Solids and snot suckers - the making of a perfect family weekend...

Age of Lady Kaitlyn:  6 months and 11 days

Family,

And a good Sunday afternoon to you from the Queen City, where the Bull, Striker, and Munchkin have just bid fare well to Grand-Nanny and Grammie.  Talk about an amazing weekend!  But I get ahead of myself - let's wind it back to Sunday, when the Bull left you just 2 hours before heading to Charlotte-Douglas for his flight to Sao Paulo.

For my part, the work week was very productive but a BLUR of activity.  11 hour days, meetings in 3 languages, and a string of taxis, espressos, catered lunches, payroll discussions, and heavy dinners made 3 days pass very quick, leaving me scrambling at 3 PM on Wednesday for my cab to the airport.  The airport itself was an adventure, and let's just say between flight delays, security checks, and a connection in Rio, the Bull BARELY made it home in time.  But as I sat down on that flight at 10 PM on Wednesday night, I could NOT have been happier, as I was headed home to all 5 of my girls (K, Wife Muffin, my mom, Nanny, and Katie the Corolla :-)).

Grammie giving K her daily dose of literature.

As usual, my wife was an IRON WOMAN, getting up at 4:45 so that she could get ready between 5-6 before rousing the munchkin, changing and feeding her, and then dropping her at daycare before kicking off a full workday.  Her mom came on Sunday and again on Tuesday, provided some welcome help with  daycare prep (i.e. bottle washing, formula mixing, etc) and with bath time.  I was surprised to learn that, due to being SUPER stopped up with a small cold/sinus infection, the munch actually woke up in the middle of the night for the first time if 4 months on the Sunday whilst I was flying to Brazil.  Apparently she just needed a bit more food, and after that she settled.  She woke up again on Tuesday night, but this time she was able to put herself back down.  Also, my mom and grandmother (Nanny) arrived on Wednesday night, as originally I'd thought I'd be in SP during different days AND we wanted K to have a few days outside of daycare.

Now JT had warned me about how stuffed up the Munch was, but nothing really prepared me for it until I saw it first hand on Thursday.  I landed at 6:40, was in the care by 7:20, and rolled back to the house about 7:55.  I walked in to find the Munch had just woken up, so I started feeding her right after lotion and an outfit change.  Well, all I can say is that it was HEARTBREAKING to watch the feeding session, as poor Kaitlyn couldn't breathe AT ALL when she started to suck on the bottle.  Since she couldn't eat, she started to get upset, meaning that she went for her comfort mechanism - her left thumb.  However, when she tried to suck her thumb for relief, she again realized that she couldn't breathe through her nose, meaning that she was now starving, stuffed up, AND unable to soothe herself.  The only word to best describe this was....MELTDOWN.

The Munch and the Nan - sooooo cute.

The munch's new sleeping posture - but
only for naps.  The big sleep is still on her
back - for now...

It took a good 30 minutes to calm the munch, during which time she cried harder than I had ever seen her.  As a guy fresh off 3 days speaking another language and 2 red-eyes in 4 days, I was NOT ready for this.  However, we did manage to get her calm, and eventually we managed to clean out her nose enough to finish the feed.  How did we clean her nose, you ask?  Well, let me introduce you to the GROSSEST THING YOU WILL EVER LOVE - the Swedish Nose-frida snot sucker.  In a word - WOW.

So here's the deal for those of you who've never seen it.  Basically you have a tube you put at the tip of the baby's nose, and this tip has a few plastic filters between your mouth and hers.  The rest of the contraption is just one big tube, with the other end being a tip you put IN YOUR MOUTH.  Directions for instruction?  Really simple - SUCK REAL HARD.  The result?  Snots comes FLYING out of your child's nose and pulled into the vortex of the central plastic tube.  Seriously - it is DISGUSTING, but it WORKS, as instantly the Munch was breathing better.  Now granted, I was pretty sure we were slowing rattling her brain with the sucking, but repeated reviews have confirmed that no, we are not in fact ripping brain matter out of our daughter's cranium.  Insert enormous sigh of relief here. :-)

The Nose Frida Snot Sucker - I mean, the
looks on all faces pretty much sums it up.
JT's lung capacity had me pretty worried our
daughter would soon lose her front cerebral
cortex.

There were 2 meltdowns that day, and I will confess that the Bull was rattled and NOT ready for his daughter being so frustrated.  However, by the end of the day, the munch was exhausted, and all was well.  However, this day had it's own VERY special highlight - THE MUNCH STARTED SOLIDS!!!!  That's right, sports fans - the Munch had her first ever tablespoon of oatmeal cereal on Thursday, September 19th.  It was HILARIOUS!  Seriously - at first she didn't know WHAT to make of it, but we really do think that she enjoyed it.  And YES - she was wearing 97% of it on her bib and face when it was over, but I think we can safely confirm that there's no "texture aversion" to this must basic human gruel (1 part dried infant oatmeal, 4 parts breast milk).   K's seeing other food changes as well now, as this week we finally started introducing a mixture of formula and breast milk into the bottles.  We started the week with 5 oz of breast milk and 2 oz of formula, but we've already increased the formula to 3 oz per bottle.  In terms of brand, so far Similac seems to agree with her, but for us it's been the adjustment of her now eating less with each feed and eating less frequently (pure breast milk metabolizes faster, so we're having to figure out how to modify her schedule and ensure she still gets at least 24 ounces of milk/formula within her 11.5-12 hour waking schedule).  JT's even gonna try only pumping twice today, which would be a huge win for her if she could drop the afternoon session going forward.  Stay tuned next week... :-)

And so the journey begins - K's first bite of solids.

Look at that game face!  This stuff is the JAM - bring it on!

Journey's end - with about .00001% consumed and ingested.

Thursday was another big one for K, as she had four - count 'em, FOUR - shots at the doctor.  She had the standard 3 vaccines for a 6 month old, plus we also administered her flu primer.  She was a ROCK STAR,  not even crying after the first injection!  She whined for a second on shots 2 and 4, but the nurse was great (lightning fast) and K is tough as nails, so the end result was a quick trip to the doctor and K back in time for her nap.  This kid really is amazing.

The weekend itself was just PERFECT.  K rolled quite a bit, rolling on her side and then mostly over (still can't duck that shoulder) during each of her naps.  She's felt much better over the weekend, and once the work week was over I was able to relax a lot more and enjoy the time with the family.  Steve (aka Grand Pooh) even made the drive over the mountain on Saturday, so we really did have the whole gang here!  Nanny and mom cooked every meal for us (we literally did NOTHING), cleaning up after each session, watching the munch while we did some other errands, and washing clothes to get the place spic and span before they left.  It was GREAT, and just having the chance to unwind and relax was a blessing after the week we'd had.

Tomorrow is back to the grind stone, but Team Taylor has recorded several good sleeps, had plenty of good food, and even managed some exercise over the last couple of days, all of which has been MOST welcome.  Also, the munch is feeling better (in truth, I'm the one feeling rough now), which certainly makes us breathe easier (no pun intended).

I will say that, as I'm still recovering from the trip to South America, I think it's safe to say that my days of instantly bouncing back from travel might be over.  It's not that I haven't managed to get some sleep, as I have.  I think it's more that, in the new world order, there are always things to be done, and just sitting around and sleeping in is officially NOT an option for the foreseeable future.  That means be VERY careful about over-extending or over planning, as finding recovery time is much more difficult than it used to be.  That being said, I am sitting here like a knot on a log at present counting down the minutes until the Panthers kick off, so I can't REALLY say I don't have that much free time or opportunities to recuperate. :-)

Mom, Nanny, Steve, Jan - thank you all SO MUCH for the help this week and for coming to visit us and the Munch.  As always, it was SO GREAT to have family around - it just goes too fast!  See you all soon!

Love,

Sam and Jenny