Possessed?

It's 10:47 as I write this blog. Nyla has just gone to bed after screaming for an hour. AN HOUR of blood-curdling, gagging, white knuckled, red faced screaming. Whoa nelly.

She's not really a cry-baby, so this was a different experience for Paul and me. Not that she's never cried, she's just never cried like that for so long.

First we fed her--did nothing. Then we let her hang out on her own in bed with us--no result. We put her in her crib--pissed her off even more. She was getting all native on us, crying and pulling the covers off and kicking her legs.

After all this, we decided to just rock her to calm her down. First up was Paul. Apparently this is not what Nyla wanted at all. She was calm at first, but then the storm of Screaming Child washed upon him. Holy moly.

After about 10 minutes, it was my turn. As parents, it's admittedly hard to keep calm, cool, and collected when your child is screaming bloody murder on your lap or shoulder. I took over for Paul, and call it mother's soothing, but homegirl was quiet in a hurry. She calmed down almost immediately. How weird of a change she made between the two of us!

"They" always say that the mother is who the baby wants, especially in the early months/years. How difficult this must be for the fathers, though, who only want to be there for their baby! Sometimes Paul thinks that Nyla doesn't like him at all, but that's not it. She just wants her mama sometimes...most of the time. He probably thinks it's because she likes me better. That's not the case. I just have the feed bags, as he calls them. :)

Anyhoo, let's hope that the silence we are enjoying right now lasts for a few hours. Moe moe, Nylabear. (In Samoan, that means "go to sleep" lol)

An Evening Surprise

Last night, Nylabear graced us with a special surprise as we were heading to bed. We took her up to the room and we were snuggling and hugging and kissing her before she went down to sleep. This is when Nyla started her surprise. A little smelly surprise for her mama and daddy before bedtime. We started to change her diaper because there was a little poo-poo in it.

"Oh Paul, maybe she's just starting to have harder poops and they're not as big--"

I should have kept my mouth shut. As we're wiping off her buns, she unleashed the poo. Holy moly, it was everywhere! And it seemed nonstop! NONSTOP. There was no warning signs for this either; no grunting, no groaning, no red face, no white knuckles. It was like Nyla was just taking a walk in the park, relaxing, and pooping at the same time.

At first we tried to clean it up as it was coming out--horrific idea. We couldn't pull the wipes out fast enough. So we ended up just throwing up our hands and letting her finish. Of course we had to move her around the blanket that she was on so she wouldn't get poop all over herself. So she would poop, we scooted her to another section, more poop, move again.

I thought the clean-up would be the hardest part of this whole scene; I was wrong. Trying to get a onesie with poo all over it off of an infant is ridiculous. As a tip for other moms, the best way to do this is to roll the soiled clothing up so that only a clean section is showing, and then slide the onesie off. Paul's solution was to cut it off. Maybe next time!

Oh Nylabear, you continue to amaze us...and by "amaze" I mean "totally gross us out." lol It's a good thing we love you. :)

Nowhere To Go

I now know what hell is like.

Paul and I were heading to dinner tonight, and Ms. Nyla had her fussy pants on...and they were on good. Homegirl screamed and cried almost the entire time. Holy Jesus, someone save me.

Now don't go judging me because even having my own child crying irritates me sometimes. The problem with being in a car is that there is nowhere you can go, not really much you can do. Sure, I could pull over and feed her, but that's a real unsafe solution seeing as we were on the freeway.

The sound, the cries just echo through the entire vehicle. This makes the volume just increase exponentially. And don't even try to turn the music up because that just signals to Nyla that she should cry louder.

I think our sweet thing is just tired. Time to stop writing this blog and put my babygirl to bed. Happy (early) Friday everyone!

The Binky

I don't know why that's the universal word for "pacifier" but Nyla has sort of taken to a binky. At first, Paul and I were super anti-pacifier because we didn't want to break her of it. But then we realized that sometimes, Nyla isn't hungry; she just wants something to suck on. Why not let it be a binky?

We have tried for the past almost four months to get her to take a pacifier, but it has all been to no avail. I think I may have found some success today though! She's been fussy, and we're thinking it's because some teeth are starting to come through. I have started to take her pacifier and dunk it in super cold water for a few seconds, then in her mouth it goes! And she's loving it! Hooray!

Yeah, I like this.

I think it's soothing on her gums so she's liking it. Mommy is loving it because this means I don't need to be pulling my shirt off or making a bottle every ten minutes. Sweet!

Why So Grumpy, Nyla?

This morning, Nyla just woke up in a mood. She was irritated, crying, and fussy. This is very unlike her, as she usually is all smiles and giggles. Not today though. There was nothing that could satisfy her. I tried food, I tried her playmat, baby swing, changing her diaper, playing in the bouncy chair...nothing was consoling her. It was super frustrating because this lasted for hours...HOURS.

My cousin, Tau, came over to watch Nylabear while I was helping Woody prime my parents' dining room for painting. Apparently Tau has the magic touch because Nylabear was nice and quiet for her. This is when I should have remembered Nyla's routine: quietness means pooping.

Not even 15 minutes later, Tau was calling me because Nyla had indeed pooped. And she didn't just poop; she destroyed her diaper, outfit, and baby swing. I mean, baby poo everywhere. Per our ranking system, this was one of the most major blowouts at 19 wipes needed to clean her up. Most of these wipes were used to clean her thighs, knees, butt, back, and shoulders. Yes, shoulders. That's how much poo there was.

No joke, after we changed her diaper, she had about 1/2 an ounce of food and knocked out. Homegirl passed out! After all that fussing this morning, I'm not surprised. Oh Nylabear, you're a piece of work sometimes.

Lesson #351,035

Last night we learned the importance of changing a baby's diaper before entering a vehicle. We were at my auntie and uncle's house last night and Nyla started to poop. "Oh Paul, we're only going a few blocks, so we'll just change her diaper when we get home."

Huge mistake.

We clicked Nyla into her car seat base, jumped in the front seats, and closed the door. Paul turned on the car, I turned up the radio, and just as we were about to go in reverse, the aroma of baby poo hit our noses. I felt like I was suffocating in baby poop. It was stifling, to the point that I was almost choking on her smelly diaper.

You know when you're in a carful of people and someone farts, the way everyone races to get their window down? That was us, just in my auntie's driveway. I can honestly say Paul was clamoring for the outdoor air. I had to keep my mouth closed because her smell was so pungent, I could almost taste it. Gross!

How can something so small produce something so SO heinous? We got home just in time, as her business started to creep out of her diaper right when we hit the changing table. Of course we couldn't go a diaper change without one of us getting baby poop on us; Paul was the big winner last night.

Oh Nyla, you silly girl. You teach mommy and daddy lessons everyday.

PS: Nyla has returned to her favorite pastime: barfing down my chest. Lovely.

Homegirl Likes to Sleep

I love this little monkey. There are rare nights, like last night, where she sleeps. And she sleeps hard! Last night, she went to sleep around 10 and didn't wake up until 6 in the morning! HOORAY!! Too bad my allergies have been working overtime so I wasn't able to enjoy it as much. Boooooooo.

And what is Nyla doing right now? Sleeping again! YAYAYAYAYA. These little pleasures are what I am living for these days. I used to live for happy hour and staying out late with friends. Now if I get to sleep for more than 6 hours, I feel like I've won the lottery.

Yesterday, I assembled Nylabear's little jumpy seat from Grandpa Toms. Adorable. She looks too cute in it!

Hey everyone. I'm in my jumpy seat.

She played in it yesterday for about an hour, then gave up and started crying. I'm not sure she knows what to do in it. She spent most of the time trying to put all the toys in her mouth.

That's her new addiction. She used to be addicted to pooping on her mother, then she was addicted to barfing on me. Now she's got a fever to put things in her mouth. Dresses, shirts, burp cloths, toys, blankets, EVERYTHING. And the drool has started as well! I think I'm going to have to put her in an all-plastic suit to keep the drool from soaking her clothes. If you hold Nyla facing outward, she will drool so bad that it leaves a puddle at your feet. For real, a puddle.

Lastly, she is still eating like a little piggy. Eat, eat, eat...that's what our little girl is doing. Nursing and formula going at the same time right now. She's a hungry little monkey. Do you like how I refer to our baby as animals? I think all parents do this; the children are monkeys, elephants, little tigers, baby bears, cows, etc...My favorite for Nyla is calling her my baby bear. Or as her nickname has come to be, my Nylabear.

Oh Nylabear, your mama loves you so much!