My life as a Mommy of 4 little boys

Friday, September 30, 2011

Preston is 4mo old!!!

Preston is 4mo old today!!!!!

I really can't believe it's been 4mo since those first 2 weeks in the NICU.  It was so scary and there were a few days where we thought we'd never get here.  Those days seemed to drag on, it seemed like he would never be home with us and now he's 4mo old!!!  It has really flown by since bringing him home.  We are so happy to have him with us, the boys are still just completely in love with him, they are so wonderful with him.  

He has come so far over the past 4mo!  For the most part he is healthy and doing great!  We still have to be careful, try not to let him get sick, we are coming into RSV season now so we will need to be extra careful because he is more vulnerable to lung issues if he does get sick because his lungs are still fully healing from everything they went through at birth.  And we are still waiting on final results on his kidney tests but we do know that whatever it showed is nothing serious, which is always good.  So he's doing really well. 

He is now 14.5lbs, I will find out how long he is next Friday at his 4mo appt.  He is teething, I've been bitten a bunch of times over the past week and he's a drool machine!  Hoping the teeth hold off for awhile longer, love that gummy smile.  He is smiling, giggling and talking all the time now.  He recognizes his brothers, daddy and me.  He's definitely a mommy's boy.  He reminds me a lot of Casen but isn't as sensitive, doesn't freak out when other people touch him.  But he seems to just sit back and watch and absorb everything going on around him.  He still doesn't really reach out and grab things, he has a couple times but that's it.  He doesn't have any interest in trying to pick things up or holding toys.  The only thing he likes to hold onto is his paci cloth, other than that he doesn't grab onto anything.  Still doesn't know he has feet but is realizing he controls his hands.  He was rolling from tummy to back but hasn't in awhile...no back to tummy yet.  He is still requiring full support if he tries to sit up.  So he's still behind but progressing really well.  He has his developmental pediatrician appt on Oct 10th.

He really is such a good baby, he is sleeping really well...much better than Casen and Hayden did even around a year old!  He is ready for bed around 7:30-8 every night.  He has a bath every other night so on those nights he has bath, massage with lotion, new diaper, pjs, nurse then cuddles and then I put him in bed fully awake and he goes right to sleep...no fussing at all.  On nights without bath it's the same thing just without bath and sometimes no lotion.  He will then sleep anywhere from 6-9hrs (about 7hrs is average though) wakes to nurse then right back to sleep for 3-4hrs then repeat.  He does around 12hrs total a night.  He's starting to say up for around 1.5-2hrs at a time but gets about 3 good naps a day, maybe 4.  He goes down to sleep for naps in his crib on his own too!  If I see him getting sleepy I just lay him down and he goes to sleep.  He will nap about 1.5-3hrs depending on the nap.  The past few days he's only had 6 feeds in a 24hr period!!  It's actually been really nice, I don't feel like I'm constantly sitting nursing him anymore.  While I love to nurse him it's hard when it seems like every time you start to do something he's hungry and you are the only one that can feed him.  But right now it's 3pm and he's eaten 6x already haha so don't know if that's going to last.  

Landon and Preston


Hayden and Preston


Smiley baby

Daddy and Preston

Bathtime


Talking to the frog

Serious baby

Casen and Preston





Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Kidney Results (sort of) and Casen's hearing tests

I completely forgot to update on here about Preston's kidneys.  We got a call last week saying that the tests came back "essentially ok" and she said that if something was serious they would move his appt up but they are keeping it the same (Oct 24th).  So she didn't say it showed nothing, but didn't say what it showed just that it wasn't serious.  So what I'm hoping is we go in and find out it showed very mild reflux or a very minor blockage because if that's the case they will let it resolve on it's own, no surgery, possibly a daily antibiotic if it's reflux but that's it.  Now you may wonder why I HOPE they tell us that...if the tests showed nothing than we are back to square one.  We know his kidneys are showing abnormalities so we want to know why...if these tests showed nothing we still don't know and he might have to be put through even more testing.  If it showed one of the above things, very mild, than we have our answer as to why the u/s was showing abnormalities and it's nothing serious.  So we are hoping that's what we hear and everything should resolve on it's own with no further issues for him.  We will find out the actual results on the 24th of Oct so I'll update again after we find out.  

He will be 4mo on Friday!!!  I don't know how that is even possible, it seems like he should be MAYBE 2mo old!  He is now almost 14.5lbs, no clue on length but he has his 4mo appt on Oct 7th so we will find out then.  Hayden has his 4yr appt that day too!!!  He hasn't had a check up since like 15mo haha so we'll see how he's doing. I'm going to talk to them about his speech.  He has gotten much better and most people can understand a lot of what he says but he can't say words that start with an "s" sound such as "stop" it's always "gop".  Any "s" word comes out with a "g" sound.  So we'll see what she says about that.  

On the 10th Preston has his developmental pediatrician appt so I'm interested to see what they think about how he's doing.  I think he's doing great but he's definitely behind.  Just by my guess I say about 6wks behind where he "should" be for actual age...about 3wks behind adjusted age.  But he's progressing how he should...just behind for his age.  He is smiling all the time, talks to me ALL the time, giggles, is able to support himself a lot better.  I don't think he's going to need any extra help but we'll see what they think.

Then on the 13th Landon and Casen have check ups.  We will be asking for a referral to an ENT because last week Casen had his hearing tested at school and he failed.  She looked in his ears and he has bad wax build up, which we know, he has insane amounts of wax...it's really gross.  I clean their ears with the rounded end of a bobby pin so not to push anything down in there but despite that he's got lots down in there and she can't even see his ear drums to be sure there is no infection.  As far as we know he's never had an ear infection.  But she suggested getting some drops to clean his ears and we did that all weekend and as soon as I'd mess with his ears he said it was hurting deep down in there so makes me wonder if they are infected, and if so, how often they are hurting him and him not saying anything.  We did the 3 days of treatment like the drops suggest and she retested today and there was no change.  She said his ears were cleaner but there was still wax deep in there and very dry looking which she said you usually can't get with the drops and it will have to be removed by an ENT most likely.  So we hope that his only problem is wax blocking now actual hearing loss but we don't know yet.  Will also be asking again about the sores on his head and VERY dry skin and cracking on and in his ears...last time they said it was eczema but he has it no where else.   Well he has a 1 patch on his spine and then sometimes gets a bit on his buttocks but no where else.  His skin isn't very dry at all, no patches anywhere else, not the typical behind the knees and in the creases by your elbow.  So makes me wonder if it's really eczema and if it isn't what it could be.  

So Oct is going to be filled with dr appts for us...going to be busy.  Have to set up another dentist appt for Landon and a ortho consult for both him and Casen.  Landon has a very small mouth and they think he will probably need an expander so his teeth won't come in too crooked, so hopefully avoiding braces later.  Casen has a bit of an overbite so they want them to check it out and see if they think it's something that will correct itself as he grows or what we might need to do.  


Friday, September 16, 2011

Preston's kidney testing

Today Preston had his testing done to hopefully find out what's wrong with his kidneys.  His appt was at 10:30, we got there right on time, we didn't end up leaving until about 4:30!!!  It took FOREVER!  It was ridiculous.  He had his last feeding right before 9am and they told me not to feed him after that.  We were still waiting for them to call him back for the first of 2 tests at noon and he was starving.  They called and talked to a nurse and they said I could feed him...so no reason to starve the poor kid.  So I fed him and finally they came and got us.  

He went back and got an IV put in.  They did a really good job, took a good 10min looking all over his body for the best spot to start it so it would be quick and hopefully not have to dig around for it.  They found a spot on his foot, got it in first go and very quickly...but he was screaming bad :(  I had to sit on the other side of the curtain, I couldn't watch.  After they got it all taped up I went back in and for the first time ever he reached out for something while looking at it, with intent....me <3  He has a playmat and will bat at the toys on it, but he's never looking, it's like he is just moving and hits it so then continues to but doesn't really see what he's doing, he doesn't actually reach for it.  This was the first time he actually looked and reached for something.  I sat next to him and he was wrapped up in a warm blanket to help calm him and he broke one arm out of the swaddled and held it out to me and I touched his hand and he grabbed hold of it and wouldn't let go <3  It was the sweetest thing ever.  I picked him up and held him and he fell asleep...he had slept 10min before they took him back for the IV...got to sleep about 10min this time before they had to start the cath.  They told me to expect him to cry.  I sat where I could see him but out of their way.  They did numbing stuff and he didn't even whimper, then they put in the cath and NOTHING!  He didn't cry AT ALL!  The nurses said he was the best baby to ever get one, he did awesome.  They were also very impressed with his cloth haha



I got to hold him again while they gave him some fluids, he nursed and almost fell asleep but then we had to finally take him down for his first test.  They put him on the table in this huge machine, they had weighted bean bag type things to hold him still, flat on his back.  He was exhausted by this point, he doesn't sleep on his back unless he's in bed with me or swaddled (usually if swaddled it's in his boppy) otherwise he's on his tummy.  So he wasn't comfortable at all, he was just miserable.  I wasn't able to pick him up and he had to stay there for a full hour.  He kept crying and nothing I did helped, I couldn't take it so I had to leave and get something to eat, I couldn't sit there and listen to him scream and not be allowed to do anything...it was killing me.  So I came back about 35min later and he was asleep, not 3min after walking in he woke up and started screaming again...the nursed asked if he was breastfed and I said yes and she said he smelled me come back in.  So I tried to go to the waiting room but he wouldn't calm so I went back in and was finally able to get him back to sleep for the last 15min of the test.  After that they took his IV out because it wasn't needed for the 2nd test.



Then we had to wait almost 30min for his next test.  He was hurting from his cath, he had pulled on it a bit and then screamed.  Finally got him calmed down,  nursed again and he fell asleep for about 20min or so, best nap he got all day


So he finally got called back for his 2nd test.  It was a few xrays, one to check the cath.  Then they put contrast into his cath, filled his bladder, took an xray of it full then took the cath out....which he was mad at this point because he had to pee so bad but couldn't, he was so glad to have it come out....then had to get an xray while he was peeing with him on his left side then on his right.  

After the 2nd test she told me our dr would have the results on his fax machine on Monday morning.  She asked if we had an appt next week and I said not until end of Oct and she said "oh yeah I think you'll be getting a call next week, I think you'll hear from them Tues if not call on Wed" and she said it like it showed reflux which is what the 2nd test was checking for.  From the dr telling us the symptoms before I was thinking that was what he had and now it seems like it is.  But I don't know for sure, she couldn't tell me anything but it was what she said and HOW she said it it really sounded like they showed it.  

He was SO happy to get back into his clothes, tube free.  He started talking to me all happy <3

He is exhausted and got a bath when we got home and I Put him in bed at 7pm for the night...which is about 1-2hrs early for him.  Hope he sleeps well and is feeling better tomorrow, I know he's sore.





Hayden is now 4yrs old!!!!

Hayden Noah is 4yrs old!!!!  As of 5:43am on Sept 15th he turned 4yrs old.  Can't believe it's already been 4yrs since my little 7lbs 6oz man was born!  He is now about 31-32lbs and almost 39in!  He had a good day, though we didn't really do anything since he had his party on Saturday and gave him his gifts then.  

How about a few baby pics and now pics :)


1st Christmas


Feb 2008


June 2008


1st birthday!


2nd birthday


3rd birthday

3yrs old

He is now a big brother

4yrs old!!!



He's a gymnast! lol


With his kiwi




Monday, September 12, 2011

The boys first game of the fall!

Tonight was the boys first baseball game of the fall!  They are on the Tigers this season and it's Casen's first season playing coach pitch...and Landon's last.  We put them on the same team for the first time, they are excited about it.  

Landon is having a bit of a hard time with it just because it's the first time since starting baseball that he hasn't been on Freddy's team, kept saying he didn't want to play but I think he had a good game and it'll be fine.  We did run into Freddy at the game tonight and he said in the spring he'll pick him back up...if he's still coaching.  

Casen is doing well at practices so far, he's been able to hit each time he's practiced batting.  But at tonight's game he did almost NOTHING!   I was so annoyed.  We played 4 innings, 3 of which Casen was sat on the bench and he only batted once.  The 3rd time the coach had Casen sit out I confronted him about it, I was not happy, he said he'd play next inning but there wasn't a next inning.  I'm hoping at the next few practices Casen will get a chance to show he knows how to play!  

The ended up losing but they did play a select team, they held their own for awhile there but the last inning that team just crushed them, the final score was 8-0.  Landon did get the last out of one of the innings though!!!  He played a good game, only batted once and struck out but it's first game and he took a season off so he just needs to get back in the swing of things.  

Grumpy about sitting out most of the game?

Landon

Casen's first time up to bat!

Landon batting

Hayden watching the game

Preston's first ever baseball game!!!

Hayden's 4th birthday party!

Another busy week coming up but before I head to bed I thought I'd update about Hayden's party!  

We didn't do anything big, just had it at a local park.  Quite a few kids showed up and they all played and had a lot of fun.  The park was infested with bees, it was insane really, they were all over the place driving us crazy.  Preston slept through most of the party which is good because we had forewarned people that we wouldn't be letting anyone hold him since fall is coming, kids just started back at school, hands couldn't be washed...just can't take that chance with him.  Luckily everyone understood and it went fine.  He slept in his stroller though about half of the party, woke and nursed then hung out back in his stroller watching until the party was over, he was really good!  

Hayden had a great time!  He loved all of his gifts, he got some awesome stuff!!  And was so happy everyone came.  

After the party a few of my friends came back to my house to hang out.  They all knew Nikki from online too but hadn't had a chance to meet her since she got here so we just sat around talking while the kids played.  It's so great that our little group, all of us have kids, and all of the kids get along so well.  Heather wasn't able to make it with Alissa, she had other plans, but was at Hayden's party....we missed her at the house though :(  But it was nice just hanging out with the girls and talking...it's been too long and we need to do it again...SOON!  

Hayden was worn out after playing so hard all day, he went right to sleep when we put him to bed.  I think he had a great time :)  

Some pics


With Daddy while everyone was singing happy birthday to him

Blowing out his candles

Sleepy man

Our tradition...the birthday boy always cuts the first piece

Opening presents

A 3ds from mommy and daddy!

Car track thing from Kadrie

Hat from Heather and Alissa


This pic was taken a little while before his party, we went out to Mansfield to pick up Aunt Dessa and he napped most of the way there and back but when he woke up he had to pee, there was no waiting, and nothing around to stop to let him go.  So I just pulled over on the side of the highway and he stood at the door of the van and peed, he was so proud of himself it was ridiculous



Can't believe in 3 days he will be 4!!!!