This too shall pass

I remember when Karaline was just a few months old (she's three and a half now), she was dealing with colic like symptoms (starting at six weeks she would cry from seven pm til about midnight every night). The Doctor told me she had reflux and I should put her on zantax, the lactation consultant told me to cut out diary (since I was nursing), another woman said cut out peanuts, you know everyone knows the right course of action. So to make a long story short, I avoid meds as much as I can so I cut out dairy, it helped, I cut out peanuts it cured =D. Well, then I have people telling me you're loosing to much weight drink a milk shake, babies are just fussy you over reacted so on and so on.... yet again when you're a new mom everyone knows the answer, but you of course. So, I call my mom and share my heart ending with "well, this to shall pass, right mom?" she politely said "yes and around the bend will be another". I'm thinking "thanks mom, I could use a little cheering up here." Now my mom was not trying to tear me down, just share the truth and man was she right (although those were the hardest months of my life to date). I have since learned that being a mother is a life filled with one phase after the next, colic phase, chronic cough for ten months phase, sleepless nights due to some transition phase, night time terrors phase, panic attacks at night which result in lamps knocked down or daddy getting slapped in the face (not by me ;) or simply the phase of new born with out colic like issues, followed by the rash phase and the baby potty training phase... so I say, this to shall pass and around the bend will be another. All of these phases are so worth the gift of being a mother to two beautiful little girls. At the end of a day, I am at peace, whatever the phase I am honored that I'm so blessed and so pleased that God provides the strength to enjoy these wonderful blessings even when the phases of chaos do linger.

So I said all that to simply lead up to this.....we still have rash central, the doctor gave me nystatin a week ago and it hasn't helped much. She did say eventually a yeast rash does pass even the resistant kind like we seem to have. So, I have been letting Audrey be diaper free (as in just wearing pants) as much as I can and she usually does well. She is slowly training, she usually stops peeing on herself and finishes on the potty so that's a bonus (because then I don't have a carpet to clean). She signs potty when she has to poop so I've only had to clean one poopy mess and that was due to diarrhea (which was contained in the pants...yay). I do put her in a diaper when we go places, for naps and for bed. Kevin is letting her go diaper free when I'm gone and putting her on the potty now too so even he is on board. We're not there yet though, earlier today I had Audrey on my hip, Karaline in my bed melting down and Audrey let out her entire bladder full onto my hip, now this is living right ;).

Well, I'm certainly encouraged to keep it up and I'll be sure to keep you posted.

An adventure for sure

After a.week of purple living with continued use of gentian violet we are thrush free. I must say I totally understand why women give up breastfeeding over thrush, it sucks. However,  nursing is now pain free and I am very happy about that.

I may have to take Audrey to the doctors over her yeast rash the over the counter stuff is keeping it at bay and has cleared it up some, but not entirely.

So in the midst of insanely huge amounts of cleaning, disinfecting, stripping diapers, dreading nursing,  Audrey not feeling well and life continuing despite it all, I am happy to say we continued potty time. Also on Monday morning we had a break through, Audrey signed potty for the first time. I put her on the potty she peed and poooped and even seemed finished so I signed finished and she signed potty again and then continued. Since then she signs potty every time she uses the potty and has signed potty in advance three more times. I have only had to change one poopy diaper in the last week and typically only have four wet diapers in twenty four hours.  One for night, one for each nap and one during my hectic time of day (4-6 pm) when I don't usually manage to get her on the potty.

Now to be fair she is not necessarily potty trained just yet, she did pee on me right before I put her on the potty earlier. The funny thing is as I sit her writing this I realize that I haven't changed yet and men wonder why its hard for moms to switch into sexy mode. So, I am closing out the night in dried pee, but it was a day well lived. So here's to the comfy bed with my coughing mess of a stuffy three year old waiting for me. I truly love this stage of life, so I'm willing to survive the insane moments to soak in the great ones.

My Rash Epiphany

So on Monday as I was changing Audrey's diaper for the gazillion time that day and I thought this rash is not normal. None of the foods that caused a rash have been in the picture for a month, I'm changing your diaper every hour, it's no longer anywhere but in two spots one on each thigh.....what's up? I can tell you exactly what type of rash each of the issue foods have caused, but I can't tell you when this groin/thigh rash started, but I can tell you that the effected area is growing and raised, which is not a normal rash. My first thought eczema, my second thought fungus. I don't know, my prayer "God please show me how to get rid of this". Then Audrey bit me while nursing and I mean, ouch scream, she bit me and now I have thrush. My rash epiphany moment came on Wednesday night 48 hours after my child wounded me because nursing now causes shooting pains throughout my body, Audrey must have had thrush accompanied by a yeast rash followed by a mommy bite which gave me thrush. I research online (thank you iInternet) and yup, unless all my mommy gut and research are wrong that is the problem. So, I am using Gentian Violet for me and a fungus cream mixed with Vaseline for Audrey and using disposable diapers for the time being. We are and have been both taking probiotics and eating yogurt. So only six hours after beginning treatment we are both looking and feeling better....although there is a lot of purple in the mix (gentian violet) I do believe we're on our way to recovery. So, I guess God answered my prayer....well, I hope this self diagnosis is correct, but if not we'll be at the Doctors office in four days.

As far as potty time goes, the other rashes from the issue foods are still a possibility if those foods entered the picture (and I would love to feed them to her) so I'm going to stick with the diaper change every hour and the potty use. I've come this far, no turning back =D

Send your prayers our way. Thanks!

Good habits start young =D

I fully believe that each mother has to parent according to her personality. When I first became a mother I felt like I was drowning in a pit of opinions and no one really had a clue how to parent my baby well, not even me. I was wrong, I came to realise that I am made for this, I was designed to be Karaline and Audrey's mother and therefore through faith and growth I know how to parent them well . So, I have learned a lot.... from no cry sleep solutions to cry it out, from cloth diapers to disposable diapers, from college funds to nutritional needs, from time out to communication, there are times when I still feel like I'm drowning in it all. However, chin up this is my gig and I will do it well. All that to say, when I look at the grand scheme of things I think potty training is truly not that big a part of it, but that's what being a mom is all about. All the little things add up to the large sum of being responsible for another persons life, training and development. To me that makes all the little things important.

So what began with a rash has turned into a blog, Kevin gets a kick out of the fact that I'm blogging about potty time. He walked in the bathroom the other day while I was washing Audrey's little hands and hadn't flushed the toilet yet and sees her little poop in there. He said "what are you waiting for are you going to take a picture of it or something" I say "ew no" he says, "well you blog about it". Ha ha, point taken. So, I've been reminded by several people how weird I am for this, that's okay =) we're enjoying our potty breaks.

Audrey is using the potty regularly, she is not telling me when she needs to use it and still has plenty of diaper use, but she uses the potty about 50% of the time I put her on it. Her rash is almost all gone, but comes back if she sits in a wet diaper at all so I am changing her the second I notice she's wet and therefore checking her diaper a lot. I've read for an adult it takes 27 days to develop a habit, I wonder if that is the same for a baby. We'll see, so far I've been diligent and intend to continue this routine. No, I don't have a lot of extra time on my hands, actually on an average day the only time I stop moving from the time my kids get up til they go to bed is when I sit to eat meals, read to Karaline or nurse Audrey. I have no clue where all the little minutes in life go, but I'm not by any means sitting around looking for something to do.

So, I'm going to keep this up, so far so good. We'll see what happens.

Day 4

I must say I imagine when Kevin married me he didn't expect the mom version of myself that I have become over the last four years. As I put Audrey in a front pack today and put Kevins coat on so that it was large enough to cover Audrey and tucked my not so properly done hair behind my ears to bring Karaline to the park, I thought wow, Kevin look at your Vogue wife, haha. I've never thought of myself as vogue, but I certainly didn't imagine I'd become as granola as I am now. I'm a breast feeding, cloth diapering, infant potty training, home-preschool hosting mom who is more concerned with baking my kids snacks to avoid artificial junk than I am with up keeping my hair. Far off, I imagine from the cosmetologist who wouldn't leave the house without make up on pre-mom version of myself .

So my ever expanding mommy heart is enjoying this baby potty time. We make it a little potty party every hour the girls and I all go into the bathroom and we all hang out enjoying three minutes cut off from the world. It's actually become something I look forward to. Audrey didn't use the potty much today, she's teething and clingy so she didn't really want put down much today. I just let her lead if I put her on the potty and she cried I picked her back up.

Well, Karaline and I escaped for a mommy daughter time and now I have two sleeping little girls and a semi clean house, who could ask for more.

If you decide to start potty training, my advice is to make it fun, no stress baby trained or toddler trained they won't go to school in diapers.


Good night =D

Day 3

So I intended to put more research in here, but I haven't had much time this week.....eventually I'll post more research.

Day three of baby lets potty went like a dream. Audrey is not by any means potty trained, but she certainly knows what the potty is for and used it six or seven times today. Every time I put her on the potty she peed within thirty seconds except the last time, I got nothing. Also I put her on the potty as soon as she finished eating instead of snacking her to hold off so I could clean up and then putting her on the potty and she actually pooped on the potty.

Two things that I've read about infant or pre toddler potty training that I've taken to heart: one is to change their diaper every time you notice that it's wet so they are used to the feeling of a dry diaper. Two the older you wait to potty train the more trained they are to ignore the urges they naturally feel so starting earlier should and most likely will result in training earlier.

I'm feeling encouraged and motivated to keep putting her on the potty every hour and changing her diaper every hour. One note I don't worry about any of this during nap or night time.

Not to many diapers to wash tonight =D

Day 2

So it was a hectic day all around but we still managed to take potty breaks. Audrey went pee pee on the potty five times today :) . However, there are still plenty of diapers in the washer. Atleast potty doesn't trump sleep, good night.