Week 25 started out on Friday 4/15 with Shannon's birthday! Shannon, Noni, Ty and I headed to Concord for a day of fun. Mostly we just went to the OG for lunch and then Shannon and I went to a movie, while Noni and Ty went back to "The Fairway" (Noni & Poppy's townhouse). Shannon and I saw "Soul Surfer" and it was excellent. I have no time to go on about that movie, so we will continue. We had a great family gathering at The Fairway for Shannon's birthday and everyone was there (except Mia). One of the big things that happened that night was I bit the bullet and gave Ty a suppository, since he had been constipated for 3 days. And within about a hour, he was no longer constipated! He didn't mind the suppository at all, so that was good.
One of Shannon's birthday cakes! We had many desserts!
The three "sisters!" Can you believe they're both Prego?
Enjoying some time with Daddy
I worked the weekend and went couponing again on Monday. It is truly addictive and I am totally loving it now. The highlights of things that I got were buy 1 get 1 free Jet Dry's and granola bars (the kind that I eat every morning), Pediacare Infant Tylenol for .99, and Edge shaving gel for .27! After couponing, Ty and I got a visit from Mia and Jack who were staying over with Noni and Poppy for a couple of nights on their spring break.
The cousins!
Practicing sitting up, wearing Jack's hat!
Loving the new stroller that Grammy got!
Tuesday, the green bean trial was over (eating it for 4 days to check for allergies, before starting the next food), so I could start oatmeal. I switched from rice cereal to oatmeal, hoping that it would help his constipation and it has! He will still pass a "pebble" or two a day, but then usually has a big poop once a day. Much better than going every 2-3 days with the rice cereal!
Wednesday I worked and that is when the drama started. I swear, I was drinking normally, but all of a sudden, I had hardly any milk out when I pumped at work. I pumped 3 times and was getting out barely an ounce with each time pumping. I freaked out. We were leaving for our cruise in 2 days. Tyson is a skinny boy and does not have any reserves to lose. So on Thursday, I called the pediatrician and she agreed that I would need to supplement formula while I was working on my milk supply. I told her that we were going on a cruise and asked if I should bring 2 different kind of formulas, in case he had a reaction. She said "no" - because allergic reactions to formula are rare and usually it takes a week to figure out if that specific formula will work for Ty. I had samples of formula that the pediatrician had given me when Ty was just born that we never used, so the pediatrician said we could use that type. After quite a bit of tears and feeling like I had failed my son, I gave him the formula, after nursing him. I couldn't help but feeling a bit satisfied that he didn't like it! He did take it better the second time, though. By Thursday night, I wondered why I had felt so strongly against formula. I just think lactation specialists drill it into you that formula is the enemy, like it is poison or something - so when you are faced with having to do it - you feel horrible! But I told myself that it was for the best for Tyson. And it's not like he is a newborn anymore. He is 6 months old and is having regular baby food now. He has had prune juice to drink, so I just thought of it as something new to drink! Anyways, Thursday night we went to the OG with Shannon, Sean, and Adam and then did some more last minute shopping. Adam took the puppies home with him that night and that is always sad. The house is always so quiet without them! On Thursday night, when I was changing Ty into his PJ's I thought that he might have a rash on his belly, but he had been having a screaming fit, so I was thinking that he was splotchy from crying. But in the morning it was gone.
"What rash? I'm perfectly fine!"
Friday, started week 26 with Ty's official 6 month birthday! Heath was home because work had declared it "Spring Break" (instead of Good Friday, I guess). It was perfect because we were packing up to leave on the cruise that night. Keith and Sonia arrived and we left about 8:45 pm. Our flight was at 11:59 pm! Ty did great on his first plane ride! We were worried about his ears, but we just forced the binky in his mouth on take off and landing and he did great. He had just a few minutes of crying with the initial descent, but that was it! He slept most of the time. We arrived in San Juan at about 4:00 am. We got a taxi and went to our hotel. We had found a Marriott Courtyard for $99, only a couple miles from the pier. We got to sleep at about 5:30 am but only slept until about 1000 because Ty woke up hysterical. Not really sure what that was about, but the whole night was quite abnormal, obviously, so we got to give him a break! We got a "late check out" (by 1 hour, how generous) and left at 1:00 pm. We could board the ship at 2:00 pm, so we headed over there. I was psyched, since we didn't sail until 8:00 pm - so I thought that was pretty good. On Saturday, I figured out that my fears were realized and Ty appeared to have a reaction to the formula. I should have listened to my gut! He got a rash on his belly and back. I felt like I had no choice but to stop the formula. Corey told me about these herbal supplements to take to help with the milk supply, so I continued taking them and hoped for the best. Ty seemed to do fine with his nursing, so that was good.
Getting ready for his first plane ride!
Dead to the world in the motel after his first plane ride!
1st night in the dining room - still exhausted after all the traveling!
Our ship was the Celebrity Summit and it was very nice. We had never been on Celebrity before. We liked it - the buffet was the best we have ever had, but the dining room options for vegetarians was not great. So I'm not going to go day-by-day with a full report but give you an overall feeling. Having Tyson on the cruise was great! We were not sure how it would be, being the seasoned cruisers that we are, but we loved it! We only went to one show (with Ty sleeping in my arms), but we didn't seem to mind it too much. He is at such a great age, because he is so curious and loves to look at everything and everyone! He was just wide-eyed with awe at everything! He was an absolute rock star on the cruise. The thought never crossed my mind that anything like this would happen, but it was unreal. Every time we would get off the ship all the workers at the check-out would say, "Tyson! We have been waiting for you all morning! We were wondering when you would get off the ship!" He would flash his great smile and they would all just ooh and aah over him. Our assistant waiter and bar attendant would, seriously, hang out at our dinner table almost the whole meal-time, playing with Tyson. The formal nights when we had him dressed up in his suit, forget about it - you couldn't walk anywhere. Everyone would come up to us and talk to Tyson and just drool over him. Heath saw people taking pictures of him from across the room. It was a zoo. But it was a blast. We went to 5 islands in 5 days and it was super busy. On St. Thomas, we went on a semi-submarine and looked at all the fish and then went to "Coral World" (a small marine park). Ty just loved it. On St. Maarten, we rented 4 wheelers and that was a blast. Sonia went in the morning with the boys and then I went in the afternoon while Sonia took care of Tyson. Unfortunately, Heath got sun poisoning, being out in the sun all day, and had nausea and a horrible headache that night. We took a taxi tour of the island at Antigua, and Sonia baby-sat Ty while Keith, Heath, and I went zip-lining in St. Lucia. We had never done it and it was a blast. The only petrifying moment was when they had a "surprise" on the tour and dropped us 70 feet out of a tree. It is like repelling - a guy on the ground had the rope and dropped us, but it wasn't a controlled, slow repel - like against a rockwall - it was a straight drop. It was scary and I never would have done it, if the chance was given to me - but there was no other way down, so we had to do it! OK, on Barbados we went to the beach and Ty went swimming for the first time. He was due for a nap and tired, so we didn't get much reaction from him, except for falling asleep in Heath's arms while in the ocean!! (= It was so cute. One near disaster was that we left his Bumbo in the taxi cab when we got dropped off at the beach. (We used the Bumbo non-stop all cruise long). I wasn't totally freaking out because the same taxi driver was coming back to get us in a couple of hours - but it was so nice, because he came back to give it to us within 20 minutes! And those are the highlights! Oh, one more thing I have to mention is the dining room. Ty was a champ for the first 5 nights, but on the last 2 nights, he started to understand his situation. As soon as we got to our table, he would start crying. I think he came to realize that we would be "stuck there" for the next hour and a half and he was not pleased! Overall, a great time - except I got a monster cold on Monday and gave it to everyone, including my Ty Guy, We are all still sick now!
Flirting with our bar maid
Our assistant waiter who especially loved Ty
Ty rockin' his suit
St. Thomas - semi-submarine - Ty loved it!
What a hunk! Enjoying St. Maarten
Ty didn't get much out of the tour of Antigua!
Zip-lining in St. Lucia
Asleep in the ocean in Barbados!
Continued to sleep on the beach! Doesn't he look like a little king?
Starting to get fussy while sitting at his throne at the dinner table!
We got home on Sunday afternoon - I was completely freaked that Ty would have a horrible time with his cold and flying but he did great. We gave him Tylenol and a dose of Benadryl (I read that an antihistamine could help with the ears) and he did great. I had more trouble with my ears than Ty did! We got home early enough that I was able to completely unpack everything and have my house in tip-top shape before going to bed at midnight! One thing I forgot to mention was that Ty slept with us the entire trip long. The ship provided a "crib" for us, but of course, the "crib" was actually a pack n' play - and one that was full-sized that does not have the top part. Ty has never slept on the bottom of a pack n' play before, so he was scared of it! He would go to sleep at his bedtime of 8:30 or 8:45 and would sleep until about 11 pm - but then he would wake up screaming and would not go back to sleep, unless he was in bed with us! I was worried that he would not sleep in his crib again at home, but that was definitely not the case! He slept a whopping 13 hours on Sunday night with no problem and it continued this week!
Pretty pleased with himself that he managed to sleep with us all week!
Cuddling, trying to get him to take a nap
Monday, Ty and I went couponing at the pharmacies and then stocked up at the grocery store. The deals to mention were buy 1 get 1 free Gatorade (Heath loves Gatorade), buy 1 get 2 free Thomas English muffins, and I got 2 Gillette Profusion Glide Power razors for .99 each! Oh, and I "made" $2.00 at Rite Aid by buying 2 Revlon "beauty tools" at 40% off and getting $4 back to spend on my next purchase. I ended up getting a nail file and tweezers and made out in the positive of $2.00! That was great! Noni and Poppy came over Monday night to see Tyson - Noni said that she missed him so much that she had to pull up the blog to look at pictures of him!
Drink it in, Noni - an official picture of Ty!
Tuesday I did all of our laundry and walked at the outlets with Ty. He ended up sleeping for 30 minutes while we were walking but then fell asleep on the drive home (only 5 minutes away) and stayed asleep in his car seat for another hour!
Wednesday I went back to work. It was hard after being with Ty non-stop for 2 weeks to have to leave him again! Ty, not feeling well from his cold, slept a lot during the day for Noni - but then would not sleep on Wednesday night. I swear he has a tooth coming in for sure, now! There a small white speck on his bottom gum and he has had a low grade temperature of 100.3-100.7. I think that is why he didn't sleep - because he is sick, I brought him in bed with us to at least get a few hours sleep. When he is better, that is going to be OVER!
Yesterday, Ty had his 6 month doctor's appointment. She thinks he is doing great. He is hitting all of his developmental milestones. He is just about sitting up (he does it for awhile, but then loses his balance and topples over), he is "talking" up a storm, and grabbing and holding everything in sight. But she is now officially concerned about his weight. His height and head circumference is at the 30th percentile, but he dropped below the 3rd percentile in weight. He is 12 pounds 6 oz. Of course, he had the biggest blow-out ever right when we got to the office, so that poop was probably half a pound! So the supplementation is back on. She says that my milk is not meeting his caloric needs for some reason - it could be a supply problem, it could be that I give "skim milk" instead of more fatty milk, it could be a bunch of things. She wants to have me try the same formula again, because maybe the rash was a fluke and something else. If he gets it back, then we will have to switch to a soy formula. I am concerned that this will mean he will have a dairy allergy (because the formula is a milk-based), and she said it did not definitely mean that, but it could. I'm so hoping that is not going to be the case! Anyways, I'm going to continue to nurse as usual but then give him a bottle of formula after - and then give him his solids. I did it when we got home from the office and the whole feeding session took an hour and a half! Oh my! But it is worth it to get him fattened up! I am definitely over my being against formula, because I was really stressing myself out that he seemed not be gaining weight and that he was not eating enough - so this will just help my peace of mind. He took to the formula with no problems yesterday and, so far, no rash, so we'll keep our fingers crossed. We go back in 2 weeks for a weight check, so we'll see!
He does look pretty skinny here - but still happy!
OK, now we are caught up and hopefully I will never have to do a 3 week recap again. And you all will never have to read one either!
2 comments:
Loved all the pictures especially the one with him taking a tub in the sink! Great picture of your family too. Loved hearing all the news.
I enjoyed catching up on all of the Ty news, since it has been so long! Looks like you had a great time on the cruise. I love the pictures of him in his formal outfits and the one in the sink! I'm glad you guys got to go!
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