Little Details

She loves to draw and/or make something everyday. When her little sister is still asleep in the morning, she heads straight to her desk and does this. At the end of the day, this area is a complete mess. Crayons and markers everywhere. Small pieces of paper scattered on her desk and on the floor. I am currently teaching her how to fix these after she is done. Sometimes it is a struggle but there are times where she willingly does so. I continue to remind myself that she will never be this small again.

This little one loves to look at the pictures. Sometimes she pretends to read the words like her big sister does. She describes the pictures using baby talk, and everyday her vocabulary continues to increase. Her current favorite book is Go Dog, Go! By P.D. Eastman.

And then there are the days where these little toes are reaching for things that are not supposed to be reached. The little toes on the left was reaching for a glass half filled with water. When she got hold of it, she then put her little hand right inside and started laughing. The little toes on the right was reaching for tape (the kind used for gift wrapping). She wanted some because she was making a little "book". These two are definitely my daily entertainment.

Turning One

So much for trying to blog more often this year... where did the time go?? My little girl just turned one today. I can still remember every single detail leading up to her birth.

We celebrated her birthday last Saturday with a few friends and relatives. It's always nice to celebrate the first year. Here are the details of her party.

I designed her cake and had it made by Polkadots Cupcake Factory. They never fail to give me the perfect looking and tasting cake!





A different table was set up for the cups, plates and utensils. Mason jars were used to hold the forks, paper straws and flowers. I made it a little bit more personal by adding a chalkboard sign pinned on a tack board with a few information about her and a picture on the side.

The party was from 3-5pm so I just wanted to serve snack food to the guests. We ordered Jimmy Johns sandwiches (which was a big hit by the way, their food is awesome!), I made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the kids shaped as a flower (for some reason they tasted better that way), I also made Mint Macarons in pink and green to match the party theme, grape kabobs, pineapple chunks, potato chips and mini cheesecake w/ apricot glaze (courtesy of a friend of mine).

This birthday sign was made out of scrapbook paper and placed in a 12x12 frame. Hobby Lobby always has great weekly deals so I got the frame at 50% off.




The party favors were customized per child. She had guests ranging from 1 to 10 yrs old. Their names were printed out and glued to the back. The bags are made out of sandwich bags. Using a scallop punch i made the top a little bit more fancy... and then closed it with green and white twine. I also tied a balloon to each bag for the kids to take home with them. By doing so, it made the room a bit more festive.

This backdrop was solely made out of scrapbook paper (from hobby lobby with a 40%off coupon). I added doilies and buttons on some of them. It is very easy to make, just time consuming. I purposely chose pink, green and yellow as the theme so I can hang this in their room. :)

It is always stressful planning a party. But the celebrant was happy... the guests were happy... and that's all that really matters. :)

Sleeping like a baby

So whoever said that they slept like a baby - either does not have a baby, has an older baby who has established a sleep pattern or woke up every two hours and didn't get the required 6-8 straight hours of sleep. 

When a baby sleeps it is actually precious time for the parents especially during the first three months. Because then they get to sleep too. Or shall I say nap? They wake up every 2 hours the first few weeks to eat for about 5 to 20 minutes. I am lucky this one eats between 3-10 minutes and is done for another two hours. After their meal they have to burp for another 15 minutes or so to avoid spit ups or you'll end up with a fussy baby because they have gas. And then the diaper needs to be changed. Sometimes, a change of clothing is required. Depending on how "bad" it was! :) After the whole routine, you have about 45 minutes before the next schedule of feeding starts again.

My little Y is now two months old. At 6 weeks she started to sleep 4 hours straight at night. Now she usually sleeps a little over 6 hours at night, sometimes even up to 8. They call this "sleeping through the night". I can officially say that I am getting enough sleep to keep me going during the day. 

Now... did you really sleep like a baby? :)

Pigtails

It started one Saturday morning in May. Little S and I were playing in the living room when I noticed a tiny bald spot at the back of her head. It wasn't even noticeable because it was under layers of hair. I thought it was weird and how I never even noticed it before. For sure I would notice it while I bathed her or there would be some hair on her bed.

I immediately called her pediatrician to get it checked. One look at it and she told me that it may be Alopecia Areata. She ordered a blood test to test her thyroid (as this causes hair loss). It came back normal. She then referred me to a dermatologist to confirm the diagnosis. This is when the frustration begins.

Two dermatologists - one of them supposedly the best (and the ONLY) pediatric dermatologist in Austin did not tell me anything that I already knew just from my own online reading. It took me 5 months to get an appointment with one of them to hear the same things from my own research. The only solution they could suggest was to stick steroids in her to get the hair growing again. Even with that, there was no guarantee that it will work. I tried the topical steroid on the bald spot in the beginning but it didn't work either. The first dermatologist wanted to stick the steroid directly on her scalp. The second one wanted to stick it to her butt. Where has the science gone in trying to figure out the underlying cause?? They did not bother to do any other kind of test other than blood work to check vitamin deficiencies. Which, by the way, all came back "normal". I obviously declined the steroid route considering her age and what side effects that may even cause.

There were a series of events before any of this started. I have a gut feeling that it is all related but doctors just brushed it off that it probably had nothing to do with it:

• In April, she had a very high fever for about 2 days followed by a rash on the front and back of her body. Her pediatrician ruled it out to be Roseola.
• She had a bout of constipation for a few weeks. She wouldn't go for 4-5 days at a time. 
• She had eczema on the back of her thighs

I changed her diet last June to exclude gluten and dairy. That somehow slowed down the hair fall but it hasn't stopped. I also noticed that this improved her constipation and her eczema.

It is known that there is no cure for Alopecia. Today we are consulting with a Naturopathic Doctor. Perhaps she will be able to find the underlying cause. Little S seems perfectly healthy, with no other symptoms, other than her hair falling. It is so frustrating not knowing what is causing this. She was born with a full head of hair. Both my husband and I have no family history of this. And what is disturbing is that there are millions of people, of all ages, who are affected by it. And yet, nobody knows what is causing it?! After much research, we are taking baby steps on what may be triggering Little S's hair loss. It may be heavy metals stuck in her liver and/or kidney... heavy metals she may have gotten from her vaccinations. Who knows. We are doing several tests to rule out heavy metals and gluten/dairy allergies. Until we find out the results, all we can do is just wait.

As a mother, I have had sleepless and tearful nights over this. To see your daughters' hair just slowly disappear, and there is nothing you can do about it, is heartbreaking. I am thankful though that there is nothing more serious going on. At least this is what I am hoping. Something in her body is causing this and I hope that she will overcome it. My heart broke, once again, when we finally decided to shave her head. There were very little hair patches left all over her head that it made her look like she was ill. It really is harder for me right now than it is for her. She doesn't know what is going on. There is hair growth on most parts of her head. There is peach fuzz on the crown area. Perhaps it will all slowly grow back soon.

As a parent, should she not overcome this, part of my job is to build her confidence. We live in a society where outer beauty is more important especially for girls/women. There will always be that someone who will never understand what she is going through and will bully her. That someone who will stomp on her just because she has no hair. However, if her confidence is built to an understanding that hair is just hair and there are other more important things in life, she will be just fine. She will be above those who don't understand. She will always be a mile ahead. And she will go a long, long way.

Right now all I can do is HOPE. And that someday, in the near future, I will be able to put pigtails on her again.

On number two

Part of the reason why I haven't updated my blog in a while is because there is another growing little girl in my belly. The photo below was taken back in June on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk during a family visit. I was about four months here and didn't know what the gender was yet. I was kind of hoping it would be a boy. But now I realize that having another girl is just as great. She will be able to use the clothes and shoes my little S has outgrown. They grow up so fast that some of her clothes were probably used once or twice. They get to share a room and play with the same toys. Expense wise, it really is a plus! This second one is due in November and all I really want is a healthy baby girl.

Compared to my first pregnancy, this one has been a lot more difficult. It's true when they say that every one is different. The aches and pains started at 20 weeks (I literally can't walk sometimes). And the doctor has told me that it will only go away when I give birth. How encouraging! It is hard to imagine though, that in 10 weeks our new addition to our family will arrive. Quite exciting!

Instagram love

So I obviously haven't posted in a while. A few things have happened lately, including an event that will make my little daughter a big sister in November :)

I have been using Instragram the past few months... here are a few... that thing is addicting. It saves me from lugging around my heavy SLR.