Tuesday, April 17, 2012
.JPG)
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
9.5 months & standing!
XOXO
The Cartwrights
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Advice for New Parents
I'd have to say. Sure, we were nervous about becoming parents...isn't everybody? We took every childbirth class we could get our hands on and read a lot of books along the way. And now, Carmen is almost 10 months old and I am looking back feeling pretty confident about the way my husband and I "parent." From the natural birthing experience to what kind of foods we want to give Carmen and when, luckily, we tend to agree on everything thus far.
My biggest advice to new parents is to realize that as soon as you become pregnant, everyone and their mother will want to tell you how you should raise your baby. Everyone has tips & advice, some good & some not-so-good, so what I will tell you is to be CONFIDENT in yourself and trust your instincts and know that you, as a parent, will make the right and BEST decisions for your child. What might work for one family, may not work for yours.
I will tell you a bit about my experiences day to day that I know are very different from others, but they work for us.
First thing's first, we chose NOT to find out the sex of our daughter and I will tell you that about 95% of people we encountered thought we were out of our minds, crazy and they simply could NOT understand how we would pick what color to paint the nursery. To that I will tell you that NOT knowing we were having a girl was the coolest and biggest surprise we will probably ever have...and about the nursery, I probably should have responded that it wouldn't matter because the nursery was under construction and wouldn't be finished until well after we knew the sex of our baby! Haha! That's the truth. Carmen had her VERY FIRST NIGHT SLEEP in her crib in HER OWN ROOM two months ago. It was awesome and the timing could not have been more perfect.
I made the decision to breastfeed. At first I wasn't truly comfortable with the idea. I am not a child from a time when our mother's were breastfeeding. In fact, almost every one of my friends my age were also forumla-fed, so not only did I not have any information from life experience going into it, I couldn't get advice from my own Mother, because it was not her experience either. What did I do? I took a class & I read, read, read. It was so helpful to me. Carmen actually slept during her first week of life and she was not a baby that knew to wake herself up if she was hungry and I didn't force her to wake either. When we went for her first check-up, she had lost too much weight in her first week so we were sent to a lactation specialist. I was told to feed her every two hours around the clock, and after each feeding to pump to increase my supply. It felt like we were operating a milk factory and by day 3, I was raw and wanted to cry....but Carmen gained 8 ounces in those three days...all without needing a supplement. Now, back to work full time, I find a way to make the time to pump twice a day, at least. On days when I am a little short, Carmen gets a bottle of dairy free formula and I am okay with this. My goal is to breast feed for at least her first year and then one day at a time.
Feeding- schedule or on demand? Definitely on demand, Carmen eats only when she wants to. And because of this she's gotten herself on her own schedule and she pretty much eats around the same times every day. Some days she is hungrier than others, but we never force her one way or another. Now, that we have recently started to introduce solid foods. (We waited until about 7 and a 1/2 months.) Just recently we started moving her up to 3-4 feedings a day. Breast milk is still the best source of nourishment for her, so we make that her primary nutrition. She is a big fan of sweet potato & corn. She doesn't like plums and she loves bananas and we try to make most of her food, if not we buy all organic and nothing with added sugars or sodium.
To let your child cry it out? I am not going to go into this in any detail because I strongly feel "NO." If Carmie is crying, she needs something so I am going to do what I can to figure out what that is and help her to stop crying. And I've got to say, unless you are trying to put her in her car seat or you are taking away a toy, she's happy as a pig in shit.
So all in all, trust yourself. You will know what's best. You are the best advocate for your child.
My biggest advice to new parents is to realize that as soon as you become pregnant, everyone and their mother will want to tell you how you should raise your baby. Everyone has tips & advice, some good & some not-so-good, so what I will tell you is to be CONFIDENT in yourself and trust your instincts and know that you, as a parent, will make the right and BEST decisions for your child. What might work for one family, may not work for yours.
I will tell you a bit about my experiences day to day that I know are very different from others, but they work for us.
First thing's first, we chose NOT to find out the sex of our daughter and I will tell you that about 95% of people we encountered thought we were out of our minds, crazy and they simply could NOT understand how we would pick what color to paint the nursery. To that I will tell you that NOT knowing we were having a girl was the coolest and biggest surprise we will probably ever have...and about the nursery, I probably should have responded that it wouldn't matter because the nursery was under construction and wouldn't be finished until well after we knew the sex of our baby! Haha! That's the truth. Carmen had her VERY FIRST NIGHT SLEEP in her crib in HER OWN ROOM two months ago. It was awesome and the timing could not have been more perfect.
I made the decision to breastfeed. At first I wasn't truly comfortable with the idea. I am not a child from a time when our mother's were breastfeeding. In fact, almost every one of my friends my age were also forumla-fed, so not only did I not have any information from life experience going into it, I couldn't get advice from my own Mother, because it was not her experience either. What did I do? I took a class & I read, read, read. It was so helpful to me. Carmen actually slept during her first week of life and she was not a baby that knew to wake herself up if she was hungry and I didn't force her to wake either. When we went for her first check-up, she had lost too much weight in her first week so we were sent to a lactation specialist. I was told to feed her every two hours around the clock, and after each feeding to pump to increase my supply. It felt like we were operating a milk factory and by day 3, I was raw and wanted to cry....but Carmen gained 8 ounces in those three days...all without needing a supplement. Now, back to work full time, I find a way to make the time to pump twice a day, at least. On days when I am a little short, Carmen gets a bottle of dairy free formula and I am okay with this. My goal is to breast feed for at least her first year and then one day at a time.
Feeding- schedule or on demand? Definitely on demand, Carmen eats only when she wants to. And because of this she's gotten herself on her own schedule and she pretty much eats around the same times every day. Some days she is hungrier than others, but we never force her one way or another. Now, that we have recently started to introduce solid foods. (We waited until about 7 and a 1/2 months.) Just recently we started moving her up to 3-4 feedings a day. Breast milk is still the best source of nourishment for her, so we make that her primary nutrition. She is a big fan of sweet potato & corn. She doesn't like plums and she loves bananas and we try to make most of her food, if not we buy all organic and nothing with added sugars or sodium.
To let your child cry it out? I am not going to go into this in any detail because I strongly feel "NO." If Carmie is crying, she needs something so I am going to do what I can to figure out what that is and help her to stop crying. And I've got to say, unless you are trying to put her in her car seat or you are taking away a toy, she's happy as a pig in shit.
So all in all, trust yourself. You will know what's best. You are the best advocate for your child.
Score
Corned Beef
I've never been a fan of Corned Beef. Gram picked one up for us and it was the best cut ever. Mike cooked it with these great organic purple potatoes. (This was St. Patty's day.) I am playing catch up!
Carmie's window seat
Carmie's new spot at our breakfast nook. This is my favorite spot in the house. The way the light comes through the back window is awesome at every hour of the day!
Wine Rack Placement
You all remember this awesome score at the dump that I simply took a sander to... To find room for the hutch we had to move a few things around. I think I am liking it's new home. However, the rack would be better if it was FULL OF WINE.
Added Hutch
Kathleen moved to Portland. Congrats Kathleen!
With that, she had some items that needed a new home. This is her hutch and I am quite enjoying it's addition to my living room.
With that, she had some items that needed a new home. This is her hutch and I am quite enjoying it's addition to my living room.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Finally finding the time
We went to see Dr. Herrin at Boston Children's last week. We drove through the pouring rain while Carmie slept peacefully almost the entire ride. Around 1, we checked into our very cute little B&B, the Beechtree Inn, which smelled entirely of homemade baked goods throughout our stay. Loved the little turn of the century victorian 10 bdrm home. Very, very cool and I highly recommend it to anyone traveling to Brookline Mass. It's on Longwood Ave, same street as the hospital and only a 15 minute walk.
Luckily the rain stopped once we arrived and we were able to push the stroller. Which, even in the most gloomy weather, Carmie is a big fan of being outside. They got us in after a short wait, vitals were great. She peed for them when we turned on the water...do we know our little girl or what! It always gives the nurses a laugh that she goes on cue!
We met with Dr. Herrin (Boston Magazine ranked TOP Nephrologist in the country)- Quite a character. He is a 76 yr old ball of laughs and when he first looked at Carmen he said, "Tell me what about this little girl is not PERFECT, outside of her kidneys!" Exactly. And the answer is truly, nothing.
--She is growing
--Her blood pressure is perfect
--Kidney function is perfect
--Liver function is perfect
Yes, there are some echogenicites on both her kidneys and her liver and yes, her kidney's are large for what would be expected from this very petite little girl. Yes, there are cysts and there are a lot of them.
BUT-
Is there a chance that it is NOT ARPKD? The Dr. believes there is.
Is there a chance that in a year when we have a repeat ultrasound that her kidneys could look better than they do now? The Dr. believes there is.
What we do know is that we did discover this by accident and chances are, this would not have been picked up until years down the road if related symptoms were present. However, in the SPECTRUM of Polycystic kidney disease, her presentation is VERY MILD. We need to take this accident as a blessing and keep it in the back of our minds.
To sum it up, We were with the Dr. just talking for almost 2 hours. He was a very knowledgeable nice man and however this unfolds down the road and in time, we have hope. Hope that there is a chance we are not dealing with the recessive gene of this disease and maybe not even dealing with disease at all.
Only time will tell.
No matter what happens down the road, we are just so lucky to have our amazing Carmen Sophia Rose, because she truly is the light of our lives and of our families.
I will keep you posted on any updates. We are going to go ahead and keep our appt. with her Nephrologist at Yale next month for her check up & we will be sure to tell him about our second opinion.
Luckily the rain stopped once we arrived and we were able to push the stroller. Which, even in the most gloomy weather, Carmie is a big fan of being outside. They got us in after a short wait, vitals were great. She peed for them when we turned on the water...do we know our little girl or what! It always gives the nurses a laugh that she goes on cue!
We met with Dr. Herrin (Boston Magazine ranked TOP Nephrologist in the country)- Quite a character. He is a 76 yr old ball of laughs and when he first looked at Carmen he said, "Tell me what about this little girl is not PERFECT, outside of her kidneys!" Exactly. And the answer is truly, nothing.
--She is growing
--Her blood pressure is perfect
--Kidney function is perfect
--Liver function is perfect
Yes, there are some echogenicites on both her kidneys and her liver and yes, her kidney's are large for what would be expected from this very petite little girl. Yes, there are cysts and there are a lot of them.
BUT-
Is there a chance that it is NOT ARPKD? The Dr. believes there is.
Is there a chance that in a year when we have a repeat ultrasound that her kidneys could look better than they do now? The Dr. believes there is.
What we do know is that we did discover this by accident and chances are, this would not have been picked up until years down the road if related symptoms were present. However, in the SPECTRUM of Polycystic kidney disease, her presentation is VERY MILD. We need to take this accident as a blessing and keep it in the back of our minds.
To sum it up, We were with the Dr. just talking for almost 2 hours. He was a very knowledgeable nice man and however this unfolds down the road and in time, we have hope. Hope that there is a chance we are not dealing with the recessive gene of this disease and maybe not even dealing with disease at all.
Only time will tell.
No matter what happens down the road, we are just so lucky to have our amazing Carmen Sophia Rose, because she truly is the light of our lives and of our families.
I will keep you posted on any updates. We are going to go ahead and keep our appt. with her Nephrologist at Yale next month for her check up & we will be sure to tell him about our second opinion.
One day at a time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)