athinker

Apparently Peyton Manning is a Saints fan and the Colts defense didn't get the memo this game was important. We had a good time watching the game and an awesome day swimming today. There are even photos of me with my baby.

I think I have scrapped 365 for now, not because of lack of photo taking but for lack of organization/uploading.

Some random photos for now:

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
Gave birth.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I think I just resolved to survive. I don't have resolutions, but I have goals.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Besides myself, new friend Eleigh.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My grandmother, but it was her time.

5. What countries did you visit?
The U.S. and the Bahamas.

( The rest... )

He has the cleanest two nubs of toofs ever.
( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Like I said. I live in the middle of nowhere. I'm pretty sure I could never live close to people again. By close, I mean within a 1/2 mile radius. I am a farm girl.

I may or may not have had a child simply to take photos of them. It is seeming more and more likely that is what has happened. Anyhoo, observe: the rare no-necked giraffe-

Daww, in Daddy's Radio Flyer from when he was a kid.
( Read more... )

Re: my living room. After looking at the pics, I feel the need to justify a couple of things.

It was not supposed to be "Cheese in a Can" or "Oh Shit! I'm YELLOW" Yellow. It was, however, painted from a brown faux wood panelling with no less than two coats of (should have been tinted) primer and two coats of "Goldenrod" by me when I was 36.5 weeks pregnant. We'll discuss repainting after everything else in the house gets its first coat. That will be the play/family room, guest bedroom, and office. Also, painting of the plank flooring of the play/family (rumpus?) room and refinishing the guest bedroom floor.

Trim. Now that the floor is finally done, this is biggest on my list of omgmustfixnow. Problems standing in our way: don't know what to do about color/finish and we're poor. Our lack of fundage impacts the fact that we wouldn't have to worry about color if we could afford a nice hardwood and just stain it to match the floor. I want it to look nice, but I also want to buy it before next year. Alas, winter is rapidly approaching and we have to dump a few grand into our HVAC.

My husband has taken up rocketry?  A la sixth grade level home made rockets.  He messed around with rockets and home built rc aircraft when he was a kid.  I guess it is a cheap thrill, and as long as he doesn't build an expirimental aircraft Owen could theoretically drift away in, I am okay with it.  I do sort of worry about all of his googling of "homemade rocket fuel."  That just sounds like something that gets you put on some list somewhere.

Oh well.  I have been taking a million photos of the boy recently.  If fall has no other redeeming qualities, it is a decent backdrop.
 

( +3 )

Still in denial about it actually being fall, since we didn't really have a summer, but baby boy looks cute with his giant pumpkin. Showing off his mad standing skillz.

I wanted to post a reminder of how giant my child is. Huge. Freaking huge.  He is around 3.5 months old, I don't feel like busting out the calendar to decide how many weeks he is.  I bought him a 6-9 month sleeper this weekend (when I decided it would be easier to to buy him new clothes than attempt laundry at my sister's apartment.) I thought he would have room to grow. HA.  The crotch snap pops open when he moves.  I did the unofficial, weigh me, weigh him with me deal and it looks as though he is around 18 pounds, which means he has doubled his birth weight in less than four months.  His rolls have rolls.  He has cottage cheese on his thighs.  Go boob juice?

And we both hate them. Hatethemhatethemhatethem. Ugh. They say the first two days are the worst. Day three and although he didn't scream when I readjusted them this morning, last night was rough to say the least. His casts made him roll up on his side to sleep, so he had gotten used to sleeping on his side and now with a roughly 12" bar holding his feet apart that isn't really possible. The first night we were both so exhausted from him screaming inconsolably for hours that I just passed out with him on my chest. The next night we tried that, and it worked for about two hours. I honestly don't know how we made it through the rest of the night, but like last night, I know it involved lots of nursing and various sleeping positions. Throw in a couple of scream-until-you-are-purple shoe adjustments and you've got a party. Gone is my self-soothing baby who was glad to wake up at 8 to eat, squirm and kick by himself for an hour and fall back asleep until 11 or noon. It was great while it lasted and hopefully it doesn't take too long to get back in some sort of a groove. After not enough shoddy sleep, he's up at 9.

So, the plan is wearing them for 23 hours/day for the next three months.  At three months we go back and have an appointment and hope there hasn't been a relapse.  If no relapse, we start a gradual step down of 20-22 hours/day for one month, 18-20 hours/day for one month, 16-18 hours/day for one month and finally for 12-14 hours (basically for naps and nights) for two to four years.  I am sure by then it will be old stuff and he'll be as fine as he can be with it. 

I feel the need for a PS- We weren't driving with his straps that low and actually in that picture he was in the driver's seat, which is worse.  Richard had started to take them off while we were trying to flag someone down to borrow a tire iron from when our tire blew after our doctor's appointment.  Of course we were 3.5 hours away from home, knew no one and most people I asked acted like I was going to whack them over the head (in broad daylight, mind you) if they did let me borrow it.  I was thisclose to waking up the baby for sympathy points until a super nice girl offered hers.  $375 later Richard has four new tires though!

1.  I would appreciate it muchly if it would not tornado outside.  Our basement/cellar smells way too bad to spend any amount of time down there.*

2.  How can something so cute and so tiny smell SO bad?  Was it something he ate? Har de har har.  Feeding him kind of puts me in a gas chamber.

*Note to self- have Richard clean the basement.

Seven weeks postpartum.  This has to be the trade off I get for getting a kid that actually sleeps through the night, isn't it?  I'm contemplating which is worse, but really since caffeine makes me ill, I guess I'll take pain I can knock out with Advil instead of sleep I can't find in a pill. 

In more awesome news, I am the reason this is out of stock.  I ordered it with priority shipping so it will be here on my birthday.  I told Richard expedited shipping is kind of like wrapping paper, only better.

( Read more... )

Tomorrow is Owen's tenotomy and I am freaking out just a little. I know it is a minor surgery, but still, it is a minor surgery on my tiny baby. They will give him a local anasthetic, insert a blade and clip his Achilles tendon. I know it is for the absolute best, there is no way he will remember it, but man, we've all heard the myth of Achilles, it was the only place that could kill the guy. Okay, I am being a tad dramatic, I just don't really know what to expect.

All along the doctor has told us we can use a bottle to try to calm him, but so far Daddy's finger or the pacifier we tried last week have worked without having to introduce bottles. Since he is 5 weeks and I will have to return to work briefly anyway, I decided to pump for this visit. We gave him his first bottle this weekend and it seemed to work well, so hopefully it helps. Poor kid can't catch a break, thrush, colic, casting, thrush again, and now surgery. Despite all of that, he still seems to be happy, as long as it is not between the hours of 7-11ish pm.

On another note, we got our previews from our photographer...

 

( A couple under here... )

At our 20 week ultrasound we were told that he had club foot on his left side. We were also told that there was a greater chance of other birth defects related to club foot, so we didn't talk about that being the only thing wrong with him. Club foot is fairly common and occurs in 1 out of every 1,000 births. Nowadays this is a fairly easy problem to fix with noninvasive means. Luckily when he was born, he was absolutely perfect aside from his foot.

When we found out at our ultrasound, we started reading everything we could. It was overwhelming at first, especially with the extra added hormones of pregnancy. The more we read, the better we felt about our treatment options and the outcome of those treatments. It is common for surgeons to simply recommend surgery, which is largely ineffective, painful, and unnecessary. We decided to go with what is called the Ponseti Method of treatment, and chose to go with a Ponseti certified doctor. Briefly, the Ponseti Method involves the gentle manipulation of the foot, turning it slightly down/in/up/and then out, with a cast placed with each of these adjustments weekly. This is done for roughly six weeks, starting within the first week of birth. After that the doctor decides if a simple outpatient surgery is needed to clip the Achilies tendon (momma sidenote- OWIE, I don't know how I am gonna watch that one). Then two more weeks of casts until the casting is done and the foot looks 100% as normal as it will be. After that he will go into a brace for 23 hours a day for 4-6 months. After THAT he will wear it at night and for naps for 2-4 years. From everything I've read, the casting goes a lot smoother than the brace. I can't imagine he is gonna love that.

So, we started driving the roughly four hour one way drive to Grand Rapids, MI to the closest Ponseti certified doctor at just 6 days old for his first cast. It is a short procedure and as long as he has daddy's finger to suck on it goes well. We discovered last time he likes the noisy saw to cut his cast off more than them removing it by unwrapping the plaster. He is four weeks old now and in his third cast, we had to leave this last one on for two weeks because the doctor decided to go on vacation. This one just ended up more colorful. We carry around Sharpies in our diaper bag for those who want to sign it. Remember Doodle Bears? I joke I have my own personal Doodle Bear, and when people worry about what to write, I remind them they have 6 more to practice on...

We are taking photos weekly, I only have two on this computer so I will update later to add what the actual casts look like later.
( Pictures... )

<input ... ></input><input ... >