas & very loud farts. thankfully not for playing around but now that i've written that, tonight he'll be up just for the fun of it.

he had his shots on wednesday & he hated them. he cried so hard his whole face went purple & he wailed silently while gasping for air. it was heartbreaking (& not very pretty). shaun was with us so he took him & through the miracle of 'dads touch' liam calmed down. i'm so so so glad shaun was there.

after the shots he was fussy fussy for hours and hours. wanting to feed every 2-3 hours, even during the night. its been a rough 2 nights...

but i feel like tonight will be better. he's been getting back on track during the today, guess he's feeling better. he had 2 really good naps - which is great because he's been napping like crap. i actually had time to do laundry, run the dishwasher & watch 1 episode of LOST (Meg: #13 season 3, the one where Loche Dad throws him out the window & he falls 8 stories losing the use of his legs)

did i mention that Liam worked his way out of his 'swaddle me'? yes!!! both arms last night for the 4am wakeup. the blanket is tight & his arms are fat.. he looked hilarious with his two little chubby fists mashed up against his chubby chin, drool all over his fingers. he was not happy. he's been such a protester lately every time i swaddle him. every nap has been "squack" this and "squeek" that (then pounds his little legs against the mattress. 'no i won't go to sleep!') it can take anywhere from 5 days - 2 weeks for him to get used to the 'swaddle me'... don't they understand i don't have 2 weeks? i need sleep now
:)