What a mother will do for her baby….

expose herself at work twice a day. That’s right folks, twice a day I head to a little conference room on the second floor, lock the door, let it all hang out and connect myself to the milking machine. I know I am alone and the door is locked but there is still something uncomfortable about being at work with your shirt up and your bra down. Just seeing how happy it makes Cami when she attaches herself to me (warming her nose as Miss Linda calls it) makes it all worth it. It is remarkable to me that I am able to fully sustain her right now. It makes me so happy and I love doing it. Kind of sad I missed out on it with Avery but so glad she was still able to have my milk.

Sick Hoekstras

Well there is never a dull moment at the Hoekstra house. On Monday I came down with the flu. No fun. I left work and went home to crawl into bed. Luckily wonderful Miss Linda stayed with Cami until John could pick up Av and get home. Then he went off to the grocery store by himself with 2 kids (the first time he has taken them both anywhere) to get me some soup. Tuesday John was sick; I was better but nowhere near 100%. Both girls were very good and we all just stayed home together. Other then not feeling well it was a nice day. We were able to strictly enforce Cami’s naps (hard to do when you are not home) and play as much as we could with Av. We read books, played with play dough and worked on a take home activity for her school. (homework already?!?! we had to decorate a Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat, hat) So far (knock on wood) both girls have avoided the flu. Av has a really runny nose and Cami is stuffy but otherwise pretty good.

Light bulb (Av)

Anytime anything is not working at the house Av says “my dadda fix it.” She truly believes, as she should, that dadda can fix anything for her. Last time grandma and pap-pap were in town pap-pap changed a light bulb for us at the top of our stairs. EVERY night now on our way to bed Av turns that light on and says, “pap-pap fixed the light.” She is cute. Just wanted to let Pap-pap know that Av thinks of him every night.

She passed the test (Av)

People...you didn't think enough failing thoughts. Av passed the last growth hormone testing. Not by much but she did pass. Insurance considers everything above a 10 passing. The first test she got a 11.5, the second 5.25 and the third 10.7. Normal really is 20-30. We know she is growing though so we are just going to keep watching it. We may have to do all this again someday. For now though we are just going to let it go.

ER (Av)

Last night instead of spending the night having dinner with friends as planned we spent it in the ER. No fun, but thankfully everyone is fine. I was trying to get us all ready and Av was running from me because she did not want her hair brushed. She was being silly and she really thought she was funny. I grabbed her arm and pulled her towards me and sat her down to do her hair. She started crying and said her arm hurt. I of course kissed it and rubbed it to make it feel better. Usually that works like a charm but last night she was not buying it. We gave her some pain meds and put ice on it. After sitting with her for 45 minutes she would still cry every time we tried to get her to use it. It was her right arm. I started getting flash backs of when my sister was little and broke her arm. So I did what my mom did. Got out the candy. If she would not use it to get candy, you know something is really wrong. Several M&M’s later from her left hand, off to the ER we went. This whole time in the back of my head I was thinking, “gosh, are they going to think I beat my child?” I felt really bad for hurting her, but really knew that I was not overly rough with her and didn’t really do anything I had not done a 100 times with her. At the ER the nurse suspected right away that it was “nurse maids” elbow (in kids under 4 the tendon can come out of place). She was right. The Dr spent 2 minutes with her and was able to put things back and made her feel 100% again. I think in her head she was sure it was going to hurt forever and was just going to use her other arm. After he fixed it she was at first hesitant to use it but after she did she seemed very surprised it was fine. The Dr asked her if she was all-better and she said “Yeah!” in a high pitch happy squeal. It was cute. They give her a sucker and a little stuffed dog and she was happy as could be.

feet, cereal & all over her crib (Cami)

On Wednesday when I got home from work Cami was laying in her play gym and had her feet in her hands. I got so excited, “she found her feet, she found her feet!” It was cute. So far she is not obsessed with them but I don’t think it will be long. She also has not gotten them to her mouth. Not sure she will be able. She has so many rolls on her little body it just does not seem possible she will be able to get her foot to her mouth. We will see.

We also started her on rice cereal. I am willing to try anything to get her down to one feeding a night. So far she is not a fan. Every bite I put in eventually comes back out. She did sleep really well this weekend for me though. 7:30pm-7:30am only getting up around 4!!!! It is not the cereal though; there is no way she is getting enough to make a difference. I bought peas for her to try last night but she got out of it (trip to the ER, more on that later).

She is also never in the same place in her crib as where I put her down. I remember Av doing that but thought she did it earlier then now. It is cute though, and when I ask her and make a big fuss about it she looks proud of herself. A big gummy smile. She is my little gummy bear. She also likes to stick her tongue out when she smiles.

Updates on posts from last month

• As hard as I try Cami is still getting up twice a night to eat (around 10:30 and 5)
• We still have to tape Av’s diaper on and she thinks we do it just to make her laugh
• Av still has not slept in her bgb
• Av and I are no longer butting heads, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we are putting her to bed earlier (they are both in bed around 7:30, it is great to have time with John again)
• Av does not still watch Charlie Brown daily. Now it is a Mickey Mouse Christmas DVD that has a song on it that I constantly have going through my head. Think we can delete the 5 Charlie Browns we have on our DVR???
• Cami still has not giggled
• The new sleepers have worked wonders