Highs and Lows

In addition to ringing in the New Year, this past weekend was quite busy! On Dec 31st, Kirby had a play date with Macie, an adorable girl that's a little younger than Kirby (maybe a few weeks younger). Macie took the opportunity to check out the new space - mostly in the opposite room that the rest of us were in. :) She's been walking for a while and I was happy to have someone Kirby's age around so he could watch her. As I mentioned in my previous post, Kirby's been walking for a while, but not on his own. To our surprise, that afternoon (several hours after the play date), Kirby started walking around on his own! By the end of the day, he basically walked around the house twice.

The next morning (New Year's day), we went to the mall to have breakfast at Panera Bread (yay - I finally found bear claws!). Since the stores were still closed, but the mall was open for mall walkers, we let Kirby play in the kid's area for a bit, then meander down the mall to practice walking. He walked about the length of 4 stores on his own! He only ran into 1 person - she didn't know which way to go to avoid him and he grabbed onto her legs. Thankfully she was nice about the whole thing. :)

Since then, Kirby still wants to hold my finger to walk, but he's basically running around the house by himself. It's so funny to watch him because he holds both arms in the air like he's a doctor that just washed his hands before surgery. :)

Now we just have to work on him standing up by himself. He's done it a few times, but now he refuses to stand straight up - he seems to need something to climb so he can get to his feet. I'm sure once he walks a bit more that he'll be motivated to get up after falling down.

Also on New Year's day..... the low point.
Kirby will be going back to day care February 1 and for some reason I got it in my head that we should give him peanut butter since he may come in contact with peanuts at school. At Kirby's 12 month appt, the dr gave us the go ahead to give him anything we want, but I haven't been in a rush to try peanuts until now.

I had 5 little pieces of wheat toast, and I put peanut butter on each of the pieces. We put it on Kirby's plate, but of course he didn't pick it up. He still doesn't like to touch new things - especially if they're squishy. So we ended up feeding him 3 pieces. He didn't seem to like or dislike the flavor - just seemed pretty neutral (which is weird b/c peanut butter is delicious!). After around 5 minutes, he started to rub his eyes. I thought it was just because he was tired since he just woke up from a nap. The he started to tug at his ear and raised his hands like he wanted us to pick him up. I didn't immediately think that he was having an allergic reaction since everything seemed so subtle. I got a phone call from my dad so I didn't see the rest of his symptoms, but by the time I got off the phone (less than 10 minutes), Gary & my MIL thought he wasn't acting right - in addition to rubbing his eyes and tugging his ear, Kirby started drooling a lot.

I decided to call the ask a nurse but since it was a holiday, I knew it'd be 30+ minutes before they called me back. We decided that we'd better be safe and took Kirby to Urgent Care. I sat in the back seat with Kirby to make sure he was ok and his breathing changed a little (it sounded raspy). I was worried that since it was New Year's day that the wait would be long (the sign actually said over an hour), but as soon as I said what was wrong, a nurse was called and we were taken back. The nurse got all his vitals, and then by the time the dr came to see us, Kirby was back to normal (breathing normally, no more drooling, eye rubbing, etc). The dr looked him over and said that everything seemed ok. Kirby was given Benedryl, which was funny b/c Kirby was sucking that stuff down like it was candy. The nurse said she'd never seen a baby enjoy it so much. :)

We had to wait 20 minutes while the Benedryl took effect and it was SO difficult keeping him out of all the drawers. We tried holding him, but of course he just learned to walk so he wanted to roam free and touch *everything*! The dr came back, said Kirby looked normal, gave us a prescription for an EpiPen and prednisone, and we left. The rest of the day was uneventful, except that I didn't hear a peep from Kirby all night long. I'm guessing he was still a little drugged from the Benedryl.

Sunday - nothing happened, but then Kirby seemed to have another weird reaction on Monday while eating lunch. He started rubbing his eyes, tugging his ears, etc. He hadn't eaten anything with peanuts, but there was a quiche that was made in the same processing plant with peanuts. I called his pediatrician in hopes of getting an appt for him to get checked for allergies and luckily they had an appt available that afternoon. Kirby seemed fine after about 15 minutes, but his eyes were still red and puffy by the time we went to the dr office. We had to wait quite a while, but it gave Kirby plenty of opportunities to practice walking *all over* the waiting room. :)

When the dr came to examine Kirby, she said almost immediately that his reaction isn't allergies, but pink eye. I didn't see this, but she said that there's yellowish discharge and the rim of the eyes look exactly like pink eye. Additionally, she said that she's suspicious that what happened 2 days before was an allergic reaction - mainly b/c Kirby got better completely on his own (without meds). She obviously couldn't say for sure since she didn't examine him that day, but she felt certain that his reaction earlier in the day was just b/c he has pink eye. At least that was a little bit of a relief! Putting eye drops in Kirby's eyes certainly wasn't fun, but thankfully that only lasted 3 days. On top of pink eye, Kirby's also has a little cold, so he's also snotty and hasn't had much of an appetite. Poor little dude!

We made an appt with an allergist to get him tested so that we know for sure what we're dealing with. Unfortuantely, the next available appt isn't until the beginning of March. :( We've gone this long without exposing Kirby to peanuts, so it's just for 2 more months. We'll let day care know there's a possibility and until then, I'm trying not to think about it much b/c it makes me sad thinking that my beautiful little guy might have a life threatening allergy.

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

Wow - is Christmas really just a few days away?! It seems like the month of December always flies by! We didn't really decorate as much as we usually do b/c it's hard to keep Kirby away from everything. We definitely put a tree up, but we blocked it off using a gate between the couch and sofa. Kirby likes to toddle over and try to touch the tree, but he's only able to graze a branch or two. There's not much he can grab, though - we didn't want to put too many items on the tree in case he was able to get past the gate. We have lights, a star on top, and we bought "unbreakable" ornaments. I put unbreakable in quotes b/c half of the containers had broken ornaments in the store. :P

For the outside of the house, we put some lights out, but didn't go as crazy as we usually do. Part of it is that it takes a lot of time and another part is that we realized that we should hire an electrician to set up another outlet instead of taking a chance with the 3 we currently use. Thankfully, the worst that has happened is that the circuit is tripped when it rains/snows. Here's a video of what we have going on this year.

Kirby's still not walking on his own. We thought he would be by now, but I don't think he's confident enough in his abilities just yet. I think the most steps he's taken on his own is 6. He's definitely more stable and he can go fast when he's excited about something, but he wants at least 1 finger to hold onto while he's walking. The past two Sunday mornings, we've taken him to the mall before it opens - which is nice b/c there's no one else at the playground. He also likes walking around the mall and looking in the store windows. It's perfect b/c no one is there except mall walkers and all the stores are closed so he's not tempted to run inside and throw clothes on the floor. :)


He signs a few more words - here's his list: "more" (which he actually thinks means "I want"), "please," "thank you," "food," "sleepy," "milk," and "stars." He also says a few more words: "hi," "mama," "dada," "yo-yo," "umbrella," and as of yesterday, "bye bye."


We have already had a few "snow storms" this year. Ugh - I am not looking forward to January! The first snow storm was the heaviest and Kirby was quite intrigued by the whole thing. We didn't let him stay out in it long b/c he didn't have a proper winter coat, but he had fun. I think he was most happy about the idea of being right next to Santa and Frosty b/c he only gets to see them from afar.

We hope you have a wonderful (and safe) holiday season!

Happy Birthday, Kirby!

Wow - where did that year go? I can't believe that Kirby is already a year old. In the days leading up to his birthday, I just couldn't stop thinking about the amazing experience. I would think, "A year ago, we were playing Rock Band waiting to go to the hospital." or "A year ago I was being induced." While labor was a very tiring and crazy process, it really wasn't that bad (and I was in labor for 18 hours)! Looking back on things, I think my pregnancy was worse than the labor (you know, having to walk using crutches, having random pains all the time, couldn't sleep, etc).

And now, a year later, I have a wonderful, amazing, beautiful boy! :) I was about to say baby boy, but, alas, he's no longer a baby. He's cruising that fine line between baby and toddlerhood. EEP!

So much has happened since I last wrote in May. At that time, he was barely rolling over. Since then, his main mode of transportation became rolling (for about 2 months), and from there he started crawling. He's still crawling when on his own, but he loves for someone to hold his hands and let him walk around. Recently (maybe the past 2 weeks) he's gotten good enough that he wants to run. :) We're working on holding just one hand right now so he can get used to balancing on his own.

It's amazing how much he picks up from other kids when he's around them for just an hour or two. He was watching a friend of his and then the next day he stood straight up (without having to pull up on something). He's only done it once so far, but we'll be seeing his friend again this weekend so maybe Kirby will want to do it more.

Now that he's a little more mobile, he's very interested in being physical. He wants to climb on the stairs, up his slide, and he even climbed onto the coffee table before we knew what was happening! We haven't gotten anything for his birthday, but we're thinking of getting some sort of gymnastic mat that he can climb all over.

Kirby's also *very* good with his hands. He waves at everybody and everything (signs, lightposts, etc). :) I think he's been ahead with hand dexterity since the beginning - he seemed to do things earlier than his friends, but they were always ahead in mobility - so it's a nice trade off.

As far as words, personally, I think Kirby's been saying "Hi" and "Hey" for a while. I say it to him all the time and he usually says it back. He does not, however, say it unprompted. He has also said "Dada" and "Mama" but I think they're just sounds without meaning. It still makes me smile when I hear it, though. :) His first actual communication is the sign for "more". Granny's been doing sign language with him and now he uses "more" all the time when he's eating. Apparently, he loves puffs and Mum Mums.

I can't think of much else at the moment, but I'll try to be better about writing in when there's something interesting. :) Our Flickr page has a lot of photos (including some amazing professional photos taken when he was 8.5 months old), so check them out if you haven't had the chance.

Rolling over pt 3

Wow - what a difference a week makes! In my last post, I mentioned that Kirby rolled from back to front and from front to back on his own. Well...... starting some time last week he started regularly sleeping on his belly. It happened once during the day for a nap and ever since then, he's been on his belly when I get him up (whether it's in the morning or after a nap during the day). At first it kinda made me nervous about SIDS, but everything I read says that once they can roll on their own that they're mostly past the "dangerous" time for SIDS. That's fine, but I'm still nervous! I put him down at night on his back and I usually check on him before I go to bed to make sure that he isn't face down in the mattress. :)

He's gotten a bit better about rolling over but yesterday was a whole other level for him! He started rolling quite a bit - back and front - but still in the same general area. This morning, Kirby was alone on the blanket on the floor while I got breakfast. When I came back into the living room, Kirby was completely off the blanket and on the hardwood floor! We moved a rug downstairs so Kirby has more rolling around space but it looks like we won't be able to leave him alone anymore!

It's so amazing to see how fast he's developing now. It really is like a switch was flipped and he magically knows how to do something that he couldn't do well the day before. Some other things that he's been doing lately:

• He was able to sit by himself in one of the restaurant seats. It was still a bit big for him, but he held onto the sides and leaned against the back. He was so excited to look around and get a different view. Of course he was drawn to the TV, but I'm ok with him watching a little bit since we don't allow him to watch any at home anymore. I don't like complete silence, so the TV is now tuned to the music channels - mostly Solid Gold Oldies. :)
• I took a bath with him for the first time. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be! He kept wanting to float around and reach for the toy, and I was afraid to let him go just in case his face went under water! It was funny when he discovered that he could splash the water with his legs. Once he figured it out, he was going crazy. :) I can't wait to take him to the pool and watch him play. I already bought his swimming trunks, a shirt with 50 SPF and a floppy hat. :D
• He's getting better at standing for longer periods of time. We still have to prop him up on the coffee table, but he has much better control than before.

We're getting to the point where we'll need to start getting rid of his infant stuff since we're running out of room. Part of me has been wanting to hold onto it in case we decide to have another. Gary's been saying that he's done, but Kirby's such a great guy that I've been thinking that maybe we can have another (nevermind that it took 3 years to have him :P). HOWEVER, some friends of ours came to visit over the weekend and they brought their 16 month old daughter (who's adorable, BTW!). She's so active, loves stairs, and showed us how our place is NOT baby-proofed. :D I look forward to Kirby being that active one day (sooner than I imagine!), but I just don't know if I have it in me to try to wrangle a toddler and and infant at the same time. Now I just need to make sure that Kirby has lots and lots of friends to play with so that he doesn't feel like an only child. :)

Here's Kirby standing with the aid of the coffee table.

6 months old

My beautiful baby boy is already 6 months old. Wow - where has the time gone?! I think it's all a haze of poopy diapers, lack of sleep, and breast feeding. :)

Everything seems to be going well for all of us:

• He had his 6 month dr appt last week. He's 17 lbs 7 oz (55%) and 28.5" long (95%). That's a long baby! He's already getting too big for 9 month clothes and now we just by 12 month clothes. At least now it's summer so he can wear shorts without squishing up his feet in the sleepers. :)
  
• Granny is enjoying being with Kirby all day. Kirby was sick for a bit of the time, and thankfully we have her to watch him and give him a little extra TLC that he wouldn't have gotten at day care. She plays with him a lot and takes him on walks so Kirby's definitely sleepy by the time we get home. I think she's going to start taking him to Pottery Barn Kids story time - partially for him, but partially to see if there are any other stay at home grannies that she can befriend.
  
• A short term goal was to be able to breast feed for 6 months, but my supply doesn't seem to be slowing down so my next goal is to get to 1 year. I had planned on weening him off at that time since he'll be able to drink cow's milk by then, but part of me feels like I can keep going for a little longer. We'll see how I feel once his teeth start to come in. ;)
• He had quite the busy weekend of firsts!

• Gary was holding Kirby so that his feet would touch the ground. At one point, Gary put Kirby's hands on an ottoman and his feet on the floor, and Kirby actually stood on his own for a few seconds! Quite surprising since he doesn't tend to put his feet down.
• He's on day 4 of eating pureed food. I'm not sure why, but we chose squash as his first food. If you go to our Flickr acct, you'll see a video of his first taste of food. The look on his face is hilarious! So far, there have been no allergic reactions to the squash so we'll try another food Wednesday or Thursday. I bought all natural food (ingredients were squash and water), but this weekend, I'm going to another mommy's house to see how she makes her own baby food. Gary & I are pretty lazy when it comes to housework so the thought of all those extra dishes isn't appealing - however, I want to make sure that Kirby's isn't eating crap (preservatives, extra sugar, etc) and she assures me that it's not as difficult as it seems. :)
• Gary & I were sitting on the couch setting up Netflix on Wii while Kirby was on the floor playing. At some point, he stopped playing with his toys and just kept bringing his legs up and grabbing his toes. After 10 minutes, I looked over and Kirby brought his legs up and rolled from his back to his belly - completely on his own! I think all of us were shocked - especially him! :) He's not good about rolling from front to back so we had to help him back over.
• Later that evening, Kirby was on his belly, and he ended up rolling onto his back - again, completely on his own! And so it begins - we'll have to keep an eye on him now. ;)

Here's Kirby's 6 month photo. He's what you call "an assisted sitter" - can sit when propped up.

Granny care

So.... yesterday was Kirby's last day at daycare for a while. Gary's mom is settled in her new place and starting today, she's watching him full time. I know that she says that it's her pleasure, but it really is quite generous of her and I know that we're lucky that he's being watched by a family member that loves him. We're not sure how long before we decide to put him back in daycare (so he can get used to playing with other kids, etc), but a large part of it will be up to Granny - just depends on how long she finds it fun instead of a job. :)

In other news, another yucky stomach bug hit the Miller household. Kirby was feeling "off" all weekend - mostly cranky, couldn't settle down for naps, etc. On Sunday evening, we were driving to meet another mommy and her family for dinner, when Gary looked into the rearview window and saw Kirby throw up all over himself. He pulled the car over and Kirby wasn't upset - just wet. I didn't have the phone number of the other mommy, so we drove to the restaurant to cancel and it turns out that her husband wasn't able to come b/c he was feeling sick, too. Originally, we thought Kirby was cranky b/c he was teething, but then we realized that there was probably another bug going around the daycare. Just great. :/

We drove to Wendy's for drivethru dinner and on the way home Kirby threw up all over himself again. By that time, he looked pretty sad. :( When we got home, we threw *everything* into the washing machine and scrubbed our hands. I wanted to Listerine the heck out of my mouth, too! Poor little guy was completely soaked when we took his clothes off, so we gave him a quick bath and put him to bed.

Thankfully, he slept well that night, but we took him to Granny's on Monday so he could get the extra TLC that he wouldn't get at the daycare. She said that he was definitely acting different (not his usual happy self), but by the end of the day he seemed to be doing better.

Not so much for Gary! He worked half a day and ended up spending the rest of the day in the bathroom. He was still sick the next day, but thankfully he was able to eat some and felt better by the evening.

I thought I had avoided it all until this morning. :( So far things aren't as bad as either of my guys, but I'm nervous waiting to see if it all kicks in! *fingers crossed* that I've already dealt with the worst of it!

Kirby's already 5 months old! I saw the idea for the blocks in a magazine, but I didn't see it until recently, so I missed the first 4 months. Oh well - better late than never!

rice cereal

All the baby books I've read lately say that they suggest babies drink breast milk exclusively until 6 months. However, at Kirby's last dr appt, he said that they now suggest adding rice cereal between 4-6 months. Apparently, it was decided at the last Pediatric convention and since it just happened, the books we have are out of date. *shrug*

I was hesitant to start rice cereal (mainly b/c I'm hesitant about change :P ), but I warmed up to the idea b/c I started thinking of how cute he'd be eating from a spoon. Since he didn't gain much in the last 2 months (only 1.5 pounds!) I thought the extra calories would do him some good. :)

We've only fed him 3 times so far. The first time, he didn't know what the heck was going on, and he ended up spitting up all of it 5 minutes later. Same with the second time. Last night, however, he seemed more interested and even opened his mouth when Gary got close with the spoon. Since he hasn't eaten much of it, we've only been giving him 1 tablespoon once in the evening. Maybe we'll give it another week and bump it up to 2 tablespoons. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it takes a lot to pump out each tablespoon and I hate to see any of it wasted!

Here's video of his very first time eating with a spoon and eating rice cereal (sorry about the light coming from behind him).