I have time to blog again

My last post was in early April ... right around then is when Colson's sleep issues really started to worsen. Colson never really slept through the night (he still doesn't!) but a few weeks after his first birthday, he started waking up more and more in the middle of the night. At first it just seemed like the usual - he was transitioning between sleep cylces, something would wake him up, and he wasn't able to get back to sleep on his own. So one of us would go in and help him back to sleep.

This used to be once a night. Then twice, then 3 times ... but then maybe around when Colson was 14 months old, I noticed that even after I would pick him up he would still be squirming around and he seemed uncomfortable. Sometimes I would walk in and he would be rolling around in his crib arching his back and stiffening his legs as if in pain :(

We took him to the doctor who ruled out ear or respiratory infection. He asked if Colson was exhibiting any discomfort during the day (no) or if he had any vomiting, or blood in his stool - also both no. I thought it was acid reflux, but the Dr. said that it wouldn't just act up at night. Nevertheless, we put Cols on Zantac for about 10 days. With no improvement, I took him off the medicine.

Next, the Dr. suggested that maybe a certain type of food was causing the abdominal discomfort and chronic constipation (and he was also very gassy at times). So then we started an elimination diet to see if it would help. First thing to go was milk and dairy, then soy, then gluten ... then we added soy back in so he could at least have soymilk. Without any improvement, it then occured to me that we should try to eliminate rice because with all the other food that we were cutting out, rice was a huge part of his diet. Within days his constipation went away - he began going twice a day regularly. He had never been this regular his whole life! We are going through diapers so quickly now ... he used to only poo maybe once every 3 or four days! Obviously now looking back this was a huge part of the problem ... he was so backed up poor guy.

Needless to say all this elimination dieting took a lot of work and monitoring. We were keeping (and still keeping) a detailed food and sleep diary. At our lowest moment, Cols was waking literally every hour from the time he went to bed until the time he was up for the day -- so for a period of almost a week he never got longer than a one hour stretch of sleep. At this point I -- we -- were beyond exhausted, but felt even worse for our little boy who could not get a good night sleep :(

After we cut out the rice, things began to slowly improve. It has only been this week that things have been almost back to normal. We re-introduced gluten (wheat) foods and he seems to be okay. I am also slowly re-introducing dairy and milk. He's only waking once or twice a night, but is able to go back to sleep on his own in about five minutes or less. It's been a long 3 months, but we are so glad that he is getting some quality sleep again ...

busy weekend -- part deux

Bubba's second Easter! We had brunch at Zinfandel Grille with Nick's dad's side of the family:

Then we had dinner at Nick's mom's house ... Colson arrived all bundled up:

Then we lost the hat and sweater:

Petting Eddy :)

One of Bubba's classic looks:

I don't wanna wear this egg basket on my head!!

busy weekend! two birthday parties and easter -- part one

We had another jam packed weekend ... Aidain's first birthday party on Saturday; Niko's 3rd birthday party on Saturday and two easter get-togethers on Sunday - oy!

Aidan is a friend of Colson's from M&M group. His mom Andrea planned his party at artBeast children's art studio in mid-town. What a fabulous idea!! We did cupcakes and presents first before the kiddies started their "art project" :) Then they had one side of the room covered in butcher paper with little pie tins filled with non-toxic paint and lots of paintbrushes strewn about. I stripped Colson down to his onsie then let him go for it! He lunged for a paintbrush and I showed him how to dip it in the paint then paint on the paper ... but ... he never really got past the goopy feeling of paint on his hands! He would drop a paintbrush in paint then grab it and get paint all over his hands, then reach up for me to wipe it off him ... we did this a couple times before I decided that we would just sit back and watch everyone else paint ;)

Yummy cupcakes made by Aidan's mommy:

Aidan with mom and dad:

All the little ones had name tags -- the staff there had a great suggestion to put them on their backs so they wouldn't rip them off (guess it wasn't their first birthday shindig!):

Enjoying a little frosting ...

Aidan enjoying his cupcake ... mmmmm ... frosting ...

Trying to get a group pic of everyone!

The Garveys post painting!

Mommy & Me:

Happy Birthday Aidan!!! Thanks for inviting us ;)

Then Colson and I hopped in the car. He fell asleep, on the way home, where dad ran out and jumped into the car and we were off to Niko's party. Niko is Nick Garcia's son -- yes another Nick that dad is friends with (there's also Nick Steele, Nick White, Nick Moser ... don't get me started on the Matts). They had a fun backyard BBQ with a jumphouse! When all the big kids were doing the pinata I let Colson roll around in the jumphouse -- we might have to get one for Colson's bday next year :)

Niko loves Scooby Doo -- and his party was all sccoby doo'ed out ... birthday banner, cupcakes, mystery wagon decorations, tableclothes ... and then there was an Incredible Hulk Cake? His mom Erica told me that he likes both - hahaha :) Happy Birthday big guy :) Hope you enjoy your new clothes and sock monkey!

pics from Colson's first snow trip in February

I don't know about this snow business ...

Check out Colson's moon boots:

Hanging out inside the warm cabin ... all smiles!

dishwasher

There's life ... and then there's life with a kid - two totally different things. It's been difficult trying to juggle everything ... Colson, Nick, work!, cleaning, cooking, minor home repairs (thank god my parents come out every couple of months and my dad works his magic!) ... list goes on and it never ends. I always feel like I'm playing catch up and not really staying ahead of the game. So my girlfriend Katie at work sat me down and said I needed to get more help around the house, namely a cleaning lady. So I am searching for one right now ... let me know if you know anyone good!

Anyway, in an effort to make life easier, we started using our dishwasher (gasp! I know) the beginning of this year. Before we did everything by hand. Nick and I always thought it was faster, especially when it was just the two of us. But adding Colson adds more dishes (not to mention more laundry too) ... so now I can't ever believe that we went without using it before!!! Ridiculous. The dishwasher is wonderful.

finally adjusted after daylight savings!

It took a few weeks, but we finally got back on track after the daylight savings time change! Before, Colson was going to sleep at around 6:30 pm ... then after time change it was more like 7:30 ... then we inched up to 7:00 and now he's going down between 6:30 and 7:00 again! Thank god, because since he doesn't take very long naps during the day (half an hour!) I like for him to go down early in the evening so I have a few hours to clean, do laundry, ... blog ;)

MARCH Updates

Party in Long Beach

Our March started out busy from the get-go! The first weekend, Nick went on Zach's bachelor trip to Arizona so Colson and I headed to Southern CA to visit my parents ... Colson had his first (of many) first-birthday parties! After much debate, my mom decided it would be easier to have his party at a Cambodian restaurant in Long Beach - hahahah ... so Colson had a catered 5-course dinner for his party! We have lots of family - so restaurant was the easier choice. I think we had about 40 people there. We brought a few decorations, hats, and cake, but didnt have to worry about set-up or cooking or cleaning afterwards.

Unfortunately Colson was sick during almost the entire trip :( He just started to feel better on Sunday - the day after his party. He had been running a low fever for about 4 days, plus coughing and runny nose ... needless to say, he wasn't in a great mood the day of his party. But we managed to make it through, with some crying, some whining, but a few smiles too!

Ryan Wade's Birthday

Colson is a baby jet-setter - hahaha. His party in Long Beach was on March 6 and on Sunday March 7 we hopped on a plane back to Sac, met up with dad who had also flown back in from AZ that morning and then headed to Ryan's birthday party that afternoon! Sorry Matt and Kat that we were totally late! Colson and I got bumped from our morning flight, so didn't get into Sac until much later than planned. But we made in time for presents!

As most of you remember Ryan and Colson were born only one day apart! Ryan on March 9 and Colson on March 10 :)

Officially One Year Old on March 10!

Colson's actual birthday was on Wednesday March 10 ... we had a small family gathering with a small home made cake and beef stroganoff and chicken alfredo -- courtesy of Costco! hahaah ... so convenient though - but good too! This was his second go-round with the candle. The first time he wasn't feeling well and a little out of it - this time he tried to grab the flame! Dad thought he would be funny and started a little frosting war ... and used Colson to get me!

M&M Graduation

Colson and I have been going to a mommy's group hosted by Kaiser since he was about 6 weeks old. It's called Mommy&Me so we shortened it to M&M. You are only supposed to go until you are one year old :( Sadly, we had to say goodbye to all our friends at group, but luckily we have made lots of great new friends that we now see regularly outside of group :) Here's pics from his graduation -- he got a little certificate for participating in the program and I even got one for accomplishing the task of nursing him for a whole year ;)

His friend Alexis - who btw was born on the same day as Colson at the same hospital (Kaiser South Sac) just a few hours before Colson! - also graduated that day :) Here they are with Kim M. our group leader, lactation consultant, therapist, patient listener, and advisor extraoirdinaire! Thank you Kim for all the weeks you listened to my questions and concerns and for helping us (me) through my first year ... awwww, tear!

A little bittersweet that a year has gone by already! I usually don't get all that sentimental on here, but sometimes when I finally slow down and think about how far Nick Colson and I have come, it does bring a tear to my eye! And we can't believe that our little baby boy is growing so fast and is a rambunctious, mischievous, curious little boy now ...

Birthday Bash

After our party in Long Beach and our little family party, we had an all out birthday bash at the house :) Here are a few pics from the day. Thank you to my sister who came into town 2 days early to help me and who took pictures for us during the party! Thank you everyone for coming and for the barrage of birthday presents! We haven't even opened about 75% of the presents ... I'll just let him play with a new one every week ... maybe we could make it to Christmas!

The second to last picture in this series is me & Cols with my college KAT sisters and the last pic is us with the M&M group ...

The Zoo

Grammy Lynda gifted a zoo membership to Colson for his birthday - so awesome! Thanks Lynda :) The zoo is just a few minutes from our house so it's pretty convenient, plus this way we can just pop in for an hour or two whenever we want ;)

Colson's nanny Stephanie (Nick's cousin) and her sister Cara took Colson and Presley to the zoo on Colson's birthday (I was at work - boo) ... they had a great time!

Colson and I have already been a few time too! He's a huge fan of the carousel too!

Playing with new birthday toys

A few of the moms from our group got together and gave Colson this awesome sand/water table for his birthday! Thanks Kyle, Lexi and Colt! So we thought we'd invite a few of our pals over to try it out! Note: we just filled it with water ... I don't know if I'll ever put sand in it!

Also, i just have to mention this: I was at toysRus and they have tons of outdoor toys out right now. One thing I saw was a mud play kit - that includes like plastic hamburger buns and you make a mud patty ... plastic ice cream cone and you make ices cream out of mud/dirt ... WTH?? Grr-osss!

Penny Sylvia

At last! So, since Colson has been born, we have not had any professional pictures or portraits taken of him or us! I know - shame on me! I finally found a photographer whose style I liked and she happened to be the same photographer that Zach and Crystal used for their wedding! After many re-schedules due to weather, we finally got Penny out here to our house to take some family portraits about a week ago ... my mouth is watering with anticipation! I can't wait to see the proofs!

Crystal & Zach's Wedding

Going out for the month of March with a bang! Our good friends Crystal and Zach were married on March 27 at St. Mary's followed by an amazing reception at Wilson Vineyards. Reminded me of our wedding two years earlier ... well except we didn't get married in a church, or even by a priest or pastor or judge. Actually, Zach himself presided over our ceremony! It was perfect for us :) But our reception was also at a vineyard (Scribner Bend) not too far from Wilson Vineyards. The day's weather was beautiful ... everyone looked amazing ... the food was tasty ... and the wine was good! It was nice to relax and get away for a little bit - sans Colson ;) Thanks for sharing your day with us!

Pictures coming soon b/c my camera was out of batteries so I didn't get any pics of my own, but hopefully will track some down from others' cameras :) Please send them to me if you have any!

One Year Checkup

Colson's one-year check-up was on March 30. He's basically hit a plateau since about 8 months ... he's been about the same weight (now 23.4 lbs), height (now 30.5"), and head size (18" i think?) since his past check-up (9 mos). But doc is not worried -- he's rigth at the 50th percentile for everything. I was expressing concern b/c I was feeling that he wasn't eating enough or drinking enough milk -- he was never on the bottle, drinking out of sippy cups since he was 6 mos old and he eats small meals and i really have to work hard to get him to eat! We switched to whole milk a few days shy of his first birthday, but he doesn't guzzle it at one sitting or anything ... more just has it as a drink with his meal or sips on it. I guess every other baby I've know by this age will sit down and have a whole bottle and hold it themselves too!

Oh well, Colson is not "every other baby." That's for sure! He has a personality all his own :) Even though I've weaned him during the day, I still nurse one at night and once in the early morning --I'll gradually cut those out too.

And, he still wakes once or twice during the night .... most times he'll cry for about 10 min then go back to sleep. Sometimes he screams bloody murder and I'll go in there and put him back to sleep ... sometimes I am dead tired and I whisper to Nick to go in there ... sometimes I can hear Colson cry when Nick tries to put him in his crib, then I go in there and make a second attempt ... sometimes I just give up and bring him into bed with us. But there's nothing better than that huge grin on his face when he wakes up in between us and is all hyper and climbing all over us as we pretend to sleep still ... sigh ... for all the lost sleep, I still wouldn't trade it for the world :)

So needless to say, we still have sleepless night and trouble getting him to eat and nap, but I've learned that if I take a laidback approach I am less stressed out and irritable - so, for those of you who know how regimented and schedule-based and type-A I was before Colson, since having him I think it has actually made me not sweat the small stuff! (like a couch pillow out of place, or a dirty dish in the sink, or piled-up laundry ... i could go on for days)