4 posts tagged “tyler”

*coughcoughcough*

I'm living on a strict diet of water and cough drops lately.  Not that tastey.

So, yesterday we took the boys to see Santa.  J played shy at first, but got over it pretty quick like.  Walmart took pictures, and then I took a couple of my own as well.  I planned on just taking my memory card back and printing them at the photo lab, but when I got back there and put it in the computer, all that came up was these little boxes of fuzz.  I started to freak out thinking something was wrong with my camera or card, but then I realized I'd taken the pictures in RAW and their computer doesn't read RAW.  Good job, Nicole.  I'll learn to look before I shoot one of these days.

After we got home I buzzed Tyler's head, but he wouldn't let me shave his beard off.  My husband officially looks like 'That Creepy Neighbor Guy' with a buzzed head and big bushy beard.  Don't ask me why.

Last night was Tyler's work Christmas party.  Boring as usual, but the place that caters is AWESOME.  Seriously, I eat so much that I'm stuffed, but I still want to go back for more because it is THAT good.  Tyler won a little Santa cookie jar during their little gift exchange thing.  It's actually kind of cute.

When his work party was over we picked the boys up and went over to a friend's house.  Several of the guys Tyler works get together and play poker.  Nothing too thrilling there either, but it was kind of nice to be out of the house for a bit.

My mom and sister watched P while I buzzed Tyler's head (J was sleeping) and when I went down to drop J off before the Christmas party, Mom told me she thinks P may be teething.  I'd noticed him drooling a lot, and she said he fussed the whole time he was there and the only thing that calmed him was chewing on his or my sister's fingers.  PLEASE DO NOT LET HIM BE TEETHING!  First of all, he's too young :( and second of all, I don't know if I could handle going straight from colic to teething.  I might just snap.

P turned 2 months last Wednesday.  I cannot believe how time has flown.  It seems like just yesterday I was heading through the hospital door with enough crap in my arms they thought I was permanently moving in.  And now he's all smiling and growing and ... *sigh*

Today he had his 2 month shots, and he handled them like a pro.  As with J before, I could not hold him during the actual process, Tyler had to.  J and I sat across the room, both of us fighting tears when P started screaming after the first shot.  J turned to me and said, "Hurts Peyton!" with tears in his eyes.  What a big bro!

His next appointment is the 29th at 3 months.  I'm curious about his weight gain.  The first month he was gaining about half a pound a week, but from week 4 to week 6 he only gained about 4 ounces, so I'm curious to see if he's continued with the slow weight gain or not.

The colic seems to be slowly getting better.  For the most part he sleeps decent at night, and has long content periods during the day.  Today I even had him cackling before his shots.  It's so nice to see him smiling and laughing after nearly two months of pure screaming.  He's even starting to let me cuddle him now.  I can't even begin to tell you how hard it is to cuddle a screaming, rigid-bodied baby.

I'm kind of sad that we haven't had any professional pictures of P done yet.  As much as I love taking pictures, I'd like to have at least one set of professionals to compare with J's.  But money is just so tight this time of year (whose idea was it to make property taxes due 5 days before Christmas?!) and so they'll have to wait a bit longer.  I feel bad because with J money was tight but I still managed to get pro pictures taken every few months the first year and every six months after that.  We haven't had any professional pictures done since April with my Smile Savers plan ran out at Sears.

In other news, J and I made a Christmas countdown chain yesterday.  I'm not sure how much he understands about Christmas, so I'm doing what I can to get him all excited about it.  We're going to make a tree topper and door hanging, too, as soon as I get some new markers and glue.  I thought I had all of this stuff hanging around, but apparently not.

I have so very little Christmas shopping done that it's not even funny.  I've got a V-Smile, Hot Wheels set, and Christmas jammies for J, a Bod body spray set for my cousin, and that's it.  Tyler's older two nephews are getting wood letters to paint, and other than that I don't even know what to get anyone.  Money is super tight, as mentioned, so no one is getting anything too spectacular.  I wanted to do homemade gifts, but I didn't get started as early as I wanted to.

Tyler missed work last night with the flu, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that no one else gets it.  J and I have both been sniffly for days, but that's as far as it has gone. 

Tyler has to make up the work he missed on Friday night, which sucks, but necessary.  His Christmas party at work is this weekend, and I'm actually excited.  Weird, I know, but the place they have cater is amazing.  I could care less about the rest of the party as long as they keep having the same place cater.  Tyler wants to go out to his buddy's afterwards to play cards, but I will probably end up back home with the boys.  I'm still not comfortable leaving P with anyone for too long, and since my sister will probably babysit and she's not too comfortable trying to take care of P during his fussy periods ... it is better that I skip the poker playing.

A P picture and then I'm out.  It is a lovely angle, I know, but I had to be fast to catch the smile.  He's a quick little bug.

And not this disjointed half an hour to two hours at a time.  I need a full night's sleep.  Selfish, I know, but I am having trouble functioning lately.  I don't know how many times I have walked out the front door to go somewhere, got halfway down the walk to the car and realized ... I still have my slippers on.  Or I made it down to the grocery store, all by myself, only to find that I had a burp rag on my shoulder.  Luckily they all knew I'd just had a baby so I didn't look like a complete ass that just walks around with stinky rags hanging off her shoulder.

I know ... breastfeeding is good for Peyton, and really I love that I am giving him great nutrition.  But can I confess something?  We're not really breastfeeding per se.  After weeks of horrid latch problems, I am pumping almost exclusively and bottle feeding the milk to him.  He would either scream his head off or fall asleep every time I got him ready to nurse, and I can only take so much of my little man screaming before I would cut off my own arm to make it stop.

Sometimes I find myself thinking, "this pumping business is the suck," and then wondering if it wouldn't be easier to just stop pumping.  But, then I kick my own ass and break out 'old reliable'.  Yeah, it does suck to be up twice as long as I should have to be for the nightly feedings; first to feed Peyton and then to pump out his next meal.  But also so worth it.

And so, I get no sleep in this endless cycle of pumping and feeding and attempting to nurse ... rather, rinse, repeat.  I know it'll get better, and it probably wouldn't be so bad if Jonathan didn't wake up 99% of the time.  Then he wants to help, or play, or both.  So, not only do I have to get Peyton back down and then pump, but I also have to get Jonathan back to sleep as well.  Fun.Stuff.

Really, I try not to complain too much, though, because when Tyler gets home from work at 8am he does take over with Peyton for an hour or two, but then I feel like ass because I HATE sleeping in, even if it is the only sleep I get.  I wake up at 9:30 or 10 and feel like I have missed out on a better part of the day. 

Not that I get anything done anymore.  Dishes?  I wash them as I need them.  Laundry?  Tyler's domain.  Toys on the floor?  Just a swift kick so they aren't in my path.  Trash?  Again, Tyler's domain.  Pretty sad, really.  I keep saying if I had more sleep I'd be more effective around the house, but deep down I know that's not the case either.  I hate housework, period, and no amount of sleep will ever make me like doing it.  Not to make it sound like my house is filthy or anything.  Just cluttered most days. 

So to end ... I guess I really don't NEED the sleep that bad, do I?

I think I am finally starting to see how my dad felt all those years as the only male in a house full of females.  Only, obviously, reversed.  I'm not complaining ... I love the idea of having not one but two momma's boys.  I just have to make sure and get out of the house every once in a while to get a little female interaction.  There are just some things, especially post-partum, that you can't/don't discuss with someone who doesn't know exactly what you are going through, you know?

One of those things is what happens when you push yourself a little too hard after having a baby.  I felt GREAT the first couple of days after having Peyton.  Wonderful.  I told my doctor that it was ridiculous just how good I felt.  And then, it hit me.  The aches, the cramps, the overall soreness, not to mention the other issues that come along with.  Well, last Friday I was thinking "hey, this is great.  All of those post-partum issues are clearing up and I feel good again," and right about that time is when I was trying to clean house for company.  Guess what.  Being on your feet all day for two days can cause some of those "issues" to flair right back up.  I felt back letting Tyler do most/all of the work, but he assured me he understood and didn't have a problem with it.

Speaking of Tyler, he went back to work last night.  I was paranoid about being home alone all night long with a three year-old and a newborn, but it actually didn't go too bad.  Peyton slept better than he had been, and Jonathan slept all night without waking up.  Hopefully we are on the right track now.

Peyton's two week checkup is on Thursday.  He's seeing the doctor who is covering for Dr. L while he's out of the office.  All of the nurses at the hospital really talked highly of him and recommeneded seeing him.  They said he's real young and has young children of his own.  I can't say that I'm 100% convinced, but it is only one visit before Dr. L gets back, and it's not like he is diagnosing some major illness.  Just doing the routine weights, measurements, etc.  What can I say?  I've been spoiled by Dr. L and am officially a doctor snob.