Monday, September 27, 2010

Follow Up Appointment

We got good news at the Specialty Children's Hospital for Cooper. He said that his testicle is there, just not all the way dropped yet but very close. He thinks that once he becomes mobile and looses his 'fat pad' as they call it, that it will help bring it the rest of the way down. He said that if it doesn't appear to change in a year from now to then bring him back in. So, I guess that is good news and he didn't seem too worried, so I guess I will stop worrying about it, for now.



He got over his ear infection and now has a cold. He broke out in some weird rash towards the end of his antibiotic so they made us come in to see if it was an allergic reaction to the meds and he said it would have been more hive looking if it would have been from the meds but his ear was clear so to stop taking them. Ironically 24 hours after being off of the medicine the rash disappeared, so who knows. Check out a this picture of his cheeks- his whole body looked like this.



And Miss Miley is going in today to see what she has, possible ear infection, strep throat, beginnings of pneumonia. Man- We just want both of our kids to be healthy and happy for longer than a week at a time. Wouldn't it be great!?!?

So, Miley is going through a stage where she just doesn't want her picture taken- So, I want to publicly announce that I did not try to have a void in photos during her 2nd year of life, she just wouldn't let me take any! Unless she was doing something goofy....



And I have to share this cute brother sister moment when we spent the last night in the camper for the season. They were having breakfast sitting next to each other at the table and they both thought it was so fun to sit right next to each other. Cooper was more thrilled than Miley, he felt like such a big boy!


Well-- here is to hoping for healthy times to come in my household. Hope everyone is enjoying Fall! :)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Coop's First Ear Infection

Well- we have found the culprit to our sleepless nights- Cooper has an ear infection in his right ear. After seeing each night get worse and worse and a HORRIBLE weekend we finally decided that it was something other than teething that had to be bothering him. We took him to Urgent Care on Sunday morning and it was an easy find. Sunday night he was a little better but after having slept all day long on Sunday from the lack of sleep Saturday he was up quite a bit just because he wanted to be awake. Mommy, however, was not handling this ‘awake’ business very well. With not nursing the entire weekend due to the pain I was having to pump and had to learn how to give him a bottle, yes, I had never given him a bottle before, ever. I was quite emotional on Monday. I wanted my baby to nurse, I was utterly exhausted, and I wanted my baby to feel better.

Finally, at 3:30am last night he woke up, again, and wanted –another- bottle I decided to give the nursing thing a shot. As I grit my teeth and prayed that he wouldn’t bite down, again, my painful grit turned into a HUGE smile as my baby finally latched well and had a full feeding. Talk about a HAPPY MOMMA!!!!




So, with having such a good evening, and a freaking ROCKIN’ hair day today- I’m in such a good mood! (Side note about the hair- I had it cut a month ago, and couldn’t not, for the life of me, figure out how to style it correctly. As I went in over the weekend to color it I about had her chop it off as I just couldn’t figure it out, but Katie, thankfully, took the time to teach me how to style it correctly and I figured it out this morning by myself and I LOVE my hair now!!!)

A little update on Miss Miley- She started Studio dance on Monday! I need to get a picture of her in her cute outfit- she looks so grown up in her leotard, pink tights and ballet slippers and tap shoes! I LOVE IT! She will be learning tap and ballet all year long and have a recital in June. She is the youngest in her class and Ms. Shannon, thankfully, let her join as she has already had a year of dance before, and she did WONDERFULLY last night! I was peeking in towards the end and she was listening so well to Ms. Shannon and doing all of the cute ballet moves and acting so independent. It was seriously the cutest thing I had ever seen! I will get pictures soon!

Oh- and Miley is in a phase right now where she doesn’t want her picture taken, so this is the only one I have of her from recent. HAHA Oh toddlers! Once again, no nap for Grandma and she fell asleep on the drive home. Apparently, she is following her Mommy's footsteps as I ditched nap time by the time I was 3...

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

My Chunky Monkey

Cooper has been doing better- I can see his forth tooth so I think that was the reason for our sleepless nights last week. He slept much better all weekend and only nursing one time overnight, so I hope we are on the road to a more consistent schedule.

I just have to share that before I had Cooper I was very very nervous to have a second child. I had all the common feelings of "how can I love another child when I love my first SO much". Then, when I found out I was having a boy I had thoughts of "a boy, what am I going to do with a boy, how will I relate, how can I love a boy like I love my little girl". I often told Taylor "Miley is my baby and this boy is going to be your baby".

Oh how things change...

Cooper completes our little family! I couldn't ask for anything more. It is amazing how your heart can grow to love each kid individually so much. I LOVE my time with Miley and her hugs and kisses and how funny she is. And I LOVE my time with Cooper and his cuddles and laughs and how he grabs at your face to really get a good look at you. I look forward to all of the new adventures with our baby boy! And to see Miley in her glory as the best big sister anyone could ever have!

Two words:

Chunky Monkey
But he's the cutest Chunky Monkey you'll ever meet!

Thursday, September 02, 2010

Just a Wednesday Night

I sometimes wish we had night vision cameras in our bedrooms, just like they do on the Real World. I'm sure I look like a zombie walking around late at night. Sometimes I don't even remember going into the kids room to tuck them back in. There has been nights that I don't even know that I'm walking and I run face first into our bedroom door, let me tell you- that's a rude awakening!

Last night wasn't as bad. I think mostly because I was sound asleep by 9:30 so having to wake up around 11:30 to insert a paci, and then who knows what time to feed and another awakening 10 minutes before the alarm went off, I just don't feel tired today. Which is a good thing.

I'm very thankful that I am a morning person! Which, I feel, is the main reason I'm so fully functioning going off of 5-7 hours of sleep, 6 being the average.

To respond to some questions: When he nurses in the middle of the night, yes, that is the only thing that calms him down. He never eats fully, so he's probably only drinking 2-3 ounces versus having a full 5 ounces. I think it's mostly the warm milk calming him down and allowing him to have a warm full belly to bring happy dreams. The doctor said that he has never seen an obese breastfed baby and to never let anyone tell me otherwise. And drinking water- he doesn't like water yet and we really haven't given him any water since he just nurses. And when he eats dinner I have breastmilk in a sippy cup and he's learning how to use that.

I'm sure he'll be like Miley and eventually stop needing it. She was probably a year old before she stopped fully needing that overnight feeding and by 14 months was done nursing all together, all by her own choice.

So, until then- I am Super Mom! Even if I could sleep through the night, I don't think I'd know how to at this point, I'm so programmed to wake up, and then there is the obvious- my boobs are VERY programmed to wake up, I think I'd have to pump for comfort if Cooper slept through the night right now! I think he's going through his 6 month growth spurt- and those darn teeth aren't helping the matter either. 4th one is just about to emerge!

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Diary of a Sleep Deprived Mom

So, you would think that my kids would sleep through the night, right? WRONG!
Miley is finally getting to the point now where 80% of the time she does sleep through the night, finally! At 2 and a half. But Cooper- we aren’t anywhere near sleeping through the night.

Here is my diary of a sleep deprived mom!

Last night- I nursed Cooper at 5, then at 5:30 he had a half a cup of baby food mixed garden vegetables with Probiotic oatmeal mixed in to thicken it up. 2-3 tablespoons of our dinner diced and chopped up with my hand grinder, which consisted of whole wheat noodles, hamburger, and tomato sauce (which he loved!) and then 2 tablespoons of baby food peaches. You would think his little tummy would be full until morning! Not the case with my little man.

Last night he was up at 11:30, nursed. Up again at 3:45 or 4 (I start to lose track of time at that time of the morning) and I nursed him, again- he was screaming like he hadn’t eaten in years! Then he was quite squirmy and I realized he had peed through his diaper, so at 4:30 I changed his diaper and removed his clothes but was too tired to get something new out so I just snuggled him in his blanket and cuddled up with him in my bed, which he thought was funny. After a half hour of him squirming around and laughing and playing with his pillow and stuffed animal I finally said it was time to go to his bed again. I snuggled him up and turned on his music and went back to bed, 10 minutes later I had to go back in there and cover him back up and put the paci back in and he FINALLY went back to sleep, this being 5:15am now. 5:30- alarm goes off- I hit snooze until 5:50 then I’m up for the day.

Tonight’s changes- apparently I cannot use Huggie diapers at night, he seems to pee out of them. I had been using Parent’s Choice and never had an issue but had leftover Huggie’s from when Miley was in them- so I’m using them up. I did get a package of the Target brand diapers (just because I was there and needed some) to give them a try, hopefully we have better results tonight. Otherwise, I’m back to Parent’s Choice for good.

I will say the one nice thing about Cooper is that when I put him down for bed at night he wants to be put down awake and falls asleep quickly all on his own. Miley NEVER did this. But, when it is the middle of the night he wants to be in my bed after he nurses, and at this point of the game, I just do it because I’m getting to exhausted and will do whatever needs to be done so we can all get some sleep. I would let him cry it out in the middle of the night when I try putting him back to his crib after we nurse but that is the one down fall to sharing a room, Miley WILL wake up and I’ll end up with her in my bed. So, for now, this is what works for us. And NO- I am NOT ready to move Miley all the way downstairs, so don’t bring it up.

I would just like to get to the point where Coop only wakes up once a night…. Some day.

I want to give props to myself though- I get to work every day, I’m on time to 10 minutes late, but hey- I find that to be pretty impressive when other people seem to always been an hour or more late, consistently! Seriously- who is an HOUR late to work EVERY day! And I still have the energy to work full time and get home and devote my entire evening to my two bundles of joy! God really was creative when he made Woman- As a Mom, I feel invincible!