Norfanger Plantation. . . now on Kindle!

I finally finished up everything for the Kindle version of Norfanger Plantation and uploaded it to Amazon.com. I saw just a few minutes ago that the page is up and running and the Kindle version is now for sale! To try to expand my pool of readers a bit, I am going to be selling the Kindle version for only $0.99 through the end of September.

If you are interested, you can purchase the Kindle version here.

While I was proofing the Kindle version, I noticed some mistakes and typos (not just formatting issues), so I am now working on updating the print version. I uploaded a new file and the publisher said I had to order another proof copy and approve it before it could be made available for sale again. I got the proof this afternoon and unfortunately, all the page numbers had disappeared from the latest version. Also, some of the fonts on the cover looked weird. So I am now working on yet another new file and will then have to wait for another proof. Hopefully by the end of the week or the beginning of next week I can have the print version back up and running.

By this point, I am pretty much so sick of Norfanger Plantation that I never want to see it or read it or think about it ever again.

Hula Monkey

I had to take some pictures of Gemma in this cute little hula monkey outfit. It has a little terry cloth jacket that matches which is also super cute, but since it is blazing hot here today (although significantly cooler than it has been), I opted to skip that part of the outfit.

When I dressed her this morning, I remembered picking out the outfit before she was born, along with a bunch of other cute outfits. It seems so funny to look back on that now -- picking out outfits for her while wondering just what she was going to look like. Now it is so much fun to put those outfits on her and finally get to see her in them. Especially since she is infinitely cuter and sweeter than I could have ever imagined!

In Which Gemma Makes Pterodactyl Sounds. . .

A few days ago, Gemma learned to make a lovely, indignant grunting sound. I am not a fan. But now she has also learned to make high-pitched, squealing, pterodactyl noises, which I like a lot better. Here are a couple of really short clips of some of her strange (and funny) new noises.

Playing Halo with Daddy

Last night was video game night, so I was entertaining Gemma while Cy played Halo with some friends from work. (In exchange, he entertains Gemma one night a week while I get some work done on my current novel.) I had to run to the bathroom, and when I came back, Gemma wasn't where I left her. I looked around and this is where I finally spotted her:


So much for making sure she doesn't start playing video games too young. I love how they both look kind of guilty in the picture.

Actually she seemed to enjoy sitting there watching her daddy shoot everyone. When I tried to take her away to sit on my lap instead, she started fussing. Oh boy.

This is why feeding Gemma is so difficult:

Or at least in part - passing out asleep just after starting a bottle is only one of the many issues Gemma has with eating. . .

Tummy Time

I've tried to be a good mommy and make sure that Gemma gets plenty of tummy time, but until about a week or two ago, tummy time has been pretty problematic. Every time I would place her on her floor mat on her tummy, instead of keeping her head turned to the side so she could breathe (since she wasn't yet able to support her head), she would do what we call "pigging around." She would bury her face in the floor, twitch her head around, and make snorting noises. Then pretty quickly, she would start screaming because she was having trouble breathing. If we turned her head back to the side, she would just put it right back where it was and start pigging around again.

Lately, she has gotten much better at supporting her head, so tummy time has now turned into a productive exercise rather than a time of frustration for both mom and baby. Each time Gemma is on her tummy, she is able to hold her head up higher, and keep it elevated for longer amounts of time. And when she's not lifting her head, she's at least leaving it turned to the side so she can breathe. She has made drastic improvements just in the last week. I am so glad - I was starting to get a little concerned that she might just keep pigging around forever!

Here are some cute pictures of Gemma enjoying tummy time. (Though it looks like she's sucking her thumb in one of them, she's actually just gumming it. Yum.)

Unconditional Love

Gemma made my day yesterday afternoon. She was playing around on her little floor mat in the living room while I was taking care of a few things in the kitchen. After a few minutes, I walked over to take a peek at her. I leaned over the top of the mat and said "Hi!" to her. She was so excited to see me that she let out this loud, high-pitched squeal of delight, accompanied by a huge smile and some flailing limbs. It made me so happy that she was that excited to see me.

Life with Gemma is teaching me so much. I have a much better understanding these days of what the whole concept of "faith like a child" really means. Gemma is so innocent and trusting. She loves Cy and me, and her love for us is totally unconditional. She hasn't yet developed any room for doubt or fear. And her love is such a gentle reminder to me of how I should be. When I have moments of frustration with her (usually while trying to feed her), I try to stop and remember how she loves me so much even though I am so far from being a perfect mom.

When she squealed at me yesterday, Cy said something along the lines of "Wow, you're her whole world. How does that feel?" and it really made an impression on me. I (and Cy too) am Gemma's whole world right now and that is a huge responsibility. But it is also a huge blessing, and it really struck me that this is how my relationship with Christ should be. He should be my whole world, and each moment of my life in Christ should make me shriek with happiness because I have as much faith and love as a child. And here I thought I needed to worry about what I will be teaching Gemma, when so far, she has been the one teaching me!

"At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 18:2-4

Celebrating Four Years of Marriage!

This past Thursday, August 5, was our four year anniversary! Neither one of us could believe it had been four years already. In some ways, it seems like it has been longer, and in some ways, it seems much shorter. So much has happened since we got married four years ago - we bought a house, I finished grad school, and of course, we have now added beautiful Gemma to our family!

Last week was a rough week for Cy, so we didn't do much on our actual anniversary. I cooked a type of chicken that Cy likes - it is breaded with crushed-up cornflakes, and we had some macaroni and cheese, green beans, and banana pudding with it. Unfortunately, Cy got stuck at work late, and then when he got home, Gemma was hungry, so we didn't even get to eat our meal at the same time as each other, but it was still yummy. Then Gemma woke us up at 3:30 in the morning that night hungry. But such is life with a three-month old.

We were finally able to really celebrate our special day last night. Frank and Andrea watched Gemma and Cy and I went out to dinner at Oak Steakhouse downtown (our favorite Charleston restaurant). We had our usual delicious 7 oz. filet with gorgonzola cream sauce for me and balsamic barbecue sauce for Cy, along with the family-style sides of mashed potatoes and mac n cheese. We finished off dinner with a towering slab of "Chocolate Indulgence," an amazing six-layer chocolate cake (most of which came home with us in a box). We really enjoyed our evening out, but we were happy to see Gemma again when we got back. We got a halfway decent picture of the three of us last night too.

All in all, it's been an amazing four years! There's been a bit more of the "in sickness" part than we would have hoped, but we wouldn't trade a moment of our time together. Cy said the other day that he hopes for at least 40 more anniversaries together, and I totally agree!

Three Months Old!

Baby Gemma Natalie Shealy (her full name, according to her daddy) is three months old today! She is growing a lot, but is still a pretty tiny little girl! She's been around the 25th percentile for everything in her past couple of checkups, but we're guessing she probably will be less than that at her 4 month. At 3 months old, she's just barely over 11 pounds. But she is very proportional, and we have no illusions that she will ever be anything but small. :) Can't believe it has already been three months. She is growing so fast, and has changed so much already. And for such a small person, she has so much personality already! Here is this month's growth picture:

It's a bib. . .and also a cape!

Poor Allergic Little Gemma

Unfortunately for her, sweet little Gemma seems to have inherited her mom's extremely allergic tendencies. A few weeks ago, when we tried her on some Enfamil formula for the first time, she got very red and swollen around the mouth, and a little blotchy on the arms. We thought it could potentially be a milk allergy, but we weren't sure. And she has never reacted to any dairy or anything in my diet, so it seemed odd. Then we tried her on some soy formula. She absolutely hated the soy formula - she gagged every time we tried to feed it to her and never really got used to it. And for 7 days, she didn't have a bowel movement. We switched her back to straight breast milk in hopes that would get things moving. We tried dark Karo syrup for a few days, but that didn't work. We eventually had to give her a suppository.

Since we weren't sure what caused the allergic reaction in the Enfamil, it was suggested to us that we try Similac since the composition of the two is a bit different. We bought some of the basic Similac, but I was pretty scared to try it. I finally worked up the courage yesterday. I gave her 2 oz. Similac with 2 oz. breast milk at 8:30 am. She didn't even seem to notice the difference - she gulped it down, and I didn't see any reaction. I was feeling very encouraged. At 11:30, we tried another half-and-half bottle and she did really well again. It looked like we finally found something that would work. Then around 2 pm, I noticed her mouth was looking a little red. Then her whole face. Then her arms. By the time Cy got home from work, her entire body was red and splotchy, with some swelling.

I called our pediatrician but they were already closing for the day so they sent us to a pediatric after-hours urgent care at St. Francis. When eventually we got in to see the doctor there, she pretty much refused to believe that it was an allergic reaction because she'd never seen such a strong allergic reaction in a small baby before. We were like, Here is your first. Deal with it. She kept claiming that it was eczema, but we kept telling her that this had happened mildly before with the Enfamil and that it clearly correlated with the Similac this time. She still kept mentioning eczema, but did finally agree that poor little Gemma is one super-allergic baby. She gave us a prescription for some special cortisone cream to put on her. She also said that Gemma would probably develop an allergy to soy protein eventually too, and said that she should be on just breast milk (although she wanted me to eliminate dairy in my diet, even though Gemma has never had a problem with it), and if we really needed to supplement, we needed to try the Similac Alimentum or another comparable hypo-allergenic, protein-free formula (which is basically the most expensive formula around).

We got the cream, got her home, and let her roll around under the fan in just her diaper for awhile to help her cool down since her skin was so hot to the touch. I got a cup of cool water and sponged her off. Then we applied some of the cream. We put it on just one part of her face to make sure that it worked (and that it didn't cause her to break out even more). When it seemed to help, we applied a thin layer to some of the worst spots. Then we put her down for the night in her lightest sleepy-time outfit. We got up a couple of times to check on her and make sure she was doing all right. This morning she seems much better - her skin has cleared up a lot.

We are just going to have to be very careful with this poor little girl as she unfortunately appears to be as allergic as her mom already. The good news is that she weighed around 11 pounds 4 ounces yesterday, so she is still gaining weight despite all of her feeding issues. For now, she is back to exclusively breast milk and the latest scare has given me the motivation to suffer through at least a little more of the pumping. I may just try to hang in there until next May despite all my issues. But hopefully in a couple of weeks I will be feeling brave enough to try her on the hypo-allergenic formula. Next time I will just give her a very small sampling and then wait an entire day to make sure no reactions occur. Poor little Gemma. I really hate it for her. Being super allergic is definitely no fun.

All Dressed Up for Church!

Just realized I hadn't posted any cute pics of Gemma on here lately (not that there aren't any. . .I've just been posting them all on Facebook), so here is a picture of her all dressed up for church yesterday! (I wish I had a picture of her cute little bottom - she is wearing little pink bloomers with a big flower on the butt under her dress!)

During church, we sat on the back row next to a couple who is expecting a baby girl - scheduled to be born this coming Thursday. They were highly entertained by Gemma's bobble head impression. We could tell they are really excited to have a baby girl of their own. And I don't blame them - our baby girl is so much fun! She is growing so fast too. In the past couple of weeks, she has started grabbing some toys. When I put her on her little floor mat, she will grab the dangling toys and try to stuff them in her mouth. She has been doing the same with a little rattle toy I gave her to play with yesterday. And she is getting better and better at holding her head up all the time. She is almost 3 months old now - can't wait to see what month 4 will bring!