New Baby, Coughing Baby, Tired Baby (Me)

I really hope I'm not going to have to resort to writing on here only once a week but it's possible we might be going there.  Monday (finally) marked the beginning of my post baby weight loss regimen and I haven't been to bed before midnight since I've started. You know, I'll take the birthing, the sleepless nights,the sore boobies,the crying, etc any day over having to lose the baby weight. Definitely the worst part about having a baby. But then, I've never been a lover of exercise so it's really no surprise.  Since the program I did after I had Aubree worked so well, I'm doing a very comparable thing this time which has me using weights three days a week, three days of doing ab exercises, and then I plan to do cardio about three to four days a week.  So yeah, it takes up a lot of time...time which I would prefer to be using to do 1,001 other things.  But, if I can lose about 12 pounds, it will all be worth it.

Speaking of child birth, I'm pleased to announce that I have a new cousin..er, second cousin or whatever you want to call it.  My cousin Shannon had her baby this morning at 1:47.  Her name is Finley Mae Frost and she weighted 6 lbs, 12 ounces.  I'm jealous on my children's behalf when I saw how much hair she had.  Not fair!  As far as the name, it was surprise.  They decided on it a few weeks ago but didn't tell anyone.  Finley is a name that Shannon had picked out from the very beginning but Sean wasn't sold on it.  As I told a few people today, we (meaning the mother) usually get our way in the end.  Hehe!  Anyway, it's crazy to think of Shannon with a baby.  I remember her being my baby when she was little.  She's eight years younger so I would carry her around on my hip and take care of her.  My, my.

Now on to my real baby.  We had Brady's follow-up appointment on Wednesday.  Elaine was kind enough to take the girls so I could have some concentrated time with the doctor.  I can't remember if I mentioned it on my last post but over the weekend, while we were at the condo, it seems like Brady kind of went backwards as far as getting better.  The coughing started happening more frequently like it had been previously and you could hear the wheezing very distinctly.  Plus, his sleeping reverted back to the waking up around 4 am although I blamed that on being at the condo.  The appointment started off very poorly when he got weighed and it was 12 lbs, 5 ounces which meant that he hadn't gained any weight in two weeks.  I'm, as well as the doctor, reassured, by the fact that he's peeing and pooping very regularly and I know I have milk so it's not like he isn't eating or anything.  I do feel, however, that he hasn't been eating quite as much lately although I have been blaming that on him just being a fast eater.  From what I understand, taking medications could be affecting his appetite.  So while he may eat each time he's fed, he may just not be eating as much.  The doctor's recommendation was that I feed him more often.  

Next, the doctor listened to his chest and definitely still heard the stuff going on in there.  She checked his ears and found that he very much still had an ear infection in his right ear although the left was fine.  She believes that the the ear infection and the Bronchiolitis go hand in hand and he just hasn't been able to kick it.  She prescribed him another med, Amox, to take for the ear.  He had been taking Amoxicillan before but apparently it didn't do the trick.  She also prescribed him Ranitidine which is for reflux in case that is also going on (he spits up a lot).  

I asked her about whether it could be something more serious like cystic fibrosis but she really didn't think it was that, thank goodness.  She did have him get blood work.  His platelets were just a little high which is indicative of an infection.  His white blood cell count was normal.  

Her recommendation was that we keep him going on the steroid, Budesonide, through the nebulizer and then do the Albuterol as needed.  That's in addition to the other two meds I already mentioned.  So yes, I feel like I'm drugging my kid and nothing is coming of it.  To make matters even more murky, my mother emailed our good friend, Cassy, who is a pediatrician in Massachusetts and she was concerned that he was still taking a steroid because it could have some long term side affects.  We didn't give it to him tonight and I think we need to come up with a game plan on what we're going to do.  The reassuring thing is that she said it's not uncommon for an infant to have this for so long after being exposed to a strong respiratory virus like he was when we all had the horrible cough back in June and July.  If it took me at LEAST four weeks to get over it, it would take that much longer for him.  She had a bunch of other helpful info in her email that I need to think about.

Anyway, that is the saga of Brady.  Despite all this, he's still a happy little fellow with many smiles to share around and even laughter.  We've had him laughing on several different occasions this week and it's just precious.  One of the things I forgot to mention is that he found his feet on September 15 and one of his favorite things to do is put them in his mouth.  I point out that date because all three kids found their feet at 3 months and 1 week.  Maybe that's the universal age for when baby's realize something is down there!  Just wait until he realizes what else is down there...

His sleeping is still leaving something to be desired.  Some of my fears that having a boy would equal a bad sleeper have been realized.  Of course, I'm sure it has nothing to do with him being a boy but he's definitely not as good a sleeper as his sisters.  I wouldn't call it terrible by any means but I also wouldn't say I'm getting very good nights of sleep.  Wednesday and Thursday morning he woke up both times at 4:03.  The next thirty minutes or so involve my putting the binky back in his mouth over and over again hoping he'll just go back to sleep.  During this time, he doesn't cry but makes little restless noises.  Or, sometimes he will fall back asleep (I assume since it's dark) for a few minutes which is basically just long enough to trick you into thinking that you've won.  When it ultimately doesn't work, I bring him into bed with me but lately he's just been rolling around and not sleeping.  The final step is to then take him downstairs to the swing.  The swing has this white noise that plays that sounds like birds chirping.  The extremely unfortunate thing about this noise is that it only lasts for about 10 minutes and then you have to hit the reset button again.  Brady is hooked on that noise.  During the day, when you can see him, he'll be sleeping in his swing and that sound will go off and you'll see him pop his eyes open as if to say "What happened?"  At night, I can't see him but I can here him rustle around as soon as it goes off.  So I pretty much lie there on the futon, next to the swing, at five in the morning waiting to reset the button every ten minutes.  Usually I'll be just ready to drift off into never never land and I'll startle awake when I realize there's dead silence.  On some occasions I'll go through like five or six cycles of button pushing before he'll finally stay asleep without the noise going.  Clearly, I'm not getting good quality sleep during this time.  This morning, after hitting the sack at about 12:30, I prayed a special prayer that he would sleep until six.  My prayer was answered!  I'll be saying another one tonight.  The bigger question in all this is, why couldn't they have made the swing with the ability to keep the noise going continuously??  Seriously, it would make my life so much easier.  

It seems awhile ago now but last weekend we had a very nice time at the condo.  The highlight of the trip, besides visiting with my mother, of course, was Sunday when the Rondinelli's, who are on vacation in Florida, made the trip over from Deltona to spend the day with us.  Freddie and Bruno are addicted to the beach so they fit right in with Calleigh.  Except for a small afternoon break, Calleigh was in the water for about the entire day.  She and Bruno had a blast playing together.  She's got massive tan lines and I have to admit, I'm a bit jealous!  Aubree did really well too in that she'll float around in a tube all by herself and kick her feet.  What a change from back in May when we were there and she sat on the steps with her baby doll the whole time.  Duncan, Ron, and Elaine ended up going home on Sunday evening because Duncan had to work on Monday but my mom, the kids, and I stayed until early Monday afternoon.  We caught a bite to eat with Aunt Shirley and then we had to say goodbye to Gigi whose flight left that evening out of Tampa.  Oh one other thing that did happen over the weekend was that I caught Aubree's pink eye on Sunday.  I used her drops (bad, I know) and it disappeared in about a day.  

Sabbath afternoon walk.

I was there too.  Calleigh looks a little sour because she had just had an accident and we had to make a hasty exit from the playground.  

Sunday afternoon picnic by the pool.

Aubree and her floaty.  Not sure why she looks upset here because she did enjoy it.

Brady's first "swim."  Only fitting that it should be with Gigi.

Calleigh and Bruno.  Three year age difference but they get along great.

On Sunday, while we were there, I had to make a CVS and Walgreens run since it was an awesome week at the drugstores for freebies and good deals.  I haven't done much there lately but this worked out perfectly because the girls were at the beach and my pal Brady and I were able to shop at our leisure.  It was a very successful trip.  

All this for under $2!  

Let's see, as far as this week, what did we do?  Nothing big comes to mind.  Thursday was a good day at Swim & Gym as another girl joined the class so that's fun for Calleigh although she's very happy playing with the boys too.  This morning we had a bunch of yard sales.  I think the season is starting to heat up!  

This afternoon we went to our first festival of the season.  It was over at the Orangewood Church and School.  It was the same one to kick off the season last year.  They had a bunch of bouncy houses and games.  Unfortunately the bouncy houses weren't really conducive to a 2-year old but in the end, Aubree did do one of them and was very pleased with herself.  The weather is supposed to get cooler this weekend and may feel more like fall or so the weatherman said.  The temp will be...wait for it...in the low 80's!!  How funny to say that but compared to the low 90's, I'll take it.  

Aubree sporting the pig tails.  Love this profile picture of her!

An unsuccessful attempt at hoola hooping.

Both girls give it a whirl for the contest.  

Calleigh enjoyed the games.

Waiting in line to go into the bouncy house.

Brady was thoroughly unimpressed with the festivities.

Both boys sacked out after we got back.

Between this week and last, we've done quite a few games and activities and it's neat to see how Calleigh has grown up.  We're now able to play Red Light, Green Light and she'll actually stop when I say red light.  We can play Simon Says and she's aware enough not to do things when I don't say "Simon says."  We can play a whole round of Candy Land without her getting bored.  Some of the things are funny though.  I started rhyming some words and had her pick out some words that rhymed.  For example, I said "cat" and she came up with "hat," "mat," etc.  Then she said she wanted to pick a word.  Her word?  Saxaphone!  If you think of something, let me know.  We also did some opposites such as big and small, night and day, etc.  At one point I said white was the opposite of black which then put her on a whole tangent with colors.  She very seriously told me that purple is the opposite of pink and gold is the opposite of blue and so and so forth.  That's kind of hard to explain.  

The funniest thing happened today.  We were in the Walmart parking a lot and ahead of us a little ways I could see a man with a dog on a leash.  The dog had a vest and the man had dark sunglasses on so I assumed it was a seeing eye dog and launched into a whole discussion with the girls about how people are blind but there are dogs that help them by leading them around and making sure they don't bump into anything.  I really thought I was doing a good job until we got up closer to where they were and noticed the man helping the dog into the car and then he himself getting into the driver's seat to drive off.  I could just see the wheel's turning in their heads as they stared at him.  That left me to say "Well, yeah, he must not be completely blind."  But then I realized how stupid (bad word, sorry Calleigh) that statement was because really, who wants an even partially blind person driving around?  I'm left to assume it was some other kind service dog (although those glasses really had me fooled) but it really was a funny moment when I saw that.  

I"m going to close here as it is 12:30 and time to hit the sack.  Happy Sabbath everyone!