All My Single Ladies

With Griff going on two out-of-state work trips in the past two weeks, I’ve gotten a little taste of what life would be like as a single mom, and I’ve come to this conclusion: if Griff ever decides to leave me, I’m going to do what any self-respecting woman in her right mind should do…CHASE HIM! Seriously, solo parenting is hard! I’m used to taking care of Isabelle by myself every day, but I know I can count on a little break when Griff gets home from work. And not that I don’t adore my baby girl and love spending every moment with her, but let’s face it, she’s not the best conversation companion at this point. We do have some pretty deep discussions using her favorite word, “Ahgoo,” and she’s recently started blowing bubbles, which is pretty darn cute.

Izzy started sleeping in her bedroom a few nights ago, but as soon as Griff left, I had her back in the bassinet in our room. I don’t really know what the difference is, but I just didn’t want her so far away from me while we’re home alone. I’ve spent many nights home alone since we’ve been married, and it’s never bothered me until now. I was really nervous about Griff going out of town this time. I even spent one night with my parents, but then I realized I pretty much had to pack the entire house to spend one night away from home, and decided it’s just not worth it, so I toughed the rest out at home. I’ve always kind of plotted out my escape route in my head in case someone breaks into my house in the middle of the night when I’m alone. It usually involves escaping through the bathroom window (I hope none of you plan on breaking in now because I really don’t have an alternate plan). Anyhow…how am I supposed to jump through a window with a baby? Maybe that’s not the most rational thought, but you get the idea. Being home alone is just different now that I have a baby.

So, this week, I’ve realized a few things. First, I have a new-found respect for single mothers. I don’t know how they do it. Second, I’m lucky to have such a helpful husband. I love him very much and I hope he feels the same about me because, as we talked about earlier, he’s stuck! Third, I need a new baby-friendly intruder escape plan.

Enjoy some random baby pics!

So stinkin' cute!

First bite of peas...she looks a little concerned

Izzy and Mr. Monkey in a staring contest

She LOVES sweet potatoes!

Mmm...Carrots!

We went to see Izzy’s ophthalmologist today, and her eyes still look great. In fact, Dr. Norman said from her exam, it’s hard to see that she ever had surgery…praise God for that! He also said he isn’t sure that she’ll ever even need glasses. This is great news, since we just kind of figured that would be a given. If she does end up needing them, I’m sure I can find some pretty snazzy frames for her sweet face!

Onto other big events….we’ve introduced solid foods! Izzy has been getting rice cereal for a few weeks now, and I started her on carrots yesterday. She is a very impatient eater, and very much prefers her bottle to the spoon, but she did great with her carrots tonight. We’ll see what she thinks about peas in a few days. Oh, the excitement!

Happy Grandparents Day!

We recently got Izzy together with her cousins, Lane and Katelynn, to take some photos for our parents as gifts for Grandparents Day. We, and by we I mean Griff, got some pretty cute pictures considering we weren't dealing with the most cooperative subjects. ;-) Enjoy!

Isabelle - 6 months old

Katelynn - 2.5 years old - Katie (Griff's sister) and Gene's little girl

Lane - 3.5 years old - Tracy (my sister) and Trent's little boy

Barium Cocktail, Anyone???

Izzy enjoyed a yummy bottle of barium for lunch today. Actually, I'm pretty sure it wasn't yummy at all, so it's a good thing she's not picky. Like her mama, if you give her food, she will eat it. We went to Cook Children's Hospital today for her second swallow function study. They put Izzy in a little chair that looks like a car seat, next to a big x-ray machine. Then we fed her barium of different consistencies and watched her swallow on a tv screen. We've been thickening her milk to nectar consistency with no problems, so we started with half-nectar consistency, and she swallowed perfectly without any problems. The speech therapist then switched to a bottle without any thickener, and she and the doctor in the room both said they could see laryngeal penetration with almost every swallow. Griff and I didn't see it. She even showed us the tape three times after the study, and we finally just said we could see it. Kind of like when the doctor pointed out all the body parts of the babies when I had sonograms done..."Oh yeah, I see it now," even though all I really saw was a blob. Anywho...they are the experts so we trust what they see. Izzy did not aspirate on the thin liquid, but the therapist guessed that if Izzy were to continue drinking it, she probably would. They only look at 20 swallows of each consistency to limit the radiation exposure. So, we're now thickening her milk to half-nectar because of her "risk of aspirating." We'll talk with Dr. Worsley and schedule yet another swallow study in 4-6 months. The speech therapist said she wasn't really surprised. Apparently many babies aren't able to "skip steps" going from full-nectar to no nectar. This isn't exactly the result we were looking for, but it is improvement. And as much as we hate the thickener, it is keeping her from a g-button, so we will gladly continue it.

BTW - Izzy is sporting a bow from Emily and a pacifier from Hadley in the pics. Thanks, girls!!! Oh, and I couldn't resist the funny face pic.

Six Months Already???

She’s already six months old….can you believe it?!? The first four months seemed like an eternity, but time has just flown by since she came home. Izzy is just fabulous, and she’s getting cuter by the minute! We are having so much fun making her smile and coo. Her personality is really beginning to shine, and it looks like we’ve got a lot of drama in our future!

Izzy recently had her 6-month check-up, which included 5 shots plus blood work. Poor baby, I felt so bad for her. She handled it really well though, only cried for a little bit, but oh, did she cry! She got an excellent report, and she weighs a hefty 12 pounds. Couldn’t ask for more!

We are going to Cook Children’s on Wednesday for a repeat swallow study. The first study was done while she was still in the NICU, and that’s how we found out she was aspirating and needed Simply Thick added to her milk. We’re hoping this study will show that she can swallow safely without the thickener. Keep your fingers crossed!

BFFs

Izzy and I met Hadley (Izzy’s NICU buddy) and her mommy, Becca, for lunch today. The girls were born 5 days apart and spent the first 4 months of their lives together in the hospital. Like Izzy, Hadley was also a twin. Her brother, Jack, is up in heaven with our little Lily, which I think is sweet since Jack and Lily were the twin names Griff and I picked out before we found out we were having two girls. These girls have such a special bond, and it’s going to be so cool to watch them grow up together. We tried to get Emily (Izzy’s other BFF) and her mommy, Crystal, to come with us, but Crystal went back to work this week. We will soon be scheduling a weekend lunch date so we can get pics of all three miracle babies together. How cool is it that these tiny little girls are responsible for so many great friendships (their own and their parents’) and they don’t even know it yet?!?

Izzy on the left, Hadley on the right. They even have the same car seat. Yes, people asked if they were twins. ;-)

Julie & Julia....& Jennifer???

Clearly I am no Julia Child, and I’m not about to attempt 524 recipes in 365 days like Julie Powell, but I did have a big day in the kitchen yesterday. Since Izzy has been home, our meals have included cereal (one of our favs!), Subway, Lean Cuisines, and the occasional grilled whatever-I-have-time-to-marinate-before-Griff-gets-home meat. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as Seinfeld would say, and not that we won’t still eat those meals from time to time (sometimes you just want cereal for dinner), but I do like to eat a real meal every once in awhile. So…I got the genius idea to spend an entire day cooking meals to freeze ahead. I came up with 8 recipes, and made my shopping list. Mom was here on Thursday to watch Izzy, so off I went to the grocery store. I was trying to be thrifty, so I checked the sale flyer ahead of time and clipped coupons. Two stores and several hours later, I was finally finished shopping. I’m such an idiot; I made my list by recipe, not by item, so I was constantly flipping back and forth between pages…yes, I said pages. It was a beating to say the least.

Saturday morning came, and it was time to start marathon meal day. I was starting to think that like many of my ideas, this was another one that sounded much better in my head. Once I got started though, it really wasn’t that bad. I felt so accomplished with each meal I added to the deep freezer. Most recipes made more than the two of us need for a meal, so I froze smaller portions, and we actually have about 15 meals plus leftovers. Not too shabby! The worst part was all the dishes. I’m pretty sure I washed every dish in the house about 10 times. Ugh! It took me about 11 hours from start to finish, including many distractions, breaks, and time-outs to love on my baby girl. Griff was on full-time Daddy duty yesterday, which was very helpful.

So, I think I will do this again in a few months, but I might change a few things, like 1) Make my shopping list by ingredients in order of the store, duh! 2) Maybe cut it down to 5 or 6 meals – 8 is a lot for 1 day 3) hire an assistant to wash dishes so I don't have to stop to clean-up 4) build a bigger kitchen. Okay, so 3 and 4 may be a long shot, but whatever.

If any of you have any freezer-friendly recipes, I need some more ideas for the next round!

Lasagna

Chicken Enchiladas

Taco Soup

Turkey Burritos (that turned into enchiladas along the way)

Chicken and Black Bean Casserole

Chicken Stew

BBQ Pulled Pork

Patty's Chicken - we ended up eating this for dinner, but we have leftovers in the fridge!