Sleep training

It is 3:30 in the morning and Kara has been crying for over an hour. Dr. Nelson told us it was time to un-spoil our child. No more rocking to sleep, no more picking up every time she cried. So after her 2am bottle she went back to sleep....for 15 minutes. Then the babbleing began...then the crying. Her cries are not as hearty after an hour and I leave the room when she does, and come back when they stop...hoping to teach her that not-crying is good. After the first 15 minutes I went to check on her...and found her lying in a huge puddle of spit up! Poor thing. After rearranging her she cried for like 45 more minutes. It is now 3:34 am and she seems to have conked out. Let's see how long this lasts. Dr. Nelson told us that the formula could take a full 2 weeks to take effect....her GI tract needs to adjust to it. Off to bed I go....I hope.

Time for some changes

We have made some changes in the Kerth household. The first is Kara's formula. After a few weeks of sleepless nights and a constantly crying child, we were at our wits end. On Friday I ran into an old tech while I was shopping for a baby gift at Target. Turns out she had a little boy on 10/29. We talked and it seems he has had colic and feeding issues too. She told me that she ended up with Alimentum. She tried Nutramigen but her son got diarrhea from it. She said it did seem to soothe his stomach. When she tried Alimentum, his diarrhea stopped. I have been avoiding this route because Nutramigen and Alimentum is twice as expensive as the Gentlease, which Kara has been on since she was 3 weeks old. We switched on Friday with a label promise to see results within 24 hours. We decided to do Nutramigen because it is a tiny bit less expensive, and we discovered it smells really bad! I was worried she wouldn't eat it because there is like no sugar in it and reports on the internet state many babies don't like it, but Kara didn't miss a beat. But I was sorely dissappointed when Kara kept me up ALL NIGHT on Friday night. I came downstairs with her at 5:30 am, and promptly fell down the stairs with Kara in my arms. I was able to protect her but I bruised both feet, skinned my knee and banged my arm. Randy heard me yell and got out of bed to help me. I went back upstairs and cried myself to sleep. It has been too much for me.

My parents watched Kara when Randy and I went out yesterday. She cried the whole time and barely ate. After we got home, she got a bath and slept until 11:30. After her bottle, Randy took her upstairs and she slept until 2:30, ate and slept until 7:30. We are about 36 hours in to the change. There is hope...

The other change in the Kerth household is our money issues. Randy and I saw Dave Ramsey yesterday. I had been reading his books and I had implemented a budget for our household. I got what he had to say right away! I decided I was the Nerd and Randy was the free spirit. After seeing Dave live yesterday and hearing what he had to say , I think Randy finally got it. He agreed with my nerd/free spirit tags!! So, according to Dave, we are going to become WEIRD!! We are cutting up credit cards, cutting out all unnecssary spending and sticking to a tight budget. I hope to be able to pick up overtime to make some more money, but right now I am too exhausted. We hope to be out of debt within 2 years, except the house. So, no more vacations, no more buying junk, no more eating out....we are going to be weird...and weird is good. Weird will be GREAT when we are out of debt and actually have money in the bank. We will not be slaves to the banks anymore!!! Anyone want to buy a pool table?

Some pix from the past month..

Blog Slacker....

So Iam a blog slacker. It's been over a month since I have posted. Time has slipped away from me. Could it be because I have a 3 month old, a 3 year old and have gone back to work? Kara is still not sleeping thru the night. She gets up to eat once and usually one other time. But during the day she is adorable. She smiles alot and is eating better. Her colic has subsided but she still has some crying bouts once in a while. At school yesterday, she rolled over from her stomach to her back.

I went back to work on December 15...and have been miserable. It is so busy, we cannot keep up. I am getting tired of it. There is no down time...ever. I have lost both my interns and do not have any extra help anymore. Most days I dread going to work. I never thought I wold be in this place again. If it weren't for my awesome staff and most of my great customers.....I don't think I could do it.

The holidays were a whirlwind. Jordana was overwhelmed again with the amount of presents. We have a few she didn't even open...they'll make good birthday presents!! I'm kind of glad life has returned to normal.

Last weekend I went to a weekend retreat and got 20 pages done. If I didn't have these retreats, I would never get any scrapbooking done!!! I am looking forward to CKC in April. My next retreat isn't until August....boo hoo!!

Jordana is as onery as ever. Yesterday, when we were getting out of the car...she said..Mommy, I need something for in my mouth. Translation...a paci or a lollypop.

I find it harder to take pix. Jordana is older now and she gets into everything. I can't leave the Nikon laying around for fear she will get into it. By the time I grab it, the moment is gone. I hope to be a little quicker on the draw to get some great pix.

Thanksgiving family pix

Thougth I would post this family pix from Thanksgiving

Snowflakes and smiles...

Wednesday it snowed. It is only the second time since I moved to Houston. I think it is the 3rd time since 1986!! Jordana knew what the snow was and Randy let her play a bit. He gave her a snowball...it didn't last too long!! By morning most of the snow was gone but it was still chilly!!

Randy snapped the pix of Kara in the morning before school. Kara likes to have her face touched and it sends her to all smiles!!!

Catch up...

So things have been crazy..but they are finally getting better. Kara has turned a corner with her fussiness. Saturday my poor parents and sister baby sat while we went to a baby shower. Kara cried for almost 3 hours. Poor thing was exhausted. Sunday night she had her bottle at 7pm and then a bath. I wrapped her up in 2 blankets and cuddled on the couch for a bit. She fell asleep by 8:30 and slept until 3am. (I didn't). Then she ate and slept until 7am. Wow!! Monday she started school (daycare) and did well. Everyone is amazed at how small she is! Monday and Tues when I picked her up, she was asleep in her crib. There are still moments of fussiness but they are starting to fade. I sneak a bit of gripe water into her early evening bottle and it seems to help. She is off prune juice because she is pooping almost every day now.

Saturday we took the kids for pictures. Jordana was a turd. It took 10 minutes to get her to stop crying. After we wiped the tears and boogers away, the photographer went nuts trying to get her to smile. She did a good job, bless her heart! I have posted one family pix but the rest are secret because of the holiday cards and gifts!

Thanksgiving was fun, Jordana ate really well, which surprised the heck out of us!! We went to my moms and ate there with her british friends. They have been here 8 years and it was their first Thanksgiving!!!

I go back to work on Monday...boo hoo...just in time for the holiday craziness. I am so not looking forward to it. I am ready to go back to work but not ready for 600 a day. My supervisor is out on maternity leave so I have to one to bitch to!!!