Family fun time in Oregon & Washington!

Bobo and I flew down to the Pacific Northwest last weekend to spend time with my family. We sure are blessed with a laid-back little traveler! I'm so thankful! I love traveling (as you can gather from the name of this blog) and I'm so glad to have passed on my passion to our son. Bobo did GREAT on the flights. We flew from Fairbanks to Anchorage on Sat morning and got to meet up with Daddy for 2 hours at the Anchorage airport (he was down there for some business). I got myself and Bobo all packed up and ready for our trip on my own and made it to the airport by 6:45am! I managed to put all our stuff for 10 days into one suitcase! I packed an extra bag so I can stock up on food I can eat from Trader Joe's and Bob's Red Mill.

We are having a blast down here. My niece turned 6 the day after we arrived so we got to celebrate her all day on Sunday with my folks. We went to lunch at Burgerville, played at OMSI for four hours, ate dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and ended the evening with presents and ice cream at Ice Cream Renaissance (my favorite ice cream place in Vancouver, WA)!

My mom and I made a blitz trip down to Eugene on Wednesday so Bobo could meet his Grandpa (my love's dad) and both sets of great-grandparents. He also met a great aunt and 3 cousins. He did remarkable being stuck in the carseat for the better part of 6 hours! We took breaks and he loved the tummy time we let him have when we visited people.

Bobo is definitely a mover and a shaker! While he's not crawling yet, he's rolling all over the place! He's been rolling from his back to his tummy for 2 months, but now he's rolling both ways very easily and rapidly! Rolling may be his preferred method of transport for a while! He's so much fun and I'm having a great time showing him off!

Here are a few pics from our time with family this week:

 

Gramma seeing Bobo again for the 1st time since January

 

Sweet cousins!

 

Happy Grandparents!

 

My nuclear family with our offspring

 

Giving Mama some snuggles!

 

Happy cousin tummy time!

 

Happy boy - look at those bright eyes!

 Three generations - riding the tram at OHSU

 

Cousins that love each other! 

Bobo and I fly to Los Angeles tonight to visit a good friend of mine (one of the bridesmaids from our wedding). We'll be there over Memorial Day weekend and fly home Monday to be back with Daddy, who stayed in Alaska to work.We'll get to meet up with some cousins and a few more friends I know down there. Bobo is definitely getting a chance to work on his flying and socialization skills and he's doing a GREAT job!

Springtime fun, Alaskan style!

Spring is here in Fairbanks, and it's LOVELY! The temps have been in the 50's and it's been t-shirt and capri weather lately! I busted out my sandals for church today, it was great! (Although it made me realize I desperately need a pedicure)!

We're enjoying the new season at our house and property and having fun exploring, Alaskan style! Bobo seems to like 4-wheeling, it's built-in white noise for him!

Here's some pics from the past week:

A Sunday stroll up to our neighbors' house

Bobo quickly fell asleep as we began the walk!

Borrowing a cup of sugar (actually a can of tomatoes) from our neighbors,

 Alaskan style!

Cute moosie sweatshirt (size 9 months!)

Sweet little smile

Can we say Daddy's "mini-me"?!

All content and happy on Daddy's back!

We put a pair of  my socks on his little legs to keep him toasty

We sure enjoy going 4-wheeling and being able to come home right away as compared to last year when we would play around at the property then have to drive 30 minutes to go home! 

We'll be getting our raised garden bed boxes set up here in the next couple of weeks. I sure am looking forward to having a garden again this year! I have some seeds started in a friend's greenhouse, we'll see how they turn out!

My cute little seedlings! 

Tomatoes, peppers, celery and broccoli

My friend's amazing greenhouse!

Sweet Bonding Time

It feels like ages ago that we were in the hospital having Bobo! He's already 5 months old and I know time will not slow down anytime soon!

Here are some pics from when we first bonded with our son in his first few days of life in the hospital. 

Enjoy!

Some "kangaroo care" bonding time - skin to skin on Daddy

We did a lot of skin on skin the first few days and weeks to 

facilitate bonding and help with nursing.

What to do when you don't have your Moby wrap at the hospital?

Why, tie the baby onto Daddy with swaddle blankets of course!

Catching some much needed zzzz's

My dear friend flew up from Anchorage to be part of our labor support team.

This was taken when Bobo was about an hour old.

Gramma holding Bobo for the first time - 1 hour old

Happy Auntie getting in some snuggles - 14 hours old

A good friend from church visiting on Sunday - 36 hours old

Gramma  getting more cuddles in

Another dear friend from church visiting on Sunday

He looks so little in these pics compared to how he is now! 

Here's a couple cute recent shots:

 A bit blurry, but I LOVE his great big smile!

Happily sacked out on his Boppy pillow

One crazy journey

As much as I'd like to be like some of my mom friends and post pictures and stories each day/week/month about the progress and development of Bobo, it just hasn't happened. Here's the main reason why:

We've had a crazy journey into the "wonderful" world of food sensitivities! 

(yes, that is to be read with lots of sarcasm!)

Here's our story for those who are interested:

It all started at the beginning of January (Bobo was about 6 weeks old). I made myself a yummy iced chai latte with milk for a treat in the afternoon and then had a glass of milk with dinner that evening. Bobo woke up the next morning screaming in pain. I called our amazing lactation consultant and she recommended I cut out dairy from my diet for 2-3 weeks. I wasn't too excited about this prospect, but I hated seeing Bobo in so much pain, so I did it. This meant relying solely on nursing for his nourishment, no more supplementing with any formula (which has dairy in it). Thankfully, he was nursing well and was ready to be exclusively breast-fed. Bobo seemed so much more content and had a lot less gas and pain. The end of the experiment time coincided with us being in Maui so I intentionally re-introduced some dairy in the form of butter (we went on a date to Mama's Fish House and had a fish dish that was dripping with butter!). That did not bode well with Mr. Bobo, he definitely reacted! Ok, so no dairy for me while nursing. 

Even with eliminating dairy, Bobo had some pretty bad gas and would cry from serious pain. Again, I called my amazing lactation consultant (have I mentioned how much I adore her?! She seriously has helped us SO much!). She said that sometimes a baby can be a "marker" for food allergies in the mom. Meaning, Bobo may not actually be "allergic" to foods, but he is reacting to food sensitivities or allergies that I actually have. It sounded a little crazy to me, but I trust her and was willing to try whatever I needed to figure out why Bobo was in so much pain and had crazy gas. 

We got home from vacation and I made an appointment with a naturopath that came highly recommended to me from several friends from church. I met with her and scheduled an igG blood test  on me to look for food sensitivities that I may have.  The results took 3 weeks and I continued to avoid dairy. I wasn't sure what to expect when the results came back in, but I was hoping there would be some answers and help for Bobo's pain and gas issues. 

Thankfully, depending on how you look at it, the blood test showed that I had sensitivity to a variety of foods. I think I was relieved to know there was probably a good reason why Bobo was reacting to so much stuff and it wasn't just random. 

Here is what the test said I am sensitive to:

Dairy - all forms

Eggs - from Chickens

Cane Sugar (oh how I was NOT excited about this one!)

Wheat (interestingly, gluten didn't show sensitive, but wheat has gluten in it)

There was also some random things:

Bananas

Cranberries

Pineapple

Broccoli

Sesame Seeds

Spelt

I wasn't too surprised by dairy as that is what Bobo reacted to first and most aggressively. If you know me well, you know I am a sugar-head, I love my sweets! The prospect of cutting out sugar on top of dairy and eggs was not super exciting to me. In fact, I cried! It just felt so overwhelming as it meant I'd have to make almost everything from scratch and couldn't eat out much anymore. I decided to eliminate cane sugar and eggs (on top of avoiding dairy which I remained doing since the beginning of Jan). I was just not ready to cut out wheat or gluten yet so I didn't. However, there didn't seem to be much difference when I cut out sugar and eggs, he still had pretty bad gas and was in pain from time to time. Bobo had his 4 month well baby check with our lactation consultant (who is a public health nurse) and she strongly encouraged me to try cutting out wheat/gluten for 2 weeks. I dragged my heels, but decided to try it. Thankfully, I have a friend who has Celiac disease and helped me a LOT with what I can and can't eat on a gluten-free diet. 

Amazingly, Bobo had almost no gas and was more content when I was completely free of dairy, eggs, sugar and wheat/gluten. Ok, we're on to something here! 

So, that's where we're at...if I cut out the 4 major things, Bobo seems to do really well. If I re-introduce any of them, either he or I seem to react in various ways. I haven't tried re-introducing the random stuff yet, maybe I will eventually. 

All of this has been quite the steep learning curve and a crazy journey. I used to think those "organic, natural, hippie-type" people were a bit strange or weird, but now I am definitely turning into one of them! I hardly ever shopped in the "crunchy/hippie" (natural foods) section but now that is where I get most of my food! If only we had a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods here! Thankfully, my love has been super supportive in all of this and given me freedom in our budget for me to buy what I need to. We are all much happier when I eat the foods I should and avoid the ones I shouldn't! 

I am eating so much healthier than I ever have before and can feel the difference in my body. 

I always get asked, "so what DO you eat"?!

Basically, I'm a gluten-free "meagan"! I like vegan recipes as they have no dairy or eggs in them but I eat meat, so I'm a meagan!

Here's some of what I can eat:

stir frys with veggies and meat over rice (with gf soy sauce)

corn tortillas with beans and rice and/or meat

chips and salsa and guacomole

meat roasts with potatoes and veggies

Thai food - I can actually eat at Thai restaurants as most are dairy and gluten free!

Mexican food - without cheese or sour cream, corn tortillas instead of flour

I eat lots of avocado, yum!

I've found some yummy english muffins and waffles that are dairy and gluten freeo

Lunchmeat - although I have to make sure it's not cured with dairy

lots of fruit and veggies

fruit leather

gluten free crackers
Lara bars - I make homemade ones out of nuts and dates, tasty and cheaper!

There are many blogs out there where people post about allergy-friendly recipes, ideas and tips. I've stumbled upon quite a few that I really like and it's helpful to have some camaraderie and encouragement on this crazy journey!

And now just because I can, I'll leave you with some sweet pics of our big 5 month old! 

I love his handsome little smile!

Cousins in Carhartt overalls from cousin Peggy

Moby time fun!

Our family picture on Easter Sunday

My love's family on Easter Sunday

Hoppy Easter!

Big ole smile!

These cuties were born 2 weeks apart!

Buddies!

Happy Daddy!

Look, all the snow is melting!

Bobo promptly fell asleep, he liked being all cuddly with Daddy!

Our roly poly rolls over!

Bobo is getting so big! He's over 4 months already, where does the time go?!

He's been rolling over (both ways) for about 2 weeks now and really starting to master it. As it's a new developmental skill, it's been messing with his sleep cycles. I guess babies try to "practice" their new skill in their sleep, so we've had some pretty interrupted sleep lately. Oh well, welcome to life as new parents, right?!

Here's a cute video of our big guy rolling over. Notice our new tummy time play mat area? We really like it as it's a nice, safe area for Bobo to play around on.

I realize I haven't posted much of Bobo's life between birth and now, so I'll try to catch up as I can. 

It's so fun getting to know his little personality, I love that I get to study him all day!

The birth story of baby Bobo

I woke up 4:30am on Wed, Nov 16^th with some slight contractions (a bit different than the Braxton Hicks ones I had felt on and off in the previous couple of weeks). My back was in a bit of pain. I wasn't sure if I was really in labor as I couldn't really time contractions, I just felt pain and an achiness in my back. Turns out, I had back labor the whole time. I hardly felt any contractions on my front side all of labor. I took a bath three times throughout Wednesday night and gained a lot of relief from the warm water.

We weren't sure if this was "IT", so my love decided to keep his normal schedule and flew to Anchorage for his weekly car auction on Wednesday. If I needed him, he could get home in 3 hours.  

This is me looking quite "whale-like" on my last office visit to the doctor!

I labored at home from Wednesday early morning until Thursday around 11am. We didn't want to go to the hospital too early, so I called my doctor's office and spoke to the nurse midwife, Alexandria. She said to come in and she'd check me. I was 80% effaced and 5 cm dilated when we got to the office at noon. She said I was definitely in labor and to come back in 3 hours when she would strip my membranes. My love and I did errands to pick up items for our new house, got some lunch and I walked around a lot. I called my family and close friends and told them we were going to have a baby that night! When I got back to the doctor's office at 3pm, I was dilated to about 6cm and about 90% effaced. Alexandria said the baby's head was very low. She gently stripped my membranes as she didn't want to break my water. My dear friend was flying up that evening at 7pm from Anchorage and we wanted to wait until she arrived to have the baby. Alexandria estimated we'd have the baby by 9pm that evening. I walked over to the hospital from the doctor's office (across the parking lot) in -37 degree weather, I didn't feel like sitting in the car! We checked into the hospital at 3:30pm on Thursday, 11/17/11, expecting to have the baby that evening.

All smiles as we got checked into our room

My love was an AMAZING support to me all through the crazy long labor!

I got to use the labor hot tub as soon as I was all registered at the hospital around 4pm. The warm water gave much relief to my painful back labor. I spent 4 hours in the tub with my love and was well relaxed and feeling good afterward. My mother-in-law came to the hospital at 4:30pm and went and picked up my friend from the airport around 7pm. When I got out of the tub at 8pm, I was 90% effaced, 7 cm dilated and the baby's head was still very low. They thought my water had broken in the tub but it turns out it hadn't.

Feeling pretty good and relaxed in the warm tub

My dear friend came to help be part of my labor support team with 

my love and mother-in-law.

I needed all three of them as it was such a long process!

My love with his mom (Bobo's Gramma) and me

(Funny side note: a friend of mine works at the hospital and I saw her on my way in. I told her we were going to have the baby that night and that she could stop by later if she wanted. When she came up to see me, she asked my doctor where I was and he replied “Oh, she's frolicking in the hot tub with her husband!” My friend was hesitant to stop by, but eventually she did!)

I labored all of Thursday night and kept steady at 7cm dilated. My love, mother-in-law, and friend all took turns napping and massaging me and getting me into various positions for relief. All of my natural pain measures were working so far but I was getting anxious to get the baby out. The best position I found was laying on my side with a birth ball between my legs, a heating pad on my back and someone using my “ET” massager all up and down my back. I listened to lots of relaxing music during this time too (I had made a playlist I wanted to listen to for labor and it was great). I rested off and on but never really slept much.

My favorite laboring position

My friend and I took a walk around 5am and discussed Pitocin with Alexandria but I was very hesitant as I knew it causes hard contractions and I didn't want to start the process that could lead me to a C-section.  Around 10am on Friday, November 18^th, Alexandria broke my water and we started Pitocin around 10:30/11am. I immediately felt stronger back pain that increased significantly. At one point, I started doing jumping jacks and running around the hospital room saying “baby, COME OUT!”... it actually felt good to be active and move around more. I started having 5 minute long contractions that were completely unbearable (not to mention I was completely exhausted ).

Crazy long and intense contraction!

It was then that I reached my breaking point. The pain was so intense that I became hysterical and cried and cried. I just wanted the baby out of me, I was done! I had increased to around 8cm but now there was swelling of the cervix from the pressure of the baby's head. They wanted to tilt the bed back to take the pressure off my cervix and the baby. I felt like this was never going to end! I hesitated briefly but succumbed to an epidural around 2:30pm (3 hrs or so after Pitocin was started). I knew I had done all I could naturally and needed the pain relief to relax. The epidural was the first pain medication I used in all of labor. The epidural was inserted perfectly and worked quickly and immediately allowed my body to relax. The Pitocin was turned up and I took a nap for almost 2 hours. I woke up around 5:30pm Fri 11/18/11 and was 100% effaced and 10 cm dilated. In all the time I was in labor, the baby's heartbeat was perfect and never in distress.

I'm so thankful for such an amazing, caring, and supportive husband!

I am known to be “stubborn” (I prefer to call it determination), and this was the perfect time to demonstrate that trait! When I knew it was time to start pushing, I put on my game face and said “let's do this thing”.

Ready to start pushing!

"Go team!" My mother-in-law would cool me off with a wash cloth and my love would have plenty of water available for me to drink when I stopped for a rest in between pushing.

After all I had been through, there was no way I was going to have a C-section, so I pushed with all my might. (A nurse mistakenly told me I had 4^th degree tears, but it turns out I had 10% of 3^rd degree tears, painful but not horrible). I started pushing at 6pm. Bobo crowned around 8pm and was FINALLY born at 9:11pm, about 65 hours from when labor began on Wednesday morning. He weighed in at an even 8 lbs and was 21 inches long. He had a pretty bad cone head from all the pushing, but was absolutely perfect in every way. We were so thrilled to have him on the outside and loved holding and cuddling him.

First family photo

Such a sweet baby! 

(he had a line on his head from where the internal monitor was)

Now that's a proud papa!

Bobo had a kaput (bad bruise) from the 3 hours of pushing which the doctor thinks caused a migraine-like headache the next day which caused his jaw to hurt which made him not want to open his mouth very wide or nurse well. We discovered Saturday afternoon (before he was 24 hours old) that he was tongue tied. The pediatrician on call at the hospital clipped his tongue right then. Bobo has a high roof of his mouth probably due to the tongue tie so he doesn't pull the breast (or my finger) in very far. I worked hard with a lactation nurse at the hospital on Sat night to figure out how to feed him. He got all my colostrum by mostly spoon-feeding. We figured out a system with pumping and finger feeding so I had a way to feed him when we went home. We stayed in the hospital Fri and Sat night and were planning to leave Sun evening when they discovered Bobo's bilirubin levels were too high (jaundice). They gave us a bili blanket in our room and he stayed on that for about 9-10 hours. His levels were much better Monday morning and we were finally released from the hospital. Thankfully, when the pediatrician saw Bobo later that week, his coloring looked great and he didn't even need to have a blood test to check the jaundice. 

My cute little glo-worm!

Ouchy bruise from all the pushing he endured in the birth canal

Close enough to call him an even 8 pounder!

(and he came a week early!)

Getting to really inspect and love on my little guy for the first time

Bobo is an easy going, content baby for which we are so thankful for! I can usually anticipate his needs before he starts crying. We did a lot of skin to skin contact in the beginning which helped facilitate our bonding. My love and I have worked hard to create a peaceful, homey environment at our new house for us all to feel comfortable in.

Bobo's first outfit

All ready to go home!

We had a really rough first month with nursing issues due to Bobo's tongue tie and jaw issues. We had to have his tongue clipped THREE times as it kept re-attaching! We're hoping the third time's a charm and it will stay disconnected now! I had to pump breastmilk and "finger feed" him for the first month, and we had to supplement with formula a bit. After the 2nd tongue clipping in December, he became a nursing pro and is doing well breast-feeding exclusively now. 

Our finger-feeding system

We love our little boy and are so thankful God has entrusted him to us!

Our first outing as a family when Bobo was 1 week old!