Updates and Catching Up

 So much updating to do! I seriously start posting, then something happens, and I never finish! So I'll try to cram this one.

Alex is reaching 4 months old! He is 13.8 lbs (love my little dude!), and learning so much every week. He can:

• Roll over. I set him down on his back on his music mat one morning (he was about 3 months 2 weeks old at this time), started a load of laundry, and when I came back, he was on his tummy! He also rolls from his tummy to back.

First roll over!

• Stand up in his exersaucer! 

• Chat somebody's ear off. He loves to talk, coo, laugh, and make all sorts of sounds!
• Play with his toys all day, including his feet! He's an excellent grabber just loves to shake and play with anything shiny and bright.

 He also had a bad end-of-the-week a couple-few weeks back when he had breakthrough seizures. He had 7 of them in 2 days (details in the post previous post!). Poor dude!

    Alex is also awesome when it comes to nap time and falling asleep on his own. We just swaddle him up, lay him down on the bed, and he's out within minutes. He's on and off when it comes to the pacifier, so we only use it when it's obvious he needs some soothing. Otherwise he could care less to have it. Anyway, it's definitely nice to be able to get him to sleep without rocking and the whole deal. He still wakes up once or twice in the night to feed, but it's not too bad. I'm honestly going to miss nursing him at night someday.

     We have also been taking walks by the lake in the mornings- when it's not too hot, that is. It's hard getting there early because we both like to sleep in, but when we do have time and the weather isn't too bad, we drive there and walk. He typically stays awake a good chunk of the walk because he wants to see pretty much everything! It's so cute.

Ducks!

Yummy monkey!

    Anyway, on Saturday, Gary and I went down to our nearest shelter (the East Valley Animal Shelter), and picked out a new addition to our family. This little guy was a stray cat- but acts nothing like a stray! He's 5 months old and the sweetest thing. I didn't want an orange cat because we've already been through that- but this little guy won our hearts. We couldn't believe nobody had picked him before us!

  So, here's Wilykat (Wily), from Gary's favorite show as a kid, Thundercats.

So snuggly!

My boys

So sweet!

Cute little guy!

     Anyway, Alex is making conversation with himself, so it's time to get him up from his nap! I'll do my best to keep the posts coming, but we'll see ;).

     Oh, and quick update from the doctor visit awhile back- she said reflux and he was given medication. I don't think it's worked too much as it might be more gas, but there is a slight improvement. 

Breakthrough Seizures

    So much updating to do! I've been feeling so incredibly blessed lately. I know I've always been blessed, but to actually feel Heavenly Father's love for me is helping my testimony grow. Anyway, I thought I'd throw that in there. On to events!

     Oh, wait, we haven't done anything too exciting. But there have been a few non-exciting events.

    See this sleepy guy? Yeah, talk about a bad end of the week for him a couple of weeks ago! Thursday, we had just come inside from our walk. I lifted up the hood of his car seat just in time to see his eyes roll back and his body tense up. I knew what it was- but my heart still began to pound. I calmly talked to myself to remind myself he was just having a seizure and he was going to be okay. I gently unstrapped him and held him while it happened. I then called his neurologist to give her an update and shot a text to Gary. It took ages for his doctor to get back to me. A few hours later, he had another one. Then another two hours later. Frustrated, I continued to call the neurology department and told them to flag the call as urgent. Finally, his doctor called back.

     She told us to double his Keppra dosage- and since it can take several hours for that to take effect, that she would write us a quick prescription of Lorazepam- basically a drug that would calm his body down (think anti-anxiety and panic attacks). She warned us it would make him drowsy- which, as you can see, did. Because of how strong Lorazepam is, we were instructed to only give him one dose every 8 hours- 2 doses max. If after the second dose the seizures continued, it would be a trip to emergency room.

     Not only did the drug basically sedate him, it made him weird and completely off. When he wasn't asleep, he was hyperactive- but not the playful, smiling hyperactive. He would rarely make eye contact and socialize. Instead, he would wriggle his body and let out these ear-shattering screeches, like he was desperately trying to avoid sleep. It hurt our ears, but it really upset me to see him this way.  I'm telling you, it was really odd behavior. 

      The next morning after his second dose, he had another seizure. So, emergency room we went. The doctor had to call his neurologist, who instructed him to give him Phenobarbital through an IV to control the seizures. It seriously took an hour or more to get the IV in him. They poked him everywhere, but it kept bursting. They even had to call in nurses from the NICU. One nurse finally got it, but minutes later it burst again. The only place left was his head- until a male nurse who happened to walk by found a place in his ankle and stuck him- and it stayed. I was mad and frustrated it took them that long (though I remained calm and patient- no need to add stressed mommy to the list of Alex's bad day). Not to mention he was screaming bloody murder the whole time, causing nurses and patients from other rooms to go in the hall and see what was going on. I had to nurse him to calm him down. Plus, he had two seizures in the process. 

During the Pheno IV

Attempting to burp him after a feed. Too sleepy!

     However, the Phenobarbital did the trick. It pumped in his system while I held him for about 90 minutes. He was still off for a couple of days after, but with his increased dosage of Keppra, he's been stable now. Never again do I want to do that. We are considering a new neurologist, as we want to make sure this doesn't happen every time he needs an increase in dosage. 

   Anyway, so far so good as he's been seizure free! And he's back to his normal, silly self.

     

Alex- 3 Months and First Trips

        This cutie pie turned 3 months old on Friday! It's amazing how fast he keeps growing. So, a few things:

        He LOVES water and swimming. In fact, he starts kicking his legs and smiling before we even get him in the water- then it's just complete happiness while there.

        Alex is getting great at grabbing objects in front of him now (then proceeding to stick them in his mouth). His coordination is getting much better. He loves grabbing our hands, my hair (though he's been doing that for awhile), and any toy we put in front of him.

     His head/neck control is almost pretty solid now. We need to do tummy time more often, but he's pretty strong and is doing a great job!

        His newest obsession? His feet. Goodness, he works hard to grab those suckers. He could probably entertain himself with his feet for a good amount of time.

        Alex's night schedule is improving (just last night he slept from 10-5, then went back to sleep after feeding, then slept until 8- now is back to sleep again). So more sleep for me!

        He also loves to talk to himself and make several baby noises. When we mimic him, he just laughs and smiles with his huge dimply-cheeks. Speaking of dimples, apparently they're genetic (dominant gene). If parents both have dimples, there's a 100% chance of baby getting them, and if only one parent has them, there's a 50% chance. However, neither Gary nor myself have dimples, so I've been trying to figure out where he got his dimples! Lucky, lucky boy. I do believe one of my brothers has dimples though (according to my mom), so I'll have to check that out. 

      Alex also had a couple of firsts these past couple of weeks!

With Dad

First ocean trip! We didn't hit the sand or water, but just strolled around the Santa Monica pier. It wasn't too crowded or bad, and it was just beautiful. Alex did pretty much snooze the whole time, but I do believe he did get to see the ocean for a bit. He also happened to get a lot of girlfriends while there too. I swear it was every other person who commented on how cute he is. He sure is!

Beautiful!

Snoozin'

        First beach trip! This time he actually did hit the water and sand. He had mixed feelings about the ocean. This year it's actually 10 degrees warmer- but still the Pacific Ocean, so you know.

Feeling the sand for the first time

After mean ol' Daddy let a wave hit his feet

This is better

Viewing the ocean and taking first steps on the sand

With Mommy and Daddy

At the harbor

        Sadly, as much as we tried to cover him up and keep him in the shade, he got a little sunburned. You can't really put sunblock on a baby under 6 months, but we sprayed a little on his legs. He did change out of his swimwear after his first dips, but the sun will do what it wants I guess. His cheeks and arms are a little red- and since sunburns can be pretty scary for babies, he'll be seeing his doctor anyway today. But it's just a little redness and he doesn't seem to be bothered by it.

        Anyway, the main reason he's visiting his Ped is because lately he's been having some pretty wicked crying spells which is totally not his typical behavior. He sometimes cries while eating, spits up a little more than usual, and just seems plain uncomfortable. He's also drooling a lot and he's rubbing his eyes and nose red while sticking fingers in his mouth. So, though he's 3 months, teething is a possibility. We're also concerned about allergies and reflux. His doctor does believe he may have some sort of allergy, so I've been trying to change up my diet to see what could be causing it. He seemed to have a bad reaction after I ate peanut butter, so who knows. You can't really allergy test a baby under 1 year, but we'll see what's going on when we see his doctor today. 

     Besides that, he's doing great and is a happy, happy baby. Okay, more pics:

Dimples!

Still a little small for this, but Daddy was eager to buy it. He seems to enjoy it though- just needs a little assistance staying upright (notice extra padding behind him)

New crib mobile (though he still sleeps with us in the bedroom)

With his bunny

Tummy time!

With Hulk!

Smiling at Mommy!

     Speaking of the crib, we've been letting him play and nap in there during the day so he can get used to it, but I'm not quite ready for him to be transferred over just yet. He sleeps in his bassinet by my bedside (or sometimes I'll bring him in the bed with us for a part of the night). It's just- so much easier when he's right there next to me. I can quickly feed and change him without really waking him up too much, and he goes right back to sleep. Besides, you know, it's nice having baby next to you. I feel like I can protect him more compared to him being in a complete separate room. We have a video monitor which works great, but still. Anyway, in time!