My how time has just flown by. Matthea Leilani Sainz is 6 months old. I almost cried today thinking about how fast her first year will go. Matthea is completely awesome. Let me tell you a little bit about her…
* Matthea loves to laugh. Even though she has had many health issues that haven’t felt good to her, she has a GREAT sense of humor and is happy most of the time.
* She LOVES food. I mean LOVES food. She will grab things away from you, stare you down like non other, just to get something to eat.
* She has yet to crawl on all fours, ( she can get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth and even go backwards a little- but not much forward action yet) However, she can military crawl with the BEST of ‘em and she can get across the room in seconds.
* She can do real sit-ups. She even has little ridges in her abs, she is just that ripped! We can not stop her from moving, she is going from the second she wakes up until the second she goes to sleep.
* Matthea is very sensitive, inquisitive, bright, attentive and alert.
* She has introduced even more laughter, love and joy ( and a little stress) into our lives. Matthea has a Mommy, Daddy and big sister who love her deeply. We are all very blessed!
Matthea has put us through the wringer the last couple of weeks with her health and dental issues. Finally we made it through 5 different doctor appointments and today we have another dental appointment.
The majority of these appointments ended in the doctor saying that they didn’t know what to do, but that she should see a different doctor to find out. Well. Hrmm. We finally went to a naturopath who was able to help out a lot. He gave her some treatment and we talked with him about changing her daily nutritional input. We also talked to our family members who went through milk allergies with both myself and Mike as infants. Everyone gave us really valuable information! Sometimes family really does have better info than the doctors ( in my opinion.)
The main things we heard were: FEED THIS CHILD SOLID FOODS! Only good solid foods. High in vitamins. Make your own. Get the freshest veggies and fruits possible. Get a good children’s multivitamin.
We also changed her from formula to Goats Milk. Now before anyone says anything about all the stuff out there about goats milk being bad for baby… It’s really hard when your baby isn’t getting anything healthy from her hypoallergenic formula and is getting sick all of the time and her teeth are chipping off and crumbling. We are putting vitamins, essential fatty acids and probiotics into her goat milk. She is getting a LOT more nutrition from this than from a formula made from Corn Syrup Solids that has aspartame and all of those chemical preservatives.
Within two days we have seen changes in Matthea. Her cradle cap and skin hives have gotten SIGNIFICANTLY better. Her mood has improved, especially while eating ( she used to fuss and hit anything and everything in sight while she ate) now she is calm and content. That other formula tasted TERRIBLE! Thankfully her other tooth seems to be staying put in her mouth. She just seems overall in better spirits. I think we are on the right path. Last night she actually slept through the night. Completely, and although I don’t always think that little ones need to sleep through the night I could tell it was because she actually felt full and fulfilled.
Today we have our pediatric specialist dental appointment to see what to do about the tooth that already came out * not that we can really do much for that one at this point* and how to get the best for her forming teeth. Should be fun.
Who could ask for better valentines!?! My girls are so sweet and wonderful. They make me so glad to be a mommy!
Matthea is really enjoying being outside when she can. Our little bit of sunshine a couple of days ago did our family great, because we got to go play outside and get all of our sillies out on the basketball court! Matthea wishes she could run around just like Zaeda does. We can already tell that whatever Zaeda says will be like gold to Matthea.
1. I just ate half of a burrito from Taco Del Mar. I love Taco Del Mar.
2. I hate to clean, except when I love it. It’s either hot or cold and there is no inbetween.
3. I love it that I have a membership to OMSI. I think its one of the best ways to spend the way with my three year old. and so does she.
4. When I was born my mother was told that I was deaf in both ears.The doctor came back in a couple hours later and said that I wasn’t. Then they said I would
to have my broken nose fixed with a little instrument called an "elevator" When I learned to talk I LOVED to tell people " I have had an elevator up my nose" people
would laugh and nod and think I was a sweet little kid and I loved it that they thought I didn’t know what I was talking about.
5.I was delivered by Doctor Miracle at Portland Adventist.
6. I can remember screaming my head off in my car seat as a little child and not being able to tell my mom and dad how scared I was that I couldn’t put my feet on the floor and feel stable.
7. To this day, I hate it when I can’t have my feet touch the floor if I want them to. Which is a problem, since I’m short.
8. I love sushi. But, I am scared to eat it now because I am worried about my allergy to some seafood and I NEVER want to experience the sickness I felt from that ever again.
9. My toes curl under. I can’t straighten them out. The first thing my husband noticed and told me about when we had Matthea was that she had my toes. He was laughing when he told me this.
10. I don’t like to do things according to how others want me to do them. In fact, if someone has told me I can’t then I most likely will find a way to do whatever it is.
11. I have two tattoos. One on my right leg and one on my left ankle. I want more tattoos. I don’t know if I will ever get more tattoos.
12. I will not get anything other than my ears pierced. For some reason piercing’s scare me a LOT more than tattoos.
13. I have never given blood. I am not acceptable,because of health issues. Because I couldn’t give blood, in high school and college I made sure to volunteer my time to the blood bank
truck so that I could at least be giving back that way.
14. I had some amazing fun in college and met one of my best friends there. A lot of what I learned though, was what I DIDN’T want to do and be.
15. I am happiest when I am giving back to others, especially if it has to do with helping children.
16. I LOVE to write. I don’t write much though, because it is hard to keep myself from entering a funk when I allow myself to sink into the emotions it requires me to use when I write really well.
17. Politics make me mad.
18. I am very supportive of our military forces. In fact, if I had been a healthier person I very well may have joined up.
19. I LOVE documentaries. If I am watching t.v it is most likely the Discovery channel. I am guilty of indulging in "Storm Chasers" whenever it is on.
20. I love arts and crafts.. especially scrapbooking. Even though I haven’t scrapbooked in what seems like forever.
21. It is taking a long time to find a space in my house that is just for me.
22. I go through times in my life where I forget to listen to music, then I start again and remember the joy it brings me and wondered how I got so busy that I could
just "forget" to listen to music during the day.
23. I know first hand how important it is to keep all four legs of those darn chairs at school on the floor. In the fourth grade I flipped over backwards because only
two chair feet were on the floor and smacked my head on the radiator/heater. I still remember the feeling of that headache.
24. I act like I don’t enjoy the geekiness factor at my house. But really… I love it. Our house is full of education and fun.
25. My children are so amazing and never cease to make me laugh and smile. I have been so blessed.
I love the Internet. I am in love with the fact that I can access information from all over the world, talk to people, see amazing sights that I will probably never see otherwise. I can spend hours perusing, watching, finding, learning. I am attending an Awesome LifeGroup Online on Wednesday evenings that is totally rocking my socks off. Not only has it been awesome worship time, but nice to be able to talk with other adults in a time where I mainly talk with a three year old and 5 month old!
Then… there are days like today. When I am totally hating the fact that I can access all of this information because I am worried about my kid, and everything I read on the Internet makes me more and more concerned, and even though I KNOW that not everything I read is the problem ( THANK YOU, GOD!) I cannot stop trying to find out what is going on because no one else seems to know.
I took Matthea to her Chiropractor yesterday. They were concerned about mineral absorption issues since her whole tooth has now fallen out ( although you can see inside of the bottom half of her tooth still in her gums.) The chiropractor recommended her seeing three people.. a ped. specialist dentist ( appointment already made for next Wednesday) her pediatrician ( appt. already made for Monday morning) and then a naturopathic specialist who deals with allergies, and speciality pediatric issues ( appointment now made for Monday afternoon.) The chiropractor looked over her x-rays that were taken a month or so ago, and they look o.k….. as in right now they don’t see any bone damage. Well, that’s good at least! She has to see the pediatric orthopedic specialist again next month (when she will be six months to check her hip problems.)
Dang.. Matthea… let’s just get healthy ok? So.. here I sit trying to figure out something that I can’t figure out and it is eating my mind up.
I don’t know what my issue is, but I have always had bad dentist experiences. I have NEVER liked the dentist and I have developed a severe anxiety about all things tooth related.
Okay… so I do know where I got it and what my issue is. When I was small I had strange teeth. I had several teeth that were fused together and several sets of baby teeth. Yes, the tooth fairy would come to my house for the same tooth twice and sometimes three times. I was like a shark. Whenever the student dentists came to our school for those dreaded "checkup" days I was the anomaly. The dentist looking in my mouth would yell to all the other students "OH MY GOSH.. come over here, look at this kid’s mouth!" and my fears were born.
Now my kids are getting to the point where it is time for the dentist. I am trying my hardest to calm my fears, and heck, I was thinking I would start by being a good role model and go to the dentist too. Uhmm. Can I just say that I KNOW IM A CHICKEN.
My 5 month old (Matthea) started teething at 2 months. She got her two bottom teeth in quickly and we realized that one was fairly chipped. Then it just started chipping more and more. I took her to the dentist yesterday and all the dentist could say was " I have no idea why that would happen." He was even obviously nervous to work with her, even LOOK at her teeth. Let me tell you, it does not make a nervous mommy and less nervous to KNOW that the dentist is nervous about the child and feels inexperienced. After we made an appointment for a specialist the rest of her tooth came out. So now she is down to one tooth. We are just praying that this tooth stays in her head until it is supposed to come out.
Ugh. Teeth problems.
