Seen around L.A.

As we drive around town, we sometimes see things worthy of a picture or two.  For example, the other day BA snapped these two gems ...

Classic L.A. sign

And our favorite L.A. sign

Isn't a three-year time span your definition of "temporary," too???

Haha.  Isn't that sign the best?  I first saw the sign at the Santa Monica Blvd exit ramp off the 405 when I was driving to the doctor twice a week for ultrasounds, and I groaned because I thought, "great, another traffic hurdle."  But then I realized that the exit ramp was only closed at night, you know, temporarily, for 3 years.  Ah, L.A., you make me smile and laugh sometimes.  And isn't that Hollywood sign shot amazing.  BA found a lookout point to take this photo - it's not zoomed in, he's actually that close.  And it's really hard to get close to the Hollywood sign.  I think it's a super cool shot.

Leah has been sick this week with a bad cold that has started to sound like the croup.  She is basically coughing through the night, usually every 10 or 15 minutes and it started to sound pretty violent, and sharp.  So last night, I took her into the shower for some hot steam for 15 minutes at 1:30 a.m.  It seemed to calm the cough a little.  She's also back to throwing up her bottle when she coughs, but I think that's because of the cold and not the reflux.  I actually think we have the reflux under control.  (Yippie, Yeee-haw, Ya-hoo!!!!)  God bless Prevacid!  She doesn't seem to be having any more signs of pain from the reflux (arching back, waking up screaming in the middle of her naps or the night, and she'd stopped throwing up her bottle for a week until her cough started which, again, leads me to conclude that the cold is causing the cough, which is causing the throwing up - not reflux!)  And here's a big announcement ... we moved her to her crib this week and she's sleeping in it without the wedge!!!  We were scared to do it.  The reflux flared last month right around the same time that we first tried to take her off the wedge, and it was an awful three weeks before we finally gave up and put her back on the wedge.  Because the two occurred around the same time, we felt like maybe we were chained to the wedge and could never take her off it.  But then we got her on Prevacid and I felt like maybe we could try the crib again.  BA was content to leave her on the wedge because at least it worked - she didn't cry that much on it and she would sleep - kind of - unless she dropped her pacifier, which happened every 10 minutes, and then one of us would have to give it back to her.  She just seemed so confined on the wedge.  I could tell that she wanted to stretch out and I also suspected that she'd be able to soothe herself if she could roll around and find her pacifier.  As long as she was on the wedge, she'd never learn to self-soothe.  So I wanted to try the crib again.  Before we made the switch, we upgraded her crib.  First, we decided to buy bumpers.  We hadn't done this earlier because all the literature on SIDS recommended against it for newborns, but I decided that we needed to give her something to snuggle up against.  We found these super plush, chocolate brown, velour bumpers for $30 at Babies-R-Us and Leah loves them.  She will snuggle up next to them and run her hands over the bumpers to feel the fabric and I think it calms her down.  Another great side bonus is that they block out more light so she doesn't wake up when I walk in the room.  We also got one of those slight wedges that inclines about 3 inches and goes under the fitted sheet.  It elevates her head just a little, and she seems to like that as well.  This crib looks so comfortable now it makes me want to get in and take a nap.  And so far, she seems to like it too. 

This is huge for me.  For some reason, I've felt like a bad mother because I couldn't get my baby to sleep in her crib like all the other babies.  I know that's a silly thought and I shouldn't compare our situation to other babies who didn't suffer from reflux.  But I did.  Reflux is a whole different ballgame.  Even accepting that fact, I had expected to move her to sleeping flat in her crib at 3 months.  That never happened with us because at that point we had to use the wedge.  By 6 months, I felt like I'd failed because we were still using the wedge and I could tell that she was outgrowing it.  And now, when I watch her in her crib, stretched out and usually snuggled up against her plush bumpers, it just makes me so happy.  She looks so comfortable.  I love to watch her sleep.