Oh wow

All of August went by without me posting.
Wow.

I need to remember that the reason I started this blog was to remember stuff. To remember all the silly things you forget as your child grows... or as you get less and less sleep.

We just got done with a wave of sickness. A scary one this time. Ry started off with a fever at school last Monday. A slight one, not even enough for them to call us.
When we got home he had gotten pretty warm. We took his temp and it was 102.5 (there abouts).
Gave him some Tylenol and a bath and off to bed. Around midnight be woke-up crying. Took his temp and it was in the 104's. And not the low 104's.
Neil grabbed him and was giving him cool water while I called Tellahealth. Long and short of it was worry when the fever is in the 104, if it gets to 105 go to the hospital ASAP. 108 is when long term damage can happen.
Scary stuff.

He had the runny poops since Saturday (we thought it was because he was teething since he didn't want to eat much either and was fussy)
Tuesday Neil was home with him and took him to a kids walkin. They told us to come back Wend if he still had a fever for blood work.
Wend came and he was still feverish. If we didn't give him medication to keep it down it would spike up close to the 105 mark. I took him tot he after hours walk in at the hospital since the one Neil went to tuesday sucks. They said if he still had a fever to bring him back Thursday. Clean ears, nose, throat and chest so no worries there and he was drinking like crazy just NOT eating.
So thursday came and we didn't like how high his fever still was so we went to the hospital.

Now all this time he will go to sleep on his own and then wake up around 1-2 with a fever crying so we would put him in bed with us. We got smart and we just dosed him around 1am while he was sleeping before the fever hit. Thursday morning though it came back pretty strong.
So after waiting and tests we found out they think it was a Viral tummy bug. Guess it was going around.
After a catheter to get a pee sample, a swab in his throat to test for strep and a thermometer in his butt we found out nothing we could do but medicate him and try to keep him hydrated. Poor kid
Friday he was with Gabi while Neil and I went to work. Medication given every 4-5 hours to keep his temp down. Gabi was a little late on a dose cause Ryan was getting some much needed sleep and his fever spiked back up.
By Saturday fever was gone and he was in the mood to eat a little. Has some bad gas and poop that night but no fever. By Sunday almost back to normal.

By Monday he was back to being our awesome little guy.

He is 17 Months old as of this past Monday.
He is talking all the time, most of the time we dont understand what he is saying. He is STILL obsessed with balloons. Just yesterday I asked if he wanted more yogurt and he opens his mouth and points to it.
YES BUDDY! FOOD!
COMUNICATE with us!

I could care less how he lets us know he wants food or drink just as long as he starts letting us know before he goes into a rage.

Birthday and day care

April 17th was a lot of fun. We hung out, cleaned, went shopping, played, went on the swings, slid down the slide and after we got home from getting Neil Ryan had a cupcake. This time it was rainbow chip and I put a tiny bit of frosting on it.
He loved it.

 Forget broccoli, give me cake!

 Hmmmmm

 Hey dad, try this out!

Nomnomnom

April 18th Neil took me into work and then was off to the doctor with Ryan.
He got his 12 month shots, in his arms, poor kid. We also found out he is 27.5lbs and 78cm (30.7inches). He is in the top 90% (which means he is a big dude)
He should drink whole milk (not 2%) No peanuts till 2 years of age (or peanut butter) and he had a rash (which might be athletes foot) on his feet so we have to cream him up at night and try to leave shoes off.
Neil and Ryan had a great time together while I was back at work. Neil gave Ryan a piece of twine while he was on the phone with Revenu Canada about our taxes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD-MBzrmJL4
Its pretty damn funny and it made my first day back to work go better.
My guys picked me up a little early and Neil had a frosty for me as a treat. It was awesome.


Today... today was the first day of day care. I was so 'butterfly belly' this morning. Ryan had no idea what was going on. We went into day care and after asking about the sign in for video over internet we took him to class. I let the ladies know Ry has a rash on his feet and to try to keep shoes off him and the milk was in the bag (breast for now, we really need to go grocery shopping). The young black lady (really need to learn her name!) took Ryan from me and told me "go have a good day." She put Ry in the middle of the room and he had his back to me and started playing. Neil took my hand and lead me out of there. I was crying. Not much just a few tears. Neil grabs my hand, puts it up in the air and turns to me and says "Lets celebrate, lets go to mexico! Ryan is their problem now!" I couldn't help but laugh.


I was pretty busy at work and trying to get into the swing but I did go online a few times to spy on Ryan. I saw him playing, being rocked, being hugged and cuddled, I saw him do the tired lay down and thought to myself "Oh they better put him to bed soon." I saw him step over another kid, play with a ball, eat, drink, walk around and have a good time.
The lady Rita told me he had two servings of tacos at lunch. LOL. And it also looks like he drank his whole bottle of breast milk at 4. Maybe I should give them two bottles? He ate pita, tzatziki, oranges and the fruit I gave them. Damn... kid can eat. I guess it's all the playing with other kids.
I am trying to get him to drink only from cups so we shall see. I will have to talk to them about that and what they think.
He was covered in boogers which was super gross. It was nice to bathe him tonight. Lets just say all the kids there have runny noses and its hitting my gross out factor pretty hard.


This is his report card.

(click to enlarge)

 I get one everyday.
 I fill out the small section to the top left and the ladys fill out the rest. They were really happy with how much he ate and drank but he didn't sleep. The 30 min nap he did take was on a hippo pillow in the main play room. Rita said he went to sleep in her arms around 11 (which I saw) but when they put him down in the crib room he woke up. She said they left him there and he chatted and cried a little. Hopefully he will sleep for them Friday. He was in a GREAT mood on the drive home and tonight while he ate dinner and played. He had a nice bath (a fast one though cause he kept trying to lay down in the water). Now he is sleeping. I am doing some wash and then time to make lunches for Neil and I. (and a shower)
I will confess tonight after bath, after saying goodnight to daddy and kitty Roag, after breast feeding and teeth brushing I let him sleep on me. I sat in the chair in his room while he slept on me just staring at him while the sun was setting. I was in there about 10 min longer then I needed to be. I wanted to hold him longer but we need to sleep train him again, he is getting bad. I just sat there cuddling him looking at him and smelling him and kissing him. Trying to engrave in my brain how he feels in my arms.


I know I am being dramatic... I also know other moms reading this blog will get this and nod in agreement to that feeling. The old cliche is true, they grow up way to fast.


Love you little man.

Sleep issues and evil child

Our doctor at our last check up asked if Ryan was sleeping through the night, I laughed and told him no. Ry goes down about 7-8pm wakes up around 11:30, wakes around 4am and then wakes up at 7am for the  day. Lately it's worse, a lot of crying and shifting in his sleep. It's those god damn teeth.
I guess if I had five coming in I would also sleep poorly but really I just want him to sleep. Almost 10 months old (next friday) and STILL not sleeping all night.
I digress, doc said no more nighttime breast feeds. Water only. It can hurt his teeth. I checked with our dentist as well because I read some stuff online that said this is not the case for breast feed babies, only bottle kids. Our dentist said its a crab shoot. It might hurt his teeth it might not, but why risk it.
I have horrid teeth genetics. I just do. I brush and floss like crazy (even used to do it at work after lunch) but I still get cavities and I am 34. Neil has amazing teeth, almost never flosses and he has no cavities. Hope Ryan gets his teeth.


Thursday night was a living nightmare. He was up at 12am. Now normally I can rock him and hum for about 10 min and he is back out. Well not that night. Oh no. He wanted none of that shit. I had him till about 12:45am. We rocked, hummed, singed, changed diaper, tried the water, put him in his crib, left him for a few minutes at a time, put him in bed... everything. HE would just scream. Not cry, if he was crying I would have stuck with the crib and just checking on him every 3 min to let him know I was there and he was okay (read online to do this) but he SCREAMS.


Neil told me to put him in bed. Neil put his arm over Ry and was trying to sooth him. This works... as long as I am not in the room. So Neil picked up Ryan and took him in the living room to walk around. Then once he was calm put him back in bed. Screaming starts as he is looking at me. This went on till 2:30 when I caved and gave him breast.


Last night we did not cave. Tried all the crap above but instead of taking him out of the room I cuddled him in my arms rocking back and forth. He took the bottle (weak black chamomile tea) and drank almost the whole thing. Which for him is a miracle. I can get him to almost drink a bottle through the WHOLE DAY, not in one sitting. I rocked him for an hour and when my back felt like it was going to spasm I put him in our bed. Fuck the crib, lets break one bad habit at a time. Neil had to cuddle him to sleep. I think it was 3 something when he passed out. He woke at 5:30. I tried the bottle first and he started to ramp up.  I just gave him the breast. I was so tired I didnt even care to fight anymore. I figure we can kill that midnight (2am) feeding and we can work on the second one next week. I think its important we stick to our guns though. Don't cave in. Neils co-worker Liz (has 3 kids) gave him some good advice. She said Ryan doesn't remember being up for 2 1/2 hours Thursday night all he remembers is he got the breast in the end.


We have to be mean, well not too mean I dont want him to scream so hard he gets sick (he did that when he was an infant). We have to stick with it and just try to nap as much as we can during the day.
Books say the kid should sleep solid at night 10-12 hours and be taking 2 naps a day at 1 hours each. yeah right. In my fantasies. We were talking about having a second. I told Neil I don't think I want one and no way in hell we are having the talk for real until Ryan sleeps through the night. OR at least only wakes up once.


In happier news I made Butternut Squash Ravioli the other day for Ryan.

 I can feed myself?

Hey this is pretty good!

I used Wontons and it was so easy! Ryan loved it but he doesn't have enough teeth I had to cut it up. It took a while for him to eat. I ate half of his food. I just saute it in a little sun flower oil, no sauce. I also made meatballs but they are a bit dry. Gabi gave me a great recipe for home made sauce. SUPER easy to do and very plain so I am going to give him that for lunch today


Ryan loves to tickle us now. He was doing it to Neils feet the other night and Neil kept giggling. Now when Ryan touches my feet I giggle and bounce them around. Holy crap this kid loves it. He laughs like crazy! He will crawl across the house to get to my feet to tickle me. I guess that is what we get for tickling him so much.
Ryan also loves walking and pulling himself up. He does it on everything and the past few days he will pull himself up and then stand on his own. When we 'walk' him around the house and we will only give him one hand to hold. Before he would stop and look for the second hand and then either grab your clothing or stop let go and crawl. Now he is walking with just the one hand but he is a little shy about it. Every time he stands on his own I clap and tell him how great he doing. He loves it.

Bushy eyebrows and looooong lashes.

OH Gabi came over yesterday. Ryan hadn't seen her in a week. Soon as he heard her voice he lit up. HUGE smile and he did this flapping arms thing he does when excited. It was so cute. He really missed her, now to take him to visit Sandor (grandpa) as well. I know they miss each other.


I was playing with Ryans hair, I did the "Squiggy" if you dont know who this is I feel bad for you.

Mom... for real, stop it.

hehehehe

Its snowing outside, so pretty. I want to take Ryan out in it but its -12 feels like -21. Maybe not the day for snow play even with the snow suit.


Side note, I know the kid the tired because its 9:30am and he is napping already. Normally he naps between 10:30-11:30am for 1/2 hour. Lets see how long this nap is. Poor Neil is still in bed. I think this is taking a beating on him. He is so used to me taking the night shift cause he has to work so I think the sleeping in today and Monday (he has off) will do him some good. Silly man needs to go to bed earlier, silly mom should too!!!
I think we just get so excited about having the house to ourselves we stay up too late. There is a lot of things I can do only when Ryan is sleeping. I want to make my wall-dwellers again and no way I can play with Sculpty clay with Ryan awake!

Skiing and Doctor Update

Neil and I went Skiing last Saturday for the first time. Ill update more on it later. Pressed for time right now.
Ryan saw the doctor today for a check up.
He is 25.6lbs and 76cm (29.9in). Big baby is HUGE. Doctor also told me to stop breastfeeding him at night. To transition to water at night.
Plan is starting tonight no more big bed for Ryan. We put him in bed with us around 4am. So this week we break that habit. Next week start on the no more breastfeeding in the middle of the night. Doc said Ryan should be sleeping through the night now and its not good for him to have breast milk in the middle of the night because of his teeth.
BAH!
I knew this time would come but its gonna suck so hard. Thankfully he breastfeeds now and then I hum or sing him to sleep so I just have to leave out the breastfeeding in the middle of the night. 21 days to form a habit. 
I know in the long run this is a good thing since I am going back to work in April but still. I hate not sleeping. I shot myself in the foot putting him in bed with us and bfing to sleep. Stupid Mary! Oh well.

Christmas, thoughts and sickness... again.

It was amazing. Neil posted some photos here.
Pre-Holiday
and here
Christmas fun!


This photo pretty much sums up the day (this was him at night when he just didn't want to sleep)
Click to enlarge.

We skyped with my folks for a little bit so they could see Ryan open a few gifts. That is why in some of the pictures I am on my laptop.

Ryan loved it. 


It was just an amazing weekend. Friday we had a great time with friends at Chris & Tara's house. Dan, Vanessa, Anand and Ryan M came over. Unfortunately Janet, Mike and the girls were very sick and not able to make it. AND we couldn't stay too long cause Ryan just didn't want to sleep. He went down for a hour and was up at 10 and refused to go back down. Didn't want to miss the party, so we had to go home. However for some odd reason he sleeps GREAT at Robin and Christina's place. Hmmmm maybe cause playing with Lucy (the dog) wears him out.
Love that dog. She is amazing with kids. I think Ryan loves her too.

Real reason I wanted to post was my brother in law Robin sent this to me...
http://daringfireball.net/2011/12/merry


I thought it was so sweet and so true I started to send this email back to him and figure 'fuck it' I will post this on my blog... being that its about having kids and being a parent. Ya know... what my blog should be about.

I love it and really I feel that way now. When I am having a hard time with Ryan I stop, look at him and realize to myself I have to enjoy it... All of it, because it goes way to fast. I find myself looking at little baby pictures of him feeling a little sad because it's going so fast.
Everyone always tells you to enjoy the kid while you can because time flies and it's so very true.
I have never been more happy in my life then I have this past year.

I love my little family intensely. 


It's also funny cause parents tried to explain this type of love to me before but you can't explain it. Its like NOTHING you have ever felt before until you have your kid in your arms. It's amazing and scary and exciting all at once.




Also side note. Ryan is getting sick.(good news is that fucking booger thats been in his nose for over a week came out) Started with a cough and now has runny nose. We are going to see the doctor today at 1:45. If it was just the runny nose again I wouldn't go but the cough sounds pretty bad. Thankfully he is not coughing too much but when it does you can really hear it. Gross thing is he coughs up stuff, chews it and then back down it goes. Ew buddy... spit it up!
trying my very best not to get it. My hands are dry and doing my best NOT to touch my face. Much harder then you would think. Try to not touch your face at all for the next hour. Let me know how you do.

Shots round 3, test results and the home state

Ry got his third round of shots today. He has been pretty good which is shocking. Playful, took a long nap, super playful and was good for Neil and Gabi tonight while I was a Zumba. He was a little moody when he woke up at 1030 but after 45 min got him back to sleep.
We shall see how tonight goes. (edit, just woke up three times screaming in the past 30 min. awesome just awesome.)

say what!?

I really hope he startes to sleep again soon. Almost a month of him waking every 1-2 hours. I celebrate the rare times he has slept 3 hours. So nice. I miss the 3-5 hour stretches so much.
Not only does he wakes up but he will wake up SCREAMING. So its hard to ignore him and let him go back to sleep on his own. He is in our room and Neil has to work and really how can you ignore a screaming baby (one bedroom house we live in)


We got the results that the ultrasound was okay. No scaring on the kidneys which is great! Still waiting for the VCGU results. Hopefully will have them soon.
But the doctor gave us good news today, he gave us the okay to go to Florida!


I am from Florida and my family lives there. My mom, dad, sister and brother in law. 
My dad has yet to meet Ryan and so does my sister Laura. My sis and I are sort of estranged but we are starting to talk again. She is not what I would call a kid person but hopefuly Ryan doesn't freak her out too much with the drool. (I tease he doesn't drool that much, he doesn't even need a bib).


We are going down Sunday the 30th and will get in around midnight. Neil will be there till Saturday the 5th of November and I will be there with Ryan till the 23rd. We leave early in the morning.
Neils dad got us one of the tickets on his air miles which was really awesome of him!

nomnom feet

I called my folks to tell them the good news. Now they were expecting me and Ryan at the END of November not the end of October so they were a little surprised. I could tell my mom was a little flustered. She has been working at getting all the crap we will need for Ryan. Highchair, car seat, play-yard, crib, foam mats for crawling, a walker, diapers, food, change mat... like I said, all the crap. And a place for me to sleep. She got a futon that will come in Tuesday. YAY I dont have to be on an air mattress for 3 1/2 weeks. :P


I know its short notice but I hope there are a few people I can see when we come down.

I always miss my old house when I go to Florida. I want to go across the street from my folks and sit on my porch in the quiet and have a smoke. I don't but I want to. (I used to live in the house across the street that was my grandmothers).

Ryan update on UTI and a new tooth!

Ryan is doing much better. More wet diapers and not smelly. Also no fever for almost a week and we have just a few more days of medication left. YAY!

He is one happy baby. He is still waking a lot at night but its because that second tooth is popping out.

We still have yet to hear from his doctors office for the appointment at sick kids but because we went late Thursday and everything was closed for the long Thanksgiving weekend. Also the office is closed on Tuesdays I figure if I don't hear from them by Thursday I will call them Friday.

I am just happy my little monkey is pretty much back to his normal super happy self. 

(Click to enlarge)

 Happy Baby

 Useing the new travel highchair at Dan and Vanessa's (Vanessa took this photo)

Sleeping just like daddy!

And here is a link of Ryan saying MOM. (he says it all the time)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtaL6P-G9t4

Neil said I only hear what I want to hear because he is too young to understand what he is saying. I think he does know cause he looks right at me and says MOM and he also says 'nomnomnom' which is what I say to him as I feed him food. Sorry the video is facing the wrong way but you get the jist of it. He says it more but I trimmed the clip to get it on youtube faster.

Also our son is a genius. (and sorry for breathing into the mic at the end. Opps)

Update on Ryan and his UTI

Ry is doing much better today. Other then the medication still upsetting his tummy he is good.The Doctor said to keep giving it to him. Its better then an IV and I agree. Plus he is just pooping and farting from it, not vomiting.

We have an ultrasound Oct 19th to check his kidneys. I tried a few places and that was the soonest we could get in, one hospital told me JAN was when they were booking! Trillium did tell me November but when I told her again it was for my BABY and his kidneys she bumped us up to Oct. I think she heard the slight panic in my voice.

He will also have a second procedure done. The doctors office will book that one and let us know when it is. It will be at Sick Kids hospital (bad memories there). Its called VCUG and they are testing for urinary reflux. Pretty much they put a catheter in him  again and put dye in his bladder. They then check to the dye to see if it is going back UP into the kidneys. Neil and I will be able to be in the room with him the whole time.

I know it will be scary for him seeing us in big lead aprons and in a medical room with bright lights and doctors. So I will have to make sure to choke back the urge to cry and be a super strong mama bear for my little dude with big smiles and a soft voice.

If he does have it they prescribe long-term, low-dose antibiotics to prevent recurring UTIs. Until it stops (which the doc said most of the time happens on its own but if not he might have to have surgery depending on how bad it is). The doctor said its pretty rare but with babies they over test to just be safe with all the testing.

He didn't come off as too worried which was good. Doc Simone has been around a while and I felt much more at ease after seeing him today.

Ryan does look much better. Last night he slept in his own bed with no problems (past two nights he slept with us) and today he was laughing/screaming/talking in his jumper like he always does.

Also he was good for Neil and Gabi last night. I went to Zumba and they had a good night. He ate some sweet potatoes and even took a bath with Neil. He was whiny but didn't scream like the last two Wednesday nights. It was really nice to come home to a sleeping happy baby, a relaxed looking dad and a happy grandma.

Its still a CHORE to get him to take medication. He CLAMPS his mouth shut so its a struggle to get the applicator in his mouth and then he pushes the medication out with his tongue. Heh, smart little stubborn monkey.

UTI in Ryan.

Yup. Ryan got a Urinary tract infection. He has been off since Sunday morning. He was crying and screaming all day Sunday which is NOT like him.

Even when his tooth was coming through he didn't cry all day. He would have crying fits and then be okay for a while.

I took his temp at noon Monday (today) and he was 38c. I dosed him (Tylenol) and he was okay. I took his temp again at 6 and it was 39c. Not good (102.2f) 

After Neil got home I told him and we ate a quick dinner and took him to the Kid Clinic at the hospital. We didn't have to wait long. No fever when the nurse took his temp but we were still going to see the doctor because he hasn't been himself and his pee was smelly.

Doc did an exam and said he thought it might be a UTI but to be sure we needed some pee. Well that was going to be unpleasant.

Poor little peanut got a catheter in his penis. Oh he screamed. (which is understandable).

The nurse took the pee to have a quick look and she said it did look like a UTI.

I gave Ryan a little breast to calm him down and the doc gave us the information on the medication we needed to give him. Also told us we will have an ultrasound to make sure there is nothing else wrong. Ryan cant say to us "daddy my belly hurts." so we have to be proactive.

They will call me soon with the appointment time. Also need to have a check up with his normal doctor in two days.

I am very happy I went with my mom instinct and we took him in. I was thinking of waiting to see if he was better Tuesday but something told me he wasn't okay.

We have to keep an eye on him tonight with the fever and medication so he will sleep with us tonight. Right now he is sleeping on Neil which is nice. Keeps him happy and gives me a bit of a break because he has been very clinging today. All day he was on me, which ya can't blame him. When I was sick as a kid I wanted to be held. (hence the sleeping in our bed tonight) Comfort couldn't hurt him. 

I'll update in a few days to how he is doing.

bath time peanut.

I see lots of sleeping on mom or dad and A LOT of cuddles.Which is just fine by me!

And in this corner weighing in at...

1 month check up today at the doctors for Ryan. He will be one month old on Sunday. Wow.

He weighs 10lbs 14oz, almost 11lbs. Double wow. He is getting big!

He feel much more sturdy. He holds his neck up every time I burp him (unless its late at night and he is sleeping while I try to burp him) and he can move his head around. Doesn't have great control of it so we still have to support him but he is getting there.

Yesterday was a rough day. He cried A LOT and was really gassy. Still have no idea what I am doing wrong. Guess we will have to just tough it out and understand that some days will be bad. Good thing is he slept great last night so Neil and I got some sleep for a change.

Today he is much better. Only had a little gas pain. I picked up Gripe water and tried it out. Looks like its working pretty well. I figure the Ovol drops are small enough to put in the diaper bag so those we will travel with and leave the gripe water at home since the bottle is huge and the serving size is much larger.

I am still free of milk, spice, onions and garlic. And I am still have two cups of Fennel tea a day. Nothing has really changed. The Doc said today to avoid spicy foods but everything else should be okay. He also said about the 4mth mark it should get better.

I figure Neil and I made it one month and its gone by pretty fast. The next three should be okay too.

I am excited about seeing how he grows, who he will look like, what colour his eyes will be, will he have dimples when he smiles? What colour will his hair be, please let him have my thick hair and not Neils thin! Will he get freckles or have Neils nice skin that tans in the sun? What will his first word be?

(first bath photo)

Second bath went much better. Neil was in the tub with him. Ryan looks red cause of the lighting and I took this with my iPhone. 

The water was not hot, don't worry!

I hope Ryan loves the water as much as I do when he is a little older!

Also we are going for the second month shots on the 22nd of June. It was scheduled for the 17th but then I realized that is the day before the baby shower and a baby with a fever and all grumpy from the shots might not be that fun to be around or get photos of... so we rescheduled. :D  
Good thing Chris and Tara already hooked us up with the pain medication we will need for Ryan.
It's nice to have new parents around us to give us all these tips and tricks!!!


Also its been nice to get all this advice on breast feeding and any of the problems we had with Ryan. The info is great and I really appreciate it everyone. 
THANK YOU!