I'm Still Counting Weeks - 18 tomorrow!

His cheeks are getting better! Oh-so-glad! Hopefully he will take one last nap tonight and then sleep well tonight, he hasn't napped well so far this evening, so there have been many naps... I hate many naps days. Getting him to go to sleep over and over again is tiring. And he's rubbing his eyes, time for another nap!

Cranky little bugger is rocking in his swing, he's had enough of being held today, he just wants to chill out. He was fighting sleep, but he was having some restorative quiet time so I let him be. He shouldn't lose his nook as long as he's in that mood, and be asleep soon enough. ... unless he sneezes. Nook back in!


Soooo tonight I've got to get his clothes put away, I'll do that when he wakes up. Maybe replace the batteries in his swing tonight, though he shouldn't be using it tonight. We're doing pretty well with him self soothing himself to sleep in the crib. As soon as he starts fussing, I go back up and replace his nook, and then he's pretty quickly out after that. Sounds like his diapers are done in the dryer, if I weren't feeling so lazy I'd go down there and get them out and start stuffing. I also should really email Mr T about the bathroom renovation. Heck, I'll just do that right now.

Done. Ok, so I've done something at least. *yawn* I'm going to try to get to bed before 1 tonight. Hopefully I can fall asleep. If he's asleep by 10, then that should work. Alas he wakes up a lot those first two hours, so we'll see what happens. And either the girls are getting really good at emulating Peanut, or he just cried in his sleep, which is unusual for a nap. He must be realllly tired.

So the side by side comparisons. The blanket it 3 weeks - 17 weeks, and the chair is 5 weeks - 17 weeks. Sooooooooooo big! And now he can relax his legs out easily, and keep his hands unfurled. His hands are sooooo soft!

Gotta start thinking about childproofing soon. Bleh, I guess might as well start slow, take one thing a week, like outlets and such one week. Not sure what we're going to do with the dvds. The plan is to keep him in the lower floor more once he gets active. Of course then I also don't know what I'm going to do about the laundry room for the cats... one step at a time. He's not sitting independently yet (though I will admit I thought he'd be doing better by now, he's still just sitting for 5-10 seconds). We'll see what the next few weeks bring. Besides stress with construction people in the house.

Ok, I'll go get the diapers out of the dryer...

4 Months Old!

Peanut is 4 months old today! We've been doing better on the screaming (well, not so much tonight but vaccination day will do that to you) but alas, it appears that either the probiotics or 4 month sleep regression has hit us. He's waking up like a newborn. We figured if he was going to do that, we'd just restart crib training. So he's sleeping in his crib. Or "sleeping."

So we started this morning with Peanut having gone to bed super swaddled. This means with his arms pinned to his sides with one blanket, and then swaddled over that. We woke up with a new scratch on his cheek and him trying to smother himself with the swaddle. The night before we tried sock hand. One arm swaddled and the other one with a sock over his hand. We woke up with blood on the sock and his eczema spot itched to high heaven. We've now changed our treatment of his eczema to cortizone first and aquafor over it. So far he seems to be less itchy, here's hoping. His nails are shaved back as far as we can get them. He's going to bed unswaddled from here on out. He's woken up 4 times so far :/ Hopefully he gets used to this soon.

So then we got our pictures in, and went to the doctor. Peanut weighs 14 lbs and 15 oz, and comes in at 24.75 inches. He was on the low end of all the stats at birth, and each check in he's getting higher and higher in the percentages. Our little piggy :) We were there a lot longer then I imagined, but there was a lot to talk about, what with his colic, food intollerances, scratching... She's never heard of excess farting with probiotics, so I'm not sure what to go with there now. We put a blanket under his legs tonight, so he's in prime farting form. Hopefully he can expel the gas in his sleep easier this way.

Here's hoping we have happy baby back tomorrow! And we have a date tomorrow night <3

I haz a Happy!

Owwiee!!!!

Tonight we didn't have use the swing to get Peanut asleep. We got into the habit to save our sanity with the colic, and then after a short while that was the only way he wanted to get put down, but tonight, he has only slept in his crib :D Success! He's woken up like... 6-8 times already, and I still expect him to wake up every 2 hours tonight, but he's out now. And he's going to stay there! I've been wanting to do this for the longest time, now I can move his rock 'n play someplace else, like the dining room or something so he can hang out with us there. Then someday we'll get him napping better in his crib and we'll move the swing back downstairs.

Aww yeah, he scratched himself during the night last night pretty darn good. It looks like he was snuggling up with the cats or something (they get locked up, no worries). I had such a sad :( Plus then I had to be extra careful putting on his eczema stuff.

I got crafty, I made a newborn shadowbox earlier in the week, then today I'm working on a board for the kitchen where I can keep like important letters pinned up on, my weekly cleaning schedule, pictures of Peanut, etc. It's turning out well, I'm still hesitant on how to handle some of it, but it'll work out. Plus I've been cleaning up the kitchen good. Trying to focus on one thing a week for the year. Got the counters reorganized, and going through the drawers and cabinets. It'll be harder tomorrow with Boi back at work, but hopefully I can still get some stuff done.

Toes!

Peanut will be 4 months next week :O Holy Cow! Time is flying by. The little guy is trying to scoot, he's rolling over, he can now sit kind of ok if he's got a toy, he crunches and helps with me pulling him up by his arms. He's been trying to sit up from time to time if he's not too far reclined on something. He follows me around as I move about the room. I just need to get him laughing more and we'll be set! 

We weighed him today before his bath (which was the first bath he didn't cry about at all) and he's almost 15lbs! I can't wait until our bathroom is finished (thanks mom and dad for backing us up so we could finally get that started again) and we can use a real tub for baths. It was cute though, Boi was leaning Peanut forward so I could get his neck and back clean, and he grabbed on to the sink plunger thinger. Silly little guy!

HAIRCUT!!!

We did a little trimming tonight. Peanut's forehead-hawk had gone on long enough, he had a good amount of hair growing in behind his newborn hair, I decided it was time they became better friends. So with Boi's blessing, I carefully took the the extra, and snipped! and taped it into the scrapbook. Because I be crazy like that.

I'm using the crock pot tomorrow, we got a giant piece of meat that I'll be cooking stew like. It'll be something different, which I appreciate. It came with free veggies, which I also appreciate. Lately I've just been eating brown rice, chicken and veggies (flavored up of course). So this will be a nice change.

Boi works 10-8 tomorrow, so he'll hopefully make it home for bedtime. And then he has Thursday and Friday off. I appreciate this.

In other news, I've made it to world 4 in Mario Galaxy 2. I've been trying very hard to play more to help me de-stress a little. Boi played the first one and I did player 2 helper, this time we've switched. I'm not quite as good as he was, likely because I'm a little more impulsive and more easily flustered. Plus I'm attracted to lava for some reason. I can stay on a path if there's grass, water, whatever around it, but put lava on the sides? Yeah. I fall in. Bastard game.

Ok, that is all. Enjoy the haircut!

Wheat :(

Grammy came to play tonight!

So, as you've read, I eliminated the 'big 8' from my diet. 90% of food allergies in babies come from dairy, soy, wheat, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish. We knew for sure he was allergic to dairy. When problems persisted, we assumed soy as well since about half of the babies with dairy allergies are allergic to soy as well. But then things still weren't good, the colic, the gas, the extreme fussiness when eating. So I dropped all 8 and started on the probiotics. Things got good. Things were normal kind of normal as of late. I introduced peanuts and eggs without noticing anything major.

So today I introduced wheat. He was quite fussy his last awake spell, but I chalked it up to just being tired. Put him to bed, went back downstairs to relax, as he's been good the last few nights... but after 40, the crying started. Not the inconsolable, the, I'm so tired but my tummy hurts cry. The, I'll fall asleep and then wake up every minute or two. For 30-60 minutes until I finally am so exhausted I'll just cry in my sleep. Then just whimper until I'm in a deep enough sleep :(

Jump, jump jumperoo!

So no wheat for me I guess. I'm trying to look up how long this one usually lasts (they say dairy allergies often start to go away after 6 months) When he's back to sleeping normal, guess maybe I'll try fish, as I have some salmon in my fridge. Hopefully I just stick with 3 allergens and I don't have to add more. :/

Boi has off tomorrow, and again Thursday and Friday, then 4 days off next week. Compensation for over the holidays. We can't wait! He should be home in 30ish minutes!

Could it be?

The incredible drooling boy!

So, Peanut went through a growth spurt (hopefully, it's been rough). We've been measuring him at around 23.5 inches for awhile now, and tonight I stretched him out... and got 24 inches and change. He goes through them early, assuming this is his 4 month growth spurt, and then... he shouldn't have another one for 2 months! WE'LL GET A BREAK!

So two nights ago, he slept from 1030 till 5 (then 7, 740, 820, and 9). Then last night from 930-4, and then 4-830. Could it be? Could my baby be finally better? The colic shows no sign of returning, and I just got a good nap out of him (slept for 50 minutes, woke up hungry, fed him, went back to sleep for another hour). We're continuing to work on fun stuff, like sitting and scooting. Here's some video catch up!

I started the video late, but he was sitting for 6 seconds here.



And here he is inching along, pushing off of Boi's hands.


Now if only we could get his eczema to go away. Maybe I'll have to try a different product on it.

Formula/BM Slurries... Not Cutting It

So we've been trying to give Peanut Nutramigen (the second most expensive standard formula you can get, for dairy allergies) along with giving him probiotics, and well, things have improved a bit. The inconsolable crying is gone (yaaaaaaaaay!) but... he's still not sleeping. He still seems disturbed. He'll drift off... and then he'll wake up and cry a couple minutes later. But he does not like the taste of the formula, and isn't a big fan of bottles anyways, so I have to mix my milk into it, and he gets a little less upset about it. But I've invented a new rule, if he is clearly not going back to sleep, he just goes in his swing. End of story. Bedtime is fucked up, I'm not suffering anymore. Or more then I have to. Then, if it takes 30 minutes or 2 hours, when he's been asleep for more then 20 minutes, we smuggle him back upstairs. It's worked the last two nights. And I can still watch Craig Ferguson. I really wanted to keep him in his room, keep him sleepy, but... at this point, and with looking at another long string of days of parenting alone... yeah.

Yar. So we picked up our snowblower, Peanut approves of it. Also we got a Taggie Car from Uncle A, when I gave it to him, he had a nonstop oooooo look on his face. Right now he's figured out that the tires crinkle, and it has tags. But this is a good toy that will grow with him, it rattles and honks if pressed right. So I'm pretty excited about seeing him with it in a few weeks. I'm thinking about trying a little bit of rice cereal sometime. He just needs something to get him past that light sleep phase, the formula wasn't enough, or hasn't been enough, maybe some rice cereal will help? I don't know, it's just another one of my thoughts. It worked for Logan's online girlfriend, Poppy. But her doctor recommended it, mine just said start with probiotics. And I'll definitely give it a few more days to 'work' if it isn't already at it's max efficiency. He is a ton less gassy, I hardly ever feel it anymore.

Progress is progress though, not going to knock it. As long as he keeps up the not screaming. I should go to bed, since he's asleep, just all the anxiety keeps me running. Tomorrow I'm going to be well fed though, no cans of string beans and bananas and bacon for me, real cooking! Yay for Moms!

102 Days!

He balanced by himself for 4 seconds!

So I missed posting his 100 day 'birthday' the other day, but so it was. 102 is just as cool. We've been practicing a lot of sitting up lately. I got him to sit up for about 4 seconds. Then Boi got him to sit up for a few seconds the other day too. So far not so lucky today, but we did a lot of sitting up practicing anyways :)

He's 14 pounds!!! Woo hooo!!!! 2 more pounds and he'll be in the minimum for size 3 diapers! Which is good, as I've got just about a month's worth of size 2 diapers left for overnights, and I don't want to start experimenting with cloth overnight until he's stopped with the colic.

Playing with his toy from his Auntie Mary M
(ok, watching the lights)

So we went to the doctor today. Boi went into work 2 hours late so he could go with me, way to go him! Peanut had an episode last night, he woke up for his regularly schedueled screaming, but this time he seemed to pass out and his breathing was altered for about 10 minutes. Obviously scary, and with his past lung problems I wanted him checked out. But he was good, the doctor theorized it was reflux + crying = stuff going down the wrong pipe. But it's hard to say for sure since he's fine right now. But that's good! The last thing we need is a serious medical problem! And we got another NICU bill today. Yaay. Not. I think it's the last one at least, which is good, I dislike seeing our savings getting completely wiped out right before we get the much needed bathroom remodel.

It's a plan at least.

So he's got some probiotics in him now, hopefully they do the trick. It seemed to make him unhappy for awhile after I gave it to him, and he refused to settle down for a crib nap. So now he's been on and off asleep in his swing for.... oh......... over an hour now. Excellent rest while those little buggers go to work repairing his system. It couldn't have been easy for him, first the antibiotics, then mommy eating all that dairy, and then whatever else he may or may not be allergic to making his feedings more fussy. His system just hasn't been able to catch a break.

I feel so super tired today. I guess I did get pretty stressed out over his episode. And then he didn't sleep that great, waking up at 3, 5, 540 and 8. Plus I'm trying to get more active (goal workout above, currently modding it down a lot), avoiding any real cardio so my milk doesn't suffer, but strengthen up. Also I came up with a cleaning schedule, after hearing from another mom about hers. While it's kind of stressing me out trying to get the extra stuff done, I really like having a plan. And not living in a house that seems to get dirtier faster than I can keep up with it. Mom's supposed to be coming over with more plastic sheets for the scrapbook, and then she'll chill out for awhile here and let me actually start. Not sure how late she's staying, I'm sure not late enough to help me endure bedtime. Send positive thoughts our way tonight that I can just chill out in his bedroom with the kindle and he just wakes up every 5-10 minutes to cry instead of crying for hours on end tonight. I won't have anyone to swap with or to rub my feet as I helplessly rock him hoping that it ends soon.

A Picture A Day

Yay for Grandma's! She came and watched my Peanut for awhile today while I went to the store. I namely wanted some more oatmeal, working on keeping my production up, but I picked up some other nummies while I was out as well. Like more bacon. Which doesn't actually have as many calories in it as I thought, but mixed with some oatmeal, coconut milk and maple syrup, it adds up. Then I'm going to brown up some turkey meat in the bacon fat. Screw butter, I have bacon fat.

To the left is a picture of Peanut playing in his new jumperoo. Yup, I found my camera, so I can add pictures of him in it! It swallows him up, but I wrap him up in that blanket and he can manage fairly well. Can't wait to compare him in it now vs in February!

I'm challenging myself to take a picture every day this year. I almost completed it last year, but I missed a few days. I saw someone else make a board for it on Pinterest, and thought it was a good way of holding myself accountable. I don't need a long blog post or anything, just quick upload. Here's the board link - http://pinterest.com/verdemomma/365-pics-in-2012/ I'll see if I can't add it on a side bar or something as well. (Done!)

Oh and here's our 3 month picture! He looks a little less chubby than his 2 month shot, but he had just completed a growth spurt, so that likely helped re-position those chubby cheeks a little. The letters are a little cropped off, but it was my favorite shot of the ones closest looking like the 1 and 2 month, so a little cropped off will have to do.

Sighs, so it's 745 now and he's in a good nap. Sure. Just when I'd like you to be waking up so we can go to bed at a reasonable hour, you drift into a deep sleep. I see how it is.

Oh oh he sensed my frustration and woke up! And now he is fed, burped, and Boi called to say he should get out on time. Yay for that! He has tomorrow off as well. I like feeling more sane, and he helps me feel sane. Time to go play with the Peanut, be jealous!

I can't find my freaking camera.

That's right, I suck, I can't find my camera, ugh! We have his new Jumperoo up and ready to go, though it's going to be awhile till he can sit in it at all proper, but I can't take a picture of him all swallowed up in it. At least I have pics in his one at Grammy's.

Oooh another bonus to Blogger vs Typepad, they have a 'add picture by url' option, so I don't have to upload it. Sweeeet.

So it's been miserable. Boi has been miserable. Peanut has been miserable. Sleep has been a joke. I'm cutting out soy now on top of the dairy (and eggs, nuts, shellfish too just to be safe) So today I have eaten... bare bones sauce and spaghetti, cereal with coconut milk, a can of green beans, a banana, and the last of the sparkling grape juice that Boi and I failed to finish last night due to all the crying. I need to find more food though because at my count I still need at least another 500 calories. Maybe some bacon. Mmmmm bacon.

Yeah. We've resorted to leaving a hairdryer running (safely, of course) in his room to get him to go back to sleep. Plus he's been uber picky about nursing. And napping like shit. I just want him to sleeeeeeeeeeep. So he can be happy and I can be happy and we can have fun and I can go back to living like a normal person, getting work done, keeping the house clean, making meals, instead of being a basket case.

So this new years that's all going to change. I am going to get him to take better naps. I am going to eat bare bones food until he sleeps better (I'm hoping I just have to up it to no soy). I am going to exercise more to keep myself from slipping into depressed moods. I am going to be a winning mom!

He can sleep long stretches, I've seen it! I've seen him go 8-11 hours. So what's with this 40 minutes asleep, 30mins - 3 hours awake, 1-3 hours asleep shit doing back here? And I dread days as much as nights, I'll swaddle him, put on white noise, not make a freaking peep, and he still wants to get up after only 20 minutes. Kid, when you only sleep 20 minutes, you get tired and cranky after like 45 minutes. We're taking too many naps a day, you should only need 4 or so! He'll often take a longer nap in the morning and in the evening (like right now, of course I've had to keep tending to him to keep him asleep...), but ugh, afternoons are a bitch.

Whoops, forgot to post this yesterday. Posting now!