She is the light of my life!

So basically the 7 month update that I have been promising for the last 20 or so days isn't going to happen. Well, I am going to update a bit but I am going to try and keep it short and sweet because next week I PROMISE I will do her 8 month update and I have to save all the good stuff for then. Here's the thing. A Lot of has changed. This has been a huge month for Tula developmentally. She has hit lots of major milestones. But it would be innacurate for me to tell you all about them in her 7 month post when it didn't ACTUALLY happen until after that...KWIM? Okay, I am being anal. But seriously, during Tula's 6th month of life, not a lot of really exciting stuff happened. But the day she truned 7 months old, it seemed, things really took off from there.

She woke up the morning of her 7 month B-Day with her first tooth. And the second one only took a few extra days till it came through as well. Now, almost three weeks later, I was able to actually capture a picture of these little things. They are actually growing quite fast. Check the gallery for the pic.

Tula started sitting really well with no help from me right around the time she turned 7 months as well, and she is now able to be plopped down on the floor and will sit there for awhile supporting herself and playing. She does seem to love being able to see the world from a different angle and not always having to be on her back. She looks so big sitting there sometimes.

The big fun news (and most recent) is that Tula is officially on the move. This really just started last week, she was almost exactly 7.5 months old. She had been getting up and rocking on all fours for a long time and finally had started to put it all together. The first couple days she was kind of doing this army crawl/drag thing and every now and then her butt would pop up to help a little. But all these startnge movements are turning into a crawl and the bottom line is, my kids is mobile. She loves moving around and exploring, and of course "finding" Mommy and Daddy. Today I put her with her toys while we ate dinner and we weren't at the table 5 minutes and there was Tula, right at her daddy's feet, just saying hi. So precious! A few times she has been in her room playing and I will be in mine or on the computer and I go to check on her and she is halfway down the hall, probably in search of me. She gets tired on her trip though, and seems to like to take a little pit stop, roll over on her back and clap for awhile, and hope I come and rescue her. It usually works. I just think its the cutest thing, not finding her where I left her. I know the novelty of that will wear off soon enough so I am enjoying these times of thinking this is the greatest thing. I will soon be missing my non-moving baby. But it is truly a miracle watching her develop and grow like this.

This month has just brought so many changes for Tula, it really was a big one. I wanted to write a few of these things down but I will post next week after I get her 8 month measurements and everything. 8 months next week?!?!? How can that be?

An Ab Workout

Baby #2 Update

So i went to a doc today and finally got everything confirmed and an ultrasound. I am between 12 and 13 weeks pregnant and he gave me a due date of August 22nd. Finally! It feels so good to have a couple details and know a little more. I have being dying to know how pregnant I am so it's great to know that at least.

I had actually went to a different practice last week and had a pretty bad experience. I just really was not comfortable there. Granted, their office was in "transition" as they are moving to a new location this spring, but it was kind of dirty and really unorganized in there. They had about 6 doctors and 4 NP's and it was pretty much a guarantee you would never see the same person more than once. You may never meet the one who is going to deliver your baby. Things like that. I went to my appt. last week expecting an ultrasound and was very disappointed when they told me they would have to order one and it would be at least a week away. And to top it all off, the nurse I got was flat out rude. So, bad experience, and after not LOVING my doctor that I had with Tula, I knew I had to switch. I swore to myself after Tula's delivery that the next time I would try and find someone I really liked so it could be the best experience possible.

I am really excited about this guy. He is the only doctor at the practice, so I will only see him. And he delivers the babies as well. If he is out on delivery they will call and let you know not to come in or to come in late for your appt. He seemed really cool. He is pretty young though, and single, which is kind of strange. I asked him if he was married with the intention of the next question being, "How many kids do you have?" Assuming, I suppose. When I asked if he was married he looked at me and said, "No. Does that matter to you?" Seriously wondering if I was going to walk out right there or something. I was like, "I guess not." But I was kind of thinking about how strange that was. Like, what the heck would make him want to get into that field. Hopefully he is not one of those creepy frat boys who thought it would be "cool" to get to "stare at vaginas all day". He seemed really nice and did an ultrasound for me right away to confirm everything and get me a due date. The annoying part was the ultrasound said I am between 12 nd 13 weeks along and when i went to that other practice last week they felt around my stomache and told me I was between 14 and 18 weeks. So I was expecting to hear I was a little farther a long than he said today. I knew I wasn't 18 weeks, I was huge with Tula by then, but I was really hoping I was at least 14. Oh well. Two more weeks and then I will be!

I am feeling great and the tired spells have pretty much passed completely. For me, that is the hardest part of the first trimester is the sleepiness. Thank Goodness I don't have to deal with anything worse than that. And I know with Tula I had a great 2ng tri and so far it's looking to be the same. This pregnancy is very similar to my first, so I am wondering if that is an indication of another girl? Often times people say their pregnancy with their son was completely different with that of their daughter, and so far everything feels the same. So maybe a little sister is on the way? Only 7 more weeks till we find out. I can't wait to know.

So that is the update on Baby #2 and the pregnancy so far. I know I still need to do a Tula 7 months update but SO MUCH has happened this month for her I don't know when I will have the time to sit down and write a post that long. I have had Tiffany staying with me for the last week so I haven't been on the computer as much. She leaves tomorrow and I will try and update you all after that.

If you don't hear from us tomorrow, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

She's Starting to Crawl!

All better!

So we had a rough week last week around here but I am happy to say that things are a million times better because on Tuesday, January 29, I woke up and did the "tooth check" on Tula and sure enough, her two bottom teeth had finally cut through. The day she turned 7 months old! Nice birthday gift for her and myself as it pretty much put an end to a really bad week for us. So here is the story of what happened. I know I posted a little about this but I will just take it from the top so everyone gets the full story and I have it for my journaling purposes.

Last Monday night Tula broke out in a fever of about 102. She had never, ever had a fever before. My first initial thought was "This is teething." I am learning to trust that first initial Mommy feeling more and more everyday. I gave her some Motrin (for the first time ever) to help break the fever and we put her in a lukewarm bath. It broke, but was back 2 hours later so we did the bath again. It broke, but came back. The Motrin every 4 hours seemed to help with the pain but the fever stayed. It got a little bit better the next morning and throughout the day but by evening she was back to a high temp and super cranky, I think just generlly feeling crappy, poor girl. I decided Tues night after a long night of waking and restlessness (more on John and My part than hers) that I would take her to a clinic on Wednesday just to get everything checked out and for them to tell me she was fine as I suspected and that it was "just teething". No such luck. I ended up with a Nurse Practitioner who basically had a stick up her butt because I don't bring Tula for "well-baby" checkups. She has never really seen a Doctor, and for good reason. She has been perfectly healthy her whole entire life, Thank God. We have been so blessed. Anyways, the nurse seemed annoyed with me from the get-go, and although I couldn't care less I still needed to get "the word" form her. Well, she took a half a second look in Tula's ear and looked at me and said (in a kind of nasty tone) "Mom...this girl has an ear infection." I was shocked. I asked her if she was sure and she said absolutely. I informed her that Tula had not once grabbed at her ears and that I really thought it ws teething. She said that not all babies with ear infections grab at their ears and this was definately not teething. So she prescribed Tula amoxicillin 2 times a day for ten days and sent us on our way claiming things should be looking up in 24-48 hours.

Well.....Thursday afternoon Tula broke out in a nasty red rash all over her body. I called the clinic again and they put me through to a triage nirse who explained this was common after a fever and should clear up in the next day or so. Friday morning, it was even worse. Her fever was completely gone but she just wasn't herself and I am sure it was from the meds. She took her medicine Friday morning and it was supposed to be given with food. I gave it to her before breakfast assuming she would take it and then eat as per usual (my bad). Well she took her medicine and then wouldn't eat a bite and wanted to go right back to bed. She wouldn't even nurse. I put her down and she slept for two hours before I went in to check on her. She was laying in her crib on her belly, head turned to the side but eyes wide open. Like she couldn't lift her head or something. I picked her up and went to carry her down the hall and the poor girl did one giant heave and threw up, like projectile vomit, all over. She didn't cry or anything but it scared me. She had never even spit up, I kid you not, before this disaster.

I made another Doctor appt for that afternoon. I ended up seeing a fabulous young guy (he could not have been 30) who seemed to really agree with how I was "doing things" with Tula. He seemed cool with the fact that I don't do well baby checkups or vaccinate. But what I loved the most about him was he looked in her ears and said,"This baby is fine and does not need to be on antibiotics, I would take her off immediately." How refreshing to hear that from a Doctor in a country where they are so quick to diagnose, prescribe and medicate! Of course he couldn't really say that she didn't have an ear infection and the NP was wrong, he had to beat around the bush a little but I was so happy at the news I didn't care. He did go in her ear and fish out a bunch of ear wax with a little blue crochet hook thingie, he thought maybe that's what she had seen or what was bugging Tula as well. There was a lot in there! The next morning her rash was gone and she was back to her old self. Maybe a little suckier since she had been so spoiled the last couple days. But otherwise, back to my perfectly healthy girl. And 3 days later, just like I had originally thought, those teeth popped through and provide a world of relief for all of us.

I am thankful we went through all of that for a few reasons. I am so glad o have found that Doctor. I really liked him and I think he liked me and my parenting style. he seemed supportive of the decisions John and I have made so far. So I am glad I finally have a pediatrician, though I think he knows he won't be seeing much of me or Tula. But I am also glad I had this opportunity to learn to have a little more faith in myself. I hate being in those situations where you walk away and go "I knew it all along." and I did. But it was a good reminder for me that a "Mother knows best" and that reassurance needs to come from a confidence and faith within that no man or woman, doctor or not, can give you.

And the most fun part. We have teeth! John and I were trying to get a couple pictures in the bathtub tonight but it's next to impossible. First of all, I think the area is still pretty tender and she doesn't seem happy with us poking around in there. Secondly, they are still so short, thin and just small that even if I had the right angle and lighting I am not sure that they would show up. For those of you anxiously awaiting pictures of the first tooth, know that I am as well and I will share some as soon as I have good one worth sharing!

Tula turned 7 months old this week but I am tired for the night and off to bed. I will post her 7 month update sometime this week. Hope you all enjoy the photos and new photo gallery!

A little change......

I am going to start posting new pictures under my mac gallery instead of uploading the to the babysite. From now on, please click on the link titled "My Mac Gallery" on the right hand side under "Fun Stuff" for recent pics of Tula. The Babysite will still be there if you want to look at old stuff but I won't be posting anything new to that site anymore. Did I mention I love my new iMac and it really is starting to make my life easier?