It's almost christmas? really?

So I had great plans last week. I planned to take Friday off to do all of my christmas shopping...including finding a gift for Jonathan. However, I learned that things don't neccessarily go according to plan.

Akemi caught a really bad cold and had a fever Wednesday night. Jonathan took Thursday morning off, while I headed to work and planned to trade places with him in the afternoon. Instead, I found myself sleeping the entire afternoon. As usual, I caught her virus.

Both Akemi and I were miserable on Friday and we just hung out in our Pjs on the couch. I should of taken her to the doctor but I thought she would get better. I was monitoring her fever and been giving her tylenol. At 3am, I was standing in the bath tub with the hot shower running, both Akemi & I were trying to breath in the steam. I was thinking to myself at that moment, 'Wow, this is parenthood.'

By Saturday morning, my nose was congested and I lost my voice. Jonathan suggested that we take Akemi into the doctor. The doctor gave us some antibiotics for her ear infection,which could of been the cause her throwing up. The doctor shared that if Akemi couldn't keep her fluids down, we would need to take her to the ER for some IV.

On Sunday morning , Akemi was very lethargic and she only had 1 wet diaper in 12 hours. I was getting worried so I woke Jonathan up and we headed over to the ER. The ER nurse gave Akemi some tylenol to lower her fever and in a few hours she perked up. We were in the ER for 5 hours. They ran a few blood test and found that some abnormalities. They were a little bit concern so they gave her a shot of antibiotics.

By the end of Sunday, both Jonathan and I wanted to just sleep. Finally Monday, we made appointments with our general doctor and got some antibiotics.

So, with everything that has happened, what have I learned?

Always take care of myself first. Because if I get sick, it seems as though we're in big trouble.

Akemi will not be allowed to anyone that is recovering from a cold. Jonathan's family friend had a tiny cold last Saturday and I have feeling that she may have caught it from her... =P

Akemi's top favorite things

1. To climb up the stairs and shimmy all the way down

2. Chase Dior around the house and pull on his hair

3. Being a teaser-- she shares her crackers with Dior and then pulls it away...poor dog

4. Be mommy's helper, loves to clean with the roller thingy

5. Taking baths, she would always crawl to the bathroom and try to climb into the bathtub even though it's not filled with anything. Her new thing is drinking the bath water..she'll dip her chin in.

6. Dance to 'Bee Bop' music --she shakes her butt when she's crawling

7. Watch Oswald on Noggin (Nickelodeon's version for toddlers)

8. Loves to be flipped upside down. You could see all of her little teeth.

9. Eat messy food

10. To always be carried around

Akemi's 1st ouch report

Akemi received her 1st "ouch" report from daycare today. Apparently my little girl loves to climb on things. She climbed on a plastic chair and slipped off and hit her forehead on the table. 'Ouch'. She has a small little bump and bruise but not too bad.

I was amazed at the extent the daycare will go to make sure I was well informed. They called, left a message to call back. They wrote a report and even had me meet with the daycare director who apologized profusely. I guess I'm not like other parents because the daycare director was amazed at how calm I was. She asked if I was a nurse because I seemed to be fine with the entire incident. I shared that accidents will happen and I know she's in good care.

On the sleeping topic, Akemi woke up at 12:30am (on the dot) again last night. I let her cry for 10 mins, but then I heard her start gagging so I ran to her room to make sure she's ok. Another half an hour goes by of 'patting her back' ,picking her up and down in her crib , finally I resorted to having her sleep with me. She slept all the way till 6:30am!

Does the Ferber method really work for others? I can't bear to hear her cry pass 5 mins. =)

Any Advice??

Ok, I'm desperate for any advice. Akemi has been going to be at 8:30-9pm and has been waking up at 12:30am and 4:30am to nurse. Is that normal? I'm trying to wean her off the 12:30am feeding and been trying to rock her back to sleep. Instead she'll scream hysterically and I would finally give in and nurse her. Ironically around the 4 or 5th month, she was sleeping through the night (8:30pm till 5am). I can't remember when that started to change. Maybe because she's teething? She has 6 front teeth. Crazy huh? It started off with just two on the bottom, then two on top, and now two more are creeping out from the top.

Whatever it is, I need sleep. Last night she woke up at 12:30, 2:30, 4:30, 6:30am. I'm amazed that I was able to make into work today.

One night, we tried the Ferber method and I let her cry for only 5 mins. As I was counting down to the fifth minute, she threw up all over the her crib sheet. Instead, I found myself crying since I felt so bad for my baby girl. We're no longer trying out the Ferber method.

The next method we tried is giving her water at the 12:30am time. One of the books, that we frantically read at Borders, said that we should give her 4 oz of water and each night decrease the amount. I'll let you know how that goes....

Other news, Akemi is refusing baby food. Ms. Carla shared that Akemi just spits out the baby food and refuse to eat it. I'm trying to figure out what to feed her instead. Today I packed her a japanese bento box with some salmon flakes and rice. I think I'll try making some beef stew and give her some for daycare. =) Or, I can just pay the $65/month meal program at the daycare. It just seems so much for only lunch. Since Akemi is in the infant program, breakfast and 2 snacks are already included. The meal program is great if the baby is on formula since that is covered by the program.

Anyways, I'll let ya know how my nite and feeding goes!

Being M.I.A

So I've been M.I.A for a while, not because I want to. It's been crazy here at the home and work. As Nov. approached, Akemi started to catch a cold, then finally caught the worse stomach flu that wiped her out of daycare for the entire week of Thanksgiving. I never changed so many bedsheets in my entire life.

On the first day, we kept giving Akemi more fluids after she threw up which was a big No No. After talking to the nurse, we were suppose to wait for an hour before giving her any liquids. =0
Oops.

By day 5, she started to feel better, but then I caught it and was out the entire day. Jonathan had to take care of TWO babies. As I'm sleeping I could hear Jonathan running frantically from one room to the next, mumbling 'Oh no, you poop all over yourself', then I would hear the shower in the bathroom running and hear him fumbling to get Akemi's clothes off. By the time I woke up the next day, I could see the trail of all the clothes on the floor from the bathroom to the bedroom. I smile as I imagine what all took place as I was sleeping.

By day 6, it was the day before Thanksgiving and I finally showed up to work. By the time Thanksgiving rolled around, I didn't know what day it was and somehow manage to go through the thanksgiving holiday catching up on my sleep.

So all of November has been a blur, aside from the nice visit from my brother and his family, I can't believe it's DEC!!!