Happy Monday! I am feeling under the weather. A summer cold has made its way through our family and Jared is the last one standing. It hit poor Alice the hardest, likely because she has been cutting her first two teeth right in the middle of it all. Lots of tears and sleepless nights for her (and me, and Jared) but I think we're past the worst of it. She is 10.5 months old now, which is just slightly earlier than baby Jack cut his first teeth.
I am growing weary of the sacrifices that come with the first year having a new baby. Don't get me wrong, I'm not weary of having a baby this age (Alice is currently the cutest, sweetest ray of sunshine), just with my loss of sleep and food choices. If you have a baby who is around a year old and you feel like they are the only one-year-old who still isn't sleeping through the night, let me be the one to give you a virtual hug and say, same. We're coming into 11 months and I don't think Alice has slept all through the night even once. I'm coming to know that my babies just don't do that, and not for lack of trying really, truly, everything. Seems like the universe could spare us this difficulty seeing how the universe already tossed me hyperemesis pregnancies, a body that doesn't accept epidurals and requires 4 hours of pushing, and babies with extreme colic and food allergies (likely related), but alas. We all have a unique panel of trials I suppose.
Jared mentioned Alice still waking up 2-3 times a night to a patient and they were like, "Have you tried a thing called white noise? Or a thing called blackout curtains? Co-sleeping? Or maybe sleeping in a cot by her bed? Sleep training? Formula?" And he was like, "Um yes, we have actually tried all the things, but thank you." I'm realizing that at least this time around, I'm probably going to have to just wait this phase out. Me tired.
Then there are the food restrictions due to Alice's allergies. Some days I find myself crying as dinnertime approaches because I wish I could just pop a frozen pizza in the oven or have Jared pick something up on his way home. Super taxing during the summer to cook a "safe" dinner every evening after nights of broken sleep and days full of Jack (and Alice, but mostly Jack). I also really miss eating . . . well, tons of things. We supplement with some formula and I'm considering switching entirely to formula at this point so I can get back to eating dairy, soy, peanuts, eggs, and wheat (I still eat wheat here and there but it usually results in Alice spitting up and pooping her guts out for the next 24 hours). I want to talk to Alice's allergist and check in on her dairy allergy before making the decision to jump fully into formula. If it were just a sensitivity I'd likely just go for it but this is an iGe situation, so I'll wait until her appointment next month for the allergist's recommendation since even the safest of formulas contains small amounts of milk proteins. I don't want to let my milk dry up until we've made a plan together.
Whelp, that was more of a vent than I intended this post to be. In conclusion, once again, me tired! I'd write about the "Christmas in July" I took on to mix things up on Friday. Not too much to write about though--we watched a Christmas movie and I made red and green waffles for Jack. Forgot to take any pictures, but here are two pictures from our hike to the Ice Caves this week:
