Friday, August 1, 2008

Very belated 2 month pictures and lots of catching up

Many months ago I started this post, so I thought I had better finish it! I'm back for this post anyway.
Here's Baby B's two month professional pictures.



And for comparison here's Mishievo and Little Miss Priss at 2 months.



So, anyway, I have tons more pictures to post since Baby B is now 7 months old and I haven't posted in ages! Nobody is probably even reading this anymore! I'll have to do another post with pictures since I don't feel like waiting to upload them all right now. I just want to get everyone up to date on things.

We finally figured out when Baby B was 4 months old that he had silent reflux, which is acid reflux without all the spitting up. He had been very fussy while I was feeding him since he was born and I just thought the bubbles were bugging him because he would stop fussing once he burped. So when he was 4 months old and still doing that I thought it was strange because I figured he would be used to it by then. He was also waking up crying like he was pain a lot in the night. Sometimes you would have to pick him up and walk him around until he stopped crying and then we could put him back in his bed and he would go back to sleep. Other times he would take his pacifier and go right back to sleep. He wasn't hungry because it would only be an hour or two after I had just fed him.

It was really driving us crazy and I was so exhausted. He didn't start sleeping so bad until he was about 3 months old so we couldn't figure out why he would all of a sudden start doing worse when normally babies start sleeping better around then! Also, when he was 4 months he started rolling over and that would make him wake up crying. So at first I just thought it was because he was rolling over and didn't like being on his back to sleep(we've put him on his tummy since he was born and I know that's not what you're supposed to do! In fact that's probably the only reason he wasn't any worse with the acid reflux than he was, since babies with acid reflux sleep better on their tummies.)

He was just such a good, happy baby during the day and that made it all the more puzzling, besides fussing while he was nursing, anyway. Somewhere I had heard or read about silent reflux and wondered if maybe that was his problem. I started researching it on-line and so many of the symptoms sounded like him. One reason he probably likes his pacifier so much when my other two would never take one is because sucking on a pacifier neutralizes the acid trying to come up.

Finally, we took him to the doctor to see if she would agree with us about him having silent reflux. She definitely agreed and prescribed some medication for him and that definitely helped with the fussiness during nursing. We also ordered a special wedge with a sling to keep him from sliding off for him to sleep on. That really helped with the sleep.

I only gave him the medication for a couple of weeks until I asked my midwife if she knew of a homeopathic remedy that would work. She said to try Nux Vomica and I did. It worked as well as the medication so I stopped the medication. Now he hardly every even needs the Nux Vomica. For some reason when I nurse him right before bedtime he fusses a little more, so that's about the only time I ever give him the Nux Vomica.

He still wasn't that good of a sleeper even with medication and the wedge. He would wake up around 11:00 p.m. and fuss until we put the pacifier in and then he would wake up twice more to nurse before morning. Sometimes he would make it with just the two nursings and not wake up at 11:00. I put him to bed at 8:00 p.m and he would sleep until 8:00 in the morning. He did that until last week when we finally decided enough was enough and now he's been sleeping through the night from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., sometimes 7:00 a.m. without any feedings. It is so nice except now Little Miss Priss has been sick all week and she's been crying for mommy and daddy a lot in the night. It's been worse than what Baby B did! Now Baby B sleeps better than she does and he's been sick, too.

In spite of it all Baby B has been a pretty happy baby, when he doesn't have to sleep anyway. He rolled over a little before his 4 month b-day and got two teeth right on his 5 month b-day just like his big brother did! Now he's can sit up fairly well by himself and he loves to roll around on the floor or play in his Exersaucer.

Baby B is a little behind my other two weight wise because when he was having such a hard time with the acid reflux he wasn't eating enough because it hurt him so bad. Then about 3 weeks ago he got over two long weeks of bad diarrhea. I even had to change his diaper at night when he would wake up to eat. Poor guy has had so many set backs. He started off like he would be bigger than my other two. He still has the cutest chubby little legs, though. It's been a long 7 months! It's funny how time can fly, but when you're in the middle of it, it seems like a long time.

Mischievo and Little Miss Priss are growing up so fast, too. Mischievo learned how to ride his bike without training wheels a few months ago now. Little Miss Priss likes to get dressed all by herself. She does a pretty good job, too! We just need to get her potty trained now. That would be so nice. I hope she will be as easy as Mischievo was. She doesn't like being dirty or wet but I can't get her to go on the potty. She just sits there and then says she's all done, without doing anything. Maybe when things get a little better around here with sleep and colds we'll try a little harder to get her potty-trained.

Well, I hope this wasn't too long, but it's been so long since I posted. I hope I remembered everything! Oh, we also got a new front porch on our house. I'll have to do another post with more pictures. We have chickens now, too. I've also been grinding my own wheat and making my own bread. I make all of Baby B's food, too. I use the Super Baby food book and its not really that much extra work. So, I've been so busy. I don't have enough time to do all the things I want to do. If I want to do something besides work than other things take a back burner and then I'm behind. So, since I like to do many, many things besides work, I'm always behind!!! I have a pile of ironing, since that is my least favorite thing to do and laundry never stops. I still haven't had any of the pictures we've taken of Baby B printed out since he's been born! I haven't started a scrapbook for him and I've never finished Little Miss Priss's scrapbook of her first year. Oh, well, I figure as long as I have all the pictures I can catch up another year. I've started knitting a sweater for Mischievo and want to do matching ones for Little Miss Priss and Baby B. We'll see if that happens!
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