All the Pain, No Gain

Zara is teething, well at least we think so, big time. She ran a fever (but was otherwise happy) for Fri/Sat nights and didn't sleep well either night, she has gone from her normal drool quantity to Drumheller Fountain, and has been refusing a lot of her solids. In general, all the symptoms of teething, but we have yet to see a pearly white crack the gum. It's really rather annoying as Zara's poor sleep means Mommy and Daddy aren't sleeping well. In fact we platooned on sleep Saturday night after Zara kept me up for 3 hours, I woke John up and told him it was his turn. I say bring on the teeth and let's end this madness.

Also, we have another baby addition to the family. Nolan joined the family on Thursday and is the proud son of my cousin Rachel and her husband Grant. We'll hopefully get over to Sugarland to meet the new fella in the next week or so when everyone has had time to settle in.

Anja Happy to See Me?

I have been totally remiss in getting this post up but I'm an Auntie!! Again, really since we already have a niece and two nephews on John's side, but this is the first Fahoum cousin for Zara. But I do have a great picture to include now.

My brother Yousef and sister-in-law Kari had little Anja Safa (pronounced aun-ya) last Wednesday. She had to join us in the world a month early and is a tiny little thing at 4lb 5oz and 17.25 in (I think those are correct), but she came out making noise and healthy which is all we asked for. It was an anxious day here in Houston as we were waiting for phone calls to update us on the arrival. Momma and baby are doing great and we most certainly can't wait to meet her at Christmas time when we go to visit! Welcome to the family Anja and keep on growing sweetie!

Clap for Credit

The title of this post is actually one of the nicknames for a class I took in college to fulfill my last two arts credits. The class involved going to a university concert once a week and clap when its over, the end. But Zara can now officially participate since John taught her to clap this morning. Apparently she wouldn't stop, that is until just before Mommy got home from work and I'm still waiting to see it.

In other news, we are making the switch to cloth diapers 100% of the time. We had been using disposables at school and g flushables at home. But I decided to try out cloth inserts for the g's at home and they've been great, so I've ordered more so we can do them 24/7 and launder 2-3 times per week. It really isn't very difficult to deal with and, especially since I am using a thin flushable paper liner to catch the poop, it is less work than wholly flusahable inserts. I also ordered organic bamboo and hemp cloth inserts made by work at home moms and they are great and are way better than the inserts available from the g diaper company. Zara is now one green baby as pictured below this morning on her 7 month birthday.

Sharing in Disaster

The Gulf oil spill is pretty awful, but what makes it even worse is stuff like this.

Deepwater Horizon Springs Another Leak - Harper's Bazaar

So in addition to bank profits being private, but losses public (thanks to BOTH dem and rep control- don't kid yourself. Not trying to get political here, just heading that off now.), oil industry profits are private and disaster/cleanup obligations will be public. I didn't really expect anything less.

Can You Hear Me Now?

This morning we had two appointments for Zara, the first a follow up for the tubes at the ENT and the second another set of shots at the pedi. Good news for Zara she can hear, which we knew all along because she responded and looked around at sounds. But now she can hear in that passed the test, gold star, teacher's pet kind of way.

As for the pedi, nothing wrong there but it is thankfully the last "monthly" visit in our shot schedule and we don't have to go for two months. I'm uber-glad for that because I like the pedi, but I spend so much time waiting because they are never on time. I really want to bill them for my time spent waiting. I'm a consultant, I have a going rate and I know how to use it darn it! :P But updated 7 month stats for the Z-ster. Drumroll please.... brrrrrrrrrr.... we are ABOVE the 10th percentile line in weight! All the solid foods kicked off another growth spurt and she is now 15lb 3 oz (15-20th%) and 26.75 in (~60th%).

Whereas we like the growth spurt, we totally don't like the teething. Zara is officially moved into her own room upstairs as of Friday, but just in time to get woken up several times a night with sore gums. Baby girl is not happy about these first teeth. Hopefully, they cut pretty soon and we can all sleep again.

Mommy Dearest

Yesterday was mother's day, my very first, although I did get flowers last years. I had a great day with John and Zara taking me to brunch and then the Galleria mall to pick out a new purse for my present. We had a great time and Zara was a very good girl all during brunch charming all the staff at Mo's. Later on, we took Zara to the neighborhood pool which opened this weekend and she clearly loved it even if we didn't stay long because it was a little chilly. I will definately be signing us up for mommy daughter baby swim class at the Y.

But even more than the "stuff" we did yesterday, I was just incredibly happy to spend the day as a family. I think I like this whole motherhood thing even if my sleep will never be the same, I have a greater empathy to bovine friends, and poop has been normalized so much you don't get grossed out when you accidentally touch it.

High Flier

Last weekend we headed up to the always beautiful Pacific Northwest for my sister-in-law's baby shower. It was great to see Kari and she is looking a wonderful 7 months pregnant with Zara's baby girl cousin on the way in June. We can't wait to meet her soon. We also got to see the whole family and Zara's grandparents even happily got the chance to babysit for a few hours Sunday night.

Since Southwest had some wonderfully timed cheap tickets, it was a whole family affair with Zara getting her first plane trip and even John, still trussed up in his sling, along too. As for the plane trip, Zara is a champ and we are those parents. You know the good ones whose baby never says a peep on the plane and is happy or sleeps the whole trip. It's good to be that kind, wish we could really take credit for that but I think Zara deserves it.

Other first for the weekend was Zara's first time in a high chair. We were getting lunch at Sea-Tac before we left and they gave us a high chair at the table. We gave it a shot and once packed in with the carrier around her to take up the space, we were good. So momma gets two hands to eat with again, yay! Picture from Sea-Tac and one from the last pedi appointment when I was getting bored waiting for the doc.

Totally Tubular

Quick update on Zara's big week. Monday we got a second opinion on the ear tubes from a pediatric ENT and we were a go for tubes after that. We also had an echocardiograph at Texas Childrens since our pedi thought he heard a heart murmur in the wee one. Results were clear though, nothing abnormal. Then this morning was the tube surgery. It went very well (15min) and our ENT said the fluid was very thick so it was really good we drained it. Zara woke up from the surgery super upset because the anesthesia made her gassy. But she eventually calmed down and took a couple nice long naps to sleep the rest of it off. She is already back to normal and babbling up a storm like always.

Six for Sitting

I am one day late putting this post up but yesterday was Zara's half birthday! Which means we've made it through half a year of diapers, drool, poop, and feedings and still have a healthy happy baby we haven't totally screwed up yet. We had her 6mo shots a week ago so her half-year stats are 13lb 12oz, 25.5in. We also wanted to demonstrate our new trick in the pictures. She can sit-up unsupported. Most of the time we've still got the boppy around her since she isn't totally stable, but she is getting better quickly. She is also highly entertained by the puppies and reaches out to pet or rather grab their fur. So far the dogs are cool with it.

The only bad news we have is that she is most likely getting tubes in her ears this coming week. She has never passed the hearing tests on her right ear because it is retaining fluid. Her left ear passed as a newborn, but failed all subsequent for the same reason. She can hear through the fluid but probably not correctly. A fantastic trait she inherited from mommy. The options are get the tubes so it can drain or try or wait it out some more. Since we've been waiting 6 months, we think its unlikely to happen soon and would rather prevent ear infections and potential complications as she learns to talk.

Shoulder Pressed

John had shoulder surgery Thursday. We went in with a potential rotator cuff tear, torn labrum, and ligament damage from the MRI which would have been quite a lot of work and recovery for him. Turns out on actual inspection, he just had some stretched ligaments which have now been fixed. It will still take awhile to heal, but is a lot less painful and hopefully means fewer chances for issues later.

Right now he's tied up in a pretty complicated sling and wasn't allowed to even remove it for three days. Which means, no showers, no change of shirts, etc. for the last three days. This morning he finally got to be set free long enough for a shower and change of clothes. It is a few weeks before he is allowed to move the arm and even then it will be limited. So for super bonus fun, I get to do ALL the diapers for awhile. The only good thing is I can stick Zara in the bumbo and John has been doing the solid food feedings with the good hand.

But the good thing is the surgery went well and John gets to have a two week vacation playing PS3 on the couch.