Tuesday, December 28, 2010

From Nasty Poop to Christmas Croup, or How We Survived The Holidays

Hey everyone, it's Dan. I'm doing a guest blog at the request of Nicole.

If you have been following the blog you may have known that Grayson has been battling an interesting little stomach bug that manages to make his gross looking poop smell like delicious buttery popcorn. It truly has been a very confusing time trying to get my sense of sight and smell to agree on the relative nastiness of the whole situation. This little bug was going on for about two weeks, and we were beginning to worry that it would never go away, and that our house would forever smell like a movie theater lobby, no matter how many times our pediatrician told us to shut up, stop worrying, and stop calling. Things were beginning to look better, but then it was time to pack up and head to CT for the holidays.

We chose to drive with Grayson to CT because of our complete lack of faith in the airlines. We (mostly me) were utterly terrified about how the little guy would take to travelling. Turns out he has no problem sleeping for really long car rides, not matter what time of day, and hotel beds are way more fun to play on than the floor at home. On Friday I chose to sit in back with Grayson to play with him for a little. Grayson tends to think of my fingers as lollipops, so when he grabbed my hand and stuck it in his mouth I expected some licking , and sucking, but not pain. What do you know, the kid has decided to grow some teeth during the holiday. That's right, whether it was all he wanted or not for Christmas, he was getting his two lower front teeth.
We worried about how he would act while teething, but it turns out we had nothing to worry about when compared with what was to come.

Grayson was great at Christmas Eve, and during Christmas morning. In fact the morning came with the first normal bowel movement in two weeks, which was followed by much cheering and high fiving from the parents. We did stop short of actually throwing a parade in the name of good poopy diapers, but it was only after my brother became worried that we would wake the neighbors. All would not stay great when Grayson started to act a little funny during the afternoon. A little crankiness began, but that could be for any multitude of reasons for an infant.

We started to hear him cough really throaty, and started to really get worried when his breathing sounded kind of flemmy. On top of that we started to receive weather reports of the impeding doom of a winter blizzard for the following day. We (mostly me) began to act completely irrationally, and threatening to throw everyone in the car for an immediate overnight return trip to Ohio. Nicole was eventually able to calm me down and convince me to wait until the morning and see how Grayson was doing. After noticing that Grayson seemed to be doing better while hanging out at my little brothers "magical house", I agreed that maybe I was being a little rash.

Well that evening became very interesting. Grayson became increasingly worse, and Nicole and I took turns holding him for the entire night since it was the only way he would sleep. We woke up to find out that our baby now was doing his best impersonation of the core of the sun by feeling ridiculously hot to the touch. We took his temperature at 102.4.

This was followed by a fair amount of acting completely insane with some calls to parents and to our pediatrician. The call to the pediatrician came after a frantic moment of trying to boot up one dead laptop, and watching helplessly as the second laptop chose to perform a five minute check of the hard drive during boot up. Suffice it to say that I now have the pediatricians number in my cell phone, and have been thoroughly embarrassed for not having it in there in the first place. Turns out that our boy has croup, rhymes with poop, but turns out to be a bigger problem. I was instructed to take my child outside into the cold air and walk around for 10 minutes. I remembered to bundle up Grayson, but forgot to bundle myself up. I think Freud would say I was helping myself atone for the sins of letting my kid get this sick.

We then piled into the car and got the heck out of dodge in order to avoid getting caught in the blizzard which was slated to begin in a few hours. We spent a relatively uneventful 11 hour ride home in which we kept Grayson loaded with ibuprofen and sleeping with a little feeding in between. The feeding was fun because it involved Nicole working on her contortionist skills while moving from the front seat to the back seat, and then back when the feeding was done. Our plan was to get home, spend a few hours resting, and prepare to spend the evening up with a sick child. Grayson had other plans.

He started fussing for the last half hour of the ride home. Please note, he did not make a peep the entire ride up until that point. He then proceeded to be a complete nightmare for two hours before his exhausted parents put him back in the car, and drove around, again, until he fell back asleep. We got home, and ninja skilled our way to his room where we put him down to sleep without removing him from the car seat. The night was spent taking care of a child who was coughing and wheezing. This care included a few trips to the bathroom with the shower running to create steam to help the kid's breathing.

The night was long, but we eventually all got some much needed rest. Grayson has since been having fun recovering at home, and has even felt good enough to run some errands with his parents. Things are finally starting to calm down.

Basically this weekend turned out to be nothing like we planned or hoped, but one thing is for sure, we are going to have some great stories for a long time about Grayson's first Christmas.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Super Gray-Man

Santa came a little early for Grayson...Christmas in CT means that presents get opened early!
How seriously cute is that super hero cape?

Below, G opening presents from Grandma and Pepere.


Some updates:

Update 1: Grayson has not slept through the night once since Thanksgiving. Silly boy. I'm definitely not complaining, though. Waking up twice a night to eat (most of the time that's all the issue is) isn't bad at all. We also think he's got some sort of virus running through him...his eating is all out of wackand he's had BLOWOUT diapers - I actually took scissors to one the other day because I didn't even want to attempt to get the onesie over his head.

Oh and he refuses to eat rice cereal or banannas now. REFUSES.

Update 2: FIRSTS (a couple of these)

~We have a sitting baby. LOVE IT. It was so sudden, like he was a little baby, and now he isn't anymore. I actually almost started to tear up. I know your sitting there thinking I'm completely ridiculous for "crying" when my baby starts to sit. But it's oddly a big thing. It feels like he's not a "baby" anymore. One step closer to being.... toddlerish?? I constantly look back at pictures of when he was just born and miss it. He's my Big Boy. I heart him.

~He went to his first birthday party this weekend for Emerson who turned 1. G even got a little gift bag!
~He got to participate in the Annual Christmas Cookie Bake
Every year my girlfriends and I get together and bake cookies, while the boys play video games/watch football/basically deem themselves useless. Always a great time. I would post pictures if I had remembered to bring the camera...OOPS
~He got his first grab of beer....what?? No, really. The kid was completely obsessed with Dan's beer yesterday. Like MESMERIZED by the can. He legit wanted some. Kids already an Alchy.

Update 3: DAN POST???
Yea. Dan is gonna write a post. Within the next two weeks. I giggle at the thought.

Update 4: CT
We leave Thursday.

Not sure I'm going to post before Christmas....MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE. I'm sure to have tons of pics when I get back!




Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Hungry Hippo

So - this was Dan and I trying to take a family pic. Hilarious! I Heart the look on Gray's face.


After Gray's 4month appt, the pediatrician told us he was ready to start on solids if we wanted. Gray has been eating over 35oz of formula a day, which really meant he was ready for something more.

Dan and I decided we wanted to start him with rice cereal so we could make it as thin as needed, the first four days was LITERALLY soup. As you can see in the pics below, it was a little messy, but we just wanted him to get used to taking food off a spoon.

As each day went by we kept thickening the cereal to the consistency of say..mashed bananas!

As soon as we felt the consistency of the cereal was about that of a mashed Banana, it was introduced..and he LOVED it! Unfortunately, he came down with the stomach bug (along with his parents) and we haven't fed him anything other than formula in a couple days.

We're hoping he feels better again this week so that we can get him eating those solids again!


Yummy Cereal..


Ha. You can see how soupy it is!


Look, he doesn't need a blankie underneath his feet anymore! Such a big boy. Oh, and Dad got the Mets hat on him - a little big, but SOOO cute!



Wednesday, December 1, 2010

O Christmas Tree

oh where o where is Grayson???

So, after everyone left for CT Sunday morning - Dan, Grayson and I decorated for Christmas. Grayson LOVES lights! So cute. This weekend we're going on a hunt for........a CHOO CHOO TRAIN!!! If anyone has any recommendations for a train - let me know!

We let him play with some of the ornaments :)

Staring at the lights....


This year we put up two trees - the main "big" tree in the living room, and this second one in our foyer. I've actually removed the mirror from behind the tree...I guess I hadn't done that when I took the pics!


Tuesday, November 30, 2010

My Four Month Baby

4 months old and smiling up a storm!

Umm, Helloooo - where did these 4 months go? I cannot believe that my little {monster} baby is already 4 months old. Before I forget, I'm gonna list the things he can do (or can't since there are a bunch of those too)

Weight: 14lbs 12oz -55th percentile
Length: 25 3/4 inches - 85th percentile

Hair color - looks to be a really light brown or dirty blonde possibly.
Eye color-still undecided. I think they're gonna be brown

*Found his feet shortly after his 3month bday
*Sleep is pretty good, we have weeks where he'll wake up a couple times to eat - but he diligently goes right back to sleep afterwards.

*He wears 3-6 month clothes in almost everything.
*He still wears a size 2 diaper
*He loves his jumperoo
*He's started to sit up in his rock and play bassinet and baby Swing. This is really bittersweet to me.

*He grabs at toys...and now puts them in his mouth
*He loves grabbing Dan's face. Facial hair = happy baby
*Drools, drools, drools
*Loves to stand
*We've heard him laugh!
*Just this week he's started to spit for fun. Kind of like blowing bubbles, except spit

Still doesn't:
Like Tummy Time
Roll Over


This month we've:
Gone out to dinner as a family
Had Thanksgiving Dinner
Had the Annual Friendsgiving Dinner
Sat on Santa's Lap
Decorated the Christmas Tree

More pics below


Lookie - Grayson can grab his feet AND his toy at the same time..so talented


Listen Mammarazzi, you take one more picture and I'll really spit up all over my playmat.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Rebounding

Ahhh. The family pic. Ha. I have no clue who or what Grayson is looking at, but he certainly isn't looking at the camera. That's fine. He'll hear it from me when he gets older.

The Thanksgiving weekend was sooo nice. Lots of relaxing, shopping, and family/friend fun. I LOOOVE this time of the year - and even though Gray is still really little and doesn't even know what's going on, I want to him experience every ridiculous Christmasy thing. I mean EVERY ridiculous thing (hellloooo Mall Santa!)

There are about 6 posts worth of material in my camera. So, to save you from me blabbing - I'm going to post for the next couple of days.

Here are some pics from the Turkey Weekend.

Christina and I - and Creepy Alan in the background??


Elizabeth and Laura




The Bouchard "Sisters"



My SISTERS!



My boys..LOVE.

After such a nice weekend, we are rebounding quite well - no sad tears on my end, my family is here. My WHOLE family:)


Wednesday, November 17, 2010

So, I have a St. Bernard for a child.

Oh look, it's Grayson. I mean, really. The child is a drooling mess with his FIST shoved in his mouth. Or any other "thing" that is in grabbing distance that can be shoved in the mouth.

We had a 4 month photo session for Grayson (done early so we could get some Christmas Card pics) and it went..well, let's just say that we went through two burp clothes of drool and spit up while we were there. He refused to remove his little fist from his mouth. And if you did get him to remove the fist, he would just try to use the blanket he was sitting on as knawing material.

(See picture below - that is a small not even close to example of what he was doing today, today he had is fist IN his mouth)

Now, Grayson is a drooler anyways. But on top of that - he's had some days where I think he forgets he can swallow. that bad. I saw it coming yesterday. If I had my hand even close to his mouth, he'd chomp down. Poor little dude.

Needless to say, he was pretty much a drooly mess, with his fist in his mouth who refused to smile. I think the photog may have gotten a couple smirks. BOYS.




Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Some Happenings





Dear Holly - I'm making a special trip to the grocery story for this box of goodness. For you. Sisterly love right there.

So, in a couple days my two sisters will be making the 12hour trek out to Ohio. The excitement is contagious. Look below to see how excited Grayson looks.... I kid. In preparation for the visit, we've done nothing. Oh wait, we'll be stocking up on some of the aforementioned Reese's cereal {snack, dessert}

In other news -Grayson still hasn't learned how to roll himself over. little poop. I try to "show" him {stop laughing} and he just looks at me like "ma, just lemme chill out here on my back, k?" He ACTUALLY said that to me! Ha. no, he didn't. But I saw it in his eyes. Those huge, buggy, deer-in-headlights eyes told me that he was just not ready to be a roller. So, I just put him in his jumpy and let him jump away. At least he likes THAT!




Below here is Dan dressing Grayson. Mind you, it was a mere 45 degrees out this day. Clearly a short sleeved onesie is in order for such days?? I mean, I guess if we weren't leaving the house, this would've been appropriate attire.

Backing up: I ignore non matching clothes when it comes to Dan, he's color blind and I can't always be there when he dresses himself OR our child - so clothes that don't match are going to be common in our household. Just the other day I caught Dan wearing ( kid you not)Dark Brown Pants, Black Polo T-shirt over a Gray Long Sleeve Shirt. When I mentioned this catastrophe to him...his answer? "What, these pants are green".....Yea, that's what I deal with.


Playing in his Jumpy! This is one of his favorites. Except Jumping baby + Acid Reflux Baby = very messy jumperoo. He pretty much spits up {pukes up} every time in the jumpy. I thank Fischer Price for making everything they make so washable friendly.
Just some happenings to update you with. I'll try to post more pictures for those without FB {insert Rachael Chiulli} Happy Getting Ready for turkey day!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The 3rd Month..and Halloween


3 months!

...and Grayson's feeling a little under the weather. We're not sure if it's the on-going cold he's had, or his teeth moving around his gums...but unfortunately, he is NOT in the mood to go trick-or-treating today. SO SAD! Except, knowing that he wasn't feeling up to par, we put him in his Halloween costume yesterday while we ran our errands just in case he wasn't able to today! So, he got to wear his halloween outfit out!!

This week we did Pumpkin carving:

Ran our Errands with our Halloween Costume on:


Changed into our "Glow in the Dark" Skeleton outfit for The NASCAR Halloween Party (which he slept thru)

Played with Mom! (soooo..I'm thinking he looks a little more like me now! ha)

Some 3 month updates:

*drools like a St. Bernard. Seriously. We go through two bibs a day. Enough said.
*Has NOT mastered rolling over yet.
*Wears a size 2 Diaper
*Eats 6oz every 3-4 hrs (basically 25-30oz a day)
*Sleeps thru the night (yey!)
*Sleeps in his crib now - we kept him in his bassinet up until last weekend - he transitioned WONDERFULLY!
*He Loathes tummy time. grr. We still make him do it every day.
*He doesn't kick as much when we lay him on his back - he's busy exploring the toys above his head
*He LOVES sitting upright. LOVES it.
*Still eats his fist and will eventually end up with a thumb in there. Sooo not happy about this. We try giving him everything else to suck on: Pacifier, his Sofie Giraffe, teething rings. He'll take something else happily, but once it falls out - in goes the hand.
*He Weighs 13lbs 8oz as of last Monday
*He loves being read to

That's all I can think of right now.

Hope everyone has a great Halloween and Awesome first week of NOVEMBER!!!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Dad's Buddy





(posted a day late)

Happy Birthday Dan! Your truly the best Dad and Husband.
Grayson's going to be able to look back at these pictures some day - and I can't wait! He'll see a Dad who can't wait to get home to read him a story, play with him on his mat, and rock him to sleep.....Lucky little guy. Lucky wife. Lucky family.

We truly are *The Luckiest*

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Boots with the fur

HI!
(this was Sunday...can you tell by the Sunday football wear)

So Grayson's Baptism weekend went great! I was a little sickly. Basically my nose was leaking and I had a lovely sore throat, but I managed to get through without most people knowing of my lovely sickness (other then rach...sorry rachie!!)

I get a little homesick whenever my family comes to visit - I always miss them so much and I'll get in a little funk when they leave...but this time I wasn't as sad when they left. I've come to realize that my friends are truly an extended family. It was so nice to turn around at Gray's Baptism and see everyone there. He has more "Aunts and Uncles" then he knows what to do with.

After last weekends crazyiness, this weekend - we got to run errands and relax with our Friends Fam.

A couple quick pics from the weekend:

First - Mommy and Grayson playing...



Then getting Gray ready to go out for the day



ohhhh and these? I actually think I went to every store (baby and not baby) to find some shoes for my child. Cute ones. Of course, the selection for little girls is ridiculous. I finally made it to BabyGap where I found these cuties. I finally got them ordered today!! I can't wait until I get them!! Btw, BabyGap is dangerous. Very Very Dangerous. (aka, Jess and Aunt Heder - feel free to continue sending Grayson cute clothes from there:P )
Hope everyone is having a super week!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Grayson, are you ready....













FOR THIS...........

I only hope there are moments such as "I'm not going to prom with you", "No, THIS is how you dance", "Step Bump, Step Bump Bump" and "I'm feeling a little LAAAZZY" happen this weekend.

I'm sure you're going to be supremely overwhelmed - and that's ok. It's part of being in the family. So, they're going to bring it. and bring it good this weekend.

Nothing. And I mean NOTHING makes me happier then being with my brother and sisters...and this weekend we're initiating you into this wonderful, happy, and crazy family. Uncle Al and Aunt Michelle will be there too - and they, no doubt have been part of the craziness ("I didn't ask you to prom") and will surely participate and enjoy in the festivities to come.

So hold onto your NUK, it's gonna be a long weekend:)






Thursday, September 30, 2010

2 Months!



My baby is two months old. OMGGG.
Here's what he's been up to:

Weight: 12.3oz (55th percentile)
Height: 23 3/4inch (75th percentile)
Eye Color: Undecided. They still haven't officially settled.
Hair Color: Undecided. Sometimes it looks dark brown and other times it looks light..we'll see as it grows in

Activities
* socially smiles - ALL THE TIME!
* can roll over on to his side
* will sit and watch baby einstein
* coos
* kicks all.the.time.
* can hold his head up on his own - it's a little wobbly at times, but for his age, it's great!
* can hold his head up during tummy time for short periods of time
* still loves his swing
* we can put him in his infant seat as long as the little vibrator is on - he kicks his little legs on it like crazy
* we have a kickin' coaster that he's been enjoying more and more since he's gotten long enough to really move it
* he's starting to REALLY enjoy his playmat. He's obsessed with the hanging giraffe.
* he really likes to eat his fist - mommy's not a fan
* he takes a pacifier when he wants to eat his fist - I'm ok with this
* he likes to eat our noses.
* he LOVES cuddling with Daddy at night. We get home, eat dinner, play, and then he gets to lay on daddy's tummy and fall asleep

PICTURE TIME!

Mommy and Grayson!






Daddy and Grayson



My Smiley Baby




Sleeping on Daddy


Hope everyone has a great weekend!