Baby Burgess

Lelia’s New Trick

Preparing for a fun-filled weekend.

For the past 2 years we have joined our friends Jen and Chris Tooman for a weekend of morel mushroom hunting with Chris’ family – also known as Shroomin’ with the Toomans.  We drive east to Glennie, MI and meet up with the Tooman’s family and friends for a weekend of camping, eating, shroomin’, and fun.  This year we were excited to bring Lelia with us for her first camping adventure.

We left Friday afternoon only a half hour later than we had hoped, which isn’t too bad especially considering the fact that we had to take Lelia in to the doctor for a last-minute checkup.  Wednesday we noticed a few little, red bumps on her cheek.  They looked like bug bites so I didn’t really think anything of them.  Late Friday morning, as I rushed to get my work done so we could head out for our fun, I got a call from daycare saying that Lelia broke out in a rash all over her body.  Oh dear.  She was napping when they called so I opted to finish up at work and evaluate the situation when I was done.  Sure enough, rashy all over, but she didn’t seem to care.  We dropped in to Dr. Leikert’s office and she was able to see Lelia right away.  She looked her over and gave us the okay to head out for our trip.  Lelia had gotten a form of varicella virus that caused the rash.  She said it may look worse before it looked better but there was really nothing to do but let it run its course.  Since she no longer had a fever she wasn’t contagious and the rash went away by Saturday morning.  All is good again!

We packed up, met up with Mel, Harv, Jen, and Noah and started our caravan to Glennie.  About half way through our trip our truck started acting up.  We stopped in Cadillac and it was decided that we needed a new battery.  Thankfully Kev and Harv know their stuff and we were back on the road in no time.  As we approached our destination the truck started acting up again.  It was well passed business hours and there wasn’t a parts store in the immediate area anyway, so things were not looking up.  Thankfully we had caravaned and got a jump from Mel and Harv which gave us enough juice to get to the campground.  Kevin got a ride in to town the next day and luckily the parts store had an alternator, so we were good to go…….again.  Thankfully the truck cooperated for the rest of the weekend!

The morels were a bit sparse this year since the weather has been so odd.  We had a great time anyway!  The company is always good and the food is fabulous!  The weather actually cooperated this year and we had some beautiful, sunny days and mild nights.  Lelia did great the whole time, we were so proud of her!  And now we can’t wait to take her camping again!

Getting ready for breakfast Saturday morning.

Playing on the campground slide.

Noah and Lelia have their first play date.

Needless to say we were all pooped when we got home.  I’m still working on doing laundry from the weekend and putting things away.  My first Mother’s Day weekend as a Mom was awesome though!  Kevin and Lelia left me a sweet card and candy to discover in the camper and our friend Mel left a sweet card in the truck for me.  I already can’t wait for next year!

Of course, to top off the weekend of crazy rashes and car problems, I can’t forget to add in today’s fun.  Yesterday morning as we packed up I camp I noticed that my hands were a little sore.  Not the joints but the skin.  It just hurt. Then last night I noticed a bunch of little, red bumps on them.  I figured Lelia’s virus had got me too and hopefully I would get rid of it as fast as she did.  Today it got worse – itchier and sore.  Still just on my hands though, and it didn’t look like Lelia’s rash.  So I went to the doctor and got it looked at.  Hand, foot, and mouth disease.  HMFD is common in young children and rarely occurs in adults.  It’s bumpy, red, itchy, painful, and gross.  Since I did not have a fever it was determind that I am no longer contagious, so thankfully I shouldn’t pass this to Lelia and Kevin as long as I am careful.  I was prescribed a cream and told that it should heal fairly quickly.  I have decided that I get weird sicknesses at the wrong age – chicken pox at 15 instead of 5, shingles at 28 instead of 60, and HFMD at 29 instead of 3.  What a way to top off the weekend!

What a weekend!

Growing is exhausting.

Last week Monday was Lelia’s 9-month birthday.  She had her well visit to Dr.Leikert yesterday.  19 pounds, 8 ounces and 27 inches long.  Not bad!  Still sticking between the 50th-75th percentile for height and weight and meeting all developmental milestones.  Along with 2 immunizations, Lelia also got poked and tested for lead and iron.  Her tests showed no lead in her system and her iron was a 10.3.  Dr.Leikert said they like to see an iron level of 10.5 but Lelia was so close that it really didn’t worry her.  So we passed with flying colors!

In my last post I talked about Lelia’s teeth coming in.  Well it seems she likes to be efficient and really get along with things.  Not only are her bottom 2 front teeth through the gums, but now she has one top front tooth through and is working on the second one.  Girl has sprouted 4 teeth in a span of 10 days!  Looks like a few more may be on their way down too.  Needless to say this makes her somewhat crabby and clingy, but worse things could happen.  It’s obvious her little mouth is hurting, she pushes on her cheeks and chews her fingers and anything else that comes near her.  Tylenol before bedtime has been a life saver!  We are also trying chamomile tea to calm her down.  Just started today and she drank about 4 ounces.  It’s hard to tell if it works or not since it was only our first try, but we’ll keep at it and see.

With all the teething, biting has become a little problem at times.  Of course she likes to chew on toys, her fingers, and anything else she can manage to get her hands on.  But she also likes to take a bite out of Mommy every now and again.  While nursing.  OUCH.  She doesn’t do it every time, thank goodness.  I’ve done some reading about why babies bite while nursing and how to prevent it and the suggestions seem to be helping.  It’s hard not to get a little nervous while she’s eating, anticipating a bite, but I try to stay calm and practice the things I read about.  She’s getting better.  I certainly won’t miss this bitey stage though.

Lelia all dressed and ready for her first Easter.

As expected, Easter was  busy for the Burgi.  We started our adventures with brunch at Grandma T & Pops’ house with Aaron and Granny Helen too!  Miss Lelia was dressed in her new Easter getup and looking mighty cute.  Grandma T made an excellent meal of breakfast casserole, danishes, rolls, polish sausage, and oranges and Pops complimented that with his specialty, pancakes.  We stuffed ourselves, of course, and spent some time visiting before moving on to our next stop.

Lelia's fashionable arrival to Grandma T and Pops' house.

Stripped down and hanging out with Pops before enjoying some Easter brunch.

Four generations.

After brunch we headed to Cooper’s for some afternoon visiting and snacks.  We managed to keep Lelia’s Easter dress clean through the morning so Coopers and Pokey Papa could see how cute she was all fancied up!  It was a beautiful day so after visting a while and chowing down on some cheeseball and fruit, everyone headed out for a walk.  Everyone but Mommy, who napped.  Oh was it glorious!

Aunt Lisa is always a favorite.

Cute cousins! Lelia squishing Maddie.

We’ve had an exciting development recently.  Over the course of the week Lelia’s first 2 teeth have poked through!  They are the bottom front teeth and just pushed through her gums in the last day or so.  She’s very protective of them, so getting a peek or feel is tough.  This morning I managed to get my index finger through the tongue barricade and feel the sharp edges though.  I don’t think we will be able to get a good photo until they are all the way in and she smiles, so no visual for now.

Lelia’s interest in food has also increased drastically.  She’s not a fan of purees or spoon feeding, girlfriend likes to pack it in all by herself.  We set her down in a little seat with a tray or in her highchair and she proudly picks the pieces up herself and attempts to make the transition from fingers to mouth.  This is generally only successful about half the time, the other half the pieces either drop in to her lap or get stuck to her face or arm.  She keeps at it though and it’s very sweet to watch.  She doesn’t really eat meals yet but I try to sit her down several times a day at mealtime or snacktime for us so she can start slowly transitioning to solid food meals.  Breastmilk is still the primary fare.  They do a great job of offering food at daycare too and she gets to see the big kids eating.  For now we are sticking to meat, fruits, and veggies and hoping to add grains and dairy around about 1 year old.

Chowing down on watermelon.

Bananas for breakfast.

Post-meal hairdo. Food makes great styling products.

Still no crawling yet but that doesn’t mean a lack of movement!  Lelia loves to roll and wiggle and squirm.  I set her down next to me when I started typing this and she is currently all the way across the Living Room chewing on her foot.  Whatever makes her happy!  She still loves to stand and will take a few steps if you let her hold your fingers and walk with her.  This is all incredibly exhausting though:

Napping on Daddy.

Early morning couch snoozin'.

I made a goal for myself to lose the rest of my pregnancy weight by the time Lelia’s first birthday comes around.  It’s a totally attainable goal.  When I set it I had about 12 pounds left to go with 4 months to lose it.  3 pounds a month, not bad.  My method of weight loss over the past 36 hours is not recommended though.

Wednesday was a great day and Lelia and I took a refreshing 3 mile run that evening.  We had chili and cornbread for dinner and all was good.  About 12:30 am Thursday I woke up and my guts were on fire!  I wasn’t sure what to do, I was so uncomfortable.  And then it started.  I vomited from 12:30 to 7:30 that morning, at times every 15 minutes.  I slept on the bathroom floor.  It was terrible.  Each time I threw up I would break into a sweat and then immediately after I would be freezing.  Oh, and vomiting chili is disgusting.  Not that vomiting is great in the first place, but chili is horrid!  Pieces of corn kept getting stuck up in my nose.

My first fear was that I was going to lose my milk.  Breastmilk production is dependant on hydration, which I was quickly losing.  About 4-something in the morning I woke up Kevin and told him what was going on.  Lelia was going to wake up any time and I needed him to pick her up and bring her to me to eat.  Thankfully I had produced plenty for her early morning feeding, although I had to pass her off mid-feeding to run to the bathroom again.  As I continued to vomit I got worried though, I couldn’t even keep water down.

Kevin took Lelia to daycare that morning, I was in no condition to take care of her while I stayed home.  Plus I didn’t want to make her sick.  Out of curiosity, I hopped on the scale (more like dragged myself sluggishly on to the scale).  I had lost 5 POUNDS!  And I don’t mean that in an excited way – that was 5 pounds of water weight.  Gross.

Thankfully I have been on the slow road to improvement since yesterday evening.  The barfing stopped yesterday morning and my continuous trips to the restroom stopped yesterday evening.  I’ve gained about a half pound back.  I still feel very weak and have a headache but I’ll take that over vomiting and diarrhea any day.  And the best part is that I still have milk!  I was able to pump twice yesterday and got my normal 4 ounces each time.  Lelia was able to eat and be satisfied all evening and during her night feedings.  Now that I can keep food and liquids down I know everything will be fine.  The human body is truly amazing.  My body knew my priority and did not let me down.  I am so thankful!