6 month old!

6 months have passed since I gave birth!? The hectic days are just flying by. 
The girls are doing fantastic!   When I read articles about monthly babies' development, which is a guideline of what to expect at certain age and months, I see Kaci is ahead of its description, Cja is somewhat late comer.  So much personality that I can already see who is gonna be a go-go-go one and who is gonna be a mellow one ;-)

 KACI,

 *weight －－14lb 4oz
* flips from back to tummy all the time. She pushes her butt up trying to go for what's in front of her, but she can't go forward as she wants so she gets frustrated.
* At the beginning of 6th month, she had stranger anxiety. Even if we are around, when someone comes close to her face, she got scared.  By the end of the month, she seems to be ok.  Maybe because we put them in daycare once a week. She might have gotten used to be around strangers.
*Hands and brain coordination. She is really good at it! Take a look at the video (6 month 1week),, "Kaci, the shredder"

*Teething...  runny nose, congestion and fever 99-101 and don't seem to be in pain but quite fussy especially in the evening. Once, her fever lasted for 4 days. She woke up screaming crying in the middle of the night during those days. We use orajel every once in a while. When fever is high (over 101) before bedtime, we give her Mortrin over Tylenol only because the Mortrin lasts 8 hours and helps her sleep. When it's 99-100.4, I just watch her level of activity, how she looks and all. Majority of the time, she is fine. I read that low grade fever is actually beneficial to the baby.
*Kaci called "da da"!
*Kaci is not so vocal compared to Cja.
*Kaci has new hair growth. The back of her head was kinda bald but now new hair is growing in.


CJA,,,

*weight--16lb
*Just into 6month, she started "bwah bwah bwah " sound with her mouth. Sounds like she is trying to say "mama" because I teach her to say the word! She've already called "da da"!!
*Teething--I saw a while dot on her bottom gum at 6mon 1wk--before turning 7 month old, she has 2 bottom teeth coming up half way out.  She is doing fantastic with this teething process. She doesn't run fever, she doesn't chew toys, she doesn't care about orajel and sleeps all night long. She drools a lot and occasional screaming.. She hasn't needed any Tylenol for the pain so far.
*Caught 2nd cold this season.
*She rolled from back to tummy at 6mon 4week! finally!

ME,,,
*I am still pumping breast milk. 5-6 times a day. I  have about 1 1/2 month worth of supply in freezer.
*I have been eating chocolate every single day for last 6 months. Also desserts after dinner is a must. I have 2 servings of dinner everyday.  These can't be happening anymore! Less pumping= less calories I burn. So I will start my exercise as less chocolate and less often of desserts. Yes, this is a start!
*I was down with fever this month. My car died on me one morning. I was late for work two days in a row. This is when Kaci had fever also. All these in just one week. Phew.

My motto : I try not to look or dress as if I just get ran over by train. Running all over the place for two babies should not stop from me tying to keep myself neat, though it happens quite often LOL.

How to 'UN'clog milk duct or milk bleb

I have been having lots of issues lately with clogged milk duct upon pumping. I have had days to where I had to leave work early because of the pain from the clog.  Break time at work is just not long enough for me to empty all the milk, so I stop in the middle of it. Because more milk is produced that what's been pumped out, it causes back ups and blockage at times. There are days when I am spending hours trying to unclog the duct. It stirs me away from spending time with babies. It really depresses me when it's happening. I always have long list of things to do especially on my days off but many times it goes undone. This really makes me think I want to stop pumping, thinking all these time I spend on pumping will be available to me to do something else and that how I won't have stress and pain caused by this. But at the same time I feel that I am cutting off my babies because of my inconvenience.
For the time being, I am still pumping. I have started weaning slowly, taking couple of month or a bit more.

Anyways, I have found the helpful way to unclog the milk duct.

If I have CLOGGED MILK DUCT,,,

credit: homeremediesweb

* Hot compress, Hot shower, is always helpful but not so promising to unclog.
* Massage circular motion toward nipple is the good way, but I have to do is AGGRESSIVELY.  I massage so hard that the skin gets red.

But, the best way is,

* In a large bowl, put hot water (not so burning).  Dip your entire breast (which has the clogged duct ) in and squeeze the clogged milk duct toward the nipple with fingers.  You are basically helping the flow of the clogged milk coming out. When I use glass bowl, I can see milk flowing out really well.  The other day, I heard "snap" when I unclogged the duct.

Now, If I have MILK BLEB,,

credit: Kellymom

Milk Bleb is a Milk pimple in the nipple. It's visible. It's like a cap causing the blockage for the milk to come out. When I pump, I can feel that milk in a certain duct trying to come out but it's not coming out because of this milk bleb. When you have this, massaging does not help at all. To uncap this milk bleb, I find the safest way is to use espom salt.

* 2 teaspoon of epsom salt to 1 cup hot water ( not burning). Dip the affected nipple before pumping or nursing. It will soften the skin including the bleb. You have to do this at least 3-4 times a day. Eventually the backed up milk will burst open the bleb and unclog the duct. You need patience on this one.

I have used sterile needle to "pop" it. but too risky. We don't want infection.

Im not sure how many times I have to deal with these problems, but I will survive!