Month: December 2016

Today we woke up to the most gorgeous sunrise over the mountains and then Kensie got to explore Bryson City, NC with us! 

Today was just the four of us as we waited for everyone else to come in town. We went into Bryson City for lunch, visited their winery and some of the shops!

We headed Back to the house just before sunset so we didn’t have to drive up the mountain in the dark. 

K didn’t have a meltdown tonight but she got really fussy a few times as she fought off naps. She is still going through her clingy “mommy needs to hold me every second” phase and it is exhausting. At one point I just had to walk out and close the door. Luckily daddy took over and got her to relax. 

A friend had shared this with us earlier in the day (picture below). When she was crying, I laid her on the bed and tried pressing her foot pressure points to see if it would work. IT DID!

I held my thumb right between the 4&5 and she stopped crying and just laid there. Not sure if it will work every time but it was a nice break for the time being!



Today we left for our New Years trip to the Smokey Mountains in NC. When we got up this morning KB was so excited!

She has been the best little nugget today. We haven’t had a single car meltdown!! We stopped for lunch and gave her a bottle, stopped for gas and fed her, then made a pit stop at our friends Brian and Ashley’s house in South Carolina for dinner. 

​Kensie started to get fussy as she fought off sleep and Brian thought that was her meltdown. We informed him that was nothing and he said he wanted to try to calm her down. Pretty sure he made it worse. 😂

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​As soon as I took her back she stopped (sorry Bri, hahaha) and Aunt Shell and I got her right to sleep! 

After we ate she woke up from her power nap and chatted with us for a bit before we got back on the road. 

It was so great to see them and way too quick of a visit. 

On the way back to the highway we passed a Krispy Kreme with the “HOT NOW” sign on. Chris has been telling Michelle about these donuts for WEEKS and it was on our list of things to do before she heads to Afghanistan. 

And while I have your attention, can we please discuss why the hell this thing exists?!

Jack ate Ks nose sucker last week and she wakes up with a stuffy nose pretty often. I went to target to buy a new one and this was all I could find. I mean sucking the snot out of her nose with my mouth sounds like a solid option, but I think I’ll pass.

Thank you Amazon Prime for offering a battery powered version…

After my post a few days ago about Kensie’s meltdowns and not wanting to put her on medication, I had a few moms and friends reach out about pediatric chiropractic. 

A friend of mine from high school specializes in it but unfortunately she lives in Jacksonville. She recommended going to Revival Chiropractic that her best friend recently opened here in Orlando. 

Dr. Christina Cuellar was amazing and came in on her day off to adjust miss Kensington! 

As soon as we got there, Kensie had a meltdown…she waited for me to feed her and settle down, explained everything to me, and got K adjusted. SHE LOVED IT. 

Kens started to fuss and as soon as Dr. Christina worked her way down her back, she immediately relaxed. When she got to her pelvic area K was letting out gas. Like anything, it is not a one time magic fix; but, I can already tell a huge difference in her. 

We went over to Casey’s after to give her her Christmas presents. I walked out of the bathroom to Casey holding K and cracking up…

I guess that adjustment aligned her colon right up!! HAHA!

Kensie screamed AGAIN shortly after we got there and Casey tried to show me a “calming hold” that worked for Harper when she was colicky. 

It got her quiet for a second, then she resumed her screaming. At least it entertained us for a few minutes. 

We went to the gym this afternoon and guess what K did for the first time?

I laid it on her belly because she didn’t want it when I tried and I turned around and she scooted it all the way up and got it into her mouth! Now if only she could do that every time. 

Kensie had a bottle at the gym and was SO good while I coached 3 classes! She even slept on the ride home (which never happens – she’s usually crying and wants to eat).

Since we’ve been home tonight – it’s been a DREAM all because of a burping technique Dr. Christina showed me today!!

A while back I posted I was giving K a pumped bottle at night because she seemed to eat better and would fuss if I breastfed her. Tonight we found a solution!

Kensie will eat off one side then start fussing and I’ll burp her. Sometimes she burps, sometimes she doesn’t. Well when she doesn’t she won’t eat much when I try to finish feeding her. She fusses and won’t latch so I assume she’s done even though I don’t think she’s had enough. 

Tonight she started to do that and I remembered what the doctor showed me, did it, Kensie belched twice and finished eating for 5 more minutes!!!! She dozed right off afterward and has been sleeping ever since. Go figure – getting out a little gas bubble just made my night so much more relaxing!!!

I’ll try to get a video tomorrow to share the method for anyone else it may help! 

http://revivalchiropractic.com/

Kensie Brooke was such a sleepy girl today. She slept until just after 8 this morning (thank you Jesus) and woke up so happy!

My mom came over today to spend time with K and watch her while I got errands done and packed up for our New Years trip! My little brother even took the ornaments off the Christmas tree for me and my mom took the lights down! They’re the absolute BEST. 

We mailed Aunt Shell’s cases to Afghanistan, went grocery shopping and managed to get our workout in. 

So, of course K was good all day and took lots of naps. She did poop on 2 outfits though. Haha!!

Once we got back home and my mom left – sure enough Kens had a meltdown. She ate dinner and had her bath and was so happy. I thought for sure at that point we’d have 2 days in a row of no screaming. Nope. 

This was a lonnnggg one. I felt so bad because I could hear the bubbles in her tummy. 

I found the one place in the house she was happy with me standing so I waited it out a while before I took my chances on relocating. The one time I walked into the kitchen with her to attempt to eat my dinner, she immediately changed that plan with her screeching. 

Once I stood there for a while I thought for sure she was over it. I put her in the mamaroo and she tolerated that for a while as long as I was right there and kept her pacifier in her mouth. 

Just as I was finishing eating she started back up. This time daddy gave it a go. 

He did get her to be quiet, but I’m not too sure who really won this battle…

That was the last of her meltdown, though! She stayed wide awake until just after 10. Aunt Shell finally got her to fall asleep and we got everything packed up and in the car ready to go for the morning. The amount of crap needed for such a small human is mind boggling…

We hit the road in 6.5 hours and I’m just now heading to bed; you know, just in time for Kensie to wake up soon to eat. 

…never a dull moment when you live with KB! 

This little Booger was SO happy today. What a relief! I won’t take it for granted or expect a repeat tomorrow but I sure am thankful for it today. 

I decided not to take her off the Mylicon just yet like the doctor suggested. I will wean her more once we increase her chiro visits but for now, it helps her gas pain so much. This poor girl was miserable without it and her tummy noises made me feel awful. I have brought it down to about every other feeding and she doesn’t take it at all at night when she wakes up to eat. It seems to be working well that way. 

While she didn’t have any meltdowns today, there were 2 close calls where I heard her belly bubbling and she started crying. It was such a sad cry and I could tell she was in pain. I wiggled her legs some work and and put her in the burping position the chiro taught me (dang it I still didn’t video it…it’s coming I promise…) and we avoided meltdowns both times! 

The first one took a little vacuum noise and ceiling fan distraction but she relaxed enough to pass her gas and immediately fell asleep. 

Even though she was great today, I reheated my coffee 3 separate times – and as I type this at 10:30p I have yet to finish it.

We did get a craft done, though! Kensie chilled in her chair and chatted and chatted and chatted while we made her footprint ornament. 

When we got home from the gym Carolyn and Emily came home for dinner. While I was in the shower K started crying (because she was tired and as you all know she has a serious case of that FOMO) so Carolyn picked her up, played the vacuum app and rocked her to sleep under the fan! 

Well today was much better than yesterday as far as the screaming is concerned. Kensie woke up super happy and took a nap this morning while I did the “12 Days of Christmas” WOD. Most definitely thought I was going to throw up from that workout. I’d like to blame it on “getting back into it” but I’m pretty sure it was just that rough. Haha! 

It wore me AND Kens out and we took a nice long nap after the gym!

After we got up, we ran some errands and got our nails done with Aunt Shell and Aunt Casey!

Once we got home, I gave her the Zantac about 15 minutes before I was going to feed her. She got super fussy this evening and would only stop crying if I was holding her. She didn’t want to be held by anyone else…which made wrapping presents and getting anything done extremely difficult. Luckily Chris and Michelle were amazing and made dinner for us!

Even though I had a lot of things I needed to get done before our Christmas festivities this weekend (Hence why I am still up and posting this at 1a…) I soaked in the extra snuggle time with my little munchkin. I know it will be all too soon that she wants to be miss independent. 

On a positive note, she only had Mylicon ONE time today! Woohoo! She went all day without it but when she started having her fits tonight I tried to give her some because her discomfort seemed gas related. Hoping to be completely off of it in the few days. Progress!

If I’m not mistaken, this was the first Christmas I didn’t wake up in my parents’ house. I missed them today, but it was such a special morning celebrating Kensie’s first Christmas as a family of 3. I know she has no idea what Christmas or Santa or anything is right now, but we pretended she did for our own entertainment. 

K was perfect this morning and hung out in her mamaroo staring and chatting away while mommy and daddy opened their presents! Then she hung out with daddy and watched him play his new Nintendo! She loved watching the screens change. 

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This afternoon, Chris’ side of the family came over for lunch and gifts. As soon as his brother got here, K had a meltdown out of nowhere. 😦 

Luckily, Uncle Matt and Aunt Val were able to get her to calm down and take a nap! She’s been on Zantac for 4 days now and I’m not sure if it takes some time to start working or if it just isn’t going to be a solution for her…

She cried pretty hard again a few hours later but as soon ass I held her and sat on the bed she started dosing off. I think this little nugget is just overwhelmed and overtired from her busy weekend. In between the crying she did give some smiles and she chatted in her chair while we were eating! We even caught a family photo with no tears. 

After everyone left, K was passed out in her crib before 7pm! She just woke up to eat as I am typing this…

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

How quickly a year went by. Last Christmas when Chris and I were exchanging gifts I remember saying “this could be our last Christmas just us two!” It’s so much fun having Miss Kensie here to make memories with us this year. 

We had a busy day driving up to Jacksonville to see family. Unfortunately K didn’t really nap on the way up so she was pretty cranky today, but she still had fun and got lots of snuggles in! 

Here’s a little peek at the beginning of Kensie’s First Christmas!

They chatted and chatted and chatted! It was the longest conversation K has had yet!

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Kensie took her screaming to a whole new level today…she had about 4 breakdown episodes today so that was just fantastic. Thank God for vacuums. 

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Thankfully, she was a perfect baby while I coached the 9a class and the 4p class. She slept right through them. 

 

Of course she went in her PJs because we can’t get our lives together that early anymore… 

When we got back home, she pitched her second fit of the day. It was mid-eating and it seemed like she was in pain. Not sure if it was gas or reflux, but I went ahead and called the doctor. They sent her a prescription for Zantac. 

I’ve mentioned before I hate to put her on medications, but the discomfort and screaming is way worse. A few friends reached out and suggested a chiropractor as well! Apparently adjustments can help with colic or reflux. 

I changed her Mylicon to every other feeding today so I’m not sure if that’s what led to the multiple episodes. We will try the Zantac and weaning from Mylicon a few more days and see how it goes for her. Hopefully we can get in to the Chiro soon, too! I’m willing to try almost anything if it avoids another day like today. 

Anyways, in the few times she was happy today, Kensie was a little chatter box!!! I finally got it on video! (Usually she stops right when I try to record it). 

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She screamed a ton when I got home from the gym this evening but after her bath, medicine and dinner she was actually really happy! She stayed wide awake until about 11 but she was just hanging out on the couch, looking around and occasionally talking to us! When we went to bed she put herself to sleep in her crib again, so at least we have that going for us! 

Well, today was the second day we tried the rice cereal. No such luck as far as it stopping her screaming. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to do anything different for her. She was a great shopping buddy today and slept for 5 hours during her morning nap while I got a ton of errands and last minute Christmas shopping done! 

When she was awake she was still pretty fussy and could only sit in certain positions after she ate that didn’t cause her pain. She had a full blown meltdown again tonight while trying to eat so we are going to call the doctor tomorrow and give her the update. We were supposed to try this for a week before moving to medicine, but I can’t let this poor girl keep screaming in pain for 5 more days. 

I have noticed her screaming also happens when she’s overtired and fighting sleep, but there’s an obvious discomfort going on when she eats sometimes. She will be hungry but laying on her back hurts so she tries to eat and just starts crying. 😦

I am starting to wean the Mylicon and it seems to be going okay so far…Here’s to hoping the Zantac works!