11 Weeks New

Some days I feel like I am totally getting this Motherhood thing. I feel like I can pretty much diffuse any situation with Keaton because I'm starting to understand all his noises and reactions to things. Then came this week.

The week has been full of crying (for both of us), screaming (just him, although I felt like doing it on several occasions), blowouts, spit up, and general discomfort all around. This poor kid. His tummy is the root of all evil right now. He's still been sleeping through the night, but Wednesday night into Thursday didn't go so well because he woke up after only sleeping about an hour, then spit up when I changed his diaper. Earlier in the night he had a huge blowout, so we had to clean him up in the bath tub and change his clothes. When he woke up to eat in the middle of the night, he had ANOTHER blowout so I had to clean him up and change his clothes again. He was not a happy camper- heck, neither was I. That day and I think the day before, he had moments where he would scream at the top of his lungs. I wonder if the neighbors heard him. If so, they probably thought I dropped him on his head or something... the screaming was really that loud. It would come out of no where and last for sometimes 30 minutes and I couldn't calm him down. I couldn't help but be frustrated because I didn't know what else to do with the little guy. In all, a very tough week already.

Everything came to a head yesterday when he fussed all morning long, and I was at my wit's end from the rest of the week. I felt like I was so worn out and unable to make him happy that I couldn't think of anything else to do for him, and that was frustrating. At one point he started crying again, so I joined him. When I took him in to change his diaper, both of us sobbing, he peed all over me and spit up again. I cried harder. I walked out to the living room and the dog got sick. That was the lowest point for me yesterday... I gave up for a second. (Now I kind of laugh about it... it was definitely a comedy of errors.)

I finally called the pediatrician after consulting with my parents. The nurse asked me a ton of questions about Keaton, and then called me back after talking to the doctor. They basically said to up his dosage of Zantac because he'd probably outgrown the old dosage, and they didn't say much else except that his screaming fits could be part of his personality. I actually don't buy that. I've seen him when he's happy, and yes I've seen him throw a fit or two, but I honestly think the screaming fits were about his stomach. Maybe it's wishful thinking- no one wants to think their kid has an attitude problem at 11 weeks of age! So I'm not going to believe it unless it starts happening more often... but we went all day yesterday without it, so I'm not convinced. And really, the two days it happened were the worst of the week, and he had more diaper issues those days, so even though I have no degree to speak of, my educated-ish guess is that it's stomach related.

Casey really bailed me out last night... he came home early, took Keaton, and I was able to shower, get around, and go shopping. I felt guilty about needing a break, but I talked myself out of it when I realized that I will be a much happier and more attentive Mom if I take some time for myself. Thank GOODNESS Casey was able to come home and help out. I really may have lost it if not for some alone time. I picked up Harold and the Purple Crayon from Barnes & Noble, then went to Old Navy and bought Casey a belt and Keaton a cute outfit for Leslie's graduation in 2 weeks.

That's another thing I haven't talked about yet- we are heading home to Topeka in 2 weeks for the graduation festivities, and it will be Keaton's first plane ride! I am a little nervous about it, and I hope his ears are able to pop since Casey's aren't... that would make for a tough time if he was fussy the whole trip. We decided that since the trip is only 1.5 hours from Chicago to Kansas City that we would not buy him his own seat, and one of us would hold him during the flight. Hopefully that will work out well, and feeding and everything will go smoothly. I would hate for him to have a screaming session in that tiny amount of space... I might have to go hide out with him in the bathroom or something. Anyway... positive thoughts... hopefully I won't have to worry about any of that.

I guess that's about all for now. Hopefully this weekend will go well. It's hard to believe my little guy will be 12 weeks old next week! Let's hope week 11 goes better than week 10 did.

Love,

Ash

Random Rants

On Sunday I did a pretty stupid thing. Casey was working in the office, and I was attempting to clean, so I moved this huge, heavy IKEA box from the dining room into the living room (I scooted it because it was too heavy to lift). Anyway, I bent over to talk to Keaton in his swing, and didn't notice that the box was falling toward me, and it hit me square in the middle of my back. My back has already been sore because of all the heavy lifting lately (wink wink... Keaton has gained 5 lbs already since February 12th!) and between that and the car seat, I am really doing bad things to my back, so this made it much worse! Bad times. I am really feeling it now, but I have to admit, it's my own fault. I've been letting Keaton fall asleep on me and that's not helping the situation, either. The problem I have right now is that with the reflux, I'm not able to lay him down for at least 30 minutes after he eats. Lately he's been falling asleep right after he eats, too, so when I put him down after the allotted time, he starts screaming. Again, I'm doing it to myself.

I've been so tired the last 2 days that I really haven't gotten much of anything done around here. I sleep when he sleeps, and it's been quite a bit Monday and today. You'd think I'd have a lot of energy right now, but sadly, I have less. I've been eating well (thanks to Casey's cooking!) and have been trying to take decent care of myself by taking vitamins, but I'm really dragging this week. Let's hope I can step it up the next few days. I think tomorrow will be better since I am willing us to leave the house one hour before Cradle Talk starts.. hopefully traffic and construction will be nice to me tomorrow and we'll get there on time for once!

Keat hasn't had the best day, either. He's been crying a lot, and was completely inconsolable earlier. We're talking screaming, wailing baby that would not eat b/c he was so ticked off. I'm not really sure what's going on with him right now, but I'm looking forward to Casey's arrival so I can take a little break. It's amazing what 20 minutes of alone time can do after a long, hard day like this one. I asked Keaton where his smiles were earlier today, and he screamed bloody murder! Let's hope Daddy will work his magic tonight and bring back our happy boy.

I got peed on earlier, too. He did the sneak attack-style peeing where I had no indication that he had to go, and suddenly there was a stream hitting the wall, the changing pad, and myself. Never a dull moment in the Hetrick household these days! I should also mention, although I'm not sure why, that yesterday he had the absolute biggest blowout to date. I honestly opened the diaper and for a second of time had no idea what to do because there was so much POO. I guess he was holding out because there have been days lately where he won't poo at all, which is always surprising to me since he was pretty consistent about that for the first 2 months of his life! Now when he goes, he REALLY GOES. Again, I'm really not sure why I just shared that with the world... I guess one thing I will say about this blog is that I don't hold much back... and maybe that will help someone reading it by seeing the 'other side' of parenthood. Again, though- TOTALLY WORTH IT. Especially when you see a face like this:


The End. :-)

Picture post: Before & After

Here are comparison photos of my kid... so much has changed in 2.5 months!!


Before (4 weeks old)


After (10 weeks old)



4 weeks


10 weeks

He's come a long way! Now he doesn't cry every time we take photos of him! :-D

-Ash

Catching Up

One of my favorite new pics... Daddy's hand


Chubby cheeks!

Wow, almost a week has gone by since I wrote last... I'm really slacking! I'll try to dust off the cobwebs and remember anything that happened last week that is noteworthy. Hmmm...

Wednesday I attempted to go to Cradle Talk (the class for mothers of infants 0-3 months that's held by our hospital). I thought I left early enough and was making good time (for once), until I hit construction. That is one thing about Chicagoland that I'm not impressed with- the moment the ground thaws, construction takes over. It took 30 minutes to go less than 1 mile. Very frustrating. I was going to end up being 30 minutes late to class, so I decided it wasn't worth it and called Michelle from work to see if she wanted to go out to lunch. Keaton got to meet quite a few more agents at work while we were killing time before lunch. Michelle and I had a nice meal, and Mister K took a nap, probably because he got passed around so much at the office. He woke up right about the time we finished eating, and decided to wail until we got home. I was pretty wiped out at that point from all the driving, socializing, and carrying my almost 12 lb kid + almost 8 lb car seat around all morning, so I pretty much crashed when we got home.

Thursday is a blur and I really don't remember anything we did that day. Friday, on the other hand, was pretty eventful. Casey and I had to take a trip to the DuPage Health Department in Wheaton because they listed Casey's birthday wrong on Keaton's birth certificate, and it was a correction we had to make in person. I met Casey there, then we went to downtown Wheaton for lunch. I don't know what was going on that day, but apparently the middle school let out early, and there were hundreds of middle schoolers roaming the streets. It was almost like a scary movie, for several reasons. Herds of loud, obnoxious kids screaming and yelling, running out in front of cars, etc... AHHHHH!!! Okay it wasn't that bad, but it was a little eerie. Keaton did well, despite the loud kids. :)

Saturday we ended up meeting our friends Misael & Aidaris and their little girl Darielis at the mall in Schaumburg. We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, and walked around the mall a bit. Darielis is 14 months old and goes about 80 mph where ever she goes- they even have a little leash they put on her to keep her with them, and now that I've seen her go, I think those leashes were invented for kids like her! She started walking when she was 9 months old, and hasn't looked back. She was literally running from store to store, weaving in and out of crowds. Watching her made me realize that I have it fairly easy right now- my kid doesn't even crawl yet! And it's only going to get harder when he starts doing that, so I need to take advantage of the time I have now to get things done around here, because it's only going to get more difficult. Oh boy.

Hmmm... what else. Yesterday Casey and I got quite a few things done around the house. Casey was on some kind of cleaning/fixing spree, and decided to clean out filters, replace batteries, and lots of other things during the day. I was able to sweep and mop the floors in the kitchen and dining room, and tidy up a bit. Case left around 2 to run some errands and run in to work for a bit. He got home around 5:45, and from then until almost 9, we worked on a fairly elaborate dinner that ended up being worth the effort. I can't take credit for anything except maybe dicing the veggies- he did everything else. It was delicious! He's turning into quite the chef in the kitchen. :)

In other news, we took a bunch of pictures of Keaton this weekend, and I finally took his SUPER late 2 month pictures. *I'm going to add an additional post after this one with the before/after photos from month 1 to month 2.5* He's grown so much! He's now 23 inches long, and like I said earlier, almost 12 lbs. My back is really starting to hurt these days, but I realize I am holding him probably a lot more than I should- I hope that's not going to bite me later on. I need to learn to put him in his crib when he's sleeping, or put him in his swing/bouncer when he's awake (more often)... I am guilty of carrying him around with me where ever I go, and not getting a whole lot done when he's awake because I want to interact with him and teach him things. He was super duper smiley last night, and I put him in the bouncer while I chopped vegetables. Every time I would walk away and come back to him at the table, he would give me a HUGE smile! Casey managed to get pictures of it yesterday, which was great because we hadn't gotten evidence of it before. So anyway, instead of rambling on and on now, I'll include pictures. Enjoy!


Biggest smiles caught on camera... Keaton with his new Build A Bear Buddy, Ernie the Owl! Nice job catching this, Casey!

Love,

Ash

PS: I totally forgot to mention that Keaton started an excellent tradition last week- he is sleeping through the night! He will fall asleep around 9-9:30, sleep until 2 or 3 a.m., eat, then go back to sleep for another 3-4 hours. Yay!!! He didn't do quite as well last night, but he had a tummy ache for about 30 minutes and was groaning and squirming around, so I laid him on my chest for a bit until he calmed down. In general, I am pretty excited about his newest efforts and I'm happy to get some more sleep now! He started it last Sunday and has kept it up every night, no matter how different his schedule is that day. Wooo hooo!!

Good news!

On Saturday I ran to Barnes & Noble to grab the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and I ran over to the kids section to check out books for Keaton. I ran across a bunch of faves from my childhood, including Harold and the Purple Crayon, a book I used to love. I think I love it even more now because Harold looks so much like Keaton, from the side, at least! I can't wait to start getting more books for him and reading to him more often. (I am terrible at reading aloud, so I'm excited for the practice, too!) I ended up getting him the book Pat the Bunny, which we read when I got home, and he seemed to enjoy. He is starting to like the feel of different materials and textures. In fact, today we sat down with Charley Brown and I had them look at each other and had Keaton pet Charley while I said, "Puppy"... he liked it, and so did Charley... although Chuck liked it a bit too much and wouldn't stop trying to lick Keaton on the hand or in the face. As I've stated before, I definitely don't want that to happen, as I know where the dog's tongue has been and I don't want Keaton to be any part of that!! But I was able to get Charley settled down eventually and all was well with my boys. It will be fun when they can interact more together. I think Charley will feel less depressed at that point. I can't help but feel guilty because CB gets the raw end of the deal most of the time right now. He still gets his kid time with the neighborhood kids, though- if not for them, he would be absolutely pathetic. But things are looking up, and I've been able to play with him more lately while Casey hangs out with Baby K. (Yes, I do realize that I have too many nicknames for all of my boys. I come up with new ones for Keaton every day, and Charley already has at least 10.) On one last Charley note, he actually crawled up in bed with me this morning and we cuddled until I had to kick him out for having too many crazy puppy dreams and shaking the whole bed! That's the first time he's really cuddled with me since Keaton was born... maybe I'm not on his s#!t list anymore??

In other news, I am very happy to report that as of yesterday, we are officially out of credit card debt! Casey is amazing and has really been diligent about making sure we get rid of it. He takes care of all of our finances and has done an awesome job making sure we are where we need to be. :-D

Well, Keaton is chirping at me now so I should go- just wanted to update while I can, especially when there's good news to share!

-Ash

Tummy Troubles

I have a feeling that this will be a quick entry, as Keaton is threatening to wake up from his nap and I'm not so good at typing one-handed (but have definitely improved over the past almost 10 weeks!)...

In general, things have been a bit messy since I blogged last. Keaton started having horrible gas and tummy issues last Thursday night, including a diaper that was the first real BLOWOUT he's had. And it fit every definition of the term. OH MY GOODNESS. The sound alone was enough to warn me about what I would see when I took the diaper off. And we're done with that explanation- I will let you figure that out for yourself. ;-)

Friday he was generally fussy all day long, and screamed his head off if I wasn't holding him, so I got virtually nothing done that day (should have used the Bjorn... Hindsight!!). He was moaning and groaning in his sleep, and one morning he spent the better part of an hour passing gas. (Lovely topic for this blog, I know.) He was actually pretty happy at one point, and starting laughing and cooing at me. It's strange how he can have such a horrible time with his tummy- kicking, squealing, squirming, and sometimes screeching- and then be fine a few minutes later. When his stomach isn't bothering him, he's actually a very happy, inquisitive little guy! He likes to look around at things, and often furrows his eyebrows (or lack thereof) if he's trying to figure out a new noise or object. He had a few happy moments Friday, but he was not the happiest camper, which was no fun.

Saturday turned out to be even worse. He slept all day, and when he wasn't asleep, he was normally screaming. He would pull his little legs up to his tummy and squeal- and sometimes even SCREAM... I couldn't hear Casey talk to me if he was a foot away. It was terrible. Then came the colorful diaper changes and strange smells. For a kid that is only consuming breast milk, it was a lot different than I heard it could be... after all, breastfed babies' poo doesn't smell- bad, at least. But Keat had something else going on in there, and after another blowout, we knew something was definitely wrong with him.

Sunday was about the same. More sleeping, and screaming, and unhappiness all around. I called the doctor to see what could be going on, and they asked us to come in today. Between the time I called the doc and now, he 1) had the best night's sleep he's gotten in 9 weeks of life, 2) went from having crazy blowout style diapers to having NO POO AT ALL. He's still sleeping quite a bit, but hasn't been quite as fussy, and he's eating less frequently- like 3-4 hours instead of the normal 1.5-2. When we went to the doc today I basically found out that he probably just had a stomach virus, and that unless it gets worse, he should start getting better. He also weighs 11 lbs, 10 oz without clothes on. He's eating well, not losing any weight, and is now in almost the 50th percentile for his age as far as weight is concerned. Height, well, I dunno, and I'm afraid to ask. Let's hope some recessive genes kick in and he surpasses the 5'6" mark set by his Daddy! From what I understand, it's easier to be a short girl than a short guy.

I'll leave you with a few happy moments, because those are what get me through the unhappy, screaming, spitting up times...

1) Keaton had a bit of time this weekend where he was quite lucid and content, so I did the usual routine of trying to entertain him by making faces, noises, or anything else that might get a grin. Not only did he grin, but he laughed at me and made an adorable cooing noise. When I made it back to him, he loved it- kicked his feet and threw out his hands, then did it again... and so did I. He was elated!! I felt like we really communicated! And apparently I said something good in baby talk! I probably promised him something that he'll remember later and remind me when he's able. :)

2) He really seems to like his bath time now (he used to scream when we did it in this sink, but now I get in the bathtub with him and hold him while Casey washes him). He will laugh and grin, and has started kicking his legs around in the water! He loves when I hold him and let his lower body float. He still loves getting his hair washed, too. Such a fun little kid. :)

-Ash

L M N O ___

I've definitely had my share of crazy diaper changes in the last 2 months, but today may have taken the cake. Keaton was getting fussy, so I went in to change his diaper. I have gotten to the point where I *normally* know when he's going to pee during a changing, so I normally cover him up just in case. Today he did a sneak attack and peed even though it didn't look like he was going to... all over. So I cover him up and wait for a minute for him to stop. I peek in, and he looks like he's done, so I take the diaper out and start wiping him down... then he unleashes again! All over me, all over himself, and this time hitting the diaper pail near the changing table. At that point I didn't want to keep using more wipes, so I strip him down and put him in the bath tub. He loved it. I had to take him in to the alternate changing table in our bedroom because the other one was covered in urine. When I talked to him about going potty all over everything, he just grinned at me and giggled. Typical boy, I suppose.

I thought the story would end there, but he did a similar thing just now as I was changing him... ahhh!! Looks like it'll be bath time again tonight. I don't even want to think about how much money we wasted today with diapers, wipes, and laundry... YIKES. Holy cow. If he weren't so darn cute, I might be upset. Then he grins and I can't help but grin, too. :)

Here's a pic of us last night- two months!! We took him out for ice cream. He enjoyed watching us eat it for him. :)

-Ash

Visitors, play dates, and 2 month mark

Keaton is officially 2 months old now! He is getting bigger every day.... hopefully one of these days his little legs will grow- all the weight seems to go to his cheeks right now! LOL...


He has had a lot of fun in the last week. Uncle Kyle came to visit last Wednesday night and stayed until Friday. Keaton showed him what a meltdown looks like (a few times) but also did a great job whenever we went out to eat. On Thursday he slept all the way through lunch, but was awake through most if not all of dinner. He was great and spent most of the time staring at Daddy or up at the TVs on the wall. He does seem to like TV... we've watched "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown" last week and Tom & Jerry early this morning after his 1:00 am feeding when he was wide awake. He loves lights and can't seem to get enough of them!


On Saturday we met up with Jenny, Olivier, and baby Lucas as well as Olivier's brother Xavier and his wife Samantha at IKEA. Lucas stays awake a ton for being a little guy (he's 10 days younger than Keat) so while he was looking all around and interacting, my kid was sleeping the day away in his carseat. After IKEA, we all came back to our place and fixed dinner. The boys seemed to get on a similar schedule at that point and were hungry, fussy, and even spit up at the same time! We got pictures of them hanging out together... above. :)

Keaton spent his first night in the crib on Saturday night and did great! He only woke up at 3 to eat, the slept again until about 6:45 when Case got up with him. He didn't last as long last night, but after eating at 1, he decided to stay awake for another 2 hours, then he had tummy issues so we ended up sleeping out on the couch for awhile. He's done better this afternoon, and I've seen a lot of smiles today! He spent a good hour in his bouncy seat, perfectly content watching me eat lunch, looking out the window, staring up at the lights, or batting at the toys on his seat. He'd get really excited when he'd hit one and it'd make noise- he'd start kicking his feet and sometimes he'd let out a little squeal or two. My favorite so far is his owl laugh- he'll yell out "Whooo whooo!" and now tends to smile when I say it back to him. :-D Love it.

In all, I'd say that although the last 2 months have been really tiring and trying at times, every time I look at his face I love him even more. Maybe that's why I can't seem to get anything done around here- I want to hang out with him as much as possible. He's a pretty amazing little guy! Parenthood is getting better all the time. :)

-Ash

For my kid.

Two blog entries in one day? Insane.

There are a few things recently that have bugged me but I have forgotten to blog about them. Or, I have forgotten that I've already blogged about them. Forgive me if that's the case. (My brain continues to be fuzzy...)

When my in-laws came to town a few weeks ago, I met them for lunch at a local restaurant. We were enjoying lunch when the server decided to serve coffee to my mother in law RIGHT above Keaton, who was asleep in his car seat. A vision of hot coffee scalding my kid flashed before my eyes, and I instantly got pissed and paranoid. I am happy to report that nothing was spilled on him, but it has made me a lot more aware of the situation. Servers continue to serve drinks and plates of food right over his head when we go out. We have tried moving the car seat over and out of the way, but sometimes they still do it (or there's no where else to move him), and it's taking all my will power not to get upset about it. I definitely don't want to be rude, but I'm almost to the point where I'm going to say something because I'm sure they don't even realize they are doing it and the potential damage that could be done if they spilled something on him. Part of me thinks it's better just to mention it to them- maybe pull them aside and say it so I don't embarrass them. (And maybe do it after I've gotten my food so no one spits in it!! Has anyone seen the movie 'Waiting'??) It just bugs me, and I'm at a point where the next time it happens, I may not be as calm as I would like to be, so I think I will 1) try to strategically place Keaton in a spot where we don't have to worry about this, if at all possible, and 2) say something to them and ease my worry. Who knows, it could help them out in the long run. Sorry, just had to get that out. All I know is that if anyone spills something on him and he gets hurt, I will sue them in a millisecond. For the record.

Something else I've noticed about being a parent is that I put myself in the place of the people on TV who have had something terrible happen to their child. I did this before Keaton came along, but it feels a lot different when you have a kid of your own. Now any time there's a child abduction, or drowning, etc., I think of what that must be like... I can't imagine anything happening to Keaton. Hell, it hurts me just to see him get shots! I feel so deeply for this little kid that even when his tummy hurts and he's fussy, it hurts me, too. It's tough to be a parent. People tell me you'll continue to worry until their 18, but I know I'm in this for the rest of our lives together... I worry all the time anyway, so I might as well put all the worry to good use, for my kid. :)

The other night we were chatting with our neighbor Rob (who has 4 little girls!) and he mentioned that he would go in and check on them when they were sleeping just to make sure they were breathing. I felt a huge relief as I do this every time Keaton's sleeping, so I'm glad I'm not alone. In fact, I hear a lot of parents do this. I'm fairly certain that part of it is because it's my first child and I am hyper paranoid (but again, I was like this before he came along)... but I would rather be that way than have something happen to him and regret it for the rest of my life. I know somewhere down the line I will make a mistake (and have already) so I'm not saying that I plan on having a perfect parent/child relationship... I also don't want to be so paranoid that I don't let him try new things. I just want to make the types of decisions that I can look back on and be proud of, because it's something I haven't done very well before being a parent, and it feels much more important with him than it ever did for just me. I don't even know if this is making sense at this point- bottom line is, I've become more nervous/paranoid as a parent, and while I didn't have much more of that to go before I am probably in need of a therapist, I think it's worth it if it's for my kid.

That's all for now- I just felt like writing something other than the 'what we did today' sort of entries for once. Back to watching my kid smile in his sleep...

Easter pics

Family picture- Easter

Last night was much better on the Binky front, as Keaton fell asleep without it and slept from about 10:30 to 2 a.m.. Then he was up, screaming, and hungry. I fed him and entertained him until around 4 a.m., then attempted to put him back to sleep without the binky, but it didn't work. At least this time when he spit it out, it was every 20 minutes or so, so I got at least a little bit more sleep. Casey and I took turns getting up to put the binky back in until I finally woke up with him at 7 to feed him. We hung out and listened to the thunder until around 9 when we fell asleep. He woke up at 10, on the dot, and was hungry. Yesterday he ate just about every 3 hours, and a little extra before bedtime. (I hoped that would get him all the way through the night, but not so much.) Oh well, one thing at a time. He's taking a nap now (with Bink, unfortunately) and I'm eating lunch and attempting to do a bit of house work. I found out my friend Kyle is coming either tomorrow afternoon or Thursday morning to stay with us for a few days. We haven't gotten to see him in a LONG time- I think it's been over a year now? We grew up together in Topeka and he's always been one of my best friends. Normally I get to see him at Christmas, but he had to work during our last trip home. He now lives in St. Louis where he's studying to be a Pediatrician. I'll try to take some pictures of Keaton with 'Uncle Kyle' this week!

In other news... I guess there isn't much? Oh, I forgot to write about Easter. Again, there's not much to write- Casey and I went to brunch and then pretty much hung out at home until he had to run in to work in the afternoon. Keaton had a meltdown about the time Casey left (this seems to happen a lot, too) but he calmed down and was better in the evening. Pretty lazy Sunday overall. Probably the highlight of Easter was dressing Keaton up in his outfit. Here are some pics of our little Easter Egg! :)


Such a little poser!! :)


(Daddy took this pic while Keaton was asleep.)

Rethink-y the Binky

(An early pic of Keaton and the culprit)

Between Keaton's hiccups and this (excuse me) damn binky situation, I may never sleep again. I am officially FED UP with the binky, and now wish we never would have started him on it. The past 2 nights have been spent running back and forth to the nursery to put it back in his mouth when he starts crying. He can be completely zonked out- mouth open, past the REM sleep, and it will wake him up. The moment I think I may be in the clear, he starts wailing again. So the past 2 nights I have gotten about 10-15 minutes of sleep at a time before he starts crying. I missed plenty of opportunities yesterday to nap with him, which I sincerely regret now that I'm awake again at 2 a.m. just waiting on him to pass out for the 'night'. I already apologized to Casey last night when it all started, as I'm sure I'll get nothing done today around the house... that is, if I want my sanity back and want to be at least tolerable to be around. :-/ I even took him out of his crib and brought him out to the couch, and he laid next to me while I attempted to get some kind of sleep- that way I could just pop Bink back in his mouth without having to get up and down. I think I may have tallied 30 minutes of sleep. Then I tried taking him back to his room while he was tired, and he woke up screaming and hungry... which brings me to now.

Saturday was actually a pretty stellar day with Keaton- he only really cried one time all day long! He was awake most of the day, had tons of smiles, and I even heard him laugh again! Days like that almost make me forget the crappy, fussy times. Then Saturday night, the binky dependency set in around bed time. We tried our best to keep him awake until about 9 p.m., and put him in his crib for the first time (at night) and he slept until midnight. After that I was up every 10 minutes or less because the stupid binky kept falling out of his mouth. After talking to the doctor about it Friday, I've decided that we're not ready yet for the Cry It Out thing, so I guess I'm kind of stuck unless he falls asleep without it and can stay asleep. Help!!! I'm really at a loss now.

I'll write again later about Easter... right now I'm just trying to get this kid back to sleep. Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!

7 week check up

Yesterday Keaton turned 7 weeks old, and it was time to head to the Pediatrician's office for his immunizations. I was definitely not looking forward to this trip, because seeing him in pain is HORRIBLE... I am happy to report that he only cried a little (and it wasn't the screaming cries like he's had previously).. I still got teary-eyed watching him, but as soon as it was over, we hugged him and got him ready to go, and he was content until we got home. I ended up giving him some Infant Tylenol because he was moaning and fussing a bit when he wasn't sleeping, but it seemed to do the trick. I was actually able to get a few things done around the house in between fussing sessions, too. I'm glad it went better than I thought it would, and luckily he didn't start running a fever or anything.

Now for the numbers: Keaton officially weighs 10 lbs, 3 oz. (No wonder my back hurts at the end of the day!) He's 21 and 3/4 inches long now! No wonder so many of his clothes won't fit anymore! There is no question about it- the kid is eating well. :-D I talked to the doc about the binky situation, and he said not to even worry about it until at least 4 months. He said that hopefully Keaton will start sucking on his hands to pacify himself and maybe we won't have to wean him off the binky, if we're lucky. He's already starting to suck on his hands now, so I have to be sure to clean them more often (especially since he's starting to grab things, not to mention when Charley gets a lick or two in, because who knows where that dog's mouth has been! I mean, I know a few places it's been, and that's enough for me.) Yuck. Anyway, he's definitely on track and is reaching all of his milestones... yay!

Not sure what the weekend will hold for us. Tomorrow is Easter and we talked about going to church, but 1) we haven't found one yet that we like, and 2) Keaton would have to probably go to the nursery during the service. I would not be able to concentrate knowing that he would be with people we don't even know. SO yeah... no go this year. We may dress him up and take him to see the Easter bunny at the mall, since it's his first holiday. Other than that, we have no plans.

Last night we took advantage of the summery weather (80 degrees!!!) and grilled steaks outside. Keaton sat in his bouncy seat outside with Daddy & Charley while I made Casey's Grandmother's potato salad (which turned out pretty well considering I didn't know what I was doing!). Casey even bought ice cream sandwiches for dessert. Speaking of that, I've heard the ice cream truck drive around our neighborhood this week. We may have skipped over Spring fever and moved right into Summer! It had better not snow again anytime soon, or I may have to move back to the South. :)

Before I go, I'd just like to thank those of you who read the blog on a regular basis, and for giving feedback- it is always appreciated! It's nice to know you're out there and I'm not just writing this to myself. :)

Love,

Ash

Keaton in 60 years...

Last night Keaton tried on Daddy's glasses, and it was too cute not to photograph. :)

So I made a mistake last night, and I'm still ticked at myself over it. I laid him down in his crib around 8 pm, thinking we could establish a bedtime. Then after 30 minutes I went in to check on him, and I stupidly touched his face to make sure he was alright, but accidentally woke him up. Kicking myself, I tried to relieve the situation by putting the binky in his mouth, which worked for a minute until he spit it out. I thought this might be a good time to try to let him cry it out and maybe fall back to sleep without it. Ten minutes go by and he's still screaming his head off, and it doesn't look like he's going to calm down at all, so I go back to his room, pick him up, and wait for him to calm down. He continued to wail. This kid was pretty ticked that he didn't have his binky! So I cave and give it back to him... then he was fine for a few minutes, until he decided he was hungry. He ate around 9:15 pm, and actually didn't eat again until 5 this morning when he woke up! He wouldn't go to sleep right away because of the stupid binky, so I was up and down a few times until midnight, but the fact that he actually slept for FIVE STRAIGHT HOURS makes me pretty happy!!! Then he took another 1.5 hour nap in his crib this morning. So we're making bits and pieces of progress... now I need to find a way to resolve this binky thing. I wish I would have known about it earlier so it wouldn't have become such a horrible habit, because according to the nurse yesterday, babies can't put the binky back in their mouths until they are 8 or 9 months old, and this habit is tough to break. I don't want to do this for another 6 months! Any advice out there? I'm going to have to research this because there has to be a way for him to sleep without it. Anyway, I'm taking the good with the bad... he slept!!

Today is going to be 80 degrees and sunny. Yesterday was a little bit cooler, but not by much. Case came home around 3:30 and we took the boys on a very nice walk. Keaton was awake in his stroller the whole time, and he seemed to love it! He was very smiley whenever we looked at him, and was happy for a long time afterward. He must have liked all the movement from the stroller and he nice breeze. He has smiled at me now (finally) and seems to be happiest right after he eats. I'm still trying to figure this kid out. I also think he's growing yet AGAIN, because I will need to cut his nails for a second time this week!

Time to go be productive... I'm happy to report that I got a lot more done yesterday, even with running errands, etc. I think my husband was happy with my progress... now I just need to keep it up!

-Ash