My Son the Warrior

What a long, stressful 7 weeks!  Usually when you have a baby the time goes by so quickly as you see your baby grow.  After a few weeks you are usually putting away the newborn clothes and trying to pick out which new 0-3 month outfit to put on first.  I feel as if these have been some very long weeks.  I am just trying to take it one day at a time.  It has seemed as if  I have taken 2 steps forward and then 4 steps back, over and over.

After 2 weeks of constant bleeding with nursing, I made the hard choice to stop nursing and do strictly formula.   He ate plenty and seemed fine.  He acted fussy and colicky but I wasn't sure if thats what it was since Halia was so easy.  We took him in for a check up at 4 weeks and he hadn't gained more than a few ounces in 2 weeks.  He spit up allot but you always hear that it may look like they spit up all they ate but it really isn't.  Well, obviously he was spittin up more than he should.  He was under the 25th percentile.  So we started him on the expensive formula for fussiness and gas...

He seemed a generally happy baby.  Just wanted to be held a lot.  5 days later he started pooping white.  By the end of day 5 on the gentle formula he was having a lot of blood in his diapers when he had a bowl movement.

I took him to instacare immediately.  They decided to know for sure we needed to have his blood drawn to rule out the worst.  Since he seemed generally healthy, the doc on-call told me to switch him to Soy formula until we get the results back.  By now we have spent $38.00 on formula in 5 days that we didn't end up finishing.  The worst thing ever, was to have to watch him get a needle stuck in his arm to get his blood drawn.  They strapped him down to a back board with only his head and arm showing.  Kinda like a papoose.  He was so brave and strong and luckily it was over quickly.  It was so sad to see the blue tape to keep the pressure on his arm.

I was getting anxious because he was still having blood in his poop and started spitting up more.  I didn't want him to lose more weight.  It was the weekend but I had our pediatricians cell#.  I kept bugging him until he got back to me.  He would be able to help us since he knows the baby's history better than any other doc would.  He said to stop the Soy and he would meet me at the office to give me some samples of some Hypoallergenic formula.  He was able to check his blood tests online and everything turned out good.  It seemed that his symptoms were consistent to Milk and Soy allergy.  In the meantime I decided to try to get my breast milk back.  I took supplements and pumped and was able to get a limited amount.  It wasn't the same milk from before but it was worth a try.  It was very watery looking.  It was almost impossible to avoid all soy.  Soy is in everything!

A few days into the new formula, Isaia started fussing more and spitting up allot as well as choking on clear mucous.  So...we tried another, a prescription from enfamil, a few days later he started to slow down his eating and spitting up more. He got more fussy and upset.  So...we tried Enfamil Nutramigen.  It's over the counter but it cost more than $4 every time we fed him!  All of these formulas are for babies with cow's milk allergy so basically the milk protein is broken into tiny pieces so he could digest it.  We were hoping this would be it for him even though it was going to cost over $25 a week to feed him.  We just wanted him to feel better and gain weight.  A few days later... he started having blood in his spit up!  Feeling so overwhelmed and worried I text my doc again.  On his way home from work he stopped by to drop off one more formula for us to try.  He said when you have a severe allergy it inflames everything from your throat all the way down and that was causing the blood.  We are crossing our fingers that this is the "secret formula" otherwise the next step is the Gastronologist.  I really don't want to put Isaia through anymore pain.

He has been so strong through all of this.  The pic above is all the formula we have used in the last 5 weeks!  I really hope the Enfamil Nutramigen AA is the last one.  Its Amino Acid based and smells like a swimming pool.  But he eats it and that's what matters.  He has been on it since last Thursday and seems to be doing better.  I actually think he looks bigger too.  We hope we can get it as a prescription and have our insurance help pay for it.  I hate that we have so many opened unfinished formulas.  I have a huge can of soy that we maybe made 6 bottles with.  If anyone wants it let me know.  It's yours for free.

You always wish that your baby can stay new for a little longer.  The one thing that has been nice is that he has stayed new looking for a little bit.  But after a month of that I was getting too worried and just wanted him to get bigger.  I feel like most people have their baby figured out by now and can get back into daily life and routines.  I feel as if every week has been like the beginning over and over again.  Especially when I was trying to get my milk back.  I know as soon as we figure it out he will catch up real quick.

As week 7 begins we are hopeful that the beginning of our future Samoan Warrior and future line backer is in the making.

We sure appreciate all the love and service we have received from everyone.  All your thoughts and prayers have been so needed and helpful.  Some day I will be able to return the favors.  Thank you again.

He is Here!

Isaia Manuia Fonotisatele

May 11, 2011 8:26AM

7lbs 7oz 21in

Our son is finally here! We couldn't be happier! The day was perfect and couldn't have gone any better. Everything was so great it was almost too good to be true. I know you are dying to see some pics so I'll get to his birth story later. I'm posting from the hospital so I am limited on the pics I can download. I'll get some more of his very first minutes up when I get home and can edit a little more.

Waiting patiently to get started.  Some lady decided to try and deliver her baby even though it was breech.  So that made our delivery postponed until she delivered in case they had to do a C-section.  Ugh...I was like, "hello, don't you know that I was planning on meeting my baby today? You're kinda messing up my plans."  Luckily, she was apparently an experienced mother by 3 times and pushed it out safely with one push.  So we were only one hour behind schedule.

The first time I got to touch and hold my baby boy. Sale had already spent the last 40 min with him while I was getting stitched up.  It was so amazing.  He was so quiet as he stared into my eyes for the first time like he knew exactly who I was.  It was so special.

Proud Daddy!

Excited Big Sister holding "baby broder sia" for the first time.

She loves him so much that you really have to keep a close eye on her.  She thinks she knows exactly what she is doing.

Thinking about the next time he gets to eat!

Baby Cooper

Baby Cooper is here! No not my baby...my new nephew. Cooper was born March 31st weighing 7 lbs 6oz and 19.5in long. He is soooo cute! He is a very handsome little guy and I'm not just saying that because he is family. :) So far he couldn't be more perfect and Healthy! There hasn't been any signs of the drugs effecting him so everyone was so relieved when he finally arrived.






My little guy is due in exactly 7 days from today! Next wed. May 11th at 7:30 am the c section will begin! This has been the longest 2 weeks of my life and the next few days couldn't come any faster. It will be so fun to have these two guys so close together. They will be exactly 6 weeks apart. My Brother and Sale already have their football future planned out. Everyone is making bets that when our son arrives that Cooper will weigh the same as our newborn. LOL! around 8 or 9 lbs. So far his name will be Isaia pronounced like ee-sy-ah. Its the Samoan version of Isaiah. Not sure on the middle yet. We will keep ya posted!

Anyone who is pregnant or knows anyone that is pregnant or is planning on becoming pregnant please watch

Monday On 2News @ 10: Prescription For Heartache

http://connect2utah.com/news-story?nxd_id=132066&watch=1&shr=addthis


This story is about my brother and his wife. She is pregnant with their 3rd child, a baby boy, and is due in about 6 weeks. A horrible mistake that has caused so much unneccary stress, worry, and special appointments with the neonatalogist for most of her pregnancy. So far, everything is ok, but no one should ever have to deal with this. She decided to come out with her story because she doesn't want anyone else to have to deal with this. You have to check your medications...unfourtunately you can't always trust the pharmicst. So scary. This is the clip for the trailer but please tune in to watch the story on Monday night.

New Beginings

This is for you Tricia Graves. I know what I promised, and its only the 2nd month of 2011 so I'm finally doing it. You can thank Sale later for keeping me up with his snoring so I could do an update. :) Here it is.... the last 10 months of the Fonotisatele family. I'll start where I left off... last spring.

Our last summer BBQ with our married student ward and Bishopric. This is just a few of the many friends we will always remember. So many fun times and memories. I sure miss the life of the student ward sometimes.

"Our Summer"

We got new family pictures last July. So much fun with a 2yr old. Yikes! Thanks to my friend Cathy Wall, she was able to catch a few good ones. She was so patient with the monkey.

Halia's cousins making faces at her to make her smile.

What was I trying to do with that hair? I imagined it looking better in my head. She is still so cute.
We spent a lot of time at parks letting Halia get her energy out. As you can see she is quite a monkey.

The splash pad was one of our favorite places to go. Just don't drink the water please!

She was so facinated with the dinosaurs at the dinosaur park. She would try to make a scary roar everytime she saw one.

You can never go wrong with family time at the Zoo. The train ride is mom and dad's favortie part.

The pool was a frequent this summer. Halia has no fear. When she got bored of taking her turn at the toddler slide, she would run over to the big kid slides and show those babies how its done.

Charlee and Addy are her 2 favorite people to hang out with. (Besides mom and dad of course) The slip n slide was one of the best investments. (Until Halia hits her head and gets a bloody lip. Happens everytime.)

The 4th of July princess. Besides the fireworks, the parade was her favorite.

This summer Sale's family had a huge reunion from his mom's side. His Gram was turning 93 or 94 (I lose count sometimes) and wanted to do one last hooray for her. All the fam from Hawaii and California came for a few days. We met some family we never met before. Sale's cousin's daughter, (understand?) had a little girl and named her Hali'a. Our Halia was born first so, no one can say we copied. She was the cutest, tiniest little thing. We have never heard of anyone with the same name before, let alone in our own family. Our Halia was so sweet and nice to her. Hali'a has a heart condition and has a pacemaker so she is so tiny. It was such a relief to see her be nice to another kid for once. Our Halia would just try to hug and kiss her. I could not ever get a good pic of the other Hali'a but you can imagine her cute little Hawaiian face. We hope to see them again someday.

The 2 Halia's

The family doing what they do best. Jammin.

Sale had an unfortunate mishap this summer. No big deal but he eventually had to get sugery. He had an umbilical hernia. No fun! He is doing much much better now. He makes every outfit look good. :)

On Labor Day we found out some exciting news! Halia is going to be a big sister! We couldn't be happier. We are expecting our son around May 18th. As of right now his name is baby brother, so don't ask. Lol!

The Monkey turned 2 this September! She is way too spoiled. She woke up from her nap on her birthday to a front yard full of family and 2 bounce houses. Can you imagine waking up to that as a kid? We had pizza and banana splits and cupcakes. I made her a cute monkey cake. She loves her Uncle Elmo(Jim). We have no clue why she calls him Elmo?

We announced the news to family with a shirt she got for her birthday at the party. I guess this is the best pic I had of her in the shirt. It says "I'm gonna be a big sister," on the back says, "coming soon May 2011." It was great. But Halia was obvioulsy more excited for her bikes and scooters her aunts and uncles got her.

Trick or Treating was a whole new exciting experience this year. After the ward trunk or treat, she quickly figured out what needed to happen to get candy. Despite the cold and rain, this cute little witch ran from neighbor to neighbor to fill her bag of treats. It was so much fun!

Halia is quite artistic. She will color and paint anything. Including herself. She was so proud she painted her own "pretties"

When Halia turned 2 she started to go to daycare on Fridays. We call it "school." They did such a cute little program for the parents.

We were so excited for Christmas this year. Surprisingly, Halia loved Santa and ran and sat right on his knee and said, "presents." Everything about Christmas she loved. Lights, singing, treats, decorations, trees, were so fun to her. So of course we couldn't wait to live through her excitement when she woke up Christmas morning to her new kitchen. Unfortunately, Halia had strep throat and a 104 fever all of Christmas. So we didn't quite get the reaction we imagined in our heads. She would unwrap a present and set it aside. It was like she was just unwrapping it just because we told her too. Poor baby. But she eventually loved playing with her new toys.

This was a big year for Sale! Can't believe how old my husband is? He insisted he wanted nothing to do with a party. All he wanted was a day at the spa. So we went together and got pedicures and massages at my work and had a great dinner at our favorite place Kobe. It was more of a combined celebration for both of us since my B-day is 2 days later.

Well, there ya have it! It feels good to be caught up. I told my friend my new years resolution was to try to keep up on my blog and she won't let me forget it. J/K Tricia. I'm glad you are holding me to it.

Today is Valentines Day! Hope your day is full of love and happiness! (Mine will, as long as I get some yummy cakebites from the sweet tooth fairy bakery. Hint.. hint.. Sale.)

"Secrets of Motherhood"

Oh man have I had a rough past week. It seems that every time Sale goes out of town Halia gets severely sick. A few days before Sale leaves I start making a list of "things" and "projects" I'm going to do during the 5 days he will be gone. Well, I guess Halia got worried we wouldn't spend enough time together so she made sure of it by coming down with a horrible stomach virus. She was so miserable, poor thing. I had to miss work all last week. A few days later I got sick. (Halia was still very sick by now) What more could go wrong after cleaning up her vomit and diarrhea off the kitchen floor for 6 days? Sale finally gets home and he gets sick! Not to mention various other family members, cousins, grandmas, and grandpa also got it. Soooo fun!

It is weeks like these where I really contemplate motherhood. Days have gone by where I have not seen the outdoors, my hair needs to be brushed, dishes are piling up, towels, blankets, and vomit buckets are spread everywhere, (just in case Halia explodes) and I feel like I just want to climb in bed and forget about my responsibilities as a mother and a wife and go the sleep for a day.

Well, hallelujah for a new week! My mother gave me this great book called, "A Mother's Book of Secrets" by Linda and Shawni Eyre. I have started reading it during these past sleepless nights. I have been motivated and rejuvenated by these amazing women/ mothers, and their stories and adventures of raising a family. It has reminded me about what it is I love about being a mother. I freaking love being Halia's mom and I'm so lucky she chose me! I highly recommend this book to any mother. Every section is only two to three pages and is so full of insight and ideas. I love to get advice and hear what works for other families and try to incorporate new ideas into my own family.

Some of the "Secrets" I have learned so far:

• Look for the light in the trenches (they will be gone before you know it)
• Some days "Motherhood is like being pecked to death by a duck" ( I felt this last week, not fun.)
• Let some imagination in once in a while
• When we visit "Wit's End," it makes the precious moments that much better (tested this out already last week. It's true!)
• Serendipity (I wonder what will happen to me today? Instead of, "what do I have to do today") Example: oh, its ok that Halia had diahrrea all over the tile floor in the kitchen, I needed to mop anyways so I guess I will just have to do it sooner than later. :) Ha ha!
• Enough is Enough ( just spend time)
• Prayer works (sometimes its all that gets me through the day.)
• Take time for yourself (Seriously!)
• Nurture your marriage, its the best gift you can give your children. Its number one. After all, when they are all gone and grown, its just you two again.
• "Whatever" (who cares what anyone else thinks, no one is really that perfect library mom. Say, "whatever!" a lot, and pick your battles.)
• Look for magnificent opportunities for creativity instead of being irritated
• Be your own kind of "Best Mom"
• Push to make memories instead of life being the same every day.
  

These are just a few ideas for me to remember and work on. I love being a mom more and more everyday. Thanks mom for the book. Its just what I needed to remind me of why I'm doing what I'm doing. Thanks to all my friends who are also amazing mothers and inspire me to be better. It sure makes this adventure fun when you have others to relate and brag to. Below are some pictures of the madness and memories of late. Halia has too much energy for her own good.

Poor sick babies! Still so cute.

Her head sliced open from the side table in the hotel room in Vegas. She was running as usual

All fixed up!

Just being Halia! Goofy girl!

1st Easter Bunny experiance at the Baby Animal days. Thanks for taking me grandma!

Crib and bedding for sale!

I have a client who is trying to sell this beautiful crib and bedding. The crib is a sleigh bed style and converts into a toddler bed and also into a full bed. The crib and bedding was used a total of maybe 4 times and is basically brand new. She would like to get rid of it, so... for everything, including the top of the line crib mattress, she is asking 300. What a deal! If you are interested contact me and I will put you in contact with her.
My client is also an amazing seamstress and has sewn a few adorable things for Halia. Below is the cute Hello Kitty skirt she made for her. Halia is so funny because when I got her dressed on this particular morning, she was insisting on putting on these boots! I thought is was so cute, she kept sayin, "shoos, shoos" so I gave in and let her wear them even though they totally didn't match her outfit. (I changed her shoes before we left to be seen in public anywhere) :)

Quick update with new pictures :)

Christmas was so much fun this year. Halia was too easy to spoil, as you will see with the pictures below.

Halia loves her cousins Charlee and Addy. One of their favorite things is to have "pajama parties."

Halia with all the goods from mom and dad. (I know we went a little over board, but its mostly all educational stuff?!) :)


Takin a ride on her very own pony from Grandma and Grandpa

Waiting patiently for everyone to arrive so they can open presents.

All the cousins with Sale's Gram and Mom

Halia has discovered a few of her favorite things to do lately.....

She loves to play in the snow on our little hill

Eat with her feet on the table. Or.... eat her feet?

Curl up on her sponge bob chair, (from Grandma Booty) and read a good book. (Don't worry, my mom is really talented and made a really cute pink cover for the sponge bob chair. yikes!)Halia's hair is getting thicker and longer, so we have been trying out a few new styles. Below we have the "whale spout pony." Sale was not a fan of this one. :(

Below here we have Velcro curlers.... very cute in a stick your finger in a light socket kind of way... more pics to come on this issue. We have yet to try the side "whale spout" and the "piggies." Maybe tomorrow?

Remember about 7 months ago when I did a post about Halia biting, and I wanted any advice I could get? Well.... I told you.... my kid is a baby vampire! If you don't believe me just drop your kid off with Halia in nursery and you'll see! Yes, that is blood drippin from her mouth!

I know these pictures are sad, and you must be thinking how horrible I am to make her pose for them, but she actually wasn't crying and was pretty lively. :) The other baby she bit was pretty hurt though, I won't post any pictures of that. JUST KIDDIN! Actually, she tore that thing inside your upper lip that attaches to your gums, right off. She fell on her face with her sippy cup in her mouth. She bled, and bled, and bled, for over 2 hours. She couldn't get stitches, so the doc said just let it be and it will heal. You should've seen her sheets the next morning. Yikes! But I have to say, I'm a little concerned, she just kept sucking her binky the whole time she was bleeding. Blood was dripping from behind her binky down her chest. Gross!... I know! I guess she likes that iron salty taste? RENESME?! J/K :) I'm sure there will be more accidents like this to come, since she runs everywhere she goes. Oh the joys!