Austin: 3 Months

Austin,

Happy 3 months!

For some reason, 3 months seems like a little milestone to me. You are past the crucial "forth trimester," and we're moving from survival mode to where you're developing habits and more of a personality. The other key difference with this 3 month mark, is that you officially have moved into territory that is all your own. I've spent a lot of time comparing your life so far to your sister's. (I know I shouldn't, but it's only natural) However, when you hit the 12 week mark you got something that is solely yours: a full time mom. As great as your sister's daycare was, I always had the nagging feeling I was going to miss something important. With you, I see it all! And this month brought a lot.

You started this month off by officially moving up to the third floor, into your own room and crib. I spent the first night crying, but you LOVED it! Above your crib are some stickers of jungle animals playing sports, and every time I place you in your crib you look up, smile and talk to your friends. As a result, you are also sleeping a lot better. We consistently get a good 6-8 hour stretch each night before you need to be fed. You then go back to sleep until around 6am. (Since your sister gets up around 7-7:30, this morning one-on-one time has become once of my favorite times with you.) Morning naps still tend to happen on the go, but your afternoon one is in your crib and that has really helped get you on a somewhat set schedule.

A few nights after your big move, it was Christmas. While you really had no idea what was going on, you looked adorable in your snowman jammies and Abby loved opening your presents for you. (I've tried really hard to keep most of the new toys in their boxes. You're not quite ready for them yet and I'd like them to still be new when you are ready. Abby does not like this.) There was a lot of traveling involved with Christmas, and you handled it pretty well. By the time we made it to Mamaw and Papaw's house though, you'd begun throwing up and getting fussy. I thought it was just the traveling, but took you to the doctor when we got back anyway. Good thing, because you actually had your first ear infection. Thankfully, we caught it early and you handled it pretty well.

This month also brought your first trip to the professional photographer (you are a big ham and made the process very easy and very expensive!) and new toys. We tried the Bumbo seat, but it seems you've already out grown it. We brought down the exersaucer and propped you up with blankets, thinking we'd get you used to it and we'd let you grow in to it. However, you surprised us all by loving it! You can already touch your feet on the bottom, hold yourself up without the blankets and have even learned how to spin some of the toys. You LOVE standing in your seat and spinning those toys!

Speaking of standing, it seems to be your preferred position these days. You are usually happiest standing on someone's lap and bouncing. Though, you are also fond of sitting up mostly by yourself, with just us holding your hands for balance. You constantly amaze me with your strength!

Last month brought out your smiles, and while you are still a very smiley kid, we're also starting to get some laughs from you. This usually occurs when I tickle you under your chin or Daddy tickles your back. I can also get you to laugh before your bath. (Though I'm not sure if it's because of the bath or just because you're naked. As much as you hated having your clothes off early on, you think being naked is the greatest thing EVER! Such a boy you are.)

Phew, I told you it was an eventful month! We also discovered your lactose intolerance this month, and that has really helped you out a lot.

You are such a happy, loving little boy! You bring such joy to all three of us each day and we can't wait to see what lies ahead.

I love you,
Mommy

My trip to Crazytown

I used to have have a pediatrician in my territory* that was just nuts. She believed nutrition cured everything and had her ADHD patients sleep on magnets. Whenever she met someone new, she would give them a "muscle test" to show them that "the body wants healthy food."

Said test involved her pushing on your outstretched arm as you resisted. She would then make you repeat this holding a banana then a packet of sugar. Sure enough, you were able to resist more pressure when you held a banana than a sugar packet. Well, duh. Even with your eyes closed, you know the difference between a banana and a sugar packet and your subconscious responds accordingly. It's muscle memory.

Fast forward to yesterday. I had my first appointment with a new chiropractor because my adorably large children have destroyed my back. Sure enough, at the end of my appointment, he asked if I'd ever been muscle tested. He then proceeded to test my arm resistance with and without a vitamin** on my tongue. Sigh. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing.

However, if it takes a trip to crazy town to fix my back pain, off to crazy town I go!

* I say "in my territory" because I wasn't allowed to call on her. My partner knew me very well and knew I would be unable to mask my thoughts of this woman. Even though magnets cured ADHD, so did our medicine and she wrote quite a bit. He knew I'd look at the woman like the crazy lady she was and that would be the end of our scripts. The one time I did meet her, I had to turn my head and busy myself with my dinner not to laugh at her.
**I did not buy the vitamins as was suggested.

Austin, I love you more than cheese.

I love cheese. So imagine my disappointment when my daughter turned out to have her Dad's tastes and won't touch cheese unless it's on a pizza. (or grated Parmesan on pasta, but then only because she thinks it's sprinkles She also hates milk. But loves yogurt?) However, I thought for sure Austin would be my cheese kid. After all, it was one of the few foods I could eat without nausea when I was pregnant.

Not so much.

I've said before how Austin's a pretty easy baby, who doesn't really cry or fuss much. He would have one or two fussy periods throughout the day, and they seemed to be related to his tummy. We didn't think much of it, other than "poor guy," until a few days before Christmas. For whatever reason I was craving dairy and had a dairy filled day: cereal for breakfast, cheese and an apple for lunch, hot chocolate for a snack, more cheese and apples for dinner, and one more slice before bed. (Looking at it like that, it seems excessive but mmm, yummy!) After all of that, my calm baby became very fussy. He was having a lot of tummy trouble and was just not a happy camper. It was at this point that it finally occurred to me that Austin's fussiness might be food related. And since I'd had a heavy dairy day, it was probably dairy related. (yes, this might seem obvious to most people. It was to us too, after the fact.)

So I, sniff, gave up dairy. No milk in my coffee, no cereal, NO CHEESE. :(

And it helped! Austin went from sometimes fussy baby to never fussy baby. I no longer had to watch and hold him as he grunted, kicked his legs and yelled. I was amazed, but a little sad.

Several weeks later, I've been totally dairy-free. I switched to Almond milk* in my coffee and cereal and have avoided cheese.** I'm not sure how long this is going to last, as I haven't asked his doctor yet. Hopefully this is something he'll outgrow, but if not, it's no big deal. It's not like we're a cheese loving family. I already have to avoid recipes with cheese or cream sauces for my husband and daughter. And if I have to keep lactose-free the whole time I'm nursing, than so be it. Because, like I said:

I love my son more than cheese.


*I bought soy milk at first, but a facebook friend mentioned that soy increases your estrogen levels. After some googling (and several absurdly ridiculous articles that told me my son would turn out gay if I gave him soy. do people really believe that nonsense?!?) I was reminded that people with thyroid disease should avoid soy products. Now I use the almond milk at home and save soy for my once a week Starbucks.
**I did have two slices of pizza last night, light on the cheese. He did pretty well, with only a few minutes of gassy-ness that didn't seem to really bother him. However, it was enough for me not to do it to often.

Catching up...

Sorry for the absence, it's been a long and mostly fun few weeks.

We had a wonderful Christmas, and Santa was very good to the kids. Abby got the trombone,* guitar, and Barbie she asked for, along with a giant dollhouse**. After presents and a breakfast of bacon and cinnamon rolls, we headed up to Richmond for Christmas #2. There, we had a day of fun and presents, and we left bright and early the next morning to beat the snow on the way to Manassas for Christmas #3. Again, lots of fun and lots of family time.

Dan had to work for 2 days when we got back, but he was off Thursday-Sunday for New Year's. It was really nice couple of days together, full of shopping trips, playing and meals together. It was SO nice to have him home considering he'd been putting in a lot of hours prior to the holiday. Though, I'm not going to lie, by the time Sunday rolled around we were all ready for our normal routine.

Oh! I totally forgot to mention Austin came home from our Christmas travels with his first ear infection. He handled it pretty well: none of the screaming, fevers and extreme eye gooping that plagued his sister's ear infections back in the day. He did have a little tummy trouble after the first few days of antibiotic, but he seems to be doing much better now.

Anyway, after the new year Dan headed back to work for a day and then headed up to Toronto on Tuesday. I'd invited my sister down for a day to help, play with the kids, and to catch up. Unfortunately, Abby woke up Tuesday morning with a fever of 102. She was pretty upbeat, and the doctor said it was just a little virus. However, by the afternoon she was in a miserable, zombie like state. She stared at her lunch plate of yogurt and chips (her favorites) and asked to go to nap. By the time Kelsey got here, she wanted nothing more than to cling to me. She was doing much better the next day, but poor Kelsey didn't get a lot of fun time.

30 minutes after Kels left, I had a fever of 102 and was very quickly hit with that miserable zombie like feelings. I called a neighbor to bring me some Tylenol (go figure I'd be out!) and put on the TV until it was time to put the kids to bed.

That brings us to this morning.

Abby's almost completely better, and my fever is gone. I still feel crappy, but hopefully taking Abby to preschool this morning will help. Dan comes home late tonight, so I will be disinfecting what I can in hopes that he can escape this misery.

And, we are now caught up. I apologize if this isn't very interesting (or even very coherent) but I felt like everyone needed an update.

I'll be back soon to explain why I love my son more than cheese.

*It's a trombone shaped kazoo. After a few tries and demonstrations on how a kazoo works, she's now an expert. She loves to march around the living room playing her trombone.
**It's taller than she is, with three stories and an elevator. It took ALL DAY to put together. Though, in retrospect, in would have taken far less time if Abby hadn't been in the room "helping."