Teething Hell

Oh my lordy. Teething. Something every parent will go through with every child. It might not be that bad, or it might be awful.

In my case, it's awful. Liam was once a "perfect" baby. He has always been a fairly happy and content baby. There have been difficult times, of course, but for the most part he's been such a good baby. He started sleeping through the night around 3 months or so. It was awesome. Some mornings he'd sleep till like 8am!

Hahahahahahahahahaha....oh, that has all long since passed. We co-sleep now, and Liam is up every hour or so. He finally got his first two teeth about a month ago and it got a bit better. But now the next teeth are coming in (well, or moving at least, who knows when they'll actually cut through).

This second round is even worse than the first one. They are his two front upper teeth. He won't even let me touch his upper lip, let alone see the gums. I've had him on motrin, in addition to Hyland's teething tablets. He's got practically every teether I could find. He has those mesh bags that I put cold fruit in, etc.

But there have been times where, no matter how chock full of drugs he has been and no matter what I did to distract him or console him, he still screamed. You know those days where by the end of if, you just want to cry, too.

It got so bad that I went ahead and ordered an amber teething necklace (something about the oils going into his skin is supposed to help...something like that) and I ordered a Sophie the Giraffe. Sophie is this $20 little rubber giraffe that's apparently been around for like 50 years in France. It's supposed to be a great teether. It's made from natural rubber and painted with food-grade paints, so it's safe to chew on.

I have yet to get these things in the mail, but when I do I'll tell you all whether they were worth the money I shelled out for them.

Don't forget that all this crankiness and pain is also accompanied by extreme drool action...and the need to chew on everything the baby can get his hands on. Liam's been teething since he was about 3.5 months, but it wasn't till these last two teeth started coming in that the drooling really kicked into high gear. There is nothing like have a giant stream of spit smeared all over your face by your loving baby. Or in your hair. He's like a saliva hose...

It's really not fair what little babies have to go through in the first year of their life. First they are shoved through a ridiculously small canal over a period of hours. They are taken from their warm, dark (a bit cramped, but nice and snuggly) home into the cold bright world. The sounds are loud and un-muffled. They are all wobbly. They can't even hold their heads up. Then they have to poop and pee in a diaper which is stuck to their bodies. They suddenly have to work for their food. Over time they finally get enough muscle strength to hold their heads up, and then sit up and roll over. Eventually they learn to crawl, or they don't and go straight to walking. In the meantime, they have to contend with gas, colic, constipation, diarrhea, earaches, and the lovely teething, which could go on for a couple years. The poor things....

Thankfully, yesterday was better than the day before. Teething certainly has it's ups and downs, but hopefully Liam's next two teeth will be here soon and he'll get a little break.

Till next time...

Tali's impossible contest

Okay, so everyone MUST play Tali's contest and give me their prizes if they win...Seeing's how I don't think I will win... but I'm playing anyhow, cuz it's fun. Alright now, play, Bitches!

http://chemgeek.net/misadventures/?p=356

The Green Mama - Part Three - Baby Food

In addition to products I use on my baby's skin, I of course have always cared about what went into his tummy.

I always intended on breastfeeding my children. After about 5 days of trying with Liam I was completely ready to give up. My nipples were cracked and bleeding, it was excruciating. I couldn't deal with it (on top of being extremely sore, tired, hormonal, etc). We'd been taking Liam in to the doctor's office quite a bit as he was jaundiced and had lost quite a bit of weight. He was doing much better weight-wise and the nurse practitioner was ready to let us go when she asked how everything else was going. I turned into a puddle...I couldn't stop myself from crying (damn hormones and lack of sleep!) She helped me out and found what was wrong with our latch. It took me a few weeks to heal up, but oh my god she was my savior! I was so glad she helped me as I know I would have felt guilty for giving up after only 5 days. Hell, my sister-in-law had lasted 6 weeks with her twins and that was with like 3 really bad breast infections. I figured if I couldn't last that long I was a wimp.

I've continued to BF my little guy for the past almost 8 months. I never thought I'd BF this long. I thought I'd make it to 6 months maybe, but I thought that was stretching it. I don't see any reason why we'd stop any time soon. I just can't justify putting him on formula just so I could have a little more freedom (if I was working I think it would be entirely different, but I'm not).

Of course along with breastfeeding, comes starting the baby on solids. I was good and waited till he was 6 months to start on solids. I decided to skip the rice cereal as it's just junk food as far as I was concerned and super processed. I wanted to make all my own baby food. I started out with banana and then avocado. He LOVED it! I used the website www.wholesomebabyfood.com
to help me decide what to give him next and how to prepare it. It's been a lifesaver.

With starting the g's I also started an addiction to Whole Foods. I get all the fruit and veggies for Liam's food there, which make it easy to get organic. It's so easy to make your own baby food, I wish more mommies would try to. Just making a butternut squash gives you a ton of food and it takes minimal effort. I always keep a fresh stash for a few days and freeze the rest in ice cube trays. Easy as pie.

I forgot to mention the argument I had with our new pediatrician at my son's 6 month appointment. So we went in and I'd already decided I wasn't going to give Liam rice cereal. In fact, our previous pediatrician had told us to just skip it, that he didn't need it and we could just go right in on fruits and veggies. (I loved my previous ped, but had to switch for insurance reasons.) So, we started to discuss starting him on solids and she told us to give him rice cereal. I told her I didn't want to and explained why. She told me he needed the extra iron (as it's iron fortified). I asked her for an alternative option, what food could I make him to give him the extra iron so I wouldn't have to give him the constipating processed crap? She was like a broken record, "just give him rice cereal. just give him rice cereal. just give him rice cereal." She couldn't get her wits wrapped around the fact that I wasn't going to give it to him, but I'd willingly give him anything I could make him myself. We ended at a draw...and he didn't get the rice cereal...

Later on, I did find some organic rice cereal at Whole Foods with probiotics. I decided to give it a try. It gave Liam (who seems to have a tummy of steel for the most part) a horrible stomachache. That was the one and only time he was ever given that damn rice cereal. I'm trying to give him as much iron filled veggies he's allowed to have at his age as possible before his 9 month appointment. We will see what they say!

So, I guess that winds down my current blab. It's late at night and I'm tired. I have other stuff to talk about, but that will have to wait till tomorrow...

The Green Mama - Part Two - Diapers

Prior to my son being born my husband had been interested in EC (Elimination Communication). I told him he was off his rocker and there was no way I'd been able to deal with something like that with a newborn. I was going to count myself lucky if I was still alive by the end of the first month. My hubby also wanted to cloth diaper. I was more willing to do this, but not at first. I told him that I'd do it after a few months when everything calmed down and I'd gotten the hang of being a mommy. In the meantime we'd use disposables.

Around 5 months or so, my son grew out of the last size Pampers makes the Swaddlers in. The next thing they made were cruisers. Well, I hated them. At the same time I bought those I also bought Nature Baby Care diapers. I also didn't like these too much. They were much more eco-friendly (being chlorine free and partially biodegradable) but it was like putting paper diapers on my son.

I'd gotten a sample of Seventh Generation diapers before the baby was born and they felt soft and seemed the closest to the Swaddlers, but were also chlorine free. When you've been using disposable diapers for 5 months you start to really realize the environmental impact just the diapers you are using has. It's disgusting. So, as someone who's not a complete ass I started feeling guilty and wanted to at least use something a little better.

So, I headed off to my local Whole Foods to buy some Seventh Generation diapers. Lo and Behold! What caught my eye?!! gDiapers...I read the outside of the box and was hooked. This was WAY better than stupid Seventh Generation diapers and much better for the environment. I bought a starter kit and went back a couple days later to get some refills. For those of you who don't know what g's are, they are a cloth cover with a completely biodegradable and flushable insert. You can flush the insert, or compost it even (the pees ones)! You can of course also just toss it in the trash, but most people know how hard it is for things to decompose in a landfill where the garbage doesn't have access to oxygen and the elements to help the process along. You can even use cloth in the g covers. They work extremely well and as a bonus are super cute.
Now, being a gDiaper-er opens up a whole new world of eco-friendliness. You of course have to join the gDiaper yahoo group and with that you are now part of a massive group of amazing women who spread their great ideas on how to be green.

Around the same time I switched diapers my son had developed a bad case of eczema on his legs, bum, back and arms. I started eliminating things with fragrance and chemicals. Out went the Dreft detergent...out went the Gerber baby wash...out went the Burt's Bees lotion, etc. I tried all sorts of soaps, getting more and more natural as I went. I finally settled on Little Twig organic unscented baby wash. Just that alone took care of most of the eczema. I also started using ShiKai's Borage Dry Skin Therapy for children. That took care of it 100%. Until I used stupid Hawaiian Tropics baby sunblock on Liam. I finally caved and spend $18 on a tiny tube of California Baby unscented sunscreen.

The Green Mama - Part One - The Beginning

So how does one become one of those crazy "green" people? How do they come about? Were they raised by hippy parents? Did they smoke too much pot? Are they just super good people that really care about the environment?

Here is my tale of how I have started to be become one of those people. Really this is mostly mindless babbling about myself...but I at least compartmentalized it so it wouldn't be too overwhelming for anyone who might decide to read it...

I've never been a particularly eco-friendly person. I haven't cared all that much about global warming, I used paper towels to my heart's content. I've thrown away things that easily could have been made into something else...I've ceaselessly run the water in my shower to make sure it was extra hot before I even got in it, etc. I have at least routinely recycled for pretty much my whole life.

In addition to not be eco-friendly I've never given too much thought to what I ate. I'll admit, I've had an addiction to crap foods like top ramen and kraft mac and cheese. I've eaten a cheese danish and coffee for breakfast on more than one occasion...somewhere in all this, though, I've been pretty good about taking vitamins. I think my love for crap food comes from having grown up eating super healthy food.

A traditional breakfast when I was growing up might have consisted of whole grains topped with fresh honey (we had a giant tub from my mom's friend who owned a honey bee farm) butter and cream. Or eggs and bacon, etc. When we had peanut butter and jelly, it wasn't Jiffy...it was Laura Scudder, with the chunks. You know that peanut butter you can hardly get out of the jar (that's after you mixed it to get all the oils from sitting right on top) let alone spread it on your super whole wheat bread. My mom always cooked home-cooked meals (that part I loved) and we never had things like cereal or pop tarts or anything of the kind in our house. Sugar was on a lock down...my dad would literally give us (my little sister and me) Halloween night to eat as much of our candy as we could and then it went into the trash (silly as we ALWAYS kept a stash hidden somewhere). (Did I mention this is Los Angeles I grew up in?)

Now you might have not been able to find sugar in our house, but vitamins were EVERYWHERE. By the time I was 2 I think I'd overdosed twice on Niacin...somehow the first time I got into the vitamins ate half the bottle didn't teach my dad to put them somewhere I couldn't reach...My little sister and I would eat Vitamin C (not the chewables) like they were candy. We also loved Vitamin E and lecithin. Another vitamin we'd chew up was one called Core Level Health Reserve. This was essentially a green multivitamin. Oh how we loved chewing those up. I don't even mind the taste of them now as an adult.

Anyhow, as I became a teen, being able to access and buy with my own money things like soda, chocolate, etc. is what started my downfall on the quality of food I enjoyed. Now this isn't to say I didn't enjoy a gourmet meal. Trust me, I did. I love cooking and I love being cooked for. I just also loved junk food.

So, fast forward to more recent times. I recently had a baby and it's amazing how something like that can completely change your perspective on health and the environment.

It was always important to me to have a natural birth. I didn't want any drugs--not for me, but for my baby. I knew anything going into me would also be going into him. And I figured that women have been popping out babies for thousands of years and the majority of that was without any form of drug. So, why couldn't I? It was incredibly hard and excruciating, but I did it and I'd do it again any day.

The day my son was born was the beginning of: The Eco-Friendly Mama. I started noticing the ingredients in everything. From sunscreen to shampoo, to the clothes I was buying. It opened up a whole new perspective for me.

Win a Free Ergo!!

Win a Free Ergo Baby Carrier from Along for the Ride

There Will Be Blood

So, I'm one of those people who likes cheesy happy movies. I won't say I love them, but I do prefer them. I like to come out of the movie being happy. While it's embarrassing to admit, I'll enjoy a good Mandy Moore movie any day. I just am lame like that.

Now, movies I LOVE on the other hand, are more like Little Miss Sunshine, Juno, Garden State, Napoleon Dynamite, etc. I also really enjoy a good indy flick like When Do We Eat (friggin hilarious), Wristcutters: A Love Story, The King of California, etc. As you noticed, those tend to remain mostly on the happy side of things.

I'm a chicken. I'm scared of the dark. I don't like to sleep alone. I don't like to go outside by myself at night. And I CAN'T stand horror flicks. The cheesier, the worse it is. I get nightmares. I'm like a little kid. In fact, one time a girl was telling me about a scene from the Grudge and just picturing it in my head gave me nightmares. I didn't even see the f-ing movie! Even silly ones, like Scream scare me. So, most recent horror flicks are not going to be found on my netflix cue.

Before I go on to the next category, I will tell you a little story. One day I wanted to watch Old School. I was in the mood for a silly comedy. Alas, my future BIL had taken it. So my then boyfriend told me I should watch this really great movie, Dancer in the Dark. I watched it. Holy crap. Not exactly in the Old School category. It was a great movie and belongs in the next category of movies. But if you've seen it, you'll know why I wanted to slap my boyfriend on the back side of his head after watching it. He did it again with There Will Be Blood...it's been 5 years and he still hasn't learned.

Alright, well in the the next category comes the amazing movies. Those movies that aren't particularly happy, but they are just great movies. They make you sit there and think about the movie long after it's over. Some movies that have been like that for me are The City of God, Crash, Pan's Labyrinth, Dancer in the Dark, etc. Other people might not feel the same way about them as I do, but I don't really give a flying rats butt. There Will Be Blood was one of those movies for me. I couldn't get it out of my head. This is just a phenomenal movie. The story is great, the acting is perfect, honestly every part about it is perfect. My heart was wrenched out when the little boy is hurt. I couldn't stop thinking about something like that happening to my son. The whole movie you see this person go from sort of normal, but driven, to completely evil and insane. In a way you could really see it happening.

And I guess that completes my random babbling about movies that I like.