Learning to Sleep

If you told me the most frustrating part of raising Dylan would be getting him to take naps, I would've said you were crazy...

Sleeping at night? Not a problem for our little guy. Actually, I'm happy to report (although I'm sure I'm jinxing myself by publishing this on the blog) that our little boy has slept through the night (as in 9 PM to at least 6:30 AM) for 7 of the last 8 nights! Woohoo!! But aside from that, he's never had a problem sleeping at night. Sure, he'd wake up to eat but he'd always go right back to sleep (thank goodness).

Napping, however, is a bit of a struggle in our house. Actually, I should qualify that statement...napping anywhere but in someone's arms has been a bit of a struggle, and really only since he got sick.

Anyway, this week was hard on both of us, but I feel like we're making progress. Because we had reached the point where Dylan would cry if I put him down to sleep anywhere but in my arms, the only solution was to let him cry a little (I know, I know, curse me if you want to). I would rock him for one song, where he would gladly close his eyes and begin relaxing...but as soon as he was in his crib those eyes were WIDE OPEN and as soon as I was out of his view, the crying began. Interestingly enough, if I picked him up, he would close his eyes and start drifting off to sleep...so obviously this wasn't a matter of not being tired.

Anyway, I digress. The first day it only took about 20 minutes for him to fall asleep (yes, he cried for 20 minutes...). In the end the falling asleep part was actually really easy for him to grasp. It was the staying asleep part that's been so hard. You see, after a week of our learning process, Dylan is still only taking 40 minute naps (at most) in his crib, which leaves me with a very tired, grumpy baby which makes me very sad.

He has, however, taken two 2+ hour naps like this:

I'm realizing that the picture is no good...the key factor is his boppy pillow. In this pillow, he will sleep for hours...unswaddled even (which doesn't happen in his crib because he startles a lot when he's first falling asleep). Today he was even bothered by sounds of Shane coming in and out of the house, the Olympics on TV, and construction next door and he was able to get himself back to sleep each time.

The only problem with this picture is the pillow is on the couch... After his first 2+ hour nap in the pillow, I decided to see what would happen if I put him in the pillow, in his crib. The result: a 20 minute nap!

Oh well, at least he's getting the sleep he needs. We'll deal with his attachment to the pillow someday...

Cousin Jack!!

Dylan's cousin Jack was born to Bart and Ashlee last Friday (2/19), and they finally were able to meet each other last night. Jack was 7 lbs 10 oz and 19.5 inches, so he was just a tiny bit smaller than Dylan was, but it's crazy to believe Dylan was ever that size...let alone less than 3 months ago!!




During our visit, I caught Dylan whispering to Jack about how to become as big and tough as he is. Hopefully Jack picked up some of those pointers. We can't wait to watch these little boys grow up together and become friends!

A New Perspective

Dylan has become a lot more interested in things around him (i.e., he'll look away from me a lot more to look at other things like the ceiling fan or trees outside) and he's getting a lot steadier with his head so I decided to try our other stroller for our walk yesterday.


Luckily it reclines enough to keep him from having to hold his head up the whole time. The upper-body straps were a little loose (even at their tightest), so I put a rolled up blanket on either side of him to help keep him upright. I think he enjoyed the view a lot more than the sky view he got in our snap'n'go...except when the sun shined in his eyes.

He wasn't too interested in everything this time, though, because I'm currently only letting him nap in his crib (which is his last choice of napping locations), so he isn't getting much daytime sleep. By afternoon he's kind of a zombie... I feel bad, but my efforts so far are showing some progress (he's back to taking a few 30-40 minute naps in there...woohoo), so we'll deal with the grumpiness for now.

Look-a-like

When Dylan was born, he looked like a lot like Shane and our nephew Brody. Even Shane's mom said he looked like a Hatch baby. The only part of him that I could claim was his earlobes...how nice. As he's grown, however, more and more people say he looks like me (or my dad). During our Skype call with my parents on Sunday, my mom pulled some pictures from my baby book, which I later had her scan for this post... You be the judge--who does he look like? (To avoid seeming biased, I won't post any one picture of Dylan here. Just scroll down to the other posts and you'll find plenty.)

First some pictures of Shane:

Were you just thinking to yourself that this outfit looks familiar? If so, click here to see why...

Now some pictures of me:

He definitely got my arm rolls :)

I'm the smaller one in pink ;)

Interestingly enough, when I imported these pictures into Picasa, the facial recognition "suggested" that my pictures were Dylan and Shane's picture was Reuben (our nephew). Granted, those are the only two baby faces I have in there, so there wasn't much to choose from.

I personally think he's a perfect mixture of us both...and I like it that way.

Bumbo Test Drive

{Note: Today may be full of blog posts... There's a new daily Dylan below too.}

Dylan is getting really good at holding his head up (which we appreciate since we'd much rather carry him around outside of his car seat since he's so heavy), so a friend mentioned that I should start trying his Bumbo in addition to tummy time to help him get even stronger.

Today was the first Bumbo experience. Surprisingly (or maybe I should say not surprisingly), Dylan's legs are almost too chunky for the leg holes!! Hopefully as he continues to grow he'll get longer rather than wider :)


He looks so big!! All in all, he liked the new experience. He really likes to be up and looking around a lot more than laying down. He only lasted a couple minutes before his head started falling back, but I think he'll get better in time.

Double Daily Dylan

Thanks to napping troubles, there was no Daily Dylan post last week so this week's is twice as nice! In other news, we weighed Dylan this morning on our scale at home and he's now 17.2 pounds...who knows, he might weigh 20 pounds by his 4-month check-up!

February 10 (I think he looks gigantic when he's swaddled...but he loves it)

February 11 (I just had to document his cute rolls! And I love his face in this one)

February 11

February 12

February 15 (See this post for more details on this shirt)

February 16

February 16 (People say he looks like Shane in this picture...I can see it)

February 17 (One of the few 0-3 month outfits that still look roomy on him!)

February 17 (We love tummy time!)

February 18 (Notice how tight the sleeves are on his gigantic forearms)

February 19 (Sadly, those unbuttoned pants are 3-6 month! We'll stick to sweatpants for now...)

February 22 (This is a 3-6 month onesie...and it's still fairly snug)

February 23 (We call this one "The Mad Scientist." His hair gets all fuzzy after a bath)

February 23 (Some days I leave him in his jammies to because I think they make him look smaller...and he loves his rocket ship ones the best!)

Last night...

...was a momentous occasion. Dylan slept from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM!! The day was full of short naps, a very loud party at church, and hanging out with Grandma, Papa, and cousins Paige and Brody until we picked him up a little before 10 so I think he was worn out by the time he went to bed.

When we got him this morning he had worked his left arm out of his swaddle (his left arm is the one he's always able to get out...and the hand he keeps trying to suck on) so I'm not sure if he woke up earlier in the night and was fussing and I just didn't hear him. Either way, it was so nice to get more than 3 hours of continuous sleep. I don't think that's happened since at least a week before he was born...

Now I'm sure this probably won't happen again tonight, but at least I can see that someday I'll get sleep! (I feel like I say that a lot...)

Picnic!

See that indentation in our lawn?

That's where we had a family picnic last night. I was so busy enjoying the evening I didn't take time to capture it with our camera, so a picture of the lawn will have to do.

Dylan was getting a little antsy right before Shane got home, so we took a little walk out to the mailbox. As soon as we were outside, he calmed right down and started taking everything in. I could tell he was hearing the birds in the tree and feeling the cooler air...and he definitely noticed the sunlight when it hit his face. Because it was such a beautiful night and it's staying light so much longer, we set out a blanket on the lawn and Shane and Dylan played while I finished dinner. Then we ate out there all together. Toward the end it got a little chilly, but it was so much fun!

I can't wait until it stays just a little warmer in the evenings...we might be eating outside every night!

Addendum

I hope my last post didn't make it seem like I really think my baby is a monster or that I'm upset with him in any way. I just use the blogging world as my venting space.

Anyway, shortly after the post, we had a heart to heart. I explained to him that I just want him to get the sleep he needs, especially less fractured sleep, and that I was sorry if it was too much all at once. So in the end we reached a compromise in which he can continue to nap in his bouncer for now on two conditions: (1) the vibrations must be off and (2) he'll try to sleep longer than 40 minutes...

After our discussion, I swaddled him and he immediately fell asleep (probably due to exhaustion). I put him in his bouncer (without vibrations) and he slept for 3 hours! Then he woke up for dinner, played with Shane a bit, and took a nap for about an hour in Shane's arms (I know...very counterproductive).

This morning I put him in his bouncer for his first nap and he was still a little bit awake, but he was able to get himself to sleep (I was sitting behind him so he couldn't see me). It took him a bit longer than with the vibrations, but he did it! He only slept for 50 minutes, but I'm counting it as a small victory. My hope is once we improve naps in the bouncer, the crib will be easier to tackle, but who knows...

Monster

Yep, that's what we've created with this little boy:

What's that? You can't believe that this sweet little face could possibly be any trouble? Well, really it's not his fault...

You see, before he got sick Dylan was a good sleeper. At night he'd wake up to eat but would go right back to sleep...sometimes he's even still be a little awake when I put him in his crib, but he'd drift off to sleep on his own. During the day, I would just rock him a bit to get him to sleep and when I'd put him in his crib he'd usually wake up a bit but would go back to sleep on his own, or with a little mattress jiggling by me. Now, he did start having a few problems just before he got sick, but we were working on them...

However, once he got sick we were willing to do whatever it took to make our little boy comfortable so he could rest and get better. The result was sleeping in his bouncer (with the vibrations on, which I tried to avoid if some naps were taken in it before this time) all night and for most naps. If he had problems napping, he would take his nap laying on one of us. Now I do believe all this good quality rest helped him get better fast, but now we're paying for it.

You see, since getting better (and we know he's better since the doctor checked him out and his night sleep has significantly improved), Dylan won't sleep in his crib...at all. I can have him sound asleep in my arms and after a few minutes in his crib he's WIDE AWAKE and grunting, which eventually leads to crying. Now, he won't even nap in his bouncer for more than 40 minutes at a time. I can put him in it still partially awake and he'll drift off just fine, but 40 minutes later (like clockwork) he's up and crying. He won't go back to sleep in the bouncer, but will fall asleep in my arms and I can put him back in his bouncer, but he won't sleep for more than 40 minutes at a time. The only way he'll nap for more than this is sleeping on one of us...and then he'll sleep for forever (meaning 2-3 hours) so I know he needs more sleep than he's getting.

Luckily at night he's getting better. Last night he only woke up once and the night before he actually slept from 9:30 PM to 5:30 AM (but that was after his shots which I think knocked him out so it doesn't count), but all of this sleeping is in his bouncer. I think I'm afraid to move him to his crib at night because he'll be waking up all the time...I'm hoping to try tomorrow night so that Shane doesn't have to go to work the next day in case it all goes terribly.

Today we're already on nap attempt #4. Here's how each nap goes: I rock him until he's very relaxed and usually asleep. I lay him in his crib. He stirs a bit but eventually falls asleep...about 5 minutes later (the longest so far today was 15 minutes) he starts grunting and about 10 minutes after that he's screaming. I'm currently letting him cry for about 10 minutes or so at a time to see what happens. Then I go in, put in his binky, and bounce his mattress for a bit to let him calm down, but he's usually crying again by the time I'm out the door. So we do this little dance until we've been trying for an hour and then I pick him up and we go play, eat, or change his diaper and wait to try again when he starts acting extra sleepy again (which is quite frequently now since he's pretty much a zombie). I really am trying to avoid resorting to the bouncer and I really don't want to let him sleep on me (even though I love it) because I know that won't help him get any better... Needless to say, I'm having an awesome day...

Whoever said you can't spoil a newborn obviously had never met Dylan... Wish us luck in the transition process.

I wouldn't recommend it...

...but today I learned that after a 4.5 year break from dentist visits I have no new cavities!! I was quite shocked to learn the news. Now, before you think I'm suggesting that regular visits to the dentist aren't necessary, let me finish because I definitely learned my lesson the hard way...

Had I actually gone to the dentist even once within the last year, I most likely could have avoided the root canal I had when Dylan was only 5 days old. I realize I haven't shared the details of Dylan's birth with the blogging world, so this story may get long. Feel free to skip this post, but I feel I need to document it for posterity's sake...or maybe just in case someone cares. {For the condensed version of this post, just skip the smaller text and move to the end}

You see, on November 31 (just one week before my due date) I called the dentist because my tooth had been hurting all weekend and after inspecting my mouth it appeared an existing filling had cracked. They were able to squeeze me in that day. The dentist informed me that my filling hadn't cracked, but that it appeared that a cavity had formed just to the side of it and the hole I was feeling was actually where my tooth had CRUMBLED! She then took an x-ray and noticed that the cavity appeared to be quite deep, but said she'd drill it out to see if we could get away with just a bigger filling. While still drilling out the decay, she reached the pulp of my tooth which mean...(bum bum bum)...a root canal. She referred me to her endodontist and I had an appointment set up for the next afternoon.

Well, that next morning I had my weekly OB appointment. Because I had been having pretty regular contractions, I decided to pack up the car before going to the appointment with all of our hospital stuff (I'm still not sure why I did this). At my appointment my blood pressure was high and so was my glucose. My blood pressure had been high at my last appointment and I had been having heart palpitations for the last few months of my pregnancy so my doctor decided it probably wasn't best for me or the baby to wait any longer...I was to be induced! I mentioned to her the fact that I had a root canal that afternoon, which she advised against--if my blood pressure was already high, imagine what the stress of a root canal could've done--so I called my dentist to confirm that it would be okay to put off the root canal for a few days and she said it was fine.

So off we went to the hospital, which only took 5 minutes since the car was already packed and my doctor's office is on the same block as the hospital. En route we called and cancelled the root canal appointment (which I later learned usually comes with a hefty cancellation fee, but I think they waived it given that childbirth is a little unpredictable). We also frantically called and texted quite a few people letting them know that Dylan would be born within the next day or so...and my wonderful mother magically dropped everything she had going on and changed her flight to arrive by 10:00 PM!

The nurse that was getting us set up asked when the last time I ate was...which had been breakfast (it was now 1:30 PM). Shane asked if I could eat since we knew we had at least 12 hours before they even started the pitocin. The nurse said she'd have to get an okay from my doctor, but showed him where some saltines and apple juice were, which apparently were fine. However, Shane also found peanut butter, which he slathered on some crackers for me. Upon discovering this, the nurse had to change the time of my last meal to 1:30...oops.

Shortly thereafter I was started on a topical medicine to help get my body ready for the pitocin since I was only dilated to a 1 and was 0% effaced (that's right...he probably would've stayed in there quite a bit longer). This medicine was supposed to was supposed to stay in for 12 hours, but after 1 hour I started having pretty strong contractions on top of each other...usually about 3 at a time before I got a break. The first nurse told me this was normal. The second nurse commented on my contraction patterns and asked about my pain level (which I told her was bearable, but definitely in no way comfortable). Then, this wonderful woman considered the treatment plan they had in place for me (1o more hours of ripening before the pitocin) and called my doctor to see if I could have any food besides clear liquids...and my doctor agreed! So I got one last meal...sadly I don't remember what the main course was, but I do remember I got cookies and french fries with it. The pain got progressively worse as the contractions got stronger and longer (still occurring on top of each other), but we did our best to distract ourselves by watching Law & Order reruns and texting friends and family.

Then, the night nurse came on duty when I had been on the medicine for 7 hours. She introduced herself, asked about my pain and told me about my options for dealing with it if it got to be too much, and then left the room. About 15 minutes later, she reappeared to inform me that she looked over my charts (for the last 7.5 hours of contractions) and realized that I was reacting way too strongly to the medicine. She called my doctor, explained, and they agreed to remove it and try and start the pitocin. I thanked this nurse profusely for realizing that it wasn't normal...and when the contractions didn't stop after the medicine was removed, we both agreed that it was time for me to get an epidural (even though I was only a 1.5).

Once the epidural was in, it was almost smooth sailing... They eventually started the pitocin at 1:30 AM. After a few hours and a few adjustments to the dosing, the baby's heart rate kept dropping at the end of each of my contractions. The put me on oxygen to try and help with this problem and broke my water so they could better measure the strength of my contractions...and we waited to see what would happen.

After a few hours with little progress (I think I was a 3) they explained to us that they had to turn off the pitocin for the sake of the baby and that they would call the doctor to see what she said, but that if I didn't progress without the pitocin we may need to "consider other options" (aka c-section). Luckily my doctor wanted to try pitocin again, and told the nurses to start with the lowest dose possible and step it up in 30-minute increments to see if there was a dosage where my body would still progress but the baby would be fine. Thank goodness for my doctor's wisdom!! This worked, and we were back to smooth sailing (except for the annoying oxygen mask on my face all night). To avoid the "other options" I told myself that at my next check I would be a 5...and I was! So then I aimed for an 8 and when the day nurse came in, I was an 8! So then I aimed for a 10, and at my next check I was a 10!! Granted, this all happened over a period of 5 or 6 hours...

Finally, we were ready to push...hooray! I only had to push for about 10 minutes or so (at least it didn't feel long to me, but maybe I was confused) before it was time to call my doctor. Although her office is only probably a 2-minute drive away, it somehow took her 40 minutes to arrive (something big must have been happening because we saw her RUN from her car to the building and she was so flustered when she arrived). Because of the wait, Dylan popped out with the next push...and there he was at 11:06 AM, almost 24 hours after we arrived at the hospital...and the rest is history...

Oh, I forgot the moral of this post... Shortly after getting my epidural, which I thought meant relief from pain and possibly some rest, my tooth began to hurt, to ache, to throb (I can't describe it in words, but if you'd have a bad toothache, you know). Sadly, I was unable to get any good rest during the waiting time with the pitocin because of the pain. Then, after after he was born, most nights I couldn't sleep while Dylan was sleeping because my tooth would be hurting. Two days after he was born, I called and set up an appointment for a root canal, which surprised the endodontist, but also helped him understand the pain I was in. I was so excited for the pain to be gone that I had no fear or stress for the procedure (which was actually painless and not near as bad as I expected).

The dentist called me after I had the root canal to see how I was doing and to tell me how sorry she was that I had to deal with all of this while dealing with having a baby. At the end of the call she casually mentioned that had I been coming in for regular check-ups the cavity would've been caught by an x-ray when it was much smaller and I wouldn't have needed a root canal. She's the nicest lady so I know she didn't mean it as an "I told you so," but more as a casual reminder that regular maintenance is important...

So, make sure you go to the dentist for regular check-ups, or else you'll find yourself saying that the worst part about childbirth was your toothache!

Carbs

I figured it was time for a non-baby post (although I'm sure most of you that read this blog really only care about Dylan... :). Today I was reflecting on the items I picked up during my quick trip to the grocery store on Friday. I only went to grab a few necessities to get us through the weekend, but upon returning home, my bag contained the following items (among other things):

• 1 loaf of wheat bread
• 1 8-pack of tortillas (soft taco sized)
• 1 6-pack of pita bread
• 1 6-pack of ciabatta rolls (who knew the Wal-Mart bakery could produce something so delicious??)
• 1 6-pack of English muffins

Needless to say, we like our bread in MANY different forms! You may wonder how it's possible that two people could consume that many carbs before they all went moldy. Well, here's the damage by Tuesday morning:

• Wheat bread: Half a loaf was used for peanut butter toast most mornings and French toast on Valentine's day. The other half was used at church on Sunday (Shane's in charge of the Teachers so we always bring the back-up bread)
• Tortillas: These were gone by Sunday afternoon due to two meals of bean and cheese quesadillas (2 tortillas per quesadilla x 2 people x 2 meals = 8 tortillas)
• Pita bread: At least four of these were eaten by Monday afternoon with roasted red pepper hummus from Trader Joe's (mmmm....). The rest were covered in mold by Tuesday afternoon
• Ciabatta rolls: 2 were used for cold sandwiches, 2 were used for french dip sandwiches, and 2 were used to make the most delicious garlic bread ever...all gone by Tuesday morning
• English muffins: Although these are usually quite popular in our house (toasted with butter and honey is a great snack any time of the day or night), only 2 were eaten this weekend. I think the other bread-like choices less common to our house won out.

All in all, I think it's safe to say we enjoy our carbs...in many different forms!

Oh dear...

This is what happens when Daddy is in charge of picking Dylan's clothes and the daily photo shoot:

{If you can't read it, the shirt says "Jack Bauer makes Chuck Norris cry." If you don't know who Jack Bauer is...well, Dylan can't be friends with you}

{Don't be too alarmed...that's an Airsoft gun that shoots little pellets. It's currently on loan to us to help with a little problem in our back yard.)

In his defense, Shane did also produce the adorable ensemble below this weekend. He looks so cute in his little hat!

{The Daily Dylan will be delayed again this week because these pictures were just too good not to post and Dylan has his 2-month shots this afternoon so I'm pretty sure I'm going to be spending my afternoon cuddling with him to make up for all the poking.}

Language Lessons

If our son is fluent in Wookie before he even speaks a word of English, we will all know the reason:

Yes, this happens almost nightly, and Dylan usually responds...he just stopped performing once the camera was on (he is my son after all). He loves hearing new sounds and trying to mimic them. It's so fun to see his face light up during his playtime with Shane!

Best Valentine's Day Ever

I know, I know...Valentine's Day isn't until Sunday but I'm pretty sure mine has already been the best one ever because most of it came early this year. Here's why it's been the best:

1. We have Dylan to celebrate with, and what better way to feel loved than to have a newborn snuggling with you all day long (especially when he's sick)?

2. Shane surprised me with a new Flip camera. It's awesome and I now find myself videoing little portions of Dylan's day. It's so much easier to capture the moments since it's so portable and so simple to use.

3. Shane made me truffles at work on Tuesday. They were delicious...it was a little difficult to pace myself and not eat them all at once!

4. Shane surprised me this morning and told me he took the day off to be with me and Dylan!

5. Shane spent his day off cleaning the house and taking care of Dylan so I could get a few things knocked off my to-do list.

6. Shane wrote me the sweetest note, which now sits next to my bed and will be something I will read over and over again when I need a pick-me-up.

Shane is a very sentimental and thoughtful person, but I can't help but think that some of this early Valentine's love was prompted by an emotional breakdown that occurred at 5 AM on Tuesday morning... You see, the combination of sleep deprivation due to our sick little boy (some nights I only got about 3 hours), me beginning to get sick myself, and watching all of the items on my to-do list go undone because Dylan wouldn't let me put him down for very long during the past few days turned into an explosion. In the end, many tears were shed, a knee was bruised (we're still getting used to our new room arrangement), and a discussion was held regarding the dangers of bottling up our feelings, but all in all I feel much better having let it out.

And now thanks to Shane I'm not so stressed out about my to-do list. Our house is completely clean, except for the laundry (which we'll do tomorrow when our power costs less), and all I did was dust (prior to my dusting today, the surfaces in our house hadn't been touched since my mom left on Dec. 29th...I know, she would be appalled)! Shane did the rest. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful husband! Now I better make sure I actually give him his Valentine's card this year :)

Daily Dylan

This week's daily Dylan is a day late due to the illness that hit our home (that's right, Shane and I are now coming down with colds...it begins). Anyway, here are this week's pictures:

February 3

February 3 (I'm pretty sure he went through 4 outfits this day, but I only took pictures twice...)

February 4

February 5 (No pictures because he mostly napped all day)

February 8

February 8

February 9

As you can see, he's remained fairly happy despite being sick...he just needs a lot more love and attention. In fact, here's a little video of him smiling for Shane last night. As an early Valentine's present, Shane got us a new Flip camera. Hopefully this will encourage more videos of baby D.

(Note: There's no need to be concerned about Dylan's breathing...The reason he keeps gasping is Shane likes to blow in his face...)

(Post) Pregnancy Brain?

In case you missed it, a few of the Super Bowl commercials featured a bunch of screaming chickens... It was for the free Grand Slam at Denny's today. By the third one of these commercials on Sunday, the following conversation occurred:

Jessica: "Why are all the chickens screaming like women??"
Shane: {{Silence...stares at Jessica...}}
Jessica: "Oh...eggs..."

(For those who don't get it either, the chickens are screaming because of all the eggs Denny's is going to need. Hence, all the chickens are hens, not roosters...)

I used pregnancy brain as an excuse a lot while I was pregnant, but I feel like my brain hasn't come back yet... Can I still use the excuse??

(Maybe I can blame sleep deprivation because our little boy is back to waking up quite frequently at night...I know it's his poor little ears and it makes me so sad. I'm counting down the days until the antibiotics kick in!)

2 Month Stats

Does this look like the face of a sick little boy?

I didn't think so either. This is how Dylan woke up this morning after sleeping normally last night (Friday and Saturday nights consisted of waking/crying almost every hour, but last night he went back to his normal 1:30 & 4:30 wakings). He was so alert and so happy and his nasal congestion was significantly better. However, his breathing seemed a bit tighter, he was a little wheezy, and his cough still sounds bad (when he does cough, which isn't too often).

At the doctor today (for what was supposed to be his 2 month well-baby check up), I reported that he seemed to be feeling better...only to be told by the doctor that both of his ears are infected--something that has developed since Saturday--so his appointment turned into a sick visit and his shots were delayed until next week. The doctor was surprised that I reported he was so happy when his ears looked so bad, but I'm glad Dylan seems to be feeling better even if he isn't getting better. Hopefully the antibiotics will bring him back to 100 percent soon.

In other news, we got his 2-month stats at the beginning of the appointment. Here we go:

Height: 23 inches (50th percentile)
Head: 40 cm (50th percentile)
Weight: 15 lbs, 13 oz (Off the charts...literally...meaning ABOVE the 100th percentile)

We're just glad our little boy seems to be growing and developing well and we can't wait for this cold to go away!

Sleepy

We're hoping this is how Dylan spends most of his days (and nights) this weekend:

Even if all of his naps need to be taken like this:

Why, you ask? Well, Dylan officially has his first cold. It started as a stuffy nose (which I referred to last week when I took him to the doctor) but it quickly escalated from a minor stuffy nose to a VERY stuffy nose and cough from Thursday evening to Friday afternoon, which led to a very miserable night for Dylan (and Mom and Dad) last night, including throwing up ALL OVER me after a coughing fit. We took him to the doctor this morning and he said Dylan is still breathing really well so all we can do now is treat it like a cold and watch for any additional symptoms of RSV... Hopefully the humidifier, saline drops, nose sucker, and lots of extra love will help him recover quickly!

In other news, they weighed him this morning at the doctors office. He now weighs (drumroll please)...

15 pounds, 11 ounces!

That's right folks. You know your baby is a chunker when even the doctor is making comments about how chubby he is and jokes about putting him on a diet... He has his 2-month visit on Monday (even though we saw the doctor today we figured an appointment on Monday couldn't hurt because if he's worse we'll need to see the doctor and if he's getting better he'll be okay to get his 2 month vaccinations), so hopefully we'll discuss Dylan's eating habits then.

The Ever-Expanding Boy

Today during his bath, I took another picture of Dylan to document his size at 2 months. Here's a comparison of the other bath time pictures we've taken so far:

{Click on the picture for a larger version}

The change from 5 weeks to 9 weeks definitely wasn't as dramatic as the first 5 weeks of his life, but he's definitely expanded even more. Look at those arms! At Shane's work, they joked that he has Popeye arms because his forearms are so chunky. I love the rolls, but they make bath time take a little longer since I have to get between all of them and then be sure to get them dry afterwards (Dylan's least favorite part).

Making Life Easier

Today, I was reflecting on a few things that make life these days a lot easier, some more trivial than others, but here they are:

These Veggies

{Image from www.thenibble.com}

These wonderful microwave steam packs are so simple! If it weren't for them, I don't know that we'd get any servings of veggies in our current diet since most days I'm planning dinner as Shane is pulling into the garage and Dylan is eating. I just put one of these babies in the microwave and have perfectly steamed veggies in 4-7 minutes!! (Green Giant makes similar ones that we love...especially the cheesy broccoli)

This Cleaner

{Image from www.amazon.com}

I don't know if it's the "Resolve Power", but this stuff works wonders...especially on lovely orange-yellow baby poop and spit-up stains. So far, there hasn't been a stain that this stuff hasn't been able to get out. Granted, I act pretty fast to get it soaking, but so far I've been pleased with the results.

These Goodies

Ever since our summer in Baltimore, I have LOVED Trader Joe's...so when one opened up just down the street from us last summer, I was so excited and have been exploring their many products ever since. Some of my favorites so far: dark chocolate covered shortbread stars (a holiday product, shown above), chocolate-filled Joe Joe's (TJ's version of Oreos), and their fiberful fruit leather (unsweetend fruit leather with ground flaxseed). I know, I know...two of those three options really aren't the healthiest, but they make a great afternoon pick-me-up on days when Dylan wasn't the best sleeper the night before!

This Blanket
{Image from www.bonnybabies.com}

We witnessed the beauty of the Miracle Blanket our family trip in California and received one from my brother and his wife in preparation for Dylan's arrival. It definitely has a learning curve (see here for usage instructions), but it's the best swaddling blanket and has been perfect for Dylan, who gets so fidgety when he gets tired and still isn't very effective at sleeping unswaddled (his Moro reflex is still very strong...which wakes him up).

This Girl

This is Emma Jane, and I've known her since the day she was born...literally (okay, okay, I don't really remember the day she was born since I was only a month old). And, for the record, I was one of the few people allowed to call her Emma until she decided that it was her name of choice during her freshman year of college, but I digress.

This girl is a very persistent friend, and just what I need right now. I get so wrapped up in my little world of Dylan (feed, burp, change, play, nap...repeat) that I forget that the world outside my house is moving on. I forget to return phone calls, to respond to emails...basically I forget that other people have lives and things going on that matter. Emma calls, and calls, and calls, and when that doesn't work she sends me messages in ALL CAPS on gmail chat, and when that doesn't work she leaves me voicemails threatening to call my mother...and she does all this in good fun because she knows I need to have human interaction with someone other than my 2-month-old (and maybe she needs interaction besides her 2.5 children of her own).

Regardless of her motives, she lets me blab on and on and on about Dylan--about my frustrations, my worries, my joys, my new discoveries--even though she's been through all of this twice before and probably under much more stressful and frustrating circumstances than I could imagine. She offers encouragement, advice, and her perspective and then distracts me by suggesting new books to read or planning an eventual reunion (she lives in TX, I'm in AZ).

{Interestingly, because she's always somewhere on my recent calls list on my phone, she received a surprise call in the middle of the night last night while I was using my cell phone as a flashlight to avoid waking Shane... Sorry Em!!}

This Boy
{See the resemblance?}

Obviously, I love Dylan and enjoy every minute of my days at home withi him, but right now I'm referring to Shane... I can't imagine raising Dylan on my own or with any less supportive of a husband. In the hospital, I didn't change a single diaper thanks to this man, which exemplifies his attitude toward taking care of Dylan--it's both of our jobs. As soon as he's home from work and on weekends, Shane steps up and takes on more than his fair share of Dylan duties. It's nice that he realizes that taking care of him during the day is still work, even if I don't leave the house to do it, and that I need a break sometimes. Every time Dylan cries in the night, Shane checks with me to see if he needs to eat or just needs to be comforted...if it's just for comfort he always offers to be the one to take care of it. Luckily, Dylan generally only wakes to eat (and goes right back to sleep), but I always appreciate the offer.

More than taking on his share of the work, Shane is willing to listen. When he gets home, he listens to my recap of the day (down to the contents of each diaper changed) because he knows I need to talk to someone. Those nights that I'm overtired and frustrated he somehow knows, wakes up, and cuddles or rubs my back, just to let me know that he understands...and lets me vent if I'm really wound up.

When my wonderful friends from Salt Lake came down to visit, they commented on how involved Shane is with Dylan. I realized how helpful he was before, but I don't think I realized how lucky I am to have such a loving, helpful husband.

These smiles

Don't get me wrong, I love my little boy and have loved every minute I've spent with him since he was born (and even before), but now that he's smiling, I love my days even more. He even smiles without me smiling first and now has added cooing to some of his smiles. It makes me melt every time and makes everything seem even more worthwhile.

There's my list for now... What makes your life easier?