The girls

Samantha has now officially started softball. Her dad is thrilled she's attempting to play the organized sport this summer. He went and "helped" at her first practice while he was home this past week. I say "helped" because I don't know if he really was help or if he just horned in and rained on the coaches parade! He's kinda like that when it comes to baseball!

She had her first game on Tuesday night. She got to bat twice and got a single each time. I was impressed with her swing. Most of the girls on both teams were cutting down toward the ground when they swung the bat. Sam did good with a straight follow through and made a great connect with the ball. I'm sure her dad was proud! Trav was here for her first game. He "helped" again by coaching first base. Sam played really well during the game. She did almost take out her own first baseman though! Wasn't Sam's fault - the first baseman wasn't paying attention & they could've gotten the runner out if she had paid attention & caught Sam's throw!

On a different note...this one has been screaming for the past six (yes, SIX) days (yes Travis has been home & yes I'm glad. No he's not home any more and yes, I'm sad about that!). At first I thought it was just colic/fussiness. It would start at about 9:30 pm and last until about midnight or so. Then about last Thursday she got pretty congested. That's when the sadness started around the clock. I thought it was just because of the congestion, but the congestion cleared up and the sadness didn't. Then I thought maybe it was because she hadn't pooped in several days. But, on Sunday she pooped. It was seriously the consistency of paste! I thought, "Well, no wonder you've been sad!" and figured the problem was solved. Nope, she was still crying the next day.

On Monday the pediatrician's office was closed for the holiday. I managed to tough it out and was able to get an appointment for Tuesday afternoon. Luckily, she doesn't scream if she's being held. Of course, you have to have just the right hold on her. The only other time she doesn't scream is if she's nursing and between midnight and six am (thank goodness for that!). The dr. told me he wanted me to try this hypoallergenic formula instead of the formula I was using. She only gets about 2-4 oz of formula a day (pretty much only if we're in the car and I don't have a bottle of pumped milk and she's crying because she's hungry). He also wanted to do a urine test to check for a urinary tract infection. He sent home all the stuff for me to do the urine test at home so I didn't have to pay for it if it came back negative. He told me if it turned out positive to take the sample into the lab at the hospital and they'd run it. I managed to get a tiny bit of urine & used the dipstick he gave me to test her urine. The little pad turned purple almost immediately (a positive). So, I hauled it into the lab at the hospital. Unfortunately, it was after 9 pm. I asked if I would be able to get antibiotics that night if the lab ran it and it was positive. I was told yes, but I'd have to see a dr. and since it was after 9 the only dr.'s available were the ER dr.s. So, I called to talk to the dr. on call and told the operator why I wanted to talk to the on call dr. The operator reminded me that since it was after 9 there were no pharmacies open. I asked "Can't the hospital fill it?" Nope. Ok, glad I called first and didn't just pay a $100 ER co-pay!

Called the dr.'s office this morning. They had the lab results back and apparently there was NO sign of infection. What the??? When I was at the dr.'s office on Tuesday he said that if it came to be Friday and she wasn't doing better to give him a call (little did he know I already had a well check scheduled for Sam & Nash on Friday morning! :) ). He said that it's extremely rare but sometimes Reglan (which he put her on for her reflux) can cause stomach cramps. If she's not doing better by Friday he might take her off the Reglan. She's suppose to be getting the Reglan 4 times a day (every six hours). However, I DO NOT wake her up to give it to her (I'm not taking my chances that she'll go back to sleep!). So, she's only getting the Reglan between 1 and 3 times a day. I don't think it's the Reglan bothering her.

So, now what? Well, I gave her some of the hypoallergenic formula tonight (about 3 oz). Up until that point she'd only scream if I laid her down. After she had the formula she was screaming even when I held her. AWESOME! My mother finally came to my rescue around 9 tonight and was given the task of just holding Brooke! I was able to finally get the kids in bed, a little laundry folded and put away, Brooke got a bath & I got a shower. Plus, mom unloaded and loaded my dishwasher and washed my dishes! THANKS MOM!

For your random viewing pleasure, here's a picture of Brooke and my niece Olivia (born 5 wks early 3 days before Brooke). I think Olivia makes Brooke look like she's 6 months old!

To wrap up this terribly long post I say this: If you get bored, call me. I'll put you to work holding my baby so I can get some stuff done!