chinny chin chin

harper drools the most of the girls. at 6 months still no teeth so maybe she's just a drooler by nature. it would help if she had a neck but that bottomside of her face seems to rest on her shoulders and the wetness ferments there. that drool has caused a rash that she had for a month or so until i finally took her to the doctor. at first i used nipple butter and aquaphor but weeks later it got redder and spread and i saw her itching at it while she slept (via video monitor). then parts of it started turning a little yellow. she even woke up one morning with blood all over her collar and a couple deep scratch marks. it had become infected. a week of topical anitbiotics and hydrocortisone cleared it up but i see it's starting to come back. lotion/hydrocortisone/patience. maybe i should get one of those suckers they have at the dentist office and hit her up a couple times a day so she stops slobbering.

how ice is formed

walking to the bus stop on morning riley tells me that when water gets 85% colder it forms into ice.

the next day or two later spencer tells me "my teeth hurt from joy riley trying to pull my grey tooth out."

don't burp, don't toot . . .what do you do

harper has had terrible gas since she was just a wee little new baby. not everyday, but enough to make it noticeable. when she was just a couple weeks old i remember holding her trying all i can do to console her tense, red, and screaming body. i don't know if i'll ever forget that deep grunting cry telling me that it most definitely is gas. mike went to the computer looking up ways to relieve it. the best was holding her facing out with her legs tucked up close to her body. bicycle legs helped a little too. we would just have to ride it out and try to help the gas make it's way out. eventually--maybe a half-hour or hour later--she'd burp and go back to her calm happy self like nothing ever happened.

(not a picture of a gas attack but the only picture of her where she's crying. she's 3 weeks old here)

now she is 6 months old. it has become more of a regular nighttime thing, around midnight. i nurse her right before bed (7pm or thereabouts). all cozy in jammies and sleep sack, light dim. as sweet as this time is she is far too relaxed and sleepy to let out a good rip. i lay her down and a couple hours later she's up and she's in pain. i am double exhausted at this time because i am woken from that super deep sleep you fall into about an hour after your head hits the pillow. after the tummy massage, bicycle legs, i've found the best way to get the burp out is to set her down in sitting position and when she reaches forward the burp comes out. one night, after being up for an hour with little relief, i set her on the floor to play and i folded diapers at 1am.

the intro of solids and the dopey post-nursing are a bad combo. i'm going to try nursing a half-hour before bedtime and with a little playtime in there so hopefully she gets everything out of her system. we are also going to move onto some fruit in hopes that relieves any binding up of the poo. cross your fingers.