Savior in a Bottle

We have found salvation in the age old remedy of Gripe Water. What a difference! It appears, thanks to the observations of my brilliant cousin Karlene, that Gabrielle eats so quickly and with such a vengeance that she is also inhaling so much air that even the world -record belcher could not force out. So, apart from keeping freezer packs on the source of the boob-food (not fun for mom!) we now place a few teeny tiny drops of gripe water on her little tongue as her little lips are smacking at me like a crocodile...and voila...no more gas pains! No more screaming...and we have a content little angel once again!
Sure, she has her moments of fussiness - she's a baby and if she didn't that wouldn't be normal...but we have alleviated some of her discomfort - and I feel much better as a mom!
More to come in the next day...I'm off to bed. It was a long long-weekend!

Schedules and Plans

Throw them out the window...that's what I've learnt in the last 2 months. I can't believe that Gabrielle will be 2 months old on Friday - the same day that mama gets to overcome her fear of needles as she receives her first set of vaccinations. I will try not to pass my fear on to her...this is my quest! Thank goodness Daryl will be there for support. I'm sure I will need it more than Gabrielle!
We've been told that after 6 weeks we can start to introduce a sleep schedule into her life and it will make everyone a little more pleasant. Not that anyone isn't pleasant - but we're still trying to figure out what all the different cries mean. And lately, there is a new one, a more intense and "serious" cry that we just don't know what is the cause. She is fed, clean, burped and happy - and then all of a sudden -WHAMO - melt-down into mass hysteria. And there is little we can do to console her - whether we hold her, rock her, swing her, bounce her - nothing seems to calm this new beast. Fortunately, it doesn't last very long - only a few minutes (15 max) and then it passes. Is she over tired...I don't think so, over fed - probably! The little piglet loves to eat, and she eats so well!
But these new schedules are for the birds. We try to follow her "sleepy cues" and put her down when she is sleepy but not over tired - and she just screams. She is fighting her morning, noon and afternoon naps with a vengeance. Yesterday she slept 1 hour all day. THANK GOD she sleeps well at night. We put her down last night at 7:45 and she slept until 2:30, had a snack then right back to sleep for another 3.5 hours. But what do we do about the day time naps?
Today, she has been fighting her morning nap since 9am. It is now 11 and I think she has slept a total of 30 minutes. Something keeps waking her up - and she can't seem to get herself back to sleep without us. We've tried to let her cry it out - but after 30 minutes we couldn't take it anymore - it wasn't working.
I might just lose my mind soon...I hope this passes soon.

If she were blue...she could be a smurf!

But it's a good thing she isn't blue I'm told!

On the Road Again...

After sitting in one garage or another for the last 15 years, Daryl's MG is now back on the road! For father's day, Gabrielle bought her dad new rims...something that he's been wanting his whole life he said! He also got a new gear shift knobby thing, and a left indicator. Safety first...it can't all be about looks!

We had a great visit a few weeks ago from Gabrielle's auntie Sherri from Whitehorse. She brought tonnes of goodies! Grand-ma also came for an over night visit from Kelowna to enjoy the big-horn sheep roast that Daryl roasted on the BBQ.

Gabrielle always like to make faces...even at her grand-ma!

There is nothing quite like the perfect look of baby fingers and toes. And if someone could market the new baby smell...the one that you can't get enough of...like from the top of their head...they would make a fortune!

Some Photos

Over the past few days, we've started taking more photos as Gabrielle's acne is 99% better. We didn't want to have much evidence of the poor little one's face when it was so...icky.

Birds in the House means Buns in the Oven!

Daryl and I are painting our front entrance - we were tired of the pale yellow walls that reminded me of a mental institution. Not that I know what the inside of a mental institution looks likes - but if I were to choose a colour for the interior decor of such an establishment...it would be the pale, dead yellow that was our front entrance.

We have collected over the years some beautiful masks from Africa and with our vaulted foyer, they look spectacular. But they needed a boost. I wanted to paint the facing wall when you walk in the "colour of African dirt" and "golden harvest" is what we found. The other 3 walls will be painted a complimentary "corn" colour. We'll get to that.

Anyhow, we had windows and the velux open, and Daryl opened the front door to let in some more fresh air. As we were painting the 2nd coat on the dirt wall, a bird decided to grace is with it's company...INSIDE OUR HOUSE! It proceeded to poo all over the walls - fortunately not the one that was being painted - and try to escape through the screened velux window. Finally, it flew from whenst it came, out the front door, and then sat in the tree outside and yelled at us for a good 10 minutes. We kept the door shut for the rest of the day.

Back to the superstition...in July '07 when we were camping in Kettle Valley, a sparrow flew through the covered picnic area where we were all eating and singing and sounding like a professional Gypsies touring group. Someone piped up and said that a bird flying in your house means that someone will get pregnant. Low and behold - within a few weeks - I was with child.

Daryl and I are terrified that with Gabrielle not quite 2 months old, we will have 2 children under the age of 1. We are sleeping in separate bedrooms now.

7 Weeks Old

Just a quick update today - as Gabrielle will be waking from her mid-day nap any minute now and I wanted to get this out to you all. We are celebrating her 7 week birthday today by painting the front entrance of our house. Seriously - Daryl wanted to tackle this project, started yesterday and there are already 2 coats of paint on the one accent wall - the other 3 walls will follow shortly. I think he really wants to get the masks back up on the wall so that we can seriously start to think about installing the new carpet in the TV room.
Gabrielle gave us a bit of a fright on Thursday - she was fussy all afternoon (ok, she was a complete stinker and nearly drove me, my mom and Daryl NUTS!) but it turns out she had a fever and was just trying to tell us how upset and uncomfortable she was! She has been suffering from a case of baby acne - nothing to worry about - but it appears to have gotten slightly irritated and infected so was itchy. Well, when you are just a head and have no control over your limbs and your face is itchy and there is nothing you can do about it you'd be a bit crabby too! So Thursday evening we went to the hospital - with daddy threatening to bring her back to the place she was born and leave her there if she didn't behave (just kidding!) - they checked her out and by that time her fever had dropped and she was resting peacefully in my arms by the time we were discharged. We had a pretty good night after that - 4 hours of sleep - and she was eating really well.
The next day - Friday - we had our scheduled 6 week check-up and Dr. O'Connell gave her some cream for her poor little face that would sooth the itch and help with any infection. Two days later and she is a completely different baby. She slept 6 hours last night, followed by a feed and another 3 hours. She has been napping regularly today again and I can breath a little easier. So thankful that it was nothing serious.
I don't think there is anything harder to hear than your baby crying, with fever, and not knowing why or really what to do. I felt so helpless and was so thankful to have Daryl at home and with us when we went to the hospital. He was so calm and may as well have been wearing his paramedic uniform! He helped me stay calm too - which I'm sure helped Gabrielle.
It has been a nice Sunday here - well, not outside, the weather SUCKS and is cold and rainy. Where is summer in the Loops!?!?!
Photos to follow - I hear some baby-peeps!