I'm SO excited!

Guess who FELL ASLEEP watching the mobile IN HIS CRIB, with NO SWADDLE on, for a NAP, and has been sleeping for 45 MINUTES!?  That's right...my amazing Brody!  :)
Ok, I realize this is no big deal to any of you, but I can't tell you how impressed I am right now.  Hence the blog post about it, hahaha.  For one...Brody RARELY sleeps in his crib for naps.  Night time he is a champ sleeper in there, but I have yet to really master getting him to sleep in the crib for naps.  Two, he also rarely falls asleep on his own (meaning not being held in my arms or the car seat).  He has been getting a bit better at this in the last week or so, but I still consider it a success, none-the-less.  And three...um....NO SWADDLE!!!  I don't ever swaddle him during the day for naps, so that's why I'm so surprised that he is asleep in his crib right now without one.  Despite my numerous attempts, he has yet to sleep without the swaddle at night.  :(  So, I know I shouldn't get too excited, because chances are this won't always happen, but I can't help feeling pure joy and excitement right now!  :)  Yay Brody!

Ok he took a 55 minute nap in his crib, and here are some shots of him after he woke up...

(I have a blanket wrapped around him, but his arms were never tucked in so I don't consider this being swaddled).  :)

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a great 29th birthday yesterday!  Monday night I got to celebrate with my mom and dad, Brody and Jeff at the Machine Shed for some delicious down home cookin'.  Then yesterday Jeff came home and surprised me in the middle of the day!  It was nice to have him home with me for a few hours like that.  He had to go back to work around 4:30 until 7:00 though, so Brody and I went to dinner with Mary and Owen!  We had some yummy Olive Garden!  Thanks to everyone for celebrating with me!  It was GREAT!  And I'm so GRATEFUL for you all!
So, I'm excited to say that my handsome little prince decided to gift me with a full TEN hours of sleep last night!  Wahoo!!!!  He ate at 8:30 after his bath, went down about 9:45/10:00 and didn't wake up till 8:00 this morning!  Around 6:30 this morning I freaked out a little and had to go check on him, of course.  He has slept almost that long before, but he's always woken up sometime in the night to fuss a little, before going back to sleep.  But last night he didn't wake up once!  At least not that I heard at all.  What a wonderful birthday gift!  Thank you Brody!! :)

Brody on our way to dinner with G'pa and G'ma V:

At Olive Garden with Mary and Owen (Brody was sleeping in the car seat). 

Brody's day-care lady got him this little doggy and he loves it already! 

2 Months

Happy 2 Month birthday, Brody! 
I couldn't decide what picture I liked better, so here's 2!  Of course he wouldn't smile for the camera...  I promise he smiles all the time, but stick a camera in his face and all he does is stare!

At our 2 month well-baby visit on Friday, Brody measured in at 12 lbs 9 oz and 22.75 inches.  That puts his weight in the 89th percentile and his height in the 67th percentile!  Big boy!  His head circumference was in the 73rd percentile too, but I can't remember the actual measurement. 
Updates:

• Brody has officially rolled over from tummy to back.  Although now his favorite thing to do during tummy-time is suck on his fists.  He only ever rolled over that one day, but we still make attempts and practice every day.
• He's really found his voice!  Seems his coo's and gah's are getting louder all the time, and he even surprises himself with this sometimes.
• We're no longer using the sling attachment in his bathtub as he's gotten so big we don't need it anymore.  And it makes bath time much easier because he doesn't slide down as much.  He still really loves bath-time and is starting to splish-splash around in there a lot more.
• Brody still enjoys being swaddled at night, but I'm hoping to try and break this habit soon.  He's almost outgrown the fleece swaddle wrap we have, and the doctor suggested we stop swaddling soon anyway so that he can move his arms freely and suck on his hands to soothe himself, etc.  I'm nervous to start trying because I know he won't sleep as well without it, but...it's for the best.  I'll keep you posted how it goes..
• Brody is actually a super sleeper at night!  He has been sleeping for 6-9 hour stretches pretty consistently now (another reason I'm hesitant to stop swaddling).  We've yet to master a strict bed time, though.  It varies night to night from 8:00-10:00pm, depending on his eating schedule.  I'm really going to try and work on this in the next couple of weeks though since I will be going back to work soon.  But regardless of what time bedtime is, we have a routine of a bath every other night, then pj's and swaddle, Jeff gives him a bottle (of breast milk) while I pump, then he usually falls asleep in Jeff's arms, and off to bed!  We do the bottle/pump at night like that so he gets used to having a bottle and being fed by someone else, so he'll have an easier time at daycare.  Also, it's nice to be able to know exactly how much he has eaten. I think doing this routine has also helped him be a better sleeper at night.  When he nurses, it takes him a lot longer to eat and makes him sleepy and sometimes doze off while eating.  So, I never know how full of a belly he's actually getting.  With the bottle, he guzzles  it down in about 10 minutes, and then we know he's nice and full - which means he'll sleep longer.  :)  For documenting purposes, he is getting a 5 oz bottle at night right now.
• In general things are getting more predictable, which is very nice for me.  We do the eat-play-sleep routine everyday, so it makes it a lot easier to plan out our days.  I'm finally starting to feel more productive now too because of this.  Seems like we are finally figuring each other out!
• I've discovered my little turkey likes to sleep on his tummy.  Eeeek!  I feel so guilty even saying that.  BUT, I never leave him unattended when he naps like this, nor do I let him sleep on his tummy at night.  It's just that he loves to fall asleep on my shoulder, and when I go to lay him down on his back for a nap, he wakes up.  One time I decided to lay him on his tummy...just to see...and he loved it!  Slept for over an hour like that.  So...as much as I hate to admit it, I have been letting him sleep on his tummy for one nap a day.  Which I again, never leave the room so I can keep a close eye on him, but I know it is not recommended, so I'm going to try to work harder on having him sleep on his back for naps.
• Nap-time...unless he's in his car seat, the swing, in my arms, or now on his tummy, he will not sleep on his own.  Ugh....gotta keep working on  this one.  He's still too young to "cry it out", so until then, we'll just keep trying every day.
• He's SO strong! I'm constantly amazed at how well he holds his head up and his arms and legs can really pack a punch. We practice standing on my belly and he seems to really enjoy that.  I also slow dance with him a lot because he loves it!  He holds his head up and stares at me while I dance around the living room.  But, I'm not gonna lie...he also enjoys the Cupid Shuffle at times. :) hahaha

Life with Brody is simply WONDERFUL.  I am seriously dreading the day I have to go back to work, which is fast approaching.  I think I could really enjoy being a stay at home mom.  In fact, thinking about going back to work brings tears to my eyes, so I try not to think about it too much.  Instead I will just enjoy my days at home with my amazing son.  I love you Brody, more than you can ever imagine!

So, having Brody here now really makes me want a nice DSLR camera.  My camera kinda sucks (yes the one I just got this summer), and I'm clearly not very good at photshopping yet!

Still loves his changing table...

Practicing tummy-time...and drooling!  haha 

So precious... 

Bed-time routine.  This is right after his bottle and Gus went and curled up with them.  Love my 3 boys!

Such a perfect little face.  :) 

Posing with Santa at his first Christmas party.  (This was at his future day-care lady's house) 

Love my lil' man... 

Napping on his tummy... 

And in case anyone was wondering how our diaper supply is going...

I'd say we have about 3/4's of what we started with.  Not bad for 2 months!  Wonder how long it'll be before we have to start purchasing diapers ourselves.  How lucky are we?!



Awww....

We enjoyed a play date with cousin Owen and Aunt Mary today out in Muscatine.  I had to post this cute pic of the boys just hangin out.  Thanks for taking this, Mary!  Owen did so well posing with his little cousin.  :)

Future Best Buddies

This is one of my most favorite pictures of cousin Owen...

And now Brody...

I think Owen is 9 weeks in his photo (Mary, correct me if I'm wrong).  And Brody is 7 weeks in his.  My big guy sure fills out his hand-me-downs from Owen!  :)

All smiles

Brody is 7 weeks old today and full of smiles!

Pic of Jeff trying to get Brody to smile.  We've found that our little weirdo loves to smile at fart noises.  Hahaha...

Brody's first Thanksgiving is coming up and we can't wait to see all our family and enjoy some delicious food!  Gobble Gobble!

Rolling Over

We've reached another milestone!  On Friday Brody successfully rolled over from tummy to back (a couple of times, actually).  Hooray for Brody!  And hooray to me for capturing it on camera!...

(Even though this video starts with him on his side, he really started on his tummy but was on his side when I started the camera).

I'm still trying to capture some smiles on camera.  Got a couple more.  Isn't he just the cutest!?!

Here's a video of Brody talking to me and Eeyore.  :)

First night out

Jeff and I had our first night out on Saturday night!  We went to dinner at Biaggi's and were going to go see a movie but decided to hang out with friends at a bar instead.  Thanks to Grandma Vera for babysitting! We had a great time!

Oh my!

Brody was weighed again at his doctor visit yesterday and is already 11 lbs 2 oz!!  At just 5 weeks, my baby is growing like a weed!  In fact he has outgrown most of his newborn size clothes.  Look at the stack I already pulled out of his closet and drawers...holy smokes!  We're also out of newborn size diapers and moved on to size one!  (Actually we did this at about 3 1/2 weeks!)   :)
We also reached a milestone last night.  Brody slept for 7 hours!  Well, sort of...  I fed him at 8:30 after his bath, then put him to bed and he didn't get up again till 3:30!  I was so impressed!  We also tried something new last night and instead of waiting for him to fall asleep in my arms after eating, I put him to bed awake, turned on his mobile and after a little bit of fussing (although no actual crying), he fell asleep on his own.  He did that at both 8:30 and the 3:30 AM feeding.  I'm sure I can't expect that every night, but it is so refreshing to know that maybe hopefully getting up every 3-4 hours in the night can end soon!
Here is another attempt at capturing that precious smile...

One Month Old!

As of last Friday, 11/5/10, my sweet baby boy turned one month old!  I can't believe how fast time flies!
A few of Bro Bo's (our nickname for him...short for 'Brody Boy') favorite things...

Sleeping in my arms.
Going for rides in the car.
Spending time with friends and family.
Smiling in the morning.
Kicking and punching all day long.
Being swaddled at night.
Hanging out in the Baby Bjorn (which he's doing right this very moment).
Taking warm baths at night.
Listening to me talk to him all day.
Making eye contact and staring into your eyes.
Laying on his changing table just looking around.
Cuddling with everyone!

He also loves to scare his momma.  OK, this one probably isn't true, but he has certainly done just that quite a few times in the last 2 weeks.  In addition to the bloody stools, now it seems Brody has caught his first cold.  Ick!  Snotty nose, chest congestion, sneezes, coughs, and all.  Luckily no fever though!  We are hoping he feels better soon...this is too much stress for his momma. ;)
An update to my last post regarding the bloody stools...  We saw the pediatric gastroenterologist last Wednesday and he felt fairly certain that Brody had a cow's milk allergy.  How can that be with a breast-fed baby, you ask??  My initial thoughts too...I mean hello, I'm not a cow!  Apparently the milk I drink, passed along to him through my breast milk, can cause the allergy.  I really felt this wasn't what was wrong with him though, since I hardly drink milk at all, but decided I should take doctor's orders anyway.  He said the allergy can cause colitis, an inflammation of the colon, which in turn can cause blood in the stool.  So, our orders were to first, get some blood work and stool samples done at the lab, then immediately start Brody on special formula while I pump and freeze my milk.  We also had to start taking a pill called Culturelle, which is a pro-biotic and will help balance the good and bad bacteria.  We were to do this for one week.  So, we did.  But, the next day Brody was SO constipated and just super super crabby all day long.  He went from having a bowel movement with every feeding, to not having one at all in a 14 hour span.  Plus the blood in his diapers was even worse, and even had two movements that were pure blood.  I called the gastro's office and told (cried my eyes out, rather) them about everything that was going on.  She scheduled us to come in again first thing the next morning.  Things got better that night with Brody, but I went in the next morning anyway.  The doc said the constipation was typical when switching over to formula, so we should continue what we were doing until next week and if he got constipated again, give him some Miralax (stool softener).  But before we left he wanted to call on the results of the stool study from the other day.  And man, am I glad he checked on them, because it turns out, my poor baby had an infection all along!  Something called Clostridium difficile, which is apparently really contagious and just all around icky.  So, now Brody is on an antibiotic every six hours for ten days.  The doc still wanted me to continue with the formula/pumping/pro-biotic regimen until our next scheduled visit though...just to rule out the milk allergy.  I'm happy to report that as of today, there is no longer blood in his stools and after a follow-up phone call from the gastro's nurse this morning, I'm told we can go back to breast feeding right away!  Doc feels the culprit was the C. Diff bacteria instead of a milk allergy, so I got the OK to go back to breast feeding.  If the blood returns, I need to stop right away and let them know, of course.  I'm just so happy that not only is there no longer blood in his diapers, but I don't have to wash bottles and pump parts all day long anymore!  Hahaha.  I guess one good thing from that whole situation is I have a ton of stored breast milk now!  So, I'm definitely planning to take advantage of that and go out to dinner and a movie with Jeff one of these nights, while Grandma V babysits.  :)
So, as of this very moment, Brody has successfully gone back to breast feeding at least once already (I was really worried he wouldn't after having the bottle so much).  Now, I'm anxious to see how my milk supply will be because I think it depleted some these last few days.  Only time will tell.  I feel like a load has been lifted off my shoulders though and I'm just happy things are starting to go back to normal.  Now we just have to get over his darn cold!
On a sadder note, I received a phone call today from my works short-term disability benefits company to remind me that as of Monday, 11/15, my leave is officially over.  :(  I'm continuing to take "Baby Bonding" time, but it's sadly unpaid.  Boooo!

Some more pics to share:

Gus watching over his little brother

Those beautiful brown eyes!

My attempt at capturing that so-stinkin-cute smile of his.  On my phone camera, so it's an extreme closeup and doesn't do his beautiful smile justice, but it's the best I've gotten so far...

PS:  I'd just like to send out a general apology to anyone who has called or texted or emailed me recently that I haven't gotten back to.  Please don't take it personally.  I have been terrible about getting back to people lately.  It's just really been a stressful couple of weeks for me.  But I know that is no excuse, and I do plan to get back with everyone very soon!  :)

Like Mother, Like Son

So, I had my share of stomach problems after having Brody and it seems I've passed along the tummy troubles to my sweet sweet little baby.  We found some blood in Brody's diaper last Wednesday which scared the heck out of me.  I immediately called the on-call doctor in his pediatrician's office who told me since he wasn't running a fever or acting fussy to just keep an eye on things and call the office in the morning. So, I did and brought Brody in the next morning.  They took a look at his diapers (I kept the ones we found blood in) and took a look at him and really couldn't offer any explanations for me.  They gave me a couple of reasons it could have happened, but didn't really know for sure.  And since it seemed to be going away, they told me to again, just keep an eye on it and if it got worse to call back.  So, all weekend I kept watching and although the blood wasn't getting worse, it hadn't gone away at all, so I called back Monday morning.  The doctor responded that he thought Brody should go see the gastroenterologist.  So, we are scheduled to go in tomorrow morning and see the specialist.  I'm trying to remain calm, but with every poopy diaper I change, it makes it very difficult.  I can't help but wonder what could be wrong with my little angel.  And since I'm breastfeeding, it makes me so sad to think it could possibly be ME causing the troubles for him.  And it breaks my heart that he can't tell me if something hurts him....  I am just going to continue to pray for him until I can find out more.  Keep Brody in your prayers for me too...

On a happier note, Brody is 4 weeks old today!  And one of my favorite things about him right now (even though there are thousands) is that right before he drifts heavily off to sleep, he gives me the most precious dimply smile.  I'm sure it's not a real smile, but it melts my heart none-the-less.  :)

Here are some pics and videos to share...

He loves his "mummy" :)

Smiling during tummy time!

Well, hello there handsome!

Ok, I just think this picture is cute.  He looks like Popeye!

Mom, enough with the pictures already!

Happy Halloween!