Family Friday: April 26

33 Weeks Old

Cameron was on nine airplane flights while she was still in utero.  This coming Monday, she'll be on her first airplane flight outside of my belly.  Of course I've been scouring websites, blogs, and message boards to find advice about flying with a baby.  I did find a lot of great tips and I also had a few giggles at all the mommas who were freaking out about doing a two hour flight with their baby.

Johnnie, Cameron, and I are flying from Hawaii to Pennsylvania to visit my family.  That is over 4,700 miles done with two connections, three planes, and 11 hours 5 minutes of total flying time.... and that's only to get there.  We'll repeat the fun on the way back home :)  I am taking some white onesies and some fabric along with us so that we won't miss any Family Friday posts.  I'm sure that I'll have some interesting photos and stories of this flying adventure!

A trip like this would be really hard on Dulce (not to mention the paperwork hassle of getting her on and off this island) so we will be leaving her behind in a kennel :(

We took our kids to the Hickam dog beach this week and they both had a blast.  The early evening is a great time to go because the sun is setting, the temperature is perfect, and the tide is going out.

I swaddled Cameron for sleeping since she was born and it was like a magic switch that put her right to sleep.  She was sleeping 6 hours straight at night by two months, 8 hours by three months, and 10 hours by four months.  At 27 weeks I bought the Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit to help wean her from the swaddle.  She slept soundly in the Sleep Suit every night for five weeks.

This week she rolled over in the Sleep Suit for the first time so we knew it was time to move on.  We started dressing her in footed pajamas and a cotton wearable blanket.  She constantly rolls around throughout the night now and almost always ends up sleeping on her stomach or side.  For the first couple nights, she woke us up a few times frustrated (or surprised?) that she was on her stomach.  Now she is seems comfortable, moves around on her own, finds her pacifier, and goes back to sleep.

The Magic Sleep Suit turned out to be a great transition tool for weaning Cameron from the swaddle at night.  Weaning her from the Sleep Suit took less than a week.  Sweet success :)

I started having wrist pain in both wrists a few months ago.  I assumed it was from jogging with the stroller so I changed my grip (leveling out my wrists) and started switching hands while running.  One wrist got better but the other continued to get progressively worse until it began interfering with my daily life.  I get sharp intense pains when getting dressed, picking up Cameron (and other things), and writing.  I finally went to the doctor this week and got diagnosed with De Quervain Tenosynovitis which is also known as "Mommy Thumb" or "Mommy Wrist".

This is inflammation of the tendons at the base of the thumb caused by repetitive motion such as picking up a baby.  It is apparently common in mothers with babies between 6 and 12 months of age.  I have a lovely wrist brace to wear that will (hopefully) allow the tendons to rest and heal.  If that doesn't work, the next step will be cortisone shots in my wrist.  I'm hoping the shots won't be necessary.

I love my baby girl dearly, despite the pains of motherhood :)

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“As the ocean is never full of water, so is the heart never full of love”

~Unknown