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Merry Christmas to you all. Mallory slept through all of the gift giving. She got mostly clothes and outfits from family and we got her a Baby Einstein activity gym, a piggy bank and some dvd's (Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc.).
This should've been posted awhile ago but we've had our hands full. Apologies to all for cutting this short and we hope you have a very happy holiday!
This is the first greeting card we're sending out as a family. Most of you nearby either have already gotten it or will get it soon. For the holiday we're having my parents and Kris's family over which means the house will be packed. It's going to be fun! It's going to be great because Kris and I will have some help soothing Miss Mallory who seems to cry whenever she is awake.
A week from today she has an appointment for an upper GI test (upper intestines) to see exactly if she has reflux and how bad it is. She cries whenever she is awake and doesn't sleep for long stretches during the day but at night she's pretty good for us. Other than that she's still the cutest baby on the block and we're still singing her song.
We're the slow ones this year. That's right, we took a family picture to send out to people the week before Christmas... It was an interesting affair trying to get everyone looking at the camera and everything right in the picture. We managed to do so without any unpleasantries and shortly after that we were off to a Christmas party at one of the neighbors' houses. Mallory fooled everyone into thinking she was the quietest most well-behaved child which she is now disproving by crying loudly while her mom tries to calm her.
Didn't Depeche Mode have a song or album called "Enjoy the Silence"? If so, do you think Mallory would like it?
Not so. Suffice to say that this child is keeping us busy. Sorry for the lack of updates but when a baby with reflux and colic needs your services, you're hard pressed to blog about the means you're using to prevent yourself from banging your head against the wall :)
As I sit here and try to keep everyone up to date, imagine me hunched over a baby resting on my legs being gently bounced while she's secure in her sling. Not to seem fake but when people ask how she's doing I usually tell most people that she's doing just fiiiiiine. Who am I kidding, since when are crying babies fine? Ok the answer to that is when you're past the sleepless nights and the wretched screaming from a burning throat.
In other news, she's cuter than ever. Santa, put that in your pipe and smoke it. She ain't gettin' a lump of coal for Christmas because she's the cutest thing alive. On her Christmas list are:
1. Flashofbrilliance.com flash cards
2. A nice piggy bank
Here's an excerpt from a hilarious post by MetroDad where his 14 month old daughter wrote him a letter regarding their recent travels:
"Anyway…just when I start to get comfortable back in NYC, what do you ass-clowns do to me? You screw up my routine again and take me to someplace called Denver. WTF, Da-Da? It’s freezing here! My milk is chilled like a martini and my sippy cup is like a freaking icicle! And is it me or is my nose like the Trevisi Fountain of snot? Seriously, you don’t have to feed me anymore. I’ll just eat this IV drip of boogers that keep streaming into my mouth. "
Check it out. MetroDad: A letter from the Peanut (age 14 months)
As I'm sure all of you will attest to, things switch up and then become repetition. We haven't posted anything in awhile because we're hanging on by a thread as our nerves are knawed away with Mallory's soul penetrating wails which seem to be the only noises she'll make while she is awake. So we're making sure she's changed, fed and well burped which should hopefully keep the basics taken care of.
It could be colic because it peaks at six weeks or so but again there is no known cause of colic except most think it's gas. Did any of you go through stages of colic? Feel free to respond in the comments below.
Last night was a long night. Possibly one of our longest with Miss Mallory screaming until 4 a.m. when she decided it was ok for us all to go to bed. Adamant not to let this happen again I went to the store to get larger receiving blankets for a better swaddle and pacifiers. We had resisted the urge to use one thinking it would be one less thing to break the child from but in the end she won. So tonight she decided that she was going to be good and she has been sleeping soundly in her bed a foot away from me since 10:30 p.m. Oh the joy. Of course to most of you this is probably cake and I'm sure it will seem like that to us in a year or two when we're past this stage. Until #2 comes along...
As of yesterday Miss Mallory is 21 3/4's inches tall and 8 pounds 4 ounces. Last week she was approximately 7 pounds 6 ounces so she's growing pretty quickly. The doctor said she's tall and skinny and perhaps the reason why she was eating us out of house and home is because she's trying to catch up with her height.
Coming to terms with the lack of sleep has been difficult. Hopefully we get a bit more consistent as time goes on.
It looks like we're going to be having better days. Feeding has become an easy thing thanks in part to a breast pump and some bottles. Needless to say the child isn't tormenting her poor mother at the moment and dad is able to step in and feed a bit so mom isn't doing 24/7 duty.
Well it's 12:20 and of course Miss Mallory is wide awake. She's being walked from one end of the hall to the other in her sling by her dear mommy. Hopefully we can put her down in 15-30 minutes.
Also over at daddtypes.com, Greg blogs about ideas on Christmas gifts for new mothers. He throws around the idea of lingerie but cautions this may not be a good idea as the last thing that new mothers feel is sexy.