The Week of Ups & Downs

Week 10 was full of ups and downs.  Overall, it was a difficult week for Tyson and that, of course, makes it difficult for us.  I'm hoping that this is a phase and that thought helps me get through it!  The many "faces" of Tyson that I showed in the blog a few weeks back, has been narrowed down to just 2 different Tysons.  Ty is either very happy, in which he is cooing, giggling, and smiling like crazy or he is screaming uncontrollably.  Tyson wakes up completely happy and stays happy until about 3 PM.  But then, it is crying, screaming Tyson until bedtime.  The positive part is he is still sleeping through the night!  So I have to cling to the positives when he is screaming his lungs out.  Seriously, he screams so much that he gets hoarse.  The other night, Heath said, "It doesn't sound like he is really crying, just fussing."  I said, "No.  He is screaming but he is just so hoarse that it is muffled."  It breaks my heart, sometimes I just cry along with him.  What can you do?  After some detective work, we think we have figured out a reason for his hysterics...

Hold on to your hats, here folks.  Tyson is teething.  Yes, you would think that it is impossible.  However, when he started to show the signs, I took to Google and did some research.  (Side note: what did new parents do before the internet?)  It is possible for infants to develop teething symptoms as early as 10 weeks.  The unfortunate thing is that he probably still won't actually GET his teeth until the usual time (4-6 months).  He will just be miserable longer with "teething" symptoms.  GREAT!  So his symptoms are being fussy (of course), drooling, and having difficulty eating.  The drooling was our first clue.  Ty for his first 9 weeks would not drool at all.  I mean, not at all.  Then all of a sudden, he was just a drooling machine.  There is so much drool, he is constantly blowing bubbles with it!  But then one of the tell-tale signs for me was when he developed pain while nursing.  He would nurse for about 10 minutes and then he would refuse to nurse anymore.  He would take a couple of sucks and then start screaming.  I have read that when babies are teething, it hurts their gums to suck.  So we couldn't believe that he was teething, but our disbelief was soon put to rest.  We tried to have him chew on teething rings, but they were a little big for his mouth.  So we decided to try our fingers (washed, of course).  Any doubt was gone.  Tyson went from screaming in pain, to chewing on our fingers and cooing.  He is absolutely biting down and chewing, never sucking at all!  So, I guess Ty came into the world early and he is starting the teething thing early too!  You would think because he was early, he would start some milestones late.  Not the case so far!

Gnawing on Daddy's fingers

Mom's finger tastes pretty good too!

On Sabbath, we went to church in Laconia that week and another milestone occurred.  Tyson did not sleep through the service!  I think our quiet time during church is now over!  He woke up crying and I had to take him into the foyer.  Of course he had to do that at a church that does not have a mother's room!  But he calmed right down.  I just had to swaddle him, give him his binky, and rock him for a few minutes.  He went back to sleep and we could rejoin Heath.  A similar episode occured when we went out to eat with Shannon, Sean, and Keith (Sean's brother) at Chili's on Sunday.  He did not sleep the entire time, like usual, but we were able to appease him with his binky.  We were not so lucky when we went out to eat on Thursday night with Shawn & Camille for a final OG (Olive Garden) night.  Tyson was awake for the entire meal and fussed on and off.  Heath had to hold him the whole time.  Not that Heath minded much, I'm sure.  For all of you that do not know, Shawn & Camille (and Camden) are moving to Bangor.  We are devastated.  We have not been able to hang out as much since they moved to West Lebanon (and now since Ty has been born) but just knowing that they were about an hour away was so comforting!  Now they will be about 3.5-4 hours away!  But they are family, so we will always be in touch and, hopefully, see them as much as we can!

Tyson in his church clothes

Week 10's Monday was a big day all around.  First of all, I started my exercise regimen.  It was 4 weeks later than I wanted to start it, but I was waiting for Christmas.  See, I am not a big exerciser.  Usually I just walk.  However, with the cold weather and Tyson, I can't do that.  I wanted to get a Wii-Fit, but we don't have a Wii.  So I did some research and found a great workout game for the PS3 called "Get Fit with Mel B."  It had great reviews but you need to have the new "Move" for PS3.  I asked for it for Xmas and, lo and behold, I got both of them!  The "Move" from Heath (even though we were not getting each other gifts this year) and the game from Sonia & Keith.  It is great.  You choose goals for yourself, like working out for general health or to shape a certain body part.  My goal is "Banish the Belly."  I needed this goal before I was pregnant and now I need it more than ever!  Then you choose workouts, like dance, combat, cardio, or fitness for shaping that special area that you need.  It is great because you can change up the workouts with your goal being the same.  I get bored easily with workouts, so this is great for me!  I am trying not to place unreasonable goals on myself - like that I need to exercise everyday.  I have been aiming for 3 days a week.  However, the workouts are so fun that I have been doing them everyday!   We'll see how it goes.

This is obviously not me but you get the idea...

So the second part of Monday was quite a bit more fun.  Mom and Dad had gone to Burlington Coat Factory in Manchester and they had come across quite an interesting discovery.  The store (only in Manchester) was going out of business and everything in the store was 50% off.  This sale had started the day before.  Well, they have quite a large baby section there and Mom called to let me know right away.  She knew that we still needed to buy nursery furniture and they have a great selection.  Thank goodness that this was at about 4:30 PM.  I was able to get Heath in his office (amazing) and we were off by about 5:45 PM.  I have been in stores that were closing before, but I have never in my life seen anything like this.  For starters, when we walked in, we saw the line for the checkout.  I am not exaggerating, it was wrapped around half of the store.  It was just pure madness.  People are animals.  Things were thrown everywhere.  You could not walk in the shoe department - there were boxes and shoes just thrown on the floor.  I went to the pillow aisle and all the pillows were all on the floor.  You could barely find anything because things were just strewn everywhere.  Mom and Dad helped us, by standing guard at different pieces of furniture, while Heath & I tried to make decisions.  There were not any shopping carts when we got there, but my mom went into the parking lot to search for a cart in the freezing cold and she got one!  I don't know how we would have done it without a cart because we got so much stuff!  To help my parents out, who had helped us out so much, we bought a suit jacket for my Dad, so they did not have to stand in line.  We were in line for about 1 hour and 15 minutes to check out.  But, boy, was it worth it!  Oh, just a crazy story that Heath told me.  By 10 pm, I had to go feed Ty in the truck.  (He slept for the entire 4 hours that we were there in his car seat)  While Heath was in line, he noticed a lady that was buying a stroller and she had filled it with all of her purchases.  Heath was admiring her smarts, by opening the box, taking out the stroller and using it to lug around her items.  Well, right as she reached the checkout, she placed her items on the counter and proceeded to leave the stroller at the checkout.  She wasn't buying the stroller at all!  Unbelievable.  Anyway, we purchased a convertible crib, changing table, dresser, bigger pack n' play, high chair, diaper stacker and mobile from his nursery collection, baby carrier and a suit for Heath.  There might be more, but I'm just blanking.  It was exhausting but so rewarding.  There is nothing better than getting a bargain.

Some of our loot

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, just day-by day routines with Tyson.  A couple of things that I have to mention is that Ty has two more nicknames that we use often.  His number one nickname is definitely "Peanut" from Heath.  I swear, I'm not sure the last time Heath called Tyson by his name.  But a new nickname from me is "Tooter."  He is going to kill me when he gets older for this, but I can't help it.  He is just so cute.  He is constantly tooting when he nurses.  He is just always letting them rip.  I don't know if all babies do this, but he definitely does!  I don't know why tooting is so cute when a baby does it, but it is.  His second new nickname is "Kitty Cat."  When he is fussing and not fully screaming, he lets out these short, brief cries, that sounds just like a cat meowing.  He does it all the time!  It just cracks me up.

That is about all for now.  Have a great week!

Look at Tyson smiling up at Daddy!

What a pensive look!

My happy guy (for now)

Having fun on the play mat

Swinging with his new friend, Mr. Elephant

What a cutie!