Augusta - 7 Months Old

You are growing so fast!  You want to be so grown.  You are so interested in all the things going on around you.  I can hardly get you to look at me unless you are done playing and are coming to me to be held, or fed.

Mentioning being fed, you started not sleeping as well and your Daddy suggested that you are likely hungry and that we should implement some food into your daily diet.  I was planning on waiting until your 6 month well-care appointment, but that keeps getting rescheduled.  So yes, food was certainly something you were ready for.  With Farrah, we only did the BLW technique.  For ease and simplicity, I bought you some baby food and you freaking love it, with all your heart and soul.  We literally can't feed you quick enough.  As soon as we put you in the high chair with a bib on, you are open-mouthed waiting for food to be fed to you.  And sometimes you will grab our hand with a spoon and pull it to your mouth!

For the last couple of weeks, you have been refusing your bottle at daycare.  They seem to be able to get about 4 oz down throughout the day, but they said you cry and gag when they offer you the bottle.  I think you're so excited for food.  However, you are trying to play catch-up and want your  additional milk intake during the night.  You cry and wake Farrah up, too, and it's an endless cycle of little sleep for this momma.  I may have threatened to throw you outside once, but trust me, I'd never do anything to hurt you!

You are pulling up on things already and a couple of times you have even let go and attempted to stand!  I can't believe how strong and advanced you are!

Around Thanksgiving, you starting babbling "dadadada."  It's super cute!  You are always very happy to see your daddy, both in the morning and in the evening.

You're always smiling, hugely.  And when you do use your voice, you are loud!!!  You laugh all the time.  It's my very favorite when you laugh when Farrah is talking to you in her playful voice or tickling you.

Farrah is such a fan of yours.  And she loves to feed you and does a great job, I should add.

You are in 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers.    The Wednesday before Thankgiving, you started having a really bad cough so I took you to see Dr. Bunge.  She didn't think it had become anything more than just a cough at that point and wanted to hold off on any antibiotics since that would make your yeast infection worse.  She was right, I believe, because your cough didn't get any worse and was better within a couple days of raising your mattress and using your humidifier.

I think we finally have your terrible yeast infection on the mend.  I started adding oatmeal baths and coconut oil to your regimen.  You absolutely love baths.  This month I stopped using the "infant bath tub" and set you in the regular bath (sometimes even with Farrah) and the entire time you splash!  You try to move around but find that water tends to get in your face.  We keep your baths very short at this point.

The day you turned 7 months old, I went to the doctor for my third spell of pain in my left kidney.  The nurse practitioner said she believed I had a kidney stone by the way I looked and felt.  She sent me right away to Mexico for a CT scan.  They were so amazing about getting me right in during this entire process.  The CT scan showed that I had a kidney stone that was "obstructing" and my kidney was swelling behind it.  I had an appointment the following day with a urologist in Columbia.  The urologist looked at my CT scans and thought the kidney stone looked to be bigger than 5mm and thought that was too big to pass on my own.  He also said it was too far down in my kidney to do shockwave therapy to it, and would have to do laser surgery to remove it.  He scheduled a follow-up Xray and appointment for 10 days from then.  He prescribed me a medicine to "relax" my urinary tract to try to help pass the stone.  He also prescribed me some Hydrocodone to take in the case that the pain remained.

The worse part through this entire process is that the nurse practitioner the day before had given me a shot in the butt for pain and then prescribed me with a pain medication that isn't safe to nurse on.  Since I was in a lot of pain and in a lot of fear about the severity of this kidney stone, I took some when I got home that evening.  While I was picking up my prescription, I asked Dr. Bunge what kind of formula I should use if I was on the pain meds for an extended period of time and didn't have enough freezer milk.  She gave me some samples and that evening, Keane went to a ball game of Kylie's and I had my mom come over to be there in case I needed her.  I cried and cried over the idea of having to feed Augusta a bottle.  I tried it and she gagged and refused it.  I also had to "pump and dump" for 24 hours until the medicine was out of my system.  After that, I didn't take any more of that medicine and have continued on with our nursing just as before.

You had your first Thanksgiving this month and although you couldn't enjoy the delicious food, we decided to have all the kids draw names since us grown-ups do a White Elephant gift exchange.  You and Aliciia had each other's names and you got a teething toy, bibs, and glow-in-dark stars that Farrah and Kylie put on your ceiling.  You got Aliciia a Melissa and Doug brand wooden kitchen cookie set. (Farrah had McCoy's name and got him a spy costume set and Bronx had Farrah's name and got her a Barbie and some Barbie outfits!)  Christmas is right around the corner and I'm so excited for your first Christmas!

(Farrah LOVES feeding you, and trying the baby food)

(Always standing)

Augusta - 6 Months Old

Baby, you're already half a year old! 

It has been the fastest, best, and both the easiest and hardest 6 months ever.  There is no doubt our family seems and feels so complete, but there is also no doubt that we couldn't fit in any more than we currently have going on.  Your big brother and sister are both playing basketball with a lot of practices before and after school and you are such a trooper.  The majority of days, I pick you and Farrah up from daycare around 4:10 and we are in the car until we get home at about 6:15.  Sometimes I am able to get you out to nurse you while we wait a few minutes until practice is out at 5:30, but sometimes we fill that extra time with running errands and you usually sleep or just look around and play with some toys.  We don't hear much out of you.  One night you starting crying really hard so I pulled over at the Mexico Walmart exit and told Kylie to start getting you out and as soon as she pulled you out, you vomited all over and it puddled into your carseat.  It was so gross, and so thick.  I'm pretty sure your stomach was just bothering you, because you made it home just fine after that.

This month, you gave us a big scare.  I was taking you to daycare one morning and I always get Farrah unbuckled and out of the car and then I get your car seat and take you both in.  You are always very observant, but that day you were just staring past me and did not move at all.  I glanced at you and then went to unbuckle Farrah, but then I realized you weren't moving so I looked back at you and your eyes were sort of glazed over and you were not looking at me, not blinking, flinching, or anything.  I said your name, nothing.  I looked at your chest to see if I noticed breathing, and didn't, so I quickly grabbed the handle to the car seat and shooked it rapidly.  Nothing.  I grabbed your chest and shook it and yelled your name, and you didn't blink, flinch, or move.  Then a second later, your eyes slowly met mine and you smiled shyly.  It had me very scared and I was shaking and nervous.  I told your teachers, Mrs. Allie and Mrs. Kirsten, and asked them to keep an extra eye on you.

That morning, I took Farrah and met the preschool class at the Mexico VA to trick-or-treat.  About two hours later, I dropped Farrah back off at the daycare and visited you for a moment.  You were in an excer-saucer looking so big, might I add, and smiling happily.  I picked you up, gave you kisses, and then told you I'd see you later.  I got to work, clocked in, took over my office, and then I received a phone call from Mrs. Kirsten that you just did the same thing.  She said you were in the excer-saucer and your eyes were full of water and your arms were raised at your sides and you were staring, non-responsive.  She yelled your name to no response.  She picked you up and you were staring past her with water dripping out of your eyes. She began to panic and almost called 911.  She tickled your neck and then slowly, just as it had happened to me, you smiled a small smile.

I immediately called your pediatrician, Dr. Bunge, and she told us to take you to the Emergency Room at Women's and Children's and have you evaluated.  That's what your dad and I did.  However, you never displayed this behavior since.  The doctor said it sounded like absence seizures and he referred you for an EEG the following week, and Nana and I took you that day.  I was extremely worried about you having to go through with it, but it wasn't too terrible.  You didn't like them putting the wires on your head, I think mainly because we had to hold your head still, but as soon as they were finished, you fell asleep...exactly what they had wanted.  They recorded your brain activity for about 20 minutes, and the technician hinted that we may not hear anything right away and that no news right away was good news.  I waited until after the 7-10 days they said to wait, and I ended up having to call to get the results.  I was told you had normal wake and sleeping brain activity.  I feel like I learned a lot about seizures and am more prepared if they ever are displayed again.  Although it is extremely scary, I know now that they are more common than I had realized, and that you are not hurting, nor is it hurting your brain, during absence seizures.

You also dealing with a bad yeast infection that keeps spreading up your belly and your back.  We started using Nystatin and we switched to Ketoconazole.  I am hoping this helps!

(First nail painting experience)

(Almost crawling!)

(ER visit for possible seizure activity)

(First time trying food, baby oatmeal)

(Augusta's very first snow)