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| My very talented cousin, Katie Nelson, made this. |
1) Pooblems: Melissa did a great job in the last post outlining all the wonderful things we love about Emma. But, like all parents, there are also a lot of things that scare the crap out of us. I think I'd mentioned previously that when Emma was about 3 weeks old, we noticed a little bit of blood in her stool. This happened in 2 or 3 of her poopy diapers over the course of a day or two so we took her to the pediatrician and were informed that Emma likely has a dairy allergy. Apparently some babies have a difficult time breaking down lactose, the protein in dairy, which then irritates their stomach and bowel lining thus causing a trace amount of blood in her stool. Because Melissa is nursing, the fix is for Melissa to cut dairy out of her diet. That means, amoung many things, no ice cream!!!! Melissa did a great job reading labels and making sacrifices and Emma seemed to be doing better until her second trip to Okoboji. After a feeding on a Saturday morning, Emma spit up, which in itself is unlike Emma, but what was more unusual and alarming was that there was a significant amount of blood in the spit up. As she was being packed up for a trip to the hospital she did it again which got people moving a little faster. The trip to the ER was fairly uneventful with the exception of a blood draw - they stick her little heel and squeeze it until they get enough blood - which nearly broke mommy and daddy's hearts. Her blood results came back normal and it was suggested that perhaps the allergy had flared up and that we should switch to formula for a couple days until we could see our pediatrician back in Minneapolis. Reluctantly we did as instructed until we started to notice more blood in her stools; so it was back to nursing. We were referred by our pediatrician to see a pediatric GI and nutrition specialist which brought good news and some not so good news. The good news is that the irritation to her bowel and tummy from the allergy will not cause any long term damage. The not so good news is that he informed us that 40% of babies with a dairy allergy also have an allergy to soy. UGH! That means a closer look at labels. It's amazing how much stuff has soy in it. Currently it is more of an inconvienience than anything else. The bottom line is that Emma is thriving and is a happy, healthy baby gaining plenty of weight and growing like a weed. If it weren't for this I would be much more concerned about this allergy business. I, however, can eat ice cream. So, like Melissa pointed out, there are so many things to love about Emma and so many things that terrify us. I think all parents have felt that helpless feeling where you just want to crawl out of your skin to make sure and KNOW that they are going to be okay. It's not fun but I guess it is part of the territory. I am happy to report that it has been 2 weeks now and we haven't had any more pooblems :)
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| I figured cute pictures of Emma would be more appreciated than the pictures of poopy diapers I have stored on my phone for the pediatrician. |
2) Two Month Check-up: Might as well stick with the medical stuff for the next subject. Emma had her 2 month check up on Aug. 16th and we were told that she is doing great. She weighed in at 12lb 2 oz with a length of 23.5 inches, and a HUGE head! All of these measurements were in the 90th percentile for babies her age. At 2 months, she has outgrown all of her newborn and 0-3 month clothes because she has gotten too long for them. We might have had to make the switch anyway because most of the 3-6 month clothes have an extra button or snap to allow then to go over her head. It was getting pretty tough to get those newborn onsies over her monster mellon :) Bottom line, Emma is happy and healthy.
3) Burgart Frenzy: Emma got a special treat a couple weekends ago and met her Burgart kin. The purpose of the gathering was two-fold: my Grandmother Francella Burgart's 80th birthday and a baby shower for Emma. The Burgart clan is your typical Catholic Farm family - my dad has 5 brothers and sisters who gave me 14 cousins to play with growing up. Needless to say, our gatherings are always a little crazy but always a lot of fun. The party was a success, everyone loved Emma and Emma loved everyone. The highlight was having her meet her Great Gandpa Vincent and Great Grandma Francella. She also met her uncle Justin and her uncle and aunt Jon and Amy and their daughters - Emma's cousins - Aubrey and Annabelle. She also met all of her great aunts and uncles, most of her second cousins, and even some cousins once removed. There is no doubt Emma is blessed with lots of family who love her. Here are some photos of the big event!
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| From left to right: Uncle Justin, Dad, Mom, Emma, Grandpa Jim, Grandma Becky, Cousin Aubrey, Uncle Jon, Aunt Amy, and Cousin Annie (who is apparently not paying attention to the camera) |
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| Great Grandpa Vincent (a.k.a. Timmy) - he's 90 years old in this photo |
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| My cousins and their kids. Michael and Alyssa with Matilda on the far left and Phillip and Jana with Sam next to us. |
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| Emma's cousins Annabelle and Aubrey. Grandpa's a lucky guy :) |
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| Uncle Jon and Emma bean. |
On the left are my cousins Amber and Katie and on the right is my cousin Jennifer.4) Twins Game: On August 20th, Emma made it to her first ever Twins game :) Not only did she get to see her first Twins game, but she is their good luck charm and got to see her first Twins win!! To make it sweeter, the win came against the hated Yankees. In attendance for the game were Aunt Megan, Kyle Orris (a Luther College friend), Melissa and I, and her Great Uncle Larry. Emma did pretty well - she mostly slept, but woke up a couple times when it got noisy. I think if you were to ask Emma, she would tell you she had a great time and Go Twins!
Well, that's probably enough for now. One last thing I'd like share - it's pretty much the best part of my day. In the mornings when Emma wakes up I usually go get her out of her swaddle while Melissa gathers her things to nurse her. Lately, since she has started smiling, as soon as I peak over her crib she looks at me with her big doey eyes and gives me the biggest heart melting smile. Then she goes into an olympic caliber stretching routine. Here is a little video I shot the other day. Enjoy!
With love from Minneapolis,
Jason, Melissa, and Emma
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