Monday, April 19, 2010

Ben's 4 Month Check Up

Just a quick blog to update anyone that cares how his appointment went today. All in all, it was a very good appointment. Great weight (14 pounds), great height (25.5"), he's growing appropriately, hitting his milestones on time. Talked to her about his feeding - she said how he's probably just super effecient about eating, which is why he doesn't eat for very long but we can try making him wait - so instead of him eating every hour, try to get him to go every hour and a half, etc. She said I could take Fenugreek (I asked about this - a friend told me about it, it's an herbal supplement that women have been using for ages to increase milk production). I'm hoping to build up a nice supply so that I have some on hand for middle of the night feedings, etc, and sort of wean him off formula. We also talked about making sure he gets Vitamin D drops added to some of his meals if we take him mostly off formula. She said we could start giving him rice cereal once a day now if we want - it's totally up to us. She said it's a myth that giving it to him before bedtime will make him sleep longer - they don't wake up because they're hungry necessarily, they wake up because they're thirsty.

I asked her about teething and showed her what I thought were little teeth bumps - she doesn't think he's teething just yet but talked to us about more of the signs and how it's common for babies to get ear infections while teething. She also said we can start putting light sunscreen on his arms and legs (but to keep it off his face and hands for now) and cautioned that just because he's got on the sunscreen doesn't mean he won't get overheated when we're out and to make sure we have some food for him so he can drink and cool down. She doesn't want us to start giving him water yet, empty calories that will fill his tummy but doesn't give him any nutrition.

Got his 2nd half of the shots from his 2 month appointment.......he screamed and cried and screamed and made every one in the office feel bad but he's mostly over it now and has been in a fairly good mood this afternoon.

And that's pretty much it!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Stuff.

Holy cow, time is just F.L.Y.I.N.G by!!! Today Ben is 4 months old. Just slightly over a year ago, I found out I was pregnant (I giggled like a lunatic for the rest of the day after I found out) and look where we are now!! Nick's got his associates degree and a spiffy job, our baby boy brightened our lives and makes every day an adventure! I quit my job and am spending my time being a full time mommy and attempting to make myself more crafty. All pretty wild stuff for 369 days since I took that little bitty test. :)

Tomorrow is Ben's 4 month check up and I'm both super excited for it and completely dreading it. I'm excited because for once, I actually have questions and I'm eager to talk to the doc about them and I want to see how much he's grown! I'm dreading it (dreading, dreading, DREADING) because it's time for more vaccines and...ugh. Last time sucked. Not only does Ben sob and sob and sob (which in turn, makes ME want to sob) but sleep was awful. I have a plan, though. Tomorrow I'm going to nap when he does and hopefully if he has another sleepless night like he did last time he had shots, I'll be a bit more rested for it.

On Tuesday Nick's mum gets here. My dad accepted a new position with another company and left for Chicago today for a week long of training. No one wants my mom by herself and I can't go stay with her like I would have before, so she's flying Nick's mum out for company. She'll be here til the 27th and stay with my mom til Friday night or Saturday and then spend the rest of the time at our house. That reminds me that I have to wash sheets in the guest room...

We had a great weekend - on Thursday I went over to play Bunco again and had a nice time. I didn't win (ohhhhh I sucked....can you "practice" rolling dice???) but still had a fun time!! Friday we had dinner over at my parents house to celebrate Nick's birthday and ate out on the deck - we are having such fantastic weather; I love it!!! Saturday was Nick's birthday so I made Nick breakfast in bed (french toast and scrambled eggs with coffee), we went to the park, had dinner at Pizza Hut (such a glamorous birthday dinner...we wanted to go try Gino's in their new location but apparently Nick's birthday fell on Prom weekend this year, so Gino's was PACKED), and then Victor & Tiffany came over and we had some drinks on our deck and enjoyed a fire in our fire pit. Today we mostly just lounged - we did take my dad to the airport and had lunch with my mom but that's about it as far as activities go.

Other than Ben's appointment and Nick's mum here, not too much planned for this week. We're going to a birthday party on Saturday but since Nick's mum will be here, I don't expect we'll stay very long. I still haven't got around to making that project I mentioned in my last blog but I have time....if I ever get fabric shopping and find that sewing machine that is!!!

That's my update! Not my usual novel but I'm getting tired and think I'll head off to bed. Big day tomorrow!!!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Chickity China the Chinese Chicken*

...have a drumstick and brain starts tickin.

Anyways. Blog update. I always start these thinking I have nothing to say and then end up with like a 40 paragraph short story on the intricate details of my not that exciting life. Prepare yourself for awesome boringness to follow.

First things - Nick's birthday is the 17th, which coincidentally is on a Saturday. I'm trying to think of something we can do. Last year I did a surprise pizza/ice skating party. The year before I made him do a scavenger hunt to find clues for a Steelheads game. I only have a week to plan and I'm drawing a total blank (I also did my required wifely guilt trip and asked him what he did for my last two birthdays...oh yeah...he went to class....)...not sure if I'm gonna pass Ben off to my folks for a few hours and do something just the two of us or if we'll make it a family affair...or maybe we'll do nothing, who knows?

Let's see, what's new with Ben. Laughing. I haven't quite found what tickles his funny bone yet but when we do something that amuses him it's fantastic. I love his laugh. He's trying out his legs more and more and likes to stand on your legs. He's playing with his Exersaucer toys more and seems to enjoy it. He really likes to be outside (I've been taking him out with me to check the mail box and he gets so excited every time we step out) so I'm trying for more walks. The weather is being super spring like which equals winds that are often freezing. He's babbling a lot more: cooing, gooing and screeching. He still looks at me like I've grown another head when I try to get him to say "mama" :-) He's starting to show a total preference for me when we're out and about. Several times now I've passed him off to some one else (my mom...Brenda @ work) and his whole little face has crumpled and big sobs have followed when he figures out that it's not ME that's holding him.

He's been skipping one of his middle of the night feedings so we're only getting up once. I say "we" but really it's Nick and I feel bad. Ben either wakes up for the 1:00 one or the 3:00 one and we never know from night to night. The last 3 or 4 nights in a row, Nick's been the only one waking up....and I feel bad but not that bad... HAHA!!! I've been REALLY enjoying my sleep but I have to stop being selfish and help out. I'm hoping that before too long, Ben is truly sleeping through the night and doesn't need to wake up for any feedings.

I think he's teething. Every one keeps telling me he is, so I'm going to talk about it with his doctor when we visit her for his 4 month check up this month. I'm pretty sure I see the starts of his bottom two middle teeth just below the surface. I think this has a lot to do with his clinginess recently....this is a double edged sword because I love snuggling him but at the same time, I literally can get nothing done and my house looks like crap 99% of the time. I can't stand having a dirty kitchen but by the time Ben is down for the night, I'm too exhausted to do anything. It's making me tense.

Here's Nick's forced contribution: he's looking forward to the weather warming up. and he's staring me me with a similar "you've grown another head" look that Ben gives me.

Done a few crafty & home improvement projects. Nick replaced the flooring in our front room with Pergo. We've got to redo the carpets in the family room before Ben starts crawling. I made Ben a Packer's onesie and bought some quilting materials for a baby quilt I want to make. I haven't decided what theme I want to go with yet on the quilt so I just have the batting so far. I have a cute little project I want to try my hand out for a certain little girl who's turning 2 and having a party later this month BUT.... (insert dramatic music) it requires the use of a sewing machine. Few problems with this:
1) I do not presently know where my sewing machine is...
2) Once located, I'm fairly certain it's broken...
3) I haven't sewed in years and I'm not sure I remember how to make it all work..
It's a cute idea - we'll see if I can pull it off or if I'll go my original route, which is as easy as a trip to Target :-)

Got invited back to Bunco as a sub next week - I'm excited to go and wonder if my luck will carry through and if I'll win any prizes this time. The theme this time is Spring Picnic (or something similar - my memory is crap these days) so I think I might make a potato salad. Or an apple pie. Or something else entirely. I have a week to figure it out.

I know I have more but my brain is mush, my sinus headache is back and I'm exhausted so toodaloo kiddos.

*this post has absolutely nothing to do with chicken. Or the Barenaked Ladies.