Saturday, August 2, 2008

My first "almost" bottle

Written from the perspective of Chase:

So mom decided to go to the gym for some much needed alone time while dad was home with me. Mom had fed me before she left and Dad was working on his computer so I decided to take a nap. I hadn't slept well the night before so it wasn't a hard sell! While Mom was still at the gym, I felt a rumble in my belly and realized that I was kinda hungry so I told dad. He, of course, couldn't really help much, which made me mad so I told him a little longer and a little louder of my displeasure in the situation. Dad called mom who said she was literally on her way home but if he wanted, Dad could get some milk out of the freezer and try to give me my first bottle. Not only my first bottle, but also by himself!

Mom got home and didn't hear me crying and took that as a good sign until.....

she walked up the bonus room stairs and saw the bottle sitting on the coffee table, Dad holding me, and me sleeping! When she asked what happened, Dad explained that before he could get the milk defrosted and into the bottle, I had fallen back asleep.....go figure! So, they have a bottle ready for me to try, but I would have to wake up first!

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Lots of little things

So it has been a while since I was able to blog and since Jason is back at work, trying to catch up, and still in school, his ability to blog is even less than mine (which is kinda ironic when you stop to think about the fact that I am home all day long with a 2 1/2 week old and he gets to go play with the "big kids". Since I last posted Chase really hasn't made many advances in the "what I can do" realm of life. He is sleeping a little better but still has his moments. We are watching him closely for acid reflux or gas issues since he seems to get fussy about 30 minutes after feeding. They don't think it is acid reflux since most babies will "pull away" almost instantly after a feeding begins and that is NOT his problem!

We went for his 2 week check up on the 26th and he was up to 8 lbs, 5 oz. We went to the pediatrician on Monday of this week about the reflux and he was up to 8 lbs, 13 oz....the child had gained 1/2 pound in 3 days.....so don't worry to much about his feeding because it is going quite well. He is still doing very well with breast feeding although I have to admit I am ready for him to go a little longer between feedings just so I don't feel like his personal cow on demand.

My childhood friend, Jennifer, was here visiting again over the last few days on business. She had the option of staying at a hotel (which the company would pay for) or staying at Casa deLiner. She chose to stay here, even with the "warning: crying baby in the middle of the night" disclaimer. Good news is that she didn't hear him crying at night (I take credit for my cat like reflexes when he starts to fuss!) but she did get to witness several meltdowns. The first was the first night she was here, Jason had worked all day and had class that night and wasn't getting home until close to 11:00 pm. Chase decided around 9:00 pm that he was going into meltdown mode and he proceeded to cry for the next 2 hours. Neither Jen nor I could console him and believe me, we tried everything from the boob, pacifier, swaddle, swing, stairs, changing pad and nothing worked. Jason walked in the door, took him and within 10 minutes, the kid is out cold. If I hadn't been so exhausted, I would have had my feelings hurt but I think it just goes to show that he really does miss having Jason around during the day. I know Jason didn't feel like he could "do much" to help, but even just having Jason sit next to him on the couch or holding him while he sleeps means that Chase knows that Dad is around.

Right now he is asleep on my chest while I work on the blog. I have managed to get the upstairs level of the house clean and 2 loads of laundry during the day but I am still waiting to get one more out of the dryer and the downstairs clean. When dad gets home, he will go on baby duty and mom is going to the gym to walk since it is raining outside and then I will work on dinner after that. I have been trying to rest/nap when Chase does but it never fails that when I finally get him to sleep, I have energy and try to do even just a handful of little house chores. I have been getting better sleep at night than I expected which helps.

Chase made his first appearance at school yesterday. I had to go pick up some papers so I decided to make a run down that way while I was out running errands and of course he was a doll and everyone raved about how adorable he is. He napped on the ride there and then was awake for most of the visit so all the office people could see his blue eyes (at least while they are still blue if they decide to change). He is a great car rider which is great. Will make travel that much easier in the future. He falls asleep if he is awake and will stay asleep even while being put in the car seat if he is already asleep. Not sure how long that pattern will last but I am going to take full advantage of it while I can!

So far, we have had visits from Uncle Matt, Aunt Jennifer and cousin Bise, Nana (Jason's mom), Aunt Jen (my childhood friend). Poppy and Mimi (Jason's dad and stepmom) are coming this weekend. Grandma and Grandpa (my mom and dad) will be here on labor day but we have a couple "trips" planned between now and then. Chase will make his first beach trip the weekend of August 15th when Jason and I join some of my co-workers at a beach house we won at an auction in February. Jason's cousin, Liz, is coming to stay at a hotel near the beach house so we can enjoy the trip but I can still be close enough to feed and not have to put him on a bottle full-time. The next weekend, Jason and I have tickets to the Kenny Chesney concert on Friday night and then the EMBA program is hosting a formal dinner at the Carolina Inn on Saturday night. Jason's mom is coming in town to watch Chase for us which is nice. That is about all that I have for now. Hopefully this will keep you readers content for a little while. I will try to make sure that either Jason or myself post once every couple of weeks, unless Chase has something new and exciting that he wants me to share!