More PA pics

Nana just emailed a bunch of pictures that she took with her camera so here are a few more pictures from our trip to Pennsylvania...

Our main reason for making the trip to PA was so Dave could play in the John P. Wood memorial golf tournament. John P. Wood was Dave's grandfather who started Wood's Golf Center in PA. It has been there for 50 years but is currently in the process of being sold. This is potentially the last memorial tournament so Dave really wanted to play! Pictured here is Dave, JD and me in the front row and in the back row is Uncle Mike, Nana, Uncle Jeff and Poppy.

JD really enjoyed watching TV with Poppy...

He also enjoyed spending time with Uncle Mike!

Here's proof that I did get to hold him a little while we were there....I do have a picture of Dave playing with him but it's not the most flattering picture of Dave so you'll just have to take my word for it that JD got some "Daddy time" while we were visiting!

And here he is hanging out with Poppy again!

Firsts...

JD has had a couple more "firsts" lately...

He LOVES a bath but it dawned on me last week that he's never had a bubble bath! Here he is surrounded by bubbles, cute as can be:

His other first: First airplane ride! He did amazingly well... didn't cry at all...not even through the horrible turbulence and landing as we flew back into Myrtle Beach during 35 mph wind gusts! Well, he did cry out a couple of times when the captain came over the intercom and startled him but he settled quickly. Mommy and Daddy were a little unorganized the first time around, though. Did you know that you can't just wheel a stroller and car seat through security? It has to be collapsed and sent through the x-ray machine thingy. I should have known that but didn't think a thing about it and it made for a very unsystematic trip through security! Here is JD on the plane... if you look closely you'll see that he wore his airplane bib for the occasion!

While in Pennsylvania, JD got plenty of "Nana time".... or should I say that Nana got plenty of "JD time"? In any event, here is JD doing tummy time on Nana's lap and the second picture is of JD and Nana taking a nap after a long morning on the golf course!

That's all for now....we had a lovely time in PA and I'm glad we didn't have a screaming child during the entire flight! Not much on the agenda during the coming weeks but I'm sure I'll find something to take pictures of!

Big News!

JD has his very first tooth! It felt sharp yesterday and I was thinking "this is it!" but the last time it felt sharp like that, the next day it was gone...well, he still has a tooth today! It's just barely broken through but it definitely there! When it comes in all the way I'll be sure to post a picture. I don't think the next one is too far behind as I can feel a bump under his gum right beside this one... we'll see!

OK, as promised, here are all of the pictures that were taken at Picture People last weekend. They loved JD and asked if they could use one of his pictures on their wall. I think they're going to use one of the "pumpkin" pictures. I'll go order some of these this weekend but deciding which ones to order is going to be hard! There are so many of them I decided to put them into a slide show... enjoy!

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Random Pictures

I had a few random pictures on the camera that are pretty cute so I thought I would post them!

Daddy decided that JD needed to have his picture taken on our neighbor's motorcycle... **Disclaimer: No babies rode on motorcycles during the taking of this picture (it wasn't even running)

He was just too cute sleeping in his diaper...I had to get a couple of pics. I like the second one...it's like he's in baby jail or something!

JD has now started to reach out and grab for toys! Before he would just jump and look at all of the toys.... now he has a blast in his jumperoo! He has also figured out that jumping makes the lights and music come on... Yesterday I was mopping the kitchen floor while listening to JD jump when, all of a sudden, I realized it was very quiet in the house. I peeked around the corner and this is what I saw:

He jumped himself to sleep! He was only in it for about 5 minutes... I guess visiting Grandma and Grandpa yesterday really wore him out!

Other news: JD's first tooth is starting to make its appearance. It feels sharp when he bites down on my finger. It's also making him miserable so I hope it comes soon! Also, Mommy now only has 5 pounds to lose and she'll be back to her pre-pregnancy weight (as she shoves apple pie into her mouth...did you know that homemade apple pie contains no dairy products??)

Upcoming events: JD will take his first plane ride on Monday. We're flying up to PA for a few days to see Nana and Poppy. I sure hope he doesn't scream the whole way!

P.S. - the pictures we had taken last weekend turned out great! I'll post some of them as soon as Picture People emails me the access code so I can view them online!

3 Months!

JD is now 3 months old and it's hard to believe how much he's grown! Shall we recap the first three months of his life? Let's see... JD has been to a gala (for a golf tournament), a wedding, a baby shower, a bridal shower... he has been on a train, taken a 12-hour car trip, gone swimming in the Pawleys Island creek, stayed in 2 hotels... He's played golf with his daddy a couple of times, received lots of doggie kisses at Grandma and Grandpa's house and survived all of the hugs and kisses from all of us who love him so much!

Favorite Person: Daddy!

Favorite Time of Day: 6:00 AM... he's all smiles

Newest trick: Bouncing in the jumperoo

Favorite activity: Bath Time

Least favorite activity: tummy time

Favorite Things: Pacifier, The red bird on his jumperoo, sucking on his hand (see pic below)

Bad Habit: Sleeping with a pacifier

Most complimented characteristic: His pretty blue eyes

Tomorrow we go to the mall to have some family pics taken. I'll be sure to post them just as soon as they're available... this will be our first time having professional pictures taken. I sure hope JD is in a good mood!

Buddy's First Real Illness....

Well, JD has his first official illness, requiring antibiotics....

It all started last Sunday (August 31, 2008) when Dave brought a diaper to me with a spot of blood. I called the after hours number for our pediatrician's office and the doctor that called me back asked me a handful of questions and then told me to keep an eye on it. He said if it happens again to call back and make an appointment. Monday came and went without any blood in his diapers. Tuesday morning I changed his diaper and there were three teeny tiny specks of blood. If I wasn't inspecting every diaper I wouldn't have even seen them!

So I called the doctor and they told me to bring him in and to bring the diaper. The doctor took the dirty diaper that I brought with me to "test" it. He came back saying it was in fact blood in the diaper. But he didn't test it for bacteria (I've just discovered this... last week I thought they did test it for bacteria). The doctor then looked him over and said he seems to be happy and healthy. He said that JD is probably allergic to any dairy that I might be eating as blood in the diaper is a common sign of a milk protein allergy. I told him that I hadn't eaten any diary in 6 weeks. His response was that it could take 6 - 8 weeks for JD's "gut" to heal after I had cut dairy and I should redouble my efforts to stay away from all dairy. So we went home with instructions to keep an eye on him and to call back if he seemed like he was in any pain.

The blood in the diapers continued and JD started having screaming fits here an there. I noticed that the screaming fits usually occurred when he was nursing and preceded a poopy diaper so I called the doctor's office back and told them that he seemed to be in pain when he needed to poop. The nurse called me back and said that it was probably gas that was hurting him. I told her that we gave him Mylicon at every feeding and he had a lot less gas than he used to. She said it probably wasn't working anymore and I should stop using it and start giving him gripe water instead. I wasn't real happy with this answer as the Mylicon really had helped to cut down on the gas and the few times we tried gripe water it had done nothing!

So Saturday I decided to call my Lactation Consultant after wrestling with JD through a few feedings. He just kept unlatching and crying and then frantically trying to latch back on. It was exhausting and feeding him was taking forever! She called me back on Sunday and we had a very long discussion. I mentioned to her that his diapers were unusual. The poop was green, smelly, mucousy and had blood... all of which is not normal for a breast fed baby. She said she wanted to look something up and she would call me back. She called me a couple of hours later and said she had discussed my situation with a couple of her co-workers that had lots and lots of experience and they all agreed that something was going on besides a dairy allergy. Which is kind of what I was thinking!

First thing Monday morning I called the doctor's office again and insisted that they do a stool culture to check for bacteria. The nurse called me back and told me to take his next dirty diaper to the lab at the hospital and they would do the culture. I dropped that off on Monday morning.

Yesterday I got a call from the doctor's office and the nurse said that they did find a bacteria called Shigella and they would call in a prescription antibiotic. She said he should start to feel better within 24 to 48 hours and I should call her on Friday to let her know how he is doing. If he's not better by Friday they'll want me to bring him in again. Dave and I have no clue where he picked this bacteria up... it could have been from anywhere! I hate that the little guy has a bacterial infection but I am so relieved that they found something that we can treat so he can feel better!

He's had 3 doses of the antibiotic and woke up smiling this morning. We'll see how the rest of the day goes. Yesterday he woke up from every nap screaming after just 30 minutes. That's just not like him. Normally he takes a 2 - 3 hour nap in the morning and when he wakes he just looks around for a little while until I go get him. He NEVER screams! Hopefully my little man will be feeling better by the end of the day!

More new tricks!

JD has had a busy week of learning! I put him in his jumperoo yesterday morning and he figured out how to actually jump in it! Before he would just kind of sit there and look at the toys. Now he gets his little legs going, which triggers the lights and music and he loves it! His other new trick is holding on to small toys! I noticed that if I hold my finger out he'll reach out and grab it so I decided to try it with a toy. Sure enough, when I held it up for him he reached out, grabbed it and held on to it for a very long time! He won't grab for it if it's just lying beside him, though. Only when I hold it out for him...it's a start! Here he is holding his little green teething ring...which, coincidentally, matches his paci perfectly!

Speaking of teething ring.... as you can see from this pic he's doing quite a bit of drooling these days. I think he's cutting his first tooth! I can feel a bump on his bottom gum and he's started biting down on my finger when I stick it in his mouth instead of sucking on it. I've heard it can take months for the tooth to actually break through, though so it may be a while before I can post a pic of his first pearly white!

A little bit of mommy news: I now only have 7 pounds to lose and I was able to wear a pair of my pre-pregnancy shorts yesterday!! Up until now I could get them on, just not buttoned. I guess my hips are finally starting to get back to normal!

Upcoming events: JD turns 3 months old on Friday! Stay tuned for his picture in the chair with the bear!!! Also, I decided we needed to get professional pics for his 3 month birthday so we're taking him to Picture People on Sunday. Dave and I will be in some of the pictures too... I'll be sure to post those as soon as I have them. I'm pretty excited about it!

Are you ready for some football?

JD attended his very first CCU football game today. It was hot as hell so we didn't stay long but we got some tailgating in and spent about 10 minutes inside the stadium actually watching the game. Hopefully we'll get to stay longer at future games. They're normally at 7:00 on Saturday evenings but because Tropical Storm Hanna decided to visit the Carolinas this one was postponed to today. Here are a few pictures from this afternoon.

Tailgating with Mommy & Daddy

JD volunteered to hold Daddy's beer.....

Grandparents Day...

Today is Grandparents Day and JD decided to do something small but special for all of his grandparents. This was placed in a frame and sent to Nana and Poppy and also given to Grandma and Grandpa:

And here are a few of my other favorites:

Sammy joined us for the "photo shoot" and just looked at me as JD fussed towards the end.... I love this one!

9 Hours!!!

There must have been some sort of planetary alignment or something last night because JD slept for 9 hours! He went down at 7:00 PM (I went to bed at 8) and woke up at 4:00 AM! There were a couple of times that he grunted for his paci but when I popped it in his mouth he went right back to sleep! Normally he'll spit it right back out and let it be known that he wants to eat.

He ate for just 15 minutes at 4:00 AM and then went right back to sleep until about 6:00, when I got up and started my morning routine. Even though it was odd hours... this counts as sleeping through the night in my book!

I know better than to get my hopes up that he'll do this every night but I'll certainly take it!

Upcoming events: JD will attend his first bridal shower tomorrow (my cousin Meghan is getting married next month) and he will attend his first Coastal Carolina University (my alma mater) football game on Sunday. We're so excited to have a new little tailgater this year!!!

Our 3rd Anniversary

Yesterday was our third anniversary. Dave had to work so JD and I hung out at the house. Dave got home around 4:30 PM and we were waiting for him in the shade of the front yard....

Dave played with JD for a little while as I got dressed and ready for our big night out.... well, not that big as my bed time these days seems to be around 8:00 PM! Here we are right before we went to dinner:

And here is JD with his babysitters for the evening - - Grandma and Grandpa!

Dave and I went to Yamato (Japanese steak house) for sushi. For those of you who don't know, Dave and I met at a sushi bar here in Myrtle Beach...7 years ago! We go out for sushi every year on our anniversary. The food was great but I somehow ended up with food poisoning or something. I don't know how Dave escaped without it because he ate everything that I did!

Oh well, I'm all back to normal today and the focus of the day will be to get everything that's not tied down into the garage so it doesn't fly away with Hurricane Hanna! Hurricane preparedness with a baby... this should be interesting! Guess I'll strap him in the carrier and he can help!

This week's happenings...

JD has had yet another fairly busy week!

A few weeks ago I posted about my friend who went into preterm labor on the day of her baby shower. Well, the baby stayed in the NICU for about four weeks but is now home! JD and I visited Liz and little Kendall on Saturday.... I guess it was JD's first official play date! Here are pics of Liz and Kendall and of Liz and JD from this past Saturday:

Yesterday we had to drop my car off at the Honda dealership to have it serviced and Dave was dying to drive the Porsche.... so we broke out the manual for the car seat, got it strapped in nice and tight and JD took his first Porsche ride with Daddy. I think Daddy enjoyed it more than JD!

Lastly, we took an unexpected trip to the doctor today. On Sunday night JD had a little drop of blood in his diaper so I called the after hours number for our pediatrician. The doctor that called us back asked me a few questions and said just to keep an eye on it... if it happened again to call and make an appointment for JD to be seen by his regular doctor. Well, it happened again this morning so I took JD and his poopy diaper to the pediatrician. They tested his stool and determined that, yes, it is blood and there is no bacteria in his stool, which is good. The doctor said it was most likely an allergy to dairy. I told him that I took it upon myself to cut dairy from my diet about 5 weeks ago due to his excessive and seemingly painful gas. He told me that it can take 6 to 8 weeks for his belly to heal after I cut it from my diet. He said I should just be very diligent about not eating any dairy and if JD seems to be in pain at any point I should bring him back in. So all is well but it looks like my plan to reintroduce dairy at 3 months is out the window!

Tomorrow is our 3 year anniversary. Grandma and Grandpa will keep JD for a couple of hours while we go to dinner. I'm sure I'll have pictures of that to post tomorrow!