Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Yipee!

Bottle Feeding!

Kian took his first bottle (really ate from it) since he was having breastmilk and/or formula the first few weeks of his life!  I pumped this morning (only 2 oz.) because we were going on a walk and Kian has refused to nurse after my walks due to probably the lactic acid in my milk.  I guess it makes it taste bad.  Anyway, I thought I would try the bottle today with him.  Sometimes I would pump and ask Jamie to give him his bottle, but he would not drink from it.  He would just chew on the nipple and then start to cry.  I was starting to worry that he wouldn't take a bottle again and Jamie and I would never be able to leave him with a sitter more than an hour and half, but he took this one today!  When we got home he was actually content for once so I left him in his car seat and warmed up the bottle.  I fed it to him in the car seat - he even seemed he wanted more!  So, I guess I will start pumping more  :)  I am just so excited that he took the bottle  :)

Our Walk
 
Today Gina and I went for a walk.  Kian was pretty fussy and so was her daughter Danielle.  Danielle ended up in her front carrier and before long I was getting Kian's out too.  They both were content for the most part after that!  The funny thing is that both of us were pushing strollers and carrying our babies!  I am sure we were quite a seen to the runners, walkers and joggers going past us on the trail  hehe  Being a Mom as made me realize that I am willing to do anything that will work to keep Kian happy - even if it means looking pretty silly to others  :)


Saturday, July 24, 2004

Kian's First Poker Night

Lactose Intolerance Continues  GRRRR.....
 
Today was a rough day for our little man.  I thought that it might be ok for me to have a cheese pizza as a late night snack with Jamie, but Kian was spitting up and gassy today so I am pretty much cutting cheese out of my diet for sure  :(  That's a very sad thing for someone who grew up in Wisconsin! I tried it last night because Jamie doesn't seem to have a problem with the pizza but I guess little Kian does....I wonder if Trader Joe's makes a soy cheese pizza  LOL!

Kian's First Poker Night
 
Tonight Jamie and I went over to our friend Steve and Lisa's for another BBQ (they were our gracious hosts on the 4th of July).  Almost right after we arrived Kian was getting cranky and sleepy so I rocked him to sleep and he slept for almost 2 hours!  Yeah!  He actually didn't have much of a nap at all today because of the gas he had and other things that made him fussy and not sleep.  What actually woke him up was the roar of laughter from an unbelievable hand - almost immediately after the laughter happened I walked into the room where Kian was and found the poor little guy crying.  I fed him, changed him and we went into the room where everyone was.  He actually did very well!  He didn't really fuss once!  I was so surprised!  It seems that he is moving leaps and bounds since I posted yesterday about him being Supersensative.  hehe  I will take what I can get from him  :)

Music

I have found a way that helps to soothe Kian at night or when he's a bit fussy....music  :)  At the baby shower my Bible study had for me, some ladies gave me some CD's.  One is a Baby Hymns CD and the other is a Silly Songs CD that has BINGO and other songs like that.  He loves to listen to them and especially when I sing them to him  :) 

He also LOVES this Celtic Lullaby CD that I bought right after we found out we were pregnant.  I play that at night when I am getting him ready for bed and/or for a bath.  It really seems to soothe him.  I'm not sure if it's because of the different instruments or if it's because the words are all in Gaelic or both.  One thing is for sure, I will be playing it for him often - who knows he might start speaking some Gaelic!  hehe


Friday, July 23, 2004

Phew! What a week!

I have been meaning to make an entry into my blog this entire week, but it's been a tough one for Kian and for Mommy.  My posts below will pretty much explain it all.
 
"High Needs" Baby
 
Most of you probably don't know this, but Kian is what is lovingly called a "high-need" baby.  It pretty much means he's a very fussy little man.  I just ordered Dr. Sear's book called The Baby Book and I have been reading the Fussy/Colicky chapter when I can.  Last night I read that Kian is what is defined as an Supersensative.  When I read the description, I thought immediately of Kian.  In a nut shell is says that Supersensative babies are very aware of their environment and are easily bothered by changes in their secure and predictable environment and don't accept alternatives.  They startle easily during the day (totally Kian!) and settle poorly at night (he is definitely fussy from 7PM on).  They also form deep attachments to their caregivers which causes problems when they have sitters (lovely!) .  One positive thing is that when these children are older, they are more capable of forming deeper and more intimate relationships. 

Kian is getting a bit better with his Supersensativity, but I really wonder if it will ever fully go away.  When we go to my Mom's class he cries pretty much the entire time.  It wasn't until we bought the DVD The Happiest Baby on the Block and did the techniques from it that Jamie and I were given any peace from his cries - which were worse and non-stop in public.  

When Kian and I  went to class on Wednesday, he actually had a period where he was talking to me!  I was actually shocked - and to be honest some of the Moms at group were too!  Later on he needed me to calm him down but at least he's showing signs of getting better. 

Naps - Kian hasn't figured them out yet

That's right, he will only nap for 20 minutes at a time.  Talk about maddening for a Mommy with a High- Needs child!  Kian's schedule goes pretty much like this:  nurse, awake for a period (sometimes I can put him somewhere for other entertainment - but not too long to avoid overstimulation), he gets fussy from being tired, I swaddle him and rock him while giggling him, shushing him, and rocking him while he sucks on his pacifier, I lay him down as soon as I think he's really asleep, then he's up 20 minutes later and here we go again.

I bought another book called The No-Cry Sleep Solution and I am hoping to put some of that into practice during the day when he won't sleep well.  The book is written by a mom who has four children and she wanted to lovingly put them to sleep.  She did a lot of research and tried them out on her children as well as a lot of other parents in many different life situations to see who things were working.  It was amazing to see that it working within a month or a month and a half of trying her suggestions and finding out what works best for your baby.

The only thing I am concerned about it messing him up in terms of him sleeping through the night - right now he sleeps for a 6 hour stretch and I really don't want him to revert back to getting up every 2-3 hours.  I am so thankful for that 6 hour stretch though! 

I have emailed the author of the book for some guidance as the book is mainly for parents whose babies don't sleep through the night at all.  She has some suggestions for kids who nap about 20 minutes, but I'm not sure if he's too young or will respond with shorter night sleeping.  We will have to see what she says  :) 

No Milk Products for Mommy

Last weekend I discovered that little Kian is lactose intolerent just like his Daddy (something I was praying he wouldn't inherit).  Last weekend I decided to have a bowl of ice cream with caramel topping (since chocolate is something Kian proved to me he didn't like a few days earlier).  The next day Kian was having a lot of gas pain.  Since the ice cream was the only thing I really did differently, I have put a hold on a lot of dairy products.  It's not worth having our little man in so much pain.  Thank God for Milicon drops!  They really helped him out a lot.  One good thing about living in California is that there is a frozen yogurt place that has yogurt that is lactose free - Yippee!  I am thinking we might have to go there this weekend for a try  :)   

Don't Get Me Wrong - I Love My Little Man

I know that this post has mainly been negative about our little guy...Despite his fussiness and not being able to eat certain foods for the next 1o months or so, I love our little man.  He definitely is a joy in my life and I don't know what I would do without him.  It's honestly hard to imagine him not being here just a few months ago!  I live to see every smile he has and all his cooing  :)  God sure did plan things out right to help the sleepless nights and the demand of a little baby be enjoyable for those precious moments.

I was just thinking today about how he's growing up so fast.  He's starting to wear some of his 3-6 month clothing already!  It's exciting to see the little person that he's becoming, but it's sad to see his smallness leave - I cherish every moment that I have rocking him and holding him (well, almost every  ;)  I sure do love him a lot! 

 






Thursday, July 15, 2004

Good News!

Jamie passed the stone late this morning  :)  We also saw our family doctor and he said that they would send off the stone for testing.  Jamie is feeling a lot better now.  The doctor removed the fentenol patch and Jamie is now coming off of his last dose of vicodin so he's pretty sleepy right now.  Boy are we both glad it's all over with!
 
Thanks to everyone who was praying - we really appreciate it!

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

The Eventful Week has a Trip to the ER

Don't worry, Kian is ok. We all were in the ER pretty much all night last night with Jamie having severe pain from kidney stones. At about 2AM we ended up all loading into the car to go to the ER. It was strange walking throught ER entrance where I entered that same hospital in the wee hours of the morning in labor about 9.5 weeks ago! This time Jamie was the one in pain. Jamie got some pain meds and fluids. We were there until about 3AM and were discharged with some scripts and samples to take at home for pain. He continued to have pain at home and at about 4:15AM he said the pain stuff they gave him wasn’t working so I called the ER and they said to bring him right in. So, we loaded Kian back into the car – I had to wake him up for the second time that night– and went back to the ER where they gave Jamie some better pain meds and CT Scan to make sure everything was ok. They sent us home at about 7AM with a patch on Jamie’s arm that will give him pain meds for the next 72 hours. Needless to say Jamie is pretty sleepy from the all the meds he is taking but at least he's not in a lot of pain. At least Kian slept through the whole thing in the ER and I have to say that the Kiddopotamus really saved us (thanks for loaning it to us Christine and Josh!). It’s a blanket that you can swaddle your child and strap them into their car seat with it on. At least I didn’t have to wake him up at all the second time we went to the ER. Phew! What a day!

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

An Eventful Week and it's not even over yet!

Lamaze Class Reunion and Sleeping longer!

Sunday was our Lamaze Class reunion! It was so neat to see all the parents as well as the babies that we all were preparing for :) Unfortunately we forgot our camera but our friends Gina and Clay took some with their digital camera and they are going to share them with us. Kathy was also at the reunion - Kathy was the childbirth educator as well as our doula - but she had to leave soon after we arrived so she could help a mom with her labor...boy is she a busy lady! :) We were all so blessed to have her as our educator and some of us even had her as our Doula. She is such a special person.

Here is a picture from the reunion. To the right of me is Gina and Danielle :)
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My birth story definately was the drama for the evening. Some people couldn't believe all that had happened to me.It's been so long since I have talked about or thought about it that I had forgotten how horrible things went. My Aunt Jane was right when she emailed me saying that the experience is something that will soon become a blur. And it's a good thing!

We were at the Reunion for about 3 hours and Kian did really well! He did pretty much shut down after we got home though. He actually slept for along time! He went 6 hours between feedings! That's a record for him! He usually only goes about 4 hours max between feedings. Last night he went 5 hours! But then again he had a tough day at Walmart - poor fussy little man.

Our First Walk

Kian and I had our first walk together today! We met up with Gina and her daughter Danielle (Danielle is only 4 days older than Kian). Gina was in my Lamaze class and now we are in the Mommies group together. We walked on this trail that actually goes all the way to the beach in Avila - we didn't walk all the way to the beach - that would have been quite a trek.

At first Kian was upset and we had to stop so I could swaddle him and get him calmed down. Then he calmed down. We actually had to stop another time because he was so upset (it was after Mommy had taken him over a pretty big bump so I think it scared him).

Both Kian and I love the stroller that Kian's Great Grandma Zuelzke gave us :) It's the Cadillac of all strollers hehe

Well, I am definately looking forward to walking next week :) It's such a good time to get in exercise as well as some adult interaction.

Kian is starting to sleep longer! A few nights ago he went for 6 hours between feedings! I was very shocked!

Mommies Class - CPR

Tomorrow is our Mommie's class and one of the Dad's will be coming in to teach CPR to us. I don't think we will be certified but at least we will all know how to do it. Jamie and I have been talking about taking a class - especially me since I am with Kian most of the time. It will definately give me peace of mind to know it - I certianly hope I never have to use it!

Saturday, July 10, 2004

A Proud Mommy

Grocery Store

Yesterday was our second trip to the grocery store on our own. I put Kian in the front carrier and he did great! He actually had fun looking around at everything! He didn't like it if I stopped moving though - I swear that I must burn a lot of calories just swaying back and forth all the time hehe I went to Trader Joe’s and then walked next door to Food 4 Less – he did great up until the very end and was awake the entire time! I was so proud of him for being such a good boy! And that was even one day after his shots!

Fussy but Cooing

Since Kian has had his shots he's been a little fussier than he's been recently. I am hoping that he goes back to how he was before the shots. What makes things so much easier is hearing him coo a lot :) He seems to be making new noises all the time and wants to talk a lot too :) I coo back to him what he is saying and we carry on a conversation like that for about 20 minutes! His best talk time is the morning.

Sleeping More - HURRAY!!

Last night he slept for two 4 hour stretches! I was SO happy and amazed! The bad thing is that I think another growth spurt is about to hit and he will be back to a messed up schedule of wanting to eat every 2 hours round the clock for a few days to a week.

Wednesday, July 07, 2004

Two Month Check Up

Today was Kian's two month check up. He is doing really well :) Dr. Bravo says he's perfect :)

Today he weighed 10lbs 9oz. Length is 22.5 inches and his ead is 39cm. He is in the 50th percentile across the board :) Hopefully he won't get Mom's short genes and keep growing taller and taller :)

He also got a round of shots today too. He actually had four of them! Jamie came with us and I am so glad he did. I couldn't look at him at all when it was done. But I did watch them stick him - the nurse was pretty fast.

Right now he's a sleepy guy. He woke up enough to eat, take another dose of infant's tylenol and now he's off to sleep again. Poor little guy :(

Future Thumb Sucker? Leftie?

Kian can’t seem to get enough sucking done in the day! He loves his pacifier and wants it all the time. Sometimes he doesn't want that but his hand hehe Now he is starting to find his thumb - which I think is cute but I am hoping he doesn’t take too much of a liking to it. My sister, Laura, sucked her thumb for years and actually had to get a bridge in her mouth to make her stop so her teeth would grow correctly! I guess we will have to see what happens and deal with it as it comes. Right now he's still figuring out his hand and putting his whole fist in his mouth.

Another thing I noticed was that Kian prefers his left hand. I am wondering if he might be a lefty! I called my little sister to see which thumb she preferred and she said she liked her right the best – she is right handed. My grandfather and two of my uncles are lefties so I guess Kian could have a chance of being left handed too. Guess we will have to find out :) Jamie thinks he would be a great left handed pitcher and Mommy thinks he would be a great left handed quarterback ;)

Sunday, July 04, 2004

The Week of June 27th - July 4th

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone had their fill of BBQ'd favorites :) I know Jamie and I did :) Jamie, Kian and I went to a BBQ at our friend Steve and Lisa's. Kian did very well for his first cook out :) He was there for about 3 hours and did very well visiting with everyone. He even wore his 4th of July outfit that his Grandma Lopas bought him - he was so cute :) Me and Kian left the party early so he could rest - he was getting a little over stimulated and was having a hard time getting to sleep. I just think he doesn't want to miss out on anything that's going on! hehe Daddy stayed and played poker with the guys with his new clay chip set and he did pretty well! He finished 4th out of 12 people! Mommy and Kian are proud of Daddy, especially since he's a beginner :)

Spiderman 2

Kian has officially seen his first movie, Spiderman 2. Well, he slept through the entire movie hehe There is a drive in movie theatre in SLO not too far from where we live. This weekend they were showing Spiderman 2 as the first feature. Kian did great! He even wore his little Spiderman onsie that his Grandma Lopas bought for him :) Steve and Lisa came to the drive in with us - they thought his outfit was very cute :) Jamie and I have decided that we will probably see quite a few movies this way this summer. There's nothing like being in your own car with your own snacks and drinks and watching a movie. Not to mention, if Kian cries, he doesn't really bother anyone (it gets pretty cool at night here so we have the windows rolled up which is very nice :)

"NGah"

This last week Kian has been making some new noises. "NGah" is the one he says most :) When I was at my New Mommies class on Wednesday, a mom talked about reading in a book that if you repeat their coos back to them it will validate what they are saying and they will talk even more. Jamie and I have been doing that with Kian and he has talked to us for about 10 minutes at a time! He also has lots of smiles for us too while he tells us stories :)

Aquarium Bouncer

Kian's Great-Aunt Lori bought him an Aquarium Bouncer before he was born and I would have to say that it's his favorite thing to do! You will many pictures of him in it on our website. He can be crying from bordem and his bouncer will make him coo almost immediately. It has actually been my saving grace when I need to put him down and want him to be occupied. Talk about an invaulable gift! Thanks Aunt Lori!


Baby Einstien and Mommy's First outing Without Kian

I had my first time away from Kian on Saturday. I was only gone for about 2 hours, but I was ready to return home and see how my guys were doing :) My friend Christine and I left our little guys with our hubbies and set out for Ross Dress for Less (it's kind of like a TJ Maxx but better prices). It sure was strange to not have Kian with me but it was nice to be able to try on some clothes and shop without worrying about Kian and what he needed.

Kian was very good for Daddy :) While was I gone Jamie played one of our Baby Einstein movies for Kian. We bought the full collection of movies with baby gift money and Kian loves them! (For those of you who do not know what they are, they are DVD's that play music like Mozart and Bach while the pictures shows colorful objects moving on the screen.) They are quite boring for an adult to watch but it sure is entertaining to watch Kian watch them! Jamie said that Kian smiled as he watched for about 20 minutes! He would smile really big every time an object would change :) I'm not sure who was more entertained, Daddy or Kian hehe