Four Month Well Check.

"He is the red-headed, blue eyed, light skinned type"- Dr. Blaze Gusic! HA to Jeff and all of his friends that said my kid better not be a ginger. He is pretty much diagnosed.

Reilly had his 4 month well check yesterday! INSANE!! Just yesterday we were practically living at St. Rose Pediatrics. It's astonishing how many doctors appointments a baby has in the first weeks of life, not to mention mine also! Between the two of us, the only time we ever got out of the house was for doctors appointments! It went well.. he is loving his pediatrician, it was so funny!! He kept smiling at him and.. hard to explain on a blog, but Dr. Gusic went to roll him over and Reilly turned his head all the way around just to keep smiling at him the entire time as he rolled. It was the cutest!

Side note- the pediatrician and the nurse kept saying "she". Jeff and I would drop hints like saying "he" or calling him "little dude". In hindsight, I think it would have been funny to let the pediatrician go on with it until he did the under-diaper check. That would have been a shocker!

We told him about the three endless nights of gas and zero sleep after the rice cereal. He said go ahead and just forget about rice cereal and sees no point in giving it to Reilly, so we are starting fruits and vegetables.. and eventually meat.. NOW! Today Jeff and I went to get the babyfood processor and then went shopping for Reilly's firsts! We got carrots, apples, and green beans. I've already pureed and frozen them all, it's SO much fun! The basenji's seem to like the vegetables too. Tomorrow morning we will start with.. one of them. I want to do apples because it seems more appropriate as a breakfast food, as opposed to carrots or green beans, but we'll probably end up starting with carrots.. then do another for lunch, keep those same two on the menu for three days and then switch it up.. maybe. Ahh, or maybe I'll just do one tomorrow, haven't quite decided, but either way- breakfast it is! Hopefully he doesn't decide to spit up at his Gymboree class. Does solid foods spit up have a color? Or is it still white? Eh.. I guess we'll find out. Hmm.. weird.

I think that's it for now. OH! His stats. He is now 17lb 10oz, 25 3/4in tall, and his head circumference is 47cm. He is in the 75-90% for weight, 75% for height, and 95+% for head circumference. So he is a short, fat, bobble head.

Feeding Frustrations!!

I don't really get this whole.. learning to eat thing. Shouldn't that just be something you're born knowing how to do if it's so necessary for survival? It's never ending and seems like every time we accomplish something, it's time to transition on to the next!

For instance.. Reilly took 6 weeks to latch! That is a very long time, but we were determined and I refused to give up because I figured it was the first difficult thing that I had to go through for my child and giving up would set the tone for our entire life and make me a bad parent. That's how I felt about it, I'm not saying that if you give up breastfeeding or are unable to do it you are a bad parent, I'm just referring to the challenge. I didn't want to give up just because something was too difficult when I knew that it was very possible too accomplish breastfeeding, regardless of how much time it took for us. Anyway.. he would not latch, so naturally he was bottle fed for most of his feedings and then we would make attempts to latch or use a shield (which is probably way too much information.. but, oh well.). At 5 weeks old we started to transition off of the shield, which only took a few days! Yay!! However.. I had an oversupply so I had to reduce my supply, which was painful. We don't need to go into more details than that. Naturally, getting him to transition off of the shield meant no more bottles until he was the perfect latcher. So he was, and then when we went to reintroduce bottles (we were allowed 2 a week until I went back to work just so he was used to them) he wouldn't take the bottle anymore. He is.. 18 weeks old and I can now give him a bottle.. almost. He still throws little fits about it. A few people can, I've never witnessed it because if I'm even in the room he would rather just breastfeed. SO YAY!! I gave him a bottle.. buuuutttt.. now he is 4 months old, so it is time to transition OFF of the bottle! Are you freaking kidding me? And combine that with starting solids. So as of Tuesday he would take a bottle from me, and starting Wednesday he takes my milk off of a spoon for one feeding a day! Not to mention I just finished cleaning his weaning cups and will probably give him one of those today. And then once he is used to that I'm sure we will start the next stage of bottle weaning. It all makes no sense to me!!

Day #2 of solids.. he didn't like it so we stopped.

My dad told me to put the rice cereal in a bottle with a faster flow nipple. However, he is a father of the stone age and everything now says NOT to do that because it could 1. choke them and 2. make spoon feeding that much more difficult later or 3. frustrate them and ruin all of the work that I've done to bottle train and now unbottle train. He told me to "keep it simple".. this is no time for personal change and growth. Who does he think I am? I have not done one simple thing in my entire life and I'm pretty sure that my kid is following in those footsteps considering this whole feeding conundrum!

Maybe it is simple, billions of people do this everyday.. but.. I'm tired so I'm allowing myself to be cranky! So that's my little rant for the day, thanks for listening. :)

Watching his movie. Baby Genius nursery rhymes.. sweet stuff. He gets a few minutes of it a day.. certainly not an entire DVD!!

It's 1:00am, but I'm staying on top of this!!

The last couple of days have been pretty rough. As most of our readers may have already heard, Jeff's Grandma Stewart passed away yesterday. It is an incredible loss, she was such a sweet and loving lady. I loved her and Grandpa's relationship, always making cute little jokes at each other, also the interest she took in people. Even last week while we were visiting with her at the physical therapy rehab center, she made fun-loving jokes at Grandpa about other gentlemen. She never forgot anything we would talk about and genuinely cared. Throughout my pregnancy she would mention that she was not going to have the chance to meet Reilly, and that would break both Jeff and my hearts. Reilly getting to meet his beautiful Great Grandmother was something that was so important to us, and we couldn't wait to take him over to meet her and Grandpa on our first trip out with him, and we are proud of the meaning that his middle name holds.

Rest in Peace Grandma, we miss you already.




As for Reilly's development, he had a HUGE first today. HIS FIRST SOLID MEAL! :) It was not a success honestly, and I question how much of it he actually got. He did amazing at taking food from a spoon.. was a complete natural, but with his massive size.. eating was never something I doubted would come easy to him. He seemed to take it pretty well, although it was still more breastmilk than anything.. 1 tbsp of rice cereal to 4 tbsp breastmilk. I fed him in his bouncer because he cannot yet sit up well enough alone for his high chair, so of course he was kicking his feet everywhere and despite my attempts to dodge him the entire time, he kicked the bowl, which splashed all over my hair, face, and clothes. Then once I had cleaned up and went to finish the feeding, part of his bouncer hit the bowl spilling the rest of it on the floor.. the dogs enjoyed it. Ew. So it looks like we will have a couple more nights of every 3 hour feedings, but I'm glad he doesn't mind the spoon!! For now we are just doing rice cereal and will probably start meats, fruits, and vegetables at 6 months, aside from pureeing vegetables from time to time just to add a little excitement to the boring rice cereal.



Another first he had this week was swinging at the park. He was getting a little fussy at the hospital, so we took a ride to the park just to get out for a while. I put him in a bucket swing and he loved it! It was adorable! Unfortunately I do not have a picture at the moment, it's on the memory card in my phone though- however, that's a pain to deal with, and definitely not a 1am activity. He ended up falling asleep in the swing so I took him out and we walked for a bit and then had some tummy time on the grass once he woke back up.. he also loved that. So glad the weather is finally decent and we can start spending more time outside!!


photo courtesy of his Leram, who came to hang out with us as the park!!

So that's that!! Jeff keeps complaining at me for doing this in the middle of the night and Rei should be ready to eat in an hour, so off to bed I go!

refusing to give up on this blogging stuff..

so.. from now on i'll just do lots of mini posts and not have to update this every month for two years because i have now gotten to the point where i dread blogging because it's been so long since the last time that i have too much to say so would rather not.

let's see.. Reilly..
-rolls from front to back and is getting uncomfortably close to back to front. i don't want that to happen because then my obsessive middle of the night baby checks will go up a level. no longer will i feel the need to constantly make sure he is breathing but now he must be breathing and on his back still. fortunately he is still in his bassinet so he can't roll too far.. perhaps just tip the whole thing over. maybe it's time to put the wheels on so it doesn't rock.. we don't rock him in there anymore anyway. and despite sleep position warnings i'm still keeping him in his because without it he thinks it's a fun idea to have his face as close to the side of his bed as possible. not allowed little dude.
-giggles at everything.. mostly faces. which is awesome.. nothing better than doing absolutely nothing and just having your face laughed at. it hasn't happened to me.. but i feel a little bit embarrassed each time he laughs at a face for no reason. like he is laughing at someone? yeah.. no. but still. it's a funny concept.
-is almost sitting up.. but he has got a LOT of weight to hold up and is super tall which makes it that much more difficult.
-takes a bottle!! woohoo. i think at least.. had a great bottle weekend so i'm considering him a bottle accepting baby. not from me of course but i have no desire to give him a bottle anyway.
-will grab anything you hold out in front of him out of your hand. he especially loves to grab the cup i use to pour water on him at bath time and feel the water go through his fingers.
-has two little teeth coming in.. but they've been visible for a month now so no big deal i guess.
-says "mama". :)

he is now 4 months and i keep going back and forth about whether or not i'm going to let him eat food. i definitely want to give him rice cereal.. i think. mostly for the iron but am not too set on vegetables or fruits yet. i'm not opposed to starting them now i just don't see a purpose yet.. he is doing just fine and we don't mind waiting until 6 months on that. maybe i'll puree a few vegetables or fruit to put into his rice cereal to add a little flavor. i guess i will know for certain after his 4 month visit on the 11th.

we started gymboree recently! he seems to like the parachute when it goes up and down over his face but doesn't really care for it going in a circle. and he likes the bubbles.. the rest of the time he is his usually grouchy-out-of-his-own-house self. :) i swear.. if we could just stay home all day and somehow socialize him he'd be the happiest little thing in the world because he is such a different baby at home than anywhere else.

i guess that's it for now.. he is sleeping so i'm going to go have some alone time with the dvr. :)

3 months in..

"If you could go back a year and see yourself now you would say, 'Wow, really? A pacifier as a ring? That is so lame!"- Jeff as I was driving the other day, apparently it was the first time he has gone anywhere with me driving. Pretty much sums up the baby transition!! (And no.. I don't wear them as rings, I have to be prepared for a crying baby in the car!)

Reilly is now 3 months old and officially not a newborn and I am LOVING it! I have loved him all along of course, but not gonna lie.. I think this has been my favorite age so far. He still does all of the same things he has done since birth, like insisting that our bodies were meant for nap time, only now he has SO much personality. He recently started laughing and that is definitely the best sound in the entire universe. I spend all day trying to figure out what makes him laugh just to hear it over and over. He is also starting to open up around groups and the kid is a chatterbox! He also sleeps 8 hours straight, which.. could we ask for more? No way! And as for going to bed.. read him two books, give him his last feeding for the day.. and put him in the bed! No fuss! Even if he is awake, he will just put himself to sleep.. with the help of the amazing dex baby sound sleeper of course. I swear by that thing.. I'm pretty sure at this point that Jeff nor I could sleep without it. I'm honestly contemplating not having anymore kids just because he has been such a blessing that I'm afraid I would pop out a little demon child (either that or he is making up for Layla's existence.. ugh). For the most part he does not cry and he has never "cried just to cry", I might be on the ignorant side because I don't have a crying baby- but.. do babies cry just to cry? He whines when he is tired, and the biggest indicator that he is tired is if you put him down somewhere and he gets more upset.. at that point just give the kid a pacifier and he's out. He snorts when he is hungry.. naturally. And in the rare circumstance that he may be hurt.. shots for instance, we won't even go there. NIGHTMARE.. then he holds his breath for a few seconds and then let's the world have it!!

A few weeks ago he reached another major milestone.. ROLLING OVER!! So exciting! It's just amazing watching him learn and grow. Everyday is so amazing.. a little more of his personality comes out or a new developmental change. He is the greatest blessing that both Jeff and I have ever experienced, and I 100% dread the day that he doesn't want to me to be with him every second or makes me his "nap time prisoner".

Tomorrow we have our Wednesday baby mixer where he has made plenty of friends! We are having a potluck and doing tiny impression hand printing. Reilly will not be getting his hand print done because we did one at 3 weeks and he is hosting a hand printing party at the end of the month, but we did make some cookies tonight for the potluck! That is the update for now!! Time to get to bed so I can enjoy part of that 8 hour sleep!

Goodbye Newborn!

Reilly is almost to the end of his 3rd month! CRAZY how time flies..it's exciting and breaking my heart at the same time (work.. EW!). A lot has happened in the past month including his first vacation, discovering toys, coo'ing up a storm, finding his fist, meeting his cousin Marley and almost fully gaining head control!

I'll start with his first vacation. We went to Kentucky from August 4th-8th for family time and my grandparents burial. The flight out was great.. it was at 7:45am, which is when he is still sleeping, we found a seat in the back and he slept in his car seat for a majority of the 3hour 15 minute flight. We landed in Nashville and he was AWAKE, and he stayed awake for the almost 3 hour drive to the house in Fredonia, very unhappy. Can you really blame him thought? No one would be happy in a car seat for almost 10 hours, I felt so bad for him. :( Of course his sleeping schedule was a disaster and the trip out exhausted him, so we spent most of the time taking naps, which I definitely don't mind because he likes his naps to be on me! One Amish town was the extent of our touring. He did get a lot of family time in though, and met a lot of new family too, including my great aunt Wanda, whom he took quickly to! Also.. I was very proud of him for being able to stay in a room with 7 girls and not disrupt anyone's sleep (or so they told me!). The trip back to Las Vegas went alright as well.. he stayed awake the entire time, but I kept him as happy as I possibly could the entire flight because the lady in front of us on the plane gave me a look with an "are you serious" and when I replied that he would sleep the entire time she said, "I hope so." Rude.

Something else that was exciting was meeting Marley!! My cousin Jamie and I have a pretty funny pregnancy story. Her family was in town, staying at my Dad and Rhonda's house last fall. During that time, I found out I was pregnant and wanted to tell my dad, but did not want everyone else finding out just yet, however they were going to be in town for a week and I don't have that kind of patience. One night everyone was bbq'ing at their house and I brought a Harley onesie to tell my dad. It took a while, but there was finally a quiet time where everyone was doing their own thing and I had the opportunity to take my dad away from the group and tell him.. apparently Jamie had also been waiting for that same quiet time to take her mom into a room, and without knowing, we both told our parents we were pregnant at the same time. The next night both of our parents made the announcement that we were pregnant. It was so great to have someone to go through it all with! Marley ended up being born exactly a week after Reilly. They live in California, so it wasn't until this weekend that they finally got to meet. Jamie, Kevin, and Marley came down for a family anniversary party! There is definitely a difference in size, although they are only a week apart... Reilly has a good few inches and 2 pounds on Marley!!

I guess I should add one more thing, because this post has taken a few days to type- babies are so demanding, but as of yesterday, and at this very moment.. Reilly is sleeping in his crib! Not at night though, don't get crazy, just for nap time. I would take a picture, but that might wake him up, and no way am I waking him up!! I have an hour to get things done and eat some oreos.

Reilly's Here!!

so i'm aware that i have dropped the ball on this blogging thing, but having a kid is hard! my little vision of sitting around blogging, making homemade baby food, keeping a perfect home, and having a warm dinner on the table when jeff got home was INSANE! man oh man. anyway.. on to reilly.

obviously he is here, or not so obviously because the announcements aren't out-they're sitting right next to me.. labeled and stamped, but it's way too hot to go to the mailbox, so expect those next week as opposed to this. but he is here none the less.. he arrived june 2nd at 7:39pm, weighing in at a great big 8 lb 14.8 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. big baby. i just want to go on the record though as.. i called it and also throw out a little "told you so" to my doctor who, up until "HOLY SHIT THAT'S A BIG BABY" came from her mouth while doing a double catch as to not drop my baby.. (yes..those were the words he was welcomed into the world with), said i had nothing to worry about, i was not gaining too much weight and everything seemed on track to an averaged sized baby, regardless of the fact that i could feel him in every part of me from my throat to my knees.. and i weighed 9lb 5 oz. what part do genetics play in this anyway? but as for the delivery, could not have asked for anything easier. being induced is the best thing ever in my opinion, as one sided as it may be, and childbirth is the easiest thing in the world with the help of a sweet sweet thing called an epidural. (my apologies to my amazing husband for wishing he would choke on a cookie, threatening to break his fingers off if he even so much as thought about trying to make me count breaths..like we had learned in our birthing class, and attempting to make an appointment for his vasectomy. also an apology to "the epidural man", who was later "best friend", for multiple announcements in regards to his speed, or lack there of). reilly stewart broo was born in the easiest 4 contractions ever and was the most beautiful thing i had ever seen in my entire life.

we were blessed with an incredibly smooth pregnancy and delivery, so it only fair that the recovery suck. i had a few complications, and had to be put out with pain medication reilly's first night.. leaving jeff to be SUPER DAD and take care of him on his own. he spent the entire first night feeding him, changing his diaper, and rocking him.. alone. by the next morning they had this amazing bond already.. jeff already knew what his faces meant.

we stayed for 2 more days and little rei continued to charm every person he came in contact with. when he went to get his hearing screening he even put his hands on the headphones like he was listening to music and when the rest of the nurses "aww'ed".. his said "yeah.. he's with me". and that's pretty much how his life for the past month and a half has gone.

reilly's first doctors appointment was the following monday, june 6th. he was down to 8lb 2oz, which was about 9% of his body weight. babies will lose up to 8% of their body weight, but that was too much. the doctor said that by his next appointment, if he had gone more than 10%, we would have to supplement him.. oh don't even worry-he bounced back at 9lb 7oz and has continued an almost off the charts weight gain since! at his one month appointment he was 11lb 13oz and 22 3/4 inches long, which a head circumference of 41cm... all of his numbers are around the 90%!! at our mommy group on wednesday, he weighed 12lb 6oz.. which throws him out of most of his 0-3 month clothes and into 3-6 months. i keep having to remind myself that he is only 6 weeks old and cut him some slack for not crawling yet, because he is so big he doesn't feel that young! but as far as his 6 week development goes.. he can track black and white objects (especially his very best friend in the world.. panda), turns his head towards mine and jeff's voices, has rolled over once..probably a fluke, the kid HATES tummy time, copies facial expressions such as a kissy face, sticking his tongue out, opening his mouth, and smiling, tries really hard to sleep through the night but we won't let him go more than 5 hours without waking him up to eat (at night!! in the day it's still 2-3 hours..we aren't starving him!), says "waaa waaa" like, a bird, not a cry when he wants to talk, and i think that's it. i mentioned his panda, he.. is in LOVE with this panda. it's on his bouncer and for the first couple of weeks i would feel like i was neglecting him if i put him down in his swing or bouncer, but now i feel like i'm depriving him if i don't. the second you put him in his bouncer that thing starts rocking and he is making noise and kicking and staring at this panda that hangs from it. it's the funniest thing in the universe. and it tires him out-so.. perfect!!

so that's the update, i'll try to post more often. we've finally gotten a really great routine going, so it should be possible. hope you enjoyed the novel-but that's pretty much a month and a half in a nutshell.. i guess if i wrote more you could read about his first trip to utah and his playgroup...buuuut..i'm not writing for 8 years, so we'll just take it from here! :)

a little video for your time.. and enjoyment: