Fall turns to winter

Well, as you can probably see (click image to enlarge), Caleb's getting all his toofies in. You can normally tell when another one starts to push in because he is really irritable. Not entirely sure about the count at the moment, but it's somewhere between 6 and 10 teeth (including one that was just under the surface a few days ago).

We've cut back on the outdoor activities with the arrival of cool weather. Hilary is a real mom though...if I take Caleb outside for more than 30 seconds and there is the slightest chill in the air, he has to get all bundled up.

That picture above was one of a series of pics from a recent trip to the park down the street. A lot of people thought we took some trip up to the mountains because of the scenery and the lookout...but nope, we really do live north of the city here in Dacula. Nice park, too. We've been there a bunch of times (most of the trips being before Caleb was born, back when Jingles was the star of the show). It's nice to just park, walk around about a mile or so and then drive back or sit on bench/swing for a little bit.

Christmas is going to be a complete toy BLOWOUT for Caleb. Santa Claus (ME!!! Can you BELIEVE it?) is going to be bringing quite a few things here, and if I had to take a guess, there will probably be another couple of items coming from the grandparents. Caleb will have no shortage of playtime materials!

And no "baby's first Christmas" is complete without a visit to see Santa! We went to the mall the other day before the evening rush and had zero waiting time to see Santa. Caleb talked about all the stuff he wants (no, not really...he's advanced, of course, but not that advanced). He was really good, he smiled at Santa when he saw him, and was very excited, but got really calm when they took the picture. Still good though...I was expecting a full screaming fit when we plopped him in the old man's lap and walked away from him.

More to come soon (including Santa pictures). Stay tuned!

Pee

As I am always happy to report, Caleb sleeps all the way through the night (sometimes stirring once or twice, but back to sleep quickly), and has done so since the end of May.

That is huge. However, as with most things in life, the bitter and the sweet mix with one another. One of the side effects of Caleb sleeping through the night is that his diaper is F-U-L-L of pee when he gets up in the morning. It's understandable...he has a 7 oz bottle around 9pm and doesn't have his diaper changed until about 11-12 hours later. Not a big deal for the most part. It's kind of fun to take the diaper and drop it on the floor to a reassuring "THUD" each morning. I feel like we're really getting a good value when the diaper is filled almost to overflowing.

The problem comes in when it overflows. This happens about 1 out of every 2 or 3 mornings, meaning that Caleb's pajamas are a little wet. The good news is that he doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all, doesn't seem to mind it. I like to think my child is growing up to be a real man's man, not whining and moaning about every trivial inconvenience, or something as trivial as being soaked in your own waste (just like Billy Madison said, "it's cool to pee your pants!")



Anyway, I'm ready for suggestions, otherwise it'll be Mr. Pee Pants every morning for the foreseeable future.

Flipping, rolling and laughing

Caleb's been sleeping on his stomach for a couple of weeks now. For the most part, we lay him down for the night or for naps, and he's on his back. Sometimes he curls onto his side, but especially after his bedtime feeding, he just lays there on his back passed out. During the night, however, he apparently goes all over the place in his crip, because he's almost never near where he started when we put him to bed. Today, he's flipped over, at the opposite end, facing the opposite way. Nighttime traveler.

He's still sleeping through the night (usually a little after 9pm until 8am or 9am). He's not napping as much during the day, however.

His laughter is contagious. He will just look at you from across the room, smile, make little sounds. But when he really gets laughing, you feel like it's so genuine, like you've almost never really heard someone laugh so sincerely in your whole life.

Caleb's days haven't changed a lot...it's still pretty boring most days, because I'm working during the day and he's entertaining himself a lot of the time.


Well, I say boring, but maybe he's having the time of his life. He's got the world's most toy-overloaded "Exer-Saucer" and he spends a good bit of time in that. It has a little seat that he can sit/stand in, and he just spins around looking at the different toys to pull on, push on, spin, etc. There are about 9 or 10 different things on there that make sounds and/or music, so it can get pretty noisy when he starts getting excited. He also still fits (barely, it seems) in his bouncer, so he spends a lot of time in there, too. That's usually where he goes after feedings, since it presents the lowest likelihood of causing him to spit up.

He hasn't spent a lot of time in the swing, but he is getting more mileage out of his pack 'n play. There are a bunch of toys in there that he can throw around and play with, but he will usually fall asleep within a half hour or so.

His bottom two teeth came in a little over a month ago (which is a little bit soon) and his top two teeth are popping in, causing him no small amount of pain - which, typically, is indicated by much screaming.

He has been holding his own bottle for a couple of months now, but the last week or so, he has started getting more frantic during feedings. He doesn't usually drop the bottle, but he's playing with it more than anything. We have little plastic liners that go inside the bottle (which isn't really a bottle at all, since the bottom is opened and it would never hold a liquid without the liner in it). He likes to reach to the end of the bottle and squeeze the liner excess repetitively. It's very systematic, he does it shortly after he starts feeding and squeezes it 5 or 6 times. I guess it's soothing or something, like popping the little packaging things with your fingers. But he only does it at the beginning, never at the end. Maybe he's just trying to gauge exactly how much food to expect. He is a genius baby, as you know.

That's the update for now...sorry for the lack of zany commentary. It's been a while since I posted on here at all, so I figured it would be more appropriate to just tell everyone the facts. Maybe if we're all lucky, I'll be posting again sooner rather than later, and we can let the crazy commentary resume.

The Many Faces and Stages

Sorry for the long delay in posting...since my last post, a lot has changed. Caleb, for one, looks like he gets bigger every day, and has new looks and actions and little things you notice as a Dad.

At this point, I am now "Mr. Mom," as I have quit my day job and taken up the job of being at home with Caleb. I'm also committing my full work efforts to my previously-side-business TradeWind Productions, but that's a topic for another blog.

So you might wonder what it is like to be Mr Mom. Well, it's a lot like being a regular Mom would probably be...feeding, changing, sleeping, playing, all that jazz. As a guy, I approach things perhaps not as gently as a woman might. That being said, I take great care in avoiding things like rock climbing and street fighting when I've got Caleb around.

I have a hard time getting things done with my work sometimes, but then other times it seems like he'll be entertaining himself all day long.

He's doing so many things now...he's not quite rolling over (although he comes so close) but he sits up very well with some help. He's starting to mimic our speech patterns and certain things (mostly gibberish talk). He has been sleeping through the night (around 9pm til 8am most days) pretty much every single night since the end of May. Sometimes he wakes up once or twice, but he's never needed a feeding since the last week of May. THAT is particularly awesome in and of itself.

He's eating solid food now, and tonight we go from cereal to peas (or beans, I forget).

He has a TON of toys and things to keep his attention. We got him an "ExerSaucer" thing that he's starting to enjoy more and more. The thing is just LOADED with toys and activities and sounds and music...kind of noisy, but I don't really mind.

He loves to watch Sesame Street. I saw Ben Stiller on there the other day as a giant wedge of cheese...go figure.

He doesn't really like being in my office (but sometimes, I don't either). I don't know if it's just the different lighting, the paint or all the noisy computer stuff, but something inside him must know that this is the place where work happens, and he doesn't want any part of that (until he's AT LEAST 3 or 4 years old, then it's off to the canning factory for $0.35 an hour wages and a stale biscuit for lunch).

I really do like being at home. Some part of me misses the workplace camaraderie, and the safety net that comes with working for someone else, but all at the same time, I feel very fortunate to be able to experience this part of his life so closely.

Don't worry about Mommy though...when Hilary comes home in the evening, Caleb's face lights up and he knows somehow that she's been thinking about him all day long.

WE DID have our first vacation though...the annual Jolly family trip to St Simon's Island on the Georgia coast. We all had a great time, especially Caleb. Never seen a baby sleep so much on the beach. He would just lay out on the sand on top of his raft and just pass out for what seemed like hours. Didn't really care for the pool too much. It might have been a little chilly for his tastes...or maybe it reminded him of bath time (which he also doesn't like). The trip getting there and back was thankfully uneventful. The whole trip, we only stopped one time for Caleb (and his 2 weeks older cousin Taylor) apart from our required eating/bathroom breaks. They both just slept the rest of the way.

His first 4th of July was also fun, if not unremarkable. He ignored the parade after the first few things went by, and fell asleep strapped to me in his Baby Bjorn. Same story for the fireworks show at the lake...he was a bit surprised by the first couple of bursts, but then he just fell asleep until we got up to leave.

Next big adventure - another trip to another beach, this time with the Bowler family to St George. Less than a month!

Life is terribly hard. Pity pity.

Diapers - A Change You Can Relieve In

I never thought about diapers much before Caleb was born. I just figured "hey, you buy the diapers, you change the diapers, repeat as necessary." Nothing more to know, right?

Well, rule #1 for diapers now - Only buy Pampers.

Why is that rule #1? Because Pampers diapers are the only ones that seem to actually work when it comes to things like holding pee and poo inside. The rest of them seem to utilize an automatic release valve of some kind, leaving Caleb's clothing to do most of the absorbing duties. Maybe that's a good thing, right? I know exactly when Caleb is ready for a changing, because he is sitting in a puddle and it makes him upset. Even Caleb, at such a young age, is starting to learn that Pampers - and only Pampers - are capable of a change you can relieve in.

I didn't really come up with any more rules for diapers, but maybe we can just lay some ideas out here in the old bloggy-blog:

#2 - Make sure you adhere to the weight limitations posted on the diapers. It's for real...those things won't hold any more than 8-10 pounds of crap if that's what it says it can hold.

#3a - FOR BOYS...cover the wang immediately upon removing the diaper (if not before), and be sure to point it downward when you're finishing up or else you will have an angry son and a lot of pee coming out the top of the diaper.

#3b - FOR GIRLS...don't assume that lack of an actual hose means that you can't still get nailed during the changing. Cover the nethers, sooner the better (secondhand information...I don't have a girl baby).

#4a - FOR BOYS...check under the nuts. There's probably poo there.

#4a - FOR GIRLS...clean up from front to back. Or else. And you don't want to know what "or else" means, so just do it (again, secondhand info).

#5 - Don't look them in the eyes when you're changing them or you'll get distracted and probably jam your finger in the cornhole by accident (or maybe it's just me).

#6 - Avoid changing right after a feeding if at all possible. They'll probably spit up their food.

#7 - Always be aware of the location of the new diaper before you take off the old one.

#8 - Watch the feet. If they get too excited and start kicking their feet around, you now have a bigger mess.

#9 - Keep tabs on your diaper supply...running out of diapers before you realize they're all gone can be a difficult pill to swallow (especially if you failed to observe Rule #7). It is especially stressful if it happens to be the middle-of-the-night diaper change. That's a big 'ol "oops" for ya right there.

#10 - Change the diaper on as sturdy and tilt-free a surface that you can find. They can start rolling otherwise.

#11 (yes, it goes to 11) - Throw the diapers away and get them out of the house as soon as possible. Otherwise, everyone gets to know you as "those people who live in the pee-and-poo smeilling house with the stinky kid." You start to ignore that smell pretty quickly. No one else CAN ignore it.

There you go, diaper advice. The straight poop.

Walk Through the Fire

For those of you keeping score at home, it has been a little over a month now since I last posted on any blogs (including Caleb's blog). This has not been for lack of any interesting things to talk about, as I'll detail below.

Since this post is relevant for me personally and also about Caleb, I'm double posting it on both blog sites.

As of the date of my last post, my life changed a little bit. Not quite as drastic as the actual birth of my son, but mind-altering nonetheless. That evening of April 1st, Caleb's situation with the constant vomiting finally came to a head (see previous posts for more details). Around 11pm, we contacted the on-call nurse at our pediatrician and asked what could possibly be wrong with our little guy. All of a sudden, we get a diagnosis for something called "pyloric stenosis" which we had never ever heard of in our entire lives. Essentially, it's a condition where the muscle (pylorus) that allows food to flow from the stomach into the intestines becomes overgrown or swollen to the point that nothing - no food, no liquid - can pass through the system. This apparently started off relatively unnoticed when Caleb was born and became more pronounced in the ensuing weeks to the point that he was getting no hydration and no nourishment.

We don't know how much longer he would have actually survived with this condition. Suffice it to say that we left for the emergency room at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta within the hour to begin a crazy 5-day trip at the hospital that included multiple rooms for multiple days, a trip to the ICU and a simple surgery with scary unexpected complications - in fact, the complications were probably more disconcerting than the whole situation at the time, since we were expecting a straightforward procedure.

So when you come through the other side of this thing like we did, you can look back and feel quite blessed that you're all here to tell the story. At the same time, you can look at it all and say, "wow, THAT was close." It's scary to think what could have happened if the condition wasn't finally diagnosed correctly.

I thank God that all we're left with is a little surgical scar and some bad memories. And the results of the surgery are that we have a baby now that eats and eats and is growing bigger (not smaller) with each passing day. He's happy most of the time and just seems to enjoy life all the more because we're all here together.

There's a song that says "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone." I would agree, but I'd add that sometimes you know exactly what you have once you just come close to losing it. Going through the fire and being able to hold on is an amazing blessing.

....and the first post is about poop

Welcome to the show folks! First order of business - make sure the baby is pooping.

5 (or 6?) days came and went without a single poop from Caleb. See, when you have a new baby - especially the FIRST time - you pay attention to absolutely everything. Pooping and peeing are especially important, because if food is going in and not coming out, well....it's just a matter of time, and meanwhile you have to figure out what the hold up is.

So the doc recommended plugging a little apple juice into the system, mixing it in there to see what would happen. It took about 18-20 hours but finally - POOP!

I never thought I would be so excited about pooping (well, maybe deep down inside, I knew this day was coming) but it was a huge relief honestly. It meant NO SURGERY.

The crying is a little annoying...he seems to insist upon being held constantly sometimes. It's not such a bad thing, because he's fun to hold, but sometimes you have to do other things and he'll eventually start getting upset.

First Easter with Caleb was fun! Got to do some egg hunting with Caleb in the Baby Bjorn strapped to my gut/chest. He really seemed to enjoy it...I was running around and he was moving around but for the most part, he just fell asleep and stayed asleep for a while. Awesome.

Hilary's parents gave a nice "Easter" gift of a swing. He didn't really take to it at first, but upon subsequent visits to the swing, he was a little more relaxed. It swings kind of fast, actually...almost seems like it could sling the guy outta there pretty easily. It has music that it can play, too. I don't really know if that helps him relax or keeps him awake, but we turn it up at different times for both sleeping and waking.

Pictures!!!!!!!!!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/hbjolly/Caleb?authkey=h_XPFbiG6QI