Monday, October 18, 2010

Plugging along...

Well it's been several days since I have heard from Philip and we have yet to have a conversation that lasts longer than 5 minutes. I have talked to him about 15 minutes total in 12 days. I am disappointed, but am choosing to press into God and work on my relationship with God. Chloe keeps me busy and I can see her personality coming out more! She is starting to "giggle" a little bit when I play with her with the little toy that makes a jingling noise. She has such a sweet personality and I can't wait until she can use her arms and laugh and giggle more!!!!

She has been very fussy since he has been gone and I decided to try a new formula a couple of days ago. Many people told me to try Enfamil Gentlease, but I didn't like the fact that the first ingredient was "Corn syrup solids". I just don't think my child needs that stuff first off! So I decided to read the labels of similac and enfamil "gentle" formulas and both had first ingredients of corn product. Then I grabbed Nestle Good Start Gentle Plus and found that the first ingredient was Whey Protein. All of the 'gentle' formulas have the proteins broken down since some babies can't process them very easily. However, I liked how this one was Whey protein. I bought it hesitantly----I spent about 40 minutes looking at formulas and making my way to the check out (even though I just bought formula and wipes!!!!) Chloe has seemed to respond very well to it. She was sleeping and was just laying there looking up and not screaming and crying!!! She was "chill" more than not!! haha..her chill look is a very nice sight as opposed to her screaming red faced, tear streaked look!!!!

However, there is a little 'hiccup' in the process. I choose the can that was cheaper and didn't know why there was some called "nestle" and some "gerber"....well when I got home to do research, Nestle is still the producer of the formula but now the can I bought is discontinued. The main difference in the old formula and the new "gerber" formula is that DHA is added. I didn't think it would make a very big difference and I ran out of the formula last night and had to run and get it at H-E-B. They only had the Gerber formula since it is now taking over for the Nestle can. Well, Chloe was sooooooooooooo fussy today!!! From my research they say babies can't really break down DHA, which coincedentally is in all infant formulas!!!! So we shall see. I went to the commissary and bought another can of the "purple" nestle can to try it and see if her fussiness eases up. From there I will have to decide what to do since the "purple" can is discontinued!!! They have 7 more cans at the commissary, but that would only last me half a month!!!!!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Ahhhh parenthood!

So I decided to start updating this blog again. It seems all I ever do anymore is update my status on Facebook with things I have done, want to do, plan to do, and things Chloe has done. Basically probably equivalent to a couple of blog posts a day! LOL....of course not everyone wants to know EVERYTHING...I try to make them interesting, but basically I just have a lot to say! It's hard having intellectual conversations with a 6 week old! So here goes....

I still can't figured out why Chloe cries so much during the day. She could just have the dreaded "Colic" which means its whatever causes babies to scream for several hours a day and nothing calms them. Colic is just a lump of things and really is a slightly hopeless diagnosis. At least they grow out of it at 3 months! She wasn't as fussy when I was giving her breast milk! So today I decided to try my hand at pumping again! It is a very time consuming process and you don't always get too much milk out. However, if I could get plenty of milk out it would definitely be my preferred method feeding her. For the time being I am trying to figure out what about the formula could be causing issues. She seems a lot more mucousy in her breathing since I started her on formula. In fact whenever she sleeps her breathing sometimes sounds like a 50 year old man! (like my dad! LOL)

I keep trying to get her on some sort of schedule but she basically runs the show. She might be going through a growth spurt it seems feeding her every 2 hours is the norm as of the last day or so. Which can run a mama ragged! I try to get her to go back to sleep only to find she is screaming (yes she goes from a quiet "stirring" in her crib to outright screaming in about 15 seconds) She is pretty drowsy at night so we haven't had too many screaming fits then...thank goodness!

It appears Chloe likes to be "out and about" as whenever I have her out for errands, appointments, shopping, etc. she acts like a calm, sleepy baby. Everyone says, "Oh she is so calm" and I say, "Well she is around other people, you didn't hear her 20 minutes ago! LOL" So maybe I just need to take her shopping everyday or something! But honestly, I think she is a peaceful baby in nature...it's just figuring out what is making her discomforted.

I'm getting used to very little sleep, tons of diaper changes a day, and spit up on all my clothes. I rarely bat an eye now! haha.. I never realized how much clothes and blankets they go through! Chloe spits up a lot and so much of her clothing doesn't last but for a few hours. She also likes to pee whenever I am grabbing for the new diaper! We have had several accidents like that in the last couple of days!

Well, I can't promise you these posts will be interesting, but it at least gives me a place to talk! haha