A Hoppy Life: November 2011

Monday, November 14, 2011

So Much "Fun" - What a Week!

This past week has been FUN filled. So much so I’m trying to decide where to start. After our week of firsts, we had another big first – Max’s First Thanksgiving! Last Sunday, November 6^th we celebrated our C's Family Thanksgiving! It was so much fun, everyone got together and we heard a big ANNOUNCEMENT!

First, let me start with who all was there. Memaw and Papa, Aunt Chris and Uncle Doug, Grandpa H., Aunt Dawn, Uncle Dan and Austin, Honey and Papa Vuchak, Kevin, Max and myself and Uncle Kyle and Aunt Kate, unfortunately the Florida Crabbs couldn’t make it, as it’s quite a drive from Florida to Ohio (SAD FACE). It is always so much fun to get everyone together – especially when food is involved.

So now for the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!! I wish I had a picture of this to show, but I don’t so you’ll just have to hear the story and imagine. So, Aunt Kate and Uncle Kyle were a little late to dinner, but when they showed up Memaw urged Kevin and I to get up and go say hello! So they walk in and Gussy (their very adorable laberdoddle) is wearing this red t-shirt. So I stop and read it and am like huh… as the shirt said something along the lines of “I’m going to be a BIG SIS!” (I can’t remember as my excitement caused a momentary Black Out! – Ha!)

My first thought was, “Are they getting another puppy…” don’t ask me why (I think I didn’t register dog with baby, even though we say Guinness is Max’s big brother) but I was confused, but my mind quickly shifted to JOY as I realized that they were EXPECTING!!! That’s right, our FAMILY is GROWING!! Max is getting another cousin! We are so happy for them!! Having a baby is the best gift in the world and we are sooooo overjoyed for them! And it’s perfect because Max will forever have a playmate very close in age to him, just the way we wanted it. It’s no fun to be the youngest cousin and have no one close in age, I’ve been there – done that. So we are overjoyed! I can’t wait to meet the newest Vuchak and can’t wait to find out if it’s a boy or a girl… Stay tuned hopefully they will tell us on December 12^th… if not I will harrash them til the do!

So that’s some big news, right! Wow! Lovin’ it! Okay so on we go to last week, so last week was a fun week! Max is getting so big and is really starting to be a lot of fun! I find myself unable to resist a little rough housing here and there, rolling around on the floor and whatnot. It’s super fun! He laughs and laughs!

On Tuesday, I think it was Tuesday, we had Max’s 4 month check up! He did perfectly of course, and only barely cried during his shots. He was hamming it up to the doctor and really enjoyed himself. He’s so darn sweet!

Here are his stats:

Height: 26” – 84%

Weight: 17.8 lbs – 89%

Head Cir.: 97% (big brains we say)

He’s definitely a big boy like his daddy! The doctor gave us permission to continue the cereal and after a week of that we could start him on Step 1 foods, which we did on Friday. It was a wonderful visit as always, afterall good news always is!

So here comes Friday! What a big day! My good girlfriend Ashley, and her husband, Elloitt, and their little sweetheart (Max’s future Girlfriend), Sophia, came to visit. Ashley and I had so much fun playing with the babies… and I think they really enjoyed each other as well.

Max loved Sophia… he kept checking her out. And Sophia kept playing hard to get! It was so much fun! My favorite part was when we tried to get them to take a photo together on the couch and they were falling all over each other, as neither of them has any balance. They are both chucky monkeys and both the most beautiful things I have ever seen!

And if the babies didn’t have fun enough, us mommies and daddies certainly did. In fact, both daddies’ were up til 2 a.m., can you believe it! Ashley & I went to bed well before that! Go figure!

Max even showed Sophia how well he eats, and even tried Applesauce for the first time while she was visiting. He’s such a show off for his girlfriends. Ha! (Let me tell you though, I don’t think he liked it at first, now however, he seems to have grown to enjoy it, especially when I mix it with his cereal & boob milk!) Like I said it was a blast!

On Saturday morning when the babies woke up, they enjoyed some playtime in their PJs, each having their own playmat, and then I again set them up for another photo session! It was so nice to have Max interact with another baby! And it was nice for me to see my good friend! We miss them already and are eagerly looking forward to our next visit! So exciting!!!

Looks like FUN is the word in this POST… sorry for all the repetition, there’s just no other way to describe it! Below are a few photos from my iTouch - I'll post some better quality photos later tonight!

Max & Sophia playing!

Tummy Time!

Max showing Sophia how it's done!

So darn cute!

Love them!

Daddy, Max and Guinness! Exhausted after another Brown's loss!

Maxwell

Happy Baby... almost rolling over!

Friday, November 4, 2011

A Week of Firsts

This week was a week of firsts for us! We experienced our first fever, our first Halloween, our first Halloween parade, our first sleepless night in like 2 months and our first meal of solid food. Wow! We've had alot going on... where should I start.

The Fever
As most NEW parents will tell you the first fever that there little baby has is the scariest thing ever... we were lucky to be at my parent's home with my father a 30+ year practicing Emergency Medical physician so although this experience was quite scary having a trained medical practitioner there made a world of difference. It all starting when my dad was holding Max on Halloween day watching football, I was running around taking care of things and daddy was packing up the car so we could go home... my dad said to me that he thought Max had pooped and that he felt a little warm. So I scooped him up and changed his diaper (he had pooped) and took his temperature while I was upstairs (thankfully I had brought the thermometer with me). To my dismay, he did indeed have a temperature... ahhhh!! Of 101.4... I immediately began to freak out... Max on the other hand was acting quite normal... Ahhh.. I'm freaking out more.

I, again thankfully and as an over prepared mother, had brought his baby medicine with me as before we left Canfield had a feeling that he was coming down with a cold. So my mom and me gave Max the prescribed amount (again thank you doctor Grandpa), Max hated it! And so my mother, now sorta freaking out, and my father decided that I needed to go out and get baby acetaminophen suppositories (here's a link to the Feverall website http://www.feverall.com) because Max hated the medicine and he might not be getting any. I fought this, because I didn't think they existed -- but was proved wrong. As they do exist. So I rushed out and got them... freaking out by the way the whole time. Thinking why the hell am I out getting these why am I not home with baby - answer - because I wouldn't trust anyone else to do it.. it needed to be me as I am fast and I get things done right. Crazy mother thinking, huh!

By the time I got home Max's temperature was back to normal and there was no need for the medicine. Relax and calm became me... phww! Over the next day, Max ran a slight temperature and we did give him the suppositories. They worked quick and were easy to give to him. He went to daycare on Monday but spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thrusday with grandma... by Wednesday he was in "mint condition" as Daddy would say, and back to normal. Our first scare was over... but damn was it scary and damn do you over react about everything when they are sick... it's horrible. I hope he never get's sick again - cue crazy mother thinking again.

Halloween & Halloween Parade
On Monday, October 31st - yes Max was running a slight fever but nothing serious so we sent him to daycare - we weren't going to initially have him participate in the Halloween parade but when we discovered it was really just 2 laps around the parking lot in a stroller we relented... we didn't want to be those parents after all. It was great and I'm glad we did it.

I came early & helped them dress Max in his Chicken Costume, that Daddy had gotten from the Old Navy at a discounted price... he found a loose string on it and therefore got 50% off. He looked adorable. I love him!! Daddy came too and we watched them push Maxwell around the parking lot. It as so funny.. Max was like hmm this is interested while the other kids where having breakdowns. See the video and pictures below.. Kevin and I had a blast and were so glad our little angel was in the parade! Love him!


I think the kid sitting next to him is 7 months old.. haha.. Max is just as big as him.. so darn cute!


Our little chicken!! Love him!!

Look at the other kids - half are crying!

Sleepless Nights?
So this whole fever thing and sickness thing made Max very restless at night and therefore Mommy and Daddy didn't get much sleep. Max, normally a great sleeper, was waking up 2 or 3 times a night for a few days and Mommy not feeling good herself was really suffering. Lucky this has appeared to have just been a few day thing, as he's back to sleeping regular - getting up only one time a night, although he has recently been waking up earlier and fussing when his pacifier falls out of this mouth - so mommy's still not sleeping perfectly yet but it's better!

Mommy of course freaked out and did all this research when Max went a few nights sleeping bad and thought he might be experiencing 'Four Month Regression Sleeping' but now that he's back to normal I think it was just a thing. We've also started him on cereal so maybe that's helping him sleep.

Cereal
So I have been after Kevin for the past few weeks, telling him we need to start Max on cereal. We've been putting it off because we've been scared... go figure new parents scared. I've done all the research, cue crazy mom music again, and this is what I discovered about starting cereal...

Is the baby double their birth weight - check
Are they showing interest in food - check - staring us down at every meal asking where his is:)
Between the 4 & 6 month age - check
Seems hungry even after being fed - semi-check - he loves his Momma milk but I think he could use more
Eating there hands.. umm.. check check check

Ready to eat mommy - see I can sit in high chair and eat hand!

More hand eating!

So we went for it this week, again the sleepless thing contributed to us trying this out, and he took it like a champ. We're talking opening his mouth for the spoon and everything. Now he's definitely messy with it - which he's supposed to be as it's supposed to be fun - so who knows how much he's actually eating, but I know this will improve with practice. Either way he loved it.. and we had so much fun feeding him. Check out some pictures!!