Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Ready for Christmas

Okay, Santa. Anytime you're ready.

Monday, November 26, 2012

No Sleep for Banditos*

This was an old post that somehow never got published. So here it is now. 

So ending swaddling has been hit and miss. The first night, Guy kept a pretty normal sleep schedule - Down at 8, up at 12 and 3, and up for the day at 7. But last night, he apparently decided that sleep wasn't his favorite. Because he was up at 9, 10, 11, 12:30, 1:00, and 2:30. I finally broke down at 2:30 and brought him to bed with us. He sleeps much better when he's cuddled next to me. So, I finally got to sleep from 2:30 to 5:30, before he woke up and demanded feeding.

(To be fair, Greg did the 10 and 1 a.m. checks. So I did get a little bit of sleep.)

I'm a zombie today. I made the full-force coffee instead of the half-caf that we usually use. Because I need a little kick today to make sure I don't fall asleep at my desk.

The thing is, it's so hard to be mad at the little dude when he starts giving you this face at 6:00 a.m.:


Cute little jerk. 

- Jennifer

*Title shamelessly stolen from a Hanson album. Because I'm awesome. 

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Silver Dollar City - Earlier in November

A few weeks ago we took our first real family trip. I have a lot of fond memories of going places with my family growing up, and it's exciting to think that we are starting to create a whole new set of travel stories. I know Guy still has a ways to go before he is able to remember these ventures, but we're at least working on the form.

Traveling with a baby is something that requires some planning and coordination. It's not the same as picking up and leaving with two adults. Luckily we had a good support team with Granny and Papa and their big ol' RV. I had not traveled in an RV before, and it was quite the experience, especially on the winding roads of the Ozarks that the GPS navigated us on. It was all I could do not to break into the fridge to down a beer or two to calm the nerves!

Guy did great on the drive up, with barely a whimper. We only stopped once for a quick feed at the Walmarts. The stay in the RV was likewise painless. He slept in a little baby tent that we borrowed from a friend. He didn't make too much noise at night either, allowing the old (and young) folks to get their sleep. This also happened to be the first weekend where Guy exclusively breastfed. (Although in retrospect we were about to head into a period of trials with the mouth issues and lots of bottle feeding.)

Silver Dollar city was quite delightful. The weekend really made us feel much more free to be able to do things. Guy did great in the cold bundled up in his stroller. Anytime that he got fussy we would stop and Jennifer would feed him. Of course while they were occupied Jesse and I would go and hop on a ride or two. Oh the life of a mom. Once the breastfeeding is over I'm sure that the riding will be much more equitable.

The only downside to the trip was that the very end marked the start of Guy's fussy mouth problem. Overall everything was a lot of fun, and went really well!

Please excuse the photographer's finger.


The Happy Family

What's Goin On

I can't believe how much Guy is already changing. Every day is just kind of amazing.

For instance, today I flipped him over on my lap for tummy time. This usually results in him gnawing on my leg and intermittently looking around. But this time, his head popped up at 90 degrees, and he just looked all over the place. Like it was no big deal. For five minutes (or more). I just patted his little butt and marveled at the fact that he already looks like he could start crawling.

He has also discovered that his hands can touch one another. He brings them together in front of himself and worries them over one another, his little fingers working overtime to understand what is happening. Sometimes his eyes follow his hands, and I can almost hear his thoughts: "Woah. Dude. That hand....is touching the other hand....is touching that hand. I can FEEL it, man! They're touching each other, and I can feel them BOTH! ARE YOU GUYS SEEING WHAT I'M SEEING?"

We put him to bed tonight without swaddling him for the first time ever. He's gotten much more mobile at night, and I'll come in to find both his arms have worked out from the bottom of his swaddlers and pulled the fabric up around his neck. It worries Greg, and frankly, I don't feel too comfortable with it, either. I've also come in and found him on his side. I worry about him ending up on his belly still swaddled, his face smooshed into the mattress. There are too many horror stories about suffocating children. I don't like it. So, we are trying to say goodbye to swaddling. So far, he's been up twice in the first hour. I'm hoping he stays asleep now.

He's also grabbing things much more often. I read the other day that nothing helps develop a child's brain more than reaching and grabbing items, so I try to dangle all sorts of things in his face. He goes for some of them, and others he just regards with that look of a stoner staring at a black light - glazed wonder.

We put up the tree today, and I set Guy up in his bouncer, thinking I could probably get the tree assembled and an ornament or two placed before he'd tell me he'd had enough. I put on Elf in the background and got to work. An hour and a half later, Guy was still happily cooing and watching me put ornament after ornament on the tree. I got the entire thing put up before the fussing started. And Greg got the house decorated outside with Christmas lights. It's officially the holidays in the Tatum house!

- Jennifer

Friday, November 23, 2012

The Definition of Irony

On Wednesday night (I presume so he could give me something to be thankful for on Thursday), Guy slept through the night for the very first time. MONUMENTAL. He slept from 8-11 in his car seat at my parents' house, then from 11-7 in his crib once we got home.

Oh, but the irony? Greg got me up at 4:30 because he was violently ill.

Hooray!

Also, I ate myself silly Wednesday night and Thursday. I'm pretty sure I've had 8 pieces of pie in the last 48 hours.

The irony here? Today was the first time I fit into my favorite jeans, and I discovered I'm only one pound away from my pre-pregnancy weight.

Double hooray!

Irony is such a ho....because it can go both ways. :-)

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!!

Monday, November 19, 2012

Long Overdue Three Month Update

It's been a while, clearly. Guy's three month-iversary has come and gone, with nary an update from his parents.

But I have a good reason, I swear. Well, several, in fact. Quick, look at this sweet picture of my husband cuddling with our puppy and playing with the baby boy before I start complaining...


Okay, now. The first reason is that we went to Branson shortly after he turned 3 months. So Guy traveled across state lines for the first time in his short little life. But, since we were camping, there was no wifi to be found, and therefore, no update.

The second reason is that we have experienced a regression. Yes, that's right. After almost two months of agonizingly working to make sure Guy was getting enough to eat, he finally got to where he was an easy baby at home. He would get hungry, I would nurse him, we would be done! Like magic! And then, two weeks ago, I picked him up from daycare, and the gal there said, "He's been fussing a little about eating today."

No big deal, right? I thought it would just be something short-lived. I was sick myself, so I figured he'd maybe picked it up from me and was just having a sore throat or something. So, when he fussed at the breast and the bottle, I chalked it up to illness. But he didn't eat all night, preferring to scream anytime I tried to put breast or bottle in his mouth. He started running a low fever, so I gave him a bit of Tylenol. I barely slept, he barely slept, and I stayed home from work the following day, thinking he was really sick.

Sometimes Guy has to take an extra morning nap with Daddy. 

We went to the doctor, and she looked him over. I prayed for an ear infection. We could handle an ear infection. Instead, she found a large white patch on his palate that she called "very concerning." She referred us to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor and told me that other than that, there was nothing wrong with him. We would just have to wait it out.

So, we then went into The Weekend That Sleep Forgot. Every feed was a struggle. I ended up spooning milk into his mouth all weekend long, because it was the only way he would eat at all, and even then he was very much against swallowing it. I actually looked forward to Monday, when I would get a break from being the Bad Mommy that tried to force him to swallow when it hurt so bad.

After a week of this, I called the doctor again. I'm not sure how many times I've Googled "White patch on throat" and "Sore in mouth" and "Infant mouth ulcers" at this point. I began treating for thrush, hoping that was it, but to no avail. There was no improvement. We got an immediate appointment with the ENT, and I breathed a sigh of relief. He, after all, was named DR. GUY. Yes, that's right. Dr. Guy was going to know what was wrong with my Guy.

When we saw the doctor, this is the closest approximation I can come up with for his reaction:

"Hm. That's....strange."

Helpful, right? He asked us about all these things, like was Guy intubated at birth? Did we let him fall asleep holding a bottle? (Like he can hold anything to his mouth for an extended period of time anyway.) Did we give him a pacifier a lot?

All the answers were no. Meanwhile, my little heart is just breaking into a thousand pieces. Even the ENT is stumped, and that means there's no clue as to how to proceed. At the end of the appointment, he says it's basically a "flaw" in his palate, and that we just have to wait to see if it will go away. I can give him Tylenol, but there's nothing else for it. So we made an appointment to come back for him to check it in January, but other than that, we're at a loss.

Some days he will eat, but only after a prodigious amount of complaining. Sometimes I can get him to nurse straightaway, but sometimes he'll refuse all together. It's all very difficult. And his sleep has not been regularly good, since he's hungry and not getting everything he needs.

Still, even with all of this, we get some smiles that I take blurry pictures of with my iPhone.


So cross your fingers that it all ends soon. That Guy's poor little mouth heals up, and that we get back to the happy, easy time we managed to find for about two precious weeks. Because I SWEAR, this time I will appreciate it. Scout's honor.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Guy of Many Faces

Guy, like his parents, is a chameleon. He wears many faces, so it's only natural that he have a plethora of Halloween costumes to don for his very first Halloween. He had not one, but THREE costumes, all of which are pretty adorable. So here, without further ado, are his best looks:

As the affable, laughable Mickey Mouse, Guy brings smiles to all the kiddos. He qualifies as the Happiest Baby on Earth. Also, he likes to eat his fist. Hot dog!


If you have a pain, Dr. Guy can cure your ills. He's good at finding the funny bone. Some might even call him the cure for the common baby.


And finally, we wouldn't be a nerd family if we didn't nerd him up right for Halloween. Starfleet Officer Guy is just out of this world. ;-)