June was a blur!

June flew by in our household this year. With getting into the daycare/going back to work routine, I guess I didn't have time to post. Here's what we've been up to:

 

• Tyler is continuing on his schedule of eating at 10pm, sleeping thru until his 6 am bottle, and then eating again at 10 am, 2pm, and 6pm. Most days I have to wake him for 10pm and 6am, but its going well. He went to the pediatrician on the 11^th because he had a few big spit-ups and we thought the reflux was acting up again. We saw a different doctor in the practice and she thought we were feeding him too much. She recommended cutting back to 5 oz per feeding and adding 1 teaspoon of rice cereal to his bottle to thicken it up just a little. We tried that and it seems to be working out well.
• He had his 4 month appointment yesterday, and is doing great. He's in the 37^th percentile for weight, so he is maintaining his growth well. He's 23.5 inches and his head circumference is 16.5 inches. Physically and developmentally he is doing great. The doctor said at his age he can sleep 10-12 hours at a time, so we can cut out the 10 pm feeding (that we're having to wake him up for) and each of his other daily feedings he will likely want more. So, we're going to work on that and getting him into his crib over the next few weeks. Once we get that under control, we'll think about moving him to regular formula (as opposed to Alimentum), perhaps stopping his Zantac, and then starting him on solids (well, baby food). Exciting stuff!
• My mom and dad sent him a really cute outfit that was a shirt and shorts. He mostly wears onesies, but looked so cute in the shirt and shorts that I had to buy him some more. Love Kohl's.
• He and I got Eric tickets to Lewis Black for Father's Day.
• I got a new car! Well, new to me. It's a 2007 Ford Explorer, so I'm back in an SUV again. I loved my last SUV and had searches set up at Carmax.com for Toyota Highlanders, Toyota 4Runners, and Honda Pilots. One of my coworkers just bought a 2007 Ford Explorer and really liked it, and I had already been warming to the idea of a Ford, so I added that to my searches and one popped up a couple of weeks ago. It was equipped just how I wanted it (loaded), and had just under 47k miles. The price was right, CarMax was great to deal with (as always), and USAA financed it with no headaches. My payment went down, our insurance stayed the same, and I might even love this car more than I loved my Highlander. Now it's time to find a new car for Eric.
• Eric hurt his shoulder at the beginning of the month and for a few weeks was unable to even hold Tyler. He's been keeping it iced and trying not to use it, which helped it heal, but we were both worried that he'd have to have surgery. Thankfully, at his last doctor's appt, they said it was healing well on its own and he should be as good as new in another 3-4 weeks. I know it bummed him out to not be able to hold Tyler, or help with feedings, so I'm glad it's healing well.
• My work moved buildings and the new building is closer to home. It's about the same distance from daycare, but less traffic stops so I get to work sooner. We've gotten into a routine where I'm dropping Tyler off around 8 am and am at work by 8:15 at the latest. I pick him up on M, T, and W and then Eric picks him up on Th and F. Once Eric goes to a M-F schedule, he'll do pick up each day after he gets off at 4pm. Hopefully that will be soon. J
• New work location is right across the street from a Starbucks. Danger!!
• Tyler seems to like daycare too. He is in a room with 7 other babies, and his two main teachers are wonderful. We've been really pleased with the daycare we chose.
• We bought a pile of kid books, and are trying to read to Tyler every so often, and will incorporate it into his nightly routine (once we get one established). We also bought some kid songs on iTunes (the CD is called "Party like a Preschooler", LOL) for us to have on in the car. So, each day I come into work with a different kids' song stuck in my head. Do your ears hang low…?

Daycare

So far so good on the daycare front!

 

Tyler has put himself on a schedule of waking around 6 am and taking a bottle, eating at 10 am/2pm/6pm, and going to bed after his 10pm bottle. Eight hours between feedings overnight is a dream! Getting him to daycare adds about 30 minutes to my morning commute but it's not too bad. I have started taking my shower at night so that in the morning I just have to feed him, get myself dressed, and get him ready and out the door. Usually he's back to sleep for the ride to daycare.

 

The first week Eric and I went up there at lunch as much as we could to check in on him. We're trying to learn the other babies in the room as well. The teachers in his room (Robin and Tonia) say he is doing well and is a good baby overall. And we peek in on the  webcam a lot.

 

I'm back to work now, and it's like I never left. Many things have changed, but at the same time, many things have not. I'm lucky that they are letting me ease back into it, instead of being thrown back in on day one.

Eric injured his shoulder at softball last Friday, so he went to Urgent Care on Saturday morning and now has a sling to try and keep his arm in place so that his shoulder can heal. He'll start physical therapy soon and hopefully we can avoid surgery.

 

Daycare day 1!

Daycare day 1 went really well. I'm kinda scared because now the bar is set really high! 

He got up at 6, he ate (had a big spitup), and I got ready. We were out the door by 7:40 am, and I dropped him off and was at work by 8:15, after a stop at Dunkin Donuts. The coffee stop plus a lot of deep breaths kept me from bawling from daycare to work. He ate well at daycare and both Eric and I went by during our respective lunches to see him. When I picked him up, they said he had a good day and was a good baby. 

And it was great to be back at work - I did next to nothing. When I left we had 4 managers and were sourcing a 5th one, so now that i"m back we're going to take the 4 teams and make 5 out of them (and get a 5th manager in place). It's a good opportunity with all the stuff going on between now and the end of the month to mix things up a lot and until then I don't have a team! So I had zero responsibilities today. I met with my boss, got my access all set up (desktop and blackberry), which took a while...I also did a few online trainings, and looked in on the daycare webcam a bit. :)

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).