September 24, 2013

27 Years Young!

On Monday, Aug. 26th, I turned 27 years old. As you may have seen on facebook, it was not a fun day! Here's why:

1. On Sunday, I made one of my pharmacy technicians (the pharmacy team lead) go to the doctor because I could tell something was wrong. She ended up being admitted to the ICU where she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. She is doing great now, thankfully! But that meant I had to try to replace all of her shifts for the week on very short notice... So because of this, Monday was short-staffed.

2. Hudson woke up early - at 4:30am. He's never done that since he started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks old!

3. I had to drop Maddie off at the vet's office that morning for knee surgery.



4. My staff pharmacist called in sick - she forgot it was my birthday!

5. The fire alarm kept going off at work because they were working on it. The alarm in the pharmacy is right above my head...

6. The printer kept jamming.

7. The A/C wasn't working so I was a sweaty mess.


Although most of the day was pretty awful, there were some good things too!

1. I received the "Happy Birthday" song via video and voicemail from my nieces and Aunt Roycelyn.

2. I received numerous happy birthday wishes/cards/gifts.

3. The scheduler replaced the evening shift with a float pharmacist so I could leave.

4. I got flowers at work from a couple different family members.



5. Thomas got me a german chocolate cake from my favorite bakery.

6. Thomas got carryout from my favorite restaurant.

7. A co-worker got me Starbucks.

8. And my pharmacy team made me keep smiling alllll day long! Don't know what I'd do without them!


Looks like the number of "good" things outweighed the "bad," so I guess it could have been worse! Either way, I'm glad it's over. :)


4 Months!

Hudson turned 4 months while we were in Jamaica! He rolls from his belly to his back and vice versa. He is constantly grabbing his feet and anything else he can reach. He started to throw little tantrums where he would arch his back and throw his head back. His 4-month shots weren't near as easy as his 2-month shots. He got a little fever and was crabby for about a week. That's when he did the back-arching trick! He wanted to sleep all day and he didn't really want to eat very much. He was back to normal in no time, thank goodness!



Getting tired of me taking pics...
Starting to "fake" cry! He's over-dramatic like his Dad...
And now he's getting really mad! Notice his face is turning red!
When we got back from vacation, we started leaving one arm out of his swaddle at night. He did just fine like that, so we left both arms out. Never had any problems and he still sleeps like a champ!
He loves to snuggle his blanket! 
We started rice cereal when he was about 4 1/2 months!
Being the loudest kid at daycare means you get to hang out with the director at the front desk
so the other babies can sleep! Who needs a nap when you sleep from 6:30pm to 6:00am anyways??
He is so spoiled!
Soooound asleep :) 
Staring contest with Grandma Shelly!
Avery is holding his hand so he doesn't grab her hair again!
He is still fascinated by Great Grandma Hazel. No matter who was holding him, he wanted to smile at her!
He loved the bright colors on her shirt too :)
Aunt Jodie was trying to clean the outside of his ears and it must have tickled!
Together these two are quite the pair!
He thinks he's big stuff. 
Hudson and Callie!! (This was taken just before they were both covered in drool and spit-up haha)
My two blue-eyed boys!
He loves his Meisenheimer Farms shirt!
Thomas couldn't wait to put this hat on him!
I call this his Bob Marley hat/wig :)

He wouldn't wake up for anything!



Jamaica, Mon!

Normally I have to request vacation 3 months in advance at work, but we received an email stating that there was some extra pharmacist coverage. This meant you could request vacation for anytime and it was first come, first serve! Well of course I jumped on that offer! As we talked about where we were going to go, all that kept coming out of my mouth was, "BEACH." Thomas was all about the boring stuff... New York, Maine, Niagara Falls, etc. (Nothing compares to the beach, right?!?!?) Then I finally told him to just book something and I would get to book the next vacation on my own (knowing that the next planned vacation would be longer). So the next night when I came home from work, he was booking a trip to JAMAICA! He found a groupon for a really nice place, and I was ecstatic. Of course, he didn't pay any attention to the fact that we only had time for a 4-day trip and he booked the 5-day trip. Oops! Luckily you have some time to cancel without being penalized, so I got it fixed and we were set. And oh man, I felt like a child before Christmas...

We stayed at The Jewel Dunn's River Beach Resort and Spa in Ocho Rios. And it was maaaaahhhvelous! It used to be a Sandals property, but they sold it. The only complaint I had was that the suites were a little small, but we weren't in the room much so it doesn't really matter! It was a much smaller resort than the others we've been to, but that's what made it so fun. You knew most of the guests because you talked to them everyday. If you forgot something in the room, it was literally a 2 minute walk from the ocean. You knew most of the staff and bartenders. Aaaaand, most importantly, they had PLENTY of bartenders at every bar! In Mexico, there was always 1 bartender to each bar... that's just dumb!

I may have been slightly terrified of the ocean because Shark Week had just ended...


Beach volleyball is a blast, but it requires WAY too much energy to play while on vacation!
The beach was perfect.

Of course Hudson had a blowout the first time I put him in this when we got back!
Luckily, my mom knows a thing or two about laundry... She made it look like new! 
Bonfire on the beach after the reggae dance contest (which was hilarious!)

This was my favorite place to get food. They had this massive oven to cook a bajillion pizzas at one time. 

I'd say I did pretty good with the sunscreen after day 1! Still glowing white!
I know nothing about Chess but Thomas enjoyed watching this match!

One of the swim-up bars

He was bringing me that purple drink... Not sure what it was but it must have been vodka.
I may have gone into a coma if I would have finished it!
Evening stroll on the beach!
My love :)
Emerald Tree Lounge
Sun is coming up... time for the beach!
I was a little worried about how the vacation would be since I'm breastfeeding, but there was really only one time that posed a problem. When we were in the airport in Jamaica on our way back home, we couldn't find a "family room" that I could use to pump. We didn't have much time either! Once we finally located one of these rooms, we discovered it had no outlet. That meant I needed batteries because the ones I had were about dead... Luckily, we had just enough time and we made the flight! "Pumping and dumping" was no fun because I hated to waste it, but I wasn't about to try and get through security with a cooler of breast milk!

While we were having a blast in paradise, Hudson was having a blast back home with family! He stayed with Mark & Shelly on Wednesday night, Trista & Joel on Thursday night and Friday night, and my family on Saturday night. And it sounds like he had plenty of visitors too! It was so cute to watch Thomas monitor facebook for pictures or messages anytime we walked through the lobby with free wi-fi. It was so fun to see pics and hear how he was doing! We sure did miss him! 

August 8, 2013

Changing Every Day

Well I didn't think this kid would ever roll over because he is always asleep! Yesterday he proved me wrong! I caught him wide awake in the afternoon, so I put him on the floor for some tummy time. He immediately pulled his legs up under his body, and rolled over onto his back! I had no clue where that new trick came from! So I got my phone ready and put him back on his belly. He immediately did it again! My phone wasn't very focused, but here's the video!!



He is growing up WAY too fast! He takes 5 oz of breast milk every 3 hours between 6am and 9pm. He normally falls asleep between each feeding. Normally, he will sleep all evening after we pick him up from daycare around 4:00. He will start to stir a little around 6:00 for a bottle, and then we sometimes have to wake him for his 9:00 bottle before bed. After his bottle, I put him in his swaddle and he just smiiiiles at me. :) He acts drunk on milk! I lay him down in the pack n play, tuck a blanket around him, and give him his pacifier. He will continue to smile every time you make eye contact with him! Once you walk out of his view, he lays there with his eyes open waiting for you to walk by again. After about 5-10 minutes of just staring into space, he is out cold for the night. Every night! He is the easiest child to put to bed. I honestly don't know how we got so lucky.

The smiles come out again first thing in the morning! He will start squirming a little and make a few grunts. As soon as you open your eyes and look at him, he is all smiles! He just can't help it! He wiggles with happiness until you undo his swaddle. Then he throws both arms above his head and stretches out as much as he can! I normally give him his first bottle in the bedroom while Thomas is in the bathroom getting ready. Hudson thinks he has to watch Daddy so he's always looking for him through the bathroom door. Even when Thomas isn't home and we are in the bedroom, he will always look in the bathroom for Daddy!

A couple of weeks ago, I got this video of him jumping around in his jumperoo. He loves this thing! He isn't quite long enough for this one, but the daycare has one that goes low enough for him to touch the ground. He is all smiles when he's in it!



As you can see here, it doesn't take much to get him to smile and giggle!




Thomas figured out that Hudson likes it when you whistle :)





He's quite the talker!




Just being a little cuddle bug while napping :)



Wild man in the bath tub!



Hudson's 4-month appointment is Aug. 22nd. I can't wait to find out how much he weighs!



2 Months!

In June, Hudson had his 2-month check-up. He weighed 12lbs 4.5oz and measured 22 3/4 inches long. He was pretty much right in the middle percentile for everything... even his head size! He got all of his 2 month shots, and he only screamed for a few seconds. Then he was fine! Earlier that day when he was at daycare, he had pooped twice! He had consistently been going about 4-6 days between poopy diapers, so I just figured it was a fluke. However, since that day, he has been pooping 2-8 times per day! It only took 2 months for his digestive system to get worked out!

The daycare had mentioned to me that he spits up more than all the other babies, so I asked the pediatrician about it. He didn't want to give him any medicine unless it seemed to really bother him. And he wasn't eating excessively, so he must not be spitting up all that much. He said to try rice cereal in his bottles, if anything, and that it would get better with time. So we are just waiting it out. Sometimes he will spit up a lot, and other times, nothing at all!

When examining his eyes, I noticed that he was spending quite a bit of time looking at Hudson's left eye. He then told me that he saw a little speck on his pupil. He said he would contact a good friend who is a pediatric ophthalmologist and see what she says. A couple of days later, the pediatrician's office called me back and said that the pediatric ophthalmologist wanted to take a look at his eye. They made the appointment for 9:00am the next morning, and they are 2 hour appointments. Of course I had to work, so I called their office to reschedule. If I didn't bring him in that next morning (there was a cancellation), then they couldn't get him in for 2-3 months! Luckily, my staff pharmacist said she could cover for me till I got back from the appointment. Of course, when we got there the next morning, they had his appointment down for sometime in August. What?!?! I wasn't leaving till he was seen. I was adamant that we had made his appointment for 9:00 that morning, and I camped out in the waiting room till they figured out what was going on. Turns out they had accidentally switched Hudson with the person who cancelled. Finally, we were taken to a room. Phew.

She took a look at his eye, and immediately made a comment about how impressed she was that our pediatrician saw the speck. It's very small. She used all sorts of tools, toys, and lights to try to get a good look at it, but Hudson was out like a light. He was swinging his little fists at her every time she would pull his eyelid up. They eventually got some drops in his eyes to dilate his pupils to figure out where exactly the little speck was. After they did the eye drops, we had to go sit in the waiting room for 30 minutes to let the pupils dilate. He continued sleeping through the 30 minute wait. I tried to wake him up by changing his diaper, but there was no hope. So we went back into the room again, and Hudson was still fast asleep. Although he slept through the rest of the appointment, she did determine that the speck is on his iris (the pigmented part of the eye). It's way too small to be anything significant, so she wants to look at it again in 6 months. If it does turn into something significant, it would most likely be a cataract or cyst, both of which would just need to be removed. So we'll see if it has changed at all when we go back in January!

A lot happened during his first 2 months of life. At 7 weeks, Hudson all of a sudden started sleeping through the night from 9:30pm to 6:00am! He has never woken up to eat during the night since! He must have known that I was going to be needing some sleep... One week later, I went back to work and Hudson started going to daycare. On his first day, Thomas and I dropped him off together around 6:30 in the morning before Thomas went to work. I think Daddy had a harder time leaving him than I did! However, I was probably a little more exhausted than him... I didn't have to be at work till noon that day so I was excited to head back home to take a nap! Later that afternoon, I texted the director to see how he was doing. I said something along the lines of, "I hope he hasn't screamed all day!" Her response was, "Well. He hasn't screamed all day. He had his moments but okay for a first day!" I have a feeling the other babies didn't get to nap on that particular Monday!

There are 8 babies in the room with 2 teachers. I don't know how they do it! And all 8 of the babies are boys! Hudson and another little guy, Zachary, are the youngest. They were born about 10 days apart. Zachary is Thom's boss's son. It's fun to have our two boys there together!

Hudson loves to watch the fan (just like his cousin Avery used to do). Bath time is his favorite! He hates cold wipes so I warm them up in my hand before touching him with it. And he attacks the bottle every time we feed him. When he started pooping regularly, he turned into the happiest little boy! I also read the book called, "The Happiest Baby on the Block" which makes you analyze your crying baby from a different perspective. That book did wonders for us! At 2 months, Hudson started making the transition to the fun stage... I can't wait to see how much he changes in the next couple of months!