My Gym

Last night Tyree and I took Ariella for a free trial class at My Gym in Chesterfield. She had soooo much fun. I was surprised that all the little babies in the class had both parents attend with them. It wasn't just mommies. Ariella was the youngest in the class. The next youngest was 9 months old, and then the rest were 12 months or a little older. So, she was the only non-crawler there. But, she was still able to interact with everyone, and she did pretty much everything. She loved the social aspect of it all. The class was 30 minutes, and it flew by.

We started out with circle time (sitting around in a circle), and we did some stretches (more like moving arms up and down, twisting from side to side, etc) with music and songs led by one of the instructors. It seemed like the 2 instructors were a married couple who might have been the owners.

Then, we branched out for some free play - they had a trampoline that I sat on and bounced Ariella on. There was a ball pit, which she enjoyed - especially when some of the other babies were in there with her. There were rocking horses and swings, which she had fun with.

There was this giant hollow barrel made out of padding that we put Ariella inside. I rolled it along, and she rolled inside of it. That was big fun. It was maybe 3 1/2 feet tall, so I couldn't really see her while I was rolling her, but Tyree kept telling me that she was liking it. In fact, her told me to roll it faster. Lol!

We also did some things with the instructors. The lady taught us how to help Ariella do a forward roll. As part of that, the lady played with Ariella, grabbing her feet and such. She had Ariella laughing and squealing! Several of the other parents looked and smiled at us, and some commented on how happy a baby Ariella is. Then, they had us put Ariella on her tummy on this big teeter totter like thing. The other babies crawled across it, but Ariella still had fun doing what she did.

The most surprising thing was that Ariella had her first trapeze lesson! I thought for sure that was only going to be for the older babies, but the instructor said that she could do it. We watched one of the other babies, and the instructor held her hands to the bar and swang the trapeze back and forth. It was quite impressive. I was a little scared to let her do it, thinking it was going to hurt her shoulders. The instructor held his hands over hers on the bar, while Tyree and I held her (yes, we both held onto her - Tyree under her arms and me under her butt - lol, I was a bit scared of this one). Then, we lowered her down slowly and gently and then let go. So, she was actually hanging (with the instructor holding on top of her hands)! Then, the instructor moved the bar slowly back and forth. I'm still not sure how it didn't hurt her, but she seemed to enjoy it. She had her wonderous look, like she was taking it all in.

Then, the lady instructor did a song with puppets and counting, in which Ariella was quite enthralled. It was definitely a successful night. We were able to talk with some of the parents. It was just the first time, so I'm sure that we'll get to know them better as the weeks go on. So, Monday nights will be the My Gym class, and then they have free play on Tuesday nights. We're going to that tonight, so we'll see how it goes.

There's one other interesting thing. We were talking with the mom of the 9 month old. She had quite a number of teeth! The mom said she had gotten them all in the last month or 2 and that it seemed like the teeth came emerged in pairs, and they seemed to pop in overnight. There were no teeth the night before, and then there were teeth the next morning. Well, last night I dreamed that when I woke up this morning, Ariella had a mouthful of teeth! They looked a little strange, too. Luckily, she's still toothless, though. But, that was a funny dream.

Sick!

Ariella had her first bout of being sick. Luckily, it wasn't anything serious - just a cold. I took her to the doctor's office Friday the 10th, and the pediatrician said that it was just congestion in her sinuses. Her ears looked clear, and her lungs were also clear. The pediatrician said that it was good that I brought her in, though, because a lot of times you can't tell where the congestion is without the stethoscope.

She reacted to being sick mostly by being extra tired, and she cried a little more. But, mostly she was the same happy baby - just very congested and with a cough.

The doctor said to get a cool mist humidifier and to use a saline spray up her nose and then suction it out.

Tyree and I were sick too, me more than him. I actually had almost no voice for several days!

I'm happy to say that we're all well now. I'm glad Ariella made it through her first time being sick with flying colors.

Swimming!!!! (With Underwater Pic)

I finally found my underwater camera, so I was finally able to see what Ariella looks like when she's swimming underwater!

She loves swimming so much. It's a shame that Summer is ending. But, I signed us up for some swimming lessons at the Renaud Spirit Center (part of O'Fallon, MO parks and recreation). We'll be going Saturday between 10:25am - 11:05am. I hope we'll meet some other fun babies and parents. Her lessons will run from October 23rd through December 11th. It's 7 classes for $46 (non-resident price), so it's quite inexpensive compared to all of the other options that I found.

Adventures in Milk Donation

I've figured out that St. Louis is NOT a good city for breast milk donation. I've collected quite a freezer stash of milk, so I thought that I would look into donation rather than trying to cycle it out with the fresh milk for Ariella before it would get too old. After doing quite a bit of research, I found that there is nowhere local in St. Louis that accepts milk donation, which left only remote options. My pediatrician's office also did research and recommended the Mother's Milk Bank. It's based in Colorado and is a non-profit group that uses the milk for pre-mature babies in the NICU.

After doing an initial phone screening and filling out maybe 5 pages regarding health questions, etc (they are VERY thorough), it sounded like I qualified. They shipped me a box to pack the milk in, as well as some materials for a blood draw, and some additional forms. To ship the milk, I had to pack it in dry ice and had to ship it out the same day, overnight.

I scheduled my appointment to get the blood drawn (luckily my obgyn office agreed to do it for free since it was for the purpose of milk donation). Then, I went through the task of finding dry ice. Many cities sell dry ice from local grocery stores, Walmart, or FedEx. But, not St. Louis (at least not in any of the dozen or so places that I called). I was left with the option of a specialized ice store in Olivette (which is about 40 minutes from my house, but luckily it was not too much farther than my obgyn office).

All that was left was the FedEx store. I was lucky that I called, because not all FedEx locations ship dry ice (since it is classified as a "dangerous good"). The closest location for it was in Earth City, about 30 minutes from my house.

It was going to be quite the busy day - obgyn office, FedEx, home, doctor's appointment for Ariella (since she was a little sick), then home to pack up the milk, then to FedEx. But, I figured that it was all workable, even though it had required quite a bit of planning. The next obstacle came when I arrived for the blood draw. I gave the tech the bag with the materials (vials for the blood, instructions, etc). The problem was that the instructions called for 2 pearl topped vials and 1 gold top vial. However, there were 3 pearl top vials (no gold top). I called the lady at the Mother's Milk Bank, but I got her voicemail. It was so discouraging. I was thinking I'd have to call it quits and either try again another time or just give up. I was out of the office and almost to the elevator when the lady from the Milk Bank called me back. I went back in and let her talk with the tech. They worked out what they needed to do (luckily), so I was able to get the blood draw done. Then, Ariella and I waited for about 40 minutes while the blood samples had clotted and then were spun in the centrifuge.

The dry ice place went smoothly. I found it with no trouble (good directions from google maps). It was $.75 per pound, with a minimum of 6 pounds, but they didn't make me take the 6 pounds (the instructions said to use between 3-5 pounds in the box). Regardless, it wasn't expensive. We had Ariella's doctor's appointment after that (which I had to re-schedule for an hour later, since the blood draw took so long, but luckily they were accommodating). Her appointment went well. Her congestion was NOT in her lungs, so it was just a routine type of cold. Then, we went home and I packed up the milk, blood samples, and dry ice. I was able to fit 45 5oz bags in the box. I had more milk that I could have donated, but that was all that would fit.

Then, I was off to FedEx. That went smoothly, too, except for the part where they asked me for the monetary value of the package. I had no idea. I told them what it was, and they didn't make me name a value. In my opinion, the breast milk is priceless.

The next day, the lady from the Milk Bank called me and said that the milk had arrived. It was still frozen and still had some dry ice left. Yay!

Yesterday, though I got a call from the pediatrician's office saying that the form that was faxed to them needed to be sent to the obgyn, that they can't fill it out. I had filled out 2 consent forms - 1 for the pediatrician and 1 for the obgyn. All I can figure is that the milk bank mixed them up when sending them to the 2 offices. So, I sent an e-mail about that. I'm sure it will all get worked out, but it has been a process!

A lady from one of the newsgroups that I am part of gave me some perspective, though. She wrote, "That's really a great thing you are doing with your milk. I did the math, that's 225 ounces!! You may feed a sick or premature baby for several weeks singlehandedly!" Even though it's been quite a pain going though this process, it is an amazing feeling knowing that I was able to do this for some little babies.

Day at the Zoo

Sunday we went to the zoo! It was me, Tyree, his mom, Ariella, my cousin Dave, his wife Lori, and their 2 boys Spencer (5) and Holden (3). Ariella had so much fun looking at all of the animals.

We started at the Children's zoo where she was able to pet the goats, and we slid down a tube slide through one of the water exhibits. We saw so many animals - elephants, camels, bears, giraffes, etc. We had a hard time getting Ariella to turn away from the animals for the pictures - lol! She loved watching them.

We road the train, which was fun (although it was a long wait). Probably the highlight of the trip was the carousel. Ariella absolutely loved it! She even held onto the pole like a big girl. She road on a seal that went up and down. The second the ride started, she got extremely excited. She loved the wind on her face, and stuck her tongue out to "taste the wind", as I call it. She squealed with delight. It was so amazing to experience with her.

We were at the zoo for most of the day. I hadn't expected that we would be there quite so long. I had packed one bottle of her milk, along with a full jar of pears. I wound up nursing her as well in a discrete location, which worked out fine. I couldn't have asked for a better time at the zoo.

City Museum

Saturday we went out to the City Museum in St. Louis. For those of you who have never been to the City Museum, it is more like a gigantic museum of fun than a traditional museum. On the outside, there are all of these areas to climb on - large metal wire enclosures 4 or 5 stories off the ground. And, on the inside there are all of these different areas with activities and places to explore. It's also where I took my static trapeze lessons.

We started out exploring these caves and tunnels on the first and second floors. Ariella and I went with David and the boys, climbing through everything. It was challenging for me at times to get through some of the areas while carrying Ariella, but I didn't want her to miss anything!

Next, we went outside in the climbing area. It was almost like a gigantic tree-house, with wire enclosures, slides, etc to go through. In the picture above, Ariella and I were way up on that wire enclosed bridge. It was probably 4 or 5 stories high. Also, outside was the ball pit. The boys LOVED the balls. Ariella had fun playing with one of the balls, and she took a little break to eat with Abuela.

After that we went through the inside of the museum. One of the floors had a gigantic circle of sponges. We wound up having a mini sponge war, throwing the sponges at each other. Holden built a tower of sponges. Some other people had spent a long time in there. They had actually enclosed a person completely in sponges.

On the next floor, where I had my trapeze lessons, the boys went on a small train ride. Unfortunately, Ariella couldn't go because I was too big for the train. But, she took that opportunity to take a little nap. She also napped while we went through a part of the museum that had all kinds of remnants from different historic buildings in St. Louis. There were statues, door knobs, etc - just lots of interesting things.

She woke up when we got to the skateboard park (only instead of skateboarding, the kids were running and sliding). I took Ariella through that, and we did quite a bit of sliding. Then, we sat down and watched the children for a bit. Ariella was fascinated! She also found it very funny and was laughing and laughing! I don't think she's ever laughed that long before.

It was definitely an amazing place for her to go.

Labor Day Weekend

I had the most amazing weekend! My cousin David, his wife Lori, and their two boys Spencer (5) and Holden (3) came to visit for the Labor Day weekend, and we had so much fun in St. Louis. Spencer and Holden were so cute! They had so much energy. Spencer has just enthralled with Ariella. He loved holding her on the sofa and playing with her. Holden was a little bundle of energy, too. He did so well when they went swimming Sunday night. He was able to jump right into the pool - no fear.

They arrived late on Friday night around 11pm, so Ariella and I were pretty much sleeping. Saturday we intended to go to the zoo, but it was so crowded in Forest Park that the parking lots were full. So, we abandoned that plan and went out to the City Museum - which turned out to be tons of fun. Sunday morning we went out to the zoo early and stayed there for most of the day. Sunday night the boys and David went swimming. Then, Monday Lori, me, and the kids went to the park and then we had a BBQ. It was a weekend full of fun. More detailed posts to come about the City Museum and the Zoo!