It's official

The Christmas season is officially upon us. Sadly, I'm not feeling it at all and usually I am today, the day after Thanksgiving. There is just too much crap going on right now in my life for me to even think about the holidays. The good thing is that the kids' Christmas shopping is 99% done already (yay!). I just can't believe that it's this time of year already! Wow. It seems like it was just summertime last month. Craziness, I tell ya. And before I know it, it will be *next summer and I'll be feeling like it was just winter.

I guess I should take the time and post a little update on Brooke and her reflux. I had Brooke in to the doctor 2 weeks ago for her synagis shot and at that time, I talked to the doctor about increasing her reflux med (Zantac) again because she hadn't been eating as well and seemed to be in pain sometimes during feedings (pulling away, arching her back, and screaming). So he increased her dose from 0.8mL to 1.2mL. The next couple days she was eating better and it seemed like the increase in the Zantac was helping. But then she started eating even worse/less than she had been. So after several days of this (I was waiting to see if it would pass), I called the ped's office on Monday to let them know what was going on. The doctor felt she should be seen at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh by a gastroenterologist since the medicine wasn't working anymore. So I called and made her an appointment for this coming Monday. Now, all of a sudden she's back to eating like normal again! Doesn't seem to be in pain or anything. It's so strange! So I cancelled the appointment and will reschedule if need be. It seemed odd to me that her reflux would all of a sudden start getting worse because normally it gets better the older babies get and hers wasn't *that severe to begin with. So maybe it wasn't really her reflux at all? I don't know! Being a mom sure keeps you on your toes!!

What I'm thankful for...

Happy Thanksgiving!

: )

Happy 8 Months, Brooke!

In the past month, Brooke has reached a few new milestones! She now will reach her arms out to be picked up if you hold your arms out to her. She is also rolling from back to belly all the time and even trying to scoot a little bit! She can sit unassisted now, for brief periods, and is starting to try to right herself when she goes to fall over. She also started eating baby food and so far has had sweet potatoes, applesauce, carrots, peas, and pears! The most she's had is a jar a day (half at a time), but I haven't even been very consistent and some days she doesn't get any at all. I like that she's getting used to eating by spoon, though, and she does very well!

Here are some pictures I took this afternoon!

Happy girl, even though she's sick!

With the Boppy pillow, just like previous months.

There's a big smile! This is the first month I've been able to get her to smile for her "month pictures"!

Can you see how red her eyes are in this pic from coughing : (.

I don't think I ever posted about this doll. It's a reborn and actually looks a lot like her! This doll is the approximate size she was when she came home from the hospital! Look how much she's grown : ).

This sucks!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and BOTH of my kids are sick : (. Brooke started yesterday morning, coughing and sneezing. Today her cough seems worse, but it doesn't seem to be in her chest at all, so that's good! Ryan started coughing and sneezing this morning. Ugh. Why does my baby have to be sick for her first major holiday? Tomorrow was/is going to be crappy enough (for reasons I'm not comfy posting about here right now) and this just adds to it. Not even sure if we'll end up going anywhere. We are supposed to be going to a restaurant with Doug's family (nobody else felt like cooking) at 11am and then to my aunt's house in the afternoon. I guess I'll have to wait and see what they are like in the morning : (.

Ryan or Brooke?

Here's some comparison pics. The pictures of Brooke aren't very recent and the ones of Ryan definitely aren't (obviously, lol).

Set #1

Set #2

Set #3

In case you didn't know, Ryan was on oxygen from March to July 24/7 and then on it just at night until October. And he has the feeding tube in the picture after his bout with pnuemonia that landed him in Children's Hospital. They thought he was aspirating, so they were feeding him by tube and he came home with it, but we were able to get him back on his bottles with no problems in less than 2 weeks and then they took it out : ).

So, what do you think? Do they look like siblings? ; )

My 2nd Baby

I thought it would be fun to post some older pictures of Ryan : ).

6 days old with my hand...I can't even remember him being THAT little. Crazy...

VERY sick old at a month old. This was after his belly surgery where he got an illeostomy. His stoma is under that yellow guaze stuff.

Tiny toes.

One of my favorite NICU pictures of him.

2.5 months old

This was our first look at our baby boy with no tubes or tape on his face! It didn't last long...they were getting ready to put him back on the ventilator, but it was so wonderful to see him like that, even briefly :*).

3 months old

First "real" smile caught on camera!

7 months old

LOL...he was always pulling his cannula down in to his mouth! He was on oxygen at home 24/7 from March until July and then on it only at night until October.

10.5 months old

Trying to go to sleep at his 1st birthday party. LOL.

First haircut!

14 months old

1st glasses! (Which he almost never wore because he wouldn't leave them on.)

14 months old

2nd Halloween

14 months old

I just love this picture : )

17.5 months old

Just starting to walk!

25 months old

At the playground.

2.5 years old

Six days shy of two years old, with his first diaper and hat, both of which were too big at birth!!

Right on track

I almost forgot to update! A couple weeks ago I recieved the questionnaire from Early Intervention for Brooke's developmental tracking. The questions were for a 4 month old which is her adjusted age and what they go by as far as what she should be doing. Out of the 30 things, she was only not doing 2 of them! So she is right on track for her adjusted age and even a little above : ). So so so different from Ryan, who was behind his adjusted age in every area (and he's still behind now). What a difference 4 extra weeks in utero, being a girl, and a complication-free NICU stay makes!

Wordless Wednesday

Brooke had peas for the first time yesterday. Think she liked them?

Call to prayer

One of my fellow bloggers has asked for prayers and urged others to link to her blog to generate *more prayers. Click here to get the scoop!

An update

Life has been interesting lately, to put it mildly. I'm feeling so overwhelmed much of the time. I hate to say this, but Brooke puts me on edge a lot of the time : (. I just feel like I can't figure her out. She keeps switching things up on me. For about a week, she was napping so well in her crib and going down awake even. God FORBID you try to do that now. She screams like you're killing her. Sometimes she will fall asleep while swinging in her swing, but most of the time she needs bounced in her bouncy seat or held and put to sleep. Then she usually only sleeps for 15-20 minutes at a time. She is also back to being more demanding and not liking to be "alone" for any length of time. It's like she needs almost constant attention most of the time. It's exhausting and frustrating at times. Just when I thought things were getting easier, all of a sudden they're harder again.

Ryan is....Ryan. LOL. Most of the time, he's very good and listens well, but sometimes he can be very stubborn and defiant. I guess that comes with the territory of being five! He's talking up a storm lately and I love it most of the time. He's reading soooo many words and loves to try to read books. He's getting some easy reader books for Christmas. He's doing well in school and has made a lot of progress just since the end of last school year (he has all the same therapists, even though he's at a different school and they've all noticed big improvements in lots of areas). He's still our little sports fanatic and loves watching sports on TV (especially bowling and baseball) and playing Wii Sports on the Wii. He plays with his Little Tikes bowling set everyday, too.

I took Brooke today for her first synagis injection today that will help prevent her from getting RSV (or at least reduce the severity if she does get it). She'll get one shot a month until May. (Ryan was so high risk that he got them for 3 winters! That is very rare for them to approve that many years.) She did cry when she got her shot, but not for long. She made sure to give the nurse her little puppy dog look while whimpering with watery eyes afterwards. LOL. The dose goes by weight and next month she'll probably weigh enough that she'll need 2 separate shots (one in each leg) : (. She weighed 13lbs. 12oz. Big girl! She's gained 11lbs. in 7.5 months...not too shabby! I talked to the doctor about increasing her Zantac for her reflux again because she has only been taking 2 ounces at a time at most feedings the past few days, when she had been taking 3.5-4oz. She'll be in the middle of eating and all of a sudden she'll pull away and arch her back and won't let the bottle near her mouth again. He increased her from 0.8mL's to 1.2mL's (two times a day). Hopefully it helps!

I'll try not to go so long without posting again and I'll also try to post some new pictures soon, too!

Coming out of the woodwork to vent

Sorry I haven't been around the past week and a half. I wasn't really in the mood to blog. I'll post a good update soon.

Last night was THE worst night Brooke has EVER had. And I am still stumped as to why!! Let me preface this by saying that she went 11 wonderful nights, sleeping straight through, a couple weeks ago. Now I'm lucky if she does that every other night and usually when she gets up, it's at 2am and then back to sleep until 7 or 8.

So last night she had her last bottle around 9:15, just like she has been, and was in her crib at 9:30 sound asleep. I went to bed around 10:30 and probably fell asleep close to 11:00. She woke at 12am for some unknown reason. I put her back to sleep and went back to sleep myself. She woke AGAIN at 1am, so I got her a bottle and she drank 3 ounces. Then I could not get her to go to sleep! She was WIDE awake until about 2am and I finally got her asleep and in her crib at 2:15 and laid back down myself. I had just fallen asleep again and she woke AGAIN at 2:36!! Got her back out of her crib and tried putting her to sleep and she was once again wide awake. Came downstairs and got one of her blankets and tried swaddling her for the heck of it. I put her back in her crib at 3:00 and guess what, folks! She was back up 15 minutes later!! WTH?!?! By this point I was SO unbelievably frustrated, mostly because I had (and still have) NO idea WHY she kept waking up! She was not fussing or crying (unless I would try to let her lay there and go back to sleep on her own). She did not sleep more than usual yesterday and she did not nap later than usual. Finally at that point I said the hell with it and put her in bed with me, which I really don't like to do because I don't want her getting used to it AND I don't sleep well AT ALL when she's in bed with me, but I figured crappy sleep was better than no sleep at all : P. For the record, she then slept straight through until 7am....I feel like I hardly slept at all.

:::yawn:::