Baby in (re)flux.

Eliza saw a new pediatrician this morning. I really liked her. Her examination was very thorough and she actually examined the extent of Eliza's umbilical hernia. She decided her abdominal defect is significant enough to warrant a trip to a surgeon for a consultation. This doesn't mean surgery. Most of these things clear up on their own. It does mean we'll get to know the surgeon in case surgery is warranted down the road.

The baby also suffers from some pretty significant acid reflux. She hiccups like the drunk stork in those old Disney cartoons after every single meal. She'll be taking a small dose of prevacid once a day and she'll also have a swallowing study to further evaluate things. Poor little thing. Brand new and already a ward of the drug companies.

The good news is, she loves to smile and she's even beginning to make noises that aren't obvious cries. She downright giggled the other day. I'm hopeful that the medicine will help her feel better.

In other doctor news, Eliza is up to 11 lbs. 4 oz. and is 21.25 inches tall. She's about 25th percentile for all categories, so she's small for her age. Not in a worrysome way, though. She's just short and proportioned well.

Now for a couple more pictures of me with the baby. You can see where she spit up on my arm in these. Also, ignore the Gilda Radner hair. I did get it cut and colored over the weekend so I look much more human. It's amazing how little you care about your looks during the first six weeks of motherhood.

Monday, Monday...

Another weekend down, another workweek to go.

Eliza's doing much better with sleeping. She's waking up at most once during the night to eat, which is a welcome change from getting up every two hours.

I stayed up all night Friday night working on the new computer I got as an early Christmas present (thanks, Mom!) so Janie slept while I was on baby patrol. The good news is, pending a RAM upgrade this week, we should have a lot more YouTube videos of Eliza shortly. It's nice when you can upload and edit video without having to worry about the computer crashing.

Lee's home for a few days, so we saw "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" yesterday afternoon. My rating: ehh. Not a bad film by any stretch of the imagination (I'm looking at you, "Beverly Hills Chihuahua") but not as good as most of Michael Cera's resume. Certainly not as good as "Juno."

Janie has a seatbelt in her back seat now, which means she and Eliza are mobile. They're supposed to be out adventuring right now. Janie's also on the employment hunt, so I think she's trying to have as much fun as possible with Eliza before she has a job. (Janie, not Eliza. We're not putting the baby to work... yet.)

In other other news, it's three weeks to Election Day. Excitement abounds.

Eliza's spring wardrobe, for the fall...

First of all, for everyone who has asked why we never post pictures of the baby with me, there's a picture for you.





So, Eliza has lots of clothes that fit but are going to be totally out of season while she's this size. I'm glad the weather is staying relatively warm. I'm trying to run through some of these outfits before it's way too late. Eliza's wearing white very unfasionably after labor day today. I feel bad that she'll never be able to wear half the clothes she has. People have been nice and given us hand me downs, but if their kids were born at different times of year, it just isn't working out. I'm beginning to get a bit concerned that she doesn't have enough long sleeves to wear this winter. We'll have to put her long sleeved onesie under everything and she'll look like she's trying to bring back the Seattle grunge look.

We also weeded out clothes I either don't like or know she'll never wear. We should have a good batch to donate to charity.

Due to issues related to insurance, Eliza has to switch doctors just in time for her two month check-up. Keep your fingers crossed that we like her (the doctor, not Eliza). I had mixed feelings about our original doctor, so maybe this one will be exactly what we're looking for. More importantly, keep your fingers crossed that I don't freak out when she gets her first shots. When she had jaundice and had to suffer a couple of heel pricks, I wanted to slug the lady who did it.

Tonight Eliza is going for her first solo grandmother visit. Brian's Mom is going to watch her while we go out to dinner. I'm not sure she knows what she's in for, but I hope they have a good time.

I'm hoping to take Eliza to a pumpkin patch this weekend. Too bad she's too little for hot cider. I love fall.

Product Plug

Eliza has always HATED to be swaddled. She'd kick off her blanket within minutes of being put down to sleep. We had a swaddling blanket that didn't work very well. It was flimsy nylon and a little too big for her. That didn't work at all. We'd all but given up on the concept.....UNTIL!

Aunt Cheryl bought Eliza something that has revolutionized sleep at our house.

Kiddopotamus Swaddle Me.

Since this product came into our lives, Eliza has (pretty much) slept through the night two nights in a row. Night before last she slept from 10:30 to 4:00 and then went back to sleep after feeding and changing until the alarm went off at 6:50AM. This morning she slept until 5AM, we stayed up for about 45 minutes and then went back to sleep until 8AM! I actually had to wake her up to eat. She hasn't been swaddled since 8AM and she's still drowsy.

This is the kid who wouldn't sleep for more than a 2 hour stretch and sometimes wouldn't go to sleep at all until 2AM.

It might not last, but bless the inventer of the Swaddle Me. At least I've had two fairly solid nights of sleep in a row.

Daddy's Photography

Brian took this picture tonight and I LOVE it.

Lexington or Bust!

We took the baby back to the motherland this weekend. Cheryl and Aunt Margie were thrilled to be the first to get to keep the baby while Brian and myself went to the opening of The Dame.

Brian enjoying the show


How was The new Dame? Same As It Ever Was


We had a great time and I managed to only call about Eliza three times while we were out.

Saturday we went to Lawrenceburg to visit with Brian's former co-workers Mary and Laura and Laura's son Lance. I forgot to get a picture of Lance, but he has the coolest big blue eyes in the universe. We also saw Mary's amazing and newly renovated pad (you can click the Bud and Mary link on the side of the blog to see it yourself). After that, we went back to Margie's to take a nap and my brother Jimmy showed up unexpectedly. He invited us out to watch some football. We decided to hang at Spuds and watch UK fall just short in their bid to knock out the #2 team in the nation.

Brothers Greg and Jimmy watch the game




Sunday we went to have lunch with my Mom, Lee, Tracy and her family and Susan and Debbie. We had some chili and then headed home.

Susan and Eliza


Eliza with her cousin Scott


Eliza and Grammy


Susan and Brooke


Eliza being a ham (notice Lee's Ninja Turtle shirt)



Now we're home and it's nice to be home, but I'm always homesick when we get back. I'm glad Eliza got to meet the rest of her family and Brian got to see his favorite live band. I'm glad I got to visit home for the weekend. I really needed the escape.

Road trip!

That's right, after five weeks of staying close to home, we're ready to take the Eliza Jane Smith Show out on the road for a limited engagement in Lexington and Louisville.

Tomorrow afternoon, we're leaving for Lexington, where Eliza will get some quality time with Aunt Cheryl on Friday night while Janie and I get to act like adults for a night and visit The Dame to see Same As It Ever Was.

Saturday, we're taking her to Lawrenceburg to meet Mary and Laura and Lance, then it's back to Lexington to see Heather and Sally. We'll probably try to let Savannah, Bransen and Greg meet her too, if they want.

Sunday, we're making the trip to Louisville so Eliza can see Betty, Tracy, David and their kids and Lee before we come home.

This ought to be an interesting weekend.