The Blackburn Family

So I have a ton of things to update everyone on this week, but I am exhausted so for now you get a few things and lots of pictures. I know you only care about the pictures anyway!! I will try very hard to add more updates later this week.

It is hard to believe Graham is 3 months old! I took some pictures today and will probably do a few more this week. I really want some of me with him, but I always look tired and dirty. What is the point of dressing up when you are spit up on all day. Plus there is little time for showers anymore. I read about the 90 minute sleep solution on a message board last week and decided to give it a try. I didn’t read the book so I don’t really know much about it, but from what I gather babies have 90 minute wake cycles…. sorry, like I said I know very little. All I know is people said to get your baby taking a nap every 90 minutes. Well, it works! At least for us. I can tell as we approach the 90 minute mark he is getting tired so instead of waiting for him to have a break down or go to sleep on his own (which has never happened) I take him to the swing. I sometimes have to go in a couple times to put the pacifier back, but he always falls asleep. Usually just for an hour, but that’s okay. At least he is napping. I will write more later this week on our new sleep issues and our attempt to move out of the swing and into the crib.

For now, a few fun facts for the week. Graham is now all smiles and loves looking at people and making faces at them. This week he discovered he can make lots of cute baby noises (other than crying which is actually sometimes cute/funny….sometimes). He talks more and more each day and I just love hearing his little voice. Today he figured out how to get his thumb in his mouth, but he still prefers his pacifier. He tries to put his whole fist in his mouth and makes lots of crazy sucking noises because he hasn’t really mastered it yet. More on that later too….. However, the cutest thing he does now is hold up his legs when you change him. Too cute. He HATES tummy time and refuses to do it. If we put him on one of our chests and lay down on a slight incline he is all about lifting his head and looking around, but if you put him on the ground he just cries and won’t even try to lift his head. He just lays there and won’t move a muscle. Stubborn little guy and I am not sure what we are going to do because he needs to be working on pushing up!

Okay, here are the pictures. I have lots more on flickr so make sure to check out his 3 month album HERE.

Never too early to learn how to walk!

Graham with his NC State gnome, so much bigger now.

Check out my cute cloth diaper! More on those later too…

This post is a few days late because we took our first trip this weekend! We are paying the price now as Graham has refused to sleep all day. Of course this isn’t really anything new, but last week he was doing better. He still sleeps like a champ at night and is such a sweet, happy baby in the morning. He takes a nap first thing in the morning and then the rest of the day is a struggle. I don’t mind if he is up, but he gets so cranky and by bedtime he is so exhausted, but still refusing to sleep. When he isn’t tired he is a great baby! Thanks to his inability to sleep we are quickly establishing some bad habits. Sleeping in the swing, sleeping on us, but when he is exhausted and you are exhausted you will do anything to get them to sleep even for a few minutes.

Anyway, back to our trip. We left Raleigh Saturday morning and I rode in the back with him. I think I said several times, “If we had a minivan _____ would be so much easier”. I look forward to the day we have a minivan because a car doesn’t cut it with a kid. Our goal is to get one when my car dies or when we have another kid, whichever comes sooner. At this point it will probably be the death of my car since at this time I have NO plans of having another baby anytime soon. Graham did pretty good in the car, but I did have to entertain him some, put in the pacifier and give him a little bit of a bottle to keep him calm. He slept some, but very little. We did stop once each direction to change his diaper and give him a bit to eat. On the way home yesterday we decided driving over 18 hours to Michigan in March for my cousin’s wedding was out of the question!! So we have to make the decision – do I go alone for 3 days or do we all fly….. We will just have to decide later. However, I can’t imagine such a long car ride with a 9 month old baby.

When we arrived in Charlotte Saturday we went to see my friend Melanie and her new baby Ethan. Ethan is 4 weeks old today! He was so tiny compared to Graham and I couldn’t believe how light he felt when I held him. I really don’t remember Graham being so small and it was only 2 months ago! Ethan is a perfect little angel and cute as a button. He sleeps!! Ahh…. a sleeping baby. How nice would that be? His little cries were so tiny, nothing compared to Graham. I should have gotten the camcorder out tonight. From the minute Graham was born he has been a crier. I believe this to be my punishment for being a fussy baby that also refused to sleep. What goes around comes around I guess. Perhaps one day Graham will have a baby like him! I got to spend the day with Melanie and Ethan while Casey worked on his sister’s computer. We had so much fun hanging out with our babies all day. It is so nice to talk to another new mom and compare stories, tips, etc. Graham didn’t sleep much while we were there, but he did get a couple cat naps in while we were there. After our visit we went to Casey’s parent’s house so Graham could see his nana and papa. He was pretty cranky by this point so they didn’t get to spend too much time with him before we went to bed, but his nana did hold him until he fell asleep. We brought the swing with us and he slept like a champ all night just like at home. I on the other hand got very little sleep. I am not used to the swing being in the room and it is so loud. I also wake up around 4-5am most morning with very sore, leaking boobs! Sorry all you men out there, but it must be said. If you breastfeed having your baby sleep all night is both a blessing and a curse. Engorgement is no fun. Even though Graham sleeps a long time I don’t get that luxury. I know breastfeeding is best and it is free so we will continue, but sometimes I think life would be so much easier with formula!!

Graham was in a pretty good mood Sunday morning and we left around 3 to head back to Raleigh. By the time we got home he was really tired. I mean seriously…. I thought babies slept in the car? Since he hadn’t had much sleep all day he went to bed pretty good for us last night after a couple break downs. This morning he was all smiles as he usually is, but those smiles quickly faded as he refused naps most of the day. Today was a tough day. I had to take JD to the vet because he hurt his foot several weeks ago. It was strange because he would be fine for several days or more and then all the sudden start limping again. Last night it was really bad, but this morning he was walking on it fine. I had to leave him at the vet which is close to RTP so they could take x-rays. Of course I ended up having to pick him up at around 5 so had to deal with a ton of traffic on the way home. $300 later we still don’t know for sure what is wrong and the vet is going to consult with an orthopedic vet this week. For now he is confined to the bedroom (with the bed blocked from him) and is on a few medications for the pain and swelling. This cat costs us a fortune.

Mom also went in today for her knee replacement surgery, but I didn’t get to go see her since the surgery was delayed and she didn’t get in her room until late. I did talk to her and she sounds a bit drugged right now, but the surgery went well and they fixed up her knee. I am sure the next few weeks won’t be fun, but it will be worth it when she is recovered. I know she is looking forward to being able to play and carry Graham with her new knee. So in addition to mom being in the hospital, Graham refusing to sleep, the cat on several medication (I do everything for him – food, pills, water, litter, etc) Casey is going to be out of town two days this week! Ugh…. here’s hoping Graham sleeps good tomorrow so I can get a few things done!!

Okay, last thing… thanks to my friend Kelly I am getting into this couponing thing. Anyone else out there doing it? Any advice or favorite sites? I have always done a good job of only buying sale items and using coupons, but I never leave with tons of stuff for a few bucks. That is my new goal.

Pictures for the week!!!

Here are a few of the cutest baby in the world. 11 weeks old

The drooling is starting already!!!

This is Casey’s idea of babysitting. I left Graham here with him while I went to pick up JD from the vet. Notice the webcam on the exercise ball? Yep, Casey was upstairs while Graham was all alone downstairs.

Ethan and Graham

We made them mad… it was hilarious both crying at the same time!

The six of us!

What a crazy week! Casey was in High Point Tuesday through Thursday so it was just me and Graham. Luckily my parents live near me so they could help out a bit. Otherwise it would have been difficult to eat dinner. Tuesday night I went to mom and dad’s for dinner which was actually a lot of work for me! I had to pack up his diaper bag, bouncy chair and him. Graham isn’t one of those babies that loves the car sear or falls asleep in the car. He isn’t the baby you can take to a restaurant and let chill in the car seat while you have a meal. Nope, he hates that thing. One of us usually has to ride in the back with him to keep him calm or we have to deal with the top of his lungs screaming. I will be getting that scream on video one day soon so you can all experience it. Boy can he scream. I am surprised he doesn’t hurt his throat. At any rate, going anywhere with him is difficult because he gets so worked up in the car on the ride that when you get there he is a pill to deal with!

So Tuesday I took him out to my work so I could let my boss know I decided to not come back. It was really hard for me to go out there and I felt so bad leaving her with no help. I was her only employee. For those that don’t know my work is about 30 minutes from the house. I took Graham because I really didn’t have a choice and because I wanted my boss to see him. When I was about 10 minutes away the screaming started and continued the rest of the way there. He did settle down some right before I pulled into the parking lot. Turns out he spit up all over himself which was why he was crying. The car seat pushes on his tummy and he always spits up a lot when he is in it…. did I mention we hate the car seat? Graham did pretty good on the visit to work, but after about an hour he had enough and started crying, loudly. So we left. I got about 2 minutes down the road and the screaming started again so I had to pull over and give him a little of the bottle I brought with me. That was enough to settle him down and he slept the rest of the way home.

I am really excited about being a stay at home mom, but we do worry about finances. It is a huge pay cut for me to not work so it should be interesting. Luckily we are both good with money. Casey would not agree, but when I have to cut back I do it. I have to admit when you have a little extra money it is easy to let yourself splurge every now and then. I tell him all the time it could be much worse! I really don’t spend as much money as he seems to think. I am the one that gets all the groceries and household items. I buy clothes for both of us and spent lots on gas when I was working. There is nothing he has to buy! We just have to cut back and I think we will be fine. It is the 13th and so far I have done pretty good with my budget. I have to admit I do have a few things I really want to get, all for Graham, but I am trying to wait to see how the rest of the month looks first.

Most of the week Graham refused to take a nap during the day which makes for a very cranky and angry baby by the end of the day. He is so tired, but he just hates sleeping. Today he took a good nap in the morning and then two little (very) short naps in the afternoon. He has started to discover his activity mat and other play toys. He loves to look at them all and bat at the toys hanging down. He spends a lot of time playing with them and it is fun to see his little mind starting to put things together. He also discovered he can put his hands in his mouth and will use them every now and then to put himself back to sleep. He slurps so loud on them though that it wakes me up! He usually has the right hand in his mouth so does that mean he will be right handed? He does grab at a couple toys with what appears to be some intention, but mostly he just throws his arms around hitting anything in site. I suppose with all these new things to see and do he doesn’t want to sleep. Sleep is boring! He is still only sleeping in his swing at night and I am not sure how we are going to break him of that habit. I will occasionally put him in the crib and he sleeps about 5-15 minutes in it before screaming. We need to get a better mattress soon so we can put him in the crib at night. I anticipate a lot of sleepless nights for both of us.

We are also getting lots of smiles which is my favorite thing! I can be having a terrible day and so fed up with him, but then he smiles and it is all okay. I also love to watch him sleep. So sweet when he is sleeping.

Here are a few pictures I took this week.

Smile

Look at all these toys!

JD now likes to sleep under the co-sleeper. The co-sleeper is downstairs now since Graham refused to sleep it in. It is now a play toy.

Yesterday Graham went in for his 2 month well baby check up. He weighs 12 pounds 3 ounces and is 23 1/2 inches long! When he was born his height and weight were pretty low on the charts, but he is now above average on both. I hope he slows down a bit with the growing though or my arms are going to fall off in a few months. Not to mention my poor back! Dr. Fennell said Graham looks great, has great back muscle strength and good head control. We decided to skip all the 2 month vaccines and he was fine with our decision.

Since I was Group B Strep positive I had to make sure I was not allergic to penicillin. So I tracked down my old medical records to make sure I had been given it and was okay to get it during labor (even though I ended up not getting it due to my super fast labor!). Out of curiosity I requested my doctor send a copy of all my records including my pediatric records. I knew I was really sick as a baby with asthma, but didn’t know many detail and mom/dad didn’t remember much. A couple weeks ago I got a big envelope in the mail and when I picked it up I thought to myself “I don’t remember buying a book online”. I start flipping through it and found it all very interesting, but didn’t think much else about it until I was reading a vaccine book last week. The book (which is not anti-vaccine) was discussing the autoimmune diseases associated with vaccines and a possible link between various vaccines and diseases. One section was on childhood asthma and discussed how the DTP vaccine when given to 2 month olds increased their chances of having asthma. So I got out my records the next day and looked at my vaccine records compared to when I got sick…. I received the MMR shot on 1/28/80 and within the next week I was sick (I had DTP at 2 months). It is hard to read all the notes, but the typical vaccine side effects are all there – fever, crying, etc. However I didn’t get better and starting having breathing/wheezing issues. My doctor was treating me with some drug for weeks and eventually I ended up in the hospital. My first of over 8 visits in the next year. After my DTP and Polio vaccine in April of that same year I was back in the hospital and made a trip there almost every month. I was on tons of drugs and had all kinds of breathing/asthma issues for just over a year. By the time Zach showed up in April of 1981 I was doing much better and never had to be admitted to the hospital again. Now, there is no proof and maybe I would have gotten sick without the shots. Maybe I would have gotten sick later or never… we will never know, but I honestly believe the vaccines made me that sick. After reading my records there was no way Graham was getting shots so early. Studies have shown that getting DTaP just 2 months later reduces the risk of childhood asthma by 50% and considering I had it Graham has a higher risk. I am sure you won’t all agree with me and that is fine. I understand the importance of vaccines, but I do think we have gone a little overboard in recent years. There are so many to give them at such a young age. I do question the impact it has on the immune system. I also do believe some children have a hard time getting the chemicals/toxins in the vaccine out of their bodies. I am planning to do a lot more research before his 4 month appointment. I need to weight the risks of the disease vs. the vaccine. I am still doing some research and we may start one or two at his 4 month visit. I am planning to wait on most until he is older though.

Here are a few picture I took on the drive to the doctor yesterday.

Pictures from earlier in the week.

I took at least 5 pictures and this was the best one of Casey… I’m just saying.

Too cute!!

Here is one of our pet squirrel.

So I never did post more pictures last week so I will add some today. I don’t have too many new 8 week pictures, but he looks pretty much the same as last week if you ask me so you aren’t missing much.

Last week Casey got pooped on AGAIN. I have yet to get poop on me. We have only had poop leak out 3 times and all with the disposable diapers. The cloth have yet to leak on me. They do leak pee though, but always when I put them on wrong. I am having a hard time with the new pocket diapers and I am not sure which I will keep and which will be returned. One day I love them and one day I don’t like them much. I guess I should take a little more time to make sure I have them tight enough. They seem so tight so I make them looser and then I get leaks. I guess tight is the key. When I first started using the cloth diapers I really thought I wouldn’t use them. I didn’t like them and they seemed so bulky compared to the thin disposables, but now I hate using the disposables. I am going to work on getting a good night cloth diaper so I can give up the disposables at night.

Our Friday night out last week was to BJ’s! Yep, another exciting date night. Our membership to Costco was set to run out on July 31st and I wanted to see if we would like BJ’s better before renewing at Costco. BJ’s has more baby stuff – diapers, formula and baby food, but I don’t need any of those things. I was surprised to see how pathetic their produce and meat departments were so we decided to stick with Costco. Plus our favorite part of going to Costco is eating while we are there at their little snack counter. They have great pizza, hot dogs and ice cream. It was an easy decision for us. Oh and Costco has much more organic. We can also go to Sam’s with mom for the things Costco doesn’t carry.

In exciting news my friend Melanie had her baby last Monday. Ethan arrived at 4:30 in the afternoon weighing in at 7 pounds 14 ounces. We are so excited for them and hoping they are getting a little sleep. Something tells me Patrick is getting a lot more than Melanie! I haven’t seen many pictures yet. I can’t possibly understand why it is taking so long to send out pictures. I can’t wait to see Ethan in a few weeks.

As promised a few pictures:

Cousin Greg and Christine with Graham

Family Portrait

And Graham!

One day I will figure out how to better center the pictures. I pretty much have no idea how to do anything on this website which is why it is pretty basic. Perhaps I will learn in my free time. Ha!!