Monday, January 30, 2012

The dirty C word....Croup

So I was going to write about the good, happy, B word (baptism) but instead I'm writing about the dirty c word....croup.

We had our first hospital overnight with Zach.  On Wednesday late afternoon/evening he quickly progressed from sounding like he had a cold to wheezing, a horrendous sounding bark like cough, and trouble breathing.  I did the normal tricks, steamy bathroom and going outside in the cold air but when both of those weren't helping I figured it was time to call the doctor.  I called the doctor and they said to bring him in right away.  They gave him a shot and a breathing treatment and decided to send us straight to the hospital to be monitored overnight.  I held it together until the hospital news.....at that point I don't know who was crying more, me or Zach.  We got another breathing treatment and more steroids at the hospital and just waited.  Me and Matt pretended to sleep on the chairs in his room, but just stayed awake watching him to make sure he was breathing.  By morning he sounded better, but not great.  He still had some labored breathing so they said we had to wait to be discharged to make sure his breathing slowed down.  Finally around 6pm we got discharged with some strict instructions about medications and symptoms to watch for.

It was by far the scariest night of my life, but we're happy to report Zach is pretty much back to normal and was breaking nurses hearts already.  We go in for a follow up appointment today.


Right before we got to head home and all the nurses loved on him


In his baby jail otherwise known as a hospital crib

Thursday, January 19, 2012

4 Months

Only 3 days late....I'm getting closer and closer to actually getting these out on the day.

Zach is 4 months old!  A third of the year is done and he is so different from the tiny little thing we brought home from the hospital.

- I don't know what he weighs and measures yet, we go to the doctor on the 30th....hopefully he is catching up with his big head.

- He is in size 2 diapers.

- We got so many clothes for Christmas we switched over to 3-6 month clothes and they are fitting him nicely now.

- He is still taking 5 bottles a day, 6oz. each.  He is finishing every bottle and the plan is to start rice cereal after we go to his next check up.

- He had his first giggle this month.  He does not give away giggles freely, but it is hilarious once he gets going.  Kisses or dancing around with him will usually get him to giggle.

- He has rolled from his tummy to his back.  He hates tummy time and will roll from his tummy to his back sometimes but has no interest in rolling the other way.  He tries to avoid being on his tummy at all costs, so really rolling onto his stomach is so not happening at this point.

- So much drool.  We have a 90lb dog so we thought we were prepared for drool....we were wrong.  We always have a bib on hand to catch the ever present drool flow from his toothless mouth.

- Drool coming out, whatever he can grab going in.  He will put whatever he can hold in his mouth.  He loves chewing on stuff, especially his fists.  This of course distributes the drool all over everything.

- Zach has grabby hands.  I have stopped wearing earring and have to watch my hair because he will pull with all his might on them, which doesn't seem like it would hurt until he has a handful and is laughing away.  He has some pull toys on his car seat he likes and has figured out as well.

- He is pretty hilarious with all of his faces.  He gets those eyebrows and mouth going and you can almost hear him all you an idiot.  He loves himself so much.  He likes to look at himself in the mirror and usually smile, but sometimes he will keep making different faces.

- He is always biting his lower lip, that just started this week.

- He likes to dance with me and even tolerates my singing.  He likes Matt's singing, but Matt sings him Motley Crue songs.

- Rap music will usually calm him down in the car.  If that doesn't work the Jersey Shore style fist pump will distract him enough to stop crying.  I look like an idiot, but I'd rather look like an idiot with a quiet baby then look like a frazzled lunatic with a screaming baby.


Chunker baby




Did I mention he likes to try to eat everything?  His first make out session was with the alphabet dog, how precious.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Poo Karma

Oh yes, another post about poo.  Don't worry when you have a child (or turn old enough where you just say what you want and don't care what people think) you'll talk about poo way more than you care to admit, but this will be the last poo post.  Don't worry, no pictures on this post.

We had our inaugural poo explosion for 2012 and it was hilarious....mainly because Matt got the bad end of that deal.  Zach was sitting in his bumbo (fancy baby seat) at the table with us while we ate dinner.  There was a fart noise, which I assumed was Matt or JJ.  Matt and I were discussing our days and had just decided that Matt would be in charge of bath time from here on out.  It would give him some one on one time with Zach and it would give me at least 20 minutes to get something done, or realistically have a glass of wine and try not to worry about anything so I'm not committed to an insane asylum by the time Zach goes to Kindergarten.

Dinner was over and Matt was like, no problem Gus, I'll change Zach's diaper...hahahaha sucker.  I just hear a mix of laughing and gagging so like any good mom I go to get a look at this epic diaper explosion.  I really don't know how it gets everywhere.  How is it not on your calf but on your foot?  You're even wearing a sleeper with the feet in it.  Right in the bath went Zach, with Matt in charge of making him poo free and smelling good.  Since I can't smell I get to change the majority of dirty diapers so this was poo karma coming back to get Matt for all the times he asked me to handle the dirty work.

I must say this probably doesn't sound very funny, but between Matt's disgust and Zach's giggles it was hilarious....for me that is.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Myth or Fact - first installment

There are many questions that come along with being a parent and especially from those without kids.  I had the same questions before Zach came along and I'm here to help clear up myth and facts in the first installment of myth or fact.

1. Are you really that busy?  

Oh I wondered the same thing.  How can a tiny little baby that sleeps so much in the beginning be so much work?  I will fully admit I didn't understand how or why moms with just one little baby were so tired and talked about how busy they were.  I mean I can change diapers and cuddle and still have time to cruise the Internet, do the dishes and clean the house.  Hahaha oh Jessica, you idiot...

Turns out you are really that busy.  You never know when that sleep will come or how long your precious/screaming angel will really sleep.  I even have a pretty set routine down now where I can usually count on a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.  It never fails, as soon as I plan something Zach decides he does not want or need to nap.  Everything revolves around bottles, naps and bedtime.  Want to do dinner?  Sure, but it has to be before 6:30pm or after 7:30pm if you want to go out somewhere.  By the time dinnertime comes around I may be too exhausted to talk to you from trying to entertain a baby that has little concept of toys and will scowl at me and laugh at the wall.  Not to mention the anxiety of taking the baby out and not knowing if he is going to be normal happy baby or disaster baby.  Nobody wants to be that mom with the screaming baby in public.  It gets to a point where you have to get out of the house and miss other adults so you throw caution to the wind and go for it.

In addition to baby duties you need to find time to make sure you still like your baby daddy by the end of the day and have a house that you're not completely ashamed of.  This all needs to take place during nap times or after bedtime.  I have found during Zach's morning nap (usually only 45min) I can wash bottles, have a cup of coffee, shower (no time to shave the legs, maybe the weekend to help with that whole keep the hubby liking me) and maybe squeak out a blog post or email if I'm lucky.

It is not even like I have twins or work all day.  And some days do seem easy and I do actually love being home with Zach all day because I can't imagine trying to fit it all in after work but before bedtime (lets not talk about greenhouse season yet).  I'm just pointing out to sweet naive dummies like myself that it is harder and busier then you would expect.  It's the hardest and most wonderful job in the world.  Give a new mom a hug today, she may need it.