Having a good laugh!

Just before bath time, I decided to have a good play with Cailyn and luckily had my iPhone close by to capture this video of her laughing!



Great news!  Cradle cap is GONE!!! Thanks to Kim for recommending Mustela foaming shampoo.  This stuff works amazingly well!  It was a challenge to find it and not cheap, but once I got my hands on it we were ready to wash that cradle cap away.  It took two shampoos to really see a change and by the third shampoo it is gone! No more picking waxy residue off her head, YAY!!   Thanks Kim for sharing this with me!!!  I also bought the matching baby lotion, but it seems to cause a slight rash on Cailyn, but fortunately, I love it and it is not wasted money. 
Cailyn is doing really well, not much else to share.  We are blessed having her in our life, that's for sure! I cannot wait for the warmer weather to get out and about alot more.
We managed to purchase the next car seat, and got the one I really wanted.  We opted for the Britax Marathon which tends to be very expensive here in Canada.  It was on sale on the weekend, and we had to go to two Babies R Us locations to finally get it.  The savings of $100.00 was worth the drive.  Now we just need to get it installed professionally and she will be set.  She has about a month before she will transition into it so not a huge rush. 
In a pinch we bought a jar of Gerber Sweet Potatoes and O M G did it smell bad!! Why, why does it smell so bad?  I make sweet potatoes for Cailyn at home and they do not smell bad like the jarred ones!!  I will continue to make her food knowing how badly the jarred one smelled.  I am fortunate to have the ability and time to do this!
This week on TheNextFamily.com I write about the MHA process and visiting Pahar Ganj market area. If you wish to have a read, here is the link:  http://thenextfamily.com/topics/family/surrogacy-family/kerrie-olejarz/
Since I started sharing our story on the Next Family, many of us have gotten to know Madge (Madgew).  Madge is the marketing guru for the website and probably one of the nicest women I have encountered in my life.  Madge has been a huge supporter of ours (and many of you as well) and we love her for her friendship.  She the coolest 60 something woman who can use the "f" word appropriately - like when discussing the latest antics of Rush Limbaugh!  Madge will be on a North American tour in May and one of her stops is Toronto!! We are stoked to meet her in person and spend time with her - hoping the weather is great for her visit! 
Here are a few pics from the week:

Trying out a sippy cup after having squash at home.

Exersaucer chewing - notice her scalp is somewhat red as the cradle cap falls off!

Cradle cap all gone!

Cailyn sitting on the couch

Please excuse the two dribble of what looks like banana spit up on the white blanket!

Just watching Survivor!  Cailyn loves Jeff Probst, Anderson Cooper and Ellen!   She smiles like crazy whenever she sees one of them! 

Monsoon Passport

This week on TNF I write about finally getting Cailyn's passport...in what was probably the last of the monsoon rains!  Such a crazy day to recall in our lives!   If you care to read this click on the update over here  ------------------------------------>
Last week was a great week, less spitting up, less laundry, & lots of fun with Cailyn !Cailyn has started saying "Hey" and "Hey Ya".  It is really cute to hear her say this!! Also, she laughs alot, everything is funny and she giggles, especially when we play peek a boo or pretend to throw her in the air or pretend to drop her low. 
Apparently avocado is MMmmmmmMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm!  When ever she eats it, she just says mmmmm during the entire feed.  She loves all her veggies so far and we have had no reactions to anything we have introduced.  Parsnips are the second most enjoyable for her, pureed and smooth,  she just loves them.
Cailyn is teething and yesterday wasa rough one.  She stopped taking the bottle as the sucking was just too painful, so we made fun with it all and syringe fed her.  After a couple hours of loading her up with Hylands teething tablets, she finally took a bottle at 9pm, just in time for bed.  Poor little sausage.

A rough evening of teething...all tuckered out and fell asleep in her chair.

Are these "jeggings" too tight?

Saturday morning smiles on the couch.

OMG! Baby flip flops...who knows if she will even wear them, but for three bucks I just had too!

Cailyn had her 6 month check up last Friday and she is considered one of the healthiest babies the doctor has seen!! Yay for our surrogate and SCI for helping us!!  I had a feeling Cailyn was quite long and sure enough, this months measurements showed her length in the 90th percentile!  No wonder most pajamas are too short for her!
Here are her stats so far:

Birth weight	6.37 lbs	50%
Weight at 5 weeks	8.08 lbs	50%
Weight at 8 weeks	10.11 lbs	50%
Weight at 15 weeks	14.02 lbs	50%
Weight at 26 weeks	18.03 lbs	50%
Length at Birth	49.5 cm	50%
Length at 5 weeks	53.34 cm	50%
Length at 8 weeks	56.00 cm	50%
Length at 15 weeks	62 cm	50%
Length at 26 weeks	69 cm	90%

Six months!

My NextFamily update this week details our visit to Haus Khaz, a terrorist attack and an earthquake!! Lots of fun in Delhi!  You can read it by clicking on the picture at the side bar ----->
Cailyn is now six months...it's fun to watch her grow, but I sometime feels sad at how quickly she is growing and how much sooner I need to return to work  :(
We are still seeing the Network Analyst for Cailyn and have noticed a considerable change in her spitting up!  She responded very well to her first treatment but started to regress so we are continuing with it for 6 sessions to see if this resolves the spitting up.  As of yesterday, her spit up volume is about a mouth full so a marked improvement from the previous multiple ounces at one time.  The other improvement from the treatments is that Cailyn goes down for a nap now with ease.  Before, there was a bit of a fight and struggle, but now, head turns to the side, eyes close and tadaa...sleep!
Cailyn is now fully aware of the presence of the cat and squeals with delight when she sees her.  We have a daily pet the kitty time and Cailyn is learning what the word "gentle" means.  Our cat is an old girl and very tolerant and patient with Cailyn.  She likes to lay near Cailyn and be part of the family action, especially in the evening. 
Since the spitting up is minimal now, I do not know what to do with all my free time (insert sarcasm).  Laundry is now down to a minimum, floors are clean, baby and mommy are dry!
We have almost finished with that damned cradle cap!  What a mission this has been!  Oils, combs, brushes, creams...it's all crap!  The best and most nauseating approach is to gently pick it off...I have episodes of vomiting into my mouth when I do it, but, it is the only thing that has worked so I have to suck it up and do it!  It is funny that a poopy diaper does not bother me, but that foreign waxy residue on Cailyn's head sends me into a totally grossed out, slightly nauseous state!  Ah motherhood!

Like a living doll!

Busy hands

Teeth!

One of Cailyn's fave things to do is stand!

Side sleeping...

18 seconds of fame!

We met with CBC radio to talk about reproductive tourism, and what was an almost 45 minute interview got chopped down to about 18 seconds, but regardless, the main points were highlighted.  If you have iTunes you can hear it , about 3:50minutes into the podcast or click on the link for a non-iTunes listen.

http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/includes/wr.xml

Ahhhhhh 6 Months!!

Where the heck has the time gone???  We cannot believe our little girl will be 6 months on Friday!  She is a busy girl which is awesome!  Sadly she has her first cold, not sure where or how she got it, but it is good for her immunity to have one now and again.  Today we went to a Network Spinal doctor for Cailyn.  Since she was a c-section baby, there is a theory that the intense volume of spit up could be caused my a misaligned spine or hips, causing problems with her diaphragm etc...  So, it was like seeing an osteopath, no cracking or snapping, just small pressure treatment on her neck, spine and hips.  Interestingly enough, her first bottle after the treatment stayed put!  I am hoping that the next few days will be telling, and when we return on Friday for a second treatment that we can share good news with the doctor.  I am working on uploading one of our many videos of Cailyn that end in spitting up so you can see the volume ...for example, if she has 5 ounces, she will spit up 2-3 of them before the next feed, which just so happens to be less than three hours apart since she gets hungry faster than she should due to the spit up.  Fortunately she is gaining weight and healthy!
CBC News Canada will be doing a feature on us and our journey to India.  I understood it was for TV but I was mistaken and it is for radio.  No biggie, just happy to get the good word out to my fellow Canadians and hopefully help someone along the way.
Being Susie homemaker, I have been cooking, pureeing and straining lots of vegetables for Cailyn. Carrots and peas are a hit, as is squash and yams.  Next up, one of my favourites...Parsnips!!!

Peas and carrots ready for baby!

Na na na na na naaaaaaaaaaaaaa na!

I am naked, now feed me!

Notice the teething ring around her bicep..this is where she keeps it at all times! Too funny!

Loves to nap on her side...makes mommy very nervous!

This week on the Next Family I write about busying ourselves as we wait for the DNA test results!  Here is the link:  http://thenextfamily.com/topics/family/surrogacy-family/kerrie-olejarz/

DNA testing and spitting up

This week on TNF we finally get our DNA testing! I say finally, but really, it all went so quickly!! Here is the link if you want to have a read..  http://thenextfamily.com/topics/family/surrogacy-family/kerrie-olejarz/

Huge Congratulations to Mandy and Rick on finally having a positive pregnancy test, and  making it to 16 weeks today!! YAY!!!

Cailyn finally is sprouting hair...

When we were in India, we had the pleasure to meet Temmy.    Temmy gave Cailyn two adorable dresses, with matching shoes.  Well, these now fit and OMG..they are just too cute!! Here is Cailyn in the all pink outfit from Aunt Temmy!

Aunt Temmy with Cailyn in India

Cailyn continues to amaze us every day. She is now very mobile on her back...scooting around on her back!  She says "hi mama,  hi pop pop, bye and I love you".  She has two bottom teeth and now the top two are ready to crack any day now!  Spitting up is still her task of choice, but fortunately she is a happy spittter and it's more of a laundry/clean the house issue.   For some reason she loves "The Wiggles"...oi vey. 
Cailyn loves to watch The Young and The Restless with mommy and daddy...yes, I wrote daddy...and now, chooses to have her bottle on her own like a big girl while watching!

Everyday is a joy and a privilege with Cailyn!


Just after posting this, Cailyn gave me a great spit up shot to share:

Almost 6 months!

Those of you who were on the old SI forum may remember Nicolle.  Nicolle came to meet Cailyn, and thank god her first son was a spitter upper as Nicolle left with wet pants and didn't even bat an eye at it!! Cailyn enjoyed meeting Nicolle and loves the beautiful book she brought.
Cailyn also had a play date with Kai.  Kai is 4 months old today, so about 6 weeks younger than Cailyn.   Cailyn has two teeth and it seems like any day now she will have one more.  
My update is on The Next Family - this week I write about Cailyn being discharged from Spring Meadows and heading to the Canadian High Commission for the second visit.   Here is the link if you wish to have a  read:  http://thenextfamily.com/topics/family/surrogacy-family/kerrie-olejarz/

Cailyn continues to spit up, so I thought about a few pro's and con's of spitting up, and here is my take on it:

Pro's

*Your floors are clean - cleaner than ever as you have your daily routine of mopping the whole house at end of day. See the con's list as to why this is imperative and prevents accidents.
*You might get to go shopping for yourself as your clothes are constantly splattered with spit up formula, which can look like bleach splatters on dark coloured clothing. Shopping for yourself changes from fashionable and needs to be ironed to comfy, dries easily, washes well and is a spit up hiding colour!
*A clean baby! The spitting up becomes an annoying discussion with those around you so you work very hard on keeping baby clean. Since spit up can land in baby's ears, trickle into their hair if they are laying down etc, you are constantly on scrubbing up duty - people will compliment you on how lovely the baby always looks! Little do they know it is a constant cleaning battle. This could also belong in the con's list.

Con's

*Baby is always wet...shirt's, pants, neck, hands, blankets, coats...you get the point...everything is wet!
LAUNDRY - having a singleton spitting up feels like having twins! Lot's of laundry, but thank god the baby clothes are small and alot fits into one load.
*Hazardous conditions - when spit up formula dries on the hard wood, or the tile it becomes like a skating rink. Anyone who scoots across the dried spit up wearing socks or slippers risks wiping out and falling hard!
*The never ending comments from those around you. I continue to get frustrated when people say she is "throwing up". Throwing up is from sickness, spitting up is the diaphragm still developing. I just know my in laws tell all their friends our baby throws up all day and these people will automatically assume we have a sickly baby. grr...enough...oh my blood pressure....


Here are some recent pics of Cailyn

Holding her own water bottle

Getting a little too fresh with Kai!

Awe, too cute!

5 minutes before bed last night..such a smiley girl!

Chunka munka after her bath (no, not mommy!)

Daytime fun - notice how wet her top is...ah..spit up is fun!

Squash...YUM!

More squash please

Kooky face playing her piano

She has found her feet...well we think she has leaned out and is no longer trying to look over her belly!  She has actually put her toes in her mouth!

It is very hard to imagine this was Cailyn just a year ago!!

Citizenship, cereal and a tooth!

I love being a Canadian.  I love being part of a country that can end any sentence in "eh" , and that says the word about like aboot .  I would also love for Cailyn to finally be recognized as a Canadian citizen!!  The process is simple,  just it seems to take a very long time to actually receive the final judgements.  Yesterday we received a letter about her citizenship application stating that is now in the hands of the Program Support Unit, thus, causing a delay in finalizing.  Hmm... she is a citizen by descent, yet we have to go through all the hurdles to have actual recognition.  It is a little frustrating as we cannot get her a Social Insurance Number until this is finalized, and without a SIN number we cannot open a proper education savings account.  On the contrary, the government has approved us for the Universal Child Care Benefit where we get a pittance every month to assist with our child care needs and we received our first cheque yesterday, retro active to her birth.  This is very impressive to us and we are grateful to have it!  The UCCB did have some challenges as they followed upon our application asking for proof of Cailyns refugee status etc... which was comical to us. We were able to satisfy their needs quickly with our Indian birth certificate, and 2.5 months later, we received our first cheque.

This little Canadian girl has a tooth now, yep, lower right chomper has made an appearance!  Feeling the tooth on day one was like feeling the tip of a razor blade, or the sharp point of a sewing needle.  She is obsessed with this tooth, sucking on it and touching it all day.  It is adorable to watch her recognize that something is different in her mouth.
We also started her (a little early) on rice cereal.  We started earlier than planned to see if this would help with her intestinal trials, and luckily it has!!  Cailyn LOVES to eat her cereal and the sheer excitement of sitting in her high chair waiting and watching as the cereal gets made causes her to either squeal or coo with delight.   As a result of a few days of cereal, she has actually worn the same outfit for more than one hour and her laundry basket is quite empty! Yesterday she wore the same outfit for the entire day, what a change for us!  YAY for solids!

Yum, cereal!

The Liebster award - wow!

Seems there is a series of Liebster Awards being mentioned on blogs, all started by Doug and Bill  , and then we were mentioned in the awards list by Douglas and Chad .  We feel quite honoured to have been mentioned and understand that we must pay it forward as a grateful recipient. 
Now, this feels a bit like Survivor to me, that we have won the reward challenge on day 29 and get to choose one person to come and eat with us, leaving the rest behind.  We enjoy so many blogs about surrogacy, that it is difficult to highlight just a few!

I decided to go old school and highlight the blogs of families who started out with us in 2008

Made in India - two beautiful boys born after some drama in Mumbai.  Nik and Lisa have become friends, for life.   We had many a beer with Nik while in Mumbai in the summer of 2009.

Baby Masala -  we had the pleasure to meet this family in Mumbai in 2009.  If you go back in their blog to the beginnings, you will see a very heartfelt post about taking this plunge and the uncertainty that came with it.   We love the updates on Micah, seeing him grow up into such a wonderful little boy.

Procreated In India - we had the pleasure to meet this family while in Mumbai in 2009.  They have a beautiful baby girl, and I hope that when they try for baby number two they continue to share their experiences! 

Amani and Bob's Indian Surrogacy - Amani and Bob - beautiful Tobias born in 2010!  Meg and Bob had their own hurdles throughout the early parts of their journey, but pressed on to have success and now are expecting baby number two with SCI.

Oh Mandy!!!   We all hoping and praying that Mandy and her hubby Rick finally get the news they so desire.  After I think 4 failed attempts in India, it is their time!!

I just wanted to pay homage to some of our pioneers who have stayed in touch with us as we struggled through 8 attempts at a baby in India.  There are just so many great blogs out there now that there is no way I can make a top ten list!  Sometimes I worry our blog could scare the crap out of people - well our earlier mishaps and blunders anyway.  I hear from people daily that our blog has inspired them, and for that we are grateful.

And, this list would not be complete without mention of Dr Shivani's blog, and The Next Family.  Both of these places are very special to me, and I feel like they have helped me grow my friends list beyond what I could have imagined. 

To access the blogs I mentioned just click on the name and you will be redirected.

Interview

TNF has conducted interviews with it's writers and mine was published today.  Here is the link: http://thenextfamily.com/2012/01/interview-with-kerrie-olejarz/

If you want to see an adorable video of a sweet little 3yr old girl trying chewing gum for the first time, click HERE.  This angel belongs to Brandy at The Next Family. 
Seeing this video really makes me excited to see Cailyn try all these new things in life!

The last week has been much improved here.  The new formula seems to be doing the trick, but sadly, the ingredients are far from what I would feed her in a perfect world.  I had such high hopes of an all organic formula, snacks etc, yet, the intestinal trials of one Cailyn Olejarz have pulled me far off this path of idealism.   I am so over it...I try my best and will always make the best choices on her behalf.  In this situation we need her to eat, spit up minimal, BURP and feel good, so, so .... so be it...its not organic and the ingredient declaration is far from ideal.    Sometimes we have to compromise.   That's life!

Cailyn is super long and I think her next dr. visit will show her length beyond her previous 50th percentile.  Teething is fun, but since we keep Camilia on hand and use as needed we have figured this out!   http://boiron.ca/en/products/children/camilia/

Late October....

January 2011 - oh how she has grown!

Everyone loves a hooded towel!

Must have's and 5 months!

This week I decided to post our list of must haves for baby pick up in India.  For those of you who have picked up you baby, I would ask you to add to the list in the comments section of my Next Family blog.  Sharing our experiences really helps others, I hear this everyday!!


Click on the picture to be redirected to the page:

http://thenextfamily.com/2012/01/list-of-must-haves-when-picking-up-a-baby-in-india/

Now, onto Cailyn.  She is 5 months old tomorrow (the baby ticker at the top of the blog page seems to calculate based on 30 days in a month..)  I cannot believe she is already 5 months!! Where does the time go!  She can sit up on her own for short periods of time and tries hard with her little abdomen muscles to pull herself up from the lying down position.  She loves her hands and feet and now reaches out to grab things...like daddy's burrito!   She sleeps very well through the night, thank god, and now has a two hour nap in the late afternoon (another YAY for mommy).  We do to Body Morph everyday and Cailynis a very popular girl there.  As all of us women jiggle our way to a thinner self, Cailyn smiles and entertains all of us.  She loves to see everyone jiggling, especially mommy!  Speaking of Body Morph, my first month doing it proved to be successful...a total of 8 inches lost!!
Her reflux is still a small beast and we are working to keep her comfortable.  Saturday she started getting back to normal, still spitting up like crazy but seemingly in less pain. We are hesitant to use Zantac, but may get the script for the acute attacks.  We have always made a "concoction" for her of warm water, flax oil and some added gas relief (like Oval or Coxcyntal).  She loves to drink this, and I think she knows it helps her gas pains.  We are continuing with the new formula with hopes it also helps...so far it seems to have improve things..fingers crossed.  Fortunately, through all of this, she continues to sleep through the night for 10-11 hours, which helps keep us sane!
Everyday with her is a joy, and even the challenging moments are looked back on as such a privledge in our life.

Little girl in what seems a large high chair!

Finally growing some hair

Trouble!

24 hours of insanity

Caused by gas...reflux...colic...who knows but poor Cailyn has had a rough 24 hours.  We have tried everything to calm her and take away her pain.  Finally, out of pure exhaustion and concern we got her into a rush appointment at the doctor who said she is fine, maybe needs some Zantac but lets wait til tomorrow to see if this is still continuing.  In the meantime, we have moved to a new formula, continuing probotics and praying that this resolves as quickly as it came on.    My poor sister came over today to give me a mental break, so I decided to head out and get some formula with Mark (who managed to come home early)  Shortly after leaving my sister called and was dealing with a poor screaming baby.  We paid for our purchase and raced home, called the doctor and booted out the door.  Cailyn had always spit up but this has progressed quickly into a not so good situation. Today was the first time I had a mini melt down as I could not help her, no matter what I tried...nothing worked.   And, coincidentally, a new blog on The Next Family went up today that gave me a sense of kinship, and also put into perspective that it could be worse.  Read about Tanya's experience here: http://thenextfamily.com/2012/01/baby-has-bad-acid-refulx/comment-page-1/#comment-67232
Tonight as I write this Cailyn is soundly sleeping, more than likely exhausted from the last day of pain and crying.  It is awful to be a parent and not be able to fix what is wrong..immediately.  Sadly with reflux or colic it becomes a trial and error scenario that takes time to figure out.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for all of us! 

Almost 5 months!

Well, Cailyn is rounding out the last days of her fourth month.  She continues to be beyond happy, smiling and engaging with people all the time!  It is really nice to see her interact in such a fun and social way.   As of today Cailyn has found her "squeal" voice...she squeals high pitched, at intervals of...well alot!! It is too cute and as annoying as it could be to some, for us, it is a squeal that melts our hearts.  Cailyn also has a boisterous giggle type laugh, and tries to talk alot.  She continues to say "hi!" and it's not just mom and dad who have heard it.  Cailyn continues to spit up what seems to be all she eats.  The doctor is not worried as she continues to put on wait and is growing nicely.  We are considering switching formulas next to see if this helps at all, as it seems it has progressed into reflux.  For now, until we use up the rest of the purchased formula, we are giving her Bio Gaia probiotic drops and after 4 days we have noticed a substantial improvement!  We are starting to see a shimmer of hair on her head - she has been bald since all her birth hair fell.  I cannot remember who gave us the pink moccasin style slippers, but whomever did THANK YOU!! They are just so great!! Seems there are no socks for this age/size and the slipper are perfect!  Cailyn loves to be bare foot, but once we feel her feet getting cool, we put on the slippers and all is good.    Cailyn can almost sit up from a laying down postion, can sit unsupported in the tripod position and loves to lift her legs up over her belly with her legs stretched as straight as can be!  She surprises us daily with new things she does and sounds she makes.  Every day is a blessing with her, and every day we are so full of love and also so very thankful to Dr S @ SCI!

Busy legs!

10/10/2011 - look how tiny she is compared to the pic above...oh how quickly they grow!

Too cute!

Collection of Sophie's for teething

Cutie patootie!

Fun feeding

More fun feeding~!

Sometimes Cailyn will only burp when propped into her Bumbo



This week on TNF I write about Cailyn's treatment for jaundice in India and also our chance meeting with our surrogate Sumita

http://thenextfamily.com/topics/family/surrogacy-family/kerrie-olejarz/