Tuesday, June 30, 2009

It's All Relative

We have been fortunate to be able to make a couple stops during this vacation to see even more family, most of whom haven't met the boys before. There will be more of that tomorrow at Grandma D.'s birthday party, too, as Jeff and I both come from large families.

So far, three of my brothers and their wives and a few of their kids had a chance to greet Sam, Isaac and Alex in person. And, we finally got to meet Clare and Isabel, Amy and Dave's twin baby girls, who were born September 1. Having all five babies together was a real stitch!

Here are a few pics of the family, and many more to come!



Isaac and Uncle Dave check things out.

Aunt Sheryl and Sam

Aunt Teresa and Alex


Uncle Paul and Isaac

(For those of you who know Uncle Paul, this photo worries me, too. And for the rest of you, don't worry. No babies were harmed in the taking of this picture. The cold can was just convenient for soothing teething gums.)



Cousin Matt and Sam show off their red hair.


Amelia and her cousin Taylor


Babies! Clockwise from top: Isaac, Clare, Isabel, Sam and Alex.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Destination Vacation

Three almost-nine-month-old babies.

One three-year-old.

One THOUSAND miles. One way.

And we arrived with all of the children and most of our sanity.

Everyone traveled very well, even on the first day when we went nine hours with only one stop.


Alex, Sam and Isaac take to the road like seasoned pros.

Amelia crashes out.


Of course, we attracted a lot of attention along the way with our triple stroller strapped to the back of the van. I wish I had a nickel for every person who passed us and tried to peer into the van to see what, exactly, we were carrying. We'd make a nice dent in the kids' future college costs!


Isaac, Alex and Sam dine al fresco at a rest area.

Amelia is enjoying vacation immensely. She's all about McDonald's on the road and has had lots of fun playing with her cousins. The morning after we arrived at Jeff's parents (our final destination) after three days of driving, she woke up and the first thing she said was, "Where we going next?"

Now THAT'S a real trooper for you!

Friday, June 26, 2009

On The Road

We are heading out on vacation, so expect posts to be a bit spotty in the next few days. In the meantime, here's cute photo to tide you over!



Sam, Amelia, Alex and Isaac (clockwise from left)

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Fifteen Years Together

Fifteen years ago today, Jeff and I got married.

Christy and Jeff ~ June 25, 1994

We were young.

(Would you believe I was only 13? No? Well, it was worth a shot.)

We were in love.

And life was very, very good.

Little did we know what God in store for us when we joined hands and said, "I do" on that day.


OK, we're married. So now what?

Since then we've lived abroad, each earned an advanced degree, owned two homes, built careers, traveled a lot, had a family, and dealt with both good times and bad. Fortunately, the good has far outweighed the bad.

If you ask anyone who came to our wedding and reception, they will tell you what they most remember is the "Bag Dance."

In fact, a friend of mine from college sent me an email just the other day saying the she thought of that and laughed at the memory. (Hi, Donna!)

"What," you ask, "is the Bag Dance?"

Well, it looks like this:


This is one of my favorite pictures from my wedding day!

My brother-in-law Kyle pulled this one on me. He'd only been married into our family for a short time, and since he wasn't a blood relation, I TRUSTED HIM. That was the last time I made that mistake!

WARNING: Do NOT try this on a bride or groom who do not have a sense of humor. You will not have fond memories of the day that make everyone laugh. And I do not want to be responsible for the ensuing umpteen years of, "Remember that awful joke..." that you will be subjected to.

So, back to the dance. Kyle had the wedding party all come to the dance floor. We were all given brown paper bags, and the rules of the game were that we were to put the bags on our heads and dance around until we ran into another person. Then we could take our bags off and sit down.

I thought it sounded like fun! I'm sure the champagne may have had something to do with my enthusiasm.

The music started and we all did as instructed. Except everyone else had been briefed beforehand to remove their bags and walk off the dance floor, leaving me to groove on my own.

Which I did.

And did.

And did.

The whole while I was under that bag yelling, "Where is everyone?"

I couldn't hear a thing over all the screaming and clapping from all our guests. I thought that was just to throw off the dancers.

Finally, I figured that if anyone could cheat, it was the bride, so I took my bag off and realized everyone was screaming with laughter.



Check out everyone's faces. We are all howling with laughter!

I love that everyone who was there had a great time and that Jeff and I are still married and laughing about this 15 years later.

So many things have changed in 15 years. Dreams have been realized, priorities have changed, waistlines, hairlines, and hometowns have shifted. But so many things haven't changed.

We are still young.

We are still in love.

And life is still very, very good.

Alex, Amelia, Isaac and Sam with Mom ~ June 2008

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Amelia and Her Brothers

When we announced to everyone that we had three boys, more than one person said, "What is Amelia going to do with three brothers?"

I'm sure they were thinking well down the road when the boys want to play rough-and-tumble or when Amelia's dates come to the door to pick her up (poor girl!). They may give her trouble in the future, but for now, Amelia's definitely got the upper hand.

The other day the answer to the question "What is Amelia going to do with three brothers?" was ... play dress up!

I think everyone had fun, except maybe Isaac, who got dressed in the feather boa. Sorry buddy!

Alex, Isaac, Amelia and Sam


Fairy princess Amelia

Alex knows just how to wear that cowboy hat.

Isaac: "You can't be serious."

Sam shows off his angelic side.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Splishin' and Splashin'

This weekend we put the boys in the baby pool in the backyard for the first time.

They LOVED it.

They've only ever been in the baby bathtub or the sink, so this was a BIG upgrade.

Sam


Isaac
Alex
Amelia has always loved her little pool, too. And now she has "wobble goggles" (Thanks, Imagination Movers, for that piece of vocabulary!) so she can "see underwater." Or just wear as a random accessory. She and Daddy picked these out. I love the cat-eyed effect.
Amelia and her "wobble goggles."
It looks like next summer we'll have to upgrade to something bigger to hold all the little people!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day

To the World's Best Husband and Father: Happy Father's Day, Jeff. I'm so glad that you are sharing this adventure with me!

Love,

Christy

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Update on Alex

I realize that I haven't given an update on Alex recently. And I have GREAT news on that front.

Ever since Alex had physical therapy and craniosacral massage, he is back to his usual, happy self. He had a second session last Friday and has slept through the night with little or NO help every night since then. Alex back to eating most of a bottle without fussing or turning his head to swallow. He is now the easygoing, happy boy he used to be.


The therapist was pleased to see that Alex retained more than 90 percent of the work she did on him and suggested we do one more session. After that, we can just bring him in if he has any issues, whether they be developmental, digestive or sleep related.

We're still keeping Alex on his reflux medicines, because we think he does have some reflux issues. In a month or so, once we've had a chance to rest a bit, I think we'll reduce his medicine and see what happens. Because the cranoisacral therapy helps address digestive issues, I'm curious to see what will happen. Hopefully we'll be able to reduce the medicine, if not get rid of it entirely.

I cannot say enough about the craniosacral massage. I fed Alex a bottle during one of the therapy sessions and in minutes he went from slopping formula everywhere and sucking two or three times before pulling off to swallow to staying on the bottle and downing it easily without almost no mess. It was so amazing! During the last session, the therapist worked on his rib cage, which was "slightly deformed." Apparently the pregnancy was just as hard on Alex's ribs as it was on mine.

Interestingly, our therapist said that she did not believe in craniosacral massage. She pooh-poohed the technique when she was told it would help her. After a couple of years she decided to try it because nothing else was working, but first she did her homework. She learned that much of the research that has been done on the technique has been done by engineers, because the impact of craniosacral massage is structural to the body. She got such great results from craniosacral massage that after her first session she signed up to become certified in the technique. Quite an endorsement!

Craniosacral massage may not be the solution for everyone, but we are thrilled with the results. I feel so fortunate that we stumbled across this option so quickly, and I am so glad I didn't go ahead with a scope that likely wouldn't have shown anything anyway. Since we didn't change how we are treating his reflux, clearly the reflux was not the cause of his eating and sleeping problems.

Happy baby, happy mama, happy family!

Friday, June 19, 2009

More Stories From Church

Last week when we went to church, there were two groups of nuns there in full habit. When I took Amelia to the bathroom before church, one of the sisters was washing her hands. Amelia, of course, asked, "What's that?"

I realized that she probably had never seen a nun before, so I told her to say, "Good morning, Sister." And then I explained that nuns were like girl priests. Yes, I know it's not exactly accurate, but she's three and she could understand that.

Amelia didn't say much, but you could see the wheels turning.

As it happened, we had one group of sisters two rows sitting behind us and one group sitting two rows ahead of us. So Amelia spent a lot of the service checking them out.

After church was over we were buckling the boys into their car seats and one of the nuns sitting behind us leaned forward to ask, "Are they triplets?" We had a short conversation and she said they would pray for us. Alleluia! We can use all the help we can get!

The nuns all knelt down to pray for a few minutes and as we left, Amelia piped up.

"Mom, are the angels going to stay here?"

Angels. Nuns. She probably got it right after all.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Guess Who Is On His Feet Now?

The title of this post should probably be, Guess Who Has Been on His Feet? I've been a little slow in getting this post done.

After a couple weeks of watching his brothers, Isaac skipped the step of pulling to his knees and went straight to his feet on June 7.

Isaac shows off his new move.


And, Isaac can officially shed the nickname, "Kickstand," now that he's sitting up by himself instead of always leaning on one hand.

Doing the "kickstand."

While his brothers were busy standing, Isaac was very busy cutting teeth. He has four now -- two on top and two on the bottom, while his brothers are well behind, and just now cutting a top tooth each.

Isaac shows off his chompers.

These boys just keep zooming right along! I predict they'll all be walking before the end of summer!

Christy

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Memories of Days Gone By

Right after Jeff and I got married, which was 15 years ago this month, we lived in England while I did my Master's degree. We did some traveling while we were there, including a few trips to France. As anyone who has been there can tell you, the fruit tarts are out of this world!


Excuse my drool, but yum!

Seriously, I have dreams about these tarts. Luscious fruit on a bed of slightly sweet vanilla cream and a crust that's so tender! Mmmmm...

Once when we were overseas, Jeff went to France and left me behind studying. (Unfair!) But, being the WBH (World's Best Husband) even way back then, he brought back a box with two beautiful little fruit tartlets in it. He went to take a shower and when he came back he found an empty box and a very grateful wife.

Unfortunately, both of the tartlets were not for me.

I believe that is as close as we have ever come to divorce.

You think I'm kidding.

I'm not.

What can I say? The French can make pastry like no one else!

Anyway, ever since then I have attempted to recreate The Fruit Tarts That Nearly Led to the End of My Marriage.

When the spring berries appear in the store, I start searching for the perfect recipe. There are thousands out there, and while many were good, none were quite right.

After 15 years, I'd pretty much resigned myself to another swing and a miss. Something that was good enough to make us say, "Almost..." and vow to go back to France again someday.

Paris, 2002. More research!

Then this year rolled around. I had no intentions of making a tart. Too much work! Too much time! But, a 4 lb. carton of strawberries and a 2 lb. carton of blueberries from Costco convinced me that I needed to do something with all that fruit.

Since I am short on time, I decided to forgo trolling the Internet and all of the big name chefs' cookbooks for recipes. I pulled Joy of Cooking off my shelf and looked for a fast, easy fruit tart.

Good, old Joy of Cooking. I've only had my copy for a couple years. Got it for Christmas one year and thought, "I don't really need another cookbook." Then I made a few things out of it and realized how very, very wrong I was! If you don't have this cookbook, get it. Now. Amazon is always open!

Now where was I...? Oh, yes. Short on time. So what's easy? Pat in the pan shortbread crust. Perfect. Nothing to roll out. I'll use that.

Vanilla pastry cream. Sure! Why not? It's about the 40th recipe for cream that I've tried, but it looked simple and fast to make. Though all three babies cried the entire three minutes I had to stir the filling. Of course.

A little tip to moisture proof the crust with an egg yolk glaze during baking and a couple tablespoons of melted jam before adding the cream, some gorgeous fruit on top and...

PERFECTION!

Or, at least close enough to perfection to BEGIN to redeem myself after that critical error I made 15 years ago. (Not that WBH would hold anything like that against me or bring it up annually, especially not for more than a decade. Unless, of course, it meant I'd make this tart more often.)

I'd post a picture, but I'm sure you've all seen an empty pie plate before.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Busy Bloggers...

Busy Bloggers post pictures! Sorry gang, but we're getting ready for a big trip back to the North country, and my days are full lately. I should be sharing the news that Isaac's on his feet (and has been for about a week now), but for now you'll have to make do with this:



Caption contest anyone?

In case you can't read it, their shirts say "I Might Barf." It's not a comment on their mother's cooking!

Stay tuned. A real post is coming soon!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Safety First!

We're very concerned about safety in our house. How else can you explain this picture?

Sam, Alex and Isaac use the cabinet locks as teethers.

Our weekend was fun, but busy as usual, which leaves little time for blogging. More soon!

Christy

Friday, June 12, 2009

Amelia and Tootsie

Last weekend Amelia and I went to visit our friends Rachel and Greg and their dog, Tootsie. Well, I went to visit with Rachel and Greg. Amelia just wanted to play with Tootsie!

Tootsie and Amelia

If you've been reading along for a while, you'll remember when we dogsat for Bella and Amelia had to read the puppy a bedtime story. That was almost a year ago, and Amelia still talks about Bella.

So, she was very excited to go see Tootsie. Amelia knew we were going to go after naptime, so she kept asking and asking if it was time for her nap yet. And as soon as she got up, she was ready to hit the road to see the puppy.

Judging from this video, I think both Amelia and Tootsie had a great time. And by all reports, Amelia wore poor Tootsie out completely!

"Run, Tootsie, run!"

Thanks, Rachel and Greg, for having us over and letting Amelia play with Tootsie. All the way home she talked about how Tootsie was going to come visit us at our house, and Bella, too. I'm sure we'll be hearing about Tootsie for a long, long time!

We're not ready to add a dog to this family just yet, but I'm sure the incessant asking will begin before too long. If we do get a dog, it had better be a herd dog. I need help keeping this gang in line!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Old Yeller Meets Its Demise

If you've been reading for a while, you will remember that a couple months ago my neighbor remodeled his bathroom and planted a yellow toilet in his back yard. The yard that I can see from my bedroom window to my kitchen window to my family room window.

I dubbed it Old Yeller.

His wife swore it wasn't staying, but I wasn't getting my hopes up when he started putting decorative rock around it.

But the other evening my husband started to holler excitedly, "The toilet! They are getting rid of the toilet!"

I tell you, it's been quite a while since a potty caused that much excitement in our house.

I came running to find that, indeed, the yellow toilet was gone.


Later Judy came over to tell me that Jerry wanted to me to know he'd been "outvoted by management, two to one." And that he was filing a union complaint.

To which my husband smartly replied, "Tell him this is a right to work state."

Apparently Old Yeller actually didn't meet its demise. It was just moved around to the other side of the house where I can't see it. So never fear, it still stands as a monument to bad taste. But it sure was nice of Jerry to move it where I couldn't see it.

Old Yeller has been replaced by this lovely lady.



I can almost hear her saying, "Oh, crap. What did I just step in?"

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The View From Here - Part Two

Way back in September of last year (Feels like forever ago, doesn't it?), I wrote a post called "The View From Here." It includes some great pictures of what I saw when I looked down toward my feet, which I couldn't see thanks to my 33-weeks-pregnant-with-triplets-belly.

Well a lot has changed since then. Including the view. Here's what I see when I look down at my feet these days.

Alex



Isaac and Sam

Thanks to "the cage," as Amelia calls it, the babies don't gather around my ankles constantly.

Alex, Isaac and Sam in "the cage."

Today I let them loose because they get a kick out of it.

And because I needed evidence of just how dirty my kitchen floor is.



Sunday, June 7, 2009

Amelia and Her Kitty

Amelia has an imaginary kitty. Simply named "Kitty," the creature showed up sometime late last summer. Kitty is pretty small, fitting conveniently in my purse and in her doll carriage.

Amelia shows off her kitty.

At first, Kitty's appearance was cute. But somewhere along the line, Kitty became a real troublemaker. Soon I was forever hearing, "Mom! Kitty's messing with my stuff!" "Mom! Kitty's throwing food on the floor!" "Mom! Kitty's not listening!"

Apparently Kitty is here to test all the rules. And Mom's patience.

I need one more thing to manage and discipline in this house like a hole in the head.

For a while, we tolerated Kitty. We'd tell her "No," when she misbehaved and even put her in time out or send her to Amelia's room. Then we started to tell Amelia that it was her job to take care of Kitty and give her time outs if she wasn't behaving nicely. That worked for a while.

But now, Kitty has started to be a problem at night. And nights are hard enough around here without imaginary problems!

Kitty will "wear costumes" and scare Amelia. She'll take her blankie or paci or hog the pillow so Amelia can't sleep. Often this ends in Amelia crying for Daddy or me to come. UGH.

Last night I was looking forward to finally, after a week of walking the floors or driving all night with Alex, a night's sleep. Allie and Jeff were on duty, and I was in bed at 9:30 p.m.

Then Amelia started to cry. Daddy was already up with Alex, so I got up to see what Amelia needed. I don't remember the details, but I removed Kitty from the room. (Remember, this cat is imaginary. And I know that's great developmentally, but I still hate this cat.)

Pretty soon Amelia was yelling again. Kitty had snuck back in and was keeping Amelia awake. I told Amelia that Kitty probably wanted to sleep with her and she and Kitty should just snuggle up together and close their eyes.

The third time I got up, I'd really had it with Kitty. So when Amelia said that Kitty was scaring her, I snapped.

"Amelia," I said. "If Kitty can't learn to behave, then I'm going to put her in a box and mail her to Grandma."

Amelia looked at me wide-eyed. Perhaps she was worried this "be good or get mailed" gig could apply to her, too? Regardless of the trauma that was evident on my child's face, I plowed ahead. In my defense, I'm working on minimal sleep here.

"We keep trying to teach Kitty to behave, but she never does and if she can't be good, then she can't stay here anymore. If she does anything else tonight, I'm going to send her to Grandma in the morning."

Amelia told me she would help Kitty be good, and that was the end of it for now.

But I'm getting a box ready for mailing, just in case.

A Relatively Peaceful Night

Last night wasn't perfect by any stretch, but Alex did better. He has been running a fever on and off since Thursday so I took him to the doctor yesterday and discovered he had an ear infection. Twenty four hours of antibiotic have started to clear that up, but we're still working on the rest of his issues. But with the ear pain taken care of Alex is much more his usual happy self!


Alex takes a dip in the sink

Friday, June 5, 2009

Sometimes Hope Wears Toe Socks

We had a good session with the physical therapist today. Her assessment showed that Alex has the muscle tone of about a 4-month-old, but of course, he has the body of an 8-month-old. That means that it can be uncomfortable or even painful for him to do all the things he wants to do, like crawl, stand, sit up etc... Basically, he's uncomfortable all the time, and the problem is getting worse as he gets bigger and his gross motor skills develop and he does more physically.

It explains why Alex is having trouble sleeping. He simply can't find a comfortable position. And it explains why he's flopping around in our arms at night. (It's like trying to hold a tornado.) Think about having a weak leg and trying to make it work like in rehab -- instead of having good control over your muscles, you would fling it forward to take a step.

In addition to the general physical therapy findings, the therapist also did a lot of craniosacral work on Alex. His lack of muscle tone has led to a lot of muscle tension that may be causing some of his digestive issues as well.

We will continue Alex's reflux meds, but I'm not going to worry about changing his formula and taking him gluten free right now. I want to give this a chance to work first, and then we'll see where we are. We have another appointment next Friday.

The therapist was very pleased with how well Alex responded. She was confident that she could help him (and already had in the first session), and that we could postpone a GI scope.

I share her confidence. As she assessed Alex she was able to tell me things about his behaviors, like the fact that he bangs his head in the crib and tends to sleep with his head turned to the left, that amazed me. How would she know those things? Because it creates certain tensions and tight muscles and she could feel all that.

I left the appointment with a wiped out baby. And while Alex may not sleep well yet tonight, a load of worry has been lifted off my shoulders.

I feel like we've got another soldier on our side in this battle to find and fix Alex's problem.

She just happens to wear toe socks.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

This Is Torture

8 p.m. - all boys in bed

9 p.m. - Amelia finally in bed. Resettle Sam and Alex.

9:30 p.m. - eat supper

10:30 p.m. - to bed after cleaning kitchen, making bottles, picking up toys, starting dishwasher and another load of laundry, and updating the blog.

11:30 p.m. - up for 10 minutes to resettle Isaac

12:30 a.m. - up for 2 minutes to resettle Sam

1:30 a.m. - Alex cries. Pick him up and walk. Sit down with him. Alex cries. Repeat for an entire hour.

3:30 a.m. - Isaac starts to wail. Grab him before he can wake Alex. Spend 30 minutes getting him resettled.

5:45 a.m. - up with Alex. He finally takes a decent bottle -- his first in about 3 days.

6 a.m. - everyone's up for the day.

I've got to go get some work done while boys are up so I can nap later today. Keep praying for Alex and for all of us.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Too Late for Much of an Update

It's getting late and I'm getting tired, so this will be short. Alex saw the nurse practitioner today, and I left the appointment well...unsatisfied.

I got lots of "maybe it's this, but probably not," and no real answers. I got some suggestions for things to try, but nothing novel. They asked me to switch his formula, but he absolutely refused to drink the new formula, and based on the smell (a cross between cat urine and sour milk), I don't blame him. My pediatrician said to give him his regular formula -- better that he get some liquids in him.

I didn't expect answers out of this visit, but I did expect to feel like someone else was in this fight with us. I just wanted to know that I had an expert invested in helping us figure it out.

Instead, I left feeling like they have no clue, are shooting in the dark for ideas to try, and really, really just want to scope him.

How does the saying go? "If you only have a hammer everything looks like a nail." Yep. That's it.

Alex did have a better night last night, and we think it might have been the papaya extract that Sarah O. and Jerry sent. I gave it to him a couple of times today, so hopefully we'll have a good night tonight.

We've decided to try some alternative therapies for Alex before we rush to scope him, including cranio-sacral massage. We were referred by our chiropractor, and our appointment is Friday. I'm also working on an appointment with another pediatric GI doctor. Maybe I'll have better luck elsewhere in finding someone who wants to help us figure this out.

We really want to try some other things before we rush to an invasive procedure, and based on my track record with anesthetic, we have very good reasons to worry about any of our children being put under.

When I had a simple procedure requiring 30 minutes of anesthetic, it took 7 hours to wear off. And I found myself counting the doctor's stitches during my C-section with Amelia because I didn't respond well to the epidural. Even the spinal I had with the boys ("Rest assured that this will work," they said.) didn't work. It was supposed to last 8 hours, but wore off in less than 2, leaving me at the mercy of morphine to try to manage the pain. Scary stuff in anyone, but especially when you're dealing with little people.

Sorry to ramble a bit. No time to clean this up. Sleep is of the utmost importance. I'll post more later about the massage and all that, but for now, I'm off to bed and praying for a decent night for Alex.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Reflux Update

Alex had another bad night last night, though going for a drive seems to help. But we do have some good news. There was a cancellation at the specialist's office, so Alex has an appointment TOMORROW at 8 a.m. Sure beats waiting until July 22.


Alex: Blessed, blissful sleep. In a car seat. We'll take what we can get.

I'm so relieved we're seeing the doctor tomorrow. As anyone who has watched their child suffer will tell you, it's just awful. I hurt for Alex and I just want to make him feel better. It's horrible when you can't even comfort your child.

Counting today's two-hour nap, I've had a total of 13 hours of sleep in the last three days, so I'm keeping this short, but I have to give a shout out to a bunch of people who are helping us get through this.

Ellen M. who pleaded our case with the doctor's office and got Alex on the wait list and who did a late shift last night to give us a break.

Kyleen N. who did an early shift last night and assured me that I had a viable insanity defense. (Everyone needs sound legal counsel now and then!)

Alison R. who brought CHOCOLATE today and helped give the boys lunch and get them down for their afternoon nap, and her mom, Miriam, who flirted with Alex all through his meal then helped with clean up and nap time.

Sarah O. and her dad, Jerry, who sent an herbal remedy for us to try. I don't know if it will work, but at this point I'll try anything!

Jamie F. who came for most of the day and let me take a two-hour nap. It was probably the most precious sleep I have ever, ever had. I was almost fully functional afterwards. Jamie you are a star for watching babies, making bottles, and getting everyone down for the first time tonight (2 of 3 have even stayed down!). I really wasn't kidding when I said I was going to hold you hostage. (Refer to my thanks to my legal counsel above.)

Lorrie P. who recommended a doctor and offered to come help so I could nap. I may need to take you up on that, Lorrie!

My mom, Alice, who has listened to the babblings of a sleep-deprived crazy woman for the past few days and been on her own search to find something to help Alex.

Everyone who has sent us an email to let us know that they are thinking about us and praying for us. We appreciate your kindness.

Thank you, thank you, thank you all. Stay tuned for an update following tomorrow's doctor's visit.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Reflux Prevents Me From Giving This A Clever Title

Alex has reflux. It. Is. HORRIBLE.

Friday night he cried and cried and cried and I walked and walked and walked until he finally exhausted himself and slept for a few hours before we repeated the process. I figure my snatches of sleep added up to about 3 hours and I walked approximately 27.3 miles.

Last night he was down at 7 and back up at 9. He cried -- and when I say cried, I mean screamed and bucked and wailed -- for an hour and a half until he exhausted himself. Then he was back up about 1:30 a.m. I gave him a bottle to help soothe him and then put him in the car. At least that way everyone else in the house could sleep.

I've had this baby before. Amelia suffered horribly with reflux for a whole year. We walked and walked and walked the floors with her. I don't even want to think about how many miles I walked after midnight in the first year of her life. But I know I don't want to do it again. Today I start calling every possible doc who can treat Alex. I'm taking the first appointment I get. Or staging a sit-in in someone's office if necessary.