Comfort and Love

A former co-worker, and friend, of mine passed away yesterday. I wish so much for his wife and children and the rest of his family and close friends to have comfort and love during the unfathomably difficult times ahead.

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Update on sleep, food and everything related

Baby @ less than 24 hrs old - photo courtesy of Auntie A!

It's been quite a while since I discussed sleep on my blog so I thought it was time I gave an update to those of you who have been staying awake at night wondering if Baby and I are getting any sleep.

As you may remember, Baby and I went on a strict elimination diet for 28 days. We saw some immediate and sometimes significant results. At the end of the month I decided to slowly add back in some of the things we had cut out. I started with dairy. Unfortunately, within a couple of days, it seemed to affect first Baby's sleep and then, more significantly, the "small dry spots" on her arms and legs started to turn into a more obvious form of eczema. A mild case but getting to the point where Baby was bothered by it and started scratching. We backed off of dairy but unfortunately sleep didn't improve again. So, we went back to a time when Baby was waking every hour or so.

I cried.
I complained.
I worried.
I cried again.

I decided to take Baby back to our family doctor and ask her opinion again. She had another look at Baby's skin and also listened to my experience with the elimination diet. She agreed that it sounded like food allergies and suggested we see a pediatrician that specializes in nutrition. That's where we're at right now. We have an appointment in a week and a half. I have no idea what to expect from this so-called nutritional expert who is also a pediatrician but I'm going to try and keep an open mind and hear what he has to say. I do have to say though that if he tells me to stop nursing Baby or to start feeding her meat I'm going to lose it. I'm just warning him in advance. Ok, I'm glad I got that out. S thinks I'm jumping to conclusions and being unfairly judgmental on this one. She might be right. Oh, and in case you're wondering why we don't just get her tested for allergies, we were told (and I've researched myself) that standard medical testing for allergies on kids under 2 or 3 are often false negatives or false positives.

I am hoping, hoping, hoping she grows out of this.

On the bright side (because I do truly believe that there is always a bright side...and I always find it!), Baby slept for 4 interrupted hours last night. It was heavenly.

Good Times. No, really!

I often feel like I complain or worry or vent too much on my blog. Yeah, I know it's my blog and I can do what ever I want in my little space on the internet. Nevertheless, I thought I'd share some good, amazing and fun things that are going on in my life right now.

• Baby is a ton of fun these days. She's a total ham, loves making us laugh, is happy to go along with most things, loves helping out with "chores," is saying so many new words (or half words)...it's all very exciting and I totally get how people say they love the 1-2 year old stage.
• I'm not only surviving my elimination diet while nursing Baby but I'm starting to enjoy it. (At times.) I'm continuing to lose weight and except for those days when I feel like I'm starving because I can't seem to get enough protein, I feel really good.
• The weather has definitely turned towards Spring. It's warm and oh-so-beautiful here. I really, really love living in Vancouver. It's an amazing city.
• I received the official, legal documents for my surname change this week and I'm so thrilled I finally did it. My last name was changed by my mom when I was 12 and I have now changed it back to my birth surname and I feel like I've re-claimed a part of myself.

Ok, that's enough good time charlie for now.

The Proof

We are raising a very talented child.