Crying It Out

I decided tonight was the night. I knew it was coming....I was actually planning on doing it two weeks from tonight. But, I took Easton upstairs for our nightly ritual of me laying down with him on our bed while he nurses himself to sleep and then very carefully moving him to his bed. But he didn't fall asleep this time so I decided to just get it over with. He screamed for 10 or 15 minutes and then went to sleep. It was the same with Zachary when we did this at around the same age....then when he woke up in the middle of the night and we wouldn't take him out of his room, he cried for 2 or 3 hours until he fell asleep - which made Brady start crying and Brendan had to go in and sleep with him the rest of the night. I'm hoping that's not the case with Easton. Either way, it will be a long night!

He Sits.....He Scoots!!!!

My sweet little baby Easton is sitting up now....he falls over some but I think he's an official sitter at this point. He also 'scoots' all the way across the room as long as there's nothing blocking his path!! I don't know if it's technically an army crawl or not but he lays on his tummy and drags himself across the room with his little arms....sounds like it's pretty close to me!! Tonight, he got up on his hands and knees for the first time.....my little baby is growing up way too fast!

I need to get some pictures of these new developments but he's currently sleeping on me and I shall NOT mess with that!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

So, we had a very fun weekend. Friday, I went to lunch and did some shopping with my mom and sister. (My parents were in town for Easton's baptism on Saturday night.) After lunch, I took Easton to the doctor for his 4-month check-up and shots. He did really well with the shots. The doctor increased his Xantac dosage because he's been spitting up A LOT lately. Other than that, it was pretty uneventful.....except, we got the green light for solid foods! So, we started with rice cereal mixed with a little formula. He wasn't quite sure what to think but I think it's growing on him!

It's hard to take a picture of yourself feeding a child.....that's why this one is so blurry. Plus, he kept trying to grab the spoon - I guess he thinks he's ready to feed himself!

Saturday night was Easton's baptism......

Proud parents making a rare photo appearance....

Here he is with his Godparents - James has been one of Brendan's best friends since they were little...allegedly, Brendan was James' "bodyguard" in elementary school. I bet that was interesting. I met Molly shortly after I transferred to MU in 1999 and we've been friends ever since. Her son, Jack, is 2 months younger than Zachary - although he looks older. He's the cutest little thing - he has the most adorable, curly hair! They'll be great Godparents!!!

After mass, we all went to dinner at a local restaurant - it was too chaotic for pictures I guess!

On Sunday afternoon, we went to my sister's house for dinner and some major fun for the kids. Brady LOVES going to Aunt Amy's to play "with" his cousins. Their house is like an amusement park compared to ours. Plus, they have a long lane on their property and are so far from the street that we don't have to worry about Brady taking off - he's a major flight risk.

Amy and Jim recently invested in an inflatable water slide - good investment! Brady always sleeps so well after a day at their house....

Zachary finds the waterslide too overwhelming so Aunt Amy set up the water mat for him.... that still took some persuading from cousins Justin and Jarrett...

We were so convinced that he'd stay dry, we didn't have a chance to put his swimsuit on...oh well!

Then it was off to the backyard for more fun....I was so proud of Zachary for tryng the big slide for the first time! I'm not sure if he knew what he was getting into but he seemed to like it!

As we were leaving last night, some of Amy and Jim's "pets" were spotted in the yard...if you look closely, you can see some baby bunnies, too....
Brendan must love to make me worry because he was quick to point out that these were baby deer and their parents were nowhere to be found. :( I'm sure they were just hiding in the trees...at least I hope so!

"It's Normal"

We've had a crazy week. A stomach bug found its way into our house. It started with Zachary - when I went in to get him up Sunday morning, I noticed the distinct smell of vomit in the room. He had thrown up in his crib and on the floor at some point in the night. Then, the next night Brendan was complaining of feeling "queasy" which I immediately dismissed because he's a big wuss and I thought he was trying to slack off on his fatherly duties. Ha! A little while later, Easton did a little gag/cough combo and threw up quite a bit. I convinced myself that he only threw up because maybe he ate too much and that gag/cough just made it all come up. So, Brendan left for softball and I put Easton to bed.

Around 1:30 in the morning, I heard Easton cough...just one little cough but I went in to check on him anyway. Somehow, in his dark little room, I noticed that his sheet was wet. So, I reached down and moved him to check and sure enough he was laying in a puddle of vomit. I still can't figure out how that happened since he doesn't roll over but it is what it is. So, I got him up to change him and woke Brendan up to tell him what was happening. He went in and changed his sheets while I changed his jammies and tried to feed him. Easton was too tired to eat. Wait...what??? That never happens! Let the worrying begin!

So, I kept him in bed with us because I was too worried about him throwing up and choking in his room. So, it was a long night. I had already decided that we needed to call the doctor and that I'd, at best, be going in to work late. But, after I got up with him the next morning and he threw up again I knew I wouldn't be able to be away from him. His pediatrician asked if he was vomiting blood (like I'd just casually call if that was the case) and, since he wasn't, said to just "keep an eye on him". Well, I kept my eye on all-day puking. Around 2-something, I had had enough and we were off to the ER at Children's - the same "campus" we took him to when he started vomiting blood at 4 days old...I told him in the car that we would not be leaving in an ambulance this time and that he better straighten up!!

Well, he kind of listened.....the doctor ordered a "belly x-ray" and, much to my dismay, it looked "funny". Brendan met me there but had to leave to pick up the big boys - when he left, we thought everything was good but he missed the radiologist's "funny" findings. So, the radiologist thought it was best to send us to the main campus but they "let" me drive him myself this time. The ER doc was convinced that he was fine and told me that he regretted ordering the x-ray since anyone with just a stomach virus would have "funny" looking x-rays. He even went back to the radiologist and asked if he would've thought the scan looked "funny" if we hadn't been through the whole malrotation and volvulus issue and the radiologist told him "sorta". So, off to downtown Cincinnati we went for an upper GI scan.

I called my sister to see if she could take care of the big boys so that Brendan could come downtown. Luckily, she didn't have any plans and was on her way to our house within an hour. By the time Brendan got there, it had been around 2 hours....they wouldn't let me feed Easton so he was upset and crying....they stuck us in a tiny room where we had to wait and wait to see the surgeons so by that time I was crying, too. Brendan got there just as some surgical resident - a man of VERY few words who just stood there and watched me cry - came in to tell us that the the fear was that Easton's intestines were twisting again and that there appeared to be a blockage of some sort on his x-ray.

A few minutes after the silent resident left, a familiar face showed up - one of Easton's surgeons appeared. I probably scared the first guy so much that he ran back and got the other guy but regardless, we were happy to see a familiar face that remembered us and Easton...and was quite impressed with his size! He was the doctor that we saw every day for surgical rounds in the NICU - at first I wasn't that impressed, but then I ended up being a fan. He's very young - not sure of his "rank" or whatever...in fact, I'm realizing now that I don't even know his name. But, he always had confidence in Easton and he let my little Peanut guide him in his treatment plan when he wasn't really following the rules. Anyway, he said that he had seen the x-ray and wasn't that concerned but wanted to go ahead and have the GI scan done which Brendan and I both agreed with - we're all about being safe...not sorry!

So, in addition to the upper GI test, they wanted to start an IV to make sure Easton stay hydrated - they also wanted to run some blood tests. This almost put me over the edge. I so vividly remember the last time we went through this - I sat in the corner of his little ER room bawling my eyes out, listening to my 4-day-old baby screaming like I had never heard him scream before while they tried to get blood out of the poor child and start an IV. That took 5 attempts. This time, it "only" took 2 tries which actually made me quite happy .....that is, I was happy AFTER the IV was in and they got all the blood they needed (up until that point, I was absolutely miserable). Honestly, the IV and the "no eating" were the hardest parts for ME....and probably for Easton, too!! I was pretty convinced that we weren't in an emergency situation this time; however, I realized that this could all be a coincidence and the vomiting could be due to a virus and that there could be a problem with his intestines that he wasn't showing symptoms for - yet. We obviously hoped this was not the case.

So, more waiting - Easton hated being in the little exam room so we took turns walking him up and down the hall. Finally, the poor baby fell asleep.....so, of course, a few minutes later they were ready to do his GI scan. This time, they gave him the Barium via a bottle rather than a tube through his nose - since they hadn't let me feed him in close to 8 hours at this point, he was more than happy to drink the Barium solution. He laid perfectly still while they gave him the bottle and did the test. The radiologist told us "so far, so good" and then ordered an x-ray after 5 minutes and sent us back to the ER to wait. We thought it'd only be a few minutes but it ended up being closer to an hour - finally, we got the word that his test was NORMAL!!! YEA! Man...this is a long story....anyway, sounds like it was a bug of some sort but what a roller coaster. And too much deja vu - we had one of the same ER nurses as the last time and we recognized one of the downtown ER docs although (luckily) we completely bypassed him and went straight to the surgical team....can't imagine how long we would've waited if we had to go through the ER docs before the surgeons.

Obviously, we're EXTREMELY grateful for NORMAL test results! And, ironically, this puts some of my fears of a recurrence to rest. I had always wished they had done another GI test after his surgery before we brought him home - just to make sure everything was okay in there. But, it was such a great feeling to be able to bring him home from the ER this time!!! We're soooo lucky!