a nice surprise!

So I last posted that Eric was working M-F this week since he was in training, right? He left for work Monday morning, and I'm doing the normal stuff and hear the garage door open. Eric's back from work, apparently the training was cancelled but no one was notified, so he got there and found out. He talked to his boss and since he was scheduled out all week on their end, he was able to take the whole week as vacation and has been home with us all week. YAY!

Tuesday we followed up with the doctor about how the Zantac is working out. We initially talked to a nurse, but the doctor called us back and talked to us for a bit. He feels like we should up the dose of Zantac and see if that helps before trying one of the PPIs. We've tried that since Tuesday and it does seem to be helping. He's sleeping more soundly and doesn't scream with reflux pain as much. Hopefully we're on the right track there.

Wednesday we went to Babies R Us and got an exersaucer for Tyler. He's still a little small for it, but soon he'll be ready for it. We also got him an activity gym which he seems to like a lot - all the bright colors!

Wednesday night we went to Eric's parents house for his dad's b-day. With everyone there and the cousins running around Tyler was a little overstimulated, so we took him into a quieter room which helped. AND, get this, Tyler went 6.5 hours between feedings overnight -hooray!!

Thursday we took him up to daycare to meet his teachers. I like them a lot so far. Got a pile of paperwork turned in, a few more forms to get filled out. He'll be in a room with 7 other babies and 3 caregivers - two main teachers plus a floater. We are getting our online access setup, and our codes and such too. Lots of security is a good thing. The room is pretty quiet, except for a crying baby here and there..although there was one moment when the "baby chorus" was going - all the babies crying at the same time! I give the teachers a lot of credit for being able to work thru all of that.

And today was the trial run - we took him up there at 9 and left him there for 2 hours. I was a little worried that he'd just sleep the whole time, but he was up and got some Bumbo time, and some other play time, while he was there. He did pretty well and the teachers say he is a cutie. We put together a document of tips and things for them and hopefully that will help the transition so that daycare is a good experience for him.

Regarding the daycare...so far so good. I turned in all the paperwork and wasn't sure who or when they'd look at it. Today they had tons of questions/clarifications for me, which tells me they looked it all over quickly and actually paid attention to it. And they follow the letter of the law on all issues, no cutting corners, which again makes me happy.

Tomorrow morning we're doing a Skype call w/my parents. My uncle will be up there visiting and has a computer, so they can finally "meet" the little man. Then, we're having Jill, Dan, Amanda, and Rob over for lunch (grilling out) - yay! And then we're having a photographer come out and take family photos - casual ones, mainly focused on Tyler. He's 3 months old today too!

Various & Sundry...

- Regarding Greys....Yes, it was intense, but I'm over it. I will probably still watch, but am so over that  show. I was over it last season when they killed off George out of the blue. And then this uber-drama just cemented the fact that they're making it all about the doctors and making every horrible thing imaginable happen to them. I don't want to give up any info for folks that haven't watched it, but there was one scene last night where I just went UGH. 

- Thursday night we went to the service anniversary party last night (for work), which was nice. They have a dinner each year celebrating associates reaching 10, 15 or 20+ years of service that year. I will be celebrating 10 years this year. I needed a dress and ended up finding one at Kohl's for $12. I also had to get a couple of shirts for Eric, and ended up getting a couple more things for me plus some clothes for Tyler. The location of the dinner was fancy, food was yummy, and I even had 1/2 a glass of wine! 

- Tyler's still being fussy, and had two giant spit-ups on Wednesday so we took him to the pediatrician that afternoon.  The doctor thinks he's got the classic signs of reflux so he's now on Zantac twice a day. Should take about a week to kick in, if its gonna work. I sure do hope it does. It just tears me up when he screams because of it. We're keeping him on the Alimentum; the doctor wants to change just one thing at a time. From what I've seen on the internet Zantac seems to work about 1/2 the time; I really hope we're in that half!

- met Jill for lunch yesterday at Tasu which was yummy and fun. 

- Today we're going to a housewarming party for our friends Nick and Kristen. Will be fun. They build a beautiful house about a mile from their old house.  We'll see Ed & Kristen there too! :) 

 - Eric's home on Sunday then has training all next week so he works Mon-Fri. Likely will get out early each day, which is nice. Theres a possibility he'll go to a regular schedule the following week - we shall see!

- And we're closing in on a week until the little man goes to Daycare. I'll go up there with him for about an hour or so on Thursday, and then we're doing a trial run on Friday (leaving him there for 2 hours or so). I have a pile of forms to fill out for them too. I know it will be tough leaving him there but i'm also looking forward to getting back to normal..or the "new" normal!

- Got Father's Day figured out already - whoo hoo!! He didn't have anything on his "I want..." list, and I've been lamenting the fact that there is no Pandora bracelet equivalent for men!! But, I found something that I am pretty sure he will like. Gotta keep a lid on it for another month though!! 

My first Mother's Day!

What a wonderful first Mother's Day!

My parents sent me flowers on Friday. My Uncle Bob sent flowers on Saturday. My Uncle Jim called yesterday. Eric got me a Pandora Charm for my bracelet. My MIL and FIL got me a Pandora gift card. And Eric gave me a sweet card plus a cute one from Tyler. All of that plus a lot of well-wishes from friends made for a wonderful first Mother's Day!

We went over to Adam and Amy's last night to celebrate with Eric's family and Amy's family. It was nice to see everyone and Tyler was oohed and aahed over a ton. He got to hang out with grammy, grampy, his cousin Rachel, plus Amy's family. Poor kiddo was passed around a ton but didn't seem any worse for the wear.

It's funny - I was never one of those women who was dying to be a mom, but I'm loving every minute of it. Ok, so when he's screaming, it's tough, but when he snuggles with me it makes it ok. Its the toughest job I've ever attempted, and I just hope I'm doing it all right!

Pediatrician Trip!

Tyler's fussiness has continued, and over the last couple of days he wakes up from a dead sleep, screams bloody murder for a while, then toots. I know a bit of gas is expected, but it making him cry that badly made us call the pediatrician this morning.

At first they told us to continue to observe him this weekend and come in Monday if it continued. I didn't really like this suggestion as that is what we've been doing over the last few days, so I pressed the nurse on it, and they saw us today. His regular doctor, Dr. Gessner, was out, but Dr. Fletcher was in.

They always weigh him and today he weighed in at 11 lbs! That means in a week and one day he has gained 1 lb 2 oz. That's over 2 oz per day! So, that is good news. His stomach muscles are all strong and no signs of an ear infection. The bottom line is the doctor thinks it might be a formula intolerance, so we're trying Similac Alimentum to see if that helps. We've been on the Enfamil Gentlease for a while now and it doesn't seem to have helped with the fussiness, and she said other parents have told her the same. So we're gonna try the new stuff (thanks to some samples she provided) and hopefully that will do the trick. She also recommended trying to wean him from being held all the time, so I have to work on that. We'd already planned to start having him sleep in his crib soon, so we're starting that now (thanks to the Angel Care Deluxe monitor).

Adventures!

Friday, we took a family adventure out to Southpoint Mall. We had to get a b-day present, a graduation present, and a mother's day present (all at Pandora). We also popped into Hallmark (yay for Gold Crown coupons) and Gymboree (nothing we had to have and all expensive). Fun trip!

Then we went to dinner at Nick & Kristen's, which was tons of fun. Their new home is beautiful. And they gave us some tips to combat Tyler's gassiness.

Saturday we were planning to go to a dinner surprise party and take Tyler with us. Then, my SIL, Amy, asked if she could come by and see Tyler that evening. I took a chance and asked her if she wanted to watch him while we went out to dinner. She snapped up the opportunity which was so generous of her. Knowing that he was with someone who had a vested interest in him (his aunt), and who has 3 children so she knows what to do made the evening really easy for both Eric and me. He was a good baby for her, and MIL and FIL came by to see him over there too. They had been up at the lake that day or we'd have asked them to watch him. :)

We had a nice night out to celebrate Amanda's birthday and graduation. Yummy Mexican food, and fun times with good friends.

Tyler's still eating an avg of 7 times a day, and he'sup to 6 bottles of formula per day, 1 bottle of breastmilk, so I'm working on reducing my supply by pumping once a day (as opposed to 7, then 5, then 3, then 2).

He's still very gassy so yesterday I packed him up and we went to BRU to get some Gripe Water. That is supposed to help with gas. It was actually an easier than expected trip. The Gripe Water seems to help, but we gave it to him before bedtime last night and he would NOT fall asleep for anything!