STILL Missing in Action

It's been a pretty tough time at our house.

All 4 cute little baby teeth are in, and the cold is gone, but all is still not well with Pirate Baby.

He hasn't grown since he was 6 months old. For a while, he just didn't gain weight. But then he started losing it. The nurse practitioner we see here in town thought he might have a really serious disease and did some testing. Thankfully, the tests came out negative, but we still didn't have answers. We were referred to a pediatrician 2 hours away, and went to see her on Thursday.

Thankfully, the answer is pretty simple.

Pirate Baby is a breast-fed baby, and it looks like I'm just not producing enough milk. We figured out a plan of attack, and hopefully we'll see him start plumping up again very soon.

The best part about this doctor is she suggested herbal supplements instead of prescriptions. This is a doctor after my own heart!

The long and short of it is I have been very stressed and worried about Pirate Baby for more than two months now. It's exhausting! Because of it, I haven't felt like being very chatty - here on my blog or in real life. I'm hoping to be back to myself soon. I have a couple of fun ideas for entries, but I just haven't been able to get the enthusiasm to write them.

A few things that I should mention:

1. Today is Pirate Surfer's and my 3rd Wedding Anniversary! No exciting concerts this year. We're just going to have a quiet night at home as a family. After this last harvest season, the idea of all of us home for a meal and a movie together sounds like complete luxury!

2. Aside from the issue of his growth, Pirate Baby has been progressing beautifully with his physical developments. He's right on track for a baby his age (not even counting in that he was a preemie!) He's a very fast crawler. Surfer Pirate was stunned to discover how fast he is! One night after Pirate Baby managed to crawl into the dining room before Surfer Pirate noticed, he joked that we could put him at the end of our driveway, and by the next morning he would be in Montana! He can also pull himself up to standing, wave bye-bye, walk with assistance, and he REALLY wants to climb on things (although thankfully, he hasn't figured that one out yet!)

3. Pirate Munchkin and my mom and I have all had a great time figuring out her Halloween costume. We got a catalog from this company in the mail several months ago and have been drooling over their beautiful costumes. I really fell in love with this one because Pirate Munchkin comes from Aztec ancestors. But her favorite was this Indian Princess costume. It's a gorgeous costume, but much too expensive. So I've been looking at how to make one for her. I told my mom about my search, and in true Grandma-loves-to-spoil-her-grandkids fashion, she bought all the fabric and supplies I needed to make one. It's almost finished! I still need to sew the hem on her pants and do some embellishments on the neckline and it will be complete! Pirate Munchkin was very excited to get up this morning and see it was almost done. I can't wait for her to try it all on. I'll try to post pictures here, although it may not be until Halloween when she's got her hair done and all the jewelry (including gems on her forehead!)

4. I'm in process of changing over my "look". I've always leaned towards a more classic look rather than following trends, but I've decided that I'm not happy with anything I'm finding in stores right now. Instead, I'm going to go back to the Old Hollywood kind of look. The styles from the 40's, 50's and early 60's were so feminine and classic. The few places where you can buy that style of clothes are very expensive. Thankfully, the pattern companies recognize the need for that kind of style and those patterns are available again. I'm not done buying patterns, but I've already got quite a collection! I can't wait to get started! My sewing machine is going to be VERY busy over the next few months!

Anyway, that's the update on our household. Hopefully, I'll be more of myself and can get back to regular postings soon.

Missing In Action

I've been neglecting you, my dear readers. I'm very sorry. I have had my hands very, very full lately.

You see, Pirate Baby has had 4 teeth come in during a time span of 4 weeks. When that 4th tooth had just barely broken the surface, he also got a nasty little cold. He's been one miserable little boy.

One unhappy baby.

There's something about a child's scream that gets into your spine and turns it into mush.* I'm so exhausted lately from all the crying and screaming out of this (normally) cute little guy. I'm lucky I manage to get real clothes on during the day, let alone get anything done in my house and... I don't know... get a shower?

*Somewhere, there is a quote about that kind of thing. I swear it's from Bill Cosby Himself, but I can find it. If you know which quote I'm talking about, please find it for me. I'm losing my mind trying to figure it out. K'thanx.

I have managed some major accomplishments during that time (mopped my kitchen floor, and have baby-proofed my living room for our new crawler!), but not much else. We won't discuss the condition of my dining room or the looming pile of laundry in my bedroom. I'm afraid the dirty clothes are going to attack Surfer Pirate some morning when he's passing by them in the dark!


{alarm goes off}

groan

shuffle, shuffle, shuffle

{LEAP!}

AAAAGH!!

{muffled sounds}

...urp...




*sorry. Like I said. I'm tired.


Anyway, so you'll have to bear (bare? Don't know which one is correct right now) with me if I'm sort of quiet these days. I'm fine, just a little worn out. Processing thoughts isn't really my best thing right now.