Two Months and an Update

Collier is now 2 months old! His little personality is beginning to blossom and we are learning more and more about what our little guy likes and dislikes. I believe he is going to be our strong-willed child. He's already pretty set in his ways... for example, I'm been nursing exclusive, but occasionally, we'll give him a bottle (so I can get some sleep, etc.) Well he was doing fine taking a bottle every once in a while, until a few weeks ago... he REFUSED to take the bottle. I mean would cry and spit it out! This happened several times, however, one night, I had dinner plans with the girls and my mom and dad kept him. He took the bottle without any fight for my mom. A few days later, I tried to give him a bottle, and nope... wouldn't take it. So this became a battle of wills between the two of us... I was determined to get him to take a bottle from me! I tried on Monday and it took 45 minutes for him to take 3 ounces; I finally thought to hold him against my skin, like I'm nursing, and offer the bottle and to my surprise, it worked! So the following day, I offered the bottle again and he took it without any problems at all. Whitney - 1 Collier - 0

Now that we've gotten him well and his reflux is under control, for the most part he's a happy little boy. He smiles all the time and is making lots of cooing, lots of ohh's. He has even started making what we think is a little giggle. The best way to describe it is that it sounds like he's sucking in air. We were on the go so much at Christmas but Collier did GREAT! He loves his bouncy seat and will fall asleep in it, but doesn't really care for the swing, which surprises me because Noah LOVED his swing. He loves his passy and when it falls out, Ill find him sucking on his fist or thumb. He is always kicking his little legs in the air, especially his right leg... we joke that he looks like he is kick-starting a motorcycle.

Until mid-last week, Collier was still waking every 3 hours to eat. The night he turned 2 months, he slept almost 7 hours. The following 2 nights, he slept 7 1/2 hours. I was ecstatic with what I thought was going to be our new sleeping schedule. However, he's now going 5 hours (from around 8/8:30 - 1:00ish) and then is up every 3 hours following that to eat. He really spoiled me with the 7 1/2 hours of sleep but having a 5 hour stretch is much better than waking every 3 hours all night. He still isn't taking good daytime naps. He'll take a few 30 minute cat naps, but that's about it. We haven't had his 2 month well check yet, but I know he's weighing around 13lbs. He has recently began watching Noah and smiling at him. I'm really looking forward to how much he changes in the next month and watching them interact and play together!

The whole purpose of my blog was to record Noah's progress and I haven't really done that in a while. First of all, he's adjusted to Collier just fine. He really loves him and wants to hug and kiss on him all the time. I really have to keep an eye on him because he tries to touch his eyes, mouth, etc. Noah is no longer a "sympathy" cryer... being around Collier helped him get over that pretty quickly. He also is doing much better at school and at home playing with toys that make noises or are loud. In the past, they used to scare him and make him cry, but he enjoys them most of the time now. He's doing GREAT in his walker and can manuever it all over the place. He can now stand on his own for at least 5 minutes.

However, I'm not going to sugar-coat it...it's been hard caring for a special needs child and a baby. Alot harder than I would have imagined. Noah still isn't walking or talking, but he is cruising. On top of that, he's so tall, that he can reach and get into EVERYTHING. It's like having an almost 4 foot tall 9 month old. He gets into all my drawers and pulls things out; he can get anything off the counters in the bathroom or kitchen; he can reach the ice/water dispenser of the fridge and will press it, spilling water and ice all over the floor; he can touch the top of the stove and grab pots and pans so cooking is VERY challenging. Nothing is without reach of him. On top of that, he doesn't communicate so there is alot of crying on his part out of frustration. If I walk out of the den with Collier (to change a diaper, etc) he cries. I can tell him what I'm doing and that I'm coming right back, but he will still cry and crawl after me. My patience is tested daily... no more like, hourly! I KNOW he understands some of what I say because just this morning, he stood up in the recliner (which is a big no-no) and I told him that I was going to count to 3 and if he didn't sit down, he was getting a spanking. I counted to 3 and he sat down but started crying. I didn't even spank him! So that just showed me that he understands me but really tests me alot of the time.

I recently came to the realization after conversations with Jamie and my parents, as well as one of Noah's pediatricians, that he probably will always have some sort of delay and require special ed classes. For the longest time, I was convinced he would overcome everything and live a normal, productive life. Having yet to receive ANY diagnosis, I convinced myself this was possible. However, I now realize that may not be the case. All of our doctors have really sugar-coated things for me and been very vague whenever I've asked about his future. But finally his pediatrician was upfront with me... which I needed to hear and probably wasn't ready to hear until now. It took a couple of days of me mourning the news, but I'm okay with it now. I realize it's the path God has chosen for us and for Noah and I'm willing to walk that path He chose for us! I'm not lowering my expectations of Noah and I will always push him to do his very best. I do believe that he'll walk and I do believe he will begin communicating with us at some point. He may be different from others but this I know for sure... Noah is the most loving, sweetest little boy. He would never hurt a fly and he has the kindest heart!

Lastly, we will be going BACK to Birmingham in February for Noah to participate in Children's Hospital's Intensive Physical Therapy program again. All three of us! YIKES! Just like this time last year, we will be there for 3 weeks living with my aunt while he gets therapy 3 days a week for 3 hours each day. Since a parent has to stay there and participate while he's getting therapy (and Collier would make that difficult) Jamie will be taking off the latter part of each week and joining us. One of us will stay at my aunt's with Collier while the other parent goes to the hospital with Noah. Noah will be getting therapy on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Jamie will be there for the Thursday and Friday sessions but I will be on my own each Monday. Right now, we aren't sure what we will do with Collier during those Monday sessions. I may find a church (possibly my aunt's church) and put him in their day care... we'll see. Please pray for us during this time as it will be hard to be out of town, without my husband for 1/2 the week, with 3 year old and a 3 month old. Also, please pray for Noah's progress! I would love to bring him home walking!!

Winter Colds

Well, it didn't take long for Collier to catch his first sickness... 6 weeks to be exact. Last Monday evening, he developed a bit of a cough, hoarseness when he cried and lots of nasal congestion. That night, we didn't get a wink of sleep. Our poor guy felt terrible and there wasn't much I could do but hold and rock him. The following morning, I took him to the doctor where I was told that he was too young for any medicine (couldn't they have just told me that over the phone rather than have me come in and pay a $30 co-pay???). The only thing I could do was to use saline and suction his nose periodically. As you can imagine, the following days were rough on Collier... and on us. Not much sleep and a fussy fussy baby. Six days later, he still has a bad cough and lots of congestion. Thankfully, we've managed to keep Noah well, so far. With the exception of picking up Noah from school on Friday, we've spent the week indoors and out of the cold and windy weather.

To be honest, it's really been one thing after another for Collier these past 2 weeks. The week before he got sick, he had an entire day of non-stop crying and absolutely no nap. He was exhausted but every time I laid him down, he woke up screaming as though he was in pain. His poor little eyes were so red and swollen and he looked pitiful. I called my mom desperate for help and we both came to the conclusion that something was obviously bothering him. I took him to the doctor and he was diagnosed with reflux. He weighed 12lbs 12oz and was in the 97% for weight. After looking at his weight gain and talking about his recent behavior, Dr. Allen came to the conclusion that Collier is a very efficient nurser and was overeating causing him to have tummy pain and reflux. Collier was prescribed Zantac and I'm supposed to nurse him half the amount of time that I was nursing him. It took a couple of days for the Zantac to kick in and we finally had a happy, content baby... until he got sick with his cold 1 day later.

Hopefully, we are on the tail end of this cold. I hate seeing my little baby feel so cruddy. Not only that, but I'm ready for a decent night's sleep (as I'm sure Collier is too). After catching the cold on Monday, he had two nights of no sleep, but slept really well Wednesday night and Friday night. In fact Friday night, he almost made it 6 hours between a feeding. However, last night (Saturday night) he was up every 2 - 2 1/2 hours. And I think he may be going through a growth spurt because as of the past two days, he's been acting hungry every 2 hours or so. It's hard to do any Christmas shopping with a sick newborn and all of this cold weather! As much as I don't want to, I may have to resort to giving out a few gift cards to those left on our Christmas list!

**Please excuse my generic blog header/design... my laptop crashed and I'm borrowing my father-in-law's and don't have access to Photoshop. Also, please excuse the poor quality of these pictures... they were taken with my iPhone.


... sick baby boy ...


... this is what we do when we're bored inside, we watch tv upside down ...


... and play in boxes ...


... he may be sick, but he still gave me this huge grin ...

Thanksgiving Rap Up

Being that we are still in newborn baby mode, the holidays really snuck up on me. I feel like it should still be October rather than December 2. Thanksgiving has ALWAYS been my favorite holiday simply because there's less hustle and bustle (compared to Christmas) and it's the official start of the holiday season. I love that Thanksgiving is really about enjoying your family and all of the many blessings in your life. I also love having Jamie home during during the Thanksgiving break. We spent Collier's first Thanksgiving Day with Jamie's family, enjoying a delicious lunch at Deer Step Hunting Lodge. Deer Step is my sister-in-law's hunting lodge and it's located about 30 minutes outside of Florence. It's become somewhat of a tradition for us to have our Thanksgiving meal out there. Collier was perfect and didn't fuss at all while we were there and Noah, Eastlon, and Madelyn (Noah's cousins) had a good time running around and playing in the floor. However, the BEST part of that day was that Collier slept 5 hours that morning (or Wednesday night)from 12:40 - 5:30am... it was GLORIOUS! Jamie and I both woke up when he cried out at 5:30 and when we realized how long he had slept, we high-fived each other! It was awesome to get more than a couple of hours of sleep at one time and we felt very well rested for Thanksgiving Day.

The following day, my aunt Carol and my grandmother, Nonnie, came in town from Birmingham to spend the weekend with my family. They arrived just in time for us to all watch the Alabama/Auburn game at my parents house. Alabama dominated the first half, but to our disappointment, Auburn came back and beat us. Needless to say, Jamie was not a happy camper. I'm pretty sure he would have cried had we not been with all of my family. Since my sister had to work Friday and Saturday (gotta love retail), we had Thanksgiving with my family on Saturday evening, after she got off work, and it was delicious! My mom and aunt made Nonnie's dressing and it is by far, mine and Jamie's favorite. In fact, when Jamie and I were planning our wedding, I joked that I wanted Nonnie's dressing to be served at our reception! It definitely did not disappoint! This was Nonnie's first time meeting Collier and I made sure to get some sweet pictures of her holding him.

On Sunday, we took Collier to church for the first time since his arrival. We had intentions of going the week before, when he was 4 weeks, however, he decided to stay up that entire Saturday night, so we had a change of plans. However, this past Saturday night, he did much better so Jamie and I got both boys up and ready and actually made it on time for Sunday School. Trying to get two kids dressed, fed, and out the door by 9:30am is so chaotic! Once we got in the car, we both felt like we'd just gone through a hurricane! Collier did good in the nursery and Noah enjoyed being back in his class with his buddies. My mom teaches Noah's class so he always loves it!

We spent the rest of Sunday afternoon relaxing at my parent's house. My mom took over baby duty and let me take a much-needed, uninterrupted nap. And like all good things, our Thanksgiving weekend came to an end.

One Month Already?!

I can hardly believe that it's already been 1 month since our sweet little boy entered our lives! Collier has just started to interact a little more these past few days, other than eating, sleeping, and crying. He's begun smiling at us and what a precious smile it is! He has the same little dimple in his left cheek that his daddy and Noah both share. His little eyes are really checking out his surroundings and he's even began cooing at us. He still looks so much like Noah did as a newborn, however, with extra chub and fat rolls. I'm dying to know what he weighs, as I'm positive it's around 10 - 11 lbs already.

Noah is in love with his little brother and constantly wants to give him kisses and hugs. He loves to grab his little hand and just hold on... however, sometimes I have to remind him to be gentle. Noah hasn't shown any jealousy, however, he is very clingy towards me when Jamie's at work and just the three of us are at home. It makes for a challenge for sure, especially when I'm trying to tend to Collier.

Last week, I began implementing a Baby Wise schedule for Collier. Some days he does really well with it and other days are not as good. He still fights sleep alot during the day so it's hard to get him down for a nap at times. However, the BW schedule has helped to spread out his eating to every 3 hours, which has freed me up and is WONDERFUL compared to the eating every 2 hours that he was doing. Each night I go to bed praying that it will be a good one because we never know how he's going to do. Over the weekend, he was up all night and would only sleep if he was held. However, the past 2 nights were much better. He goes to bed after nursing around 10-10:30 and sleeps really peacefully until 1:30 - 2ish and wakes to eat. I LOVE that I'm getting a good 3 - 3 1/2 hours of sleep. However, after his first feeding, he never gets back into a good sleep. He'll doze off for an hour, wake up crying, and so on until it's time for him to eat again. I'm not sure why he can't get back into a good sleep after his first night time feeding, however, I'm hoping it'll change as he gets a little older. Last night, he went 4 1/2 hours between one feeding (from 10:15pm - 2:45am)... that was the longest he's ever gone and it was FABULOUS. Of course, he then was up almost every hour to hour and half following. I swaddle him at night and for naps, however, and he'll sleep really peacefully, but then he also gets hot, so I wonder if that's what wakes him? I'm still trying to figure out what he prefers.

Lastly, Noah has been doing really well with standing on his own. We'll stand him up and let go of his hands and he'll remain standing for a good minute or so, sometimes a little longer. He'll begin to lose his balance, and sometimes sit down or sometimes regain it and remain standing. Last night, he was walking by holding on to our hands and I let go, he stood for AT LEAST 5 minutes! It was by far the longest he's stood on his own without ANY help at all. He had such great balance that he was standing there like it was no big deal! I just wished I could have caught it on camera!

We are so excited about our first Thanksgiving with our newest little guy, as well as spending it with the rest of those most important to us. To be honest, I can't believe it's already time for the holidays. I'm been so preoccupied with our little one that it's snuck up on me. The thought of entering the Christmas season, shopping and getting all the decorations out kind of seems overwhelming with a newborn, however that's not what's important. It's about spending this time with our loved ones and recognizing just how much we have to be grateful for this year!

Mommy Advice Needed!

My first time around when Noah was a newborn, wasn't the "typical" experience, simply because Noah was very weak and sick. He slept literally, the entire day away and we rarely would hear a peep out of him. We woke him up every 2 hours to force feed him just so he would gain weight. So I went into this KNOWING that I would be kind of like a first-time mom again. I was still under the impression that newborns sleep majority of the day. So is this some kind of funny joke, that I'm not getting? :)

Collier is awake ALOT... it feels like he's awake more than he's asleep. He doesn't take long naps, but a few (very) short ones and majority of the time it's when we hold him. If we lay him down, he wakes up. Sometimes the swing works, but not often. It makes for a challenging day because Noah needs me too and I can't tend to him while holding a sleeping newborn. I'm guessing Collier's up to 10 lbs now and my pediatrician told me that once at 10 lbs he should be going 5 hours between a feeding at night, however, he's still nursing every 2 1/2 - 3 hours (at night). During the day, he will act hungry after just 2 hours have passed, sometimes he can make it 3 hours. Dr. Allen told me to try and make him go at least 3 hours between feedings, but then that means I'm doing everything I can for an hour to keep him from screaming his head off. He seems to have tummy/gas issues (even though I'm nursing exclusively and have cut out all caffeine) and we've let him sleep in his carseat with it sitting in the crib at night.

Maybe this is just typical of some newborns, however, does anyone have any tips for getting a baby to take better/longer naps during the day? What about going longer between feedings? Is it "normal" for a 3 week old to want to nurse every 2 hours?