Splish Splash bash!

Jonah is getting to be a real big boy! He sits up in the bathtub real well. He played in the bathtub for quite a while tonight, splashing and chewing on his bath toys. Then he spotted the flipper thing that open and closes the drain, he really wanted that. He pulled himself up on the edges of the tub until he was right next to it. Daredevil then lets go so he can get it. Glad I was right there. I laid him back before he succeeded in smashing his head against the big tub.... ugh!

He laid there, properly in his tub now, smiling and tickled with himself that he got that far. (that I let him that far). Well, I should go get some sleep, keep getting better myself since my boys are sleeping. :-)

Kim

I really despise him....

We went to the doc, got in late, he did his show boat routine with all his medical gargin and I left mad at him. Can you tell!

He spent 98% of the time bashing his nurse and looking at his ears. Which is NOT what we were there for. I said after he went through all of that BS, "so does that effect his eyes and coughing/chest congestion?" NO was his answer. I then asked him to deal with the issue we came in for

He told me that he could give him some drops for his eyes and his ears. He went on some more about some other BS and I tuned him out. He wants Jonah to be seen in 10 days at People's for a recheck.

I didn't get the ear drops, his pediatrician has NEVER cared about the wax in his ears. I'm going to call and get their opinion on it before I pay for something we don't need. Have I said I don't like this guy!

Nuts morning, waste of time, off and running on the rest of the day.


Kim

- ps I was nice though, I didn't bite of his head and spit in it like I wanted to. :-)

To work with mommy

Jonah came to the tech meeting with me this morning. He has a doc appt with Dr. Shirk here in GC. I'm not happy about having to see Dr. Shirk, but he's pretty much our only option. People's is closed this AM due to dept. meetings and Dr. Frisch, who I see here in GC, is not in on Tuesdays. We could get into People's after 2, but that shoots a whole day at home.

He got up at least 3 times in the night, but has been sleeping from 7:15- current (8:30am). Right through the meeting and hopefully on the way to the doc. His appt is at 9:00. I'll let you all know how it goes.

He woke up with matted shut eyes, both today. We got them cleaned off and his 'whites' are still WHITE! He hasn't produced anymore green gobblygook and I wiped away 2 big clear croc tears after the meeting when he wiggled and they ran down his cheek.

The illness drama continues!! When will we ever see an end? HOPEFULLY SOON!!!!!

Kim

9 days to easy bedtime

I found an article in my Parents magazine that talked about a 9 day sleep routine. So we started it last night. Something a little different than what we've done in the past. It worked pretty good.
It is from Dr. Kim West, a child and family therapist in Annapolis, MD.

Nights 1-3: After reading and a bottle (or whatever your nighttime routine consists of) - - ours is bath, book, bottle, bed-- put baby into bed and sit right next to it while s/he cries for however long it takes for him/her to fall asleep. You can talk to and pat him/her, but no picking up. Reassure him/her verbally.

Nights 4-6: Remove yourself halfway between the crib and the doorway and reassure verbally that you are still there and s/he is okay.

Night 7-8: Move yourself all the way to the door and continue to reassure verbally if necessary.

Night 9: By now you should be able to lay him/her down and leave the room immediately.

=-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(I'll continually edit this same post instead of creating a new one each time)
Our night logs:

1)Sunday- I laid him down in his crib at 7:25 after a book, bottle and a little snuggle time. He cried for 35 min before settling down and falling asleep at 8:00pm.
Up at 11, 1:15, and 5:30

2)Monday- Late start on routine. He slept from 4:15-6:30, it was 7:30 before he got a bath and bottle. He wouldn't eat much and we skipped the book as he was super fussy at 8. Put him in bed at 8:15, cried very little and just wiggled around and fussed. Paci in and out and by 8:30 he was asleep.
Up at 10:30?, ?, and 4:30, then he laid in his bed and cooed for awhile before Josh got up with him at 5:30.
He came to the Tech meeting with me this AM b/c he has a doc appt at 9 here in GC. Sleeping soundly the whole time!

3)Tuesday- We had a short night, Jonah and I. Josh was at conferences and Jonah slept until 5:45/6ish. So when he was rubbing his eyes and sucking down his bottle while snuggling into my body I knew he was tired and it was only 7:20. I put him in bed at 7:25 and he wiggled and whined for quite a while. More than last night and he even cried a little. He twisted and turned himself all over the bed, I straightened him out a little, I didn't want the blood to rush to his head. (the bed is propped up on one end)
So in bed at 7:25, asleep by 7:45... up at 9:30, 11:30, 1:20, 4:30-5, Josh up with him at 5:15 until 6:30 when he had to get ready for school. Jonah woke up again at 7 and I had his. I told Josh at 4:30, I feel like we just got home from the hospital with him. He wasn't eating well last night and didn't do a whole lot of coughing. When he did it was bad, but didn't do it often. We didn't do a neb treatment all night b/c I (and daycare) am convinced that the nebs don't let him sleep or eat. His appetite goes way down when he's on a reg. schedule of them. His eyes are getting somewhat better, he was able to look at me this morning instead of us having to clean them off first. If they are still yucky by Fri we are taking him back to People's. Hopefully for some answers and something to help him get better. This neb thing isn't helping.

4)Wednesday- Night 4 went pretty good. He was rubbing his eyes and curling up on me like crazy at 7:15, but I really wanted him to stay up until 7:30 so we could give him one last dose of eye drops before bed. We read books and ate a little more bottle and then as soon as 7:30 hit we pinned him down and got drops in 1 eye and on the other. :-) I put him in bed at 7:35 and he squirmed around for only 5 min and he was out. Tonight was the first night of standing by the door. He still scoots way down to the bottom of the bed. Oh well.
Up at: 10:30, 12:44, 1:30, and 3:30, then up for the day at 5:30. Good thing though is that he ate sweet potatoes this morning and a 4oz bottle. He then slept all the way to GC, no fussing at all. Tonight we have a babysitter, so we'll see how bedtime goes. We might be back in time for bed, who knows. We're just going out for supper. Jami will do a great job though. :-)

5)Thursday- We got home at 7:45 to an awake little boy and babysitter. He was asleep when we left though. :-) Which I was nervous about. He wakes up and is always cuddle happy and usually wants me. Jami said he was really fussy when he woke up. Other than that I guess they had a good night. He didn't want any sweet potatoes so he just had a bottle. He was up several times in the night again. Josh got up with him mostly. I took some nyquil before I went to sleep so I wasn't worth much. The one time that I did get up I felt like I was going to barf all over, so I went back to sleep. I felt much better this morning.. I think it was the drugs.

6)Friday- No school for either of us so we were home and Jonah has taken a few good naps today. We took the same approach as bed, put down awake, but sleepy. He cried a lot more the first nap than he did the second. He slept from 10:30-11 and 2:00ish till 3:45. He slept again when we went to get groceries at 5:00ish. He had his bath and played/cuddled with us pretty late tonight. He was kind of tired, but really bouncy and acting silly. So finally at 8:40 I put him into bed and turned on the nightlight/song thing that Grandma Petersen gave him and he was out before it shut off.
Up- 3x... 2 with josh and once with me.

7) Saturday- He took some good naps today. Laid them down and asleep he went. (a little whining, but maybe 5 min worth, while he got comfy. We were bad and put him down pretty late again, mainly because he took a late nap. We got him in bed at 8:40pm and he slept until 11:50 and then again at 4:45am. He didn't eat much of anything throughout the night, which was fine by me. I just rocked him to sleep in ten minutes at 11:50 and then at 4:45 he ate 2 oz. He got up for good at 7:30. He's been sleeping now from 10:45- 1:30... still sleeping. :-)
I haven't been following the plan to T, I've been able to walk out after laying him down and letting him get settled for a few minutes instead of waiting until he's asleep. Last night would have been the first night to do that, but I've been doing it for the last 2 nights and naps. So I'd say we are doing much better than planned. :-)

8) Sunday- Between coming home from church and our afternoon drive, Jonah got in some pretty good naps. He went to bed around 8 and again was asleep 5 min after laying him down awake. He was up though at 10:30 and 4 other times throughout the night. (too tired to remember them all). I know the last one was from 4:15-5:00. He then slept from 5ish to 8:15 this morning. I am home again on my last day of "spring break" and so it was nice to get to sleep in. He woke up with hugs and smiles. Nothing warms a mom's heart than picking up her child and he wraps his arms around her neck. :-) My favorite part of the day.

9) Monday- He slept pretty good today during the day. I woke him up after a 1.5 hr nap in the am and then he napped again for about 40 min in the afternoon. He was pretty sleepy around 6 and so by 6:30 he was in the tub and in bed around 7:10. He woke up at 10:30, screaming bloody murder. We tried to ignore, then soothe, then ignore, but we finally gave in and gave him a bottle. He probably really was hungry, he didn't eat much of his night bottle before heading to bed. He was up again at 5:00, he went back to sleep pretty quickly though with a paci.
We woke him up at 6:20 though so he could eat and get dressed before heading out to daycare. He wasn't happy being woke up, we told him tough, you wake us up all the time. :-) I don't think he cared. :-)

So.... thanks for following our sleeping blurb, I'm sure it will all get better with time and patience. :-)

Ewww... eye boogers!

We had a full weekend. We all went back to Cville on Saturday morning to get dad's haircut, see family and friends, and visit Great Grandma Marjie. My cousins hadn't seen me since Christmas so they were super excited to see all my "new" tricks. (sitting up, paci handling, rolling over, holding my own bottle, shaking my head back and forth, etc). They are surely easily impressed.
I met Maddox for the first time, he isn't anything special. :-) At least I don't think so... he just laid there and slept the whole time. Boring! He had some cool socks though that Aunt Jill wouldn't let me have. Oh well, I hope he gets to be as much fun as Paige and Aiden someday. They are always moving and Aiden is kind of scary sometimes. He bounces all over and gets really crazy! Paige is super nice and always makes me smile. :-)
To make the day even crazier I got these weird eye boogers. Mom and dad keep wiping them away and I hate it. I cry and cry when they come at me, but they don't listen. Mom says something like "I love you, that is why I'm doing this." Ha! Leave my eyes alone! She doesn't like it when I touch her face. I got her good on Sunday night though, a full hand of cereal all over her cheek!

We got home kind of late on Saturday and I was up 3 times in the night trying to get settled. Man I hate getting out of routine. I didn't even get my bath!

On Sunday we went to church and I was a busybody. Mom didn't get much out of the message b/c I was so squirmy. I heard mom and dad talking about letting me go to the childcare center next time... sounds fun to me! Then dad had a craving for Olive Garden so we went there. I slept the whole way to Wloo, at Olive Garden, and all the way home. It was a good snooze, but my eye was FULL when I woke up. They came at me with that darn washcloth again!

Mom played games with me trying to get me to eat rice cereal. I ate most of it. She must really want me to like it, she doesn't take no for an answer easily. :-)

Well that has been my weekend! Glad it's Monday... see everyone around (that is if my eyes get better and I can see out of them!

Jonah

Less Hacking, still Coughing

He stayed home with dad yesterday and got in some good naps. He still wouldn't eat his green beans, but took in quite a bit of formula!
He was still up at 9ish, but we got him to fall asleep shortly after and then he was up again at 2:00ish until 3:17. Partially I think from being asleep so long during the day, but mostly from coughing. He still sleeps on the boppy in the crib. He slides out when he coughs.

It is kind of funny to watch him, when he doesn't know I'm there. He'll cough hard and his paci comes shooting out, but he'll find it by raking his hand over the bed and then stick it back in. :-) Self soother, I think so!
This morning we went in and he was "stuck" between the ends of the boppy. (not really stuck, he could move, just the way he slid down) His arms were above his head and it looked like he was going down a rollercoaster hill or something. :-) As soon as he knew we were in there he moved his arms down and wiggled out of the boppy further. Smiles galore.

He's back at daycare today, Grandma Meyer offered to watch him tomorrow and Kimmie at daycare said that was fine with her if that is what we want to do. I suppose it depends on how today goes and if Grandma wants to give up her vacation day from school to hang out with a hacky kid. She'll have to be brave though, he needs his nose sucked out every few hours to make sure his coughing stays to a minimum.

Well, have a good day. I hope he gets better soon so he can meet his cousin Maddox. Maddox was born over a month ago and they still haven't met!

stay warm!
Kim

Mom's little techie

this little techie stayed home today with dad. He was hacking and coughing all night so we figured he'd get more rest at home. He still doesn't sleep more than 30-40 min the WHOLE DAY at daycare. He catches 10-15 min naps. At home he'll sleep for a couple hours or at least get several 30 min naps. Hopefully a day of sucking out the nose, nebs every 4, and sleep gets him on the up and up.

Have a good day! Drive safe out there!

Kim
He's a techie for sure. He types to grandma on google chat, loves the webcam, and loves to touch the keys to make the screen change. :-)

No Green Beans please.... lots of coughing!

So, Jonah is NOT a fan of green beans, well not as of this afternoon. He was coughing a lot though, so maybe that is why the beans weren't as appetizing.

He's been coughing lots at home tonight too. I got A LOT out of his nose and throat with the sucky bulb. HE HATES that! (as you could imagine).
I really just want to stay on top of it though so it doesn't end up RSV again.

Josh is debating on whether or not to keep Jonah home tomorrow. He's thinking that if he gets a day at home where he can nap and not be around tons of germs he might be able to kick it faster.

We'll keep you posted. :-)

Kim

He Ate a whole jar

He ate a whole jar of carrots tonight. Then fell asleep with a bottle on the couch. :-) He had milk running down his shoulder to his armpit so we swapped the bottle out for a pacifier.

They said he was fussy since he woke up at daycare today (3:10). He screamed all the way home, hasn't done that since we started going to daycare at 10 wks.

Once we got home, it was like he new exactly when we pulled into the garage. He quit crying and wimpered until we got him out of the carseat. He was super warm from fussing all the way home. He hung out in mommies arms for most of the evening, he's a momma's boy these days.

We gave him some tylenol after being home for awhile, he just seemed so fussy and warm. He seemed to feel better after that.


He slept from 6-8 on the couch, woke up as I took him to bed.

A whole jar in 1 day!

Jonah ate half a jar of sweet potatoes (well he wore some of it) Sunday morning and then he ATE the other half of the jar Sunday night! That is right, he hardly had any on his bib and it was down the hatch. You still have to trick him to get the mouth open, but he's getting the hang of it. :-)

THANKS for all the advice that's come our way. :-) We appreciate it!

Kim

Mr. Independent

Mom... no comments! I don't want to hear it!!!!

So tonight, I let him put the spoon in his mouth, well guide the spoon at least.... it worked. He was all about it then. More carrots got in him than on him.... although there was plenty on him, the floor, the table, my sweater, etc b/c the spoon went flying a few times. :-)

No vid though, by the time I went to get it he was done with it all. Next time we'll get it going before we start. 

He was in his high chair, we played up the "big boy" comments, clapped, cheered, and all the encouragement we could think of. We've got about half a helping of carrots left we'll try again tomorrow and then maybe get some bananas to try cereal in them.
I found another jar of sweet potatoes in the bottom of the basket of foods we got from Kelly B. So maybe we'll do those again. He seemed to "like" them.

So I guess I've got a "do it myself" kind of kid... should be a fun 18+ years to come!

Kim

Food advice?

Any advice you may have about getting your little one to eat food is welcome.
Jonah hates cereal, oatmeal, carrots. He kind of liked the sweet potatoes. We just got 1.5 spoonfuls into his mouth of carrots. Fought that one tooth and nail. He is eating massive amounts of formula now. Every 2 hrs he downs 4oz or more. He holds his bottle on his own... which is a bonus since he wants to eat like a newborn.
Our next step is to try to increase the amount and distance the times. Like 6 oz every 3-4 hrs. We'll see how that goes over at daycare first. :-)

Email me, leave a comment, or get ahold of us somehow... help is welcome!!

Kim

more food capers

We finished our first jar of sweet potatoes tonight. I'd say about 3/4 of the jar actually ended up in his little tummy over the 3 day period. Since there wasn't much in the jar tonight for supper I made up some more rice cereal with apple juice. He ate some of it, spit most of it out. Josh thinks he's eating it better than last time.... I'm not so sure... :-)

I think we'll try carrots next time. :-) Which will probably be tomorrow, since the darn weather won't let us go to school these days!! UGH!

have a good one, stay warm!

Kim

cereal try 2.... then the magic of sweet potatoes

This time we mixed it with apple juice...


what a big boy, wants to hold the spoon too (vid of sweet potatoes below)

Superbowl

Jonah didn't get all bent out shape for the superbowl like many others. We stayed home and he was happy playing in his saucer and fell asleep during halftime. I agree with him that the show was pretty boring. Really, The WHO? Couldn't we find someone who was actually still good?
oh well....

my vote for the best commercial... The "slug-bug" commercial. :-) Funny.... takes me back to the days we used to play that game.

Kim

:-)

drying up... :-(

I'm drying up, only pumping once a day these days. At least we've made it 6 months.

Perks to no longer breastfeeding:
- I can wear my VS bras again!
- No more breast pads
- one less bag to take to school
- Josh can get up at night to feed :-) (he has actually been doing a lot) - no complaints
- Oatmeal is a choice, not a necessity for breakfast
- back on full strength BC
- no more smelling like maple syrup from the Fenugreek supplements

Downfalls:
- no more wonderful bonding time with my little one (that kind anyway)
- no more vital nutrients/antibodies for him daily
- STINKY diapers
- formula costs money

I've got fenugreek and storage bags (freezer ones) left over if any breastfeeding mom would like them. I suppose I could pack them up and keep them for the next baby too. :-) (the bags, not the Fenugreek).

Have a good one!

Kim

6 months old

Man where has the time gone! Our little bundle of joy is half way to his 1st birthday. We've had a few nights of sleep, this last week, not a ton... but some. :-) Enough to get refreshed a little.

He had his first bit of cereal this week and I have video of it. He decided he didn't like it from the get go and then pursed his lips together to not let the spoon in anymore. Smart little cookie...




He had his 6 month appointment today. I wasn't sure if they'd do the immunizations with his cold and hacking. However, they did them and he has been sleeping quite a bit today. He is 15 lbs 2.5 oz and 26 inches long. He is ready to start solids, juice, and sippy cups. She said he is doing well developmentally. Glad to see that he is sitting up on his own and also she said just to be patient with sleep. He'll just need 1 night of going to sleep on his own and that should do the trick.... but the trick is getting him to go to sleep on his own.