Halloween '08

Aren't my wee creatures frightening?

Don't let this sweet, tonguey smile fool you...she is a fiery little one (hence the chili pepper)! Thanks, Grandma! "Rawr!" Connor liked to wear his costume around the house, but I learned the hard way that he has figured out how to open toilet lids. Those hanging "paws" were soaked the minute I turned my back!

I've reemerged!

Mama and Alaina at 5 months old

Connor now loves to pick up and love on anything soft, which includes his baby sister.

Connor on his morning constitutional before his haircut.

I swear he aged two years when we cut his hair!

Child abuse!

Now that we finally have internet again, I will start posting more! On the kiddo front, Connor and Alaina have changed so much in the past couple of months. After being asked if Connor was a girl one too many times, we finally broke down and gave him his first haircut. We put it off because we're dragging our feet and wanting Connor to stay little forever. He looks like such a big boy now! Alaina is getting happier as the months progress, and her favorite things are looking at herself in the mirror and having her daddy tell her how beautiful she is. You'd think that she understands him, because she grins and laughs (which now sounds like a chirp) and tries to get his attention when he looks away. She is such a girl! As of right now, Connor has a double ear infection, and one of Alaina's ears is infected, too. A mysterious rash appeared on Connor, so we had to stop the antibiotics, which made his infection flare again, then Alaina developed a similar but different rash, so they might both have roseola. The doctor's not quite sure, but one thing's certain: Mama's going crazy! :)

I stole this survey from Mary Ann's old friend Sarah Hansen (now Parker)! I love blog-stalking! :)

A- Age: 23
B - Best Friend: Anthony, cliche I know
C- Cake or Pie: Cake, for sure. Especially if it's chocolate pudding cake.
D - Drink of Choice: 60ish degree water. Too cold or too warm completely ruins the experience. E - Essential Items: Chapstick, lotion, and socks.
F - Favorite TV show at the moment: The Office or My Name Is Earl
G - Gummi Bears or Worms: Worms
H - Hometown: Sandy, Utah
I - Indulgence: Rocky Road ice cream or Dove caramel chocolates
J - January or July: July!
K - Kids: 2
L - Life is incomplete without: Family
M - Marriage Date: December 18, 2004
N- Number of Siblings: 3 sisters and 1 brother, all married, so really 4 sisters and 4 brothers
O- Oranges or Apples: If it's a good, juicy orange, I'd rather have that, hands down. There is nothing as disappointing as a terrible, dry orange.
P - Phobias or Fears: Deep water and outerspace. I supposed my mind can't handle things with no boundaries!
Q - Quote: Be the change you want to see in the world. - Ghandi
R - Reason to Smile: I've got two beautiful and healthy children that are *gasp* BOTH sleeping
S - Season: Summer!
T - Time you woke up today: Alaina woke me up cooing at 6 AM. Cute most of the time, but not so endearing before 8.
U- Unknown Fact About Me: This is totally gross and embarrassing, but while I watch tv, I will pick my toenails. Not your average pick, though...I will PULL THEM OFF. Nice visual, eh?
V - Veggies or Fruit: Fruit. There are very few that I don't enjoy. I do LOVE fresh, homegrown vegetables, though. I could live off of garden tomatoes.
W - Worst Habit: I have so many that I don't think I could pick one worst...biting my fingernails, leaving lights on, not locking doors, never having my phone on me, retail therapy, forgetting little but important things, not returning phone calls, not giving credit where credit is deserved...I could go on.
X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds. They are so much fun when you're pregnant!
Y - Your Favorite Food: Anything I don't have to cook myself, excluding anything that came from watery origins (any sort of fish or swamp animal)
Z - Zodiac: I'm a Cancer/Leo (born on the cusp), Anthony's a Sagittarius, Connor's a Taurus, and Alaina's a Gemini.

Connor and Grandpa

Though it took a little bit for Connor to warm up to Grandpa Broadhead, once he did, he thought my dad was pretty fun! Don't they make a handsome pair?

Connor took up a new hobby while visiting his grandparents: tomato thieving. As I would pick tomatoes from the garden and set them in a bag, he would reach in the bag and pull one out. He would sink his little teeth into it just enough to make holes, then stick his finger in the hole to get juice all over it. Then he'd put it in his mouth and say, "Mmm", while reaching for a fresh one. We lost quite a few tomatoes to the little vampire.

Update time!

It takes a mama some serious multitasking to take care of two littluns!

Connor's sense of humor is really developing lately, and even if he doesn't understand what you're laughing about, he's sure to laugh right along with you. Yes, those are shorts on his head.
Alaina's FINALLY doing a little bit less of this:
And more of this, so life is getting much more enjoyable. She's happily modeling the dress that her Aunt Mary Ann gave her as a "Welcome to the World" gift!

Buy Our House!

The website for our house is up, and I have to say, I would buy it all over again! Check it out!

www.535slindseyst.com

Alaina Mary Dietrich, August '08

She's such a pensive child and always looks concerned, but at least here's a smirk to go with all the seriousness!
At the height of one of her huge smiles. Her whole body gets involved!
Passed out after some housework in the Beco.

Connor Adam Dietrich, August '08

The other day, Connor refused to eat lunch without his sunglasses.
Baths in the kitchen sink are always more fun! (Notice the molars...he's got 4 now!)
This is what happens when you give Connor a piece of licorice.

Crazy mom moments

Someone on my babycenter birthclub suggested a thread devoted to crazy things you have done in your sleep-induced state. This was my list:

"As a mother of 2 under 15 months old, I have so many of these!

Last night, after my shower, I went to put lotion on my legs and accidentally put shower gel on them instead. I laughed at myself in dismay, then reach for another bottle. Shower gel again! Who knew motherhood would make me illiterate?

I was spoonfeeding my toddler some lunch, and I had to put it down to grab the phone. When I resumed, I couldn't figure out why the baby wasn't opening their mouth...then I realized I had been trying to spoonfeed my 2-mo-old!

My husband didn't put the seat down and I sat down without looking. Yes, I fell in.

I tried to step on the scale (bad idea in the first place) and just caught the edge, so the scale went flying, and so did I.

My husband found that I had put the milk and butter I had used for my breakfast in the pantry...at dinnertime."

Tell me yours!

Such a Good Big Brother!

Connor's beginning to treat Alaina like a person and it melts me. This morning, I was changing her clothes on the floor, and Connor insisted on helping by taking her dirty clothes and putting them on her face. It wasn't malicious at all, and he kept trying to do it over and over again. :) He also gets very concerned when she cries and says, "Azaizia" repeatedly until I pick her up. He walked all the way from the coffee table to the fireplace yesterday (about 5 toodler-sized steps!). I have such mixed feelings about him growing up!

QUICK! While they're BOTH sleeping...!

The kids are getting bigger and bigger! Alaina had her two-month checkup on Tuesday, and she weighed in at 10 lbs 6 oz. She was diagnosed with acid reflux and put on Zantac. She will now actually be put down without breaking into hysterics. The doctor says that it should help with her sleeping habits, too, but that has yet to be seen!

Connor takes steps away from furniture on his own now. He doesn't get very far, but he thinks it is the most fun thing in the world. Yesterday he threw his first tantrum, over licorice! I had given him a little bite of a piece on Tuesday night, then left the piece on the table. When I sat down at the table the next morning to have my breakfast, he crawled over faster than I had even seen, stood up and pointed to the licorice on the table. I said, "No Connor, we do not have licorice for breakfast." He plunked down on his butt and screamed like a banshee. He's his mother's child.

I promise I will post pictures eventually, but Alaina is squawking grunting, hoping to be picked up!

23!

Yesterday was my golden birthday, and I took Mary Ann's advice to have the entire day planned out, minute by minute. Unfortunately, life and mother nature had different ideas.

The day got off to a slower-than-anticipated start, so we nixxed the haircut plans. We headed off to a dollar store (very elusive in Colorado) that I had been wanting to go to for months. We got there, and they were closed SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. You tell me, how does a dollar store stay afloat on three days a week? Happily, there was a Big Lots next door, and I am addicted to that place, even if it only means a get a good deal on a mega can of Lysol.

Next, we continued the thrift-o-rama at the state's biggest Goodwill store. I was so excited to go, because of my fond memories of thrifting at D.I., but it was nothing like that. It was like D.I. rejects! Unimpressed!

We then hit the highlight of the day, the Motherhood Maternity store. After cutting holes in my shirts and trying to adapt regular clothes into nursing clothes, I was happy to find 2 cute nursing shirts - on clearance! Man, I sound cheap in this post.

We then stopped into my former Cheesecake stomping grounds to pass out some thank-you notes for baby gifts, give people updates, and have some appetizers.

After that, we drove to the awesome Imax theatre to see The Dark Knight. We figured that since it was a Wednesday and they had lots of Imax showings, it wouldn't be a problem getting tickets. WRONG! They were sold out for the whole day! Oh well, we got tickets to the regular show, then bided the time next door playing arcade games at Dave and Buster's. We left the arcade 30 minutes ahead of time to walk back next door, and it's a good thing we did...we got some of the last 2 seats together! It was pretty sad to see people walk in with their popcorn and sodas and not be able to get seats together.

About halfway through that LOOOONG movie, I started to get a very uncomfortable, nursing wise. I had been very diligent all day about pumping on schedule, but by the time we got back to the car, I knew something was amiss. We had planned to leave Alaina overnight with Anthony's parents, but I had read all about how clogged ducts could lead to serious infections, so we picked her up at 11:00 pm and left Connor there (never wake a sleeping toddler!). After a painful night, I called the doctor, and my suspicions were confirmed! At least I only have clogged ducts instead of mastitis (at this point anyway).

Wow, what a negative nancy post! Despite all of that, I really did have a great birthday! I can't believe I'm 23!

Alaina is seven weeks old now (look at that face chub!) and Connor is nearly 15 months old. This picture seems so innocent and loving, but it is pre-pinch and smack.
This little thing is full of attitude already!

Updates: Connor isn't walking yet, but he is a cruising man! He has mastered our huge flight of stairs, which terrifies us, and can get into pretty much anything he wants to. He mimics our inflections of "Good job!", "Thank you!", and "Alaina." No definite words yet, but he seems to understand a lot of what we are saying. He definitely understands "NO!", but it doesn't seem to phase him much! He's still a great eater, but his tastes vary day to day. Still a great sleeper, averaging 10-11 hours at night and a total of 3 hours of napping a day.

Alaina has no semblance of a schedule yet, other than "MUST EAT ALL THE TIME". She insists on not being put down, and has a magical knack or knowing the second her bum touches a bouncer, swing, or carseat. She's increasingly more and more alert, smiling socially (but elusively), lifts her head for long periods of time, and is close to rolling from her tummy to her side.

It really is true that girls develop faster. Connor was such a blob at this age, but Alaina has things to do and people to see! She's still wobbly, but it's really cute and funny to see her crane her neck to look at things.

Mama (me) is doing well, trying to get back in some sort of routine. I'm averaging a total of 6 hours of sleep a night, which isn't nearly enough to keep me sane, but sufficient to keep me alive. The house is still MESSY, but getting CLEANER, if that makes any sense. Janet, I told you this last year, but your cookbooks have been saving my life - again! Anthony is grateful that it's not Totino's pizza or Hot Pockets every night! Despite me only having about 10 minutes of dinner prep time a day, we've indulged in awesome dinners 4x a week (yes, that's right, I take weekends off). :) Remind me to kiss your feet next time I see you!

A Day in the Life Of...

My morning started off by Connor's AM diaper (you know, the one full of last night's pee) splitting open and spilling the pee-filled jellies ALL over my bedroom floor before I noticed what had happened. Since then, I've been projectile-pooped on twice, vomited on twice, hit on the head with a cell phone, and told that I look bad and should get more sleep. It's only 3:00, people.

Carolyn=0
Motherhood=1

The most beautiful words ever written!

This is a letter from Alaina's endocrinologist (I bolded the best parts):

Hi Carolyn,

Alaina’s results were normal:

Her baseline 17-OHP was 84 ng/dL. 1 hour after corticotropin stimulation it was 117 ng/dL. This is normal, with the range quoted in the paper for a carrier of the mutation (ie. one normal gene, 1 abnormal gene) being 300-1499 and normal being less than 300.

Also, her cortisol response was very robust, and her renin level was normal (the best marker of salt wasting).

All this, plus her normal female genitalia (ie. no evidence of excess male hormone exposure in-utero), means that she does not have congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

The result on the newborn screening test was therefore likely to be a false positive. This happen frequently enough, because the test is designed not to miss anyone who actually has the disease.

I hope this all helps- if you guys, or your pediatrician, have any questions I’d be happy to help in any way I can.

Kind regards,
Dr Taplin

Father's Day

Anthony enjoyed his first Father's Day as a dad of two! We thought it would be a good time to take some pictures!
We even tried to take a family picture with the timed setting on the camera. It didn't turn out very well, but I laugh evertime I see it! Connor looks so concerned and Anthony looks so squished!

Alaina

Kung Fu Preemie

Baby yawns have got to be one of the most precious things on Earth.
Giving me attitude already about taking her picture.

Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

The Dietrich family has been put through the ringer this past week. Alaina's been battling high jaundice levels, and her newborn infant screen came back highly irregular, flagging for a disease called Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. After trips to 4 different emergency rooms and many, many needles, we have initial results that came back promising that she could be perfectly healthy, but I wanted to let everyone know. Do yourselves a favor and don't Google it yet, until we have an official diagnosis, since her case is very treatable with oral steroids. She exhibits none of the physical signs of CAH, and all of the doctors agree that that's very reassuring.

Thanks again, Mom, for helping so much with Connor and around the house. We wouldn't have survived this week without you!

My children don't have the best table manners.

Wanna come visit me?!
Note the milk dribbling out of her mouth!
Showcasing those long fingers once again! Alaina's bilirubin test results came back tonight rather high, so she's spending the evening under the phototherapy lights.

Alaina Mary Dietrich is here!

She weighed in at 6 pounds and 14 ounces. There is a good chance that we will be discharged as a family tomorrow (Friday).
I wanted to stay in there!
This picture makes me sad, but her fingers are too long and beautiful not to show them off already.

It was a cold and rainy Memorial Day weekend here, so we had our imaginary pool party indoors!

Good thing this blog is invited-readers only. The Cheesecake Police are already hunting me down!

I can happily (and officially) say that I am now on my maternity leave! One of the FEW things that are nice about a server's maternity leave is that, since we don't get paid, we can take as long as we want off! My original plan was to work all the way up to 37 weeks, but business has been really picking up (would have been nice a couple of months ago), and I'm not as quick on my feet as I once was. As I like to say, "Nobody likes a sweaty server!".

And now, for a little Cheesecake-related TREACHERY...

The other day, I became privy to some top-secret information. Servers are not allowed in the dessert cooler, and the trucks come in the middle of the night and dispose of the boxes very discreetly. I like to call the trucks the Cheesecake Fairies. Anyway, there were two stray boxes laying around, and my nosy butt had to look at the nutritional information. If the thought of desserts containing hundreds upon hundreds of calories and more fat than two Big-Macs makes you barf, please do not read on.

Pistachio Cream Cheesecake

Calories: 930

My pregnant brain cannot remember the exact amount of fat grams in each of these, but I can tell you it was over 60, but under 120.

And now...for the big finish...(and confirmed WORST dessert for you at The Cheesecake Factory)

Chocolate Tower Truffle Cake

Calories: 1860. Yes, you read that right. EIGHTTEEN-HUNDRED AND SIXTY CALORIES!

This makes me feel a little bit better about the entire bag of Red Vines I just ate!

FYI: This picture is actually not the Chocolate Tower Truffle Cake, but it's the Blackout Cake. Quite comparable, but a few less calories. I feel I must issue a disclaimer: Despite this information, the Blackout Cake is NOT a low-calorie food. :)

34 weeks!

These next two weeks are my LEAST favorite part of pregnancy! They are such a no-man's land! I am "pretty much" (knock on wood) out of the woods for prematurity-related infant death, but too far away from my due date to want the baby to come yet! I'm big, awkward, uncomfortable, and tired, but I don't get to experience the excitement of the baby-watch-mode that 37 weeks brings! Has my belly caught up to Marinda's?

Connor's birthday, part 2

*cookie monster voice* Om nom nom nom!
Sugar high?

Happy first birthday, Connor! (part 1)

We tried to take a family photo, but Connor wasn't into it.
Opening a present from Grandma and Grandpa Broadhead
What is this?
This is mine, right?


He likes it!

Houston: We have a living room!

After two years of living in this house, we finally have some furniture in the front room! We got the furniture brand new in the boxes off of Craigslist for half of its MSRP! (Oh, and I had to throw in a picture of Connor for your daily dose of cute!)