She sure does continue to the say the funniest things! We're finally getting into somewhat of a routine, me and the girls, with nap time (at least on school days). Briella comes home from school, eats, and me and the girls go upstairs and read a book in Briella's room. Gianna always wears a bib because she's a constant spitter upper and worse, a puker, at times. Well, Briella always gives her a kiss on the forehead. I asked her to give her a hug and she told me, "No, she has a bib on. I'm not going to hug her bib. That's yucky." I have no idea where she heard that, but she was right. Hugging a person with a pukey bib is yucky, actually.
Every day I pray with her before school, and usually she will ask me to pray before I even begin. When she gets in the car on the drive home from school, she tells me all about her day which usually includes telling me everything the kids did wrong or anything she may have done wrong. Most recently she told me a classmate got sick and was crying, another classmate got in trouble and was crying, and another classmate fell down and cried. My response was, "Goodness, everyone was crying today." Her response, "No, not everyone. I wasn't crying and Miss Tammy wasn't crying." She's so literal.
She was sick during the middle of October and she was quite the champ about it all with the worst lasting well over a week and the residual coughing/congestion lasting this entire month. She also missed a whole week of school and that made her sad. I think Jim and I were more 'upset' by her sickness than she was because, well, we were elbow deep in non-stop SNOT. Yuck! The reason I mention she was a champ is because in past sickness she was quite a bear. This time she really did well with it and I was very proud of how grown up she's proving to be in these kind of situations.
I also want to remember her very caring and loving heart. While she has typical 'selfish 3 year old behavior', she can also be the most sweetest, caring, and sharing individual too. In a moment of complete exhaustion and mental anguish (before learning of my vitamin deficiencies which I explain below that explains some of my exhaustion and mental anguish), I had a "Mommy meltdown"; began crying pleading to Jim for help because it's been 6 months of me not sleeping and I can't take much more of it. Briella was soooooo sweet in that moment. She was hugging me, kissing me, telling me "It's okay Mommy. Go get some rest, Mommy. You'll feel so much better after you rest Mommy. I always feel better after I rest." Oh my goodness, it took my tears of exhaustion to tears of love and pride for her.
Just yesterday she and I went to the store together and her politeness and social etiquette had me secretly beaming with pride. Without prompting, she was asking, "How are you today?" or "Good morning." or "Excuse me." to people we saw or passed by in the aisles. She spoke so grown up with the cashier that the cashier had to know how old she was and seemed amazed at her ability to converse so eloquently for such a young age. She definitely has her 'shining star' moments like that, but let's be real; she's 3 and she also has some 'ugly' moments too. (wink, wink)
I love how she is so supportive and encouraging too. She often tells me, "You did a great job with _____, Mommy." "Good job, Mommy." "You look so beautiful Mommy." "Mommy, you painted your toe nails. Wow, they look so pretty!" These are all actual phrases she's told me. She's such a great cheer leader. Some days her compliments and encouragement actually brings tears to my eyes.
Gianna:
Milestones:
I began 'supervised sleep training' on October 10th. After almost 6 weeks of reverting back to newborn sleep, I decided Gianna was in a rut and I was the only one who could give her the confidence to break out of her rut. Briella was sleeping over at the Nonni's house and I knew no better time was to do it that night, at 2:30am, while she was squealing and rolling all around her crib ready to play. I waited until she was sleepy again and gave it a go. It took 20 minutes of her trying to get comfortable in the crib to fall asleep (without me holding her or nursing her to sleep), but she did it! The following day, I did it for her nap. It took a little longer because something I had eaten was causing her to throw up, but once her tummy was relieved of the poison, she fell asleep by herself again. I knew that the first official bedtime was going to be tough and I was right. It took her 48 minutes to finally get comfortable in her crib to sleep, but once again, she did it! And guess what? The baby who was only sleeping 1-4 hours at a time, slept for 11.5 hours. The following day, she fell asleep easier and quicker for her nap and a LOT better at bedtime and guess what? She slept for 11 hours. Two glorious back-to-back days of 11 or more hours of sleep and then she started getting sick and the sleep training all went to dust.
It was her very first sickness and fever on October 12-13. To say that I was scared is a bit of an understatement. I got up to feed her, like usual, and when I went to kiss her, like usual, she was on fire. Then I saw that the thermometer was already in her room because Jim had been awake with her prior to coming to bed. That's when I knew, oh no, she's got Briella's sickness. Her fever would peak and dip for 48 hours. For days after that, her nose drained a lot and she struggled to breathe and remain comfortable during sleeping but, like Briella, she was also quite the champ about being sick. Of course, I was secretly nervous the whole time.
Well, here it is October 28th and Gianna is still struggling with sleep. Those two 11 hour nights have been the only two nights she has slept throughout the night this month so far. To say it's been a struggle to get her to sleep is an absolute understatement. I also know that her sleeplessness is stemming from my diet, but I have my hands up in the air anymore as to what to do because there are foods I can eat that don't cause me reactions, but they cause her reactions. The foods that I NEED are the foods she can't tolerate. I am so deficient right now that I choose to eat them, but in doing that, I am choosing to cause her sleeplessness and rashes. It's quite upsetting.
On a different note, she is always so happy no matter what. She is truly such a joy and delight to be around anytime of the day. She sits happily in her high chair while I cook, empty dishwasher, or clean up the dishes. She smiles, 'talks', and plays with her toys. She LOVES to lay on the floor and roll all over the place. She loves Briella's bed. She enjoys reading books with me and Briella. She adores Briella so much. She is initiating play with her, touching her face, and arms. She is imitating sounds that Briella makes and they do this thing where they squeal at each other and it's precious. When Briella eats, she watches her intently as though hoping she can eat what she is eating. She reaches out when she wants held. She has begun using a training sippy cup and can put it up to her mouth. She loves sweet potatoes, peas, squash, and applesauce. She enjoys her gluten free teething crackers. She gags when given banana. She is trying to formulate words and I know I've heard her say 'hi' on a few different occasions. Her leg rolls are beginning to thin out, along with her arms getting longer too. She makes squealing noises when she's happy and most recently, will unlatch and look up at me while she's eating and begin laughing. It's so cute but if she keeps it up, I'm going to get a complex.
She's so ready to crawl. Her brain says yes and her body is holding her back, but she tries really hard to do it. She can sit up with leaning on her arms for very short periods of time by herself, but for longer periods with pillow assistance. Even though her sleep hasn't been anywhere near 'good' this month, she has really shown growth and improvement with her ability to put herself to sleep. Yes, there's definitely a difference with falling asleep while being held or putting herself to sleep and it's definitely a skill. What she lacks is the ability to stay asleep, and sadly, I know that stems from food reactions because I watched (and continue to see it) Briella struggle with the same side effects. There have been numerous mornings that I will lay her down in bed and she will be squealing and having fun only to look in monitor a few minutes later and she will be asleep. So, I know sleep progress is on the horizon if she's able to do that at not even 6 months old.
She's still in a size 3 diaper, but as soon as this current box is done, she will be moving up to a size 4. She is exactly 15 pounds as of 10-31-14 and she's pretty much in 9 month clothing. She's still quite a Mommy's girl and always keeps her eyes on me wherever I am (and if I walk away she sometimes whimpers), but is beginning to let Daddy do more filling in this month than she did in previous months. She's extremely easy to please, to make smile, and to soothe and extremely difficult to keep asleep. ;-)
All ready to go to Asheville for Daddy's 40th birthday on 10/2/14
Look who fell asleep on her first road trip and then woke up looking so cute on the hotel bed.
Daddy's 40th birthday in Asheville. Dinner at Trivinia's and a very loooonnng night with Gianna in the hotel because she was sick from something I ate.
Spending time with Daddy on his last day of "birthday vacation week".
At the beginning of the month, Gianna still wasn't sitting up as well as she is now at the end of the month and she kept tipping over onto Briella...
...and Briella thought it was hilarious and kept laughing.
All smiles. All.of.the.time.
Mommy and Gianna time while Briella was in school. All I see is how TIRED I look.
Briella before school and Gianna after shopping with me while Briella was in school.
She always falls asleep holding onto her rings.
Our beautiful Briella
Saturday morning at the zoo. One minute she was awake in her stroller, the next minute Jim picked her up and was holding her and she was asleep. What a darling.
There wasn't but a handful of days during the whole month of October that the weather wasn't gorgeous and we enjoyed getting outside every single night.
Reading books together. Briella LOVES the Leap Frog books & learning wand that was given to her by our Tennessee neighbor girl, Emma.
Briella's favorite past time: folding washcloths. And when I say, "favorite past time", I am not kidding.
Sisterly Love & Cuddles
Sicklies...
Play time
Gianna was really struggling to sleep during her sickness and her breathing was worrying me so I brought her to bed with me to sleep. As you can see, she was quite comfy.
Having a "Pic-a-nac" in the bathroom while I showered and got ready.
I think it's pretty obvious that these girls LOVE their newly installed swings.
Briella's extremely enthusiastic smile.
After my "Mommy meltdown" on a Saturday morning this month, Jim took the girls to a local street fair while I took a few hours to myself.
Later on in the day, I went back to the street fair with the girls and got to watch Briella enjoy this ride. She LOVED it. Funny thing is that 6 months earlier, she rode this exact same ride and was scared. It's amazing how time changes all of us in life.
When Briella hears Gianna wake up from a nap, she gets SOOOOO EXCITED saying "Gianna's awake! Gianna's awake!" while running into her room to talk to her.
Look at our 'big girl' sitting up all by herself.
Gap corduroys.
I always look forward to Gianna's post wake up happiness in her crib.
Swinging Sissies. This is what we did every day this month. All Jim and I kept thinking is, "Why didn't we put these swings up sooner?!"
Stylin' Girl.
FaceTime with Daddy during one of his business trips.
Could we be more blessed to have such sweeties?
A very H-O-T 6 year anniversary with our girls on 10-25-14
Briella always asks to wear her purple cowgirl boots. They are hard to see here, but she looked SO CUTE with her turtle neck and skinny corduroys.
Making baby food for Gianna is something I do weekly. This is how I do it.
Playing "getcha, getcha" Notice how Gianna is initiating play with her.
Lots of very cute squealing was going on in these moments.
And a lot more love than I could ever describe between these two darlings.
Our little cowgirl before school.
Playtime with Mommy while Gianna was napping. We had so much fun together outside picking leaves and soaking in some Vitamin D on a perfect October day in SC.
Gianna's face rash.
Briella's facial expressions are priceless.
Morning shopping trip with Mommy to Target and, then, to school afterward. 
So pretty in pink.
Personal Reflections:
What a month! It continues with "sleep setback" from Gianna and overwhelming exhaustion on my part. I'm not the type to constantly complain or dwell on the negative parts of life, but sometimes I wonder how Jim would handle a few back-to-back nights of not sleeping, let alone almost a full 6 months? I've been doing this all by myself now for 6 months and I, quite honestly, had a "Mommy meltdown" over it this month. I am desperate for just one night of at least 6 straight hours of sleep instead of sleeping in 2-3 hour spurts and then awake from 1-3 hours at a time. Today is October 31st and Gianna slept through the night two times this month. TWO times. That's it. Aside from those two nights, she sleeps like an infant; waking every 2-3 hours. I've tried sleep training; which seemed to work and then, recently, it doesn't work. It doesn't help that she's had a really bad face rash for over a week now and her sleep has worsened since that race appeared.
Can I be honest here? I'm losing my mind trying to figure out WHAT IN THE WORLD that I'm eating that constantly affects her because my stomach hasn't been hurting, I haven't been getting headaches, and my cheek rashes have been minimal to none (which is a tell tale sign for me), but yet, she is constantly affected & reacting. I began guessing it was the milk keifer and eggs so I stopped drinking the keifer a week ago, but without much improvement. So, next try is no eggs, along with no milk, and see if that helps. The 'issue' with doing that, is I lose even more food that my body does okay with and desperately needs. The *best* she does is when I'm hardly eating anything but steamed rice, veggies, and fresh fruits. I literally feel like I'm starving.
Earlier in the month, I finally made a Doctor's appointment to get a 'tune up' (as I jokingly told the Doctor). I haven't seen a general practitioner for almost two years and two years ago was a bad experience. They took a whole bunch of blood and I passed out cold. I woke up on the floor surround by medical staff and Doctors. It was at a time that I was in a lot of pain, I was at a very low weight, and the multitudes of vials of blood just literally brought me to the ground. Jim was at home watching Briella so I was at the Doctor alone. It was embarrassing and upsetting all at the same time. Aside from prenatal visits, I never went to the regular doctor again after that.
Anyway, I sensed something was not right with me lately. I've been feeling very 'bad' and 'off' for a while now, but I have no choice to fulfill being a Mommy every day so I kept brushing it off. I kept chalking it up to postpartum symptoms, but then when I began reflecting back with Briella, I didn't remember feeling THIS BAD. I hurt to my bones. As in, my bones hurt. My teeth hurt. My knees hurt, even after laying down for a few hours during the night. The bones in my back hurt to touch. Now I truly understand the expression, "I feel like death warmed over" because between major sleep deprivation and feeling so much pain, it's hard to pick myself up some days. My hair falls out in major clumps and in scary amounts all through the day and even in my sleep.
I went to get my hair trimmed and the hair stylist recognized it immediately after washing my hair and questioned me about it. Then we began talking and I told her that I had a 4 month old at home. That's when she put down her comb and scissors and said, "Wait a minute. You have a four month old, your hair is falling out, AND you're so thin?" She said, "You need to go to the Doctor. You have a thyroid problem."And from there on out, that was all she wanted to talk about for my entire hair cut. Seriously. That's the only thing she would talk to me about. I was over it, but apparently she wasn't.
So, fast forward 6 weeks later when I finally made the appointment. The test results showed I'm extremely low and deficient in B-12 and Vitamin D. The Doctor is also concerned about my anmorhea and my strange, constant lower back pain (I have an MRI on November 5th). She said my thyroid levels were 'normal', but Mom isn't convinced so I will get the print out when I go for my 8 week follow up. So, needless to say, I am on some major doses of B-12 and Vitamin D right now. I feel a very slight (hey, it's something) improvement with beginning the B-12. My memory and vocabulary were really starting to fade and now I know why! Seriously, I couldn't (and still have moments) where I can't think of simple words to complete sentences or thoughts. t still feel like I am walking around in a fog on most days, but instead of walking directly into it, the fog is right on top of my head instead. If that makes sense.
So, that's where the end of this month leaves me. I hope that maybe next month I will be feeling better, and Lord willing, Gianna sleeping better too. Hey, I can hope, right?
The end of this month is also being met with bittersweet news that Dad will be taking a job in Ohio; which means, he and Mom will be moving back to Ohio. It leaves Jim and I with lots of praying and decision making to do in the next few weeks and months. We moved here to be closer to them so it will be sad to be here alone without them. We are so sad to see them leave. I am so sad for Briella because she's been having so much fun going to their house 1 night a week, and their ability to just stop by, but I believe we'll be together again when it's meant to be. I'm not going to lie, I love it here in SC. I really don't want to move back to Ohio for anything but the people. Funny enough, it's Jim who wants it more than I do. He wants the girls to have the childhood he didn't have, I suppose. Plus, we don't have anyone here in SC; except for Nick. I understand his logic.
But remember what I wrote about my exhaustion and sleep deprivation? How in the world can I muster up the energy, time, strength, and stamina to show this house with two young children. I'm so tired just doing day-to-day stuff right now. The mere thought has me almost spinning with anxiety.
Anyway, What a month, though. Phew! There's so much more detail that I could go into with so many different things, but that just about sums it up. So, on that note, I'm off to hopefully get 2-3 hours of sleep before Gianna wakes up again.
Can I be honest here? I'm losing my mind trying to figure out WHAT IN THE WORLD that I'm eating that constantly affects her because my stomach hasn't been hurting, I haven't been getting headaches, and my cheek rashes have been minimal to none (which is a tell tale sign for me), but yet, she is constantly affected & reacting. I began guessing it was the milk keifer and eggs so I stopped drinking the keifer a week ago, but without much improvement. So, next try is no eggs, along with no milk, and see if that helps. The 'issue' with doing that, is I lose even more food that my body does okay with and desperately needs. The *best* she does is when I'm hardly eating anything but steamed rice, veggies, and fresh fruits. I literally feel like I'm starving.
Earlier in the month, I finally made a Doctor's appointment to get a 'tune up' (as I jokingly told the Doctor). I haven't seen a general practitioner for almost two years and two years ago was a bad experience. They took a whole bunch of blood and I passed out cold. I woke up on the floor surround by medical staff and Doctors. It was at a time that I was in a lot of pain, I was at a very low weight, and the multitudes of vials of blood just literally brought me to the ground. Jim was at home watching Briella so I was at the Doctor alone. It was embarrassing and upsetting all at the same time. Aside from prenatal visits, I never went to the regular doctor again after that.
Anyway, I sensed something was not right with me lately. I've been feeling very 'bad' and 'off' for a while now, but I have no choice to fulfill being a Mommy every day so I kept brushing it off. I kept chalking it up to postpartum symptoms, but then when I began reflecting back with Briella, I didn't remember feeling THIS BAD. I hurt to my bones. As in, my bones hurt. My teeth hurt. My knees hurt, even after laying down for a few hours during the night. The bones in my back hurt to touch. Now I truly understand the expression, "I feel like death warmed over" because between major sleep deprivation and feeling so much pain, it's hard to pick myself up some days. My hair falls out in major clumps and in scary amounts all through the day and even in my sleep.
I went to get my hair trimmed and the hair stylist recognized it immediately after washing my hair and questioned me about it. Then we began talking and I told her that I had a 4 month old at home. That's when she put down her comb and scissors and said, "Wait a minute. You have a four month old, your hair is falling out, AND you're so thin?" She said, "You need to go to the Doctor. You have a thyroid problem."And from there on out, that was all she wanted to talk about for my entire hair cut. Seriously. That's the only thing she would talk to me about. I was over it, but apparently she wasn't.
So, fast forward 6 weeks later when I finally made the appointment. The test results showed I'm extremely low and deficient in B-12 and Vitamin D. The Doctor is also concerned about my anmorhea and my strange, constant lower back pain (I have an MRI on November 5th). She said my thyroid levels were 'normal', but Mom isn't convinced so I will get the print out when I go for my 8 week follow up. So, needless to say, I am on some major doses of B-12 and Vitamin D right now. I feel a very slight (hey, it's something) improvement with beginning the B-12. My memory and vocabulary were really starting to fade and now I know why! Seriously, I couldn't (and still have moments) where I can't think of simple words to complete sentences or thoughts. t still feel like I am walking around in a fog on most days, but instead of walking directly into it, the fog is right on top of my head instead. If that makes sense.
So, that's where the end of this month leaves me. I hope that maybe next month I will be feeling better, and Lord willing, Gianna sleeping better too. Hey, I can hope, right?
The end of this month is also being met with bittersweet news that Dad will be taking a job in Ohio; which means, he and Mom will be moving back to Ohio. It leaves Jim and I with lots of praying and decision making to do in the next few weeks and months. We moved here to be closer to them so it will be sad to be here alone without them. We are so sad to see them leave. I am so sad for Briella because she's been having so much fun going to their house 1 night a week, and their ability to just stop by, but I believe we'll be together again when it's meant to be. I'm not going to lie, I love it here in SC. I really don't want to move back to Ohio for anything but the people. Funny enough, it's Jim who wants it more than I do. He wants the girls to have the childhood he didn't have, I suppose. Plus, we don't have anyone here in SC; except for Nick. I understand his logic.
But remember what I wrote about my exhaustion and sleep deprivation? How in the world can I muster up the energy, time, strength, and stamina to show this house with two young children. I'm so tired just doing day-to-day stuff right now. The mere thought has me almost spinning with anxiety.
Anyway, What a month, though. Phew! There's so much more detail that I could go into with so many different things, but that just about sums it up. So, on that note, I'm off to hopefully get 2-3 hours of sleep before Gianna wakes up again.
