15 Weeks - Down with the sickness

Well, the night of awesome sleep turned out to be a sign of things to come... but not in a good way. Poor Dargan had croup! :(

Sad mommy with sick baby

I noticed he felt quite warm on Thursday evening, so I checked his temperature and sure enough it was 101.5 and he was sniffly. I called the pediatrician's nurse line and she said to monitor him overnight, give him Tylenol, and bring him in if he's not better by morning. He got worse throughout the night, coughing an awful barking cough and wheezing, so I stayed awake/slept on his nursery floor to keep an eye on him - he didn't sleep well either. We kept him home from daycare per the nurse's instructions, so Scott went into the office to get our laptops early Friday morning and we worked from home. Took Dargan to the pediatrician's and she didn't like the sound of his breathing. Basically his airway was inflamed and his blood oxygen level was a little bit on the low side (low 90s) so they prescribed us Prednisone - hooray steroids!

We had another night of minimal sleep, but the next day I could tell Dargan was feeling SO much better. He had a follow-up appointment at the pedi's and his O2 sats were much better! His wheezing was gone, barking cough was gone, just a regular phlegmy type of cough.

Feeling better on the way home from the pedi's.

The rest of Saturday Dargan was WIDE AWAKE - he literally (and I don't use that word lightly) did not nap at all due to being hopped up on 'roids.

Checking out the music-playing bear hanging on his crib.

Wide-eyed!

The only way he tolerates tummy time = AIRPLANE TIME! :)

Giggling with Daddy

We had a great time at the Swamp Rabbit Brewery Beer & BBQ 5k Saturday evening. Scott ran with Dargan and ran a great time (under 25 minutes!) and I finished just under 30 minutes. Enjoyed hanging out with friends after the race.

"Why aren't we going faster?"

My favorite running buddy!

Pre-race pep talk with Daddy

On Sunday we went to church for a special Thanksgiving blessing for Dargan and one other new baby in the church. He didn't sleep like last time (still crazy from the steroids) but I was able to put him in the sling and he was at least calm through most of the service. We had to make a couple of hasty dashes for the exit when he started fussing, but at least didn't have any meltdowns.

"I got all dressed up fancy for church!"

The rest of Sunday was spent napping and relaxing. Dargan didn't really nap, but he has become incredibly interested in his hands recently.

"What is this?" 

Hoping his remaining cough and such goes away and we get back to our decent sleeping patterns!

Chatting with Dargan on Saturday:

Single Parenting success!

Well, I am happy to report that Dargan and I survived 4 days without daddy at home, but boy are we glad he's back!

Honestly it was both exhausting and super confidence-building to do everything on my own for a few days. Sometimes I'm not sure that I can handle the Tiny Human along with all the rest of my adult responsibilities, so it was nice to know I can at least keep my head above water for a limited time!

Early Sunday talking with Mr. Fox & friends

On Sunday, Dargan and I made it to church for the first time since he was born. He slept through the whole thing! I was so pleased.

That evening we went to Swamp Rabbit Brewery with Dale & Robin and he slept most of the time there, too.

Sunday afternoon smiles!

Monday and Tuesday were crazy busy days. I had chorus rehearsal both nights and had to bring Dargan with me. I would get home usually around 5:30 and it would be a non-stop rush of unpacking our bags, washing bottles, getting dinner ready, prepping his bottles for the next day, packing my lunch, getting my gym clothes packed, and making sure D was fed.

Monday rehearsal went really well. I nursed him as soon as I arrived (half an hour late) and then he was awake and happy the rest of the time. We sat in the audience during the uptunes, and Dargan bounced on my lap and even tried to sing along a few times! He smiled and giggled for everyone who came up to say hello - what a flirt. I put him in the sling and stood with the group to sing on the ballads. He did so well! Not a single fuss.

Happy boy after chorus rehearsal!

Snuggles before bed

Tuesday rehearsal also went well, but totally different - he slept soundly almost the entire time! He woke up towards the end, around 9pm, and even though he wasn't fussing I knew it was getting close to feeding time so we headed out around 9:30.

Silly selfies at home - proud of my well-behaved boy!

Both nights he slept pretty well, too. Mostly 3-4 hour stretches, with one middle of the night wake-up and one early morning wake-up.

Scott got home yesterday afternoon and picked Dargan up from daycare. He sent me this photo of D's most recent artwork:

*heart melts*

We got home and blessedly had nowhere to go in the evening. Got to eat dinner and just hang out! D seemed to be a little sniffly/sneezy, had some red eyes, felt warm though didn't measure as having a fever... just generally could tell he wasn't feeling 100% so we gave him a half dose of Tylenol before I put him to bed at 9:15pm. I woke up around 2:30am and thought "wow, he hasn't woken yet - this is great!" Checked on him and he was sleeping soundly. *happy dance* So I got back in bed, and next time I roll over it's 4:45am! WOW! Again I went to check on him and he was starting to stir a bit. I waited as long as I could, but at this point I needed him to wake up and nurse! At 5am I went in and turned off his white noise machine, turned on one light, and unswaddled him so he could wake up on his own.

Waking up is hard!

He finally woke up and I could tell he was a little groggy and was thinking "Man I'm sleepy... wait, and I'm REALLY HUNGRY!" He seemed much happier than the night before... and boy so was mommy! Nearly 8 hours of sleep for the first time in I can't even remember!

I'm not officially counting it as his first sleep through the night since it may have been drug-induced (somewhat) but if this is a sign of things to come, I am excited!!

14 Weeks - Getting into a routine

This week has been such an improvement over last week!

Last weekend's sleep routine was awful, and I was afraid we'd lose all of the progress we'd made the previous week. But nope, we got back to daycare and had a great week of sleeps!

Sunday Night - terrible! up every hour or two
Monday Night - better! down at 10, up to eat at 1:30 and 4
Tuesday Night - YAY! down at 10, up at 3 and 5
Wednesday Night - decent. down at 10/10:30, up at 1 and 3:30
Thursday Night - another YAY! fed at 10, in crib at 10:45, up at 3:40 and 5:15
Friday Night - (I forget, but it was pretty good)
Saturday Night - my first solo night with D! fed at 9:45, in crib 10:45, up at 2:15 and 5:45

Really pleased with last night getting two long(ish) stretches. Usually the second block is never more than 2 hours but we got over 3!

So other than sleep, the week has been good...

Monday: Turned 3 Months Old!

Happy 3-month-old boy after daycare

We brought a swaddle to his daycare for them to use at naptime and Ms. Sandy said he slept SO much better! They even had to wake him up to feed him. Such an improvement!

"Really mom? It's so early..."

"Oh okay! I do love my dino-feet pants."

Notice that we took out the infant insert for the carseat... it's only supposed to be there for babies up to 11 lbs. and I'm pretty confident we've surpassed that by now! My growing boy!

On Thursday we went to the Commerce Club for a charity auction & dinner, so Dargan got dressed all fancy, complete with sweet Chuck Taylors "shoes". He was SUCH a good boy through the event!

This week at daycare, Dargan completed his first art project:

Dargan's painting of an eggplant.

And we did some reading on Satuday afternoon:

This week will be full of new challenges since Scott is away on business until Wednesday... Mommy and Dargan flying solo for the first time! One night down, so far so good. Grannie is on call for backup if needed! :)

And here is a video where Dargan discovers himself in a mirror.

13 Weeks - Adjusting to the new normal

Last week, being the first week for me back at work and for Dargan at daycare, I would overall call a success! He improved so much throughout the week, and his "teacher" at daycare, Ms. Sandy, even said that she was amazed at how quickly he is adjusting to the daycare schedule. His napping (and crying) improved greatly throughout the week, and so did his sleeping at night! Sandy also said that he's quickly becoming the daycare favorite... all the other teachers stop by the infant room to visit and want to know, "Where's Dargan??"

I'm a charmer!

That's my boy... charming them from day 1 (ok maybe day 3)  :)

So far his daily reports from daycare have shown steady appetite and improved sleep. Monday he slept no more than 45 minutes at a time (once) and a total of 80 minutes the entire day. Friday he took such a long nap (10-12:30) that they had to wake him up!

Of course, this weekend we've gotten him off schedule so he's slept terribly (no more than 2 hour stretches) at night, but hopefully he'll get back into the routine when they can keep him awake and occupied during the day.

I think that's one of the biggest conflicting things... during the day, it's best if he's awake and active and entertained, but that's also when we want to be out accomplishing things (errands, exercise, etc). When he's in the stroller or a wrap/carrier, he almost always falls asleep... which is great because it makes errand running much easier, but also means he's not active. It's a hard balance to strike for sure!

Yesterday was a busy day - in the morning we met with Robin & Dale for a 5 mile run on the Swamp Rabbit, then a bite to eat at the TR Farmer's Market.

D's exercise outfit

After that we took Dargan to the Switch-a-Roos consignment sale and stocked up on winter/6 month clothing. He needed some more long sleeves/pants for daycare because they keep the AC cranked up pretty high and I think he gets chilly. (That's part of why I think he didn't nap well the first few days). That sale is incredible - most clothing items are $1-5 each, and there are racks after racks of stuff! We didn't even look through it all!

All this for less than $60!

In the afternoon we went to the pool, and Dargan enjoyed it as far as we could tell!

Such a cool dude!

Good sleeps!

Nights where we all get good sleep are so rare that I feel the need to document each one, just to remind myself that they DO happen!

Yesterday Scott picked Dargan up from daycare and said he was awake and happy but had actually napped well during the day, and he'd last eaten at 4pm. Got him home and he immediately fell asleep. We were going out to the Commerce Club for a beer tasting & dinner, so we prepared food and such assuming he'd wake up and be hungry while we were there. The room was packed with 100+ people and it was so loud... and Dargan didn't wake up at all!

We thought ok, great, he let us have a peaceful evening but of course he'll be awake all night now.

NOPE!

Got home, he woke up to eat at about 9:30, took most of the bottle (it was leftover from the day at daycare so we had to use it) and then went right back to sleep. He then slept until almost 2:30am! Woke up, nursed, and went back to sleep until 5:30 when we needed to wake up.

SO excited, and he was even alert & happy this morning!

Good Morning!

Dinosaur footie pants :)

Trying my hardest not to get my hopes up for a repeat, but MAN this would be a nice schedule to be on for a while! I have missed interacting with him since he has been so exhausted after daycare, so maybe if he gets better at napping then I'll get to hang out with my happy boy in the evenings a little, too. :)

12 Weeks - Back to Work

12 Weeks Old!

He was squirmy on Sunday so we didn't get any great 12 week photos.

Our last week at home was fairly uneventful. I got to exercise (lift weights, run, walk and even biked 21 miles on Sunday!) and Scott and I started our training for the Spinx Half Marathon (race date 10/31) with a "long" run of 4 miles on Saturday morning with Dargan. He enjoyed the cooler morning temperatures and looked around as we jogged along.

Video of Dargan "talking" (hoping this works)

On Friday, to commemorate my last day of maternity leave, Dargan and I went to the pool. He seemed to enjoy the water and his floaty (didn't get any photos since I was there on my own). I pushed him back and forth across the pool and he just floated along and looked around.

Sunbathing after a nice dip

Poolside nap

He's been really smiley again, too - it's so much fun to interact with him, make faces, and "talk" with him.

Early morning smiles

Big grin!

*smirk*

I put him in this after he pooped on me.

Monster butt!

Still not loving tummy time.

Mr. Hungry-All-The-Time

And then came Monday...

All weekend I'd felt excited, like it was the beginning of the school year after summer vacation. We got his bags packed for the morning with his bottles and spare onesies, I got my work bag packed, and geared up for our big day!

Sunday night was one of the worst nights of sleep in a long time. Dargan was up every single hour fussing, wanting to eat, just being uncooperative. I wonder if he could sense that something was different?

Anyway, Monday morning gradually arrived and we headed off to the daycare. I hoped he'd sleep in the car and during drop-off, but unfortunately he was wide awake and looking at us like, "Hey, what's going on? Where are we going?" Made it a little harder to leave him, but I managed to hold it together as we left. 

The workday was fine, I had an interesting time adjusting to pumping milk during work and trying to fit that in with my daily schedule. 

This was my Monday morning unread work emails.

The day passed relatively quickly, and after we spent 45 minutes in a parking lot on I-85 due to a tractor trailer full of frozen chicken being upside down and on fire, we finally made it back to the daycare to pick up Dargan.

We got his daily report:

- he apparently did not nap but 1.5 hours all day (in 10-20 minute blocks)

- he cried all morning and the director had to hold him so the "teachers' in his room could care for the other kids

- he ate all four bottles of milk that we packed for him

- he pooped once and peed a lot

Womp womp.

We sheepishly took him home and of course he immediately fell asleep (DUH he was exhausted). He slept through dinner and we tried waking him up afterwards but he would NOT wake up at all. 

Happy to have my sleepy baby back with me!

So we gave in, went to put him to bed around 8:30/9ish and of course he woke up and wanted to eat. Nursed him to sleep, put him in his crib around 10. I think he woke up at 1, 3:15, 4:30 - not fantastic. If we could get to one waking at night, I'd be overjoyed, even if it means staying up until 10 or 11pm. I'm starting to wonder if he's just not getting enough milk when he nurses, so his hungry tummy wakes him up. He never seems to be in pain or bothered by anything when he wakes up at night, just wants to eat.

We'll give him the week to sort himself out and hopefully he will adjust to the new routine. I reeeally hope he did better at daycare today! 

My current favorite photo... it's my desktop background on my work computer.