8 Months

Robby's turning into such a little man.  He's growing so fast we can't believe it!  He's continuing to do great.  He's such a good baby.  Sleeping at night has been awesome- he goes to bed around 5:30-5:45pm (early, I know... but it makes a HUGE difference in how he sleeps at night), wakes up around 5am for a bottle, then plays in his crib until he falls back asleep (he'll sleep on and off for about another hour).  So he usually wakes up around 6:45-7:00am.  His naps have been changing a bit.  Sometimes he takes his short, power naps.  Sometimes we'll get at least one 1 and 1/2 hour nap per day.

 

Robby's not yet crawling... but at about 6 and 1/2 months, he started rolling to get around his entire room!  He'd just roll and roll and roll... stop, take a breather... then roll and roll some more!  At just over 7 months, he started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking.  He's now trying so hard to move forward on his hands and knees (he can scoot backwards)... but usually just ends up faceplanting as he tries to launch himself forwards!

Robby's continuing to be what you'd call a "good eater"... in other words, this kid will eat and eat and never stop!  He loves his food.  So far, we've added a few new foods: peas, green beans, kale (mixed with banana), peaches, and oatmeal with cinnamon and steamed apples (yes, he'll finally eat oatmeal... but only Earth's Best oatmeal... still hates my homemade!).  Robby still only gets solids twice a day... but he eats a LOT in one sitting!  He LOVES to feed himself with the spoon.  At the end of every meal, I hand him the spoon with some food on it and it goes straight into the mouth and he sucks all the food off (he also plays with the spoon/food.. which is Kona's favorite part of the meal)!  Robby has just started picking up food with his hands and putting it in his mouth... he does best so far with organic Puffs and whole peas.  He's also started drinking out of his straw cup... He picked up on it immediately and absolutely loves drinking from it! He amazed us at how quickly he learned what to do, and he looks like such a big boy doing so!

 

Robby's now in size 4 diapers and size 12 month clothing... and even some of the 12 month sleepers are a bit snug on him!  His spring jacket is 18 months, and as long as we roll the sleeves up a bit... it fits him now!  He's a giant.

We've also been getting to hear lots of 'stories' from Robby!  He's been really starting to babble... along with continuing to squeal and scream.  Daddy's been trying to get him to say 'Dada'... and while there is no meaning behind it yet, he really does say 'dadada' quite a bit!  Along with 'bababa' and other random gutteral sounds and screams.  His favorite thing to do is still laughing... we (especially Daddy) can get Robby laughing so hard he loses his breath!  It's the best :)  He is also MUCH more interested in Kona (Kona interested in Robby? not so much...) lately.  He smiles when he sees her walk by and laughs when she licks his hand.  Kona has a couple toys that Robby is terrified of... and when she squeaks one in particular he bursts into full blown tears!  Poor guy. 

 

 

Robby finally got his first tooth!  He was extremely fussy the other day and we finally felt the razor-sharp edge of a tooth coming through on the bottom front.  We think another one is working it's way out as well!

And last but not least... Robby got a new cousin!  Robby's cousin Gianna (Auntie Rachel and Uncle Dan's baby girl) was born 3/3/13 just before midnight.  Robby is officially not the youngest cousin anymore :)  We all can't wait to meet her!

Photo Bomb!


 

First Valentine's Day with Robby!



Naked Storytime

Oatmeal Playtime

Puma Baby!

 

Peek-a-boo!

Trying to get the bubbles.

 

Here's a short video of Robby 'talking'!

-Carrie :)

 

6 Months

Can't believe Robby is already over 6 months old!

Our big boy has been doing wonderfully!  He just had his 6 month check-up... and is 20lbs, 6oz and 27.5in long!  Big boy.  The doctor said everything looks great- he's hitting his milestones, eating well (obviously), and she had no concerns.  He's also officially off all reflux meds and doing great.  He's been sleeping really well at night- he usually goes to bed around 6:30pm, wakes up around 5am for a bottle, then goes back to sleep until 7-7:30am (the past few nights he's been waking more- which the dr said is normal at this age as they start to develop more 'adult-like' sleeping patterns and have to learn to just go back to sleep when they wake up throughout the night).  He's doing well napping, just doesn't take long naps!  He generally takes three 45 minutes naps throughout the day.  He rolled from back to tummy in the middle of the night around 5 1/2 months, and has been a tummy sleeper ever since!  He flips right over if you lay him on his back.  Just before Robby turned 6 months... he started sitting up on his own!  He loves to sit up and play with his toys (but he still also LOVES to lay on his kick 'n play piano mat).  He doesn't do too much true babbling yet, but loves to squeal, gurgle, and do all sorts of vocal play (noises, etc.).

At right around 5 1/2 months... Robby had his first solid foods!  He had been showing the signs that he was ready, and he's such a big boy, we figured we'll try and see how he does... well he was DEFINITELY ready!  Sweet potatoes were his first... and he LOVED them!  Since then, he's had avocado/banana, squash, pears, carrots (which he didn't love initially, but has started eating!  these are the only foods I actually puree for him... the rest we just mash up and he does great!) and he's tried oatmeal, which hasn't gone over very well (made with steel cut oats... no matter what I tried, they just were too grainy for him to handle right now- we'll try again soon).  Let's just say... he's a GOOD eater.  :)  He takes a bite and barely finishes swallowing before he's got his mouth wide open, leaning forward towards the spoon, and grabbing/pulling our fingers to help put the spoon in his mouth!  As of right now, he gets food twice a day.

(Notice how he's grabbing my pinky finger - this is how he  gets the food into his mouth faster!)

We also started swim class right at 6 months!  He's been doing great- loves the water!  As soon as he gets in the water, he kicks and kicks his legs!  He's been dunked under water a few times now, and he still gets a bit frazzled by it... but he'll get used to it in time.  :)  We take the class with a friend of mine from work and her daughter, who is a month older than Robby.  Daddy makes sure to be at every class- and hopefully he'll join Robby in the water soon!

No teeth have popped through yet... but we think (and HOPE) at least one is well on it's way.  No signs when you look in his mouth as of right now- but he is drooling like I've never seen him drool and is fiercely shoving everything he can into his mouth and chewing/gnawing on whatever he can.  Fingers crossed for the poor guy!

We all got to go back home to visit for about 10 days over the holidays!  It was so nice to see everyone.  Robby did better this time... but still got a bit overwhelmed around all the people.  He slept better for the most part... but still slept a lot on Mommy while we were home.  Luckily, he went right back to his awesome sleeping habits as soon as we got back!  Robby was a lucky boy- he got so many awesome gifts from all our family and friends!  We had to ship everything back because there was no way we could fit it in our car... He loves playing with all his new toys!

Robby's latest little personality trait?  Serious baby.  Whenever we are around new people or a group of people... Robby is extremely serious.  He doesn't smile for people... just stares.  Which is crazy because for us (and our sitter), he is an extremely smiley, happy baby and he loves to laugh!  Stinker.  :)

Here are some new pictures!

Helping with laundry



Looking at the giraffes on his first trip to the zoo!

Check out Robby's 6 month photos!

Carrie :)

Videos!

Here are some recent videos of Robby!  A full update coming soon :)

 

Daddy's such a funny guy.

 

First swim class!

***NOTE*** The scream you hear after the first time Robby is dunked is NOT coming from him!!  He did great and never made a sound (other than a bit of coughing from the water he got in his mouth of course!)!!

 

"Uh, mom?... I'm not so sure about this dunking anymore!"

Robby says closed.

4 month Check-up and Updates (Long!)

Well, we've definitely had a different baby on our hands lately!  Robby is officially on full formula and he's doing great.  Once we started seeing how well he was doing with the supplemented formula (he also was doing much better with my altered diet, but there was still a noticeable difference in him after he ate breastmilk versus formula), we decided to take the plunge.  It was sad for Mommy to be done nursing because we both really enjoyed it, but I didn't think it was fair to continue nursing him when he clearly felt better on the hypoallergenic formula.  The first few nights of bottle instead of nursing before bed were rough getting him to sleep, but that is quickly getting better.  The reflux is basically gone- he still gets Zantac before bed as a precaution, but I think very soon that will be eliminated as well.  He's been back to his happy, HAPPY self... cracking up hysterically at everything, smiling just because Daddy and I are talking out loud... and sleeping at night has generally been great.  He is inconsistent as we're trying to figure out a 'schedule' for feedings.  Sometimes he sleeps all night, sometimes he wakes around 1am to get a small bottle.  But the first night he got a full bottle before bed... he slept 12 STRAIGHT HOURS!  Mommy got 8 UNINTERRUPTED hours of sleep for the first time in almost 5 months!  It was wonderful. 

As we were figuring all this out, we made an appointment with a pediatric GI in St. Louis, which we went to on our way home to Chicago the day before Thanksgiving.  While we were glad went just to cover all our bases... it was the most pointless doctor's appointment we could have been to.  She basically didn't believe in dairy allergies (or true reflux) in babies... which is crazy due to the evidence to prove the contrary (questions?  Ask my friend Dana- she'll fill you in!! :) ).  So I was back to figuring this out on my own- nothing new there.  Like Nick said after the appointment- one thing we really learned from this?  Trust our own instincts.  They've gotten us this far.

Next was home for Thanksgiving!  We had a great weekend- even though Robby was extremely overwhelmed with such a busy weekend and so many new faces to take in.  He didn't want Mommy to put him down at night... AT ALL.  He wasn't quite his happy self, unfortunately.  He's a sensitive baby for sure.  But we had a wonderful weekend despite his bipolar attitude :)

Tired boy in the dr's office

On our way back to Springfield the Monday after Thanksgiving we had a pediatric urologist appointment in Kansas City (yes, BUSY weekend) to run more detailed tests on his kidneys.  He got an ultrasound on his kidneys first, then they did a VCGU- which is more detailed than other tests he's had.  Robby... was... EXCELLENT.  He laid there so well for the tests, didn't make a peep, and let them do everything they needed to do!  He got a catheter for this test, poor guy, but NO IV!  With how that went last time... we were thrilled no IV to say the least!  The doctor explained that the right kidney is still dilated, but nothing abnormal was found.  He said it could just be that as the 'tube' connecting the kidney to the bladder was forming in utero, it wasn't quite wide enough to fully let the urine through, so the kidney stretched out.  As the tube grew and the urine was able to drain more efficiently, the kidney just stayed stretched out.  So that was good news.  However, there IS reflux on the left.... ?!  Didn't see that coming.  On a scale of 1-5, he was rated a mild 3.  Basically, since he has not had any UTI's or complications with the kidneys/bladder, we are just going to continue to monitor the kidney.  He will go for ultrasounds every 4-6 months until he's 2 years old.  As long as it doesn't get WORSE (staying the same is good), we have nothing to worry about.  If it gets worse or he starts getting UTI's, we will have to consider surgery of some sort.  So as of now, no major concerns, which is good.

Robby had his 4 month check-up with our regular pediatrician last week (he was really just a week shy of 5 months though).  He weighs... wait for it... 17lbs, 1oz!  And he's 26.5in long!  What a big boy.  He's in the 75-80th percentile for height and weight.  He got two vaccines- rotavirus and DTaP... which he of course did great with.  The doctor had no concerns- developmentally, the doctor said he's doing well!

Currently, Robby continues to LOVE to stand and jump with our support.  He wants so badly to sit up on his own... he doesn't like to lean back anymore.  He either likes to lay on his back to play with his toy bars or sit up with support to play!  Tummy time still isn't his favorite, but he still does it... and while he is capable of rolling from tummy to back... he refuses to do it for Mommy and Daddy.  He'll only do it for the sitter or as soon as our backs are turned, and in a nano-second he'll roll over and lay there smiling when we turn back around.  Stinker.  :)  Robby never stays still anymore.  He loves to scoot and slide around- constantly turning himself 180 degrees on both his playmat and in his crib.  So many times, we lay him in his crib for bed, and when we wake up, his head is where his feet used to be and he's sound asleep.  We still swaddle him, so he's really quite talented!  On his playmat, he likes to turn himself around and get the toybar between his legs.  He cracks us up.  He constantly tries to roll from his back to his tummy as well- not quite strong enough, but he gets about half way!  And he's getting really good at 'talking'... he makes all sorts of noises and sounds with his mouth and tongue.  He has learned to click his tongue and will just lay there amusing himself by doing this for stretches at a time!  And while we won't start solid foods until 6 months, Robby has recently started sitting in his high chair to get used to it and exploring utensils- spoons, cups, and his teething toys.  He loves it (for short stretches at a time)!  Our little chunk has been in size 3 diapers for some time now... and has recently graduated to size 6-9 month clothes! 

First time in the stroller without the car seat!

Starting to hold his own bottle

Beautiful day... in December.

Robby's first Christmas will be here before we know it!

If you've gotten this far... Bravo!
Carrie



Poor Baby

(And poor Mommy and Daddy.)

The week after we increased Robby's reflux meds, all of his symptoms started getting worse again.  It was then we realized the Zantac just wasn't working for him anymore (it's common for Zantac to stop working).  I brought him into the doctor to make sure nothing else was going on as he just screams so much of the day and won't sleep at night.  The doctor decided to have us try Prevacid (the solutabs that dissolve in his mouth).  We tried it for a few days... but Robby just kept getting worse and worse.  He was screaming so frequently and forcefully... he was clearly in pain.  After doing some research, I realied that the form of Prevacid we were using has an inactive ingredient derived from MILK.  Robby has a dairy allergy.  So he was reacting horribly to the meds.  We stopped the meds and after all this, have come to realize his dairy allergy is more than just straight dairy- he has milk protein intolerance.  This is the inability to digest the proteins found in cow's milk- for Robby, it causes reflux, fussiness while eating, rash on his cheeks (and now tummy), colic-like behavior, mucousy poop, and horrible sleeping habits.

Our options from here are for me to completely eliminate all milk protein (and possibly soy protein as well, many babies that don't tolerate milk proteins also can't tolerate soy proteins.  so far I haven't noticed anything with soy for Robby, but I haven't had much of it).  This means totally changing my diet as most foods have milk proteins.  Not only would that be difficult for me (but if it's what he will do best with then that of course isn't an issue), but if I accidentally eat something with the allergens in it he will react to that (not as badly as he is now though). 

Or we can try a hypo-allergenic formula that has the proteins already partially broken down so it's not so hard on his GI system- this would be consistent with no chance of him accidentally getting allergens in his system.  The problem here is that there is no guarantee he'll do well on the formula because it does still contain traces of milk proteins (they're just partially broken down), it's CRAZY expensive, and many babies have a hard time taking it because it has an awful taste.

Unfortunately, there is no way to know which is best for Robby.  Some babies do better with the breast milk from the altered diet, and some do better going onto the formula.  And it would take a couple weeks to even see the effects from either as the proteins have to leave both mine and Robby's systems.

For now, I plan to alter my diet and continue breastfeeding Robby and see how he does with that.  In the meantime, I may have to supplement with some formula as my supply has significantly decreased from the stress and lack of sleep.

Wish us luck!
Carrie

3 Months and Growing

Growing we are!  At 3 and 1/2 months, our "little" baby weighs over 14 pounds!  He's still in 3-6 month clothing and size 2 diapers, but we don't think he will be for very long.

For a while, Robby was doing great.  Just before he turned 3 months (the week after his reaction to the shots), Robby was not a happy guy.  He spent most of the day screaming (our poor sitter) and still would not let me put him down at night.  We decided to go ahead and try reflux medications to see if that made a difference for him.  And boy did it ever. Apparently our little guy has got some pretty painful reflux going on.  Within days of starting the meds, exactly on Robby's 3 month 'birthday', we got an awesome gift......  Robby slept in his pack 'n play all night long!!  From 9pm- 9am, eating at 3am and 6:30am.  It was wonderful!  He continued to do pretty well sleeping at night for the next couple weeks.  Naps on the otherhand... still were a battle.  This kid just wants to party and then gets so overtired he doesn't know what to do with himself!  We started trying 'Interval Training'- which is letting him cry for 5 minutes, then going in and calming him down, letting him cry for 6 minutes, then going in and calming him down, etc.  Do this for at most 20 minutes at his age.  This would work every now and then, but overall, he would become so upset nothing would calm him down unfortunately.  We're still working on napping...!

A few weeks after we started the reflux meds, he took some major steps backwards and was back to fussing all day, not wanting to be put down at night, waking up fussy in the middle of the night, etc.  We ended up increasing his meds (it's very weight sensitive and clearly he's getting bigger by the week) which again made a big difference.  Just in time for us to go home for his Baptism!  His Baptsim weekend was wonderful.  He did so good in the church- just started fussing as he was getting tired.  But mommy walked around and rocked him and he eventually passed right out!  We got to see our families over the weekend and everyone got to see how big Robby's getting!

Robby's really been getting interactive and aware of what's going on around him.  He loves to catch Mommy's attention and start talking- trying to get me to talk back to him, sometimes even at 3am!  He loves to watch the fan and starts smiling when we turn it on.  He also continues to love the light-up star that plays music on his play mat.  He likes to shove his whole fist in his mouth and suck on it- but he still loves his paci too!  He's rolled from tummy to back once- but it was while laying on a couch cushion on the ground (it had enough give that it gave him a bit of help).  He can't quite do it on solid ground yet, but he's really been trying!  He's also been trying to get his feet- you can see him trying to lift his feet and legs up but can't get them up high enough!

I'll leave you with some more pictures....
Carrie :)