Grant's Farm

Whew! I'm tired! Today, we met up with a bunch of crazy teachers who are enjoying their summer vacation at Grant's Farm. Grant's Farm is hard to explain, but it involves riding in golf carts, animals, no admission fee, a little bit of presidential history and free alcohol for the adults at the end of the trip (none was consumed today). The crazies (adults), took the kids out to see the animals and hang out together. There were 8 children there and 7 adults. 4 of the children are less than a year old! We had a great time. William loved (LOVED) watching the other kids running around and playing with each other. He would get super excited any time they went running by him. He had a huge smile on his face the whole time. Except when he got hot, tired and crabby. But, that didn't last long luckily. We both came home tired and without sunburn. A success in my book.

In other news, William continues to with the rice cereal. I am making it thicker a little bit each day. Somehow, I thought that would make things less messy. In fact, the opposite is true. I also seem to have stopped listening after the doctor told us when to start with the rice cereal. I remember her talking about moving to cereal twice a day and amounts of cereal as well. The conversation is coming back to me something like this:

"After you have established the cereal, you may want to add another feeding blah, blah, blah (please use the Charlie Brown adult voice here). These feeding should be in the amount of blah blah blah."

I have consulted the Meticulous Notebook that John had recorded all medical notes in from the time William's pregnancy was confirmed and it seems to have not made it into the notes at all. So, how am I to proceed? Do I call the nurse line like a nutter and take the nurse through the long, drawn out story with the end result: admitting that I don't listen? Or do I play it by ear and possibly ruin my child's future by not feeding him enough for his brain to properly develop or condemn him to a lifetime of being addicted to carbs by overfeeding him? Or could you mommys out there reading (I know there are at least 4 of you) drop me an e mail or comment with when you moved to feeding cereal two times a day. I know at some point he is supposed to be eating cereal twice a day. Please help! Also, how much am I supposed to be feeding him at one sitting? Currently, he is eating about 1 -2 tablespoons of cereal in 4 tablespoons of milk. I am clear (at this point anyway) about the fruits/veggies, etc. coming later. But, I'm so confused about this cereal thing. Thank you in advance for your advice.

The last, and maybe biggest news of the day is that I cam in this morning to find William on his hands and knees on the living room floor. The important part here is that HE got that way by himself. He kind of just looked at me and then put his head back down on the ground. I was so shocked that I just kind of stood there. As I stood there with his mouth open, William turned around and scooted himself around (YES!!! I said he SCOOTED HIMSELF!!) across the floor towards another pile of toys. Mouth...still...open... So, crawling is coming. Faster than I thought, but coming. I tried for the rest of the afternoon to catch him scooting on video. All I got was a bunch of funny faces of William staring at the camera and trying to grab it. we'll keep trying tomorrow.

All the kiddos at Grant's Fa(L-R) William, Connor, Matthew, Darcy, MacKenzie, Nathan, Caroline, Katelyn

Riding on the golf cart tram! Liz and Laura help with baby duty (Connor and Matthew)


Everyone (almost) riding on the tram (please note: the tram was NOT in motion AND my hands, feet and head were all inside of the vehicle...at all times)


Kim, Katelyn and Caroline


Ulysses S Grant's cabin. Or something...


My favorite picture of the day. William was being crabby and "Auntie" Laura was able to turn this around for us. He LOVES those sunglasses (who wouldn't?)

Happy Father's Day!

Father and Son
Father's Day 2007

Today was Father's Day and also new member Sunday at our new church. William is beginning to be quite the blabber mouth during church services and without the pacifier (still refuses it), it is impossible to keep him quiet. I guess it might be time for us to try out the nursery one of these days. William got John a great present today: William slept in until about 9:15am! It was wonderful, although it made things a little difficult to be leaving the house for church at 10am for church.

William enjoyed a nice midday nap so John and I had a nice relaxing lunch together. You know, the kind where you talk to each other about things other than: did you hear him spit up? Have you seen the blue puppy toy? Will you hold him while I eat my [insert food here]? We also had time for a quick haircut before the boy woke up.

John got lots of kisses from William today as well as a HUGE bag of M&M's, an umbrella stroller and a homemade dinner. We grilled hamburgers (John's favorite) and had potatoes and corn on the cob. Yummy! All in all a very nice day. Here are some pictures of "the boys" hanging out together (I admit it, I took these yesterday).

Kissing Daddy (and laughing too!)

Mmmm...Daddy!

If you look carefully, you can see the long string of drool that comes from John's cheek to William's mouth. Gotta love those kisses!

Today was also day two for rice cereal and it went very well and even less messy than yesterday. William ate very well and probably would have eaten more if I would have offered it to him. Medicine also appears to be working well. I am compelled to add "so far" to the end of that last sentence.

Rice, Cup, Daddy

At our last doctor appointment, the doctor advised us to begin feeding William rice cereal around the time he turned 5 months old. As the 5 month mark approached, I found it more and more difficult to wait. On Friday, William was officially 20 weeks old - close enough to the 5 month mark for me. Also at play is our upcoming trip to MN a few days after he turns 5 month old. I wanted to either wait until we got back or start a little sooner to get the feeding established. Well, we all know how I am about waiting...so today began the rice cereal.

I really felt like he was SO ready. He (I think) really liked eating it and sucked happily at the spoon. He opened his mouth up like a champ each time I came with the cereal on the spoon. Getting the spoon past the hands was more problematic... The mixture was very much more on the liquid than solid side, but that is okay. It made a nice mess and I think went well. Here are the pictures of William's first rice cereal feeding from this afternoon.

Before: clean and happy!

The first bites

Mmmmmm....

Open wide...

Halfway through, we switched spoons. This one held a lot more liquid. I thought it had a better chance of getting more in that mouth. I think it just made a bigger mess.

The end mess...

Boy, was that good! I think if I would have made more, he would have gobbled it right up! We didn't want to push it today though. It was more for fun than for filling him up.

After dinner, we went for a walk though our neighborhood and upon returning, those of us that walk we quite warm. So, we went and got us some cold water from the fridge. In the past few weeks, William has become a pain when you are trying to comsume something while holding him. He wants to hold/eat/suck/lick whatever you are holding on to. So, after trying to hold him and drink water, I opted to pull out his sippy cup. I put a tiny bit of water in the bottom of it and pull out the suction thingee in the lid and let him have a go at it. This isn't the first time he has used his cup and he was delighted to see it again. He still has no idea how to operate it (see: pool post from a few days ago), but enjoys using it very much.

William attempts the cup

The cup vs the Boy


Mouth open...check!

We found the liquid more likely to go in his mouth with gravity on his side...


Perfect! Hands AND feet!

In the last week or so, I began noticing a very peculiar trend. William became a entirely delightful baby when his father was around. In the last two days, the daddy's boy syndrome has come to a full head. The evidence: I tried to put William down for a nap both today and yesterday with no luck. John waltzed (or maybe polkad) his way in and within 8 minutes had the Boy snoozing peacefully in his crib. Not a tear in sight. William also bounces and giggles when his daddy enters the room and today demonstrated his desire to be held by his dad by throwing his entire body weight towards John while I was holding him over an unforgiving hard surface. William loves his daddy. It is perfect timing for tomorrow's holiday. More on this subject tomorrow...

So far so good...

I'm afraid to be too optimistic to early, but I wanted to post that things appear to be better. I'll give it a few days to pull together an evaluation of the whole situation. Then, we'll have to decide if we continue with this new medicine. All areas have gone much, MUCH better today: sleeping, eating, overall mood, and crying.

My only compliant is small: flavors. Why on earth do the makers of these drugs produce things for infants that have any flavor at all? (Sorry Cathy...) When William was a few weeks old, we had to introduce him to the WORST smelling vitamins ever. They were supposedly "fruit" flavor. The poor kid hadn't ever had anything except milk and he was supposed to like something FRUIT flavored? Give me a break! It took well over a month for him to willingly open his mouth for those bad boys. Finally John tried them to see how yucky they actually were. Then, came the Mylanta. Which, as far a s I know, doesn't come in a children's version. And if it did, it would cost $30 more just for being the "children's" version. It is peppermint flavored. And yucky. The poor (POOR) kid hasn't had anything but milk and now "fruit "flavored vitamins, and I 'm supposed to make him take something peppermint flavored? That didn't go very well at all. It took close to a month for him to tolerate the Mylanta and then the vitamins (he quit accepting the vitamins when we introduced Mylanta). Somewhere in the mix, he has also had both grape and cherry flavored (come ON!) Tylenol as well. Those weren't as bad with the exception of the staining red color of the cherry (please note: the spit up for the next 3 hours will also be red colored and will stain everything).

Now, this new medicine: BUBBLEGUM. It will be YEARS before this child will ever know the true experience of bubblegum in his mouth (or longer). He has really ONLY TASTED MILK! Who comes up with this stuff? I know it is supposed to help kids take their medicine, but how about something we can work with? Although I am complaining about it, it has actually been okay. William makes some great faces while taking the medicine, but it goes down every time so far. We'll keep you updated as to how things progress - I'm hopeful this will be the fix we were looking for.

A possible Solution...

I was able to call into the nurse I talked with yesterday this morning. The doctor is recommending we try a stronger medication for the acid reflux in hopes of getting it under control a little better. We picked up the prescription today and started it this evening. The nurse told me it would be a few days before we see a marked difference and at least a week before we see the full effects. We hope it is the answer we are looking for. We managed to get together with a play group from our church this morning and William enjoyed himself very much. He enjoyed the women telling him how handsome he is (no wonder his head is so big) and watching the other kids run around and play. He was fascinated by two boys who were roller blading around the tennis courts. I think he could have stayed there all day long and watched.

On the way home, William fell asleep and that was the big nap of the daytime. Twenty minutes on the way back home was it until later in the afternoon when he finally was exhausted enough to shut his eyes for another half hour. Blech. If this keeps up, I'll never get lunch before 3:30...and then John is hungry for dinner when he gets home at 5pm. He can't understand why I'm not interested in dinner these days. Oh well.

The big news is that our neighbor was throwing away a little kiddie pool that had a hole in it. We scooped up our prize and I cleaned it out this afternoon. I filled it up with less than half of an inch of water (and then it leaked!) and left it to warm in the sun. We tried it out when John got home - we had a lot of fun! We took the umbrella to our patio table and positioned it to shade the pool. It is orange, red and yellow striped - which make William look a very funny shade of orange...

William in his new suit...with built in diaper!


Fun Times in the pool!

We found a cup necessary to rinse away the spit up...William enjoyed practicing using it.

"This doesn't seem to be working..."

If you look carefully, you can see the water pouring out onto his lap...


Time to get out!

Wrapping up in a towel...how did I (Kelly) end up so wet?

Mmmmmm...Spit up. I don't know if we'll be invited to many pool parties with the water looking like this after only fifteen minutes in the pool...(see the white floaties?)

When will I learn? Rules, part 3

I stand corrected. Yesterday I stated then when William FINALLY falls asleep, he usually stays that way for at least an hour or so. Obviously, he heard me and today did not take a nap longer than 15 minutes between 8 and 4pm. These two brief intermissions in my day were most welcome...just as I got started cleaning up the kitchen, William awoke crying and utterly lonely (I guess). Today is the day I finally gave in and called the doctor's office.

I will start by saying I don't really think there is anything wrong with him. He did get two teeth in over the weekend, which I'm guessing is at least part of the problem. But, I don't have anything else to go with. He has no fever, no runny noise, no coughing or any other symptoms. But, we are now going on day (too many) of unhappiness and I can't figure it out. So, I called the nurse. I thought she was going to blow me off and tell me to just keep on trucking - this is life with a BABY after all. I was pleasantly surprised when she became quite thoughtful and asked me it he was spitting up more. Ummmm...more than what? I then explained that I was nursing all the stinking time as that was really the only thing calming him down (just call me a Dairy Queen - I'm sure my request for a tiara and my likeness in butter will be granted by the ADA shortly). We have gone from feeding 6 times a day to 8-9 feedings a day. He hasn't required this many feedings since he was just over a month old. So, of course he is spitting up a lot - at least 2 feedings worth every day on top of his regular fountain.

Turns out, when kids get teeth, they drool a lot. When they eat while teething, they swallow a lot more drool and this can upset the acidic balance of their stomach. We talked a little bit more and then she told me she would call back after talking with the doctor about the situation. She promised to call me back by the end of the day. So, like a responsible parent, I kept the cell phone glued to my side for the rest of the day. I checked my cell phone ever 3-5 minutes to make sure I hadn't missed anything. I called John twice to make sure the phone was working. Then, I turned the volume down when William FINALLY decided that he was exhuasted at 4:30. Unfortunately, I was exhausted also and I didn't hear the phone ring when the doctor called at 4:55. When I woke up at 5:15, the doctor's office was closed for the rest of the day....guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what they recommend.

Just to keep everyone straight, I am not complaining (okay, yes I am). Just because I spend most of my day parked on the couch nursing and the rest of the day wiping spit up off of various surfaces (couch, carpet, toys, William, me, etc) and doing laundry full of spit up doesn't mean I'm unhappy. Au contraire, my friends. I am very happy - I just wish my happy boy would come back to stay.

Rules have changed, Part 2

The rules and the framework of our day are still in limbo. Not the fun party game kind of limbo either. I try to write upbeat stories and leave the impression I am having a great time. Because I am. But, the last few weeks have been challenging. I still maintain standard rule #1 that we started with:

#1. Everything can go wrong and be crazy as long as the baby sleeps through the night. I will be happy as long as I get a full nights sleep.

William was kind enough to oblige us with this around the 6-7 week mark. A sigh of relief went through the crowd at that point. All two (2) of us. Yet, we still are struggling. Yesterday brought a melt down in the afternoon. I'll spare you the details, but I made adjustments today and thought we would give it a shot. No dice. In fact, the melt down today started 4 hours earlier. I am at a loss and crabby about it for one main reason: school is out. That means the other moms I work with are home and ready to play. Not us! The call sounds something like this:" When would be a good time for you on Thursday?" I pause and think for a moment and mull it over. " I don't have any idea..." is my honest reply. Here are the things I thought were set (otherwise known as rules)

1. The pacifier is always welcome and 98.56% of the time leads to sleep. NOW: The pacifier makes him angry. As he settles in, I think "Ooohh, if I just stick that in his mouth it will push him over the edge into sleep." Wrong. If you put it in his mouth, he will become Angry and not sleep. Ever. That is unless HE finds the pacifier on his own and puts in it his mouth. Then he is...sleeping.

2. Every 3-4 hours he will nap for at least 30 minutes. Sometimes up to 2 hours. NOW: He will nap only as a last resort. He is too busy (I think?) to slow down for a nap. The last three days it appears we are moving into a morning/afternoon nap routine. When he goes down, he sleeps for at least 2 hours. That is IF you can get him to go down to begin with. The battle continues.

3. Sitting on my lap and singing songs is fun! NOW: Singing songs and sitting with mommy is only fun if he is pulling my hair. Or kissing (read: drowning) me. He is happiest when he is doing both.

4. Riding in the car was a tolerable experience, given the car is always in motion. NOW: Being strapped into the carseat is worse than having to eat your vegetables. Crying and general ear splitting unhappiness will follow until he is 1) unbuckled or 2) someone climbs over the seat to entertain him. Option 2 may or may not work. Bring on the trip to ND in 2 weeks!

5. Waking up from a nap, getting a new diaper and then being fed is a recipe for the happiest baby ever. NOW: Even though all his basic need are met, fussing and complaining are common. We are left with looking at each other (John & I) and shrugging our shoulders.

I can't think of any of our other rules/not rules at the moment. But, I'll put them up if they come to me. I have plans to give a call to the dr's office if this continues for a few more days. I can't figure out what is going on (besides teeth) and would like ebola, TB, or ear infections ruled out before we travel.

The sweet baby sleeping today. Note the use of the pacifier. Note he is actually sleeping and I am actually in there taking pictures. Wise idea? Who knows? And the bear...a gift from one of my students this year. He loves the silky (?) interior fabric. I'm considering going out and seeing if I can find a few to keep in reserve in case this becomes an "important" toy. Even if the idea of a bear's head coming out of a blanket kind of freaks me out.


The feet. Definitely IN these days. In the mouth, in the hands, in the nose...etc.


William has can't get enough of the ball John got from our friends for his birthday. Although, it is frustrating because it keeps rolling away....WAH! He does have a surprising amount of control with it though. Scary! He might have coordination!


The teeth are tricky to get! At least on this one you can see that he is (finally) getting some eyebrows...

Two teethand lots of fingers!


Two teeth!