Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Can being a Mom suck?

Yes! Sometimes being a mom really sucks...you're faced with endless decision making, harsh lessons to deliver, tantrums to manage, nutrition to provide and very sleepless weeks! 

I have not had a chance to do a post on our trip to the Dominican yet. Posts with lots of pictures can take hours to upload, but I'll get to it, I promise. I have been lacking in general when it comes to posting anything, time has become so very limited with three children.

Our week back from vacation has made me rethink taking vacations! The routine, dear Lord children and their routines! I've never been a routine person, I really like doing as I please, when I see fit...kids have changed that aspect of my life (a worthy trade off but aggravating sometimes). Prior to our trip the kids had a fairly reasonable bedtime routine taking approximately 30-45 mins to complete. Since we have been home, they have not gone down in less then 90 mins and have not slept more than two hours straight! Just when I think I might get a break and Milo finally falls asleep, Paisley wakes up screaming for no apparent reason. Then after 45 mins of calming her down, taking her pee pee and getting her back to bed, Sebastian greets me at my door with an unexplained fear of something! Now I know I am different in the fact that I typically do not use the cry it out method for naps and bedtime but I do have good reason. I do not live in a small house, it's about 3300 sq.ft. with all the bedrooms on the top level. If I put Paisley in her bed at 2:00am and selected the cry-it-out method....all 3 of my children would be awake and rearing to go within minutes. Other parents either have very deep sleepers, extremely thick walls or enjoy a kids party at 2:00am! It also tends to take much longer than just laying with them for a few minutes until they knock out. Kids are only little once and so I do enjoy spending a few quiet minutes with them at bedtime. 

So, in addition to getting barely 4 hrs of sleep each night, we have hit a streak of bad luck in other areas. Paisley is cutting her 2 year molars 😢 while Sebastian has developed a limp. We have known he has rolled ankles which we have discussed with his doctor on numerous occasions. They will fix themselves by age 7 when he develops arches on the bottom of his feet. This past week though, he has suddenly developed an odd limp. I quickly made an appointment with the pediatric orthopedist... We did X-rays of his ankles and hips which showed nothing out of the ordinary. She was concerned about his limping and favoring of his left leg but her explanation was just that perhaps he slept wrong and is sore, check back in a month. This is where being a mom can suck, my mommy intuition is saying "that doesn't make any sense!" I mulled over her prognosis for a whole half a day before contacting his pediatrian to get a second opinion. Maybe he just has a better way of calming mothers but he suggested some Ibuprofen for a week to reduce any inflammation, if no improvements we go to see a specialist next week. Ugh, life can be so stressful when your a mommy! 

Now as if that weren't enough...Milo has suddenly started having severe allergic reactions to something he is eating. I'm pretty strict about what he eats...following all the rules: no meat before a year, no honey, no peanut butter, no cows milk, breastfeed through at least a year, lots of veggies, fruit, etc! I do, however, encourage his brother and sister to share with him and so I do not give him peanut butter but he has tasted it from bites of their food. This is where we think the problem is, it is so hard to limit him from having what they are eating...naturally he wants everything! Yesterday, he snagged a few bites of Sebastian's sandwich and some of Paisley's cheese and crackers, within 10 mins he was covered in hives. Large, red, blistering welts, I felt so bad and I had absolutely no idea what to do. We were walking the zoo so I had no Benedryl, epipen, nothing! We immediately stopped feeding him everything and tried to push liquids. I watched him super closely and they started to go away after a few hours. I thought maybe it was heat rash or environmental and maybe we wouldn't see it again BUT no! They've been showing up all over his little body today. They come and go which is how I have figured out a pattern. The doctor said it is an allergic reaction and gave me dosing amounts for Benedryl, he said to limit his diet until he can be tested for allergies (they can't test til 1 year) and absolutely no nuts! 

I completely gapped it at lunch and put cashew milk in the Mac and cheese, he broke out within a few mins, all over his cheeks and chin, thighs and bum. Then Paisley wanted a snack this afternoon and got herself a poptart (such a healthy mom right). She took her snack outside and like a good little girl, shared with her baby brother, naturally it was a peanut butter poptart. Once again, face, cheeks, chin, neck, legs and thighs were covered.  I'm hoping and praying it's just coincidental because I really don't know how I will handle a nut allergy in a household who loves peanut butter! It's a small sacrifice for my sweet baby boy. 

So it's been a rough few days...I really hope the week improves, I need our routine back! I need sleep! Hopefully your week is off to a better start then ours...happy hump day!