We are finally home!! After being away for more than a week, it feels good to be home in a somewhat normal routine again.
A recap of this past weekend:
Friday, we left Ryan’s parent’s house to go to my follow-up doctor’s appointment after my colonoscopy a week ago. According to the doctor, everything looked good. There was mild to moderate inflammation in the bottom16 cm of my colon. We think that the inflammation has doubled since my last colonoscopy three years ago.
However, my new doctor had no idea or any knowledge of my past medical records which I transferred to him, so I will be requesting a copy of them soon. He has modified my treatment regimen, so I hope we can get this under control.
We left the doctor’s and travelled to my parent’s house in order to celebrate our anniversary. Friday night, we all went out to eat at Ryan’s favorite restaurant. He can’t seem to be in that part of the state without requesting we eat at Hickory Park. My parents, siblings, and grandparents all met us there to eat. They hadn’t seen Orin for about a month, so they were thrilled that we made an extra, out of the way, trip to come see them.
Saturday morning, I went to Sam’s Club to buy groceries for our big family vacation coming up in August. I also spent $100 on two big boxes of diapers and one big box of wipes. After our shopping trip, Ryan picked me up and we went on our date to see Harry Potter. We went to the first showing of the day, which ended up saving us $6. And we brought treats in so we didn’t have to buy crazy expensive candy at the theater. I guess I’m rather stingy when it comes to things like that!
After the movie, we spent several hours shopping. Ryan surprised me with a trip to the photography store, because he wanted to buy the camera I have been saving for for many months. However, they were sold out!! Canon also took the $300 instant rebate off and I am not willing to pay that extra money. So I will have to wait a little longer. I really hope to get it before our vacation, but we will see.
Ryan and I had such a great anniversary weekend together. We didn’t do anything extremely exciting or extravagant, but we had so much fun together. It was so nice to just be the two of us hanging out all day without other things or people to distract us. I’m so glad my parents were willing to babysit so that we could take the whole day to enjoy together.
Orin is doing awesome on his new schedule!! It makes it so much easier to travel with him now. That one hour makes such a difference! We could make it home from my parent’s house today without stopping once. And he is drinking all 6 ounces for each of the four feedings without putting up a fight. Sadly, we have packed away the small bottles and have moved on to the 8 ounce bottles.
We are home, and I’m actually quite glad to be back to reality once again!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Child Obedience
This is something I never thought about until a recent conversation with Ryan’s mom and sister-in-law, Kim. Someday, I know I will get frustrated with my child’s disobedience, and I want to remember this perspective.
Disciplining my children will be a hard and difficult job. I have no doubt about that and I don’t claim to be the perfect parent. However, I have learned one thing from watching many of our friends parent their children, and that is that when disciplining your children, you must remain consistent. If I demand a certain behavior of my children, my word is law and I need to stick to what I say no matter how tired I am, how lazy I want to be, or how inconvenient it may be for me. Even if it is a “stupid” rule that should never have been made and I recognize that, I still need to expect my children to follow what I say.
I have believed all of that for many years. But I never realized that my kids need to be obedient, because someday their lives may depend on it.
The example we talked about was if I say “STOP,” they must do what I say. It could be to keep them safe from an animal or from being hit by a car in the street. It could very well come down to saving their lives, and that is well worth sticking to my guns rather than taking the more convenient and lenient route of childrearing.
Disciplining my children will be a hard and difficult job. I have no doubt about that and I don’t claim to be the perfect parent. However, I have learned one thing from watching many of our friends parent their children, and that is that when disciplining your children, you must remain consistent. If I demand a certain behavior of my children, my word is law and I need to stick to what I say no matter how tired I am, how lazy I want to be, or how inconvenient it may be for me. Even if it is a “stupid” rule that should never have been made and I recognize that, I still need to expect my children to follow what I say.
I have believed all of that for many years. But I never realized that my kids need to be obedient, because someday their lives may depend on it.
The example we talked about was if I say “STOP,” they must do what I say. It could be to keep them safe from an animal or from being hit by a car in the street. It could very well come down to saving their lives, and that is well worth sticking to my guns rather than taking the more convenient and lenient route of childrearing.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
4 Hour Schedule
Our little boy, almost 5 months old, is officially on a four hour feeding schedule. We switched him on Thursday, while we were staying at Ryan’s parent’s house. It actually happened quite out of the blue, but he did so well just falling into the new routine.
All of us took the shingling husbands monkey bread for their morning break. We didn’t get back to the house until 11:00, and Orin usually takes his morning nap from 10:00-11:30. I thought maybe that was the perfect opportunity to try out the new schedule since we were getting home so much later than normal. So he went to sleep from 11:00-12:30. I fed him 6 ounces at 12:30 and he drank it all without a fight. Yeah!!!
We continued with the schedule of being awake for two hours and asleep for two hours. He did remarkably well with his feedings of 6 ounces and he took great naps. Each day since the switch has been great for feedings. He takes 6 ounces without putting up much of a fight. In fact, he is so hungry he can hardly wait for the bottle.
Here is his new/current schedule:
8:30m- Eat 6 ounces
10:30-12:30- Nap
12:30- Eat 6 ounces
2:30-4:30- Nap
4:30- Eat 6 ounces and Bowl of rice cereal around 5:15/5:30
7:00ish- Catnap sometime in here
8:30- Eat 6 ounces
9:00- Bedtime
Before, during his three hour schedule, he was barely getting 16 or 17 ounces. Now he gets at least 20-24 ounces a day. He has been doing excellent on this new routine. I’m just constantly amazed at how well he has adjusted, and I’m so thankful that I randomly, out of the blue, decided to switch things up. Although he was thriving before, it just makes me feel better knowing that he is now getting much closer to the recommended amount of formula per day.
All of us took the shingling husbands monkey bread for their morning break. We didn’t get back to the house until 11:00, and Orin usually takes his morning nap from 10:00-11:30. I thought maybe that was the perfect opportunity to try out the new schedule since we were getting home so much later than normal. So he went to sleep from 11:00-12:30. I fed him 6 ounces at 12:30 and he drank it all without a fight. Yeah!!!
We continued with the schedule of being awake for two hours and asleep for two hours. He did remarkably well with his feedings of 6 ounces and he took great naps. Each day since the switch has been great for feedings. He takes 6 ounces without putting up much of a fight. In fact, he is so hungry he can hardly wait for the bottle.
Here is his new/current schedule:
8:30m- Eat 6 ounces
10:30-12:30- Nap
12:30- Eat 6 ounces
2:30-4:30- Nap
4:30- Eat 6 ounces and Bowl of rice cereal around 5:15/5:30
7:00ish- Catnap sometime in here
8:30- Eat 6 ounces
9:00- Bedtime
Before, during his three hour schedule, he was barely getting 16 or 17 ounces. Now he gets at least 20-24 ounces a day. He has been doing excellent on this new routine. I’m just constantly amazed at how well he has adjusted, and I’m so thankful that I randomly, out of the blue, decided to switch things up. Although he was thriving before, it just makes me feel better knowing that he is now getting much closer to the recommended amount of formula per day.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Catch Up
We are still at Ryan’s parent’s house. The boys finished the first roofing job, and then they were blessed with another roofing job across the street. Since the first one didn’t take as long as they thought it would, they decided to finish out the week with another job.
Yesterday was our two year wedding anniversary. I’m so blessed to have such an amazing husband. We have grown so much in the last 6 years of knowing each other and we have been through a lot of life-changing events...college, graduating college, job changes, getting married, finding a place to call home, having a baby, and moving across the state. Ryan, I love you with all my heart. I look forward to what lies ahead for us in the many years to come. Thank you for loving me through it all!
As if ear infection wasn’t enough for our baby boy, he now has a touch of the flu bug. Earlier in the week, he was having bad diarrhea with each diaper change. We connected that with the antibiotics he was taking for his ear infection. However, yesterday, he couldn’t keep his two last bottles down. He would drink almost all of it, and then he would throw it all up. And he woke up with the worst diarrhea diaper! All the way up his back and out the sides. He’s had more baths these last few days than I can count. He’s such a trooper though! He keeps right on smiling and laughing.
Our plan is to head to my parent’s house this weekend so we can formally celebrate our anniversary while they keep Orin. I know one of our plans is to see the Harry Potter movie. We are so excited!!
Yesterday was our two year wedding anniversary. I’m so blessed to have such an amazing husband. We have grown so much in the last 6 years of knowing each other and we have been through a lot of life-changing events...college, graduating college, job changes, getting married, finding a place to call home, having a baby, and moving across the state. Ryan, I love you with all my heart. I look forward to what lies ahead for us in the many years to come. Thank you for loving me through it all!
As if ear infection wasn’t enough for our baby boy, he now has a touch of the flu bug. Earlier in the week, he was having bad diarrhea with each diaper change. We connected that with the antibiotics he was taking for his ear infection. However, yesterday, he couldn’t keep his two last bottles down. He would drink almost all of it, and then he would throw it all up. And he woke up with the worst diarrhea diaper! All the way up his back and out the sides. He’s had more baths these last few days than I can count. He’s such a trooper though! He keeps right on smiling and laughing.
Our plan is to head to my parent’s house this weekend so we can formally celebrate our anniversary while they keep Orin. I know one of our plans is to see the Harry Potter movie. We are so excited!!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Texas Roadhouse
Well, tonight we had our very first paid babysitter to watch Orin!
We usually try to have Adam and Kim watch him because they are family and we agree to watch each other’s kids for free! However, Kim was gone and Adam didn’t want to tackle 4 kids. Can you blame him? So we called up Ryan’s sister-in-law’s sister, Becky. She lives two doors down, and it worked out perfectly for her to come over for a few hours.
Why we went on a date in the middle of the week…
I have a colonoscopy on Friday for a routine check of my ulcerative colitis. Because I’m not allowed to eat anything the entire day before the procedure, I always try to stuff myself the night before. (But, today I realized that I don’t eat much during the day, so it made me wonder why the day of fasting is so hard for me. I came to the conclusion that it is because I CAN’T eat anything. NOTHING! It’s not that I’m not hungry. It’s not that nothing sounds good. It’s not that I’m too busy to eat. It’s that I CAN’T eat. And I don’t do okay with that option.)
So off to Texas Roadhouse we went. It may just be our new favorite date restaurant. Who can resist those warm, buttery rolls with the cinnamon butter?? Ryan always gets the ribs and I always get the pulled pork sandwich. I guess we have only been there three times, but so far that is always what has been ordered.
It was a quick last minute date night out, but it was so worth it! My tummy was stuffed and I got to spend some quality time with my husband.
We usually try to have Adam and Kim watch him because they are family and we agree to watch each other’s kids for free! However, Kim was gone and Adam didn’t want to tackle 4 kids. Can you blame him? So we called up Ryan’s sister-in-law’s sister, Becky. She lives two doors down, and it worked out perfectly for her to come over for a few hours.
Why we went on a date in the middle of the week…
I have a colonoscopy on Friday for a routine check of my ulcerative colitis. Because I’m not allowed to eat anything the entire day before the procedure, I always try to stuff myself the night before. (But, today I realized that I don’t eat much during the day, so it made me wonder why the day of fasting is so hard for me. I came to the conclusion that it is because I CAN’T eat anything. NOTHING! It’s not that I’m not hungry. It’s not that nothing sounds good. It’s not that I’m too busy to eat. It’s that I CAN’T eat. And I don’t do okay with that option.)
So off to Texas Roadhouse we went. It may just be our new favorite date restaurant. Who can resist those warm, buttery rolls with the cinnamon butter?? Ryan always gets the ribs and I always get the pulled pork sandwich. I guess we have only been there three times, but so far that is always what has been ordered.
It was a quick last minute date night out, but it was so worth it! My tummy was stuffed and I got to spend some quality time with my husband.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Ear Infection
We have a sick baby boy.
Yesterday, he came down with a runny nose, cough, watery eyes, and the sneezes. For his naps, he cried bloody murder whenever I laid him down flat in his crib, which made me think maybe he has an ear infection. I waited out the day, and wanted to see how he did through the night. We were up 4 times in the night. Luckily, all he needed was his pacifier and then he whined himself back to sleep. The very tired, half asleep whine.
I let him sleep until 9:00 this morning and he had all 5 ounces of milk for his first feeding. But the next two feedings, he had 1 ounce and 3 ounces. Not so great. But he took great naps all day, which made me hesitate to get him into the clinic. And I didn’t want to pay a $30 copay to be told I’m an overprotective mom with a child who just has a head cold. However, we are leaving town again on Thursday for a week, so I took the plunge and brought him in to be seen.
I’m so glad I took him. Doc took one look at his left ear, and said that I had correctly diagnosed the ear infection. He has an ear infection in his left ear. Right ear is perfect.
It is so stressful to have a sick child. The schedule is thrown off, there is a lack of sleep, and the routine is just different. There is no routine! It just breaks my heart to know that he is feeling so terrible.
But he is on amoxicillin for the next 10 days, so it can only get better from here.
He spent some much needed cuddle time with his daddy tonight. In the words of his dad, “He’s so awesome!”
Yesterday, he came down with a runny nose, cough, watery eyes, and the sneezes. For his naps, he cried bloody murder whenever I laid him down flat in his crib, which made me think maybe he has an ear infection. I waited out the day, and wanted to see how he did through the night. We were up 4 times in the night. Luckily, all he needed was his pacifier and then he whined himself back to sleep. The very tired, half asleep whine.
I let him sleep until 9:00 this morning and he had all 5 ounces of milk for his first feeding. But the next two feedings, he had 1 ounce and 3 ounces. Not so great. But he took great naps all day, which made me hesitate to get him into the clinic. And I didn’t want to pay a $30 copay to be told I’m an overprotective mom with a child who just has a head cold. However, we are leaving town again on Thursday for a week, so I took the plunge and brought him in to be seen.
I’m so glad I took him. Doc took one look at his left ear, and said that I had correctly diagnosed the ear infection. He has an ear infection in his left ear. Right ear is perfect.
It is so stressful to have a sick child. The schedule is thrown off, there is a lack of sleep, and the routine is just different. There is no routine! It just breaks my heart to know that he is feeling so terrible.
But he is on amoxicillin for the next 10 days, so it can only get better from here.
He spent some much needed cuddle time with his daddy tonight. In the words of his dad, “He’s so awesome!”
Sunday, July 5, 2009
4th at the Cabin
We had a great weekend away at the cabin. Ryan’s parents went Wednesday and we came Thursday afternoon.
Larry broke his foot Thursday morning. He battled the boat lift and the boatlift won. So that was a bummer for his vacation, but I think he did enjoy the relaxation and the time with some of his grandkids.
Friday and Saturday were gloomy days. No sunshine and not warm enough to get Orin into his swimming pool. So we did a lot of sitting around, munching on all the food, playing cards, and holding the babies. Ryan and Adam did enjoy the jet skis several times those two days. They spent a lot of time racing the jet skis and playing around in the water with a game of basketball.
Although it wasn’t as nice as we wanted it to be, it was still great to get away for a few days and to see everyone for the holiday weekend!
The boys and the Jet Skis
Basketball
Papa and Orin- He loves his Papa! I captured lots of video of Orin laughing and talking to Papa
Grandma and Orin- He was so cuddly and smiley all weekend.
Great Grandma and Orin
Mama and Orin
Cousin Lilly and Orin
Lilly was so tired that she fell asleep outside by the fire.
We celebrated all the cousins' birthdays. Orin got to blow out his one candle.
Orin took a bath in the sink.
Larry broke his foot Thursday morning. He battled the boat lift and the boatlift won. So that was a bummer for his vacation, but I think he did enjoy the relaxation and the time with some of his grandkids.
Friday and Saturday were gloomy days. No sunshine and not warm enough to get Orin into his swimming pool. So we did a lot of sitting around, munching on all the food, playing cards, and holding the babies. Ryan and Adam did enjoy the jet skis several times those two days. They spent a lot of time racing the jet skis and playing around in the water with a game of basketball.
Although it wasn’t as nice as we wanted it to be, it was still great to get away for a few days and to see everyone for the holiday weekend!
The boys and the Jet Skis
Basketball
Papa and Orin- He loves his Papa! I captured lots of video of Orin laughing and talking to Papa
Grandma and Orin- He was so cuddly and smiley all weekend.
Great Grandma and Orin
Mama and Orin
Cousin Lilly and Orin
Lilly was so tired that she fell asleep outside by the fire.
We celebrated all the cousins' birthdays. Orin got to blow out his one candle.
Orin took a bath in the sink.
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