Momma said, "There are going to be days like this."

Any mom that works outside of the home can relate to this post.

The last week has been a total reflection period. I don't hate work, but I hate the fact I am missing my kids lives. Each morning starts out at 4:30 am and ends at about 11 pm. I get to see my  kids awake about 3.5 hours of every day. One hour of that is spent feeding and prepping them to get out the door in the morning. The evening is an hour of getting dinner made, picking up things and taking care of that everyday stuff. That 3.5 hours quickly rolls down to 1.5 hours a day. Most weekends are filled with cleaning, open houses and photo sessions. I am sleep deprived beyond belief. I want to make it clear, I am not complaining, but rather venting the reality parenting and real life.

Most evenings are chaotic with sleep deprivation. I'm crabby, I'll be the first to admit it. I find myself having the quarter of the patience I normally do with Harrison; it's not fair to him. There isn't enough time for play, enough time to snuggle, enough time to ask my husband, "How was your day?"

I try to plan time out for the kids individually/together. Date nights for Doug and I sometimes make the calender. Never did I ever think I would have to get out calendar to schedule time with my own family. It's not fair. My kids deserve a mother that has patience, a life that isn't being rushed and ran by a clock.

I am missing out on the everyday real life stuff. Slow down growing boys.

 

Linked 13: Comfort

It's still early in the linking year...so I have plenty of time to eventually post linked theme on time, right?

If you read the post below you know our littest guy has been sick---making for several sleepless nights at our home. Last night was a very restless night, Doug and I took turns getting up with him, or I should say staying up since we weren't really sleeping.

After Miles finally gave in....there is nothing like finding comfort in your own bed.

More Comfort @

 Carla, Hanne, Heather, Heidi, Janet, Jenn, Kristin, Rhonda, Tracey and Tracy

UGH. Sickness

So are you tired of reading about sickness? Believe me I am tired of typing about it. I am so done with winter---all the coughs, fevers and sleepless nights that go with it. However with mother nature dumping another 6 inches of the white fluffy stuff last night...it's like the tunnel that just got darker.

Miles has been sick ever since his vaccinations one week ago. I'm not one of those people who blame vaccinations for everything, in fact I'm not blaming them at all. Saturday/Sunday following Friday's well check Miles ran fevers around 100, which is and can be common following vaccinations. His appetite (for a boy that can certainly eat) starting weaning Sunday. Monday the cough started, Tuesday I took him to urgent care and that evening the low grade fever returned. I got the spiel from the doctor, "it's just a virus." I think it's funny how doctors treat parents like they have never had a sick child before. God knows I think we went through everything with Harrison...I don't bring my child to the doctor unless I really have a red flag.

Doug brought Miles to daycare for a few hours Wednesday. Wednesday evening his symptoms got worse. Thursday we kept him home. His fevers have been clustering in the evening at at night for the last 2 days. He continues to cough so hard he vomits (twice in the middle of the night last night). We put a call into his regular doctor yesterday as there have been several confirmed cases of RSV in his infant room at daycare. Just as we thought, the doctor doesn't feel a need to test for RSV---because it's a virus that can't be treated by any antibiotics.

The order is to continue to watch him too see if we notice any respiratory distress/turning blue to bring him in. That certainly makes me feel at ease...not.

Seems so unfair, especially at just 4 months old. There are no treatments besides the saline spray and Tylenol we have been using. He continues to eat very little. The only time he will eat a little more is through nursing. If I wasn't nursing this time around I don't know if he would be eating anything at all.

I'm home with him again today. He's catching some rest this afternoon, I'm hoping to catch come zzzs too.

 

Miles @ 4 Months

Time to dust off the key board and post something on here.

I'm late on Miles 4 month update, but what have you come to expect from me? They always say you never take as many pictures of the second child or keep up with the things you did with first born. Miles is getting the shaft... I promise to be a better blogger about him and take more pictures!

4 months---

Sleep: He's been consistently sleeping through the night (minus this past weekend with fever and cold following his 4 months well check-up and shots). He usually put him down at about 9 or 10pm and he wakes up anywhere from 5 to 6:30. He's still sleeping in our room in the Sleep and Rock or Rock and Sleep---whatever it's called made by Fisher Price. Doug talked about transitioning him to his crib the other day. I changed the subject, I don't think I'm ready for that yet. I need to soak up every little baby moment, knowing he just maybe our last baby.

Feeding: Miles prefers the all you can eat buffet. He'd nurse all night you let him. I guess he's a boob man. When I have to whip out the artificial boob (aka--the bottle) he drinks 4-6 oz a feeding. I continue to supplement 1-2 bottles a day of formula because there is no way that I could figure our another time to pump a third time during the work day. I travel so much as it is now. It's an obstacle to find a empty parking lot and climb into the back seat and hook myself up to the milking machine. My co-worker actually told me the other day she used to pump and drive and the same time. That sounds like a good idea, but if I was pulled over I don't know what I would tell the officer. The best thing about taking the time to pump is that is forces me to take a break in my work day and it's a much healthier than taking a 15 minute smoke break.

At Miles 4 month check up he weighed in 14lbs 1 oz. That is roughly 1-2 lbs more than Harrison weighed at this age.  I keep thinking Miles just looks so much bigger than Harrison did. I searched all over for Harrison 4 month check, but being a preemie, his check ups were same regular intervals as Miles are. Miles has stretched out to 24 inches long. That's quite the length jump from birth when he measured 18.5 inches long. Head circumference (which I rarely pay attention to) was 40.1 cm. All around he is in the 15 percentile for weight, length and head circumference.

Personality: He laughs out loud and squeals in delight. He's becoming very ticklish (I think he gets that from me). I love all of his toothless smiles. Overall he is a happy baby. I couldn't have imagined that we were ever be where we are after what he had in store for us his first 6 weeks!

He loves the bath. We are on a e/o day bathing routine but I'm sure he wouldn't object to more often. The excitement on his face when his feet hit the water. Other things that excite him are music, flashing lights, rattles, bouncing, peek-a-boo and singing. If we were only entertained  that easily.

Call him Mr. Social. This is the biggest difference I've seen between Miles and Harrison. Miles is very talkative...lots of cooing and gurgling back. I am hoping his personality stays the way it is, Doug and I were always pretty shy as children.

Appearance/Size: He looks huge to us! We visited the children's museum yesterday and as we got off the elevator a lady said, "Oh look at that newbie." She had to be talking to us because we were the only ones that were on the elevator. From photo to photo he doesn't look very big, but lugging around the heavy car seat tells us he is packing on the baby chub.

Milestones this month:
-Starting daycare
-Laughing out loud
-Grabbing at toys

What I am looking forward to:
-Rolling over
-Long naps
-More smiles & giggles

And since I've been less than a regular blogger lately I am jamming his 4 Month Well Check Appointment and daycare up date in this post.

4 Month Well Check: The appointment went as normal---wake them up. take off the clothes, even the diaper so they are freezing cold, weigh them, stretch them out, hear them scream and once you get them calmed down it's time for shots. Happy Well-Check! However shots this time were the same as at his two month appointment but he spiked a fever the next morning and it followed the next day as well. It also made him lose his appetite. From the time we woke up at 5 am Sunday morning he only drink a total of 4 ounces by 1 pm. Despite the fever and lack of food he was happy.

Daycare: The road I didn't want to go on again. It's not that I think daycare is a bad thing because it's not. There are parts of it that I love and parts of it I don't. Monday of last week Miles started at daycare. Day one went well (for both Mom and Miles). Doug came with to drop off everything. It was day #2 that was mom's (my) breaking point. He slept from the time Doug picked him up at daycare until 9:15pm when he finally let me wake him up. Then ate and went back to bed. I never saw awake more than a half hour the entire day. Talk about missing your kids life while you at work. It's was like I'm paying someone to do the job I am supposed to be doing. The next morning I bawled the entire morning. I think the 5 weeks I've been back at work, thinking I was doing OK was bottled up and exploded. Am I better now? I like to think so. But there are moments like when I picked him up today and staff member asks, "So which one is yours?" That makes me look at daycare as a baby factory. Oh, and he's got a cold after 4 days too. I'm still adjusting, I think Miles is too.





I've got more pictures...I promise to post soon!

Tubes: Round TWO

Kudos to us for getting two kids and ourselves up and out of the house by 5:45 am this morning. The subzero Minnesota weather was not an incentive to get up and going.

We needed to be at the hospital by 6:45 am for Harrison's tube surgery.

 Harrison was in a fantastic mood for not being a morning person.

The wait was the worst part of the whole thing. The wait for the actual surgery to start and the wait for him to come back from recovery.

At least there were cool toys to play with while we waited...

He totally rocked getting his weight check and vital signs done. A favorite of his was this oximeter. He even tried it out on daddy. The nurses were FANTASTIC with him which only made him more at ease.

The one thing he couldn't have was food/water... He didn't take that lightly. Surgery started at about 7:50 and he normally doesn't eat until 8ish, but the early start left him saying, "I'm hungry." Distractions weren't making a dent in his request.

The first thing out of surgery? Well...Marshmallows of coarse.

 

As far as the surgery itself. Doug took him back to the OR room. I just couldn't do a second time. When he was 13 months old the first time he was so unaware of what was going on, but at 3 now, he totally knows. The nurse I talked to the evening before on the phone said, "If you have any doubt you won't do well, don't take him in, kids can read your nerves/fears." The last thing I wanted to do is freak the kid out more than he was already going to be.

Doug carried him back, blanket, plug and Spider Man. I wanted to get a photo of this, but I was a little pre-occupied with worrying. It wasn't worrying about the actual procedure as much as how it would be bringing back to the OR room. When they left I listened intently for cries. I heard cries, but not Harrison cries. Doug walked back into the room and said, "I'm impressed, proud of him, he didn't cry or even put up a fight...He didn't want to lay on his back at first but willing turned over and was out in a matter of seconds with the anesthesia.

While Harrison was in surgery Doug and I talked about how AMAZING this kid is. Yeah he does have some things to work on (more about that later), but overall, he is one incredible kid. His behavior has been impressive at home in the last several weeks and his language/communication is growing in leaps and bounds. He is now talking in complete sentences regularly and is shocking me everyday with new things. Tonight he said to me, "Momma, you have to talk louder, daddy didn't hear you." Even just a few weeks ago he wasn't able to talk that complete. The kid knows most of the days of the week, loves singing, counting, knowing left from right, all of his colors. Wow.

Not only is so smart, but he can put a smile on your face when your sleep deprived, crabby or just plain blah. He is the funniest comedian I know and the best big brother any kid could ever ask for.

Recovery time took longer than the actual procedure... It felt like we waited forever, but it was really more like 30-45 minutes for him to wake back up. He arrived back a little groggy but only mention of anything of discomfort as he said, "Momma, I've got water in my ears. This afternoon at nap time he complained his head hurt and he wanted a "puppy treat" (a code name for chewable Tylenol).


I brought home a large stuffed Spider Man home yesterday evening. Harrison totally earned him today. The nurses nick named him Spider Man. He was just glowing with excitement.

After nap- we clicked a few of him and his NEW Spider Man. I'm a little sad it was getting dark out at images aren't as crisp and yellowed due with lack of natural light. They probably can be fixed, I just didn't want to fight with color balance tonight.