Friday, April 17, 2009

Summer fun

We took these photos on Sunday, but I am just getting around to posting them. We bought a little pool for Isaac. It was cheap and had a shade (a must by JB's standards) and was a real good time. The only problem was that with the shade on, the water stayed pretty cold! Isaac didn't seem to mind (but I did!) We'll have to wait until it gets a little bit warmer before Mommy gets in that thing again.

I'll have to upload two photos because we didn't get one photo where both of us were looking at the camera. I also love the second picture because little Scrubby is popping in to get in the action again. We have the nosiest dog in the whole world!

In other news . . .

Life in our household has been a little crazy this week. Isaac has come down with some sort of bug ... again. Poor little guy has been sick quite a bit in the last few weeks. He had a fever of 103 the other morning and has a runny nose, sneezing, and congestion. We brought him up to see Dr. G. on Thursday, and there is nothing to do for him other than watch him for now. When Isaac is sick, he wakes up a lot in the night. JB usually gives him some more Tylenol and Motrin and then sits with him for awhile while Isaac calms back down. I guess it's nice that Elijah is sleeping through the night now so we are only getting up with one little guy.

JB has also been working very late hours on the family medicine team. He is rarely home before 7pm which is a very long day for both of us. The good news is that he has a week of vacation starting on Monday! A week of vacation with plans to do nothing! I think that is the best vacation of all.

I want to thank all of you for the encouragement you provided me with regarding Elijah and his feeding. It was an emotional week as we adjusted to new ways of feeding. We have started him on bottles -- half breast milk and half formula. The kid is taking them down like crazy! Normally babies his age are eating no more than 30 ounces a day. He's been doing 36 ounces without blinking an eye! I asked Dr. G. if this was okay, and she said to let him eat as much as he wants for awhile. He's catching up.

The change in Elijah after we realized he wasn't getting adequate nutrition was amazing to say the least. Prior to switching to the bottle, our normal routine was to eat an hour and then play for about 10-15 minutes before he started getting fussy. At that point, I had assumed he was tired and would work to help him fall asleep ... which never came easy. Then in about sixty minutes, I would feed him again. In hindsight I realize now that he was actually hungry not tired. Poor little guy.

I seriously just thought he was a little more of an "unsettled" baby. Isaac was soooo chill all the time, and everyone told me that all babies aren't like that. So I figured I just had one that was a little bit more un-chill. Well now that he is eating, he is so much more at peace. He is giggling and cooing and smiling ... all things that he was not doing very much of prior to the increase in food. He is like an entirely different kid.

I spent the day after Dr. G. told us to start supplementing, crying. I felt like a horrible mother. My son was hungry, every day, and I didn't know it. I am still dealing with a bit of guilt, but I was doing the best I could, and that's all I could do. Either way, we have him on a much better track now, and he's truly coming out of his little baby shell in such a fun way! I really want to thank all of you who encouraged me during these few days. I really needed it. I so appreciate all the love and support from so many of you.

Ugh! Both babies just woke up at the same time. Gotta go!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If every mommy was honest they would all have stories they could tell about things they did or didn't do with their kids that today they feel guilty or embarrassed about! Elijah will never remember this! You and John are fabulous parents. You are allowed to make a couple mistakes! I hate to tell you that you will make more. I'm just so glad you figured it out early and things are settling down at your house (for the moment!)
Pool looks great! How fun for Isaac! Wonder when Scrubby will jump in!

Blessed Blackman Bunch said...

Yep...we have all made mistakes, or just had LACK of knowledge. You ARE NOT a bad mothers. You were not purposefully with holding food from him, go easy on yourself!
Moms are human too! :)
YOU ARE AWESOME!
Love you....the pool looks fun.
If you want a bigger pool (with no shade) ours is always open.

Jess said...

Everyone makes mistakes or doesn't know things that in retrospect might not have been the perfect thing to do. Really. Everyone has those stories!!!

You look so chilly in that pool! We're wanting to get something like that for the kids for this summer, too!! ENJOY!