May 16th Was A Good Day, And Antibiotics Cause Loose Stool.

May 16th is usually a pretty neat day, because it's our anniversary and also Ivan's stepdad Larry's birthday.  But this year, it was also Ivan Jr's one-month birthday.

We celebrated by having brunch at Three Blind Mice - a great new restaurant where both Kate and Savannah are working - and quite a find in our neck of the woods (tapas and wine tasting more than a mile from I-85?  Unheard of!).  Ivan Jr was a hit with the wait staff, who were clearly prepped to be infatuated, thanks to Kate's advance marketing (ie., constant bombardment of photos from her camera phone).  He slept through the adoration and allowed me to steal half of Ivan's dessert - the most amazing toffee bread pudding.  It was sublime.  Seriously.  I embarrassed myself by forgetting how long we'd been married (I couldn't remember if we'd wed in 2004 or 2006), but fortunately it's engraved in Ivan's wedding band, and we were able to do the math.

All I know is we've been together for 11 wonderful years, and I could not ever find a better partner in this lifetime.

May 19th was Ivan Jr's one-month checkup, and he is now 23.25 inches long and weighs 11 pounds, 6 ounces.  He's been a little fussy lately, but my research indicated it could be perfectly normal.  However, I mentioned it to Dr. Wilson, along with asking her to look at a cyst that appeared on his bottom a couple days previous.  She looked at the cyst and went into overdrive.

It turns out a skin infection version of MRSA is making the rounds, so she wanted to be absolutely certain that our kiddo knocked whatever he has out quickly, and sent us to the Immediate Care clinic.  So we went, waited, met Dr. Tannenbaum, he got his culture and lanced the cyst., and sent us on our way with a couple of antibiotic prescriptions.

The amazing awesome Dr. Wilson called back on Thursday to make sure our little guy was okay, and insisted on seeing him before she went on vacation.  So I brought Ivan back to her on Friday and she snuck us in between appointments.  His cyst was about half the size in 48 hours.  Whew!

On the other hand, I did learn the hard way that poo can arc, too.  He managed to paint the changing table, both legs, and the floor over my left shoulder.  Seriously, kid?  At least I escaped the onslaught.  Not sure how but I'm not complaining.

No, I did not take pictures.

More Updates

Since the little prince won't let me have more than 15 minutes to myself during the week (Daddy is babysitting right now), I am writing these blog posts over the course of a few days.  Or weeks.  Depends on how guilty I feel about not doing housework, because right now that's my tradeoff - computer or quick vacuum or quick dishes or laundry or... you get the idea.  I am assiduously ignoring the ironing right now.

The weekend got off to a bad start with constant spitting up alternated with vomiting.  I had gone grocery shopping and Ivan Sr had baby duty.  By the time I got home he had changed his shirt twice and every blanket in the house had been anointed. I thought the kiddo didn't like the formula we were using (he usually only gets 2 oz of formula a day, when I give him his vitamins - he won't take them from the dropper), and since this was the first time he'd had this much of it, it was the first time his reaction was severe enough to garner attention. 



I can't update this right now.  I'm home from the hospital without my son and it is killing me.  Pumped, will shower, and clothes from the dryer into the bag... and I'm on my way back.  I'll post the rest when I can handle it.
'

Three Weeks.

Savannah said, "It's hard to believe he's almost a month old."  I panicked.  He's still so brand new to me!  And yet, because he's so big, it's hard to remember he's just a newborn.  He holds his head up all the time, and even stands up (with help and support, I promise) on his strong little legs.

Even more impressive, he's a very chill baby for the most part.  Oh, sure - he wants to be held to sleep during the day, and he hates a wet diaper.  And he hates having his diaper changed.  And he gets angry if his meals are late.  But right now he's sitting in his little chair next to my desk, just looking around and munching on his pacifier (the alternative being his hands, we choose to binkify).

How sweet is this?

At his last appointment, Ivan Jr was 10 pounds, 2 ounces.  He is now bigger - I'll get a new weight on the 19th.

He is looking around even more, with great big blue eyes which I shall endeavor to memorialize in pictures soon.  It's just really hard when I'm the one holding him to get a picture, without him deciding that right when I'm about to hit the button is when he wants to lurch out of my arms.  Stubborn scary baby has not changed one bit.

All is well, if hectic, and the house is in disrepair.  But every day I feel better about getting our routine down, and sooner or later I'll get some housework done.  If anyone wants to hire me a housekeeping service for my birthday/anniversary/Christmas, I'll be eternally grateful.

Since it's now almost Week 4 I will post this... and then go reclaim the little prince from his big sister Van, who has been babysitting to let me make some business calls and catch up on the cyberworld.

Two Weeks and a Smidge.

My very dear son,

Today was our second full day alone together while Daddy went to work.  And I must say, you were admirable.  No projectile poo, no peeing the moment I took the diaper off, you ate well, and you slept well.  My hearty thanks for a day well done.  I didn't accomplish much, but that's okay.  We enjoyed our time together.

Tomorrow I get to figure out how to bathe a baby both squirmier and larger than I'd anticipated when I naively did not buy a reclining portable tub because I figured I could bathe you in the sink or in the little dish tub I've had for a year that looked like it would hold a cute little bottom.  Sadly, your legs are too long for it and you do not cooperate when asked to sit cross-legged.

That's okay.

You are such a delight to me - you are very alert for long stretches of time and make very entertaining faces that are, of course, gone by the time I can get the camera out, turned on, and aimed in your direction.  You are a generally calm baby, as long as your diaper isn't being changed.  You've even figured out that food will arrive, and no longer cry if it takes me longer than a nanosecond to provide it.

You do make alarming noises of the wheezing and other respiratory kind, and if Dr. Wilson weren't so reassuring, I'd be worried.  I suppose a noisy baby is a breathing baby and that's a good thing, but hey - I worry.

Now if I could just convince you that it's really okay to poo in a wet diaper.  I know you prefer to wait until I have removed the wet diaper and replaced it with a dry, clean one.  I'm not sure why.  I, of course, would prefer the less laundry-intensive option of getting it all done and over with in one diaper change... not to mention that since you don't like to hold still for diaper changes, we'd both be a lot happier with fewer of them.  And you'd get your feeding a lot sooner that way too.

I just mention it for your consideration. 

Love,
Mom