Pages

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Sorry it has been a while since my last post, but I have a busy life! Some good things, as well as some discouraging things, have happened since you last heard from me, I'll share the good news first. I'm about 98% sure we are free of colic! It has been an entire week since I have heard the colicky screams from Kynlee, and we couldn't be more relieved. She still has her moments where she can get a little fussy, but it's no where close to where it was. I can now sit her down at night without her wanting to be walked around, which means more rest, and time to do things for mommy. I realize that some people will give me their parenting advice whether I ask for it or not, but that doesn't mean I want to hear it. The worst is when people would tell me that my child doesn't have colic, that she is just spoiled, and wants to be held all of the time. I'm sorry, but my daughter isn't even three months old yet, I'm not going to let her just sit there and cry until she loses her voice. My heart aches when she is crying like that, and I want to soothe her the best way I know which is holding her close to me. Being walked and bounced around just happened to be the best solution to colic some nights. I have read in many places that a baby under 4 months isn't even capable of being spoiled. So now that she is over it, and happy not being held all the time I can finally prove that she is not, and has never been, spoiled! Wow sorry! I realize this is also a great place for me to go on a rant. But I promise that's over...... well, until I have something else that is getting on my nerves. I'm sorry, it's just hard as a new mother having tons of different people telling me things that makes me doubt my capability as a parent, when I know I am a great mother!

Now that I have shared the good news, I guess I have to share the bad. We still haven't had anyone interested in our apartment, I guess that's because they are smarter than us! Okay, I have to say, this isn't a bad apartment, it's just not the right place for a family. We had 2 people come and look at it last week, but haven't heard from either one. We have a great place lined up for us, but we have to find someone to take this lease first. Nobody seems to be looking for apartments right now. We're even offering some free furniture! I'm trying to keep positive by thinking that the semester is almost over, so hopefully we'll have more people interested for the next semester, since most of the people who are looking are probably college students. As long as we can get out of here before winter I will be happy.

So even though the apartment, and school are getting me down, at least I don't have to deal with colic anymore. I have a lot more to talk about, but duty calls, or should I say doody?

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Colic free!...for a night.

Just wanted to share the good news! It's probably nowhere near being over, but last night we had a break from colic! It's been calming down some, and last night she just played in the floor all night as happy as could be. It was such a nice break for mommy and daddy. The best part is, I didn't use any gripe water, so that was just a natural thing for her to want to do. Let's hope this continues!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

This is probably the worst possible time to update my blog, considering I have a huge Environmental Health test to study for, but there is just so much going on that I need to share with someone, or something! If you've been keeping up with my blog then you know we are trying to get a new apartment. Well, we found an amazing apartment for the same price as what we're living in now. It's brand new, and it is huge! One of the two closets in the master (yes I said 2 closets!) is the size of a small nursery! The living room, kitchen and hallways have wood floors, and the kitchen has granite counter tops and new appliances. There is also Central heating and air, and an amazing washer and dryer! I'm such a mom to get excited over a washer and dryer, but you haven't seen the one in our apartment. Seriously, it's the smallest one in the world. It's also not on the side of a mountain so we don't have to worry about the drive in the winter. The only thing standing in our way of getting this new place is finding someone to take over the lease where we live now. Even though we would be renting through the same company, they won't let us switch the leases over. I have put ads everywhere I could think of, but even though I am getting some responses, I can't stop stressing over it. I'm worried that by the time we find someone the apartment will be gone. I just feel like we're meant to get this place, so we can be more comfortable with where we live. So everyone please pray that everything works out!

Friday, September 17, 2010

It is 1:40 in the morning, Kynlee has been asleep for about 2 hours now. Why can't I sleep!?!?!?! Ugh so frustrating!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

If colic is like a temperature, then hopefully it will be over soon.

Kynlee's colic is worse than ever! It seems to be at it's peak. She usually starts around 5pm, but the past few days the crying has started around 2 and lasted until sometimes midnight. You know how a fever will "break" and go away? Maybe that's how it will be with her colic. Maybe she has to peak, and then it will disappear! But phew, it is exhausting, especially when I am trying to study. Tonight I am going to try giving her gripe water. It is a safe and natural remedy, that claims to ease colic. I'm desperate and will try anything, so lets hope it works! Especially because Daddy has the night off again for my night class. I hate that Kynlee is usually fussy for him, but I like that he gets to experience what I go through while he is at work. It's nice that he appreciates how hard it can be sometimes. I think Kynlee feels bad too, because she slept sooooo good last night. She slept 12 hours, and only woke up to eat once. I guess all that crying wore her out. I'm not complaining!

 On a happier note, I am so excited for tonight. Yesterday we negotiated a deal. Corey had to stay up all night studying for a test, so I took over watching her. Tonight when I get home from class, I get an hour to myself (probably during Teen Mom). Corey is going to watch Kynlee, and I am going to go in the bedroom and just lay there. I can't express how excited I am! The longest I have been away from Kynlee is 4 hours, but since I was in class it can't technically be considered a break, so this will be my first true break from mommyhood. Oh boy am I excited! Wish me luck with the gripe water!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Colic is a four letter word!

I love my little bundle of cuteness so much, but sometimes she ain't so cute! Most of you know by now that Corey has school during the day, and work at night. So I am alone at night watching her. It seems like from the time he closes the door to leave, until the time he comes home she is wailing at the top of her lungs. I would like to think she just misses her daddy, but we all know who she loves more ;-) After talking to the doctor, we've determined she has colic! I have dreaded this from the time I found out I was pregnant. The definition of colic is unexplained crying for 3 or more hours a day, 3 or more days a week, for 3 or more weeks. I'm jealous of those lucky parents who's children only cry for 3 hours a night, 3 nights a week. It seems like Kynlee cries 4-5 hours, every night of the week! There is no clear reason why some babies get colic, and some don't, but I don't know if an answer would solve my problem. No matter how many times I tell people she has colic, they all seem to want to tell me her stomach hurts. This is not directed towards any one person, and if it applies to you, there are no hard feelings. It just gets hard to hear people tell me her stomach hurts her every time she cries. When we go somewhere, or someone comes over, I always warn them that she usually gets fussy at night. But every time she cries and won't stop, they all say "Oh her stomach is just hurting her." I usually respond, "No, I don't think so, that doctor and I agree that she has colic, and she is always fussy at this time of night." That's when hear, phrased in so many different ways, "No, no, no, her stomach is hurting her trust me." No offense, but you're not qualified to make that decision. I would probably agree sometimes that her stomach was hurting if I hadn't already tried giving her gas drops, or massaging her belly, or the fact that she is crying at the same exact time period she usually does. Okay, sorry for the rant, I'm done. I'm sure there is at least one person out there who can sympathize with me. Maybe you haven't dealt with this exact situation, but I'm sure you have had at least one case where someone tells you what is wrong with your kids, when you didn't realize they had the credentials to do so. Oh well! I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion. In the mean time, I'm just going to ride this colic train out, and hope for the sanity to get me through it. It's really tough sometimes, but like I always say, she is so worth it.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Obviously being a parent while still in school is not an optimal situation. It leads to a lot of disadvantages, one being where we live. Boone doesn't have the biggest selection of housing anyways, and it's even more limited being a married couple with a child. Up until this year, App State provided on-campus housing for student families. Because the school population grows every year, without an expansion of living space, they took away those apartments and made more room for regular students. That would have been the perfect place for us to live. ASU Child Development, which is our first choice in child care, is across the street, and it's on campus which makes it easy to walk to class, and be close to Kynlee. However, it was no longer an option, so we set out to find an affordable two bedroom apartment. We were excited when we put our names on a waiting list last November with a rental agency, and we ended up getting our top choice. Let it be known that we weren't allowed to go look at any of the apartments before choosing. I thought we had a great place, it wasn't too expensive, it was in a perfect location, and it had a great view. It didn't have air conditioning, but I have lived in an apartment without central heating and air before, so I figured I could handle it again. Things slowly started going downhill. The first speed bump we encountered was the rent. Online, the apartment was listed as $750/month, without utilities. When we went to sign the lease we learned that not only was rent actually $920, but we would also be charged $40 extra when Kynlee was born. But we needed a place to live, so we had to deal with it. We didn't live in the apartment any before Kynlee arrived, but we did visit frequently to move in and get things set up. I really liked the place at first, but then I became a mother. Let me tell you that I am a big worry wart anyways, but once I became a mom my worries were branched out into my family. I constantly worry about everything. Without AC we struggle to keep Kynlee cool enough, and I also worry about keeping her warm in the winter. We have a fireplace, which is great for us, but when it comes to living in an apartment building with a bunch of college students I worry about safety. What if people don't service their chimneys, or people decided to have a party, get drunk, and want to build a fire, but don't monitor it properly. Another issue we have is the hill we have to drive up. Even though we have an amazing view, it comes with a price. The hill is so steep, and anyone who lives in Boone knows how rough the winters are up here. Corey is the only one with 4-wheel drive, but even then the sun never hits the road, and did I mention that it's really steep? The list of worries goes on. It's also hard living around a bunch of college students. Even though we are still in college, we have a family now, so we live a little differently. The people are rude about us having a child, especially when the windows are open and Kynlee is crying. We tried getting out of our lease, but we have to find someone to take over it, and another place to live. As of right now, we are putting our name on a waiting list for a brand new apartment building, which I hope we will be happy with. I can't wait to graduate, not only because I don't want to be in school anymore, but I'm so excited about having our own place. We can pick where we want to live, and how safe the house, and neighborhood will be. Hopefully I will be able to stick it out a few more months until we find a new place.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

I'm not as good at this as I hoped I would be...

So as the days waste away and the weeks flash by, I realize I am having a hard time keeping up with this blog. But I'm sure any mother who is reading this understands that time is no longer abundant. I enjoy sharing my life with the blog world, even though there are probably only about 3-5 people who actually read this. So I vow to try to update at least once a week from now on!
 Because it's been an entire month since my last post, and so much as happened, the easiest way to do this is by a list.

1. School has started back, and for some strange reason I don't feel as devoted to it as I usually am. I can't really place a reason as to why I would rather spend my time doing something else than sitting in class. A big problem we ran into was trying to find someone to watch Kynlee while we are in class. As much as I hate the idea of taking her to childcare, that seemed like the only way to go about doing it. I put our name on waiting lists back in January, so I thought for sure we would find somewhere for her to go. Oh boy was I wrong! Mommy lesson #32: If you want adequate child care for when your little one arrives, put your name on a waiting list the second a plus sign shows up on your pregnancy test. Even before you tell your parents, tell your child care provider! You've probably figured it out by now that we didn't get child care. I had originally registered for 17 hours, because that was the only way I could graduate on time, but I had to drop down to 12 in order for Kynlee to be taken care of, which is my first priority. After dropping that class, my schedule was freed up a lot more, but there were still 2 hours, 3 days a week that we didn't have Kynlee taken care of. Luckily, one of Corey's friends came to the rescue. (Thank you Brittany, Kynlee say's she's having a great time) Even though childcare would've provided more time for me to study and go to the gym, it's nice not having to take her anywhere, because Brittany just comes over to our apartment where she has everything she needs. I absolutely hate leaving Kynlee, but I know I have to do it to graduate, and luckily it's only for 6 hours total a week.

2. Sleep was something to cherish the first few weeks after Kynlee was born. Because I am breastfeeding, she sort of needs me to survive. Which means I am at her beck-and-call whenever she wants me, whether it be every 3 hours or ever hour. This was so exhausting for me the first couple of weeks. I felt like I was never able to recover from having a c-section, because the longest amount of sleep I was able to get was 3 hours, if I was lucky. I think Kynlee felt bad for making mommy so tired, because from the time she turned 5 weeks, she has been an awesome sleeper! One night we put laid her down, (she put herself to sleep) and 5 hours later she woke us up to eat. I was amazed! That's the longest amount of sleep I had gotten in forever! I fed her, laid her back down, and 4 hours later she woke up for the day. If you're counting, that's 9 hours! This continued for a week, then after putting her sleep one night, I woke up with sun coming through my window. I automatically thought something was wrong, but to my relief Kynlee actually slept through the night! At 8 weeks old, she slept for 8 straight hours. Even though that has only happened once, she is still a good sleeper. She will have some bad nights, but for the most part she will only wake up once to eat at night.

3. One thing that me and Corey bought for Kynlee was a swing. We thought this might be the best purchase we make, but she absolutely hated it for weeks. But luckily she loves it now, which is a relief because we thought we would just have to stare at it through her entire childhood. Like I said in #2, she has a bad night of sleep every once and a while. I have no shame about what I'm about to share with you. Okay, maybe a little bit of shame, but I was desperate! After 3 nights of minimal sleep we decided to bring the swing in our room to help her go to sleep, I kind of drifted off with her. The music is just so dang soothing! 4 hours later she woke us up to eat! I felt so bad, but also soooo rested. The next night she went back to her usual sleep routine, so I didn't have to break out the swing again thank goodness.

4. Because I can't work right now, Corey is the only one supporting us for the time being. Even though I am so grateful for this, I really miss him while he is gone. Now that school has started, he is in class all day, then he goes to work most of the night. The only day's he has off is when I have night class so he can watch Kynlee.  I know he really hates leaving us, but we both know he has to do it in order for us to afford anything.   He feels like he is being a bad father because he can't be there all the time. But he doesn't see what I see. I love watching his grow as a father. He is so good with Kynlee, and even though he is tired from work and school, he provides a lot of relief for me. Whether it be soothing her when she is fussy, or letting me take a nap when I am tired.  And I can tell when he looks at her, that he has never loved anything more. I can't wait to see their relationship grow over the years.

Even though I have so much more I could talk about, this has turned out to be entirely too long! I know that wouldn't happen if I kept up with it more. But like I promised, I will update it more frequently. For the time being, I have a cute baby looking at me, wanting me to play with her. So until the next time, hope this was enough to keep you occupied!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...