Mama

I think Junior knows what he's saying. If DH is holding him and he sees me across the room he will start with, "Mamamamama!" and start crawling towards me. As soon as he gets to me, he stops, puts his thumb in his mouth and is content - well, as content as he can be. In the middle of the night when he wakes up, it is, "Mamamama!" He will babble with all sorts of sounds, but he is deliberate when he repeats Mama.

I know six months is supposed to be too early for that, but I swear he knows what he is saying.

Milestone Reached

Junior took a 2.5 hour nap today. He took the nap alone and in his crib. This beats his record by an hour and a half. To make things even better? He slept the same time as Handsome slept.

Six month checkup

Junior had his six month check up a few days. He was in the 75th percentile for everything. He didn't even gain half a pound from his four month checkup. I thought he had thinned out and sure enough he has. The doctor told me to start feeding him pears and a little bit of prune juice to help make him more regular. Sorry Junior, doctor's orders. I was supposed to give him another suppository yesterday but ran out of time. I let him gnaw on a pear and was expecting some sort of reaction since it was his first food other than breastmilk. No reaction. He couldn't care less. He chewed on it just like he would any other toy and got bored with it just as fast.

The doctor also gave me a stronger prescription for hydrocortisone for his excema. I am going to try harder with the over the counter before I try that.

I also got some gripe water last night. All the mylicon has been recalled so I'm hoping this will help his belly. He slept for four hours after I gave it to him last night so I'm hopeful.

After that four hours he didn't sleep much again. And neither did I. DH helped after 3am but I'm still beyond exhausted. I think my body is getting closer to it's limit. I'm starting to get dizzy all the time and my brain function has seriously declined.

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I didn't get to post when I initially wrote this post, so I'll just add on here.

I have given Junior the gripe water a few times now and he seems to actually really like it. I don't know if it helps his belly or not, but I'm going to continue trying for a while.

I gave him the suppository and he didn't produce anything from that. I've given him prune juice and he didn't produce anything from that. I'm wondering now if I'm not feeding him enough? I don't know. I'll continue with the prune juice and see if that gets us anywhere soon.

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We finally ordered a crib for Junior. He's been sleeping in the playpen since he was born and that can't be too comfortable. It's all lumpy. We put the crib together today and tonight is his first night sleeping in the crib. He whined for about the first 20 min, but now he's been sleeping for just over an hour. Hopefully the sleep will continue.

I love his crib. It seems much more stable than the crib that we had for Handsome. I love the color too. It's the Graco Shelby Cappuccino. Love it. I put it at the lowest setting though because he is already pulling up to stand and at the lowest setting he can just reach over the top. Apparently that's what the 75th percentile can do for you.

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Sorry for the disjointed thoughts. I haven't had sleep in months and that makes thinking challenging.

Talking

Da da da Ana na na ma ma ba ba na na na

Halloween Bleck

Halloween is coming up. I know that for many this is a great event. People get fancy costumes and rent scary movies and have festive parties. I admit that I love looking at the costumes that other people have come up with and I love to hear their stories of what happened at the haunted house. Stories of how so and so screamed like a girl and the other guy jumped so high he hit his head.

And that is where my fascination with the holiday ends. Does that make me a fuddy duddy? Meh, that's ok. I've never been terribly creative so my costumes were always a result of me rummaging through my parents' closet to see what I could come up with. I almost always ended up with something farmer related since Dad had a lot of that stuff. Boring with a capital B. I went trick or treating as a kid but it's just a bunch of junk food that I wasn't supposed to eat and I'd end up with a belly ache. I've never liked haunted houses or scary movies because I am a wimp and I see no amusement in scaring myself until I have nightmares.

Now that I'm older and even more boring I think like Halloween less. Costumes have gotten even more elaborate which means I either have to have a lot of cash to waste or I have to be crafty to make my own. I have/am neither. Plus all the troublemakers come out that night so I would prefer to barricade myself in my house. I also have to spend money on a costume for Handsome. I'm cheating this year and using the one I bought last year. It still fits and he likes it.

Fuddy duddy = Me

I'm ok with that.

Glasses have arrived

We picked up Handsome's glasses yesterday. He looks adorable. They have a brown metal frame. He only had to wear them between nap and bedtime yesterday, but overall he did really well. He only wanted to take them off when he was eating dinner. The rest of the time he said they helped him to see better. I also didn't notice his eyes crossing when he watched TV.

Today DH is sending him to preschool wearing his glasses. I sincerely hope that goes well. I asked DH to tell the teacher that Handsome could take his glasses off for their time on the playground. I'm still afraid of him falling and hurting himself while wearing the glasses but I am also afraid of the glasses breaking or getting lost. Those things are EXPENSIVE.

Complete change of topic - which I'm allowed to do because it's my blog. ;)

Handsome had a bloody nose on Wednesday. It wasn't a lot, but it was there. Weird. Don't know why.

Junior's bowel issues

I got some glycerin suppositories for Junior. I sat on the floor with a plastic bag under us and gave him the suppository. At first he didn't care, and then... he did. He cried and cried like I was the meanest person in the whole world. And then he cried and pushed like he was giving birth to a his own child. After about eight minutes he was done and talking and babbling like all was well in the world. Let's just say he was much lighter after that experience. And then around 4am this morning he filled another diaper. And then this afternoon he filled another. Hopefully he will be regular again now.

Last night I was up a lot. Again. As is the new normal. Handsome even woke up around 4 or 5am crying, which is very unlike him. I'm assuming he had a nightmare. I held him until he seemed ok and then he went right back to sleep. Meanwhile I was really dizzy. I had to hold onto the wall so that I wouldn't fall down. I'm assuming it is because I haven't had nearly enough sleep. I called DH to come pick up the kids so that I could get some rest, but that was around 7am. and I had been up almost all night.

The past few days

On Sunday I caught up on some of the household stuff I've been getting way behind on as a result of our crazy schedule. I did many loads of laundry, cleaned the backyard and brushed all the hair our dog is shedding off of him so that it doesn't end up on the carpet anymore. Handsome was kind enough to help me with everything.

In fact for the past few days both boys have been really attached to me. I'm assuming it's because I've had to work so much lately. Junior will cry if DH is holding him and stare me down no matter where I am in the room. He always wants to be near me. Daddy just isn't what he wants right now. I feel like I have about a two foot rope that is tied between my leg and Handsome's leg and as a result Handsome must ALWAYS be right under my feet. I can't even head to the ladies' room without both of them crying for me. I have to admit that I like being wanted/needed/loved so much. DH on the other hand is really getting his feelings hurt. I know this is only a phase and I do like to spread the love around, but I'll enjoy my snuggles and smiles while I can get them.

Anyway, back to Sunday. I gave Handsome a bath before his naptime because we were both all sorts of stinky from being out back. When he woke up from his nap, he felt warm. He had said his head hurt earlier in the day, but I attributed that to the eye issues that he as been having. We make him wear his eye patch and that forces his weak eye to work harder. I know I used to get headaches if I went between wearing glasses and not wearing glasses so I figured that is what happened. He has never complained of his head hurting before though. After his nap when he said his head hurt again, I decided to check his temperature. 102F He had a fever. Bummer. The only other fever he has ever had was during a bad cold he had when he was about eight months old.

I got him a wet rag for his forehead and we sat on the couch together as he just said he wanted to be held. We didn't have any children's tyelenol, but I didn't want to give it to him right away anyhow. He wasn't being lethargic and still wanted to go to the store, so it didn't seem to be bothering him too much. I know a fever helps kill the virus so I wanted to see how it would progress. If it got worse or if he still had it at bedtime, I would give him some tylenol. As it happened, by bedtime his fever had gone down to 99F and he didn't seem to notice it at all. What it did do was give us a peaceful bedtime which doesn't happen too frequently anymore.

Since he couldn't go to preschool the following morning, I decided to take him to get fitted for new glasses. He woke up fever free and we went to try on glasses. They had two varieties that I couldn't decide between: Miraflex and Flexon.

• Miraflex is plastic and virtually indestructable. It has no hinges and has a band that goes behind his head to make sure they stay on. I was afraid they would look like toy glasses and they would overwhelm his face. I was also afraid that his lashes would constantly hit the glasses. That used to happen to me as a kid and it drove me nuts.
• The Flexon glasses are metal frames that can be twisted and sat on and still return to the original shape. They look more like adult glasses and have a nose piece so that the glasses sit further from his eyes which means no lashes hitting the lens. I was afraid though that the nose piece would be a problem for if/when he falls. And the Flexon was about twice the price of the Miraflex.

I couldn't decide, so I called Mom to decide for me. LOL I'm weak, I admit. Anyway, she said to go for the Flexon because she is really concerned about the social aspect. She is afraid that the other kids would make fun of the other glasses and scar Handsome for life. So on that warning, I got the Flexon. I figure that since it is about to be winter, he will have less of an opportunity to be running around. And a few months from now, I may go ahead and buy the Miraflex as a backup and for the times that he wants to be more rough and tumble.

The glasses should be ready by Thursday and then will begin the adventure of making him wear his glasses full time. While I was buying the glasses I was talking to the woman who sells them - obviously. Anyway, she has been doing the same job for over 20 years. It was a family owned business. I told her about why Handsome needed glasses and she started telling me horror stories. Great, right? She told me about one little girl whose grandmother refused to patch her eye because the girl didn't like it and at 12 years old the girl lost sight in her weak eye. And then there is the story of a little boy whose parents didn't notice and so he didn't get treated. As a result he has a full blown lazy eye now. He can get glasses to help with his sight, but they are litearaly about an inch thick for that one eye and he still can't see clearly. Great. Now I'm worried that poor Handsome is going to end up blind in one eye.

Obviously since we were able to buy glasses on Monday morning, Handsome did not go to preschool. His random fever is completely gone now but he missed his class picture. :'( I was really looking forward to that. I emailed his teacher and she is going to get us a copy of it, but sadly Handsome won't be in the picture. DH took him to his school today to get his individual picture. We don't really need it since I take his picture obsessively, but I'm curious to see how he handles someone else taking his picture.

And now for Junior news.

On Saturday, Junior crawled to the coffee table and pulled himself up to standing so that he could grab something that was on the table. Oh yes, he pulled himself up. My five month old is pulling up to stand. I can't even believe it. My baby was supposed to stay a baby for a little while longer.

And for a little TMI - at least he'll think so when he is older and knows I blogged about it - he hasn't pooped in at least two weeks. The nurse said to give him a laxative. Eww. I went to buy some last night, but the container had already been opened. EWWWW. So we have to take it back. We're also going to buy some Mylicon to see if that helps because Ray massaged his belly yesterday and said Junior farted for about ten minutes straight after that. HAHAHA! I'm glad I wasn't there for that because man do his farts stink!

Junior is also blowing rasberries and saying "bababa" and chewing on his tongue. All very good signs that he is progressing like he should.

His six month appointment is next week.

And in me news.

I got everything done for work that I needed to! YAY!! Talk about a relief. Our house is so much less stresful now.

And in DH news.

He did not pass one of his exams and doesn't know how he did on the other, but he's not hopeful. I am so scared that he won't pass and get his nursing degree. He is so smart, but his school is so unhelpful. The one test that he didn't pass was because he could only miss one element and he missed three. One. And a passing grade on an exam is 78%. Please, Lord, let him pass. We have really struggled to get to this point.

And now that I have written a novel, I'm done. ;)

Pulling up

Today Junior pulled up on the coffee table. He stood all by himself about three times. I swear he's still just five months old even though he doesn't seem to want to act five months old.

Glasses

Handsome had a follow up appointment for his strabismus - eye crossing. DH took him so I got the recap afterwards. This time the doctor was adamant that Handsome wear his glasses everyday. He said that he needs to wear them everyday or his eyes would continue to get worse to a point that we couldn't fix it anymore.

If he has to wear them everyday then we are going to have to get some of the indestructible variety. The types that have been recommended are Miraflex and SoloBambini. They aren't the most attractive glasses, but hopefully they will last longer than the 30min that the current glasses last before he breaks them.

I'm worried that his classmates will make fun of him for his glasses. I had to get glasses at 5 years old. I had a few people call me four eyes, but I don't remember caring all that much about what they said. I think Handsome is different. I think he will care a lot about what the other kids say. I really hope they are nice to him and I hope that he likes the glasses.

The girlfriend's name

As DH picked up Handsome from school today, he asked the teacher if Handsome had any friends in the class. She said yes. His main friend is Emma. Apparently whenever Handsome walks into the classroom she will call him over and tell him to sit next to her. As Mom put it, she may be a little like Peppermint Patty. His other friend is Kevin. Today he did actually tell me his friend was Emma. Not sure if it's because he heard the conversation between DH and Mrs. S.