Today was my first proper Mother’s Day and it was nice and relaxing. Isla woke us up at her usual 5:30 am time with a big “poo”.  I fed Isla and then we lounged in bed for a bit which was nice. George than took Isla out to the kitchen and made me breakfast. I stayed in bed and dozed for a half hour or so. It was pure bliss. After a delicious breakfast of eggs, toast and coffee we puttered around the house and sorted the recycling, did the dishes, etc. George bought me a lovely necklace from the Seabury craft fair and it was fun to get because my friend Emmanuelle bought me the earrings that matched.

Eventually we made it to town so we could spend some Borders gift cards I had gotten last week for teacher appreciation week. It was fun to splurge and treat ourselves to something nice. We then walked over to Old Navy and bought George some new clothes…okay and me a cute dress. After a delicious lunch we headed home. I have since been doing the normal daily chores…laundry, dishes, packing work bags and baby bags, washing and sterilizing bottles, kissing my babies, and stuffing myself with good cooking. It’s been a great day. I am glad to be part of the “motherhood club!”

Well, I think it has been a couple of weeks since I was last on here. Time seems to be flying these days. Isla is doing really well. She had her doctors appointment for her 2 kidney test at the end of last month. They went pretty well. There was no sign of reflux, that’s when some of the urine flushes up into the kidneys instead of it getting peed all out. We were relieved about that. They also did ultra  sounds pictures of both kidneys and her bladder. What they found was that one of her kidneys is slightly enlarged. The question now is, is her kidney enlarged because of the infection or is it the cause of the infection. They sent everything to the pediatric urologist so he could review it and give us his take on it. Until then Isla has to be on low dose of antibiotics daily. I am pretty bummed about that but I suppose it is better than her getting the infection over and over again. I am just hoping everything is okay and that she wont have to be on them for long.

Other than that, Isla is healthy as can be. She is changing so quickly form day to day. I can’t believe how much food she can put away. She now does breakfast, lunch and dinner really well. She eats quite a variety of things. We have been giving her more and more finger foods and that’s fun. She seems like such a big girl when you watch her eat and drink now.  One thing that kind of bums me out a bit is that I had to officially buy my first can of formula. Now I haven’t yet given her any but I think I might have to soon.  I pump everyday at work but since she is getting bigger and a lot more active I can barely keep up with her appetite, milk wise. I know it would be different if I could be home with her all day and nurse her more often but it’s just not reality. I feel a little bit like I’ve failed. I know its probably ridiculous to feel that way, but non the less I do. At this point. I am nursing Isla in the morning, sometimes once during my work day if I can sneak away, again at around 3:30 when I pick her up and right before bed. Actually this is the 3rd night in a row where she has refused to nurse before bed…I think she is just absolutely stuffed from dinner. She seems to make it through the night just fine. Speaking of making it through the night. I have finally weaned Isla from feeding her at night( I had started doing it while she was sick). It was really easy to do and now she is back to sleeping through the night, with the occasional wake ups…when she gets herself stuck in the corner of her crib.

Well, once again I have rambled on. That is what happens when I don’t get on for a couple of weeks!

It’s official, Isla is crawling! She has definitely been working up to it this week. She has been up on her hands and knees a lot but couldn’t quite work out how to actually move. Yesterday Gabe and I were in the kitchen sorting the recycling and Isla was in the living room watching us and right before our eyes she just started crawling over to us(about 6 feet or so). She was a little slow at first but let me tell you…she has picked up some proper speed in the last day. Her favorite thing to go after is Holly’s ball. Now every time we throw it for Holly there is a race to see who can get it first.

It blows me away how quickly Isla is changing…she is growing up so fast. Along with crawling this week she has learned to pull herself up to standing in her crib and bounce up and down. She has started eating finger foods…avocado, banana, whole wheat pancakes, cheese, etc. She has become quite the hearty eater. She has mastered the sippy cup and has discovered she is not a fan of the word “NO”. Anyways its lots of fun seeing what she will do next.

I just have to say how well Isla is doing with being watched by mom(Mon., Tues., Thur., and Fri.) and my friend Jody on Wed. Jody is always nice enough to take pictures during the day so I don’t miss a moment. On Wednesday they splashed around outside and Jody said Isla had a blast picking grass and putting it in the water. I love dropping Isla off in the morning at my parents. She is always happy to see them and It is SO nice to know that she is well taken care of while I’m at work!

Unfortunately on Sunday last weekend Isla woke up with a fever and I had a worried suspicion that it might be the bladder infection thing again. I called the doctors on Monday and they told me to watch her for the next couple of days to see if the fever went away. I was kind of upset to hear that because of what happened last time and I new that it was strange for her to be sick again after just getting off antibiotics, especially since she was behaving just like before. Finally on Thursday I brought her in, she was still running a fever, and sure enough she has another UTI (or possibly the same one that was never cleared up). I feel so bad for her and wish I could be the one sick. They put her back on antibiotics…I wish she didn’t have to take so many, and a low dose of a similar medicine to prevent any further infection until they do all the test on the 29th. We are just crossing our fingers and hoping that everything is okay and that it is just a fluke that she has gotten another one.

Today she seems to feel a bit better. She is still thankfully eating pretty well and gaining weight so that’s good.( now 19lb. 1.2 oz). She is smiling and giggling again although you can tell she is a little uncomfortable. Poor baby! And I am sad…very sad to say that basically since she got sick the first time…about 2 months ago, she has not really slept through the night. After the whole hospital stay it got worse but I worked really hard to get her back on track and just as she was on her 3rd night of sleeping through she got sick again. I have to admit that since the hospital stay I have begun to nurse her at night to sooth her and because truthfully I am a little nervous not to since she was so sick and lost so much weight. I know it has already started some bad night habits but it is hard to know if she is well enough or not, especially since she is sick again. Being sleep deprived can really make you start doubting yourself as a parent. Anyways I will stop rambling on. I have a feeling when she starts to feel well Isla will get back to sleeping well. Either that or I will have to implement some major sleep training strategies in the next couple weeks…No sleep and working full time does NOT go together.

Oh by the way, those amazing pastries are homemade cream puffs that George made last night. He is truly an amazing chef. They looked like something that some gourmet French chef would have whipped up in his quaint little bakery in the middle of Paris and they tasted even better than they looked…if that’s possible.

Last weekend we went to the beautiful wedding of our friends, Chris and Joanna Baker. It was up at the Kula Botanical Gardens and was a lovely ceremony. It brought back memories of our wedding. I can’t believe it has almost been 3 years. I asked George if I could get out my wedding dress and wear it around the house for a bit(we had it specially packed away so it wouldn’t deteriorate…it cost a pretty penny to do), he or course told me no…not unless I had $200 dollars to pack it away again. Maybe one day I’ll surprise him with a fancy spaghetti dinner and a wife wearing a gorgeous dress a.k.a. my wedding dress, and a big bottle of wine…maybe he won’t notice if he is liquored up a bit. It truly seems a shame not to wear it ever again.

Anyways it was a very fun night and I got to see a lot of friends from San Diego and different parts of the mainland. It was fun to show off my amazing husband and my super cute daughter. They make me so proud!

We all had an amazing time at The Maui Prince Hotel last weekend. It was good quality family time. We pretty much slept, hung out at the pool(and drank a few cocktails), ate loads of food…basically just relaxed. It was fabulous and well needed. Thanks mom and dad!

Oh yeah…just a little piece of information if any ones interested. George and I played mini putt golf(they had a little 9 hole course). We played 2 rounds and George of course was better than me but…I did get a hole in one on the last hole(the hardest one). Can you tell I am pretty proud of myself! George was a bit shocked since when it happened his ball was sitting ever so patiently in the sand pit on the side. I think he was secretly proud of his wife…although maybe a TAD jealous.

Yesterday Isla had her hospital follow up appointment. I am glad to say we officially have a healthy baby on our hands. Over the last month Isla had lost 2 1/2 pounds(16.1 lb.), but over the last 9 days she gained it all back and is now at 18.7 lb., so I am happy about that. The doctor said everything looked great. She did have us do one more blood test just to double check that Isla’s electrolytes were back to normal. I’m sure they are but we will know in a few days. Towards the end of this month Isla has to get a few more test done just to rule out any malformation of her insides that may have caused the bladder infection. They are routine test that they do on any baby this young that has had a UTI. I’m not really worried because I am fairly certain that she is “perfect”.

Isla is doing amazing. We now have back the happy baby we know and love. She is constantly smiling and giggling, talking up a storm and will probably be crawling soon. She gets up on her knees and rocks back and forth. I find it amazing for a baby that doesn’t crawl yet, how much she actually moves and gets around. If there is something that she wants, somehow Isla manages to make her way over to it. It’s fascinating to watch! Today Isla got her 5th tooth in without a fuss. She is so cute when she smiles. Since feeling better Isla has become a champion eater. I literally can’t shovel enough food in to her mouth. It took me almost a week and a half for my milk supply to catch up to her…thank god I had some frozen milk. George has been whipping up Isla gourmet baby food. Here are a few samplings of things she has been wolfing down….Rhubarb compote sweetened with lychee juice( she LOVES sour things), buttered peas with avocado, potato and corn chowder, apple blueberry and pear sauce, BBQ pork( that may have not been the best thing to feed her but she loved it non the less). It’s really satisfying and fun to feed her. I hope she will always have a good appetite.

All I can say is Isla is quite the tough cookie. I know I have mentioned that over the last month Isla has been a bit sensitive and crabby and basically not her usual giggling, smiling self. Well, we have all associated it with teething and general baby stuff, even her doctor. But last week I noticed that Isla wasn’t nursing as much( I thought it was maybe because she was eating solids), and when I stepped on the scale at my moms house I swore she was about 2 pounds lighter than her last weigh in(18.5 lb.). So on Monday I called the doctor to schedule an appointment to check her weight. On Tuesday morning while getting ready for the doctor, out of the blue Isla threw up tons, all over my bed. Now I was getting a bit concerned that something was definitely not right with her. When we got to the doctor, sure enough she weighed 2 1/2 lb. less( I new it). The doctor was concerned( and so was I) because that was such a big weight loss for a month. She schedule a bunch of tests for that morning. We endured an x-ray of her tummy, about 10 blood tests and a urine sample using a catheter(not pleasant). When they did the urine test you could see how cloudy her pee looked and so they were guessing it was a UTI( urinary tract infection). I guess it is pretty common for little girls to get. They wern’t a 100% sure because they had to culture the sample but they sent us home with antibiotics and an appointment to get her weight checked in a few days. Needless to say I felt HORRIBLE. I know that she has probably had that infection for a month and I just didn’t know.

Well, that night around 8:30 a different doctor from Kaiser called and said that they had just got some of Isla’s blood tests back and a couple of them are critical. Now at this point I was trying not to panic and think the worst. Basically he said that her potassium was high and her sodium was really low, low enough to cause seizures. This was all do to her having an infection. He said he wanted to admit Isla to the hospital for the night and put her on an IV and get some medicine and fluids in her in hopes her blood test would be more normal in the morning. As you can guess we got her down there as quick as possible. Only one parent is aloud to stay the night so George made sure we were all settled in before he left. Once he was gone they took Isla to get her IV in. They did not allow any parents in while they do the procedure so I had to wait in the room. That was probably the worst experience I’ve been through. I waited thinking it would only take about 15 minutes but an hour later I still had not heard from any one and every time I went out in hall way I could hear Isla crying in the other room. After close to 2 hours I couldn’t take it any more. The nurses were very nice. They felt absolutely awful but they could not get the IV because she was so dehydrated and her veins kept collapsing.  They had to call about 6 different nurses from around the hospital and still no one could get one in Isla. They eventually let me in to see her and I held her and nursed her but she was so weak that she could barely suck( by now it is about 1:00 in the morning). They had to call the anesthesiologist who tried 3 more times while I helped to hold her down. FINALLY after 3 hours and about 30 jabs in Isla, on her head, the backs of her hands, the insides of her elbows, her ankles, she got one in deep on her right ankle. I hope never to have to go through that again. It was almost unbearable!

Wow, this is a long story, I’ll try to hurry it up a bit. Once Isla was back in the room it took her about 30 seconds to fall soundly asleep in my arms. I never wanted to let her go. As a mother you just want to put a protective bubble around your child and keep them from all harm. In the morning they took another blood test and although everything looked better it still wasn’t well enough to send her home. They wanted us one more night. I was glad to stay and didn’t want to go till I knew everything was 110% better. It was amazing over the next day watching the happy Isla emerge. It was the Isla we hadn’t seen in about a month. I realized I hadn’t really heard here giggle in a couple of weeks. It was really special having so much time with her just snuggling and laying on the bed together. The nurses and doctors were great. Everyone said what an amazing baby Isla was. She was so good natured and never put up much of a fuss. I felt pretty proud as a mom!

Well, on Thursday everything looked great and they sent us home with medicine and a much healthier, fatter, happier baby. Isla is doing really well now. The last 2 day she has spent her time playing and talking and EATING. I can barely keep up with the food production. I think she is now up to about 19 lb but I will let you know when we have her follow up appointment on Thursday. I am so thankful everything turned out well. I love her to pieces!

Oh how I love Spring Break! It has been so relaxing and exciting to wake up in the morning and realize I don’t have to go to work. It’s been great to be home with Isla. I’ve been working on getting Isla on more of an eating schedule with her solid food. So far she has been having dinner every night and lunch sometimes. So during this break I am determined to get her eating 2 good meal a day. I’m not really going to push the breakfast thing till summer when I have mornings with her. She still just loves the boob in the morning.  I don’t blame her…it’s fast, it’s warm, and it’s tasty.

It’s nice to have no agenda. I have been working on my photo albums and scrapbooks, doing laundry, picking up the house, catching up on reading (a luxury now), exercising, running errands, basically all the stuff I don’t have time to do much of when I am working. It’s great…..I already can’t wait for summer!

Well, Isla has finally had her top, front tooth on the right hand side come it! Her left should be in any day now! Thank God is all I can say. It has been a challenging month with her and her teeth. I am hoping she wont been in so much pain now and that should hopefully make her a happier baby. I really miss her smiles….she definitely hasn’t been giving them away for free…she really makes you work for them.

Isla is changing so quickly. She now talks constantly. Lots of different sounds. I know one of these days she is just going to blurt out a sentence and surprise us all…okay, well probably not but that’s what it seems like. You can just see her soaking everything in. Isla now gets up well on her knees and rocks back and forth. I am sure she will be crawling soon….witch will bring a whole new element to our lives. I love seeing all the new things she does!