Saturday, February 27, 2010

Happy early Birthday, have some sick...

We've got a sick boy on our hands. Thankfully, he's improving and seems to be on the upswing, but Wednesday and Thursday he was pretty inconsolable. And no wonder, because when we took him to the doctor on Thursday we left with a prescription for antibiotics to treat an ear infection AND an eye infection, PLUS a diagnosis of RSV. My poor baby.

This was him on Tuesday night. Fever had just started, and he was just soooo tired. He had been chowing down on the peas and then all of the sudden...heavy eyelids....and...zzzzzzzzzzzzz.


But Mommy's cuddles and some good antibiotics work wonders and today he's a much happier boy. Fever's gone, thankfully. Still have some congestion and lots of coughing, and not a big fan of eating, but its a vast improvement over a few days ago.

Like the rolled up pants? Its a new fashion trend we're starting... Ok, so its actually an effort to keep him from tripping over his pants, they're always too long and fall over his feet. But maybe that's better since he won't ever keep his socks on!
When he's not sick, my boy is such a smiley guy! I love it! There's no better sound than baby giggles! And look, I finally got a picture of the toofers! We're up to 4 so far, 2 on top and 2 on bottom. His daddy calls him "rabbit" :)


Riley's a big helper. Emptying the dishwasher is one of his favorite "chores". He's good about testing the wheels on the bottom rack by pulling it back and forth, back and forth....


One week until the big birthday! I just hope he's all healthy in time to enjoy his party!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Slow down time!

Two short weeks from today, my baby boy will be turning one. ONE year old! I've always thought as I've gotten older, that each year has gone faster than the last but this year was just ridiculous. When I think about life one year ago today, its amazing how much has changed and yet, it really feels like it was only a few months ago. This time last year I was 33 weeks pregnant and it was about this point that my hips started hurting sooo badly. Everytime I shifted in my chair at work, or moved at night in bed, I'd get this terrible pain like my hips had to readjust. It was probably the worst part of my ridiculously easy pregnancy (yes, I will fully admit that I had a crazy easy pregnancy and yes, I am more than a little afraid that will come back and bite me in the butt next time and I'll end up miserable!). I remember complaining about the hip pain, and my co-workers telling me, "oh, I bet the baby dropped"...and to that I said "I guess it could be that, but isn't that not supposed to happen until a couple weeks before they're BORN? And I still have like 6-7 weeks to go". Little did I know....someone was preparing for his arrival a bit sooner than anyone else was planning. Well, he always has done things his own way, never to be concerned about what or how a baby is "supposed" to do something. :)

Invites are out for the big party...and Mommy is trying to get the details figured out before it totally sneaks up on me! One year pictures are scheduled for this Saturday!

New tricks as of lately: well, of course he's cruising like a champ. Lets go and stands on his own for a few seconds at a time, so I imagine walking can't be too far off. And he waves! On command even! For a few days after he figured out the waving, he'd always do it after the fact. We'd be leaving the sitter's and I'd tell him to wave bye to Miss Kim and he wouldn't do it until her door was closed and we were halfway to the car :) Over the weekend he was waving everytime we went down the stairs (waving goodbye to his room? who knows!) But yesterday, I told him to wave bye to Grandma and Grandpa and he did it right then! I was a proud momma! And this morning I was waving to him from across the room and he waved back at me :) Love it. He's also learning to eat and like more "big people" food. He's into grilled cheese and buttered toast right now...though of course we'll see how long those two items last since he seems to get bored with foods pretty quickly! We're still having our fair share of eating issues...things like having days where he doesn't want anything on a spoon, or being unwilling to even taste some new foods (and even some things he used to LOVE). But all in all, I'd say we're making progress. Probably still not up to where we "should" be, but getting there. Oh, and his other new "trick" is climbing the stairs. Yikes! Luckily, our stairs have a door at the bottom, so we're keeping it closed now! The other day I went upstairs and of course he wanted to follow me, so he sat at the bottom of the stairs for a bit and then decided he'd try it. Went up one or two stairs and slid back down (no worries, his daddy was behind him playing "baby catcher" the whole time!), sat there for a few more minutes assessing the situation and decided to make another go of it. With just one more "catch" by Daddy about halfway up the stairs, he made it all the way up! He was pretty good at it! Looked like he'd been doing it his whole life :)

How is it that every age seems better and more fun than the last?? That is one comfort to how quickly time is passing, I suppose. It seems there's always something even more fun just around the corner! You just have to be sure to savor each and every moment, because they're passing by in the blink of an eye.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Winter Fun

Its been snowing here. Quite a bit actually, which is nice. Nowhere near what the DC area is getting (Oh my, have you SEEN the amount of snow they have there??) but a nice amount to make it actually look like winter. Being a "child of the snowbelt", I am one of the few people around here that actually likes the snow.

The verdict's still out for this one. He's not sure about it yet.
We've gotten probably 8 or 10 inches over the last week, which sadly is a lot for this area. I'm just glad to see the pretty white stuff instead of mud and dead grass!

Henry likes the snow though. This was right before Riley fell over. Well, you'll have that when you twist yourself around in the snow to see what your doggie is doing :) So we abandoned the checking out the snow up close and went "sledding".


What's that you say? That's not a sled? Its a 50 gallon barrel cut in half with a cardboard seat? Pfffftttt, that's just crazy talk. Of course its a sled!


When you're done sledding, you have to go inside and warm up...

Climbing on diaper boxes is a good warming up activity. (Ok, this was actually before we went out...hence the pajamas)

Hey Dad...whatchya doin' in there?? Can I help??? Look at what a good stander I am!

Hope everyone is staying warm and cozy inside!

Happy Valentine's weekend!

Monday, February 1, 2010

My big (or not so big) boy

In just 5 weeks I will have a 1 year old.

Wait...is that RIGHT? No...can't be. There's just no way that this little baby here
is about to turn a year old. Not possible. Look at how tiny he was! And by the way, both of the hands holding Riley in this picture are Kelly's. I thought it was fairly obvious because, well, look at them...dirty, super short fingernails, big fingers...they're just not "girly" enough to be mine, right? But my mother in law actually thought one was mine until I told her differently. Hmm...maybe I should start keeping my nails painted so its a bit more obvious...I don't want to have "manly" hands....

Anyway...seriously...LOOK at that little bitty baby! And then look at this big boyCan't possibly be the same kid. Can it???

So party plans are in progress...thinking a "truck" theme since the boy loves anything with wheels or that makes motor sounds. 5 weeks...uh oh, I better get planning!!!!

Remember his 9 mo appointment where the doctor was just a little concerned that he'd fallen off his growth curve? Well, we had our weight check last week and my big guy is up to 16 lbs 5 oz. I thought it was great, I was pretty happy with that gain of 11 oz over 6 weeks. The doctor...not so much. Soooo, to make a long story short (because it really is a LONG story) they first said, ok, he gained, but not enough...supplement with formula. To which I said, HUH? He's almost a year old, why would I add in formula at this point? Doesn't it make more sense to increase his calorie intake in the solid foods he's eating? Round and round with the nurse on the phone, she finally agrees to check with the doctor again (she really didn't want to...in fact I'm pretty sure they probably put some sort of sticker on Riley's file that says "pain in the butt mother", haha!) and comes back with okay, I GUESS you can TRY increasing calories via solids and we'll check his weight again at his 12 month appointment and see how he's doing. Gee, thanks. So (like I said, this is the really short version) I'm all around underimpressed with the way the doctor's office handled this whole thing. Actually, I was pretty darn furious with them at the time...now I'm just generally annoyed. First off, with the fact that they are flipping out so much about his rate of gain. Um, he's gaining. He's never once lost weight between appointments, he's never even remained at the same weight, he's ALWAYS gained. He's been right on the same growth curve up until 2 months ago and he's still gaining, just slightly slower. And, LOOK at him! Interact with him! He's healthy! He's happy! He's meeting all his milestones! He's not skinny. Sure, he's not a chunk...but he's far from starving. He has little rolls in his thighs and in his neck, he has a little pudgy belly. Do you see ribs poking through or something? Because I don't. Do you see a malnourished little boy? I sure don't. I see a healthy, happy boy who just happens to be small. And, **newsflash** he's been small his WHOLE LIFE. Gee...you think maybe he's just a small person? No...that can't possibly be it. It must be that his mother is starving him. Yep, that's it. *insert eyeroll here* So....we're going to his 12 month appt. Kelly's coming with me. To be my "backup" when they start criticizing my perfectly healthy, growing little boy because he's not growing at the pre-determined acceptable rate according to their handy little chart. Because I always get overwhelmed when they start in and don't think of the right things to say or ask until after we've left. And if they do act that way? We'll be looking for another pediatrician. Because I don't need the extra stress of having a doctor treat me like I'm starving my child. Monitor his weight, pay attention to his growth, yes...but don't flip out on me because he's not following your little curve exactly, and don't act like its a medical emergency and I'm a horrible parent. Because guess what. Neither of those are true.

Well...I kind of went off on a tangent more than I intended to. Sorry about that. But if you're still reading, thanks for "listening".

And Happy February by the way! Yesterday was our 6th wedding anniversary. Six years! Wow. So much has happened in those 6 years, its amazing. I wonder what the next six years will hold??? I can only hope they are as wonderful as these years have been.