Ty's Christmas Time...

Merry Christmas!

Tyson's 9th week was a busy one.  Because Tyson was born on a Friday - my "weekly" reports are from Friday to Friday.  Just in case you were wondering how I am dividing it up!  So on this particular Friday, it was Christmas Eve and we were at the Edwards' house.  We had gone up the night before after Heath had gotten out of work.  It was nice to get out of the house and start our Christmas festivites!  Heath laughs at me because I always say - even when we are away at our parents for the weekend - that we are "on vacation."  I just have always felt that way when I am not at my own home!  I was on the mend with my cold at that time, but, of course, I (or Ty) managed to pass it on to Adam, Sonia, Shannon, my mom, and my dad before we were done.  I am truly sorry, guys.  I know that it was miserable.

So Christmas Eve at the Edwards, we had a family gathering with Alan and Robin (Heath's uncle and aunt), Joel, Cameron, Taylor (Heath's cousins), and Paula (Heath's aunt).  It was a lot of fun.  But we missed a lot of other family members, especially Amanda and Levi, who were not able to come from Nebraska this year, and Norma and Paul - who were sick as well.  We ate the traditional soup in a bread bowl and it was fantastic.  Alan and Robin gave Tyson a huge bear for Christmas - it is huge, soft, and cuddly.  He was really tired when they gave it to him as you can see in the picture.  But he is just going to love it when he gets a little bit older!  Tyson was in heaven because he was held all evening long.  Nothing better in his mind!

I'm so comfortable in his arms, I just want to go to sleep!

Christmas Day we had decided to stay home from church.  Partly because we were tired, I was still sick, and then mostly because we did not want to leave Keith on Christmas.  It was a low key day and we watched a movie on Esther that was really good.  After sundown, it was time for presents!  We couldn't wait for Tyson's reactions to presents.  Well, the puppies reactions were a bit more lively (they went beserk).  I know that next year will be different and it will be much more fun with the little guy.  Have you guys ever read the "Berstein Bear" books?  They were a favorite of ours growing up.  Well, they have "Too Much TV", "Too Much Junk Food", "Too Much Birthday" books.  In it, the little bears always have melt-downs at the end of the day because of too much junk food, birthday etc... (notice that I did not mention TV!!) - well, Tyson starred in his own, "Too Much Christmas" story!!  He ended up crying and fussing through a lot of Christmas and at the very end had a melt-down of his own!  There was one adorable moment when he "opened" a gift from Uncle Adam and Daddy.  It was a "Tickle Me Elmo."  Babies supposedly love the color red and Tyson follows that trend.  Elmo started doing his thing, laughing, and flipping over and Tyson just starting giggling and giggling and cooing at Elmo.  It was just adorable!  That was definitely the highlight of Christmas for Tyson (and us too).

He loves his Elmo!

Reeses thinks that she should get all the gifts!

Still OK opening presents...

"Too Much Christmas!"

The day after Christmas (Sunday) was Christmas again for us at my parent's house.  So it was off to Noni & Poppy's house after going out to breakfast for the last hurrah with the Edwards.  Everyone was excited to see Tyson but we couldn't start presents right away because Tyson needed to eat first!  But then we got started on the presents finally and it lasted the usual 3 hours.  I know that because I had to feed Tyson again when we were finished with the presents!  Just a quick side note about nursing, this was the week that my book (Babywise) told me to try to lengthen the time between his feedings from 3 hours to 3.5 hours.  You wouldn't think that it would make that much difference but it is harder than you think!  We are finally on the 3.5 hours schedule but it took a while.  For awhile, once he reached the 3 hour mark, you would think he was dying!  Anyways, speaking of acting like he was dying, Tyson only lasted a few presents and then he turned very cranky.  We put him in a swing that was given to my mother but the batteries were dead and we did not have the correct batteries for it.  Heath spent a lot of Christmas, rocking the swing by hand.  Tyson eventually fell asleep and remained that way for the rest of our present-opening.  Tyson did get some great presents - just to name a few... we already mentioned Elmo from Adam, he got a great play mat from Grammy & Grampy, new jeans from Shannon, a lullaby CD from Devin, Leigh, and Mia, and the Bible Story books from Noni & Poppy.  Again, just to name a few!!

Being held by his "twin" (everyone thinks Ty looks like Devin)

He did not last long!

 Neither did the puppies!

Sunday night we had a great Christmas dinner at my parents but then everyone seemed to jet!  We were supposed to get a lot of snow and we had heard rumors of up to 24 inches, but we only got about 6-8 inches instead!  My dad had to work the next day, so he left Sunday night to avoid the bad roads.  Devin, Leigh & Mia left early too because Leigh's dad was in town and they needed to spend some time with him, too.  Then Shannon had to work the next day as well, and Shannon & Sean both have to be in bed by 8:30 PM or they turn into pumpkins!  So unfortunately, our time together was short.  But sweet.

Something that I have to confess occurred during our Christmas dinner.  Well, I was super tired.  I don't know what was wrong with me but I was really beat.  We had a wonderful spread of food and broccoli was on the menu.  I was so tired that I just filled my plate with food, including the broccoli.  We had found out the hard way that Tyson does not tolerate when I eat broccoli and I ATE BROCCOLI!  After dinner I had nursed Tyson and within about an hour (it really is that fast), he was hysterical with colic.  He had hiccups, burping, and tooting up a storm.  His belly was hard as a rock and he was kicking his legs so hard in pain.  It was just awful - I couldn't understand what I could have eaten to affect him this way.  Devin told Heath, "I saw her eat broccoli and I thought, 'what is she doing'?"  Heath said, "There is no way that she would eat broccoli again."  But when Heath asked me, I just screamed.  I could not believe that I had eaten it without thinking about it.  My poor little guy was inconsolable because I had not paid attention.  I felt horrible.  I learned a hard lesson at Tyson's expense and it will not happen again.

 Colicky Ty

Tyson's colic continued for the next couple of nights.  We couldn't attribute it to anything that I was eating.  Sonia reminded me that plenty of formula-fed infants get colic, so sometimes it is not from something you eat.    That made me feel better, but only slightly.  Ty was screaming non-stop from about 5 pm to 10 pm everynight.  It was exhausting.  Heath and I would look at each other, smile and say, "Are you ready for the scream fest?"  But it was awful to see Ty so uncomfortable.  I turned to Google (of course) looking for anything to help him with his colic pain.  I kept coming across parents raving about "Colic Calm."  It is a completely natural, homeopathic remedy for colic.  I decided that we had to try it.  I finally found it at CVS and I bought it.  Thank goodness Heath stayed in the car with Tyson or we wouldn't have gotten it!  It was $19.99 - I know, really expensive but I was desperate.  Of course, Murphy's Law - just having it in the house meant that we would not need it!  The colic miraculously stopped and we have not had to use it yet!  I'll let you all know if it really does work - since I'm sure we will be using it at some point.

On Tuesday, Tyson had an ultrasound of his hips.  It is standard practice with a breech baby to do an ultraound, and Heath thought it he had heard clicking of his hips while changing his diaper before.  The pediatrician said it might have been his knees clicking, which is normal at this time.  Anyways, we were a little worried - what if he had to that wear leg braces - but he passed the ultrasound with flying colors!  He was so cute - he did not cry once!  I expected him to at least fuss - but he did not at all!  The tech had to push hard on his hips and the radiologist came in and pulled his legs to see if the hip would come out of the socket - but they didn't!  What a relief!  It really freaks you out when you think something could be wrong with your child.
A couple new things that happened during week 9 was Tyson went back to sleeping through the night 6-7 hours!  From 11:30 pm or midnight to 6:30 am.  Another relief - I was worried that he would not do it again!  I have to admit that I was cheating though.  He would wake up at 3 or 4 am, but I would just give him his binky and he would go right back to sleep until around 6:30.  I'll take it!  Something I noticed more this week is that Tyson is following much better with his eyes!  He really watches his mobile now, which is exciting to me!  Another new thing is that Tyson is fitting into some 0-3 month clothes!  I agree with Corey's (my cousin) issue with children's clothes.  Tyson fits the length of the 0-3 months perfectly in the arms and legs but they still are a bit wide for him.  So his height is definitely better than his width! (=  So I keep going back and forth between newborn and 0-3 months right now.  But it is progess!  He is growing!

Watching the mobile!  He's growing up so fast!

One of my favorite pictures to date...

He's kind of zoning out - but he looks so cute!

Chillin' in his swing

Talk to you all next week...