4 Month Check-Up

Well first off, Jesse is FINALLY home! I got to pick him up from the airport on Friday! I have never been so glad to see anyone in my life! So the whole 2 weeks he was gone we kept bragging about how good of a baby B was... yeah, he came home to devil child! I think it was him just getting readjusted to our house and Jesse. He is back to normal now.

Anyways so Braxton had his 4 month Check up today. His stats are:
Weight: 15 lbs 5 oz (which is like over a lb from last week)
Length: 24 in
Head size: 43 cm (which is a cm bigger than last week)

Our pediatrician couldn't be more happy with Braxton. She says he is doing everything a "normal" 4 month old should be doing and technically his corrected age is a little over a month. He now coos, smiles, laughs, rolls over. He plays with toys, watches tv, the fan, lights and he even follows me with his eyes. He is OFF the growth charts for his "corrected age" and he is actually in the normal range for his "actual age" except I think his head size is a little higher. That was her only concern because his head is growing so rapidly and is so big (but is actually in proportion to his weight and length) I tried to tell her he comes from big heads on both sides of the family!!! But she is still going to keep an eye on it. They are thinking of switching how we thicken his formula so he gets a better consistency and doesn't get the extra calories of the rice cereal. It seriously takes me both arms to lift him in his carseat now. How sad is that! He gets his monitor downloaded at the end of the month and then it should be GONE FOREVER! yay! He will also be working with a physical therapist (because he was a preemie they have this early intervention program that comes to your house to evaluate and work with your child... its pretty neat) We met with them once and they are just having us do neck stretches with him since he tends to lay his head to one side and they don't want it to end up flat and have to wear a helmet to correct it.

Other news, we leave for Cali on Friday. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I have never traveled with a baby. I have no clue what it is going to be like. Is it even going to feel like vacation??? And 6 hrs in a car??? I pray he does well. At least he loves car rides. Maybe he will sleep the WHOLE way there. Ya, right! Anyways well I will post pics from Cali! Oh and his baby blessing is Sunday, July 25th,2010 at 8:00 AM. It is at the Page Ward which meets in the building off Guadalupe in between Higley and Recker. We will also be doing a little gathering with food at my parents house directly after! Call if you have questions 480-235-2227 or 602-284-7483

The Scorpion Queen

So I decided Saturday that I was going to take Braxton to church for the first time on Sunday to my parent's ward (since I am still staying with them) But after he slept in longer than normal (he's usually my alarm clock these days) I got him ready and partially fed... but 8:00 rolled around and he still wasn't done eating and I hadn't even gotten dressed let alone done my hair or make up. I just thought I would post a pic of him in his church outfit. He looks so cute!

So everyone is at church and I walk out of my "old" room and there is a scorpion in the hallway. I freaked. I mean I like get panic attacks, hyperventilate FREAK OUT. So let me give you a little background on me with bugs (of any kind)

1. When I lived on my own for the first time in Texas. I saw a spider... or maybe it was even a cricket. I was so scared I didn't know what to do, so I called my Dad ( who yes was living 3 states away in AZ) and asked him what I should do. His reply " I don't know, kill it with something" He goes there is nothing I can do about it. It took all I had to kill it.
2. At Junky Trunk, there was a huge cockroach in the backroom. I once again started freaking out and having a panic attack at the thought of getting close to it to kill it. So what do I do, put a trash can over it. Call Jesse and make him come all the way to the store to kill it. (keep in mind... this was only a couple months ago)
3. I was about to start some laundry and out of the corner of my eye I could see this huge black thing kinda floating right next to me, I knew it was a black widow (we get those at our house) I slammed the washer shut. Shut the laundry room door and prayed it was still in there until Jesse got home. Luckily it was, but even those scare him.
4. Any and ALL bugs inside or outside are killed my Jesse. I will NOT touch them and he is NOT allowed to kill them with anything belonging to me. Like my shoes, flip flops, notebooks etc... if he does, he gets yelled at.

So now you know the background... So there's a scorpion in the hallway about an inch long. I don't know what to do so I grab a plastic cup to cover it up with. The I just in vision in my head my parents cats batting at the cup and the scorpion going free. So then I grab my dad's sandal.. but then I keep thinking some how I will miss and it will get me. So I grab the kids stepping stool and smashed it wish it. picked up made sure it was smashed, left it there with a sticky note that said "Scorpion" I later found out it was still alive when my dad went to throw it away.

So hours later at 11:00 pm, Braxton is screaming cuz he's hungry. I get up to make him a bottle open my door and immediately feel a sharp pinch or stab to my foot. I thought I stepped on a nail or tack... so I look down, nothing there. I'm in so much pain so I look at my foot thinking it must be stuck in it, nothing there. I look directly in front of me and there is ANOTHER FREAKIN SCORPION! Same size and everything.( I bet it was out to get me for killing his friend.) I had never been in so much intense pain in my life. I couldn't even walk. I made it back to the bed grabbed my cell phone and called my parents (who were in their room across the house) I was beyond in pain I just kept grabbing on to my foot. It must have stung me either on the bottom or side of my pinky toe. I think my hysterical crying scared Braxton cuz he actually stopped crying. I took some benadryl just in case I was allergic and I happened to have some pain medicine anyways so took one of those and put a bag of frozen peas on it. My mom fed B for me so I could calm down. But my whole foot was tingling and numb, by 1:00am that sensation had gone all the way up to my mid thigh. I got scared so my parents called poison control. I guess they said that's normal. It can travel anywhere in your body through your blood stream. Even to the other side, your face, etc. anywhere. They said the initial pain should go away in a couple hours but the numbness and tingling could last a couple weeks. Sure enough I woke up this morning with it still numb and tingling. Its now only about up to my mid calf, so hopefully it keeps getting better. Its hard to walk though. It feels like I am stepping on pins and needles. So I try to stay off it, but that's hard with a baby. Luckily, my parents have been helping me. I now turn the lights on and look wherever I walk and wear flip flops constantly. I don't want to get stung again. I'm just glad we don't have scorpions at our house, but we do have black widows. I don't know which is worse. At least we have only found 1 black widow inside. My parents get scorpions all the time because of their citrus trees in the back yard. Ugh, and I guess the new house we are moving too gets some scorpions but not this bad.

Basically the moral of the story, go to church and maybe you won't get stung by a scorpion.

WE HAVE OUR OLD BABY BACK

So since seeing the GI doctor Friday. I feel like we have our old Braxton back. He doesn't really spit up anymore (except the time I forgot to put the rice cereal in his formula.... oops) He is not really fussy, its great! It seems like he has a schedule at night now. His really awake time is from 6-10pm and then he sleeps from 10:30-6am He is done that since Friday. Then he scarfs down 6 oz and most of the time goes back to sleep around 7:30 for another couple hours. Its great. Now I just need to get him on a schedule during the day. Have certain awake times and certain nap times. That's my next goal.

The Early Intervention people came to evaluate him yesterday. They are a state run program that come to your house and monitor his developmental skills. They said he was doing great. His only problem he loves his head to the left. That's how he lays, sleeps, sits in his car seat. If you try to move him to the other side he doesn't like it. I guess this isn't good cuz then their muscles get tight on the other side and there heads can become misshaped and if that happens he would have to wear one of those helmets to shape his head. So they gave us exercises to work with him. They also said we need to get him out of the habit of sleeping in his carseat. That is my goal when Jesse comes back cuz it is going to be hell. Although, his stomach has been better so he doesn't mind lying flat as much.

He saw his Apnea Mgmt doctor today. They weighed him... now keep in mind this doctor is at the same office as his GI doctor that he went to on Friday. They use the same exact scale. He know weighs 14 lbs. That means he gained 9 oz in less than a week. Holy Cow! Anyways well the GOOD NEWS s is he DIDN'T HAVE ONE SINGLE EPISODE the whole month of June! BAD NEWS because his more serious episode was at the end of May, they want to keep him on it 4 more weeks just to be safe. So looks like B will be hitting the beach wires and all. Hopefully, July will go just as good as June and then he will be machine free! Yay! Finally!!! As nice as it is going to be, its kinda scary at the same time. Since the day he was born he has NEVER once been without a monitor. So it will be a little nerve racking to know an alarm isn't going to sound if he stops breathing or his heart rate drops. But I guess if the rest of the normal world can do it, so can we.

I got his Bumbo chair today. He looks so cute in it! He's still a little to young to use it... he can't hold his head up the entire time sitting in it but he's getting close!


Jesse has now been gone for 5 WHOLE DAYS! I'm dying. Even though I am staying at my parents and they are helping me out, I still miss him SOOOOO much. I don't know how people have their husbands travel all the time. Like how did my Mom survive when my dad was traveling every other week basically. I couldn't do it. 1 more week until he is home. I can't wait. I send him pictures of Braxton every day and have him talk to him. We both just miss him so much and can't wait for him to come home but we know this is a great opportunity for him. So please let this week go by fast... then we will head to Cali in 2 weeks and get to spend some r&r as a family!!!!