Sunday, March 27, 2011

Catching up with Lochlan

Lochlan is almost 12 pounds!! Can you believe it? He's 11 pounds, 10 1/2 ounces. And is 25 1/4 inches long. Grow buddy grow!!! I was so happy to see that number on the scale. I almost did a double take!!! He gained almost a pound in 2 weeks!!! Soooo great for him!
Must be all the overnight feedings! (Trying to be positive in that regard - ha ha!)

His vocabulary is increasing as well. He now does his ba ba ba sounds, and da da da sounds. I've even heard a few ma ma ma sounds! Usually in the dead of night I hear (or at least I think I hear "mommmmmma." Perhaps thinking I hear that makes it easier to get out of bed to feed him! lol



Last week Abby, Lochlan and I went grocery shopping and Abby was doing a line from Baby Einstein to Lochlan and he started joining in. What a hoot! I finally remembered I had my iPod with me and was able to capture a little bit of it. He was playing me a bit but eventually started saying it back! Hilarious! And sorry to the crusty people (if there were any) that may have been annoyed by the loudness of it all. But really, how can you not encourage it?! : )



Lochlan is building up his muscles too. He's able to sit up briefly (like maybe 10 seconds) before falling over to the side. He had an appointment with the special infant clinic this past Wednesday and they were very impressed with him. He can transfer objects back and forth in his hands and bang them together so the main thing we are going to work on is his core muscle strength. And encourage him to sit up on his own.

But man, he is amazing!!! I keep reminiscing as we approach the one year mark since my membranes ruptured and this crazy emotional roller coaster began. But I'd like to save that for another blog closer to the date.

He goes to see Dr. Moore (pedetrician) on Thursday. We'll see if he's gained some more weight and see if there are any other recommendations.

I need to cut this a bit shorter than I'd like since Lochlan is now waking up.
Til next time. (and I'll post some pics too!)
Jenn

Saturday, March 5, 2011

10 months old

I cannot believe that Lochlan is 10 months old today. Wow. It's been a long journey and yet it seems that the time has zoomed by. Crazy to think that in just 2 short months we will be celebrating his first birthday. I think it will be a day full of mixed emotions and memories. Yes, one to celebrate but I don't think I'll be able to not think about how it all unfolded. I choose to focus on the positive and it will be a celebration of how far he has come and how hard he fought to be here with us.

Anyway, I can save all that for his birthday blog!

Lochlan has been fighting a cold this past week. It seemed to be going away and he was on the mend but today it has once again returned. It always makes me a little nervous. Thank Goodness for RSV shots but I still am constantly checking his nose to make sure they aren't flaring out and checking his ribs to see if they are sucking in. But he's handling it like a champ! I did earlier in the week give him a puff or two of ventolin just to be on the safe side during the overnight hours. It couldn't hurt for the extra help I figured!

The cold was mainly in his nose. All congested and I was suctioning it out pretty regularly. It also really affected his daily routine. His sleep patterns were way off as was his eating. He wanted to nurse around the clock it seemed. Part of me was okay with that cause I know he needs the antibodies to help him get better but the other part was not so happy after he was put to bed at 6:30/7 only to wake every hour and a half to two hours overnight. Oh lovely times it was. I felt like we'd just brought him home. Thankfully that has fixed itself but he's still waking up a few times overnight. So looking forward to the day he sleeps through the entire night.

Today, his nose is back to being congested and he has a tiny cough every now and then. Hoping he recovers quickly. While he was sick this past week he also went on a solids strike. It upset him to even be put in the highchair. Or I'd get him in his highchair and would go to put his bib on and he would have nothing of it. Freak out city!

He finally got back around to wanting solids Thursday. But even then I'm only feeding him his cereal once a day. (he was getting it for breakfast and supper) Hoping to increase that very soon and perhaps that will help him sleep a little longer at night.

Another issue I had was that even though he was pretty happy playing, his wake time was short lived before he wanted to go back to sleep and even then I had to rock him. Typically, I can just put him down and he'll drift off to sleep himself unless he is way overtired. Which we try to avoid at all costs but it has happened. But this week, I'd have to rock him, then most times as soon as I put him down, he'd wail and carry on and I'd end up scooping him up again! I was worried I was spoiling him and getting him into a bad habit but it seems it was just temporary. Whew!

Before he was sick, I weaned him off his Flovent to 1 puff/twice a day as per Dr. Flavin. Still amazing that he's gone from 21 puffs a day (out of the 3 puffers) to just 2. Incredible boy!

Lochlan still continues to battle his constipation. So disheartening. I hate having to see him in pain trying to go 4-5 times a day and only pushing out a tiny bit. It just doesn't make any sense to me. Why both my kids have had poop problems. Abby still to this day, crosses her legs when she poops (still asks for a pullup) because she thinks it will hurt if she doesn't or tries to go on the potty. Any tips there and I'd be open to them. We ended up giving Lochlan a suppository a few days ago (Thanks Auntie Noni) and quite a bit came out. I sure would like to know what it is I'm doing or not doing that is backing him up. It really stresses me out. He's on Lactulose, and eating prunes every day and that still is not helping move things along.

I did give him a tiny bit of water yesterday and today. Even though that wasn't the suggestion of his doctor, I am trusting mothers instinct and doing what I feel is best. It's not like he's drinking a glass of water. It's tiny sips and hopefully that will help. Praying it does.

On to more exciting news! Lochlan has begun to scoot around in a 360!!! He just started this a few days ago. Check out this video I took yesterday - he's mainly interested in the fish for the first minute but towards the end you can really seem him turning himself around: (Thanks to Wendy for letting me know how easy it is to do!)



He also continues to chat a little more. New sounds seem to be emerging. He gets quite irritated when I put him in his bouncy chair or even his upright chair. I guess it just doesn't sit up far enough for him. He wants to sit up completely on his own. Looking forward to when he can all by himself. I think it will make him a very happy camper! He's getting there though. He's able to balance himself for the most part on his hands leaning forward. It's just a matter of time.

Just prior to one of his naps today he was on his tummy and putting his bum in the air and his face down shoved into his crib mattress and he propelled himself forward a few times. I told him that might not be such a great idea to do it that way as face planting into the floor doesn't seem so great nor does floor burn! But he's learning and it's neat to see him beginning to get the real urge to learn this crawling business.

Last weekend I pulled out the next size of clothes. No longer does he wear the newborn clothes - they are put away. Although there are a few pants that I kept out since he has no bum and not a very big waist either. But for the most part he's been wearing the 3-6 months clothes. So nice to see a new wardrobe after all these months!!! Thanks best friend!! Mucho gracias!

I think that's it for now. As always, thank you for your prayers past and present. Have a wonderful weekend. And cheers to spring being not so far away!

Jenn