Go Ahead! Egg Me On!!!

I have some egg-cellent news, my friends...truly egg-cellent news! I visited the chiropractor who is helping with my food allergies today. We had worked on the egg mix which has eggs and related "stuff" in it last time and I had my fingers crossed that it would work despite the fact that I ran into a feather within my post-treatment avoidance period. I'm happy to report that we succeeded despite this little slip up and today I showed no allergy to eggs!!!!! YEA!!! YEA!!! YEA!!! (Um, yeah, I guess you could say this has made me very happy).

Of course the true testament will be me eating me some eggs and not feeling icky afterward. I think it is possible since yesterday I cheated and ate part of a muffin and didn't seem to have any trouble. Breakfast will be so much more interesting now, I have a feeling.

So, after checking that out, we worked on, of all things "calcium mix" which has a bunch of calcium-rich stuff in it like milk and stuff. This one is tricky...and it's all Nicholas's fault. Okay, not really. I suppose the blame could be mine... Essentially the problem is that I have to avoid contact with his formula until 2p.m. tomorrow. So far, we've already messed this up. I was holding Nicholas earlier and he spit up on me. Oops. So, we've decided that I will avoid contact with him, other than to kiss the top of his cute little head and stuff like that until I'm in the safe zone tomorrow. I sure hope that formula thing doesn't mess everything up. I'd hate to have to do this twice. I think it's pretty much torture for both of us. On the bright side, apparently there is some chance that fixing this up could help with the breast milk supply. I guess we'll wait and see...

At any rate, that's all I have for today. I'm just pleased as punch! It's just too bad that we don't have a single egg in the house (by design since we didn't know if I'd be avoiding them again).

A Once in a Lifetime (I Hope) Experience...

Ah the joys of parenting. I haven't written about them lately...sorry for my absence. ;)

Nicholas apparently felt for you all and helped to get me to the computer today so that I can recount the thing he did that made me laugh the most I have laughed for who knows how long. It is hilarious. You want to know what it is? Well, stay tuned then...I'll get to it. First, though, we'll work through the usual updates.

First off, Nicholas who is now 3 months old (can you believe it?) has learned a couple of new tricks since I last wrote a post. He can roll over both from tummy to back and back to tummy (just one way or the other, though). He doesn't do this consistently, but he's done it often enough that I figure it counts. His favorite place to practice, much to my dismay, is the changing table. I have to watch him like a hawk. I spend quite a few extra moments putting him in his crib just so I can find him clothes or whatever and not have to worry about him rolling right off the table. So that's one thing.

His other trick is that he's learned how to give kisses! I got my first on Sunday. At first I wasn't exactly sure what it was he was doing, but after thinking about it and paying attention to when he does it and such, I've determined that my little boy is a kisser. :) He's kind of slobbery, but I don't mind at all. It definitely isn't a "normal" type of kiss (he's only 3 months after all!), but it works for me.

The gas still plagues the little guy, but I may have mentioned that we discovered the swaddling, shhhing and patting seem to bring him some relief. It's nice to have another tool in our arsenal since I have a hard time bouncing on the swiss ball continuously and find the sling rather uncomfortable.

Another development is that I will be home a bit longer with Nicholas since my doctor has not yet released me to return to work. Since I am totally enjoying my time with him, I'm not complaining. The doctor has also been quite helpful in obtaining some formula for Nicholas from the formula maker. That is truly helpful. I love my doctor.

The insurance company on the other hand is not helpful. We had the pediatrician write them to see if they would help us pay for donated breast milk for Nick since it seems that the formula does not agree with him. They denied our request because, they say, there are so many types of formula that it isn't a high priority. Not happy at all with that. Perhaps they'll change their minds if after the visit with an allergy specialist we're taking Nicholas to on Thursday of next week, we discover, as I suspect, that he's allergic to soy (which is in every formula in existence!). I just want the poor little guy to feel better...no little baby should need suffer as he does.

I'll be quite happy to know what stuff he's allergic to since he's got another "mystery rash" now. Actually, I don't think it's a mystery. I tried some baby oil on the tyke (just a little) a few nights ago to give him a little massage. I promise not to do it again.

I'm also trying more voodoo to rid myself of allergies. This time it is a technique called NAET. We'll see how it did at the last treatment session which was supposed to clear eggs and egg-related things. I was supposed to stay away from eggs, feathers and chicken afterwards for 25 hours and pretty much botched that with the feather thing (a cat toy got me outside...I forgot it was there!) and so we'll see. I may have to redo that one. Otherwise, we'll move onto calcium.

Mark is also doing well. He's been checking out a practice in Colorado Springs that looks pretty good. It would be nice if it worked out as it seems just what he's been looking for.

And now, the recount of my experience. Nicholas and I were sitting on the couch. He'd just woke up from a short nap on my lap and was wrapped in his burrito blanket...he's such a cutie when he's baby burritoed. :) At any rate, he'd eaten before his nap and I was reminded of this in a rather unpleasant but terribly funny way. I put Nicholas above my head in a superman position and then saw coming toward me a pillar of spit up. It landed in my hair and trickled down my face. I couldn't stop laughing despite how utterly gross it is to be thrown up on. I don't suppose it will be so funny when he throws up on me and it is more than just spit and milk. Perhaps it isn't nearly as amusing to you, but it's definitely one of those "I must remember this" moments of my parenting career. I may think twice before holding him over my head like that again...

And, that is it for now! I hope you all are doing well...and I hope I didn't forget to tell you something. I should think not given the length of this post!

Photos!

We're enjoying a visit with Mark's parents at the moment, but I had time to upload new photos to Nicholas' site including a nice selection of the professional photos we took in early July with my friend Lucie. They turned out so awesome. I seriously am having one heck of a time trying to figure out which ones we should have printed. I guess that's the problem with having a cutie pie as a baby! If you don't have the login information for the site, let me know via email and I'll get it to you.

Other than that, we had a pretty uneventful week other than the visit from Mark's parents and his brother Michael. Our days have been rather calm with most of the festivities centering around eating beef. We've made a small dent in the cow, but we still have plenty for people who'd like to come over for dinner!

I guess I did, however, go for my first voodoo treatment for my allergies. I don't think it was successful because I was supposed to avoid eggs (no problem), chicken (no problem) and feathers (a problem). I wasn't supposed to go within 5 feet of these things and darned if I didn't forget about the fact that all the feather things in our house were quickly thrown out on the porch and go out there to turn on the grill. *sigh* I hope I'm wrong but I'm having some seriously unpleasant allergy reactions... I guess we'll see how we do the second time around.

That's about it for updates this week. I hope you're doing well!

Walking in Memphis...

We did a lot of that. :) We didn't see the ghost of Elvis on Union Ave...but we did stay on Union. We didn't go to Graceland...being a bit too young to really appreciate Elvis and being with Mark's parents who'd already been, we decided to spend our time elsewhere.

Now what we did do while we were in Memphis was...eat a lot of ribs. I kid you not, we had them at least 4 times while we were there. If we'd had the time, we would have had more. We've even talked about having some FedEx'd to us from Rendevous whose ribs I believe both Mark and I liked the best...too bad we only got to have them once since we missed the little piece of info on the menu that said they were closed on Sunday and Monday...doh! What a bummer it was to find that out on Sunday night! We had Corky's and the Blues City Cafe for our other ribby ventures...both were tasty but with the exception of the cole slaw which we thought was weird, Rendevous is our top pick. :)

The flight to Memphis was interesting. I can now say that I have changed a diaper in an airplane bathroom. That was a challenge....especially since sweet little sprout decided to have a real whopper of a diaper for me! Then I tried pumping...don't if you don't have to. It's more trouble than it is worth. I can't say how many times I was panicking because the blankets I'd rigged up were trying to fall and expose me. I'll never try that again (I wouldn't have in the first place if Nicholas would have cooperated!).

Other things we enjoyed while in Tennessee included riding in a little horse drawn carriage. This was a treat since I'd wanted to have one for our wedding but couldn't due to where we decided to have our reception. So, since our anniversary was on Tuesday, the 31st, Mark, his parents, Nick and I all climbed in. We went for the Cinderella carriage with lights...and it was a neat ride. We learned a little about some of the historical sites in Memphis and enjoyed ourselves. We also made a stop in at the Hard Rock for a pin for my mom and at Hooters for a shirt for my Uncle. We even got Nicholas a little hooters outfit to make the uncle smile...I still think they should have had something that said "my mom's hooters are the best" or something like that, but no. By the way, just in case you don't know me well, getting the outfit for Nicholas was Mark's idea. I get embarassed going into the joint to get my uncle a t-shirt. Maybe it is because I am jealous of some of those girls.... hee hee

As promised, we made our stop in Colorado. Nicholas, not surprisingly, was a big hit. We were able to hang out with the two brothers and Lea, Doug's girlie, when we arrived on Monday night in Denver and then we got to spend time with my parents on Monday for a good part of the day. We had lunch at Monica's in Colorado Springs. It wasn't the plan - we were supposed to go to Marigolds for salad and some yummy dessert since it was our 3rd anniversary and we got our wedding cake from there. Alas, we didn't even make it over there for dessert. I'm glad we'll be able to go back there more often very soon!

We were able to go visit a chiropractor's office that Mark is interested in and that went pretty well. He has a couple of options now as far as where he will practice. He just needs to iron out details and decide which way he wants to go.

And, then it was time to come home....we went to church this morning and that was interesting since Nicholas had yet another gas attack. :( It was kind of nice, though, because I got a lot of ladies who were thrilled to give me support and pep talks and who showed me a few little tricks that I can hopefully use some other time to calm the little guy down.

In other Nick news, he has begun learning how to roll over from his back to his tummy. I thought I made a little note somewhere on the blog that he had done this so that I would be able to remember when this happened, but I'm not finding it anywhere. :( It's been a few days since he's done this so maybe it was a fluke. ;) He also has really gotten quite strong as far as his head goes. He can hold it up by himself for the most part now, though, he has his moments of being a floppy neck still, too.

One final bit of news is that the adventures in breastfeeding are going well. I have actually succeeded in increasing my supply thanks to an herbal preparation I started taking last week. Nicholas' consumption of formula has decreased by a few ounces and everything seems to still be working out. I still don't have a full supply but just to have some success is wonderful. I will see if the herbalist who recommended the nursing tincture to me has any other tricks up her sleeve to help me be even more of a cow.

Hope all of you are having a nice August so far. Mark's parents and his brother are supposed to visit us mid-week this week....not sure where they're going to sleep (I would have opted for a hotel if I were they), but I'm sure we'll figure something out.