Working on Sleeping through the Night

Taeya is such an EASY baby to put to bed. She generally gets tired between 7 and 8 pm. She starts rubbing her eyes or getting cranky which tells me it's time for bed. I lay her down and give her her little bunny and she usually just looks up at me and smiles. Within a few minutes she's asleep. It's really that easy. She's been waking up between 2-4 times a night since she was born to get her little snacks. She's a quick eater and will eat for 5 minutes and go right back to bed. I've just been afraid to NOT feed her during the night because she's been small and I want to make sure she's not hungry and NEEDING food. The doctor told me I can start cutting back on the night feedings. Last night Taeya woke up 4 times. The first time I just held her for a minute (during which she cried). I then lay her back in her bed and she quieted right down and slept. The middle two times I fed her for 1 minute each time and lay her back in her crib and the last time I just held her for a minute and put her back to bed. She did great and was still asleep at 8:30 when we checked on her. I guess she doesn't need to eat as much as I thought she did so tonight we're going to see if we can make it with no feedings. She's such a great baby and an awesome sleeper...now we just have to make it through the night without waking up.


During the last picture, she was enjoying sitting up on the couch next to one of my tutoring students and she got tired and just fell asleep sitting up. It was too cute.

Good News

Thank you friends and family for praying for me the past few weeks. I wanted to give an update on how my liver's been. My levels have been fluxuating the past few weeks but they dropped a good amount this week! Yeah! They went from 218 a few weeks ago to: 160's, 130's, last week was 142 and this week was only 115! It's heading in the right direction for which I am grateful. The symptom that scared me the other day is gone and I'm feeling pretty good as well. Thank you for your prayers!

Taeya had her 4 month doctor check-up today and she's doing well. We're going to start encouraging her to sleep through the night with some suggestions he gave. I'm hoping I wont' be up with a screaming baby all week. :) As a precaution, we did some bloodwork on Taeya to check her blood count and make sure that the meds I'm on aren't affecting her negatively. Poor thing did NOT like the blood drawing process. They had to look for a good vein which didn't make her happy, neither did having the tournequet tied on her arm 3 times. She survived and had a nice long nap afterwords.

She's doing great as far as her measurements go. She weighed 11.14 oz which is in the 10-25%. She was 24 inches long which placed her in the 25-50% and her head was also in the 25-50% range. Good all the way around.

Taeya Turned 4 Months Today!

I can't believe how fast the time is flying by and how big Taeya is getting. We go for a doctor check-up on Tuesday so I'll find out her official weight then but it's somewhere over 12 lbs I believe. I'm excited to see how tall she'll be.

When my sister and I were little, my mom took our 4 month pictures in a beautiful little pink dress. My sister was a tiny baby and in her picture she was laying on the blanket all peacefully. I was a chunker and my mom basically had to stuff me and all my rolls into the dress. I was able to be "propped" up in a sitting position. My sister inherited the dress at her baby shower for Bekah (I got a different outfit). She took Bekah's four month pictures in the dress and lent it to me so that I could take Taeya's four month pictures in it as well.

I'm going to try to get a copy of my baby picture to post on my blog so you can see how similar Taeya and I look as babies. For now, I'll post some of my favorite pictures from today.








At first, Taeya was happy and smiling. After a few minutes, she started getting bored so she stuffed her hands in her mouth. She got tired of her hands pretty quick and decided the dress would taste better. She got tired pretty quick so it was hard to get lots of smiles out of her today. Right after the photo session, it was time for a nap.








To see pictures of Cousin Bekah at 4 months in the same dress, click here and scroll half-way down the page to Feb. 4, 2007. :)

More Pics of Taeya

These photos were taken at about 3 1/2 months old.

As I mentioned in a previous post, she has officially found her thumb. She enjoys it but isn't obsessed with it at this point. (My sister and I were HORRIBLE thumb suckers and it took us a few years before we were able to stop).


My mom got this adorable outfit for Taeya and I found the little boots on ebay while I was still pregnant with her. She's just getting big enough to wear them allthough they're still pretty big on her feet so she ends up kicking them off really quickly.


On our walk the other day, I stopped at a tiny park that had a baby swing and let her try it out. She didn't mind it but didn't seem too impressed either. Those days will change.






Taeya normally sleeps with this little bunny. She loves to hold him and I'm always amazed where I find him when I check on her. The other night he was under her head. This time, she had placed him on her belly and pulled her blanket up to cover them both. (The blanket was lower when she was put in bed.) I thought it was too cute so I took a picture of it.



A size comparison. *I know. My hands and feet are abnormally large.


Taeya loves her lambie.


Getting a kiss from her lambie. They share lots of kisses.

Taeya Makes Me Smile

Thought I'd share some of the pics of my little one from the past week that have made me smile. Hope you enjoy them.

Taeya pulled her bunny up to her face and was holding him there with her hand. I guess it was too bright for her while she took her nap.
It took me forever to unpack her suitcase from Denver so she helped me unpack last week. I also had to reorganize her clothes as she has now outgrown most of her newborn outfits, especially the onepiece ones.
My mom bought this hat for Bekah (my niece) but it was too small for her little head so Taeya inherited it. Still a little big but it looks adorable. Unfortunately, it'll probably fit her really well in June or July. :(

Sick

I am hesistant to share too much information as my blog is open to anyone who finds it, however, I do want to ask for prayer right now from my friends and family who read my blog. Many of you know I was diagnosed with a liver disease about 16 years ago. It had been controlled for the most part by a low dose of medicine. Other than when I was originally diagnosed, I have not been really sick or had any noticeable symptoms since the beginning. A year ago, in January/Feb., my liver levels (ALT) were elevated a bit. My doctor at the time was not very proactive so I opted to wait until moving to CO to find a new doctor. I found a great doctor out here who has been following my case through my entire pregnancy. During my pregnancy, my ALT levels dropped to the normal range in the 40's (this often happens during pregnancy as what I have is autoimmune). However, I had bloodwork done mid-March and my ALT had jumped from the 40's to about 115. Two weeks later it was at 218 which is pretty high. My doctor is being very proactive and increased my meds and is monitoring me very closely. He's also being careful to make sure I get Taeya checked out to make sure the meds I'm on don't have a negative affect on her. Tonight I noticed something that indicates that my symptoms are getting more serious. It definitely scares me as I want to be healthy so I can properly care for my family and especially Taeya. I find it hard to be away from my family and some of my CA girlfriends right now as I feel like I just need a good shoulder to cry on. Please pray for my doctor to know how to best treat me at this time and also that I will put my trust in the Lord and lean on Him for comfort.

*EDIT: I just spoke with my doctor who said he'd see me today if I want but of the three symptoms we're watching for, the one I have is the least reliable. We'll keep watching for the other two but at this point, he didn't seem too concerned which definitely helped me feel a little better. Basically, if it gets serious I go back on steriods which I HATE! I was on them for a year when I was first diagnosed and they have MANY negative side-effects. So, I'm praying that we can control this with the medicine I'm currently on that doens't have any side-effects. Thank you for your prayers.

Encouraged

First of all, for those of you wondering how my mom is doing, she updated her blog today and seems to be making good progress. Yeah Mom!

I had a call in to the HR department at Phil's work to discuss our medical bill fiasco. The lady I talked with said she'd call the insurance and see what she could do. She called me this morning and basically said she couldn't do anything. However, I called the insurance today and spoke with the same person SHE had spoken with. The person I reached today was a supervisor and when she looked at my billing and some of the questions I had, she found that mistakes HAD been made. Although they really won't negotiate with the "above customary and reasonable" charges, there are a number of issues she's going to try to sort out. At this point, I figure there's been at least $600 that I shouldn't have had to pay that I can PROVE and that's just at my OB's...I still haven't worked through my liver doctor and hospital bills. So, although I still have a lot of work to do, I'm not feeling quite as stressed knowing that someone (who knows what she's talking about and is very kind and understanding) is looking over my claims and addressing the issues I have. Last night, every time I woke to feed Taeya I had been dreaming about medical bills.

Thoughts

Taeya enjoys looking at herself in the mirror. Once she sees herself, she usually smiles really big and laughs a bit. It's pretty cute.

Thank you all for your encouragement about the medical billing. I have been fighting tooth and nail to get some financial relief. I've already burned through ALL of my cell phone minutes and then some and it's only 1/2 way through the month. (We don't have a land-line.) This morning I was BALLING my eyes out in my OB's billing office. Poor women. I walked in and before I could say anything I was sobbing. Although I didn't get any charges dropped on their end, they did encourage me to fight it with the insurance and gave me some good advice. I'm sure my eyes were red and puffy by the time I left but at least I wasn't sobbing at that point. Now, I've just got to figure out all of these other bills. There has GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY! I think it's all so confusing just so they can get away with overcharging and underpaying. I'm hoping that in the end I will save myself SOMETHING.

For those of you wondering about my mom. She was actually discharged from the hospital yesterday. It was a bit early to send her home but there were no beds in the recovery place they wanted to send her to to help manage her pain. It was a late night for both of my parents last night but mom is finally able to regulate her medicine to help her manage the pain better. The nurses would let her sleep through when she would normally be allowed a dose and then make her wait until her next dosing time (a few hours later) before giving her the pain meds she needed. Her friend that was staying with her today said even just today she seemed to look a lot better. I pray that all of this will greatly help reduce her longterm pain or get rid of it completely.

I have other things in my life that are pretty frustrating right now but I think I'd rather just find some cute pictures of Taeya to finish the post rather than vent.

Someone at work gave me a little play center for Taeya. She typically spends a few minutes a day in it. She LOVES to sit up now and is getting really good at balancing (still needs a little help though).
When Taeya is happy, she often "foams at the mouth."


A week or so ago, she would suck on her hand for comfort. Now it tends to be her thumb! I don't want a thumb-sucker if I can help it. :) She's not super intent on it so I'm hoping she'll outgrow that.

Fun Pictures of Taeya

This cute hat was given to Taeya by my mom. It's really tall but very snug on her little head. She looks adorable in it but has almost outgrown it.
This close-up reminds me of a picture of me as a baby. I'll have to find the picture of me someday and scan it to share. I had baby jowels that were much bigger than Taeya's. We have very similar features though.


I put two pictures of Taeya at 2 weeks old on this post to show how much she has grown. She has litterly doubled her size! She's added a few inches but is now at 12 lbs! She started at 5 lbs 14 oz and dropped to 5 lbs 2 oz. She had skinny little limbs before and now has some good chunky arms, legs and a round little belly. So sweet.




My mom found this beautiful white eye-let cotton material and designed a little halter slip/sun-dress for Taeya. It looks SOOOO adorable on her. What's great about it is that it fits her now and is big enough for her to continue to wear probably until she's about 2. It'll make a great sun dress for the pool as well.

Cute

This may be one of those, you have to be there to experience it moments but I laughed a lot when it happened and thought I'd share.
The other day when I was tutoring the two boys that I tutor weekly, their sister was playing with Taeya in the livingroom. All of a sudden we hear, "Wow, you're the same size as a giant caterpiller!" I found this very funny as I knew exactly what she was talking about. I went out to look and this is what I found. My baby is the same size as a giant caterpiller.

*Complaining*

AAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggghhhhhhhhhh! I am sooooo frustrated with medical bills!! We met our deductible at the end of the years with Taeya's birth and of course it started over in January when I ended up in the hospital. Because we're in a rural area the best insurance we can get is not great. So far, in the past year (mostly the past 3 months) we've paid about $4,000 in medical bills out of pocket and we don't have that kind of money laying around! My deductible isn't that high but because no one I see is in network (there is no network around us!) we have to pay on our deductible and everything the insurance won't cover. Sigh. It's so extremely frustrating. Almost every day that I get the mail I get more medical bills. I just want them to stop coming!!! I know some people have it much worse but I just feel very stressed financially right now with having to work less and spend more.
What's really sad is that if we were still in CA, we would have insurance that would cover everything 100%!!! Phil had a co-worker there who had a baby and they paid $5 for the ENTIRE pregnancy! I am looking forward to having better coverage and being IN-network when we move to a less rural area so we stop getting all of the "above reasonable" charges billed to us. Sorry. I just had to get that off my chest.

Mom's Surgery & Congrats!

Well, my dad called and said my mom came out of surgery after only 2 1/2 hours. :) They fused another vertebra in her neck that was damaged and put a brace in along her other fused vertebra. We're praying that this will solve much of her pain problems. Please pray for her as her recovery will take 3-6 months (possibly longer). Thank you for your prayers this morning.

Since I've been a complete slacker when it comes to sending cards. I wanted to acknowledge some special events. It's been a busy week!

Happy Birthday Kristin-April 1
Happy Birthday Katie-April 4
Happy Birthday Jenni-April 7
Congratulations on 31 years of Marriage Mom and Dad!!-April 9
Happy Birthday Timmy & Johnathan-Today

Hilarious

Since having Taeya, I must say that I am the one that changed 99.5% of her diapers. Of course I am with her nearly 24/7 so it naturally falls to me to take care of the diapers. Occasionally, when Phil is home he will step up to the plate and change a diaper or two. Whenever there is poop, he always mentions how gross it is and I remind him it's only going to get worse when she starts eating solids. (Sorry if this is TMI). However, I came across this video as I was blog-surfing and I laughed so hard it made me cry! Absolutely hilarious!!!! Just had to share it with my readers.
Let me know what you think.

Another Request

Please pray for my mom this morning as she's having major surgery on her neck right now. I don't know how long the surgery is expected to last. I would assume it depends on what they find when they are actually able to see the damage in her neck. She's been living with chronic pain for the past few years and she has tried everything possible to get rid of the pain. Nothing else has worked so we're praying another surgery will help her get rid of the pain so she can resume living a more normal life. Please pray that the doctors find what is causing all of this pain and are able to repair the damage. Please also pray for recovery as she is allergic to most pain medication so there's not much she can take during the recovery process.

Please Pray

Please pray for Phil and I as we have some important decisions to make concerning where we'll be moving and what job he's going to have. Although he is planning on staying in the same line of work, he has three possible job opportunities. One has already been offered to him and the other two are in the works and look very promising. The jobs are in two different locations. Two in the Denver area and one back in CA. Please pray that the LORD would direct our steps as we want our move to be in His will. There are pros and cons to both areas as well as some unknowns. We would LOVE to be able to purchase a house when we move and that may or may not be possible at this time. Thanks so much! I'll post more details when I know more.

Fun Activity

My Mother-In-Law emailed this to me and I found it very fun to try.

Interesting and a little weird..... How smart is Your Right Foot ? ? Just try this. It is from an orthopedic surgeon...This will boggle your mind and you will keep trying over and over again to see if you can outsmart your foot, but, you can't. It's pre-programmed in your brain! 1. WITHOUT anyone watching you (they will think you are GOOFY...) and while sitting where you are at your desk in front of your computer, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. 2. Now, while doing this, draw the number '6' in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction. I told you so!!! And there's nothing you can do about it! You and I both know how stupid it is, but before the day is done you are going to try it again, if you've not already done so.

Phil and I played around with this and found that it worked on the other side of your body as well. However, you ARE able to do it if you cross your body. Left hand/right leg visa-versa. Fascinating how we're created!

My 3 month Cutiepie

I took these pictures this week when Taeya was 3 months 6 days old. I LOVED this outfit on her. Unfortunately, it's getting to snug to fit over her little head anymore so this was the last time she was going to wear it. :( That's why I decided to use it in her 3 month photoshoot. I would have dressed her in another outfit but she was a bit fussy today. (You can't tell from these pictures but she was!) There's a lot of similar photos because I just choose all of my favorites and add them to the blog. I have such a happy little girl! When she wakes up in the morning she talks in her crib (or whines) until I come pick her up. She is generally so happy to see me and just smiles and smiles. I LOVE it! Enjoy!