Doctors Make Our Lives Scary

Yesterday while I was at work, I had a thought..."Y'know...Robby's cold is getting kind of bad.  I should call the doctor and see when I'm supposed to start worrying about it."  Robby had been sick for a week or so, but being a daycare kid, life is a perpetual cold, so I hadn't stressed too much.

I called, the nurse answered, and SHE panicked.  That was not good.  Merely because I answered things like, "Oh, yes, I can hear him wheezing" and "Yesterday he started holding his breath during coughing fits, and that kind of scared me."  She told me I couldn't wait until today (when I wasn't working), and needed to come in that afternoon.  Fortunately, work is pretty flexible, and I left to get the munchkin from daycare.

He was thrilled to see me because all 3 of the little boys were flipping out wanting to be fed at the same time, and there's only one Miss Laurie.  So I gave Robby his already-warmed bottle (a first for me!), she gave Isaiah his squash, and poor little Hilton just stood there in the jumperoo sticking his tongue out repeatedly and fussing. He was not cool with being the loser in the food war.

We finally go to the doctor, and they decided that he wasn't going to die.  After freaking me out.  Thanks.  They did hear a "squeak" in his lungs (which I'm not sure exactly what that means), but they had me sit there with him on a nebulizer for about 10 minutes, and then listened to him again.  Apparently, that improved things, and the doctor gave me a prescription for a bronco-dialator for the next week.  In other news?  The chunkers is 17 pounds 8 ounces.  No idea how long.  I should go find a measuring tape.

He continues to be fussy and coughing a lot, but the medicine does seem to improve things.  Hopefully he can get completely healthy for at least a week or two after this.  Would be lovely.  These are the days I hate having to use a daycare.

My New Love for TJ Maxx

By no means is this a sponsored post.  I would LOVE it if it was.  But, no.  This is just a mom who recently discovered that she should've pulled her head out of the sand eons ago.  Not that I had never shopped at TJ Maxx before.  I just had never shopped for the LION.  And, let me tell you...  It may be my first and possibly only stop from now on.

You see all that?  It cost $54.  TOTAL.  No, you didn't read that wrong.  That is 2 sweaters, 2 button-down shirts, 2 pairs of jeans, 2 jersey pants, 6 socks, and a pair of shoes.  For FIFTY-FOUR dollars!  And they are NICE clothes.  The sets are Nautica and usually retail at $54 a piece, on clearance at TJ Maxx for $20.  Why?  I don't have the slightest clue.  They're adorable, well-made clothes from everything I can determine.  Maybe because they're not blue.  But that makes me love them all the more.

Speaking of blue.  I'm really darn sick of blue.  I understand I have a boy.  I think I'm pretty clear on that.  But maybe, just maybe, he wants to wear a different color once in awhile.  Or at least I want him to wear a different color.  It's bad enough that boys' clothing sections are about 1/8 the size of girls', but they also only have blue.  Maybe some brown.  Maybe some grey.  But there's not even red or black most of the time!  There is a weird trend of lime green being mixed in, and thank goodness for a touch of orange (my favorite color), but the options are very limited.  And I'm not talking about just one store.  It's a conspiracy amongst every children's clothing retailer, that we can only ever dress our little men in shades of blue.  SICK of it.  So I was thrilled at the red and yellow.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share in case anyone else had missed the memo.  BE A MAXX-ONISTA, or however they spell their slogan.  I know I am.

Two Weekends for the Price of One

Since I failed to post last weekend's activities, too, here is a quick rundown of not one, but TWO weekends.

Two weekends ago we were incredibly busy.  We drove to State College to meet up with my parents, expose Robby to Penn State's campus for the first time where he could see it (I was pregnant last time I visited), and drop off Chris and my dad to watch the game.

After my mom and I left State College, Chris and my dad watched a game:

And my mom, the Lion, and I went to a sports bar in Rochester, NY where my cousin was holding his rehearsal dinner:

Robby was obviously the life of the party.

The next day, all of us were there for the wedding:

Everyone pictured was a relative.  Like the big group walking to the church?  Lots o' cousins.

Oh, we also inherited the family chair for the time being:

...And this weekend?  Not much happening.  We watched football, did chores, walked in Valley Forge.  Typical weekend stuff.

So, there's your picture-heavy, word-light recap.  The end.  :)

Taking on Solid Food

Robby is only 4.5 months old, so this a post that is occurring a lot sooner than I thought it would.  We were planning on following the longer recommendation of 6 months, and still might for the most part, but here is where we stand.

As you all know, Robby is a HUGE tub o' somethin.  So the first requirement of doubling your birth weight was EASILY met.  What are the general recommendations before you even consider solids?

1)  Double your birth-weight

2)  Sit up well on your own (it can be supported, but they need good head control)

3)  Lose the tongue reflex

4)  Show an interest in food

Robby met (or exceeded) all the above requirements, and would practically leap out of your arms any time you were eating something in an effort to get to it.  He also was wanting to eat so much and so frequently that I was losing my mind a bit.  So as of the 4 month appointment, I discussed solids with the pediatrician.  His feelings were that I could go ahead, and he encouraged starting at least rice cereal before hitting 6 months.  He also gave me a schedule of starting with one serving of cereal a day for a week, then two the next week, then veggies, the fruit....fairly typical.  But he ultimately said it was up to me.

Later that week (almost 2 weeks after he turned 4 months), we tried giving him some rice cereal.  Nothin doin.  Robby wanted nothing to do with it.  Thought it was a little strange, but ok, he's not ready, we'll hold off.  Waited a week.

Earlier this week, he was driving me up the wall.  He was wanting to eat hourly, and I couldn't keep up.  I just had nothing left.  So, since I've been making baby food like it's going out of style (post for another day), I decided to pull out a cube of butternut squash.  Better known (at least in this house) as baby crack.  Robby DEVOURED it.  See above picture.  He was grabbing that spoon and pulling it towards him, unable to get it in fast enough.  Guess he takes after his grandpa with his love of squash.  Anyway, we have proven that it is merely that rice cereal tastes like garbage, not that he doesn't want solids.  And yes, Chris tried it, and I might have not gotten out the words, "That's mixed with breast milk" quick enough.  There's some controversy about rice cereal anyway, so we're holding off for now.  Breast fed babies should be getting enough iron, anyway, which is the biggest reason they encourage feeding it.

That is actually IT on the solid food front.  Those 2 times.  Other than the above picture.  We were at Panera and my mom only had eaten 1/2 her apple.  Robby was quite happy to lick the remainder.  Repeatedly.  And thoroughly.  It was pretty funny.  Apparently apples are on the "favorite" list, as well.

So, there ya go.  He's not REALLY eating solids yet, but he's had a couple of forays.  We're going to play it by ear for the time being.

Lactation Cookies

Lactation cookies are a complete misnomer.  Don't get me wrong, I believe they do what they're supposed to, but it isn't like they make husbands produce milk.  If they did, we'd have a leaky Chris over here.  So let's call them what they really are, "OATMEAL CHOCOLATE  CHIP COOKIES".  This is not my recipe, but it is absolutely everywhere on the internet, and I got it from a friend, so I have no idea who to give credit to.  So...here ya go.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons flax seed meal
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups oats
1 cup chocolate chips
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350°.

- Mix the flaxseed meal and water and let sit for 5 minutes.

- Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar.

- Add eggs.

- Add the flaxseed and vanilla, beat.

- Mix together flour, brewers yeast, baking soda, and salt.

- Add dry ingredients.

- Stir in oats and chips.

- Bake for 12 minutes.


Review:

These are FIBER HEAVY COOKIES.  All 3 of us in the house were feeling the effects.  Take that as you may.  Other than that they were delicious, but I'm really not sure how much they did for production.  I did say to Chris a few times that I'm not really sure there's a difference between these and eating a granola bar and drinking a beer, but hey, it's an excuse for cookies.  Enjoy!

 

Our "free" headboard

This past week, while we were taking our nightly dog and stroller walk, we came across a headboard and bed frame on the side of the road labelled "free".  Not one to ever pass up a deal, I sent Chris back with a car to pick it up while I gave lil man his bath.  Chris says I owe him.

It turns out that a neighbor had put the bed frame in front of this house because it had a fire hydrant to lean it on, and the owner of the house came running out to yell at Chris when he stopped to pick it up.  He thought that Chris was LEAVING the bed frame in his yard.  Much confusion ensued...but we got our frame.

It's nothing fancy, fairly unattractive even, and has a crack and some missing screws, but nothing us DIY gurus (ha) can't handle.  Chris re-did some of the pieces by taking them apart, wood-gluing, and tacking them back in, and we ended up with a solid frame.  Then it was my turn.

It was covered in light wood laminate.  Ew.  Alright, not TERRIBLE, but our house is all dark wood, and...ya'll...LAMINATE.  So I decided to get some paint.  After a lovely trip to Sherwin Williams where I had a long chat with their VERY pregnant associate, Amanda, who was due any day, I came home to paint.  Amanda looked startled and relieved when I said I had a four month old.  She sputtered..."A four month old, you look great!"  Ok, major ego boost, and I was glad that she seemed so relieved that it was possible.

Back to the headboard.  Nothing fancy here.  I primed, painted (two coats), and then we assembled it.  We need to add some slats because it isn't supporting the bed particularly well, but it really almost makes it look like we have a decorated bedroom!  See?  Isn't it lovely?  Yes, you are seeing 98% of the room.  It is TINY.  There are two dressers crammed in there that you can't see, but I haven't painted them yet, so they're hiding.  ;)    It's nice to be able to get some projects done now, even if they mostly are accomplished after the Lion goes to sleep at night.  At the expense of my sleep.  Oh well.

(I somehow lost my in-progress photos.  Pretty frustrated about that.)

My Trip to the Chiropractor

On Friday I finally gave in and went to the chiropractor.  As I mentioned in my post-baby body post, my hip has been extremely painful, and I decided it was time.  I was finally willing to pay the money, spend the time, and acknowledge the injury in the hopes of getting some relief.

My hips have been through the ringer.  My freshman year of college, way back in 1999, was the first time they experienced trauma.  My friend Laura and I were at a party, where a drunken guy walked up behind us and picked us each up in one of his arms.  This isn't as impressive as it sounds, as at the time I was all of 110, and was MUCH larger than Laura.  Anyway, he drunkenly stumbled around, and eventually landed...hard...and I was on the bottom of the heap.  All 3 of us had landed on my left hip.  I obviously didn't want to acknowledge that I had been injured by a drunk guy at a party, so I just limped around for a couple weeks and didn't seek treatment.

The summer of 2001, I was working for Enterprise Rental Cars, and managed to total one of their vehicles, as I drove 2 other employees back to our office.  I was in a left turn lane and had a green light, but not the green arrow.  My view was obstructed by a car in the turning lane in the other direction, so as I edged out, trying to see, a van slammed into the side of our little Saturn, lifting it up on end, turning it 180 degrees, and, miraculously, not flipping it.  While my lower back was so injured that I spent much of that summer laying flat on my back whenever I wasn't working, I felt so guilty that, again, I never sought medical attention.  

So, 12 years after the initial injury, and adding the birth of my son into the mix, the pain is finally bad enough that I needed to get it looked at.  I could handle never riding roller coasters, and frequently using heating pads, but now?  Whenever I turn out my right leg, pain shoots down through the entire leg.  And trying to sit Indian style is just laughable.  I can't.  Consequently, running also hasn't been on the top of my list.

When I met the doctor, he ran through a battery of tests, checking to see if things were parallel, my range of motion, and my strength in different areas.  It almost seemed like magic.  As soon as he would press a pressure point, and try and get me to activate muscles surrounding my right hip, it would just collapse, and had absolutely no strength what-so-ever.  He certainly was convinced that something was amiss, but will not treat it until he sees an x-ray of my hip and lower back.  I will be getting that done this week, then returning again on Friday of this week.  Hopefully then we can get the ball rolling.

Oddly enough, he also jumped on the fact that I have been excessively dizzy since delivery.  As in, I have blacked out multiple times.  But proceeded to ask questions like, 

"Are you tired?"  

"Why, yes, I have a 4 month old." 

 

"Do you have trouble sleeping?"  

"Why, yes, I have a 4 month old."  

His line of questioning wasn't working so well.  Anyway, he seems to feel that I might need some sort of supplement.  Eh, wouldn't be shocked.  Kiddos will take a lot out of you.  Anyway, one problem at a time.  Here's to hoping I'll soon be healed!