Tummy Time

Well, Matt should be home from Montreal pretty soon. It's been raining here for approximately the past 24 hours with brief bouts of severe storms and tornado warnings. Never dull, I guess.

Joseph and I went to the pediatric GI specialist the other day. Turns out that he's a "textbook" reflux baby. And he's got "textbook" symptoms of dairy and soy sensitivities. So, I've gone non-dairy and soy-free (so much harder than it sounds), we've had to buy all new baby food (Gerber can't guarantee non-dairy, I guess), and we've got new tummy medicine: we're on Prevacid now in addition to our Pepcid. The good news is that he's still growing. He's up to 28" and 17 lbs 3.4 oz. I know that may not sound like much, but it's over 1/2 lb more than our last visit. He's not a weed, but he's growing. I'm just glad that he's getting more help for his little tummy and I hope that he gets excited about food in a couple of weeks when his Prevacid kicks in all the way.

Phew

Well, Matt's folks left yesterday after a wonderful week. We had a great time and it was nice to see them again. Hopefully it won't be too long before we catch them again. Here are some pictures from our week vacationing in New Hampshire.

Helping Mommy get ready for Grandma and Grandpa Krones. Or "Delicate Cycle."

Getting our feet wet while everyone else fishes at Lake Massabesic.

Hanging out in the shade at Lake Sunapee (while everyone else fishes).

Staley found her soft cushy seat (in our beach bag) on the boat (while everyone else fishes) on Lake Sunapee.

Joseph loved his lifejacket...on Lake Sunapee...while everyone else fished...

We checked out Nubble Light and got our feet wet in the ocean. No fishing.

Then we had an amazing journey to the top of Mt. Washington. As you can tell, the views were spectacular. As we were walking up those stairs, the sky opened up and it horizontally rained and blew all over us. Matt's mom and I were trying to get back to the car, but Matt had the keys in his pocket and he kept walking away from us. Since we couldn't see where he was going, we blindly followed him...luckily he was heading toward a building (that we couldn't tell existed) that sheltered us until the storm passed.

In other news: I found out that my job share for next year fell through. Due to what we'll call a "glitch" at our district office, the lady who was supposed to share with me accepted a position in another district. So, now I'm trying to decide if I want to continue to pursue a job share or if I just want to go back full time (we could really use the extra income these days). So...that's that.

Happy Birthday and such

Happy Birthday Matt!

This is a milestone birthday year for many of us, and I think that Matt is handling the "turn" quite gracefully. We'll see how well I do when September rolls around...

And, to help him celebrate his birthday (and to visit the rest of us), Matt's folks are out here this week. So, we're excited to spend some time with them. Wish us good weather and lots of fish if that's where we end up.

Who would've thought...

that 2.5 oz of pears, 2.5 oz of bananas, and about 1.5 oz of cereal in a little boy's tummy [throughout the whole day] would make a person so happy? Let's hope this isn't a fluke thing, although he hasn't eaten the past two days, so maybe he's making up for it all...

Bandwagon

Okay, I fold. No promises, but we'll see how it goes. I've joined the facebook nation. Find me there if you feel like it...I'm still figuring it out.

In other news, we've got an appointment with a nutritionist tomorrow morning to [hopefully] figure out how we can keep our little man healthy and growing. I hope to learn something :)

ISB (Incredible Shrinking Boy)

It dawned on me that I had neglected to take our 7 month picture until a little late. I decided that it didn't matter since he probably wasn't remarkably bigger in the week that I missed...

He gets sick of waiting...

All decked out for the 4th:

Ugh

When I was little, I would come home from school and my mom would ask me to tell her 3 good things that happened at school. This was because I was (and still am, to a certain extent) a "half empty" kind of person. In recent years I've really tried to look on the bright side of things and not dwell on the negative (mostly because Matt is an "empty" guy). This week has been quite a challenge for me, though:

• I woke up last Wenesday with a big red lump on my face which I ignored until Saturday when I went to the ER with a swollen face and what was later deemed to be an "infected facial abscess." Sounds great, huh? So, I hid in the house for a few days to only leave 3 days of IV antibiotics until my MRSA culture came back positive, after which point I got oral antibiotics.
• Turns out Matt gave me the MRSA since he's been fighting what he thought were pimples for about the last 6 weeks. He's just healthier than I am (since he gets to sleep for more than 3 consecutive hours), so he didn't end up with such a mess. Now he's on antibiotics too.
• Joseph had a checkup yesterday (since he was small at his 6 month visit), and he's shrinking. Well, not really, he's just growing slower and slower. How do I feed a kid who doesn't open his mouth?! I'm open for all suggestions! So now we've got an appointment with a pediatric gastroenterologist to make sure that there's nothing really wrong with him. He doesn't have MRSA, though. Yet, anyway.
• Matt's grandfather fell in his retirement villiage last week and ended up in a rehab hospital and will be moving back into assisted living (not where he previously was) sometime soon.
• Matt's sister (who was going to help with Grandpa's move and maintenance) fell and broke her ankle on her way home from work Monday night. Now she's in a big ol' boot thing.
• So, the vacation that we were supposed to take with Matt's folks in a couple of weeks is most likely not going to happen.

I know that things have a way of working out and that it can always be worse, so I'm muddling through all of this. The best news in all of this is that we have health insurance. And, I can keep nursing while I'm on my meds (otherwise he probably really would shrink since he won't take a bottle). Matt and I will get better. Joseph will eat (how many kids just nurse?). Grandpa will settle. Mary will heal. We will get to see Matt's folks (just probably not when we'd all planned). And, I still have a half-day spa treatment to redeem that Matt's parents got me for Christmas--it's feeling like time for that! Now, I just need someone to watch the Incredible Shrinking Boy for 4 hours...