Week Eight - Good Times and Curve Balls

This week has been full of some great times and a huge curve ball thrown in at the very end! 

Chillin'
This past Saturday was the most chill day we have had since family has left. Karis was unbelievable in her napping and wake time. We had all three meals together (with no one having to pop up to get her) and even made it through an entire movie in one sitting (in the past it look us practically a whole week to watch clips of movies because they would be interrupted so frequently. We are so thankful to God for granting us a restful and joyful day!

Zumba Luv
Saturday morning I was able to make it back to Zumba at Sol Fit for the first time in 3 months (I stopped at the end of May due to swollen feet)! It felt wonderful to workout and get moving again. The one area of complaint was surprising; my abs were so weak from having been separated and not worked out for so long. Time for some planks and crunches!

Wedding Bells
On Sunday evening Karis attended her first wedding! We were able to celebrate the beautiful union of John Flores and Clara Stam and join in the festivities. Karis even got dolled up with a hair-bow from Auntie Sarah!

Lactation Follow Up
Mid-week I had a follow up appointment with the Lactation Consultant and things were progressing quite well. Karis was not gaining weight as exponentially but was still on target (10 pounds, 11 oz) and overall her disposition had been much more content and much less gassy. We decided to stick to a modified feeding routine of just feeding her on one side per feeding session which has so far worked out really well. We are thankful to God for such resources and wisdom!

Sleep Training
One of the hardest challenges of being a parent is the many non-moral but weighty decisions of how to raise and best care for Karis. One of those realms involves sleep training. There are so many opinions out there and methodologies that it is easy to feel bogged down, second guess yourself and feel guilty and confused. Nonetheless, after much prayer, seeking wisdom from others and discussing our options together we decided to jump into some formal sleep training with Karis this week. I had been holding back partly due to confusion and fear but also because I wanted to settle her reflux/gas issues before embarking on anything structured and am so glad I did. Over the weekend we felt confident that Karis was not in any sort of pain or discomfort but just needed to learn to fall asleep on her own.

The first few days were hard, but at the same time very liberating (for which sometimes I felt guilty) but I think God really blessed us for making a decision in faith and trust in Him. By day 2.5 she started to self-soothe some of the time and by day 4.5 she was only waking up once during the night to feed,eating and going right back down to sleep! She still has a couple of hard naps where she doesn't sleep at all, but one of the biggest confidence boosters is that when she is awake, she is happy, alert and content to just hang out instead of fussing. We even let her stay up during her "witching hours" (instead of her crying the whole time) and she is just happy to be around. It is such a blessing to have a happy baby! As a bonus we have been enjoying time together, I have been able to be more productive around the house and there is just more of a peace in the Ginn household overall. We are thankful for the wisdom and help from others and guidance from God!

Puppies
Up until this point we have largely kept Karis and the dogs separate with the boys spending most of their day in the kitchen. Maximus is largely unconcerned about the little animal that is always crying but Chewie has always been a little more curious to see what all the fuss is. Whenever we bring Karis into the kitchen we are sure to tell them "gentle" and are strict about them not touching her or licking her. Nonetheless this week we felt comfortable enough to let the dogs into the living room (after a bath) for a little photo session.

Fun with Friends
As Karis has gotten more predictable and overall more content we have been venturing out more. At first I was not comfortable nursing just anywhere (I have this whole set up and routine at home which includes my nursing pillow, a stash of towels and burp clothes and the movie of the week which I watch only when nursing). But having nursed at SBTS, in the car, at small group and at church I've become a lot more comfortable (but still clumsy). Thus on Friday night we ventured out to reunite with our dear friends the Paynes and Damicos for a wonderful dinner, dessert and games! It was so nice to be living up the good times once again (even though we stayed up way past bedtime!).

The Great Flood
So the curve ball came at the end of the week and boy was it a big one! I had just gotten Karis up when she decided to blow out of her diaper on me before she ate. Not wanting her to sit in it while feeding (she gets distracted easily) I went and changed her first and scrambled to get her onesie off and into the laundry that was currently running. I ran upstairs with the prized onesie, leaving a naked Karis downstairs only to find that the laundry was on the spin cycle. Disappointed I missed my opportunity for an easy clean I went ahead and hand-rinsed and soaked her soiled onesie. I heard her start to fuss and headed downstairs to get her fed.

After we were done with the feed (a good 20 minutes) I headed back upstairs to grab a new outfit when my foot made a squishing noise on the carpet. To my great dismay the sink was STILL running and the bathroom looked like a kiddy pool! I rushed in, turned off the water, grabbed as many towels as possible and started mopping up the water in the bathroom and in the soaked hallway. Then as I went back downstairs to retrieve Karis I looked over into the dining room to see a waterfall cascading down the fan onto the dining table! The water had soaked through the ceiling and was coming down into our dining room!

Needless to say, after using up every single towel in our house, a phone call to the insurance company and much demolition, the situation was somewhat under control. We had multiple (loud!) fans and dehumidifiers placed upstairs and downstairs, our carpet was torn out, holes were cut in our dining and garage ceilings to vent and dry out and the vinyl and sub-floor were taken out of our bathroom. Additionally, the bad news was broken to us that our water heater closet was also affected which meant they needed to take out our tank for the weekend so that the floor could dry out. Thankfully we have friends with hot water to share! Oh, and Karis was moved to sleep in her swing in our bedroom closet since the fans were so loud and the carpet was soaked through in her room.

Lessons learned?
-Onesies are not worth it
-Blowouts are not the worst thing that can happen
-Panicking in response to Karis crying can never result in good things
-Water is powerful stuff
-My husband is gracious and kind
-Insurance is a HUGE blessing
-Sinks with flood holes are ingenious
-Life is unpredictable, but God is reliable

Karis-isms
Mini push up- tummy time has been going well and her neck is getting stronger and stronger.

Baby Boogers- she has had these for the last few weeks, but it's good to see her filtration system is working! She also sneezes two times in a row each time!

Bottle Success- this week after trying VERY hard to get her to take a bottle (and trying every single type of bottle we own) we finally had success! She likes taking it from Greg a lot more than me which is what a lot of experts say can be the case. She knows I have the real goods.

Paci- She still doesn't love her paci, but it was useful when she was fussy in the doctor's office!

Smiling Contests- I have been loving the sweet time of smiling back and forth with Karis interspersed with kisses. It is so special that this smile will melt my heart for the rest of my life!

Learning- I have also made it a point to try to stimulate some learning by exposing her to more toys. So far she is just mildly interested and prefers faces to things.

Lint- with all her rolls she has also started to develop quite a lint collection in the bends of her knees and arms .

Until next week!