School's Out For Summer

School is officially over for summer...I guess that means I am back on maternity leave. My mom left today so now we have to focus on packing up our house for the big move at the end of June.

Matthew is back to being fussy with his eating today. We went a couple of days with him getting better but now he has taken 2 steps backwards. I really do not think it has anything at all to do with what I am eating because he takes a bottle of breast milk just fine. I called Matthew's doctor today to talk to him about these issues but he didn't return my call. Maybe he can give me some advice on what I should do to help my little guy gain weight faster. He might not even be concerned. Hopefully he will call tomorrow to let me know more information.

When my mom was here she got us a video camera (which will be our Christmas present) so I will be posting videos of Matthew soon.

Have a great night!!!

Nana's Leaving :(

Nana will be leaving tomorrow so Seth, Matthew and I will be left to our self for the beginning of the summer. Now we have to pack all of our stuff up to move into our new house on June 24th (our closing date).

School is officially over even though I have to go for a teacher planning day tomorrow. Honestly, I have to find some way to not think about the fall right now so I have convinced myself that I am back on maternity leave!!!



Today Nana got Matthew a Bumbo seat and he loves it. I used it to sit him in while I fed him some squash (which is new) and he ate half the jar in one sitting. I was very impressed with him and the breastfeeding went much better today. Maybe he is making a turn out of this phase. He has also been taking much more frequent naps so I hope that is a sign that he has a full tummy. I know that he has enjoyed getting to know his Nana all day long while I have been going to work. They do alot of fun things together and he does seem happy. Today when I got home he gave me a huge smile but then immediately wanted to nurse (even though he had eaten about an hour before I got home). I think that was his way of saying he missed me.




All in all, going back to work wasn't bad this week. I don't know if it was because Matthew was with my mom or if I just needed a different kind of job for a while but I wasn't so freaked out about not being around him all day. Maybe that is an indication of how it will be in the fall.

Have a great night!!!

Slow Gains

Although Matthew didn't lose weight...he didn't gain as much as I had hoped he would. He went from 12 lbs 2 oz to 12 lbs 11 oz. This 9 ounce gain was very disappointing as I had hoped he would break the 13 pound mark today (secretly I wanted him to be 14 pounds). We are going to keep on trying to gain. I spoke to a Lactation Consultant a few days ago to see if there is anything I can do to help my situation and get him to gain weight but all they seemed to do is tell me that I can't eat ANY dairy products. Casein and Whey especially and those two ingredients are in everything in my cabinet right now. I was so frustrated because after I spent about 30 minutes on the phone with this crazy lady, she cancelled my appointment and passed me off to the head LC. It seems like they are wanting to change my entire diet and have the misconception that I want Matthew off of his medication. They also told me to stop all solids and basically made me feel stupid for starting them in the first place. Now I am afraid to give him anything and doubting every "food" decision I have ever made wit him. I really wished to have someone come out and observe a feeding to make sure that we were doing everything right. Then watch how he unlatches and cries so maybe they could give me some advice on how to keep him eating...not completely change my diet. FYI Never mention reflux to a LC...its like saying epidural to a doula.

To top it all off...their fee is $125.00 for the first hour and a half and $35.00 for every half hour after that. The phone fee is $70.00 for the first hour and follow up emails have a fee as well. I am not that willing and able to make those drastic changes in my diet so I do not want to pay the money. I think what I am looking for is a little encouragement that I am doing everything right and that the latch and milk supply is good. I just really HATE being passed off and I refuse to contact these people again. It seems like everytime I ask for help nurses and LC are making me feel inadequet instead of giving encouragement.

On a much happier note...Matthew, Nana and I went to school today together. The kids got to see Matthew and they were very excited. Matthew only got upset and started to cry during my 1st grade class and Nana took him for a little walk to the teachers lounge. After that Matthew ate (for about 10 minutes on the breast and then about ounces of a bottle). He fell asleep during my 3rd grade class (which was amazing because they were loud). We all went to Wendy's for lunch then returned to the school where he took another little nap then ate. At 2:15 or we left and went to the doctor to get weighed. After the doctor we came home and he ate again. We went to this resturaunt called Mutineer and it was very good. We had a nice evening visiting a park where Matthew enjoyed a stroller ride and watching the ducks with their babies (I liked that too). Then I came home to a grumpy baby. I understand because he has been up since 6:45 this morning with only a few little naps. I know he will sleep good tonight.

Please keep my little guy in your prayers. I know that there are many other babies out there that are much worse off than Matthew, but it scares me that he can't gain weight quickly. Right now he is the 3rd percentile for weight and 7th percentile for height. I really do not want to start formula but he might not give me any other options.

Have a wonderful night!!!

It's Off To Work I Go...

I didn't post yesterday because I was very tired after my first day back at work. Matthew did very well the last couple of days with my mom. They had fun sitting on the front door steps and Matthew watched some shows on PBS that he really enjoyed. When I got home he was very happy to see me and smiled really big for me. I miss him so much during the day. It will be very hard to go back to school in the fall and put him in daycare.

Being at work has been easier than I expected. The faculty at my school has made me feel so welcome and that makes me more comfortable to be away from Matthew. Today another teacher who had a baby about 2 months after Matthew was born was at school and I got to hold her baby. He is adorable and it was nice to get to hold another baby for a little while. I am going to post some pictures of Matthew laughing the other day...he is so cute!!!







Tomorrow is the big weigh in so keep your fingers crossed for little Matthew. I hope he weighs close to 14 pounds!!! Please pray that he does well. He is also going to my school in the morning with my mom and me. I can't wait for him to see the kids and get to see his momma teach music class. We only have two half days left. I have to go through the end of the week and then I am back in baby world for the summer.

Have a great night everyone!!!

Nana's Here

Our internet is running very slow so I will have to make a short post now and after it is fixed I can do a more detailed post.

Matthew is still having trouble with eating for long periods of time but Nana confirmed that there are 2 little teeth on the back side of his gum getting ready to come in. He had a great time playing with Nana.

More to come later...

Matthew is Five Months Old!!!!

What a beautiful day!!! Matthew did much better with his eating today and we put our final deposit on our house. I feel like I am on top of the world, then I remembered I go back to work on Monday morning...ick. A few teachers called this afternoon to let me in on the news and it sounds like I will have to 'hit the ground running' when I go back. At least it is only for a week, then back to blissfully enjoying my sweet little boy for the whole summer!!!

My mom said back in January that before I knew it I would be going back to work and Matthew would be 5 months old. I really didn't believe her because that seemed like a lifetime but it was a little quicker than I thought it would be. I am ready for the change but I know that it will not really change until August when school starts back for real.

Matthew had his regular photo session for his 'month' birthday with me this evening so I will share some of my favorites with you all. Unfortunately I couldn't get him to smile for the camera so he looks rather upset but he really was having fun (I think). Sometimes I feel like I am the paparazzi with my semi-professional camera but I can't help it...he is soooooooo cute.

Not So Good Eats!!!

Ok....so all the progress we made yesterday with eating went out the window today!!! Wow, I am so ready for that little tooth to make it's debut it isn't even funny anymore.

Anyway, we have tried Tylonal (that helps slightly), Baby Oral Gel didn't help at all. The first feeding of the day went great...we started at 9:00 and he ate until about 9:30 or so but the other feedings were shorter and less organized which drives me crazy. He ate at 12, 1:30 and 3 all for no more than 10 minutes or so. Then at 6:30 we had a huge fight (he didn't want to latch) finally he ate about 20 minutes total and we went for dinner. I took a bottle because I didn't think that he had eaten enough but he was quite and very well behaved a dinner. At around 9 we fed him the bottle (while I pumped) it seemed so much easier for him but he only ate 1.5 ounces of the bottle. So at 10:30 I tried to feed him some rice cereal and alternate with the breast and the left over ounce of the bottle...which started out OK..but after the rice cereal and one ounce of the bottle was gone he would not latch on at all. That is when I went to Walgreens to get the Baby Oral Gel. I got home and Matthew was asleep but I knew he needed to eat before I officially put him to bed. I picked him up from the play yard and he was very quite and happy so we changed him into PJs, gave him some Tylonal and Oral Gel then started to feed again. At first he really resisted but after 5 minutes or so he latched right on an ate for a total of 30 minutes.

I would love to just pump and give him the milk in a bottle but I cannot get a full meal out of pumping, unless it has been 4 or 5 hours since the last feeding. I hope someone has some advice for me!!!


On a more positive note, Matthew behaved himself very well today at my piano students house. Even though he has not eaten very well the last week or so he has been behaving himself very well. I just hope he is not the type of baby that is 'happy to starve' and not let me know if he is hungry. I also do not want to force feed him!!!

It has been raining like crazy here in Homestead the last few days. I guess it is officially rainy season. I also do not like the idea that there is already a tropical depression and it is not even hurricane season yet!!! Our new house does not need a hurricane to hit.

Well I better try and get some sleep. Please keep praying the Matthew's teething will not get in the way of him eating. I need serious encouragement because I am feeling very inadaquent these days. I still love being a mother to my little sweat pea!!!