Bath time

Bath time has changed so much over the last 6 months....

Mommy's first time giving a bath

Getting hair done

When we finally got brave enough to bath her at home.

She's a duck!

First big girl bath!

Last night

First bath with rubber ducks!

It has become quite entertaining....as you can see:

Life

 My baby hit a milestone age wise. Its not really a milestone in the traditional sense, but it is to me. Kiwi is only supposed to be about 12 weeks old right now. Of course, as I have already written, there were other plans in store for us. I cant believe what a difference time makes.

The first time I held her, I couldn't comprehend that she was my baby, she didn't feel like mine.

She was so tiny. I thought she'd never come home. The time we spent in the NICU, though not long in reality, felt like eternity to me. I cant say I cherish the time I spent in a dark room with tear stained cheeks, but I love that my daughter fought and became a moon faced chatter box.

I never in my wildest dreams that Kiwi would come early. My entire pregnancy I thought I'd hand Mike a 12 week old baby. Guess not.

I felt bad about it for awhile, that he would miss so many of her milestones. I cried the first time she smiled. Most daddy's might have missed that first one, but would have seen it later on in the day. Hers was on a ship in the middle of the stupid ocean. Time has helped me with this. He did miss her first smile, but, she's had time to perfect it.

If you are still with me, I'll tell you why I wrote this rant. Yesterday, Kiwi and I, had the pleasure of spending the day with Auntie D and Auntie M. We had a blast. Today, Auntie D texted me and told me I was strong for what my little family had/was dealing with. I had to admit to her I wasn't strong.  Michael, Kiwi and I are not the only family to go through what we have. Its no great accomplishment. Its life, and I wouldn't trade anything in the world for minute of it.

The following article came to my mind, and explains it best. It was sent to me early in pregnancy, by a friend close to my heart. She has been there for me from the minute we knew Kiwi was coming mid-deployment. ML, you'll never know how much of light you have been.

Ok folks, grab your tissues.



What Every Military Baby Needs To Know

Huck Willoughby 8 lbs 5 oz born at 3:10 pm. That is all that Amy, our managing editor at SpouseBuzz, posted on her Facebook page under a photo of a scrunchy little baby.  Amy didn’t mention that she gave birth to that baby alone.  She didn’t mention that her Army husband (like so many military dads before him) couldn’t be there because he was at a faraway training.  No one else on Facebook mentioned it either.

Which is weird to me.  Because for the rest of his life, Huck will tell the story of how his Army Ranger dad wasn’t home on the day he was born.  Huck will make it sound like there was immense danger in the world and that his dad was the only person on earth capable of handling it.  That will be a great story.  I just think the kid needs a few more details to know how great a story it is. Here is what I think every military baby born to a dad who is deployed or out to sea or in training or in the field needs to know:

1. You were born to a woman who will not give up, let up, or let go.  Because she can’t. All your life you will believe that your mom is the strongest woman you know. True enough.  The other true thing you gotta know is that as a military wife, your mom will never be allowed to stop trying. Even when she wants to stop.  Even when she needs to stop.  Even while nurses are urging her to stop, stop, STOP.  Your mom will not stop.  Even now she feels the pressure to go pick up your brother David.  Drop by the store for milk on her way home from the hospital.  Toy with the idea of driving eight hours so that your dad can see you. Your military family is going to revolve around this unstoppable woman, Kid.  Count your lucky stars.
   
   2. Your dad knows for sure that he is irreplaceable.  Having a baby during deployment is almost normal in military life. It is no rite of passage. It is no great honor.  Babies are born to deployed dads every single day.  The secret is that there is no other event more certain of showing your dad how irreplaceable he is in your life.  Even though a dozen friends and neighbors stepped in to help your family, no one can begin to take your dad’s place.  That big aching emptiness in his chest is a connection opening between him and you.  No matter how many days of your life that your dad misses due to the demands of the military, no matter how many birthdays or Halloweens or first-days-of-school he doesn’t see, you belong to him.  He belongs to you.  Nothing can change that.  And he knows it.

3.  You belong to us, too.  Right now your grandparents and your aunts and your uncles and your cousins look at your picture and see a family resemblance.  But your other family—your military family—is excited about you, too.  Because you look like us. One look at your precious face and I see my own little boy who was born when his father was at sea.  I see my brother born when my father was in Vietnam. I see my neighbor’s baby and the Sergeant Major’s kid and those twins who were born last week to another family in the unit. Welcome to the world, Baby Boy.  You make us glad you –and your parents– are here.

(Source)

The Formula Files: Episode 1

First off, I thought I'd clear up some confusion. I'm sure some of you are wondering why I refer to my daughter as Kiwi instead of her name. When I was first pregnant, I had a dream that we were announcing our second pregnancy and our son told everyone that "Momma is having my Kiwi" because he couldn't say her name. After we found out we were indeed having a girl, the nickname stuck. If you are wondering why I call her that on the blog, its just a personal choice, just like I have never said what her actual birth date was.

On to what I actually wanted to talk about....our struggles with formula. This is a touchy subject for a lot of people, so, let me say, I am not against breast feeding at all. This is what works best for us. Kiwi did receive pasteurized breast milk (PHM) in the NICU so she did get some of those very precious antibodies. 

In fact, it was coming off the the PHM that first alerted us to the fact she might have a problem with lactose based formula. This was, however, after NEC was ruled out. She was started on Nutramigen, other wise known as Liquid Gold. Why? because it costs $40 a can. The nurses immediately advised me to get in contact with a WIC office, but I knew we didnt qualify. So, Kiwi came home on Liquid Gold. We went though it faster though because we had to mix it to 22 calories. Standard formula is only 20 calories. 

At her 2 month checkup, I asked Kiwi's pediatrician if we could possibly try Soy. He saw no problem with that, so we did. While it was less expensive, it made her fussier and gassier; two things you don't need in an already colicky baby. I kept her on it hoping it would get better, but it hasn't. 

In our daily Skype session Thursday, Michael and I decided to try the Preemie formula. Its going on 3 days, and I've never had a happier baby. She has had her standard colicky time, but for the most part, she has been a totally different baby.

Here's hoping the happy baby stays. 

Catching up

Hello family and friends..and random people that stumbled across this page,

This blog has been in existence for 6 months, but none of you knew it. My initial intentions were to blog about Kiwi coming into this world and all the carefree things of the world. (I can hear you laughing.) As we all know, my intentions got blown to Narnia when I got induced a month early. And well, lets just say its been a learning curve ever since. Anyway,  I'm sure everyone is a little curious about whats been going on. Maybe not, but I'll pretend y'all are. In the words of the immortal Maria Von Trapp, let's start at the beginning. 

When Mike left in June, my blood pressures skyrocketed (gee, I wonder why). I was on bed rest FOREVER and when I hit 35.5 weeks pregnant, I was induced due to Pre-eclampsia. I don't often wax religious, so this will shock most of you. I'm convinced that the Pre-eclampsia was a heavenly intervention. When little Kiwi was born, the cord was wrapped around her neck pretty tight, she looked like a smurf. Add that to the fact she was only 4 lbs, she needed to have her birthday early, or she wouldn't have had one at all. The neonatologist that attended her birth said if she had been a boy she would have been stillborn. Due to her size, Kiwi was taken to the NICU. We spent two very long weeks driving back and forth to Logan every day. We are lucky it wasn't as long as it had the potential to be. 

Now, here we are almost three and a half months later and hello personality. The NICU nurses all said Kiwi was a spitfire, I'd like to see what they'd call her now. Especially at 4 am when she wakes you up because she has a story to tell you. No amount of rocking will put her back to sleep until she is finished telling all there is to tell. We were worried about her hitting all of her milestones, but so far, she is right on target. She smiles like a champ and is starting to try and laugh, but prefers squealing. Kiwi is almost to the 5% group of preemie girls her age. 

For those of you wondering about the Kiwi parental units, we are alive. Mike is still overseas, but should be coming home in __ days. I didn't leave that blank because of OPSEC; its blank because they haven't bothered to tell us yet. We usually get to Skype a couple times a week. It would be more...but those of you that have dealt with the Green Machine know why we don't.

Its been a long year, but hey, its almost over. And then, we are on to another adventure and even bigger decisions that neither of us wants to make.