The end of a laugh...mom needs to get better with the camera!

Alexander and his best friend ColeB

Bathtime is becoming a lttle less of a scream fest!

Alexander on the cutting board, with the paper towels as a pillow...oh, yeah and it wasn't 2 minutes later he had spit up all over the paper towels--there goes that roll!

Playing on the activity mat

"I love the ladybug that flashes different lights"

Alexander is just about 7 weeks old! He is a growing baby boy. He enjoys sitting up (not on his own!) and seeing the world. His favorite things to do right now are sit in Daddy's arms while getting walked around, watching the numerous hanging toys (trying very hard to coordinate those little hands to start grabbing on to them!) and taking an afternoon nap in Mom's arms after his lunchtime bottle.

We are still trying to work out the kinks with Alexander's digestive system. His spitting up has seemed to get worse, more frequently and larger amounts, no matter how much we feed him. We took him back to the doctor this AM and have decided to change his formula, yet again. We are going for the Enfamil AR that has rice starch to thicken, hopefully this will help. We did get a pyloric ultrasound to be sure he does not have pyloric stenosis and things are negative for now. The radiologist did say pyloric stenosis is not something that develops overnight and if things continue to worsen, we should follow back up and get re-checked. Um, yeah...duh!

Other exciting news--Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Currie for making this possible...I will be staying out an additional 2, maybe 3 more weeks with our little man. He is still enrolled in daycare but will be staying at home with mommy for a little while longer. We may use the next couple weeks as a transition period for him. We will see what each week brings us!

For now, Mommy and Alexander have to concentrate on working on a surprise for Daddy's 30th Birthday! Can't wait!!

Happy Labor Day!

Boy have we had a busy week!? But, it's been a blast!

Alexander had his monthly check-up and things are going good. We are still trying to figure out exactly how to keep him from having his screaming fits each evening. It is so hard to tell exactly what is bothering him and I really can't wait until the day he can tell me what is bothering him. In the meantime we play the guessing game. Is he hungry--usually this time of day he is eating every 2 hours instead of 3. Is his belly hurting him? We rock and pat and burp. Is he bored? We dance, sing, take short walks. Is he just over tired? We eventually will fall asleep. I have read many places that his formula doesn't seem to satisfy other babies---we are beginning to think the same thing, at least in the evenings because he wants to eat more often and eat more, but his little stomach won't hold anymore. As for what the doctor says, we are still relying on the "reflux" diagnosis and still taking the meds.

He has gained exactly 2 lbs since birth--10 lbs, 2 oz and grown an inch. I think the 2 lbs went right to those oh so kissable cheeks! We are definitely seeing real smiles now and even laughs. When he gets up for his 7am feeding, he is full of smiles and little giggles. It really makes getting up every 3 hours worthwhile.

Alexander had an exciting end to his week. He met his Uncle Billy for the 1st time (Eric's brother from NY). He came down to visit for a few days and we enjoyed spending every last minute that we could with him. Uncle Billy brought some fun presents with him as well--his first "rocker" onsie--Lynard Skynard and many other cool ones along with his first pair of shoes that I can't wait for Alexander's little foot to grow into and a new pair of shades to keep the sun out of his little eyes!

We ended the holiday weekend spending the day at Nana Ann's with Papa Eric, Grandaddy Tony, Auntie Toni and Uncle Rodger. We hung out by the pool and watched Auntie Toni's crazy puppies play until they were all tuckered out!

This next week brings big things--Alexander will have his orientation at daycare. Tomorrow we get to go and spend an hour or so in the classroom to get him adjusted to his new teacher and new surroundings. Then later in the week, we are supposed to leave him for an hour or so...that will be the tough day. We won't even talk about the following week, when he starts daycare full time! :-)

We'll post again later this week!

Our Growing Baby Boy

Alexander turned a whopping 1 month old yesterday! To celebrate the great day, we took him to get his first pictures taken. Both set of Grandparents joined us and we had a ball! I was boggled just trying to plan it, of course at the last minute and settled on Sears. Can I first just say, this is the most stressful thing I have encountered while on maternity leave! First, I was stunned by the prices of the packages...I had no idea that pictures could be sooo expensive. Knowing that we wanted to do this each month, we tried not to go overboard. Of course, while looking at them, Daddy liked them all. :-)

Alexander had slept on the car ride over to the mall and he takes after his mommy, he doesn't like to be woken up. He was a little crabby at first, only wanting his pacifier and to be left alone to finish his nap. He then worked on a present in his diaper for us and was nice and awake after that. The first photos the photographer attempted were the "tummy time" photos and since he was sleepy, all he could do was try to go back to sleep. In these pictures, he has "pacifier lips" as we had to pull the paci out to get the photos.

Of course, we ordered tons of photos. Way more than we ever really need for 1 month old photos...but we live and learn! They really get you with all the enhancements and collages they make up for you! Here are the rest of the photos.

So ready for the photo session to be over!

Why did we choose to live here?

What a day--
Alexander was up last pm from 9pm until about 1:30 this AM screaming. We could only get him calm for short periods of time. Eric was wonderful--I got a nap from about midnight until 1:30am. I found him asleep on the floor of Alexander's bedroom with the baby on his chest, both baby and daddy fast asleep. After he screamed and screamed even after eating, changing, rocking, etc we both were convinced it was his stomach. I still called the after hours line for the doctor to be sure. She suggested we be seen in the Children's ER since he cried for so long, not being able to be consoled. I lauged. I thought--yeah, maybe if we do this ALL night, but not just yet. So, we made a doctor's appt first thing this AM.
However, before we called in to the doctor this AM, I went to wash the overnight bottles before he would be ready for another one when I discovered we had NO water! I instantly called the town of Holly Springs just for this kind little lady on the other end to tell me we had a water main break just in OUR n'hood and would be without water. I freaked. How was I going to wash these bottles, much less fix more! So, up Eric went to Walmart and bought boat loads of bottled and jugs of water. He is our hero. :-) We got water back about mid afternoon, but were nicely told my engineers of Holly Springs that we were not to use the water except for flushing toilets. no showers, washing dishes, clothes, drinking, etc until they got back bacteria tests on the water. Great--why did we choose to live here again!?
Anyway--update on Alexander. He now weighs 9 lbs, 8 oz. He is being treated for acid reflux. We have medicine that we give him twice a day and will do this for a few days to see if we see any difference. We also went out and purchased a wedge to elevate the head of his crib matress 30 degrees, so he is never flat when he sleeps. We really hope this helps. If not, we will be changing his formula again....but in the meantime, you will find mommy & daddy with Alexander on his tummy, on our chests.....the only place he is happy when he is hurting. Keep us in your prayers.

Will update again soon.

3 1/2 weeks old

It is hard to believe our little son is already 3 1/2 weeks old, however, to look at him, it is hard to believe he is ONLY 3 weeks old! So, what have we been up to in the last week or so?? Mommy went back to the doctor--healing great! (finally!) and I don't have to go back to the doctor until my 6 week check up! Mommy also started driving again. That has been fun! We can actually get out of the house now!

Alexander is holding his head up more and cooing more, instead of just crying. We attempted to take a few outdoor photos but once we were outside we came to the realization that he didn't like the sun in his eyes, so that was a big negative! :-) Hopefully in the next week or so, we will have his 1 month photos as well as a family picture taken.

Alexander enjoys listening to daddy sing to him and likes being carried like a football. He loves tummy time--I think it has more to do with soothing his aching tummy. We still have our nights where he goes through an hour time span where nothing makes him happy. Some days are definitely better than others. Eric has discovered by getting up with him at night, that Alexander enjoys listening to jazz on the XM while he gets his bottle. We have also discovered that Alexander is more of a morning person--hard to get him back to bed after his 4am/5am feeding.

This last week he has enjoyed going over to Nana Ann's. He gets spoiled there--always being held and being shown off to whomever might drop by. We even made a trip out to Auntie Toni's house and met her 2 "boys". Alexander can't wait until he is big enough to play with them as they are gigantic balls of energy!

We are still working on getting him on a schedule--more like a routine. It is as tough for him as it is us--how about this..we made a trip to Walmart at 11pm just the other night! Alexander slept right through it, but we got some much needed shopping done!! He has absolutely hated baths until last pm. We had been bathing him in the kitchen sink where all he did was scream at the top of his lungs. So, last pm, I got out the baby bathtub and set it up. He still cried because he really doesn't like having his clothes off, but was much easier consoled, as he fell asleep as soon as I wrapped him in his towel. I can't wait for the day where he will love a bath and I have to pry him from there to go to bed!

Here are a few pictures that we have taken over the past week or so.

Enjoy--

A Night Out

Yep, that is right. Eric and I had our first night out last pm. Grandma and Grandpa Currie watched little Alexander while we went to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Everyone kept saying it would be great for us to do, and indeed it was. It was nice to have a little bit of time with my hubby, just me and him. I was a little skeptical at first, remember this is only the 2nd time I have been without my little buddy. The 1st time, Eric just took him for a little while, so he was still with his daddy, but this time, he was without both of us....BUT still in wonderful hands. He did wonderfully as did the grandparents. Maybe next time we will venture out for more than 2 hours. :-)
Alexander is growing, growing, growing everyday. I swear each AM we wake up and there is something different about him. Which makes me wish I really didn't have to go back to work, knowing I will miss so much. But, we have to do what we have to do, right? His feedings are going better, with much less spit up and a little less crying over an achy belly. We are wondering if maybe he has a touch of the "C" word. "Colic"--his really fussy spells happen in the late afternoon/evening and then after a couple of hours he is fine again. SO, not sure--only time will tell. He is getting better about sleeping through the night, slowly but surely. Last pm was a little different. Instead of sleeping, he layed in his crib and played by himself for 3 hours. I kept checking on him because he would get fussy when he lost his pacifier but he wasn't down for sleeping and I wasn't down for staying up. So, I turned his monitor on and tried to get a little sleep. Now, today, he is sleepy--go figure. :-)
Mommy is getting better, a little more each day. Eric says next week, I will be turning kartwheels and boy do I hope he is right! This has been such a long recovery process. I went to the doctor AGAIN yesterday for them to check out my incision. Things do not seem to be getting worse and she things maybe, just maybe, things are starting to get better. She has extended my antibiotics for another 4 days and I am back there for another recheck on Friday. Boy, I will be glad when I can stop going there every few days!
Now that I have spent enough time on here while Alexander is sleeping, I think I am going to push for getting in a shower before he wakes up! More later--

We're Getting The Hang of it!

Wow--another week has flown by. At this rate, I will certainly not be ready to go back to work in September! Sorry for the delay in posting new pictures but really to find time in the day to do this is tough--I am sure it will get easier, but when I have a few extra minutes there is 100 other things I think I could be doing (napping, washing bottles, washing clothes, etc) :-)

Alexander will be 2 weeks old tomorrow and it is hard to believe it has been that long! He has settled nicely into a routine so far. He eats every 3-4 hours and sleeps in between. Daddy has the "magic hand" of getting him to sleep in the middle of the night when Mommy has rocked until she can't rock anymore. We have moved him to his "big boy" crib, instead of the bassinet just a couple of nights ago. He seems to like it just fine. He loves the mobile above, but the thing just doesn't play music long enough!! He has had a really tough time in the last week with feeding. He loves to eat, hates to burp and then has a really rough time for the hour or so after feedings with stomach pains and tons of spitting up. Very trying for me as well as him, as you can imagine. We talked with the doctor today and have switched his formula to Enfamil Gentlecare. We have done one feeding with this so far and things seem to be much better. Cross your fingers. It is strange though--he was spitting up horrible and crying in pain with the formula as well as my breast milk (regardless of what I was eating). We will try this new formula for 3-4 days and if it works, great! If not, we will be switching to soy.

Mommy is getting better. Finally able to move around more and not having to rely on everyone else's help 24/7. Those of you that know me well, know that has been rough anyway :-). I still can't believe how hard recovery after a c-section really is. I guess it really didn't help I ended up with an infection and on antibiotics, so the pain was that much worse and fighting a fever in the meantime. Now, my battle will be drying up my breastmilk, which is already painful. Both emotionally and physically. I am only able to get about 5 ounces in a 24 hour period, he is not tolerating it at all, and with the time put into pumping is time I could be spending with him, since he is not tolerating it well anyway. This has been a tough decision for me and I have gone back and forth on it, but I think I have finally made up my mind.

Eric and I went today and registered our little one for daycare. He will officially start school on Sept. 8th. The week before, we have 1 day that we go in and stay a little while, staying with him the whole time, then we have 1 other day that they want us to drop him off for an hour or so to get him used to his new teacher and the surroundings. Hopefully this will be harder on us, than him! :-)

I think that is all for the update so far. Many many thanks for those of you family members that have been by to visit, dedicated so much time in helping us around the house, bringing over food, etc. We appreciate it very much. To all of our friends that are still waiting to come by--I have not forgotten about you!! I am just waiting until I know I feel better and more of what Eric's schedule is--hopefully he will have more time off soon. Poor guy has worked, worked, worked since the baby was born, due to staffing issues at his job. I guess that is what happens when you are the "big boss"! Even with the amount of hours he has put in at work, he has been phenomenal at home as well! I always knew he would be a wonderful daddy but he has surpassed everything I could have ever imagined!

Here are a few more recent pictures of the little one!

Trying out the Baby Bjorn for the 1st time!

Our little frankenstein

Found my finger!

After being at home with Mommy all day, I really love Daddy time!