Fall Crafts

 

We started by decorating the house for Fall (and Kelsey will tell you it's also called Autumn) We've painted pumpkins with both paint and glue and then glitter. We've made ghosts and spiders out of pumpkins. We painted masks. We searched the yard for different types of leaves and then painted and pressed them.We've also made pumpkin bread (gluten free of course) and cooked a pumpkin. Made and decorated gluten free sugar cookies with dairy free icing. Made pompom bats and owls (and we even made some for our neighbors) We've worked on the letter P and J (for pumpkin and Jack-o-lantern)

Total Stress....finally revlieved!

Nights in Puerto Rico were no fun. Kaylee would wake up and just scream! During the day I had realized she was eating all the time and I couldn't get any milk at one point. I was worried that I was not producing enough. Wednesday when we were back I dropped in our pediatrician's office just to put her on the scale. My worst fears were confirmed. She had lost 5 oz in 2 weeks and was down to 12 lb 7 oz. I was stressed out now with that news. She won't take a bottle, so there was no way to even get formula in her. I started taking Fenugreek and drinking Mother's milk tea. We started her on rice cereal (I really did not want to do this until 6 months) on Friday. I took her back to the Dr's office Monday to put her on the scale again....my heart sank, she had lost another 4 oz (12 lb 3 oz)! The nurse saw how distraught I was and found a way for me to meet with the PA at least. She checked Kaylee out and said she looks ok and gave me some advice on how to try to up my supply and get her to eat. She suggested using a SNS, which is essentially a tube I tape near my nipple and it supplies formula (since I get nothing when I pump) to her while I am nursing. One of my friends had one, so I borrowed that and added that to nap and nighttime feedings. It's a little annoying because Kaylee moves her hands all the time while nursing and was constantly pulling at it. I took her back one week later (this time we had an appointment) to weigh her again. I put her on the scale and saw 12 lb 3 oz and my heart sank, but then it kept calculating (or whatever it does) and it stopped at 12 lb 15 oz!!! WoooHoooo!! She put on 12 oz in one week. She's still not back up to 25% where she was at her 4 month appt, but we are on our way back up and that is all that matters!!

Cooking a Pumpkin

I bought a Pie Pumpkin (if you don't know, this is different from the pumpkin you buy to carve) the other day so Kelsey and I could cook it one afternoon, something we have not done before. Man that little booger was HARD to cut. I made Kelsey leave the kitchen because I was worried the knife would slip and fly across at her. 10 minutes later we followed the directions from the sticker on the pumpkin. Scoop out all the seeds and gunk. Wrap each 1/2 in aluminum foil. Bake for 1 hour @ 350. The Pumpkin then easily slid/came out of the shell (which was hard- so cool). We put it in the food processor (Kelsey's favorite kitchen appliance) and pureed with just a little water, cinnamon, ginger and fresh nutmeg. It was good, but no where near the color or taste of canned (which is just plain pumpkin). We ate some plain and I made pumpkin hummus with some of it as well.

Rice Cereal

With weight issues looming over my head, I had to suck it up and forget about how I THINK things should be done (ie no solids until 6 months) and just do what my daughter NEEDS. So, after swallowing my pride, I made Kaylee her first bowl of rice cereal. She ate it, but was definitely more interested in the spoon.

When daddy came home the next day, he got to give her the second bowl. She ate rather well for him.

 Day 3 she was rather messy, but cute

Trip to Puerto Rico

   Instead of renting hotel rooms every week in Puerto Rico (for work), Lou found a condo to rent monthly for less. The best part about that is now the girls and I can go over every so often and hang out. We took our first family trip over on Oct 6. I was dreading he flight over with Kaylee, but she slept and it was great. I had her tucked up in the Beco Butterfly with the hood up and not a peep. Kelsey was really good too. We took her Britax on the plane and used a Gogo Kidz Travelmate to stroll her through the airport with it. It worked great. She took a nap for most
of the flight (it's a ~2 1/2 hour flight from Ft. Lauderdale). We gate checked Kaylee's bucket seat and stroller. By the time we got our bags, got the car seats installed and went to Walmart to buy food, it was 8 o'clock when we got into the condo. Needless to say we had a late dinner. It's a 1 bedroom condo with a Queen size bed and a twin futon in to room. We brought a toddler air mattress with us as well. Getting the girls to bed each night was not too bad; however, Kaylee was up ALOT during the night crying. That was definitely the worst part of our trip.

  Every morning Kelsey and I had fruit, eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast. I drank some local coffee (couldn't find a brand I recognized when we were at Walmart) which actually was not bad. We walked around the complex, went on the playground, went in the pool, went to the beach, and worked on Kelsey's workbooks. We made dinner Thursday and Friday night. Saturday we went out to dinner with the girls. I got to try Mofungo (a traditional Portuguese dish, but I had it with chicken instead of pork) Sunday we made a nice dinner and ate it up on the penthouse balcony.

 

  Monday we drove through the Yunque Rainforest on a whim. Very cool views and we even got to see a cool waterfall. Next time we are going to spend more time and bring food and hike some of the trails. Our plan is to go over with him at least every other month.

Sea World Reward Trip

Kelsey had a really good first month (5 weeks) on her potty chart. Her reward for earning at least 25 out of 35 stars was a trip to Sea World. So the weekend after the wedding we planned a trip up there. Lou met us at my sister's house when he got in from Puerto Rico and we drove to the hotel. Luckily with Lou's status we got upgraded for free to a suite!! We spent Sunday at Sea World and Lou took Kelsey in the pool as well. On Monday we drove to downtown Disney for a bit and walked around and let Kelsey play at the Lego area.

We got a free coupon to play the frog game.

In the stroller like a big girl

Lou & Kelsey climbing through a tunnel

Lou & Kelsy up above in the net structure...you can get lost in there

We didn't have a bumbo seat or a bouncy seat, so Lou used the suitcase to put Kaylee down in...so smart!