Not Robbie related

I'm sorry, but this post isn't about our little guy. I just found out that an old high school friend of mine has passed away... and that she had a year old daughter that died with her on Christmas Eve. I wish I had known about her passing, I would have gladly put my Birthday celebrations on hold to pay my respects to her.

I found out about her death through the news paper while visiting my parents, here's what it said:

"The lives of a Calgary mother and her young daughter cut tragically short on Christmas Eve won't soon be forgotten, hundreds of mourners at the pair's funeral heard yesterday.

As tearful family members walked into the crowded McInnis & Holloway Chapel of the Bells at 2720 Centre St. North to the strains of Celine Dion's A Mother's Prayer, tributes poured in for Courtney Schenck and her one-year-old daughter, Hannah.

Garth Schnurer, Courtney's uncle, said the 28-year-old single mother loved her daughter fiercely and both were beacons of light for those who knew them.
"Both of these young ladies touched our hearts and will be with us forever."
Schnurer said Courtney was a competitive ringette player and gymnast who had a zest for life that was mirrored in her young daughter, who only recently turned one.

The pair were found dead in the bathtub of their Panorama Hills home by a family member on Christmas Eve after it was believed Courtney suffered a seizure and her daughter was unable to fend for herself.

Schnurer described Hannah as a "perfect little angel" and said Courtney's determination and sense of humour will be greatly missed. "

What a way to find out about a friend having a child. I knew about her fight with seizures but she always made them out to be no big deal... I guess they were. I'm not much of a religious person, but I hope God has a place for these two ladies.

R.I.P.

So he CAN do it!

Robbie and I were sitting (he was lying) on the couch watching Contact (the movie). He was playing and talking to himself so I decided to let him be.... after a couple of minutes I realized he wasn't asking to be picked up, I look over and there he is gazing off into space. Only a couple minutes after that he was asleep!! There were no blankets, no rocking, no shushing... and even no boob!! This gives me hope. Even though Robbie and I have come leaps and bounds when it comes to bed time, ideally I'd love to put him in his crib and he be able to put himself to sleep without any crying or feeding. Baby steps!

Tomorrow is my birthday... I turn 28 (how can I forget? Stuncle Paul keeps reminding me. Stuncle = Step Uncle... we believe he was adopted) Grammy & I are taking baby to Airdrie, there's a baby store that I've found online that looks really neat. As for the rest of the day... who knows, maybe a nap?!

Pictures

I've gotten the chance to upload all the pictures that were sitting in the camera, here are some of my fav's.

You can check out the rest of them on the photobucket website!

Holidays

First off... thank you SOOOOOO much to everyone that helped make the holidays so special for us! It was so great to spend time with the relatives and to introduce Robbie to some key members of the family.

Robbie was great during the day, while in Edmonton. He was smiling, talking, standing (assisted), etc etc but unfortunately the nights were a different story. Instead of waking up to feed and then falling back asleep like he would usually do... he thought it was time to party. After the 3rd night of being up half the night trying to get him to sleep we decided to head home after we did presents on Christmas day (we were going to stay until Boxing Day evening). Luckily, he was able to spend some well deserved quality time with his Nan, Auntie Shari, Uncle Jack & Cousin Kailey! (I'm so sorry to everyone else that wasn't able to see him, I hope you understand our reasoning for leaving early) He was really good during the drive home, we stopped in Red Deer to have the little guy stretch his legs... out of allllll the restaurants in Gasoline Alley, only one was open. He was really happy to just lay on the table to kick around. We decided to arrive on Grammy & Grampy's doorstep for Christmas dinner. The reaction we got was priceless (they thought we were going to be up in Edmonton until the 27th) Grammy's tears started streaming down her face... it was beautiful. Robbie's sleeping schedule was all wonky, he didn't have his 4pm nap but did fall asleep @ 7, right before dinner was being served. We stayed there until 9 and decided to wake Robbie up and take him home.. of course he woke up as we got home. So I drew a bath for him (he had been having showers for the past 3 days) and we had a blast in the tub, Grammy had gotten him so floating toys that squirt water and I think that I had more fun with them than he did! He kept reaching for the toys as they floated away and kept sticking them in his mouth, it was a great bath!! On to the good part, WE HAD A GREAT NIGHT!! He woke up to eat and I brought him back to bed and fed him and he zonked right out again.... WOOHOOO! I feel great! Colin's still in bed (it's 8am now) catching up on the lost sleep.

Up next... MY BIRTHDAY! On December 30th I'll be 28 years old. I definitely don't feel old... I guess that's all that matters.

I'll sign off by wishing everyone a happy holidays and all the best in the new year! I hope your holidays were as memorable as ours were.

Sitting

He's ALMOST there!

Just a couple of weeks ago if I tried to get him to sit his head would touch his feet and then he'd flop over like a doll. Now he's doing so much better!! He can hold his body up for a couple of seconds and then starts to slowly lean to one side & then falls over, he definitely needs to work on his balance.

He also has discovered that fingers & thumb can be a source of comfort. Yesterday when I was over visiting the family I was putting him to sleep & he started sucking on his fingers! It was so cute, you could hear the smacks and sucks. If he likes sucking on his fingers, this could be a nice alternative to a soother.

Robbie's also got a little bug (I think) He's perfectly happy and doesn't have a fever... but his voice is different. His cries aren't as piercing and his giggles are a little muffled... maybe he's just growing again. Who knows!?!

Christmas party went well... there were a couple of "drunken mess"es, but all 'n all it was great to see all the girls again and to catch up. One of my co-workers is 7 months pregnant (haven't seen her in 4 months so she wasn't showing back then) I got to touch her belly and just then I realized that I miss being pregnant! I don't miss the heartburn, aching hips, sleepless nights, etc... but I forget what it feels like to feel a kick, to have my hubby wrap his arms around me and feel my belly for hours, the anticipation for a new addition. Yeah... I miss it, big time.

Back to Normal

Ahhhh... it's so nice to have him back to his normal self! We finally got a couple little poops out of him so I haven't been noticing as many toots =D When Grammy came over to help me with some Christmas baking she thought it was the dogs!!

Speaking of baking, we had Auntie Alison & her new man over to make ginger bread houses! We had so much fun! I have a major sweet tooth and was tasting all the goodies as we were building the houses... MISTAKE! Robbie was so hard to put down tonight!! We had the bath like usual. I offered the boob & he got fussy, so I left him in his crib to cry for a little bit. After a couple of mins I went back there to offer him food, he took it and gobbled and gobbled and gobbled... but he was STILL awake! So I bounced on the ball with him and that knocked him out. He woke up about 30mins afterwards looking for more food (he tried to latch onto my chin)... we did this 4 separate times!! It had to have been the sugar, so the last time he woke up Colin mixed him some formula. He wouldn't take it at first because he was tired & wanted the boob, but Colin thought to give him some Tylenol and then try giving him the bottle.... worked like a charm! He fell asleep in my arms while inhaling the formula. It's pretty funny, one second the baby can be completely tense & fussy and then all the sudden he goes limp... that's when you know he's had enough =P

Robbie seems to like simple "toys"... like a bag of flour for example! Anything that makes that crinkling noise!

We're pretty much done our Christmas shopping! I have to get 2 more gifts & we're waiting on an order to arrive... then we're done!! I can't wait to sit back and enjoy the holidays, it's going to be fun. I think it's fair to say that next year only immediate family will be getting gifts, it's too hard to keep track of who's getting what & spending hours trying to find the perfect gift while your little bambino's fussy.

I'm signing off for now. Christmas party is tomorrow and I can't wait to see Colin in a tux with pink accents.... yes, PINK! We'll make sure to take lots of pics!

Constipated?

I was under the understanding that breast fed babies don't get constipated... but what if we throw a bit of formula in the mix?! Robbie's usually taking a bottle of formula each night. This entire day he's been farting up a storm, in the past his farts have just made the noise.... but not today!! Wooooo he puts his mom & dad to shame!! Every time he lets one rip, I think that he's filled his diaper. He hasn't pooped for a couple of days now (This is supposedly normal for breastfed babies) & he's been pretty fussy today (I ended up feeding him in the bath this afternoon!) So I'm wondering if it's constipation? We gave him gripe water that's suppose to help with upset tummies... but I don't think it's suppose to help with the "plumbing" If I get another poonami, I'm going to share it with the world via the camera!! You lucky ducks =P

Bed time... it's been getting better every day! We have the ghetoblaster playing static & our sound machine making the sounds of the ocean and that seems to do the trick. He still cries for a little bit and then settles himself down, if he doesn't stop crying within 5-10 mins I'll go back and offer him more food. The soothers were a total flop, I guess he's just not a "sucker".

P.S. I'm in the middle of uploading some more video's... enjoy =)

Yahoo!

Last night was amazing (once we got baby to sleep) He fell asleep around 7:30ish and didn't wake up until 5, and after that feeding he fell back asleep until 9!!! YAHOO... We have a happy mommy today! I got up a couple of times during the night and put my hand on his chest to make sure he was still breathing. At 3 I had to pump because both of the "girls" were at full capacity. We're giving him 4oz of formula during the evening and I'm wondering if that played a factor in his sleeping in? Maybe it's filling up his belly a little more than the boob milk does... We'll do the same routine tonight and see how it goes.

I'm still giving him Acetaminophen (Tylenol) because he is pretty cranky without it, the nurse said that the shots can bother him up to 3 days.

Well the new car seat is a hit! Every time I strap him in there he's out like a light within a couple of minutes! The only bad thing about it is that I have to take him out of the seat when we get to our destination & that wakes him up.

I also bought 3 different kinds of soothers, so I'll be trying all of them out to see what the verdict is! Keep your fingers crossed!!

WE DID IT! (and by we.. I mean him)

I cried in Colin's arms after Robbie fell asleep, by himself, in his crib.

We did our normal routine: Bath & Feed... he was getting drowsy after the meal so we decided to not read tonight. I swaddled him up from the pits down (leaving his arms free) turned the mobile on & the sound machine (makes heartbeat, wave and rain forest noises) and left. He REALLY didn't like it at first, it started off as a bearable cry... his discomfort cry. I would wait a couple of minutes & then walk in there to try & quiet him down (mobile had to keep getting wound up too) As the minutes passed his cry changed, I didn't want him to cry to the point where he's inconsolable.... he would just get himself so worked up & it would take hours to calm him back down (have done so in the past).

I cuddled up to Colin with tears in my eyes, the sound of his cry is so heartbreaking. I got to the point that I couldn't take it anymore & Col asked if he could try to soothe him. So in goes Daddy to see what he can do... he started shushing him (without picking him up) and within a minute (seriously, a minute) he settled down and was asleep within 3 minutes. WHAT A GUY!!! I gave him the biggest hug & thanked him over and over... he's an angel.

So our baby is sleeping & I'm ecstatic!

4 Month Weigh In

Here we go:

................At 2 months........ At 4 months

Weight: ......14lbs 1oz........... 17lbs 8oz
Height: .......22.5 inches ......25 1/4 inches
Head: ..........41.5 cm ...............43 cm

Which means he's in the 90th percentile for both height and weight & in the 75th percentile for head circumference.

He did really well with the shots. They stick 2 needles in on thigh & 1 on the other thigh, he was perfectly fine with the first needle but as soon as she stuck that second needle in he started crying =( Nothing that a little food couldn't take care of, though. After he ate he was smiling for all the nurses.

Last night he woke up & 3 for his feeding, I brought him to bed & fed him thinking he'd go back to sleep like he usually does... NOPE! Mr. Gabbypants wanted to tell me about his dream, so I took him into his room & sat with him in the rocking chair while he talked to me & played with my fingers. I knew he HAD to be tired so I kept the lights off & turned the noises off. He was showing signs of being tired but didn't want to sleep in my arms, so I figured I try something new instead of pacing around the house with a fussy baby... I put him in his crib & turned on his mobile, he didn't make a peep! He played with his fists for a bit & then was out like a light! So I think that's the key... he needs to be calm, not over tired & over stimulated. I'll admit, I've been in front of the TV watching my shows while I've been trying to get him to sleep.

So even though I haven't had much sleep today... I feel great because there's hope that someday down the road I won't dread bed time.

Sleep Time

I get SO frustrated when it comes to Robbie's bed time. He cries & whines & cries & whines... he doesn't let me sit down (unless I'm on the exercise ball jumping up and down) and he constantly wants to be rocked, bounced, etc. I need to teach him to self-soothe... sounds easy, right? Nope =( He doesn't particularly like soothers ( I'm going to buy every brand I can find to see if there's one that he'll take to) and he doesn't seem to enjoy being swaddled these days.

What is a mom to do?

I don't want my child to cry every night when bed time rolls around! And I don't want him to rely on me to be the one to put him to sleep. I guess it's just a matter of trial and error. We have a routine w/ Robbie: Bath, Food & Story (if he's up for it when that time rolls around) I'm wondering if I should start the routine earlier (we start the bath at 6:30 and he's usually asleep around 7:30), so that he's not so over tired. One of my books also suggested to get a soft blanket for him to snuggle with... I saw a mini blanket (super soft) at Old Navy that I'm going to get for him. If anyone has any wisdom or advice... I'd love to hear it.

*sigh*

He's officially 4 months old. I'll sound just like every other mom when I say he's growing up so fast!!

What have we been up to lately.... lets see. Seeing as though the weather has been abnormally warm, Robbie & I have been going for walks every day! He loves it! I think the only thing he'd complain to you about is getting sun in his face, it makes him sneeze! Luckily we've got a canopy on our stroller that can cover his face when we're walking into the sunlight.

We have officially boughten Robbie his next car seat. We're going to try & assemble it tomorrow! It's a 3-1 car seat, it's a rear and forward facing car seat... which should last until he doesn't need the extra protection (goes up to 100lbs) I'll try & take pictures of it once it's installed. I'm REALLY excited that I don't have to lug around that heavy infant seat anymore! Think about it... this kid has to be at least 17 lbs now (was 16lbs 6oz a month ago) plus the weight of the car seat itself, it's a work out that's for sure! It seems like everything is a workout with him. At the end of the day my arms almost tremble because I've been carrying around this monster of a baby.

Today I discovered a new game with him... We (as in I) sang "The wheels on the bus" he giggled SOOOOO hard! I think he liked the actions more than my singing... but he got a big kick out of the whole thing.

This morning we went to go to Symantec's Christmas party for the kiddies. It went fairly well! They had a duo come in & had an interactive singalong session about hibernation (it sounds dull but the kids seemed to really enjoy it) All the kiddies got a gift from Santa & it was a hit! It seemed like they were all screaming with excitement that they got what they wanted. Robbie got a little scared with all the screaming and laughing and he let out a couple of cries, nothing that a couple of cuddles couldn't cure =)

Robbie has started talking to us too! When he wakes up from naps he likes to have conversations. He mumbles and then pauses and waits for you to respond, so I usually try and repeat his sounds and then wait for him to start up talking again. It brought me to tears one day... my son is actually trying to communicate with me through sounds rather than cries! He is so intense when he talks to you, he looks straight at you... sometimes he'll crack a smile, other times he's got such a serious face on.

This week is the start of the holidays for us, we've got so much going on:

Tuesday AM - Robbie gets his 2nd round of immunization shots

Tuesday PM - I have an appt with EI (I've been "randomly selected" to prove that I have a child & that I'm not abusing the system)

Wednesday AM - Pick up Christmas pictures

Wednesday PM - Mail out Christmas cards

Friday AM - Colin has an appt with the Dr

Friday AM/PM - Grammy's coming over to help me with some Christmas baking

Sunday - Heather's Christmas Party

Monday - Uncle Paul arrives

Thursday - Dogs go to the kennel & Uncle Paul's birthday (I don't think there's enough fingers and toes to count how old he is!! hehehe)

Friday - Colin's Christmas Party

Saturday - Head up to Leduc to start the holidays!

Needless to say, I'll be happy when every thing's done and I can sit back and enjoy the holidays with our families!

I'll update tomorrow on what his new height/weight is!

NEW PICTURES

Holly... Mr. Toots McGee

Well yesterday was really nice! The temperature got up to 7 degrees and Robbie & I went on a brunch date with Grammy and Grampy. Grammy hadn't seen him in almost a week so she was making up for lost time. The grub tasted good but my tummy didn't agree with it after about an hour.... which in turn, didn't agree with Robbie! At around 2 o'clock he started crying at the top of his lungs. It wasn't his normal hungry/tired/bored cries, it was a cry like he was in pain (same cry that he had when we got him snipped) So we tried everything to console him but it wasn't working, Grammy suggested we give him a bath and that seemed to stop the crying but it started right back up as soon as I took him out of the water. So I put him on my lap and started working his legs up and down to see if I could get any toots out of him..... WOW. He let out a whole whack of them! He was gassy for the rest of the night, he was only happy on his back and in the tub! Auntie Alison came over in the evening to help me with my glasses (THANKS ALISON!) and she was laughing so hard at how I was getting the toots out of him! It looks silly but it works!!

Today we went down town to pick up my glasses at Alisons work & we had lunch with her! I brought the car seat and stroller with me but decided to leave the car seat in the car (the seat can snap into the stroller) So I put Robbie in the stroller sitting up and facing forward... HE LOVED IT! He was really good at Auntie Alison's work, all the girls were smiling and talking to him and he was smiling back! After lunch we went over to pick up his SIN number... so now we can start saving for his future! He stayed awake the entire time (he was awake for about 4 hrs in total!)

What you may or may not know about our baby

1. He loves being read to - I like to sit him on my lap facing me while I read his books to him. Every time I flip a page his jolts with excitement! His favorite book is "Goodnight Moon" (Colin & I have it pretty much memorized)

2. He doesn't fall asleep unless he's got a blanket over him - I find the blanket that Grammy knitted him works the best because it's so big and so heavy... my only worry is that he'll get his fingers stuck in the holes and loose circulation

3. When he wakes up from his naps, he cries (usually)... when he wakes up from sleeping in the night, he's talking and smiling

4. We get rid of his gas by laying him on his back and shaking his legs! We do the running motion, then bounce the bum and then rock his legs from side to side ... and then repeat. He always gets out his toots that way!

5. He can sit and stand when assisted - he use to get really frustrated because it was so much effort, but now he loves it!

6. He loves to be Superman! - If you raise him above your head he'll have full control of his head and will look straight ahead & smile (also helps with the gas if you have your hands on his tummy)

7. In the middle of the night if he's hungry he'll roll to me to start nursing, and when done he'll roll back - He still can't roll over on a flat surface, but because the bed is soft and there's indents from where I lie... it's easy for him to roll to me.

8. The second question that Nan asks every time she calls is: "How's Robbie?" - and we love it!! Everyone cares and loves him so much!

9. No one calls him studly anymore - That was baby's nickname while he was in utero. I think too many people have been changing his diaper ;)

10. His mom and dad fall in love with him all over again every time he smiles at us - which has been a lot lately!!

NEW VIDEO

Wonderful Day

Our little guy has been a bundle of joy today! We decided to stay home, put up our Christmas decorations and enjoy some alone family time. We put some Christmas carols on while we assembled our tree and decorated it! Needless to say, Robbie loves the tree lights. We have white lights right now... but I think we should get coloured lights, that would really grab the baby's attention.

Robbie fell asleep on me in a weird way today... and I liked it. He was playing with me on my lap and he had his legs straddled around my waist, I ended up hugging him for a couple of minutes and he fell asleep, just like that! It was like he was giving me a great big bear hug and fell asleep giving it to me... it was so sweet!

He fell asleep early today (7:30) so we never got to do the cereal or bath tonight... we'll see how he does. He did fall asleep on the boob, so his belly was full when he zonked out.

Today is Shari's baby shower & I wish I could be there to celebrate with her. I hope she has a blast!

AMEN

Well we gave Robbie some Rice cereal for the first time last night. At first he was pretty fussy about taking it, he wasn't really sure how to use the spoon. After calming him down from his screaming fit we tried it again... making noises as the spoon got to the mouth & trying to get him excited to eat. He was a lot more open to trying it this time around! He started slurping the rice from the spoon, so when he did eat.. he ate really fast. He was really messy though (after JUST having a bath) We got a bib and two receiving blankets full of cereal.... yuck! In all, he ended up eating about 10 spoonfuls... pretty good for a first timer! I topped him off with some boob milk and he fell asleep with next to no complaining!

Now for the good part! He fell asleep @ 8:30 and didn't wake up until 1:30 =) He woke up another time during the night, around 2 or 3, but went back to sleep after he fed. The pills are already starting to work, I had an engorged boob during middle of the night. Back to wearing a bra to bed! He woke up at 6:15 this morning and was ready to start his day!

We're going to try and stick with that routine: bath, cereal, bed. We'll see if he likes it!

We took pictures of the feeding... if/when I have time today I'll upload them.

NEW PICTURES

THANKS GRAMPY!

Grampy read the blog & called to see if he could help! He came over and babysat Robbie while I got some cleaning done... the house is ALMOST clean. I'm trying to go room by room, I just have the living room & bathroom left. Even though I didn't leave the house and didn't, I feel more refreshed that I got some time to myself.

Colin's on his way home from work and he's stopping off at Safeway to pick up some rice cereal. We're going to give it a whirl tonight before he goes to bed... hopefully he'll like it & it'll fill his belly up longer than the boob milk. I did start taking the Fenugreek, 2 pills -3 times a day... I figure with the holidays coming up & the parties that we've been invited to, I need some extra to pump & freeze. Motherhood is so glamorous.... NOT!

Sorry the previous post was so pathetic and whinny.

No No Noooooooooooooooooooooo!

Here I am awake at 7am while my little bambino is jumping in his Jumperoo and I'm at the computer getting all teary eyed.

I have come to the conclusion that it's not a growth spurt, it's a new routine. He fell asleep at his normal time (8pm) and was up at 10, 12, 2, 4:30 and 6:30! I'm drained, in every sense. I haven't had a shower in a couple of days because he's been so awake & needy (I hate to use that word) He's constantly wanting my attention, he's constantly wanting to be in the same room with me, etc etc. I'm so exhausted, it's hard to play and be happy when you're getting next to no sleep =( I had this plan that I'd give him formula at night so that he'd sleep longer (formula's more concentrated) well that plan was thrown out the window.... he took a couple sips & freaked, I gave him the boob right away because I was worried that he'd get into a crying fit and would be hard to get back to sleep. I refuse to let him cry it out, he's obviously hungry so I'm going to feed him.

On the positive side, I went for another chiropractic session yesterday... my back feels 10x better. I still have to go for a couple more sessions to make sure my back stays aligned properly, but I already think this Dr is a miracle worker. I brought Robbie with me to the last appt & he asked if I wanted him to look at his back & make sure everything was aligned. So he felts his spine & his hips (he didn't do anything other than touch... no cracking) and he said all is where it should be.

I got my Fenugreek (herbal supplement to boost the milk supply) I'm still in limbo if I should use it though. This might get too personal here... but for the first 2months I had to wear a bra to bed with breast pads because my girls got so engorged and leaked, now that my body has figured things out... I don't want to go back to the bra again at nights =(

My baby's crying... I've got to go. Hopefully everyone has been having a better week than me.

Going to the mall tomorrow

I can't do another day of this. His growth spurt is still going & I'm obviously not providing enough for him. I just finished feeding him for 45mins on both sides and I had to pull him off! (He's usually done eating in 10-15mins) He's been eating every 1 - 1 1/2 hrs at night he goes to 2-3hr intervals... blech!

So tomorrow I'm going to go to the health food store & get some Fenugreek (herbal supplement) I need to be making more milk & need some extra help. Cross your fingers that this woks!

FANTASTIC!

This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen... my son falling asleep in daddy's arms! Colin has had his ups & downs when it comes to trying to put Robbie to sleep but tonight he did it!!! I think Robbie fell asleep faster than when I put him to sleep.

I'm so proud of both of them... I love them both so much

Back Update

Well I went to go see him... and he confirmed everything that I was feeling. He said it's mostly because I carry Robbie on my right side (which is true) and my neck/shoulders are aching because I'm always looking down at him while I feed (again... true)

He put some heat on my shoulders and lower back & then did some major deep tissue massage. The massage was painful... but a good pain, all the other massages that I've gotten are the froofy "calming" massages. He cracked my lower back, upper back & neck... did that ever feel good! I've got to go back a couple more times until my muscles on my right side loosen up, I can't wait to have a painless back again!

Fussy Boy

Recent video

Hasn't been the best day today. He's been very needy =(

I was hoping that I could get some heavy duty cleaning done today but Robbie had other plans; He didn't want to be in the Jumperoo, swing or vibrating chair without you right there to amuse him. He's usually really good about being alone, at least for a couple of minutes.. but not today. I ended up resorting to putting him in the Bumbo on the floor, the dogs caught his attention for a little while. Between the hours of 6am and 6pm he had 3 - 30 min naps. He's getting a little frustrating at times, he falls asleep on my chest and I leave him there for at least 20-30mins.. but the SECOND I put him down his wide awake again!! I've tried several different methods on how to lay him down: fast lie down & arm removal, slowly resting baby to bed & gradually pulling my arm away, laying baby on nursing pillow for easier arm removal... It's like he's got a mommy detector that goes off as soon as our bodies aren't touching each other.

Tomorrow I go see the Chiropractor, my good friend Jen goes to him fairly regularly, so I know he's not going to break my back. Hopefully it'll be easier to carry around my baby.

Another Growth Spurt?

I think he's starting another growth spurt! For the past 2 nights he falls asleep around his normal time (8-9pm) but instead of waking up at 3 like he normal does, he's been getting up at midnight. Instead of feeding him and trying to put him back to sleep (like I did the first day... took me an hour and a half to put him down)I'm bringing him to bed to feed him & he falls asleep on the boob.

We got a lot done yeasterday. We went to the mall yeasterday to get our first Christmas family portrait done, we had a great time. Robbie was a champ! The photographer took a picture of Robbie and asked if he could keep it to go in his portfolio & Sears asked us if they could put it up in their studio... we agreed.

I got my wedding bands back! I didn't realize how much I missed them until I put them on! I had gotten so big from carrying Robbie that my fingers swelled up and I couldn't wear the bands any more. I was waiting until I lost all the weight so that they'd fit again... but I've come to the conclusion that I'm never going to loose all of the wegiht so I might as well get them resized.

We also got baby Kailey's Christmas present! We wanted to get something different and unique. I'm sure she's going to tons of "baby's first christmas" stuff, so I hope she (and parents) like it.

Here's the link to the baby's birthday. Instead of making one massive video, we've divided the videos into different clips so it'seasier to view.

Memories

So, realizing that I was able to upload video's onto Robbie's picture website... I decided to track down the camcorder to see if I can make better quality videos. I was looking high and low for the camera and ended up finding it tucked away in the corner my closet. I rewound to the beginning to see if there way anything on the tape, you will not believe what was on there! Robbie just seconds old and his proud papa and auntie holding him for the first time!! It's amazing, I watch that video and tears start pouring from my face... and then I realize that I'm holding the camcorder... but I don't remember doing that AT ALL! None of us remember ever using it!!! But let me tell ya, next time we do this I'm going to see if we can have it there for the whole experience. It brings back so many emotions that I forgot I had experienced.

I promise I'll be a little bit more sturdy in the future, I don't have much experience with these things!

~~i'm just waiting for the videos to upload & then i'll post the links!~~

POONAMI

TAKE COVER!!!! IT'S GOING TO KILL US ALL! Well... not really, but I almost lost my breakfast.

We woke up this morning after I fed him in bed & then we changed his diaper and put him in his day clothes. I put him in his Jumperoo so that I could get myself some breakfast, I was eating breakfast and noticed that he was getting a little fussy (he's never fussy in the mornings) so I picked him up and could smell that he had pooped. Brought him to the change table and was amazed that something so beautiful could produce something so disgusting. Lucky for you, the readers, I took some pictures!!! (you can thank me later ;) )

More pictures

Needless to say... we had a bath. I would have used up a whole box of whipes to get all the crap off of him.

Mr. Copycat

So Robbie's started to mimic Colins actions!

Colin had him lying down on the bed & was making vibration noises with his lips! With his saliva infested lips the baby would try and copy Colin's noises.

Daddy thinks he has a genius on his hands.

3 month check up

Yep.. he's over 3 months old now!

So Robbie & I got ready for our appointment at 9:00am today. Got to the Dr's office on time. The receptionist tells me that our family Dr is "stranded" somewhere out of the country and that there would be another Dr seeing her patients... not a problem. What she didn't tell me is that the other Dr that works in the office is ALSO not there and that there's only one Dr seeing all the patients booked for today. I would have rescheduled for another day if I had known that I was going to have to wait with my 3 month old for an hour (grrrr) I wish they would have called me, I would have happily stayed in my PJ's & taken care of my baby rather than try & comfort him in a waiting room full of PO'd people.

ANYWAYS, we finally got to do his weight and measurements... he's it is:

Head: 17 inches
Length: 24.5 inches
Weight: 16.6 lbs

Colin & I whipped out the growth chart and it looks like he's in the 95+ percentile for weight!! and 90 percentile for height!! So Colin has every right to sing "My pet monster" to him! It was funny, the Dr was going through her questions: "Does he smile? Does he hold his head up? Does sleep well? etc etc" then she asks me if he eats well & I said "oh yeah!" and she says "so about 4 times a day?" HA! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! "No... he eats about 7+times a day" you should have seen her face.... it was awesome.

I talked to the Dr about my back. I was in a car accident in '01 and I have lived with whiplash, now that I'm lugging around a 16lbs baby... it hurts... it hurts real bad. Robbie loves it when you hold him and walk around until he falls asleep, he's very particular about the walking part... the minute you sit down he'll start screaming. This has made for mommy's back to ache! So I told the Dr about it & she suggested Tylenol & massage.... but that only seems to give my relief for that day & then it's acting up again the next day. So she gave me a Rx to go to the chiropractor, now I've got to do some research & find a good chiropractor!

Aside from that, things are going well. I think we're going to start doing an evening routine with Robbie so that he knows when it's bed time: bath, eat & story. We'll see how it goes!

I forgot to mention... his left nut still hasn't fallen =( We're still waiting for it to make it's appearance. I think I'll have a nut party when we end up finding it!

Monitor

WOW.

I put Robbie to bed in his crib & turned on the Angel Care monitor (it monitors movement/breathing). Within 5mins of me putting him to bed the alarm sounded... baby must have forgotten to take a breath! Thankfully the alarm is loud enough that it woke him up enough to take a breath... but didn't wake him up to the point that I had to do damage control.

At least I know the thing works!

Worst Night Ever

Ugh. Where do I begin?

Colin & I were tested by Robbie today in a way that we have NEVER been before! Just a bit of background, baby usually has a 1-2hr nap in the morning & in the afternoon. Around 9am he had his 2hr nap... aside from that, he had about a 1/2 hr nap around 6ish. That's it! So needless to say, this kid was insanely tired come the evening. WE TRIED EVERYTHING to get him to sleep. At first we thought it must be gas, so we gave him some gripe water & I tried manipulating his legs/tummy to get some toots, but he was still mad at us. So then we thought maybe it's the teething thing, so we gave him some Tylenol... nope, he freaked after we gave him that. I tried feeding him but he just screamed SO loud! I even cracked open a can of formula, thinking it was something I ate (I had nothing out of the ordinary) but he wouldn't eat the formula. Tried swaddling, singing, rocking.... nothing worked! His cry was turning into the cry I heard the day he got circumcised. It's so frustrating and hard to try and console a baby that doesn't even know why he's crying!! Eventually we went into the bathtub... HALLELUJAH! He stops crying & starts smiling at me. His eyes are all red from crying & his eyelashes are all clumped together because of his tears. So we played in the water for a bit to try & soothe him. Once we got out of the water we were back to square one again.... the kid would not stop screaming! I offered the boob again & he took it with much hesitation. So I stood up & started walking with him while he nursed. He finally fell asleep on the boob.

Colin & I are SO exhausted from this. I'm off to bed now that I've vented.. I'm pooped.

YAHOO!

WE HAVE POO!!!!!!

Baby scared mom

This topic is about poop... just to be for warned.


So Robbie has been fairly regular, he has a poop every morning and that's it for the entire day (which is normal) yesterday he didn't poop at all but I thought I'd wait & see if he'd give me a full diaper today. Nope! So I was kind of nervous knowing that he hasn't pooped in 3 days! I've been noticing that he's been grunting while he babbles, so I thought this could be constipation. I called the Dr's office & our regular doctor isn't in this week but the receptionist said that I can come in & see the on call Dr. So I quickly put some clothes on & got baby to the Dr's office ( a 2min drive away)





Turns out an exclusively breastfed baby can go 10 days without pooping! The Dr checked his tummy and his bottom & everything is perfectly fine. She said unless he's super fussy & has a red face while he's grunting & always lifting his legs trying to push something out... I shouldn't be worried! I probably should have waited until Monday (he goes for his 3 month check up!) Oh well! I snuck him onto the tape measure as I was waiting for the Dr! He's now 24 inches (unless I did it wrong)


Another thing to report... when Colin was feeding baby the bottle yesterday he got his hands around it and tried holding it himself!! Colin said he held it up for a quick second on his own. We have a very independent little man on our hands!


As promised... here are some pictures!





P.S. I added a couple more Vegas pictures from our last day!

Oops

I just want to apologize for my lack of updates. I find that I've been really scatter brained lately! Robbie is wanting my attention a lot more and has fewer sleeps, which means less mommy time.

He's been on this new routine since we got back from Vegas: we wake up at 6 to play for about an hour and then he falls back asleep 'til about 7 or 8...then he's up for a couple of hours, he may end up falling asleep on me but as soon as I try to put him down to get things done he's wide awake again! He has a long sleep in the afternoon... around 2 or 3, he can sleep anywhere from 1-4 hours. So needless to say, my house is a mess, I'm a mess, my dogs are severely neglected... BUT I've got a clean & happy baby! hahaha

I'm starting to pump for Colin. We're trying to get baby use to daddy putting him to sleep, so (thanks to Shari's idea) Colin's feeding him a couple of ounces through a bottle. It's a shame, really, I use to be able to get 6oz between both boobs... I'm lucky if I can get 3oz now. My body is use to baby sucking... not a pump. Plus, this kid eats so often now I never have enough to pump... well, I do, but a couple ounces isn't worth all the cleaning & sterilizing I have to do afterwards.

I swear, he talks to me. I say "hi" and I get a "ayie" with a giant smile to accompany it! He use to just mumble but today his talking changed. He was grunting while talking (it's not gas or constipation) it was like he was talking with emotion! This is the coolest thing ever, watching this little guy grow into a little man.

I noticed that I was HORRIBLE at putting the baby down to sleep. He'd always seem to wake up if he wasn't in a deep sleep, so we brought in the nursing pillow ( a "C" shaped pillow) so that it would be easier to pull my arm out from underneath him. It works like a charm! And the Angel Care monitor can still detect his breathing... so all is good!

I'll try & take some pictures tomorrow.

Home Sweet Home!

We made it back safe & sound! Robbie was awesome on the flight back, we went with the flow & followed his requests and in return we got a perfect baby for the flight! As we were boarding the plane, Robbie was falling asleep in my arms! He was zonked out for take off and for about another 20-30mins of flying. He woke up & played with us a little bit but after a while wanted to eat. So I fed him & then played with him a little bit more. He eventually got tired and fussy, he cried for about 5mins (which seems like an eternity when you're in a small plane and there's tons of people around you that you don't want to piss off) after that he fell asleep & stayed sleeping for the landing!! I was so proud of him!

Today we unpacked the Christmas gift that Nan got for him... a Jumperoo (Jolly Jumper) He LOVES IT! He still hasn't grasped how to jump but all in time! There's a console on the front of it that has a motion sensor that plays music & lights blink when he jumps... so that the incentive! He thinks it's hilarious when he kicks his foot up & the lights start blinking & music plays. He also thinks that the seat is mighty tasty.

This little guy keeps eating my knuckles! I was giving him a hug once & he turned his head to me & got ahold of my chin & started chewing on it! (didn't know my chin was that big) He's definitely getting harder to soothe, he's having less happy periods & more crying periods. We give him Tylenol here & there... but we don't want him to become dependant on it.

He doesn't fit into his 3 month sleepers anymore (which was what a majority of them were) so now I've got to do some shopping (shucks *wink*)

Other than that.... we just want to wish Grammy a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Update from LV

Well. Our first day wasn't the greatest... baby was over stimulated, mom was over stimulated & we weren't really "in tune" with what baby was telling us. So our shopping date was cut short because of mr. fussy pants.

Today (Wednesday) was SOOOO much better. We were up @ 5am and started our day around 10. We were able to go to MGM and check things out over there. I put him in the wrap with him facing outwards and he loved it! He was able to check things out while still being close to me (on Tuesday we kept him in the stroller which he only liked for a certain amount of time) We've had so many people stop us to comment on how cute he is & what a great contraption my wrap is. When people ask us how old he is they're in awe... I was getting an ice cream from NYNY and the lady working the counter said that her girl looked like Robbie does when she was 8 months old!!! I guess Robbie was just a couple of oz bigger than her @ birth... so we definately have a big baby on our hands!

I'm downloading some pics as we speak.... enjoy!

We made it!

Here I sit in front of our lap top in Manadlay Bay @ 5:22 in the morning. The sun hasn't risen and neither has Robbie. All 'n all he had a pretty good flight. We tried to plan it so that he was eating as we took off... it's hard to plan with an infant, that's for sure. We were waiting for an 1hr 1/2 before we were able to board, baby got really fussy before we boarded because he hadn't eaten in aprox 4hrs. I was able to get him to fall asleep on my chest as we boarded... he woke up once the propellers started up. I didn't want to push my luck with him so I started to feed him as they pushed us away from the gate. Luckly we were able to get 3 seats! (makes the world of difference) Time went so slow! I was trying to time the take off with his eating so that he would pop his ears... little did I know that they had to de-ice the plane first. So he ate like a monster & was just finishing up eating as we were taking off. He did pretty well, he had this "what the hell?" look as we kept getting higher. I was lucky enough to have these two prissy (&#@@^ that sat in front of me & in the middle seat. They were nice enough to recline their seats... so my little space that I had to sooth my baby just got that much more smaller... lovely! About 45mins left in the flight he got super fussy, he didn't want anything to do with me... thankfully dad could put him on his lap & soothe him. As we started descending you could tell it was bothering him, he didn't want to eat so it made it that much harder. I ended up getting up in the isle & swaying with him & he fell asleep during the descend and arrival!! He wasn't sucking on anything!

Once we got settled into our room (which we're not too happy about) we thought we'd put him in the stroller & let him fall asleep as we checked out the hotel... Robbie had other plans. He screamed bloody murder! He was so tired and we had been waking him up here & there so he just wanted to crash... and after 6-7hrs of sleep, he's still sleeping! We were able to get a play pen (pretty much identical to our pack 'n play) which he's sleeping in. We brought a couple of blankets from home, so he seems pretty happy in there.

Well, I'm going to go check out our view & enjoy this sleeping baby. Just wanted to let everyone know that we got here safe & sound!

It's trip time!

Here I am... up at 4:30! Not because baby got me up, but because I'm making a mental list of everything we need for this trip.

Robbie has been kinder to me these past 2 nights. He wakes up for his evening feed & the falls back asleep like he use to do =) I've also been cutting down on my sugars. One sugary item in the day and one in the evening (it's a real test for me seeing as though I've got the biggest sweet tooth around & we've got all this extra Halloween candy just sitting there calling out my name!) Lately, he seems to be a light sleeper when he naps. Every time I put him down he's usually awake within 5mins - it make it really hard to get things done around the house. So hopefully the sugar sacrifice will allow him to nap a little longer.

I've had Robbie in the Bumbo before (rubber seat for infants that allows them to sit up) but I had never introduced the dogs to it. So I sat Robbie in the chair on the floor & closely monitored. Tonka's little stub of a tail was wagging back and forth a mile a minute while he was sniffing and kissing the baby, Theo decided to lay down beside the baby & lightly growl and the other two... and Emma, she didn't even come close to him (resentment?) Robbie really likes it on the floor with them, he likes looking at the black dogs & handles their kisses really well (it has to be overwhelming for a baby to be smothered by two dogs). I don't let the dogs lick his lips, but they can go to town on his cheeks and head. Hopefully in time Emma will warm up to baby.

I'm now starting to put a bib on the monster. I find that after he eats he's got a lot of milk/drool sitting around in his mouth & he likes to blow bubbles and make silly noises... and make a mess! He still loves to put his hand in his mouth, he's started putting blankets and bibs in there too.

We got this new stroller for him for when we go on trips... when we're not in need of it we're giving it to Grammy & Grampy so that they can take him for walks when they're baby sitting. It's a pretty fancy little thing! It's not as big or bulky as our Graco & it's a lot easier to maneuver. It's one step up from being an umbrella stroller. We wanted something with a 5 point harness & reclining capabilities for when we're walking down the strip. Baby seems to really enjoy it.

I love my little guy so much. He stares at me and you can just see the love in his eyes. I get so caught up in trying to keep him entertained & happy I don't really stop to enjoy how much of a little man he's growing up to be (yep... already =( ) You will not meet a more proud mother. He's such a joy to wake up to in the mornings... he's smiling & laughing, it's very contagious.

I'm going to sign off for now before my tears short circuit the keyboard!

Yep!

He's definately going through a growth spurt.... He was up at 230 and didn't fall back asleep until 430ish... yuck! Needless to say, I'm a little exhausted. I've started packing for our trip so that I'm not in a frantic panic the day of.

Time to sleep in his own room

sigh.... it's that time. He's been sleeping in his pack 'n play in our room, just so that it's easier for me to feed him in the middle of the night. Today I was looking at the weight restrictions for the bassinet feature in the pack 'n play.. 15lbs is the max =( He weighed 14lbs 1oz almost 3 weeks ago, so I'm sure he's at 15lbs now. So now my arms are tied & he has to start sleeping in his own room and in his own bed.

This sucks. He's growing up too fast.

Oh... so... tired

He fell asleep around 8ish. Woke up at 11 to eat. Woke up at 3 to eat (and didn't want to go back to sleep, so I stayed up with him for 45mins).... and woke up at 630 to eat.

I have nothing left in me... litterally & emotionally.

Heather = tired

Here it comes!

IT'S THE DROOL! He's started blowing bubbles with it & he seems to be drooling more & more every day. He still loves to put his fist in his mouth & favours it instead of a soother.

We were out and about this past weekend getting all of our goodies ready for the big trip (we leave this Sunday) we decided to get an umbrella like stroller that had reclining capabilities. The stroller that we have is pretty bulky and some times hard to get around in. We also go the little guy a playmat, seeing as though he's enjoying tummy time a lot more I thought I'd try & make it even more enjoyable. We picked up the jumperoo (jolly jumper) that Nana got Robbie for Christmas, we have yet to open it up.. but I can't wait to get him into that thing!!

We had our carving contest on Sunday, which was a big hit. Jen & Max brought their little one, Sophia, along... what an adorable family! We were trying to get the babies to kiss... they weren't too keen on it.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Oh Boy

So it's been a couple of days since I last posted... I apologize. My little monster of a child introduced me to something else... 4am! BOOOOO!!! Lately (by lately I mean 3 days) he's been going to bed between 830-930 and he's been awake at 4! Which is really good for him, but I usually don't get to bed until after my tv programs are done (which is usually around 11) So I'm going to ditch my shows. My sanity & sleep is more important than seeing who the bachelor is going to pick.

I just wanted to write a little blurb about Shari (Colin's sister) She was due Nov. 02 and her water broke on Oct. 23rd! She ended up having a C-Section because she wasn't having the contractions (even on pitocin) that they were wanting her to have & the baby wasn't descending. It breaks my heart when I hear that she's having a hard time in the hospital. I'm counting down the hours until they'll discharge her (hopefully tonight). The nights in post-partum are so hard, your not allowed visitors & you've got a nurse that's assigned to other patients as well as yourself... it's definitely a feeling of helplessness, I remember staying awake all night & staring @ the clock waiting for Colin to be allowed to come back and see me. She needs some good alone time with Kailey... and I know she'll get it. But I know how she feels when others want to hold your child and bond with it & you feel like you're getting jipped because you don't feel like you've got that special bond yet. Originally I wasn't going to see them until the holidays rolled around, but after talking with Colin we're going to take a trip up there (if/when Shair's ready for us) Jack hasn't met Robbie yet either... so it'll be fun! CONGRATS SHARI & JACK! Welcome to parenthood!

Back to my little monster. He's been holding up his head really well, so I thought I'd whip out the Bumbo to see how he'd do. The instructions say 3+ months... but I wanted to push the envelope. He seemed to really enjoy it, he got a little lazy @ at the end though and his head started to flop, but for his first time he did really well!

Hockey season has officially started & I've officially lost Colin. hehehe. Seriously though, Colins love for hockey has rubbed off on Robbie. He's wearing the "gear" when the Oilers are playing.... I still have to get him some flames stuff. He's got little Flames booties, but they don't stay on =(

We're having a bunch of people over for a little Halloween party, we're having a carving contest which will be a lot of fun! We get to see Jen, Max & Sophia again, we haven't seen them since our last birth and babies class (Sophia & Robbie are an item... hahahaha) You'll have to wait & see what Robbie's wearing for Halloween.

I've got to run & get myself ready for when the little guy wakes up. He's going to want my attention. I miss you all! Keep in touch.

Love,

Heather

First signs of teething?

Well he really seems to love to put his fist in his mouth. I think this is the start of his teething process, he can only fit a thumb and two fingers in there... but I'm sure as he grows he'll be able to get more in there!

I was playing around with him today while daddy was out playing paintball. This is what our monster will look like when he grows hair. Speaking about hair, he seems to be getting the "bald spot" he can throw his head from side to side really fast so the fine hair is thinning out to nothing.

He's really starting to like tummy time. I keep him entertained with my stupid faces I make and silly sounds & he has really good head control! His cries are VERY distinctive now. I can tell when he needs to feed, sleep, or just plain bored! When he's fussy he used to like to be held vertically (close to the chest) but now that he's getting longer he seems to like being cuddled horizontally. He also LOVES to be swaddled! I don't know if I was doing it properly at first or not... but what I've been doing lately, when he gets sleepy I wrap him up SUUUPER tight and give him a soother & he's out like a light in a good 5mins. But just you wait... in a week he'll probably train me for a new routine!

Today's Pictures

Update time!!

So lately our little monster has made it really hard to get him to fall asleep. We're rocking, dancing, swaying and singing to him to get him to fall asleep! When Dad's at work he usually sleeps once in the morning & once in the afternoon... around 10ish he decided that he wanted to sleep but made it almost impossible to settle him. After a bunch of rocking and singing "twinkle twinkle" he finally fell asleep in my arms after about 45mins of crying. I waited about 30mins to make sure he was in a good deep sleep before I put him down, as soon as I put him down he was wide awake again!! GRRRRR (but he was in a better mood so it was ok) Come 1 o'clock he has GOT to be tired, so I swaddled him up twice SUPER tight and put him in his crib with his soother. I turned on the mobile & had his wave machine going(sounds of the ocean) and left the room. He stared at his mobile for a while & then started letting out little whimpers, I sat in the next room and every time I heard a whimper I'd go back to the other room, give him his soother that he spit out & rub his head until he calmed down. I did it about 5 times before he fell asleep! He's been sleeping for 2+ hrs now!!! Even though he loves looking at the mobile, I think I want to get a different one. The one that we have is a wind-up & only plays for about a minute or two, so half the time he was fussy because the mobile stoped and I had to wind it back up... I'm on the hunt for a battery operated one!

On a side note, I just recently went out to Walmart to buy him some more sleepers. As the weather gets colder he's not able to wear some of the stuff we use to put him in. I bought him a 3-in-1 package... a hat, sleeper and pants that were a 3month size. The sleeper and pants fit him perfectly, as you can see. Now look at this hat!! Are you kidding me?! 3 months? Try 3 years... well, not 3 years... but that's ridiculously big!!

It's been a while

Sorry guys, I haven't updated you guys lately!! Lets see..

Well, on Wednesday after Robbie's ultrasound, the immunization shots started to bother him. He was really fussy & hard to console. Usually when he cries I feed him & he's happy... he didn't even want to get close to boob for some grub =( On Thursday he went from 530am - 1pm without eating. It seemed like the only thing that could settle him was a warm bath... and that didn't last for long before he was screaming again. What sucks even more is that he has tears now, so he'd cry & cry with tears streaming down his face and all I could do was hold him & cry with him. Thankfully, he's pretty much over it now, when he cries it's because he's hungry!

Saturday I tried putting him in his crib in his room (he's been sleeping in his pack 'n play right beside me in our room) I tell ya, I had that monitor right on the edge of the side table & my head was as close to it as I could get. It seemed like I had picked the wrong night to introduce him to his crib. He was up at 230 for his first feeding... it's so hard to drag your tired body across the hallway & feed in a chair. I'm so use to bringing baby in bed so that I lay down & close my eyes while he nurses. So after he fed he wanted to talk to me.... call me a bad mom, but I didn't want to hear about his sleep at that particular moment. So I walked around until he fell back asleep and then put him in our room. Smart move on my behalf! He was up 3 other times for feedings that night!

I'll be back to post pictures of our little man.

Take care!

Nut Update

So the Dr's office got in touch with Colin. They found the nut in the u/s & they're going to keep an eye on it when we go for future visits.

Updates

This stupid website erased my whole story so I’m starting from scratch again, here’s what’s been happening.

TUESDAY

We went for Robbie’s first set immunization shots. 3 shots in total, 2 in one leg and 1 in the other. He did really well, he cried a little bit after the last shot ‘cause I guess it stings a little bit. We were asked to stay for 15mins after the shots to make sure that he didn’t have any problems. He was a little fussy so I fed him which made him happy. There were a lot of babies that were whaling at the top of their lungs… so I think it’s safe to say that he was a champ! He was a little lethargic for the rest of the day, when he was awake he was fussy so I gave him a little bit of Tylenol and the fussiness disappeared! He was so cuddly, mama loved it!

WEDNESDAY

We had an appointment to find out the status of Robbie’s left testicle. To see if it was on its way down and if it was as small as the family doctor thought it was. So we go there & the tech brings us in. She measures the right testicle & everything seems to be going well. She starts looking for the lefty, she looks… and looks… and looks. I asked her if she was having problems & she said she was trying to figure out what was his testicle and what was a lymph node. So she takes a picture of what she thinks is his nut & measures it. She says she’s going to bring the doctor in to see what she thinks. After waiting a little bit, the doctor & tech come in. The doctor comes in with a pissy attitude telling Robbie not to pee on her because she’s already been barfed on and she’s not in a good mood (HELLO!?! You’re working in an ultrasound clinic that specializes in kids… what do you expect?!) ANYWAYS! She covers up his wanger with a paper towel & proceeds to look for the nut. So the tech shows the doctor what she though was the nut, doctor says no that’s not it. So they’re looking for a nut… and looking… and looking. They start doing a process of elimination to figure out where this nut is. So the determine that this little round thing is his nut, they measure it & the doctor says she’ll send the results to my doctor. I asked her if she thinks it’ll descend. She takes the wand and looks at it again, she tried to push “the nut” down (or course, Robbie didn’t like it one bit… he had been so good up until that point!) So she says “well, he’s still fairly young, there’s a possibility” Way to reassure me lady. So the tech said our doctor will get the results in 2-3 days, our doctor said she’d call us if there was anything out of the ordinary. So now I get to worry for the next couple of days to see if my little guy needs surgery or not =(

PICTURES

Gotch ya!

I did it! I FINALLY caught his smile on camera!

I went to walmart yesterday to get him some sleepers for the colder months that are ahead of us. He's officially in 3 month old clothes now (except for Gap clothes... they're the only brand that seem to be accurate)





He has definitely discovered his hands! When he's feeding we play a game, I keep my mouth open & he tries to put his hands in my mouth. When he's wide awake in the mornings he's bang on & gets it in on the first try, in the evening his accuracy isn't as good. We've got a vibrating chair that has some little toys that rattle & he has discovered how to make the noise. I had him in that chair for a good 20mins this morning & that's all I could hear was the rattling of the dangling toys!





I love this little guy more & more every day! (as does Colin)





I can't get over how much he's grown! The car seat is a good way to gauge, the day we brought him home vs him at eight weeks



Todays Pictures


We're off to Edmonton tomorrow morning for the long weekend. We'll have tons of pictures when we get back!

A Night out

My husband was so sweet to give me a night out with my sister while he took care of the monster. I had a great time! Alison and I went to go see Black Eyed Peas, it was definitely a good time! Before yesterday I had only been to one other concert... New Kids on the Block (does that date me or what?!)

When I got home, just after 10:00, our little guy was still awake. Colin did such a great job on his own! Turns out he ate 12oz while I was out... TWELVE OUNCES! And I fed him more when I got home. It's impossible to know how much he eats in a day because he's being exclusively breastfed... but holly cow! or should I say piggy? This morning I was looking at how much he's grown within the past 8 weeks, here he is two days old and here he is at eight weeks old (today) It's amazing! If it wasn't for the nose, I'd think that they were two different babies!

We're heading up to Edmonton on Saturday for Thanksgiving with Colin's family. It should be a good time. It'll be Robbie's first trip, I think it'll be more of a challenge for his parents rather than him! How many diapers to bring? How many change of clothes? How many receiving blankets? I'm thinking about just bringing his entire wardrobe (which is a lot more than you could imagine) Col & I are planning on stopping in Red Deer to get him out of the car seat, we don't want him getting flat head. I think I'm going to bring my pump along & if he gets fussy I'll be able to pump & feed him, instead of stopping.

Signing off for now!

-H

Blech

Well.. lets just say Robbie & I did not have a good night on Friday. Colin was out at his ball hockey game so baby & I spent the night together. We were switching boobs continuously for 3hrs straight... lovely! He was so fussy. A bath soothed him for a little bit but as soon as he came out the vocal cords were back at work. He ended up crashing around 1000 last night... and got up TWICE during the night (he hasn't woken up more than once for a good four weeks!) so that threw me through a loop!

Last night, when I was trying to ease Mr. Fussypants I tried to put him in his sling & go for a walk... but he was so uncomfortable. He chin was to his chest & he was curled up into a ball (he likes sprawling out) so today Col & I went to go get a baby wrap at Bo Bebe. I LOVE this thing!! He's in it right now sleeping away on my chest as I type with two hands! It's almost the same feeling as being pregnant again... minus the aches & pains. It's definitely a bonding experience... just like bathing together. I'm going to go take him for a walk.....

Ciao!

New Routine?

Well I've gotta tell ya... I think he's introducing us to a new routine! Yesterday he was awake for pretty much the whole day! He would take the occasional 30 min nap, but would wake right up again for a couple of hours! The good thing about that is he's getting tired a lot earlier! He use to fall asleep around 10 -10:30 but last night he was zonked out at around 8:30!! He still got up for his 4 o'clock feeding (which is a breeze at this point)





Colin & Robbie had a bath together last night! No cries again! It's definitely a bonding experience. Colin was lucky enough to walk away without getting peed on (lucky bugger!)


For the past couple of nights I've been putting Robbie in his sleeping bag. It's a god send! When he wakes up for a feeding in the middle of the night I always end up ruining the swaddle I had him in & I usually do a sloppy job after I feed him because I'm tired. Well this little guy works wonders! He loves having arms free while he sleeps anyways, so swadling doesn't really do much for him.

Well I better go get my stuff done now while he's sleeping before he decides to wake up for the day! Take care everyone!!

Todays Pictures

6 week check up

Well... he's now weighing in at 12lbs 13oz! Measuring 25 in long! The Dr said that his left testicle hasn't dropped yet so he's got to get an u/s done to see where exactly it is. She said that aside from his nut, he's looking great! He goes back, in Nov, for his 3 month checkup. In Oct he goes for his vaccinations... I guess there's 3 needles that they give him =( I guess it's worth it in the long run, it just sucks that he gets pricked 3 separate times. The Dr said that health Canada is working on a shot that has all 3 vaccinations in one needle, but that's not due out until next year...boo. I remember when then health nurse came to take blood from Robbie the day after he was born, holly crap did he cry!!!

I had my check up too. All is well, I don't have to go back there for myself for another year =)